Writer, editor and Hall of Famer Len Wein passes away

The co-creator of Swamp Thing, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Human Target and so many more characters passes away.

Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm and Swamp Thing, has passed away at 69, according to multiple comics industry professionals, including Paul Kupperberg.

While no cause of death has been reported, the 69-year-old Hall of Fame member has suffered from poor health over the last few years and has been in and out of the hospital for foot surgery over the last few months, according to posts on his Facebook and Twitter feeds.

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Mignola, Stewart, Dark Horse support Hurricane Harvey victims with special print

Limited Edition Hellboy print will be available at this weekend’s Rose City Comic Con, with proceeds going to the Houston Food Bank.

Portland may be a long way from Houston, but comic fans attending this week’s Rose City Comic Con can lend a hand to people in Texas by purchasing a limited edition Hellboy print by Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart.

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Walker, Brown and Greene harvest a ‘Bitter Root’ next year

New title from Image Comics will showcase a family during the Harlem Renaissance protecting the world from supernatural forces.

David Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene will team up on a new comic set during the Harlem Renaissance, Bitter Root, next year from Image Comics. The new series was announced today at the Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon.

“Bitter Root is going to be unlike any comic book people have seen,” said Walker. “We’re mixing action and horror, with a cast of characters unique to the medium to tell an epic tale of the Sangerye family and the sacrifices they are willing to make for humanity. I’m excited for this series for several reasons. It gives me the chance to work with Sanford again, Chuck, who is a great co-writer, and Image, which publishes some absolutely amazing comics.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Chris Grine on ‘Time Shifters’

The creator of ‘Chickenhare’ discusses his latest all-ages graphic novel from Graphix, dealing with grief, not talking down to kids and more.

Chris Grine’s first graphic novel was Chickenhare, which was published first by Dark Horse Comics and then was reprinted in a new full-color edition by Scholastic’s Graphix imprint, along with its sequel. This year Scholastic published Time Shifters, which, like his earlier books, is written, drawn, colored and lettered by Grine.

But this one is a leap forward in terms of his art and storytelling. On one level, the book is a wild adventure story about a boy who gets caught up with a misfit band that is jumping from one universe to another. On another level, it is a story about grief and loss told in a very real and raw way. The book manages to be both very silly and wild, and a great adventure story, but never shies away from the sadness at the core. Grine and I talked about the book’s tonal shifts, grief and never playing down to kids.

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IDW, Hasbro to launch Stretch Armstrong comic

Tie-in to the Netflix cartoon ‘Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters’ launches in January.

The nostalgia wave continues with the re-introduction of Stretch Armstrong, the flexible action figure from the ’70s. Following his re-release by Hasbro and the upcoming Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters cartoon on Netflix, IDW has announced plans for a comic featuring the stretchy heroes, due out in January.

The comic will be written by series executive producers and head writers Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt, with art by Nikos Koutsis. Cover art will be provided by Aluir Amancio and Koutsis. Burke & Wyatt developed Stretch Armstrong for television in collaboration with fellow executive producer, Victor Cook.

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Lion Forge donates $25,000 to support Gulf Coast retailers

Publisher offers support through the Book Industry Charitable Foundation to help comic retailers affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Comics publisher Lion Forge has donated $25,000 to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation to support comic retailers affected by Hurricane Harvey, which devastated the Gulf Coast region of Texas and Louisiana late last month.

Lion Forge founder and owner David Steward II and Chief Creative Officer Carl Reed made the announcement via video, which was posted to their social media accounts:

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Archie & friends rock out in ‘The Archies’ #1 [Preview]

Archie, Jughead and the rest of the band hit the road to rock your socks off — and meet other bands.

After a series of successful music-oriented one-shots, Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg have teamed up with Joe Eisma and Matt Herms for The Archies, an ongoing series featuring Archie Andrews and friends as musicians.

The series will show what happens when Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica, and Reggie leave Riverdale as they begin their first tour across the country, where they’ll meet other bands along the way — like CHVRCHES, who will appear in the second issue.

Solicitation text, a preview and cover art for the first issue can be found below.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Joe Corallo and Molly Jackson on their Planned Parenthood benefit anthology

The editors of ‘Mine! A Celebration of Freedom and Liberty for All Benefitting Planned Parenthood’ discuss the Kickstarter for the project.

Joe Corallo and Molly Jackson are writers at ComicMix and other places around the internet, but they’re also editors of Mine! A Celebration of Freedom and Liberty for All Benefitting Planned Parenthood.

The anthology, which is currently being kickstarted, is a celebration of a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a nonprofit organization that is one of the biggest and most important health care providers in the United States. The project features work by Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, Trina Robbins, John Ostrander, Rachel Pollack, Howard Cruse and others. The campaign runs through Sept. 15, and we reached out to the duo to discuss the project.

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Wear Kirby’s ‘Lord of Light’ artwork on your torso

Wrap your body in the King’s artwork, courtesy of Heavy Metal magazine and T-shirt site Threadless.

If you’ve seen the movie Argo you know about the role comics legend Jack Kirby’s artwork played in the rescue of Americans from Tehran during the U.S./Iran hostage crisis in 1980. The artwork was originally created for a movie adaptation of Roger Zelazney’s Lord of Light, which never saw production but ended up becoming a part of history.

Heavy Metal magazine and the T-shirt site Threadless have teamed up to take those pieces of history and turn them into something you can wear, as you can see right here on Threadless’ Heavy Metal subsite. They have 13 different shirts featuring the King’s artwork, colored by Mark Englert in 2015. Take a look at some of them below.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Hope Nicholson on ‘Gothic Tales of Haunted Love’ and more

The Canadian writer, editor and publisher discusses her work on Prairie Comics Festival, Bedside Press, Secret Loves of Geeks and her latest Kickstarter.

Hope Nicholson is one of those people working behind the scenes who make the comics industry function. The Canadian writer, editor and publisher is the founder and publisher of Bedside Press, which is responsible for books both new (Window Horses, A Minyen Yidn) and reprints (Fashion in Action, Polka Dot Pirate). She runs the Prairie Comics Festival in Winnipeg, Canada. She wrote the new book The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen about female comics characters. She’s the woman behind The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, is a Kickstarter Thought Leader, and was one of the people selected to be part of Kickstarter Gold, in the company’s words, “for their creativity and ingenuity.”

Nicholson first received notice for spearheading the republication of Canadian comics like Nelvana of the Northern Lights and Brok Windsor. She’s a consulting editor on Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird graphic novel series, which is being published by Dark Horse. Nicholson also edits and publishes a wide range of anthologies including Moonshot, Enough Space for Everyone Else, and her current project, Gothic Tales of Haunted Love.

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Kevin Maguire covers the ‘JLI Omnibus’

Old friends reunite in the cover image for the upcoming collection.

Artist Kevin Maguire brought his signature style to the Justice League in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and along with Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis, redefined the team in the Post-Crisis DC Universe. Now their humorous take on the team is getting the Omnibus treatment, and Maguire has shared the cover to the massive book:

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Comics Lowdown: Police reopen 30-year-old case of murdered cartoonist

Also: Dave Gibbons talks about writing, Dyer and Dorkin discuss ‘Calla Cthulhu,’ and ‘Criminy’ finds a publisher.

Sketch of what the gunman who shot al-Ali might look like now
Cold Case Files: Thirty years after the murder of Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, London police have appealed to the public for any information they may have on the case. Ali was shot in the back of the neck on July 22, 1989, near the London office of the Kuwaiti publication Al-Qabas, and he died on August 29 of the same year. Police released descriptions of the two suspects and a sketch of what the shooter might look like today.

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