By Zack Quaintance — It’s been a long long time since there’s a week of new comics that has as many #1 issues as this one, as you can see from our Top Comics to Buy for November 4, 2020. Of these books, Happy Hour #1 ended up being my favorite, but I am absolutely certain that comics like Crossover #1, Red Atlantis #1, and Pantomime #1 will all find widespread acclaim. Anyway, you can find my notes about Happy Hour — and our other picks — below.

Enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for November 4, 2020

PICK OF THE WEEK
Lonely Receiver #3
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Jen Hickman
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Price: $3.99
Finally putting the shards of her life back together, Catrin finds a new reason to live. A new set of eyes occupy her attention, and obsession grows, love blooms. It's not a rebound if you found the one you were truly made to love.
Why It’s Cool: You can read my full review here, but I absolutely love this series. It’s just a perfect mix of personal honesty, high-concept science-fiction, amazing artwork, and distilled anxiety about the concerns of our time. It’s all rooted in character with a plot structured in a way that doles out earned twists suspensefully, leading the audience along. I don’t know how much clearer I have to be, but I think everyone who enjoys indie comics should be reading this book.
Buy It Digitally: Lonely Receiver #3

Coffin Bound #8
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: DaNi
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Designer: Emma Price
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
OH NO! OH NO! OH OH NO!
Dear God. The worst has happened. How might we move on?
The end of our second story arc is upon us.
Why It’s Cool: Coffin Bound has always been about death — it’s called Coffin Bound, for crying out loud — but this issue here? This one is really about death, dealing with an inevitability that was essentially promised to the readers since issue one, and it’s all done with Coffin Bound’s signature sensibilities: poetic, poignant, and delightfully odd. This is a book that’s always a joy to read, powered as it is by a fearless interest in narrative experimentation. I never know what to expect with Coffin Bound, but I always know I’m going to enjoy it.
Buy It Digitally: Coffin Bound #8

The Dreaming: Waking Hours #4
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Nick Robles
Colorist: Mat Lopes
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Ruin has traveled to Worlds' End to seek help from the denizen of the Dreaming who set him free in the first place...unfortunately, Brute and Glob have followed him there-on the orders of Dream himself! And back in the Dreaming, Lindy has taken on the challenge of discovering who the "true" Shakespeare is, via a staging of the apocryphal play The Birth Of Merlyn. But when you tell a tale inside the Dreaming, it has a strange way of becoming very real indeed...
Why It’s Cool: The Dreaming - Waking Hours has really gone all in on some of the elements of the original Sandman that I’d most like to see explored in a sequel, including Shakespeare and Dream as Daniel. So, narratively that’s really interesting, but what’s really doing it for me with this new series is the absolutely sublime artwork by the team of Nick Robles and Mat Lopes, augmented by the excellent lettering of Simon Bowland. If you enjoyed the original Sandman (and if you’re reading this website, chances are you did), this book is very much for you.

Happy Hour #1
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Michael Montenat
Colorist: Felipe Sobreiro
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: AHOY Comics
Price: $3.99
First issue! In future America, being happy isn't just a right-it's the law. While the Joy Police brutally enforce the cheery code, two young people go on the run, searching for a haven of melancholy where they can safely bask in the blues. A timely tale by superstar writer Peter Milligan (X-Statix, The Prisoner) and artist Michael Montenat (Dominion, Hellraiser Annual). All AHOY titles feature extras: prose, pictures, and, perhaps, poems!
Why It’s Cool: Well, for starters — this book has an absolutely amazing concept. It’s a dystopian world in which everyone is mandated by law to be happy. Lose a relative to cancer? Better smile. Get in a car accident? Time to tell a joke. And so on. Basically, this is a book about a world in which everyone is finding a silver lining at all times and ignoring any misery, even if it requires brainwashing to do so. It’s a great concept, one that doles out quite a bit of narrative string while seeming so simple it’s crazy nobody has ever thought of this.

That Texas Blood #5
Writer: Chris Condon
Artist: Jacob Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
“A BROTHER’S CONSCIENCE,” Part Four
Randy’s troubles grow like cancer as he is haunted by the past and shuns the present.
Why It’s Cool: I love everything about That Texas Blood, from the understated Texas characterizations, to the stark beauty of the artwork, to the slowly-simmering supernatural (maybe?) elements inherent to the murder mystery revenge plot. Every time we get a new installment of this book, it’s a total treat, and this fifth issue is no different. In fact, this is one of the most eventful issues of the book to date, moving a lot of the plot lines we’ve been following in really interesting and exciting ways. I’m here for it all, and I can’t recommend this comic enough.
Buy It Digitally: That Texas Blood #5

Others Receiving Votes

BANG! #5
Batman #102
Fire Power #5
Justice League #56
Marauders #14
Money Shot #10
Vampire The Masquerade #4
X-Men #14
Young Justice #20

New #1s and One-Shots

Crossover #1
Hellstrom: Marvel Tales #1
Mighty Morphin #1
Origins #1
Pantomime #1
Red Atlantis #1
Strange Adventures: Director’s Cut #1
Strangers Things and Dungeons and Dragons #1
Sweet Tooth: The Return #1
Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman Hush One-Shot
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Jennika II #1
Thompson Heller: Detective Interstellar #1
U.S. Agent #1
Web of Venom: Empyre’s End #1
Wolverine: Black, White, and Blood #1

Trades and Graphic Novels

Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story TP
Writer: Lauren Myracle
Artist: Isaac Goodhart
Colorist: Cris Peter
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $12.99
Seventeen-year-old Victor Fries has a cold heart. After his brother died in a tragic house fire for which Victor feels responsible, his parents have isolated themselves, and Victor has dedicated his whole life to one thing: science. Nora Faria is full of life. She is suffering from an incurable illness that will slowly consume her, so she's decided to live her last days to the fullest at her summer home outside of Gotham City until her birthday. On that day, she plans to take her own life.
Why It’s Cool: This book is the second DC Comics YA collaboration between writer Lauren Myracle and artist Isaac Goodhart, following their earlier work on Under The Moon: A Catwoman Tale, which reimagined many popular Gotham characters as high schoolers with poignant and relatable high school problems. This book is doing the same with one of the most poignant Batman mythos relationships, Victor and Nora Fries, giving it the same treatment that feels at once familiar and updated.
Buy It Digitally: Victor and Nora - A Gotham Love Story

Dawn of X Vol. 9 TP
Hidden Society TP
On The Stump TP
Sandman Deluxe Edition Book One HC
Tomorrow TP
Undone by Blood, Or The Shadow of a Wanted Man 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.