Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week Batman gets the Elseworlds-style treatment by Mark Russell and Mike Allred, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and X-Men ’97 both get comic book prequels and George O’Connor turns his attention to a new pantheon of gods. And much, much more!
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.
Batman: Dark Age #1 (DC, $5.99): Following their Eisner-nominated work on the ambitious Superman: Space Age, Mark Russell and Mike Allred turn now to Batman, retelling the story of the Dark Knight against historical events and across decades.
X-Men ’97 #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Steve Foxe and Salva Espín, the duo behind Marvel’s X-Men ’92: House of XCII, reunite for another miniseries based on the animated mutants — this four-issue series that serves as a prelude for the rebooted animated show on Disney+ that everyone seems to be talking about these days. Perhaps this will answer some questions about when Bishop joined the team and why Morph rejoined.
Feral #1 (Image, $3.99): The team behind Stray Dogs, Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner, are once again putting household pets in terrible situations in this new series. Instead of focusing on dogs, though, this one is about three indoor cats who get lost outside during a rabies outbreak.
Ghostbusters: Back in Town #1 (Dark Horse, $3.99): David Booher, Blue Delliquanti, Mildred Louis and Jimmy Betancourt bring the ghostbustin’ back to NYC in this miniseries that bridges the gap between the previous Ghostbusters movie, Afterlife, and the one that just hit theaters last week, Frozen Empire.
Jackpot/Black Cat #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Black Cat and Mary Jane Watson have proven to not only be a formidable team, but also pretty good friends over the course of several miniseries and storylines. In this new series, they’ll come together again to battle a supervillain that’s blackmailing both of them, as told by Celeste Bronfman and Emilio Laiso.
Sam and Twitch Case Files #1 (Image, $2.99): You might remember Sam and Twitch from those very early issues of Spawn, not to mention their previous miniseries and series, one of which was written by Brian Michael Bendis early in his career. Now Todd McFarlane brings the duo back in their own series as part of his “New U.” initiative, as the first of many new comics coming this year that spin out of Spawn. The series is co-plotted by Jon Goff and features artwork by Szymon Kudrański.
The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Eric Powell celebrates 25 years of comic’s favorite tough guy with this new miniseries that finds the Goon and Franky facing a new threat.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #18 (Marvel, $8.99): Someone at Marvel has calculated that this is the 300th issue featuring Miles Morales as Spider-Man, so it’s time to celebrate. This issue features the return of Rabble as well as more stories by Cody Ziglar, Sara Pichelli, Federico Vicentini and more.
Primer #1 (DC, $3.99): Originally released as a YA graphic novel, the first Primer story by Jennifer Muro, Thomas Krajewski and Gretel Lusky finds new life as a four-issue .
Local Man: Bad Girls (Image, $4.99): Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs’ Local Man gets another spin-off special, this one focused on three women in Local Man’s life: his ex-girlfriend-turned-archenemy Inga Johanning, the mysterious Frightside and his former teammate Neon.
Morning Star #1 (Mad Cave, $4.99): Tim Daniel, David Andry and Marco Finnegan team up for the story of the widow of a smokejumper whose husband died under mysterious circumstances — which come back to haunt her and her family as she tries to scatter her husband’s ashes.
X-Force #50 (Marvel, $3.99): One of the two longest-running Krakoa era X-series comes to an end with a bang, as the X-Force team engages in a final battle with the Beast courtesy of Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill. Incidentally, the other longest-running Krakoa era title, Wolverine, will reach its 50th (and final) issue in May, and it is also written by Benjamin Percy. Shouldn’t he get some kind of award?
Under York #1 (Image, $3.99): Image brings Sylvain Runberg and Mirka Andolfo’s Under York to the U.S.; originally it was published in Italy by Panini Comics in 2019. While set in New York, it’s actually about the city under New York, as the title suggests — the one where five powerful clans of witches have reigned for centuries.
Star Wars The High Republic Adventures Phase III: Crashing Landing (Dark Horse, $5.99): This one-shot with a long title (imagine it scrolling down your screen) is set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe and is by the team of Daniel José Older, author of several Star Wars: The High Republic novels and artist Rachele Aragno. The story features Alys “Crash” Ongwa, who hails from the same planet that would eventually give us Han Solo — Corellia, which is known for producing ships and pilots. Corellia fell into chaos because of the Nihil conflict, which has been central to the overall High Republic saga, and this one-shot details Crash and her team going on a secret mission that could help stop the conflict for good.
Ant Story (Harper Alley, $15.99): Jay Hosler, the creator of the excellent bee comic Clan Apis, which later was retitled as Way of the Hive, returns to the insect world with Ant Story. It tells the story of Rubi, a leafcutter ant “with a big personality and an even bigger love of stories.”
Asgardians: Odin (First Second, $12.99): After tackling the Greek pantheon, George O’Connor is back with another round of godly graphic novels, as he turns his attention northward to the Asgardians. This volume features stories about “war, betrayal and the quest for enlightenment” as O’Connor starts at the top of family tree with Odin.
Anna (Fantagraphics, $24.99): German cartoonist Mia Oberlander’s debut graphic novel is about a group of women, the Annas, who are “cursed to be
too tall for their small town” up in the mountains and find resilience in their heightened perspective.
Viscera Objectica (Silver Sprocket, $14.99): Yugo Limbo, the creator of this new graphic novel, works in both comics and games, and they have a unique art style that I find to be somewhere between horrific and fun. This new graphic novel probably falls into that area, as it’s about a tailor that falls in love with a puppet named Theu.
How War Begins (Fantagraphics, $29.99): This new graphic novel by Italian creator Igort just won an Award of Excellence at the MoCCA Fest. It collects comics the creator posted to Facebook that are based on the testimonies of Ukrainians during the Russian invasion of 2022.
Out of Left Field (Andrews McMeel, $16.99): Jonah Newman, an editor at Graphix who works with Dav Pilkey on the red-hot Dog Man franchise, writes and draws his own YA graphic novel about a nerdy, gay teenager who tries out for the high school baseball team.
Treasury of British Comics (Rebellion/2000 AD, $28.99): “For over a century, the comic book annual has been an essential Christmas stocking filler for British children.” That sounds delightful, and Rebellion seems to be getting a huge jump on the Christmas season by releasing this collection of stories from past annuals and specials in March. It includes not only older material by Brian Bolland, Steve Dillon, Cam Kennedy and more, but also three new strips: “The Leopard from Lime Street Vs The Spider” by Simon Furman, David Roach and Mike Collins; “Black Beth” by Alec Worley and DaNi; and “Gustav of the Bearmacht” by Kek-W and Staz Johnson.
Godfell (Vault, $19.99): Christopher Sebela and Ben Hennessy’s series about a giant, dead god falling from the sky and the race to lay claim to parts of the body is collected into one complete volume. The story focuses on Zanzi Vuiline, a soldier trying to get home after war and has to basically fight her way through the god’s corpse to get to the other side.