Tag: AfterShock Comics

AfterShock makes a Seismic shift to YA content

The company launches a new line of young adult comics, starting with ‘Rainbow Bridge’ by Steve Orlando, Steve Foxe and Valentina Brancati.

AfterShock Comics will begin publishing comics aimed at young adults under a new imprint, Seismic Press, starting with Rainbow Bridge by Steve Orlando, Steve Foxe and Valentina Brancati.

“AfterShock’s mission has always been to push readers out of their comfort zones and defy expectations – providing top creators and up-and-coming storytellers with an opportunity to tell the stories they’ve always wanted to tell in the ways they’ve always wanted to tell them,” said Editor-in-Chief Mike Marts. “With Seismic Press, our mission is to apply the same high-quality approach to content, talent selection and presentation but extend it to a much wider audience and demographic.”

Continue reading “AfterShock makes a Seismic shift to YA content”

Tobin + Mutti deliver horror with ears in ‘Bunny Mask’

The new series from AfterShock Comics launches in June.

Eisner winner Paul Tobin will return to the horror genre for a new series from AfterShock Comics, titled Bunny Mask. The writer of Colder and Bandette will team up with Maniac of New York artist Andrea Mutti for a horror title with an adorable name.

“Bunny Mask is the story of Tyler Severin, who—due to traumatic incident—uncovers and releases Bunny Mask herself, an ancient, supernatural creature, incredibly powerful and possibly evil, but the thing is…she likes him,” Tobin said. “It’s almost as if she’s imprinted on Tyler, since he helped her ‘hatch.’ The series is about the ripple effects, or more honestly the tsunami effects, on Tyler’s life and the world.”

Continue reading “Tobin + Mutti deliver horror with ears in ‘Bunny Mask’”

Star Wars, Blade Runner, InvestiGators among the 2021 Free Comic Book Day gold sponsor comics

This year’s Free Comic Book Day on Aug. 14 will include titles from Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Titan and more.

Diamond Comics Distributors has announced the 12 gold sponsor titles that retailers will offer on Free Comic Book Day this year. This year’s event will take place Aug. 14.

“This year’s lineup of titles has something for every kind of comic fan,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “We can’t wait to once again share the FCBD experience with fans, especially on our landmark 20th anniversary! We hope fans will safely visit their local comic shops to celebrate and to pick up a few of the great titles available this year.”

Missing from the list is DC Comics, who no longer use Diamond to distribute comics to U.S. retailers. DC has indicated their plans to participate, however.

The titles were curated by more than 20 comic shop retailers who make up the FCBD Selection Committee. The Gold Sponsor titles come from Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Archie Comics, BOOM! Studios, Macmillan/First Second Books, Penguin Workshop, AfterShock Comics, Titan Comics, TOKYOPOP and VIZ Media.

This year’s gold sponsor books are:

Continue reading “Star Wars, Blade Runner, InvestiGators among the 2021 Free Comic Book Day gold sponsor comics”

Mail Call | DC celebrates 80 years of Wonder Woman, Green Arrow this year

Check out recent news and announcements from DC, Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

DC will celebrate milestone years for two characters in 2021, just like they’ve done for Batman, Superman and others over the last few years.

First up, on June 29, DC will release Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1, celebrating the 80th anniversary of Oliver Queen, who debuted in More Fun Comics back in 1941.

The anthology will feature stories by Mike Grell, Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Otto Schmidt, Ben Percy, Tom Taylor, Devin Grayson, Stephanie Phillips, Mariko Tamaki, Ram V, Vita Ayala, Nicola Scott, Chris Mitten, Laura Braga, Max Fiumara and Brandon Thomas, among others. Expect appearances not only by Green Arrow, but also by Black Canary, Speedy, Red Arrow, Connor Hawke, Arsenal and more.

Then in October, Wonder Woman will take the spotlight on, naturally, Wonder Woman Day. DC has announced their plans for Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary, which will include a 100-Page Super Spectacular of her own. They have not yet revealed details on the contents, but they did share the cover (above) by Yanick Paquette with colors by Nathan Fairbairn. Wonder Woman Day is Oct. 21.

