The Top Comics to Buy for March 29 list is heavy with books from DC Comics, and while I don’t usually like to have a majority on here from any one publisher, there’s just so much from them this week that appeals directly to my tastes. Add to that a new Steve Skroce miniseries at Marvel and the conclusion to one of the funniest superhero parodies ever, and it’s a very strong week.
You can find the usual lists below…enjoy!
Top Comics to Buy for March 29, 2023
Clobberin’ Time #1
Writer/Artist: Steve Skroce
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
It’s Clobberin’ Time all the time, as Ben Grimm teams up with heroes from across the Marvel Universe for BIG, FIST-POUNDING ACTION! But the stakes have never been higher! In this opening issue, Ben and the Incredible Hulk are stranded on a distant, ancient, alien world, where the duo must protect an ancient people against legions of Deviant hordes and ultimately face the wrath of a Celestial. Luckily, they have four fists between them!
Why It’s Cool: I absolutely love Steve Skroce’s work (Maestros, especially), and it seems like a perfect fit for a book about The Thing, who has quietly become a destination character for creators who want to do interesting work at Marvel (see also the Walter Mosley, Tom Reilly collab, The Next Big Thing). And this week’s comic also features The Hulk, another character that fits Skroce’s aesthetic well. Great stuff.
Price: $3.99
Gotham City: Year One #6
Writer: Tom King
Pencils: Phil Hester
Inks: Eric Gapstur
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
The brutal, bloody conclusion to the year’s most acclaimed title is here. Slam Bradley has never feared walking the hard path alone, but even his courage will be tested by the shocking turn of events that will take Gotham City down a dark, violent path.
Why It’s Cool: This smart and layered Gotham City-as-we-know-it origin story comes to an end this week, and, like the rest of the book, the finale is absolutely excellent. This book is as good of a hard-boiled classic noir as I’ve ever seen in comics, with Tom King doing some of his best-ever scripting for the team of Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur and Jordie Bellaire, who elevate the ideas even further. This book comes to its necessarily-difficult end here, delivering a near-perfect capstone for what’s just been an incredible miniseries.
Price: $4.99
My Bad, Vol. 2 #5
Writers: Mark Russell and Bryce Ingram
Artist: Peter Krause
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: AHOY Comics
When alien lizard people threaten to invade Earth, the greatest heroes and villains of The Important New Superhero Universe launch a defense! But whose rocket will they take to outer space? The Chandelier’s? Or Emperor King’s? You would think the fate of the world depended on the answer!
Why It’s Cool: One of — if not the — funniest superhero parodies I’ve ever read, My Bad reaches a conclusion this week (although the backmatter does promise some My Bad-related news soon). This book is absurdly clever, just packed with quick visual gags and one-liners within a parody framework that is also engaging. I can’t recommend this one enough. The good news to the series ending is you’ll soon be able to grab both trades and just have a blast.
Price: $4.99
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1
Writer: Dennis Culver
Artist: Chris Burnham
Colorist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: DC Comics
THE WORLD’S STRANGEST HEROES ARE BACK IN THE DC UNIVERSE! After the events of Lazarus Planet, more people than ever have active metagenes! Most of these new metahumans have become misfits, shunned and imprisoned by a fearful society. They are hidden away in the dark, lost to a system that only sees them as weapons or guinea pigs-ticking time bombs that can only be defused by the Unstoppable Doom Patrol! Robotman, Elasti-Woman, and Negative Man are joined by their brand-new teammates Beast Girl and Degenerate and led by Crazy Jane’s mysterious new alter, the Chief, on a mission of saving the world by saving the monsters!
Why It’s Cool: This book had me at “Chris Burnham” is doing Doom Patrol, and I’m happy to report that the whole thing comes together really well. This is a great take on the Doom Patrol, growing out of DC’s year-leading Lazarus Planet event. I’ll have a full review of this book in the DC Round-Up later today, but I’ll just say for now that you definitely want to pick up the start of this new run, which was an easy pick for the Top Comics to Buy for March 29.
Price: $3.99
Waller Vs. WildStorm #1
Writers: Spencer Ackerman and Evan Narcisse
Artist: Jesus Merino, with Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Mike Atiyeh
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics – Black Label
As the Cold War stubbornly refuses to thaw, a new battle heats up…for the soul of the intelligence agency Checkmate. As the agency’s super-heroic public face, Jackson King—a.k.a. the armored Battalion, former leader of Stormwatch and the symbol of American might—has long suspected that Adeline Kane is up to dirty tricks overseas, engineering horrors that betray everything he believes about service to one’s country. But King doesn’t know that Kane has a clever new ally—an ambitious young woman named Amanda Waller. She has her own ideas about how metahumans can serve their country. And honor, dignity, and long lives don’t factor into them…
Why It’s Cool: Using some of the best espionage comics ever as touchstones, this new run feels like a combination of classic WildStorm (the geopolitical-interested WildStorm), ’80s Suicide Squad, Checkmate, and a Year One story for Amanda Waller. It’s a really smart, well-written comic that feels like it’s hold its cards close to its chest, with so much more left to be revealed as this four-issue prestige mini continues on. Don’t miss it.
Price: $5.99
Others Receiving Votes
Action Comics #1053- Ancient Enemies #3
- Blood-Stained Teeth #10
- Daredevil #9
- Detective Comics #1070
- Godfell #2
- Harley Quinn #28
- Heart Eyes #5
- Hellboy in Love #4 – Shadow Theater Part 2
- It’s Only Teenage Wasteland #4
- Killadelphia #29
- Sabretooth and the Exiles #5
- Something Is Killing the Children #30
- Tim Drake: Robin #7
New #1s and One-Shots
Ambassadors #1- Avengers Beyond #1
- Don’t Spit In The Wind #1
- Dungeons and Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures #1
- Indigo Children #1
- It’s Jeff #1 (one-shot)
- Lady Baltimore – Dream of Ikelos #1 (one-shot)
- Rocketman and Rocketgirl #1 (one-shot)
- Songs for the Dead – Afterlife #1
- Star Wars – Return of the Jedi – Jabba’s Palace #1 (one-shot)
- Venom: Lethal Protector II #1
- X-Men Unforgiven #1 (one-shot)
Graphic Novels and Trade Collections
Bobby Digital and the Pit of Snakes HC- E-Ratic Recharged TP
- Harvey Knights Odyssey GN
- Highball TP
- I Am Batman Vol. 2 – Welcome to New York HC
- Infinite Frontier TP
- Karman Line GN
- Kaya Book One TP
- Mister Mammoth HC
- Moon Knight: Black, White, and Blood Treasury Edition
- Naomi Season 2 HC
- Survival Street TP
Read past editions of the Top Comics to Buy!
