This Week in Comics
My Pull List for July 23, 2025 & other stuff
No, I wasn’t at San Diego Comic Con. Partially it’s a “Been there, done that” part of it is that while a boatload of creators are there and companies have a bunch of “exclusive” stuff that people will buy and put on eBay within 24 hours I’d much rather go to a real comic con than San Diego’s Hollywood Pop Culture Fest with Ballroom 20 and Hall H. Sour grapes? Probably a bit, but I have been three times and did enjoy the fact that I could go to comic book sessions and not worry about waiting in line. Not many people go to comic book related sessions or wait in line to get things from most comic book creators. Things I didn’t like- pretty much getting texts throughout the day from people asking if I had seen (pick a celebrity) and not understanding why I hadn’t waited in line to get into their panel, which was broadcast to the world. Not being there the thing I dislike the most are the announced exclusives… c’mon LEGO you really need a massive store on the exhibit hall floor in San Diego, but not at any other comic con? At least they aren’t doing exclusive sets like they used to. As for most of the other exclusives… like variant covers, ugh.
As you know (from a previous post) I was at Midwest Geobash in Wauseon, Ohio. I had my exclusive discoverable coloring page and crayons so people can color them in. I ended up having one person color (besides me) and I haven’t seen anyone actually post a log on the trackable. I also had some SWAG from FTF Magazine which a few people took. I also ended up going through the Whimventure 2025 path tags I had with me… this was Bash and Pathtags are king.
As for comics- I am trying to push a bit beyond what I normally get and at least picking up a title that is off brand for me. My buddy Dan used to do this for me. So much so that I had more recommendations from him, than comics I had asked to pull. The bad part about it was , they were all really good so I didn’t really want to stop reading them. That service died with Dan who we all miss, so I’ll start small (baby steps) pulling stuff that people say is good, but isn’t a genre I normally read.
This Week in Comics
A big week compared to others and lots to read combine that with MidWest GeoBash and I just ran out of time. While I thought I would sit back and read some comics while hanging around at events… That didn’t happen, because I decided that the comics might get damaged due to the weather if I carried them around. I did get some read in the evenings, but as you can see, there were a lot of books and some were more labor intensive.
Trinity Daughter of Wonder Woman #2 DC Comics W: Tom King A: Belén Ortega I got this one strictly for the variant cover (yes, they got me) The homage to Death in the Family, the iconic Batman story, was enough to pique my curiosity.
Superman Unlimited #3 DC Comics W: Dan Slott A: Rafael Albuquerque It’s the Summer of Superdog? Krypto is the star of another Superman story. The film has started to infiltrate the comics with Krypton looking more like his film version and the Fortress of Solitude doing the same. I’m waiting for Kelex to start going by the name “Gary.” Maybe the justice Gang will make an appearance soon.
Minior Arcana #9 Boom! Comics W: Jeff Lemire A: Letizia Cadonici
Amazing Spider-Man #8 Marvel Comics W: Joe Kelly A: John Romita Jr. with Todd Nauck
Superman # 28 DC Comics W: Joshua Williamson A: Dan Mora
Titans #25 DC Comics W: John Layman A: Pete Woods - show that they can learn from their defeat at the hands of Deathstroke.
The Great British Bump-Off Kill or be Quilt #4 Dark Horse Comics W: John Allison A: Max Sarin
The Department of Truth #32 Image Comics W; James Tynion IV A; Letizia Cadonici Interesting to see what will happen next… and what happened to Bobbie. The Internet has been a wonderful tool for those who know the truth about how the world works.
Batman #161 DC Comics W: Jeph Loeb A: Jim Lee
The Last Boy #4 Boom! Studios W: Dan Panosian A: Alesso Avallone
Absolute Martian Manhunter #5 DC Comics W: Deniz Camp A: Javier Rodriguez
Absolute Wonder Woman #10 DC Comics W; Kelly Thompson A: Hayden Sherman
The Flash Bad Moon Rising Special #1 DC Comics W: Alex Paknadel A; Daniel Bayliss This Special deals with one of my favorite on again off again here/villains The Shade. Having read the entire James Robinson Starman run you get to know a character. and seeing what’s happening now… I was originally getting bored with this arc in the Flash. Now… Hmmm…
Justice League Unlimited #9 DC Comics W: Mark Waid A: Dan Mora The epilogue to the first major arc “We Are Yesterday” after all the stuff that happened- what’s next for the Justice League?
New History of the DC Universe # 2 DC Comics W: Mark Waid A: Mike Allred & Brad Walker Covering the time period that I was heavy into reading growing up ending with Crisis on Infinite Earths
Godzilla #1 IDW Publishing W: Tim Seeley A: Nikola Čižmešija
Godzilla #1 IDW Publishing W: Tim Seeley A: Nikola Čižmešija This was the comic I decided to pick ups I could try something outside of my usual stuff. I know a lot of people are Kaiju fans… I’m not at their level. I recall seeing the original 1954 Godzilla film that had scenes with Raymond Burr (as reporter Steve Martin) spliced in to get an American into the cast so Americans might watch the film. For those who don’t know, Godzilla was originally released in japan in color. The Raymond Burr scenes were shot in black and white, so they needed to release the american version in black and white. If you notice, you’ll see that the main characters are never shown with Burr. Extras shot from the back are in those scenes.
