Tag: books

You can preorder a copy of the DC Comics Style Guide by José Luis García-López

The most famous style guide in comics history will be released to the public for the first time this August.

An internal style guide for DC’s characters created by the legendary José Luis García-López is getting a high-end release that’s going to make a lot of comics fans happy.

Standards Manual, a publisher that crowdfunds and releases “artifacts of design history,” like a book of old New York subway maps and The NASA Graphics Standards Manual, has teamed with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to release the DC Comics Style Guide from 1982. The 384-page manual, which will include an introduction by former DC publisher Paul Levitz, is available to preorder now on their website.

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Lynn Johnston returns with a series of kid’s books

The ‘For Better or For Worse’ creator has announced a new series featuring robots drawn in her distinct style.

For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston retired from creating daily comic strips back in 2008, but that doesn’t mean she’s done creating.

“I tried to retire. I really did. But after a year or so of bumbling about, I realized I had to do something creative with my time,” she said on her website.

So she’s turned her attention to something different from her long-running comic strip — stories about robots.

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Excerpt: Gamal Hennessy on how to find clients as a freelance creator

The author of ‘The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing’ shares advice from the book, which is currently up on Kickstarter.

Today we are pleased to present an excerpt from The Business of Freelance Comic Book Publishing by attorney, author and business consultant Gamal Hennessy. This is a follow-up to his previous book on working in the industry, The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing.

The new book aims to “help its readers develop a business model for their services, leverage the assets they offer to the industry, and transform their skill, time, and creativity into financial gain.” It’s currently up on Kickstarter, and very close to reaching its goal.

How Do You Find Clients As A Freelance Creator?

By Gamal Hennessy

This is a modified excerpt from a book I’m working on called The Business of Freelance Comic Book Publishing. It looks at the basis of forming good business relationships with your clients. While this can’t be taken as legal or financial advice, it can help you find the right customer for your services.

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Mignola + Snicket’s ‘Pinocchio’ Kickstarter approaches $400K

Beehive Books has added another tier to the campaign featuring prints of three new Pinocchio paintings by Mignola.

Beehive Books‘ latest crowdfunding campaign is sitting at just under $400,000 as I write this, and no doubt it’ll pass that milestone soon. And it’s no surprise, since it involves the talents of both Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) putting their own unique spin on the story of Pinocchio.

This new edition of Carlo Collodi’s beloved novel is currently up on Kickstarter for the next six days.

“I’ve been in love with Pinocchio as long as I can remember,” said Mignola. “Probably starting with the Disney film and then really drilled into me when I finally read the Collodi novel. It’s just so brilliantly strange—very very funny and also heartbreakingly sad. It’s one of the two books (along with Dracula) that I think sort of make me do what I do the way I do them.When Beehive Books approached me about doing a book… Well, at the time, the last thing I wanted to do was take on another project, but once I started thinking about doing Pinocchio I just couldn’t say no. The challenge was to come up with MY version of Pinocchio—much harder than I thought that was going to be but in the end I think I got there.”

Not wanting to rest on their laurels, Beehive has added a new tier to their Kickstarter campaign featuring prints of three more pieces by Mignola.

The full-color paintings were created by the artist as part of a Society of Illustrators exhibition, live now in NYC, which features a full portfolio of yet-to-be-published Pinocchio illustrations, including all the drawings done for the book and additional art not included in it. The exhibit will be open to the public until July 8.  Take a look:

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Three decades later, Bill Watterson returns with a fable for grown-ups

The creator of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ teams with caricaturist John Kascht for a new book that’s due out in October.

If there was one thing that united the internet this week, it had to be the big reveal that Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has a new book coming out. The Mysteries by Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht is set to be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing this fall.

It’s been almost 30 years since Watterson ended Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most creative and beloved comic strips of all time. Since then, Watterson hasn’t been seen or heard from much, except for the rare interview or a guest comic strip or to turn down a trip to France after winning the Grand Prix d’Angoulême. So this was a welcome surprise.

If you’re expecting it to be something like Calvin & Hobbes, though, think again. Here’s a preview:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | DC goes full dinosaur in ‘Jurassic League’

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week from Donny Cates, Martin Coccolo, Daniel Warren Johnson, Juan Gedeon, Charles Soule, Ryan Browne, Cullen Bunn, Guillem March, Joe Flood and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week.

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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Smash Pages Q&A | Alex Segura’s ‘Secret Identity’

The comics writer, novelist and industry veteran discusses his newest book, which combines his love of mysteries with the comic book industry.

Alex Segura is known to comics readers for various comics projects ranging from The Dusk to The Black Ghost to Archie Meets the B-52’s to the upcoming The Awakened, but the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Oni-Lion Forge has another career as a novelist. Segura has written an acclaimed series of novels featuring journalist-turned-private eye Pete Fernandez, and his new novel Secret Identity bridges these two worlds.

