Hello everyone. It’s FOC time again. Last week was very light on the Marvel, and heavy on the Idy’s. This week DC tags out for Marvel. Still able to put a decent list together here of what’s coming down the pipe next Month.

Curses! Foiled Again!!

Uncanny X-Men #268 Fascimile (Foil Variant)
We’ll kick off this week with a foil of the classic X-Men Jim Lee cover and Chris Claremont story. Ah, 1990…how many of you remember seeing this issue on the stands, how the colors popped and stood out against all the other books. This might have been my first X-Men book I ever purchased new off the rack. And a classic flash-back story of the first time Wolverine, Captain America and Black Widow meet, Madripor circa 1941. I still have my original copy, although it’s not exactly near mint as I’ve read it so many times over the years.

This is by no means a hard book to come buy in NM under $20. Newsstands are a different story, and I see there’s a JC Penny reprint as well which is pricey. I’m not sure why Marvel decided to Fax this book, but I’m thrilled they’re offering it up as a foil edition open order (versus giving it to a store as an excusive).

Also, more of the back story of this is told in Wolverine Origins (#’s 16-20) which is available in a TPB.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #2 Facsimile (Foil Variant)

By now you know Marvel is putting out faxes of the first Secret Wars mini, include foil variants. I know we’re all just waiting for Issue #8, but if you’re collecting the series issue #2 is up for FOC.

What if Venom #1 (Artist Foil Variant)

I’ll go into this one shot later below, but there is a foil variant available which is pretty sweet.

Another book I talk in more detail about below that has several foil variants on FOC this week. Note that it is a “gold” foil…not sure if that means a spot foil, or the whole cover will be “gold”…This one is my favorite of the open orders, though.

If At First You Don’t Succeed…Reprint

If you’ve been following my FOC articles of late, you know I spotlight these white background character later printings by Image for Void Rivals/Transformers. So I was totally expecting Duke to follow suit. And Image didn’t disappoint!

That being said, I only have so much budget to spend on these. And Destro is my guy. So I’ll be picking this one up of the three 2nd printing covers.

Moon Knight #1 has a 2nd printing. Pretty sweet cover of the “new” Moon Knight.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2nd Ptg Silva Variant)

If you’ve been living under a rock the past few days, you may not have heard issue #1 has sold out everywhere and Cover A is commanding a premium. Well, if you missed out, a 2nd printing is on the way. It does have the Green Goblin on the cover as well…although he’s somewhat blocked by the “white strip” along the spine…(I mean, wtf, huh?)

Judge These Books By Their Cover

I don’t read this book to know who this spider character is. It’s a storm breakers variant, so maybe it’s just the artist having some fun with colorful markers. It has a kind of south western/Navajo feel to it, which I think could be a cool spider-verse character.

What I can tell you is this issue will tell the origin of the Earth 65 hulk. Hopefully it’s not a “scam” like the whole “spider-boy origin” promise was…(remember Spider-Boy?)

I can’t read ASM these days. But every so often I’ll pick up a cool/original cover. Next up, “Thwip” variants!

Thunder…Thunder…Thundercats…TAOOOOOOOO!!!

More Thundercats talk to follow. Here is a cover that definitely stands out. There are also incentive foil and virgin variants of this cover too.

New Series

Spider-Punk Arms Race #1 (Kaare Andrews Variant)

I love the idea of Spider-Punk, but nothing in the solicitation gets me excited about this book. But maybe it’ll be a good read. There are a few covers worth noting. The foil was mentioned above. This is the homage cover to McFarlane’s Spider-man #1 for those who collect such things. Too bad the Toddfather isn’t the artist.

Enter the Dreamwave: the first gaming console played entirely while you sleep. The obsession of millions around the globe, it’s also the one point of solace for four friends known as the ‘Cemetery Kids,’ who spend their nights roaming the endless maps of the most brutal horror game ever created as they seek to dethrone the ‘King of Sleep’-the Dreamwave’s biggest, baddest, and most mysterious boss. Which was fun . . . until one of them doesn’t wake up and finds their consciousness locked inside a horror game that is anything but imaginary. Now, the three remaining Cemetery Kids must navigate a forbidden landscape to rescue their friend-and pray that the secret lurking at its center doesn’t follow them home.

