Getcha Pull List: This Week's Comics News - 2nd May, 2025

The Curator
4 days ago
15 min read

Denis Kitchen Doco 'Oddly Compelling' Hits Kickstarter – Underground Icon Gets the Spotlight He Deserves

Publisher. Cartoonist. Shit-stirrer. Free speech crusader. Denis Kitchen has been dodging polite society and flipping the bird to censorship for over five decades—and now he’s finally getting the deep-dive documentary treatment in Oddly Compelling, currently live on Kickstarter.

Directed by Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio, Oddly Compelling chronicles Kitchen’s kaleidoscopic career—from counterculture cartoonist to indie publishing powerhouse to the quiet hero behind the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. If you've ever read a comic that made you blush, question authority, or start a band... chances are you owe Denis Kitchen a debt.

This doc peels back the layers on a life lived in ink, protest, and paper cuts. We're talking in-depth interviews with heavy-hitters like Alison Bechdel, Eddie Campbell, MariNaomi, Carol Tyler, Warren Bernard, and CBLDF's Jeff Trexler. Add in archival footage of underground gods like Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, and Harvey Kurtzman, and you’ve got a love letter to the First Amendment—packaged in grit, wit, and Xerox-toned nostalgia.

But Oddly Compelling isn’t just a history lesson in underground comics. It’s a personal trip through Kitchen’s own cabinet of curiosities: over 100,000 vintage postcards, creepy dolls, tin toys, Frankenstein art installations—you name it, he’s hoarded it. It’s weird, wild, and totally Denis.

Back in 1969, Kitchen launched Kitchen Sink Press and reshaped indie comics forever. He published titans like Crumb, Spiegelman, Alan Moore, Trina Robbins, and the trailblazing Gay Comix series, all while making sure the weirdos had a platform and the censors had a migraine. In 1989, he founded the CBLDF after a comic shop manager got hit with obscenity charges—for selling his comics. Spoiler: Kitchen fought back and won.

“Who would’ve thought that in the 21st century the world would watch Americans ban books, challenge free speech, and threaten its own democratic principles,” said Soren Christiansen. “We’ve had threats to our democracy before, and every time these threats occurred, it took people, like Denis, to stand up and fight for those inalienable rights. He may be the least appreciated of the underground legends, in part because he devoted a disproportionate amount of his career to publishing the work of others. He was there at the very beginning of the Underground Comix movement, and his contributions, starting with Mom’s Homemade Comics, Krupp, Distribution, and Kitchen Sink Press are responsible for bringing ground-breaking and much-loved content to a much wider audience.”

“Let’s face it, Denis Kitchen is needed now more than ever,” said Ted Intorcio. “We want people to know about Denis Kitchen to benefit or learn from his struggles in confronting their own challenges. Denis has been (and continues to fight be) an advocate for artists, free speech, and underrepresented voices. The work he published under Kitchen Sink Press and his formation of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund have provided untold assistance to comics retailers busted for product that offends local authorities and creators feeling the pressure of censorship and cancellation.”

With most of the footage in the can—including new animated sequences of Kitchen’s own cartoon creations—the team is calling on backers to help push it through the final leg of production: editing, sound design, festival prep, and squeezing in those last elusive interviews.

And if you're a collector of the strange, the beautiful, and the banned, the Kickstarter rewards are stacked: rare underground comix, remarqued books, Kitchen’s own art, limited posters, and more. Tinto Press and the Denis Kitchen Archives are going all out.

If there was ever a time we needed Denis Kitchen’s brand of unapologetic weirdness and defiant idealism—it’s now. So if you believe comics should speak freely (and look good doing it), head to Kickstarter and back Oddly Compelling.

Because free speech needs champions. And sometimes, they wear ink-stained pants and live in a Frankenstein doll valley.

