Dark magic meets 1970s Chicago in Band of Bards’ ‘Monsters & Midways’

Nick Goodwin, Chuck Satterlee and Jeremy Megert bring the swords in a new miniseries that’s coming next March.

Indie publisher Band of Bards has announced a new modern fantasy series, Monsters & Midways, that brings elves and magic to 1970s Chicago.

The comic will feature a heavy metal guitarist who “hasn’t made the big time with his songs of magic, wizards and elves.” But his life changes when he encounters the real thing. The new series is by writers Nick Goodwin and Chuck Satterlee, and artist Jeremy Megert. They’ll be joined by Nicholas Michael on colors and legendary letterer Tom Orzechowski.

“When the team submitted to us, it really wasn’t a hard decision for our editorial team,” said Tim Stolinski, co-founder and co-publisher of Band of Bards. “We are working towards a solid 2023 to build on the progress made in our first year. Monsters & Midways has a strong team and is an exciting story, so it was a simple decision for us.”

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‘Felix the Cat’ moves to Bottlerocket + is now up on Kickstarter

Rocketship Entertainment’s new imprint will crowdfund a softcover of the comic by Mike Federali, Bob Frantz and Tracy Yardley.

Rocketship Entertainment, which has brought many webcomics and other projects to print, has announced a new imprint aimed at younger readers — Bottlerocket. And one of their first projects will be Felix the Cat, which was previously announced to be coming from Source Point Press.

The project is already up on Kickstarter, and based on the preview artwork and creative team, it does look like this is the same project that was first revealed last year. The book itself is being created by Studio Stario, which is headed up by the comic’s writer, Mike Federali, who I spoke to last year about the project. He’s joined by Bob Frantz and artist Tracy Yardley.

For the Kickstarter, Bottlerocket is raising funds to publish Felix as hardcover and softcover collections, rather than as single issues, with other tiers offering prints by Thom Zahler and Art Baltazar.

“We’ve put a lot of love and time into this story, and I’m so grateful that it’s making its way to the fans,” said writer and Studio Stario president Mike Federali in the press release. “Felix has always been a favorite of mine, so it was very important to take the time with NBCUniversal to get it right. Being able to bring new Felix stories to life is a dream come true, and I hope the fans enjoy the ride as much as we did.”

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Marvel will launch a second Iron Man title in March

‘I Am Iron Man’ by Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande will tell stories set throughout Iron Man’s history.

With Iron Man’s big 60th anniversary coming up next year, Marvel is doubling down on the number of titles featuring the Armored Avenger. In addition to Invincible Iron Man, which debuts in December, Marvel will also launch I Am Iron Man next March.

Writer Murewa Ayodele and artist Dotun Akande will tell stories set at different points in Iron Man’s career. The duo actually have a back-up story in tomorrow’s Iron Man #25, which wraps up Christopher Cantwell’s run on the character with an oversized issue.

“Iron Man has been my favorite character in all of fiction for years now,” Ayodele said. “I’ve loved the character for so long that I had written a proposal for this series even before Dotun and I broke into comics. So, we are super grateful that Marvel made our wildest dreams come true by giving us this opportunity to tell stories that celebrate 60 years of the awesome existence of Tony Stark… Every issue of I Am Iron Man is set in an iconic era of Iron Man, explores some deep emotional wounds of Tony Stark, is adrenaline-pumping with exciting set pieces, and is rendered in beautiful illustrations by Dotun Akande (my favorite comic book artist and best friend). It’s the series for Iron Man fans and anyone that has ever wanted to get into Iron Man comics.”

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Barnes + Lins team for new alien invasion series ‘Monarch’

The new series will launch from Image Comics next year.

Killadelphia writer Rodney Barnes and Immortal Hulk artist Alex Lins will bring the horrors of an alien invasion to the streets of Compton in Monarch, a new series coming in February from Image Comics.

“I’ve always loved films like Attack the Block and War of the Worlds, so I decided to put them together to see what would happen. The result? Monarch,” said Barnes. 

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2023 Free Comic Book Day gold titles include Spider-Man, Fishflies, Dog Man and more

The first 13 titles include selections from Marvel, BOOM!, IDW, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Diamond has announced the first round of Free Comic Book Day titles for 2023. The “gold sponsor” titles for next year will include comics from Marvel, Dark Horse, AfterShock, Image, VIZ, Kodansha, Archie, BOOM!, Graphix, IDW, Titan and Dynamite, for a total of 13 titles, as Marvel will have two gold level books.

“This year’s lineup of titles has something for every kind of comic fan,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “We’re looking forward to another great year celebrating comic books and comic book shops, and we think this year’s lineup gives fans a lot to be excited about!”

The rest of the batch — otherwise known as the silver sponsor titles — will be announced later this week. Free Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 6, 2023.

Here’s a look at each gold-level title:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Return to Fairyland with Skottie Young and Brett Bean

Check out new comics and graphic novels coming to shops this week by Skottie Young, Brett Bean, Gerry Duggan, Matteo Scalera, Lorenzo De Felici , Jason, Peach Momoko, Christopher Cantwell 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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James Tynion IV’s Substack comics will arrive in print from Dark Horse

‘Blue Book’ and ‘Christopher Chaos’ will arrive in shops next year.

