Mail Call | The Avengers brace for ‘World War She-Hulk’

Plus: More news and announcements from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, AfterShock, Top Cow, Skybound and more!

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel is dusting off a classic event title for an upcoming Avengers storyline — “World War She-Hulk,” which references the popular “World War Hulk” story from 2007.

The new storyline will find She-Hulk declared a global menace, so the Winter Guard decides to bring her in.

“When the Russian Winter Guard invade Avengers Mountain to arrest She-Hulk, it sets off a global espionage adventure that takes us from the notorious assassin training academy of the Red Room to an undersea kingdom on the verge of violent revolution,” said writer Jason Aaron. “Along the way, traitors will fall, regimes will crumble and the dark evolution of Jennifer Walters will reach its bloody red crescendo, all as we build toward the epic events of Avengers #50.”

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DC puts the spotlight on Batman’s associates this summer

The Signal and the Huntress are the first to take center stage in ‘Batman Secret Files.’

In addition to Batman: Urban Legends, Future State: Gotham and various back-up features in the regular Batman books, DC has announced Batman Secret Files, “a new monthly series of one-shots featuring Batman’s partners in crimefighting.” Just in case you weren’t getting enough Batman in your life.

The first one will feature The Signal in a story by Tony Patrick with art by Christian Duce, while the second will focus on the Huntress, by the inspired team of Mariko Tamaki and David Lapham.

Here are the details on each from DC’s press release:

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‘Future State: Gotham’ #1 will include a Katsuhiro Otomo Batman story

Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver and Giannis Milonogiannis send the Red Hood after Gotham’s vigilantes.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

DC Comics has released a preview of the upcoming Future State: Gotham #1, which spins out of the Future State event from earlier this year. The comic will feature the ongoing story of the Red Hood hunting down masked vigilantes for The Magistrate — which brings him into conflict with The Next Batman.

The comic is co-written by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver, with black-and-white art by Giannis Milonogiannis. Along with the preview came the news that DC will reprint “The Third Mask,” a Batman story written and drawn by Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of the manga and anime AKIRA. It originally appeared in a 1996 issue of Batman: Black & White.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Witchblood,’ ‘Nightwing,’ ‘Black Knight’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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Ennis + Sharp team for new Batman Black Label miniseries

‘Batman: Reptilian’ kicks off in June.

Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp will bring a new terror to Gotham in the Black Label six-issue miniseries Batman: Reptilian.

“Me and my old mate Garth Ennis. Friends for over 30 years. Working together for the very first time,” Sharp posted on Twitter. “I’m so stoked!”

“It’s very Garth, but it’s not a comedy,” Sharp added. “Some dark humour though of course…”

According to the press release, the series will introduce a villain that even the other Gotham villains are afraid of — even more than Batman.

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‘Batman: The Adventures Continue Season II’ brings in Court of Owls, Deadman

The DC Digital First series set in the world of ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ continues in May.

DC Comics has announced that Batman: The Adventures Continue will return for a second season, by the creative team of Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Ty Templeton and Monica Kubina.

Batman: The Adventures Continue launched last year as a DC Digital First title and is set in the world Burnett and Dini brought to life in the animated TV series Batman: The Animated Series. According to Burnett, the series is intended to “cover certain gaps in the original series, events that didn’t have a bearing on the series at the time, but now do.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Infinite Frontier,’ ‘Nocterra’ and more

This week brings new comics by Keanu Reeves, Dan Rather, Scott Snyder, Tim S. Daniel, Chris Samnee, Peach Momoko, Kalinda Vazquez, Carlos Gómez, Tyler Boss and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide each week to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week sees a new one-shot setting up the return of DC’s regular titles, more King in Black tie-ins, new comics by Scott Snyder and Keanu Reeves, and much more.

Also this week I’m happy to welcome aboard Brigid Alverson, who will be helping to cover manga and other things she finds interesting each week.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit ComicList for this week’s full list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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DC announces Batman + Fortnite crossover comic

Batman will visit the video game’s world in ‘Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point.’

DC Comics and Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, are teaming up for a comic series that’ll feature Batman and characters from the popular video game.

Christos Gage will write Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point, “with concept and story consultation” from Donald Mustard, Chief Creative Officer of Epic. It will feature artwork by Reilly Brown, Christian Duce, Nelson DeCastro and John Kalisz.

“When DC first approached me about doing a Batman/Fortnite series I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Gage. ”After speaking with Donald and discovering just how deeply we’d be diving into the secrets behind the world of Fortnite, I was amazed! This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.”

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DC announces ‘Superman ’78’, ‘Batman ’89’ digital series

Both series will kick off in July.

Two movies that are now several decades old will get sequels of sorts in comic book form, as DC has announced the digital series Superman ’78 and Batman ’89.

Screenwriter Sam Hamm, who wrote the 1989 film Batman and its first sequel, Batman Returns, will write Batman ’89. The Dc Digital First series will be drawn by artist Joe Quinones.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘That Texas Blood,’ ‘Detective,’ ‘Champions’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Happy Valentine’s Day and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at the comics the Smash Pages crew has been falling in love with lately.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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‘Legends of the Dark Knight’ returns this spring

Darick Robertson will write and draw the first story in the returning anthology.

A classic anthology series from DC will get a digital makeover in April, as the publisher has announced the return of Legends of the Dark Knight.

The new series will kick off with a six-part story written and drawn by The Boys artist Darick Robertson, featuring a new foe who sells deadly chemicals to Gotham’s worst villains.

“Dream come true,” Robertson said on Twitter. “I’m writing and drawing one of my favorite characters ever.”

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The State of Future State, Part 3

JK, Shane and Tom continue their look at DC’s Future State titles, this time around focusing on ‘Dark Detective,’ Superman/Wonder Woman’ and more.

We’re back with part three of our discussion about of DC’s Future State comics, as Shane Bailey, Tom Bondurant and I talk about the first issues of Dark Detective, Superman/Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Robin Eternal and Kara Zor-El, Superwoman.

As always, the timeline DC provided helps put the timing of these stories into context:

You can also read part one and part two of our roundtable on other, earlier DC Future State titles.

And away we go …

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