Marvel will revisit ‘Days of Future Past’ in a new miniseries

Marc Guggenheim and Manuel García will tell the story leading up to the monumental issues by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.

The back story leading up to one of the greatest story arcs in the history of X-Men comics will be revealed in a new miniseries by Marc Guggenheim and Manuel Garcia.

“Days of Future Past” appeared in Uncanny X-Men #141-142 and still resonates with many X-Men fans today. Those two issues helped set the tone for the series for many years after it, as Chris Claremont and John Byrne shared the consequences of where the prejudice and hate against mutants could ultimately lead. It also helped solidify the idea that Magneto could be an ally to the X-Men and introduced Rachel Summers, who would find her way back to the past to join the current day X-Men. And how many variant covers owe their lives to Byrne’s cover for issue #141?

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Doomsday will tell the story of the events leading up to the future state where mutants were kept in concentration camps and a small group of scrappy X-Men fought back — and lost.

“Growing up, I never thought I’d get the chance to write the X-Men as many times as I have. I particularly never thought I’d be able to play around in the amazing timeline that Chris Claremont and John Byrne brought to life in ‘Days of Future Past,'” Guggenheim told Marvel.com. “I still have the most vivid memory of visiting the stationery store where I used to buy my comics and seeing Uncanny X-Men #141 on the rack. That iconic cover blew my nine year-old mind.”

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Pureheart teams with the Crusaders in ‘Archie Jumbo Comics Digest’ #339

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

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re pleased to present a preview of two new stories from Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #339, which comes out April 12.

Over the past few months we’ve previewed stories featuring Archie and the gang teaming up with various members of the Mighty Crusaders, but this preview has not just one Crusader member, but the entire team! Pureheart — Archie’s superhero identity — teams up with Victoria Shield, Inferno, She-Fox and more to face the wrath of the giant rock monster known as Bronto. This one is written by Ian Flynn, with artwork by Steven and Lily Butler, letters by Jack Morelli and coloring by Glenn Whitmore.

In the second story, Shinji — who you might know better as Ghost Fox — goes on a date with Kevin Keller, all while his mother, She-Fox, battles a prehistoric villain named Dino Rex. This one is also written by Flynn, with art by Holly G! and Bob Smith.

Check both previews out below, along with a complete Archie story drawn by Stan Goldberg.

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Nominees announced for the 19th annual Doug Wright Awards

Henriette Valium will be inducted into the Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame.

The nominees have been announced for the 19th annual Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics.”

Random House, Conundrum Press, and Drawn & Quarterly all received multiple nominations for books they published, while Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth’s You Know, Sex from Triangle Press received multiple nods. The Doug Wright Awards received a “record” 200 entries by Canadian authors and artists this year as part of the selection process. 

The award committee also announced that artist, painter and Palace of Champions creator Henriette Valium, who passed away in 2021, will be inducted into Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame.

This year the awards will be given out live and in-person on April 29 at 8 p.m. Eastern. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube.

The nominees for 2023 are:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | North + Henderson present ‘Danger and Other Unknown Risks’

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, Jimmie Robinson, Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Ethan Young and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Matt Kindt on ‘Hairball,’ Flux House, ‘BRZRKR’ and more

The award-winning creator discusses several of his recent projects, the success of his collaboration with Keanu Reeves, working with Jean-Denis Pendanx and more.

Over the years he’s been working in comics, Matt Kindt has proven not only to be highly prolific, but also one of comic’s most creative minds, particularly when it comes to things like story structure and design. From his early work on Pistolwhip and Super Spy to more recent projects like MIND MGMT, Kindt has always been one to push the boundaries on comics, their format and how to make them more interesting.

Over the last year or so, Kindt has been involved in two high-profile projects — BRZRKR, a best-selling project at BOOM! Studios spearheaded by actor Keanu Reeves, and the launch of Flux House, Kindt’s own imprint at Dark Horse Comics. While the former has brought him possibility more attention than just about anything else he’s worked on, the latter has given him the opportunity to be even more creative in areas outside his typical domain.

I caught up with Kindt to discuss his recent projects, including Hairball, which kicks off this week, as well as his approach to running his own imprint and how the design of a book or comic impacts the experience of reading it.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Unstoppable Doom Patrol,’ ‘Gotham Central’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include Gotham Central, Doctor Strange, Unstoppable Doom Patrol and Don’t Spit in the Wind.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments below or by tagging us on social media.

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Cullen Bunn returns to Marvel for ‘Death of the Venomverse’

The five-issue miniseries is one of many projects coming during the Summer of Symbiotes.

Cullen Bunn, writer of everything from Agent Venom to Drax to the X-Men, has been absent from Marvel for a number of years now, but that’s about to change. Marvel announced that Bunn will return — “maybe for the last time” — to write the upcoming Death of the Venomverse series with artist Gerardo Sandoval.

Marvel revealed the news along with a lot of other announcements related to their “Summer of Symbiotes” publishing initiative at this weekend’s C2E2 in Chicago.