Continue reading “Mail Call | DC celebrates 80 years of Wonder Woman, Green Arrow this year”

Mail Call | Black Cat kicks off Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ event this summer

Plus more news from Marvel, DC, Image, AfterShock, Dark Horse and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Last summer the “Infinite Destinies” storyline was supposed to run through several Marvel annuals, including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Cat and Thor, among others. The story revolves around the returning “infinity stones,” those pesky don’t-call-them-infinity-gems MacGuffins that regularly take center stage at Marvel.

Anyway, like with many other things, the COVID pandemic and comics industry shutdown threw a wrench in Marvel’s plans, and those annuals were never released. But now it looks like they are back on the schedule for 2021, with an added prelude comic to kick things off — Black Cat #8 by Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa.

“Felicia Hardy- the Black Cat- gets tangled up with the Infinity Stones, some of the most dangerous prizes in the universe. Felicia may be the most accomplished jewel thief on the planet, but when those jewels hold the power of the cosmos, it’s a whole new ball game. Felicia is in a race against the others who would seek to control the stones for their own ends- like Nick Fury (and a secret someone you won’t see coming!),” MacKay said. “Who can cross the world’s most dangerous men, wrangle a pack of villains hopped up on fragments of infinite power, (hopefully) get the job done and look great all the while? The Black Cat, that’s who!”

Continue reading “Mail Call | Black Cat kicks off Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ event this summer”

Bunn + Talajić plan a trip to ‘Eden’ this May

The creators of ‘Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe’ team up again for a new one-shot from AfterShock Comics.

Cullen Bunn and Dalibor Talajić, who previously worked together on Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, will team up on a new one-shot for AfterShock about tattoos, romance and horror. They’ll be joined by colorist Valentina Briški and letterer Marshall Dillon.

“Eden is the story of Niles, a tattoo artist who is stuck in something of a rut,” Bunn said. “His life is a cycle of work, drunkenness and guilt—lather, rinse, repeat. All that changes for him, though, when a mysterious young woman named Eden walks through the doors of his tattoo shop. She’s looking for something… different… and she finds it with Niles. But Eden is a woman surrounded by deep enigmas… not the least of which is how and why her new tattoos vanish after only a few days. As Niles learns more about Eden, he is driven to fathomless depths of both love and horror.”

Continue reading “Bunn + Talajić plan a trip to ‘Eden’ this May”

AfterShock Comics plots a course to ‘Silver City’ this May

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Luca Merli and Dave Sharpe head into the afterlife in this new supernatural series.

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and Luca Merli will head to Silver City in May, in a new miniseries from Aftershock Comics. They’ll be joined on their journey by letterer Dave Sharpe.

“Silver City is about a troubled young woman’s posthumous quest to figure out who she is in a strange, purgatorial city, and in so doing, seize her destiny,” Cuartero-Briggs said. “I am so excited for readers to finally get to read this story for several reasons. It’s a really fun exploration into the greater meaning of life, what happens after we die, and even a bit of what happens after that. These first five books are an introduction into an entirely new world, one that I had the time of my life building, and I can’t wait to share it.”

Continue reading “AfterShock Comics plots a course to ‘Silver City’ this May”

Bunn + Torres re-team for ‘Phantom of the Scan’

The team responsible for ‘Cold Spots’ reunites in a new series from AfterShock Comics about psychic warfare.

AfterShock Comics has announced that writer Cullen Bunn and artist Mark Torres, the team behind Cold Spots, will reunite for a new miniseries titled Phantom of the Scan.

The story is set 20 after a comet fell to Earth and gave people psychic powers, but they come with a price — every time you use your powers, you lose part of your life force. The story will feature a group of six psychics who come together to bring an end to their gift.

