Month: June 2024

Slugfest | BOOM! celebrates 25 years of ‘Farscape’

Plus: ‘Life,’ ‘Remote Space,’ Fantagraphics’ fall schedule, Minecraft, Dog Man and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Farscape, the Australian-American science fiction television series created by Rockne O’Bannon and the Jim Henson Company that ran on SciFi, will return to comics in August courtesy of BOOM! Studios, who published the previous Farscape series.

The 25th anniversary special one-shot will be the first Farscape comic published since 2010, and it’ll feature stories by  Keith R.A. DeCandido, who wrote many of BOOM!’s previous Farscape comics, along with Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Sarah Gailey, Sina Grace and more.

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Bloodhunting 2 | Tie-ins, heel turns and plot complications

The Smash Pages crew sinks their fangs into the second issue of Marvel’s ‘Blood Hunt,’ as well as some of the crossover issues.

Marvel’s Blood Hunt crossover is in full swing, with a second issue, several crossover issues and a few tie-in miniseries hitting shelves over the last few weeks.

Once again, the Smash Pages team — myself, Shane Bailey and Tom Bondurant — has come together to talk about the event, with our second “Bloodhunting” roundtable. You can read our thoughts on the first issue here.

This time around we talk about Blood Hunt #2, as well as crossover issues featuring Spider-Man, the Avengers, Doctor Strange, the Blood Hunters and Dracula. Please note there are blood-soaked SPOILERS in this discussion related to the story, so only enter if you dare — or if you’re in your astral form, and are thus protected from all things spoiler-y. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works.

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Dan DiDio + Jim Calafiore revive ‘Defenders of the Earth’ at Mad Cave Studios

The eight-issue series featuring Flash Gordon, the Phantom and more will launch in August.

As part of their revival plans for Flash Gordon, Mad Cave Studios has announced the creative team for Defenders of the Earth, an eight-issue series based on the animated TV show. Former DC Publisher and current Frank Miller Presents publisher Dan DiDio will write the series, with Jim Calafiore of Exiles, Secret Six and Leaving Megalopolis fame on art.

Defenders of the Earth ran for 65 episodes back in the mid-1980s, and featured Flash Gordon teaming up with other King Features comic-strip characters to battle Ming the Merciless. Flash, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Lothar, Mandrake’s assistant, were joined by their children as they, um, defended the Earth.

“As a fan of the original animated series, I was excited by the opportunity to work on this title,” said DiDio. “I’m hoping to build on some of the show’s classic elements and move them in new directions while exploring the personalities and lives of the characters that make the series great. One of the best aspects of the series was finding a way to unite the show’s four disparate, iconic stars following the end of their war with Ming. What sets it apart from other books featuring Flash Gordon, Mandrake, The Phantom, and Lothar is the added generational aspect of the story—that’s the fun part of writing. The father/son relationships of Flash and Rick, and Lothar and LJ; the father/daughter relationship of The Phantom and Jenna; and the mentor/protege relationship of Mandrake and Kshin are really the heart of the story. What makes and breaks these families is key to saving the world from a new and more deadly challenge.”

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Three Count | Kamandi, Fungi Feast, Colleen Coover

Here are three things to see, to support and to buy in comics today.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. Don’t eat things you find, Scout.

1. To See: Tom Fowler’s Kamandi: Search & Destroy art

If you follow Tom Fowler’s comics work or even just his social media, you know he has a tendency to draw some really wild-looking creatures at times (some of which you can find on T-shirts courtesy of his Threadless store). They are the kind of designs that would be perfect for a world created by Jack Kirby, so it’s no surprise that his concept art for a Kamandi series is simply awesome:

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Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel + Rod Reis return to the world of ‘C.O.W.L.’

‘C.O.W.L.: 1964′ will launch in August and will tie into Higgins’ larger Massive-verse line of titles.

Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis will reunite 10 years later for C.O.W.L.: 1964, a three-issue miniseries that begins later this summer.

C.O.W.L., which has officially joined the Massive-verse titles overseen by Higgins, first launched in 2014. Set in the 1960s, the comic centers on the Chicago Organized Workers League, the world’s first super-hero labor union, which battled super villains, organized crime and eventually their own faltering public image. The previous series has been collected into two volumes.

“Returning to C.O.W.L. is very special for me,” said Higgins. “The series’ origins date back to my college thesis film, The League, and before that to the short story I wrote that got me into film school. It’s something that’s been with both Alec and myself for a long time. When Alec, Rod and I started this book In 2014, the idea of building it to be a part of a something larger wasn’t something that we thought we would ever be able to do. Now, as we come back to finish the core story, we’ll also be setting the stage for the future of C.O.W.L. and in some ways, The Massive-Verse.”

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John Arcudi + Savannah Finley bring ‘Convert’ to Image Comics

The miniseries kicks off in August.

Veteran comics writer John Arcudi will return this summer with a new miniseries drawn by Savannah Finley. Convert is a science fiction story about a science officer who is stranded on an alien planet, where he’s haunted by his dead crew.

The writer of B.P.R.D., Major Bummer and more said the new series is a “more intimate” approach to science fiction for him.

“Convert was maybe my first opportunity to write a science fiction story the way I wanted to, meaning something more personal, more intimate—while at the the same time more fantastic—than what I’m used to seeing in the genre,” Arcudi said. “My hope is that this human element in the comic will connect with readers.”

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Jacket required: Steve Orlando + friends return to Avengers Mansion for ‘Avengers Assemble’

The second ‘Avengers’ title will feature some old classics and some new faces.

Avengers old and new will assemble under the leadership of Steve Rogers in Avengers Assemble, which launches in September.

Scarlet Witch and The Scale Trade writer Steve Orlando will work with several different artists on the series, including Cory Smith, Scot Eaton, Marcelo Ferreira and more, with Smith drawing the first issue.

