Category: Creators

Jamal Igle illustrates the fight for racial equality in a mural in Milwaukee

The mural “merges the historical and the present fight for racial equity and fair housing through peaceful protest and voter participation.”

Jamal Igle, who you would know from such comics as Molly Danger, The Wrong Earth and Black, has drawn the artwork for a mural that’s been put up on buildings in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.

Igle created the mural in conjunction with the organization March For Our Lives WI, and it “merges the historical and the present fight for racial equity and fair housing through peaceful protest and voter participation,” Igle said on Twitter.

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Chris Schweizer shares an unfinished ‘Crogan’s Escape’

The Crogan Adventures creator posts a PDF version of the fourth book to his Patreon, saying it’ll never be finished.

Chris Schweizer, creator of the Crogan Adventures series of graphic novels that were published by Oni Press, has shared an unfinished version of a planned fourth volume on his Patreon.

“It’s not finished, and it’s not going to be finished, but I thought that I would put together a digital book sharing what I have: a finished version of an unfinished book,” Schweizer wrote about Crogan’s Escape. “It’s got (almost) finished pages, pencils, roughs and synopses, enough to get a sense of the overall book, as well as a few design bits and an introduction to contextualize the whole thing.”

Crogan’s Escape would have followed Crogan’s Vengeance, Crogan’s March and Crogan’s Loyalty, which were published between 2008 and 2012. Each volume focused on a different member of the Crogan family tree — which is filled with pirates, legionnaires, gunfighters, private eyes, flying aces, lion tamers and more. The first volume starred “Catfoot” Crogan, a sailor turned pirate, while this unfinished fourth volume starred Daniel Crogan and is set in 1920s China.

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James Tynion IV launches a new horror magazine

‘Razorblades’ features comics, prose and artwork by a variety of contributors.

Batman writer James Tynion IV has launched not only a new webstore, but also a horror magazine containing comics and prose. Tynion is curating the stories with Steve Foxe, and also contributing some work of his own.

The magazine includes two new comics by Tynion: “Washing Machine” with artist Andy Belanger and a preview of “The Adventures of Killboy” with artist Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, which Tynion says he plans to serialize in the future. Other contributors include Sam Johns, DaNi, Michael Dialynas, Marguerite Bennett, Werther Dell’Edera, Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, Michael Walsh, and more.

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Rep. John Lewis, Civil Rights icon, passes away

Lewis told the story of the Civil Rights era in the graphic novel trilogy ‘March.’

John Lewis, the Civil Rights icon who marched for racial equality in the 1960s and served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1987, passed away today at the age of 80. Lewis had been fighting stage IV pancreatic cancer since December.

The congressman from Georgia was one of the original Freedom Riders and stood against racism, desegregation and discrimination his entire life — both in the streets and then later in Congress.

He helped organize, and spoke at, the famous 1963 March on Washington, and was arrested, jailed and beaten for challenging Jim Crow laws throughout the South. He was the last surviving member of the “Big Six” Civil Rights leaders, a group that included Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young.

He was also an award-winning graphic novel writer.

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Rest in peace, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

The legendary Marvel inker/artist passes away at the age of 93.

Joe Sinnott, the inker whose work helped define much of Marvel’s line from the 1960s into the 1980s, passed away this week, as reported by his family on Facebook.

“It with great sorrow that we must announce the passing of Joltin’ Joe Sinnott on June 25th at 8:40am at the age of 93,” the Facebook post says. “He went peacefully with the knowledge that his family, friends, and fans adored him. He enjoyed life and was drawing up until the end. He always loved hearing from all of you and having your comments read to him. Each and every one of you were special to him.”

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Al Jaffee’s MAD retirement

Alex Dueben reflects on the career and legacy of Al Jaffee, ‘one of the great living cartoonists.’

Last week saw the release of MAD Magazine #14, a special issue which marked the retirement of Al Jaffee. 

For a long time, Jaffee has been one of the great living cartoonists. He’s the recipient of many awards, including the Reuben Award and the Eisner Award. His career stretches back to 1942, and in that time, Jaffee has worked for Esquire and Playboy, and he was a longtime artist, writer and editor at Timely, where he worked on Patsy Walker and created comics like Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal. He contributed to Harvey Kurtzman’s acclaimed but short-lived publications Trump and Humbug. From 1957-1963, Jaffee made the syndicated strip Tall Tales, a collection of which was published by Abrams in 2008. 

