This seemed to go over well last week, so I’m going to keep it going! My goal with this each week is to highlight some upcoming comics from creators I really respect whose final order cutoff date is the following Monday. I’ve got two new comics to spotlight this week.
Alien: Romulus #1 by Zac Thompson, Daniel Picciotto, and Yen Nitro
This should be a pretty easy sell. This comic serves as the official prequel to the smash hit film that hit cinemas last month. If that alone isn’t enough to sway you, it’s also written by Zac Thompson. Thompson has earned a reputation as one of the very best horror writers currently working in comics (if you’re not reading Into the Unbeing, then you need to reevaluate your life choices). There is no doubt in my mind that he has crafted a suitably terrifying prequel full of existential dread along with a fantastic artists Daniel Picciotto (illustrator) and Yen Nitro (colorist). To top it all off, this issue has earned a rare “Explicit Content” rating from Marvel. That indicates it is meant for adults only. In other words, this comic is not going to shy away from the gore that has become so synonymous with the Alien franchise. It’ll be available in comic stores courtesy of Marvel Comics on October 16, 2024.
The Terminator #1 by Declan Shalvey, Luke Sparrow, Colin Craker, and Sal Crivelli
From one legendary science fiction franchise to another, we’ve got a brand new Terminator series launching from Dynamite! Between this and the excellent Terminator Zero animated series on Netflix, Terminator fans finally have reason to celebrate once more. Declan Shalvey will be writing the primary story in this new series. If you’re not familiar with Shalvey’s oeuvre, he started his career as a superstar artist before branching out and becoming an accomplished writer as well. I have the utmost confidence that he has come up with an excellent new story to tell in this universe. Luke Sparrow (illustrator) and Colin Craker (colorist) will be the dynamic duo on the primary story in this series. The preview art pages that have been made public thus far leave no doubt in my mind that the right art team was chosen for this book.
But wait! There’s more! There will also be a backup story appearing in each issue. Colin Craker will serve as both illustrator and colorist for these pages, and Sal Crivelli will be the writer. If you’re part of the comic book YouTube ecosystem, then you’ll certainly be familiar with Sal. He runs a pair of YouTube channels (ComicPop and ComicPop Returns) where he hosts multiple comic book related shows. Sal’s “Back Issues” series is the first comics themed YouTube series that I ever regularly watched (and continue to watch every single week). It’s a series where he explains a famous (or infamous) comic book story to his friends who didn’t grow up reading comics. It reminded me so much of the conversations I have had with friends and family over the years, and it helped inspire to start this Substack. I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us with this story. It’ll be available in comic stores on October 9, 2024.
Be sure to hit up your local comic shop this weekend and preorder these books!