Wednesday, October 7, is a big day at your comic shop. Marvel unleashes a tsunami of autumn releases (including Tron Betrayal and Deadpool MAX), a Joss Whedon-penned Buffy hits, and the second issue of Alan Moore's Cthulhu comic is out.
This week is absolutely bonkers for Marvel, as an absurd amount of first issues debut today. Chaos War 1 hits the stands as Hercules and almost everyone else in the 616 defend Earth against a massive cosmic threat. Howard the Duck appears in Spider-Man Back In Quack 1, and Fantastic Four In Ataque Del MODOK brings narcissistic floating head MODOK to Puerto Rico, where he attempts a villainous plot with genetically altered monkeys. Alex Ross and Cristos Gage co-pen Invaders Now 1, wherein the World War II team reunites in modern times. Jonathan Maberry's Klaws Of The Panther 1 focuses on Black Panthress Shuri, the sonically-powered Klaw, and a boatload of dinosaurs, whereas Jonathan Hickman's SHIELD 4 delves into the espionage roots of Nostradamus.
Hickman also pens Ultimate Thor 1, a new ongoing series about the Ultimates' resident Norse deity. Deadpool fans have a doubleheader this week with the debuts of the evisceration-friendly Deadpool MAX 1 (it's about time) and the stabbing-friendly Uncanny X-Force 1 (he means well). Finally, Marvel makes good on their Disney ties with Tron Betrayal 1 , the first issue of a two-parter explaining what happened between Tron and Tron Legacy (top-left).
For those of you who skew more towards the supernatural, Alan Moore and Jacen Burrow's Neonomicon 2 (Avatar) comes out — for a fascinating analysis of the first issue of this Lovecraftian book, check out this Youtube panel breakdown here and here. For a more melodious doomsday, check out Metalocalypse Dethklok 1 (Dark Horse), which promises 2-D adventures of Murderface, Toki, and hopefully Doctor Rockzo. If hot vampire action is what you crave, Buffy The Vampire Slayer 37 (Dark Horse; top-center) and American Vampire 7 (DC/Vertigo) hit stands as well.
For the more espionage-minded reader, Warren Ellis' Jack Cross series gets a deserved reprint in DC Comics Presents Jack Cross 1, which collects the anti-terrorism enforcers' four-issue run. Crime fans should be tickled this Wednesday with the release of Darwyn Cooke's Richard Stark's Parker: Book 2 - The Outfit (IDW; top-right), the follow-up to his prior acclaimed Stark title, The Hunter. Jen Van Meter's punk odyssey Hopeless Savages gets an omnibus edition from Oni Press, and the Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago (Dark Horse) is the second volume of Marvel's 1970s-80s Star Wars comics.
This edition includes the serialization of The Empire Strikes Back. Trek fans have the trade paperback of Star Trek Movie Adaptation (IDW), the comic adaptation of 2009's megahit. Another notable compilation is Peter Straub and Michael Easton's graphic novel The Green Woman (DC/Vertigo), a psychological thriller that contains fantastic artwork by John Bolton.
For big honking compilations, there's the Neil Gaiman-edited Best American Comics of 2010, which features excerpts from Scott Pilgrim and Asterios Polyp. and the stateside debut of Mark Millar's comic mag CLiNT (Titan), which contains excerpts from Kick-Ass 2. As usual, you can find a list of this week's releases here and the location of your friendly neighborhood comic shop here. Happy reading, all!