Pop glass artists’ merchandise stolen prior to SDCC

Reward offered for the recovery of Bling Squared’s sculpted creations

The adorable glass sculpture house Bling Squared traveled over 2,200 km from Canada to table at their third San Diego Comic-Con, but in a heartbreaking moment, their entire booth display and one of their cases containing half their inventory were stolen.

On their Instagram account, founders Neacol and Stanley Miler made a public appeal for the return of their lost merchandise.

Screengrab from @blingsquaredcuteglass on Instagram
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‘Once and Future’ fills the ‘Doctor Aphra shape’ in Kieron Gillen’s heart

Check out a preview of the upcoming series from BOOM! Studios.

Fans of Kieron Gillen’s work on Doctor Aphra, The Wicked and the Divine and Die don’t have long to wait for their next fix. In advance of this week’s Comic-Con International, BOOM! Studios released a preview and a trailer for his six-issue miniseries “Once and Future,” with artist Dan Mora and colorist Tamra Bonvillain.

“I’ve just finished an issue of this before writing this newsletter, and I’m enjoying writing Bridgette and Duncan enormously,” Gillen said in his email newsletter this week. “It’s definitely filled the Doctor Aphra shape in my heart, in terms of doing blackly funny adventure fiction. In this case, with a lot of horror notes.”

Check out the trailer and some preview pages below.

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Bob Burden gets down and dirty in ‘Hitman For The Dead’

The creator of the Flaming Carrot returns with a new project about an assassin who avenges the wrongfully slain.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a new project by Bob Burden, creator of the Flaming Carrot. And it sounds like bonkers fun, as you’d expect from Burden.

Hitman for the Dead is about an assassin who loses his soul in a card game, and “takes up with a crew of vagabond serial killers roaming America, administering one of the last surviving rituals of the Spanish Inquisition, avenging the wrongfully slain, and freeing their souls to pass on and find peace.”

“This project started out as a strategy to promote the new 400-page Flaming Carrot Omnibus that we have coming out in September from Dark Horse,” Burden said. “The story was an experiment. I wanted to change directions, blow out the pipes so to speak, and do a down-and-dirty hardcore thriller/horror/detective thing that would diverge from my humor stuff. Unlike Flaming Carrot, people instantly get what Hitman For The Dead is about and we feel it has a very viral potential.”

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IDW brings Mahnke’s ‘Lore’ podcast to comics

‘Wellington’ from IDW Publishing will explore the stories discussed on the podcast.

Aaron Mahnke’s Lore podcast has spawned books and an Amazon series, and starting in December he’s making the jump to comics. Mahnke will collaborate with co-writer Delilah S. Dawson, artist Piotr Kowalski and colorist Brad Simpson on Wellington.

“History and folklore are deep wells, and they are honestly a fiction writer’s dream come true,” said Mahnke. “With an amazing cast of characters just waiting to be called upon, and centuries of belief in the supernatural setting the stage, I’m excited to share these powerful stories in a brand-new way!”

The comic will delve “even deeper into Lore’s dark side of history.” It will introduce the Duke of Wellington, who investigates the mysteries and monsters discussed on the podcast.

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Zdarsky + Loo offer you a ride to Hell in ‘Afterlift’

New miniseries coming later this year from comiXology Originals.

Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo will tell the story of a ride-share driver with a literal passenger from Hell in Afterlift, a five-issue series from comiXology Originals.

The project was announced today during a press conference at Comic-Con International. Zdarsky and Loo are joined by Paris Alleyne on colors, letterer Aditya Bidikar and editor Allison O’Toole.

“The upcoming publication of Afterlift marks a major turning point in the literary career of Chip Zdarsky, award-considered writer,” said Zdarsky. “Someday soon an Afterlift trade paperback will sit on the shelves of libraries around the world, alongside dusty, leather bound tomes of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and other books.”

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comiXology announces ‘Adora and the Distance’ OGN

Marc Bernardin and Ariela Kristantina tell a story inspired by Bernardin’s autistic daughter.

Genius and The Highwaymen writer Marc Bernardin has been more active as a TV writer lately, working on shows like Alphas, Carnival Row and Castle Rock in recent years, but he’s making his return to comics with a new graphic novel from comiXology Originals.

Artist Ariela Kristantina, colorist Jessica Kholinne, letterer Bernardo Brice and editor Will Dennis will work with Bernardin on Adora and the Distance, a story inspired by Bernardin’s daughter, who was diagnosed with autism at four years old.

“There are millions of parents of kids on the autism spectrum and there are millions of children with siblings on the spectrum,” Bernardin said in the press release. “This isn’t a book about how hard it is to be a parent or a sibling, it’s one that imagines the unknowable: What’s going on inside the mind of a loved one who has never been able to tell us?”

