X-Men go ‘Planet Size’ for new team reveal

Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz create a new special that ties into the ‘Hellfire Gala’ storyline that will run through the X-Men titles.

Marvel has been teasing an upcoming Hellfire Gala, both in the X-Men line of comics and through their own promotional channels — it’s where we’re supposed to learn who will be on the new X-Men team that Cyclops and Jean Grey are putting together, along with the results of the fan vote for one of the members.

This gala will run through 12 of the X-titles — that’s quite a party! — and will also get a special of its own, titled Planet Size X-Men. Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz are working on this double-sized issue.

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‘Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem’ expands on the upcoming Netflix series

Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards team up for the third and final Jupiter’s Legacy series.

Image Comics has announced a new Jupiter’s Legacy maxi-series, titled Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem. The series, written by series co-creator Mark Millar and drawn by Tommy Lee Edwards, will pick up on plot points from the upcoming Netflix adaptation of the comic.

The new series also follows the previous two Jupiter’s Legacy comics, which focused on the present and the past, respectively.

“We’ve done the past, we’ve done the present and Requiem takes us into the future to finish this book epic tale with a 12-issue series starting in June,” Millar told The Hollywood Reporter. “The show launched May 7, so people will be licking their lips to see what happens next.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Tim Foley on adapting Dan Rather’s ‘What Unites Us’ into comics

The accomplished illustrator discusses working on his first graphic novel for First Second’s World Citizen Comics imprint.

Tim Foley has had a long, accomplished career as an illustrator for a wide range of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and in books like the Who Was and What Was book series for Penguin Young Readers. But this year brings his first graphic novel.

For First Second Book’s World Citizen Comics imprint, Foley adapted the book What Unites Us by Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner. The book of essays explored what Rather saw as what it means to love this country, the values that shaped it and the role of citizens. Foley is far from a beginning artist, but to make a long-form comic like this is a unique challenge, one that he makes look easy. He was kind enough to take the time to talk about What Unites Us, how he worked and wanting to make more comics.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Non-Stop Spider-Man,’ ‘The Joker’ and more

See what comics and graphic novels arrive this week in a comic shop near you.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide each week to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week DC continues the rollout of their Infinite Frontier publishing initiative, while two Marvel books delayed by the pandemic finally arrive in comic shops.

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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Matthew Dow Smith launches ‘Doctor Secret’ on Twitter

The creator launches his fourth and final free, serialized comic on social media, keeping a promise he made when the pandemic started.

Matthew Dow Smith has spent almost a full year posting his own comics to Twitter, and he’s not stopping now — this week he launches Doctor Secret, a three-parter that will wrap up a year’s worth of comics posted to social media.

Smith started posting comics the same week that Diamond Comics Distributors announced their pandemic-related shutdown. He started with the autobiographical My Life as Riley and continuing on with the serialized Johnny Chaos, Arch Nemesis and Amelia Shadows, the latter just wrapping up last week.

“I gave myself one year to see what would happen, hoping that the weekly comics would at least keep my career alive until the industry figured out a path forward, while secretly hoping it might lead to me finally breaking through as a writer as well as an artist,” Smith wrote on Twitter.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Avengers,’ ‘Crime Syndicate,’ ‘Power Pack’ and more

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

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Mail Call | Momoko’s ‘Demon Days’ continues in June

Plus: News from BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse and more!

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

The first issue of Peach Momoko’s Demon Days arrived last Wednesday, and Marvel took the opportunity to announce the second issue’s title and focus: Demon Days: Mariko.

Mariko is the former fiancée of Wolverine; she was the daughter of a Yakuza boss and eventually took over his duties before dying back in the early 1990s. The issue will also introduce Nightcrawler and Black Widow into this alternate reality Momoko has created.

“The first issue of Demon Days starts off in feudal Japan with Sai (Psylocke)… but the next issue will be completely different. Different timeline, different characters (even the main character is changing), different tone to the story. But it is still a connecting story,” Momoko said.

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‘Heroes Reborn’ in June spotlights Nighthawk, Power Princess, ‘Night-Gwen’ and ‘Murder Hornet’

Marvel’s event miniseries continues in June with more issues and one-shots about a world where the Avengers never assembled.

Marvel has revealed more details about their Heroes Reborn plans for June, including what to expect in the miniseries as well as from several one-shots.

You might remember that Heroes Reborn is an event miniseries coming from Marvel that spins out of Jason Aaron’s work on Avengers. It’ll run for seven issues, with several tie-in one-shots to support it. Jason Aaron is writing the main series, with different artist doing each issue. The first four issues will be drawn by Ed McGuinness, Dale Keown, Federico Vicentini and James Stokoe.

And the story, essentially, falls into the “continuity has been screwed up and now someone needs to fix it” genre, kind of like House of M and Age of Apocalypse. In this new reality, the Avengers never assembled, and the void they left was filled by the Squadron Supreme. Blade is the only Avenger who seems to remember how things should be.

June will bring issues #5-7 of the miniseries, which, like the first four, will have connecting covers:

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Cantwell + Eaglesham defect to ‘The United States of Captain America’

New miniseries celebrates the 80th anniversary of the character.

Christopher Cantwell and Dale Eaglesham will reunite several former Captains America to find Cap’s stolen shield in The United States of Captain America, a new miniseries celebrating the character’s 80th anniversary.

“It’s an incredible gift and definitely a creative challenge to take on the character of Captain America, especially during these unprecedented times in our country’s history,” Cantwell told Marvel.com. “With this miniseries we’re hoping to explore what the idea of Captain America means at this precise moment—not just on the grand stage of the world—but to everyday and often overlooked communities throughout the United States.”

Steve Rogers will be joined by Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson and John Walker — aka Winter Soldier, Falcon and U.S.Agent — on a road trip across America as they search for his iconic shield. Along the way, they’ll introduce new heroes who been inspired by Captain America, and who will be featured in back-up stories.

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Colleen Doran to adapt Neil Gaiman’s ‘Chivalry’

Dark Horse will release the graphic novel adaptation in September.

Colleen Doran will once again adapt a Neil Gaiman short story into a graphic novel later this year. Chivalry will arrive from Dark Horse in September.

Gaiman and Doran’s collaborations go back to the days of Sandman. She has also adapted his short stories for Dark Horse before, including the award-winning Snow, Glass, Apples and Troll Bridge.

“I’ve wanted to do an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry ever since he sent a draft of the story to me at about 1 a.m. via fax machine decades ago,” Doran said. “It is one of Neil’s loveliest, most charming stories, and I cried with happiness when I learned I would get to do the adaptation. I wear my art on my sleeve throughout, bringing Golden Age illustration styles and Illuminated Manuscript studies to the work. It’s a Holy Grail project for me. I sincerely hope it brings joy to people.”

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Nominees announced for the L.A. Times Book Prize

Nominees for the graphic novel category include Ben Passmore, Jim Terry, KAITO, Bishakh Som and Yeon-sik Hong.

The nominees have been announced for this year’s L.A. Times Book Prize, which includes a category for Graphic Novels/Comics.

The Los Angeles Times has given an award in the graphic novel category since 2009, when Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli won the award. Other previous winners include The Love Bunglers by Jaime Hernandez, Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines, Beverly by Nick Drnaso and Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam. The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis won the prize last year.

The nominees for this year are:

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DC announces ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow’

Tom King, Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes team up for a miniseries about Supergirl in space.

Today’s Infinite Frontier #0 from DC Comics not only announced a new IF miniseries for this summer, but also a new Supergirl series titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

The eight-issue miniseries will be written by Tom King, with artwork by Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes. The story will take Supergirl and Krypto into space.

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