Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. As tradition dictates, the last week of the year is definitely a smaller one for comics. But it isn’t completely dead, and there are even a few big debuts to look forward to.
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 + Image + more)
- Diamond’s PreviewsWorld (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.
Book of Butcher #1 (BOOM! Studios, $9.99): James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera continue the tale of Maxine Slaughter and House Boucher in this extra-sized one-shot that sets up year five of the Something Is Killing The Children/Book of Slaughter story.
Duke #1 (Skybound, $4.99): The G.I. Joe team enters the Energon Universe in full force, as Duke investigates as a jet fighter that can turn into an alien robot. This new miniseries — which I don’t think as anything to do with the recently launched Larry Hama-written G.I. Joe series at Skybound, in case you were wondering, but everything to do with Skybound’s Void Rivals and Transformers — is by Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly.
Timeless (Marvel, $6.99): As they like to do at the end of the year, Marvel is releasing a one-shot that will tease some of its storylines for the next year. It also introduces future/alternate versions of Power Man and Moon Knight, in a story by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Juann Cabal.
Ninjak Superkillers Book One (Alien Books, $9.99): Now here’s a book with a couple of interesting stories behind it, so forgive me while I indulge.
First, if you read the 2021 miniseries by Jeff Parker and Javier Pulido, you might remember just how incredible it was. Pulido is one of those artists whose layouts and artwork take full advantage of the comics page; I still remember this feature that Chris Arrant wrote back at Newsarama before the first issue came out, and he was not exaggerating on how bold and daring the series was. At least until Pulido’s art in the final issue was redrawn by someone else. I don’t remember ever seeing a reason given for the change, although Pulido did end up sharing the pages he had drawn on his blog.
Second, this current series, Ninjak Superkillers, was announced some time ago by Valiant, and it once again features writer Jeff Parker, who is now working with artist Mike Norton. But then things went wonky at Valiant, who tried to launch an NFT game that seemed to backfire in a big way, and was followed by mass layoffs last year. Finally, Valiant licensed all of its comic book publishing out to Alien Books, who are the ones bringing Ninjak Superkillers to print, finally. If you’re wondering about the price, Alien is releasing this as a perfect-bound/prestige format series, as noted in this interview.
Valiant has had a long, complicated history that goes back to the 1990s, and sometimes it seems like a miracle that a Ninjak comic even can exist in 2023. But Parker and Norton are a solid team, so despite the shenanigans, this should be worth a look.
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Greg Pak and Caio Majado bring Shang-Chi and the Five Weapons Society into the bigger Gang War conflict — Marvel’s current Spider-Man-centric crossover, which has been pretty fun so far. “He’ll use his world-class fighting skills as well as deceit, calculation and manipulation to navigate the battlefields as he learns the Art of War is all about the shades of gray.”
Action Comics Annual 2023 (DC, $5.99): Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Max Raynor wrap up three years of Action Comics storylines in this annual that sees “the Multiverse’s two most powerful families clash above Metropolis.”
Forgotten Runes: Wizard Cult #1 (Titan, $4.99): This 10-issue miniseries is a tie-in to the video game Forgotten Runiverse, a MMORPG currently in “pre-game alpha” status from Epic Games. It’s a fantasy world that somehow ties into Web3/the blockchain in ways I don’t completely understand, but each issue will come with codes for in-game content. It sounds like each issue will be stand-alone and introduce various characters and concept from the game, courtesy of writer Joe Rechthman and artist Reilly Brown.