Month: June 2020

Two CBLDF board members resign; one retires

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund loses three board members following the resignation of Executive Director Charles Brownstein.

In the wake of Charles Brownstein’s resignation from his position with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, two members of the CBLDF board have resigned, while another has announced his retirement from the board.

Both Katherine Keller and Jeff Abraham have resigned from the board, and Paul Levitz will “retire,” according to a post on the CBLDF site.

“We respect the decisions that Paul, Katherine and Jeff have made to leave the Board. We realize it will be a long path to earning back the trust of our members, supporters and the industry. We recognize that it’s been our inability to react, or act at all, that’s been the cause of  pain in our community,” the CBLDF said in the post. “Even last week, when we took the necessary action in accepting Charles’s resignation, our communications were stilted and clumsy. To everyone who has come forward, we haven’t done justice to your bravery and we are truly sorry. We vow to be better.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Emma Jayne

The creator of ‘Dreameater’ discusses her process, her minicomics, the importance of music to her work and more.

Emma Jayne made a splash with her graphic novel Dreameater, a queer horror musical thriller that is fun and inventive, but she’s had the biggest impact with a series of slice of life comics like In an Empty City, Pseudo Slut Transmission, and the 2019 Ignatz Award winning minicomic Trans Girls Hit the Town.

Each of these stories can be described in simple ways, with little happening plotwise, but Jayne’s gift as a storyteller is the ability to tell these small stories that manage to encompass and involve so much. In each story, though short, the reader is able to learn and intuit so much about the characters and their lives. It’s done in such a subtle way that some readers might miss just how profound and complex the stories are, and just how perfectly Jayne nails it. The first time I read Trans Girls Hit the Town, I had to immediately reread the comic so that I could see just how she pulled it off.

Jayne is a gifted, insightful storyteller, and I have no doubt that we’ve only begun to see what she’s capable of as an artist. She was kind enough recently to answer a few questions about her work.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | A date with Lucille

New comics arrive this week from Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Jason Aaron, Joe Casey, Chris Samnee and more.

The fifth week of the month can sometimes play havoc with the comic release schedule, especially in regards to Marvel and DC. This week neither publisher has any single issues hitting comic shops; they’re both releasing several trade paperbacks and collections, and each of them have a handful of digital releases hitting comiXology and other online venues, but you won’t see any of their new comics in shops.

But do not despair — that doesn’t mean your shop’s new releases section will be empty, as Image, BOOM!, IDW, Dynamite and others have single issues out this week.

If you’re looking for something to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally this week. As always, you should check with your local shop on their hours, curbside pick-up, mask requirements, etc. due to COVID-19, especially as some states are starting to issue new guidance. Stay safe out there.

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Sunday’s Doonesbury strip featured a crossword puzzle designed by Trudeau’s son

Ross Trudeau took over his dad’s comic strip for a day to present a fun crossword puzzle about ‘Doonesbury.’

Doonesbury readers probably noticed this past Sunday that their regular strip was taken over by a crossword puzzle. Did the strip become too controversial and get replaced? Not at all. The crossword was actually the work of Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau’s son, Ross

“Full disclosure: Garry Trudeau and I lived together for the first 18 years of my life,” Ross wrote on his website, Rossword Puzzles, where he regularly shares the crossword puzzles he designs. “The puzzle features 18 Doonesbury character answers, so this one is for the real ‘toon-heads.”

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What Are You Reading? | Red Goblins, celestial avatars, Klan smashers and Texas blood

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Like I said last week, summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics. This week brought us a taste of Empyre, Marvel’s big crossover event featuring the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Swordsman and all that crazy cosmic space action Marvel fans have come to know and love. You can see Carla’s thoughts on it below, along with a list of comics Shane has been buying for his kids and Tom’s thoughts on two politically minded books from DC.

You can tell us what you’ve been reading in the comments below or on social media.

Shane Bailey

Lately my kids have started wanting to read more comics. My little one has always been into them, but now the older kids are as well. So I let them pick out their own comics to read on comiXology Unlimited.

My 9 yr old son picked Amazing Spider-Man: The Red Goblin by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen, and he loves it. He wouldn’t stop commenting on how crazy scary Norman Osborn is, how it was gross when Carnage bit the head off a rat, and during one issue when the Goblin had a captive and was interrogating him, he wondered aloud over who it was, making guesses and gasping when he found out who it was and that Norman knew who Spider-Man was. It’s great seeing him get excited at things that are old hat for me. It made me appreciate those moments more.

