Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week. Comics arrive on April Fool’s Day this week, and publishers are taking advantage of that by releasing some quirky and fun projects.
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.
Mad About DC #1 (DC, $7.99): Editor-in-chief Marie Javins handed the keys to Chip Zdarsky for this MAD-style DC Universe parody one-shot, and the lineup he assembled is formidable, with Matt Fraction, Gail Simone, Skottie Young and more taking aim at DC’s most beloved properties. It also includes some Mad favorites, like Sergio Aragonés with a MAD Look at Comic Book Stores, a Guy vs. Spy riff from Jim Zub and Ramon Perez, and a DC Fold-In by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne.
Deadpool: April Pool’s Day #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Speaking of April Fool’s, writer Gail Simone and artists C.F. Villa, Ig Guara and Robert Gill deliver a Wade Wilson special in which the actual joke is that the universe-ending threat is completely real and nobody believes him. Simone writing Deadpool is always a treat, and the premise of everyone dismissing the Merc with a Mouth on the one day he’s not crying wolf is genuinely funny.
Groo: The Prophecy #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Sergio Aragonés and writer Mark Evanier are back with another perfectly timed Groo adventure, as they send our hapless wanderer and his faithful dog Rufferto fleeing across land and sea from everyone who fears his legendary bad luck, only to stumble directly toward the very catastrophe a village priestess has been dreading in her visions.
Bizarro: Year None #1 (DC, $4.99): Writers Kevin Smith and Eric Carrasco and artist Nick Pitarra tackle the delightfully convoluted task of telling the definitive — and yet still deliberately indefinitive — origin of Superman’s most cheerfully backwards enemy. When Jimmy Olsen and Perry White stumble into a dimension that mirrors Metropolis and worships its legendary newspaper as sacred text, the being behind it all is someone no one quite expected.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero — Sssilent Missions: Baroness #1 (Image, $3.99): Declan Shalvey and Joelle Jones pay tribute to the legendary “Silent Interlude” issue of G.I. Joe, the wordless #21 issue by Larry Hama that’s still talked about with reverence to this day. Skybound featured several G.I. Joe members in “Silent Interlude” one-shots last year, and now they’re doing the same with Cobra. This issue stars the Baroness.
Daredevil #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Lee Garbett launch a brand-new era for Matt Murdock, which promises a status quo we’ve never seen before. A new villain named Omen has targeted Matt personally, and the secrets behind this mysterious new player are ones Daredevil will have to uncover fast.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #50 (DC, $4.99): Mark Waid and a returning Dan Mora celebrate the landmark 50th issue with an oversize adventure big enough to require the entire Super-Bat family, including Robin, Supergirl, Batgirl, Jimmy Olsen and more.
Wonder Man #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Gerry Duggan and Mark Buckingham reunite for a love letter to both Los Angeles and the long, complicated history of Simon Williams, from being manipulated into villainy by the Enchantress to becoming one of the Avengers’ brightest stars. When Simon’s former cellmate Randolph Chancellor comes back into his life, the past catches up with him in a big way.
Royals #1 (Image, $4.99): Derek Kirk Kim and Jacob Perez launch a six-issue crime caper set in the shadowy back alleys of Seoul. Twin brothers with a telepathic connection who’ve built the perfect poker hustle find themselves in over their heads when they go up against the leader of the most ruthless criminal syndicate in the city.
Eternals 50th Anniversary Special #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Writer Ralph Macchio and Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump team with artists Dale Eaglesham and Michael Cho to celebrate half a century of Jack Kirby’s cosmic vision. The oversized special digs into untold corners of the Eternals’ history and introduces a brand-new Eternal, the Lost Eternal, whose secrets could shake the foundations of the Marvel Universe.
Magic: The Gathering — Untold Stories: Jace #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Michael W. Conrad and Caitlin Yarsky dive into the lost memories of Jace Beleren, the most powerful mind mage in the Magc: The Gathering multiverse, to uncover the manipulation by his mentor Tezzeret and a dangerous artifact that could reshape or destroy everything.
Captain Marvel: Dark Past #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Recently returned-to-Marvel writer Paul Jenkins and artist Lucas Werneck send Carol Danvers digging into a corner of her family history she never knew existed, after an attack on New York exposes dark secrets buried in the Danvers name. Lost memories from her days as Ms. Marvel begin resurfacing as she chases an investigation she was once forced to abandon.
Tyler Rake: An Extraction Story #1 (Ignition Press, $4.99): In this tie-in to the Extraction films on Netflix, Ande Parks and Ronan Cliquet send Tyler Rake back to his roots. The story finds him working as a bouncer in São Paulo, trying to stay hidden, until a run-in with a connected drug dealer forces him into a job he never wanted. Parks is the original Extraction writer, so he’s the right person to explore the early days of the character ahead of the upcoming Netflix sequel.
Alien: King Killer #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Saladin Ahmed and Carlos Nieto drop readers into one of the darkest corners of the Alien universe: a planet already lost to the Xenomorphs, where the last scraps of humanity survive under the protection of a trio of warlord siblings known as the Three Kings. But a fourth sibling is coming for revenge, and the secrets the Three Kings are hiding may be more dangerous than the aliens outside the walls.
Kilroy Is Here (Image, $3.99): Joe Pruett and Dalibor Talajic take the iconic “Kilroy Was Here” graffiti as their starting point and reimagine Kilroy as an ageless wanderer cursed to avenge the innocent throughout history — and then ask what happens when he discovers his entire existence may have been a lie.
Marvel Rivals: Duel of Kings #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Paul Allor, Salva Espin and Jethro Morales pit Namor against Black Panther in a caper that’s equal parts political thriller and heist comedy. The King of Atlantis has smuggled Jeff the Land Shark into Wakanda to steal Chronovium, and T’Challa and Shuri are on to them.
Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #1 (Image, $3.99): The Ghost Machine universe gets its first official reference series, with Geoff Johns, Brad Meltzer, Peter J. Tomasi, Francis Manapul, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch and more providing deep dives into the world of Geiger, Junkyard Joe, Redcoat and more.
Lights of Niterói (Fantagraphics, $22.99): Marcello Quintanilha returns to the Brazilian city of his birth for a story drawn from his own family history. Two young men in 1950s Niterói spot a fisherman using dynamite, steal his catch and set off on a boat trip that becomes something far more perilous and life-changing than either anticipated.
To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel (HarperCollins, $25.99): Fred Fordham’s gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of Harper Lee’s landmark novel brings Scout, Jem, Atticus, Boo Radley and the small town of Maycomb, Alabama to vivid visual life.
Undercity (Fantagraphics, $34.99): Monte Schulz delivers one of the most quietly devastating books of the week: a graphic novel set in a society consumed by eugenics, following the survivors who refuse to submit to persecution, gas chambers and relentless brutality.
Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in Hell Artist’s Edition Book 2 (Image, $150): The concluding five issues of Hellboy in Hell get the Artist’s Edition treatment — scanned in full color to capture every ink gradient, blue pencil mark and original art nuance, printed at the original size Mignola drew it.