Month: January 2019

‘All Time Comics’ moves to Floating World Comics

The shared universe by Josh Bayer and friends returns in June from a new publisher.

Josh Bayer’s All Time Comics will return for a new five-part series from a new publisher this year. Floating World Comics, the Portland, Oregon comic shop-turned-publisher, will pick up where Fantagraphics left off with Zerosis Deathscape, an “epic event” co-written by Bayer and Josh Simmons, with art by Trevor Von Eeden.

“It’s about space and time meeting anti-time and alternate-space,” Bayer said about the new series. “It’s a chance to combine Bronze Age adventure genre comics with traces of every type of comics we love, from E.C. Segar to indie DIY comics.”

The All Time Comics shared universe launched in 2017 at Fantagraphics with four one-shots that featured the work of contemporary indie creators like Ben Marra and Noah Van Sciver with classic superhero artists like Al Milgrom and Herb Trimpe. Joining Von Eeden on art this time around will be Gabrielle Bell, Julia Gfrörer, Benjamin Marra and Tom Toye, and colorist Daniel Lee.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Amanda Deibert

Deibert to adapt cult classic Lesbian mystery into graphic novel

Work for a Million is a cult classic novel by Eve Zaremba. The 1986 novel was one of a series of mysteries starring the openly lesbian private eye Helen Keremos. Bedside Press is running a kickstarter to reprint the novel and publish an original graphic novel adaptation written by Amanda Deibert and drawn by Selena Goulding.

Amanda Deibert has written a number of comics including Wonder Woman ’77 and Teen Titans Go!, she’s contributed to the anthologies Womanthology and Secret Loves of Geeks, and wrote the webcomic Hot Mess. As a TV and film writer she’s worked on OWN Tonight, 24 Hours of Reality, SyFy Presents Live from Comic-Con, Take Part Live, The Morning After, and other shows, and she was kind enough to take a few minutes to talk about the project.

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New ‘Rat Queens’ creative team announced as Wiebe, Gieni leave to form new studio

Ferrier, Petraites, and Lesko takes over the popular battle maidens-for-hire series

After five years at the helm, Rat Queens writer Kurtis Wiebe announced he will be officially stepping down from the series. Also departing is artist Owen Gieni.

The April 2019 Image solicitation for Rat Queens Special: Swamp Romp announced the new creative team with writer Ryan Ferrier and artist Priscilla Petraites. The solicitation revealed that the pair will be taking over the ongoing series as of issue #16.

Rat Queens Special: Swamp Romp

Any question of why Wiebe is leaving the series he had been on since its beginning was quickly addressed in his blog post:

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‘Marvel Team-Up’ returns in April

The first arc by Eve Ewing and Joey Vazquez will feature Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man.

One of the staples of Marvel’s 1970s/1980s comic line will return in April, as the publisher has announced plans to reboot Marvel Team-Up.

Written by Eve Ewing with art by Joey Vazquez, the first arc of the new ongoing series will feature a team-up between Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man. Ewing and Vazquez are also working together on a Ms. Marvel story that will be included in Ms. Marvel #38.

“I don’t want to reveal too much, but my goal with the story is to have maximum fun with two characters that are both really sweet and really cool people who are fan favorites (and faves of mine), and to put them both in some delightful awkward and uncomfortable situations where they have to stretch to the limits of their abilities,” Ewing told The Chicago Tribune.

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George Perez announces retirement from comics

The Eisner Hall of Fame member cites health reasons for his decision.

Over the weekend, Eisner Hall of Fame member George Perez formally announced on his Facebook page that he plans to retire “from the business of creating new comic stories.”

He cited his health as a driving factor in his decision, but also stressed to fans that they need not worry about him. Over the last few years, Perez has suffered from diabetes, heart ailments and vision problems with his left eye. He also noted that the retirement will mean the end to private commissions, while convention sketches will be very limited.

You can read his entire post after the jump:

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Comics Lowdown: Comic books sales up in 2018, Marvel top publisher; stalker sets cosplayer’s car on fire

Plus: ‘Drama’ drama with the Ottawa Catholic School Board! Faith Erin Hicks! Jed MacKay! And more!

