This Week's Comics April 2, 2025
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
As things wind down at one job, they ramp up at the other. I found it amusing that at my corporate retail job I’m still going through training even after I turned in my resignation letter (I was asked to resign in writing). earlier this week I spent a good 90 minutes of my shift learning about harassment, the corporate engagement model, and how to accommodate guests with special needs. After teaching for 35 years this was all news to me 🙄. The one thing I found amusing was the training on accommodation didn’t have subtitles… so I’m having to try to figure out how to deal with sensory issues by holding up the iPad to my head so I can hear the speaker talk about how sound can make people uncomfortable. 🙄 Will I miss my time in the corporate retail world? Hmmm… good question.
At Comic Carnival I am starting to learn about all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes to help things run smoothly. Monday- it was checking in new books and putting together pull lists (including mine). It is a long process especially when shipments arrive throughout the day, so you end up doing the process over and over again with each distribution company. Those Variant issues, that each publisher seem to deal with differently. Is it cover A? Cover Q? No, this publisher lists it by artist so you have to figure out by the signature on the cover which one it is. With Free Comic Book Day coming up (May 3rd) we have those that need to be checked in, and put away until then. This week we also had a special event so we had a lot more comics come in (over 600 of one title). Unfortunately, I was clueless as to the process and how much time it would take so I had to leave before all of those had been checked in on Monday.
I’ll go into what a typical shift looks like, once I figure it all out. Right now, there’s a lot of using the cash register, and then figuring out what comics need to be put out to fill holes in the back issues. When you work at a store that has been around 50 years, you have a lot of back issues. Oh, and with 50 years of comics that also translates into comics being organized in some unique ways, or realizing that there are only 5 bazillion X-Men or X-Men adjacent titles… so trying to help someone find a specific back issue that had the X-Men in it, can be a difficult task. Wednesday dealt with Batman which once the customer had left I had enough time to think it through and find it under… “Dark Metal.”
CLZ reported that there were only 568 variant issues out this week…
This Week’s Comics:
Lore War #1 - One Universe under Lore… So Lore has destroyed everything and we now live in a universe in which Lore (Data’s evil brother) is in control. This being the first issue in this event and having pent the last few issues of Defiant and Star Trek cleaning up story lines and setting up for this. From what I can tell, Lore is just toying with everyone and as they say “History repeats itself” Lore is just watching it happen after calculating and planning exactly how long it will take.
Spider-Boy #18 - A bit of a flashback to when Bailey and his Mom first were transformed into humanimals. As Chrissy tries to figure out what she can unlock with the keys she’s been collecting. The answer to that is trouble involving Mr. Negative. Can Peter help them out?
Resurrection Man Quantum Karma #1 - I read Resurrection Man when nit first came out. The idea of a hero whose powers changed when he dies was interesting. I don’t recall the he gained powers related to the way he died, but that makes it a bit more interesting. It looks like in this series Mitch is back, but he’s been away from superheroing and just disappeared into a normal life. he’s dies of old age… so what kind of power does he get from that? We also have flash back to the end of World War Two and what happened to him then- introducing (we assume) the villain of the piece.
JSA #6 - So the whole arc was setting us up for this… in the end, it seems like we are actually in that lowest part of the Hero’s Journey and the bad guys have what they want. There is more to come, and I for one am looking forward to it. At least most of the band is back together again.
Absolute Superman #6 - Kal-El finally makes it to Earth… but he is alone after the destruction of Krypton. He meets some friendly earthlings named Kent and while he isn’t a baby they do their best to help him and be empathetic. We also find out who is trying to ruin their lives and a bit more about Lazarus Corp.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32 - I’ve commented before about how I’m getting really tired of the street level Marvel heroes suddenly needing to deal with non-street level things. Miles becomes a vampire, goes to Wakanda and becomes the herald of Anansi and now we have him in the mix with Ares and the Greek Gods. Ares brings in Zip Zephyr to take care of things without breaking whatever ancient rules between the various pantheons there are… can’t we just deal with street crime?
I learned as a collector and completist that sometimes it’s better just to struggle through certain arcs, so you don’t have to try and fill in the holes later on. Filling in holes in a collection can get expensive. As I’ve gotten older, my viewpoint is starting to shift.
Absolute Green Lantern #1 - The absolute world is dark. We already know it’s a universe controlled by Darkseid, in which the heroes have had their origins twisted. All in hopes of making a better world for evil… or whatever. We’ve covered the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), now we’ve brought in the Flash and Martian Manhunter. Next comes Green Lantern. How has his origin been changed? It starts with Hal Jordan who has some kind of power that he can’t control and keeps hidden. By the end of the issue we understand a bit more and maybe what Hal’s role in this new universe is- and it isn’t pretty.
Ultimate X-Men #14 - Back to confusion… At least we now know that Shadow King and Armor are being held in a sensory deprivation tank and everything that is currently happening is just in their minds.
Ripperland #3 - The big lead to the identity of the killer is… dead. So what will our two detectives do? It also looks as if America is taking a step back when it comes to assisting. Gunfights and adult things occur leaving us wondering what’s next.
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #21 Signed Stuart Sayger Comic Carnival Variant - Actually a reprint from the original Marvel run of the comic. the “Silent Interlude” which means… 🤐 This cover was done by Indiana’s own Stuart Sayger exclusively for Comic Carnival which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I designed the 5oth Anniversary logo which appears on the back.
Batman #158 Stuart Sayger Remarked Bell, Book & Comic Variant - I reviewed the comic last time, so head there for that spoiler free non-summary. The cover is a variant drawn by Indiana’s own Stuart Sayger with remarking. What is remarking? this is when an artist draws on the cover- in this case, Batman.
From the Vault
CLZ has that shake feature in which a random comic from your collection will appear. I’ve done this in the past, and decided to do it again… Birthright is an amazing series which did something few comics have done- told their story and then ended. A boy disappears while in the park with his family. When he comes back, he’s basically Conan. He’s lived and battled monsters in another dimension for years growing to adulthood. On Earth time passes differently, so his big brother, is still a kid. Now the big bad guy is coming the Earth, can Mikey save us? No spoilers, but lots of twists and turns and a fair share of family drama. Reminds me, I should go back and read this again.
