Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, Dark Horse and more.
Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores — you can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s release — and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.
The Nice House on the Lake #1 (DC, $3.99): James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno and Jordie Bellaire present a new horror title under DC’s Black Label banner. The story’s about Walter, an “off” guy who has a nice lake house, and he invites a bunch of friends to come stay there to reconnect. What could go wrong?
Crush & Lobo #1 (DC, $3.99): Lobo and his daughter, Crush, finally have that long-awaited heart-to-heart — if they don’t tear each other apart first. The Main Man and his Teen Titan daughter are featured in their first team-up series, just in time for Father’s Day, courtesy of Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan.
The Conjuring: The Lover #1 (DC Horror, $3.99): DC kicks off its new horror line — the cleverly titled DC Horror — with a tie-in to Warner Bros.’ The Conjuring movie franchise. The comic is written by screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and comics writer Rex Ogle, with art by Garry Brown and covers by Bill Sienkiewicz. There’s also a back-up story by by Scott Snyder and Denys Cowan.
Batman: The Adventure Continues: Season 2 #1 (DC, $3.99): Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Ty Templeton are back for another season of adventures set in the world of Batman: The Animated Series this week. This issue, which arrives on digital and in print on Tuesday — despite the fact that it was originally supposed to arrive on digital a few weeks ago — finds Batman investigating the death of the mayor, which sets him on a crash course with the Court of Owls and seeking aid from Deadman.
Spy Hunter & Paper Boy #1-6 (DC, $3.99): I … am at a loss as to what this is. It’s a digital comic arriving on DC’s digital channels this week, including comiXology, and they’re releasing all six issues into the wild on Tuesday. It’s by Larry Hama and Mac Rey, and it might feature two old video game franchises, based on the name. Spy Hunter and Paper Boy? I’ve played both those games. Is this somehow a crossover between the two of them? No idea, because DC hasn’t released anything about this series; it just popped up on comiXology. We’ll have to see if it actually arrives tomorrow. But hey, I’m a big fan of Larry Hama, and if you are too, you probably already know about …
Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #6 (Marvel, $3.99): Larry Hama and Dave Wachter wrap up their action-packed miniseries that features Iron Fist, Okoye, Luke Cage, Sunspot, the Immortal Weapons, zombies ninjas, dragons and a whole lot more. If you haven’t checked this out, it’s a fun series that takes place across the Marvel Universe.
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 (Marvel, $4.99): It must be summer, because Marvel has four different crossovers going on, two of which start this week. Up first is Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1, which continues the story told in the “Alpha” issue and in all the prelude issues in the Star Wars titles over the last month. The story is that frozen Han Solo has been stolen, and Boba Fett needs to get him back — or Jabba’s gonna be pissed.
Heroes Reborn #4, Marvel Double Action + American Knights (Marvel, $4.99 each): Marvel’s Heroes Reborn event continues this week with a new issue of the miniseries featuring Nighthawk, and two tie-in one-shots. American Knights focuses on Luke Cage in a Commissioner Gorden-esque role dealing with vigilantes like Daredevil, while Marvel Double Action tells a story from the past — how Green Goblin killed Nighthawk’s partner, the Falcon.
Marauders #21, X-Force #20, Hellions #12 (Marvel, $3.99-4.99 each): After months of build-up, another Marvel event kicks off in the X-Men titles this week — the Hellfire Gala, which promises mystery, intrigue, secrets, high fashion and a new team of X-Men. The festivities kick off in this week’s Marauders #21, which will include a reprint of an old Hellfire Gala story by Chris Claremont and John Bolton, most likely from an old issue of Classic X-Men. It continues on into X-Force and Hellions.
Iron Man Annual #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Finally, a crossover running through Marvel’s annuals this year, Infinite Destinies, will kick off in the latest Iron Man annual. The main story revolves around the returning “infinity stones,” but there’s also a back-up tale that sees Nick Fury facing off with Mephisto’s new errand boy, Phil Coulson.
Fire Power #12 (Image/Skybound, $4.99): Skybound celebrates a year’s worth of issues of Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee’s excellent Fire Power comic with an oversized special anniversary issue. The story finds the Scorched Earth Clan and the Order of the Flaming Fist facing off one final time, as Owen Johnson’s life changes once again.
North Force #0/Savage Dragon #259 (Image Comics, $3.99): Erik Larsen has always done things his own way, and this week is no different — he’s releasing two different versions of the Savage Dragon #259 this week, with similar but not identical contents. The regular issue will have a letters column and the usual “funnies” back-up, while North Force #0, which will feature the same main story, will instead come with “who’s who” pages on this new team, North Force, who wants to recruit the Dragon into their ranks.
Family Tree #12 (Image Comics, $3.99): Jeff Lemire and Phil Hester’s strangely beautiful tale of a kid who starts turning into a tree comes to its conclusion, as the Arborists and the Hayes’ family battle to the finish for the fate of mankind.
The Worst Dudes (Dark Horse, $3.99): Aubrey Sitterson and Tony Gregori team up for a “hilarious, aggressively weird and willfully vulgar” new miniseries about a dirty cop, a drugged-up back-up dancer and an adolescent god who are searching for a missing pop star.
Basilisk #1 (BOOM! Studios, $3.99): Cullen Bunn and his Bone Parish collaborator Jonas Scharf re-team for a new dark fantasy/horror story. In it, a former member of a cult-like hivemind that used its powers to terrorize small towns hunts down the other members.
Rick & Morty: Rick’s New Hat #1 (Oni Press, $3.99): Rick & Morty return in a new miniseries by Alex Firer and Fred Stresing. In it, Rick gets a new hat that attracts evil.
The Great Gatsby #1 (Clover Press, $4.99): Boutique publisher Clover Press’ founder, Ted Adams, teams up with artist Jorge Coelho for a comics adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel.
Out of Body (AfterShock, $4.99): Peter Milligan teams with Inaki Miranda for a new miniseries about a man who tries to solve his murder from the astral plane as his life hangs in the balance.
Miles Morales: Shock Waves (Scholastic/Marvel, $12.99): Marvel’s partnership with Scholastic kicks off this week with its first release, as Justin Reynolds and Pablo Leon tell a new story featuring Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man. In it, Miles tries to raise funds after Puerto Rico is hit by an earthquake while also trying to find a classmate’s missing father.
Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC, $12.99): Sarah J. Maas’ young adult novel featuring Catwoman is adapted into a graphic novel by the legendary Louise Simonson and Samantha Dodge. In a story set after Batman has left Gotham, Catwoman returns just in time to encounter Luke Fox who, as Batwing, is trying to fill Batman’s shoes.
Poison Ivy: Thorns (DC, $12.99): Author Kody Keplinger and artist Sara Kipin team up for a YA graphic novel about a teenage Poison Ivy, as she deals with the secrets of her past and a new crush.
The City of Belgium (D+Q, $29.95): Brecht Evens returns with his latest from Drawn and Quarterly, as his new graphic novel tells the story of three twenty-somethings careening through the City of Belgium’s nightlife spots and underbelly.
Cover Not Final (AdHouse, $9.95): Max Huffman presents a series of interrelated stories starring Career Criminal, as he delves into a world where “paranoid conspiracy and soft-boiled noir bubbles under every aspect of daily life.”
Shy Ninja (Humanoids, $14.99): Ricardo Sanchez and his teenage daughter Adara wrote this new graphic novel about a girl with social anxieties who signs up to attend a school for ninjas. Arianna Florean provides the artwork for what’s a pretty delightful story.
One thought on “Can’t Wait for Comics | Time to get dolled up for ‘The Hellfire Gala’”