Can’t Wait for Comics | A new era of ‘Batman’ begins

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, Liam Sharp, Matt Kindt, Farel Dalrymple, Skottie Young, Humberto Ramos, Rachel Smythe, Sam Beck and more.

Happy Fourth of July — or Happy Monday, depending on where you are in the world — and welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week sees Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez take over Batman, and Strange Academy and The Joker come to an end. And let’s not forget the white-hot Lore Olympus, as the popular Webtoon jumps to print for its second collection.

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.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | A new era of ‘Batman’ begins”

What Are You Reading? | ‘Sins of the Black Flamingo’ is ‘smooth as silk’

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, including Batman/Catwoman, The Variant s and more.

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 the finale of Batman/Catwoman, the debut of Sins of the Black Flamingo and more.

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

Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘Sins of the Black Flamingo’ is ‘smooth as silk’”

‘Bitter Root’ will return in 2023

The creative team has teased a new series titled ‘Bitter Root 1965.’

If you’ve been wondering about the future of the wonderful and fearless Image Comics series Bitter Root, wonder no more — the creative team announced at HeroesCon last weekend that the comic’s future is … actually set in the comic’s future.

“So who wants to Bitter Root set in the 1960s?!?” artist and co-creator Sanford Greene posted on Twitter. He also shared a teaser image:

Continue reading “‘Bitter Root’ will return in 2023”

Slott + Bagley return to Spider-Man this fall

Two veteran Spider-Man creators team up for a new series that will feature the return of Morlun.

When you think of Marvel creators Dan Slott and Marrk Bagley, one word* comes to mind — Spider-Man. Between the two of them, they have probably written and drawn a million panels featuring Peter Parker’s alter-ego.**

And now they’re returning to the wall-crawler for a new series that will spin out of the upcoming Edge of Spider-Verse anthology series that Slott is contributing to — one titled, simply, Spider-Man.

“How does it feel to be writing Spider-Man again? Like I’m home,” Slott told Marvel.com. “Like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. How does it feel to be working on it with Mark Bagley, one of the greatest Spidey icons of all time?! Honored, excited, and unstoppable! Mark and I are two guys who live to tell Spider-Man stories. Cut us and we bleed Spider-Man. And now Marvel has entrusted the two of us to bring back their monthly– adjectiveless– Spider-Man title!”

The new series will feature Peter Parker working for Norman Osborn and using a — wait, a glider? Are we sure this is Spider-Man? It will also feature appearances by Miles Morales, Silk, Ghost-Spider, Spider-Woman and more, in a story called “The End of the Spider-Verse.”

Continue reading “Slott + Bagley return to Spider-Man this fall”

Three Count | Keith Knight, TCAF panels, Joe Latham

Here are three things in comics to to buy, to listen to and to support today.

1. To Buy: Good On Both Sides by Keith Knight

Gentleman Cartoonist Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles and the inspiration for the Hulu series Woke, has a new collection of his (th)ink comic strip available through his Big Cartel shop. He’s offering both a standard edition and an artist’s edition (which is signed, numbered and includes a doodle) of Good on Both Sides. Both have fairly limited print runs, so buy early and often.

Continue reading “Three Count | Keith Knight, TCAF panels, Joe Latham”

Robot love: Dark Horse announces ‘War Birds’ by Parkhouse + Wessel

Two drones on opposite sides of a war fall in love in the new graphic novel.

Geoffrey D. Wessel and Steve Parkhouse will tell the Romeo + Juliet-esque tale of two war robots in War Birds, a new graphic novel coming from Dark Horse Comics next year.

It’s “the story of two drones in love in the midst of endless war,” according to the writer, with Parkhouse both drawing and lettering it. And providing the cover:

Continue reading “Robot love: Dark Horse announces ‘War Birds’ by Parkhouse + Wessel”

I.N.J. Culbard will write and draw ‘Salamandre’ graphic novel

Dark Horse will publish the graphic novel through their Berger Books imprint in November.

Dark Horse Comics has announced Salamandre, a “uniquely evocative” graphic novel written and drawn by I.N.J. Culbard coming later this year from their Berger Books imprint.

“Writing what you know is really about writing what you think you know,” said I.N.J. Culbard. “Instead of what really happened, a confabulation grows with each retelling—a story, transforming a factual truth into a universal one. I took an event from one hot summer afternoon in my own life, made it the finale and then worked backwards through my story, using the jigsaw puzzle of my own memories growing up on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War as a foundation for this world—that is a little off-kilter to our own.”

Continue reading “I.N.J. Culbard will write and draw ‘Salamandre’ graphic novel”

Quick Hits | 2021 comic sales topped $2 billion

Last year was the best year ever for comic sales, according to a new report. Plus: News on Oni/Lion Forge, Substack, Zestworld, Henry Barajas, Kieron Gillen and more.

