‘Miskatonic’ returns for its big finale in November

The one-shot ‘Miskatonic: Even Death May Die’ will finish the story started in last year’s miniseries.

Mark Sable and Giorgio Pontrelli will follow up their 2020 limited series Miskatonic with a one-shot this November, titled Miskatonic: Even Death May Die. The one-shot will wrap up the story they started last year.

Miskatonic: Even Death May Die special is a 48-page, oversized grand finale to Miskatonic, the crime/horror/historical fiction set in H.P. Lovecraft’s valley of the same name, picking up right where the series left off in the late 1920s,” Sable said. “The protagonists are the same. Miranda Keller, one of the first female FBI agents, trying to escape from a concentration camp for half-man, half-sea creature, the Deep Ones in the American Southwest.  Her partner Tom Keller, a retired NYPD officer from Lovecraft’s The Horror of Red Hook, is trying to track her down.  All of this is set against the backdrop of America’s first red scare…and a strange supernatural call people are hearing across the globe – the Call of Cthulhu.”

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Nguyen + Lemire team up for a tale about Dick Grayson’s early career

‘Robin & Batman,’ a three-issue, prestige-format miniseries, kicks off in November.

The creative team behind the hit creator-owned titles Descender and Ascender are trading space operas for street crime, as they team up for a new miniseries focused on the Boy Wonder and his bat-themed mentor.

Robin & Batman, a three-issue, prestige-format miniseries by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen, will debut in November. As the title suggest, the story will focus Robin, in this case Dick Grayson early in his career as a crimefighter.

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A tale of two Sleepers

A recent graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster is in the spotlight for using the same title as a DC/Wildstorm comic.

Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. is considering legal action against the creators of a recent graphic novel called Sleeper.

Jed Mercurio, the showrunner for a British TV show called Line of Duty, co-wrote Sleeper with Prasanna Puwanarajah, an actor he’s worked with before. Coke Navarro drew the project. The problem, of course, is that the title “Sleeper” is already taken — Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips used it back in the 2000s for a series about the Wildstorm hero Grifter that was published by DC Comics.

“Somehow no one in the entire comics industry had heard about this book of his until it was already at the printer,” Brubaker said about Mercurio’s graphic novel in his email newsletter. “Needless to say, WB owns the copyright and trademark to Sleeper as a series of graphic novels (and TV and film, I believe) and obviously they were more than concerned. So from what I understand there are a lot of legal things happening with them and the other publisher right now.”

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‘Robins’ wins DC’s Round Robin tournament, will debut in November

DC Universe Infinite subscribers will get the new comic first, as it arrives on the platform Oct. 26.

DC Comics has announced the winner of their Round Robin tournament, which asks fans to vote on which pitch should become a series, and it’s not surprising to see that Robins by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas came out on top.

Robins #1, the first of a six-issue miniseries, will arrive in November. But if you are a DC Universe Infinite subscriber, you’ll get to see it on Oct. 26.

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Skottie Young will bring back ‘I Hate Fairyland’ in his Substack newsletter

The creator moves his newsletter to a premium model, offering new comics, behind-the-scenes information and more.

Although he wasn’t mentioned in the initial announcement, Skottie Young (Rocket Raccoon, Strange Academy, Middlewest) has announced he’ll move his Substack newsletter to a subscription model and will use it to share new comics content — including new I Hate Fairyland.

Young joins James Tynion IV, Jonathan Hickman, Molly Ostertag and others in using the Substack platform to share and sell new comics content.

“This is no longer just a ‘Newsletter.’ It’s a Creative Platform,” Young said in his newsletter today. “A place to explore new ideas, stories, products to share with you instantly.”

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Captain America + Iron Man team up in a new mini by Landy + Unzueta

The first issue of five arrives in November.

Marvel has announced Captain America/Iron Man, a new five-issue miniseries by Derek Landy and Ángel Unzueta that will debut in November.

According to Marvel.com, the miniseries will take the two Avengers “on an epic adventure that will explore the pair’s fascinating dynamic and history as they go up against a mysterious new threat from Hydra.”

