Recent and Upcoming Comic & Graphic Novel Releases
HARDCOVERS | PAPERBACKS | DIGITAL | AUDIO | COLLECTIONS & ANTHOLOGIES
NON-FICTION, REFERENCE & TRUE CRIME | COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS | TV & FILM
COMICS (COMING SOON, CURRENT & ON-GOING)
- The Girl Who Electrified Tesla
Private eye Minky Woodcock returns, in a shocking new historical caper involving some rich guy named J.P. Morgan who wants Mindy to investigate some inventor named Nikola Tesla. Plus… Nazis! By acclaimed writer, artist, director and playwright Cynthia Von Buhler. (Series starts April 2021) - Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries
In this light-hearted mini-series from DC, we’re shown a definitely lighter side of the Dark Knight, as the Caped Crusader summons the Mystery Inc. crew to Gotham city to help him solve assorted mysteries. Colossal misunderstandings, slapstick shenanigans, sly fourth-wall-breaking and other forms of hilarity ensue.(12-issue run starts April 2021). - Shadow Doctor
Not a P.I. story, but this family history by writer Peter Calloway kicks Black History Month up a notch, as he recounts the life and times of his grandfather, Nathaniel Calloway, a Black doctor unable to get work at any Chicago-area hospitals because of his race, who ends up a mob doctor for Al Capone. Like Peter says, “On the one hand, his story represents the promise of Ameri-ca. On the other hand, it shows the worst of it.” (Starts February 2021). - Sam Cairo
Los Angeles’ South Central district, 1958, and private eye SAM CAIRO is on the case, in a promising new digital comic available exclusively on Aces Weekly. And that’s about all I know, so far. Except… it’s written by Gary Phillips, a man who knows a thing or two about both private eyes (Ivan Monk) and comics (Peepland, Angeltown). (Starts September 2020) - Brutal Dark
It’s private eye action just like you like it! Ezra Cain, a tough shamus prowls the streets of 1941 New York, in November 1941, just days before a certain “Day of Infamy.” Only catch? This digital monthly is only available through co-creator Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips’ Patreon page. But the price is definitely right. - Hank Steiner Monster Detective
He’s seven feet tall with skin the colour of something that went bad in the fridge, but he must be a real private eye because he’s got a hat and a trenchcoat. He’s Hank Steiner Monster Detective, and he plies his trade in Tower City, a sharply divided burg where vampires, imps, goblins and the like writhe under the thumb of human oppression. (Monthly, begins March 2020). - J. Werner Presents Classic Pulp Detectives #0
Curated by Josh Werner, this one-shot (and possible field test for an ongoing series) promises vintage tales of murder and mystery, digitally remastered. Includes stories featuring T-Men and Charlie Chan. No private dicks so far, but worth keeping an eye on. You know… just in case… (February 2020) - DC’s Crimes of Passion | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Just in time for St. Valentine’s Day! DC Comics unleashes a fancy schmancy (but very fine) collection of all new, noir-tinged love stories, featuring various superheroes and super-villains pitching various sorts of woo, including Batman, Green Arrow, Batgirl, Catwoman, Batwoman, Nightwing, Black Canary, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, The Question, and, uh, Pied Piper? Why you should be interested? Because private eye and TD favourite Slam Bradley also shows up in a brand new adventure,“One Last Dance.” and Slam himself promises “Ten tales of love-the kind of love that can push people over the edge.” That’s good enough for me. (February 2020)
GRAPHIC NOVELS & COLLECTIONS
- The Girl Who Electrified Tesla | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Collects the second story arc, featuring rabbit-loving private eye Minky Woodcock, in a shocking new historical caper involving some rich guy named J.P. Morgan who wants Mindy to investigate some inventor named Nikola Tesla. Plus… Nazis! By acclaimed writer, artist, director and playwright Cynthia Von Buhler. (October 2021) - Ms. Tree, Volume Three | Buy the book
Third collection, presumably of the DC/Vertigo run. (September 2021) - Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? (true crime; graphic novel) | Buy this book
A deep dive into one of the most notoriously deranged killers in American history; fact-based and heartbreaking. Written by true crime expert Schecter with art by Eric “The Goon” Powell. (July 2021) - | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it! Former radical turned freelance troubleshooter Ethan Reckless returns in the sequel to last year’s Reckless, courtesy of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, tackling Hollywood crazies this time, in a brand new graphic novel. (May 2021)
