Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week.
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/Kindle new releases (digital comics)
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. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.
Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country #1 (DC Black Label, $3.99): The Sandman Universe returns in this new comic by James Tynion IV, Lisandro Estherren and Yanick Paquette. It finds everyone’s favorite nightmare, the Corinthian, walking the Earth again as he hunts a nightmare that his boss, Dream, didn’t create.
Elektra #100 (Marvel, $4.99): Ann Nocenti was the longtime writer of Daredevil back in the day, and if you ask me, her run was one of the best ever on the book. She came shortly after Frank Miller’s tenure ended and, in a lot of ways, I thought she surpassed him. By that point, though, Elektra was dead, so she’s not a character I would normally associate with Nocenti — until now. Marvel has tapped her and artist Siddharth Kotian for the “100th issue” of Elektra, and I am here for it.
Image 30th Anniversary Anthology #1 (Image, $5.99): Image celebrates their big anniversary with an anthology whose announcement was probably overshadowed by their new union. But don’t sleep on this one; it’s got a bunch of new comics by Geoff Johns, Declan Shalvey, Wyatt Kennedy, Skottie Young, Mirka Andolfo, Brenden Fletcher, Kyle Higgins, Andrea Mutti, Luana Vecchio, Erica Henderson and Daniele Di Nicuolo.
Flashpoint Beyond #0 (DC, $5.99): Geoff Johns returns to the world of Flashpoint, the 2011 event series that preceded the New 52 relaunch, with this new miniseries. It features Thomas Wayne, the Batman of the Flashpoint timeline, who has also shown up recently in Infinite Frontier and related titles, but also mashes in some of the writer’s Doomsday Clock characters, namely Marionette and Mime, somehow and for some reason. From a continuity standpoint, this isn’t even this week’s strangest comic (see below). Eduardo Risso provides the art.
X-Men ’92 House of XCII #1 (Marvel, $3.99): I’m not 100% sure if this comic features the comic book X-Men of the 1990s or the X-Men from the animated series of that era, but either way, it’s a What if?-type story that shows what might have happened if mutants had formed the nation of Krakoa during the Grunge era. It’s by Steve Foxe and Salva Espin.
A Town Called Terror #1 (Image, $3.99): Steve Niles and Szymon Kudranski delve into a new world of horror with this miniseries that combines both the crime and horror genres. In it, a man is kidnapped in front of his wife , who has no way to help him. “I’ve always wanted to create a ‘world of horror’—meaning there would be very little of the real world, or humans, in the story—and I’ve had that chance with Szymon,” Niles said in the book’s announcement. “During the pandemic he and I have been creating a new world of horror and A Town Called Terror is the first installment.”
Wrong Earth: Fame and Fortune #1 (Ahoy Comics, $4.99): Mark Russell and Michael Montenat take a crack at the Wrong Earth characters created by Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle in the second of a series of one-shots. Set on two different Earths with vastly different tones, this issue chronicles how Dragonflyman and his gritty counterpart Dragonfly both try to build a new sports stadium with their alter-ego Richard Fame’s name on it.
Kaiju Score: Steal from the Gods #1 (AfterShock Comics, $4.99): In this follow up to the first Kaiju Score miniseries by James Patrick and Rem Broo, the thief Michelle is back with her own crew for another heist involving a new job, new characters and new monsters.
Farmhand #16 (Image Comics, $3.99): After a long absence, Rob Guillory‘s creator-owned comic returns with a new storyline. After the destruction of their farm, the Jenkins Family tries to move forward in a world ruled by the demonic Monica Thorne.
Fun with Little Archie & Friends Special (Archie, $3.99): This anthology features stories by Shannon Watters, J. Torres, Jamie L. Rotante, Erin Hunting, Adrian Ropp, and Agnes Garbowska that star the Little Archie characters, but don’t let their cuteness fool you — one of the stories involves Gryphons and Gargoyles, which, if you watch Riverdale, you know is the D&D like game that spawned the Gargoyle King. (I can only hope we get a Little Archie version of the Gargoyle King).
Break Out #1 (Dark Horse, $3.99): This new science fiction miniseries by Zack Kaplan and Wilton Santos features a group of teens trying to save the human who have been taken prisoner by massive cube spaceships from another dimension that have materialized over Earth.
Statics #1 (Fantagraphics, $5): This one-man anthology is by Jeffrey Lewis, an Indie-rock folk-punk musician and comic book artist from the Lower East Side of New York City. The first issue features stories about God, superheroes and a seafaring adventure into a Pacific typhoon.
Reckless: The Ghost in You (Image, $24.99): Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips release a fourth book in their graphic novel series, although this volume shifts the focus from Ethan Reckless and puts it on Anna, his assistant. In it, she has to prove a house isn’t haunted and solve a decades-long mystery.
Arrowsmith: So Smart in their Fine Uniforms (Image, $24.99): It’s been almost 20 years since the original Arrowsmith miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco debuted, and this week it gets collected courtesy of Busiek’s recent deal with Image Comics. If you’re enjoying the new Arrowsmith miniseries that started up a couple months ago and missed the original, here’s your chance to catch up.
Errand Boys (Dark Horse, $19.99): Dark Horse collects this science fiction miniseries by D.J. Kirkbride, Nikos Koutsis and Frank Cvetkovic that was originally published by Image Comics. It stars a hard-worn scoundrel who discovers he has a 13-year-old half-human, half-alien brother.
The Junction (Titan, $29.99): Norm Konyu is an animator for kids shows like Hey Duggee! and Apple Tree House, but his new graphic novel is aimed at an older audience. In it, a boy named Lucas reappears in his hometown 12 years after he and his father disappeared under mysterious circumstances — and he hasn’t aged a day.
Red Panda & Moon Bear: Curse of the Evil Eye (Top Shelf, $14.99): The young, Cuban heroes return in this second volume by Jarod Roselló, which features them solving the mystery behind an evil curse that’s overtaken their city.
Serial Omnibus (Abstract Studios, $31.99): Terry Moore’s latest miniseries is collected this week into an omnibus. The story stars Zoe, the young girl who was possessed by a demon for 50 years before she was able to free herself and then team up with Rachel against it in the pages of Rachel Rising. In this story, she tracks a female serial killer who killed her friend.