'Godzilla Rivals: Round Four' – Monster Mayhem Gets Personal

Writers: Josh Trujillo, Jake Lawrence, Tom Waltz, Dave Baker

Art: Joshua Cornillon

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

Godzilla Rivals: Round Four - Cover by Joshua Cornillon

Welcome back to the Kaiju colosseum where every grudge match is a seismic event and every monster brawl is a love letter to city-leveling chaos. Godzilla Rivals: Round Four is the latest monster mash from IDW, delivering four standalone stories soaked in radioactive drama and scale-shattering spectacle.

Think of it as a heavyweight championship—if the heavyweights had claws, atomic breath, and the power to level downtown Tokyo before lunch. This issue pulls no punches, pitting Titan against Titan in a glorious, no-context-needed throwdown anthology.

First up: Godzilla vs. Manda. It’s the King of the Monsters against everyone’s favorite angry sea serpent. Expect deep-sea grappling and thunderous roars as these two leviathans bring maritime mayhem to the surface.

Then it’s the royal rumble you didn’t know you needed—King Ghidorah vs. SpaceGodzilla, followed by a brutal encore with Mechagodzilla entering the fray. Yes, that’s right—three megalithic icons, one battlefield, zero chill.

Mothra fans, don’t worry. There’s sacred shimmer in the sludge when the Queen of the Monsters locks wings with Hedorah, the Smog Monster himself. It’s nature vs. pollution in a psychedelic slugfest that’ll make you want to recycle—or run.

Godzilla Rivals: Round Four isn’t just for diehards—it’s a monster party with the lights cranked up and the safety regulations thrown out the window. Pick your favorite beast and place your bets. Because in this arena, everyone’s got a bone to pick—and claws to pick it with.

'Adventure Time #2' – It’s Poetry, Pie Fights, and Princess Problems in the Most Musical Issue Yet

Written by: Nick Winn with Derek Ballard Art by: Asia Simone with Derek Ballard

Covers by: Nick Winn, Asia Simone, Michael DeForge (1:20 Variant), Nick Winn B&W (1:50), plus the “Jake” Yellow Sketch Variant

Release Date: May 7th, 2025

Publisher: Oni Press

Adventure Time #2 - Cover A by Nick Winn

It’s Adventure Time with a capital “A” for Alliteration, because this month the Land of Ooo turns lyrical in the most lovelorn issue yet! Finn and Jake are still hot on the trail of the Enchiridion, but this side quest is dripping in melodrama, meter, and some magically maladjusted romance.

Enter: Henry Alexander, tortured poet, sad boi supreme, and a guy in serious need of a couple bros with musical flow. He’s trying to win back his lady love, and naturally, Finn and Jake—knights of friendship and unfiltered enthusiasm—jump in to help the guy drop the sickest, swooniest lines in Ooo history.

But it wouldn’t be Adventure Time without a dash of chaos. Neptr’s back with his infinite pie launcher, and Flame Princess joins the mix with enough romantic tension to boil a kettle—which she probably could. Jake’s not saying it’s a crush, but he’s totally saying it’s a crush.

Nick Winn (Bloody Mary) pens this lyrical lunacy with art tag-teamed by Asia Simone (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Wreck and Roll) and a brand-new back-up tale from Cartoonshow creator and LA Times Book Prize finalist Derek Ballard. Yes, it’s heartfelt. Yes, it’s weird. Yes, someone definitely gets pied in the face.

If Shakespeare was a sugar-fueled shapeshifter riding a rainbow unicorn, this is the comic he’d write.

So whether you’re here for the rhymes, the romance, or the robot pies, this issue of Adventure Time is a love song to weirdos, wordplay, and wild side quests.

Adventure Time #2 - Cover B by Asia Simone

Adventure Time #2 - Infinite Interlocking Cover by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb

Adventure Time #2 - Variant (1:20) Cover by Michael DeForge

'Love Languages' - When the City of Love Whispers Back

Creator: James Albon

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

Paris: the city of lights, of croissants, of heartbreak and hopeful beginnings. In Love Languages, James Albon trades in the overcooked clichés of expat fantasy for something far more raw, resonant, and heartbreakingly honest. Forget the postcard version of Paris. This is the Paris of fluorescent office lights, awkward translation apps, and the quiet desperation of chasing connection in a city that doesn’t care if you sink or swim.

