Best Comics of 2021 (So Far): Marvel Comics

March 18, 2021 by Zack Quaintance in Top Comics to Buy

This list looks at the best comics of 2021 so far from Marvel, including the entire X-Men line, Iron Man, Daredevil, the best recent trade paperback collections, and more.

Best Comics of 2020 - #1 to #5 - Zack's Picks

January 14, 2021 by Zack Quaintance in Top Comics to Buy

The whole year has been leading to this — the Best Comics of 2020, #1 to #5. This post features my annual picks for the best five comics of the past year. Enjoy!

Best Comics of 2020 (So Far): Marvel Comics

March 19, 2020 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — Now that we’re roughly a quarter of the way into 2020, we thought it’d be fun to start taking a look at the best comics of 2020 so far, starting with far and away the most prolific comics publisher — Marvel Comics. To that end, below you will find a list of the best comics of 2020 from Marvel so far, with extra attention given to whether a series is easy for new or lapsed readers to hop onto, pick-up, or just generally understand.

Best Comics of October 2019: These Savage Shores, Doom Patrol, and more!

November 08, 2019 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — While the debut issues in October probably got more attention, there were also some significant conclusions last month, too. First of hall the Jonathan Hickman-mastermined House of X / Powers of X combo finished its drastic and visionary reinvention of the X-Men line of comics (you know, the one basically everyone is talking about), which paved the way for all those Dawn of X reviews.

TRADE RATING: The Immortal Hulk, ‘I’m not a bad person, am I?’

August 16, 2019 by Hussein Wasiti in Trade Rating

By Hussein Wasiti — I can’t stop thinking about The Immortal Hulk, the ongoing book by writer Al Ewing and artist Joe Bennett that gives the jade giant a Cronenberg-esque rehaul. This comic is by far the most fascinating and engaging comic published by either of the Big Two, and the book’s success — despite its esoteric nature — is a testament to the strength of the storytelling.

Top Comics to Buy for March 20, 2019 - Lazarus, Criminal, Wild Storm, and more

March 18, 2019 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming...this week’s comics seem like they were precisely custom-tailored to my tastes. Indeed, many of the books that I gush about on the regular (which is admittedly a long wish) have new issues coming this week. That includes a long-awaited return of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus Risen, the steady drumbeat of horrifying excellence that is Immortal Hulk, and top-tier creator-owned books from Image, be it Monstress or Criminal.

There’s a lot of my old favorites among the Top Comics to Buy for March 20. There are also some notable new books arriving too. I’m thinking specifically here of Dark Red #1 from AfterShock Comics (a rapidly rising indie publisher) and Invisible Kingdom #1 from Dark Horse. The latter is a trippy visual tour de force laced with complex ideas about everything from commerce to religion (see our Invisible Kingdom #1 review) while the former follows a vampire who works at a rural gas station in Trump’s red state America (see our Dark Red #1 review too). It’s all good stuff.

So, without further adieu, on to this week’s comics!

Top Comics to Buy for March 20, 2019

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Lazarus Risen #1 (read our review!)
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark w/Tyler Boss
Colorist: Santi Arcas
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $7.99
NEW STORY ARC! "FRACTURE I," Part One LAZARUS returns in an all-new prestige format! New series, new story arc, new size, and a new quarterly schedule!
Introducing a new ongoing LAZARUS series-at 64 pages, perfect bound, LAZARUS: RISEN continues the story of Forever and the Carlyle Family... featuring an oversized, 44-page story by Eisner winners GREG RUCKA and MICHAEL LARK, an all-new short story exploring the larger world of LAZARUS by Eisner-nominated writer LILAH STURGES, an all-new supplement to the Modern Age: World of Lazarus Roleplaying Game by Green Ronin, original design artifacts and art supplements, and more! Two years have passed since the Carlyle Family was betrayed in battle, and the Conclave War encroaches on every side. As a new era dawns, Johanna Carlyle goes on the attack to ensure the survival of her Family, relying on the loyalty and support of the Carlyle Lazarus-her sister, Forever-remaining at her side. And while their united front may be enough to turn the tide, the cracks are beginning to show…
Why It’s Cool: Lazarus is one of the best creator-owned comics of the modern era. It’s complex, suspenseful, immersive, and compulsively readable. Now, the book is transitioning to a prestige quarterly format, which means fewer issues per year but just as much content (hopefully). In this first issue back, the comic hasn’t lost a step at all. In fact, I’d argue that it’s actually better than it used to be in monthly installments. Rucka and Lark are veteran creators who make compressed comics that are rewarding to read both in installments and trade. As such, this book hits certain story beats within each issue. Having the extra pages of the quarterly format allows them to do much more, like a TV show expanding from 30 minutes to an hour. It’s really something, and this series gets my full recommendation. Simply put, if you love comics you really ought to be reading Lazarus.
Read our Lazarus Retrospective!

Criminal #3 (read our review!)
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Colorist: Jacob Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
"THE LONGEST WEEKEND," Part Two-Jacob's weekend taking care of his old mentor takes a turn for the worse. As always, CRIMINAL contains back page art and articles only found in the single issues.
Why It’s Cool: In this new volume of Criminal, you can practically feel writer Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips fighting to change the narrative that monthly comics are dead. They do so in a couple of ways in this issue. First of all, they wrap up an incredible two-part story that they started last month, making it so it fits into the larger arc of this comic while also standing on its own as a satisfying bit of graphic sequential storytelling. Second, they make it a meta story in the best way, one steeped in comics history and culture that literally reminds the reader that comics have been dying since 1954. In the hands of lesser creators, this could feel preachy, forced, or even self-indulgent. But a master team like Brubaker and Phillips pulls it off flawlessly.
Read about Criminal’s previous volumes!

Immortal Hulk #15
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Joe Bennett
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Dr. Leonard Samson is a gamma mutate and part-time superhero who recently came back from the dead. He's been wanting to discuss that with an old patient of his... But he's not here to see Bruce Banner. Take a seat on the couch, IMMORTAL HULK. It's going to be quite a session.
Why It’s Cool: Phew, that last issue of Immortal Hulk was a doozy. But, really, I could probably say that after every issue of Immortal Hulk. This is, simply put, Marvel’s best comic in years. The concept and creative team from the start have been sound, but you can say that about a lot of Marvel’s books. What really sets Immortal Hulk apart is that it hasn’t ceeded any quality in the service of deadlines or events or anything. It’s been as unmovable in that regard as the Hulk himself. At the same time, it’s pushed into increasingly new and horrifying plot territories, keeping the feeling of unpredictable storytelling tension that powered its earliest issues. One way the story has done that is withholding much of the Hulk’s ample supporting cast before bringing them in slowly one by one. This issue looks to be the one in which Doc Sampson enters the fray. So, hurray for that. One last note: I only read this book after dark and strongly suggest you do the same.

Monstress #21
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
It's a turning point in Maika's life when she comes face-to-face with a stranger from her deep past.
Why It’s Cool: Love! War! Family! It’s all here in the latest issue of what has fast-become the most grandiose arc of Monstress to date, which is really saying something when you think back to the opener. Monstress #21 really has an overload of the things that make a single installment of a long-running story pop: new revelations, new characters, the promise of action to come soon, a clear push toward the climax, and a set of artwork as varied as it is stunning. I’m constantly impressed with the work Sana Takeda has done with this book, yet I’ve rarely seen her hit such a versatile range of visuals as she does in this issue, be it the adorable renderings of Maika as a child to the intricate character and equipment designs we get in the modern day. Writer Marjorie Liu also writes some of the best and pithiest dialogue for her heroine yet, bantering as she does with a key figure in her life (no spoilers). From start to finish, just a stunning issue.

The Wild Storm #21
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics - WildStorm
Price: $3.99
The experimental subjects code-named Apollo and Midnighter have broken cover. Combat-optimized superhumans are now loose on the Earth.
Why It’s Cool: Last month’s The Wild Storm #20 was the best issue of this series to date. After 19 issues of slow burn, the creators finally unleashed Apollo and The Midnighter, giving nearly the entire issue to a prolonged action sequence followed by a bit of romance. Was it fan service? Perhaps a little, but it was earned and also executed in the best possible way. This issue brings the focus back to some of the other characters, but make no mistake—the march to the assembling of The Authority continues, and oh what a thing that will be when it happens. There’s only three issues left. Two years ago I’d have guaranteed that this was building into the launch of a new The Authority comic, but with DC scaling back publishing plans under its new corporate owners, I’m inclined to estimate these three issues will be the last we see of these characters for some time. But, hell if I’m not going to savor every page of it. With a writer like Warren Ellis collaborating with an artist like Jon Davis-Hunt, this comic is just too good.

