Category: Comic Books

Dan DiDio + Jim Calafiore revive ‘Defenders of the Earth’ at Mad Cave Studios

The eight-issue series featuring Flash Gordon, the Phantom and more will launch in August.

As part of their revival plans for Flash Gordon, Mad Cave Studios has announced the creative team for Defenders of the Earth, an eight-issue series based on the animated TV show. Former DC Publisher and current Frank Miller Presents publisher Dan DiDio will write the series, with Jim Calafiore of Exiles, Secret Six and Leaving Megalopolis fame on art.

Defenders of the Earth ran for 65 episodes back in the mid-1980s, and featured Flash Gordon teaming up with other King Features comic-strip characters to battle Ming the Merciless. Flash, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Lothar, Mandrake’s assistant, were joined by their children as they, um, defended the Earth.

“As a fan of the original animated series, I was excited by the opportunity to work on this title,” said DiDio. “I’m hoping to build on some of the show’s classic elements and move them in new directions while exploring the personalities and lives of the characters that make the series great. One of the best aspects of the series was finding a way to unite the show’s four disparate, iconic stars following the end of their war with Ming. What sets it apart from other books featuring Flash Gordon, Mandrake, The Phantom, and Lothar is the added generational aspect of the story—that’s the fun part of writing. The father/son relationships of Flash and Rick, and Lothar and LJ; the father/daughter relationship of The Phantom and Jenna; and the mentor/protege relationship of Mandrake and Kshin are really the heart of the story. What makes and breaks these families is key to saving the world from a new and more deadly challenge.”

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Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel + Rod Reis return to the world of ‘C.O.W.L.’

‘C.O.W.L.: 1964′ will launch in August and will tie into Higgins’ larger Massive-verse line of titles.

Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis will reunite 10 years later for C.O.W.L.: 1964, a three-issue miniseries that begins later this summer.

C.O.W.L., which has officially joined the Massive-verse titles overseen by Higgins, first launched in 2014. Set in the 1960s, the comic centers on the Chicago Organized Workers League, the world’s first super-hero labor union, which battled super villains, organized crime and eventually their own faltering public image. The previous series has been collected into two volumes.

“Returning to C.O.W.L. is very special for me,” said Higgins. “The series’ origins date back to my college thesis film, The League, and before that to the short story I wrote that got me into film school. It’s something that’s been with both Alec and myself for a long time. When Alec, Rod and I started this book In 2014, the idea of building it to be a part of a something larger wasn’t something that we thought we would ever be able to do. Now, as we come back to finish the core story, we’ll also be setting the stage for the future of C.O.W.L. and in some ways, The Massive-Verse.”

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John Arcudi + Savannah Finley bring ‘Convert’ to Image Comics

The miniseries kicks off in August.

Veteran comics writer John Arcudi will return this summer with a new miniseries drawn by Savannah Finley. Convert is a science fiction story about a science officer who is stranded on an alien planet, where he’s haunted by his dead crew.

The writer of B.P.R.D., Major Bummer and more said the new series is a “more intimate” approach to science fiction for him.

“Convert was maybe my first opportunity to write a science fiction story the way I wanted to, meaning something more personal, more intimate—while at the the same time more fantastic—than what I’m used to seeing in the genre,” Arcudi said. “My hope is that this human element in the comic will connect with readers.”

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Jacket required: Steve Orlando + friends return to Avengers Mansion for ‘Avengers Assemble’

The second ‘Avengers’ title will feature some old classics and some new faces.

Avengers old and new will assemble under the leadership of Steve Rogers in Avengers Assemble, which launches in September.

Scarlet Witch and The Scale Trade writer Steve Orlando will work with several different artists on the series, including Cory Smith, Scot Eaton, Marcelo Ferreira and more, with Smith drawing the first issue.

As for the premise, it follows the current Avengers storyline that’s running during Blood Hunt, which has Captain America assembling a ragtag team to battle vampires while the primary Avengers team goes up against Blade and his minions. Steve Rogers will also head up this new team, which will include several classic Avengers, like Wonder Man, Hercules, She-Hulk, Hawkeye, Wasp and Photon, along with some more obscure Avengers like Shang Chi and Lightning, plus two new faces to the team — former New Warriors leader Night Thrasher and Power Pack’s Lightspeed.

