New Comics Starting Points for May 19, 2021

One of the hardest questions to answer with comics

is the very basic one. Where do I begin? With

so many endless series interiors and continuity,

finding a starting point can be difficult. But

that's where this series comes in. Each week

I look at all the new comics to pick out ongoing

series starting new arcs, notable new series

and trade paperbacks and graphic novels being

released. Then I finish things up by picking

out my pick of the week, the thing I'm most excited

about coming out this week. Alright, let's start

things off by looking at all the new series coming

out this week. I usually start this with whatever

I think will be the biggest new number one coming

out and this week is a bit difficult actually

I think there's a lot of choices but I ultimately

went with Wonder Girl number one because I feel

like this is a brand new character that was really

kind of established this year a lot of people

are excited about this book a lot of people did

seem to really enjoy the future state series

that came out earlier in the year and this is

continuing that although continuing doing that

by being a prequel in a way, I'm not sure. But

once again, this is written and drawn by Joelle

Jones, which is why I'm really excited about

it with art by Jordi Belair, who she tends to

work with a lot in her career. So when they work

together, magic does ensue. And your floor, which

Brazilian Wonder Woman, although we're finding

out in this issue, she comes from Idaho. So this

is about her journey, I guess, to become the

new Wonder Woman or whatever title they want

to give her. What I really loved about the Future

State book is that it had a nice sense of humor

to it. There was some... Interesting story choices

in a way she ended up going into kind of this

afterlife and I don't know I felt like it was

a series that probably could have used some room

to breathe and now they're getting that opportunity

or now Joel Jones and Jordi Valera and the rest

of the creative team are getting that opportunity

to tell a more complete story I'm guessing this

is ongoing that doesn't say it's limited series

Although sometimes they can be a little bit close

to the vest with that stuff. So you're never

really sure. And with it being written and drawn

by Joelle Jones, like with Catwoman, she kind

of she was doing everything at first, but eventually

she just went to writing duties. My hope is she

will do everything because I tend to enjoy her

work the most when she's doing everything. But

if they can get a competent artist to come along,

too, maybe it will work. But ultimately, if you

love this character and we're a big fan of her.

earlier series now you can check this out even

if you have not read this this does seem like

it is you know taking place well before the future

state book so it doesn't necessarily matter what

you read before so it's also a great starting

point if you just want to read a new dc character

a new week another new batman series with legends

of the dark night Number one coming out Legend

of the Dark Knight series. This was a digital

first series that is now seeing a physical release

So if you want to read it digitally, you can

actually do that the moment this video drops

But if you want the physical version now attending

stores this week each issue is going to have

a different writer and creator creative team

this issue with Derek Robinson and he of course

did great 90 series like Transpental Paulton

and most recently Space Bastards. He also did

Hellblazer Rise and Fall earlier this year. So

he's a well established writer and artist, although

probably much more known for his art. So how

is he as a writer? I don't know, but I would

love to see him take on the Batman world. So

that's exciting. I have not read this. I usually

do read the digital first series, but this is

one that I completely missed in the plethora

of Batman books that are currently out with this.

