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.
Alex
Top Pick: Hero Hourly #2 (21 Pulp) – The first issue of the first series from new publisher 21 Pulp took me by complete surprise Telling the story of a man employed at a minimum wage company who employs superheroes, Hero Hourly is a comic that, quite frankly, you have to be reading.
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 (DC Comics/IDW Publishing) – Batman and the Ninja Turtles. There’s really nothing else for me to say about why I’m looking forward to this other than the last issue was actually really good.
Huck #3 (Image) – This comic just makes feel all warm and fuzzy inside. A great feel good series from Mark Millar (at least so far) that you should look into before the inevitable movie.
Brett
Top Pick: The Walking Dead #150 (Image Comics/Skybound) – It’s going to be a huge issue and it’s been hinted to expect fireworks out of it. Big anniversary issues like this tend to bring huge shifts in Robert Kirkman’s series, and I’m expecting no less.
Captain Canuck #6 (Chapter House Comics) – I’ve been loving this series and continue to do so. It’s a throwback to fun superheros without the gritty darkness.
Hero Hourly #2 (21 Pulp) – The first issue was hilarious and an amazing debut for this new publisher. I’ve been awaiting the second, and it’s one of the first comics I’m reading this week.
Legend of Wonder Woman #1 (DC Comics) – I really am not a fan of the main Wonder Woman at DC, but this digital turned print series is a breath of fresh air as it looks at the early years of the Amazonians and Wonder Woman as she was growing up. Much like Superman: American Alien, this is trying to get at what makes Wonder Woman wonderful.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #0 (BOOM! Studios) – I was never a Power Rangers fan growing up. I was just a bit too old and out of the age range for the show. Still, the concept was always interesting to me and I’ve been looking forward to seeing what BOOM! does with the series as a comic.
Elana
All-New Wolverine #4 (Marvel) – One of Marvel comics’ bests. Complex, haunted but heroic, Laura is trying to take care of her abused clones by seeking help from Doctor Strange! I never considered this team up and I can’t wait!
Constantine the Hellblazer #8 (DC Comics) – It is DC’s best comic. It’s about the mad, bad and dangerous to know exorcist who’d left his date in a bit of a lurch. It’s going to be great!
No Mercy #6 (Image Comics) – I hate Chad. I want him to die. He is an abuser and a bully and he’s on the cover of this month’s issue with a skull imposed over his head. So maybe this most brutally harsh comic will kill someone who’s really got it coming? Maybe?
Raven Pirate Princess TP Volume 1 (Action Lab Entertainment) – Teenage Lesbian Asian Pirate Princess in an all-ages comic!!! One of the year’s best new series for older-kids and tweens (and adults who like things that are funny, exciting and feminist). Get caught up with the all girl pirate crew. A perfect introductory comic to the Princeless world of diverse, feminist heroic heroines who take no guff and save the day. Here’s my review of the first two issues featured in this compendium.
Javier
Top Pick: Slash and Burn #3 (DC Vertigo) – This is my top pick of the week. I happen to be a Volunteer Firefighter in the town I live in, so I’m digging this one at a personal level.
Bad Moon Rising #4 (451 Media) – This one is filling my Showhole left behind by the cancellation of Sons of Anarchy. It’s got Motorcycle Gangs (possibly Buddhist), Werewolves, and a Murder Mystery.
Hero Hourly #2 (21 Pulp) – Who can’t relate to the plight of the under-paid and under-appreciated working man with super powers? And if you can’t relate, at least have a good laugh.
Limbo #3 (Image Comics) – More Detective Work in a Dead End … oops … in Dedande City. I recommend you snack on some lizards while reading it.
The Violent #2 (Image Comics) – A violence filled tourist’s guide to Canada’s Strathcona: the Canadian Brooklyn (condos and all).
Logan
Top Pick: New Romancer #2 (Vertigo) – New Romancer is the crown jewel in the Vertigo Renaissance and the perfect 21st century love story for someone who uses Tinder and OK Cupid, but misses the love sonnets and romance of yore. Plus Casanova and Lord Byron facing off is going to be a blast.
Red Sonja #1 (Dynamite) – If anyone had to take over for Gail Simone on Red Sonja, it’s Marguerite Bennett, who last wrote the She-Devil with a Sword in the funny, action-packed Red Sonja and Jungle Girl miniseries. I expect nothing but the best in interesting female characters, swashbuckling action, and tongue-in-cheek humor.
