Cosmic collisions promised in ‘Empyre’ trailer

Watch a teaser for next April’s big event series from Marvel, featuring the Kree, Skrulls, Avengers and more.

Marvel has released a teaser trailer for their next big event, Empyre, which was also teased in last week’s $10-for-an-advertisement one-shot, Incoming!

The story will be written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott, with artwork by Valerio Schiti. It will star the Avengers and Fantastic Four in a story of “galactic intrigue and cosmic ramifications” that features the Kree, the Skrulls, Hulking and more.

Check out the trailer below:

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‘Adventureman!’ by Fraction + Dodsons coming in April

New series has been in production for three years.

The long-gestating Adventureman! by Matt Fraction, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson will arrive in comic shops this April, according to Terry Dodson on Twitter.

Fraction announced the series at HeroesCon in 2016. “It’s about a retired policewoman with a young son that discovers the fictional adventures of a pulp hero named ‘Adventureman’ weren’t so fictional after all when she inherits his mantle in the present day,” Fraction said at the time. “But she inherits all of his old scores, grudges and enemies, too.”

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Transformers collide with the Terminator next March

Robots in disguise collide with robots in disguise in the four-issue miniseries.

The battle of the ‘bots kicks off in earnest next year as the Transformers collide with The Terminator, courtesy of IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, who hold the respective comics licenses for the two properties.

The four-issue miniseries will be written by David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and John Barber, with art by Alex Milne.

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‘Home Time’ gets a sequel next year

The next volume of the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Campbell Whyte arrives from Top Shelf in May.

Campbell Whyte‘s Home Time received several awards and nominations in 2018 and earned the creator a Russ Manning nomination, among others, and now he’s back with the sequel. Top Shelf will publish Home Time II: Beyond the Weaving next May.

The first graphic novel told the story of a group of kids preparing for high school who ended up transported to a village populated with creatures of fantasy. This second book picks up where the first one left off, as the kids leave the village to find their way home.

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Hickman + Huddleston team for ‘Decorum’ in March

‘There are many assassins in the known universe. ‘Decorum’ is the story of the most well-mannered one.’

Hey, how would you like some Jonathan Hickman news that doesn’t involve the X-Men? The man who revitalized Marvel’s merry mutants this year will return to the world of creator-owned books in March with Decorum, a new series with artist Mike Huddleston coming from Image Comics.

“We’ve been quietly working on this book for over a year and I’m having the time of my life,” said Hickman. “Mike is one of those ridiculously talented artists who is both technically proficient and insanely stylistic—everyone is just going to love what he’s done here.”

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‘Usagi,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and more round out silver Free Comic Book Day titles

Free Comic Book Day 2020 will feature almost 50 titles on May 2.

With its “gold sponsors” announced earlier in the week, the Free Comic Book Day committee announced the rest of the 2020 line-up yesterday, bringing the total to 47 free comics.

“Every year, our goal is to bring fans the very best Free Comic Book Day experience,” said Joe Field, originator of FCBD, and owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord, California, in a press statement. “The caliber, strength and depth of this year’s comic book titles is really something to be thrilled about! With such a wide variety of stories in 2020 FCBD titles, every long-time fan and every new shop visitor curious about comics is going to find something exciting. Comic book specialty retailers all over the world are excited to treat everyone to an incredible day of fun, discovery, and learning about comic books and comic book shops.”

The silver titles include additional comics from several of the gold sponsors, including a new Usagi Yojimbo comic by Stan Sakai and a Stranger Things/Minecraft flipbook from Dark Horse. There are also selections featuring Donald Duck, Naruto, Owly, Lumberjanes, Little Lulu and Artists, Writers & Artisans, the new comics company headed up by Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso.

Check out the full list below.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Steven Scott

The co-author of ‘They Called Us Enemy’ discusses the project, working with George Takei, his future plans and more.

When They Called Us Enemy was released this summer, it was quickly named one of the best graphic novels of the year by those who read it. George Takei, the actor and activist, has received much of the attention, and for good reason. This is his story, about how he and his family – and more than 100,000 other Japanese-Americans were interned by the American government. In recent years the actor, known best as Star Trek’s Sulu, has become best known as an activist for LGBTQ rights, but recently he has spent a great deal of time and energy to educating people about what happened in those years, both to help American citizens more fully understand our own history, but also to ensure that it never happens again.