Batman Black and White, urban legends, the detective

comics, and Batman. There are a lot of Batman

books. I don't think they're going to be running

low at any time soon. So now we're getting a

new one to the mix. I guess the benefit of this

series is that with it being a new creative team,

you can kind of jump in at any point and see

on maybe creators that wouldn't be able to go

on long runs with the character at least getting

one shot to tell their story. So. I guess that

is something a little bit different. This, of

course, seems to have a lot of iconic heroes

and villains in it, where Penguin, Mr. Freeze,

it seems like Derek Robinson's like, I'm telling

my Batman story, and I'm going to tell as much

of my Batman story as I want to. So if you're

a huge fan of his, or if you do want a Batman

book that has a little bit more variety, you

can check out this book this week. Also coming

out from Marvel this week you have the immortal

Hulk time if monsters number one and this is

another one of the our mortal Hulk one shots

done by different creative teams this done by

Alex Panadale with art by Juan Ferreira and a

big reason I'm excited for this book I do really

like this creative team. For example, this is

from the writer who gave us friendo, which is

a series I do really enjoy it says kind of this

twist this take on a future take on Wizard of

Oz in a way, but not in a very obvious sense

and then Juan Ferreira is one of my favorite

artists currently right now. He's done everything

from the recent Thunderbolts book. He also did

the Kim Wanger book. He has a style that's unlike

anything else and I love his page layouts. He's

got a really unique language when it comes to

the comic book world. So anytime he's on a book,

I'm picking it up and now taking them taking

on the Immortal Hulk series. i do feel like the

immortal hulk series i know a lot of people have

been saying this it's uh in a lot of reviews

that it's not necessarily at the peak it once

was and maybe that's the case but usually with

immortal hulk i think you still tend to get a

good issue. It's not at the highest level of

when it first started, especially because when

it first started, you got more episodic stories,

so things felt more complete. And now it's much

more decompressed in a way. With these one shots,

I feel like you get much more of what it used

to be. I love the Jeff Miller book. The one by

Delkin Shelby was also fantastic. So despite

the fact they're just kind of milking the name

of Immortal Hulk. It's good milk. So there you

go. You know milk does the body good and that's

the case with with these one shots It's a really

bad joke and I do apologize, but I do think that

this series is something to be excited about

So I really love this creative team really excited

for this. I almost made this my pick of the week

This is actually a really jam -packed week a

lot of comics I'm really excited about that have

a lot of potential and this is what definitely

one of them Also coming out this week for Marvel

Comics, we have Shang -Chi number one hot off

the heels of the recent Shang -Chi trailer. So

if you got excited for that, it's like I want

to read more Shang -Chi and you're not sure where

to start. Now you have a new series. This once

again is written by Jingying Lang, who did the

book last year, Shang -Chi. So this does seem

to tie into that. So if you've not read that,

you might be a little lost. I will say I did

like that book. It was good enough, not to diminish

the ship, but I thought it was a good way of

introducing the character. It did tie in. to

his past but as someone who is a relative novice

to the character I was able to read it and understand

it and I thought it did a good job of kind of

expanding of who the character was and making

him a new status quo to kind of build on which

this issue will then continue. A big focus on

that was his relationship with his sister. This

now is incorporating other Marvel Universe characters

are coming out and apparently trying to take

Xing Shi down because he's kind of part of this

criminal underground. It's hard to explain without

ruining it, but I will say that that's exciting

seeing Xing Qi take on other Marvel characters,

maybe really show what he has as a character,

and I'm glad that people tend to have... mixed

reactions to the way that movies impact what

goes on in the side the books of Marvel and DC

like how they tend to write them towards the

movies like Tony Stark feels very much like Robert

Downey Jr. in some of the comics. But I think

one of the benefits is when you're now getting

some of these characters that have not been a

mainstay in the Marvel Universe for some time.

Now we're getting serious about them and now

and maybe the internals and things of that nature.

So seeing more variety allowing books like this

to exist. and maybe be a bigger mainstay than

they were a few years ago. So there's some positives

to that. How good it will be, I don't know, but

I think if it's as consistent as the last series,

it'll be a fun little read, a good read to kind

of whet the appetite for the movie and that hopefully

comes out relatively soon. Last number one we're

going to talk about this week is red room number

one And I feel a little odd talking about this

because I've already read it because it's already

available digitally I didn't realize there would

be so much a difference between the digital release

and the physical release So if you watch my top

ten a few weeks ago, it was actually in my top

ten was number two for that week So I've already

read it obviously I liked it But now it's coming

out to your local book comic book shops, and

this is written and drawn by Ed Piscore You know,

of course of the cartoon is kfrabe YouTube fame

and did of course other books like hip -hop family

tree X -Men grand design and now this is a brand

new book based upon his own idea It's about murder

on the dark web for fun and profit. And as I

said as someone who read it there was murder

like hardcore Death murder and this it's not

for the faint of heart It's brutal to watch if

you like those movies like saw but I think it's

even more intense in a way I feel like I don't

love that torture porn as style typically when

it comes to film But for whatever reason when

it came to the comic book world Maybe just because

of the stylized look of it doesn't necessarily

feel it's not like it's delving into realism

per se I was able to enjoy it. It's very abrasive

book. It's very brash. Not to give a review of

it here, but you know, if you do like that type

of style, it's there's unlike anything else.

It is like 84 pages. It's basically a graphic

novel. It's a complete story. Each issue is going

to be its own thing, so you can pick up any issue

at any time. If your local store does not have

it, you can order it directly from Krana graphics.

