Smash Pages Q&A | Emma Hunsinger + Tillie Walden

The creators of ‘My Parents Won’t Stop Talking!’ discuss the new picture book, their creative process, the differences between making comics and children’s books, and more.

Separately Emma Hunsinger and Tillie Walden have crafted impressive bodies of work. Tillie Walden is the Eisner Award winning cartoonist of Spinning, On a Sunbeam, Are You Listening? and other books. Emma Hunsinger is known for She Would Feel the Same, which was published by Shortbox, and How To Draw a Horse, which was published in The New Yorker and nominated for an Eisner Award, a National Magazine Award and a National Cartoonist Society Divisional Award.

The two have collaborated on a new picture book, My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! which is hilarious and visually exciting. The main character Molly just wants to go to the park, and what follows is deeply relatable but also beautifully bizarre and inventive in all the best ways.

I spoke with both Hunsinger and Walden about the new book, the differences between creating children’s books and comics, their inspirations and boring “adult chit chat.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | A wrong turn into ‘Nightmare Country’

Check out comics and graphic novels this week from Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Terry Moore, James Tynion IV, Lisandro Estherren, Yanick Paquette, Ann Nocenti, Siddharth Kotian, Steve Niles, Szymon Kudranski, Rob Guillory and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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Jeff Lemire announces a new Black Hammer title on his Substack

The weekly series ‘Colonel Weird & Little Andromeda’ will feature the work of a variety of artists.

Black Hammer co-creator Jeff Lemire has announced another comic set in the universe he created with Dean Ormston — Colonel Weird & Little Andromeda, which will appear weekly in his Substack newsletter for paid subscribers.

The new comic is written by Lemire, Ray Fawkes and Tate Brombal, and will feature art by a variety of creators, including Ariela Kristantina, Andrea Sorrentino, Marguerite Sauvage, Yuko Shimizu, Dani, Tyler Bence and Nick Robles.

“We describe this new story as ‘Little Nemo’ Meets ‘The Little Prince’ Set in the World of the Eisner Award–winning Black Hammer Universe,” Lemire posted on Substack. “This new weekly original comic brings together a host of creators to tell self-contained stories of beloved Black Hammer characters Colonel Randall Weird and Dr. James Robinson in a series of dimension-hopping cross-world capers!”

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Aaron + Walker head back to the past for ‘Avengers: 1,000,000 B.C.’ one-shot

The one-shot promises to reveal more about ‘Thor’s mysterious connection to the Phoenix Force.’

Jason Aaron will continue the story of the prehistoric Avengers in a one-shot this summer titled Avengers: 1,000,000 B.C. He’ll be joined by artist Kev Walker on the story, which promises to reveal more about Thor’s relationship with the Phoenix Force.

“The Prehistoric Avengers have been an important key to my Avengers run since the very beginning,” Aaron told Marvel.com. “They are the earliest versions of some of the earth’s most powerful legacy characters. They’re the heroes who protect the Marvel Universe in its crib. Now, we finally get to see them all in the spotlight in a huge way, in a story that shows how these prehistoric heroes shaped Marvel history in the most profound ways and that will also have big ramifications for the Avengers going forward.”

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Moon Girl hangs with Miles Morales, the Avengers + more this summer

Novelist Mohale Mashigo teams with different artists to chronicle Moon Girl’s search for a missing Devil Dinosaur.

Hey, remember last fall when Marvel announced a batch of “eight tentpole projects” for 2022? They included Devil’s Reign, the new She-Hulk miniseries, a pair of Wolverine miniseries — and Moon Girl, whose creative team was “top secret” at the time.

While the other seven have all come to fruition, Moon Girl, which was supposed to kick off in February, didn’t. Until now. Marvel has announced a pair of one-shots teaming up Moon Girl with Miles Morales and the Avengers, with more on the way. In them, she takes a “thrilling journey across the Marvel Universe” as she searches for a missing Devil Dinosaur. They’re written by novelist Mohale Mashigo (The Yearning), and each are drawn by a different artist. They also say an ongoing Moon Girl title is on the way.

“Writing Moon Girl is a dream come true,” Mashigo said. “Lunella is fun, quirky, smart and full of energy. I’ve enjoyed seeing her get out of her comfort zone and shine even brighter.”

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Dark Horse to publish S. Craig Zahler’s ‘Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos’

The novelist, musician and director of ‘Bone Tomahawk’ writes and draws his second graphic novel.

Dark Horse has announced plans to publish a graphic novel by S. Craig Zahler, the director of the movies Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete, as well as the creator of the graphic novel Forbidden Surgeries Of The Hideous Dr. Divinus.

