Every week, Comics! The Blog goes through the list of new releases and we tell you which comics to plug into your mindhole. Your mileage may vary.

Sorry for the lateness, folks! It turns out when I am doing a reading of a poem at a wedding, eating and drinking at said wedding, or dancing for five hours at said wedding, the one thing I’m not doing is writing about comics. I know, I know, that’s a deep personal failing that I will try to remedy the next time I am commanding the dance circle for the fifth time.

ACTION COMICS #18 (DC Comics)

It’s here! The final Grant Morrison issue of Action Comics is upon us. And, while today might be notable more for the news about the changes it was announced are coming to the series’ already announced changes post-Morrison, let’s focus instead on the things Morrison has done in the last year and a half.

Morrison, Rags Morales and the other artists on the series showed us a new version of Superman in his early days on the job. They showed us a tweaked version of his arrival on Earth. They had him fight swarms of aliens that looked like angels. They had him do… something with Mister Myxlplyx. It involved… fairy tales? There was that spectacular issue with Krypto set on Halloween. Throughout the ongoing shifts of the New 52, Action Comics was reliably weird and fascinating, and as this run ends, it’s hard not to be sad that there isn’t another crazy story you have to read three times to understand coming next month. It was a divisive series, but man, when it was good, it was beautiful.

CAPTAIN MARVEL #11 (Marvel Comics)

I don’t have much of an idea of how many copies each new Captain Marvel issue sells. In my mind, it’s something approaching a million, because even though it’s not technically a Marvel NOW! title, it’s easily one of the most exciting, new-feeling series the company puts out every month. Even as writer Kelly Sue DeConnick has given Carol Danvers a new health-related obstacle, she and co-writer Christopher Sebela have enriched the character’s world so much that it feels healthier than ever. An assistant, a young fan, new friends, old friends and a new ride… Carol’s world has never felt bigger or more welcoming, as a reader.

DeConnick and Sebela have been joined in recent issues by artist Felipe Andrade, and it’s one of the best decisions the book’s editors have made since having Jamie McKelvie design the new Captain Marvel uniform last year. Andrade‘s art is singular; it’s loose and energetic, with thick lines (paired with Jordie Bellaire‘s industry-leading colours). It eschews realism in favour of exaggeration and a sense of fun. There is no other comic that looks like this on the stands, and it manages to look unique while still recognizably Marvel. It stands out, and what’s inside rewards that. This issue, Carol faces off against an old enemy while still dealing with her ongoing health. I adore the idea that consummate professional and perfectionist Carol Danvers might not be good at something as basic as… riding a flying motorcycle. And here’s hoping there’s some Kit, too!

DAREDEVIL #24 (Marvel Comics)

If Captain Marvel or Hawkguy isn’t the top superhero comic out there, then Daredevil is an impeccable contender. Month in and out, it’s a masterclass of storytelling - both on a short- and long-term level - and of the pure skill of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. Last issue, a long-running conflict came to a heartbreaking turn, and the final pages of the issue were handled wordlessly and perfectly by the book’s team. Now, in Issue #24, we pick up with what’s next.

Two years ago, I didn’t care about Daredevil or if his best friend was sick. They were complete strangers. Now, I’m wrapped up in their lives. I wait to find out how they’ll get through their troubles each month, and I get worried for what will happen. I have no idea what waits for me inside the cover this week. Matt’s been towing a tough line between sanity and the man he used to be, and it feels like Waid’s run has been building up to exactly this issue. Personal problems can be even more riveting than any superheroics on the next page, and Daredevil is a big exemplar of just what a book like that looks like.

SACRIFICE #6 (Sam Humphries’ dungeon basement totally respectable front business office)

When Sacrifice started, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that Our Love Is Real, a one-shot comic that introduced me to the works of writer Sam Humphries, was something that I liked and now he was releasing something else. In the following year, I’ve watched the story of a troubled young man coming into his own in a harsh new environment. I’ve seen some trippy Starlin-esque splashes from Dalton Rose. Hell, I have learned a surprising amount about the Aztecs. And today, that story ends.

If you haven’t been lucky enough to have a shop carrying the comic or to read it digitally, believe me: you’ll want to wait for the recently announced Dark Horse collection. The series has been Humphries‘ most personal work to date, Rose‘s art has gotten consistently more adventurous, and I’m going into the final issue with no idea what’s going to happen. The climax to Issue #5 set the entire set of possibilities wide open, and anything could happen to our hero, Hector. The series has frequently played at ideas of fate and predestination, and even if things end up snapping back to match history, that’s a hell of a whiplash to get in one issue. Humphries and Rose have taken us - and Hector - so far, and infused it all with so much emotion, that anything that happens will be fraught with the weight of not just the book’s civilization, but a very damaged young man who can’t ever seem to find his place. Time travel historical fiction is rarely this good.

Rejected tagline: “Move over, Diana Gabaldon.”

STAR WARS: LEGACY #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

No, not that Star Wars series from Brian Wood. This is something else entirely, told in the vast expanses of the Expanded Universe, and if that isn’t your cup of tea (I still don’t know what’s happening with Jaina Solo), here are two reasons to pick this book up:

Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman.

Their work with BOOM! on Betrayal of Planet of the Apes and its follow-up, Exile on…, was stunning. Hardman‘s art brought new life to an old franchise, and together, he and Bechko write scripts that are alternately funny and exciting, that can pack an emotional wallop, that feel new even as they evoke the old. This is literally the perfect approach for something like Star Wars: Legacy. The reason why is the title. It has to be new. It has to remind people of what they’ve liked about the franchise before. It’s a tough balance to strike, but Bechko and Hardman are two of the best at it.

Who is Ania Solo, the great-great granddaughter of Han and Leia? Where does she fit into the rest of the world we know and the parts we don’t? That’s all mystery, that’s all the specific cogs. What I do know is that there is literally no other pair of creators I’d want doing something like this. I trust them implicitly, and they haven’t disappointed me yet.

These are some of the many great books being released this week! You can find the full list of comics being released here. If you have any other recommendations, let us know in the comments below.