IT’S NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!
But what to read?
The staff at Major Spoilers offers up its list of books they are looking forward to, and recommend you do, too!
BLACK CANARY #2
Writer: Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Annie Wu
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: In the wake of their first major fight, Dinah’s realized that her new bandmates are completely unprepared to keep themselves alive in a scrap, ¦so it’s time for a training montage! (Cue the squealing guitars!) Plus: Who is Bo Maeve, and why does she hate Black Canary so much?
CHRIS: Black Canary as a punk rocker superhero? It sounds ridiculous but Brendan Fletcher makes it work somehow. I loved the first issue and I’m glad to see DC going out on a limb with titles and trying new things. It’s up to us as readers to support these kind of ideas so we don’t keep getting the same old thing churned out again and again. I mean, that’s what we always complain about, right? Well this is the book to spice up your reading pile!
MATTHEW: Dinah’s debut in her new solo book was a solid issue, and I’m still hooked enough to want more…
BOOK OF DEATH #1
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Robert Gill, Dough Braithwaite
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The Valiant heroes. X-O Manowar. Bloodshot. Ninjak. The Harbinger Renegades. Unity. This is how they lived. This is how they died.
Now we know. The Book of the Geomancer has recorded it all. But only a young girl – the last in a line of the enigmatic mystics who protect the Earth known as Geomancers – has seen this future come to pass, from the coming cataclysm to the dawn of the 41st century. Alone with her sworn protector, the Eternal Warrior – a soldier battle-forged across five thousand years of combat – the duo must defy their allies to stop the Dark Age that now threatens to eclipse our world.
Together, they are the number one target of every hero and villain on Earth. Either the Eternal Warrior hands her over…or they take him down. But can even he single-handedly protect one child when the entire Valiant Universe wages war against him?
RODRIGO: Just in case you thought event comics were just for the big two here’s Valiant’s crew throwing all their guys at the wall.
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MIGHTY DEFENDERS #1
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Alan Davis & Mark Farmer
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • Welcome to Battleworld – where, in what’s left of Mondo-City One, Boss Cage is the law!
• When the fascist futuropolis annexes neighboring Yinsen City, who’ll stand up for Ho Yinsen’s dream of universal peace?
• If you liked the Mighty Avengers — you’ll love the Mighty Defenders!
MATTHEW: If you got Defenders, you got Matthew… Let’s hope this one is worthy.
DEATH HEAD #1
Writer: Zack Keller, Nick Keller
Artist: Joanna Estep
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Who is the Plague Doctor? What does he want? And how will the family survive?
Zack Keller (cocreator of Dick Figures, the Streamy, IAWTV, and Annie Award–nominated web series with 650 million+ YouTube views) and Nick Keller (Turner of the Century) deliver a supernatural-horror thriller about family and creeping, terrifying murder!
When Niles and Justine Burton go camping to get a break from their stressful lives, they expect to find peace . . . not an abandoned village hiding an ancient evil. In a turn of events ripped straight from a horror movie, a brutal killer wearing a plague doctor’s mask begins hunting Niles, Justine, and their two kids.
RODRIGO: This looks pretty good, old school horror and very good art. I’m looking forward to it.
GODZILLA IN HELL #1
Writer: James Stokoe
Artist: James Stokoe
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Godzilla meets his greatest adversary of all time-the impossible tortures of Hell! Each issue of this special miniseries will see Godzilla enter a new level of the underworld to do battle with the impossible.
GEORGE: It’s Godzilla. In Hell. Written and drawn by James Stokoe. I don’t need anything else to buy this book, but maybe you do. If you haven’t read Stokoe’s Godzilla: Half Century War, it might be the best Godzilla story in all of comics-dom, and Stokoe’s insanely detailed work marks him as one of the hardest working artists in all the land. Check this out.
HAIL HYDRA #1
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Roland Boschi
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Peace Through Strength! Honor Through Obedience! Continuance Through Conformity! Hail Hydra! Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed!
Cut off one limb, and two shall take its place! We serve none but the Master-as the world shall soon serve us! It is a beautiful Utopia that Hydra has created. But when a lone figure from outside the Regime appears, could his very presence be enough to bring this perfect society to its ruin?
CHRIS: I’m a sucker for the “villains won” type stories and Rick Remender’s writing has been top notch recently. Considering this will be one of his last mainstream books for a while, I’m interested to see what he does. How Hydra could make a Utopia is beyond me but I’m intrigued to see how.
HAWKEYE #22 $4.99
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: David Aja
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
SOLICITATION: Hawkeye vs. Tracksuits. Final Round!
MATTHEW: Several months into the new volume, we get the final chapter of the previous volume of Hawk-guy. Will it be worth the wait?
JUSTICE LEAGUE #42
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Jason Fabok
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The epic “Darkseid War” event storyline continues with the critically acclaimed team of Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok! As Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor maneuver toward inevitable war, Wonder Woman leads the Justice League against a force that holds the answers on how to stop it – but the price might be Batman’s soul! Meanwhile, Mister Miracle faces off against a mysterious hero who has been fighting in the shadows for decades!