Robin War #2 (DC Comics) – The most woke crossover of 2015 comes to a close in the New Year as Damian Wayne doesn’t check his privilege and joins the Court of the Owls to fight Gotham’s teen defenders, We Are Robin, and their more seasoned mentors. It will be interesting to see if there is any last political commentary from writer Tom King, and the martial arts battle will be fun to see unfold.
Secret Wars #9 (Marvel) – This crossover has been a little uneven to say the least, but the previous issue had some Return of the King worthy pitched battles and sheer badass moments, like Doom crushing Thanos’ skulls. Hopefully, Jonathan Hickman sticks the ending in his Marvel epic, doesn’t just push the reset/reboot button via a plot device or something, and gives the Fantastic Four a sendoff worthy of Marvel’s First Family.
The Violent #2 (Image) – Ed Brisson and Adam Gorham are going into some murky, moral territory in their new series The Violent from Image, and he pulls no punches showing the effect gentrification has had on the city of Vancouver. I am intrigued to see how far Mason is willing to go to be a good father while battling the spectres of his criminal past and trying to make ends meet.
Mr. H
Top Pick: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 (DC Comics/IDW Publishing) – The Dark Knight, Shredder, Turtles. Need I say more? Nope grab a slice and set aside some time for this one!
Secret Wars #9 (Marvel) – Come see how it all ends and how it all begins again. The conclusion to Marvel’s best event in ages. I’m with Uatu on this one, just want to be ringside as it unfolds.
The Walking Dead #150 (Image Comics/Skybound) – The big one. Let’s hope much more walking than talking. Oh yeah and blood. Lots of blood. Come see where Rick Grimes goes next.
Patrick
Top Pick: The Walking Dead #150 (Image Comics) – Tensions have been building in Alexandria over what’s to be done with the Whisperers, a rival community that wears the flesh of walkers. Rick has been struggling to maintain control. In this issue, we find out what that means for him. Negan made a name for himself fifty issues ago, and the Governor fell fifty issues before that. I wonder what will happen tomorrow…
Hero Hourly #2 (21 Pulp) – There’s really no reason you shouldn’t be looking for this book at your local comic store. Do you like laugh? Pick it up. Do you like grabbing comics that people will be talking about for years to come? Pick it up. Do you have a rash your trying to hide while walking back to work? Maybe… maybe this would work for that. But it’s a fantastic comic if you’re just looking for something to read.
No Mercy #6 (Image Comics) – The horrors that have befallen these students continue to unfold as they live in danger of coyotes, drug cartels and even each other. Don’t pass up the chance to keep up with who kills whom.
Paul
Top Pick: Extraordinary X-Men #5 (Marvel) – This title has been BANG since issue 1 and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. New school in limbo; demons attacking; Mr. Sinister is back…and the reveal from the last issue! Where is this going?? Loving the team line up and the art. If you aren’t reading this X book, you better get caught up….I’ll wait.
All-New X-Men #3 (Marvel) – I wasn’t really sure I would enjoy the whole road trip vibe with the time displaced X-Men (as X-Force tried this way back when and it didn’t really work), but I’m kinda digging it. Feels a little rehashed with the Ghosts of Cyclops coming across as junior Acolytes, but they are an interesting gang to counter our band of mutants so I’ll stick along for the ride. Not really feeling Kid Apocalypse and Oya as part of the group, so I’m hoping they gel as the series goes on, but it is fun and I do enjoy the read. But I am really getting tired of Angel treating Wolverine as the damsel in distress….enough already.
Scarlet Witch #2 (Marvel) – Honestly, Issue 1 was just meh (you can read my review if you like), I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t wowed. I loved the art and I do have a soft spot for Wanda, one of my favourite characters. I’m holding out hope that this whole ‘witchcraft is broken’ story really goes somewhere different and takes Wanda in a unique direction.
Secret Wars #9 (Marvel) – END ALREADY. You’ve already launched your All New All Different; confused the readers by hinting at things in the new titles that haven’t happened. You started with a bang…yes, you had some great tie ins, but lets be honest, you are definitely limping to the finish line.
Uncanny Avengers #4 (Marvel) – Like the last volume of this title, I just can’t stop checking it out….not that it’s good, I just can’t stop looking. Maybe I’m hoping it turns around, maybe I just feel sorry for it, I don’t know. I feel there’s potential here…I just wish it could be reached.
People warn not to judge a book by its cover. Sometimes the cover deserves its own discussion.
Another day, another hot date. Firefighter Rosheen Hayes takes her relationships with conflagration seriously, whether it’s the trigger-happy burn victim with his sights on her partner or a chance encounter igniting memories of arson at the orphanage. But is she the super-sleuth fire-whisperer or twisted firestarter?
