Welcome back to Conskipper’s New Comic Day Picks for the week of May 5, 2021!
Some major summer events kick off this week from Marvel and two highly anticipated Image Comics also hit the stands, offering another week with a wide variety of choices.
–Heroes Reborn #1 (Marvel Comics): Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness welcome readers to a strange world where Tony Stark never built an Iron Man armor, where Thor is a hard-drinking atheist who despises hammers, where Wakanda is dismissed as a myth, and where Captain America was never found in the ice because there were no Avengers to find him. Aaron and McGuinness continue their creative take on The Avengers in this company-wide crossover, installing the Squadron Supreme of America as the protectors of the Marvel Universe. While the term “Heroes Reborn” may spook some collectors from the nineties, this iteration promises to be much more streamlined (and sensible), doing one of the things that fans expect most from comics: their heroes and worlds imagined in new ways (even if the same fans often balk at idea of the new concepts replacing the cherished ones from their youth). Have no fear: this version of Heroes Reborn should please new and old fans alike.
–Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 (Marvel Comics): A day after May the 4th, Marvel’s biggest Star Wars comic crossover begins with Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven. The entire crossover will run from May through October, before spinning out into Marvel’s entire post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back line, including Star Wars, Bounty Hunters, Darth Vader, and Doctor Aphra. The five-issue War of the Bounty Hunters mini-series by Soule and Luke Ross will officially start next month and the story takes place directly after The Empire Strikes Back and concerns Boba Fett’s delivery of a carbonite version of Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt. Along the way, many parties interfere with Fett including Black Sun, Darth Vader, and a number of fellow greedy bounty hunters. Spinning directly out of the most-beloved Star Wars film, this series is bound to be a big hit with classic fans.
-The Good Asian #1 (Image Comics): Writer Pornsak Pichetshote returns with his follow-up to the hit Image Comics horror tale Infidel and is joined by artist Alexandra Tefenkgi for a noir crime series that is already generating a ton of buzz from fans and critics alike. The Good Asian features Edison Hark, a Chinese-American detective on the trail of a killer in 1936 Chinatown. Hark (like most hard-boiled detectives) has a checkered past that often comes back to haunt him and that may potentially get in the way of his investigation. For those who love classic detective stories imbued with the historical context of the day, The Good Asian should be at the top of your pull list.
–Hey Kids! Comics! Volume II: Prophets and Loss #1 (Image Comics): Howard Chaykin returns with his follow-up to his examination of the early comic book industry and the individuals that worked in the medium over the span of many decades. Part historical fiction/part memoir, Chaykin changes the names to “protect the innocent”, but long-time fans are sure to find some of the titans of the industry exposed in Hey Kids! Comics!, warts and all. Like Chaykin’s best work, the meandering, era jumping story takes some work to follow, but the reward is worth it. Volume II looks to introduce more of the young talent that took over the industry after the first wave of creators took a back seat to the changing times and tastes. One of Chaykin’s best series to date.
-X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 (Marvel Comics): In the final chapter of Steve Orlando and Andrea Broccardo Man-Thing trilogy, Man-Thing’s tragic curse is revealed, and it may not be what you expect. Following the Avengers and Spider-Man issues, Marvel’s swamp monster tries to understand the fear-driven fires occurring across the globe, and he is assisted in this issue by Magik and her new team of monstrous mutants called The Dark Riders. This issue is an exciting conclusion to Man-Thing’s tale, setting up the character for future adventures in celebration of the monster’s 50th birthday.
That’s it for this week, so be sure to check back again next week and keep supporting your local comic shop in the safest ways possible.