Robert Kirkman, Benito Cereno + E.J. Su will unleash ‘Blood & Thunder’

The new series from Skybound will arrive in May.

Skybound has announced Blood & Thunder, the story of a bounty hunter and her talking gun, will kick off in May at Image Comics.

The new title is written by Benito Cereno (Tales from the Bully Pulpit) with art by E.J. Su, who will be joined by colorist MSassyK and letterer Rus Wooton. It’s based on a concept created by Skybound founder Robert Kirkman, who will consult on the story.

Blood & Thunder is a concept I’ve been dying to share with the world for quite some time. I’m so thrilled to be on the cusp of debuting what Benito Cereno, E.J. Su and I have cooked up,” Kirkman said. “Monsters! Aliens! Space! Talking Guns! I dare you to find a comic that’s more exciting! Blood & Thunder! Shut up!”  

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James Tynion IV, Michael Walsh + friends team up for ‘Exquisite Corpses’

The high-concept series brings together a dozen creators to the story of a dozen killers facing off in a small town in Maine.

James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh will bring an “exquisite corpse” to comics in May with the aptly titled Exquisite Corpses, a new series that assembles a group of creators to tell the story of one small town plagued by a dozen killers.

The comic will be published by Image Comics through Tynion’s Tiny Onion imprint.

In his newsletter, Tynion described it as a “high-octane horror comic that sees 12 of the deadliest and most colorful killers in the world descend on a small town to see who will be the last killer standing. It’s the story of those killers, the ordinary people of that small town who have to survive their deadly melee, and the wealthy families that sponsored the killers and unleashed them in the first place.”

Some of the creators participating include Adam Gorham, Becca Carey, Che Grayson, Claire Roe, Gavin Fullerton, Jordie Bellaire, Marianna Ignazzi, Pornsak Pichetshote, Tyler Boss and Valentine De Landro.

“Sometimes you have an idea, and you know it’s crackling with energy and potential but you have to wait for the right moment to unleash it,” Tynion said in the press release. “When the final pieces were falling into place for the formation of Tiny Onion, the first call I made was to pitch Michael Walsh the story of Exquisite Corpses. Later that week, Michael had sketches of the first dangerous killers, and the ideas have been flowing rapid-fire for almost a year and a half since. We’re trying to bring the kind of energy and excitement that’s usually reserved in the comics space for a superhero comic or licensed property. That’s why we’re calling this a horror comics event. We feel like this has the potential to be something really special and lasting.”

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‘Bitter Root’ returns next year with ‘The Next Movement’

David F. Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene jump to the 1960s to show us a new generation of the Sangerye family.

David F. Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene’s award-winning Image Comics title Bitter Root will return next year with Bitter Root: The Next Movement.

Bitter Root tells the story of the Sangeryes, a dysfunctional, monster-hunting family battling supernatural forces during the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance. This new series will jump into the future, showing what the family is up to during the Civil Rights Movement.

The team originally announced a follow-up series set in the 1960s back in 2022. “I’m excited to return to what I believe is one of the most important books of our time,” Greene said in the press release.

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Faith Erin Hicks digs up ‘The Mummy’ at Skybound next year

The Universal Monster will rise again in a four-issue miniseries about love and death.

Skybound’s Universal Monsters line will grow next March as they dust off The Mummy for a four-issue miniseries, written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks.

Skybound has done a great job of matching creators to the Universal Monsters, from James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds’ Dracula to Michael Walsh’s creative approach to Frankenstein. Hicks, who has worked on everything from Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series to her own The Nameless City Trilogy, has an eye for character-driven stories about ancient civilizations.

“What I enjoy the most about The Mummy is the romance underlying all the horror,” Hicks said. “A mortal man defies ancient gods to bring his dead lover back to life and pays the ultimate price, transformed thousands of years later into a walking specter of death. The Mummy is intrinsically a tragic figure driven by his own pain and loss, his understandable human emotions twisted into acts.”

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Robert Kirkman + Ryan Ottley return to the Invincible Universe for ‘Battle Beast’

The series, which kicks off in April, will fill in the gaps of Battle Beast’s story between ‘Invincible’ #19 and #55.

If you’ve been missing Skybound’s Invincible, never fear — Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley will reunite for a new Invincible Universe: Battle Beast series next April.

The series will follow the adventures of the popular character Thokk, a.k.a. Battle Beast, and show what he was up to when he wasn’t appearing on panel in the original Invincible series.

“What can I say? I just can’t get enough of the Invincible Universe!” said Robert Kirkman. “Moving from the comic series directly to the animated series, I haven’t really had a break. That said, while adapting the series to animation, I’ve been itching to do something new! Longtime fans will know there’s a massive gap in Battle Beast’s appearances in the series between Invincible issue 19 and issue 55. There’s a lot of story to tell and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Battle Beast co-creator Ryan Ottley on board to tell it with me!”  

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Your 2025 FCBD line-up includes Spider-Man, Speed Racer, VR Troopers + more

Free comics from Marvel, Archie, Dark Horse, Mad Cave, BOOM! and more will be available next year on May 3.

Diamond has revealed the “Gold Sponsor” comic publishers and titles for Free Comic Book Day 2025, which includes Marvel, Mad Cave, BOOM!, Dark Horse and more. Thirteen comics from the gold sponsors will be available during next year’s event, which is scheduled for May 3.

“We’re excited for another fantastic year of celebrating comic books and the shops that make them special,” said Ashton Greenwood, Free Comic Book Day spokesperson. “This year’s selection has something for every kind of fan. Whether you’re new to comics or a longtime reader, you’re sure to find a title that grabs your attention.”

