Welcome to December, Comic Shop Friends! As we enter the last month of the year, it’s time to give you all a reminder to come in and clear out your files. It helps us clear out stock and get any unwanted/closed file books out for seasonal shopping. It’s also a good time to update your pull lists, so we can go into the new year fresh and get you all the awesome titles you’d like!

Again, there have been delays with some shipments due to Diamond consolidating warehouses and the holiday affecting all of the distributors we use, so we are waiting on updates on some new small press titles and reorders. Thanks for your patience with this!

We will be skipping Late Nite Comics for the month of December because it would fall during the week of the Art Show, and we’re gearing up for the Holiday Party.

We are still asking for submissions for our Holiday Art Show! The theme is a homage to a classic comic book cover, and you can interpret that however you’d like. We have some great ones in already, and we gathered some new, excited participants at Genghis Con last Sunday.

Art is due back to the shop by 5pm, shop close, on Sunday December 15th, and we’ll display the art in the foyer that week leading up to our Holiday Party on the 21st.

As usual, we’ll be doing the basket raffle to drum up dollars for the Cleveland Food Bank. Once the covers are displayed, you can purchase raffle tickets and place them in the corresponding bags of the covers you’d like to win. We’ll draw the winners at the Holiday Party on Saturday the 21st.

Saturday the 21st is our annual Holiday Party! It’s 8pm to 11pm, you can take 50% off one item during the party, so treat yo elf! We’ll have refreshments and we brewed beer just for the event! We’ll be drawing the Art Show raffle winners around 10:30pm.

Our goal is to beat last year’s record of covers submitted, and of dollar amount raised for the Cleveland Food Bank. We’re pretty sure we’ve beat the prior year’s total every year, and we can’t do it again without your help. Thanks to the few people who just handed us cash at Genghis Con to add to our donation! Every single dollar raised goes directly to the Food Bank, and they’re able to turn one dollar into three meals, which is a superpower in itself!

Onto a Christmas cheer-filled new release week!

MARVEL COMICS

Who is the All-New Venom? Dylan and Eddie Brock fought for control over Venom, but neither wound up with the symbiote, who went off somewhere unknown to the Brocks. The Venom War has left New York fearful of all things symbiote, so when the All-New Venom shows up at Madame Masque’s trial, everyone’s wary. Who is the all-new host? Is it the Terrorist, Madame Masque? The Mayor, Luke Cage? The Journalist, Robbie Robertson? Or the Sidekick, Rick Jones? All the clues are laid out in Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez’s new series, can you figure out who it is before A.I.M. does?

It’s a Merry Marvel Holiday! Featuring the Fantastic Four in “’Twas the Fight Before Christmas” by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto. The Fantastic Four’s party is put on hold because Doom is stealing Christmas gifts! What is Doom doing with this year’s hot toy? Kitty Pryde is celebrating her first Hanukkah with the Uncanny X-Men! She’s running out of time to get them all gifts, with every night being full of Sentinels, Arcade, Doom, the Brood, the Hellfire Club, and some time spent in the Savage Land in a “Festival of Fights”! Written by Daniel Kibblesmith, with art by Pat Olliffe. Miles Morales is setting his New Year’s “Resolutions”, in Gene Luen Yang and Dylan Burnett’s story. But his plans for New Year’s Eve don’t go as planned, when Hydro-Man and Spider-Man crash the party!

DC COMICS

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg… in DC’s holiday anthology with eight new short stories! John Stewart learns “Santa’s Oath” in Dorado Quick and M.L. Sanapo’s story. Who in the Secret Six is Bane’s “Secret Santa”? Find out in this tale from Drew Maxey and Marianna Ignazzi. John Constantine deals with the “Ghosts of Christmas Present” from Ricardo Sanchez and Aaron Conley. The Joker learns what Gotham City would be like without him in “It’s a Criminal Life” written by Alexis Quasarano, with art by Marcial Toledano Vargas. There’s a “Deadman Walking” in Marv Wolfman and Paul Pelletier’s story about a Christmas Eve mine collapse. Dr. Mid-Nite has a “Silent Nite” by James Reid and Francesco Francavilla. Vixen is searching for “The Perfect Gift” for Ben, from Zipporah Smith and Andrew Brilon. Finally, warm your heart, and your face, with Superman in “O Glowy Night”, written by Calvin Kasulke, with art by Anthony Marques. There’s something for every DC fan in this special one-shot!

Who better to prove a criminal’s innocence than someone who’s been on both sides of the law? Harvey’s halves have reached an uneasy peace, and now he’s a member of the White Church. An underground organization of criminals that try their own under their own laws and court, the White Church and Dent are resolving the conflicts to keep things in check. Starting with Zsasz being accused of murdering a member of the Falcone organization. Is he innocent? If so, can Harvey prove his innocence? Will a flip of the coin decide? And a young drug runner in attendance may be a catalyst to break the peace between Two-Face’s two halves.

And there’s Absolute Superman issue #2! This is a great introduction to the Absolute Lois Lane, with more details of Kal-El’s past. We will have second prints of issue #1 in soon, but the #1 Noir Edition is out this week!

SMALL PRESS COMICS

Image’s holiday horror one-shot has a collection of tales in the tradition of fireside ghost stories told on Christmas Eve. Four chilling shorts written by Jordan Hart and Chris Ryall, perfect to stuff your stocking with fear! First, the “Dead Notes” of carolers mark those that hear it for death. With art by Fabio Veras. Second, two naughty boys have “Gone Fishin’” for Santa Claus, but what they catch isn’t so nice. With art by Lee Ferguson. Third, in “Northerners”, a snowmobile accident puts Shane Lima in the path of something that’s looking for a winter snack. Art by Walter Pax. Fourth, two village children become “Krampus Slayers” to save one’s brother. Art by Jimmy Kucaj.

This new mini-series from writers Mikey Way and Jonathan Rivera, and artist Piotr Kowalski, is the most bizarre holiday comic yet. It’s been a challenging year for Peter Rockwell, with a family loss, dealing with crappy middle management at work, and a teen daughter who is pulling away. But a visit to Santa Claus at the mall with the youngest kids leaves Peter with an idea. What if Christmas was every day? He’s going to make this Christmas the best yet, and spread that feeling into all of the next year. What could go wrong with that?

The best $16.99 you can spend in the shop this week! The collection of one of our favorite new mini-series, Ain’t No Grave, from Skottie Young and Jorge Corona is out! A Western fantasy tale of love and loss, bargaining and bullets, as Ryder sets out to kill Death in order to have more time and life with her family.