COMIC CRUSADERS HOT LIST: THE 10 HOTTEST COMICS FOR SEPTEMBER 8th & 9th, 2026

WEPAAAAAAA, CRUSADERS! September 8th and 9th are coming in hot with legacy franchises, new #1s, collector bait, creator-owned fire and enough variant covers to make your wallet look at you like, “Fam… again?”

The Comic Crusaders HOT List ain’t here to dump a spreadsheet on your lap and disappear. We’re ranking what actually deserves attention based on reader heat, creator pedigree, franchise momentum, cover appeal, possible key-book ingredients and whether the damn comic looks worth owning after the hype dies down. Catch every weekly Comic Crusaders HOT List here.

As always, speculation is speculation. A ratio cover is not a retirement plan. Collect what you love, chase smart, support your LCS and never let Wednesday FOMO body-slam the grocery money.

#10: DOCTOR STRANGE: ENDLESS NIGHTMARE

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Main Cover

Abrams ComicArts / Marvel Arts | Kevin J. Anderson, Raúl Allén & Patricia Martín | On Sale September 8, 2026

Doctor Strange gets the lone Tuesday slot because the bookstore side of the schedule needed something with enough weight to crash Wednesday’s party. Strange works best when Marvel lets the magic get ugly, the nightmare logic gets weird and Stephen has to solve problems that punching absolutely will not fix. That is exactly the lane I want this book living in.

Collector heat here is lighter than the Wednesday monsters, so I’m not telling anybody to start clearing shelves. This is a reader-first pick with enough character power to make the bottom of the list without forcing a weaker Wednesday floppy out just for balance.

#9: CHALLENGES OF DOOM: SPIDER-MAN #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Fabrizio De Tommaso Cover A

Marvel Comics | Al Ewing & David Messina | On Sale September 9, 2026

Doctor Doom versus a young Spider-Man in an untold early-career collision? Yeah, that gets my attention. Marvel can slap Peter Parker on almost anything and expect eyeballs, but this one has a cleaner hook than most: Doom decides the kid from Queens belongs in his next world-dominating scheme, and Pete reacts exactly how you’d expect a young Spider-Man to react when a monarch with a metal face starts recruiting.

Al Ewing on script gives the concept some real muscle, and Fabrizio De Tommaso’s Cover A is the easy value play for me. No need to turn a fun one-shot into a second mortgage. Grab the main cover, enjoy Doom being Doom and keep moving.

#8: STAR TREK: 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Michael Cho Cover A

IDW Publishing | On Sale September 9, 2026 (delayed shipment)

Sixty years of Star Trek is not a cute little marketing milestone. That is six decades of television, movies, comics, conventions, arguments about captains and enough lore to make a wiki editor cry. Anniversary books always get a collector glance, but Trek carries a built-in fanbase that gives this special more staying power than a random celebratory one-shot.

This is a history-and-fandom pick more than a speculation rocket. Trekkies are going to want it, anniversary collectors are going to want it and anybody who appreciates what this franchise has meant to science fiction should at least give it a look.

#7: STAR WARS: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Alex Maleev Cover A

Marvel Comics | Rodney Barnes & Will Sliney | On Sale September 9, 2026

Boba Fett still has that aura. I don’t care how many shows, spin-offs or internet debates Lucasfilm throws at us, that helmet hits a cover and Star Wars fans look up. This seven-issue adaptation also brings several Book of Boba Fett characters into comics, which gives collectors another reason to pay attention beyond the obvious franchise name.

Rodney Barnes and Will Sliney handle the adaptation, while Alex Maleev gets my Cover A pick. There are plenty of variants if that is your lane, but I’m not chasing shiny objects just because somebody printed a ratio beside them. Main cover, iconic character, clean entry point. Done.

#6: BATMAN: BAD SEEDS – GOTHAM CENTRAL #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥½

Cover Pick: Jacob Phillips Cover A

DC Comics | Christopher Cantwell & Jacob Phillips | On Sale September 9, 2026

Batman books do not get automatic HOT List passes around here. There are too damn many of them for that. What makes this one interesting is the Gotham Central lane: street-level crime, cops trying to keep a city from eating itself and all the ugliness happening beneath the cape-and-cowl fireworks.

Christopher Cantwell and Jacob Phillips are a strong pairing for that kind of story, and Phillips’ Cover A keeps the whole thing grounded in the crime-comic vibe this title needs. If Bad Seeds is going to work, Gotham has to feel dangerous even when Batman is not standing in the middle of the panel. This is the book that can prove it.

