Author: JK Parkin

2019 Harvey Award nominees announced

Winners will be announced in October.

The nominees for the 2019 Harvey Awards have been revealed, across the six streamlined categories that were unveiled last year.

“This year marks the 31st presentation of the Harvey Awards and the third year working with our hosting partners at ReedPOP. We congratulate this year’s nominees, who have produced some of the best projects in the industry over the past year, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results of the voting and honoring the winners at the Harveys at NYCC,” said John Lind, co-chair of the Harvey Awards Steering Committee, in a press release.

The winners will be announced on Oct. 4 at the Harvey Awards gala in conjunction with the New York Comic-Con.

Congrats to this year’s nominees:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Matt Kindt, Brian Hurtt + Marie Enger

The denizens of St. Louis-based HEK Studios team up on a new anthology, which is up for funding on Kickstarter.

The depth and breadth of what you can do in comics and with comics — and I’m talking story-wise, design-wise and format-wise here — is virtually limitless. Sometimes it takes a particular project and a particular set of creators to remind us of this, and The HEK Treasury serves as just such a reminder.

The HEK Treasury is a creative project by the members of HEK Studios — Matt Kindt, Brian Hurtt and Marie Enger. The three of them have a large assortment of credits within comics — Black Badge, The Sixth Gun, Dept. H, Super-Spy, Fhtagn and Loathing, Shadow Roads, Nosferatu! and many more. The Missouri-based creators formed HEK Studios in 2015 and have purchased a vintage Route 66 garage that they’re converting into “the first full-time exclusive comic book studio in St. Louis.”

In addition to their own projects with various publishers, they’ve decided to team up on a large prestige format hardcover (8 ¾  x 11 5/8 ). This deluxe collection will feature “all new epic, experimental science fiction, fantasy and genre short stories. The HEK Treasury will showcase each creator as they unleash new ideas, using experimental art and storytelling techniques.” The project went live on Kickstarter earlier this week, and the campaign runs for 30 days. If funded, the book will be delivered to backers in the fall.

I spoke with the three of them about The HEK Treasury, HEK Studios and what they hope to accomplish together with this project.

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‘Deadpool’ returns by Kelly Thompson and Chris Bachalo

New series pits Deadpool against monsters and debuts in November.

Marvel’s infamous “merc with a mouth” will return this fall with a brand new series. Kelly Thompson and Chris Bachalo will team for a new Deadpool series that pits the wisecracking mutant against “the king of the monsters.” Which, I presume, isn’t Godzilla (although that would be cool).

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Curt Pires teams with his dad for ‘the most personal and raw comics I’ve been a part of’

Curt Pires, Tony Pires and Alex Diotto present ‘Olympia,’ coming in November from Image Comics.

Wyrd writer Curt Pires‘ next project is not only a love letter to superhero comics, Jack Kirby and Spielberg movies — it’s also very personal. His co-writer, Tony Pires, is also his father, who passed away from cancer, and they conceived the comic while Tony was in the hospital.

“We started working on Olympia just about three years ago when my father was first hospitalized as a means of giving us something to look forward to, to hope for, in dark times. All these months later the book’s finally coming out, even after he’s left us,” said Curt Pires. “Beyond any Extratextual reasoning I can throw at you, though, this is just good comics. Plain and simple. It’s a love letter to the Spielberg movies we loved so much smashed against the cosmic epicness of the Jack Kirby joints that laid the foundation of our modern entertainment landscape. These are the most personal and raw comics I’ve been a part of, and I hope you’ll join us.”

The stories they imagined together are being brought to life by artist Alex Diotto, who previously worked on Brigands and Southern Dog for Action Lab.

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‘Crone’ fights one last time this November

Dennis Culver, Justin Greenwood, Brad Simpson and Pat Brosseau team up on a new comic from Dark Horse.

An old fighter fights again as Dennis Culver, Justin Greenwood, Brad Simpson and Pat Brosseau present Crone, coming this fall from Dark Horse Comics.

“This is a story I’ve long wanted to tell,” said Culver in a press release. “Crone is about facing death after a long life of regret and trying to rise to the challenge of making up for your mistakes when given one last chance.”

