Month: May 2022

TCAF un-invites special guest Pink Cat after social media backlash

“We made a mistake.”

Three days after announcing “viral artist” Pink Cat would attend as a special guest, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival has “rescinding its invitation” to the Instagram cartoonist, citing code of conduct violations and “concerns expressed by the comics community.”

Those concerns were raised almost instantly when TCAF announced its second round of guests for their 2022 show, which is scheduled for June 17-19. Their tweet announcing Pink Cat received more than 460 responses, compared to the two or three their tweets about other guests received at the same time.

Much of the backlash centered on Pink Cat’s involvement with NFTs, while others pointed out transphobic and racist remarks made in the past. There were also allegations of plagiarism and tracing other people’s art.

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Joe Quesada announces he is leaving Marvel

The former editor-in-chief and chief creative officer shares his plans for the future.

Joe Quesada, the one-time overseer of the Marvel Knights line who went on to become editor-in-chief and then chief creative officer for Marvel, has announced he’s leaving the company after more than 20 years.

Quesada took to social media to announce his departure, noting that he won’t “ever be too far away, cheering my Marvel family on and contributing from time to time.” He hinted he has a project with them coming later this year:

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Quick Hits | ‘Gender Queer’ remains at the center of Virginia controversy

The American Booksellers for Free Expression responds as politicians continue trying to ban ‘Gender Queer.’ Also: comiXology’s app is ‘annoying,’ the first graphic novel to win the Jhalak Prize and more.

Censorship | The American Booksellers for Free Expression “strongly condemns” a recent decision by a judge in Virginia that the graphic novel Gender Queer and the book A Court of Mist and Fury might be “obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors.” Two politicians in Virginia are attempting to restrict access to the book by minors not only in libraries, but also in bookstores like Barnes & Noble.

Activism | In Washington State, students at Walla Walla High School responded to attempts to ban certain books like Gender Queer from the school library by forming a Banned Book Club. There plan is to read one “banned” book per month, and a local bookstore is giving them a discount on the books they choose.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Grabbing summer ‘By The Horns’

Check out new comics and graphic novels this week from Joshua Williamson, Markisan Naso, Jason Muhr, James Tynion IV, Gavin Fullerton, Jonathan Luna, Gregg Hurwitz, Devin Kraft, Régis Loisel, Julian Hanshow 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. With this being the fifth week of May, it’s a quieter week compared to most, especially for new projects, but there’s still plenty to get excited about.

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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What Are You Reading? | A whole lotta Moon Knight

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, from Noah Van Sciver, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Si Spurrier and more.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include a whole lot of Moon Knight, plus Amazing Spider-Man, Brubaker and Phillips’ Reckless and much more.

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

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Sunday Comics | Looking at recent awards nominees

Check out the online comics nominated for both the NCS Divisional Awards and the Nommo Awards.

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.

Award nominations for both the NCS Divisional Awards and the Nommo Awards came out in the last week, so let’s take a look at what webcomics earned nods from each of them.

I’ll start with the National Cartoonist Society’s annual awards, which are given out every year in conjunction with the Reuben Award. While their categories range from comic books to graphic novels to advertising to greeting cards, they have two categories focused on online comics — a long-form category and a short-form category. Let’s start with the long-form nominees.

First up is Emily Flake, a very prolific cartoonist with comics appearing in places like The New Yorker, The Nib and others (she’s also a comedian/performer). Based on the image on the NCS site, it looks like she’s nominated for her comic “Visions of the Post-Pandemic Future (Revised),” which appeared on the New Yorker website in April of last year.

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Starring in own miniseries, Yoda is

The 10-issue series will chronicle key moments in the Jedi master’s life..

Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim has brought news that Lucasfilm and Marvel plans to publish a 10-issue series about the life of Yoda.

The comic will be told in three arcs by writers Cavan Scott, Jody Houser and Marc Guggenheim and artists Nico Leon, Luke Ross and Alessandro Miracolo. It’ll be set moments before Yoda’s first appearance in Empire Strikes Back, as the ancient Jedi master reflects on key moments in his life before he meets Luke Skywalker.

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DC announces three young adult graphic novels for next year

New stories featuring Lois Lane, Harley Quinn and Static arrive next year.

DC has announced three new graphic novels aimed at the young adult market that will arrive next spring featuring new takes on Lois Lane, Harley Quinn and Static.

Coming in April of next year is Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story by Sarah Kuhn and Arielle Jovellanos, set before Lois was the journalist we know today. She’s “an ambitious small town girl tackling summer in the big city with gusto,” according to the description. “Lois is excited about her internship, her cosmopolitan apartment, and the future she sees unfolding before her, only to find that things rarely go according to plan.”

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Nominees announced for the 2021 Reuben, NCS awards

Winners will be revealed in September.

The National Cartoonist Society has announced the nominees for the 2021 Cartoonist of the Year, commonly known as The Reuben Award, as well as the many divisional awards they give out each year.

Keith Knight, Edward Sorel, Bill Griffith, Hilary B. Price and Mark Tatulli are all up for the Reuben the year, with several of them being nominated in years past. Last year Curtis creator Ray Billingsley won the award.

The divisional awards cover everything from comics and graphic novels to comic strips, editorial cartoons and even greeting cards. They also nominate the cartoonist or artist, vs. the work or the entire creative team. I’ve included the nominations that are relevant to the world of comics below, but you can see the full list on the NCS website.

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Halloween comes early for Archie Comics in August

Lil’ Jinx hosts an Archie Horror one-shot, while a classic Archie story revisits the world of “Mirrordale.”

Archie Comics is starting the Halloween festivities early this year — well, early for most people. My wife actually starts decorating for Halloween at the beginning of September, and she’d probably go even earlier if I let her.

But I digress — Archie’s solicitations bring news of three Halloween-themed projects for the publisher. First up is Jinx’s Grim Fairy Tales, an anthology of spooky stories hosted by Lil’ Jinx, a character created in 1946 by Joe Edwards.

“Jinx is a character we’ve been wanting to explore more and we’re so excited we finally get the chance to . . . and what better way than having her as the cool babysitter who scares kids with creepy stories?” said Jamie L. Rotante, Archie’s senior director of editorial . “I mean, her name is JINX, how perfect is that? We were so happy we were able to blend the framework of spooky fairy tales and Jinx as our eager narrator and protagonist.”

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Quick Hits | AWA, GlobalComix partner on ‘Lesser Evils’

Plus: news on United Workers of Seven Seas, censorship attempts in Michigan, FurnaceCon and more.

Brooklyn’s local BKReader spotlights Lesser Evils, a new comic series from AWA Studios that is set in the NY borough. The comic debuted digitally earlier this week on GlobalComix, as part of a “Global First” localization partnership between the online comics platform and AWA. GlobalComix plans to release it in multiple languages, including English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Hindi.

“It’s not just going digital first, it’s going Global First,” said Christopher Carter, founder and CEO of GlobalComix, in a press release. “We believe that when companies go digital first, they are no longer constrained to the same up-front investment costs of physical market validation, distribution, supply chain, required for localization and global audiences.”

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Slugfest | The Massive-verse expands with ‘The Dead Lucky’

A round-up of comics publishing news from Image, Marvel, Top Shelf and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you from comics creators, publishers and more. Hit the links for more information.

The Massive-verse — that’s the collection of titles headed up by Kyle Higgins that include Radiant Black, Inferno Girl Red and Rogue Sun, among others — will expand in August with a new title, The Dead Lucky.

Melissa Flores, French Carlomagno, Mattia Iacono and Becca Carey are the creative team for the new title.

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