Hello, CHU Nation! Welcome to another week of Dirty picks!
I always leave the intro to this article last to type…and find myself rushing to get this out as it took longer than I had planned and just want to get the information out there.
So nothing witty to start with this week. And if I keep typing I’m just delaying you from getting to the FOC picks anyway! So let’s move!
Judge These Books By Their Cover
Star Wars Thrawn Alliances #1 (2nd Printing)
Kicking this thing off with what I think is the cover of the week. A bad @$$ Thrawn cover. I did not pick up this book because of the extensive printer damage to all the covers…so looking forward to grabbing the second print that much more now. And please marvel, whatever printer press you’re using for these Star Wars books…STOP!
Star Wars #44 (Rebels 10th Anniversary Variant)
A few months back we had Clone Wars 15th anniversary variant covers for Marvel’s Star Wars titles. Now it’s Rebels turn (10th anniversary). Hera Syndulla doesn’t have too many cover appearances out there, and usually she is sharing it with other Rebels or Aphra. So that makes this cover a bit special. Next week looks to have Darth Vader #44 on FOC with a Sabine Wren cover which will pair up nicely with this one.
Just a cool Green Arrow cover. Would have made a great foil.
Great Wonder Girl cover. Could have been a spot foil. (yeah, I like foils)
This is the book DC choses provide in foil? Carla can do better, but highlighting as it’s STILL a foil cover.
Number One’s
Aliens What if #1 (Skottie Young Variant)
WHAT IF…CARTER BURKE HAD LIVED?
One of the biggest jerks in Sci Fi history. Not only putting his company’s goals above his companions’ lives, but also setting them up to get impregnated and suffer a horrible death to accomplish it. He’s the villain you love to hate, and has no superpowers (unless super-@$$ is considered one). So let’s re-imagine what would have happened if he survived! I think it’s great Marvel is expanding their What If series outside of the basic Marvel Universe. It seems lately Marvel needs multiple issues to tell these stories, as we’ll be routing for Carter’s demise for 5 issues in this story.
Multiple covers for this one. I’m featuring the Skottie Young above, because those little Xenomorphs look adorable chasing down Carter. Who’s a cute little Xeno? You are!
Savage Sword of Conan returns in magazine format, curtesy of Titan. Pages are black and white as the original as well. Likely not newsprint, though (BOOO!!!). Cover A features Joe Jusko, reminiscent of the 70s series cover art.
Look out, here comes the Wolvi-Verse! Or maybe it’ll be known as the X-Verse. Wolverines from across the multi-verse unite in this series to tackle something big (solicitation doesn’t offer much). But all you really need is two words: Zombie Wolverine. Seeing him in action trying to work with (or eat the brains of) other Wolverines may be worth the price of admission alone. Too bad he’s not featured on one of the variant covers (maybe we’ll get a 2nd print).
The Bat-Man First Knight #1 (of 3)
The year is 1939. A series of violent murders has begun in Gotham, and the recent emergence of the mysterious vigilante known as The Bat-Man has the power brokers of the city living in fear of institutional collapse. When the Bat- Man comes face to face with one of these sickening anomalies, he barely escapes with his life–throwing into question his ability to survive in a world that is brutally evolving around him!
Magazine size retelling one of Batman’s most infamous cases through the modern lens. I would not expect any speculative value, but could be a great read. I’m partial to the “Pulp Novel” variant shown below.
Potential Firsts
It looks like this issue may narrow down who “THE” Sentry is going to be. So not necessarily a first appearance, but maybe first made official announcement…or something. Yeah, I’m grasping a bit at this one. FYI – No variant covers that I’m aware of. So there’s that.
Strange gathers up Black Cat, Taskmaster and Hunters Moon to form the Secret Defenders in this issue. So first team-up (unless they snuck this in at the end of issue #12).
Also, check out Issue #14…the covers are nearly identical? Weird. Come on, Alex!
Interesting Reads
Continuing the story from SPIDER-GWEN: SMASH. What caught my attention was “the remnants of the Carnage symbiote resurfacing…in bandmate, Mary Jane!” I know covers have “Carnigized” Mary Jane, but not sure if it’s been in a story before.
Has some interesting covers, like the Zama variant (below). Not sure what’s going on exactly…Is she getting possessed by She-Ra, Princess of Power?
Giant Size Spider-Gwen #1 (Kei Zama Variant)
Death rejects Thanos once and for all, and the Mad Titan does not take it well. What follows is the most consequential fight in the history of the Marvel Universe
I’m grabbing this book for the cover, but reading the solicitation it could be foreshadowing something. What if Thanos were to take out Death and take over the role? Is that possibly what this cover is showing us? Probably not, but I think this book may be worth a spoiler the week it comes out.
Indy Spotlight Book
What if you were called upon by the WORST god of all time? In a frozen post-apocalyptic wasteland called ‘Freak Snow,’ a young cult survivor hears the voice of the self-proclaimed god of guns. Like any human would be, he is hypnotized by the prospect of power by listening to this divine freak. A path to salvation paved with love, turmoil, and mostly death.
This one stood out to me…then I saw all the variant covers…so I’m not the only one who thinks this could be a good read. It sounds weird and maybe controversial. Could be a hit. And it we can give it a shortened nickname like “Hey, did you read ‘Washed’?” Weird cover too.
Just the FAX
Wolverine Claremont Buscema #1 Facsimile Ed Foil
If you grabbed the foil-ized fax of the limited series #1, you might as well grab this one as well. The only facsimile worth noting this week.
Retailer Incentive Spotlight
Last week I mentioned Cobra Commander #2 1:25 action figure art variant (Buzzer). Duke #3 features the popular Baroness, in case you were collecting these. Given her popularity, it could be a tough find. There is a 1:50 which helps keep this price/availability reasonable.
Duke #2 1:25 1 is still available at TFAW as well.
Dirty D’s Pick-of-the-Week
Yeah, kinda phoning this one in this week. I don’t know what else to put here…it’s a weak list of books this FOC… What it does have going for it is Momoko art and actually NEW X-men characters (so it says). So that alone probably is enough grabbing a copy is warranted for long term spec.
But I do NOT expect a similar craziness of Ultimate Spider-man, and what looks to be Ultimate Black Panther. USM is a great read and boosted that book. UBP1 FOC was pre-holidays, which had to play in the under-ordering of that book being so far in advance and (pre-USM1 release). So keep expectations in check, here.
Dirty D’s Drek-of-the-Week
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (3rd Ptg Sara Pichelli Variant)
Marvel blows an opportunity again…they could have put the ACTUAL black suit from the ending of issue #2 on this book and made everyone happy to grab a copy…but no…they give us Spider-man in his regular 616 universe costume doing his best impression of the Fonz. Terrible. Another swing and a big miss.
Every speculator will be chasing the 1:25 incentive, so expect this book to be EVERYWHERE on shelves. And eventually in the $1 bins a few months later when it gets bumped. Grab the 2nd printbefore even considering this variant.
Parting Thoughts.
Have a great week! I wish everyone luck grabbing a copy of Ultimate Black Panther #1 this week who wish to actually read it. The Ebay Pre-sales is going to make a lot of shops “hold back” shelf copies, unfortunately. Best to call ahead and reserve a copy if you’re able to. This is where having a good relationship with your LCS can pay dividends (literally!).