DEADPOOL #15 (legacy #350) hits your local comic book store on June 25th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview for you!
About the issue: LANDMARK ISSUE #350!
DEADPOOL VS. DEATH GRIP! The showdown you’ve been waiting for, DEADPOOL vs. DEATH GRIP, and only one stands victorious!
Then get ready for a 350th celebration like only the ‘Pool can bring you, with anniversary stories from Deadpool legends Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli introducing an ALL-NEW VILLAIN, a peek into Doug and Princess’ own adventure, and an ALL-NEW installment of DEADPOOL SAMURAI from the creators of the hit manga!
The issue’s main story is by writer Cody Ziglar and artist Rogê Antônio, with colors by Guru-eFX, and letters by Joe Sabino. The main cover is by Taurin Clarke.
Check out our DEADPOOL #15 preview below:
Are you picking up this landmark issue of DEADPOOL? Sound off in the comments!
INTRODUCING NEON ICHIBAN: THE DEFINITIVE DIGITAL COMICS & MANGA PLATFORMCONNECTING FANS, CREATORS, AND PUBLISHERS
Comixology Vets Introduce a Bold New Platform Offering Seamless Digital Control, Secondary Market Resales, and Signed & Sketched Collectibles
Participating Publishers Include: Marvel Comics and DC, Showcasing Massive Digital Catalogs, alongside Dark Horse Comics, DSTLRY, Kodansha, Oni Press, and Vault Comics
LOS ANGELES, CA / NEW YORK, NY — June 19th , 2025 — NEON ICHIBAN, a new visionary digital comics and manga platform, was announced today by industry pioneers and Comixology veterans David Steinberger and Chip Mosher. Designed to transform how fans, creators, and publishers connect on a unified platform, NEON ICHIBAN sets a bold new standard for discovering, buying, reading, and collecting digital comics
and manga. NEON ICHIBAN is a new online destination for global fans’ weekly comics fix, offering same day as print digital releases with an extensive backlist from all participating publishers.
The launch will include new weekly frontlist releases, iconic comics and manga runs from publishing giants including DC and Marvel Comics. Marvel Comics and DC will showcase extensive digital catalogs alongside additional launch publishers including Dark Horse Comics, DSTLRY, Kodansha, Oni Press, and Vault Comics, establishing NEON ICHIBAN as a one-stop-shop for global fans’ digital comics and manga needs. More
participating publishers will be announced at a later date.
To celebrate the announcement, NEON ICHIBAN is offering fans who sign up for a pre-launch account here an exclusive, free digital collectible comic at launch.
With NEON ICHIBAN, fans are more than just readers—they participate in a vibrant ecosystem defined by innovation, ownership, and community.
WHAT MAKES NEON ICHIBAN DIFFERENT:
– All-In-One Digital Platform: NEON ICHIBAN serves readers and collectors simultaneously, offering same-day-as-print comics, manga, collections, and graphic novels. Single issues come in always-available standard editions alongside limited-edition variants and sketch covers for collecting.
– Customers in Control: NEON ICHIBAN gives you seamless digital control—read your comics online or offline, and download a local copy when publisher enabled. Purchases can also unlock exclusive on-and-offline perks.
– Signed & Sketched Collectibles: With participating publishers, readers can turn their owned digital issues into one-of-a-kind collectibles with digital signatures and remarques from top creators. These unique items can be treasured or resold with provenance intact.
– Secondary Marketplace: Fans can buy and sell owned digital comics and collectibles from participating publishers, adding tangible value to digital purchases. Resales benefit publishers and creators.
“NEON ICHIBAN is more than a store—it’s a platform devoted to bringing reading and collectability to a united global audience for comics and manga,” says David Steinberger, CEO & Co-Founder. “This is the next evolution of digital comics. We’re empowering fans with access, control, and engagement—and providing creators with tools
to directly connect with their audience like never before.”
“We’re reimagining what’s possible when you combine cutting-edge technology with a deep respect for comics, manga, and their creators,” explains Chip Mosher, CCO & Co-Founder. “NEON ICHIBAN bridges digital convenience and collectability, giving fans true ownership while supporting creators. This isn’t just a revolution for comics—it’s setting a new standard for digital content across all media.”
For more information on NEON ICHIBAN and to keep up with the vast catalog of frontlist and backlist titles, with more content added weekly, sign up here.
Sean Edgar
Neon Ichiban
Sr. Dir., Marketing & Communications
sean@neonichiban.com
DC Press Contact:
Carrie Williams – Carrie.Williams@dc.com
About NEON ICHIBAN:
NEON ICHIBAN is the next evolution in digital comics and manga—a future-forward platform where fans don’t just read, they can buy, sell, collect, and connect. Founded by Comixology veterans David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, NEON ICHIBAN delivers unprecedented digital control, direct access to creators, and a resellable
marketplace. This isn’t just a platform—the future of fandom is here.
