Hi Comic Shop Friends! Next week we have two events coming up!

First, Thursday the 17th is Late Nite Comics! Tons of dollar stock and half off back issues! It’s the day before John’s birthday, so he’ll have something to give to everyone who shows up! Come out and wish him a happy birthday, and do some dollar diving!

Second, Saturday the 19th is Batman Day! To celebrate DC has some exclusive hardcover editions for the day, and a Batman/Absolute Batman one-shot!

We’ll be giving it away for free! Come out next Saturday and get a copy while supplies last!

MARVEL COMICS

This is one I didn’t get to read, because we had a delay with some of our shipments, but I think it’ll be worth checking out. This is another of the new original graphic novels presented in oversize hardcovers, and this one is Doctor Strange in a psychedelic trip to the Nightmare Realm, written by Kevin J. Anderson, with art from Raul Allen. From the solicitation: “Stephen Strange encounters a mysterious patient at his hospital who won’t stop raving about how life is ‘nothing but the dream of a sleeping god,’ the rest of the world is suddenly struck with insomnia. In order to prevent chaos from unfolding as the people around him become more and more desperate for sleep, Doctor Strange must embark into the mind of the madman who seems to have heralded this disaster, taking a psychedelic trip into the Nightmare Realm. Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare explores the boundary between dreams and reality, combining forces with an unlikely ally in order to end a waking nightmare that threatens to destroy the world.”

Marvel Gold celebrates characters, creators and moments from Marvel’s history that still resonate today, and this one-shot features four characters who first appeared in 1976. Star-Lord, Nova, Jack of Hearts, and Bullseye! They’re all in New York City to find one man, Elias, who has the potential to end the entire universe! A man that doesn’t miss, a living conduit of incredible power, a cosmic champion, and a quick-witted adventurer, but which one did Thanos hire to kill the target? You can probably guess, and it leads to a three against one fight for the survival of everything! Written by Stephanie Phillips, with art by Madibek Musabekov, pick one up to celebrate fifty years of these icons!

Witness the first encounter of Doctor Doom and Spider-Man! Doctor Doom is determined to bring Spider-Man to his side against the Fantastic Four! Tapping into Peter’s Spider-sense, Doom lures him into meeting, but Doom’s manipulation doesn’t work. Doom will not accept Spider-Man’s refusal, leading to traps and tricks, both scientific and magical, in order to either turn Peter to his cause, or defeat the Amazing Spider-Man once and for all! Doom will not accept failure, but there may be something he could learn from Peter Parker. This is another excellent Challenges of Doom one-shot from Al Ewing and David Messina, that expands on Doctor Doom’s early interactions with various foes, and digs into what lies beneath the mask.

DC COMICS

With Vandal Savage using all of Gotham’s police force to wage war against Batman and the Bat-family, it’s up to Jim Gordon and the last few good cops to contain the chaos on the streets! Responding to a call about a murder victim in the Gotham Arboretum, Gordan and Espinoza follow a lead to Arkham Towers, where Dr. Zeller and a prisoner are missing. Anarky pulls a heist in Chinatown, and if beat cop Baker doesn’t get the Black Fang’s money back, Savage will have her out of a job. The three cops will have their work cut out for them, as they all converge in the subway. The last trains are running, the power is cutting out, and the plants are spreading, can they catch a killer and survive the night? Find out in Christopher Cantwell and Jacob Phillips’ two-part Bad Seeds tie-in!

Absolute Batman volume three is here! Or it will be, since our delivery of the trade paperbacks was delayed. If it’s on your list, we’ll have it for you, and we’re hoping it’ll get here Wednesday. If you need one, let us know so we can add it to your file once they’re delivered! This third volume collects issues #15 – #18 of Absolute Batman, along with the 2025 Annual, and the Ark M Special! You know it’s great, you know we all recommend it, you know you need to read it!

SMALL PRESS COMICS

More Tank Girl! Originally published in Deadline Magazine in 1992, the two-part Blue Helmet story is reprinted all together here! Featuring Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and The Hairy Banana Bunch! Jack and Allen stop to help a helpless girl on the side of the road. They don’t know what shenanigans they’re in for, because they just picked up Tank Girl and Booga! It’s weird. It’s wild. It’s Tank Girl from Hewlett and Martin!

Welcome to your Forever Home. It has everything your family needs. Shelter, food, water, a robot butler to control the automated features. You’ll be safe. You’ll survive. Scientist Henry and his family are living safely in their Forever Home, protected from the world outside. Some sort of apocalypse has happened and the outside is a wasteland, and for every twenty minutes that passes inside the home, a year passes outside. As the years pass for the family, the children become bolder, exploring the parts of the home they aren’t permitted to, and the “outside people” invade the perimeter. What happens if one of them gets inside? What happens if one of the family leaves? An excellent first issue, with one heck of a meat hook at the end! This book has been getting some buzz online, and I’d say it’s deserved. Check out the first issue from writer Christian Ward and artist Sami Kivela.

The Blood Mountain franchise was a hit in both book and film forms, and to celebrate the tenth anniversary, the cast is back in Vail for a reunion, but the line about being “one big, vampy family” is only P.R. There’s bad blood between cast members, and now actual bloodshed threatens the event. Fans are being murdered, threats are being made against cast members, and the winner of the superfan contest, Taylor. Her dream of staying in the legendary house used in the films is about to turn into a nightmare. Production is keeping quiet about what is actually happening, but as the violence escalates, they’ll be forced to confront the toxic fandom lurking in the night. Someone wants to go down in Blood Mountain history, but is it a jealous fan, a shunned castmate, or someone no one would expect? Everyone has a motive. How many will have to die in the killer’s quest for immortality and notoriety? It takes a lot to kill a fandom, but building a true crime legacy could outlive the Blood Mountain franchise forever. Written by Amy Chase, with art by Savanna Mayer.

If Sunset Boulevard met Friends, and they had a baby with Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta, this comic would be that baby! The seven-issue mini-series starts with our narrator, Tim McQueen, already dead. As his former co-stars of the hit sitcom “The Six of Us” come together for his funeral, secrets start to surface. It looks like Tim died by suicide, but things aren’t exactly like they seem. As Tim recounts the highs of starring on a hit show, the darker aspects of the actors’ lives are revealed. Betrayal, desire, hidden truths. The shockwaves of Tim’s death spread to the remaining cast, and the line between their lives and their performances blur. It’s a noir sitcom mystery, dealing with ambition, grief, and the lies we tell to make it through.