Smash Pages Q&A: Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente on ‘King Kirby’

The two collaborators discuss adapting their play about Jack Kirby as an audio drama.

Fred Van Lente is well known to comics readers for his many comics, including The Incredible Hercules and Archer and Armstrong, his novels The Con Artist and Ten Dead Comedians, and a string of great comics he’s made with Ryan Dunlavey including Action Philosophers, The Comic Book History of Comics and The Comic Book History of Animation. Crystal Skillman is a playwright and scriptwriter best known for the plays Open and Rain and Zoe Save the World and the musical Mary and Max. 

The two have collaborated in the past by writing the Webtoon series Eat Fighter, and they wrote the play King Kirby, about the legendary Jack Kirby. Originally produced in 2014, the play is currently being released as a four-part audio drama from the Broadway Podcast Network. Edited and with original music by Bobby Cronin, King Kirby stars Steven Rattazzi, Amy Lee Pearsall, Nat Cassidy, Joseph Mathers and Timothy McCown Reynolds.

The fourth episode of King Kirby is out today, a day before the release of issue #4 of The Comic Book History of Animation by Van Lente and Dunlavey, and tonight is the live reading of Pulp Verite, a new play written by Skillman. We spoke recently about Jack Kirby, theatricality and working in audio drama.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente on ‘King Kirby’”

Review: ‘Nocterra’ #1 brings an ‘explosive, exciting’ start to the new series

Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel’s new series from Image Comics begins with an impressive debut.

Nocterra, the new title by Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel, began life as a Kickstarter project last year that raised more than $200,000, thanks to more than 4,000 backers. The plan, though, was to always publish it through Image Comics at some point, and this week the first issue arrives like a burst of light in a dark world.

I have to say I went into this book a little skeptical, as the creators involved have been hit and miss with me the past few years with their DC projects. But I’m a fan of both creators, and their independent projects resonated with me in the past. I’m happy to say this is one of those hits.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Nocterra’ #1 brings an ‘explosive, exciting’ start to the new series”

DC announces ‘Infinite Frontier’ miniseries

Joshua Williamson and Xermanico will pick up on plot threads from ‘Infinite Frontier’ #0 in a six-issue series beginning this summer.

With Infinite Frontier #0 hitting shelves today, DC has announced — both via press release and in the comic itself — plans for a six-issue Infinite Frontier miniseries.

The creative team of Joshua Williamson and Xermanico will expand on some of the storylines featured in the #0 issue. [Potential SPOILERS for Infinite Frontier #0 below]

Continue reading “DC announces ‘Infinite Frontier’ miniseries”

Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Infinite Frontier,’ ‘Nocterra’ and more

This week brings new comics by Keanu Reeves, Dan Rather, Scott Snyder, Tim S. Daniel, Chris Samnee, Peach Momoko, Kalinda Vazquez, Carlos Gómez, Tyler Boss 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. This week sees a new one-shot setting up the return of DC’s regular titles, more King in Black tie-ins, new comics by Scott Snyder and Keanu Reeves, and much more.

Also this week I’m happy to welcome aboard Brigid Alverson, who will be helping to cover manga and other things she finds interesting each week.

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.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Infinite Frontier,’ ‘Nocterra’ and more”

Comic-Con International will be virtual again this summer

CCI plans to hold a smaller, in-person event in San Diego this fall.

Comic-Con International has made it official — there won’t be a live convention in San Diego again this summer. Instead, CCI has announced a three-day virtual Comic Con@Home event, like they held in 2020, with plans for a smaller, three-day in-person convention in San Diego in November.

“Never could we have imagined what the world experienced in 2020 and continues to experience today,” the statement reads on their website. “While we are buoyed by the rollout of the vaccine and the growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in-person event of the magnitude of Comic-Con. For this reason, we have made the challenging decision to postpone Comic-Con 2021 as an in-person gathering until our 2022 dates, and once again hold this year’s celebration as the free online Comic-Con@Home. Unfortunately, the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources, so this year the online experience will be reduced to a three-day event, spanning July 23-25, 2021.”

Continue reading “Comic-Con International will be virtual again this summer”

March winds bring more MODOK Madness

March MODOK Madness kicks off with another 31 days of fan art featuring Marvel’s big-headed villain.

Pedro Delgado and Brendan Tobin have once again brought the March MODOK Madness site back to life for another year of big-headed fan art featuring the Marvel character.

