Each week, CBR has your guide to navigating Wednesday's new and recent comic releases, specials, collected editions and reissues, and we're committed to helping you choose those that are worth your hard-earned cash. It's a little slice of CBR we like to call Major Issues.
If you feel so inclined, you can buy our recommendations directly on comiXology with the links provided. We'll even supply links to the books we're not so hot on, just in case you don't want to take our word for it. Don't forget to let us know what you think of the books this week in the comments! And as always, SPOILERS AHEAD!
More than most major DC characters, Harley Quinn finds herself in a new place as an aspirant member of the Bat-Family as DC's Infinite Frontier era begins. And in Stephanie Phillips, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, Deron Bennett's Harley Quinn #1, the Joker's former partner jumps into her personal heroic age with abandon as she tries to atone for her villainous past.
While the comic's script is smart and captures Harley's voice well, the real star of the show here is the pitch-perfect art. Energetic, chaotic and cartoony, Rossmo's linework and Plascencia's colors are pitch-perfect for a Harley Quinn book that lights up Gotham City with a neon glow. With some of the most distinctive art in a mainstream superhero book and a smart story hook, Harley Quinn is one of the most compelling debuts of the Infinite Frontier era.
After Alien spent decades as a cornerstone of Dark Horse Comics, Alien #1 marks the Marvel debut of the iconic movie monsters. Set in a new incarnation of the Alien universe, Phillip Kenny Johnson, Salvador Larroca, Guru-eFX and Clayton Cowles' debut makes for a solid jumping-on point for curious readers. The comic follows just-retired Weyland-Yutani security officer Gabriel Cruz as he reenters life on Earth and deals with his traumatic past with the Xenomorphs.
While this is very much an introductory chapter, the comic foregrounds the flawed humanity of its characters, with those emotional arcs punctuated by jarring bursts of violence. While it drags a bit in Dialogue-heavy middle pages, Alien #1 comes alive with visceral glee in its few scenes of action and Xenomorph terror.
It's a new day for the New Teen Titans, as the classic young adult heroes start mentoring the next generation of DC's superpowered kids in earnest in Teen Titans Academy #1. Tim Sheridan, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Alejandro Sanchez and Rob Leigh's new series explores its titular school on opening day, as new and familiar heroes descend upon it.
With an incredibly large cast, this first issue works fairly well, using Nightwing and his mysterious connection to Red X as focal points for the story. Although several characters, including some fan-favorites, are reduced to bit players with a few lines, Sandoval's art keeps the proceedings from feeling too crowded at any point, and it really brings the book to life with standout action sequences.
For the last several years, BOOM! Studios has steadily expanded the world of the cult-favorite sci-fi TV series Firefly. And with Josh Lee Gordon, Fabiana Mascolo, Lucia DiGiamarino and Jim Campbell's Firefly: Brand New 'Verse #1, the publisher enters a whole new era for the Serenity and its crew. Now captained by Zoe Washburne, the Serenity is still dodging the law as it bounces around a noticeably calmer Firefly Universe.
The bulk of Brand New Verse is dedicated to introducing the next generation of the Serenity crew, most notably Zoe's daughter Emma. The script captures the charming quirks of the world's dialogue well, and clean lines and cool colors of the art give the book's world a noticeably different feel. While the book works best when reuniting old Firefly shipmates, it still offers a solid start to a new chapter of the sci-fi world.
Over the past several months, both Marvel and DC have spotlighted several fan-favorite characters through black-and-white anthologies that serve as showcases for their respective creators. While Carnage might not seem like the most obvious candidate for one of these anthologies, Carnage: Black White and Blood #1 shines a light on the bloody legacy of the serial killer symbiote villain.
Tini Howard, Ken Lashley and Juan Fernandez's "Love Story" returns to the iconic story "Maximum Carnage" as the Spider-Man villain reminisces about what keeps him going. Benjamin Percy, Sara Pichelli and Mattia Iacono's "End of the Trail" imagines Carnage on the American Frontier in a gory, well-drawn tale. However, Al Ewing, John McCrea and Iacono's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style story, "You Are Carnage," stands out with a clever conceit and dark humor that leads to one of the most horrifying and haunting images in the history of the Marvel Universe.
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