Morning,
That was a hell of a last seven days right? The UK General Election was pretty messy and gifted our green and unpleasant land a change in moderators, but not really. Lucky that we have figures in comics to tell us who and why we should vote. But let’s face it, there are a few crowd-sourced options doing the rounds at the moment. I’d rather have nothing to do with them and make my own mind up. I’d urge you to do the same.
In this multi-coloured and occasionally friendly world of comics we have also had a week. I was extremely sad to hear that one of my all time favourite podcasts That Comic Smell was coming to an end. Tom, Nando, Mike and Dave are not only comics fans but also men that I’m proud to call friends. They still have a few episodes to put out and I’ll be listening to those as always. Big shout to Tom for being so honest in his post. You can listen to all the episodes here.
I got ridiculously excited on the newest ACP episode. I’ve been a massive fan of the Valiant Universe since the original launch in the nineties. Then we got a bigger and better beast about ten years ago. With a change in ownership and editors the titles dwindled down to one lonely issue a month. But, looks like the Spanish comics company Alien Books have stepped into the breach and are now really rocking with a plan well into 2026.
I also pointed out in the introduction for the interview this week that Alien Books are bringing back the Corner box! How cool is that!
We had the publisher at Alien Books, Matias Timarchi, in to give us a rundown of what we can expect. It’s a combination of the new line, including an event aptly called ‘Resurgence’ in September, reprints of older material, a line of standalone graphic novels, a new Manga version and a Kickstarter that is about to launch for Bloodshot. He gives us at least three significant exclusives. Have a listen and find out. I try and guess at a third.
‘The BLACK, WHITE AND BLOODSHOT anthology series, debuting in September, takes readers on a bichromatic journey through the gritty world of Bloodshot, the iconic nanite-enhanced supersoldier with a penchant for ultra-violence. Each issue features contributions from some of the comic industry’s top talents including Ariel Olivetti, Kevin VanHook, Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso, Marc Guggenheim, Tim Seeley, Renato Guedes, Mico Suayan, Guillermo Fajardo, Mirka Andolfo, Fernando Dagnino and many more.’
Just look at those creators! Could there be a better Bloodshot artist than Eduardo Risso? Here’s the landing page so that you can sign up for when the book is launched.
It’s been a busy seven days. I’ve read 208 comics. Admittedly most of them were Valiant but some new books crept in. Here are the best and the worst of the new crop.
Tops.
The new Incredible Hulk series from Marvel is one that I have enjoyed catching up with on their reading app. Recent issues have been written by Philip Kennedy Johnson, with art by Danny Earls and Matthew Wilson. They seem to unashamedly been styling it like a Hellboy series of late. I have zero problem with that! It’s got a horror sense to it that is different from the much-praised Al Ewing run from a few years ago. This, for me, is better! I think I’ll shift to the physical. (Said no normal person ever).
Bottoms.
Does this really need explaining?
Many thanks for reading. See you in seven days.
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