BOOM! Studios announces ‘Folklords’ by Kindt + Smith

New miniseries follows a young man whose “forbidden quest reveals the shocking truth about his world.”

Dept. H and Black Badge writer Matt Kindt is teaming up with Barbarian Lord creator Matt Smith for a new miniseries from BOOM! Studios. Folklords is about” a young man whose forbidden quest reveals the shocking truth about his world and turns everything he ever knew upside down.”

“Ideas usually sneak up on you. But this one came in a flash. As soon as my plucky editor, Eric, said the word ‘Folklords,’ I had an image of this teenage kid in a black suit and tie…walking through a small folk tale-style village full of gnomes, witches and trolls. It looked jarring, seeing that kid there. He was completely out of place. What’s this kid wearing a suit for? Is he living in a fairy tale? Why is he there?” Kindt said in a press release. “I’m not sure why the word triggered that image in my head but I didn’t question it. The question I did have? Who the heck are the Folklords? This kid…in this suit and tie…who doesn’t seem to belong? He’s going to find out.”

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Feel the power in BOOM! Studios’ ‘WWE: The New Day’ graphic novel

Kofi Kingston from the WWE crashed the BOOM! panel to announce the project.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was on hand at Comic-Con International yesterday to announce a new graphic novel featuring the band of brothers known as The New Day.

Kingston showed up at the BOOM! Studios panel, where he apparently joined panelists like Kieron Gillen and Lilah Sturges at the table … or, actually, on top of the table:

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‘Once and Future’ fills the ‘Doctor Aphra shape’ in Kieron Gillen’s heart

Check out a preview of the upcoming series from BOOM! Studios.

Fans of Kieron Gillen’s work on Doctor Aphra, The Wicked and the Divine and Die don’t have long to wait for their next fix. In advance of this week’s Comic-Con International, BOOM! Studios released a preview and a trailer for his six-issue miniseries “Once and Future,” with artist Dan Mora and colorist Tamra Bonvillain.

“I’ve just finished an issue of this before writing this newsletter, and I’m enjoying writing Bridgette and Duncan enormously,” Gillen said in his email newsletter this week. “It’s definitely filled the Doctor Aphra shape in my heart, in terms of doing blackly funny adventure fiction. In this case, with a lot of horror notes.”

Check out the trailer and some preview pages below.

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BOOM! + IDW team up for a Power Rangers + Ninja Turtles crossover

Ryan Parrott and Simone di Meo will team up on a five-issue miniseries starring both properties in December.

Two licensed comics will punch, kick and stab their way into a five-issue crossover miniseries this winter. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings together two of the biggest 1990s afternoon TV icons — and two popular comics franchises currently published, respectively, by BOOM! Studios and IDW Publishing.

Writer Ryan Parrott and artist Simone di Meo will bring the two properties together. Both have worked on BOOM!’s Power Rangers comics in the past. Dan Mora drew the cover for the first issue.

“Honestly, I’m pretty certain keeping this project a secret has taken years off my life. These two iconic franchises were my TV parents, each teaching me valuable life lessons thirty minutes at a time. The Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtles are too insanely awesome not to bring together. I mean, they’re both color-coded teenage martial artists who fight monsters! It just makes too much sense!” Parrott said. “A huge thank you to Hasbro and Nickelodeon for letting me play with so many of their wonderful toys, as it is truly an honor to be a part of such an exciting crossover. I’m the luckiest kid in the world, and I cannot wait for you all to see what we’ve been putting together.”

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Loveness + Estherren fly into ‘Strange Skies Over East Berlin’

New miniseries from BOOM! Studios lands in October.

Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren will bring aliens into the Cold War in Strange Skies Over East Berlin, a new four-issue miniseries coming from BOOM! Studios in October. Evan Cagle will provide covers.

“Through comics, I’ve been able to write space operas, dark religious epics and superhero stories, and now I can’t wait to write a sci-fi horror set within the bleak, creeping dread of the Cold War,” said Loveness. “The Iron Curtain surveillance state of East Germany is now far enough removed from us to seem shockingly familiar. It’s been humbling to research that world, only to see how many sad parallels of it we still endure today. There’s body-horror and sci-fi creeping through the paranoia of the story, but it’s also about what it means to be American in a world slipping away from you… a world that was perhaps never truly there to begin with.”

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‘Heavy Vinyl’ returns for a second spin

Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva reunite for another round of music store fight club.

Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva will reunite for a Heavy Vinyl original graphic novel, a sequel to the 2017 miniseries. Subtitled “Y2K-O!,” this one will take place in the summer of 1999.

“Getting the chance to continue the Heavy Vinyl story is a dream come true! I’m thrilled to be reunited with my precious little ‘90s babies. The story picks up a few months later — it’s 1999, digital music and file sharing have upset the status quo, and Y2K approaches!” Usdin said. “You can expect the same level of exhaustively researched pop culture references with new characters, a new mystery and more Chris/Maggie cuteness. I’ve been having a great time writing it, and I can’t wait for fans to read it.”

