By now, we hope, you’ve recovered from the barbecue, freedom, and beer-induced haze of Memorial Day weekend and are more than halfway into your four day work week. Let’s face it – sometimes the shorter work weeks are even more difficult, because you have to learn how to do your job all over again after wiping all work-related data from the flash drive of your mind. Routine helps, which is why it’s a real godsend that today is Comic Book Day and the pull list is jam-packed with beings of unparalleled destruction, senseless acts of violence, and the return of the best mohawk in the game. While you’re at it, take a peek at our exclusive preview pages of DC’s Earth 2 Annual #1, then head on down to your local comic book shop and get over Hump Day in style.

Top Picks

X-Men #1 | Brian Wood and Oliver Coipel

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – especially if that woman is an omega-level being that’s billions of years old and has revenge hardcoded into her DNA. The simply-titled X-Men #1 hits the ground running, keeping the action moving while reintroducing us to the core characters as well as dapper ne’er-do-well John Sublime. And his sister. You knew he had a sister, right? Well, he does and she’s apparently big trouble for Sublime and the X-Men. Playing out like the mutant version of Baby’s Day Out, X-Men #1 is a largely enjoyable opening for the new series, setting an action-packed, lighthearted tone that works well in Wood’s capable hands and Oliver Coipel’s kinetic artwork. For all the bluster about having an all-female X-Men team, it doesn’t feel like anything particularly revolutionary. That is not a slight against the book; rather, it just feels like a natural iteration of the X-Men and the fact that they happen to have the X-Gene and two X chromosomes is mere coincidence. Although much of what happens in this first issue is table-setting and the idea of Jubilee as a mom is quite worrisome, this is a solid opening salvo for what looks like one of Marvel’s hottest new books.

Thief of Thieves #14 | Andy Diggle and Shawn Martinbrough

Picture an industrial-sized fan. Now picture it whirring at 7000 RPMs or whatever the industry standard is. Now picture a tractor trailer truck full of shit hitting it. This is exactly the situation in which Conrad and Augustus, the master thief and his prodigal son, find themselves in at the outset of Thief of Thieves #14. With Augustus being held hostage by a drug dealer he ripped off, it’s up to Conrad to assemble his old crew and pull off a heist in Venice that he’s been planning for years and years now. It’s all or nothing, as failure will result in a special delivery in the form of his son’s decapitated head. Diggle does a great job of stepping up to the plate, assuming writing duties from James Asmus, and manages to leave me satisfied and hungry for more at the end of 22 pages. Shawn Martinbrough’s visceral artwork has been outstanding through the entire series and the image of two suit-clad, Mexican sugar skull mask-wearing goons savagely beating Augustus is one that won’t soon leave my brain. And for more info on what’s coming down the pipeline in Thief of Thieves, read our interview with Andy Diggle!

Next Testament #1 | Clive Barker, Mark Miller and Haemi Jang

Setting their sights on religion and faith, Clive Barker and Mark Miller are here with the start of a twelve-issue mini-series that is sure to leave a bloody trail in its wake. Tinged with horror, Next Testament‘s first issue revolves around a rich eccentric who, after having a dream, journeys to the desert and unleashes a being of unfathomable power, a rainbow-colored entity claiming to be God. Rather quickly, it becomes apparent that he’s a vengeful god indeed, using his influence and power to wreak havoc among mankind. While it would have been rad to see Clive Barker illustrate or paint the book, Haemi Jang’s interiors are nothing short of stunning, especially when the prismatic god-like entity is making it literally rain men (hallelujah). Barker and Miller have crafted a real mindfuck of a story in Next Testament and ended on a particularly gruesome cliffhanger, so I’m eager to see where this grisly mystery goes next.

Pull List