Beat the heat of the summer - stay indoors and read some comics! August is just around the corner, so why not take a moment to read through some of our favorite new upcoming new comics, one-shots, and graphic novel compilations. We think they're awesome and we hope you do too!

Upcoming Comic Publisher Catalogs

Before we get into our reviews and recommendations for August, here's a one-stop shop for all of the digital catalogs for most of the comics publishers we carry. If you're looking to get a head start on finding your own new favorites, or hey maybe you just want to stay well ahead of the deadlines, we've got you. We'll post links to the current plus upcoming months here in our look aheads every month. (We'll post October's catalogs a bit later in the month once they become available)

August Release Comics

IDW | Boom  |  DC | Image | Marvel | Dark Horse | Next Phase

September Release Comics

IDW | Boom  |  DC | Image | Marvel | Dark Horse | Titan | Next Phase | Previews

Don't want to look through all these PDFs? If you're an active subscriber you can always visit our subscription page and search the upcoming comic catalogs that way! (And bonus, if you see something you want, you can preorder or subscribe to it RIGHT THERE!).

Reviews and Recommendations

We've got a lot to talk about this month! The crew from Ice Cream Man take to the pages of a truly bizarre new Superman book. Christian Ward and Tristan jones bring us back to a film to comic prequel nearly thirty years in the making. Rick Remender and Daniel Acuna Perez join forces in a gorgeous new World War II period piece. And G Willow Wilson returns to Marvel at the helm of a new solo superhero book!  All this and more below, so read on to find out what new goodness awaits you this August.

Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1

IDW 

By Christian Ward (writer) and Tristan Jones (artist)

Wow, what a callback. Event Horizon, a movie from nearly 30 years ago, is getting new life in the form of a comic book prequel that documents the ill-fated journey of the crew of the original ship for which the film is named. We’ll learn what happened to them, what happened to the ship itself, and how it wound up full of ghosts, the source of maybe a portal to hell, and adrift at the beginning of the movie. If you’re a big fan of sci-fi horror and for some reason aren’t aware of this cult-hit movie, maybe give it a watch and see if this is for you. If you are part of Event Horizon’s cult following, hey cool! You get a comic written by Eisner award winner Christian Ward and illustrated by Aliens: Defiance artist Tristan jones. That’s exactly the sort of talent I expect to see on a book like this.

- Nick

Superman: the Kryptonite Spectrum #1

DC Comics

By W. Maxwell Prince (writer) and Martin Morazzo (artist)

So this pitch is going to sound @#$*ing bananas (can I say ‘f@#ng’ on here? Nick, censor this if I can’t say the @#$% word.) but what if Superman was written by the team that brought you the surreal, twilight-zone style comic Ice Cream Man? I don’t know what the conversations were over at DC that lead to this happening, but if it’s anything like W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo’s other work together, this one’s gonna be weird.

The team is known for their interesting usage of the medium of comics to tell stories that you couldn’t really tell any other way. Think comics that are the same read forwards and backwards, or comics with crossword puzzles in them, or a reverse version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, where a bug deals with the existential horror that comes with becoming a person. This series is about how all different colors of kryptonite affect the Man of Steel, and I’m sure they’ll all be just as psychedelic and weird as you’d expect from this creative team, but Prince says “I want to tell a bonkers story that also explores real, human problems. These kryptonite shards are, in fact, pieces of Kal-El's home. It's his own home that hurts him….we're exploring that idea inside this framework of our usual experimental storytelling.”

Like a lot of Black Label books – that’s DCs ‘adult’ imprint that publishes most of the more offbeat stories that you would tend to associate with their old Vertigo label these days – this one seems like it’ll be an interesting read even for those of us who aren’t particularly invested in the character outside of this. I’m definitely excited to see what kind of strange journey that Prince and Morazzo take us (and Superman) on soon.

