Aaron + Mahnke will take Batman ‘Off-World’ in November

The writer of ‘Scalped’ and ‘The Other Side’ returns to DC following the end of his exclusive contract with Marvel.

After years — decades, even — of plotting the course of Marvel titles like Thor, Wolverine and the X-Men and Avengers, writer Jason Aaron has returned to DC for a new Batman story.

Aaron will team with artists Doug Mahnke and Jamie Mendoza for Batman: Off-World, which he describes as “a different sort of Batman story.”

“One that sees a young Dark Knight undertaking his very first trip into space,” Aaron said in his newsletter. “A journey that’s inspired by some of the DC books that made me a comics fan as a kid, and ultimately set the course for the rest of my life.”

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A veteran firefighter discovers his super powers in ‘Midlife (Or How to Hero at Fifty!)’

Image Comics will publish the new series by Brian Buccellato and Stefano Simeone.

Brian Buccellato and Stefano Simeone will bring a new hero to life in Midlife (Or How to Hero at Fifty!), a new series starting at Image Comics in October.

“I’m super excited to tell this weirdly personal story that is tonally closer to my recent Aftershock series, Chicken Devil,” said Buccellato. “It’s a combination of grounded, humorous, dark, and absurd—featuring a biracial 50-year-old rookie hero who accepts the challenge of using his newfound powers for good… even if he does have a bad back and creaky knees. It’s also an opportunity to tell a superhero story from a different point of view, with a protagonist who is half Chinese and half Puerto Rican and drawn from my own life experience as a father starting a new family again at 50.”

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Sunday Comics | Read The Nib magazine for free (while you can)

Also check out recent webcomics by Meredith McClaren, Simon Roy, Mad Rupert, Cat Farris and Mike Russell.

Here’s a round-up of some of the best webcomics we’ve seen online recently — and news about them as well. If we missed something cool or you have your own recommendation, let us know in the comments below.

As editor and publisher Matt Bors announced back in May, the award-winning nonfiction webcomics site The Nib will stop publishing new comics at the end of the month. Bors is hoping to keep an archive of the site up and running, so he’s currently taking donations to help make that happen.

He has also made all the back issues of The Nib magazine available to read for free:

The Nib is wrapping up ten years of publishing and closing down at the end of August. But before we go, we are making all 15 issues of our Eisner and Ignatz award-winning magazine available for anyone to download for free. That’s more than 1,600 pages of comics, including our out of print Secrets, Nature, Food, and Color issues.

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‘Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder’ will arrive in 2024

The best-selling graphic novel series returns with a new book next March.

Scholastic has announced that the next book in Dav Pilkey’s mega-hit Dog Man graphic novel series will arrive next March. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder follows this year’s Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, which is the top-selling children’s book of 2023 in North America thus far.

“Dog Man started out as a character I created when I was in second grade, but the series has evolved into a love letter to my parents,” Pilkey said. “Looking back as a kid growing up with dyslexia and ADHD, my parents, who were my best advocates, let me choose whatever books I wanted to read—with no judgment. Their support and love was life-changing and helped me to become the reader, author and illustrator that I am today.”

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Nominees announced for the 2023 Harvey Awards

The winners will be announced at the New York Comic Con in October.

The nominees have been announced for this year’s Harvey Awards, the annual awards program given out at the New York Comic Con every year. The awards recognize graphic novels, manga, digital comics and “adaptations” across six categories.

“The Harvey Awards continues to distinguish itself by honoring the unique talents required to create the very best graphic novels,” co-chair John Lind said. “This year is especially impressive given the range of diversity among authors, illustrators and content being created in the field, and we are thrilled to recognize these accomplishments.” 

The winners will be announced Oct. 13. Here are the nominees:

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Thanos faces a new Illuminati in a miniseries by Cantwell + Pizzari

Marvel will release the first issue in November.

Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange and Iron Man will unite with Emma Frost and the Blue Marvel just in time to face Thanos, as the Mad Titan returns to Earth in a new four-issue miniseries.

“I’ve had the honor and joy of writing some of Marvel’s greatest villains, so you can imagine how excited I am to not only tackle the Mad Titan himself, but pit him against some of the most powerful brains and fists out there—this latest lineup of the Illuminati,” Cantwell said. “But I think folks will find the backdrop of this story quite unexpected, mischievously funny, and heartbreakingly human, for what has drawn Thanos back screaming into the universe is a singular pain and desire for connection that he believes only one essence in existence (and non-existence) can give him… while this being is in turn grappling with some deeper questions about what they are, and what they want to be. Plus, Thanos hot-wires a pickup truck.”

