Count Rafula’s Featured New Releases 10.27.21

Greetings and Happy New Comic Book Day everyone! I’m your host this evening, Count Rafula, and it’s the spookiest week of the year, the week of Halloween!  Beware! At the shop this week, we’ve got plenty of new comics to get you in the macabre mood, with stories that will have you watching over your shoulder for all that goes bump in the night. There’s no time to waste, let’s check things out.

Marvel Comics

One of Marvel’s biggest new titles has a new installment in Moon Knight #4 out this week. While I haven’t been following what’s going on (or ever read a Moon Knight book either :/), we’ve gotten a lot of interest in this book recently and seen some new faces coming in to the shop to grab their copies too. It’s a Cleveland thing, I guess. John Dudas will be the first to tell you there is something about Moon Knight that makes him resonate well with Clevelanders. Maybe I’ll grab this week’s issue, it’s got Tigra.

Following up after the stellar and creepy Darkhold Iron Man one-shot, this week’s hero whose life and reality is twisted by the Darkhold is Marvel’s Vampire Hunter himself; Blade. In this tie-in, vampires have taken over and rule the world and Blade is their king atop the throne. And there’s no way that could go well, right? A delicious one-shot for a criminally underappreciated Marvel character.

DC Comics

Fresh off the success earlier this year of the Batman/Fortnite crossover, there’s a new one-shot this week co-written by Scott Snyder and starring The Batman Who Laughs. This Batman is the scariest one yet, and that’s kinda saying something. I call him Hellraiser Batman myself. And just like the previous issues from the miniseries, this one does include codes for in-game unlockables: a character skin and loading screen both featuring The Batman Who Laughs. 

One of the most popular and celebrated Batman storylines ever (and fresh new animated movie too), Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman: The Long Halloween is certainly a classic. And new this week, the original creative team is back to tell one more story set in the Long Halloween universe. DC’s been keeping things under wraps on this one, but teases a mystery that could destroy Batman, Gordon, and Two Face. A must have for any Batman fan this week.

If it worked with zombies, of course it could work with vampires too, right? Co-written by James Tynion IV, DC Vs. Vampires is the next 12-issue horror-themed apocalypse set in the DC multiverse. And just like DCeased, no character is safe. I read the preview for this first issue, and there’s a great surprise ending to this one that I think will hook fans. 

“In life, they’ve terrorized the people of Gotham. Now, they are Gotham’s last hope. Task Force X saw villains working their way to freedom. Task Force Z will see dead villains working for a new chance at life! On A-DAY, the attack on Arkham Asylum left hundreds of Gotham’s most cunning and deranged criminals dead. Now, a mysterious benefactor has activated the government’s TASK FORCE clause to bring them back as the ultimate army of the night! To lead this team of the undead, only a person who knows exactly what it feels like to be brutally murdered and brought back to life can handle the job…enter: RED HOOD. But when Jason Todd unravels the mystery surrounding Task Force Z’s creation, will he try to destroy it or embrace it?” A really cool new Suicide Squad-esque book with a team consisting of Red Hood, Bane (!), Man-Bat, Arkham Knight, Sundowner, and Mr. Bloom.

Small Press

Something Is Killing the Children has been one of the biggest horror smash hits since The Walking Dead, and this week sees the universe expand with a brand-new spinoff series House of Slaughter. Co-written by James Tynion IV (busy guy), and with double team art from original series artist Werther Dell’Edera and The Autumnal’s Chris Shehan, this spinoff series promises to delve deeper into Erica Slaughter’s shadowy organization and one of her biggest rivals within its monster hunter ranks. I’m all caught up on SIKTC and am excited to see where things go next.

And lastly this week, this next trade paperback collection is one we’ve been waiting for for some time now: Aftershock Comics’ Maniac of New York Volume 1. If Jason Takes Manhattan was actually good, there’s a brutal force of nature that haunts and stalks the citizens of New York, and has been doing so for years. Until now, when one detective becomes determined to bring his grisly reign of terror to an end, or die trying. I didn’t finish the series, but what issues I did read were awesome. A shop favorite, and soon to be yours for the scary holiday season.

And that’ll be a wrap on new comics for October 2021. Don’t forget that we’ll be celebrating Halloween in the shop all day Saturday October 30th with trick ‘r treating and tons of free comics and candy to give away for all in costume. We will also be using this opportunity to give out our Batman Day and Wonder Woman Day free comics from DC. 

We’re all big fans of the holiday here, and have decked out the shop in our best spooky decorations, and we’re all very excited to see everyone’s costumes. Thanks for reading, we will see you Saturday, and we hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween this year.

Peace, Love, and Comics

Rafael Calzada