Category: Comic Books

Chainsaws in space: Daniel Warren Johnson will unleash ‘Chainkata’ on an undeserving world in November

Nine years in the making, the Eisner Award-winning creator of ‘Do a Powerbomb’ and ‘Transformers’ introduces a chainsaw-wielding warrior queen seeking peace in a violent universe.

There’s nothing like getting July started off right as we build toward the big San Diego Comic-Con later this month. Image Comics and Daniel Warren Johnson are coming out swinging with a new ongoing series, Chainkata, which the Do a Powerbomb creator will write and draw. The first issue comes out in November.

The series follows Luma, a chainsaw-wielding warrior queen searching for an unknown power in the vastness of space. All she wants is peace, but violence and terror seem to follow her through every black hole.

“Ever since my start in comics, I’ve wanted to make a science fiction book that truly felt different from everything already out there,” Johnson said. “It was 2017 when I drew the first sketch of Luma, Chainkata‘s main character. From that point, it took me NINE years to come up with a story that I felt was worthy of being on the stands, and Chainkata is the end result of that journey. I have pushed myself narratively and artistically further than I ever have before, and I believe it shows in the pages you’ll be reading this fall. Please join me for an epic like none other. The Chain awaits you.”

Continue reading “Chainsaws in space: Daniel Warren Johnson will unleash ‘Chainkata’ on an undeserving world in November”

Judge Dredd + the Biker Mice From Mars collide in new crossover from Oni Press + Rebellion

The two-issue series by Dan Watters, Ryan O’Sullivan and Jordi Tarragona launches in December as part of a broader publishing and merchandise partnership.

Judge Dredd is about to meet his match in the form of the Biker Mice From Mars. Oni Press and Rebellion will bring together the two unlikely science fiction franchises for a two-issue series launching this December.

Announced in the lead-up to the San Diego Comic Con, Oni Press, Rebellion and Biker Mice From Mars owners The Nacelle Company have revealed Judge Dredd / Biker Mice From Mars #1, written by Dan Watters and Ryan O’Sullivan with artwork by Jordi Tarragona. The crossover also marks the beginning of a new partnership between Rebellion and Nacelle that will include action figures and other collectibles.

“Mutants and mayhem are two of the founding pillars of Judge Dredd’s world, so when Oni and Nacelle approached us about a crossover with the Biker Mice From Mars we knew this would be exactly our kind of Thrillpower,” said Ben Smith, head of publishing for Rebellion. “The Biker Mice From Mars are the perfect fit for Dredd’s radical, radioactive vision of the future, and this is going to be a revved-up, all-action spectacular for fans. To take this crossover off the page into a new toy range is next-level exciting – Rebellion and 2000 AD are delighted to bring this new partnership with our new partners Oni Press and Nacelle into fifth gear.”

Continue reading “Judge Dredd + the Biker Mice From Mars collide in new crossover from Oni Press + Rebellion”

Kelly Thompson + Mattia De Iulis reunite for ‘Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives’

The creative team behind ‘Absolute Wonder Woman Annual’ gives the Bride her own story in a four-issue series arriving in October.

Skybound has announced the next series in their Universal Monsters line — Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, a four-issue miniseries from Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis.

De Iulis will both draw and color the series, with lettering by Becca Carey. The trio worked together on this year’s Absolute Wonder Woman Annual.

The series marks the eighth entry in Skybound’s Universal Monsters line, following Dracula, Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera and the Wolf Man, whose miniseries launched last month. Skybound began publishing comics based on the iconic horror characters in 2023, and have done a great job of pairing the right creative teams with each of the characters.

“The original Bride of Frankenstein is a brilliant film exploring the creature’s failed attempts to find friendship and community, and then the desperate act to force others to create that which he cannot find. What it’s not about, however, is how The Bride herself feels about her creation,” Thompson said. “Through The Bride of Frankenstein Lives we get the opportunity to explore not only her search for who and what she is, but her search for the women that were destroyed to create her — all brought to striking vivid life via Mattia De Iluis’s incredible visuals.” 

Continue reading “Kelly Thompson + Mattia De Iulis reunite for ‘Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives’”

IDW Dark unveils the horror mystery ‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’

The new series from Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Heather Vaughan features a deadly coming-of-age mystery and arrives in October.

IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW Dark is expanding its lineup this fall with You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, an original horror series from the writing duo of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and artist Heather Vaughan.

According to IDW, the series blends psychological horror and mystery with themes of generational control and the struggle to break free from systems built by those in power.

“We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next,” Kelly said in the announcement.

