NYCC | ‘The Comixology Originals program is here to stay,’ declares the head of Comixology

The digital comics platform held an event during New York Comic Con to announce new Originals titles and talk about the future of the platform.

During an event at Amazon’s New York office this week, Comixology’s Jeff DiBartolomeo announced the next wave of Comixology Originals titles as well as teased 17 newly acquired projects.

More than that, though, he showed that the original digital comics program — and Comixology itself — is still alive and moving forward inside Amazon.

“The Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line plays a key part in our business,” said DiBartolomeo. “The Comixology Originals program is here to stay. We’ve been busy signing deals for 17 new creator-owned projects with new teams joining the family and some fan favorite creators returning to work with us again. We’re thrilled to help both new faces and industry veterans bring their stories to the public through Comixology Originals. To say we are excited about the future is an understatement.”

It’s been almost two years now since Amazon laid off a large portion of the staff working on Comixology and a year since Comixology announced plans to retire the stand-alone Comxiology app. Since then, we haven’t heard much from Comixology about its future, although they have continued to announce and release new additions to the Originals program.

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NYCC | Doctor Doom takes over the world in ‘The Rise of Emperor Doom’ by Ryan North and R.B. Silva

It’s Doom’s world now; we’re all just living in it.

Marvel’s big summer event series Blood Hunt ended with Doctor Doom convincing Doctor Strange to pass on the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to him in order to save the world from eternal darkness and the vampire threat — which Strange did reluctantly and Doom, in turn, fulfilled his part with relative ease.

But Doom elected to turn his temporary assignment into a full-time job before heading back to Latveria to … well, do whatever Doom does. Until next February, when Doom will star in The Rise of Emperor Doom, an “anchor series” for a bigger event Marvel is calling One World Under Doom. The five-issue miniseries is by Ryan North, current writer of the Fantastic Four, and artist R.B. Silva.

One World Under Doom sees Doctor Doom coming out of [Latveria], and overnight, taking over the world,” North said. “Every country is a province of a united Latveria, and everyone answers to Doom, and he is going to make some changes… He gets to show the world that he’s the greatest at what he does, and that might not be great for people not named Victor Von Doom.”

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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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NYCC | ‘Ultimate Wolverine’ is the Maker’s ultimate weapon in a new series coming next year

Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio’s ‘Ultimate Wolverine’ will launch in January 2025

Marvel’s Ultimate Universe is getting a new but familiar addition this January, as today at the New York Comic Con the publisher announced Ultimate Wolverine by the team of Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio.

Like many of the inhabitants of the Ultimate Universe, Wolverine’s a bit different in this universe than he is in the 616. Sporting the codename “The Winter Soldier,” this Wolverine isn’t in control of himself — he’s an agent of three members of the Maker’s council, Magik, Colossus and Omega Red. To ensure they maintain control of a world that now has superheroes running around and causing a raucous, they unleash him to do all those things that he’s best at.

“When Wil Moss called me and asked me if I wanted to take on this title, I jumped at the chance and immediately had an idea of what to do with it,” said Condon. “I’m bringing my essence of storytelling from That Texas Blood to the Marvel Universe with Wolverine, looking back at what came before and bringing us something new.”

(If you haven’t read That Texas Blood, by the way, it’s one of my first go-to “This is the comic you should be reading” recommendations whenever someone asks.)

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NYCC | Jason Aaron + Mahmud Asrar reunite for ‘Bug Wars’ at Image Comics

The epic adventure begins in a backyard in Alabama.

Writer Jason Aaron is re-teaming with Mahmud Asrar, who he worked with on Conan the Barbarian, for a new creator-owned six-issue series called Bug Wars. And yes, their new Image Comics series is literally about a kid fighting bugs in his backyard — bugs that cast spells, swings swords and generally have it out for the kid’s family.

“When I was a kid, our backyard was a wondrous place, where I spent hours imagining epic adventures, action figures scattered all through the grass. In a lot of ways, I still feel like that kid, running around the yard, making up stories. Only the stories have gotten a bit darker over the years,” said Aaron. “For Slade Slaymaker, the backyard of his home in Alabama turns out to be a place of terror and brutality, where sects of tiny sword-wielding Mytes and their armies of flesh-eating beetles and acid-spraying ants have declared war on his family. Think Honey, I Shrunk the Kids meets Game of Thrones.”

Rejoining the two of them is colorist Matthew Wilson, who also worked on Conan. Letterer Becca Carey and editor Heather Antos round out the team.