About the Founders:
David Steinberger and Chip Mosher bring decades of digital comics innovation and leadership to NEON ICHIBAN. David Steinberger, former CEO and co-founder of Comixology, led the revolutionary digital comics platform acquired by Amazon. Under his guidance, Comixology transformed how readers access and enjoy sequential storytelling. Chip Mosher previously led content acquisition and marketing at Comixology and Amazon.
A comics publishing veteran, Mosher is known for his editorial eye and creator-first publishing approach.
Together, they co-founded DSTRLY Media, which launched in 2023. The company’s first year debut series SOMNA won the 2024 Eisner Award for Best New Series. DSTLRY’s innovative digital marketplace—pioneering resellable digital comics—laid the foundation for NEON ICHIBAN, where fans don’t just read, they collect and connect.
Just when you thought we might take a break from the Absolute Universe’s incredible character introductions, Absolute Batman #9 from writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Clayton Cowles knocks it out of the park with maybe the best one to date. Absolute Bane is an intelligent tank that has the ability to strike fear into the heart of even Batman himself; it’s astonishing. It feels like you’re reading something that’s already going to be a classic by the time it’s complete.
The issue starts with two war generals meeting, having peace talks. These talks quickly fall apart when they’re interrupted by Bane. Bane essentially tells them that one of them will live and one will die. The one who lives is told to give a speech today, explaining how the talks fell through. Bane receives a phone call telling him to go to Gotham City where we cut to Bruce on a rampage. He’s tearing up the criminal underworld after learning that his friend Waylon has been taken to a place called Ark M, and he shows no signs of stopping.
Bane interrupts diplomatic talks.
WRITING
Snyder hasn’t worked with Bane a whole lot in the past. Bane’s mostly been in the background of some of his other all-timer Batman stories. Here? He takes the spotlight and he is magnificent. He’s just this hulking, bone-chilling genius that knows exactly how to get what he wants without giving too much anyway. By the end of the issue, we are so stricken by his daunting personality, despite still knowing almost nothing about him. He’s Bruce’s toughest foe yet in terms of size, knowledge, and skill. Snyder is not afraid to completely outmatch Bruce so early into the comic.
Before everything converges on the Bane story, Bruce is up to some other things. He’s looking for his friend Waylon, who has been taken and sent somewhere called Ark M. We can only assume what this means given our general knowledge of Arkham Asylum in the main universe, but this new place has a different vibe to it. We learn that there’s more than one Ark, and there’s some old money and names behind it. Bruce learns all of this after a fit of rage. He cleans up the streets in basically one night, trying to learn anything about his friend’s whereabouts, and it’s a great way that Snyder has chosen to show exactly how far Bruce would go for the people that he loves.
Bane kills one of the diplomats.
ART
It’s good to have Dragotta back on art duties, and it’s like he didn’t skip a beat. He dives really deep into body horror for Bane, and it’s haunting. He’s just this giant creature, but never blinded by rage. Dragotta draws him as this giant, beefy, calm individual that adds another layer of fear to him. Near the end of the issue, we see the venom seep into him through the tubes attached to his body and he becomes double the size. The actual transformation itself is awesome. It’s a page that’s paneled beautifully with a larger panel featuring Bruce’s scared expression right in the middle. Dragotta clearly shows that Bruce is out of his depth through this, and that Bane never had a chance of losing.
Back to the point on body horror, there’s a lot of it in this issue. The issue’s credits page is a spread that’s just this mass of muscle and skin all converging on Bane’s small head. It’s drawn so well, but man it’s just tough to look at. Not only that, but early in the issue when Bane crushes someone’s head, his head becomes clay with eyes popping out of it, his brain becoming soup. Dragotta shows Bane’s strength well through this introduction. He makes Bane feel almost mythical, like he can see us and is telling us that we should be scared.
bane tells a man to make a speech to his people.
COLORS
The issue’s opening double page spread has been referenced a few times here, but the colors are what really bring it together. The muscles engulfing the page are composed of these gross pinks and reds that all come together on Bane’s small black and white mask with piercing red eyes. The issue’s title is plastered across this with a sort of toxic green that totally inverts any colors of the bundles of flesh emerging from behind it. Martin incredibly sets up the tone for the issue with this. The way he handles flashbacks is really great as well. We’ve seen before, he usually does lighter color palettes during flashbacks, but something that’s gone unnoticed is how, as we get flashbacks that seem closer to the present, the colors aren’t as light. They’re still just different enough for you to know it’s a flashback, but it being more recent naturally makes it more vivid in Bruce’s memory.