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Random House Graphic will launch its graphic novel line in 2020

The new imprint reveals four projects for early 2020, with several others in the works.

Random House Graphic is a new imprint of Penguin Random House “dedicated to publishing graphic novels for kids and teens of every age and interest, fiction and nonfiction.” It was officially announced last year, and leading into Comic-Con International, they’ve revealed their debut line-up.

Their first books will hit shelves in January, under the guidance of Publishing Director Gina Gagliano, formerly with First Second.

“Random House Graphic is dedicated to publishing the best in kids and YA graphic novels,” Gagliano said. “It’s an incredibly exciting time for the graphic novel medium—with more readers coming to these stories, and new groundbreaking books being published, the category is expanding by leaps and bounds. We can’t wait to share our contributions to it with readers, booksellers, comic book sellers, educators, librarians, and everyone who loves books and comics.”

Their four debut titles are:

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‘Creature Feature’ host hunts monsters in Dark Horse’s ‘Count Crowley’

Actor David Dastmalchian, Lukas Ketner and Lauren Affe bring the monster fight to life in October.

Actor David Dastmalchian has appeared in several films comics fans probably recognize, including The Dark Knight and Ant-Man, and come October he’ll be writing a new comic for Dark Horse titled Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter. He’ll team with artist Lukas Ketner, who previously worked on Kill the Minotaur for Skybound and on Dark Horse’s Creepy title, and colorist Lauren Affe.

“Partnering with Dark Horse Comics has been one of the greatest experiences of my career. Since my childhood passion for comics and the Creature Feature in Kansas City, I have dreamt of conjuring the world of Count Crowley,” Dastmalchian said. “Personal themes of addiction shape my writing and I’m so grateful to present a terrifying tale about confronting dogmatism that’s lovingly reverent to classic horror and the power of myth. This may be 80s nostalgia but the importance of re-examining what we think we know is as timeless as ever.”

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Bedside Press to launch mentorship and publishing programs for new comics creators

Innovative small press publisher Hope Nicholson is making big waves to shake up the Canadian comics industry

Bedside Press, the Winnipeg-based small publisher, made a big announcement in the Hollywood Reporter today introducing a collaborative project to boost books and comics that have strong potential but no current access to the market.

Publisher Hope Nicholson formed Bedside Press in 2014 and spent the last five years navigating the comics publishing world and beyond, using already established publishers, Canadian arts grants and internet crowdfunding sites to help bring her books to print. Bedside Press is responsible for many books coming to print, including Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, and two Eisner Award-nominated anthologies: Enough Space for Everyone Else and Trina Robbins’ A Bunch of Jews (and other stuff) with various artists.

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Watch Anders Nilsen draw a 360 degree comic

A trip to Berlin resulted in a unique opportunity to turn a room into a comic strip.

Big Questions creator Anders Nilsen recently went to Berlin, and while there, he turned a room into a comic.

The drawing extended around all four walls of a room at an art space called Radialsystem, and “Walking in Circles,” as the piece was called, was up for a day before it was painted over.

“I’ve always worked in a variety of styles, and form and content are always very much of a piece in my work,” Nilsen wrote on his blog. “It was really fun to draw a comic on the walls of a room and have that circumstance intertwine itself into the content of the piece. It’s not a piece that could have existed on paper.”

Check out the video of Nilsen’s work after the jump:

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‘Nomen Omen’ will haunt your dreams in October

‘It’s a story no one can protect you from.’

Just in time for Halloween, writer/RPG creator Marco B. Bucci (Magna Veritas, Memento Mori) and artist Jacopo Camagni (X-Men Blue, Deadpool The Duck) will tell a tale of witchcraft in Nomen Omen. The 15-issue maxi-series begins in October.

“This is not a comic-book, this is a ritual,” said Bucci. “It’s a story no one can protect you from. But don’t be scared: there’s power in names and by reading our book you’ll get a glimpse of how it works.”

Accoridng to the press release, Nomen Omen is “a tale filled with witchcraft and secrets that will rewire the rules of urban fantasy.” The 15-issue maxiseries will launch from Image Comics this October and feature alternative covers by Olivier Coipel and Becky Cloonan.

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IDW Publishing to adapt Kings’ ‘Sleeping Beauties’

Stephen King and Owen King’s novel about a world without women will be adapted by Rio Youers and Alison Sampson.

Rio Youers and Alison Sampson are bringing Sleeping Beauties, the 2017 novel by Stephen King and Owen King, to comics.

“We are so excited about Rio and Alison’s vision for Sleeping Beauties,” says Owen King, who is Stephen’s son. “We’ve been fans of Rio’s for years and Alison’s artwork is simply extraordinary. IDW couldn’t have found a better pairing.”

The novel is about a strange mystical occurrence that puts all women to sleep, leaving men to fend for themselves.

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