There are a lot of comics on the stands, so we’re here to choose the best. Here are the top 10 comics for this New Comic Book Day, with everything from middle-aged superheroes to pro-wrestling noir. What took No. 1?
1) Jacked #5
Eric Kripke and John Higgins take their middle-aged, drug-powered superhero and go straight to the center of his mind in what’s easily the best issue of this surprising miniseries. Kripke seems to be walking some pretty well-worn turf, here, since this is far from the first time a fat guy’s gotten superpowers, or it’s been used to comment on insecurity. But it works not least because Kripke’s trip to the center of the mind is necessarily cruel to Josh, our hero. Ultimately the book is all about how full of crap he is and how he needs to get over it.
That leaves the comedic heavy lifting to Higgins, who delivers with skill. Higgins has to manage to deliver comedy, action, and deep insights into a sad sack all at once, and he pulls it off.
2) Klaus #4
Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s continuing take on the origin of Santa Claus, aka White Wolf Klaus, is, yes, weird. But Morrison and Mora do an excellent job of making the book’s conceit feel like something other than a gimmick. Morrison simply isn’t able to let a book cruise on an idea, and after the bizarre, trippy detour previous issues have taken, this fills out, with some tenderness and sadness, just why Klaus was wandering in the wilderness. Our iron-thewed future Santa is a lot more than just a nice guy, and what’s going on in the town he’s bringing joy to is quite a bit darker than you might expect. It’s perhaps a bit too Morrison-esque for some tastes, but a great slice of alternate fantasy nonetheless.
3) Nowhere Men #9
This book started out as a riff on superhero origins, with a group of scientists exposed to a genetic virus that gave them both superpowers and severe medical problems, but it’s slowly evolved into something much grander. Eric Stephenson is taking his time with this book, building out the team and the world. It’s supplemented by Dave Taylor’s art, which makes a point of contrasting the utterly bizarre, such as the Thing-like McManus and the telepathic pile of ooze that was once Susan Queen, with the blandly realistic surroundings of medical equipment and corporate construction. It makes for a dryly surreal nod
4) Bloodshot Reborn Annual #1
What starts as a clever riff on an American horror classic becomes something much sadder in this annual, largely focused on asking what would happen if Bloodshot fought Jason Voorhees. In particular, the book flips the script quite literally, with Ray Fawkes offering a sensitive insight into a person turned into a monster who doesn’t want to be one anymore, tied to the book’s central conceit which we won’t spoil here.
It’s a clever idea well-executed, and it offers something different from one of Valiant’s best books. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s also a hilarious satire of crossovers starring the creepy Bloodsquirt that’ll make comics fans laugh and wince in equal measure.
5) Venom Space Knight #5
As a kid, I hated Flash Thompson. And really, that was Flash’s job, to be hated. He was the popular jock to Peter Parker’s lonely nerd, the guy who got to be loudly special and strut about it while Peter had to sacrifice. What makes Robbie Thompson and Ariel Olivetti’s book so great is that they’ve taken Flash, who’s had a rather interesting life since high school, and made him into the kind of superhero you’d want to have a beer with. Thompson, at root, is a regular guy. He just happens to be a regular guy who is bonded with an alien symbiote and is helping an assassin who looks like an adorable panda rescue its cub.
Olivetti has always shown a style along the lines of a Kelly Freas or a Frank Frazetta, but Olivetti has more of a facility for the details that make a comic book, like facial expressions and layout. It’s gorgeous, of course, but it’s also compulsively readable and adds to the fun. It’s a reminder of just how fun comics can be when they stop worrying about merch and being taken seriously, and a sorely needed one.
6) The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage: Second Lives #4
Jen Van Meter and Roberto de la Torre finish off their horror/superhero mix with a flourish. De la Torre, in particular, delivers art that can simultaneously be moody and joyous, and perfectly suited to Van Meter’s script. This book treats magic as a practical problem, not some vast, unexplained spookiness, and pulls off a particular trick of having concrete rules and sticking to them, something few comics that deal with magic manage to pull off. And the payoff here is surprisingly entertaining for a book about a post-death apocalypse. If you’re looking for a superhero book with a horror edge, this will be one to add to your pull list.
7) Ringside #5
Joe Kelly and Nick Barber’s book has settled into a tone that’s not quite noir and not quite drama, but works. Set in the world of professional wrestling, the book has quickly come into focus as a musing on how masculine stereotypes do and don’t line up with actually functioning in the real world. The book’s crime subplot aligns with the wrestling more in theme than in content, but it’s used as a contrast; the final conversation, about how wrestlers choose to go out, is as much a disquieting hint about how our anti-hero is going to screw everything up as it is a musing on the durability of a simple narrative.
8) X-O Manowar #45
Robert Venditti’s turn on this book from space opera to a tragedy of diplomacy has been just the kick in the pants this book needed. The Vine are a lost people, and when faced with a choice between a peace-loving cleric and a war-mongering religious fanatic, the book makes it clear why they’d choose the latter. That said, you do wonder why Aric doesn’t record video with that fancy suit of his; it’d solve a few plot problems here.
Still, if you want something a little more thoughtful while still being packed with action, this is your comic. This gives what has been more of a two-fisted action book some genuine depth and complexity, and that’s a welcome development.
9) Art Ops #6
Eduardo Risso takes over for Michael Allred in a guest shot that fills in the history of the title organization. Shaun Simon, though, is staying right where he is, and he continues this book’s extended goof on art theory and pretension. Art Ops is consistently great because Simon manages to turn abstract, very intellectual discussions about art into a goofy comic book while satirizing just how ridiculous some of these conversations can get. And if you don’t want to engage, you don’t have to; Simon can write a pretty fun comic book in his own right. There’s nothing like this book on the stands, and it’s a great demonstration of what comics can do as a medium, not to mention, funnily enough, being an argument for comics as art.
10) Venus #4
This miniseries finale from Rick Loverd and Huang Danlan feels less like a finishing issue and more like the four issue in a six-issue arc. That’s not a bad thing, in the sense that one wants more of this hard SF series, and also it sets up a whole series of intriguing questions we want answered, but by the same token, it feels a bit abrupt. Still, a nice hard SF read in the tradition of The Martian and great for space junkies.