Now to this comic… Not knowing a whole lot of the history of this genre (yes, I saw Godzilla Minus One, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but enough to feel knowledgable in this universe. With Marvel and DC both having titles in which their heroes battle Godzilla… it’s just gotten a bit silly, so I’ve avoided the genre. So where do I begin? It’s a team book: G-Force USA. There is a group of heroes protecting the U.S. from rampant Kaiju. We learn a bit about who they are, how they operate, and about their new member who has control over Kai-Sei.
For a first issue, it’s interesting the artwork definitely works for the story. I’m not sure but I’m willing to follow my “Star Trek Rule” which means I won’t judge the comic on the first issue. It looks like there are other titles in this universe coming out and they might actually be more my speed. only time will tell. Will I remember to pull this comic when issue #2 comes out? That is the telling sign.
Superman # 28 DC Comics W: Joshua Williamson A: Dan Mora I have been happy so far with what has been going on with the Absolute DC titles. They’ve been a rather dark change on the lives of the characters. I wasn’t sure if or when they would try a crossover… too soon? Maybe. we have the Legion of Darkseid showing up from the future and I’m guessing setting in motion some things that will bring about some changes. While Jack Kirby’s Fourth World was a great way to reinvent some comic stories, I never really got into it. When they started bringing Darkseid into regular stories it just seemed wrong to me. I don’t know why, but now having an entire Darkseid influenced universe coming over to the main universe… Why? Are our attention spans so small that we can’t wait for things to naturally unfold? How many issues did Ulitmate Spider-Man go before Marvel decided to collapse it into the main continuity, only to bring it back again? We aren’t even a year into the absolute titles and we already have something crossing over? Ugh.
The Great British Bump-Off Kill or be Quilt #4 Dark Horse Comics W: John Allison A: Max Sarin A long time ago Dan pulled Giant Days for me… Maybe because I am an anglophile, but it was a clever comic that I think was only planned to go a limited number of issues… then again he pulled Lumberjanes for me also, so I might be confused. Giant Days told the story of a group of students trying to survive university. all from different backgrounds, but finally becoming lifelong friends. The Great British Bump-Off takes place in that same quirky British world. The first in the series took place at a baking show that happened in a tent… with zaniness, but still a good mystery to solve. This one continues with a holiday in a canal boat and getting into the world of quilting and local quilters. Bad things have happened in the first three issues and this, the final issue sees that it all the loose threads are tied up and we learn who the person behind everything is… Silly? yes. A nice bit of escapism? Definitely. Am I using anything from these series as I work on comic strip ideas for PinPoint? maybe…
Amazing Spider-Man #8 Marvel Comics W: Joe Kelly A: John Romita Jr. with Todd Nauck I’m still kind of on the edge as to if I will continue reading Spider-Man (one of my few Marvel titles). I guess I’m just old fashioned and after a great first arc (both story and art) we ended up going straight back to some mystical mumbo jumbo villain. It seemed that this issue was all about how much Spider-man was willing to sacrifice in order to save innocent bystanders. Finally with Spider-Man defeated we might find out why this is happening… and move back to some good old Spider-man stories without magical creatures, or other dimensions- just a few not quite as friendly New York neighborhoods. 🙄
The rest of this week I will at Gen Con. This will mark my third time attending all four days of the con. Retirement does have a few advantages, that and living in the host city. In the past I would be at school (mostly unpaid time) getting my classroom together for the (also unpaid) drop off your kid’s stuff and meet the teacher night. I saw that my old school district is having this event on Monday which means teachers will be in the building at mandatory meetings that could be done as an email so their principal can feel important instead of learning about how games can enhance learning and engage students. 🙄
At Gen Con I will be attending the “Game Design Academy” on Wednesday which is the first year it is being offered. I am not doing the whole shebang since this is also my time to actually play games. Some of those coincide with the GDA’s mandatory classes, that last I checked have also been sold out, so I wouldn’t be able to go anyway. I used to have an entire unit of study in which my students would design games… I tried a few ideas and think that it might be fun to get more in depth. Hopefully this might stick a bit more that puppetry did my first year. Pro-Tip: if you are an introvert and have lousy hand eye coordination, don’t jump into something that requires performance and being able to sync movements… it’s embarrassing. It doesn’t matter how much of a puppetry fan you are, if you don’t have the skills… I haven’t given up yet. I’m just not pursuing it as excitedly as I once did.
When I first retired I decided to look at what I like to do and figure out if there was anything I wanted to continue or expand. Gaming was one of those things. I’ve discovered that due to my magnetic personality and love of being around people (and people being around me) it isn’t something I can do that much. It seems that gaming groups I’m involved in stop meeting (no, I don’t take it personally… much). Work has also interfered with some of that, but not that much. It’s kinda like high school all over again. So I use Gen Con as four days in which I get to play games and then walk away for another year. More to come when I write it all up, next week.
As a proud father, I take great interest as things I knew nothing about come forth in Bruce's columns. Today: had staudents spend an entire unit designing games! Would be fun to have Bruce review how that went - grade level - kind of of games designed, etc.