By Zack Quaintance — So, I broke the usual rules for this column this month. I actually went with six titles in our top 5 Best New #1 Comics section rather than five. But hey, it’s my website, I don’t have a profit motive with it (and as such am not beholden to anyone anywhere at all, which is a rare thing in 2019 life), and I can do what I like. 

I make that point to emphasize that there were a strong crop of new books #1 comics launched this week, giving me a top section rich with choices from Marvel, DC, and a smattering of smaller publishers. I love when that happens.

So, with all that in mind, I’ll stop blathering up here and get to the actual books!

Quick Hits

Since launching in a somewhat understated way a few years back, the Berger Books imprint at Dark Horse has been gaining steam as of late. It’s latest must-read new title hit this month, with Ruby Falls #1. Pick this one up, please.

I don’t quite know what to make of Strange Skies Over East Berlin #1 — which is a curious title that involves space and cold war politics — but I sure am willing to stick with it to find out what’s going on here.

Mask: I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask #1 was an absolute blast, and (more on this below) writer Christopher Cantwell has fast-become one of my favorites in comics. 

The Dawn of X relaunch of the X-Titles got underway, and they were uniformly strong across the board. I have some more words about my absolute favorite of the bunch below, which is surprisingly not X-Men #1 nor Excalibur #1, although I liked both of those quite a bit.

As I wrote in my Money Shot #1 review, this title surprised me with its more serious interests in the tense relationship between economics and true discovery. Highly recommend this one. 

Dead Eyes #1 got a weird start and had to be relaunched due to copyright issues, but, hey, it’s back now and I’m glad. 

I’m always game for a good commentary on consumerism and oppressive greed, so bring on Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated #1, please.

We are lucky to have cohesive, veteran creative teams in comics as talented as writer Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, as demonstrated yet again by Joker: Killer Smile #1.

The Last God #1, a new fantasy comic from DC Black Label, was interesting too, but I’m going to see a bit more before anointing this one as essential reading.

Best New #1 Comics October 2019

Batman’s Grave #1
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Inker: Kevin Nowlan
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Publisher: DC Comics
When this series was announced, artist Bryan Hitch described it as “a proper, big Batman adventure.” Through one issue, it certainly seems to be that — a story that gets Batman back to his detective roots without sacrificing much of the grandiosity that has come to the character in subsequent years. This is a great first issue, one that asks more questions than gives answers and stokes excitement for the the rest of the story to come.

I was particularly impressed with how well it read as a single installment. These 12-issue maxi-series (which has quickly become my favorite format for stories at DC) are interesting, in that they are clearly conceived as eventual entries to the bookstore market, ideally evergreen books that anyone can pick up and enjoy. This first issue manages to plant the seeds for that while also standing well on its own, which is really impressive. 

Basketful of Heads #1
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Leomacs
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: DC Comics – Black Label / Hill House Comics
I’ll be honest here. In the run-up to the launch of DC’s new Hill House pop-up imprint line of horror comics, I kept forgetting that it was a thing, that it even existed. I’m not entirely sure why this is. If I had to take a guess, I’d suggest that it has to do with the fact that there are so many excellent creator-owned horror comics coming out right now, but more on that in a minute.

Basketful of Heads #1 is the first Hill House book, and you know what? My days of forgetting this thing exists are over. I can’t think of a better way to launch a new imprint than with a satisfying first issue like this one. Everything is just done so well, in a way that makes me truly excited to see what else this imprint has in store (shout out to Low Low Woods #1, which looks AWESOME). 

Cult Classic: Creature Feature #1
Writer: Eliot Rahal
Artist: John Bivens
Colorist: Jerie & Monahan
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Vault Comics
Speaking of great horror comics! Cult Classic: Creature Feature is definitely one that was on my mind when I wrote that above. What I like about book (and, indeed, about this budding series of Cult Classic books) is that it takes a different approach to horror stories, exercising an interesting b-movie-esque frame for a shared universe of stories.

The end effect is a gentle tweak of nostalgia, basically an almost-unnoticed feeling that this is something familiar, that you have been enjoying these types of stories all your life...just without tipping into a place where the nostalgia is being exploited and commodified, as it so often is in media and culture these days. I love it.

Doctor Doom #1
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Doctor Doom #1 marks writer Christopher Cantwell’s first work in Big 2 superhero comics, after a year-plus of doing some really interesting and highly-acclaimed creator-owned work with Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint. I’ve loved his work over there (She Could Fly is especially great), and so I was excited to check out what he’d do with a corporate-owned character.

Doctor Doom #1 did not disappoint. In fact, quite honestly I’m hard-pressed to think of a more polished and better-constructed superhero comic debut than Doctor Doom #1. Cantwell is paired here with a serviceable art team, and he does absolutely wonders all the same, basically through the untouchable strength of the concept of this series and the character work that enables. I’m late writing this column this month (as usual), and so I can also attest that Doctor Doom #2 keeps the momentum going and you should all be reading this book.

Marauders #1
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Matteo Lolli
Colorist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
When the Dawn of X titles were first announced, never did I think I would be sitting here about to type, Hey guys so apparently the mutant-pirate comic is my favorite of the bunch — but life comes at you fast and so here we are. I’m shocked, because this concept looked so unfamiliar and odd on the surface, but I really truly have enjoyed Marauders #1 the most of any of the new X-Men comics.

Why? Legit question. It read the best as the start of a new story, rooted as it was in the character of Kitty Pryde and her mysterious struggle of not being able to access the portals to Krakoa. It also has a concept that ties directly to the new X-Men status quo, that being the Kitty will now be sailing the world with a team of other mutants helping others who (for whatever reason) can’t get into the portals too, often for geo-political reasons. I was going to wrap up with a nautical pun here, but I’m not quite there yet. Give me a few more months of being surprisingly enthralled by the X-Men pirate comic and we’ll revisit.  

Superman Smashes the Klan #1
Writer: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: Gurihiru
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Publisher: DC Comics
Simply put, Superman Smashes the Klan #1 might be the single best book that DC Comics has published all year. I wrote a long piece about why for ComicsBeat, but I’ll rehash it again here in brief. This is a smart, fearless, and layered book, one that has meta-fictional touches heaped about timely commentary heaped upon a warm and comforting depiction of some of the publishers classic personalities and characters.

This first issue was emotional, honest, poignant, and powerfully exciting, reminding readers both of comics vast history of orchestrating positive social changes as well as positing that it’s still possible to do so through stories. All of that is very welcome in 2019.

Read more great comics best of lists 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.