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.
Ultimate Spider-Man #24 (Marvel, $6.99): Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto and David Messina wrap up the flagship Ultimate Universe title. Marvel hasn’t told us much about what to expect, beyond “this is the end,” but we do know it’s the first of several endings we’ll see from the Ultimate books this year, as the whole line counts down to its extinction in Ultimate Endgame. This was the first and, for me, the best of the Ultimate titles, and it’s a shame it has to end. Bu I’m looking forward to seeing where they leave Spidey and his Amazing Fam with this issue.
Muppets Noir #1 (Dynamite, $4.99): Roger Langridge, who wrote and drew the Muppets for BOOM! Studios back in the day, returns to Jim Henson’s motley bunch for a tale of crime and “pun”-ishment. In an attempt to de-stress before lighting the lights again on the Muppet Show stage, Kermit settles down to read a detective novel, only to get hit in the head by an errant brick. In his comatose dreams, he becomes Flip Minnow, P.I., who has to solve the baffling mystery of the Snoozing Sleuth.
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Chip Zdarsky and Luca Maresca kick off this prelude miniseries to this summer’s Armageddon event. When an old acquaintance drags Logan into the search for an abducted mutant, he finds that the defunct Weapon X program is alive and well. As Wolverine follows the trail, he finds himself in conflict with Nuke, the super soldier who once faced off with Daredevil.
Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre #1 (Mad Cave Studios, $4.99): Fred Kennedy and James Edward Clark launch this four-issue series set at Disco Hippo Wonderland, the No. 1 amusement park in Flamingo City Its corpulent owner, Jans M’jor Discau, is about to release the most potent drug ever created: Coke45. Unfortunately, it ends up released in the park’s hippopotamus exhibit …
Smile: For the Camera #1 (IDW, $4.99): Hannah Rose May and Miriana Puglia deliver a new story based on the Smile film franchise from Parker Finn. Set during Fashion Month 2005, it’s about five young international models who have just landed in New York City, ready to tackle four grueling weeks of runways, press and cameras as they try to make it big. The girls become fast friends until one seems to crack under the pressure. Little does everyone know that she is afflicted by the entity, a being bent on destruction and pain as it seeks to destroy lives through its horrific visions.
Generation X-23 #1 (Marvel, $4.99): X-23 is back, courtesy of Jody Houser and Jacopo Camagni. When Laura Kinney and her sister Gabby encounter someone who seems to be their long-lost friend, the harrowing plot they uncover will turn their worlds upside down.
Death Fight Forever #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): Andrew MacLean and Alexis Ziritt helm this five-issue miniseries about two super-bruiser brothers, Crash and Bash Biggle, who jump into action to help Commander Thunderfang fight inter-dimensional crime boss Lord Slyther. But a run-in with Marla Mendoza, leader of the COPZ gang and Slyther’s most formidable loyalist, changes the course of Bash’s life forever.
Deadly Hands of K’un-Lun #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Yifan Jiang and Paco Medina send Marvel’s greatest martial artists into battle against demonic forces that are marching against the Seven Heavenly Cities. As more cities fall and the demonic forces swell, Iron Fist will need to rely on unlikely allies, including Elektra, White Tiger, White Fox and former Iron Fist protege Pei, to stop the onslaught.
End of Life #1 (DC/Vertigo, $3.99): Another new Vertigo title debuts this week, as Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh take on a hitman in trouble named Eddie Stallion. Eddie’s problem is that he accidentally robbed the Raven, a high-ranking boss of the international cabal of assassins the Menagerie. Now with a price on his head, Eddie chooses to hide in the one place everyone knows he’d never go: the small midwestern town of Pluto, home of his estranged father.
Black Panther 60th Anniversary Special #1 (Marvel, $6.99): Celebrating six decades of the King of Wakanda, this landmark oversized issue features stories from Murewa Ayodele, Evan Narcisse, Georges Jeanty, Alitha E. Martinez and more.
Lenore: Curse of the Beebee Yaga #1 (Titan Comics, $4.99): Roman Dirge delivers another one-shot starring Lenore, as she tries to help her friend Pooty against a bully that turns out to be the grandson of the legendary Beebee Yaga.
It’s Jeff Meets Daredevil #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Kelly Thompson and Gurihiru continue the adventures of Jeff the Land Shark as he learns about courage from the Man Without Fear. It also includes stories from the Marvel Unlimited It’s Jeff series for the first time in print.
White Sky #1 (Image Comics, $3.99): William Harms, Lee Loughridge and Jean Paul Mavinga launch a new series about what happens after the end of the world. Five years ago, the sky turned white and the world ended. Violet and her father David are forced out of hiding and flee toward the ruins of San Francisco, where they believe they’ll be safe. Don’t believe it, though …
Absolute Batman #17 (DC, $4.99): Scott Snyder and Eric Canete unleash Absolute Poison Ivy from the Ark-M facility with “an unending hate and burning fire for revenge on Gotham City.” When Batman hunts her down, he must survive a labyrinth of leveled horrors, one more gruesome than the next, as he tries to save the city from a monster it created.
Tamia and the Memories of the Dragon (Papercutz, $17.99): David Braña and Pahito deliver an adventure about Little Tamia, her father and the dragon that shows up while they’re on vacation.
Minecraft: Heart of Cobblestone Volume 2 (Dark Horse, $10.99): Andrew Clemson and Jeremy Lawson continue the graphic novel adventure set in the world of Minecraft. Brothers Cobb and Flint couldn’t be more different—Cobb considers himself a simple farmer and a bit of a loner, content to mind his crops and be left alone. But when their young friend Rochelle heads off on her own into a monster-infested zone following a mysterious treasure map, the two must work together to find her before some nasty beast does.
Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales of the 1980s (Fantagraphics, $65): The latest volume in Fantagraphics’ Lost Marvels series collects all eight issues of the long-out-of-print 1980s run of Savage Tales, which featured stories ranging from gangster noir to historical battlefields to the deadly old West to post-apocalyptic futures by John Severin, John Buscema, Sam Glanzman, Val Mayerik, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Doug Murray, Denny O’Neil, Archie Goodwin and more. This volume includes a remembrance by Savage Tales editor Larry Hama.