Month: September 2024

Can’t Wait for Wednesday | As ‘Absolute Power’ ends, DC’s ‘All In’ era begins

Check out comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson, Wes Craig, Daniel Sampere, Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Brian Azzarello, Vanesa Del Rey 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 is a big one for DC, as Absolute Power signals the end of one era and the All In special begins a new one. But that’s not all — there’s also a new Storm series, the debut of Hyde Street from Geoff Johns’ Ghost Machine, the return of Shadowman and much more.

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week 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 | As ‘Absolute Power’ ends, DC’s ‘All In’ era begins”

Ultron isn’t the only villain joining the West Coast Avengers

Meet Blue Bolt, ‘the biggest jerk in the Marvel Universe.’

Marvel’s West Coast Avengers relaunch announcement came with a surprise addition to the line-up in Ultron, one of the Avengers greatest foes. He’ll be joined by one of their not-so-greatest foes in Blue Bolt, a new character created by Gerry Duggan and Danny Kim.

Chad Braxton, a.k.a. Blue Bolt, is a former henchman with “unrefined lightning-based abilities” who joins the team as part of a prison release program. “Reckless, undisciplined, and downright rude, Blue Bolt may just be the biggest jerk in the entire Marvel Universe,” Marvel.com says. Blue Bolt joins a long list of former villains who have been members, including Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Black Widow and Sandman, among others.

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‘Behemoth’ is the story of a bus swallowed by a Kaiju

The giant monster miniseries by Grant Sputore, Ryan Engle, Jay Martin and Frank Cvetkovic, arrives in January from Dark Horse Comics.

Grant Sputore and Ryan Engle, two filmmakers with resumes that include monster movies, will team up to write Behemoth, a new miniseries coming from Dark Horse next year. They’re joined by Jay Martin, creator of Lost Boy, on art, and letterer Frank Cvetkovic.

Spurtore is the director of the next as-yet-untitled film in Legendary’s Godzilla/King Kong line, while Engle wrote the 2018 film Rampage, based on the video game about giant monsters. So naturally their first comic is about a Kaiju and the people on a bus who get eaten by it — which is where the story starts.

“Being a life-long Kaiju fan, I quite frequently find myself imagining giant monsters rampaging through whatever city I happen to be in,” Sputore said, mirroring something I’ve done myself. “Enjoying one such vision, back in 2022, I found myself struck by a thought: ‘How have we had 70 years of giant monster movies, but no one has ever told the story of the poor souls trapped inside a subway car as it’s devoured by a Kaiju?’ From that moment, I’ve been on a long journey to bring this David vs. Goliath story to life, with the help of Ryan and Jay’s boundless genius. Most recently, I’ve been invited to play in Legendary’s Monsterverse, which is clearly a dream come true for a kaiju fan like me – but for those interested, my first foray into the world of Kaiju storytelling can be found within the wild pages of Behemoth.”

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Slugfest | Unwrapping DC’s December solicitations

Find Challengers of the Unknown, New Gods, Superwoman and more under your Christmas tree this December.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on the new titles debuting in DC’s December solicitations, which you can find here or here. Hit the links for more information.

By December we’ll be a couple of months into DC’s All In publishing initiative, which not only features the publisher’s top talent working on top books — Mark Waid and Dan Mora doing a Justice League book, Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín on Detective Comics, etc. — but also the return of some quirky titles with new twists.

For instance, I didn’t have a new Metamorpho title or the first Two-Face title on my bingo card for 2024, but here we are. And here’s another one: Challengers of the Unknown will return in a new title by Christopher Cantwell and Sean Izaakse, and they’re getting a few new members — namely Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman.

As you can see on Mike Deodato’s cover for the first issue, DC’s Trinity may be joining the team, but they’ll be donning the traditional Challenger outfits:

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Oni Press will publish Meredith McClaren’s ‘Meat Eaters’ next year

The horror graphic novel is about a woman who dies and wakes up to a new reality.

Black Cloak artist Meredith McClaren is back with a new graphic novel landing next year from Oni Press. Meat Eaters, a horror story about a woman whose life changes when she dies and wakes up as something else, will arrive in stores next July.

“Meat Eaters is an ode to all the teen horror television I lovingly consumed over the years,” McClaren said. “Where there are bad things in the world, sometimes they hurt you, and sometimes that makes you change in ways you do not like.”

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DC + Sega team up for a Sonic + Justice League collaboration

Ian Flynn will write a five-issue miniseries featuring Sonic characters mashed up with DC heroes.

Who is faster, Superman, Flash … or Sonic? DC and Sega will put that question to the test next year as they partner to bring together Sonic the Hedgehog and the Justice League.

The collaboration will include a five-issue miniseries written by longtime Sonic scribe Ian Flynn. No artist for the project was named, but Dc will publish it next year.

According to DC, the event “features an unprecedented crossover event where the Justice League and Team Sonic must unite to save their worlds from a major threat.” And by unite, they must mean a mash-up, based on the images they shared of Shadow as Batman, Knuckles as Superman, Sonic as The Flash and more:

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Luana Vecchio returns to the world of ‘Lovesick’ with ‘Doll Parts’

The four-issue miniseries kicks off in December.

