Long-running ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ comic comes to an end at Archie

Sega announces they will “conclude their Sonic the Hedgehog publishing partnership program with Archie Comics,” while hinting at a new home for the character.

Sonic the Hedgehog has apparently grabbed his last gold ring at Archie Comics.

According to a statement released by Sega on Facebook and Twitter, SEGA “will conclude their Sonic the Hedgehog publishing partnership program with Archie Comics” after 24 years:

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Fantagraphics.com holds 20% off sitewide sale

Get great deals on Fantagraphics’ entire catalog, including their Comic-Con International debuts.

If you’re sitting at home thinking, “Man, I wish I was at Comic-Con so I could get some good deals on graphic novels,” worry no more — Fantagraphics is holding their annual “Not at Comic-Con” sale on their website.

You can get 20 percent off everything on their site from today through July 23. This includes their many Comic-Con International debuts, like Otherworld Barbara Volume 2 by Moto Hagio, Last Girl Standing by Trina Robbins, Johnny Appleseed by Paul Buhle and Noah Van Sciver, Katie Skelly’s My Pretty Vampire and the latest issue of Love & Rockets.

Head over to their site to check it out.

Jeff Smith’s ‘Smiley’s Dream Book’ picture book coming next summer [Updated]

New project with Scholastic/Graphix features Fone Bone’s buddy.

Earlier this week Bone creator Jeff Smith teased on social media that his next project would be announced at Comic-Con this week, and lo and behold, here it is:

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Comics Lowdown: Stan Lee immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre

Plus: Batton Lash vs. Cancer, Donny Cates signs with Marvel, DC Girl Power, Texas Latino Comic Con and more!

Hollywood cannot seem to get enough of Stan Lee. Over the weekend, Lee became a Disney Legend and yesterday, the comic icon had his hands and feet immortalized in cement in front of the TCL Chinese theater.

“I can’t tell you what this means to me. I’m thrilled,” he said. “And if I’m half as good as everybody said I am, I’m far too good to be wasting time with ordinary people. But I seem to be spending my life with ordinary people, who are the best people in the world.”

Meanwhile, Variety continued the love affair and took a look back on the life of Stan Lee.
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Dynamite launches new ‘Swords of the Swashbucklers’ series

Marc Guggenheim to write the new series, which starts in December.

After successfully funding a collection of the original Swords of the Swashbucklers series published by Marvel’s Epic Comics line in the 1980s, Dynamite Entertainment has announced an ongoing series featuring new stories about the space-faring pirates.

Swords of the Swashbucklers by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice began life as a graphic novel from Marvel back in 1984, followed by a 12-issue series. It’s about a teenage girl whose parents are kidnapped by an alien empire, so she joins up with a crew of space pirates to try and save them.

The new series will be written by Marc Guggenheim, current writer of X-Men Gold for Marvel. “Swords of the Swashbucklers has long been a favorite of mine and it remains one of the great high concepts in all of comics, which is unsurprising when you consider that Bill Mantlo and Butch Guice were the creative forces behind it. I’m humbled to continue their work and looking forward to introducing this remarkable comic to a whole new audience,” he said in a press release.

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Lemire’s ‘Black Hammer’ gets a spinoff miniseries

‘Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil’ reveals more about Black Hammer’s worst villains.

Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s excellent Black Hammer has created a cool little universe of heroes in a single title — but it’s about to get bigger. Dark Horse has announced a series of miniseries that will expand the universe, starting with Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil by Lemire and artist David Rubín.

“While working on Black Hammer I found myself having more and more ideas for other types of superhero stories,” said Lemire. “The main Black Hammer story continues to be the spine of these ideas, but I found them branching off into new directions and new characters as well. It occurred to me that there was a whole history here, a whole superhero universe all of our own, that I could explore and create within. So, Dean Ormston and I have decided to expand the world of Black Hammer and create an avenue to tell these other stories. The first mini-series will be Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil, which will be illustrated by the incomparable David Rubín.”

