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Smash Pages Q&A | Nick Cagnetti on ‘The Chip’

The creator of ‘Pink Lemonade’ talks about his story in the first issue of the science fiction anthology ‘Xino.’

Oni Press will debut Xino this week, an anthology of “subversive, psych-surrealist science fiction to cure your awful awareness of our meager reality.” Over the course of three issues, they’ve assembled a talented roster of creators, with the first issue featuring stories by Phil Hester, Jordan Thomas and Shaky Kane, Melissa Flores and Daniel Irizarri, and Christopher Condon and Nick Cagnetti.

Cagnetti, best known for his work on Pink Lemonade, worked with Condon on a story titled “the Chip,” which is about the world’s first intravenous video game system and the impact it has on one of its users. Cagnetti was kind enough to answer a few questions about the story, as well as the upcoming collection of the entire Pink Lemonade series.

Barbara Friedlander, Sam Glanzman will receive the 2023 Bill Finger Award

The awards will be presented at Comic-Con International next month during the Eisner Award ceremony.

Comic-Con International has announced that Barbara Friedlander and Sam Glanzman will receive the 2022 Bill Finger Award. The award recognizes creators who made lasting contributions to comics that went largely “unsung,” as Bill Finger’s contributions to the creation of Batman and related characters went unsung for several decades.

“Once again, we’re excited to honor two folks who wrote great comic books that perhaps didn’t receive the attention and recognition that their work deserved,” said Mark Evanier, who oversees the awards program. “Readers who only know from fictional superheroes should be aware of the excellent writing that has sometimes been found in comics about real-world romance and real-world war— two areas represented well by this year’s recipients.”

Skybound announces a second ‘Creepshow’ miniseries with Hester, Cloonan, Ennis + more

The anthology will run for five issues and include stories by Michael Walsh, Dan Watters, Abigail Larson, Zoe Thorogood and more.

Creepshow, the iconic horror movie that Skybound turned into a comic last year, will return with a second miniseries in September.

Creepshow by director George Romero and writer Stephen King debuted in theaters back in 1982. Inspired by EC Comics’ horror titles like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, the film featured a kid reading a comic called Creepshow and a host, “The Creep,” who was reminiscent of the Cryptkeeper and other horror comic hosts.

Ahoy will collect Russell + Snejbjerg’s ‘Cereal’ in October

The trade paperback collects ‘a dark, distinctly adult and lovingly funny take’ on breakfast cereal mascots.

Sugary cereal has never been scarier than when it’s in the hands of writer/satirist Mark Russell and artist Peter Snejbjerg. Their “Cereal” serial, which first appeared in the Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of… series of miniseries, will be collected in October by Ahoy Comics.

Described as “a dark, distinctly adult, and lovingly funny take on an earlier generation’s beloved monsters,” the story follows several breakfast-loving monsters who will seem familiar to any fans of General Mills’ “Monster” line of cereal. I was always a big fan of Franken Berry.

“Monsters play such an expansive role in our collective conscience, being used for everything from giving face to our deepest fears to selling us breakfast cereal,” said Russell. “This book looks at monsters from every angle at once. It sees them as we are — as cartoonish but scary, as comical, and yet, still sad.”

Black Canary recruits Harley, Zealot, Barda and Batgirl for ‘Birds of Prey’

The new series by Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles debuts in September.

After a week of social media teases by writer Kelly Thompson, DC Comics has officially announced the new Birds of Prey series.

Thompson will team with artist Leonardo Romero and colorist Jordie Bellaire, who she worked with on Hawkeye for Marvel, and letterer Clayton Cowles. The series will feature Black Canary, Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Zealot and Harley Quinn.

“When I say this is a dream come true for me, I mean not just working on the iconic Birds of Prey title, but also the characters we were able to fold in, and the creative team we assembled,” Thompson said. “Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire were two of my first partners-in-crime making superhero books and I’ve been trying to make this happen ever since. It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Leonardo and Jordie are even better than they were the last time we worked together—and working together on this wild book is pure magic.”

The Wasp will try to solve ‘every mystery in the Marvel universe’ in ‘Avengers Inc.’

Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk set up a new status quo for Janet Van Dyne and former Vision alias Victor Shade.

The Avengers are going full Avengers in a new series by Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk. Avengers Inc. will feature the original Wasp and Victor Shade, the former alias of the Vision, in a story featuring super villain murders, conspiracy and the pair solving “every mystery in the Marvel universe,” Steed and Mrs. Peel style.

“Avengers Inc. takes the beating, buzzing heart of the original Avengers, teams her up with an undead mystery man with an identity so secret even he doesn’t know it, and sends them both out to solve the most amazing, fantastic and uncanny whodunnits the Marvel Universe has to offer!” Ewing said. “It’s kind of a classic ‘will-they-won’t-they’ crime-solving partnership—or it would be if the ‘will-they’ in question was ‘save the world from…’ Well, that’d be telling. See you in September!”

