By Zack Quaintance — The holiday is really setting in now, which means our committee (of one) is extra grateful for weeks like this in which there are less notable books...but the books we are getting through the direct market are largely stellar. This is a week in which a few key things dawned on me. I mean, I’m always talking about how good comics are right now, but maybe that’s always a little bit true when you’re reading a lot and keeping really engaged with the medium (the same can be said of movies, TV, music, etc.).

But this week I realized there are a few things out there in direct market comics land that I’ve taken a bit for granted. Here’s a quick list: the absolute rare joy of a shared superhero story that these X-Men comics have been telling since their relaunch, the sublime bliss that is the storytelling consistency of Usagi Yojimbo, and how special it is to have a literary talent on N.K. Jemisin willing to do comics. All I’ll elaborate on all of this more below.

So, without further adieu, let’s get to the Top Comics to Buy for November 13, 2019!

Top Comics to Buy for November 13, 2019

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Far Sector #1
Writer: N.K. Jemisin
Artist: Jamal Campbell
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: DC Comics - Young Animal
Price: $3.99
N.K. Jemisin, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Broken Earth and Inheritance science fiction trilogies, makes her comic book debut with bestselling Naomi artist Jamal Campbell as they thrust you into a stunning sci-fi murder mystery on the other side of the universe!
For the past six months, newly chosen Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein has been protecting the City Enduring, a massive metropolis of 20 billion people. The city has maintained peace for over 500 years by stripping its citizens of their ability to feel. As a result, violent crime is virtually unheard of, and murder is nonexistent.
But that's all about to change in this new maxiseries that gives a DC Young Animal spin to the legacy of the Green Lanterns!
Why It’s Cool: Far Sector is the latest 12-issue, prestige maxi-series from DC Comics. It’s also one that is stacked with creative talent, and not just any creative talent, but creative talent that will without question help DC pursue its ongoing goals of selling graphic sequential stories to audiences outside of the direct market. See, the writer of this series is N.K. Jemisin, a sci-fi literary talent so accomplished, that she was the first to ever win the Hugo Award for best novel three consecutive years in a row. That’s the equivalent of a director winning best picture three years in a row—it just doesn’t happen. Jemisin is joined on this book by artist Jamal Campbell, who is fresh off a star turn of his own in the Brian Bendis/David Walker-penned Naomi. Finally, the third element of this book that will really make it click is that these creators seem to have been given a very long creative leash by editorial, and it’s freedom they use to create something that takes a few minor familiar elements (namely just a Green Lantern ring), and turn it into a high-concept new world of compelling adventure. This stands to be a smart, immersive, and mighty ambitious comic, and don’t be surprised if once it’s finished, it becomes a mainstay of indie bookstore endcaps, right there alongside the likes of Saga and Monstress.

Black Hammer / Justice League #5
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Michael Walsh
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics / DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Colonel Weird and the Green Lantern must convince the Black Hammer crew to go back to their own dimension to save the multiverse-which means giving up more than some may be willing to give.
The Ultimate superhero crossover of the year!
Why It’s Cool: This story has had all the ingredients of a really engaging superhero crossover: a mysterious premise for why they’re all thrown together, characters being plucked from their familiar worlds to be plunked down in that of another publisher’s, and characters going up against the closest analogs of themselves. This book was always going to be heavy on the Black Hammer characters, since it was being written by Jeff Lemire, and all, but one fun surprise here is just how much of the wider DC Universe Lemire has tapped to tell this five-part story. Lemire and artist Michael Walsh have clearly been having a lot of fun with these characters, and, as an audience, we can’t help feeling like we’re in on it too.

Gideon Falls #18
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
2019 Eisner Award winner, Best New Series!
"THE PENTOCULUS," Part Two-The Bishop finally reveals the dark secrets of the Pentoculus to Father Fred and Angie... and what horrors it unleashed on the universe.
Why It’s Cool: Basically, after 17 issues of one of the most visually-stimulating and outright eerie mysteries in all of comics, this is the issue where we start to get some real clear answers...sort of. I won’t say anything much past that in the name of not spoiling any of the excellent surprises in this comic, but I will note that the genius of this series has been simple-in-theory yet complex-in-execution — it’s one of those stories that gives you two more mysteries for every bit of clarity. It’s David Lynch-esque in that way, and Andrea Sorrentino’s artwork (with Dave Stewart colors) is so new and singular, that it all adds up to something that is very much not to be missed.

Usagi Yojimbo #6
Writer / Artist / Letterer: Stan Sakai
Colorist: Tom Luth
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
In this 35th anniversary month of Usagi Yojimbo, Stan Sakai revisits the very first Usagi story, "The Goblin of Adachigahara", expanding it from 8 to 24 pages and adding new insights into the characters and events, as well as revealing the reason for Usagi's pilgrimage back home.
Why It’s Cool: Usagi Yojimbo is one of those books that has been so very good for so very long, that it has become easy to take it for granted, to just expect it to show up each and every month with its stunningly-high level of simple-yet-deep storytelling. Well, this month we’re taking a moment to appreciate the book, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, a landmark that likely makes it older than a sizable number of direct market monthly comics readers (our committee of one included!). But seriously, Usagi Yojimbo is a monthly masterclass in adept comics storytelling, and we should all appreciate the absolute privilege it is that we get to consume it in real time.

X-Men #2
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Gerry Alanguilan
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
When an island full of unspeakable horrors appears on the horizon, the X-Men have their work cut out for themselves keeping Krakoa safe!
Why It’s Cool: Of the six Dawn of X titles, it was X-Men that seemed to most directly pick up on the central thread of mutant utopia versus humans inventing robot security that were laid in the dual series, House of X and Powers of X. This makes sense, since this is the only one of the six books that is being penned by series mastermind Jonathan Hickman. Our committee (of one) doesn’t pay all that close attention to the previews or the chatter about what’s coming next in these prolonged superhero stories, preferring instead to be surprised, but it certainly does seem as if they action in X-Men will be headliner of sorts (or maybe we’re misreading that and it’s X-Force?). Whatever the case, no Jonathan Hickman-written X-Comic has let us down yet, and we fully expect this one to be just as excellent and notable.

New #1s and One-Shots

Big Hero 6: The Series #1
Black Cat Annual #1
Black Stars Above #1
Cosmo the Mighty Martian #1
DC Superhero Girls Giant #1
Dollhouse Family #1
Elfquest: Stargazers Hunt #1
Fallen Angels #1
Family Tree #1
Folklords #1
Mirka Andolfo’s Un/Sacred #1
Morbius #1
Punisher Soviet #1
RV9 #1
Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night #1

Others Receiving Votes

Batman’s Grave #2
Collapser #5
Detective Comics #1015
Doctor Mirage #4
Ghosted in LA #5
Gotham City Monsters #3
Guardians of the Galaxy #11
Invaders #11
Midnight Vista #3
Moonshine #13
Oblivion Song #21
Superman #17
Trees Three Fates #3
Triage #3
Wonder Woman #82

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.