He is, however, best known as one of the people synonymous with MAD Magazine.

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Warren Ellis story pulled from upcoming ‘Dark Knights: Death Metal’ anthology title

‘Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1’ will instead include a story by Marguerite Bennett and Jamal Igle.

Following the sexual misconduct accusations by many, many women against Warren Ellis that came to light this past week, DC Comics sent an update to retailers yesterday on the contents of Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1, which was originally intended to include a story by Warren Ellis and Jim Cheung, focused on the T-Rex Batman we saw in the first issue of Dark Knights: Death Metal. I was pretty excited about it when it was announced, but now? No.

DC will replace that story with one by Marguerite Bennett and Jamal Igle, according to comics retailer Ryan Higgins:

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Warren Ellis accused of sexual misconduct; Ellis responds

The writer was accused of predatory behavior by many women on social media this week.

Following the accusations against Cameron Stewart that were posted by many women on Twitter this week, others began sharing stories about another creator, writer Warren Ellis, on social media, including musician Meredith Yayanos, writer and editor Katie West and photographer Jayne Holmes, among others.

Multiversity Comics has rounded up several of the accusations. West’s initial tweets were the first to mention Ellis, and she would later delete them. But after other women came forward, West posted:

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Denny O’Neil passes away at 81

The prolific writer, editor and teacher died from natural causes June 11.

Writer, editor and teacher Denny O’Neil has passed away at the age of 81. According to Newsarama, O’Neil died of natural causes in his home last night.

O’Neil was one of the most prolific writers of Batman, having written more than 200 issues featuring the character. His work appeared in Batman, Detective Comics and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. In the 1970s, he was credited with bringing Batman back to his darker roots, following the campy Batman TV show of the 1960s. He co-created Ra’s al Ghul, Talia al Ghul, Leslie Thompkins and Azrael, and also edited the Batman titles from 1986 through 2000.

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Reading for Revolution: Black comics, Black lives

On Blackout Tuesday, take a look at eight graphic novels that explore the issues of police brutality, the experiences of Black people and working toward change.

It’s Blackout Tuesday, and we’re centering Black creators with a short list of comics and graphic novels that explore issues of police brutality, the experiences of Black people, and how to work toward structural change. To find more Black creators, follow the #drawingwhileblack hashtag on Twitter and check out Sheena Howard’s Encyclopedia of Black Comics (full disclosure: I was a contributor).

Read. Learn. Then go out and change the world.

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‘Quarantine Coloring Book’ shares an as-yet unproduced Gerard Way project

The writer and singer shares a piece called ‘Pink Station Zero’ that could still become a comic some day.

Gerard Way has shared what’s described as “a character study he did for a comic that may come to life one day” on the site for an online coloring book he started with Sara Taylor of the musical duo Youth Code.

The Quarantine Coloring Book was started by Way and Taylor last month to offer free downloadable coloring pages for people to enjoy during the pandemic. They’re also raising money for the First Responders Children’s Foundation. The art for the project has come from comic artists like Becky Cloonan, Mike Allred and Gabriel Ba; musicians like Frank Iero and Jordan Buckley; and many others.

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Rest in peace, Martin Pasko

After a career that spanned comics, TV and animation, the writer/editor passed away at 65.

Martin “Marty” Pasko, a writer and editor whose career span decades, has passed away at the age of 65, multiple sources have reported, including his friends and colleagues Paul Levitz and Mark Evanier.

During his long career, Pasko worked in many creative and editorial capacities, with much of his career spent in the comics industry and animation. His love for comics, though, started before that, as a fan and frequent contributor to letter columns.

“Marty connected with comics originally as a letterhack, with Julie Schwartz pinning the label ‘Pesky’ Pasko on him,” Levitz said on Facebook. “Whether commenting on the latest comic he read, the events of the day in politics, creative theory, or just making conversation, Marty had one of the sharpest wits of our generation, and opinions…oy, did he have opinions. I learned from him, learned by arguing with him, and took joy in ample helpings with the hamburgers or Chinese food we shared over the decades.”

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