One of the best books in comics returns

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This week’s top comics to buy for July 9 features one of my favorite books in comics making a return with a new #1 and a new miniseries. That book is Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1, and I was really blown away by it. We’ll have a full review of it in tomorrow’s Wednesday Comics column, and I’ll elaborate on why I liked it so much myself below. But no this: if you liked the first series, this is an absolute must read.

Elsewhere, the week has strong new Batman and Superman comics, a giant swing from Bad Idea, and more. You can find my five favorite comics from this week below, along with the usual set of other release lists…enjoy!

Top Comics to Buy for July 9, 2025

Batman – Dark Patterns #8
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Frank Cvetkovic
Publisher: DC Comics
Case 03: Pareidola Batman’s vigilant investigation of the Red Hood Gang killing in the Rookery puts him on a collision course with the unlikely culprits at the heart of the latest mystery threatening to upend order in Gotham City.
Why It’s Cool: The third case of this gothic, brooding detective Batman take progresses this issue with an absolutely perfect twist. There’s also more bold cartooning from the team of Hayden Sherman and Triona Farrell in this issue. Basically, everything that has made Dark Patterns one of the best Bat books within a very good line of current Batman comics is on display here.
Price: $4.99

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1
Writer/Artist: Patrick Horvath
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: IDW Publishing
It’s been eight long years since a bloodlusting brown bear drove into the city, kidnapped a kind young duck, dissected his body, and buried the pieces in the woods. The duck’s family painstakingly sought justice… but this brown bear was smart… she covered her tracks… and in the ’80s, there simply wasn’t a way for the duck’s family to find answers. But it’s not the ’80s anymore. Almost a decade after cuddly brown bear Samantha Strong solidified herself as the sole serial killer in Woodbrook, the world is entering a new era. As Samantha will soon find out, there are no secrets in the age of the internet. And those who lost loved ones to her massacre haven’t given up the flame of justice. A reckoning is coming to Woodbrook.
Why It’s Cool: I really can’t say enough good things about the return of this comic. As much as I liked the first volume (and I liked it a lot), there are some narrative decisions in this first issue, that make me suspect I may like the second volume even more. It’s a rare comic that can bring us right back into the world of a story that wrapped in a pretty satisfying way, and convince us right from the start that there’s much more to explore here. Great stuff, and I can’t wait for more.
Price: $4.99

FML #5
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artist: David Lopez
Colorist: Cris Peter
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Dark Horse
As Riley and his band become schoolyard pariahs, accused of murder, their daily life turns into a bizarre blend of fear and isolation. The school principal, ever so helpfully, suggests remote learning “to avoid disruption”-because nothing says normal like school over Zoom. Determined to clear their names, the gang finally joins forces with the Whine & Crime ladies, diving into the murky depths of the dark web and past misdeeds. Meanwhile, a dog walk with Dad takes a nosedive when Riley discovers another body, this time in a sinkhole. Cue the clandestine purchase of a burner phone-because reporting a body anonymously is just another Tuesday in Portland. Back at the house, a revelation from Mom about her imagined magical friends sends shockwaves through the group, only to be overshadowed by Amy’s bombshell confession about her past with Kat. In the stunning silence that follows, the phone rings: Riley’s been arrested and charged with murder. FML.
Why It’s Cool: Friends, at this point I have stopped trying to intellectually process why FML works so so well, and I have just accepted that it does. Is it part murder mystery? Is it a treatise on true crime? Is it a riff on the very personal experience of raising a family? Is it an ode to raising children in an artsy city? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. But moreover, it’s just a very well done comic that makes fantastic use of the medium on several different levels. This was, simply put, an easy pick for this week’s list of Top Comics to Buy for July 9.
Price: $4.99

