Tag: Bill Sienkiewicz

Smash Pages Q&A | Luke Arnold + Chris ‘Doc’ Wyatt on ‘Essentials’

The writing duo discusses their crowdfunding project for the new graphic novel from The Lab Press.

Luke Arnold is an actor and writer best known for his roles as Long John Silver in Black Sails and INXS frontman Michael Hutchence in Never Tear Us Apart. His first novel The Last Smile in Sunder City came out in 2020 as part of the ongoing series The Fetch Phillips Archives.

Chris “Doc” Wyatt is a writer and producer whose work includes independent films like Napoleon Dynamite and Coyote, as well as animated series like Rocket and Groot, Lego Ninjago: Dragons Rising, Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many more. He’s also written comics for Marvel, Dark Horse, 1First Comics and more.

Together, they are the writing team for Essentials, a new graphic novel coming from the newly formed The Lab Press. The story centers on a mathematician who predicted the end of the world but failed to prevent it. He discovers there are other survivors, but they’re trapped in alternate realities full of zombies, robots, mythical creatures and more.

Each of these alternate realities will be illustrated by a different artist, including Vince Locke, Andrea Mutti, MK Perker,Brendan McCarthy, DaNi and Jason Howard, with colors by Jordie Bellaire, Brad Simpson and Wesley Wong, and lettering by DC Hopkins. Bill Sienkiewicz provides a chilling main cover.  

The graphic novel is currently up on Kickstarter, and has already reached its goal. (Please note that the interview was conducted prior to the project’s launch). I spoke with Arnold and Wyatt about the project, working with seven different artists and what’s “Essential” in this story. My thanks to them both for their time.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Sarah Byam on ‘Billi 99’

The writer of one of Tim Sale’s first comics projects talks about the new hardcover being crowdfunded by Clover Press.

Before Long Halloween, Superman for All Seasons or the various shades of Marvel miniseries like Hulk: Gray and Daredevil: Yellow came Billi 99, the first major comics work of Tim Sale.

The legendary artist teamed with writer Sarah Byam on the project, which was first published in black and white by Dark Horse back in 1991. The four-issue miniseries told the story of a teen vigilante, Billi Chadam, who took up her father’s sword to battle corporate greed and a corrupt government.

And now, more than 30 years later, Billi 99 is back. Clover Press is currently crowdfunding a hardcover collecting the almost 200-page story, with added color by José Villarrubia. The project has surpassed its goal by a landslide, and offers several editions and add ons in addition to the hardcover.

I spoke with Byam about the project, the addition of color, and what it means to see her and Sale’s vision for Billi 99 realized.

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Christian Ward takes Batman into a ‘City of Madness’ in a new Black Label series

The three-issue series will feature the Court of Owls and a twisted version of Batman.

DC’s solicitations for October arrived today, revealing a project from Christian Ward that originated from a social media post last year.

“One day I’ll do my cosmic horror Batman,” Ward wrote on Twitter (0r X, or whatever it’s called now). Someone was listening, because that image spawned a three-issue, 48-page Black Label series from DC, and it kicks off Oct. 10.

With this being the day after San Diego, it might seem odd that DC wouldn’t have mentioned such a major project at the convention, but there is something appropriate about Ward essentially announcing it on Twitter. Here’s the original tweet:

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Slugfest | ‘Summer of Symbiotes’ leads to ‘Death of the Venomverse’

Plus: Marvel Artist’s Editions, Dark Horse graphic novels, Spider-Verse, variant covers and more!

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel has revealed more details and a teaser image for Summer of Symbiotes, something they teased last October along with several other events for 2023. It’s less of a single-story crossover and more of a moniker they are using to describe a whole bunch of different symbiote-themed series, miniseries and events.

While many of the events teased on the image we’ve heard of before, like Carnage Reigns and Extreme Venomverse, there is one new one listed — Death of the Venomverse, which echoes the Death of the Spiderverse storyline we’re seeing in Spider-Man.

Here’s the description from Marvel:

It’s all leading to this! The epic adventures above are spiraling towards an explosive destination, and not all of your favorite symbiotes will survive the journey. The Carnage symbiote is more bloodthirsty than ever and heads to the multiverse for its greatest killing spree yet. But what is it after? Find out more when this upcoming limited series is announced at the Marvel Comics: Spider-Man & the Venomverse Panel at C2E2 2023!

C2E2 is coming up this weekend. Here’s the full teaser image:

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AMC Networks Publishing will release comics next year by DeConnick, Sienkiewicz + more

Brenden Fletcher, Tula Lotay, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and more will help launch AMC’s new comics line.

Earlier this year AMC, who you probably know as the TV empire behind The Walking Dead shows, Better Call Saul and the excellent Tony Hillerman adaptation Dark Winds, among others, announced a new publishing arm called AMC Networks Publishing. They started out by publishing art books featuring The Walking Dead and Creepshow, but they also plan to publish original graphic novels and comics as well.