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Fan Expo HQ acquires Wizard World’s six remaining events

Wizard gets out of the convention game as Fan Expo becomes ‘the largest producer of fan events in the world.’

Fan Expo HQ has announced they’ve acquired Wizard World’s six remaining conventions, including Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland, St. Louis and Cleveland, effectively taking Wizard out of the convention business and expanding Fan Expo’s portfolio to 17 conventions in North America.

The six shows will be rebranded in 2022 as Fan Expo events. The 2021 Chicago show, scheduled for Oct. 15-17, will continue on under the Wizard World brand.

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Ahmed + Acosta team for ‘TerrorWar’ this fall through Substack

Following yesterday’s big Substack announcement, the writer reveals more details about his first comic through his Copper Bottle newsletter.

Following yesterday’s news that several comic creators would begin publishing their comics through their Substack newsletters, Saladin Ahmed has revealed more details about his first comic that’ll be available on the platform.

Note that there are still a lot of questions about how these new Substack comics will work — what’s the format? Are pages going to be embedded into an email, sent as a PDF or what? What am I getting for my (in Ahmed’s case) $6 a month? Ahmed promises to post an FAQ about the “nuts and bolts” of the subscription he’s offering, but in his latest email he talks specifically about TerrorWar, his newsletter comic.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Kiara Brinkman and Sean Chiki

The husband and wife creative team of ‘Lucy in the Sky’ discuss how they collaborated, The Beatles and much more.

Lucy in the Sky is a new graphic novel from Kiara Brinkman and Sean Chiki, and as one might guess form the title and the cover, the book involves The Beatles – a little known British rock band – but not necessarily in the way one might think.

Centered around Lucy Sutcliffe, the book explores middle school and what it means to grow up and grow apart from people, as she deals with her divorced parents and her sick grandmother. And in the background of all this is music and the way our relationship to it changes over time in different ways. All of which is told with lovely ligne claire artwork. It’s charming and heartfelt, and doesn’t shy away from exploring the loneliness and pathos in a way that’s striking. 

This is Brinkman’s first graphic novel, but she is the author of the acclaimed book Up High in the Trees, and it’s her first collaboration with her husband, Chiki, who is best known for his own series Wunderkammer. I had the chance to speak with them about collaboration, music and working together while married with children.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Free Comic Book Day, ‘Run,’ the final ‘Runaways’ and more

New comics arrive this week by Jeff Lemire, Tyler Crook, Michael Walsh, Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brandon Thomas, Sam Hamm, Eric Powell, John Ridley, Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez 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.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores. You can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s releases, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Spider-Man, Avengers + more feel the impact of ‘The Death of Doctor Strange’

Several tie-in one-shots will accompany the miniseries showcasing the death of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme.

The upcoming The Death of Doctor Strange miniseries won’t send the Master of the Mystical Arts off into the great beyond quietly. Marvel has announced several tie-ins that show the “major impact” his death has on the rest of Earth — and on the Avengers, Spider-Man, White Fox and Strange Academy in particular.

If you haven’t heard, the Sorcerer Supreme will follow in the footsteps of many other heroes who were killed in the line of battle in what’s turning out to be more than just a miniseries, but an entire event. Jed MacKay and Lee Garbett are the creative team for the main miniseries, which kicks off next month.

Then in October, Marvel will release two specials, featuring the Avengers and Strange Academy. Alex Paknadel and Ryan Bodenheim will team up for The Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers, while Skottie Young and Mike Del Mundo will helm Strange Academy Presents: The Death of Doctor Strange. Then, in November, Jed MacKay and Marcelo Ferreira present The Death of Doctor Strange: Spider-Man, while Alyssa Wong and Andie Tong bring The White Fox into the action.

Find out more about all three titles below.

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Fantagraphics will collect ‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers’ into four volumes

‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Follies’ will encompass four volumes of comics featuring the underground comix legends.

Fantagraphics has announced plans to collect underground comic The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers into four volumes, starting with The Idiots Abroad and Other Follies in January.

In the main story, the three titular brothers — Freewheelin’ Franklin, Phineas and Fat Freddy — head to Columbia to buy drugs, but end up separated and scattered around the world. The first volume will also feature 70 pages of Freak Brothers short stories.

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