Author: JK Parkin

‘Empowered’ returns for 11th volume from Dark Horse

Adam Warren’s long-running satire gets a new volume this September.

Adam Warren‘s long-running series Empowered will return with a new volume from Dark Horse this fall. The company announced that the superhero/cheesecake satire will see its 11th volume arrive in stores Sept. 18.

The manga-influenced series kicked off in 2007 with its first volume, with new volumes following every 1-2 years. Warren began posting the earlier volumes on the web a few years back, and currently you can read up through volume five on the site. Be careful, as it can be addictive; it looks like a softcore cheesecake superhero story, but it goes deeper than that, with a lot of humor and intrigue. I’ve seen it described as a “guilty pleasure” series, and I’d agree after getting hooked reading the first two volumes this past weekend.

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Zdarsky, Anka + Wilson reunite for new fantasy miniseries

The two-issue ‘The White Trees’ miniseries kicks off in August.

For one hot minute back in 2016, Chip Zdarsky, Kris Anka and Matt Wilson teamed up on Marvel’s Star-Lord, but the title seemingly ended almost as soon as it began. Which is a shame, because they seemed to be having a lot of fun on it.

Cut to 2019, and the team’s back together — this time on an Image Comics miniseries called The White Trees.

“I’m beyond thrilled to be working with Kris and Matt again!” bellowed Zdarsky. “Are they thrilled to be working with me again? It really doesn’t matter as I tricked them into signing a contract by using the words ‘hot fantasy.’ Legally, they have to illustrate this tale of fraught relationships forged in war and the complexities of fatherhood. Or suffer the consequences.”

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Comics Lowdown: Who owns Atlas Comics?

Plus: Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award recipients, Paige Braddock, Frank Santoro, Dr. Gene Luen Yang and more!

Who exactly owns Atlas Comics? That seems to be the question raised in two articles from The Hollywood Reporter. Earlier this month Steven Paul, producer of the Ghost Rider film, announced via a press conference that he had bought the rights to Atlas Comics and planned to work with Paramount to turn the properties into movies. Not so fast, said Dynamite Entertainment, who followed up by telling THR that they own the name “Atlas Comics.”

Many of you may be wondering “What the heck was Atlas Comics?” while others might be thinking, “Wait, wasn’t Atlas the company that eventually evolved into Marvel Comics in the 1960s?” And still others are wondering, “Didn’t he learn his lesson after Ghost Rider?”

But getting back to Atlas, yes, there was an Atlas Comics in the 1950s that grew out of Timely Comics and eventually became Marvel Comics. It was owned by publisher Martin Goodman, and it put out comics in a variety of genres like horror, crime, espionage and even a few superhero titles featuring characters like Captain America and the Human Torch, who had previously been published under the Timely banner. However, this isn’t that Atlas Comics.

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King to leave ‘Batman’ for new ‘Batman/Catwoman’ title

Tom King and Clay Mann will launch the 12-issue series in January.

Following rumors earlier this week that writer Tom King would leave Batman earlier than expected, DC Comics has made it official: King’s work on the title continues through December, when the “City of Bane” story will wrap up in Batman #85. A new, as-yet-unrevealed creative team will take over the title in January 2020, when DC will launch Batman/Catwoman by King and artist Clay Mann.

Batman, which currently comes out biweekly, will shift to a monthly schedule in January. Batman/Catwoman is being billed as a 12-issue maxi-series.

“We’re making changes to our comic book publishing line to set DC up for continued success,” said DC’s editor-in-chief Bob Harras. “We’re starting with the bestselling Batman comic after ‘City of Bane’ wraps up in December. ‘City of Bane’ is an incredible story and an integral part of our overall ‘Year of the Villain’ campaign, and a new Tom King and Clay Mann Bat/Cat series in 2020 fills the gap once BATMAN begins to ship monthly.”

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Captain Marvel flies over to IDW’s Marvel Action line

Sam Maggs, Sweeney Boo and Brittany Peer create new Captain Marvel stories aimed at middle grade readers.

Captain Marvel will join IDW Publishing’s Marvel Action line in August. The line of comics is aimed at middle grade readers and already includes comics starring the Avengers, Black Panther and Spider-Man.

The comic will feature Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman and the Flerkens, the race of aliens who look like cats but are so much more.

“I feel so privileged to help launch Captain Marvel’s solo title for Marvel Action,” said writer Sam Maggs. “Carol has always been my favorite super hero; I love how she’s truly come into her own, culturally, and is finally being widely-recognized as the star that she is. Being able to write for Carol is the most exciting and terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t wait to share this arc with everyone!”

