Welcome to the AIPT Comics podcast, your weekly recap of news, reviews, and more! This week, Darcy Van Poelgeest joins the show to talk Lotaus Land, his new series launched this week at BOOM! Studios. We dig into noir, why Vancouver was the setting, and working with artist Caio Filipe.

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NEWS

1. Rob Liefeld’s Heroes Reborn cover sells for $132,000
2. Marvel February 2024 solicitations
   1. Marvel unveils new details on all X-Men titles out February 2024
   2. 'Spectacular Spider-Men' #1 swings in March 2024
3. ‘Ghost Rider’ relaunching in March 2024 by Ben Percy and Danny Kim
4. Marvel unveils Free Comic Book Day 2024 offerings
5. DC Comics February 2024 solicitations
   1. Prequel comic 'Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum' coming February 6, 2024
   2. New weekly story ‘The Joker Year One’ coming to ‘Batman’ in February 2024
6. New ‘Creepshow’ one-shot coming via Joe Hill, Michael Walsh & Jason Ciaramella
7. 'Golgotha Motor Mountain' announced at IDW for March 2024
8. Prequel comic ‘John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando: Rise of the Sludge God’ coming March 2024
9. Dark Horse series ‘Ghostbusters: Back in Town’ bridges new ‘Ghostbusters’ movies
10. 'The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead' coming March 2024
11. All-ages Oni comics series ‘Cemetery Kids Don’t Die’ #1 coming February 2024
12. RIP Comixology: App to no longer exist starting December 4, 2023

Our Top Books of the Week

Dave:

1. Immortal Thor (2023) #4 (Al Ewing, Martin Coccolo)
2. Daredevil (2023) #3 (Saladin Ahmed, Aaron Kuder, Farid Karami)

Nathan:

1. Fantastic Four #13 (Ryan North, Iban Coello)
2. Chilling Adventures Presents: Welcome to Riverdale #1 (Amy Chase, Liana Kangas, Ellie Wright, Jack Morelli)

Standout KAPOW moment of the week:

Nathan - Star Wars Visions: Peach Momoko #1 (Peach Momoko)

Dave - Deadpool: Seven Slaughters (2023) #1 (Steve Foxe and Gerardo Sandoval story)

TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK

1. Dave: The Amazing Spider-Man #38 (Zeb Wells, Ed McGuinness)
2. Nathan: The Holy Roller #1 (Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Roland Boschi)

JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.

1. Dave: Wolverine #39 (EM Gist Knight's End Cover)
2. Nathan: Daredevil: Black Armor #1 (Gustavo Duarte)

Interview: Darcy Van Poelgeest - Lotus Land #1 - Out November 15 - Artist: Caio Filipe

1. Darcy, thanks for being our guest on the AIPT Comics podcast, to start, would you describe Lotus Land as a noir, or maybe more simply, how would you describe it?
2. How did you approach crafting a futuristic dystopia, where did you start?
3. Tell us about your collaboration with Caio Filipe. 
4. As a huge fan of film noir, and having studied it in college, do you have any favorites?
5. What made Vancouver the right location for this narrative?
6. The first issue summary uses the term “ultramodern decay,” can you unpack that a little bit and what it means in this series?
7. I love thinking about casting to figure out the voice of a character, have you thought about who would play Bennie Strikman in a movie?
8. There’s an interesting blend of tech seen in the first issue, like hologram monitors, flying cars…did you have a specific level of tech in mind when fleshing out the world?
9. Would you say there’s themes of tech vs. nature in this series?