- Sloane

Escape #1

Image Comics

By Rick Remender (writer) and Daniel Acuña Perez (artist)

Color me surprised, but I’m really looking forward to this Rick Remender creation. This book looks amazing. I’ve had a chance to peak at some preview pages and Daniel Acuña Perez is absolutely killing it on the art, and Remender’s dialogue is perfectly in sync. The book itself is a gritty WWII period piece with animal people that sees our protagonist, one Milton Shaw, shot down behind enemy lines. To escape, he’ll have to find unlikely allies in the form of a father and son grieving loss amidst the chaos of war. And if that’s not enough, there’s the ticking clock of only a day before the allies drop “the big one” to end the war once and for all.

If you’re a huge fan of Blacksad, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Inglorious Bastards, or just like Nazi’s getting punched or worse, this is a book I urge you to check out. This looks great!

- Nick

Black Cat #1

Marvel Comics

By G WIllow Wilson (writer) and Gleb Melnikov (artist)

Friend of the store G. Willow Wilson is back to write another bixseual anti-hero comic, but for Marvel this time! That sentence alone should be enough to convince any fan of her current award-winning Posion Ivy run – and there are a lot of them here at the store – to check this book out, but if you remain unconvinced here’s the rest of my pitch: after the events of Amazing Spider-Man #8-9, Felicia Hardy has a heel-face turn and goes from super-thief to super-hero, battling her way through Spider-Man’s rogues gallery starting with the Lizard. 

We already know Wilson knows how to write a superhero comic, and it’s exciting to see her back with Marvel for her first ongoing series with them since Ms. Marvel, one of my favorite superhero comic runs, uh... Maybe ever? That she’s working with Gleb Melnikov, whose art is often both ‘cartoony’ and fun but also tends to employ dramatic noir lighting and heavy shadows, really tells us the direction that she and Marvel intend to take the series. This one’s a can’t-miss, especially for the kind of readers I know shop here at the store.

- Sloane

Magic the Gathering Untold Stories - Elspeth #1

Dark Horse Publishing

By Dan Waters (writer) and Owen Gieni (artist)

It’s kinda weird to be excited about a Magic the Gathering comic book, but since Wizards decided to devote half of the game’s sets in a year towards their Universes Beyond line I find myself a bit starved for story content. I love me a Theros-based story (that’s the world based loosely around ancient Greece and Roman culture), and hey, apparently this is official cannon, unlike the Boom Studios books from a few years back which wound up being non-canonical despite some fun story arcs. Theros: Beyond Death was a set I really enjoyed, and it was a bummer to not get the full story behind everything happening. So when this popped up, I definitely got excited. If you’re a big Vorthos-head like me, maybe throw this on your subscription file to support it happening. With any luck and a bit of support, we’ll see more books about deep Magic lore, be it comic, online fiction, or other forums. 

- Nick

One-Shots & Graphic Novels

August is a good month for Elise's graphic novel habit, and Sloane wants all of you to remember that the first wave of Absolute trades are due out soon! So take a quick peak down below and make sure you get your orders in for anything that piques your interests! 

The Raven Boys

Viking

By Maggie Stiefvater and Stephanie Williams (writer) and Sas Milledge (artist)

Raised in a house full of psychics, Blue has known one thing about her future for as long as she can remember: if she kisses her true love, he will die. When she gets tangled up with a group of boys from Aglionby Academy, the elite prep school in her otherwise sleepy West Virginian town, this prediction feels like a threat for the first time in her life. But she is inexplicably drawn to them and they invite her to join in their quest of magic they think is hidden right here in her town. Blue has spent her life as the normal member of a family full of unexplained magic so she jumps at the opportunity to claim some for herself. The Raven boys is being adapted from the New York Times #1 Best Selling series of the same name.

I’m a huge fan of the Raven Boys series and I had no idea it was being adapted as a graphic novel until I saw this in previews. Blue is a main character I love so dearly and each of the boys is so distinct and so endearing that I cannot wait to see how that is translated to a visual medium like this. I wasn’t familiar with Milledge before but after seeing the preview pages for this and looking into their previous work I was blown away by their art. I cannot believe I haven’t heard of them before, their sketchy style, gorgeous colors, and emphasis on nature imagery will suit this book so well. I can’t wait to fall back into this world and hopefully see it in a way I never before.

