Steve Orlando, Álvaro López + Laura Braga return to Endor for ‘Ewoks’

The four-issue miniseries featuring the cuddly ‘Star Wars’ warriors begins this fall.

The Ewoks will return to comics this fall in a new miniseries by Steve Orlando, Álvaro López and Laura Braga. To mark the 40th anniversary of the TV movie Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, Marvel will reveal a crisis that occurred on the Endor moon following the events of Return of the Jedi.

“Forty years of Ewoks! Sometimes, a lot of the times, this job is just a dream—and for someone who grew up watching Return of the Jedi after every single Sunday Ski Trip, getting the chance to celebrate them and explore their world in the aftermath of the second Death Star’s fall is truly beyond belief,” Orlando said. “When I was young, the Ewoks got me in the door—Wicket was my hero, a young hero like me (like I was back then) going on adventures with Princess Leia herself!”

The Ewoks are a somewhat divisive subject for Star Wars fans, seen either as savage, noble warriors or a “bunch of muppets,” depending on who you ask. But their legacy stretched beyond Return of the Jedi, starring in two made-for-TV movies, an animated series and a comics series as part of Marvel’s Star line.

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Ron Robbins + Laura Braga play a game of ‘Truth or Dare’ with Archie Horror

The one-shot will bring Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror-verse for some fun and games.

I would think one of the fun things about working on the Archie Horror line would be that you could grab your copy of the Archie Encyclopedia, open it to a random page, point at a character and ask, “Ok, what evil thing can we do with them?”

Which brings me to Chilling Adventures Presents … Truth or Dare, a new one-shot announced by Archie this week. It brings a character named Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror universe, and based on her encyclopedia entry, I suspect she was destined to be there all along:

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Andolfo + Braga will release ‘Purr Evil’ on the world in July

The six-issue miniseries from Image Comics will feature ‘blood, sweat, tears and a tremendous lot of malevolent kittens.’

The cat’s out of the bag on Purr Evil, a new miniseries coming this summer from Image Comics. Sweet Paprika creator Mirka Andolfo will team with Harley Quinn artist Laura Braga to tell a story of mothers, daughters and evil kitties.

“I’m very excited to see this new comic come to life,” said Adolfo. “And, even more to have my friend Laura with me to work on such a great and fulfilling project, as well as Bryan Valenza, our colorist, Fabio Amelia, our letterer, and the whole team at Arancia Studio! I can’t wait to find out what the fans think of our new madness, and I’m enormously grateful to Image Comics and the other international partners for believing in our crazy project. We are sure fans will love it, too!”

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Final girl next door: Archie announces new horror one-shot featuring Betty

Micol Ostow, Laura Braga and more visit the ‘final girl’ horror trope in a new one-shot.

Archie Horror continues to find new, fun ways to mash up the Riverdale gang with the horror genre and tropes. Their latest project will cast everyone’s favorite “girl next door” as a “final girl” in Betty: The Final Girl.

Archie’s press release defines a “final girl” as “the clever survivor who carries a relentless plot across the finish line, taking it to the bad guy in the last scene.” For reference, see Halloween, Friday the 13th, Scream and any number of slasher movies out there.

Betty won’t be the only Archie character spotlighted in this issue, as the one-shot will include multiple stories, with a framing sequence written by Micol Ostow.

“I’m a diehard horror fan, and I’ve been obsessed with how seamlessly Archie’s been able to integrate different styles, levels, and aesthetics of spookiness into their Archie Horror library,” Ostow said. “And while I don’t have one favorite scary movie or book, I’ve always been a sucker for the ‘final girl’ trope. It hit me that Betty would make a fantastic final girl: blonde, kick-ass, capable!”

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DC announces its next Batman event ‘Fear State’

Future State and Infinite Frontier collide in an event that will feature Scarecrow, Jace Fox, Catwoman and more.

DC Comics has announced its next Batman-themed event, Fear State, which will run through several of the Bat titles starting in August.