Others Receiving Votes

Aquaman #46
Archie #703
Avengers #17
Batman #67
Bitter Root #5
Black Badge #8
Electric Warriors #5
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4
Guardians of the Galaxy #3
Justice League #20
Middlewest #5
Naomi #3
Stronghold #2
Thor #11
Uncanny X-Men #14

Check back to the site later this week for reviews of Lazarus Risen #1, Criminal #3, and more!

See our past top comics to buy here, and check our 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 BatmansBookcase.

Top Comics of 2018, #1 - #5

January 01, 2019 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — A difficult thing about a strong year for comics (like this one) is doing a retrospective Best Of list. Now, to be sure, no one mandates websites do rankings. That would be a clear violation of civil liberties. There is, however, a part of the pop culture blogger brain that goes wild for it, whispering all year long...where does this one rank...and if you don’t satisfy that beast—well, bad things happen.

So, here we our with ours, freshly formulated for 2018 by our committee of one. Before we dive into the third and final and (let’s face it) best part, which features in descending order selections #5 to #1 (Top Comics of 2018, #16 - #25 and Top Comics #6 - #15 are also up now, btw), let’s rehash our ground rules:

No trades or OGNs: Building out our OGN coverage is a priority for 2019. We’re just not there yet. So, while I absolutely loved work like Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam, Box Brown’s Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, and Ryan Lindsay and Eric Zawadzki’s Eternal, you won’t find them here. Ideally, next year’s we’ll have an entire post dedicated to OGNs.
No webcomics, manga, or newspaper strips: Again, our site is a bit deficient covering these (if you are into these things, we’d love to chat about you writing for us!). I should, of course, mention that in 2018 someone under the pen name Olivia James took over the long-running Nancy strip and did amazing things with it (Sluggo is lit), but, again, you won’t find it on our list.
Longevity matters: New this year, you will find what I consider a key stat—how many issues were published this year. Late debut series like Die, Electric Warriors, and Bitter Root have tons of promise. They just haven’t been around enough to be a definitive comic of 2018. Ditto for comics that ended in April or earlier.

There you have it: guiding principles of our Top Comics of 2018. Now, without further adieu, let’s finish this bad hombre!

Top Comics of 2018

The Immortal Hulk by Alex Ross. — **The Immortal Hulk** by Alex Ross.

5. Immortal Hulk
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Joe Bennett
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Issues in 2018: 10

The first of the Big 2 titles to make my Top 5 Comics of 2018 is the Al Ewing and Joe Bennett-driven Immortal Hulk, a startlingly-blunt take on a long-time hero that reads more like a creator-owned book than a shared universe corporate story. We’re late in the superhero trajectory, with comics having constructed, deconstructed, and exported the concept to other mediums plenty. Our best modern stories are those that get closest to capturing a character’s core, and rarely has a title done this as well as Immortal Hulk.

At the same time, this book has found a darker place that was always there, taking existing elements and extrapolating them so thoroughly they feel novel. It’s found ground not possible for the sensibilities of the 1960s, Hulk’s heyday. Both artwork and audience have evolved, becoming more sophisticated and thereby allowing Ewing, Bennett, and others to push Hulk further into monster territory while at the same time making Banner the emotional blank slate he was perhaps always meant to be. In this book, Banner is backgrounded, standing in for humanity at large as darker base impulses drag him places no one wants to go (ahem, hell). The Hulk is not the hero—that honor goes to anyone who can live a contented and peaceful life.

On the surface, this comic has also benefited from consistent artwork from Bennett who has needed few guest replacements, plus early chapters that provide satisfying narratives independent of what came before or will come after. This is a bit of a lost art, but still very much welcome, and it’s something that Immortal Hulk did expertly.

This gem by Ryan Sook and Brad Anderson from Action Comics #1006 is quite possibly the comic book page of the year. — This gem by Ryan Sook and Brad Anderson from **Action Comics #1006** is quite possibly the comic book page of the year.

4. Action Comics / Man of Steel / Superman
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, Ryan Sook, Ivan Reis, w/Doc Shaner, Steve Rude, Jay Fabok, Kevin Maguire, & Adam Hughes
Inkers: Wade Von Grawbadger, Joe Prado, & Oclair Albert
Colorists: Alejandro Sanchez, Nathan Fairbairn, Brad Anderson
Letterers: Josh Reed
Issues in 2018: 5 / 6 / 6

In 2017, Brian Michael Bendis—a leading voice at Marvel Comics for almost 20 years—announced a jump to the distinguished competition, leaving fans with questions that ranged from whether Bendis could thrive there to which titles he would take over. Some suggested this would spark a creative rejuvenation for Bendis, a chance to recapture energy from bygone days. Here’s the thing, though: Bendis had quietly been doing some of his best work at Marvel. Following the stumble that was Civil War II, his Infamous Iron Man, Jessica Jones, and Defenders titles were all excellent.

This is my way of saying I predicted Bendis at DC would be successful. He’s generally praised most for early work on Daredevil, as well as for creating Jessica Jones and Miles Morales (who’s having a moment with new film Into the Spider-Verse). What gets lost is that Bendis is likely the most prolific comic writer of a generation, consistently producing three to five monthly titles and rarely (if ever) suffering delays. As I’ve written, part of what I love about comics is the deadline-driven schedules force creators to just do the damn work, to put forth ideas without belaboring them as one must in film or prose writing. When it comes to embracing child-like excitement, love of comics history, and just doing the damn thing—Bendis is the best.

Still, even I didn’t predict what he’s doing with DC’s Superman titles. Flanked by the best artists to work on the character in decades, Bendis is telling a story that breaks this hero and his mythos down to its core before (seemingly) building it back up with slight tweaks for 2018. His Action Comics, Superman, and Man of Steel miniseries have all felt both classic and progressive as he revels in iconic stature while viscerally having a blast using the DC Universe that’s been off limits for so long. The end result is that both Action and Superman continue to rise, as satisfying as they are epic.

From Monstress #18. Artwork by Sana Takeda. — From **Monstress #18.** Artwork by Sana Takeda.

3. Monstress
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2018: 6

This was the year of Monstress, with Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s expansive creator-owned fantasy hitting big at the Eisner’s and (presumably) finding a much larger audience. For fans of the book from the start, it was incredibly rewarding to see this story get its due. Liu’s world-building is phenomenal, drawing loosely from traditions while first and foremost exploring original elements. Takeda’s artwork, meanwhile, is second to no artist keeping as regular a release schedule (save for possibly the great Fiona Staples), with an intricate manga-influenced look that makes every panel of Monstress feel like the product of months of design work.

This year saw Monstress play out its third arc, a grandiose story heavy with confidence. The world-building continues, but it’s not as noticeable as it was in earlier arcs (both of which were also phenomenal, btw). The real focus of the story now is the journey of the main character. Given this is a fantasy comic (the fantasy comic of the decade), we wouldn’t have it any other way.

What started as a revenge story in 2015, has grown into a powerful young woman reckoning with a range of life: her relationship with her history, with her mother, with the mysterious power inside her, with the most responsible way to use it, and with the repercussions for noble actions that grew out of a simple desire to escape oppression and survive.

**Black Hammer: Age of Doom, Quantum Age, Doctor Star, and Chtu-Louise.**

2. Black Hammer
Black Hammer: Age of Doom / Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows / Quantum Age: From the World of Black Hammer / Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Dean Ormston, Rich Tommaso, Max Fiumara, Wilfredo Torres, Emi Lenox
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Issues in 2018: 7 / 4 / 5 / 1

This past year also saw the establishing of a new superhero universe: Black Hammer. Technically, this homage-heavy universe was created back in 2016 with the advent of Black Hammer #1 from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston. That issue was the start of a specific story. The wider universe grew later, doing so with an adjacent miniseries that broadened the plot in 2016 (Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil from Lemire and artist extraordinaire David Rubin).

In 2018, however, we got an even broader expansion. This past year, the Black Hammer universe continued with its main title, while adding two more miniseries and a one-shot. Add to that all kinds of rumors about what’s coming in 2019—from Lemire himself writing/drawing a 12-issue series, to a crossover between Black Hammer and DC Comics—and all signs point to this universe being here to stay. I had a chance to interview Jeff Lemire at San Diego Comic Con, and he agreed, saying as much.

I point this out as a way to note Black Hammer is so well-done that it has found a strong foothold in a market over-saturated by superhero concepts since basically 1970 (if not sooner). This is Lemire in all his brilliant Lemire-ness, following his deepest ideas and tragic lonesome sensibilities. He’s created a tone that allows him to write a few pages of funny before lapsing into full-blown meditations on the nature of generational comic book stories. Shared superhero universes function best with a strong guiding voice or perspective (see Marvel in the ‘60s). Black Hammer is doing just that, and I for one feel lucky to experience it in real time.

