Month: April 2023

Top Shelf announces ‘Lisa Cheese and Ghost Guitar: Attack of the Snack’ by Kevin Alvir

The graphic novel tells the story of a ‘sweet unicorn girl’ trying to make a name for herself as a folk singer.

Top Shelf will publish Lisa Cheese and Ghost Guitar: Attack of the Snack, the debut graphic novel by Kevin Alvir, this fall.

Alvir is a cartoonist, musician and educator whose work has been featured in Funny or Die, Blackbook, Brooklyn Mag, Edible, The Neu Jorker, Paul Ryan Magazine; on records for acts such as Gabe Liedman, Nicole Yun, Essex Green, Holy Tunics and Pains of Being Pure at Heart; and on TV screens for Will Ferrell and for High Maintenance on HBO.

“I started drawing Lisa Cheese comics in my lined notebook at one of my jobs, as an outlet for my feelings about starting out in the workplace,” Alvir said. “In recent years, I returned to this character with a new understanding of the world, and she grew into this bombastic Jack Kirby level superhero, in my own ridiculous way. I hope readers can see themselves in Lisa and be inspired to interact with a heavy world with a light heart.”

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Mignola + Snicket’s ‘Pinocchio’ Kickstarter approaches $400K

Beehive Books has added another tier to the campaign featuring prints of three new Pinocchio paintings by Mignola.

Beehive Books‘ latest crowdfunding campaign is sitting at just under $400,000 as I write this, and no doubt it’ll pass that milestone soon. And it’s no surprise, since it involves the talents of both Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) putting their own unique spin on the story of Pinocchio.

This new edition of Carlo Collodi’s beloved novel is currently up on Kickstarter for the next six days.

“I’ve been in love with Pinocchio as long as I can remember,” said Mignola. “Probably starting with the Disney film and then really drilled into me when I finally read the Collodi novel. It’s just so brilliantly strange—very very funny and also heartbreakingly sad. It’s one of the two books (along with Dracula) that I think sort of make me do what I do the way I do them.When Beehive Books approached me about doing a book… Well, at the time, the last thing I wanted to do was take on another project, but once I started thinking about doing Pinocchio I just couldn’t say no. The challenge was to come up with MY version of Pinocchio—much harder than I thought that was going to be but in the end I think I got there.”

Not wanting to rest on their laurels, Beehive has added a new tier to their Kickstarter campaign featuring prints of three more pieces by Mignola.

The full-color paintings were created by the artist as part of a Society of Illustrators exhibition, live now in NYC, which features a full portfolio of yet-to-be-published Pinocchio illustrations, including all the drawings done for the book and additional art not included in it. The exhibit will be open to the public until July 8.  Take a look:

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DC outlines their plans for this summer’s ‘Knight Terrors’

The crossover event will take over DC’s comics line in July and August.

Earlier this year DC announced Knight Terrors, a crossover event that will run during the summer months and feature Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Deadman and others as they battle a new villain, Insomnia, in the realm of nightmares.

Now the publisher has revealed more details on the crossover event, which will take place across a special, a four-issue miniseries and numerous two-issue miniseries starring various heroes and villains trapped in their own nightmares. All of the issues appear to be planned for July and August, so by fall everyone should be awake again.

DC will kick off the event with an oversized special, Knight Terrors: First Blood #1 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter, which will set the stage for the event:

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Andre Frattino will tell Tom Petty’s ‘origin story’ in a new graphic novel

University Press of Florida will publish ‘Tom Petty’s Dreamville: A Graphic Novel’ in September.

University Press of Florida will publish Tom Petty’s Dreamville: A Graphic Novel by Andre Frattino, the creator of A Land Remembered: A Graphic Novel and Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour.

The biographical graphic novel will tell the story of the early life of the late singer, whose legendary musical career produced such hits as American Girl, Free Falling and Mary Jane’s Last Dance (which isn’t about Spider-Man). Petty grew up in Gainesville, Florida in the 1970s, and Frattino interviewed several of Petty’s friends and fellow musicians to put the story together.

“Tom Petty’s origin story felt like a road trip adventure, with our hero encountering many pitfalls and peaks on his journey to discover himself and his music,” Frattino said. “It was unlike any rock star origin story I had ever heard, and it happened in my own backyard! It wasn’t so much an interest to me to tell this story…as it was a dream.”

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Two Comixology vets return to comics with DSTLRY

The new publisher will offer creators an ownership stake in the company.

If you’ve been wondering what comiXology co-founder David Steinberger and former comiXology Originals head Chip Mosher have been doing lately, wonder no more. Today the duo have launched DSTLRY [pronounced “distillery”], a “next-generation comics publisher that redefines creator-owned comic books and collectibles.”

The new company will offer “limited physical and digital item drops, available online or in-store at local comic shops, while providing creators with fairer deals alongside company ownership.” There’s a lot to unpack from their press release, so let’s jump in … but first, here’s an image of DSTLRY’s founders drawn by Tula Lotay:

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The Web comes to Riverdale in ‘Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #313

Check out an exclusive preview of two new stories coming in next week’s digest from Archie Comics.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re happy to present a preview of two new stories from Betty & Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #313, which comes out April 19.