Sarah Huxley thought moving from London to Paris would be the reset button her soul craved. Instead, she gets soul-crushed by bureaucracy, isolation, and the cold indifference of a city too busy being romantic for tourists to notice the lonely. But just as she’s about to give up, fate throws her into the orbit of Ping Loh—a sharp, warm au pair navigating the same alienating cultural waters while tethered to a wealthy Hong Kong expat family.

What follows is not your typical love story. It's not even your typical friendship story. It's the slow, strange magic of two women learning to communicate—through fumbling French, inside jokes, and late-night conversations that cut through the static of daily life. Albon’s watercolours drip with humanity, painting a Paris that feels lived-in rather than fantasized.

Love Languages is a quiet powerhouse—equal parts emotional travelogue and bilingual therapy session. It's about how connection doesn’t need to be perfect to be profound. It’s about how learning a new language isn’t just about words—it’s about letting your heart get lost, translated, and finally found.

For fans of introspective storytelling, emotional nuance, and visual beauty that doesn’t shout but still demands your full attention—Love Languages is speaking directly to you.

'Plague House #2' – Fame, Phantoms, and the Price of Purging the Dead

Written by: Michael W. Conrad

Art by: Dave Chisholm

Covers by: Dave Chisholm (A + 1:10 Variant), Chan (B), Adam Gorham (1:20 Variant)

Release Date: May 7, 2025

Publisher: Oni Press

Plague House #2 - Cover A by Dave Chisholm

The ghosts are getting louder—and so are the headlines. Plague House #2 continues the supernatural spiral with more dread, more dead, and the creeping realization that just because the house is clean doesn’t mean the curse is over.

Writer Michael W. Conrad (Wonder Woman, In Bloom) teams up once again with visual virtuoso Dave Chisholm (Miles Davis and the Search for Sound) to deliver a second issue soaked in tension and teetering on the edge of existential dread. The ghost-hunting crew—Del, Holland, and Jacob—has gone viral after tackling the horror-show that was Orin McCabe’s murder mansion. Now that their spirit-slaying rep is legit, the calls are pouring in. Everyone wants a piece of the exorcists who "fixed the unfixable."

But there’s a problem: people linked to the McCabe haunting are starting to drop like flies. And the more haunted houses they "clean," the more bodies start piling up. Coincidence? Curse? Or something far nastier crawling beneath the floorboards?

Del, caught between rising fame and a growing body count, is unraveling—because what if he’s the ghost they should be worried about? As egos swell and secrets seep through the cracks, Plague House morphs from a ghost story into something deeper, darker, and disturbingly human.

Conrad’s writing sinks its teeth in with moral rot and creeping paranoia, while Chisholm’s art balances dread-soaked atmospherics with stark emotional intensity. This isn’t just another bump-in-the-night comic—it’s a postmodern horror parable wrapped in ectoplasm and media obsession.

Because when you monetize the dead, eventually they demand a cut.

Plague House #2 - 1:20 Variant by Adam Gorham

'Monster High: New Scaremester Vol. 1' – Mean Ghouls, Monstrous Drama, and Fangtastic Friendships

Writers: Jacque Aye, Hannah Templer, Megan Brown

Artists: Caroline Shuda, Siobhan Keenan

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

Monster High: New Scaremester Vol. 1 - Cover

Welcome back to the hallowed (and haunted) halls of Monster High, where the claws are sharp, the friendships are complicated, and the scaremester is about to go full cryptic chaos. In New Scaremester Vol. 1, the ghoul gang is back—but this time, the drama’s juicier than a fresh vial of O-negative.

Draculaura’s juggling new responsibilities and biting off more than she can chew. Clawdeen and Cleo de Nile are in the middle of a cold war colder than a mummy’s tomb, and Frankie Stein’s situation? Let’s just say it’s more shocking than usual—and that’s saying something for someone powered by lightning.

