10 Essential Comics to Binge Before 2026 Begins
2025’s comic scene is on overdrive: DC and Marvel still dominate, but Image and other indie forces are stealing the spotlight. These 10 must-reads are the ones to grab now before the next wave hits.
2025 was a wild swing for comics. The Big Two did what they do, sure, but a bunch of smaller publishers came in hot with new nightmares and reinventions. If you want to hit 2026 with your pull list in order, here are the 10 books from this year I’d catch up on right now — big superhero overhauls, sharp sci-fi, and a few titles that just get under your skin in the best way.
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Ultimate Wolverine (Marvel)
Jonathan Hickman’s new Ultimate Universe is the wider sandbox here, but this series belongs to writer Christopher Condon and artist Alessandro Cappuccio, who drop Logan into a different kind of hell. Instead of the gruff-but-centered Wolverine you know, this version gets weaponized into something closer to a Winter Soldier: a programmed hunter pointed at targets by the powers that be. In this continuity shaped by the Maker and his council (including the Eurasian Republic), Wolverine is the go-to executioner — no brakes, no conscience, just orders.
It’s messy at times, but the mayhem has won people over. If you want feral, you get feral. Team: Christopher Condon, Alessandro Cappuccio.
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Kill Train (Mad Cave Studios)
The premise is so grim it almost feels like a dare: to curb overpopulation, the government quietly designates 1 out of every 10,000 NYC subway trains for a massacre. Passengers unlucky enough to board one never come home. Vanessa does — and realizes mid-ride exactly which train she’s on. From there it’s survival horror with a nasty bureaucratic edge, blending dystopia, action, and psychological terror.
It’s a sharp, mean little series with a big idea about control dressed up as policy. Team: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Martina Niosi, Simone D’Angelo.
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News From the Fallout (Image Comics)
A six-issue descent into a 1960s America wrecked by a nuclear test gone sideways. The fallout doesn’t just irradiate — it mutates, spreading across the country and twisting people into monsters. One man and a ragged band of survivors try to thread the needle through it. The vibe is Cold War paranoia meets creature feature, with an eerie, minimalist mood that sticks to your ribs.
Perfect if you want post-apocalypse without the usual clichés. Team: Chris Condon, Jeffrey Alan Love.
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Star Trek: The Last Starship (IDW)
This one walks a fine line between fresh and familiar, and mostly nails it. It leans into character-driven Trek (yes, with legacy faces like Captain Kirk) while expanding lore around a universe still reeling from the Burn. The Federation pins its hopes on the U.S.S. Omega to reconnect a galaxy stuck somewhere between fragile peace and constant crisis.
If you like your Trek optimistic but bruised, this scratches the itch. Team: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Adrián Bonilla.
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Absolute Wonder Woman (DC)
New universe, new Diana — and this one is the daughter of the witch Circe. She’s been broken in Hell, rebuilt without the regal Amazon sheen, and will throw down her weapons if that’s what it takes to save a life. It’s a bold remix that tweaks core lore without losing the character’s moral spine, and the art style matches the reinvention beat-for-beat.
It’s the rare big-line reimagination that feels both risky and right. Team: Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman.
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Absolute Batman (DC)
DC’s All In initiative spun up an entire Absolute Universe in 2025, and this was the flagship that blew up the charts. Think Bruce stripped to raw nerve: almost everything that used to anchor him is gone, leaving weaponized willpower, cold intelligence, and the kind of rage that scares villains and allies equally. He takes on inhuman odds and keeps coming, borderline feral. Volume 1 is subtitled "The Zoo," which fits.
It’s brutal, propulsive, and a reminder that Batman can still feel dangerous. Team: Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin.
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Sleep (Image Comics)
Simple setup, suffocating execution: Jonathan Reason goes to bed, wakes up drenched in someone else’s blood, with no idea whose it is or how it got there. The black-and-white visuals twist as his mind does, pushing that dread of not trusting yourself until it snaps.
Lean, nasty psychological horror that looks exactly as sick as it feels. Team: Zander Cannon.
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Absolute Superman (DC)
This take dials down the sunshine and dials up the test. Without the steady north of the Kents, Clark keeps walking into heartbreak, loss, and moral gray zones while threats like Ra’s al Ghul press the advantage. The book doesn’t tell you why he’s Superman so much as make him earn it, over and over, even when it nearly kills him.
It’s self-sacrifice as a character study, not a slogan. Team: Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval.
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The David Zimmerman Case (Sarbacane)
Imagine the body-swap idea reworked as a psychological horror that keeps changing the mirror. This graphic novel digs into how identity gets built, broken, and rebuilt, with cinematic artwork and a script that keeps knifing into the uncomfortable questions. It became one of 2025’s most talked-about books for a reason.
Unsettling, thoughtful, and very hard to shake. Team: Lucas Harari, Arthur Harari.
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Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC)
The most formally daring of DC’s new line. The writing is almost theoretical, the visuals psychedelic and experimental, and the end result feels less like reading a comic and more like letting one possess you. It’s vivid, wildly colorful, and happy to bend genres until they scream.
If you want a capital-E Experience, this is the must-read before the year flips. Team: Deniz Camp, Javier Rodríguez.
That’s the stack. Big swings, sharp new voices, and a few titles that go places the medium doesn’t usually risk. Which one are you grabbing before 2026 hits? Drop it in the comments.