Movies? Pshaw. TV shows? Piffle and poppycock. If you want autumn's best entertainment, then you're going to need to check out all the comic and graphic novels due out over the next three months. It's an embarrassment of superhero, scifi, horror and fantasy riches — which is ironic, because you're going to go broke trying to read them all.
SEPTEMBER
Image
Ryan Browne's utterly bizarre hit series God Hates Astronauts arrives at Image with an all-new tale as NASA's motley "super-people" must stop a group of Astro-Farmers from fleeing Earth. Things immediately go to hell for a new sheriff in a small town on a backwater mining planet in Copperhead #1. A space colony-turned-crime haven is the setting for Roche Limit where a man's search for his sister reveals trouble for all humanity. As soldiers die in Vietnam, the undead rise in the heartland of America in '68: Homefront. And Image hits Egos, Mercenary Sea and Southern Bastards arrive in their first trade collections this month.
Boom Studios
Sorry, but Boom's going to make it an expensive month for you: A modern-day Robin Hood is force to join a clandestine black ops group in Cloaks #1. Meanwhile, when another agent named Butterfly is set up for murder, she uncovers a mystery connected to the father she thought was dead in Butterfly #1. Set in the 1930s, the inhabitants of a small English village must band together against an alien invasion in the War of the Worlds-inspired Wild's End. The legendary George Perez writes and draws about the world's greatest group of superheroines in Sirens #1; the only problem is the rest of the universe thinks they're bad guys for some reason. And in the newest installment of Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Witches, a young princess must rescue her brother from an evil witch with help from the Lord of the Forest. And speaking of Trees, if you've somehow missed James Tynion IV's The Woods, about a school trip mysteriously transported to an alien forest, this is your month to fix that as the first trade arrives.
Valiant
Valiant only has one new title this month, but you definitely want to be on the look out for The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage #1, and if you don't know why, you need to read our exclusive preview of the first issue immediately, and you'll see why.
DC
The second installment of Grant Morrison's massive Multiversity saga arrives. The mysterious heroes of Earth-20 battle their Earth-40 counterparts, led by Vandal Savage in Multiversity: The Society of Superheroes #1. And in The Names, a woman must infiltrate the deadly world of big business to avenge her husband's murder in a story Vertigo describes as "The Wolf of Wall Street meets Kill Bill."
Marvel
Marvel's Spider-centric fall event begins with Edge of Spider-Verse #1, as the 1930s Spider-Man Noir takes on Mysterio. Deadpool hassles fan-favorite Hawkeye in the obviously named Hawkeye Vs. Deadpool #0. Stephen King's Dark Tower saga begins again in 1960s Brooklyn in The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three: The Prisoner. And Act Two of George A. Romero's Empire of the Dead kicks off this month as well.
Dark Horse
The new Alien, Predator and Prometheus universe begins this month with Alien and Prometheus: Fire and Stone, as xenomorphs overrun an unprepared mining colony and a group investigates the failure of the Nostromo's mission, respectively. And three Dark Horse favorites return: An alien from Earth lands in the middle of another planet's gang war in the second series of Concrete Park, titled Respect. Cal battles his demons in Criminal Macabre: Third Child. And the original Grendel is transported to the '30s in Grendel Vs. The Shadow, written and drawn by Matt Wagner!
IDW
Scarlett must pull the remnants of the world's formerly greatest military organization together in a world where Cobra has become a peace-keeping force in the all-new GI Joe #1. Jonathan Mayberry takes his Rot & Ruin novels to the comics world as four survivors follow a solitary plane while trying to outrun a horde of zombies.
Dynamite
It's ladies night — er, month — at Dynamite. First up is the new Red Sonja adventure, The Black Tower, which holds the secret of the She-Devil with a sword's death. Next, the TV classic returns with in-continuity adventures in The Bionic Woman: Season Four. The sexy Chaos succubus Purgatori receives a new self-titled series, while Joseph Michael Linsner pairs his character Dawn and Vampirella have a storytelling contest for a demon in Dawn/Vampirella #1. In more Y-chromosome-centric titles, a man gets out of jail indebted to one of California's biggest crime-lords and it's time to pay up in Duane Swierczynski's new creator-owned title Ex-Con. And legendary rocker Alice Cooper returns to comics in a self-titled story as the Lord of Nightmares — but when someone steals his throne, there will be hell to pay.
