Mignola, Roberson, Grist reveal ‘The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed’

The five-issue miniseries will cast a light on a long-brewing Hellboy mystery.

Hellboy’s universe is populated by all sorts of strange, magical characters drawn from myths and legends around the world — but also, on a couple occasions, from out of this world. Fans of the characters over the years may have noticed — and wondered about — a group of aliens seen in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and Hellboy: The Conqueror Worm, and come next year, they’ll get some answers.

Due out next February is The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed, a five-issue series by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, featuring art by Paul Grist. (Grist! Seeing his promo art in the trailer, available below, makes you wonder why he’s never worked in the Mignolaverse before. He’s a natural for it. Also, I sure miss Mudman and Jack Staff). The book will feature these mysterious aliens and will “probe into a pivotal moment in Hellboy’s past for a surprising tale that harkens back to the character’s first ever appearance.”

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Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye — and a theme song

Watch Michael Avon Oeming draw Cave Carson to the tune of Gerard Way and Ray Toro’s ‘Into the Cave We Wander.’

At this year’s New York Comic Con, Gerard Way and DC Comics gave away a cassette tape featuring a new, original song, “Into the Cave We Wander.” Recorded by Way and his former My Chemical Romance band mate Ray Toro, it serves as a theme song for the second Way-written Young Animal comic, Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye.

The first issue of Cave Carson arrives tomorrow, by Way, Jon Rivera and Michael Avon Oeming, and if it’s as good as Way’s first Young Animal title, Doom Patrol, has been, then I suspect we’re all in for a treat. In the meantime, if you weren’t one of the lucky few to get a copy of the song in New York, Oeming has released a YouTube video that features the song AND Oeming working on a Cave Carson sketch.

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Cates, Shaw deliver magic swords to Texas in ‘God Country’

The creative team behind ‘Buzzkill’ create a new series from Image Comics.

The creative team behind Buzzkill and The Paybacks will re-team for God Country, due out from Image Comics in January.

Described as “Southern Bastards meets American Gods,” God Country, by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, tells the story of an old man with dementia in Texas whose small town is destroyed by a tornado — which also happens to deliver a mystical sword that restores his mind and body. Then he fights monsters!

“This is a story Geoff and I have been wanting to tell for such a long time, and to be able to do it with Image is beyond a dream come true,” said Cates in the press release. “God Country is full of heart, action, giant swords, Kirby Gods, Texans, magic tornados, and family drama…so it’s really just everything I love piled into one great, epic yarn. This January everyone is welcome to come on in, grab a beer, have a seat and get ready… we have a hell of a story to tell you.”

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José Luis Ágreda’s stunning character renditions

I’ve been sitting on this link long enough now that I can’t remember where I first saw it — maybe Facebook? — but no matter where it came from, cartoonist and animator José Luis Ágreda’s renditions of various comic characters are really pretty. The set of characters, which he “redesigned with a limited color palette,” come from all over the world and include Batman, Kamandi, Devil Dinosaur, Astroboy, Little Nemo, Tintin, Tank Girl, Capitan Trueno, Johan and Pirluit, Corto Maltes and many others.

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‘Dapper Men’ books land at Top Shelf

Jim McCann and Janet Lee’s whimsical tale gets a deluxe edition next summer and a sequel in 2018.

Return of the Dapper Men and its planned sequels have found a new home at Top Shelf Productions. Announced at the New York Comic-Con this past weekend, the IDW imprint will release a deluxe edition of the book next summer.

Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, was originally published by Archaia in 2010, and McCann and Lee acquired the rights from them to the book in 2014. The whimsical story of a boy, a robot girl and the Dapper Man known as 41 won the Eisner Award for “Best Graphic Album: New” (tying with Daniel Clowes’ Wilson) in 2011.

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Dark Horse to publish ‘American Gods’ comic

P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton and many more will adapt Neil Gaiman’s novel into a 27-issue comic series.

