AFTERSHOCK COMICS FOR OCTOBER

DEAD KINGS #1

Written by Steve Orlando, art and cover by Matthew Dow Smith, variant cover by Michael Gaydos.

Sasha never saw his younger brother...until the secret police made him disappear. Sasha Vasnetsov left Thrice-Nine-the dirty folklore world that limps along in the wreckage of a Technomagic War-thirty years ago and never looked back. But word that the secret police have sent his brother Gena to a work camp for the socially degenerate drags him back, with a promise to free Gena and return him to their mother before her fiftieth birthday. The only problem? Sasha isn't a fraction of the tough guy he tries to be, so if he's going to break back into Thrice-Nine...he'll need help. Sasha's only hope is Maria Kamenaya, a former Technomagic Warrior with hundreds of enemy kills to her name, betrayed by the country that made her when her honor conflicted with their agenda. Thrice-Nine took Sasha's brother, and it took Maria's heart. This quest is how they get both of those things back, in the steaming, lawless land of decapitated states...the land of Dead Kings.

32 page, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 24.

LAST SPACE RACE #1

Written by Peter Calloway, art and cover by Alex Shibao, variant cover by Juan Doe.

It started as an anomaly. An outlier in the noise that's so common in astronomical data. But the truth sends the United States-and the world-careening into what will become humanity's Last Space Race. Leading the effort for the United States is one man, Sasha Balodis. A fun-loving tech billionaire turned aerospace titan, Sasha's seemingly perfect life has been gripped by recent trage-dy. Building and launching the most expensive, most ambitious and most important project in history-well, it gives him something to live for again. There's only one thing standing in his way: his arch-rival and chief aerospace competitor, Roger Freeman.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 10.

LOLLIPOP KIDS #1

Written by Adam Glass, Aiden Glass, art by Diego Yapur, covers by Robert Hack,

When immigrants came to the new world they didn't only bring their hopes and dreams, they also brought their monsters. Years ago, early settlers locked these monsters away in a secret prison deep in the woods of New Amsterdam so that they would never return to the Old World again. Those woods have since become Central Park and now the monsters have escaped! Nick, a 14-year-old Harlem resident, finds out that he is a "legacy" to a secret society that for the last 400 years has kept monsters in check. Now Nick and a ragtag group of kids just like him have to put the monsters back before they get out of the park and destroy the city.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 3.

ROUGH RIDERS VOL. 3: RIDE OR DIE

Written by Adam Glass, art and cover by Pat Oliffe.

It's 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt is the sitting president when a familiar face from his past asks him to call upon his team, the ROUGH RIDERS, to save the world once again. But this time the threat isn't anarchists or aliens-no, it's something from the great beyond, the next world after this one, from Death itself. Something so ancient and evil that the Rough Riders will need to add to their ranks in hope of defeating it. Enter: A young HP Lovecraft! With Lovecraft riding at their side into danger, the Rough Riders face a supernatural threat that could lead to the end of everything!

$14.99, in stores on Oct. 3.

ANIMOSITY: EVOLUTION #9

Written by Marguerite Bennett, art and cover by Eric Gapstur.

The chaos and paranoia in the City by the Sea rises to a fever pitch as conspiracy and assassination open the gates to civil war. Desperate to save what little order remains, Adam races to prevent genocide as the Animals and humans alike walk into a trap that could destroy all they have worked for and all they have saved.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 17.

BABYTEETH #14

So, hey, welcome back, folks. How about that issue 13, huh? Told you it was bananas. Anyway, look, I'd like to be able to tell you this one is easier or nicer somehow, but real-ly...have any issues of this book not been insane and weird? Would you even believe me If I said it was? No. You wouldn't. So, yeah, this issue is more of all that. Plus: Betrayal! (Dramatic music cue!)

32 pages, $3.9, in stores on Oct. 3.

BEYONDERS #3

Written by Paul Jenkins, art and cover by Wesley St. Claire.

Imagine there was a single, mysterious word, written in English, that found itself scrawled across multiple ancient sites, some of which predate the English language. Imagine that word was the key to possibly solving the greatest treasure hunt of all time. Now, imagine a young boy named Jake finally decoded the meaning of the word and, along with his loyal, one-eyed Welsh Corgi and his increasingly confused partners, went in search of the word's meaning, only to find it leading to multiple treasure troves. Now, imagine that the very book in which you were enjoying this story contained its own awesome treasure-hunt, hidden inside every panel, and you'd have Beyonders #3!

