Mail Call | Wolverine, Ninja Turtles, Star Trek and more

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and more.

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

Marvel has announced Wolverine: Black, White & Blood, a second series starring Marvel’s favorite mutant.

“I can’t stress how exciting it is getting all of these pages from the absolutely killer level of talent assembled for this book,” said series editor Mark Basso. “It’s become a hype cliché, but you’ve really never seen anything quite like this from Marvel Comics. And you’ve only seen a fraction of the first issue…”

Continue reading “Mail Call | Wolverine, Ninja Turtles, Star Trek and more”

What Are You Reading? | ‘Doctor Tomorrow,’ ‘Shadow Service’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately — including comics from the past, present and future.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘Doctor Tomorrow,’ ‘Shadow Service’ and more”

Marvel announces projects celebrating Indigenous history

‘Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices’ will feature Indigenous talent making their Marvel Comics’ debut.

November is National Native American History Month here in the United States, and Marvel has announced two projects that “celebrate Indigenous history.”

The first, Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1, is an anthology of stories by Jeffrey Veregge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Weshoyot Alvitre, Darcie Little Badger, Kyle Charles, Stephen Graham Jones and David Cutler, telling stories featuring Dani ‘Mirage’ Moonstar, Echo and more.

“C.B. [Cebulski] and I started talking about various Native projects a year ago when discussing my ‘Of God’s & Heroes’ Marvel art exhibit at the Smithsonian. I am truly grateful for the platform that Marvel has not only provided for me and my work, but with this edition of Marvel Voices, all of Native America,” Veregge said. “This is an opportunity to share the cultural influences that we as Native artists and writers grew up with that will add more depth and dimension to the Native Heroes in the Marvel Universe.”

Continue reading “Marvel announces projects celebrating Indigenous history”

DC reveals some of their Milestone plans at FanDome

New comics featuring Static, Icon, Rocket and more return next year.

During today’s FanDome event, DC’s “surprise” comics panel focused on Milestone Media, as Denys Cowan, Reggie Hudlin, Phil LaMarr, Jim Lee and moderator Marc Bernardin discussed the imprint’s past and future.

At the panel, they confirmed:

  • A new Static Shock original graphic novel by Hudlin and artist Kyle Baker.
  • A new Static Digital First series by an unnamed creative team.
  • New Icon and Rocket by Hudlin and Cowan.
  • The re-release of classic Milestone comics on comiXology and other digital platforms, starting in September.
  • On day two of FanDome, coming up in September, they will release Milestone Returns #0, a 17-page sampler, that you can read for 24 hours online. Written by Hudlin with Greg Pak and cover by Denys Cowan and Chris Sotomayor, the sampler will introduce and re-introduce fans to Milestone characters such as Static Shock, Icon, Rocket, Duo and others. The sampler features art by Cowan, Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, Khoi Pham, Scott Hanna, Bill Sienkiewicz, Don Ho, Alex Sinclair and Deron Bennett.
Continue reading “DC reveals some of their Milestone plans at FanDome”

DC announces new Batman miniseries by Ridley + Derington

New series kicks off in January.

At the big DC FanDome online event today, DC officially announced a new Batman miniseries by 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley and Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington. The four-issue miniseries will debut in January 2021.

According to the panel, the series will feature a version of the Caped Crusader different from what many fans know.

“I think it’s a pretty safe bet that if I’m writing Batman, it’s probably a little better than a 47% chance he’s going to be a person of color,” Ridley said during the Legacy of the Bat panel.

Continue reading “DC announces new Batman miniseries by Ridley + Derington”

IDW details their ‘Locke & Key’ plans through the winter

IDW reopens the doors on the Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez series with miniseries, crossovers and more.

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez’s Locke & Key series has proven popular not just for publisher IDW, but also for Netflix, which streams the TV series. With a second season the way from the streaming giant, IDW has outlined their publishing plans over the next seven months.

“I always wanted to have my own series character, like Philip Marlowe, Jack Reacher, or Sherlock Holmes. I just somehow never imagined my series character would be… a house. But that house is a home — my creative home,” Hill said in a press release. “I’ve spent some of the happiest hours of my life knocking around Keyhouse’s closets, cabinets, and odd corners, hanging there with my artistic compadres, Gabriel Rodríguez, Chris Ryall and Jay Fotos. We’ve never stopped having fun and I couldn’t be more excited about the stories we’ve got ahead of us. We’re going to do our very best to unlock some good things in 2020.”

Continue reading “IDW details their ‘Locke & Key’ plans through the winter”

Smash Pages Q&A: Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha

The writer and artist of ‘Black Stars Above’ discuss the Lovecraftian horror tale, the tone and texture of the tale, and more.

Black Stars Above is a comic by Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha, which was just collected by Vault Comics. Set in 1887, this Lovecraftian horror tale is set in the Canadian frontier, and the story itself is this eerie, atmospheric horror story. You can read the complete first issue right here on Smash Pages.

