Smash Pages Q&A: Stuart Moore

The comics veteran discusses his work for Ahoy Comics, “Captain Ginger,” the upcoming “Bronze Age Boogie” and more.

Stuart Moore has been working in comics in a variety of ways for decades. He was an editor at DC Comics, where he was one of the founding editors of the Vertigo imprint, overseeing books like Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex, Preacher and Hellblazer, before working on DC’s Helix imprint, where he oversaw Vermilion, The Black Lamb and Transmetropolitan, before working on the Marvel Knights imprint, overseeing Alias and Fantastic Four 1234. He’s written books like Firestorm with Jamal Igle, Namor: The First Mutant and The 99. He also adapted Brian Jacques’ Redwall, and created projects like Earthlight, Lone, Giant Robot Warriors and Para.

Right now Moore is working at Ahoy Comics, where he’s not just working behind the scenes, but also writing books for the company. Those books include Captain Ginger, the first season of which wrapped up last month, and Bronze Age Boogie, which launches in April. That’s in addition to writing a story for Ahoy’s Free Comic Book Day issue coming out in May, and one story in June’s Steel Cage One Shot. The titles are all very different kinds of stories that feature collaborations with talented artists doing some of the best work of their careers.

Somehow Moore found a few minutes to answer my questions.

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Solid Comix, David Walker’s new publishing company, announces first title

Walker plans to fund ‘One Fall,’ a supernatural wrestling drama, through Kickstarter this spring.

David Walker, writer of Bitter Root, Luke Cage, Naomi and many other comics, recently announced plans to start his own publishing company, Solid Comix, and revealed the first title he plans to release.

Walker will team up with artist Brett Weldele on One Fall, a wrestling comic he plans to fund through Kickstarter. He also has a graphic novel coming out later this year called The Hated, with artist Sean Damien Hill.

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‘Agents of Atlas’ returns with new creative team, new line-up

Greg Pak and Gang-Hyuk Lim bring a new team of Asian heroes together to fight in the ‘War of the Realms.’

Marvel is reviving their Agents of Atlas title as part of its War of the Realms crossover event. The title will feature a new team of characters — many appearing in comics for the first time — and a new creative team.

Greg Pak and Gang-Hyuk Lim will bring the concept back to life, pulling in characters from several different sources. The agents will help protect the Pacific Rim from an invasion by Sindr, Immortal Queen of Muspelheim, and her legions of Fire Demons. Almost all of the characters who appeared in Pak’s Totally Awesome Hulk as “The Protectors” — Shang-Chi, Silk, Amadeus Cho (who goes by “Brawn” these days over in Champions) and Jimmy Woo — will appear, along with several characters from the Marvel video game Future Fight.

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‘Jughead’s Time Police’ returns in June

Sina Grace and Derek Charm tell a time-travel story featuring Riverdale’s resident foodie.

Archie Comics will give another of their older concepts a modern spin, as they’ve announced a new Jughead’s Time Police title by Sina Grace and Derek Charm.

The original series ran for six issues back in the early 1990s. It featured a mysterious organization that drafted Jughead into its ranks, and using a special beanie, he could travel through time with his partner January McAndrews — who, yes, was a descendant of Archie Andrews. She’s back for this new series as well.

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Get revved up for DC’s ‘Engines of Chaos’ statue line

New statue line features designs by comic artist Riley Rossmo.

With Toy Fair in full swing, DC Comics has revealed a new line of statues base don the designs of Riley Rossmo (Martain Manhunter). Engines of Chaos will feature “high-RPM transformations” of DC characters, starting with Batman and Poison Ivy:

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Maybury + Lotfi expose the terror that lives at the ‘Last Stop on the Red Line’

The four-issue miniseries begins in May.

Writer Paul Maybury and artist Sam Lotfi will expose the horror that lives on Boston’s subway line in a new miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, Last Stop on the Red Line. Colorist John Rauch and letterer Adam Pruett will help bring this horror to light.

“Subterranean shivery beneath the cold streets of Boston awaits,” Maybury said in the press release. “As a native son, I’ve yearned to tell a story of the other side of the city, seldom portrayed. Real people contending with dissonant visions that convey a reality worse than their darkest nightmares.”

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‘Detective’ #1000 to feature Dini, Lee, Bendis, Cloonan, Ellis and more

DC Comics has unveiled the line-up for Detective Comics #1000, the landmark issue that arrives in stores in March.

