Month: June 2024

Daniel Warren Johnson + Riley Rossmo team up for ‘The Moon Is Following Us’

The new series will debut from Image Comics in September.

Daniel Warren Johnson and Riley Rossmo are teaming together for a new creator-owned series coming from Image Comics this fall. The Moon Is Following Us is “about family and about parenthood, but it also has sweet snake monsters,” Johnson said, as two parents go to extreme lengths to rescue their daughter.

In his email newsletter, Johnson revealed a look at the project, which he will write and then split the art duties with Rossmo. Mike Spicer will color the series.

“Needless to say, we are both bringing everything we got with this one,” Johnson writes. “Also, while I am writing it, we’re also splitting interior art duties, with Riley taking about 85%, and me the rest. It’s a super collab, and I haven’t seen different art styles used this way in storytelling yet.”

Continue reading “Daniel Warren Johnson + Riley Rossmo team up for ‘The Moon Is Following Us’”

Donald Duck proves himself worthy this fall

‘What If Donald Duck Became Thor?’ by Steve Behling, Riccardo Secchi, Lorenzo Pastrovicchio + more brings the thunder in September.

We’ve seen everyone from Captain America to Beta Ray Bill to even Wonder Woman deemed “worthy” to hold Thor’s enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, and this fall you can add another name to the list — Donald Duck.

Following Marvel’s foray into the world of Disney’s Duckburg later this month in Uncle $crooge and the Infinity Dime #1 and July’s Donald Duck/Wolverine mash-up, What If Donald Duck Became Thor? will explore what happens when Donald Duck discovers an ancient cane that allows him to transform into Thor — much like another Donald, Donald Blake, did back in the 1960s. It sounds like you can expect the one-shot to pull from a lot of that early Thor lore.

“When we saw the designs for the Stone Ducks of Saturn and The Destroyer we literally laughed out loud,” the book’s editor, Mark Paniccia, said. “I can honestly say I never thought I’d see something like this in my career. I gotta pinch myself to make sure it’s not a dream.”

This particular mash-up comes courtesy of writers Steve Behling and Riccardo Secchi and artist Lorenzo Pastrovicchio.

Continue reading “Donald Duck proves himself worthy this fall”

Cullen Bunn + Christopher Mitten enter ‘The Autumn Kingdom’ this fall

An author and his family discover a dark fantasy kingdom in the new miniseries coming from Oni Press.

Sept. 4 may technically still be summer, but autumn is coming early this year. Oni Press has announced The Autumn Kingdom, a new miniseries by horror masters Cullen Bunn and Christopher Mitten, will launch on that day.

The Autumn Kingdom is about an author and his family who head to an isolated cabin in Sweden so he can finish his latest dark fantasy novel, only to land in one themselves. The miniseries is colored by Francesco Segala and lettered by Taylor Esposito.

“The words ‘The Autumn Kingdom’ have been written in one of my oldest journals for decades,” Bunn said. “Over the years, I’ve returned to them again and again. I knew I wanted to tell a dark fantasy tale about the fairy realms. I just wasn’t sure what that story might be until I stumbled onto the idea of Sommer and Winter, a pair of young sisters who find themselves alone, facing the forces of a supernatural realm. Their lives—and the lives of their parents—are on the line. Thank goodness they’ve discovered a nasty, death-dealing blade that seems to hunger for the blood of elves and trolls and goblins. Sommer and Winter are thrown down a violent path from which there may be no escape. No matter what, they won’t get through this journey unscathed and unchanged.”

Continue reading “Cullen Bunn + Christopher Mitten enter ‘The Autumn Kingdom’ this fall”

Nelson Greaves + Davide Castelluccio enroll at ‘The Carlyle School for Kings’ this fall

Class is in session at Dark Horse Comics this October.

School is in session at The Carlyle School for Kings this fall, which features classes in revenge, friendship, romance and betrayal.

The story is by screenwriter Nelson Greaves, who wrote the 2014 film Unfriended, and artist Davide Castelluccio. They’re joined by colorist Francesca Vivaldi and letterer Frank Cvetkovic for the story of Emmelene Heron and her time at a school that prepares you to be king.

“Carlyle was born from the trauma I experienced as a country boy at a cut-throat Ivy League university,” said Greaves, who attended Harvard. “The culture encouraged us to win by any means necessary, and it wasn’t a Monday if you weren’t getting torn down, mocked and stabbed in the back. Unlike Emme, no one actually tried to kill me, and there wasn’t a giant living under my dining hall, but school still felt like a fight for my life, and I wanted to tell a story for anyone who’d felt that way, too.”

