Category: Comic Publishers

Sarah Gaydos and Oni Press Lion Forge ‘part ways’

James Lucas Jones will step back into the editor-in-chief role as Oni looks for a replacement.

Oni Press Lion Forge Publishing Group editor-in-chief Sarah Gaydos has left the company, according to a post on Oni Press’ Twitter feed.

The tweet says that Gaydos and Oni have “mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately. We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to Sarah for her time, passion, energy, and work during her tenure as Editor in Chief and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

“I’d like to take a minute to thank the entire Oni team, as well as the many incredible creators I had the pleasure of working with,” Gaydos said in the statement. “I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I look forward to what’s next.”

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Peow Studios will close down this year

The small press publisher based in Sweden will publish a few more titles in 2021 before closing down and keep their webstore open through 2022.

Swedish-based Peow Studios has announced plans to shut down operations, the small press publisher said in a statement.

Olle Forsslöf and Patrick Crotty, two of the co-founders of Peow, said they plan to release “a few final books” in 2021, and they’ll leave their webstore open through 2022.

“It’s something that we have been thinking about for a long time, and while at first, saying those words ‘ending Peow’ feels really hard and sad (Peow has been our life the past 10 years, so it’s so strange to ‘break up’), but the more we start thinking about it, the more we have realized it’s the right decision,” they said in the statement. “It’s bittersweet, but we look ahead of us and things are going to be OK.”

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Vault Comics’ Wonderbound imprint reveals its 2022 titles

Vault Comics’ young adult line announces new graphic novels by Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Michael Moreci and more.

Wonderbound, the middle grade/young adult-focused imprint of Vault Comics, has announced their 2022 line-up of graphic novels.

The slate of nine graphic novels includes new work by Agnes Garbowska, Shea Fontana, Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Galaad, Sam Beck, Michael Moreci, Brian Middleton and more. It also includes several sequels to works Wonderbound will publish later this year, when their first graphic novels debut in the fall, like Verse and Wrassle Castle.

“One of our goals with Wonderbound Year 2 was to present a wide range of genre graphic novels for young readers, but what blew me away was how each of these books also showed the depth of what genre stories can be for this age group,” said Wonderbound Managing Editor Rebecca Taylor. “I have laughed loudly and cried openly while watching pages come in on every single one of our 2022 titles. The sincerity and imagination at work in this slate–whether in a story about time traveling knights, orphaned detectives, or maniacal snowmen–is truly stunning, and I cannot wait for young readers to dive in!”

Here’s the complete list:

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DC announces its next Batman event ‘Fear State’

Future State and Infinite Frontier collide in an event that will feature Scarecrow, Jace Fox, Catwoman and more.

DC Comics has announced its next Batman-themed event, Fear State, which will run through several of the Bat titles starting in August.

In its press release, DC said Fear State will be “the launching point for several new series and plotlines across all Batman-family titles, setting a new status quo for 2022.” And one of the tie-in books for the event will star Jace Fox, a.k.a. the Next Batman from DC’s Future State event, as John Ridley returns to write the character following The Next Batman: Second Son.

Here’s a look at all the tie-ins arriving in August:

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Skybound Xpo reveals new comic series, teases ‘Skybound X’

Creators appeared to discuss ‘Rick Grimes 2000,’ ‘Everyday Hero Machine Boy,’ ‘Clementine’ and more.

Robert Kirkman’s Skybound held one of its online Xpo events today, revealing a comic adaption of the video game Trover Saves the Universe as well as some addition details and preview art from the upcoming Skybound X miniseries.

Trover Saves the Universe is a video game created by Justin Roiland, co-creator of the hit cartoon series Rick & Morty. Skybound has enlisted Tess Stone to work with Roiland on the miniseries.

“When Skybound mentioned they were interested in doing a Trover Saves the Universe comic with the help of Tess Stone, I knew it was going to be something of high quality,” said Roiland, who is also CEO and co-founder of Squanch Games. “Important cosmic jobs is such fertile soil for storytelling, and Tess has successfully expanded it beyond the game’s DLC to create a whole new crazy adventure for Trover fans to follow.”

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Vote for the final two in DC’s Round Robin brackets

Four pitches remain in DC’s competition that allows fans to choose their next title.

DC Comics has opened up voting for round three of their Round Robin competition, where fans vote on which comic book concept they’d like to see made and published. They’ve also released preview pages for each of the four concepts to give you a better sense as to what exactly you’re voting for.

