Mail Call | Grifter coming to ‘Batman’ following the Joker War

Rounding up news from DC, IDW, Humble Bundle and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Trick or treat: DC Comics will release not one but two Halloween specials this October, the equivalent of getting a full-sized candy bar instead of those fun-sized ones.

The first one features Swamp Thing with stories by James Tynion IV, Tom King, Tradd Moore, Emma Rios and more. The second, titled DC: The Doomed and the Damned, will feature stories by Marv Wolfman, Ken Porter, John Arcudi, Saladin Ahmed, Riley Rossmo, Travis Moore and more. It’ll feature short stories starring Batman, Madame Xanadu, Man-Bat, Green Lantern, Etrigan and more.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Run with it

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Jeffrey Brown, Dan Slott, RB Silva, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Chris Claremont, Nick Derington and more.

Summer event season continues this week with part 2 of Marvel’s prelude to the big Empyre event. Meanwhile, DC offers up the final issue of Batman before he jumps into his own big event, “Joker War.” There’s also plenty of new stuff to find from IDW, BOOM!, Image, Fantagraphics and more.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally. As always, you should check with your local shop on their hours, curbside pick-up and mask restrictions, due to COVID-19. Stay safe out there.

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Mail Call | James Stokoe is doing a Clownhunter story for a ‘Joker Wars’ one-shot

Plus: News from Image, Aftershock and the CBLDF.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Batman: The Joker War Zone #1 is a collection of short stories that tie into the upcoming “Joker Wars” storyline in Batman. The 48-page one-shot will include stories by James Tynion IV, John Ridley, Guillem March, James Stokoe, Joshua Williamson, David Lafuente and more.

The artwork above is from Stokoe’s contribution, a story featuring the new character Clownhunter. In the press release, DC says this is “the brutal full debut of the mysterious new anti-hero known as Clownhunter.”

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‘Detective #1027’ celebrates 1,000 issues of Batman

An all-star team of creators will contribute to this landmark issue.

Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 more than 80 years ago, and DC will celebrate a huge milestone for the character in Detective #1,027, a 144-page, $9.99 issue.

Detective #1027 has been a massive undertaking, and I’m really excited for fans to see what editors Paul Kaminski and Dave Wielgosz have in store come September,” said Ben Abernathy, Batman Group Editor. “A great combination of writers and artists are putting in their best work on the book and fans should pay close attention to these stories, since some of them will plant the seeds for both Batman’s future and that of the DC universe.”

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Mail Call | Fantagraphics 40% off sale, Batman, Pearl Jam and more

Rounding up news from IDW, DC, Image and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Fantagraphics is holding a 40% off clearance sale on their website right now, which ends this Saturday. There’s a lot of good stuff to choose from, including volumes of the Mome anthology, Dungeon Quest, some Michael Kupperman books, Roger Langridge’s Fred the Clown and more.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Catwoman, She-Hulk and more

See what’s hitting stores this week from DC, Marvel, Image and more.

This week is a bit lighter for comic shops than the previous one, as both Dark Horse and Marvel aren’t releasing any single issues today — just trades/collections. Marvel does a have a few of their digital-only titles available on comiXology, however.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations the Smash Pages crew. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally. As always, you should check with your local shop on their hours, curbside pick-up, etc. in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Stay safe out there.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Avengers,’ Batman, ‘Bleed Them Dry’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. You can play along in the comments if you wish.

Now here we go …

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DC launches a Batman ‘prelude’ comic on Instagram

The story leads into ‘Batman’ #92, which arrives in June.

Batman made his Instagram debut this week in a comic that will serve as a “prelude” to Batman #92, which is set to land in stores on June 9.

“Hey! While on break, I cooked up a handful of prelude stories with Guillem March to give you a taste of Gotham while you’re waiting for Batman to return next month,” writer James Tynion IV said on Twitter. “They’ll be on DC’s Instagram, in their stories. The first of them is up now, featuring PUNCHLINE!”

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Johns + Fabok’s ‘Three Jokers’ will arrive in August

Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson’s long-awaited project gets delayed due to the coronavirus.

DC Comics has announced a new release date and revealed more preview art for Three Jokers, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman/Joker story that was scheduled for June.

“As more stores are finding ways to operate and service their customers, our release schedule is under constant review,” said SVP and Editor-In-Chief Bob Harras. “From placing orders to on sale, moving Batman: Three Jokers to August will enable more stores to order and sell this incredible story that Geoff and Jason have crafted.”

Check out the preview art below, featuring colors by Brad Anderson:

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Mail Call | Clownhunter joins the ‘Joker Wars’

Plus: X of Swords, Star Wars manga, free Scooby comics and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel is hyping up their next X-Men event with some new promo art for X-Men: X of Swords, which was announced right before the pandemic at C2E2. Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Pepe Larraz bring you X-Men: X of Swords: Creation #1 in September.

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Warren Ellis writing T-Rex Batman is the news the world needs right now [Update: No, it’s not]

Ellis joins many other writers in two anthologies that tie into DC’s ‘Death Metal.’

Update, June 30: Following allegations of sexual misconduct, DC Comics has removed the Warren Ellis-written story from Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1. And good riddance to it.

Original story:

DC Comics put out a press release today detailing two new titles related to their upcoming Death Metal event by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1 and Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1 are both anthologies, containing various stories related to the event by a host of creators.

The guidebook will “showcase the new factions of Earth and explore the mystery of what happened to the Justice League after their battle with Perpetua,” while the Legends title will be “collection of short tales where demons dwell and reality is overrun by monstrous versions of the Dark Knight.”

Including T-Rex Batman, as written by Warren Ellis.

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DC to release ‘100-Page Giant’ stories digitally

Starting today, look for daily almost-new comics through the DC Digital First program.

DC Comics today announced that they will make stories from their 100-Page Giant anthologies available digitally, starting today with a Superman story by Robert Venditti, Paul Pelletier, Drew Hennessy and Adriano Lucas. Additional stories will be added daily for at least the next week.

“Comic book fans want more access to content than ever before,” said Jim Lee, DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher, in a press release. “This strategy is intended to get daily content to fans immediately, and also to ensure that when comic shops open back up for business, they will have new content and product that their customers will want. In the meantime, we will have properly stoked and protected the demand for comics, keeping fans interested in our characters and stories.”

Here’s the line-up for the next seven days:

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