Hi Comic Shop Friends! Happy Spring! And Happy Winston World Weekend!

This Friday through Sunday is Winston World, a three-day long sale to coincide with Fan Expo Cleveland going on from March 24 – 26th! (It used to be Wizard World.) We’ll be offering 50% off ALL back issues, as well as 10% off EVERYTHING else in the shop. We like to give a reason for out of town visitors to stop by the shop while they’re here. (We also need another reason to feed Winston’s ego.)

Also, here’s the link to buy tickets for the Cleveland Fan Expo:

MARVEL COMICS

Reprinting Avengers #9, this Marvel facsimile presents the introduction of Wonder Man! Before he was an Avenger and Hollywood action star, Simon Williams was a brilliant inventor turned dangerous foe, with his ionic powers making him strong enough to go toe to toe with the Avengers!

Stephen Strange is back, and Jed MacKay and Pasqual Ferry begin a new chapter in Doctor Strange’s life. Demons have your soul? Dragons, elves, trolls, and whatnot in your city? Haunted garbage monster? Call Doctor Strange! His new consulting business is booming, with house calls and telehealth too! With a backup story featuring Wong and the Agents of W.A.N.D. against the Freaky Doktor Zee!

The women of Marvel take the spotlight in this new one-shot for Women’s History Month! Featuring stories with She-Hulk, Silk, Black Cat, America Chavez, Kate Bishop, Photon, Ms. Marvel, and a Janet Van Dyne paper doll! Written by Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Ying, Melissa Flores, and Shawnee & Shawnelle Gibbs, with art by Carola Borelli, Jodi Nishijima, Stacey Lee, Giulia Gualazzi, and Erica D’Urso.

DC COMICS

This giant-sized special celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Milestone with stories from Evan Narcisse, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Stephanie Williams, and Geoffrey Thorne, with art by Atagun Ilhan, CRISSCROSS, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Yasmin Flores Montanez, and Sean Damien Hill. Static and Batman Beyond team up, grown-up Raquel Ervin inherits the mantle of Icon, Blood Syndicate faces the responsibility they’ve taken on, and present-day Milestone characters meet their 1993 counterparts in a reality-warping story. And there’s a preview of the new YA graphic novel Static: Up All Night from Lamar Giles and Paris Alleyne.

The last of the One Bad Day specials, this one from Tom Taylor and Ivan Reis focuses on Ra’s al Ghul. He literally wants to save the world, from animal extinction, from climate disaster, from the daily evils of the wealthy, from the worst of humankind, but Batman stands in Ra’s al Ghul’s way. The only way to bring the peace and prosperity he feels Earth deserves, is to remove the obstacle that is Batman. “You are a man of singular purpose, Detective. Do you doubt the conviction of mine?”

It’s Spring! And DC is celebrating the season with eight short stories in this one-shot written by Ashley Allen, Zac Thompson, Julio Anta, Cavan Scott, Kenny Porter, Calvin Kasulke, Travis Moore, and Dave Wielgosz, with art by Isaac Goodhart, Hayden Sherman, Jacoby Salcedo, Atagun Ilhan, Brian Level, Vitor Cafaggi, Travis Moore, and Riley Rossmo. Poison Ivy helps out at a flower shop, Batman finds a foot growing from a crack in a wall, Blue Beetle fights Florida Man, Titans West get into a sticky situation, Swamp Thing and the Flash team up, Captain Carrot is on Dad duty, Wonder Woman and Siggy face Jack Frost, and Superman just has to make it to Spring.

SMALL PRESS

It’s underneath us. After moving their family to a small town, Janet and Oliver’s two daughters, teenage Casey, and two-year-old Isobel, become part of a horrific chain of events, and it becomes clear it’s difficult to know who to trust. Writer Jude Ellison S. Doyle and artist Letizia Cadonici combine Irish and English folklore with familiar small-town horror to bring us a new, changeling story.

An Archie horror-verse anthology set in Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe! Featuring three stories, “Die and Dash” from Amy Chase and Federico Sabbatini, “Night Shift” from Ryan Cady and Chris Panda, and “Soylent Teen” from Jordan Morris and Liana Kangas. What sort of horrors happen at Riverdale’s malt shop after dark? Who are these late-night out-of-towners? What’s the mystery behind the meat? What is the price you pay for skipping out on your bill?

This miniseries is a brutal tale of love and war from the Roman Empire, written by Fred Kennedy with art by Nick Marinkovich. Arminius, a Germanic prince raised in Rome, has sworn vengeance against the Empire that butchers his people. He wants to make a queen of the woman he loves, Honoria, a fellow slave. Now, fifty thousand Romans will die to give her a throne she never asked for.

