Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week.
I’ve pulled out some of the 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 + Mad Cave + 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 check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.
All-New Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Stephanie Phillips and Paolo Villanelli give Gwen Stacy a fresh start as she settles on Earth-616 to stay. With a new costume, new home life and even a new band in the works, it looks like the Ghost-Spider is finally making herself at home. Cue a brand new threat …
Detective Comics #1100 (DC, $5.99): This oversized issue marks a big milestone for the comic that birthed Batman in 1937. Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin deliver an action story about Batman rescuing a young boy’s best friend, while Greg Rucka and Alvaro Martinez Bueno ask whether Gotham was better off before the Dark Knight arrived. Mariko Tamaki reunites with Amancay Nahuelpan to explore Bruce Wayne’s world outside the cowl, and Dan Watters teams with legendary artist Bill Sienkiewicz for a tale about how Batman’s motivations mirror the criminals he fights.
Escape #1 (Image Comics, $4.99): Rick Remender and Daniel Acuña launch a new ongoing war epic that finds bomber pilot Milton Shaw shot down behind enemy lines in the ruins of a city he helped destroy. With less than 24 hours before his own side drops the big one to finish the job, Milton finds unlikely allies in a grieving father and son who’ve been shattered by the same fascist regime. This gritty war comic is set in a brutal, fully painted world of anthropomorphic animals.
Black Cat #1 (Marvel, $4.99): G. Willow Wilson and Gleb Melnikov chart a new course for Felicia Hardy as the world’s slyest super-thief attempts to turn over a new leaf. After Spider-Man’s recent battle with Hellgate turned her world upside down, the Black Cat is trying her hand at being New York City’s newest super hero. Her first target is the Lizard, but her newfound moral high ground attracts dangerous attention from the Kingpin.
TMNT: Journeys #1 (IDW, $4.99): IDW brings back a lost piece of TMNT history as they reprint the fourth volume series from 24 years ago in its original black-and-white format. Co-creator Peter Laird teamed with Jim Lawson to continue the Turtles’ epic journey, exploring the Turtles as they grow up and face new dangers that could tear them apart and change New York City forever. Meanwhile, April and Casey prepare for parenthood while Master Splinter trains Shadow Jones for the dark forces ahead.
Marvel All-On-One: The Thing vs. the Marvel Universe (Marvel, $9.99): Ryan North and Ed McGuinness deliver a 50-page epic told entirely in splash pages that puts Ben Grimm against the entire world. The Thing is tired, sore and grumpy when he returns from a solo space mission to find the Fantastic Four, New York City and apparently the entire world turned against him. He’s got a mystery to solve and a whole planet to fight … which means it is, once again, clobberin’ time.
Resident Alien: The Book of Change #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): The popular series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse returns to Patience, where the seemingly sleepy town continues to harbor numerous mysteries—and a handful that are decidedly interplanetary. Harry and Asta, having recently welcomed their child Clover into the world, now find themselves hosting several visitors from Harry’s home planet.
Eat Your Young #1 (Mad Cave Studios, $4.99): Brian Buccellato and Mattia Monaco deliver a brutal family drama with immortal stakes. When a 2,000-year-old warlord named Edmund Irons decides he’s done and names his six-year-old daughter Elsa as the next Alpha of his immortal clan, it sets up a deadly succession battle. Every hundred years during a 27-day period called The Centurium, his children get one chance to rip out his heart and claim the throne—or lose their immortality forever. Now his 30 offspring turn on their father and each other in a battle for eternal life.
Justice League Red #1 (DC, $3.99): Saladin Ahmed and Clayton Henry helm this Justice League Unlimited spinoff that features Red Tornado putting together a new spec-ops team “so covert, the founders can’t know it exists.” Power Girl, Deadman and more team up to stop an apocalypse that might have been caused by the JLU itself.
Venom: Black, White & Blood #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Venom gets the anthology treatment in this four-issue “Black, White & Blood” series. The first issue includes stories by Venom co-creator David Michelinie with artist Jonas Scharf, J.M. DeMatteis and Dave Wachter, and Ryan North and Creees Lee.
The Jungle #1 (Uncivilized Books, $10): The cult classic “apesploitation” series The Humans returns with creators Keenan Marshall Keller and Tom Neely taking Johnny, Marra and Nada off the blacktop and into the big house. California’s third-oldest prison, Sunland Valley Correctional, aka The Jungle, forces our characters to adapt to life behind bars without their usual broads, buds or bikes. They’ll face off against dirty wardens, crooked screws, a crazy Christian cult, mafioso thugs and their own inner demons.
Goat Magic (Oni Press, $14.99): Kate Wheeler delivers this fantasy adventure that proves sometimes the most “common” magic is exactly what’s needed. When goat herder Trill meets Princess Alya, who transforms into a black goat each sunrise, their different worlds collide in unexpected ways. Trill’s ability to communicate with her flock might seem ordinary compared to palace sorcery, but it becomes Alya’s only hope to break the curse.
Witch Hazel Variety Hour (Silver Sprocket, $9.99): Colton Fox and Beige Blum introduce us to Hazel, a talented spellcaster who’s also a walking disaster. This deluxe one-shot comes with a cardstock cover, foil accents, activities and — wait for it — stickers! So you’re getting plenty of bang for your 10 bucks.
True Colors: Growing Up Weird in the ’90s (Drawn & Quarterly, $18.95): Elise Gravel invites readers into her diary for a journey back to the pre-smartphone, pre-home computer era when being different meant chalking it up to just being a weirdo. This memoir explores the universal experience of growing up feeling like you don’t quite fit in, touching on everything from anxiety to ADHD in a way that should resonate with creative and curious kids who see themselves as outsiders.