How can there be both too many comics and still not nearly enough?
The idea of finding something new to read can seem daunting. If you’re looking to jump into a new book, the staff of ComicsXF can point you in the direction of some of our favorite recent releases and currently ongoing titles.
Looking for a local comic shop to start a pull list?
- Greg Pak
- Raffaele Ienco
- Marvel
- Pre-Teen
Genre
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Villain Protagonist
Plot
In the shattering climax of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker rejected his father’s offer to turn to the Dark Side. Now Vader embarks on a bloody mission of rage-filled revenge against everything and everyone who helped to hide and corrupt his only son. But Vader must overcome shocking new challenges from his own dark past, including a hauntingly familiar face that will challenge everything he knows!
Where to jump on
Issue 1 (February 2020). Currently ongoing, monthly.
Why You’ll Love It
After his fateful confrontation with his son in the Cloud City, Darth Vader’s greatest obstacle stands before him – his own psyche.
Greg Pak masterfully digs into the mind and soul of Anakin Skywalker during one of the most interesting stretches of his life. If you felt like the Star Wars franchise had lost its magic, Pak has found it again.
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- Jonathan Hickman
- Mike Huddleston
- Image
- Adult
Genre
Sci-Fi. Noir. Avant-garde.
Space Cowboy/Bounty Hunter
Plot
In an undetermined time, in a nameless galaxy, warring factions play a game of cat and mouse with a power that’s the key to, well, everything. Meanwhile, a young gofer, working off a debt to keep her brother alive, delivers a package to an assassin. Yet it’s her, not the package, the assassin takes interest in. Told over a broad expanse of time and space, Decorum is a story of revenge, retribution, and rebirth told at a galactic scale that answers the eternal question “What is the purpose of it all?” as beautifully indirectly as possible.
Where to jump on
Issue 1 (March 2020). 8 Issue series.
Why You’ll Love It
From one of the most heralded minds in comics (Jonathan Hickman) and one of the most gifted hands in comic art (Mike Huddleston), Decorum is comic book for lovers of comic books. It’s dense and layered. The story is non-linear. The illustrations and coloring change at a moment’s notice. There are info-graphics and digressions abound. It’s also gorgeous and ambitious. The story is engaging and unique. There is humor, and anger; emotion and thought. And again, some of the most beautifully abstract art I’ve ever seen. Start from the beginning. Take your time. And feel yourself enveloped within a galaxy on the beautiful precipice of annihilation. Enter at your own risk, and be ready to return again and again and again.
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- N.K. Jemisin
- Jamal Campbell
- DC
- Adult
Genre
Space Opera, Police Procedural, Techno-Western, Superhero
Plot
Via the pen of highly esteemed writer N.K. Jemisin, Far Sector is the story of Jo Mullen, a Green Lantern assigned to solve a crime light-years away from the traditional center of the DC Universe (ie the “Far Sector”). A triumvirate of sentient beings cobbled together a millennia-long peace based on denying emotion. But the re-emergence of emotion (via a murder) cracks away at that peace, and Jo had been called in to investigate. There are plant people and computer-based beings. There is a mysterious Lantern Ring that doesn’t recharge like the rest. And there are cat memes. Bunches and bunches of cat memes. So many cat memes.
Where to jump on
Issue 1 (November 2019).
12 total issues for this limited series.
Why You’ll Love It
Jemisin created a world full of biases, prejudices, and exploitative tendencies, familiar enough to be recognized yet never so on-the-nose that they distract from the story. Jemisin assumes the reader is intelligent, largely eschewing exposition and banal tropes for narrative-driven plot and character development. Far Sector features a mature, fully formed, Black queer woman as its protagonist, comfortable and confident in her Blackness, queerness, and womanhood. Neither Jo not the narrative around her spend time explaining away her actions, choices, or thoughts; she simply acts, earnestly and unapologetically. This is representation done right. Oscillating between humor, harrowing action and a little bit of horror, Far Sector is the best of science fiction: relevant, unique, brilliant. It is a revelation well worth your time.
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- Matt Wagner
- Matt Wagner
- Dark Horse
- Adult
Genre
Sci-Fi, Space Travel, Quest Narrative
Plot
In the far future, Earth is about to die from a lack of resources and violent squabbles within the Grendel Empire. The last Grendel Khan, the warlord whose dynasty has ruled Earth for over a century, has only one hope left for humanity. Grendel Prime, the nigh-immortal cyborg who has served the Assante clan of Khans for nearly as long as there have been Khans, must head off into space and find a new planet for humanity to inhabit. Follow Grendel Prime and his floating robot sidekick, Sigma 7, as they travel from world to world, looking for a new home for humanity.
