This Week in Comics

Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's My Pull List for July 9, 2025

This week marks the release of James Gunn’s Superman film. The next “Last Best Hope” for superhero movies in these dark times. I’ll admit I now rarely go to the theatre to see a movie. Mostly because it’s too expensive. Also going to a movie by yourself makes me feel like a loser without any friends... then again maybe I am a loser without any friends. Not saying that other people going to films by themselves are losers… pretty much, it’s just me. Sue doesn’t like going to movies because she likes to multitask and then back up whatever we’re watching when she missed something because she was multi-tasking. She knits while watching, or reads a book, or doom scrolls, or… and movie theaters aren’t always the best place for doing things like that.

By the time you read this I will have seen Superman, in a theatre, spending what I would to go out for a nice dinner with a bottle of wine. I’m sure I’ll have something to say about it. Right now I just have to chuckle about how various groups have to put their spin on things. My little brother complained recently about how they had made Fantastic Four “woke” by making the Silver Surfer a woman. I go by the belief that basically Anti-Woke = Nazi Supporter. So I did ask him to no longer use that word in that manner, and just be honest and say something like “I don’t like how they changed this character to make the film more inclusive.” During the conversation I did mention my only issue recently has been a lack of creativity in filmmaking as studios take perfectly good animated films and remake them in live action… because it’s easy money. I really don’t care about actor playing a character as long as they are good at acting and can convey the feelings the character needs to convey. Shakespearean theatre only had men as actors in all roles- yes Virginia, Juliet was played by a guy. Then again I guess I, like Superman, am Superwoke. I believe in truth, justice (for all), and (as updated in 2021) a better tomorrow. “The American Way” just isn’t as nice as it used to be since we put supervillains in charge of everything.

This week most of my pulls were things I had on my list. I added a couple that looked interesting, and didn’t add some because they were continuations of previous stories I had not read.

My Comics:

• Batman: Gotham by Gaslight A League for Justice #1 DC Comics W: Andy Diggle A: Leandro Fernandez

• Batman & Robin #23 DC Comics W: Phillip Kennedy Johnson A: Miguel Mendonça The penultimate issue dealing with the killer Memento? After all my complaining about how Marvel was having their street level heroes enter into the mystic realm (Spider-Man, Captain America, and Miles Morales: Spider-Man) I’m trying to figure out why I don’t seem to mind it happening in Batman. Maybe it’s because it is just coming to light after so many issues leading up to the reveal of the big bad? The actual villain has been a mystery until now… I don’t know I’ll need to think a bit more about this.

• Action Comics #1088 DC Comics W: Mark Waid A: Skylar Patridge

• Absolute Superman # 9 DC Comics W: Jason Aaron A: Rafa Sandoval & Fico Ossio

• The Magic Order 5 #6 Dark Horse Comics W Mark Millar A: Matteo Buffangni

• Fantastic Four #1 (LGY#727) Marvel Comics W: Ryan North A: Humberto Ramos - I did not buy the Fantastic Four: First Steps comic. Although I am waiting for the film to encroach on the comic and reed to grow a mustache and shave intermittently. Like Heath Ledger’s Joker changed the comic book character for a number of years.🙄

• Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #2 Marvel Comics W: Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar A: Jonas Scharf

• The UnChosen #1 Image Comics W: David Marquez A: Marissa Louise

• The Future is ****** #3 REKCAH Comics W: Fred Van Lente A: Mario D’Allesandro Augmented Reality takes over as the next team member is recruited.

The Magic Order 5 #6 Dark Horse Comics W Mark Millar A: Matteo Buffangni I have really loved this series all five mini-series have created a fantastic world. For those out of the loop the arcs have been collected in trade paperbacks so I won’t go into too much detail. The Magic Order is a groups of mages set about to keep the world safe from evil that arrives in the form of magic. “Normal” people don’t know anything about it. A few of the members actually do perform stage magic. Cordelia Moonstone is now uncharge of the order after a lot of events have transpired in the first 4 arcs. She knows that she is supposed to die to save the world, and we are at the last issue of this arc… Can she save the world from being engulfed by the Dark Lords? How will she do it? What will be the ramifications of her actions? Is this the end of the Magic Order? I’m trying to think how you continue when your main character is either dead, or the readership knows her fate… Frankly and awesome read, and I know want to go back and reread the Magic Order 1-4.

