This Week in Comics April 23, 2025
Insights from working at your Local Comic Shop
This week I was able to really settle into working in the wonderful world of comics… at least the retail side of things. Monday I helped get customer pulls sorted (including my own). I also learned that the distribution model is not perfect. Pretty much we got one companies books in and the rest were delayed. Hence why comics arrive at the shop early and are held until Wednesday to be put on the shelves.
I’m still learning and realizing that I have lived in my own self imposed bubble. As customers come in chatting about their favorite titles, I can only speak to the stuff I read, which in many cases, isn’t what they read. Like my approach to music I know what I like, and I only know a few creators, something I hope to improve on as I read more, and meet more artists and writers.
I can see doing some comic shop related comics in the future, because of the various personalities involved. Most people are awesome and their love of comics shines through, although there are (sadly) others that aren’t exactly the nicest people. At the LEGO store these were the people coming in expecting that the store had at least one of every piece in every color LEGO makes. All because they lost a piece, and we should be able to replace it upon demand. In comics, it’s not understanding that if you show up in the afternoon of “New Comic Book Day” we may have sold out of the comic you wanted, or the variant you were looking for. Like many collectibles it’s not cost effective for a shop to buy everything available. When it comes to variants most small shops can’t afford to buy enough copies of titles to get every variant. Some comics have ratio variants- shops get one for every 10, 25 or 50 copies of that issue they purchase. They are stuck with whatever they don’t sell.
My Comics
Bigger week- Some interesting titles out there. I’m finding that many collectors are big on dropping titles at random. I learned a while ago that for me, I may consider dropping a title, but I always think back to the time I dropped Captain America… I was tired of the direction the title was going, and with subs at that time you had to stop months ahead of the release of an issue. SO I stopped having Cap pulled the issue in which he gets killed. Of course by the time I got into the shop, they were sold out… doh!
Justice League Unlimited #6 - What do you mean this is part of a crossover? Wait?!?! I didn’t buy World’s Finest last week? What do you mean we are sold out of it? Ugh… I hate crossovers.
We are Yesterday Part Two- Tells how Air Wave became the mole in the Justice League and how Grodd put together his Legion of Doom. Better be ready to pull The World’s Finest Annual to figure out what happens next. 🙄
The Flash #20 - We get caught up in what Eclipse and the Flash are doing on the Moon, and it isn’t pretty. Looks like all the speedsters are at war and World War One trench warfare is the model they are using. I kinda wish we could get Wally back to not having these doppelgängers, but then things would probably go south quickly.
The Mummy #2 - The plot thickens for Helen as we find out the identity of the now on display mummy… while love is in the air?
Superman #25 - Will the real Lex Luthor please stand up. Mercy & Lex’s plan is coming to fruition. How will fighting X-El change the course of Superman as we begin the Summer of Superman?
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man # 5 - It looks like the prequel to the Disney+ cartoon series is over. Peter is working through what his role is as Spider-Man and as Peter Parker geeky high school kid.
New Champions #4 - The story of Golden Tiger is told as we learn more about the members of the New Champions. How did she get her powers, and what exactly are they? This while the group has some team building and bad guy fighting.
Black Hammer Spiral City # 5 - Three different stories that I’m sure will come to a head sometime soon. Sadly, so much of this story parallels some of the current state of affairs or maybe foreshadows it (leaving out the super heroics). With an election coming, up, cover ups, and murder… just a typical day in Spiral City.
Star Trek #31 - Harry? No! How unfair, he was just about to get promoted! The wormhole is missing, as we start to expand our group or at least see what has become of those we know about. What will happen when Lore discovers what’s going on? Sisko. Beverly, and Kahless take on Starfleet while there’s a prison break and something strange is going on at a classified location.
The Last Boy #2 - Hook and the crocodile finally get together- literally. Peter goes to visit the Lost Boys (Who aren’t boys anymore) and confronts the evil causing problems in Neverland. While Wendy tries to deal with her father’s illness, her upcoming marriage, and wanting to be a writer.
Flash Gordon Quarterly #3 - Prince Thun learns the value of being a prince while trying to discover what happened to missing Lion Men. Sometimes the supporting character needs to take on a leading role.
Ming dies? and the killer is not who you think it would be.
The final story deals with Flash and Dale meeting for the first time- in this world Flash’s dad wrote weird Science Fiction stories, Dale was an FBI agent with a weird childhood and Zarkov… well we don’t know because Flash never read his letters!
Absolute Wonder Woman #7 - The Lady and the Tiger? How did Diana escape Hell? We find out as Diana also learns something about herself. Girls do need to stick together. This arc is in a more traditional art style - which is very well done, just off-putting from what we got used to in the first arc.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 - Hmmm… While this is a limited series it is definitely a different take on story telling- giving us a different view into what it is like to see the world through the lens of the Martian Manhunter. Big reveal- who the bad guy may be…
Amazing Spider-Man #2 - Peter is on drugs… OK he’s definitely tripping after visiting Rhino’s apartment and is having trouble throughout the issue as he tries to navigate what is going on. I know many titles carry a lot of baggage with them after being around for decades- closing in on a century for some. While I was happy to see a turn back to old school Spider-Man storytelling after the magical experience in the last arc, there are some things that make you go “huh?” This usually happens when you haven’t read every appearance of a character that has been around since 1963. I’m under the impression I should know who the bad guy is… but even after the reveal I’m going “who?”
Batman #159 - You’re Batman, and your nemesis, the Joker, is dying. What do you do? Let him die which would make the world a better place in some people’s opinion. Save him? then deal with whatever else could happen because of that… This is Hush2 so we have an idea that Bruce will do whatever it takes to make things more complicated. Then we have everyone else starting to join in on the fun either manipulated by Hush, or fighting against him- the problem… we don’t know which is which.
Bug Wars #3 - Now Slade is starting to understand what is going on and the role his father played, and his role in the insect world. Unfortunately all he wants to do is go home, and save his doofus older brother from the wrath of the bugs. I’m not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon.
Minor Arcana #6 - Theresa tries to figure out what to do next (which includes the option of leaving Limberlost, but she’s got a few things she needs to do before that. This includes some historical research and learning more about her grandfather. This leads to her learning more about her powers, which might just help her make up her mind.
Shake of the Week:
