It’s not a giant week of releases, but it’s one filled with some great books. So, let’s highlight those as we look at my buys, recommendations, and curiosities from the week of comics, with that led by the continuing adventures in one of my favorite comics.

Comic of the Week: Kaya #28

With no clear headliner, the tie for my Comic of the Week goes to Wes Craig’s Kaya as per usual. That’s the case for several reasons. One is that Craig remains one of the best cartoonists around, with his art stunning on each and every issue. The other is that it always seems to be coming out, with the series rarely skipping a beat. It’s also a tremendous series, one that everyone should be reading. But maybe the biggest reason is the fact it’s up to 28 issues, something that is incredibly rare for any comic these days, let alone a creator-owned series that’s a one-man show outside of colors and letters. Kaya isn’t just a great comic, it’s a rarity, and those are well worth celebrating.

Trade/Graphic Novel of the Week: Criminal Vol. 8: My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies

It’s a light week for me and trades and/or graphic novels, but thankfully, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have been reprinting the entirety of their series Criminal over at Image in anticipation of the release of the Amazon Prime show adapting it, so we have another edition from them this week. And this is a good one to highlight anyways, as it underlines one of the secret values of these reprints. Criminal has been on a long journey, as it started at Icon — the old creator-owned imprint through Marvel — before moving to Image, and it has come in a lot of different forms and formats. More than that, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies has only previously appeared a a standalone graphic novella that did not have Criminal branding on it.

So, this book will be the first time Criminal completionists will be able to get an edition that comes with the series title on the book, I believe. And for the folks who prefer nice uniform design on their bookshelves, you are getting what you want with this reprint. These books are nice, with wonderful design and exceptional new covers by Sean Phillips. They’re perfect for newcomers and long-time fans alike.

“You’re coming with me”: The for sure buys and recommendations of the week

Absolute Martian Manhunter #5: This series is only getting increasingly more magnificent and odd and unique with the passage of each issue, and that’s from a starting point where Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou were giving us something unlike…well, everything else.

Absolute Wonder Woman #10: As you may know, this is my favorite Absolute series. And for good reason. It’s a great comic, and one of the finest on the stands right now.

Exquisite Corpses #3: Now that I have a good view of what the Corpse Crew of non-James Tynion IV/Michael Walsh creators are contributing to this series, I gotta say, I see the vision and I love it. This is a whole new way to make a comic and I quite enjoy it.

Runaways #2: The first issue of this was so fun, even relative to my expectations for a Rainbow Rowell-written Runaways series. I hope this leads to a new ongoing series, because I need it in my life.

Sleep #3: I love this series so much. Zander Cannon is doing something truly special here, something that threads the needle between horror and human drama in the best of ways. And this is the first issue I didn’t read in advance, so I am so ready for a new issue.

Void Rivals #21: I was curious as to what would happen when artist Lorenzo de Felici hopped off this book, but so far, it hasn’t missed a beat. In fact, Conor Hughes has been a revelation. I’ve been a huge fan of what he’s brought to this book, even if his stay is destined to be short-lived.