Static teams with Anansi in a new special arriving in June

Static’s big summer also includes more issues of ‘Static: Shadows of Dakota.’

Static will team up with Anansi, the Akan folktale character and the god of stories, wisdom, knowledge and trickery, in a new one-shot coming in June.

DC and Milestone have announced Static Team-Up: Anansi #1, which reunites the two characters who previously met in the Static Shock animated series. The special will be written by Evan Narcisse with art by Charles Stewart III, a graduate of the The Milestone Initiative Talent Development program.

Nikolas Draper-Ivey provides the cover:

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Static returns for a second season in ‘Shadows of Dakota’

Check out preview pages from the new miniseries as well as the upcoming graphic novel ‘Static: Up All Night.’

During the Jim Lee & Friends panel in San Diego yesterday, DC’s publisher and CCO welcomed Milestone founder and legendary artist Denys Cowan to the stage to announce a second Static miniseries titled Static: Shadows of Dakota.

Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey will once again tell Virgil Hawkins’ story and introduce a villain called Ebon. Here’s a look at the cover:

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‘New Mutants’ #30 will mark the team’s 40th anniversary

Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong, Bob McLeod and more will contribute to the oversized issue.

Although they don’t look that much older than when they first debuted, Marvel will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original New Mutants #1 in issue #30 of the current series, which comes out in September.

The oversized issue will include a collection of shorter stories starring “classic and new characters alike,” and will feature the work of Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong and more. Wong, actually, will write a new Deadpool story for the comic, as Deadpool made his first appearance in New Mutants #98.

The New Mutants were co-created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod back in 1982, and they debuted in an original graphic novel that was released in September of that year. The first issue of their ongoing series followed a couple months later and lasted 100 issues before morphing into X-Force during the 1990s. Marvel has revived the title and concept a few times since then, including the current title, which features several of the original members with newer characters.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Stephanie Williams on ‘Nubia and the Amazons’

The co-writer of the DC Comics miniseries talks about her approach to writing Nubia, the Well of Souls, her journey to becoming a comics writer and more.

Stephanie Williams has been writing about comics and making her own comics for several years, with her work appearing on NPR, the AV Club, Den of Geek and more. She’s also written Living Heroes, a fan comic/mash-up of the sitcom Living Single with Marvel characters, as well as the webcomics But What If Though and Parenthood Activate.

Earlier this year, Williams began working for DC, with her first story for them appearing in Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #2. This was soon followed by the announcement that she would co-write Nubia and the Amazons with Vita Ayala, who recommended her to the Wonder Woman editorial office. Featuring art by Alitha Martinez, the story focuses on the current queen of the Amazons and also introduces Bia, a Black trans woman who emerges from the Well of Souls.

I spoke with Williams about her work on the title, her approach to writing Nubia, the introduction of Bia and much more. Big thanks to Williams for taking the time to answer my questions.

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DC celebrates 80 years of Wonder Woman with ‘Nubia and the Amazons’ + more

A new title featuring Wonder Woman’s sister headlines a slate of Wonder Woman projects arriving this fall.

DC Comics have announced several Wonder Woman projects for September and October, when they plan to pull out all the stops in celebrating the character’s 80th anniversary.

Wonder Woman debuted in the pages of All-Star Comics #8, which was published Oct. 21, 1941. Oct. 21, at least according to DC’s marketing department, is now known as “Wonder Woman Day” (although they have celebrated it at other times of the year as well).

October will bring the debut of at least one new Wonder Woman title, featuring her fellow Amazon Nubia, as well as an 80th anniversary special, an oversized issue of her regular title, a previously announced Black Label project, some free comics and more. Check’em out below.

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Marvel announces ‘Marvel’s Voices: Pride’ #1

The anthology will feature new stories by Kieron Gillen, Olivier Coipel, Steve Orlando, Anthony Oliveira, Tini Howard, Vita Ayala, Kris Anka, Javier Garrón and more.

Marvel has announced their plans for Pride Month, which include a new issue of their Marvel Voices featuring their “first-ever queer-centered special spotlighting Marvel’s growing tapestry of LGBTQ+ characters.” They also plan to have a series of variant covers drawn by Phil Jimenez.

