Ivan Reis brings ‘Hyde Street’ to Ghost Machine

Reis will re-team with Geoff Johns on the creator-owned series.

Artist Ivan Reis will team with Geoff Johns once again on Hyde Street, an upcoming creator-owned series that will fall under the recently announced Ghost Machine imprint.

Reis joins Johns, Jason Fabok, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch, Brad Meltzer and more at Ghost Machine, a new company that aims to be a “first-of-its-kind creator-owned and operated media company.” I’m not sure how that differs from Image Comics, which has been creator-owned and operated for 30 years and will actually publish Ghost Machine’s titles, but there you go.

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Geoff Johns, Brad Meltzer, Francis Manapul, Bryan Hitch + more form ‘Ghost Machine’

The creator collective will publish new comics across several genres through Image Comics.

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are doubling down on their creator-owned projects, and they’re bringing a bunch of friends with them.

Along with Jason Fabok, Bryan Hitch, Lamont Magee, Francis Manapul, Brad Meltzer, Peter J. Tomasi, and Maytal Zchut, they’ve formed Ghost Machine, a “first-of-its-kind creator-owned and operated media company,” per the press release, where creators will co-own all the characters and universes developed, “sharing in all publishing, media, merchandise, and beyond.” They point to the recent Hollywood strike as an example of why creators need more empowerment in the current media landscape.

“Our ambition for Ghost Machine is to push beyond superheroes, introducing new genres, characters and shared universes, completely co-owned by all the creators involved. We see this as the future of how creatives will work and retain creative control and meaningfully participate in success like never before,” reads the Ghost Machine founding creators’ joint statement. “Our passion is for the magic of graphic storytelling and the emotional resonance of compelling characters. But we are not just a comic book company—we are the first wholly creator-owned and operated media company of its kind, born out of a desire to create and succeed together.”

The founders released a video explaining their vision for Ghost Machine:

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DC announces three New Golden Age miniseries

Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and Wesley Dodds each take the spotlight in October.

Geoff Johns’ “The New Golden Age” line will continue in October with miniseries focused on three of DC’s Golden Age heroes: Alan Scott: The Green Lantern by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey, Jay Garrick: The Flash by Jeremy Adams and Diego Olortegui, and Wesley Dodds: The Sandman by Robert Venditti and Riley Rossmo.

The three miniseries continue the overarching story being told by Johns in Justice Society of America and Stargirl: The Lost Children — the latter of which wraps up on May 9.

“It’s long past time that the heroes of the Justice Society had their own titles again,” Johns said. “At the same time, they had to be special, important and emotional stories, each one exploring character, revealing secrets, and introducing new heroes and villains to the DC Universe.”

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DC announces ‘Batman and Robin’ by Williamson and Di Meo

Plus, more Dawn of DC artwork was revealed this weekend at MegaCon.

DC is in full swing at MegaCon in Orlando this weekend, and they kicked off the show by announcing a new Dawn of DC title — Batman and Robin — as well as revealing more artwork from upcoming projects.

Batman and Robin, featuring the father-and-son team of Bruce and Damian Wayne, will launch in September from Joshua Williamson and Simone Di Meo. In it, the dynamic duo will be “investigating mysterious new cases and monsters in Gotham.” Plus, Robin gets his own Robinmobile.

Check out some preview artwork:

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‘Geiger 80-Page Giant’ will include a preview of Johns + Frank’s next comic

The oversized issue will also include contributions from Bryan Hitch, Jay Faerber, Peter J. Tomasi and more.

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will release a Geiger 80-Page Giant through their publisher Image Comics in November, featuring a variety of creators playing with the characters and world they’ve created in the regular series. It will also include a preview of their next project, Junkyard Joe.

Creators contributing to the oversized issue include Bryan Hitch, Jay Faerber, Sterling Gates, Janet Harvey, Leon Hendrix III, Peter J. Tomasi, Pornsak Pichetshote, Staz Johnson, Joe Prado, Paul Pelletier, Sean Galloway, Peter Snejbjerg, Kelley Jones and Megan Levens.

“A really cool bonus to working on the original Geiger series was getting to see the interpretations of some of our favorite artists on the variant covers,” said Frank. “Now we get the thrill of seeing other artists AND writers bringing these characters to life in new and wonderful ways!”

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‘Batman: Earth One’ Vol. 3 ‘reframes a number of classic elements in an entertaining way’

Tom Bondurant reviews the latest in DC’s line of Earth One graphic novels, the long-awaited third part of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s Batman trilogy.