As for the premise, it follows the current Avengers storyline that’s running during Blood Hunt, which has Captain America assembling a ragtag team to battle vampires while the primary Avengers team goes up against Blade and his minions. Steve Rogers will also head up this new team, which will include several classic Avengers, like Wonder Man, Hercules, She-Hulk, Hawkeye, Wasp and Photon, along with some more obscure Avengers like Shang Chi and Lightning, plus two new faces to the team — former New Warriors leader Night Thrasher and Power Pack’s Lightspeed.

“This is a great time to assemble!” Orlando shared. “Avengers Assemble is bringing a murderer’s row of classic Avengers back to the Mansion, and classic comics storytelling is coming with it! A team of icons and new recruits alike, but heavy on the icons! And in every issue, a barnburner of an entire story packed into 20 pages!”

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Nominees announced for this year’s Reuben Award

The winner will be announced in August.

The National Cartoonist Society has announced the nominees for the 2023 Cartoonist of the Year, commonly known as The Reuben Award. These follow the NCS divisional award nominees, which were announced earlier this year.

This year’s list includes six cartoonists rather than the traditional five, due to a tie in voting.

Congrats to this year’s nominees:

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Dark Horse will collect the 2000 miniseries ‘Space Circus’ this December

The hardcover will feature some of the final art colored by Tom Luth, who passed away last month.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a collection of Space Circus by the Groo the Wanderer creative team of Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, Tom Luth and Stan Sakai.

The miniseries was originally released in 2000 but was never collected. Dark Horse will release the 112-page story as a hardcover this December. It features a new cover by Aragones and Luth, which could be the final piece of art that Luth worked on. The longtime colorist of Groo the Wanderer, The Badger, Usagi Yojimbo and more passed away last month from an apparent heart attack, according to Evanier.

“The last thing he colored for Sergio — and I suspect for anyone — was the cover to a forthcoming collection of our 2000 mini-series, Space Circus,” Evanier wrote on his blog in May. “Tom colored the original series back then and he colored a wonderful wrap-around cover that you’ll see on the book when it’s released later this year.”

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WBTN: Webtoon registers with the SEC to go public

The popular webcomics platform plans to list its stock on the NASDAQ.

Webtoon Entertainment, the parent company of the popular webcomics platform Webtoon, has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to begin the process of becoming a publicly traded company. According to the prospectus, Webtoon would list its stock on the NASDAQ market under the WBTN symbol.

The prospectus is a great read if you’re interested in the business aspects of Webtoon, how it operates and how it views creators, who are vital to its business model. It’s also very readable, compared to a lot of legal/government filings, as it tells the story of the company and its founder/CEO, Junkoo Kim.

 “The project was born out of my own love of comics, which I’ve been passionate about since I was young,” Kim writes in his opening message. “Comics are like a window into another world, capable of transporting readers to distant, fantastic places, and creating new perspectives. I’ve long admired the talented artists who create comics and have the incredible gift of building entire universes on a page. I truly love visual stories and storytelling, which is why I am so passionate about helping a diverse new generation of creators succeed.”

Kim was a search engineer at the Naver Corporation, the South Korean internet conglomerate that currently owns Webtoon Entertainment, when he came up with the idea for it. According to the paperwork, Naver would retain a controlling interest in Webtoon after the public offering. The exact percentage of ownership they plan to offer and the opening price have not been determined and aren’t included in the document. They also don’t plan to offer a dividend for the foreseeable future (which is something my dad will ask about if he sees this).

But what is included? Stat and data on Webtoon, as displayed in this handy infographic and the document itself:

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Scarlett’ debuts; an ‘X-Men’ era ends; ‘Barda’ goes hard + more

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Kelly Thompson, Marco Ferrari, Josie Campbell, Pablo M. Collar, Alex Paknadel, Troy Little, Gerry Duggan, Garry Brown, Tom Waltz, Juan Jose Ryp, Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Ngozi Ukazu, Tony McMillen 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 a pretty packed week for comics, with a new entry in the Energon Universe saga, an ending to the Krakoa era of the X-Men, a prelude to a new dawn for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a YA take on Big Barda that looks incredible. And that’s only scratching the surface!

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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Vancouver Comic Arts Festival apologizes for banning a Jewish artist from future festivals

Following the controversy where the festival banned Miriam Libicki, a “vast majority” of the board has resigned.

The Vancouver Comic Arts Festival has issued an apology on social media after coming under scrutiny for an earlier statement about banning cartoonist Miriam Libicki, creator of the autobiographical comic Jobnik! and a contributor to the 2020 Eisner Award nominee But I Live, from attending future shows.

Libicki, a citizen of both the United States and Israel who currently lives in Canada, served in the Israeli military — which is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over the age of 18*. Since then, Libicki has recounted her experiences in the military in her comic Jobnik! and also contributed to But I Live, a collection of nonfiction comics that draw from the experiences of Holocaust survivors.

Libicki has been a regular attendee of the festival since its inception in 2012, and at the 2022 show, she was met with protestors who “caused a scene” because of her prior military experience, according to a post from her husband, Mike Yoshioka. After missing the deadline for the 2023 show, he said she applied to return in 2024 but was rejected by the show’s organizers, which led to a meeting. According to Yoshioka, Libicki agreed not to display issues of Jobnik! or Toward A Hot Jew, a collection of graphic essays published by Fantagraphics in 2016. She would only feature But I Live.

“In recent years, I have been working closely with Holocaust survivors to tell their own stories,” Libicki told The Canadian Jewish News. “I consider this urgent and timely work. The award-winning anthology of Holocaust memoirs, But I Live, was the only graphic novel I was selling at VanCAF 2024.”

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