‘The Bad Batch’ headline their first comic in January

Clone Force 99 hunt a Separatist ghost agent in a new miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.

The Bad Batch show on Disney + may have ended, but that doesn’t mean the adventure is over for Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech. Dark Horse and Lucasfilm have announced Clone Force 99 will appear in their first comic miniseries next year.

Titled Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents — I’m sorry, that’s an ungodly amount of colons there — the miniseries is written by Michael Moreci and illustrated by Reese Hannigan, Elisabetta D’Amico and Michael Atiyeh, with lettering by Comicraft.

“I think everyone who knows my Star Wars work knows I love the Clone Wars,” Moreci said. “And the Bad Batch is probably my favorite part of that. They’re just so cool and unique; they’re like 1980s action heroes dropped into the Star Wars universe, and I love that. I’m after that look and feel–it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m just thrilled to bring more Bad Batch stories to life!”

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‘Barbaric: Born in Blood’ will delve into Owen’s bloody childhood

The do-gooder barbarian and his talking axe return next February.

Barbaric will return next year with a new miniseries, Born in Blood, written by Michael Moreci, drawn by Nathan Gooden, colored by Fabi Marques, lettered by Jim Campbell and designed by Tim Daniel.

Published by Vault Comics, Barbaric is the story of Owen, a cursed barbarian forced to do good, and his blood-hungry talking axe. This new story will show us Owen’s past — all the way back to his childhood.

“I’m so thrilled to announce the next big arc of Barbaric,” Gooden said. “This new arc is a deep dive into the history of Owen and the Barbarian clans. Readers get to see Owen as a child and how he becomes the ruthless Barbarian we all love. Friendships and alliances are splintering while Owen pushes against his curse. New characters and a brand new adventure will dramatically expand the world!” 

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Slugfest | Martinbrough + Greene take Red Hood back to ‘The Hill’

Plus: News and announcements on Marvel’s Godzilla series, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, Ultimate Spider-Man, Sinister Sons and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Shawn Martinbrough will return to write Jason Todd again next year with Red Hood: The Hill, a miniseries that follows his work on the character’s previous series. Sanford Greene will draw the six-issue series.

Here’s how DC describes the series:

In Gotham City’s early days, The Hill was one of Gotham City’s most dangerous neighborhoods, one that required the residents to band together to keep themselves safe when the police – and sometimes even Batman – wouldn’t.

Now, as the Hill finds itself gentrifying, old habits die hard as the vigilante known only as Strike works with her team to keep the town safe—but she’s not alone. Jason Todd, one of the Hill’s newest residents, is more than happy to don the visage of Red Hood to help Strike keep his new home safe. But a new villain is emerging from the shadows. Will Red Hood, Strike and the Hill’s small militia of vigilantes be able to keep their home safe? This series features a main cover by series artist Greene, with a variant cover by Tirso Cons.

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Dick Tracy will return to action at Mad Cave Studios

Michael Moreci, Alex Segura, Geraldo Borges and Chantelle Aimée Osman will bring the detective back to comics.

Mad Cave Studios has announced plans to launch a new comic featuring Dick Tracy, the legendary yellow coat-wearing detective who first debuted on the newspaper comic page in the 1930s.

Crime novelist and comics writer Alex Segura will co-write the title with Barbaric writer Michael Moreci, joined by No/One artist Geraldo Borges and creative consultant Chantelle Aimée Osman. Segura and Moreciwere tied to a Dick Tracy comic title at Archie Comics in 2017, but a licensing snafu put it on hold. In the press release, they, along with Osman, are listed as the “comics rights-holders” for Dick Tracy, which is owned by Tribune Content Agency.

“This has been a long time coming, and we are all so excited to bring our grounded, noir take on the Dick Tracy mythos to life at Mad Cave,” said Segura. “Michael and I have loved Dick Tracy, his stellar rogues gallery, and unforgettable supporting cast since we first became aware of the character as kids. It’s been a winding road to not only get the rights to publish new stories starring the iconic detective, and I’m so thankful that my journey with Chantelle and Michael brought us to Mad Cave. The stuff Geraldo is cooking up perfectly evokes the grounded, cinematic vibe we’re bringing to this origin story.”

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Subscription-based comics platform Zestworld will launch next year

New titles by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Phil Jimenez, Eric Canete, Alex Segura, Dean Kotz and more are expected next year.

A new digital comics platform that’s focused on helping creators “monetize their creations” will debut next year with titles by Eric Canete, Amanda Conner, Phil Jimenez, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Segura, Peter Tomasi and more, according to The New York Times.