The competition started about a month ago, as DC pitted 16 comic book pitches against each other, March Madness style, and let fans vote on the one they wanted to see become a real comic. After two round of voting, they’ve narrowed it down to four pitches:

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‘The Conjuring: The Lover’ headlines a new horror imprint from DC

DC Horror will feature ‘new frightening tales from both well-known and new storytellers that will keep fans spooked and entertained.’

DC has announced they are launching a new horror imprint this summer, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The first title, The Conjuring: The Lover, will kick off in June and ties into the WB film franchise of the same name.

“From early titles like House of Mystery and House of Secrets to current series featuring Swamp Thing and John Constantine: Hellblazer, DC has always been the home of great horror comics and characters,” said Marie Javins, DC editor-in-chief. “DC Horror continues this tradition with new frightening tales from both well-known and new storytellers that will keep fans spooked and entertained.”

Over the years DC has released many comic book adaptations, tie-ins and sequels for various films and television programs in the Warner Bros. library, including Lost Boys, Supernatural and probably more that I’m forgetting. The Conjuring: The Lover is the latest, and like many before it will fill in the gap between the last film and the next film — the upcoming The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

The comic will be written by screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and comics writer Rex Ogle with art by Garry Brown and covers by Bill Sienkiewicz.

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DC reveals the final four in their ‘Round Robin’ brackets

The fans have spoken.

Earlier this month DC kicked off their 2020 Round Robin competition, pitting 16 comic book pitches against each other, March Madness style, and letting fans vote on the one they wanted to see become a real comic.

For round one, they revealed the pitch, but refrained from identifying the creative teams until voting for that round closed. Fans went into round two knowing who would be working on each entry, and here’s how the voting landed:

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DC wants your help in picking its next series

DC shares 16 pitches from real creators and asks fans to choose which one will get made.

DC would like your help picking its next new series, and has launched its own version of “April Madness” called 2021 Round Robin Brackets to help make that happen.

They’ve listed 16 possible future titles and their descriptions, and are asking fans to vote on them in various places –including Instagram, Twitter and the DC Universe Infinity Community message boards, depending on the round. Voting for round one goes through April 7, with plans to reveal the creative teams for each pitch coming as round two starts on April 8.

The pitches range from comics focused on DC’s top characters, like Green Lantern and Superman, to some focusing on lesser-known characters, like Nightrunner, the “Batman of Paris” whose debut was marred by racists back in 2010. There’s also a pitch for Asteria, who is probably best known from her appearance in the most recent Wonder Woman movie.

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AfterShock makes a Seismic shift to YA content

The company launches a new line of young adult comics, starting with ‘Rainbow Bridge’ by Steve Orlando, Steve Foxe and Valentina Brancati.

AfterShock Comics will begin publishing comics aimed at young adults under a new imprint, Seismic Press, starting with Rainbow Bridge by Steve Orlando, Steve Foxe and Valentina Brancati.

“AfterShock’s mission has always been to push readers out of their comfort zones and defy expectations – providing top creators and up-and-coming storytellers with an opportunity to tell the stories they’ve always wanted to tell in the ways they’ve always wanted to tell them,” said Editor-in-Chief Mike Marts. “With Seismic Press, our mission is to apply the same high-quality approach to content, talent selection and presentation but extend it to a much wider audience and demographic.”

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Marvel teams with Penguin Random House Publisher Services as its direct market distributor

Marvel signs an exclusive distribution deal with the publishing house that begins in October.

Marvel has announced a new agreement with Penguin Random House Publisher Services to distribute their comics and graphic novels to the direct market, beginning Oct. 1.

The deal is “an exclusive worldwide multi-year sales and distribution agreement for Marvel’s newly published and backlist comic books, trade collections and graphic novels to comics shops.”

This effectively replaces Diamond Comics Distributors as Marvel’s route to comic book stores. Diamond, however, will still act as a wholesaler and will receive product through Penguin, so retailers can still choose to order Marvel’s products through them.

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Mail Call | Momoko’s ‘Demon Days’ continues in June

Plus: News from BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse and more!

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

The first issue of Peach Momoko’s Demon Days arrived last Wednesday, and Marvel took the opportunity to announce the second issue’s title and focus: Demon Days: Mariko.

Mariko is the former fiancée of Wolverine; she was the daughter of a Yakuza boss and eventually took over his duties before dying back in the early 1990s. The issue will also introduce Nightcrawler and Black Widow into this alternate reality Momoko has created.

“The first issue of Demon Days starts off in feudal Japan with Sai (Psylocke)… but the next issue will be completely different. Different timeline, different characters (even the main character is changing), different tone to the story. But it is still a connecting story,” Momoko said.

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