Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.
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.
Ain’t No Grave #1 (Image Comics, $5.99): Skottie Young and Jorge Corona, the award-winning team behind The Me You Love In The Dark and Middlewest, reunite for this new Western series named after one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs. It’s about a former outlaw-turned-mother who takes up her guns again to defend her family against a new threat — Death itself.
The Boy Wonder #1 (DC, $5.99): Juni Ba, creator of the wonderful Djeliya from TKO Studios and Monkey Meat for Image Comics, takes Robin in a fun direction in this Black Label miniseries. Expect to see more Robins than just Damian, as he teams up with his predecessors while Batman is out of town.
Crocodile Black #1 (BOOM! Studios, $4.99): Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist SOM team for a new “macabre thriller.” It’s about a COVID-era kid who goes through a “dark reinvention,” highlighted by his new black crocodile boots.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White & Green #1 (IDW, $5.99): The Ninja Turtles get the “Black & White & …” anthology treatment that’s become so popular with characters like Batman, Harley Quinn and Deadpool. For the TMNT, the third color could only, naturally, be green. This issue features stories by Paulina Ganucheau, Gigi Dutreix, Declan Shalvey and more.
Giant Size X-Men (Marvel, $6.99): Former Uncanny X-Men editor returns to the team, this time as the writer of the latest Giant Size comic from Marvel. She teams with artist Lee Ferguson for a story featuring Angel, as he’s targeted by a new villain who has it out for mutantkind (don’t they all?)
Energon Universe Special (Image, $3.99): If you missed Skybound’s Free Comic Book Day title for this year, never fear — they’re willing to sell you a copy this week. It features the work of Robert Kirkman, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joshua Williamson, Lorenzo De Felici, Ryan Ottley, Jason Howard and more, as they tell stories set in the red-hot Energon Universe featuring Transformers, G.I. Joe and Void Rivals.
The Witcher: Corvo Bianco #1 (Dark Horse, $3.99): Italian comics legend Corrado Mastantuono makes his U.S. debut on the latest miniseries featuring Geralt of Rivia. Mastantuono works with writer Bartosz Sztybor on a tale focused on a different kind of challenge for Geralt — retirement.
Mugshots #1 (Mad Cave Studios, $5.99): Writer Jordan Thomas and artist Chris Matthews team up on this stylish miniseries about family trauma, betrayal, murder and revenge in England.
The Amory Wars: No World for Tomorrow #1 (BOOM! Studios, $4.99): Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert and Guillaume Martinez return to the world of the Amory Wars for this final chapter, which is also a companion story to the Coheed and Cambria album of the same name.
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees #1 (IDW, $3.99): Patrick Horvath’s “cozy horror” story featuring a town populated by anthropomorphic characters and serial killers proved to be one of 2023’s biggest successes in the comics world, and this week it wraps up. I’ll miss the book, as well as the poems they used for the solicitation copy:
At the end of this issue, someone will die;
There’s no way to avoid it, so we simply won’t try;
A horrific plan drives the fate of our bear;
And unspeakable actions will give quite a scare;
Join us now, as we finally lift the veil
As this, my friends, is the end of our tale!
Various Blood Hunt tie-ins (Marvel, $3.99-4.99): Marvel’s big event continues this week with several tie-in titles and miniseries launches. First up is Blood Hunters, an anthology series that shows what Hawkeye, Man-Wolf and Dagger are up to during the vampire apocalypse. Two titles written by Blood Hunt mastermind Jed MacKay, Avengers and Doctor Strange, also come out, with the former introducing a new team that comes together to battle the undead and the latter seeing a hero become undead. Finally, Strange Academy and Dracula, two natural choices for spinoff miniseries in an event like this, kick off as well.
Still #1 (Invader Comics, $7.99): Invader Comics crowdfunded this follow-up to Eli Powell’s brutal comic Ravage. It’s about a hunter living alone in the woods whose past actions begin to manifest as ghosts in the present, telling a tale of loneliness, fear and redemption.
The Valiants #1 (Alien Books, $4.99): After gaining the license to produce comics based on the Valiant universe, Alien Books has been methodically building up steam, but this week sees the flood gates start to release with three new titles from the publisher. This first one by Ryan Cady and Al Barrionuevo has the mysterious Jamie Capshaw bringing together Eternal Warrior, Ninjak, Bloodshot and more for a storyline they’re calling “Resurgence of the Valiant Universe.” Which leads us to…
Faith Returns #1 (Alien Books, $4.99): Faith was arguably one of the biggest breakout stars of the previous Valiant era, and that was courtesy of writer Joy Houser. Houser is back on this new title, which features artwork by Luca Erbetta, also has Jamie Capshaw playing a role, as he does a favor for Faith that will have consequences for the character and her status quo.
Punk Mambo (Alien Books,$12.99): Peter Milligan returns to the character he co-created for a new adventure that sees Punk Mambo, the punk rock voodoo mercenary, return to London. Artist Andres Ponce joins Milligan for “The Punk Witch Project.”
Nomads: The Sky Kingdom (BOOM! Studios, $12.99): Through their KaBoom! imprint, BOOM! brings the Webtoon series Nomads by Captain Juuter to print, collecting the first 23 episodes of the story of several friends traversing through a fantasy world.
Sunhead (Harper Alley, $18.99): Alex Assan writes and draws this graphic novel about a “Sunhead” — a fan of the international smash hit Sunrise series of books and films. (Did Twilight fans have a name?) Rotem befriends Ayala, who is also a super fan, and together they try to figure out what draws them to the books.
Noodles, Rice and Everything Spice (Ten Speed Press, $22.99): Christina De Witte and Mallika Kauppinen present a comic book cookbook that features real Thai food from the country’s distinct culinary regions, complete with recipes.
The Flavors of Iraq (Graphic Mundi, $19.95): Feurat Alani and Leonard Cohen’s award-winning graphic novel comes to the U.S., courtesy of Graphic Mundi. A French-Iraqi journalist, Alani began tweeting about what Iraq was really like in 2016, as he felt the images portrayed in the media did not match up to reality. The story details his experiences as a child in Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and as an adult reporter under U.S. occupation.
Curveball (Disney Hyperion, $14.99): This new graphic novel by Pablo Cartaya and Miguel Diaz Rivas tells the story of Elena Rueda, who loves playing baseball more than anything. But when the game stops being fun, she’ll have to rediscover her favorite sport on a sandlot with her brother’s quirky friends.
The Sixth Gun Omnibus V1 (Oni Press, $39.99): Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s supernatural western returns in new omnibus-sized collections. This first volume includes issues #1-17 of the main series as well as the miniseries The Sixth Gun: Sons of the Gun by Bunn and artist Brian Churilla.
Dwellings (Oni Press, $34.99): Jay Stephens’ excellent miniseries gets collected this week, bringing his bloody ode to Harvey Comics and the rot that lives beneath suburbia into a single volume.
Deer Editor (Mad Cave Studios, $17.99): I’m a big fan of Ryan Lindsay and Sami Kivela’s “antler noir” miniseries, which features a crime story editor getting pulled into an intriguing story involving political intrigue and a locker room filled with secrets. Oh, and his name is Bucky, and he’s a deer. A deer! Hence the title …