JK Parkin

Worlds collide when Archie meets Flash Gordon in new one-shot

Jeff Parker, Dan Parent and Rich Koslowski bring the pulp legend to Riverdale in June.

Mongo and Riverdale will collide in June as Archie Comics presents Archie Meets Flash Gordon in a one-shot by Jeff Parker, Dan Parent and Rich Koslowski.

“I’m now a pretty big believer that the Riverdale gang can fit with practically any other characters and genres,” Parker said, “but it’s best when they get to really flex and go way outside their zone like say, the planet Mongo with Flash Gordon, King of the Impossible. This of course coincides with the sad passing of cinema great Max Von Sydow who was the most memorable Ming the Merciless, and wait until you see our take on the Emperor of Mongo.”

Can’t Wait for Tuesday: Going the (social) distance

Check out what’s hitting comic shops this week from DC, BOOM!, Dark Horse and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for ~~Wednesday~~ Tuesday, our look at the comics and graphic novels hitting stores this week. And what a weird week it is, as we adjust to a new life of “social distance.” Whether your comic shop is actually open probably depends on where you are and your location’s situation. Several counties in California’s Bay Area, including my own, are implementing a “shelter in place” order that begins Tuesday, which is going to be hard on local small businesses like comic shops. There’s a lot of great comic shops in this neck of the woods, and my heart goes out to all of them.

You can see the complete list of this week’s releases over at The Comic List, and I encourage you to share what you’re planning to get in the comments below. My thanks to Tom Bondurant and Shane Bailey for sharing their picks this week.

Update: Per Newsarama, Diamond has given retailers permission to start selling comics on Tuesday this week instead of Wednesday, to try to avoid any potential quarantines or “shelter in place” orders that may be issued this week.

Emerald City Comic Con rescheduled for Aug. 21-23

Ticket holders for the March event can transfer their badges to the August show.

After postponing this weekend’s show due to the coronavirus pandemic last week, ReedPop, which hosts the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, has announced their new dates for later this year — Aug. 21-23, which is one day less than the original show.

If you had tickets for this weekend’s show, you can transfer your registration to August using this form. You’ll need to do this by March 27, or else you will automatically receive a refund. If you do transfer a four-day badge, you’ll receive a refund for that extra day.

de Campi + Henderson sink their fangs into ‘Dracula, Motherf**ker’

Do you bite your mother with that mouth?

Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson head to California and Austria for a “psychological horror story” called Dracula, Motherf**ker this fall.

The graphic novel with the naughty title will tell a story across two timelines — 1889 Vienna and L.A. circa 1974 — in an action-filled take on the popular Bram Stoker character.

“Most people who know my work are aware that I love pulp/exploitation cinema so me doing a book called Dracula, Motherf**ker shouldn’t really surprise anyone,” said de Campi. “Another thing I wanted to bring to this pulp fantasia was a sensibility from horror anime, with its love of transformation and of the noncorporeal, to push the element of man-as-monster in directions specifically suited to sequential art. Things like the abstract portrayal of Alucard (or Pride in FMA: Brotherhood), and the use of Superflat art in Madoka Magica were tremendously inspirational in this book, especially as that use of flatness dovetails nicely with the work of Gustav Klimt in with the book’s 1889 prologue, and with late-1960s pop art and the psychedelic liquid-light projections of the Joshua Light Show.”

‘Savage’ returns at Valiant from Bemis + Stockman

Kevin Sauvage returns in a new miniseries this June.

Valiant has tapped Max Bemis and Nathan Stockman to tell the next chapter in the story of Savage, a Kazar/Tarzan-esque boy who grew up on a remote island populated by dinosaurs and other terrifying things. The new miniseries will kick off in June.

“Savage is the biggest story I’ve ever told. As in it’s my aesthetic turned up to eleven and crammed into the skin of a summer blockbuster film,” Bemis said in a press release. “If you dig the more fun and up-tempo stuff I’ve done like Worst X-Man Ever, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.”

Yang + Ruan + Tan team for ‘Shang-Chi’ in June

The miniseries will feature Shang-Chi going up against his super villain father, Zheng Zhu.

