By Zack Quaintance — As I write this, there still isn’t a timeline for when print comics will find their way back into...um….well, I guess, print. Meaning, that the coronavirus crisis in this country has shut down comic book printing, the distributor that ships comics nationwide, and the network of small businesses that sell the books in the community. In other words, enjoy the Best Comics for March 2020, because it’s looking like there won’t be one for April.

Anyway, with that bleak business out of the way, let’s get to this month’s best of list...

Quick Hits

Dollhouse Family #5 from DC’s Hill House imprint is as creepy and layered as modern comics gets.

It was a very long wait for Snot Girl #15, and now the book is going on hiatus, but this remains one of the best satires of influencer culture in any medium.

Ant-Man #3 made me laugh harder than any comic has since, well, Ant-Man #2 last month.

Post-Dinesh Valiant often feels like a shell of itself, but I enjoyed Rai #5 all the same, as I have this entire series.

Sex Criminals #28 continued to push one of the most personal and honest stories in all of comics towards its climax (look, I hate what I just did too).

Nothing was bigger, more bombastic, and stupid in a wonderful way than DCeased Unkillables #2.

Elsewhere in the Hill House imprint, Low Low Woods #4 is expertly crafted, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horror story quite like this one.

Speaking of expertly crafted, Kill Lock #4 was another issue of a great series about robots with more humanity than most human creations. I remain thoroughly impressed with the character work in this comic.

Crowded #12 marked the end of the second story arc for what is probably the most underrated book in all of comics.

Meanwhile, Monstress #27 continued the sheer excellence of the best fantasy comic on the market today. Everything about this series is so immersive and complex.

Best Comics for March 2020

5. Lazarus Risen #4
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark
Colorist: Santi Arcas
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
"GIFTS OF GOD": Casey Solomon and Michael Barrett. Bound together by a shared history and a deep love... and something else that may, one day, tear them apart. The Lazarus, Forever Carlyle.
Why We Liked It: Lazarus Risen is a new over-sized, expanded format for Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s original Lazarus comic, which is one of the best ongoing titles in all of comics. One oft-discussed facet of Lazarus is that the book was one of the first works of American fiction to predict such a drastic widening of wealth inequality, extrapolating it into a world where the masses swear allegiance to various oligarchical families the world over, supporting them as those families war for control. This issue is a step-back issue that moves backward in time to fill in details surrounding the family, by focusing on a pair of side characters that have been with us for some time now. It’s an impressive bit of narrative question answering, one that clearly will have vast implications moving forward, and it’s all executed with this book’s feel of near-reality. This is comic making at its best, and in these times, we should all be reading and thinking heavily of the questions raised by Lazarus.

4. Eve Stranger #5
Writer: David Barnett
Artist: Philip Bond
Colorist: Eva de la Cruz
Letterer: Jane Heir
Publisher: IDW Publishing - Black Crown
After her crisis of faith, Eve wants out of the job. But how can she do that, when she has nanobombs in her blood and her life -literally and physically!-depends on completing every mission to earn the deactivating serum? Her latest mission takes her back to Iceland, her home turf, and this time it's extra personal. Eve might be down, but she's not out... can she see this through with a little help from some very strange friends? Find out in the explosive conclusion to EVE STRANGER: RETROGRADE.
Why We Liked It: All good things must come to an end, and sadly this month that means the conclusion of Shelly Bond’s Black Crown imprint at IDW Publishing. We’ve known this was coming for a while, but now it’s official with the release of this book. Fortunately, Eve Stranger #5 is an excellent book end for what has been one of the most creatively vibrant micro imprints in all of comics after launching roughly three years ago. Black Crown in this iteration will be missed, but books like Eve Stranger have us curious all over again to see what Bond and the many talented creators she brought together here will do moving forward.

3. BANG! #2
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Wilfredo Torres
Colorist: Nayoung Kim
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
A constant stream of terrorist attacks follows John Shaw, and the only thing that keeps him one step ahead is a collection of power-giving inhalers and a hatred of shoes. When he's once again caught in the middle of a terrorist plot, Shaw finds that these random attacks may not be so random-and the fabric of reality may be at stake.
Why We Liked It: BANG! #1 was great, a send-up of James Bond stories that swerved in meta directions when readers least expected. But you know what? BANG! #2 was even better. In this issue, the full scope of the series becomes clearer, with Kindt and Torres tipping their hand a bit and revealing that it’s not just one iconic franchise they plan to send up. It’s sooooo much more than that, and it’s going to be bonkers as they go about exploring the many possibilities inherent to metafictionalizing a universe full of familiar action tropes and heroes. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that this is a must-read issue, and a story that (as cliched as this sounds) can only be done in comics, so dependent is it on needing to toggle between visuals, familiar imagery, ideas of the here and now, as well as the occasional burst of in-scene prose.

2. Black Stars Above #5
Writer: Lonnie Nadler
Artist: Jenna Cha
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Vault Comics
Eulalie awakens in a place both familiar and strange, alone once more. The nameless northern town is not what it seems. Though she hoped this would be her way out of the woods, Eulalie finds herself deeper in nature than she ever thought possible, surrounded by those who seek to shatter its rule. When she's promised everything for which she's ever yearned, Eulalie must accept providence or refuse the guidance of the Black Stars.
Why We Liked It: After many weeks of heaping praise upon Vault Comics’ existential cosmic historical fiction series (yes, you read all of that right), I’m happy to report that the creators of this singular title nailed the landing. Like the four issues that preceded this one, I found myself chilled as I read through a haunting comic, drawn into the pages and made to feel a sense of eerie and terrifying stillness that was all around as the book did its thing. One thing I especially liked throughout this issue and the rest of Black Stars Above was the poetic flourishes that burst off the pages, perfectly augmented by text with strikes through them. This was one of several risky choices made in this series, but it just works, accentuating the already strong storytelling being done everywhere else in the comic. Hopefully this book will be out in trade sooner rather than later, so many more readers can see what those who read it singles have been going on about.

1. Immortal Hulk #33
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Joe Bennett & Nick Pitarra
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Celebrating 750 ISSUES of the INCREDIBLE HULK! Something is wrong. Something has compromised the simulacrum. EXTRA-SIZE HULK-SMASHING ACTION! Banner is refusing to yield. Something is wrong. PLUS! ENTER - THE THOUGHTFUL MAN! Something is wrong. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.
Why We Liked It: This issue of Immortal Hulk was so good, that not only did it take me out of my head about this pandemic and the ensuing economic brutality, but it also made me think for a brief second about how crestfallen I was that the next issue of this book (and all books, really) was delayed indefinitely. But just for a second (then the real concerns returned and drowned it out). It’s nice to have the luxury of worrying (even briefly) about something so frivolous. And it was only possible because of how excellent this issue — and, indeed, this entire run — was from start to finish. The script just so perfectly used dual artistic contributions from Joe Bennett and Nick Pitarra to give two strains of reality in the story separate aesthetics. On top of that, the grotesque body horror that has powered this run from its start was present and maybe even ramped up a bit, and yet another excellent element of the Hulk mythos made its entrance here, although I won’t spoil that last bit. Really, I don’t know how many ways are left for me to say this — if you enjoy superhero comics (and, perhaps, even if you don’t), you just have to read Immortal Hulk.

Read comic book reviews from March 2020 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.