Welcome spooky friends to the first newsletter of October! I’m ready to pack in as many horror movies as I can this month and read all these great horror titles we’ve been getting. But first, shop events, and then on to this week’s new releases! 

This Saturday, the 9th, is the BAYArts show, run by friends of the shop Jeff Ritchie and Jim Giar. John D and Ben will be set up with a photo booth and some comics for sale, so stop by and check it out!

Our Halloween event will be Sunday, October 30th, from noon to 5 pm! We’ll have free comics, candy, and photography services for all in costume! 

And our next Late Nite Comics will be on Thursday, October 20th, from 8 pm to midnight!

MARVEL COMICS

Spiders are perfect for Halloween, and Marvel has three Spider-Man books out this week!

Edge of Spider-Verse #5 has three brand new Spiders, Web-Weaver from Steve Foxe and Kei Zama, Hunter-Spider from Dan Slott and J.M. DeMatteis, and Syllie Spider from Phil Lord (one of the filmmakers behind the Into the Spider-Verse movies) and David Lopez. I really enjoyed the Syllie Spider story, with a comic strip character literally breaking the fourth wall, but I’ve been a fan of Lord and Miller since the Clone High days.

New Spider-Man series written by Dan Slott with art by Mark Bagley starts with the end of the Spider-Verse! No Spider is safe from one of the most powerful beings in the Spider-Verse, especially not Peter Parker. Spidey’s 60th is no joke as the two legendary creators are working together for the first time!

The first of three facsimile editions is out this week! Amazing Spider-Man #1, one of the all-time great Marvel comics, reprinted with ads and all!

Perfect timing for this facsimile of The Tomb of Dracula #1! One of the finest horror comics of the 1970s from Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, this blood-curdling premiere is re-presented in its original form!

DC COMICS

From the twisted minds of Matthew Rosenberg and Carmine Di Giandomenico comes a violent new series that picks up from the cataclysmic end of The Joker as mayhem spreads across the United States. The Joker sets out on his most bizarre caper yet in The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing. In the backup story by Matthew Rosenberg and Francesco Francavilla, Joker falls for Power Girl. He needs a new outfit for his date and a mirror to ensure he looks good. Maybe Mirror Master can help? This is a great story to jump into if you haven’t been following any recent Joker stories.

Once Gotham was glorious, filled with hope and prosperity. For 80 years, the story of the city’s fall from grace remained untold. Tom King and Phil Hester team up to tell the origin of Gotham City and how it became a place of violence and corruption in Gotham City: Year One. Two generations before Batman, P.I. Slam Bradley gets involved in the kidnapping of the century as the infant Wayne heir disappears in this hard-boiled noir tale.

The origin of the Man of Steel is presented in the facsimile edition of Superman #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster! 

SMALL PRESS

Kaya #1 from Image is a new ongoing fantasy-adventure series from Deadly Class co-creator Wes Craig. Two siblings, a girl with a magic arm and her little brother, venture to a faraway safe haven after the destruction of their village, where the brother is destined to discover the secret to overthrowing the empire that destroyed their home. An easy read with a tight cast of characters.

From the pages of Geiger comes Junkyard Joe #1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. The world knows Junkyard Joe as the comic strip by cartoonist Muddy Davis, but the truth of The Unnamed fighting The Unknown War stretches back to Vietnam and their story of sacrifice and brotherhood. 

Another new series from Image and Skybound, written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrei Bressan, Dark Ride #1 is set at Devil Land, the world’s premiere horror-themed amusement park, home to the scariest ride, The Devil’s Due. It’s the Scariest Place on Earth! Park superfan Owen Seasons has just started a job in the park, but will the job of his dreams become a living nightmare? Discover the true horrors behind the scenes, sinister secrets, and the truth about the park’s reclusive creator Arthur Dante and his children, Samhain and Halloween Dante. There’s also a park map in the back describing all the scary rides. Plan your Halloween season visit now.

The creepiest book of the season so far, Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla’s Night of the Ghoul from Dark Horse, is about a lost horror film of the same title. A mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and burned writer/director T. F. Merritt. Now horror film obsessive Forest Innman and his son have tracked down Merritt in a hospice after discovering the remnants of the film. But all is not as it seems at the rest home, as Merritt tells the true tale of the Ghoul.  This is definitely my pick of the week; the art is amazing and I would love to see a Night of the Ghoul film.

There’s also issue #2 of Shock Shop, the horror anthology from Dark Horse. The second print of both Creepshow and Stuff of Nightmares will be out later this month if you missed those. And Archie has a Halloween Spectacular. You know, for kids.

Creep it real!