Wednesday is New Comic Book Day, the comic fan’s holy day of the week! Here are a few books that are making us swoon on this Valentine’s Day!
Mister Miracle #1 Director’s Cut (DC Comics)
Writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads are creating a tale with Mister Miracle that is equal parts inventive, emotionally crushing and uplifting, and an examination of selfhood and our relationship with the world. DC Comics’ New Gods have never felt so fresh, poignant, and relevant. Sadly, we still have to wait a whole month for the next installment of their yarn. Fortunately for us, DC has a Valentine’s Day gift in the form of a director’s cut of the first issue, including not only King’s script, but never-before-seen pages that add depth to an already narratively rich story.
Calexit #1 (3rd printing) (Black Mask Studios)
Black Mask’s timely alternate history story of a California that left the Union after Donald Trump’s ascension to the United States presidency returns this month with a second issue. In the meantime, get caught up with Matteo Pizzolo and Amancay Nahuelpan’s first issue of Calexit with a third printing hitting this week and decide for yourself if fiction is stranger than our current reality.
The Secret Loves of Geeks (Dark Horse Comics)
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Dark Horse is dropping a follow-up to their gorgeous anthology The Secrets Loves of Geek Girls with an all-inclusive, all-gender, all sexual orientation compilation, The Secret Loves of Geeks, and this installment is just as teeming with stories of love, lost, despair, and inspiration as its predecessor. Cartoonists and professional geeks bare their souls in prose and comic form, and it’s a perfect book to cuddle up with, regardless of where you are in the thick of love.
Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu HC (IDW)
H.P.’s name has “Love” right there, so we’re calling this selection Valentine’s Day-adjacent. In all seriousness, this is a staple and a cornerstone for anyone who wants to dive deep into the Cthulhu mythos, presenting reprinted stories from three decades past. See why Lovecraft is so seminal in our modern day mythologies and storytelling aesthetic and why the writer has influenced everyone from Warren Ellis to Alan Moore.
Bingo Love (Image Comics)
Coming off the book’s successful Kickstarter campaign and finding a publishing home with Image, Bingo Love is both an inspirational and grounded look at love, queerness, and the struggle to be who you are and with whom you love when life’s stressors and constrictions are constantly pushing and pulling you otherwise. Chronicling the lives of Mari and Elle, two African Americans who found love with one another at an early age and grapple with society’s demands when life wrenches them apart, writer Tee Franklin and artist Jenn-St Onge craft a beautiful tale that will linger with you long after you put it away.
Star Wars: Thrawn #1 (Marvel Comics)
Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most ruthless and unrelenting adversaries of the Republic in the entirety of Star Wars lore. Recently, novelist Timothy Zahn, who created the character in his “Thrawn” trilogy, examined how the character came to power in a standalone book about the Imperial juggernaut, and the team of writer Jody Houser and Luke Ross are adapting it to comics form. No stranger to working in Marvel’s Star Wars universe, Houser and Ross should create a gripping yarn, while adding layers to the source material.