Saga #50 (cover by Fiona Staples) finds the family in happier times. — **Saga #50** (cover by Fiona Staples) finds the family in happier times.

1. Saga
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2018: 6

I’ve written about this often, but it’s easy to take long-running creator-owned comics for granted, forgetting what a rare thing it is to have talented writers and artists string together wholly original stories with only their keyboards and pencils. For many of us, our lifetimes have been marked with a mainstream comic selection dictated by corporations and distributors, plus whatever experimental work was on the fringes. In recent years, this has changed, and, leading that change, has been Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ familial sci-fi epic, Saga.

This year, however, was one in which we were all but forced to stop taking Saga for granted. The first reason for this was Saga’s latest story arc (which ran in issues #49 - #54, and wrapped up in July) was obscenely consequential. I don’t want to give anything away, but $@#% goes down and it’s bad, so bad I wrote about why it hurts, partially to make sense of why I was so devastated. It’s a testament to this story that it can hit such intense emotional beats so far into its run.

Second, the book announced it would be going on a year-long (minimum) hiatus. Obviously, you can’t take something for granted once it leaves you. Kind of bummer (we’re compensating with a year-long Saga re-read), made all the more bumming (is that a word? ah well) by how good the comic got before the announcement. There really is, quite simply, nothing else like Saga, not in terms of the scope of the story, the artful thematic explorations undertaken within, or the industry-best action and design graphics generated a whopping six times a year (or more!) by the massive talent that is Fiona Staples.

This site is dedicated to discussing comic books in thoughtful and analytical ways as the medium enjoys a new golden age. To us, Saga remains the leader of an ongoing renaissance, and a big part of the reason we think it’s so important to volunteer time to cover the artform. It is an absolute honor to give the book and its devastating 2018 story (kind of fitting, in sooooo many ways) our Top Comic of 2018 honor.

Check out Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25 and Best Comics of 2018, #6 - #15! And check back later in the week for more year-end lists, including our Best Single Issues and our Top Creators of 2018!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

Top Comics of October 2018

November 13, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — This month there are quite a few titles from spring and summer appearing for the first time, books that launched with promise, settled in, and just now landed really memorable issues. I’d certainly put Action Comics #1004 and Submerged #3 in that category, both of which come from series I’ve liked from the start and was just waiting for a marquee issue to celebrate.

Meanwhile, our Shout Outs for October is heavily weighted toward superheroes. I’m not sure how this happens (or why), but I will note our Best New #1 Comics of 2018 had more creator-owned books. This could all, of course, be happenstance. I should also note this wasn’t one of the stronger months for individual issues in recent memory, but a quick glance at November indicates that is soon to change.

And now! On to the comics!

Shout Outs

I pointed this out recently on Twitter, but we are, indeed, lucky to have National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates writing comics. His work on both Black Panther #5 and Captain America #4 was outstanding, continuing to establish him as a massive talent increasingly confident within this medium. Shout outs as well to artists Daniel Acuna and Leinil Francis Yu.

Coates, however, isn’t the only massive talent with two killer books in October. Jeff Lemire had Gideon Falls #7 and Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6, stellar works from great series. Props to Black Hammer guest artist Rich Tommaso and Gideon Falls’ Andrea Sorrentino for their contributions.

Tony Stark: Iron Man #5 was a pleasant surprise in a series that is consistently fits that description. Writer Dan Slott and artist Gang Hyuk Lim incorporate (heh) Tony’s ethically gray younger brother in a one-off that foreshadows repercussions for the main plot as well. I’ve just found the futurism and corporate politicking angles in this run intriguing, so far.

Shout out to Bryan Edward Hill and N. Steve Harris for concluding their run with Wildstorm: Michael Cray #12, which ends the story of the titular character, murdering his way (sympathetically!) through evil versions of the Justice League within Warren Ellis’ new Wildstorm Universe.

Mark Russell is at it again in Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound Special #1, which is set in the Vietnam Era, and told in a way that draws comparisons to now and leaves one feeling wistful for the integrity of Nixon and Watergate.

Not much to say about Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch’s Hawkman #5, other than carry on boys, what you’re doing with this character and book is refreshing and excellent.

Meanwhile, Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis’ Superman #6 was good, but Action Comics #1004 was better. Bendis’ dueling Man of Steel series are two of our favorite things at DC right now. More on that below.

Our other favorite thing at DC? Scott Snyder, James Tynion, and some of the best artists in the business ongoing Justice League epic, which reads like a really smart big budget epic touching every corner of the DCU. This month we get Atlantis, spread through a bevy of titles, including Justice League #9 and #10, Aquaman #41, and the Justice League Aquaman Drowned Earth #1 special.

Top Comics October 2018

5. Hot Lunch Special #3
Writer: Eliot Rahal
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Price: $3.99
After Hot Lunch Specials’ first issue, I pegged it as a generational, Fargo-esque Midwestern noir, a comic that planned to deal in equal parts with a modern American immigration story and the sort of organized crime retribution that would be more at home in The Godfather. There is, to be sure, a fair amount of that stuff in this comic. Hot Lunch Special #3, however, serves up notice to readers that this book is headed for places they never expected.

Every issue of this comic so far has been great, but this issue pushes the book to a new level, one of organic storytelling (not a food pun) that has me excited to see how this all ends up. I don’t know how to explain it that much better without revealing the twists. So, I’ll just say that Hot Lunch Special is a must-read comic, last month and from here until its end.

4. Redneck #16
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Lisandro Estherren
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
From its start, Donny Cates and Lisandro Estherren’s Redneck has been a neatly-constructed vampire romp, filled with Robert Kirkman-esque twists and a down home Texan accessibility Cates has honed. This issue, however, does something I wasn’t sure Redneck could: it goes to emotional places that are welcome and justified.

In fact, in the parlance of this title, I’ll say I reckon’ Redneck #16 is a great representation of Cates’ biggest strengths as a writer. It has a scene in which Nazis are outlandishly thrashed in a prison (so cathartic) and another later on in which a son inadvertently/reluctantly comes out to his father, who meets the news with easy acceptance. I never get tired of that scene, and Redneck #16 nails it. There’s been a whole lot of blood in this book, but this is the first issue with a massive amount of heart (in retrospect that sentence was gross and I’m sorry).

3. Submerged #3
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Lisa Sterle
Colorist: Stelladia
Letterer: Rachel Deering
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
We wrote a Submerged #3 review, so we won’t rehash the many reasons we love this book too much, but we will note this issue made us even more interested in a title that has hooked us from the start. Simply put, Submerged #3 simultaneously takes us to the most fantastical places this story has gone while also rooting its stakes deeply in character. It’s a great mix for a wonderfully scary and introspective book steeped in personal experiences.

Like many of Vault Comics other books coming out right now, this one is very much a must-read title.

2. Immortal Hulk #7
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Joe Bennett
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Simply put, Immortal Hulk #7 is the best superhero comic right now. I am far from the only comic critic to say this. Hell, it’s probably comic book critic Twitter’s favorite title so effusive have we been with our praise. Not that that means a book is unimpeachable, but what writer Al Ewing and artist Joe Bennett are doing here is truly special.

They’ve taken a horror-laden approach to Hulk stories, which has been done before just not with this level of detail, imagination, and willingness to go to truly disturbing places. In this issue, the undead Hulk gets his comeuppance at the hands of the Avengers, who use a satellite from space to blast him into pieces somewhere in rural Iowa. Except, comeuppance is the wrong word. This title does a great job of making you feel sorry for everyone involved, which is perhaps the only correct way to handle stories about such a brutal, rage-driven figure.

1. Action Comics #1004
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Ryan Sook
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Josh Reed
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
This issue hit me right in my personal life. In Action Comics #1004, Clark and Lois reunite after life has forced them apart. Now, my wife spent this summer in Washington D.C., covering federal immigration policy for the LA Times. Meanwhile, I was in California, working my own job, etc. In this issue, Lois and Clark pick up where they left off sweetly, almost as if nothing has changed, acknowledging that while neither can predict the future, their love is strong, even if their proximity must occasionally be distant.

I found it true to my own experiences with such reunions, especially in tone. I’ve also been a reporter for a decade, and I like Lois quitting the newsroom. I’m not advocating for superhero stories going too far into media industry weeds, but having the most-celebrated journalist on the planet give up the lousy daily newspaper grind to write books is a logical move. Books are, quite frankly, what everyone I know at daily papers now aspires to write. Mileage will (and should) vary based on your own connections with these classic characters; I only speak for my experience with the material.

