Halloween season may have ended but horror comics maintained a strong prescience in this week’s top comics to buy for November 15. It helps that The Deviant #1 is one of the best new comics I’ve read all year, but the rest of the stuff on the list is no slouch. You can find my five personal recommendations below, along with the usual set of weekly lists. Enjoy!
Top Comics to Buy for November 15, 2023
A Haunted Girl #2
Writers: Ethan Sacks & Naomi Sacks
Artist: Marco Lorenzana
Colorist: Andres Mossa
Letterer: Jaime Martinez
Publisher: Image Comics – Syzygy Publishing
As Cleo struggles to reintegrate into her high school after a stay in a psychiatric hospital for her depression and suicidal thoughts, she is being hunted by a supernatural terror that only she can see. Can the 16-year-old unravel the mystery behind the threat in time?
Why It’s Cool: I was pretty blown away by the first issue of this comic, which melds a real-life mental health struggle with mythology in a seamless way that produces a thoughtful and poignant comic. And this second issue was just as good as the first. Do yourself a favor, and pickup this book if you haven’t already.
Price: $4.99
The Deviant #1
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Joshua Hixson
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Image Comics – Tiny Onion Studios
As snow falls over Milwaukee in 1972, a blood-stained Santa Claus commits unimaginable atrocities against young men. Fifty years later, a troubled young writer interviews this so-called “Deviant Killer,” who still maintains his innocence from behind bars. And as Christmas approaches once again, the past returns, wielding a sharpened ax.
Why It’s Cool: I really don’t quite know how to talk about this comic without sounding hyperbolic, but it’s a real stunner, as good of a new original comic as I’ve read all year. It turns Christmas into horror so effortlessly, with a mix of Hixson’s disturbing imagery and what feels like one of the most personal scripts Tynion has penned to date. It’s just a stunner from start to finish, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Price: $5.99
The Forged #6
Writers: Greg Rucka & Eric Trautmann
Artist: Mike Henderson
Colorist: Nolan Woodard
Letters: Ariana Maher
Publisher: Image Comics
The second arc concludes! Agents of the Empire attempt to murder Vic and the team in a variety of inventive and horrible ways, but it turns out it’s all just a terrible misunderstanding! So, you know, it’s just a standard day. Also: Harpo gets laid!
Why It’s Cool: I liked this comic a lot during its first arc — it’s mech-driven, over-the-top sci-fi action, what’s not to like — but the palace intrigue of this second arc has elevated the book even further for me. And this second story arc finale might be the book’s best issue yet. Counting the days until it comes back (all the way in April, argh!).
Price: $6.99
Lotus Land #1
Writer: Darcy Van Poelgeest
Artist: Caio Filipe
Colorist: Patricio Delpeche
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
In a Vancouver of the future painted with ultramodern decay, a groundbreaking advancement in technology promises an end to entropy itself.
But when an attack on this mysterious “Keeper Program” threatens the lives of everyone tied to it, retired Police Detective Bennie Strikman is called to investigate one last case.
Why It’s Cool: Are you looking for a complex and interesting neo-noir comic? Look no further, friends. This book is exactly that, and it’s also really well-done. Set in a dystopian future Vancouver, this is an immersive comic that doesn’t dumb things down for the reader. Van Poelgeest scripting is great, fitting perfectly with the intricate artwork by Filipe (with colors by Delpeche and letters by Piekos). This was an easy decision to add to the Top Comics to Buy for November 15.
Price: $4.99
Rumpus Room #3
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Colorist: Ive Svorcina
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Publisher: AWA Studios
Can Erica lead the captives out of the Rumpus Room and back to freedom? Find out in the latest chapter of Eisner and Ringo Award-winning writer Mark Russell’s all-new satirical thriller! Erica concocts a plan to escape billionaire Bob Schrunk’s nightmarish Rumpus Room…though it takes a lot of convincing to get the other prisoners to go along with it. Meanwhile, Schrunk takes his lawyer on a bizarre art shopping spree, all while dodging questions from the press concerning the strange rumors about his disappearing employees.
Why It’s Cool: Rumpus Room has been one of the best and smartest horror comics of the year, extrapolating wealth inequality and the public-facing rise of the billionaire class to just the most terrifying point…and then pointing out how it’s not that far off from where we are in real life. This issue just keeps pushing that, and it’s great.
Price: $3.99
Others Receiving Votes
Arcade Kings #5- Batman & Robin #3
- Crusader #3
- Danger Street #11
- Detective Comics #1077
- Earthdivers #12
- Fantastic Four #13
- Fishflies #3
- G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero #301
- Killadelphia #31
- Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #5
- Project Cryptid #3
- Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #2
- Scrapper #5
- Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #2
- World’s Finest Teen Titans #5
New #1s and One-Shots
Alien #1- Animal Pound Ashcan #1 (one-shot)
- Deadpool Seven Slaughters #1 (one-shot)
- Dungeon & Dragons – Fortune Finder #1
- Dutch #0
- Geiger – Ground Zero #1
- Godzilla Rivals Vs. Mechagodzilla #1 (one-shot)
- Ministry of Compliance #1
- Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Book 2 – The Great Hunt #1
- Star Wars – Visions Peach Momoko #1 (one-shot)
- Superior Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1
- Syphon Vol. 2 #1
Graphic Novels and Trade Collections
Action Philosophers Vol. 1 HC- Adventures of Superman – Jon Kent HC
- Batman – The Hush Saga Omnibus HC
- BPRD Omnibus – Vol. 8 TP
- Clear TP
- Dead Romans HC
- Feeding Dangerously HC
- Ice Cream Man Sundae Edition Vol. 2 HC
- Invincible Compendium Vol. 3 HC
- Love Everlasting Vol. 2 TP
- Second Coming Vol. 3 Trinity TP
- Star Trek Deviant Vol. 1 HC
- Superman – The Warworld Saga TP
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Armageddon Game HC
- World of Black Hammer Omnibus Vol. 2 TP
Read past editions of the Top Comics to Buy!
