The Past Few Weeks in Comics

I’m trying to catch up… gimme a break! 🙄

I’m working to figure out what my end of year schedule looks like and thing remain in flux since mid-November. The work at the Comic Shop has changed a bit with me no longer working on Wednesdays, but now working Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Then Monday and Tuesday work deals with stuff behind the scenes and requiring some flexibility, especially when shipments are late. Shipments seem to be late when there is holiday anywhere in the week, or boxes fall of the truck in the middle of the street. Thursday is pretty normal with me just helping people, although we are looking at adding something cool, more news on that once we figure out the details.

Outside of work I have curling, drawing (not nearly as much as I would like), paying attention to the cats and adulting. The last part seems to take the most effort. I did realize over Thanksgiving something a friend had told me about retirement. One of the hardest things is shifting your mindset from saving money to actually spending it. When working, I was pretty diligent about putting money away for retirement. In retirement I’ve been trying my best not to spend any of that money. Since I’m not old enough for Social Security (and it looks like I might never be) I’ve been trying to work with only my pension (yes, I know at least I have a pension). I finally bit the bullet and have asked to have some funds deposited from my retirement account. To me this is a big deal because it is something I see as a slippery slope. I watched people spend away their retirement savings figuring or maybe hoping that they will die before it runs out. Some people do the math right, and others don’t. To quote Barbie “Math class is hard.”

Don’t worry, this little SubStack is not going to suddenly ask you for money. Hopefully I’ll get back on track sometime soon.

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I haven’t been able to catch up on my comics for a while so here’s what is in the current stack along with a brief commentary about a few that caught my eye. Most were great reads so just because I don’t say anything about them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check them out.

• The Last Days of H.P. Lovecraft #2 Boom Studios W: Giulivo A: Rebelka If you know who H.P. Lovecraft is than you might find this comic interesting. I goes through what the writer believes was going through Lovecraft’s mind on his last day. Here we learn more about is personal life and not just what the old ones want us to remember.

• Spider-Man Noir #3 Marvel Comics W: Larsen A: Cresta

• Nemesis Forever #4 Dark Horse Comics W: Millar A: Scalera

• Superman #32 DC Comics W: Williamson A: Barrows

• Flash Gordon #13 Mad Cave W: Adams A: Messias Mirror Universe time! Can Flash not only save his Universe from destruction but also this mirror Universe where Ming is actually the good guy?

• The Flash #27 DC Comics W: Waid & Cantwell A: Georgiev Wally & Bart are stuck in the past, a past that embraced Darkseid… it is a K.O. crossover after all. After meeting up with a Darkseid twisted Max Mercury and the time traveling Legion of Darkseid only time will tell how things work out.

• Detective Comics #1103 DC Comics W: Taylor A: Janín

• Department Of Truth #34 Image Comics W: Tynion A: Simmonds

• Absolute Wonder Woman #14 DC Comics W: Thompson A: Bergara

• Star Trek Voyager Homecoming #3 IDW W: Bridges & Bridges A: Hernández

• Absolute Batman #14 DC Comics W: Snyder A: Dragotta

• Absolute Green Lantern #9 DC Comics W: Ewing A: Kotian

• Batman #4 DC Comics W: Fraction A: Jiménez

• JSA #14 DC Comics W: Lemire A: Guidry

• Save Now #2 Bad Idea W: Kindt A: Giorello Will the world be saved? So far after multiple attempts… not happening. We know exactly what causes it, but how to stop it seems to be eluding our hero as he tries to save his family and… all of us.

• Star Trek Red Shirts #5 IDW W: Cantwell A: Levens The story comes to a close as our last two red shirts face off against the Klingons and the Romulans. Will they keep the Federation safe and destroy the classified data before the Klingons and Romulans can get to it? Oh, and there’s a twist I wasn’t expecting.

• Arcadia #1 Ignition Press the Miranda brothers Setting the stage for what looks like an interesting science fiction series. Currently getting a “Saga” vibe as we learn this issue is the child’s story of how their parents met.

