Let’s you and him fight: DC reveals all the ‘DC K.O.’ tournament participants

Dan Mora’s variant cover for the first issue of the event series reveals both expected and surprising entrants.

DC has revealed all the participants in the DC K.O. tournament, a big storyline that begins this fall and finds DC’s heroes (and some villains) competing for the honor of becoming King Omega.

Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson are tag-teaming on the storyline, with Snyder writing the main event and Williamson working on the undercard in titles like Superman and Knightfight. Snyder will be joined by Javi Fernandez on the main miniseries, while Dan Mora did the tournament bracket cover that reveals who is all in for the fight:

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BRZRKR returns in ‘The Bleeding Tide’ this November

Marjorie Liu and Garry Brown set sail on the high seas for a story featuring BRZRKR and a crew of pirates.

BRZRKR will return this fall with another one-shot set in the immortal warrior’s past. BRZRKR: The Bleeding Tide will feature “B.”, as he’s called, being saved from the depths of the ocean by a pirate captain with a lot of secrets.

Monstress co-creator Marjorie Liu teams with artist Garry Brown of Babyteeth and The Massive fame on the title, which is the latest in a series of one-shots featuring the Keanu Reeves-created immortal warrior. It follows 2024’s BRZRKR: A Faceful of Bullets, 2023’s BRZRKR: Poetry of Madness and the original BRZRKR series co-written by the John Wick and Bill & Ted actor and his writing partner Matt Kindt.

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Immortal Legend Batman,’ ‘The Knives,’ ‘Mortal Thor’ + more

New comics and graphic novels arrive by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Al Ewing, Pasqual Ferry, James Tynion IV, Dani, Mike Mignola, Dan Watters, Michele Bandini and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights for this week 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 check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.

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Hulk makes an appointment to ‘Smash Everything’ in December

Ryan North and Vincenzo Carratù send the unjolly green giant up against everyone and everything in a five-issue miniseries.

In the spirit of the various titles that showcase Deadpool, Godzilla and even the Thing taking on anyone and everyone in the Marvel Universe, Ryan North and Vincenzo Carratù will send the Hulk on a mission to smash everything in Hulk Smash Everything.

The five-issue miniseries begins in December and will feature the Hulk fighting his fellow heroes, cosmic beings and even “the very limits of reality.”

“Hulk is a perfect character, and Phillip Kennedy Johnson is doing incredible things with him in Incredible Hulk,” North said. “This series is an evergreen (no pun intended) story that features an ever-increasing series of things being smashed by Hulk across all five issues. It goes to some wild places that I promise you are not expecting (and one, if you know me, that you are) and, through all the chaos and smashing, also tells what I think is a pretty sweet story about this big green guy.”

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Here are the nominees for the 2025 Dragon Awards

Winners will be announced this weekend during DragonCon.

The nominees have been announced for the 2024 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. Last year Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda won the award for Best Comic Book / Graphic Novel.

The nominees in the comics and graphic novel category are:

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Slugfest | Gabriel Hardman puts a modern twist on 1980s thrillers in DC’s November solicitations

Plus: DC’s plans for the penultimate month of 2025 include a new Harley & Ivy series, a holiday special and a whole lot of DC K.O.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on DC’s November 2025 solicitations. Hit the links for more information.

Fans of DC’s street-level thrillers from the 1980s, like Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan’s The Question and Mike Grell’s Green Arrow will be happy to know that Gabriel Hardman (Invisible Republic, Green Lantern: Earth One) is bringing that same kind of storytelling to Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia.

The four-issue Black Label series will feature Hardman as writer and artist, with colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettering by Simon Bowland.

“I’ve wanted to tell a story about Batman, Green Arrow and the Question since I was 14 years old, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally get the chance,” said Hardman. “While I’m taking inspiration from the great work of Denny O’Neil, Denys Cowan and Mike Grell, this series isn’t an exercise in nostalgia. I’m taking the grounded approach they spearheaded in the late 80s and moving forward, having these three difficult, opinionated personalities confront a contemporary brand of criminality on a global scale.”

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Marvel announces ‘Wiccan: Witches’ Road’ for December

The miniseries will spin out of ‘Imperial’ and send the young mage on a quest to save his husband.

Marvel’s Imperial is the gift that keeps on giving. The miniseries that’s redefining Marvel’s cosmic characters — and spinning off many of them into their own series — will also give us a new Wiccan miniseries.

Wiccan: Witches Road is a five-issue miniseries by Wyatt Kennedy and Andy Pereira. And while Wiccan and Hulkling have been out in space since Hulkling became leader of the Kree/Skrull Alliance, this miniseries will bring Wiccan back to his mystical roots — which should please fans of the Disney+ series Agatha All Along.

