This Week in Comics January 21, 2026
and January 14, 2025 because things happen.
I was otherwise occupied last week so I didn’t get this posted. Congratulations to those who won awards at the Comic Book in a Day Challenge put on by Noblesville Creates. Everyone deserved the recognition and the work was awesome. Looking forward to next year and putting together something wonderful- or at least wonderfuller than what I did for my initial attempt. As I said in the post about the event, I am now inspired to go back and use this time restricted version as an iteration. After reading the latest issue of Assorted Crisis Events I think I need to step outside the box or at least the panel and move to the next level.*
This week I’m heading up a project at my LCS (Comic Carnival) to hopefully give local creative folks a chance to sit down and ignore the outside world for 90 minutes. It’ll be an all ages gathering from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM with basic materials out and people just drawing and talking. Sometimes you need a reason to take time to draw, and a place to escape the daily drudgery. We’re planning on making this monthly and maybe having guest artist drop in.
Last Weeks Comics
Alice Forever After #1 Boom Studios W: Panosian A: Panosian & Spalletta The joys of characters going into the public domain. I can use pieces of the story in my stuff and other people can tell stories using Alice and what happened after she left Wonderland. Not only on Earth, but also in Wonderland. What would the inhabitants do to keep it? How are the worlds crossing over? The basic premise right now reminds me of something from Ignition Press’s No Place.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds #5 IDW W: Tompson A: Acuña Can the Crew of the Enterprise escape the cluches of Audrey 2? A mean green mother for outer space is about to take control of the ship and spread throughout the galaxy!
The Future is ****** #9 REKCAH Comics W: Van Lente A: D’Alessandro The team is trying to determine who hacked a security bot and investigate the Indigo Institute which works with help non communicative kids communicate (or at least that’s their story). Bad guys attack through another hacked bot… Will they survive long enough to figure things out and stop whatever is going on?
Batman and Robin #29 DC Comics W: Johnson A: Ossio The penultimate issue of Batman and Robin (at least for now) Can they stop Scarface from his plan to regain control of Gothams Criminal Underworld?
C.O.R.T. #4 DC Comics W: Taylor A: Di Nicuolo The kids go to rescue Connor’s grandma and attack the White House! but first some training to see if they have even a slight chance of being successful. Then again we do get to meet Fel’s dear old Dad.
DC K.O. #3 DC Comics W: Snyder A: Fernández It’s DC K.O. so we get down to the final four in our bracket and they have a new set of heroes to fight - “new” unless you’ve been reading the Absolute titles.
Minor Arcana #13 Boom Studios W & A: Lemire So Theresa is out looking for Kelly’s brother, Jason in Baysville and in the process gets to discover that there are others like her… While Brad get’s himself into a spot of trouble while investigating all the bad stuff going on.
The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft #3 Boom Studios W: Giulivo A: Rebelka As howard live out his last day he is being visited by three spirits.. OK not really he’s having some drug induced visions taking i’m through his life, his writings and his beliefs. Ending at the mountains of madness… or at least in that neighborhood.
This Weeks Comics
This week Marvel’s distributor or their shipping company decided to short the shop the “A covers” for most of the major titles. This forced me to make some choices- either get a variant or go without. Skottie Young variant? Twist my arm - even if I don’t know about the character he’s drawing (Malice- the evil Sue Richards which is a popular skin in the Marvel Rivals game, I guess - I’m on a Mac so most of these things don’t work for me). Todd Nauck variant? Again, with the arm twisting. The other variants were by choice not because of a shortage.
Just Brutal #1 Ashcan Ignition Press W: Hopeless A: Revel Ignition Press has been releasing ashcans to promote new titles and I pick them up when I can. Basically an intro to the story in hopes that it will hook new readers. This is an amusing family drama with super heroics. Like most Ignition Press titles it looks promising and is planned for 6 issues.
Superman Unlimited #9 DC Comics W: Slott A: Norton Murder is not something that happens much in Metropolis. or at least most of the villains aren’t into killing people. It seems the new version of the Prankster is about to change that. Then again ego comes into play and we shall see how it all plays out.
Save Now Origins #0 Bad Idea W: Kindt A: Ryp, Kano, Lonergan I’ve really been enjoying Save Now, the story of a hero whose power is basically the ability to return to a point in his timeline and restart. This zero issue goes into his and other members of his team’s (Spear, and Singularity) origins.
Star Trek The Last Starship #4 IDW W: Lanzing & Kelly A: Bonilla So Warp Drive is gone and the Federation is on the verge of collapse. Using actual theoretical physics we travel from planet to plant in an instant, but the rest of the universe ages. So I travel back and forth in what to me is a few days, but for my family not traveling with me, decades pass. We get to follow this through the eyes of the Omega’s first officer as we see how Earth grows more and more isolationist.
Titans #31 DC Comics W: Layman A: Woods It’s a DC KO Tie-in! Which means… not much. We find out how the whole end of the world as we know it impacts the various members of the Team as they try to save humanity. So one group in the Gem World, one group on Proxima Centauri, Cyborg fighting in K.O. and then those remaining on Earth. The story is split between Gemworld and Earth with both reaching that part of the Heroes Journey in which we are about either dealing with the “ordeal” or just before it in “the approach to the inmost cave.” No matter what we are at the low point for our heroes.
Ghost Pepper #7 Image Comics W: Lullabi A: Lucas We’ve got a pretty good handle on how this world works. Ash saved everyone and vanished and his compatriots took credit for the act, especially Bataar. Now Ash is a bit upset at how things have turned out and is going to change all that. Unfortunately Bataar is going to send out the troops to stop him.
Fantastic Four #7 Marvel Comics W: North A: Ramos Galactus has called for Sue Richards and the team heads out. They know they aren’t the only ones to figure out the message and ask their friends to help the Junior Fantastic Four, but when going against the Mad Thinker will those friends be any help?
Captain America #6 Marvel Comics W: Zdarsky A: Diaz & Alpizar for the most part comic stories are six issue arcs. The last Captain America story ended with issue 5 and we are back to the present day and the results of the end of the World of Doom event. We are t to a new SHIELD team and they head into Latveria only to meet up with the new symbol of American diplomacy.
Assorted Crisis Events #8 Image Comics W: Camp A: Zawadzki WOW. Each issue gets more and more… awesome. First of all, it’s printed on newsprint. NEWSPRINT, like old school comics, which makes perfect sense since the main character is a comic book artist. He get’s lost in the gutter of a comic, this comic. Telling his story as we move through the world of comics. Seeing some of the things that happen in the gutters. I’m actually at a loss for words - All I can say is READ IT.
Murder Podcast #4 Ignition Press W: Haun A: Tisserand Things are getting interesting as we learn more about the evil podcast and things start hitting a little too close to home. Remember- season two doesn’t exist.
Bloodland #1 Ignition Press W:Moore A: Chater Imagine a world where evil was running the United States… OK Just when you think this current version of the multiverse is bad- add vampires into the mix. It seems that the country is now being run by vampires. I know, I know, it’s not too far off from reality. As with many first issues it is setting the stage for the series, introducing the rules, and the main characters. Right now we have a world in which the group running rampant are either vampires or their minions. We follow those fighting for truth, justice and a truck load of wooden stakes.
Powers #5 Dark Horse Comics W: Bendis A: Oeming As Powers has always been a crime procedural we are dealing with lots of bits as the detectives try to put the puzzle together. We also deal with those in power trying to stop them from finding the truth and sharing it with the public. So a body has been stolen from the morgue and tracked to a laboratory. now we have a rather amusing interview and a lawyer hulking out while the police are calmly trying to do their job. Unfortunately it looks like the government is going to step in and fix things- meaning that like many things we may never see the truth.
*For the record- (Full Transparency) I attended the awards ceremony before posting this. I was given the “Level Up Award” watch the award ceremony on the Noblesville Creates Facebook Page around the 19 minute mark to get all the details. This is the second year the award has been given, and I was “gobsmacked” when I heard my name called.
I calmly counted 20 comics with individual story lines that, with this issue, Bruce has brought us up to date! Folks with that ability should run for Congress and help us with all its story lines!