Mail Call | Tynion, Brombal + Goodhart debut ‘Christopher Chaos’

Plus: News and updates on ‘Darkskulls,’ ‘The Bone Orchard Mythos,’ ‘The United States of Murder’ and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of cool things we’ve received in our mailboxes from comics creators, publishers and more. Hit the links for more information.

If you aren’t following James Tynion IV’s TinyOnion newsletter, then you likely missed the launch of his newest comic last week — The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos. He’s released the first chapter for free via his Substack newsletter.

“This is a comic for folks who like teenage angst and horror monsters,” Tynion said. “I’ve always liked books that don’t fit neatly into one category or another. You’ll see some trappings of young adult storytelling here, but when the horror kicks in we don’t hold back. And we don’t hold back on the language either. Hell, it’s not like teens do, anyways. It’s not a superhero bit, but it doesn’t shy away from some of my favorite superhero tropes. It’s not a YA story, but it similarly doesn’t shy away from the best of those tropes. I think when I first started kicking it around in the back of my mind I thought of it as ‘A queer horror answer to Invincible.'”

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Duchovny + Sevy team for the science fiction story ‘Kepler’

Dark Horse will release the graphic novel co-written by ‘The X-Files’ star later this year.

Actor and author David Duchovny will work with co-writer and artist Phillip Sevy on a new science fiction graphic novel, coming from Dark Horse later this year.

Kepler is not only the title but also the world where the story takes place. It’s a world where homo sapiens went extinct and other hominid species thrived, and focuses on a Neanderthal girl, West, and the Benadem, a group of “benevolent space gods.”

“What if we, humans got another chance with a fresh new world we hadn’t depleted and polluted?” Duchovny told Forbes. “What if we entered into a new phase of colonization, space colonization — would we have learned from our genocidal colonial past? And what if, instead of indigenous peoples we were displacing and decimating, we came upon other types of hominids from our distant earth past? Neanderthals, Denisovans and other intelligent evolving primates native to Kepler. Would we treat them as the evolutionary brothers and sisters they are? Or would we play God and try to remake them and this planet in our own image? I guess this graphic novel is my working out the answer to those questions.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | DC pulls out the stops for Pride Month

This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Ram V, Christian Ward, Cavan Scott, Andres Ponce, Tee Franklin, Dan Parent, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Christine Larsen and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. This week brings several new Pride Month comics from DC, as well as the debuts of Dark Crisis, a Marvel/Fortnite crossover, Justice Warriors, The Ward and more.

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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Quick Hits | Artist Ken Kelly passes away

Plus: News on Popeye’s new artist, Free Comic Book Day and more.

Passings | Fantasy artist Ken Kelly, whose art appeared on rock albums, book covers, magazines, video games and comics, passed away June 3 at the age of 76. Kelly was heavily in demand as a painter in the 1970s and painted the covers of two albums by the band KISS — Destroyer and Love Gun. Comic fans in the 1970s would know his work on covers for The Spirit, Vampirella and Creepy, and in the 1990s for some of the Star Wars titles when Dark Horse held the license. A cause of death has not been reported.

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Maines + Hickman team for ‘Dreamer’ graphic novel

The character from The CW’s Supergirl will be written by the actress who portrayed her in an upcoming graphic novel.

DC confirmed on Twitter plans for Dreamer, the character first introduced on The CW’s Supergirl and played by trans actress Nicole Maines, to appear in her own graphic novel. Rye Hickman will provide the art.

Maines revealed the project to the website Them. The character previously appeared in last year’s DC Pride special and will appear in an upcoming issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El, which Maines will co-write with Tom Taylor and featuring art by Clayton Henry.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Batman: Fortress,’ ‘The Closet’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, which includes ‘Avengers Forever,’ ‘JLA Classified,’ ‘Little Monsters,’ ‘Strange’ 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 some Batman, some Justice League, some Avengers and some horror comics.

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

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Marvel’s Voices anthology launches on Marvel Unlimited

A four-part Iceman story by Luciano Vecchio comes to Infinity Comics for Pride Month.

Marvel has published several Marvel’s Voices anthologies over the last few years that focus on underrepresented characters and creators. Now that initiative is expanding to digital, as Marvel has announced new Marvel’s Voices stories as part of their Infinity Comics line on Marvel Unlimited.

The first, which launches during Pride Month, is a four-part Iceman story by Luciano Vecchio.

“As a queer creator, getting the chance to work as writer/artist on one of my favorite characters, and be part of the cultural conversation about queer rep in mainstream media with my own work, feels necessary and vital for me,” Vecchio told Out Magazine. “I had the chance before in the Marvel’s Voices specials to express my ideas about LGBTQ+ superheroes as a collective, and now I get to explore the individual experience of Iceman, which isn’t exchangeable to that of any other character.”

