Author: JK Parkin

‘Monstress’ takes home another Hugo; Takeda named best artist

In the “Graphic Story” category, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s fantasy series beats out ‘Saga,’ ‘Black Bolt’ and more to win the award.

Monstress, the fantasy series written by Marjorie Liu, drawn by Sana Takeda and published by Image Comics, has again won the Hugo Award in the “Graphic Story” category for its second volume, Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood. In addition, Takeda also won in the “Best Professional Artist” category.

Presented annually since 1955, The Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Awards are voted on annually by members of the World Science Fiction Convention. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded annually since 2009, with previous winners including Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius and The Sandman: Overture. Other nominees in the category this year included Saga, Paper Girls, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Bitch Planet and Black Bolt.

The 2018 Hugo Awards were presented this evening at a ceremony at the 76th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, California.

Monstress has been racking up awards left and right over the last year, winning an NCS Divisional Award, a British Fantasy Award and several Eisner Awards, among others. Congratulations to Liu, Takeda and the whole Monstress team.

Netflix announces next Millarworld title ‘Prodigy’

Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque re-team for a new title about Edison Crane, a “Nobel-Prize winning scientist, a genius composer, an Olympic-level athlete and an expert in the occult.”

Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque will team up on a new title starring “world’s most exceptional man,” Netflix announced via press release.

Prodigy re-teams the creators of Huck on the second Millarworld title to be announced since the streaming giant bought the publishing line, following The Magic Order. What’s great is that this very comic book-y press release is up on Netflix’s media center, stuck right there between announcements that Fastest Car has been renewed and their CFO stepping down. Comics, am I right?

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DC Comics goes nuclear this Christmas

‘DC Nuclear Winter Special’ features 10 holiday stories set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

DC Comics will continue their holiday on-shot tradition, albeit with a somewhat radioactive theme this year — DC Nuclear Winter Special will arrive in comic shops and bomb shelters in November.

Like in previous years, the holiday special will feature various characters from the DC Universe, all in stories featuring a “nuclear winter” theme. The release says it’ll include stories starring Batman, Superman and Flash, while the cover also shows Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and Kamandi (the latter of which makes perfect sense).

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Layman + Chan blast off into the ‘Outer Darkness’

Skybound presents a new title in November that combines science fiction and horror.

We are living in a post-Chew world, as John Layman and Rob Guillory’s epic foodie tale wrapped up almost two years ago now. Depressing as that thought is — I still miss Tony and the gang — the silver lining is that both creators have new projects to fill the void. Have you read Farmhand, Guillory’s new title? The first two issues were awesome. Not to be outdone, Layman has two new comics out this year: Leviathan with Nick Pitarra, which kicked off last month, and the just-announced Outer Darkness, which arrives in November.

Layman is working with Afu Chan, artist of Immortal Iron Fists, on the sci-fi/horror title.

“Thanks to Afu Chan and Skybound, we’ve succeeded in making Outer Darkness as perfect and beautiful as I’d envisioned it to be since finishing Chew,” Layman said in a press release. “I’m so unbelievably excited that Outer Darkness is being announced to the world. I’m absolutely in love with this book.”

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Top Shelf brings ‘Supers’ to America this fall

Frédéric Maupomé and Dawid’s award-winning kids’ graphic novel arrives in November.

Top Shelf will publish an English version of the award-winning Supers by French creators Frédéric Maupomé and Dawid this November.

The winner of the 2016 ACBD Youth Prize, Supers is the story of three alien kids — Mat, Lili, and Benji — abandoned on Earth as they start school. Check out a preview below.

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Bryan Fuller’s canceled shows find new life in ‘Mind Palace’

Dave Dwonch and Santi Guillen bring back Hannibal, Ned the piemaker and more in a new webcomic.

If you were a fan of Pushing Daisies, Hannibal or Dead Like Me, there’s a new webcomic that’s just for you. Dave Dwonch and Santi Guillen have created a “love letter” to Bryan Fuller‘s canceled TV creations in Mind Palace.

“It’s clear that Bryan poured his heart into every single project he’s worked on, and his genius is obviously there on the screen. I can only imagine how much it must have hurt losing any of these shows. You go through the grieving process and tuck the memories into your mind. That’s the real premise of Mind Palace,” Dwonch said in a press release.

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‘Uncanny X-Men’ returns with weekly event ‘Disassembled’

Ed Brisson, Kelly Thompson, Matthew Rosenberg, Mahmud Asrar, R.B. Silva, Yildiray Cinar, Pere Perez and Leinil Frances Yu will all contribute to the relaunched title’s first storyline.

