By Zack Quaintance — Once again here we are on the cusp of my favorite sort of week — the one where quality reigns over quantity, just a bit. Indeed, this week sees the continuation of most of my favorite superhero titles right now — Immortal Hulk, Superman, and X-Men, to be specific — while at the same time delivering some chilling and smart horror — Dollhouse Family — and the start of a new indie high-concept sci-fi book — Decorum. Basically, it’s a good week to read a handful of comics.

Let’s jump right into the Top Comics to Buy for March 11!

Top Comics to Buy for March 11, 2020

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Dollhouse Family #5
Writer: M.R. Carey
Layouts: Peter Gross
Finishes: Vince Locke
Colorist: Cris Peter
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label - Hill House
Price: $3.99
The Dollhouse has taken away another piece of Alice's soul...but this time she's not running away. This time she's going to uncover the secret of the House's terrible birth...and use that knowledge to destroy it once and for all!
Why It’s Cool: Every time a new Hill House book comes out, I wonder if that one is my favorite. Or at least, that’s how it has been since the start of this excellent horror comics imprint late last year. Now that most of these books are approaching their endings (of what I hope will be first seasons, naturally), the two that have emerged as my actual favorites are Low, Low Woods (a conversation for another Top Comics to Buy on another week), and Dollhouse Family. This fifth issue really something else. It’s absolutely excellent and chilling, and that’s all I’ll say about a comic you should all be reading. Go get this book.

Decorum #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Design: Sasha E. Head
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $4.99
SERIES PREMIERE! There are many assassins in the known universe. This is the story of the most well-mannered one. "Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what knife you use."
Why It’s Cool: Jonathan Hickman’s writing for the new line of X-Men books is all well and good (and, indeed, we’ll get into that later while discussing another of this week’s recommendations), but my favorite work of his date has uniformly been his creator-owned comics. I’ve loved pretty much all of his indie books (although I haven’t read the earlier stuff), the list of which includes East of West, the long-delayed Dying and the Dead, and Black Monday Murders. I may also be forgetting something...anyway, Hickman is now collaborating with artist Mike Huddleston on a book about galactic assassins that also sounds like it explores his sense of humor. Hickman’s sense of humor is right up my alley, making light of the inherent absurdity of superheroics and overly-serious sci-fi. Anyway, I enjoyed this debut quite a bit, and I give it a full recommendation. 

Snotgirl #15
Writer: Bryan Lee O’Malley
Artist: Leslie Hung
Colorist: Rachael Cohen
Letterer: Mare Odomo
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Normgirl and Ashley's wedding weekend has finally arrived, and everyone's invited! POP QUIZ: Who's going to mess it up for them? Is it A) Lottie, B) Coolgirl, C) Cutegirl, D) Virgil, E) Sunny, F) Normgirl and Ashley, or G) all of the above?
Why It’s Cool: It’s been almost 7 months since the last issue of Snotgirl, but thankfully, this title is pretty easy to jump in and out of. It’s essentially a prolonged and dramatic sendup of shallow, Los Angeles-centric Instagram culture, putting a series of flimsy and superficial relationships (of varied intensity) at its heart along with a potentially supernatural, or potentially conspiratorial mystery. Phew, it’s a lot, and, simply put, there is nothing quite like Snotgirl anywhere else in comics. This is a stylish and clever comic that will make you exhale sharp bursts of amusement and disgust at the exact same lines. As the creative team notes with a tongue-in-cheek bit at the end, they put out one issue this year and now they’re going on hiatus — but Snotgirl is so good that it’s well worth the prolonged waits between issues.

Superman #21
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Ivan ReisInkers: Joe Prado and Oclair Albert
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
It's Mongul versus Superman in the battle for the survival of the United Planets! The Man of Steel must confront Mongul in front of all the powers of the galaxy, or peace will never be achieved. During one of the most private moments in Superman's existence comes one of his biggest challenges. If Superman fails, the whole of the United Planets falls!
Why It’s Cool: When writer Brian Michael Bendis first took over the Superman line of comics, there was a lot of attention paid to Action Comics, with its rotating stable of excellent artists. Over the long run, however, Superman has now emerged as the lead title, with a consist (and excellent) art team and the main sci-fi odyssey plot that is driving all of these books forward (while Action has instead become a bit of a spy thriller off-shoot tying into the events of Leviathan). Anyway, Bendis continues to do the best work of his recent career here, telling a classic grandiose superhero story that will ultimately end up right up there with his defining runs on Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man. This is long-form periodical storytelling at its finest, seeding ideas within action-heavy plots that give shape to new events months ahead. It’s all very well one, and issues like this one are the fruit those earlier seeds continue bearing. 

X-Men #8
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
The New Mutants are back from space, and they've brought intergalactic trouble with them! The Brood! The Shi'ar! The Starjammers! The Imperial Guard!
Why It’s Cool: I’ve liked the entirety of this flagship X-Men title, even the more ludicrous one-off issues (perhaps especially the more ludicrous one-off issues), but ever since X-Men #4, it’s felt to me like writer Jonathan Hickman and his artistic collaborators have really upped their game here, dealing classic issue after classic issue, culminating with X-Men #7, the haunting crucible issue. This one seems to be a step back in a lighter direction, tying into the seeds Hickman planted with his guest writing on the New Mutants title. I got a kick out of all the issues he did there, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it pays off now in this book. 

New #1s and One-Shots

• Cable #1

• Decorum #1

• Jim Henson Storyteller Ghosts #1

• Judge Dredd 100-Page Giant

• North Bend #1

• Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #1

• Stealth #1

• Sub-Mariner Marvels Snapshot #1

• Sweet Heart #1

Others Receiving Votes

• Ant-Man #3

• Avengers #32

• Batman’s Grave #6

• Flash #751

• From Hell Master Edition #10

• Ghosted in LA #9

• Green Lantern Season 2 #2

• Hawkman #22

• Immortal Hulk #32

• James Bond #4

• Moonshine #17

• ROM Dire Wraiths #2

• SFSX (Safe Sex) #7

• Thor #4

• Young Justice #14

Trades & OGNs of Interest

• All My Friends Are Ghosts TP

• Batman City of Crime Deluxe Edition HC

• Batman Tales of the Demon HC

• Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures TP

• History of the Marvel Universe Treasury Edition TP

• Kabuki Omnibus Vol. 2 TP

• Machine Gun Wizards TP

• No One Left to Fight TP

• Phantom Twin HC

• Sex Death Revolution TP

• Sunken Tower TP

• Wicked + Divine Book 4 Year 4 HC

See our past top comics to buy here, and check out our reviews archive here.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.