Month: August 2021

Danny DeVito returns to the Penguin — in the pages of a comic

The actor will write a new story featuring the character he played in ‘Batman Returns’ for the upcoming ‘Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant’ anthology.

Actor Danny DeVito brought the Penguin to life on screen in the film Batman Returns, and now almost 30 years later he’s returning to the character — in the pages of DC’s Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant.

DeVito will write a Penguin story for the anthology, which also features contributions from Wes Craig, G. Willow Wilson, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Joshua Williamson, Stephanie Phillips, Dan Watters, Mairghread Scott, Dan Mora, Emma Rios, Riccardo Federici, Max Raynor, Max Fiumara, Skylar Patridge, Ariela Kristantina, Khary Randolph, Jill Thompson, Christian Ward and Gabriel Walta.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Kasia Babis on ‘Re: Constitutions’

The political cartoonist discusses her work with Beka Feathers on the latest title from First Second’s World Citizen Comics imprint.

Kasia Babis has been making comics for many years, but she gained a new international audience when she began contributing to The Nib about a wide range of topics. In particular, her comics about Polish politics offer an outsider’s take on events within the United States.

Babis has drawn the new book, Re: Constitutions, part of the World Citizen Comics imprint. Written by Beka Feathers, an expert in political development and post-conflict institution building who has worked in more than a dozen countries to help draft constitutions and design political transition, the book is about constitutions, but it’s also about what it means to be a citizen, our political landscape, the rights of individuals and what binds us together. It is a complex topic, and Babis’ art and designs help to masterfully juggle many ideas and complex topics in striking ways.

We spoke recently about her work and making the book while being an engaged citizen in a period of protest, as many basic rights are being eroded by an increasingly authoritarian government.

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Chip Zdarsky will write + draw ‘Public Doman’ for his Substack newsletter

His collaboration with Kagan McLeod, ‘Kaptara,’ will also return as a digital comic.

Chip Zdarsky is the latest creator to sign on as a premium content provider for Substack. In what has been an eventful week for the email newsletter platform, Zdarsky joins Skottie Young, James Tynion IV, Saladin Ahmed and others in posting comics through their newsletters for those willing to pay.

“So, last year I finished illustrating Sex Criminals. It was bittersweet. The bitter was that I loved creating it and was sad to see it go,” Zdarsky wrote. “The sweet was that my hand was a mashed mess of mincemeat from drawing and colouring 31 issues of a book and it was nice to kick back and relax and instead write 13 books for Marvel and DC. But then I had an idea. And now, like an absolute moron, I’m destroying my hand again.”

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Nominees announced for the 2021 Dragon Awards

The awards, which include categories for comics and graphic novels, have been presented annually since 2016.

The nominees have been announced for the 2021 Dragon Awards, which have been presented during DragonCon since 2016.

The awards include multiple categories for books, media tie-ins like movies and video games, and two categories for comics — “Best Comic Book” and “Best Graphic Novel.”

The nominees in those two categories are:

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Mail Call | Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day titles

Get ready for Free Comic Book Day, which is coming up this Saturday. Also check out news from DC, Image Comics, IDW, AfterShock Comics 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.

Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offerings for this year have been somewhat confusing — at one point Chip Zdarsky was mentioned as contributing — but the company has put out a press release detailing what you specifically can from them this coming Saturday.

Marvel will have two books, as previously announced — Spider-Man/Venom and Hulk/Avengers, both of which will tease upcoming storylines for the four titles represented.

As previously reported, Amazing Spider-Man is getting a new creative team AND a new person under the mask, as infamous clone Ben Reilly returns to take on the mantle of Spider-Man. One of the new writers of Amazing, Zeb Wells, will team with artist Patrick Gleason for a story featuring Reilly as Spider-Man. It will be accompanied by a Venom story by the new creative team of Ram V., Al Ewing and Bryan Hitch “in a glimpse that will show you just how twisted their upcoming run will be.”

Then, in the second title, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley will present a look at their upcoming run on Hulk. And Jason Aaron teams up with Iban Coello to “present the dangerous new threat that the Avengers will face in the next arc of his hit Avengers run.”

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Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ wraps up in November

‘Giant-Size Black Cat’ will mark the end of the crossover event and the ‘Black Cat’ ongoing series.