Zestworld, who have a very basic website set up here, was founded by Chris Giliberti, who told the NYT that “this industry is broken for creators; and it’s broken in publishing and TV and film; it’s also broken in events and collectibles.”

“We wanted to build something that’s useful across all areas of their business — anywhere they generate income,” he said, noting that the creators they’re working with will be stockholders in the company.

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‘Barbaric’ tells the story of Owen and his talking axe

New series from Vault Comics, by Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, Addison Duke, Jim Campbell and Tim Daniel, debuts in June.

Vault Comics has announced Barbaric, the story of a barbarian named Owen and his “sentient, blood-drunk” axe.

It’s written by Michael Moreci, with art by Nathan Gooden and colors by Addison Duke. Jim Campbell will letter the comic, and Tim Daniel serves as designer.

Barbaric, to me, is a series that wraps both its arms around the comics medium–it’s big, from the get-go, in ways only comics can be,” Moreci said. “I want this to be a huge story that continues on the way Hellboy does, and I want it to feel like that kind of epic. It’s my ode to pulp adventures, and immersive world-building, and larger-than-life characters. I feel so energized writing it, and I hope, between my scripts and Nate’s insanely amazing art, that energy comes off of every page.”

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Mail Call | Archaia to adapt Roxane Gay story

Plus: a new Shonen Jump series, Skybound’s ‘Fire Power’ plans and a new ‘Clone Wars’ series at IDW.

BOOM! Studios announced a new graphic novel, The Sacrifice of Darkness, based on Gay’s short story “The Sacrifice of Darkness.” In addition to Gay, the creative team includes writer Tracy Lynne Oliver, artist Rebecca Kirby, and colorist James Fenner, and the pub date is October 2020.

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DC previews artwork from their upcoming YA titles

Check out pages from ‘Shadow of the Batgirl,’ ‘Gotham High” and more.

During the “Super-Powered YA: DC Graphic Novels For Your #TBR Pile” panel at Comic-Con International yesterday, DC shared artwork from four of their upcoming young adult graphic novels (formerly known as the DC Ink imprint).

Check out previews for Shadow of the Batgirl,The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel, Gotham High and Wonder Woman: Warbringer below.

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Comics Lowdown: 2018 sales, Michael Davis hacked

Plus: News on Mark Waid, Mary Fleener, Free Comic Book Day and more!

ICv2 and the Comichron held a special crossover event this week to share the news that “Comics and graphic novel sales hit a new high in 2018.”

“After a brief downturn in 2017, the market bounced back last year,” said Comichron‘s John Jackson Miller. “Popular releases helped right the ship in comics shops, even as other sales avenues made significant gains.”

Their report looks at three formats — comics, graphic novels and digital — across multiple channels, including crowdfunding, book fairs, mass merchants, newsstands and more.

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Jemas, Alonso return to comics at AWA

New publisher Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. plans to launch several titles this fall.

Two former Marvel executives are making their return to comics at a new publisher called Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. or AWA. They’re joined by a slew of creators, with plans to launch their new titles this fall.

Bill Jemas will serve as the company’s CEO and publisher, while Axel Alonso will serve as Chief Creative Officer, according to The New York Times. They’re joined by Jonathan F. Miller as chairman, who helped broker the deal between Netflix and Mark Millar. They plan to have a shared superhero universe in addition to publishing stand-alone titles.

“The model here really is the old United Artists model, where people who are actually doing the creative have ownership, control and decision-making power over the work that they’re doing,” Jemas told the NYT.

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Archie Comics announces new ‘Dick Tracy’ series

Michael Moreci, Alex Segura, Thomas Pitilli and Dee Cunniffe team up to bring the yellow-clad detective back to comic books.

Hold on to your fedora — Dick Tracy will return to comic books next April, courtesy of Archie Comics.

The series will be co-written by Roche Limit and Hoax Hunters writer Michael Moreci and Archie Comics co-president (and crime novelist) Alex Segura, with art by Thomas Pitilli and colorist Dee Cunniffe.

“Dick Tracy has always been a character that stands shoulder to shoulder amongst the best–Superman, The Shadow, Conan the Barbarian, Spider-Man, you name it,” Moreci said in a press release. “There’s been so many great Dick Tracy stories over the past 75 years, and that’s such a testament to his versatility, his amazing–unbeatable–rogues gallery, and what he represents.”

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Titan Comics, Bethesda announce three video game adaptations

Titan will create new ‘in-canon’ stories based on ‘The Evil Within 2,’ ‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ and ‘Dishonored 2.’

Bethesda Software announced several new projects at the big E3 video game show this past month, including The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and new downloadable content for Dishonored 2. And all three of those games will have comic book tie-ins, thanks to publisher Titan Comics. All three comics arrive in September.

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