By Zack Quaintance — This week really made me take stock of this year, featuring as it does two of the major highlights in comics for 2019: Criminal and Immortal Hulk. It’s really, in many ways, been a very solid year for comics, albeit not an overly flashy one. We’ve gotten some really stellar self-contained superhero stories, thinking here specifically of Immortal Hulk as well as the Superman epic that unfurled at DC and ultimately delivered the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The real highlight, however, (at least for me) has been the absolutely fantastic creator-owned books that are seemingly everywhere in the market right now. It’s just a very robust time for indie comics, with creators at a number of publishers putting out individual ideas with talented artists. This week’s Top Comics to Buy for October 23 is maybe a prime example of how good these books can be. Although Immortal Hulk grabbed our top spot, the next four are rounded out by original creator-owned concepts from three different publishers. This is a good thing.

Let’s check out the books!

Top Comics to Buy for October 23, 2019

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Immortal Hulk #25
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Joe Bennett, German Garcia
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran, Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $5.99
GROUNDBREAKING DOUBLE-SIZED ISSUE!
•  You've never read a Hulk comic like this before. You've never read a Marvel comic like this before.
•  The heat death of our universe has come and gone. The Hulk is finally dead. Now, billions of years later, the Ninth Cosmos cowers...
•   ...before the BREAKER OF WORLDS.
Why It’s Cool: Simply put, there has been no superhero comic better in the past two years than Immortal Hulk, and now we’re getting a double-sized issue that somehow sees our protagonist (not quite a hero) survive the heat death of the universe. Who knows what and how that will all go down, but based on the extremely Jack Kirby-esque cover, we heavily suspect this will be some kind of the Immortal-Hulk-becomes-Galactus story. Which is exciting, given how well the creative team has executed similar concepts throughout this run.

Ascender #6
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Dustin Nguyen
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
NEW STORY ARC
"THE DEAD SEA," Part One (of Five)
The hit fantasy series from powerhouse creative team JEFF LEMIRE and DUSTIN NGUYEN continues!
After a bruising escape attempt, Andy finds himself in the clutches of the Militia, which means the murderous Mother can't be far behind. Meanwhile, Mila books passage on a ship piloted by none other than the irascible Captain Telsa!
Why It’s Cool: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — shifting from hard sci-fi to high fantasy has given this book a new reinvigorated sense of life, one that all of the creators involved have used as a springboard to excellent character-driven storytelling. This book is also showing itself to be quite adept at the art of the last page cliffhanger/surprise, and we can’t really say anything more than that just yet... 

Criminal #9
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Colorist: Jacob Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Teenage Leo Patterson takes center stage as his best friend, Ricky Lawless, starts to drag him down a destructive path. CRUEL SUMMER, the story of the last days of series favorite Teeg Lawless, continues as BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS deliver the best monthly comic on the market.
And as always, CRIMINAL contains back page art and articles only found in the single issues.
Why It’s Cool: Through nine issues, this volume of Criminal has been the best that this anthology series has ever been, which is really saying a lot given the previous heights of storytelling that the celebrated Brubaker-Phillips team have reached with this book. This current story finds us revisiting some of the characters from throughout Criminal’s run, and it’s all just as compelling and well done as this book (one of the best in comics right now) has been this year.

Resonant #4
Writer: David Andry
Artist: Alejandro Aragon
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: Vault Comics 
Price: $3.99
Paxton learns the only rule of Honcho's island: Fight for him or die! After leaving home, Ty finds refuge with a group of religiously devoted survivors. This Congregation welcomes Ty with open arms, but what will be required of him to stay? Left at the family cabin, Bec finds evidence of an unwanted visitor.
Why It’s Cool: We’ve also said this before, but Resonant has quickly become one of our favorite apocalyptic comics today, largely owing to how it extrapolates the crash of the world from waves of shared frenzy that cause people to give in to their worst and most destructive impulses, rather than chalking up the end of the world to some external force. It’s a simple concept that the creative team has expertly developed into one of the freshest takes on societal doom in I don’t know how long. Also, artist Alejandro Aragon (with colors by Jason Wordie) really shines in this issue.

Tommy Gun Wizards #3
Writer: Christian Ward
Artist: Sami Kivela
Colorist: Christian Ward with Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
As Eliot Ness works to bring down Al Capone's illegal magic ring, dark wizards begin invading the dreams of the Untouchables and Ness's own family. Meanwhile, Ness discovers that something worse than Capone is behind the whole operation.
A new genre-bending comic series from Christian Ward, artist of the acclaimed sci-fi epic ODY-C. Drawn by Sami Kivelä (Abbott), with backup stories written and drawn by Christian Ward.
Why It’s Cool: Our committee (of one) has just been absolutely floored by the artwork being put out in this comic, and this issue is no exception. Kivela’s linework is stunning and so well complimented by the colors done by Ward (who is also writing this book) with an assist from Dee Cunniffe. We’ll have a full review later this week, but for now, let us just be clear that this is one of the best-looking comics today. Grab this issue, sit back, and enjoy the visual feast.

New #1s and One-Shots

• Amazing Mary Jane #1

• Amazing Spider-Man Full Circle #1

• Black Adam: Year of the Villain #1

• Count Crowley, Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter #1

• Future Fight Firsts Luna Snow #1

• Kaijumax Season Five #1

• Marauders #1

• Money Shot #1

• My Dog Ivy #1

• Swamp Thing Giant #1

Others Receiving Votes

• Action Comics #1016

• Amazing Spider-Man #32

• Aquaman Annual #2

• Avengers #25

• Bad Reception #3

• Batman Superman #3

• Dial H For Hero #8

• Going to the Chapel #2

• King Thor #2

• Martian Manhunter #9

• Middlewest #12

• Omni #3

• Second Coming #4

• Sera and the Royal Stars #4

• You Are Obsolete #2

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.