Marvel announces plans for milestone ‘Avengers’ #750

The oversized issue will include stories by Jason Aaron, Christopher Ruocchio, Steve McNiven, Carlos Pacheco and more.

Marvel is pulling out the stops on issue #750 of the Avengers, which arrives in November, as the 96-page issue will include multiple stories by current Avengers writer Jason Aaron and artists like Carlos Pacheco, Aaron Kuder, Ed McGuinness and Javier Garrón.

“It’s such an honor to be a part of issue #750 of Avengers, and I’m looking to celebrate the rich history of the title and its iconic characters by using this issue as the gargantuan-sized kick-off for a story that’ll be as wildly sweeping and swing-for-the-fences epic as it can possibly be,” Aaron told Marvel.com. “It’s not just that everything I’ve been doing in the last 50 issues of Avengers has been leading to this, but there are threads feeding into the next year’s worth of stories that stretch back to most every major series I’ve ever written in my 15 years at Marvel Comics.”

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‘Daredevil’ #36 marks the end of the current series — but Marvel promises more

Chip Zdarsky and Manuel Garcia will present an oversized final issue, while Marvel plans an announcement for Aug. 31.

Daredevil seems to bring the best out in its writers; from Frank Miller and Ann Nocenti to Ed Brubaker and Mark Waid, the title has enjoyed several epic, career-defining runs in its history. It’s really been no different for Chip Zdarsky, who has worked with artists like Marco Checchetto and Manuel Garcia to tear down Matt Murdock’s life, create a new one for Elektra and, of course, help the Kingpin find new love.

All that comes to a head in November’s oversized Daredevil #36, which Marvel says is the last issue of the current run, but not Zdarsky’s final issue of Daredevil.

“I know writers like to say things like, ‘It’s all been building toward this!!’ but, really, it has,” Zdarsky told Marvel.com. “When I sat down to write issue one, I knew that this issue was waiting and that it was going to drastically alter the lives of the Daredevil cast. Issue 36 is NOT an ending, it’s a beginning.”

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Bendis moves his Jinxworld titles to Dark Horse

The line of titles that includes ‘Pearl,’ ‘Cover’ and the upcoming ‘Joy Operations’ moves from DC to the Oregon-based publisher.

After stints at Image Comics, Marvel and DC Comics in recent years, Brian Michael Bendis’ Jinxworld line of creator-owned titles now has a new home at Dark Horse Comics.

The deal will include a new title, Joy Operations, which Bendis will write and artist Stephen Byrne (Wonder Twins) will draw. Many of the Jinxworld titles published by DC over the last few years, including Pearl and Cover, will also move to Dark Horse. THR said Bendis also has plans to release new editions of previous titles, like Powers, through the publisher. Bendis’ exclusive contract with DC, Jinxworld’s previous publisher, ended earlier this year.

“I am so proud to call Dark Horse Comics home! From Dark Horse Presents all the way up to Black Hammer, Dark Horse has been at the forefront of the kind of creator-owned comics I personally adore and aspire to. This partnership has been brewing for a very long time,” Bendis said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Mike Richardson, Daniel Chabon and everyone else at Dark Horse has welcomed us with open arms and it’s very exciting to start rolling out our brand-new epics like Joy Operations and reintroduce you to some of our classic Jinxworld titles like Powers, Torso and Jinx. Any of my friends will tell you I wished those books were published by Dark Horse back when we first made them. To the future!”

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‘Darkhold’ continues in November with Wasp + Black Bolt

Jordie Bellaire, Claire Roe, Mark Russell and David Cutler will bring the next chapters in the event series to life.

Marvel has announced two more of the one-shots from their upcoming Darkhold event series, which features the infamous mystical tome causing problems for the Marvel Universe. Following the “Alpha” issue in September will be a series of one-shots featuring different characters “recruited to combat the Darkhold’s horrifying effects,” starting with Blade and Iron Man in September and Black Bolt and Wasp in October.

Colorist and writer Jordie Bellaire and artist Claire Roe are the creative team for Darkhold: Wasp, while Mark Russell teams with artist David Cutler on Darkhold: Black Bolt.

“As a writer, it’s a joy to get to write a character who spends even more time inside their own head than you do,” Russell said. “So Black Bolt is a writer’s dream character and when I heard which other creators were involved with the series, I was totally on board, like someone who’d unwittingly bought a house in a really great neighborhood.”

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Comics Lowdown | All hail the king as ‘King Spawn’ #1 sells nearly 500,000 copies

Spawn continues its big comeback with big numbers. Plus: news on censorship in Texas, Tim Drake’s big revelation, Kim Dwinell, ‘Chickaloonies’ and more.

Todd McFarlane’s Spawn is coming back in a big way this year, as the creator launches a universe of titles built around the character. Spawn’s Universe #1 set a sales record for the 21st Century for Image Comics, and it looks like the first issue of King Spawn has already broken it, with a reported 497,000 pre-orders.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, that puts King Spawn #1 in the same neighborhood as DC’s Action Comics No. 1,000, which has pre-orders of an estimated 504,000 copies, and Detective Comics No. 1,000 with its 574,705 copies. So it’s a respectable neighborhood.

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Taylor + Putri bend the knee for ‘Dark Knights of Steel’

The 12-issue series from DC re-imagines the DC heroes in a medieval setting.

Tom Taylor has spent a lot of time in alternate realities, from DCeased to the Injustice titles to Marvel’s upcoming Dark Ages. Now he and artist Yasmine Putri will draw swords, literally, in Dark Knights of Steel.