Planet Death #1
Writers: Derek Kolstad and Robert Venditti
Artist: Tomas Giorello
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Publisher: Bad Idea
Millions of miles from home, hundreds of ships descend into the stormy atmosphere of a hostile frozen world. On board, an army of resolute men and women brace for the coming assault. They are an invasion force, on an impossible mission – destroy the devastating enemy weapon garrisoned below. Corporal Scott and his battalion are in the vanguard but the human forces are no match for their brutal alien adversaries. Scott’s battalion is dead within moments. He is its lone survivor. The landing force annihilated, the battle is lost. Against overwhelming odds, Scott dares the unthinkable – cross behind enemy lines, survive the lethal landscape, evade capture by ruthless enemies, resist natural predators, face human deserters and finish the mission singlehandedly. Locked in his suit of full combat battle armor, sustained only by what he can carry, and driven by Earth’s wrath, Scott must do by himself what an entire army could not. Destroy the weapon. Return home.
Why It’s Cool: First and foremost, this book looks great. It’s a relatively decompressed comic that trades primarily in big action set piece moments, and the book gives all of those sequences plenty of room to go big. It’s a great deceptively simple concept too. As it says from the start, the point here is: Destroy the weapon. Return home. It speaks, I think to the book’s co-writer being John Wick mastermind, Derek Kolstad, as those movies feel the same level of badass and simple. But yeah, this is a great and massive 48-page first issue, just a total sci-fi romp that sets the stage for an epic story to come.
Price: $5.99

Superman Treasury 2025: Hero For All #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Ink Assists: Caio Filipe
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
Legends collide as the Man of Steel goes supersized for the Summer of Superman! In this all-new treasury edition, quintessential Superman writer Dan Jurgens pairs with the modern master of sequential art, Bruno Redondo, to craft a larger-than-life story of power, tragedy, action, and, above all–hope. When a vicious armada of extraterrestrial extremists launches an all-out invasion of Planet Earth, only Superman can stand in the way of total annihilation. But there’s something different about this attack–it’s deadly from both without…and within? It’s a tale so titanic we had to tell it at treasury size to celebrate the Summer of Superman in style!
Why It’s Cool: Because, quite simply, this is Superman’s week. Unless you’ve been somehow totally offline for years, you’re surely aware the most-hyped Superman movie in years is arriving this weekend, and so why not celebrate the character with a big and bright new book of classic-feeling Superman action? That’s what we have here, and it’s a blast.
Price: $14.99

Other Comics I Enjoyed This Week

Absolute Superman #9
Action Comics #1088
Blood Type #2
Buried Long, Long Ago #3
Godzilla: Here There By Aliens #2
Green Lantern Corps #6
Life #5
The Power Fantasy #10
Supergirl #3
Transformers #22
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #2

New #1s and One-Shots

Batman – Gotham By Gaslight – A League for Justice #1
DC W.I.P. All Star Superman #1
Fantastic Four – First Steps #1 (one-shot)
Fantastic Four #1
It’s Jeff – Infinity Paws #1 (one-shot)
Kevin Smith Presents Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob #1 (one-shot)
Marvel Swimsuit Special – Friends, Foes & Rivals # 1 (one-shot)
Predator – Black, White, and Blood #1
Return to Skull Island #1
Rick and Morty Vs. The Universe #1
Toxic Avenger Comics #1
The Unchosen #1
Wild Animals #1

Graphic Novels and Trade Collections

Batman and Robin Vol. 1 Memento TP
Blue Book Library Edition Vol. 1 HC
Conquest 2099 TP
DC Finest – Justice Society of America – The Plunder of the Psycho Pirate TP
Deadpool Epic Collection Vol. 7 Agent X TP
Death Sentence – The Complete Collection HC
Flight Vol. 2 GN – Inklore Edition
Gatchaman Vol. 2 TP
Hard Case Crime – Minky Woodcock – The Girl Called Cthulhu Vol. 1 HC
Hate Revisited TP
The Hero Trade for Sale TP
John Constantine Hellblazer by Jamie Delano Omnibus Vol. 2 HC
Madi – Once Upon a Time in the Future TP
Meat Eaters GN
Micronauts – The Original Marvel Years Epic Collection Vol. 1 – They Came From TP
Muted Vol. 1 TP
Poison Ivy Vol. 5 Human Botany HC
Psylocke Vol. 1 Guardian TP
Sentinels – Necessary Monsters TP
Spider-Man by David Michelinie & Mark Bagley Omnibus Vol. 2 HC
Star Wars – Ewoks TP
Supergirl – The New 52 Omnibus Vol. 1 HC
Superman – The Last Days of Lex Luthor HC
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution HC
Transformers – Worst Bot Ever – Meet Ballpoint GN
X-Men Onslaught Aftermath Omnibus HC
Zombie Tales – The Complete Collection TP