It’s October Comic Shop Friends! Time to get spooky! Need some horror read recommendations? Ask us! We have plenty to suggest to you!

This coming Sunday the 5th John will be set up at the Cleveland Comic Book Show! 10am to 4pm! This is what used to be the Harper show, now run by Six Nicks, and it’s the shop’s first time setting up with them. Stop out!

Stay tuned for more details about October’s Late Nite Comics on the 16th, and Halloween Comics Fest later this month! Work them into your Halloween plans!

MARVEL COMICS

You know him from the Spider-Verse animated films, and he’s about to have a live action television show, and now he’s in his very own comic – it’s Spider-Man Noir! Peter Parker is a P.I. by day and masked vigilante by night, but after his multiversal adventures, things are not so swell back home. He’s behind on rent, about to be evicted, Aunt May’s health is getting worse, Mary Jane just dumped him, and now he’s fighting the Scorpion Gang. At least he has a new client. Gwendolyn Stacy hires Peter to find out who killed her father, but neither of them is going to like the truth. Erik Larsen and Andrea Broccardo have created a fun period piece with this five-issue mini-series.

This Marvel Voices one-shot celebrates Hispanic and Latin America Heritage Month with two stories about the current White Tiger, Ava Ayala. Returning to her old neighborhood, Ava is forced to confront the murder of her parents, the death of her brother and former White Tiger, Hector, and the connection to the mystical power given by the amulets she wears. Ava is “Reborn” in writer Daniel Jose Older and artist Bruno Abdias’s story. Then, listen to the “Song of the Coqui” from Cynthia Pelayo and Maises Hidalgo. Both Ava and her estranged niece Angela Del Toro have dreams of Hector and the sound of the Coqui frogs. What does it mean? When Roxxon tries to silence a meeting revealing their illegal building in Puerto Rico, the two women must come together again.

For someone who doesn’t keep up with, and has a hard time getting into, X-Men books, I thought this was a surprisingly good start to the Age of Revelation event! It’s setting up the world well, and things are happening! X years later, Cyclops wakes, his mind in a ten-years-older body. He cannot believe that Doug has become Revelation, and that mutants have caused the world to become what it is. He’ll quickly learn to believe what Magneto has told him is true. This future team of X-Men are starting a rebellion, while a leak within threatens Revelation. Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman kick off the main event in the Age of Revelation!

DC COMICS

This is the book to pick up this week! The Absolute Universe has been going strong for a year, and this one-shot from writer Al Ewing and artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Nesi is like the Absolute Annual. Expanding on the past, introducing new characters, and with some “Oh crap!” moments, this is setting up the next year of conflicts in the Absolute Universe. The emergence of superheroes has changed the world, and it’s caught the attention of the people who run it. You’ve met them in the current titles, but Ra’s al Ghul, Veronica Cale, Elenore Thawne, Hector Hammond, and the Joker are finally uniting with a common goal. To maintain control and turn the common people against the heroes, these hardcore villains are turning to new ways of thinking, and new partnerships, including someone we had been wondering about…  Grab it for the multiple first appearances in the Absolute Universe!

Also this week, Absolute Superman #12 and Absolute Green Lantern #7! We have all the reprints we can stock currently in the shop, so let us know if you’re missing an issue, or want to start reading the Absolute Universe!

Eight stories full of horror and Halloween fun! We have, of course, Zatanna in “The Greatest Magician There Ever Was” by Lyndon Radchenka and John McCrea, where a coffin escape trick takes Zatanna to the Forest of Lost Souls. Can she use her knowledge to escape?

Batman cannot escape a cycle of violence in Roberto Recchioni and Luigi Cavenago’s “Ouroboros.”

My favorite of the anthology is Daniel Warren Johnson and Riley Rossmo’s Plastic Man story “Full-Size Bars”, where something is happening to the kids who eat the candy Plastic Man hands out.

Alex Galer and Daniel Bayliss put The Warlord in an impossible choice that would end his life one way or another in “In Your Eyes.”

The Demon is “Splitting Heirs” as he learns he’s next in line to a throne in Hell when Malgra and her imps show up to assassinate him. Written by Cavan Scott, with art by Don Aguillo.

Swamp Thing and Constantine team-up to stop a werewolf in “What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse” from Andrew MacLean.

Raven stays to patrol when the rest of the Titans go out to party on Halloween, and it’s a good thing because “The Trick-Or-Treater of Gladestone Street” has returned and has abducted a child. Story and art by Rowan MacColl.

Make sure you read all the stories before you enter “The Haunted Comic!” Ambush Bug has a mystery to solve and the only way is to take a trip through all of this anthology’s tales to look for clues! By Callie C. Miller and Megan Huang.

From the DC All In Special to now, it’s all been leading to this! The race is on to save the future, but all futures lead to Darkseid. Joshua Williamson and Yasmine Putri present the prelude to the biggest event of the year – DC K.O.! Time Trapper is on the run from Darkseid’s Legion and Booster Gold has been saved by Superman. Now they’ve gathered everyone at the Watchtower in order to learn how to stop Darkseid’s conquest and the only hope of survival lies with the Justice League. Taking Booster Gold and Flash into the far future, Time Trapper reveals the extent of the destruction of time, and they learn what may be the key to stopping Darkseid. If you’ve been keeping up with the DC Universe since All In started, this is the bridge to what’s coming next. If you’re just getting into DC K.O., this is the primer as to what led to this point.

SMALL PRESS COMICS

This new ongoing series from writer Frank J. Barbiere and watercolor artist Morgan Beem is a story about the stories that shape us, and their power over us. Professor Hector Ramirez is a writer, inspired by a fantasy book series that defined his childhood, but his writing career has been unsuccessful. Until he’s presented with an opportunity. A popular but extremely problematic writer Deborah Luckwell (obviously based on she-who-will-not- be-named) wants to meet with him, and has a proposal. She has recently acquired the work and estate of E.L. Vossler, and she needs Hector to write with her to revive the author’s unpublished books. But there is something dark lurking within those stories, and it seems it’s spilling out into reality. With a million-dollar payday dangling like a carrot, Hector takes the offer, and his teenage kid, Al, to the Vosser estate, not knowing how close to the work of his favorite author it will bring him.

This is an oversized one-shot collecting three short stories from David Brothers and Nick Dragotta. “Good Devils” is a manga inspired tale of two sisters living different lives in the post apocalypse who have to battle each other. “Fight Like Hell” is one man who fights to survive. Literally. Even when he ends up in heaven. “Go Back” is a multi-chapter tale of a young man who steals a wallet from the wrong person. Can he escape New York? Super stylized, action packed, and well worth the $5.99!