The Bleeding Edge of Pop Culture
Hello, and welcome to the Marvelous Market. If this is your first time here, welcome. This is the log of comics I, Spike Stonehand, the world’s greatest comic critic, am buying this week. Unless you are a millionaire looking to subsidize and patronize a niche industry, this isn’t a checklist. Like the rules of parlay, it is merely suggestions and guidelines for you, a discerning customer. Expand your horizons, try something new, and consider purchasing some of these comics (and tell the stores who sent you).
Don’t Miss This
Spectregraph # 1
I’m still searching for that must-have DSTLRY title. Gone and Somna both have their charms, but this is a prestige micro-publisher putting out physically large and perfect-bound magazines. I want a comic that will blow my mind. If I was a betting man, I’d say the odds are good for Spectregraph, given the creative talent. James Tynion IV, hitmaker and writer of some of the hottest indie titles right now. Christian Ward, an artist I’ve followed since Black Bolt, known for his trippy and liquid visuals and bold coloring choices. Rounding out the team is Aditya Bidikar, one of the current lettering greats who has an eye for quality projects. I remember being very impressed by the short preview story in The Devil’s Cut one-shot, and I have high hopes this continues down that path.
What Else I’m Grabbing:
Ultimate Spider-Man # 4
w0rldtr33 # 9
Man’s Best # 2
The Six Fingers # 3
Star Trek: Defiant # 14
If You Find This, I’m Already Dead # 3
G.O.D.S. # 7
Duke # 5
New Number One Issues
Looking to dive into a new series? Here are some new titles starting this week, alongside their basic premise, that you should check out.
Drawing Blood # 1
Mythologies & Apocrypha # 1
Dick Tracy # 1
Universal Monsters: Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives # 1
Graphic Novels and Collected Editions
I won’t be reading all, or even most, of these. But, they all struck me as having something interesting or worth your time. See if there is something you like and give one of these collected and full stories a try!
The Cull vol. 1
I missed this dark tale of five friends setting off to shoot a short film on a forbidden rock from Kelly Thompson and Mattia de Iulis. But the preview art all looks gorgeous and it seems like there is some sort of monster waiting for everyone.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
This book won all of the awards last year and was probably the consensus pick, besides Dan Clowes’ Monica, for the best book of last year. Kate Beaton uses her cartooning prowess to detail the experience of blue collar oil and gas work in Alberta, Canada, especially the difficulties that come from being a woman in a male-dominated industry. Now in trade paperback!
Goiter
Goiter is the first collection of short stories by Josh Pettinger. It explores the strange and unnerving experience of being a person. Goiter features a traveling ventriloquist accused of a horrible crime, the romantic adventures of a floating head fighting an interdimensional war, and a dystopian epic set in a distant-future online retail warehouse.
Rumpus Room
Cybertrucks are being recalled, Tesla stock is down bad, Twitter is a cesspool. There isn’t a better time than now to read a story about the thinnestly veiled Elon Musk, assuming he was a mass-murderer who kept anyone who asked too many questions locked in his basement. I read this in singles and it’s a good time. The art, especially the fictional works of art owned by our billionaire stand-in, is beautiful and fun.
The Schlub
RYAN STEGMAN, KENNY PORTER, TYRELL CANNON, MIKE SPICER, and JOHN J. HILL team up for a new action/comedy series! Failing dentist Roger Dalton blames the world for his problems until he is body-swapped with the world’s greatest superhero. Can Roger save Earth and finally prove to his family he’s not a loser? Or are we doomed? Featuring cataclysmic clashes! Enraged parents! Outer space action! Tender Romance! Brutal fisticuffs! Tooth extractions! All this and more in one colossal collection.
So Long Sad Love
Every guy’s been a creep at one point or another. At least, that’s what Cleo tells herself once she finds out her boyfriend might not be the man she thought he was. Is it possible to keep loving someone you’re not sure you can trust? Once the fabric of Cleo’s relationship rips at the seams, the life she had built with him unravels right before her eyes. Yet, letting it fall to pieces as she walks away is only half the story. Cleo not only rediscovers her identity as an artist but uncovers her capacity to find love where she has always been most at home: with other women. Mirion Malle dares to tell a story with a happier ending. Translated by Aleshia Jensen, So Long Sad Love unabashedly skips to the good part and shines a light on just how rewarding following your bliss can be.
What did I miss?
If there are some great comics, collected or in single issues, that you think I should be reading, tell me about them! And if you do try out any of these series, let me know how you liked them, or didn’t. This is a safe space for haters. If you enjoy this service, please share this article on social media or tell someone that you know reads comics about it.
Self-Promotion
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