Takei made the book with Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and Harmony Becker. Scott may not be known to comics readers, but he’s been working in the comics industry for years and it’s how I first got to know him years ago. They Called Us Enemy is his first graphic novel, and I reached out to Scott to talk about how he ended up here, working with Takei and what he wants to do next.

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Dark Horse to adapt Gaiman’s ‘Norse Mythology’ to comics

P. Craig Russell, Mike Mignola, Jerry Ordway and more will bring Gaiman’s interpretations of Odin, Loki and other Norse gods to the comics page.

Neil Gaiman brought new life to the Norse myths he loved as boy in his book Norse Mythology, and now the writer is teaming up with Dark Horse Comics to turn those stories into comics.

Dark Horse and Gaiman have previously collaborated on several books adapting his prose stories into comics, including “A Study in Emerald” and “Snow, Glass, Apples.” While those became stand-alone graphic novels, Norse Mythology will run as an 18-issue series. P. Craig Russell will help adapt the stories, like he did with “Murder Mysteries,” while artists involved with the project include Mike Mignola and Jerry Ordway, with others to be named later

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Smash Pages Q&A: Fieldmouse Press

The four men behind the nonprofit publisher and comics criticism site discuss the initiative.

Ryan Carey, Rob Clough, Daniel Elkin and Alex Hoffman are four of the major comics critics in the U.S. right now. In Enemies of the State, Four Color Apocalypse, High-Low, Sequential State and Your Chicken Enemy, along with their writing in various other outlets, each has established a reputation as a thoughtful, insightful critic.

In comics, criticism tends to be maligned, or seen as a stepping stone to becoming a comics professional, but anyone who spends time with serious criticism – and the work of all four definitely are – can see the love for the medium, the passion for creators, the obsession with ideas and formalism. Good critics offer new ways to think about art, can introduce us to new work and inspire not just readers but creators.

It was announced recently that the four have teamed up to establish Fieldmouse Press, and in January 2020 they’re launching SOLRAD, which is just the very first aspect of the nonprofit organization. I reached out and was thrilled that they were willing to talk about criticism, their ambitions, and what people can look forward to next year.

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Noto + Duggan team for a solo ‘Cable’ title

The mutant from the future leaps into a solo title again in March.

Cable is the latest mutant to get his own title in Marvel’s “Dawn of X” line, which seems to be expanding in ways we haven’t seen since … well, probably since the mutant explosion of the 1990s.

And by Cable, of course, I mean the young teenage version — Kid Cable — who has been running around the various X-titles since Extermination. Gerry Duggan will team up with Phil Noto for these new adventures of Cyclops’ favorite son.

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Vin Diesel, Tom Scioli, Jeffrey Brown and more highlight Free Comic Book Day 2020 offerings

Diamond announces the first round of titles coming to comic shops May 2.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced the 12 Gold Sponsor comics that will be making their way into comic shops on May 2 for Free Comic Book Day 2020.

The selections, which were chosen by a committee of more than 20 comics retailers, include some fun choices, promoting new projects by Tom Scioli, Jeffrey Brown, Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee, Neil Gaiman and more. Oh, and Vin Diesel!

“The quality of titles from publisher applicants made for some tough choices this year,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “It’s a solid indicator that Free Comic Book Day truly is the ideal event to showcase the best titles you can find in comic book shops. We can’t wait to once again share the FCBD experience with fans and everyone who loves comic books.”

Here’s the rundown of what to expect, and you cna look for the Silver Sponsor titles later this week.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Lawrence Lindell

The cartoonist and educator discusses the Kickstarter campaign for his latest project, ‘From Truth with Truth: Kinda a Graphic Memoir.’

Lawrence Lindell is the cartoonist, educator and artist behind comics like Couldn’t Afford Therapy, So I Made This and From Black Boy with Love. In these and other projects, Lindell has found ways to make deeply personal work that manages to be both informative for other people, but also therapeutic for himself. Reading a lot of his comics shows that Lindell has an inventive visual style and has repeatedly found many really striking ways to capture so many mental and emotional states, and convey these feelings to readers.

Right now he’s kickstarting From Truth with Truth: Kinda a Graphic Memoir. Lindell was kind enough to answer a few questions about graduate school, his interest in teaching and his new book, which is being crowdfunded until the end of the month

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