‘Black Hammer: The End’ will bring ‘a whole new beginning’ to the Black Hammer story

Jeff Lemire and Malachi Ward continue the story from ‘Black Hammer Reborn’ in August.

Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Black Hammer universe will continue in August with Black Hammer: The End, which, despite the title continues the ongoing story and picks up right after Black Hammer Reborn. Lemire will write the series, with Malachi Ward providing the art.

They’ll be joined by letterer Nate Piekos for a world-hopping adventure that will bring a return to Black Hammer Farm, the place where everything started.

Black Hammer Reborn left the Black Hammer Universe on quite a cliffhanger,” said Lemire,”and now we’ll find out what happens next! Black Hammer: The End is a story I’ve been building across the various Black Hammer books for years now. It will pull storylines, and characters, from all the various series into one massive story which will both be a conclusion of all we’ve been doing, but also usher in a fresh start, and a whole new beginning, for the Black Hammer Universe!”

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Bunn + Luckert go ‘Beyond Mortal’ in a new graphic novel at Dark Horse

Superheroes battle the elder gods in the new project, which will arrive next January.

Cullen Bunn and Danny Luckert, who collaborated on the recent Shock Shop, will re-team for a new graphic novel from Dark Horse.

Beyond Mortal combines two things Bunn is famous for — super-heroes and horror, as a world protected by a pantheon of heroes must face it’s greatest challenge — an invasion by the elder gods.

“If you know me, you know I love superheroes,” said Bunn. “You also know I love-love-love horror. While I’ve frequently infused horror elements into my superhero comics, I’ve never done a full-on horror book in a superhero universe. Well, here you have it. Beyond Mortal is sort of a fever dream of heroics and terror. And I think fans of superheroes will love it. And so will horror fiends.”

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‘The Oddly Pedestrian Life Of Christopher Chaos’ promoted to an ongoing series

The chaos will live on at Dark Horse.

Although the first issue hasn’t even hit stands yet, Dark Horse has already announced a second printing for the first issue of The Oddly Pedestrian Life Of Christopher Chaos. Also, the miniseries is now an ongoing series.

The comic by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal and Isaac Goodhart first debuted on Substack last year, and a deal with Dark Horse to bring it to print was announced in November.

“Christopher Chaos means a lot to me,” Tynion said in his Substack newsletter. “I’m immensely proud of the work Tate, Isaac, Miquel, Nick, and Aditya have done building it all out. You’ve seen early version of the work here on Substack (though we’ve made some changes to the print addition, namely bringing on Miquel Muerto as the new series colorist starting with Issue #1), but the most fun here has been talking about the world that surrounds Christopher, and Adam, and Jordi, and the Helwing Corps. We have lots of stories we want to tell, and your support will help make that happen.”

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Slugfest | Frank Miller draws a new variant cover featuring Wolverine

Plus: a manga tribute to Marvel, Star Trek’s ‘Day of Blood,’ Power Rangers, Oni Ronin and Whoopi Goldberg!

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Frank Miller draw Wolverine. Before moving on to DC to work on Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, Miller worked with writer Chris Claremont on the character’s first miniseries in the early 1980s, which, along with his work on Daredevil, established Miller as a top-tier creator.

Decades later, Miller has drawn a variant cover for Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance Alpha #1:

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Dark Horse will publish ‘Transplants’ this fall

Dave Collard, Domenico Carbone and team combine organ donation and superheroes in a new graphic novel.

Dark Horse Comics has announced Transplants, a graphic novel by TV writer Dave Collard (Family Guy, Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness), with art by Domenico Carbone, colorist Josh Rodriguez and letterer Frank Cvetkovic.

“The idea for this graphic novel came, like all great ideas, while I was standing in line at the DMV,” said Collard. “When I checked the box on my license renewal, consenting to be an organ donor, I thought, ‘I feel bad for the poor sap who gets my very near-sighted eyes.’ And that led (naturally) to the questions, ‘Hey, what if Superman was an organ donor? And what if this square-jawed white dude had his powers transferred to a group of people who traditionally haven’t had power?’ All of a sudden, I finally had my way into telling a superhero story. With Transplants, I’m trying to deconstruct the superhero genre a little while placing it in the ongoing national debate about power and privilege. I hope you like it. But if you don’t, blame the Department of Motor Vehicles.”

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IDW + Dark Horse announce a Stranger Things + Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover

Cameron Chittock and Fero Pe will bring Eleven, Mike, Will and the rest to New York for an encounter with Splinter’s boys.

Do Eggos go with pizza? We’ll likely find out this summer when the kids from Stranger Things meet the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Stranger Things, by writer Cameron Chittock and artist Fero Pe, will bring together the two properties in a four-issue miniseries published by IDW and Dark Horse Comics.

“I’ve loved the Ninja Turtles for quite literally as long as I can remember, and part of the brilliant alchemy of Stranger Things is that, ever since that first binge, it’s felt like it’s always been there. That’s a testament to Eastman, Laird and the Duffer brothers who tell stories that grab hold of you and don’t let go,” Chittock said. “Bringing their creations together is a surreal thrill, and we’re striving to fill every issue with moments worthy of their lofty standards. I can’t wait for fans to join us in 1985 to find out what’s lurking underneath New York.”

