IT’S NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!
But what to read?
Fortunately, the Major Spoilers Staff have comic book recommendations for you!
BATMAN #38
Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV
Artist: Greg Capullo
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Endgame’ part 4. The Joker is back! This time, no more funny stuff. And in the backup story, five Arkham Asylum escapees share their encounters with The Joker!
CHRIS: Loving the new Joker story, though I’m skeptical that he’s really back. Remember this arc started out with Bruce saying he was having nightmares (hint, hint). Either way, it’s Scott Snyder, who has had few missteps and Greg Capullo doing fantastic art. One of DC’s best.
BITCH PLANET #2
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artist: Valentine DeLandro
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: Now framed for murder INSIDE the prison, Kam is offered leniency if she’ll train her crew for a death sport bout against a visiting team of male prisoners…
GEORGE: Issue 1 was great, giving readers shades of The Handmaid’s Tale as seen through a filter of 70s exploitation flicks (and the classic Christopher Lambert vehicle Fortress). I think Bitch Planet will be THE hot comic of 2015.
MATTHEW: Issue #1 of this book was mighty impressive visually and had some real storytelling guts. I’m hoping that we get more of the same this time around…
DANGER CLUB #6
Writer: Landry Quinn Walker
Artist: Eric Jones
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: As all of reality collapses, Kid Vigilante travels through the land of the dead in search of salvation.
ASHLEY: I think that last issue of this series came out almost two years ago? What you need to know is that it’s stupidly good and Kid Vigilante is everything.
DEADPOOL #41
Writer: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn
Artist: Salva Espin
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • Deadpool has been through a lot recently…he needs to relax.
• Time for a good, old fashioned, simple merc job.
• Deadpool in the Middle East. Should be nice and uncomplicated.
GEORGE: Now that Axis is over, we can get back to our regularly scheduled Merc With A Mouth programming. Duggan and Posehn’s Deadpool continues to hit that sweet spot between humor and pathos, giving the character an emotional core that he’s been lacking for years. Also, that cover.
FIND #1 ONE SHOT
Writer: Sam Read
Artist: Alex Cormack
Publisher: Comixtribe
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: When young Teddy Chance stumbles upon a strange, otherworldly object while out exploring, so begins a night of peril and excitement that will alter the course of his entire life. Written by Samuel Read (Exit Generation) and illustrated by Alex Cormack (Oxymoron, Future Proof), FIND is an all-ages adventure about the power of curiosity and inspiration, and how comic books really are universal.
RODRIGO: Sci-Fi one-shot? those are my two favorite compound words in comics.
GOTHAM ACADEMY #4
Writer: Becky Cloonan
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: The hunt for the Ghost of Gotham Academy begins!
ASHLEY: This is easily one of the best books coming out from DC Comics every month. Olive and Maps are such interesting characters and the story so filled with clever references to the Gotham City mythos Batfans have come to love. I love Gotham Academy!
CHRIS: A seriously underrated book, Gotham Academy is doing wonderful things that haven’t been seen in the DCU for sometime. I still can’t quite describe what this book is other than a sort of haunted house story with teenagers. Regardless, it’s great stuff and if that cover art doesn’t have you wanting to look inside, well we can’t be friends.
STEPHEN: Great story, great art, great book! This book makes me wish all the bat-family books were this engaging and entertaining.
KING: THE PHANTOM #1
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artist: Brent Schoonover
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: “What IS The Phantom?” Welcome to the KING, full of TWO-FISTED SCRAPPING and RUGGED COURAGE and UNSTOPPABLE PURPOSE and DARING
INFILTRATION and BREAKNECK COMBAT and INDESTRUCTIBLE LEGACY and GHOSTS…WHO…WALK!
Prepare yourself for BULLETPROOF BRAWLING by BRIAN CLEVINGER (Atomic Robo) and BRENT SCHOONOVER (Adventures of Superman) with a connecting King cover by comic legend DARWYN COOKE!
RODRIGO: The Phantom is a character that I have always liked. He’s a very conservative super hero in that his powers involve being cool with animals and sometimes being as strong as a handful of tigers, but not like, too many tigers, you know?
THE LIFE AFTER #6
Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artist: Gabo
Publisher: Oni Press
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Jude, Hemingway, and Nettie have managed to escape both the Consultant and their endless pit of a prison. However, they soon find themselves lost and in danger of capture once again, this time by a militant gang of kids stuck in Purgatory. Meanwhile, Tom Foreman (Chief Engineer of Purgatory and Adjacent Plains) receives an intriguing offer from his counterpart, and the Consultant has a spiritual awakening of the fluffy kind.
ASHLEY: This series is smarter than your average comic book and I always feel like more of a clever hipster for having read it. You should read it too.
MULTIVERSITY GUIDEBOOK #1
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Nicola Scott, Gary Frank, Klaus Janson, Cameron Stewart, Dan Jurgens, Chris Sprouse, Ben Oliver and more
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $7.99
SOLICITATION: The guidebook to the greatest adventure in DC’s history is here! With a detailed concordance featuring each of the 52 worlds in the Multiverse, a complete history of DC Comics universe-shattering “Crisis” events, a map of all known existence, AND an action-packed dual adventure starring Kamandi of Earth-51 alongside the post-apocalyptic Atomic Knight Batman of Earth-17 and chibi Batman of Earth-42, this 80-page mountain of MULTIVERSITY madness cannot be missed! The MULTIVERSITY GUIDEBOOK contains everything you ever wanted to know about DC’s parallel worlds and their super-heroic inhabitants. Meet the Agents of W.O.N.D.E.R., The Light Brigade, the Super-Americans and the Love Syndicate! Meet The Accelerated Man, Aquaflash, BiOmac and more! Overflowing with today’s top artists and completely written by Grant Morrison himself, readers of the DC Universe can’t afford to pass up this oversized, sixth chapter of MULTIVERSITY!
