What Are You Reading? | ‘Porcelain,’ ‘Godfell,’ ‘Local Man’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

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 first issues of Godfell and Local Man, as well as Porcelain and some classic DC Comics Presents.

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

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Slugfest | A round-up of comics publishing news

Ultraman, Blink, Sleeper Agent, Human Target and more slug it out in our first Slugfest comics publishing news round-up.

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.

Ultraman returns in August

Marvel has announced a third Ultraman miniseries by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom and Davide Tinto. Subtitled ‘The Mystery of Ultraseven,” the story will include “an enigmatic new Ultra and a secret that has remained hidden for decades.”

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Fund Me Tuesday | ‘Foulbrood’ by Christopher Sebela and Claire Roe

Help fund a comic about crime and beekeeping.

If you’re looking to back a Kickstarter project with (no, don’t say it) literal buzz (ugh, I said it), then check out Foulbrood, a new comic by Christopher Sebela (.Self, Crowded, Dead Dudes) and Claire Roe (Darkhold: Wasp, Bury the Lede).

The duo previously worked together on the queer reincarnation thriller We(l)come Back, and this time around they’re telling a crime story set in the world of beekeeping — if my cheesy lede didn’t spell that out for you.

Their campaign is to fund the first two issues of a six-issue series. They’re looking for $15,000 to bring them to print, and you’ve got until Dec. 11 to help them avoid the sting that comes with not getting funded.

(Sorry, I’ll stop now, I promise).

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comiXology Originals stealth-launched ‘.Self’ by Sebela + McGee today

See what happens when your life is saved to the Cloud — and then hacked.

ComiXology today stealth-released a brand new Originals title from Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Crowded), and Cara McGee (Dodge City, Black Canary: Ignite), the five-issue miniseries .Self. They’re joined by colorist Rebecca Nalty and letterer Aditya Bidika.

“In this new era of crypto and NFTs I wanted to explore the idea that even we ourselves are capable of being exploitable digital assets,” Sebela said. “In .Self, we play with the concept that you can see yourself in different bodies that have chosen to follow different paths and dreams you may have let go of over the course of your life either because the dream was silly, or you changed, or life just didn’t allow for it.”

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Sebela + Sears conjure ‘Dead Dudes’ this fall

Oni Press will publish the graphic novel in September.

It’s always great when a project gets announced that seems to pull together several of your favorite creators who you might not have ever pictured working together. That’s what Oni Press has done with Dead Dudes, a new graphic novel by Christopher Sebela, Ben Sears, Warren Wucinich and Ryan Hill.

It’s about the hosts of a ghost-hunting reality show who end up becoming ghosts themselves.

“Getting to work with Ben was a bucket list item and I can happily cross it off now,” Sebela said on Twitter. “No idea why he bothered to work with me when he’s an amazing storyteller on his own, but I don’t look gift dreams in the mouth.”

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Mad Cave announces four new titles for this fall

New titles from Christopher Sebela, David Stoll, Matthew Erman, Shelby Criswell and more will arrive from the publisher in October and November.

During The Mad Cave Showcase this past weekend, the publisher announced four new titles during the virtual event, by creators like Christopher Sebela, David Stoll, Matthew Erman, Shelby Criswell and more.

They also announced a new talent search, which will run from June 1 through Sept. 1. Three artists and three writers will be chosen to take part in an upcoming horror anthology from the publisher. Details can be found on their website.

Here’s a rundown of the four titles that were announced:

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ECCC: Black Crown announces new titles from Sebela, McManus, Howard, Robles

‘Euthanauts’ and ‘House Amok’ join Shelly Bond’s imprint.

At this weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con, IDW’s Black Crown imprint has announced two new titles: Euthanauts by Tini Howard and Nick Robles, and House Amok by Christopher Sebela and Shawn McManus.

