Welcome to a new feature here at The Cosmic Circus. You may already be familiar with my book reviews but now each week I’ll be reviewing a selection of the newest comics to hit the shelves too. It’s impossible to review all the new releases each week, so some titles will be rotating in and out. If you have a favorite be sure to let us know and I’ll work hard to feature it! So without further ado, here’s our spotlight on new comics for June 14th, 2023!
[This week’s comics are provided by Warp Zone Comics and Collectibles. Warning my reviews of this week’s comics contain some spoilers, read at your own risk.]
The Amazing Spider-Man #27
We’ll start off with the perennially popular The Amazing Spider-Man. This issue is written by Zeb Wells and edited by Nick Lowe. Ed McGuinness does the penciling, Mark Farmer the inking, and Marcio Menyz is the colorist. Joe Caramagna is responsible for the lettering.
In issue #27 we see both Spider-Man and Norman Osborn (a.k.a. The Golden Goblin) dealing with their guilt around the death of Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel. She died fighting alongside both of them and each feels responsible in their own way. As we watch these two deal with the emotional aftermath of the last big baddie fight, villains creep around in the darkness plotting to disrupt life in New York City again. Hopefully, Spider-man isn’t so distracted by his guilt that he misses his next challenge.
The clean-cut images that accompany this sad story add a feeling of realism to the comic. And I love the way lighting is used to highlight the pictures and infuse excitement into the visual story.
Black Panther #1
This is the first issue of a new Black Panther story written by Eve L. Ewing. Chris Allen is the penciler with Chris Allen and Craig Yeung inking and Jesus Aburtov as the color artist. In this new Black Panther, Wakanda has left behind the monarchy and is now a democracy. T’Challa no longer rules Wakanda, but he will always protect it.
In the city named for his father, he works to stop crime and restore balance, the only way he can still serve Wakanda. But of course, a hero like Black Panther can’t just fight small-time crime. There are more sinister foes lurking in the background that we’ll meet soon.
The color pallet for Black Panther #1 contained a lot of oranges, yellows, and reds. Especially in the background. This gave the feeling of a city in perpetual sunset. With Birnin T’Chaka in the state it’s in, that’s not surprising. But I think that sunset colors are also dawn colors. The city may be in trouble but with Black Panther there to protect it the sun will rise on a new day.
Spider-Man India #1
Another new series, Spider-Man India is written by Nikesh Shukla. Abhishek Malsuni serves as the penciler and Scott Hanna as an inker. Joe Caramagna is the letterer and Neeraj Menon provides some bright colors. I absolutely love how bright all the panels are in Spider-Man India. Sometimes comic books feel very dark and depressing but Menon’s colors feel light and inspiring.
This new take on Spider-Man features Pavitr Prabhakar as the Spider-Man from Earth 50101. He’s based in Mumbai, India instead of New York City and has a GiriCorps instead of an Oscorp. Parvitr is very intelligent and rocks a red and blue spider suit (with a little Indian influence).
He struggles with the idea of community first and wonders when he gets to be first. It’s a similar conflict to the “great power, great responsibility” concept that Spider-Man always has to deal with. In this run, it’s being presented as community over self but it’s that same value that we expect out of Spider-Man at heart.
Star Wars: Sana Starros #5
Star Wars: Sana Starros is written by Justina Ireland with Pere Pérez as the artist. Tavis Lanham is the letterer and Dono Sánchez-Almara and Fer Sifuentes-Sujo are the color artist for issue #5. This series follows Sana Starros, an outlaw who has worked with Han Solo, Doctor Aphra, and just about everyone else. Currently, she’s returned home to nurse a broken heart, but trouble shows up again. Now she has to protect her family at any cost.
Sana is trying to rescue her family from her cousin’s psycho boyfriend. She manages to infiltrate the ship they’re on but there’s a bigger problem. Her cousin is pregnant with twins and the babies have terrible timing. As in they’re ready to make their appearance just as their mom is being rescued. Talk about birth complications.
Doctor Strange #4
This Doctor Strange series is written by Jed Mackay. Issue #4 features Andy MacDonald as a guest artist and KJ Díaz as a guest colorist. Cory Petit serves as the letterer. In previous issues of this run, Doctor Strange was dead! Wong reformed W.A.N.D. (S.H.I.E.L.D.’s magical branch) to help defend Earth from magical threats in his absence.
Now Doctor Strange and his wife Clea are back but they’re letting the new W.A.N.D. handle problems. Then a new type of problem shows up. Someone is killing off monsters and evil wizards. While this may sound good in theory, it upsets the balance of power and could end up having very bad consequences. But who is killing these monsters and why? W.A.N.D. better figure it out, and fast.
Carnage #14
Carnage is written by Alex Paknadel with Fran Galán and Federico Sabatini in the role of artists. Erick Arciniega is the color artist and Joe Sabino is the letterer. In this series, Carnage (Cletus Kasady) has merged with an extremebiote that was created by merging a cosmic symbiote dragon and Tony Stark’s Extremis Virus. The new creation has dangerous new tech-based weapons and abilities. He’s controlling the people of New York City with Stark tech, but it’s not enough. Now he’s looking for a way to control even more. Miles Morales teams up with a list of villains to try and take down Carnage before it’s too late.
Haunt You to the End #1
And finally, one more new series that came out this week from Image Comics: Haunt You to the End #1 is written by Ryan Cady. Andrea Mutti is the artist and Frank Cvetkovic is the letterer. In this apocalyptic comic set a hundred years in the future, the world has failed to curb carbon emissions and has become a “Hothouse Earth”. Society has adapted to this less habitable planet but adaptation doesn’t always equal survival, and survival isn’t living.
Billionaire Shah wants to prove that ghosts are real. He thinks that by proving their existence he’ll provide hope to the people who are slowly dying as they struggle through their sad little lives. He wants the video journalist Matt Park to film his project. Park has never been kind to Shah in his reporting and he is a complete skeptic about ghosts. Shah believes this will add credibility to his project. So Shah, Park, and a ghost-chasing team head off to Isla Lodo, the most haunted place on Earth, to document what comes next. This series has the potential to be very creepy and I’m rather intrigued to see where Cady and his team take it.
And that’s some of the new comics releasing June 14, 2023
So that’s my round-up for this week. If you want to pick up physical copies of any of these, but you’re not sure where a comic book shop is near you, try checking on ComicShopLocator.com. I hope this review helps you find something exciting to read. Enjoy the week and I’ll be back next week with more new comics.
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