Marvel will launch three new X-Men titles following the ‘Hellfire Gala’

Jonathan Hickman, Leah Williams, Pepe Larraz and more will work on new X-titles following the event.

Since Jonathan Hickman’s “Krakoa” era of the X-Men kicked off a couple of years ago, the line-up has seen several X-titles come and go. With the Hellfire Gala set to kick off in June, revealing a new team of X-Men, Marvel is teasing a few new titles that will follow the event (in a handy infographic, one of the trademarks of the Hickman era).

In addition to Children of the Atom, Way of X and X-Corp, which were all previously announced, the graphic also teases three new titles:

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‘Moon Knight’ rises again in July

Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio bring back ‘one of Marvel’s biggest messes’ in July.

With his Disney+ TV show on the horizon, Moon Knight will return to comics in July with a new ongoing series by Black Cat writer Jed MacKay and Power Rangers artist Alessandro Cappuccio.

The series spins out of Moon Knight’s recent appearance in Avengers.

“I’m very excited to be working with Alessando Cappuccio on the continuing adventures of one of Marvel’s biggest messes – Moon Knight!” MacKay told Marvel.com. “In the wake of his disastrous attempt to take over the world in the “Age of Khonshu,” Marc Spector (et al) has retreated to what he knows – busting heads on the streets. But despite betraying his god to the Avengers, the Fist of Khonshu’s obligations remain the same – to protect those traveling at night. Apostate priest of the moon god, the mysterious Mr. Knight has opened the doors of his Midnight Mission, where those in fear of the weird and strange may petition for the aid of the Moon Knight! But this doesn’t sit well with everyone, and hidden threats circle Marc’s new start from the shadows…”

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Grayson + Adamovic conjure up the magical realism story ‘Rewild’

The new graphic novel will be published by Berger Books/Dark Horse in October.

Berger Books, the Dark Horse imprint run by Karen Berger, has announced a new magical realism graphic novel that will arrive in October — Rewild, by writer Devin Grayson, artist Yana Adamovic and letterer Sal Cipriano.

“Beautifully written and illustrated, Devin and Yana have crafted captivating characters in a timely tale where reality, myth and magic overlap,” Berger said. “This lyrical and powerful story deals with the fragility of the mind and our planet in unforgettable ways.”

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Cartoonists put the spotlight on Autism Awareness Month

Participants are posting personal comics about autism throughout April.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and more than 30 cartoonists are raising awareness around autism and neurodiversity in a series of comic strips posted under the hashtag #ASDComicTakeover on Twitter.

Rebecca Ollerton, a.k.a. Bex, is spearheading the effort. She regularly makes comics about these topics.

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Matt Bors retires his weekly political comic strip; will still run ‘The Nib’

Bors will turn his attention to creating fiction comics and longer-form nonfiction comics.

After almost two decades, cartoonist and The Nib founder Matt Bors has announced he’s retiring from his weekly political comic. His comic on background checks that ran at the end of March will be his last regular political cartoon.

He plans to continue running The Nib, the award-winning webcomics site that features political and nonfiction comics on a daily basis by a variety of artists. He also said he plans to do more nonfiction comics, including comic interviews, for the site. And he’s preparing pitches for fiction comics as well.

“So I will be staying busy, as always,” he said in his announcement post. “Something had to give in my life to make room for other things and, frankly, it was an easy decision. I’ve drawn political cartoons every week since I was 19 and feel like I have said everything I can say, often a few times over. I know this may be disappointing to longtime readers, but my creative desires pull me in another direction, one where I hope to create more work on par with what I’ve done in this field. I also owe it to both The Nib’s readers and creators to keep the publication going as long as possible.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Abraham Riesman on ‘True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee’

The author and journalist discusses his new book on the life and career of longtime Marvel editor and publisher Stan Lee.

True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee is, I would argue, the best book written about the longtime Marvel editor and publisher Stan Lee. It is a thoroughly researched look at Lee’s life, his family history, his business dealings at Marvel and afterwards.

Lee’s defenders have been attacking or dismissing the book since before its publication, because it dents the myth of Stan Lee that he and others built. Unfortunately much of the conversation around the book has been around whether Lee is given too little credit for Marvel’s success in the 1960s instead of seriously addressing a lot of the issues that author Abraham Riesman uncovers and writes about at length.

