Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. An old favorite returns on Wednesday, while DC pays tribute to an artist who left us way too young.
I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:
- Penguin Random House (Marvel + graphic novels + manga)
- Lunar Distribution (DC + Scout + more)
- Diamond’s PreviewsWorld (IDW + Image + Dark Horse + many more)
- ComicList (Pretty much all of the above)
- comiXology new releases (digital comics)
Also, as a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop.
Saga #55 (Image Comics, $2.99): Hazel and company return for the second half of their epic story, as Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples present 44 pages of story and the first issue of a new story arc.
Batman/Catwoman Special #1 (DC, $9.99): This collaboration with writer Tom King is, sadly, one of the last things artist John Paul Leon was working on before his untimely death in May. Leon did not finish the issue before his death, so DC enlisted a few of his fellow artists to complete the comic, including Bernard Chang, Shawn Crystal, Mitch Gerads and Dave Stewart. It will also include several pin-ups and essays that pay tribute to Leon, by Lee Bermejo, Denys Cowan, Joëlle Jones, Dave Gibbons, Walter Simonson, Kurt Busiek, Michael Davis and more. Here’s a preview.
Detective #1050 (DC, $5.99): An extra-sized issue marks this milestone for one of comics’ longest-running titles. In addition to two stories by Mariko Tamaki, Ivan Reis, Matthew Rosenberg and Fernando Blanco, this issue also features the debut of Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s team-up title World’s Finest, which spins out into its own book later this year.
X Deaths of Wolverine #1 (Marvel, $5.99): The Wolverine/X-Men time-travel event that started in last week’s X Lives of Wolverine continues this week with the first issue of the concurrent second miniseries. I had to read House to Astonish’s always-helpful annotations to figure out what was actually happening in last week’s issue, as I don’t read X-Force (which seems to be a prerequisite here) nor did I realize that the Life of Wolverine Infinity Comic might help explain things. So this one might be for hardcore Krakoa X-Men fans only, while the rest of us might just want to wait for the big Wolverine/Deadpool team-up coming in a few months.
Mary Jane/Black Cat: Beyond: (Marvel, $4.99): The Beyond story spills out of Amazing Spider-Man this week as two of Peter Parker’s flames come together in a story by Saladin Ahmed and C.F. Villa. The plot of this one-shot has Black Cat getting kidnapped, and only Mary Jane can come to her rescue.
Cowboy Bebop #1 (Titan, $3.99): While the Netflix series this is based on has been cancelled, Titan pushes onward with a new Cowboy Bebop comic by Dan Watters and Lamar Mathurin. The story is a ne wone, featuring the crew of the Bebop chases an ex-gang member with infinite luck.
The Death of Doctor Strange #5 (Marvel, $3.99): Marvel’s already kind of revealed how this whole thing will end as they announced a new title coming later this year starring a new Sorceress Supreme. But this issue by Jed MacKay and Lee Garbett wraps up the battle with The Three Mothers and Doctor Strange’s murderer, and shows us what’s gonna happen to the young, time-displaced Doctor Strange who popped up earlier in the series. Because magic.
Devil’s Reign #3/Devil’s Reign: Winter Soldier (Marvel, $4.99 each): One of my favorite Marvel events in recent memory continues this week, as Daredevil and the assembled heroes of New York continue to battle Mayor Kingpin in a story by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto. Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier sets his sights on Kingpin’s secret files in a story by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Nico Leon.
Marauders Annual #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Steve Orlando and Creees Lee introduce a new team of Marauders and new threats, before Orlando takes over writing the ongoing title later this year. Kitty Pryde and Bishop recruit a new team of mutants, including Psylocke, Daken, Aurora, Tempo and Somnus, to rescue Daken from an old X-Men 2099 villain.
Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat and Kid #1 (IDW, $3.99): Several classic Usagi Yojimbo short stories by Stan Sakai get reprinted in color in this miniseries, starting with “Frost and Fire,” where Usagi is tasked with retrieving a slain samurai’s swords — if he can solve an impossible moral quandary first. Check out that awesome David Petersen cover.
Space Bastards: Special Delivery (Humanoids, $7.99): The Space Bastards return for a one-shot featuring three new stories about the ultra-competitive Intergalactic Postal Service, where freelance delivery specialists main and kill each other to deliver packages. Joe Aubrey and Eric Peterson team with artists Simon Bisley, Boo Cook, Gabo and Pete Pantazis for the trio of stories
Peacemaker: Disturbing the Peace (DC, $5.99): The star of HBO Max’s new (and very funny) series gets the one-shot treatment, courtesy of Garth Ennis, Garry Brown and Lee Loughridge. The story is set before Peacemaker’s time with the Suicide Squad, as he and a psychiatrist break down some of his greatest hits.
Quad #1 (Behemoth, $1.99): Look, I don’t really know much about this new comic by Eduardo Schaal, except that it’s about a woman and her cat trying to survive on a world ravaged by a solar storm. The cat’s name is Elvis, and that’s enough for me.
Mister Miracle: The Great Escape (DC, $12.99): Author Varian Johnson and artist Daniel Isles re-imagine Scott Free/Mister Miracle for DC’s line of YA graphic novels. In it, a teenage Scott Free tries to escape Apokolips and deal with his feelings for Big Barda, the person tasked with keeping him from leaving.