Other
Archie continues its darker look with an all-new Sabrina, as the teenage witch battles an ancient enemy with a deadly agenda in the teens-only horror comic Sabrina #1. An exiled priest is called back to Rome to uncover a massive conspiracy and exorcise an unholy power in Amigo's Roman Ritual #1, while the anthropomorphic warriors of the '90s live again in Beast Commandos #1, as DarkShark and his pals battle the brutal Don Walrus.
Peter Capaldi begins his reign in comics in Titan's Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #1, but be on the lookout for the trade collections of The Rise of Legion, as three incarnations of Dracula battle his brother Radu, and The Chimera Brigade, about a World War II where Europe is fought over by superhuman soldiers.
Meanwhile, Danger Zone's hit Ehmm Theory returns with Everything and Small Doses, featuring "Time-jumping assassin monkeys." A group of townspeople band together to slay an awakened foe in Legendary's A Town Called Dragon. A failed writer must join his own fictional creation to keep the universe from imploding in the graphic novel Annihilator, which could only have been written by Grant Morrison. And a biography of a comic shop owner reveals 50 years of comics history in Aazurn's Number One. Vice Magazine's indelible Hawd Tales makes its official comics debut thanks to Alternative.
OCTOBER
Marvel
Marvel's Axis mega-event begins as the Red Skull uses the powers of Professor X to become Red Onslaught and begin World War Hate in Avengers and X-Men: Axis. Can the two teams truly work together to stop him and his army? Tie-ins include Axis: Carnage, Axis: Hobgoblin, and Axis: Revolutions, the latter of which supplements the main series with even more battles for the fate of the planet. Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldiers, Deathlok and the all-new female Thor make their Marvel Now debuts this month. The original Guardians of the Galaxy — Vance Astro, Yondu, Martinex, Starhawk and Charlie-27 —try to save the future in Guardians 3000 #1. Deadpool rewrites Sun Tzu in Deadpool: Art of War. Thanos' son Than discovers his family's history and future in Thanos: A God Up There Listening #1. And last but not least, a hitman descended from a long line of Southern killers takes a job that will change his family forever in Jason Aaron's Men of Wrath #1.
DC
DC has a big October planned. First, get ready to explore the Bat-verse with Arkham Manor #1, in which stately Wayne manor is used to house Batman's craziest (and most dangerous) foes, and Gotham Academy #1, the much-anticipated teen drama about Gotham's weirdest prep school. The villains Deathstroke and Klarion the Witch Boy headline their own new series, as does the all-new, leaner, meaner intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo. The Phantom Stranger, The Spectre and Pandora are forced to work together to save the world in Trinity of Sin #1. Grant Morrison explores Earth-16 in Multiversity: The Just #1, better known as Earth-Me — where all the superheroes are also celebrities. And you can get ready for DC's awesome TV universe with the debut of Arrow Season 2.5 #1 (a bridge between last season and the new one, natch) and The Flash Season Zero, a prequel to the new CW show.
IDW
Two of the greatest quartets in nerd-dom finally join forces to battle a former foe in TMNT/Ghostbusters #1. Edward Scissorhands #1 picks up 50 full years after the events of the movie, as a Winona Ryder's granddaughter discovers the creature her grandmother spoke of. A trio of spec ops soldiers must fight for their own resurrections in Dead Squad #1, while a monster-hunter must deal with the monsters in his own family in The October Faction #1. And last but not least, return to the Forgotten Realms as a new group of adventurers face a new threat in Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate #1.
Image
The amount of awesome-sounding new series Image is debuting this month is almost obnoxious: Birthright #1, in which a couple loses their son but discovers his return is even more devastating; Cutter #1, where a group of ex-bullies realize their former victim has come back to exact vengeance; after the rest of their legendary monster-hunting family is murdered, a brother and sister must take up the fight in Goners #1; Scott Snyder and Jock bring horror back to witches in the appropriately titled Wytches #1; and I'll let Dark Horse describe Rasputin #1: "In one night Rasputin was poisoned, beaten, stabbed, shot in the head, drowned, then tied up and thrown in a frozen river. It was really bad timing. His beard was just coming in nicely." Also, if you missed the '60s superhero political drama C.O.W.L. or the serial killer suspense thriller Nailbiter, September's your month to check out their first trade paperbacks.
