Tag: Francesco Francavilla

Sgt. Rock takes on ‘Army of the Dead’ in a new miniseries from Campbell + Risso

The first issue arrives in September.

Bruce Campbell, who has literally fought zombies*, will put what he learned to good use in DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock Vs. The Army of the Dead. Eduardo Risso will illustrate the six-issue series.

Campbell has appeared in numerous televisions shows and movies over the years, including Burn Notice, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Evil Dead, Army of Darkness and most recently he had a cameo role in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Risso is probably best known for his work on 100 Bullets, the long-running Vertigo series.

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Halloween comes early for Archie Comics in August

Lil’ Jinx hosts an Archie Horror one-shot, while a classic Archie story revisits the world of “Mirrordale.”

Archie Comics is starting the Halloween festivities early this year — well, early for most people. My wife actually starts decorating for Halloween at the beginning of September, and she’d probably go even earlier if I let her.

But I digress — Archie’s solicitations bring news of three Halloween-themed projects for the publisher. First up is Jinx’s Grim Fairy Tales, an anthology of spooky stories hosted by Lil’ Jinx, a character created in 1946 by Joe Edwards.

“Jinx is a character we’ve been wanting to explore more and we’re so excited we finally get the chance to . . . and what better way than having her as the cool babysitter who scares kids with creepy stories?” said Jamie L. Rotante, Archie’s senior director of editorial . “I mean, her name is JINX, how perfect is that? We were so happy we were able to blend the framework of spooky fairy tales and Jinx as our eager narrator and protagonist.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Scott Snyder on ‘Clear’ and more

The writer and teacher discusses the first three comics released through his exclusive deal with comiXology Originals.

Scott Snyder made a splash earlier this year by announcing eight new comics coming out digitally through comiXology and then in print from Dark Horse Comics.

Three very different first issues have already come out from the line:

  • We Have Demons, which re-teams Snyder with Greg Capullo after the duo’s long run on Batman and other DC projects.
  • Clear, a cyberpunk tale featuring art and colors by Francis Manapul.
  • And Night of the Ghoul, a monster horror tale drawn by Francesco Francavilla.

With these three books out, I checked in with Snyder about the books and how they represent what he’s thinking about right now.

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Are you ready for ‘Scottober’?

Your Best Jackett’s required for a month of new comics from Scott Snyder, comiXology Originals and more.

This October, prepare yourself for a lot of Scott Snyder.

The writer of American Vampire, Death Metal, Batman, Nocterra and more — as well as comic book instructor on Substack — will kick off his new line of comiXology Originals titles with We Have Demons, his collaboration with Greg Capullo, who he worked with on Batman and more. The first issue arrives next Tuesday, Oct. 5, followed by two more titles later in the month.

“October has been deemed ‘Scottober’ at comiXology Originals,” said Chip Mosher, comiXology’s Head of Content, in a press statement. “With the arrival of We Have Demons featuring widescreen action and the kind of jaw-dropping storytelling twists that have made Snyder and Capullo the bestselling creator duo of the last 25 years, followed by Clear, Snyder’s first noir thriller and Manapul’s first ever creator-owned book, which is a dazzling, sci-fi thrill ride into a strange dystopian future, and in the lead up to the most terrifying night of the year, Snyder and Francavilla—two modern masters of horror—collaborate for the first time with Night of The Ghoul, a bold and bloody re-imagining of monsters that celebrates classic creature features.”

Here’s a trailer for the three October — sorry, Scottober — titles:

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Archie announces ‘Chilling Adventures in Sorcery’ for November

The anthology will feature the return of Madam Satan and other horror stories by a variety of creators.

Archie Comics has announced a new anthology, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, that will make its debut in November.

Jamie L. Rotante, who became senior director of editorial for Archie earlier this year, is overseeing the anthology, which is described as an expansion of last year’s Madam Satan one-shot.

“This horror anthology is the perfect love letter to both classic Archie tales and the more modern stories,” said Rotante. “The genre lends itself to have a timeless appeal to audiences and I believe that plays a factor into the excitement for Archie horror comics.”

