‘Lumberjanes’ to end in December

‘Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1’ wraps up the series, with the promise of ‘new adventures’ to come.

BOOM! Studios has announced that their award-winning BOOM! Box series, Lumberjanes, will wrap up in December with Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1.

The oversized issue is by from cartoonist Kat Leyh, co-writer and co-creator Shannon Watters, artists Kanesha C. Bryant and Alexa Bosy, as well as returning co-creator and series artist Brooklyn Allen.

In the special — which follows November issue #75, which I guess is technically the last issue of the ongoing series — “the brave campers and counselors of Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types are in the fight of their lives against the mysterious force known as the Grey. Molly has discovered a deep and ancient forest magic which she hopes to use to protect her friends and the home they’ve all found at camp. But will she be strong enough to save everyone in the camp and the forest? Or is the all-encompassing, all-erasing Grey just too powerful for anyone to stop?”

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The Justice League at 60, Part 8: Fantasy Drafts

In this edition, Tom Bondurant dives into the “Crisis Cycle” era that defined the Justice League before the New 52 kicked in.

For a series which only lasted five years, there’s a lot to talk about with regard to Justice League of America volume 2. Much of this involves events outside the series, both in DC’s other comics and with the people producing them. Meanwhile, the “comics blogosphere” came into its own, intensifying fan scrutiny and offering real-time commentary on controversies. This post won’t go too deeply into all that extratextual drama; but rest assured it was there, and it crept inevitably into the work.

With that said, let’s get started.

The Legends miniseries begat Justice League International and the Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare miniseries begat JLA. The 2006-2011 Justice League of America similarly traced its roots to 2004’s Identity Crisis, written by novelist Brad Meltzer, pencilled by Rags Morales and inked by Michael Bair. Featuring the murder of a superhero’s spouse and reaching back into the League’s hidden history, Identity Crisis kicked off a “Crisis cycle” that churned through DC books for the next several years.

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Mail Call | Fantastic Four take a ‘Road Trip’ in December

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Image and more.

Fresh from saving the Earth from being destroyed by the sun in Empyre, the Fantastic Four will get a much-needed vacation in a one-shot by new Iron Man scribe Christopher Cantwell and artist Filipe Andrade. It’s titled Fantastic Four: Road Trip, and it features family fun, a station wagon … and a Reed Richards experiment gone wrong.

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DC FanDome: Reaction + news round-up

Although there weren’t any big comics announcements during the second day of DC FanDome, the company did reveal a few small tidbits.

This weekend DC presented the second round of their DC FanDome event, which featured pre-recorded virtual panels on their comics, movies, TV shows, video games and much more.

Although some viewers complained of technical issues when everything went online on Saturday morning, the event this time was much smoother and easier to absorb than the first day of the event, which took place back in August. For that one, everything was streamed on a continuous loop, which made it difficult to figure out when certain panels were going live — and if you didn’t have eight hours to dedicate to watching it, you were going to miss something.

This time around everything was posted on-demand style, so you could easily pick and choose what you wanted to see. If you just wanted to see the comics panels, you could pull those up and watch them without having to sit through a panel on the Flash TV show, for instance. Across five different channels, they had a LOT of content, and like before, it was only up for 24 hours. Which is a bummer — if you missed it, it’s gone, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. They could easily put at least some of it up on their YouTube channel.

If you did miss FanDome, here’s a round-up of some of the comic news that came out of the event.

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DC resurrects ‘Batman: Black and White’

The anthology series spotlighting the Dark Knight returns in December.

DC has announced the return of Batman: Black and White, the popular series from the 1990s that featured rotating creators telling stories about Batman, his friends and his foes — all in black and white.

This new iteration will be a six-issue, prestige-format, $5.99 miniseries with an impressive lineup of creators on tap to produce colorless tales of the Dark Knight.

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Eynd of Empyre

Carla Hoffman looks back at Marvel’s Empyre, both as a game-changing “event book” and from a story perspective.

With the world in flux, we can at least count on a major summer event to remain a constant for comic fans. Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night will keep our Big Two from their appointed rounds of throwing their entire universe (or multiverse, as the case may be) into flux to determine the definitive path for their respective companies. At least until next year.

Let’s look at this year’s Empyre by Dan Slott, Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti, and see if a comic can rock our world harder than real life already has. WARNING: spoilers ahead for the basics of the main Empyre series, so if you’ve read all six issues, grab your comics and read along!

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The Justice League at 60, Part 7: Pantheon

With the team’s first appearance arriving in December of 1959, Tom Bondurant looks back at the different eras that have defined the Justice League over the last 60 years. This time around: JLA!

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four, part five and part six of this series!

Throughout the 1960s, Justice League of America was the standard-bearer for DC Comics’ superhero teams. In the 1970s, the series boasted an expanded roster and solid, steady Dick Dillin art. The 1980s brought sweeping, lasting changes, from Detroit to the JLI; and the early ’90s turned the League into a franchise. Still, was any of that ever really cool?

