Comic book best picks of the week: 12/3/21

Another week, another round of comic books have released, one of which has been desperately anticipated for four years.

From the origin of the Amazons to crime on the streets of New York, this week’s best comic books highlighted how diverse the storytelling of the medium can be.

Best comic book releases this week:

Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #1

Art by Phil Jimenez, Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Colors by Hi-Fi, Arif Prianto, & Romulo Fajardo Jr.

This is it. This is the list. Nothing came even close to topping this book this week. Sorry, but there’s absolutely nothing close, so this will be short. Just go read this absolute masterpiece four years in the making. (My editor has now told me that, no, I can’t just end it here.)

But in all seriousness, this issue is an absolute masterpiece in mythological storytelling and is one of my favorite single issue comics of the year, along with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #4 and Reckless: Friend of the Devil. It is just that good and impossible to stop thinking about once you to take one small glance inside, even before you’ve read it. To be fully honest, I’m staring at the utterly gorgeous cover as I’m typing.

And really, while the writing is absolutely top-notch, phenomenal writing, the art is what makes this book the masterpiece that it is. Phil Jimenez already has had one of the better runs in the history of Wonder Woman, but his art, while great, then mostly felt like it was copying George Perez. His art here though? God-tier and there’s nothing else like it. The care that was taken on each pencil line oozes off of the page and seeps into your soul as you read. Every design of each god and Amazon is phenomenal and it feels mythological in every possible way. This is the artwork that every comic book artist will be striving to achieve moving forward, and none will probably never ever achieve it.

The Human Target #2

Written by Tom King, Art & Colors by Greg Smallwood

Okay, okay, Wonder Woman Historia wasn’t the only phenomenal book to come out this week. The Human Target was pretty amazing too, basically for all of the same reasons that Historia was great, just done in a drastically different way. This is very much a noir, detective thriller in the best way possible, but this issue trades the shadows and alleys for sunny beaches and it just works so well. It’s also probably the most sexually charged comic that doesn’t feature a sex scene ever, and it’s honestly just one of the things that makes this issue so enticing to read.

What this issue probably does best though is how it brings Ice into the story. It provides all the necessary info for her character for those who never read anything with her or just weren’t interested in the character (like me), but goes above and beyond. In just two pages, I went from not caring about her to utterly falling in love. How King and Smallwood managed to do this? No idea, but they did it and it makes the twist at the end of the issue, as well as Christopher Chance’s inner monologue, all the better.

Daredevil #36

Written by Chip Zdarsky, Art by Manuel Garcia, Colors by Marcio Menyz

Well, this is the final issue of Daredevil for the time being, although not really because Devil’s Reign starts soon and that’s basically just a continuation of this series, but for now, this is the end of the official Daredevil series. And, just like basically the entire series before it, this issue is great. The characterizations of everyone are great, the philosophizing is great, and the pacing is great.

What this issue does really well though is acting as both a series finale and a prequel to the aforementioned Devil’s Reign. That’s a balance that is incredibly hard to pull-off and this issue does so very, very well. If this was truly the end of Chip Zdarsky’s run with Matt Murdock and Elektra, yes, this issue would very much be anti-climactic, but it’s not, so it very much feels like the calm before the storm, which is what makes the issue so good.

Have you been reading any good comic book stories lately? Tell us your best comic book picks below!