Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. It’s a quieter week this time, compared to the ones building toward Comic Con, as it’s the fifth week of the month.
I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week 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.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 (BOOM! Studios, $7.99): Writer Melissa Flores and artist Simona Di Gianfelice wrap up more than 120 issues of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers stories in this one-shot that shows the final battle between the villainous Dark Specter and “an unlikely group of rogues, villains and Rangers.”
Blood Hunt #5 (Marvel, $5.99): Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz pit the Avengers, Doctor Strange and an army of Moon Knights against the possessed Blade and his vampire hordes in one final battle. As we learned at Comic Con, this issue also sets up a new status quo in the Marvel Universe.
Super-Pets Special: Bitedentity Crisis (DC, $5.99): The Super-Pets are back with a new anthology that includes, among other stories, Bitewing, aka Haley, aka Nightwing’s dog, showing up at Kent Farms to join the team. Super-Pets Special: Bitedentity Crisis features stories by Tony Fleecs, Alexis Quasarano, Michael Conrad, Dan Watters, Kyle Starks, Mike Norton, PJ Holden, Sami Basri, Chris Mitten and more.
Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus #1 (Titan Comics, $3.99): Kianna Shore and Mariano Taibo tell the story of an ex-marine and replicant combat model who were left to die on an off-world mission — and now they’ve come back to Earth to gain their revenge.
X-Force #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Forge, the X-Men’s resident inventor, has a plan to repair the world, and that solution is X-Force. Geoffrey Thorne and Marcus To helm this new team book with a familiar title, as part of the X-Men: From the Ashes line.
Kosher Mafia #1 (Mad Cave Studios, $4.99): Nottingham writer David Hazan and Deer Editor artist Sami Kivelä tell the story of a 1930s Jewish bookkeeper who tries to spur the Jewish mob to fight back against the rising sentiments of Nazism in the American heartland.
What If … Donald Duck Became Wolverine? (Marvel, $4.99): Two acclaimed Italian comics creators, writer Luca Barbieri and artist Giada Perissinotto, mash up the Marvel Universe with Disney characters in this very different take on the “Old Man Logan” storyline.
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #3 (DC, $3.99): Jeremy Adams and Marco Santucci introduce the Amazo robot Jadestone, which has absorbed the powers of the Justice Society in the continuing Absolute Power storyline. But it also absorbs Green Lantern Alan Scott’s willpower, which may prove to be its undoing.
Black Widow: Venomous #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Venom readers know that Black Widow — who already has a cool spider name — has gone and gotten herself a symbiote, and now writer Erica Schultz and artist Luciano Vecchio will “unleash Natasha Romanoff’s full potential as a symbiote warrior” in this new one-shot that serves as a prelude to Venom War.
Firefly: ‘Verses (BOOM! Studios, $7.99): Writer Ryan Parrott and artist Lalit Kumar Sharma take a “What if?” approach to the Firefly universe in this one-shot, which asks the question, “What if the Browncoats had won?”
Delights: A Story of Hieronymous Bosch (Fantagraphics, $29.99): Guy Colwell returns to comics to tell the story of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch and his most famous work, The Garden of Earthly Delights.
Wagnificent (Roaring Brook Press, $13.99): Bethanie Murguia writes and draws this graphic novel about Thunder and her master, Sage. Thunder wants to be a good dog, but when her inner wolf shows up, all bets are off.