Continue reading “IDW Dark unveils the horror mystery ‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’”

Take a look at Kano and Fabio Moon’s designs for Oni’s new Archie Comics line

Ahead of September’s ‘Archie’ #1 and October’s ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ #1, Oni Press shares the first character art for its new Archie Comics line.

Oni Press and Archie Comics have shared the first character designs for their new publishing partnership, by Sabrina the Teenage Witch artist Kano and Archie artist Fábio Moon, ahead of the two titles debuting this fall.

I shared these earlier in my Q&A post with the writers of the new Archie line coming from Oni Press, but thought they deserved a post of their own. Also: we’ve got variant covers! Both for September’s Archie and October’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which I haven’t had a chance to share yet.

Kano, who designed the cast for both books, said his goal was to update the characters without losing what makes them recognizable.

Continue reading “Take a look at Kano and Fabio Moon’s designs for Oni’s new Archie Comics line”

Chris Condon + Jacob Phillips return to ‘That Texas Blood’ with a new arc this September

‘Hell Comes to Allison Ranch’ drops Sheriff Joe Bob Coates smack dab in the middle of a range war on the largest ranch in America.

Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips are heading back to the ranch for more That Texas Blood. What was supposed to be issue #21 is now the first issue of a new six-issue miniseries, That Texas Blood: Hell Comes to Allison Ranch, which will launch in September from Image Comics.

Starting in 2020, Condon and Phillips teamed together on 20 issues of That Texas Blood, with issue #20 coming out in 2022. Image had originally solicited the Allison Ranch storyline as issue #21, which would have come out earlier this month — but sometimes plans can change as fast as the Texas weather.

The new arc finds Sheriff Joe Bob Coates and Deputy Wilson Hart called to the Allison Ranch, the largest and richest ranch in the United States, where a family dispute has escalated into a war the even the Duttons would find extreme. Set in 2003, Condon says the story has thematic ties to both the original first volume and The Enfield Gang Massacre, the spinoff miniseries that followed the original series.

Continue reading “Chris Condon + Jacob Phillips return to ‘That Texas Blood’ with a new arc this September”

Che Grayson + Adam Gorham put the spotlight on another ‘Exquisite Corpses’ killer

‘Exquisite Corpses: Fox Mask Killer’ reveals the backstory of the franchise’s most enigmatic assassin in a five-issue miniseries arriving in September.

Tiny Onion and Image Comics have announced the next Exquisite Corpses spinoff: Exquisite Corpses: Fox Mask Killer, a five-issue series from Che Grayson and Adam Gorham that launches in September.

The two creators previously worked together on Exquisite Corpses #4, which featured the showdown between Fox Mask Killer and another of the killers, Lady Carolina. Colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Becca Carey, both of whom are also working on the first Exquisite Corpse spinoff, Rascal Randy, round out the creative team.

Grayson said the miniseries will reveal the face behind the mask, something the original series kept hidden, along with the character’s full backstory.

Continue reading “Che Grayson + Adam Gorham put the spotlight on another ‘Exquisite Corpses’ killer”

Vault Comics announces cryptid sf series ‘Project Perseus’

Jack Mulqueen and Edison Neo present a time-traveling, cryptid-hunting adventure designed to be too ‘batshit insane’ for any medium but comics.

Vault Comics has announced Project Perseus by writer Jack Mulqueen and artist Edison Neo, a cryptid science-fiction series arriving in September.

The series is about a disgraced member of a cryptid-hunting squadron who has to sober up from a decade-long bender to track down a former friend who has vanished with a time-traveling apparatus. The chase takes Slug across jungles, frozen oceans and dive bars.

“This story was born from a desire to tell a tale that could only be told in the medium of comics,” said Mulqueen. “At the time when the story was conceived, there was a lot of discourse regarding the medium of comics being used as an IP farm for other mediums, people using comics as spec-scripts and proof of concept, in hopes their work would get optioned to television or film. From the start, we knew we wanted to tell a story that would be so batshit insane, that it would be prohibitively expensive to recreate it in any other medium, and therefore, it would be a story that would belong singularly to comics.”

Continue reading “Vault Comics announces cryptid sf series ‘Project Perseus’”

Space Ghost + the Herculoids will cross over this fall

David Pepose and Jonathan Lau bring the casts of the two Hanna-Barbera cartoons together in September.

Fans of David Pepose and Jonathan Lau’s work on Space Ghost will be happy to know that not only is Dynamite planning a third season of the book, but before it arrives they’ll release Space Ghost vs. the Herculoids by the same creative team, which will lead into the next series.

Pepose told me recently, when we were talking about the Kickstarter for the final issue of The O.Z. (which you can still back for another 13 days) that this summer’s Space Ghost Annual will tease the crossover.