Dark Horse
Dark Horse's all-new Predator and AVP: Fire and Stone both debut this month, with the human crew of the Perses caught in the middle of the aliens' war. A former mob enforcer gets a visit from his bitter estranged daughter in Father's Day #1 — as well as visits from a legion of hit men she inadvertently brings to his door. The Colder saga returns with Bad Seed, as Declan explores his new power but attracts the attention of the monstrous Swivel.
Valiant
Original creators Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright bring back the original continuity of their most famous creation in The Return of Quantum & Woody, as the much, much older Quantum takes a teenage sidekick, and a bitter Woody becomes determined to break them up. Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Unity and more pick up the pieces in Armor Wars: Aftermath #1. And speaking of, Unity and X-O Manowar both get #0 issues this month as well.
Boom Studios
The TV show Sleepy Hollow makes its comics debut, as Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills discover a series of minor miracles sweeping through the town that quickly get out of hand. A detective from an unfinished novel takes on a murder case in the land of fairy tales in Fiction Squad #1. Woods' James Tynion IV continues his hot streak with Memetic #1, the first of a three-issue series chronicling the end of the world. And last but not least, the Fraggles return in Fraggle Rock: The Journey to Everspring.
Dynamite
Despite the title of Sherlock Holmes Vs. Houdini, the sleuth and the showman must combine forces to defeat a killer. Patricia Briggs brings her beloved shape-shifting were-coyote to an official, in-continuity comics in Mercy Thompson #1. A man will do anything to save his sick son, no matter the cost, in The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood #1. When the devil can't solve a problem, he sends Evil Ernie — but this time the problem is the megadeath of the world. And the beautiful vampiress gets sucked into a world of storybook horror in Vampirella: Feary Tales.
Other
Two teenagers crash-land on an extremely dangerous planet in Action Lab's Planet Gigantic #1. In "how did no one think of this before?" news, Antarctic Press steampunks the world's greatest sleuth in Sherlock Holmes: Steam Detective #1. In Ardden's The Outlaw and the King #1, King Arthur finally faces off against Robin Hood, but the two legendary heroes discover a graver threat. A father-son team search out alien animals in Aspen's The Zoohunters. Garth Ennis brings his hit War Stories to Avatar Press.
When one fascist Earth begins conquering the other Earths of the multiverse, Nick Morgan must seek out the one man who can create a weapon to stop them — Dr. Carl Sagan — in Parallel Man #1. A human prisoner-of-war in an alien camp has his own agenda in bestselling novelist Kevin J. Anderson and Xena Warrior Princess producer Steven L. Sears graphic novel Stalag-X. Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan begins a new chapter of his modern Greek myth YA fantasy series in the graphic novel The Lost Hero. Peter David brings back the classic hero The Phantom for a six-part miniseries. A spec ops team is assembled to break a soul out of hell in Oni Press' Hellbreak, while Cullen Bunn's fantasy saga continues with Brides of Helheim #1. 2000AD makes their own sequel to Karl Urban's great Dredd movie with Dredd: Uprise as the Judge faces a revolutionary group. And the adventures of teenage sleuth Nancy Drew get graphic novel adaptations courtesy of Papercutz.
NOVEMBER
Image
Image has nine new series beginning in November, so you better start saving up now. Top of the list is The Humans, about a titular group of badass bikers in a world ruled solely by apes. Ray Fawkes writes and draws his mysterious new horror series Intersect. Matt Fraction continues his winning streak with ODYC — (sound it out) — about a group of scifi warriors journeying human after a vast interstellar war. A young woman loses her virginity but gains the powers to see monsters — monsters that feed on sin in Sinergery.
A group of wizards bring a champion from the future to save their world, but accidentally doom it further in Kurt Busiek's new fantasy series Tooth and Claw, with art by Ben Dewey. Davy Crockett and others try to save the Lewis and Clark expedition and meet the many myths of the U.S.A. in the weekly series American Legends.
A young woman learns to be careful what she wishes for in the all-ages tale Penny Dora and the Wishing Box. The long-running Prophet's final adventure begins in Earth War #1. And finally, a traveler crash-lands on a deadly, lawless planet in Drifter #1.
Marvel
Are you ready for the Spider-Verse? Marvel sure hopes so, because they have four Spider-titles coming out: there's Spider-Verse #1 proper, as Spider-people from all universes come together; Spider-Verse Team-up #1, where they come together than the team up; Scarlet Spiders #1, where Ben Reilly, Kaine, and Ultimate Jessica Drew team up; and the all-new Spider-Woman #1, which… ass. Falcon begins his tenure as Cap in All New Captain America #1, fighting not just Hydra but all of Cap's old foes, and in Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1, where Sam Wilson tries to forge its disparate members into a real team.
