comic strips – SMASH PAGES

Review | Clover Press delivers a swingin’ look at Spider-Man’s newspaper adventures

Clover Press’s first collection of Spider-Man’s classic newspaper strip captures a fun, accessible chapter in the wall-crawler’s history.

Clover Press’s first volume of The Amazing Spider-Man: Classic Newspaper Comics is an engaging artifact of a pivotal period in the character’s history. Produced by the foundational Spidey team of writer Stan Lee and penciller John Romita, the strip debuted almost 50 years ago, on January 3, 1977. Volume one, which covers that calendar year, presents a series of arcs that certainly feel like Spider-Man, just with the format and rhythms of daily installments.

Of course, by the time this strip started, Lee and Romita had both moved on from the Amazing Spider-Man comic book. During 1977, writer Len Wein and penciller Ross Andru headed up ASM (issues #166-178), while penciller Sal Buscema and an assortment of writers were getting its companion title, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, off the ground (issues #4-16).

In hindsight, 1977 was part of a transitional period for the character. Following Gwen Stacy’s death four years earlier, Peter had started seeing Mary Jane Watson regularly, while Spidey faced off in ASM against C- and D-listers like Stegron, Will O’ The Wisp, Rocket Racer, the Molten Man, and a non-Osborn Green Goblin. Things were a little more original over in PPTSSM, which guest-starred the White Tiger and introduced Razorback. Maybe the biggest news was on CBS, where the first Amazing Spider-Man TV movie premiered on September 14.

Exclusive | Clover Press reveals rewards for Amazing Spider-Man Newspaper Comics Kickstarter

Ahead of the campaign launch, Clover Press reveals two new collectibles accompanying its latest collections of the classic ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ newspaper strips from 1981-1984.

Clover Press is heading back to the newspaper pages of the 1980s again with another Kickstarter campaign collecting more of The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip.

Following the success of last year’s crowdfunding campaign collecting the strip’s earliest years, Clover Press is continuing its archival reprint program with four new softcover volumes collecting every Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip published between 1981 and 1984.

“By the early 1980s, Spider-Man was firmly established on the newspaper page,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz. “Following the success of our campaign to collect the first four years of The Amazing Spider-Man Newspaper Comic, we are thrilled to continue the line. The strips from 1981 to 1984 feature a more seasoned wall-crawler navigating longer, more intricate storylines that balance action, emotional drama and classic Peter Parker misfortune.”

Written by Stan Lee and drawn by Larry Lieber, Fred Kida and Floro Dery, these strips delivered a unique blend of superhero action, soap-opera drama and offbeat storylines. Peter Parker had encounters with killer robots, Doctor Doom’s flying saucer, the Spider Brigade and even the unforgettable Spidey Jeans craze.

Today, we can exclusively reveal two new campaign extras: the cover to an upcoming pocket book facsimile edition and a brand-new lithograph print available to backers.

Nominees announced for the Reuben, NCS Divisional Awards

The National Cartoonist Society has announced nominees for the 80th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which will be presented in August.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2025 NCS Divisional finalists and nominees for the annual Reuben Award, which recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more.

The awards recognize the cartoonist or artists specifically, so you’ll note that the actual comic, the writer and other creators, and the publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. Winners will be selected through a vote open to all NCS members.

This year’s Reuben list includes everyone who was nominated and didn’t win last year: Dave Blazek, Tauhid Bondia, Will Henry and Dana Simpson. Also nominated this year are arguably the two most prominent kids graphic novel creators right now, Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey.

The comic book category features two veterans, The Goon creator Eric Powell and Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai, along with Jackie Musto, creator of Kay and P. On the graphic novel front, Raised by Ghosts creator Briana Loewinsohn, Sunder creator Pierre-Alexandre Comtois and One Path creator Greg Broadmore were nominated.

The winners will be announced in August. Check out the full list of nominees across all the categories for this year:

Clover Press completes their ‘Tom the Dancing Bug’ collection with two new volumes

Check out the slipcase artwork created to hold all 8 volumes.

