‘Behemoth’ is the story of a bus swallowed by a Kaiju

The giant monster miniseries by Grant Sputore, Ryan Engle, Jay Martin and Frank Cvetkovic, arrives in January from Dark Horse Comics.

Grant Sputore and Ryan Engle, two filmmakers with resumes that include monster movies, will team up to write Behemoth, a new miniseries coming from Dark Horse next year. They’re joined by Jay Martin, creator of Lost Boy, on art, and letterer Frank Cvetkovic.

Spurtore is the director of the next as-yet-untitled film in Legendary’s Godzilla/King Kong line, while Engle wrote the 2018 film Rampage, based on the video game about giant monsters. So naturally their first comic is about a Kaiju and the people on a bus who get eaten by it — which is where the story starts.

“Being a life-long Kaiju fan, I quite frequently find myself imagining giant monsters rampaging through whatever city I happen to be in,” Sputore said, mirroring something I’ve done myself. “Enjoying one such vision, back in 2022, I found myself struck by a thought: ‘How have we had 70 years of giant monster movies, but no one has ever told the story of the poor souls trapped inside a subway car as it’s devoured by a Kaiju?’ From that moment, I’ve been on a long journey to bring this David vs. Goliath story to life, with the help of Ryan and Jay’s boundless genius. Most recently, I’ve been invited to play in Legendary’s Monsterverse, which is clearly a dream come true for a kaiju fan like me – but for those interested, my first foray into the world of Kaiju storytelling can be found within the wild pages of Behemoth.”

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Slugfest | Unwrapping DC’s December solicitations

Find Challengers of the Unknown, New Gods, Superwoman and more under your Christmas tree this December.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on the new titles debuting in DC’s December solicitations, which you can find here or here. Hit the links for more information.

By December we’ll be a couple of months into DC’s All In publishing initiative, which not only features the publisher’s top talent working on top books — Mark Waid and Dan Mora doing a Justice League book, Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín on Detective Comics, etc. — but also the return of some quirky titles with new twists.

For instance, I didn’t have a new Metamorpho title or the first Two-Face title on my bingo card for 2024, but here we are. And here’s another one: Challengers of the Unknown will return in a new title by Christopher Cantwell and Sean Izaakse, and they’re getting a few new members — namely Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman.

As you can see on Mike Deodato’s cover for the first issue, DC’s Trinity may be joining the team, but they’ll be donning the traditional Challenger outfits:

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DC + Sega team up for a Sonic + Justice League collaboration

Ian Flynn will write a five-issue miniseries featuring Sonic characters mashed up with DC heroes.

Who is faster, Superman, Flash … or Sonic? DC and Sega will put that question to the test next year as they partner to bring together Sonic the Hedgehog and the Justice League.

The collaboration will include a five-issue miniseries written by longtime Sonic scribe Ian Flynn. No artist for the project was named, but Dc will publish it next year.

According to DC, the event “features an unprecedented crossover event where the Justice League and Team Sonic must unite to save their worlds from a major threat.” And by unite, they must mean a mash-up, based on the images they shared of Shadow as Batman, Knuckles as Superman, Sonic as The Flash and more:

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Luana Vecchio returns to the world of ‘Lovesick’ with ‘Doll Parts’

The four-issue miniseries kicks off in December.

Image Comics has announced the sequel to Luana Vecchio’s Lovesick, the “dark sexploitation series” by the artist of Bolero. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale will present the origin of Domino, the dark web dominatrix who appeared in the first series.

“After finishing Lovesick, I knew I couldn’t stay away from Domino for long,” said Vecchio. “But before going back to the Lovesick Club, I knew I had to take a step back and explore Domino’s heart, dive into those sad eyes and return to her origins, back to Madeleine. I’ve always dreamed of writing a coming-of-age thriller-horror set in the 2000s, the very years I was a teenager myself. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale explores what it means to be a young girl in a world where youth is a double-edged sword, both a strength and a vulnerability. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve created and the themes I’ve tackled, I believe the comic world needs a character like Madeleine.”

