Hello Comic Shop Friends! I’m back!

Thanks to John for taking over the newsletter, and thanks to Ben, Kevin, John Shearer, Raf, John, and Zoe for covering while I was out. I’ve got a huge stack of comics to catch up on (All those Absolute titles!) and work to keep up with (Libraries need their comics too!), so this will be a quick update this week!

First, two events coming up this week!

We’ll be setting up at the West Side Market again on Sunday, September 14th, from 10am to 2pm, handing out free Superman comics to the masses in conjunction with the Cleveland Public Library and other local literacy groups! John and Ben will be there, so go grab some free books from them!

Then, Thursday the 18th is Late Nite Comics! 8pm to midnight! Dollar books! 50% off back issues!

And mark your calendars for Batman Day on Saturday, the 20th, and Local Comic Shop Day on Saturday, the 27th! More details coming soon.

MARVEL COMICS

Frank Castle is back. He has no memories, doesn’t even remember his name, but he remembers pain, and the instinct to survive. Waking shot up and bloody on a burning boat filled with dead bodies and a drug shipment, Punisher knows only that he can’t be caught or killed. His search for answers will be vengeful and violent in this blood-soaked Red Band title from Benjamin Percy and Julius Ohta! With Kingpin on his own quest to clean up the city, and Tombstone dead set on revenge for the destroyed drugs, Castle will have his work cut out for him.

Hey, Danny Rand is back too! Danny Rand was killed, but can an Immortal Iron Fist truly be killed? Literally climbing out of the Underworld and out of his grave, Iron Fist is back in New York to defeat the Ch’i-Lin, the killer of all Iron Fists. Someone is guiding him on a quest for vengeance, but who? Will he learn the truth of the prophecy behind his death? He’ll have to battle his way through the city and the Ch’i-Lin wraithlings first! Written by Jason Loo, with art by Fran Galan.

It’s the kickoff of the new X-Men event! Taking place in the direct aftermath of the original Age of Apocalypse’s finale, X-Men of Apocalypse brings those X-Men into the main Marvel Universe, coming into conflict with their classic counterparts, forever impacting both team’s destinies! Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo start off with this Alpha issue, which sets up the mission of these X-Men as they learn their timeline had splintered off, and they must correct it! This is a good refresher on who these Age of Apocalypse X-Men are, and primes the story that will continue through the new X Years Later X-Men titles and the new X-Men of Apocalypse mini-series coming in November. We have a list on the counter if you want to sign up for those!

DC COMICS

I did read last month’s incredible Bane issue of Absolute Batman Monday night so I could be ready for issue #12! Like Ben said in one of the recent Tuesday night videos, “Is the Absolute Universe okay?” Things are getting bad, bad, and more bad… Batman’s allies are falling and he has no idea what the Ark M Project has actually done to him.

Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo present an all-new take on the legend of Camelot! The time has come for new heroes, and seven kids in the Hollywood Hills are about to become the Children of the Round Table. Almost crushed by a gigantic stone falling from the sky, they are thrown into a new life where ancient myths become real, magical weapons speak, and evil Mordred’s power is growing. It’s a fun all-ages friendly book about friends that are trained by myths, and destined to be legends!

From the events of H2SH comes DC’s first in-continuity ongoing Red Hood series! Writer Gretchen Felker-Martin and artist Jeff Spokes send Jason Todd down to New Angelique and into a terrible conspiracy involving the city’s police, and something, or someone, called The Tower. Videos are circulating of victims saying “The Tower says hello” before they die, and they’re all connected to the NAPD. Red Hood uses a connection with local superhero Royale to gather information, but when their meeting goes bad, he may be on his own to figure out who is targeting the police. Will Huntress’s arrival help him? Or is she there to stop him? Out of Gotham, but not out of Bullets!

SMALL PRESS COMICS

The debut title from new publisher Ignition Press is about to make you think twice before you start your next new true crime podcast! Podcast listeners are noticing a new show in their feed, Dead Sounds, but when they start to listen something happens. They find themselves overtaken by an urge to murder. Mina and her friends, Rene, Josie, Alice, and Blythe are all true crime fans, meeting to discuss their favorite podcasts, but when a woman in their town kills her husband with no memory of what she’s done, the friends start to get pulled into the mystery. With Josie’s police officer spouse Nika working on the disappearance of a Senator, there’s more going on below the surface than any of them could ever know. What will happen when their true crime hobby becomes something that infects, and affects, their real lives? Written by Jeremy Haun, with art by Mike Tisserand.