Hellboy + Anastasia’s adventures continue in ‘Hellboy in Love: The Art of Fire’

Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Alex Nieto bring a hunka hunka burnin’ love back to the Hellboy universe.

Dark Horse Comics has announced the two-issue miniseries Hellboy in Love: The Art of Fire by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Alex Nieto. The series will continue to explore the romance (how sweet!) between Hellboy and the archeologist Anastasia Bransfield, as they had to romantic Iceland (Oh!) to stop a network of occultists (Ahhh … waitaminute, that doesn’t too nice … ).

The Art of Fire follows 2023″ Hellboy and Love, and will feature lettering by Clem Robins.

“We’re having so much damn fun with this series,” Golden said. “Sending Hellboy on these romantic adventures with Anastasia fills in a vital missing era of his life, but Anastasia’s own research is also illuminating some key elements of the Mignolaverse’s ancient history. We’re digging into that more in this two-shot. Readers are going to love Alex Nieto’s gorgeous, playful take on Hellboy and Anastasia…and the evil at the root of Anastasia’s story!”

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‘G.O.D.S’ will join the ‘One World Under Doom’ crossover this July

Ryan North + Francesco Mortarino bring Wyn and company into the fray in a one-shot this summer.

Doctor Doom’s dominance over the Earth following his ascension to Sorcerer Supreme has not gone unnoticed by the Marvel Universe’s cosmic players, and in July that’ll lead to a confrontation in G.O.D.S.: One World Under Doom by Ryan North and Francesco Mortarino.

Created by Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti, G.O.D.S. reimagined Marvel’s cosmic hierarchy, introducing the “Magic God” Wyn, his apprentice Mia DiMariato and several other cosmic players to the Marvel Universe. Wyn hung around a bit with Doctor Strange, so I’m sure he’ll have some opinions on Doom’s actions.

“I will say it is absolutely a fool’s errand to follow after Jonathan Hickman in a corner of the Marvel Universe that he personally invented, but G.O.D.S. are a lot of fun, and the chance to see where Mia and Wyn were after their story — and how Doom would intersect with all of it — was too alluring to let up, North shared. “If you’ve never read G.O.D.S., this is a great way to meet the characters and if you have —welcome back. Mia is not having a great time of it, but Emperor Doom sees something in her…”

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Exclusive | Take a look inside the deluxe edition of Brenna Thummler’s ‘Lights’

The hardcover arrives in stores today from Oni Press.

Courtesy of Oni Press, we’re thrilled to share this preview of Lights: Deluxe Edition, the final installment of Brenna Thummler’s Sheets trilogy.

Originally published in 2023, Lights wraps up the story of Marjorie Glatt and her best friend, Wendall, who happens to be a ghost that she found living in her family’s laundromat. Together with their friend Eliza, they set out to discover the story behind Wendall’s death — and, eventually, his life as well.

The hardcover deluxe edition, available in stores today, includes never-before-seen bonus content like sketches, a Q&A, Easter eggs and more. You can check out some of it in the preview below.

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ returns to ‘classic’ storytelling with a new No. 1

This week brings new comics and graphic novels by Joe Kelly, John Romita Jr., Pepe Larraz, Joaenne Starer, Stephen Byrne, Nick Winn, John Allison, Max Sarin 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 brings the return of Fire & Ice, Golden Rage and Adventure Time, and a new No. 1 for Amazing Spider-Man.

I’ve pulled out some of the 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 check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.

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‘Gender Queer,’ ‘Flamer’ once again land on the ALA’s most challenged books list

The American Library Association releases their 2024 report on the state of American libraries and the most challenged books.

For the first time since 2020, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe was not the most challenged book on the American Library Association’s list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in the United States. The graphic novel fell to No. 2 on the 2024 list, after All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson.

Flamer by Mike Curato, another graphic novel that’s been the subject of frequent challenges since it was published in 2020, landed at No. 10 on the list. The rest of the list featured books that have frequently been mentioned over the last few years in news coverage of book bannings, which isn’t surprising — the ALA says most of the challenges in 2024 were brought on by organized movements by pressure groups and politicians, rather than the random parent who saw what their kid was reading and freaked out.

“The movement to ban books is not a movement of parents, but a movement of partisans who seek to limit our freedom to read and make different choices about things that matter,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “All who care about libraries and personal liberty must stand together and join the movement to halt this assault on the freedom to read.”

The total number of books that were challenged also fell year-over-year for the first time since 2020, with the ALA reporting they received reports of 5,813 book challenges, down from 9,021 in 2023. But the reasons they gave for the drop are chilling in themselves — many book challenges are no longer being reported because doing so can bring “significant risk to a library worker’s professional livelihood and personal safety.” They also noted some states have passed laws restricting the type of materials available in libraries and schools based on the topics addressed in them, so certain books aren’t being shelved to begin with. But it’s not all doom and gloom — as many state legislatures use their power to ban books, others in California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and
Washington adopted new legislation protecting the freedom to read and the library workers who defend that freedom for their communities.

Below is the full list of the most challenged books.

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Nominees announced for the 2025 Hugo Awards

The winners of the annual science fiction/fantasy awards program will be announced in August.

The nominees have been announced for the 2024 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

Presented annually since 1955, the Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius, LaGuardia, Far Sector and Monstress, which is up for the award again this year.

And the nominees for 2025 are …

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Are these the worst comics of all time?

A poster on Reddit compiles a list with many not-unexpected choices.

