Quick Hits | NFT collectibles company VeVe launches a digital comics platform

Plus: Dog Man teams with Little Free Library, the direct market at 50, Todd Klein and more.

Here’s another story coming out of Marvel’s South by Southwest panel in Austin yesterday — VeVe, an online collectibles site that sells NFT collectibles and artwork, has launched a digital comics storefront that now includes more than 300 titles from Marvel.

VeVe already has partnerships in place with Marvel, DC, Todd McFarlane and more to sell NFTs. Now they’ve expanded to selling digital comics that can be read in their app (much like Amazon), as well as “limited edition” versions of those same comics. These cost more but are collectible NFTs that can be sold in their marketplace and read using their augmented reality reader (which I’m very curious to see, especially if it can be used with the Apple Vision Pro). Each limited edition comic comes in a variety of variant covers, which apparently you buy “blind” and hope you get a rare one.

While Marvel is the only company currently on the platform, VeVe says they plan to expand that in the future.

“Being passionate readers and collectors ourselves, we recognized that digital comics fans have been calling for a more immersive experience,” said David Yu, CEO and co-founder of VeVe. “Our aim is to create a platform that makes comics discovery fun and easy—one that’s centered on function and design, fosters community and accessibility for all. We understood those pain points and created VeVe Comics to be the solution.”

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‘Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder’ will arrive in 2024

The best-selling graphic novel series returns with a new book next March.

Scholastic has announced that the next book in Dav Pilkey’s mega-hit Dog Man graphic novel series will arrive next March. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder follows this year’s Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, which is the top-selling children’s book of 2023 in North America thus far.

“Dog Man started out as a character I created when I was in second grade, but the series has evolved into a love letter to my parents,” Pilkey said. “Looking back as a kid growing up with dyslexia and ADHD, my parents, who were my best advocates, let me choose whatever books I wanted to read—with no judgment. Their support and love was life-changing and helped me to become the reader, author and illustrator that I am today.”

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Slugfest | Scholastic outlines their plans for the new ‘Dog Man’ book

Plus: The Oloris, Poison Ivy, The X-Cellent, Whistleblowers, Patrick McDonnell and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

The graphic novel phenomenon Dog Man will return at the end of the month with a new book, Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, continuing the adventures of our hero, Li’l Petey, 80-HD and the rest of the gang.

Scholastic has announced their promotional plans for Dav Pilkey’s latest, which include a Free Comic Book Day issue, the return of Dog Man: The Musical and Dog Man Day celebrations.

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2023 Free Comic Book Day gold titles include Spider-Man, Fishflies, Dog Man and more

The first 13 titles include selections from Marvel, BOOM!, IDW, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Diamond has announced the first round of Free Comic Book Day titles for 2023. The “gold sponsor” titles for next year will include comics from Marvel, Dark Horse, AfterShock, Image, VIZ, Kodansha, Archie, BOOM!, Graphix, IDW, Titan and Dynamite, for a total of 13 titles, as Marvel will have two gold level books.

“This year’s lineup of titles has something for every kind of comic fan,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “We’re looking forward to another great year celebrating comic books and comic book shops, and we think this year’s lineup gives fans a lot to be excited about!”

The rest of the batch — otherwise known as the silver sponsor titles — will be announced later this week. Free Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 6, 2023.

Here’s a look at each gold-level title:

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A new ‘Dog Man’ book will arrive in March

The 11th volume of the popular graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey arrives next year, along with a special anniversary edition of the first ‘Captain Underpants’ book.

Dav Pilkey’s world-conquering Dog Man series will return to shelves next March with its 11th volume — Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea.

This will be the first new Dog Man volume since 2021, when Mothering Heights was released. But Pilkey hasn’t been resting — several volumes of his Cat Kid Comic Club series, a Dog Man spinoff, have filled in the gaps, with the fourth volume, Collaborations, set to arrive in November.

“I am humbled and grateful to do what I love for a living,” Pilkey said in the press release. “Since the pandemic began, I have been inspired to create even more stories and to learn and grow as an artist–from experimenting with various mediums to make comics using photography, poetry, and calligraphy, to building character models and sets by hand, as well as exploring different themes and storylines. My hope is that my books foster creativity and imagination, and instill a lifelong love of reading.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Harley Quinn,’ ‘Firefly,’ ‘Alien’ and more

See what’s arriving in comic shops and on digital this week.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide each week to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

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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Comics Lowdown | Dog Man once again rules the best-seller charts

Plus: News on ‘Fun Home,’ Vault Comics, IDW, DC’s new GM and more.

Not surprisingly, Dog Man has once again claimed the top spot on best-seller charts for USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Indie Bound, Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail, among others. It’s the ninth book in Dav Pilkey’s popular kids graphic novel series to land at No. 1 on the best-seller chart.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Dog Man, ‘Empyre,’ Doctor Who and more

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo, Dav Pilkey, Emma Kubert, Jen Hickman, Zac Thompson, Jody Houser and more.

We are back again with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week. And what a week it is, with new Dog Man, Black Widow, Doctor Who and many other debuts, along with the big ending of Marvel’s Empyre miniseries.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Comics Lowdown | IDW ‘has parted ways’ with Publisher Jud Meyers

Plus: How the pandemic has impacted Scholastic and VIZ Media, the ‘Thundarr the Barbarian’ comic that almost was and more!

IDW Publishing has “parted ways” with Jud Meyers, who they had named as their new publisher on July 22.

“IDW Publishing has parted ways with Jud Meyers and would like to thank everyone for their discretion,” the company said in a short statement. Meyers was named publisher after longtime publisher Chris Ryall departed the company, but was then placed on administrative leave a few days after the announcement.

Publishing: Publisher’s Weekly looks at Scholastic’s fourth-quarter and full year results for fiscal year 2020, which ended May 31 for the company. Not surprisingly, given the COVID-19 pandemic, they were down significantly compared to last year. Revenue was down $187 million, or almost 40%, leading to a 10% drop in their full-year revenue for FY20.

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Comics Lowdown: Chris Ryall rejoins IDW; Joe Illidge out at Valiant

Plus: top comics and graphic novels at comic shops in November! Next ‘Dog Man’ book gets a 5 million copy print run! Kieron Gillen plays ‘Die,’ for real! And much more!

Chris Ryall, who left IDW Publishing in March after serving as editor-in-chief for about 14 years, has rejoined the company as president, publisher and chief creative officer.

“IDW is where I’ve spent the majority of my career, and I consider the company and its employees like family, so I am grateful for this amazing opportunity to return,” Ryall said in a press statement. “I believe that IDW has very significant opportunities to become even more valuable and important, and I am excited to further expand on what I started with the company nearly 15 years ago. I am also eager to help the company celebrate its 20th year anniversary in 2019 in varied and creatively invigorating new ways.”

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