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Evan Dorkin, Veronica Fish and Andy Fish reunite for ‘Blackwood: The Mourning After.’
A new semester at the creepiest college around begins this winter, as Evan Dorkin, Veronica Fish and Andy Fish reunite for Blackwood: The Mourning After.
“I’m very happy to be able to return to the halls of Blackwood. I enjoy writing these characters and putting them through hell, and I love seeing how Veronica and Andy bring it all to life. Especially the dead things,” Dorkin said in the press release.
Continue reading “‘Blackwood’ is back in session in February”Mike Mignola, Alison Bechdel, Will Elder, Jack Davis, John Severin, Marie Severin and Ben Oda make up the largest class ever for the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
The Harvey Awards have announced seven inductees into their Hall of Fame for this year, including Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel and five of Harvey Kurtzman’s core 1950s MAD collaborators. This is the largest of all Hall of Fame induction classes in the 31-year history of the Harvey Awards.
“My very first comic industry award was the 1994 Harvey Award for Best Artist on Hellboy. I never expected that award, but I took it as a sign that I might actually be on to something,” Mignola said. “It is a great honor to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame—something I certainly never could have imagined. And I’ll take it as proof that I haven’t embarrassed myself too badly over the last 25 years.”
Continue reading “Harvey Awards announce 7 for their 2019 Hall of Fame class”‘At its heart, Forgotten Home is a story about family with problems, misunderstandings and imperfections, all of which play out in a fantastical and unexpected setting.’
This October will bring another new series from the comiXology Originals line — Forgotten Home, an eight-issue urban fantasy series “full of magic, mystery and family secrets.”
The digital comic providers’ latest is written by Erica Schultz, with art by Marika Cresta, colors by Matt Emmons and Jackie Von Spanks, letters by Cardinal Rae and covers by Natasha Alterici.
“I’ve had a fabulous time creating a magical world that the audience will believe truly exists,” Schultz said. “Yissel Ayala, a fashion designer for several comic books, was kind enough to take on the task of creating the initial designs for the Jannadan royal outfits. Her style is impeccable, and, coupled with Marika Cresta’s line art, this book is just gorgeous.”
Continue reading “Worlds collide in comiXology’s ‘Forgotten Home’”Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Fernando Heinz Furukawa reunite for a new miniseries by Bioware and Dark Horse.
In the lead up to the New York Comic Con, Dark Horse has announced a new Dragon Age miniseries, spinning out of the popular Bioware video game franchise. While this story takes place after Dragon Age: Inquisition, it actually focuses on a character from the second Dragon Age game — Fenris, the broody, elven former slave turned mage hunter. He’s the “Blue Wraith” noted in the miniseries’ title.
Continue reading “Dark Horse announces ‘Dragon Age: The Blue Wraith’”The writer and co-creator of ‘Beasts of Burden’ discusses his long career in comics, his collaborations, ‘Blackwood’ and much more.
Evan Dorkin seems to have many careers. For many comics readers, he’s the writer and artist behind Dork, Milk and Cheese and The Elitingville Club. He wrote and drew Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic Book series for Marvel back in 1991-92, which has since been reprinted. He’s contributed to MAD Magazine and other outlets. In television, he’s worked extensively with his wife, the noted creator Sarah Dyer, on shows like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Superman: The Animated Series and others.
He is also the writer and co-creator of the award winning comic series Beasts of Burden. Dorkin’s approach to horror and suspense and his skill at writing animal protagonists — combined with the painted artwork of initially Jill Thompson and later Benjamin Dewey — have made the books a favorite among readers and critics. Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch was just released by Dark Horse, which collects a lot of the one-shots and other stories featuring the supernatural-battling pets, including a crossover with Hellboy co-written by Mike Mignola.
Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Evan Dorkin”Samuel Haine, Shawn Moll, John Livesay, JD Smith and Thomas Mauer tell the story of a detective trapped in his own mind.
Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter is helping to bring a ‘new ongoing genre-bending series’ to Image Comics next year, titled Slow City Blues.
Writer Samuel Haine, penciler Shawn Moll, inker John Livesay, colorist JD Smith and letterer Thomas Mauer tell the story Detective John Loris, “who gets trapped inside his imagination after accidentally killing a little girl in the line of duty,” the press release reads. “After trying to take his own life, John instead ends up in Slow City, a construct of his mind’s eye, a place where anything and everything is possible, except a way out.”
Continue reading “Jim Shooter returns to comics for ‘Slow City Blues’”James Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki and Tomeu Morey will take over ‘Batman’ in 2020.
