Month: April 2024

‘Misery’ doesn’t love company in this new Spawn Universe title

The new title by Todd McFarlane and Szymon Kudrański featuring a classic Spawn character kicks off in May.

The expansion of the Spawn universe continues in Misery, a four-issue miniseries about Cyan Fitzgerald, the daughter of Spawn’s wife, Wanda, who passed away in 2016. Cyan, now 17, has a “healing” power that forces her to distance herself from those she loves.

McFarlane will write the series, which will be drawn by Szymon Kudrański, artist of Blood Commandment. It’s part of the much bigger Spawn Universe that McFarlane is building out this year.

“Having two daughters myself, I watch them both grow older, see them flourish and struggle, as they become young women,” said McFarlane. “To also try and imagine that they’ve lost their biggest supporter, their mom—it would have been so very impactful on their lives. This was the inspiration for the idea of this book: What if, at the most crucial time in a young person’s life, instead of embracing all that life has to offer, they instead had to shield themselves from society. What would that do to their maturing personalities? That’s what this book will explore while also bringing in a dark element of horror that will haunt the Cyan character.”

Continue reading “‘Misery’ doesn’t love company in this new Spawn Universe title”

Return to the world of ‘Mezo’ for ‘The Trial of Roden’ this May [Exclusive Preview]

Tyler Chin-Tanner, Val Rodrigues, Gab Contreras and Varga Tomi are joined by Jarred Luján for the next chapter in the magical Mesoamerican saga.

Things will go from bad to worse for Roden, the soldier who showed mercy to his enemy in 2022’s Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock. Creator and writer Tyler Chin-Tanner and artists Val Rodrigues, Gab Contreras and Varga Tomi
return to the world of Mezo this May with Mezo: The Trial of Roden.

The five-issue miniseries from A Wave Blue World will kick off on May 1, when Chin-Tanner will welcome co-writer Jarred Luján to the team. While Mezo is set in a past where magic is real, the book’s strength comes from its gripping wartime adventure, political intrigue, old-world combat and character moments.

“There really is some beautiful character work in Mezo, and this entire volume, I think, speaks to that,” Luján said. “While the book obviously centers on Roden after his arrest for sparing Uhna’s life, one of my favorite parts really is Kyma and her quest for vengeance against Phegor. A lot has happened in two volumes of this series, but this really feels like the biggest collision point since Vuh started this war back in the debut issue.”

Courtesy of A Wave Blue World, we’re pleased to present an exclusive preview of Rodrigues’ art from the first issue.

“One of the things I was most excited for when we got back to Mezo was to see how Val would apply some of his new art techniques. He’s been visualizing this unique fantasy world through volumes 1 and 2, and he’s taking it to a whole new level with volume three. You can see how he’s starting to play around with page layout and make the visual style of this series his own,” said Chin-Tanner.

Check out the first issue’s covers, solicitation information and the preview below.

Continue reading “Return to the world of ‘Mezo’ for ‘The Trial of Roden’ this May [Exclusive Preview]”

Rest in peace, Mark D. Bright

The artist of ‘Quantum & Woody,’ ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Icon’ and more was 68.

Mark “M.D.” Bright, an artist whose resume included drawing iconic runs on Iron Man and Green Lantern, as well as co-creating the Valiant Comics series Quantum and Woody and the Milestone Media series Icon, has passed away.

Bright died on March 27 at the age of 68. While no cause of death has been reported, an obituary posted by the funeral home notes he passed away “peacefully.”

Continue reading “Rest in peace, Mark D. Bright”

Take a look at one of the stories from the ‘Death of Comics Bookcase’ anthology

Zack Quaintance and a host of great artists are crowdfunding an anthology of stories as told by a talking bookcase.

Comics blogger Zack Quaintance left his former blog, Comics Bookcase, behind a few years ago, but now he’s circling back to finish it off in Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 1, which is now up on Kickstarter.

“I shut down my comics site a couple years ago to focus on creating comics,” Quaintance said. “Now, I’m dusting it off to tell the tale of the titular Bookcase’s demise. There will be blood…and bookcases…and comics. It’ll be great!”

The 48-page anthology features six stories, all written by Quaintance and featuring artwork by Anna Readman, Nick Cagnetti, Luke Horsman, PJ Holden, Pat Skott, Ryan Lee and more.

Courtesy of Quaintance, we’re pleased to share a preview of one of the stories from the anthology titled Next Door #2, a “subtle neighborhood crime short” that follows up the 2021 comic Next Door, which features art by Skott, colors by Ellie Wright and letters by Rob Jones. You can check out the preview and more information about the book below.

Continue reading “Take a look at one of the stories from the ‘Death of Comics Bookcase’ anthology”

Rest in peace, Ed Piskor

The creator of ‘Hip Hop Family Tree’ passed away on Monday.

Ed Piskor, the creator of Hip Hop Family Tree and X-Men: Grand Design, has passed away at the age of 41.

According to the obituary posted on the Savolskis – Wasik – Glenn Funeral Home website, Piskor passed away “unexpectedly” yesterday. His sister, Justine Cleaves, confirmed her brother’s passing on Facebook.

The news followed a week of allegations against the artist for inappropriate behavior and grooming of an aspiring artist. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust  indefinitely postponed a gallery showing of Piskor’s artwork as a result of the allegations, and his longtime podcast partner Jim Rugg announced he was ending his working relationship with Piskor. Piskor posted an apparent suicide note on social media yesterday several hours before it was revealed he had died.

Continue reading “Rest in peace, Ed Piskor”

Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Ghost Machine debuts with three titles this week

Check out comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch, Stan Sakai, Elise Gravel, Maple Lam, Christi Furnas, Leela Corman, Graham Chaffee and more.

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

This week brings the debut of three new titles from Ghost Machine, the publishing venture formed by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Jason Fabok and more. There’s also a new Deadpool series, the return of Minor Threats, a graphic novel starring DC’s Dreamer and much more.

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.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Ghost Machine debuts with three titles this week”

Nominees announced for the 2024 Hugo Awards

The winners will be announced in August.

Following a controversial 2023 awards program, the nominees have been announced for the 2024 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

Before getting to the nominees, let’s talk about what happened last year. The selection committee for the annual awards program, which recognizes literary achievements in science fiction, excluded several authors over concerns that their work could be offensive to China, which hosted the World Science Fiction Convention where the awards are presented. A series of leaked emails showed how the judges decided not to include works that had received enough votes, including those by Paul Weimer, R.F. Kuang and Xiran Jay Zhao. While the controversy did not appear to impact the comics category, an episode of the Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman was excluded from the Best Dramatic Presentation category.

This all led to several resignations and reprimands and a whole bunch of negative PR for WorldCon and the awards. So it’s no surprise that this year many people may be giving the Hugos a bit of a side-eye, and some nominees declined their nominations. It is worth noting that this year’s awards are being administered by a completely different group of people and WorldCon will take place in Scotland this August.

So, without further ado, here are this year’s nominees in the comics category:

Continue reading “Nominees announced for the 2024 Hugo Awards”