Milo, aka “Bane of Kings”, runs down the Top 5 Must Read comics that are hitting shelves this Wednesday.

Wow, what a week! This is the first new comics week of 2014 and it looks to see the year off to a cracking start with plenty of All New Marvel Now titles as well as a large range of DC books continuing to hit shelves. It’s such a hard choice to narrow it down to five that I couldn’t possibly go without mentioning some books that didn’t make this list here: Black Widow #1 by Nathan Edmunson, a brand new series featuring Natasha Romanoff, Young Avengers #15, Kieron Gillen’s finale to my favourite title that came from Marvel Now! – as Hawkeye & Daredevil were launched before, so I’m hoping it can end its run on a high. Although I’m not pulling it (hence why it’s not on this list) The Walking Dead #115 cannot be ignored for people unlike myself who are up to date on the series.  And the final mention that I’ll throw in here is for Aphrodite IX #7, another Image title that is awesome but also another one that I am unfortunately behind on. You can view my full pull-list here, and check out everything that hits shelves this week here.

ALL NEW X-FACTOR #1

Story: Peter David | Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico | Publisher: Marvel Comics | Price: $3.99

‘NOT BRAND X’ Part 1 X-FACTOR IS BACK . . . LIKE NEVER BEFORE! Serval Industries, one of the world’s most trusted names in electronics and leader in cutting-edge internet and weapons technology, has just unveiled their newest contribution to society… the All-New X-Factor. Led by mutant mistress of magnetism, Polaris, the team uses its corporate backing for the betterment of society. With her half-brother Quicksilver, notorious thief, Gambit, and more by her side, can Polaris trust that her corporate masters really have good intentions? 

WHY? I missed out on the original series but there’s no way I’ll be passing up this one. The X-characters are my favourite group of Marvel heroes so it’ll be interesting to see the lesser known ones utilized in this book – and hopefully it’ll be relatively new reader friendly. Mainly due to the praise of the previous X-Factor series this book is among my most anticipated All New Marvel Now books so it should be good to see how it plays out.

DETECTIVE COMICS #27

Story: Various | Art: Various | Publisher: DC Comics | Price: $7.99

DC Entertainment presents this mega-sized issue featuring an all-star roster of Batman creators past and present! Don’t miss a modern-day retelling of The Dark Knight’s origin by the incredible team of writer Brad Meltzer and artist Bryan Hitch!

Plus, all-new stories by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy, Peter J. Tomasi and Guillem March, Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen, Gregg Hurwitz and Neal Adams and more!

Also in this issue, John Layman and Jason Fabok kick off the new storyline “GOTHTOPIA”! It’s a bright, shiny, happy place where dreams come true . . . as long as you don’t look at things too closely. 

WHY? Despite the bumper pricetag, there’s no way I’m going to miss out on this one with the wealth of creative talent involved and the kickstart of a new Gothopia storyline. This has been an excellent book so far for me ever since I jumped on with #21 and I’m hoping for great things so it should be very interesting to find what happens in this book. If you’re a Bat fan who’s not picking it up though, I strongly suggest you reconsider this because #27 of the original Detective Comics featured the first appearance of Batman in comics so hopefully #27 of the New 52 will be another big milestone of excellent quality.

GREEN ARROW #27

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

“The Outsiders War” part 2! Green Arrow fights for his life against the head of the Shield Clan, the deadly Kodiak! Plus, learn the tragic secret that turned Oliver Queen into Green Arrow!

WHY? If there was no Detective Comics #27 Anniversary edition in this week’s haul then Green Arrow would no doubt remain top of the first week of the month again. This book is an excellent series and easily my favourite DC ongoing thanks to the awesomeness of Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino, and I cam’t wait to see what continues to happen as The Outsiders War unfolds. No way I’m missing out on this book.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: ALHPA #1

Story: Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill | Art: Richard Elson | Publisher: Marvel | Price: $3.99

Long ago, Captain Britain, Dark Angel, Motormouth and the pantheon of Marvel UK Heroes believed they had defeated the shadowy Mys-Tech organization in one Earth-shattering climactic battle. But they were wrong. Mys-Tech has returned, and their presence threatens not only the world – but the entire universe!

Now, Marvel UK’s greatest heroes must band together for the first time in 20 years to stop a long forgotten enemy. But are they too late? The battle begins this January in REVOLUTIONARY WAR: ALPHA #1 and continues one week later REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DARK ANGEL #1 and various one-shots on-sale through February and March!

WHY? As I’m based in the UK naturally I’ll read anything from the big-two that takes place over here as we don’t tend to get many mainstream attention in comics with all the action taking place mostly in the USA (or in space). So any UK-set books I’m totally down for and Revolutionary War promises to be a really epic event that there’s no way I’m passing up on, and hopefully this’ll see a new wave of launches (ideally $2.99 unlike this issue) for Marvel UK characters involving the likes of Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (who is involved here) and Paul Cornell (and any more good UK writers who I’m forgetting), so on the off chance that you’re reading this, that would be great, Marvel!

SWAMP THING #27

 Story: Charles Soule | Art: Jesus Siaz | Publisher: DC Comics | Price: $2.99

The Earth bleeds green! Millions will die. The Swamp Thing must tear his very existence up by the roots. The Seeder story ends here! 

WHY? My third favourite DC book right now behind Green Arrow and Batman there’s no way I’m missing out on this issue. The conclusion to the Seeder story is going to be very interesting to read indeed and I can’t wait to see how Soule wraps it up. One thing’s for sure though, this comic has been great. Lots of fun and awesome stuff going on here.