Weekly Comic Starting Points for April 14, 2021

One of the hardest questions to answer with comics

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

many series, so many years of continuity, having

a starting point can be difficult to find, and

that's where this series comes in. Hi everyone

out there, I'm Dan, aka The Comic Concierge,

and each week I look at all the new comics coming

out, pick out ongoing series starting new arcs,

notable new series and trade paperbacks and graphic

novels being released, and then I finish things

up by talking about the thing I'm most excited

about my pick of the week. So let's get things

started by looking at all the ongoing series

starting new arcs. The first ongoing series starting

a new arc is Wolverine with issue number 11.

And this Wolverine run actually has been a lot

of fun. And it's been one of the X -Men titles

that I feel like has been one of the easiest

to get into. It's not really been tied to much

of the other X -Men stuff. It has very much been

its own thing. So it actually makes it a lot

easier to follow. And if you maybe are not into

the other X -Men stuff and are worried about

this, know that you can jump in and pretty much

understand everything without reading those titles.

One concern I do have for this issue is that

Adam Kubrick is no longer on our duties. and

he brought so much to this book thus far. His

clever use, a perspective, his amazing panel

design, really even when the script maybe wasn't

working at all, his art was. So how will things

go with him not there? I'm not sure. The other

part that I'm not sure about is the fact that

this is gonna be dealing with Wolverine fighting

vampires and, you know, Supernatural and Wolverine

I'm not sure about that, although the X -Men

have tangled with vampires a lot in the past,

so it's not necessarily anything new, and apparently

Omega Red is going to be tangling up with everything

as well, and he was actually a big part of the

book when it first began, and now he's coming

back, so there may be ties to some of the first

arcs, I'm not sure, but if you're a huge Wolverine

fan and know Wolverine, when I was a fan of comics

in the 90s, he was everything. Not as much as

he used to be, but still, I think if you have

maybe passed on this run because there hasn't

been a really strong Wolverine run. Maybe give

it a shot. Like I said, I think it's been one

of the more consistent X -Men books since this

came out. And despite the fact that we are changing

artists, at least the artist that we are getting,

Scotty, isn't another accomplished artist as

well. So it may not be Q -Bert's art, but it

still may be good. We shall see. Stay in the

world of Marvel for our next issue starting a

new arc with Guardians of the Galaxy issue number

13 or legacy number 175 so it being that kind

of anniversary issue it's a bigger issue it's

also the start of a brand new Guardians of the

Galaxy team and I mean team inside the book Al

Ewing is still on writing duties and this is

a run that I've been kind of on and off with

actually have missed the last number of issues

I enjoyed when I first read it was just one of

those things I felt behind on but I've heard

a lot of People talk about how good this is and

how much it's being slept on So i'm excited because

this will be a good opportunity to kind of jump

on board without having to Read everything that

happened before and guardians of the galaxy is

one of those groups that does have that ever

changing roster So i'm excited to see what characters

will be on this roster because I can make a break

I know what how good a comic book is. No alley

ewing is really proving himself as a writer with

things like you know, Mortal Hulk, but the Guardians

of the Galaxy run. I feel like even when you

put big names on it, even including like Donny

Cates, for whatever reason, despite people loving

the film, it hasn't garnered the attention you

think it would. So maybe this shake up is exactly

what it needs in order to get people to pay attention

to it. And maybe, you know, checking it out,

we'll see if it actually deserves that attention.

We are still not leaving the world of Marvel

with our next book as Star Wars Bounty Hunters,

issue number 11, also starts a new arc this week

and I will say my assumption is this will probably

be a one -shot issue because the next issue of

Bounty Hunters gets into the Bounty Hunters summer

event that's going to be a big part of all the

Star Wars books. You're going to have this major

crossover with all the Star Wars books including

this book, including Darth Vader, the main book,

I think even some of the Dr. Alpha books as well.

