Tag: Chris Condon

Oni announces ‘The Goddamn Tragedy’ by Chris Condon + Shawn Kuruneru

The vicious Western draws from the real-life story of the Donner Party.

That Texas Blood writer Chris Condon is teaming up with Fishflies artist Shawn Kuruneru for the Western thriller The Goddamn Tragedy, a new graphic novel that Oni Press will publish next year.

While the story is fiction, it does draw from the real-life tale of the Donner Party in the mid-1800s, whose ill-fated journey from Illinois to California became infamous when members of the party resorted to murder and cannibalism during a harsh winter spent in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

“I had been reading about the tragic Donner Party of 1846 and an idea struck me: there’s a story here to tell, one that could capture the psychological tumult a family endures as they are faced with an impossible decision: kill…or be killed,” Condon said. “We all know how the Donner Party played out, but we don’t know how things work out for the Janson family and that’s a story that the masterful Shawn Kuruneru and I are all too excited to tell. Thankfully, we’ve found a great home for this one-shot of survivalist terror at Oni Press who excels at telling gut-wrenching tales from beyond the pale.”

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NYCC | ‘Ultimate Wolverine’ is the Maker’s ultimate weapon in a new series coming next year

Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio’s ‘Ultimate Wolverine’ will launch in January 2025

Marvel’s Ultimate Universe is getting a new but familiar addition this January, as today at the New York Comic Con the publisher announced Ultimate Wolverine by the team of Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio.

Like many of the inhabitants of the Ultimate Universe, Wolverine’s a bit different in this universe than he is in the 616. Sporting the codename “The Winter Soldier,” this Wolverine isn’t in control of himself — he’s an agent of three members of the Maker’s council, Magik, Colossus and Omega Red. To ensure they maintain control of a world that now has superheroes running around and causing a raucous, they unleash him to do all those things that he’s best at.

“When Wil Moss called me and asked me if I wanted to take on this title, I jumped at the chance and immediately had an idea of what to do with it,” said Condon. “I’m bringing my essence of storytelling from That Texas Blood to the Marvel Universe with Wolverine, looking back at what came before and bringing us something new.”

(If you haven’t read That Texas Blood, by the way, it’s one of my first go-to “This is the comic you should be reading” recommendations whenever someone asks.)

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Slugfest | ‘Timeslide’ into Marvel’s December solicitations

December brings new comics featuring Cable, Bishop, the new Infinity Watch, Sabretooth and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on Marvel’s December solicitations. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel’s made a tradition of releasing a year-end one-shot in December that is usually one part complete story, one part preview of what to expect from the publisher in the next year. (It usually involves some sort of time travel angle as well).

This year’s edition is titled Timeslide, and in a year of big change for the X-Men line, it makes sense that this year’s story will feature Cable and Bishop, the X-Men’s resident time travelers. It’s by Steve Foxe and Ivan Fiorelli, and features a cover by Kael Ngu:

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DC reveals more details on their ‘All In’ line-ups

The publisher has shared creative teams and cover art for three Absolute Universe titles, along with plans for several DCU series in the post-‘Absolute Power’ era.

If you missed the YouTube video yesterday, DC has revealed their next publishing initiative, All In, which will see several creative team changes and the birth of a whole new universe. Headed up by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, the Absolute Universe will come into being thanks to Darkseid in October’s All In one-shot.

And today DC revealed some of the creative teams you can expect to see on some of the Absolute titles and the regular DC titles.

Starting first with the DC Absolute Universe — which is what they’re calling it in the press release, so we can assume that’s the official name — the line will launch with Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, as revealed yesterday. The first issue will come out Oct. 9. It’ll be followed by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s reinvention of Wonder Woman “from the ground up” in Absolute Wonder Woman #1, due out Oct. 23. Then you have Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval launching Absolute Superman #1 on Nov. 6.

“The creation of the AbsoluteUniverse is how I always imagined coming back to DC, and DC All In will be a great jumping-on point for new readers as well as lapsed fans to discover new stories to love and the chance to explore the new directions in store for DC’s core series lineup,” Snyder said in the press release.

Here’s more details and cover art for those titles, along with several DCU titles (which they refer to as the “Core Line” in the press release):

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Oni Press announces four new titles for 2024

“Oni 2024” will bring new comics from Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Zac Thompson, Roberta Ingranata, Chris Condon and more.

Following their partnership announcement with the Nacelle Company, Oni Press heads into New York Comic Con by announcing several new miniseries that will land the first months of 2024, dubbed “Oni 2024.”

Including Invasive by Cullen Bunn and Jesús Hervás, which was announced in San Diego this summer, the initiative begins with five new titles “that will fully embrace the potential of the comics medium to invert, collide and reinvent the foundational genres of horror, science fiction, crime, fantasy and beyond throughout the new year.” More titles are planned for subsequent months.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Nick Cagnetti on ‘The Chip’

The creator of ‘Pink Lemonade’ talks about his story in the first issue of the science fiction anthology ‘Xino.’

