NEW COMIC BOOK DAY: Notable Releases 8/3/16

After a brief break, we're back with our collection of notable new comic book releases. And what a week of books to sift through. 'Rebirth' at DC is still going strong, this week among them are 'Harley Quinn' #1 and 'Batman' #4. Super duo Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are back with 'Kill or Be Killed' #1 and Joelle Jones returns with 'Lady Killer 2.' If you loved 'Stranger Things' on Netflix, then you'll love 'Paper Girls' from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. Marguerite Bennett and Rafael de Latorre introduce 'Animosity' about animals who've begun to talk and take revenge. Check out this week's recommendations and see our new slideshow featuring music from the 'Suicide Squad' soundtrack.  Happy reading!

NEW COMIC BOOK RELEASES 8/3/16 by Slidely Slideshow

(W) Fred Van Lente (A) Tomas Giorello (CA) David Mack

Witness the battle-scarred debut of Valiant's top-secret new hero! As the war or 4001 A.D. rages, the coming of War Mother starts now in an all-new standalone adventure torn from the pages of the summer's biggest comics event!

In the 41st century, much of the planet has been reduced to a barren wasteland. New Japan orbits the Earth as a floating oasis that towers over the ashes of the old world. The survivors of this desolate new age, robbed of the planet's once-lush natural resources, must endure great hardships to survive. Amidst the devastation, one outpost of scientific knowledge has thrived by adhering to a strict code of isolation. But even the denizens of this walled city must venture out into the wasteland to gather supplies from the remnants of what was. This task is designated to one and one alone: War Mother.

But all is not peaceful, even in New Japan. When the space-faring empire begins jettisoning city-sized sectors to Earth during the onset of a civil war, War Mother is called upon with a new mission: mega-salvage! Armed with a newly born sentient sniper rifle, War Mother is a one-woman army bent on sacking the crash-landed sector's technology-laden debris for anything of value to her tribe. But, as calm turns to chaos, Sector 8146 will reveal a telling secret about Earth's true order that will collide War Mother against her community, her code, and her calling...and bring destruction down upon one of humanity's last surviving outposts of order. 

Out of the ashes of the summer's most ambitious crossover event, New York Times best-selling writer Fred Van Lente (GENERATION ZERO) and spectacular rising star Tomás Giorello (Conan) introduce the Valiant Universe to the boldest new hero of this century or the next when War Mother makes her history-shattering debut!

(W) Andy Diggle, Angela Cruickshank (A) Andrea Mutti (CA) Ben Oliver

Washington DC detective Kate Burnham interrupted an assassination attempt. Now the killer is back to finish the job, and he'll let nothing stand in his way - including Kate! The noose is tightening... "With Control, we wanted to write a 100% police procedural, the kind of smart, character-driven, real-world crime drama that rules on TV. It's about sex, power, and systems of control... and how the little guys have to game a system that's rigged against them." - Andy Diggle

(W) Rick Remender (A/CA) Wesley Craig

It's 1988 and Marcus Lopez's first year at Kings Dominion, the elite academy where damaged teenagers are forged into the world's deadliest assassins, is coming to a close, and the final exam. Pass or Fail, no one survives the Freshman Finals without getting blood on their hands.

Collects DEADLY CLASS #17-21

(W) Warren Ellis (A) Jason Masters (CA) Dom Reardon

James Bond is trapped in Los Angeles with a MI6 agent under fire and a foreign intelligence service trying to put them both in bags... and possibly more than one foreign intelligence service.  And things may not be any safer in Britain, with bodies dropping and ghosts moving in the political mist...

(W) Chip Zdarsky (A/CA) Derek Charm

It's Jughead vs. Archie and Mr. Weatherbee vs ...a Bear?! Even the quiet of the wilderness can't escape the madness that's raging through all of Riverdale!

(W) Ed Brubaker (A/CA) Sean Phillips

The bestselling team of ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS (THE FADE OUT, CRIMINAL, FATALE) launch their new monthly series: KILL OR BE KILLED, the twisted story of a young man who is forced to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret as it slowly ruins his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones. Both a thriller and a deconstruction of vigilantism, KILL OR BE KILLED is unlike anything BRUBAKER & PHILLIPS have ever done.

(W) Brian K. Vaughan (A/CA) Cliff Chang

Three young heroes from 1988 have been catapulted to the twenty-first century, and to make matters worse, something horrible has followed them there.

(W) Ian Flynn, Aleah Baker (A) Jennifer Hernandez, Tracy Yardley, Ryan Jampole, Evan Stanley, Terry Austin, John Workman, Matt Herms, Gabriel Cassata (CA) Ben Bates

The new Sonic comic universe is here! One of the oldest, most beloved video game icons speeds into brand new comic book stories with new friends, new foes and new adventures! Sonic is on the hunt for the seven Gaia Temples. Only their mysterious power can restore his world to normal! His quest takes him to places he's never been before-such as the bottom of the ocean! Join Sonic, Amy and Rotor as they encounter a whole new undersea world full of new friends, foes and monsters from the deep! Collects Sonic the Hedgehog #260-263.