So be warned that if you enjoy this it might

change things next. Issue and if you're a person

that doesn't like one -shots, maybe this might

not be the thing for you But as a cover suggests,

which is a gorgeous cover, it's it's it's fantastic

It is a issue that focuses on boss everyone's

favorite lizard based bounty hunter So i'm excited

to check this out because i've actually not really

been keeping up with this series It's one of

those where I kind of pick and choose my star

wars stuff And i've been mostly focusing on the

high republic stuff, but I am somewhat excited

for this bounty hunters summer event the fact

that we're getting Steve McNiffin doing Star

Wars again is always a plus. I'm just hoping

to get, you know, a nice little one -shot to

whet the appetite before the big event, the main

meal, comes in upcoming weeks. Yes, there are

comics outside of the world of Marvel that are

also starting new arcs and that's the case with

Black Hammer Visionaries number three. In the

Visionary series, it's an anthology series where

Each issue has a different creative team. The

first issue was written by Pat Alswald. The second

issue by Jeff Johns. This issue is written by

Chip Zdarsky, who I guess is contractually obligated

to be on all anthology series because he's been

on this. He's been on some of the other DC ones.

He's been everywhere recently. He also was on

Silvercoin last week. And he also has a Daredevil

comic coming out this week. So he's in that cavalcade

of lists of creators that seems to just be writing

everything, like him, Jeff Lemire, Colin Bunn,

who we'll talk about later. They're just... dominating

like 90 % of comics right now. And this is drawn

by Johnny Christmas, who's an artist I have actually

not had a lot of experience with. I think one

of the most notable things he worked on was the

Alien 3 comic for Dark Horse not too long ago.

The last issue of this series I wasn't the biggest

fan of, it just didn't work for me. It was this

kind of slasher take on a Black Hammer universe

and it was, I don't know, it just didn't necessarily

fit into the world of Black Hammer all that well.

It didn't kind of... go to the strength of Black

Hammer and didn't do anything interesting with

the idea of the series compared to the first

issue, which kind of took the framework of Ghost

World and threw it into that of Black Hammer.

It was actually quite clever, which is kind of

weird, where that was written by Pat Oswald,

who's not, you know, a notorious comic book writer.

I thought he did a much better job than Jeff

Johns, who's this, you know, veteran, you know,

well -acclaimed comic book writer. But man, you

know. things happen. Chip Dodarsky now is having

his take on the world of Black Hammer and maybe

the fact that he's Canadian and Jeff Lemire is

Canadian, he'll get the sensibilities a little

bit more. We shall see. But if you're a fan of

the Black Hammer universe like myself and you

want more of it, this is your opportunity to

get more comics focusing on that world. the last

ongoing series starting a new arc that we will

talk about is the comic book history of animation

number five and i talked about this last time

and i'm going to talk about it as much as i can

because i love this comic and i feel like no

one's talking about it because it's a non -fiction

documentary comic that i guess doesn't necessarily

hit the zeitgeist as much as something like a

batman book might but this issue is focusing

on manga anime and things like heyo miyazaki

as a cover indicates like taking heyo miyazaki

and making him look like toro and that's why

i'm really excited the last issue was all about

saturday morning cartoons and it's just a real

research well executed Idea about telling the

history of animation and how and in the format

of a comic book and it's never dry It's always

interesting. They always find cool ways to display

that on the page And I would highly advise if

you're a fan of history if you're a fan of animation

especially if you do love Hey Miyazaki if you're

a huge anime fan and you want to learn more about

it because even if you're an expert or you feel

like you know everything bound each of these

subjects I think you'll probably find out that

there's a lot of stuff in here that you didn't

know or at least appreciate the approach and

how did they tell this story. Now with this nearing

its end and if you haven't picked up this series

thus far it may make more sense to check out

The Trade which will be coming out probably very

shortly and also you can also check out the book

they did previously which was the comic book

history of comics which is also quite good and

done in the same type of format. Alright, now

that we talked about ongoing series starting

new arcs, let's shift gears to look at new series

debuting this week. The biggest new series coming

this week comes from the world of DC, and of

course, it's Batman. It's Batman the Detective

number one, and this is written by Tom Taylor

who I think set the world on fire with his recent

issue of Nightwing and drawn by Andy Kubert.