The story revolves around a group of girls who work at their local record store, Vinyl Mayhem — which is also the front for a teen girl vigilante fight club. In the new OGN, they’ll have to deal with the led-up to Y2K.

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Becky Lynch takes center ring in new ‘Smackdown Live’ comic

BOOM! Studios announces a new one-shot focused on The Man and Smackdown Live moving to the Fox network.

BOOM! Studios’ ongoing WWE comic may have been canceled, but the sports entertainment license lives on at the publisher. In their build-up to this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, the publisher announced a new one-shot, WWE Smackdown Live #1.

Written by Kevin Panetta with art by Kendall Goode, the comic will focus on Becky Lynch, a.k.a. The Man, arguably the WWE’s most popular superstar right now. It’ll also tie into Smackdown Live, currently seen Tuesday nights on USA, moving to the Fox network in October. Panetta is the writer of Bloom from First Second and Zodiac Starforce from Dark Horse, while Goode has work on previous WWE comics for BOOM!.

“The Man is one of the most electrifying Superstars to hit the ropes, and what better way to begin a new era of SmackDown Live than with Becky Lynch in the lead?” said Chris Rosa, Editor, BOOM! Studios. “Current WWE Superstars collide with WWE Legends, who are all here for one of the biggest and most unpredictable nights that they’ll ever face in the ring.”

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‘Giant Days: As Time Goes By’ wraps up the series

John Allison and Max Sarin will wrap up the long-running ‘Giant Days’ story with a double-sized special.

Graduation approaches for John Allison‘s long-running Giant Days series, and today BOOM! Studios announced Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1, which will conclude the series.

As announced back in April, Giant Days #55 will end the ongoing series, as the three main characters, Esther, Daisy and Susan, graduate from college. As Time Goes By will pick up 14 months later, as the three friends agree to reunite and catch up. Max Sarin will draw the special.

“This comic has always been about small moments and big catastrophes, so going out with a double-sized special gives me a chance to do plenty of both. It’s impossible to please everybody when you’re saying goodbye, but heaven knows, the Giant Days team are going to try,” said Allison.

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BOOM! opens the ‘Hellmouth’ in their first Buffy/Angel crossover

Five-issue miniseries featuring the Joss Whedon-created characters debuts in October.

BOOM! Studios will bring Joss Whedon’s power couple, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, together again for the first time in the pages of Hellmouth. The five-issue miniseries is about, naturally, the end of the world.

Jordie Bellaire, who writes the main Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic, will team up with Jeremy Lambert of Doom Patrol and Goosebumps fame to write the series. They’re joined by artist Eleonora Carlini, who previous worked on BOOM!’s Power Rangers comics.

The crossover series features the latest renditions of the characters, who don’t have quite the history that they did in the TV show and Dark Horse line of comics. BOOM! rebooted the characters to a high school setting when they picked up the license, so this will be Buffy and Angel’s first meeting, as editor Jeanine Schaefer explains.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Maria Llovet

The multi-faceted comic creator talks about illustrating Faithless, collaborating with Azzarello, and gives insight on her work.

The big name on the new comics series Faithless is writer Brian Azzarello, but it’s artist and colorist Maria Llovet who has really blown readers away with her style and aesthetic choices, her sense of fashion and her use of color. Her approach has helped to define and shape the book in the way that a good artist and a good collaboration should be able to do.

Llovet has written and drawn a number of books that were published in Spain, including Eros/Psyche, Porcelain, Heartbeat and Insecto. She also drew There’s Nothing There, which was written by Patrick Kindlon and published in the U.S. Spending some time on her website and social media, it’s clear that Llovet is a busy and inventive artist with an agile mind. She was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions by email about Faithless, another book coming out in the U.S. later this year and how she works.

Please note this interview includes preview art containing nudity that is NSFW or for kids.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Brian Azzarello and Sierra Hahn

The writer and editor of Faithless from BOOM! Studios discuss the lead character, working with artist Maria Llovet and more.

Faithless is a new miniseries written by Brian Azzarello, and it’s a somewhat different project for him.

It’s the story of a young woman who is playing around with magic, and by the end of the first issue, it’s clear that she’s in much deeper than she thought. Which admittedly, structurally sounds like a lot of the crime stories that Azzarello has written.

I spoke recently with Azzarello and Faithless editor Sierra Hahn. The two have known each other for years but never worked together, and we spoke about how this project came together, working with artist Maria Llovet, and Dante Alighieri.

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Comics Lowdown: C2E2 thief thwarted; Dawson on Somalia airstrikes

Plus: People moves, promotions, podcasts and more!

Crime Does NOT Pay! Stephen Bowles of Remington, Indiana, learned that the hard way: He was nabbed for allegedly stealing $9,000 worth of comics at C2E2 this past weekend, after a vendor caught him on video. The vendor had set up a camera at his booth to keep an eye on sales, and when he noticed Bowles acting sketchy he reviewed the footage and observed the 51-year-old man apparently taking comics from several booths. The vendor called the cops and they arrested Bowles, who had some of the comics on him. Three vendors reported that comics had been stolen from them.

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