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 24.

CLANKILLERS #4

Written by Sean Lewis, art and cover by Antonio Fuso.

Clankillers brings readers into an ancient Ireland filled with clans, mystics, warriors and monsters of epic proportion! Finola finds herself deep behind enemy lines, while far-off Cillian is building an army to help her.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 17.

HOT LUNCH SPECIAL #3

Written by Eliot Rahal, art and cover by Jorge Fornes.

A mid-western noir series set in the harsh landscape of the northern Minnesota Iron Range, Hot Lunch Special is all about family, food, and the fight for survival. Only one question is worth asking... is blood thicker than sandwiches? There are no secrets now. Only bodies. It's dinner time, and Dorothy and Jordan are competing to sit at the head of the table, both forcing their family members to make hard decisions. Do the Khorys go to the cops? Or do they go to war? The Khoury criminal legacy is fully revealed. Some choices have already been made-the Irish crime lord, Big Jim Moran, is getting anxious. He's left too many loose ends, and he's forced to cut strings. The order has been given. It's time for everyone to die.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 10.

LOST CITY EXPLORERS #5

Written by Zack Kaplan, art by Alvaro Sarreseca, cover by Rafael La Torre.

Hel Coates, her brother and our teenage urban explorers have journeyed through underground New York City to find the Lost City of Atlantis...and Hel's missing father along with it. Now, they've reached their destination. As the first story arc comes to a close, our teenage urban explorers must face the threat of a supernatural guardian and corporate mercenaries, while Hel travels through the mysterious portal beyond which is anyone's guess.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 31.

MOTH & WHISPER #2

Written by Ted Anderson, art and cover by Jen Hickman

Everyone knows that the two greatest thieves in the city are the Moth and the Whisper. Very few know that the Moth and the Whisper disappeared six months ago. And what nobody knows is that the new Moth and Whisper are actually one person pretending to be both of them. One supremely skilled but uncertain young genderfluid thief: Niki, the child of the Moth and the Whisper. Niki has been trained by their parents in the arts of stealth and infiltration, but they're still just a teenager, and now they're alone, searching for their parents in a hostile cyberpunk dystopia. The truth about Niki's parents and their disappearance is out there, but can Niki survive long enough to find it? Niki's hunt for Wolfe, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Niki's parents, takes them to a high-class party where the elite rub shoulders with the city's criminal underclass. And with bil-lions in wealth in the room, security's going to be extremely tight. If Niki wants to live up to the mantles of their parents, it's going to take all their skills to make it in and out alive ...

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 10.

PATIENCE CONVINCTION REVENGE #2

Written by Patrick Kindlon, art and cover by Marco Ferrari.

Renny and Robot Paul try to break the syndicate's stranglehold on Las Vegas' red light district. But a trip to the brothel proves deadly when Renny gets recognized by an old flame who would love to bury the hatchet... into his skull!

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 17.

RELAY #4

Written by Zac Thompson, Donny Cates, art and cover by Andy Clarke.

In the future, the galaxy is united under a monolith known as the Galactic Relay. Although the towering monument is meant to inspire conformity of ideas, technology and progress, it is not without its enemies, and many have begun to resent the foreign structure. And now, Jad Carter, a Relay employee, has found the Relay's mythological creator. Jad is lost in deep space searching for the farmer and the first world. Are the legends of Hank Donaldson merely fiction? Too bad he may never find out. Legions of derelict space pirates and the entirety of the Relay's forces will stop at nothing to keep Jad from the truth.

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 24.

VOLITION #3

Written by Ryan Parrott, art and cover by Omar Francia.

In the not-too-distant future, robots are fighting for their equal rights. When a mysterious and deadly disease known as "Rust" threatens all artificial life, salvation lies in the unlikeliest of heroes-an obsolete construction worker known as HALE-19 and AMBER-7T, a caregiver. Pursued by police and bounty hunters alike, HALE-19 must confront his sordid past and place his trust in his former unscrupulous allies to survive. But will they aid him in AMBER-7T's quest to save robot-kind? Or will they turn him in for the ultimate payday?

32 pages, $3.99, in stores on Oct. 31.