Continue reading “Nelson Greaves + Davide Castelluccio enroll at ‘The Carlyle School for Kings’ this fall”

Christopher Cantwell + Alex Lins combine body horror + superheroes in ‘Plastic Man No More’

The DC Black Label series begins in September.

Plastic Man isn’t the first character that comes to mind when I think “Who should star in a Black Label series?” but when you throw in the words “body horror,” suddenly it all comes together.

DC will release Plastic Man No More, a four-issue miniseries featuring a Plastic Man who suffers “catastrophic cellular damage,” loses control of his body and faces the prospect that he could die. It’s by writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Alex Lins, who work together on BOOM!’s Briar series.

“I don’t know about you, but when I think about Plastic Man, I immediately think of David Cronenberg,” Cantwell said. “There is an element of body horror to his story that I have always found fascinating. And I also found myself wondering recently—How would Plastic Man actually die? What would that look like? Is he immortal? And then I thought of the long and particularly nasty way real plastics and petroleum products break down when and if they finally do. That’s how I learned about depolymerization and the chemical process of ‘unzipping,’—from a particularly morose afternoon on the ol’ Internet, picturing what might happen to Eel if his entire cellular structure started to give way.”

Continue reading “Christopher Cantwell + Alex Lins combine body horror + superheroes in ‘Plastic Man No More’”

Exclusive: Clover Press brings back a popular tier for their ‘The Marvel Art of Michael Turner’ Kickstarter

The art book collects much of the work that the creator of ‘Fathom’ and co-creator of ‘Witchblade’ did for Marvel before his death in 2008.

Boutique publisher Clover Press has been working with Marvel to crowdfund high-end art books centered on some of their top artists, including David Mack, Alex Maleev, David Nakayama, Russell Dauterman and more. Their latest Kickstarter is for The Marvel Art of Michael Turner, and we’re pleased to share exclusively this morning that they’re bringing back a popular rewards tier to the campaign.

“The Ultimate,” as they billed it (AKA Tier K), included everything you’d find in previous tiers — including a slipcase edition of the hardcover book, art prints, metal trading cards, stickers, a puzzle and more. That includes everything being offered in the “Mystery” tier, so you get “get absolutely everything on the campaign (so far),” according to Clover Press.

It initially sold out in a few hours, so you’ll want to act fast if you’re interested.

“Michael Turner became a fast fan favorite, and this book is the clear evidence as to why,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz. “We’re ecstatic to bring such a comprehensive collection of Turner’s Marvel work together in one volume.” The campaign surpassed its goal quickly, and right now is at over $160,000.

Here’s what you’ll find in the returning tier:

Continue reading “Exclusive: Clover Press brings back a popular tier for their ‘The Marvel Art of Michael Turner’ Kickstarter”

The first volume of ‘The Hunger and the Dusk’ is $1.99 on Comixology today

Catch up on G. Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose’s epic fantasy before the second arc begins next month.

Last year award-winning writer G. Willow Wilson teamed up with artist Chris Wildgoose on The Hunger and the Dusk, a “high fantasy tour de force,” as the marketing billed it, and they weren’t lying. The series featured a dying world inhabited by humans and orcs who were once mortal enemies, but had to put their differences aside to face a powerfully brutal ancient race called the Vangol that threatened them both.

If that sounds intriguing, then this is your lucky week: not only has IDW released the first six issues — book one — as a trade paperback, but its available for the low price of $1.99 right now on Comixology.

And it comes at an opportune time, because next month will bring the the first issue of Book Two.

Continue reading “The first volume of ‘The Hunger and the Dusk’ is $1.99 on Comixology today”

Marvel’s 2024 Pride Month plans received internal criticism

An article in the Advocate quotes a Marvel employee who thought Marvel’s ‘ally’ covers were a ‘prank.’

Marvel’s approach to Pride Month this year received not only external criticism but also concern from their own employees, as an Advocate article revealed last week. An anonymous Marvel employee spoke to the publication about their reaction to an internal email about Marvel’s “ally” variant covers, which many have said put the spotlight on non-LGBTQ+ characters during a month aimed to spotlight and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. “I thought, ‘they’re really erasing us,’” the employee told the publication.