“It’s a real thrill to be able to take Billy in such an unexpected direction and put him out of his element, introducing a new villain and a surprising ally that I know fans have been wanting to see,” Kennedy said. “Obviously getting the chance to write one of Marvel’s best couples is a joy, but I’m really excited to dive deep into who Billy is as a single individual and explore what his title as Wiccan really means to both himself and the greater Marvel universe.”

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Nominees announced for the 2025 Ringo Awards

Winners will be announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con in October.

The nominees for the 2025 Ringo Awards have been announced, the annual awards program named for artist Mike Wieringo, who died in 2007.

Nominees were chosen by fans, along with a panel of judges, and the awards period included any materials published in 2024. The awards presentation will take place at the Baltimore Comic-Con in October.

Congratulations to this year’s nominees:

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Spider-Gwen, a Detective milestone + more

Check out new comics and graphic novels coming this week by Rick Remender, Daniel Acuña, Tom Taylor, Greg Rucka, Mariko Tamaki, G. Willow Wilson, Ryan North, Ed McGuinness, Brian Buccellato, Peter Laird and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights for this week 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 check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Spider-Gwen, a Detective milestone + more”

‘Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way’ wins a Hugo Award

The interactive graphic novel by Ryan North, Chris Fenoglio and team took home the award at this weekend’s Seattle WorldCon.

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, written by Ryan North with art by Chris Fenoglio, Charlie Kirchoff and Jeff Eckleberry, won the 2025 Hugo Award in the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

The graphic novel, which was published by IDW and edited by Heather Antos, features the cast of the popular animated series (which also won a Hugo Award) in a choose-your-own-adventure story involving different paths to death, destruction and coffee.

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Alien Books, Mauro Mantella criticized for anti-trans passage in ‘Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot’ #1

The publisher posted an apology on social media, saying “We will do better,” as the author’s anti-trans social media history became evident.

Alien Books, the publisher of the Valiant comics line, and writer Mauro Mantella have received widespread criticism for a passage that appeared in Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot #1 that featured “thinly veiled transphobic metaphors,” as one comics creator put it.

The comic’s creative team includes Mantella and artists Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Juan Pablo Massa. It’s part of a line-wide reboot of the Valiant line, called Valiant Beyond, that was set to kick off earlier this year but was delayed due to the bankruptcy of Diamond. Valiant’s comics are now distributed by Penguin Random House via IDW Publishing.

What should have been a big launch for the publisher, as Bloodshot was the first Valiant Beyond title to hit comic shelves, was marred by panels whose words mirrored a false but common refrain by anti-trans bigots. For context, the comic features Bloodshot in a Japan plagued by vampires. “There are kids who want to be bitten to become vampires because their favorite influencer says they are one,” Bloodshot’s interior monologue reads. “And parents who force their children into that irreversible change just to feel modern … and believing that they’ll be thankful for it when they grow up.”

Here’s the page:

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Phillip Kennedy Johnson + Nic Klein usher in a new age of monsters in ‘Infernal Hulk’ 

The next chapter in the horror saga begins in November.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein’s run on the Incredible Hulk may be ending, but they still have plans for the Jade Giant, the Eldest, the Mother of Horrors and the rest cast they’ve been building for the last two years.

Marvel will relaunch the title as Infernal Hulk in November, and they’ve revealed that Bruce Banner’s days as the Hulk are over — at least for now. Because something far worse is taking over the Hulk.

“I’ve been promising Hulk fans the biggest, boldest status quo change in Hulk’s history, and that time is finally here,” Johnson said. “The next few issues of Incredible Hulk give fans all the answers they’ve been waiting for about Eldest and the Mother of Horrors, and Infernal Hulk is the beginning of a terrifying new normal, not just for the Hulk series but for the entire Marvel Universe.”

Johnson, Klein and other artists like Daniel Earls, have returned the Hulk to his monster roots in Incredible Hulk, introducing even worse creatures than the Hulk. The story has centered on the Mother of Horrors and the Eldest, two horrific beings who have made the Hulk’s life hell — with plans to use his body to wage war on the rest of the Marvel Universe.

“There are monsters way worse and more powerful than anything we’ve seen so far, bigger and stronger than Hulk with origins that go back to the foundations of the Earth. It’s time to take this story to the next level, and no corner of the Marvel Universe will be left untouched before the end,” Johnson said.

Here’s the main cover and a promo image by Nic Klein:

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