So a big week for the Kubert's, I guess, in the

sense of how one isn't doing a book and Andy

is doing this book. So that is quite the creative

team, which has me excited. Now I have read some

of Tom Taylor's, he worked on things like Detective

Comics in the past. So this isn't the first time

he's tackled Batman. Of course he's written things

like Deceased as well. It was mainly Damien as

Batman. This is probably one of the bigger books.

Anytime you get an opportunity to have your own

Batman series. Clearly that means that DC trusts

you and I think Tom Taylor has certainly earned

that trust with you just look at the sales numbers

of something like DC's and just the critical

claim of something very recent like the Nightwing

book. So what will this do? What different take

will he have on Batman? I'm not sure but at least

we get a different location as this is taking

place in Europe and I know a lot of people who

like loved the early 70s and 80s runs where you

had a batman that did go all across the country

and the world he wasn't just centered in Gotham

which hasn't really happened in quite some time

maybe since you know the batman ink run where

lately it's just been batman and Gotham and people

taking over Gotham and this person who's not

really loving the current batman run all that

much compared to most people i'm excited to to

get a Batman book that is new and is going to

be a limited series. So I don't have to worry

about continuing with it. And it won't have to

worry about being tied to other major events.

It can just be its own thing. It does seem to

take place in normal continuity. This is not

a black label book. This is our normal. DC continuity

book, although I doubt it will deal with a lot

of the other ongoing stuff that has happening

in DC So I'm excited for it. Like I said at being

a Tom Taylor fan I've loved a lot of his work

that he's been doing lately like most people

and any Cupid on art any keeper doing Batman

that has me excited and also Batman in Europe.

That's kind of cool, too. So I know there's probably

a lot of people out there that are just sick

of Batman books because, you know, we do get

a lot of them. That is DC's bread and butter.

But like I said, if I look at just the ingredients

of this, even if the fact that is like the 80th

Batman book that come out in the last four weeks

can still be really good. And let's hope it is.

You argue with me that this is actually the biggest

number one because when you look at the creators

that are involved Along with the universes and

titles that are combining into one book It is

pretty impressive because you have lock and key

in the Sandman universe number one Helen gone

and this is written by Joe Hill and Neil Gaiman

and and those are two names. I mean, obviously

Neil Gaiman is like a god among really many people.

He's an admirer for a lot of the work he's done

with comics. He's done with everything in the

San Juan universe is, you know, the pinnacle

of comic book making for a lot of people when

it was at its height. Maybe not as much now.

who knows, but anytime you put Neal Gaiman's

name on something, it's going to garner a lot

of interest and Joe Hill as well. I mean, Hill

House books last year, I think proved themselves

and there was a lot of great titles out of that.

And, you know, being the son of Stephen King

is... brings with it, I think, a lot of pressure.

The fact that he's carved his own niche in the

comic book world, I think, shows that he's just

not someone that is getting to where he is because

of who he's connected to. He has a lot of talent.

And the fact that Lock and Key is also a Netflix

series and the Sam and Universe is becoming one.

And rarely do we get these crossovers anymore.

Usually when they happen, it's we're not getting

the Marvel and DC. We're getting like the DC

and IDW universes. So how is this going to work

out? I really don't know. These crossovers can

be just an Editorial nightmare because you have

you know all these different ramifications that

can go into it and what people want So it can

be difficult to make a good book but you would

think fact that these are Creators that do have

a good sense of creative control over their properties

that they would maybe not have the Parameters

that are faced with other characters when like

you have Superman showing up and the Marvel Universe

or something like that So if you're a fan of

either these properties Go ahead and give it

a try. And I'm interested in checking it out.

Like I've read a little bit of Lock and Key and

a little bit of Sandman. So I'm a little hesitant

to jump in because it does seem like. I might

get lost right away. I don't know how welcoming

this will be to new readers of both universes

if it's going to have some expectations that

you know what happened in the past books. I'm

not sure. I did really like the Lock and Key

miniseries that happened last year, which was

taking place during World War I. With both of

these universes, there's so many different opportunities

and how they can connect and how they can work.