What was different about Marvel’s approach this year? First, they opted not to call this year’s Pride special a Pride special. The Marvel’s Voices: Pride anthology, as they’ve called it in years past, was replaced with X-Men: The Wedding Special — which featured the wedding of Mystique and Destiny, the first time a wedding between two women was shown in a Marvel comic. The comic also featured additional stories that tied into the main story, by creators like Yoon Ha Lee, a trans science fiction author, and M. Louis, creator of the webcomic Agents of the Realm. While it served a similar function, showcasing stories about LGBTQ+ characters, it did so without the word “Pride” in the title (although it did sport an emblem on the cover that noted it was “A Very Special Edition of Marvel Voices: Pride.”)

Continue reading “Marvel’s 2024 Pride Month plans received internal criticism”

Mad Cave Studios launches their 2024 Talent Search

Entries are due by the end of August.

Mad Cave Studios has announced their 2024 Talent Search, which they’ve conducted for the past seven years. Previous winners have gone on to work with Mad Cave and other publishers, including Anthony Cleveland, Jay Sandlin, David Hazan, Shane Connery Volk and many more.

The type of talent they’re looking for changes every year; up until 2022, they were looking for writers and artists, but that year they expanded it to include colorists and letterers. This year they are doubling the number of winners in each category, as they are looking for two writers, two illustrators, two colorists and two letterers to work on upcoming projects.

Continue reading “Mad Cave Studios launches their 2024 Talent Search”

Celebrate 50 years of Deathlok with Denys Cowan, Justina Ireland, Christopher Priest + more

‘Deathlok 50th Anniversary Special’ arrives in September.

Marvel will celebrate 50 years of Deathlok this September with a special that will include contributions from Christopher Priest, Justina Ireland, Denys Cowan, Dale Eaglesham, Matthew Waite, Luke Ross and more.

“I’m always excited and humbled to write anything in the Marvel universe, but Deathlok as a character is especially important to me because as a U.S. Army veteran, his origin story really resonates in a horrifying way,” Ireland said. “So I’m excited to dig into the emotional core of what makes Deathlok so unique, while also having some fun.”

Ireland, the writer of Dread Nation, Deathless Divide, Ophie’s Ghosts and several Star Wars books, served as an Arabic linguistics expert in the U.S. Army. In addition to writing, she works as a supervisor in logistics for the Department of the Navy.

Continue reading “Celebrate 50 years of Deathlok with Denys Cowan, Justina Ireland, Christopher Priest + more”

Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Breaking the law comes with an interesting price in Greg Pak + Diego Galindo’s ‘Lawful’

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Molly Knox Ostertag, Sara Varon, Zac Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Peter Bagge, Jed Mackay, Pepe Larraz, Andy Diggle, Leandro Fernandez, Louie Joyce and more.

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

If you’ve been following Marvel’s Blood Hunt, then this is the week for you, as it brings not only the third issue but also four crossover issues. DC meanwhile presents a new miniseries set in the world of the classic Gotham by Gaslight, while Peter Bagge returns to one of the most beloved alternative comix of all time in Hate Revisited. There’s also new graphic novels from Molly Knox Ostertag and Sara Varon, a creator-owned title by Zac Thompson and Hayden Sherman, and a skateboarding Godzilla comic. Or maybe I should say a “Godzilla-meets-skateboarding” comic, because I’m not sure if the king of all monsters actually shreds in it or not. But we’ll see.

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 | Breaking the law comes with an interesting price in Greg Pak + Diego Galindo’s ‘Lawful’”

There’s a demon in the White House in ‘The Exorcism at 1600 Penn’

Hannah Rose May + Vanesa Del Rey’s new IDW title arrives this October, just in time for election season.

IDW returns to its horror roots this October with The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, a four-issue miniseries by writer Hannah Rose May, artist Vanesa Del Rey, colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

The series is about the first woman president of the United States and the demons she must contend with when she and her family move into the White House. Literal demons, just for clarification.

“As someone who has always loved horror, I wanted to tell a story that let me play with the genre’s tropes but in a setting we haven’t seen before,” Rose May said. “The White House is arguably the most famous house in the world and I thought it would be fun to use it as a location to set an exorcism. At its core, this is a story about family and faith, but it also addresses the intensity of the 24/7 news cycle, the noise of social media and the expectations put upon the First Family.”

Continue reading “There’s a demon in the White House in ‘The Exorcism at 1600 Penn’”