Christopher Cantwell + Victor Santos ‘revive’ the forgotten comic ‘Kid Maroon’

Things get surreal in the publicity for Vault Comics’ new series.

Vault Comics has announced Kid Maroon, a “revival” of a “lost” and “forgotten” controversial comic strip from the 1940s.

Yep, that’s a lot of words in quotes. Vault first announced the project with claims that they’d obtained the rights to a 75-year-old comic strip that nobody remembers by legendary cartoonist Pep Shepard, who people also don’t remember. But wait, there’s a fan website and everything, with comments! So he’s gotta be real, right?

But then they announced the creative team, and suddenly everything made sense. The series is written by Christopher Cantwell, who wrote The Blue Flame for Vault (in addition to things like She Could Fly and Iron Man and that recent Thanos miniseries that got a little “meta” at times). But The Blue Flame, in particular, told the story of a street-level repairman-turned-hero trying to make a difference in his community — or was it about an Adam Strange-like hero who was put on trial by a galactic tribunal with the fate of the entire planet Earth at stake? Sometimes it was hard to tell what was actually real across the 10 issues (which were excellent, by the way; if you haven’t read it, I recommend it), and Cantwell and Vault seem to be taking a similar approach with this new title, including how they market it.

So take the quotes and such they’re sharing for what they are — something fun that’ll probably make the book that much more interesting. What you need to know is Cantwell is good at this sort of thing, and he’s joined by the wonderful Victor Santos, who drew Polar, Ginger’s Revenge, Violent Love and other noir series.

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Preview Vault + Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ graphic novel in a zero issue this October

It’s kind of like buying the single before the album is released.

Def Leppard’s arrival on the comic scene isn’t supposed to happen until next spring, but apparently that wait is just too long — a special “zero” issue featuring a preview of the graphic novel Hysteria will rocket into stores this October.

Named for the best-selling Def Leppard album, the graphic novel Hysteria is being co-written by the band’s guitarist, Phil Collen, and The Cursed Library scribe Eliot Rahal. It will feature artwork by Alex Schlitz, colorist Fabi Marques and letterer Andworld Design, and will be released through Vault’s musically inclined imprint Headshell.

“Blending music and comics together like this is an incredible and insane dream, and I could not be more thrilled by the work Eliot, Alex and Vault have put into Hysteria. It has been a joy and one hell of a ride. I know fans are going to love it,” Collen said. 

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SDCC | Def Leppard + Vault Comics team for a graphic novel named after the band’s iconic album ‘Hysteria’

Def Leppard’s Phil Collen teams with Eliot Rahal and Alex Schlitz on the story of the world’s most dangerous guitar.

Vault Comics is no stranger to working with musicians, having released Deathstalker with Guns’n’Roses’ Slash and the upcoming Dying Inside with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz. Now, through their Headshell imprint, they’ve announced a new graphic novel that shares a name with one of the best-selling albums of all time, Hysteria.

Co-written by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen and The Cursed Library scribe Eliot Rahal, the graphic novel will feature artwork by Alex Schlitz, colorist Fabi Marques and letterer Andworld Design.

“Blending music and comics together like this is an incredible and insane dream, and I could not be more thrilled by the work Eliot, Alex and Vault have put into Hysteria. It has been a joy and one hell of a ride. I know fans are going to love it,” Collen said. 

The graphic novel will not only feature Def Leppard, but will introduce a band called Darkside, whose frontwoman inherits a guitar that promises her fame — but it comes with a price.

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Cody Ziglar + Ryan Lee will unleash ‘Goobers’ on the world this fall

The comedic horror comic draws from b-grade films like ‘Night of the Creeps’ and ‘Ghoulies.’

Spider-Punk and Miles Morales writer Cody Ziglar steps away from the Spider-verse and returns to his small-town roots with artist Ryan Lee (Rick and Morty) for Goobers, a new title launching at Vault Comics this fall.

The title will be colored by Kurt Michael Russell, lettered by Andworld and designed by Adam Cahoon, and it pulls from such inspirations as Night of the Creeps, Garbage Pail Kids, Get Out and Ghoulies, among others.

“I  grew up watching ’80s and ’90s b-horror films,” said Ziglar. “I also grew up in a small country town. Goobers is a love letter to both! I love being able to smash some of my favorite genres, movies, and comics together with my love of North Carolina. I also loved being able to voice the frustration of growing up in a small town and being self-conscious about what they thought of me and how I lived my life. Back in 2021 during peak COVID, I moved back home for six months to spend time with my parents and that’s where Goobers was truly born.”

Ziglar said that return to his home town inspired the story — along with some of his favorite horror films, of course.

“I kept wondering what made certain towns feel the same, even if there are small changes, and landed on the obvious answer: alien worms must invade and body-snatch folks,” Ziglar said. “Goobers, in many ways, in just my comedic look on processing those emotions while also paying homage to some of my favorite films like Shaun of the Dead, Night of the Creeps, Get Out and Revenge of the Living Dead.”

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He-Man + the Ninja Turtles cross over in September

Find out what chaos occurs when Skeletor teams up with Shredder in ‘Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull.’

