Category: Events

DC shares details on their 2020 Free Comic Book Day titles

Wally West and Wonder Woman take center stage in this year’s ‘gold’ title.

DC has revealed the contents of their two Free Comic Book Day 2020 titles, which were first announced in December without any details.

Their gold title, Generation Zero, “sets the stage for the past, present and future of the DC Universe, ” according to the press release. It will feature Wally West, who has gone through a lot recently in DC continuity, if you’ve been following the story that started in Heroes in Crisis.

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Cartoonists go all in on Hourly Comics Day

Check out comics by Becky Cloonan, Kate Beaton, Celeste Woods, Faith Erin Hicks and more.

It’s early February, which means its time for the annual #HourlyComicsDay, where cartoonists commit to making and posting a comic every hour for a day.

Most hourly comics typically fall into the “autobiography” category, as participants detail their day in comics form, but some will share fictional stories as well. Unlike Inktober, which has prompts and structure (and, apparently, legal issues now) Hourly Comic Day is just a fun challenge that artists choose to take.

Here are a few examples from this year:

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‘Usagi,’ ‘Lumberjanes,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and more round out silver Free Comic Book Day titles

Free Comic Book Day 2020 will feature almost 50 titles on May 2.

With its “gold sponsors” announced earlier in the week, the Free Comic Book Day committee announced the rest of the 2020 line-up yesterday, bringing the total to 47 free comics.

“Every year, our goal is to bring fans the very best Free Comic Book Day experience,” said Joe Field, originator of FCBD, and owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord, California, in a press statement. “The caliber, strength and depth of this year’s comic book titles is really something to be thrilled about! With such a wide variety of stories in 2020 FCBD titles, every long-time fan and every new shop visitor curious about comics is going to find something exciting. Comic book specialty retailers all over the world are excited to treat everyone to an incredible day of fun, discovery, and learning about comic books and comic book shops.”

The silver titles include additional comics from several of the gold sponsors, including a new Usagi Yojimbo comic by Stan Sakai and a Stranger Things/Minecraft flipbook from Dark Horse. There are also selections featuring Donald Duck, Naruto, Owly, Lumberjanes, Little Lulu and Artists, Writers & Artisans, the new comics company headed up by Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso.

Check out the full list below.

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Vin Diesel, Tom Scioli, Jeffrey Brown and more highlight Free Comic Book Day 2020 offerings

Diamond announces the first round of titles coming to comic shops May 2.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced the 12 Gold Sponsor comics that will be making their way into comic shops on May 2 for Free Comic Book Day 2020.

The selections, which were chosen by a committee of more than 20 comics retailers, include some fun choices, promoting new projects by Tom Scioli, Jeffrey Brown, Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee, Neil Gaiman and more. Oh, and Vin Diesel!

“The quality of titles from publisher applicants made for some tough choices this year,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “It’s a solid indicator that Free Comic Book Day truly is the ideal event to showcase the best titles you can find in comic book shops. We can’t wait to once again share the FCBD experience with fans and everyone who loves comic books.”

Here’s the rundown of what to expect, and you cna look for the Silver Sponsor titles later this week.

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Check out holiday shopping deals from comiXology, Fantagraphics and more

Get Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on comics, merchandise and more.

Black Friday is here, bringing opportunities for comic fans to find that perfect gift or just a good deal. Here’s a rundown of some comic-related things to check out today, over the weekend and on Cyber Monday. I’ll add others as I see them, so be sure to check back.

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Graphic Medicine Conference: Whit Taylor’s keynote and a lightning round of cartoonists

Susan Merrill Squier, Ian Williams, Morgan Sea, Rachel Lindsay and more presented at the second day of the Graphic Medicine Conference in Vermont.

The big news of the Graphic Medicine Conference came Friday evening, at Susan Merrill Squier’s keynote address: Graphic Medicine is going to seek 501(c)(3) status, making it officially a nonprofit organization. When co-director Ian Williams told me this the next day, I thanked him -— up until now, I haven’t ever been sure what noun to use to describe Graphic Medicine. Is it a movement? A community? Now it will be a nonprofit organization, although there are still many details to be hammered out.

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Dispatches from the Graphic Medicine Conference: Day 1

Brigid Alverson reports from the scene of the 2018 Graphic Medicine Conference in Vermont, which is focused on graphic novels that describe the experience of illness and of being a patient.

I’m up in White River Junction, Vermont, home of the Center for Cartoon Studies and, for this weekend only, the Graphic Medicine Conference. Actually, the conference has two venues—it starts at CCS and moves to the Dartmouth medical school on Saturday.

Stephen Bissette giving the opening address at the Graphic Medicine Conference

The term “graphic medicine” may conjure up an image of a comic about healthy eating or the wonderful world of the circulatory system, but graphic medicine in this case has a more literary bent. It’s part of the field called medical humanities and focuses not on educational comics but on graphic novels that describe the experience of illness and of being a patient, embracing titles as disparate as Jennifer Hayden’s The Story Of My Tits, Ellen Forney’s Marbles and Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (I wrote a short primer on the topic for School Library Journal recently.)

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Fantagraphics.com holds 20% off sitewide sale

Get great deals on Fantagraphics’ entire catalog, including their Comic-Con International debuts.

If you’re sitting at home thinking, “Man, I wish I was at Comic-Con so I could get some good deals on graphic novels,” worry no more — Fantagraphics is holding their annual “Not at Comic-Con” sale on their website.

You can get 20 percent off everything on their site from today through July 23. This includes their many Comic-Con International debuts, like Otherworld Barbara Volume 2 by Moto Hagio, Last Girl Standing by Trina Robbins, Johnny Appleseed by Paul Buhle and Noah Van Sciver, Katie Skelly’s My Pretty Vampire and the latest issue of Love & Rockets.

Head over to their site to check it out.

Geek out about Ghost Rider with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Gabriel Luna

Gabriel Luna (Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC)
Gabriel Luna (Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC)
If you are in Austin, Texas, then this could be your lucky day! To celebrate the release of Ghost Rider #1, then you have a chance to “geek out about NEW GHOST RIDER COMICS!” with the Gabriel Luna, the actor bringing Ghost Rider to life.

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