It’s New Comic Book Day! PopCultHQ has compiled a list of new releases from indie publishers that we think are must reads and ones to watch. Check out our top picks, read up on each one’s synopsis, and if you click on any cover photo, you’ll be able to purchase them before your LCS opens! Plus they also carry many of the variant covers for some of these issues (even the retailer incentives!).
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451 MEDIA GROUP
NVRLND #3
Writer: Dylan Mulick & Stephanie Salyers
Art: Leila Leiz
Cover: Leila Leiz
Cover Price: $3.99
Is this party over before it started? Never say never in NVRLND. With Wendy thrown off the roof, Peter unconscious on the back of Tink’s motorcycle, and a whole gang of blood-thirsty pirates barreling down Mulholland Drive, it’s hard to imagine this scene getting any worse. However, now that Hook has Peter’s shadow, all bets are off. Meanwhile, Wendy’s Police Chief father is hot on the trail of whoever has been producing the lethal batch of pixie dust. A meeting with The Savages will open a door to worlds unimagined, even by the likes of tinsel town!
ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT
Super Human Resources, Vol. 2 TPB
Writer: Ken Marcus
Art: Armando Zanker
Cover: Armando Zanker
Collects Super Human Resources (2016) #1-4.
Welcome back to the HR department of the world’s greatest super team. Tim from Finance soon discovers that Super Crises International has been infiltrated by sinister forces. And stupidity. Lots of stupidity. Collecting all four issues of the sequel to the sold-out, smash indie hit. Softcover, 128 pages, full color. NOTE: “Super Human Resources weaves the outsized antics of the super-powered and the travails of the ordinary with endless cleverness and invention.” – JAVIER GRILLO-MARXUACH (The Middleman)
ACTION LAB: DANGER ZONE
Oblivion #3
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Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Romina Moranelli
Cover: Romina Moranelli
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Cover Price: $3.99.
Marshall Stone and his crew must save their past archenemy’s daughter from the clutches of a crazed bounty hunters obsessed with an apocalyptic version of their future!
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Puppet Master: Halloween 1989
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Writer: Shawn Gabborin
Art: Daniel Jay Loga
Cover: Daniel Jay Logan
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Cover Price: $3.99
Halloween night, 1989. An unknown creature steps out of a long forgotten cave beneath the Bodega Bay Inn. While their master sleeps, the Puppets fight back to protect her from this mysterious intruder. Join us as the Puppets dive headfirst into another beloved subgenre: the creature feature! Variant and variant sketch covers limited to 1,500 copies each.
AFTERSHOCK COMICS
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Black Eyed Kids #7
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Writer: Joe Pruett
Art: Szymon Kudranski
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
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Cover Price: $3.99
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As the BEK army continues to grow, Meredith comes face-to-face with a childhood nightmare that causes her to question her entire past, while Jones finds out that the BEK do not make ideal threats.
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AMERICAN GOTHIC PRESS
Lost in Space #5
Writer: Carey Wilber
Art: Patrick McEvoy
Cover: Patrick McEvoy
Cover Price: $3.99
‘Malice in Wonderland’ continues! After Willoughby ESQs them to a strange dimension populated by Lewis Carroll characters, Smith, Penny, Will, and the Robot attempt to find a way out while the angry Queen of Hearts tries to chop off their heads! It’s space with a psychadelic twist in this adaptation of the late Carey Wilber’s teleplays.
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BOOM! STUDIOS
Warlords Of Appalachia #1 (of 4)
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art: Jonas Scharf
Cover: Massimo Carnevale
Cover Price: $3.99
Southern Bastards meets Dune in mid-21st century America. After the New Confederacy is crushed in a second Civil War, only Kentucky holds out, not recognizing U.S. sovereignty. This leads to a particularly brutal crackdown in a small mountain town called Red Rock, where a mechanic and reluctant folk hero named Kade Mercer rises up to become the first feudal warlord of Appalachia. Features 28 pages of story content.
