Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Batman prepares for ‘The Last Halloween’

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Jeph Loeb, Eduardo Risso, Tim Seeley, Freddie E. Williams II, Kyle Starks, Kyle Hotz, Pornsak Pichetshote, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Hope Larson, Charles Burns and more.

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 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:

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.

Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #1 (DC, $4.99): Prior to his death in 2022, Tim Sale was working with his frequent collaborator Jeph Loeb on a sequel to their career-defining Batman maxi-series, The Long Halloween. That sequel will continue on without Sale, as Loeb has worked with 10 different artists on the 10-issue series, starting with 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso. The story spins out of Loeb and Sale’s The Long Halloween Special from 2021, as Gotham “learns to fear Halloween once more” as something terrible threatens to destroy Jim Gordon’s life and puts Batman and Robin’s teamwork to the test.

Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull #1 (Dark Horse/IDW, $3.99): Two titans of the toy shelves collide in this crossover as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Masters of the Universe meet in comic book form for the first time. It’s by Tim Seeley, who has written several He-Man miniseries recently, and artist Freddie Williams II, known for his work on the Turtles.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Usagi Yojimbo #1 (BOOM! Studios/Dark Horse, $7.99): Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo receives some visitors from the future in the form of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in this miniseries. The time-displaced tale will be told by writer Ryan Parrott, artist Shawn Daley and colorist James Fenner.

Avengers Annual (Marvel, $4.99): Derek Landy and Salvador Larroca wrap up the Infinity Watch crossover that’s been running through Marvel’s annuals this year, as the various Infinity Stone bearers are all brought together for the first time (just in time for the new series featuring them that’s coming in December).

Black, White & Bloodshot #1 (Alien Books, $4.99): Marc Guggenheim, Matts, Luciano Saracino, Tim Seely, Ariel Olivetti, Agustin Alessio, Rodrigo Rocha and more contribute stories to this anthology featuring black and white stories about Valiant’s Bloodshot.

Creepshow Vol. 3 #1 (Skybound, $3.99): The horror anthology is back for a third round from Skybound, with this first issue featuring a story about a mother trying to save her daughter from a cult by Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod, and the story of a severed hand written and drawn by James Stokoe. Future issues will feature stories by John Ridley, Mike Carey, Jorge Fornés, John Arcudi, Stefano Raffaele, Chris Condon and more

Lobo Cancellation Special #1 (DC, $5.99): Hot off his appearance in the House of Brainiac crossover earlier this year, Lobo returns in this one-shot by Kyle Starks and Kyle Hotz. DC promises it will be “the most skull-crunching, crotch-punting and excrement asteroid-filled comic of the year.”

The Magic Order V #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Mark Millar is back with another miniseries about Cordelia Moonstone reaping what she’s sown, as she finds out she’s nearing death and there’s nothing she can do about it. It features artwork by Matteo Buffagni.

The Horizon Experiment: The Manchurian #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): The Horizon Experiment is a new line of one-shots by various creative teams “featuring original protagonists from marginalized backgrounds set in a popular genre and inspired by pop culture icons.” Pornsak Pichetshote is working with co-editor Will Dennis on the line, and he’s also writing this first one-shot, which features artwork by Terry and Rachel Dodson. It’s about a Chinese super spy that was “inspired by James Bond.”

The Missionary #1 (DSTLRY, $8.99): Ryan Stegman’s been in the news lately for drawing the relaunch of Marvel’s X-Men, but he’s also a writer, and he’s exercising those chops on this new miniseries. Drawn by Jason Howard, the three-issue series is about a down-on-his-luck religious man who decides to accept possession instead of resisting it — forming an unconventional partnership with the demon he’s now sharing a body with.

Goobers #1 (Vault Comics, $4.99): Spider-Punk and Miles Morales writer Cody Ziglar will step away from the Spider-verse and return to his small-town roots with artist Ryan Lee (Rick and Morty) for this comedic horror comic that draws from B-grade films like Night of the Creeps and Ghoulies. It’s about a man returning to his hometown after grad school, only to discover it’s become ground zero for an infestation of body-snatching alien bugs.

