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Jason Aaron, Chip Zdarsky, Greg Smallwood and more will contribute to this year’s offerings from the House of Ideas.
Marvel has shared the covers and a few more details on their two 2021 Free Comic Book Day titles, which between the two of them will include stories featuring the Avengers, Hulk, Venom and Spider-Man.
Marvel’s gold title, Avengers/Hulk, features a cover by Ryan Ottley:
Continue reading “Hulk, Spider-Man and more headline Marvel’s 2021 Free Comic Book Day titles”Carla Hoffman dives deep into what to expect from Marvel in April.
Let’s take a moment, Dear Reader, to look forward to the future. I know, it’s been a while since we’ve indulged in this sort of thing, the idea that the next few months could be predictable enough to make plans accordingly, rather than surviving by the seat of our pants. But just in case the aliens don’t land, wild boars don’t mutate and dominate the East Coast, or that the comics publishing business won’t go belly up in a matter of weeks and lock down all new content from our humble shelves, let’s look forward into the past at the solicitations of April 2021 from Marvel Comics.
Continue reading “Forward into the Past: Marvel solicitations for April 2021”See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately. In this edition, we talk about King in Black, X-Factor, James Tynion IV and more.
Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.
Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘King in Black,’ ‘Department of Truth’ and more”Marvel announces several tie-in titles for the upcoming Venom-centric crossover.
Symbiotes are back in fashion this winter, as Marvel’s King in Black event stretches its gooey black tentacles out to characters from Daredevil to Spider-Gwen to Valkyrie.
In case you need a refresher, Knull is the god of the symbiotes, and in King in Black, he’ll be taking on not just Venom, but the Avengers, the X-Men, the Hulk and more, as he heads for Earth. Now Marvel has revealed details on what existing and new titles will help support the event.
Here’s a rundown of what to expect:
Continue reading “‘King in Black’ expands its kingdom”See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately — including comics from the past, present and future.
Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.
Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | ‘Pulp,’ ‘Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘Hedra’ and more”Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman bring the god of the symbiotes to Earth for a showdown with the heroes of the Marvel universe.
Fans of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s run on Venom have known that “Knull is coming” for quite sometime, and now Marvel has revealed when exactly he’ll arrive — in King in Black, which starts in December.
Knull — which means “Fuck” in Swedish — is the god of the symbiotes, and in King in Black, he’ll be taking on not just Venom, but the Avengers, the X-Men, the Hulk and more.
“As far as event books go, this is the coolest, darkest, most heavy metal, Cthulhu dark horror thing I’ve ever been able to do,” Cates said in an announcement video. “I still can’t believe that Marvel is letting us go as dark and scary as we’re going.”
You can watch the video below, featuring Cates and Stegman talking about the book.
Continue reading “Oh, Knull: Venom takes the spotlight in December’s ‘King in Black’”With no new date for Free Comic Book Day scheduled yet, Marvel has scheduled when their titles will be sent to retailers.
Marvel has announced plans to release their 2020 Free Comic Book Day titles in July.
Originally targeted for release in May as a part of Free Comic Book Day, Marvel’s two books — along with every other title that was going to be offered to fans for free as a part of the annual event –were delayed when Diamond Comics Distributors announced that FCBD would be postponed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Diamond has not announced a new date for the FCBD yet, and with Marvel’s books offering “a first look at some of Marvel’s biggest upcoming events,” it makes sense they’d want to get their two books out there before these “game-changing” stories start.
Their two titles, and their new release dates, are:
Continue reading “Marvel’s 2020 FCBD titles will arrive in July”Marvel revives its line of specials that detail the final stories of characters like Miles Morales, Deadpool and Captain America.
It’s been quite awhile since Marvel released one of their The End specials, where they tell a What If? style story about the end of a character’s career, but that all changes next year. Marvel announced at the New York Comic Con this weekend plans for five new one-shots that will see several characters reach the end of the line.
Get ready to be depressed with the “final” stories for:
Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr. bring together Marvel’s ‘badasses’ this May.
A new “unsanctioned” group of Avengers will slice and dice their way into comics in May, as Marvel has announced Savage Avengers by the creative team of Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr.
The Savage Avengers’ members will include Conan, Wolverine, Venom, Elektra, Brother Voodoo and Punisher.
“It has to be something that visually makes sense to you, and I think it does,” Duggan, who is also writing Savage Sword of Conan for Marvel, told Entertainment Weekly. “Mike Deodato Jr. is illustrating this book in both worlds. We envisioned a threat, a magical green zone where the evil wizards of Conan’s world are trading spells with the Hand in Japan. Conan is on a very Conan-like mission; he’s heard a tale of an amulet so he’s chasing it, and the evil magic sorcerers are doing something that would be a Marvel Avengers problem. It feels like we have found some very fertile ground that is a Venn diagram between those two worlds.”
Continue reading “‘Avengers Dismember’: Wolverine, Conan join the ‘Savage Avengers’”See what the Smash Pages’ staff enjoyed reading this past year.
With 2018 winding down, Smash Pages’ contributors take a look back at some of their favorite comics of the year, from Hey Kiddo and Spectacular Spider-Man #310 to Wet Moon and The Secret Voice.
Silver Spoon, by Hiromu Arakawa (Yen Press)
Arakawa is best known as the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, but you couldn’t get any farther from that series than Silver Spoon, a comedy about a city boy who goes to agricultural school in rural Hokkaido. Yuugo Hachiken worked hard and did everything he was told, but he still didn’t get into an elite high school, so he takes what he thinks is the easy way out by going to a school that’s not academically focused—or so he thinks. In fact, the students at Ooezo Agricultural High School are very knowledgeable in their fields, but those fields are things like genetics and animal husbandry. The rubber really hits the road in the practical lessons, though, and Hachiken quickly realizes he is out of his depth when it comes to herding chickens, riding a horse, or fetching a stray calf. There’s a lot of city mouse-country mouse comedy in this series, but it’s also a fascinating look at where our food comes from (at least in Japan), and the different agricultural models espoused by different farmers. In fact, like Hachiken’s classmates, this book is very smart and sophisticated in addition to being endlessly entertaining.
Meal, by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho (Iron Circus)
The idea of eating bugs may elicit an “Eeeww” from most people, but Delliquanti and Ho go beyond the ick factor in this romance about an insect cuisine enthusiast and a chef who wants to start a new restaurant based on the dishes of her youth—dishes that include ants, grasshoppers, and tarantulas. There’s a love story woven in there as well. Yarrow has just moved to a new city in hopes of getting a job in the kitchen of Chandra Flores, insect chef extraordinaire, who is about to launch a new restaurant. Milani, her neighbor, is friendly and helpful but the two have a little trouble making it click. At the same time, Chandra suspects that Yarrow is only into insect cuisine because it’s sensational, while to her, it’s part of her heritage. There’s a lot in this slim volume: Love, food, bugs, and bugs that are food, and the creators even include a couple of recipes at the end of the book.