It’s Batman Day, and to celebrate, DC has announced the new creative team that will take over the flagship Batman title next year. James Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki and Tomeu Morey will chronicle the adventures of the Dark Knight in January.
“I loved writing stories for Eternal, Detective Comics and even Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but my desire to tell a Batman story, one focusing solely on Bruce Wayne instead of an ensemble, is what drove me back to the Batcave,” said Tynion. “I want to dig deep into the Bat himself and tell an epic story that pushes him to his absolute limits. I want to tell a Batman story like the kinds I grew up loving, one that embraces the horror and gothic elegance of Gotham and dives deep into Batman’s greatest villains.”
Continue reading “DC celebrates Batman Day by announcing a new creative team”Alex Dueben remembers Bill Schelly, who passed away last week from multiple myeloma.
Bill Schelly passed away last week from multiple myeloma. Schelly discovered comics fandom in 1964 and shortly after launched his own fanzines, where he wrote and drew. The most notable was Sense of Wonder. Schelly went on to be one of the great writers about comics. He was also one of the chroniclers of fandom in a series of books including The Golden Age of Comic Fandom and in his column for Alter Ego.
I interviewed Schelly in 2018 and we spent much of the conversation discussing his book Sense of Wonder. Schelly originally published the book in 2001 discussing his youth in comics fandom, but in 2018 published Sense of Wonder, My Life in Comic Fandom–The Whole Story. The new edition of the book was significantly longer, covering decades more than the original edition had, but more than that, Schelly wrote about being gay, about living in the closet and coming out, about the queerness of fandom back in the day. He wrote about his family and the death of son at a very young age. It was, in many respects, his best book.
Continue reading “R.I.P. Bill Schelly”Annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadians.
The winners of the 15th annual Joe Shuster Awards were announced this weekend, which included Chip Zdarsky, Emily Carroll, Karl Kerschl and more.
Established in 2004, The Joe Shuster Awards are Canada’s national award recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics. Named in honor of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, the awards recognize the best of the Canadian comics world; nominees must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents in Canada. The winners were chosen by a jury.
Congratulations to this year’s winners, whose names are in bold below::
Continue reading “Zdarsky, Carroll and more take home 2019 Shuster Awards”The author and co-president of Archie Comics talks about his latest project, ‘The Black Ghost’ from comiXology.
Alex Segura has had a busy year. During the day he’s busy as the co-president of Archie Comics, where he’s editing books, including the company’s flagship title, Archie. This year he also published a new novel, Miami Midnight, which he claims will be the last book in his Pete Fernandez series for the time being.
This week comiXology starts to serialize The Black Ghost, a creator-owned miniseries that Segura co-wrote with Monica Gallagher. The comic tells the story of Lara Dominguez, a reporter trying to uncover a masked vigilante in the city, and plays with the intersections of crime fiction, pulp fiction and superheroes in interesting ways.
The first issue is out this week, and I asked Segura a few questions about the comic, crime fiction and collaboration.
Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Alex Segura”Check out new projects from Shortbox, Craig Hurd-McKenney, Jason McNamara 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. This column offers a look at recent crowdfunding comics projects that might be of interest to fans.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out this time by calling out a recent controversy surrounding Kickstarter, where the company has been accused of firing two employees who were part of efforts to start a union at the online crowdfunding company. I mention it in the interest of public knowledge rather than as any sort of indictment against anyone who use the forum to raise money (Particularly those I mention this week, most of whom started their projects before this even came to a head). Kickstarter is certainly not the only company to be called into question about their labor issues, and their response to the allegations of union busting can be read over at Gizmodo. There’s also a form being circulated on social media asking creators who have used Kickstarter to support the employees attempting to unionize.
Continue reading “Fund Me Monday: More ‘Disturbances,’ vampires and a Prince tribute”Annual awards presented at the Small Press Expo honor excellence in independent comics, graphic novels and minicomics.
The winners of the 2019 Ignatz Awards were announced this weekend at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland.
The big winners of the night were Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, who took home three awards between them, including “Outstanding Graphic Novel.” The political cartoon site The Nib also continued its recent winning streak, taking home the award for “Outstanding Series.”
The Ignatz, named after George Herriman’s brick-wielding mouse from the classic comic strip Krazy Kat, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression. The awards have been presented annually since 1997.
The awards presentations were hosted by cartoonist Keith Knight:
Continue reading “Tamaki, Valero-O’Connell and more win 2019 Ignatz Awards”