Marvel’s Infinite Destinies event, which has been running in their annuals this summer and in the pages of the Black Cat ongoing, will wrap up in November with Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score.

Writer Jed MacKay and artist C.F. Villa will bring the story featuring the Infinity Stones — and, it appears, the Black Cat ongoing — to its conclusion.

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‘Miskatonic’ returns for its big finale in November

The one-shot ‘Miskatonic: Even Death May Die’ will finish the story started in last year’s miniseries.

Mark Sable and Giorgio Pontrelli will follow up their 2020 limited series Miskatonic with a one-shot this November, titled Miskatonic: Even Death May Die. The one-shot will wrap up the story they started last year.

“Miskatonic: Even Death May Die special is a 48-page, oversized grand finale to Miskatonic, the crime/horror/historical fiction set in H.P. Lovecraft’s valley of the same name, picking up right where the series left off in the late 1920s,” Sable said. “The protagonists are the same. Miranda Keller, one of the first female FBI agents, trying to escape from a concentration camp for half-man, half-sea creature, the Deep Ones in the American Southwest.  Her partner Tom Keller, a retired NYPD officer from Lovecraft’s The Horror of Red Hook, is trying to track her down.  All of this is set against the backdrop of America’s first red scare…and a strange supernatural call people are hearing across the globe – the Call of Cthulhu.”

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Nguyen + Lemire team up for a tale about Dick Grayson’s early career

‘Robin & Batman,’ a three-issue, prestige-format miniseries, kicks off in November.

The creative team behind the hit creator-owned titles Descender and Ascender are trading space operas for street crime, as they team up for a new miniseries focused on the Boy Wonder and his bat-themed mentor.

Robin & Batman, a three-issue, prestige-format miniseries by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen, will debut in November. As the title suggest, the story will focus Robin, in this case Dick Grayson early in his career as a crimefighter.

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A tale of two Sleepers

A recent graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster is in the spotlight for using the same title as a DC/Wildstorm comic.

Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. is considering legal action against the creators of a recent graphic novel called Sleeper.

Jed Mercurio, the showrunner for a British TV show called Line of Duty, co-wrote Sleeper with Prasanna Puwanarajah, an actor he’s worked with before. Coke Navarro drew the project. The problem, of course, is that the title “Sleeper” is already taken — Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips used it back in the 2000s for a series about the Wildstorm hero Grifter that was published by DC Comics.

“Somehow no one in the entire comics industry had heard about this book of his until it was already at the printer,” Brubaker said about Mercurio’s graphic novel in his email newsletter. “Needless to say, WB owns the copyright and trademark to Sleeper as a series of graphic novels (and TV and film, I believe) and obviously they were more than concerned. So from what I understand there are a lot of legal things happening with them and the other publisher right now.”

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‘Robins’ wins DC’s Round Robin tournament, will debut in November

DC Universe Infinite subscribers will get the new comic first, as it arrives on the platform Oct. 26.

DC Comics has announced the winner of their Round Robin tournament, which asks fans to vote on which pitch should become a series, and it’s not surprising to see that Robins by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas came out on top.

Robins #1, the first of a six-issue miniseries, will arrive in November. But if you are a DC Universe Infinite subscriber, you’ll get to see it on Oct. 26.

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Skottie Young will bring back ‘I Hate Fairyland’ in his Substack newsletter

The creator moves his newsletter to a premium model, offering new comics, behind-the-scenes information and more.

Although he wasn’t mentioned in the initial announcement, Skottie Young (Rocket Raccoon, Strange Academy, Middlewest) has announced he’ll move his Substack newsletter to a subscription model and will use it to share new comics content — including new I Hate Fairyland.

Young joins James Tynion IV, Jonathan Hickman, Molly Ostertag and others in using the Substack platform to share and sell new comics content.

“This is no longer just a ‘Newsletter.’ It’s a Creative Platform,” Young said in his newsletter today. “A place to explore new ideas, stories, products to share with you instantly.”

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Captain America + Iron Man team up in a new mini by Landy + Unzueta

The first issue of five arrives in November.

Marvel has announced Captain America/Iron Man, a new five-issue miniseries by Derek Landy and Ángel Unzueta that will debut in November.

According to Marvel.com, the miniseries will take the two Avengers “on an epic adventure that will explore the pair’s fascinating dynamic and history as they go up against a mysterious new threat from Hydra.”

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