It’s What if Freddy Krueger haunted your x-box…in Virtual Reality!

Detective Ari Nasser is about to retire until a brutal murder occurs, bearing all the hallmarks of the ‘One Hand Killer’ which should be impossible, since Ari already put him away not once, but twice in the years before. What follows is a deadly cat-and-mouse game as Ari pursues his quarry down the rain-soaked streets of Neo Novena. Ari will stop at nothing to unravel the secrets and ciphers of this case, but each revelation only leads further into the dark heart of his future-metropolis and Ari’s own beleaguered soul.

People just gotta retire sometimes. Don’t look back. But that doesn’t make a good story! Ram V. writes this one.

A murder of a Cardinal is shaking the Vatican. But this murder is so cruel and vicious that it goes far beyond any crime or conspiracy that has ever taken place in the Vatican-and that is saying something! Self-exiled priest John Brennan is recalled to Rome as the Church’s most daring exorcist. His mission is to confront the evil spreading within the walls of the Vatican itself!

Introducing Scout…Europe? This new “subimprint” focuses on European creators and formatting (whatever that means…is it a different size book?). Scout has been hit or miss. This one does sound interesting and maybe worth picking up issue #1 to check out.

Editors Note: This is one of my favorite books and is downright scary, it was previously published by Amigo Comics a few years back and we were actually quoted on the cover of the collected edition, again, well worth the read if you like scares but the original print is out there.

Coming back 30 years after the original line debuted, the return of Penthouse Comics! Featuring a wealth of talent from all across the industry telling stories in the action, thriller, and horror genres, issue #1 debuts four new ongoing tales. As always, Penthouse Comics features a bonus photoshoot and editorial!

Not one for the kids, I’m assuming. But not Penthouse Magazine either. There are A LOT of covers for this book, so I recommend picking the one you like. I personally have been a big fan of Dekal since his work on Iron Fist, so that’s the cover I’m featuring here.

The polybag NSFW variants (Not Safe For Work?) come with a free print that covers the NSFW cover. The Dekal cover is polybagged…not sure if it qualifies for NSFW (although I know I would not be allowed to put it up at work)…I’m kinda hoping it is NSFW because a print of that cover would be a sweet bonus.

Dirty D’s Pick-Of-The-Week

An ALL-NEW look at what makes the Marvel Universe’s most sinister symbiote tick, with a journey that reimagines its earliest days bonded to a host with a rage and temper ENTIRELY different from those of Eddie Brock!

At first when people started talking about this variant, I was like “whatever…it’s just another what-if book.” But She Hulk seems to be on a few of these covers and the way the solicitation reads this story is going to end up with a Hulk becoming “Venom.” And this is obviously an homage to a classic cover. Maybe even a little speculation if the book goes unnoticed this FOC.

Honorable Mentions

Skybound, in collaboration with leading toy and game company Hasbro, will publish an Energon Universe special for Free Comic Book Day. Discover three all new stories from the Energon Universe, with stunning revelations for the worlds of TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE AND Void Rivals from the biggest names in comics. Ryan Ottley serves as artist for the FCBD exclusive cover.

This book did not show up in last week’s FCBD FOC books. So this could fall under the radar for some shops and be hard to come buy. Hopefully the exclusive cover doesn’t disappoint.

Dirty D. Drek-of-the-Week

Dynamite seems to be putting it all out there in pumping their new license property! Not only do we have foils and FOC covers…some are open order and others are incentives (as high as a 1:200).

I don’t know what to make of it, other than that these are NOT new characters, so there’s likely no spec value to any of these. Don’t get caught up in the hype…pick the cover(s) you like for the PC…you can probably wait the FOMO out and get some of the higher priced ones on clearance later or heavily discounted. If you’re looking for Spec, it’s better to put your money in the Marvel US or UK series, IMO.

I’d be more excited if IDW, Image, Marvel or DC were pushing this out…I’m not sure Dynamite will do this license justice. We shall see…

Parting Thoughts

I hope everyone acquired their copies of Ultimate Spider-Man #1 at cover this week. It’s been quite the scene watching the craziness. I hear the story is good (waiting for my copy to arrive to read)…the hobby could use something fresh right now.

Have a great weekend everyone!