Panel Syndicate announces ‘Friday’ by Brubaker + Martin + Vicente

The first installment of the digital series is available now.

Criminal writer Ed Brubaker is teaming up with Barrier artists Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente for a new Panel Syndicate title called Friday. It’s about a former girl detective/occult expert who returns home from college for the holidays and gets wrapped up in a new mystery.

“One of the first things I said to Marcos was that this book feels like Lovecraft’s New England is colliding with Edward Gorey’s,” said Brubaker. “And I like to describe Friday as post-YA, which is a genre that doesn’t really exist. It’s an idea I’ve been circling for a long time, that lets me tap into my own nostalgia for my youth and the YA books I loved back in the 70s and 80s – stuff like The Great Brain, or John Belliars books, or Harriet the Spy, or Encyclopedia Brown. I want to take that concept of the teen detective and those supernatural mysteries aimed at kids, but then let the protagonists grow up, so they have all the same problems we all do… and they encounter a much more dangerous world.”

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‘Lost on Planet Earth’ coming from comiXology Originals on Wednesday

The ‘Kim & Kim’ team of Magdalene Visaggio and Claudia Aguirre team up again for a five-issue miniseries.

There may not be much new stuff arriving on comiXology right now deu to the coronavirus, but here’s something to look forward to — this Wednesday they’ll release the latest in their comiXology Originals line, Lost on Planet Earth.

The Kim & Kim team of Magdalene Visaggio and Claudia Aguirre team up again for a five-issue miniseries set in the year 2381, featuring “a conflicted lesbian relationship in a socially reactionary future.”

“This is a series about the ones who stay behind, the ones who don’t like what they see. It is an examination of choice and self-determination and self-knowledge,” said Visaggio. “At its heart, Lost on Planet Earth is a sci-fi slice-of-life comic about a burgeoning group of friends making their own way in a world that has no place for them.” 

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What Are You Reading? Squirrel Girl, Grendel and more!

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Hey, Happy Easter! The Easter Bunny stopped by the blog and brought not only delicious chocolate eggs, but also brought back one of our favorite features — What Are You Reading? Like the title suggests, it’s a casual look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately. So without further ado …

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A girl and her bear: Top Shelf announces ‘Kodi’ for summer

Jared Cullum’s gorgeous graphic novel arrives in August.

Top Shelf Comix has announced a new project for August — Kodi, the story of a girl and her Kodiak bear.

It’s by Jared Cullum, whose previous work includes the 35th anniversay Fraggle Rock miniseries fand Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Giants, both from Archaia. He’s not only an illustrator but also a painter (see his website for some samples), and his work with watercolors is very impressive. In fact, he has several water color tutorials on his YouTube channel, if you’re looking for something new to try during life in quarantine.

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Meighan + Gabo launch ‘She Kills’ on the web

The free webcomic tells a story tied to the origins of Los Angeles.

Family Guy writer/executive producer Patrick Meighan, The Life After/Lil’ Kaiju artist Gabo and Jupiter Jet‘s Ashley Robinson have teamed up on a gritty new webcomic, She Kills. Did I mention it was gritty? It is, and it’s also NSFW and not for kids. But the history it’s delving into is interesting.

“She Kills is a project born out of my 10 years of research into mid-19th century California,” Meighan said in a press release. “It uses a violent historical episode (the descent and death of LA sheriff James Barton) as a backdrop to tell a fictional mother-daughter story, driven by a strong female protagonist… a woman fighting to determine her own family’s destiny in a time and place when to do so was a revolutionary act.  Because I decided to tell this story from the point of view of one of LA’s native workers, I sought an elder from one of the local First Nation communities, who graciously read every single draft of the series, giving me guidance that was truly invaluable to the story’s context, and which shaped what She Kills has become. Now I can’t wait to share it with the world.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Elle Power

The cartoonist discusses illustrating the novel ‘Goldie Vance: the Hotel Whodunit,’ based on the BOOM! Studios series.

Goldie Vance: the Hotel Whodunit is a new novel based on the comics series created by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams. Lilliam Rivera wrote the novel, but artist and cartoonist Elle Power drew the novel’s cover, interior illustrations, and two eight-page sections of comics in the novel.

