Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!
We’re bringing back something we haven’t done for a while, what the team thinks. Our contributors are choosing up to five books each week and why they’re choosing the books.
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.
Brett
Top Pick of the Week: Bitch Planet #3 (Image Comics) – Have you read the first two issues? That explains why this is on the top of my pick pile this week. They’re that good! The series mixes political commentary with a prison exploitation film. It’s awesome.
The Kitchen #4 (Vertigo) – If you’re a fan of Goodfellas, The Godfather, or The Sopranos, you’ll dig this series.
Lady Mechanika #4 (Benitez Productions) – Finally! A brand new Lady Mechanika issue: the fourth chapter of The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse. It’s been a long time coming, but I can’t wait. This series used to be the hot property, but massive release delays have chilled it a bit. I expect new material to get folks excited again.
Letter 44 #14 (Oni Press) – The last issue dropped a bomb, and saw something happen that I expected to happen much further down the road. The series which mixes politics with science fiction is about to kick it up a notch.
Secret Identities #1 (Image Comics) – The supergroup known as The Front Line have just invited new hero Crosswind to join them. But what they don’t know is that Crosswind is a mole, sent to learn all their secrets. And the Front Line have LOTS of secrets.
Edward
Top Pick of the Week: Silk #1 (Marvel) – Spider-Woman got off to a bumpy start with her roll-out during Spider-verse, and it remains to be seen if they have learned their lesson. No matter what the past year has since the rise of the Spider-women, and this series has the potential to grab a lot of that interest.
Burning Fields #2 (BOOM! Studios) – The first issue set up an unconventional setting for a horror, and left the readers with a bit of a cliffhanger. It will be interesting to see where it goes from there.
Manifest Destiny #13 (Image Comics) – It is impossible to know what to expect from this series, and as the group pushes farther into the unexplored country, they can only find more otherworldly challenges.
Suicide Risk #22 (BOOM! Studios) – This series has taken the genre of superheroes and given it new life, with an intriguing shared universe full of deceit. It will be interesting to see how the heroes escape the double cross from the previous issue.
Wonder Woman #39 (DC Comics) – After a decent enough start the new run has run into a few problems, but maybe the surprise return of Donna Toy can help that?
Elana
Top Pick of the Week: Lady Killer #1 2nd Printing (Dark Horse) – The comic sounds like a creative new title with cool looking art and a period accurate logo. “Avon Lady is really a hired killer” is a great concept. How come women never get to be the dark killer anti-hero, amiright?!
Bitch Planet #3 (Image Comics) – This is the comic for radicals. And women. And those who love them.
Ms. Marvel #12 (Marvel) – The Valentines Day issue is clearly the most adorable thing in the world. Loki comes to shake up Kamala’s love life?! Based on Bruno’s comment in the preview I will now be referring to new Loki as “hipster Viking”, and applying that term loosely to others. Also they talk about gentrification.
She-Hulk #12 (Marvel) – I’ve been dying to know for a year: WHAT IS IN THE BLUE FILE. And I’m about to find out. I am still upset this book has been cancelled. It’s just what Marvel needs. Grumble.
Storm #8 (Marvel) – Storm is a great comic with a classic feel of the character. Storms actions till now have mostly made sense to me but in the last issue she did something wreckless that through me for a loop. I am super eager to learn why!
Johnny
Top Pick of the Week: Ei8ht # 1 (Dark Horse) – I love time travel stories and this series has a lot of cool concepts behind it, particularly the idea of the Meld. The Meld is a dimension in time, and I am interested to see if it is treated as an inbetween place that touches other points in time.
King: Mandrake the Magician #1 (Dynamite Entertainment) – There are no other magic-based comics characters as influential or maybe even as important as Mandrake. There was a period in pop culture history when Mandrake was one of the most well-known and recognizable characters out there, and many modern stage magicians patterned their look and persona on him. Unfortunately most contemporary attempts to re-boot the character have met with lackluster results. However, Dynamite has done a phenomenal job with Flash Gordon, The Phantom and now Mandrake. This series is part of the “King Features” imprint and starts after the events in Kings Watch, but don’t worry, you won’t have to have read that series to enjoy this fresh start. This title is my top pick this week.
Legenderry Green Hornet #1 (Dynamite Entertainment) – Steampunk is hot and Dynamite jumped onto the Steampunk bandwagon last year with Legenderry. The concept was to take classic pulp (and some not so pulp) characters and re-imagine them as a team in a Victorian setting. Now, Dynamite is giving these character’s their own solo turns and this week is The Green Hornet’s turn!
She-Hulk #12 (Marvel) – I love She-Hulk. She is my favorite Marvel character without hesitation. However, I have to admit that I did not collect this particular run, waiting instead for the collection/TPB. For me, Brian Pulido’s art just never connected with me on this series. However, it also seems that the best She-Hulk stories are always the final issues, so this one should be a really good read.
Silk #1 (Marvel) – Although I keep asking why we need another Spider Woman, this character has me intrigued because of her direct connection to Peter Parker and their shared origin. Not only do we get a new character, but we get a strong female character with a (hopefully) a rich back story waiting to be mined.
Nevada
Top Pick of the Week: Cinema Retro #31 (Cinema Retro) – I love retro cinema and Pam Grier as Coffee on the cover just seals the deal.
Fight Like a Girl #3 (Action Lab Entertainment) – I’m intrigued by this and look forward to seeing how Amarosa responds to her new environment and the people she encounters who think they know better than she knows herself. Who are they?
Lone Ranger Vindicated #4 (Dynamite Entertainment) – I’m a fan of Westerns and especially the Lone Ranger so I’ll have to see what happens at the final showdown in Red River.
Nancy Drew Diaries Vol. 4: The Charmed Bracelet and Global Warning (Papercutz) – Nancy’s still quite the go-getter; I just have to drop in to see what she’s up to. This looks like a humdinger.
Twilight Zone #12 (Dynamite Entertainment) – I haven’t paid a visit to the Twilight Zone in a while, plus the retro look of this is quite appealing!
When stories are set in the steampunk genre, they usually take place in some major metropolis. Blade Runner, took place, in Los Angeles, in in what Philip K Dick believed 2019 was going to look like. In Hugo, the movie is set in 1930s Paris, where he invention of automaton is centerpiece to the story. The recent Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, has a Neo- Gothic feel which screams steampunk.
There are many things that come to mind, when one hears the word” steampunk”. Some people may think of the leather clad individuals you would see at comic book conventions wearing goggles and top hats. One may think of movies like Blade Runner and Buckaroo Bonzai. Then there are the inspirations found in the works of Jules Verne and HG Wells.
