New Comics for the Week of April 28

One of the hardest questions to answer with comics

is a very basic one. Where do I begin? With so

many ongoing series and years of continuity,

finding a starting point can be difficult, and

that's where this series comes in. Each week

I will get all the new comics coming out, pick

out ongoing series starting new arcs, notable

new number ones, and trade paperbacks and graphic

novels being released. Then I finish things off

by talking about my pick of the week, the thing

I'm most excited about. So let's kick things

off by looking at ongoing series starting new

arcs. We're going to start in the world of DC

with Action Comics 1030 as Philip Kennedy Johnson

continues his run on the character with art by

Phil Hester. This begins a new arc as villains

from the Dark Knight's middle universe are coming

back in a major way. Similar to last arc, these

villains, maybe because they're from another

dimension, seem to be impacting Superman in a

way that he's not used to. His typical invulnerability

is not there. We're seeing him becoming weaker

and weaker, which ties into a lot of the fears

that Jonathan Ken has been having. He's seen

a future where Superman no longer exists, where

Superman was killed. Are those fears now coming

true? Is this the time in which that future is

happening? We shall see. It does seem since Philip

Kennedy Johnson has taken over this title that

he's put a gigantic target on the back of Clark

Kent and that target continues to get bigger

and bigger with each passing issue. Will it eventually

lead to the death of Superman? Who knows, but

if this is any indication, it seems like it is

certainly heading that way. This also includes

a new backup story focused on Mendoly, written

by Becky Clunin. So if you're a big fan of that

character who had a letter good side stories

in future state as well. So I'm happy to see

him come back and he can be a character that

can carry his own book. Unfortunately, we're

not seeing that, but maybe if there's enough

acclaim for this side story, we'll see that happening.

But because if you do get the right creative

team, it can be one of the best CC books due

to the originality of the character. Alright,

let's switch over to the world of Marvel for

Miles Morales issue number 25. Yes, the clone

saga is returning and this is written again by

Saldin Amman who has not been on the character

for 25 issues. It is a bit weird seeing the clone

saga revisited considering that most have pretty

negative feelings towards the clone saga. It's

really kind of an ongoing joke in a way, but

maybe that's the best thing to remake. Maybe

that is the best thing to revisit to look at

an idea that maybe has elements of what could

be great and taking those elements and expanding

upon them, thinking about something like the

90s Judge Dredd movie and how horrible that was.

When we got the remake, it ended up being really

great. It just took what was really great about

the character of Judge Dredd and made Carl Urban

keep the helmet on and we got a great movie.

Maybe what this can do is take some good elements

from the Clone Saga because there are some good

elements there. It just really got stretched

out beyond repair and being more focused. You

don't have multiple series going out at the same

time. You just have one comic and maybe we'll

get something fantastic about it. And if you

are Miles Morales fan, you haven't been reading

this series, this is a good jumping on point

because I think they're really expecting new

readers with this because they've been doing

a lot to promote it, which is something that

really haven't done nearly enough for this book

considering how popular Miles Morales is. Just

check out the video game and how many copies

that sold. But now, if you want to jump on in

a new series starring the character, you have

the opportunity. I'm excited because one of my

favorite current Marvel books Black Widow is

now returning with issue number six I am a little

disappointed as Black Widow number six also has

a new artist not saying this new artist is going

to be bad But it's going to be hard to tell up

the art of the last arc It's one of the best

looking Marvel books in forever and I'm excited

that artist is coming back eventually But for

this issue, we're getting a new story with a

new artist and Kelly Thompson does a good job

I think of teaming herself up with strong artists

that can support her story. So hopefully it will

look nearly as good I don't think it'll be you

know nearly as flawless But who knows we shall

see if there's an opportunity to you know, make

artists into a big deal It's obviously a Black

Widow title with the movie coming out very shortly

If you're interested in this as well just recently

the trade paperback of the first volume came

out I talked about it when it was released So

we may want to check that out first and then

jump on to this because even though it is a new

arc I think that does a lot to set the new status

quo for Black Widow as she was Dealing with the

fact that she was brainwashed into believing

that she actually started family and it was this

cool little like Twilight Zone episode in a way

with mesh with spy thrillers it was really fantastic

it's a fun read a quick read but it's really

deserving of your time it's a lot to live up

to for this arc and hopefully you can do it we

don't know a lot about this arc a lot hasn't

been revealed the major things we know is that

she's getting a new suit which is kind of cool.