“You’ll see a lot of different psychic powers in the book — you might be familiar with some, others might be a little new to you,” Bunn said. “The ways different characters use their gifts will show some new angles to those ideas you’re familiar with. Our lead character, Matt, is perhaps the most unique: Matt is an omnipath — he possesses many, many psychic powers. All of his powers manifest through ‘a little dead boy’ — a ghost-like figure that accompanies him, invisibly, everywhere he goes. This ghost, Dorian, is decaying. Every time Matt uses a power, Dorian rots more and more, a symbol of how the powers are killing the user.”

Continue reading “Bunn + Torres re-team for ‘Phantom of the Scan’”

Orlando + Piazzalunga explore the death and return of a superhero in ‘Project Patron’

“Altruism is often greed in a well-designed mask.”

Steve Orlando and Patrick Piazzalunga will explore the death and (faux) rebirth of a superhero in a new series for AfterShock Comics.

Project Patron is “The Death of Superman” meets Voltron, as the powers that be decide to create a “reploid” of their world’s greatest — and now dead — superhero. That reploid is controlled by a team of anonymous pilots.

“When the world loses its greatest hero, those in power fear what we’ll do without him, so they bring him back to life the best they can and replace him with a Reploid. This is the story of the team that pilots that Reploid, the people secretly behind the Patron’s continued heroism, and the incredible sacrifices they make,” Orlando said. “Piloting the Patron Reploid might be the greatest thrill in history, but it comes at a price: total anonymity, and a gig where every flight knocks a year off your life. The pressures on the team are enormous… so when a tragedy strikes at the heart of Project Patron, the world hangs in the balance as the greatest secret in modern history trembles on the brink of revelation.”

Continue reading “Orlando + Piazzalunga explore the death and return of a superhero in ‘Project Patron’”

Mail Call | Marvel celebrates 80 years of Captain America

A round-up of news and announcements from Marvel, DC, Top Shelf, Z2 Comics, AfterShock and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel will pay tribute to the 80th anniversary of Captain America next year with a special project involving John Cassaday, Alex Ross, Marguerite Sauvage, David Lapham, Declan Shalvey and many more. Captain America Tribute #1, coming from Marvel in March, will feature a bunch of current artists redrawing both Captain America Comics #1 and Avengers #4, with each page by a different artist.

Continue reading “Mail Call | Marvel celebrates 80 years of Captain America”

Tim Seeley channels his junior high D&D characters in ‘Bequest’

The new series will feature art by Freddie Williams II and Jeremy Colwell.

Tim Seeley, Freddie E. Williams II and Jeremy Colwell have a Bequest, and it’s coming from AfterShock next March.

“It’s the story of a band of adventures from a Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy world who have been stationed on our world to do a very specific job — stop the black market trade of magic items for technology,” Seeley said. ““I love fantasy — I spent a good portion of my career drawing The Dark Elf adaptations by R.A. Salvatore — and I wanted to smash together the tropes of that genre with the world we live in today. Our ‘heroes’ are essentially thieves, as they steal treasure. How does a character like that play in modern America, a place teetering between ‘woke’ liberalism and ignorant conservatism?”

Continue reading “Tim Seeley channels his junior high D&D characters in ‘Bequest’”

Smash Pages Q&A: Jen Hickman

The artist of ‘SFSX’ discusses taking over the art for the comic, their new series from Aftershock and more.

Jen Hickman is an artist and writer who in recent years has made a splash in one comics series and one webcomic after another, showing a striking sense of design and composition and an ease at storytelling. They have been writing and drawing comics like Calvin and Long Haul, which appears on Filthy Figments, and has contributed to a number of anthologies including Femme Magnifique, Score! and Theater of Terror. Hickman remains best known for their work on a series of comics and graphic novels for a variety of companies including Jem and the Holograms: Infinite, Moth and Whisper, Test and BezKamp .

Hickman drew issues #4-7 of SFSX, and the collection SFSX: Volume 1, Protection comes out July 22. Hickman is not one for resting on their laurels, or even pausing, with a new series, Lonely Receiver, launching from Aftershock in September and more SFSX in the works.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Jen Hickman”