Action Comics #1088 DC Comics W: Mark Waid A: Skylar Patridge A Smallville story. We get to see how Clark grew up and how he had to come to grips with teenage angst. I’m curious as to how Action Comics will continue on with this storyline which starts with a disaster at the high school and Superbly confronting (like in the classic Action Comics of the 30’s and 40’s) a corrupt businessman. We’re learning that in real life the true villains are those who put profits ahead of people. Sadly I no longer wonder how super-villain Lex Luthor got elected to the presidency all those years ago…

Fantastic Four #1 (LGY#727) Marvel Comics W: Ryan North A: Humberto Ramos For those unaccustomed to Comic Book stuff LGY is the “Legacy” number for this issue. Since comic books are rebooted and therefore have multiple issue #1 floating around this is Marvel’s way of saying “This is where this story fits in the grand scheme of things.” Not following many Marvel comics dealing with Doom taking over everything I am coming at this somewhat blind.

The story begins with a fight between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. Doom finally has had enough and casts our heroes away. Separating them from themselves (they do work well as a team, a family) throughout the world in different times. Reed Richards has thought of pretty much everything (we hope) and they each go on a quest to save themselves and get together using the “Forever Stone” as the key. As I’ve said before, I’m hoping that after living through Reed Richards with a beard, this isn’t an excuse to give him a Pedro Pascal mustache so he can match the film version. Also, It was nice that Sue has been given credit as the team leader, since she really is the one who keeps everyone together. Reed might be smart, but we know he’s not the greatest when it comes to interpersonal skills.

The UnChosen #1 Image Comics W: David Marquez A: Marissa Louise Social Media and following creators can get me in trouble. Sometimes it’s something like buying stuff online, or supporting a Kickstarter that I really should have ignored because I probably won’t ever see the finished product. Other times it’s as easy as just pulling a comic off the shelf and giving it a try. I did that with News from the Fallout recently and yesterday it was Being a first issue it’s always interesting to see how they will set things up. Will it be a start from the beginning or drop you in the middle of the action. There is always a bit of world building and trying to understand how the world works that needs to be provided sometimes like a 2x4 across your head, and other times, in a more subtle manner. The Unchosen picked a drop in the middle of some drama, then flashback to action that will help the reader understand a bit of the world… not everything, but a taste.

My initial thoughts about the world is magic is possible, there are two warring factions each vying for power. Power given to a select few who are then trained to use it. Aida is our main character and may be more “gifted” than we know. We learn how she was brought to this school and “saved” from the bad guys. I always have to remind myself that “bad guys” are only bad because we don’t know anything about them right now. They seem to have similar intentions, but are willing to employ drastic measures. Only time will tell who is actually good or bad (shades of grey).

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight A League for Justice #1 DC Comics W: Andy Diggle A: Leandro Fernandez Gotham by Gaslight was an Elseworlds’ mini series from the early days of Elseworlds. The Elseworlds Moniker was given to comics that took our normal characters and put them into new situations (pretty much DC’s version of “What If?” A lot, and I do mean a lot of the stories dealt with Batman. He seemed to be a great character to mess around with. Things like What if Kal-El landed outside of Gotham instead of Kansas. Bruce Wayne becomes Superman or if Abin Sur’s rocket crashed and Bruce Wayne was given Green Lantern’s ring. The most notable one would have been The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come was also an Elseworlds title. Gotham by Gaslight, but Batman against Jack the Ripper in Victorian Gotham City. That has now expanded into “The Kryptonian Age” in which Bruce Wayne is finding all these weird artifacts and as they go missing they also end up giving powers or bringing to light the existence of other heroes.

At the end of the last mini series we were in Smallville, Kansas and a gang was trying to get a meteorite fragment and things went south. We ended up with the Sheriff’s office in flames in stereotypical fashion a group of superheroes facing off against each other (because they don’t know they are all heroes). It is now when Superman (who is not called Superman yet) shows up.

This issue is basically bringing the band together. Green Lantern (who looks a lot like Green Arrow), Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, and Superman. We find out a bit more about each hero and their personality. The bad guys who were hired to find the meteorite for Lex Luthor are almost comic relief- but that’s what happens when Harley Quinn is put in charge.

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I did pick up a few back issues while I was at the shop this week, mostly as I start to think about what I really want to keep as a “collection.” We’ve been talking more about pairing down and being ready to downsize at a moments notice, which means I have LEGO and comics I’ll need to figure out what I want to do. Like many collectors, I collect because it brings me joy. I’m not one to collect for “investment” purposes. Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies taught me about that. So I’m going to be looking at series that want to keep, not because they will be worth something, but because I like the, As many people have said- If you want to buy something that is going to appreciate, when it comes to comics, buy something that’s already worth something, which means old, established characters… Anything within the past two decades, is just a gamble. Invincible is one that is hot right now… once the cartoon is over? Who knows how long it will last?