It’s an incredibly heavy week at the comic shop for me, with a truly unusual number of trades and graphic novels coming home. So, let’s get straight into a rather dense edition of The Pull, as I highlight my buys, recommendations, and curiosities from the week of comics, led by a big event and a personal graphic novel.

Comic of the Week: Avengers: Armageddon #3

It feels good to enjoy Marvel again, especially a big event, and that’s what Avengers: Armageddon is. It involves a lot of characters, a global scale, an evolving conflict, and one big, beefy newcomer that looms over all of it, and Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, and Frank Alpizar are delivering. Well, delivering for the most part, as the latter two are out for this issue with Ario Anindito stepping in on art (which drives me straight up insane, but I do not blame Diaz and Alpizar). Pair that with this cover from Dike Ruan and Moreno DiNisio — which combines questions of “Why is Wolverine so beat up?” and “Wait, why is he saying Avengers Assemble?!” — and I am all the way in on Armageddon this week, despite the fill-in artist being necessary. Let’s keep on keepin’ on, Team Armageddon!

Trade/Graphic Novel of the Week: Outline HC

This is yet another “I just have a feeling about it” pick, but ever since it was announced, I’ve been onboard with Michèle Fischels’ Outline. That cover just speaks to me, and it feels like the type of book that might have earned a Xeric Grant 20+ years ago (and I mean that as a compliment), but instead it’s found a home at Oni Press. It’s a personal story about a trio of high school seniors who are about to graduate, and in the process of figuring out what’s next, they begin to pull away from each other in the present, leading to tension, drama, insight into humanity, and perhaps some level of coming of age. I think. I haven’t read it, but that’s the vibe I get, and it’s a vibe I quite like! I’m here for it!