CHRIS: I love that Grant Morrison stories now need guides for people to understand them. I haven’t had much trouble and think that Multiversity has been a fairly easy and extremely fun read. I’m eager to see how this all ends and (hopefully) ties together. Crazy awesome stuff going on and I’m dying for the map of the Earths. But $7.99? Woof…
MATTHEW: I can’t resist a handbook, and with the mind of Morrison calling the shots, I expect this one to be a giant hoot…
MUNCHKIN #01 (Ian McGinty Cover)
Writer(s): Various
Artist(s): Various
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
WHY WE LOVE IT: As long-time fans of the game, we’re jazzed to weave stories out of the world of Munchkin, whether it’s from the perspective of one Munchkin, a gang of them, or even one of the monsters that live behind the doors!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT: Kick open the door. Kill the monster. Steal the treasure. Screw over everybody you come in contact with. Welcome to the world of Munchkin, a gathering of stories based on the popular game series. It’s a laugh a minute, pal. Plus, every first printing of every issue will ship with an exclusive card for the game.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Based on the immensely popular card game, Munchkin comes to comics! Munchkin takes place in a very flexible mashup of genres. Originally a satire of fantasy roleplaying, it has since then taken on non-fantasy and non-gaming elements. Characters in Munchkin change constantly but never permanently. What do Munchkins do? They play for the win. They are rules lawyers. They backstab. They gloat. They whine when someone else backstabs or gloats. Munchkins are emotional. Munchkins may be clever, but they are never wise. Munchkins have short attention spans. Munchkins may be brave in the face of awful odds, but they are even braver when beating up crippled goblins for their lunch money. If a Munchkin seems to show mercy, it’s because he was bored or distracted. After all, even stomping an ant helps you level up.
RODRIGO: A comic based on a game based on another game based on a novel. I hope this gets optioned as a movie soon.
STEPHEN: FREE MUNCHKIN CARDS! I’ve got to get these so I can finally win a game on Munchkin Land!
PRISON PIT #2
Writer: Johnny Ryan
Artist: Johnny Ryan
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Cover Price: $14.99
SOLICITATION: The balls-to-the-wall series returns with more action and mayhem. Our anti-hero tries to get revenge against the evil behemoth that took his arm, and then winds up playing an unwilling role in an escape attempt from the Pit.
GEORGE: Oh thank goodness. The second Prison Pit graphic novel has been out of print for awhile, leading to robust prices on the secondary market. I’m glad this is getting a reprint, making it a banner week for prison-themed sci-fi madness. Prison Pit reads like the obscene, insane doodled fantasies of a violent 14 year-old and we are all better for its availability in our lives.
SECRET ORIGINS #9
Writer: Charles Soule, Paul Levitz, Van Jensen
Artist: Pat Broderick, Alison Borges, Javier Pina
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
SOLICITATION: Swamp Thing is in the spotlight in this new set of origin tales in a story written by Charles Soule with art by Javi Pina. Also in this issue: the origins of Power Girl by Paul Levitz and Alisson Borges, and Green Lantern John Stewart by Van Jensen and Pat Broderick.
ROB: Secret Origins has been the only DC title I’ve been picking up for awhile now, which makes its cancellation that much more depressing, but I’m happy I’ve gotten it and like seeing the further changes made by the New52.
SEX CRIMINALS #10
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Chip Zdarsky
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: In which Jon and Suzie learn just how alone together we all are, and the stakes get raised crazy-high in this, the second arc finale…
MATTHEW: I don’t know if it’s me, or just the weird magnetism of these characters and their narrative, but I really love every single issue of this comic…
SPIDER-MAN AND X-MEN #2
Writer: Elliot Kalan
Artist: Nick Bradshaw
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Bad Teacher! Spidey’s already gotten his X-students captured by Sauron and Stegron! Can they stop the Savage Land from colonizing Staten Island? Traitor! Has Shark Girl really betrayed her classmates for these cold-blooded creeps? Romance! Have you ever seen a pteranodon/stegosaurus/shark love triangle? You will if you buy this issue
ROB: While the title and premise sold me on this to start with, the initial story hook wasn’t what I was expecting and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it yet. But, Spidey as a teacher for wayward students is still interesting enough for me to go for issue two.
TMNT GHOSTBUSTERS #4
Writer: Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz
Artist: Dan Schoening
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The supernaturally awesome conclusion to the blockbuster crossover is here! Ghostly forces converge on the Ghostbusters HQ, and the Turtles’ opportunity to get back home is fast dwindling! The two teams’ last-ditch efforts may come too late!
ROB: While I still miss the Ghostbusters ongoing, this has been a nice standin for the last few months, especially with the addition of the Turtles (Probably my favorite series right now) being added to the team. The two different styles of the four-man dynamic really come through here too.