Sean Gordon Murphy pits ‘White Knight’ Joker against Gotham’s biggest threat — the Batman

‘White Knight,” a new seven-issue miniseries by Sean Gordon Murphy, introduces a world where a cured Joker tries to go straight — but still has it in for the Dark Knight.

Punk Rock Jesus creator Sean Gordon Murphy will take on Batman and the Joker in a new seven-issue miniseries called White Knight. According to DC Comics, the story will feature “a massive cast of heroes and villains” and explore a world where a “cured” Joker goes after Gotham’s greatest threat — Batman.

“We know Joker’s a genius, we know he’s relentless, and we know he can play the crowd, so why not make him a politician?” Murphy said. “Why not strip away the psychosis (the thing that’s holding him back) and let him challenge Batman unimpeded? And to make it even scarier, what if he did it legally and without breaking any rules, so that Batman couldn’t stop him?”

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DC & Archie & Harley & Ivy & Betty & Veronica & Dini & Andreyko & Braga

Creators Paul Dini, Marc Andreyko and Laura Braga team up for a crossover tale starring DC’s Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as they meet Archie Comics’ Betty and Veronica.

The distance between Gotham City and Riverdale is about to get much, much smaller, as DC Comics and Archie Comics bring together four of their most popular female characters for a big crossover: Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Betty and Veronica.

Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini will team with Marc Andreyko to write Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica, which will feature art by Laura Braga.

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DC Comics teases another Colonel Sanders comic

Worlds collide again as a third DC/KFC comic arrives in July.

The comic book/fast food crossover event of the decade is set to continue, as DC Comics teases a third comic featuring KFC mascot Colonel Sanders teaming with anyone and everyone in the DC Universe. The last two comics were pretty insane, so who knows what they have in store this time — we only have the promise that he’ll go where “no colonel has gone before.”

If you missed the first two issues, never fear — you can download both of them for free, courtesy of the DC Entertainment app and, of course, KFC. So don’t miss out on The Colonel of Two Worlds or The Colonel Corps. Be warned: they may make you hungry for chicken.

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Read Tom Scioli’s ‘director’s commentary’ for his ‘Super Powers’ stories

The creator shares more about his creative process for the back-up that ran in ‘Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye.’

Tom Scioli’s recent revival of DC’s Super Powers drew heavily not just from the source material, but from “The Source” as well, as he dove deep into DC lore, particularly Jack Kirby’s contributions, to tell a crazy new story. With that material being collected in the Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye trade paperback, Scioli took to his blog to share his commentary on his approach to the new story.

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Comics Lowdown: IDW adapts ‘The Force Awakens,’ Ringos slated for BCC

Plus: Jack Kirby and William Messner-Loebs to receive the Bill Finger Award, why millennials like webcomics and more.

IDW announced its all-ages Star Wars Adventures comic series a few months ago, but they sprang a surprise this week: In August, they will publish an 80-page graphic novel adaptation of the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The graphic novel, which is also intended for younger readers, is part of Disney’s Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi publishing program, which is designed to gin up excitement for the eighth movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which will be out in December. The writer of the adaptation is Alessandro Ferrari, and the art is provided by “a group of Disney artists intended to bridge the gap between Star Wars and traditional Disney animation, making it more attractive for younger audiences.” You’d think people with that sort of ability would merit an actual name credit, but I guess not. This same anonymous group has done other Star Wars graphic novel adaptations that were published by Disney Lucasfilm Press, and in fact, Bleeding Cool notes that this graphic novel was announced in an article about them almost a year ago. That means the big news is really the publisher—it looks like IDW, will launch Star Wars Adventures in September, is becoming the chief publisher of Star Wars comics for young readers.

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Bill Morrison named executive editor of MAD Magazine

The former creative director for Bongo will assume the role as MAD moves to the west coast; current Executive Editor John Ficarra will stay on until the end of the year through the transition.

Just the other day we were wondering about the future of MAD Magazine, and today we know: Bill Morrison has been named incoming executive editor of the long-running humor magazine. Per the press release from DC Comics, longtime and current Executive Editor John Ficarra, along with other key members of the MAD team, will continue to publish the magazine from MAD’s New York offices through the year’s end.

Morrison will report to Hank Kanalz, SVP, Editorial Strategy & Administration and begin to take on the day-to-day operations of the magazine, hire and direct a MAD editorial and creative team for both MAD magazine and MAD books, as well as manage the development and implementation of the annual publishing schedule.

“Joining up with the crew at MAD is thrilling, exciting and an incredible responsibility,” said Morrison. “I don’t know anyone who loves and respects MAD as much as I do. I’ll definitely have my work cut out for me, but I’m dedicated to upholding the high standards of absurd and irreverent humor that the public has come to expect from MAD. I’ve been asked if I will continue to include artist Al Jaffee in the magazine; as soon as I find out who he is, I’ll let everyone know.”

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Comics Lowdown | Bookscan charts, female readers and the Big Two

Comics gets a wake-up call, Wonder Woman gets a long-lost brother and Ted Rall gets SLAPPed.

It’s like comics is going through its half-year review, and manga and kids’ graphic novels get high marks but Marvel and DC get a low “needs improvement.” Heidi MacDonald has a long but very readable article at The Beat summarizing what’s going on: Comics are thriving, but not monthly comics and not in comic shops:

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King, Gerads team up on ‘Jack Kirby’s Jesus’ — Mister Miracle

New 12-issue series launches in August.

Paste Magazine shares the news that Tom King and Mitch Gerads, the team behind Vertigo’s popular The Sheriff of Babylon series, are teaming up on a Mister Miracle series at DC Comics. The 12-issue miniseries (Maxiseries? Is that still a thing?) launches in August. Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington will provide the covers.

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Nick Derington mixes it up with the Young Animal cast

Check out his cover for the comic that came out last weekend on Record Store Day.

I mentioned before that Gerard Way, former My Chemical Romance singer and current curator of DC Comics’ Young Animal line, released a song about Cave Carson for Record Store Day on April 22. (You can hear the song for yourself here).

The 12″ picture disc came with a comic — a “mixtape” sampler featuring material from the various Young Animal comics, along with a framing sequence by Way and artist Michael Allred. If you didn’t make it out to your local record shop this past weekend to see it for yourself, Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington has posted the cover on his Tumblr.

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Batman ’66 to meet the Legion of Super-Heroes, courtesy of the Allreds

Lee, Michael and Laura Allred team up for a one-shot featuring time travel, Egghead, Universo and more.

The creative team behind the DC/Young Animal Bug title Bug!: The Adventures of Forager will turn their attention to the 30th century this June in the Batman ’66 Meets The Legion of Super-Heroes one-shot special.

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DC previews ‘Bug,’ announces ‘Cave Carson’ back-up at WonderCon

Gerard Way shares that ‘Doom Patrol’ lives, announces Mike Allred will draw an issue in July.

WonderCon returned to Anaheim this weekend, and the crew behind DC’s Young Animal imprint were there for a panel on everybody’s favorite pop-up imprint. DC shared some of the highlights from the panel, including:

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‘Love is Love’ raises $165,000 for victims of Orlando Pulse nightclub attack

The benefit anthology Love is Love has raised more than $165,000 thus far through print and digital sales, according to the Washington Post and a press release from co-publisher IDW.

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