Skybound ‘stealth launches’ a new Transformers/G.I. Joe universe

‘Void Rivals,’ which arrived in stores today, also kicked off the Energon Universe, which will feature both Hasbro properties.

If you’ve read the new Skybound title Void Rivals today, then you know it’s actually part of a bigger Energon Universe launch — a universe that includes both G.I. Joe and Transformers.

Last seen in comics in 2022 as IDW wrapped up their work on both properties, early rumors and speculation mentioned Skybound as a potential new home. Now, through a license with Hasbro, Skybound has launched them in a way that only the company who once put out fake solicitations to keep the ending of The Walking Dead a secret could — as a surprise. Surprise!

“It’s a tremendous honor to be able to reintroduce this world to a new audience under the Skybound banner,” said Kirkman. “I’ve loved these characters for most of my life and to have the opportunity to add to the already rich tapestry Hasbro has built with the all-new Void Rivals is an unbelievable opportunity. If you look at everything done with Transformers and G.I. Joe, you can see the inkling of a vast universe with tremendous potential for crossovers and interaction that will enhance the fan experience while staying true to the individual identities of both concepts. I look forward to exploring that potential for years to come.” 

In addition to Void Rivals, Skybound has plans for three additional titles, including a Transformers title written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson of Do A Powerbomb and Beta Ray Bill fame.

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Black Canary recruits Harley, Zealot, Barda and Batgirl for ‘Birds of Prey’

The new series by Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles debuts in September.

After a week of social media teases by writer Kelly Thompson, DC Comics has officially announced the new Birds of Prey series.

Thompson will team with artist Leonardo Romero and colorist Jordie Bellaire, who she worked with on Hawkeye for Marvel, and letterer Clayton Cowles. The series will feature Black Canary, Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Zealot and Harley Quinn.

“When I say this is a dream come true for me, I mean not just working on the iconic Birds of Prey title, but also the characters we were able to fold in, and the creative team we assembled,” Thompson said. “Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire were two of my first partners-in-crime making superhero books and I’ve been trying to make this happen ever since. It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Leonardo and Jordie are even better than they were the last time we worked together—and working together on this wild book is pure magic.”

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‘Birds of Prey’ will return this fall by Thompson, Romero + Bellaire

Black Canary will assemble the ‘most dangerous’ Birds of Prey ‘for mysterious reasons.’

DC’s Birds of Prey will return in September by the creative team of Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.

Thompson revealed the news both on Twitter and via her Substack, and also shared the team’s first member, Black Canary, with the promise to reveal more of the members throughout the week. Here’s a look at Romero’s design:

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Tynion + Blanco’s new horror series ‘Worldtr33’ explores ‘the secret architecture beneath the internet’

The new series launches next spring, with a preview appearing in the ‘Image! 30th anniversary anthology next month.

Image Comics has announced W0rldtr33, a new series that will spin out of next month’s Image! Anthology #8. James Tynion IV and his Razorblades collaborator Fernando Blanco will venture into the “secret architecture beneath the internet,” which turns out to be a place filled with unimaginable horrors, kind of like the real internet at times.

Tynion and Blanco will be joined by colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Aditya Bidikar for the ongoing series, which Tynion said he hopes will run for several years.

W0rldtr33 is a horror epic that’s been festering in the back of my brain for the better part of five years. I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring this story to life at Image Comics,” said Tynion IV. “I can’t wait to show the world what Fernando, Jordie, Aditya, and I have been building for you.”

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King + Hester tell ‘the definitive origin’ of Gotham City this Fall

‘Gotham City: Year One’ will take place two generations before Batman arrived.

Tom King, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles will tell the story of Gotham City, pre-Batman, in Gotham City: Year One.

DC decribes the six-issue miniseries as “the definitive origin of Gotham City: how it became the cesspool of violence and corruption it is today, and how it harbored and then unleashed the sin that led to the rise of the Dark Knight.” It will feature P.I. Slam Bradley and the kidnapping of Helen Wayne.

“Having written a ton of Batman comics,” said King, “I can say it’s incredibly rare to write books like this, where you can add something large and essential to the mythos of the Dark Knight, as Scott did with Court of Owls or Grant did with the introduction of Damian or Frank did with, well, everything he touched. In Gotham City Year One, Phil and I will take you to a noir drenched past, where the secrets that made Gotham become Gotham, the sins that made Batman become Batman are finally and violently revealed.”

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Batman villains steal the spotlight in ‘One Bad Day’ one-shots

Tom King, Mitch Gerads, G. Willow Wilson, Jamie McKelvie and more tell new stories about Riddler, Catwoman, Bane and more.

DC Comics spent the day on social media revealing a series of eight one-shots starring Batman’s villains by a variety of comics’ finest.

The 64-page one-shots will feature The Riddler, Two-Face, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Bane, Clayface and Ra’s al Ghul, by the likes of Tom King, Mitch Gerads, John Ridley and more. They’ll be released monthly starting in August.

Here’s a rundown of who is doing what, along with cover art for six of the projects:

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Howard + Leon take over ‘Catwoman’ with issue #39

Selina Kyle returns to Gotham City in January to do what she does best.

DC’s ongoing Catwoman title will see a change in its creative team this January, as writer Tini Howard, artist Nico Leon and colorist Jordie Bellaire take over the title with issue #39.

The new team will take Catwoman back to Gotham City, promising Catwoman will be “doing what she does best: stealing from crime bosses, and looking fine while doing it.”

“I don’t want to go too far into what we’re doing in the book yet – Selina and I agree that there’s nothing more tantalizing than a taste – but you should know that I came in with a lot of plans,” Howard said in her Substack newsletter. “I’m building to a Catwoman-centric tale the likes that Gotham has never seen. The shape of this story, what makes it required reading for Selina Kyle’s life all became so clear to me as a I worked on this. I’m standing on the shoulders of giants who told my favorite Catwoman tales like Brubaker, Cooke and Valentine, and I’m so grateful.

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‘Darkhold’ continues in November with Wasp + Black Bolt

Jordie Bellaire, Claire Roe, Mark Russell and David Cutler will bring the next chapters in the event series to life.

Marvel has announced two more of the one-shots from their upcoming Darkhold event series, which features the infamous mystical tome causing problems for the Marvel Universe. Following the “Alpha” issue in September will be a series of one-shots featuring different characters “recruited to combat the Darkhold’s horrifying effects,” starting with Blade and Iron Man in September and Black Bolt and Wasp in October.

Colorist and writer Jordie Bellaire and artist Claire Roe are the creative team for Darkhold: Wasp, while Mark Russell teams with artist David Cutler on Darkhold: Black Bolt.

“As a writer, it’s a joy to get to write a character who spends even more time inside their own head than you do,” Russell said. “So Black Bolt is a writer’s dream character and when I heard which other creators were involved with the series, I was totally on board, like someone who’d unwittingly bought a house in a really great neighborhood.”

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Tynion + Martinez + Bellaire book a trip to ‘The Nice House on the Lake’

Pack appropriately.

James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno and Jordie Bellaire will bring original horror to DC’s Black Label imprint with The Nice House on the Lake, a new creator-owned, 12-issue series.

Tynion described it as a personal horror story to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Sometimes it helps to look at yourself from the least flattering angle, especially when you are dealing with horror,” Tynion told The Hollywood Reporter. “Horror is a genre that is all about taking about societal fears and personal fears. And this is me taking apart those fears in this book.”

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‘Wonder Girl’ will debut in May from DC

The Future State Wonder Woman becomes the present-state Wonder Girl in May.

DC stated before that they had more plans for Yara Flor, the breakout star of DC’s Future State: Wonder Woman title, and now they’ve made it official — The new Wonder Girl title will kick off in May, written and drawn by Joelle Jones.

Jones will be joined by colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Clayton Cowles.

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Ringo Awards winners announced

Annual awards ceremony recognizes ‘the creativity, skill and fun of comics.’

The winners for the 2020 Ringo Awards were announced today, marking the fourth year for the awards program named for artist Mike Wieringo, who passed away in 2007.

The awards were presented virtually as part of the Baltimore Comic Con‘s online programming, and started with an introduction and keynote from Kevin Smith and Geoff Johns. It was also live, which led to some logistical/technical issues as they tried to “cut over” to winners for their acceptance speeches.

Here are the winners, in the order they were presented during the ceremony. They include the “fan favorite” awards, which have a different process than the rest of the awards. You can find more details on the process here.

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Killjoys will make more noise this fall

‘The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem’ will arrive in October from Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Leonardo Romero and Dark Horse Comics.

It’s been about seven years since Gerard Way, Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan teamed up for The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, the comic book spinoff of the My Chemical Romance album of the same name. Well, look alive, sunshine: The Killjoys, just like My Chemical Romance, are returning, in the new miniseries The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem from Dark Horse Comics.

According to Alternative Press, Simon and Way will be joined by illustrator Leonardo Romero, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Nate Piekos for the new series. Cloonan will return, but only to do variant covers:

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