- Bad Mother | Buy his book | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Crime writer Christa (Money Shot, Peepland, Butch Fatale, etc.) Faust and artist Mike Deodato team up for this mini-series about the twisted dreams of the everyday housewife, as April Walters, a middle-aged soccer mom whose that life has pretty much pissed on for years, goes hunting for her missing teenaged daughter… and all hell breaks loose. Collects the mini-series. (March 2021) - Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew | Buy his book | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Collects the mini-series from Anthony Del Col, who brought us The Big Lie, the noirish Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys team-up from a few years ago. Nancy? Dead? Frank and Joe definitely have their work cut out for them in this one. (March 2021) - DC’s Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told (2021, DC Comics) | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
If you’re one of the lucky few who sorta remember when there were actual detectives in Detective Comics, this collection is for you. Includes key stories featuring Slam Bradley, Lois Lane, The Question, Detective Chimp, and some guy who dresses like a flying rodent, going as far back as 1937. Collects Adventure Comics #51, Batman #441, Detective Comics #2, #329, and #572, Lois Lane #1-2, Secret Origins #40, and The Question #8. (February 2021) - Scene of the Crime | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Long out of print, this stone cold P.I. classic by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark returns in a spiffy new edition, designed by inker Sean Phillips (it was the start of Ed and Sean’s beautiful friendship). Also included are behind-the-scenes art and stories, a new foreword by Brubaker, and plenty of other extras. (February 2021) - Luke Cage Epic Collection: Retribution (2021, Marvel Comics) | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Cage’s earth-quaking beginnings as the Marvel’s “Hero for Hire!”–the super-powered private eye with the bullet proof skin. Collects Hero for Hire #1-16 and Power Man #17-23. (February 2021) - That Texas Blood | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Anyone looking for a some hard-boiled Lone Star darkness, with a dollop of Coen Bros. sauce slathered all over could do a helluva lot worse worse than this little gem from writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob “Chip Off the Old Block” Phillips, collecting the first six issues of this great new monthly. Joe Bob is the sheriff in Ambrose County in West Texas just turned 70, and he ain’t getting any younger, but things sure as shootin’ gonna ge worse. (January 2021) - Pulp
Taking a page from Dave Darrigio’s classic Wordsmith series but adding their own special sauce, master comic chefs Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips go all meta once again, zooming in on not just a recurring character from the pulps (a ruthless desperado in the Old West), but on the man, Max Winters, a pulp writer in 1930s New York, who created him. One of my favourite books of 2020! NOW IN PAPERBACK! (January 2021) - | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!That dastardly duo, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, the modern masters of comic noir, are back with an ambitious, action-packed new series of original graphic novels, with three books scheduled over the next year, each a standalone full-length story. Former radical Ethan Reckless is a freelance troubleshooter in a 1980 Los Angeles full of sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and… murder! (December 2020)
- Criminal Macabre: The Big Bleed Out | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Steve Niles’ monster-hunting, supernatural shamus Cal McDonald is back, in a brand new graphic novel, collecting the recent mini-series crammed full of vampires, betrayal and… love? Yikes! (December 2020) - The Butcher of Paris
Based on actual events, this Dark Horse mini-series ought to hit the sweet spot for fans of historical noir. It’s 1944, and as if Nazis weren’t bad enough, a serial killer is roaming the streets of Paris, taking advantage of the turmoil as Jews attempt to flee the city, and the Allies draw ever nearer. But who will stop the killer first–the cops or the Germans? Written by Stephanie Phillips with art from Dean Kotz and Jason Wordie. (December 2020) - Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder Box Set Can’t decide between Volume One or Two? This handsome, hardcover box set collects all four collaborations between writer Jean-Patrick Manchette and cartoonist Tardi (Griffu, West Coast Blues, Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot, and Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell), plus a bonus, 21-page unfinished story. Zut! (November 2020)
- Lonesome Days, Savage Nights | Buy the comic | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Steve Niles shakes it up a bit, with a new P.I, who’s ALSO a monster. Yes, it’s two, two genres in one! Co-written with Salvatore Simeone, and with art by Szymon Kudranski. - Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder (Volume Two) Second volume of noir collaborations between writer Jean-Patrick Manchette and cartoonist Tardi, this one contains Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot and Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell. (October 2020)
- Ms. Tree, Volume Two: Skeltons in the Closet | Buy the book | Kindle/ComiXology it!