They're brand. These aren't just a few characters

that can cross over. You're talking about literally

universe and concepts, but having unlimited possibilities

can also be a bad thing because then you just

have too many choices and you can get lost in

it. So there's a lot of things that can happen

with this. So I am ex - Excited to see it just

to see how well they pull it off, because it

can be something that will be amazing. It could

be a dud. It could be convoluted. There's a lot

of different possibilities when it comes to how

well this book is going to work out. And I'm

interested to see who's out there that's interested

in this. This is going to bring maybe a lot of

people that aren't typically reading comics,

because this is seeing something that has really

not been done before. This is a big week for

crossovers as we also are getting the world's

greatest detective teaming up with a caper roof

sater and the Batman and Scooby -Doo number one

and this seems like it could be a lot of fun

Now we Batman and Scooby -Doo world have crossed

over a lot in the past. There's been cartoons

of it There's been some comics there was the

Scooby -Doo team up series not too long ago Which

was quite good actually was much better than

you would think it would be and Scooby -Doo comics

have come and gone and there was that random

like the world Scooby -Doo comic that came out

at the time of like the Flintstones which was

you know a bit weird but this seems to be more

standard you know kid -friendly Batman and kid

-friendly Scooby -Doo coming together and there

are not a lot of kid -friendly comics that are

out there especially from DC on this type of

format on a monthly issue format so if you do

have kids and you want to get them opportunity

to read something although I don't know how Popular

scooby -doo is right now with kids Mike Mike

actually does like scooby -doo. He's he's watched

some of the cartoons on Netflix But I don't think

think he's necessarily at the same level as he

once was I was never a huge Scooby -Doo fan as

a kid. I'm sorry. I'm sure a lot of people are

angry by that It just was one of those cartoons.

I never really watched however, as my son is

a big fan of Scooby -Doo Maybe I will check this

out and see if it's something he would enjoy

because that might blow his mind You know seeing

the first time that you're getting a crossover

like this of that Scooby -Doo that you know is

teaming up with that Batman you that you know,

and man that can blow some young minds A new

number one for Marvel this week is Dark Hawk,

Heart of the Hawk number one. That's a lot of

Hawks in one title and this is a celebration

of the 30 years of Dark Hawk and when I think

about this character to me he was just... everything

90s from his designs from the kind of the way

he was created he was meant to be this big new

character in a time when when speculation was

huge so everyone thought oh this is going to

be the new wolverine even has claws and it never

quite got there although there was you know some

attempts to bring the character back i remember

with like annihilation and things like that they

revamped the idea of dark hawk and things like

that and this is celebration so there's a combination

of short stories that you where you have the

creators coming back you have Dan Hamnett like

I mentioned to help redefine the character also

Carl Higgins who will be working on the new series

that will be coming out shortly as well yes we

are getting another Dark Hawk series after this

so I guess if you're a huge fan of the characters,

this may be something that you want to check

out if you're interested in seeing what this

new series will be. So just to be warned, this

isn't the start of a new series. This is kind

of a combination of both and we saw DC do this

a lot with their anniversary issues where they

would have a lot of short stories and then at

the last issue was often whoever the new creative

team would be on it and they had to write their

short story that would lead into... the new series

that's coming out and they're taking that format

with this issue so I'm guessing if you're not

a huge fan of the character that may not be something

you want to pick up I don't think this is going

to forge a lot of new fans maybe it will maybe

the fact that it is kind of having a combination

of old and new and could lead to something good

I'm not sure I'm not a huge fan of the character

personally so I'll wait and see. I'm interested

if you are. Are you excited for it? Are you excited

to see more Darkhawk in the world of Marvel Universe?

I could spend some time since we've seen him,

and I think there's a reason for that. But maybe

this could prove me wrong. A new number one from

Image this week is Home Number One. And this

is centers on a mother and a son who are traveling

to the United States seeking asylum. as they're

going there the son is dealing with a lot of

trauma and anxiety about what's happening as

they get separated and where that trauma is coming

where that feeling is coming from isn't just

the fact that you know they're dealing with his

journey but he's actually getting super powers

so it's taking a really huge hot button topic

especially right now that actually has been really

much in the news as of late and placing it within

image and placing a superhero twist on the idea.

