Summer may be winding down, but the comic book industry is only heating up in the month of August. Marvel alone has several major releases in the works, from the revamped X-Men line to the hotly anticipated The Immortal Hulk follow-up The Immortal Thor. And with BOOM! Studios kicking off a new Power Rangers event and Tom King exploring a new corner of the Batman franchise, there's no shortage of great material to read this month.
From The Immortal Thor to Star Wars: Dark Droids to The Penguin, here are the biggest comics to look out for in August 2023.
Fall of X
Creative Team: Various
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: Throughout August
Marvel's X-Men line capped off July with a real bang, as The Hellfire Gala 2023 basically acted as the X-Men equivalent of Game of Thrones' Red Wedding. That issue dramatically reshaped the mutant status quo in the Marvel Universe, making it so that mutants are once again a species on the run and facing possible extinction. With the pieces now arranged on the board, Marvel is kicking off a new storyline called Fall of X.
Fall of X impacts basically every ongoing X-Men book in one way or another, including the flagship X-Men series, Immortal X-Men and X-Men Red. However, it's also a chance for Marvel to launch a new wave of limited series that build on this new status quo. The biggest of these is definitely Gerry Duggan and Javier Garron's Uncanny Avengers, and we can also look forward to new solo comics for longtime X-Men like Jean Grey and Iceman. And let's not forget about Nightcrawler's surprising turn in The Uncanny Spider-Man.
Star Wars: Dark Droids
Creative Team: Charles Soule & Luke Ross
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: August 2
If there's been one takeaway from Marvel's Star Wars comics in recent years, it's that the period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi was a lot more eventful than we realized. Dark Droids is Marvel's latest crossover to take place during this pivotal period. It deals with the rise of a sentient A.I. called The Scourge, one whose hatred of flesh and blood lifeforms is so great it begins to infect the droids of the galaxy. This crossover will even answer one of the biggest questions of them all - is it possible for a droid to tap into the Force?
Like the previous War of the Bounty Hunters crossover, Dark Droids will unfold as a dedicated miniseries and several tie-in arcs in the pages of Marvel's ongoing Star Wars comics. There will also be a new tie-in miniseries called Dark Droids: D-Squad. If you've fallen off Marvel's Star Wars line of late, this might be the ideal place to jump back in.
The Penguin
Creative Team: Tom King & Roberto de la Torre
Publisher: DC
Release Date: August 22
With HBO Max greenlighting a Penguin series starring Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot, it's should come as no surprise that DC Comics is giving this iconic Batman villain the solo spotlight. That said, don't expect The Penguin to follow the example of the TV series and revisit Cobblepot's rise to power in the Gotham City underworld. Instead, this series builds on recent developments in the comics, as an aged Penguin attempts to retire and finds himself instead recruited by the US intelligence community.
The creative team is easily the biggest selling point with this new series. The Penguin is the latest DC project from writer Tom King, whose Batman run easily ranks among the best of the modern era. King has found a perfect partner in artist Roberto de la Torre's whose moody art seems a perfect fit for this unlikely combination of crime and espionage in the DCU.
The Immortal Thor
Creative Team: Al Ewing & Martin Coccolo
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: August 23
Speaking of definitive modern runs, it's hard to find a better Hulk series than Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk. Over the course of some 50 issues, that series dramatically reinvented Bruce Banner and his alter ego, resulting in what is probably the best interpreation of Hulk since the days of Peter David. How could we not be excited about the prospect of Ewing trying again?
The Immortal Thor is basically Ewing and artist Martin Coccolo's spiritual sequel to Immortal Hulk. Once again, the goal is to push the character far outside of his comfort zone and expand on Thor's mythology in a fundamental way.
“Putting [Immortal] on a book I’m writing is a promise to the reader, and to myself,” Ewing told Polygon. “I was the one who pitched the title — not editorial, not anyone else — and it was basically a self-challenge. Can I do a book like that again? Can I do my end of it better this time? I have to try, because the alternative is just lie down and let the grass grow where I fell."
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Days
Creative Team: Melissa Flores & Simona Di Gianfelice
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: August 23
The X-Men aren't the only ones who are suddenly dealing with a much more difficult status quo in August. No sooner has BOOM! Studios reunited the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers family than they're ripping them apart again in the ominously titled "Darkest Hour" crossover, which kicks off in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111. This new storyline from writer Melissa Flores and artist Simona Di Gianfelice explores what happens when Mistress Vile achieves total victory and leaves the Rangers scattered and reeling. We're defintiely getting flashbacks to 2018's dramatic Shattered Grid crossover, and we're looking forward to a wild ride over the next 12 months.
Other Books to Watch
The Adventures of Superboy: Jon Kent #6
This sisue caps off Jon Kent's current solo series, and writer Tom Taylor's work on the character as a whole, as Jon has one final confrontation with the Superman of the Injustice universe. It's unclear what exactly the future holds for Superman's son, but this issue does provide some clues as to what's next. (August 1)
Death of the Venomverse #1
Marvel has crowned Summer 2023 as the "Summer of Symbiotes," and Death of the Venomverse is the main course in this Venom-ized feast. Carnage is more powerful than ever, and his goal is nothing less than to kill all Venoms in the Marvel multiverse. (August 2)
The Sacrificers #1
Any new series from writer Rick Remeender is worth keeping an eye on, especially one with a concept as good as this. The Sacrificers pairs Remender with Lucifer's Max Fiumara and explores a world where a group of powerful families maintain total world peace, at the steep cost of one child from every family. (August 2)
The Cull #1
This series is another promising debut from Image Comics, one that teams Ms. Marvel's Kelly Thompson with Captain America's Mattia de Iulis. The Cull is a horror series centered around a group of friends attempting to make a short film before parting ways. Unfortunately, one of them is hiding a terrible secret. (August 16)
Daredevil #14
August is sure to be a bittersweet month for Daredevil fans. Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto's Daredevil, consistently one of the best monthly comics on the stands, is coming to an end with issue #14. We have no doubt it'll be a fitting conclusion to a modern classic, but what state will Matt Murdock be in when the chips finally fall? (August 16)
Black Hammer: The End #1
Jeff Lemire's Black Hammer is easily one of the best superhero comics not published by Marvel or DC, and now it's back in its latest form. Black Hammer: The End builds on the cliffhanger from Black Hammer Reborn and is billed as the culmination of years of ongoing plot points in the various books. (August 30)
For more from the world of comics and pop culture, be sure to brush up on everything announced at San Diego Comic-Con.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
