Author: JK Parkin

Titan to bring ‘The Prisoner: Shattered Visage’ back into print

Motter and Askwith’s comic book sequel to The Prisoner returns to print for the first time in decades.

Back in the late 1980s Dean Motter and Mark Askwith created a comic book sequel to the cult classic TV show The Prisoner, which was published by DC Comics. In San Diego this week, Titan Comics announced that they will republish the long out-of-print story, The Prisoner: Shattered Visage, with Motter’s character sketches and notes.

“When I was approached to do a series based on The Prisoner, I leapt at the chance. It was one of my favorite TV shows when it first aired. My thinking turned to doing it as a post-modernist fable – one that took place in the current era, but that would re-open the questions from the original saga,” Motter said in a press release. “However, doing the research was going to take more resources than I had – so I drafted my friend and colleague Mark Askwith to help me with that aspect of the project. It became a collaboration almost instantly. I am honored to see it re-presented as part of Titan’s ongoing celebration of The Prisoner‘s ongoing 50th anniversary.”

Continue reading “Titan to bring ‘The Prisoner: Shattered Visage’ back into print”

Top Shelf announces ‘Surfside Girls’ sequel

Sam and Jade solve mysteries once again in a new volume from Kim Dwinell.

Top Shelf has announced a sequel to one of last year’s “perfect summer reads,” as our own Brigid Alverson called it. Surfside Girls (Book Two): The Mystery at the Old Rancho, finds best friends Sam and Jade tackling a two-hundred-year-old mystery to help one of the local ghosts.

“I’ve had so much fun this last year watching readers of all ages discover Sam and Jade’s world,” says author Kim Dwinell. “I packed Surfside Girls with Southern California sunshine, and I hope everyone enjoys spending time with it as much as I do. I’m absolutely stoked to show you what the girls get up to in Book Two!”

Continue reading “Top Shelf announces ‘Surfside Girls’ sequel”

‘Spencer & Locke 2’ takes aim at all the comic strips

David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr.’s hard-nosed cop and his imaginary friend return this Winter.

One of last year’s pleasant surprises in the comics world was Spencer & Locke, David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr.’s re-imagining of Calvin & Hobbes by way of Sin City. Now a Ringo Award-nominated series, Spencer & Locke is getting a sequel that will introduce their take on other comic strip characters. The villain, Roach Riley, may look familiar to fans of Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey.

“We’ve told fans from the beginning that there was a much larger universe for Spencer & Locke to explore — and we’re excited to expand their world further with their latest adversary, Roach Riley,” Pepose said. “Half The Deer Hunter, half Heath Ledger’s Joker, Roach is only the beginning of Locke’s latest gauntlet, as every classic comic strip from your childhood will be fair game for parody in our action-packed sequel.”

Continue reading “‘Spencer & Locke 2’ takes aim at all the comic strips”

DC confirms Marc Silvestri’s Batman project

‘Batman/Joker: The Deadly Duo’ will feature the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime teaming up.

Marc Silvestri’s long-rumored Batman project is a go at DC Comics, as the publisher confirmed this week in San Diego that the Cyberforce creator is working on Batman/Joker: The Deadly Duo.

No word yet on exactly when it will come out, but Silvestri said the book will be about seven and a half issues long and will feature someone “screwing” with the Joker, according to The Beat. Batman is forced to team up with the Joker when this mysterious person kidnaps Jim Gordon.

Continue reading “DC confirms Marc Silvestri’s Batman project”

First look at Johns/Eaglesham ‘Shazam!’ series

The Marvel family seems to have gotten bigger. Also: ‘Three Jokers’ artwork!

Earlier this year when DC revealed that Geoff Johns would step down as Chief Creative Officer for the company to focus on creating stuff, they mentioned he is working on a new Shazam! series.

At Comic-Con International in San Diego today, Johns shared a first look at artwork from the series by Dale Eaglesham:

Continue reading “First look at Johns/Eaglesham ‘Shazam!’ series”

DeConnick + Rocha to take over ‘Aquaman’

DeConnick promises Zeppelin Aquaman — ‘Powerful. Dangerous. Sexy.’

Over bacon and eggs in San Diego this morning, DC Comics publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee spoke with reporters and shared news about a new creative team for Aquaman — Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha.

