Month: August 2019

Carey, Caselli, North, Uy venture into the ‘Negative Zone’

‘Fantastic Four: Negative Zone’ brings two stories in November.

The Fantastic Four will head into the Negative Zone this fall, courtesy of another fantastic foursome — Mike Carey and Stefano Caselli, along with Ryan North and Steve Uy.

Fantastic Four: Negative Zone will feature two stories, the first of which will feature the FF heading into the Negative Zone to deal with the fallout from one of Reed’s experiments — one that didn’t go that well. Carey and Caselli will tell that story.

“The very first Marvel comic I ever read was Fantastic Four #62, a Negative Zone story entitled ‘And One Shall Save Him!’ Maybe for that reason, both the FF and the Negative Zone have always seemed to me to be part of the Marvel Universe’s center of gravity — and part of my imaginative comfort zone,” Carey said. “In writing this story, I was trying to capture some of the anarchic wonder and craziness of those early FF epics. Do I love my job? Why yes, I do.”

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Fund Me Monday: ‘You Died,’ ‘American Cult’ and more

Find out about crowdfunding projects by Iron Circus Comics, Jim Calafiore, Robyn Chapman and more.

As crowdfunding continues to be a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors and connect directly with fans, comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. Here’s a look at a few recent campaigns that caught our eyes.

YOU DIED: An Anthology of the Afterlife

Creators involved: Spike Trotman of Iron Circus Comics + a host of other creators
Deadline: Wednesday, Aug. 21
Goal: $20,000 (funded)

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‘Monstress’ wins its third Hugo Award

In the “Best Graphic Story” category, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s fantasy series beats out ‘Saga,’ ‘Paper Girls’ and more.

Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, is three-for-three at the Hugo Awards. The fantasy series published by Image Comics took home its third Hugo Award in the “Best Graphic Story” category for “Haven,” its third trade paperback collection. This follows its wins in 2017 and 2018.

Charles Vess, meanwhile, took home the award for “Best Professional Artist,” while The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, which he illustrated, won for “Best Art Book.”

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‘Scream’ spins out of ‘Absolute Carnage’ this fall

New series by Clay McCleod Chapman and Chris Mooneyham stars the Spider-Man villain.

Another Spider-Man villain will receive a new title this fall, as writer Clay McCleod Chapman, artist Chris Mooneyham and cover artist Jim Cheung team up for Scream: Curse of Carnage.

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Image announces ‘Bog Bodies’ OGN by Shalvey, Fullerton

The original graphic novel arrives next March.

At WorldCon in Dublin, Ireland this weekend, Image Comics announced a new original graphic novel, Bog Bodies, by writer Declan Shalvey and artist Gavin Fullerton.

Described as “a cold, poignant story of crime, survival and regret,” Shalvey and Fullerton are joined by colorist Rebecca Nalty, letterer Clayton Cowles and editor Heather Antos on Bog Bodies.

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November is Geoff Johns Month in the Dark Multiverse

New one-shots with even darker takes on ‘Blackest Night’ and ‘Infinite Crisis’ will arrive in November.

As revealed in their November solicitations, DC will release two more one-shots in their new “Tales from the Dark Multiverse” line.

The What If?-style one-shots re-imagine past DC storylines with “a twisted and terrifying spin.” In November, look for new takes on the Green Lantern event “Blackest Night” and the Justice League event series Infinite Crisis. Both events were written/spearheaded by Geoff Johns and were pretty dark in their own right.

More details below …

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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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Today only: Back this Kickstarter comic about a dog and his magic towel

Shaun Manning and Esther Pimentel crowdfund ‘Baxter and the Magic Towel’ in a one-day campaign.

I’m planning to do another round-up of crowdfunding comics projects this weekend, but by the time I get to it, this one might be over. So here you go: Shaun Manning and Esther Pimentel have teamed up for a one-shot about a dog and his magic towel. It’s called Baxter and the Magic Towel.

“Written and (to the degree necessary) lettered by Shaun Manning and illustrated by Esther Pimentel, this is a light, fun story about a super-family chasing their dog around town while Baxter tries to evade them using his own ultra-canine abilities,” their Kickstarter page says.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Jeremy Holt

The comics writer discusses his latest project, ‘Before Houdini,’ which is about the early life of the magician and escape artist.

Though he came to comics late in life, Jeremy Holt has been making up for lost time. He’s written a number of comics in recent years including Pulp, Southern Dog, Skinned and Skip To The End.

His new book, which was just released by Insight Comics, is Before Houdini. A prequel to After Houdini, the 2018 graphic novel that Holt made with John Lucas and Adi Crossa, the new book looks at the early life of the aspiring magician and escape artist. In these books Holt and Lucas have established an entertaining supernatural universe, but his greatest gift is the sense of sprawl, both historical and fictional, that explodes from the pages, the panels offering but a glimpse into this larger world while also managing the story and plotting.

It’s a fine line to walk, and Holt and I spoke recently about the long path working on both of these books, his love of research and what comes next.

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‘Green Lantern: Blackstars’ debuts in November

Grant Morrison ‘rewrites reality’ in a new miniseries that spins out of his work on ‘The Green Lantern.’

DC has announced a new miniseries spinning out of Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern series. If you’ve been reading that series and would rather not have it spoiled, it might be safer to stop reading now.

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2019 Harvey Award nominees announced

Winners will be announced in October.

The nominees for the 2019 Harvey Awards have been revealed, across the six streamlined categories that were unveiled last year.

“This year marks the 31st presentation of the Harvey Awards and the third year working with our hosting partners at ReedPOP. We congratulate this year’s nominees, who have produced some of the best projects in the industry over the past year, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results of the voting and honoring the winners at the Harveys at NYCC,” said John Lind, co-chair of the Harvey Awards Steering Committee, in a press release.

The winners will be announced on Oct. 4 at the Harvey Awards gala in conjunction with the New York Comic-Con.

Congrats to this year’s nominees:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Matt Kindt, Brian Hurtt + Marie Enger

The denizens of St. Louis-based HEK Studios team up on a new anthology, which is up for funding on Kickstarter.

The depth and breadth of what you can do in comics and with comics — and I’m talking story-wise, design-wise and format-wise here — is virtually limitless. Sometimes it takes a particular project and a particular set of creators to remind us of this, and The HEK Treasury serves as just such a reminder.

The HEK Treasury is a creative project by the members of HEK Studios — Matt Kindt, Brian Hurtt and Marie Enger. The three of them have a large assortment of credits within comics — Black Badge, The Sixth Gun, Dept. H, Super-Spy, Fhtagn and Loathing, Shadow Roads, Nosferatu! and many more. The Missouri-based creators formed HEK Studios in 2015 and have purchased a vintage Route 66 garage that they’re converting into “the first full-time exclusive comic book studio in St. Louis.”

In addition to their own projects with various publishers, they’ve decided to team up on a large prestige format hardcover (8 ¾  x 11 5/8 ). This deluxe collection will feature “all new epic, experimental science fiction, fantasy and genre short stories. The HEK Treasury will showcase each creator as they unleash new ideas, using experimental art and storytelling techniques.” The project went live on Kickstarter earlier this week, and the campaign runs for 30 days. If funded, the book will be delivered to backers in the fall.

I spoke with the three of them about The HEK Treasury, HEK Studios and what they hope to accomplish together with this project.

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