Check out our Best New #1 Comics of October 2018 plus more of our monthly lists here.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

Did Marvel Comics Low-Key Launch a Prestige Imprint?

October 18, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — Take out your tinfoil hat (or whatever), because I have a theory that might sound a little absurd: I think Marvel Comics is low-key running a new prestige imprint, one where creative teams are kept largely intact and allowed to tell stories independent of constant crossovers and editorial interference.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think Marvel is stopping those bad habits. In fact, in sections of its line, it’s maybe worse than ever. Hunt for Wolverine and Return of Wolverine, with all due respect to the talented creators putting in work on those, has a foundation that feels like a direct order from someone in marketing who ran a focus group with 10 randos from the mall who all like Wolverine. Meanwhile, a pair of creators who freely voice opinions via social media have been unceremoniously dumped by editorial in recent weeks.

Problems at Marvel Comics, however, aren’t what we’re here to talk about today. No, what we’re here to discuss is how amid corporate meddling and blatant cash grabbery, a surprisingly solid crop of titles that are concerned first and foremost with long-form narrative storytelling has begun to emerge, and—get this—it’s now been roughly six months or so and there’s nary a crossover in site. Wild.

So, join me as I lay down this theory today in three distinct sections, starting with when this first began...

Marvel’s Fresh Start

In recent years, Marvel has built a seasonal model for comics, rolling out line-wide renumberings roughly every 18 months, with new trade dress, titles, and creative teams, often announced on the same day. Earlier this year, however, the publisher tried something new. Dubbed Fresh Start, its latest initiative has been amorphous, with news of creative teams and titles trickling out slowly and with no clear start date or fancy new trade dress. In fact, I’m fairly certain the words fresh start have never appeared as a label on any Marvel Comic.

This is a strong move. As Don Draper famously noted in Mad Men, if you don’t like what they’re saying about you, change the conversation. That’s what Marvel has done. Fans were loudly complaining about the constant rebranding and new #1s. Now, however, there’s no blast of new #1s, no sensational promise they’ll change comics forever. In fact, this recent wave has been akin to a soft re-focusing, one that’s gotten fans talking with strong storytelling instead of flashy gimmickry. Which brings us to our next section...

The Books of Marvel’s Low-Key Prestige Imprint

Marvel’s low-key prestige imprint is, to be specific, a group of between eight and 12 titles. We’ll look at a list in a second, but it’s perhaps more telling to first look at which books aren’t included. Put simply, Marvel is still putting out plenty of comics feel like cash grabs, complete with insignificant crossovers and events.

This month, it’s been Infinity War one-shots, with their namesake connection to the recent hit movie. They seem to have little (if any) impact on the actual comic book event of the same name (which has been strong). These are far from an isolated incident. In the months and weeks to come, we’re getting something called Spider-Geddon (this may be going on right now), so many weekly X-Men books, and a grab bag of other weekly titles too. There are new books that seem destined to end quickly and clear cash-ins on old ideas.

None of this is unusual, but what has changed is that none of it seems to affect Marvel’s strongest and most high-profile ongoings, a list of which I’ve included below:

Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley, and Humberto Ramos: Even in the midst of Spider-Geddon, Marvel’s flagship Spider-book skates by untouched.
Avengers by Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Ed McGuinness, and more: Aaron is Marvel’s best long-form writer, and they know this, giving him space to do his thing with their flagship team.
Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Daniel Acuna: When you have a winner of a National Book Award willing to write your comics, give him space. That’s exactly what Marvel has done.
Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Leinil Francis Yu: While Black Panther has been hella strong, Coates writing on Captain America is his best yet. Make no mistake, though, both are fantastic. Speaking of which...
Fantastic Four by Dan Slott & Sara Pichelli: Most-telling about Marvel’s interest in getting this book right is they’ve pushed the third issue a month.
Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett: This is a runaway hit, a deeply scary and cerebral take on a long-tenured superhero character. This book is being widely praised by critics (myself included). Look for it to win Eisners next year. It’s that good.
Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Nico Leon: Thor aside, Ms. Marvel is Marvel’s strongest long-term ongoing, and a beast in trade sales. May it live long.
The Punisher by Matthew Rosenberg and Szymon Kudranski: I’ve been blown away by these first two issue. Rosenberg and Kudranski are a perfect pairing for Frank Castle.
Thor by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo: This is, simply put, the best ongoing long-form run in all of superhero comics.
Tony Stark: Iron Man by Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti: See the above note about Fantastic Four because it applies here, too.
Venom by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman: Cates is Marvel’s fastest-rising writer. He’s had great success with brief runs on titles like Thanos and Doctor Strange, and now with Venom he’s proving to be great on a longer running book too.
X-23 by Mariko Tamaki and Juan Cabal: The X-line is super chaotic, but this book is seemingly being kept out of the fray of the main line.

Future Outlook

The thing about these titles is that except Black Panther and Thor, none existed in their current iterations six months ago, and so it remains to be seen how Marvel will handle these books long-term. A massive, presumably line-wide event—War of Realms, coming next year in Thor—has been announced, and it seems likely some of these books will participate. If that happens, fine. War of the Realms has been expertly built over the course of like half a decade— merits line-wide participation.

In terms of the future, I also see other titles likely to join this crop. Iron Heart and Miles Morales Spider-Man are both incoming and could rise, and, heck, maybe even an X-Title could emerge too. The real test of my theory, though, will be taking stock at this time next year, to check how many of these creative teams remain intact (or at least just the writers), and to see how many have had their narratives disrupted by crossovers, events, or spin-offs. Here’s hoping we can count them on one hand.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

Top Comics of September 2018

October 11, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — This month is one that has the potential to be infamous, in that it ended with an event—Heroes in Crisis—that saw one of the Big 2 (DC) embrace a sort of grit and darkness that feels outdated. Word is now coming out that in addition to being a viscerally uncomfortable book, Heroes in Crisis also undersold expectations. Really, it almost feels to me as if the larger line itself is working like an antibody to reject Heroes in Crisis, purging its anachronistic themes from a shared superhero universe that is now bent on being brighter.

But, hey, this isn’t a piece about Heroes in Crisis! This is, instead, a piece about the comics from last month that I really liked, and within it you will find talk of some of my usual favorites—Wasted Space and Immortal Hulk—as well as some discussion of comics I haven’t written as much about, including The Seeds and Supergirl. And because I can’t help myself: yes! Okay, fine. I found Heroes in Crisis disappointing, but I still enjoyed September holistically as another great month for comics.

Let’s take a look at why!

Shout Outs

Snotgirl #11. I’m just so happy this book is back. The art is phenomenal, even if the story has seemed to search for direction. Still, there’s nothing else quite like this comic, one of the most singular today. It’s like reading a guilty pleasure Instagram feed.

While I thought the opening arc of Jason Aaron’s Avengers run was maybe two issues longer than it needed to be, Avengers #7 & #8 are two of my favorite standalone Avengers stories in years, Avengers #7 for its biblical qualities and #8 because of its deep focus on team dynamics.

Relay #3. I’ve been enthralled by this book from its start. It’s, to be reductive, mind-expanding sci-fi brought to life with illustrations that oscillate from detailed and realistic to totally psychedelic. It’s a complex read, one I’m doing my damndest to analyze via reviews.

I’m all in on the SuperBendis run these days, and I liked Superman #3 and Action Comics #1003 quite a bit. Supergirl #22, however, was a fantastic surprise. This is a smaller title, but it’s bringing a welcome additional depth to Bendis’ larger aspirations.

September’s Wonder Woman #54 & #55 teamed one of my favorite rising comics writers, Steve Orlando, with one of my favorite underrated art teams, Raul Allen and Patricia Martin. The results were (unsurprisingly) to my liking.

DC Comics is in a bit of holding pattern in a couple places, waiting for new superstar runs to start (Aquaman, The Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.), but Justice League #8 & Justice League Dark #3 continue to establish its team-up book as a true flagship.

In Black Hammer: Age of Doom #5, some of this series’ mysteries become clear, and the team of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormstron have more than built a satisfying resolution.

I continue to be impressed with the world-building going on in Skyward, a charming comic that’s clearly lasting for a long haul. Check out our review of Skyward #6.

Not to give too much away, but the last panel in The Wild Storm #17 is well worth your time, provided you’ve read The Authority...

Tom King and Mitch Gerads work in Mister Miracle #11 is once again excellent, featuring action, a future classic nine-panel grid of Darkseid double-dipping a carrot, and a promise that mysteries will be unraveled next month (maybe).

