For the last couple years, I have not bought many monthly comics. Various factors (moving across the country, working on my own side projects, not wanting to buy physical books but not having a good device to read digital comics on) combined to pull me away from maintaining a monthly pull list.

But now, I have a larger screen on which to read digital comics, a heck of a lot of new and continuing titles that I want to read, and a little bit of cash to burn. So we’re back, baby – 2020 is the year I return to purchasing monthly comics! And these are the seven titles I’ll be buying as the new year begins.

Lazarus: Risen

Lazarus continues to be my absolute favorite comic going, and its recent switch to oversized, quarterly releases hasn’t changed my opinion. There’s so much to chew on in each new issue of Lazarus: Risen, that I tend to set a half-hour to an hour aside to sit with the book – which I think says a lot about the worldbuilding, storytelling, and backmatter that Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, and their many collaborators pack into each issue.

There’s a lot waiting to get paid off within Lazarus: Risen, and 2020 will likely be a big year for the Family Carlyle (and one or two members in particular). I will continue to wait patiently for each quarterly release, and spend the intervening months re-reading old issues.

The Batman’s Grave

(9.20.20 Update: Just buy Batman instead of this. Batman is great right now. I forgot to update this post in June when I should have.)

While I’ve kept up with DC’s main Batman books via library rentals and other means, I’m in no hurry to add Batman proper to my monthly pull list. I’m a bit burnt out on the Bat lately, but a 12 issue, complete start-to-finish Batman story from one of my favorite writers is something I can’t resist.

So yes, I’m going to add The Batman’s Grave to my monthly pull list, and I’m likely going to love it. And who knows – maybe after The Batman’s Grave has run its course, I’ll be ready to add a different Bat-book to my list.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite the fact that Al Ewing is likely my favorite current Marvel writer, I’ve missed the boat on most of his most recent projects (most notably, The Immortal Hulk). However, I know for a fact that I love Ewing’s take on Rocket Raccoon, and Guardians of the Galaxy seems like it will let Ewing really play to his team- and cosmos-building strengths.

I’ve also dug artist Juann Cabal’s work on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and if his first Guardians cover is any indication, he’s ready to bring it on a book that is (somehow) likely to become one of Marvel’s best series of 2020.

Isola

Because the beautiful Isola now comes out bi-monthly, I sometimes forget that I’m buying it! But I always look forward to returning to the fantastic world that Brendan Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, and Msassyk are creating – though I find I have a better time reading Isola when I save up a couple or even a few issues for one solid read (or re-read). Otherwise, I forget the context of what’s come before for Rook and Queen Olwyn.

So while I highly recommend picking up Isola (and have written about how much I enjoy Kerschl and Msassyk’s art before), I’d likely recommend that anyone reading this start with Isola‘s trades, rather than single issues. I’m an OCD comics buyer who (mostly) refuses to switch from buying single issues to buying trades, or else I’d likely make the switch myself.

Gideon Falls

The final Image series I’ll be picking up each month in 2020 is Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart, and Steve Wands’s Gideon Falls. At the end of 2018, I wrote about how much I love the atmosphere, page turn reveals, and twisting mysteries that make Gideon Falls one of the best horror books on stands right now.

I’m happy to report that nothing has changed in 2019, as I still eagerly await each month’s new issue of Gideon Falls. We’ve learned a ton about what’s actually going on within Falls‘s “mythology” this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the series’s many disparate leads eventually join forces to battle the Black Barn in 2020.

Far Sector

Far Sector is a bit of an unknown quantity to me, as I’ve never read anything by author N.K. Jemisin before. However, most all of the Young Animal imprint books I’ve read have been choice, and Jamal Campbell is killing it on Far Sector‘s art (just look at these preview pages). I’m also a big fan of the “space cop” aspect of the Green Lantern franchise, and a new GL investigating a murder mystery in a city of 20 billion, populated by people who have been stripped of the ability to feel emotion, seems right up my alley.

In short, Far Sector seems set to be a beautiful police procedural mixed with high-concept, sci-fi goodness, and so I am here for it (and likely will be throughout 2020). I also love that (like The Batman’s Grave), this book is set to run 12 issues and then stop – telling a complete story by year’s end.

Marauders

I’ll be honest – if I’d finished writing this blog post on-time, Marauders would not be on my 2020 pull list. But during the week I typed this up, Marauders released its first issue, and it was excellent.

By positioning Kitty Pryde as Pirate Captain Kate Pryde, making me chuckle at both Iceman and Pyro, and establishing several enticing mysteries, Gerry Dugan, Matteo Lolli and co. drew me into an X-Men side series, and left me needing to know how Kate (my favorite X-Man, outside of Cyclops) will manage to outwit whatever treachery Emma Frost is up to by series’ end. (The showdown is coming, y’all. We all know it.)

So that’s it; that’s my 2020 pull list. The new year is set to be (another) great one for new comics, and if I had infinite money, I’d add at least six or seven additional titles to this list. If there’s a monthly comic you’re looking forward to in 2020, be sure to rave about it in the comments below – I always end up picking stuff up in trades, too …