Personally, I was actually excited about this

before the supernatural twist was added at the

end or the aspect of having superpowers. I'm

not against that, but I think just having a comic

book about this issue, about this topic coming

out monthly would be great, even without having

superpowers being thrown into it. Now. that does

have me interested because this is a type of

superhero story that we really haven't seen before

and one that I think probably should be told

in some way. So I'm glad that Image is putting

this out. This is from a creative team that's

relatively new to comics. So again, myself, I

don't have a lot of experience with them, but

it does seem like Image has had a lot of faith

in this book because they have been promoting

it a lot. images in the back of the books and

social media wise they've been really pushing

this so I'll be checking it out because I really

want to know like how exactly are they gonna

make this idea work and it's probably gonna be

one of the books that's clearly talked about

because you know when you're talking about such

a vital topic it's going to garner attention

as it should and and I'm hoping they can take

that attention to say something rather important

about the issue Coming from the world of bohemian

comics you have you promise me darkness number

one and this is another comic that deals with

superhero people but it has a different twist

on how people get their superpowers. It's based

on Haley's Comet that comes every 75 years and

every year it comes more people gain powers because

of it. So I think that it's a clever idea of

like how do you get people to have superpowers

and we've seen so many different ideas from like

you know what they're just mutants they have

them to of course they get dropped in radioactive

acid or whatever to this where it's you know

based upon Haley's Comet so That's kind of cool

that they're defining a new ways to create superheroes

and the big conflict here is that you have a.

a villain who actually seeks out those that have

superpowers and takes their energy and becomes

stronger each time like I guess like Highlander

in a way that can only be one we shall see but

like I'm seeing a lot more from Behemoth comics

I don't know it's just because I'm doing this

series so I'm seeing more from them or if they're

getting more attention because they're having

more success either way and Bohemoth comics tend

to have a pretty strong horror vibe so if you

are a horror fan and you want a new book to check

out you may want to check this one out. One of

the new series I'm really excited about it's

Kanto City of Giants number one, and this is

again a number one That's not really a number

one in the sense of there's a been past Kanto

series There's been this is the third series.

There was also a one -shot I will say I think

most of the Kanto books have been pretty welcoming

to new readers Even if you haven't read the ones

before I would highly advise you checking out

especially if you love adventure tales if you

love fantasy details Kanto has grown into one

of my favorite characters over the last few years

because of this book and his adventures. He's

just one of those characters that you can really

easily get behind. And one thing I just find

that is really compelling about this series is

that it's filled of characters that like each

other, which seems a bit weird to talk about

as a compliment. But I feel like a lot of comics

now and especially superhero comics, it's just

all this arguing and people that hate each other

that always conflict with one another and seeing

a book of just Clearly there's conflict clearly

there's drama, but just an under sense of they

actually really deeply care for each other And

that's really where the most of the drama comes

from Plus, obviously you have everything else

going on with all these this this fantasy world

filled of monsters and now of course Giants and

now the fact that you have Kancho who himself

is not the biggest person in the world or I guess

not person But you know, he's yay big and now

he's in the land of giants like that to me just

right there only in the premise you have a lot

of stakes because man that guy could get stepped

on and things would not go really well. There's

also I think a pretty good family -friendly book

as well which I know sometimes could be a moniker

that scares people because family -friendly usually

means generic or corny and it's not that it's

you know there's something like Wizard of Oz

where I think anyone who watches it or reads

it will be able to enjoy it and take something

out of it no matter if you're five years old

or if you're 50 years old. Unfortunately I'm

much closer to the latter than the former former

but what you're gonna do on the bright side reading

a book like Kanto is one of those that will keep

you forever young so joking aside it's been a

really strong book really consistent book and

I think like if that type of genre is something

you enjoy highly advised checking out you know

checking out the trades that are currently out

for the first series as well as the second series

that just ended a few months ago it's been a

quite a journey and I'm glad we're getting more

Kanto coming out this week Also coming out from

Image Comics is June's Verne's Lighthouse number

one and this comes from the creative teams that

gave us the marked and Sonata which are two series

that I thought had promised but never quite got

there. I just never also loved the look of Sonata.

