Author: JK Parkin

Jemas, Alonso return to comics at AWA

New publisher Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. plans to launch several titles this fall.

Two former Marvel executives are making their return to comics at a new publisher called Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. or AWA. They’re joined by a slew of creators, with plans to launch their new titles this fall.

Bill Jemas will serve as the company’s CEO and publisher, while Axel Alonso will serve as Chief Creative Officer, according to The New York Times. They’re joined by Jonathan F. Miller as chairman, who helped broker the deal between Netflix and Mark Millar. They plan to have a shared superhero universe in addition to publishing stand-alone titles.

“The model here really is the old United Artists model, where people who are actually doing the creative have ownership, control and decision-making power over the work that they’re doing,” Jemas told the NYT.

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Sex, drugs, séances and secrets abound in ‘Marilyn Manor’

New series by Magdalene Visaggio and Marley Zarcone debuts this summer.

Writer Magdalene Visaggio and artist Marley Zarcone are throwing a party at the White House this June in Marilyn Manor, a new miniseries from IDW Publishing.

“We’ve been trying to capture the feel, the excitement, the energy of the rise of the New Romantics, of the decade that embraced excess and excitement in hugely over-the-top ways, and filled it with chaos and insanity,” said Visaggio in a press release. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever written in the best way possible, like an apocalypse directed by John Hughes.”

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Pepose + Guidry team for wedding day mayhem in ‘Going to the Chapel’

Four Elvises and a wedding collide in a new miniseries from Action Lab Entertainment.

What should be Emily Anderson’s best day ever goes off the rails and turns into a hostage situation in Going to the Chapel, a new series by David Pepose (Spencer & Locke) and Gavin Guidry (The Death Defying).

In the upcoming miniseries from Action Lab Entertainment, Emily’s wedding day is going south –and then four Elvis-themed crooks show up, bringing more mayhem to her already crazy day.

“Dating back to my catastrophic turn as best man for my oldest friend’s wedding, Going to the Chapel has been an irreverent passion project long in the making,” Pepose said. “Think Die Hard at a wedding — or Dog Day Afternoon meets The Runaway Bride. With our unique mashup of action, humor, romance and heart — not to mention our sprawling, diverse and downright dysfunctional cast — fans of romcoms and thrillers alike are going to find lots to love about our offbeat and eclectic series.”

The new project follows Pepose’s sequel to Spencer & Locke, which kicks off in April. I interviewed Pepose about the influences behind the series last month.

Check out a preview below:

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Take a look inside the controversial ‘Jesusfreak’

Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra’s original graphic novel featuring a kung-fu Jesus arrives in comic shops this week.

This Wednesday Jesus will rise again in the pages of Jesusfreak, a new graphic novel by Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra. Combining ’70s exploitation comics with the story of Jesus Christ, the book is described as “a bloody, two-fisted tale of heroic historical fiction featuring a certain young Nazarean carpenter who is having some trouble finding his place within a world of ever increasing violence,” according to publisher Image Comics.

“Jesusfreak is less inspired by any strict religious traditions and is instead more concerned with exploring the unique tension that exists between depicting a mythical figure and a historical figure—a tension that is compounded when, for many, they’re considered the same person,” Casey said when the project was announced. “It’s also a chance for Marra and I to indulge in a specific style of hard pulp storytelling that we think perfectly fits this material.”

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Marvel announces ‘Silver Surfer: Black’

New miniseries by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore debuts in June.

The Silver Surfer might be gone — sucked into a Black Hole or something in the new Guardians of the Galaxy series — but he is not forgotten. Galactus’ former herald will get a new miniseries by Guardians writer Donny Cates and artist Tradd Moore titled Silver Surfer: Black.

“When Donny Cates wrote the first issue of the new Guardians of the Galaxy series, we both agreed that Silver Surfer’s adventure wasn’t going to end there, that there was still more story to be told about what happened to all the cosmic heroes that got sucked into the Black Order’s wormhole,” said editor Darren Shan. “But Donny’s imagination really kicked into gear when artist Tradd Moore signed on! Readers won’t realize it, but Silver Surfer: Black is a culmination of everything Donny has been writing since his Thanos run. And Tradd Moore is delivering some of the craziest visuals seen in a Marvel Comic today!”

