Tag: Tony Fleecs

Marvel heads back to the beach this summer in ‘Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes, Rivals’

The iconic special returns with a new story by Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs and Nick Bradshaw.

A staple of Marvel’s summer comics line-up will return in July as the company resurrects its infamous Marvel Swimsuit Special.

The special will feature swimsuit pin-ups of Marvel characters by Nic Klein, Marguerite Sauvage, Luciano Vecchio and many more, along with a story by Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs — the Local Man team — drawn by artist Nick Bradshaw.

Carla Hoffman revisited the classic Marvel Swimsuit Special back in 2021, noting that these would feature a whole bunch of cheesecake pin-ups as well as a story that explained why Captain America was wearing a bathing suit on Monster Island:

What was thought to be utterly salacious drivel by my mother when I tried to get a copy in my youth, the ‘93 Marvel Swimsuit issue has a story. Seriously: the Infinity Watch play a poker game, Pip the Troll wins, so he makes them all use the Infinity Stones to gather all the superheroes of the Marvel Universe to a party at Monster Island. When they are all suddenly transported there by the Space and Time Gems, they are forced into not fighting one another and having a good time by the Mind Stone, so a big beach party breaks out and Pip the Troll takes pictures of everyone in their swimsuits.

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The Thing takes on everybody in a miniseries next year

When a hit goes out Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew, a cadre of classic villains head to Yancy Street to collect.

With the new Fantastic Four film arriving next year, Marvel is focusing heavily on their first family in the comics as well — which includes a new miniseries starring The Thing by Tony Fleecs and Leonard Kirk.

The solo miniseries finds Ben Grimm back on Yancy Street, where his attempts to stop a criminal conspiracy put him in the crosshairs of a mysterious villain who puts a contract out on him — drawing the attention of everyone from Bullseye to the Juggernaut.

“What I love about Ben Grimm is that he’s just a regular hardworking guy—who happens to have super powers,” said Fleecs, co-creator of Image’s Local Man. “He’s Jack Kirby. He’s not easily impressed by all of the outlandish, cosmic stuff constantly going on around him.”

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Fleecs + Wachter will lead you to the ‘Uncanny Valley’

The new series arrives from BOOM! Studios in April.

BOOM! Studios has announced that Tony Fleecs of Stray Dogs and Local Man fame will team with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artist Dave Wachter for a new series called Uncanny Valley.

The story revolves around a 12-year-old named Oliver whose powers connect him to a surreal, cartoon-ish world.

“Uncanny Valley is a book that I’ve wanted to make for years. I’m so excited to be making it with the impossibly talented Dave Wachter and with BOOM! Studios,” said Fleecs. “It’s a big huge story set in two giant worlds with all sorts of magic and mystery and robots and skeletons but it’s centered on this little tiny family. Those are my favorite kinds of stories.”

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Fleecs + Forstner continue to build the ‘pet horror’ genre in ‘Feral’

The creators of ‘Stray Dogs’ set their sights on cats in their next series at Image Comics.

Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner will once again put household pets in terrible situations in Feral, an ongoing series coming from Image Comics next year.

This time around the Stray Dogs team will focus on cats — in particular three indoor cats who get lost outside during a rabies outbreak.

“We didn’t want to repeat ourselves with this follow up book so it really was at first, thinking about: Okay, Stray Dogs is dogs trapped in a house. So, let’s have this one be about what’s really frightening in wide open spaces. The antagonist in Stray Dogs is someone who’s evil from the inside out. So, let’s have these cats face something that’s like an infection. An external threat. The stray dogs were forgetful… So these cats remember EVERYTHING,” Fleecs told The Hollywood Reporter. “These cats hold a grudge. That’s what we did differently. But the thing we did the same way was, we tried to build the story on characters, and how they fit together and how they clash and then just… What’s the worst possible situation we can put them in?”

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Cyberforce, Street Angel + more guest star in Seeley + Fleecs’ ‘Local Man: Gold’

Crossjack will confront his past in the new one-shot this August.

I’m a big fan of Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs’ work on Local Man, the story of a washed-up 1990s-era Image superhero dealing with a bad rep and murders in his home town. Now the main character, Crossjack, will have to literally confront his past and team up with some of Image’s finest (finest?) in a new one-shot titled Local Man: Gold.

“Tony and I are really happy with the critical success of Local Man, and we want to make sure we give readers who’ve heard the buzz a chance to sample our story,” said Seeley. “Gold is steeped in the ’90s-comics-by-way-of-crime-noir vibe people are loving, and is easily accessible to newcomers!’

The title and cover pay tribute to the Deathmate crossover, which brought together the Image and Valiant universes in the early 1990s (and is considered one of many straws that broke the comic industry’s back at the time):

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Porcelain,’ ‘Godfell,’ ‘Local Man’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include first issues of Godfell and Local Man, as well as Porcelain and some classic DC Comics Presents.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments below or by tagging us on social media.

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‘Local Man’ brings together small town crime and early 1990s superheroes

“Part Extreme Studios, part Vertigo Comics. It’s a story about love and loss, and ego, and murder most foul.”

Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs have teamed up for a new comic that’s “part Extreme Studios, part Vertigo Comics” as the duo share their love for those early Image superheroes in Local Man.

“Local Man is Tony and I teaming up to make a comic book that combines what we love about ’90s superheroes, with our shared affections for crime and horror stories,” Seeley told CBR. “Part Extreme Studios, part Vertigo Comics. It’s a story about love and loss, and ego, and murder most foul. But it’s also about nostalgia, and promises not fulfilled—with lots of gritted teeth, and epic head punches.”

Seeley and Fleecs have both had their own success at Image, with titles like Revival and Stray Dogs. Each issue of the series will come in a “flip book” format, with a lead story drawn by Fleecs and a superhero flashback drawn by Seeley. Both are accomplished writers and artists, so it’s good to see them flexing both those muscles here.

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‘Stray Dogs’ returns in December with ‘Dog Days’

Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner return to tell short stories about the characters introduced in ‘Stray Dogs.’

This December you’ll be able to learn more about the different canines who appeared in Image Comics’ recent Stray Dogs miniseries.

Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner’s litter of dogs — who also appeared in one of Image’s Free Comic Book Day titles this year — will return for a two-issue miniseries, Stray Dogs: Dog Days. It’ll feature short stories about each of the dogs.

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Transformers, My Little Pony will cross over again in April

The Autobots and Decepticons will revisit Equestria in the four-issue series.

Two of Hasbro’s properties will collide again in My Little Pony / Transformers II, a four-issue miniseries launching in April from IDW Publishing.

The creative team for the first issue includes writers James Asmus and Sam Maggs, and artists Jack Lawrence and Casey W. Coller. Ian Flynn, Priscilla Tramontano and Tony Fleecs will also contribute to the series.

“I can’t wait to jump back into this world of magical friendships that really is More than Meets the Eye,” said Maggs. “It’s such a blast coming up with the most fun (and downright weird) pairings of ponies and ‘bots, and I think fans of both series are going to be surprised at what’s we’ve got for them this second time around!”

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