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.
White Boat #1 (DSTLRY, $8.99): The newly Eisner-nominated DSTLRY returns with another new title from a top-tier creative team, as Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla head out to sea for a “deep dive” into horror. It’s about a mega-yacht that the super-rich use to traverse the globe, inviting the unknowing on board for a dream voyage … until the crew traps and transports you to a remote island where secret cults have existed for a millennia, working on something called “The Human Project.”
Archie Comics: Judgment Day #1 (Archie Comics, $4.99): This first Archie Premium Event feature a powered-up Archie Andrews battling in a Riverdale overrun by demons, courtesy of Aubrey Sitterson and Megan Hutchison.
Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1 (Marvel, $4.99): After a whole bunch of dimension-hopping followed bya return to her home dimension, Stephanie Phillips and Chris Campana bring Spider-Gwen back to live in the 616, where she’ll have to adjust to a new world and confront the tragic legacy of the original Gwen Stacy.
Blood Squad Seven #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): Joe Casey and Paul Fry dig through the bones of 1990s comics nostalgia in this new series that spins out of Casey’s recent work on Dutch and introduces a new generation of heroes “that a fractured America needs.”
Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. King #7 (DC/Legendary Comics, $4.99): The conclusion to DC and Legendary’s giant crossover arrives, as the Justice League and their new allies, King Kong and Godzilla, team up to battle Mechagodzilla. Lex Luthor and a new hybrid titan. Also, I don’t usually include variant covers here, but King Kong as a Green Lantern by artist Christian Duce was too good to pass up.
Fall of the House of X #5 (Marvel, $4.99): The miniseries by Gerry Duggan and Lucas Werneck comes to its conclusion, as the battle between the X-Men and Orchis reaches a crescendo. This one sets up next month’s X-Men #35, which will end the Krakoa era and prepare the way for From the Ashes.
The Butcher’s Boy #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Landry Q. Walker, Pannel Vaughn and Justin Greenwood hit the backroads of the Pacific Northwest for a folk horror tale about the legendary Butcher of La Perdita and six friends on a road trip.
Superman #14 (DC, $4.99): To the surprise of no one, the partnership between Superman and Lobo dissolved as soon as the Main Man got a better offer, and this issue features the battle that follows, by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval.
Amazing Spider-Man #50 (Marvel, $9.99): This extra-sized issue features a variety of stories from various creators, including a main story by Zeb Wells and Ed McGuinness that features the return of Norman Osborn’s sins and his alter-ego, the Green Goblin.
Nightwing #114 (DC, $4.99): After an epic three-year run, this is the first of a five-part arc that will wrap up Ton Taylor and Bruce Redondo’s time on Nightwing. And thanks to the villain Heartless, it could be the end of Nightwing’s career as a superhero.
Blood Hunt #2/Blood Hunt Red Band Edition #2 (Marvel, $4.99/5.99): After a very serious beatdown by the undead, our heroes lick their wounds and go looking for the one man who they think can help stop this whole mess — Doctor Strange. But I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for ya, Avengers … This issue arrives as both a standard edition and a “red band” edition with extra blood and polybag to protect the squeamish.
Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 (Marvel, $4.99): While the first issue of Blood Hunt mainly focused on the events happening in New York, this new miniseries by Cavan Scott and Kev Walker shows what’s happening across the pond. Union Jack steps up to protect a London overrun with vampires.
Barkham Asylum (DC, $12.99): This new young adult graphic novel is about Batman’s villains’ pets — specifically the Joker’s dog, Jester, who teams up with a stray cat named Penny while locked up in Barkham Asylum to investigate what a Shar Pei named Dr. Hugo Mange is really up to. Yehudi Mercado, creator of the recent Shazam! Thundercrack, is wrote and drew this one.
Medea (Dark Horse, $29.99): Dark Horse brings Blandine Le Callet and Nancy Peña’s Medea to the English-speaking world with plans to translate and collect all four volumes. Originally published in French, the graphic novel gives Medea from Greek mythology “a chance to tell her own story, in her own voice.”
Plain Jane and the Mermaid (First Second, $14,99): Vera Brosgol is back with a new graphic novel about a girl, Jane, who is quite plain, but plans to marry a prince named Peter if she can save him from the mermaid who kidnapped him.
The Worst Ronin (Harper Alley, $18.99): Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Faith Schaffer team up for this graphic novel about a fangirl who is obsessed with the first woman to be accepted into a samurai school, and when her father gets called away, she must team with her idol to face a yamauba demon terrorizing a village. Sounds perfect, sure … but never meet your heroes, as the saying goes …
Night at the Belfry (Dark Horse, $22.99): Comixology Originals originally published this graphic novel digitally, and now Dark Horse brings it to print. It’s the debut graphic novel by Xavier Saxon, and it’s about a 73-year-old former postman who starts remembering his time as a recreational boxer in the 1980s and “hatches a life altering plan to regain the control he believes he’s lost.” I don’t think he’s fighting Jake Paul, but …
Karate Prom (First Second, $17.99): This new graphic novel was originally self-published online by Kyle Starks, who has brought us all kinds of crazy fun in comics form, from Ricky Thunder to Sexcastle to Assassin Nation to Rock Candy Mountain. His latest is the story of a pair of teens who meet at a martial arts tournament and decide to go to prom together, only to be targeted by their vengeful ex’s and their cronies.
The Other Bad Guys (Rocketship Entertainment, $19.99): Luke Lancaster and Orlando Caicedo’s hit Webtoon comic comes to print; it won Webtoon’s Stan Lee Superhero Contest, and it’s about a group of bad guys with some serious issues trying to pull off a heist.
Zatanna & the Ripper, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vixen: NYC (DC, $14.99 each): The partnership between DC and Webtoon produced four different webcomics featuring DC’s characters, and this week DC releases the fourth volumes collecting three of those comics. They feature Zatanna, John Constantine, Vixen and the Batman family in “cozy” comic stories by a variety of creators, offering something different from what you’ll find in the monthly comics.