Contributors to the anthology issue include Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, Kieron Gillen, Olivier Coipel, Steve Orlando, Anthony Oliveira, Tini Howard, Vita Ayala, Kris Anka, Javier Garrón and Luciano Vecchio, who provides the issue’s cover.

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‘Heroes Reborn’ in June spotlights Nighthawk, Power Princess, ‘Night-Gwen’ and ‘Murder Hornet’

Marvel’s event miniseries continues in June with more issues and one-shots about a world where the Avengers never assembled.

Marvel has revealed more details about their Heroes Reborn plans for June, including what to expect in the miniseries as well as from several one-shots.

You might remember that Heroes Reborn is an event miniseries coming from Marvel that spins out of Jason Aaron’s work on Avengers. It’ll run for seven issues, with several tie-in one-shots to support it. Jason Aaron is writing the main series, with different artist doing each issue. The first four issues will be drawn by Ed McGuinness, Dale Keown, Federico Vicentini and James Stokoe.

And the story, essentially, falls into the “continuity has been screwed up and now someone needs to fix it” genre, kind of like House of M and Age of Apocalypse. In this new reality, the Avengers never assembled, and the void they left was filled by the Squadron Supreme. Blade is the only Avenger who seems to remember how things should be.

June will bring issues #5-7 of the miniseries, which, like the first four, will have connecting covers:

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Creative teams revealed for returning Milestone titles

‘Static,’ ‘Icon and Rocket,’ and ‘Hardware’ return later this year.

DC has revealed the creative teams for the three upcoming DC Digital First titles that were announced earlier this month.

The digital-first “extended cut” of the Milestone Returns #0 one-shot came out today, with plans for a print copy to debut in May. Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition #0 combines the original 17-page comic with an additional 24 pages of completely new material written by Reginald Hudlin and drawn by artists Denys Cowan, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Bill Sienkiewicz and more. They also revealed the creative teams and first-issue covers:

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Nebula breaks out into her own miniseries next year

Vita Ayala and Claire Roe explore the blue cyborg’s motivations, starting next February.

After big-screen appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Endgame made her a household name, Marvel’s Nebula will get her own miniseries next year, courtesy of Vita Ayala and Claire Roe, with covers by Jen Bartel.

“I’ve always found her fascinating because there was a lot of mustache-twirling-villain to her at first, but then there’d be these hints of this deeper pathos,” Ayala told Refinery29. “[Since] the movies kind of reinvigorated interest in her, we’ve gotten to see her pop up more and more in the comics. And now, here’s her solo title where all we do is really dive deep and explore who she is and why she does what she does. That’s kind of my jam.”

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DC announces line-up for milestone ‘Wonder Woman’ #750

Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Joëlle Jones and more contribute to the Amazon’s anniversary celebration.

Wonder Woman’s 750th issue arrives in January, and DC has revealed an all-star line-up of talent to help her celebrate.

The 96-page issue will include contributions from popular Woman Woman scribes Greg Rucka and Gail Simone, as well as Vita Ayala, Marguerite Bennett, Jeff Loveness, Kami Garcia, Shannon and Dean Hale, Mariko Tamaki  and current Wonder Woman writer Steve Orlando.

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‘Morbius’ returns in a new title by Ayala + Ferreira

The living vampire hunts again this fall.

Spider-Man villain Morbius will get another shot at a miniseries this fall, as Vita Ayala and Marcelo Ferreira team up on new tales of the living vampire.

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‘Magic: The Gathering’ returns to comics this fall

New miniseries by Vita Ayala and Harvey Tolibao spotlights a pyromancer named Chandra.

The ever-popular card game Magic: The Gathering will return to comics this fall just in time for its 25th anniversary. IDW Publishing, who has released other Magic series in the past, will publish Magic: The Gathering: Chandra in November.

Writer Vita Ayala (Supergirl, The Wilds) and artist Harvey Tolibao (X-Men, Green Arrow) will introduce a new character to the Magic mythos, a pyromancer named Chandra, who looks like she’s ready to burn a hole in your heart.

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