She's also in San Francisco, which is different

compared to the majority of Marvel titles which

take place in New York City. So just by adjusting

that setting, I do think you get a different

feel, different take on the Marvel Universe.

Like as a person that did love Avengers West

Coast back in the day, seeing any time that we

do get some West Coast appreciation in the Marvel

Universe is always a good thing. So I would advise

checking this out. If you're excited for the

movie that keeps getting pushed back, the more

we talk about it and you can't wait, this might

be a good opportunity to get some experience.

with the character before we see that released

in theaters or home video or an iPod whenever

it does come out. Marvel's First Family is also

getting a new arc this week with Fantastic Four

issue number 31 and this sees Reed Richards and

the rest of the Fantastic Four going someplace

brand new. They'd never gone before with the

Forever Gate and I am limited in my experience

with Fantastic Four. I've read some stuff, but

not nearly as much as many others. I have read

a little bit of Dan Slott's run and actually

quite enjoyed it. Like I loved his Silver Surfer

run, so I'm not too surprised that his sensibilities

really work with these characters. So even if

you're a person that maybe did not love his take

on Spider -Man or maybe got tired of it, you

know, give it a chance. I think his voice is

really perfect for this type of story. And also

looking at the landscape of Marvel and considering

this is going to be a new world that we're seeing.

I do wonder what the impact will be long term.

Think about all the different aspects of Marvel

that were established in the pages of Fantastic

Four, the Negative Zone Galactus, the Inhumans.

All those started, Black Panther, you can go

on and on. Will this be something that is as

enduring as those that has the same level of

longevity? I have no idea, but if you do think

there's any opportunity or something to do that,

to have that type of repeat success, it would

be this story and it would be this book. We do

get one indie comic this week starting a new

arc and that's study class number 45 and I do

appreciate the class to in a millionth degree

because It really got me into a level of comics

that I really never read before it I was really

a Marvel head and superhero for such a long time

and reading a book like deadly class really opened

my eyes So I do have a very huge soft spot for

it for this series and I'm super excited for

this coming back I do know it's nearing its end

I'm super disappointed the TV show did not pan

out because I thought it had a lot of great potential

I do think Deadly Cows is one of the best books

over the last decade or so. And it may not have

the same notoriety that it first did or maybe

be on the same level, but it has been consistently

good as we saw just how much this story has evolved

throughout the years. It's one of Worker Mender's

best. And if you are enjoying something like

Scumbag, you might actually quite like that,

The Glass White Advice. Maybe checking out in

trade or digitally. Now, do know that it's not

necessarily as humorous as that book. It's much

more a serious tale. Although there are some

jokes. There's actually one issue that has a

very large fart joke throughout it that actually

sounds kind of juvenile, but is actually quite

good. I almost put this as my pick of the week

because I am super excited for it finally coming

back. But my one hesitation was the fact that

I've not read it in some time and I'm also kind

of lost of where we're at. So I'm going to need

to go back and do a reread, which is always fun

to do because it's always something that I seem

to enjoy more and more every time I revisit it.

All right, now that we talked about ongoing series

starting new arcs, let's switch over to the world

of new number ones coming out this week. When

you talk about new number ones, I usually talk

about the biggest book coming out and I will

say this is not a huge week for a new series,

but it is a pretty big week for ongoing series

starting new arcs, which is very rare. It's the

first time it's happened since I've done this

series. But a big number one coming out this

week is Robin number one, which is written by

Joshua Williamson and with art by Glenn Malkinkoff.

