National Comic Book Day: 8 Awesome Items to Celebrate Comics and Superheroes

Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn

It was a great year for Harley Quinn stories, and Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn made an already great White Knight universe even better. I've enjoyed the previous stories in this series, but Harley's story was hands down the best of all of them, and was one of my fave books of the year. Katana Collins and Matteo Scalera deliver a version of Harley who finds herself helping the GCPD while she navigates motherhood and her past, and you can't help but root for her as she moves past the pain and tragedy to become something altogether new. It's a great story, and no DC fan should miss it.

Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn retails for $17.99 and you can order it here or at your local comic store.

You can find the official description below.

"The Joker is dead. Batman is behind bars. In a new age of villains, only Harley can save Gotham.

Two years after Azrael wiped out Gotham's deadliest villains in Batman: Curse of the White Knight, the stage is set for a new criminal uprising. From the shadows, a visionary mastermind known as the Producer is assembling a colorful roster of new rogues-headlined by his alluring recruit Starlet, an actor turned serial killer with a vendetta against Gotham's Golden Age film stars.

When Starlet's grisly crime scenes hint at an impossible link to the Joker, the GCPD-aided by eager young FBI agent Hector Quimby-turns to Harley Quinn to crack the case. But Harley is struggling to navigate her new role as a single mother to the late Jack Napier's twins, and revisiting Gotham's underworld-even as a "good guy"-will force her to fight her own worst instincts and flirt with danger.

Determined to prove she can balance it all, Harley accepts Bruce Wayne's guidance and inches closer to the killer-and when the Producer's twisted script comes into full focus, she must confront her past to protect her children and Gotham from a fatal final act.

Novelist Katan Collins and artist Matteo Scalera team up for Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn-a thrilling standalone addition to Sean Murphy's White Knight universe, expanding on the events of Batman: White Knight and Batman: Curse of the White Knight. This volume collects all six issues of the original series as well as an in-world bonus story originally published as part of the hit digital series Harley Quinn Black + White + Red."

Marvel Champions (Core Set)

If you want to pick up a game that captures the fun and action found within the Marvel Universe in tabletop form, you can't go wrong with Fantasy Flight's Marvel Champions. The game features several heroes in the core set and addictive card-based deckbuilding gameplay, and while it's pretty easy to pick up on your first try, it offers more depth the more you get to know the system and as you add expansions and other heroes to the mix. There are already several expansions and hero packs you can add to the experience, so replayability is high, and the art is straight from the comics, so Marvel fans are truly going to love it.

Marvel Champions retails for $71.40 and you can order it here or at your local game store.

You can find the official description below.

"Marvel Champions: The card game is a cooperative living card game that invites you to embody the world's most iconic superheroes; with the contents of this basic box, up to four players can combine your efforts to thwart the evil plans of three different villains. Use your extraordinary powers to fight the forces of evil and live the experience of the marvel universe like never before. In addition, as a living card game, new characters, challenges and adventures will be published regularly that will test your heroes wood.item is a Spanish Version"

DC Multiverse Green Lantern vs Dawnbreaker Pack

The DC Multiverse line continues to bring us famous clashes, and one of the newest examples of this is going to certainly make Green Lantern fans happy. The Green Lantern vs Dawnbreaker Multipack brings Hal Jordan to the line and features his Dark Multiverse counterpart Dawnbreaker, and each figure features slick constructs and an interlocking base that will bring some ringslingers to your display.

The Green Lantern and Dawnbreaker two-pack retails for $39.99 and can be ordered here or at your local comic store.

You can find the official description below.

"Green Lantern: Hal Jordan's life was changed twice by crashing aircraft. The first time was when he witnessed the death of his father, pilot Martin Jordan. The second was when, as an adult and trained pilot himself, he was summoned to the crashed wreckage of a spaceship belonging to Abin Sur. Abin explained that he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of beings from across the cosmos, armed with power rings fueled by the green energy of all the willpower in the universe. Upon his death, Abin entrusted his ring and duties as the Green Lantern of Earth's space sector to Hal Jordan. DAWNBREAKER: In DC's Dark Multiverse, on Earth -32, the green light of will has twisted an angry Bruce Wayne™ into something very dark and sinister. After the murder of his parents in Crime Alley, young Bruce is gifted with a Green Lantern™ ring, which allows him to fly and to generate deadly hard-light energy constructs. With no Alfred Pennyworth™ to guide him, he soon swallows his fear and pain and lets the void that remains corrupt him and the ring, unleashing a wave of darkness across his world, and now ours, as The Dawnbreaker."

Excellence Vol. 1

Anyone who has heard me talk comics for more than 2 minutes knows how I love Excellence by Brandon Thomas and Khary Randolph, and now you can grab the first six issues in one place. The series is based around a secret society that seems to control all magic, but when Spencer Dales moves up the ranks in his famous father's footsteps, he discovers there is far more to this world behind the utopian facade, and what follows is one of the most compelling stories I've ever read. Get it. Like...now, seriously.

Excellence Vol. 1 retails for $15.49 and can be ordered here or at your local comic store.

You can find the official description below.

"Spencer Dales was born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of black magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others-of higher potential-but never themselves.