“A year ago, we announced Black Crown at Emerald City Comic Con,” editor Shelly Bond said in a press release. “It’s the perfect venue to debut our newest titles. Euthanauts and House Amok share the dysfunctional irreverence you’ve come to expect from the cross street of comics + chaos. We’ve saved you the best table at the Black Crown Pub, and your favorite song is on the jukebox. 2018 is just getting started! Viva Comics!”

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Image reveals many, many new titles at Image Expo

New projects announced from Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, Rob Guillory, J.H. Williams and Haden Blackman, Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel, Annie Wu and more.

As they’ve done in previous years, Image Comics dropped a metric ton of announcements at their Image Expo event, held today in Portland, Oregon.

The line-up of announcements this year includes five new titles from Todd McFarlane’s camp, new titles from Chew creators John Layman and Rob Guillory, two comics from Christoper Sebela, the fact that they’ll publish the Netflix/Millarworld titles starting with The Magic Order and much more. No doubt there are interviews aplenty dropping around the internet on all these new projects, so I’ll start with the text of the press release, then add art and commentary as I find it.

So let’s get to it …

Blackbird by Sam Humphries & Jen Bartel
Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel team up to co-create Blackbird, a modern fantasy story best described as Harry Potter meets Riverdale. It follows a young woman named Nina who discovers a neon-lit world of magic masters in Los Angeles. Now they’ve kidnapped her sister, and Nina is the only one who can save her.

“Blackbird is a labor of love, a coming of age story and beautiful people doing insane things with magic,” said Humphries.

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Houdini and Doyle collide in ‘The Death Defying’

Christopher Sebela, Gavin Guidry, Marissa Louise and Micah Meyers seek to crowdfund a new historical occult adventure miniseries

Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Evolution, Short Order Crooks) returns to Kickstarter for a very timely miniseries — one set in the 1920s — that pits Harry Houdini against Arthur Conan Doyle in a “battle of wills, words, faith, science, fisticuffs, handguns and magic.” And he’s joined by artist Gavin Guidry, colorist Marissa Louise and letterer Micah Meyers on The Death Defying, which is now up on Kickstarter.

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It’s ‘Evolution,’ Baby: Four writers team up for Skybound’s new horror title

James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Christopher Sebela and Joshua Williamson team with artists Joe Infurnari and Jordan Boyd on a story about evolution gone wrong.

Skybound is bringing together six creators — James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Christopher Sebela, and Joshua Williamson with artists Joe Infurnari and Jordan Boyd — for their new title, Evolution. Taking place all over the world as humanity starts to rapidly evolve, the series follows three characters who notice the transformation and attempt to fight it.

“For a story as expansive and world-changing as Evolution, we knew we couldn’t tell the story in a normal way so this book includes a murderer’s row of not just one writer, but four writers working together to tell one cohesive story,” said editor Jon Moisan. “This writing team has to be one of the best creative teams ever assembled. Telling the story of a doctor in Philadelphia desperately trying to warn the world, Christopher Sebela has written a frantic race against time. In Rome, James Asmus and Joshua Williamson show us the internal struggle of a nun questioning her faith in the face of the new species. And finally, in Los Angeles, Joseph Keatinge has built a heartrending story of what happens when old relationships are torn to shreds by forces beyond all control. Separately, any one of these stories could anchor their own book but when told together this team has assembled something that has rarely been seen in comics and the results are nothing short of extraordinary.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Sebela & Kambadais serve up crime in ‘Short Order Crooks’

If you read the Eisner-nominated High Crimes, you know Christopher Sebela has a talent for turning crime stories on their head, setting them up in interesting places with compelling characters. With Short Order Crooks, Sebala leaves Mount Everest behind and heads to Portland’s food truck scene, enlisting the talented George Kambadais and Lesley Atlansky to help cook up a story with equal parts comedy, crime and cooking.

With eight days left on the timer, Short Order Crooks passed its funding goal yesterday on Kickstarter. As they look ahead to their stretch goals, I spoke with both Sebela and Kambadais about the project, food trucks and more.

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