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New Number Ones: Comics Series Coming in March 2022

New Number Ones: Comics Series Coming in March 2022

Posted on by Bob Harrison

For March, we have compiled an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from the publishers of some of the cool new comics that are coming out this month. Check below for our PCS NOTES to find out what we just have to tell you about the new comics in question.

This month we spotlight books from the usual suspects: AfterShock Comics, DC Comics, Vault Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, Valiant Entertainment, Oni Press, AWA/Upshot Studios, and Dark Horse Comics.

This month we have five Wednesdays which means five #NCBD celebrations.

We will bring you reviews of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

You will find the books listed below in the order of when they are released.

Week of 3/2/22
Week of 3/9/22
Week of 3/16/22
Week of 3/23/22
Week of 3/30/22

Week of March 2

Batman: Killing Time #1
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by David Marquez & Alejandro Sanchez
Cover Art by Marquez & Sanchez

Three villains, one Dark Knight, and a deadly heist gone wrong. Catwoman, the Riddler, and the Penguin join forces to pull off the greatest robbery in the history of Gotham City. And their prize? A mysterious and priceless artifact in the secret possession of Bruce Wayne! But, as the events unfold, what fun is a heist without a bloody double cross or two?

Release Date: March 1, 2022

PCS NOTES: Tom King returns to Batman with a limited series and fantastic artist in tow. This looks fun and we expect plenty of “Hmmm” quotes.

Chef’s Kiss TP
Oni Press
Written By Jarrett Melendez
Art by Danica Brine & Hank Jones
Cover art by Kevin Wada

Watch things start to really heat up in the kitchen in this sweet, queer, new adult graphic novel!

Now that college is over, English graduate Ben Cook is on the job hunt looking for something…anything…related to his passion for reading and writing. But interview after interview, hiring committee after hiring committee, Ben soon learns getting the dream job won’t be as easy as he thought. Proofreading? Journalism? Copywriting? Not enough experience. It turns out he doesn’t even have enough experience to be a garbage collector! But when Ben stumbles upon a “Now Hiring—No Experience Necessary” sign outside a restaurant, he jumps at the chance to land his first job. Plus, he can keep looking for a writing job in the meantime. He’s actually not so bad in the kitchen, but he will have to pass a series of cooking tests to prove he’s got the culinary skills to stay on full-time. But it’s only temporary…right?

When Ben begins developing a crush on Liam, one of the other super dreamy chefs at the restaurant, and when he starts ditching his old college friends and his old writing job plans, his career path starts to become much less clear

Release Date: March 2, 2022

PCS NOTES: I have been waiting for this book for a long time. I have had a chance to read it already and it is possibly the best original graphic novel that I have ever read. It is lovely in art, sentiment, and tone. It reaches emotional notes that catch you off guard. We don’t typically include trade paperbacks in this column but this one requires an exception. Don’t miss this book!!

Loaded Bible: Blood of My Blood #1
Image Comics
Written by Tim Seeley & Steve Orlando
Art by Giuseppe Carafo
Cover Art by Mirka Andolfo

Decades after the events of the original cult series, Jesus’ vampire-hunting clone is a bigger outlaw than ever, and now, he has to face a threat like no other. The church has cut a deal with the vampire nations to unite under their cloned savior – Dracula. A 6-part monthly miniseries starting on Ash Wednesday!

Release Date: March 2, 2022

PCS NOTES: Despite not having read the original series of one shots for Loaded Bible, we are totally in on this. The insanity potential with Tim Seeley and Steve Orlando is something that is surely not to be missed.

Radio Spaceman #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Mike Mignola
Art by Greg Hinkle & Dave Stewart
Cover Art by Mignola

When a ship crashes and lands on a mysterious planet and some of the surviving crew go missing, the mysterious mechanical hero Radio Spaceman is called to investigate. But the planet hides much more than the missing crew, and Radio Spaceman may be stumbling into more than even he can handle.

Release Date: March 2, 2022

PCS NOTES: We are really looking forward to this new effort from Mike Mignola and Greg Hinkle. 

Red Room: Trigger Warnings #1
Fantagraphics Books
Written by Ed Piskor
Art by Piskor
Cover Art by Piskor

The best selling, most talked about series of 2020 kicks off its second four-issue “season” with another self-contained mini-masterpiece of monthly comics storytelling. In this issue, the Decimator presents… The Rat Queens! And unfortunately for them, they are front and center in his most horrific red room broadcast yet! As seen on the YouTube channel sensation, Cartoonist Kayfabe, from the creator of X-Men: Grand Design and Hip Hop Family Tree!

Release Date: March 2, 2022

PCS NOTES: The first series was remarkable and this has the same potential. 

Rouge Son #1
Image Comics
Written by Ryan Parrott
Art by Abel & Chris O’Halloran
Cover Art by Declan Shalvey & O’Halloran

Yesterday: New Orleans’ greatest hero, ROGUE SUN, was murdered.

