It’s a week for big beginnings as Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch start their tenure on Fantastic Four, Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi kick off their run on Ghost Rider, Art Baltazar and Franco launch Tiny Titans, and Kean Soo brings the webcomic Jellaby to print.

But there’s also one notable ending, as Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan’s Vertigo series American Virgin comes to a close.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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The first Wednesday in February feels a little light on the superhero front. We get another installment of the weekly Countdown to Final Crisis (now in the home stretch) and the almost-weekly Amazing Spider-Man, the return of Alan Davis’ ClanDestine, and the second issue of the enjoyable Teen Titans: Year One, but otherwise there’s not much of note happening on the capes-and-tights front.

That’s okay, though, there’s plenty going on elsewhere: Brian Selznick’s award-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret finally arrives in the direct market, serious 30 Days of Night fans get a hardcover omnibus edition, SLG Publishing rolls out two new titles, The Boys starts a new storyline, and, in Ral Ω Grad, a teen boy fights monsters and squeezes boobies.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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There’s little denying the week’s big releases are Captain America #34, which sees the debut of the new Sentinel of Liberty, and Y: The Last Man #60, which marks the end of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s critically acclaimed Vertigo series.

But tomorrow also brings the much-anticipated first volume of Kazu Kibuishi’s new graphic novel series, Amulet, collections of two dearly missed recent superhero comics, Manhunter and Young Avengers, the debut of Jamie Delano’s sci-fi series, and the first trade paperback of Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba’s trippy Casanova.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Maybe it’s the winter doldrums, but this feels like a so-so Wednesday for comics.

This week, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday sort of complete their popular run on Astonishing X-Men – they wrap things up next month with Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 — while Mike Carey and Jock finish up their Vertigo miniseries Faker.

Also, Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale finally complete their Superman Confidential arc, and two Image miniseries come to an end: After the Capes II and Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer.

Tomorrow also sees new volumes of The Complete Terry & the Pirates, Gon and Madman, and the Left on Mission trade paperback.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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It’s a pretty good week for comics, with the penultimate issue of The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite at Dark Horse, the debut of ‘76 and Cemetery Blues at Image and New Exiles at Marvel, and the latest volume of Mome from Fantagraphics.

Let’s see, what else? The thrice-monthly schedule for The Amazing Spider-Man chugs on with the second installment of “Brand New Day.” Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith finally return with another issue of Fell. Gemstone dusts off another edition of The E.C. Archives. And Viz Media debuts its VizBig imprint with a three-in-one volume of Rurouni Kenshin.

Not bad for a cold Wednesday in mid-January.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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What’s this? New Comics Day falls on a Wednesday again? All is right with the world!

Well, I guess that depends on what side of “One More Day”/”Brand New Day” you fall on. That’s right, Spider-Man’s new status quo begins this week with The Amazing Spider-Man #546. You may have read something about it …

Not interested? How about the now-found Teen Titans: The Lost Annual, or the now-red Hulk? J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston’s resurrection of obscure Timely characters, The Twelve?

Then how about Joe Casey’s first issue of Youngblood, or Darwyn Cooke’s final issue of The Spirit?

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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The new year gets off to a wobbly start as the first New Comics Day of 2008 falls on a Friday. On top of that, there aren’t that many major releases.

Oh, that’s not to say there’s no reason to head to the comics shop. This week sees the first issue of Teen Titans: Year One, a bevy of noteworthy manga (including Aria, Vol. 1), the conclusion of AiT/Planet Lar’s Black Diamond and the beginning of Warren Ellis’ Gravel.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Let’s pretend the holidays haven’t sapped us of all our extra money and we can actually afford to buy comics this week, okay?

Luckily, there aren’t a lot of major releases this week, as most publishers rushed to get the big-ticket items out in time for Christmas. Still, there are some noteworthy books, including the return of writer Jim Shooter after three decades or so to The Legion of Super-Heroes, the not-so-shocking conclusion to “One More Day” in Amazing Spider-Man, the penultimate volume of the apocalyptic Dragon Head, and more.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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As we careen toward Christmas, much of the comics industry is slowing down, or shutting down completely — well, at least the parts responsible for generating halfway interesting news and announcements.

However, those segments that crank out the big-ticket books and merchandise are still humming along. This week, Dark Horse brings out Criminal Macabre and Umbrella Academy T-shirts and an Aliens omnibus edition, Marvel unshelves the second Marvel Masterworks: Rawhide Kid ($55!), and SLG Publishing unveils the hardcover Haunted Mansion, Vol. 1.

Amid all of that you’ll find a new issue of The Umbrella Academy, the final issue of Exiles, Sean McKeever’s debut issue of Birds of Prey, the first issue of IDW’s Classic Doctor Who, and the first volume of the X-Men-esque Gakuen Alice.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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It must be December, because publishers are rolling out the hardcovers and collectibles, just in time for the holidays.

Dark Horse brings tidings of comfort and joy, and a Jimbo doll — an anatomically correct one, at that! — and a couple of Elfquest busts. DC Comics delivers three New Frontier figures, Supergirl and Fables statues, and … an Amazons Attack hardcover. (Hey, it’s better than a lump of coal, right?) Marvel, meanwhile, breaks out hardcovers for The Ultimates 2, and posters for The Ultimates 3.

Add to that hardcovers for the second volume of Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Notebook, The Art of P. Craig Russell, Black Hole, and Queen & Country, Vol. 8, and you have … well, a pretty decent shopping list.