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Al Ewing + Steve Lieber ‘get groovy’ with ‘Metamorpho: The Element Man’ this December

‘This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera.’

Some announcements just make you want to smile, like this one: Al Ewing and Steve Lieber will team up for a new series featuring Metamorpho, as part of DC’s All In initiative. Or maybe that should be “Al In,” considering it’s one of Ewing’s first major projects with the publisher.

Metamorpho: The Element Man will feature “done-in-ones” stories that build up to something bigger, according to Ewing, who is paired with Lieber of Jimmy Olsen fame. They’re joined by Lee Loughridge on colors.

“This is 100% fun comics, delivered with total confidence, visceral joy and absolutely no winking to the camera,” Ewing said. “It’s a love letter to Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon and the spirit of superheroes at their wildest and weirdest—we’re aiming to catch the essential fab-freakiness of Metamorpho like lightning in a bottle and get groovy with it in our own special way.”

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Dark Horse books a FastPass to ‘Ripperland’ next year

Steve Orlando, John Harris Dunning and Alessandro Oliveri bring a murderer from the past to an England that’s become the most magical place on Earth.

“What would Jack the Ripper think of an England that was turned into a theme park?” might not be a question you’ve ever asked yourself, but it’ll get answered next year in a new miniseries coming from Dark Horse Comic.

Ripperland is co-written by Steve Orlando and John Harris Dunning, with art and cover art by Alessandro Oliveri, colors by Francesca Vivaldi and letters by Fabio Amelia. And yes, it is indeed about Jack the Ripper time-traveling to 2188 England to discover the country became a Victorian-themed amusement park because it needed the money after Brexit.

Ripperland is unlike any book I’ve ever been part of–and I mean that in the best possible way,” Orlando said. “John and Alessandro are incredible talents, and the alchemy between us, across borders and across oceans, has created something truly special! This is Westworld meets From Hell in a gorgeous speculative fiction package! The streets of tomorrow’s London call…to yesterday! I can’t wait for everyone to see it!”

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Dan Watters + Hayden Sherman team for ‘Batman: Dark Patterns’ in December

The 12-issue maxi-series will feature four different cases from the early days of Batman’s career.

Home Sick Pilots writer Dan Watters and Absolute Wonder Woman artist Hayden Sherman will revisit the early days of Batman’s career in Batman: Dark Patterns, which will delve into “four mysterious cases as he attempts to cement his place as Gotham City’s protector while the city itself fights back against him.”

Watters and Sherman are joined by colorist Tríona Farrell and letterer Frank Cvetkovic for the 12-issue series, which will be broken into three-issue story arcs that focus on a specific case. The first one, “We Are Wounded,” involves a series of “sickeningly gruesome murders sending shock waves through Gotham City.”

“I love the strangeness of Batman. A man dressed as a huge, gothic bat, solving crimes in a hostile city of black magicians, mad scientists, and superstitious, cowardly criminals. I’ve always wanted to write a series of mystery stories that would home in on that aspect of the character- a dweller in the shadows of Gotham’s towering, dilapidated spires,” said Watters. “After watching The Batman, this desire was reaffirmed. Batman: Dark Patterns explores the pulpiest part of the Dark Knight’s rich history and gives readers an entirely new perspective on the early years of DC’s Dark Detective.”

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DC announces ‘Two-Face’ by Christian Ward + Fábio Veras

Harvey Dent finally won the coin toss and gets his first solo miniseries this December.

Following in the footsteps of the Joker, the Penguin and Catwoman, Two-Face is the latest Batman villain to get a solo series.

