Terrificon 2026 Recap

Earlier this month I attended Terrificon, the Connecticut based comic book convention that I consider my go-to comic con and the main event for me each summer. I have been attending the con since 2017 and I have always been impressed with it. From the venue to the guest list to Mitch Hallock, the con promoter, it never fails to be a great time.

This year boasted some legendary creator names (including Jim Lee) and some newer creators as well which meant I was pretty busy the three days I attended. Before I get to my adventures, a few global comments.

First off, the venue is unparalleled. The con is in the Expo center at the Mohegan Sun casino, a massive hall which is filled with celebrities, comic creators, and vendors. There's free parking. There are more than enough places to eat in the place from the concession stand in the hall to every level of restaurant in the casino - food court to high end steak house - to make the non-convention part of attending easy.

Second, as I mention each year, the vexing conundrum around signature and commission prices remains ... well ... vexing. It is hard to anticipate how much creators will charge for autographs and sketches and as such, it is hard to anticipate how many books/how much money to bring. When one legendary creator says 'no charge' and another says 'two free then $5 each after' and another says '$2' and yet another says '$40 per sig', there isn't an internal formula I can anticipate in my mind. More puzzling is when new creators, mostly cover artists, who haven't been doing comics for more than a year charge $20 a sig, it becomes a difficult problem to solve.

I want to go up to creators and tell them how much I love their work and talk about stories/covers I love. But to go up without purchasing something, especially if you have to wait in a long line, feels off. For the first time, there were some tables I didn't go to because the price tag was too high. And I understand that these folks need to make a living. I am not begrudging them charging. But I get books signed because I love them, not because I am flipping them. And I'm not sure that even if I was flipping them if the sig adds the value they think. To put differently, I might approach someone and get 6 books signed for $30. But I avoided a $30/1 book table. It is a calculation I need to make on the fly and one I cannot predict until I get in the doors. Thankfully, each creator had a sign on their table listing their prices. 

Okay enough math talk. On to the fun stuff.

Review: Adventures Of Superman Book Of El #11

With the number of books and ancillary stuff coming out, I am quite delinquent in some reviews. I suppose better late than never.

Adventures of Superman Book Of El #11 came out recently, the penultimate chapter of this epic tale and, unfortunately, the penultimate Superman book for Phillip Kennedy Johnson. It was way back in 2021 when PKJ was announced as the new writer on Action Comics. At the time I said 'who?' But he showed me quite quickly that he understood Superman and the Super-Family. He will be missed on these books.

This title has had the usual wide-spread world-building that PKJ is known for. But we are approaching the end. The Els are united ... truly united as you'll see ... and are ready to fight Kryl-Ux and his made quest for power. The aspects of Olgrun are finally all near each other. And the battle is about to come to an end.

But, being true to his understanding of Superman, even when things look most dire, when it looks like the only answer is violence, Johnson has our hero offer peace and help. 

The art is a conglomeration of Scotty Godlewski, Cian Tormey, and Vasco Georgiev. It flows smoothly with, I believe, Godlewski doing most of the pages, They make Kryl-Ux appropriately horrific and give the right degree of emotion to the scenes that require it.

The mythology of the book has been a bit hard to follow at times but this issue felt like one of the strongest, finally bringing all the pieces together on the chessboard. On to the book.

Review: Action Comics #1101

The first two parts of the Kingdom of Zod event came out last week. Action Comics #1101 is the second chapter and picks up where Action Comics #1100 ended with the return of Superman while sliding into the Zod arc.

Last week I reviewed Supergirl #16 and talked about how I find the Zod plot confusing right now. And I don't know if this chapter makes any of it clearer. Zod has a Green K variant that is expanding over the Earth. It is causing a plague that is harming humans. It is still deadly to Kryptonians. Why would Zod want any of this? Why is he not ill from the effects of the Green K in some way? How did he get this huge Green K meteor, cover it in inertron, and move forward? So far I have too many questions.

We do get great scenes in this book where Lois is using her journalism skills to get Zod to reveal his inner thoughts. I love the Lois in this book. But I don't know if the answers he gives make much sense either. No surprise that writer Mark Waid writes a great Lois and Superman Family. But I am still confused.

The art is by Montos who is relatively new to me. I have seen his stuff in Green Lantern and I like his work here. It has a breathy sort of style. He uses shadows incredibly well. The fight sequences are rendered well. 

But we are two chapters in and I am confused. On to the book. 

Review: Supergirl #16

Supergirl #16 came out this week, the first chapter in the Kingdom of Zod crossover. While I am thrilled that the opening chapter is in the Supergirl book, perhaps bringing more eyes to the title, I have to say this story starts off a bit rushed and confusing. 

I don't know if I quite understand what Zod is trying to accomplish here. I don't know why he isn't impacted by a ton of Green K around him. But that is more a commentary on the overall story. Let's concentrate on this issue. 

Sophie Campbell does a solid job showing how Kara is trying to grow into her role of Heir to the House of El. How Kara is trying to be a leader for the El family in Superman's absence. But it isn't going to be an easy transition so seeing Kara doing her best to keep the team together on a dangerous mission into El Caldero is great characterization for our title hero. This is a Super-event so there are plenty of other characters here but Campbell really has Supergirl in the spotlight.