I gave it credit for trying different things

with the medium and the the attempt to kind of

use photorealism as part of the page was a good

idea. It just never completely worked for me.

So I guess that makes me a little hesitant to

pick up this book. The premise is about this

lighthouse, but not that lighthouse that you'll

see next to the sea, a lighthouse in space. And

it's a supercomputer that helps ships travel

across the galaxy in these wormholes so they're

not crashing into one another. And it's manned

by a few humans, an alien, and a nanny bot. and

they're able to peacefully... you know, help

ships across the galaxy. Unfortunately, or I

guess fortunately, if you want a comic that has

drama, there are pirates that are attempting

to change that and bring havoc and chaos to the

galaxy by taking over this lighthouse. So I do

give them a lot of credit for having a concept

that is pretty bold. There's a lot going on with

this idea and a lot of possibilities as well.

And actually is kind of clever when you think

about it. It's like, yeah, I guess if you're

traveling across the galaxy would make sense

to have something that could help guide. and

what happens if that thing goes away? That's

amazing what could happen there. So despite the

fact that maybe I didn't love their past stuff

as much as some other people, I'll give it a

shot and see how it goes. I mentioned Colin Bunn

previously because he also has a new number one

coming out this week with The Phantom and the

Scan number one where he teams up with previous

creative partner Scott Torres. They worked on

the series Cold Spots not too long ago and oddly

enough this is another book that deals with people

getting superpowers because of a comet. A comet

hits earth and let people get psychic abilities.

Now though one of the people with psychic abilities

is seeing that other individuals that also gain

those The other thing with the psychic ability

is the fact that when he used it, it does hurt

him and bring him to his end. ever so closer

so he's trying to then team up with the people

that are left to figure out what's going on and

to save their lives so i don't know what's in

the water where people are like what can give

people superpowers comments and so clearly this

isn't a case of serendipity where you have two

comics that are coming out where people getting

powers due to an object falling from space i

guess it's not that super uncommon in the world

of comics so maybe it makes sense and again it

does deal with where those people are being hunted

down But I guess the different element for this

one, again, is that when he uses those capabilities,

he also loses them. So again, I don't think this

is a case of people copying off one another,

considering how long comics are made. It's just

something that occurs, and maybe there'll be

a nice little contest. And it's always funny

when that happens. You see it a lot with movies,

of course, when... You know, you had Tombstone

and Wyatt Earp coming out recently, and now we

have the comic comics that are coming out this

week. So what does that mean? Which one's going

to be the Wyatt Earp? Which one's going to be

the Tombstone? Hopefully both of these end up

being Tombstone. Nothing, not to disparage Wyatt

Earp. It's just, you know, not as good as Tombstone.