DARK HORSE
Briggs Land #3
Writer: Brian Wood
Art: Mack Chater
Cover: Tula Lotay
Cover Price: $3.99
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On a quiet highway in the predawn light, Grace encounters a true test of her empathy and her strength when she comes face to face with the worst aspects of the community she’s struggling to take back.
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DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
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James Bond: Hammerhead #1
Writer: Andy Diggle
Art: Luca Casalanguida
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
Cover Price: $3.99
Bond is assigned to hunt down and eliminate Kraken, a radical anti-capitalist who has targeted Britain’s newly-upgraded nuclear arsenal. But all is not as it seems. Hidden forces are plotting to rebuild the faded glory of the once-mighty British Empire, and retake by force what was consigned to history. 007 is a cog in their deadly machine – but is he an agent of change, or an agent of the status quo? Loyalties will be broken, allegiances challenged. But in an ever-changing world, there’s one man you can rely on: Bond. James Bond.
IDW PUBLISHING
Dirk Gently: Salmon of Doubt #1
Writer: Arvind Ethan David
Art: Ilias Kyriazis
Cover: Ilias Kyriazis
Cover Price: $3.99
Dirk Gently, created by Douglas Adams and shortly to be the star of his own television series from BBC America, returns to comics in The Salmon of Doubt, brought to you by executive producers of the show Arvind Ethan David and Max Landis. Plagued by nightmares about a childhood he never had, Dirk returns to Cambridge University to seek the advice of his former tutor, the time-traveling Professor Reg Chronotis. There he discovers that a holistic detective can have more than one past, and his adventures have only just begun… Featuring fan-favorite characters from the original books as well as the cast from the TV series, including Elijah Wood.
Duck Avenger #1
Writer: Alessandro Sisti
Art: Claudio Sciarrone
Cover: Claudio Sciarrone
Cover Price: $5.99
‘When Blow the Winds of Time?’ Supervillain Red Raider hits Duckburg with a crime spree-just as crook newsman Angus Fangus aims to ruin Duck Avenger’s rep! Will Donald’s superhero life crash and burn? Not if the mysterious Lila Lee has anything to say… At last! IDW brings you the new-to-USA Disney thrillride that fans have requested most-the famous ‘Duck Avenger New Adventures’ (known in Europe as ‘PKNA’)! Adapted for our readers by fan favorite Jonathan Gray (Sonic the Hedgehog)! 72 pages of action for just $5.99!
Electric Sublime #1
Writer: W. Maxwell Price
Art: Martin Morazzo
Cover: Martin Morazzo
Cover Price: $3.99
‘Art is anything you can get away with… destroy it all.’ Welcome to THE ELECTRIC SUBLIME-where art history, madness, and expression meet in a Pollock-splatter of thrilling crime adventure! When a mysterious change in the composition of a famous painting begins poisoning the minds of its spectators, Margot Breslin-director of the Bureau of Artistic Integrity-must pull famed ‘art detective’ Arthur Brut out of a mental institution and back into the insanity that sent him there in the first place. Featuring a treasure trove of classical works, under-the-radar art, and a seven-foot talking mannequin, this is comics, imitating art, imitating life. From the writer of Judas: The Last Days (IDW) and the artist of Great Pacific and Snowfall (Image)! The X-Files meets Alice in Wonderland, by way of The Da Vinci Code!
Revolution #3
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art: Fico Ossio
Cover: Tradd Moore
Cover Price: $3.99
THEY CAME FROM MICROSPACE! What terror reaches through the tendrils of entropy into our universe-and why does ROM want to kill it? Meanwhile, M.A.S.K.’s MATT TRAKKER makes a startling discovery about the TRANSFORMERS-but will G.I. JOE’s SCARLETT believe him?
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #63
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Writer: Tom Waltz
Art: Dave Wachter
Cover: Dave Wachter
Cover Price: $3.99
‘Chasing Phantoms’ Part 3! With an ally in danger, the Turtles look for a new way to defeat the Street Phantoms. Will the Turtles be able to do what it takes to save the Foot Clan? A dangerous turning point!
