Matt Wagner’s Grendel prepares for launch in October

Grendel heads into a space in a new miniseries.

With the Mage saga wrapped up, it only makes sense that Matt Wagner would return to his other most famous creation, Grendel. First appearing in 1982 from publisher Comico, the character has gone on to star in various series and miniseries over the years at Dark Horse Comics.

This fall, colorist Brennan Wagner and letterer Dave Lanphear join Wagner on Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey, which sees the titular character head into space.

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Slate announces 2019 Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlists

Winners of the annual award by Slate and the Center for Cartoon Studies will be announced April 12.

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the nominees for its annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the creator of one print comic and one webcomic.

Slate began the program in 2012 in conjunction with the Center for Cartoon Studies. Previous winners include Noelle Stevenson for Nimona, Chris Ware for Building Stories, Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny, Winston Rowntree for Watching, Carol Tyler for Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad and Keren Katz for The Academic Hour.

This year’s print nominees include:

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The first prez fights imposters in ‘Washington Unbound’

Jason Lex’s graphic novel arrives from AdHouse in May.

AdHouse Books will unleash the fury of George Washington in May, as they radically ratify Jason Lex’s Washington Unbound. Washington will bring the veto down on an imposter trying to take over the White House after an abduction attempt. Oh, and there’s a cat!

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‘Farmhand’ gets a soundtrack from Skies Speak

Experimental album from Skies Speak will drop March 20.

Rob Guillory’s excellent new Image series Farmhand is getting a soundtrack, thanks to Guillory’s friend Skies Speak.

“The FarmhandOriginal Music Score started out as just a crazy idea between two buddies,” Guillory said in a press release. “Jordan (Skies Speak) and I have been friends for many years, and I’m beyond thrilled he was game to craft this special album for fans of the book. The initial idea was very simple: use my art to inspire his art. He devoured the first arc of the book, and from that he created a unique, immersive experience that adds a little something extra to the world of Farmhand.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Cathy G. Johnson

The creator of ‘Gorgeous’ and ‘Jeremiah’ discusses her new book, ‘The Breakaways.’

Cathy G. Johnson is the cartoonist behind books like Gorgeous and Jeremiah. Her new book, coming out this week from First Second Books, is The Breakaways.

It’s larger than Johnson’s previous books in many regards. The book has an ensemble cast, and it manages to find ways to reveal how each girl is much more complex than they initially seem or than they try to present. It is a beautifully made and thoughtful book that avoids a lot of the cliches around sports stories. They don’t win. They are bad at soccer. But that’s not what’s important. And the ways that this is shown in small, relatable ways, eschewing a melodramatic or sentimental approach, is what makes the book resonate in so many ways.

Johnson is a teacher and podcaster who is one half of Drawing a Dialogue with e jackson, and she was kind enough to talk about the book and her work.

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Lemire + Deodato Jr. unleash ‘Berserker Unbound’

Dark Horse Comics will kick off the urban fantasy miniseries in August.

Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato Jr. are teaming up for a new urban fantasy series that brings a barbarian into the modern age — and of course, chaos ensues. Berserker Unbound will debut in August.

“As soon as I had a chance to work with Mike Deodato on Thanos at Marvel I knew it would be the start of a beautiful partnership,” Lemire said. “We immediately started talking about the potential of teaming up for a creator-owned series. Mike is an incredible artist and, with Berserker Unbound, I tried to model a story to all of his many strengths. Berserker Unbound is many things. It has magic, action, and blood, but it also has heart. And it’s not at all what it first appears to be. We’re both very excited to be working together at Dark Horse, with Frank Martin and Steve Wands, to build the worlds of both Berserker and the world of Cobb, his unexpected companion.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Kwanza Osajyefo

The team that brought ‘Black’ to life returns with the next chapter in the story of a world where only black people have superpowers.

Kwanza Osajyefo worked in comics for years at Marvel and DC Comics, including on Zuda, DC’s webcomics imprint. But in 2016 when he crowdfunded the miniseries Black, he made a lot of people sit up. The book, which was released from Black Mask Studios, asked the provocative question, “What if only black people in America had superpowers?” The resulting book was one of the year’s best comics – featuring some of the best artwork in Jamal Igle’s long career – but readers were left hanging at the end of the miniseries about what X, formerly known as Kareem Jenkins, will do next.

