Poyo’s Spec & Drek for December 9th, 2020

Welcome to this weeks spec and drek. This is where we pick the winners each week we think will be spec worthy, a great read or just cool looking art on the cover. I also dive into the pesky drek, the book you should probably avoid if you can or perhaps not invest so heavily into.

DC Picks

Like last week, another Tales from the Dark Multiverse makes my top pick for DC.

Flashpoint was a popular storyline and that’s the purpose of these new Tales with the evil twist to them. I’ve been enjoying them since I’m not really enjoying much else DC is putting out these days.

Tales From the Dark Multiverse Flashpoint #1

The return of Sweet Tooth should have fans picking up the new followup series. Sweet Tooth The Return #2 hits stands this week.

For all you Peach fans, there’s a Batman Black And White #1 Variant done by her. Not sure how I feel about this one myself. It looks like Vampirella wearing Doctor Strange’s cape..  Hmmm..

Still a must for you hardcore Peach fans..



Marvel Picks

First one goes to the new Miles Morales Gaming 1:10 Variant that has the new Tinkerer on the cover. Has fans seeking this one out, despite it being on a non-Miles book and she’s only in the video game, still one I think for the PC cause eventually she’ll make it into the comics potentially..

Amazing Spider-Man #54 1:10 Variant

Captain Marvel is a series that’s seen a lot of new characters and love on the secondary market. None are gonna make you millionaires but a lot of these I think are grab and stash, these characters seem like they’ll be sticking around and used more often in the future across the Marvel Universe.

So Captain Marvel #24 is a must pickup for me (well, I pre-ordered this one).

Avengers #39 kicks off the new Enter the Phoenix story line. Here’s to hoping Jason Aaron can revive what I think is a character that just sort of falls flat nowadays from it’s heydays when first introduced.

From the solicitation, looks like some retcon is gonna happen though so if you don’t like the publishers changing the property they own..  well, maybe you should just skip this one.

It’s either going to be good or a dud. So hopefully Aaron has some surprises up his sleeves for this story arc. This one might end up being the surprise spec hit this week depending on how the market reacts of what’s inside. (saw some eBay listings already trying to bump this one to $7.99 and such on a quick lookup..  )



Indie And Small Publisher Picks

Cannot go without mentioning TMNT The Last Ronin #1 2nd printing right? Already selling out at some online retailers despite it going to have a huge print run (IDW already released some details) and there’s even a Thank You Variant that might have some scrambling for.

Some shops might accidentally throw the Thank You (yes, it happens) in the mix of normal 2nd prints so be on the hunt, that’s the book you try and grab at cover to flip.


Not a whole lot coming out of Image this week but there is Crossover #2, the new Cates indie book where he’s making waves with big promises on twitter (take it with a grain of salt if you must, it’s just marketing folks, no reason to get your panties all knotted up on what creators say to get people to buy their stuff) for issue #3 and issue #6. Leaks seem to point to possibly Spawn showing up and some are saying it could be Shogun Warriors (go join the forums, we got all kinds of discussions going on…  )

I actually read this one already and I must say, I’m enjoying it so far. If you all want a sneak peek preview, just holler and I’ll post it.

The other Image book on my checkout list is Home Sick Pilots #1. I got an advanced preview to read but have yet to read it. Maybe I’ll throw it up as a sneak peek preview as well before Wednesday.

Not a lot of smaller indie books this week. Aftershock has the new Piecemeal Prestige One Shot that’s by Cullen Bunn that looks interesting. If you like horror, you should put this on your list of check out books.

We Live #1 gets a 3rd printing. I really wish Aftershock created new cover art for these, would make them way more appealing. But it is all about the story as well..  which is a great story. So if you missed the first and second printing, grab a 3rd printing to pick up and read.




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

The book to avoid or not fall victim to in buying at ratio inflated prices.

Nothing really stands out as an obvious avoid. Perhaps my golden advice of don’t fall into the hype if there’s any FOMO. If you missed out, just move on, there will be more opportunities.

12 thoughts on “Poyo’s Spec & Drek for December 9th, 2020”

  1. Avengers 39.. Origins of the 1st EVER PHOENIX, Phoenix 1,000,000 BC !
    Just like the Origins of the 1st Iron Fist , Ghost Rider, etc etc I ordered 5 copies of this.
    I got my 5 short boxes each getting a copy.

  2. Pretty stoked for Home Sick Pilots, so I hope it lives up to the preview pages I saw. I was in high school in the mid 90’s so this is like my referential wheelhouse.

  3. I’m definitely looking forward to Homesick Pilots.
    Imho, buy anything We Live. That book is off to a fantastic start!
    I can’t wait to see what awaits those 5000 kids at the end of their journey.
    Both books could turn out to be duds. Time will tell, I guess.
    Red Mother is one of the best books of the year.
    Mountainhead is one of my favorites, too; Lovecraftian horror done extremely well.
    Byte Sized looks very interesting, if you liked Short Circuit, or the like.
    One of my favorite comics being released, currently, is Offworld Sci-Fi Double Feature. It is more adult oriented, perhaps, but the art and execution are stellar.
    I have high hopes for Crossover, too.

    1. I missed the first issue of Offworld Sci-Fi so I was just hoping to catch it when the trade is released.

      And yes, We Live so far is one of my favorite reads currently, at least for brand new titles.

      1. “Hazel”, by Collin Fogel, is the ongoing story line, as far as I can tell, in Offworld… His art is unlike anything that I have been familiar with up to this point. I dig the hell out of it. The story is futuristic cyber squad fare. There have been a couple of other stories that have been published on the flip-side of the book, as well, that have had really nice art and cool stories.
        Antarctic Press publishes a few books that are brilliantly entertaining.
        I miss having, at least, semi-regular issues of Punchline (not DC’s version). That book has class and charm; relics, these days.
        I haven’t heard anyone that read We Live give it a bad review.
        E-Ratic lived up to the hype train, imho, from this past week, as well, in case anyone missed it. That was a near perfect first issue.

        1. “I miss having, at least, semi-regular issues of Punchline (not DC’s version). That book has class and charm; relics, these days.”

          That’s one of the many problems with Antarctic Press, severe delays between issues, really kills the momentum.

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