And I'm probably not pronouncing that name correctly.

Most likely I do apologize. But this is a story

again about Robin, about Damian Wayne specifically.

We have seen glimpses of the story. There is

that backup in Batman recently or detective comics

one of the two That kind of gave you a hint of

what this was going to be about. This story is

going to be centering on Damien entering a Mortal

Kombat like tournament and trying to come out

on top dealing with the Lazarus pit So Damien

has been hugely distraught due to Alfred losing

his life So he's actually been in the background

a lot lately. We have not seen him a lot in the

world of DC Comics He wasn't even in future state

at all. So it made you wonder what exactly is

going on This is written by Joshua Williamson

who of course had that lengthy run on flash during

rebirth and now he's taking over this character

and Damien Wayne is one of those characters where

I know a lot of people despise him. I feel like

he can be a great character. good context or

with the right writer and i do think john shill

williamson might be that person obviously you

know he took over flash and did a i think a pretty

good job with that character damien it is a very

different take but i often feel like people write

damien to the point where he's just so unlikable

my guess is with the series focused on him that

won't be the case we shall see but if you did

like the story that was in the batman comic recently

and you wanted more of that or if you're a huge

damien wayne fan this will be the book for you

to check out this week Also coming out this week

is Ruby Justice League number one and if you're

like me I had no idea what Ruby was WRBY and

I was a little bit confused I'm like is that

a character in the DC universe? I know I have

not read every DC comic but it's actually it's

very much its own thing its own fantasy tale

clearly designed in like the YA manga like style

and now we're seeing it combined with the world

of Justice League and this again to me makes

a lot of sense this is going to hopefully have

some crossover appeal especially for people that

maybe don't necessarily read Justice League on

a normal basis. They may not appeal to your older

Justice League DC fan who's been reading Justice

League for the last 20 years, but as maybe those

younger readers that have not read a Justice

League comic ever, maybe they'll check this out.

It may not get notoriety as the same level as

Batman Fortnite because you're not going to get

a secret code to unlock some sort of digital

uniform. However, maybe this will get an appeal

to those that actually like buy comics to read

them and get exposed to a university I've never

read before. I'm actually impressed with how

DC is trying to do things like this as Marvel

as well, maybe not to the same extent with this

and their YA line, realizing that they need to

shake things up a bit and realize that they can't

just keep appealing to the same people over and

over again if they want the brand or these characters

in this world to expand and have a future. So

I think books like this are very vital. How successful

will it be? I have no idea. Personally, I hope

it's very successful because it'll be a success

not only for DC, but fans in general, as well

as local comic book shops, and hopefully get

a new audience that doesn't necessarily go in

their doors each week. One of the books I'm most

excited about this week is the Marvel's number

one and we've had a lot of Marvel series as of

late We had the the last one which was a bunch

of mini stories from a lot of different creators

Which had some of the best art I think I've seen

in Marvel books It helped that you know, you

had only many stories to tell so we actually

got interior art from someone like Adam Hughes

That's not going to happen with this series because

this is an ongoing book, Albert and Mike Herpiesek,

but it just seems incredible. It's supposed to

expand the entire kind of landscape of the Marvel

Universe from cosmic stuff to more personal stuff

from big stories to small stories from Captain

America to Western characters. Really, if it

happened within the Marvel Universe, it will

be. potentially taking place in this comic. What

does that mean? I really don't have any idea.

But if there's anyone who can pull that off,

it is certainly Keir Busek, the man who made

marbles, what it was in the 90s with the help

of Alex Ross. We are getting Alex Ross covers.

He is not doing the interior unfortunately, but

doesn't mean the interior art won't look great.