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IMAGE COMICS
Black Light District: 6 Issues (one-shot)
Writer: Jesse Blaze Snider
Art: Chris Burnham
Cover: Chris Burnham
Cover Price: $3.99
AN ALL-NEW ONE-SHOT COMIC BOOK / MUSIC EXPERIENCE! JESSE BLAZE SNIDER’s groundbreaking online comic book / music anthology ‘BLACK LIGHT DISTRICT: 6 ISSUES’ comes to Image Comics! Featuring six epic illustrated stories set to the music of the geek culture inspired ‘Black Light District ‘EP! ‘JESSE SNIDER’s BLACK LIGHT DISTRICT is a storytelling revelation! Each song married to the comic images create one-of-a-kind sound and visual dramas never seen before in the comics medium.’ – John Siuntres, Word Balloon
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Black Monday Murders #3
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Tomm Coker
Cover: Tomm Coker
Cover Price: $4.99
‘A FULL CONFESSION’ Solve one murder, uncover thousands.
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Glitterbomb #2
Writer: Jim Zub
Art: Djibril Morissette-Phan
Cover: Djibril Morissette-Phan
Cover Price: $3.99
Death, denial, and the darkness within. What’s got into Farrah?
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Kill or Be Killed #3
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips
Cover: Sean Phillips
Cover Price: $3.99
As our hero is drawn deeper into the shadows, his secret vigilante life begins to put everything he cares about in danger. Brubaker and Phillips biggest hit yet continues, and every issue includes fantastic back page extras and articles!
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Reborn #1
Writer: Mark Millar
Art: Greg Capullo
Cover: Greg Capullo
Cover Price: $3.99
MARK MILLAR & GREG CAPULLO join forces to create the smash hit sci-fi / fantasy story of the year: REBORN. Where do you go when you die? Not heaven or hell; somewhere else. Somewhere you have to fight to survive. Somewhere the people from the past are waiting for you-the good and the bad.
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ONI PRESS
Letter 44 #28
Writer: Charles Soule
Art: Alise Gluskova
Cover: Alise Gluskova
Cover Price: $3.99
Special one-shot issue illustrated by Alise Glu?kova (Abe Sapien)! A brilliant surgeon and a brilliant software engineer must be convinced to join a manned mission to the asteroid belt, crucial to the survival of the human race. The problem-it’s a one-way trip, they both know it, and they both quite like their lives on Earth. Learn how Manesh Kalani and Kyoko Takahashi were recruited into the Clarke crew, in an issue designed to fill in crucial puzzle pieces in the Letter 44 saga!
SCOUT COMICS
Solarman #2
Writer: Joseph Illidge
Art: N. Steven Harris
Cover: Andrew Dalhouse
Cover Price: $3.99
Originally published by Marvel Comics and written by Stan Lee, Solarman returns for this pulse-pounding second issue of the 21st-century reboot! Teen hacker Ben Tucker is on the run after being infected by an alien virus and gaining incredible powers as a result. The cops want answers, a secret government organization wants his DNA, and an evil alien cyborg wants blood.
TITAN COMICS
Chimera Brigade #1
Writer: Serge Lehman
Art: Gess
Cover: John McCrea
Cover Price: $3.99
Is the time for morality lessons truly over? The year is 1938, and a new generation of super-humans – born as a side effect of secret chemical weapons – have taken control of the capital cities of Europe. The Age of Super-Science has arrived! A stunning period cross between The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Planetary and B.P.R.D.! Beliefs can be as powerful as super-science… and just as deadly!
Hard Case Crime: Peepland #1
Writer: Christa Faust
Art: Gary Phillips
Cover: Fay Dalton
Cover Price: $3.99
Times Square, 1986: the home of New York’s red light district where strip clubs, porno theatres and petty crime prevails. When a chance encounter for Peepbooth worker Roxy Bell leads to the brutal murder of a public access pornographer, the erotic performer and her punk rock ex-partner Nick Zero soon find themselves under fire from criminals, cops, and the city elite, as they begin to untangle a complex web of corruption leading right to city hall. Like The Naked City, there are eight million stories in The Deuce. This is one of them.
