Marvel will unleash a new Ghost Rider in ‘Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance’

Benjamin Percy and Danny Kim team up to reveal a new chapter for the Spirit of Vengeance.

Johnny Blaze’s long ride as Ghost Rider will reach its end (again) as a new Ghost Rider debuts next year in Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance.

Yes, his 50-year ride comes to an end … minus all the years when he wasn’t Ghost Rider, which was from 1983, when the original series ended and Blaze became demon-free, until the early 2000s, when he was demon-cursed again. So maybe more like 30 years, with a nice gap in between runs when he was living the good life with his wife Roxanne and their kids?

Anyway, this time someone new is going to become Ghost Rider. No, not Danny Ketch, or Robbie Reyes … or that guy who rides the mastodon, or Ghost Rider 2099, or Cosmic Ghost Rider, or the one who was also sorcerer supreme … ah, hell, just take a look at Greg Capullo’s variant cover:

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Slugfest | Martinbrough + Greene take Red Hood back to ‘The Hill’

Plus: News and announcements on Marvel’s Godzilla series, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, Ultimate Spider-Man, Sinister Sons and more.

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

Shawn Martinbrough will return to write Jason Todd again next year with Red Hood: The Hill, a miniseries that follows his work on the character’s previous series. Sanford Greene will draw the six-issue series.

Here’s how DC describes the series:

In Gotham City’s early days, The Hill was one of Gotham City’s most dangerous neighborhoods, one that required the residents to band together to keep themselves safe when the police – and sometimes even Batman – wouldn’t.

Now, as the Hill finds itself gentrifying, old habits die hard as the vigilante known only as Strike works with her team to keep the town safe—but she’s not alone. Jason Todd, one of the Hill’s newest residents, is more than happy to don the visage of Red Hood to help Strike keep his new home safe. But a new villain is emerging from the shadows. Will Red Hood, Strike and the Hill’s small militia of vigilantes be able to keep their home safe? This series features a main cover by series artist Greene, with a variant cover by Tirso Cons.

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Slugfest | Soule + Alburquerque continue ‘The Shrouded College’ storyline in a new miniseries

Plus: News and announcements about Star Wars, Sea Serpent’s Heir, Richard Corben, Kingdom Come, Stranger Things and more.

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

Charles Soule and Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque will present the second of seven interconnected miniseries in “The Shrouded College” saga that started with Soule and Will Sliney’s Hell to Pay.

The Bloody Dozen will run for six issues and kicks off in December.

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Marvel announces ‘Deadpool: Seven Slaughters’ one-shot anthology

Plus more news from San Diego on new Marvel work by Greg Capullo and Rob Liefeld.

In San Diego this week, Marvel announced an upcoming one-shot featuring the Merc with a Mouth. Deadpool: Seven Slaughters will feature seven stories by seven different creative teams — and a cover by Greg Capullo, who will do his first work for Marvel in decades.

The anthology will include a story written and drawn by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, with additional stories by Cullen Bunn, Cody Ziglar, Marc Guggenheim, Justina Ireland, Gail Simone, Greg Land, Whilce Portacio, David Baldeón, Phillip Sevy and more.

Here’s a look at Capullo’s cover:

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Slugfest | ‘Batman/Spawn’ gets an ‘inks only’ edition

Today’s round-up includes news and announcements on ‘Amazing Spider-Man,’ Brian Michael Bendis, Keanu Reeves, Shakespeare, ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you from comics creators, publishers and more. Most of this edition includes all those end-of-the-year announcements I missed because I was on vacation. Hit the links for more information.

DC and Todd McFarlane have announced Batman/Spawn Unplugged, an uncolored and unlettered version of the recent crossover comic by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo.

“It’s always exciting whenever us artists can present our work in as unfiltered a manner as possible,” said McFarlane. “This book will let you see the true skill of how Greg Capullo does his masterful storytelling… and every line that we both put down.”

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Lee, McFarlane + Capullo reunite at SDCC to announce Batman/Spawn

The first crossover in more than 25 years between the two characters will arrive in December.

DC’s “Jim Lee & Friends” panel at San Diego Comic-Con brought a lot of interesting news and some surprise special guests — not the least of which was Todd McFarlane, Lee’s former Image Comics partner.

Along with artist Greg Capullo — who has a long history with both Batman and Spawn — they announced a new Batman/Spawn crossover project.