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NYCC | Mike Mignola + team reunite for more ‘Frankenstein: New World’

Christopher Golden, Thomas Sniegoski, Peter Bergting, Michelle Madsen and Clem Robins return for ‘Frankenstein: New World – The Sea of Forever.’

After the world ended, Frankenstein’s story was just beginning. The legendary monster’s future adventures started in 2022’s Frankenstein: New World, and now he’s back for its sequel, subtitled The Sea of Forever.

Mignola will once again be joined by writers Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski for the project, as well as artist Peter Bergting, colorist Michelle Madsen and letterer Clem Robins.

“When Chris, Mike, Peter and I finished up Frankenstein: New World, we knew that we had lots of story still to tell . . . and thankfully, Dark Horse agreed,” Sniegoski said. “With Frankenstein: New World–The Sea of Forever, we’ve gotten the opportunity to delve even deeper into this evolving, post apocalyptic world full of beauty, wonder and a gradually growing evil on the verge of infecting this new, pristine world. I can’t wait for folks to see this next chapter in the Frankenstein: New World saga!”

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NYCC | Charles Soule + Ryan Browne bring ‘The Lucky Devils’ to Image Comics

The nine-issue miniseries begins in January.

Charles Soule and Ryan Browne are at it again — the team behind Curse Words and Eight Billion Genies are bringing the devils on our shoulders to life in The Lucky Devils, a nine-issue miniseries that kicks off in January.

“After the incredible success of Eight Billion Genies, Ryan Browne and I knew our next project together had to be something truly special,” said Soule. “The Lucky Devils feels like exactly that—a spiritual successor to Genies in that it, too, tells a self-contained, tightly-plotted story about the supernatural unexpectedly intersecting with the lives of a few ordinary, unsuspecting people. That said, it’s also very much its own beast. We’re playing with the myth of the devil on your shoulder here—what Genies did for wishing and desire, Devils does for Faustian bargains and humanity’s struggle with temptation. Not to mention I get to see Ryan draw hundreds of hilariously badass little demons—unbeatable. In The Lucky Devils, it’s good to be bad. I can’t wait for people to check it out this January.”

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DC Go brings original webcomics to DC Universe Infinite

The vertical scrolling comics include new stories featuring Harley Quinn, Nightwing and Raven.

In the days leading into this weekend’s New York Comic Con, DC has announced DC Go, a new initiative that will bring mobile-friendly comics about Harley Quinn, Raven and Nightwing to their DC Universe Infinite digital comics app. They also plan to add “vertically reformatted DC and MAD Magazine classics,” starting with Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s Batman: Hush.

Wayne Family Adventures, one of several comics DC launched on Webtoon in 2021, has found great success, which I’m guessing has led to DC turning to their own app for this new line of vertically scrolling webcomics.

“DC has the largest library of comics on the planet, going back nearly 90 years, and with the addition of DC GO! to DC Universe Infinite there’s now a new collection of webcomics for fans to read,” said DC’s GM Anne DePies. “Our goal with the DC GO! collection is to create fun, compelling, reader-friendly, mobile DC stories that readers will enjoy on the go. Like DC Compact Comics and DC Finest, this is another example of our commitment to finding new ways to engage with fans and readers.”

Previews of the first two original titles, Harley Quinn in Paradise and the cheeky-titled Nothing Butt Nightwing, can be read now, both in the app and on the web for members and non-members alike. The comics will officially launch on Nov. 20. A preview of Batman: Hush will be available later this week, with the full comic also coming in November. The press release says it’ll soon be joined by All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely.

You can read more about the original titles and their creative teams below.

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Nominees announced for the 2024 Harvey Awards

The awards program expands to seven categories this year; winners will be announced at the New York Comic Con in October.

The nominees have been announced for the 2024 Harvey Awards, the annual awards program given out at the New York Comic Con. The awards recognize graphic novels, manga, digital comics and “adaptations” across seven categories, up from six last year.

This year it looks like the committee decided to break the “Best Children’s or Young Adult Book” category into two separate categories, which feels like the right thing to do, given the number of books in both these categories published every year. Trying to combine the two into a single category was always kind of weird — it would be like pitting monthly comics against graphic novels in the same category, or even TV shows against movies or video games or musicals. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

This year’s Harvey Awards presentations will be livestreamed from New York Comic Con, and nominees for their Hall of Fame will be announced at a later date. Congratulations to this year’s nominees:

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