Art here is done by Yildir Canar, who's... which

is probably a name I'm butchering and also a

person that I don't know much about. However,

I trust your art's going to be looking really

good because Curb Music is really keen on having

great art for his books and has a great eye for

talent. I think we saw that with a Snapshots

book. We saw that with all the talent that was

cultivated for the last Marvel series. So my

sense is we'll get that consistently. He's not

going to be a person that just puts something

out just because he wants to put it out. He has

enough clout in an industry not to do that. As

someone who misses something like Astro City,

which we haven't gotten to in a while. I think

this is the closest thing we're going to get

to it, knowing he's going to be able to play

in the sandbox of the Marvel universe, but kind

of do things that he would like to do without

the worry of other continuity, other story. So

really excited about this book. It's probably

a book that's going to go under the radar a great

deal because it doesn't necessarily do the greatest

job of explaining what it is with the name and

the title and the cover. But if you love old

school Marvel, if you like that timeless quality

of Marvel, this will probably be a book you want

to check out. One of my favorite valiant characters

is coming back this week with shadowman number

one and I'm excited about this for a number of

reasons again as I mentioned I do love the shadowman

character. He's like Brother Voodoo, but with

a valiant lens and has his own little type of

world. He, again, is in New Orleans, so it's

a different flavor as well. I'm also excited

because this is written by Colin Bunn, who is

one of the best pure horror writers in the comic

book world, probably in the last decade. Howard

County, for example, that book is phenomenal.

He knows how to write horror, both in the slow

burn sense, the mind bending sense. He kind of

can't get all the different flavors of that genre.

He just gets the tone of horror really well and

he is able to, I think, establish horror stories

that are very character. focus where the stairs

are a benefit but not the focus of the story

which will be something perfect for something

like Shadow Man. He's also obviously written

much more than horror books like his run on Magneto

which is quite good. Highly advise checking that

out as well. You also have artist John Davis

Hunt which I'm also really excited about who's

an artist I think should be a much bigger name.

If you read the Wild Storm books that DC did

a few years ago which looked phenomenal, had

great detail, really original designs and now

he's doing a Valiant book which again is a win

for all of us. I know the Valentine universe

can be somewhat difficult to jump into if you've

never read them. I will say most of these series

tend to be rather new -readler friendly, so you

often know new people are coming to them, and

they tend to focus on a small amount of titles

that are very self -contained rather than a sprawling

universe. So even if you've never read an Archer

or Armstrong or another Shadow Man book before,

you can probably pick this book up not knowing

that. If you are a horror fan and want more of

that type of storytelling, if you liked Colin

Bunch stuff before and want to see what he can

do with a kind of a superhero twist, You may

want to check out this book this week. That's

the number one I'm going to talk about this week

is snatch number one and this comes from the

world of scout comics and when you look at the

description you look at the Cover of this you

might be wondering like why is there a book about

a barber? Why is there a book about hair seems

like a bit of an odd choice for subject matter?

But the more you look into it that question shifts

to why haven't there been more comics about this

topic? There just seems to be a lot of room here

a lot of story here to tell as it's getting into

some of the human rights violations some of the

horrible things people do to kind of look a certain

way. And it doesn't take that long to look on

social media just to see how materialistic we

can be as people. And I think this will probably

touch upon those as well. And in general, this

topic that maybe really doesn't get the attention

it deserves. Now, comics have been on the forefront

of a lot of key issues throughout their history.

Hopefully, this will be another example of a

fictional story touching upon a real idea that

more people need to pay attention to. Let's switch

over to the world of trade paperbacks and graphic

novels starting with Tower of Browell, the Luxe

edition that's coming out this week. And Tower

of Browell is probably one of the more iconic

stories in the Justice League in the last 30

years or so. For those that don't know, this

is a story where Batman's plans is contingency

plans of how to defeat the justice league are

stolen and used against them and it also is you

know how spurs so many debates about why batman

can defeat anyone because he always has these

plans on how to take out people like superman

or what have you and again it gets into like

putting the justice league at a spot that they.

We're not prepared for we saw the animated movie

as well. I think that touched upon I know many

that point to this as one of their favorite justice

league books We of course had the recent animated

film about this as well Which may not be as good

because it took some liberties with the story

But if you did like that and never read the story

now you have a new edition to check out also

If you have read the story and you love it and

you need to collect every edition Guess what?