- Elise

This Place Kills Me

Abrams Fanfare

By Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Nicole Goux (artist)

At a school where theater kids are the cool kids, the star of the school play is truly elite. Abby Kita is the new kid in town at Wilberton Academy and she is not fitting in. When the school’s It Gir,l Elizabeth Woodward, is found dead the morning after opening night where she starred as the titular heroine in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet Abby finds out she was one of the last people to see her alive. As Abby falls down a rabbit hole of secrets and lies she begins to suspect the police don’t have the full story and she continues the investigation on her own.

For me, this is an ALL STAR team up. I’m a huge fan of Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux’s other work independently (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is one of my all time favourite books and Fuck Off Squad and Pet Peeves were incredibly fun) so seeing that they are working on a book together got me so excited. Tamaki’s empathetic understanding of teenage girls and the complexities of female friendships paired with Goux’s delightful panel layouts and expressive style are a match made in heaven. Please keep your eyes peeled for this next month.

- Elise

Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman TPs

DC Comics

By Various Writers & Artists

I think probably half of the people reading this have already heard this spiel before because I’ll tell it to anyone who comes in the store who’ll listen, but DCs new line of Absolute universe titles are phenomenal. It’s a new continuity in the DC universe that takes familiar characters and gives them a slight twist: Batman isn’t rich, Wonder Woman doesn’t have the Isle of the Amazons, and Superman grew up on Krypton without ma and pa Kent. They’ve been super popular in part because these new series take basically zero background knowledge to get into – they’re in a fresh continuity, so they’re a great starting point for new readers. More than that though, these have been the most successful new series launches I’ve ever seen at the store because DC has hired some amazing talent who are producing some fantastic books. They’re all gonzo and over the top, but in ways that remind me of exactly why I read comics in the first place: they’re fun! They have emotional and powerful moments and keep what we love about each of the characters despite their altered backstories, but more than that they’re just well-paced, well-made, enjoyable comics. DC’s formula for success with these has been simply ‘make good comics and people will read them’ and it really seems to have paid off.

I know I’m not the only person to feel this way, too. Between all of the printings and re-printings, I’m sure we’ve sold over 200 copies each of both Absolute Batman #1 and Absolute Wonder Woman #1. People come in all the time to subscribe to all of the Absolute titles and nothing else, often people who’ve never read comics before. I have friends who haven’t read comics in a long time, or who think of themselves as having outgrown comics tell me that they’ve picked up the new Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman books and are enjoying a superhero story for the first time in a long time, or maybe even ever.

All this is to say that if you’re one of the people who has somehow missed me singing the praises of these series for the last nine months, this August is the perfect opportunity for you to get caught up. DC is releasing collections of the first arcs of their first three Absolute series, which will have everything you need to get started reading them. I know that we’ve got a lot of people who’ve missed early issues who are waiting for the trades to read these series, so if you’re at all interested in reading them, make sure to grab these when they come out – or shoot us an email so we can set copies aside for you. You don’t wanna miss these, and there’s no telling how long our initial stock will stick around on the shelves. If they sell anything like they did as single issues, they’ll be gone quick.

- Sloane

Cry Wolf Girl

Silver Sprocket

By Ariel Slamet Ries

Dawa’s mother told her the story of the boy who cried wolf and before she passed and made her promise never to follow in his footsteps but Dawa can’t help herself. Stricken by grief and loneliness after the loss of her family she cries again and again, “Wolf! Wolf!”. When the real wolf comes to town no one believes her and she begins to doubt her own sanity. Cry Wolf Girl is a story about loss and the monsters we face both in the real world and in the private confines of our own minds. Is a danger that is only in your head any less distressing than one stalking the woods, baying for blood?

I am a die hard fan of Shortbox comics and I love to see other publisher’s picking up their books now that they aren’t running anymore. I have the original Shortbox printing of this book and I’m beyond excited to see Silver Sprocket picking this up and giving it the shiny deluxe treatment as a hardcover with bonus material. I will be buying a second copy of this and I highly encourage you to pick it up now if you didn’t back in the Shortbox days (or even pick it up again!).

- Elise

And that's it for this August's look aheads! If you saw something you wanted, please reach out to us and ask us about ordering it or setting it aside for you, or head over to our subscription page and add it to your pull! Otherwise, check back with us here in just next month for a discussion of all fun things this September!