We went through the 1,000+ December catalog items to pick out the potentially best and brightest comics. Take a look below to see what is on tap:
Another month with a lot of cool new series on Pre-order, and a ton of killer facsimiles, one real stand out new book, and a ton of awesome covers. Check out what is on tap:
New Series
Bronze Faces #1 – Boom Studios – Soho, London. Childhood friends Timi, Sango, and Gbonka reunite on the eve of the British Museum’s historic purchase of the works of Timi’s father, the seminal Nigerian artist Adewale Balogun. Timi has been invited as a ‘guest of honor,’ but what the Museum is heralding as a triumphant acquisition, the trio see as nothing short of brazen cultural theft. Emboldened by a night of drinking and shared outrage, they concoct a bold scheme to steal back the artwork themselves! But when they come into possession of a document called ‘the Register,’ outlining dozens of colonial-era stolen artifacts, their sights turn even higher to the Benin Bronzes – the British Museum’s cache of nearly 1,500 works of art stolen from the Kingdom of Benin.
Bug Wars #1 – Image – Slade Slaymaker is a kid from Alabama suddenly lost in a vicious world beyond his imagining, a world of marauding ant armies, spellcasting spider witches, and beetle-riding barbarians. A kingdom of tiny but deadly warriors hidden in his own backyard. The same world that saw his father eaten alive by insects now plunges young Slade into the middle of a brutal Bug War to decide the fate of his family. I like the Peach Momoko cover as well.
Doom Academy #1 – Did you think that STRANGE ACADEMY would be the same in the world with DOCTOR DOOM as SORCERER SUPREME?! NO! It is now DOOM ACADEMY! Relocated from New Orleans to Latveria, the best magic school in the world just got better (according to some). It’s the start of the second year for Strange Academy students, and you know that things will not go as planned!
Herculoids #1 – Classic Hanna Barbara characters return to comics.
Kendra #1 – Antarctic Press – THE NEWEST HEROINE FROM THE GODFATHER OF AMERICAN MANGA! FOLLOWING (UNSTEADILY) IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF DEJAH THORIS, RED SONJA, AND VALERIA! DESTINED FOR RICHES AND GLORY, FOILED ONLY BY A LOW LUCK STAT! In a land of barbarians, dragons and spellcasters, Kendra, a sultry siren of a sell-sword, always seems to get the short end of the stick! As she navigates the trials and tribulations of this unforgiving world, always looking for the next employment opportunity, she is hired by a most unlikely patron on a quest that may prove more daunting than she realized.
Loose End #1 – AN HOMAGE TO CLASSIC 90S CRIME DRAMA MOVIES! Tied up, tortured and thrown into a world of chaos, get ready for the wildest ride of your life! With crushing debt, an aimless career, and a thirst for the high life punching down on him, failing screenwriter Steven Hollis is handed a ticket out of his dead-end lifestyle… an offer he can’t refuse from the mob! Now all he has to do is kill the biggest exec in Hollywood. In the vein of movies such as Desperado, Swingers, Heat & Reservoir Dogs!
Mine Is a Long Lonesome Grave #1 – Oni Press – a brass-knuckled gut punch of revenge-horror torn from the forgotten corners of Appalachia, where magic and murder go hand in hand . . . Harley Creed is a bad man. He used to be worse. A violent ex-con with a string of brutal crimes in his past, he only wanted one thing when he finally walked free from prison: to leave Briar Falls, WV, behind and disappear forever. But Harley’s hometown has a strange way of swallowing people whole-call it a consequence of the low-level folk magic that has permeated its darker corners for generations. And now that Harley has returned, pent-up vengeance for his past crimes is about to come roaring back. Somebody has put a hex on him-and Harley has seven days before he dies in twisted, screaming agony. To reverse it, Harley must find and kill his unseen enemy before their curse can reap its terrible end. But in Briar Falls, there’s no shortage of suspects-and Harley is coming for them all. If can’t have peace, at least he can have revenge.
One World Under Doom #1 – ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM! Six months ago, Doctor Victor Von Doom became Sorcerer Supreme – then disappeared behind Latveria’s closed borders. For most, there’s enough going on in the world that Doom’s absence is not a priority, and some time without him feels like a blessing. Only a few recognize it for what it truly was…the calm before the storm. It is a storm that has now arrived. The world has woken up to a new reality: Doctor Doom, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, has magically taken over every broadcast medium on the planet and declared himself Emperor of the World – the ruler of a new United Latveria! And shockingly, impossibly, all of Earth’s leaders seem to be going along with this. Luckily, whether it’s mind control or Doombots, whatever’s affecting them hasn’t affected Earth’s heroes – and so they quickly form a strike team to stop Doom’s machinations. But will they succeed? And what happens when some begin to welcome their new Emperor with open arms, clamoring for One World Under Doom? Marvel’s biggest and most shocking event ever begins right here with ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM #1.