And their first three comics will feature some pretty heavy hitters, creator-wise. Oubliette will be written by Brenden Fletcher with art by Tula Lotay, while Nights of Lono comes from Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and Marcel Feldmar, with artwork by Christine Norrie. Finally, announced today, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Bill Sienkiewicz will team up on Parisian White.

All three titles will debut in San Diego at Comic-Con International next year, followed by series launches later in the year.

Here’s more info on each series:

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Smash Pages Q&A | Chanan Beizer

The writer of ‘The Golem of Venice Beach’ talks about his inspirations for the story, working with multiple artists, Venice Beach and more.

Chanan Beizer’s debut graphic novel The Golem of Venice Beach is being crowdfunded now on Kickstarter. For the project, he teamed up with several artists, including Vanesa Cardinali (Image Comics’ Slumber), Jae Lee and Bill Sienkiewicz (who also draws the book’s cover).

The book tells the story of the golem who was created in 16th Century Europe living a lonely existence in contemporary California. It’s an old story that continues to have resonance, and Beizer was kind enough to answer a few questions about the comic, his collaborators and why the story has stayed with him after all this time.

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‘The Conjuring: The Lover’ headlines a new horror imprint from DC

DC Horror will feature ‘new frightening tales from both well-known and new storytellers that will keep fans spooked and entertained.’

DC has announced they are launching a new horror imprint this summer, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The first title, The Conjuring: The Lover, will kick off in June and ties into the WB film franchise of the same name.

“From early titles like House of Mystery and House of Secrets to current series featuring Swamp Thing and John Constantine: Hellblazer, DC has always been the home of great horror comics and characters,” said Marie Javins, DC editor-in-chief. “DC Horror continues this tradition with new frightening tales from both well-known and new storytellers that will keep fans spooked and entertained.”

Over the years DC has released many comic book adaptations, tie-ins and sequels for various films and television programs in the Warner Bros. library, including Lost Boys, Supernatural and probably more that I’m forgetting. The Conjuring: The Lover is the latest, and like many before it will fill in the gap between the last film and the next film — the upcoming The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

The comic will be written by screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and comics writer Rex Ogle with art by Garry Brown and covers by Bill Sienkiewicz.

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Christmas comes in July in the ‘Batman/Catwoman Special’

Tom King and John Paul Leon team up for the story of Catwoman before she was Catwoman.

The Eisner-nominated team of Tom King and John Paul Leon will reunite for a one-shot interlude to the Batman/Catwoman comic book maxiseries. Dave Stewart joins them on colors.

Batman/Catwoman Special arrives in July, tracing the life of Selina Kyle from he early days to her arrival in the criminal underworld, showing how Bruce Wayne factored into her life during that time.

It also sports a fun holiday cover:

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Creative teams revealed for returning Milestone titles

‘Static,’ ‘Icon and Rocket,’ and ‘Hardware’ return later this year.

DC has revealed the creative teams for the three upcoming DC Digital First titles that were announced earlier this month.

The digital-first “extended cut” of the Milestone Returns #0 one-shot came out today, with plans for a print copy to debut in May. Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition #0 combines the original 17-page comic with an additional 24 pages of completely new material written by Reginald Hudlin and drawn by artists Denys Cowan, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Bill Sienkiewicz and more. They also revealed the creative teams and first-issue covers:

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DC announces three digital-first Milestone Media series

‘Static,’ ‘Icon & Rocket,’ and ‘Hardware’ will all return in 2021.

DC Comics has revealed more details on the planned Milestone Media relaunch, which includes plans to re-release the Milestone Returns #0 comic released during DC FanDome with additional material, as well as digital-first series featuring Static, Icon, Rocket and Hardware.

“Since the FanDome panel, Reggie , Denys , and our editorial team have been working incredibly hard to bring this new Milestone to life,” said Jim Lee, DC publisher and chief creative officer. “It’s been exciting to see fresh and contemporary takes on the Dakota universe coming together; I think that both new fans and old will be pleased with the results.”

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Sunday Comics | Cartoonists react to the election

See new comics from Pia Guerra, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kevin Maguire and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

Last week the United States elected a new president, and several cartoonists expressed their views on what this means for America and the world in the way they do it best. I’m going to start and end with Pia Guerra, one of the political cartoonists Alex Dueben recently interviewed in his series leading up to the election:

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Comics Lowdown: Can Disney stop cops from using the Punisher symbol?

Plus: News on Al Jaffe, Uncivilized Books, awards and more.

With police brutality once again in the public eye, many fans on social media have called out Disney/Marvel to put their litigious muscles to work and prevent cops from using the Punisher logo — a popular emblem with some members of law enforcement, despite the fact that Frank Castle is a criminal and a killer.

First, you can find some history of both the character and its popularity with police here. That piece’s writer, Brian Cronin, is not only a contributor to CBR, but also a lawyer, and he offers his thoughts on why he doesn’t think Disney would have much success in an article titled “There’s Not Much Marvel Can Do About Cops Using Punisher’s Logo.” Cronin writes:

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