NYCC | James Tynion IV, Steve Foxe + Piotr Kowalski explore the legend of the Jersey Devil at Dark Horse

Tynion’s ‘True Weird’ stories continue in a new miniseries next year.

James Tynion IV has shown his affection for “True Weird” stories — stories of UFOs, cryptids and other stories about people’s real-world encounters with the unexplained — in the past, most recently on his Substack newsletter and through titles like Blue Book. These stories will continue on at Dark Horse, starting with Let This One Be A Devil next February.

Tynion is teaming up with co-writer Steve Foxe, artist Piotr Kowalski, colorist Brad Simpson and letterer Tom Napolitano on the four-issue miniseries. It’ll also feature a “True Weird” back-up story by Rachel Deering, with art by Jesse Lonergan and lettering by Aditya Bidikar.

“Starting with Blue Book, the beating heart of the Tiny Onion publishing program with Dark Horse has been the exploration of what I call ‘True Weird’ stories–comics based on the real stories of encounters with the strange and impossible,” said Tynion. “Let This One Be a Devil is the first in a whole new set of titles in our True Weird library at Dark Horse, in which we’ll tell the stories inspired by the accounts that brought figures like the Jersey Devil, Bigfoot, and The Loch Ness Monster into the public consciousness. This is just the beginning.”

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Pichetshote + Lonergan head to the stars in ‘Man’s Best’

The BOOM! Studios series will feature three pets tasked with saving humanity from an alien threat.

Pornsak Pichetshote and Jesse Lonergan will send three emotional support animals into hostile alien territory in Man’s Best, a new series coming from BOOM! Studios next year.

The three pets live on the Starship Horizon, which is searching for a new home “to house a humanity compromised by bad decisions and corporate greed.” Kind of like Wall-E meets We3. Things, of course, go horribly wrong for the human, and it’s up to the support animals to provide a different kind of support.

“It’s really weird to say a book about a cat in a mech suit, a golden retriever with a bionic leg, and a French bulldog with a rocket strapped to his back might be my most personal book ever, but…that’s kinda what happened?” said Pichetshote, whose resume includes InfidelSandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives and the Eisner-winning The Good Asian. “I’ve never written anything where I can see recent realizations in my life directly incorporated onto the page as much as this book and have no idea how readers will respond. What I’m a lot more confident in is how much of an honor it is to work with Jesse Lonergan. It’s amazing how as a ‘professional writer’ I still have no words to explain how innovative his art keeps getting with each issue.”

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Jesse Lonergan joins Mike Mignola on ‘Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea’

The new Mignolaverse title will launch from Dark Horse Comics in May.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has recruited the artistic talents of Jesse Lonergan (Hedra, Planet Paradise) for a new miniseries set in the Mignolaverse — Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea. They’re joined by longtime Mignolaverse letterer Clem Robbins.

If you aren’t familiar with Lonergan, he turned a lot of heads with his unqiue approach to comics in Hedra and Planet Paradise, both of which are the type of comic that reminds you of what’s possible in the medium.

“I fell in love with Jesse’s stuff the moment I stumbled across it, but it took a long time for me to wrap my head around a way we could work together,” said Mignola. “His storytelling is so great but amazingly unique and I’m such a control freak when it comes to how to pace a story—I didn’t want to tie his hands with the way I structure things. But he is just so good… Eventually I came up with the idea for Miss Truesdale (an odd one, even for me) and just couldn’t think of anyone better to draw it. We met, we talked, and I think we settled on a way to collaborate. It meant writing a plot that was tight in some places and very, very loose in others. I had to trust Jesse to work his magic—and for me it’s hard to really trust an artist I’ve never worked with, even one as good as Jesse—but I did it and he did what he does and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I think this ends up being one of the most unique extensions of the Hellboy Universe, and after almost 30 years (and some very odd stories) that’s saying something.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Jesse Lonergan

The creator of ‘Hedra’ talks about that project, the recently released ‘Planet Paradise,’ his webcomic ‘Prime’ and much more.

Over the years, Jesse Lonergan has written and drawn a number of comics, including three graphic novels (Flower and Fade, Joe and Azat, and All Star) which showed off expressive fluid style, a skill at dialogue and a masterful ability at wordless storytelling.

Lonergan gained a new audience when Image republished Hedra earlier this year. Originally self-published, the comic is the story of an interstellar journey and features a very different approach to storytelling and design than what readers saw in his earlier books. This month, NBM just published Willie Nelson: A Graphic History, for which Lonergan drew a chapter, and Lonergan’s new graphic novel Planet Paradise, was just released by Image.

We spoke recently about his work, why it changed a few years ago, the new book he’s serializing on his Patreon, and more.

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Mail Call | Fantastic Four take a ‘Road Trip’ in December

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Image and more.

Fresh from saving the Earth from being destroyed by the sun in Empyre, the Fantastic Four will get a much-needed vacation in a one-shot by new Iron Man scribe Christopher Cantwell and artist Filipe Andrade. It’s titled Fantastic Four: Road Trip, and it features family fun, a station wagon … and a Reed Richards experiment gone wrong.

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Comics Lowdown | Dog Man once again rules the best-seller charts

Plus: News on ‘Fun Home,’ Vault Comics, IDW, DC’s new GM and more.

Not surprisingly, Dog Man has once again claimed the top spot on best-seller charts for USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Indie Bound, Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail, among others. It’s the ninth book in Dav Pilkey’s popular kids graphic novel series to land at No. 1 on the best-seller chart.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Pulp,’ ‘Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘Hedra’ 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.

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