“We’ll be putting an action-packed, emotional bow on our ‘Season Two’ storyline,” he said about the annual, “and towards the end of the issue, it’ll also kick off our big Space Ghost event in September, featuring Alex Toth’s other team of sci-fi adventurers, the Herculoids!”

If you aren’t familiar with the Herculoids, it was another Hanna-Barbera cartoon that ran for 18 episodes in the late 1960s, with new episodes being produced in the early 1980s after its reruns gained a fan following. Both Space Ghost and the Herculoids were part of the Space Stars line-up, where they even had a crossover.

Set on the planet Amzot, Herculoids blended science fiction and fantasy elements as Zandor, his wife Tara and their son Dorno led a team of alien creatures against an endless supply of villains, mad scientists, mutants, giant ants and more. Luckily Zandor and company had the help of the space dragon Zok, the rhinoceros-like Tundro, the rock ape Igoo and two shape-shifting balls of goo named Gloop and Gleep.

Continue reading “Space Ghost + the Herculoids will cross over this fall”

Eliot Rahal + Mattia Monaco go bananas with neo-noir buddy comedy ‘Crimes Against Nature’

The Image Comics series pairs a washed-up Hollywood animal trainer and his gorilla, as they go on the run from a crime they didn’t commit.

Eliot Rahal and Mattia Monaco are teaming up again on Crimes Against Nature, a neo-noir buddy comedy from Image Comics that launches in September. Rahal and Monaco previously collaborated on Knock ‘Em Dead.

“This story is about two desperate fathers, one at the end of his rope, with nothing left to lose, shooting their shot—and I’m not talking about the characters in our book,” said Rahal. “I’m talking about Mattia and me. Honestly, working on this book has felt like him and me against the world, with help from the friends we’ve made along the way. It’s a feeling I haven’t had since I first started in comics. It feels like we’re committing a crime together. Like we’re doing something special. It’s exciting. Special. And it’s fitting for our first Image book. I’m just so grateful for Mattia. Every panel and page is lightning in a bottle. It’s one of the greatest partnerships of my life. And I think all of that joy and trust spills out into our book about a guy and his gorilla.”

Continue reading “Eliot Rahal + Mattia Monaco go bananas with neo-noir buddy comedy ‘Crimes Against Nature’”

Darcy Van Poelgeest + Ian Bertram reunite for dark fantasy ‘The Karman Blade’

The creative team behind ‘Little Bird’ and ‘Precious Metal’ are back with a new miniseries in September.

Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram are reuniting for The Karman Blade, a four-issue dark fantasy miniseries from Image Comics launching in September

The series is about a man on the outskirts of a dying desert world who is chosen by a blade forged from the stars to slay a despotic deity named Kalu, who hoards the world’s water in his kingdom. Before the boy can begin his quest, he must first confront his own demons and answer the blade’s call.

“The Karman Blade is a feral work,” Bertram said. “It’s something Darcy and I made in a swamp of beautiful and festering creativity. Now it emerges, tall, and rough and wide eyed. Glistening and set to purpose. It’s a work of passion and obsession and I can’t wait to finally set it free and share it with everyone!”

Continue reading “Darcy Van Poelgeest + Ian Bertram reunite for dark fantasy ‘The Karman Blade’”

DC’s Next Level goes next level in September with ‘Legion of Super-Heroes,’ ‘Teen Titans’ and ‘The Doom Patrol’

Who’s your favorite super team?

DC’s September solicitations are making the dream work with not one, not two but THREE new team titles. Teen titles? Yeah, that too, as both Legion of Super-Heroes and Teen Titans return to the publishing slate.

The launches follow all the other recent Next Level titles, including Batwoman, Lobo, Deathstroke: The Terminator, Firestorm, Zatanna, Barbara Gordon: Breakout and The Deadman, with a couple more — The Demon and Jonah Hex — waiting in the wings.

“These books are set in continuity,” said DC co-architect Josh Williamson, who is also writing the Legion title. “While the series will be independent reads and not heavily tied to other books, they will exist alongside DC’s ongoing comic book series like Superman, Batman, Justice League Unlimited and more.”

Not sure we needed that clarification, but ok … well, maybe we did? Several of DC’s September titles seem to have a new moniker in front of them, ie All In Batman, All In Batgirl, etc. Maybe they’re trying to avoid confusion with the red-hot Absolute Universe.

So let’s take a look at each new title, all of which come out Sept. 2 …

Continue reading “DC’s Next Level goes next level in September with ‘Legion of Super-Heroes,’ ‘Teen Titans’ and ‘The Doom Patrol’”