Marvel has announced a new miniseries starring martial arts master, former Avenger and current Agents of Atlas member Shang-Chi, by the team of Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan and Phillip Tan.

“I mean, it’s Shang-Chi,” Yang told the New York Times. “He’s probably the most prominent Asian — I guess he’s Asian-American now since he’s moved over here — Asian-American superhero.”

CCI postpones WonderCon

Convention, originally set for April 10-12, will be ‘postponed until a later date.’

Comic-Con International has announced they are postponing this year’s WonderCon, their annual spring convention in Anaheim, California. This year’s convention was scheduled for April 10-12.

“To protect public health and slow the rate of transmission of COVID-19, the California Department of Public Health announced a recommendation that gatherings and events of more than 250 people should either be postponed or cancelled. Comic-Con (organizer of WonderCon) will abide by this recommendation,” the organization said on their website. “Therefore WonderCon Anaheim, scheduled for April 10-12, 2020 in Anaheim, California, will be postponed until a later date. We will begin processing refunds in the coming days.”

Staying home this weekend? Stream these comic-related events

In the wake of Emerald City Comic Con being postponed due to the coronavirus, there’s a lot going on online this weekend you can take part in.

While the coronavirus pandemic is causing event cancellations across many — heck, every — industry, one of the first events in the comics sphere to face the tough decision about whether to cancel or postpone was the Emerald City Comic Con, which was scheduled for this coming weekend in Seattle. ECCC was official postponed last week, with plans to pick a new date this summer.

But if the comic industry is anything, it’s resilient, made up of creative minds that can adapt to a changing landscape. This article in the Seattle Times spotlights several creators impacted by the cancellation and efforts to support the comics community this weekend — which includes many “pop up” online events.

Here’s a round-up of both live and virtual events that have popped up in the wake of the ECCC news. If we’ve missed any, please email me at jkparkin@yahoo.com.

Comics Lowdown: MoCCA postponed due to coronavirus

Plus: News about WonderCon, Jim Lee, Webtoon, Dark Horse and more!

Events: New York’s MoCCA Arts Festival, originally scheduled for April 4-5, is the latest event to be postponed due to the novel coronavirus, which has now been declared a pandemic.

“While New York is not officially calling for events of large gatherings to be canceled, many have been and we do not know what the next few weeks will entail. We recognize the amount of work and finances our exhibitors put into their tables and are trying to minimize the burden on them,” The Society of Illustrators, who puts on MoCCA every year, said in a statement.

They added, “In the meantime, we have made the decision to move forward and continue to judge the Awards of Excellence. In addition to the cash prize and Wacom tablets for Gold and Silver medalists, the Society will feature the award winners in an exhibition at the onsite Gallery we build at MoCCA Fest.”

A new date for the two-day festival has not been announced. It joins the Emerald City Comic Con, South by Southwest, E3, the London Book Fair and countless other events that have been impacted by COVID-19.

March MODOK Madness kicks off for 2020

The annual tradition returns.

I know there’s plenty of “madness” in the world right now, but there’s something comforting in knowing that the March MODOK Madness site is back again for more fun fan artwork of everyone’s favorite big-headed Marvel villain. And there’s little chance this event will be cancelled.

If you aren’t familiar with the concept, every March artists share their interpretations of MODOK, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee back in the 1960s. You can see some of them below, and all of this year’s submissions on the MMM blog. You can also follow along on Twitter.

Orlando + Tormey reopen the book of the ‘Darkhold’ at Marvel

The notorious tomb returns to the Marvel Universe — lands in the hands of Doctor Doom.

Former DC-exclusive writer Steve Orlando will make his debut for Marvel on a book of mystical proportions — Darkhold, named for the evil text that exists within the Marvel Universe. Darkhold Alpha #1, which suggests it’s tied to a bigger event, will come out in June.

Orlando will team with artist Cian Tormey on the comic, which features a cover by Greg Smallwood.

Nominees announced for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards

Winners will be announced in June.

The Lambda Literary Awards have announced their nominees for 2020, which honor LGBTQ writing across 24 categories, including one for comics.

The finalists were selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals from more than 1,000 book submissions from over 300 publishers. The winners will be announced at an event in New York City in June.

The nominees are:

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