Hi Comic Shop Friends! First up, shop news and events, then on to this week’s new books!

John says, “Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Jeff Harper show this past Sunday! Zoe worked her first show and we did great! (Like good enough to have beer at Late Nite Comics this month!)”

Speaking of beer and Late Nite Comics: this Thursday, the 16th, St. Pat’s Eve, from 8pm to midnight is Late Nite Comics again! (I feel like this one came up fast.) We’ll have some Irish beer for you to enjoy while you shop! We’ll have 40 long boxes of dollar stock that have never been out before! Including Marvel, DC, and Indie/Small Press books! We’ll also have 50% off back issues, including the wall! (Except for a very small batch of Silver Age X-Men we just got in.)

Here’s a link to buy tickets for the 2023 Cleveland FanExpo happening the same weekend as our Winston World sale! John will be there with his family shopping for Funko Pops and whatnot.

Friday, March 24th through Sunday, March 26th, will be our annual Winston World Sale in the shop! It’s our big yearly sale with 50% off all back issues AND 10% off everything else in the store!

Now onto the comics!

MARVEL COMICS

Following writer Christopher Cantwell’s Iron Man run featuring Patsy Walker, he and artist Alex Lins bring back Hellcat in a supernatural murder mystery! When someone close to her is brutally murdered, she’s the prime suspect. She can remember fighting. But who? Is she the killer? Is she innocent? “Am I good? Or am I bad?” What does her ex have to do with it? And why does her ghost mom haunt Patsy’s house?

It’s the final half of Peter Milligan and Michael Allred’s mutant celebrity saga featuring X-Statix and a new team called The X-Cellent! Zeitgeist is back and still on a mission to achieve godhood with a spell stolen from Doctor Strange. But his teammates are starting to turn against him, and with X-Statix stealing the spotlight from him, he may need a new plan and some help from Silicon Valley.

DC COMICS

“In the blink of an eye – your life has changed forever….” Clark Kent is called away from a night in with Lois Lane for a Justice League mission, but hours later, when Lois wakes to find Superman home, he tells her he’s been gone for 20 years. Writer Christopher Priest and artist Carlo Pagulayan start off this ten-issue limited series with a mission gone wrong and a Superman who does not seem like himself. What happened during the decades he was gone?

Six-issue mini-series with Harley Quinn (Harley Quinn’s plural?) and a time machine! Harley’s back in Coney Island to eat hot dogs, catch up with friends, and receive an inheritance from a mysterious benefactor. It seems to be a bunch of old magic tricks, but The Way Back Booth works! Frank Tieri and Logan Faerber take Harley on a trip that screws up the entire DC Universe—featuring Starro!

A four-issue mini-series from G. Willow Wilson and artist Cian Tormey, with a backup story written by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad, with art by Alitha Martinez, Revenge of the Gods is just that. The Gods have decided to remind the mortals of their existence after centuries of their legends fading. And the only thing more powerful than belief is fear. Humans have “spent so long in your small, meaningless lives that you’ve forgotten… every gift from the Gods is also a curse.” Wonder Woman and Shazam may be the only ones who can stop them, but who is the hooded stranger who brings a warning to Nubia?

SMALL PRESS

The second of the “Gods wanting humans to remember and fear them” books this week! Written by Mark London with art by Francesco Archidiacono, Hunt. Kill. Repeat. is described as Kill Bill meets Clash of the Titans (Sorry, John. No appearance of clockwork, Bubo.) The Greek Gods invade Earth, destroying anyone who doesn’t follow them and anyone caught using technology. Artemis refuses to follow her family and falls in love with a mortal. When she’s summoned to Olympus, Zeus strips her of her powers and destroys everything she loves. Left comatose for ten years, she wakes and vows to enact revenge on the Gods. Hunt. Kill. Repeat.

Set in its own corner of the Massive Verse, NO/ONE from Kyle Higgins, Brian Buccellato, and Geraldo Borges is a true crime superhero drama mini-series set in Pittsburgh. NO/ONE could be anyone, but no one knows who they are. Several prominent people have been doxed by NO/ONE. Then they were targeted in the “Richard Roe” Accountability Murders. Two people were killed, one managed to survive, Richard Roe was arrested, and now the third copycat murderer has struck, bringing the total to five killed. The city has been shocked by the murders, a dangerous political movement, and a masked vigilante determined to hold the powerful accountable. “No one is above the law. And I am NO/ONE.” Plus, there is a monthly companion podcast starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Patton Oswalt.

