Category: Comic Publishers

Dark Horse will publish all-ages ‘Star Wars’ titles starting next year

Dark Horse returns to a galaxy far, far away next spring.

Dark Horse is back in the Star Wars business.

Starting next year, the publisher will once again tell stories set in the Star Wars universe, publishing all-ages comics and graphic novels in partnership with Lucasfilm.

“Dark Horse has a rich history publishing Star Wars comics and graphic novels,” said Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics CEO. “Star Wars is near and dear to all of our hearts and I’ve been a fan since I saw the original film 19 times during its original release. I am thrilled that Dark Horse will once again bring new stories to life from this incredible galaxy and I’m not exaggerating when I say we can’t wait to bring these new adventures to fans of every age.”

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Ryall + Wood will launch Syzygy Publishing in January with ‘Joe Hill’s Rain’ adaptation

The imprint will publish and distribute comics through Image Comics.

World of Syxygy Publishing , the new initiative from Zombies vs Robots creators Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood, will kick off next year with an comic book adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story “Rain.”

Image Comics will publish the five-issue miniseries by the creative team of writer David M. Booher, artist Zoe Thorogood, colorist Chris O’Halloran and letterer Shawn Lee.

“You couldn’t ask for a better inaugural creative team and story with which to kick of Syzygy,” Ryall said in a press statement given to Screen Rant. “David, Zoe, and Chris all bring such immense skill and storytelling acumen to this project, and what they’ve done with Joe Hill’s gripping story is somehow both gorgeous and terrible to behold. Syzygy is defined as ‘the configuration of celestial bodies in a gravitational system and the added benefit and utter thrill to me is that Image Comics is Rain’s gravitational center. We have long admired how Image has expanded and enhanced this industry, and it’s as exciting to see that ‘i’ on our cover as it is the names of the creators involved.”

Last year Ryall left his position as president, publisher and chief creative officer of IDW Publishing to start his own publishing initiative with Wood — although he’s still involved with some IDW titles, like Hill’s Locke & Key.

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Superman will fight for ‘a better tomorrow’

Superman’s new motto drops ‘the American Way’ in favor of a phrase that ‘will better reflect global storylines.’

DC’s Jim Lee introduced an “evolved” motto for its most icon superhero during DC FanDome today.

The publisher and chief creative officer said Superman would now be fighting for “truth, justice and a better tomorrow,” a tweak to the “truth, justice and the American way” big blue has been fighting for for, well, ages.

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Mad Cave announces their 2022 line-up

The publisher will release new comics from Erik Burnham, Nadia Shammas, Ryan K. Lindsay and more.

Mad Cave Studios has announced their 2022 line-up, both for their main comics line and their young-adult Maverick line, including new titles from Erik Burnham, Nadia Shammas, Ryan K. Lindsay, Rachael Smith and more.

“Over the past three years, it has been gratifying to witness how much Mad Cave has grown. We’ve achieved a great lot in a very short time, and I’m beyond excited to announce our 2022 array of titles,” said Mark London, CEO of Mad Cave. “They are going to showcase another step in the right direction of the continued making of quality cutting-edge stories that comic book fans love.”

The announcement comes a few days after Mad Cave revealed they are now part of Diamond Comics Distributors’ Final Order Cut-Off program — which should help them with marketing the new title to retailers.

Here’s a look at what they have planned for next year: 

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IDW jumps to Penguin Random House for direct market comics distribution

IDW joins Marvel in moving away from Diamond, who will still offer IDW comics as a wholesaler.

IDW Publishing and Penguin Random House Publisher Services have announced that Penguin will exclusively distribute IDW’s comics and graphic novels to the direct market, beginning June 1 of next year.

The news follows Marvel’s similar announcement from earlier this year. IDW joins both Marvel and DC in moving away from Diamond Comics Distributors as their single path into comic shops.

“IDW succeeds when the Direct Market succeeds,” said IDW Publisher Nachie Marsham. “No matter how amazing our comics and graphic novels may be, it’s the retailers that are connecting readers with our stories. Because of that, I couldn’t be more excited about our future with Penguin Random House and I have the utmost confidence that every store, no matter the size, will see the benefits of the high levels of care and service that PRHPS brings.”

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Marvel announces eight new ‘tentpole’ titles for this coming winter

Daredevil, Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and more have new projects lined up at the House of Ideas.

Marvel revealed today eight new titles for the coming winter that they’re referring to as “tentpole” titles — or titles that “will shape the future of the Marvel Universe in the months to come.”

