First Issue Club Comic Books

It's our year end extra long special, and there's a lot to discuss! I went to C2E2 for the club, and give a recap/review of the experience. Next, we'll discuss Becky Cloonans Batgirls #1 - one of the highlights of firsties for December. Lastly, we're saving our discussion for Spidey and Hawkeye spoilers toward the end so you can shut the show off if you haven't caught up yet.

We (John Mayer & Mayor John) are back one last time to cover an issue of Cates & Shaws Crossover, after finally getting confirmation of who our narrator is in this landmark super special entry (in the way like every issue of Crossover is super special & holds a dear sweet place in our hearts) of Crossover.

New Batman #1 - in the form of a #118 from Josh Williamson. Chip Zdarsky drops his Daredevil mini-series with Devil's Reign Also we take sometime to celebrate George Perez with the rest of the industry.

Weird week for first issues! We try to make sense of Justice League Incarnate after navigating the Spider-hype, and the announcement of a new online comic book publisher.

First issues abound! This week we read new volumes of two classics from Marvel. Its Black Panther, its Hulk. What else do we need to say? Nothing. Press play!

Get stuffed on more than stuffing this thanksgiving, get your fill of the best #1 comics! And finish off with a side of comics news, goodbye cranberry sauce! Radio Apocalypse by Ram V on vault is a smash and a chance for us to finally chat music. Robins gets released for the real Robin heads and Tim Seeley serves it it up right! Diamond got hacked, Jessica Jones turns 20, and Burger King has a Saga fetish. Get it all here!

Al Ewing and Ram V give us symbiotes in space, on earth, and maybe even on the celestial plane? We're not sure, but what we do know is that symbiotes are everywhere and we're here for it. Also, Matthew Rosenberg teams up with Tyler Boss again to bring us a tale of music loving teens on the worlds leading publisher for dystopian future comic books, Image!

2 noir books! Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillips rlease Newburn on Image - and it is a crime thriller full meal from start to finish. D.C. wasn't going to be the only Noir title in town so Tom King and Greg Smallwood created Human Target that has the best Lex Luther story ever to have been written. Lots of first issues last week, we list them all! We also discuss the Image Comics news of workers attempting to unionize and how that's being handled.

The Who-Dun-It continues in one of our favorite issues of Donny Cates & Geoff Shaw's Crossover! As always the club speculates as to what the meaning behind it all may be, and are probably wrong like usual. Twists, turns, intrigue, reveals, words, pictures, Cross Talk!

James Tynion IV wrote the 2 hotest books this week, and we are covering them (what can't this guy do?) House of Slaughter is the backstory to Something Is Killing The Children, and it meets every expectation. D.C. vs. Vampires is the best rowdy romp of vamps exploring the Justice League you will find. Image isn't printing 2nd prints anymore, Cracker Barrel Has some exclusives, and Mike Alred is back with X-static. Fin out all the news that matters in comics here!

We're back to chop it up about comic delays, shows looking for a new networks, big anniversaries for some big indie publishers. For our books, we're covering club favorite writers Vita Ayala & Stephanie Williams, who co-penned Nubia & the Amazons. Then Cliff Chiang wrote and illustrated Catwoman: Lonely City. What did we think of these books? Do we like them, or do we LIKE-like them? Listen to find out!

This week we're choppin' it up about the return of Cates, murder mysteries, the official beginning of a new Crossover arch, and animation cels for some reason... HOORAY!

DC FanDome happened and there was a lot of news. We Talk The Batman trailer, Black Atom announcements, Flash announcements, Wonder Woman announcements and all that DC can pack into your little bitty eyeballs. DC also made comic book news with another sexual orientation announcement for one of their mainline characters. Finally we cover Batman The Imposter this week. So it's all DC all the time here.

Wow - So many great comics to talk about, and we threw Amazing Spider-Man into the lot since it is a new jumping on point, or as some might call it... a spiritual number one.

Some say that the 5th Wednesday in a month is a slump, well it ain't! We got comix to hit! Gun Honey from the crime imprint Hard Case (Stephen King likes it!). and Deathstroke Inc, Williamson is on this one and it's a D.C. adventure that probably means something. We watched Hellraiser because we know it is going to be a show and we wanted to make sure we gave you the proper preview!

This week we get a folky take on an aging super hero in Frontiersman on Image comics, followed by an Ablaze period book set during WW2 called He Who Fights With Monsters. Both books with some lessons and takeaways to think about. What do you think?