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Mike Friedrich, E. Nelson Bridwell to receive Bill Finger Award

Annual award will be presented during the Eisner Award celebration at Comic-Con International in July.

Comic-Con International has announced the recipients of this year’s Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Writing, which goes to writers who have not been given due recognition for their work.

This year’s award will go to Mike Friedrich, a pioneer of independent comics as well as a writer for both DC Comics and Marvel, and E. Nelson Bridwell, who worked on MAD Magazine and co-created The Inferior Five, The Secret Six and The Angel and the Ape for DC Comics. Before becoming professional writers, both men were active letter-writers to comics letter columns. You can read more about both men on the CCI website.

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Impeach Pedro: ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ comes to comics

Sequel to the film launches from IDW in September.

IDW Publishing has announced a comic book sequel to the 2004 movie Napoleon Dynamite. The story directly follows the movie, as Napoleon’s friend Pedro fights to remain student body president after being accused of cheating.

“Fifteen years ago, an unsuspecting world was introduced to the bizarre cinematic world of Napoleon Dynamite… and it was flippin’ sweet!” said Editor Tom Waltz. “And now we have the freakin’ awesome opportunity to show off our really good comic-book-making skills with a tale that picks up right where Napoleon and his friends left off. It’s almost like we borrowed Uncle Rico’s mail-order time machine… and it actually worked this time!”

The story will be written by brothers Carlos Guzman-Verdugo and Alejandro Verdugo, who wrote Time Machine Cheetah. Jorge Monlongo will provide the art

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Rest in peace, Justin Ponsor

The 42-year-old colorist died of cancer this past weekend.

Comic artist/colorist Justin Ponsor, whose work graced the pages of comics for Marvel, CrossGen, Image Comics, DC Comics and others over the years, died this past weekend after a long fight with cancer. Ponsor was 42 and shared the details of his medical battles (and a lot of humor) over the last few years on his “Blarg.”

Ponsor began his career in the mid-1990s at Wildstorm, working on titles like Danger Girl, Divine Right and WildCATS. In the early 2000s he went to work on CrossGen’s titles, including Scion and Sojourn. In 2004 he started working for both DC and Marvel, the latter where he’d spend the majority of his career, working on titles like Ultimate X-Men, Gambit, Phoenix: Endsong and Young Avengers, among many others. He touched probably every major Marvel character over the course of his career, working on interiors as well as covers.

The news of Ponsor’s passing was revealed on his Facebook page:

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Pastis wins the Reuben; ‘Kafkaesque,’ ‘Vampironica’ win NCS division awards

Winners of the annual awards presented by the National Cartoonists Society given out this weekend in Huntington Beach.

The National Cartoonists Society announced the winners of the annual Reuben Award and other divisional awards this weekend during NCS Fest in Huntington Beach, California.

After 11 nominations,Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis took home the Reuben Award, beating out Lynda Barry, Hilary Price, Brain Basset and Mark Tatulli for the honor.

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McFarlane’s ‘Spawn’ celebrates 300 issues in August

Greg Capullo, Scott Snyder, J. Scott Campbell and more help celebrate the milestone.

Todd McFarlane’s Spawn will reach its 300th issue in August, and the creator has gone all out for the big occasion.

“I created Spawn back when I was a teenager hoping to someday break into the comic book industry,” McFarlane said in a press release.  “Now, over 40 years later, not only was I able to have a career drawing and writing comics, but Spawn has been by my side for most of that journey. Even more exciting, Spawn is becoming the longest running creator-owned comic in the world!”

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Lou the Cat saves the galaxy in ‘Strayed’

Meet your new favorite feline in a miniseries from Dark Horse, coming in August.

It’s not secret that cats rule the world, and starting in summer they’re going galactic. Strayed, a new series by Carlos Giffoni, Juan Doe and Matt Krotzer, blasts into space — and comic shops — in August.

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‘Ghost Spider’ relaunches in August

Seanan McGuire and Takeshi Miyazawa bring Spider-Gwen over to the 616.

While she’ll always be Spider-Gwen in our hearts, the character now known as Ghost Spider (which is a pretty cool name, too) is getting another reboot in August. This time around she’ll be spending more time in the 616, as she enrolls at Empire State University, where Peter Parker has spent a few semesters over the course of the last five decades.

“After dipping her toes into the main Marvel Universe, Gwen Stacy is finally taking the leap part-time as she enrolls in Empire State University,” Assistant Editor Danny Khazem told Marvel.com. “But Gwen’s going to need to do her Spider-History research if she’s going to figure out just who from Spider’s past is keeping tabs on her!”

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