In the years since, Osajyefo and others have been telling stories in this universe in the Black AF books, but now Osajyefo is back with a new Kickstarter for the miniseries White. The direct sequel to Black and the middle chapter of the trilogy that is the story he always intended to tell, this book gets the band back together, including Igle, Khary Randolph on covers, co-creator and designer Tim Smith 3, and editor Sarah Litt. The Kickstarter is live now and without offering any spoilers, Osajyefo answered a few questions about White, the Black universe and what comes next.

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Archie returns to ‘The Married Life’ this August

Find out how Archie, Betty and Veronica are doing 10 years after getting married.

It was 10 years ago that Archie Comics took their flagship character in a new direction and launched the Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty miniseries, which showed two alternate futures where Archie married Veronica and married Betty. (Not at the same time, of course … although maybe that’ll be the main plot of season seven of Riverdale, when all the kids are older.)

To celebrate their aluminum anniversary, Archie Comics will publish Archie: The Married Life 10th Anniversary this August, uniting the original writer, Michael Uslan, with artist Dan Parent. The story picks up with the 10-year anniversary of each couple.

“Now is the right time for new stories taking a look at where the former newlyweds, Archie & Veronica, and Archie & Betty, have wound up ten years later,” Uslan said. “We’ll see how they’re struggling with, among many current and relevant things, a widening generation gap with their own children and much more.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Liz Suburbia

The creator of ‘Sacred Heart’ discusses her latest project, ‘Egg Cream,’ as well as her first exposure to comics, the way she works and serialization.

Liz Suburbia has been making comics for years in her zine series Cyanide Milkshake, and Sacred Heart, which was collected into a single volume and published by Fantagraphics in 2015. Suburbia’s new project is Egg Cream. An annual comic published by Czap Books and Silver Sprocket, it will feature not just the sequel to Sacred Heart but new comics and illustrations from Suburbia as well.

Egg Cream is completely accessible for those who have never read Scared Heart, set 10 years after the events of that book and told in a different manner than that book. This first chapter explains some of the questions that were never answered in the first volume, and add a few more than we’ll no doubt learn more about in future issues. Suburbia talked about this larger story she’s telling, the way she works and serialization.

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Smash Pages Q&A: David Pepose on the influences behind ‘Spencer & Locke’

With a sequel set to debut in April, the writer of the surprise hit series breaks down the comics DNA of the book.

It’s been called “What if Calvin and Hobbes grew up in Sin City?” but David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr.’s Spencer & Locke proved to be more than that. While it does wear those two inspirations on its sleeve, the DNA of this particular project goes deeper than its tagline.

With the followup to the surprise hit set to debut in April (and a movie in the works), I spoke with David about some of the influences on the series that go beyond the surface, including Moon Knight, Criminal, Batgirl and more. Admittedly this was a really fun interview to conduct, as it gave me an excuse to re-read several great comics and discover one that I need to add to my own “to read” list.

You can find out more about Spencer & Locke 2 on Twitter or Facebook. And you can buy the first volume at your local comic shop or ComiXology.

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Clowes, Piskor get Studio Editions in October

You’ll find original art scans, process pieces and more in two new Studio Editions coming in October.

Fantagraphics has announced Studio Editions for two popular comic artists — Daniel Clowes and Ed Piskor.

Much like IDW’s popular Artist’s Editions line, Studio Editions contain un-retouched original art scans — letting you see the artist’s originals in a way that you’d otherwise only see if you had direct access to them. “These full-size reproductions retain original pencil marks, corrections, and marginalia—fascinating imperfections that provide insights into the creative process of these master cartoonists,” the press release reads.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Kel McDonald

The cartoonist discusses her latest project, now up on Kickstarter, as well as the urban fantasy genre, ‘The Stone King’ and more.

Kel McDonald has been making comics for years. I read her webcomic Sorcery 101 years ago, but she’s also made comics series like Misfits of Avalon, written Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics and contributed to Dark Horse Presents. Late last year Comixology Originals released The Stone King, a comics series that McDonald made with artist Tyler Crook. Her work is always interesting because she clearly loves fantasy, but she wants to do interesting things with the genre, telling different kinds of stories in really exciting ways.

In recent years she’s been making the series The City Between, composed of different books with different characters and genres set in the same world. Right now she’s kickstarting the third book in the series, The Dead Deception. I’ve been reading McDonald’s work for years and she was kind enough to answer a few questions about urban fantasy, werewolves, her future plans for the series, and how Kickstarter has changed over the years for the better.

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