Pilgrim Secrets and Lies #1 – Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies is a bold all-new four-issue mini-series which digs deep into the millennia old strata of our planet and unearths something completely unknown. In a world transformed by environmental disaster, tensions rising between rival power blocs and space colonisation beyond our solar system now within easy reach, the discovery lying beneath the Antarctic ice promises to be a threat we have never faced before. Dormant since long before the dinosaurs, it’s incomprehensible, ancient-and alien.
Red Hulk #1 – RED HULK RAGES INTO ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM! Thunderbolt Ross in a cell deep below the ground – is a prisoner of DOCTOR DOOM And he is not alone. Brilliant military, criminal and political minds have been gathered against their will in a prison complex that serves as a “THINK TANK” to help carry out Doom’s plan for global domination. But the RED HULK has other plans! Guest starring MACHINE MAN and DEATHLOK!
Snow Owl #1 – In this dark and haunting tale from writer Joie Goh and artist Seth Adams, decades after the death of his father, Carl is summoned home by his widowed mother to face a shadowy and malevolent past he never knew existed.
Star Wars Jedi Knights #1 – FIRST ISSUE IN THE PREQUEL ERA! It begins here: MARVEL’S first series focusing on the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy: THE JEDI KNIGHTS! Featuring your favorite JEDI like QUI-GON JINN, OBI-WAN KENOBI, YODA and MACE WINDU alongside BRAND-NEW JEDI sure to become fan favorites! And who is the mysterious new villain targeting Qui-Gon Jinn?
Stay Out of the Woods – A nightmarish terror once again haunts the shadowy woods of a small town community. Three young friends have to confront their own childhood fears, undead creatures that stalk the living, an enigmatic tree that seemingly collects souls, and an ancient forest entity that seeks to reclaim these lands as its own.
Weapon X-Men #1 – WOLVERINE! DEADPOOL! CABLE! CHAMBER! THUNDERBIRD! Together on their very own X-team for the very first X-time – all in an X-tra-sized first issue! When a high-stakes mutant rescue mission from the ultimate global hot spot exposes the true enemy – possibly from within – an all-new team of all-action icons suddenly find themselves forged in fire. And the official membership policy is…no mercy allowed!
Zatanna #1 – SUPERSTAR JAMAL CAMPBELL KICKS OFF AN ALL-NEW ZATANNA LIMITED SERIES! Zatanna Zatara, the Mistress of Magic, is back on tour! She’s got her stage crew back together and is looking forward to a new, less chaotic chapter of life. However, her plans are disrupted before they even begin when her stage crew is abducted by a ghostly new adversary, The Lady White. Now, Zatanna is plunged into machinations of tricks, swords, and curses that threaten to tear her apart from the inside out! Sweet Sozomaika Foil Variant for the issue too.
New Characters
New Champions #2 – Who is the mysterious MAGNETRIX?
Cover Spotlight
Barbarella #5 (Cover C – Pace) – People love Akira homages. This is one.
Batgirl #4 (Cover B – Sozomaika Card Stock Variant)
Poison Ivy #30 (Cover C – Pablo Villalobos Card Stock Variant)
Psylocke #4 (Marguerite Sauvage Psylocke Variant)
Return of the Living Dead #2 (Cover A – Spears Painted)
Notable Reprints
Batman #610 Facsimile Edition – Hush Storyline gets facsimile.
Batman #611 Facsimile Edition – Hush story continues.
Daredevil #1 Facsimile Ed – First Daredevil gets the Facsimile treatment.
Detective Comics #31 Facsimile Edition – classic cover, first batarang and his original flying vehicle, the Batgyro
Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 Facsimile Edition – First appearance of John Constantine gets facsimile edition. Cool Super-Powers Action Figure Variant
Sandman #8 Facsimile Edition – First appearance of Death.
Veronica #19 Facsimile Ed – Classic Dan Parent cover on this facsimile.
X-Men #132 Facsimile Ed – Marvel is reprinting the complete Death of Phoenix Saga issues as they originally appeared!
Book of the Month
POP Kill #1
Previously only available through Kickstarter, Jimmy P. brings the Pop Kill storyline to stores.
Imagine a world where the two dominant and competing Cola companies, each worth billions, are owned by former Siamese twins who are now separated and have grown to hate each other so much they hire assassins, saboteurs, and espionage personnel to meddle with each other on a daily basis. This is the story about brotherly love run afoul, and the people they enlist to do their dirty work.