Month: May 2021

Bunn, Galan and Torres team for new horror comedy ‘Lucky Devil’

The new miniseries from Dark Horse debuts in August.

Cullen Bunn, Fran Galan and El Torres are teaming up for a new horror-comedy miniseries coming from Dark Horse in August. Lucky Devil tells the story of Stanley, a formerly possessed man who retains all the powers of the demon that once possessed him.

“The story follows despondent schlub Stanley, who finds himself possessed by a powerful demonic spirit,” Bunn said in his email newsletter. “In a rare moment when he is in control, he scrapes together enough money for a bargain basement exorcism. The exorcism works! The demon is sent packing. But all of the demon’s infernal powers remain with Stanley. What does an ordinary guy with all the power of a demon lord do? Well, discovering that is part of the fun. Suffice it to say, the Lords Below do not approve of Stanley’s antics.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Coates’ ‘Black Panther’ finale arrives

Also this week: a new Mister Miracle miniseries begins, ‘The Blue Flame’ arrives, James Stokoe draws ‘Heroes Reborn’ and Reptil returns.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Marvel, DC, Vault, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores — you can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s release — and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Superman takes on Lobo in a new Black Label title

‘Superman vs. Lobo’ by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie and Mirka Andolfo will kick off in August.

If you’re a fan of Money Shot, the excellent, very adults only comic published by Vault Comics, then you’ll be happy to know its writers, Tim Seeley and Sarah Beattie, are working on a Black Label title for DC featuring Superman and Lobo.

It’s called, naturally, Superman vs. Lobo, because why would they ever get along? And it features art by Mirka Andolfo, artist of Punchline, Mercy and Hex Wives, among other titles, with Arif Prianto.

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How many TVs was that again? The Heroes Reborn roundtable, week 3

Carla, Tom, Shane and JK assemble once again to discuss Marvel’s latest comics event.

Time for round three of our Heroes Reborn roundtable, where we break down the latest Marvel crossover issue by issue. This week Shane Bailey, Tom Bondurant, Carla Hoffman and I talk about Heroes Reborn #3, which puts the spotlight on the super-speedster, Blur, and the more mystical elements of the Marvel Universe.

You can read part one of our roundtable discussions here and part two here.

So grab your copies and let’s jump in …

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DC announces Batman, Suicide Squad and more for Free Comic Book Day 2021

A ‘Fear State’ tie-in, a King Shark story and two previews aimed at younger readers highlight DC’s line-up this year.

DC Comics has announced their plans for this year’s Free Comic Book Day, revealing the four titles they plan to have available on Aug. 14.

The event is run by Diamond Comics Distributors, which DC stopped using last year as they migrated to Lunar Distribution. While Diamond won’t provide DC’s comics to retailers, they did say DC was more than welcome to participate.

Here are the four DC titles you can look for in August, which include a preview of the Batman event “Fear State” and a tie-in to the second Suicide Squad film:

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Lemire + Crook break the fourth wall in ‘The Unbelievable Unteens’

The Black Hammer miniseries will debut in August.

Jeff Lemire and Tyler Crook will reunite for another comic set in the Black Hammer universe, which Lemire co-created with artist Dean Ormston. The Unbelievable Unteens is described as a “meta team superhero saga” that will introduce a new superhero team.

“The Unbelievable Unteens is a Black Hammer story that I have been working on for a few years and was just waiting for the right time and the right collaborator,” said Lemire. “After doing Colonel Weird with Tyler Crook I knew he would be perfect to bring the creepy and wonderful teenage super hero world of the Unteensto life. This series stands alone but will also tie back into the new Black Hammer: Reborn series in unexpected ways!” 

Black Hammer: Reborn will debut in June and will feature Lucy Weber, the new Black Hammer.

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Sunday Comics | Karl Kerschl’s new science fiction comic

Check out online comics from Archie Comics, PJ Holden 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.

Karl Kerschl has been creating his award-winning webcomic The Abominable Charles Christopher on and off for more than a decade now, and this past week the lovable woodland creatures that inhabit his website were joined by a new visitor — Tanager, a new science fiction webcomic from Kerschl.