This isn't your average hallway hustle. Behind the glitter, growls, and gory-good fashion sense, there’s real monster-sized tension. With friendships on the fritz and danger around every cobwebbed corner, this scaremester is shaping up to be the most batshit semester yet.

Jacque Aye, Hannah Templer, and Megan Brown cook up a perfectly wicked script that balances snark, scares, and sincerity, while Caroline Shuda and Siobhan Keenan serve up killer visuals that’ll have you screaming (in delight). Whether you're undead or just dead tired of boring comics, Monster High: New Scaremester brings the drama, the drip, and the deep feels.

So sharpen those claws, check your reflection, and watch your back—because at Monster High, no secret stays buried forever.

'ESPADA: The Will of the Blade' – Swords, Secrets, and the Magic They Tried to Bury

Written, Illustrated, and Covered By: Anabel Colazo

Release Date: May 7, 2025

Publisher: Oni Press

Magic is a memory. Power is inherited. And in Espada: The Will of the Blade, Anabel Colazo slices through royal propaganda and mythical half-truths with a sword-sharp tale of rebellion, legacy, and self-discovery.

Best known for No Mires Atrás and Encuentros Cercanos, Colazo trades UFOs for enchanted kingdoms in this latest fable-turned-psychological epic. At the center is Ania, a princess not by choice but by lineage—next in line to a throne built on stories that don’t quite add up.

The official history says magic died with a world-ending demon. The unofficial version whispers about a wandering hero with a sword and a cause. Now, with a mysterious blade in her grip and more questions than answers, Ania’s ready to cut through the courtly lies and dig up the truth—whether her kingdom wants her to or not.

Colazo’s lush artwork and haunting visual rhythm conjure a world where power is twisted, mythology is malleable, and girls with swords don’t wait to be rescued. Espada doesn’t just reimagine fairy tales—it dissects them, exposing the political bones beneath the magic dust.

If you like your fantasy soaked in mood, myth, and mistrust—and told through the hands of a master cartoonist unafraid to swing—this is your next obsession.

Espada is a coming-of-age story wrapped in rebellion. A sword saga with something to say. And a reminder: the truth doesn’t come from the throne. It comes from the blade.

'Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons II' – Sons of Giants

Writer: Frank Tieri

Artist: Inaki Miranda

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

Grab your compass and sharpen your conspiracy board, because Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons II – Sons of Giants is back to tear the veil off kaiju history with all the subtlety of an atomic breath blast. Writer Frank Tieri and artist Inaki Miranda reunite for this follow-up to the Eisner-nominated historical monster epic—and trust us, the stakes are more ancient, more secretive, and way more explosive.

This isn’t just another Godzilla stompfest. This is kaiju history as weaponized lore. The sequel dives deeper into the shadowy corners of human history where colossal beasts and shady puppet-masters collide. Ever wondered why Godzilla keeps showing up at the worst (or best) moments in global history? Turns out, it might all trace back to a clandestine cult of kaiju wranglers known only as the Sons of Giants.

From ancient Rome's blood-soaked coliseums to the powder keg of Colonial America, this miniseries reimagines world history as one long monster-infested cover-up. And standing dead center in the mythos? Good ol’ Sir Francis Drake—who may or may not have been a secret member of this Illuminati-adjacent group stashing treasure and titanic secrets on Monster Island.

With Miranda’s razor-sharp visuals capturing both globe-trotting grandeur and kaiju carnage, and Tieri’s pulpy-meets-political writing voice in full conspiratorial swing, Sons of Giants doesn’t just expand the Here There Be Dragons universe—it drops a thunderous foot onto the worldbuilding pedal.

Forget everything you thought you knew about kaiju. The real monsters are the ones pulling the strings.