At least you could have at the time of this video

that may have changed, but they're pretty good

at restocking things or when it's eventually

eventually released on trade. Or as I mentioned,

you can also already get it on digital if you

so choose. Now that we talked about new number

ones Let's move over to the world of ongoing

series starting new arcs and there actually are

not a lot this week Just a few books that are

finally coming back starting with we only find

them when they're dead number six This is back

from my radius is now hitting the shelves once

again And I will say this is book I dropped off

of I just was not looking with me. It's an interesting

premise I think there's a lot of people who did

love it. It was written by Alan Ewing And of

course, of Immortal Hulk fame about this space

exploration with people trying to find these

ancient gods. And they're always dead. And they

mine them for different resources. And they're

trying to find one that's alive. Now with this

issue, it does flash forward many years into

the future. So I am somewhat interested in going

back and just trying to jump on board and seeing

maybe if it worked for me now, even though I

stopped at issue three or four. So I might be

a little bit lost. Seeing it take place in the

future, let's see what happens. But if you have

been enjoying this book and you're been wanting

where it is or if it's coming back, do know that

this issue is out. The first volume is available.

So if it is something that you're at all interested

in, the first volume came out a few weeks ago.

If you want to read that and you enjoy it and

you want to continue it, issue six will be out

this week. Also coming out this week is still

warden number seven, but yes, this book is finally

coming back It's it's been a while since this

hit shelves. This of course is written by Chip

Zdarsky This is a story about a town where no

one dies the book started off with focusing on

this one character that went back home and Now

it's kind of expanded out even further the last

few issues that with a town meeting where there

was explosion And there's a lot of like internal

politics that are happening regarding should

this town expose itself and making people aware

of it exists and what exactly should happen.

And it's kind of been driving a lot of people

in different directions. And the way the last

book ended, it seems like, you know, things are

getting relatively violent in this still water

town. Will this be a good starting point for

someone who's ever read the book before? My guess

is probably not. But the first volume is out,

so you want to check it out. Also, if your person

has been. Following this series, sometimes it's

hard to remember when books are coming back.

So I just wanted to point it out. So if you're

interested and you want to continue, know you'll

get a new issue this week. The last ongoing book

starting a new arc this week is Star Wars Bounty

Hunters number 12. And this is tying into the

Bounty Hunters storyline, the new crossover that

is... kind of already began and is going to be

going into like October. I enjoyed the first

issue the Alpha that came out a few weeks ago

in large part due to Steve McNiffin's art. I

am extremely apprehensive wondering how well

this is going to be able to hold itself up. And

it's all about you know trying to find carbonite

frozen Han. It's just it's a long journey To

go on for a story where we know how it ends But

if it can keep up the energy in the in the style

of the first issue Maybe that'll be the case

and I do wonder like how much is it really going

to be? Impacting these books because this series

this first issue seems to be Dealing with other

side plots outside of just that so this may not

be like extremely welcoming to new readers the

last issue I did do review on it was part of

my countdown and I did like it trying to survive

off trying to kill him so That was a cool little

one shot, and now it's getting into the main

storyline of this gigantic crossover. So I don't

know. I would say enter at your own risk. If

you have been following this Bounty Hunter storyline

and want to get every issue, you know that this

will be the issue coming out this week. And then

let me know what you think of it. Like I said,

I'm going to try it, at least to start off with,

and we'll see how it goes from there. Now that

we talked about ongoing series starting new arcs

Let's move over to the world of trade paperbacks

and graphic novel starting with we hereby refuse

Japanese Americans refusal to wartime Incarceration

and this is of course about you know the wartime

incarceration that occurred to Japanese Americans

during World War two were they putting through

to basically concentration camps and held there

due to American fears of them kind of turning

on them during this time and I'm really interested

in seeing how it approaches this you know, I

read the They called me enemy book by George

Takei a few years ago. And that was a remarkable

book. And it was really eye opening, not only

to George Takei's life, but just that in general.