• Skinbreaker #3 Image W: Kirkman A: Finch

• The Invisible Man #4 Image W: Tynion A: Dani We bring our prequel to the start of the original film. Learning why Griffin became invisible and what he is planning on doing in that inn.

• DC K.O. #2 DC Comics W: Snyder & Williamson A: Fernández Instead of pairing up, this issue has the survivors go on a scavenger hunt for powerful items and those who can keep them get to move on, those who can’t…

• DC’s I Saw Ma Hunkel Kissing Santa Claus #1 - Yes, DC’s Holiday Comic… No heroes die, the multiverse will not be changed forever, just good old fshioned feel good stories.

• Bullet Adventures #4 Altruist Comics W: Alsaqa & Stone A: Carrizo So your superhero grandfather comes back as a teenager and you have to try to figure out how your life in high school is going to be different. This issue you both end up going against an AI (because AI is a thing for villainy) baddie being controlled by…

• Absolute Batman #15 DC Comics W: Snyder A: Jock I’ve really enjoyed the Absolute Universe and how it has dealt with som many of the heroes and villains. In this issue we finally find out about Batman’s arch nemesis - The Joker. While many people are gushing about it, for me it was interesting, but not mind blowing. Actually I found (with only one reading) it was kinda “meh.” Your mileage may differ.

• Action Comics #1093 DC Comics W: Waid A: Patridge Old school Superman or in this case Superboy. Fighting what so many people are having to deal with corrupt business practices. How does Superboy follow his moral compass when Ma & Pa Kent could lose the farm?

• Batman & Robin # 28 DC Comics W: Johnson A: Raffaele

• Assorted Crisis Events #7 Image Comics W: Camp A: Zawadzki Each issue is interesting dealing with another aspect of a temporal crisis. In this case, not as much of a heartbreaker as the last issue. This time it’s kind of amusing, if by amusing you mean your corpse keeps appearing over and over again throughout your day and you have to deal with it. Your landlord isn’t buying your “Those are flower beds” excuse anymore…

• Minor Arcana #12 Boom Studios W & A: Lemire

• Batman: Gotham by Gaslight A League for Justice #6 DC Comics W: Diggle A: Fernandez The final issue brining together the Victorian Justice League. There’s part of me that just wishes they would stop. I’ve always liked Elseworlds, but part of what I like is new concepts, not just expanding old ones. Yes, the original Gotham by Gaslight was a cool take on Batman, did it need to continue? Did we really need to see a victorian JLA? Some would say “YES!” for me, it started to drag a bit.

• Star Trek Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation #4 IDW W:Thompson A: Acuña

• Ultimate Spider-Man #23 Marvel Comics W: Hickman A: Checchetto & Messina The penultimate Ultimatre Spider-Man? One more issue until we get to the return of the Maker and the end of everything? Maybe? I’ve really enjoyed this take on the Marvel universe although I have stopped reading the other titles. This one with Peter and his family has been really enjoyable.

• Ultimate Universe #1 Marvel Comics W: Camp & Paknadel A: Boutin, Noto, Manna, Ferguson & Pulido

• Fantastic Four #6 Marvel Comics W: North A: Ramos Doom long defeated and now we get into the basics of the Fantastic Four. A family of people with super-powers. I’m really enjoying the take on the Invisible Woman. She’s no longer just in the background throwing out force fields. I started this off with giving it 6 issues (one arc) of course it wasn’t one arc, but now I’m curious as to what will happen next and the return of an old… friend?

• C.O.R.T. Children of the Round Table #4 DC Comics W: Taylor A: Di Nicuolo

• Powers #3 Dark Horse Comics W: Filardi A: Reed Backstory time for one of our soon to be main characters!

• Murder Podcast #3 Ignition Press W: Haun A: Tisserand I am still really liking what I am reading from Ignition Press. This one kicked it all off. Things are starting to get interesting as more murders are happening, but also we start getting a Thursday Murder Club group looking into it.