WOW. You guys really like Absolute Batman, huh?
Our Absolute Batman #23 exclusive with Jorge Corona and Sarah Stern blew all of our numbers out of the water. Not only was it our most successful first few days of sales, but it also became one of our most-liked Instagram posts EVER.
Wait, you didn’t hear about it? That means you are a single-issue newsletter loyalist, and I LOVE YOU.
Well... hmm... we have an Absolute Batman cover, and you can get it right here.
We also have a new YouTube show where your faves go through our warehouse, pick books that inspired them, and tell you all about it. Kind of like the Criterion Closet for comics (but legally VERY NOT THAT, OK???). Our first episode is with the legendary goth god Chip Zdarsky.
It’s so cool. I’m just happy to be part of a team breaking new ground.
Let’s keep the party going.
It’s a roll of birthdays (issues) this week...
So grab your pop cakes and little hats, and let’s do what we all do at birthday parties...
Talk shit about all our beloved friends and family.
No. Actually. The other thing we always do at birthdays: order comics at Walt's Comic Shop. (Right?)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAAAAR TURTLEEEEES...
The TMNT 300 Issues Special (aka Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20) is hitting the store next week.
Mykola (the LEGEND who did the Tales from WCS parody in our fanzine) asked me to let you guys know we are going big. We’ll have all the open-order covers (including Eastman & Laird and Frank Miller), and a few of the incentive covers will also be available to buy.
Good a time as ever to tell you that we can slab and grade them for you. Did you know that? Just contact us!
THERE’S ALSO BLIND BAGS. I have this idea that they should just put a real pizza slice in one of the bags and act like it’s a normal variant cover. (I’m pitching this to Walt.)
Good a time as ever to tell you about some other turtle-related stuff on FOC.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mirage Facsimile #1 is reprinting the original B&W issue by Eastman & Laird.
I simply revere this groundbreaking issue, and this has to be a special thing to have in every turtle fan's collection (AND every comic fan's, to be honest).
It’s like seeing the first guy in history make a pizza, but even better because you get to taste the pizza afterward.
(Alexa, who made the first pizza? That has to be the number-two stoner question ever, right behind, "Alexa, why is Math from Walt's Comic Shop talking to himself in the newsletters?")
Not only that, but Super Mondo Mega Mutts #2 is doing homage covers, and one of the coolest ones is... you guessed it... a homage to TMNT. It’s like they all had a plan to help me talk about the most stuff in just one section.
NOT ENOUGH FACSIMILES?
All other recommendations are also tips from Mykola this week! (He draws AND knows about variant covers??? Wow. I'm either swiping right or committing murder... either one, really.)
Clive Barker's Hellraiser #1, based on his classic horror property, is getting a facsimile. (Facsimiling is the cousin of FOCing in the "invented words by comic industry workers" dictionary™.)
I read a lot of Clive Barker for the fanzine (did you know he had a whole Marvel Comics line that included a dude called Octokid???), so this is hellraising all the right things for me. (Thank you Mykola!)
The other thing I’ve been reading a lot of is Archie. (Is this a tease for the next Walt project? MAYBE.)
Laugh Comics #166 (a name I’m sure I heard my mother call my Batman collection) is doing Beatles homage covers. (That’s also what I call my morning showers.)
I say yes. Your budget says no. I say GO GO GO.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAY DEAR TYNION EMPIREEEEE.
SIKTC is joining TMNT in the birthday festivities with Something Is Killing the Children #50.
(My exam results came in, and I unfortunately tested positive for SIKTC, but my TMNT levels are getting lower, so the diet stays.)
We are back in the present day and back to the main story after a few months of (pretty well-written but a bit restricted) flashbacks.
Erica is back, and this is the perfect time to get into collecting the series in single issues.
I’m the guy who always reads the series in trades (as most of you probably do), and I’m making the jump.
Singles for liiiiife.
They’re doing blind bags (who isn't?). But indie blind bags hit harder and softer, don’t they?
Not in blind bags (I think), but there’s a 1:500 Peach Momoko incentive variant that’s bound to break your heart.
All books on FOC today
...can be found here. All preorders run until Saturday at 4 p.m. After that, Heiko becomes a werewolf and simply cannot order things anymore (biologically).
You can email Heiko with dog hotel recommendations, questions about orders, or Manage Comics, and he or Mykola will get right back to you. (Again, it depends on the opposing-thumbs situation.)
See you.
Math.
