Music by Bob Marley
A new year brings some challenges, to say the least, but we'll always have great comics to get us through. New books this week include The Dregs, Kamandi Challenge, Loose Ends, Dante, Animosity: The Rise, Lady Castle, KISS: The Demon, and Odyssey of the Amazons. Wow, that's a lot of #1 issues. Not to mention all the great ongoing titles too. Make sure to hit your local comic shop whenever possible and support small businesses. Don't forget to pre-order so you don't a title either. Happy reading!
(W) Cullen Bunn (A/CA) Tyler Crook
Hunters have come to Harrow County, seeking to take down its most powerful haints. They have no idea what they're up against. Emmy tries to save them from their foolish mission, but she will have to sacrifice her last hope of a normal life in order to protect these strangers.
(W) Hope Larson (A/CA) Chris Wildgoose
"Son of Penguin" part one! Babs is back in Burnside! But everything's...different-friends, school, even Burnside itself. Batgirl must determine her next steps when she realizes that the shady new tech mogul moving into her neighborhood is none other than the estranged son of the Penguin!
RATED T
(W) Dan Abnett, Dan DiDio (A) Dale Eaglesham, Keith Giffen, Scott Koblish (CA) Bruce Timm
Prepare to take part in one of the greatest adventures from the infinite future of the DC Universe, and join the industry's top creative teams in a round-robin, no-holds-barred, storytelling extravaganza titled THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE! Born from the mind of Jack "King" Kirby, the post apocalyptic Earth of Kamandi has been a fan favorite for decades, and now 14 intrepid teams of writers and artists build on this incredible foundation and take the title character on an epic quest to find his long-lost parents and travel to places seen and unseen in the DC Universe.
Each issue will end with an unimaginable cliffhanger, and it's up to the next creative team to resolve it before creating their own. It's a challenge worthy of "The King" himself! In this premiere issue, the Last Boy on Earth is dragged from his safe haven by a group of tigers, only to face the nightmarish threat of the ultimate weapon!
RATED T
(W) Kelly Thompson (A/CA) Meredith McClaren
THE STINGERS part 5! It all comes down to this! The Misfits latest attempt to ruin Jem & The Holograms comes to fruition, and with Jem and The Holograms performance officially sabotaged will The Misfits have finally succeeded? Or will Jem and The Holograms live to fight-'er sing!-another day!? Meanwhile, recent events mean The Stingers are shaping up to be not just reasonably friendly adversaries, but potential nemeses. Can Jem and The Holograms really have TWO nemeses?!?
• THE STINGERS arc ends here!
(W) Jason Latour (A/CA) Chris Brunner
SERIES PREMIERE
No one seemed to notice Sonny Gibson as he stepped back into "The Hideaway," a dusty little honky-tonk nestled off the Carolina highway. But before the night was over, Sonny would be on the run-from the law, from the criminals, even from himself.
LOOSE ENDS is a gritty, slow-cooked, Southern crime romance that follows a winding trail down Tobacco Road, through the war-torn streets of Baghdad, and into the bright lights and bloody gutters of South Florida. From JASON LATOUR, the Eisner-winning co-creator of SOUTHERN BASTARDS and the writer of Spider-Gwen, CHRIS BRUNNER (SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight), and RICO RENZI (Spider-Gwen, Squirrel Girl).
(W) Mark Millar (A) Jonathan Glapion (A/CA) Greg Capullo
MILLAR & CAPULLO's epic sci-fi fantasy story continues. Bonnie and Tom are chained and dragged to Black Wish Mountain, where they are confronted by a vengeful figure from the past. Will they escape to find Harry, or be turned over to Lord Golgotha?
(W) Matt Hawkins, Jason Ning (A/CA) Darick Robertson
Dante was a family man with a wife and young daughter, and also a top assassin working for an international crime syndicate. For two decades he worked hard to keep these two lives separate and was then ready to retire. Manipulated into thinking he could quit with the syndicate's blessing, Dante was betrayed and accidentally killed a young Asian boy while fighting to save himself. This act changes him forever as he is supernaturally cursed and wakes up inexplicably covered with tattoos. Dante tries to uncover the source of this supernatural curse while looking for his family that has now disappeared.
(W) Ta-Nehisi Coates (A/CA) Brian Stelfreeze
RETURN OF THE QUEEN!
• Shuri is reborn anew... New powers, a new codename and a new target: the Midnight Angels.
• The newly independent Dora Milaje make their final accord with Tetu and The People...
• T'Challa takes an audience with the voice of dissent, Changamire. But will both men finally listen to reason?
Rated T
(W) Nick Spencer (A) Rod Reis (CA) Jeff Dekal
The epilogue to the blockbuster event CIVIL WAR II!
• In the aftermath of war, Tony Stark and Carol Danvers both turn to the one person they can trust...Steve Rogers, Captain America.
• Uh-oh...
Rated T+
(W) Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare (A) Natacha Bustos (CA) Amy Reeder
BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT, Guest-Starring Riri Williams, Ironheart!
• There's room for two young, black, gifted girls in the Marvel U, isn't there?