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‘Vader’s Castle’ strikes back: Cavan Scott revisits ‘Star Wars’ horror

The 5-issue mini-series will run weekly with art by Francesco Francavilla, Derek Charm, Robert Hack and more

Now an annual Halloween tradition reminiscent of the beloved Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror, IDW’s haunting look at Star Wars returns this September for the fourth year in a row. Get ready for zombie droids, giant Wookies and maybe Jedi ghosts that go bump in the night.

Writer Cavan Scott is back to helm the weekly mini-series Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle with a murderer’s row of artists. Joining him will be artists Francesco Francavilla, Derek Charm, Megan Levens, Robert Hack, Chris Fenoglio and others, along with editor Heather Antos. Scott’s Star Wars bonafides run deep. He’s the author of the Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space novels and one of the architects of Lucasfilm’s The High Republic publishing initiative.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Chip Mosher on ‘Blacking Out,’ bande dessinée and billboards

The writer of ‘Left on Mission’ returns with a new comic that’s currently up on Kickstarter.

As the Head of Content for comiXology Originals, Chip Mosher already has a pretty great day job, working with creators to bring original content to the digital comics provider.

But before working there and for his previous employer, BOOM! Studios, he wanted to write comics, and in fact wrote Left on Mission, with artist Francesco Francavilla, which was published by BOOM! before he joined them to handle marketing.

Now, more than a decade later, he’s returned to the creative side and has written something new, Blacking Out, featuring artwork by Peter Krause, Giulia Brusco and Ed Dukeshire. It’s currently up on Kickstarter, where it blew past its modest $500 goal in the first 8 minutes of the campaign.

I spoke with Mosher at length about the new project, what inspired the format, how he’s promoting it and more.

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IDW returns to ‘Vader’s Castle’ for more spooky Star Wars

Cavan Scott and six artists put the spotlight on Star Wars villains this October.

IDW Publishing is heading back to the castle for more chilling Star Wars tales featuring some of the galaxy’s best villains.

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle is a five-part series that will run in October, featuring writer Cavan Scott and six different artists.

“I am over the moon to be returning to Vader’s Castle for another helping of Halloween horror from a galaxy, far, far away. And what better way to celebrate the scariest time of the year than by focusing on the villains of the Star Wars saga?” says Scott. “The response to our last visit to Mustafar was phenomenal, and I hope fans will join us once again, embracing the dark side in the company of Sith, warlords, and crazed Imperial scientists.”

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Comic creators share their #spidersona

Joe Quinones, Tony Moore, Dave Johnson and more share their interpretations of the popular meme that spun out of ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.’

Since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hit theaters last month, fans of the film have been sharing their #spidersona on social media. These creations often imagine the artist as a Spider-character.

Many pros have gotten in on the fun as well; here’s a collection of a few we’ve noticed. You can check out more — many, many more! — on Twitter and Instagram.

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‘Star Wars Adventures’ get creepy with ‘Tales from Vader’s Castle’

Fear leads to the dark side as a host of horror descends on the Star Wars universe.

IDW is heading to the even darker side with a new miniseries that combines Star Wars with “campfire ghost stories” — Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle.

The five-part series will run for five weeks in October (of course!) and will feature stories by Cavan Scott, Derek Charm, Kelley Jones, Chris Fenoglio, Corin Howell, Robert Hack and Charles Paul Wilson III, and covers by Francesco Francavilla (again, I say, of course!)

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Francesco Francavilla celebrates Black History Month

The comics creator shares portraits of Jack Johnson, Alice Coachman and many more.

In honor of Black History Month, artist Francesco Francavilla has been sharing portraits he’s done of various Black athletes, including Jack Johnson, Wally Triplett and Alice Coachman. He’s been sharing them on both his Tumblr and his Twitter feeds.

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Inktober spotlight: Francesco Francavilla’s movie monsters

The artist tackles Beetlejuice, Darkman and more, just in time for Halloween.

October is not only the scariest month, but it’s also Inktober, where artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists are participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the “can’t miss” ones we’ve seen so far.

Artist Francesco Francavilla is no stranger to horror, having worked on Archie Comics’ flagship horror title Afterlife with Archie. The artist celebrates both Halloween and Inktober with a series of sketches of movie monsters, from classics like the Bride of Frankenstein to more modern horrors like Beetlejuice. Check out some of them below, and you can see more of them on Twitter.

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