Quick Hits | Nirvana Comics in Knoxville wins the first Image Select Retailer Award

Plus: News on Rob Liefeld, Scout Comics, G. Willow Wilson and the Robert E. Howard awards.

Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, Tennessee has won Image Comics’ inaugural Image Select Retailer Award. The winner was announced this weekend at the Emerald City Comic Con during an event hosted by Lunar Distribution.

Images Comics announced the award last month as a way to recognize retailers “that are going above and beyond to serve their customers, expand readership and grow a healthier marketplace.” Customers were able to vote for their favorite store via an online form.

“This is such a huge honor,” said Grant and Jasmine Mitchell, co-owners of the store. “Thank you Image Comics for all you’ve done to help the comic shop industry. Thank you to all our customers who nominated us. Your support and friendship is why we do this everyday. The best is yet to come!”

According to Image, the shop was in the top tier of most nominations by sheer volume from “happy customers eager to pay it forward to the store they love.” They’ll receive several prizes from Image, including a commemorative medallion and their choice of a comic with a gold foil exclusive variant cover branded with their store logo.

“The response to this award was phenomenal with thousands of nominations submitted in just a few days,” said Alex Cox, director of direct market sales at Image Comics. “Reading that many testimonials from people praising their local comic shops was a great reminder of how amazing the comics community can be, and Nirvana Comics stood out as a prime example of a store that truly values their customers, and makes new fans every day.”

Continue reading “Quick Hits | Nirvana Comics in Knoxville wins the first Image Select Retailer Award”

Quick Hits | Rest in peace, José Delbo

Plus: Amy Chu, Rob Liefeld, Frank Johnson and what the heck is going on with Cadence Comic Art?

José María Del Bó, known professionally as José Delbo, passed away at the age of 90 yesterday. The news was reported on social media by his grandson.

The Argentine comics artist career began in the 1940s as a teenager, with a science fiction tale that appeared Carlos Clemen’s Suspenso title. He left Argentina in the 1960s, migrating first to Brazil and then to the United States in 1965. He worked for Charlton, Dell and Gold Key, contributing art to many of their TV adaptations, including The Brady Bunch, Gentle Ben, The Monkees, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Yellow Submarine.

In the late 1960s, he began drawing comics for DC, working on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, World’s Finest, Batman Family and Wonder Woman, which he drew for about five years in the late 1970s. From there he moved to Marvel, where he worked on their popular Transformers comic, as well as ThunderCats, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and NFL SuperPro. He also worked on The Phantom and the Superman comic strips.

Together he and writer Simon Furman created Brute Force, a short-lived Marvel series that was intended to be a toy line, but that never came to pass. The series was revived a couple years ago as an Infinity Comics title.

Continue reading “Quick Hits | Rest in peace, José Delbo”

Marvel announces ‘Deadpool: Seven Slaughters’ one-shot anthology

Plus more news from San Diego on new Marvel work by Greg Capullo and Rob Liefeld.

In San Diego this week, Marvel announced an upcoming one-shot featuring the Merc with a Mouth. Deadpool: Seven Slaughters will feature seven stories by seven different creative teams — and a cover by Greg Capullo, who will do his first work for Marvel in decades.

The anthology will include a story written and drawn by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, with additional stories by Cullen Bunn, Cody Ziglar, Marc Guggenheim, Justina Ireland, Gail Simone, Greg Land, Whilce Portacio, David Baldeón, Phillip Sevy and more.

Here’s a look at Capullo’s cover:

Continue reading “Marvel announces ‘Deadpool: Seven Slaughters’ one-shot anthology”

Slugfest | A round-up of Marvel announcements for May 2023

See what’s coming up this May for the Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Hulk and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition is all about Marvel’s May announcements, of which there are many. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel released their solicitations for May last week (You can find the complete listings on The Beat) and they included several new stories and big storylines that I may or may not have already covered here. So, here’s a round-up of what to expect and what looks interesting …

Continue reading “Slugfest | A round-up of Marvel announcements for May 2023”

Liefeld returns to Marvel for ‘Deadpool: Badder Blood’

The sequel to ‘Bad Blood” continues the tale of Deadpool and new villain Thumper.

What’s badder than Bad Blood? How about Badder Blood? Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld will return to one of his signature characters for a new five-issue sequel to the graphic novel Deadpool: Bad Blood.

That graphic novel introduced a new nemesis for Wade Wilson, the mysterious Thumper. Liefeld will continue to build out Thumper’s story in Deadpool: Badder Blood.

“Deadpool really doesn’t have a Rogues Gallery of his own. He mostly tangles with other heroes’ villains, so I dedicated the entirety of Bad Blood to building up the story of Thumper,” Liefeld told The Hollywood Reporter. “With Badder Blood, Thumper is making moves across the gangs and crime organizations of the Marvel Universe to squeeze Deadpool and deliver him into his clutches. Thumper is also moving to destroy all the scientists behind the Weapon X program and specifically the program that created him. It’s a romp that continues to build out a Rogues Gallery for Deadpool.”

Continue reading “Liefeld returns to Marvel for ‘Deadpool: Badder Blood’”

Slugfest | A round-up of Comic-Con news

Check out news and announcements about Godzilla, Joker, Sonic the Hedgehog, ShadowHawk, A.X.E.: Judgment Day, Star Trek and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you from comics creators, publishers and more. Today’s edition includes some San Diego news we didn’t get to this past weekend, plus a few other items to note. Hit the links for more information.