The 2018 direct market numbers from Diamond are in and comic sales are ever so slightly up from 2017. Comics saw an increase to sales by 3.3%, but graphic novels were down by 6.6%. The combined sales of the two formats mean a wee increase of 0.6% for the direct market.

Marvel Comics increased their market share slightly to gain an extra 2% over DC Comics, who seemed to have flat lined and lost 0.3% of their market share. This indicates that Marvel’s market share gains mostly come from the expense of small publishers or independent comic sales, with the exception of Image Comics, who also saw a slight increase.

The best-selling graphic novel of the year was Infinity Gauntlet. The 1991 story is enjoying a revival because of the Avengers: Infinity War movie. The best-selling comics was Action #1000, a landmark issue featuring unpublished artwork by legendary Superman artist Curt Swan and the introduction of writer Brain Michael Bendis to the DC universe.

Complete lists and more insight are available on comichron.com.

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Hannah Templer’s ‘Cosmoknights’ lead the rebellion at Top Shelf

Templer’s first solo graphic novel will debut as a webcomic in March.

Hannah Templer of Jem and the Holograms fame is creating her first graphic novel, Cosmoknights, which will be released first as a webcomic and then as a graphic novel by Top Shelf.

Top Shelf decribes it as “a thrilling galactic adventure set in a world where mech-suited warriors duel over the daughters of the aristocracy, and a fledgling resistance of lady knights aim to bring down the system from within.”

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Primal Age invades Target with exclusive comic

DC and Funko’s action figure line hits Target with a 100-page comic.

DC Comics and Target have teamed up to bring DC’s new action figure line, Primal Age, to comics. DC announced that the DC Primal Age 100-Page Giant is now available at Target, and can be found on end caps with the toys.

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Liefeld, Portacio return to the X-Men with ‘Major X’

The mysterious character from another reality will make his debut in April.

Before moving on to help found Image Comics, Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio left their mark on Marvel’s X-Men titles in the early 1990s. They worked on X-Force and Uncanny X-Men, respectively, and between them created or co-created iconic characters like Deadpool, Cable, Bishop and more.

Now the two creators are returning to the X-corner of the Marvel Universe with the introduction of Major X, a mysterious new character who is getting his own six-issue miniseries. The series will run bi-weekly from April through June. It’s written by Liefeld, who will share art duties with Portacio and Brent Peeples (Titans, New Super-Man).

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2019 Eisner Hall of Fame nominees announced

Jim Aparo, Dave Stevens, June Tarpé Mills and Morrie Turner will be automatically inducted, while voters will choose four more from a field of 14.

Comic-Con International has announced this year’s nominees for the Eisner Hall of Fame. They include the four judges’ choices — who will be automatically inducted — and 14 other nominees, four of whom will be inducted based on voters’ choices.

The judges’ choices are Jim Aparo, who is probably best known for his work on various Batman titles, including Batman and the Outsiders; Dave Stevens, creator of the Rocketeer; June Tarpé Mills, the Golden Age creator of Miss Fury; and Morrie Turner, creator of the Wee Pals newspaper strip in the 1960s.

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DC adds two new Walmart titles, renames others

‘Flash” and ‘Swamp Thing’ join the line-up, with new material by Tim Seeley, Gail Simone and more.

DC Comics is adding two more titles to its slate of Walmart-exclusive comics, bringing the number from four to six. And they are renaming two existing ones.

The two new titles are Swamp Thing 100-Page Giant and Flash 100-Page Giant, and like the other titles in the line they will feature new stories packaged with reprints of previous stories. Justice League and Teen Titans, meanwhile, will get new names — the former becomes Wonder Woman, while the latter will shorten its name to Titans — no doubt to match the name of the show that can be found on DC’s streaming service.

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Roger Langridge discusses projects both past and future

Fans of his ‘Thor: The Mighty Avenger’ book will like this post.

Roger Langridge of Popeye, Criminy, Fred the Clown, Muppets and Snarked fame shared a “looking forward, looking back” post on his blog earlier this month, which includes details on his 2019 projects.

In addition to more Fred the Clown and a Popeye Sunday strip celebrating the character’s 90th anniversary, Langridge shared a reference to one of his former projects: his awesome, prematurely canceled Thor: The Mighty Avenger series with artist Chris Samnee. No, the 2010 series isn’t coming back, but maybe this is the next best thing:

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