Comics Lowdown | Marvel editors participate in #DisneyWalkout

Plus: ‘Persepolis’ under fire in Pennsylvania school district! David Gallaher, real-life superhero! News on Behemoth, Zestworld, Julie Doucet and more!

Marvel employees joined their colleagues from Pixar, Lucasfilm and other Disney-owned divisions in a walk-out on Tuesday to protest the company’s response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act, which has become to be known as the “Don’t Say Gay bill.”

The bill bans lessons about sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and prohibits lessons in other grades unless they are “age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate.” Critics say the law could stigmatize LGBTQ+ students, and lead to bullying and attacks. The bill has yet to be signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but it’s just a matter of time, as the governor has expressed his support for it.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Kendra Wells

The creator of ‘Real Hero Shit’ discusses the role-playing origins of the graphic novel, working with publisher Iron Circus, their work at The Nib and more.

For years now, cartoonist and illustrator Kendra Wells has been one of those people making short comics for various outlets including The Nib, where they excel at finding ways to make readers laugh out loud as their blood pressure skyrockets, remembering just how angry they are at what’s happening in the world. Last year they collaborated with writer Sam Maggs on the graphic novel Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas, and Iron Circus just released Wells’ debut as a writer and artist, Real Hero Shit.

Real Hero Shit features a mismatched group of adventurers who, in between attacking each other, do actually stumble onto a mystery and manage to help a village. It’s funny and weird, and it manages to walk that very fine line of loving and paying tribute to the genre and its tropes, while also undermining and mocking almost all of them. And while it’s no surprise that Wells is able to write funny dialogue, they deftly manage to juggle writing a long narrative with character moments, humor and making a story that feel familiar but also surprising.

The first of hopefully many such books, Real Hero Shit is out now and next week, a new dating sim game that Wells is the lead writer for, Kiss U, goes live on Kickstarter. They were kind enough to answer a few questions about their book.

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Humanoids will donate some proceeds from new graphic novel to benefit Ukraine

Portions of proceeds from ‘Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter’ will benefit the Ukrainian nonprofit Razom.

Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter arrives in stores this week, and publisher Humanoids has announced plans to donate some of the proceeds they make from it to the Ukrainian nonprofit Razom, which supplies medical aid to Ukrainian fighters on the front lines.

The graphic novel was created by Philippe Thirault and Roberto Zaghi, and was published through Humanoids’ Life Drawn imprint. It arrived in stores today.

It’s a fitting choice, as the graphic novel spotlights Nestor Makhno, the real-life Ukrainian revolutionary from the early 20th century, who served as the commander of an independent anarchist army in Ukraine. They fought the Ukrainian National Republic, the Central Powers of Germany and Austro-Hungary, the Hetmanate state, the White Army, the Bolshevik Red Army and other factions that sought to impose their authority over southern Ukraine.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Going ‘Rogues’

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Gipi, Colleen Doran, Joshua Williamson, Leomacs, Larry Hama, Andrea Di Vito, Joelle Jones, Nick Dragotta, Caleb Goellner and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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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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Controversial ‘Red Room’ variant cover won’t be published

Fantagraphics, Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg decide not to release a cover that parodies Art Spiegelman’s cover to ‘Maus.’

A variant cover for the third issue of Ed Piskor’s “splatterpunk” comic series Red Room: Trigger Warning has been cancelled by its publisher, Fantagraphics, and the creators involved.

The cover, for Red Room: Trigger Warnings #3, was one of several covers that debuted in a post at The Beat yesterday — which they’ve since removed. It parodied Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the multiple award-winning autobiographical comic about his father’s experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It’s not the kind of comic that would be a good idea to parody on a splatterpunk gore comic, given the subject matter or the recent controversy in Tennessee.

The backlash on Twitter was swift, with a tweet from artist Ramon Villalobos garnering several responses from other comics creators. His tweet also includes an image of the cover in question.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Alex Segura’s ‘Secret Identity’

The comics writer, novelist and industry veteran discusses his newest book, which combines his love of mysteries with the comic book industry.

Alex Segura is known to comics readers for various comics projects ranging from The Dusk to The Black Ghost to Archie Meets the B-52’s to the upcoming The Awakened, but the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Oni-Lion Forge has another career as a novelist. Segura has written an acclaimed series of novels featuring journalist-turned-private eye Pete Fernandez, and his new novel Secret Identity bridges these two worlds.

A murder mystery set in 1970s New York, the novel centers around Carmen Valdez, an assistant at Triumph Comics who aspires to be a writer. After a co-worker is murdered, Valdez tries to understand what happened. Chapters of the novel are also interspersed with pages from the fictional The Lynx comic book, which Valdez co-wrote in the novel, but are drawn by real-life artist Sandy Jarrell.

The novel is a departure for Segura, less focused on plot but more about character and atmosphere, focused on evoking another era and a look inside the comics industry of that time. It’s his best and richest work to date, and we had a chance to talk recently about the novel, which is out this week.

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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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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘World’s Finest’ returns, ‘JLA/Avengers’ returns in a limited run

Check out new comics this week from Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Chip Zdarsky, Peach Momoko, Ram V, Javier Rodríguez, Dan Slott and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘World’s Finest’ returns, ‘JLA/Avengers’ returns in a limited run”