Month: October 2020

Ringo Awards winners announced

Annual awards ceremony recognizes ‘the creativity, skill and fun of comics.’

The winners for the 2020 Ringo Awards were announced today, marking the fourth year for the awards program named for artist Mike Wieringo, who passed away in 2007.

The awards were presented virtually as part of the Baltimore Comic Con‘s online programming, and started with an introduction and keynote from Kevin Smith and Geoff Johns. It was also live, which led to some logistical/technical issues as they tried to “cut over” to winners for their acceptance speeches.

Here are the winners, in the order they were presented during the ceremony. They include the “fan favorite” awards, which have a different process than the rest of the awards. You can find more details on the process here.

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Fund Me Friday | ‘The Trap,’ ‘Foundlings’ and Christmas with Karl Kesel

Check out crowdfunding campaigns featuring John Stanisci, Emma Kubert, Kyle Higgins, Lance Briggs, Danilo Beyruth, Liana Kangas, Scott Bryan Wilson, Ross Radke and more.

Crowdfunding continues to serve as a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors, as comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. The internet also allows creators to sell their creations direct to fans, through sites like Gumroad, Big Cartel and of course their own websites. If you’re looking to buy something from or support a creator directly, you’ve come to the right place. And that’s a good thing to do, now more than ever.

Send any suggestions of your own to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

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Declan Shalvey pits Immortal Hulk against a new villain in ‘Flatline’

The one-shot arrives in January.

Following the Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place one-shot earlier this month from Jeff Lemire and Mike Del Mundo, Marvel has announced another one-shot featuring the character, this time written and drawn by Declan Shalvey (Bog Bodies, Moon Knight).

“What Al Ewing and Joe Bennett have accomplished with Immortal Hulk is astounding. I love how the book has given the character a new twist that has expanded what can be done with (and said about the) character,” Shalvey told Marvel.com. “To get to play in this particular sandbox with this one-shot is such a thrill, it’s a great challenge as a storyteller, to add to this new mythology as both a writer and artist. Big, Hulk-sized boots to fill, I hope it lives up to the great work already accomplished by the Immortal Hulk team.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Erica Schultz

The writer and instructor discusses the new ‘Legacy of Mandrake the Magician,’ her work at The Kubert School and more.

Mandrake the Magician was one of the great classic adventure strips. Created by Lee Falk, who also created The Phantom, the strip ran from 1934 until 2013 and told of a stage magician and hypnotist who also traveled the world fighting criminals and occasionally supernatural forces.

The comic strip ended in 2013, but now has a new life in comic books in the new series Legacy of Mandrake the Magician. The new series from Red 5 Comics and StoneBot Comics launches next week; it’s about a young teenager named Mandy who’s trying to figure out her own talents and her own relationship to the original Mandrake.

The writer behind the comic is Erica Schultz, who readers might know from her work on comics like Forgotten Home, M3, Xena and Charmed. She’s also an instructor at The Kubert School and was kind enough to answer a few questions about what’s essential about the character, what elements needed updating and why Mandy has a secret identity.

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‘Goblin’ coming from Grissom + Perkins next year

The middle grade graphic novel will be published by Dark Horse.

Eric Grissom and Will Perkins, the creators of Gregory Suicide, will team up once again for a new middle grade graphic novel, Goblin.

The story’s about a goblin named Rikt who embarks on a journey of loss, self-discovery and sacrifice. Dark Horse will publish it next summer.

“Time and time again, from folklore to video games, goblins have been seen as an enemy to be overcome, a monster a ‘hero must defeat,” said Grissom. “With Goblin, I wanted to tell a story that flipped that idea. Not every monster is a villain, and not every person that looks like a hero acts like one. We set out to make the world of Goblin a wonderful, mysterious place, and I can’t wait for readers to get lost within it.”

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Maestro returns in January for another miniseries

Peter David and Javier Pina tell more stories of the Hulk’s evil, future self.

Peter David will once again dive into the futuristic dystopia created by the Hulk in Maestro: War & Pax. This time he’s joined by artist Javier Pina to tell the story of the Hulk’s futuristic, evil alter-ego, who was introduced in the landmark Future Imperfect miniseries.

“I am thrilled that, 20 years after I created him, the Maestro still intrigues people so much that the first series garnered the sort of success that demanded a follow-up,” David told Marvel.com. “As long as folks want to keep reading about him, I’m happy to keep giving them stories.”

