What Are You Reading? | ‘Porcelain,’ ‘Godfell,’ ‘Local Man’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include first issues of Godfell and Local Man, as well as Porcelain and some classic DC Comics Presents.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments below or by tagging us on social media.

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Seeley + Campbell + Terry head ‘West of Sundown’

The new horror/western series from Vault Comics arrives in March.

Tim Seeley, Aaron Campbell and Jim Terry will team for a new comic next year “that mashes up Hammer Horror and Sergio Leone,” according to Seeley.

West of Sundown, announced today by Vault Comics, will feature Seeley and Campbell as co-writers. Terry will draw the comic, which will be colored by Triona Farrell, lettered by Crank! and designed by Tim Daniel.

West of Sundown is about the great mythologies of the old world slamming into the folklore of the new world…the legends of Europe, and the birth of the American beast,” Seeley said in the press release. “And, taking that theme as a skeleton, we’ve draped it with the sewed together skin of Sergio Leone Westerns and Hammer Horror films. Gritty sunsets meets foggy nights. The gothic graveyard meets Boot Hill. What horrors lie in our shared unconsciousness, and how do we stuff them all into a too-tight corset?”

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Dark Horse announces a third ‘Stranger Things’ miniseries

Jody Houser returns to tell the story of a pyrokinetic named Nine.

Jody Houser will continue to tell stories set in the world of Netflix’s hit Stranger Things with Stranger Things: Into the Fire, coming from Dark Horse next year.

This time around, Houser will team with artist Ryan Kelly of Local and Saucer Country fame, along with inker Le Beau Underwood, colorist Triona Farrell and letterer Nate Piekos.

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Fund me Monday: Domino Books, Jay Stephens and more

Find out about crowdfunding projects by Austin English, Vera Greentea, Charlie Stickney and Black Eye Books.

As crowdfunding continues to be a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors and connect directly with fans, comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon, IndieGoGo and others. Here’s a look at a few recent campaigns that caught our eyes.

New Comics + Distribution by DOMINO

Who is involved? Domino Books, a small press publisher run by Austin English
Deadline: July 31
Goal: $6,000

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Second ‘Stranger Things’ miniseries coming in May

Jody Houser returns to write a prequel to the popular Netflix show.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a second Stranger Things comic, following up on last year’s miniseries. Writer Jody Houser returns to the property to tell the story of one of Eleven’s “siblings” in Stranger Things: SIX.

The new miniseries will serve as a prequel to the hit Netflix TV show, introducing a girl named Francine with precognitive abilities. “She’s struggled through a lifetime of exploitation: first by her parents, then by Dr. Brenner of Hawkins Laboratory,” the press release reads. “Dr. Brenner wants to harness her powers as well as those of the other gifted children that they hold captive at the lab. Wracked by increasingly disturbing visions, she sees an opportunity to change her life.”

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Image reveals many, many new titles at Image Expo

New projects announced from Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, Rob Guillory, J.H. Williams and Haden Blackman, Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel, Annie Wu and more.

As they’ve done in previous years, Image Comics dropped a metric ton of announcements at their Image Expo event, held today in Portland, Oregon.

The line-up of announcements this year includes five new titles from Todd McFarlane’s camp, new titles from Chew creators John Layman and Rob Guillory, two comics from Christoper Sebela, the fact that they’ll publish the Netflix/Millarworld titles starting with The Magic Order and much more. No doubt there are interviews aplenty dropping around the internet on all these new projects, so I’ll start with the text of the press release, then add art and commentary as I find it.

So let’s get to it …

Blackbird by Sam Humphries & Jen Bartel
Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel team up to co-create Blackbird, a modern fantasy story best described as Harry Potter meets Riverdale. It follows a young woman named Nina who discovers a neon-lit world of magic masters in Los Angeles. Now they’ve kidnapped her sister, and Nina is the only one who can save her.

“Blackbird is a labor of love, a coming of age story and beautiful people doing insane things with magic,” said Humphries.

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