Marvel announced earlier this month plans to reveal several new projects today in celebration of their birthday — so, Happy Birthday, Marvel!

The projects range from event titles to new ones featuring some characters you’ll soon see on Disney+.

Here’s the lowdown on the eight titles:

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‘Darkhold’ continues in November with Wasp + Black Bolt

Jordie Bellaire, Claire Roe, Mark Russell and David Cutler will bring the next chapters in the event series to life.

Marvel has announced two more of the one-shots from their upcoming Darkhold event series, which features the infamous mystical tome causing problems for the Marvel Universe. Following the “Alpha” issue in September will be a series of one-shots featuring different characters “recruited to combat the Darkhold’s horrifying effects,” starting with Blade and Iron Man in September and Black Bolt and Wasp in October.

Colorist and writer Jordie Bellaire and artist Claire Roe are the creative team for Darkhold: Wasp, while Mark Russell teams with artist David Cutler on Darkhold: Black Bolt.

“As a writer, it’s a joy to get to write a character who spends even more time inside their own head than you do,” Russell said. “So Black Bolt is a writer’s dream character and when I heard which other creators were involved with the series, I was totally on board, like someone who’d unwittingly bought a house in a really great neighborhood.”

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Fantagraphics will collect ‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers’ into four volumes

‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Follies’ will encompass four volumes of comics featuring the underground comix legends.

Fantagraphics has announced plans to collect underground comic The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers into four volumes, starting with The Idiots Abroad and Other Follies in January.

In the main story, the three titular brothers — Freewheelin’ Franklin, Phineas and Fat Freddy — head to Columbia to buy drugs, but end up separated and scattered around the world. The first volume will also feature 70 pages of Freak Brothers short stories.

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After 20 years and 100 books, Adhouse calls it quits

Chris Pitzer plans to close down the company he started in 2002 after publishing two more books this fall.

Chris Pitzer, publisher and owner of AdHouse Books, has announced plans to close down the “boutique publishing juggernaut” later this year.

For the past 20 years, AdHouse has brought a variety of creative indie comics and graphic novels to market from Joshua Cotter, Jim Rugg, Paul Pope, Hartley Lin, Zack Soto, Joey Weiser and many more. The recently announced Grass of Parnassus by Kathryn Immonen and Stuart Immonen will be AdHouse’s 100th release, and as it turns out, one of its last. He also ran a program called AdDistro, where he helped distribute small press/self-published comics.

Pitzer explained his reasoning for deciding to shut down what was essentially a “side gig”:

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DC announces several new projects for September as ‘DC Connect’ goes to print

‘Deathstroke Inc.,’ ‘Titans United,’ ‘Black Manta’ and more arrive from DC in September.

DC Comics has announced that their monthly online preview magazine DC Connect will be available in print starting in September — and in doing so, revealed several new projects slated for that month as well.

As luck would have it, today is also the day DC released their September solicitations, so let’s break down some of these new announcements …

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Archie will include new stories with their classic releases starting in September

In addition, expect news on their horror line and other projects next month.

Archie fans will soon get new content in the classic reprints the company regularly release, “in an effort to add extra value and collectibility to Archie’s all-ages offerings in the comic shop market,” according to the publisher.

The publisher will add five-page stories to these release starting in September with Betty & Veronica Friends Forever: Halloween Spooktacular #1.

“That includes both bi-monthly sister series Archie & Friends and Betty & Veronica Friends Forever, as well as our annual Archie Halloween Spectacular and Archie Christmas Spectacular specials,” said Archie Comics Director of Publicity & Social Media Ron Cacace. “We’re keeping these comics priced at $2.99 but adding extra value to them in the form of these all-new stories, which we hope fans will appreciate. We’ll continue to feature recently published stories from our digest line and classic material from our back catalog in these titles, making each issue a perfect assortment of fun Archie Comics reading for people of all ages to enjoy.”

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Tapas taps Jamie S. Rich as its new editor-in-chief

The former DC editor joins the webcomics company next week.

Former DC and Vertigo editor Jamie S. Rich has joined the webcomics juggernaut Tapas as its new editor-in-chief.

“Growing up reading indie and self-published comics in the 1980s, I saw whole new worlds, and I started telling my stories, too,” Rich told The Hollywood Reporter. “These days the realm may be digital, but it’s still comics. It’s still words and pictures, the basic components of modern storytelling. So, the great thing about Tapas is that it provides a platform for new voices, a place for the storytellers coming up now to share their voices. Anything is possible in a comic book.”

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