Welcome back to Conskipper’s New Comic Day Picks for the week of August 19, 2020!
As kids start to go back to school (in-person or digitally), the last few weeks of the summer season still hold a lot of surprises and highly-anticipated releases at your local comic shop. This week we have the origin story of one of the most popular villains of the last thirty years, the start of new storylines, and landmark milestones for some classics and recent favorites.
–Maestro#1 (Marvel Comics): Peter David and George Perez’s Hulk: Future Imperfect is considered by many to be one of the finest Hulk stories ever written and another highlight of David’s landmark run on the title. Now almost 30 years after Future Imperfect, David, frequent collaborator Dale Keown and new artist Germán Peralta return to the dystopian future to tell the origin story of Maestro, the “evil” version of the jade giant. If you are unfamiliar with Future Imperfect, pick up a copy of last month’s re-release from Marvel and get ready to explore a very different Hulk than you’ve seen before.
Harley Quinn #75 (DC Comics): The last issue in the current Harley Quinn series comes to a close with a Birthday bash and roast of Harley Quinn! Sam Humphries and a cavalcade of artists look back at embarrassing moments from all different stages of Harley’s life (including a trip back to the “birthplace” of Harley and a tale from her teenage years). The variety of vignettes and styles is a real treat and a backup story illustrated by artist Riley Rossmo ties into the current “The Joker War” storyline pitting Harley Quinn against the Joker’s new collaborator in crime, Punchline. This back-up also appears to set up the next stage in Harley Quinn’s transformation (a much less amused Harley), however the majority of the giant-sized issue is a funny and light-hearted look at the ultra-popular character.
Captain America #22: After a four month lay-off, Cap is back with two issues in August and gets right back into the “All Die Young” storyline by Ta-Nehisi Coates and artist Bob Quinn (along with another beautiful cover by Alex Ross). Coates’ run on Captain America has been another feather in the writer’s “liberty cap”, continuing the complex story telling that he brought to Black Panther. Long time readers can feel the love Coates has for the Marvel characters and Quinn’s art is the perfect compliment to bring out iconic representations of them. If you have missed out on any of this run, track down the collected editions and the start of the “All Die Young” arc ( issue #20, which was released in March).
Justice League #51 (DC Comics): Jeff Loveless (of Rick and Morty fame) and artists Robson Rocha and Daniel Henriques weave a unique, bizarre tale featuring the most powerful heroes in the universe: The Justice League. Loveless picks up on one of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons forgotten characters the Black Mercy, a sentient plant that induces nightmarish hallucinations in its victims. Fans of Moore will enjoy this psychological horror story, which challenges the JLA in a very different manner than they (and readers) are accustomed to. The story concludes next issue in this two part special.
Heavy Metal #300 (Heavy Metal): The seminal comic anthology reaches issue 300 after decades of pushing the medium forward with the magazines experimental and ground-breaking approach to comic books. As expected, issue 300 brings back many of the creators that made the magazine famous such as Moebius Richard Corben, Liberatore, Simon Bisley, Frezzato, and Vaughan Bode. These luminaries are joined by frequent contributors Blake Northcott, Matt Medney, David Erwin, German Ponce, Ignacio Calero, Duke Mighten, Dylan Sprouse, and Brendan Columbus. For those unfamiliar with the magazine, the content is for mature readers only.
That’s it for this week, so enjoy this week’s comics and don’t forget to check out all of the Free Comic Book Summer issues available this week and support your local comic shops.