Top Comics of September 2018

5. Wasted Space #5 by Michael Moreci, Hayden Sherman, Jason Wordie, & Jim Campbell

This month saw the conclusion of Wasted Space’s first arc, and what a doozy. What I find most compelling about Wasted Space is that it lives a double life, both as a slapstick space opera and as a deep ideological exploration of culture and society. I’ve said this before but it’s worth reiterating: there’s a David Foster Wallace-esque quality to the ideas and concerns in this book, one that is especially evident in some of the lengthiest bits of dialogue as well as in the intelligence woven throughout.

Aesthetically, it’s a bright and vibrant comic with a quick plot and jokes that feel surprising yet never inappropriate. I’m a vocal proponent of Vault Comics, and, as such, I’m often asked where new readers should start. After this issue (and arc), my answer is now Wasted Space.

4. Doomsday Clock #7 by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank

This issue caught me off guard. In Doomsday Clock #7, there is more plot and action than in the first half of this maxi-series combined. Indeed, the first six issues here were almost introspective in nature, carefully building the individual concerns of different Watchmen characters as they moved from their world into the proper DCU.

In Doomsday Clock #7, our principals start to slam together, with a good deal of direct involvement from usual DC heroes as well. The result is a comic that almost serves as a mission statement for this entire event. It’s an entertaining read that has me more excited for the final five issues. There is a little bit of a bittersweet tinge to it, in that one can only imagine what it would have been like had this book kept to a monthly schedule, as well as what it would have meant for the larger DCU, too. Sigh.

3. Immortal Hulk #5 & #6 by Al Ewing & Lee Garbett

September brought us two new issues of my favorite Marvel comic, Immortal Hulk, and so I’m including them here together. It seems to me like these two books together took a deeper turn into the supernatural, opening the door for the titular undead Hulk to explore some darker, perhaps even supernatural spaces.

The glowing red visage of Banner’s demon father is the MVP of this new scary turn. Designed to horrific perfection by usual series artist Joe Bennett, the face is memorable and terrifying, a fitting personification of this book’s ambition to be a different, unnerving sort of Hulk story. I also like that this book is seemingly separate from the usual cash-grabby fray of crossing over Marvel titles. Indeed, it’s starting to feel like the publisher is actively separating prestige titles from gimmicky cash grabs, and discerning readers are better for it.

2. Batman #54 by Tom King, Matt Wagner, Tomeu Morey, & Clayton Cowles

Batman #54 was a comic that made me emotional. As I wrote in my Batman #54 review, I found this issue to be an all-time great Batman story, a father-son take on one of the most famous duos not only in comics but in the entire world. It’s also largely indicative of what I’ve liked most about King’s run so far: its humanity.

I think I’m far from alone in saying King’s Batman has been one of peaks and valleys, and I attribute this to a two steps forward, one step back journey he has Bruce on. King is trying to slowly humanize and grow a character whose owners have everything to gain by keeping him static. His solution seems to be a series of small pushes in lieu of any major leaps. This issue is one of the most blissful small pushes forward so far.

1. Seeds #2 by Ann Nocenti & David Aja (read our review of Seeds #1)

I didn’t know what to make of Seeds’ first issue. It was a blatantly creative comic, one that intrigued me and seemed to have something much deeper to say beneath the compelling visuals that made up its veneer. The first issue, though, withheld much about what the book intended to be about, and, as such, I withheld a bit of enthusiasm. After reading the second issue this has changed. I’m all in on The Seeds, to the point I now suspect that when the four-issue series concludes, it is likely to be praised as one of the best comics of the decade, if not longer.

This is a story that feels both impossible and real, that feels of our moment and also forward-looking. It’s thematic interests are disparate at first glance, ranging from sex between humans and aliens, the environmental death of the earth, and the bludgeoning impact of human reliance on technology. Look closer, though, and you’ll find a creative team that is almost unnervingly prescient. This is a comic book story that in my opinion is clearly laying out what should (or soon will be) easily the most pressing concerns of our time, and doing it with some of the finest art in the industry. Simply put, if you’re not reading this comic, you are making a mistake.

Check out our Best New #1 Comics of September 2018 plus more of our monthly lists here.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

Top Comics to Buy for October 10, 2018

October 08, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — This week is one of those recovery weeks, wherein the vast majority of the comics world was at a massive con (in this case NYCC), and many of us are still dazed and catching up on sleep (not me, I stayed home in California and slept like a baby, but I digress…). The scheduled books from the Big 2 roll on, though, while the indie offerings are strong too. It is, as has become normal for 2018, another strong week for comics.

Yes even with the NYCC hangover, there’s still quite a bit going on this week, ranging from new title debuts—Devil Within, Infinite Dark, and Murder Falcon are all well worth your time and money—to the continuations of two of my favorite superhero books right now—Hawkman and Immortal Hulk. Oh, and about NYCC: I have a separate piece coming later today about the top new comic announcements. So keep an eye out for that! But for now let’s narrow down the comics you plan to buy for this coming Wednesday.

Let’s do it!

Top Comics to Buy for October 10, 2018

Crowded #3 (Read our review of Crowded #1)
Writer: Christopher Sebela
Peniciler: Ro Stein
Inker: Ted Brandt
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Cardinal Rae
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Circe and Trotter, two of the heaviest hitters in the private murder industry, have just landed in Los Angeles, looking for Charlie and eager to collect the almost two million dollar Reapr campaign on her life. Charlie, oblivious to the growing danger, tries to carry on her freewheeling lifestyle while under Vita's lock and key. But even their safest safehouse can't keep the fame-and-fortune-driven killers off their trail for too long.
Why It’s Cool: Through three issues, Crowded continues to be a perfect amalgamation of suspenseful plotting, clear and clever visual storytelling, and a high-concept that extrapolates our present into a logical and terrifying future. This issue continues to entertain as it builds the near-future world out and introduces some intimidating new villains that are sure to complicate our heroes’ fight for survival amid the crowd-sourced bounty on one of their heads that continues to grow.

Hot Lunch Special #3 (Read our review of Hot Lunch Special #1)
Writer: Eliot Rahal
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Price: $3.99
There are no secrets now. Only bodies. It's dinner time, and Dorothy and Jordan are competing to sit at the head of the table, both forcing their family members to make hard decisions. Do the Khorys go to the cops? Or do they go to war? The Khoury criminal legacy is fully revealed. Some choices have already been made-the Irish crime lord, Big Jim Moran, is getting anxious. He's left too many loose ends, and he's forced to cut strings. The order has been given. It's time for everyone to die.
Why It’s Cool: I’ve called this book Fargo-esque in the past, but I think after three issues that’s kind of a reductive description that does it a bit of a disservice. Sure, Hot Lunch Special has crime noir and an upper Midwestern setting in common with Fargo, but it also sets itself apart with its deep interest in family dynamics. This is a deliberate and nuanced book, grissly and compelling in equal parts, and I’m absolutely all in on following it to its finish.

Immortal Hulk #7
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
They're the reason he died. They're the reason he came back. Now THE AVENGERS have to bring him in. But how far will even Earth's Mightiest Heroes go to cage...the IMMORTAL HULK?
Why It’s Cool: I’ve made no secret that I love Immortal Hulk, especially in my recent look at the Top 5 Marvel Comics Right Now. For me, this is squarely a MUST BUY comic until further notice. I love how writer Al Ewing has exercised restraint with incorporating pieces of the usual Hulk mythos, limiting appearances by Banner’s normally-robust supporting cast. That is slowly changing, though, and here we see Hulk poised to tangle with The Avengers, as Hulk has long been wont to do.

Murder Falcon #1
Writer/Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
From DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON, the creator of the Eisner-nominated series EXTREMITY, comes MURDER FALCON! The world is under attack by monsters, and Jake's life is falling apart: no band, no girl, no future... until he meets Murder Falcon. He was sent from The Heavy to destroy all evil, but he can't do it without Jake shredding up a storm. Now, with every chord Jake plays on his guitar, the power of metal fuels Murder Falcon into all-out kung fu fury on those that seek to conquer Earth. It’s time to shred.
Why It’s Cool: Murder Falcon #1 is brimming with the sort of self-aware over-the-top comic book cheese I love: monsters, mayhem, kung-fu fighting falcons, and metal chords so savage they can alter the physical nature of the world around them. THere is, however, a surprising amount of heart to this book as well. As entertaining as its name and cover implies with a surprising amount of thought behind it all, Murder Falcon is the best comic out this week...a MUST BUY.

