Paul Tobin + Arjuna Susini go big on horror in ‘The Mammoth’

The new series drops from Mad Cave Studios in June.

Paul Tobin, writer of Bunny Mask and Croak, continues his trail of terror in The Mammoth, a new horror series with artist Arjuna Susini, colorist Pippa Bowland and letterer Charles Pritchett. Tobin and Susini previously worked together on the Oni Press series Made Men.

Mad Cave Studios will publish the series, which is about four scientists investigating odd seismic activity in a town known for its local legend — a monstrous phantom that appears and disappears for decades at a time.

“I wanted horror—and I wanted it BIG!” Tobin said. “Mad Cave gave me a chance to create horror beyond comprehension, with art by my pal Arjuna Susini helping readers tumble into the story along with the characters. This ain’t no ordinary ghost. This thing is mammoth.”

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Mad Cave’s ‘Flash Gordon’ plans include a new series, middle-grade graphic novels + more

Flash, Ming and the gang will return to comics in a big way this year.

This week’s ComicsPRO meeting brought news from Mad Cave Studios not only about Gatchaman, but also about their plans for Flash Gordon. Mad Cave announced they’d acquired the license to publish Flash Gordon comics from King Fetaures, the property’s owner, last summer.

“Flash Gordon brings a completely new dimension for Mad Cave as a premier comic book and graphic novel publisher,” said Mad Cave Studios Publisher Chris Fernandez. “By expanding our publishing line with a legacy character like Flash Gordon, we’re able to expand our audience across generations of readers through each of our imprints. Whether in grade school or a longtime reader, fans of Flash Gordon and Mad Cave will have lots to look forward to!”

Like Gatchaman, Flash Gordon will debut on Free Comic Book Day in May. The #0 issue will kick off an ongoing series, with the first issue arriving in July.

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Mad Cave reveals their ‘Gatchaman’ plans

Ken, Jun and the rest of the team will soar in new comics this year by Cullen Bunn, Christ Batista, Tommy Lee Edwards, Mindy Lee and more.

At the ComicsPRO meeting this week, Mad Cave Studios shared more details on their publishing plans for Gatchaman, which they licensed from Tatsunoko Production last year.

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, or just Gatchaman, or “G-Force” to those who grew up on the Americanized cartoon, is a popular Japanese anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida. It features five “super ninjas” who work for the International Science Organization and protect Earth’s natural resources from a terrorist group called Galactor. Each member of the team wears a winged suit that aligns to a different bird, and has a different vehicle that goes along with their theme.

Mad Cave announced the acquisition of the property in San Diego last July, and have already revealed it’ll debut on Free Comic Book Day. But they have plans that go beyond just a single series, as they’ve also announced a series of one-shots spotlighting the members of the team and a Galactor miniseries focused on their enemies.

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Thomas + Matthews team for the family crime drama ‘Mugshots’

The first issue of the miniseries arrives in May from Mad Cave Studios.

Writer Jordan Thomas and artist Chris Matthews will team up on Mugshots, a new miniseries coming from Mad Cave Studios in May. They’re joined by letterer by Lucas Gattoni on a crime series with a distinctly English flair.

Set in Brighton, the story starts with a kidnapping and soon devolves into “family trauma, betrayal, murder and revenge.”

Mugshots is an incredibly personal story for me. It’s set around where I grew up, contains experiences I’ve had and features characters based on people I’ve known, and it’s a collaboration with one of my best friends whom I’ve known since we were 11-years-old,” said Thomas. “Mainstream U.S. comics are full of crime stories set in the States but not many set in England by English creators, so I’m excited to see the reaction to this series we’ve poured our hearts and souls into and so happy that Mad Cave are the publisher putting the book out as they never put any restraints on what we wanted to do. It’s a tough, violent, complex, and sometimes funny 36-page per issue 4-parter – not many publishers out there would let you do that. It’s gonna be wild.”

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Papercutz will publish several Disney + Pixar graphic novels later this year

The Mad Cave imprint will release graphic novels featuring ‘Turning Red,’ ‘Encanto’ and more.

Papercutz, the kid’s graphic novel imprint owned by Mad Cave Studios, has announced a publishing partnership with Disney that’ll bring Turning Red, Phineas & Ferb, Encanto, Frozen and more to comics — or back to comics, in some cases — later this year.

The partnership isn’t too much of a surprise, as Papercutz announced a Free Comic Book Day title featuring Encanto and Turning Red for this year’s event. But the bench goes deeper than those two titles, as their plans include several titles that look like they may be reprints. For instance, the listing for Phineas & Ferb notes that it’s collecting comics that originally appeared in the Disney Presents magazine.

Here’s a rundown on what they plan to publish:

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Fawkes + Fuso impose a ‘Sanction’ on Mad Cave Studios

Set in the USSR in 1987, the crime story will see two detectives discover a body on New Year’s Day.

Ray Fawkes of In the Flood and Justice League Dark fame will team with Wyrd artist Antonio Fuso for Sanction, a new Soviet-era crime story coming from Mad Cave Studios in May.