He’s also a novelist and the drummer for the metal band Charnel Valley, and he’s working to bring one of his novels, Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, to the screen with the help of The Jim Henson Company. So he has a lot going on creatively, but he still found time to write and draw Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos, his new graphic novel.

“My first artistic interest was illustration, and after writing eight novels, recording nine albums, and directing three movies, it was a pleasure to draw once more. In this graphic novel, which is my second, I explore morally complex characters, intimate human drama, large-scale world building, and speculative science,” Zahler said. “I began working on the piece at the very beginning of lockdown and finished more than a year later when I received my first vaccine. Creating ‘Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos’ was an incredibly gratifying experience, and I’m thrilled to have it published by Dark Horse Comics, whose books I’ve read since the eighties.”

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Webtoon + DC announce three new webcomics

Vixen, Zatanna and the Red Hood will arrive on Webtoon later this year.

Following the success of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, which launched last year, DC Comics and Webtoon have announced three new projects that will debut on the popular mobile comics platform.

The first, titled Vixen NYC, will debut in May, while two others — Red Hood: Outlaws and Zatanna & The Ripper, are expected to launch this summer.

“WEBTOON is home to a new generation of comics fans, and DC is home to some of the most iconic characters and franchises in comics,” said David Lee, Head of Content at WEBTOON U.S. “Our partnership with DC represents the future of the comic industry, combining legendary franchises with new technologies and global fandoms that cross borders. Fans can’t get enough of ‘Batman: Wayne Family Adventures,’ and we know they are going to love what we have in store for the 2022 slate.”

Here are a few more details and the creative teams for each of them:

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Nominees announced for the 2022 Hugo Awards

The winners will be announced in September.

The nominees have been announced for the 2022 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

Image Comics and DC Comics each received two nominations, while BOOM! Studios and Del Ray each received one. Notably, the Del Ray nomination is for Lore Olympus, the popular Webtoon comic. True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman received a nomination in the “Best Related Work” category.

Presented annually since 1955, the Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius, Sandman: Overture, LaGuardia and Monstress, which is up for the award again this year.

Here are the nominees for the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category:

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HBO Max’s ‘Young Justice’ jumps into a digital-first comic

Showrunner Greg Weisman and storyboard artist Christopher Jones present a ‘fully canon’ story.

Fans of HBO Max’s Young Justice cartoon will be happy to know that DC will continue the story from the latest season, Young Justice: Phantoms, in a new digital-first, “fully canon” comic.

Young Justice: Targets will be written by showrunner Greg Weisman, with art by storyboard artist Christopher Jones.

“It’s been terrific working with Christopher Jones again on another Young Justice comic, and I’m really excited for the fans to read Young Justice: Targets,” said Weisman. “It’s a fully canon six-issue mini-series, picking up right where Young Justice: Phantoms left off, with plenty of action, nearly our entire cast, and multiple new revelations.”

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Smash Pages Q&A | Alek Shrader

The opera singer and comics writer discusses the graphic novel adaptation of ‘Carmen’ that is currently being crowdfunded by the Arizona Opera.

Alek Shrader is a an opera singer and director, and the writer behind the new graphic novel Carmen. It’s an adaptation of the opera by Georges Bizet, one of the most popular and successful operas of all time, which has been adapted to other mediums a lot of over the years.

Joining Shrader on this project is the great P. Craig Russell, who has adapted many operas in the past, and artist Aneke, who is drawing the critically acclaimed Bylines in Blood on the stands now. The project from Arizona Opera is being kickstarted now, and I spoke with Shrader and about his background as a comics reader, his approach to adaptation and his thoughts on the opera.

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2021 Joe Shuster Award winners announced

Jason Fabok, Kimiko Tobumatsu, Gillian Goerz and more received awards for their work from 2020.

The Joe Shuster Awards have announced the winners of their annual awards for 2021, which covers material released back in 2020. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadian creators.

In the post, they admit that “it took a lot longer than we would have liked” to put together the list of nominees and choose winners. Given everything that’s happened over the last couple years, I can’t find fault with anyone who has suffered delays like this. And it’s never too late to recognize good work.

The nominees and winners are:

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DC’s latest Round Robin tournament moves into round two

DC has revealed the creative teams for the eight possible titles still left in its second Round Robin tournament.

The votes are in, and DC has announced the eight titles that moved forward in its second Round Robin tournament, where the company asks fans to vote on its next title.

Votes were cast on Twitter, Instagram and through the DC Community message boards (where you can also vote in the second round). Here’s what moved on:

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