The new series featuring Harvey Dent and his alter ego will be written by Christian Ward, with art by Fábio Veras, colors by Ivan Plascencia and lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

“After falling in love with writing the beautiful, complicate, Harvey in Batman: City of Madness,” said Ward, “I couldn’t be more excited to be, or prouder, to be writing Two-Face’s very first solo series! Two-Face is without any hesitation not just my favorite Batman villain but my favorite character in all of Gotham, and I’m thrilled to be taking him, together with superstar artist in the making Fábio Veras and the legends that are colorist Ivan Plascencia and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, to some wild places you might not be expecting. The first of which takes Harvey Dent back to the courtroom.”

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‘The Bad Batch’ headline their first comic in January

Clone Force 99 hunt a Separatist ghost agent in a new miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.

The Bad Batch show on Disney + may have ended, but that doesn’t mean the adventure is over for Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech. Dark Horse and Lucasfilm have announced Clone Force 99 will appear in their first comic miniseries next year.

Titled Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents — I’m sorry, that’s an ungodly amount of colons there — the miniseries is written by Michael Moreci and illustrated by Reese Hannigan, Elisabetta D’Amico and Michael Atiyeh, with lettering by Comicraft.

“I think everyone who knows my Star Wars work knows I love the Clone Wars,” Moreci said. “And the Bad Batch is probably my favorite part of that. They’re just so cool and unique; they’re like 1980s action heroes dropped into the Star Wars universe, and I love that. I’m after that look and feel–it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m just thrilled to bring more Bad Batch stories to life!”

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Greg Pak, Evan Narcisse + Eder Messias soar on ‘Sam Wilson: Captain America’

The ongoing series kicks off in January.

With Captain America: Brave New World set to hit theaters in February, I was wondering when we’d see a new comic featuring Sam Wilson. And lo and behold, Marvel has announced Sam Wilson: Captain America, a new series by co-writers Greg Pak and Evan Narcisse, and artist Eder Messias.

“It’s going to be a fun, fast, high-octane adventure that also explores what it means to feel locked out of the American Dream. I feel pretty confident in saying Sam’s never flown through skies like these before,” Narcisse said.

And given that Brave New World includes the Red Hulk, it’s no surprise to see who is joining Sam Wilson on Taurin Clarke’s cover for the first issue:

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Kyle Starks + Patrick Piazzalunga bring ‘Those Not Afraid’ to Dark Horse

Two serial killers compete to break the record for the most murders in the miniseries, which debuts next year.

Kyle Starks, writer of Where Monsters Lie, Sexcastle and much more, will team with Monsters Are My Business artist Patrick Piazzalunga for Those Not Afraid, the story of a twisted competition between two serial killers.

Starks said the title for the project was inspired by Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as The Night Stalker, and in particular when he said: “We’ve all got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren’t afraid control life itself.” Probably known best for his horror and humor writing, Starks said he also wanted to do something that was more in the True Crime vein.

“I wanted to dip my foot narratively into that world – to step away from humor at all, to lean hard into the terrifying depths of that world and the terrifying creatures who inhabit it,” Starks said. “With Those Not Afraid, I ask the question, ‘What if two serial killers enter into a terrible competition to break the record for murders?’ If you are a fan of – or know a fan of – true crime and serial killers Those Not Afraid is going to be the book for you.”

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Michael W. Conrad + John J. Pearson cultivate ‘In Bloom’ at BOOM! Studios

The science fiction series about blooming organisms in the human body kicks off in December.

BOOM! Studios has announced the body invasion sci-fi comic In Bloom by Tremor Dose writer Michael W. Conrad and The Infernals artist John J. Pearson.

The comic is not, as I first assumed, about Nirvana or their 1991 hit song. It’s actually based in the science that “43% of the cells within a healthy human body belong to something other than the human host,” which is bit frightening to think about.

“Years ago I came across an article about the human microbiome and it has haunted me ever since,” Conrad said. “Like most people, I want to understand who I am, and the knowledge that much of who we are is not native to our body has been a real mindbender for me. In Bloom is an exploration of that fear, and imagines a world wherein we can no longer ignore that we are a host to a variety of organisms. The things within us awakened, The Bloom is upon us.”

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