And no one really talks about it because it's

not as good as Tombstone. But there you go. So

if you like comics that deal with people getting

with superpowers, do the things that falling

with base, this is going to be your best week

ever, I think. Last number one comes from Dark

Horse and it's Jenny Zero number one, and this

is another kaiju story Yes, this has something

to do with comets, but we do get another book

about giant monsters And we've been seeing a

lot of that lately I don't know people just saw

a lot of the King Kong and Godzilla trailers

and it's like I want to make a comic about big

monsters fighting Who knows but what's different

about this is that jenny is? This person that

was a kaiju killer in the past, but she's no

longer in that role She's kind of washed out

and the kaiju basically have left and she's become

kind of an alcoholic and she's been dealing with

a lot of problems Unfortunately, it seems that

the kaiju has returned and she has to decide

can she sober up? Can she help fix those problems

and bring the fight to them once again? and part

of me does wonder is like Can you approach a

serious topic like that, like alcoholism, like

addiction, through the world of Kaiju? And my

thought is probably, I mean, you saw superhero

books deal with alcoholism. I mean, you had a

man in a metal suit. deal with alcoholism as

Iron Man, and that's one of the more notable

runs in that series. Just because maybe the concept

is something that is a bit cartoonish doesn't

necessarily mean you can deal with some serious

issues. This is a creative team I don't have

a lot of experience with. I haven't read their

work in the past, so I can't speak to that. But

this is the type of book, like I mentioned, that

could potentially put them on my radar is something

some people I need to check out which I'm always

looking forward to and if you are a kaiju fan

there have been a lot of books in the last few

weeks to check out and maybe this will be one

of the best ones who knows but uh if you're interested

and you want to check it out it'll be coming

out this week we talked about ongoing series

starting new arcs new number ones we're going

to shift over to the world of graphic novels

and trade paperbacks the first graphic novel

we're talking about is monsters this is published

by Phanagraphics and it's written and drawn by

Barry Windsor Smith and this is noted to be a

project he's been working on for 35 years which

is incredible to think about. Barry Windsor Smith

is a very known name. He's very accomplished

in the world of comics and this is set to be

one of his best works which is a lot of pressure

to put on a graphic novel so we shall see. It's

about a story and we're in person in 1964. joins

the army and quickly is put into experiments

that were actually continuing from the World

War II, taking things that the Nazi were doing

and now using it on American soldiers and dealing

with those repercussions. It's set to be very

heartfelt and very detailed and a story that

I imagine Barry Smith has put a lot of thought

and ideas into over these three past decades.

So I'm really excited to check this out because

You know if you're gonna put a lot of pressure

on yourself fan of graphics doesn't do that very

often You know, they're they're not one to speak

in hyperbole So if they're having this much faith

in this book and considering very witchers methods

one that has done phenomenal work in the past

this could be One of the best comics of the years

thus far it could be one of the books that you

see as nominated for Eisner's So it may end up

being the best book I read this week, if I can

get a chance to check it out. It actually was

at bookstores earlier in the year, but now it's

finally coming to your local comic book stores

this week. Also coming out this week is Batman

death in the family deluxe edition and I bring

this up obviously Batman death in the family

is a book that has been out a lot in different

Additions and things like that But if you're

looking to read one of the most iconic Batman

stories of all time now you can in a new edition

now I know recently they put out the animated

film that was like gave you options of what you

wanted to do to try to then Give you a different

idea a different experience because you know

when this book first came out they had people

vote if a certain person should die or live,

and then not to ruin it for someone who didn't

read it, but you'll get the idea. But yes, it's

coming out in a brand new edition, so if you've

ever owned it, or you wanted to own it again,

or if it's one of your favorite comics that you

just keep buying no matter what different format

it's in, now you'll see a new edition coming

out this week at your local comic book store.