We have news from D.C. and a bunch of first issues that we will eventually cover. The Hawkeye Trailer dropped and we have the thinking mans take on it. Y The Last man is finally show, and thank God it's updated for our times. For the books we have 2 fantastic indies! Jeff Lemire is back this week with a sci-fi space adventure on Image Comics. Maw from Boom! a first time author and a heck of a book start to finish! DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS BOOK!

This week we talk about the big Substack Contracts going around, before reading two first issues by club favorites! First, we'll tackle Deadbox (Vault Comics) by Mark Russell, and follow it up with Jeff Lemire's Mazebook (Darkhorse Comics) which has got us in the feels.

Special Episode: First Issue Club joins the Unite The 7 comic book podcast experience! A bunch of comic pods took Justice League characters and did a big old episode about it - we dunk an Aquaman episode for Unite the 7 with knowledge, an interview, facts on facts, and the best water info you can find on a podcast. We also covered the 80th Anniversary Aquaman 100 page spectacular book. This episode does not mess around.

Budget King just listened to the new Spiderman Trailer... So we'll talk about what he heard before we get into our comics today, which are the very panoramic Echo Lands from Image Comics, and your favorite rad 90's dude Darkhawk, who is back on Marvel!

Yeah, we got those comics in the title, but we also got Hickman Leaving X-Men, additional creators joining sub-stack, and so much more! If you wanna get right to the comics, we hit 'em at around the 21 Minute Mark.

This week we talk all the comic news fit to print! We've got the discussion on James Tynion IV moving off of Batman on D.C. and starting a Substack empire. We dive into bi-sexual Robin. We round the news with the Walmart ratio variant controversy. Then we cover two awesome books! James Patrick's (from The Kaiju Score) Campisi: The Dragon Incident and Defenders the new Al Ewing book!

This week we've got offerings from AWA, Image, and DC! In other news, we're sad to see Runaways go away, but happy to learn theres more Barbaric (on Vault) coming soon!

Watch out horn dogs! This a sex filled episode. Mirka Andolfo's Sweet Paprika rocks the comic book racks from here to Italy, it's the Image book of the summer! Amazing Fantasy returns to marvel and is a sleeper hit! Cullen Bunn drops "The Last Book You'll Ever Read" on Vault with a secret variant that we spill all the details on.

So many good first issues last week - it was hard to choose just three! But we're talking Mother of Madness, by the Mother of Dragons herself, Emilia Clarke - Dark Blood on BOOM! Studios which is by LaToya Morgan (Who's also worked as a screenwriter on some of your favorite comic book shows like Walking Dead) - And Lastly, we cover Moon Knight to see how Jed MacKays take on Moon Knight stands out from the pack of recent volume restarts.

Valiant has a new volume of Ninjak with amazing art, that some may be surprised by. Ed Brisson has a new alternative world tale packed with adventure on Dark Horse. And Aftershock released a light hearted horny She-Ra with Savage Hearts.

What are we gonna do this week? The same thing we do every week Pinky – Try to talk about new first issue comic books.

This week we start a Marvel story arc with an underground network of Captain America's Hero-ing across the country, and to contrast that, our indie entry coming from Vault features an axe that gets drunk on sinner blood. Comics. What a spectrum!

Chip Zdarsky pens a guest issue of Crossover between story arcs with the classic drawin' and inkin' duo of Phil Hester and Ande Parks.

This week we literally read and reviewed every single first issue! We have: Gamma Flight, Batman Reptilian, Vinyl (image), Good Luck (Boom!), Black Hammer Reborn (Darkhorse), Heroes Reborn (Marvel), Spawn's Universe and more 10 books ranked, and hotly debated for your viewing experience! The big summer 10 - come and read those sweet #1's with us! The comic book industry exploded #1s and we ate it up!

Does Planet-Size X-Men actually eclipse (puns!) Giant-Size X-Men? Where did Kara Zor-El take Krypto in Tom Kings Supergirl: World of Tomorrow? And our most perplexing question, why does Greg organize comics the way he does?!?!

This week, we're talking about who the new W.E.B. of Spider-Man comic is for, and where it sits in the space between Marvel Comics and Disney. Next, club favorite writer Kyle Starks pens a really fun who-done-it in 6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton. PLUS our pal Adam joins as a special guest, & talks us through same tasty drinks including the official brewski of the club, Space Camper IPA from Boulevard Brewing Company.

James Tynion IV has a new thriller/horror on DC that feels like an independent book, it's a must read! Cullen Bunn is here with a hot Boom! book in Basilisk. And Mariko Tamaki lays it down hard with the newest Crush and Lobo book! It's pride month and it's a celebration baby!

