Quick Hits | Rest in peace, Jeffrey Veregge

Plus: news on Robert Beerbohm, layoffs at Marvel, Source Point Press, Scott Dunbier, Joshua Cotter, Earth-2 Comics and more.

Jeffrey Veregge, the award-winning Native American artist and writer whose work appeared in Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices, on comics covers and at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, has passed away at the age of 50. Zack Davisson shared the news on social media late last week, while Jeffrey’s wife Christina confirmed it and said he died of a heart attack after a long battle with lupus.

“For 1025 days he fought lupus like the superhero we knew him to be,” her post reads. “The strength, faith, determination and courage he showed while being in the hospital for a total of 925 days was an inspiration to us all. He fought so hard for his family and his 3 children who were his absolute pride and joy. He will be missed more than words can express. This world was a better place because of him.”

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‘Felix the Cat’ moves to Bottlerocket + is now up on Kickstarter

Rocketship Entertainment’s new imprint will crowdfund a softcover of the comic by Mike Federali, Bob Frantz and Tracy Yardley.

Rocketship Entertainment, which has brought many webcomics and other projects to print, has announced a new imprint aimed at younger readers — Bottlerocket. And one of their first projects will be Felix the Cat, which was previously announced to be coming from Source Point Press.

The project is already up on Kickstarter, and based on the preview artwork and creative team, it does look like this is the same project that was first revealed last year. The book itself is being created by Studio Stario, which is headed up by the comic’s writer, Mike Federali, who I spoke to last year about the project. He’s joined by Bob Frantz and artist Tracy Yardley.

For the Kickstarter, Bottlerocket is raising funds to publish Felix as hardcover and softcover collections, rather than as single issues, with other tiers offering prints by Thom Zahler and Art Baltazar.

“We’ve put a lot of love and time into this story, and I’m so grateful that it’s making its way to the fans,” said writer and Studio Stario president Mike Federali in the press release. “Felix has always been a favorite of mine, so it was very important to take the time with NBCUniversal to get it right. Being able to bring new Felix stories to life is a dream come true, and I hope the fans enjoy the ride as much as we did.”

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Slugfest | Lemire + Sorrentino’s ‘Ten Thousand Black Feathers’ takes flight in September

A round-up of recent comics news and announcements from Marvel, Skybound, Image, Aftershock and more.

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino kicked off their shared universe The Bone Orchard Mythos earlier this month with the original graphic novel The Passageway, and they plan to continue the story later this year with the miniseries Ten Thousand Black Feathers.

The Passageway introduces readers to the Bone Orchard and now with Ten Thousand Black Feathers we dig in and really start to explore this new universe,” said Lemire. “This is a story of friendship, coming of age and imagination that is equal parts horrific, mysterious and heart wrenching.”

Image announced the first issue of the miniseries will hit stores on Sept. 14 and also shared a preview:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Mike Federali on ‘Felix the Cat’

The comics writer discusses his work on the upcoming series featuring the beloved character and his bag of tricks.

Mike Federali has worked as a convention organizer, art director, comic writer and executive producer, with a resume that includes Mystery Science Theater 3000, the upcoming Owl Girl with Craig Rousseau and Incredible Conventions, which puts on pop culture shows on the East Coast.

He’s also the co-writer of the upcoming Felix the Cat comic from Source Point Press. The publisher announced the new comic to great fan reaction in August; Federali will be joined by co-writer Bob Frantz, artist Tracy Yardley, colorist Matt Herms and letterer Dave Lentz.

I caught up with Federali on the new comic and what fans can expect from his interpretation of the wonderful, wonderful cat.

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Felix the Cat returns to comics

Source Point Press will publish a new Felix the Cat comic next year by Mike Federali and Tracy Yardley.

Felix the Cat — the wonderful, wonderful cat — will return to comics next year in a new series by Source Point Press and Dreamworks Animation. Writer Mike Federali and artist Tracy Yardley will tell new stories about Felix, his friends and his trusty bag of tricks.

“Over the years, I’ve gotten to work with some iconic characters, and Felix the Cat is as iconic as they come,” Yardley said. “Drawing his bold, graphic style and his classic cast of friends has put a feline feather in my comics cap.”

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Source Point Press will explore ‘The Winchester Mystery House’ in a new series

Joshua Werner and Dustin Irvin team up for a tale about San Jose, California’s creepiest tourist attraction.

San Jose’s infamous tourist attraction The Winchester Mystery House is getting the comic treatment once again in a new series from Source Point Press.

If you aren’t familiar with it, the Winchester Mystery House was the home of Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester and heiress to a large portion of the Winchester rifle fortune. After losing her husband and child, Sarah moved from Connecticut to San Jose, California where she bought a farmhouse. From 1886 to 1922, construction seemingly never ceased as the original eight-room farmhouse grew into the world’s most unusual and sprawling mansion. Supposedly it is haunted by all the ghosts of people killed by Winchester firearms.

The new comic will be written by Joshua Werner and illustrated by Dustin Irvin.

“The Winchester Mystery House is a labyrinth full of secrets, and it is my great pleasure to bring those secrets to the reader and unravel them,” Werner said. “Sarah Winchester was a brilliant person, incredibly ahead of her time, and deliciously complex. Weaving her tale and the story of this house into the comic book medium with the beautiful art of Dustin Irvin is a dream come true. And the reader is in for some shocks and surprises.”

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Mail Call | ‘Spawn’s Universe’ #1 orders exceed 200,000

Check out all kinds of announcements and previews from Skybound, Marvel, Bad Idea, AfterShock and more!

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Never let it be said that kids don’t still love chains. Image Comics and Todd McFarlane Productions sent out a release this week touting that the upcoming Spawn’s Universe #1 has shattered the record for “Image Comics’ top selling, first issue comic book of the 21st century by selling well over 200K units.”

The release goes on to mention that the comic is only the beginning for this year’s Spawn-pocalypse; Spawn’s Universe #1 will arrive in June, followed by King Spawn #1 in August, Gunslinger #1 in October and The Scorched #1 in December.

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‘Dead End Kids’ returns from Gogol + Cviticanin in January

‘Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job’ explores the lives of the kids from the first series post-9/11.

Frank Gogol and Nenad Cviticanin will team up once again for Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job, a sequel to the previous Dead End Kids series about teens who searched for the killer of one of their friends in the late 1990s. This new series follows the kids into the 2000s as they deal with their trauma following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

“At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write more Dead End Kids, but with the success of the first book, I started to wonder if there was more to say,” said Frank Gogol. “I decided to go back to the core concept of the original series — childhood trauma and how it affects us as we get older — and I kept coming back to this idea of September 11th.” 

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