A team of ultra-lethal imperial vixens! A cabal of sensuous space witches! A bug stomp on a distant hell-world! The Forged is an over-the-top (turn your baseball hat backward) pulp sci-fi story written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, with art by Mike Henderson, about a squad of super soldiers in the 11th Millennium of the rule of the Eternal Empress on a not-so-routine routine mission. And there are pictures of dogs in the back!

Hello Comic Shop Friends! It’s a smaller week for new comics, but we’ve got some March news to get to!

The biggest thing first:

We have a YouTube channel! We’ll post our Tuesday night Facebook Live videos each week after we’re finished streaming. So if you don’t use Facebook, you can keep up with what’s new every week! We won’t be checking YouTube video comments promptly, so the best way to request anything off the table is:

1. Watch the Facebook Live video and comment there.
2. Email the shop at info@cnjcomics.com with your requests.
3. Call the shop at 216-252-0606.

Here’s the link to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc6qIPM0SqNuNbJ3WeCXPug

And even if you do watch us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube as well, as we may put up other videos. (And if you want to watch videos from over eight years ago. Clearly, we did not utilize YouTube.)

On Sunday, March 12th, from 10 am to 4 pm, John will be set up at the Jeff Harper Show in Westlake. Stop out, visit his table, and say hi to Zoe since she’ll be working it with him!

Late Nite Comics this month is on Thursday, March 16th, from 8 pm to midnight! We’ll have 40 long boxes of $1 stock out on the table, and back issues will be 50% off!

And, from Friday, March 24th through Sunday, March 26th, our yearly Winston World sale is happening! 50% off back issues! 10% off everything else in the store!

Ben’s going on vacation to Budapest next week (Safe travels and have fun, Ben!), and he’s looking forward to seeing Scream 6 in another language! Raf will be helping out for a few days, so come say hello to him too.

Also, a couple of months away is Free Comic Book Day! The first Saturday in May! We’re in the planning stage now, so we’ll update you as we solidify things.

Looks like Winston and Professor X are doing some plotting for FCBD too.

MARVEL COMICS

Great gory fun from Ed Brisson and Netho Diaz! The new Predator series is like the Deadliest Game, but with way more decapitations and way more Predators! Humans wake up as they’re parachuting into a foreign jungle, but it’s not on Earth. Where is it? When is it? Who else is on the hunt? And how does this follow the events of the last Predator series?

An all-new story with X-23 Laura Kinney set during her days as a member of the X-Men and X-Force; from writer Erica Schultz and artist Edgar Salazar. “I have been so many things in this short life. An Assassin. One of the X-Men. An assassin for the X-Men. With all I have been, I wonder… what will I be now?” The past haunts us all, but for X-23, trying to move on is harder, as old foes try to drag her back, and new enemies appear.

The New Mutants are back with a new creative team of writer Charlie Jane Anders and artist Enid Balam. The New Mutants have faced some of the most cunning minds in the Marvel Universe. But now a certain ionic energy vampire (not Colin Robinson) is starting up a new Lethal Legion, and Escapade, Cerebella, and Scout also have a plan to screw with the oligarchs, starting with Count Nefaria. (His recruitment flyer is top-notch.)

DC COMICS

Kal-Els across the Multiverse are being murdered, and the Superman of Earth-2, Val-Zod, believes that only Jon Kent can help end the murders. But Jon will have to face the man that kidnapped and tortured him – Ultraman. And the Supermen have help, a mysterious woman that Val-Zod knows. Who is she, and how is she connected to the Super-Family? The next chapter in the saga of the Super Son begins with writer Tom Taylor and artist Clayton Henry.

SMALL PRESS

Detective Sam Dunes is one of a handful of people in the not-too-distant future who chooses to live “clear”, without a veil, a neurological filter that makes the world into whatever reality one chooses. Western, zombie apocalypse, 1940s Hollywood, children’s cartoons, the options are endless. A neo-noir set in a world not too different from our own, but after a slow and steady decline, a future “that isn’t some primal scream of horror, but a billion little sighs.” Co-creators Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul take Dunes on a twisting mystery down through the underbelly and to the heights of wealth and power in San Francisco.

Stoneheart is creator Emma Kubert’s new ongoing adventure fantasy series. Shayde Whisper is on her way to start a blacksmithing apprenticeship in a new city, but she can’t shake the sinister voice in her head telling her to remember. What does she need to remember? There are only vague memories of her past and no idea of the power within herself. She’ll have to unravel her past and present to find her place in the mystical land of Athea.