Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Iman Vellani + Marianna Ignazzi + Jordie Bellaire team for ‘Chachu’ – SMASH PAGES
Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week.
I’ve pulled out some of the highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:
As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.
Chachu #1 (Image, $3.99): Ms. Marvel actress Iman Vellani makes her solo, creator-owned comics writing debut, and she’s brought a neo-noir premise with her. It’s 1979, and 19-year-old Leila, a Pakistani-Canadian girl full of Hollywood dreams and pulp novel enthusiasm, travels to California to connect with her estranged uncle, a semi-retired private eye whose famous wife has gone missing again. Road trip, family reunion,and old-school detective story all at once, illustrated by the wonderful Marianna Ignazzi and colored by the legendary Jordie Bellaire.
Mary Jane: Face It, Tiger #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Mary Jane Watson made her debut in Amazing Spider-Man #42 in 1966, and now J.M. DeMatteis, Ann Nocenti, Alina Erofeeva, Andrea Broccardo and more celebrate 60 years of MJ with three stories spanning three different eras … plus an epilogue pointing toward her future.
Jughead: Piemageddon (Archie Comics, $4.99): Tom King returns to Riverdale to team with Dan Parent on a story about a pie-eating contest gone wrong, as a friendly competition turns into the wildest food fight the world has ever seen. Betty vs. Veronica, Reggie being Reggie, Hot Dog lounging, hearts broken, crumbs everywhere, and a peek at Old Man Archie and Jughead. It’s Piemageddon! Are you gettin’ it? Piemageddon it!
Batman #12 (DC, $4.99): Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez continue what’s been an epic run on the Dark Knight Detective, as six of the world’s deadliest assassins descend on Gotham simultaneously, but they aren’t the only ones coming to town. And no, I don’t mean Santa … a gift from beyond the grave arrives in the form of Verity Pennyworth, Alfred’s niece, who knocked on Bruce Wayne’s door at the end of the last issue and may be exactly the new ally the BatFam needs right now.
Fort Psycho #1 (Oni Press, $5.99): Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt present the second of the two new Flux House series coming out of the move of the imprint to Oni Press. Set 10 years after Singapore sank into the Pacific Ocean, it features a UN strike team that was assembled to eliminate the terrorist network responsible. Their final confrontation was too bloody to cover up, and now the world’s most dangerous covert operatives are imprisoned together in their old island headquarters, Fort Cyclone, — now nicknamed Fort Psycho.
Fantastic Four #15 (Marvel, $5.99): Fantastic Four turns 65 this year, and Marvel is celebrating with two releases this week. First, Ryan North and Humberto Ramos deliver an extra-large anniversary adventure spanning centuries of history. In what sounds like another clever North plot, the Fantastic Four’s personal timelines have been reversed, sending them careening into the past, and their only hope of survival rests with a complete stranger who may be the only one who can figure out what they need. Plus Johnny’s mustache somehow saves New York City. Companion to the celebration is …
Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers! #1 (Marvel, $5.99): This 56-page gallery collects every single main Fantastic Four cover, which amounts to more than 700 in total. It includes Jack Kirby’s iconic originals plus more from John Byrne, Walt Simonson, Mike Wieringo and beyond, with commentary from creators past and present.
Masters of the Universe: Genesis #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): This 12-issue series will explore the origins of the heroes and villains who inhabit the world of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, beginning with Skeletor. Rich Douek and Gavin Smith tell the story of the power-hungry demon-mage’s quest to take over Castle Grayskull from the beginning.
Power Rangers Green #1 (BOOM! Studios, $4.99): Pallie Paul Allor and Gustaffo Vargas tell an “Old Man Logan” style story as they send the original Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver, into one more adventure. When an unexpected visitor from his past arrives at his door, can the Green Ranger return?
Queen in Black #2 (Marvel, $4.99): While the first issue just arrived last week because of delays, Marvel moves full steam ahead with issue #2 this week. Al Ewing and Iban Coello escalate the story, as Tony Stark sends his twin teams against Hela and Knull, the Symbiote Intelligence — think Supreme Intelligence, only with symbiotes — descends on New York City, and Venom, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and more leap into battle.
Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Charles Soule, the incoming writer of a new Venom series this fall, teams with artist Juanan Ramirez on this Queen in Black tie-in. It focuses on Eddie Brock, who is in prison after his failed bonding with Carnage, where he spends his time writing love letters to the Venom symbiote. I just can’t quit you, Venom …
The Smart Division #1 (Dark Horse, $4.99): Zack Kaplan and John J. Pearson reunite on this dark science fiction detective series. A mysterious predictive AI has apparently assisted someone in committing the perfect murder, and a chaotic Gen-Z savant and a veteran FBI agent must create the bureau’s first AI crimes division to track down the killer.
Vampirella vs. Red Sonja: Red City #1 (Dynamite, $5.99): Chuck Brown and Paulo H. Mel pick up where the previous Vampirella vs. Red Sonja series left off, with both heroines trapped in the Red City, a melting pot of magic, vampires and barbarians.
What If…? Captain America #1 (Marvel, $4.99): Marc Guggenheim and Ron Lim ask what would happen if Steve Rogers was thawed not in the present day but in 2099, missing the entire Heroic Age and facing a very different world.
