Category: Events

DC FanDome returns Oct. 16

The event will once again showcase DC’s comics, movies, TV series and more.

As announced back in May, DC FanDome will return on Oct. 16 with another day filled with movie trailers, TV previews, video game reveals, comic panels and more

Last year’s event was spread across two days, but this year so far DC has only announced content for Oct. 16. Last year’s event was also a lot of fun, bringing announcements and teasers about the Milestone relaunch, The Next Batman, the Rorschach series and more. This year’s agenda looks to be equally as packed.

On the comics side, DC will spotlight their plans for Wonder Woman, specifically the upcoming titles Wonder Woman Historia, Nubia and the Amazons and Wonderful Women of the World. They also will share more details on the Batman/Fortnite comic crossover sequel, and talk about the upcoming Batman: Fear State, Black Manta, the Milestone Universe and more.

Take a look below for the full line-up of what’s announced; no doubt there will be some surprises and breaking news as well:

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DC announces Batman, Suicide Squad and more for Free Comic Book Day 2021

A ‘Fear State’ tie-in, a King Shark story and two previews aimed at younger readers highlight DC’s line-up this year.

DC Comics has announced their plans for this year’s Free Comic Book Day, revealing the four titles they plan to have available on Aug. 14.

The event is run by Diamond Comics Distributors, which DC stopped using last year as they migrated to Lunar Distribution. While Diamond won’t provide DC’s comics to retailers, they did say DC was more than welcome to participate.

Here are the four DC titles you can look for in August, which include a preview of the Batman event “Fear State” and a tie-in to the second Suicide Squad film:

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2021 Free Comic Book Day will include 50 free comics

Silver titles for this year include Star Wars, The Boys, Sonic the Hedgehog, Avengers/Spider-Man and more.

Diamond has revealed the additional “silver level” titles that retailers can order for Free Comic Book Day this year, which will take place Aug. 14. With the gold titles that were announced yesterday, that brings the number to 50 titles.

The line-up of silver titles includes several recognizable names, including Star Wars, Zorro, The Boys, Judge Dredd, the Smurfs and R.L. Stine, just to name a few. No DC books are included on the list, though they have indicated plans to participate. Also, while Marvel hasn’t revealed much about the contents or even the covers for their gold and silver titles, they did reveal that the gold title will feature Hulk and Avengers, while the silver title will feature Spider-Man and Venom.

Here’s a look at all the silver titles:

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Star Wars, Blade Runner, InvestiGators among the 2021 Free Comic Book Day gold sponsor comics

This year’s Free Comic Book Day on Aug. 14 will include titles from Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Titan and more.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced the 12 gold sponsor titles that retailers will offer on Free Comic Book Day this year. This year’s event will take place Aug. 14.

“This year’s lineup of titles has something for every kind of comic fan,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “We can’t wait to once again share the FCBD experience with fans, especially on our landmark 20th anniversary! We hope fans will safely visit their local comic shops to celebrate and to pick up a few of the great titles available this year.”

Missing from the list is DC Comics, who no longer use Diamond to distribute comics to U.S. retailers. DC has indicated their plans to participate, however.

The titles were curated by more than 20 comic shop retailers who make up the FCBD Selection Committee. The Gold Sponsor titles come from Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Archie Comics, BOOM! Studios, Macmillan/First Second Books, Penguin Workshop, AfterShock Comics, Titan Comics, TOKYOPOP and VIZ Media.

This year’s gold sponsor books are:

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Diamond announces date for Free Comic Book Day 2021

Mark your calendar for Aug. 14 and cross your fingers.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced that Free Comic Book Day will return in 2021 on Aug. 14. While FCBD has traditionally been held in May in the past, the release notes that it’s being moved to August “in the hopes that much of the uncertainty and disruption related to COVID-19 will have passed.”

The 2021 event will be the 20th time local comic shops will host Free Comic Book Day. The idea was conceived by Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, California.

“I am so happy to be making this announcement today and so proud of our work with retailers and vendors these last 20 years to bring more awareness to the comic books we all love,” said Steve Geppi, President, Chairman & CEO of Geppi Family Enterprises. “In the past two decades, fans have experienced some truly remarkable Free Comic Book Day events because of the commitment of our partners to create an incredible celebration of comics. It’s such an energizing day and we look forward to making our 20th anniversary celebration the best one yet!”