The issue’s opening credits.
LETTERS
This issue features the return of Alfred’s narration which Cowles makes look like pages torn straight from a notebook. They fit the tone for this especially, with him thinking that Bruce is getting himself into a death trap. There’s something more eerie about them this time around, as they tie the setting together perfectly in the dark world Bruce enters to try and save his friend. Another thing to point out are the issue’s opening credits. The placement of the story’s title on the large spread is gorgeous, and the font is perfect and gross, really adding the cherry on top of Bane’s disgusting display. Everyone’s names fade in and out as well, almost like Bane is overpowering the letters themselves. It’s really creative.
CONCLUSION
Absolute Batman #9 brings our original creative team back to us and they grace us with a story that’s worthy of that return. Bane is introduced as a demon in human’s clothing, and he just gets scarier through the issue with everyone involved working to make him as utterly terrifying as possible. He’s a monster that completely outmatches Bruce and his friends, and so Snyder and company also reach out to ask one simple question: What exactly is this Batman capable of when the people he loves are in danger? It’s still early in the book, but this story feels like it’s ramping up to be an all time great.
SPIDER-GIRL #2 is coming to your local comic book store July 16th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has the exclusive first look at the issue!
About the issue: LADY BULLSEYE STRIKES!
As Spider-Girl investigates Vermin’s attack, Bullseye’s shadow still looms large – in the form of LADY BULLSEYE! But are the master assassin’s loyalties what they seem?
The issue is by writer Torunn Grønbekk and artist Andre Risso, with colors by Javier Tartaglia, and letters by Joe Caramagna. The main cover is by David Nakayama.
Get your first look at SPIDER-GIRL #2 here:
Did you pick up the first issue of SPIDER-GIRL this week? Sound off in the comments!
JEFF THE LAND SHARK #1 hits your local comic book store on June 18th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview for you!
About the issue: FRIENDS AND RIVALS!
Hot off his star-making appearance in MARVEL RIVALS, everyone’s favorite walking fish boy has bitten off his first starring miniseries! Join Jeff as he teams up with many of the friends he’s made over the years and out smarts more than a few rivals along the way…and this time, he’s got some all-new abilities on his side!
Join Jeff co-creator Kelly Thompson and artist Tokitokoro as they sharpen the teeth of the undeniable star of the entire Marvel Universe – love him or hate him, you know you want to see MORE JEFF!
The issue is by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Tokitokoro, with colors by Jim Campbell, and letters by Joe Caramagna. The main cover is by Gurihiru.
Check out our JEFF THE LAND SHARK #1 preview below:
Are you picking up JEFF THE LAND SHARK #1 next week? Sound off in the comments!
Ever since we were introduced to the galaxy’s greatest trophy hunters back in 1987, fans have wondered what it would be like to watch aPredator go toe to toe with history’s greatest human warriors. While the Dark Horse era of Predator comics covered this territory from time to time, seldom have we seen one of these great duels in motion. With Predator: Killer of Killers, some of our most kickass fan-fantasies become realized. Killer of Killers doesn’t just succeed just in satisfying our needs of watching Vikings and samurai go up against the Predators, but in crafting great human stories and adding interesting wrinkles to the surprisingly interesting lore of the larger Predator universe.
Predator: Killer ofKillers director Dan Trachtenberg seems to be the go-to guy now for Predator films – and he’s proving to be more than up to the task. 2022’s Prey is easily the best film in the franchise since the 1987 original, so him directing this animated treat in secret alongside co-director Joshua Wassung was a more than pleasant surprise. The story follows three warriors from different points in history – a Viking chieftain, a ronin turned ninja, and a WWII pilot – as they battle Predators come to collect trophies from Earth’s greatest fighters. What begins as an anthology story ends up being more interconnected than we are led to believe, leading to a genuinely compelling character story that is filled with some of the most badass sequences in the history of the franchise. Killer of Killers offers fans exactly the kind of spectacle we’ve been asking for for decades, with history’s greatest warriors going up against the universe’s deadliest hunter, complete with new and sick as hell ways to dismember and claim trophies. What really makes this film work though isn’t just the action, but the compelling character writing. Both the Viking and the Samurai are on quests of vengeance that offer their own sort of tragedy as well, but each one is very unique. The fighter pilot though is a young man trying to prove himself to his superiors through his wit and tenacity. All of their stories are compelling – even if the last one feels a bit far-fetched and out of left field compared to the other two. Killer of Killers also offers a look at Yautja (the lore name for Predators) culture in a way we haven’t seen outside of novels and comic books. Trachtenberg really nails down what makes a great Predator tale, and then exceeds on the very expectations for this kind of storytelling. Between this and his work on Prey, the wait for Predator: Badlands is almost assuredly going to be worth it.
