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Anyone know anything and/or read anything from Aftershock Comics? Seems like they get a ton of big name talent and alot of the books sound pretty cool, just haven't decided if I want to take the plunge yet

 

There was awhile where I was pulling a lot from them, Animosity, Baby Teeth, Dark Arc, Dark Red to name a few but it’s been a little bit since they’ve had something I loved.

 

The one that has me interested is Maniac of New York. Seems like something you'd be into as well. I need something bloody now that Nailbiter is on hiatus haha

 

I’ll have to check it out. That one slipped by, I usually at least try the first issue of something new.

 

RIP Frank Thorne. Maybe the most iconic Red Sonja artist. Died the same day as his wife, Marilyn, at 90 yrs old.

 

I forget if Steranko was already known to suck? Doesn’t feel super surprising. But, yeah, ew. Shout out to all the comics legends who died before they could say stupid shit on Twitter.


EDIT: ok, yeah, we did already know:

 

can anyone reading Batman fill me in on what's happening with it? seems like the latest issue is the real start for Tynion's run. between the logo change and adoring Something is Killing the Children and The Department of Truth, this seems like a good place to jump back into Batman.

 

As an observer who isn’t following along super closely, I think the answer is “yeah, more or less, give or take.” I think my recommendation would be to get #101 if you still can, & then go from that to the latest issue, but you could also probably jump in now & be fine.

Tynion also launched a monthly Joker series this week, which I initially found unappealing ‘cause I’m tired of Joker, but this is a really strong endorsement imo:

 

Thank you!! I’ll check out 101 on and the Joker series. Joker is overdone but I’m honestly quite excited to see what Tynion can do with him based on his other stuff.

 

Okay I wasn't interested in The Joker series at all but this kinda sold me especially after seeing the art which was a big detractor for me. I despise Guillem March's art but seeing this, I think maybe my issue with the previous work was the colorist/inks because these pages do not scream typical Guillem March to me.

 

My advice would be to start at the beginning of Tynion's run (Dark Designs, I think). As you probably already know Tynion is a long term storyteller, his beginnings are just as important as his ends which will likely tie together. The good news is it's only like two arcs I think, besides DD it's the Joker War which was pretty good. Also you should read Infinite Frontier because I was super confused when I read the new Batman issue first, the story starts in Infinite Frontier. And someone important may or may not have died in it which isn't mentioned yet in Batman.

But if you just want to jump in here's a few things
Alfred is dead, obviously.
Bruce is broke, all his money went to Lucius who is under strict scrutiny from Wayne Enterprises so he can't help him too much with gadgets.
Mayor Nanako (sorry name might be wrong) started off as a police officer during either City of Bane or Joker War I can't remember, he's had a pretty big arc in Detective where we seen his turn to somewhat sympathetic villain.
Damian is gone. Most of his drama was from the Teen Titans but there's been friction since Alfred died it was technically his fault.
Babs has had some trouble with her spinal implant. She's taking it easy, more oracle but still some Batgirl.
Bruce had a best friend growing up called Ghost Maker who when Bruce was training would always beat him to the trainer and demand they spar before he's allowed to continue training. They stopped being friends when Bruce told him who he was, and Ghost Maker believed his mission was a selfish one. If his name doesn't make it clear, he likes to kill his enemies. Anyway, they're friends again and now working together.
There's also a new mysterious villain called the Underbroker, whose job is his name.
Also during the Joker War a kid put on a mask and started killing everyone wearing Joker masks. As you can imagine that's been a complex issue for Bruce.
If you didn't read Infinite Frontier the person who I was referring to who may or may not be dead is Bane (probably a fakeout)
Harley Quinn is moving closer and closer to just straight up being Robin
Oh and Punchline, Jokers new understudy. She went to prison but made an emotionally manipulative video that got her on the public's side.

 

Damn, thanks a lot! I’ve been wanting to jump back into bat family comics for a while now but DC events just seem really convoluted and there’s no real clear jumping on point which is why I was thinking this issue might be the best.

The new Nightwing run looks pretty great too, so I might just dive in from the start of Tynion’s run.

 

What a good batch of comics I picked up & read today.

Demon Days: X-Men was absolutely delightful. One of the best Marvel comics I've read in the past couple years? Peach Momoko's cartooning is so fun; it's a shame she almost got pidgeonholed into just being a cover artist (as dope as her covers are). Looking forward to what the more modern Demon Days: Mariko story in June is like.

