By Zack Quaintance — This was an interesting week for me, with a number of the entries on the Top Comics to Buy for April 14, 2021 list catching me by surprise. I’m primarily talking here about the DC Comics series, The Joker, which outwardly looked like not at all my thing but through two issues has been roundly excellent. Of course, there are other surprises here as well, but no point in wasting any more time jawing about them up here.

Check out our full list for this week below!

Top Comics to Buy for April 14, 2021

PICK OF THE WEEK
Proctor Valley Road #2
Writers: Alex Child and Grant Morrison
Artist: Naomi Franquiz
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
August, Rylee, Cora & Jennie are the prime suspects in the disappearance of the missing boys, but the authorities have no idea what monsters roam the Proctor Valley Road.
As the town -- and even their families -- closes in on the girls, August makes a choice to visit that haunted road one last time.
And even if she survives, an even greater threat may have its eyes on these four friends...
Why It’s Cool: Grant Morrison being the co-writer on this book has made it a must-read from before the first issue even dropped, but I’m happy to report that after reading the second installment of this series, the comic has lived up to its lofty co-creators legacy and namesake. It’s an anachronistic horror story rooted in real legends, and, indeed, that sort of concept has been going around comics a lot lately, but this one is just so relentlessly surprising and well-done. It’s an absolute must-read series.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Proctor Valley Road #2
Read our full review of Proctor Valley Road #1!

Black Hammer Visions #3
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Johnnie Christmas
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Sex Criminal's Chip Zdarsky and Alien 3's Johnnie Christmas team up for the first time with this action-packed Hammerverse special. Before he was trapped with Spiral City's greatest heroes on a mysterious limbo farm, aging hero Abraham Slam found himself already an outcast in his own world. And with the arrival of a belligerent reboot hero named Uncle Slam he finds himself having to put on the old tights again to show that there can be only one Slam in town.
Why It’s Cool: Through three issues, Black Hammer Visions has quickly established itself as one of my favorite series in the Jeff Lemire-helmed shared universe of homages. This is an anthology series, with each chapter featuring new creators, a new character, and, perhaps most interestingly, a new tone. In Black Hammer Visions #3, Chip Zdarsky and Johnnie Christmas team-up to deliver an old-vigilante-gets-replaced story with a tangible and emotional human core.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Black Hammer Visions

Home #1
Writer: Julio Anta
Artist: Anna Wieszczyk
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Image Comics
When a young boy is torn away from his mother while seeking asylum at the U.S. border, something begins to change in him, and it isn’t just the trauma, anxiety, and guilt you’d expect. He doesn’t know it yet, but it’s the onset of superhuman abilities that will change his life forever.
JULIO ANTA and ANNA WIESZCZYK debut with a deeply grounded and heartfelt five-issue series that explores the real-world implications of a migrant with extraordinary powers.
Why It’s Cool: You can read my full Home #1 review, but I think this is a really important comic, one that uses real life atrocities with no exaggeration as a jumping off point to the more fantastical direct market monthly fare. All indications are this is a book that will reel in readers with a superpowers story, before teaching them something about the world and the country they may not know much about. Just great work all around.
Price: $3.99
Read It Digitally: Home #1 via comiXology
Read our full review of Home #1!
Read our interview with writer Julio Anta!

The Joker #2
Writer: James Tynion IV, with Sam Johns
Artist: Guillem March, with Mirka Andolfo
Colorist: Arif Piranto, with Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Tom Napolitano, with Ariana Maher
Publisher: DC Comics
As the dust settles on Arkham Asylum and tragic recent events, The Joker is the most wanted man in the world-and powerful forces are lining up around the globe to hunt him...but where exactly is the Clown Price of Crime? Jim Gordon, facing his twilight years haunted by the madman, knows where to start the hunt, and he’s been given the go-ahead to pursue him...but will he be willing to pay the price? And what shocking revelation will Gordon stun Batman with before he departs?
And in the backup story, within the walls of Blackgate Penitentiary, Punchline has become the target of the Queen of Spades from the Royal Flush Gang. It’ll take everything Punchline has just to survive, while on the outside, Bluebird digs deeper into Punchline’s horrific past!
Why It’s Cool: Look, I don’t like how much I like this comic. I was eye-rolling with everyone else when DC Comics — which has noticeably scaled back its line to unprecedentedly-bare levels — announced that one of its rare new series launches this year would be a book about The Joker. But here’s the thing, you all, this comic is not about The Joker. It’s about Jim (and Barbara) Gordon, and it’s using the character, Gotham City, and the entire non-Batman ecosystem around the character to perfection. It’s complex and interesting and surprising, and I give it my full recommendation.
Price: $5.99
Buy It Here: The Joker #2

Usagi Yojimbo #18
Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai
Colorist: Hi-Fi Design
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Tengu War! Part 3 (of 3): The feral Guhin Tengu have invaded the Western Peak, and Usagi has joined Sojobo and his Tengu clan in resisting the attackers. The battle is ferocious, and they seem evenly matched, but there is one among the allies who bears a grudge against Usagi.
Why It’s Cool: Usagi Yojimbo is, perhaps, the most reliably-excellent monthly book in all of comics. I could include it on this list every time a new issue comes out, but that gets repetitive, so I don’t always have it on here. This month’s issue, however, is the finale of one of the best Usagi storylines in some time (it’s about immortal werewolves fighting other mythological powers and also our titular samurai hero), and It’s so so good. I don’t think there’s any way for me to say it clearer — you should all be reading (and loving) Usagi Yojimbo.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Usagi Yojimbo #18

Others Receiving Votes

American Vampire 1976 #7
Batman: Urban Legends #2
Black Cat #5
Birthright #48
Children of the Atom #2
Daredevil #29
Grendel - Devil’s Odyssey #5
Home Sick Pilots #5
Iron Man #8
Picture of Everything Else #3
Scout’s Honor #4
Superman #30
Undone by Blood: Or the Other Side of Eden #2
Wonder Woman #771
Young Hellboy - The Hidden Land #3

Locke and Key Sandman Universe Hell and Gone.jpeg

New #1s and One-Shots

Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #1
Batman: The Detective #1
Canto and the City of Giants #1
Challenge of the Super Sons #1
Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk #1
Jenny Zero #1
Jules Vernes Lighthouse #1
Locke and Key / Sandman Universe - Hell and Gone #1
Locust #1
Murder Hobo Chaotic Neutral #1
Phantom of the Scan #1
Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1

Graphic Novels and Trade Collections

Atlantis Wasn’t Built For Tourists TP
Garth Ennis’ Tankies GN
Lonely Receiver TP
MPLS Sound TP
The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales TP
Save It For Later HC (read our review, and our Nate Powell interview!)
Who’s Who Omnibus Vol. 1 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.