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.

LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #1 (Marvel Comics)

Hey look: it’s one of my favourite characters in Marvel Comics being written by one of my favourite creators! Do you think I might enjoy this?

Al Ewing and Lee Garbett kick off the solo adventures of Loki in this series in the wake of Young Avengers. As the story goes, Loki is being sent around on specific missions by the All Mother(s), putting his duplicitous nature to use for the good of Asgard… probably. One of the things Ewing has said about the series is that it will be filled to the brim with lies - and why not? Loki is still the God of Mischief, after all, and even in his better moments, he can’t help his nature.

When I hear Ewing talk about the series and how he’s building it to be full of surprises, I can’t help but feel elated. If you’ve been reading his Mighty Avengers or Zombo, you know that Ewing is a guy who likes to have fun with stories, putting a premium on enjoyment rather than anything too grim. Hell, even in Zombo, where eviscerations occur on a fairly regular basis, you can’t help but see the gleam in his metaphorical eye that says, “aren’t we having fun?” We are. Or at least I always am, and I’m looking forward to another outlet to explore that fun and excitement in.

MS. MARVEL #1 (Marvel Comics)

Finally, the debut of Kamala Kahn!

It’s exceedingly rare to see a character get an ongoing without having first been introduced to the public at large using a bigger, brighter book as a springboard. You can argue that the recent All New Marvel Now one-shot was exactly that, but doing so misses the point. This series was announced and was put into production if not before the one-shot, then right around the same time. There was no safety net of “hey kids, meet this bright new character in the pages of this month’s Avengers!” or anything of that ilk. For all intents and purposes, this book is a gamble, albeit one built upon a solid foundation of concept and talent.

G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona are the creative team on this series, and they are bringing their considerable strengths to bear. Outside of comics, Alphona has done a lot of work in the fashion magazine industry, and has always had quite the eye for clothing styles and fashion. This is quickly apparent when you start paging through this issue and cast your eyes on a wide array of clothing, something that’s usually an afterthought in a lot of superhero comics (you know, beyond the general fight-pyjamas). It helps immediately ground a book that is a modified take on some early Spider-Man type problems, allowing the world to feel lived in and varied. Beyond that, Alphona’s skill as a storyteller rocks all over the page, exaggerating where needed to push a wide array of emotions to the fore.

On the writing side, G. Willow Wilson is hitting it out of the park. Anyone who has had the chance to read any of her work in comics or in prose knows that she can tell a good story. This one happened to require a bit of a delicate touch, as not only is she telling the origin of a young new superhero, Kamala also happens to the daughter of Muslim parents. At a basic level, this should mean nothing - people come from all kinds of different backgrounds, and those backgrounds inform (but do not control) our choices. We are all just people dealing with random circumstance as dealt out by genetics and circumstance we had no part in choosing. That said, the ground outside the realm of “milquetoast white dude gets powers” is not as well worn, so there’s a certain danger of such a story tipping more towards novelty than substance. Wilson naturally bypasses all of that with a strong story filled with vibrant characters, using emotion as her core rather than the trappings of, say, religion or race. If you find yourself in the comic shop, I suggest you grab yourself a copy. Marvel’s even including a free digital download in this first issue, despite the fact that it’s just a $2.99 book - which means you can get two purchases for the price of one, and even share the book with a friend if you’re not into the whole digital comic thing. Do this.

PUNISHER #1 & BLACK WIDOW #3 (Marvel Comics)

Yep, that sure is four Marvel picks in a row. I would feel bad about it if their line wasn’t so good right now. Building atop of the solid foundation they used to reshape their line with just a little over a year ago, the All New Marvel Now initiative has been nothing but interesting books, built for a wide range of audiences.

One of the best thing Marvel did in shaping this line was recruit Nathan Edmondson for their new Punisher and Black Widow ongoings. Both characters thrive in the heroic grey, both forces moving the world into a better place, but through means that many morally resolute heroes would balk at. In Punisher, Edmondson is deliberately pulling on much of Frank’s history as a soldier, and is using the building blocks he put together working on The Activity with Mitch Gerads over at Image to work in this series. Marvel has also brough Gerads along for the ride, which certainly doesn’t help. The result is much like you find in their creator owned series - the ideas are clearly from the headspace of two unique individuals, working together to make something bigger - an independent sensibility mixed within the framework of a superhero universe. It’s quite a thing to see.

As for Black Widow, we’ve talked about how great that book is a lot - and with good reason. Noto’s brilliant art and Edmondson’s plots make for a great combination that radiates a similar vibe. The ideas are strong, and the direction is solid, and you can’t help but get lost in the pages of their beautiful world of spies and lies. I can’t wait for both teams to get further into their runs and really explore the depths of both characters. Hopefully sales on both titles allow this to happen.

TUROK: DINOSAUR HUNTER #1 (Dynamite Entertainment)

And finally this week, Dynamite and editor Nate Cosby begin their revival of some classic Gold Key characters with Turok: a dude who hunts dinosaurs. The concept is enough to sell itself, but it helps that Greg Pak and Mirko Colak are on board as the creative team. I know almost nothing about the plot at this point, and I would very much like to keep it that way. After all, what more do I need to know about this book other than it’s concept and creative team? Both should be enough to sell it to you too, but if it hasn’t, give it a flip through on the stands. Cosby was one of the best editors Marvel had during his time there, and I doubt he’s gotten rusty with age.

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.