Second collection of the DC/Vertigo run. (October 2020) - Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia | Buy the book The fourth installment of the critically acclaimed manga adaption of BBC show, adapted from the script by Stephen Moffat by Mark Gattis, with art by Jay.
- Dying is Easy
Comedy is hard; dying is easy, and ex-cop turned flailing stand-up comic Syd “Shit-Talk” Homes is learning it the hard way, when he’s arrested for the murder of a fellow comic who’s been ripping him off, in graphic novel written by Joe Hill and drawn by Martin Simmonds. Okay, Syd’s not a P.I., but his world of back alleys, dive bars police stations will be instantly familiar to any reader who’s ever taken a stroll down the mean streets. (September 2020) - Blacksad: The Complete Stories | Buy this book | Kindle it/ComiXology it!
Five stories from the internationally acclaimed series by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, featuring the hardest working cat detective in 1950s New York City. You want noir? You got it. Includes new material never published in English. (July 2020) - The Big Hoax
Deluxe hardcover edition of the classic tale about a banana republic, an ex-cop and a virgin with magical powers. Now in colour. (July 2020) - Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder (Volume One) Collecting all the noir collaborations between legendary French crime writers Jean-Patrick Manchette and writer/cartoonist Tardi , Volume One includes the never-before-collected Griffu, about a legal advisor who gets tangled up with a hot blonde mess of trouble, West Coast Blues, about a young salesman who finds himself pitted against an exiled war criminal and two hired assassin, plus a bonus, 21-page unfinished story. (June 2020)
- Johnny Dynamite The run-on (and on) subtitle reads “Explosive Pre-Code Crime Comics—The Complete Adventures of Pete Morisi’s Wild Man of Chicago” but you don’t need all that. If you’re craving hard-boiled private eye action in a comic book, this is it. Collects all the stories, plus a new one by über-fans Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty, who also dish up one hell of an intro. (June 2020)
- The Ride: Burning Desire
Collects the five-parter from Image and follows disgraced ex-cop and ex-con turned exotic dance club bouncer Samantha Vega as she tries to walk the straight and narrow, but gets drawn into investigating the murder of a dancer and the disappearance of her daughter. From the award-winning of Doug Wagner and Daniel Hillyard. (June 2020). - Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition
- The Mike Shayne Private Eye Comic Collection | Buy this book
Collects all three issues of the Dell comic book, which featured adaptations of Brett Halliday’s novels by writer Ken Fitch and artists Lee Ames and Edd Ashe, plus bonus material covering the history of Mike Shayne in the media by our pal Paul Bishop. - F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack: Scar-Lip Redux
When the going gets weird, the U.S. government calls in investigator-for-hire Wyrd, who’s pretty high up on the Weird Scale himself–he’s apparently immortal, invincible… and suicidal. Collects the Dark Horse mini-series. (March 2020)- Joe Golem: Occult Detective: The Conjurors | ComiXology/Kindle it!
The witchhunting Golem P.I. is dead? Say it ain’t so, Joe. The end of the adaptation of Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden’s hit novel, featuring art by Peter Bergting. Collects The Conjurors #1-#4. (March 2020) - Clue: Candlestick | Buy the book
You’ve played the board game, you’ve seen the movie (and all three of its endings). Now read this goofy new comic book mini-series from IDW by writer/artist Dash Shaw. It’s just an amazing piece of comic art: clever, smart-ass and cheeky — a psychological, psychedelic bungee jump into the heart of the game. Go ahead — just try and crack the case. Dropping acid may help. (February 2020)