(W) Eric Powell (A/CA) Eric Powell

Rondel the Hillbilly must crossover into the plain of death to defeat supernatural forces. Guest starring one of Eric Powell's most popular supporting character in his long awaited return - Buzzard!

(W) Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (A) Rafael de Latorre (CA) Amanda Conner

Collecting the first six issues of the hit series SUPERZERO, from Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Rafael De Latorre. Meet Dru Dragowski, a nineteen-year-old comic book fan who yearns to escape the normalcy of teenage life. Dreaming to become a real-life superhero for as long as she can remember, Dru recreates the origins of her favorite superheroes in the hope that she too, can become a hero herself.

(W) Beau Smith (A/CA) Lora Innes

It's time for a showdown in Tombstone, Arizona... but Wynonna Earp's opponent isn't gonna play fair. With her life on the line and time running out, Wynonna will have to reach out to the mysterious "John Henry" to finally put her demonic adversary to rest!

(W) Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld (A) Joshua Cassara

Basketball legend, novelist, and superstar polymath Kareem Abdul-Jabbar brings his take on Sherlock Holmes' older brother to comics at last! An all-new adventure set in the world of the bestselling Mycroft novel, The Apocalypse Handbook sees the diffident, brilliant Mycroft pulled into a globe-spanning adventure at the behest of Queen Victoria and a secret organization at the heart of the British government. A madman is on the loose with civilization-destroying weapons, each two hundred years in advance of the status quo. Can the smartest man in England set aside his idle, womanizing ways for long enough to track down the foe that may be his match?

(W) Marguerite Bennett (A/CA) Rafael de Latorre

One day, the Animals woke up. 

They started thinking. They started talking. 

They started taking revenge. 

Now, a dog and his girl are trying to get away--out of New York City, and all the way to San Francisco, to the only person who might be able to protect and save her. 

From the writer of INSEXTS  A-FORCE, and BOMBSHELLS and the artist of SUPERZERO, comes a new kind of road trip, a new kind of black comedy, and a new kind of coming-of-age. 

(W) John Allison (A) Max Sarin (CA) Lissa Treiman

McGraw's new girlfriend is the Anti-Susan, Esther and Ed get into hot water with a money-making scheme, and Daisy has trouble with a professor on an archaeological dig.

(W) Sam Humphries (A/CA) Caitlin Rose Boyle

The hit comic that critics say is "the awesome anti-Valentine you've been waiting for" (CBR) and is a "great gateway comic for young girls" (Big Comic Page) is now an ongoing series!

(W) Matthew Rosenberg (A) Ricardo Lopez Ortiz (CA) Aaron Kuder

• Despite the heroes' new future-seeing ally, the crime business is treating Wilson Fisk VERY well. So well, in fact, that his jealous competitors are MURDERING the Kingpin's men.

•  And to make matters worse, the linchpin of Fisk's operation - an inhuman with the uncanny ability to stay incognito - is getting ill.

•  Can the Kingpin find a way to keep his business afloat or is his time on top finally finished?

Rated T+

(W) Becky Cloonan (A) Steve Dillon (CA) Declan Shalvey

MADNESS AHEAD, TROUBLE BEHIND!

•  The PUNISHER tracks the psychopathic FACE and his madness-inducing drug EMC to a derelict insane asylum!

•  But Punisher's got his own tail: DEA agents, and Face...DRIVING A TANK.

•  The little girl in the Punisher's passenger seat might be safer on the side of the road!

Parental Advisory

(W) Joelle Jones (A/CA) Joelle Jones

The killer housewife is back! The Schuller family has moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where life carries on as usual. Josie continues to juggle Tupperware parties, her kids, and a few human heads. However, when someone from her past tails her on a hit, she may be in for more than she bargained for.

(W) Tom King (A/CA) David Finch, Matt Batt Banning

"I Am Gotham" part four. When Gotham City falls prey to true evil, will Batman be abandoned by the new heroes Gotham and Gotham Girl? The Dark Knight must decide who to entrust with the safety of his beloved city if he hopes for any of its citizens to survive.

(W) Tom King (A) Mitch Gerads (CA) John Paul Leon

If Sofia wants to take down Abu Rahim, she's going to have to make a big play, forming an uneasy alliance with one of his rivals and putting up Nassir as bait to lure the warlord into her trap. What could possibly go wrong?

(W) Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (A) Chad Hardin (CA) Amanda Conner

"Die Laughing" part one! Welcome back to Harley Quinn's crazy world on Coney Island...now get ready to wave goodbye, because everyone there just might get eaten alive! Harley's gotta protect her neighborhood against an all-out zombie apocalypse! Break out the chainsaws, everybody!

(W) Rick Remender (A/CA) Sean Murphy

The clock is ticking down on Davey Trauma's apocalyptic pleasure cruise, and what he has planned at midnight won't just spell doom for New Los Angeles, but the whole world!