‘Spirit World,’ ‘The Vigil’ and ‘City Boy’ spin out of ‘Lazarus Planet’ in May

DC will launch three new series featuring Asian heroes and creators during Asian American Pacific Islander Month.

The Dawn of DC will continue in May with three six-issue miniseries featuring characters introduced during the Lazarus Planet event.

DC has announced City Boy, Spirit World and The Vigil, which not only fall under the “Dawn of DC” umbrella but also have their own sub-branding, “We Are Legends.” All three projects were spearheaded by DC Editor Jessica Chen, who shared more about them on Twitter, and feature the talents of Ram V, Alyssa Wong, Haining, Greg Pak, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Minkyu Jung, Sunny Gho and more.

“We Are Legends is a passion project I’ve been dreaming of and working on for a while now (inspired by Milestone 1993 but for the AAPI community & within the DCU)—& I’m lucky to have the support from DC Comics, Jim Lee [and] Marie Javins of making this come true. Representation matters!” Chen said, “…and it matters to me for that Asian kid to realize through these books in We Are Legends that not only are our stories worth being told (and by us), but our stories are also worth being told on mainstream media like DC Comics.”

Here are more details on the three miniseries, courtesy of DC:

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More than 40 titles announced for Free Comic Book Day 2023

New titles from Image, Oni, BOOM! and more will debut on May 6 next year.

Diamond has revealed the rest of the 2023 Free Comic Book Day line-up, which puts an additional 31 titles into the mix. Add’em to the “gold sponsor” titles announced earlier this week for a total of 44 free comics that will be available to retailers and fans on May 6.

Some of the highlights of the “silver sponsor” titles include:

  • The Sacrificers, a new Image Comics title by Rick Remender and Max Fiumara.
  • A preview of Punch Up, a new graphic novel from Oni Press by Zack Sterling.
  • Ten Speed Press has a preview of I Am Stan, the new Stan Lee biography by Tom Scioli.
  • BOOM! Studios will preview Mech Cadets by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, which sounds like a sequel to the wonderful Mech Cadet Yu. Update: Actually they are reprinting the first issue of the miniseries rather than releasing something new. BOO! I want a new series!
  • There’s also Animal Crossing, Nightmare Before Christmas, the Freak Brothers, the Smurfs and many more familiar names.

Check’em all out below.

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Return to ‘Planet Hulk’ in November’s ‘Worldbreaker’

Greg Pak and Manuel Garcia head into Sakaar’s distant future in a new miniseries.

Greg Pak will return once again to the planet of Sakaar, the deadly setting of the epic Planet Hulk storyline, for Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker.

The five-issue miniseries will be drawn by Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith and Chris Sotomayor.

“Working on Planet Hulk remains one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had in storytelling,” Pak told Marvel.com. “So it was a huge thrill to get the call from editor Mark Paniccia inviting me to dive back in. What makes this story feel so special is that we’re going back to Sakaar a thousand years in the future. That’s opened up doors to do some spectacular world-building with mind-blowing art from Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith and Chris Sotomayor. And we’re exploring big emotional stories that pay off the huge themes of the Hulk and the Green Scar that I’ve built over many years through all my Hulk stories. In a time of change and crisis, what do we do with the power we have, and how do we handle the terrifying repercussions? A thousand years from now, who knows where those questions will take us?”

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Smash Pages Q&A | Greg Pak on ‘Cooking Will Break Your Heart’

The prolific writer of ‘Planet Hulk’ and ‘Mech Cadet Yu’ cooks up a different kind of project for his latest Kickstarter.

Greg Pak is an acclaimed comics writer best known for a long series of projects at Marvel Comics, including writing the “Planet Hulk” storyline, co-creating Amadeus Cho, and writing Weapon X and Incredible Hercules. That’s in addition to writing the ongoing Firefly series, Darth Vader, Stranger Things and John Wick. Pak’s incredible creator-owned projects include Ronin Island and Mech Cadet Yu (currently being developed as an animated series for Netflix). There’s also his picture books (Princess Who Saved Herself) and his films (Robot Dreams). Greg Pak is, simply, a very busy person.

Those of us who follow Pak on social media, though, know another side to him: he loves to cook. More than just being a good writer about food and a good recipe writer, he often writes about his connections to food. As he describes the Kickstarter for his new project, Cooking Will Break Your Heart – “A Korean American Midwestern Texan cookbook and memoir about food, family, memory, love, joy and grief.”

The campaign runs through Nov. 22 and Park was kind enough to answer a few questions about family and food.

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Whilce Portacio, Jeremy Holt + more contribute to ‘Marvel’s Voices: Identity’

The Marvel anthology will arrive Aug. 25.