'EC Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1' – The Crypt Door Swings Open Once More

Writers: Brian Azzarello, J. Holtham, Jason Aaron, Chris Condon, Amy Roy, Stephanie Phillips, Tyler Crook, Matt Kindt, Corinna Bechko, Jay Stephens

Artists: Phil Hester, Klaus Janson, Charlie Adlard, David Lapham, Claire Roe, Raúl Allén, Jorge Fornés, Peter Krause, Vlad Legostaev

Cover by: Lee Bermejo

Release Date: May 7, 2025

Publisher: Oni Press

EC Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1 - Cover by Lee Bermejo

Hold onto your entrails, gore lovers—the death rattle you hear is EC Comics rising from the abyss to reclaim its blood-soaked throne with Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1, the first all-new EC horror series in nearly 70 years. That’s right. What the Comics Code tried to bury has clawed its way back with a vengeance—and it brought some seriously demented friends along for the ride.

Forget sanitized scares and PG-13 ghost stories. Epitaphs is a full-throttle return to EC's decaying roots, packed with bite-sized nightmares, morally bankrupt monsters, and twist endings sharper than a coffin nail. This isn’t a nostalgia trip—it’s a resurrection, baby.

Inside this debut volume (collecting issues #1–4), you’ll find a rogues’ gallery of comics’ most unhinged storytellers. Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Jason Aaron (Scalped), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), and Stephanie Phillips (Grim) dive headfirst into the macabre, backed by a murderers’ row of artists like Jorge Fornés (Rorschach), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Klaus Janson (The Dark Knight Returns), and Phil Hester (Family Tree).

These aren’t your daddy’s haunted tales. These are fresh, filthy, and crawling with rot—fear fables that whisper from beneath the floorboards and remind you that death is just the beginning... and sometimes, it’s the least of your problems.

EC’s Epitaphs from the Abyss doesn’t just honor the legacy of Tales from the Crypt—it drags it screaming into the now, flipping the bird at censorship while embracing everything that made EC the most notorious name in comics horror.

Get ready to laugh, scream, and possibly throw up a little. The abyss is open—and it's hungry.

'The Sin Bin' – Slapshots, Secrets, and Supernatural Smackdowns

Writer: Robbie Thompson

Artist: Patricio Delpeche

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

The Sin Bin - Cover by Patricio Delpeche

Suit up and sharpen your skates—The Sin Bin isn’t just dropping gloves, it’s dropping demons. Robbie Thompson and Patricio Delpeche deliver a bloody, heartfelt hat trick of horror, heart, and high-stakes family drama in this father-daughter monster-hunting graphic novel that’s Supernatural meets Slap Shot, with a dash of Stranger Things weirdness for good measure.

Dale “Dukes” Duquesne is the kind of dad who knows how to check you on the ice and exorcise your basement. Washed-up hockey bruiser by day, monster slayer by night, Dukes has been keeping the rink—and his daughter—safe from the ghouls, ghosts, and nasties that go bump in the penalty box. His secret weapon? The Sin Bin—a supernatural storage unit for all the eldritch evil he’s put on ice.

Enter Cat, Dukes’ fiercely curious and no-nonsense daughter who stumbles headfirst into her dad’s horror-heavy hobby. One demon-hunting reveal later, and Cat’s all in—fangs, claws, and all. She’s ready to skate in his blood-soaked footsteps, but monster-hunting isn’t all guts and glory. The family legacy has deeper secrets than Cat bargained for—and some of those skeletons aren’t staying in the bin.

Delpeche’s art brings just the right mix of grit, grime, and grindhouse charm to this story of puck-slinging paranormal mayhem. And Thompson’s script? Equal parts heartfelt and horrifying, blending generational trauma with creature-feature carnage in a way that hits harder than a crosscheck to the soul.

The Sin Bin is a brutal, bloody love letter to the monsters we fight—on the ice, in the dark, and inside ourselves.

