By Zack Quaintance — This week’s top comics to buy for February 2, 2022, is an interesting one. On the list, we have two new #1s, one from Marvel Comics and the other from DC Comics. They both strike me as interesting in different ways, while sharing almost nothing in common with one another. If you read this column weekly, you know I love that sort of variety, and while it’s not uncommon, it’s rarely new #1s from the Big 2 dealing it out.

Anyway, the full list is below as always…enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for February 2, 2022

PICK OF THE WEEK
Monkey Prince #1
Writer: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: Bernard Chang
Colorist: Sebastian Chang
Letterer: Janice Chang
Publisher: DC Comics
Introducing the newest hero in the DCU, the great sage, equal to the heavens, better than his predecessor the legendary Monkey King, even better than the Justice League-and definitely the Teen Titans-(actually, all the heroes combined), everyone put your hands together for…the Monkey Prince! Marcus Sun moves around a lot because his adoptive parents are freelance henchpeople, so this month he finds himself as the new kid at Gotham City High School, where a mysterious man with pig features asks Marcus to walk through a water curtain to reveal himself as who Marcus really is…someone who has adventured through The Journey to the West, can transform into 72 different formations, can clone himself using his hairs, and is called…the Monkey Prince!
Why It’s Cool: Any comic that has Gene Luen Yang involved tends to be a must-read, but this one especially so, featuring as it does a character Yang created for the DC Festival of Heroes anthology last year. Yang’s interest in this character sort of traces back to his phenomenal all-time classic graphic novel, American Born Chinese. What results here is a DC comic that feels fresh and new…yet, of course, still has Batman in it.
Price: $3.99

Arkham City: The Order of the World #5
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Dani
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: DC Comics
Like layers of skin peeled back by madness, Dr. Joy finally comes face to face with the absurd, gaping maw of the one true order of the world. With only the fires of Azrael and Detective Stone’s hatred lighting the way, what chance do our poor Arkhamites have at survival as they descend into that which lies beneath all things? Join us for the penultimate chapter of Arkham City: The Order of the World and see the truth for yourself.
Why It’s Cool: This series is no stranger to our weekly list, because it has been excellent from its start, featuring a very different sort of take on Gotham City and the way that Batman-adjacent characters move through it. This issue is a great encapsulation of the book’s strengths: the stunning abstract character designs, the witty writing, and the tense overarching plot.
Price: $3.99

Newburn #3
Writer: Chip Zdarsky, with Nadia Shammas (back-up)
Artist: Jacob Phillips, with Ziyed Yusuf Ayoub (back-up)
Letterer: Frank Cvetkovic (back-up)
Publisher: Image Comics
There’s a serial killer targeting members of every crime family in the city. Can Newburn catch him before he finds himself in the killer’s crosshairs?
PLUS: Amir’s past is revealed in “BROOKLYN ZIRCONIA” from SHAMMAS and AYOUB!
Why It’s Cool: Through its third issue, Newburn continues to serve up a clever helping of noir, with an unlikely buddy-investigator relationship at its center, one that speaks to sort of an old guard giving way to the next generation dynamic. Not to tip any of the excellent surprises in this series (or even get close to doing that), but this is the most consequential issue of the book yet, and it’s great.
Price: $3.99

Sabretooth #1
Writer: Victor LaValle
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
DOWN IN A HOLE! Sabretooth went into the Pit, sentenced to an eternity of torment. Sure, that sounds like hell, but maybe that's where he feels most at home. What's he been doing down there? What secret deal has changed his fate forever? And what if he's not alone? Award-winning novelist Victor LaValle teams up with amazing artist Leonard Kirk to bring us the story of what lies beneath Krakoa.
Why It’s Cool: Victor LaValle is a fantastic prose writer who has done some great work in comics as well, most recently wrapping up the underrated series Eve with BOOM! Studios. This five-part Sabretooth miniseries addresses what has become of Victor Creed after the mutant was tossed into Krakoa’s pit by the Quiet Council in House of X #1. We have a full review coming bright and early Wednesday morning, but for now, I’ll just note that this comic is Very Good, exploring the nature of prison and its relationship to the societies that create it. A must-read.
Price: $4.99

The Thing #4
Writer: Walter Mosley
Artist: Tom Reilly
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
BEN GRIMM'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE MARVEL UNIVERSE UNDER THE GUIDING HAND OF WALTER MOSLEY CONTINUES! Guest-starring the Silver Surfer! The battle with the Champion of the Universe leads the Thing and his friends to the Blue Area of the Moon and the domicile of the Watcher - where strange things are transpiring and new enemies await! Can a regular guy from the Lower East Side make it in the far-flung cosmos?
Why It’s Cool: Put simply, this is one of my favorite superhero comics right now, and the entire series gets my hearty recommendation. It almost feels like all of the creators involved are working hard to prove that they personally are having the most fun, and the real winner is the reader of the comic (ie us, obviously).
Price: $3.99

Others Receiving Votes

Amazing Spider-Man #88
Batman #120
Buckhead #3
Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #2
Detective Comics #1051
Echolands #6
Fantastic Four Life Story #6
Goon #14
Human Remains #5
Nita Hawes Nightmare Blog #4
Nocterra #7
One-Star Squadron #3
Shang-Chi #8
Suicide Squad #12
X-Men: Legends #11

New #1s and One-Shots

Dark Red: Where Roads Lead #1 (One-Shot)
Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1 (One-Shot)
Geiger 80-Page Giant #1
Manor Black - Fire in Blood #1
New Masters #1
Official Image Timeline #1 (One-Shot)
Red Sonja Valentine’s Day Special #1 (One-Shot)
Rick and Morty Presents - Hericktics of Rick #1
Savage Spider-Man #1
Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #1
X-Cellent #1

Trade Collections and Graphic Novels of Note

All My Friends TP
Black Hammer - Visions, Vol. 2 HC
Black Hammer Reborn, Vol. 5 TP
Captain America: Truth TP
George Herriman Library Krazy & Ignatz 1922-1924 HC
Halcyon HC
Milestone Compendium 1 TP
Petrograd TP
Represent HC
Sandman Deluxe Edition Book 5 HC
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW Collection Vol. 1 TP
Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron Omnibus HC

See our past top comics to buy here, and check out our reviews archive here.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.