Abraham Riesman is a journalist best known for his work at New York Magazine’s Vulture. He’s written extensively about the comics industry over the years, but in this book, Riesman writes a story of assimilation, of the fantasy of success and the brutality reality of it, of corporate criminality. Lee was beloved by many; he is a complicated figure at best.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Geiger’ debuts, ‘King in Black’ ends

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Chip Zdarsky, Michael Walsh, Steve Orlando, Nate Powell and more.

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

Check out a few highlights below, or visit ComicList for this week’s full list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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DC will introduce Monkey Prince in ‘DC Festival of Heroes’

The new character will meet Shazam! in a story by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang.

DC Comics will introduce a new character called Monkey Prince in their upcoming anthology DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration. They also revealed more about the contents in a press release today.

Monkey Prince will debut in a story written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Bernard Chang. Per the release, Monkey Prince is inspired by the Monkey King, legendary hero of Chinese mythology and the classic tale Journey to the West. In Yang and Chang’s 12-page story, “The Monkey Prince Hates Superheroes,” Monkey Prince battles and teams up with Shazam! to defeat Dr. Sivana and a Chinese deer demon spirit.  

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comiXology Originals announces three projects with Curt Pires

The digital comics imprint announces ‘Youth Season Two,’ ‘Lost Falls’ and ‘Memoria.’

With Youth Season One set to arrive in print this week from Dark Horse Comics, comiXology Originals has announced three new series with writer Curt Pires, including a second season of Youth that will debut on Tuesday.

They also announced two additional series Pires is writing: Lost Falls and Memoria.

“I’m very excited to finally pull back the curtain and unveil these projects we’ve spent the last year in the trenches working on,” said Pires. “With Youth Season Two, Lost Falls and Memoria, I issued a challenge to myself and my teams to make the greatest comics we could—comics that rival the greatest comics published anywhere by anyone in any format—and I’m excited to unveil the results of our labor. These books represent what I believe to be the future of comics: bold innovative genre storytelling that’s representative of our diverse and expansive modern world. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.”

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‘Extreme Carnage’ is coming in July

‘Extreme Carnage Alpha’ will kick off a story about Marvel’s symbiotes post-‘King in Black.’

After Knull has his way with Earth in the pages of King in Black, things will change for the rest of Marvel’s symbiotes — and this summer’s Extreme Carnage will put the spotlight on everyone form Carnage to Scream to Agony and more.

Extreme Carnage Alpha #1 will be written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson.

“After King in Black, everything we thought we knew about the symbiotes will have changed. Every man, woman, and child in the Marvel Universe will finally understand the massive threat the symbiotes represent, and the symbiotes that are still among us are now in the crosshairs of some extremely angry, scared, and powerful forces,” Johnson explained. “In the pages of Extreme Carnage, we’ll not only explain what Carnage is in this new, post-King in Black era, but also see a return-to-form for the deadliest symbiotes that have ever lived while putting them on a lethal new path for the future.”

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DC wants your help in picking its next series

DC shares 16 pitches from real creators and asks fans to choose which one will get made.

DC would like your help picking its next new series, and has launched its own version of “April Madness” called 2021 Round Robin Brackets to help make that happen.

They’ve listed 16 possible future titles and their descriptions, and are asking fans to vote on them in various places –including Instagram, Twitter and the DC Universe Infinity Community message boards, depending on the round. Voting for round one goes through April 7, with plans to reveal the creative teams for each pitch coming as round two starts on April 8.

The pitches range from comics focused on DC’s top characters, like Green Lantern and Superman, to some focusing on lesser-known characters, like Nightrunner, the “Batman of Paris” whose debut was marred by racists back in 2010. There’s also a pitch for Asteria, who is probably best known from her appearance in the most recent Wonder Woman movie.

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Z2 to publish ‘Jimmy Eat World: 555’

The new graphic novel based on one of the band’s music videos will arrive in May.

Z2 Comics has teamed up with rock band Jimmy Eat World for the upcoming comic Jimmy Eat World: 555, an oversized issue written by Alex Paknadel (Arcadia, Friendo) and Jimmy Eat World vocalist/guitarist Jim Adkins, with art by Koren Shadmi (Bionic).

The project draws inspiration from the video for the song “555,” which is on the band’s 2019 album Surviving.

“There was a fair bit of world-building around the characters for the ‘555’ music video and it felt too interesting to end the story there,” Adkins said. “It screamed for a comic adaption. I gave Alex Paknadel the basics of the character backstories and he was able to conceptualize an amazing world that Koren Shadmi perfectly illustrated.”   

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