Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza + Stephen Mooney bring ‘Free Agents’ to Image Comics

The new “superhero series with a twist” debuts in July.

Two veteran superhero writers will return to the genre with a fun concept. Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza — who, between them, have written X-Men, Justice League, Avengers, Superman, X-Force, Astro City, New Warriors and countless other superheroes — are teaming up with artist Stephen Mooney, colorist Triona Tree Farrell and letterer Tyler Smith for Free Agents.

“It’s a superhero series with a twist,” Busiek said. “The Agents were done. They were retired, and had started building new lives, going to college, making themselves a place here on Earth. And then it all starts coming back.”

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‘Star Wars: Inquisitors’ hunt the Jedi in July

The popular minions of Darth Vader serve the Dark Side this summer, courtesy of Rodney Barnes and Ramon Rosanas.

The Inquisitors — the force-wielding minions of the Empire who hunted the Jedi for Darth Vader — have appeared in comics, on TV and in video games, and are set to star in their own miniseries coming from Marvel this summer.

Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Ramon Rosanas will send the “Redblades” after Tensu Run, a Jedi who survived the purge caused by Order 66 and seeks to rebuild the Jedi Order in that harrowing time between Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope.

“It’s such an honor to be writing the very first Inquisitors solo story,” Barnes told StarWars.com. “I love this time period of Star Wars lore because it’s the one I grew up on — when Darth Vader and the Empire were imposing their will on the entire galaxy. Plus, I got to create an all-new legendary Jedi with Tensu Run! Truly the best of times!”

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Marguerite Bennett + Giuseppe Cafaro reimagine ‘Witchblade’ this summer

Top Cow relaunches the 1990s character with a new origin.

Witchblade, arguably the most well-known creation from Top Cow’s early days, will return this summer in a new series by writer Marguerite Bennett and artist Giuseppe Cafaro.

Along with Witchblade co-creator Marc Silvestri, the duo will reimagine the character’s origin, with “contemporary takes on familiar characters.” Witchblade first debuted in 1995 and was created by Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin and Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner. This new series has Sara Pezzini back as the wielder of the Witchblade gauntlet, after a 2017 series cast journalist Alex Underwood as the Witchblade.

“The ability to tell a story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible,” said Bennett. “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.” 

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Crowdpuncher | Comics Are Dying, Vampires on Mars, Tanga + more

Check out crowdfunding campaigns you can support by Louis Southard, Kevin Maguire, Oliver Mertz and Alex Diotto, and more.

Welcome to Crowdpuncher, where we round up cool comics crowdfunding campaigns. If you’re looking to biy from or support a creator directly, you’ve come to the right place.

If there are two axioms about comics that you hear over and over, it’s that they’ll break your heart and that they’re dying. Writer Louis Southard is taking one of those axioms and running with it in the anthology Comics Are Dying: The Comic.

For the better part of a century, people have said that comic books are dying. Crisis after crisis, the comic book industry has survived and lives to this day. So, to celebrate its harrowing journey into the 21st century, a satirical OGN about the history of comic books has taken shape. Introducing the ironically named Comics Are Dying: The Comic – a brief history and celebration of the comic book industry!

Southard has written 100 single-page stories about the comics industry that are being drawn by artists like Roger Langridge, Jacob Edgar, Beetle Moses, Ben Matsuya, Andrew Farago, Angela Wu and more.

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Kaare Andrews returns to Spider-Man for a ‘Reign’ sequel

‘The most infamous Spider-Man story ever told’ will continue in a five-issue miniseries this summer.

It’s been almost two decades since Kaare Andrews’ Spider-Man: Reign imagined an authoritarian future New York where an elderly Peter Parker put his mask back on to stand up to an evil mayor and his jackboot police force. Andrews and Marvel will return to that world this summer in Spider-Man: Reign 2.

“I never imagined that I would ever be creating a sequel to a comic series from so long ago, my first major work in comics,” Andrews said. “Nor did I anticipate that a four-issue miniseries would continue to vibrate in the public consciousness today. But without fail, Spider-Man: Reign is mentioned in articles, lists and social media posts.”

The four-issue miniseries had many controversial moments, causing fans to either love or hate it. In the series, Mary Jane had died from cancer after exposure to Peter Parker’s radioactive semen over the years. But it also gave the Hypno-Hustler a prominent role, so it wasn’t all bad.

“Many call it the most infamous Spider-Man story ever told. But for me, what’s kept it relevant is the love behind creating that book,” Andrews said. “This is the character I grew up with, the one that taught me how to be a man, how to live with failure and keep standing back up, the unrelenting force of trying to make things better.”

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Old rivals + new attractions strike in ‘Fence Challengers: Long Shot’

The popular BOOM! Box series returns from C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad.

The award-winning team of C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad are back with another volume of Fence, their comic series about an aspiring fencing champion published by BOOM! Studios’ BOOM! Box imprint.

Fence Challengers: Long Shot will debut in July, and follows the original 12-issue series that ran in 2017-2018, two subsequent graphic novels and the miniseries Fence: Redemption, which was released last year.

“The State championship begins,” Pacat said. “Everything the boys of Fence have fought for is on the line. Get ready for some epic showdowns–this is my favorite volume yet!”

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‘Older, grittier’ Avengers will face off with the Xenomorphs in ‘Aliens Vs. Avengers’

Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić will bring the two Disney properties together in a four-issue miniseries.

