‘Gotham City Sirens’ returns in August for a four-week event

Leah Williams, Matteo Lolli, Daniel Hillyard, Brandt & Stein, and more will bring Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn together again.

The Gotham City Sirens will converge once more for a four-week miniseries in August, temporarily replacing the ongoing titles for Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy that month.

DC announced the miniseries today, which will be written by Leah Williams with artwork by Matteo Lolli, Daniel Hillyard and Brandt & Stein. Triona Farrell will color each issue, while Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou provides lettering.

In addition to Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, the miniseries will feature Punchline, White Rabbit and “the cowboy-henchmen sensation soon to be sweeping the nation known as the Nasty Boys.” Here’s a look at the Nasty Boys, as designed by Lolli:

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Emma Frost + Kitty Pryde prove the X-Men are still ‘Exceptional’ this September

Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero send the duo back to school this fall to train a new generation of mutants.

The post-Krakoa world of the X-Men continues to take shape as Marvel shares more details on Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s plans for Exceptional X-Men.

Along with X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, this new title will serve as the third “flagship” title for the From the Ashes line. It focuses on two popular mutants who have had a love/hate thing going since they were introduced, Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost. Together they’ll train three new mutants whose powers recently revealed themselves — the metallic and whip-wielding Bronze, the emotion-stirring Axo and the stealth-skilled fighter Melee.

“Regarding the young mutants, I think the whole team fell in love with all three of them,” Carnero said. “I love that they are such opposites. Eve had very clear personalities, hobbies, musical tastes, how they feel… And when it came to designing them, it all developed naturally, and the whole team had a clear vision of what their final looks would be. I can’t wait for readers to meet them.”

This is a full circle moment for Kitty Pryde, who started her tenure with the X-Men as a recruit to Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, way back in Uncanny X-Men #129. That’s also the first issue where we met the Hellfire Club’s White Queen, Emma Frost.

“Longtime fans of Kitty Pryde can count on the kinds of adventures you expect from her as a classic favorite, while I hope new and old readers alike will get to love this all-new team of young mutants,” Ewing said. “Kitty, the one-time kid sister figure of the X-Men, has to reckon with her own memories—good and bad—of being a child of Xavier as she navigates a role as leader and mentor for a new generation of mutants who are trying to make their way in a time of crisis.”

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Powerteen’s latest plan spells doom for Riverdale in this preview of ‘Betty & Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #324

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

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re delighted to present a preview of a new story from Betty & Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #324, which comes out May 15.

Veronica’s ego has gotten her into some pickles before, but I’m not sure Riverdale can “weather the storm” it brings this time. During a hangout with Superteen, Powerteen, Jaguar and Darkling, Veronica gets into an argument about which hero is the best — so she decides to release an imprisoned supervillain, Climate Changling, to prove it. What could go wrong? See the first panel for the answer to that question. (Also, Climate Changling is a brilliant name for a villain.)

Check out the preview by Ian Flynn, Steven Butler, Jim Amash, Glenn Whitmore and Jack Morelli below. We also have a complete, “classic” Veronica story that will appear in this issue, where Veronica shares her fears about going to prom with Archie.

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Three Count | Krakoa in pictures, Jinkies, Mermay

Here are three things to see, to buy and to view in comics this week.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. Hope you survive the experience.

  1. To View: Gerry Duggan’s Krakoa-era creator photos

It’s a pretty good time to be an X-Men fan. Not only is there the mega-popular X-Men ’97 animated series on Disney+ and a new Deadpool & Wolverine movie coming this summer, but there’s also a lot going on with Marvel’s merry mutants in the comics. As the Krakoa era ends in spectacular fashion, the From the Ashes era gets set to begin, and I’m not sure you could have the excitement of one without the game-changing nature of the other.

Gerry Duggan has been part of the Krakoa journey since the beginning, writing both Marauders and X-Men, as well as Iron Man, which seemed to find its way into the line at the end. In addition to being a writer, Duggan is also a photographer, and even crowdfunded a book of his photos a couple years back. In his Substack newsletter this week, he shared a collection of photos of his fellow creators he’s taken during the Krakoa journey, at retreats and other meet-ups, spanning several years and a pandemic. Outside of stalking them at bars during conventions, it’s rare that you get to see creators interacting like this … in meeting rooms and, yes, at bars.

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Dark Horse will collect Tom Siddell’s award-winning webcomic ‘Gunnerkrigg Court’

The first collection of the long-running comic arrives in November.

Tom Siddell’s Gunnerkrigg Court webcomic has been running since 2005 and is approaching its 100th chapter — so there’s no better time for Dark Horse to announce plans to collect it into an omnibus series.

The fantasy comic has been published by BOOM!’s Archaia imprint in the past, as well as by Titan in the UK. It has been nominated for numerous awards over the years, and in 2021 took home the award for best long-form webcomic at the NCS Divisional Awards. Dark Horse will collect the first two volumes “Orientation” and “Research,” into the first volume, which amounts to 586 pages of comics. They plan to release it both in softcover and as a limited edition hardcover.  

“Anyone with a taste for mystery, an eye for the fantastic and strange, The Court welcomes you,” Siddell said. “I’m really excited for readers, new and old, to get their hands on the best version of Gunnerkrigg, from a publisher whose work I’ve been enjoying for decades!”

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Saladin Ahmed + Martín Cóccolo bring Wolverine back to his roots in September

Part of the ‘X-Men: From the Ashes’ line, the new title kicks off in September.

Marvel has announced that Daredevil writer Saladin Ahmed and “Stormbreakers” artist Martín Cóccolo will helm the new Wolverine title that will launch in September as a part of the X-Men: From the Ashes initiative.

