DC announces ‘Superman: Red & Blue’ anthology miniseries

The series will feature stories told in red and blue.

If Batman has his Black & White series, then naturally Superman would get a “red & Blue” one. DC announced this week Superman: Red & Blue, an anthology miniseries featuring the Man of Steel told in shades of red and blue (or magenta and cyan, to be specific).

The first issue will include a Clark Kent story by John Ridley, whose name is all over DC lately, with artist Clayton Henry. Brandon Easton and Steve Lieber will have a “street level” story set in Metropolis.

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‘Future State’ takes over DC’s line-up in January

DC will kick off 2021 by exploring the future of their universe for two months, with regular titles resuming in March.

Following the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, which wraps up Jan. 5, DC will hit pause on their regular monthly titles for two months. In January and February, they’ll release a bunch of titles under the “DC Future State” banner, giving readers a glimpse at the future of the DC Universe.

“In DC Future State, the Multiverse has been saved from the brink of destruction, but the triumph of DC’s heroes has shaken loose the very fabric of time and space,” reads their press release. “The final chapter of Dark Nights: Death Metal brings new life to DC’s Multiverse, kicking off this glimpse into the unwritten worlds of DC’s future.”

They plan to resume with their regular titles in March.

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DC FanDome: Reaction + news round-up

Although there weren’t any big comics announcements during the second day of DC FanDome, the company did reveal a few small tidbits.

This weekend DC presented the second round of their DC FanDome event, which featured pre-recorded virtual panels on their comics, movies, TV shows, video games and much more.

Although some viewers complained of technical issues when everything went online on Saturday morning, the event this time was much smoother and easier to absorb than the first day of the event, which took place back in August. For that one, everything was streamed on a continuous loop, which made it difficult to figure out when certain panels were going live — and if you didn’t have eight hours to dedicate to watching it, you were going to miss something.

This time around everything was posted on-demand style, so you could easily pick and choose what you wanted to see. If you just wanted to see the comics panels, you could pull those up and watch them without having to sit through a panel on the Flash TV show, for instance. Across five different channels, they had a LOT of content, and like before, it was only up for 24 hours. Which is a bummer — if you missed it, it’s gone, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. They could easily put at least some of it up on their YouTube channel.

If you did miss FanDome, here’s a round-up of some of the comic news that came out of the event.

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What Are You Reading? | Red Goblins, celestial avatars, Klan smashers and Texas blood

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Like I said last week, summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics. This week brought us a taste of Empyre, Marvel’s big crossover event featuring the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Swordsman and all that crazy cosmic space action Marvel fans have come to know and love. You can see Carla’s thoughts on it below, along with a list of comics Shane has been buying for his kids and Tom’s thoughts on two politically minded books from DC.

You can tell us what you’ve been reading in the comments below or on social media.

Shane Bailey

Lately my kids have started wanting to read more comics. My little one has always been into them, but now the older kids are as well. So I let them pick out their own comics to read on comiXology Unlimited.

My 9 yr old son picked Amazing Spider-Man: The Red Goblin by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen, and he loves it. He wouldn’t stop commenting on how crazy scary Norman Osborn is, how it was gross when Carnage bit the head off a rat, and during one issue when the Goblin had a captive and was interrogating him, he wondered aloud over who it was, making guesses and gasping when he found out who it was and that Norman knew who Spider-Man was. It’s great seeing him get excited at things that are old hat for me. It made me appreciate those moments more.

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Mail Call | Fantagraphics 40% off sale, Batman, Pearl Jam and more

Rounding up news from IDW, DC, Image and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Fantagraphics is holding a 40% off clearance sale on their website right now, which ends this Saturday. There’s a lot of good stuff to choose from, including volumes of the Mome anthology, Dungeon Quest, some Michael Kupperman books, Roger Langridge’s Fred the Clown and more.

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Rest in peace, Martin Pasko

After a career that spanned comics, TV and animation, the writer/editor passed away at 65.

Martin “Marty” Pasko, a writer and editor whose career span decades, has passed away at the age of 65, multiple sources have reported, including his friends and colleagues Paul Levitz and Mark Evanier.

During his long career, Pasko worked in many creative and editorial capacities, with much of his career spent in the comics industry and animation. His love for comics, though, started before that, as a fan and frequent contributor to letter columns.

