Tag: graphic novels

Baron + Carbonetti open the door on the mystery of Jim Morrison’s death

The new graphic novel from the ‘Paul Is Dead’ team will arrive in June.

Image Comics has announced that the creators of Paul Is Dead, which featured the Beatles, will turn their attention to another 1960s icon for their next graphic novel — Jim Lives: the Mystery of the Lead Singer of The Doors and the 27 Club.

Paolo Baron and Ernesto Carbonetti will reunite for the graphic novel, which is about a father looking for his son — a correspondent for a popular American newspaper — who vanished after sending one last message: “jim morrison isn’t dead, he’s hiding out here in italy, i saw him with my own eyes.”

“I wrote Jim Lives by continuously listening to The Doors vinyl records while I was in the small village where I set the story,” said Baron. “At one point I really saw him. I mean Jim.”

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Our favorite comics of 2020

See what comics, graphic novels, comic strips and more the Smash Pages team enjoyed in 2020.

As we continue our look back at 2020, the Smash Pages crew offer their personal picks and perspectives on their favorite comics, comic strips and graphic novels from the year. Hopefully you’ll see something in this post that you haven’t read yet but will take some joy in discovering.

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Scholastic to publish ‘Magical Boy’

The award-winning webcomic created by The Kao will be compiled into print for the first time next fall.

Scholastic has announced plans to publish Magical Boy, the award-winning webcomic created by The Kao. The comic appears on the webcomics site Tapas.

“I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have Magical Boy be part of the Scholastic library and so thankful to Tapas for continuing to find ways to share my story,” said The Kao, aka Vincent Kao, who also creates Mondo Mango on the Tapas site. “As someone who spent my childhood reading Scholastic books, this is truly a dream come true. I can’t wait for readers everywhere to meet Max and join him on his journey of self-acceptance and magical misadventures. I hope Magical Boy will capture the hearts and imaginations of readers the same way that I was inspired by Scholastic stories when I was a younger reader.”

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Baker + Goux reteam for ‘Everyone Is Tulip’

The creators of ‘F*Ck Off Squad’ reunite for a new graphic novel about fame and the internet.

Dark Horse has announced a new graphic novel by the team of Dave Baker, Nicole Goux and Ellie Hall titled Everyone Is Tulip that examines the price of fame in the internet age.

“This project is a deeply personal work for me. It’s mined from experience, both personal and observed,” Baker said. “Everyone Is Tulip is a narrative centered around compromise. It seems to be the singular constant in the existence of most artists. How to mitigate it, how to embrace it, and how to live with it.”

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Dash Shaw announces ‘Discipline’

The new graphic novel will arrive next fall from the New York Review of Comics.

Comics creator and animator Dash Shaw, whose work includes Cosplayers, Doctors, New School and Bottomless Belly Button, among others, has announced a new graphic novel for next year.

Discipline, a graphic novel about Quakers who fought in the Civil War, will be published by New York Review Comics.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Trung Le Nguyen on ‘The Magic Fish’

The creator known as Trungles talks about the creation of his newest graphic novel, fairy tales and the nature of stories, and more.

Trung Le Nguyen, aka Trungles, has been making comics and illustrations for years, and this year released his debut book as writer and artist, The Magic Fish, which is one of the year’s best graphic novels.

The story of a relationship between a mother and son, it’s also a story about fairy tales, about the meaning of stories and how we use them. It’s a coming out and coming of age story that’s about immigration and loss. It is a small story about two people that opens up onto some many ideas and concerns in beautiful ways. It is a strikingly beautiful book with Nuguyen’s finest artwork to date, and a deeply moving story for people of all ages.

I interviewed Nguyen in 2018 about Twisted Romance, the Image Comics anthology, and I was thrilled to get to talk with him again about The Magic Fish.

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Fantagraphics’ 2021 line-up includes Windsor-Smith, Panter, Sala and more

See what the Seattle publisher will release in the first eight months of 2021.

I keep saying things like, “Man, am I going to be happy when the dumpster fire known as 2020 is finally over,” to which my wife will respond, “Hey, 2021 may not be any better.”

But here’s the thing: what my wife doesn’t realize is that 2021 has the distinct advantage of having a new Barry Windsor-Smith graphic novel coming out, courtesy of Fantagraphics. So take that, 2020.

Windsor-Smith’s Monster isn’t the only graphic novel the publisher will release, of course. They recently dropped us a note highlighting 16 other titles they have planned through August.

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights you can expect from the Seattle publisher next year:

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Image Comics to publish March’s ‘Karmen’ in the U.S.

Originally published in Europe, the comic will land in the United States next March.

Image Comics has announced plans to publish Karmen by Spanish creator Guillem March in the United States next March.

Originally published by Dupuis in Belgium as a graphic novel, Karmen will be translated and published as five single issues (with a collection following, no doubt).

The story is about a woman named Catalina, who recently committed suicide and is taken under the wing (quite literally) of a “strange and quirky” angel named Karmen.

“Karmen is a story about what it takes to make a real change in life. After working on it for six years, I can say I´ve put my all into this project,” said March. “I decided to write the script because I´m a much better storyteller when I´m doing the whole thing. If you know me from my superhero work, I´m sure Karmen will surprise you. I can´t express how proud I am of this book, and how happy I am that it will finally be released in print for the U.S. audience.”

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Dark Horse will publish Dave McKean’s ‘Raptor’ next summer

The OGN will be available in a standard edition and as a limited edition hardcover.

Dark Horse will publish Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel by Dave McKean next year.

McKean is the award-winning artist who worked on Batman: Arkham Asylum Violent Cases, Signal to Noise and Cages, and provided the covers for The Sandman. More recently he worked on Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash and founded the record label Feral Records.

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Drawn + Quarterly announces four new titles for Fall 2021

New titles by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Philippe Girard, Rutu Modan and more will arrive next year.

Drawn + Quarterly has been slowly revealing their Fall 2021 line-up ove rthe past several weeks, including new titles by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Philippe Girard and Rutu Modan.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect next year:

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Comics Lowdown | Court OKs contempt complaint against Indian cartoonist

Plus: Authors Guild objects to PRH-S&S deal, a look at the Eritrean comics scene and more!

Legal: The Indian Attorney General has given the go-ahead for contempt charges to be pressed against Rachita Taneja, creator of the webcomic Sanitary Panels, because of several Tweets that, the AG found, portray the Supreme Court of India as “biased towards the ruling party.” A law student, Aditya Kashyap, requested permission to begin contempt proceedings, citing three of Tanecha’s tweets, all of which are basically political cartoons.

Other Indian artists have spoken out publicly in support of Taneja, and on Dec. 2, Taneja tweeted “Thank you for the outpouring of love. I am filled with gratitude. It’s a rough time for a lot of people, and we’ll get through it by sticking together” along with a comic showing hearts pouring out of her computer:

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Third ‘Batman: Earth One’ graphic novel coming in June

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank return to tell a third tale of a younger Batman.

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will once again team up to tell another story about the Earth One Batman. The third graphic novel in DC’s series will arrive next June.

Johns and Frank will be joined by Jon Sibal and Brad Anderson, who they worked with on previous volumes in the series. Johns, Frank and Anderson also worked together on Three Jokers, which recently wrapped up, and will team up on the new Image title Geiger.

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