Tag: graphic novels

Preview | Take a look at Lonnie Mann’s debut graphic novel ‘Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood’

Check out a preview of the new graphic novel from Street Noise Books.

Courtesy of Street Noise Books, we’re pleased to share a preview of Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood by Lonnie Mann.

This autobiographical graphic novel details Mann’s childhood in an Orthodox Jewish community where “being gay is a sin and an abomination.” As Mann gets older, he realizes he’s gay and must come to terms with what that means for his relationship with his family and his religion, as well as his own identity and happiness. Mann originally published his story on Tapas, where it was nominated for an Ignatz Award last year.

Gaytheist arrives in stores this week. You can find more information from the publisher as well as the preview pages below.

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Image Comics will publish Sabir Pirzada’s ‘Dandelion’

The graphic novel anthology will include stories drawn by Martín Morazzo, Vanesa R. Del Rey, Eric Koda and more.

Ms. Marvel writer Sabir Pirzada has a new project coming from Image Comics this summer — Dandelion, an anthology graphic novel featuring “climate crisis-infused tales” drawn by several different artists.

“It’s been a grand undertaking to gather some of the industry’s hottest artists, and build a shared continuity where they could take inspiration from one another in illustrating a wide range of genres that all add up to a larger world of speculative fiction with a mystery unfolding in the background: who is the founder of the Dandelion ship?” Pirzada said. “We are excited to present a unique reading experience as can only exist in an anthology graphic novel format.”

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This is … Spinal Cord!

Dark Horse will release a new heavy metal-themed graphic novel by David Braña and Pahito this fall.

The Midnight: Shadows isn’t the only music-themed graphic novel coming from Dark Horse this year. This week the publisher also announced Spinal Cord, a heavy metal horror graphic novel written by David Braña and illustrated by Pahito.

It’s a tale as old as time — a heavy metal band wants to make it big, so they enter a competition that ends up being more than they bargained for.

“The idea of Spinal Cord had been in my head for a long time,” said Braña. “I wanted to write about a music band trying to make its way in today’s complicated industry. Pahito and I both love metal music, so after talking, the creative sparks flew for Spinal Cord. It has been a pleasure to travel Route 666 in his company. We have paid a well-deserved tribute to the music and we have let ourselves be carried away on an adventure with different styles of horror, with characters who feel and suffer and who try to achieve their dreams, like most of us. Now I just hope readers enjoy this journey too!

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Dark Horse teams with synthwave band The Midnight for a new graphic novel

Zack Kaplan, Stephen Thompson and Jahnoy Lindsay will bring the band’s music to the comics page.

Music and comics will collide in a new graphic novel this fall, as the synthwave band The Midnight teams with Dark Horse for The Midnight: Shadows.

Written by Zack Kaplan with art by Stephen Thompson and artist Jahnoy Lindsay, the graphic novel is about a soon-to-be father who gets literally sucked into a cyberpunk video game from his youth called The Midnight. Colorist Thiago Rocha and letterer DC Hopkins round out the team.

“Before I got the privilege to write this graphic novel, I was a fan,” Kaplan said. “Intoxicated by the immersive beats and heartfelt lyrics since their very first demo. It was no surprise to me to see them become one of today’s best synthwave bands. Their presence is so narrative that it was dying to be shared in this form. And it’s been a joy to bring it all to comic life, to partner with Dark Horse for such a vivid and mind-bending series, and to create this electrifying world with a powerhouse creative team, Stephen, Jahnoy, Thiago and DC, that will blow your mind with one visually stunning page after the next. Whether you are a listener of the music or you just love a good sci-fi adventure, we cannot wait to take you to that place half in dark and half in light, where arcade dreams are a reality, where heroes battle monsters. Get ready for a truly epic, synth wave adventure.”

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Quick Hits | ‘Demon Slayer,’ Dav Pilkey, Bill Watterson top 2023 graphic novel sales charts

Plus: ‘Monica’ wins in Angouleme, the Bram Stoker Awards ballot and more.

Pulling information from Circana BookScan, ICv2 has listed the top 20 graphic novels sold in 2023 in the superhero, manga and “author” categories. They’ve also posted lists of the top adult and kid’s graphic novels.

Looking through the lists (which don’t provide exact numbers, just rankings), it looks like the first volume of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge is the big winner, topping both the manga chart and the adult graphic novel chart. Or maybe I should say “a big winner,” because over on the kid’s graphic novel chart, Dav Pilkey rules supreme, as Dog Man and its Cat Kid Comics Club spinoff took 13 of the 20 positions, including the top 3.

Also, I’m not exactly sure how the superhero and author categories are defined. For instance, the Invincible Compendium shows up on the author list — which makes sense, given how popular the Amazon show is — with Robert Kirkman listed as the author. But I would have expected it to be on the superhero list, given it’s about superheroes and Kirkman isn’t the sole author.