In his newsletter, Bunn said the series involves Carnage embarking on a vicious bloodbath across all of reality, with a terrible agenda that would result in “death and destruction for all reality.” A group of Venoms from different universes team up to stop Carnage.

“The series was originally meant to be called Venomverse 2 or something, but I lobbied hard for Death of the Venomverse, and I’m not going to let that be an empty promise,” Bunn said.

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‘Spider-Man’ #7 will introduce Spider-Boy

Spider-Man’s long-lost sidekick will debut this week.

This Wednesday’s Spider-Man not only continues the “End of Spider-Verse” storyline by Dan Slott and Mark Bagley, but will also introduce a new character to the 616 — Spider-Boy.

No, he’s not another alternate universe version of Spider-Man. According to Marvel, he’s part of the 616 and is Spider-Man’s “long-lost sidekick.” Readers of that title know that Spider-Man was recently removed from the Web of Life (or whatever it’s called) and no doubt he’s going to be added back, and it looks like he’ll be getting a retconned sidekick as well. I’m getting some Dawn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes here.

“I can’t wait for people to meet Bailey, and the unique role he’s going to play in both Spider-Man’s world and the Marvel Universe,” Slott told Marvel.com. “I grew up reading Spider-Man comics. He’s my favorite character in all of fiction. All I ever wanted to do was tell stories with THIS cast, and it’s been the coolest thing ever to co-create some of the characters who populate it. And this kid, this Spider-Boy, is THE one I’m most psyched about!”

Here’s the variant cover for Spider-Man #7 by Spider-Boy co-creator Humberto Ramos: 

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Marvel reveals more about ‘Fall of X’ at MegaCon

Kate Pryde becomes Shadowkat again and gets a new costume, Colossus leads X-Force and Tony Stark teams with Emma Frost.

Marvel shared several tidbits and teasers about the upcoming Fall of X crossover event during a panel at this weekend’s MegaCon. The panel featured Senior Editor Jordan D. White, writers Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy, and artist Joshua Cassara.

We don’t know a lot about the overall Fall of X storyline just yet, but we do know a few things. For one, it’ll kick off in this year’s Hellfire Gala special, after getting a preview of sorts in four one-shots. It’ll also involve non-mutant heroes like Iron Man, as Tony Stark lost his company to X-Men villain Feilong and it’s now making its own Sentinels. While the overall plot is still unknown, it’ll involve “danger, conspiracy and sacrifice” that “threatens to shatter everything mutantkind accomplished on Krakoa.”

One thing revealed at the panel is a teaser image that lists all the crossover titles that will be part of the event, including several new titles that we haven’t heard about yet. The list includes current titles like X-Men, Wolverine, X-Force, Immortal X-Men and Invincible Iron Man, as well as the new (yet familiar in some cases) Astonishing Iceman, Children of the Vault, Uncanny Spider-Man, Alpha Flight, Dark X-Men, Realm of X and the previously announced Uncanny Avengers.

Here’s the teaser image by Bryan Hitch:

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DC announces ‘Batman and Robin’ by Williamson and Di Meo

Plus, more Dawn of DC artwork was revealed this weekend at MegaCon.

DC is in full swing at MegaCon in Orlando this weekend, and they kicked off the show by announcing a new Dawn of DC title — Batman and Robin — as well as revealing more artwork from upcoming projects.

Batman and Robin, featuring the father-and-son team of Bruce and Damian Wayne, will launch in September from Joshua Williamson and Simone Di Meo. In it, the dynamic duo will be “investigating mysterious new cases and monsters in Gotham.” Plus, Robin gets his own Robinmobile.

Check out some preview artwork:

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‘Young Men in Love,’ ‘Poison Ivy’ win GLAAD awards

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation recognized comics from DC and A Wave Blue World in their 34th annual Media Awards.

Poison Ivy and Young Men in Love were honored by The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, as winners in their 34th annual Media Awards.

Poison Ivy by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Atagun Ilhan, Brian Level, Stefano Gaudiano, Jay Leisten, Arif Prianto, Ivan Plascencia and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, took home the award for Outstanding Comic Book. The DC title was up against nine other comic series in the category.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Che Grayson + Kelsey Ramsay on ‘Dark Spaces: Good Deeds’

The co-creators of the new title from Scott Snyder’s new imprint at IDW discuss how they came to comics, their approach to the story and more.

Last summer, after the release of Dark Spaces: Wildfire, IDW announced that writer Scott Snyder would curate a series of comics under the “Dark Spaces” label, written and drawn by different creators. They also announced the second title from the imprint, Dark Spaces: Good Deeds by writer Che Grayson and artist Kelsey Ramsay.

When the announcement was made, Snyder said his intent with the line was to “champion up-and-coming talent,” but “up-and-coming” may not apply to Grayson and Ramsay for long, based on what I’ve seen in the first issue. Together they’ve created a compelling “Southern Gothic” horror tale that draws as much from real-world fears as it does from the supernatural. I caught up with the writer and artist to talk about how it all came together, their approach to the story and more.

The first issue will arrive in stores on May 17.

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