Author: JK Parkin

Detective Wyrd is on the case at Dark Horse

Curt Pires and Antonio Fuso team up for a ‘James Bond meets the X-Files’ miniseries.

Curt Pires and Antonio Fuso have a new series coming from Dark Horse next year, and it’s weird — or Wyrd, actually.

Wyrd, is a four-issue comics series that’s decribed as “James Bond meets The X Files,” and features Pitor Wyrd — “an un-aging, invincible detective with a penchant for the strange who steps in to assist…for a fee. Between a botched attempt at recreating a certain U.S. supersolider, a monster roaming the countryside and a trail of bodies, there is no case too big, too small, or too weird.”

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Comics Lowdown: Chuck Wendig says Marvel fired him because of negative tweets

After posting a controversial interview, Bleeding Cool gets a new editor in chief! Plus Steve Ellis, Alex Ross, MAD Magazine and more!

Comics writer and novelist Chuck Wendig says he has been fired from Marvel “because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark [Paniccia], the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.” Wendig had just been announced as the writer of Shadow of Vader, with artist Greg Smallwood, and said he had another as-yet-unannounced Star Wars comic in the works.

In addition to various Star Wars comics, Wendig also wrote Star Wars: Aftermath, a novel that included LGBT characters and was one of the first books published after Lucasfilm ended the “expanded universe” Star Wars books. After it was published, Wendig said he received “TONS” of harassment online — “harassment that has gone on for years, harassment that has required me to contact local police and warn them of SWATting attempts, harassment across all corners of the Internet, here, FB, Reddit, YouTube. Some of it was bot stuff, obviously, or sock puppets, but some of it was pretty creepy, and very personal.”

This story has been reported on widely, with stories from Deadline, io9, the Verge, Vulture and more. Update: Wendig has a post answering many of the questions he’s received since he went public with this news.

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Inktober Spotlight: Caanan Grall’s pop culture mash-ups

The creator of ‘Max Overacts’ shares a drawing a day in October.

We’re 13 days into October, also known as Inktober in artist circles. During Inktober, artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists once again participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the fun ones we’ve seen so far.

Today we focus on Caanan Grall, creator of Max Overacts, one of my all-time favorite webcomics. The strip has been on hiatus since Grall was diagnosed with, and eventually had surgery for, a brain tumor. The good news is, Grall is drawing again and sharing his Inktober contributions on Twitter. His fun style is perfect for mashing up various bits of pop culture, like the Harley Quinn/Charlie Brown image you see above.

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Weekly ‘Avengers: No Road Home’ kicks off next year

Writer Jim Zub shares details on the spiritual sequel to last year’s ‘Avengers: No Surrender,’ as he teams up with Al Ewing and Mark Waid for another weekly story.

Last year Avengers: No Surrender ran through all of Marvel’s various Avengers titles on a weekly basis, as the creators of those books tag-teamed on a giant story involving lots of Avengers, the Grandmaster, the Black Order, several new villains and a plot to steal the Earth.

One of the writers involved in the story was Jim Zub, who attended New York Comic Con last weekend to announce the “spiritual successor” to that story, the 10-week Avengers: No Road Home. He took to his blog this week to provide more details on the project.

Unlike “No Surrender,” “No Road Home” will not run through the Avengers titles — there’s actually only the one now, written by Jason Aaron. Instead it’ll be its own stand-alone series. Zub will once again work with Mark Waid and Al Ewing on writing it, while Paco Medina and Sean Izaakse will provide the art.

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‘Champions’ gets a new first issue, new art team and international focus

Writer Jim Zub welcomes the ‘Wayward’ art team of Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain to the series.

At New York Comic Con, Champions and Wayward writer Jim Zub was on hand to announce two new projects — including a relaunch of Marvel’s “teens saving the world” team The Champions.

The comic will receive a new #1 in January, along with a new art team — one Zub knows well. He’ll be joined by Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain, who he worked with on the Image series Wayward. Zub explained the reason for the reboot on his blog.

“The response to my Champions stories has been great so far and many of the single issues have gone into second printings, but in the current retail climate the simple truth is that readers look to issue #1’s as a clear jumping on point for stories and characters,” Zub said. “When new Marvel Editor-In-Chief CB Cebulski came on board I was already announced as the writer of Champions with issue #19 and so, as other Marvel series have been getting Fresh Start issue #1’s to mark important story changes and signal to readers and retailers that they have big plans, it was decided that Champions should get the same treatment in the new year. Marvel is really happy with what I’ve been doing and they want to make sure more people know about it and get on board.”