Another new project coming out this week is criminal

volume one and volume two both are coming out

this week and this is criminal combining a lot

of early criminal stories and it's kind of confusing

when you say criminal volume one because There

have been different examples of criminal. You

had, you know, obviously the recent image you've

had icon, but this covers the first three major

story arcs. It's over 400 pages. This first deluxe

volume. So you're getting a lot of comic there

and it is set at cover price at $50. So if you're

huge, I'd bring a bigger fan of Sean Phillips,

then like I am. And a lot of this, a lot of these

examples are actually kind of hard to track down

because a lot of the original tray paper racks

are not sold anymore and on the issues themselves

are hard to find. enjoy the recent criminal series

that was done by image and you want to read more

criminal know that you can check these books

out and some of the stories that recently came

out do tie into these it's the one cool thing

about criminal is that you can kind of go in

and go out of it some of the characters pop up

again you don't necessarily need to read all

of it to understand it but the one consistent

is that it's always really good at least most

of the time One of the favorite acts I'm really

excited about coming out this week is Wicked

Things, and this is a continuation of John Allison's

and Mark Seren's Giant Daze series, and Giant

Daze was a fantastic comic that ran about 50

issues or so, which are about these people growing

up and... through their college years and it

recently ended and Wicked Things was a spinoff

of that series that focused on the character

of Charlotte as her time as a detective. And

this is just a really fun book. Mark Turen's

cartooning is amazing. It's not a book I think

that's going to work for necessarily everyone

but if you enjoy Giant Days it's again a a more

human level drama. It's very funny. It's very

cartoonish in a way. There's actually, there's

not really enough comics like this in the comic

book world. I was really sad when Giant Days

ended, but look at things came out and I was

excited to get it. So I think John Allison, it's

a very particular sense of humor. And if it clicks

with you, it will really click with you. Check

this out and you really like it. You don't have

to read Giant Days to get this. It only deals

with Charlotte's character. Doesn't necessarily

tie into the other characters. Don't feel like

you need to read all those issues. To follow

this but if you do read it you do like it Highly

advised going and checking out giant days either

in trade or digitally It to me was one of the

best comics of the last decade or so and how

Consistent it was and how it was telling a story

that really no one else was in the world of comics

to that level All right. We talked about trade

paperbacks. We talked about graphic novels. We

talked about new number ones We talked about

ongoing series starting new arcs and now we're

gonna talk about the thing I'm most excited about

my pick of the week This was a week where it

was hard to choose the book for number one because

there was a lot of things that were very close

to this. Batman detective, monsters, wicked things

all could kind of fit in here. But as I put everything

together and I kind of measured everything out,

the book I ended up choosing was Spider -Man,

Spider's Shadow number one. And why this book?

Well, number one is written by Chip Zdarsky,

who is a writer that's been really clicking with

me as of late, loving his Daredevil book. And

we get another issue of that this week as well.

And it's also doing something that I love, which

are the what -if stories. I've always loved the

what -if books. And you're wondering, well, it

doesn't say what -if. What do you mean it's a

what -if story? It's a different approach to

the what -if stories. Typically the what ifs

books were one issue. It was like what if the

Fantastic Four never were four and what would

be the issue and by the end of it you would get

that story and then the next what if would be

what if the Punisher became Venom. So by the

end of it, by the end of each issue, it was over.

You never went on to the next issue. This is.

Having a different approach where it's a what

-if story, but it's going to be a few issues

long now I know some people are being like, oh

great more decompressed storytelling That's what

modern comics needs more often and and I kind

of could see that but I have a lot of faith like

my thought was the first thing I thought about

actually was Spider -man life story that came

out last year or two years ago time doesn't matter

anymore But I love that book and I guess you

could kind of fit that into the idea of a what

-if as well because it would be like what if

time passed normally in the Marvel Universe and

we're getting a fantastic four life story coming

out very soon and I'm really excited about that

it's going to be written by Mark Russell so I'm

just going to say that's probably going to be

my most anticipated book whatever week that comes

out but for this one again It's spider -man and

i'm a pretty big spider -man fan i'm not it's

he's not my favorite character of all time But

i've read a lot of spider -man stuff I grew up

in the 90s series and this is about what if spider

-man became venom and part of me is like I don't

need any more symbiotes stuff because we just

had All the king and black things and like I

don't know. But the fact that it's his own thing.

It's own universe. It's not going to be dealing

with anything else. It's not going to be dealing

with null. At least I don't think it will be.

And I love the idea of being able to give creators

the freedom to do what they want inside the Marvel

Universe. I really miss Marvel Knights and Marvel

Max, where you could tell a bit more mature stories

in the Marvel Universe. And you didn't have to

worry about continuity. Those have kind of gone

away. So this will be the closest thing we get

to it. So that's why it's my most anticipated.

They're just a little bit, you know, it's combining.

a lot of things that I like and a lot of things

I miss into one book. It will be good who knows

sometimes putting expectations on a book like

this is a kiss of death and it won't end up being

very good. I doubt it will be bad and maybe it

won't be great, but that's the book I went with

this week. Like I said, there's a lot of different

comics that could fit into this most anticipated

book this week. There's a lot that I'm excited

for. I feel like I'm always excited for books

each week. That's the wonderful thing about comic

books is that each week we have so many books

to choose from that all have potential to be

good. Sometimes it ends up working out. Sometimes

it doesn't. But anyways, I will end this video.

So let me know what you're excited about. What

are you most anticipating? What are some books

that maybe I brought to your attention that now

you're excited for? I always love hearing about

those stories as well. Just thank you for checking

out the video. I really do appreciate it. Just

remember comics are for everyone. The key is

finding the right one. Until next time, keep

reading.