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Pollack + Corallo + Cabrera host ‘The Never Ending Party’ at Comixology

The digital miniseries debuts on Amazon June 7.

Author and former Doom Patrol writer Rachel Pollack will return to comics next week with The Never Ending Party from Comixology Originals. She’s joined by co-writer Joe Corallo (She Said Destroy), artist Eva Cabrera (Kim & Kim), colorists Cons Oroza and Claudia Aguirre, letterers Zakk Saam and Micah Myers, and editor Noah Sharma.

“This was great fun to work on,” Pollack said. “I got to write a Tarot reading heroine, play with how a street smart wild trans woman from the 1990s might look at our current world, and turn the Greek God of ecstasy, Dionysus, into a super-villain who’ll destroy the world just to keep the party going!  And best of all, co-write a book with Joe Corallo.”

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Three Things | UNBANNED, Humble Bundle, DC Pride

Here are three things to read, to support and to watch today. Happy Pride Month!

[Image above: Heathen cover by Natasha Alterici]

1. To read: Vault announces “UNBANNED” initiative for Pride Month

June is Pride Month, as you’ve probably noticed if you’ve visited any corporation’s website or social media account this week to see that they’ve updated their logo with a rainbow flag. Some companies are doing more than that, though, including three comics-related ones that I wanted to draw attention to today.

First is Vault Comics, who today announced UNBANNED — “a Pride month initiative to give away free queer books to everyone, everywhere.” If you’ve followed the news over the last few months, you know that there’s a very orchestrated campaign going on right now against books with LGBTQ+ themes (among others) as politicians attempt to win points with constituents. Vault is not only making some of their titles by LGBTQ+ creators available for free on their web store all month, but also shared a very heartfelt message with LGBTQ+ readers in doing so. I try to keep these Three Things posts “press release free” and just share things I’ve discovered organically, but hey, what are rules made for if not to be broken? Here’s the press email they sent out today in full:

Banning books is nothing new to the world of comics and literature, but in recent months we’ve seen an unprecedented uptick in new bans across the country. These bans have targeted many queer books and creators. And while politicians and extremist groups may be working hard to erase LGBTQIA+ voices, we at Vault Comics continue to maintain that this space, our space, has always and will always be safe — but more than safe, it will be loud, proud, and unapologetic.

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Seeley + Galan hit ‘The Roadie’ in September

Sex, drugs and exorcisms.

In a comic that sounds right up his alley, Tim Seeley will team will artist Fran Galan on The Roadie, a new miniseries coming in the fall from Dark Horse Comics.

The comic stars a former heavy metal band roadie from the 1980s “satanic panic” era — but it turns out all those stories about backwards lyrics summoning demons were real, so he not only carried gear but also served as an exorcist when needed.

“I wanted to tell the story of the ‘unsung hero’ of the 80s Satanic Panic era…,” Seeley said, “the roadies who supported all those metal bands, not only by tuning their guitars, but by casting out the horrific demons they accidentally summoned with backwards lyrics and screaming riffs. Joe D. is the seventh son of a seventh son, and though once he stood next to greatness, he now wallows in obscurity…. until he gets called upon to return to a past he thought he’d left far behind. The Roadie is part Hack/Slash, part Revival, and all heart, with Fran Galan doing some absolutely rockin’ art.”

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Slugfest | DC’s Dark Crisis expands with additional tie-ins, one-shots

Check out recent announcements about ‘Batman Inc.,’ ‘Survival Street’ and more.

With Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis now available this week, DC has announced some additional tie-ins and specials associated with the event.

First come two new one-shots, starring the sons of Superman and Batman:

The Supersons are going on separate missions to stop Pariah’s attacks on the Multiverse! In October’s Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green #1, Jon Kent joins forces with Swamp Thing, John Constantine and more to explore the spread of the Great Darkness’s influence on the Multiverse and beyond. While in November’s Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1, Damian Wayne, Doctor Light and a ragtag team of heroes cross enemy lines to steal control of the Dark Army from Pariah. But in the process uncover a secret about Doctor Light’s place in Crisis on Infinite Earths that rocks the future of the DCU! Creative talent teams for both issues will be announced at a later date.

They also announced that The Flash crossover issues will expand by an issue:

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Quick Hits | Comixology removes in-app purchases from Android app

Plus: People moves at AWA Studios and Image, Joshua Williamson, Al Madrigal and more.

Digital Comics | Similar to a move they made on iOS devices about eight years ago, Comixology has announced that they have removed the ability to purchase comics from their Android app. The email to users said that the change was made to “remain in compliance with updated Google Play Store policies,” which, as The Beat points out, are intended to close loopholes that allowed companies to sell items in their Android apps without paying fees to the Google Play Store. The move follows those made by two other Amazon entities, Audible and Kindle Books, earlier this year.

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