Category: Comic Books

The ‘Conan the Barbarian’ title from Free Comic Book Day unites the ‘Howardverse’

Jim Zub and Jonas Scharf’s story is free to download and kicks off the ‘Battle of the Black Stone’ event.

Last Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, and Titan participated by releasing Conan: Battle of the Black Stone, which was more than just a Conan story. And now they’ve made it available as a free download on their website.

(As an aside, you can find several of the 2024 FCBD offerings on Comixology as free downloads, including those from Marvel, DC and Dark Horse).

The story by regular Conan the Barbarian scribe Jim Zub and artist Jonas Scharf starts out like any other Conan story might begin, with the unruly barbarian slicing his way through his enemies, but it takes a turn when Conan spots a symbol on the necklace of a fallen foe. This symbol:

(If you haven’t read the issue and don’t want any SPOILERS, then I’d suggest clicking the link in the first paragraph before reading on …)

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‘Gotham City Sirens’ returns in August for a four-week event

Leah Williams, Matteo Lolli, Daniel Hillyard, Brandt & Stein, and more will bring Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn together again.

The Gotham City Sirens will converge once more for a four-week miniseries in August, temporarily replacing the ongoing titles for Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy that month.

DC announced the miniseries today, which will be written by Leah Williams with artwork by Matteo Lolli, Daniel Hillyard and Brandt & Stein. Triona Farrell will color each issue, while Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou provides lettering.

In addition to Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, the miniseries will feature Punchline, White Rabbit and “the cowboy-henchmen sensation soon to be sweeping the nation known as the Nasty Boys.” Here’s a look at the Nasty Boys, as designed by Lolli:

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Emma Frost + Kitty Pryde prove the X-Men are still ‘Exceptional’ this September

Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero send the duo back to school this fall to train a new generation of mutants.

The post-Krakoa world of the X-Men continues to take shape as Marvel shares more details on Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s plans for Exceptional X-Men.

Along with X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, this new title will serve as the third “flagship” title for the From the Ashes line. It focuses on two popular mutants who have had a love/hate thing going since they were introduced, Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost. Together they’ll train three new mutants whose powers recently revealed themselves — the metallic and whip-wielding Bronze, the emotion-stirring Axo and the stealth-skilled fighter Melee.

“Regarding the young mutants, I think the whole team fell in love with all three of them,” Carnero said. “I love that they are such opposites. Eve had very clear personalities, hobbies, musical tastes, how they feel… And when it came to designing them, it all developed naturally, and the whole team had a clear vision of what their final looks would be. I can’t wait for readers to meet them.”

This is a full circle moment for Kitty Pryde, who started her tenure with the X-Men as a recruit to Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, way back in Uncanny X-Men #129. That’s also the first issue where we met the Hellfire Club’s White Queen, Emma Frost.

“Longtime fans of Kitty Pryde can count on the kinds of adventures you expect from her as a classic favorite, while I hope new and old readers alike will get to love this all-new team of young mutants,” Ewing said. “Kitty, the one-time kid sister figure of the X-Men, has to reckon with her own memories—good and bad—of being a child of Xavier as she navigates a role as leader and mentor for a new generation of mutants who are trying to make their way in a time of crisis.”

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Saladin Ahmed + Martín Cóccolo bring Wolverine back to his roots in September

Part of the ‘X-Men: From the Ashes’ line, the new title kicks off in September.

Marvel has announced that Daredevil writer Saladin Ahmed and “Stormbreakers” artist Martín Cóccolo will helm the new Wolverine title that will launch in September as a part of the X-Men: From the Ashes initiative.

According to Marvel.com, Wolverine will “turn his back on humanity, mutantkind and the X-Men” in the new series following the end of Krakoa and the “Sabretooth War” storyline that will finish out his current title. Which seems counter to the fact that he’s one of the characters in Gail Simone and David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men title.

In any event, the new series finds Logan in the Canadian wilderness, where he’s back with his wolfpack and being attacked by his most hated foes, one by one, at the bequest of some ancient villain that “has been bubbling under the surface of the Marvel Universe since the days of myth.”

“Logan is simultaneously a mythic hero, an abused animal, and a man of flesh, blood, and adamantium,” Ahmed said. “Our story is about what happens when these parts of him all pull in opposite directions – and threaten to rip Logan to pieces that won’t come back together again.”

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‘Creepshow’ returns for a third miniseries from Skybound

James Stokoe, Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod will contribute to the first issue.

Creepshow, the iconic horror movie that Skybound has turned into two comic book miniseries, will return with a third one in September.

Like they did with the previous volumes, Skybound has assembled a stellar team of creators for the anthology, including John Ridley, Mike Carey, Jorge Fornés, John Arcudi, Ed Brisson, Stefano Raffaele, Chris Condon and more. Chip Zdarsky, Kagan McLeod and James Stokoe will contribute to the first issue, which will feature two stories.

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‘X-Factor’ returns as a government-sponsored team in August

Mark Russell and Bob Quinn bring Angel, Havok, Frenzy and more into a world of hidden agendas and shady politics.

Havok returns to the world of government employment as he and Angel reform X-Factor this August. Mark Russell and Bob Quinn will team up for new stories that see the group of mutants serve as a special missions team and a propaganda machine for the U.S. government.

X-Factor will include not only Angel and Havok, but also Feral, Frenzy, Pyro and more. Together they’ll contend with hidden agendas, shady politics, dark consequences and disastrous public opinion from the inside. Russell, the writer of DC’s The Flintstones and AWA’s Rumpus Room, will no doubt poke fun at politics and the government along the way.