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Vault will publish ‘He Who Fights With Monsters’ graphic novels

The first adaptation of the hit fantasy series will arrive in 2024.

Vault Comics will team with Podium Publishing to bring He Who Fights With Monsters, the popular series of books by Travis Deverell, to comics.

He Who Fights With Monsters is among the best long-form fantasy series I’ve ever read,” said Vault CEO Damian Wassel in a press release. “I just can’t get enough of it. The whole team at Vault is so excited to bring Shirtaloon’s amazing world to life in the graphic novel medium.”

Deverell, whose pen name is Shirtaloon, has written nine books in this “Literary Role Playing Game” series, with a 10th arriving in November. It’s about an office-supplies-store middle manager who becomes a heroic interdimensional adventurer who battles cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters and more.

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Nominees announced for the 2023 Ignatz Awards

The annual awards celebrate outstanding achievement in independent comics and cartooning.

The Small Press Expo, aka SPX, has announced the nominees for the 2023 Ignatz Awards.

The Ignatz Awards, which have been handed out since 1997, celebrate the outstanding achievements of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons. Named for the mouse that appears in the Krazy Kat comics by George Herriman, the logo changes each year as a new artist draws the mouse and his weapon of choice, the brick. The logo for this year was drawn by 2022 Ignatz Promising New Talent Winner Juni Ba.

The nominees were chosen by a panel of comics professionals that included Ellen Lindner, Juniper Kim, L. Nichols, Ally Shwed, Jason Little and Kotaline Jones.

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Marvel announces a new ‘Sentry’ miniseries by Jason Loo + Luigi Zagaria

Look for the first issue in stores in December.

The Sentry, Marvel’s “forgotten” mega-powered hero created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, may be dead, but his memory and power lives on in a new miniseries by Jason Lee and Luigi Zagaria.

Bob Reynolds, the original Sentry, debuted in 2000 as part of the Marvel Knights line. The middle-aged man started remembering he had another life, as a superhero who was best friends with Mister Fantastic and fought the villainous Void — who was later revealed to be Reynolds’ other half. Sentry would appear again in Avengers and Dark Avengers, and most recently appeared in the King in Black crossover, where he was killed by Knull.

In this new miniseries, Reynolds is still dead, but his memories and powers start to pop up in ordinary people around the world. Misty Knight and Jessica Jones begin to investigate these strange occurrences.

“This new chapter of the Sentry has an intriguing concept: on top of all the responsibilities and struggles a single person has to deal with in their everyday life, can one also handle the power of a million exploding suns?” Loo said. “It’s a fun opportunity for me to create new characters that readers can see themselves in and bestow them these earth-shaking powers.”

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Nominees announced for the 2023 Dragon Awards

The awards, which include a comics category, have been presented annually during DragonCon since 2016.

The nominees have been announced for the 2023 Dragon Awards, which have been presented annually during DragonCon since 2016.

The awards include multiple categories for books, media tie-ins like movies and video games, and comics. This year the “Best Comic Book” and “Best Graphic Novel” categories have been combined into a single category — “Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel.”

The nominees in the comics and graphic novel category are:

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Foxe + Borelli’s ‘Spider-Woman’ will continue the fight after ‘Gang War’

The new series begins in November.

This is good news: the “Gang War” Spider-Woman miniseries that was announced at Comic-Con is actually an ongoing series. Steve Foxe and Carola Borelli will continue to tell stories about Jessica Drew after the events of Gang War (which will be the subject of the first four issues).

“Jessica Drew has been my favorite Marvel heroine since I was a kid,” Foxe said. “From the instantly classic costume to her complex backstory, there’s just so much to her. She’s a spy, a street-smart detective, a superheroic best friend, an Avenger, a Spider-Verse-hopper, a mother and a survivor. Getting the chance to do it alongside Carola, as well as Eric Koda on our prologue, has been bioelectric heaven.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Emily Carroll, Fall of X, Knight Terrors, Wayne Family Adventures + more

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Noah Van Sciver, Kendra Wells, Joshua Williamson, Greg Pak, Takeshi Miyazawa, Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips, Jay Stephens and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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