The new DC maxi-series arrives in November, introducing a world where a certain spaceship carrying a certain Kryptonian baby landed in a medieval world.

“Combining two of my favorite things, DC superheroes and high fantasy, is my absolute happy place,” Taylor said on Twitter. “I grew up reading Lord of the Rings alongside Superman. Terry Pratchett alongside Garth Ennis. Robin Hobb and Mark Waid. Dragonlance and Justice League…”

The 12-issue title will feature new origins for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, as well as Black Lightning, Harley Quinn, John Constantine and more.

“This is for the fans of Game of Thrones and Critical Role,” Taylor said. “This is for the kids who took dice to school, who chose their own adventure, and dreamed of flying in a cape. This… is Dark Knights of Steel.”

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‘Justice League Incarnate’ spins out of ‘Infinite Frontier’ in November

Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver helm the miniseries featuring the multiverse’s Justice League.

Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver will follow up this summer’s Infinite Frontier miniseries with Justice League Incarnate, a five-issue oversized series. The first issue features artwork by Andrei Bressan and Brandon Peterson.

The series will feature the team made up of members from each world in the multiverse, including their recent addition, Flashpoint Batman, and a new character, Dr. Multiverse from Earth-8. Earth-8 is the Marvel-equivalent world that’s home to the Extremists and the Retaliators.

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Danny DeVito returns to the Penguin — in the pages of a comic

The actor will write a new story featuring the character he played in ‘Batman Returns’ for the upcoming ‘Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant’ anthology.

Actor Danny DeVito brought the Penguin to life on screen in the film Batman Returns, and now almost 30 years later he’s returning to the character — in the pages of DC’s Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant.

DeVito will write a Penguin story for the anthology, which also features contributions from Wes Craig, G. Willow Wilson, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Joshua Williamson, Stephanie Phillips, Dan Watters, Mairghread Scott, Dan Mora, Emma Rios, Riccardo Federici, Max Raynor, Max Fiumara, Skylar Patridge, Ariela Kristantina, Khary Randolph, Jill Thompson, Christian Ward and Gabriel Walta.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Kasia Babis on ‘Re: Constitutions’

The political cartoonist discusses her work with Beka Feathers on the latest title from First Second’s World Citizen Comics imprint.

Kasia Babis has been making comics for many years, but she gained a new international audience when she began contributing to The Nib about a wide range of topics. In particular, her comics about Polish politics offer an outsider’s take on events within the United States.

Babis has drawn the new book, Re: Constitutions, part of the World Citizen Comics imprint. Written by Beka Feathers, an expert in political development and post-conflict institution building who has worked in more than a dozen countries to help draft constitutions and design political transition, the book is about constitutions, but it’s also about what it means to be a citizen, our political landscape, the rights of individuals and what binds us together. It is a complex topic, and Babis’ art and designs help to masterfully juggle many ideas and complex topics in striking ways.

We spoke recently about her work and making the book while being an engaged citizen in a period of protest, as many basic rights are being eroded by an increasingly authoritarian government.

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Chip Zdarsky will write + draw ‘Public Doman’ for his Substack newsletter

His collaboration with Kagan McLeod, ‘Kaptara,’ will also return as a digital comic.

Chip Zdarsky is the latest creator to sign on as a premium content provider for Substack. In what has been an eventful week for the email newsletter platform, Zdarsky joins Skottie Young, James Tynion IV, Saladin Ahmed and others in posting comics through their newsletters for those willing to pay.

“So, last year I finished illustrating Sex Criminals. It was bittersweet. The bitter was that I loved creating it and was sad to see it go,” Zdarsky wrote. “The sweet was that my hand was a mashed mess of mincemeat from drawing and colouring 31 issues of a book and it was nice to kick back and relax and instead write 13 books for Marvel and DC. But then I had an idea. And now, like an absolute moron, I’m destroying my hand again.”

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Nominees announced for the 2021 Dragon Awards

The awards, which include categories for comics and graphic novels, have been presented annually since 2016.

The nominees have been announced for the 2021 Dragon Awards, which have been presented during DragonCon since 2016.

The awards include multiple categories for books, media tie-ins like movies and video games, and two categories for comics — “Best Comic Book” and “Best Graphic Novel.”

The nominees in those two categories are:

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Mail Call | Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day titles

Get ready for Free Comic Book Day, which is coming up this Saturday. Also check out news from DC, Image Comics, IDW, AfterShock Comics and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offerings for this year have been somewhat confusing — at one point Chip Zdarsky was mentioned as contributing — but the company has put out a press release detailing what you specifically can from them this coming Saturday.

Marvel will have two books, as previously announced — Spider-Man/Venom and Hulk/Avengers, both of which will tease upcoming storylines for the four titles represented.

As previously reported, Amazing Spider-Man is getting a new creative team AND a new person under the mask, as infamous clone Ben Reilly returns to take on the mantle of Spider-Man. One of the new writers of Amazing, Zeb Wells, will team with artist Patrick Gleason for a story featuring Reilly as Spider-Man. It will be accompanied by a Venom story by the new creative team of Ram V., Al Ewing and Bryan Hitch “in a glimpse that will show you just how twisted their upcoming run will be.”

Then, in the second title, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley will present a look at their upcoming run on Hulk. And Jason Aaron teams up with Iban Coello to “present the dangerous new threat that the Avengers will face in the next arc of his hit Avengers run.”

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