As I write this, we don’t yet fully know what’s going to happen with new comic book releases during the coronavirus crisis. Diamond Distributors will not be distributing physical comics to stores anymore, and I believe both Marvel and DC have announced they will not be releasing their normal print comics digitally, though at least DC will continue to release their regular digital-first comics. Other studies, like BOOM! and IDW, have halted all production.

I’ll never forget you, Melody Guthrie

So if the comic book industry grinds to a halt and we don’t get any new comics for the foreseeable future, I thought now would be a good time to sit back and take stock of which comics I’m really enjoying right now, which comics are my favorite, and which I am really going to miss going forward. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my weekly review column if we don’t get any new comics. At least we’re all in this together.

Join me after the jump for the six ongoing comics I will really miss if the virus kills the comic book industry. And feel free to share your own favorites in the comments!

Honorable Mention: Atomic Robo vol. 9: The Knights of the Golden Circle

This is just a little glimpse into my personal life. I am a huge fan of the Atomic Robo comic series by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, from Red 5 Comics. And over the past year or so, I’ve been buying up the various tpbs to collect the whole ongoing series. And the only one I don’t have at the moment is the ninth volume, The Knights of the Golden Circle. I have read up through volume 8, and I own volumes 10, 11 and 12 ready and raring to go…but I can’t read them until I have volume 9! The problem is that volume 9 is pretty expensive on Amazon. It’s about $50 for a used copy, and that’s just not an amount I’m comfortable paying for a regular-sized tpb. But I was willing to spend a portion of my 2020 tax refund to pay that amount…until this virus shut down all non-essential Amazon purchases and shipments! So I was this close to completing my Atomic Robo tpb collection and this virus had to go and muck up even ordering comic tpbs online! And yeah, I could just read that volume for free on their website (I think), but it won’t be the same.

6. X-Men

We’re several months deep into Dawn of X at this time, and I think my favorite X-book is the flagship X-Men title by Jonathan Hickman. I’ve given up on most of the comics; they just weren’t my cup of tea. And on some level, I don’t think Dawn of X, as a whole, is living up to the immense status quo changes I was expecting coming out of House of X/Power of X. But Hickman’s X-Men has been really strong, and it usually does play around with some of those wilder and crazier ideas. My favorite issue in all of Dawn of X so far was the introduction of the Crucible. That issue blew me away with excitement. So if we’re losing all of Dawn of X, the one series I’m going to miss most is X-Men.

5. Doctor Doom

This series came as a fun surprise. I got big into Doctor Doom during Brian Michael Bendis’ Infamous Iron Man series, which saw a grounded take on a rehabilitated Victor Von Doom. It was fun, but didn’t go nearly as far as I would have liked in the short time it had. Now, writer Christopher Cantwell is telling another story about a grounded Doctor Doom, but one where he’s as blustery and as powerful as ever. But Cantwell has introduced a lot of neat concepts that has put Doom on the back foot, like international politics and a time-wandering Kang the Conqueror. It’s a fun little series about Doctor Doom forging ahead against seemingly insurmountable odds, and I’m very much enjoying it!

4. Ant-Man

What a shame about Zeb Wells’ delightful new Ant-Man comic! It’s only a 5-issue mini-series, and yet only three issues are going to get to us? Way to cut off the fun at the knees! Perhaps we’ll get the last two issues digitally and life will be good. This has been a nifty little comic, with Wells delivering some really great character work with everyone’s favorite sad sack superhero. I had high hopes for this series, and they have all been met, so it will be a shame if Wells and his team don’t get to finish this one anytime soon.

3. Far Sector

I am very much enjoying the current Green Lantern output from DC these days. The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison is a really cool, deep dive into Morrison’s craziest space ideas, using Hal Jordan as a torchbearer. But more than that, I’m going to miss N.K. Jemisin’s Far Sector, which tells the story of rookie GL Sojourner Mullein and her murder investigation on a strange and mysterious planet. We’ll always know that Hal Jordan is getting up to some kind of trouble, but Jo Mullein is in her infancy as a comic book character, and Jemisin clearly has a well-planned opening story. It will be a shame to see this series shut down before it has a chance to come to a solid ending.

2. Runaways

Rainbow Rowell’s Runaways revival has been mired in a rather slow-moving story for several months, but it is no less a phenomenal comic that has maintained consistent quality for years now. It doesn’t bother anybody. It sticks to its own little story. And it is every bit as charming as wonderful as the Runaways have ever been. Rowell has a great handle on all of the characters, giving each one their own stories, subplots and growth, and she’s coming up with a lot of fun, grounded adventures for the team as they struggle to live their lives after several years adrift in the rest of the Marvel Universe. I’m very disappointed that we won’t get to see the mutant Molly deal with the invitation to move to Krakoa that was coming up in a future issue.

1. Power Rangers

I will very much miss both Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Go Go Power Rangers, both written and guided by Ryan Parrott and both gearing up for a grand finale of the current Necessary Evil storyline. Both Power Rangers comes have been amazing since their inception, and Parrott has only improved things since he took over completely. Both comics have become so good that my reviews have devolved into redundant praise, because the writing is so good, the art is so good and the story is so good that it’s just the most consistently amazing comic on the stands! And the current storyline is so close to its conclusion! But we may have to wait a long time to see where all of this was going…

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