Author: JK Parkin

DC launches a Batman ‘prelude’ comic on Instagram

The story leads into ‘Batman’ #92, which arrives in June.

Batman made his Instagram debut this week in a comic that will serve as a “prelude” to Batman #92, which is set to land in stores on June 9.

“Hey! While on break, I cooked up a handful of prelude stories with Guillem March to give you a taste of Gotham while you’re waiting for Batman to return next month,” writer James Tynion IV said on Twitter. “They’ll be on DC’s Instagram, in their stories. The first of them is up now, featuring PUNCHLINE!”

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Marvel announces more digital-only titles

‘Scream: Curse of Carnage,’ ‘Valkyrie: Jane Foster’ and more will not be released as single print issues.

Marvel has announced plan to release additional titles that were originally slated to be print comics as digital-only titles. These include further issues of Hawkeye: Freefall, Ghost Spider and other titles that were released digitally over the last few weeks, with a few new additions, like Valkyrie: Jane Foster and Scream: Curse of Carnage.

“These comics will only be available as digital comics for the time being; however, they will be available in print collections later this year for fans looking to add them to their Marvel bookshelves,” according to the story on Marvel.com.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Going ‘MAD’ on a ‘Rogue Planet’

Marvel returns to comic shops this week, as some DC books are delayed.

Another week brings more comics back to comic shops, as this week Marvel will have new print comics in comic shops for the first time in weeks. A couple DC books, however, look like they’re delayed this week, including Flash and Aquaman. Stores getting their books from DC’s other distributors have been asked to not put them on sale yet, according to the report from Newsarama.

If you’re looking for some recommendations on what you should get, here are some thoughts from the Smash Pages crew. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Fund Me Monday: Madi, Orbital Knights and more

Support creators by crowdfunding efforts by The Nib, Alex de Campi, Duncan Jones, Giannis Milonogiannis and more.

Crowdfunding continues to serve as a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors, as comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. The internet also allows creators to sell their creations direct to fans, through sites like Gumroad, Etsy and of course their own websites. If you’re looking to buy something from or support a creator directly, you’ve come to the right place. And that is a good thing to do, now more than ever.

Send any suggestions of your own to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

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What Are You Reading? | Ironheart, Midnighter and more!

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately. You can play along in the comments if you wish.

Now here we go …

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Sunday Comics | Cats + Chaos

Check out new comics by Matthew Dow Smith, Gabrielle Bell, Nate Powell and Rosemary Mosco.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

Here’s a fun one to dive into — creator Matthew Dow Smith has been posting an amazing new comic, Johnny Chaos, on his Twitter feed. He’s currently up to chapter five, with new pages going up every Wednesday.

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Mail Call | DC announces a new monthly digital catalog

Plus: Criminal’s ‘Cruel Summer,’ Green Lantern, a ‘Wynd’ trailer and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Now that they’re using multiple distributors, it makes sense that DC Comics would launch a new means for communicating distribution information vs. just limiting it to Diamond’s Previews. That seems to be DC Connect, a new, downloadable catalog they announced this week. It contains information on upcoming comics and graphic novels, with plans to expand it to include “talent interviews, preview pages from upcoming stories, behind-the-scenes looks at projects in development, multimedia content and more.”

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Kevin Colden draws a comic for the Children’s Tumor Foundation

For NF2 Awareness Day, the CTF releases a new comic they produced with the comics studio Bottled Lightning.

In honor of NF2 Awareness Day, the Children’s Tumor Foundation has released an educational comic to help inform people about neurofibromatosis type 2, which is characterized by the development of benign tumors on the hearing nerves.

The comic was written by CTF’s Director of Communications Vanessa Shealy Younger and drawn by Fishtown creator Kevin Colden, who has previously worked on comics like The Crow and The Sweetness. Colden has a personal connection to NF through his wife and fellow comic creator, Miss Lasko-Gross. “My wife’s second cousin has NF1, so I’ve personally seen how NF can affect families. Working with this script and being able to bring Billy’s story to life was a wonderful opportunity,” Colden said.

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Howard’s ‘Big Girls’ fight big monsters in August

The artist of ‘Trees’ will write and draw the new ongoing series.

Jason Howard, the artist of Cemetery Beach and Trees, will write and draw a new title, Big Girls, which launches in August.

Image Comics describes the new series as such: When men become giant monsters hellbent on destroying the world, only girls can stop them—Big Girls. Meet Ember—she writes poetry, loves to read, and she’s a 300-foot-tall full-time monster killer! She and the other big girls are all that stand in the way of our world’s complete annihilation!

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Sebela + Sears conjure ‘Dead Dudes’ this fall

Oni Press will publish the graphic novel in September.

It’s always great when a project gets announced that seems to pull together several of your favorite creators who you might not have ever pictured working together. That’s what Oni Press has done with Dead Dudes, a new graphic novel by Christopher Sebela, Ben Sears, Warren Wucinich and Ryan Hill.

It’s about the hosts of a ghost-hunting reality show who end up becoming ghosts themselves.

“Getting to work with Ben was a bucket list item and I can happily cross it off now,” Sebela said on Twitter. “No idea why he bothered to work with me when he’s an amazing storyteller on his own, but I don’t look gift dreams in the mouth.”

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BOOM! to release ‘Mega Man: Fully Charged’ in August

The miniseries is based on the Cartoon Network series of the same name.

BOOM! Studios has announced they’ve picked up the license to Mega Man, the popular Capcom video game franchise, and will kick off a six-issue series starring the character called Mega Man: Fully Charged.

The Mega Man license was previously held by Archie Comics, who published 55 issues of a Mega Man title between 2011 and 2015.

Fully Charged is based on the Cartoon Network series of the same name, which was produced by Man of Action Entertainment, the group set up by comic writers Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau. A.J. Marchisello and Marcus Rinehart, who wrote for the TV show, will write the comic, with Stefano Simeone providing the art.

“I can’t believe I’m working on something that I grew up with and enjoyed so much when I was a kid,” said Simeone. “I’m very happy to be working on a new Mega Man comic book, and I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and excitement on the pages of this series with readers and fans everywhere!”

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Can’t Wait for Comics: Like a zombie, it will dig itself back up again

Comics slowly but surely make their way to retailers again this week.

This is a big week for comic releases, not so much in terms of quantity (as selection is limited compared to a “normal” Wednesday), but in terms of actually having physical comics shipping from Diamond again. Wohoo! #BacktheComeback, and all that.

It seems like many comics retailers are opening back up as well, at least on a limited basis or with curbside pick-up, as I’ve seen several of them post on social media — even here in the Bay Area, where restrictions seemed to be tighter than in a lot of places. As a part of the new normal, you should call ahead or check your local shop’s website to see what your options are. Wear a mask, wash your hands, pay with a credit card in advance and enjoy some comics.

And if you’re wondering what you should get, here are some recommendations by the Smash Pages crew. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving from Diamond in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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