Poyo’s Spec and Drek for August 1st, 2018

It’s that time again to spec and drek. We try to pick winners based on spec value potential, books to just read or simply books to tuck away in the personal collection.

Its a busy week but I dont see a lot of speculation books on tbe radar, at least the big two dont give me any impressions of such occurrences.

There are some small publisher picks I’m anticipating though for this week. Probably more reader books than heat books but you never can tell in this crazy world of comic book speculation.

DC/Vertigo Pick

Not a whole lot going on for me personally in DC this week. Just not a whole lot of spec unless there’s a hidden surprise lurking within some pages of a book.

So you can’t pass up a Mattina cover, especially one that depicts Batman holding Deathstroke’s mask. So this pick definitely goes to Deathstroke #34.

I wonder if this cover art tells us who’s going to win the battle in the Batcave?

Marvel Pick

Sometimes its hard to judge Marvel books based on descriptions alone. They certainly love the shock surprises.

So as nothing else stands out, I’m a huge Kirby art fan so I’m going with the Captain America #1 Kirby Remastered variant.

Now I don’t expect this to heat up or be a big spec book (unless Captain America has some surprises for us, the winner will still be Cover A), its one for the personal collection.

There is also a sweet looking Death to the Inhumans #2 Kaare Andrews variant one should check out. I’m not reading this title but perhaps I should since Cates is writing it. You never know what surprises he’ll have in store for readers.

Indie Pick

This pick just comes off as pure entertainment fun. Dollman Kills The Full Moon Universe #1 out from Full Moon Comix.

Kind of seems it’s poking fun at the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe and Spawn Kills the Entire Universe, at least by title.

I expect super small print runs so there coukd be some quick flip valie potential for this one but if there is, it will be brief.

From the description:

Dollman, a diminutive space-cop, is dead-set on destroying the overflowing evil creatures that inhabit his galaxy! First up? The Demonic Toys! It’s a miniature maniac versus a toy box of evil in what could be the beginning of the end for the Full Moon Universe! Grab your popcorn, because the epic destruction begins here!

Be on the lookout of the Tony Moore cover as well. If the normal copies are hard to find, the Moore variant will be even harder.

Small Publisher Pick

First up is Seeds #1 from Dark Horse Comics.

I really dig Aja’s art style so that’s the first reason this book got my attention.

Secondly, I’m fascinated by bees. I do think they play a huge part of why we humans and animals are here on earth, alive.

Thirdly, the description sold me on this book:

The bees are swarming. What do they know that we don’t? The rich have built walls around their wealth and scramble into escape rockets. The romantic and the ruthless cross over into the lawless wilds of Zone-B. A few cantankerous aliens have come to collect the last dregs of humanity’s essence for the celestial embryo bank. One of them falls in love.

Astra is an idealistic journalist who stumbles into the story of a lifetime, only to realize that if she reports it, she’ll destroy the last hope of a dying world. How far will she go to get her story? An eco-fiction tech-thriller where flora and fauna have begun to mutate, The Seeds is also a story of love beyond race and gender, and of the resilience of both human and animal kind.

I sure hope my expectations aren’t let down with this one. It’s a mini-series though.

Now on to Layman’s new book, Leviathan #1 from Image comics as my other small publisher pick.

The second half of team Chew has a new book of his own now. For me, Layman is one of those writers that seems to have a small workload of titles but that allows him to put quality writing over quantity.

You can’t go wrong with Pitarra doing art as well. Loved his work on Manhattan Projects. He carries that serious Rugrats style of drawing and art.

Poor Ryan DeLuca didn’t buy enough beer for his party, and while he was out on a beer run his idiot buddies busted out some mystical arcana and performed a summoning ceremony-a ceremony that summoned a giant monster from hell!

Seek out the B&W variants for this but don’t spend too much on them if the shops aren’t selling at cover.

Also for small publishers, pick up the new Frozen books if you see them. Seems they’re selling out online already. Could be a small gamble and quick flip potential, but don’t go heavy on these. There will be a new Frozen 2 movie coming out sometime in the future but I don’t expect these to stay hot if they do catch any heat.

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Now on with the dreaded “avoid” pick, every writer and artist worst nightmare when it comes to selling their hard work.

Any and all PX Previews from SDCC 2018 that stores could order and likely will be hitting shelves this week.

Okay, I’ll elaborate. Don’t spend over cover price for these. Don’t know about the rest of you but if you didn’t get these during SDCC and sold during or soon after SDCC, the heat (if any to begin with) will die for these quickly.

Years ago I gobbled these types of issues up thinking they were special and I could flip. I couldn’t sell any of them. I think some or more ended up in Half Price Books dumps. The one thing that really bothers me about PX Previews SDCC variants is most if not all are the same artwork we already have with the regular issues. They’re just a different color, B&W or they just slap the PX logo on the cover. You’re basically paying premium prices for ketchup condiments at McDonald’s.

I think the one going for decent money is Venom #3 but after Wednesday, watch the market closely as this could be swamped with listings and will be drowning by the end of the day. So if you do know you can score one, it’s best to list as soon as possible if you want to maximize your profit margin if that’s your intent to sell.

For you collectors, well, just disregard what I just told you to avoid and buy what you like and want.

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Just one more tidbit of news I read. I’m still playing catch up coming off 2 weeks of vacation. I’m sad to hear that Bongo Comics are ending their Simpsons long running series.

I guess sales are down low enough to not make it worthwhile in producing these books. Perhaps we should rally, create some petitions and get more people interested in these to keep them going as I enjoyed my Simpsons reads.

Although the news only mentions Bongo books and they announced Simpsons are ending at #245. No word yet if this is affecting United Plankton but it doesn’t look well if it’s ending over financials since Bongo owns and operates the United Plankton label.