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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 splits ‘FanDome’ event in two

Much of the planned content has moved to Sept. 12.

DC’s upcoming FanDome virtual event will now take place over two separate days, the publisher announced.

The bigger panels for upcoming movies and other properties, which are billed as “Hall of Heroes” panels, will take place this Saturday as planned. They will encompass eight hours of content and include the Wonder Woman 1984 movie panel, the Jim Lee portfolio review and the video game announcement that Montreal Games has planned, among others. Each panel will be replayed three times during the 24-hour period.

All of the other content, which will be “100 hours of on-demand content,” will now take place Sept. 12.

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Free Comic Book Day postponed

The annual event will occur later in the summer.

Diamond Comic Distributors has announced that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Free Comic Book Day will be postponed “to a later date in the summer.” FCBD 2020 was originally scheduled for May 2.

“The severity and timing of the impact of the COVID-19 virus can’t be predicted with any certainty, but the safety of our retailer partners and comic book fans is too important to risk. As always, we appreciate your enthusiasm for and support of the comic industry’s best event and look forward to celebrating with you later in the Summer,” said Diamond Founder and CEO, Steve Geppi.

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Staying home this weekend? Stream these comic-related events

In the wake of Emerald City Comic Con being postponed due to the coronavirus, there’s a lot going on online this weekend you can take part in.

While the coronavirus pandemic is causing event cancellations across many — heck, every — industry, one of the first events in the comics sphere to face the tough decision about whether to cancel or postpone was the Emerald City Comic Con, which was scheduled for this coming weekend in Seattle. ECCC was official postponed last week, with plans to pick a new date this summer.

But if the comic industry is anything, it’s resilient, made up of creative minds that can adapt to a changing landscape. This article in the Seattle Times spotlights several creators impacted by the cancellation and efforts to support the comics community this weekend — which includes many “pop up” online events.

Here’s a round-up of both live and virtual events that have popped up in the wake of the ECCC news. If we’ve missed any, please email me at jkparkin@yahoo.com.

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DC shares details on their 2020 Free Comic Book Day titles

Wally West and Wonder Woman take center stage in this year’s ‘gold’ title.

DC has revealed the contents of their two Free Comic Book Day 2020 titles, which were first announced in December without any details.

Their gold title, Generation Zero, “sets the stage for the past, present and future of the DC Universe, ” according to the press release. It will feature Wally West, who has gone through a lot recently in DC continuity, if you’ve been following the story that started in Heroes in Crisis.

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Cartoonists go all in on Hourly Comics Day

Check out comics by Becky Cloonan, Kate Beaton, Celeste Woods, Faith Erin Hicks and more.

It’s early February, which means its time for the annual #HourlyComicsDay, where cartoonists commit to making and posting a comic every hour for a day.

Most hourly comics typically fall into the “autobiography” category, as participants detail their day in comics form, but some will share fictional stories as well. Unlike Inktober, which has prompts and structure (and, apparently, legal issues now) Hourly Comic Day is just a fun challenge that artists choose to take.

Here are a few examples from this year:

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‘Usagi,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and more round out silver Free Comic Book Day titles

Free Comic Book Day 2020 will feature almost 50 titles on May 2.

With its “gold sponsors” announced earlier in the week, the Free Comic Book Day committee announced the rest of the 2020 line-up yesterday, bringing the total to 47 free comics.

“Every year, our goal is to bring fans the very best Free Comic Book Day experience,” said Joe Field, originator of FCBD, and owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord, California, in a press statement. “The caliber, strength and depth of this year’s comic book titles is really something to be thrilled about! With such a wide variety of stories in 2020 FCBD titles, every long-time fan and every new shop visitor curious about comics is going to find something exciting. Comic book specialty retailers all over the world are excited to treat everyone to an incredible day of fun, discovery, and learning about comic books and comic book shops.”

The silver titles include additional comics from several of the gold sponsors, including a new Usagi Yojimbo comic by Stan Sakai and a Stranger Things/Minecraft flipbook from Dark Horse. There are also selections featuring Donald Duck, Naruto, Owly, Lumberjanes, Little Lulu and Artists, Writers & Artisans, the new comics company headed up by Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso.

Check out the full list below.

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