4 Highlights from this Week's FOC
WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU MISS THIS WEEK?
Good morning Vietnam,
Do we have any actual research on how many comic readers are also cinephiles? Should I do that research? I'm a master student in need of a cool thesis so help me up here.
I feel like it's most of us right? And it's not something that directly correlates. Most of my cinephile friends could not give any shit about comics. Why is that? Is the MCU being the scapegoat for Hollywood getting too dependent on franchises - fairly, If we're honest - the reason why they think we're not worth it?
Are we comics people forever tasked with jangling our Maus and our Eightball in their faces forever? Do cinephiles have to shove their Criterions Collection in everybody's faces too?
Oh shit, we actually do that as well.
Well, maybe being a fan of something is just holding collectibles in peoples faces and yelling “SEE THIS SEE THIS". Wait, is that my thesis?
Ok, let's not even get started with the TV people. Time to “FOC! FOC!” in YOUR face. (Is FOCing in someone's face something that we legally can send you by email?)
Geiger Deluxe Edition HC Vol 02
If you’re a movie buff who loves superhero blockbusters but is just tired of the whole DC/Marvel I.P. thing, fellas, you can stop saying “Hollywood doesn’t create new stuff anymore.” We’ve got your answer, and you’re damn right, it’s comics.
I’ve been diving into Ghost Machine these last few weeks for the Beyond the Panels article, and it’s the most fun I’ve had with crowd-pleasing comics in a long time. GM is a comic book studio started by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Peter J. Tomasi, and a bunch of other really cool people. What they all have in common? They’re all rockstars who trailblazed their way through Marvel and DC and are now starting their own company - with their rules. You, of course, know Johns from The Flash, Green Lantern, JSA, and basically everything under the sun. You name a character, this guy’s had an iconic run with them. Superman? Yes. Your mom? Probably yes!
Ghost Machine has a bunch of newly minted, easy-to-jump-into shared universes with exciting new characters. This is Geiger – the flagship title of their “Unnamed” universe. This guy had a bunker ready for his family when the inevitable nuclear war came, but while they made it inside, he didn’t. The bombs hit, he was changed, and now he’s the mysterious, glowing man guarding his family’s bunker from everything and everyone. And it might be a while before it’s safe to let them out.
Geiger has only books and a weird-ass dog to keep him company — a very similar situation to when I first started college.
If the premise sounds obvious, I beg you to give it a chance. What wins you over is the worldbuilding. The world around Geiger is bananas, with crime syndicates modeled after comic genres ranging from Camelot to Old Hollywood. It’s a weird, beautifully crafted book made by veterans who’ve played in the big playground and are finally showing off their own toys. All wrapped up with sharp, classic character dynamics.
This is Volume 2, collecting the ongoing series. It’s still going strong, and this is where Johns and Frank really cement Geiger’s place in an epic multi-year saga that’s just getting started – with characters like Junkyard Joe and Redcoat. If you want to read the original miniseries, grab Volume 1 while you wait for this pre-order.
Geiger Deluxe Edition HC Vol 02 *PRE-ORDER*
€25,54
€34,99
Tariq Geiger has surrounded himself with some dangerous friends. His two-headed wolf Barney bears the trauma of the fateful night when Geiger found him. And their newfound companion—a former Nuclear Knight inspired by Geiger’s acts of heroism—tries to atone for a life… read more
Seven Secrets Deluxe Edition HC
Another seasoned Big Two veteran, Tom Taylor — who you know from his fan-favorite Nightwing run — is releasing a complete Deluxe Edition of his most underrated indie work.
This is Seven Secrets. A scheming secret organization (or order, or... cult) holds seven secrets (you guessed it!) in these mysterious briefcases. Each one contains a world-defining or world-changing truth that holds our reality together. Its members live and die dedicated to their duties. Each briefcase gets a holder and a keeper — individuals who will die to protect what’s inside.
Everything goes well until the thing that always happens in every weird-ass cult happens in this weird-ass cult. Two people fall for each other, and now they have a baby. This baby is our digi-destined Casper, who’s now bound to uncover some pretty wild stuff.
I thought this was a MacGuffin story (cinephile for “object that moves the plot forward,” not a McDonald’s menu item) — a simple action comic with briefcases and mysteries. But Tom Taylor makes sure we get both the cool action and the convoluted backstory. No studio-mandated test screens, babyyyyyy. The book runs wild with its premise and comes with sleek manga-style art to match. Daniel (our manga expert) might kill me for saying the magic word, but this has shōnen energy all over it.
