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As you’ve already noticed, the genetically engineered race of superpowered individuals known as the Inhumans have seen a renewed focus across multiple Marvel platforms. The group will even star in its own ABC television series, where viewers will see Black Bolt, Medusa, Maximus and more brought to life on the small screen. While fans get to follow the Inhuman Royal Family in the present day, many of their adventures prior to adulthood remain a mystery. Marvel highlights one of these lost tales in Inhumans: Once & Future Kings #1 from Christopher Priest, Phil Noto and Joe Sabino (with a backup story from Ryan North and Gustavo Duarte starring the larger-than-life Lockjaw). The five-issue miniseries marks Priest’s return to Marvel Comics after a lengthy absence, and he doesn’t miss a beat as he perfectly picks up the voices of the Inhuman King and his subjects. Each character speaks with an air of elegance that could run the risk of sounding pompous if handled incorrectly, but Prie

Ghost Station Zero #1 continues the premise of writer Antony Johnston and artist Shari Chankhamma’s previous Codename Baboushka comics — what if the story was about the femme fatale super spy, and not the James Bond-type she sleeps with? — and dives deeper into Baboushka’s Russian connections and history. What Cold War secrets are lying in wait for this icy blonde badass? While Ghost Station Zero continues Baboushka’s story, it’s a standalone miniseries and a great jumping on point for new readers. Starting in media res during a mission in China, in which Baboushka saves women from the sex slave trade and punishes their captors, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly who Baboushka is and what she does for a living. Working with her handler Gyorgy, she makes a daring escape that I won’t spoil and continues on to her next mission as if it were no big deal. Aren’t all escapes from murderous gangsters daring, you ask? Maybe, but this is a truly beautiful escape; Chankhamma’s illustration

After taking the lead for a few issues in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s “Hawkeye” series and then sharing it in Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez’s “All-New Hawkeye,” Kate Bishop finally gets an opportunity to be the outright star of her own series in “Hawkeye” #1 by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero. In fact, Thompson ensures that Clint Barton is nowhere to be found, allowing the issue to focus fully on Kate and her new supporting cast. With a day job that doesn’t center around being a superhero but allows it to come in handy when needed, Kate’s new life is balanced well by Thompson and strongly characterized by Romero. As readers learn on the very first page, Kate is now an (un)licensed private detective in the state of California, joining the ranks of Jessica Jones and Jessica Drew as a Marvel Universe private eye who moonlights as a superhero (or vice versa). While on one of her first cases, though, she finds herself entering superhero mode. That’s when both Thompson and Romero bring 

In Simon Oliver and Moritat’s “The Hellblazer” #1, John Constantine goes back to the basics with a healthy dose of supernatural workings, some familiar faces and a classic Constantine staple: his telltale guilt. In that, “The Hellblazer” #1 is a far cry from the series’ lackluster “Rebirth” issue; it’s a strong introduction that sets the story in motion with the nearly foiled assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It feels like a careful return to the Vertigo formula, a dose of darkness amid hazy colors and brilliant storytelling from the hands of Oliver and Moritat. The conversations between would-be assassins Marid and Adnan are the most curious development by far. Using the two assassins as a vehicle, Oliver hints at their otherworldly origins and cleverly contrasts the moral themes of inaction vs. intervention. If he didn’t act, Constantine wouldn’t be weighted down by the consequences of his actions — but he does, and where does that leave our hero? This ambiguity is where t

When DC Comics moved its characters from the Vertigo mature readers imprint into the DC Universe right before the New 52 reboot, one of the big questions was how characters like John Constantine, Swamp Thing and Shade the Changing Man would fit into a world with slightly stricter audience standards. We’ve had two series starring John Constantine since then (“Constantine” and “Constantine: The Hellblazer”), with varied amounts of success. But with Simon Oliver and Moritat‘s new “The Hellblazer: Rebirth” #1, it feels like DC has made its most deliberate attempt yet to evoke the spirit of the original “Hellblazer” series. RELATED: “Hellblazer” Rebirth Series Sees Oliver, Moritat Bring John Constantine Home The most obvious element in that regard is the title’s return to London. After having John Constantine in America for the previous two series, having him back in his old stomping grounds feels like a bit of a relief. It means that his best friend, the long-suffering Chas, is once more