Supergirl #23
Writers: Marc Andreyko & Kevin Maguire
Artist: Kevin Maguire
Inkers: Sean Parsons & Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorist: FCO Plascencia & Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Supergirl's cosmic quest continues as she searches the galaxy for the truth about Rogol Zaar's connection to Krypton's destruction-and if there are any other culprits to be brought to justice. The library police are hot on Kara's trail after she breaks into the Green Lantern database on Mogo, but she's short on credits to pay the fine.
Why It’s Cool: One of my favorite parts of Brian Michael Bendis’ Superman run to date is the idea that Krypton was not destroyed by a natural disaster but rather a concentrated act of bigoted hate. It’s a very 2018 idea, this notion that major power structures can be manipulated by playing on base fears of the other. Anyway, in Supergirl we have Kara adventuring through space with Krypto the dog, working to solve the mystery of whether the planet’s destruction was a hate crime, who perpetrated, and—most poignantly—what powerful group of people worked to cover it up. This is, simply put, one of DC’s best comics right now.

Others Receiving Votes

Amazing Spider-Man #7
Avengers #9
Captain America #4
Crowded #3
Flash #56
Hawkman #5
Oblivion Song #8
She Could Fly #4
Suicide Squad #47
Titans #27
Unnatural #4
Venom #7
Weatherman #5
Wildstorm: Michael Cray #12
Wonder Woman #56
Wrong Earth #2

See our past top comics to buy here, and check our 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 BatmansBookcase.

Best Marvel Comics Right Now (2018)

September 20, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — Earlier this week (or maybe it was last?), I mentioned on Twitter that I thought Immortal Hulk was Marvel’s best book...and that it wasn’t close. Now, I threw in that last bit because, well whatever, and also because overstating things can be a great way to get attention online (only use that power for good). Somewhat surprisingly, the vast majority of folks who responded to my effusive Hulk Tweet seemed to agree with me! This could be an effect of disagreers having healthy attitudes about life and just rolling past, going on with their days.

Orrrrrrr, it could be that Immortal Hulk is really that good. Whatever the case, it became clear that there was a conversation (and listicle) to be had around the things that Marvel has been doing well in recent months, at least since the publisher’s semi-weird Fresh Start announcement turned out to be less of a drastic relaunch, and more of a soft but steady refocusing. Anyway, what I’m here to talk about today are the best Marvel comics right now (2018).

I’ve culled this list from the suggestions of folks on Twitter plus a healthy dose of my own opinions. Let’s do this!

Best Marvel Comics Right Now (2018)

Immortal Hulk #6, with guest artist Lee Garbett, is out now. — **Immortal Hulk #6,** with guest artist Lee Garbett, is out now.

1. Immortal Hulk

Al Ewing is a writer who’s had a number of beloved-by-critics-yet-ignored-by-fans superhero book, with the most prominent among them being The Ultimates. The Ultimates was fantastic, a direct cosmic successor to many of the ideas in Hickman’s run on Fantastic Four/New Avengers/Avengers. The problem, however, was that the book wasn’t pushed hard enough. It should have been billed as Marvel’s flagship title, but it was shuffled out with a wave of other forgettable All New, All Different team books, fated as it was to go unnoticed. Immortal Hulk, however, has avoided that.

Marvel wisely spun the book out of its attention-grabbing (if not quite meriting) 16-issue weekly Avengers event, No Surrender, making clear as it did that this was A. the return of Bruce Banner, and B. the Hulk in a horror book like you haven't seen before. It was a great conceptual move, one that Ewing and artist Joe Bennett capitalized on by setting a clear tone, telling four seemingly self-contained stories to start, and then segueing into an ongoing story arc that pulls in all of Marvel’s hardest hitters, including The Avengers, just like any good Hulk crisis would. It’s really something, and I can’t recommend it enough. For extra reading points, do yourself a favor and try guessing the villain of this story. I think about it every month, and it makes this title all the more engaging.

2. Thor

Jason Aaron’s run on Thor has just been so good for so long, ascending into the pantheon of all-time great Thor stories alongside those of Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson. Oh yeah, and it’s not even headed for its end just yet (although it’s likely well past halfway). Aaron just gets the nordic lore that inspire Thor. He also gets that this hero is immortal, and that his time in The Avengers is but a blip on his life arc.

Understanding all this the way Aaron does has freed up his story, allowing it to extend through all of time. He walks a careful tightrope with chronology and he walks it well, expertly plotting developments so as to not contradict himself. And, really, I could have very easily put this book number one. In fact, given the length of its run, it probably merited it, but, hey, this is monthly superhero comics, where the attitude of what have you done for me lately reigns. A more interesting question is whether the opening arc on Immortal Hulk ends up being as good as the opening God Butcher arc was for Thor. That’s a battle.

3. Venom

Donny Cates is a rising star at Marvel, with nearly everything he touches finding a vocal and extremely pleased audience (presumably a tattoeed and head bang-y too). After tooling around with brief stints on properties like Doctor Strange and Thanos (read Thanos W ins, like, yesterday if you haven’t), Cates seemed to land on a book he’s always wanted to do: Venom.

And his love of the character has certainly shown, along with his obvious desire to write a sustained run, potentially to rival Aaron’s Thor (which he’s already entwined his Venom story with). I’ll be honest, I’ve never read Venom for any length of time before this, but Cates collaboration with veteran Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman has been great. It hasn’t totally obliterated me with sheer excellence the way Immortal Hulk has, but I don’t have a single complaint about this title. It’s going to be very good for a very long time.

4. Captain America

This is a beautiful comic, drawn to near-perfection by one of Marvel’s best artists, Leinil Francis Yu. Plus, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose background is firmly in non-fiction and journalism, clearly learned a lot from his early stumbles in 2016 on Black Panther. This book has all the compressed and exciting action that run lacked, complete with the poignant ideas that he executed well even as he was learning the medium.

5. X-23

Phew, writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Juan Cabal sure had a tough road to follow, taking on Laura and her world after Tom Taylor’s fantastic run with her on All-New Wolverine, but they’ve done a fantastic job, keeping the best bits and the boundless heart from his work, while bringing a slightly more serious, horror-tinged new direction. If this Fresh Start business has a sleeper book, I’d definitely say it’s this one.

Others Receiving Votes

Amazing Spider-Man has especially been a favorite of mine, with writer Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley really working to capture the long-time spirit of Marvel’s flagship title, and, really Amazing Spider-Man and X-23 could be 5a. and 5b.

At one time, Marvel 2-in-1 and X-Men: Red would have been no-brainers, but the debut of Fantastic Four and the forthcoming event of Uncanny X-Men have really sucked the momentum out of those titles.

Punisher had a great first issue with savage artwork from Szymon Kudranski.

Exiles, meanwhile, has been eclectic and high-energy, if a bit frivolous (which to be fair is by design).

The aforementioned Ta-Nehisi Coates’ continuing Black Panther run has been strong, but it’s more of a new arc than a fresh start proper.

And after this week’s Avengers #8, I’m all in on Jason Aaron as the long-term writer for Marvel’s flagship superhero team...what a quiet but strong feat of character building that was!

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

Top Comics to Buy for September 19, 2018

September 17, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Comics

By Zack Quaintance — This was an especially strong week, with the penultimate issue of Mister Miracle sort of headlining the books I’m looking forward to. It kind of seems like that book has been going on for years (even though it launched in August 2017) and like we’ll have it for the rest of our days (the last issue is currently due out on Oct. 24...although if recent issues are an indication it's probably likely to slip).

The book has just been so so good, and we will most definitely be sad to see it go. That said, we’re also enjoying the heck out of these final few issues. Tom King is one of the best and most introspective superhero writers, and what he’s done first with The Vision and now with Mister Miracle is work that seems likely to find a wide audience for a good long while. It’s been really rewarding to follow it in monthly issues, even with these minor delays.

Oh hey, and also there’s a lot of other good stuff, too! Let’s take a look...

Top Comics to Buy for September 19, 2018

Crude #6
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Garry Brown
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Thomas Mauer
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Piotr has fought his way across Blackstone to avenge his son's death. Now he faces off against the biggest bastard of them all, and only one will walk away.
Why It’s Cool: This is the finale of a fantastic book about closure, violence, secrets, acceptance, and fathers and sons. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. Creators Steve Orlando and Garry Brown, however, streamline their many powerful themes into a cathartic and powerful story.

Harley Quinn #50
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artists (In Order of Appearance): John Timms, Whilce Portacio, Agnes Garbowska, John McCrea, Kelley Jones, Jon Davis-Hunt, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Scott Kolins, Dan Jurgens, Guillem March, Mirka Andolfo, Babs Tarr, Tom Grummett, Cam Smith
Colorists (In Order of Appearance): Alex Sinclair, Gabe Eltaeb, John Kalisz, Michelle Madsen, Andrew Dalhouse, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99
In a special anniversary story, "Harley Saves the Universe!"-no kidding! While reading a mysterious Harley Quinn comic book, H.Q. accidentally breaks all of reality. And you know the saying: if you break it, you bought it! Now it's up to Harley to travel through both time and space to fix all the continuity errors she created. Luckily, she'll have a little help, 'cuz riding shotgun is none other than special guest star Jonni DC, Continuity Cop! Good thing, too, because if Harley fails, it means her own mom will be lost forever. Gulp! That doesn't sound very funny!
Why It’s Cool: Listen, I’m not a big fan of Harley Quinn stories. The zany superhero books (ie Deadpool) don’t usually do it for me, but this one takes a gigantic and meta idea, using it to tell a poignant story about the nature of superhero franchises, sprinkled liberally with fun deep cut nods to DC continuity. It’s a must-buy for long-time DC readers.