Scott Snyder says, “Everything you could want from a comic book. Truly,” on the blurb — and I see the vision too. Every cool comic element available, Mr. Taylor makes use of it here.
Cool stuff. Cool book. Let’s go.
Seven Secrets Deluxe Edition HC *PRE-ORDER*
€44,99
€59,99
SEVEN SECRETS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.For centuries, the Order has trusted in Keepers and Holders to guard the Secrets in seven briefcases against all harm but when their stronghold is attacked and the secrets put in peril, the entire Order… read more
Seven Secrets Deluxe Edition Slipcased Edition HC *PRE-ORDER*
€56,79
€79,99
SEVEN SECRETS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.For centuries, the Order has trusted in Keepers and Holders to guard the Secrets in seven briefcases against all harm but when their stronghold is attacked and the secrets put in peril, the entire Order… read more
2 Guns Complete Collection TP
Isn’t it funny that I framed this whole newsletter with movie vibes just because I found out this comic was adapted into a movie? And even funnier that I almost forgot to actually write about it here?
You know that kinda-bad, kinda-good movie with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg your dad was watching on a Saturday afternoon? The one he kept pausing an ungodly number of times to go to the bathroom? The movie you started watching because you thought it was Transformers, but after five minutes you realized, “Wait, Denzel Washington is not in Transformers,” and now you’re kinda into it but also furious every time your dad pauses again?
Chances are, your dad was watching the dubbed version — with subtitles in the same language — because dads are just built different.
Even bigger chances are that the movie was 2 Guns, inspired by this comic (now with its sequel 3 Guns — because of course they know you love cheeky stuff). It’s a story about two undercover government agents investigating each other in what starts as a fake all-around bank robbery. Soon, they’re tangled in a huge conspiracy with twists, drug lords, FBI agents, and some oddly frequent panels of butts.
It’s the most dad comic to ever dad — the kind that would make both Jacks, Reacher and Ryan, cry to Jeff Bezos that dads are cancelling Prime subscriptions to read comics instead.
You’ll love this guilty pleasure. Just be slightly wary of that one weird panel of a butt that only a 2007 book could almost get away with. Nothing’s more Mark Wahlberg than this — and now available with far fewer pee breaks, depending on how fast you read.
2 Guns Complete Collection TP *PRE-ORDER*
€16,39
€19,99
20 For 20! Celebrate 20 years of BOOM! Studios with the full action-packed saga that inspired the Hollywood blockbuster, collected in its entirety for the very first time.It shouldn’t be complicated, it’s just robbing a bank. Unfortunately for Trench and… read more
Death Of The Silver Surfer HC
“Don't go Math. One more book, one more FOC on my face please” I'm sure you're screaming at your phone right now.
Don't worry because I want to squeezy-in this Marvel minisseries. It 's not a knockoff of J. Michael Straczynski's Silver Surfer: Requiem like we thought it was. Instead, Greg Pak brings some energy from his late-Hulk run (with Amadeus Cho, something that I loved dearly) and gives Marvel A NEW SILVER SURFER.
That 's right. Meet Kelly Koh. I'm surprised this is getting kinda missed in the news cycle but here she is. This is not the tearjerker classic like Requiem, instead, it brings back a lot of the energy of Marvel Now, a controversial initiative that actually has a lot of fans out there in the wild.
If you love giving new legacy characters a chance, pick this up.
Death Of The Silver Surfer HC *PRE-ORDER*
€16,50
€22,00
The cosmos delivers its final verdict on one of Marvel's greatest heroes.The Silver Surfer returns to defend a war-ravaged Earth — but Norrin Radd has a galaxy-sized target on his back. A new enemy will stop at nothing to steal… read more
The Survey
Just a little reminder to take our yearly survey if you haven’t yet!
Once a year we ask you — the people keeping this whole thing alive — what’s working, what’s not, and what we should never change. It only takes a few minutes and really helps us steer the ship.
Plus, there’s a reward waiting at the end (and it’s not that little… depends on your order size). Thanks a ton!
All books on FOC today
...can be found here! Wednesday is the official deadline for low pre-order prices (but we never change prices before Friday... shhhh it's a secret!)
All single issues on FOC are to be found here. Because singles are affected by a lot of last minute changes and cover additions, they have a later deadline at Saturday, 4 pm. If you need any instruction how our single issue subscription service works, watch this video and contact Heiko if you still have questions.
That’s all the FOC I had in me today, so I’m loading that sweet, sweet Mark Wahlberg trash DVD we found for 2 euros at the nearest store (funny how Germany still has a lot of them) and calling it a day. Not before a pee break, though.
See ya,
Math
