MAD Magazine to stop newsstand distribution after 67 years

Mad will cease to be available on newsstands, with new material only available in the year-end specials.

After 67 years of publishing, MAD Magazine will cease to be available on newsstands, with new material only available in the year-end specials.

The last surviving title of the EC Comics line and the most culturally significant American satire magazine, MAD, will undergo a major transformation as newsstand distribution ceases. It will only be available to the direct market and subscribers, will reprint old content from their 67-year library and only create new material for the year-end specials.

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DC Black Label announces new high fantasy series, ‘The Last God’

Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Dean White and Tom Napolitano tell the story of ‘a cross-generational quest to kill an evil tyrant king.’

Epic fantasy and horror will collide in a new series from DC Black Label — The Last God, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Dean White and Tom Napolitano.

According to the press release, the story “will follow a cross-generational quest to kill an evil tyrant king—also known as the Last God—as he seeks to destroy the land of Cain Anuun.”

“This is a terrifying horror story told in a stunning epic-fantasy world,” Johnson said. “Set in two different generations, it follows a mighty fellowship of heroes that travels beyond the borders of creation to kill a god, and the next generation, who learn their predecessors aren’t the heroes the world believes them to be.”

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Joe Hill to oversee pop-up imprint at DC

Hill House Comics brings new work from Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Kelley Jones and more.

Locke & Key co-creator Joe Hill is making a big return to comics with House Hill Comics, a pop-up imprint from DC. House Hill Comics will launch with five miniseries this fall, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I’ve always been a comic book writer first,” Hill told EW. “When I started writing comics, I felt almost instantly that I had discovered my element. It was the version of writing I liked best. I felt, when I worked in comics, that my strengths were amplified, and the stuff I struggled with as a writer almost completely vanished. Working on Locke & Key was one of the most satisfying creative experiences of my life. But it’s tremendously exciting to get back into it: scripting again, working with artists, working with other writers. Working in comics is the closest you can get as a storyteller to feeling like what it must be like to be in the Rolling Stones.”

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DC announces new YA/DC Kids projects at ALA

New titles for 2020 and 2021 announced at the American Library Association’s annual convention.

Although they may be dropping the DC Ink and DC Zoom (the latter is still a better name than DC Kids) brands, DC has announced a slew of new projects and updates for their young readers line at the American Library Association’s annual convention this weekend.

Of note in this latest list are several new Teen Titans Go! books; with the comic cancelled as of September, it’s good to see that the young reader-friendly material based on the show will continue. You’ve also got new material by Jeffrey Brown, Art Baltazar and Franco, Louise Simonson, Mariko Tamaki and Leila del Duca. And finally, John Constantine, of all characters, will finally make the leap into a YA title, courtesy of Ryan North and Derek Charm.

Check out the full list below.

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DC rebrands its publishing; Vertigo to go away at end of the year

Black Label will survive as Vertigo, DC Ink and DC Zoom all get the axe.

Rumors of Vertigo’s demise have proven to be true, as DC Comics has announced a rebranding of its content into three age-specific labels: DC Kids, DC and DC Black Label. The Vertigo imprint will be “sunset” at the end of the year, along with the DC Zoom and DC Ink labels.

“We’re returning to a singular presentation of the DC brand that was present throughout most of our history until 1993 when we launched Vertigo to provide an outlet for edgier material,” said DC Publisher Dan DiDio in a press release. “That kind of material is now mainstream across all genres, so we thought it was the right time to bring greater clarity to the DC brand and reinforce our commitment to storytelling for all of our fans in every age group. This new system will replace the age ratings we currently use on our material.”

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Stjepan Šejić explores Harley Quinn’s origin

‘Harleen’ is about good people ‘falling in love, falling from grace and falling apart.

DC Comics’ Black Label line continues to grow this September with the addition of Harleen, a new miniseries by Stjepan Šejić (Sunstone).

The miniseries will offer a different take on the origin of Harley Quinn, exploring her past as a psychologist and her first meeting with The Joker.

