Hi Comic Shop Friends! A couple of updates before we get to the new comics.

You may have heard that while on vacation at the Dirty Dancing filming location, Carol broke a femur. Carol is doing well post-surgery, but because she’s in another state, John is working out getting her back home this week. John thanks everyone for their kind words, and as he says, “We had a good run before she fell in the evening. We even got her out to the dried-up lake where Johnny Castle did the lift in the water, so she stood on the exact same cinder blocks Patrick Swayze stood on in the scene.”

That does mean that John will not be at this month’s events that he was looking forward to.  Send some good vibes for a safe trip back home for them, and a great recovery for Carol!

So, John won’t be co-hosting this Wednesday’s Midnight Rental Secret Screening, but Ben will still be there! Stop out to the Grog Shop at 8pm for a surprise movie! Doors at 7pm, only $10!

John also won’t be at Late Nite Comics this Thursday, but boxes and boxes of new small press dollar stock will! We’ll have 50% off all back issues starting at 8pm, including the wall, and we’ve been putting out new long boxes of back issues almost every day, so there’s new stuff for you to dig through!

There are at least 20 new boxes of small press dollar stock coming out, along with new Marvel and DC dollar books from our recent collection processing! If you’ve been waiting for more new dollar books, this is the Late Nite for you! 8pm to midnight on Thursday, the 19th!

MARVEL COMICS

It’s Jeff! In his first original mini-series! Everyone’s favorite Land Shark returns for more shark-nanigans! This time he sneaks into the Sanctum Santorum, and some of Strange’s sneaky snakes aren’t happy about it. Their mini rivalry unleashes a shadow demon that steals Jeff’s shadow! Now Jeff is on a quest to get it back before Shadow Jeff ruins his reputation. Guest starring Deadpool! Written by Kelly Thompson with art by Tokitokoro.

The balance of power may be forever changed when a mystical artifact known as the Soul Forge, and the soul daggers, are sought out by Sister Sorrow for her master. The first of the seven Bring on the Bad Guys one-shots, follows Doctor Doom as he learns someone is after his daggers, thought lost to time. He must unravel a cosmic mystery that threatens his dominion and stop an old foe from unleashing the true power of the Soul Forge. Can Doom save every soul on Earth? How do the other villains factor into this diabolical plan? Who has the other lost daggers? Next up is Green Goblin, followed by other classic characters that were featured in the 1976 Bring on the Bad Guys, with first appearances and origin stories of the baddest baddies. Doom is written by Marc Guggenheim, with art by Stefano Raffaele.

Godzilla! Fin Fang Foom! Jet Jaguar! The New Avengers! What happens when all of these greats clash? That’s what Maria Hill is trying to figure out! A post-incident S.H.I.E.L.D. interview with the New Avengers isn’t clearing anything up, because everyone has something to say, and the stories aren’t lining up… Is Fin Fang Foom King of the Monsters? Or is Godzilla? Why is Jet Jaguar malfunctioning? Why aren’t there any tall buildings in Astoria, Oregon for Spider-Man to swing from?! It’s the penultimate issue of the Godzilla Vs one-shots, and it’s another fun one, this time from writer David F. Walker and artist Georges Jeanty.

DC COMICS

The first appearance of Krypto the Superdog! DC’s big facsimile this week reprints Adventure Comics #210 where young Clark Kent rediscovers his best friend! This polybagged edition may contain “Krypto’s Golden Biscuit” hidden inside, and if it does, you could win one of two trips to attend the World Premiere of the new Superman movie in Los Angeles!

After you’ve read the first appearance of Krypto, read the new origin of Krypto, the Last Dog of Krypton from Ryan North and Mike Norton. Who’s a good boy? Krypto’s a good boy! Spending his days living the best life a dog could have, naps with baby Kal-El, walkies with Lara, being fed by Jor-El, Krypto is oblivious to the destructive changes of his home planet. With the Science Council ignoring Jor-El’s warnings, he starts experimenting, and Krypto is his first live subject for a rocket test flight. Find out how Krypto ends up on a strange new planet called Earth. Long before he stands beside Superman, find out what his early years on Earth were like for this Superdog!

What a great week for animal comics! Wonder Woman #22 is the prelude to “The Island of Mice and Men” with the Mouse Man taking over Washington D.C. with a mischief of mice! Giant mice! Tiny mice! All adorable mice! It’s a wonderful interlude with guest artist Caitlin Yarsky, and Tom King writes a sweet early interaction between Diana and Steve.

SMALL PRESS COMICS

Awakening in a seedy motel room, science fiction writer Benjamin J. Carp has no knowledge of how he came to be there. Especially since he died in 1982. Welcome to a cosmic quest exploring the hallucinatory second life of an author who must now unravel his greatest mystery yet: himself. A three-issue mini, from writer Ben H. Winters and artist Leomacs, about a prolific writer who imagined our future in 2025, but never imagined he would actually become a part of it. Carp’s writing pushed the boundaries of reality, and now his reality is blurring with his fiction. Knowing he died, he does not know why he has been “reborn”, but there are strange things that are familiar, things that he imagined, things he wrote. Now it’s time for him to revisit his past works to find the answer as to why? Why has he returned? Why in this time? Why the parallels between fiction and this new reality? Existential weirdness in the tradition of A Scanner Darkly and Inherent Vice, asking “Who am I?”, “What am I?”, “Why am I?”