Then for superhero graphic novels, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin hardcover topped the list, followed by Tokyopop’s Nightmare Before Christmas: Battle for the Pumpkin King manga. I think you could make the argument that the Last Ronin is a superhero title, but the Nightmare Before Christmas manga seems like it’s in the wrong place. But maybe I’m misunderstanding the catgeories.

All that aside, sales numbers for comics disappeared during the pandemic when the industry went from a single distributor to multiple distributors, so seeing any kind of data like this is appreciated and interesting.

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Slugfest | Dark Horse resurrects ‘Lester of the Lesser Gods’

Plus: The Winx saga continues, Usagi turns 40, the Dreadnoks return and more!

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Lester of the Lesser Gods, which was originally published by Albatross Funnybooks, is finding new life at Dark Horse this year.

Written by Eric Powell and Lucky Yates, and featuring artwork by Gideon Kendall, Lester began life as unproduced animated short before finding its way to comics.

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Slugfest | ‘Masters of the Universe’ starts a ‘Revolution’

Plus: Check out news and announcements on Ghost Machine, Spider-Man, Archie Horror, Dr. Frederic Wertham and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Dark Horse has announced another miniseries tie-in to the Masters of the Universe Netflix show, which returns to the streaming platform on Jan. 25.

Masters of the Universe: Revolution is written by show producers Tim Sheridan, Rob David and Ted Biaselli, with illustrations by Daniel HDR, inking by Keith Champagne, coloring by Brad Simpson and lettering by AndWorld Design. The first issue features a variant cover by Tyler Boss:

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DC will publish YA takes on Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle this year

DC will collect ‘Young Diana’ by Jordie Bellaire and Paulina Ganucheau, and publish a Blue Beetle OGN by Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo.

DC has announced two projects coming later this year aimed at the young adult market, which include a Wonder Woman collection and a new Blue Beetle graphic novel.

Up first is Wonder Woman: The Adventures of Young Diana, written by Jordie Bellaire and drawn by Paulina Ganucheau. These stories originally ran as a back-up in the regular Wonder Woman title starting 2021, and featured a look at Diana’s early life on Themyscira.

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Nominees announced for the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards

Nominees this year include ‘Poison Ivy,’ ‘Roaming,’ ‘Heartstopper’ and more.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, have announced the nominees for the 35th annual Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues that affect their lives.

The awards feature two categories dedicated to comics — one for comics books and one for graphic novels. Last year Poison Ivy and the anthology Young Men in Love won in those categories, with Poison Ivy receiving another nomination this year. Dark Horse Comics received five nominations this year across the two categories, followed by DC with four and Marvel with three.

Check out the nominations for both categories below, and visit the GLAAD site for the rest of the nominations across TV, film, and more.

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‘Verse’ returns to the web before the release of a third print collection

The conclusion to Sam Beck’s epic fantasy will arrive in print this summer.

Verse, the long-running webcomic by Sam Beck that went offline when Vault Comics began collecting it in print, has returned to the web as Beck and Vault prepare to release the third and final volume, Verse: The Song.

“I started Verse off as a webcomic, so you can’t imagine how thrilled I am that it’s finally returning to the web,” Beck said. “It’s always been important to me to bring it back to its original form, and I hope it gets everyone excited for the final book in the series.”

Verse is set on a world where magic is feared–only evil monsters known as Vell use it. But when the main character, Fife, discovers a girl named Neitya with mysterious powers, they team up on an adventure that will change everything.

Here’s a look at the cover for the third volume:

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Warren Pleece returns to Dark Horse for ‘a dystopian eco-noir thriller’

The creator of ‘Incognegro’ will write and draw a new graphic novel for the Berger Books imprint.

Incognegro creator Warren Pleece will return with a new graphic novel next year from Berger Books, the Dark Horse imprint run by former Vertigo chief Karen Berger.

The Sunny-Luna Travelling Oracle is described as “a dystopian eco-noir thriller about power, escape, creation, and the mark we leave on the world.”

“My love of the natural world and learning about the Wood Wide Web grafted to my other permanent obsession with the long dramatic shadows cast by classic film noir, finally led me to this rip-snorting eco-thriller story with more than a touch of magic,” Pleece said.

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Oni will publish a collection of Boulet’s observational cartoons

‘Boulet’s Notes: Back in Time’ will bring comics from the cartoonist’s popular blog to the United States.

Oni Press will collect several of famed French cartoonist Boulet’s comics in a hardcover volume next year. Boulet’s Notes: Back in Time will pull from Boulet’s blog, where he has regularly posted comic strips and observational comics for the last two decades.

“Boulet’s improvisational, imaginative, and insanely creative comic strips have been a key part of the world of webcomics since he started posting them online way back in the early 2000s,” said translator and editor François Vigneault. “This new collection, featuring a curated and newly translated selection of his work from the early years, is truly a ticket back in time to the start of the webcomics era!”

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