The Death of Wolverine #1 - $4.99
By Charles Soule & Steve Steve McNiven | Marvel Comics
Whether out of love for the character, hate for the character, or just plain ol’ curiosity, it’s easy to imagine that just about everyone will be picking up The Death of Wolverine this week. A four-part mini-series that releases once a week until the end of September, we’ll finally get to see Logan’s last grand adventure before he bites the big one.
Yeah yeah yeah -- he’s going to come back, but that’s not the point. This is the first time we will see Wolverine die, in the main Marvel universe, for an extended period of time. Given how integral and ever-present he has been pretty much since he debuted 40 years ago, it will truly be a big change to see Marvel operating without him.The biggest curiosity for us will be to finally see the story that Charles Soule pitched to win him this important gig. Like we said, this story is a big deal, and it was handed to a man with no notable Wolverine or even X-Men stories under his belt, so it makes you think he must’ve had something pretty special for Marvel to trust him with killing arguably their most popular character. Wednesday can’t come soon enough.
Advance Review: The Death of Wolverine #1
Original Sin #8 - $4.99
By Jason Aaron & Mike Deodato | Marvel Comics
Not much to say about this one other than we are more than ready to finally see who killed the Watcher. We had Marvel address the IGN community’s murder mystery theories, but now we will finally get the real identity of the killer, plus we’re expecting a huge change-up for Nick Fury. Given what he’s done in the pages of Original Sin, it’s hard to imagine things ever going back to normal.
God Hates Astronauts #1 - $3.50
By Ryan Browne | Image Comics
One need only look at the cover to see that God Hates Astronauts isn’t a normal comic. It’s high-octane crazy from first page to last, with characters and plot twists that are as creative as they are obscene. Physics, logic, and your innocence are all out the window for this one. It’ll leave you a hollow shell of a person, awed by how wrong you were about the limits of how ridiculous a comic could be.
The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage #1 - $3.99
By Jen Van Meter & Roberto de la Torre | Valiant Comics
Dr. Mirage can talk to the dead, which is pretty handy, but she can’t communicate with her dead husband, which sets her out on a supernatural investigation. It’s a cool story, and notable for being Valiant’s first female-led solo comic. We wish it were more than a five-issue mini-series, but with talent like Jen Van Meter and Roberto de la Torre at the helm, we’re hopeful we might get our wish.
Green Arrow: Futures End #1 - $3.99 3D cover/$2.99 regular cover
Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino | DC Comics
This week kicks off DC’s annual celebration of the New 52 where they spend a whole month doing weird stories across their whole line, this time a five-year jump into the future that just so happens to sync up with their The New 52: Futures End weekly comic. But out of all of this week’s issues, Green Arrow is by far the most anticipated.
After 18 months of some of the finest storytelling around that saw a rebirth for the New 52’s Green Arrow, this is the end of the road for creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. While the series will carry on, this issue featuring a new Green Arrow in the future will be the swan song for the creators that breathed new life into the Emerald Archer. Given how well they’ve handled the series up until now, we have nothing but the highest expectations for their final issue.
DC Comics Super Villain Poker Set - $99.95
Art by Kevin Nowlan | DC ComicsGiven that nearly every time we see villains idle in their secret hideouts they are playing poker, this is oh so fitting. The cards feature some pretty sick artwork from Kevin Nowlan, but the clincher is the sweet Crime Syndicate dealer chip modeled after the communication coin all of the villains got in Forever Evil. Cool! Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Game of Thrones, Spider-Man, or Super Smash Bros. are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN.