John McCrea – SMASH PAGES

Gerry Duggan + John McCrea bring ‘Dead Eyes’ back to life at Image Comics

‘Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames’ kicks off in September.

Dead Eyes, the series by Gerry Duggan and John McCrea that started life back in 2018, will return with a new miniseries this fall — Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames.

Originally titled Dead Rabbit, the series was recalled after release due to a lawsuit from a New York bar called “Dead Rabbit.” It returned under the new title, Dead Eyes, with four issues being published in total, plus a collection. It’s about a former mercenary/gun-for-hire who gets pulled back into the life after retirement.

“The unkillable Dead Eyes is back! We’ve never stopped working on Dead Eyes, and The Empty Frames has more tragical hilarious action than the first one. As always, McCrea, and colorist Mike Spicer really show off in this new volume and prove once again why they’re one of the best teams in the business,” said Duggan.

Return to a ‘lake of goo’ in ‘Venomverse Reborn’

Hang with Venoms from around the multiverse in the new anthology series.

Rumors about the death of the Venomverse were apparently exaggerated, as Marvel has announced a follow-up anthology, Venomverse Reborn, for this summer.

Each issue will feature multiple stories by different creators starring different Venoms from around the multiverse. They’ll also include a framing sequence by Venom writer Al Ewing and Danilo S. Beyruth that will “lay the groundwork for the next symbiote epic.”

“I’m doing the framing sequence for these issues, and that means I get to see every one of these new symbiote sensations hit my inbox before anyone else outside editorial, and that’s definitely a perk of the job,” Ewing said. “As for what’s in that framing story—if you’ve been a fan of some of the more cosmic aspects we’ve brought to Venom of late, you should be more than happy. But the beauty of an anthology series like this is that there’s something to please everyone who dives into our lake of goo.”

New ‘Beasts of Burden’ miniseries tells a story from the past

‘Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory’ heads to post-WW2 Japan in April.

The Eisner-winning Beasts of Burden returns in April with a new miniseries, Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory.

Writers Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer tell a story set in post-World War II, as a member of the Wise Dogs must deal with a curse that creates an army of crawling heads. They’re joined by artist Benjamin Dewey and letterer Nate Piekos, while series co-creator Jill Thompson will provide a variant cover for issue #4.

“I’m very excited to have a new Beasts of Burden story for the fans and I’m extremely happy with the way everything came together working with Sarah, Benjamin and Nate,” Dorkin said. “Why post-war Japan? I used to half-jokingly ask editor Daniel Chabon if we could have his Shiba Inu, Zell. He said we should have a Shiba in the series, instead. One thing led to another, one idea led to three more, and that’s where our latest story of dogs fighting supernatural evil ended up.”

‘Dead Rabbit’ is dead; long live ‘Dead Eyes’

Gerry Duggan and John McCrea’s gritty series returns with a new title.

The Image Comics title formerly known as Dead Rabbit seems to have found new life as Dead Eyes.

At the Image Expo last year, Image Comics announced a comic titled Dead Rabbit by Gerry Duggan, John McCrea and Mike Spicer. Two issues were released last fall, which were followed by a mandatory recall of both of them to retailers from Diamond Comics Distributors.

A report on Bleeding Cool then stated the recall was due to a New York bar called “Dead Rabbit” that was suing Image Comics and retailer Forbidden Planet for violating the trademark the bar held on the name, which also covers “Comic books; Fiction books on a variety of topics; Non-fiction books on a variety of topics; Recipe books.” Y’see, the bar uses comic-themed menus and also published a recipe book in graphic novel format last year. You can read more about it over on the Comic Lawyer website, which has an interesting FAQ up about the case.

So it sounds like Duggan and McCrea’s comic is back on track, now with a new title. No word on what happened to the lawsuit itself.

Help bring Sam Glanzman’s ‘Battle for Britain’ back into print

It’s Alive! launches a new Kickstarter to reprint another World War II story from ‘Combat.’

It’s Alive! has launched a Kickstarter to bring another of Sam Glanzman’s classic World War II tales back into print.

Battle for Britain tells the story of the Royal Air Force defense of the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe — one of the first major campaigns fought by air forces. The original story was published in 1961 in an issue of Combat.

Along with a fully restored main story, this new edition will feature a four-page back-up story titled The Puny, Little Yank, along with black and white photos from WWII, a new essay about Glanzman, an essay about the Doolittle Raiders, vintage ads that were in the original issues, the original cover art by Glanzman, a new standard cover by Glanzman and a new variant cover by John McCrea.

Check out the two new covers below, and visit the Kickstarter page for more information.

Continue reading “Help bring Sam Glanzman’s ‘Battle for Britain’ back into print”

Comics Lowdown: Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra passes away

Mark Waid sued, and gets a new job! Vertigo prepares for NYCC! Plus Ryan Ferrier, Jason Lutes, John McCrea and more!

Passings: Carlos Ezquerra, 2000 AD artist and co-creator of Judge Dredd, has passed away, the Guardian and the Hollywood Reporter both reported this week. The 70-year-old artist was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010, and the disease returned this year.

“It is difficult to put this into words, but we have lost someone who was the heart and soul of 2000AD. It is no exaggeration to call Carlos Ezquerra one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, and his name deserves to be uttered alongside Kirby, Ditko, Miller, Moebius and Eisner,” reads a statement issued by 2000AD. “Yet this doesn’t really do justice to someone whose work was loved by millions and has had an influence far beyond the comic book page. From Judge Dredd to Strontium Dog, from Rat Pack to Major Eazy, Carlos has left us with a legacy of stunning and distinctive work that was and always will be 2000 AD. He has been one of the pillars, producing the same dynamic, enthralling and arresting art we always loved him for. We thought we had many more adventures to come from the master, so we are devastated to discover we were wrong.”

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra passes away”

Image reveals many, many new titles at Image Expo

New projects announced from Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, Rob Guillory, J.H. Williams and Haden Blackman, Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel, Annie Wu and more.

As they’ve done in previous years, Image Comics dropped a metric ton of announcements at their Image Expo event, held today in Portland, Oregon.

The line-up of announcements this year includes five new titles from Todd McFarlane’s camp, new titles from Chew creators John Layman and Rob Guillory, two comics from Christoper Sebela, the fact that they’ll publish the Netflix/Millarworld titles starting with The Magic Order and much more. No doubt there are interviews aplenty dropping around the internet on all these new projects, so I’ll start with the text of the press release, then add art and commentary as I find it.

So let’s get to it …

Blackbird by Sam Humphries & Jen Bartel
Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel team up to co-create Blackbird, a modern fantasy story best described as Harry Potter meets Riverdale. It follows a young woman named Nina who discovers a neon-lit world of magic masters in Los Angeles. Now they’ve kidnapped her sister, and Nina is the only one who can save her.

“Blackbird is a labor of love, a coming of age story and beautiful people doing insane things with magic,” said Humphries.

Continue reading “Image reveals many, many new titles at Image Expo”

Lost Kirby/Kane ‘Prisoner’ comic coming from Titan Comics

An unpublished Prisoner comic by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane and Steve Englehart accompanies a new comic series by Peter Milligan and Colin Lorimer.

Titan Comics announced last fall plans to publish a new comic based on the cult classic TV show The Prisoner, and now they’ve revealed more details about what they have planned for Number 6 next July.

First up is printing a “lost” Prisoner comic by Steve Englehart, Jack Kirby and Gil Kane. This special oversized collectors edition will contain the entire 17-page Kirby strip, the first six pages of which were inked and lettered by Mike Royer, as well as 18 pages of pencils drawn by legendary comic artist Kane. The comic was originally intended to be published by Marvel back in the 1970s; read more about it here.

Continue reading “Lost Kirby/Kane ‘Prisoner’ comic coming from Titan Comics”

Smash Pages Q&A: Phil Hester on Image ‘Mythic’

Late September saw the release of Mythic #4 by Phil Hester and John McCrea — to mark the release I interviewed Hester.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Phil Hester on Image ‘Mythic’”

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