Because again, it's one of those things that

we kind of talk about existing, but we don't

necessarily go into the finer details all that

much. And getting a first -hand account of that

was impactful. And this graphic novel we hear

by Refuse is about those that refuse to go down

that journey. And it's separated into three separate

stories and is a combination of different creators

and artists. I'm excited about this in large

part because I do love graphic novels that focus

on history in some important way. And of course,

this is that. And I've read about the camps that

existed, but I've not necessarily heard a lot

about those that refused to go in the acts that

they went through so getting three separate stories

about different individuals that you know have

really not been talked about nearly enough in

a comic book format again to me just shows the

importance of comics how we can shine a light

on a lot of things outside of the fact that we're

going to get 8 000 batman books we also get books

like this that also play a very key role to the

evolution of the comic book medium On the omnibus

format we have Superman by Peter Peter Tejimasi

and Patrick Gleason coming out this week and

this is you know focused on the Superman rebirth

run that established itself a few years ago and

actually I really love this run at least the

majority of it it was one of the best Superman

stories we've gotten in some time it's really

what established the relationship between Jonathan

Kent and Clark Kent and seeing him this role

as a dad and how that evolved. I really missed

this series. I've not read it in some time. It

was during a time when I was really getting into

comics again at a high level. And this to me

was one of the best rebirth books. And I know

a lot of people had issues because this ended.

When Bendis came in, although I feel like near

the end of the run after the first year and a

half, two years, it was running a little thin.

So that's why I'm not necessarily super interested

in the entire run because I didn't have the same

admiration for the end as I did the beginning.

But maybe if I went back and reread it all over

again, I will I'll change my mind. Plus it also,

again, does look fantastic because it has art

by Patrick Gleason. But if he did love this run,

because I know a lot of people did, or at least

a lot of people said they did when they heard

Bendis was taking it over and. were angry that

they were ruining one of the best Superman runs

of all time or whatever as people tend to be

when things happen. But now it's an omnibus format

and I'll be hitting shelves this week. Out this

week from Scout Comics is Senghi and Tempo trade

paperback and this is part of the Scout Comics

scoot line and I actually read the first issue

of this series of I don't even know a few months

ago and I liked it and what they scout comics

does especially for their scoot line is that

they release the first issue so you get a little

taste it's like $2 .99 so it's a little bit cheaper

but they don't release issue number two they'll

wait for you to buy the entire graphic novel

so I am interested in now reading the entire

story it is more kid -based it's about this elvend

and mouse in Africa that start a friendship so

your classic folktale fairy tale type of storyline

and I thought the first issue despite the fact

that was like a you know, a smaller issue, a

part of a bigger graphic novel, gave me a good

sense of the characters, the conflict, and it

was like an extended preview in a way. And the

artwork's pretty solid as well. So if you're

also interested in a book that's more kid -friendly,

and there's not a lot this week I was able to

find, but this is one of the better examples

of them. So again, it's trade paperback. If you're

interested in maybe trying it out like I did.

Again, you can try issue number one for a little

bit of a price and get an idea of what it's like.

And if you want to try more, now you'll be able

to get the entire paper back this week. Also

coming out of this week is aliens omnibus the

early years some Marvel and now that they have

this huge catalog of aliens comics They now own

due to Disney buying up everything they're now

releasing it in different formats now And they're

getting a bunch of the early years putting it

in in one collection So if you're huge aliens

fan, if you enjoy those books I will say my new

shipment minute YouTube channels been going through

and did a great video on some of the early year

alien comics so if you don't want to spend all

the money on one on the bus, but want to read

some of the earlier comics. I found that very

helpful. I've not read a lot of alien content,

mostly the stuff that's come out in the last

five to six years. I really love the book that

was done by James Stokoe a few years ago, Alien

Dead Orbit, I believe, and it kind of was in

the same vein as classic alien where you have

people on a space station trying to avoid this

one alien and with James Stokoe's art, which

is always great to look at. As I mentioned, my

news for a minute did a really good insightful

video a few weeks ago about a lot of the early

Aliens comics when it was released by Dark Horse.

So if you want a more intense guide about what

books existed, what books you can pick up, maybe

you don't want to spend all the money on Omnibus,

you can check that out. But if you are interested

or you maybe like everything in one complete

package and you love Omnibuses, you'll be able

to get this book this upcoming Wednesday. Also

coming out this week from Image Comics is Homestix

Pilots. This is written by Dan Walters with art

by casper wingard and this is the book that i

had high hopes for another lot of people really

did like the series it just did not click with

me per se it's a different take on the house

genre actually found myself enjoying the generally

drama bits about. them in school and also different

takes on things like punk rock and fun bits like

that where the supernatural element, I don't

know, it didn't necessarily have the impact I

want. I'm a huge fan of Dan Walters as a writer.