A murder mystery set in 1970s New York, the novel centers around Carmen Valdez, an assistant at Triumph Comics who aspires to be a writer. After a co-worker is murdered, Valdez tries to understand what happened. Chapters of the novel are also interspersed with pages from the fictional The Lynx comic book, which Valdez co-wrote in the novel, but are drawn by real-life artist Sandy Jarrell.

The novel is a departure for Segura, less focused on plot but more about character and atmosphere, focused on evoking another era and a look inside the comics industry of that time. It’s his best and richest work to date, and we had a chance to talk recently about the novel, which is out this week.

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TKO goes Rogue with new prose imprint

New novels by Joshua Dysart with MK Perker and Alex Grecian with Andrea Mutti will debut in January.

TKO Studios has announced TKO Rogue, a new prose imprint that will release illustrated novels by authors and artists “from the literary and pop culture worlds.”

The first two books they plan to release are Brood X by Joshua Dysart with art by MK Perker, and One Eye Open by Alex Grecian and Andrea Mutti.

“The launch of TKO Rogue is the next step in the evolution of TKO Studios and bridges the vibrant worlds of novelized fiction and comics with works from a renowned pair of award- winning, bestselling authors and internationally recognized artists,” said Tze Chun, co-founder of TKO Studios, in a statement. “We invite readers to enjoy these new books and join us as we develop an exciting roster of original prose titles.”

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‘How to Create Comics the Marvel Way’ by Mark Waid coming next year

The guide will walk readers through the production process of creating a comic.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to create comics for Marvel, Mark Waid is going to show you how.

Simon & Schuster will publish How to Create Comics the Marvel Way next summer. The guide will walk readers through the comic book production process from pencil roughs, inking, coloring, as well as how comic book illustration has been revolutionized through advances in digital/desktop technology.

“Putting a book like this together is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, and it’s thrilling,” Waid told Marvel.com. “My goal was to write the kind of how-to I wish I’d had when I first started out. No matter what discipline is calling to you — writing, art, coloring, lettering, or all of the above — you’ll come away from How to Create Comics the Marvel Way with the tools and guidance you’ll need to bring your favorite heroes and villains to life on the page.”

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Learn ‘How to Take Over the World’ from Ryan North

The comic book writer announces his new book, which features tips on supervillainy using known science.

When he’s not writing comics like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Slaughterhouse-Five, Ryan North works in the realm of non-non-fiction, putting out handy guides like How to Invent Everything, a must-have manual for time travelers, and the just-announced How to Take Over the World.

This new book introduces readers to “the science of supervillainy” and could be your ticket to a new line career path.

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Dark Horse will adapt ‘Hellboy: The Bones of Giants’ into comics

Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Matt Smith and Chris O’Halloran will adapt the prose novel as a four-issue miniseries.

Dark Horse announced plans to release a comic book adaptation of the Hellboy prose novel Hellboy: The Bones of Giants. The four-issue miniseries kicks off in November and is by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Matt Smith and Chris O’Halloran.

Released in 2001, Hellboy: The Bones of Giants was written by Golden and featured illustrations from Mignola. It’s one of three Hellboy novels Golden has written over the last 20-plus years, as he also wrote first one, The Lost Army, as well as 2007’s The Dragon Pool.

“It’s a thrill to return to the world of Hellboy: The Bones of Giants,” Golden said. “I’ve been deeply in love with Norse mythology since first reading Dorothy Hosford’s Thunder of the Gods in the fifth grade. I might have been the only one to take it out of the St. Bridget’s School library that year, but I read it 15 times, so there wasn’t much opportunity for other kids to read it. When Mike first told me he had this image in his head of lightning flashing down from the sky to strike Mjollnir, where it lay in the grip of the corpse of Thor…well, that was like Christmas morning, getting to indulge my love of Norse myth and my love of Hellboy.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Danny Fingeroth

The writer and editor discusses his unauthorized biography of ‘the most famous person in comics.’

Danny Fingeroth has been working in comics for decades. A longtime editor at Marvel, Byron Preiss and Visionary Media, Fingeroth wrote comics like Darkhawk, Dazzler, Venom: Deathtrap – The Vault and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, and wrote nonfiction books including Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. He’s also known to a lot of convention goers as one of the people who runs a lot of panels — interviewing and celebrating the creators who helped to invent comics at dozens of labels across the country. At the end of 2019 he came out with his biggest book to date, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee. 

The biography of the late Stan Lee is unauthorized but affectionate, and tries to capture the man that Fingeroth got to know later in his life with the young man who has been written about at length. After reading the book, I asked Fingeroth a few questions about the project and how it fits in with his other work, including serving as chair of Will Eisner Week.

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