Can’t Wait for Wednesday: If you buy one plague-themed comic this week …

See what the Smash Pages crew has their eyes on this week, as a small number of comics make their way to stores and digital.

It’s week two of DC’s attempt to get comics in front of people during the global pandemic, and they’ve got more on their release list this week than they did last week. It’s still a very small number of comics, but here’s what Carla and I have our eyes on.

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Slate announces the shortlist for the 2020 Cartoonist Studio Prize

Annual prize awards $1,000 to one print comic and one webcomic.

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the nominees for their eighth annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the creator of one print comic and one webcomic.

Slate began the program in 2012; previous winners include Noelle Stevenson for Nimona, Chris Ware for Building Stories, Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny, Winston Rowntree for Watching, Carol Tyler for Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad and Keren Katz for The Academic Hour. Last year’s winners were Keiler Roberts for Chlorine Gardens and Lauren Weinstein for “Being an Artist and a Mother.”

This year’s print nominees include:

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Lemire + Kindt + Rubin create a new mythology in ‘Cosmic Detective’

The new Kickstarter project has already blown past its goal in its first day.

Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt and David Rubin have all collaborated together in one form or another in the past, but now the three creators have united to create their own world in Cosmic Detective, which went live on Kickstarter earlier today.

The story centers on a detective tasked with discovering who killed a god.

“Cosmic Detective is a crime story that channels Jack Kirby, David Lynch and Raymond Chandler,” Kindt said. “It’s a story grounded in noir that ultimately becomes absolutely cosmic-bonkers insane.”

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Insider Art establishes fund for female, non-binary comic retailers

Female creators unite to help raise funds for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with a planned anthology, auction and more.

As shelter-in-place orders continue to impact businesses of all shapes and sizes, an all-star list of female comics creators have come together to support female and non-binary comic book retailers.

Jen King, owner of Space Cadet Collections in Texas, will administer The Insider Art: Female Comic Book Retailer Fund, which will raise money in three key ways:

  • A digital comics anthology, details on which you can find below.
  • An Insider Art fabric: Two fabrics will beavailable in the coming months via Spoonflower — one featuring cat art by noted comic book professionals, and another by a host of young female artists.
  • An auctions of exclusive artwork, signed prints and various collectibles: King, who is also host of CBSN, her Comic Book Shopping Network FaceBook Channel, will run auctions, live on FaceBook and on eBay, to raise money.

“We couldn’t think of a better way to acknowledge the female comic book retailers who are on the front lines every day, spreading the good word about our favorite medium,” said former Vertigo and Black Crown editor Shelly Bond, who helped put the project into motion. “Over 50 female comic book creators have donated their time and mad skills to support female retailers who have lost incredible amounts of money due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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May the 4th Be With You: ‘Star Wars: Doctor Aphra’ arrives digitally today

The first issue of the new series by Alyssa Wong and Marika Cresta can be found on comiXology now.

Everyone is celebrating Star Wars today, from Disney+to that purse company my wife likes. Marvel is getting in on the action by releasing the first issue of their new Star Wars: Doctor Aphra series on digital today.

Physical copies won’t arrive in comic shops until May 27, in the first wave of Marvel titles scheduled to hit comic shops since the coronavirus shut down Diamond Comics Distributors.

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What Are You Reading? ‘Friday,’ Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and more

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

If you’re looking for something to read while sheltering in place, you’ve come to the right blog, as the Smash Pages crew has a whole mess of comics to talk about this week. So without further ado …

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Marvel plans to release new comics on May 27

Marvel will stagger the release of new comics and collections, as they release their shipping plans through mid-July.

While DC teamed with two new distributors to get their comics back into stores as fast as possible, Marvel has taken a more conservative approach during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdown of Diamond Comics Distributor. This week the company announced that it will begin releasing new comics again starting May 27, with five single issues, a week after Diamond plans to restore distribution.

As they previously announced, Marvel will release a slow trickle of comics into stores, alternating the first few weeks between single issues and collections. Here’s what their release schedule will look like through July 8:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Robin Ha

The creator of “Cook Korean!” talks about her latest graphic memoir, “Almost American Girl.”

Robin Ha’s graphic memoir Almost American Girl came out earlier this year, and it’s a stunning work that recounts not just her own childhood, but her mother’s life in South Korea and why they emigrated to the United States.

For those who knew Ha for her book Cook Korean! which began life as a cooking blog, to spend time with how she draws, with the ways that she plays with color and tone, is to understand just how good an artist and storyteller she is. And reading the two books together make it clear that she’s just begun to show what she’s capable of doing.

I reached out to Ha recently to talk about the book and her career, about trying to make projects that are very dissimilar from each other, and trying to focus on the emotion of the story.

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday: Slowly turning the faucet

DC Comics returned to (some) stores this week with a handful of comics, plus see what’s new in digital, OGNs and more.

And we are back, not with a bang, but with a whimper. We’re still several weeks away from Diamond and most of the comics industry returning to regular operations, but DC decided to break the model and bring back new comics in April, using two new distributors. Also, their new comics were available Tuesday, rather than Wednesday. Up is down, right is left … everything’s insane in this new world.

This feels more like a “beta” week for DC, too, who slowly dip their toes back in the water with their two new distribution partners. Thus, the new release list is very limited. But subsequent weeks should see more new comics from DC. And Diamond is targeting May 20 for their triumphant return, which should bring back even more comics from other publishers. The list of comics for that week is still being finalized, but you can see how it’s shaping up.

Anyway, let’s jump into what came out this week …

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Smash Pages Q&A: Jason Platt

The creator of “Mister & Me” discusses his latest graphic novel, his creative process, heist movies and more.

Jason Platt had been making the webcomic Mister & Me for years before he began making graphic novels. His second, Middle School Misadventures–Operation: Hat Heist is just out and is his best work yet.

When Newell’s favorite hat gets stolen at school, and then confiscated by the principal, he and other students stage an elaborate heist to take back, well, every hat the principal has confiscated over the years. Also, the plot hinges around the character’s love for The Captain, a science fiction TV show about a World War II bomber pilot thrown halfway across the galaxy.

Platt and I spoke recently about heist films, color, and trying to make each of his books completely different.

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‘Drama’ once again lands on the ALA’s ‘Most Challenged Books’ list

Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel continues its run on the yearly list of the most challenged/censored books.

The award-winning, best-selling graphic novel Drama by Raina Telgemeier has yet again found its way onto the American Library Association’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books list. The ALA released the list of the most challenged/censored books of 2019 earlier this month.

Challenged for “LGBTQIA+ content and for concerns that it goes against ‘family values/morals,’” Drama has appeared on the yearly list five times since it was published in 2012. This year it came in at No. 8, sandwiched between The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

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What Are You Reading? Starman, Mister Miracle, Poppy! and more

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

This week the Smash Pages crew focused on longer bodies of work from a variety of decades, looking at comics from the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2010s. Have a look at what we’ve been reading, and let us know what’s been on your list in the comments.

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