‘Wakanda’ takes the spotlight in new miniseries

Stephanie Williams, Paco Medina, Evan Narcisse, Natacha Bustos and more will tell stories about Shurt, Killmonger and more.

Spinning out of recent events in the ongoing Black Panther series, Marvel has announced Wakanda, a five-issue miniseries that will feature Shuri, Killmonger and other residents of the African nation in solo stories.

The first issue will spotlight Shuri in a story by Stephanie Williams and Paco Medina.

“I’ve been such a huge fan of the Black Panther over the years, especially the evolution and expansion of the women of Wakanda,” Williams said. “It’s truly an honor to kick off the new series with the Shuri story I wrote. I hope I can add to her and Wakanda’s already impressive lore.”

Subsequent issues will feature different characters by different creators. Each issue will also include a back-up story, “History of the Black Panthers,” by Evan Narcisse and Natacha Bustos, which will expand on the lore of previous Black Panthers.

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Bogacs + Enger head into the ‘Under Kingdom’ at Dark Horse

The young-adult graphic novel will arrive in stores next March.

Dark Horse Comics has announced Under Kingdom, coming next year from the team of Christof Bogacs (Volume) and Marie Enger (Where Black Stars Rise).

Under Kingdom is a young-adult graphic novel about a high school kid whose mom disappears into the fantasy kingdom that exists under his West Virginia town. So he and his shape-shifting aunt go off to find her.

“It’s hard to know what to say about Under Kingdom,” said Bogacs and Enger. “As sappy as it sounds, I guess the easiest way to sum it up is love; a love of monsters, a love for the scrappy underdog and an unwavering belief in the power of empathy. Plus, there are fart jokes!”

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‘Avengers Unlimited’ coming to Infinity Comics

David Pepose, Farid Karami and Alan Robinson present a story featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and more.

Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort revealed in his Substack newsletter over the weekend plans for a new Infinity Comics series called Avengers Unlimited.

“The idea is to curate a mixture of longer and short stories from all across the length and breadth of the Avengers concept,” Brevoort explained. “But they’re all new, all designed for this format, and all taking place within current mainstream Marvel continuity.”

Marvel’s Infinity Comics line lives on its Marvel Unlimited service and offers “vertical stories” formatted to easily scroll through on a mobile device. Avengers Unlimited follows last year’s X-Men Unlimited, which featured various mutant characters by rotating creative teams.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | A new era of ‘Batman’ begins

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, Liam Sharp, Matt Kindt, Farel Dalrymple, Skottie Young, Humberto Ramos, Rachel Smythe, Sam Beck and more.

Happy Fourth of July — or Happy Monday, depending on where you are in the world — and welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. This week sees Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez take over Batman, and Strange Academy and The Joker come to an end. And let’s not forget the white-hot Lore Olympus, as the popular Webtoon jumps to print for its second collection.

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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What Are You Reading? | ‘Sins of the Black Flamingo’ is ‘smooth as silk’

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, including Batman/Catwoman, The Variant s and more.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include the finale of Batman/Catwoman, the debut of Sins of the Black Flamingo and more.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

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‘Bitter Root’ will return in 2023

The creative team has teased a new series titled ‘Bitter Root 1965.’

If you’ve been wondering about the future of the wonderful and fearless Image Comics series Bitter Root, wonder no more — the creative team announced at HeroesCon last weekend that the comic’s future is … actually set in the comic’s future.

“So who wants to Bitter Root set in the 1960s?!?” artist and co-creator Sanford Greene posted on Twitter. He also shared a teaser image:

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Slott + Bagley return to Spider-Man this fall

Two veteran Spider-Man creators team up for a new series that will feature the return of Morlun.

When you think of Marvel creators Dan Slott and Marrk Bagley, one word* comes to mind — Spider-Man. Between the two of them, they have probably written and drawn a million panels featuring Peter Parker’s alter-ego.**

And now they’re returning to the wall-crawler for a new series that will spin out of the upcoming Edge of Spider-Verse anthology series that Slott is contributing to — one titled, simply, Spider-Man.

