Slugfest | ‘Summer of Symbiotes’ leads to ‘Death of the Venomverse’

Plus: Marvel Artist’s Editions, Dark Horse graphic novels, Spider-Verse, variant covers and more!

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

Marvel has revealed more details and a teaser image for Summer of Symbiotes, something they teased last October along with several other events for 2023. It’s less of a single-story crossover and more of a moniker they are using to describe a whole bunch of different symbiote-themed series, miniseries and events.

While many of the events teased on the image we’ve heard of before, like Carnage Reigns and Extreme Venomverse, there is one new one listed — Death of the Venomverse, which echoes the Death of the Spiderverse storyline we’re seeing in Spider-Man.

Here’s the description from Marvel:

It’s all leading to this! The epic adventures above are spiraling towards an explosive destination, and not all of your favorite symbiotes will survive the journey. The Carnage symbiote is more bloodthirsty than ever and heads to the multiverse for its greatest killing spree yet. But what is it after? Find out more when this upcoming limited series is announced at the Marvel Comics: Spider-Man & the Venomverse Panel at C2E2 2023!

C2E2 is coming up this weekend. Here’s the full teaser image:

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Berger Books will adapt the opera ‘The Emperor of Atlantis’

Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay will bring to life a story written by two concentration camp prisoners.

While imprisoned at the Terezín concentration camp in Czechoslovakia by Hitler’s Nazi regime in 1943, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann wrote Der Kaiser von Atlantis, or The Emperor of Atlantis, a one-act opera that they never got to see performed. Now Dark Horse’s Berger Books will adapt the story into a graphic novel by Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay.

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis will also feature character designs by Ezra Rose and lettering by Richard Bruning. In addition to adapting the opera, the graphic novel will also feature an historical essay on the opera’s creators, as well as Kien’s artwork and photographs.

“Written in a concentration camp, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann’s opera is the truest form of artistic resistance, a middle finger to the Nazis and all authoritarians across history,” Maass said. “By adapting this fierce, genre-blending satire, we hope to introduce this nearly lost masterpiece to new audiences–and to challenge the tyrants of today.”

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Nicole Goux flies solo in the horror graphic novel ‘Pet Peeves’

Check out a preview of the new graphic novel from Avery Hill, which arrives in stores in May.

Nicole Goux has built a name for herself both as an independent force with comics like F*ck Off Squad and as a mainstream success with comics and graphic novels from DC Comics, Dark Horse, IDW and Simon & Schuster. Her latest graphic novel, Pet Peeves, started as an exercise in just creating something for herself, but has grown to be much more than that.

Pet Peeves was meant to be a break from big projects at big companies,” Goux said. “It was a chance to stretch my writing muscles and to tell a story with no edits, no one telling me what do. Honestly, it was supposed to be much shorter than it is, just a quick story to refresh and re-inspire me between jobs, but I found that the story I wanted to tell needed more space and it grew into the full book that it is today.”

Pet Peeves is described as a horror graphic novel about a woman whose life is slowly being stolen away by “more sinister (though adorable) canine forces,” AKA the stray dog she adopts. Any puppy owner can probably identify with that statement. Courtesy of publisher Avery Hill, we’re pleased to present a preview of Pet Peeves, which arrives in stores at the end of May.

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Dark Horse will publish ‘The Unlikely Story of Felix and Macabber’ this fall

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Juni Ba team on the all-ages graphic novel.

Acclaimed letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou will write (and letter!) the new graphic novel The Unlikely Story of Felix and Macabber, joined by Juni Ba (Djeliya, Monkey Meat) as the artist and colorist. Dark Horse will publish the all-ages graphic novel this October.

“With Felix and Macabber, Juni and I wanted to explore the idea of doing whatever it takes to become something great,” the writer said. “Who are the role models that people look up to? And how do the pressures on your own life change the way we understand those role models? Which all sounds quite serious, but it’s also a great excuse to let Juni’s imagination loose on these wonderful weird monster designs and big, bombastic fight sequences – which he’s a master at. We’re really excited about readers meeting our cast of monster-characters, from the big guy himself to his arch-nemesis, to the big dog that lives in a cave and creates knights-in-armor from his own saliva. Yep. You’re going to love it.”

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Alex de Campi + Erica Henderson show the dark side of fandom in ‘Parasocial’

The new graphic novel arrives in October.

Image Comics has announced a new graphic novel from the creative team of Dracula, Motherf**ker. Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson will team up again for Parasocial, a thriller about fandom, celebrity and the pandemic.

Parasocial is a twisted exploitation thriller that will leave you never feeling safe at a convention again. It’s a deep dive into all the things we’ve agreed not to talk about in modern fandom and celebrity… with an ending you’ll never see coming,” said De Campi. “Most importantly, it’s Erica’s most beautiful and strikingly innovative book yet. I’m just here to cover up some of her art with words.”

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Fantagraphics will publish a new Daniel Clowes graphic novel this fall

The creator of ‘Ghost World’ and ‘Wilson’ returns to comics with ‘Monica’ later this year.

Fantagraphics has announced a new project by Daniel Clowes that will arrive in stores this fall — Monica, the life story of a woman that the publisher describes as “mysterious, uncategorizable and quintessentially Clowesian.”

