By Zack Quaintance — Holy cow, this is a wild week for our list of the Top Comics to Buy for June 2, 2021, chock-filled with summer blockbuster books like Tankers, Nocterra, and Hellions. It also has a pair of relentlessly well-done comics in Dead Dog’s Body #4 and The Nice House on the Lake #1, which is just an absurdly perfect comic book (full review coming this week!).

But that’s not all we have…we have our usual set of recommendations, with next up picks, and all the new #1s coming for the week. Enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for June 2, 2021

PICK OF THE WEEK
The Nice House on the Lake #1
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Alvaro Martinez Bueno
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter-well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off. But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter’s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It’s beautiful, it’s opulent, it’s private-so a week of putting up with Walter’s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not? All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn’t a chance to reconnect be…nice?
With Something Is Killing The Children and The Department of Truth, James Tynion IV has changed the face of horror in modern comics - now get ready for his most ambitious story yet, alongside his Detective Comics partner Álvaro Martínez Bueno!
Why It’s Cool: The most prolific writer in comics, James Tynion IV, has reunited with his Detective Comics collaborator, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, for what is, simply put, the best thing to come out of DC Comics’ Black Label imprint yet. In fact, I will go ahead and spoil it…I’m writing a full review of this book tomorrow, and it will score our second perfect score for an individual issue in all of 2021. It’s that good.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: The Nice House on the Lake #1

Dead Dog’s Bite #4
Writer/Artist: Tyler Boss
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
The end.
Why It’s Cool: I’ve been gushing about this series since the amazing and surprising first issue hit, and it really hasn’t dipped in quality throughout the course of its run, which ends this week with the fourth issue. There really isn’t anything that Dead Dog’s Bite doesn’t do exceeding well, from the clever concept around its narration, to the many many pithy dialogue exchanges between the small town characters, to the fantastic and precise artwork put forth here by Tyler Boss, who does it all. Now this finale issue continues to deliver at the same high level as the rest of the book, doing so with a tight and fast-moving plot, which — as improbably as this might sound — somehow answers the vast majority of the many questions that this book has laid out.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Dead Dog’s Bite #4

Hellions #12
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Publisher: Marvel Comics
WHO INVITED THE HELLIONS TO THE HELLFIRE GALA? Who thought it was a good idea to invite the antisocial HELLIONS to the fanciest bash of the year? Oh, no one? They weren’t invited but they showed up anyway? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Why It’s Cool: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it one thousand times (okay, yes, I’ve definitely said it one thousands times), Hellions is my favorite of the individual series in this new era of X-Men comics. There is, of course, the main book wherein writer Jonathan Hickman and his collaborators lay out pieces of the various parts of this era’s wider vision, but that series has started to feel both slow and disjointed, just a little bit. Not so with Hellions, which remains wonderfully irreverent and madcap, driven by its flawed yet relatable cast of body horrific mutant weirdoes.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Hellions #12
Buy The Last Trade: Hellions, Vol. 1

Nocterra #4
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: Image Comics
“FULL THROTTLE DARK,” Part Four
The road runs out as Val reaches the fabled location of her promised sanctuary. Will she find the haven she so desperately seeks, or will something far more terrifying be waiting for her?
Why It’s Cool: I have really loved Nocterra so far, the first book to come out of writer Scott Snyder’s creator-owned Best Jackett Press imprint. He’s teamed here with Tony Daniel, and the book that results is the equivalent of a high octane (it’s a book about trucking) popcorn summer blockbuster, with a familiar structure and a relentlessly-intense execution. This issue in particular is well-done, with a great structure that ties flashbacks from the past that influence the future. It’s all great fun.
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Nocterra #4

Tankers #2
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Juan Jose Ryp
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: Bad Idea
The CEO of global energy conglomerate Greenleaf Oil has just discovered a terrifying secret: the planet only has a decade or less of petroleum left before it’s gone forever. But he has a plan to make sure his great-great grandchildren can continue to generate maximum shareholder value – and secure his own legacy in the process. Rather than develop a game-changing renewable energy source through the power of corporate innovation, Greenleaf has perfected the next best thing – time travel (duh) – so that a team of six field-rat contractors armed to the teeth in individually customized mech suits can go back to the Cretaceous Period, tweak the trajectory of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, and give mankind another 500 millennia worth of oil reserves. What could go wrong? Only all of human history, of course – because when Greenleaf’s team of Tankers come home, they’ll discover that not only did the dinosaurs never die out, they’ve kept evolving for another 60 million years…and they’re more pissed off than ever.
Why It’s Cool: Since we don’t get preview copies of Bad Idea comics (I’m not sure anyone does), I’ll just refer back here to the concept laid out in the book’s excellent first issue — mech warriors have gone back in time to fight dinosaurs and destroy the comet that causes the Ice Age so that there will be more fossils in the ground for big Texas oil companies to exploit. Yes, this comic is exactly as bonkers as it sounds.
Price: $3.99

Others Receiving Votes

Batman #109
Bliss #8 (read our interview with writer Sean Lewis!)
Commanders in Crisis #9
Family Tree #12
Fire Power #12
Heroes Reborn #5
Hollow Heart #4
Immortal Hulk #47
Justice League #62
Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land #4

New #1s and One-Shots

Apex Legends: Overtime #1
Basilisk #1
Bettie Page and the Curse of the Banshee #1
Crush and Lobo #1
DC Horror Presents: The Conjuring - The Lover #1
Everfrost #1
Heroes Reborn: American Knights #1
Heroes Reborn: Double Action #1
Iron Man Annual #1
Moths #1
Out of Body #1
Rick and Morty: Rick’s New Hat #1
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1
Vampirella 1992 One-Shot
Worst Dudes #1

Trade Collections and Graphic Novels of Note

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.