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Marvel announces ‘The Death of Doctor Strange’ for September

Jed MacKay and Lee Garbett will show ‘what happens to the world if Doctor Strange isn’t in it.’

In September, a Marvel character will once again face death’s door in The Death of Doctor Strange, a five-issue miniseries by Jed MacKay and Lee Garbett.

The Sorcerer Supreme will follow in the footsteps of Captain America, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Batman and many other heroes who were killed in the line of battle.

“‘What happens to the world if Doctor Strange isn’t in it?’ It’s a question that I’m excited to show people the answer to in Death of Doctor Strange,” MacKay told Marvel.com. “Strange has been a Marvel fixture from the early days, but now, his time has run out and as a Strange fan, it’s been my bittersweet privilege to shepherd him through his last day and the effects that snowball out of it. We’ve cooked up a whale of a story to send Strange off with, and I can’t wait for people to join us on it!”

Hawkarang-in-the-eye: Heroes Reborn roundtable, week 5

Same Hawk-time, same Hawk-channel: Carla, Tom, Shane and JK continue to discuss Marvel’s latest comics event.

We are back this week for our fifth Heroes Reborn roundtable, where we break down the latest Marvel crossover issue by issue. This week Shane Bailey, Tom Bondurant, Carla Hoffman and I talk about Heroes Reborn #5, as well as two tie-in issues: American Knight and Marvel Double Action. It’s Bat-week! Three out of four bloggers would probably agree it’s also the best week of the event thus far.

You can read part one of our roundtable discussions here, part two here, part three here and part four here.

‘Marvel Multiverse’ tabletop RPG coming next year

Marvel will introduce the D616 System of play in 2022’s ‘Playtest Rulebook’ and look for fan feedback before the game’s official launch in 2023.

Marvel is getting back into role-playing games next year, as they’ve teamed up with author/game designer Matt Forbeck (Shotguns & Sorcery RPG, The Marvel Encyclopedia) to create the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game.

They’ll start with the “Playtest Rulebook,” which will define the rules of play — the cleverly titled “D616 System” — and include profiles so fans can play as their Marvel favorites or create their own Marvel hero. According to Marvel, they’ll be looking for feedback from fans on the playtest rules before the game’s full release in 2023.

“As a lifelong Marvel fan and gamer, this project is a dream come true,” Forbeck told Marvel.com. “Fortunately, after writing a couple editions of The Marvel Encyclopedia and designing tabletop games professionally for over 30 years, I feel ready to help make this the best Marvel TTRPG experience ever. I can’t wait for everyone to have the chance to play it!”

What Are You Reading? | What the heck is ‘Spy Hunter & Paper Boy’?

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. This week we look at the newest iteration of Green Lantern, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman, and one beginning and one ending from Larry Hama.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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.”

‘Scales & Scoundrels’ returns from TKO Studios

The former Image Comics series by Sebastian Girner and Galaad is now available in two volumes from TKO.

Scales & Scoundrels, the former Image Comics series by Sebastian Girner, Galaad and Jeff Powell, has found a new home at TKO Studios.

Scales & Scoundrels originally debuted in 2017, and Image published 12 issues before the series ended. It’s the story of Luvander, a treasure hunter, and her three companions, as they discover “a secret that will bring light to a world encroached upon by an ancient darkness.”

“At its heart, Scales & Scoundrels is the story of a wandering, of moving forward through whatever obstacles may face us and that seems very timely as society reemerges out of the events of the past 18 months,” Girner said. “It’s also about the constant of change, and how change is inevitable, even for an immortal dragon. Life is change and all things, good and bad, beautiful, and sad, stem from our struggle to accept this. We wanted to explore a rich, and diverse fantasy setting, but have the characters within that world struggle with similar emotions and issues just as our readers might.”

The next chapter of the X-Men begins in Hickman’s ‘Inferno’

The follow-up to ‘House of X’ and ‘Powers of X’ begins in September.

After building up a new island home for Marvel’s mutants, Jonathan Hickman plans to burn it all down in Inferno, a new miniseries coming in September.

