Sunday Comics | Where there’s a Wilbur …

Check out recent online comics by Karen Moy, June Brigman, Dave McKean, Ryan Bodenheim and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

So have you been following the Mary Worth drama online? Those aren’t words I ever expected to type, but here we are.

If you aren’t familiar with Mary Worth, it’s a long-running, soap opera-style newspaper comic strip. And “long-running” is no joke; it’s been consistently appearing in newspapers and now online since 1938. And it’s origins go back even further than that, to a strip called Apple Mary that started in 1934. So kudos to the creators, Karen Moy and June Brigman, because here we are in 2022, some 80 years later, and the strip is getting all sorts of attention, kind of akin to Days Of Our Lives having Marlena get possessed by the Devil again.

(And yes, June Brigman, the co-creator of Marvel’s Power Pack and all-around awesome comics artist, is the artist of Mary Worth. Alex spoke to her about the comic Captain Ginger back in 2019).

So the attention the strip is getting centers on a character named Wilbur, who I’ve seen described as “miserable,” a “dingdong” and “a giant mayonnaise sandwich” online. Ryan Bradford, who writes for San Diego CityBeat and Vice, wrote about the last few months worth of strips on Substack, where he talks about how Wilbur is dating Estelle but hates her cat, so he kept making death threats against it. Eventually Estelle broke up with Wilbur, but eventually they got back together, and Wilbur proposed to Estelle while on a cruise. That’s where the story really gets interesting.

[SPOILERS WARNING for recent Mary Worth strips, something else I never thought I’d type]

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12 for ’21 | In Memory 2021

As we move into the new year, we pay tribute to some of the creators who passed away in 2021.

In another year of pain and loss, the passing of so many talented comics creators again hit hard. Here’s a look at some of the comics people who passed away in 2021.

Artist Steve Lightle passed away in January at the age of 61. Lightle’s career in comics began in the 1980s on DC Comics titles like Doom Patrol and Legion of Super-Heroes, which he worked on alongside writers Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen.

He also worked for Marvel on titles like Classic X-Men and Marvel Comics Presents, where his iconic covers graced both titles.

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Rest in peace, Ryan ‘Bode’ Bodenheim

The artist of ‘Black Panther,’ ‘Secret,’ ‘A Red Mass for Mars,’ ‘Bloodshot’ and more passed away Dec. 20 at the age of 44.

Artist Ryan Bodenheim, who sometimes went by the nickname Bode, passed away Dec. 20 at the age of 44. A cause of death has not been released.

Over the course of his career, Bondeheim worked on projects at Marvel and Valiant, on titles like Black Panther, Bloodshot and Ninjak. But fans might best know him from his work with Jonathan Hickman; together they co-created several Image series, including The Dying and the Dead, Secret and A Red Mass for Mars.

“Ryan made the work better,” Hickman wrote in his newsletter. “It’s why I loved working with him. I think that’s the highest compliment you can pay a creative partner, and over the past decade it was such a joy to watch him also grow as an artist.”

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Spider-Man, Avengers + more feel the impact of ‘The Death of Doctor Strange’

Several tie-in one-shots will accompany the miniseries showcasing the death of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme.

The upcoming The Death of Doctor Strange miniseries won’t send the Master of the Mystical Arts off into the great beyond quietly. Marvel has announced several tie-ins that show the “major impact” his death has on the rest of Earth — and on the Avengers, Spider-Man, White Fox and Strange Academy in particular.

If you haven’t heard, the Sorcerer Supreme will follow in the footsteps of many other heroes who were killed in the line of battle in what’s turning out to be more than just a miniseries, but an entire event. Jed MacKay and Lee Garbett are the creative team for the main miniseries, which kicks off next month.

Then in October, Marvel will release two specials, featuring the Avengers and Strange Academy. Alex Paknadel and Ryan Bodenheim will team up for The Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers, while Skottie Young and Mike Del Mundo will helm Strange Academy Presents: The Death of Doctor Strange. Then, in November, Jed MacKay and Marcelo Ferreira present The Death of Doctor Strange: Spider-Man, while Alyssa Wong and Andie Tong bring The White Fox into the action.

Find out more about all three titles below.

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