Let’s start with a huge blast of Gotham City news that DC revealed last week in San Diego, as they revealed several new Batman-related projects by the likes of Narcisse, Ram V., Tini Howard, Matthew Rosenberg and more. Most of these announcements came right before the release of the DC solicitations for October, when many of them will kick off.

So, the rundown …

Continue reading “Slugfest | A round-up of Comic-Con news”

‘New Mutants’ #30 will mark the team’s 40th anniversary

Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong, Bob McLeod and more will contribute to the oversized issue.

Although they don’t look that much older than when they first debuted, Marvel will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original New Mutants #1 in issue #30 of the current series, which comes out in September.

The oversized issue will include a collection of shorter stories starring “classic and new characters alike,” and will feature the work of Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong and more. Wong, actually, will write a new Deadpool story for the comic, as Deadpool made his first appearance in New Mutants #98.

The New Mutants were co-created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod back in 1982, and they debuted in an original graphic novel that was released in September of that year. The first issue of their ongoing series followed a couple months later and lasted 100 issues before morphing into X-Force during the 1990s. Marvel has revived the title and concept a few times since then, including the current title, which features several of the original members with newer characters.

Continue reading “‘New Mutants’ #30 will mark the team’s 40th anniversary”

Mail Call | Shang-Chi’s mutant sister debuts in ‘Shang-Chi’ #3

Like fireworks lighting up the night sky comes a barrage of news, previews and announcements from Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, Mad Cave Studios and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan’s run on Marvel’s Shang-Chi has focused both on family and legacy, and in the third issue Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu finds out he has yet another sibling — and she’s a mutant.

Zhilan is a mutant warrior with a dazzling power: she can turn music into solidified energy. According to Marvel.com, she was exiled by Shang-Chi’s evil father years ago, and now Shang-Chi is seeking her out — as is the Krakoa mutant nation, which will lead to a confrontation with Wolverine.

Check out the variant cover by Michael Cho, along with some preview pages by Ruan, below:

Continue reading “Mail Call | Shang-Chi’s mutant sister debuts in ‘Shang-Chi’ #3”

Mail Call | ‘Spawn’s Universe’ #1 orders exceed 200,000

Check out all kinds of announcements and previews from Skybound, Marvel, Bad Idea, AfterShock and more!

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Never let it be said that kids don’t still love chains. Image Comics and Todd McFarlane Productions sent out a release this week touting that the upcoming Spawn’s Universe #1 has shattered the record for “Image Comics’ top selling, first issue comic book of the 21st century by selling well over 200K units.”

The release goes on to mention that the comic is only the beginning for this year’s Spawn-pocalypse; Spawn’s Universe #1 will arrive in June, followed by King Spawn #1 in August, Gunslinger #1 in October and The Scorched #1 in December.

Continue reading “Mail Call | ‘Spawn’s Universe’ #1 orders exceed 200,000”

David Gallaher will script Rob Liefeld’s ‘The Shield’ one-shot for Archie Comics

The announcement comes after Liefeld left the project over a variant cover reveal by a different artist.

Archie Comics has announced that they’ve hired David Gallaher (Only Living Girl, High Moon) to script Rob Liefeld’s The Mighty Crusaders: The Shield one-shot.

The one-shot will still arrive on June 30 as planned. Archie positioned Gallaher as scripting “a new story for The Shield one-shot based on Mr. Liefeld’s artwork.”

Continue reading “David Gallaher will script Rob Liefeld’s ‘The Shield’ one-shot for Archie Comics”

Rob Liefeld quits the upcoming ‘Mighty Crusaders’ revival at Archie

Archie still plans to release the first issue in June as originally planned, but with a new writer providing the script.

Comics creator Rob Liefeld has left the Mighty Crusaders revival project, which was announced last December. He left because he said a key plot point was revealed on a variant cover created by Tone Rodriguez for Camelot Books and Comics.

“When the key plot point/element is revealed on a retail variant cover – it’s probably time to exit the stage on this one…. like seriously?” Liefeld wrote on Facebook earlier this month. He said he found out about the cover when Rodriguez tagged him in a Facebook post about it.

He later added in another post: “So, earlier this week I posted to one of my groups how I’m trying to keep all the contents of one of my upcoming projects under wraps. I want the reveals and the twists to be fresh and happen organically. I love the story and art and was trying to protect it as best I can. And I had succeeded in doing so. The cover with the big twist being publicly shared as I’m walking out the door to a farewell party for friends was like the big gut punch. All the wind goes out of the sails and the enthusiasm with it. It’s this practice … that needs better management. Everyone is trying to one up the other guy because the shelf life on these comics is so small. Publishers need to do better.

Archie followed up today by announcing that The Mighty Crusaders: The Shield #1 will still be released on June 30, as previously announced, using the artwork that Liefeld already turned in. They said that a new writer would be brought in to script Liefeld’s pages.

Continue reading “Rob Liefeld quits the upcoming ‘Mighty Crusaders’ revival at Archie”

Mail Call | Marvel celebrates 80 years of Captain America

A round-up of news and announcements from Marvel, DC, Top Shelf, Z2 Comics, AfterShock and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel will pay tribute to the 80th anniversary of Captain America next year with a special project involving John Cassaday, Alex Ross, Marguerite Sauvage, David Lapham, Declan Shalvey and many more. Captain America Tribute #1, coming from Marvel in March, will feature a bunch of current artists redrawing both Captain America Comics #1 and Avengers #4, with each page by a different artist.

Continue reading “Mail Call | Marvel celebrates 80 years of Captain America”