“Game over, Iron Man, Game over.” Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić will introduce a new take on the Avengers to battle the Xenomorphs from Aliens in a new miniseries coming this summer.

Aliens Vs. Avengers, or “AVA,” as the cover suggests, will be set in a new timeline many years in the future. As the Xenomorphs make landfall on Earth, they’ll find a grittier version of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes ready and waiting.

“Probably one of the coolest things about the project is how we’ve found really fun ways to ‘Avengerize’ Aliens and ‘alien-up’ Avengers,” Hickman told Entertainment Weekly. “I think fans will be surprised at how elegantly some of those things fit together. It really turned out to be a chocolate-and-peanut-butter situation.”

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Nominees announced for the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame class of 2024

The final inductees will be announced during a ceremony at Comic-Con International in July.

Comic-Con International has announced  16 nominees for this year’s Eisner Awards Hall of Fame, from which voters will choose the final four inductees.

The 16 nominees are Gus Arriola, Eddie Campbell, Mike Friedrich, Don Heck, Klaus Janson, Abe Kanegson, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Tom Palmer, Bob Powell, Mike Royer, Ira Schnapp, Phil Seuling, Leonard Starr, Jill Thompson and Angelo Torres.

Voting will be conducted online among comic book creators, retailers and other industry personnel. You can find more details on the CCI website.

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‘Absolute Power’ corrupts absolutely in DC’s July titles

Amanda Waller and friends have big plans for DC’s heroes and villains.

DC has revealed more details about their upcoming Absolute Power crossover series, including a companion series titled Absolute Power: Task Force VII and Absolute Power: Origins, which will tell the “definitive history” of Amanda Waller.

These follow the Free Comic Book Day issue in May and the prelude issue that comes out in June that we learned about earlier this year.

The press release also gives some information on Amanda Waller and the Trinity of Evil‘s plans — using Failsafe, Brainiac Queen and Amazo to capture the super powers of every superhero and villain on Earth. As a squad of Amazo robots captures the powers of DC’s mightiest heroes, leaving them powerless, a “league” of resistors led by Batman starts to form. Each issue of Absolute Power: Task Force VII will be by a different creative team and will be focused on a different Amazo who has stolen someone’s powers, including Last Son (Superman), Depth Charge (Aquaman) and Jadestone (Green Lantern).

You can find more details on Absolute Power and the tie-ins below.

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Father battles son in this summer’s ‘Venom War’ by Al Ewing + Iban Coello

Thanksgiving at the Brock household is going to suck this year.

Eddie Brock and his son Dylan have shared the name “Venom” since Al Ewing took over the title back in 2021, but glimpses of the future have shown both of them that there can be only one. So, in the mighty Marvel manner, father and son will sit down at the kitchen table and talk it out …

Not really! Get ready for Venom War, a five-issue miniseries that will see the two face off for the mantle of Venom, with plenty of other symbiotic heroes getting caught in the crossfire. Artist Iban Coello joins Ewing for the August-debuting title.

“This is what we’ve been building to since the start of this wild and way-out symbiote odyssey—the fateful confrontation between father and son,” Ewing said. “Where better to have it than inside the squared circle? And who better to bring this all-action epic to the page with than my old buddy Iban Coello? I’m tellin’ ya, goo believer—this is vehemently varied Venom violence like never viewed, and only one host can wear the symbiote when the dust settles! Who’s it gonna be?”

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2099 goes cosmic this summer in ‘Annihilation 2099’

Steve Orlando and a host of artists will introduce 2099 versions of Nova, Starlord, Silver Surfer and more.

Writer Steve Orlando has slowly been expanding the scope of the 2099 universe over the past few years, introducing new characters and new takes on the alternate Marvel universe. This summer that scope expands to the cosmos in Annihilation 2099, a five-issue miniseries that will introduce some new, but familiar faces.

“2099 is back and it’s going cosmic!” Orlando said. “Annihilation 2099 has been the best kind of challenge—bringing even more cosmic into Marvel’s iconic cyberpunk line, and keeping it all fresh, provocative and surprising.”

Orlando will work with a different artist on each issue, including Ibraim Roberson, José Luis, Pete Woods, Ario Anindito and Dale Eaglesham. Nick Bradshaw supplies the cover to each issue, which will spotlight 2099 versions of everyone from Nova to Silver Surfer.

Here are more details from Marvel.com:

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Rainbow Rowell makes her DC debut this summer on a Lois Lane story

Rowell will team with artist Cian Tormey for a ‘love story that is also a newsroom story.’

Novelist and Sensational She-Hulk writer Rainbow Rowell will make her DC Comics debut this summer on a Lois Lane back-up story appearing in Action Comics #1067-1069.

The story, drawn by Cian Tormey, is both a love story and a newsroom story.

“As a former newspaper reporter, I’ve always had a soft spot for Daily Planet stories,” Rowell said. “I love that Clark Kent is Superman and also a working journalist—and that it isn’t just dusty backstory. It’s a real facet of his character. I love that Clark met Lois in the newsroom, and that they still work there together. (This is so realistic, I swear.) I really like it when comic book romances last…There’s a lot of story to tell after two people say yes to each other. So—even though I was a little nervous about diving into the DC Universe—I couldn’t resist the chance to write a love story that is also a newsroom story, and still a superhero story.”

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