IDW to publish ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Avengers,’ ‘Black Panther’ series aimed at younger readers

Marvel and IDW team up to ‘develop middle-grade comic books designed for younger readers.’

I guess this shouldn’t come as a shock, given how Disney has licensed IDW to create Big Hero 6 and Star Wars comics aimed at younger readers, but still, that headline …

IDW and Marvel announced today that they “will develop middle-grade comic books designed for younger readers. Featuring some of Marvel’s most popular characters, the monthly issues and trade paperback collections, published by IDW, will be available for sale at local comic book shops and book retailers across the country, expanding opportunities for the next generation of Super Heroes to experience the Marvel Universe.”

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IDW announces their ‘Big Hero 6’ creative team

Hannah Blumenreich and Nicoletta Baldari bring the Disney characters back to comics.

IDW Publishing has announced the creative team and release date for Big Hero 6, the comic based a TV show based on a movie based on a Marvel comic that they announced at New York Comic-Con last year.

Hannah Blumenreich, creator of some pretty awesome “Spidey” fan comics as well as some that were published by Marvel, will write Big Hero 6. Nicoletta Baldari, who has worked for IDW on Star Wars: Forces of Destiny, will join her on art. (Baldari is also working on another Disney property, The Incredibles, over at Dark Horse). The first issue will feature covers by Gurihiru (Gwenpool) and Sophie Campbell (Jem and the Holograms, TMNT, Wet Moon).

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Fantagraphics’ ‘Disney Masters’ line begins in May

New line of hardcovers includes work by Romano Scarpa, Luciano Bottaro, Paul Murry, Freddy Milton and Daan Jippes.

Beginning in May, Fantagraphics will publish a new line called “Disney Masters,” building on their already impressive line of classic Disney comics collections. The new line is devoted to “Disney’s greatest cartoonists,” and will include the works of Romano Scarpa, Luciano Bottaro, Paul Murry, Freddy Milton and Daan Jippes.

These will be full-color hardcovers, running about 200 pages each. Many of these stories originated overseas, and this will be their first American appearance.

Here’s the rundown of what you can expect from the first four volumes, which come out later this year:

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IDW to adapt ‘Big Hero 6,’ the TV show based on a movie based on a comic, into a comic

New coming to be based on Disney XD television series.

At New York Comic Con this past weekend, IDW Publishing announced plans to publish a comic adaptation of Disney XD’s upcoming Big Hero 6 animated series, which is based on the movie of the same name, which in turn was inspired by a comic book published by Marvel.

Let’s take a second to get our heads around that.

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Comics Lowdown: We’re all doomed! Or not!

A writer predicts the demise of Marvel comics, but the DC honchos are bullish on their medium. Plus: Sitting down with Los Bros Hernandez.

Let’s kick things off with some doom and gloom! At the Disney theme park fan site The Kingdom Insider, Thom Pratt asks “Will Disney Stop Publishing Marvel Comic Books?” Pratt makes some good points: The Marvel universe most people are familiar with comes from the movies, not the comics; the comics themselves are not really accessible to most people, both literally (because of the uneven distribution and quality of comic shops) and figuratively (because the storylines cross over and the continuity is complex); and the profits are low relative to what a large corporation like Disney expects. Of course, this is all unvarnished speculation, with no insider knowledge, but there’s food for thought here—and as Pratt points out, Marvel is already outsourcing its digests to Archie and its young-readers Star Wars comics to IDW.

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‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ sequel is coming… to a comic shop near you

Tokyopop will release the sequel as single issue comics, full-colour tpbs and black & white “manga”

‘The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero’s Journey’ (Tokyopop)

In a surprising announcement, Tokyopop has secured a deal with Disney to publish a sequel to the 1993 Tim Burton stop-motion animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas in sequential art form. The beloved film has never had any official continuation until now.

Announced as a Hollywood Reporter exclusive,  The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero’s Journey will be written by D.J. Milky aka Stu Levy (Princess Ai) with art from Studio DICE (Beauty and the Beast). The story will follow Jack Skellington’s loyal dog, Zero, as he gets lost in Christmas Town.

Slated for spring 2018, the comics will be available for the 25th anniversary year of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The series will be released first as standard, serialized comic issues, then will be republished as a full colour tpb as well as black and white manga “pocket book” format graphic novels.

Comics Lowdown: Rest in peace Sam Glanzman, George Romero

Plus: teen romance, and Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others become Disney Legends

Sam Glanzman (1924-2017): Navy veteran and and Eisner Award-nominated comic artist Sam Glanzman, 92, passed away July 12. Over the span of his 75-year career in comics, Glanzman worked for Marvel, DC Comics, Charlton, Harvey and Dell, among others, on titles like G.I. Combat, Sgt. Rock, Hercules, Jonah Hex, Fightin’ Army, Savage Tales, Semper Fi, Zorro and Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle. Marvel published his A Sailor’s Story graphic novel in 1987, a personal account of his time on the U.S.S. Stevens during World War II. A sequel followed. New stories about his time on the U.S.S. Stevens appeared in DC’s Joe Kubert Presents six-issue anthology limited series, and those stories, along with the two volumes of A Sailor’s Story, were collected in U.S.S. Stevens: The Collected Stories, which is nominated for the Eisner Award this year. A successful Kickstarter campaign to bring Red Range, a story drawn by Glanzman and written by Joe R. Lansdale, recently wrapped up.

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IDW to publish ‘younger reader’ Star Wars comics

‘Star Wars Adventures’ launches this fall.

Coming out of the big Star Wars Celebration event that happened in Orlando last week, IDW Publishing has announced they’ve obtained the license to “create and publish new Star Wars comic books aimed at younger readers.” The first title is expected in the Fall, just in time for all the hype that’ll build for the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

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