Rob's Picks:

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 - Miles finally gets a break from the multiversal shuffle! Back home from his Ultimate adventures, Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is managing the work/life balance of a teen superhero surprisingly well, saving lives without missing (much) class. It’s a new normal that is soon put to the test by a new villain with Conan the Barbarian’s style and a serious beef with the NYPD. Their first encounter is mostly a chance to introduce this antagonist’s slate of energy-manipulating powers, but Spider-Man’s quipping and creative heroics make it an entertaining piece of powerscaling. The Miles we get in this book has a well-earned confidence reflecting the character’s many years of growth as a hero, while retaining a realistic amount of youthful awkwardness in his fumbling attempts to ask out a cute new lab partner. After so many overcrowded team-ups and the recent Ultimates crossovers, Miles was becoming more of a plot device than a character, so writer Bryan Hill (Ultimate Black Panther) has made this street-level series an especially refreshing return to form.

Regicide #1 - Beautifully brutal, aggressively weird, and completely friggin awesome! In medieval Transylvania, the immensely strong Mihas lived as a simple farmer until the day a mysterious stranger in an iron mask arrived in his village seeking allies for a perilous quest. To free the land from a demonic curse, he needs a brave, strong companion, and Mihas is volunteered by the village elders despite his objections, setting off on a mission to kill the demon-possessed Viceroy who rules the country. The road to the capital is long, and the Viceroy’s monstrous underlings are around every corner, quickly putting our mismatched companions to the test in gory combat. The art of Ludovic Lalliat has a rough edge that serves the harsh atmosphere, and he excels at the grotesque, like a particularly gross demon combining a woman and a queen ant. Tigress Island writer Patrick Kindlon gives the two lead characters very different voices, with the masked knight doing most of the talking, but the folktale-like narration gives this book its personality. The dark setting, creative designs, and bloody action make Regicide a great pick for fans of Berserk or games like Dark Souls.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #2 - Basil Karlo is back in Hollywood and ready for a comeback, starting by exposing the fake Basil Karlo. Impersonating a recently deceased man has provided a convenient base of operations in LA, along with a neighbor named Katie, who happens to be working on fake-Basil’s latest film. Still no hero, he takes every advantage of the situation that he can, but years out of the entertainment business have left him with nothing to do with the intel he gathers. This issue gets some great laughs at Karlo’s expense, especially in the contrast between his skill at deception and his utter inability to achieve anything with it. While he’s taking one step forward and two steps back, more low-tier celebrities are experiencing sudden facial melting, and we see what the fake Basil gets up to in his trailer (hint: it’s gross). Artist Fran Galán nails the body horror once again. This rogues gallery side story is wickedly funny with some genuine chills.

Solo's Picks:

Gastronomique #1 - A disturbing and uniquely bizarre tale about an infamous assassin, the Serpent of Paris, hunting down the man who ate her baby sister! Set during the French Revolution, the artwork perfectly captures the era’s misery, famine, and uncertainty, with nearly everyone looking sickly and distorted, even the wealthy nobles partying in their extravagant clothes. It’s at one of these parties where Charlotte, the aforementioned Serpent of Paris, encounters the cannibal responsible for her sister’s death, who entertains the guests with his horrifying ability to swallow practically anything and regurgitate it completely intact. The story only gets stranger from there, culminating in a final page revealing a beautiful yet grotesque mountain of bodies that the cannibal has apparently created as his magnum opus. This book is incredibly weird, but it’s exactly the kind of weird I love, blending supernatural horror with historical fiction in a way that feels completely unique. If you enjoy strange historical stories with a healthy dose of horror, Gastronomique is absolutely worth picking up!

Yumi: 00EX #1 - Doug Wagner, Hoyt Silva, and Kevin Lennertz have teamed up for an over-the-top and stylish new spy thriller that refuses to take itself too seriously! We follow Yumi, a young “Spy Fatale” searching for her missing lover while shooting her way through anyone unfortunate enough to stand between her and the truth. She’s hilarious, clever, and completely confident in her abilities, making this an incredibly easy book to follow because she constantly skips over the exposition and internal monologues that usually bog down stories like this. Instead, Yumi jumps straight into the action with increasingly ridiculous plans and bombastic set pieces. Compared to some of Wagner’s other work, the writing definitely leans more juvenile, but I actually think that works in its favor. The characters have an attitude that feels tailor-made for younger readers, making this an especially easy recommendation for middle or high schoolers who already love comics. That said, you don’t need to be part of that demographic to have a great time with this book. If you’re looking for a fast, funny, action-packed spy story, Yumi: 00EX is absolutely worth checking out!

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 - A new chapter for Miles Morales begins, and I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic jumping-on point! While this is a fresh start, Miles is going back to basics with his iconic black-and-red costume and a renewed focus on Brooklyn. Bryan Edward Hill, Nico Leon, Valentine De Landro, and Bryan Valenza do an excellent job of pulling together the most important elements from the previous run while adding enough new material to make this feel like a genuine reset. There are also some fun nods to the Spider-Verse movies and comics that longtime fans will appreciate without making the book inaccessible to newcomers. The artwork is incredibly vibrant and sharp, fitting the characters perfectly, especially Miles when he’s out of costume. His civilian design feels reminiscent of his original look while adding some modern flair, and the change in artwork during the flashback was a fantastic touch, with Valentine De Landro perfectly capturing that Fury-inspired aesthetic. There’s even a hilarious promotion for Marvel: Tokkon that answers the extremely important question of which character Miles mains. This is exactly the kind of accessible new beginning Miles needed, and I’m incredibly excited to see where this run goes. If you’re a Miles fan, do yourself a favor and add this to your pull!