Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.
This week brings the debut of three new titles from Ghost Machine, the publishing venture formed by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Jason Fabok and more. There’s also a new Deadpool series, the return of Minor Threats, a graphic novel starring DC’s Dreamer and 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.
Geiger #1 (Image/Ghost Machine, $3.99): This is one of three series debuts this week from Ghost Machine, all of which are written by Geoff Johns of Green Lantern and Flash fame. Geiger appeared before as a miniseries, reuniting Johns with artist Gary Frank, and this ongoing series picks up the story of Tariq Geiger, the Glowing Man, as he and his two-headed wolf hit the road to explore what’s left of the United States.
Rook: Exodus #1 (Image/Ghost Machine, $3.99): Johns teams up with his Three Jokers collaborator Jason Fabok for the story of a farmer who fled a dying Earth to a terraformed planet called Exodus. When that planet starts falling apart, Rook tries to find a way off a second dying planet.
Redcoat #1 (Image/Ghost Machine, $3.99): In this week’s third title from Ghost Machine, Johns and Bryan Hitch tell the story of Redcoat, an British soldier who became immortal in 1776 and spends the rest of history pursuing the mysterious organization that gave him his powers — and, apparently, being an arse.
Deadpool #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio helm this new ongoing series featuring the Merc with a Mouth, as Deadpool faces a new villain named Death Grip.
Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods #1 (Oni Press, $5.99): The I Am Iron Man creative team of Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande return with a three-issue miniseries that combines their love for Western comics and animation like Conan the Barbarian and Samurai Jack with Yoruba mythology, bringing an African lens to the traditional sword and sorcery tale. Check out my interview with them here.
Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Usagi and his cousin Yukichi are back in a new story that finds the duo accidentally saving a crime boss, and then working with Usagi’s old “friends” Gen and Stray Dog to bring him in. Stan Sakai at his finest!
Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft: Caravan of Curses #1 (IDW, $9.99): This one-shot delves into an area of D&D I’m only slightly familiar with, Ravenloft, because the campaign for it I was supposed to be a part of just never got off the ground. But that’s neither here nor there — if you’d like to learn more about the horror-themed world that’s proven to be popular with Dungeons & Dragons players, Casey Gilly, Amy Chase and a slew of artists present four short stories about the Domain of Dread.
The Principles of Necromancy #1 (Magma Comix, $3.99): Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing with art by Eamon Winkle, this new title from the fledgling is about “the world’s first necromancer” in a world of barbarians and monsters.
Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Writer J.M. DeMatteis teams with artist Michael Sta. Maria for this new miniseries set in the early days of Peter Parker’s tenure as Spider-Man. It features the Proto-Goblin, a lab assistant of Norman Osborn who tested the experimental formula before Norman took it.
Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Writers Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, along with artist Scott Hepburn, return to Redport to spotlight the reigning queen of crime, Playtime. Unifying the underworld was one thing, but now she has to keep it all from falling apart.
Saturday Morning Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles–April Special (IDW, $6.99): Erik Burnham and Sarah Myer venture into the world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from the 1990s for a story featuring April, Shredder, Ace Duck and Mona Lisa.
Shazam! #10 (DC, $3.99): Josie Campbell returns to the Shazam! family to team with artist Emanuela Lupacchino. After their house was destroyed by Black Adam, Billy Batson recruits the gods who give him his powers to rebuild it.
Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers II #1 (BOOM!/IDW, $3.99): Cullen Bunn and Baldemar Rivas bring together the king of the kaiju with the ultimate kaiju fighters. Look for appearances by SpaceGodzilla, Clawhammer, Tentacreep and Rita Repulsa.
Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story (DC, $16.99): As a lead in to Pride Month, Nicole Maines, Rye Hickman, Bex Glendining and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou tell the origin story of Dreamer in this YA graphic novel.
Club Microbe (Drawn + Quarterly, $17.95): Elise Gravel, creator of the science-focused graphic novel The Bug Club, turns her attention now to even smaller organisms — the microscopic life that surrounds us (and lives inside of us).
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Wreck and Roll (Scholastic/Marvel, $9.99): Lunella and her big red friend return in another graphic novel by Stephanie Williams and Asia Simone, as they team up to stop a “rad-skating band of thieves” who may have a connection to Moon Girl’s new derby team.
Monkey King and the World of Myths (Nobrow, $13.99): Maple Lam writes and draws this graphic novel featuring Sun Wukong, the fabled Monkey King, who fights to stop a malevolent force from turning humans, gods and beasts into monsters.
Crazy Like A Fox: Adventures in Schizophrenia (Street Noise Books, $21.99): Christi Furnas’ new graphic novel delves into themes of mental health and schizophrenia through a poignant and candid narrative, drawing inspiration from her personal experiences.
Victory Parade (Schocken Books, $29): Leela Corman, author of the Eisner-nominated graphic novel Unterzakhn, returns with a graphic novel about a post-World War II couple dealing with the horrors of war and the choices they made both abroad and at home while they were separated.
Timid (Graphix, $12.99): Jonathan Todd writes and draws this semi-autobiographical tale of a middle schooler (and future comics creator) who relocates from Florida to Boston, and has to figure out where he fits in at his new school.
Pagan Valley (Phoenix Studios, $15): Ghezal Omar, Kayden Phoenix and Victoria Aragon’s crowdfunded graphic novel is about a card shark whose losing streak and subsequent debt leads to her robbing the strip club where she works.
Unstoppable Doom Patrol (DC, $16.99): This collects last year’s Unstoppable Doom Patrol miniseries, which spun out of the events of the Lazarus Planet crossover that kicked off the Dawn of DC initiative. While that might sound complicated, I think the important thing to know here is that Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham created an accessible reboot of the Doom Patrol, bringing back old favorites and introducing several new ones, while keeping things both weird and fun.
Light It, Shoot It (Fantagraphics, $24.99): Comics creator and tattoo artist Graham Chaffee is back with a new graphic novel, following 2007’s Good Dog and 2017’s To Have And To Hold. It’s about a 20-year-old who just got out of prison and goes searching for a new job on the sets of grade B and exploitation films in 1970s Hollywood.