“This is a great time to assemble!” Orlando shared. “Avengers Assemble is bringing a murderer’s row of classic Avengers back to the Mansion, and classic comics storytelling is coming with it! A team of icons and new recruits alike, but heavy on the icons! And in every issue, a barnburner of an entire story packed into 20 pages!”

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Dark Horse will collect the 2000 miniseries ‘Space Circus’ this December

The hardcover will feature some of the final art colored by Tom Luth, who passed away last month.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a collection of Space Circus by the Groo the Wanderer creative team of Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, Tom Luth and Stan Sakai.

The miniseries was originally released in 2000 but was never collected. Dark Horse will release the 112-page story as a hardcover this December. It features a new cover by Aragones and Luth, which could be the final piece of art that Luth worked on. The longtime colorist of Groo the Wanderer, The Badger, Usagi Yojimbo and more passed away last month from an apparent heart attack, according to Evanier.

“The last thing he colored for Sergio — and I suspect for anyone — was the cover to a forthcoming collection of our 2000 mini-series, Space Circus,” Evanier wrote on his blog in May. “Tom colored the original series back then and he colored a wonderful wrap-around cover that you’ll see on the book when it’s released later this year.”

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Jeph Loeb + Tim Sale’s most beloved Batman story gets a sequel in September

Loeb will team with Eduardo Risso, Klaus Janson and more for ‘The Last Halloween.’

Prior to his death, Tim Sale was working with his frequent collaborator Jeph Loeb on a sequel to their career-defining Batman maxi-series, The Long Halloween. That sequel will continue on, according to DC, who officially announced The Last Halloween at MCM London last month.

Loeb will write the 10-issue series and will be joined by a different artist on each issue, starting with 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso. Klaus Janson, known for his work on books like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil, will draw the second issue, while Mark Chiarello, the former art director for DC, will draw the third issue. They’ll be joined by letterer Richard Starkings, who worked on the original series, and colorist Dave Stewart.

“Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween is Tim Sale’s parting gift to me,” Loeb said. “Tim and I had already decided to tell this last chapter following Batman: The Long Halloween Special, which will serve as the prologue to this 10-part action-packed mystery.”

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He-Man + the Ninja Turtles cross over in September

Find out what chaos occurs when Skeletor teams up with Shredder in ‘Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull.’

Two titans of the toy shelves will collide in September as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Masters of the Universe meet in comic book form for the first time.

I mean, I think it’s the first time? Given how often the Turtles have crossed over with other properties, it seems odd to say that. There have been action figure crossovers in the past, but I believe this is the first time Dark Horse and IDW have brought the two together in comics.

The series’ creative team includes talent from each side, with He-Man scribe Tim Seeley writing the crossover, and Freddie Williams II, who drew the various Turtles’ crossover series with Batman, drawing this one as well. They are joined by colorist Andrew Dalhouse with letters by AndWorld Design

“As inevitable as a meet up between He-Man and the Turtles has felt, it took some time getting done! And now that it’s here, I have a huge pile of newly purchased figures, and a bunch of pages for what is one of the most awesome comics I’ve ever gotten to work on,” said Seeley. “To say Freddie and I approached this Dark Horse series with some screaming-our-heads-off-style enthusiasm is underselling it a bit. I can’t wait until you get to read this.”

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Chip Zdarsky sets up at DSTLRY for a four-book deal

The first miniseries, ‘Time Waits,’ is co-written by David Brothers and features artwork by Marcus To.

Over the past several months we’ve seen DSTLRY roll out miniseries after miniseries from their founding creators, all spinning out of their first anthology, The Devil’s Cut. But with their announcements for August, we’re starting to see them branch out from that list, starting with The Missionary by Ryan Stegman and Jason Howard, and now Time Waits by co-writers Chip Zdarsky and David Brothers, artists Marcus To and Matt Wilson, and letterer Ariana Maher.

TBH I was surprised that Zdarsky was not on the list of DSTLRY’s founding creators, back when they rolled out the new company. Zdarsky worked with founders Chip Mosher and David Steinberger during their time at Comixology, even garnering an Eisner Award for Afterlift, his comic with artist Jason Loo. But this week’s announcement shares that he has a four-book deal with them at DSTLRY.

“I’m really excited to work with the DSTLRY crew again, who helped usher in Afterlift and The All-Nighter over at Comixology,” Zdarsky said in his newsletter. “So excited in fact that this is just the first of FOUR PROJECTS that I’m doing with them! I’ve got an incredible lineup of creators working with me on everything and can’t wait for all of it to be out in the world.”

