DC announces new stories, collection for ‘Death of Superman’ anniversary

Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern and more reunite for new tales about Superman’s death.

Several classic Superman creative teams will return to the character for the 80-Page The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Death of Superman event that ushered in a new, seemingly endless wave of event comics, the special will include new stories by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Roger Stern, Butch Guice, Jon Bogdanove, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway and more.

“It was great to be able to work with them and make sure that each team was back together again,” Jurgens said about the special. “It was Roger Stern and Butch Guice who were on Action Comics back at that time, and they could come back as a team. Louise Simonson and John Bogdanov were on Man of Steel, Tom Grummett and Jerry Ordway were working on Adventures of Superman, and Brett Breeding and I were on Superman. We realized we could get the full crew back together to do these stories.”

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What Are You Reading? | World’s Finest, Shadow War Zone, Grim and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s edition includes thoughts on Batman: Killing Time and a new Shaolin Cowboy miniseries coming this week.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

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Mail Call | Jim Mahfood’s ‘Grrl Scouts’ returns in November

Check out news, previews and announcements from Marvel, Image, IDW, BOOM! Studios 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.

Image Comics has announced a new six-issue Grrl Scouts miniseries from creator Jim Mahfood, titled Grrl Scouts: Stone Ghost. The first issue will arrive in November.

“I’m extremely excited about this new Grrl Scouts series and I think fans and new readers alike will be very entertained and definitely get a lot of bang for their buck with this one,” said Mahfood. “I’m introducing an entire new cast of characters, expanding on the mythology of the Grrl Scouts, and handling every aspect of the production of the book: writing, drawing, coloring, and lettering, to make this a very unique experience! This series is for fans and collectors alike who are looking for something different and off-beat when they’re staring at that wall of new releases in the comic shop.”

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Dark Horse to adapt Gaiman’s ‘Norse Mythology’ to comics

P. Craig Russell, Mike Mignola, Jerry Ordway and more will bring Gaiman’s interpretations of Odin, Loki and other Norse gods to the comics page.

Neil Gaiman brought new life to the Norse myths he loved as boy in his book Norse Mythology, and now the writer is teaming up with Dark Horse Comics to turn those stories into comics.

Dark Horse and Gaiman have previously collaborated on several books adapting his prose stories into comics, including “A Study in Emerald” and “Snow, Glass, Apples.” While those became stand-alone graphic novels, Norse Mythology will run as an 18-issue series. P. Craig Russell will help adapt the stories, like he did with “Murder Mysteries,” while artists involved with the project include Mike Mignola and Jerry Ordway, with others to be named later

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Primal Age invades Target with exclusive comic

DC and Funko’s action figure line hits Target with a 100-page comic.

DC Comics and Target have teamed up to bring DC’s new action figure line, Primal Age, to comics. DC announced that the DC Primal Age 100-Page Giant is now available at Target, and can be found on end caps with the toys.

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‘Section Zero’ returns at Image Comics

Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett’s Gorilla Comics title will finally conclude in comic book form.

It’s been 20 years, but Image Comics is declassifying the adventures of Tom Grummett and Karl Kesel’s Section Zero. One of the original Gorilla Comics titles will return to comic book form thanks to Image Comics.

“Ever since 2000, Tom and I have constantly tried to bring Section Zero back,” Kesel said in a press release. “Almost two decades later, we finally found a way to finish what we’d begun. The cherry on top is seeing the book return to where it all started—Image Comics.”

The series will be published by Image/Shadowline Comics this April. Here’s Grummett’s cover for the first issue:

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Superman puts his pants back on for ‘Action’ #1000

Milestone issue will include new stories by Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Lee, Curt Swan, Marv Wolfman, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, John Cassaday, Scott Snyder and more.

The world returns to sanity again in April with the landmark Action Comics #1000, which features a slew of creators telling tales about Superman and, more importantly, the return of his famous red trunks.

Debuting in Action Comics #1 way back in 1938, the red trunks helped Clark Kent’s alter-ego fight for truth, justice and the American way for almost a century — that is, until the launch of the New 52 in 2010. Dc co-publisher Jim Lee redesigned many DC characters at the time, including Superman — and the new, super-hip redesign had no room for outside undies or his classic red boots. The move was controversial, just like any change to the status quo in superhero comics, and eventually spawned petitions from fans to return to the classic look. Now it looks like those voices have finally been heard by DC.

Action Comics #1000 represents a watershed moment in the history of not just comic books, but entertainment, literature and pop culture,” said Lee. “There’s no better way to celebrate Superman’s enduring popularity than to give him a look that combines some new accents with the most iconic feature of his classic design.”

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Artists #WakeUpAndDraw for Jack Kirby’s birthday

To celebrate the 99th birthday of the King, artists are drawing his creation to benefit the Hero Initiative.

Today would have been comic book legend Jack Kirby’s 99th birthday, and to celebrate artists from all over the world are waking up to draw various Kirby creations — everyone from the Thing to OMAC to Fin Fang Foom. Many of the drawings are also being auctioned off to benefit the Hero Initiative.

Here are a few of them … you can find more by following the #WakeUpAndDraw hashtag on Twitter and other social media, or check out our Tumblr, where I’ll be posting others I see throughout the day.

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Michel Fiffe in Praise of Jerry Ordway

Today Michel Fiffe took to his Facebook page to admire Jerry Ordway’s work–his Superman covers in particular.

Today’s inspiration: one of my favorite Jerry Ordway covers.

Adventures of Superman 439
Adventures of Superman 439: Today’s inspiration

When I asked Fiffe what makes Ordway so strong for him this was his answer. “The composition, the draftsmanship, the linework, the duo shade tones, the characters and the suspense portrayed, the color, the paper, the subjective nostalgia, the objective technical skill, the context of both the story and artist in relation to the title and its placement in the art form.”

I then contacted Fiffe offline to see if he could name for more covers of note, within minutes he did.

Adventures of Superman 424
Adventures of Superman 424

Back in 2013 Ordway revealed a cover that ended up not working, as well as the selected uncolored version.

Aborted Adventures of Superman 441
Aborted Adventures of Superman 441

 

Uncolored Final Version of Adventures of Superman 441
Uncolored Final Version of Adventures of Superman 441

 

Colored Final Version of Adventures of Superman 441
Colored Final Version of Adventures of Superman 441

 

Adventures of Superman 444
Adventures of Superman 444

 

Superman 44
Superman 44