By Zack Quaintance — Another weekend of quarantine is upon us, with no new comic books in site for the indefinite future. Fortunately for digital comics readers, however, the sales on ComiXology this weekend are enticing and diverse. As we’re doing all through this odd period of crisis and social isolation, we’ve picked the Best ComiXology Sales for the weekend of April 10, with an eye toward curating a diverse list of stories and publishers.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Another weekend is upon us with no new comics in site. Owing to the coronavirus crisis, there were no new comics last Wednesday and there has been little to indicate that there will be new comics this coming Wednesday. For many of us in the United States, physically going down to our local comic shop is not an option, what with 87 percent of the country under shelter in place orders as massive death tolls sweep through major cities.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Well folks, it’s time to face it, given the nature of this life-disrupting crisis, our favorite goofy hobby is going to be disrupted for the foreseeable future. Many comic shops (including my own here locally in Washington, D.C.) have closed doors. In addition, Diamond Comics Distribution has announced it is accepting no new orders to its warehouse for the foreseeable future...meaning there will be no new books flowing out into the world, at least not through the standard channels.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — It’s another week of uncertainty, fueled by the rapid outbreak of the coronavirus, the full extent of which is just becoming clear in the United States as much-needed testing slowly trickles out to the populous. That last sentence sounds like the tagline for one of the comics we typically feature here, but it’s not. It’s reality, and it’s hard to deal with, but I continue to find that escaping into comics is as good a means of coping with this as any. So, onward.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I’ve gotten myself into that familiar comics situation, where all my favorite series seem to come out on the same Wednesday. This time, it’s the third Wednesday of the month. Granted, the books I’m talking about here are largely indie fare, so the schedules are almost definitely soon to be interrupted by skip months, arcs ending, or miniseries wrapping up — but still. In both March and February, it’s felt like the months have been light and then — BAM! Everything I’m into comes out on the same week. Folks? This is that week. It’s so chock-full of excellent comics that I had to add a sixth spot to our features section.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Once again here we are on the cusp of my favorite sort of week — the one where quality reigns over quantity, just a bit. Indeed, this week sees the continuation of most of my favorite superhero titles right now — Immortal Hulk, Superman, and X-Men, to be specific — while at the same time delivering some chilling and smart horror — Dollhouse Family — and the start of a new indie high-concept sci-fi book — Decorum. Basically, it’s a good week to read a handful of comics.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Here we are, worse for the ware and kind of late with this week’s Top Comics to Buy, but we’re here nonetheless. It’s a relatively sparse week with a few key titles to really sustain us, kind of like a fine dining experience where your food looks little but tastes amazing and when you leave, you leave satisfied. That’s the best I can do, lay off me, I’m tired.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I thought the year for comics started slowly, but now we’re back into a high volume of quality releases in terms of both the ongoing stuff and the new series launch. Our committee (of one) favors ongoing on the weekly Top Comics to Buy list, assuming that many readers are going to give new #1s a shot regardless. This week, however, we should note that there are a couple of strong new series dropping with Amethyst #1 and Finger Guns #1, both of which are well worth your money.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Forgive me if I’m a bit hazy this morning (because I’m sure you can tell), but I was up late last night watching the NBA All-Star Game. What I found most interesting about it was that after many years of the game being sort of a throwaway contest, the league tweaked the rules this year, putting prize money for charity at stake and adding a wrinkle where the fourth quarter is played to a set total, rather than to a time limit.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Our Top Comics to Buy committee (of one) doesn’t typically go in for debut issues on this list. It’s hard to get a good sense of whether a series is really worth reading from just a debut alone. So, we like to sit back and give it an issue or two before we give it the august honor (super important) of appearing on this list. All of that is to say it really speaks to how much we liked Tartarus and Undone By Blood, both of which have debut issues appearing on this week’s list.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The first month of the year has been a bit of a comedown for the direct market, which rushed out all the product it could for Christmas/the end of the year, with December 18 ranking as the busiest day for new release comics I can remember in many many years. It was, to be quite frank, a nice laid-back way to start the year. That said! There was quite a bit of good stuff, with strong continuations for the new line of X-Men comics as well as plenty of creator-owned excellence
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Love is in the comics air this week with the new releases, which include a DC Comics anthology just brimming with talented creators old and new, as well as love/sex adjacent comics like Going to the Chapel and Money Shot. All in all, it’s a strong week with a bit more of a thematic focus than most Wednesdays, one that will start setting the mood for next week’s holiday.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — After a few quieter weeks to start the year, the unstoppable flow of excellent new comics has returned. This is a heavy week on basically all fronts, from new superhero stuff to new creator-owned monthlies to new collected volumes/original graphic novels. Basically, whatever you’re into in the world of comics, there is probably something you’ll like coming at you this week.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — January continues to feel like a bit of a subdued month for new comics, which his maybe hinting at an understated year for the industry....which is just fine. I know I’ve been enjoying the chance to breathe a little bit, with a weekly stack that comes out closer to 25 books rather than 40. It’s also giving me the chance to really savor some of the indie stuff more, enjoying what has become a pattern of excellent endings again this week.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — It really feels to me like the entire comics industry (if not the world) is still shaking off this year’s holiday season...or maybe it’s just me. Whatever the case, the weeks of new releases have been a bit sparse to open this year after the absolute monster that was Wednesday, Dec. 18. As you’ll see below, however, things are starting to pick up a bit again, with an increase in great comics over the year’s first two weeks.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This first month of the year has felt subdued compared to the packed final month of last year, but that’s been a good thing, giving some truly excellent creator-owned titles a chance to remind us just how nice this current age of comics is. That’s certainly what we get this month, with strong entries from Vault and Image filling out the entirety of our top five with the exception of one spot.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This is the third year that our committee (of one) has done these Best Of rankings, breaking down favorite books into three separate pieces. The final piece (coming this Friday!) will look at the Top 5 Best Comics of 2019, while yesterday’s piece looked at #16 - #25. Today’s, however, is all about our Top Comics of 2019, #6 - #15.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — We’re deep in the middle of our Best of 2019 coverage, but we’re taking a quick break today to do one of our usual features, this specifically being the Top Comics to Buy for January 1. It’s a holiday, so there aren’t as many big books as one might expect to find on a typical Wednesday.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This is a light and kind of odd week, for obvious reasons, mainly that Tuesday (which is the day when comic shops stock the new product for Wednesdays) is Christmas Eve and Wednesday (which is when shops sell those comics, obviously) is Christmas. But there’s still stuff coming out! Enough of it anyway for our committee (of one!) to find five great books that we’re looking forward to.
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