Author: JK Parkin

Sarah Gaydos named editor-in-chief for Oni Press

After joining Oni last April as editorial director of licensed publishing, Gaydos will now oversee Oni’s entire line.

Oni Press has named Sarah Gaydos as its new editor-in-chief, a role that’s been vacant at the publisher since James Lucas Jones was named publisher a year ago.

Gaydos joined Oni Press last April as editorial director of licensed publishing, taking on titles like Rick and Morty. Before that, she worked at IDW and for DC’s Wildstorm imprint.

“In less than a year, Sarah has had a profound effect on Oni Press,” Jones said in a press release. “Her taste is impeccable and broad. Her network of colleagues both love and respect her. Her dedication to comics and the people who create them is virtually unmatched. There is no other person better suited to lead our editorial team and oversee the creation of amazing new comics for all types of readers.”

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Smash Pages’ favorite comics of 2018

See what the Smash Pages’ staff enjoyed reading this past year.

With 2018 winding down, Smash Pages’ contributors take a look back at some of their favorite comics of the year, from Hey Kiddo and Spectacular Spider-Man #310 to Wet Moon and The Secret Voice.

Brigid Alverson

Silver Spoon, by Hiromu Arakawa (Yen Press)
Arakawa is best known as the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, but you couldn’t get any farther from that series than Silver Spoon, a comedy about a city boy who goes to agricultural school in rural Hokkaido. Yuugo Hachiken worked hard and did everything he was told, but he still didn’t get into an elite high school, so he takes what he thinks is the easy way out by going to a school that’s not academically focused—or so he thinks. In fact, the students at Ooezo Agricultural High School are very knowledgeable in their fields, but those fields are things like genetics and animal husbandry. The rubber really hits the road in the practical lessons, though, and Hachiken quickly realizes he is out of his depth when it comes to herding chickens, riding a horse, or fetching a stray calf. There’s a lot of city mouse-country mouse comedy in this series, but it’s also a fascinating look at where our food comes from (at least in Japan), and the different agricultural models espoused by different farmers. In fact, like Hachiken’s classmates, this book is very smart and sophisticated in addition to being endlessly entertaining.

Meal, by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho (Iron Circus)
The idea of eating bugs may elicit an “Eeeww” from most people, but Delliquanti and Ho go beyond the ick factor in this romance about an insect cuisine enthusiast and a chef who wants to start a new restaurant based on the dishes of her youth—dishes that include ants, grasshoppers, and tarantulas. There’s a love story woven in there as well. Yarrow has just moved to a new city in hopes of getting a job in the kitchen of Chandra Flores, insect chef extraordinaire, who is about to launch a new restaurant. Milani, her neighbor, is friendly and helpful but the two have a little trouble making it click. At the same time, Chandra suspects that Yarrow is only into insect cuisine because it’s sensational, while to her, it’s part of her heritage. There’s a lot in this slim volume: Love, food, bugs, and bugs that are food, and the creators even include a couple of recipes at the end of the book.

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Comics Lowdown: Eric M. Esquivel fired from ‘Nightwing,’ ‘Border Town’ cancelled

Plus: Free Comics Book Day, George Freeman, Marie Javins and more!

Although it wasn’t yet announced, DC Comics has said Eric M. Esquivel will no longer co-write Nightwing. The news that Esquivel was writing the book was to be revealed today in DC’s January solicitations.

The news follows the cancellation of Border Town, a well-reviewed series Esquivel wrote with artists Ramon Villalobos and Tamra Bonvillain. Both Villalobos and Bonvillain announced on social media they had quit the title after allegations of sexual abuse against Esquivel became public. In a piece titled “X, my experience with my abuser,” toy designer Cynthia Naugle detailed a history of abuse by a co-worker at a comic shop, who has since been identified as Esquivel.

Neither DC Comics nor Vertigo have commented directly on the abuse allegations. Esquivel, who had changed his Twitter account to private following the allegations, has now made it public again and posted several tweets in response. At Book Riot, writer S.W. Sondheimer says she will no longer cover Vertigo titles as a result of their silence on the matter.

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James Kochalka helps Santa ‘Pack the Sack’

The creator of ‘American Elf’ returns with a new holiday tune.

In addition to creating comics like Mechaboys, American Elf and Johnny Boo, James Kochalka is also a singer, regularly sharing songs on his YouTube channel. For the past few years, he’s released various singles for the holiday, and this year he returns with a new tune, “Pack the Sack.”

Check it out below:

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Athens cartoonists create anthology to benefit Patrick Dean

A new issue of ‘Bezoar’ will benefit the cartoonist, who was diagnosed with ALS earlier this year.

Bezoar is a minicomics anthology put together by a group of Athens, Georgia-based comic creators with a monster theme. With two issues under their belt, the crew decided to use the third issue to help raise money for cartoonist Patrick Dean, who was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in June.