Animation quality on a direct-to-streaming production can often be shaky, so its fortunate that the Third Floor’s animation work on Predator: Killer of Killers is so solid. The film has an aesthetic akin to Netflix’s Blue-Eye Samurai, but with a noticeably higher level of fidelity and smoothness. The art direction stays consistent while seamlessly transitioning across three wildly different historical periods, as well as within alien ships and worlds. The different Predator designs are all stellar, managing to add new details to one of the genre’s most recognizable monsters while never feeling like they’re going a bridge too far. I never thought I’d see the day where we watched a Yautja fighter pilot at work, but man I’m glad I did. The action choreography hits hard in every sequence, from brutal hand-to-hand encounters to insane aerial battles. Third Floor’s animation combined with Trachtenberg and Wassung’s direction allows for this film to craft combat with a speed and cinematography that would be almost impossible for a live action flick to reproduce. One other feat here that has to be recognized is this film’s soundtrack, composed by Benjamin Wallfisch. Each chapter has its own version of the original iconic Predator soundtrack, played though as a leitmotif as each fight rages on. On the production end as much as with the writing, Killer of Killers is an utter treat to behold.
Predator: Killer of Killers is fanservice, in the simplest terms, fanservice done right. Dan Trachtenberg’s storytelling (aided by Joshua Wassung’s directing and Micho Robert Rutare’s script) delivers a series of conjoined tales that is just as effective at giving viewers compelling human stories as it is at delivering Yautja lore and brutal kills. Everything from the animation quality, fight choreography, and the great play on a classic soundtrack, works together to create the kind of Predator experience fans have been searching for for decades now. Trachtenberg is 2 for 2 now, and I cannot wait to see how Badlandsturns out.
Doctor Who’s fifteenth season has come to a close with a big, bombastic finale that went for everything, including the kitchen sink approach.
The Doctor is falling to his death. Luckily, he’s saved by Anita Benn (Steph de Whalley) and her time hotel portals. Going into the portal awakens The Doctor’s memory, and he can use it to awaken UNIT from Conrad’s Wish World trance. The Doctor and UNIT seek a way to defeat The Rani before she can free Omega from the Underverse.
The Doctor and his allies were in a perilous situation where it looked like death was inevitable. The only way they got out of their situations was through multiple Deus Ex Machinas. The Doctor was saved by a character he had met in the 2024 Christmas Special, and time was reset with Ruby and Belinda waking up in their beds. It was an annoying cop out. It made the events of the previous irrelevant since the characters were trapped in a time loop, and anything bad that happened, like a death, could be reset.
When The Doctor brought UNIT back together, “The Reality War” kicked into gear. It became a big blockbuster experience with Unit laser cannons fighting off bone monsters, a narcissist villain making grand speeches and big threats with a booming soundtrack playing in the background, and an all-mighty monster potentially being able to wreak havoc across the universe. There was so much CGI spectacle on display that it looked like most of the season’s budget was spent on this episode.
“The Reality War” did move at a rapid pace. There was a bombardment of information, like revealing that the Doctor and the Rani were sterile, and UNIT needed to build a special box. Millie was placed in the center of the action and got a chance to shine by taking on Conrad, concluding their storyline. However, Belinda was literally put in a box for most of the climax.
“The Reality War” did entertain on the surface, but digging deeper, there were issues. Omega’s appearance was a letdown, seeing that he was just a giant CGI monster, not an all-powerful being or a genius that could rival The Doctor and The Rani. The Rani was dispatched unceremoniously. There were lingering storylines that were left unresolved, such as why Belinda and Mundy Flynn looked the same, and Poppy lived in modern-day London and on a spaceship in the far future. It felt like the season was rushing to a conclusion, but also had a long run time of 67 minutes. The Fifteenth Doctor was given the same treatment as the Tenth Doctor by being given a long goodbye.
“The Reality War” was Ncuti Gatwa’s final episode as The Doctor, and he regenerated as Billie Piper. Piper played Rose in the first two seasons of “Nu-Who,” and she’s a fan-favorite, but this regeneration felt too similar to David Tennant’s return as The Fourteenth Doctor: an exercise in nostalgia-baiting.
“The Reality War” was televisional cotton candy. It looked pretty and could provide a sugar rush, but it lacked any nutritional value since it left so much unexplored.