Great news for fans of political satire comics: Clover Press has launched a Kickstarter campaign this week to publish the final two volumes in their eight-volume collection of Ruben Bolling’s Tom the Dancing Bug comic strip.

The two new books will collect the earliest strips from the 1990s: Secret Origins (1990-1994) and Sex, Tom the Dancing Bug, & Rock ‘N’ Roll (1994-1998). Each volume will be over 200 pages in the 8″ x 9″ format.

“With the announcement of these two volumes, The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug program will soon stand as a full eight-volume chronicle of 35 years of comics – my life’s work,” said Bolling. “I’m grateful to Clover Press for its commitment to the project. The quality of the books has been extraordinary, and I’m honored to have this complete set in print. These two volumes will document this strip’s earliest years, and in some ways, my most audacious and ambitious work.”

Stan Lee and John Romita’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ newspaper strips return from Clover Press

The campaign is now live on Kickstarter.

Clover Press and The Library of American Comics are teaming up to bring The Amazing Spider-Man Classic Newspaper Comics back into print—this time in an affordable softcover format—and they’re turning to Kickstarter to make it happen.

“The Library of American Comics remastered and collected the strip in a series of hardcover collections—but so many of them are out of print, making the collection highly sought after and almost impossible for your average comics lover to get their hands on,” said Clover Publisher Hank Kanalz. ”Now, Clover Press and The Library of American Comics are bringing the collections back to print in an affordable softcover format! We’re collecting the strip strictly by year, reprinting each installment from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. We can’t wait to help get these iconic comic strips into the hands of Spidey lovers everywhere!”

The campaign’s first offering will collect the strip from 1977–1980 across four softcover volumes, each measuring 11″ x 8.5″ in a horizontal format, housed in a protective slipcase designed for easy shelving. Backers can pick up all four volumes as a bundle, along with campaign-exclusive extras including a puzzle, stickers, lithographs and more. And today we have your first look at the sticker sheets:

Caroline Cash will take over the ‘Nancy’ comic strip in 2026

Olivia Jaimes retires from the strip she rejuvenated in 2018.

Caroline Cash, the Eisner and Ignatz Award winning creator of PeePee PooPoo, will take over the comic strip Nancy from Olivia Jaimes next year.

Andrews McMeel Syndication and GoComics announced today that Olivia James, who turned heads when she took over Nancy in 2018, is retiring from the strip. Cash, who filled in for Jaimes on several guest strips last year, will take over in January.

“As a lifelong ‘Nancy’ fan, I’m honored to be given the opportunity to draw my favorite comic strip,” Cash said. “This is a real dream come true, and I look forward to sharing what I’ve been working on with everyone.”

Reza Farazmand, Sarah Andersen, Manu Larcenet + more nominated in this year’s NCS divisional awards

The National Cartoonist Society has announced the divisional nominees for the 79th Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2024 NCS Divisional finalists for the 79th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more. This follows the nominees that were announced for the Reuben Award itself last month.

The awards recognize the cartoonist or artists specifically, so you’ll note that the actual comic, the writer and the publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. Also, the comics category can be a bit eclectic compared to other awards programs; the NCS definitely have a type.

This year’s nominees in the comic book category include Jeff Austin and Phil Miller, artists of the independent comic Avenger (New Blood) #1, published by Lenovations Press; George Broderick Jr., creator of Scintillating Tales and Ballad of the Lavender Dot; and Gideon Kendall, the artist of Lester of the Lesser Gods.

In the graphic novel category, the nominees are Jay Fosgitt, creator of Bodie Troll; Manu Larcenet, who adapted Cormac McCarthy’s The Road into a graphic novel that was published last year; and LeUyen Pham, a children’s book author who drew Lunar New Year Love Story, which was written by Gene Luen Yang.

Webcomics creators are recognized in two categories — long form and short form. The long-form nominees are Amy Kurzweil, David Milgrim and Sean Wang. The short-form webcomics nominees include Sarah Andersen, Jen Bateman and Reza Farazmand.