“The thing I’ve always loved about the X-Men is that they’re characters first, Super Heroes second,” Russell told Marvel.com. “So being able to write characters like Havok and Angel and Frenzy in a post-Krakoa reality is an opportunity to write about what I really care about, which is how do we help each other survive the apathy of the world we live in?”

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Darick Robertson + Stephen B. Jones bring ‘Greaser: Gemini Blues’ to Magma Comix

The new sci-fi romance series kicks off in July.

Darick Robertson has made a name for himself as an artist on comics like The Boys, New Warriors, Transmetropolitan, Happy! and many more titles, but this summer he’ll take the reigns as a writer on Greaser: Gemini Blues with artist Stephen B. Jones.

They’ll be joined by colorist Marcus Collar and letterer Shawn Lee on the “post-apocalyptic sci-fi romance series” that involves aliens, biodomes and star-crossed lovers.

“Venturing into a new area of my creativity, I am excited to be writing an original idea and work with my talented friend Stephen B. Jones, who is expanding from animation and into comics,” Robertson said. “Magma is a great home for this as they too are venturing into new territory and are supportive of creators in a way that gives us the internal support we need to get a book published but with the creative freedom to try some new ideas and different directions. I’m hoping to take my world-building skills acquired from years of making and co-creating original comics and craft a series that is unlike anything I’ve done before.”

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BOOM! welcomes the darkness in a new horror anthology this summer

‘Hello Darkness’ will include stories about everything from ‘primal fears to modern political horror’ by Garth Ennis, Becky Cloonan, R.L. Stine, Francesco Francavilla, James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera and more.

Back in their very early days, BOOM! Studios released a couple of horror anthologies titled Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales, which ran for 12 issues each and featured stories by the likes of Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, Steve Niles, William Messner-Loebs, Joe R. Lansdale, Fabio Moon and many more. Now BOOM! is getting back into the horror anthology business with Hello Darkness, which kicks off this summer.

The title will feature “the darkest stories yet,” promising to cover everything from “primal fears to modern political horrors.” The first six issues will include a new Something Is Killing The Children story by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera.

“My whole careers started writing comic shorts, so it’s very exciting to bring it all around full circle and tell a SIKTC story in that format. The story Werther and I are going to be telling here is one that’s been in the back of my mind for almost five years, and I’m thrilled we finally have the perfect platform to bring that story to readers,” Tynion said.

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Mike Mignola + Ben Stenbeck team up for a new shared universe called ‘Lands Unknown’

‘Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown’ will debut from Mignola’s new imprint at Dark Horse in December.

Dark Horse Comics today announced Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, the first publication in a new shared universe, called “Lands Unknown,” created by Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck.

It’ll also be the first publication to carry the name of Mignola’s new imprint at Dark Horse, Curious Objects. In recent years everyone from Stan Sakai to Brian Michael Bendis has launched an imprint with the publisher as a part of moving there — or moving back there, in Sakai’s case. So it seems only fair that the longtime Dark Horse creator, whose Hellboy is celebrating 30 years this year, would have one as well.

The release doesn’t say much more about what to expect from Curious Objects, but Mignola did share more about the Lands Unknown shared universe.

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Massive Publishing + Masked Republic tag-team to launch Luchaverse comics featuring Rey Mysterio + Tinieblas Jr.

‘Luchaverse: Catalyst’ #1 will feature stories by Ivan Plaza, Marco Lopez, Ben Harvey, Diego Simone and more.

Wrestling fans have known for years that WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio is a big superhero fan, based on the numerous times he’s dressed up as Wolverine, Captain America, Flash and more at big events. But now a new comic will imagine the world’s most famous luchador as a superhero himself.

Massive Publishing and Masked Republic, a company that represents luchadores outside of Mexico, are teaming up to launch The Luchaverse, a new line of comics starring luchadores like Mysterio and Tiniebelas Jr. By day they might be fighting in the ring, but at night “those with an ancient secret lineage serve humanity as monster hunters and world protectors.” Which I kind of already suspected Mysterio was doing in his off hours.

“Being able to bring some of today’s biggest names in lucha libre into our original story world and break the mold of what lucha libre films were, and what wrestling related comics have been, is a dream come true for me,” said Ruben Zamora, Masked Republic founder & CEO, and the co-creator of the Luchaverse.

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Ron Robbins + Laura Braga play a game of ‘Truth or Dare’ with Archie Horror

The one-shot will bring Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror-verse for some fun and games.

I would think one of the fun things about working on the Archie Horror line would be that you could grab your copy of the Archie Encyclopedia, open it to a random page, point at a character and ask, “Ok, what evil thing can we do with them?”

Which brings me to Chilling Adventures Presents … Truth or Dare, a new one-shot announced by Archie this week. It brings a character named Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror universe, and based on her encyclopedia entry, I suspect she was destined to be there all along:

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BOOM!’s ‘Power Rangers’ titles will end in July

Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice will bring the current storyline to an end in the ‘Darkest Hour’ one-shot.

BOOM! Studios has announced the end of the current iteration of their Mighty Morphin Power Rangers titles, which will reach their conclusion in July with the one-shot Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour. That will follow Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #122, the final issue of the main series, which has been published for eight years.

Writer Melissa Flores will team with artist Simona Di Gianfelice and colorist Raúl Angulo on the one-shot.

“After nearly two years, the Darkest Hour comes to a close,” Flores said. “This event has been one of the biggest tasks of my career, but I’ve enjoyed every single, heart-wrenching minute. Although I put our poor Rangers through the ringer, I hope the ending is as satisfying for the reader as it was for me to write it!”

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