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.

BLACK DYNAMITE #1 (IDW)

With Grindhouse kicking ass over at Dark Horse and Bitch Planet forthcoming from Image, the exploitation genre is experiencing a mild renaissance in comics. That makes it a perfect time for Black Dynamite to swing in over at IDW and do some kung-fu on our collective butts. After all, it’s been a while since the movie came out, and so a new four-issue miniseries is a great way to reintroduce the character.

What’s even more interesting is that none of these three series are stepping on each other’s toes. Grindhouse is, so far, playing with the lurid sexuality of exploitation horror and Bitch Planet has been described as taking on the Women In Prison and Girl Gang subgenres. Black Dynamite, of course, is all about 70s kung-fu exploitation, and from the looks from the previews, Brian Ash, Ron Wimberly, Sal Buscema and JM Ringuet are looking to invoke that style faithfully, right down to Ringuet‘s colouring and the overall design, which lend the issue a nostalgic wink. That balance of audacity and fun is what exploitation relies on, and it looks like Black Dynamite is going to be a straight-up hoot.

COFFIN HILL #4 (Vertigo)

Caitlin Kittredge and Inaki Miranda‘s Coffin Hill has been an interesting beast as it’s been published, including elements of supernatural macabre mystery, police procedural and CW teen soap opera. This is to say, I am absolutely obsessed with it. The first issue introduced one hell of a final sequence (blood, madness, scary nudity), and then spent the next two issues toeing back up to that line. With the cliffhanger at the end of Issue #3, it looks like we’re getting back to the core mystery of the series, and that’s a great way to keep the series’ momentum moving.

DAREDEVIL #35 (Marvel)

As Daredevil rushes towards its big finale (before relaunching with Matt having relocated his life to San Francisco), the release of Issue #35 probably isn’t a great time to jump on, but it’s a good time to take stock of what the series has done. Personally, when the series was launched, I didn’t really care about Matt Murdock at all. He seemed too dour, and his various series, while often from writers I love, merely exercises in torturing the character. I’m ready to go back to those stories, though, and the entire reason is how well Mark Waid and his collaborators have reinvigorated the character. They’ve always kept an eye on keeping the book from getting bogged down in continuity, and keeping it light enough in tone while gradually revealing a plan behind the dissonance of a suddenly cheery Matt. They’ve settled into a consistent team of Waid, Chris Samnee and Javier Rodriguez and have consistently done subtly inventive work while moving the plot forward.

And here we are with that: Foggy is ill and maybe dying. A hate group has infiltrated every nook and cranny of power in New York, and Matt has basically lit the fuse on an out-and-out war. We know big changes are coming. All that’s left is to see how it plays out.

FANTASTIC FOUR #16 (Marvel)

Similarly, Fantastic Four is another book that’s being relaunched as part of All New Marvel NOW!, and so it’s probably the worst place to jump on, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a great comic worth remembering to pick up. Over the course of the series’ year-and-a-bit, it’s told a far-reaching story about time travel, secrets and the inner dynamics of a family. James Robinson is up next on the series and has talked about how he’s going to tell a book about strains on a family, so why not see what Karl Kesel, Matt Fraction and Raffaele Ienco have in store in the meantime as they wrap up their era on the book.

Hint: it involves Doom and multiversal danger. That’s a pretty classic way to go out.

NOVA PHASE #1& 2 (SLG)

The hook of this book is pretty easy to see: it’s a comic with 8-bit art emulating the look of classic video games, right down to the promo art that looks like an old Nintendo Entertainment System box and the description of it as a role-playing adventure. Matthew Ritter and Adam Elbatimy are 100% clear in exactly what they are evoking with their 8-bit space western, and that’s perfectly fine because hey, this book looks incredibly pretty.

Ritter and Elbatimy do a great job at capturing that feel, with the gaudily charming, intense colour schemes, the white-on-black word balloons that look straight out of the original Final Fantasy and the classic premise of a rogue getting in over their heads. The individuality, however, comes through in the execution; it’s fun and evocative, like remembering something you used to love, except the kick is that the whole thing is new. That seems like something that’s worth checking out on ComiXology right now, right? The first issue is free. It won’t cost you anything to try it out.

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.