Griffin’s Picks for the week of 1/21/26
1: Assorted Crisis Events #8 - Image
This issue seems to pull inspiration from Animal Man, Understanding Comics and even Archie Comics. What an eclectic mashup! The newest issue of this sci-fi anthology comic written by Deniz Camp with art by Eric Zawadski as always.
The story follows the life of Wally, a comic book artist throughout the course of his professional career and how that bleeds into his personal life. But as we’re experiencing it, he’s reliving it because he’s trapped in the gutters of the comic book, you know? Those little white spaces between the panels? He’s stuck there for good and you’re punishing him by being an active participant in making him relive his life.
If it were possible for me to create a spot above #1, I think this issue would take that place. I’ve mentioned it here before, but I love when a writer takes advantage of the medium they’re working within and creates something that only works within a comic book. The attention to detail here is remarkable too because this issue is printed on newsprint to give it a more pulpy feel, which is in line with the comics that Wally draws.
2: New History of the DC Universe Hardcover - DC
People often complain about comics being unapproachable due to the amount of time that some of these series have been running. Well if that’s you, Mark Waid has written a fairly approachable guide to the DC Universe as it currently stands, with the help of an assortment of talented artists like Mike Allred and Todd Nuack just to name a couple.
Not much to talk about as far as plot here. These ‘history of’ books can be pretty dry, but I don’t think that’s an inherent problem. I loved all of the different handbooks and encyclopedia type books from Marvel and DC growing up and you could do a lot worse than Mark Waid writing it. Just don’t go into it expecting a cohesive, over-arching narrative.
The DC Universe has been rebooted so many times at this point that it becomes kind of difficult to figure out what’s canon and what’s not. So if you’ve ever wondered about the current status quo of the DCU or just appreciate supplemental information about the comics you read, then this is the book for you. If you didn’t get the single issues, this might be a better format for digesting the amount of information that’s thrown at the reader.
3: Spider-Man and Wolverine #9 - Marvel
90s excess is back! Spider-Man and Wolverine continue their team-up, written by Marc Guggenheim and filling in for Kaare Andrews on pencils is Gerardo Sandoval.
Spidey and Wolverine continue their battle against the Revengers, an evil, parallel universe version of the Avengers lead by Arachnix, an amalgamation of our two titular heroes. In fact the whole team is mashed up versions of Marvel characters, including She-Hulk/Psylocke and Ultron Fist just to name a couple. The storyline starts in #7 and will finish up in #10, so there’s still time to jump on board if you haven’t been following along already.
A large part of why this book keeps ending up in my picks is because I want it to keep going, so if you’re tired of seeing it here… first of all I’m sorry and second, please buy the damn book. I promise, if/when Marvel announces that it’s been extended, it’ll be absent from here for at least a few months.