Batman/Spawn #1, a 48-page one-shot, will arrive in shops Dec. 13. Unfortunately they haven’t shared any artwork from it, but I’m sure that’s coming soon.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Scott Snyder on ‘Clear’ and more

The writer and teacher discusses the first three comics released through his exclusive deal with comiXology Originals.

Scott Snyder made a splash earlier this year by announcing eight new comics coming out digitally through comiXology and then in print from Dark Horse Comics.

Three very different first issues have already come out from the line:

  • We Have Demons, which re-teams Snyder with Greg Capullo after the duo’s long run on Batman and other DC projects.
  • Clear, a cyberpunk tale featuring art and colors by Francis Manapul.
  • And Night of the Ghoul, a monster horror tale drawn by Francesco Francavilla.

With these three books out, I checked in with Snyder about the books and how they represent what he’s thinking about right now.

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Are you ready for ‘Scottober’?

Your Best Jackett’s required for a month of new comics from Scott Snyder, comiXology Originals and more.

This October, prepare yourself for a lot of Scott Snyder.

The writer of American Vampire, Death Metal, Batman, Nocterra and more — as well as comic book instructor on Substack — will kick off his new line of comiXology Originals titles with We Have Demons, his collaboration with Greg Capullo, who he worked with on Batman and more. The first issue arrives next Tuesday, Oct. 5, followed by two more titles later in the month.

“October has been deemed ‘Scottober’ at comiXology Originals,” said Chip Mosher, comiXology’s Head of Content, in a press statement. “With the arrival of We Have Demons featuring widescreen action and the kind of jaw-dropping storytelling twists that have made Snyder and Capullo the bestselling creator duo of the last 25 years, followed by Clear, Snyder’s first noir thriller and Manapul’s first ever creator-owned book, which is a dazzling, sci-fi thrill ride into a strange dystopian future, and in the lead up to the most terrifying night of the year, Snyder and Francavilla—two modern masters of horror—collaborate for the first time with Night of The Ghoul, a bold and bloody re-imagining of monsters that celebrates classic creature features.”

Here’s a trailer for the three October — sorry, Scottober — titles:

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What Are You Reading? | Death Metal and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Speaking of this week’s comics, the big release this week was probably Dark Knights: Death Metal #1, DC’s big crossover series. Although the pandemic slowed down its release, it’s appropriate that it came out right here at the beginning of summer, kicking off the season with something big and brash and, as Carla puts it, “Stupid.” Summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics.

Oh, hey, welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what we’ve been reading. You can play along in the comments or on social media if you’d like.

Let’s get to it …

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Warren Ellis writing T-Rex Batman is the news the world needs right now [Update: No, it’s not]

Ellis joins many other writers in two anthologies that tie into DC’s ‘Death Metal.’

Update, June 30: Following allegations of sexual misconduct, DC Comics has removed the Warren Ellis-written story from Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1. And good riddance to it.

Original story:

DC Comics put out a press release today detailing two new titles related to their upcoming Death Metal event by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1 and Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1 are both anthologies, containing various stories related to the event by a host of creators.

The guidebook will “showcase the new factions of Earth and explore the mystery of what happened to the Justice League after their battle with Perpetua,” while the Legends title will be “collection of short tales where demons dwell and reality is overrun by monstrous versions of the Dark Knight.”

Including T-Rex Batman, as written by Warren Ellis.

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DC announces the metal-er ‘Death Metal’ miniseries

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo get the band back together for a sequel to the ‘Metal’ event series.

If DC’s Metal event wasn’t “metal” enough for you, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are coming back in May for an encore — Dark Knights: Death Metal. It promises to be “metal-er” than Metal. Metal!

“I’ve been waiting to do this story since we finished Dark Nights: Metal,” said Snyder. “As much as it was a complete event, we left some threads hanging there for sure. I’d hoped that if people liked the first series enough, we’d have a chance to set up something bigger, and that’s our plan for Death Metal.”

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DC shares details on their 2020 Free Comic Book Day titles

Wally West and Wonder Woman take center stage in this year’s ‘gold’ title.

DC has revealed the contents of their two Free Comic Book Day 2020 titles, which were first announced in December without any details.

Their gold title, Generation Zero, “sets the stage for the past, present and future of the DC Universe, ” according to the press release. It will feature Wally West, who has gone through a lot recently in DC continuity, if you’ve been following the story that started in Heroes in Crisis.

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