Warhammer 40000: Will of Iron #1
Writer: George Mann
Art: Tazio Bettin
Cover: Tazio Bettin
Cover Price: $3.99
After a thousand years, violent warp storms have receded from the Calaphrax Cluster, and an ancient battlefront in the war against Chaos has again been opened to the universe. Now, multiple forces risk complete immolation to attack the sector, drawn by the lure of ancient relics, lost knowledge, and powerful megaweapons, buried for aeons. Chief among those forces, the fearsome Dark Angels, emerald-armored Space Marines, shock-troopers of the Emperor’s Imperium and indomitable defenders of humanity. But Chaos stirs in the warp, and the Dark Angels will not be alone for long! Based in the universe of the ever-popular miniatures game, novels, and videogames, this new ongoing series is perfect for both the hardcore Warhammer 40,000 fan and the complete newcomer!
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT
Britannia #2
Writer: Peter Milligan
Art: Juan Jose Ryp
Cover: Cary Nord
Cover Price: $3.99
Duty has led to darkness… Dispatched to the remote outpost of Britannia by Rome’s highest power, the ancient world’s first detective – veteran legionnaire Antonius Axia – has found himself on a horrifying journey that will challenge everything he knows about death, destiny, and the limits of reality itself. But in this wild and pagan land, far removed from Nero’s control and influence, how will he grapple with the witches, demons and deities that lurk just out of sight? These are aberrations beyond the comprehension of a citizen of history’s most civilized empire?and, as Axia searches for the truth behind their making, he must first ask himself: Are these monsters truly creatures of myth…or creations of his own mind? The answers will be found as comics legend Peter Milligan (Shade, the Changing Man) and incendiary artist Juan Jose Ryp (NINJAK, Clone) lead a phantasmagorical expedition in the lands between darkness, desire, and destruction in the pages of Valiant’s latest prestige-format masterwork!
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #12
Writer: Robert Venditti
Art: Robert Gill
Cover: Juan Jose Ryp
Cover Price: $3.99
Better to battle the devil you know! Enduring for centuries, but haunted by regret, the Eternal Warrior has trespassed against the nature of life and death?to restore the life of a son he lost centuries ago. Now, hunted by demonic forces in the space between this world and the next, Gilad has finally found the wayward boy that he has sworn to rescue from the edge of eternity, no matter what the price. But will the young man called Kalam come willingly to the father he never knew?or has the Eternal Warrior spawned a new enemy for the ages? ‘A DEAL WITH A DEVIL’ marches forward here as New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (X-O MANOWAR) and acclaimed artist Robert Gill (BOOK OF DEATH) send the Eternal Warrior hurdling through the realm of the dead!
ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
Death Force #5
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Writer: Ralph Tedesco
Art: Marc Rosete
Cover: Edgar Salazar
Cover Price: $3.99
Death Force and Talon have their final battle and Death watches on with great interest ready to claim the loser’s soul. Will Rick Murphy take the final step into darkness and be consumed by the Death Force power? Or can he fight the urge for vengeance that consumes him and somehow save his immortal soul?
Grimm Fairy Tales: Halloween Special 2016
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Writer: Ralph Tedesco
Art: Various
Cover: Richard Ortiz
Cover Price: $5.99
It’s that time of the year again when everyone dresses up as their favorite monster and people gather together to frighten each other with scary stories. And your favorite heroes from Grimm Fairy Tales love to enjoy Halloween as much as anyone else. Join, Robyn, Avril, Brittany and Liesel as they gather together to see who can tell the scariest tale.
Robyn Hood: I Love NY #5
Writer: Joe Brusha
Art: David Lorenzo Riveiro
Cover: Sami Kivela
Cover Price: $3.99
When bodies start to stack like cordwood in morgues throughout New York City, Robyn is forced to call on Angelica Blackstone to help unearth the murderous culprit. But nothing could have prepared them for what they find lurking in the deep shadows of the city. Can Robyn and Hellchild survive a foe whose singular purpose is terror? Or will the battle bleed them dry?