According to Marvel.com, Wolverine will “turn his back on humanity, mutantkind and the X-Men” in the new series following the end of Krakoa and the “Sabretooth War” storyline that will finish out his current title. Which seems counter to the fact that he’s one of the characters in Gail Simone and David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men title.

In any event, the new series finds Logan in the Canadian wilderness, where he’s back with his wolfpack and being attacked by his most hated foes, one by one, at the bequest of some ancient villain that “has been bubbling under the surface of the Marvel Universe since the days of myth.”

“Logan is simultaneously a mythic hero, an abused animal, and a man of flesh, blood, and adamantium,” Ahmed said. “Our story is about what happens when these parts of him all pull in opposite directions – and threaten to rip Logan to pieces that won’t come back together again.”

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Bloodhunting 1 | A roundtable on Marvel’s vampire-infested summer event

The Smash Pages crew digs into the first issue of Marvel’s ‘Blood Hunt.’

Marvel’s next big event is here — Blood Hunt, a crossover series they’ve spent months building toward with announcements about tie-ins, miniseries and even a Red Band edition that features more blood.

The first issue came out last Wednesday, and just like Captain America is assembling a new team of Avengers to fight off the vampire hordes, we’ve assembled the Smash Pages team — myself, Shane Bailey and Tom Bondurant — to talk about the event. So here’s our first “Bloodhunting” roundtable, with more to come in the weeks ahead.

This time around we talk about Blood Hunt #1, as well as the Free Comic Book Day issue and another recent series that might have served as a prelude. Please note there are heavy duty SPOILERS in this discussion related to the story, so only enter if you dare.

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Quick Hits | Medar de la Cruz wins the Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary

Plus: Cartoonist sue Google over AI, Civics for All Comics Group celebrates 2 million comics, Mark Evanier on who created Wolverine and more!

Medar de la Cruz has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category. The Brooklyn-based illustrator won for the illustrated story “The Diary of a Rikers Island Library Worker,” which appeared in the New Yorker last May. De la Cruz is an artist who also works in New York City jails as a library assistant for the Brooklyn Public Library. Phones and cameras aren’t allowed inside Rikers Island, so his drawings are based on his memories of the prison.

The other finalists in the category this year included Claire Healy, Nicole Dungca and Ren Galeno for “Searching for Maura,” which appeared in the Washington Post; “Is My Toddler A Stochastic Parrot?” by Angie Wang, which appeared in the New Yorker; and Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, for a “portfolio of deceptively gentle, mostly wordless cartoons full of juxtapositions that ably communicate complex, sophisticated messages.” You can see some of them here. Bennett also recently received a National Headliner Award, which recognizes journalism in a multitude of categories, in the Editorial Cartoon category.

This is the third year now where the Pulitzers have given awards in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category. It replaced the Editorial Cartoons category in 2022.

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‘Creepshow’ returns for a third miniseries from Skybound

James Stokoe, Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod will contribute to the first issue.

Creepshow, the iconic horror movie that Skybound has turned into two comic book miniseries, will return with a third one in September.

Like they did with the previous volumes, Skybound has assembled a stellar team of creators for the anthology, including John Ridley, Mike Carey, Jorge Fornés, John Arcudi, Ed Brisson, Stefano Raffaele, Chris Condon and more. Chip Zdarsky, Kagan McLeod and James Stokoe will contribute to the first issue, which will feature two stories.

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‘X-Factor’ returns as a government-sponsored team in August

Mark Russell and Bob Quinn bring Angel, Havok, Frenzy and more into a world of hidden agendas and shady politics.

Havok returns to the world of government employment as he and Angel reform X-Factor this August. Mark Russell and Bob Quinn will team up for new stories that see the group of mutants serve as a special missions team and a propaganda machine for the U.S. government.

X-Factor will include not only Angel and Havok, but also Feral, Frenzy, Pyro and more. Together they’ll contend with hidden agendas, shady politics, dark consequences and disastrous public opinion from the inside. Russell, the writer of DC’s The Flintstones and AWA’s Rumpus Room, will no doubt poke fun at politics and the government along the way.

“The thing I’ve always loved about the X-Men is that they’re characters first, Super Heroes second,” Russell told Marvel.com. “So being able to write characters like Havok and Angel and Frenzy in a post-Krakoa reality is an opportunity to write about what I really care about, which is how do we help each other survive the apathy of the world we live in?”

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | Skottie Young + Jorge Corona take the battle to Death itself in ‘Ain’t No Grave’

Check out new comics and graphic novels coming this week by Juni Ba, Ann Nocenti, Lee Ferguson, Corrado Mastantuono, Claudio Sanchez, Patrick Horvath, Jay Stephens and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, 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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Slugfest | Spawny returns to kill off … Spawn?

Plus: News and announcements on ‘Uncanny X-Men,’ ‘Gilt Frame,’ Godzilla, Blacksad, ThunderCats and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you that we haven’t otherwise covered. Hit the links for more information.

McFarlane Productions has been on a roll introducing Spawn into various genres, and this summer they’ll return to the world of humor and satire with Spawn Kills Every Spawn. Like the previous Spawn Kills Everyone and Spawn Kills Everyone Too, this comic features the tiniest Spawn, Spawny, deciding to kill another set of comic characters — the Spawn universe.

Written by John Layman and illustrated by Rob “Sketchcraft” Duenas and colorist Robert Nugent, the five-issue miniseries sees Spawny arrive at a Spawn convention filled with Spawns from around the multiverse, all of whom are more popular than him. So he decides to become the most popular by eliminating the competition.

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