After a decade, ‘Saga’ will finally increase its price to $3.99 an issue

Due to ‘global economic factors,’ ‘Saga’ will no longer ‘hold the line at $2.99.’

It’s the end of an era for Saga and its fans. No, not the end of the series — that’s coming in about 40 or so issues, if I’m remembering correctly — but the end of its $2.99 price point.

Starting with issue #61, which is scheduled to arrive in shops next Wednesday, the hit series by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples will jump to $3.99.

In his Substack newsletter, Vaughn said that “you may have noticed on Fiona’s rocking cover that—after more than a decade of being one of the last comics anywhere still ‘holding the line at $2.99’—Saga has finally joined the ranks of books costing $3.99.

“As I say in next week’s To Be Continued, I’m sorry that various global economic factors that I know everybody’s feeling right now made this a move we couldn’t avoid any longer, but we still promise to always offer more new art and story (and more dopey letter columns) than any other similarly priced book on the stands.”

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‘Saga’ returns from hiatus in January

The award-winning series from Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples will return with a double-sized issue.

Saga will continue in January with issue #55, the first new issue from creators Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples since 2018.

“Other than my own family, collaborating with Fiona Staples on Saga is the most important thing in my life, so I can’t thank readers and retailers enough for their patience,” Vaughan said in a press release. “I think our next 54 issues will be even more shocking, strange and spectacular than the first 54, so we can’t wait to be back on the shelves at your local comic shop soon.”

The double-length issue of the award-winning series will clock in at 44 pages for $2.99, promising no “variant covers or gimmicky renumbering.”

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Comics Lowdown: RIP Monkey Punch, Kazuo Koike

Plus: Bill Mantlo in need, halfway through ‘Saga,’ awards and more.

The manga community has lost two legends in April, as both Lupin III creator Monkey Punch and Lone Wolf & Cub co-creator Kazuo Koike have passed away. Both men died from pneumonia six days apart, and were once considered rivals when their respective manga ran in Weekly Manga Action magazine. They also worked together on the Secretary Bird manga mini-series that ran in the magazine in 1970.

Monkey Punch, whose real name was Kazuhito Kato, was 81 when he passed away. His most famous creation, Lupin III, started as a manga and was later adapted into six animated television series, eight animated feature films, two live-action feature films, two musicals and several video games. He passed away April 11.

In addition to Lone Wolf & Cub, Koike is also known for such titles as Lady Snowblood, Crying Freeman, Samurai Executioner and many other popular series. His work influenced many American creators, including Frank Miller, who drew covers for First Comics’ publication of the series. Koike also worked on a few western series, including a Hulk manga and an issue of X-Men Unlimited. He passed away April 17 at the age of 82.

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Comics Lowdown: Asterix translation genius Anthea Bell passes away

PLUS: Dwayne McDuffie Award submissions open, Fiona Staples shows her art process, anime does superheroes better, black and white vs. colour, Amazing Spider-Man #300

The translator credited in bringing Asterix to Engish speaking audiences has passed away at the age of 82. Anthea Bell first began translating Asterix in 1969, where she needed to up with jokes and puns that made sense to the readers without the book losing its meaning and charm.  In her version, Obelix’s small dog Idéfix became Dogmatix, and the druid Panoramix became Getafix. The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation describes her work on Asterix as ingenious and superbly recreated, displaying “the art of the translator at its best”.

According to the novelist Will Self, “it’s doubtful that the eminence of WG Sebald would be quite so great in the English reading world were it not for Anthea Bell’s magnificent translations of his works”

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Fiona Staples nominated for a World Fantasy Award

The ‘Saga’ artist adds another award nomination to her long list, just as she and Brian K. Vaughan announce the book will go on hiatus for a year.

Saga artist Fiona Staples has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award, in the “Artist” category. Although other nominees have created comics or comic covers in the past, she’s the only nominee in the category who is known primarily for her comics work.

The winners will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention in November.

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The 2018 Joe Shuster Award Nominations

Awards celebrate excellence in the Canadian comic creators and publications.

The nominations for the 2018 Joe Shuster Awards have been announced this week.  Commonly nickednamed “The Shusters”, they are Canada’s national comic book awards that honours and raises the awareness of Canadians that create, self-publish and sell comic books, digital comics and graphic novels.