Image Comics has announced the sequel to Luana Vecchio’s Lovesick, the “dark sexploitation series” by the artist of Bolero. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale will present the origin of Domino, the dark web dominatrix who appeared in the first series.

“After finishing Lovesick, I knew I couldn’t stay away from Domino for long,” said Vecchio. “But before going back to the Lovesick Club, I knew I had to take a step back and explore Domino’s heart, dive into those sad eyes and return to her origins, back to Madeleine. I’ve always dreamed of writing a coming-of-age thriller-horror set in the 2000s, the very years I was a teenager myself. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale explores what it means to be a young girl in a world where youth is a double-edged sword, both a strength and a vulnerability. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve created and the themes I’ve tackled, I believe the comic world needs a character like Madeleine.”

Continue reading “Luana Vecchio returns to the world of ‘Lovesick’ with ‘Doll Parts’”

Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Batman prepares for ‘The Last Halloween’

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Jeph Loeb, Eduardo Risso, Tim Seeley, Freddie E. Williams II, Kyle Starks, Kyle Hotz, Pornsak Pichetshote, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Hope Larson, Charles Burns and more.

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

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week 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 | Batman prepares for ‘The Last Halloween’”

Slugfest | ‘Timeslide’ into Marvel’s December solicitations

December brings new comics featuring Cable, Bishop, the new Infinity Watch, Sabretooth and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on Marvel’s December solicitations. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel’s made a tradition of releasing a year-end one-shot in December that is usually one part complete story, one part preview of what to expect from the publisher in the next year. (It usually involves some sort of time travel angle as well).

This year’s edition is titled Timeslide, and in a year of big change for the X-Men line, it makes sense that this year’s story will feature Cable and Bishop, the X-Men’s resident time travelers. It’s by Steve Foxe and Ivan Fiorelli, and features a cover by Kael Ngu:

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Mariko Tamaki, Jeff Smith, Elsa Charretier, ‘Monica’ + more win at the 2024 Ringo Awards

The winners were announced during a ceremony held at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend.

This year’s Ringo Awards winners were announced last night during a ceremony at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

This marks the eighth year for the awards program named for artist Mike Wieringo, the artist of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Tellos and more who died in 2007.

Besides the Ringo Awards themselves, other awards were given out during the ceremony, including three from the Hero Initiative. Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort received The Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award, while artist Klaus Janson received the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award.

Artist Tom Raney received the first Brogan Fidelity Award. According to the Hero Initiative,”this new award honors creators who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the comic book medium and its fans, embodying the spirit of perseverance, passion and excellence, in the spirit of the late Dr. Kevin Brogan.”

 The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Spirit Award went to the comic The Hunger and the Dusk, by G. Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose, and published by IDW. This award is selected every year by perennial jurors Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, Mark Waid and Matt Wieringo, Mike’s brother.

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

Continue reading “Mariko Tamaki, Jeff Smith, Elsa Charretier, ‘Monica’ + more win at the 2024 Ringo Awards”

Al Ewing + Steve Lieber ‘get groovy’ with ‘Metamorpho: The Element Man’ this December

‘This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera.’

Some announcements just make you want to smile, like this one: Al Ewing and Steve Lieber will team up for a new series featuring Metamorpho, as part of DC’s All In initiative. Or maybe that should be “Al In,” considering it’s one of Ewing’s first major projects with the publisher.

Metamorpho: The Element Man will feature “done-in-ones” stories that build up to something bigger, according to Ewing, who is paired with Lieber of Jimmy Olsen fame. They’re joined by Lee Loughridge on colors.

“This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera,” Ewing said. “It’s a love letter to Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon and the spirit of superheroes at their wildest and weirdest—we’re aiming to catch the essential fab-freakiness of Metamorpho like lightning in a bottle and get groovy with it in our own special way.”

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Dark Horse books a FastPass to ‘Ripperland’ next year

Steve Orlando, John Harris Dunning and Alessandro Oliveri bring a murderer from the past to an England that’s become the most magical place on Earth.

“What would Jack the Ripper think of an England that was turned into a theme park?” might not be a question you’ve ever asked yourself, but it’ll get answered next year in a new miniseries coming from Dark Horse Comic.

Ripperland is co-written by Steve Orlando and John Harris Dunning, with art and cover art by Alessandro Oliveri, colors by Francesca Vivaldi and letters by Fabio Amelia. And yes, it is indeed about Jack the Ripper time-traveling to 2188 England to discover the country became a Victorian-themed amusement park because it needed the money after Brexit.

“Ripperland is unlike any book I’ve ever been part of–and I mean that in the best possible way,” Orlando said. “John and Alessandro are incredible talents, and the alchemy between us, across borders and across oceans, has created something truly special! This is Westworld meets From Hell in a gorgeous speculative fiction package! The streets of tomorrow’s London call…to yesterday! I can’t wait for everyone to see it!”

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