The comic will feature short stories by a variety of creative teams, from classic Batman creators like Denny O’Neil, Paul Dini and Kelley Jones, as well as more recent creators like Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Tom King.

“Following in the footsteps of the blockbuster Action Comics #1000, Detective Comics #1000 is going to be a must-have for every kind of Batman fan,” said DC Publisher Dan DiDio. “Everyone we asked to be a part of this monumental issue immediately said yes and we can’t wait for fans to get their hands on the comic book.”

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IDW and DC announce Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

James Tynion IV, Freddie Williams II, Kevin Eastman and Jeremy Colwell will work together on a story featuring Krang.

Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are practically old friends at this point, and they will meet up again this May in Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, courtesy of DC Comics and IDW Publishing.

James Tynion IV, Freddie Williams II and Jeremy Colwell will wrap up this final part of this crossover trilogy, with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman doing variant covers and some “pivotal” interiors as well.

“I still remember the e-mail asking me if I wanted to write the first Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover,” said Tynion IV in a press release. “My brain couldn’t even process what I was reading for a few seconds, and I started having a panic attack about fitting it into my work schedule. Then, finally, I pictured Michelangelo’s reaction to seeing the T. rex in the Batcave for the first time and started laughing out loud.”

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DC to debut new ¡Lucha Explosiva! figures at Toy Fair

Superman, Batman, Deathstroke and more will get a Mexican luchadores-style makeover in a new action figure line from DC Collectibles.

In what I can only describe as the perfect marriage of two things I love, DC Collectibles has revealed a new action figure line that re-imagines their characters as luchadores — mask-wearing wrestlers that hail from Mexico.

DC ¡Lucha Explosiva! is “a thrilling and imaginative new universe that blends the action-packed world of Lucha Libre with iconic DC characters.” The first wave of figures includes Batman, Deathstroke, Superman, Metallo II, Wonder Woman and the Cheetah, and they come out in August.

“DC Collectibles is always striving to bring fans imaginative new ways to extend and celebrate DC’s most iconic characters,” said Jim Fletcher, executive creative director of DC Collectibles, said in a press release. “DC ¡LUCHA EXPLOSIVA! is a passion project for us. We’re all huge fans of Lucha Libre, and merging Mexican Luchadores with superheroes seemed like a perfect fit. Besides obvious similarities like masks, capes and secret identities, we also think there is a huge crossover between fan bases.” Heck yeah there is!

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Exclusive: Mack + Fegredo cover ‘Fight Club 3’ #5

David Mack and Duncan Fegredo set the stage for the latest chapter of Tyler Durden’s descent into fatherhood.

Chuck Palahniuk’s classic novel Fight Club has found new life in comics, and the mayhem caused by Tyler Durden continues to grow in its latest sequel, Fight Club 3. The first bonkers issue arrived in January, as the lead characters prepare for the arrival of Durden’s heir.

Issue #5 arrives in May from Dark Horse Comics, and we’re pleased to share your exclusive first look at the comics’ two covers, by the wonderful David Mack and Duncan Fegredo. Check them out below.

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Fantagraphics to publish four Ungerer books starting this fall

“The Underground Sketchbook” gets a new printing this October.

Fantagraphics has announced plans to release four out-of-print Tomi Ungerer books — The Underground Sketchbook, The Party, Babylon and Adam and Eve.

While probably best known for his work on children’s books like The Three Robbers and Flat Stanley, the illustrator and author’s career also included advertising, protest art, erotica and “books for adults” before he passed away a week ago at the age of 87. The four books Fantagraphics will reprint fall into that latter category.

“While preparing for my career-spanning interview with Tomi Ungerer that appears in the new print edition of The Comics Journal, I was astonished to discover that many of his best satirical works were only available as used books at exorbitant prices,” said Fantagraphics Publisher Gary Groth in a press release. “In an attempt to right this wrong, I chose four of his books to reprint, all trenchant commentaries on the folly of our relationships and the absurdity of our social order.”

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‘Love and Capes’ returns this summer

Thom Zahler’s rom-com comic returns for a fifth volume.

Thom Zahler produced four volumes of his charming Love and Capes series before seemingly sending Mark and Abby off for their happy ending. But now the creator has said on Twitter that he’s planning a fifth volume of the popular series, set to be released this summer.

Although there aren’t a lot of details just yet, he did share two pages of art and some promo art that revealed the subtitle of the new volume — Love and Capes: The Family Way.

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