Hi there Comic Shop Friends! This week is pretty quiet, so here are a couple of reminders, and then on to some new books!

There are still a few more days to donate to the 988 Lifeline. All our dollar book sales will be donated, and it looks like we’re on track to make that total well over $2000! Thank you to all of you who have picked up dollar books this month. I’ll be heading to Pittsburgh this Saturday to drop off our donation at Eddie P Comic Con.

Ed Piskor’s family, @ed_piskors_legacy and @eddipcomicon on Instagram, have organized a local con in honor of Piskor, and are raising money for the 988 Lifeline during the event. We’re putting together a raffle basket to donate to their raffle, in addition to the dollar book funds we’ve raised. I’ll be there all day, and John may be stopping by later. Cartoonist Kayfabe-ers Jim Rugg and Tom Scioli will be in attendance, along with a bunch of indie creators and vendors! It looks like it’ll be a fun time, so if you have nothing going on this Saturday the 24th, head up to Pittsburgh and check it out!

MARVEL COMICS

Two Yautja brothers battle for control of a planet to use as hunting grounds, and for their father’s approval. One is favored and given a “godmetal” spear. The other, smaller, but cunning, has a plan in place to find the source of what Earth calls Vibranium. Now Wakanda, and Black Panther, find themselves in the Predator’s crosshairs! Who will prove stronger when Black Panther faces an adversary whose resources rival Wakanda’s? Written by Benjamin Percy, with art by Chris Allen, Sean Damien Hill, and Lee Ferguson.

Jonathan Hickman and Greg Capullo join forces for a Wolverine story like no other! And there’s a Red Band Edition! The non-polybagged regular version is plenty bloody as it is, so what will that explicit one have?! Ten days after Asteroid M burned in Earth’s atmosphere and caused the largest E.M.P. in history, the Northern Hemisphere is dark. Except for one place controlled by the Brotherhood. Wolverine’s Savage Land vacation is interrupted by Nick Fury, who wants to recruit Logan on a mission to take control of the only cold fusion reactor, and save the planet. When the team comes across Wolverine’s foes, and former friends, his thoughts turn to one thing: revenge!

DC COMICS

DC has two Absolute Power tie-ins this week with Superman #17, and Wonder Woman #12!

Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell take Superman and Zatanna down a dark path, as the two make their way through the magic underground in search of the Map of Mordru, with Waller’s goons not far behind. Are they willing to make a deal with the devil in order to save the world? Meanwhile, in Metropolis, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor try to stay one step ahead of the Peacemakers and Waller, but it might be harder with Luthor’s memory loss. Another solid entry in the Absolute Power story.

And the best of the Absolute Power tie-ins returns with Damian Wayne and Diana Prince teaming up! Your new dynamic duo is Robin and Wonder Woman, and they’re trying to find the location of Waller’s secret base. They have different methods to get the answer out of Boomerang Man, mostly involving dangling, with some blooming onions, but who will prove successful? And you know the Trinity back-up story is awesome. Damian, Jon, and Trinity take a 73-day trip through the cosmos to take down the Mongul of Infinite Earths before he becomes too powerful. What could go wrong?

And speaking of Tom King, his and artist Jeff Spokes’s new Jenny Sparks Black Label mini-series starts this week! A doctor, a judge, a bartender, an agent, and a professor walk into a bar… followed by Captain Atom. Jenny Sparks is the one person tasked with keeping all the superpowered beings in line, and now that Captain Atom has gone rogue, she’s the only one who can stop him. But what do those five strangers have to do with the fate of the world? “I’m Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century. And like that fun hundred years, seems like I’m not quite done with you @#$%@s.” Welcome to the 21st Century!

SMALL PRESS COMICS

Image has an oversized first issue of the eight-issue series from Lee Loughridge and Andrew Robinson, Standstill. If you could stop time, what wouldn’t you do? For Ryker Ruel, it turns out there’s nothing he wouldn’t do. In possession of a top-secret device that can freeze time, he gets vengeance for those wronged, when he’s not stealing famous works of art, robbing banks, pulling pranks, and very generously tipping waitstaff. He’s not all bad, but what’s the endgame for this enigmatic clinically insane sociopath? With the bodies of world leaders starting to pile up, the Pentagon brings in the only person who may be able to stop Ruel, Colin Shaw, the mild, self-doubting creator of the original device.

A four-issue mini from writer James Robinson and artist Scott Kolins, in the tradition of slasher horror movies! Young Patra is our final girl, the only survivor of her family’s massacre. Waking up alone in the woods with no memory of what happened, she finds a mask and knife appear when she’s in danger. The local sheriff learns of escaped killer Jeremy Jones from Dr. Dakari, and must stop him before he kills again! If you like the lore of the Halloween films, or recent horror comics like Maniac of New York, The Nasty, and Where Monster Lie, pick this one up!

The comic companies are gearing up for spooky season! Vault has a creepy new title from Son M. and Madcursed! “My best friend is the Devil,” says Eddie Miller. Best friends since childhood, she and Rainer spend their small-town days sleeping in, and their nights working at a gas station. Every day is pretty much the same. But Eddie is having strange dreams, and local girls have started to go missing. When her younger sister, Charlotte doesn’t come home one night, someone strange stops by the gas station, warning that someone is “coming to get me”, and “don’t let them take her, too.” Eddie and Rainer are pulled into a desperate hunt to find Charlotte, “And I know that Rainer is the devil. Whether he means to be or not.” Will Rainer’s nature help them in the search? Or is he the something wicked?

We’re giving out the first issue for free thanks to Vault’s program to get their new series into your hands! If you like it, make sure to add it to your pull list so we order enough of the following issues. I read an advance preview and added it to mine, so I think it’s worth checking out!