Ice Cream Man #7
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
"MY LITTLE POLTERGEIST"
Another sullen, sequential short! Here, a little girl's best friend comes back from the dead. Or does she? It's hard to say, ghosts being an unreliable sort.
Why It’s Cool: Ice Cream Man #6 was one of my favorite books of 2018 so far, accomplishing some really impressive feats of comic-making craft. It did, however, leaving me wondering if this book was becoming a bit nihilistic...until this issue put that question at rest. This is the most heartfelt issue yet of one of the best comics on the stands, and I highly recommend picking it up.

Immortal Hulk #6
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
"THE GREEN DOOR" STARTS HERE! Bruce Banner is alive - and everyone knows it. Now he's hunted by the government, Alpha Flight, the mysterious Shadow Base...and the Avengers. And someone's going to find him first. But Bruce has bigger problems. Something terrible has infected him. Something with unspeakable plans for humanity. And the only one who knows about it...is the IMMORTAL HULK.
Why It’s Cool: I’ve liked Immortal Hulk quite a bit from its first disturbing issue, but last month’s Immortal Hulk #5 introduced a new villian that in my opinion gives this story a chilling new sense of direction, one that stands to make it an even more powerful book. This is, quite simply, my favorite comic at Marvel right now.

Mister Miracle #11
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mitch Gerads
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
If there's one thing popular fiction has taught us by now, it's: never make a deal with the devil! And yet Mister Miracle is still listening when Darkseid approaches him with just such a devilish proposition-if Scott sends his newborn son to Apokolips, there will be peace on New Genesis. Since when has Darkseid been famous for his honesty?! It'll be a miracle if this doesn't blow up in Scott's face.
Why It’s Cool: Our site and many others have spent the past year or so heaping praise upon Tom King and Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle, and that’s not going to stop now that we’ve reached the penultimate issue. This is a series filled with equal parts introspection and misdirection. Expect some answers here, but also expect to wait for Mister Miracle #12 to really get a clear idea of what’s been going on.

Others Receiving Votes

Avengers #8
Batman #55
Black Badge #2
Black Hammer: Age of Doom #5
Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #3
Ether Copper Golems #5
Justice League #8
Lost City Explorers #4
Pearl #2
Skyward #6
Teen Titans #22
Thor #5
Usagi Yojimbo The Hidden #6
Venom #6
The Wild Storm #17

See our past top comics to buy here, and check our our reviews archive here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Top Comics of July 2018

August 09, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — Maybe I’m suffering from recency bias, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a summer in my life (I’m 22 give or take...SEVERAL years) as good for comics as this. Seriously. There are top-notch stories being told at both major superhero publishers—with characters ranging from Mister Miracle to Captain America—while the creator-owned market hits unprecedented peaks for variety and quality.

Being in the midst of this wave is a blessing and challenge for writing lists like this. Obviously, I don’t lack titles, but it’s tough to narrow things down. I recently faced the same dilemma sorting the Best New #1 Comics of July. My answer is do it and spend the next month regretting choices. Act recklessly and then deal...that’s a strategy I’ve long employed.

Joking aside, I put a lot of thought into this month’s list, agonizing until I landed on the titles below. Sooooo—let’s do this!

Shout Outs

Batman #50 was a good comic with a messy release (the above variant cover is by Jae Lee). — **Batman #50** was a good comic with a messy release (the above variant cover is by Jae Lee).

Let’s start with a mess: Batman #50 and the spoiler fiasco. I didn’t get spoiled (thankfully), but I’m sympathetic to all who did. Regardless, this was a fine issue with a welcome twist, especially if as Tom King says, this is the run’s halfway point.

Have you all read IDW’s Black Crown imprint? You should. July saw the end of two early titles: Assassanistas and Punks Not Dead. Put simply, what a glorious wave of odd books, heavy on craft, humor, subversion. Can’t wait to see what Black Crown does next.

The darling of this year’s Eisners, Monstress, wrapped its third arc with a thundering crescendo and the most action in any single issue since the book’s debut. Perhaps most importantly, Monstress #18 also laid great track for future stories. Very well done.

Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen concluded their sci-book Descender, a beautiful watercolor epic about childhood friendship. This issue was great (like the entire series), but it was less a finale than a continuation, setting up a sequel called Ascender that launches this fall.

Al Ewing and Joe Bennett continue to make The Hulk terrifying.

In Immortal Hulk #2 and #3, Al Ewing and Joe Bennett continued to strike a horrifying tone, telling a story closer to prestige horror than standard superheroics, leading to half of comics Twitter saying I don’t usually like the Hulk but I like THIS.

There’s a reason Incognegro by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece is taught in schools: it’s a well-done historical mystery steeped in questions about race. Its sequel wrapped this month with Incognegro Renaissance #5, a worthy successor.

Sideways #6 gives its teen hero a defining tragedy, and ho man did it sting. Speaking of The New Age of DC Heroes, The Unexpected #2 and Terrifics #5 were both great too.

Apparently Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt’s phenomenal new take on old characters, The Wild Storm, is selling well (at least online), but not enough fans are talking about it. I wish that would change. It’s so good.

Finally, Flash #50 was an emotionally-satisfying conclusion to a long-simmering plot thread, one that also featured that page with the return of that character at the end.

Top 5 Comics of July 2018

Cates & Stegman seem bent on a character-defining run.

5. Venom #4 by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman

I don’t want to go into the plot, except to note there’s an expert connection to Jason Aaron’s all-time great run on Thor, and that superhero comic fans love that type of thing. There’s also just a feeling of excitement around everything Cates is writing; he’s like an athlete having his first MVP season, entrenching himself as a lead voice at Marvel, even extending his exclusive with the publisher.

Which is all great, as is Venom #4. It’s still relatively early in this run, but Cates and Stegman have talked about doing a prolonged and character-defining stretch on this book. Also, like Immortal Hulk, this is another book that seems to have many fans reading a character they otherwise wouldn’t. No easy feat.

4. Wasted Space #3 by Michael Moreci & Hayden Sherman

Wasted Space, the frenetic space opera about addiction and cultism and 100 other things, just keeps getting better. People who write about comics often use that line, but in this case it’s true. Wasted Space is a complex comic with so many big ideas that the experience of reading it improves as more of its scope becomes visible. That’s been my experience, anyway.

I loved Wasted Space #3 (read my review of Wasted Space #3). The ideas and plotting that made the series so engrossing is still here, but this issue also (organically) ups the humor, especially when the big all-powerful gigantic enemy guy tells some rando he’d feel better about himself if he approached work with pride—hilarious. I don’t know if I can be clearer: you should all be reading this book.

Bold design choices elevate Gideon Falls to lofty creative levels. — Bold design choices elevate **Gideon Falls** to lofty creative levels.

3. Gideon Falls #5 by Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino

Holy wow, the art in this comic is insane. I know that’s vague and non-descriptive, but if you’ve read it, you’re absolutely nodding along. The truth is it’s hard to to describe these visuals without using dude, did you see that language. The art is imaginative to the point one wonders exactly when Andrea Sorrentino disregarded conventions and straight up started doing whatever he wanted.

There are bold choices, to be sure, every one of which pays off, including red circles around details for emphasis, and arrows telling readers where to look. It could come off as proscriptive, but given how engrossing this story is, it instead feels helpful. I’ve liked this comic from the start (see my long-ago review of Gideon Falls #1), but Gideon Falls #5 somehow reaches new levels of creativity, storytelling, and absolutely bananas visual stimulation on every page. Absolutely bananas.

2. Wonder Woman #51 by Steve Orlando & Laura Braga

With Wonder Woman #51, Steve Orlando and Laura Braga tell a stand-alone story with a deep and nuanced understanding of this character, one that shows exactly why she’s been relevant all these years. It’s the type of small-scale story that plays to a hero’s essence, the type done ad nauseum with Batman and Superman but not nearly as much with Wonder Woman. This comic, however, helps to fix that.

