Welcome back to Conskipper’s New Comic Day Picks for the week of December 2, 2020!
Black Friday has come and gone and the weeks leading up to the holidays are here. Hopefully you have been able to support your local comic shops and online retailers, and this week offers another reason to safely frequent the places we all love to visit for our weekly dose of comics. This week’s picks include Tom King’s long-awaited return to the Batman and Catwoman, the continued adventures of Miles Morales, Hellboy’s annual yuletide story, and two cross-over events that are sure to keep you reading throughout December.
–Batman Catwoman #1 (DC Comics): Tom King and Clay Mann return to the winding, rollercoaster that is the romance between Batman and Catwoman. Similar to a technique that King used during his Batman run, Batman Catwoman takes place across three different time periods: the past, the present, and the future, and includes appearances by their daughter Helena, the Batwoman, The Joker, and animated favorite, Phantasm. Fans have eagerly awaited more of the interplay between the two characters which made King and Mann’s run so memorable. This series carries a Black Label distinction, so it will be interesting to see what the creative team has in store with more wiggle-room in terms of mature content.
–Miles Morales: Spider-Man #21 (Marvel Comics): Saladin Ahmed, Marcelo Ferreira, and Wayne Faucher wrap up their exciting “Ultimatum Saga” in this issue in what promises to be a satisfying and action-packed conclusion. Although this one contains guest stars galore, the main attraction is the ever popular Miles, and Ahmed is adept at writing the characters, capturing the essences of the young Spider-Man (using the same techniques that made Peter Parker a star). Miles sympathetic, relatable personality and steadfast nature are once again on display, the benchmarks for any Spider-Man story. The art by Ferreira and Faucher is fluid and frenetic at the same time, another mainstay of classic Spider-Man art, complete with all of the contortionist poses.
–Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Her Fatal Hour and The Sending #1 (Dark Horse Comics): Mike Mignola, artist Tiernen Trevallion, and perennial Hellboy colorist Dave Stewart team-up again to bring you the follow-up to “The Beast of Vargu”. Mignola has made a tradition of releasing one-shot stories around the holidays and whether it is to encourage comic book gift giving or just to coincide with the cold winds of winter, fans appreciate it! Hellboy returns to the Romanian village where he defeated the Beast, and this time around a pesky ghost is up to no good, fueled by the supernatural forces from the original tale. “Her Fatal Hour and The Sending” is another outstanding gift delivered by Mignola, Trevallion, and Stewart this season.
–Justice League: Endless Winter #1 (DC Comics): Endless Winter is a classic comic crossover event in every sense of the word and will please fans who are seeking an extended story without requiring months and months of titles and waiting. This issue kicks off the month long event (consisting of nine issues in total) as The Justice League battles an ancient Norse enemy called the Frost King. The story also includes flashbacks to a older quasi-Justice League featuring Queen Hippolyta, Swamp Thing, Viking Prince, and Black Adam. Ron Marz and Andy Lanning are veteran writers who can juggle all the parts in a complex crossover and Howard Porter and Marco Santucci provide beautiful artwork (along with cover artists Mikel Janin).
–King in Black #1 (Marvel Comics): Speaking of cross-overs, the first major event involving the entire universe centered around Venom and the symbiote arrives, including new arch-villain Knull. Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have been setting up this storyline for over two years and fans of Eddie Brock and those slippery aliens will finally get what they have been waiting for. Like Endless Winter, this event series harkens back to some of the classic Marvel cross-overs of the 1980s and 1990s, the decades that first gave us “the Black Suit” and the wide-mouthed Venom.
That’s it for this week! Be sure to safely support your local comic shop, ebay sellers, and online retailers this holiday season.