Top Comics to Buy for July 22, 2020
By Zack Quaintance — New releases have all but resumed full strength since the COVID-19-induced distribution stoppage earlier this year, as was made evident earlier this month by a letter from Marvel Comic’s editor-in-chief welcoming readers back to the fold. This resumption is bore out in the rising number of monthly comics coming to shelves. That said, the majority of titles on our Top Comics to Buy for July 22 are comics that we’ve been consistently praising in the recent past...and you can find them all below.
Enjoy!
Top Comics to Buy for July 22, 2020
PICK OF THE WEEK
Canopus #4
Writer/Artist: Dave Chisholm
Publisher: Scout Comics
Price: $3.99
All of the mysteries are revealed! With the apparent truth in tow and launch imminent, Helen's plan to escape the orbit of Canopus proves to be less-than-ideal. In the aftermath, Arther helps her find the heart of the matter as Helen comes face-to-face with her past. Spine-chilling revelations meet mind-blowing action in this poignant, cathartic, satisfying conclusion.
Why It’s Cool: Canopus is one of the most fascinating and assured singular visions to hit monthly comics in a very long time, perhaps in years. It’s the singular vision of writer/artist Dave Chisholm, who between this book and the forthcoming Chasin’ The Bird graphic novel is having one hell of a year. What I am most struck by in Canopus is the complex, visionary long-game that Chisholm played from the start of this comic...I can’t say much else without spoiling it, but know that if you were struck by the first issues of this book, it will more than pay off in this finale, making it our PICK OF THE WEEK.
Billionaire Island #3
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Steve Pugh
Colorist: Chris Chuckry
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: Ahoy Comics
Price: $3.99
The stakes rise in this timely satire by Mark Russell (Second Coming) and Steve Pugh! A daring escape from the super-rich Billionaire Island leads quickly to a cowardly return. Meanwhile, Trent's fate rests in the hands of Business Dog!
Why It’s Cool: Now on their second comic collaboration together, writer Mark Russell and artist Steve Pugh with Billionaire Island have recaptured the satiric magic of their early work on DC Comics’ The Flintstones. While the first work between this team took a taller view of human civilization in general, this book takes hyper-specific aim at the state of the world in 2020. It’s a wonderful book, and every issue has been fantastic. In this penultimate issue, we get...A BIG TWIST, helping the book to remain an absolute must read title during this acrimonious summer of 2020.
Buy It Digitally: Billionaire Island #3
Bliss #1
Writer: Sean Lewis
Artist: Caitlin Yarsky
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
The team behind hit comic COYOTES returns for an all-new, two-arc maxi-series. There's a drug called Bliss wiping away memories in Feral City. A good-hearted young man, overwhelmed by a deathly sick child and distraught wife, makes a deal to become the personal hitman to three gods, killing those in their way and sending memories down the river of Oblivion in exchange for his family's well-being. Breaking Bad meets Neil Gaiman's Sandman in an urban fantasy unlike any you've ever seen.
Why It’s Cool: I really loved this duo’s first collaboration, Coyotes, and I’m thrilled that they have returned with Bliss #1, a new series that feels even more like a pure creative vision from a pair of creators who have found a really productive working relationship. In this book, the story feels even more personal than their early work, featuring matters of family, matters of life and death, and a visionary and haunting alternate world that effectively draws in readers the way every good first issue should do.
Buy It Digitally: Bliss #1
Canto and the Clockwork Fairies One-Shot
Writer: David M. Booher
Artist: Drew Zucker
Colorist: Vittorio Astone
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
David M. Booher, Drew Zucker, Vittorio Astone, and Deron Bennett return to Canto's world, following the brave clockwork hero as he leads his people out from their home in Arcana to find somewhere-and something-new! When Canto encounters a group of captured fairies, it's up to him to liberate them, but can he do it without being captured himself? Find out in this one-shot bridging the hit mini-series and the second arc, coming in Summer 2020.
Why It’s Cool: There has been no better pure fantasy story told in comics of late than Canto, the series published by IDW from writer David M. Booher and artist Drew Zucker. The first season of that book, as it were, wrapped up well in a satisfying way that also left our characters available for further adventures. Now, in this contained story we get them returning for new challenges, with a story that does a great job furthering the thematic interests of the first story arc. If you were a fan of that book (and you absolutely should be!), this one-shot is definitely for you.
Buy It Digitally: Canto and the Clockwork Fairies
Usagi Yojimbo #10
Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai
Colorist: Tom Luth
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
"Mon." Long ago, Lord Hikiji defeated Usagi's Lord Mifune to take control of the Northern Province. Usagi, now traveling through his home province, still wears the mon (a family crest) of his former lord. But, there are those who still remember the Great Wars with bitterness and threaten to kill any samurai loyal to Mifune. What happens when they come across Usagi?
Why It’s Cool: Another month, another absolutely phenomenal issue of Stan Sakai’s long-time sustained masterwork, Usagi Yojimbo. This book continues to be one of the absolute brightsports in comics, regardless of who is publishing it, whether distribution is delayed, or the entire world is on fire. Readers can count on one thing — Usagi Yojimbo will always continue to be one of the best reads in the graphic sequential storytelling format.
Buy It Digitally: Usagi Yojimbo #10
Others Receiving Votes
Action Comics #1023
Bad Reception #5
Birthright #45
Daredevil #21
Decorum #3
Die #12
Hellions #2
Justice League Dark #24
Middlewest #18
Monstress #29
Sweet Heart #2 (read our full series review!)
Tartarus #4
Wolverine #3
Wynd #2
X-Men/Fantastic Four #4
New #1s and One-Shots
Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude #1
Bliss #1
Canto and the Clockwork Fairies One-Shot
Chu #1
Empyre: Avengers #1
Empyre: X-Men #1
FCBD 2020: Spider-Man/Venom #1
G.I. Joe Real American Hero: Complete Silence One-Shot
Lords of Empyre: Hulking One-Shot
Vlad Dracul #1
Yasmeen #1 (read our review!)
Trade Paperbacks and Graphic Novels of Note
PICK OF THE WEEK
Department of Mind-Blowing Theories
Writer/Artist: Tom Gauld
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
No one is safe when humorist and cartoonist Tom Gauld directs his hilarious gaze to your profession. Just as he did with writers, poets, and literary classics for the Guardian books page, Gauld now does with hapless scientists, nanobots, and puzzling theorems for his weekly New Scientist strip, the international magazine that covers all aspects of science and technology. Gauld’s Department of Mind-Blowing Theories presents one hundred and fifty comic strips topical and funny enough to engage any layperson with a rudimentary recall of their old science classes as well as those who consider themselves boffins of the contemporary physical and natural world.Why It’s Cool: I’m just going to go ahead and quote from the review of this book I wrote earlier this year, when it became available initially via the book market: “Perhaps the strongest endorsement I can give this book is that while reading I felt moved to show anyone else in the house at least a dozen of these bad boys so they could laugh along, too.” To sum it up, this is a really funny book, sharp with smart humor about science, science research, and being involved in an esoteric line of work.
Available Now: Via Drawn&Quarterly!
Read Our Review: Department of Mind-Blowing Theories Review
Adventure Time - Princess Bubblegum TP
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic Book Archive TP
Department of Mind Blowing Theories (read our review!)
East of West Vol. 10 TP
Folklords TP
Green Lantern, Green Arrow: Space Traveling Heroes HC
Out of the Blue HC
SFSX: Safe Sex Vol. 1 Protection TP
Star Trek: Year Five, Vol. 2: Wine-Dark Deep TP
Umma’s Table TP
X-Force by Benjamin Percy Vol. 1 TP
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.