I can’t tell you for sure, but I can say this: starting in the summer of 1996, the Justice League was cool enough for Wizard. The breathless self-appointed arbiter of mainstream superhero comics’ cutting edge was all over JLA in the series’ early years, including a 1997 special issue devoted entirely to the title. It was a super-high concept executed by Grant Morrison, one of the era’s hottest writers. Of course Wizard was going to notice.

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The Justice League at 60, Part 6: Globetrotters

Take a look back at the “International” era of the Justice League that brought new faces, more titles and lots of laughs to the team.

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five of this series.

Folks, we’ve got a lot to get through today, so I’m going to give it to you straight: Some of this stuff was just a mess. Much of it was good and some of that was great. Some of it we can look at as “the ’90s.” However, some of it was, again, just a mess. I’m going to start in the middle and end with the beginning, so we can go out on a not-so-bad note.

Now then: Among the random bits of weirdness in this extended Justice League International period of 1986-1996 are the not-insignificant contributions of Slave Labor Graphics publisher Dan Vado. Starting in Early August 1993 (after Dan Jurgens left), he wrote 14 issues of Justice League America and then wrote the first 8 issues of Extreme Justice. Vado and his artistic collaborators Mike Collins, Kevin West and Marc Campos presided over a two-year stretch of League history, which threatens to be overlooked between the Jurgens and Gerard Jones/Chuck Wojtkiewicz runs.

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Cornell + Cantirino team up for ‘I Walk With Monsters’

The horror series from Vault Comics will launch in November.

Comics writer and author Paul Cornell will make his “comeback” to comics with a new series from Vault Comics, I Walk With Monsters. Cornell will work with artist Sally Cantirino, and colorist Dearbhla Kelly on the title.

“This is a hugely important project for me, both in terms of how personal it is, and how much of a comeback to comics it is,” Cornell said on his blog. “It’s the story of a young woman and her friend who can be a monster, going hunting. I think it’s my best work in the medium, my attempt to create horror that comes from a real place, with lots of heart and character. To see the pages come alive with such glorious artwork has been an absolute joy.”

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Marvel announces projects celebrating Indigenous history

‘Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices’ will feature Indigenous talent making their Marvel Comics’ debut.

November is National Native American History Month here in the United States, and Marvel has announced two projects that “celebrate Indigenous history.”

The first, Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1, is an anthology of stories by Jeffrey Veregge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Weshoyot Alvitre, Darcie Little Badger, Kyle Charles, Stephen Graham Jones and David Cutler, telling stories featuring Dani ‘Mirage’ Moonstar, Echo and more.

“C.B. [Cebulski] and I started talking about various Native projects a year ago when discussing my ‘Of God’s & Heroes’ Marvel art exhibit at the Smithsonian. I am truly grateful for the platform that Marvel has not only provided for me and my work, but with this edition of Marvel Voices, all of Native America,” Veregge said. “This is an opportunity to share the cultural influences that we as Native artists and writers grew up with that will add more depth and dimension to the Native Heroes in the Marvel Universe.”

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DC reveals some of their Milestone plans at FanDome

New comics featuring Static, Icon, Rocket and more return next year.

During today’s FanDome event, DC’s “surprise” comics panel focused on Milestone Media, as Denys Cowan, Reggie Hudlin, Phil LaMarr, Jim Lee and moderator Marc Bernardin discussed the imprint’s past and future.

At the panel, they confirmed:

  • A new Static Shock original graphic novel by Hudlin and artist Kyle Baker.
  • A new Static Digital First series by an unnamed creative team.
  • New Icon and Rocket by Hudlin and Cowan.
  • The re-release of classic Milestone comics on comiXology and other digital platforms, starting in September.
  • On day two of FanDome, coming up in September, they will release Milestone Returns #0, a 17-page sampler, that you can read for 24 hours online. Written by Hudlin with Greg Pak and cover by Denys Cowan and Chris Sotomayor, the sampler will introduce and re-introduce fans to Milestone characters such as Static Shock, Icon, Rocket, Duo and others. The sampler features art by Cowan, Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, Khoi Pham, Scott Hanna, Bill Sienkiewicz, Don Ho, Alex Sinclair and Deron Bennett.
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DC announces new Batman miniseries by Ridley + Derington

New series kicks off in January.

At the big DC FanDome online event today, DC officially announced a new Batman miniseries by 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley and Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington. The four-issue miniseries will debut in January 2021.

According to the panel, the series will feature a version of the Caped Crusader different from what many fans know.

“I think it’s a pretty safe bet that if I’m writing Batman, it’s probably a little better than a 47% chance he’s going to be a person of color,” Ridley said during the Legacy of the Bat panel.

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