The biggest Marvel release of the week is no doubt Spider-Man #1 (J. J. Abrams, Henry Abrams, Sara Pichelli), as the webbed wonder and Mary Jane Watson face new challenges, and there a new kid on the block too - but who is Cadaverous?! Also new from the House of Ideas this is Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1 (Jim Zub, Lan Medina) in which T'Challa takes on a new team featuring Gorilla-Man, Ka-Zar and Wasp!
For a longer read this week we also have Doctor Strange vol. 3 (Mark Waid, , Scott Koblish) in which the Sorcerer Supreme becomes the Herald of Galactus(!?) and Fantastic Four vol. 3 (Dan Slott, Aaron Kuder) which sees the first family take on Doctor Doom again...
The extension of a galaxy far, far away continues this week with Star Wars: Age of Resistance: Rey #1 (Tom Taylor, Ramon Rosanas) and Star Wars: Age of Resistance: Rose Tico #1 (Tom Taylor, Ramon Rosanas) both filling in blanks from the cinema releases.
Meanwhile in DC's summer event there is a evil of Lex's (I'm not 100% certain on the collective noun but let's stick with this for now) in Year of the Villain: Lex Luthor #1 (Jason Latour, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie). Also from DC this week is Flash Forward #1 (Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund) in which the former Fastest Man Alive tries to seek redemption after the events of Heroes In Crisis and his part in them, and Inferior Five #1 (Jeff Lemire, Keith Giffen, Michelle Delecki) in which five teenagers in America discover the repercussion of the Invasion! event.
This weeks award for the longest title is also one of the most anticipated books of the week Rick And Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons: Chapter II Painscape (Jim Zub, Troy Little). We could give you the synopsis of the book but it makes literally no sense unless you're a fan of the show or the book, in which case you won't need to read it. But we will tell you that there are Owl Bears involved.
There is a new hip-shaker headed for the charts in Archie 1955 #1 (Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Tom Grummett), and a new batch of would-be heroes are recruited to take on COBRA in G.I.Joe #1 (Paul Allor, Chris Evenhuis). Steeple #1 (John Allison) is a tale of religion, morality and a mini-Rapture from the creator of Giant Days, You Are Obsolete #1 (Mathew Klickstein, Evgeny Bornyakov) envisages a world in which the children start to kill off anyone aged over 40, and the Sabrina Super Special Magazine (Various) looks at some of the highlights of the teenage witch's career before season three of the hit Netflix show returns.
I hope you're all settled in with a good cuppa for this next section, because boy oh boy do we have some new reads for you in the indie trade sections.. let's go! Would you like some girls with guns fighting for freedom against gangsters and governments? Good thing we have Pussycats vol 1 (Vince Brusio, Mats Engesten). Want to read about an artist forced to work for the Nazis and now on a murderous revenge trip? Check out Simon Says vol 1 (Andre R Frattino, Jesse Lee).
Fairlady vol 1 (Brian Schirmer , Claudia Balboni) is a fantasy tale of post-war private investigators, Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion (Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba) collects the long awaited follow-up to the original series, and Assassin Nation vol 1 (Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson) sees the former World's Greatest Hitman hire a bunch of his previous rivals to keep him safe from an unnamed foe. Which doesn't at all sound like it could go wrong...
For those of you who fancy some nightmare-inducing, post-apocalyptic horror we have not one but three volumes of Crossed for you: Crossed: Family Values (David Lapham,Javier Barreno), Crossed: Psychopath (David Lapham, Raulo Caceres) and Crossed: Wish You Were Here (Simon Spurrier, Javier Barreno) all in beautiful, terrible hard cover editions.
We also have Age of Conan: Belit (Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk), The Boys Omnibus vol 4 (Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Russell Braun, Darick Robertson), and in Farmhand vol 2 (Rob Guillory) the weird goings on continue at the Jenkins' family farm. Head Lopper: Knights of Venora (Andrew MacLean) is the third volume of the fantasy epic, and Port of Earth vol 3 (Andrea Mutti) sees the conflict between earthlings and aliens continue against a backdrop of corporate diplomacy.
Hilda and the Mountain King (Luke Pearson) is the latest instalment in the much-loved series, Sandman: Dream-Hunters (Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell) gets a new 30th anniversary special, and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (Hajime Touya) is the missing story that goes between the original Danganronpa: The Animation manga and the recently published manga series Danganronpa 2: Ultimate Luck and Hope and Despair. Which I hope means more to you than it does to me...
Set prior to the book that inspired the movie and the TV show, Snowpiercer: The Prequel: The Extinction (Matz, Jean-Marc Rochette) is set before the event that caused the new ice age, and shows us the terrifying events that led to the need for and creation of the eponymous train. Stitched vol 1 (Garth Ennis, Mike Wolfer) gives us a supernatural horror story, and the Uber: Enhanced Edition hardcover (Kieron Gillen, Canaan White) is a collectors dream edition of the World War Two horror tale from the leading light in British comics.
Check out all the releases below and fire us a message if that essential something needs to appear in your pull list!