Welcome to this weeks spec and drek. This is where we pick the winners each week we (or shall I say myself) 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.
Marvel Picks
Love this Kubert cover for Alien #3. Seems to already be drying up at some retailers online.
Black Panther #25 ends this current volume to setup the next volume with a new creative team. They’re ending in style though with a bunch of what I think are really cool Stormbreaker Variants. Pick the ones you love and leave it at that, these are for the personal collection I think. Here’s the list:
Black Panther #25 (Cabal Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Cassara Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Coello Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Gleason Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Momoko Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Silva Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Bustos Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Panther #25 (Carnero Stormbreakers Variant)
Black Widow #6 saw some heat and love, let’s see how this new character pans out in Black Widow #7. I’ve been loving these AH! covers as well.
Star Wars Darth Vader #12 is a title you should already be picking up. So much potential in these while also so many past hot books coming out of the Darth Vader series and volumes. I shouldn’t even have to explain reasons why one should be picking up Vader.
Star Wars Doctor Aphra #10 is another WOTBH tie-in that has potential, with Vukorah making an appearance with her Unbroken Clan coming out of the Bounty Hunters title (first appearance in Bounty Hunters #3).
X-Men #20 has the hilarious Del Mundo Variant cover. Worthy of a pickup just for that alone.
The new #1 for Marvel this week is Reptil #1. Still not sure how I feel about this one. Definitely looks like a book for the younger crowd. So it’s gonna be a total hit or miss while I get the hunch this is just Marvel experimenting with the character and concept. If you’re wondering about the first appearance, that happened in Avengers: The Initiative Featuring Reptil #1
The Del Mundo variant is pretty cool though.
DC Picks
Did you forget to pre-order Batman Fortnite Zero Point #2? Well, hopefully you can snag the 2nd printing coming out this week.
Mister Miracle is back with Mister Miracle Source of Freedom #1. We’ll soon find out if Brandon Easton can live up to Tom King’s take on the character which I think set the bar pretty high.
For you Nightwing fans, Nightwing #79 gets the second print treatment.
Indie and Small Publisher Picks
Star Wars Adventures Weapon of a Jedi #1 is a must for anyone who grew up watching Star Wars and recalling when Obi Wan told Luke that the light saber is the weapon of a Jedi. Already sold out at Midtown. Haven’t checked others but maybe shops didn’t go terribly heavy on this one since it’s got the heavier $5.99 price tag attached.
TMNT Last Ronin #3 has a great and classic homage cover. Everyone should know what this cover represents, even if they’re not big into comics. Either way, is someone going to die in this issue? Because, if you’re gonna do a homage cover like this one, the first thing that comes to mind is death for me.
Make in Korea #1 is a great read. For fans of Alex + Ada. If you’re fascinated with AI and robots becoming sentient, then this is a definite pickup I think.
Classic Pulp Ghosts #1 is a remaster of original horror and mystery. I love the concept as a fan of the old EC type of books pre-code era. Probably not heavily ordered and will not be as easy to find.
Red Shift #1 is a book I’ve been looking forward to myself. Love some Sci-Fi space drama and this one had me on Total Recall and Interstellar (the physics of Interstellar, the ending of that movie sucked donkey balls).
Now on with the dreaded “drek” pick, every writer and artists worst nightmare when it comes to selling their hard work.
The book(s) to avoid or not fall victim to in buying at inflated prices, whether it’s false demand, pump and dump or out of FOMO.
Don’t overpay for those SIKTC #16 ratios and incentives. This was the last issue to allow stores to do exclusives so the print run is going to be massive and when a crap ton of stores did exclusives, this also qualifies them for the ratio incentives. Don’t fall victim to the “limited” marketing terms some shops will use to entice you to buy, thinking their product is “Rare” or “HTF”. Only buy if you like the cover and leave it at that.
Del Mundo’s a force of nature!