Top Comics to Buy for October 5, 2022

This week I’m heading off to New York Comic Con, but before I do, I wanted to be sure to post my Top Comics to Buy for October 5, 2022 column. Why? Well, for one thing I have agreed to do this every week. But also, this is absolutely a week worth highlighting. It’s the first Wednesday in October, and we are in a sustained boom period of monthly horror comics. You’ll see this, I think reflected in this week’s list, all of which you can find below…enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for October 5, 2022

Ant-Man #4
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Tom Reilly
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Who is the mysterious Ant-Man of the future who the past Ant-Men keep bumping into? Find out here as the Ant-Man of 2549 recruits Hank Pym, Eric O’Grady and Scott Lang to take on a godlike Ultron! Don’t miss this epic anniversary finale as the Ant-Man of past, present and future come together to save the world!
Why It’s Cool: I think I’ve put every other issue of this excellent Ant-Man miniseries on my weekly lists, so I’m certainly not going to stop with the conclusion. What helps, however, is that this finale is a really satisfying one that sort of spans the history of the character (in surprising ways) and also, for my money, charts a bright course for its future. As always, the artwork remains fantastic.
Price: $3.99

Dark Ride #1
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Andrei Bressan
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: Image Comics – Skybound
WELCOME TO THE SCARIEST PLACE ON EARTH!?
Devil Land has been the world’s premiere horror-themed amusement park for over 50 years, home to the scariest ride ever created – The Devil’s Due.?
But when lifelong fan Owen Seasons begins his first day on the job, he will discover the true horrors happening behind the scenes, the truth about the park’s reclusive creator Arthur Dante, and that the job of his dreams might just be a living nightmare.
Why It’s Cool: This book has one of those comics concepts that is so good, you can’t believe it’s never been done before. It’s about a horror-themed amusement park where true terror is bubbling under the surface. And it’s not just a great concept, the team executes it to near perfection here. I can’t think of a better comic to help usher in spooky season. An easy addition to this week’s comics to buy for October 5 list, don’t miss Dark Ride #1.
Price: $3.99

Gotham City: Year One #1
Writer: Tom King
Penciller: Phil Hester
Inker: Eric Gapstur
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
There once was a shining city on the water, a home for families, hope, and prosperity. It was Gotham and it was glorious. The story of its fall from grace, the legend that would birth the Bat, has remained untold for 80 years. That’s about to change.
Superstar creators Tom King and Phil Hester team up for the first time to tell the definitive origin of Gotham City: how it became the cesspool of violence and corruption it is today, and how it harbored and then unleashed the sin that led to the rise of the Dark Knight. Two generations before Batman, private investigator Slam Bradley gets tangled in the “kidnapping of the century” as the infant Wayne heir disappears in the night…and so begins a brutal, hard-boiled, epic tale of a man living on the edge and a city about to burn.
Why It’s Cool: This book is essentially a prequel to Batman, a hardboiled noir story about how Gotham City became as we know it today. And this first issue is basically perfect. In it, Phil Hester (inked by frequent collaborator Eric Gapstur and colored by Jordie Bellaire) does what might be career best work (which is really saying something). And Tom King delivers one of the smartest DC Comics scripts all year, mingling a pitch-perfect noir voice with an intriguing plotline shaded by the Lindbergh baby with thoughtful questions about corrupt developers and redlining. There’s a lot going on in this book, and it all comes together so well, making this one a definite must-buy.
Price: $4.99

The Night of the Ghoul #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics – comiXology Originals
Shot in 1936, Night of the Ghoul by writer/director T.F. Merritt was meant to sit beside Frankenstein and Dracula as an instant classic . . . But the legendary film never made it to the silver screen. Just before editing was finished, a mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and killed the cast and crew celebrating at the wrap party. Forest Inman is a horror film obsessive who digitizes old films for the famed Aurora movie studio. When Forest stumbles across a seemingly forgotten canister of footage, he just might have discovered the remnants of the lost classic Night of the Ghoul. This discovery sends Forest on a dark odyssey, where he’s warned by a mysterious old man that the film’s ghoul is far more than a work of fiction: it’s a very real monster who plans to kill him.
Why It’s Cool: It’s always nice when Scottober lines up with October, which is exactly what we get here with the Scott Snyder-penned comiXology Originals title The Night of the Ghoul, getting its initial print release during the first week of October. And man, is this comic a doozy. Armed with truly excellent Francesco Francavilla artwork, this is a pristine and very immersive horror comic that I recommend to both fans of spooky content as well as students of the Golden Age of Hollywood, steeped as it is in classic filmmaking mythos.
Price: $4.99

That Texas Blood #18
Writer: Chris Condon
Artist: Jacob Phillips
Color Assistant: Pip Martin
Publisher: Image Comics
“THE SNOW FALLS ENDLESSLY IN WONDERLAND,” Part Five
As Joe Bob and Wilson desperately search for the RQK, the killer makes his next deadly move.
Why It’s Cool: I remain baffled at how That Texas Blood just continues to get better and better. This latest arc — which sees a serial killer with a very creepy design loose in our favorite West Texas county during a blizzard — might be my favorite one yet. It’s got elements of crime comics, neo-noir, and Westerns, all illustrated to perfection by Jacob Phillips. I just love this comic, and it continues to get my absolute highest recommendation.
Price: $3.99

Others Receiving Votes

• Batman #128
• British Paranormal Society – Time Out of Mind #4
• Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5
• Multiversity: Teen Justice #5
• Poison Ivy #5
• Savage Avengers #6
• Sword of Azrael #3
• X-Men Red #7

New #1s and One-Shots

• 3Keys #1
• A.X.E. Starfox #1
• A.X.E. X-Men #1
• Black Adam Justice Society Files – Doctor Fate #1
• Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green #1
• Earthdivers: Kill Columbus #1
• Garbage Pail Kids Origins #1
• Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #1
• Junkyard Joe #1
• Kaya #1
• Leonide The Vampyr: Miracle At Crow’s Head #1
• Miracleman #0 (one-shot)
• Revolvers #1
• Siren’s Gate #1
• Spider-Man #1
• Sweetie Candy Vigilante #1
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Saturday Morning Cartoons #1
• Transformers: Best of Arcee #1 (one-shot)
• Unbreakable Red Sonja #1

Trade Collections and Graphic Novels of Note

• 40 Seconds TP
• Absolute Doomsday Clock HC
• Air Vol. 1 TP Dark Horse Edition
• American Vampire Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2022 Edition)
• Batman The Long Halloween – Deluxe Edition Haunted Knight HC
• Black Hammer Vol. 7 Reborn Part III TP
• Constantine Distorted Illusions TP
• Essential Judge Dredd: Necropolis TP
• GI Joe: Real American Hero 40th Anniversary Special HC
• Hakim’s Odyssey Book 3: From Macedonia to France HC
• Hardware Season One HC
• Joe Hill’s Rain HC
• Little Monsters Vol. 1 TP
• Monkey Meat: First Batch TP
• Sabretooth The Adversary TP
• Saga Vol. 10 TP
• Slash Them All HC
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Best of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collection Vol. 2 TP
• Trial of the Amazons HC
• Wakanda World of the Black Panther Omnibus HC

Read past editions of the Top Comics to Buy!

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