In its press release, DC said Fear State will be “the launching point for several new series and plotlines across all Batman-family titles, setting a new status quo for 2022.” And one of the tie-in books for the event will star Jace Fox, a.k.a. the Next Batman from DC’s Future State event, as John Ridley returns to write the character following The Next Batman: Second Son.

Here’s a look at all the tie-ins arriving in August:

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‘Batman: Urban Legends’ anthology title launches in March

First issue will feature stories about Batman and his entourage by Chip Zdarsky, Eddy Barrows, Stephanie Phillips and more.

DC has announced a new, monthly anthology title focused on Batman and all his Gotham City friends.

The first six issues will include a story by Chip Zdarsky and Eddy Barrows, featuring a team-up between Batman and the Red Hood.

“… this has been a ton of fun to work on,” Zdarsky said in his email newsletter. “I’m not going to lie, growing up on the comics, TV shows and movies, it was like Batman raised me. Like he was a father to me and I was simply another one of his Robins, trained to fight in daddy’s war.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Cullen Bunn on ‘Blossom 666’

The writer of ‘Harrow County,’ ‘The Sixth Gun,’ ‘X-Men Blue,’ ‘Unearth’ and more discusses the recently wrapped-up Archie Horror title.

Cullen Bunn has written a lot of horror comics in recent years – along with a lot of comics in a lot of other genres. In comics ranging from Harrow County to The Empty Man to Bone Parish to The Damned, he’s played with the genre in different ways.

The five-issue miniseries Blossoms 666 which Bunn made with artist Laura Braga just wrapped up, in which Cheryl and Jason Blossom compete to become the Antichrist. The Archie Comics horror line has a reputation for being shocking and brutal in a lot of strange and creative ways, but Blossoms 666 is a much quieter book compared to the others, with the horror being much more subtle and running under the seemingly placid surface.

Now that the series has wrapped up, Bunn answered a few questions about the comic and playing with an ideal version of Riverdale.

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Who will reign as the Anti-Christ? Find out in ‘Blossoms 666’ #5 [Exclusive Preview]

Cullen Bunn, Laura Braga, Matt Herms and Jack Morelli’s tale reaches its final conflict, and no one in Riverdale is safe.

The Blossom twins’ devilish schemes will come to a head in the final issue of Blossoms 666 by Cullen Bunn, Laura Braga, Matt Herms and Jack Morelli.

Part of the Archie Horror line, Blossoms 666 features the two Blossom siblings, Cheryl and Jason, competing for the title of Anti-Christ. Throw in their long-lost brother and Satanist family, and you’ve got all sorts of trouble for the rest of Riverdale.

Courtesy of Archie Comics, take a look at an exclusive preview of Blossoms 666 #5 below, which wraps up the five-issue miniseries.

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It’s gotta be Cheryl: ‘Blossoms 666’ imagines a Blossom twin as the Anti-Christ

Cullen Bunn, Laura Braga and Matt Herms team up to tell us which Blossom twin will destroy the Earth. Why can’t it be both?

Cullen Bunn has proven a natural at tackling the supernatural in comics (see: Cold Spots, Harrow County) as well as teenagers (see: X-Men Blue), so it only makes sense that Archie Comics would recruit him for one of their “Afterlife with Archie” titles.

Blossoms 666 teams Bunn with artists Laura Braga and Matt Herms for a different take on the notorious Blossom twins, Cheryl and Jason. According to Nerdist, “They’re wealthy, popular and likeable, but they also harbor a deep, dark secret: one of the Blossom Twins is the Anti-Christ. But neither one knows which of them is the Anti-Christ, and both want the title! In short, no one in Riverdale is safe.”

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DC & Archie & Harley & Ivy & Betty & Veronica & Dini & Andreyko & Braga

Creators Paul Dini, Marc Andreyko and Laura Braga team up for a crossover tale starring DC’s Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as they meet Archie Comics’ Betty and Veronica.

The distance between Gotham City and Riverdale is about to get much, much smaller, as DC Comics and Archie Comics bring together four of their most popular female characters for a big crossover: Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Betty and Veronica.

Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini will team with Marc Andreyko to write Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica, which will feature art by Laura Braga.

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