Author: JK Parkin

Dark Horse announces updated Code of Conduct, anti-harassment policies

The announcement follows the serious allegations from last year about former Dark Horse staff and freelancers.

Dark Horse Comics has announced updates to their Code of Conduct, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. The statement comes about six months after the latest wave of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations hit in the comics industry, including additional ones against former Dark Horse editor Scott Allie.

Here’s their full statement:

With the help of outside HR Consultant, McGeachy Consulting, Dark Horse leadership has been reflecting, discussing and implementing new and updated policies to ensure the safety, happiness, and well-being of all employees.

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Tim Fox gets an origin story in ‘The Next Batman: Second Son’

One of Future State’s breakout characters will get a Digital First series and a deluxe hardcover later this year.

As Tim Fox battles the Magistrate in Future State: The Next Batman, DC has announced where you’ll be able to see him next — in The Next Batman: Second Son, a DC Digital First series that’ll reveal some of his back story before he put the cape on.

According to DC: Now that the world knows Tim Fox is behind the mask fighting against The Magistrate in Gotham City, what’s the truth behind his origin and his connection to the current DC Universe? Featuring art by Tony Akins (Jack of Fables), Travel Foreman (Animal Man, Birds of Prey) and Mark Morales (Justice League, Deathstroke, REPRESENT!/”It’s A Bird”) this miniseries answers the questions behind Tim’s estrangement from Lucius Fox and the rest of the Fox family and his evolution from man of mystery to Gotham’s newest guardian.

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Jane Foster soars again in ‘The Mighty Valkyries’

The new ongoing series begins in April.

Following Return of the Valkyries, the King in Black tie-in miniseries that’s currently in stores, Jane Foster, aka the former Thor and current Valkyrie, will star in another ongoing series, Marvel has announced.

As the title implies — The Mighty Valkyries — Jane Foster won’t be the only Valkyrie appearing in the series. She’ll be joined by the new Valkyrie, the one who looks more like Tessa Thompson, who debuted in the KiB tie-in.

Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk will re-team as writers on the series, with Mattia de Iulis providing art. (de Iulis designed the new Valkyrie).

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Clowns, kids and Claremont

New comics arrive this week from W. Maxwell Prince, Terry Moore, Chris Claremont, Darick Robertson and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide each week to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

This week brings another wave of both DC’s Future State and King in Black tie-in titles, as well as debuts from Terry Moore and W. Maxwell Prince, as well as tribute comic to Uncanny X-Men scribe Chris Claremont.

Check out a few of our recommendations below, or visit ComicList for this week’s full list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Upcoming ‘Pearls Before Swine’ storyline will feature ‘an attempted presidential coup’

The strips were created before last week’s real-life attempted presidential coup.

Following the attempted insurrection/coup last week, Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis took to Twitter to inform readers that an upcoming storyline in the comic strip will feature “an attempted presidential coup.”

Pastis said the strips were created before the events of last week. They are set to run the week of Jan. 18 — the week of the presidential inauguration.

“They were all created at least a month in advance of yesterday’s events and are not a commentary on them,” he said in the tweet.

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What Are You Reading? | Avengers, Star Trek, Crossovers and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Happy New Year and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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Sunday Comics | New Year’s groove

Check out webcomics from Faith Erin Hicks, Karl Kerschl, John Allison 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.

MF DOOM, aka Daniel Dumile, was a very creative British-American rapper and record producer who wore a mask and named himself after Marvel villain Doctor Doom. He passed away on Oct. 31 of last year, though his death wasn’t reported until the end of December.

Gabe Soria and Dean Haspiel collaborated on a short story some years back that Soria shared on Twitter:

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American Library Association releases annual ‘Great Graphic Novels for Teens’ list

‘Almost American Girl,’ ‘Superman Smashes the Clan,’ ‘The Magic Fish’ and more make this year’s list.

The Young Adult Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, has announced their ‘Great Graphic Novels for Teens’ list for 2021.

The list includes 126 titles, which were chosen from 140 nominations. The books, recommended for teens between 12 and 18, “meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens,” the site says.

In addition YALSA also revealed the narrowed-down top 10 selections for the year, which include:

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Spurrier and Quinn put Nightcrawler at the center of ‘Way of X’

The new X-Men title will explore “the dark mysteries of the X-Men’s new way of life.”

With X of Swords in the back issue bins and the X-titles moving into what they’re calling “Reign of X,” Simon Spurrier and Bob Quinn are preparing for their own arrival on Krakoa. The duo will team up on a new title, Way of X, which features Nightcrawler, Dr. Nemesis, Pixie and Blink, among others, confronting “the dark mysteries of the X-Men’s new way of life.”

“I should probably just tell a lie for the sake of a neat elevator pitch and say that Way of X is a story about the creation of a new mutant religion,” Spurrier told Marvel.com. “But it’s not—not really. That’s kinda where it starts, for sure. Nightcrawler realizes something’s wrong with the hearts and minds of mutantkind and sets out to fix it. But as he quickly discovers, this isn’t a job for priests and prayers… The question is, what do they have to become in order to fight it? Preachers? Cops? Executioners? Or something entirely new?”

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Rest in Peace, Steve Lightle

The comics creator who worked on Legion of Super-Heroes, Classic X-Men, Doom Patrol and more passed away from heart failure today.

Steve Lightle, an artist whose work appeared in Doom Patrol, Legion of Super-Heroes, Marvel Comics Presents and Classic X-Men, passed away this morning. He was 61.

His son, Matthew, posted on Lightle’s Facebook page that his father died of a cardiac arrest. His wife, colorist Marianne Lightle, followed that with a heartbreaking post where she said Lightle had tested positive for COVID, which led to heart failure.

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Baron + Carbonetti open the door on the mystery of Jim Morrison’s death

The new graphic novel from the ‘Paul Is Dead’ team will arrive in June.

Image Comics has announced that the creators of Paul Is Dead, which featured the Beatles, will turn their attention to another 1960s icon for their next graphic novel — Jim Lives: the Mystery of the Lead Singer of The Doors and the 27 Club.

Paolo Baron and Ernesto Carbonetti will reunite for the graphic novel, which is about a father looking for his son — a correspondent for a popular American newspaper — who vanished after sending one last message: “jim morrison isn’t dead, he’s hiding out here in italy, i saw him with my own eyes.”

“I wrote Jim Lives by continuously listening to The Doors vinyl records while I was in the small village where I set the story,” said Baron. “At one point I really saw him. I mean Jim.”

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‘The Marvels’ returns to Marvel’s schedule in April

The new series by Kurt Busiek and Yildiray Cinar will offer ‘a smorgasbord of Marvel heroes and history.’

Marvel has announced that The Marvels, a new series by Kurt Busiek and Yildiray Cinar, will now arrive in April.

The series, which was described as telling “stories that span decades and range from grand adventure to intense human drama, from street-level to cosmic, starring Marvel’s very first heroes to the superstars of tomorrow,” was originally announced last year, but was delayed due to the pandemic.

Alex Ross, who Busiek previously worked with on the Marvels miniseries and Astro City — two projects whose influences seems to live on in this series — will provide the covers.

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