3 Highlights from this Week's FOC
WHAT'S FOC'ING THIS WEEK?
Hey guys!
Walt's Comic Shop 5 year-anniversary event is days away from us. And I'm so excited for it that I have been overthinking about what shirt to wear and if my hotel is close enough from the place (It's actually my first time being there in person, which is a surreal experience).
(God knows if anything in Berlin is close or far from anything. Is this town a maze???)
(I'll be the dingus in a Ms. Marvel shirt and wearing the same black cap from my picture so if you spot and read the newsletters and blog, come say hi!)
(I do have more hats, I just love this one, leave me alone)
You know what also is happening this week? FOC's! So let's get to them.
New Avengers By Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus Vol. 2
I am unafraid of saying how I love this period from Marvel. I'm a Bendishead and I don't care! Well, I am a 2000s boy so you know this hits my very specific event obsessed mind like candy hits… well, my also candy obsessed mind I guess.
We all heard about Avengers Disassembled, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Siege and many more. It all happened around this title of course, but what I want to spotlight for you today is Bendis' character-work, something that might get lost in the frenzy of discussion, especially when hit with the heavy burden of “respecting one childhood” we apply to these magazines like they owe us the world.
The headline they sell you on is “Spider-Man and Wolverine in the Avengers!” but what I will forever hold close to my heart is how Bendis made me fall in love with the two Jessicas (Drew and Jones), Luke Cage, Echo and so many others. I'm a die hard fan of these guys and will buy anything we put their names on (fortunately for my budget, modern Marvel seems to not give a crap). Luke and Jessica dealing with their marriage and life being torn apart, and being asked to make decisions they should not ever need to make is thrilling. The Spider-Man civil war gets the front page but this will forever sell me on the fact that events can and should move stories forward. It needs a capable writer to take advantage of them, sure. And I feel like Bendis does it for the most part. Doctor Strange is also a delight here, and of course, Spider-Man and Wolverine are cool and whatnot.
Also in this Omnibus is the revolutionary New Avengers: Illuminati. This is a group of major “decision makers” in the MCU deciding they have the responsibility and burden of making decisions for the good of the whole planet. So we have Iron Man from the Avengers, Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four, Black Bolt of the Inhumans, Professor X from the X-Men, the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange and Namor from the.. uhhn, Namor from the seas. That covers all the major groups (and oceans I guess). These dudes (yeah just dudes…) think they are the hottest shit around and then fumble spectacularly on impossible decisions like sending Hulk to space and mismanaging Skrull invasions and registration laws.
All jokes aside, this rocks! It's such a clever way to wrap the whole decade together while also taking advantage of one of these eras highlights: the secret games feel we have in books like Secret Warriors. People will tell you It's a misuse of the characters to serve a manufactured goal, and they are.. right.. kinda. I also think It challenges the character's worst hidden impulses and endears them by casting them outside of black and white lines. And the 2000s were all about things not being what they seemed.
Decide for yourself what truth trumps the other! And fall in and out of love repeatedly with your faves just like many of us did.
New Avengers By Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus Vol. 2 HC *PRE-ORDER*
€94,99
€125,00
The blockbuster series that forever changed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers series revitalized the team for the 21st century!The New Avengers are still rebels in a world reshaped by Civil War, but they’ve uncovered a huge clue… read more
New Avengers By Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus Vol. 2 Variant HC [DM Only] *PRE-ORDER*
![New Avengers By Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus Vol. 2 Variant HC [DM Only] *PRE-ORDER*](http://waltscomicshop.com/cdn/shop/files/new-avengers-by-brian-michael-bendis-omnibus-vol-2-variant-hc-dm-only-pre-order-667201_720x720.jpg?v=1742896732)
€94,99
€125,00
From the Skrull Secret Invasion to Norman Osborn's Dark Reign to the siege on Asgard, life is never easy for the New Avengers! The New Avengers are still rebels in a world reshaped by Civil War, but they're about to… read more
Battle Royale Deluxe Edition HC
On to easier topics like fascism and kids murdering each other…
If you were alive in 2012, you know my post-Harry Potter generation obsession was with the Hunger Games. It brought to light a lot of sentiment my generation had with the media and it predicted a lot of what we would spend the rest of our lives arguing over and over on social media to know end in the following decade. But If you remember that phenomenon, you also remember hearing something like “Hunger Games is shit, you want to see kids killing themselves check out Battle Royale".
Every popular thing responds with counterculture and it's a cycle. But It's an unfair place to put this haunting book. Both books are born of the same uneasiness about the growing role of media, internet and the role it could have in repeating history. But Battle Royale came first (by a whole decade), and It was massively popular and with its own share of controversies to live in the shadow of an Americanization that also has Its merits and demerits. I'm glad to have discovered it at the time because of the conversation - but we also have to admit it had a lot of Its own fetishism for violence attached to it. Like “you want real kid on kid violence, check this out” isn't the whole scary thing this book is trying to warn about in the first place.