It’s just so perfect. Aside from the adept characterization, it features an engaging and emotional narrative that speaks to Diana’s core values. It sounds cliche, but I teared up here at the drama and and smiled at the jokes. This is, to me, an issue we’ll be hearing new creators talk about on podcasts 10 years from now, citing it as an influence for the way they write/think about the character.

Read our review of Wonder Woman #51.

1. Saga #54 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Nothing will ever be the same. If you’ve read the issue, check out Why Saga #54 Hurts So Bad. If you haven’t, please read the issue and then click that link. There’s just no good way to discuss this without spoilers. Simply put, though, we’ll just note that this is the most consequential issue yet in the best series in comics.

That does it for our July list. Please check back to the site tomorrow for our new feature, Five Questions With Creators, which is being kicked off with writer Zack Kaplan, of Eclipse, Port of Earth, and Lost City Explorers!

Check out our Best New #1 Comics of July 2018 here plus more of our monthly lists here .

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, CA.

Best Debut Comics of June 2018

June 28, 2018 by Zack Quaintance in Top 5 Comics

By Zack Quaintance — This was a great month for #1 comics, and not just in quantity but in variety too. The summer superhero relaunches carried on, while what seems like an increasingly strong wave of new indie books continued to arrive rapidfire.

And that’s fine by me. If there’s a time I associate with reading comics en masse, it’s summer. I remember being a kid in a humid part of the Midwest, camped under a fan because my folks had some kind of deep-seeded lower middle class aversion to running their AC, and reading stacks of comics over and over. Thunderbolts, Warren Ellis’ The Authority, Greg Rucka’s Detective Comics, and Kurt Busiek’s Astro City/Avengers/Thunderbolts among them.

For whatever reason, to this day I’m more likely to carve out excessive comic reading time in the hot summer months. Luckily, I’m doing well enough these days to run my AC (just barely), and so things are generally more comfortable.

Anyway, you aren’t here to read about me! You’re here about new comics, and we’ve got plenty of those. So, let’s move on to that...

One of the strengths of Justice League so far has been the characterization of Lex Luthor. — One of the strengths of **Justice League so far has been the characterization of Lex Luthor.**

Quick Hits

Justice League #1 by Scott Snyder and Jim Cheung felt like the DC equivalent of the start of Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers, which spanned years and eventually ended the Marvel Universe. Seeds were planted, many seeds, and Snyder’s vision seems as all-encompassing as Hickman’s. Exciting stuff. I’m especially a fan of his Lex Luthor, a favorite villain of mine.

In a month of cool new indie comics, one that stood out was Lost City Explorers #1 by Zack Kaplan and Alvaro Sarraseca, which blends the harsh realities of 2018 with fantastic adventure stories of bygone eras.

Shanghai Red #1 by Christopher Sebela and Joshua Hixson throws readers into some of the best action in comics all year. Gritty and sharp, this a good debut that lays solid groundwork for the future, and I love that I don’t have a guess at where it's going.

Valerio Schiti draws a good-looking Iron Man.

As a fan of Dan Slott on Amazing Spider-Man, Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 didn’t disappoint me. Slott did as I expected, writing with lots of voice, looking back while looking forward, going big but relatable, etc. What caught me by surprise, however, was how well Valerio Schiti’s art fit the character. Very nice.

Last, I’m still catching up with Jason Aaron’s excellent Thor, currently reading the last Jane trade, so I’ll just say that barring a steep and unlikely drop in quality, Thor #1 by Aaron and Mike del Mundo would have made my list had I caught up in time to read it.

Best Debut Comics of June 2018

Hawkman by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch

Hawkman #1 is an accessible Hawkman book. Let that sink in. It’s true, the creative team of Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch have reinvented a character with one of the most convoluted histories of any Big 2 hero, making him something akin to Indiana Jones with wings and a mace. The sticking point for me with Hawkman has always been the whole ancient reincarnated legend guy versus alien conundrum thing.

Now, I know if you’re a DC continuity expert you understand it all and are thinking, What a dunce, but that’s just where I’m at. This book, however, cleared that up! In the story! Also, Hitch’s signature splashy panels are a great fit for a hero who soars. Moreover, I’m just excited to see DC playing with its many, many toys, especially after Rebirth, which strong as it was felt intentionally limited to the publisher’s most popular heroes.

Plastic Man #1 variant by Amanda Conners. — **Plastic Man #1** variant by Amanda Conners.

Plastic Man by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo

Speaking of relatively obscure DC heroes, the next book on our list is Plastic Man #1 by Gail Simone and newcomer (to me, anyway) Adriana Melo. The first of a six-part mini-series, this book blew us away. It had Plastic Man’s signature zaniness, but it also had a layer of depth that we wrote about at length in our review.

To sum up our feelings: this could be one of the best superhero comics about trauma in ages, but if that sounds tiresome, no worries! The creators are well aware a significant part of their audience is here for an exciting crime story about a super stretchy man, and they are determined to do a great job telling that as well.

The Unexpected by Steve Orlando, Ryan Sook, & Cary Nord

Next is another book we lavished praise upon in a review: The Unexpected #1 by Steve Orlando with character designs by Ryan Sook and interior art by Cary Nord (it’s weird, I know, New Age of DC Heroes reasons). This is the final (and best) book in that line, and it’s incredibly well-done, from the characters to the swagger in the dialogue.

The only thing that gives us pause about this title is it’s association with the clumsy New Age of Heroes line, which some fans have criticized for being marketed as artist-centric before then dumping said artists after an average of roughly three issues. Odd branding aside, this is still a great comic.

The Weatherman #1 by Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox

After I wrote about the Top New Image Comics of 2018, one of my Twitter friends interjected that he had enjoyed The Weatherman #1 quite a bit. The Weatherman had gotten lost amid the weekly new comics deluge for me, likely because I was unfamiliar with its creative team.

I took this advice, caught up, and absolutely loved The Weatherman. It has a high-minded sci-fi concept (something destroyed Earth and now humans live on Mars) but is self-aware in a way hard sci-fi rarely manages. Really, this is a tough book to confine to one genre, showing shades of sci-fi, action, espionage, and humor. In its third act, the creative team also makes some choices to show just how much they are not—ahem—$@%*ing around. And the last page is a stunner.

Immortal Hulk #1 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett

Al Ewing is writing one fearsome Hulk. — Al Ewing is writing one fearsome **Hulk.**

I’ve been a fan of Al Ewing’s since his Contest of Champions book during All New, All Different Marvel. Ewing is my favorite type of comic writer: one who gives every script a vast significance, as if it’s the most important thing ever to happen in the Marvel Universe. I followed Ewing to The Ultimates and New/U.S. Avengers.

All the while, I kept thinking, If Al Ewing gets the right book, he’s a breakout star waiting to happen. Well friends, that time has come. Ewing has taken the newly-resurrected Hulk (he died during Civil War II, I know, nobody liked it), and written a horror comic for the ages. In the back matter, Ewing discusses having loved The Hulk since he was a child. This shows. His new book has a deep understanding and appreciation for the character, a well-worn contemplation of Hulk that has led to him crafting one of the best #1 superhero issues of the year. Fantastic stuff.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Best Comics of 2021 (So Far): Marvel Comics

Best Comics of 2020 - #1 to #5 - Zack's Picks

Best Comics of 2020 (So Far): Marvel Comics

Best Comics of October 2019: These Savage Shores, Doom Patrol, and more!

TRADE RATING: The Immortal Hulk, ‘I’m not a bad person, am I?’

Top Comics to Buy for March 20, 2019 - Lazarus, Criminal, Wild Storm, and more

Top Comics to Buy for March 20, 2019

Top New #1 Comics

Others Receiving Votes

Top Comics of 2018, #1 - #5

Top Comics of 2018

Top Comics of October 2018

Shout Outs

Top Comics October 2018

Did Marvel Comics Low-Key Launch a Prestige Imprint?

Marvel’s Fresh Start

The Books of Marvel’s Low-Key Prestige Imprint

Future Outlook

Top Comics of September 2018

Shout Outs

Top Comics of September 2018

Top Comics to Buy for October 10, 2018

Top Comics to Buy for October 10, 2018

Top New #1 Comics for October 10, 2018

Others Receiving Votes

Best Marvel Comics Right Now (2018)

Best Marvel Comics Right Now (2018)

Others Receiving Votes

Top Comics to Buy for September 19, 2018

Top Comics to Buy for September 19, 2018

Recommended New #1 Comics for September 19, 2018

Others Receiving Votes

Top Big 2 Books That Read Like Indie Comics

Big 2 Books That Read Like Indie Comics

Top Comics of July 2018

Shout Outs

Top 5 Comics of July 2018

Best Debut Comics of June 2018

Quick Hits

Best Debut Comics of June 2018