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Ghostbusters 2016 team is back in new comic adventures

Kelly Thompson and Corin Howell reunites Gilbert, Yates, Tolan and Holtzmann in ‘Ghostbusters: Answer the Call’

‘Ghostbusters: Answer the Call’ #1 with art by Valentina Pinto. (IDW Publishing)

In an exclusive to the LA Times, IDW Publishing announced a new Ghostbusters comic, this time featuring the team from the 2016 Paul Feig-directed film.

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call will be a five-issue mini-series written by Kelly Thompson (Hawkeye) and drawn by artist Corin Howell (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers).  In keeping with the theme of a female-centric team, cover artists include Valentina Pinto (Strawberry Shortcake), Emma Vieceli (Manga Shakespeare, Adventures of Supergirl), and Elsa Charretier (Love Is Love).

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Comics Lowdown: ‘Abadazad,’ ‘Ghost Rider’ artist Mike Ploog to retire

Plus: designing variant covers, Sonny Liew, Tillie Walden, Simon Hanselman, food in San Diego.

Veteran artist Mike Ploog, known to comic fans as the co-creator of Ghost Rider, announced he will be retiring after a 47-year career. His career began with Filmation, as a clean-up artist on Batman and Superman, and eventually was promoted to layouts. He moved onto Hanna-Barbera, continuing his layout work until he became the assistant to Will Eisner.

He made his comic book debut on Werewolf by Night in 1972. Since then, he was credited as a co-creator of Ghost Rider and notable artist on Man-ThingPlanet of the Apes and The Monster of Frankenstein. Later in his career, he did minimal comic work, but teamed with J.M. DeMatteis on Abadazad in 2004.

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Steve Skroce returns to Image with ‘Maestros’

New “fantastical action-comedy” due in October.

After triumphant runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Gambit, Youngblood and Cable, Steve Skroce all but disappeared from comics to work on movie storyboards for films like the Matrix trilogy, I, Robot, V for Vendetta, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending. But a couple years ago he made his return, working with Brian K. Vaughan on the We Stand On Guard limited series — and now he’s writing AND drawing a new series called Maestros.

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BOOM! recruits Box Brown and Lisa Dubois for new ‘Rugrats’ title

New partnership with Nickelodeon will bring more 1990s Nick shows to KaBOOM!

BOOM! Studios and Nickelodeon have entered into a partnership to create comics based on the network’s 1990s television shows (so no Paw Patrol or Blaze, much to my son’s regret), and they’ve recruited an interesting creative team for the first one — Ignatz award-winner Box Brown will work with artist Lisa Dubois to tell new stories about Tommy, Chucky, Phil and Lil.

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Colonel Sanders, Green Lantern take on ‘thieving varmit’ in third DC/KFC comic

Tony Bedard, Tom Derenick, Trevor Scott and Sean Parsons complete the epic Colonel Sanders trilogy.

The third mega-crossover event comic from DC Comics and KFC will arrive tomorrow on DC’s digital outlets. KFC #3 Across the Universe will also arrive in print, as a giveaway at the DC booth at Comic-Con International later this week.

Tony Bedard, Tom Derenick, Trevor Scott and Sean Parsons tell the story of what happens when you steal the Colonel’s Zinger chicken sandwiches — you get the ring.

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Tim Seeley’s ‘Hack/Slash’ returns with new series, Vampirella crossover

New creative team takes the reigns on the next chapter of Cassie Hack’s story.

Cassie Hack, the star of Hack/Slash comics, is coming back swinging in a big way, as Image Comics announces a new series and Dynamite Entertainment announces a crossover with Vampirella.

Hack/Slash is the book people always ask me about,” said creator Tim Seeley. “I’ve been waiting for the proper time to bring it back, but I wanted to make sure I had the perfect creators first. Now that I have them, it’s time to unleash Cassie Hack on the world again.”

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