The award winners will be chosen by a jury vote to ensure every nominee is given adequate consideration.

The ceremony will take place at the Montreal Comic Con July 6-8, 2018 at the Palais des congrès, Montreal, QC.

And the nominees are:

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Celebrating local comic creators is the best thing to do today

From Eisner winning heavyweight Fiona Staples to industry newbie H.C. Gislason, Panel One’s Comic Creator Festival spotlights local talent.

In the age of Hollywood-driven mega-cons, the Panel One Comic Creator Festival promises to bring the spotlight of comic conventions back to (gasp!) comics! Now in its third year, the Festival, which is held in Calgary, seems small and humble, but truly packs a punch for local creators, that feel lost and forgotten at the big shows. In its short life, the Panel One Comic Creator Festival has been renowned as “THE” place for creators to sell comics, some noting they have larger sales at this tiny festival as opposed to the 100,000 people attended monolith cons. This isn’t Artist Alley, so you won’t find fanart here, but this is the perfect market for the curious and the diehard comic fan to discover and buy new comic books.

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Skottie Young, Tom King, ‘March: Book Three’ and more take home Ringo Awards

Named for artist Mike Mike Wieringo, the awards were presented over the weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

The winners for the first-ever Ringo Awards were announced this weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The awards are named for artist Mike Wieringo, who passed away in 2007.

The Ringos showed Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland some love, as the creator took home awards for Best Cartoonist and Best Humor Comic. March: Book Three by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell continued to rack up accolades as it took home the awards for Best Non-fiction Comic Work and Best Original Graphic Novel. And Tom King, writer of Best Series winner The Vision, won for Best Writer. Other winners included Fiona Staples, Sean Murphy, Todd Klein, Laura Martin, Bloom County and Dean Haspiel’s The Red Hook.

The nomination process was open to anyone, while comic professionals voted on the final winners. Check out the full list of nominees below, with the winners in bold.

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Nominees announced for the British Fantasy Awards

‘2000AD,’ ‘Saga’ and the webcomic ‘Skal’ included on the shortlist of nominees in the comics category.

The British Fantasy Society has announced the nominees for the British Fantasy Awards, including the “Best Comic/Graphic Novel” category.

The nominees were decided by members of the society, with additional nominees added by the award’s jury to ensure “egregious omissions” made the list. Winners will be decided by jury and announced at FantasyCon 2017, which runs Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

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Comics Lowdown: Original Crumb art sells for $717,000

Plus news and updates on NBM, ‘Saga,” Dan Parent and more.

Robert Crumb’s original art for the cover of the 1969 Fritz the Cat collection has set a new record price for a piece of original American comics art: The drawing sold for $717,000 at an auction run by Heritage Auctions; the next highest price for a piece of American comics art is the $657,250 that someone paid for the last page of Incredible Hulk #180, which features the first appearance of Wolverine. Internationally, Tintin art is still top of the heap; one set of drawings brought in $3.5 million, and two other original Tintin drawings have sold for over $1 million apiece.

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‘Saga’ celebrates Image’s 25th anniversary with 25-cent issue

Issue #43 kicks off a new storyline for Hazel and company “at the westernmost edge of the universe.”

To celebrate their 25th anniversary — and no doubt to encourage new or lapsed readers to pick up the title — Image Comics has announced that Saga #43 will cost 25 cents.

The award-winning series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples kicks off a new storyline in that issue, which is due out in May. Image is also offering retailers a 25th anniversary print featuring new Saga artwork by Staples.

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Not lying: Skybound taking preorders for Lying Cat statue

The breakout character from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga will soon be available in all three dimensions.

Lying Cat will soon leap from the page straight to your shelf, as Robert Kirkman’s Skybound has announced they will produce a Lying Cat statue in early 2016.

Featuring the breakout character from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga, the statue will be hand-painted and 8″ tall statue. Skybound began taking pre-orders for the $75 statue on Friday; it will only be available online. You can pre-order it here.

No word yet if it will act as a miniature lie detector.

Lying Cat
Lying Cat

Ok, probably not. Check out a prototype of what it will look like below.

lying-cat-large