Month: September 2024

Chris Moses + Andrea Giannini team up for ‘Synap’ at Mad Cave Studios

The science fiction title about a defense contractor that builds giant robots begins in November.

Mad Cave Studios has announced they will publish Synap, a new science fiction title by Chris Moses and Andrea Giannini this fall. The story centers on a defense company called Synap that creates giant robots to fight off potential alien invasions and the psychic individuals they recruit to control them.

Moses is an indie creator who has been making and crowdfunding his own comics under the Red Sea banner. This is Giannini’s debut comics project in the U.S.; he’s an Italian artist who has been working as an art assistant for publishing house Feltrinelli since he graduated from art school in 2022. They’ll be joined by colorist James Offredi and letterer Reed Hinckley Barnes.

“Synap is a comic I’ve been extremely excited to put out, combining my love for UFOs, psychics and conspiracy theories into one action-packed series,” Moses said. “It’s been awesome working with Andrea Giannini on his debut project – he is doing awesome work on the interiors! Last, Mad Cave has done a fantastic job supporting us while we create this book and I couldn’t imagine publishing Synap anywhere else!”

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Preview Vault + Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ graphic novel in a zero issue this October

It’s kind of like buying the single before the album is released.

Def Leppard’s arrival on the comic scene isn’t supposed to happen until next spring, but apparently that wait is just too long — a special “zero” issue featuring a preview of the graphic novel Hysteria will rocket into stores this October.

Named for the best-selling Def Leppard album, the graphic novel Hysteria is being co-written by the band’s guitarist, Phil Collen, and The Cursed Library scribe Eliot Rahal. It will feature artwork by Alex Schlitz, colorist Fabi Marques and letterer Andworld Design, and will be released through Vault’s musically inclined imprint Headshell.

“Blending music and comics together like this is an incredible and insane dream, and I could not be more thrilled by the work Eliot, Alex and Vault have put into Hysteria. It has been a joy and one hell of a ride. I know fans are going to love it,” Collen said. 

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Jeff Lemire’s ‘Minor Arcana’ materializes in comic shops this week

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Cullen Bunn, Christopher Mitten, Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, Jim Zub, Jonas Scharf, Eve L. Ewing, Carmen Carnero, Mark Waid, Dan Mora and more.

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

Labor Day has always marked the end of summer for me, as we shift from August to September and from hot sun to cooler weather (well, in theory, anyway). This week the harvest is bountiful, as it includes Minor Arcana, Jeff Lemire’s new title about the daughter of a fake psychic who may be a real psychic; the appropriately titled The Autumn Kingdom by Cullen Bunn and Christopher Mitten; a milestone Poison Ivy issue; and a new series spotlighting Groot.

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.

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‘Monstress’ wins this year’s Dragon Award

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s long-running title from Image Comics takes home another award.

Monstress, the dark fantasy comic that blends steampunk and Asian mythology by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, has won this year’s Dragon Award in the “Best Comic Book / Graphic Novel” category.

I’ve honestly lost count of how many awards Monstress and its creative team have won since Image Comics started publishing the title in 2015. A quick search reveals that the book and its creative team have won multiple British Fantasy Awards, multiple Eisner Awards, multiple Hugo Awards, a Harvey Award and a World Fantasy Award. Takeda just won another award for “Best Painter” at the Eisner Awards earlier this summer.

The award was presented at DragonCon in Atlanta this weekend, along with others in categories recognizing science fiction and fantasy books, movies, video games and more.

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Three Count | Happy Letterer Appreciation Day!

Here are three things to know, follow and watch on the day of the year we celebrate comic book letterers.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. And today is Letterer Appreciation Day, so make a big sound effect for your favorite letterer.

So what is a “letterer,” exactly? The person who fills the word balloons on a comic page? The designer of those great sound effects you see in an image? The saint making all those foreign language comics available to us in English? “One of the two most unheralded jobs in comics“? “The inkers for the writers“?

Maybe it’s all of the above. I also like this description from a Marvel.com article by Meagan Damore: “…letterers are the graphic artists who take the writer’s words and add them to the artwork, but their job extends beyond the simple transfer from script to the published page. Letterers also control pacing, convey emphasis, create sound effects, distinguish spoken words from thoughts and so much more.” Most modern comics are created collaboratively, and letterers are an important piece of the puzzle, bringing together the words and the art in a way that doesn’t hamper or overpower either. Quite frankly, you couldn’t have comics without them (except G.I. Joe #21, and even then, who added the title and credits to that first page, hmmm?).

So in appreciation of letterers, here are three things to know, follow and watch on Letterer Appreciation Day:

1. To know: Letterer Appreciation Day falls on Gaspar Saladino’s birthday

According to lettering living legend Todd Klein, Gaspar Saladino is “one of the greatest comics letterers of all time.” Saladino worked in the comics industry for about 60 years, lettering comics like Romance Trail, Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Justice League of America, The Flash, Showcase, Iron Man, The Avengers, Tales to Astonish, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and many more.

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