“Marty connected with comics originally as a letterhack, with Julie Schwartz pinning the label ‘Pesky’ Pasko on him,” Levitz said on Facebook. “Whether commenting on the latest comic he read, the events of the day in politics, creative theory, or just making conversation, Marty had one of the sharpest wits of our generation, and opinions…oy, did he have opinions. I learned from him, learned by arguing with him, and took joy in ample helpings with the hamburgers or Chinese food we shared over the decades.”

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DC to release ‘100-Page Giant’ stories digitally

Starting today, look for daily almost-new comics through the DC Digital First program.

DC Comics today announced that they will make stories from their 100-Page Giant anthologies available digitally, starting today with a Superman story by Robert Venditti, Paul Pelletier, Drew Hennessy and Adriano Lucas. Additional stories will be added daily for at least the next week.

“Comic book fans want more access to content than ever before,” said Jim Lee, DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher, in a press release. “This strategy is intended to get daily content to fans immediately, and also to ensure that when comic shops open back up for business, they will have new content and product that their customers will want. In the meantime, we will have properly stoked and protected the demand for comics, keeping fans interested in our characters and stories.”

Here’s the line-up for the next seven days:

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Watch Brian Michael Bendis discuss comics with Seth Meyers

Bendis discusses Legion, Naomi, Miles Morales and how he tries to think like Superman.

Superman writer Brian Michael Bendis returned to Late Night with Seth Meyers this week to once again talk about his work with late night host and comics fan Seth Meyers.

The two hit on a myriad of topics, including the success of Miles Morales (who Bendis co-created, he noted to Meyers in a small but important moment in the interview; hat tip to artist Sara Pichelli), the challenges of writing Superman, the origin of Naomi and his work on the upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes relaunch.

Watch the full segment below:

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Read Colleen Coover’s Lana Lang fan comic

Superman and Lana hang out in this “unsanctioned” but fun story.

Eisner Award-winning comics creator Colleen Coover has posted an “Unofficial, Unsanctioned, Unsolicited” new comic starring Superman’s ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang. Hey, if Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson can get their own comics, why not Lana?

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‘Superman: Year One’ preview showcases key moments on the Kent farm

As a matter of fact, we ARE in Kansas anymore for this preview of the Black Label project from Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.

DC Comics has released a preview and some additional details on Frank Miller and John Romta Jr.’s upcoming Superman: Year One project, which starts in June. Not only do they share some interior pages, but they also have a Q&A with the creative team.

“This is baby Kal-El’s odyssey from planet Krypton to planet Earth. From a strange little boy to Superman. It’s a hero’s journey wherein a boy discovers his powers and more importantly, his destiny,” Miller said. “It ties in with my Dark Knight Universe and Batman: Year One.”

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DC’s Walmart-exclusive stories headed to comic shops

DC Comics announced at WonderCon that stories by Brian Michael Bendis, Tom King and others will be released in the direct market.

DC Comics answered a question at WonderCon that’s been in the minds of readers and retailers — will the stories they’ve released exclusively to Walmart ever be collected and available in comic shops?

The answer is yes, as DC announced at their publisher’s panel today that stories like Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman: Universe will be collected and released in the direct market.

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DC to debut new ¡Lucha Explosiva! figures at Toy Fair

Superman, Batman, Deathstroke and more will get a Mexican luchadores-style makeover in a new action figure line from DC Collectibles.

In what I can only describe as the perfect marriage of two things I love, DC Collectibles has revealed a new action figure line that re-imagines their characters as luchadores — mask-wearing wrestlers that hail from Mexico.

DC ¡Lucha Explosiva! is “a thrilling and imaginative new universe that blends the action-packed world of Lucha Libre with iconic DC characters.” The first wave of figures includes Batman, Deathstroke, Superman, Metallo II, Wonder Woman and the Cheetah, and they come out in August.

“DC Collectibles is always striving to bring fans imaginative new ways to extend and celebrate DC’s most iconic characters,” said Jim Fletcher, executive creative director of DC Collectibles, said in a press release. “DC ¡LUCHA EXPLOSIVA! is a passion project for us. We’re all huge fans of Lucha Libre, and merging Mexican Luchadores with superheroes seemed like a perfect fit. Besides obvious similarities like masks, capes and secret identities, we also think there is a huge crossover between fan bases.” Heck yeah there is!

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