The miniseries follows up on some of the plot elements introduced in House of X and Powers of X, the two miniseries that kicked off the Hickman era of the X-Men. While the story starts with Mystique and the broken promise by the powers that be on Krakoa to resurrect Destiny, the four-issue miniseries will also involve Moira MacTaggert, Nimrod and Hickman’s “game-changing plans” coming to a head.

“I’m very excited that we’re finally getting to share with everyone the follow-up to House of X/Powers of X,” Hickman said. “The story is 160 pages over four issues drawn exquisitely by Valerio Schiti, R.B. Silva and Stefano Caselli. I cannot wait for people to read it.”

Smash Pages Q&A: Fred Van Lente on ‘Everything’s Archie’

The writer of ‘Action Philosophers,’ ‘MODOK’s 11’ and more discusses his work on Archie’s 80th anniversary one-shot, which arrives in stores next week.

Fred Van Lente is well known as the writer behind Action Philosophers, The Comic Book History of Comics, Archer and Armstrong, MODOK’S 11 and many more. He’s written novels like The Con Artist and Ten Dead Comedians, and he co-wrote the play King Kirby, which premiered earlier this year as a podcast.

Van Lente is also the writer of the new comic Everything’s Archie. The one-shot from Van Lente and artist Dan Parent is a collection of linked short comics that center around Archie trying to make enough money to buy a new guitar. To do that, Archie signs up for an app and what follows is a satire of the gig economy with multiple jokes about late stage capitalism, and yet, it still feels like an Archie comic we’ve seen before.

Van Lente and Parent’s comic is paired with an Archie story from 1997 by the late George Gladir and Stan Goldberg, Betty in High School 2021 A.D. The story went viral because of remote learning and other not entirely inaccurate predictions about this rather unusual year. I spoke with Van Lente recently about the comic, which is out next week.

Marvel announces new creative teams for ‘Hulk,’ ‘Venom’

Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley will launch a new Hulk title in November, as Al Ewing, Ram V and Bryan Hitch take on Venom.

With Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s run on Immortal Hulk coming to close AND Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman wrapping up their run on Venom, Marvel has announced their plans for both titles, which will relaunch in the fall.

The Hulk will relaunch in a new title simply called Hulk, by Cates and Amazing Spider-Man artist Ryan Ottley. Writers Al Ewing and Ram V, meanwhile, will tag-team on Venom, with art by Bryan Hitch.

“Marvel just gave me the keys to the strongest one there is,” Cates told Marvel.com. “Haha… oh boy. You guys are just not ready for this. You’re about to find out what happens when Ryan Ottley and I get angry… and guess what? Well… pretty sure you’re gonna like us a lot when we’re angry.”

Comics Lowdown | A Charlie Hebdo survivor speaks

Plus: Lost Charles Schulz comics emerge, new graphic novel from Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford, and more!

The New York Times profiles cartoonist Corinne Rey, who was working in the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015, the day that two masked gunmen massacred the staff; Rey, who uses the pseudonym Coco, was just leaving the offices of Charlie Hebdo when two masked gunmen arrived and forced her to unlock the door. Her new graphic novel, To Draw Again, recently published in France, depicts that moment and its aftermath. Rey is now the resident cartoonist at the newspaper Libération, the first woman to hold that post.

DC announces ‘Shazam! Thundercrack’ by Yehudi Mercado

The new graphic novel is set during the ‘Shazam!’ movie timeline.

Yehudi Mercado will write and draw Shazam! Thundercrack, a new graphic novel aimed at younger readers that will arrive in June 2022.

The graphic novel is set during the timeline of the Shazam! movie, as Billy Batson joins the Fawcett Tigers’ football team and learns to be a team player, while continuing his superhero training.

Can’t Wait for Comics | Time to get dolled up for ‘The Hellfire Gala’

Scholastic’s Miles Morales OGN arrives, plus new Rick and Morty, Brecht Evens, ‘North Force,’ ‘The Nice House on the Lake’ 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. This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, Dark Horse and more.

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 release — and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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