Don’t everybody give up on Vertigo just yet. While we’re all pretty excited about Doom Patrol and the launch of DC’s Young Animal line, DC hasn’t given away all the space on the creator-owned shelf to Image and Dark Horse just yet. Joshua Williamson, who is also currently writing DC’s rebirthed Flash , and veteran artist Jason Shawn Alexander debut Frostbite this week, and it’s a promising book for a once-great imprint sorely in need of a hit.

The series takes place in the post-apocalyptic throes of the New Ice Age, when folks are dealing not only with a scarcity of heat sources, but also a deadly new contagion. “Frostbite” isn’t just something that turns your toes black. Thanks to you meddling scientists, the precious few humans left on earth need to worry about catching a disease that freezes the body from the inside out. And the one woman who may have a cure is being hunted by the aptly named Fuego. Enter Keaton and her crew, hired to transport Victoria Bonham from Mexico City to a secret installation on Alcatraz.

Williamson does a nice job establishing the status quo without weighing us down in expository narration, which can be tough in ambitious science fiction settings. Alexander, who’s earned his stripes doing some incredible work on various Dark Horse horror comics, brings that chilling (pun! IP be proud) intensity to every sequence of this action-packed mini-series.

All New All Different Marvel: Week 52
This week concludes one year of Marvel’s All New All Different era, a hit-or-miss initiative that was mostly hit, and resulted in over seventy-five new or relaunched series. But before we rev up for Marvel NOW! and a spate of exciting new books next week, there’s still a few important matters to wrap up. Civil War II and Nick Spencer’s fantastic Captain Hydra saga crash head on in this week’s Steve Rogers: Captain America #5. And this is more than just a tangential tie-in. Not only does this book provide some insight into one of the central plot points of the Civil War event – namely, the death of Bruce Banner – but it also closes with an intriguing perspective on last week’s shocker.

DC Rebirth: Week 19
Batman Beyond came out at pivotal point in my life when the DCAU was my holy grail so I had high hopes for this. Sadly while this didn’t blow me away, I did find myself enjoying the book. It did the rare thing of just throwing me into the story and having me figure it out! Good job on that, DC. I guess Bruce is dead, Terry is single, and the Jokerz may be reviving the Joker! Most exciting part for me is seeing Ryan Sook on art. Loved that dude ever since X-Factor and he knows how draw characters and fights so well. The setup has me intrigued enough and I love the Batman Beyond world enough to keep going… but we will see how long that lasts. – MeanOldPig

September 21 | New Release Highlights | October 5