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:
“As a kid, I thought I could do magic. As an adult, I never stopped believing in magic. And, as an actor, I play make believe every day,” Garcia said in the press release. “Fantasy has always been a part of my life. So, I’m excited and honored to create fantastical stories of brave adventures, because in some way, if they can slay monsters and keep fighting when the odds are stacked against then, then we can keep fighting… no matter what odds are stacked against us.”
AdHouse Books will publish Mtsyry: Octobriana 1976 by Jim Rugg in September. Billed as “The world’s first fluorescent blacklight comic book ,” the project was recently funded by Rugg via Kickstarter.
BOOM! Studios announced that their popular Lumberjanes series will have its first-ever event, The End of Summer. “The end of summer is fast approaching, but the Lumberjanes have bigger problems than just finishing their camp to-do list—an evil force is spreading over their forest, sapping the life out of the flora and fauna, leaving a grey forest behind. Known only as The Grey, this power has already taken the Lumberjanes’ friends, freezing the Yetis and leaving the bear woman stuck in animal form! If the girls can’t defeat The Grey, the Lumberjanes way of life will disappear—and not just for the summer!” The event starts in Lumberjanes #73, which comes out in September. You’ll find a preview of it in FCBD 2020 Lumberjanes: Farewell to Summer, the Free Comic Book Day title coming from BOOM! on Aug. 5.
Drawn + Quarterly announced that they’ve acquired the rights to publish the next book by award winner Ebony Flowers, creator of the graphic novel Hot Comb. Titled Baltimore Brownfield, the new book “explores themes of environmental racism, redlining, housing segregation, and community perseverance, detailed through the fabric of everyday life in a neighborhood wedged between the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore’s industrial infrastructure.” No release date has been announced yet.
Actress and author Mayim Bialik (Blossom, Big Bang Theory) is curating an educational anthology for DC Comics aimed at kids ages 8-12. Flash Facts will “aligns with Next Generation Science Standards, providing a helpful bridge between the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) lessons taught inside the classroom and how these principles affect our everyday lives.” It will feature DC characters demonstrating STEM principles by creators like Michael Northrop, Dustin Hansen, Cecil Castellucci, Kirk Scroggs, Corinna Bechko, Sholly Fisch, Amanda Deibert, Vita Ayala, Amy Chu and more. It comes out next February.
DC has also unveiled six of nine retailer variant covers for the upcoming Batman: Three Jokers miniseries by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Like the main covers, they feature the Joker in various poses.
Spekaing of covers, Marvel has also revealed two of them for their upcoming The Rise of Ultraman series — the main cover by Alex Ross and a variant by Olivier Coipel featuring Spider-Man. The first issue arrives in September.
IDW has announced that Marieke Nijkamp will write Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp, a miniseries that debuts in September. The five-issue series will feature artwork by Yasmin Flores Montanez and colors by Rebecca Nalty. The story features a 12-year-old girl visiting her aunt’s house in Fever Swamp, where she encounters werewolves.
Top Shelf will release two new James Kochalka books in September: Johnny Boo (Book 11): Johnny Boo Finds a Clue? and Glork Patrol (Book One): Glork Patrol on the Bad Planet.
DC Comics has announced a deal with the music/audio service Spotify to create original podcasts “based on the vast universe of premier, iconic DC characters.”