Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week is a “fifth week” for January, which are typically lighter than normal. Wednesday is also the last day before Black History Month begins here in the U.S., and DC, Marvel and Dark Horse all have projects spotlighting Black creators and stories out 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 + IDW + Dark Horse + more)
- Lunar Distribution (DC + Image + more)
- Diamond’s PreviewsWorld (BOOM! + Dynamite + more)
- ComicList (Pretty much all of the above)
- Amazon/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.
DC Power 2024 (DC, $9.99): DC’s annual anthology celebrating Black History Month arrives this week, and it features a new story by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell showcasing the first meeting of Green Lanterns Sojourner “Jo” Mullein and John Stewart. Other contributors include John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Lamar Giles, Shawn Martinbrough, Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Alitha Martinez, Edwin Galmon, Khary Randolph, Denys Cowan, Tony Akins, Asiah Fulmore and more. Here’s a preview.
Marvel’s Voices: Legends (Marvel, $5.99): Marvel’s annual Black History Month anthology also arrives this week, and it includes a new Deathlok story by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Sean Damien Hill, as well as stories by Justina Ireland, David F. Walker, Eder Messias, Karen Darboe and more. Here’s a preview.
Moon Man #1 (Image, $3.99): Rapper Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi teams with Massive-verse architect Kyle Higgins and artist Marco Locati on this new series about a celebrity astronaut who returns to Earth with a big secret.
Trinity Special #1 (DC, $5.99): This comic collects all the appearances to date of Trinity, the daughter of Wonder Woman from the future who first appeared in Wonder Woman #800, along with a new story by Tom King and Daniel Sampere.
Dead X-Men #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Steve Foxe and Vincenzo Carratù send a group of dead mutants back in time to save their world in this tie-in to the Rise of the Powers of X miniseries.
Jill and the Killers #1 (Oni Press, $6.99): Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and Roberta Ingranata present this miniseries about a new game called Box Killers, a true-crime subscription game where each month’s “unsolved case” is custom-tailored to the life of its player. But for Jill Estrada, whose mom just passed away, the game hits really close to home.
Batman and Robin Annual 2024 (DC, $5.99): As Batman takes Robin on a camping trip so they can bond, they find themselves being hunted by a slew of mercenaries. Best camping trip ever! It’s by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter.
Avengers Inc. #5 (Marvel, $3.99): This fun title written by Al Ewing and drawn by Leonard Kirk comes to an early conclusion this week, but hopefully the team had enough warning that they can wrap everything up in a satisfying manner — especially since it finally reunites the Wasp and Hank Pym.
Titans: Beast World #6 (DC, $5.99): DC’s big crossover event comes to a conclusion this week, as Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis and Lucas Meyer pit Raven against Dr. Hate and the rest of the Titans try to cure the world of the infection caused by Beast Boy.
Power Rangers Unlimited #1 (BOOM!, $7.99): Ryan Parrott, Richard Wagner and Daniel Bayliss are team behind this tie-in to the current Power rangers storyline, “Darkest Hour,” as an iconic Ranger enters the Grid to find the Morphin Masters.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest Annual 2024 (DC, $4.99): Mark Waid seems to be channeling those 80-page giant issues that DC used to put out back in the day, as he curates an anthology of stories featuring Batman, Superman, Metamorpho, Challengers of the Unknown and Bumblebee by the likes of Cullen Bunn, Stephanie Williams, Dennis Culver, Christopher Cantwell, Edwin Galmon, Rosi Kampe, Travis Mercer, Jorge Fornes and more.
Lilo & Stitch #1 (Dynamite, $3.99): Dynamite continues to roll out new titles in partnership with Disney, including this new Lilo & Stitch title by Greg Pak and Giulia Giacomino. In the first issue, Lilo and Stitch face giant robots powered by Stitch’s own DNA.
Strikers: A Graphic Novel (Graphic Universe, $18.99): Kiel Phegley, one of my former colleagues from Comic Book Resources, makes his graphic novel writing debut this week with artist Jacques Khouri. Together they tell the story about two hockey-playing friends on a roster of rejects in Flint, Michigan.
Shook! A Black Horror Anthology (Dark Horse, $24.99): In partnership with Second Sight Publishing, Dark Horse releases an anthology this week that includes “more than 200 pages of dread, brought to life by award-winning Black writers and artists.” Those creators include David Walker, John Jennings, Rodney Barnes, David Brame, Bradley Golden, Flavio Cortés and more, telling stories about the apocalypse, Southern graveyards and more.
Spirited: Day of the Living Liv (Little Simon, $9.99): In the first of three volumes, Liv Livingston and Glass House Graphics head to Pleasant Place to introduce Liv, a young girl who is moving across the bridge to Gloomsdale, a town filled with ghosts, vampires and other creepy residents.
I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp (Lev Gleason, $19.99): This comic by Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey originally appeared on Business Insider and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. It tells the story of Zumrat Dawut, a Uyghur mother of three living in China who was arrested and sent to a brutal detention area. The story is based on interviews with her as well as her testimony to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
First There Was Chaos (Uncivilized, $34.95): Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist Joel Priddy writes and draws this graphic novel that explores the act of creation — from the primordial creation of Greek myth to the creation of a poem by a writer. It pulls heavily from Hesiod’s Theogony and other classic material. ” giving cosmic form to the universal struggles of all creators.”
Waller vs. Wildstorm (DC Black Label, $24.99): DC collects this well-regarded miniseries by Spencer Ackerman, Evan Narcisse and Jesus Merino into one volume. It combines elements from the DCU and Wildstorm, as Jackson King and Amanda Waller battle for control of the agency known as Checkmate.