They are joined by Dave Sharpe on colors and letterer Emilio Lecce on the project, which Fawkes said is “the gritty, high-impact, never-seen-this-before crime book I’ve always wanted to write.”

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Slugfest | Dark Horse resurrects ‘Lester of the Lesser Gods’

Plus: The Winx saga continues, Usagi turns 40, the Dreadnoks return and more!

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

Lester of the Lesser Gods, which was originally published by Albatross Funnybooks, is finding new life at Dark Horse this year.

Written by Eric Powell and Lucky Yates, and featuring artwork by Gideon Kendall, Lester began life as unproduced animated short before finding its way to comics.

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Mad Cave announces ‘Love Me: A Romance Story’

Francesca Perillo and artist Stefano Cardoselli present a story of robot love.

Mad Cave Studios has announced a new romance/science fiction hybrid called Love Me: A Romance Story, which will arrive in stores this spring. It’s about a robot cabbie named JoJo who falls in love with Gilda, who is “entangled with the mafia.” Bulletproof heart, meet hollowpoint smile.

The story is by writer Francesca Perillo and artist Stefano Cardoselli. Cardoselli wrote and drew Don’t Spit in the Wind at Mad Cave last year, and if you haven’t checked that title out, I highly recommend it. They’re joined by colorist Lorenzo Scaramella and letterer Buddy Beaudoin.

Love Me is the story everyone can read: it’s about possibility, hope and diversity. It talks about the ability to wait for and recognize the love that comes after personal fulfillment,” Perillo said. “In fact, if you are fulfilled with your life, grateful for the work you have achieved, the conquests you have made and the friends you have chosen, despite the difficulties, you can leave room for true feelings even if they are scary and put you face to face with great challenges and strange emotions. Love me is the story of all those who have been able to wait for true love, in the seat of a taxi or at the table in a bar just like what happened to me.”

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FCBD 2024: Marvel’s ‘Blood Hunt,’ Spider-Man India, Dark Horse, Flash Gordon and more

Several publishers have revealed more about their plans for Free Comic Book Day 2024.

As we move into the new year, several companies have revealed additional details on their Free Comic Book Day plans for 2024. This year’s event will be held May 4 and will feature about 50 titles from various publishers.

And those publishers include Marvel, Dark Horse and Mad Cave, who have shared more about what to expect from this year’s titles. Let’s dig in …

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Comic strip news: Flash Gordon returns, Spider-Man canceled

Dan Schkade takes over Flash Gordon, bringing us new strips for the first time in 20 years.

This Sunday the Flash Gordon comic strip returned with new strips for the first time since 2003, both online and in print.

King Features has enlisted Dan Schkade, creator of Lavender Jack, to write and draw the strip. For the last 20 years King Features has offered reruns of the strip, as drawn by Jim Keefe (which can still be found online).

“The initial version of Flash I pitched was a little more purposefully a himbo,” Schkade told the Washington Post. Schkade won a competitive tryout earlier this year to take over the strip, and he agreed to make Flash less of a himbo and “a more classic, straightforward hero.”

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Dick Tracy will return to action at Mad Cave Studios

Michael Moreci, Alex Segura, Geraldo Borges and Chantelle Aimée Osman will bring the detective back to comics.

Mad Cave Studios has announced plans to launch a new comic featuring Dick Tracy, the legendary yellow coat-wearing detective who first debuted on the newspaper comic page in the 1930s.

Crime novelist and comics writer Alex Segura will co-write the title with Barbaric writer Michael Moreci, joined by No/One artist Geraldo Borges and creative consultant Chantelle Aimée Osman. Segura and Moreciwere tied to a Dick Tracy comic title at Archie Comics in 2017, but a licensing snafu put it on hold. In the press release, they, along with Osman, are listed as the “comics rights-holders” for Dick Tracy, which is owned by Tribune Content Agency.

“This has been a long time coming, and we are all so excited to bring our grounded, noir take on the Dick Tracy mythos to life at Mad Cave,” said Segura. “Michael and I have loved Dick Tracy, his stellar rogues gallery, and unforgettable supporting cast since we first became aware of the character as kids. It’s been a winding road to not only get the rights to publish new stories starring the iconic detective, and I’m so thankful that my journey with Chantelle and Michael brought us to Mad Cave. The stuff Geraldo is cooking up perfectly evokes the grounded, cinematic vibe we’re bringing to this origin story.”

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Mad Cave will unleash ‘Edenfrost’ in November

The new historical fantasy by Amit Tishler and Bruno Frenda is set in the Ukraine during the Russian Civil War.

Mad Cave Studios has announced plans to publish Edenfrost, an historical fiction/fantasy series written by Amit Tishler with art and colors by Bruno Frenda and letters by Taylor Esposito this fall.

“Edenfrost is a deeply personal and pertinent story, born from an amalgamation of my own philosophies, interests, family history and artistic passions,” Tishler said. “I wanted to create an epic journey that’s exciting and entertaining, but also delivers a nuanced and insightful message about the concept of identity.”

The story is set in the Ukraine during the Russian Civil War:

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