Last year I got to write a comic for DC Comics that saw them in partnership with the Discovery Channel for their yearly Shark Week event. That comic was Aquaman: Air Jaw Allies, a free one-shot that was sent to comic stores, and that was beautifully brought to life by the art team of Pablo M. Collar and Nick Filardi. I had a great time working on that comic, and working with outstanding editor Michael McCalister.

A few months after we wrapped up that comic, Michael told me there was another opportunity coming up like that one he wanted me to take on. That became Justice League: Heroes of the Pitch, a one-shot comic done in collaboration with USA Soccer and Fox Sports. It is currently only available for purchase at select Dick’s Sporting Goods across the country, it was for sale on a website yesterday but it appears to have sold out which is cool I think!

If you are a subscriber to DC’s DCU Infinite comic service you can read a copy for free online in spanish. I hope you check it out however you can, it was a real blast getting to combine super heroes and sports this way.

Justice League: Heroes of the Pitch finds the alien warlord Mongul coming to Earth to interrupt a massive soccer game where the Justice League are guests. Mongul challenges the Justice League and some of the best soccer players on Earth to play an alien team that he has put together. If Team Earth loses, the planet will be destroyed. Superman coaches Team Earth, while Mongul coaches his team of aliens in what is going to be the most epic game of soccer the galaxy has ever seen!

Getting to merge my love of sports with my love of DC’s super heroes was a once in a lifetime opportunity and one I absolutely cherished. It was a total blast. The comic was beautifully drawn by Serg Acuna, stunningly colored by Hi-Fi, and lettered by the legendary Pat Brosseau. Above is the cover by Pop Mhan and below are some preview pages. Check out the issue if you can, it’s a lot of fun! And next week I will be interviewing artist Serg Acuna about collaborating on this project.

I just realized today that in two weeks we’ll be posting the 75th Weekly Up-Dave Newsletter, which is awesome. I do not have anything planned for it right now. If there’s anything you want to see? Email me. Or? Maybe we’ll do a mail bag and I’ll pick the best seven and a half questions to answer. So maybe also submit a question and a half question. Or perhaps even better a question and a follow-up question, and I’ll pick the best of the best!

I ended my press tour for Showdown #1 by guesting on The FAQs Project Podcast. Give it a listen! And just to clarify…this is the last podcast where I’m exclusively talking about Showdown #1 (we tease issues 2 and 3 as well) but when the remaining issues come out, you better believe I will be game to do interviews and talk those ones ones up as well!

Showdown #1 hit stores last week, but readers are still catching up with us, and some of them are sharing stellar reviews for the book on platforms like Youtube. Check out a couple great reviews for the issue that came in earlier this week!

Showdown #1 should still be available in a comic book store near you! If it’s not you can find it online, including at the Ignition Press website or any other comic book store website. Showdown #2 will be on sale on June 24th, 2026. Don’t miss it, I promise you it’s going to knock you out!

That’s it for this week!

As I said earlier, next week I plan on running an interview with artist Serg Acuna. Serg is one of the most energetic and dynamic artists working in super hero comics right now, if you have not seen his art before, take a look at his interview next week, I have no doubt we will be running plenty more of his art. And the preview pages above were done by him.

Until then?

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz