Sunday Comics | Afghanistan, masks and killer bees

Check out recent comics by Jay Hosler, Alex de Campi, Christine Larsen, MariNaomi, B.J. Mendelson 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 or on social media.

As the United States ends its occupation of Afghanistan, political cartoonist and The Nib founder Matt Bors looks back at the comics he created as a result of a trip he took to the country in 2010:

In August of 2010 I embarked on a month long trip through Afghanistan with fellow cartoonists Ted Rall and Steven Cloud. We traveled unembedded throughout the North of the country and in the capital of Kabul. It was the ninth year of the war and, at the time, the height of the Taliban insurgency and US troop presence.

The goal of the trip was to hear from Afghans directly, see the occupation for ourselves, and share those experience—through writing, comics, and photography. I captured a lot in sketchbooks and filed a series of comics through my syndicate where papers normally ran my political cartoons. The following comics are a series of vignettes on Afghanistan and represent some my earliest attempts at more realistic nonfiction comics. These originally ran online at Cartoon Movement, but appear to be lost to web decay, so I wanted to publish them again here—for posterity and for any insight they still hold.

You can see his comics here.

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What Are You Reading? | At the halfway point, ‘Batman/Catwoman’ gets ‘a provisional thumbs-up’

Plus: The Smash Pages crew talks about ‘The Trial of Magneto,’ ‘Nightwing,’ ‘Superman and the Authority,’ ‘Bermuda,’ ‘Dragon Racer’ 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 time around we talk about several recent releases that range in setting from tropical islands to deep space to, um, scenic Bludhaven.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

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‘White Ash’ returns this fall from Scout Comics

The next chapter in the series by Charlie Stickney, Conor Hughes and Fin Cramb picks up right after the first series.

Season two of White Ash, a crowdfunded comic about a small town in Pennsylvania where elves and dwarves live in secret,will kick off Nov. 17 from writer Charlie Stickney, artist Conor Hughes, colorist Fin Cramb and publisher Scout Comics.

White Ash has been an ambitious undertaking from the start,” said Stickney, who is also the co-publisher of Scout Comics. “The scope of the world I was looking to build, the timeline I was looking to cover and the breadth of characters and themes I wished to explore, was a daunting proposition. With Conor, I not only found an incredibly skilled storytelling partner, but one who rather shirking from the challenge, said, ‘but what if we also add…’  And from that moment I knew, I’d found a kindred sprit, with whom I look forward to together, creating many years of White Ash adventures.”

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Mail Call | Jim Mahfood’s ‘Grrl Scouts’ returns in November

Check out news, previews and announcements from Marvel, Image, IDW, BOOM! Studios and more.

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.

Image Comics has announced a new six-issue Grrl Scouts miniseries from creator Jim Mahfood, titled Grrl Scouts: Stone Ghost. The first issue will arrive in November.

“I’m extremely excited about this new Grrl Scouts series and I think fans and new readers alike will be very entertained and definitely get a lot of bang for their buck with this one,” said Mahfood. “I’m introducing an entire new cast of characters, expanding on the mythology of the Grrl Scouts, and handling every aspect of the production of the book: writing, drawing, coloring, and lettering, to make this a very unique experience! This series is for fans and collectors alike who are looking for something different and off-beat when they’re staring at that wall of new releases in the comic shop.”

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