Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.
Z2 Comics has announced another music-related collaboration, this time with the pop-punk band All Time Low. In June, the publisher will release a graphic novel inspired by the 2017 album Last Young Renegade.
“When we wrote our album ‘Last Young Renegade’ we imagined an entire world separate of our own, almost a “what if” version of All Time Low, both with our musical sound and with the visual narrative we put together around it” says All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth. “Creating ‘Young Renegades’ the graphic novel allows us to tell more stories in the universe we imagined and delve deeper into the mythos and thematic ideas that were at play when we were celebrating that era. ‘Young Renegades’ is another branch, another thread and another look into the LYR continuity through an incredible medium we’ve never collaborated in before. Working with the story-tellers and artists on this project has been an incredible new undertaking and we can’t wait for everyone to enjoy it with us.”
Young Renegades will be written by Tres Dean and Robert Wilson IV, with art by Megan Huang.
“As a lifelong Warped Tour kid, All Time Low was a big part of growing up for me,” Dean said. “Throughout high school I was at almost every show they played in Virginia and made some memories with my friends there that I cherish to this day. Having the chance to work with them all these years later – and getting to do so through a story that (hopefully!) captures everything their music meant to me and so many other hopeless pop punk romantics back then – has been an incredible experience.”
North Star coming from AdHouse in April
AdHouse Books has announced a new graphic novel by Tom Herpich, who has worked on Adventure Time, Over the Garden Wall and Steven Universe for Cartoon Network. North Star is described as “an experimental illustrated narrative exploring easy answers, missteps, and the potential for self-correction,” and it arrives in stores in April.
Crossovers #4 features a surprise guest
Image Comics has revealed the covers for Crossovers #4, drawn by Michael Allred — or part of it, anyway. Last issue featured appearances by not only the Paybacks, an old Donny Cates/Geoff Shaw super-team published by Dark Horse, but the even more surprising Madman, who was created by Allred. He’s on the cover, and apparently he’s not the only surprise — another mystery character is set to debut in issue #4.
“This issue is maybe the most fun we’ve had in the series to date,” said Cates. “If you thought the previous cameos and surprises were insane… I PROMISE, you ain’t seen nothing yet!!”
This issue is going to have several incentive covers, seen above, and I’m interested to see who exactly is showing up. Spawn? Cerebus? DNAgents? Beanworld? It’ll be fun to see who it ends up being.
The Old Guard gets an Anthology series
Image Comics has also announced a new miniseries spinning out of The Old Guard by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández — The Old Guard: Tales Through Time. The anthology title will feature stories set in the Old Guard universe by Rucka and Fernández, along with Vita Ayala, Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Matt Fraction, David F. Walker, Horacio Altuna, Rick Burchett, Valentine De Landro, Justin Greenwood, Kano, Nicola Scott and more. The six-issue series begins in April.
Check out D + Q’s Fall 2021 catalog
Last month I mentioned several Drawn + Quarterly titles that will arrive in the fall, and the publisher has now released its full catalog for Fall 2021. It includes new projects from Elise Gravel, Rutu Modan and more.
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr comes to life in April
Ram V and Filipe Andrade have a new series coming from BOOM! Studios in April — The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. I’m not sure I can adequately describe what it’s about — it’s complicated, as they say, so here’s the description from the release:
With humanity on the verge of discovering immortality, the avatar of Death is fired and relegated to the world below to live out her now-finite days in the body of twenty-something Laila Starr in Mumbai. Struggling with her newfound mortality, Laila hatches a plan and soon discovers a way to be placed at the time and location where the creator of immortality will be born . . . But will Laila take her chance to permanently reverse the course of (future) history, or does a more shocking fate await her within the coils of mortal existence?
Check out some of Andrade’s character designs:
“The Many Deaths of Laila Starr is a story about love and connection, but also about the beauty and cruelty of it,” said Andrade. “Ram writes beautiful words touched by a mystic and exotic perfume. I want to transport and involve the reader in this trippy and vibrant world.”
Dark Horse announces ‘Tales from the Outerverse’ titles
Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden,Peter Bergting and Michelle Madsen are teaming for three different comics that fall under the banner “Tales from the Outerverse,” which take place in the same world as Joe Golem and Baltimore.
Cojacaru The Skinner, Imogen of the Wyrding Way and The Golem Walks Among Us will follow the next Lady Baltimore miniseries, which was announced almost a year ago, right around the time the pandemic hit. It was supposed to debut last summer, but will instead come out in March.
Cojacaru The Skinner, a two-issue miniseries, will kick off in April, followed by the Imogen of the Wyrding Way one-shot in June. The two-issue The Golem Walks Among Us starts in August.
Jen Bartel draws Women’s History Month variant covers
Marvel has revealed several variant covers created by Jen Bartel for Women’s History Month, which is coming up in March. The eight covers will feature She-Hulk, Emma Frost, Hellcat and more.
David Finch draws The Walking Dead Deluxe variant covers
Speaking of variant covers, Image/Skybound have enlisted David Finch and Dave McCaig to create a series of variant covers for the second printings of the first six issues of The Walking Dead Deluxe, the color reprints of the landmark series. They will arrive in stores Feb. 24.