Comics sales | Milton Griepp of ICV2.com and John Jackson Miller of Comichron.com have released their annual assessment of the comics and graphic novel market for last year, noting that sales grew 62% in 2021 over the prior year in the U.S. and Canada to approximately $2.075 billion. They were also up 70% when compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

“Publishers made more selling comics content than in any year in the history of the business, even when adjusted for inflation,” Miller said of the 2021 estimates. “The biggest year in the modern era, 1993, saw sales of around $1.6 billion in 2021 dollars — and the pricier product mix puts 2021 ahead of what the colossal circulations of the early 1950s brought in, also adjusted for inflation.”

Continue reading “Quick Hits | 2021 comic sales topped $2 billion”

Meet Archie’s newest character Jake Chang in ‘Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305’

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

Today, courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re pleased to present a preview of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305, which comes out July 6.

The digest will feature not just one but THREE new stories, along with classic Archie material. And one of those new stories, it turns out, will feature Jake Chang, the brand new character who has a TV series in the works, according to Deadline Hollywood. Jake Chang teams up with Betty and Veronica in the story “Toadally Washed Up,” which is by David Gallaher and Bill Galvan.

Below you’ll also find previews of stories by Dan Parent, Ian Flynn, Jeff Shultz and more, plus a complete classic Archie story featuring the work of Frank Doyle and Dan DeCarlo. Enjoy!

Continue reading “Meet Archie’s newest character Jake Chang in ‘Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305’”

‘Onyx,’ ‘The Mighty’ find a new home at Image

Both titles will arrive in September.

Two projected originally published elsewhere have found a new home at Image Comics.

First up is Onyx, which was originally published by IDW Publishing in 2015. It’s a science fiction tale by artist Gabriel Rodriguez, colorist Jay Fotos and writer Chris Ryall. Today Image announced a one-shot simply called Onyx coming from Syzygy, Ryall’s venture with Ashley Wood that publishes through Image.

“Onyx came from the idea of doing a story that would be our love letter to sci-fi adventure comics from our childhoods and also ‘80s action movies, but ended up becoming much more,” said Rodriguez. “Mainly because our heroine came to life in a much deeper, more vivid and intriguing way than we expected. We didn’t just want to join her on this ride, we wanted to explore her psyche and her soul through a non-stop adventure set in a world as rich, thrilling and fun as we thought she deserved. Hopefully, our readers will discover in her a character to root for here and want to see more of in future books, too.”

Continue reading “‘Onyx,’ ‘The Mighty’ find a new home at Image”

‘Young Avengers’ returns for a new story on Marvel Unlimited

Anthony Oliveira, Jethro Morales and the late Dijjo Lima present a new story featuring Wiccan, Hulkling, Iron Lad, Kate Bishop, America Chavez and more.

The Young Avengers have made their dramatic return as a part of Marvel Unlimited’s Infinity Comics line, following the conclusion of the Iceman story that ran under the Marvel’s Voices banner on the digital comics site.

Writer Anthony Oliveira and artist Jethro Morales bring together several Young Avengers members from various incarnations of the team, including Wiccan, Hulkling, Hawkeye, Iron Lad, America Chavez, Prodigy, Speed and Cassie Lang (presumably under her Stinger moniker, based on the costume she’s wearing in the promotional art).

The story is also significant for featuring some of the last coloring work by Dijjo Lima, who passed away last month. “Our first issue also features some of Dijjo Lima’s last colors, and I am so grateful and honored to have a gift like that grace a script I worked on. I will be forever thankful,” Oliveira told Marvel.com.

Continue reading “‘Young Avengers’ returns for a new story on Marvel Unlimited”

Zanfardino + Romboli reunite for ‘The Least We Can Do’

The ongoing series from Image Comics will kick off in September.

Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli, the creative duo behind last year’s A Thing Called Truth, will re-team for a new ongoing series from Image Comics’ Shadowline imprint.

The Least We Can Do sees the two creators introduce a post-apocalyptic world filled with “fighting, magic, thirst for justice, blood, revenge and many buff women.”

“Like for our previous books, we put our heart and soul into The Least We Can Do,” said Zanfardino. ” This time, we also put some fighting, magic, thirst for justice, blood, revenge, and many buff women into it! This post-apocalyptic dystopian world sprung up inside me, demanding to be narrated. All the characters came alive in my head and, what was particularly exciting with this story, was that the complexity of the plot all came together very naturally for me. Did I love writing this story? Hell yes! I really hope you’ll love reading it!”

Continue reading “Zanfardino + Romboli reunite for ‘The Least We Can Do’”