Take a look inside the controversial ‘Jesusfreak’

Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra’s original graphic novel featuring a kung-fu Jesus arrives in comic shops this week.

This Wednesday Jesus will rise again in the pages of Jesusfreak, a new graphic novel by Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra. Combining ’70s exploitation comics with the story of Jesus Christ, the book is described as “a bloody, two-fisted tale of heroic historical fiction featuring a certain young Nazarean carpenter who is having some trouble finding his place within a world of ever increasing violence,” according to publisher Image Comics.

Jesusfreak is less inspired by any strict religious traditions and is instead more concerned with exploring the unique tension that exists between depicting a mythical figure and a historical figure—a tension that is compounded when, for many, they’re considered the same person,” Casey said when the project was announced. “It’s also a chance for Marra and I to indulge in a specific style of hard pulp storytelling that we think perfectly fits this material.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Spike Trotman and MK Reed

The duo discuss their comiXology Originals title ‘Delver,’ the fantasy genre and much more.

Spike Trotman is the woman behind Iron Circus Comics, one of North America’s best comics publishers. She is also the creator of the webcomic Templar AZ and the book Poorcraft, the writer of Yes, Roya and Iris and Angel, and cohost of the podcast Dirty Old Ladies. MK Reed is the writer of many comics including Americus, Palefire and Science Comics: Dinosaurs, and the co-writer of The Castoffs.

The two have teamed up with artist Clive Hawken on Delver, a new series coming out from comiXology Originals. It’s the story of Temerity, whose life and town is changed when a portal opens, and the town and the region becomes overrun with adventurers. It’s a story that takes a look at the fantasy genre in a different way and asks a few of the questions that sometimes bother those who like the genre. The second issue is out tomorrow, and they were kind enough to answer a few questions about the series.

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Marvel announces ‘Silver Surfer: Black’

New miniseries by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore debuts in June.

The Silver Surfer might be gone — sucked into a Black Hole or something in the new Guardians of the Galaxy series — but he is not forgotten. Galactus’ former herald will get a new miniseries by Guardians writer Donny Cates and artist Tradd Moore titled Silver Surfer: Black.

“When Donny Cates wrote the first issue of the new Guardians of the Galaxy series, we both agreed that Silver Surfer’s adventure wasn’t going to end there, that there was still more story to be told about what happened to all the cosmic heroes that got sucked into the Black Order’s wormhole,” said editor Darren Shan. “But Donny’s imagination really kicked into gear when artist Tradd Moore signed on! Readers won’t realize it, but Silver Surfer: Black is a culmination of everything Donny has been writing since his Thanos run. And Tradd Moore is delivering some of the craziest visuals seen in a Marvel Comic today!”

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