If potential voters think the current crop of presidential candidates are a bunch of losers, then they haven’t read the story of Jack Northworthy, presidential wannabe, all-around loser and star of Sam Humphries and Tommy Patterson’s “Citizen Jack” #1. Jack is also an estranged husband, impeached mayor and struggling snowblower salesman who has partnered up with a demonic being of some sort, who seems to want nothing more than to turn Jack into a political star and leader of the free world. Seemingly digging a deeper hole for himself every time he seeks a way to climb out of it, Jack’s every move only makes him more laughably pitiful, to the point where some hellish paranormal support is welcomed. Both Humphries and Patterson seem to go out of their way to make Jack a truly despicable and unlikeable character, almost like a blockhead Charlie Brown for mature readers. Jack’s a heavy drinker, threatens his townspeople and even his own father with a gun and is a general pain in the behi

John Constantine’s return to England in “Constantine: The Hellblazer” #3 should be a reason to celebrate, as he encounters an old friend in the form of Georgiana Snow. While the book looks good, Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV and Vanesa Del Rey’s comic ultimately feels like it’s missing the punch that it promises. Part of the problem is that, in theory, switching between the past and the present — to give us an idea of John’s former friendship with Georgie, compared to the chilly welcome his arrival has now — should have worked like gangbusters. It’s a familiar and normally welcome technique to advance the plot while filling in back story. For some reason, however, the two halves of the issue feel disconnected. The sequence set in the past with young Constantine and company seems to be the problem. Doyle and Tynion’s story here feels inconsequential; we’re seeing the group of friends club around, and it’s really only a small handful of pages. Every time it shows up, though, it feels lik

John Constantine kicks off his third series — cheekily merging the titles of his two previous comics — with “Constantine: The Hellblazer” #1. While Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV,and Riley Rossmo don’t descend to the depths of the “Suggested For Mature Readers”-branded series published by Vertigo, there’s still a lot to enjoy here. In many ways, the opening three-page sequence sums up the entire first issue, as we see Constantine covered in blood and wearing nothing but a pair of socks, talking to a startled clothing store clerk in order to get a new outfit. Doyle and Tynion have a mixture of magic and persuasive wit in Constantine’s dialogue, talking about the darker parts of the world and how it’s best to just look away from the nastiness lest you get sucked in. It’s classic Constantine, lulling bystanders into doing what he needs, but also having that extra edge in his pocket to make the process just a little bit easier. It’s self-serving and there are consequences to others (as Gaz

The current backbone of “Secret Wars” is largely the idea of seemingly random patches of the Marvel multiverse being crunched together on a single piecemeal world, after all of the various universes crashed into each other. On the surface, it’s not an idea that can be taken all that seriously, although the premise has made for some pretty interesting and downright entertaining comics. Enter Skottie Young’s “Giant Size: Little Marvel: AvX” #1, which fortunately doesn’t even try to be serious, but instead features Young’s trademark brand of kiddie humor that adults can also enjoy. There’s no side-splitting hilarity here, but it is a lot of fun, and it’s a loopy alternative to all of those other tie-ins sitting next to it on the comic rack. Truthfully, this isn’t much of a tie-in to “Secret Wars” at all and didn’t really need that branding (except maybe for marketing purposes); it would’ve been more at home alongside “Avengers vs. X-Men” a few years ago. It makes no real difference, tho

Valiant continues to give readers exactly what they want: more Quantum and Woody. In this instance, “Valiant-Sized Quantum and Woody” #1 features three interconnected tales that bring readers face-to-face with infinite Woody possibilities. Writers Tim Siedell and James Asmus pack in the usual slapstick, dark humor and adolescent innuendo readers have come to expect from Quantum and Woody, but in this case, with artist Pere Perez handling most of the art, they include some extra visual guffaws as well. Recruited by men in black and dragged to a top-secret military base in New Mexico, the brothers find themselves forced into a team-up with Thomas Edison and the forces of Edison’s Radical Acquisitions (or E.R.A.). Actually, E.R.A. is fairly scarce in this issue, but Siedell and Perez make up for that with a dramatic heroic entrance that Woody undercuts as most grizzled and jaded comic book readers would. That doesn’t make the delivery any less funny as Red Very Good Fox Champion Nice j