Poyo's Spec and Drek for Dec. 27th, 2017

Have a Holly Jolly Wednesday..
It’s the best day of the week..
I don’t know if there’ll be shipping woes..
But here’s your last Poyo spec of the year..

Seriously, what did I say a few weeks back..  song writer in my blood. Should of been a song writer. Maybe in a past life. We should really get on with the picks of the week though.
DC/Vertigo Pick
Batgirl #18 Middleton Variant is my DC pick of the week. This is just a great cover with Harley Quinn on the cover. Middleton has his fan followers now so this one is a must for most fans. This is already selling out online so it could be hard to come by for some who don’t have shops near them.
Also out this week is DC’s Doomsday Clock #2 which should not be overlooked. This is the crossover event of the Watchmen into the DC universe.
Another book we should pay attention to is Hawkman Found #1 which is a Dark Nights Metal tie-in book. DC has a lot going on right now within their universe so we find new characters introduced and old characters coming back to life, which can impact past, present and future books potential on the spec market.
Marvel Pick
Phoenix Resurrection Artgerm Variant is this weeks Marvel pick of the week. This will be very easy to get as most shops order enough for the Artgerm demand. What will be more challenging is finding the virgin variant of this cover (see my avoids).
Amazing Spider-Man #793 is also on my radar. Spider-Man appears to have been compromised by Maniac. These could be key issues for future events and or movies.
I also can’t go without mentioning the new Star Wars The Last Jedi Storms of Crait #1 book that hits stands this week as well. If I dropped all Marvel books, Star Wars books would be the one book I likely still continue to pick up for the personal collection. Now that Disney is pumping out movies, any book and any title from the comics could turn key.
Indie Pick
Black Eyed Kids #15 is my Indie pick this week.
This is a really slow week for independent and small publisher books but here’s to hoping for a strong 2018 that is upon us.
Black Eyed Kids is one of those books that’s just been a great read though. I’ve been binge reading these (I wait for 4-5 issues to read more at a time).
You can’t also beat the fact that Francesco Francavilla does the covers for these, well, most of them.
Small Publisher Pick
X-O Manowar #10 is my small publisher pick because well, if you’re not reading this book then you are just missing out.
Matt Kindt is nailing this new series and volume. The artwork is amazing as well from Renato Guedes.
This is one of Valiants best series and characters. Now we just need a movie? Where’s our X-O Manowar movie? Are you reading this Valiant? Movie + X-O Manowar = Awesomeness.

Now on with the dreaded “avoid” pick, every writer and artist worst nightmare when it comes to selling their hard work.
This week I’m gonna tell you to avoid the Phoenix Resurrection Artgerm Virgin Variant. Unless you actually find this at cover price, do not spend a dime more on this. Think about it, let’s say you pay Midtown’s price of $212.50 after their discount on this virgin cover. From their $4.24 price tag on the regular cover, you’re paying almost 5000% premium on essentially the same cover, minus the title, barcode and price details along with Jean wearing a green outfit.
Now, not all shops are gonna try and swing $200+ for this cover but seriously. If one were to spend 5000% premium, it’d be like buying a $30k red car for 1.5 million dollars that gets you a green paint job instead of red and the shop removes the car emblems and pin stripes from it. That’s a great deal right? Wrong.
Hope everyone’s holidays were good to them. I’m happy with a few new vinyl records for the collection and some books (not comic books) to read.