#5: THE KARMAN BLADE #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥½

Cover Pick: Ian Bertram & Matt Hollingsworth Cover A

Image Comics | Darcy Van Poelgeest & Ian Bertram | On Sale September 9, 2026

Now we’re getting into the books where my comic-reader senses start screaming. Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram, the team behind Little Bird and Precious Metal, are launching a four-issue dark-fantasy miniseries about a dying world, a tyrant god and a star-forged blade asking one very simple question: you ready to kill a god or nah?

That is shelf identity, mi gente. Bertram and Matt Hollingsworth’s wraparound Cover A looks like the kind of image that can stop somebody mid-walk in a comic shop. Fresh IP, proven creators, killer visual language. This is exactly the type of book I want people discovering before social media tells them they were supposed to care.

#4: THUNDERCATS: CHEETARA #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Mark Spears Cover A

Dynamite Entertainment | Saladin Ahmed & Andrea Arcari | On Sale September 9, 2026

HOOOOOO! Cheetara getting the solo spotlight while the ThunderCats line is already carrying serious nostalgia heat is exactly the kind of move that gets both readers and collectors sniffing around the rack. Saladin Ahmed and Andrea Arcari are launching a new ongoing built around Cheetara’s visions and a threat that challenges what she thinks she knows about the Book of Omens.

Then Dynamite rolled out the cover buffet, because of course they did. Mark Spears’ Cover A is still my move. The blind bags and limited variants will get the chase crowd vibrating, but I would rather own the face of the launch than play roulette with my grocery money.

#3: SIX OF US #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Gabriel Hernández Walta Cover A

Dark Horse Comics | Tom King, Gabriel Hernández Walta & Jordie Bellaire | On Sale September 9, 2026

Tom King. Gabriel Hernández Walta. Jordie Bellaire. A Hollywood noir about the surviving cast of a beloved sitcom after one of the stars dies under mysterious circumstances. Fam, that pitch practically walks itself to the register.

The creative team already proved how dangerous they can be together on The Vision, and this limited series gives them a compact playground for grief, ambition, secrets and all the ugly nonsense people hide behind a polished public image. New property plus elite creators plus finite story equals one of my favorite reader bets of the week.

#2: TRANSFORMERS #36

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: David Nakayama Cover A

Skybound / Image Comics | Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard & Mike Spicer | On Sale September 9, 2026

Transformers does not need a #1 stamped on the front to bring heat. Issue #36 closes a story arc, debuts the new Superion configuration and drops Thundercracker into the Aerialbots while COBRA-LA is apparently lurking around the corner yelling its own name like subtlety got banned from the Energon Universe.

Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard are keeping this run loud, weird and unpredictable, and that matters. A continuing series standing this high in a week packed with fresh launches tells you everything. David Nakayama’s Cover A is my clean grab, while the variant army can fight among itself in the parking lot.

#1: SPAWN ’77 #1

HOT METER: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Cover Pick: Mark Spears Cover A

Image Comics | Todd McFarlane & Mark Spears | On Sale September 9, 2026

COME ON! YOU KNEW WHERE THIS WAS GOING.

Spawn ’77 #1 is not simply another Spawn spin-off getting tossed onto the rack. Todd McFarlane is going all the way back to the character concept he created as a teenager in 1977, and for the first time that original design gets an official comic-book appearance. That alone gives this book legitimate historical juice inside the Spawn universe.

Then Mark Spears shows up with fully painted interiors for a 64-page premiere, and now we have reader appeal sitting right beside the collector story. This is where HOT List books get dangerous. You do not need to invent a rumor or pretend a shadow on page twenty-two is secretly somebody’s first appearance. The hook is already built into the book.

The variant ladder goes nuts, including high-ratio editions and signed foil incentives, but I am still planting my flag on Mark Spears’ Cover A. It is the face of the launch, it connects directly to the interior artist and you do not need to sell a kidney to own it. If you want to gamble on the incentives, that is between you, your wallet and whatever higher power handles comic-book grading submissions.

Spawn ’77 #1 has the strongest mix of history, presentation, curiosity, creator recognition and collector conversation this week. That makes it your Comic Crusaders HOT List champion for September 8th and 9th, 2026.

So there it is, Crusaders. Ten books. No filler. Spawn history, Energon madness, Hollywood noir, Cheetara heat, dark-fantasy sleepers, Gotham crime, Boba Fett, Trek history, Doom scheming and Doctor Strange bringing Tuesday into the fight.

Buy what you love. Speculate with your brain, not your FOMO. Support your LCS, inspect those copies before somebody’s thumb gives your future 9.8 an unsolicited spine tick and remember…

THE CRUSADE NEVER ENDS!

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