Andrea’s Puny Picks for 09.27.2023
Hey Comic Shop Friends! Thanks to everyone who came out for the Phillip Kennedy Johnson signing! It was a great time, and we do have some signed posters left for $30 each.
We’re “a top shelf store with awesome staff”! But you all knew that already.
Also pictured with the staff are Valentino from the Cleveland Public Library, Dawn, who runs Comics at the Corner, a Cleveland literacy group bringing comics to the people to promote reading (Follow @comicsatthecorner on Instagram), and Dennis Dooley, who wrote the Superman at Fifty books in the 1980s.
I’m puny!
And thanks to the Cleveland Public Library for hosting all these events! Check out Superman’s Cleveland for what’s coming up in October. Support your local library!
The CPL, Cleveland Reads (Ask John Shearer for more info on that! He’s an ambassador!), Comics at the Corner, and John Dudas were part of an event last Sunday at the West Side Market, where thousands of free books were given out!
Here’s John’s set up at the West Side Market.
And our friend and comic writer Chad Bilyeu was also there, doing a comic-making drop-in, so he stopped by the shop and dropped off the newest issue of The Re-Up! We got the scoop that he’s planning a hardcover collection of Chad in Amsterdam and that The Re-Up #4 is coming soon!
We’re prepping for the October signings, so we have a box of back issues from Mark Waid, Sina Grace, and Sarah Kuhn.
And hardcovers and trade paperbacks are on the rec wall!
It’s just over two weeks until Mark Waid is here on Friday, October 13th, for his signing from 5 pm to 8 pm; yes, it’s 5 pm now! (A little treat for our regular Comic Shop customers.) Followed by the trivia showdown with members of the shop staff and a team led by Cleveland comic historian Mike Sangiacomo from 8 pm to 10 pm.
Then, Sina Grace will be here on Friday, October 20th, from 6 pm to 8 pm, and Sarah Kuhn will be signing on Friday, October 27th, from 6 pm to 8 pm.
We’ll also be set up at the Jeff Harper Show on October 1st from 10 am to 4 pm.
MARVEL COMICS
It’s the Contest of Chaos Finale! Something strange is happening in the Bermuda Triangle, and Agatha Harkness is behind it. The Avengers are pitted against the winners of the chaos battles while Agatha works to create the new Darkhold, and the team must choose between saving their friends or stopping the Darkhold. And, of course, the magic has consequences that no one imagined. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Alberto Foche and Alvaro Lopez.
Issue #2 is here! We all loved issue #1 of Kyle Starks and Jesus Hervas’ Marvel Unleashed, and this one has Throg! And Bats the Ghost Dog! It’s more adorable animals taking care of business by fighting Kraven and taking on the demon Blackheart. But can they free Lockjaw and stop Blackheart from unleashing the Tenth Circle of Hell on Earth?
DC COMICS
Power Girl Special writer Leah Williams returns for the new ongoing series, with artist Eduardo Pansica! A long-dormant Kryptonian threat has returned, and according to Superman, it’s up to Power Girl to stop it. Now she has to reconnect with her Krypton roots to save the world from a deadly virus. While also debuting her new alter ego, Dr. Paige Stetler, at a benefit, almost starting a war with the Atlanteans and making sure Streaky has his snacks. (Is having a boob window in your incognito dress, when you have one on your superhero costume, a good idea though?)
Si Spurrier and Mike Deodato Jr.’s new Flash series is racing into a new era! Wally West’s understanding of his powers is expanding, and now he can feel that something is off with the Speed Force. It’s not supposed to hurt. Max Mercury is training Impulse, but something is trying to communicate with them through time. A mysterious Indigo Streak has appeared. Linda Park-West is dealing with being the stillest member of her family. Wally and Linda’s children are finding strange things in their lives. And the Uncoiled are coming. Coming from the gaps between the seconds. Full of strange new ideas, new realms, and mind-shattering terrors!
SMALL PRESS COMICS
Billionaire Bob Schrunk needs his special skin cream. It’s so special it can only be harvested from humans. What’s he to do, but kidnap a bunch of people and keep them in his Rumpus Room? A new five-issue mini-series written by Mark Russell with art by Ramon Rosanas begins with Erica Hernandez showing up at his door looking for her missing sister, but Schrunk has some tricks up his sleeve, and she ends up the newest resident in the Rumpus Room. He doesn’t know Hernandez has some secrets too, and she may be the one to bring him down. (Or not. He is an evil billionaire.)
R. L. Stine is back, teaming up with artist Adam Gorham for more Stuff of Nightmares! Red Murder is the next chapter in the horror series, and this time, it’s about comic books! And murder! The Nightmare Keeper introduces us to the origin story of the comic book character Red Murder and his creator, Alex Oxaca, who has been living in obscurity for decades. Alex is a guest at a horror convention, but he’s not the only one showing up, because a real murderer is taking over the Red Murder persona. “Into the Murderverse!”
When a god is murdered, who solves the crime? Writers Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt unite with artist David Rubin for an original graphic novel, Cosmic Detective. The pull quote describes this book as “David Cronenberg and William Gibson merging body and soul with Jack Kirby.” A science fiction mystery about one detective standing in the way of the very fabric of our reality ripping apart. Is the mystery he uncovers worse than that disaster? Will his mind crack under the revelation he discovers? Can he do anything about it? And can he do it in a week?