'Star Trek: Defiant Vol. 4' – The Stars of Home

Writer: Christopher Cantwell

Artist: Angel Unzueta

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment

Strap in, Starfleet dropouts—Defiant is back and boldly going where diplomacy dies screaming. In Vol. 4: The Stars of Home, Christopher Cantwell and Angel Unzueta plunge us into the darker, dirtier underbelly of the Star Trek universe, where broken alliances and Romulan backstabbing are just another Tuesday.

The U.S.S. Defiant crew—still disavowed, still dangerous—find themselves caught in a high-stakes political power grab that smells more like a coup and less like classic Federation protocol. With Sela and her war-daddy General Revo pulling the strings, the stakes are cranked to warp 11. They've taken the crew hostage, set their sights on kidnapping the Romulan Praetor and the head of Tal Shiar Intelligence, and are ready to flip the empire like a Vulcan playing 4D chess with brass knuckles.

This isn't your usual hopeful Trek. This is Trek with scars, swagger, and just enough moral grey to make Section 31 blush. Defiant has never played by the rules, and this arc proves it—mixing espionage, rebellion, and interstellar political sabotage into one hell of a cosmic powder keg.

Cantwell keeps the pressure high and the dialogue razor-sharp, while Unzueta’s artwork blasts through space battles and backroom betrayals like photon torpedoes. If you like your Trek full of grit, grudges, and the occasional moral meltdown, this one's for you.

EC Comics Kicks Off the SUMMER OF FEAR with Blood Type #0 – Prepare Your Eyeballs for Maximum Trauma

Writers: Corinna Bechko, Chris Condon, Matt Kindt

Artists: Charlie Adlard, Jonathan Case, Kano

Cover: Tyler Crook

Publisher: Oni Press

Release Date: May 3, 2025 (Free Comic Book Day)

Buckle up, gorehounds — Free Comic Book Day is about to get soaked in blood, bile, and black humor, courtesy of EC Comics' absolutely unhinged resurrection tour. Before you start screaming “They wouldn’t dare!” — oh yes, they would. And they did.

Blood Type #0 is your one-way ticket into the depraved, pulpy madness of the SUMMER OF FEAR, a seasonal tidal wave of torture, terror, and sci-fi depravity that only EC and Oni Press could serve up without getting arrested. This freebie primer jams together encore slices of carnage from Cruel Universe, Epitaphs from the Abyss, and Cruel Kingdom, topped with a shiny new lid from horror maestro Tyler Crook. But the real kicker? You’re getting a sneak peek at “The Champion”, a Matt Kindt & Kano fever dream straight out of EC Cruel Universe #1 — and it’s just the beginning of the carnage carousel.

And what’s next? Oh, just a full-blown vampire comeback tour. That bloodthirsty bad girl from Epitaphs from the Abyss #3 rises from the grave and into EC’s first-ever serialized horror series with Blood Type #1 (of 4), dropping in June. Written by Hugo-nominated Corinna Bechko and illustrated by the master of psychological dread, Andrea Sorrentino, it’s fangs, flair, and fatality in four parts.

Still hungry for horror? Catacomb of Torment #1 launches in July and it’s bringing a whole new horror host to the party — The Tormentor — a sadistic guide with a soft spot for anatomy lessons and medieval pain. John Arcudi, Marguerite Bennett, Matt Kindt, and more are the sick minds behind this anthology, with stories that don’t just creep — they claw.

And just when you think it can’t get worse (or better), Cruel Universe 2 #1 hits in August to remind you that space is cold, heartless, and out for your guts. Helmed by J. Holtham, Ann Nocenti, David Rubín, and other comic industry monsters, this sci-fi maxi-series turns cosmic dread into an artform—and makes Alien look like an Airbnb mishap.

This is EC Comics back from the dead and having the time of their (after)life. The gore is back. The satire is sharper than ever. And the tagline writes itself:

“Critics say it’s literal torture. EC Comics says: You’re welcome.”

So come May 3rd, crawl to your nearest comic shop, grab Blood Type #0, and prepare for a summer of grotesque glory. We’ll be watching... and maybe, just maybe, letting you go.