Welcome to Catch it at the Comic Shop, where the Panel Patter team looks at what's coming out at your favorite store or digital device this week. Each one of us that participates picks up to five items due out this week, with a little bit about why we like them. (NOTE: We use solicitation material for this, so if we miss creators, please talk to your publisher!) Sometimes we might only have a few items to share, other weeks, keeping it to five will make for hard choices. Here's what the team wanted to highlight this week...
James' Picks:
Wonder Woman Historia #3: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Nicola Scott, published by DC Comics/Black Label
The thing to say about this series is that each issue has been singularly beautiful, and I loved both of them. Each issue has been the sort of work of art where you want to linger on each page; those first 2 issues were by Phil Jimenez and Gene Ha. They were a fascinating look into the story of the Greek Gods and the Amazons. I’m sure the great art will continue with Nicola Scott on art. Scott drew some Wonder Woman stories a few years back and she really gets the character in a fundamental way. I’m thrilled to pick this up.
Book of Slaughter by James Tynion IV ,Werther Dell'Edera, and Dan Mora, published by Boom! Studios
I’ve not exactly kept up to date on House of Slaughter and Something is Killing the Children, but I really enjoy both books. Tynion and Dell’Edera and co. are telling a story that’s about a lot more than scary monsters. It’s a story where the people are a lot scarier than the monsters, and it’s also one that just does a great job tapping into the current zeitgeist of fear and anxiety. I’m excited to catch up and to see where the stories are going in the coming year.
Once Upon a Time at the End of the World #2 by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, and Mike Del Mundo, published by Boom! StudiosI was pretty impressed with the first issue of this comic. This is not a story about the end of the world, it’s a story about two people that made each other after the world that was has already fallen. The first issue was pretty fun and introduced us to the two main characters. The art from Alexandre Tefenkgi was quite good, and it appears that different eras of the story will be illustrated by different artists. The last page is quite a shock, and it’s drawn by Nick Dragotta. I’m very intrigued to see where this one goes and I’m happy to see Jason Aaron on a new creator owned project.
Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick Omnibus HC by Dexter Soy, Filipe Andrade, David Lopez, and many more, published by Marvel Comics
It’s been about 10 years since Marvel turned Carol Danvers into Captain Marvel and it’s a great time to reflect on how important that character has been. Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote, and basically created the character as we now understand her, even though of course, Carol Danvers has been around for decades. But there was so much excitement when Captain Marvel premiered as a comic, fans became known as the Carol corps. It was great to see a long-standing character like that get an upgrade as far as costume and rank and title and level of prominence in the Marvel universe. DeConnick, alongside a number of different very talented artists, established the modern template for the character as strong, kind of bullheaded, a little “shoot first, ask questions later”, but also kind and compassionate and an important focus in the Marvel universe. and the character has grown in prominence, including being the first woman-led superhero movie to gross over $1 billion. I’m a huge fan of that movie, in which DeConnick actually makes a cameo, and it all starts in the pages of that first series which I highly recommend.