Revolution 9 #1 (Mad Cave, $4.99): Mad Cave Studios CEO Mark London is teaming up with several different artists to launch a new shared universe called “Underworld,” starting with Revolution 9. It features artwork by Carlos Reno and is about an assassin who turns on the organization she works for to try and figure out why they want her to kill an otherwise innocent hacker.

Survival Street: The Radical Left #1 (Dark Horse, $3.99): James Asmus, Jim Festante, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright and Taylor Esposito get the gang back together in this sequel miniseries. It’s about a group of anthropomorphic puppets who were dismissed from their job entertaining and educating kids on public television and become freedom fighters, dedicated to saving kids from an evil corporation using them as forced labor in a company town.

Violator #1 (Image Comics, $5.99): Writer Marc Andreyko takes on the task of writing the definitive origin for Spawn’s arch-enemy the Violator in this six-issue miniseries. Each oversized issue will be drawn by a different artist, starting with Piotr Kowalski, and will feature a different point in the character’s history.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #7 (DC, $3.99): The seventh and final issue of this Absolute Power tie-in series is by Dan Watters and Fran Galan, and it features the Martian Manhunter and a team of superheroes from around the world fighting the Amazo known as the Global Guardian.

Absolute Power: Origins #3 (DC, $3.99): John Ridley and Alitha Martinez’s retelling and expansion of the origin of Absolute Power’s big bad Amanda Waller also comes to a close this week, as we prepare for the end of the Absolute Power crossover and the launch of DC All In.

Hell’s Half Acre #1 (Magma Comix, $3.99): Magma Comix founder Denton J. Tipton and artist Ramon Bunge present the first title to come out of the partnership between Magma and Ruptura Estudios, a Mexico-based comics studio, to create a line of comics “with Hispanic appeal” made by international creators. Set in Nashville circa 1904, this new miniseries is about a mysterious gambler named Britt who “sets in motion a chain of events that will have lawmen and outlaws alike aiming to put him six feet under.”

Old Dog: Operations (Image Comics, $7.99): Declan Shalvey’s Old Dog returns in this collection of short stories by P. J. Holden, Leonardo Romero, Charles Soule, Alex Paknadel, Sumeyye Kesgin, Rory McConville, Gavin Guidry, Sumeyye Kesgin, Matias Bergara, Rockne S. O’Bannon, John McCrea and more.

Venom War: Daredevil #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Chris Condon and Lan Medina show what the two Daredevils, Matt Murdock and Elektra, are getting up to during the Venom War crossover, as the duo faces off with the zombiotes that are causing havoc across New York City.

Violent Flowers #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): Maria Llovett writes and draws this new miniseries about vampires and vengeance. When one vampire’s brother is killed, his sister will stop at nothing to get her revenge.

Woodstake #1 (SHP, $4.99): Speaking of vampires, Darin S. Cape and Felipe Kroll originally crowdfunded this “hippie vampire” story about a 1960s vampire seeking to settle a score during the Woodstock music festival.

Be That Way (Margaret Ferguson Books, $14.99): Hope Larson writes and draws this graphic novel about a girl who makes a resolution to be the cool girl she’s always dreamed about being — but rifts with her two best friends lead her into a lonely summer.

Final Cut (Pantheon, $34): Charles Burns is back with a new graphic novel about an aspiring filmmaker who enlists his friends to help him make a movie at a remote cabin in the woods. But when one of his friends doesn’t reciprocate his romantic feelings, he creates a fantasy world where she does.

Heebie Jeebies (Papercutz, $14.99): Matthew Erman and Shelby Criswell re-team for the story of two friends and a middle school janitor who seek the treasure that’s been rumored to be buried underneath the school.

Holler (Dark Horse, $29.99): Dark Horse collects Jeremy Massie’s ode to the grunge era of the 1990s into one volume, following its release as single issues self-published via crowdfunding and by its former publisher It’s Alive. The comic tells the story of Magnesium Mama, the grunge band formed by four friends in an Appalachian town in Virginia.

SubZero (Oni Press, $24.99): Oni collects the first 25 episodes of Junepurrr’s hit Webtoon series about a princess who agrees to marry the prince of a rival clan in order to save her people.

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