Month: July 2026

Tim Seeley, Aaron Campbell + Ben Templesmith bring my Summerween nightmares to life in ’12 Foot Skeleton’

The new series debuts from Ignition Press in October.

So are you familiar with the term “Summerween,” which has somehow made it into my vernacular despite my best efforts? It actually comes from the TV show Gravity Falls, from an episode where they celebrated Halloween in the summer, which is ok, great even; I’m a big fan of Halloween.

But at my house “Summerween” is the term my wife uses when the Halloween decorations go out at CostCo, Home Depot and [insert the name of any retailer way too close to my house] here. It happens sometime at the end of June, and some years it can be scarier than Halloween. Now, we do not own the very popular giant skeletons that have infiltrated neighborhoods around the United States — we had a neighbor in California who kept theirs up all year and re-decorated it based on the next holiday — but we do have this monstrosity, among other decorations.

But that giant skeleton has become such a phenomenon that it’s getting its own comic, 12 Foot Skeleton, courtesy of Ignition Press, writers Tim Seeley and Aaron Campbell, and artist Ben Templesmith. I mean, who better to help channel my nightmares about Summerween?

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Your 2026 Eisner Award winners

‘Absolute Martian Manhunter’ and its creative team took home multiple awards on the comic industry’s biggest night.

The winners of the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced Friday night in San Diego, after being accidentally leaked a few days before. That didn’t stop the event from happening, however, or the excitement for the winners, and we carried on posting results on BlueSky.

Javier Rodriguez had a big night, taking home three Eisners, all tied to Absolute Martian Manhunter: Best Limited Series, Best Penciller/Inker and Best Cover Artist. His collaborator, Deniz Camp, wasn’t far behind with two wins for, again, Best Limited Series for Absolute Martian Manhunter and Best New Series for Assorted Crisis Events. Overall DC walked away with the most wins of any publisher. Abrams and Fantagraphics also had multiple wins at the event.

In addition to the Eisners, other awards given out included:

  • The Bill Finger Award, which went to Jenny Blake Isabella and Martin Pasko.
  • The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award, which went to Stipan Morian.
  • The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, presented to Richard and Wendy Pini.
  • The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award, which went to Books With Pictures in Eugene, Oregon.
  • And of course the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, which had 23 inductees this year.

Congrats to this year’s winners!

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The Punisher faces off with the Predator in a new miniseries

Frank Tieri and Jesús Saíz bring ‘pop culture’s greatest killing machines’ together for a bloody confrontation.

The Punisher is popping up everywhere these days, from numerous comic miniseries to Disney+ specials to big budget blockbusters like the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But he’s found someone who won’t be so happy to see him, as he faces off the Predator in a new miniseries.

The four-issue miniseries by Frank Tieri and Jesús Saíz will put Frank Castle against the galaxy’s greatest hunter, following in the footsteps of Black Panther, Wolverine and other Marvel characters who have faced off with the aliens.

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Jeff Smith, Colleen Doran, Chris Ware + Akira Toriyama join the Eisner Hall of Fame

Congrats to the Eisner Hall of Fame class of 2026.

In a ceremony held earlier today at the San Diego Comic-Con, the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame added 23 new inductees into their ranks.

The Hall of Fame committee chose most of those inductees earlier this year, while voters chose four to join them from a field of 16.

The four who were voted in are:

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James Harren unleashes ‘The Demon’ in DC’s latest Next Level series

Jason Blood wrestles with the Demon Etrigan bound to his soul as Hell’s monsters feast on humanity in the shadows.

And here’s another Next Level series that joins DC’s growing line: Ultramega creator James Harren will give us all hell in The Demon, which he will both write and draw. He’ll be joined by colorist Dave Stewart and letterer Clayton Cowles.

It joins other recent Next Level launches like Batwoman, Lobo, Deathstroke: The Terminator, The Fury of Firestorm and Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death, which I just finished posting about.

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Jonah Hex rides again in a new miniseries from Michael Walsh

‘Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death’ is the latest addition to DC’s Next Level line, blending frontier grit with horror.

DC’s Next Level line continues to grow, with several announcements coming out of the San Diego Comic-Con today. Let’s start with Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death, a new six-issue series written and drawn by Exquisite Corpses co-creator Michael Walsh.

The miniseries pushes DC’s Next Level initiative into Western territory with a blend of folk horror, frontier grit and psychological tension.

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Marvel will launch Venom + Mary Jane series in the wake of ‘Queen in Black’

Charles Soule and Tommaso Bianchi reunite Eddie Brock with the Venom symbiote, while Ashley Allen and Phil Noto send Mary Jane Watson out on her own.

All good things, right? I’ve been enjoying Al Ewing’s Mary Jane-as-Venom stories, but it looks like they’ll come to an end after Queen in Black concludes.

Marvel has announced what comes next after that event series in San Diego today. Charles Soule and Tommaso Bianchi will helm a relaunched Venom ongoing series beginning in October, while Ashley Allen and Phil Noto bring us a five-issue Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane series in November.

In Venom #1, Eddie Brock and Venom are reunited after their long separation, with Eddie determined to be the ultimate host for the symbiote and reclaim his role as the Lethal Protector.