I realize that’s a very loaded question — everyone’s got opinions, after all. But this list at least is based on more than one person’s opinion.

On Reddit, a poster who goes by the name ComicBookCanon put together a combined “Worst Comics of All Time” list based on several sources — including bloggers, comic news sites and even Reddit itself. Some of his sources covered specific publishers, while others covered events and story arcs. And the final list of 25 doesn’t look that surprising to me, having spent a good portion of my life reading people’s opinions of comics on the internet — although I would have guessed a different title would have appeared in that No. 1 spot.

Here’s the top 25 — or maybe that’s bottom 25? It does start with the one that received the most hate, and goes backwards from there:

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Wolverine + Deadpool host Bring Your Daughter to Work Day in July

Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio will unite the Wolverines — Logan and Laura — and the Deadpools — Wade and Ellie — in a new miniseries.

Marvel has announced Wolverines & Deadpools, a three-issue miniseries by Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio that’ll debut this summer. It’ll feature both current Wolverines and both current Deadpools in a story about father/daughter bonding.

OK, I realize that may not be enough information, because when you take the multiverse into consideration, there are a LOT of Wolverines and Deadpools I could be talking about. This miniseries will feature the OG Wolverine, aka Logan, along with the former X-23, Laura Kinney, teaming up with the OG Deadpool, Wade Wilson, and his daughter Ellie Camacho (who is currently a “Deadpool” herself.)

Is that confusing? Well, here’s the cover, which shows all four of them:

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Exclusive | Ben Winters + Brian Level share a sage’s sinister ‘gift’ in ‘Ye Will Be Healed’

Check out an exclusive preview of a story appearing in EC Comics’ ‘Cruel Kingdom,’ which arrives in stores today.

Courtesy of Oni Press, we’re back with another preview of one of the stories from Cruel Kingdom #4, which arrives in stores today. It’s the final issue of the dark fantasy anthology that’s a part of their revival of EC Comics.

Today’s preview is for the story “Ye Will Be Healed,” written by Ben Winters with artwork by Brian Level. The story is about a young boy who needed healing, and after a trip to see a dark sage he comes back … different. Winter is the creator of the hit CBS TV series Tracker and worked on Marvel’s acclaimed series Legion for FX. He’s also an award-winning novelist and will add another comic to his resume — Benjamin, a new science fiction series from Oni that will feature artwork by Leomacs and debuts in June.

Check out the preview, along with a look at this issue’s covers. You can also check out more preview pages from Greg Pak, PJ Holden and John McCrea’s story in this issue.

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NASA removes two digital comics featuring diverse astronauts from its website

The comics were meant to inspire “the next generation of explorers” when they were posted just a few years ago.

Two digital comics that once lived prominently on the NASA website have now been scrubbed from it in the wake of executive orders to remove all traces of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, from government websites.

The two titles were First Woman: NASA’s Promise for Humanity and First Woman: Expanding Our Universe, which were posted to the site in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The first features the fictional story of female astronaut Callie Rodriguez as the first woman to walk on the moon. The second showed a diverse crew of astronauts exploring the moon. The comics were written by Brad Gann and Steven List, with artwork by Brent Donoho and Kaitlin Reid.

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Absolute Green Lantern’ arrives, Venom’s identity revealed + more in this week’s comics

Check out new comics arriving by Al Ewing, Jahnoy Lindsay, Carlos Gomez, Phil Hester, Ram V, Anand RK, Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, Melissa Chan 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 brings a new edition to DC’s Absolute Comics line as well as the resurrection of a cult classic under the Black Label line. The new Venom stands revealed this week, plus Moon Girl celebrates an anniversary and IDW kicks off a Lore War.

I’ve pulled out some of the 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. With Diamond going through bankruptcy proceedings, distribution has become even more questionable, with deliveries and arrival dates changing. So check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.

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Introducing Picture + Panel | Tina Lugo + Marjorie Liu reveal why their favorite things are monsters

We kick off a new interview series in advance of a question-and-answer session between the two creators in Boston next week.

Today we introduce a new feature here at Smash Pages featuring two comic creators talking about specific topics –like, in today’s feature, monsters.

Picture + Panel is a monthly conversation series that brings fantastic graphic novel creators to the Greater Boston area. Each conversation explores a specific topic, ranging from the fun and exciting to the strange or serious. Produced in partnership by the Boston Comic Arts Foundation, Porter Square Books and the Boston Figurative Arts Center, Picture + Panel provides thought-provoking discussions for the unique form of expression that is the comics medium.

We’re happy to bring some of that discussion online in advance of each session. Next Monday Tina Lugo and Marjorie Liu will visit the Boston Figurative Arts Center in a Q&A moderated by author Sara Farizan. You can find more details on the event here.

Tina Lugo is an international tattooer and illustrator living in Providence, Rhode Island with her dog, Lou. She is the creator of The Changeling graphic novel series, published by Silver Sprocket. Tina’s work is heavily influenced by 90s manga and anime with a focus on queerness and Taíno representation.

Marjorie Liu is an attorney and New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book writer. Her work at Marvel includes the series X-23, Black Widow, Han Solo, Dark Wolverine and Astonishing X-Men. She is also the co-creator of Monstress from Image Comics, which has won multiple Hugo Awards, British Fantasy Awards, Harvey Award and five Eisner Awards, making Liu the first-ever woman—and woman of color—to win an Eisner in the Best Writer category.

Big thanks to Gina Gagliano and Jason Viola, who organize the monthly series in Boston and brought this Q&A series to Smash Pages!

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