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Comics Lowdown: Stan Lee speaks out on elder-abuse allegations

Patti LaBoucane-Benson appointed to Canada’s Senate! Finding Olivia James at CXC! Plus: Grant Morrison, Matthew Thurber and why we love Spider-Man so dang much!

People: In an interview subtitled “Those I Trusted Betrayed Me,” Stan Lee speaks to The Daily Beast about elder-abuse allegations against his daughter and the removal of several of his associates from his life.

“There really isn’t that much drama,” Lee said. “As far as I’m concerned, we have a wonderful life. I’m pretty damn lucky. I love my daughter, I’m hoping that she loves me, and I couldn’t ask for a better life. If only my wife was still with us. I don’t know what this is all about.”

People: The Outside Circle comic writer Patti LaBoucane-Benson has been appointed to Canada’s Senate by Prime Minister Trudeau.

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Vertigo unleashes a bunch of art from upcoming titles at NYCC

Check out artwork from ‘Lucifer,’ ‘Books of Magic,’ ‘Goddess Mode’ and more.

DC Comics brought a lot of news and even more art from upcoming titles to the New York Comic Con this past weekend. With Vertigo in the middle of a relaunch, they were front and center with new artwork from Goddess Mode, Hex Wives, High Level and the Sandman Universe titles Books of Magic and Lucifer.

Let’s take a look:

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1.5 million copies of new Raina Telgemeier graphic novels coming next year

A how-to guide to creating comics and a new memoir called ‘Guts’ will arrive in April and September, respectively.

Scholastic/Graphix has announced two new Raina Telgemeier graphic novels for 2019, including a new OGN and a “how to” book for creating comics.

Share Your Smile: Raina’s Guide to Telling Your Own Story will be released April 30, with a print run of 500,000 copies. Schlastic says it’s for “readers interested in writing, drawing or both” and “will guide readers in brainstorming ideas, making lists, featuring their personal photos and using their imagination as a catalyst for storytelling. For additional inspiration, Share Your Smile also features a behind-the-scenes look at Telgemeier’s work, including a teaser to her new memoir.”

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Dark Horse to publish final volume of Victor Santos’ ‘Polar’ next year

Fourth volume of the story of a retired spy is one of three ‘Polar’ projects planned by Dark Horse as the release of the movie approaches.

The fourth and final volume of Victor Santos‘ Polar series will arrive from Dark Horse next March, along with a “volume zero” and new edition of the first volume, Polar: Came from the Cold.

All of which makes a lot of sense, given that the Polar film is set to debut from Netflix next year.

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‘Black Widow’ returns in her own solo series next year

The Soska Sister team up with artist Flaviano to send the ‘officially dead’ Black Widow to Madripoor.

The Black Widow will return in her own solo series in January, courtesy of film directors/writers The Soska Sisters and artist Flaviano (Low Road West).

“This is actually a stand-alone adventure for Natasha that focuses on her doing what she does best,” Jen Soska told Bustle. “We’re taking Natasha to the baddest place on Earth in the Marvel-verse, Madripoor, where she’ll find the kind of villains that don’t deserve mercy. She’s back from the dead and she’s not happy about it. She’s looking to let off some steam in the most permanent of ways.”

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DC Comics shares more Wonder Comics art

The pop-up imprint curated by Brian Michael Bendis will include ‘Young Justice,’ ‘Dial H for Hero,’ ‘Wonder Twins’ and a new comic called ‘Naomi.’

At the New York Comic Con, the Brian Michael Bendis panel brought some additional tidbits and lots of art for the upcoming Wonder Comics line.

First up, here’s a look at more artwork by Patrick Gleason for Young Justice, which Bendis will write. Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, will also appear in the title, and will get her own series in the Wonder Comics line in the future.

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‘The Girl in the Bay’ surfaces at Berger Books next year

J.M. DeMatteis and Corin Howell team up on a new comic coming from Karen Berger’s Dark Horse imprint.

The Berger Books line continues to grow, as the Dark Horse imprint announced a new title at the New York Comic Con this weekend — The Girl in the Bay by J.M. DeMatteis and Corin Howell.

This isn’t the first time the prolific DeMatteis has worked with editor Karen Berger, as Vertigo published The Last One and Mercy back in the day.

“The chance to work with Karen Berger again was too good to pass up,” said J.M. DeMatteis. “I was part of the launch of the Vertigo imprint 25 years ago, and I’m delighted to be a part of this exciting new chapter in Karen’s career. I’m equally delighted to have the amazing Corin Howell illustrating our project, The Girl in the Bay: a dark tale of mysticism, time-travel, cosmic identity theft, and murder.”

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