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Dark Horse returns to ‘Survival Street’ this fall

A second miniseries by James Asmus, Jim Festante, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright and Taylor Esposito begins in September.

Survival Street, the 2022 miniseries that turned the puppets of Sesame Street into freedom fighters, will reload another round this fall.

The original creative team of James Asmus, Jim Festante, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright and Taylor Esposito reunites for Survival Street: The Radical Left, a four-issue miniseries coming from Dark Horse Comics. The satire will feature “battles against A.I., soulless kids’ entertainment, American colonialism and much more.”

“James and I have always been drawn to satire because you can take a really big, really complex issue and use humor to make it accessible,” Festante said. “When it’s not grounded in something you see every day (like anthropomorphic puppets), it’s easier to step back and say, ‘Wow, that’s pretty messed up – how can I address or fix that?’ We wanted people who don’t usually read comics to be excited for Survival Street. I imagine the sets of our little Venn diagram involve an awareness of politics, love of puppets and a desire for catharsis in a world where tech bros pump out AI-driven nonsense for kids whose only goal is to keep little eyes glued to a screen.”

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Ryan Stegman + Jason Howard raise some hell at DSTLRY with ‘The Missionary’

The three-issue series begins in September.

Ryan Stegman’s summer is heating up — in addition to drawing a brand-new X-Men title that’s coming this summer, he’s also writing The Missionary, a new series from DSTLRY featuring artwork by Jason Howard.

The three-issue series is about a down-on-his-luck religious man who decides to accept possession instead of resisting it — forming an unconventional partnership with the demon he’s now sharing a body with.

“Jason and I are having a hell of a time grappling with eternal questions of ethics and spirituality, but we’re also making The Missionary as exciting as possible,” Stegman said. “Jason is doing the work of his career, and I can’t wait for you to see these tortured souls on their missions of damnation.”

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‘The Masked Macher’ hits the ring this fall

Dark Horse enters the squared circle this summer for a new pro wrestling comedy by David A. Goodman, Gonzalo Duarte, Alex Andrés and Mauro Mantella.

Dark Horse Comics will ring the bell for a new pro wrestling comedy series by The Orville executive producer and writer David A. Goodman, co-writer Gonzalo Duarte, artist Alex Andrés and letterer Mauro Mantella. The Masked Macher “showcases the comedic story of a would-be actor entering the very different world of professional wrestling.”

As the cover states, “Macher” is Yiddish for “Big Shot,” or someone who can produce a lot of money. That’s what aspiring actor Tony Hollywood wants to be, but circumstances send him down a different path — to the squared circle.

“The Masked Macher is trying to do a lot,” Goodman said. “First, it’s a comedic portrayal of how people make their way in show business. ‘Macher’ if you don’t know, is Yiddish for ‘big shot,’ which is all Tony wants to be. But the story is also about nostalgia, how we can look back and long for a time that really wasn’t all that pleasant. And on top of all that, we’re trying to make the whole thing funny and exciting.”

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Joe Casey + Sebastián Piriz bring ‘Jonny Quest’ back to comics this summer

Jonny, Race, Hadji, Bandit and more return to comic shops this August.

Although it’s been more than 50 years since it debuted, Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest cartoon still holds a place in the hearts of many fans, thanks to a generous syndication schedule, a 1980s reboot and a popular comic series from Comico. That comic series in particular was a gem, as it featured the work of Doug Wildey, William Messner-Loebs, Wendy Pini, Joe Staton, Steve Rude, Mark Hempel, Dave Stevens, Ernie Colon, Adam Kubert, Ken Steacy and many more.

And now Jonny Quest and the gang return to comics. Dynamite released a taste of what to expect from their new series on Free Comic Book Day, and now they’ve revealed more details on the series itself. It’s written by Joe Casey, writer of Automatic Kafka, Uncanny X-Men, Gødland and so much more, and drawn by Sebastián Piriz, who previously worked on We Ride Titans and Deadweights.

“The hope is that we’re maintaining the bouncy spirit of the original TV show,” Casey said. “From one episode to the next, Jonny Quest always had a particular dramatic rhythm that was completely unique. We want our book to have that same kind of vibe. Plus, the fact that Benton and Jonny are father and son automatically makes this a generational story. We’re taking that angle and really running with it, taking that specific generational aspect to the extreme in ways that, we think, deepen the characters and give them the proper amount of gravitas that we demand from our beloved genre fiction.”

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