This week’s Top Comics to Buy for June 10 is a solid list, one that reminded me how lucky we are to have some of the ongoing runs we currently have. Comics has perhaps bent towards shorter books in the past decade and change, but this week I was reminded by Supergirl (in its 14th issue) and Bleeding Hearts (just starting its second arc) how much I like it when a book settles in and rewards consistent readers. It’s one of the great things about being a weekly comics sicko, if you ask me.
Anyway! You can find my five favorite books from this week below, along with 10 other comics I liked, followed by the usual sets of release lists … enjoy!
Top Comics to Buy for June 10
Bad Thoughts #1
Writer: Ande Parks
Artist: Dave Wachter
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Publisher: Ignition Press
He knows every terrible thing you’ve done. And he’s coming for you. Jack Coates can look inside your mind and see every awful thing you’ve ever thought or done. It’s painful, but it serves him very well at his private security firm that deals with difficult situations and even more heinous people. He’s a good soldier with a good team that he trusts… but he’s about to find out what happens when you put your trust in the wrong people.
Why It’s Cool: This feels like an old school comic in the best way, a smart espionage-driven comic that also has a touch of the strange to it. And Dave Watcher — who is colored to perfection here by Brad Simpson — does his best work yet.
Price: $4.99
Bleeding Hearts #5
Writer: Deniz Camp
Artist: Stipan Morian
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: DC Comics – Vertigo
Can an unwitting act still count as betrayal? Poke and Mush’s friendship is at its breaking point, but can you fault someone for indulging their natural instincts? With Poke’s secret becoming increasingly hard to keep, it may end up being a question he must answer in front of his entire horde, in their most sacred of spaces… a shopping mall!
Why It’s Cool: Sometimes I think a book needs an arc to really find itself, or rather, to do the difficult work of establishing its world, characters, and stakes, before settling into what it really wants to be about. That’s the experience I had reading Bleeding Hearts #5 this week, a fantastic issue that for me unlocked the full potential of the book, which was solid in its first arc already. There’s an anthropologic bend to this story that’s really interesting, more so as it keeps sharpening its view points. Anyway, this is a fantastic issue, and it makes me glad these new Vertigo books have committed to longer runs.
Price: $3.99
Joe Palmer’s Destination Kill #2
Writer/Artist/Letterer: Joe Palmer
Colorist Assists: Folasade Olaseni
Publisher: Oni Press
There’s chaos in the streets following an attack on megacorp Overcon’s newest innovation: the Paradise Loop, a hypersonic train connecting London to New York in just an hour. Concerned with the optics for his upcoming anniversary gala, Overcon’s CEO wants protestors shot in the streets… and Detective Gina Serene and her ex-partner Lance are the last bulwark against the torrent of blood and bullets that’s building between the city’s control-minded overlords and the Builder subclass willing to bring it all down with a ball of flame and bundle of homemade explosives. Now Gina must race to locate the one person who can possibly stop the next, even more destructive attack—Nelson Van Meter, creator of the Loop—before Overcon or the Builders can get to him to first.
Why It’s Cool: While not as mad cap as the debut issue, this second chapter continues to high-energy cartooning and bonkers scripting from the first issue, making this a must-read as well.
Price: $5.99
M.A.S.K. #1
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Pye Parr
Colorist: Pierluigi Casolino
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics – Skybound
The world is becoming a terrifying place. Matt Trakker needs your help saving it. Enter M.A.S.K. — a network of specialists recruited to respond to the next global emergency. At a moment’s notice, Trakker and his agents can deploy bleeding-edge technology that converts their vehicles — and their drivers — into the ultimate weapon. But Miles Mayhem and V.E.N.O.M. are one step ahead in a secret arms race, scouring the globe for deadly weapons from this planet and beyond, ready to sell out the entire human race. Only M.A.S.K. can stop them… but will Trakker’s own secrets jeopardize their entire mission?
Why It’s Cool: I’ll be honest, even though I am roughly the right age, I missed M.A.S.K. altogether back in the day. It was mostly a thing a kid on my block was into, but I never saw the cartoon or had the toys. Anyway, none of that stopped from absolutely loving this first issue. The writing is sharp, the art is fantastic, and the book just feels like a great shot in the arm for the overall Energon Universe project.
Price: $4.99
Supergirl #14
Writer/Artist: Sophie Campbell
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
Nothing can stop Black Flame as she continues to amass power in Kandor. Meanwhile, Lena Luthor searches for Supergirl before it’s too late for the bottled city. Will Lena’s new invention be the key to turning the tide of the battle? Can Kara learn the secrets of the S-Matrix before they’re all found by Black Flame?!
Why It’s Cool: Supergirl has reached that rarified comics air where it’s so good I feel like I’m taking it for granted a bit. Every issue could land in these recommendations, but especially those that are both written and illustrated by Sophie Campbell, which just have a bit of added pop. All of these issues are fun and well-scripted and a perfect use of long-running superhero characters and their worlds. I love this run.
Price: $3.99
10 Other Comics I Enjoyed This Week
- 2000AD #2484
- Absolute Catwoman #1
- The Forged #11
- Free Planet #13
- Fury of Firestorm #3
- M1 Monster Racing League #1
- Monsters In Love – A Pride Anthology #1 (one-shot)
- Muppets Noir #4
- Skate Ali #1
- Transformers #33
New #1s and One-Shots
- Absolute Catwoman #1
- Altered States Warlords #1
- Avengers Armageddon #1
- Bad Thoughts #1
- Bishop #1
- Gehenna in Tokyo #1 (one-shot)
- Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre Presents Godzilla’s The Odyssey #1
- Jay & Silent Bob – Jays of Future Past #1 (one-shot)
- M.A.S.K. #1
- M1 Monster Racing League #1
- Masters of the Universe – The Wings of Fate #1
- Monsters In Love – A Pride Anthology #1 (one-shot)
- Skate Ali #1
- Supernatural Special – Castiel #1 (one-shot)
Graphic Novels and Trade Collections
- 100 Cupboards The Graphic Novel TP
- Absolute Green Lantern Vol 2 HC/TP
- Annihilation Modern Era Epic Collection Vol 3 Conquest Prologue TP
- Avatar The Last Airbender – Fire and Family Treasury Library Edition HC
- Batman / Superman World’s Finest Deluxe Edition Vol 1 HC
- The Beauty Book 2 TP
- DC Finest Team-Ups The Impossible Escape TP
- Emmie Arbel The Colour of Memory HC
- Eternal Blue A Spiritbox Graphic Novel HC
- Good As Dead TP
- Jekyll Island Chronicles The Complete Trilogy TP
- Love and Desire in the Promised Land HC
- Lumberjanes Book 5 HC
- Orphan and the Five Beasts Vol 2 Bath of Blood TP
- Punisher Red Band Brain Bleed TP
- Rick and Morty Oni Compact Comics Edition Wubba Lubba Dub-Doom TP
- Sacrificers Vol 4 TP
- Sonic The Hedgehog On The Go Vol 3 GN
- Space Scouts HC
- Spider-Man & Wolverine Vol 2 Life & Death Choices TP
- Star Trek the Next Generation IDW Classics Collections The Mirror War TP
- Undead Iron Fist TP
- Web of Spider-Man Omnibus Vol 2 HC
Read past editions of the Top Comics to Buy!
And check out the Beat’s most recent comics reviews!