Where to jump on
Issue 1 (October 2019). Eight issue series
Why You’ll Love It
You don’t need to know any of the thirty plus years of backstory to enjoy Devil’s Odyssey, a wild, spacefaring adventure inspired by such diverse material as classic Heavy Metal and Gulliver’s Travels. Matt Wagner is a creator at the height of his powers, creating alien races that are not your typical “humans with a twist,” while writing crisp bantering dialogue between the dower Grendel Prime and the curious and philosophical Sigma 7, interspersed with some of the best action scenes in comics. Every time Matt Wagner returns to Grendel, he does something new and fascinating, and Devil’s Odyssey is setting up a whole new universe for Grendel to expand into.
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- Gerry Dugan
- Matteo Lolli
- Marvel
- Teen
Genre
Superhero, Swashbuckling,
Plot
Ahoy, muties – the X-Men sail at dawn! Mutantkind has begun a glorious new era on Krakoa, but some nations’ human authorities are preventing mutants from escaping to this new homeland. Which is where Captain Kate Pryde and her high-seas allies come in! Funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, Kate and her crew of Storm, Pyro, Bishop and Iceman sail the seven seas to liberate their fellow mutants – as the Marauders!
Where to jump on
Issue 1 (October 2019).
Why You’ll Love It
Marauders feels like a classic X-team book, set within the current Krakoan era. It’s a series that manages to contain swashbuckling adventures and team field trips to a tattoo parlor alongside characters going through intense grief.
There’s piracy, corporate intrigue, and a dragon companion. What else could you ask for? It maintains a good balance between high-seas battles and small character moments, so whichever you’re interested in, Marauders has you covered.
Added bonus: The first on-panel confirmation that Kate Pryde isn’t straight.
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- Stan Sakai
- Stan Sakai
- IDW
- Teen
Genre
Adventure, Funny Animals, Samurai
Plot
Miyamoto Usagi, once the loyal retainer of Lord Mifune, became a Ronin, a masterless samurai, after the battle of Adachigahara. He now wanders across feudal Japan on a pilgrimage to find peace and meaning, stopping frequently to lend his swords as a Yojimbo, a bodyguard, in the protection of the downtrodden. While he never stays in one place for too long, Usagi is often joined in his travels by a colorful cast of characters, including fellow Ronin Gen, the thief Kitsune, the intrepid Inspector Ishida, and many more. It’s a stunning tale that pulls from Japanese folk tradition and history, while being one of the most brilliant examples of American cartooning in existence.
Where to jump on
Book 34: Bunraku and Other Stories (2020, IDW)
Why You’ll Love It
Stan Sakai is a master of his craft. He has been perfecting his work on Usagi Yojimbo since the character debuted in 1984, telling a long running epic that’s truly for all-ages. The book may be about talking animals, but make no mistake, Sakai takes his characters seriously, giving them an internal life, pathos and relatable motivations.
From perfect one-shots like “The Tea Ceremony” to tour-de-force epics like “Grasscutter”, Usagi Yojimbo has done it all and never dropped in quality for nearly 40 years. In this newest volume, now in color, Sakai continues his brilliance with emotional stories like “Homecoming” that show how well he balances action and pathos. There may be decades of continuity but Sakai keeps things so accessible that any issue could be your first. Usagi Yojimbo isn’t as good as you have always been told, it’s even better.
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- Leah Williams
- David Baldeón
- Marvel
- Teen
Genre
Superhero. Mystery. Noir
Plot
The X-Men have conquered death itself! Whenever a mutant dies, thanks to the combined powers of The Five, they may be resurrected. There’s just one problem– in order for the Resurrection Protocols to begin, the mutants must be COMPLETELY sure that the victim actually is dead. This is where X-Factor comes in– a team of mutant detectives who investigate those cases where a death cannot be confirmed. Like a superpowered set of Philip Marlowes, however, the members of X-Factor often stumble upon broader problems in their investigations. From the threat of interdimensional tyrants to ancient goddesses, the investigations of these detectives take them across the Marvel Universe. You know the saying: down these mean streats a mutant must go– or something like that.
Where to jump on
Issue 1 of X-Factor vol. 4 (July 2020).
Why You’ll Love It
X-Factor is in many ways, after X-Men, the core title in the Krakoa era of X-Comics. It is the comic which most directly explores the Resurrection Protocols that make this era possible and the culture surrounding them. On the one hand, it’s a very accessible title– if you’ve read HoXPoX, you can jump in with #1, and understand these characters and the problems they face fairly easily. On the other hand, if you’re a continuity nerd, you’ll enjoy characters like Polaris, Akihiro, Prodigy, Northstar, Rachel Grey, and Eye-Boy finally getting the extended spotlight they deserve. Leah Williams builds on old continuity while still ensuring that this world feels fresh and new, while David Baldeón conveys that world through an energetic style well-suited to the series’ highest moments of both humor and horror. And above all else, this X-Factor is X-Men meets Hardboiled Detectives; it’s a twist on the team superhero book you will not find very often in the Marvel universe.
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Updates
May 2021
Usagi Yojimbo added.
April 2021
Initial list. Star Wars: Darth Vader, Decorum, Far Sector, Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey, Marauders, and X-Factor added.