An additional 33 titles in the “Silver Sponsor” tier will be revealed tomorrow, although Marvel has already revealed three more titles they’ll offer, in addition to their two gold titles. DC is not mentioned in the announcement, as their books are not distributed by Diamond, but I’m sure they’ll have something on FCBD as well.

Check out the list of titles below:

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‘Kill Your Darlings’ wins the 2024 Ignyte Award

Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan and Bob Quinn win in the “Outstanding Comics Team” category.

Congratulations to Kill Your Darlings creators Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan and Bob Quinn, who have won the 2024 Ignyte Award in the “Outstanding Comics Team” category.

The annual awards program “celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.” It’s sponsored by FIYAH Magazine, the quarterly Black speculative fiction magazine.

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Image Comics will publish Otis Frampton’s adaptation of ‘The Patchwork Girl of Oz’

The L. Frank Baum classic comes to comics next year.

The seventh book in L. Frank Baum’s classic Oz series, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, is coming down the Yellow Brick Road to arrive in comic shops in January. Otis Frampton will adapt the story of Ojo The Unlucky, Scraps the Patchwork Girl and Bungle the Glass Cat into an ongoing comic series.

Frampton is the creator of the all-ages series Oddly Normal, and has also done work for IDW Publishing and DC Comics. The comic will take the trip on “a whirlwind journey from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City.”

“As a lifelong Oz fan, it’s a dream come true to be able to bring one of L. Frank Baum’s classic novels to life as a comic book series,” said Frampton. “The Patchwork Girl Of Oz is one of my favorite Oz books, and I hope that fans of the series will embrace my adaptation and come along for the ride. Welcome back to Oz, everyone!”

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NYCC | Jason Aaron + Mahmud Asrar reunite for ‘Bug Wars’ at Image Comics

The epic adventure begins in a backyard in Alabama.

Writer Jason Aaron is re-teaming with Mahmud Asrar, who he worked with on Conan the Barbarian, for a new creator-owned six-issue series called Bug Wars. And yes, their new Image Comics series is literally about a kid fighting bugs in his backyard — bugs that cast spells, swings swords and generally have it out for the kid’s family.

“When I was a kid, our backyard was a wondrous place, where I spent hours imagining epic adventures, action figures scattered all through the grass. In a lot of ways, I still feel like that kid, running around the yard, making up stories. Only the stories have gotten a bit darker over the years,” said Aaron. “For Slade Slaymaker, the backyard of his home in Alabama turns out to be a place of terror and brutality, where sects of tiny sword-wielding Mytes and their armies of flesh-eating beetles and acid-spraying ants have declared war on his family. Think Honey, I Shrunk the Kids meets Game of Thrones.”

Rejoining the two of them is colorist Matthew Wilson, who also worked on Conan. Letterer Becca Carey and editor Heather Antos round out the team.

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NYCC | Charles Soule + Ryan Browne bring ‘The Lucky Devils’ to Image Comics

The nine-issue miniseries begins in January.

Charles Soule and Ryan Browne are at it again — the team behind Curse Words and Eight Billion Genies are bringing the devils on our shoulders to life in The Lucky Devils, a nine-issue miniseries that kicks off in January.

“After the incredible success of Eight Billion Genies, Ryan Browne and I knew our next project together had to be something truly special,” said Soule. “The Lucky Devils feels like exactly that—a spiritual successor to Genies in that it, too, tells a self-contained, tightly-plotted story about the supernatural unexpectedly intersecting with the lives of a few ordinary, unsuspecting people. That said, it’s also very much its own beast. We’re playing with the myth of the devil on your shoulder here—what Genies did for wishing and desire, Devils does for Faustian bargains and humanity’s struggle with temptation. Not to mention I get to see Ryan draw hundreds of hilariously badass little demons—unbeatable. In The Lucky Devils, it’s good to be bad. I can’t wait for people to check it out this January.”

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Michel Fiffe’s ‘Death of Copra’ will bring the story to a ‘high octane’ end

The long-running indie comics sensation concludes with a final four-issue miniseries that begins in January.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Michel Fiffe’s excellent self-published series Copra will meet its final fate in Death of Copra, a four-issue miniseries that kicks off In January.

“The whole thing is bittersweet, which is perfect in a way,” said Fiffe. “The story of Copra is one of duality: brutal but tender, bombast as defined by human nuance, crafted with a love of comics history while guided by an eye towards the future.”

The final miniseries will be published by Image Comics, rather than self-published by Fiffe. Image published the series for about six issues just prior to the pandemic, but Fiffe returned to self-publishing it for issues #38-45. Image continued to publish collections of the material.

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Luana Vecchio returns to the world of ‘Lovesick’ with ‘Doll Parts’

The four-issue miniseries kicks off in December.

Image Comics has announced the sequel to Luana Vecchio’s Lovesick, the “dark sexploitation series” by the artist of Bolero. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale will present the origin of Domino, the dark web dominatrix who appeared in the first series.

“After finishing Lovesick, I knew I couldn’t stay away from Domino for long,” said Vecchio. “But before going back to the Lovesick Club, I knew I had to take a step back and explore Domino’s heart, dive into those sad eyes and return to her origins, back to Madeleine. I’ve always dreamed of writing a coming-of-age thriller-horror set in the 2000s, the very years I was a teenager myself. Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale explores what it means to be a young girl in a world where youth is a double-edged sword, both a strength and a vulnerability. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve created and the themes I’ve tackled, I believe the comic world needs a character like Madeleine.”

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