But the big-ticket items aren’t the only things hitting shelves this week. Not by a longshot. To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Did you miss me last week? No? Not even a little?

Fine then, down to business: New Comics Day. This week sees the launch of Northlanders, Brian Wood’s Viking saga, The Ultimates 3, with Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira at the helm, and the perplexing Countdown: Arena mashup.

We also get new volumes of Popeye, Dramacon, Wet Moon, Owly, and Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad.

Plus, there’s something called Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons, which I hope eventually leads to battle royal that includes aliens, dinosaurs and sasquatch.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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As I mentioned earlier this week, Kevin Melrose is out on vacation, leaving me to help Chris Mautner with this week’s Can’t Wait for Wednesday. Per the Diamond website, those of us in the United States won’t see new books until Thursday, Nov. 29 … so I guess technically this is a Can’t Wait for Thursday.

The week after Thanksgiving brings a couple of Christmas-themed stories, including Dark Horse’s It Ate Billy on Christmas storybook and Image’s Archibald Saves Christmas #1. Also on the new issue front are a new Fear Agent mini-series, Virgin’s Dan Dare and Dock Walloper series, Marvel Atlas #1 and Zombie Simon Garth #1, both from Marvel, SLG’s Gargoyles: Bad Guys spin-off and Wildstorm’s Gen13 Armageddon #1, which of course is a tie-in to the big event going on in their neck of the woods.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Blogging would be heck of a lot easier if the pesky real world would stop getting in the way. Ah, well, better late than never, right? Right?

This week finds a veritable treasure trove of collections, from the fifth volume of DC’s 52, another edition of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, Captain America and New Avengers hardcovers, Love and Rockets, Battlestar Galactica, the Complete Badger and — well, just trust me. There are a lot of collections. Just in time for the holidays!

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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If I were a betting man, I’d have said New Comics Day would be a day later because of Monday’s federal holiday in the United States. But here we are on Tuesday, and it’s business as usual.

It’s a good thing, too, because I’m not sure the collective comics fandom could’ve waited an extra day to get its hands on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, the fourth volume of Scott Pilgrim, Gail Simone’s debut on Wonder Woman, the conclusion of World War Hulk, and the 27-volume Naruto collector’s set. (And before anyone says anything, yes, I realize that most readers in the U.K. will be waiting a long, long time to read The Black Dossier.)

Yeah, it’s a pretty big week.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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If it’s Tuesday afternoon, this must be another installment of “Can’t Wait for Wednesday.”

This week sees another issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Season 8,” the end of another Hellboy miniseries, the beginning of another Silver Surfer miniseries, the debut of the Heroes graphic novel, and yet another wave of “Naruto Nation.”

Oh, and Hannah Montana! Really.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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As World War Hulk heads toward the finish line and Countdown – excuse me, Countdown to Final Crisis – reaches the halfway mark, Marvel and DC kick off their fourth-quarter crossovers this week with X-Men: Messiah Complex #1 and Batman #670 (“The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul”).

Not big on “event” comics? There’s plenty more from which to choose: Hardcover Masterworks editions of Strange Tales and Fantastic Four, Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer’s long-awaited Biff Bam Pow, The Complete Persepolis trade paperback, and — at last — the collected El Cazador.

And that’s only for starters.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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My “Can’t Wait for Wednesday” cohort, Chris Mautner, is probably casting the Evil Eye in my direction, because he ended up doing most of the work this week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much to get excited about.

It’s not the beginning of some autumnal malaise — at least I don’t think it is — it’s just a light week for me. Considering the last few Wednesdays, that’s probably a good thing. At least for my wallet.

That obviously doesn’t mean other people won’t find a lot of good titles on the shelves tomorrow. DC’s popular “Sinestro Corps Wars” continues, Image has new installments of Casanova and The Walking Dead, and Marvel gives Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD the Masterworks treatment (something I’d intended to highlight below, but forgot about amid all of our server issues). Plus, for comic strip fans, there’s a Charles Schulz biography, and collections for Mutts, B.C., and the legendary Winsor McCay.

To see what other titles Chris and I — well, Chris, mostly — think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Although there’s a handful of notable first issues — the heralded Death of the New Gods, Suburban Glamour and Marvel Zombies 2 among them — it’s a fairly quiet week on the monthly front.

However, the collections more than make up for it. Wednesday sees the first Buffy Season 8 trade paperback, two 52 books, a hardcover for Jeff Smith’s Shazam! Monster Society of Evil, the seventh volume of Marvel Masterworks: Avengers, and the two-pound Battle Royale Ultimate Edition, Vol. 1. And that’s just for starters.

To see what else is hitting comic stores this week — and which ones Chris Mautner and I think deserve special mention — just keep reading. And, as always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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I’ve pointed to the ever-growing wave of manga in previous installments — including a time when the number of titles from Tokyopop outnumbered those from Marvel — but this week retailer/blogger Christopher Butcher notes what may be a watershed moment in the “manga/comics” divide: When you remove variant covers from the equation, there are more new manga released this week than new Western comics.

It’s a difference of just one book — 63 to 62, by Butcher’s count — but it’s still pretty remarkable. First, the American dollar and the Canadian dollar reach parity, and now this. Will wonders never cease?

So, yeah, that’s a lot of manga.

To see what comics — manga and otherwise — Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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