Today: rebellious teenager DYLAN SIEGEL discovers that Rogue Sun was his estranged father, Marcus — and that he’s inherited his father’s mantle. Tasked with protecting our world from the forces of the supernatural — and solving his father’s murder — Dylan will be forced to come to terms with the man he’s spent the majority of his life hating.

From acclaimed writer RYAN PARROTT and rising star artist ABEL comes A SUPERNATURAL MURDER MYSTERY that explores the complicated bond between father and son and cements itself squarely in a corner of the IMAGE COMICS’ SUPERHERO UNIVERSE!

Release Date: March 2, 2022

Strange #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Jed McKay
Art by Marcelo Ferreira
Cover Art by Bjorn Barends

A NEW SORCERER SUPREME RISES! Doctor Strange is dead! And a new Sorcerer Supreme has taken the title, or should we say Sorceress? Haunted by her recently returned memories, Clea longs to bring Stephen Strange back from the dead! But when a mysterious group attacks the magical realm, Clea must rise to the duties of Sorcerer Supreme. For she is now the sole protector of Earth against magical threats. Don’t miss the twists and turns as Jed MacKay continues the story from THE DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE with artist Marcelo Ferreira!

Release Date: March 2, 2022

PCS NOTES: Yep. More Clea is something I am on board with.  Continue reading “New Number Ones: Comics Series Coming in March 2022” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Ku Klux Luthor For President?

Posted on by Mike Gold

I just returned from a week-long driving trip to Chicago, hanging out with friends while doing as little work as possible. I used to do this three times a tear, but I haven’t for the past 21 months because, you know, Covid.

The driving part is, for me, wonderfully relaxing. I control the music, I nosh on tons of life-saving unhealthy food, and I get to enjoy long internal conversations with the one person who totally gets me. This time, while plowing through north central Ohio, my thoughts drifted towards Lex Luthor and the frightening growth of the white separatist movements. Now, before you can scream “oxymoron” let me state internal conversations often are 100 miles short of reality. It’s my brain, damn it, and it’s time I indulged it.

Back in 1961, DC published what I believe was the first story titled “The Death of Superman.” It said so right on the cover, which kinda gave away the ending. It was an “imaginary story,” meaning it didn’t really happen. Compare this with Marvel’s later What If? stories, which I gather really did happen…. somewhere.

To illustrate this bit of comic book logic: DC did not publish a series of Death of Superman comics based upon this imaginary story — they rebooted the concept many, many times, often under the same title. On the other hand, this March Marvel will be coming out with a Captain Carter series based upon the first What If? teevee episode. Reality is what happens between the staples.

In this imaginary story, Lex Luthor is pardoned from all crimes after inventing a cure for cancer. That made sense to me at the time because I was barely 11 years old when I read it at the counter of Normie’s Deli while consuming a plate of french fries and a glass of Green River. It didn’t occur to me at the time how the hell Lex actually could come up with a cure for cancer while incarcerated. Penal reform, I guess.

Upon his release, Lex buckled down to his real plan: killing the Man of Steel. SPOILER ALERT: In this story, titled The Death of Superman, Lex Luthor’s nefarious scheme was successful.

Being in 21st century Ohio, I wondered what would have happened had Lex Luthor been a Trumpster white supremacist.

In the original story, Luthor was beloved for coming up with the cancer cure — perhaps it did not involve getting a vaccine injection. He lost that love after murdering Superman. Go figure. But in my more contemporary scenario, I suspect about one-third of Americans, those who are avowed Trumpster while supremacists, would be quite happy about Luthor’s newfound prerogative.

Undoubtably, Lex would be invited to guest on Steve Bannon’s podcast. He might get his own television show on one of the lying far-right wing fake news networks. He’d go on tour raising money for Trump. He could even become the new Rush Limbaugh.

Indeed, I suspect Donald Trump would pick Lex Luthor as his vice-presidential candidate in 2024. If you think about it, this might be a grave mistake on Trump’s part — with emphasis on the term “grave.”

I mean, WTF, Lex just killed that not-white alien Superman. Killing anybody else would be no big deal. Luthor could be a better Trumpster than Trump himself.

We would have President Lex Luthor which, as I recall, happened in DC’s not-imaginary stories. These sagas, by definition, really happened.

It doesn’t take a political wag to note the Republican party would be fine with this. They are fine with the invasion of the Capitol building by violent insurrectionists, they care fine with eliminating, oh, school programs, health programs, social security, Medicare, abortion, and poverty programs in order to give the wealthiest of the wealthy another cut in the taxes they don’t pay anyway. That’s how these bastards roll.

The man who edited that original Death of Superman, Mort Weisinger, was a friend (of sorts) of the Kennedy administration, so perhaps he would not have green-lit this saga. But that way then.

This is now, and that story doesn’t seem so extreme today.