The Weekly Pull: Venom, Robin and Batman, What's the Furthest Place From Here?, and More

By Jamie Lovett

It's almost another new comic book day, which means new releases hitting stores and digital platforms. Each week in The Weekly Pull, the ComicBook.com team highlights the new releases that have us the most excited about another week of comics. Whether those releases are from the most prominent publisher or a small press, brand new issues of ongoing series, original graphic novels, or collected editions of older material, whether it involves capes and cowls or comes from any other genre, if it has us excited about comic books this week, then we're going to tell you about it in The Weekly Pull.

This week, a new Venom series begins, the Dynamic Duo get a new origin story in Robin & Batman, and The Thing gets the solo series spotlight. Plus, there's a new Justice League Dark omnibus, Silk collection, and plenty more good stuff.

What comics are you most excited about this week? Let us know which new releases you're looking forward to reading in the comments, and feel free to leave some of your suggestions as well. Check back tomorrow for our weekly reviews and again next week for a new installment of The Weekly Pull.

Justice League Dark: The New 52 Omnibus

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(Photo: Ryan Sook, DC Comics)
  • Written by Various
  • Art by Various
  • Published by DC Comics

After years of waiting, it looks like the Justice League Dark are finally headed into live-action, with a Zatanna film and series for John Constantine and Madame Xanadu officially in the works. If you want to get familiar with the group before Justice League Dark actually arrives, this new omnibus is one of the easiest ways of doing so. Join Zatanna, Constantine, Deadman, Shade, and more in a wide array of spooky adventures, which span the New 52 and its supernatural characters with awesome ease. — Jenna Anderson

Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body #1

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(Photo: Luca Casalanguida, Boom Studios)
  • Written by Christopher Cantwell
  • Art by Luca Casalanguida
  • Colors by Giada Marchisio
  • Letters by AndWorld Design
  • Published by Boom Studios

Writer Christopher Cantwell has quickly developed an idiosyncratic comics bibliography - one that suggests Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body, a terse thriller exploring the conspiracy behind JFK's assassination, is a story he's been preparing to tell for some time. It reckons with the character of the United States, considers the terrifying systems of power which loom over individual lives, and questions how individuals shape history. These are ideas that range across his work from Doctor Doom through The Blue Flame and back to She Could Fly. Even as someone who has highlighted Cantwell's misses, this story screams to be read considering the highs of those other series mentioned. Combine this promise with the killer characterizations and excellent settings delivered by artist Luca Casalanguida, and it seems this new series from Boom Studios is bound to thrill fans of historical dramas with a bit of violence and any comics readers who have flocked to Cantwell's work thus far. -- Chase Magnett

Robin & Batman

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    (Photo: Dustin Nguyen, DC Comics)
  • Written by Jeff Lemire
  • Art by Dustin Nguyen
  • Letters by Steve Wands
  • Published by DC Comics

The creative team of Eisner-winners Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen has emerged as one of the most fruitful partnerships in western comics through the creator-owned series Descender and Ascender. Now they're going to spend three issues offering a new take on Robin's origin story. Robin & Batman sees Lemire and Nguyen examining the dynamic duo's relationship, focusing on the Boy Wonder's evolution as the Dark Knight's sidekick. Fans may remember seeing Nguyen's soft, fluid, water-color style artwork on the chibi-style Lil Gotham series. We're expecting something more tender and heartstring-pulling from Robin & Batman, especially with Lemire providing the scripts. -- Jamie Lovett

The Thing #1

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(Photo: Tom Reilly, Marvel Comics)
  • Written by Walter Mosley
  • Art by Tom Reilly
  • Colors by Jordie Bellaire
  • Letters by Joe Sabino
  • Published by Marvel Comics

The Thing has been regularly tied up in events and other cosmic shenanigans since he returned to Marvel Comics in the pages of Fantastic Four, so the announcement that he will be given space to himself on Yancy Street was sufficient to thrill me as a longtime fan of this blue-collar bruiser. Combine that promise with a creative dream team for the character and it seems The Thing #1 is a surefire hit. The series first story, "The Next Big Thing," introduces crime novelist Walter Mosley to comics - a character unto himself capable of writing top-notch dialogue and summoning surreal situations that could only occur in a place like New York City. While Mosley is new to comics, his artistic collaborator Tom Reilly is an expert. Reilly's deft lines distill superheroes into their essential selves and allow both humor and action alike to land perfectly on the page. Whatever Mosley and Reilly have in store for Ben Grimm, it's bound to bring out the best in Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew. -- Chase Magnett

Venom #1

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    (Photo: Bryan Hitch, Alex Sinclair, Marvel Comics)
  • Written by Al Ewing, Ram V
  • Art by Bryan Hitch
  • Inks by Andrew Currie
  • Colors by Alex Sinclair
  • Letters by Clayton Cowles

How do you follow up a successful, redefining run from one of the hottest up-and-coming writers and one of the most prominent artists in the comics industry and on a character who has been a perennial fan-favorite for years? You get two of the hottest writers in the industry and one of the most seminal comics artists of the 21st century to jump aboard for the follow-up. After Immortal Hulk, Al Ewing is hardly an "up-and-comer" anymore, but he is one of the most talented writers working in superhero comics right now. Ram V, meanwhile, burst onto the scene with the breakout hit These Savage Shores and has since begun making a name for himself on more mainstream fare like Catwoman, Justice League Dark, and The Swamp Thing. They're teaming with Bryan Hitch, the artist of works like The Ultimates and The Authority, that set the tone for an entirely new generation of superhero comics. This incredibly creative team is charting the new course for this new era of Venom, turning "lethal protector" into a family business as Eddie Brock and his son, Dylan, work with the powerful symbiote. I don't know that anyone was expecting the 2020s to be the era of the Venom renaissance, but it's hard to see this new series launch as anything but essential reading. -- Jamie Lovett

What's the Furthest Place From Here? #1

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(Photo: Tyler Boss, Image Comics)
  • Written by Matthew Rosenberg
  • Art by Tyler Boss
  • Letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
  • Published by Image Comics

Honestly, any book that prioritizes "your survival, your loved ones, and your record collection" is one after my own heart. The first issue of What's the Furthest Place From Here?, from 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank's Tyler Boss and Matthew Rosenberg, depicts a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with gangs of children, whose efforts to bring one of their own back home takes everyone on a music-filled, ambitious journey. If this issue is any indication, What's the Furthest Place From Here? will be the latest creative, heartfelt comic about growing up — and the fact that the "deluxe edition" also includes a 7" record with original songs is icing on the cake. — Jenna Anderson

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