Well, well, well. Another Wednesday means another batch of weekly comic book releases hitting your local shop, and honestly? This week’s lineup is making my wallet sweat more than a DC executive trying to explain their pricing strategy.
DC Comics Drops Everything Including Weekly Comic Book Releases
Let’s start with the elephant in the room – DC’s absolutely wild approach to variant covers this week. Absolute Wonder Woman #11 and Absolute Martian Manhunter #6 are leading the charge, but seriously, do we need five different covers for each issue? The base covers are $4.99, but those fancy variant covers? You’re looking at $5.99 each, with some premium ones hitting ridiculous heights.
The Batman #163 situation is particularly amusing – they’ve got connecting covers, gatefold covers, and card stock covers galore. At this point, I’m convinced DC thinks we’re all made of money. The Jim Lee connecting covers are gorgeous, sure, but when you need multiple issues to complete the image, it feels like a shakedown.
On the bright side, Justice League Unlimited #10 is staying reasonable at $3.99, proving DC can still price things sanely when they want to.
Marvel’s More Reasonable Madness
Over at Marvel, Ultimate Spider-Man #20 continues Miles Morales’ excellent run, and thank goodness they’re keeping it at $4.99. The Annie Wu variant is particularly striking – finally, a variant cover that justifies its existence through actual artistic merit rather than just scarcity manipulation.
X-Men #21 is wrapping up another arc, and while the 1:100 J. Scott Campbell variant exists (because of course it does), at least the regular issue remains accessible. Marvel’s pricing feels almost generous compared to DC’s current strategy.
The Collection Bonanza
This week’s trade collections are where the real value lies. Batman ’66 Compendium gives you a massive chunk of the beloved TV show tie-in series, while Spectacular Spider-Man By Dematteis & Buscema Omnibus delivers some of the character’s best stories in one hefty package.
The Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium Two is perfect for fans of mature, noir-influenced storytelling – assuming you can find shelf space for another massive book.
Dark Horse and the Indies Hold Their Ground
Arcbound #6 continues Dark Horse‘s solid sci-fi adventure, while Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Professor Harvey is Gone gives Mignola fans another dose of supernatural detective work. These publishers seem to remember that comics should be, you know, affordable.
Minor Arcana #10 from BOOM! Studios wraps up what’s been a surprisingly engaging series, though they couldn’t resist throwing in multiple variant covers either. Nobody’s innocent here.
The Bottom Line on This Week’s Comics
This week’s weekly comic book releases showcase both the best and worst of current industry practices. Great stories? Absolutely. Reasonable pricing? That’s becoming as rare as a comic without a variant cover.
The quality is there – Ultimate Spider-Man continues to impress, Absolute Wonder Woman delivers stunning visuals, and the trade collections offer genuine value. But the variant cover inflation and premium pricing feel increasingly disconnected from what readers actually want.
My advice? Pick your battles. Grab the stories you genuinely care about, skip the variant cover madness unless it truly speaks to you, and maybe consider those trade collections instead. Your wallet will thank you, even if the publishers won’t.
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