Two titans of the toy shelves will collide in September as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Masters of the Universe meet in comic book form for the first time.

I mean, I think it’s the first time? Given how often the Turtles have crossed over with other properties, it seems odd to say that. There have been action figure crossovers in the past, but I believe this is the first time Dark Horse and IDW have brought the two together in comics.

The series’ creative team includes talent from each side, with He-Man scribe Tim Seeley writing the crossover, and Freddie Williams II, who drew the various Turtles’ crossover series with Batman, drawing this one as well. They are joined by colorist Andrew Dalhouse with letters by AndWorld Design

“As inevitable as a meet up between He-Man and the Turtles has felt, it took some time getting done! And now that it’s here, I have a huge pile of newly purchased figures, and a bunch of pages for what is one of the most awesome comics I’ve ever gotten to work on,” said Seeley. “To say Freddie and I approached this Dark Horse series with some screaming-our-heads-off-style enthusiasm is underselling it a bit. I can’t wait until you get to read this.”

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James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire reunite for ‘The Nice House by the Sea’

The award-winning team behind ‘The Nice House on the Lake’ return for more end-of-the-world shenanigans.

The award-winning team behind The Nice House on the Lake returns in July with another house, another cast and more end-of-the-world drama in The Nice House by the Sea.

James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire and Andworld Design reunite for the story of Max, a woman who invites several “titans of industry” to her house by the ocean as the human race is being eradicated.

“The people in this house do not like each other,” Tynion said. “They don’t want to spend time with each other. There have been some weak bonds that have formed over time, but none of them are particularly affectionate toward each other. This is a house of strangers and tension much more than a house of friendship, and we’re going to see the way that guilt, boredom and loneliness has twisted each of them.”

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Canto returns at Dark Horse to search for ‘A Place Like Home’

David M. Booher and Drew Zucker’s clockwork hero returns in a third miniseries.

David M. Booher and Drew Zucker’s Canto found a new home at Dark Horse last year, when the publisher announced plans to release new printings of the first two volumes that were previously published by IDW.

But the tiny clockwork hero’s adventures don’t end there — Dark Horse has announced Canto: A Place Like Home, a new six-issue miniseries by Booher and Zucker that will debut in June.  Joined by colorist Vittorio Astone and letterer Andworld Design, Booher and Zucker will bring Canto’s battle against the Shrouded Man to a conclusion in the series.

“We’ve always known where this story was headed,” Zucker said. “But it still feels surreal to have finally made it. When we set out on CANTO’s adventure I’m not sure we could have predicted how life changing it would be both professionally and personally. It has been a genuine pleasure to not only tell CANTO’s story, but share it with all of the readers who have come on this adventure with us. I couldn’t be more excited to bring The Shrouded Man Saga to a close with our amazing creative partners and the team at Dark Horse Comics.”

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Lore + Sposito team for the unsubtle werewolf story ‘Lunar Room’

Vault Comics will launch the new series in November.

Danny Lore (Queen of Bad Dreams) and Gio Sposito (Betty Page) will blend elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror in a new series, Lunar Room, coming from Vault Comics in November.

The two creators are joined by colorist DJ Chavis, letterer Andworld Design and designer Tim Daniel for the story of Cynthia “Sin” Breaker, whose resume includes former mob enforcer for a mage AND being a werewolf.

Lunar Room started as a conversation with Tim Daniel about why I hadn’t done a werewolf comic,” Lore said. “That conversation created the seed of an idea—how would I get what I love about werewolves into a script that an artist could have fun with, rather than a more internal-sensation based tale. That, paired with the best advice I’ve ever been given (‘Be less subtle,’ as Adrian Wassel often reminds me!), gave way to Lunar Room. From the genre-mash up to the story structure (chapter-based but not reliant on the issue number) to the very names of our characters (Sin Breaker and Zac Zero!), this is me pushing myself to be wonderfully unsubtle in my style.”

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‘House of Slaughter’ spins out of ‘Something is Killing the Children’ in October

James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Werther Dell‘Edera and Chris Shehan will explore ‘the secret history of the Order that forged Erica Slaughter into the monster hunter she is today.’

The world introduced in James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera’s Something is Killing the Children will grow in October with House of Slaughter, a new series that will reveal more of the back story behind the order that trained monster hunter Erica Slaughter.

Tynion and Dell’Edera will be joined by co-writer Tate Brombal, artist Chris Shehan, colorist Miquel Muerto and letterer AndWorld Design.

“Ever since our first glimpse of the House of Slaughter in Something is Killing the Children #5, I knew that there was an entire world of monsters and monster hunters outside of Erica Slaughter’s story. And once the book grew into the juggernaut of a series it’s become, thanks to all of our incredible fans, I knew I wanted to start telling those stories,” Tynion said. “I’m so honored to have the incredible Tate Brombal and the phenomenal Chris Shehan joining us to tell this exciting new story introducing everyone to the hunters Erica grew up alongside, and the other Houses within the Order of St. George, while Werther and I start plotting out Erica’s next adventure!”

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