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Sunday Comics | Paying tribute to Milton Glaser

Check out comics by Jillian Tamaki, Grant Snider, Matt Bors, Richard Pace and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

Graphic designer Milton Glaser passed away last week, and Incidental Comics creator Grant Snider posted this strip in his honor:

“RIP Milton Glaser, one of the greatest designers and illustrators of our time,” Snider wrote. “This comic was inspired by his iconic Bob Dylan poster.” In addition to the Dylan poster Snider referenced, Glaser is also known for his work for AMC’s Mad Men, designing the logo for the “I Love NY” campaign, his work on New York magazine and creating arguably the most recognizable DC Comics logo of the last 50 years, the “bullet” logo.

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Mail Call | ‘Lumberjanes’ reach the end of summer, new D&D and more

Catch up on news from Marvel, DC, BOOM!, IDW and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Former WWE superstar turned author AJ Mendez and Lucifer actress Aimee Garcia will write a new Dungeons & Dragons series for IDW. Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World will be set in the property’s Icewind Dale world with new characters and artwork by Martín Cóccolo.

Here are some of the character designs, by Max Davenport and Katrina Mae Hao:

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DC launches ‘Harley Quinn Black + White + Red’ digital series

The first issue of the anthology series features a new story by Stjepan Šejić.

DC launched a new digital series today, Harley Quinn Black + White + Red, an anthology series that will feature stories about Harley Quinn by a variety of creators. It’s kind of like Batman: Black & White, only with Harley Quinn. And the color red.

Stjepan Šejić, creator of the Black Label Harleen series, is featured in the first issue, which is available now. His story is set in that world.

“In Harleen canon, this story takes place after the fallout with the Joker and before the forming of the Sirens,” Šejić said. “A lot of stuff has happened in that time and some of it is hinted at in both her flashbacks and conversational nods.”

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Rest in peace, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

The legendary Marvel inker/artist passes away at the age of 93.

Joe Sinnott, the inker whose work helped define much of Marvel’s line from the 1960s into the 1980s, passed away this week, as reported by his family on Facebook.

“It with great sorrow that we must announce the passing of Joltin’ Joe Sinnott on June 25th at 8:40am at the age of 93,” the Facebook post says. “He went peacefully with the knowledge that his family, friends, and fans adored him. He enjoyed life and was drawing up until the end. He always loved hearing from all of you and having your comments read to him. Each and every one of you were special to him.”

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Warhammer 40,000 comes to Marvel

Kieron Gillen and Jacen Burrows will collaborate on ‘Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar.’

The Warhammer tabletop miniature wargame is returning to comics, this time at Marvel. The company has announced that writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jacen Burrows will serve as the creative team for Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar, which debuts in October.

“I am venerable enough to have bought Rogue Trader in 1987,” Gillen told Marvel.com. “Since then, I like to think every hastily dry-brushed Necron, every badly edge-highlighted Marine, every ignored Harlequin (as painting Motley petrified me) has prepared me for writing the first Warhammer comics for Marvel. If I said, ‘Getting to explore the roots of Marneus Calgar and setting the stage for Marvel’s Warhammer comics is a dream come true,’ I would be betraying everything this grim future should be since ‘dream’ implies the possibility of hope.  But getting to do this is the sort of thing Slaanesh would wave in my direction if she wanted me coming over to the tentacle-y side.“

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Smash Pages Q&A: Stephanie Burt and Rachel Gold

The literary critic and novelist discuss their collaboration on a story for Decoded, the daily anthology of comics and fiction celebrating Pride Month.

Stephanie Burt is one of the nation’s best literary critics. A professor at Harvard University, and the author of multiple nonfiction books including The Art of the Sonnet and Don’t Read Poetry, Burt is also the author of multiple books of poetry like Belmont and Advice from the Lights. Burt is also a notable nerd who has written extensively about the X-Men, Squirrel Girl, Astro City and perhaps most famously, an entertaining review of the film X-Men: Days of Future Past written in the voice of Kitty Pryde titled “Why Is Wolverine Doing All the Stuff I Already Did?”

Rachel Gold is the award-winning novelist behind an incredible run of books like Being Emily, Just Girls, My Year Zero, Nico & Tucker, and In the Silences, which have been pioneering, inventive and wonderfully written books that have explored gender, gender identity, sexuality and growing up in ways that are both familiar and strikingly new.

The two have been friends, and this year as part of Decoded, the daily online anthology of comics and fiction coming out during Pride month, they’ve collaborated on a new project. Battlement of Straw comes out tomorrow, and they were kind enough to answer a few questions about the project.

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Dark Horse severs ties with Scott Allie after sexual assault accusations

A former Dark Horse employee said Allie assaulted her in 1999.

Dark Horse Comics has issued a statement saying they will no longer work with Scott Allie, a freelance writer and editor who used to serve as the company’s editor-in-chief. The statement follows allegations by former Dark Horse employee Shawna Gore that Allie sexually assaulted her in 1999.

According to Gore, “I was assaulted, harassed, and retaliated against by Scott Allie during our tenure at Dark Horse,” she said on Twitter.

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