Raf’s Biggest Week of Featured New Releases for 2.23.2022
Hey there, CNJ Shoppers and welcome to the last week of February for 2022. There have been some great comics to come out already this year, but this week is easily the BIGGEST week for new releases we’ve seen in the shop all year. We’ve got plenty of new number 1’s, continuations of some of the best books being released right now, and a few great trades all in the shop this week. There’s a lot to unpack, but let’s check out the biggies in this week.
Marvel Comics
“JOHNNY BLAZE!! Johnny Blaze has the perfect life: a wife and two kids, a job at an auto repair shop, and a small-town community that supports him… But Johnny isn’t doing well. He has nightmares of monsters when he sleeps. And he sees bloody visions when he’s awake. This life is beginning to feel like a prison. And there’s a spirit in him that’s begging to break out! Benjamin Percy (Wolverine, X-Force) and Cory Smith (Conan the Barbarian, Captain Marvel) are going back to basics with the Spirit of Vengeance in this extra-sized first issue!” Ben has been on a serious Ghost Rider kick recently since he finally got his grail book, Marvel Spotlight #5 last week, so this couldn’t have been timed any better. It also happens to be totally freaking metal too, so no excuse not to pick this up this week.
This year marks 30 years of the most notorious serial killer in the Marvel Universe, and with writers Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Ram V, and Ty Templeton on board for this one-shot, Carnage Forever #1 this week celebrates all things Cletus Kasady. This issue serves as a reintroduction for fans and newcomers alike, as we prepare for Ram V’s new Carnage series that’s set to start up in March. I still haven’t seen the newest Venom movie (or the first one for that matter), but I’ve heard mixed things about it. But while both movies were PG-13, this new one-shot, and future series, will be going where the movies couldn’t and looks to really let Carnage be Carnage. It’s a gnarly new one-shot this week for the symbiote monster.
DC Comics
After months of buildup, and the conclusions of both Aquaman: The Becoming and Black Manta, the Aquamen of the DC Universe unite for this new series. “When a terrorist in Middle America is revealed as an Atlantean sleeper agent seemingly gone rogue, the Aquamen—Arthur Curry and Jackson Hyde—are on the case. But it soon becomes clear that the tragedy was not just a single bad actor, but the beginnings of a much larger and more dangerous chain reaction…and the heart of an explosive Atlantean conspiracy! If Arthur’s not careful, the secrets he’s keeping—from Mera, Tula, Tempest, Atlantis, the surface, and even Jackson—could cause a rift from which the Aquamen might never recover!” With Dark Crisis on the horizon for DC, I have a feeling the DC Universe is going to go through a lot in the next few months, and this series may prove to be very important leading up to that. Only one way to find out, pick up issue #1 of Aquamen this week.
I’m pretty open about being a big Batman guy, and I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Big Blue Boy Scout Superman, but following Grant Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, Action Comics has become one of my favorite series going on right now. Superman and his new team have been stranded on Warworld and have been at the mercy of Mongul for a few issues now, and it has been bleak for our heroes. But while Superman’s powers have been on the fritz, and Warworld is powered by a red sun, Clark / Kal hasn’t given up and vows to free himself, his team, and the citizens of Warworld from under Mongul’s brutal rule. There’s a lot of badass moments in this series, and is unlike any Superman story I’ve ever heard of. I’m excited for this to be collected in trade for those who’ve been behind to catch up, but for those who are caught up, this week it’s issue #1040, the penultimate issue for part one of the Warworld Saga.
Small Press
There’s a big new Image #1 this week, and the hype for it is real. This week is the debut of Step By Bloody Step. “An armored giant and a helpless child. Together they cross an astonishing world brimming with beasts, bandits, and-deadliest by far-civilizations… If they stop walking, the earth itself forces them onwards. WHY? The child can’t ask. She and her guardian have no language, no memory, nothing except each other. Multiple-Eisner nominees Si Spurrier (X-Men), Matia Bergara (Coda), and Matheus Lopes (Supergirl) present a watershed moment in modern comics: four double-length chapters of a bittersweet fantasy opus, completely text free.” Saying it’s like The Iron Giant would be kind of close, but also, it’s nothing like that. This is an astonishing first issue this week.
We waited patiently for almost 4 years for arguably the best comic ever (yeah, I said it) to return, and last month with Saga #55, we were not disappointed. It’s a little weird to see Saga back again on a regular schedule, with issue #56 new this week. It was the first book we read this week, and I imagine it will be for the foreseeable future every time there’s a new issue. The second half of Saga continues and it’s great, but you don’t need me to tell you that. Come in and get it, still at only $2.99.
This week sees the release of one of the best AWA books of the last year, it’s Mark Russell’s Not All Robots collected in trade finally. This book is a smart sci-fi satire on humans, our relationships to machines, and also toxic masculinity? There’s a lot to unravel in this book, but like all other AWA trades, you can get the full story, all five issues, collected in one piece for $9.99. I only got halfway through the series in single issues, so I’m excited to jump back in and finish this weird little sci-fi tale.
And new this week, and for the first time a Behemoth book has made the featured new releases list, it’s Heavy Metal Drummer #1. This first of six issues feels like a story from Heavy Metal Magazine presented for the first time. It’s fast, trippy, and gruesome like any good indie fanzine, and for $3.99, it’s definitely unlike anything you’ve got in your pull list this week. Normally for super small press books like this we only order enough for our preorders, but this one looked too cool to pass up on and I’m glad we order a few for the table. Check this out if you’re a fan of Alien, Species, or Black Sabbath.
And that’s it for this week at Carol and John’s. This is definitely not the week you want to miss if you’re already a little behind on your comics because I’m sure a lot of you will have plenty out this week you’re going to want to grab. Stop in and say hi! We’ll see you all around.