Ramón K Pérez seeks to crowdfund ‘Kukuburi: A Cotton Candy World’

First posted online as a webcomic back in 2007, the co-creator of ‘Stillwater’ seeks your support to finish the story.

Transmission-X was a webcomics collective that was active about 15 years ago and featured webcomics by Michael Cho, Scott Hepburn, Karl Kerschl, Ramón K Pérez and several others who would go on to form RAID Press. Now Pérez is looking to crowdfund a graphic novel collection of his webcomic from the time, Kukuburi.

Kukuburi: A Cotton Candy World collects the story in print, along with 40 extra pages. It’s the first volume in a planned series from the artist of Stillwater and Tales of Sand, who hopes to produce a volume of it every year.

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Quick Hits | Chick Tracts artist Fred Carter passes away

Plus: Rachel Pollack, Luke Healy and the Siancong War!

Passings | Fred Carter, an artist whose work was seen by millions in the form of Chick Tracts, passed away earlier this month from heart failure at the age of 83. Carter worked anonymously for Jack Chick, publisher of Chick Publications, and is credited with drawing more than half of the Christian comic pamphlets. He also worked with Chick on The Crusaders, a comic that featured a white former Green Beret and a Black ex-militant who “went on adventures for Christ.” The duo looked a lot like Chick and Carter.

People | Mad Cave Studios has added two new senior editors to their team, Lauren McGrew-Hitzhusen and Chas! Pangburn.

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Three Count | Anders Nilsen, Johnnie Christmas, Maia Kobabe

Here are three things to buy, to watch and to listen to today.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. This is the fourth one in the series, collect them all.

1. To buy: Tongue #5, the yearly series by Anders Nilsen

Anders Nilsen, the award-winning creator of Big Questions and Rage of Poseidon, has released the fifth issue of Tongues, his self-published comic that features Prometheus, Teddy Roosevelt and a whole lot more. It’s … kind of hard to describe, actually, but it’s a labor of love for the creator, with emphasis on the labor.

In a post on his blog, Nilsen details how much work and time went into this fifth issue — and into every issue — and he reveals that he has about five more issues left to complete. For the process junkies, he also goes deep in how the sausage gets made…

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Devil’s Reign’ epilogue, ‘Batman: Fortress,’ the return of ‘Pearl’ and more

See what’s coming to a comic shop near you this week from Chip Zdarsky, Darick Robertson, Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos, Si Spurrier, Mike Mignola, Juan Doe and more.

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

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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Scholastic to publish ‘Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game’ graphic novel

Kaepernick will work with co-writer Eve L. Ewing and artist Orlando Caicedo on the project.

Following the release earlier this year of the children’s book I Color Myself Different, athlete/advocate Colin Kaepernick and Scholastic have announced the upcoming publication of Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, a graphic novel memoir detailing his high school years before he entered the spotlight of professional sports.

The graphic novel will be co-written by Kaepernick and Eve L. Ewing, who wrote Ironheart for Marvel, and illustrated by Orlando Caicedo. It’s also the latest project from Kaepernick Publishing, which also has another graphic novel, Dreamer, set to be released in February.

“I’m excited to continue to grow and expand Kaepernick Publishing’s relationship with Scholastic,” said Colin Kaepernick. “Change the Game is the true story of my high school years–a period punctuated by the trials and triumphs of adolescence. It was during this time that I began to grow unapologetically into my own identity, into my own sense of self. I hope this graphic novel encourages readers to nurture their own evolution and to trust their power—in a phrase—to change the game.”

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Workers at Seven Seas Entertainment seek to form a union

‘We find ourselves overworked, underpaid, and we do not currently receive the benefits otherwise typical of the publishing industry.’

Following in the footsteps of the staff at Image Comics earlier this year, the workers at Seven Seas Entertainment have launched an effort to form a union, United Workers of Seven Seas, as detailed on a dedicated website they’ve launched.

“Seven Seas Entertainment is the number one independent publisher of manga, danmei, and light novels in the US,” their website reads. “The company has grown exponentially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with rapid growth comes growing pains, and we, the workers of Seven Seas, have been shouldering much of that pain. We find ourselves overworked, underpaid, and we do not currently receive the benefits otherwise typical of the publishing industry.”

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Quick Hits | More details emerge on several Frank Miller Presents projects

Featuring news on Dan DiDio, Christian Cooper, two new comics retailers and more.

Over the weekend, IGN posted a story featuring artwork and quotes from Dan DiDio about Frank Miller Presents, the new initiative he’s been named publisher for. They also revealed the date of publication for Ronin: Book Two, the first project coming out of FMP — Nov. 23. Miller is working with Phillip Tan and Daniel Henriques on the sequel to his 1980s miniseries.

“Frank’s intimately involved in everything going on. The reason why we’re doing Ronin is because it’s never been exploited before,” DiDio told IGN. “We feel that there’s a lot of areas that Frank has story for. And actually, he’s had this story in mind for Ronin: Book Two since the end of the original series 40 years ago. So this is exciting for him to be able to tell that story because he still carries it with him and he’s finally getting it out.”

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What Are You Reading? | World’s Finest, Shadow War Zone, Grim and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

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 edition includes thoughts on Batman: Killing Time and a new Shaolin Cowboy miniseries coming this week.

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

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Slugfest | A look at DC in August

Olympus: Rebirth, The New Champion of Shazam, DC Saved by the Belle Reve and more arrive in August.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on DC’s August announcements, of which there are many. Hit the links for more information.

Like Marvel, DC released their solicitations for August this past Friday (You can find the complete listings on Newsarama or The Beat) and they included several new titles and big storylines that I may or may not have already covered here on Smash Pages. So, here’s a round-up of what to expect and what looks interesting, but first, here’s what I’ve previously covered:

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Iko iko an day: Grannies kick ass in ‘Golden Rage’

Chrissy Williams, Lauren Knight, Sofie Dodgson, Becca Carey and Joamette Gil present a series about old women baking cakes and fighting to the death.

A new Image Comics miniseries will explore a world where old women are sent to an island to live out the reminder of their lives — and battle to the death. My grandma and your grandma, sitting by the fire …

Golden Rage by Chrissy Williams, Lauren Knight, Sofie Dodgson, Becca Carey and Joamette Gil will feature a little-seen demographic in comics — older woman, and showcase how they can kick as much ass as anyone. (My grandmother, who played bingo in some pretty sketchy places, carried a butcher knife in her purse).

“Old women are formidable—I wrote Golden Rage to reflect that,” said Williams. “These characters are tough, capable, kind, and funny. I’ve fallen in love with the combination of cake and stabbing weapons, and hope you will too.”

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Waid + Asrar team for ‘Batman vs. Robin’ this fall

The event series will run for five issues beginning in September.

If things have seemed tense between Batman and Robin lately, well … as the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

With a post that exclaims “The Bat is out of the bag!” artist Mahmud Asrar reveals that he’s working on a new Batman vs. Robin event series with writer Mark Waid and colorist Nathan Fairbairn.

“BATMAN vs ROBIN is a five part event by Mark Waid and I coming this fall from DC Comics to shake things up for Bruce’s world,” the artist said on both Tumblr and Twitter.

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Slugfest | A round-up of Marvel announcements for August

Damage Control, Alien, Edge of the Spider-Verse and more are coming in August.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition is all about Marvel’s August announcements, of which there are many. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel released their solicitations for August today (You can find the complete listings on Newsarama or The Beat) and they included several new stories and big storylines that I may or may not have already covered here. So, here’s a round-up of what to expect and what looks interesting …

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