Welcome back comic readers to The Comic Stash and thanks to those stopping by for the first time! In this column I will be discussing upcoming books that are worth a check out and hot issues that you may be missing out on. I start off with the main publishers and then to the independent ones. In the Marvel Universe, if you have been asleep or just not paying attention there is a new person wearing the Daredevil suit, Elektra. This series is written by Chip Zdarsky and art is done by Mike Hawthorne, along with colors by Marco Checchetto. The story has been great the last few issues and now the story is close to end. But the story along with all other Marvel books have taken a few issues to stop telling the main story line to fill in for the King of Black: Knull story line. That being said the next issue of King in Black #4 is out this month along with King in Black Planet of Symbiotes #2, King in Black Gwenom vs Carnage #2, Symbiote Spider-Man King in Black #4 and King of Black Return of Valkyries #2. A new series called X-Men Legends is out this month as well and they are bringing back the X-Men of the 90’s. It should be a fun read for fans of that X-Men team of the 90’s, because they will have new adventures written by Fabian Nicieza and art by Brett Booth. Morbius the living vampire has a new series out called Morbius: Bond of Blood #1, written by Ralph Macchio Macchio and art by Tom Reill. This should be a fun read as well because fans get a solo adventure of this character. My favorite story and the second series of Maestro is out this month, Maestro: War and Pax #2 written by Peter David and art by Javier Pina. I love this story because we get to see how the Hulk of the future became so dark in the apocalyptical waste lands.
Other Marvel titles coming out this month are Taskmaster #3 written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro. Sword #3 written by Al Ewing and art by Nico Leon, Ray-Anthony Heights and Bernard Chang. Wolverine: Black, White and Blood #3 written by Donny Cates, Jed MacKay and John Ridley, and art by Chris Bachalo, and Jesus Saiz. These are all great titles and stories worth checking out.
DC Comics has my favorite book called, Batman and Catwoman #3 written by Tom King and art by Clay Mann. Where the story digs deeper into the timeline of what is happening with the main characters involved from the past and future, and how it all connects. Speaking of future DC: The Future State world is releasing the following titles, The Next Batman #2, The Flash #2, Swamp Thing #2, Superman of Metropolis #2, Harley Quinn #2. Along with those titles there is also Man-Bat #1 by Dave Wielgosz and Sumit Kumar, this should be good read since it does nothing with Future State, and gives you a break from that storyline. I am not trying to complain about Future State, but not that impressed with the main storylines. But the issues that have a second backstory have been solid in my opinion. I try to give a comic series two to three issues to give it a chance to be better. DC Comics does not have a ton of books coming out right now since they stopped with all the main titles for now. They are focusing on the Future State storyline and then we will see what is next for DC Comics. The best thing so far is that the timeline for Future State is now becoming clear, and paints a better picture of how all the titles kind of go together.
Dynamite titles coming out this month are Sacred Six written by Christopher Priest and art by Julius Ohta. This series covers the main femme fatales of Dynamite like Vampirella, Chastity, Pantha, Draculina, and Nyx. The covers are beautiful and the variant covers as well are amazing for this series.
Die!namite: Bloody Valentine is a one shot out this month that is written by Fred Van Lente and art by Drew Moss and Lee Ferguson. Being February It is of course a love story set but set in the zombie world of Dynamite. The new series coming out is called Sonjaversal written by Christopher Hastings and art by Pasquale Qualano. This should be a very interesting series because we as the reader will be seeing a huge variant of other Red Sonja’s like Blue, Green and Orange. I am very excited to see why they are doing this and how other colored Sonja connect.
Coffin Comics is releasing #2 of Lady Death Blasphemy Anthem, which is written by Brian Pulido and art by Diego Bernard. I am a huge fan of Brian Pulido’s work and Lady Death herself! The stories coming out of Coffin Comics is normally a two issue limited storyline, but the story and art is worth the wait for those die hard fanboys.
From publisher Blackbox Comics comes the title Devil’s Dominion #1, written by Brian Hawkins, art by Sara Iannello. This comic is for mature readers only so not for those under 18, so be careful where you leave this issue laying around. The story is focused on the main character named Devlynn who sells her soul to the devil for a deal, but like most devil deals there is more to it than one bargains for.
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Dark Horse Comics has a new series called Fear Case written by Matt Kindt with art by Tyler Jenkins. The story is intriguing because it follows a mystery case that seems to be at the center at every famous major disaster and tragedy in history. Should be a great read and fun to see how they will tie this all around the case.
