Don't D.A.R.E. to Miss This FOC! 🚀 - August 05 '26 FOC - Walt's Comic Shop

Leaders of the Old School: Chats, Legends, Cigarettes, and Road Trips

Well, here we are in the dog days. How’s everyone coping?

There’s a certain flavor to this week’s FOC books: there are several (say it with me) legendary runs and quite a bit of ’80s-’90s flavor, for those who partake.

As someone who grew up devouring peak Claremont, I’ve always had a weakness for dense comics, expansive casts of characters, and a penchant for interpersonal drama. If you do too, feast your eyes upon...

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DC Finest: Teen Titans: Terra In The Night! TP

DC Finest presents yet another beast of a run, this time with writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez at the helm of what some have called the Titans’ greatest era of all. Wolfman wrote these characters for over sixteen years straight, and Pérez was his partner for at least five, so their time together was bound to be formative.

Here, they introduce Terra, a new hero with earth-manipulating powers and possibly dubious allegiance (she’s also Geo-Force’s sister, for the Batman and the Outsiders heads out there).

In short, this one’s got all that good stuff: vivid characterization, lots of rich dialogue, stunning, grounded art... aaaaaaaand “a series of never-before-collected stories from the three New Teen Titans specials published in cooperation with the President’s Drug Awareness Campaign.”

Dare to D.A.R.E., gentle reader?

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The Complete Nemesis Collection Library Edition HC

I mean... you know what you’re getting into here. It’s a Mark Millar antihero (okay, villain), so let the cynical, ultra-violent times roll!

This is Batman through the looking glass, with a billionaire playboy in tights out to avenge the deaths of his super-criminal parents. And he hits pretty much all of the Bat-points... but in an eeeeeeeevil way.

Taking on a teen sidekick! Facing off against hordes of enemies! Taking over the world with the help of a secret society!

(I mean, what’s Batman, Inc. but a megacorporation?)

And in a delightful bit of symmetry, the collection even includes Nemesis: Reloaded, featuring the fantastically kinetic art of current Bat-drawer Jorge Jiménez, along with the three other Nemesis volumes.

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Marvel Team-Up Omnibus Vol. 2

Welcome to the Marvel Universe! Let Spider-Man be your guide, as he teams up with some of the greatest heroes around, from Scarlet Witch to Iron Fist to... um, Man-Wolf and Frankenstein.

Look, it was a different era; drink it in.

Along with all the bonkers hijinks the ’70s can throw at Marvel’s finest heroes, this collection includes an absolute mother lode of bonus material: letters pages, rare stories, and even calendars.

And speaking of team-ups, this omni includes the start of writer Bill Mantlo’s decade of writing the Wall-Crawler, along with issues by a pre-X-Men Claremont and Byrne.

Finest vintage indeed.

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Preacher Compendium One TP

Here’s another one for those who like ’em dark.

A possessed and highly sweary preacher, Jesse Custer, hits the road looking for his Creator. He’s accompanied by his ex-girlfriend, an Irish vampire, and a whooooole lotta cigarettes, booze, and violence.

Not gonna lie, this is probably about my upper limit when it comes to the seedy Garth Ennis side of comics.

But I’ll forever be fond of the strange spaciousness in Steve Dillon’s work at the time, as well as the “unfolding weird America road trip” of it all.

Squint and you might catch faint resemblances to the Grant Morrison (and just post-Morrison) Animal Man and/or Y: The Last Man.

In other words, it’s very much The Vertigo Experience.

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That’s it for this week, compañeros.

We won’t change the prices until Friday (but that stays between us Titans).

May your vacation days be plenty and your nights breezy and becalmed.