Category: Comic Books

All hail the ‘Birdking’

Daniel Freeman and CROM re-team for a new fantasy graphic novel featuring ‘fire, magic, undead champions, necromancers, skulls and fat swords.’

Raiders creators Daniel Freedman and CROM will soar again at Dark Horse this fall with Birdking, a new graphic novel about a teenage girl and the “mysterious guardian spirit known only as the ‘BirdKing.'”

“When CROM came to me after Raiders with the Birdking, the entire epic unfolded in such an organic way I did not believe it,” Freeman said. “Our collaboration has never been stronger, and while we have thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring this vast and distinct fantasy world, we cannot wait for readers to gain access and bask in the glory that is Birdking.”

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Marvel will relaunch Shang-Chi in July

Writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Marcus To will continue the adventures of Shang-Chi and his family in ‘Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings.’

The current Shang-Chi series by Gene Yang and Marcus To will wrap up with issue #12 in May, but the leader of the Five Weapons Society won’t be gone for long. Marvel has announced that the previously solicited Shang-Chi #13 wll be re-titled and repackaged as Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1 in July.

Yang and To will remain the creative team on the series, which, as the title might have given away, will focus on the Ten Rings seen in the Shang-Chi film last year.

“It’s been such a joy to work with Marcus To over the last couple of months.  He’s a brilliant artist.  His characters are vibrant and full of energy, and he’s so good at fight choreography!” Yang said. “We’re all really excited about the new #1!  And about bringing in ten of the most powerful items ever into the Marvel Universe!”

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Image will release print editions of Tynion + Zdarsky’s Substack comics

Both comics arrive in comic shops in June.

Image Comics has announced plans to publish print versions of two Substack comics — Public Domain by Chip Zdarsky and The Closet by James Tynion IV and Gavin Fullerton.

Zdarsky has been publishing Public Domain via his Substack newsletter almost since the newsletter went live last year, while The Closet debuted just a few weeks ago on Tynion’s Tiny Onion newsletter.

“In June, issue one will hit shelves, and it’ll be an ongoing monthly series (as long as my hand/arm/brain hold out)!” Zdarsky said about Public Domain, which he both writes and draws. “So for those of you who are NOT paid subscribers, you can check it out then and come back here to sign up and find out what happens next!”

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Mind control goes viral in Kaplan + Pearson’s ‘Mindset’

The new Vault Comics series debuts in June.

Vault Comics will publish the “new psychedelic sci-fi thriller” Mindset, written by Zack Kaplan (Eclipse, Port of Earth), drawn and colored by Eisner-winning Blue In Green artist John J. Pearson, lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and designed by Tim Daniel. 

“Mindset is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller about four wide-eyed grad students who discover mind control and put it in an app, and a dark journey that follows, twists and turns, murder and mystery, love and heartbreak through the absurd world of overnight technopreneurs and social media empires,” said Kaplan. “But the series is really about a dilemma I think we all feel today. How do we use devices, social media and apps to connect with each other and feel influential without allowing the technology to influence the very choices we make and thoughts we have? We believe the timing for the story couldn’t be more socially reverent, since we’ve increased our dependency more than ever on technology, but as Silicon Valley tightens its digital grip on our behavior, mind control exists right now.”

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Taboo + B. Earl + Ferreyra team for ‘Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man’

Marvel announces a new Spider-Man series that features the return of the New Mutants’ Demon Bear.

During a virtual event earlier this week celebrating Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary, Marvel announced Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man, a new miniseries by writers Taboo and B. Earl, and artist Juan Ferreyra.

According to Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski, the story will feature the return of the Demon Bear, the malevolent entity first introduced by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz during their stellar run on New Mutants.

“Being the first Indigenous writer to co-write this new Spider-Man comic with my brother B. Earl is a huge step in opening more doors for underrepresented talent to shape universally known comic characters,” Taboo told SYFY WIRE. “As a lifelong fan of everything Spider-Man, this is a childhood dream come true.”

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Stevan Subic will make his DC debut on ‘Riddler: Year One’

The Black Label title by Subic and first-time writer Paul Dano will kick off in October.

Renowned Serbian artist Stevan Subic, who has drawn the likes of Tarzan and Conan and worked with publishers like Soleil, Titan and Delcourt, will make his DC Comics’ debut on the Riddler: Year One, a new Black Label title coming later this year.

“DC Comics has officially unleashed the word & it is traveling around the globe already. Excited to join the flow!” Subic said on Twitter.

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Have a nice summer, X-Men

Marvel announces an ‘X-Men: Hellfire Gala’ one-shot and a prelude issue for the upcoming Judgment Day crossover — keeping the X-Men plenty busy this summer.

Although they left their school in Westchester behind for the sunny shores of Krakoa, the gifted youngsters who make up the X-Men are really going to be longing for a summer break this year. In addition to a starring role in Marvel’s upcoming crossover event “A.X.E. Judgment Day” — with the A.X.E. standing for Avengers, X-Men and Eternals — they’ll also be hosting another Hellfire Gala in June.

