On The Pull 26/02/2020

New comics are due to hit the shelves on Wednesday so here’s a look ahead at some of the books we’ll be picking up this week along with a full list of titles that will be available from Paradox Comics.

Jo S: This week's list is such a cracking mixture of all my favourite goodies, I'm like a labrador given opposable thumbs and the run of a pet store - I don't know what to tear open first! Marvel are offering me hit after hit: my beloved Spider-Ham reaches his miniseries halfway point, the surprisingly excellent Tarot (no, still not that one) has its issue #3 and the Hickman X-revolution continues apace with the main title in the 'Dawn of X' event leading the way; X-Men is proving to be a masterclass in world-building and story innovation. Were that not enough, the second issue of Kelly Thompson's challenging new solo character, Star, appears this week: the first issue was unexpectedly dark and interesting - not at all what I expected from the cover - and showed how Thompson's skill in characterisation is a precious asset in the Marvel creator pantheon.

I'm also picking up Giant Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost; two of my favourite characters (also Storm featuring strongly in the previews art), under the skilled guidance of Hickman and Russell Dauterman, and it's a slot-in to the current superb X-Men events - that's too tasty for me to pass up on.

Beyond the House of Ideas, there's yet more rejoicing - Invisible Kingdom, with its Christian Ward artwork and deeply creative worldbuilding, would be at the top of any pull-list I could create and, talking of world building, Far Sector has been so inventive and absorbing, I'm looking to consider more Green Lantern content in the future.

Joe Hill's A Basketful of Heads continues to twist and turn, and gives a dollop of the kind of laughs that only the truly gruesome can elicit, and I'm going for a double dose of horror by also picking up the totally reliable yet ever unexpected Ice Cream Man; no two issues are ever really alike with this book, and each one constructs a full story, start to end, a truly astonishing task which isn't fading even a scrap as we head into issue #18. I'm taking the second issue of Ablaze Comics' Kidz: the first was a slow burn, with the basic premise of the preview blurb taking every page to the last to finally materialise but the characterisation was deft and I like the idea of looking at what happens after the zombies have started to die back, so I'll give issue #2 the chance to convince me to continue. 

Last and very definitely not least, racing up on the wing and swiftly overtaking all competition comes The Kill Lock; we're into issue #3 this week, but I'm already at the stage of exhorting you to pick up the trade when it appears. Livio Ramondelli has created something visually beautiful, intelligent, intriguing and with emotional claws that take a grip and will not let me loose. All with robots, of course, how could I not?

DARK HORSE: 
Hidden Society #1 (of 4) £3.45 
Invisible Kingdom #10 £3.45 
Tomorrow #1 (of 5) £3.45 
Witchfinder: Reign of Darkness #4 (of 5) £3.45 

DC COMICS: 
Action Comics #1020 £3.45 
Amethyst #1 (of 6) £3.45 
Basketful of Heads #5 (of 7) £3.45 
Batgirl #44 £3.45 
Batman Beyond #41 £3.45 
Batman: Curse of the White Knight #7 (of 8) £4.25 
Batman / Superman #7 £3.45 
Books of Magic #17 £3.45 
Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant #2 £4.25 
Detective Comics #1020 £3.45 
Dial H for Hero #12 (of 12) £3.45 
Dollar Comics: Amethyst 1985 #1 £1.00 
Dollar Comics: Flash 1987 #1 £1.00 
Far Sector #4 (of 12) £3.45 
Flash #123 Facsimile Edition £3.45 
John Constantine Hellblazer #4 £3.45 
Justice League Dark #20 £3.45 
Last God #5 £4.25 
Leviathan Dawn #1 £4.25 
Red Hood: Outlaw #43 £3.45 
Shazam #11 £3.45 
Suicide Squad #3 £3.45 
Swamp Thing Giant #3 £4.25 
Wonder Woman #752 £3.45 
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 (of 4) £4.25 

IMAGE: 
Death or Glory #9 £3.45 
Heart Attack #4 £3.45 
Ice Cream Man #18 £3.45 
Killadelphia #4 £3.45 
Monstress #26 £3.45 
Olympia #4 (of 5) £3.45 
Protector #2 £3.45 
Redneck #26 £3.45 
Sex Criminals #27 £3.45 

MARVEL: 
2020: Force Works #1 (of 3) £3.45 
Amazing Spider-Man #40 £3.45 
Amazing Spider-Man: Daily Bugle #2 (of 5) £3.45 
Ant-Man #2 (of 5) £3.45 
Avengers #31 £4.25 
Avengers: The Wastelands #2 (of 5) £3.45 
Black Panther #21 £3.45 
Falcon & Winter Soldier #1 (of 5) £3.45 
Fantastic Four: Grimm Noir #1 £4.25 
Ghost Rider #5 £3.45 
Giant Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost #1 £4.25 
Jessica Jones: Blindspot #4 (of 6) £3.45 
New Mutants #8 £3.45 
Punisher Soviet #4 (of 6) £3.45 
Ravencroft #2 (of 5) £3.45 
Scream: Curse of Carnage #4 £3.45 
Spider-Ham #3 (of 5) £3.45 
Star #2 (of 5) £3.45 
Star Wars #3 £3.45 
Tarot #3 (of 4) £4.25 
True Believers: Iron Man 2020 – War Machine £1.00 
Wolverine #1 Facsimile Edition £3.45 
X-Force #8 £3.45 
X-Men #7 £4.25 
X-Men / Fantastic Four #2 (of 4) £3.45 

MORE: 
2000AD #2170 £2.99 
Angel & Spike #9 £3.45 
Chastity #5 £3.45 
Clash of Kings #2 £3.45 
Dark Ark: After the Flood #3 £3.45 
Dying is Easy #3 (of 5) £3.45 
Finger Guns #1 £3.45 
Folklords #4 (of 5) £3.45 
Grimm Fairy Tales #36 £3.45 
Gung Ho #3 £3.45 
Jim Henson: Dark Crystal - Age of Resistance #6 £3.45 
Kidz #2 £3.45 
Kill Lock #3 (of 6) £3.45 
Lady Death: Scorched Earth #1 (of 2) £4.25 
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #48 £3.45 
Mirka Andolfos Unsacred #4 £3.45 
Monster Planet #4 (of 5) £3.45 
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #87 £3.45 
Quantum & Woody #2 £3.45 
Red Sonja & Vampirella meet Betty & Veronica #9 £3.45 
Rick & Morty #59 £3.45 
Robotech Remix #4 £3.45 
Strangelands #6 £3.45 
TMNT: Jennika #1 (of 3) £4.25 
Usagi Yojimbo Color Classics #2 £3.45 
Wolvenheart #5 £3.45 

GRAPHIC NOVELS: 
Batman Overdrive Tp £8.99 
Excalibur Epic Collection - Curiouser & Curiouser Tp £35.99 
Grumble Vol.2 Tp £15.99 
Immortal Hulk Omnibus £19.99 
Second Coming Vol.1 Tp £17.99