Hey there, Comic Shop Friends! We have a packed week, so let’s get to it!

First, Tuesday will be our 200th Facebook Live video! If you’ve missed it, we always keep our videos up on our Facebook page, and upload them to our YouTube channel. We do check the Facebook comments throughout the day on Wednesdays, so if you’d like to request something from the table, feel free to comment! Smash that like button!

Next, Ben is co-hosting the Midnight Rental Secret Screening with Lenora at the Grog Shop on Wednesday the 20th! Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm, $10! A few of us from the shop usually attend, so come out, say hi, and watch a horror movie with us!

Then, Thursday the 21st is Late Nite Comics! We’ll be open until midnight, with the table full of boxes of Marvel, DC, and Small Press dollar stock, and 50% off back issues! This month if you grab 100 or more dollar books, they’ll be 50 cents each! What a deal!

And start your countdowns to Free Comic Book Day! Saturday, May 4th! More details to come!

MARVEL COMICS

Nine stories are woven into the Web of Spider-Man one-shot, leading from the current Spider books into the upcoming Spider stories through the rest of 2024 and into 2025!

• We have two Amazing Spider-Man shorts written by Zeb Wells, with art by John Romita Jr. and Ed McGuiness, the first with Spider-Man stopping an arms deal, the second with Gold Goblin and Grave Goblin facing off.

• Miles Morales and Hightail and more vampires! Will this tie into Blood Hunt? Miles is said to play a big part in that event. From Cody Ziglar and Eleonora Carlini.

• Spider-Woman is taking down Hydra agents in San Francisco, but she finds she’s not the only costumed hero in town. Who are the Assembly? Written by Steve Foxe with art by Ig Guara.

• Then the Time Variance Authority is keeping an eye on Spider-Gwen. She’s seeing strange things and isn’t sure if they’re real, or if she’s hallucinating. But Ouroboros is intervening more than he should, and Gwen’s world is about to change forever!

• Chasm has plans to escape Madelyne Pryor’s Limbo prison. And it involves fighting a bunch of demons! Another one written by Steve Foxe, with art by Greg Land. And if you’re a Chasm fan, we have a new Chasm Gallery statue! His butt looks amazing!

• Next, is the Spectacular Spider-Men stopping a robbery before their coffees get cold! Everyone knows their names at their regular coffee shop! And there’s a mysterious figure lurking in the background. By Greg Weisman and Joey Vazquez.

• Another story from Steve Foxe and Greg Land finds Kaine, the Scarlet Spider, running into monsters in the sewers under Manhattan, and someone is summoning all the underground beasties.

• Lastly, following the story in Edge of Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2099 has been kidnapped by a bunch of baddies, but who are they? One seems familiar, but they are really beating him up, and he could use any other Spider-Person’s help, even Spider-Ham.

This is a great jumping-on point to see where the Spider-Verse is headed, and every story is good!

DC COMICS

You’ll go ape over DC’s Ape-ril Special! With a banana-scented variant cover! I won’t use all the ape puns DC used in their solicit for this one-shot, but Monsieur Mallah is ape-sembling a group of the most sinister simians! Mallah is stepping into the void left after Gorilla Grodd’s incarceration in the pages of The Flash, and he has a “Plan of the Apes” in John Layman and Karl Mostert’s three-chapter story that sees the formation of the Legion of D(Oo-oo-Ah-ah)M, and the Jungle League of America! Then, Detective Chimp stars in Joshua Hale Fialkov and Phil Hester’s “Detour”, where he comes across a human murderer while hitching a ride into Metropolis. It’s worth picking up this one-shot just for this story. And, Monkey Prince is having some side effects after rescuing his arm from Mallah and his crew, in “A Call to Arms”, from Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang, and has to close down Ultra-Humanite and Eek-Gor’s armory. That is literally full of arms.

You know what time it is! It’s time for Wonder Woman and Superman to go shopping for Batman’s birthday present at the Andromeda Mall, which somehow isn’t a dead mall! A wonderful, fun, and touching single issue story, with guest artist Guillem March, and Clark’s new nickname of “Supperman.” Pick it up and spend the day with them.

SMALL PRESS COMICS

Are you hyped for the Nacelleverse? Let’s see if they can compete with the Energon Universe! Before RoboForce and Biker Mice from Mars start this summer, get the jump on the new Nacelleverse in this giant-sized #0! Melissa Flores writes the story that takes little green guy Garloo on a galaxy-spanning adventure to find his new home after his planet is destroyed by a cosmic disaster. Artists Rahmat Handoko, Rhoald Marcellius, Francis Portela, and Diogenese Neves each take a new location that puts Garloo in contact with various champions. First, a stop in the Meru System where the Power Lords, Lord Power and Shaya, are meeting a resistance fighter. Then a run in with Spidrax, and the Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion, before heading to the Milky Way Galaxy and Mars, where the Biker Mice from Mars give Garloo some information on his travelling companion. Finally, he makes his way to Earth, and Detroit, to work with RoboForce, and maybe finally find his home. With a C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa cameo!

New all-ages sci-fi story from writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle! Humanity has been fighting the Tetza for almost a century. A portal opened in the sky above Guatemala. And the Tetza came through. An alien species, kaiju-like, with their only common feature being their massive size and near-impervious skin. Five corporations use the world’s resources to build Iron Kings, giant mechs that are the only things that can hunt down the aliens. The greatest pilot, Anita Marr, is chosen to unveil Cordonware’s newest prototype, Dawnrunner. This could change the tide in humanity’s favor, but there may be something in this prototype that Marr is not prepared for.

A four-issue hard-boiled neo-Western thriller from writer Jeff McComsey and artist Chris Ferguson, Little Black Book starts with Cole Moyer and his pregnant wife, Tess, inheriting a home in Arizona from Cole’s now-deceased estranged father. Cole knew his father wasn’t any good, but after he finds the literal little black book filled with contacts for “cleaners”, “decorators”, and “accountants”, he sees what kind of bad business daddy did. After an incident that requires the use of the book, Cole finds himself in the crosshairs of a crime syndicate, and the straight-arrow handyman may learn that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe of Horrors is back with Fresh Meat! This one-shot features three stories from writers Amy Chase, Ryan Cady, and Jordan Morris, and artists Federico Sabbatini, Chris Panda, and Liana Kangas. Jughead is no stranger to living deliciously, and when he takes his business to Segarini’s Pizza, Pop starts to feel the heat, as his beloved hometown haunt is losing customers. Except for one, who likes his coffee black as the abyss. (Like me!) It’s that dang ol’ devil, and he’s here to work out a deal with Pop to ensure his continued success! There’s also a Little Shop of Horrors story with Jughead and Archie finding an alien plant, and one showing how Pop has managed to stop constant threats from taking his restaurant! Gory fun!