The publisher continues to team their vintage superhero characters with the Riverdale gang in this volume, starting with a character I don’t think we’ve seen yet in one of these digests — The Web. The character first debuted in the 1940s and has been brought back several times since then as part of the various Mighty Crusaders revamps over the year. In this story, the Web is actually Wyatt Raymond, the son of the original Web and original Pow-Girl. When Veronica’s purse goes missing, he uses his sleuthing know-how to help her find it. Writer Ian Flynn teams with Dan Parent, Bob Smith, Glenn Whitmore and Jack Morelli on this one.

Then in the second story, Dr. Zardox and his giant robotic death machine are on a rampage in Riverdale, and it’s up to the Crusaders and the Superteens to stop the madness. This one is also written by Flynn, with art by Bill Galvan, Jim Amash, Whitmore and Morelli.

Check out the previews for both stories below along with the credits and description, as well as a complete classic story written and drawn by Dan Parent.

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Harley Quinn gets a second ‘Black, White and Red’ series this summer

‘Harley Quinn: Black, White & Redder’ will kick off in July.

The Joker’s favorite former sidekick will get a second three-color anthology miniseries this summer, as DC has announced Harley Quinn: Black, White and Redder.

Like the previous miniseries, which debuted in 2020 as a digital first series, this one will feature stories by several different creative teams, all told in black and white — and red. Some of the creators you can expect to find in the six-issue miniseries include:

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Waid + Lupacchino revisit the original Teen Titans in a new series

‘World’s Finest: Teen Titans’ will spin out of Waid’s work on ‘World’s Finest.’

Readers of Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s World’s Finest know that the Teen Titans, Robin in particular, have played a key role in the series. Now the younger heroes who will one day become DC’s premiere superhero team will have their pasts explored in World’s Finest: Teen Titans by Waid and artist Emanuela Lupacchino.

“I’ve had so much fun writing the Teen Titans in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest that DC asked for more, and I couldn’t be happier,” Waid said. “Taking our cue from the main World’s Finest book, the series is set in the not-too-distant past, when Robin led the team—including Bumblebee and Mal Duncan—as they answered calls for help from kids worldwide and dealt with their celebrity status. The real fun for the wonderful Ema Lupacchino and me is revealing many surprising secrets about who each of the Titans really is. Even longtime readers will be stunned by these untold revelations.”

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Waid + Hitch team for ‘Last Days of Lex Luthor’ Black Label series

The ‘JLA: Heaven’s Ladder’ team is back together for a story that spins out of ‘Superman: Birthright.’

Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch, who previously worked together on JLA: Heaven’s Ladder, will reunite for a new Superman miniseries under DC’s adult-oriented Black label imprint.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor will feature the Man of Steel traveling far and wide to find a cure for a dying Lex Luthor, and will extend the story Waid told in Superman: Birthright. Waid and Hitch will be joined by inker Kevin Nowlan and color artist David Baron.

“For the first time, Superman’s fighting the tide of public opinion, embarking on a mission that billions of people outright oppose. But he has his reasons—partly because of who he is, but partly because of a debt he feels he owes—and readers of Superman: Birthright might already guess what that perceived debt is,” Waid said. “Together, Superman and Lex are racing the clock in search of a cure as they travel the breadth of the super-universe, from Atlantis to Kandor to the Phantom Zone, all spectacularly re-imagined by Bryan Hitch.”

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CCI announces 2023 Eisner Hall of Fame inductees and nominees

They also announced a programming change to when the Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized.

Comic-Con International has announced this year’s automatic inductees into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, as well as the field of nominees voters can choose from. They’ve also announced a big change to when the Hall of Fame inductees will be honored.

First off, the judges have selected 15 people who will automatically be inducted, which may be a record number — in previous years, the judges’ choices typically numbered less than six. The judges have chosen 11 deceased individuals and four living to induct.

The deceased greats are: Jerry Bails, Tony DeZuniga, Justin Green, Jay Jackson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Win Mortimer, Diane Noomin, Gaspar Saladino, Kim Thompson and Mort Walker. The judges’ living choices are Bill Griffith, Jack Katz, Garry Trudeau and Tatjana Wood.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ charts a new course into the frontiers of space

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Ben Hatke, Jeffrey Brown, Brian Michael Bendis, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Kev Walker, James Tynion IV, Lisandro Estherren, Stan Sakai, John Allison, Max Sarin 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 brings a new Guardians of the Galaxy series, more Usagi Yojimbo and a new John Allison miniseries. One thing that was supposed to be on the list this week but isn’t is Worldtr33 #1, the new James Tynion IV/Fernando Blanco series. Image Comics has announced that due to a printing error, the series won’t kick off until April 26. But hey, there’s plenty more coming out this week, including a new Nightmare Country miniseries written by Tynion.

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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Rest in peace, Al Jaffee

The world’s longest-working cartoonist and MAD Magazine veteran has passed away at the age of 102.

Al Jaffee, whose career as a working cartoonist spanned more than 70 years, has passed away at the age of 102.

Multiple outlets, from The Washington Post to the New York Times to the BBC and CNN and many more, paid tribute to the record-setting cartoonist. Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson.

At The Comics Journal, Michael Dean has written an extensive obituary for Jaffee, and I’ll also point you to Alex Dueben’s lengthy post from 2020 on Jaffee when the MAD Magazine icon retired. At the time, Dueben said:

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