Fund Me Monday | ‘Thomas River,’ the return of Skullkickers and more

Check out recent projects from Jim Zub, Edwin Huang, Doug Wagner, Brian Stelfreeze, Iron Circus Comics and more.

Crowdfunding continues to serve as a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors, as comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. The internet also allows creators to sell their creations direct to fans, through sites like Gumroad, Big Cartel and of course their own websites. If you’re looking to buy something from or support a creator directly, you’ve come to the right place. And that’s a good thing to do, now more than ever.

Send any suggestions of your own to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

Continue reading “Fund Me Monday | ‘Thomas River,’ the return of Skullkickers and more”

Marvel reverses decision on several ‘digital only’ titles

Issues of ‘Hawkeye: Freefall,’ ‘Ant-Man’ and more will now be printed.

After stating they would only release digital copies of several titles that were held up by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shutdown by Diamond Comics Distributors, Marvel has told retailers they will now release print copies of most of those titles, including issues of Hawkeye: Freefall, Ant-Man, Ghost Spider and Valkyrie: Jane Foster.

The Beat reports that Marvel sent a message to retailers this week that print copies of many of these titles would ship to them starting in August. The list of comics and their release dates are:

Continue reading “Marvel reverses decision on several ‘digital only’ titles”

Natural 20: ‘Stranger Things’ to cross over with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’

Jim Zub, Jody Houser, Diego Galindo, Michele Assarasakorn and Nate Piekos will descend into the depths of licensed comics.

Writer Jim Zub shares the news that he’s working with Jody Houser on Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons, a new four-issue mini-series being co-published by Dark Horse Comics and IDW, who have the respective comics licenses for the two properties.

They’ll be working with the art team of Diego Galindo, Michele Assarasakorn and Nate Piekos. The announcement was made during Wizards of the Coast’s D&D Live 2020 online event.

Continue reading “Natural 20: ‘Stranger Things’ to cross over with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’”

Exhibitors, creators pull out of ECCC over coronavirus concerns [Updated]

Emerald City Comic Con offers refunds to attendees who aren’t comfortable attending.

Multiple exhibitors, including DC Comics, Dark Horse and Penguin Random House, have announced they will no longer attend this year’s Emerald City Comic Con, citing concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19). Seattle, ECCC’s host city, has seen nine people die of the virus since Feb. 26.

In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, DC Comics said they are cancelling all of their convention appearances for the rest of March.

In addition, several comics creators, including Jim Zub, Jen Bartel, Benjamin Percy, Richard Pace, Christian Ward and Jody LeHeup, have said they will no longer appear at ECCC.

Continue reading “Exhibitors, creators pull out of ECCC over coronavirus concerns [Updated]”

By Crom, Zub + Antônio take over ‘Conan’ with issue #13

The new team takes over in February, with E.M. Gist on covers.

Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian is getting a new, yet familiar, creative team in February, as Jim Zub and Rogê Antônio will take over the title with issue #13. E.M. Gist will provide covers.

Both Zub and Antônio have worked on the character in recent months; Zub wrote him in Avengers: No Road Home and Savage Sword of Conan, while Antônio drew the upcoming Conan 2099. They follow Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar on the title.

“Rogê’s line art is going to knock people out,” Zub said in an email. “It has a strong visual tie to the incredible work Masmud Asrar has been doing on the core title this year, but also manages to carve out its own distinct look. E.M. Gist‘s covers are classic pulp fantasy fare with all the grit and earthiness I could hope for. It’s a heck of a creative line up and I’m doing everything I can to live up to their top notch storytelling skills. Deep thanks to editors Mark Basso and C.B. Cebulski for this incredible opportunity and Jason Aaron for setting a high bar on the issues preceding mine.”

Continue reading “By Crom, Zub + Antônio take over ‘Conan’ with issue #13”

Canadian creators unite for new ‘Alpha Flight’

A one-shot featuring three stories about the Canadian super team arrives in September.

Marvel is all about the one-shot specials in September, as they continue to celebrate their 80th birthday with special projects. You’ve got Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz doing New Mutants; Erik Larsen, Gerry Conway and Mark Bagley on Amazing Spider-Man; Roger Stern returning to Avengers; and, heck, you’ve even got Obnoxious the Clown in a Crazy one-shot.

But wait — there’s more! Also announced for September is a one-shot featuring a whole bunch of Canadian creators tackling Canada’s No. 1 team, Alpha Flight. Jim Zub, Scott Hepburn, Jed MacKay and more will contribute to Alpha Flight: True North.

Continue reading “Canadian creators unite for new ‘Alpha Flight’”

Zub + Medina assemble “Agents of Wakanda” this September

New team spins out of Jason Aaron’s ‘Avengers.’

In Avengers #12, Jason Aaron introduced a new team of “Secret Avengers” called the Agents of Wakanda, who carry out various missions for the Black Panther under the guidance of Okoye. Agents like the original Wasp, Ka-zar, Gorilla-Man and Fat Cobra carry out secret missions and gather intel to help the bigger Avengers team.

Now those secret missions are becoming unclassified, as writer Jim Zub and artist Lan Medina team for Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda

“This book is Kirby-fueled Mission: Impossible,” Zub said in an email.We’re taking the kind of fun and frenetic action that movie-goers enjoyed so much in the Black Panther film and combining it with mysteries and mayhem in the Marvel Universe.”

