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 two new first issues featuring Wolverine, as he returns in a new ongoing series as well as a Venom Wars tie-in. We’ve also got the final issue of Star Wars, a new Groo series and the return of Justice Warriors.
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.
Wolverine #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Daredevil writer Saladin Ahmed and “Stormbreakers” artist Martín Cóccolo take the wheel on the newest Wolverine series, which is part of the bigger From the Ashes publishing initiative. The new series finds Logan in the Canadian wilderness, where he’s back with his wolfpack and being attacked by his most hated foes, one by one, at the bequest of some ancient villain that “has been bubbling under the surface of the Marvel Universe since the days of myth.”
Venom War: Wolverine #1 (Marvel, $3.99): Two first issues of Wolverine in one week? You’d think he just appeared in some big movie or something … This one ties into the current Venom War crossover series, as Tony Fleecs, Tim Seeley and Kev Walker show us what happens when Wolverine gets infected by a symbiote and becomes a zombiote.
Avengers Assemble #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Avengers old and new assemble under the leadership of Steve Rogers in this five-issue miniseries by Steve Orlando and a host of artists, starting this issue with Cory Smith. The team includes several classic Avengers, like Wonder Man, Hercules, She-Hulk, Hawkeye, Wasp and Photon, along with some more obscure Avengers like Shang-Chi and Lightning, plus two new faces to the team — former New Warriors leader Night Thrasher and Power Pack’s Lightspeed.
Star Wars #50 (Marvel, $7.99): This final issue wraps up the post-Empire Strikes Back, pre-Return of the Jedi storyline that’s been running through Marvel’s Star Wars books for the last few years — although it’s actually set across several parts of the franchise’s timeline. Charles Soule and Madibek Musabekov use a conversation between Luke Skywalker and his student Ben Solo (yeah, that guy) to frame a “powerful lesson about the true balance between Light and Dark.” Yeah, sorry Luke — I don’t think that lesson is going to stick …
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6 (DC, $3.99): Stephanie Williams and Khary Randolph pick up the story of DC’s heroes fleeing to Themyscira to escape Amanda Waller and her killer robots, only for the Amazo with Wonder Woman’s powers to show looking for a fight. Luckily Queen Nubia and her sisters are more than happy to provide one.
Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): Duggan and John McCrea return to the world of Dead Eyes with a new story that finds the title character attempting to steal paintings from the largest private art heist in America.
Groo: Minstrel Melodies #1 (Dark Horse Comics, $4.99): Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier are back with another story about the hapless barbarian Groo, this time focusing on the Minstrel who sings about his exploits.
Summer Shadows #1 (Dark Horse Comics, $5.99): This four-issue miniseries by John Harris Dunning, Ricardo Cabral, Brad Simpson and Jim Campbell is about a man looking for his missing ex-boyfriend in Greece, where he discovers multiple men have gone missing and a jet-black super yacht, the Nyx, is somehow involved.
Time Waits #1 (DSTLRY, $8.99): Co-writers Chip Zdarsky and David Brothers, and artists Marcus To and Matt Wilson team up for this story of a time-traveling soldier from the future who leaves his war behind to make a life for himself in the past. Then his old life catches up to him.
Nightwing Uncovered #1 (DC, $5.99): This collects many of the various covers used on Nightwing’s solo comic over the years — with a main cover of its own by Dexter Soy.
Somna Cover Gallery (DSTLRY, $10): Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay’s Eisner-winning series had many variant covers, which DSTLRy collects here in a single volume.
Justice Warriors: Vote Harder (Ahoy Comics, $19.99): Schitt and Swamp Cop are back in action just in time for the city they’re sworn to protect, Bubble City, to have its first elections in forever. What could go wrong? Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson are back with more biting satire and humor, just in time for our own election season.
Shock City (Viking Books, $13.99): Aaron Alexovich writes and draws this kid’s graphic novel about a boy and his new spooky friend who team up to convince the residents of Shock City not to abandon the crumbling town.
Goosebumps Graphic Novel: The Haunted Mask (Graphix, $12.99): Maddi Gonzalez adapts R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps novel of the same name, about a girl looking for a Halloween costume and ends up stuck with “The Haunted Mask” on her head.
Superstar: As Seen on TV (Image Comics, $9.99): It’s been a minute since Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen’s story of a superhero who becomes more powerful as he becomes more popular, but now it’s collected as part of Busiek’s bigger publishing deal with Image Comics.
I Feel Myself Slipping (Oni Press, $14.99): Ray Nadine, a former competitive gymnast, writes and draws this graphic novel about two gymnasts who become friends after one of them moves into town after the death of her father.