We're now in the final weeks of 2023, but the comic book industry is showing no signs of slowing down for the holidays. It's shaping up to be another great month for readers. DC's epic Beast World crossover gets much bigger, while Marvel offers a taste of what's to come in 2024 with a new Timeless one-shot and new series for both the Sentry and the Thunderbolts. And there's plenty to look forward to from other publishers, whether it's the debut of Skybound's first G.I. Joe series or new creator-owned projects from the likes of Tom King and Brian Michael Bendis.
Read on to see our picks for the biggest new comics of December, and be sure to let us know in the comments what you'll be reading this month.
Titans: Beast World
Creative Team: Various
Publisher: DC
Release Date: Various
DC kicked off the Beast World crossover in November, introducing a new status quo where our heroes respond to the threat of the Necrostar and Beast Boy accidentally transforms the world's heroes and villains into human/animal hybrids. It's a wacky premise, to be sure, but one that promises to leave the DCU in a very different place by the time the dust settles.
Readers can look forward to a lot of Beast World content throughout the month of December. That includes the next two chapters of the main series, as well as several Beast World Tour one-shots that explore how familair DC locales are dealing with this outbreak. Plus, ongoing titles like Titans, Action Comics and Nightwing will all be exploring the fallout of the main storyline. It's going to be an expensive month, but we certainly don't mind DC's brisk approach to its latest crossover.
Masterpiece #1
Creative Team: Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: December 13
There are few creative pairings in the industry more iconic than writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev. Together, the two revitalized Daredevil in the early '00s before going on to debut the creator-owned series Scarlet. It's been a few years since the two have worked together, but that finally changes this month with the release of Masterpiece.
Masterpiece focuses on Emma, a gifted inventor and webcomics artist who uses her work to put herself through private school. However, her world comes crashing down when Emma is kidnapped by billionaire Zero Preston. Emma discovers that her birth parents are elite thieves who just made Preston the victim of a daring, billion-dollar heist. Emma will have no choice but to repay that debt by assembling a team and carrying out a heist of her own against Preston's business rival.
Animal Pound #1
Creative Team: Tom King & Peter Gross
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: December 20
Writer Tom King is best known for his work on major DC titles like Batman, Wonder Woman and Mister Miracle, but King has slowly been branching out into creator-owned work in recent years. We're excited to see King make the jump to BOOM! Studios for a new collaboration with The Unwritten artist Peter Gross.
Billed as "an updated version of Animal Farm for the 21st Century," Animal Pound promises to be bother a gripping story of survival and a powerful political allegory rolled into one. The series explores what happens when a group of caged animals take control of their pound and declare war on their two-legged oppressors. King himself calls the series "the most ambitious story I’ve ever told," so we're definitely looking forward to what he and Gross are cooking up here.
G.I. Joe: Duke #1
Creative Team: Joshua Williamson & Tom Reilly
Publisher: Skybound/Image
Release Date: December 27
In what was easily one of the most memorable plot twists of 2023, Void Rivals #1 wound up serving as the backdoor pilot for a new Transformers/G.I. Joe shared universe at Skybound. We've already seen that bear fruit on the Transformers front, with Skybound recently launching a new monthly series from writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson. Now the time has come to debut the new incarnation of the G.I. Joe line.
Rather than focus on a single, monthly series, however, Skybound is kicking things off with several character-focused miniseries. And who better to represent the Joes than Conrad "Duke" Hauser? In this series, Duke's investigation into the newly discovered existence of the Transformers will fan the flames of the iconic G.I. Joe/Cobra rivalry. Skybound's Transformers series is already impressing us, so we have similarly high hopes for this G.I. Joe debut.
Timeless #1
Creative Team: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing & Juann Cabal
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: December 27
Marvel tends to celebrate the end of the year with a one-shot special teasing what's to come in the next 12 months. 2023 is no exception, as Marvel has another Timeless special planned. This issue will leap ahead into the distant future of the Marvel Universe, all while dropping hints at what's to come in the months ahead. We can only assume Kang has something to do with it all...
For now, though, we know this Timeless special deals with the rivalry between Moon Knight Unending (a version of Moon Knight empowered by Stark Tech and the Eternal Machine) and Power Man, a hero with the strength of the Hulk, the Sentry and Iron Fist. Who are these two characters, and how does their bitter rivalry tie back to the present-day Marvel Universe? We're eager to find out.
Other December Comics to Watch
The Sentry #1
Marvel hasn't quite seemed to know what to do with The Sentry in recent years, hence the character dying and returning multiple times. With this latest series, Marvel is clearly pushing in a different direction for the character, as a group of people across the globe begin manifesting Sentry's powers. Who will carry the mantle when all is said and done? With the character making his MCU debut soon, we're interested to see where his future is headed in the comics. (December 6)
Thunderbolts #1
Similarly, Marvel has introduced a number of different incarnations of The Thunderbolts over the past few years, with no overhaul really sticking around. With this new series, Marvel is clearly looking to the MCU for inspiration. It's a series worth keeping an eye on, especially with Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing at the helm. (December 6)
Life Is Strange: Forget-Me-Not #1
The comcis industry is flooded with mediocre video game tie-ins, but one franchise has managed to escape the adaptation curse. We're thrilled to see a new Life Is Strange series from publisher Titan Comics, one that focuses on Life Is Strange: True Colors' Steph and Alex. (December 13)
Moon Knight #30
Jed MacKay's Moon Knight has proven to be one of Marvel's best ongoing books. That's why we're both intrigued and perplexed to see Marvel apparently killing off Marc Spector in this series finale. But fret not, a replacement in the form of Vengeance of the Moon Knight will be along in January. Marc may be dying, but someone has to take up the mantle. (December 13)
Where the Body Was
You can never go wrong with a new crime comic from the ever-prolific duo of Ed Bruabker and Sean Phillips. Where the Body Was is a new original graphic novel with a twist. It's a love story and murder mystery told from a dozen different perspectives, all set in one fateful summer. (December 13)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #146
The long-running TMNT series is rapidly approaching the issue #150 milestone and the end of writer Sophie Campbell's run. The countdown to #150 officially starts with this issue, and we can't wait to see what big twists Campbell has in store before she departs. (December 20)
Action Comics Annual 2023 #1
DC recently teased a major change in direction for Action Comics in 2024, but first, writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson has to wrap up his run on the series. The finale comes in this oversized special. Given that Johnson's Action Comics has consistently been one of DC's best ongoing comics for the past several years, this is definitely a bittersweet release. (December 26)
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