We watched, we read, we discussed. Such is the essence of a reading club, which is what you're about to listen to. Join us for this convo about whats nerdy this week.

Got the gang back together and got rowdy! Get grossed out reading Red Room #1 (trigger warning - its nasty), explore the origin of Future State star Yara Flor in Wonder Girl #1, and finally we see the beginnings of the **GrEeN DoOoOor** in an Immortal Hulk one-shot.

3 new number ones! Time Before Time is a killer book out of Image, do not miss this book. Punks in the afterlife with Silver City. And the stylized round-up to Future State you didn't know you needed in Future State: Gotham #1. In the news: Legends of the hidden temple, Bitter Root and X-Factor

In addition to 4 first issues to discuss, we chat about James Tynion's growing count of original characters, and react to MCU news.

Our favorite Robin starts a new series, and we find out Helm Greycastle is a game halfway through reading the comic! Are you in the club? Join it! Read with us! Discuss!

We made it to the end of the arc, and our most action packed issue yet! Cameos, cliffhangers, conundrums! Let's download clubbers.

This week, it's a Greg and Mike episode. We're seeing what Nightcrawler is up to on Marvel's mutant island of Krokoa, and hitmaker Ram V is bringing his newest original story to Boom! Studios. Oooh it's good. Press play to join the reading club!

Well, well, well. We stuffed our faces with firsties last week, and talked through 6 of them. This episode, features Challenge of the Super Sons (DC), Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow (Marvel: What If?), Batman: The Detective (DC), Home (Image), Phantom on the Scan (Aftershock), & The Locust (Scout).

We've got a lot on the docket today! After chatting some comic news, we get into 4 independent books, all penned by Authors familiar with the big 2. Chip Zdarsky writes the first entry in Image Comics new anthology series The Silver Coin, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank team up again for Geiger (another Image release), Magic the Gathering changes pubs to BOOM! and puts Jed MacKay in charge, and finally Steve Orlando takes us on a deep state super hero conspiracy thrill ride with Project Patron on Aftershock.

Kaitlyn returns! The show has been a boys club as of late, and we've missed her taking the lead... SO, we're celebrating by covering three firsties, that each feature a strong female lead. Silk is out on Marvel, Witchblood on Vault, and Shadecraft on Image.

We're at the penultimate issue of the first arch of Crossover. The stakes are getting higher, and the reveals are getting wilder. Less reading, more listening - let's get into it. PRESS PLAY!

This is the big one! We made it! 200 episodes! This week we cover the newest iteration of Harley Quinn by. Stephanie Phillips, The Teen Titans go to school in Teen Titans Academy. Marvel acquires The Alien franchise and launch their first comic book in this universe, and hot damn! if it isn't a great comic! So much news, so many comics, and it's all in our 200 celebration episode!

This week we talk to Robert Venditti about his new comic Tankers, coming April 7 on Bad Idea, then get into a trifecta of comics made by creators doing double duty as Illustrator/writer: James Harren starts us off with Ultramega, a super-double-sized first issue on Image Comics. Next, Maria Llovet takes us on an atmospheric journey in Eros/Psyche on Ablaze Comics. Finally, James Stokoe's uber-detailed illustrations fill his new Dark Horse Comics series Orphan and the Five Beasts.

Joker is back with an original series on D.C. - staring.... commissioner Gordon? Grant Morrison has an already optioned book on Boom! with Proctor Valley Road. And - X-Men goes Gen-Z and creates Sidekick stories in Children of the Atom (a must pick!). Also crazy news - like Canto and Slam! are both optioned for animated projects!

This week, we talk about how DC's entry into the Fortnite universe stacks up to Marvels, and try to make sense of NFT's and how they relate to the comic book collecting community. We also discuss this weeks selection of first issue comics from all-star creators Matt Kindt (BRZKR on BOOM! Studios), Scott Snyder (Nocturna on Image Comics), and Peach Momoko (Demon Days on Marvel Comics).

It's a new writer's showcase! Two brand spanking new indie books from new writers. And these book slap my friends, don't let Stray Dogs or By The Horns slip on by you at your comic shop. We also chat Department of Truth getting optioned, the delay that will be happening to King in Black, and Daft Punk (they might as well be comic books ok!)

Whats up with Madman? What new comic book references do we get? What else are we learning about the world Crossover is set in? Who am I to be so lucky to have listener submissions for theme songs? We're gonna address all these questions, so DON'T WORRY!