The art is a mix between Joe Quinones and Paolo Villanelli. The styles are quite different with Quinones being a more smooth style and Villanelli being more thin-lined, angular, and a bit rougher. The result can feel a bit jarring and I don't know if that is the best way to start an event either.

I honestly hope I understand Zod's plan at some point. But I don't yet. On to the issue.

Review: My Adventures With Superman S3 E8 'Vae Victis'

My Adventures With Superman, Season 3, Episode 9, titled 'Vae Victis' came out last weekend and was an incredible penultimate episode leading us into what surely will be a tremendous finale next week. From top to bottom, for me, this has been the best season of the show. It has been the blend of fun, whimsy, emotional growth, and character development that we have seen in the prior seasons. But this season has had more drama, more danger, and more action than the prior. Somehow all of those elements have been perfectly mixed.

Last episode, an unstoppable, ever evolving, Eradicator defeated our heroes and took off into the time stream. A powerless Clark went to the Fortress with Bizarro to try to regain his powers. Things look grim.

And so comes 'Vae Victis' which means "Woe to the Vanquished". What  heavy title.

It clearly can be the title for Lois, Lara, Jonathan, Jimmy, Kara, and even Lex. They have been beaten badly by the Eradicator. They are about to face him again, knowing it wants to conquer them. They all have to handle their own insecurities to be prepared. Those insecurities have been building over the season. It is good to see some of them put behind our heroes as they are about to fight for their lives.

But it really has weight with the Superman half of this book. Superman has been cast into a virtual reality by his Fortress guards (led by a 'docile' Brainiac) and told to repeat Krypton's conquering past as a way to prove he deserves his power. Will Superman vanquish? And why did Brainiac give him this task? We find out in the end in an incredible revelation.

We end on two cliffhangers! Bring on the finale of this wonderful season. On to this episode.

DC Comics Solicitations - October 2026

The October solicits for DC Comics came out recently. Here is a link to see all of them. 
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/07/25/full-october-2026-dc-comics-solicitations/

DC does seem to be firing on all cylinders with a creative explosion that feels similar to the Legends-era explosion that came out of the Crisis on Infinite Earths era. This goes beyond the Absolute universe and includes things like the recent JSA, Firestorm, and even this Supergirl book. But we are seeing it build on itself with a next wave including Doom Patrol, Deadman, The Demon, and Vertigo books. There also feels like a true plan for the main universe building off of KO. A vision for the universe!!!!

Moreover, I feel like there is a reverance to DC's history in these books. Instead of saying 'we need to change', these creators seem to be saying 'we can use the past to innovate and update'.

I mean, the cover for Deadman #5 is a clear homage to a key page in the Alan Moore/Steve Bisette/John Totleben Swamp Thing Annual #2, a huge issue back then and part of a celebrated run. Old timers like me will recognize it immediately. But even more than this homage, the solicit seems to say this issue of Deadman is a sort of riff on that book with Deadman journeying through the DC afterlife. This grabbed me and made me think that maybe I should check this title out, something I wasn't planning on doing. 

But on to the super-books.

SUPERGIRL #18
WRITTEN AND ART BY: SOPHIE CAMPBELL
THE HEIR OF EL! After the battles in Kandor and El Caldero, Supergirl has now achieved a reputation as the Heir of the House of El. Granted access to a Fortress all her own, she and the Super Force are excited to move in and explore their new home base. But for weeks Supergirl's been hearing a mysterious voice calling out to her, and that being is now ready to make itself known.

I have always had a worry that Sophie Campbell was going to make a Supergirl book into a team book. And now the 'Super Force' has made me worry a little more. We are adding more characters. I like the idea of Kara being the Heir to El. I like the idea of a separate Fortress. And as a fan of the PAD Supergirl, I like the return of Matrix (even if it is another new character). I do like the cover mirroring that of Superman #21, a sort of arrival of that Matrix. There is that leaning into history.

Are more worries about this being a team book being felt by others?

On to the rest of the books.

Review: Absolute Superman #22

In what feels like a fast turnaround, Absolute Superman #22 came out this week, a mere 2 weeks after the last issue came out. It also starts a new arc for the book with Superman trying to track down Brainiac and, it seems, running into new villains on the way. 

The last arc with Superman fighting Black Adam alongside Hawkman and Steel was a beautiful brawl spanning the world and the moon. This issue, writer Jason Aaron continues to keep the action at a high level with Superman fighting Metallo, the mutated and tortured Christopher Smith Peacemaker. Indeed, the bulk of the issue are these two going at it, blood-soaked and brutal.

But much like the Black Adam story, throughout the brawl, Superman is hoping to make a connection, the de-escalate, and to help Metallo. I think that this is Absolute Superman's biggest strength. In this dark world where Metallo is a mentally addled young man tortured by Brainiac into being a weapon ... a sort of poster boy for the Absolute universe ... here is Superman trying to lift up, not punch down. 

Juan Ferreyra is back on art and brings it. Yes, the violence is gloriously rendered. But the character design is great too. And there is a page layout in the middle of the book that really reminded me of the power of comics, where words and images can mesh. Ferreyra is the perfect partner for a 1-2 punch art combo with Rafa Sandoval for this book. Sandolval does a great job on the cover with the looming Brainiac staring over the impending battle.

This almost felt like a rest issue rather than an opening chapter and was a bit of an exhale after the intensity of the Adam story. On to the book.