Bane of Kings runs down the Top 5 comics that you should look out for this week, in a new feature that replaces the Top 20 Comics. 

If you weren’t around for last week’s feature, then here’s a quick reminder – The 20 Comics of… has been cut down to only five, and whilst I can no longer cover a vast amount of issues like I did before from a bigger variety of publishers, this allows me to hone in on pretty much the essential books that you should be getting each week, at least in my opinion. I’ve limited myself to five of course, which is nowhere near a complete list – which can be found here (along with some extras, such as Black Library novels being released this week), and if you want to look at my pullist, then you can see this link. Note, I’m getting all of the books below (assuming my LCS stocks them), so it should be a very big week for me if you look at the list, and when you consider that I’m getting Captain America #9 and Collider #1 if the store has them in stock, it may be my biggest week since I started collecting Comics. Also, on that note – what comics are you picking up today? Let me know in the comments section below.

DAREDEVIL: DARK NIGHTS #3 (of #8)

Story: Lee Weeks | Art: Lee Weeks | Colours: Lee Loughridge | Publisher: Marvel Comics | Price: $2.99

• Lee Weeks concludes his chapter in this special series of extraordinary creators celebrating the Man Without Fear!

• Everything may stand in his way but nothing will stop Daredevil from rescuing a young life!

• Will Matt Murdock survive the senses-shattering finale to ANGELS UNAWARE?!

WHY? Daredevil: Dark Nights #3 is on my list because Lee Week’s last two issues have been absolutely stellar, and whilst it’s a shame that he’s not doing the whole mini series, it’ll be very interesting to see how he concludes this three-part series. Daredevil at the moment looks set to be having a very strong time at Marvel, with this mini-series being excellent, the recently-ended End of Days meant to be stunning, and Mark Waid’s Daredevil  fits easily in my Top 3 current ongoing comics from any Publisher, not just Marvel – alongside with Batman and Green Arrow from DC. For the last two issues however, this series hasn’t arrived at my LCS when it was meant to, so hopefully, it’ll be the third time lucky, right?

EARTH 2 #15

Story: James Robinson | Art: Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott | Cover: Juan Doe | Publisher: DC Comics | Price: $2.99

Dr. Fate, Red Arrow, The Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom all fall victim to the Hunger Dogs of Apokolips as the war against the forces of Steppenwolf continues!

WHY? James Robinson’s Earth 2 is fantastic so far and among my Top 10 favourite DC titles. It’s going to be a real shame when the writer leaves – I may check out #17 to see how Tom Taylor can handle the comic, but I doubt he’ll be able to do things as brilliantly as Robinson as done, and especially when you take into consideration the amazing artwork from Nicola Scott, this is a title that really deserves more attention – and really, Robinson should have stayed on. But we’ve got two issues left, so it’ll be interesting to see where the writer can take this title.

GREEN ARROW #23

Story: Jeff Lemire | Art: Andrea Sorrentino | Cover: Andrea Sorrentino | Publisher: DC Comics | Price: $2.99

Ollie learns the secret origin of Shado, and Count Vertigo attacks!

WHY? As mentioned in my comments regarding Daredevil above, Green Arrow is a really strong series and my second favourite ongoing comic series. Jeff Lemire is an incredible writer who manages to impress with each issue, and Andrea Sorrentino’s artwork is nonetheless spectacular and continues to impress with each issue – look at that cover for example, it’s just superb. I hope that these two can craft an epic length run on this title like Geoff Johns has done with Green Lantern, because this is one title that you won’t want to miss out on.

SIDEKICK #1

Story: J. Michael Straczynski | Art: Tom Mandrake, Brian Miller | Cover: Tom Mandrake, Brian Miller, Charlie Adard | Publisher: Image Comics | Price: $2.99

WITNESS A MODERN HERO’S FALL FROM GRACE! The Cowl and Flyboy: renowned superhero and sidekick despite dopey names. They were famous, popular, and happy until the Cowl’s assassination. Now, no one takes Flyboy seriously. Follow his trajectory from barely tolerated hero to figure of ridicule, and witness his slow descent into madness, darkness and crime.

WHY? The only two ‘independent’ titles that I’m following at the moment are Lazarus by Greg Rucka, and The Wake by Scott Snyder – which is quite frankly, appalling, when you consider the number of awesome titles out there. I aim to remedy that with this week, and I’m picking up not one, in the case of Sidekick #1, written by the impressive J. Michael Straczysnki, but also Trillium #1 from Jeff Lemire (below) and hopefully Collider #1 from Vertigo Comics last week as I forgot to reserve a copy and the store didn’t have any in stock when I got there.

TRILLIUM #1 (of #8)

Story: Jeff Lemire | Art: Jeff Lemire | Cover: Jeff Lemire | Publisher: Vertigo Comics | Price: $2.99

It’s the year 3797, and botanist Nika Temsmith is researching a strange species on a remote science station near the outermost rim of colonized space. It’s the year 1921, and renowned English explorer William Pike leads an expedition into the dense jungles of Peru in search of the fabled “Lost Temple of the Incas,” an elusive sanctuary said to have strange healing properties. Two disparate souls separated by thousands of years and hundreds of millions of miles. Yet they will fall in love and, as a result, bring about the end of the universe. Even though reality is unraveling all around them, nothing can pull them apart. This isn’t just a love story; It’s the LAST love story ever told.

Trillium is an 8-issue series that combines rich historical adventure and mind-bending science fiction into a sprawling, unconventional love story by Jeff Lemire (SWEET TOOTH, CONSTANTINE, ANIMAL MAN).

WHY? Jeff Lemire’s writing my second favourite comic series at the moment, Green Arrow - so there was no question that I was going to miss out on a title that he’s not only writing, but also on artistic duties. This issue looks awesome and is effectively a must-buy for me. I can’t wait to see how Lemire handles an interesting concept, and the advantage of a mini-series is that you know it will end on its own terms, rather than it being cancelled or dragging out forever. The disadvantage is the fact that you could end up liking this so much that you’re annoyed that it’s a mini-series and wish for longer issues, but we’ll see. It looks set to be a promising issue, regardless.