Captain Flag means business in this preview of ‘World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #26

Check out an exclusive preview of two new stories coming in next week’s digest from Archie Comics.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re happy to present a preview of two new stories from World of Betty & Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #26, which comes out June 14.

In the first story, Betty, Veronica, Kumi and Eliza Han, the new character created by Tee Franklin last year, face a camping crisis — and only Inferno the Fire Breather can help. Bill Golliher, Rex Lindsey and Glenn Whitmore channel The Doors in “Light My Fire.”

And in the second, Archie and the Superteens get an invite to the annual Crusader Cookout, where Captain Flag schools them on the proper way to display the American flag. Ian Flynn, Steven Butler, Jim Amash, Whitmore and Jack Morelli give us a patriotic lesson just in time for the July 4th holiday.

Check out both previews below, along with a complete classic Archie story by Golliher and Rudy Lapick.

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Colleen Doran, Alex Ross, Sarah Andersen among this year’s NCS divisional nominees

The National Cartoonist Society announces the divisional nominees for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2022 NCS Divisional finalists for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more. The winners will be announced Sept. 7, and the nominees for their biggest award, the Reuben itself, should be announced soon.

The awards recognize the artist or cartoonist, so you’ll see work, the writer or publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. The graphic novel category nominees for this year include Colleen Doran, artist of Chivalry; Alex Ross, creator of Fantastic Four: Full Circle; and Christian Meesey, artist of Time Shopper. For comic books, the nominees include Brett Bean, artist of I Hate Fairyland; Ben Bender, creator of The Littlest Viking; and Robert Goodin, creator of The Kurdles.

Webcomics creators are recognized in two categories — long form and short form. In the long-form category, the nominees include Phil Foglio, Brad Guigar and Sheldon creator Dave Kellett. In the short-form category, Sarah Andersen, Tex creator Jesse Atwell and Rich Powell have been nominated.

Below is the full list of the nominees.

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‘Birds of Prey’ will return this fall by Thompson, Romero + Bellaire

Black Canary will assemble the ‘most dangerous’ Birds of Prey ‘for mysterious reasons.’

DC’s Birds of Prey will return in September by the creative team of Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.

Thompson revealed the news both on Twitter and via her Substack, and also shared the team’s first member, Black Canary, with the promise to reveal more of the members throughout the week. Here’s a look at Romero’s design:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘In Hell We Fight,’ ‘Loki’ ‘The Flash’ #800 and more

Check out comics and graphic novels this week by John Layman, Jok, G. Willow Wilson, Jim Benton, Dan Watters, Germán Peralta, Michael Dorn, Sami Basri, Rob Liefeld, Mattie Lubchansky and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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Matt Emmons unleashes ‘Crusader’ at Mad Cave

The new series begins in September.

Mad Cave has announced a new series by writer/artist Matt Emmons — Crusader, the story of a Templar knight who has to battle his way through a high-fantasy world. He’s joined by letterer Andriy Lukin on the project.

“I’ve been trying to capture the feeling of a pulpy, fun adventure story that embodies everything I’ve loved about the genre, and I hope it translates,” Emmons said. “I’ve also been wanting to draw Pilgrim in action for years, so it’s very exciting to finally bring him to the page. Crusader has been a fun challenge!”

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Oni Press teases a new ‘The Sixth Gun’ project from Bunn + Hurtt

“Sometimes what’s dead doesn’t stay gone.”

Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s The Sixth Gun may have ended in 2016, but “Sometimes what’s dead doesn’t stay gone.”

A new teaser released by Oni Press today hints that a new The Sixth Gun project is on the way via Kickstarter. While the supernatural western had a definitive end, Bunn and Hurtt always hinted that they had more stories to tell, and even launched a second series, Shadow Roads, that was set in the same world.

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A new D-Squad assembles for the ‘Dark Droids’ Star Wars event

Marc Guggenheim, Salva Espín and David Messina will pit R2D2 and a squad of droids against the Scourge.

Marvel’s upcoming Dark Droids crossover event will resurrect a concept from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series — the D-Squad. Marc Guggenheim, Salva Espín and David Messina will enlist a group of droids to help R2D2 battle the Scourge, the virus spreading through the galaxy’s droid population that’s making them turn homicidal.

While Dark Droids has been billed as a horror story set in the Star Wars universe, Guggenheim says the D-Squad miniseries will have a different tone.

“It’s high adventure mixed with as much humor as I could conjure. I approached it like the first Avengers movie, but with droids instead of superheroes,” he told StarWars.com.

The original D-Squad was a group of astromech droids, which is the type of droid R2D2 is. This time around the squad will feature several different types of droids, including two bounty hunters.

