Tag: DC

Taylor + Robertson have a ‘twisted’ John Constantine story coming in September

‘Hellblazer: Rise & Fall’ brings the Vertigo bad boy to DC’s Black Label for a three-issue series.

DC Comics has announced Hellblazer: Rise & Fall, a new three-issue Black Label series by Tom Taylor (Suicide Squad, DCeased) and Darick Robertson (The Boys, New Warriors). The story involves a police detective, Aisha Bukhari, trying to solve the mystery behind the bodies of billionaires falling from the sky — with some help from her childhood friend, John Constantine.

If there’s any character who screams “Black Label,” it’s gotta be John Constantine.

“This is a very twisted book,” said Taylor. “But, I actually want to give people exactly the John they’ve seen before. I want to write the bloke who steps out of the shadows with the smirk, the lit cigarette and all the answers. I want a story of shocks and sadness and triumph in the face of utter horror.”

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Comics Lowdown: Can Disney stop cops from using the Punisher symbol?

Plus: News on Al Jaffe, Uncivilized Books, awards and more.

With police brutality once again in the public eye, many fans on social media have called out Disney/Marvel to put their litigious muscles to work and prevent cops from using the Punisher logo — a popular emblem with some members of law enforcement, despite the fact that Frank Castle is a criminal and a killer.

First, you can find some history of both the character and its popularity with police here. That piece’s writer, Brian Cronin, is not only a contributor to CBR, but also a lawyer, and he offers his thoughts on why he doesn’t think Disney would have much success in an article titled “There’s Not Much Marvel Can Do About Cops Using Punisher’s Logo.” Cronin writes:

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Diamond, others respond to DC’s direct market decision

Retailers, publishers and industry react to DC dropping Diamond as a distributor.

DC’s announcement that they’ve ended their relationship with Diamond Comics Distributors in favor of working with Lunar and UCS, the two distributors that sprung into being during the coronavirus pandemic, sent shockwaves through the industry yesterday.

Diamond founder Steve Geppi responded to the news with a message of his own to retailers:

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DC Comics drops Diamond as they shift completely to Lunar, UCS

After 25 years, DC will distribute their comics to shops without the help of the industry’s traditional distributor.

DC Comics is cutting ties with Diamond Comics Distributors and will use the two new distributors that came into existence during the coronavirus pandemic to deliver comics to retailers.

Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors, the distributors with ties to comics retailers Discount Comic Book Service and Midtown Comics, will distribute periodicals to stores. Retailers can also order books through Penguin Random House, who handle DC’s trades and graphic novels for the book trade.

“After 25 years, DC and Diamond Comic Distributors are ending their long-standing relationship,” a spokesperson from DC told The Hollywood Reporter. “Moving forward, comic book retailers can obtain their DC books from Penguin Random House, or their books and periodicals through Lunar or UCS comic book distributors. DC continues to be committed to providing the Direct Market with best in class service and the fans with the world’s greatest comic books.”

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DC launches a Batman ‘prelude’ comic on Instagram

The story leads into ‘Batman’ #92, which arrives in June.

Batman made his Instagram debut this week in a comic that will serve as a “prelude” to Batman #92, which is set to land in stores on June 9.

“Hey! While on break, I cooked up a handful of prelude stories with Guillem March to give you a taste of Gotham while you’re waiting for Batman to return next month,” writer James Tynion IV said on Twitter. “They’ll be on DC’s Instagram, in their stories. The first of them is up now, featuring PUNCHLINE!”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Going ‘MAD’ on a ‘Rogue Planet’

Marvel returns to comic shops this week, as some DC books are delayed.

Another week brings more comics back to comic shops, as this week Marvel will have new print comics in comic shops for the first time in weeks. A couple DC books, however, look like they’re delayed this week, including Flash and Aquaman. Stores getting their books from DC’s other distributors have been asked to not put them on sale yet, according to the report from Newsarama.

If you’re looking for some recommendations on what you should get, here are some thoughts from the Smash Pages crew. 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.

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Mail Call | DC announces a new monthly digital catalog

Plus: Criminal’s ‘Cruel Summer,’ Green Lantern, a ‘Wynd’ trailer and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Now that they’re using multiple distributors, it makes sense that DC Comics would launch a new means for communicating distribution information vs. just limiting it to Diamond’s Previews. That seems to be DC Connect, a new, downloadable catalog they announced this week. It contains information on upcoming comics and graphic novels, with plans to expand it to include “talent interviews, preview pages from upcoming stories, behind-the-scenes looks at projects in development, multimedia content and more.”

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New ‘DCeased’ story launches on digital today

‘DCeased: Hope at World’s End’ sets the stage for next month’s ‘DCeased: Dead Planet’ series.

DC Comics’ popular DCeased comics made a surprise return today, as a new digital comic featuring the “zombiefied” versions of DC’s heroes shambled onto digital platforms today.

DCeased: Hope At World’s End is now available across multiple platforms, including ReadDC.com, Comixology, Amazon Kindle, Apple Books and the DC Universe app.

“There was a point in DCeased where we had to make the decision to skip weeks of losses and triumphs and heroism or our first miniseries wouldn’t exactly be a miniseries,” said writer Tom Taylor in a press release. “But we knew we had a larger story to tell, so we seeded plots we could expand on and deliberately left huge characters off the table for the future. That future is here.”

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Johns + Fabok’s ‘Three Jokers’ will arrive in August

Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson’s long-awaited project gets delayed due to the coronavirus.

DC Comics has announced a new release date and revealed more preview art for Three Jokers, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman/Joker story that was scheduled for June.

“As more stores are finding ways to operate and service their customers, our release schedule is under constant review,” said SVP and Editor-In-Chief Bob Harras. “From placing orders to on sale, moving Batman: Three Jokers to August will enable more stores to order and sell this incredible story that Geoff and Jason have crafted.”

Check out the preview art below, featuring colors by Brad Anderson:

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Mail Call | Clownhunter joins the ‘Joker Wars’

Plus: X of Swords, Star Wars manga, free Scooby comics and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel is hyping up their next X-Men event with some new promo art for X-Men: X of Swords, which was announced right before the pandemic at C2E2. Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Pepe Larraz bring you X-Men: X of Swords: Creation #1 in September.

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‘The Dreaming: Waking Hours’ arrives in August

The new Sandman Universe series will feature a nightmare named Ruin, by G. Willow Wilson and Nick Robles.

After wrapping up The Dreaming with issue #20 last month, DC Comics has announced the follow-up series by Ms. Marvel co-creator G. Willow Wilson and Euthanauts artist Nick Robles — The Dreaming: Waking Hours — will now debut in August.

The story will focus on Ruin, “the nightmare of catastrophic failure,” who finds his way into the waking world.

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DC releases trailer for ‘Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed’

The YA graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, Leila del Duca, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Saida Temofonte arrives in June.

DC Comics has shared a new trailer for Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed, a new young adult graphic novel drawn by the wonderful Leila del Duca.

She’s joined by author Laurie Halse Anderson, writer of books like Speak and Chain, colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick and letterer Saida Temofonte.

According to DC, the graphic novel “follows Diana as she is separated from her family and her home and becomes a refugee and immigrant in a new world. As Diana battles for social justice and discovers new friendships, she must grow into her strength to begin a new life away from Themyscira.”

Check out the trailer below:

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