You have a new edition coming out as well. So

it does feel like it is one of those DC books

that tends to get reprinted a great amount of

time because there's a lot of love for it So

it's not necessarily like this is one that's

hard to find. However, you know, it is in a special

format So we'll most likely include additional

goodies and other things like that and also look

great as well So if you want to check that out,

it'll be hitting stories this Wednesday Also

coming out this week is Help Razor Rise and Fall.

This is one of my favorite comics that come out

last year from the Black Label line. I think

it just ended this year and it's focused on the

character of John Constantine. Yes, last year

we actually had two great John Constantine comics,

which is odd to see, because we have been waiting

for having one good one for so long. And last

year we got two. Tom Taylor, I think, has the

voice of John Constantine down really pat. And

when you have an artist like Derek Robinson,

it's also going to look fantastic. This was a

much very different flavor than the ongoing series

that Simon and Spurrier did. This was much more

a line alongs of like Garth Ennis. It had that

type of sense of humor. It felt very much 90s

vertigo. Again, probably because it was drawn

by Derek Robinson helped out. out a bit, but

I just love the time it took. to deliver these

characters and not necessarily always focus on

plot. That was there, of course, and we had this

centered on this mystery of these billionaires

that were literally falling from the sky that

were demon children. You had Satan, who was a

main character in this. And when Satan's one

of the more sympathetic characters, you know,

you're probably reading a John Constantine DC

story. It was fun. It was funny. It was moving.

It had like all the elements you want in a more

mature type of tailor that you would get for

DC back in the day. So if you have not like done

how DC has been treating the character as of

late in the world of New 52 or what have you.

