Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. Despite it being a holiday week in the United States, it’s pretty big week for comics, as DC starts their big summer event, Captain America celebrates a milestone and Pink Lemonade gets collected.
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 + IDW + Dark Horse + more)
- Lunar Distribution (DC + more)
- Diamond’s PreviewsWorld (Image + BOOM! + 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.
Knight Terrors: First Blood #1 (DC, $5.99): DC’s big summer crossover kicks off this week, taking over the majority of their line for the next two months. This one-shot by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter will introduce the crossover’s villain, Insomnia, and will set the stage for not only the four-issue Knight Terrors miniseries, but also all the spinoff miniseries featuring various DC characters. Speaking of which …
Knight Terrors: Batman #1 and Knight Terrors: Ravager #1 (DC, $4.99 and $3.99 respectively): DC’s heroes end up trapped in their own nightmares thanks to new villain Insomnia, starting this week with Batman and Ravager. Bruce Wayne’s nightmares come to life courtesy of Joshua Williamson, Guillem March and David Lafuente, while Ravager must defend her younger self from the Murder Man and his blood-crazed Slaughter Squadron in a story by Ed Brisson and Dexter Soy.
Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1, Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 and Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1 (DC, $4.99 each): Oh hey, did I say DC’s heroes are trapped in nightmare worlds of their own creation? Well, so are some of the DC villains. Jeremy Haun shows us what lives in Black Adam’s nightmares, while Matthew Rosenberg and Stefano Raffaele give The Joker a day job, and G. Willow Wilson and Atagun Ilhan send Poison Ivy to suburbia. Wait, those last two sound like my life …
Captain America #750 (Marvel, $7.99): Marvel celebrates 750 issues of Captain America the same week that America has a birthday. How about that? This milestone issue features stories by Tochi Onyebuchi, Gail Simone, Dan Jurgens, J.M. DeMatteis, Sara Pichelli, Marcus Williams, Carmen Carnero, Rachael Stott and more.
Swan Songs #1 (Image, $3.99): Writer W. Maxwell Prince continues the “one and done” format he’s perfected in titles like Ice Cream Man with this new series about endings — all sorts of endings, from death to divorce to the end of the world, which is where the series starts in a story drawn by Martin Simmonds.
Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #1 (Marvel, $4.99): With her regular series ended and her new series not set to debut until later this year, Captain Marvel will soar in this new miniseries by Ann Nocenti, writer of Daredevil, Longshot, The Seeds and more, and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters artist Paolo Villanelli. This cosmic adventure involves a new foe, a legacy Mar-Vell villain and a new group of young heroes.
Weird Work #1 (Image, $3.99): Frank At Home On The Farm writer Jordan Thomas and Bulletproof Coffin artist Shaky Kane team for this new miniseries that’s described as a mix of the “hard-boiled noir of LA Confidential” with “the bright, alien-filled worlds of Futurama.”
Under the Influence #1 (Mad Cave, $4.99): This new title by Eliot Rahal and Stefano Simeone is about an FBI agent sent to infiltrate The Hot Dog Party, an internet cult created by a teenage sociopath.
X-Men Before the Fall: The Sinister Four (Marvel, $4.99): This is the last of four one-shots intended to “tie up long-simmering plotlines, reintroduce major players and put all the pieces in place for the dramatic events of the third annual Hellfire Gala” before Fall of X officially kicks off and blows up the world of the X-Men–hypothetically, of course. Or maybe literally? We’ll find out later this summer. In the meantime, find out what the other Mister Sinister clones have been up to since they were unleashed in the 19th century, courtesy of Kieron Gillen and Paco Medina.
Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland #1 (Image, $3.99): I Hate Fairyland creator Skottie Young worked with several different artists over the last couple of years to create a tie-in comic on his Substack — which are now printed in this five-issue miniseries that’s actually called The Unbelievable, Unfortunately Mostly Unreadable & Nearly Unpublishable Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland. This first issue features art by Aaron Conley, who Young collaborated with on Bully Wars.
Pink Elephant #1 (Sumerian, $3.99): Here’s a comic that revels in its weirdness, as a group of high teenagers on a road trip encounter an old woman at a gas station — and a giant monster with a pink elephant head.
Thor Annual #1 (Marvel, $4.99): MODOK trades in science for sorcery as he becomes MYTHOS and challenges Thor. I’m not sure what “MYTHOS” stands for, but I’m sure it is something clever. This one is by co-writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with Ibraim Roberson providing the art.
Ancient Enemies: The Greater Good (Frank Miller Presents, $3.99): This one-shot by Dan DiDio and Jim Calafiore spins out of DiDio’s Ancient Enemies series, showcasing the origin of the team known as The Greater Good.
Barnstormers #1 and Night of the Ghoul TPB (Dark Horse, $4.99 and $19.99 respectively): Two of Scott Snyder’s Comixology projects arrive in print this week, as Dark Horse kicks off a miniseries for Barnstormers with artist Tula Lotay, and collects the Snyder/Francesco Francavilla joint Night of the Ghoul.
Clark & Lex (DC, $12.99): Brendan Reichs and Jerry Gaylord present this young adult graphic novel that looks back at the early friendship of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, as they both compete for an internship at LuthorCorp and have to solve the mystery of their disappearing competitors.
The Rock Gods of Jackson, Tennessee (Dark Horse, $19.99): Grumble creators Rafer Roberts and Mike Norton get the band back together in this graphic novel about a group of high school friends who form a band and battle “a rampaging horde of mutated monsters.”
Monstrous (First Second, $17.99): Sarah Myer writes and draws this young adult graphic novel about an adopted Korean-American girl in rural America who uses fandom and art-making to overcome racist bullying.
UTown (Oni Press, $19.99): Caroline Breault writes and draws this graphic novel about a group of misfits living in leaving in a “seedy” neighborhood where a young artist/video store clerk faces his future AND the gentrification of his neighborhood.
Old Caves (Uncivilized Books, $19.95): Tyler Landry is an artistic force, and his debut graphic novel is about an old man who searches through a snow-covered forest “in pursuit of the unknown,” while at night he remembers his deceased wife.
Pink Lemonade TPB (Oni Press, $24.99): I loved the miniseries by Nick Cagnetti about a pop superhero who rides a motorcycle, fights evil and gets wrapped up in the plot for the next Rex Radical blockbuster. This collects the complete story in one volume.
Marvel Zero (Marvel, $6.99): If you weren’t able to make it to a local shop on Free Comic Book Day this past May, Marvel has collected their offerings in this collection (which isn’t free).