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Michel Fiffe returns to self-publishing ‘Copra’

Image Comics will still release collected editions of the comic.

Michel Fiffe will once again self-publish his popular Copra series, starting with issues #38 and #39. Both are available for pre-order via his Etsy shop.

After self-publishing Copra for 31 issues, Fiffe moved the comic to Image Comics last year. The publisher released collections of all the previous issues, as well as six single issues, which were re-numbered. Fiffe is picking up with the previous numbering with the new issues.

“Snapping back into legacy numbering. Original paper stock was called in. Copra Press has reopened its doors,” Fiffe said on Twitter. He also noted that digital editions will be released around the time the physical issues become available.

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Dark Horse to publish Lesniewski’s ‘Static’ in 2021

Lesniewski will write and draw the horror/science fiction graphic novel.

Following the news that Matt Lesniewski will work with writer Matt Kindt on the miniseries Crimson Flower, Dark Horse has announced plans to publish an original graphic novel from Lesniewski title Static.

The Eisner-nominated creator of The Freak will write and draw the OGN, with Carlos Badilla providing colors.

“Before ever writing or drawing a thing, I had been thinking about the idea for this story for several years,” Lesniewski said. “It went through many different iterations, but the core idea never went away: a character who one day realized their life had passed them by, leaving them ‘stuck’ in place all this time with no idea how to break from the cycle they’ve been in all these years. Hence, the title Static. Ironically, this story would sometimes leave my mind, but it always came back, never really going anywhere.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Bold new directions

New comics arriving this week include Batman, Fantastic Four, new Tank Girl, Madam Satan and more.

We are back with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. ComicList has this week’s list of new comics arriving in stores, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Chuck Brown

The co-creator of ‘Bitter Root’ and ‘On the Stump’ discusses both projects, his background, the Harlem Renaissance and more.

2020 has been a big year for Chuck Brown. Bitter Root, the Image series he makes with David Walker and Sanford Greene, wrapped up its second story arc and received an Eisner Award for “Best Continuing Comics Series.” Brown also launched On the Stump, a new series from Image Comics.

Since it first came out, Bitter Root has been acclaimed as one of the best American comics in recent years, but for Brown its the culmination of many years’ work, and a long friendship and collaboration with Sanford Greene. The two have worked together on different projects like Rotten Apple at Dark Horse and 1000 on Webtoon. That’s in addition to Brown’s other comics work including The Quiet Kind, Godstorm: Hercules Payne and Trenchcoats, Cigarettes and Shotguns.

Bitter Root: Rage and Redemption, the second volume of the series, is out this week. And the first week of November sees the release of the collection of On the Stump. Brown and I spoke recently about his career, these two different books, and using history as setting and subject.

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Comics Lowdown | UCS will no longer distribute DC Comics starting in January

Plus: News on Terrific Production, Archie Comics, Rebellion, L.A. Comic-Con and more.

Distributors: UCS Comics Distributors, one of the two comics distributors that began working with DC Comics during the COVID-19 industry shutdown earlier this year, has told retailers they will no longer distribute DC’s books as of January 2021. Their accounts will be serviced by Lunar Distribution, the other distributor for DC that came into being during the pandemic. UCS was formed by retailer Midtown Comics, while Lunar was formed by Discount Comic Book Service.

So is UCS going away? Not according to the email they sent to retailers, which you can read over at The Beat. It says “UCS is not closing. We will be offering other exciting items that stores can use!” So it’ll be interesting to see what they offer in the future. John Jackson Miller has additional commentary.

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Kindt + Lesniewski tackle folk tales + conspiracies in ‘Crimson Flower’

The four-issue miniseries starts in January.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a new series, Crimson Flower, coming from Matt Kindt, Matt Lesniewski and Bill Crabtree.

The four-issue miniseries will follow a woman who uses folk tales to cope with the loss of her family during a home invasion. But as she plots her revenge, she discovers a government plot to use folk tales to turn children into super assassins.

“‘Cold blooded Russian assassins?’ We’ve seen that before. But assassins trained using Slavic folktales as a brainwashing device? That’s something new that really needed a unique visual style,” Kindt said. “When I saw Matt Lesniewski’s book The Freak (nominated for an Eisner) I knew he was going to do something like we’ve never seen before. Our collaboration was alchemy – turning this book into a brutal, heartbreaking, psychedelic journey of a woman intent on revenge-killing every assassin that ruined her life.”

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