Welcome back to Conskipper’s New Comic Day Picks for the week of July 22, 2020!
As companies get closer to a normal release schedule and begin to work through a backlog of comics, more and more are hitting the shelves (making out job a bit tougher!). This week we have a number of new stand-alone issues, a reprinted classic, and even a free comic!
–Daredevil #21 (Marvel Comics): Daredevil has a long history of great writing talent attached to the guardian of Hell’s Kitchen, but the character has also suffered some slumps and misguided reimaginings. If you are a DD fan, and haven’t checked out Chip Zdarsky’s current run on the title, do yourself a favor and start with issue 21, the start of a new storyline called “Truth/Dare”. Zdarsky is joined by artist Marco Checchetto (who has illustrated all but one of the story arcs so far) and pick up those back issues or trades if you’ve missed any of their previous work on the title.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Complete Silence #1 (IDW): This one isn’t new, but it may be new to fans who didn’t collect comics back in 1984! At the time, G.I. Joe was one of the hottest toy lines, cartoons, and comics on the stands, owing a lot of credit to two characters in particular: Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Marvel’s release of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #21 featured a story called “Silent Interlude”, a comic that contained no dialogue (or words for that matter) at all. The silent issue by Larry Hama and Steve Leialoha featured Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and introduced Storm Shadow. In 2008, Hama and artist Jeremy Dale returned to the famous issue with IDW’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #21.5 “Silence Between Borders.” The original issue will set you back at least $75 at this point, so pick up this classic with the added bonus of 2008’s sequel.
Bliss #1 (Image Comics): The Coyotes team of writer Sean Lewis and artist Caitlin Yarsky reunite for another mix of fantasy and noir in Bliss #1. Designed as a two-arc maxi-series, the urban fantasy tale involves the impact of a strange new memory-wiping drug called Bliss. The story follows a compromised “good man” who makes a decision to kill for three gods in exchange for the health and safety of his family. Image Comics official preview calls the new series as mix of Breaking Bad and Sandman, so if you are fan of genre-bending stories, check out Bliss.
Joker/Harley Criminal Insanity Secret Files #1: In this over-sized one-shot Black Label special, writers Kami Garcia and Edward Kurz are joined by artist Jason Badower for an in-depth look at these two Batman favorites. The premise is that Harley Quinn is on the hunt for both The Joker and a new serial killer. Garcia worked closely with Kurz on the story, a forensic psychiatrist and behavior analyst. In the official DC press release, Garcia told readers that “We profiled Joker as if he were a real person. I wanted to write a very accurate procedural. I wanted people to make sure their doors were locked after they read the issue.” With an eye for detail and a stunning cover by David Mack, this is one to check out.
FCBD: Spider-Man Venom #1: What’s better than one of the top pick being free this week! Marvel’s second Free Comic Book Summer release of the season (after last week’s X-Men tie-in which may still be in shops if you missed it), provides two stories connected to upcoming event storylines in Venom, Amazing Spider-Man and Black Cat by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, Jed MacKay, Patrick Gleason and more. Like most FCBD comics, this one sets up future material, but when you can get all of these Spider-Man favorites together, for free no less, it makes it easy to pick, especially when the titles are all well-respected and popular with fans.
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.