In a returning weekly column, Milo, aka “Bane of Kings” looks at the Top 5 comics that you should be reading from today’s releases. Hit the break to find out what they are.

                       

This column returns! After several weeks out, I decided to bring this look at the best books hitting shelves each Wednesday back on a weekly basis once again. As usual, you can find my pull list here, and the full list of releases hitting shelves here. Without further ado then, let’s get stuck in.

AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS #1 (of 8)

By Rick Remender, Adam Kubert, Laura Martin & Matt Milla

ACT I: THE RED SUPREMACY

• The Red Skull has exploited the gifts of the world’s greatest telepath to broadcast pure hatred across the globe. Now, born of the murder of Charles Xavier, World War Hate has begun.

• Tony Stark discovers a secret truth that will upend not only his life, but also the lives of everyone he cares for.

• Can The Avengers and X-Men finally unite? Would their combined strength be enough to hold back the darkness of the Red Onslaught?

• Magneto murdered the wrong man, releasing the greatest evil the Marvel Universe has ever known. Now Rogue and Scarlet Witch are all that stand in its way.

WHY? The latest Avengers/X-Men mega event is probably Marvel’s biggest since Original Sin, which was of mixed quality and not quite as good as the likes of Jonathan Hickman’s superb Infinity, but miles ahead of Age of Ultron. However, that said, Remender and Kubert are a great creative team and with an interesting premise, AXIS should hopefully be more like Infinity and Edge of Spider-Verse and less like Battle of the Atom and Avengers vs. X-Men.

BATGIRL #35

By Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr & Maris Wicks

Barbara Gordon is no stranger to dusting herself off when disaster strikes… so when a fire destroys everything she owned, she spots the opportunity for a new lease on life — and seizes it! Following the rest of Gotham’s young adults to the hip border district of Burnside, Barbara sets about building an all-new Batgirl… and discovers all-new threats preying on her peers! It’s a re-invention of Batgirl from the boots up, by the incredible creative team of Cameron Stewart (BATMAN INC.), Brenden Fletcher (WEDNESDAY COMICS), and rising star Babs Tarr!

WHY? Batgirl with Gail Simone at the helm was superb. It was an excellent run that was incredibly gripping, but after thirty five issues I think a new creative team will make an interesting fresh, new take on the series. With a team who I’m relatively unfamiliar with, aside from Brenden Fletcher (on last week’s superb Gotham Academy), it’ll be interesting to see how they handle Barbara. Hopefully,  this’ll be the start of something great.

BATMAN #35

By Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo & Danny Miki

From the superstar creative team that brought you a new start to the Caped Crusader comes the story that could end him. Be there in October for the biggest, deadliest and most epic story yet from writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo – “Batman: Endgame” begins here!

WHY? Regardless of what you think of the raised pricetag for the Batman: Endgame arc, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are both excellent and it’s a good reason why their series is the only one that has remained unchanged creative wise since the start of the New 52. Endgame should be a welcome return to the present following Zero Year, and things should get very interesting indeed.

BIRTHRIGHT #1

By Joshua Williamson & Andrei Bressan

For the Rhodes family, losing their son was the most devastating thing that could’ve ever occurred… but it couldn’t prepare them for what happened when he returned. Skybound’s newest original series turns fantasy into reality in this EXTRA-SIZED FIRST ISSUE for just $2.99, by creator/writer JOSH WILLIAMSON (GHOSTED, NAILBITER) and artist ANDREI BRESSAN.

WHY? This comic rather than coming from Image, actually comes from their imprint Skybound. However, it boasts the excellent Joshua Williamson at the helm as well as an exciting premise to boot, so hopefully Birthright will be another excellent Image Comics series to read.

WYTCHES #1

By Scott Snyder & Jock

Across the globe, century after century, men and women were burned, drowned, hanged, tortured, imprisoned, persecuted, and murdered for witchcraft. None of them were witches. They died protecting a terrible and hidden truth: witches, real witches, are out there. They are ancient, elusive, and deadly creatures that are rarely seen and even more rarely survived. This October, superstar creators SCOTT SNYDER (SEVERED, Batman) and JOCK (SNAPSHOT, Batman) unveil WYTCHES, and introduce you to a world of unimaginable horror in a special EXTRA-SIZED FIRST ISSUE with 30 pages of story and no ads for just $2.99

WHY? You only need to look at the creative team to buy this issue, really. Scott Snyder is an excellent writer and this is another non-superhero series from him and it’s no surprise to see it is a horror drama, after all, Snyder has given us the fantastic American Vampire. Jock is an equally excellent artist and one of my favourites in the comics industry,  so Wytches could very well become one of my favourite series.