Continue reading “Zub + Medina assemble “Agents of Wakanda” this September”

Comics Lowdown: Stan Lee’s former manager’s legal troubles grow

Plus: Stolen comics, cease and desist letters, Ted Talks, Jesus and more.

Legal woes for Stan Lee’s former caretaker and manager, Keya Morgan, continue to grow. He has been arrested and appeared in court in Arizona to face the charge of being a fugitive of justice. And he is also being sued by Joan Celia Lee, Stan Lee’s daughter.

In May, Morgan was charged with felony counts of false imprisonment of an elder adult, theft, embezzlement, and forgery or fraud against an elder adult, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court. The LAPD has revealed some of the details on why they brought charges against him.

“Morgan removed Lee from his Hollywood Hills residence to a secured Beverly Hills condominium during the late night hours of June 8, 2018,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. “Morgan was using this tactic to further deceive Lee into believing he was in danger and needed to be moved from his home to a more secured condominium where Morgan had more control over Lee.”

The LAPD will eventually extradite Morgan to L.A. to face the charges.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Stan Lee’s former manager’s legal troubles grow”

New Originals title from Zub + Dunbar debuts on comiXology

Jim Zub and Max Dunbar team up on ‘Stone Star,’ a five-issue miniseries.

They’ve been teasing it for days on Twitter, and today comiXology stealth-released a new title as part of their Originals line — Stone Star, by Jim Zub and Max Dunbar.

The science fiction story is set on a nomadic space ship called Stone Star that provides entertainment/arena-style combat to various planets, and stars a young thief, Dail, who gets in over his head — as young thieves tend to do.

Continue reading “New Originals title from Zub + Dunbar debuts on comiXology”

Comics Lowdown: Mark Waid’s attorney asks for dismissal of Richard C. Meyer’s lawsuit

BOOM! Studios cancels ‘Husband and Husband’ collection after plagiarism charges! Image stops selling DRM-free digital comics directly! Chicago Sun-Times drops two pages of comics! Plus: Chip Zdarsky, NaNoWriMo, best of 2018 lists and more!

Mark Waid’s legal representative has asked the U.S. District Court for the Western district of Texas to dismiss the lawsuit filed against him by Richard C. Meyer. The civil lawsuit was filed in September and claims “tortious interference with contract and defamation.” You can read the motion on Newsarama.

“[Meyer] asserts claims against Mr. Waid for tortious interference with contract and defamation. These claims are completely meritless. But the problem at the outset, and which is proper to address, is that this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Mr. Waid,” reads the motion. “Plaintiff’s Complaint fails to identify any allegations or facts establishing any connection between Mr. Waid and Texas. Instead, Plaintiff merely alleges a single phone call between Mr. Waid, who was in California at the time, and a San Antonio publishing company. That is far short of the necessary substantial connection with Texas to justify personal jurisdiction.”

Mark Waid and Richard Meyer have GoFundMe campaigns going to pay for their legal fees, both of which have reached their goals.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Mark Waid’s attorney asks for dismissal of Richard C. Meyer’s lawsuit”

Weekly ‘Avengers: No Road Home’ kicks off next year

Writer Jim Zub shares details on the spiritual sequel to last year’s ‘Avengers: No Surrender,’ as he teams up with Al Ewing and Mark Waid for another weekly story.

Last year Avengers: No Surrender ran through all of Marvel’s various Avengers titles on a weekly basis, as the creators of those books tag-teamed on a giant story involving lots of Avengers, the Grandmaster, the Black Order, several new villains and a plot to steal the Earth.

One of the writers involved in the story was Jim Zub, who attended New York Comic Con last weekend to announce the “spiritual successor” to that story, the 10-week Avengers: No Road Home. He took to his blog this week to provide more details on the project.

Unlike “No Surrender,” “No Road Home” will not run through the Avengers titles — there’s actually only the one now, written by Jason Aaron. Instead it’ll be its own stand-alone series. Zub will once again work with Mark Waid and Al Ewing on writing it, while Paco Medina and Sean Izaakse will provide the art.

Continue reading “Weekly ‘Avengers: No Road Home’ kicks off next year”

‘Champions’ gets a new first issue, new art team and international focus

Writer Jim Zub welcomes the ‘Wayward’ art team of Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain to the series.

At New York Comic Con, Champions and Wayward writer Jim Zub was on hand to announce two new projects — including a relaunch of Marvel’s “teens saving the world” team The Champions.

The comic will receive a new #1 in January, along with a new art team — one Zub knows well. He’ll be joined by Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain, who he worked with on the Image series Wayward. Zub explained the reason for the reboot on his blog.

“The response to my Champions stories has been great so far and many of the single issues have gone into second printings, but in the current retail climate the simple truth is that readers look to issue #1’s as a clear jumping on point for stories and characters,” Zub said. “When new Marvel Editor-In-Chief CB Cebulski came on board I was already announced as the writer of Champions with issue #19 and so, as other Marvel series have been getting Fresh Start issue #1’s to mark important story changes and signal to readers and retailers that they have big plans, it was decided that Champions should get the same treatment in the new year. Marvel is really happy with what I’ve been doing and they want to make sure more people know about it and get on board.”

Continue reading “‘Champions’ gets a new first issue, new art team and international focus”