“How does it feel to be writing Spider-Man again? Like I’m home,” Slott told Marvel.com. “Like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. How does it feel to be working on it with Mark Bagley, one of the greatest Spidey icons of all time?! Honored, excited, and unstoppable! Mark and I are two guys who live to tell Spider-Man stories. Cut us and we bleed Spider-Man. And now Marvel has entrusted the two of us to bring back their monthly– adjectiveless– Spider-Man title!”

The new series will feature Peter Parker working for Norman Osborn and using a — wait, a glider? Are we sure this is Spider-Man? It will also feature appearances by Miles Morales, Silk, Ghost-Spider, Spider-Woman and more, in a story called “The End of the Spider-Verse.”

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Three Count | Keith Knight, TCAF panels, Joe Latham

Here are three things in comics to to buy, to listen to and to support today.

1. To Buy: Good On Both Sides by Keith Knight

Gentleman Cartoonist Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles and the inspiration for the Hulu series Woke, has a new collection of his (th)ink comic strip available through his Big Cartel shop. He’s offering both a standard edition and an artist’s edition (which is signed, numbered and includes a doodle) of Good on Both Sides. Both have fairly limited print runs, so buy early and often.

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Robot love: Dark Horse announces ‘War Birds’ by Parkhouse + Wessel

Two drones on opposite sides of a war fall in love in the new graphic novel.

Geoffrey D. Wessel and Steve Parkhouse will tell the Romeo + Juliet-esque tale of two war robots in War Birds, a new graphic novel coming from Dark Horse Comics next year.

It’s “the story of two drones in love in the midst of endless war,” according to the writer, with Parkhouse both drawing and lettering it. And providing the cover:

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I.N.J. Culbard will write and draw ‘Salamandre’ graphic novel

Dark Horse will publish the graphic novel through their Berger Books imprint in November.

Dark Horse Comics has announced Salamandre, a “uniquely evocative” graphic novel written and drawn by I.N.J. Culbard coming later this year from their Berger Books imprint.

“Writing what you know is really about writing what you think you know,” said I.N.J. Culbard. “Instead of what really happened, a confabulation grows with each retelling—a story, transforming a factual truth into a universal one. I took an event from one hot summer afternoon in my own life, made it the finale and then worked backwards through my story, using the jigsaw puzzle of my own memories growing up on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War as a foundation for this world—that is a little off-kilter to our own.”

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Quick Hits | 2021 comic sales topped $2 billion

Last year was the best year ever for comic sales, according to a new report. Plus: News on Oni/Lion Forge, Substack, Zestworld, Henry Barajas, Kieron Gillen and more.

Comics sales | Milton Griepp of ICV2.com and John Jackson Miller of Comichron.com have released their annual assessment of the comics and graphic novel market for last year, noting that sales grew 62% in 2021 over the prior year in the U.S. and Canada to approximately $2.075 billion. They were also up 70% when compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

“Publishers made more selling comics content than in any year in the history of the business, even when adjusted for inflation,” Miller said of the 2021 estimates. “The biggest year in the modern era, 1993, saw sales of around $1.6 billion in 2021 dollars — and the pricier product mix puts 2021 ahead of what the colossal circulations of the early 1950s brought in, also adjusted for inflation.”

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Meet Archie’s newest character Jake Chang in ‘Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305’

Check out an exclusive preview of three new stories coming in next week’s digest from Archie Comics.

Today, courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re pleased to present a preview of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #305, which comes out July 6.

The digest will feature not just one but THREE new stories, along with classic Archie material. And one of those new stories, it turns out, will feature Jake Chang, the brand new character who has a TV series in the works, according to Deadline Hollywood. Jake Chang teams up with Betty and Veronica in the story “Toadally Washed Up,” which is by David Gallaher and Bill Galvan.

Below you’ll also find previews of stories by Dan Parent, Ian Flynn, Jeff Shultz and more, plus a complete classic Archie story featuring the work of Frank Doyle and Dan DeCarlo. Enjoy!

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