The award-winning creator of Ghost World, The Death-Ray, Wilson, Patience and more took about six years to finish the new project, which will no doubt be one of this year’s biggest releases.

“Daniel Clowes had already created what might well be my favorite body of work in the medium’s history,” said Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds. “But Monica raises his own bar even higher, as both a writer of fiction and as a cartoonist. It’s a masterpiece that is both utterly Clowes and unlike anything else I’ve ever read.”

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Oeming + Santos go gonzo in conspiracy-filled ‘Project Monarch’

The new graphic novel arrives from Dark Horse in September.

Michael Avon Oeming (Powers) and Victor Santos (Polar) are pulling out all the stops in their new graphic novel Project Monarch — a story that will involve fake moon landings, the Illuminati, child stars turned assassins and a film that can control minds.

It sounds bonkers and like a lot of fun.

“This story was born in a time when we needed to deal with uncertainty everyday,” said Santos. “So this is a book about embracing chaos and living nonetheless, and I can’t imagine a better partner for this crazy trip than Mike Oeming.”

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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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Dark Horse will publish Caitlin Like’s debut graphic novel ‘The Hundredth Voice’

The new graphic novel will hit stores in October.

Dark Horse Comics has announced plans to publish The Hundredth Voice, a graphic novel by a new voice, Caitlin Like.

The Hundredth Voice was written for kids getting into bootleg musical theater and trying to communicate with ghost,” Caitlin said. “It’s about being an artist, especially the serious resolve that feels like life or death when you’re young and told you’re gifted- that fear that you’re going to run out of time, even when you’re still a kid.”

While this is Like’s debut graphic novel, it’s far from her first comics work. She’s the creator of the webcomic Maiden of the Machine, and she also drew Dark Horse’s collaboration with Portland General Electric, a comic called Climate Keepers: Agents of Project Zero. But what really caught my eye on her website were the Supernatural fan comics she did.

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Celebrity chef Kim-Joy teams with artist Alti Firmansyah for the OGN ‘Turtle Bread’

The graphic novel arrives on digital from Comixology Originals in May and in print from Dark Horse this fall.

The Great British Bake Off finalist and bestselling cookbook author Kim-Joy is collaborating with Alti Firmansyah on her first graphic novel, Turtle Bread: A Graphic Novel About Baking, Fitting In, and the Power of Friendship. The project will arrive on digital via Comixology Originals in May, to be followed in print from Dark Horse Comics in October.

They’ll be joined by letterer Joamette Gil, designer Cindy Leong, and editors Felix Horne and Allison O’Toole for a project that explores not only friendship and baked goods, but also mental health issues.

Turtle Bread is a book about self-awareness,” said Kim-Joy. “It’s about that feeling of loneliness, of not fitting in or feeling good enough, of self-criticism, and the path towards self-acceptance. This is explored through baking, and in particular, the symbolism of the turtle–coming out of its shell and moving forward; however slowly that may be. Hence: Turtle Bread! (And yes, there’s actual turtle themed bread! Plus loads of other recipes). It’s NOT a magical story about how baking and friendship fix everything, but a story about the small steps forward (and sometimes sideways and backwards) gradually adding up.”

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Marvel + Abrams will release ‘Marvel Super Stories’ anthology in October

Jerry Craft, Mike Curato, George O’Connor, Nathan Hale, John Gallagher and more will contribute stories to the new anthology, which is edited by John Jennings.

Middle-grade creators, assemble! Marvel and Abrams have announced a new anthology for later this year featuring stories by some of the hottest names in middle-grade graphic novels. They’ll be writing and drawing six-page stories featuring Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Shang-Chi, Hulk and many more.

The project is being edited by John Jennings, who heads up Abrams’ award-winning Megascope imprint. He’s also doing a Daredevil story for the anthology.

“I’m so thrilled to have helped bring this amazing collection of Marvel stories to a new generation,” Jennings said. “Working with these super-talented storytellers has been a dream. Marvel Comics is an institution that has inspired so many imaginations across the world, including my own. With Marvel Super Stories we get to continue that legacy, presenting the best and brightest creators coupled with the most marvelous heroes.”

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Comixology Originals announces ‘Trick Pony’ by Greg Lockard + Anna David

The new graphic novel will arrive on the platform on Feb. 28.

While we ponder the fate of Comixology amidst all the layoffs and what that means for all those digital comics we’ve “acquired” from them, I guess there’s some solace in the fact that there are still new releases and announcements coming from their original comics line, Comixology Originals. That has to be a good sign, he says, as he realizes contracts were likely signed months in advance and maybe they just haven’t had time to sunset that program yet. Hey, don’t ruin my Sunday, okay?

Until Amazon is willing to share more (or not; their PR email seems to be a black hole) let’s focus on what we do know — that GLAAD award-nominated writer Greg Lockard has teamed up with artist Anna David and letterer Lucas Gattoni for a brand new western graphic novel, Trick Pony, which will arrive on the site on Feb. 28. It’s about a gay rodeo star named Jimmy.

“Trick Pony is a project that has been germinating in my head and heart for over a decade,” Lockard said. “It’s a love letter to all my favorite Western stories but through a distinctly modern lens. Jimmy’s adventure is about self-fulfillment on the path to making your dreams come true… and accepting that some shadows are going to follow you for life.”

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