Dark Horse will publish ‘Shook! A Black Horror Anthology’

The collection will include stories by David Walker, John Jennings, Rodney Barnes and more.

Dark Horse has announced Shook! A Black Horror Anthology, a new graphic novel coming to stores next year. The publisher is working with Second Sight Publishing on the project, which will include “more than 200 pages of dread, brought to life by award-winning Black writers and artists.”

The anthology will include stories by David Walker, John Jennings, Rodney Barnes, David Brame, Bradley Golden, Flavio Cortés and more.

“The Shook! project is a collaboration between John Jennings, Bradley Golden, and myself who all hail from the south,” said Marcus Roberts, collection editor and COO of Second Sight Publishing. “John and Bradley are from Mississippi, and I am originally from Georgia. Our brand of horror has been called Southern Gothic horror and this has been in the making for two years.”

‘Ultimate Invasion’ sets the stage for a new Ultimate Universe

Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch are setting the table for a superhero universe that’s a ‘reflection of the world outside your window.’

Marvel’s upcoming Ultimate Invasion miniseries won’t just revisit the previous incarnation of the Ultimate Universe — it will also set up a new Ultimate Universe, according to creators Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch.

“What made the Ultimate Universe originally really interesting was that it was a reflection of the world outside your window, in the moment that you were living in. What does it look like in the world we’re living in now?” Hickman said during a call with retailers yesterday. “It’s kind of shocking how much the world has changed in that period of time. The idea of what it would be like to see the genesis of super heroes in a brand-new world is a really fascinating exercise.”

The Ultimate Invasion miniseries, which kicks off June 21, will run through September. Then in November, Marvel will release a one-shot, Ultimate Universe #1 by Hickman and Stefano Caselli:

It’s a battle for the ages in ‘Predator vs. Wolverine’

X marks the spot as The Predator hunts a very lethal target in the upcoming crossover from Marvel.

Claws will be poppin’ in the new miniseries Predator vs. Wolverine, which brings 20th Century Fox’s Yautja into the Marvel universe to hunt Wolverine.

This is the only logical reason for Disney buying 20th Century Fox, so that this story could exist.

Writer Benjamin Percy will be joined by multiple artists on the project, including Greg Land, Andrea Di Vito, Ken Lashley and Kei Zama, as a Predator hunts the former Weapon X across Canada, Madripoor and more in a decade-spanning story.

“The mythologies of both are ingrained in me so deeply they might as well be strands of DNA or wisps of soul,” Percy told Marvel.com. “The guns, claws, beef and blood of both franchises have been stewing in my brain since 1987, when I read myself to sleep every night with a stack of Marvel comics and my friends and I used to play ‘Predator’ with Nerf guns in the woods and river near our neighborhood.”

Captain Flag means business in this preview of ‘World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #26

Check out an exclusive preview of two new stories coming in next week’s digest from Archie Comics.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re happy to present a preview of two new stories from World of Betty & Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #26, which comes out June 14.

In the first story, Betty, Veronica, Kumi and Eliza Han, the new character created by Tee Franklin last year, face a camping crisis — and only Inferno the Fire Breather can help. Bill Golliher, Rex Lindsey and Glenn Whitmore channel The Doors in “Light My Fire.”

And in the second, Archie and the Superteens get an invite to the annual Crusader Cookout, where Captain Flag schools them on the proper way to display the American flag. Ian Flynn, Steven Butler, Jim Amash, Whitmore and Jack Morelli give us a patriotic lesson just in time for the July 4th holiday.

Check out both previews below, along with a complete classic Archie story by Golliher and Rudy Lapick.

Colleen Doran, Alex Ross, Sarah Andersen among this year’s NCS divisional nominees

The National Cartoonist Society announces the divisional nominees for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2022 NCS Divisional finalists for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more. The winners will be announced Sept. 7, and the nominees for their biggest award, the Reuben itself, should be announced soon.

The awards recognize the artist or cartoonist, so you’ll see work, the writer or publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. The graphic novel category nominees for this year include Colleen Doran, artist of Chivalry; Alex Ross, creator of Fantastic Four: Full Circle; and Christian Meesey, artist of Time Shopper. For comic books, the nominees include Brett Bean, artist of I Hate Fairyland; Ben Bender, creator of The Littlest Viking; and Robert Goodin, creator of The Kurdles.

Webcomics creators are recognized in two categories — long form and short form. In the long-form category, the nominees include Phil Foglio, Brad Guigar and Sheldon creator Dave Kellett. In the short-form category, Sarah Andersen, Tex creator Jesse Atwell and Rich Powell have been nominated.

Below is the full list of the nominees.

‘Birds of Prey’ will return this fall by Thompson, Romero + Bellaire

Black Canary will assemble the ‘most dangerous’ Birds of Prey ‘for mysterious reasons.’

DC’s Birds of Prey will return in September by the creative team of Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.

Thompson revealed the news both on Twitter and via her Substack, and also shared the team’s first member, Black Canary, with the promise to reveal more of the members throughout the week. Here’s a look at Romero’s design:

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

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