Rest in peace, Ramona Fradon

The Hall of Fame comics artist and co-creator of Metamorpho and Aqualad has passed away at 97.

Ramona Fradon, the longtime DC artist and co-creator of Metamorpho, passed away yesterday at the age of 97 — a little more than a month after officially retiring from drawing comics.

The news was announced by her art agent, Scott Kress of Catskill Comics, on Facebook.

“Ramona was 97 and had a long career in the comic book industry and was still drawing just a few days ago. She was a remarkable person in so many ways. I will miss all the great conversations and laughs we had. I am blessed that I was able to work with her on a professional level, but also able to call her my friend,” the post reads.

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Synchronized swimming: Aquamen unite in a new series from DC

Jackson Hyde, Arthur Curry and the rest of the Aquaman family headline a new ongoing title by Chuck Brown, Brandon Thomas, Sami Basri and Adriano Lucas.

When Jackson Hyde took up the mantle of Aquaman in his new series, it begged the question, “So what’s going to happen to Arthur?” The answer: nothing; he’s still around, and in fact the old and new Aquaman will both star in the new title Aquamen.

Chuck Brown, Brandon Thomas, Sami Basri and Adriano Lucas will bring us new adventures of the underseas heroes, starting with a conspiracy involving an Atlantean suicide bomber in Middle America.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Fear State’ arrives in Gotham this week

Check out new comics and graphic novels this week by Tom Taylor, Iban Coello, Peach Momoko, James Tynion IV, Riccardo Federici, A.C. Esguerra, Mark Russell, Benjamin Tiesma 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.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores. You can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s releases, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Jackson Hyde will take center stage in ‘Aquaman: The Becoming’

The second Aqualad will get a six-issue miniseries starting in September.

This article from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Jackson Hyde, a.k.a Aqualad, will get his own miniseries in September titled Aquaman: The Becoming.

It’s tucked into a bigger story about both DC and Marvel’s Pride Month efforts, but THR reveals the creative team — Brandon Thomas and Diego Olortegui, with covers by David Talaski — as well as the first issue’s cover:

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DC celebrates 80 years of Aquaman this summer

The ‘Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular’ will feature stories from Dan Jurgens, Geoff Johns, Jeff Parker and more.

Aquaman debuted 80 years ago in More Fun Comics #73, and to celebrate, DC will publish the Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular in August.

Like the 100-page specials they’ve done for Superman, Batman, Green :antern and other characters over the past few years, this will be an anthology by a variety of creators associated with the King of Atlantis as well as some new faces.

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Sunday Comics | Flash Gordon, trolls and Monster MACS!

Check out new comics from Pia Guerra, Joe Infurnari, John Reppion, PJ Holden and Kerry Callen.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

Dec. 5 is the 40th anniversary of the cult classic Flash Gordon film and to celebrate, King Features is doing a host of activities, like re-releasing the film, launching a motion comic and doing a comic strip anthology. Creators like June Brigman, Liniers, Erica Henderson and Tana Ford will participate in Flash Forward and create strips featuring the space-faring hero.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | I demand a ‘Recount’

New comics arrive this week from Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Andi Watson, Kellie Sue DeConnick and more.

It’s time for another look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week, from the latest issue of DC’s big crossover event to the return of Andi Watson to the end of the Lumberjanes ongoing series.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. ComicList has this week’s list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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DC to release ‘100-Page Giant’ stories digitally

Starting today, look for daily almost-new comics through the DC Digital First program.

DC Comics today announced that they will make stories from their 100-Page Giant anthologies available digitally, starting today with a Superman story by Robert Venditti, Paul Pelletier, Drew Hennessy and Adriano Lucas. Additional stories will be added daily for at least the next week.

“Comic book fans want more access to content than ever before,” said Jim Lee, DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher, in a press release. “This strategy is intended to get daily content to fans immediately, and also to ensure that when comic shops open back up for business, they will have new content and product that their customers will want. In the meantime, we will have properly stoked and protected the demand for comics, keeping fans interested in our characters and stories.”

Here’s the line-up for the next seven days:

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Comics Lowdown: Tom King’s CIA service

Plus: ‘The Arrival’ selected for Hong Kong’s first ‘One City, One Book’ campaign, the obituary Marie Severin should have received, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phoebe Gloeckner, Diamond Gem awards and more best-of-2018 lists!

Happy New Year from the Smash Pages staff! Coming back from the holiday break, let’s ring out the old and ring in the new with today’s collection of comic book news links.

Let’s start with a weird one: Last week Abhay Khosla, comics critic and past Superman writer, posted about his attempts to confirm with the CIA that Batman and Heroes in Crisis writer Tom King used to work for them. The topic of King’s former employer frequently comes up in interviews related to his Batman work (not to mention King’s Vertigo series The Sheriff of Babylon), and Khosla questioned whether any reporters who interviewed King about it had ever confirmed it. So Khosla sent the CIA a letter back in 2016 asking for confirmation, and the response he received from the agency was inconclusive.

This exchange occurred in 2016, and why Khosla decided to go public with it now isn’t clear. The point of Khosla’s post doesn’t seem to be to call out King as a liar (he starts his post by saying, “I don’t think this is really a story about Tom King”) but is more of a statement about entertainment journalism and fact-checking. He points out similar situations where a past DC writer, Micah Wright, lied about being in the armed services, as well as current Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski pretending to be Japanese early in his career.

The problem isn’t in asking the question — it’s posting about it without an answer or actually asking King about it. Like verifying facts, that’s also journalism 101. After the post went live, King was quick to respond on Twitter, showing proof that he was, indeed, in the CIA. Bleeding Cool, The Comics Reporter and Nick Hanover have more commentary on this.

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DC Comics reveals new artwork from ‘Aquaman,’ ‘Flash: Year One,’ ‘Three Jokers’ and more

At New York Comic Con, DC Comics has revealed new art for many upcoming projects, including a first look at Robson Rocha’s artwork for ‘Aquaman,’ Gary Frank’s upcoming ‘Doomsday Clock’ covers and more ‘Shazam!’ art from Dale Eaglesham.

With New York Comic Con in full swing, DC Comics has been dropping new artwork from upcoming comics at various panels.

Yesterday the Geoff Johns spotlight panel brought new images from Three Jokers, the writer’s project with Jason Fabok; Shazam! with Dale Eaglesham; and the next couple issues of Doomsday Clock, with Gary Frank.

Today, meanwhile, the DC World’s Finest panel brings new art for the upcoming Kelly Sue DeConnick/Robson Rocha run on Aquaman and the just-announced The Flash: Year One by Josh Williamson and Howard Porter. Check it all out below.

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DeConnick + Rocha to take over ‘Aquaman’

DeConnick promises Zeppelin Aquaman — ‘Powerful. Dangerous. Sexy.’

Over bacon and eggs in San Diego this morning, DC Comics publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee spoke with reporters and shared news about a new creative team for AquamanKelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha.

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