WAYNE: Even with so many great comics out these days, Justice League remains near the very top of my list! I can’t wait to see what Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor are up to next!
LETTER 44 #18
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Alberto Albuquerque
Publisher: Oni Press
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: INVASION. President Blades commits his coalition forces to a take-no-prisoners drive across Europe, in an effort to win World War Three in one decisive stroke. Up in space, the Clarke astronauts discover that Willett has jeopardized all of their lives in a last-ditch effort to warn the Earth of the asteroid currently on a collision course with the planet.
WAYNE: This title continues to grab my attention, issue after issue. I’ve never read anything like this before, and I love that!
MANTLE #3
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Brian Level
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The history of past Mantles is explored and the horror of The Plague’s path of destruction is fully unveiled.
WAYNE: I’m really enjoying this different take on superheroes and their powers. Very much worth jumping into!
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: It’s the Man of Steel versus the Martian Manhunter as Superman demands to know what J’onn J’onnz knew about the Martians’ terrible plans for Earth.
GEORGE: Martian Manhunter #1 introduced us to my new favorite comics character, the enigmatic Mr. Biscuits. The rest of it was pretty good and creepy too.
ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #2
Writer: Patrick Gleason
Artist: Mick Gray, Patrick Gleason
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The power and legacy of the al Ghuls reaches far and wide, but wait until you meet their greatest rivals! Enter the Dragon’s Head!
ROB: Damian feels he has some atoning to do, and I’m not certain if he feels it to be a family matter or something he did himself, but after issue one they’ve got me for at least awhile.
SECRET SIX #4
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Ken Lashley
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: How did six deadly assassins end up in suburbia? Still being hunted, Big Shot decides that Gotham City is too hot for them. So he decides they need to lie low in the land of picket fences and freshly cut lawns. What could go wrong?
ROB: I missed Catman for a long time when the New 52 came about. This book has been like a returning family member, and it’s somehow been more ridiculous than the last time around.
SECRET WARS BATTLEWORLD #3
Writer: Ryan Ferrier, Ivan Brandon
Artist: Paul Pope, Logan Faerber, Aaron Conley
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: One versus many! What happens when a Wolverine who’s found peace is confronted with wave after wave of feral Wolverine? Bring a poncho! The Deadpool of 1872 is looking for a new ride! Say, Devil Dinosaur looks like a mighty fine steed… See the tremendously tiny tussle of the Ant-Men of Battleworld! If you only read one Secret Wars anthology, MAKE IT THIS ONE! If you read two…BUY TWO COPIES! Secret Wars Journal won’t love you like we do.
ROB: The entirety of Secret Wars is just a bit larger than my wallet can handle so I’ve had to pick and choose what to grab. This has probably been the best choice for that allowing a multitude of different areas to get the attention they all deserve.
SIEGE #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Filipe Andrade
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: THEY CAN’T EVER WIN. THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE.
• THE SHIELD is the only thing that protects the more civilized areas of Battleworld from the ZOMBIE HORDES, DEATH MACHINES, AND ANNIHILATION WAVES.
• Anyone who annoys Doom gets sent to The Shield. Anyone who gets sent to the Shield deals with ABIGAIL BRAND.
• Miss America, Lady Katherine, Kang the Conqueror, Leah Shieldmen, the Endless Summers Company, Leonardo Da Vinci and a cast of thousands will fight to the death to keep Battleworld safe. But don’t worry, Kieron Gillen is writing this book, so I’m sure everything will end happily for everyone.
• “Imagine NextWave as a tragedy,” says Kieron, if anyone asks him about it.
GEORGE: This is the Battleworld series I have been looking forward to the most, sounding like Kieron Gillen’s take on the Night’s Watch via the Marvel universe. I am also very into the idea of the Endless Summers Company, a group of Sinister-cloned Cyclopses. I’m not sure what Nextwave as a tragedy looks like, but I do want to find out.
STEVEN UNIVERSE VOL. 1
Writer: Jeremy Sorese
Artist: Coleman Engle
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $14.99
SOLICITATION: BELIEVE IN STEVEN!
Steven Universe is just your normal Beach City citizen…who is anything by normal! Join Steven as he learns not only how to save the day with the help of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl…but as he learns what it means it be a great friend and an even better neighbor! There will be crazy adventures any time of day when you live in Beach City, between bike races and late night karaoke, this is just the beginning for Steven! Written by the international indie all-star Jeremy Sorese (A REMINDER, ADVENTURE TIME™) and illustrated by the lovable and insanely talented Coleman Engle (REGULAR SHOW™), STEVEN UNIVERSE™ is an exciting adventure that is only just beginning!
RODRIGO: Oooooh a cool trade full of Steven Universe stuff! Love the cover art too!
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