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Miller + Romita Jr.’s ‘Superman: Year One’ lands in June

Frank MIller and John Romita Jr.’s Black Label project gets a release date; DC reveals the covers for all three issues.

DC Comics has revealed the release date for another of its Black Label projects, Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.’s Superman: Year One. The first “large-format ” issue is scheduled to arrive in June.

The series will run for three issues, with the last two arriving in August and October. A collected edition will arrive in November.

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Matt Wagner’s Grendel prepares for launch in October

Grendel heads into a space in a new miniseries.

With the Mage saga wrapped up, it only makes sense that Matt Wagner would return to his other most famous creation, Grendel. First appearing in 1982 from publisher Comico, the character has gone on to star in various series and miniseries over the years at Dark Horse Comics.

This fall, colorist Brennan Wagner and letterer Dave Lanphear join Wagner on Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey, which sees the titular character head into space.

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Slate announces 2019 Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlists

Winners of the annual award by Slate and the Center for Cartoon Studies will be announced April 12.

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the nominees for its annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the creator of one print comic and one webcomic.

Slate began the program in 2012 in conjunction with the Center for Cartoon Studies. Previous winners include Noelle Stevenson for Nimona, Chris Ware for Building Stories, Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny, Winston Rowntree for Watching, Carol Tyler for Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad and Keren Katz for The Academic Hour.

This year’s print nominees include:

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The first prez fights imposters in ‘Washington Unbound’

Jason Lex’s graphic novel arrives from AdHouse in May.

AdHouse Books will unleash the fury of George Washington in May, as they radically ratify Jason Lex’s Washington Unbound. Washington will bring the veto down on an imposter trying to take over the White House after an abduction attempt. Oh, and there’s a cat!

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‘Farmhand’ gets a soundtrack from Skies Speak

Experimental album from Skies Speak will drop March 20.

Rob Guillory’s excellent new Image series Farmhand is getting a soundtrack, thanks to Guillory’s friend Skies Speak.

“The FarmhandOriginal Music Score started out as just a crazy idea between two buddies,” Guillory said in a press release. “Jordan (Skies Speak) and I have been friends for many years, and I’m beyond thrilled he was game to craft this special album for fans of the book. The initial idea was very simple: use my art to inspire his art. He devoured the first arc of the book, and from that he created a unique, immersive experience that adds a little something extra to the world of Farmhand.”

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Lemire + Deodato Jr. unleash ‘Berserker Unbound’

Dark Horse Comics will kick off the urban fantasy miniseries in August.

Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato Jr. are teaming up for a new urban fantasy series that brings a barbarian into the modern age — and of course, chaos ensues. Berserker Unbound will debut in August.

“As soon as I had a chance to work with Mike Deodato on Thanos at Marvel I knew it would be the start of a beautiful partnership,” Lemire said. “We immediately started talking about the potential of teaming up for a creator-owned series. Mike is an incredible artist and, with Berserker Unbound, I tried to model a story to all of his many strengths. Berserker Unbound is many things. It has magic, action, and blood, but it also has heart. And it’s not at all what it first appears to be. We’re both very excited to be working together at Dark Horse, with Frank Martin and Steve Wands, to build the worlds of both Berserker and the world of Cobb, his unexpected companion.”

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Archie returns to ‘The Married Life’ this August

Find out how Archie, Betty and Veronica are doing 10 years after getting married.

It was 10 years ago that Archie Comics took their flagship character in a new direction and launched the Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty miniseries, which showed two alternate futures where Archie married Veronica and married Betty. (Not at the same time, of course … although maybe that’ll be the main plot of season seven of Riverdale, when all the kids are older.)

To celebrate their aluminum anniversary, Archie Comics will publish Archie: The Married Life 10th Anniversary this August, uniting the original writer, Michael Uslan, with artist Dan Parent. The story picks up with the 10-year anniversary of each couple.

“Now is the right time for new stories taking a look at where the former newlyweds, Archie & Veronica, and Archie & Betty, have wound up ten years later,” Uslan said. “We’ll see how they’re struggling with, among many current and relevant things, a widening generation gap with their own children and much more.”

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