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Slugfest | Groo goes wild in a new miniseries

Plus: Batman Beyond, more Birdking, Thor vs. M.O.D.O.K., the return of ‘Fire Power,’ Hellfire Gala fashion and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier will reunite for Groo: In the Wild, a new miniseries that kicks off in July.

The duo is joined by letterer Stan Sakai and colorist Carrie Strachan for a story that sees the barbarian and his dog looking for food. Things go downhill from there, in typical Groo fashion.

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Dark Horse will publish ‘Monster Born’ this fall

Steve Niles, Shannon Eric Denton and Tom Mandrake team up for a new horror graphic novel.

Dark Horse has announced the first title they’ll release from Monster Forge, the production company founded by horror writers Steve Niles and Shannon Eric Denton. Dark Horse announced at the New York Comic Con plans to publish “an exciting new line” of projects from Monster Forge.

Niles and Denton are joined by artist Tom Mandrake on the project, known for his work on The Spectre, Grimjack, Swamp Thing and more.

Monster Born will introduce Amanda Lam, who was kidnapped as a child and grows up to become a monster hunter.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Matt Kindt on ‘Hairball,’ Flux House, ‘BRZRKR’ and more

The award-winning creator discusses several of his recent projects, the success of his collaboration with Keanu Reeves, working with Jean-Denis Pendanx and more.

Over the years he’s been working in comics, Matt Kindt has proven not only to be highly prolific, but also one of comic’s most creative minds, particularly when it comes to things like story structure and design. From his early work on Pistolwhip and Super Spy to more recent projects like MIND MGMT, Kindt has always been one to push the boundaries on comics, their format and how to make them more interesting.

Over the last year or so, Kindt has been involved in two high-profile projects — BRZRKR, a best-selling project at BOOM! Studios spearheaded by actor Keanu Reeves, and the launch of Flux House, Kindt’s own imprint at Dark Horse Comics. While the former has brought him possibility more attention than just about anything else he’s worked on, the latter has given him the opportunity to be even more creative in areas outside his typical domain.

I caught up with Kindt to discuss his recent projects, including Hairball, which kicks off this week, as well as his approach to running his own imprint and how the design of a book or comic impacts the experience of reading it.

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Slugfest | ‘Summer of Symbiotes’ leads to ‘Death of the Venomverse’

Plus: Marvel Artist’s Editions, Dark Horse graphic novels, Spider-Verse, variant covers and more!

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel has revealed more details and a teaser image for Summer of Symbiotes, something they teased last October along with several other events for 2023. It’s less of a single-story crossover and more of a moniker they are using to describe a whole bunch of different symbiote-themed series, miniseries and events.

While many of the events teased on the image we’ve heard of before, like Carnage Reigns and Extreme Venomverse, there is one new one listed — Death of the Venomverse, which echoes the Death of the Spiderverse storyline we’re seeing in Spider-Man.

Here’s the description from Marvel:

It’s all leading to this! The epic adventures above are spiraling towards an explosive destination, and not all of your favorite symbiotes will survive the journey. The Carnage symbiote is more bloodthirsty than ever and heads to the multiverse for its greatest killing spree yet. But what is it after? Find out more when this upcoming limited series is announced at the Marvel Comics: Spider-Man & the Venomverse Panel at C2E2 2023!

C2E2 is coming up this weekend. Here’s the full teaser image:

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Dark Horse books a reservation for the ‘Lunar Lodge’

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Every soap opera fan knows that discovering your wife has secret hotel reservations will only lead to heartbreak, but when those reservations are for the Lunar Lodge, things get real deadly real fast.

Screenwriter Tyler Marceca makes his comics debut with artist Mirko Colak, colorist Brian Valenza and letterer Frank Cvetkovic on this new miniseries coming from Dark Horse Comics.

“The idea for Lunar Lodge was born from a simple, albeit screwy, question; if I were a werewolf, how would I protect myself and those around me on nights when the moon was full? I mean, who would want to wake up the morning after a full moon covered in blood and mud with no memory of how many people, and livestock, they killed. There would have to be a solution for this, right? And if there was a solution… you better believe some enterprising folks would find a way to profit from it,” Marceca said.

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Berger Books will adapt the opera ‘The Emperor of Atlantis’

Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay will bring to life a story written by two concentration camp prisoners.

While imprisoned at the Terezín concentration camp in Czechoslovakia by Hitler’s Nazi regime in 1943, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann wrote Der Kaiser von Atlantis, or The Emperor of Atlantis, a one-act opera that they never got to see performed. Now Dark Horse’s Berger Books will adapt the story into a graphic novel by Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay.

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis will also feature character designs by Ezra Rose and lettering by Richard Bruning. In addition to adapting the opera, the graphic novel will also feature an historical essay on the opera’s creators, as well as Kien’s artwork and photographs.

“Written in a concentration camp, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann’s opera is the truest form of artistic resistance, a middle finger to the Nazis and all authoritarians across history,” Maass said. “By adapting this fierce, genre-blending satire, we hope to introduce this nearly lost masterpiece to new audiences–and to challenge the tyrants of today.”

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