Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.
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.
Creepshow #1 (Skybound/Image, $3.99): Shudder’s Creepshow TV series — based on the movie of the same name — jumps from the screen to the printed page in this new five-issue anthology miniseries. The first issue features stories by Chris Burnham, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, John McCrea and more.
Vanish #1 (Image, $3.99): Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman reunite the team behind their Venom run for this creator-owned series about a former child mythical hero who has grown up to become a “massively paranoid” adult drunk. There are also superheroes involved. I believe this is the first print comic to come out of Cates and Stegman’s Kids Loves Chains collaboration/Substack newsletter.
X-Terminators #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Leah Williams and Carlos E. Gomez put the “X” in “exploitation” in this new series described as “grindhouse of X.” It features Jubilee, Boom-Boom, Dazzler and more, who are kidnapped and put through various death traps.
Crashing #1 (IDW, $3.99): Part of the IDW Originals line, Crashing is a new series by Matthew Klein and by Morgan Beem, featuring a doctor who treats injured superheroes. I had a great conversation with Klein about it earlier this year.
Batman: One Bad Day — Two-Face #1 (DC, $7.99): Mariko Tamaki and Javier Fernandez present a tale of two … faces. Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, takes the spotlight in this one-shot that’s part of the bigger “One Bad Day” mini-event featuring Batman’s villains.
Chilling Adventures Presents: Weirder Mysteries #1 (Archie, $3.99): This another horror anthology, this time mashed up with the gang from Riverdale. Ron Robbins, Joanne Starer, Frank Tieri, Ryan Jampole, Juan Bobillo, Frederico Sabbatini and more contribute stories featuring Betty Cooper: Alien Hunter; Bingo Wilkin, star of the ’70s comic series That Wilkin Boy; and Alexandra Cabot, a foil for Josie and the Pussycats.
Harley Quinn 30th Anniversary Special #1 (DC, $9.99): DC celebrates 30 years of Harley Quinn with an anthology featuring stories by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Dini, Stephanie Phillips, Stjepan Sejic, Sam Humphries, Kami Garcia, Rob Williams, Mindy Lee, Terry Dodson, Cecil Castellucci, Rafael Scavone, Chad Hardin, Guillem March, Riley Rossmo, Stjepan Sejic, Erica Henderson, Jason Badower, Mico Suayan, John Timms, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, Dan Hipp, Rafael Albuquerque and more.
Titans United: Bloodpact #1 (DC, $3.99): Cavan Scott and Lucas Meyer follow up the previous Titans United miniseries with a new story that brings Tim Drake into the fold.
Bloodshot Unleashed #1 (Valiant, $3.99): Deniz Camp and Jon Davis-Hunt helm a new Bloodshot title, the first “mature readers” title released by Valiant. “Dangerous super soldiers and bloodthirsty living weapons have mysteriously escaped into the world to wreak havoc across the dying towns and forgotten farms of America. Now, Bloodshot must take up arms again to travel across the country hunting down these violent monsters, battling his own demons, and defending the most defenseless.”
Stuff of Nightmares #1 (BOOM! Studios, $4.99): Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, who has spent decades giving children nightmares through his stories, will turn his attention to scaring adults in this new miniseries with artist A.L. Kaplan and colorist Roman Titov.
New Mutants #30 (Marvel, $5.99): Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong, Bob McLeod and more contribute to the oversized issue that celebrates 40 years of the New Mutants.
Fantastic Four #47 (Marvel, $3.99): A new creative team takes over FF for a few months prior to its upcoming reboot. David Pepose and Juan Cabal take up residence in Baxter Building for a story that ties into A.X.E. Judgment Day and focuses on Oubliette Midas and the Invisible Woman.
Aliengaged #1 (Literati Press, $5): I honestly don’t know much about this comic by Greg White and Colin Ingersol, except that it came about via a successful crowdfunding campaign and the premise sounds pretty great: “As an alien attack rampages the city, Garrett accepts that his time has finally come. It’s the end of life as he knows it… as a single man, that is. Blinded by love, Garrett is blissfully unaware of his apocalyptic surroundings as he strolls through the mania to pop the question to his girlfriend, Claire. Meanwhile, Garrett’s best friend, Morris, races through the city to save them both.”
Action Journalism #1 (Oni Press, $3.99): Speaking of aliens, this week also brings the first issue of Eric Skillman and Miklos Felvideki’s new comic about Kate Kelly, an “action journalist” looking to land an interview AND save the world from an interstellar invasion. All in a day’s work, as they say.
Big Ethel Energy (Archie, $17.99): The collaboration between Archie Comics and Webtoon comes to print, as Kheryl Brown-Ahmed and Siobhan Keenan’s story of Ethel post-high school arrives in shops this week. After leaving Riverdale for a job as a journalist, Ethel returns to her hometown years later to write the history of the town she tried to escape.
Daisy (Dark Horse, $24.99): Dark Horse collects Colin Lorimer’s miniseries about a desperate mother’s five-year search for her missing son. The trail leads her to the mysterious Phillips family — who have an eight-and-a-half foot tall daughter who “may well be descended from a race of cannibalistic giants spawned from the outcasts of Heaven.”
Doughnuts and Doom (Top Shelf, $14.99): Balazs Lorinczi’s “quirky, magical, queer teen romance” features a struggling witch and a failing musician whose relationship begins when one curses the other. Check out a preview of it here.
Order of the Night Jay: The Forest Beckons (IDW, $14.99): This just looks delightful. The new graphic novel by Jonathan Schnapp is about an un-bear-like bear named Frank who goes to camp with a raccoon named Ricky who gets him into all sorts of trouble — and together they discover the ancient secrets about the long-forgotten Order of the Night Jay.