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DC pairs Batman + Absolute Batman in a one-shot for Batman Day 2026

‘Batman of Two Worlds’ #1 puts Matt Fraction and Scott Snyder’s takes on the Dark Knight side by side this September.

At the San Diego Comic-Con today, DC has announced Batman of Two Worlds #1, a one-shot that’ll debut for Batman Day 2026 on Sept. 19.

The issue pairs an all-new Batman story by writer Matt Fraction, artist Javi Fernández, colorist Tomeu Morey and letterer Clayton Cowles, alongside an all-new Absolute Batman story from writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Derington, colorist Frank Martin and letterer Tom Napolitano. The regular artists for those two titles, Jorge Jiménez and Nick Dragotta, drew the cover:

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Shaquille O’Neal partners with Archie Comics for pirate epic ‘Vengeance Unchained: The Legend of Black Caesar’

Stephanie Williams and Ray-Anthony Height team for a new series based on the life of the pirate Black Caesar.

Archie’s October solicitations brings us our first look at Vengeance Unchained: The Legend of Black Caesar, a new series arriving this fall about the rise of one of history’s most mythologized pirates.

If you’re scratching your head and asking yourself, “Archie Comics?” I just want to note that isn’t a typo — the home of Archie Andrews and friends is doing a comic outside their traditional Riverdale universe and sans any Jugheads or Veronicas. Which is different from what we might expect from them, but it’s not unheard of, as they once published Sonic the Hedgehog.

This one is actually a partnership between Archie Comics and Shaquille O’Neal, the basketball Hall of Famer, business mogul and insurance spokesperson. Eisner-nominated writer Stephanie Williams is writing the series, with art from Ray-Anthony Height and Studio Sky-Tiger. Colin Smeeton, Mike Parris and Matthew Gross of O’Neal’s Jersey Legends Productions/Authentic Studios are overseeing the project.

Here’s a look at Height’s cover for the project:

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin III – Return for New York’ will arrive next summer

The original creative team returns for the final chapter set in the Turtle’s future. Meanwhile, the current TMNT title gets a new creative team next year.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin III — Return for New York, the third and final chapter in Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz’s Roninverse trilogy, will arrive next summer. Entertainment Weekly revealed the project and its cover today.

“When [co-creator] Kevin Eastman and I sat down to write the original TMNT: The Last Ronin, we had high hopes readers would love the story just as much as we loved telling it,” Waltz told EW. “Little did we know, that love would be exponentially returned to us and our amazing art teams…From that first volume, throughout all the subsequent prequels/sequels that have followed in what we now fondly call the Roninverse. And, here we are, capping off the main trilogy with TMNT: The Last Ronin III — Return for New York…and we couldn’t be happier!”

The original creative team of Eastman, Waltz, Isaac and Esau Escorza, Luis Antonio Delgado and Ben Bishop will return for this final chapter.

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Dark Horse announces new ‘Minor Threats’ noir series, ‘The Cleaner’

Gerry Duggan, Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Mark Torres return to the Minor Threats universe with another spinoff this fall.

Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn’s Minor Threats line will expand yet again in November with From the World of Minor Threats: The Cleaner.

Dark Horse announced the four-issue noir series at the San Diego Comic-Con this week. The title will be written by Gerry Duggan, Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, with art, colors, and design by Mark Torres and letters by Nate Piekos. The character first appeared in the anthology From the World of Minor Threats: Welcome to Twilight in a story by Duggan and Torres.

“When Gerry and Mark introduced The Cleaner in Welcome To Twilight, we knew there were more bodies buried in that fertile ground,” said Blum. “Along with those rotting heroes and villains was a deeply human, personal, twisted, pulpy, gorgeous story that Gerry and Mark Torres needed their own series to tell. The Cleaner is one of the best examples of what a Minor Threats story can be, a point of view in the genre of spandex we’ve never seen, grounded by an emotional hook that pulls you deep into their world.”

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Fortune and glory, kid: Jason Aaron + Aaron Kuder bring Indiana Jones back to comics

‘Indiana Jones and the Sword of Pandemonium’ will launch at Marvel this December.

The Lucasfilm Publishing panel at the San Diego Comic-Con today revealed that Indiana Jones will raid lost arks once again in the pages of a comic. Indiana Jones and the Sword of Pandemonium, a new five-issue miniseries by writer Jason Aaron and artist Aaron Kuder, will kick off a new era of Indy comics set during the original film trilogy.

Aaron is no stranger to working on Lucasfilm Properties, having helped launch a new era of Star Wars comics in 2015.

“I’ve wanted to adventure alongside Indiana Jones since I was 8 years old, to climb through ancient crypts and run for my life in exotic locales, to seek the world’s most fabled treasures. Now, here I am, feeling the same sort of joy I felt in 2015 when we launched Star Wars #1,” Aaron said. “This is the Indy of Raiders of the Lost Ark, fresh off his harrowing experience on the island of Geheimhaven. Dark events were set in motion that day, strange new enemies have risen from the shadows, and for Indy and Marion Ravenwood, the globe-trotting, punching, whip-cracking, and death-defying escapades, not to mention the archaeology, have just begun.”

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