Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Three Jokers, ‘Department of Truth’ and more

Check out new comics this week from Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds, Gene Yang, Jody Houser, Dike Ruan, Dan Slott, Paco Medina and more.

We are back with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check out Comic List to see what’s arriving in your local comic shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

Tom Bondurant

It’s an “event-ful” week for DC Comics, with Batman: Three Jokers issue #2 and the Death Metal tie-in Multiverse’s End. Not surprisingly, both take some inspiration from previous stories. Three Jokers leans heavily on The Killing Joke and “A Death In The Family,” while the team of superheroes in Multiverse’s End appears to come from the Grant Morrison-written Multiversity.

On the merits, Three Jokers is interesting for a few reasons. First, Geoff Johns doesn’t do a lot of solo Batman work (case in point: Three Jokers was first teased in Justice League), let alone trips into Bat-history. Second, longtime Bat-readers can have fun trying to slot 3J into the timeline. Third, assuming it doesn’t have any meaningful effects on the overall mythology, 3J is an opportunity to see how far Johns and Jason Fabok can push these characters, even under the protective cloak of DC’s Black Label.

As for Multiverse’s End, we know from previous experience that these specials often end up being important parts of the overall story. (See also Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, the Metal tie-in Wild Hunt, and the just-released Death Metal: Trinity Crisis.) This particular team of multiversal all-stars hasn’t been seen in a few years, but considering that it includes Captain Carrot and President Superman, it’s too long an absence.

Otherwise, DC is hoping that you’ll buy the Wonder Woman ’84 prequel comic and not forget about it by the time the movie eventually comes out (as of press time, Christmas Day). If this keeps up, fans could just read the comic on the revamped DC Universe app and then watch the movie on HBO Max, without ever having left home. Wow, that got dark quickly – sorry!

JK Parkin

James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds join forces to tell the story of Cole Turner, a young man recruited into a shadowy government organization that “makes sure that conspiracy theories stay conspiracy theories,” according to the announcement for The Department of Truth. Although Tynion always seems to be the busiest person in comics with all his work for DC and BOOM!, I believe this is his first title at Image.

Shang-Chi jumps back into his own solo title with the first issue of a miniseries by Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan and Philip Tan. In it, the former Avenger and current Agent of Atlas confronts his past, as the secret society once led by his dad, Zheng Zhu, seeks to recruit him as their new leader.

After enduring the events of Empyre, the Fantastic Four get a breather of sorts this month as Dan Slott and Paco Medina tell the story of the time Iceman replaced the Human Torch on the team. The events of this story were hinted at back in Fantastic Four #2, when Iceman surprisingly answered a call of former FF members.

Marvel pays tribute to Len Wein and Dave Cockrum with a special edition of Giant-Size X-Men #1, which introduced Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and Wolverine to the team. They’ve recruited 37 artists to redraw the issue, including Mark Brooks, Jen Bartel, Kris Anka, Alex Ross, Chris Samnee and many more.

Jeff Lemire hasn’t been doing much work-for-hire for the Big Two lately, so this one sort of comes as a surprise. He teams with artist Mike Del Mundo for a one-shot featuring the Hulk and a new monster “raging in America’s heartland.”

If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, then you know Dustin went off to science camp before season three started. This four-issue miniseries will show what occurred while he was there in a story featuring nerd bullies and “a mysterious figure with sinister intent.” And also Dustin’s girlfriend, I’d guess.

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