Marvel has announced the creative team for the upcoming reboot of Uncanny X-Men, and it’s a roster of talent that may outnumber the typical X-Men team.

Taking a queue from Brian Michael Bendis’ opening Avengers arc back in 2004, “Disassembled” will be a 10-part weekly storyline that Marvel calls an “epic tale of mystery and tragic disappearance.” Writers Ed Brisson, Kelly Thompson and Matthew Rosenberg will combine into a Voltron-like writing machine, while artists Mahmud Asrar, R.B. Silva, Yildiray Cinar and Pere Perez will bring it to life on the page. All of these creators are currently working on other projects featuring the merry Marvel mutants. Leinil Frances Yu will provide covers.

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Harvey Awards announce 2018 nominees

Streamlined awards will feature only six categories and will be presented during the New York Comic Con this October.

After taking a year off to regroup and prepare for arrival at their new home, the Harvey Awards have announced their nominees for 2018. It’s a very slimmed-down list of categories — just six, when typically they’ve had more than 20.

The most noticeable change is the lack of any awards recognizing creators; instead, the six categories recognize specific works. The other oddity is the addition of a “Best Adaptation” category, recognizing films, TV and any adaptations based on comics. Both of these changes have received criticism from comic creators since the nominees were announced yesterday.

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‘Magic: The Gathering’ returns to comics this fall

New miniseries by Vita Ayala and Harvey Tolibao spotlights a pyromancer named Chandra.

The ever-popular card game Magic: The Gathering will return to comics this fall just in time for its 25th anniversary. IDW Publishing, who has released other Magic series in the past, will publish Magic: The Gathering: Chandra in November.

Writer Vita Ayala (Supergirl, The Wilds) and artist Harvey Tolibao (X-Men, Green Arrow) will introduce a new character to the Magic mythos, a pyromancer named Chandra, who looks like she’s ready to burn a hole in your heart.

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Bendis + Gaydos’ first Batman comic will appear in ‘Pearl’ #1

‘Citizen Wayne’ re-imagines ‘Citizen Kane,’ but with Batman.

Although mainly known for their work at Marvel over the last couple decades, Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos did a short Batman story, “Citizen Wayne,” that appeared in Batman Chronicles #21 way back in 2000.

It’s been 18 years since that story saw print, and this week DC Comics announced plans to reprint it in the first issue of Bendis and Gaydos’ Pearl series. The new Jinxworld series launches next week.

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Creator documents the financial struggles of making comics

Chris Wisnia’s ‘Diary of a Struggling Comics Artist’ features interviews with a huge list of creators about working in the industry.

For almost a decade Chris Wisnia has been conducting interviews with comics creators for a documentary he’s working on titled Diary of a Struggling Comics Artist. And now via his Patreon, he has begun releasing sneak previews of some of those interviews.

“In 2010 I was thinking about how difficult it is, in so many ways, to try to make a living in comics,” Wisnia said. “Trying to get into the industry, the stress of needing to find new work every month to pay rent, to not have benefits or insurance, the shrinking state of the industry and general public lack of interest in comics, getting your work made into films and other media, decisions about taking work-for-hire in which you get a paycheck but own nothing you create vs. ownership but no guaranteed income and having to promote yourself and your product that no one has ever heard of… Regardless of the level you’re at, it comes with struggles.”

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Action Lab announces new kid’s imprint with titles by Baltazar, Chao

‘Powers in Action’ and ‘Alison and Her Rock Awesome Robot’ find at home at the new imprint.

During Comic-Con International in San Diego, Action Lab Entertainment announced a new imprint aimed at kids — Action Lab: Discover. The line will include comics by one of the kings of kid’s superhero comics, Art Baltazar, along with a collection of Fred Chao’s Alison and Her Rock Awesome Robot.

Baltazar is, of course, one half of the amazing duo behind Aw Yeah Comics, Tiny Titans, Superman Family Adventures, Itty Bitty Hellboy and many other titles. His distinctive art style screams “kid friendly,” so having him on board as you launch a new imprint makes a ton of sense. I’m a big fan of Chao’s Johnny Hiro, which came out about 10 years ago now, and was followed by a sequel. He’s been publishing Alison and her Rock Awesome Robot as a webcomic and through Patreon.

You can read Action Lab’s description of each title below. Now ord yet on when they will reach stores.

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