Faith teams with just about everyone in ‘Faith and the Future Force’ #1

Step aside, Rai — there’s a new Future Force coming from Valiant Entertainment, and their breakout character Faith is taking the reigns.

From the team of Jody Houser, Stephen Segovia and Barry Kitson comes Faith and the Future Force, a ‘standalone event series” that will future a huge cast of Valiant characters in “an all-star expedition into the time stream that will shake the foundations of the Valiant Universe for all time.”

Continue reading “Faith teams with just about everyone in ‘Faith and the Future Force’ #1”

Tommaso’s childhood creation slides into comics this August

‘Spy Seal,’ created by Rich Tommaso when he was 13, takes on snipers, assassins and more in a new series from Image Comics.

Remember creating comics when you were a kid? Y’know, guys like Web Man and Tarantula Kid, who were basically Spider-Man crossed with Batman and Robin, or Captain Fantastic, who had all the powers of the Fantastic Four? Not everyone imagined blanket ripoffs of other characters; Rich Tommaso of She Wolf and Dark Corridor fame created Spy Seal, a seal that’s also a spy, and in August, the character finds his way into his own comic.

“It’s wonderful and surreal to be working with material that I created as a 13-year-old kid,” said Tommaso. “I’m enjoying doing a spy story too—it’s a genre I’ve never explored in my adult career as a cartoonist.”

Continue reading “Tommaso’s childhood creation slides into comics this August”

Comics Lowdown: ‘Bingo Love’ creator offers advice on creating diverse comics

Plus news and updates on Jules Feiffer, MegaCon’s ‘Love is Love’ auction, Sophie Labelle and more.

Tee Franklin knows something that seems to eluded all of the Marvel honchos: How to make money on a comic by and about people of color. Franklin’s Bingo Love Comic, the story of a long-simmering romance between two black women, blasted past its Kickstarter goal of $20,000 in just five days and ended up with over $57,000 worth of pledges. This all happened just a few weeks after Marvel vice president David Gabriel told ICv2 “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity …They didn’t want female characters. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not.” Although he backpedaled a bit, Gabriel’s comments raised a ruckus, but Franklin has some advice for him and the rest of the Marvel team: Draw inspiration from the women around you, hire people of color for your creative teams and advertise in channels that actually reach your prospective audience.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: ‘Bingo Love’ creator offers advice on creating diverse comics”

Smash Pages Q&A: Helm’s Hasan and Caballero break out with Eisner nomination

Last June, the high fantasy series Helm launched through Crookshaw Creative’s website. Less than a year later, it has been nominated for a prestigious Eisner Award in the digital comics category alongside industry luminaries such as Colleen Coover and Chris Roberson. (See the full list of Eisner nominations.)

Writer Jehanzeb Hasan and illustrator Mauricio Caballero’s enthusiasm for their work is infectious. We talked about creating a high fantasy world that mixes steampunk, the comic’s video game origins, the animation-style look and feel of Helm, and plans for a print edition. We also talked about coffee as inspiration and Scarlett Johansson.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Helm’s Hasan and Caballero break out with Eisner nomination”

Take a ride into your nightmares with Niles and Sampson’s ‘Winnebago Graveyard’

Check out a preview of the four-issue series, which arrives June 14.

Writer Steve Niles and artist Alison Sampson are hitting the road this summer in Winnebago Graveyard, a four-issue miniseries featuring satanists, creepy fairgrounds, conspiracies and more. The first issue arrives June 14.

Continue reading “Take a ride into your nightmares with Niles and Sampson’s ‘Winnebago Graveyard’”

Image reveals Pride Month variant covers for ‘Deadly Class,’ ‘Shutter’ and more

All proceeds from these variant covers will go to the Human Rights Campaign.

As previously announced, Image Comics will celebrate their 25th anniversary and Pride Month in June with a series of variant covers that pay tribute to the LGBTQ community. All proceeds from the sales of these variants will go to the Human Rights Campaign.

Earlier in May Image revealed the covers for The Walking Dead, Redneck and several others, while today they share five more — for Crosswind, The Old Guard, Deadly Class, Black Magick and Shutter.