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Sunday Comics | Read these Eisner nominees online

Check out webcomics by Jimmy Stamp, Débora Santos, Michael Adam Lengyel, Joshua Barkman and more.

With the Eisner Award nominations still fresh on everyone’s minds, I thought I’d take a look this time at some of the nominees you can read for free online, starting with one of the nominations for “Best Short Story.”

The Beekeeper’s Due by Jimmy Stamp and Débora Santos originally appeared in Scott Snyder Presents: Tales from the Cloakroom, a collection of stories by students in Snyder’s Substack writing course. The anthology was crowdfunded, so it might not be as easy to find as the other stories it is competing against from Marvel, DC and Z2, which could hurt its chances.

But the creators have a remedy for that — put it out on the web for free.

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Open letter calls for more transparency from the Eisner Awards

The request comes after Thomas Woodruff’s multiple, controversial nominations.

In the wake of this year’s Eisner Award nomination controversy, a group that includes comics professionals, journalists and readers has asked for more transparency from Comic-Con International on the Eisner Award process.

Editor/journalist Jennifer de Guzman, who has worked for SLG and Image Comics in the past, and Mariah McCourt, a comics writer and former editor at Vertigo, wrote the open letter following the controversial nomination of Francis Rothbart! The Tale of a Fastidious Feral by Thomas Woodruff in several categories this year. It’s been co-signed now by more than 30 individuals.

“This troubling disparity between who is judging the work to be nominated and the makeup of the industry itself has created an environment of systemic inequality,” the letter reads “There is a distinct need for more diverse and inclusive backgrounds in the people responsible for these nominations, every year. We need the active participation of creators of color, LGBTQIA+ creators, artists, writers, letterers, colorists, cover artists, editors, and those with more direct and every day experience with the medium itself. Right now the panel appears to be made up mostly of journalists, librarians, and academics which, intentionally or not, skews the point of view of the nominations.”

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J. Michael Straczynski returns to Marvel this fall to write ‘Captain America’

Jesús Saiz joins the writer for a story set in Steve Rogers’ past and present.

After more than a decade writing for other publishers, J. Michael Straczynski will return to Marvel to write Captain America in September.

Artist Jesús Saiz will join Straczynski on the title, which will feature Steve Rogers. In an interview with io9, Straczynski said he’ll focus both on current-day Steve Rogers as well as a younger, pre-World War II Cap prior to gaining his super powers.

“One thing about Steve Rogers that’s never really been addressed is the period between when his parents died, and when he became Captain America,” Straczynski said. “We’re talking about a sickly, skinny 17 year old kid, trying to survive on his own for because he’s stubborn and independent, on the street for several years, hustling for any gig he can get, even if it’s bigger than he is, trying to afford food and a place to stay. So we will counterpoint a present-tense story in which Captain America faces off against a new villain of supernatural origin, with a story about his younger self, with both stories tightly interwoven.”

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The Devil made them do it in ‘Let Me Out’

Emmett Nahil and George Williams revisit the late 1970s “satanic panic” in the new graphic novel from Oni Press.

Emmett Nahil and George Williams will revisit the “satanic panic” of the late 1970s in Let Me Out, a graphic novel coming from Oni Press in October.

The story is set in 1979 New Jersey, where a group of “queer and trans misfits” accused of murder decide that the devil might not be so bad.

“Let Me Out turns classic horror tropes on their head, while showcasing how marginalized people are sacrificed on the altars of power,” said Nahil, who makes his graphic novel debut with Let Me Out. “This is a story about what happens when a group of queer and trans friends are given the supernatural means to fight back. It is also about found family and the joy one finds in one’s friends, even amidst seemingly inescapable darkness.”

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Ed Brubaker + Sean Phillips will tell us ‘Where the Body Was’ in December

The award-winning team presents a stand-alone suburban mystery graphic novel that draws from Brubaker’s life.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, creators of the critically acclaimed, award-winning Criminal and Reckless, have a graphic novel coming out from Image Comics at the end of this year — Where the Body Was, which will arrive in December.

Colorist Jacob Phillips, who has worked with the duo in the past as well as on his own projects like That Texas Blood, will join them on the project. Described as “a true crime podcast crossed with a long-lost diary,” Brubaker said he’s drawing from his own life for this one.

“This is a story I’ve been trying to find a way to tell for half my life,” said Brubaker. “Inspired by a bunch of wild things that happened when I was a teenager in Southern California—from small time crimes to a murder plot—this book is kind of a diorama of a crime scene, with all the action confined to one small neighborhood… And it even comes with a map. I can’t wait for our readers to get their hands on this one, just in time for the Holidays.”

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