This week I read a lot of Batman, which sounds stereotypical, but it’s kind of unavoidable. The new issue of Detective came out this week, along with the third issue of Batman: The Detective; and both featured Bruce Wayne battling overmuscled man-mountains with handlebar mustaches and crazy glints in their eyes. There was also issue #3 of The Batman/Scooby-Doo Mysteries, plus a decent amount of the Darknight Detective in issue #2 of Justice League: Last Ride. And I’m still in the middle of a New 52 Batman re-read, getting into the “Zero Year” epic.

All that said, I’m going to talk about Batman: Earth One Volume Three, written by Geoff Johns, pencilled by Gary Frank, inked by Jon Sibal and colored by Brad Anderson.

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Mail Call | DC in May brings Star Girl and more

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Oni Press 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.

DC Comics released their May solicitations on Friday, and with them came several announcements and reveals throughout the week. In addition to the new Wonder Girl, Mister Miracle and Future State: Gotham projects, DC announced they will release two interesting one-shots — the first being Star Girl one-shot, featuring not only the star of the hit CW show, but also the Seven Soldiers of Victory. It’s by the character’s co-creator, Geoff Johns, and artist Todd Nauck.

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Third ‘Batman: Earth One’ graphic novel coming in June

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank return to tell a third tale of a younger Batman.

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will once again team up to tell another story about the Earth One Batman. The third graphic novel in DC’s series will arrive next June.

Johns and Frank will be joined by Jon Sibal and Brad Anderson, who they worked with on previous volumes in the series. Johns, Frank and Anderson also worked together on Three Jokers, which recently wrapped up, and will team up on the new Image title Geiger.

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Image Comics to publish Johns + Frank’s ‘Geiger’

The creator-owned title by the team behind ‘The Doomsday Clock’ launches next April.

The Doomsday Clock creators Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will re-team for a creator-owned series called Geiger, coming from Image Comics next year. Brad Anderson will color the title.

While Johns and Frank are certainly not strangers, this does mark their first creator-owned work together. It’s also the first time in more than a decade that Johns, DC’s former Chief Creative Officer, has worked for another publisher besides DC.

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The Justice League at 60, Part 9: High collars and wide screens

It’s time for a relaunch: take a look back at the Geoff Johns-helmed New 52 relaunch of ‘Justice League.’

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven and part eight of this series!

When the comprehensive history of DC Comics is written, I hope it goes into exhaustive detail on the conception, execution and ultimate retraction of the New 52. Let’s be clear right from the beginning: I did not love the New 52, but I didn’t hate it either. It represented DC’s willingness – although maybe not its best efforts – to try new approaches with key characters and to revive non-superhero genres.

As the spring of 2011 wound down, DC was wrapping up a couple of year-long biweekly series, Brightest Day (co-written by Geoff Johns) and Justice League: Generation Lost. The former followed a handful of superheroes who had been revived in Blackest Night – including Justice League stalwarts Aquaman, Hawkman, Firestorm and Martian Manhunter – while the latter was a Justice League International reunion that saw them trying to stop their old buddy-turned-baddie Maxwell Lord. Meanwhile, the Bat-books, Superman and Wonder Woman were each in the middle of altered-status-quo storylines.

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Mail Call | Dark Horse to bring several comiXology Originals titles to print

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Titan Comics, IDW and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

ComiXology announced this week that they’ve struck a deal with Dark Horse to bring several of their comiXology Originals digital titles to print, starting with four titles next spring: Afterlift, Breaklands, Youth and The Black Ghost.

“We were always hopeful comiXology Originals books would get into readers’ hands via comics retailers and book stores, and Dark Horse is a terrific collaborator to work with to do so, with an unmatched history of supporting creator-owned projects alongside unmatched distribution expertise. This deal fortifies the ability for these stories to reach customers like never before,” said David Steinberger, comiXology co-founder and CEO. “We’re thrilled to be working with Dark Horse.”

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Mail Call | ‘Lumberjanes’ reach the end of summer, new D&D and more

Catch up on news from Marvel, DC, BOOM!, IDW and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Former WWE superstar turned author AJ Mendez and Lucifer actress Aimee Garcia will write a new Dungeons & Dragons series for IDW. Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World will be set in the property’s Icewind Dale world with new characters and artwork by Martín Cóccolo.

Here are some of the character designs, by Max Davenport and Katrina Mae Hao:

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