Oni Press will debut Xino this week, an anthology of “subversive, psych-surrealist science fiction to cure your awful awareness of our meager reality.” Over the course of three issues, they’ve assembled a talented roster of creators, with the first issue featuring stories by Phil Hester, Jordan Thomas and Shaky Kane, Melissa Flores and Daniel Irizarri, and Christopher Condon and Nick Cagnetti.

Cagnetti, best known for his work on Pink Lemonade, worked with Condon on a story titled “the Chip,” which is about the world’s first intravenous video game system and the impact it has on one of its users. Cagnetti was kind enough to answer a few questions about the story, as well as the upcoming collection of the entire Pink Lemonade series.

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‘That Texas Blood’ spinoff miniseries will explore the past of Ambrose County

Creators Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips will tell the story of ‘The Enfield Gang Massacre’ this August.

That Texas Blood, one of my favorite comics from the past few years, is getting a spinoff miniseries this summer that will explore the past of Ambrose County, Texas, the comic’s setting.

Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips will tell the story of The Enfield Gang Massacre in a six issue miniseries at Image Comics. Condon said he unknowingly set the stage for the new series in the back matter of a previous issue.

“Way back in That Texas Blood issue seven’s back matter, I mentioned ‘the Enfield Gang’s reign of terror in the 1870s’ which ended in a ‘shootout.’ That got Jacob’s imagination going and he wondered if we’d ever see that (or, more importantly, if he’d ever draw it). And, well, now we’re here,” said Condon. “That may have been the catalyst, but the truth is that I’ve always wanted to tell the story of the origin of Ambrose County, a birth fraught with violence and terror.”

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Mail Call | ‘That Texas Blood’ returns with a new story arc in June

Today’s round-up includes announcements and previews from Marvel, DC, Skybound, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

That Texas Blood, the excellent small-town noir series by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips, returns next month from Image Comics with a new story arc that delves into Ambrose County’s past, “blowing off some of that desert dust and seeing what lurks beneath,” Phillips said.

That Texas Blood #7 will arrive in comic shops on June 30.

“Returning to Ambrose County and these characters is like going home in many ways. They feel like old friends more than old creations and none more so than Sheriff Joe Bob Coates. I’m beyond excited to explore a bit of Joe’s past in this next story arc as we travel back in time to 1981. We’ll see new places, meet new people, and explore ideas we haven’t before. I’ve always believed that the beginning years of any decade are the hangover of the previous one, and I am absolutely thrilled that we are allowed to dissect this over the next six issues with our merry band of Ambrose Countians,” said Condon. “But don’t be fooled, we aren’t viewing the past through rose-colored glasses. I’ve said before that Texas is America’s mystical land, but every fantasy world has a minotaur lurking in the dark or a dragon breathing through smoking nostrils over armor-clad corpses. Our Texas is no different. The shadows there stretch to the horizon, devouring all light. But there are some who see the darkness and strike a match to light the way. I hope that you’ll join us on our trip down Highway 90, into the heart of Ambrose County and into the dark depths of the past. But don’t you fret, we’re not out of matches yet.”

Check out the first issue’s covers:

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What Are You Reading? | Red Goblins, celestial avatars, Klan smashers and Texas blood

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Like I said last week, summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics. This week brought us a taste of Empyre, Marvel’s big crossover event featuring the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Swordsman and all that crazy cosmic space action Marvel fans have come to know and love. You can see Carla’s thoughts on it below, along with a list of comics Shane has been buying for his kids and Tom’s thoughts on two politically minded books from DC.

You can tell us what you’ve been reading in the comments below or on social media.

Shane Bailey

Lately my kids have started wanting to read more comics. My little one has always been into them, but now the older kids are as well. So I let them pick out their own comics to read on comiXology Unlimited.

My 9 yr old son picked Amazing Spider-Man: The Red Goblin by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen, and he loves it. He wouldn’t stop commenting on how crazy scary Norman Osborn is, how it was gross when Carnage bit the head off a rat, and during one issue when the Goblin had a captive and was interrogating him, he wondered aloud over who it was, making guesses and gasping when he found out who it was and that Norman knew who Spider-Man was. It’s great seeing him get excited at things that are old hat for me. It made me appreciate those moments more.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Building toward ‘Empyre’

New comics arrive this week from Terry Moore, Mark Russell, Steve Rude, Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and more.

The summer crossover season gets in full swing at your local comic shop this week; following the release of Dark Knights: Death Metal last week, Marvel delivers the start of their big cosmic event, Empyre. This week also brings several debuts from IDW, AHOY and Image, among others … it’s almost starting to feel like comics have returned to normal.

If you’re looking for something 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, mask requirements, etc. due to COVID-19. Stay safe out there.

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