Death Vigil #1 (Image, $5.99): Stjepan Šejić returns to his creator-owned series about a band of deceased Death Knights who defend the world from necromancers and cosmic horror
Money Shot: The F*ck Offs #1 (Vault, $3.99): Tim Seeley, Patton Oswalt and Garth Graham launch a mega-NSFW arc in the already-NSFW Money Shot. This new miniseries features a mysterious cosmic force gathering the galaxy’s finest champions for a series of competitive games. No, not fighting or the Olympics … these areThe F*ck Offs. For mature readers, obviously.
Tank Girl: Summer Love Sensation 35th Anniversary Comic (Titan, $5.99): Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett’s four-and-a-half episode story originally published in Deadline magazine in 1990 gets collected in this anniversary special.
Marvel Tokon: First Strike #1 (Marvel, $5.99): In the first of two Marvel video game tie-ins, Steve Orlando, Tom Waltz, Bruno Bull and Athila Fabbio and more contribute to this anthology tied to the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls.
Origins of the Hood: Marvel Rivals #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Pallie Paul Allor and Francesco Archidiacono reveal how Parker Robbins became the Hood in this character study tied to the Marvel Rivals game universe.
Omega Book #1 (Mad Cave, $4.99): This five-issue series by James Patrick and Pauli Junquera is about priest who inherits pages from the Omega Book, a document containing the secrets of the universe, and immediately becomes a target for everyone who wants that knowledge.
UFO Robot Grendizer #1 (Titan, $4.99): Xavier Dorison, Denis Bajram, Brice Cossu and Alexis Sentenac continue the story of the Mazinger mecha franchise after the war between Vega and Grendizer. When the Ruin Division emerges with the most powerful Saucer Beast yet, Duke Fleed must reawaken the mighty robot to protect a world he once fought so hard to save.
X-Men of Apocalypse Omega #1 (Marvel, $5.99): Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo deliver the finale to their alternate-reality X-Men saga, which promises betrayals, deaths and a shock ending.
Airwalker: The Original Graphic Novel (Ignition Press, $19.99): This posthumous Stan Lee creation, developed from his concept by writer Jeremy Haun and illustrated by Danny Luckert, introduces Bo Chang, a prize fighter in Chinatown under the thumb of mobsters, who discovers a god particle that allows him to walk on air and makes him a target for everyone who wants to control what he’s become.
Teen Titans: Together (DC, $16.99): Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo bring their much-loved Teen Titans YA graphic novel series to its climax with a full-on team-up. With Kori Anders targeted by H.I.V.E., Dick Grayson and the rest of the team race to Los Angeles to save her.
The Adventures of Invisible Boy: Monster Mash (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $13.99): Doogie Horner writes and draws this Halloween adventure featuring a boy who can turn invisible entering into a haunted house competition against older kids who threaten to expose his powers.
Rex Rocket: Cosmic Wiener Dog (Random House Graphic, $14.99): Max Meow creator John Gallagher introduces Rex Rocket, a super-stretchy dachshund. He’s on a critical mission to the planet Gratuvius 4, where a giant monster is eating things while everyone seems inexplicably cheerful about having to constantly work.
13 Demons Dead (IDW, $16.99): When 14-year-old Ev Espada accidentally kills one of Earth’s 13 hidden demons, she triggers an ancient covenant that marks her as the new demon hunter with one year to eliminate the remaining 12 before they return stronger. Adam Tierney and Saspy deliver a high-octane manga-inspired action graphic novel about demons and high school.
Frostbite (Graphix, $16.99): Teen influencers Jen and Dante, stranded after a ski stunt goes wrong, find themselves trapped in an isolated cabin surrounded by frost vampires with sunrise as their only hope in this new graphic novel by the husband-and-wife team of Ian Boothby and Pia Guerra.
Beware Her Fury (Drawn & Quarterly, $25): Mirion Malle writes and draws a nuanced graphic memoir about Clemence, a Montreal tattoo artist whose full and loving life — movie nights with friends, a new girlfriend, a steady career — cannot shake the specter of her trauma loose. When she begins confronting catcallers on the streets, her therapist directs her toward a survivor support group.
Stepping Up (HarperCollins, $18.99): Kiara, a Washington Heights student who earns her way to Phillips Academy Andover, finds that belonging at a school built for the wealthy is far more complicated than she expected in this graphic novel by Kiara Valdez and Diana Tsai Santos.
Archives of the Unexplained: Lost Skies and Seas (First Second, $21.99): In his third “true mysteries” graphic novel, writer Steve Foxe teams with artist Daryl Toh for two stories that draw from the disappearances of Flight 19 and the USS Cyclops in the Bermuda Triangle. Once again the stories are filtered through the adventures of Divya and Neal, who sneak into the off-limits sections of a maritime museum and encounter an old guide who shares extraordinary tales.
If you were trade-waiting on DC ‘s big DC K.O. event, this is your week, with three collections covering the main event and the undercard. DC K.O. HC (DC, $29.99) collects the main five-issue series by Scott Snyder and Javi Fernández, as heroes face off in the Omega Tournament at the bequest of the Heart of Apokolips, and the fate of the DC Universe is decided by combat. DC K.O.: All Fight (DC, $19.99) gathers the tie-ins and one-shots, like Superman vs. Captain Atom, Wonder Woman vs. Lobo, Harley Quinn vs. Zatanna, Red Hood vs. the Joker, and many more. Finally, DC K.O.: Battle Royale (DC, $19.99) rounds out the event with the Batman-centric Knightfight by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora, plus the Boss Battle issue that brought in characters from beyond the DC Universe, like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Homelander from The Boys and more. It also includes the Jon Kent-led Kids Are All Fight special.