Eternals #3 continues the trend of each issue being better than the last. The "Lemuria: Current Population of Deviants" data page was a great gag. Also loved the one civilian saying she doesn't trust Silver Surfer because of the surfer dudes she dated in college, paired with the narration box saying Ikaris agrees.

I'd forgotten about the new Chris Samnee book for Oni Press that launched last week, Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, & was glad to see some copies of #1 on the shelf. I went with the Jen Bartel cover, of course, lol. But, yeah, it's awesome. Drawn by Samnee, colored by Matt Wilson, co-created & cowritten by Samnee's wife Laura. Incredibly charming all ages fantasy adventure book. Samnee is in the top tier of artists working today, but that Iron Fist knockoff at Image written by Kirkman doesn't appeal to me at all, so I'm very happy this exists.

Nocterra #1 was really good. Snyder & Daniel almost convinced me to keep reading... but, I have a limited budget & don't think I need this particular kind of book every month. Great story for the Daniel/Morey art team, though, & I like the protagonist a lot.

Lastly, I decided on a whim to pick up IDW's Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #1. I don't remember the last time I was excited about a new Star Wars thing outside of a Rian Johnson film or Kieron Gillen comic (I'm not even a Mandalorian fan, tbh). The rest of High Republic doesn't interest me. But, the art by Harvey Tolibao & Rebecca Nalty was surprisingly attractive to me, & I saw that its main characters aren't the same as Marvel's comic or the novel (this is their first appearance), so I thought, "hey, why not?" And, I liked it a lot. Mostly because of Zeen Mrala, a girl with a nice pink & purple design who initially hides that she's Force sensitive because that's frowned upon in her society. She's basically an X-Men-style Force-sensitive-as-queer analogy, & I love her. Think I'm gonna keep reading.

 

Chip Zdarsky's story in Batman Urban Legends is so damn good. Totally the Batman/Red Hood story I wanted. I almost didn't pick it up, glad I did.

 

Loved Nocterra!

Have you read Marvel’s High Republic yet?

 

Nah. I’m not a big all-things-Star-Wars person, & what I saw of it didn’t really appeal to me. If it weren’t for there being only one #1 left on the shelf, the art reminding me a little of Aaron Kuder & Kev Walker at times, & Zeen Mrala being cool, I probably wouldn’t have even read this one, lol.

 

How was Non Stop Spidey?

 

I thought Nocterra was fine. Didn't think it was that great, interesting story told in a way I don't really care about.

Demon Days was awesome but I'm not sure what the future of it is.

is Demon Days: Mariko going to be current day or the feudal times like this? are the X Men still going to be in it? is it one of those where there's an overarching current day story told in between the feudal era stories? I dunno but I'm excited for it.

 

My understanding of those final pages & the cover to the next issue is that it’s jumping forward to present day, where Mariko will discover some of that feudal era stuff is still around. Guess we’ll see.

Would be funny if Peach Momoko just went full Rumiko Takahashi & had Mariko travel through time, lol.

 

I'd be cool with either of those! I just wasn't expecting the final couple of pages.

 

@Meerkat:

“...and fans of The CW’s Supergirl will be thrilled to see the first comic book appearance of Dreamer, a trans woman superhero, in a story written by actor Nicole Maines, who plays Nia Nal/Dreamer on Supergirl.”

 

Ooooooh no fucking way!!! That’ll be fun

 

New Wonder Woman anthology series coming in June. Love the Jen Bartel cover. New Series 'Wonder Woman Black & Gold' Launches with Covers by Jen Bartel, Ramona Fradon, Yanick Paquette and Joshua Middleton

 

I’m very excited to see Checkmate coming back. The old Rucka penned Checkmate was a favorite of mine back in the day.

Do it up right, Bendis!

 

So like... in Next Batman - it's Jace/Tim who's the next Batman, not Luke, right? Even thought Jace is essentially in Luke's Batwing costume? Or was that Luke/Batwing in Next Batman #3? lol I'm so confused

Edit: So I looked back over the issues and I guess that is Luke/Batwing? He was in #2 as well? But Jace hasn't become the new Batman yet? But he was in Future State? I think I've got it now lol