But what fascinated me most was the small details in how both Nadler and Cha told the story — from the artist’s details that went into capturing the feel of the period to the language and the journal entries to the landscapes.

It’s a stunning book, and the two were kind enough to answer a few questions about the project, what they took from Lovecraft and more.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha”

Read the entire first issue of ‘Black Stars Above’

Check out the entirety of the first chapter of the Vault Comics title by Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, Brad Simpson and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Courtesy of Vault Comics, we’re pleased to present the entire first issue of Black Stars Above by Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, Brad Simpson and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Described as a “chilling historical cosmic horror tale of survival,” the story features a desperate young fur trapper in 1887 Northern Canada who is hired to deliver a package:

The year is 1887 and a storm brews. A young fur trapper flees her overbearing family only to get lost in a dreamlike winter wilderness that harbours a cosmic threat. The fur trade is dead and the nation is changing. Yet, Eulalie Dubois has spent her entire life tending to her family’s trapline, isolated from the world. A chance at freedom comes in the form of a parcel that needs delivering to a nameless town north of the wilderness. Little does Eulalie know, something sinister hides in those woods and it yearns for what she has.

It’s a series that Shane Bailey said is “a masterclass in building tension and dread,” and is “the equivalent of a Shepard Tone, the illusion of the ever-rising note. Eventually the musician ends the song, ending that tension. In this case, though, I really don’t want it to end.”

You can check out the first issue below, and look for the just-released trade paperback at a comic shop near you.

Continue reading “Read the entire first issue of ‘Black Stars Above’”

Gillen + Ribić team for a new ‘Eternals’ series

Jack Kirby’s classic Marvel creation will return in November.

Marvel has announced a new Eternals comic for what would have been the same month the feature film debuted, if it wasn’t for COVID-19. No, the film is now scheduled to arrive next February, but a new comic series by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić will debut in November.

“I said if I was ever to do a book again at Marvel, it would have to be something I’ve never done before. This is exactly that. This is me teaming up with literally my favourite artist of the epic, taking one of those lightning-storm Kirby visions and re-making it to be as new as the day it was forged,” Gillen said. “While Esad makes whole worlds on the page, I’m applying all the skills I’ve developed when I was away. It’s a lot. It’s everything. There’s enough scale packed in here that I believe that when you look at the comic, you’ll see the pages slightly bulge. Essentially ‘Eternal’ has to mean ‘never going out of style,’ which means we’re aiming for ‘instant classic.’ Also — fight scenes, horror, human drama, emotions, explosions. Comics!”

Continue reading “Gillen + Ribić team for a new ‘Eternals’ series”

The Justice League at 60, Part Five: The Experiment

You gotta lose your mind as Tom Bondurant dives into the infamous ‘Detroit League’ of the late 1980s.

Check out part one, part two, part three and part four of this series!

There’s a lot crammed into the 40-page story writer Gerry Conway, penciller Chuck Patton and inker Dave Hunt tell in 1984’s Justice League of America Annual #2. The issue charts the official end of the JLA (as Aquaman exercises his founding-member privilege to disband it) and the subsequent creation of a new, ostensibly more focused team. Along the way the Leaguers say goodbye to their ruined satellite headquarters and hello to “the Bunker,” a mall-sized fallout shelter in the middle of Detroit, built by an ex-superhero who apparently saw too many movies about NORAD. Everything that happens in the annual happens quickly: four experienced Leaguers decide to re-form the team moments after dissolving the original; the new League gains two new members who each saw the re-forming happen on live television; and the third and fourth new members basically break into the supposedly impregnable new headquarters. The issue ends with a block party, welcoming the Justice League to this particular run-down part of town.

Continue reading “The Justice League at 60, Part Five: The Experiment”

DC splits ‘FanDome’ event in two

Much of the planned content has moved to Sept. 12.

DC’s upcoming FanDome virtual event will now take place over two separate days, the publisher announced.

The bigger panels for upcoming movies and other properties, which are billed as “Hall of Heroes” panels, will take place this Saturday as planned. They will encompass eight hours of content and include the Wonder Woman 1984 movie panel, the Jim Lee portfolio review and the video game announcement that Montreal Games has planned, among others. Each panel will be replayed three times during the 24-hour period.

All of the other content, which will be “100 hours of on-demand content,” will now take place Sept. 12.

Continue reading “DC splits ‘FanDome’ event in two”

Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Shadow Service,’ ‘Maestro’ and more

Check out new comics coming this week from Cavan Scott, Corin Howell, Daniel Warren Johnson, Peter David, Dale Keown and more.

We are back again with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week. Or I’m back, anyway, as I fly solo on this week’s comics.

If you’re wondering what 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.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Shadow Service,’ ‘Maestro’ and more”