Doctor Who’s 15th season has reached its penultimate episode with “Wish World”, which sees the whole of Earth trapped in an alternative reality.
John Smith lives happily with his wife Belinda and daughter Poppy, and works for the Unified National Insurance Team. But this world isn’t quite what it seems: mugs slip off tables when people experience moments of doubt, disabled people are forced to live in hiding, and a young blonde woman tells John that he is really called The Doctor.
“The Interstellar Song Contest” ended with a massive cliffhanger, showing the TARDIS exploding with The Doctor and Belinda inside. It made for an intriguing situation, and the whole of Earth find itself in a similar scenario to Donna Noble in “Forest of the Dead” where she was trapped in a dream world. The Doctor got to live in suburban bliss, and there was a dark underbelly to this world.
“Wish World” tied back to “Lucky Day.” Mrs. Flood recruited Conrad Clark at the end of “Lucky Day” and the dystopia world was based on his fantasies. He was already shown to be a narcissist who wanted to manipulate reality through his conspiracy theory podcast. The new world was based on his fantasy, as he acted like a Big Brother-like figure who read Harry Potter inspired stories to the masses. He was someone who had traditional outlook on life.
The world that the Doctor and his allies ended up inhabiting was a retro one. Men wore pin-striped suits and went to work, and women wore dresses and stayed home. This illusion was under threat when someone said something that broke the norms of society, like when The Doctor made a comment that a man was good-looking. The episode felt like a mix of The Matrix and We Happy Few. Like The Matrix, characters began to question the world they were living in, and it felt a bit like the first Matrix, where people rejected it because it was too perfect. We Happy Few was set in a retro-futuristic version of Britain where people lived in a drug-induced trance, and the people who rejected the society were ostracized.
“The Interstellar Song Contest” also revealed Mrs. Flood’s true identity. She was actually The Rani and bi-generated, just like The Doctor in “The Giggle.” Archie Panjabi took on the role of The Rani, and she was having fun as the villain. Her first appearance in the episode involved her abducting a baby like she was in a Grimm’s Fairytale. She had presence and a dominating presence, as shown with her treatment of Mrs. Flood. The Rani monologued and explained a lot but Panjabi made the most of the material. The Rani was a theatrical, pantomime villain, something Doctor Who has had plenty of. She has dastardly grant ambitions which will be interesting to see where the second part takes it.
For people who enjoy viewing alternative world episodes, “Wish World” was intriguing and it was bolder than some of the other episodes in Series 15.
ALIENATED #3hits the internet June 10th, but thanks to Comixology Originals, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview for you.
About issue #3:
Alien continues to examine our strange physics. Lily and Winter prepare for their graduation. Winter further expresses his crush on Kaiden. TJ and his lady love, Rose, crave to be together despite the hindrance that faces them. Frank plots to expose Alien, but how?
The series is by writer/colorist/letterer Taki Soma and artist John Broglia. The main cover is by Michael Avon Oeming.
Check out the ALIENATED #3 preview below:
Are you reading ALIENATED on Comixology? Sound off in the comments!
GODZILLA #1 from IDW hits your local comic book shop on July 23, but Monkeys Fighting Robots has the early review to help you decide if the King of Monsters is a must-buy or a hard-pass!
GODZILLA #1 is a team effort from the creative staff. Tim Seeley layers in a ton of story and characters to hook the reader. Nikola Čižmešija takes interesting angles and perspectives to convey emotion and action. The emotion in the eyes of the characters is next-level storytelling. Francesco Segala improves the story’s pace with his color choices, and one simple panel becomes a masterpiece because of Francesco’s work. Nathan Widick takes the cake with his letter work as he takes the FUN of reading a comic book and turns it up to eleven with his onomatopoeias.
Check out my full thoughts below.
About GODZILLA #1: THE KAI-SEI ERA, IDW’S NEW GODZILLA UNIVERSE, STARTS HERE!
In 1954, experimentation with a mysterious energy source known as Kai-Sei awakened Godzilla and a host of immortal kaiju. In the years that followed, humanity has been pummeled by near-constant monster attacks. While Japan has begun to treat the kaiju like natural disasters, understanding that their attempts to fight Godzilla only make the threat worse, the American G-Force is going to fight, fight, fight.
The Americans have just discovered the ultimate tool in the fight against kaiju: a young boy named Jacen with the power of Godzilla. Able to harness the mysterious Kai-Sei in the same vein as the King of the Monsters, this boy will either save the world… or bring about its doom.
Join Tim Seeley (GRAYSON, HACK/SLASH, LOCAL MAN) and Nikola Čižmešija (SWORD OF AZRAEL, BATMAN AND ROBIN) on the ride of a lifetime!