If you aren’t familiar with the concept, every March artists share their interpretations of MODOK, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, who was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee back in the 1960s. You can see them on the March MODOK Madness blog and on Twitter.

Continue reading “March winds bring more MODOK Madness”

What Are You Reading? | ‘Zom 100,’ ‘Uncanny X-Men’ 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.

Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘Zom 100,’ ‘Uncanny X-Men’ and more”

Sunday Comics | ‘The Perry Bible Fellowship’ celebrates 20 years

Check out new comic strips by Nicholas Gurewitch, Thom Zahler, Steve Lieber and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

The popular webcomic The Perry Bible Fellowship turned 20 this year, and to celebrate, creator Nicholas Gurewitch teamed up with 20 other creators for a series of collaborative strips. He’s been tweeting them out since Jan. 23, the official anniversary date for the strip.

Continue reading “Sunday Comics | ‘The Perry Bible Fellowship’ celebrates 20 years”

Mail Call | Black Cat kicks off Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ event this summer

Plus more news from Marvel, DC, Image, AfterShock, 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.

Last summer the “Infinite Destinies” storyline was supposed to run through several Marvel annuals, including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Cat and Thor, among others. The story revolves around the returning “infinity stones,” those pesky don’t-call-them-infinity-gems MacGuffins that regularly take center stage at Marvel.

Anyway, like with many other things, the COVID pandemic and comics industry shutdown threw a wrench in Marvel’s plans, and those annuals were never released. But now it looks like they are back on the schedule for 2021, with an added prelude comic to kick things off — Black Cat #8 by Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa.

“Felicia Hardy- the Black Cat- gets tangled up with the Infinity Stones, some of the most dangerous prizes in the universe. Felicia may be the most accomplished jewel thief on the planet, but when those jewels hold the power of the cosmos, it’s a whole new ball game. Felicia is in a race against the others who would seek to control the stones for their own ends- like Nick Fury (and a secret someone you won’t see coming!),” MacKay said. “Who can cross the world’s most dangerous men, wrangle a pack of villains hopped up on fragments of infinite power, (hopefully) get the job done and look great all the while? The Black Cat, that’s who!”

Continue reading “Mail Call | Black Cat kicks off Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ event this summer”

DC announces Batman + Fortnite crossover comic

Batman will visit the video game’s world in ‘Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point.’

DC Comics and Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, are teaming up for a comic series that’ll feature Batman and characters from the popular video game.

Christos Gage will write Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point, “with concept and story consultation” from Donald Mustard, Chief Creative Officer of Epic. It will feature artwork by Reilly Brown, Christian Duce, Nelson DeCastro and John Kalisz.

“When DC first approached me about doing a Batman/Fortnite series I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Gage. ”After speaking with Donald and discovering just how deeply we’d be diving into the secrets behind the world of Fortnite, I was amazed! This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.”

Continue reading “DC announces Batman + Fortnite crossover comic”

Creative teams revealed for returning Milestone titles

‘Static,’ ‘Icon and Rocket,’ and ‘Hardware’ return later this year.

DC has revealed the creative teams for the three upcoming DC Digital First titles that were announced earlier this month.

The digital-first “extended cut” of the Milestone Returns #0 one-shot came out today, with plans for a print copy to debut in May. Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition #0 combines the original 17-page comic with an additional 24 pages of completely new material written by Reginald Hudlin and drawn by artists Denys Cowan, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Bill Sienkiewicz and more. They also revealed the creative teams and first-issue covers:

Continue reading “Creative teams revealed for returning Milestone titles”

Smash Pages Q&A: Tim Fielder on ‘Infinitum’

The creator of ‘Matty’s Rocket’ talks about his latest graphic novel, Afrofuturism, what he’s working on next and more.

Tim Fielder had been working as an artist and animator for years before making a splash a few years ago with Matty’s Rocket. A stunning Afrofuturist graphic novel, the book was a dynamic artistic triumph on so many levels.

His new book is Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale, which was just released by Harper Collins’ Amistad Press. It’s an original Afrofuturist graphic novel published by a major American publisher, and Fielder admits that he understands the significance — just as he understands what it means to find this success after working for decades and becoming an overnight sensation.

Infinitum is an epic in every sense of the word, about a warlord from the dawn of civilization cursed to live forever. Beyond that, as the book moves ahead centuries and millennia, are a lot of twists and turns that make it difficult to talk about it without spoiling anything, but I was thrilled to talk with Fielder again about this new project.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Tim Fielder on ‘Infinitum’”