FOC PICKS FOR 9/7/26
Spent all day at a local comic show. Didn’t leave me much time to put something together. This week is pretty light on anything but indy #1’s which haven’t done much lately. But let’s run through it anyway.
Use code CHU 2026 at checkout to save 15% at Third Eye Comics
COVERS
Homage to Incredible Hulk #377.
If we’re being honest, Mora’s variants don’t usually heat up if the cover features a female. Usually needs a buff dude. But we’ll see.
Crotch shot covers making a comeback.
FIRST ISSUES
JOHNNY REB is a cursed Confederate soldier, given an awful eternal task: to transport foolhardy thrill seekers aboard his Fear Machine, a psychedelic storytelling train fueled by the souls of countless Civil War dead! Can you endure the horrors you will witness? If so, come aboard…if you dare!
In the 1980s a killer stalks the streets of South Los Angeles. Task forces are assembled, detectives work overtime, but the bodies keep coming. This is the story of a community college professor who believes there’s more to the story than a single madman. Leaded Gasoline captures the mad energy of the most brash and risk-taking horror comics that are smart, dangerous, and intent on taking a sledgehammer to your mind.
This is the story of Zeek, a goat-looking orphan living in a monastery within the far reaches of the galaxy. For reasons he was never told, he is restricted from ever going outside the perimeters of the Monastery. Taking care of the library, he reads and transcribes books filled with heroes and adventures, yet never gets to have any of his own. That is, until one day when a magical book appears in the library and attaches itself to him… Magic. Sci-fi. Adventure. Monsters. Welcome to the world of Sunder.
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation. When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life and finds something far more terrifying than she ever imagined. Because this place is a sanctuary. It’s cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive. From Eisner-nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, this paranoia-laced, socially conscious horror mystery will leave you questioning reality and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream its residents were expecting.
TRADE/HARDCOVER of the WEEK
The Goblin Copper Chopper is born! Atop their new set of wheels, Carl and Princess Donut ignite an all out meth war between the Goblins and Llamas. But more floors await! Volume 2 of the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling graphic novel adaptation of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Getting stuck on a sadistic alien game show with her cat.
There’s also a Direct Market edition which I like the cover better. But not sure it matters. Pick which one you like.
PICK of the WEEK
This might be Lola and Jimmy’s last Halloween. Not because they’re aging out at 12-years-old…there’s a 12-foot-tall lawn skeleton on a rampage in their neighborhood! Lola is a triple threat of social suicide: goth girl, new kid, and outspoken feminist. Meanwhile, Jimmy is a bookish, quiet, bullied kid trying to enjoy his favorite holiday between cancer treatments. When Lola discovers she might have a much stronger connection with the malevolent force inhabiting the skeleton than she could ever imagine possible, it’s up to Jimmy to inspire them to face certain danger and embrace the future rather than run from their traumatic pasts. A Halloween story with the heart and soul of a classic Spielberg film alongside all the spills, chills, and horrifying thrills of everyone’s favorite 1980s slasher movies!
From Ignition Press. Just in time for Halloween.