Author: JK Parkin

Fund Me Sunday | ‘Max Overacts,’ ‘Bold Riley’ and more

Check out projects by Charles Forsman, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ethan Aldridge and more.

As crowdfunding continue to become a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors, comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. The internet also allows creators to sell their projects 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.

Here’s a look at a few recent projects that fall into those buckets that caught my eye. Send any suggestions of your own to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

Continue reading “Fund Me Sunday | ‘Max Overacts,’ ‘Bold Riley’ and more”

2020 Eisner Hall of Fame nominees announced

Judges choices include Nell Brinkley and E. Simms Campbell.

Comic-Con International has announced this year’s nominees for the Eisner Hall of Fame. They include two judges’ choices — who will be automatically inducted — and 14 other nominees, four of whom will be inducted based on voters’ choices.

The judges’ choices are Nell Brinkley and E. Simms Campbell, both of whom worked in the magazine industry. Brinkley, a.k.a. the “Queen of Comics,” created comics and illustrations for many Hearst newspapers, including the Denver Post and the New York Journal-America. She became well-known for her “Brinkley Girl” illustrations circa 1913 through the 1940s. Campbell, meanwhile, helped define the visual style of Esquire magazine and created comics for it, Life, Cosmopolitan and Playboy during his career. He was the first African-American cartoonist published in nationally distributed slick magazines.

Continue reading “2020 Eisner Hall of Fame nominees announced”

‘The Boys’ returns for a new series about Butcher’s wife

Garth Ennis, Russ Braun and Darick Robertson reunite for ‘The Boys: Dear Becky.’

Garth Ennis, Russ Braun and Darick Robertson will return to the world of The Boys with a new series subtitled Dear Becky. The first issue will debut in April, just in time for the second season of the Amazon Prime adaptation.

The Becky in the title refers to Becky Butcher, wife of Billy Butcher, one of the main characters of the original 90-issue run. Her death set off many of the events in The Boys.

“Originally I never intended to do more with The Boys at all, but for obvious reasons I’ve found myself thinking about the story and characters again over the past couple of years,” Ennis said. “There was one aspect of the original story, and one character in particular, that I never felt got a fair shake- Becky Butcher, whose demise motivates her husband Billy to do the terrible things he does, but who only actually appears in two issues of the original book. I liked writing Becky very much, almost as much as Butcher himself, and I wanted to look in greater detail at how her relatively brief appearance cast such a long shadow.”

Continue reading “‘The Boys’ returns for a new series about Butcher’s wife”

Project Art Cred spotlights ‘the impact artists bring to a script’

40 artists turn a Kieron Gillen script into a comic — with interesting results.

So this is pretty cool: artists Stephen Byrne and Declan Shalvey had an idea to showcase the effect a particular artist has on a comic, so they came up with Project Art Cred. Their idea was to have a comics writer — in this case, Kieron Gillen — write a one-page script, then have different artists interpret it in their own styles.

After 200 artists asked for the script, Gillen said in his email newsletter that 40 artists submitted pages, which have been shared on both Twitter and Tumblr. The artistic styles are impressive in their range and voice, bringing Gillen’s words to life in many different ways.

Continue reading “Project Art Cred spotlights ‘the impact artists bring to a script’”

Exclusive Preview: ‘Cayrels Ring’

Shannon Lentz, Alchemichael, Farel Dalrymple and more come together to tell a unique science fiction story.

It’s been about three years since Shannon Lentz launched a Kickstarter for the first issue of Cayrels Ring, a science fiction comic that chronicles life in a far-off galaxy colonized by humans. Since then he’s produced and crowdfunded more than 130 pages of his anthology, working with artists like Farel Dalrymple, James Stokoe, Alchemichael, Simon Roy and more to tell the story of an aging scientist looking for his long-lost granddaughter.

Earlier this month Lentz announced that the anthology will be collected by A Wave Blue World, publisher of comics like Dead Beats, All We Ever Wanted, Mezo and many others. As a backer of the original Kickstarter, it’s cool to see this come to fruition, and I’m happy to post an exclusive preview from the anthology, courtesy of the publisher.

Continue reading “Exclusive Preview: ‘Cayrels Ring’”

Exclusive Preview: ‘Cosmo the Mighty Martian’ #3

Check out preview pages from next week’s issue featuring the galaxy’s mightiest little Martian.

After a 60-year hibernation, Archie Comics’ Cosmo, the mightiest little martian in the galaxy, returned in 2018 with a refreshed look and a new lease on life. His first miniseries was successful enough to warrant a follow-up, which is in full swing now.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, take a look at an exclusive preview from next week’s issue of Cosmo the Mighty Martian, the third of five in the little guy’s second miniseries. It features the work of Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, Matt Herms and Jack Morelli, who are joined this issue by Evan Stanley, who drew the pages shown below.

You can also catch up on his adventures at comiXology.

Continue reading “Exclusive Preview: ‘Cosmo the Mighty Martian’ #3”

GLAAD Media Awards nominees announced

2019 nominees in the comic book category include ‘Runaways,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me’ and more.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, have announced the nominees for their 2019 Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives.

This year Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, First Second and Marvel have all received two nominations, while DC Comics and comiXology Originals each received one. Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles won the award in this category last year.

Check out the full list of nominees below

Continue reading “GLAAD Media Awards nominees announced”

Cosmic collisions promised in ‘Empyre’ trailer

Watch a teaser for next April’s big event series from Marvel, featuring the Kree, Skrulls, Avengers and more.

Marvel has released a teaser trailer for their next big event, Empyre, which was also teased in last week’s $10-for-an-advertisement one-shot, Incoming!

The story will be written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott, with artwork by Valerio Schiti. It will star the Avengers and Fantastic Four in a story of “galactic intrigue and cosmic ramifications” that features the Kree, the Skrulls, Hulking and more.

Check out the trailer below:

Continue reading “Cosmic collisions promised in ‘Empyre’ trailer”

‘Adventureman!’ by Fraction + Dodsons coming in April

New series has been in production for three years.

The long-gestating Adventureman! by Matt Fraction, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson will arrive in comic shops this April, according to Terry Dodson on Twitter.

Fraction announced the series at HeroesCon in 2016. “It’s about a retired policewoman with a young son that discovers the fictional adventures of a pulp hero named ‘Adventureman’ weren’t so fictional after all when she inherits his mantle in the present day,” Fraction said at the time. “But she inherits all of his old scores, grudges and enemies, too.”

Continue reading “‘Adventureman!’ by Fraction + Dodsons coming in April”

Transformers collide with the Terminator next March

Robots in disguise collide with robots in disguise in the four-issue miniseries.

The battle of the ‘bots kicks off in earnest next year as the Transformers collide with The Terminator, courtesy of IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, who hold the respective comics licenses for the two properties.

The four-issue miniseries will be written by David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and John Barber, with art by Alex Milne.

Continue reading “Transformers collide with the Terminator next March”

‘Home Time’ gets a sequel next year

The next volume of the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Campbell Whyte arrives from Top Shelf in May.

Campbell Whyte‘s Home Time received several awards and nominations in 2018 and earned the creator a Russ Manning nomination, among others, and now he’s back with the sequel. Top Shelf will publish Home Time II: Beyond the Weaving next May.

The first graphic novel told the story of a group of kids preparing for high school who ended up transported to a village populated with creatures of fantasy. This second book picks up where the first one left off, as the kids leave the village to find their way home.

Continue reading “‘Home Time’ gets a sequel next year”

Hickman + Huddleston team for ‘Decorum’ in March

‘There are many assassins in the known universe. ‘Decorum’ is the story of the most well-mannered one.’

Hey, how would you like some Jonathan Hickman news that doesn’t involve the X-Men? The man who revitalized Marvel’s merry mutants this year will return to the world of creator-owned books in March with Decorum, a new series with artist Mike Huddleston coming from Image Comics.

“We’ve been quietly working on this book for over a year and I’m having the time of my life,” said Hickman. “Mike is one of those ridiculously talented artists who is both technically proficient and insanely stylistic—everyone is just going to love what he’s done here.”

Continue reading “Hickman + Huddleston team for ‘Decorum’ in March”