By Zack Quaintance — August is an exhausted month, perhaps this August more than any other, with everything that’s been going on in the world. Comics, in fact, had a rough week of its own, with one of the biggest corporate entities in the space — DC Comics and owners WarnerMedia — making known that it would soon be undertaking a restructuring that involves reduced staff. Even if it’s ultimately for the best (which very much remains to be seen), people losing their jobs in comics is no fun. That said, we’ve got a set of vibrant books — especially of the indie variety — arriving this week, and below you can find our picks for the Top Comics to Buy for August 19.

Enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for August 19, 2020

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #4
Writer/Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
Price: $5.99
As the biggest and deadliest Haedra converge on the final fortress of humankind, Wonder Woman prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity from the fury of Themyscira. Don’t miss the conclusion to this critically acclaimed DC Black Label series!
Why It’s Cool: Wonder Woman - Dead Earth has been an explosive and wild story that essentially serves as an endpoint for all the Diana Prince stories over the years, imagining our hero at what is basically the end of the world, making one last stand for the cause she’s dedicated her existence to — realizing the good and just potential of mankind. It’s all rendered with writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson’s gritty, detailed and visionary art, as well as his deep sense of heart as a storyteller. If there’s been one must-read book on DC Comics Black Label imprint, it’s been this one.
Buy It Digitally: Wonder Woman - Dead Earth #4

A Man Among Ye #2
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Craig Cermak
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
The adventures of pirate queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read might be over before they begin, as a murderous mutiny sweeps "Calico Jack" Rackham's crew, forcing Anne and Mary to flee for their lives. Can they survive on the high seas long enough to plot their revenge and gather their own crew?
Why It’s Cool: A Man Among Ye #1 was one of the most polished creator-owned debut issues we’ve seen in some time, and now this week’s second chapter arrives, feeling just as fully-formed as its predecessor. This is a book that knows exactly what it wants to be. There is a confidence to the storytelling in this title that shows through in all of its creative choices, and what it adds up to as an excellent reading experience for the audience.
Buy It Digitally: A Man Among Ye #2

Aquaman #62
Writer: Jordan Clark
Artist: Marco Santucci
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
In order to save baby Andy, Jackson Hyde made a deal with the devil-his father, Black Manta! Now Jackson must find a way into Xebel while everyone celebrates Mera’s surprise nuptials. What he finds there, however, will be darker and deadlier than he ever imagined. Welcome writer Jordan Clark (Bitch Planet Triple Feature) for the start of this two-part adventure!
Why It’s Cool: Since the creative team of writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Robson Rocha came onto this book, it has quietly been one of the best superhero comics at DC. That creative team is taking a two-issue break here, but the fill-in arc is being handled by the very capable team of writer Jordan Clark and artist Marco Santucci. What we’re getting here is one of those great arcs in the middle of a longer run that focuses on auxillary characters, specifically talking here about Aqualad and Black Manta, which are two of the best supporting characters in any DC book.
Buy It Digitally: Aquaman #62

No One’s Rose #4
Writer: Zac Thompson and Emily Horn
Artist: Alberto Alburquerque
Colorist: Raul Angulo
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
The Green Zone is rotting. Siblings Tenn and Seren are on more than an ideological collision course. Inside the Eco-Utopia, Seren puts a dangerous plan into action. Meanwhile, Tenn has ventured into the desolate wilds of The Grey Zone and what she finds... defies everything she’s ever believed.
Why It’s Cool: No One’s Rose is a rare comic with a perfect combination of high-concept ideas (solar punk, which rules) and an excellent, character-driven narrative. Through the first three issues, this book has been exceptionally well-paced, a slow burn of complex ideas and reveals that has held me rapt since the very first issue. This is a singular comic in terms of today’s releases, and every issue reminds me of how lucky we are to have books like this one.
Buy It Digitally: No One’s Rose #4

Shadow Service #1
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Corin Howell
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: AndWorld Designs
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
Worried your partner is cheating? Need a missing person found? Gina Meyers is the Private Investigator for you. Sure, she’s a witch who worries that her powers make her more of a monster than the crooks she’s trying to catch, but it’s not like London’s criminal underworld is literally going to hell… is it? Spy craft meets black magic in the shadowy world of MI666.
Why It’s Cool: We’ll say it (yet again): every new series from Vault Comics feels like an event, and this one is no exception, from the absolutely-loaded team of writer Cavan Scott and artist Corin Howell (with colors by Triona Farrell), Shadow Service #1 blends elements of detective noir, monster-hunting, and witchcraft stories into one well-executed and perfectly-paced first issue, with a cliffhanger that will lock you in for the entire run of this book.
Buy It Digitally: Shadow Service #1

Others Receiving Votes

Archangel 8 #4
Artemis and the Assassin #4
Ash & Thorn #4
Cable #3
Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown #4
Decorum #4
Die! Die! Die! #12
Empyre: X-Men #4
Gideon Falls #24
It Eats What It Feeds #2
Ludocrats #4
Once and Future #10
North Bend #4
Thor #6
Wolverine #4

New #1s and One-Shots

Atlantis Wasn’t Built For Tourists #1
Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1
Lords of Empyre: Swordsman One-Shot
Maestro #1
Voyage to the Stars #1

Trade Paperbacks and Graphic Novels of Note

PICK OF THE WEEK
Seeds and Stems
Writer/Artist: Simon Hanselmann
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Price: $29.99
In early 2016, Simon Hanselmann began producing xeroxed zines and selling them online, with hand-painted covers, custom stamps and hologram security stickers. Seeds and Stems collects all of these self-published stories along with a generous smattering of rarities from various anthologies and magazines. Megg and Mogg and friends explore lucid dreaming, banking scams, cinema, mixed drinks, alien invasion and budget vasectomies in this collection of rare and often experimental adventures, housed in a transparent orange acetate jacket over full-painted covers, resembling that of a prescription bottle!
Why It’s Cool: Simon Hanselmann is one of my favorite cartoonists in all of comics, so much so that I’ve written at length (recently) about how Hanselmann’s almost-daily Instagram posts have been the best comics of the pandemic. This book involves the same characters as those comics, compiling a series of xeroxed zines that Hanselmann was selling online a few years back, as well as other oddities and rarities that have alluded compilations thus far. And it’s all bound together in a really cool book designed to look like a pill bottle, a touch that is very much befitting of the book inside.
Buy It Digitally: Seeds and Stems

Altitude HC
Batman, Wonder Woman The Hiketeia Deluxe Edition HC
Blacksad, Collected Stories Vol. 1
Child Star TP
Gift For a Ghost HC
Haunted Mansion GN
History Comics: Great Chicago Fire GN
History Comics: Roanoke Colony GN
I Will Judge Your Bookshelf GN
Labyrinth Existential Odyssey With Sartre HC
Last of the Independents HC Image Edition
The Mars Challenge HC
Power of SHAZAM Book One
Watch Master of Art GN

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.