Now it's time for Spencer to follow in his father's footsteps, but all he sees is a broken system in need of someone with the wand and the will to change it. But in this fight for a better future...who will stand beside him?

KHARY RANDOLPH and BRANDON THOMAS ignite a generational war in this action-fantasy series, made entirely by creators of color, and committed to one truth above all others-Excellence is Real.

Collects EXCELLENCE #1-6."

Spider-Man Captain Universe Pop

You knew Funko was going to be on the list, and if you're a Spider-Man fan why not a little cosmic power to your collection with the Entertainment Earth exclusive Spider-Man Captain Universe Pop! Spidey is wielding some cosmic powers with orange blast effects around his hands and yellow effects surrounding those, and you can see the Spidey suit underneath the Captain Universe suit, which features the star-filled mask from the comics.

The Pop retails for $13.99, and you can order it right here.

You can find the official description below.

"Captain Universe first appeared in Marvel's Micronauts #8, but the "guardian and protector of Eternity" has merged with various hosts over the years. Here we find it in its Spider-Man persona, all decked out as an amazing Spider-Man Captain Universe Funko Pop!. This limited edition SpiderMan Captain Universe Pop! Vinyl Figure - Entertainment Earth Exclusive measures about 3 3/4-inches tall and features a bobbling head! This Captain Universe Spider-Man comes packaged in a window display box, ready for play or display.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Eternity is the leader of a group of cosmic entities known as the Cosmic Powers of the Marvel Universe. He's appeared in various comic books from Marvel Comics since 1965."

Batman Imaginext BatBot

Once you think comics it isn't too long before you think of Batman, and if you've got children, the Imaginext DC Super Friends Bat-Tech Batbot is going to make for an incredible present. To be honest though, once you see it and everything it can do, you might want to keep it for yourself too.

The Batbot includes a slick design that houses a small figure as well as lights and sounds and an additional mode (flight mode) that then shoots projectiles, plus even more features. It retails for $75.99, and you can order it here.

Here's the official description:

"Young crime fighters can create their own epic Batman adventures with the Imaginext DC Super Friends Bat-Tech Batbot playset from Fisher-Price. With the turn of a Power Pad, the large robot transforms into flight mode with awesome lights, sounds and Batman character phrases. Then kids can push the Batbot along to "soar" to the rescue! This action-Packed, 2-in-1 playset features a light-up control panel, multiple projectile launchers, and a jail cell to lock up the Super-Villains of Gotham City."

Captain Marvel Vol. 5

There are several great stories in the newest run of Captain Marvel, but if you have to check out one, it's an easy choice. Captain Marvel Vol 5 features The New World story arc, which builds off Captain Marvel: The End and explores an alternate world where many of the heroes are the children of famous heroes like Luke Cage, War Machine, Thor, Spider-Woman, and more. This world is so cool it would be worth exploring in its own series, but until then you can get up to speed and check out an amazing adventure here.

The book retails for $12.91 and you can order it here or at your local comic store.

You can find the official description below:

"It's a brave new world - but once again New York has found itself under attack. Only this time, Captain Marvel isn't here to save the day! Stolen away to a far future, Carol Danvers must come to grips with a threat unlike any she's known. Featuring brand-new villains and heroes, a cast both familiar and strange, and the big action you've come to expect from the architects of the hit "Last Avenger," Kelly Thompson and Lee Garbett unleash their biggest Captain Marvel story yet!

COLLECTING: Captain Marvel (2019) 22-26"

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity

The Joker and Harley Quinn are two of DC's most popular characters, so it can be difficult to find new spins on them. Joker/Harley Criminal Sanity by Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Jason Badower, and Mike Mayhew is one such story and carves its own space, casting Harley in the detective role and exploring the association of insanity with Batman's nemesis. It's fascinating to see not only the switch up but also how these two people interact coming from such different places and the series is definitely worth a recommendation.

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity retails for $31.49 and can be ordered here or at your local comic shop.

You can find the official description below.

"Murder is his art. Catching killers is hers.

In Gotham City, heinous acts of violence are a daily occurrence. Harley Quinn, forensic psychiatrist and profiler, consults with the GCPD on their worst cases. But she is fixated on an unsolved murder that haunts her-the night she discovered her roommate's body marked with the signature of a notorious serial killer known as The Joker.

Five years later, the case remains unsolved, and a new series of horrific killings has begun. As the murders escalate and the meticulously constructed crime scenes become more elaborate, Harley's obsession with finding the depraved psychopath responsible leads her down a dangerous path. When the past and the present finally collide, Harley has to decide how far she is willing to go-and how many lines she is willing to cross-to solve these cases once and for all.

Written by #1 New York Times and international bestselling author Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures, Unbreakable, The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos) and drawn by Mico Suayan (Bloodshot Reborn), Jason Badower (Wonder Woman '77), and Mike Mayhew (The Star Wars), Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity introduces readers to a Joker and Harley Quinn unlike any they've seen before, utilizing forensic psychiatry, behavior analysis (profiling), and psychological profiles to create a true-to-life take on these iconic characters that is more terrifying than any psychotic fantasy. This volume collects issues #1-8, as well as Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity-Secret Files."