Check out the full list of nominees across all the categories for this year:

The Reuben: The National Cartoonist Society announces nominees for the 2024 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year

The winner will be announced in August.

The National Cartoonist Society has announced six nominees for this year’s Reuben Award, their annual recognition of the cartoonist of the year for the previous calendar year.

The NCS typically nominates five cartoonists for the award, but due to a tie in voting this year, we have six.

The Reuben Award has been presented annually since 1954 and was named for Rube Goldberg. Past winners include Lynda Barry, Stephen Pastis, Al Jaffee, Matt Groening, Sergio Aragones, Roz Chast and Charles Schulz, to name a few who have taken home this prestigious award.

This year’s nominees include:

Three Count | MODOK, Gaza, David Lynch’s Superboy

Here are three things to celebrate, read and savor this week.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. One hell of a drug.

To Celebrate: March’s Most Magnificent Mental Organism Makes a Return

The calendars have turned, and with them comes the triumphant return of Marvel’s most cerebral celebration: March MODOK Madness! Thanks to the tireless efforts of dynamic duo Pedro Delgado and Brendan Tobin, this beloved showcase of oversized-cranium creativity is back for another year of artistic homage to everyone’s favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

They are, of course, more than 20 days into this year’s effort, which means you have that much more MODOK art to click over to and enjoy. Here’s a sample of what to expect, by each of them:

Patrick McDonnell’s niece ‘gifted’ him the title of his newest book

The sequel to the ‘Mutts’ creator’s 2005 children’s book will arrive in October, but you can follow his creative process in his newsletter until it arrives.

Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell has revealed plans to release another children’s book, The Gift of Everything, this October. And in a message he shared with us, he revealed the title was inspired by his niece.

Like its predecessor, 2005’s The Gift of Nothing, the new book features the beloved characters from his comic strip. In this holiday story, Mooch the cat is searching for the perfect gift for his best friend, Earl the dog, and questions what is perfect — with the answer being “Everything.”

“My new Mutts picture book, coming out this fall, was born from an offhand comment my niece made at Thanksgiving in 2023,” McDonnell shared. “She told me how much she loved my first children’s book, The Gift of Nothing, and suggested that maybe there was more to say about gifts from the heart.”

McDonnell told us that he plans to share process pieces and behind-the-scenes moments from The Gift of Everything in his newsletter, which you can sign up for on his website. Read his complete message below.

Abrams ComicsArts will collect the story of Guard Dog from ‘Mutts’ next month

Check out a preview of Patrick McDonnell’s long-running story of a dog chained up in his yard who is ultimately abandoned by his owners.

One of the most endearing characters in the comic strip Mutts by Patrick McDonnell will take the spotlight in a new collection this September. Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story tells the heartbreaking and uplifting story of Guard Dog, the dog that spent more than 20 years chained up in his yard before ultimately being freed.

Abrams ComicsArts will publish the collection of strips that detail how Guard Dog’s owners abandoned him as they moved away, and his subsequent rescue by his friends Mooch and Earl, and a little girl named Doozy who frequently visited him over the years.

“This wasn’t a villain; this was a tragic character,” McDonnell writes in his introduction to the book. “I thought of all the real dogs in this country and around the world who suffer the same unbearable fate. Maybe my dog could be their voice. He could represent the cruelty that animals endure at the hands of humans, and the cruelty we inflict upon ourselves by staying chained to our own unconscious ways of thinking.”

Sunday Comics | ‘Wayne Family Adventures’ returns for a third season

Check out new webcomics by Derek Laufman, Leigh Luna and more.

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

Wayne Family Adventures, the Webtoon comic that features Batman and all his kids, has returned for a third season. The comic first debuted back in 2021 and has also been collected in print.

Writer CRC Payne and lead artist StarBite are back with more of tales that fall into my favorite Tumblr sub-genre — “BatFam eats dinner together”:

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