Check them out below:

Continue reading “Image reveals Pride Month variant covers for ‘Deadly Class,’ ‘Shutter’ and more”

Raise a glass of Hellboy Hell Water to everyone’s favorite demon

6.66 proof whiskey now available from Dark Horse Comics, XXX Distillery and Prestige Imports.

Given that his name has appeared on an ale, a wine and now a whiskey, maybe the new Hellboy movie should simply be about him opening a bar.

Officially announced this week, Hellboy Hell Water Cinnamon Whiskey is a craft distilled, small batch, naturally flavored cinnamon whiskey retailing for $19.99 for a 750ml bottle by Dark Horse Comics, XXX Distillery LLC and Prestige Imports LLC. 66.6 proof whiskey, that is.

Continue reading “Raise a glass of Hellboy Hell Water to everyone’s favorite demon”

DC doubles down on artists with new ‘Artist Alley’ statue line

With a name inspired by a staple of the comic convention scene, DC Collectibles has announced a new line of “Artist Alley” vinyl statues that “merges indie design with the most iconic characters in the DC Universe.” Batman, Superman, Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and more get the 3-D treatment in 2018.

“The motivation to create a line celebrating radical new artists stems from years of visiting cons and being impressed by the raw talent and artwork on display,” said Jim Fletcher, Executive Creative Director, DC Collectibles, in a statement. “When we decided to launch DC Artist Alley, we approached visionaries we felt would best represent the line, while bringing their own creative signature to our classic characters.”

Continue reading “DC doubles down on artists with new ‘Artist Alley’ statue line”

‘Annual’ to collect rare and new Joe Casey material

“One-man anthology” to feature Casey’s work with Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg and more.

Man of Action and veteran comics writer Joe Casey has a “one-man anthology” coming out this September that will feature new and rarely seen work with collaborators like Jim Rugg, Nathan Fox and Luke Parker.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Annual will include The Winternational, which previously appeared on the digital comics app Stela, as well as Modern Romance, a story drawn by Fox that appeared in Playboy’s 60th anniversary issue.

Here’s the cover by Sonia Harris, which was inspired by a Batman Annual cover by Trevor von Eeden:

Continue reading “‘Annual’ to collect rare and new Joe Casey material”

Second issue of ‘Resist!’ storms into comic shops July 4

Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman made headlines back in January with the release of “Resist!,” their free, tabloid-sized, crowdsourced publication featuring comics and commentary that was distributed during the women’s marches across the United States.

In July, Resist! is grabbing back, as the second issue arrives just in time for America’s birthday. The second issue of Resist!, a comic book-sized 96-page anthology of comics and cartoons, will be handed out during the July 4th weekend by volunteers and in the comic shops that ordered it. Per the release, “distribution of Resist! is intended as an Independence Day celebration of the First Amendment, of our diverse country and of our resilience.”

Continue reading “Second issue of ‘Resist!’ storms into comic shops July 4”

Don’t tell Thor: Walt Simonson covers Titan’s Hercules series

‘Hercules: Wrath of the Heavens’ debuts this August from the team of JDMorvan, Looky and Olivier Thill.

Known for his bold interpretations of Norse mythology in the pages of Thor and Ragnarok, Walt Simonson takes leave from the halls of Asgard to cover a new comic featuring a different pantheon — Hercules: Wrath of the Heavens.

Titan Comics will launch the new series by writer JDMorvan and artists Looky and Olivier Thill in August, which will feature a new take on the Greek demigod’s fabled 12 labors. The new series launches in August. Check out Simonson’s cover for the first issue below.

Continue reading “Don’t tell Thor: Walt Simonson covers Titan’s Hercules series”

Comics Lowdown: Original Crumb art sells for $717,000

Plus news and updates on NBM, ‘Saga,” Dan Parent and more.

Robert Crumb’s original art for the cover of the 1969 Fritz the Cat collection has set a new record price for a piece of original American comics art: The drawing sold for $717,000 at an auction run by Heritage Auctions; the next highest price for a piece of American comics art is the $657,250 that someone paid for the last page of Incredible Hulk #180, which features the first appearance of Wolverine. Internationally, Tintin art is still top of the heap; one set of drawings brought in $3.5 million, and two other original Tintin drawings have sold for over $1 million apiece.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Original Crumb art sells for $717,000”