I like a lot of the stuff he does, but sometimes

things don't work for you and that was the case

with this book. But maybe if I read it in one

complete setting, I'll change my mind. I do know

a lot of people did love it. If you do love the

horror genre, you can now check it out. It's

not over. This is just the first volume. New

issues are scheduled to be coming out soon. So

if you wanted to be able to kind of read it and

see if you do like it before those new issues

are released, you can check out the first volume

now this Wednesday. Last trade paperback I'm

going to talk about this week is Harley Quinn

and Poison Ivy. This is from the 2019 -2020 series

from Jodie Hauser and art by Adrian mellow and

this is a book I completely mess to be honest

with you. Oh, how do you coin is one of those

characters? I can technically take a relief actually

do really love the HBO max series I didn't think

I would like it. I didn't love the first episode

It felt a little bit too brash to be brash like

hey look we're cursing but as things went on

I ended up loving it Ron functions. I kid this

king chart forever but with this series, I know

like the combination of poison ivy and and Harley

Quinn Then to lead to really great things like

with the tv show so maybe i'll go back and give

it a shot like i'm not ready i do like a lot

of jodie howe's past works so that has me excited

the artist look pretty well i don't know the

orders all that much but. Obviously there huge

fans of both of these characters especially when

they're together and i get why even way back

when the first really partnered up. in the Batman

Animated series many eons ago, it worked, and

they've been utilizing that partnership ever

since. So if you're a huge fan of the series,

I'd be interested in hearing it. I feel like

I've heard nothing about it for some reason,

and I guess there are a lot of comics that's

bound to happen. So that's why I also wanted

to pick it up and let people know about it, because

if you missed out on it like I did, you know

it'll be coming out this week. Alright, so we

talked about ongoing series starting new arcs,

notable new number ones, three paperbacks, and

graphic novels. Now it's time to talk about the

thing I'm most excited about, my pick of the

week. Alright, when it came to this week, like

I said, there were a lot of books I could have

chosen. I almost went with Wonder Girl. I almost

went with The Mortal Hulk one shot. But when

I looked at everything, the book I'm most excited

about is Fantastic Four Life Story number one.

And why is that? A number of reasons. I did really

like Spider -Man Life Story. I thought I took

an idea that of superheroes aging and it did

some stuff with it. Interesting stuff. Taking

the idea of aging heroes and utilizing that to

also touch upon classic storylines also incorporating

things like historical events like Vietnam seeing

this entire thing play out almost like an extended

what if issue. And now we're getting that with

Fantastic Four. And I think it actually makes

a lot of sense, especially being kind of the

team that helped relaunch what Marvel is now

back in the 60s. And now how is that going to

tie into, I'm guessing, the space race, other

key elements. There's obviously a lot of drama

within the Fantastic Four. It did seem like when

you were reading spiderman life story that they

were also creating like an entire new universe

because it had spin -offs with iron man and captain

america my guess is this will be something the

same also the street by mark russell who is one

of my favorite writers right now anytime his

name is on a book i'm gonna check it out and

putting that idea of him writing fantastic four.

tying into historical events, letting him the

freedom to kind of not have to worry about anything

like continuity. And, you know, having him take

on a team like this, there's a lot of potential

there. He's written some Marvel book, the book

he did for Captain America, the snapshot last

year, I thought was great. It was a great kind

of offshoot of that character. And now we're

seeing him take on another main Marvel character,

mostly used on DC work and stuff for Dynamite

and Ahoy. I'm more excited to see him take on

bigger and more notable characters like the Fantastic

Four. The artist I don't have a lot of experience

with, though I don't necessarily can speak to

that. I did look at the pages. They look pretty

good. They look solid. Nothing's something that's

going to make me super excited about the book.

All the other elements that I talked about is

really why I'm most excited about it Really when

I heard this was going to be a thing. I'm like,

okay I know when I'm doing my starting points

video That's going to be the most excited book

of the week most likely and that was the case

And of course here we are talking about it now,

but I'm excited for comics this week There's

a lot a lot of you looking out for outside of

new series and ongoing series So if you're curious

to hear more of my thoughts about it, I'll be

doing my top ten I try to release that around

Saturdays or Sundays. You can check that out.

You can check out my last top ten That came out

a few days ago, but I do want to thank you for

taking the time to check out my video I appreciate

that and just remember comics are for everyone.

The key is finding the right one until next time

keep reading