The description is fairly simple: A young woman with a strange gift travels the galaxy to help lost souls find their way home, but the execution is everything. In this first installment, she’s helping out an old man searching for something he lost on an alien-infested mining asteroid.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Legends of the Dark Knight’ offers an ‘uncomplicated, undemanding set of Batman tales’

Also: An advanced review of Vault’s ‘The Blue Flame” and more!

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. This week we look at the new iteration of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the new Fantastic Four: Life Story, past issues of Doctor Aphra and The Blue Flame #1, which will arrive in comic shops later this week.

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

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Years in the making, ‘Echolands’ will debut from Image in August

J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman, Dave Stewart and Todd Klein tell the story of a thief in a bizarre future world.

The all-star team of J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman, Dave Stewart and Todd Klein have been working on their latest comic Echolands for years — the comic was first announced back in 2018 at the Image Expo. And now Image has announced that the first issue will finally arrive in August.

“I’m beyond excited we’re finally bringing Echolands to everyone, and incredibly stoked to be reunited with longtime creative partners Haden, Dave and Todd, for what is a vast challenging world building project unlike any other we’ve attempted before,” said Williams III. “It’s a lifelong dream years in development, featuring an amazing cast of characters that we believe you’ll love as much as we do. And we’re so proud to be under the welcoming Image Comics banner, the premiere publisher for innovative entertaining stories.” 

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Mammone + Bertolini offer ‘Second Chances’ in August

The new Image Comics series offers second chances to the desperate in August.

Image Comics has announced a new “action-packed noir” series by Ricky Mammone and Max Bertolini. Second Chances is about a hotline you can call that offers just that — a second chance through a new identity.

“Second Chances is a bizarre noir about how we can let mistakes define us,” said Mammone. “I think nowadays we forget that it’s very human to mess things up. With this series, we want to ask the questions what’s worth forgiving and most importantly, can we give ourselves a second chance?” 

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Russell + Tiesma + Popov bring ‘Deadbox’ to life in August

The new horror title will take readers to Lost Turkey, where a cursed DVD machine holds the town in its grip.

Vault Comics has announced a new horror series from the team of writer Mark Russell, artist Benjamin Tiesma, colorist Vladimir Popov and designer Tim Daniel. Deadbox is about a town caught in the grip of “a cursed DVD machine.”

From the cover it looks like it’s a cursed Redbox, but for trademark reasons I’m sure they couldn’t say that. But somebody call The Last Blockbuster, because this could be good news for them.

“I wrote Deadbox as a horror story, not just about a cursed DVD rental machine, but also about the feeling of being trapped, boxed if you will, in a town that doesn’t get you and a place you will never feel at home in no matter how long you live there,” Russell said.

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Rob Liefeld quits the upcoming ‘Mighty Crusaders’ revival at Archie

Archie still plans to release the first issue in June as originally planned, but with a new writer providing the script.

Comics creator Rob Liefeld has left the Mighty Crusaders revival project, which was announced last December. He left because he said a key plot point was revealed on a variant cover created by Tone Rodriguez for Camelot Books and Comics.

“When the key plot point/element is revealed on a retail variant cover – it’s probably time to exit the stage on this one…. like seriously?” Liefeld wrote on Facebook earlier this month. He said he found out about the cover when Rodriguez tagged him in a Facebook post about it.

He later added in another post: “So, earlier this week I posted to one of my groups how I’m trying to keep all the contents of one of my upcoming projects under wraps. I want the reveals and the twists to be fresh and happen organically. I love the story and art and was trying to protect it as best I can. And I had succeeded in doing so. The cover with the big twist being publicly shared as I’m walking out the door to a farewell party for friends was like the big gut punch. All the wind goes out of the sails and the enthusiasm with it. It’s this practice … that needs better management. Everyone is trying to one up the other guy because the shelf life on these comics is so small. Publishers need to do better.

Archie followed up today by announcing that The Mighty Crusaders: The Shield #1 will still be released on June 30, as previously announced, using the artwork that Liefeld already turned in. They said that a new writer would be brought in to script Liefeld’s pages.

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