There is a veritable flood of new comics every week: new issues, variant covers, new #1s, and fresh-faced miniseries. Fewer – but still bountiful – are the dozens of bookshelf editions landing in your local comic shops (and attainable by your local indie bookshops, as well!). From fresh original graphic novels, long-awaited archive editions, and collections of recent comics for all you trade-waiters, there are plenty of trade paperbacks and hardcovers to fill your shelves.
After reviewing hundreds of these sorts of books for AIPT over the years, I’ve come to appreciate what makes a collection truly special. Here at Tradewatch, I pick five books releasing in the coming week that seem the most exciting to me. Here are my picks for the week of January 21st, 2026!
I Am Their Silence
Dark Horse Comics, HC – $24.99 (Buy Now)
Eva is a brilliant Psychiatrist, but this is no simple story of a clever shrink helping a patient dissect their problems. No, this story is about Eva in the throes of a bipolar episode, navigating her own spiraling mental health as she is pulled down a scandalous rabbit hole when one of her first patients and only friends has invited her to the reading of her grandmother’s living will.
One of the best surprises of 2022 was the American localization of Spanish cartoonist Jordi Lafebre’s incredible Always Never, which was a gorgeously drafted and heart-rending love story told in reverse. It broke my heart in all the right ways, made me feel incredibly human and alive, and quickly became my favorite release of that year. It feels like a comic that belongs in some sort of comic book Criterion Collection. As soon as I saw this cover — and the name up top — I knew I’d be preordering it, sight unseen. I didn’t even read the blurb until putting this column together, that’s how on board I am.
The Invisibles Compendium
DC Comics, TPB – $59.99 (Buy Now)
Follow the adventures of the Invisibles, a secret organization out to battle against physical and psychic oppression brought upon humanity by the interdimensional alien gods of the Archons of Outer Church! Your life is about to change forever.
The Invisibles is a book that gets recommended to you by fringe lunatics and art kids — the sort of comics fan you really want to listen to if you want to discover true gems. One of Grant Morrison’s passion projects, Invisibles relates a sort of high concept illuminati story (from my limited understanding). Like many of the books that end up in this column, it represents an easy in to an impossibly long TBR list: if you’ve been putting off diving into this modern classic because it’s been hard to justify tracking down overpriced, secondary market trade paperbacks, now’s your chance to make the plunge.
Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma
DC Comics, TPB – $17.99 (Buy Now)
Mitch Shelley has led thousands of lives—and with each death and unexpected resurrection comes a new superpower. But now Mitch revives with a new purpose…saving the universe! Follow Resurrection Man through time as he fights a monster of his own creation: a sadistic World War II internment-camp commander who has inherited a twisted version of Mitch’s own powers.
I had never read any Resurrection Man, despite plenty of recommendations that I do so. When I read the first couple issues of Ram V, Anand RK, and Mike Spicer’s newest examination of the character, I was so enamored and curious that I went back and read the first ten issues of Abbnet, Lanning, and Guice’s original 1997 run. Not every book can drive you to those lengths of exploration, but Quantum Karma certainly did.
The Pass
Fantagraphics, HC – $24.99 (Buy Now)
In The Pass, NYT-reviewed British comic artist Katriona Chapman brings to life the fast-paced, high-pressure atmosphere of restaurant life, with a lived-in cast of characters including chef Claudia, her best friend and sous chef Lisa, and barman Ben. Chapman delves into themes of identity, the pains of expectation and success, and the allure of running from the life you’ve built.
An indelibly illustrated graphic novel about restaurants might be just the soothing balm for those of us who still get stress dreams about Saturday rushes slaving over the flat top or running plates to entitled customers. The Pass doesn’t seem to deal too much with the crushing weight of frantic dinner services, but it’s always interesting to see the industry explored with heart and understanding.
X-Men Epic Collection: Bishop’s Crossing
Marvel Comics, TPB – $54.99 (Buy Now)
The reunited X-Men have expanded into two squads — and while the blue team take on Omega Red and learn secrets of Wolverine’s past, the gold team broker peace with the Hellfire Club! But when advanced Sentinels crash the party, one X-Man may not survive! Then, guns blazing, the man called Bishop arrives from the future pursuing hundreds of escaped convicts through time — and finds himself stranded in the present!
The early 1990s X-Men books were filled with bold new creations and fan-favorite art, but these stories sometimes feel hyperactively aimless. With the loss of the franchise’s primary creative rudder, Chris Claremont, a sudden influx of young, new creators flooded in, all of them postively boiling over with good ideas (but few long-term plans). Reading these stories is a little like experiencing a fireworks spectacular: it all looks incredibly good, but the stories blossom and end without a lot of narrative satisfaction. It’s a pivotal chapter in the evolution of the X-Men, a period of boundless invention just before the fallow times of the mid-90s.
You must be logged in to post a comment.