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BOOM! Studios announces ‘Folklords’ by Kindt + Smith

New miniseries follows a young man whose “forbidden quest reveals the shocking truth about his world.”

Dept. H and Black Badge writer Matt Kindt is teaming up with Barbarian Lord creator Matt Smith for a new miniseries from BOOM! Studios. Folklords is about” a young man whose forbidden quest reveals the shocking truth about his world and turns everything he ever knew upside down.”

“Ideas usually sneak up on you. But this one came in a flash. As soon as my plucky editor, Eric, said the word ‘Folklords,’ I had an image of this teenage kid in a black suit and tie…walking through a small folk tale-style village full of gnomes, witches and trolls. It looked jarring, seeing that kid there. He was completely out of place. What’s this kid wearing a suit for? Is he living in a fairy tale? Why is he there?” Kindt said in a press release. “I’m not sure why the word triggered that image in my head but I didn’t question it. The question I did have? Who the heck are the Folklords? This kid…in this suit and tie…who doesn’t seem to belong? He’s going to find out.”

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Watch Brian Michael Bendis discuss comics with Seth Meyers

Bendis discusses Legion, Naomi, Miles Morales and how he tries to think like Superman.

Superman writer Brian Michael Bendis returned to Late Night with Seth Meyers this week to once again talk about his work with late night host and comics fan Seth Meyers.

The two hit on a myriad of topics, including the success of Miles Morales (who Bendis co-created, he noted to Meyers in a small but important moment in the interview; hat tip to artist Sara Pichelli), the challenges of writing Superman, the origin of Naomi and his work on the upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes relaunch.

Watch the full segment below:

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Michel Fiffe loads another round of ‘Copra’ in October

A new first issue arrives Oct. 2 from Image Comics.

Michel Fiffe’s wonderful Copra moved to Image Comics earlier this year, bringing new editions of the five previous trade paperbacks to stores in May. But since then fans have been asking, “When will we see a new Copra series from Fiffe?”

The answer: October.

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Read Colleen Coover’s Lana Lang fan comic

Superman and Lana hang out in this “unsanctioned” but fun story.

Eisner Award-winning comics creator Colleen Coover has posted an “Unofficial, Unsanctioned, Unsolicited” new comic starring Superman’s ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang. Hey, if Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson can get their own comics, why not Lana?

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‘Red Rain’ Batman sinks his teeth into ‘Secrets of Sinister House’ one-shot

DC’s annual Halloween anthology features new stories by John Layman, Paul Dini, Rafael Albuquerque, Tom Raney and more.

DC’s annual Halloween anthology will return in October with a new story set in the world of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, among other stories.

Rafael Scavone and Rafael Albuquerque will co-write the story about vampire Batman, with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Albuquerque’s the co-creator of American Vampire, so he’s very familiar with fanged monsters. Released in the 1990s and created by Dog Moench and Kelley Jones, Red Rain was one of the earliest “Elseworlds” stories published by DC. It spawned two sequels.

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Nominees announced for the 2019 British Fantasy Awards

Lucy Bellwood, Hellboy, ‘Saga’ and more are among this year’s nominees.

The British Fantasy Society has announced the nominees for the 2019 British Fantasy Awards, which include a “Best Comic/Graphic Novel” category.

The entrants are selected after two rounds of nominations, and votes are tallied from the members of the British Fantasy Society and FantasyCon. Winners will be announced Oct. 20 at FantasyCon 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland. Monstress took home the award for the past two years, but isn’t nominated this year.

The nominees are:

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Oni Press announces Katie O’Neill’s ‘Dewdrop’ for early 2020

The creator of ‘The Tea Dragon Society’ returns with a new graphic novel aimed at younger readers.

The creator of the award-winning The Tea Dragon Society will return with a new graphic novel, Dewdrop, in 2020.

Katie O’Neill announced the young reader’s project during the Oni Press panel at Comic-Con International this past weekend.

“I’m so happy to be creating a book for younger readers, especially one with themes of mindfulness and self-fulfillment,” Katie O’Neill said. “I hope the ideas in Dewdrop will sew seeds that may stay with children in some small way, and eventually grow when they need them most. It’s also a real honor to help with starting kids reading in any way I can, so I am very excited for them to meet Dewdrop and his friends!”

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