Brubaker, Martín + Vicente’s ‘Friday’ is coming to print

Image Comics will bring the digital series to a comic shop near you in November.

Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martín and Muntsa Vicente’s critically acclaimed, awardnominated digital comic Friday is coming to print, courtesy of Image Comics.

Friday is available digitally from Panel Syndicate using the site’s “pay what you want” model. The comic debuted last year close to the beginning of the pandemic, when Diamond Comics Distributor was shut down and new comic books were not arriving in comic book stores. Three chapters have been published so far.

“I’m so excited to finally see Friday in print. This is one of my career-favorite projects, and every chapter that Marcos draws ups his game to an unbelievable level,” said Brubaker. “I’ve never really done anything like this book before, a post-YA coming of age story with that beautiful mid-70s era look, and watching Marcos and Muntsa bring the town of Kings Hill to life has been astonishing. I can’t wait for a whole new audience to discover Friday Fitzhugh and her terrible Christmas.” 

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What Are You Reading? ‘Friday,’ Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

If you’re looking for something to read while sheltering in place, you’ve come to the right blog, as the Smash Pages crew has a whole mess of comics to talk about this week. So without further ado …

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Panel Syndicate announces ‘Friday’ by Brubaker + Martin + Vicente

The first installment of the digital series is available now.

Criminal writer Ed Brubaker is teaming up with Barrier artists Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente for a new Panel Syndicate title called Friday. It’s about a former girl detective/occult expert who returns home from college for the holidays and gets wrapped up in a new mystery.

“One of the first things I said to Marcos was that this book feels like Lovecraft’s New England is colliding with Edward Gorey’s,” said Brubaker. “And I like to describe Friday as post-YA, which is a genre that doesn’t really exist. It’s an idea I’ve been circling for a long time, that lets me tap into my own nostalgia for my youth and the YA books I loved back in the 70s and 80s – stuff like The Great Brain, or John Belliars books, or Harriet the Spy, or Encyclopedia Brown. I want to take that concept of the teen detective and those supernatural mysteries aimed at kids, but then let the protagonists grow up, so they have all the same problems we all do… and they encounter a much more dangerous world.”

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‘Monstress,’ ‘Barrier’ and more win at the 2018 Harvey Awards

Streamlined awards featuring six categories presented during the New York Comic Con Friday night; Dave Gibbons and Roz Chast inducted into Hall of Fame.

The Harvey Awards returned last night in a new venue in conjunction with the New York Comic Con. The streamlined awards presented winners in six categories, as well as four other related awards and Hall of Fame inductions.

Joining the Hall of Fame this year were Roz Chast and Dave Gibbons. Harold Sakuishi received the 2018 International Spotlight Award, while Jackie Estrada (who runs the Eisner Awards) received the Comics Industry Pioneer award.

You can find the complete list of winners below.

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‘Barrier’ jumps to print on Free Comic Book Day 2018

Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente’s pay-what-you-want digital comic lands at Image as a five-issue, weekly miniseries coming next May.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced the 12 Gold Sponsor comic book titles for 2018’s Free Comic Book Day, which includes titles from DC, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW and more. While many publishers use the opportunity to kick off events or new series, Image is doing something interesting this year — their FCBD title is Barrier #1, bringing to print Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente’s pay-what-you-want digital comic.

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Final issue of ‘Barrier’ arrives at Panel Syndicate

Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente’s digital comic about immigration and aliens wraps up.

Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente wrap up their second “pay what you want” digital comic today, as the fifth issue of Barrier arrives on the Panel Syndicate site.

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Vaughan, Martin, Vicente debut new pay-what-you-want series ‘Barrier’

The first issue of the “unconventional drama about violence, language and illegal immigration” is available from the Panel Syndicate site now.

Following the teaser from last week, Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente have launched another pay-what-you-want digital series, the five-part Barrier.

In an email from their Panel Syndicate imprint, the creators described the comic as an “unconventional drama about violence, language and illegal immigration.” The first 53-page issue is available now for download from the Panel Syndicate site.

Barrier follows the award-winning The Private Eye, which the three creators launched in a similar manner back in 2013.

Check out some preview art from Barrier by Martin and Vicente below.

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‘Crime has no borders’ in new Vaughan/Martin teaser

‘The Private Eye’ creative team teases a new project from their Panel Syndicate label.

Looks like the band is getting back together, as the creators of the excellent “pay as you go” digital comic The Private Eye — Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente — appear to be reuniting for another project from Panel Syndicate.

Both Panel Syndicate and Vaughan teased the new project on Twitter:

Vaughan also clarified that this is NOT the exclusive The Walking Dead comic that was announced last summer at Image Expo — which is something else we still have to look forward to.

The Private Eye was an interesting experiment — two top-of-their-game creators going out and creating something wonderful, then offering each issue digitally for whatever price their audience was willing to pay. It seems to have worked, as Vaughan said last September:

Even though readers can still pay whatever they want for our DRM-free files (including nothing!), artist Marcos Martin, colorist Muntsa Vicente and I are proud to reveal that The Private Eye is already well into the six figures for both issues downloaded AND dollars earned … and that’s without advertising, corporate backers, Comixology-like distributors, or even a Kickstarter campaign.

If you prefer print, a hardcover of The Private Eye is due out from Image Comics next month. And you can check the teaser out for the new project — in English and Spanish — below.

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