James Tynion IV has been building up a library of creator-owned comics on Substack since last year, when he was part of the first wave of creators to sign on to the platform. Through his Empire of the Tiny Onion newsletter, he’s released comics with Michael Avon Oeming, Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Kurt Michael Russell and many more, with at least one of them, The Closet with artist Gavin Fullerton, already making it to print via Image Comics.

Given his existing relationships with Image, BOOM! and even DC, it’s somewhat surprising to see that his remaining Substack comics will be collected and published by Dark Horse Comics. Blue Book will launch in February of next year, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos will follow in June.

Tynion explained why he went with Dark Horse for these particular books:

“Why Dark Horse? Well, honestly, I’ve always liked being able to silo similar projects together,” Tynion said in his newsletter. “I think Blue Book, all the True Weird stories we’re looking to tell, and the world of The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos fit very neatly on the shelves next to titles like Hellboy, Black Hammer, Norse Mythology, and a little-known series from Michael Avon Oeming called Powers (not to mention the whole Jinxworld library!). And like I told Dan Chabon and Tim Wiesch early in our conversations… I want a shelf of those gorgeous Dark Horse Library Editions. And as I’ve said to Tate a few times, now we can refer to the Chaosverse as the queer teenage cousin to the Mignolaverse!”

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New comic helps promote the importance of vaccinations

‘One for All, All for One’ is available digitally today and will be released in print later this month.

With vaccinations becoming a hot political issue over the last few years, a UK nonprofit is kicking off a campaign to help drive “conversations about vaccines, community protection, trust and working together in research.”

Part of that campaign includes the launch of a new comic, One for All, All for One, that’s available digitally today and will be released in print later this month. The comic is written by Planet Divoc-91’s Nabeel Petersen and illustrated by Cape Town street artist Mohamed Hassan.

“Vaccines are one of the most effective tools that we have to protect people against life-threatening infections,” said Prof. Bella Starling, co-director of One for All, All for One. “Yet vaccine hesitancy is on the increase worldwide, prompted by misinformation, poor access and infrastructure, suboptimal communication from clinicians, public health and policy makers, and lack of awareness. For me, the co-creation of the comic’s narrative (with scientists, healthcare workers, community and faith leaders, young mothers, young adults and artists) is one of the most important aspects of this project.”

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DC reveals their 2023 Black History Month plans

With Milestone celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, DC will release several projects spanning both universes.

DC has announced their plans for next year’s Black History Month in February, which include not only a new anthology and variant covers, but also several projects coming out of Milestone as the imprint celebrates its 30th anniversary.

In addition, several creators coming out of the Milestone Initiative, a program launched last year “to identify, support and elevate emerging diverse writers and artists within the comic book industry,” will see their first work published during Black History Month.

Let’s take a look at the DCU projects first …

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Sunday Comics | ‘Webcomic Name,’ ‘Let’s Play’ and more

A round-up of news items from the webcomics world this past week.

Typically I use this space to recommend interesting webcomics I come across, but this week I’m going start with some recent news topics in the webcomics world.

The first is the ongoing effort by Alex Norris to reclaim his rights to Webcomic Name, his popular online comic. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, more than likely you’ve seen his fun, blobby characters in your social media feed at some point:

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Slugfest | Beware Doom the Living Planet!

Check out news and announcements about ‘Avengers Assemble,’ Miracleman, ‘Space Job,’ Spawn and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you from comics creators, publishers and more. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel’s upcoming Avengers Assemble crossover is set to kick off in Avengers Assemble Alpha later this month, but Marvel’s already teasing what’s in store for the big multiversal event in February.

Those plans include more info on Avenger Prime, the “most important Avenger in the Multiverse,” as well as the introduction of Doom the Living Planet! You’d have to have a pretty big Ego to turn yourself into a planet, so it’s no surprise to see a multiverse version of Dr. Doom has done exactly that.

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Artemis hunts the gods in ‘Hunt. Kill. Repeat.’ from Mad Cave Studios

Mark London, Francesco Archidiacono + more pit the Goddess of the Hunt against her former family in a new series coming next March.

Hell hath no fury like a goddess scorned, something that Zeus and company will find out first hand in the new Mad Cave Studios series Hunt. Kill. Repeat.

The new title is written by Mark London with art by Francesco Archidiacono and Marc Deering. Lee Loughridge and Rus Wooton round out the team on colors and lettering, while Ryan Kincaid will provide covers.

“From Francesco Archidiacono’s perfectly executed penciling to Lee Loughridge’s vibrant colors, Hunt. Kill. Repeat. came to life exactly the way I had envisioned it in my mind,” London said. “It’s been a wild ride and truly invigorating to work with such talented individuals like the artists mentioned above, but also Marc Deering, Rus Wooton, Ryan Kincaid and Chris Fernandez. I am beyond excited for the fans to get this double-sized first issue in their hands and for everyone to see what we have in store for them with Hunt. Kill. Repeat.“

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