Author: JK Parkin

Sunday Comics | Ty Templeton, pandemic dogs and Eisner noms

Check out webcomics by Sarak Mirk, Simon Hanselmann, Alec Longstreth and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

We’d like to extend our best wishes to Ty Templeton, who recently revealed he has been diagnosed with stage 3 colo-rectal cancer in his autobiographical webcomic Bun Toons.

“So, I’m going to be having the fuzzy, floppy-eared, FUN kind of Cancer. I’ve decided,” he posted. “I’m not looking for sympathy — my experience of chemo and radiation (so far) has been quite tolerable — and I’m fairly confident I’m coming out the other side of this, alive and hopping, later this year. But I wanted folks informed, so they don’t wonder why I got SUPER-lazy this year, and just stopped drawing Batman Adventures Continue (and why I missed a couple of deadlines late last year too!).”

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‘Snow Angels’ returns from comiXology this Tuesday

Jeff Lemire and Jock return to the ice-covered world explored in the first four issues.

Snow Angels, the excellent comiXology Originals series by Jeff Lemire and Jock about a world covered in ice that came out earlier this year, will return this Tuesday for its “second season.”

On the ice-covered world that serves as the setting of Snow Angels, all the people live inside The Trench, which seems to stretch forever across the world. They live by three rules:

1. YOU MUST NEVER LEAVE THE TRENCH.
2. THE TRENCH PROVIDES.
3. THE TRENCH IS ENDLESS.

They have not only the cold to deal with, but also a legendary monster called The Snowman. The heart of the first arc, though, was the relationship between the three main characters — a father and his two daughters, Milliken and Mae. Also, those three rules? Think of them more as guidelines …

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‘The Dark Ages’ by Taylor + Coello shines in September

The six-issue miniseries will feature the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man and more.

After being teased in one of Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day titles last year, The Dark Ages miniseries by Tom Taylor and Iban Coello will see the light of day in September.

The six-issue series will feature the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Watcher and more, as they fail to stop a huge threat to the Marvel Universe.

“I’m excited to team up with the brilliant Iban Coello on one of the most epic stories I’ve ever been involved in,” Taylor told Marvel.com. “Marvel’s Dark Ages is a story unlike any we’ve told before. And it all begins with the shocking revelation of what the Watcher has been watching for. A danger older than the Earth threatens everything. And for once, the heroes who have saved the planet time and again find themselves almost completely powerless in the face of it. X-Men and Avengers will assemble. Spider-people and the Fantastic Four will come together. Heroes for Hire will fight alongside Champions. But none of it will be enough. The lights are about to go out…forever.”

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DC announces several new projects for September as ‘DC Connect’ goes to print

‘Deathstroke Inc.,’ ‘Titans United,’ ‘Black Manta’ and more arrive from DC in September.

DC Comics has announced that their monthly online preview magazine DC Connect will be available in print starting in September — and in doing so, revealed several new projects slated for that month as well.

As luck would have it, today is also the day DC released their September solicitations, so let’s break down some of these new announcements …

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Nick Spencer’s run on ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ will end with issue #74

The 80-page issue will include artwork by Mark Bagley, Patrick Gleason and more.

Writer Nick Spencer’s final issue of Amazing Spider-Man will be September’s issue #74 — or, if you’re using “legacy” numbering, issue #875.

For his final, 80-page issue, Spencer will work with Patrick Gleason, Mark Bagley, Marcelo Ferreira and other artists who have drawn his run over the last three years. Gleason did the cover art:

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Archie will include new stories with their classic releases starting in September

In addition, expect news on their horror line and other projects next month.

Archie fans will soon get new content in the classic reprints the company regularly release, “in an effort to add extra value and collectibility to Archie’s all-ages offerings in the comic shop market,” according to the publisher.

The publisher will add five-page stories to these release starting in September with Betty & Veronica Friends Forever: Halloween Spooktacular #1.

“That includes both bi-monthly sister series Archie & Friends and Betty & Veronica Friends Forever, as well as our annual Archie Halloween Spectacular and Archie Christmas Spectacular specials,” said Archie Comics Director of Publicity & Social Media Ron Cacace. “We’re keeping these comics priced at $2.99 but adding extra value to them in the form of these all-new stories, which we hope fans will appreciate. We’ll continue to feature recently published stories from our digest line and classic material from our back catalog in these titles, making each issue a perfect assortment of fun Archie Comics reading for people of all ages to enjoy.”

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Samira Ahmed + Andrés Genolet will push Ms. Marvel ‘Beyond the Limit’

The new miniseries will kick of in September and will explore Kamala Khan’s powers.

Marvel has recruited Young Adult author Samira Ahmed to work with Runaways artist Andrés Genolet on a new miniseries starring one of their most popular young adult characters, Ms. Marvel.

Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit will run for five issues, starting in September, and will address questions about “the source of her powers and what that means.”

“For kids of color, Muslim kids, there was literally zero representation when I was growing up,” Ahmed told Entertainment Weekly. “Just the fact that Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman was brunette and from someplace outside America was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ So when Sana and Willow announced Ms. Marvel, I was just so stunned. My heart soars for all the kids who will have Ms. Marvel comics as part of their childhood. For me, what’s cool about her is that she’s a girl like all the other girls. She’s balancing all this stuff: Parental expectations – which I can 100 percent relate to now even in adulthood – plus school, crushes and then this extraordinary side job. I feel so much that that is teen life, where you’re struggling to balance all those things and find your voice and where you fit in.” 

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Joe Ciano + Joshua Hixson explore the monster within in ‘Children of the Woods’

The new horror/mystery graphic novel will arrive from Dark Horse in January.

Joe Ciano and Joshua Hixson will head into the woods for a new horror/mystery graphic novel this January.

Dark Horse will publish Children of the Woods, which the publisher says “will explore the monster within and what is left when that monster finally comes out.” Ciano and Hixson are joined by colorist Roman Stevens and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou on the project.

“Children of the Woods is about the drive that makes people become monsters, whether it’s sparked through tragedy, anger, or just one’s own curiosity,” Ciano said in a statement. “This book is supported by an amazing coloring and lettering team with Roman Stevens and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. We’re thrilled that Children of the Woodshas found a home at Dark Horse. Josh and I always had Dark Horse in mind when we first started development on the book, so this is really special.”

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Tapas taps Jamie S. Rich as its new editor-in-chief

The former DC editor joins the webcomics company next week.

Former DC and Vertigo editor Jamie S. Rich has joined the webcomics juggernaut Tapas as its new editor-in-chief.

“Growing up reading indie and self-published comics in the 1980s, I saw whole new worlds, and I started telling my stories, too,” Rich told The Hollywood Reporter. “These days the realm may be digital, but it’s still comics. It’s still words and pictures, the basic components of modern storytelling. So, the great thing about Tapas is that it provides a platform for new voices, a place for the storytellers coming up now to share their voices. Anything is possible in a comic book.”

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‘Almost American’ tells the real-life story of a former Russian spy

Ron Marz and Marco Castiello will help tell the story of former spy Janosh “Jan” Neumann and his wife as they defected to the United States.

Who’s better to tell a spy story than an actual spy? Almost American, by former Russian spy Janosh “Jan” Neumann, Ron Marz, Marco Castiello, Flavio Dispenza and Rus Wooton, will tells how Neumann and his wife defected to the United States in 2008.

AfterShock Comics will publish the miniseries, which sees Marz and Neumann unite in what Marz called “a beautiful friendship,” noting this was likely the first of several collaborations between the two

“Almost Americans is the real-life story of husband and wife Jan and Victorya Neumann, Russian intelligence operatives who had to flee Russia for their lives, and wound up in America, caught up in the bureaucracy and red tape of the U.S. government,” Marz said.”The story is that much more fascinating because it’s all true. These are real events that happened to real people, and it gives some pretty fascinating insight into the intelligence world works … and doesn’t work.”

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Stellar motorcycle shots: Heroes Reborn roundtable, week 6

Carla, Tom, Shane and JK continue to discuss Marvel’s latest comics event and its tie-in one-shots.

The Smash Pages team is back this week for our sixth Heroes Reborn roundtable, where we break down the latest Marvel crossover issue by issue. This week Shane Bailey, Tom Bondurant, Carla Hoffman and I talk about Heroes Reborn #6, as well as two tie-in issues: Night-Gwen and Squadron Savage.

You can read part one of our roundtable discussions here, part two here, part three here, part four here and part five here.

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Julia Mata’s ‘Crisis!’ coming from D+Q in 2024

Drawn and Quarterly have announced that they’ve acquired the first graphic novel from the New York-based creator.

Drawn and Quarterly has announced that they’ve acquired Julia Mata‘s debut graphic novel, Crisis!, with plans to publish it in 2024.

Mata is one-third of Spicy Mango Comics, along with Daisy Ruiz and Rachelle Hall. They are a New York-based small-press imprint that’s been releasing comics, prints, apparel and other items from all three creators, including Mata’s Crisis! zines.

“Julia’s characters—Dania and Mayra—are complex and layered and filled with possibility. I love watching their friendship come to life in all its realness,” D+Q Senior Editor Tracy Hurren said in a blog post. “Crisis! does one of my favorite things: it captures young women living messy, complicated, busy lives and coming out stronger. It’s fiction at its best.” 

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