Rated T+
(W) Marguerite Bennett (A/CA) Juan Doe
"The Animals thought, spoke, and took revenge. The dust has settled and the blood dried, but a new force is rising in the West, ready to help Animal-kind seize power in the dark new world to come..." Spinning out from Marguerite Bennett's hit new series Animosity is this special one-shot, illustrated by American Monster's very own Juan Doe! Witness the devastating effects of "The Wake" and how it affected other parts of the world on that terrifying day!
(W) Jeff Lemire (A/CA) Doug Braithwaite
Liberty and judgement for all!
A weaponized virus has turned New York into a war zone...and Bloodshot is about to make his last stand for the heart and soul of every man and woman brutalized by the effects of a nanite-enhanced plague! But just when his one-man invasion of the Big Apple seems lost, the hard-coded weapon of mass destruction called Deathmate will re-appear to save the day - and secure Project Rising Spirit's spot as the saviors of New York! Will her programming win out...or will the woman inside the machine seek the vengeance for which she has long yearned? In the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, a new war will soon be fought...and all of America is about to bear witness!
(W) Damon Clark (A/CA) Alyzia Zherno
Christian has found his place with his new Circle of friends, but he soon finds out not
everyone is what they seem. He will perform his first ritual and his first kill, and now he wants
out!
(W) Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly (A/CA) Marcus To
The start of an all-new arc picks up one year after the galaxy-changing events of last issue. As they embark on their next wave of adventures, Uma, Catrin, and Dewydd are not the same people who fled Earth a year ago.
(W) Amy Chu, Erik Burnham (A) Eman Casallos (CA) Kyle Strahm
Before Blackwell, before Morpheus, there was the MUSIC. In a small town in Iowa, three young KISS fans meet at a concert and form their own band, unaware they are about to embark on a journey that will not only change their lives, but also the fate of the world. Prequel to the ongoing series.
(W) Delilah Dawson (CA) Elsa Charretier (A/CA) Ashley A. Woods
When King Mancastle and his mighty vassals ride off on crusade, the women left behind are not at all put out-that's a lot less armor polishing for them to do. Of course, when the men get themselves eaten by a dragon and leave a curse that attracts monsters to the castle...well, the women take umbrage with that. Now the blacksmith's wife Merinor is King, Princess Aeve is the Captain, and the only remaining (and least capable) knight Sir Riddick is tasked with teaching the ladies of the castle how to fight, defend, build, and do all manner of noisy things the men had been doing while the women assumed they were just drunk. Novelist Delilah S. Dawson (Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon, As Wicked as She Wants, Wake of Vultures) brings her first original series to comics, and is joined by breakthrough illustrator Ashley A. Woods (Niobe: She Is Life) for a rollicking fantasy adventure featuring women reclaiming their lives on their terms.
(W) Jason Martin (A/CA) Winston Young
This is it!!! It's time for our blade-wielding heroine to reveal another all-new costume... and conclude her first year as the other-dimensional space vampire huntress by night (and comic shop owner by day)! Will super-geek Katie Carva survive and continue on as the Vampblade, or will someone new pick up the mantle?!? This special issue features three variant covers that will determine the Vampblade costume for season two!! Your orders for each cover help decide which costume will be worn in the book moving forward!
(W) Kevin Grevioux (A/CA) Ryan Benjamin
Don't miss the start of this new miniseries set in the world of Wonder Woman from writer/actor Kevin Grevioux (New Warriors, Underworld). Years before the birth of Princess Diana, a group of Amazons set out on a globe-spanning quest to find others of their kind, encountering legendary creatures and beings along the way. But their journey soon turns into a rescue mission as two of their own are captured by the legendary Storm Giants of Norse mythology. It's up to their leader, the stalwart Hessia, to keep them together through the many trials that lie ahead. RATED T
(W) Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson (A/CA) Eric Zawadzki
A gentrified city. Its homeless population restricted to six square blocks called The Dregs. When people start disappearing, a drug-addled homeless man obsessed with detective fiction becomes addicted to solving the mystery. Equal parts Raymond Chandler and Don Quixote set in a thriving metropolis that literally cannibalizes the homeless, The Dregs is the first homeless meta noir ever made.
(W) Andy Mangels (A) Judit Tondora (CA) Cat Staggs
Bullets & Bracelets & Bionics! The dream team that no one thought was even possible is now reeling after the events of the debut issue! Diana Prince (aka Wonder Woman) and Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman) must join forces to find out who laid waste at the IADC headquarters, without the help of a powerful ally. Meanwhile, the evil cabal CASTRA continues its evil plans, and not one, not two, but three familiar villains are revealed! But while Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman engage in a battle at sea, a jailbreak in Washington, D.C. leads to another shocking returnee...with a very deadly agenda! Written by best-selling author ANDY MANGELS (Star Trek & Star Wars) and illustrated by JUDIT TONDORA (Grimm Fairy Tales), WONDER WOMAN '77 MEETS THE BIONIC WOMAN is already garnering tremendous media publicity... and they're just getting started!