This is an amazing book that will haunt your thoughts not for any graphic depictions, something it does indeed have a lot of. This will haunt you because of how recognizable it is. How its violence has a naturality and sense of apathy to it. It's the same thing that justifies and scares about Squid Game and Mr. Beast and other things that fell far over this humble newsletter paygrade. This is a horror book that feels just around the corner. Brutal and scary in how also fun and engaging it can be. I'll refer to Daniel and his opinions on this and it's impact on the manga culture as a whole (Yes Daniel I'm shipping this hot potato to future you on the blog!!)
Funnily enough, this is the first manga I ever read and I hate it. How stupid (and deadly) teenagers can be. And how they can also be right for all the wrong reasons.
Battle Royale Deluxe Edition HC Vol 01 *PRE-ORDER*
€47,50
€55,00
SEP250255 (W) Masayuki Taguchi, Koushun Takami The hyper-violent classic is back in a new edition! Forty-two middle school students are forced to fight to the death until only one survivor!… read more
X-Men: Road To Onslaught Omnibus Vol. 2
Everytime a new X-Men omnibus comes out (is that every day at this point?) It gets me obsessed with figuring out exactly where every single issue fits and I spend a period of approximately 1 hour to 35 years browsing Crushing Krisis, Comic Book Herald and watching Near Mint Condition mapping videos. I made spreadsheets and League of Comic Geeks lists and I feel like I understand the X-90s only to hear someone say something like “what about Age of Apocalypse - Onslaught Cable and the X-Force's Generation X Annual Companion issue they tossed over exclusively on the roof of Midtown Comics as a special edition variant on Jim Lee's birthday?”, to which Omar will respond “I already asked Marvel about that and I'm waiting on a response, was that in the Epic Collections?”
So if you're like me and this all seems overwhelming to you, hold my hand and let's try to walk this together shall we?
The omnibus lines are kinda doing a very good job and the naming might sound confusing but essentially this is what this volume is: If you're following the X-Men line of title with the events omnibus (meaning, omnibus that collect line-wide crossovers like Onslaught or Age of Apocalypse), this is the second volume in the “road” that gets you to an event, in this case, Onslaught. So, it collects material of that line that walks from Age of Apocalypse to Onslaught. It's a simple thing with a lot of names!
I'm getting into 90s things more now and It's fun to cosplay myself as 90s readers going absolute bonkers (in both good and very bad ways) about these books. It says a lot that a lot of people walked away from comics during this period but some of the same people were clamoring and celebrating this announcement at the top of their lungs. X-Men fans are wild. Join us!
X-Men: Road To Onslaught Omnibus Vol. 2 Steve Geiger Cover HC *PRE-ORDER*
€83,99
€125,00
One of the X-Men's - and the entire Marvel Universe's - greatest threats begins to emerge and rear its head, in this prelude to the monumental and iconic Onslaught Saga!Onslaught is coming! But first the X-Men must survive his herald:… read more
X-Men: Road To Onslaught Omnibus Vol. 2 Sam Liu Cover HC [DM Only] *PRE-ORDER*
![X-Men: Road To Onslaught Omnibus Vol. 2 Sam Liu Cover HC [DM Only] *PRE-ORDER*](http://waltscomicshop.com/cdn/shop/files/x-men-road-to-onslaught-omnibus-vol-2-sam-liu-cover-hc-dm-only-pre-order-3080964_720x720.jpg?v=1754381343)
€83,99
€125,00
One of the X-Men's - and the entire Marvel Universe's - greatest threats begins to emerge and rear its head, in this prelude to the monumental and iconic Onslaught Saga!Onslaught is coming! But first the X-Men must survive his herald:… read more
I'm running out of space and time but this week is on fire with other fun things like Universal Monsters: The Mummy (If you haven't yet given this Image Comics reboot of the famous Universal brand, do yourself a favor and hope in. They are very fun).
Universal Monsters The Mummy HC Direct Market Exclusive David Talaski Cover *PRE-ORDER*
€18,99
€24,99
AN EISNER AWARD-WINNING SUPERSTAR RESURRECTS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC MONSTERS Superstar creator FAITH ERIN HICKS (Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Nameless City Trilogy) presents a bold new vision of the seminal horror classic, bringing the Mummy to life like never before.… read more
Universal Monsters The Mummy HC Faith Erin Hicks & Lee Loughridge Cover *PRE-ORDER*
€18,99
€24,99
AN EISNER AWARD-WINNING SUPERSTAR RESURRECTS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC MONSTERS Superstar creator FAITH ERIN HICKS (Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Nameless City Trilogy) presents a bold new vision of the seminal horror classic, bringing the Mummy to life like never before.… read more
Paul Pope's Battling Boy is getting a new printing and it ached my heart not talking to you about it this week in detail, because it is such a good comic, absolutely fun superhero story reimagining.
Also, Deadpool is apparently killing the Marvel Universe one last time (do you promise Marvel? Ok, I'll read it. You wouldn’t break your promise. Not to ME!)
See you guys at the event, come talk to me! If I'm alone in a corner I'll blame YOU (yes, you specifically).
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.
Bye!
Matheus
