Welcome to another beautiful week of comics, our Comic Shop Friends! We’re almost in September, which means we’re that much closer to the Phillip Kennedy Johnson signing. Kyle added some of Johnson’s trades to the table. We are well stocked on The Incredible Hulk #1, and issue #3 is out this week, so pick something up for that event on September 23rd from 4 pm to 6 pm.

And it’s time to start planning your spooky season, so leave room in your plans for all the other significant events we’ll have in October!

• Mark Waid signing, followed by trivia with the CNJ staff, is October 13th, starting at 6 pm!
• Sina Grace will be signing on October 20th from 6 pm to 8 pm!
• Sarah Kuhn will be in on October 27th from 6 pm to 8 pm for a signing!

Visit http://www.supermanscleveland.com for more information on the discussions and other events these creators are a part of!

Stay tuned for details on our Halloween ComicFest happening at the end of October, too!

MARVEL COMICS

Eight stories celebrating the Marvel Age of comics, exploring the classic days of Marvel from creators Mark Waid, Alessandro Cappuccio, Ryan Stegman, Rainbow Rowell, Marguerite Sauvage, Dan Slott, Michael Allred, Armando Iannucci, Adam Kubert, Steve McNiven, Jason Aaron, Pepe Larraz, J. Michael Straczynski, and Kaare Andrews. Featuring the Human Torch, Spider-Man, Lizard, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, the Mighty Thor, and Stan, Jack, and Steve. With new Marvel stamps!

Co-written by Ms. Marvel herself, Iman Vellani! With co-writer Sabir Pirzada and artists Carlos Gomez and Adam Gorham, the new Ms. Marvel series finds the Inhuman/Mutant/Teenager Kamala Khan back from the dead and on a secret mission for the X-Men. After the events of the Hellfire Gala, Kamala is sent to spy on Orchis at a college summer program, but with anti-mutant hate on the rise and plagued by nightmares, can she make it through? And what is her recurring nightmare trying to tell her? Where does she truly belong?

DC COMICS

You may want to read Knight Terrors, Knight Terrors: Batman, Knight Terrors: Catwoman, and Knight Terrors: Night’s End before reading this one. Good thing we have them!

With Batman taking a long-needed nap after the events of Knight Terrors, Catwoman offers the goons who work for the big villains a deal. They’ll have independence, training, and a living wage, and in return, a promise to only target the rich, with no violent crimes. Now, crime is down in Gotham City, but Commissioner Montoya isn’t happy about Catwoman’s involvement in a jailbreak and asks Batman for intel. Selina and Bruce may have the same end goal in mind, but after a meeting with the Bat-family, the conflict that has been simmering is about to boil over. Writers Chip Zdarsky and Tini Howard, with artists Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Benedetto, start the Gotham War here!

Collecting a ton of DC’s swimsuit variant covers (with my favorite: Bruce and Clark in super short shorts) and adding two summer stories! In the first from writers Julie Benson and Shawna Benson and artist Meghan Hetrick, the ladies of Gotham have to stop Penguin from destroying their beach day. The second has Apollo and Midnighter’s Pride party interrupted by Monsieur Mallah destroying a ship, written by Steve Orlando with art by Paul Pelletier. And each copy features a randomly inserted centerfold of Poison Ivy by Jen Bartel, Nightwing, Barbara Gordon by Jorge Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez, or G’Nort by Simon Bisley!

The nightmare is finally over. Or is it? The heroes are back in the waking world, but so are the Nightmare League, and Insomnia has used the Nightmare Stone to engulf the world in terror. Deadman may be the only one who can stop him, but would he rather live in a dream? Who can control the Dreamstone? Will the world ever be the same now that everyone has seen the Justice League as monsters? And who is Dr. Hate? So many questions and the answers may be in upcoming DC books.

SMALL PRESS

The kick-off issue of the new publisher of creator-owned comics, DSTLRY! Never to be reprinted in this format, with full wraparound covers, it’s the Devil’s Cut! Full of horror, sci-fi, and Western tales from the company’s Founding Creators, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tula Lotay, Mirka Andolfo, Jock, Becky Cloonan, Brian Azzarello, Marc Bernardin, Elsa Charretier, Lee Garbett, Joelle Jones, Stephanie Phillips, Ram V, Jamie McKelvie, Junko Mizuno, and others including, Francesco Francavilla, Ariela Kristantina, Eduardo Risso, and Christian Ward. There are eleven short stories, all of which would make great ongoing or mini-series, and I’m hoping these are a preview of the books Dstlry will be releasing. There are ghosts, assassins, taboo love, an American Psycho-esque vampire, creepy ships, mysterious portals, the world’s end, punishment, and more! Every story is a banger.

More Chip this week! Zdarsky is bringing back Kaptara with artist Kagan McLeod because you demanded it! I’ll have to go back and read volume one because I don’t remember what happened, and the “previously in” at the beginning of this issue says, “Wow, like, holy shit. A lot happened. God, where to begin? Uh…” It’s a fun space comedy with a bunch of weirdos written by Zdarsky, so if you’re into that, you’ll like Kaptara.

From creator Sean Gordon Murphy, The Plot Holes is an elite team of fictional characters pulled from the pages of various books who have to use their unique skills to jump between other books to save them by editing and publishing the stories. Cliff is the newest recruit, being pulled in by Ed, the Editor, learning that his life is fiction, and meeting the rest of the team, a manga samurai trained in the ancient art of drifting, a shapeshifting tiger barbarian, a foul-mouthed kid from a 1930s comic strip, a vampire assassin, and a hero with electricity powers. Now, an alien bookworm has followed them back and is infecting their library. Can Cliff step up and help the team stop it before they’re all destroyed?