This is the John Constantine that made John Constantine

into the character that he is, as best as anything

that has been done for the character in quite

some time. Let's continue talking about Tom Taylor

with DC's Dead Planet hardcover that's coming

out this week and this again focuses on the DC

storyline that came out last year which was the

second story actually third story in the world

of DC's technically continuity wise it was the

second anyways it dealt with them coming back

to planet Earth as they were searching for a

cure for the disease that kind of caused all

these people to become mummified and DC's was

the book that should not have worked it should

just be this Marvel zombies ripoff and ended

up being much more Now, this didn't get the notoriety

or the sales of the original series, which was

a bit disappointing, because I think it was just

as good, if not better. It is actually kind of

impressive how much the DC world has expanded,

because you have this book, you have other mini

series, you have the digital first series. He's

put a lot, Tom Taylor has put a lot into this

world, kind of creating it, putting all the dices

together, kind of giving new pieces and being

able to fill them in later. It's actually pretty

masterful, all the ways that he has kind of combined

and constructed this world. And I think this

series, the Dead Planet series, really of the

scope where you even went off planet in a way

dealing with things like the new gods in some

exciting ways and the way it was kind of weaved

in and out the heat does a great job with introducing

a concept that you may be kind of forgetting

about. And then here it comes back and now we're

dealing with something brand new. One thing too

about this is that it's dealing with characters

like Jonathan and Damian in the roles of Superman

and Batman. And I thought it did a better job

of approaching how they would take on those roles

in something like Future State did only a few

months ago or really weeks ago. So also if you're

a person that maybe didn't think this... Sorry

can continue and maybe didn't return to this

because a lot of people apparently did it have

the advice checking it out because I think you'll

be pleasantly surprised with the quality of this

book compared to the original Also coming out

this week is Static and I don't know much about

this book outside the fact that it is written

and drawn by the artist of Crimson Flower, which

is one of my favorite books to come out this

year and a big reason I love that book is because

of the art. I'll preface it by saying it's an

art style that may not click with everyone. It's

a very aggressive style. It's characters that

kind of look ugly on purpose. It's characters

that in a design that may be not super appealing

to the eye, but just the dedication to that look,

how you'll just get these crazy angles and you're

never bored by it. It's very dynamic in that

way, both in character creations and rendering,

as well as just general page design and panel

layout. It's a very clever look and it has me

excited for what this creator will do more. And

this Matt Lislewski is the name of that artist

and I was hesitant to say it because I probably

really mispronounced it and bushed it in many

different ways. but he is an artist that is on

my must read list. Anytime I see work, I'm gonna

try to check it out. And this was a work he did

prior to Crimson Flower that is now getting a

release again. It came out on issues and now

we're getting it in complete form. So that has

me excited too, knowing that maybe because of

notoriety of Crimson Flower, how well that's

doing, Dark Horse saw that they had something

special here and let's try to go back to his

earlier work and print that out as well. So if

you're like me and love that book and want more

like that, know that you have a trade paper back

you can check out this week. Alright, I talked

about ongoing series starting new arcs notable

number ones and to trade paperbacks now It's

time to talk about the thing. I'm most excited

about my picks. I looked at my pick of the week

this week It was a very easy conversation. I

had inside my head It was basically a one -second

decision as I looked at the list of comics coming

out and saw a brew Baker's name It's all Sean

Phillips name. It's like yep. That's it and no

disregard to any of the other books I talked

about hopefully they'll be good as well But it's

hard to measure up to add brew breaker and Sean

Phillips who have been probably the two most

consistent over another time I've been reading

comics over the last 20 years or so doing some

of the best things. And when they team up together,

you know, magic happens as corny as that sound,

it has been very true. And I'm so excited about

it. I'm forgetting to even talk about what the

name of the book is. And it's The Friend of the

Devil, which is part of The Reckless Line, which

they recently started doing. And I'd actually

would advise checking out Ebber Baker's interview

he did with John Salas on the Ward Berlin podcast,

where he gets into why they're doing hard covers

and not... Leasing things and issues which is

unfortunate like I really wish we would get them

in issues But I get I get why they're making

that decision financially. It just makes more

sense to do it this way You know, we still get

the same amount of book There's just a lot of

waiting in between and there's something about

like reading a single issue of criminal that

and I really miss and maybe we'll never get that

again But if this has been consistent as something

like pulp that was also released which was like

their first Hardcover to kind of launch this

idea and if it's as good as that, you know It'll

be potentially one of the best comics of the

year. That is something that happens when you

read an Andrew Baker Sean Phillips book is that

it has the potential of being one of the best

comics of the year. That's a lot of pressure

to put on the book. That's a lot of expectations

to put on something. But so far, they've really

kind of pulled it off. I can't think of other

creators that have been that consistent. Again,

they don't necessarily do a huge amount. You

know, they'll have like Kill or Be Killed, or

The Fade Out, or Criminal. And then again, now

we're seeing them come back with a book like

this. And it really shouldn't work, right? Because

it's like going to the same sub shop every day,

ordering kind of the same thing. But despite

the fact that the ingredients are somewhat the

same, you still love it. It's still as delicious

as each and every day. And that's the case here.

It's again, a lot of crime drama, and they just

have this knack. for being able to approach ideas

in great ways. It just, I think, starts with

character, the way they build characters. They

make interesting characters and then take crime

tropes and match them in new and unique ways.

Edward Baker is probably my all -time favorite

writer. and because of Captain America, because

of this. So I can be maybe being a bit hyperbolic

here. Maybe there's elements I'm not missing

or overlooking or maybe overly praising. That

can be the case. But also putting that expectation

on something. And the fact that I often do that

and they still succeed is another testament to

their talent. Suffice to say, I'm excited for

it. You can kind of tell that, right? It was

one of my most anticipated books of the year,

let alone this week. So of course, it was my

pick of the week. But that's it for me for this

week. I do truly appreciate anyone that takes

the time. to watch my videos. Let me know what

you're excited for in the comments section below.

Just remember, comics are for everyone. The key

is finding the right one. Until next time, keep

reading.