Joey Weiser explains on Tumblr:

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Comics Lowdown: Chris Ryall rejoins IDW; Joe Illidge out at Valiant

Plus: top comics and graphic novels at comic shops in November! Next ‘Dog Man’ book gets a 5 million copy print run! Kieron Gillen plays ‘Die,’ for real! And much more!

Chris Ryall, who left IDW Publishing in March after serving as editor-in-chief for about 14 years, has rejoined the company as president, publisher and chief creative officer.

“IDW is where I’ve spent the majority of my career, and I consider the company and its employees like family, so I am grateful for this amazing opportunity to return,” Ryall said in a press statement. “I believe that IDW has very significant opportunities to become even more valuable and important, and I am excited to further expand on what I started with the company nearly 15 years ago. I am also eager to help the company celebrate its 20th year anniversary in 2019 in varied and creatively invigorating new ways.”

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Bêlit returns to comics in a new miniseries from Marvel

The Conan mainstay gets an origin story thanks to Tini Howard and Kate Niemczyk.

Conan’s favorite pirate queen will return in March for a five-issue miniseries from Marvel detailing part of her origin story.

Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast brings together Tini Howard and Kate Niemczyk for a tale starring a teenage Bêlit, who stows away on the ship of the Dread Admiral Atrahasis.

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‘Calamity Kate’ hunts monsters in March

New miniseries by Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto and Zakk Saam debuts from Dark Horse Comics next year.

Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto and Zakk Saam are headed for calamity — Calamity Kate, that is, a new miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.

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Comics Lowdown: ‘Love Is Love’ brings in another $51,000 for The Trevor Project

Plus: Tumblr changes its guidelines, November comics sales drop, Olivia Stephens, Sophie Goldstein, Geoff Johns, Kieron Gillen, Todd Klein, more best-of-the-year lists and more!

The Love Is Love anthology published by IDW Publishing and DC Comics continues to raise money for LGBT organizations; earlier this week IDW announced a donation of $51,000 to The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. This follows a donation of $165,000 in 2017 to the OneOrlando Fund to assist the victims and families impacted by the deadly attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016.

“This has so exceeded any of my wildest hopes for the amount of money it could raise and the attention it got,” Marc Andreyko, who organized and curated the anthology, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We were able to give $51,000 to the Trevor Project two years out, when the news cycle is so fast people don’t remember what happened five minutes ago. I’m happy and sad that there is an evergreen quality to this.”

The anthology is currently in its sixth printing, available via online booksellers, comic book specialty retailers and through digital platforms.

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Help bring Sam Glanzman’s ‘Battle for Britain’ back into print

It’s Alive! launches a new Kickstarter to reprint another World War II story from ‘Combat.’

It’s Alive! has launched a Kickstarter to bring another of Sam Glanzman’s classic World War II tales back into print.

Battle for Britain tells the story of the Royal Air Force defense of the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe — one of the first major campaigns fought by air forces. The original story was published in 1961 in an issue of Combat.

Along with a fully restored main story, this new edition will feature a four-page back-up story titled The Puny, Little Yank, along with black and white photos from WWII, a new essay about Glanzman, an essay about the Doolittle Raiders, vintage ads that were in the original issues, the original cover art by Glanzman, a new standard cover by Glanzman and a new variant cover by John McCrea.

Check out the two new covers below, and visit the Kickstarter page for more information.

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Millar + Netflix unleash ‘Sharkey the Bounty Hunter’ next year

Millar says the new sci-fi series is “all the things ‘Star Wars’ or Marvel can’t get away with.”

For their third comic book collaboration, Mark Millar and Netflix are headed to space next February with Sharkey the Bounty Hunter. The new series will be drawn by former Wolverine and Astonishing X-Men artist Simone Bianchi and will be published by Image Comics.

Sharkey the Bounty Hunter follows The Magic Order and Prodigy, the first two comics from Millar following the acquisition of his Millarworld imprint last year.

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Comics Lowdown: Abrams pulls ‘A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library’ from its schedule

Plus: “Olivia Jaimes” speaks, Bill Maher doubles down on his comic book comments, a comic convention apologizes for giving ‘Saga’ to kids, and much more!

Abrams has abandoned plans to publish A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library by Jack Gantos and Dave McKean following online criticism and controversy. The book is about a young boy who plans to blow up a library, but he changes his mind when he sees how captivated the people inside are with their reading.

An open letter to Abrams from the Asian Author Alliance, signed by more than 1,000 writers, teachers and readers, reads: “The simple fact is that today, the biggest terrorist threat in the United States is white supremacy. In publishing A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library, Abrams is willfully fear-mongering and spreading harmful stereotypes in a failed attempt to show the power of story.”

McKean responded to some of the controversy on Twitter: “The premise of the book is that a boy uses his mind and faith to decide for himself that violence is not the right course or action.” The book was due to be published next May.

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