Hello Comic Shop Friends!

We have one event coming up in January, and it is a big one!

The Late Nite Comics Purge will commence at 8pm on Thursday January 16th. All crime will be legal for – oh wait, that’s not right… All back issues will be 50% off for four hours. We will be dragging out as many dollar stock boxes from the storage unit as we possibly can and from 8pm to midnight you can participate in the 2025 Purge! Fill a long box of dollar stock for only $75! We’re using 300 comics as the definition, so books must be bought in increments of 300 to get that Purge savings! This is absolutely a once-a-year event, so make sure you come out! Get ready to dollar dive!

MARVEL COMICS

Time for another Disney What If! What if the classic Disney characters were Marvel’s first family? Mickey Fantastic! Minnie Invisible! Donald Thing! Goofy Torch! After being hit with cosmic rays on an amusement park ride, the four friends become the Fantastic Four, and they’ll need those incredible powers if they’re to defeat Mole Pete and stop him from destroying Duckberg. Another fun all-ages entry into the Disney/Marvel titles, written by Steve Behling and Riccardo Secchi, with art by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio.

It’s What If week! The second of the Galactus Transformed one-shots! At Gambit’s lowest point, Galactus gifts him with the Power Cosmic and names Gambit as his herald. Gambit’s not about to let Galactus tell him what to do, because he finally has the power to enact his vengeance against those that wronged him. Galactus is not about to let Gambit do anything, except for what he wants. And what Galactus wants is a planet. Specifically, a planet the Collector has, and now Gambit is forced to steal it! It’s a cosmic heist from writer Josh Trujillo and artist Manual Garcia.

Something has awakened beneath the Alaskan ice. Something ancient. Something that is taking mutants. Something that will have to deal with Magik. Ilyanna is plagued by nightmares, haunted by Darkchild and her time in Limbo. Wanting to protect her X-Men teammates, she strikes out on her own to find out what’s behind the disappearances, and quickly learns someone has sent demons to abduct mutants, and intends to use them to release Liminal. Writer Ashley Allen and artist German Peralta send Magik on a globe-trotting, demon hunting adventure with new allies and a mysterious evil.

DC COMICS

In between his duties as the King of Atlantis, Arthur Curry is learning to use his new hydrokinesis powers, and things seem to be settling back to normal in the wake of Absolute Power. Until Jackson Hyde finds a strange pearl that seems magical, and water-construct kaiju start to emerge on Earth’s shores. Desperate to end the tedium of endless meetings and trivial complaints that fill his days as King, Aquaman rushes to defend the land from these massive monsters. But who is behind their creation? Is it all a distraction to pull him away from Atlantis? This is not the story of Arthur Curry as a boy, a hero, a lover, or even a king. This is the story of Arthur Curry as a God Killer! Writer Jeremy Adams and artist John Timms go All In with Aquaman!

Dude. Dude. Please read this book if you aren’t. Another excellent issue of Absolute Batman, digging into the origin of this Batman and building on his childhood relationship with his father. With guest artist Gabriel Walta, Scott Snyder shapes the Absolute Batman backstory, setting up his skills, and expanding on Gotham’s criminal element. I love how the actual characteristics of bats are being used to shape Bruce’s alter ego, and move from a gimmick into actual tactical elements. He’s learning and building from a baby bat into the beefy bat we’re seeing in the main story. This gets to the core of who Batman is, and gives us a Batman of the people.

SMALL PRESS COMICS

Tales of magic and mayhem reign in the Cruel Kingdom! Oni and EC present EC’s first ever dark fantasy anthology! Featuring four bloody and barbarous tales in one cursed tome of a first issue:

Bathe your eyeballs in the “Blood of the Robo King”, as our liege brutalizes the Horde! Writer Greg Pak and artist Leomacs give us an alternate future full of decapitations and eviscerations!

Hobbit-like Bramble Berrydew meets some “Friendly Visitors” in Al Ewing and Kano’s tale of science and sorcery! “Once one is in place, the other cannot challenge it.”

Once upon a time, there were “Death and Pickaxes” in this dark fairy tale of the last dwarf to keep watch over a sleeping princess. From Chris Condon and Charlie Adlard.

Only one man can usher in the New Age. A great man who can pull the blade from “The Demon’s Face.” But one young woman wants to try her hand in writer Ben H. Winter and artist Andrea Mutti’s prophecy.

Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, the duo who gave us Eight Billion Genies, are giving us some Lucky Devils! What happens when a young Philosophy professor, Cam, and a put-upon nurse, Starr, discover they have their own personal demons? Trying to be good people doesn’t seem to be working out for either of them, and one night they find out why – Collar and Rake have been tasked with pushing wrath and envy on the humans to turn them bad. But it’s just not working, and as a last resort, the devils reveal themselves to strike a deal to make themselves, and Cam and Starr, more powerful. “They tell us there’s a chance to move up, get… the good life. It’s a lie. We all do the same shit every day knowing in our guts it’ll never really change.” There’s about to be a revolution, and it’s starting in Hell.

For those true crime and serial killer fans out there, Kyle Starks and Patrick Piazzalunga present a new crime series, chock full of crime podcasts, failed investigations, secret lives, creepy polaroids, and blood, blood, blood! A recent episode of the Too Many Serial Killers podcast reveals that two current serial killers have confirmed kills within reach of the state record. The Lady Killer, who murders young brunette women and leaves their headless corpses for the police, and the Home Intruder, who murders people in their own homes, seemingly at random. Coming across the Home Intruder breaking into a house, the Lady Killer decides to assist and proposes a contest. A contest to see who can set the new record for most confirmed kills. After watching the Creep Tapes recently, I’m in the mood for a fun serial killer story, and this fits that mood!