Unlike last year’s gala, this year’s won’t run through the full line of X-Men comics. Instead, it’ll be a standalone special by Gerry Duggan, Russell Dauterman, Matteo Lolli, C.F. Villa and Kris Anka that Marvel promises will be “loaded with high-stakes drama, shocking character developments, and of course, showstopping Super Hero fashion.” Also: a new team of X-Men, including the winner of the latest fan vote.

“Last summer your host Emma Frost invited you to celebrate Krakoa with some fireworks. This year, it’s about celebrating mutantdom’s friendship with humanity,” Duggan said. “Once again, we have a murderer’s row of talent crafting a one-shot with revelations that will chart the biggest stories in the Marvel Universe. All that, and meet a new team of X-Men.” 

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Poison Ivy, Tim Drake + more headline DC’s Pride Month titles

DC announces a wave of new titles, reprints and variant covers that will arrive in June featuring LGBTQ+ characters and creators.

DC has announced new projects that will debut in June as a part of Pride Month, including another Pride anthology, a Poison Ivy miniseries, another miniseries featuring Nubia, lots of variant covers and more.

In addition, DC will release Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by writer Jadzia Axelrod and artist Jess Taylor in May, which is a young adult graphic novel about a new character — an alien princess disguised as a human boy. DC will release a preview of the title as part of their 2022 Free Comic Book Day offerings.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect in June:

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DC announces ‘Black Adam’ by Priest + Sandoval

The new series finds the ruthless anti-hero infected with a plague that’s destroying his immortality.

Before launching into his own film later this year, DC’s Black Adam will star in a new comic series by Christopher Priest and Rafa  Sandoval, as the former villain and current Justice League member faces his own mortality.

“Forgive the cliché, but I’ve rarely been this excited about a new project,” Priest said. “DC has provided an amazing opportunity for me to explore and, to some degree, reimagine this character in a very new light while bringing new challenges and consequences to a man who has lived far too long and is desperate for redemption. Rafa Sandoval brings palpable voltage to every panel, bringing out my Kirby-Simonson Big Noise instinct as Rafa’s gifts take me to places I never knew I wanted to go. My only regret is we only have 22 pages a month for this.”

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Paging Scott + Ponce for Dark Horse’s ‘The Ward’

The new supernatural medical drama kicks off in June.

Cavan Scott and Andres Ponce will put a supernatural spin on the medical drama in The Ward, the story of a hospital and its staff that treat minotaurs, ghosts and more.

The four-issue miniseries kicks off in June from Dark Horse Comics.

“I’ve always been fascinated in ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the most incredible of situations, and that certainly describes the indomitable Nat Reeves as she plunges head first into a shift in the world’s only emergency room for supernatural entities,” Scott said. “From murderous minotaur to gelatinous cubes with severe cases of food poisoning, no two patients are alike at St. Lilith’s.”

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Ewing + Rodríguez pit the Defenders against the Beyonder in June

Blue Marvel, Loki, Tigra and more team up to face a Jheri-curled threat from beyond.

Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez will re-team for another Defenders miniseries later this year, titled Defenders: Beyond. The new story will focus on a different set of characters than last year’s miniseries and will feature the return of the cosmic being The Beyonder.

“So in this book, we’re going on a magical journey into the Mystery itself, mapping the Marvel Godhead and bringing back knowledge that ties into what has gone before, some seismic things to come… and if we’re lucky, maybe a little off-the-page magic to feed your hungry head,” Ewing told Marvel.com. “We’ve got an eclectic new crew of Defenders chosen for the task by the final spell of Stephen Strange – I’m saying what’s probably a final goodbye to a lot of stuff from the past 10 years with this one, and for at least one character, this will be the last adventure. Hope you survive the psychedelic experience, pilgrim!”

This new miniseries will star Taaia, the mother of Galactus, who was introduced in the previous series, along with Blue Marvel, America Chavez, Tigra and Loki.

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Jessica Jones teams with herselves in ‘The Variants’

Gail Simone and Phil Noto teams up multiple versions of the cantankerous P.I. from across the universe.

Jessica Jones will meet her match in June, and that match is herself. Herselves? I don’t know if that’s really a word, but Marvel’s favorite super-powered P.I. is getting a new miniseries this summer where she’ll team up with different versions of herself from across the multiverse.

Gail Simone and Phil Noto will team for The Variants, a five-issue miniseries that will have Jones “question everything she thought she knew about her life and her choices.”

“First, let me get this out…when Tom Brevoort offered me this project, I went and re-read all the Jessica stories, from the classic, groundbreaking [Brian Michael] Bendis stories to the more recent and fantastically good Kelly Thompson stories (that you definitely should read!), and they’re just exciting, compelling reads. There isn’t another comics character like her. That was immensely exciting,” Simone told Marvel.com.

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