Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Absolute Superman’ brings hope to a troubled world

This week brings new comics by Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, Ryan Little, Kelly Sue DeConnick, David López, Jamie McKelvie, Caitlin Yarsky, Jeff Lemire and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I was hoping to have this out earlier, but, you know, it’s one of those days. Sometimes you get work done, sometimes you spend your time stress-eating leftover Halloween candy while you read election news. In any event, this next part of the U.S. election cycle could be another marathon, not a sprint, but at least tomorrow you should have plenty of comics to distract you.

There’s lots of great stuff, too; I’m happy to report that the Captain Marvel team — the ones who redesigned and rebooted Carol Danvers — are in full force this week, as Kelly Sue DeConnick and David López re-team for a creator-owned title at Dark Horse, while Captain Marvel designer Jamie McKelvie has his own new series debuting from DSTLRY. There’s also the third Absolute title landing, the comic book debut of a Marvel Cinematic Universe character and … DuckTales! (I assume you know what to do when someone yells “DuckTales,” right?)

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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DC reveals more details on their ‘All In’ line-ups

The publisher has shared creative teams and cover art for three Absolute Universe titles, along with plans for several DCU series in the post-‘Absolute Power’ era.

If you missed the YouTube video yesterday, DC has revealed their next publishing initiative, All In, which will see several creative team changes and the birth of a whole new universe. Headed up by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, the Absolute Universe will come into being thanks to Darkseid in October’s All In one-shot.

And today DC revealed some of the creative teams you can expect to see on some of the Absolute titles and the regular DC titles.

Starting first with the DC Absolute Universe — which is what they’re calling it in the press release, so we can assume that’s the official name — the line will launch with Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, as revealed yesterday. The first issue will come out Oct. 9. It’ll be followed by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s reinvention of Wonder Woman “from the ground up” in Absolute Wonder Woman #1, due out Oct. 23. Then you have Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval launching Absolute Superman #1 on Nov. 6.

“The creation of the AbsoluteUniverse is how I always imagined coming back to DC, and DC All In will be a great jumping-on point for new readers as well as lapsed fans to discover new stories to love and the chance to explore the new directions in store for DC’s core series lineup,” Snyder said in the press release.

Here’s more details and cover art for those titles, along with several DCU titles (which they refer to as the “Core Line” in the press release):

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Gatchaman’ returns courtesy of Cullen Bunn + Chris Batista

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Mariko Tamaki, Javier Rodríguez, Ethan Aldridge, Derek Landy, Sara Pichelli and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

This week brings Mad Cave’s Gatchaman series to comic shops, as well as a prelude chapter for DC’s Absolute Power and the penultimate chapter of Marvel’s Blood Hunt. You’ve also got the return of Thanos, more Resident Alien, a new Zatanna comic and Ethan Aldridge’s latest graphic novel, among others.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Gatchaman’ returns courtesy of Cullen Bunn + Chris Batista”

Nominees announced for the 2023 Dragon Awards

The awards, which include a comics category, have been presented annually during DragonCon since 2016.

The nominees have been announced for the 2023 Dragon Awards, which have been presented annually during DragonCon since 2016.

The awards include multiple categories for books, media tie-ins like movies and video games, and comics. This year the “Best Comic Book” and “Best Graphic Novel” categories have been combined into a single category — “Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel.”

The nominees in the comics and graphic novel category are:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Discover the secret architecture beneath the internet in ‘Worldtr33’

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Tim Seeley, Gisele Lagace, Jelena Dordevic, Paul Cornell, Valeria Burzo, Skottie Young, Humberto Ramos, Devin Kraft, Ryan Ottley and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | Discover the secret architecture beneath the internet in ‘Worldtr33’”

Can’t Wait for Comics | Celebrate 80 years of Captain America + Green Arrow

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Christopher Cantwell, Dale Eaglesham, Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, Stan Sakai, Ram V, Kyle Hotz, Ryan North, Derek Charm and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW and more.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores — you can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s release — and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Re-reading ‘World’s Finest’ #258, the comic that got Jason Aaron into world-building

Tom Bondurant dives into a classic issue of DC’s ‘Dollar Comics’ line that helped inspire the architect of Marvel’s ‘Heroes Reborn’ event.

As part of our round-robin Heroes Reborn [2021] coverage, I learned that writer Jason Aaron’s first superhero comic book was August-September 1979’s World’s Finest Comics #258. Back then it was part of DC’s “Dollar Comics” line, boasting 68 pages’ and five features’ worth of colorful characters. In his newsletter, Aaron says

I fell in love with these books, in part because they didn’t just give me one story, but instead gave me a taste of an entire world of characters and adventures and history that was out there waiting for me. The sort of gargantuan super-world that would come to consume a large portion of the rest of my life. […] In other words, I think I’ve been primed from the beginning to want to build my own world of superheroes. And HEROES REBORN is maybe as close as I’ll ever come to doing exactly that.

It will surprise none of you to learn that I also read World’s Finest Comics regularly as a kid, especially during the Dollar Comics phase. (It lasted over five years and almost 40 issues, from April-May 1977’s #244 through August 1982’s #282; and a Green Arrow/Black Canary backup continued for a couple of issues past that.) Although the Dollar Comics line was largely an experiment in marketing and economics of scale, World’s Finest was pretty impressive among the company’s late-1970s output.

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Mail Call | DC celebrates 80 years of Wonder Woman, Green Arrow this year

Check out recent news and announcements from DC, Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

DC will celebrate milestone years for two characters in 2021, just like they’ve done for Batman, Superman and others over the last few years.

First up, on June 29, DC will release Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1, celebrating the 80th anniversary of Oliver Queen, who debuted in More Fun Comics back in 1941.

The anthology will feature stories by Mike Grell, Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Otto Schmidt, Ben Percy, Tom Taylor, Devin Grayson, Stephanie Phillips, Mariko Tamaki, Ram V, Vita Ayala, Nicola Scott, Chris Mitten, Laura Braga, Max Fiumara and Brandon Thomas, among others. Expect appearances not only by Green Arrow, but also by Black Canary, Speedy, Red Arrow, Connor Hawke, Arsenal and more.

Then in October, Wonder Woman will take the spotlight on, naturally, Wonder Woman Day. DC has announced their plans for Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary, which will include a 100-Page Super Spectacular of her own. They have not yet revealed details on the contents, but they did share the cover (above) by Yanick Paquette with colors by Nathan Fairbairn. Wonder Woman Day is Oct. 21.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘That Texas Blood,’ ‘Detective,’ ‘Champions’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Happy Valentine’s Day and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at the comics the Smash Pages crew has been falling in love with lately.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘X of Swords,’ ‘Green Arrow’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately — including comics from the past, present and future.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘X of Swords,’ ‘Green Arrow’ and more”