As any comic fan knows, Wednesday is new comic book day, when all of your favorite titles hit shelves so you can empty out your wallets and catch up on the latest exploits of your favorite characters. But with dozens upon dozens of titles hitting shelves every week, it can be difficult to know what to pick up each and every Wednesday.
But don't worry, we're here to help.
April marks the launch of DC Comics' multiverse-spanning summer event, Convergence. But there's plenty more to be excited about this week. There are no April Fools here — these are your must-read comic books of the first week of April 2015.
Are Marvel and DC telling the same story with Secret Wars and Convergence? This week marks our first chance to find out, thanks to the release of Convergence #0. That zero marks this issue as a prologue before the main event, a "setting the stage" kind of thing that's not essential reading but will provide additional perspective on the events to come. Whatever; we're just happy that after eons of hype, Convergence is finally getting underway.
It's doubtful that last year readers imagined DC's weekly Batman series would set the storytelling agenda across the entire library of Bat-books. But rather than tell a story starring sideline characters, as other weekly series have done, the creators behind Batman Eternal were determined to feature their full cast in stories that actually mattered. The whole thing comes to a conclusion this week in Batman Eternal #52, the final issue. We're not sure we're ready to live in a world without our weekly Batman fix, but we can't wait to see how it ends.
The first season of Disney's excellent Star Wars Rebels may be over, but Marvel's ready to dish up a little something to tide us over while we wait for Season 2. Star Wars: Kanan, The Last Padawan #1 is here to fill in some sorely-needed backstory about Kanan Jarrus, the Rebels crew's "cowboy Jedi" and de facto leader. Set between The Clone Wars and Rebels, this is the story of how young Kanan survived Order 66 and how he grew into adulthood while staying off the Empire's radar. You've been warned: rumor has it #1 ends on a heck of a cliffhanger.
Black Bolt is ready to go it alone in yes-it's-another-number-zero-issue Uncanny Inhumans #0. As if we needed more evidence that Marvel wants the Inhumans to be the new X-Men, the House of Ideas has blatantly stamped the "Uncanny" label on this new ongoing. The selling point is that "the creative team that killed Wolverine" is behind this series, but unless they're planning to kill Black Bolt (they're not), we're not sure what Marvel is getting at. Despite the inclusive title, expect the focus to be on defining Black Bolt as a character and making him more interesting.
In case you've missed it, Jason Aaron and Jason Latour have been churning out a title for Image Comics that qualifies as a trip to the farthest edges of the comic book industry, because it's unlike anything else you've ever read. Southern Bastards is what you might get if you threw James Ellroy, Cormac McCarthy, and Nick Saban into a blender and hit purée. Southern Bastards #8 hits this week, and it's the conclusion to the book's second story arc, which has revealed the backstory of corrupt Coach Euless Boss.
Every good Doctor Who fan knows that the modern series was launched with Christopher Eccleston in the title role, and that his run on the show lasted just one season. He was a controversial choice at the outset, but eight years later, many fans look back on his tenure as criminally underrated. If you miss the days of the "leather jacket bad boy" Doctor, Titan Comics releases Doctor Who: The 9th Doctor #1 this week just for you. We're giving Titan bonus points for setting this series in the back half of that first season, when the Doctor was joined by not only Rose but Captain Jack Harkness as well.
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