Tony Stark is being an asshole again in The Superior Iron Man #1, and plans to turn San Francisco into his city of the future by letting Extremis loose on its citizens… just without telling anyone. And in The Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program, the former weapon X test subjects must band together to keep their hard-fought freedom.
IDW
You'll definitely want to grab the Ray Bradbury tribute anthology series Shadow Show, which begins with a tale by Joe Hill about two teens who discovers something in a nearby lake that changes their lives forever.
The first bang created the universe; the second created a single superhero in the philosophical space-epic The Bigger Bang #1. Chuck Dixon and Butch Guise return to the frozen future in a new Winter World collection. And Drift tries to atone for his disgrace in the new Transformers series Empire of Stone.
Dark Horse
"The world's most elite combat-trained truckers" uncover a massive conspiracy in Ghost Fleet #1, which is not a sentence I expected to type today. A thief who can remember his past lives encounters a group who wants him to pull off a 3,000-year-old heist in Fred Van Lente's The Resurrectionists. Manga superstar team CLAMP returns with the sequel to Legal Drop, titled Drug & Drop, with a guest appearance from Xxxholic's Watanuki! And the Grindhouse series takes on holiday horror with the new Drive In Bleed Out miniseries.
Dynamite
It's the team-up of the 19th century when Zorro and Django Unchained cross paths in a comic co-written by Quentin Tarantino and Matt Wagner. The Lone Ranger and Tonto discover a town besieged by thieves isn't as it seems in The Lone Ranger: Vindicated #1, while John Carter begins an all-new chapter when Warlord of Mars goes monthly.
DC
The Spectre comes to the mean streets of Gotham City to investigate a supernatural mystery in Ray Fawkes and Ben Templesmith's Gotham By Midnight #1. All-Star Superman's Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely tell a Memento-like murder mystery on Earth-4 in Multiversity: Pax America #1. And in the Vertigo series The Kitchen, a group of wives of Irish mobsters take over their husband's businesses while they're in jail.
Valiant
The sinister cabal celebrates their win over Occupy Wall Street in Archer & Armstrong spin-off The One Percent, and Valiant's legendary immortal gets his Lone Wolf and Cub on when he's tasked with protecting a baby in Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel #1. And Hellblazer's Peter Milligan and artist Robert Gill introduce Punk Mambo to the Valiant Universe, a take-no-shit sorceress as ready to break faces as she is to cast spells.
Boom Studios
Every conspiracy theory you've ever heard is true; but when these black ops missions get out of hand, it's agent John Harrow's job to fix them in Deep State #1. Beth's brilliant, beloved pet gets his due in Bravest Warriors: Paralyzed Horse #1; and Pat McHale's animated short "Tome of the Unknown" gets a comic spinoff written by McHale himself, titled Over the Garden Wall. And ape fans should be on the lookout for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes series. which chronicles the 10 years in-between Rise and Dawn.
Other
Mono, an ape-human-hybrid secret agent for the British Empire, was a bizarre pulp hero from the 1930s. Titan resurrects the character with a fascinating "first-hand account" of the adventures of the untamable adventurer. And a younger, less-simian adventurer discovers a hidden world underneath the ocean in Th3rd World's all-ages fantasy series Thanatos Diver. And a girl and her adopted Tyrannosaurus must stop an entire dinosaur invasion in Terrible Lizard, courtesy of One Press.
A man discovers he's trapped in the Purgatory for suicides, and with Ernest Hemingway's help, tries to free his fellow inmates in The Life After collection. A former superhero awaiting his execution on death row discovers he may be immortal in Solitary from Devil's Due. And in Legendary's Epochalypse, a mystery phenomenon causes 600 years to happen at once, forcing special Resynchronization Officers to make sure the future doesn't accidentally destroy the past.
The Iron Giant animator Stephen Franck chronicles the adventures of a con man in the world of Dracula 50 years after the events of the book in Silver, published by Dark Planet. In Black Mask's Toe Tag Riot, a punk band is cursed to become zombies whenever they play their music. And the only thing standing in-between horrifying gods and the end of humanity is a group called the Storm in Avatar Press' Dark Gods. But the comic you're probably most going to want to be on the lookout for is Action Lab's Fight Like a Girl #1, as a young girl named Amarosa fights nine incredible battles for a wish to save her ill brother.