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‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ returns from Bendis + Sook

A two-issue series starring DC’s myriad future characters will kick off the new series.

DC Comics’ teen heroes from the future have been in an extended break for a few years now, but that’s all about to change. DC has announced that the Legion of Super-Heroes will return to their own title by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook following a two-issue series titled Legion Of Super-Heroes: Millennium.

This two-issue prelude will feature art by Jim Lee, Ryan Sook, Nicola Scott and others.

It focuses on “a most unlikely tour guide to the 31st Century, a familiar face to DC fans who finds herself suddenly immortal. As she learns to cope with her newfound immortality and the reason she was chosen for this quest, her 1,000-year odyssey will connect all of DC’s future timelines for the very first time.” This is interesting, as it sounds like Bendis is cleaning up or at least connecting all of DC’s future characters and timelines in a similar fashion to what he’s doing with all their spy agencies in Leviathan.

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Lemire offers updates on ‘Inferior Five,’ ‘Family Tree’

Both series will debut this fall.

In his email newsletter, comics creator Jeff Lemire gave updates on two previously announced comic book projects this week.

“My long gestating project with the great PHIL HESTER, called FAMILY TREE, will finally launch in November from Image Comics,” Lemire said. “Phil is working on issue 3 as I write this and I’ve written seven scripts so far. Eric Gapstur will be joining us as the inker, and Ryan Cody will be coloring. Will Dennis is editing.”

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DC announces Black Label Joker/Harley mini by Garcia, Mayhew, Suayan

The nine-issue series debuts in October.

Yesterday’s DC Ink news about Beast Boy wasn’t the only Kami Garcia news that DC had to share at BookCon — although this second project sounds like it might skew just a little bit older than the YA OGN DC Ink announced.

The best-selling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series of novels is also working on a new Black Label title for the publisher, Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity, with artists Mike Mayhew and Mico Suayan. The nine-issue miniseries “follows Harley Quinn, the young and brilliant forensic psychiatrist and profiler consulting for the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), as she pursues a vicious killer terrorizing the city.” With that killer being, of course, the Joker.

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DC Ink announces Beast Boy OGN and more at BookCon

Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo, whose ‘Raven’ young-adult graphic novel comes out in July, will turn their attention to another Teen Titan.

DC Comics announced an ambitious slate of titles for its DC Ink and DC Zoom younger reader lines last year, and this weekend at BookCon 2019 they announced one new title and firmed up the creative teams for several more on the DC Ink side.

Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo, whose Teen Titans:Raven YA graphic novel comes out in July, are working next on a Teen Titans: Beast Boy graphic novel.

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King to leave ‘Batman’ for new ‘Batman/Catwoman’ title

Tom King and Clay Mann will launch the 12-issue series in January.

Following rumors earlier this week that writer Tom King would leave Batman earlier than expected, DC Comics has made it official: King’s work on the title continues through December, when the “City of Bane” story will wrap up in Batman #85. A new, as-yet-unrevealed creative team will take over the title in January 2020, when DC will launch Batman/Catwoman by King and artist Clay Mann.

Batman, which currently comes out biweekly, will shift to a monthly schedule in January. Batman/Catwoman is being billed as a 12-issue maxi-series.

“We’re making changes to our comic book publishing line to set DC up for continued success,” said DC’s editor-in-chief Bob Harras. “We’re starting with the bestselling Batman comic after ‘City of Bane’ wraps up in December. ‘City of Bane’ is an incredible story and an integral part of our overall ‘Year of the Villain’ campaign, and a new Tom King and Clay Mann Bat/Cat series in 2020 fills the gap once BATMAN begins to ship monthly.”

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Neal Adams to write and draw ‘Batman vs. Ra’s al Ghul’

DC’s ‘Year of the Villain’ continues in August with a new miniseries about one of Batman’s greatest foes.

DC Comics is giving the devil his due this year in their “Year of the Villain” event, which will come to a head in the fall with lots of broken comic logos. But before that, Neal Adams will pit Batman against his son’s grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul, in a six-issue miniseries.

Here’s how DC describes the comic:

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