Power has been drawing comics for years, including the fourth volume of the Goldie Vance series, and we spoke over email recently about Goldie, the unusual process of working on this book and thinking about what comes next.

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2020 Doug Wright Awards nominees announced

Connor Willumsen, Sarah Leavitt, Jay Stephens, Chris Kuzma and more nominated for awards this year.

Nominees for the 2020 Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics,” were announced this week. Conundrum Press leads the pack this year in terms of nominations, with four, while Drawn & Quarterly and Koyama Press each received two nominations.

The Doug Wright Awards also announced that Walter Ball, a longtime cartoonist for the Toronto Star and creator of the strip Rural Route, will be inducted into the “Giants of the North” hall of fame.

You can find the complete list of nominees below.

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Spidey practices social distancing in this awesome fan comic

Dewey Bass creates an unofficial comic that finds Spider-Man dealing with the current pandemic.

Dewey Bass has a pretty impressive collection of Spider-Man comics, so it’s no surprise that when he decided to make a comic about the coronavirus pandemic, he turned to the wall-crawler. His completely unofficial five-page Spider-Man comic, “Social Distancing,” has been liked or shared more than 42,000 times on Tumblr.

“I guess this is how I’m processing what we’re all going through right now. I had the stray thought, ‘What is Spider-Man doing during all this?’ and this happened,” Bass said on his Tumblr blog. “On the one hand, it’s kinda sloppy and inconsistent, but on the other hand, I had the idea Sunday night and I’m posting this Wednesday night. 5 color pages in 4 nights is pretty good work. Anyway. Hope everyone’s safe out there.”

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Nominees announced for the 2020 Hugo Awards

“Monstress” receives its fourth nomination in four years, and is joined by “Die,” “Paper Girls, “Mooncakes” and more.

The nominees were announced via livestream today for the 2020 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category. Four of the six nominees were published by Image, while Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint and Oni Press each received one.

Presented annually since 1955, The Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention every year. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius and Sandman: Overture. Monstress has won the award for the last three years and is up for the award again this year.

The nominees are:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Maria Scrivan

The creator of the comic strip ‘Half Full’ discusses her new graphic novel, ‘Nat Enough.’

Nat Enough is the debut graphic novel from cartoonist Maria Scrivan. People might recognize the name, as she’s been making the daily comic Half Full since 2013 in addition to contributing to Mad Magazine and other publications.

The book is about Natalie adjusting to middle school and the way her best friend has changed, as well as trying to meet new people while feeling like she’s good enough. It is a painfully relatable middle school story and I spoke with Scrivan over email about trying to capture that voice, structuring a book length narrative and having already finished a sequel.

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Binge-worthy Backlist Bonzana: ‘Skin Horse’

Looking for something to read while stuck at home? The Smash Pages crew recommends opening up a browser window and taking a ride on ‘Skin Horse.’

As people isolate and wait out the coronavirus, many industries, including the comics industry, are in a bit of a standstill — leaving comic shops without a supply of new weekly comics.

With that in mind, we’ve introduced a new feature, Binge-worthy Backlist Bonzana. While new comics might not be arriving for a while, your local retailer, online site, digital comics provider or favorite creator can still supply comics that you might not have read yet.

Today Tom Bondurant looks back at one of his favorite webcomics, Skin Horse.

Launched in December 2007, Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey C. Wells’ Skin Horse is about a government agency charged with rescuing sentient non-humans created by mad scientists. Most of the cast are rescued non-humans, including Sweetheart the dog, the reanimated Unity, Gavotte the bee swarm and Moustachio the steampunk robot. Tip the psychologist is Skin Horse’s main human agent.

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Artists take the #SixFanarts Challenge

Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun, art-filled meme in March — and the participants grew from there.

Way back in mid-March — which feels like a million years ago at this point, but was really just a few weeks back — Falconhyrste creator Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun exercise that would turn into a widespread meme for artists across social media: The #SixFanarts Challenge.

What started has a simple tweet has blossomed into a fun and welcome distraction during these difficult times. And it’s pretty easy to participate: artists just ask their social media followers to throw out character names, and the artist draws six of them on a grid that Capriglione has provided.

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