Aftershock Comics has a new series called Maniac of New York, written by Elliott Kalan (Emmy Award-winning Writer), and art by Andrea Mutti. This is on my list because of the writer and the story about a character named Maniac Harry who is an unstoppable killer in New York, and the police have no clue of how to stop him. This will be the hot book for the month so get a copy once you see it, also a great story!
In the IDW Publishing world they are releasing a new title called, Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures. This is written by Daniel Jose Older and art by Harvey Tolibao, and writers can tap into any characters like Master Yoda and the Padawans to tell new tails. Looking forward to this series because it will be a fresh take in the Star Wars world and the art looks amazing as well. They are releasing as well part four of six TMNT Jennika II. This fun series is written by Ronda Pattison and art by Jodie Nishijima, they continue the story of Jennika and her path in which she must decide to follow. Another fun title out this month from this publisher is Usagi Yojimmbo: Wanderer’s Road, Stan Sakai does the art and story with covers by fan favorite Peach Momoko! Also coming out is Snake Eyes Deadgame #4 of five, written by Rob Leifeld, Chad Bowers and art by Rob Leifeld. Lastly another favorite of mine is TMNT: The Last Ronin #2 written by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz and art by Kevin Eastman. The last ninja turtle is set out to complete his mission alone, and if you’re a turtle fan then the title is a must read.
Image Comics has a new series called Two Moons, written by John Arcudi and art by Dave Steward. This story should be for horror fans and the strange, it focuses on the main character named Virgil Morris who is a young Pawnee who is fighting for the North in the Civil War. During this time he discovers he has powers and has to deal with ghosts and demons that just makes things worse while in war. Looking forward to this series because I am a fan of horror and military stories. Scumbag #5 written by Rick Remender and art by Nic Klein will also be out as well. This follows the worst human ever named Ernie, a junkie and loser who must focus on his good morals to complete his given missions. This story is not for children, there is a ton of adult language, and sexual contents as this character is forced to be human. The one I am waiting for the most is called Stray Dogs #1, which is written and drawn by Tony Fleecs. This is a five issue mini-series and promises to be a combination of cute puppies with horror and I can hardly wait! The second issue of HAHA comes out this month which is written by, W. Maxwell Prince also writes for the series Ice Cream Man by Image Comics. Remember the first issue sold out fast and they had to do a second print run to fill comic shops back orders!
For something different and not the normal superhero thing there is a book from Artists Writers and Artisans INC, called Casual Flings #1 of 5. The story is about a woman named Jennifer Ryan who decides to find someone special out of marriage but things don’t go the way she planned. This is written by Jason Starr and art by Dalibor Talajic and Marco Lesko. Again something from the norm of superhero stories and of course this story is for mature readers. Abstract Studios is releasing #2 of Terry Moore’s book called Serial, which focuses on Zoe as she uses her serial killer skills to solve some mysteries.
Boom! Studios is releasing a new series called Luna #1 written and drawn by Maria Llovet. With cover by fan favorite Jenny Frison. This story will deal with magic and alchemy and should be worth picking up for fans that enjoy that. Boom! Studios is also releasing another title called Specter Inspectors #1 written by Bowen McCurdy, Kaitlyn Musto and art by Bowen McCurdy as well. This deals with supernatural events and supposed to have that feel of the Scooby Doo Team and horror. The last book for Boom! Studios that I look forward to is Faith #1 written by Jodie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, and art by Eleonora Carlini. The main character is Faith from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even though it will be a one-shot, I hope it will be great and another ongoing series will start from this title.
Titan Comics is releasing Blade Runner: Origins #1, written by k. Perkins, Mike Johnson, Mellow Brown, and art by Fernado Dagnino. They also will have covers done by another fan favorite Artgerm! Another publisher I enjoy is Zenescope Entertainment Inc., they are releasing this month Robyn Hood Iron Maiden #2, written by Joe Brusha, and art by Renato Rei. Grimm Spotlight Black Knight vs Lord of Flies written by Joe Brush and art by Sun Khamunaki. Courier Liberty and Death #2, written by Ralph Tedesco and art by Olvier Borges.
Finally the last book I look forward to and they don’t print a lot of titles right now is from Archie Comics, Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, Something Wicked #5. This is the last issue in this mini-series that is written by Kelly Thompson and art by Veronica Fish and Andy Fish. This series is for all ages and just something silly, enjoyable, and fun to read.
I stay true to collecting Archie Comics because if not for them I may have not started reading comics. That of course led me to deciding to read other comic books from Marvel, DC and other publishers. So this is what is coming out the month of February and titles that are worth picking up and reading. Of course there are other books out there and not trying to forget them but these are the ones that I am looking forward to and should be hot picks for the month. As always thank you for reading my column, and look at sites for other get columns to read. And keep reading and enjoying comics no matter what you like or read!
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