Marvel has announced more details on Marvel’s Voices: Identity, the anthology they plan to release later this month that will focus on Asian creators and characters.

The anthology has slipped back from its original publication date of Aug. 11 and is now scheduled to be released Aug. 25. It follows in the footsteps of the recent Marvel Voices: Pride, Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices and Marvel’s Voices: Legacy, which, respectively, featured stories by and about the LGBTQ+, Indigenous and Black communities.

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Marvel announces ‘Marvel’s Voices: Identity’ featuring Asian creators

Gene Yang, Greg Pak, Jason Loo, Marcus To and more will contribute stories to the anthology.

Marvel has announced the next one-shot in their Marvel’s Voices series, Marvel’s Voices: Identity, which will focus on Asian creators and characters.

“It’s unreal to me that one of Marvel’s first Asian super heroes, Jimmy Woo, was first introduced in in 1956. He predates the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men,” Editor Darren Shan told Marvel.com. “It just goes to show that Asians have been an integral part of Marvel’s history, both on the page and behind it. So I’m incredibly excited to celebrate that with all these amazing creators, new and established, featuring some of Marvel’s greatest (and dare I say it, best) super heroes!”

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What Are You Reading? | Ironheart, Midnighter and more!

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately. You can play along in the comments if you wish.

Now here we go …

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Marvel plans to reboot ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Darth Vader’

New first issues will deliver the force in 2020.

Marvel plans to reboot Star Wars and Darth Vader in 2020, as the comics move into the post-Empire Strikes Back era.

Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz will chronicle this “dark time” for the Rebels, as they plot their course in a Han Solo-less world.

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Dark Horse digs up a ‘Stranger Things’ zombie tale

New OGN from Greg Pak and Valeria Favoccia due out next February.

With the third season of Stranger Things now available for binge-watching and the franchise showing no signs of slowing down, it makes sense that we’d hear about a new project from Dark Horse. Following the previous two miniseries, the publisher will release an original graphic novel next February set in the Stranger Things universe.

Writer Greg Pak will team with artist Valeria Favoccia, colorist Dan Jackson and letterer Nate Piekos for Stranger Things: Zombie Boys. It’ll be set after season one and will feature a new character, Joey Kim, who wants to make his own horror movie.

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‘Agents of Atlas’ returns with new creative team, new line-up

Greg Pak and Gang-Hyuk Lim bring a new team of Asian heroes together to fight in the ‘War of the Realms.’

Marvel is reviving their Agents of Atlas title as part of its War of the Realms crossover event. The title will feature a new team of characters — many appearing in comics for the first time — and a new creative team.

Greg Pak and Gang-Hyuk Lim will bring the concept back to life, pulling in characters from several different sources. The agents will help protect the Pacific Rim from an invasion by Sindr, Immortal Queen of Muspelheim, and her legions of Fire Demons. Almost all of the characters who appeared in Pak’s Totally Awesome Hulk as “The Protectors” — Shang-Chi, Silk, Amadeus Cho (who goes by “Brawn” these days over in Champions) and Jimmy Woo — will appear, along with several characters from the Marvel video game Future Fight.

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Marvel revives ‘Invaders,’ ‘Marvel Comics Presents’ as part of their 80th anniversary

Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice and more dip into Marvel’s past to help celebrate the future.

With their 80th anniversary coming up next year, Marvel is reviving two titles in January — the anthology Marvel Comics Presents, and Invaders by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice.

Marvel Comics Presents ran as a bi-weekly anthology series from 1988 until 1995. Some of the highlights of the original run included the first published work of Scott Lobdell (including a clever story about Reed and Sue Richards living in the suburbs); Barry Windsor Smith’s “Weapon X” serial, one of the first stories to detail Wolverine’s origins; and the first appearances of characters like Cyber, Damage Control and Nth Man. There was also a very wonderful Colossus story, Colossus: God’s Country, written by Ann Nocenti. The series returned in 2007 for a 12-issue run.

The new volume will feature the works of Charles Soule, Greg Pak, Ann Nocenti, Tomm Coker and Paulo Siqueira, telling stories about Namor, Captain America and of course Wolverine, who appeared in many issues of the first volume.

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DC announces the return of Milestone with five new titles

Static Shock, Icon, Rocket and more set to return next spring as a part of ‘Earth M.’

Milestone Comics was a big, groundbreaking idea back in the 1990s, and now it’s coming back to comics in a big way.

At the New York Comic Con, DC Comics announced plans to launch five new titles featuring characters from the 1990s imprint. The new initiative, called Earth M, will feature creators like Reginald Hudlin, Ken Lashley, Greg Pak, Kyle Baker and more.

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