Continue reading “DeConnick + Rocha to take over ‘Aquaman’”

DC reveals more titles from their younger readers lines

The publisher dropped a whole bunch of new titles coming to their DC Ink and DC Zoom lines, aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers.

After revealing the creative teams for several upcoming books in their new younger readers line in June, DC Comics announced the next wave of titles coming from their new DC Ink and DC Zoom imprints.

The lines were first announced back in February — DC Zoom, aimed at middle grade readers (8-12 years) and DC Ink, aimed at young adult readers (13 and older). Publisher Jim Lee spoke about the initiative during DC’s Meet the Publisher panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego today.

“There are a lot of people who are hungry for our material and our characters but we’re not necessarily producing the things they want,” Lee said. “So we’re trying to reach those new audiences with different sizes and formats.”

There are a lot of interesting names on the list of creators, including several that comics fans should recognize, like Louise Simonson, Gene Luen Yang, Stuart Moore, and the awesome duo of Art Baltazar & Franco.

Here’s look at all the titles that have been announced thus far, taken from the official press release:

Continue reading “DC reveals more titles from their younger readers lines”

Morrison + Sharp relaunch ‘Green Lantern’ in November

Hal Jordan gets a solo title that’s about ‘the everyday life of a space cop.”

Grant Morrison will return to the DC Universe this fall with Liam Sharp, as they tackle hard-nosed space crime in a new series that features Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

“Instead of the big, epic, 12-part stories, we’re focusing down on the everyday life of a space cop. Basically, it’s no more apocalypse-ending storylines,” Morrison told IGN. “The basic concept is that [Hal Jordan] is like a space cop that patrols a sector of the universe where anything can happen. We’ve made it more like a police procedural.”

Continue reading “Morrison + Sharp relaunch ‘Green Lantern’ in November”

DC Universe service to cost $7.99 a month

Pre-order the service to get a full year for $74.99.

At Comic-Con International this week, DC Comics released more details on the DC Universe streaming app, which will include movies, TV shows, comics and more.

You’ll be able to subscribe to it for $7.99 a month. Right now they’re offering a pre-order price through July 22 of $74.99 for the entire year on the new service’s website; you’ll also be entered into a drawing to attend the premiere of the Aquaman film.

Continue reading “DC Universe service to cost $7.99 a month”

The Comics Journal returns to print

Issue #303 will arrive in January, edited by RJ Casey and Kristy Valenti.

Fantagraphics has announced the return of The Comics Journal, the award-winning magazine founded in 1976 by Gary Groth that saw its last print edition in 2013. The magazine will return next year in a twice-yearly format, with new editors RJ Casey and Kristy Valenti.

“The Comics Journal had been a near-monolithic force in my life and I think its absence has been felt by more people than just me,” Casey said. “I’m beyond excited to bring new voices, new ideas, and a new enthusiasm to the Journal.”

Continue reading “The Comics Journal returns to print”

Kirby’s Great Disaster provides the backdrop for ‘Electric Warriors’

Steve Orlando and Travel Foreman head back to the future for a six-issue miniseries debuting in November.

Steve Orlando and Travel Foreman will revisit Jack Kirby’s classic Great Disaster — as detailed in the King’s work on Kamandi — in a new miniseries titled Electric Warriors.

“Like Overwatch or Battle Royale, Electric Warriors will feature a team of unique, memorable leads representing a wide spectrum of readers in a setting rife with danger and adventure,” said Orlando. “This is the unexplored future of Jack Kirby’s DC Universe, rising from the Great Disaster of Kamandi. If the Legion of Superheroes is the universe’s Age of Enlightenment, the setting of Electric Warriors is more akin to the Dark Ages.”

Continue reading “Kirby’s Great Disaster provides the backdrop for ‘Electric Warriors’”

Tynion pits Wonder Woman, Justice League Dark against Hecate in October

The crossover event runs through the month of October.

Before G. Willow Wilson takes over the title in November, Wonder Woman will cross over with Justice League Dark for Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour. The five-part weekly crossover will run through two issues of Wonder Woman and one issue of Justice League Dark in October, bookended by two 48-page specials.

James Tynion IV will write all five comics, working with three different art teams.

Continue reading “Tynion pits Wonder Woman, Justice League Dark against Hecate in October”