With all the attention on the upcoming television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods novel, it’s no surprise that Dark Horse Comics has announced a comic book adaptation as well.

“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement, in my house and in the world, about the American Gods TV series coming up on Starz,” Gaiman said in a press release. “What we’ve managed to keep a secret until now is that there is something just as exciting out there: American Gods, the comic. I’ve been watching P. Craig Russell breaking down the book into comic form, watching Scott Hampton painting the pages, watching Glenn Fabry create the covers, and grinning to myself with delight, because the American Gods comic is going to be an astonishing, faithful and beautiful adaptation.”

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DC to launch new ‘Batwoman’ title next year

Spinning out of ‘Detective Comics,’ Marguerite Bennett and Steve Epting team up to tell solo stories starring Kate Kane.

Batwoman will once again star in her own solo title beginning next February, by writer Marguerite Bennett and artist Steve Epting, who returns to DC Comics after a 16-year absence. James Tynion IV, who currently writes the character in Detective Comics, will co-write the first arc.

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‘Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love’ has the right spirit

Whether they’re being Rebirthed or Young Animaled, DC’s various superhero series may be getting all the attention; but they’re not all the publisher is putting out these days. Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love isn’t really a relaunch, and — somewhat refreshingly — it’s not a hip new take on a couple of decades-old concepts. Instead, writer Sarah Vaughn, artist Lan Medina, and colorist José Villarrubia have given a good old-fashioned ghost story a few tweaks and a superhero component, and produced one of the most entertaining first issues I’ve read in a while.

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James Stokoe is doing an ‘Aliens’ comic

Dark Horse announces two new projects due out in time for next April’s “Aliens Day 2017.”

In space, no one can hear you scream … with excitement. Dark Horse announced today that James Stokoe, creator of Orc Stain and Wonton Soup, will write and draw a four-issue Aliens series.

Per the press release, Aliens: Dead Orbit finds Wascylewsk, an engineering officer, trapped in a space station after a horrific accident. Wascylewsk is forced to use all available tools—a timer, a utility kit, and his wits—to survive an attack from the deadliest creature known to man. The first issue will feature a variant cover by Geof Darrow and goes on sale next April.

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Cats & crime: Meet ‘Spencer & Locke,’ coming next year from Action Lab

David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr. team up for a gritty crime story — with imaginary friends.

If you ever wondered what happened to Calvin, Hobbes and their friend Susie, well … David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr. have an idea, and it isn’t exactly pleasant.

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Archie’s ‘Riverdale’ TV show gets a comic

The TV adaptation of the Archie comics is, naturally, getting its own comic — Riverdale, by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Alitha Martinez, arrives as a one-shot next year, followed by an ongoing series.

Per the press release, Aguirre-Sacasa will be joined by “the members of the show’s writers’ room” in creating the comic. Archie and his pals, of course, are no strangers to comic books, and star in about 1,500 different continuities already — one where he got married, one where he (spoiler alert) died, one where he’s written by Mark Waid, one where he fights zombies, one where he’s a punk rocker and hangs with the Ramones, and one where he fights sharks, just to name a few. The X-Men got nothing on Archie and the gang.

Press release and promo artwork below …

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WildStorm imprint returns, with your host Warren Ellis

“The Wild Storm” kicks off the revival, by Ellis and artist Jon Davis-Hunt.

Much like Gerard Way is both writing and curating content for the Young Animal line, DC Comics has recruited Warren Ellis to revive and curate a new WildStorm line.

Ellis, who breathed new life into the imprint back in 1999 with the launch of The Authority and Planetary, will write The Wild Storm with Clean Room artist Jon Davis-Hunt. It’ll reset the WildStorm shared universe and feature Grifter, Voodoo, The Engineer, Jenny Sparks and others. It launches in February as an ongoing series and will serve as the launching pad for new WildCATS, Zealot and Michael Cray (AKA Deathblow) series.

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