Exclusive Preview: ‘Cayrels Ring’

Shannon Lentz, Alchemichael, Farel Dalrymple and more come together to tell a unique science fiction story.

It’s been about three years since Shannon Lentz launched a Kickstarter for the first issue of Cayrels Ring, a science fiction comic that chronicles life in a far-off galaxy colonized by humans. Since then he’s produced and crowdfunded more than 130 pages of his anthology, working with artists like Farel Dalrymple, James Stokoe, Alchemichael, Simon Roy and more to tell the story of an aging scientist looking for his long-lost granddaughter.

Earlier this month Lentz announced that the anthology will be collected by A Wave Blue World, publisher of comics like Dead Beats, All We Ever Wanted, Mezo and many others. As a backer of the original Kickstarter, it’s cool to see this come to fruition, and I’m happy to post an exclusive preview from the anthology, courtesy of the publisher.

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Mail Call | Off and Running

News from Random House, BOOM! Studios, IDW and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Congratulations to Random House Graphic, which officially launched this week! RH Graphic is a new line of graphic novels for young readers, spearheaded by Gina Gagliano, former marketing director for First Second.

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Exclusive Preview: ‘Cosmo the Mighty Martian’ #3

Check out preview pages from next week’s issue featuring the galaxy’s mightiest little Martian.

After a 60-year hibernation, Archie Comics’ Cosmo, the mightiest little martian in the galaxy, returned in 2018 with a refreshed look and a new lease on life. His first miniseries was successful enough to warrant a follow-up, which is in full swing now.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, take a look at an exclusive preview from next week’s issue of Cosmo the Mighty Martian, the third of five in the little guy’s second miniseries. It features the work of Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, Matt Herms and Jack Morelli, who are joined this issue by Evan Stanley, who drew the pages shown below.

You can also catch up on his adventures at comiXology.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Danny Fingeroth

The writer and editor discusses his unauthorized biography of ‘the most famous person in comics.’

Danny Fingeroth has been working in comics for decades. A longtime editor at Marvel, Byron Preiss and Visionary Media, Fingeroth wrote comics like Darkhawk, Dazzler, Venom: Deathtrap – The Vault and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, and wrote nonfiction books including Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. He’s also known to a lot of convention goers as one of the people who runs a lot of panels — interviewing and celebrating the creators who helped to invent comics at dozens of labels across the country. At the end of 2019 he came out with his biggest book to date, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee. 

The biography of the late Stan Lee is unauthorized but affectionate, and tries to capture the man that Fingeroth got to know later in his life with the young man who has been written about at length. After reading the book, I asked Fingeroth a few questions about the project and how it fits in with his other work, including serving as chair of Will Eisner Week.

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GLAAD Media Awards nominees announced

2019 nominees in the comic book category include ‘Runaways,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me’ and more.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, have announced the nominees for their 2019 Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives.

This year Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, First Second and Marvel have all received two nominations, while DC Comics and comiXology Originals each received one. Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles won the award in this category last year.

Check out the full list of nominees below

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Cosmic collisions promised in ‘Empyre’ trailer

Watch a teaser for next April’s big event series from Marvel, featuring the Kree, Skrulls, Avengers and more.

Marvel has released a teaser trailer for their next big event, Empyre, which was also teased in last week’s $10-for-an-advertisement one-shot, Incoming!

The story will be written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott, with artwork by Valerio Schiti. It will star the Avengers and Fantastic Four in a story of “galactic intrigue and cosmic ramifications” that features the Kree, the Skrulls, Hulking and more.

Check out the trailer below:

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‘Adventureman!’ by Fraction + Dodsons coming in April

New series has been in production for three years.

The long-gestating Adventureman! by Matt Fraction, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson will arrive in comic shops this April, according to Terry Dodson on Twitter.

Fraction announced the series at HeroesCon in 2016. “It’s about a retired policewoman with a young son that discovers the fictional adventures of a pulp hero named ‘Adventureman’ weren’t so fictional after all when she inherits his mantle in the present day,” Fraction said at the time. “But she inherits all of his old scores, grudges and enemies, too.”

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Transformers collide with the Terminator next March

Robots in disguise collide with robots in disguise in the four-issue miniseries.

The battle of the ‘bots kicks off in earnest next year as the Transformers collide with The Terminator, courtesy of IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, who hold the respective comics licenses for the two properties.

The four-issue miniseries will be written by David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and John Barber, with art by Alex Milne.

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‘Home Time’ gets a sequel next year

The next volume of the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Campbell Whyte arrives from Top Shelf in May.

Campbell Whyte‘s Home Time received several awards and nominations in 2018 and earned the creator a Russ Manning nomination, among others, and now he’s back with the sequel. Top Shelf will publish Home Time II: Beyond the Weaving next May.

The first graphic novel told the story of a group of kids preparing for high school who ended up transported to a village populated with creatures of fantasy. This second book picks up where the first one left off, as the kids leave the village to find their way home.

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Hickman + Huddleston team for ‘Decorum’ in March

‘There are many assassins in the known universe. ‘Decorum’ is the story of the most well-mannered one.’

Hey, how would you like some Jonathan Hickman news that doesn’t involve the X-Men? The man who revitalized Marvel’s merry mutants this year will return to the world of creator-owned books in March with Decorum, a new series with artist Mike Huddleston coming from Image Comics.

“We’ve been quietly working on this book for over a year and I’m having the time of my life,” said Hickman. “Mike is one of those ridiculously talented artists who is both technically proficient and insanely stylistic—everyone is just going to love what he’s done here.”

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‘Usagi,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and more round out silver Free Comic Book Day titles

Free Comic Book Day 2020 will feature almost 50 titles on May 2.

With its “gold sponsors” announced earlier in the week, the Free Comic Book Day committee announced the rest of the 2020 line-up yesterday, bringing the total to 47 free comics.

“Every year, our goal is to bring fans the very best Free Comic Book Day experience,” said Joe Field, originator of FCBD, and owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord, California, in a press statement. “The caliber, strength and depth of this year’s comic book titles is really something to be thrilled about! With such a wide variety of stories in 2020 FCBD titles, every long-time fan and every new shop visitor curious about comics is going to find something exciting. Comic book specialty retailers all over the world are excited to treat everyone to an incredible day of fun, discovery, and learning about comic books and comic book shops.”

The silver titles include additional comics from several of the gold sponsors, including a new Usagi Yojimbo comic by Stan Sakai and a Stranger Things/Minecraft flipbook from Dark Horse. There are also selections featuring Donald Duck, Naruto, Owly, Lumberjanes, Little Lulu and Artists, Writers & Artisans, the new comics company headed up by Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso.

Check out the full list below.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Steven Scott

The co-author of ‘They Called Us Enemy’ discusses the project, working with George Takei, his future plans and more.

When They Called Us Enemy was released this summer, it was quickly named one of the best graphic novels of the year by those who read it. George Takei, the actor and activist, has received much of the attention, and for good reason. This is his story, about how he and his family – and more than 100,000 other Japanese-Americans were interned by the American government. In recent years the actor, known best as Star Trek’s Sulu, has become best known as an activist for LGBTQ rights, but recently he has spent a great deal of time and energy to educating people about what happened in those years, both to help American citizens more fully understand our own history, but also to ensure that it never happens again.

Takei made the book with Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and Harmony Becker. Scott may not be known to comics readers, but he’s been working in the comics industry for years and it’s how I first got to know him years ago. They Called Us Enemy is his first graphic novel, and I reached out to Scott to talk about how he ended up here, working with Takei and what he wants to do next.

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