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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Smash Pages Q&A | Shaenon Garrity on ‘Willowweep Manor,’ ‘Skin Horse’ and more

The editor, web cartoonist and writer discusses her latest graphic novel and the end of her long-running webcomic.

For 12 days, we’re looking back at the 2021 that was in the world of comics, with interviews, commentary and more. Check back often!

Shaenon Garrity has been working in comics for years. An editor at Viz Media, she’s a longtime web cartoonist starting with Narbonic, which she launched in 2000, and she’s been a comics critic for nearly as long in the pages of The Comics Journal and other publications.

Garrity currently makes the webcomic Skin Horse with Jeffrey Wells, and this year saw the release of the graphic novel The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, which she made with Christopher Baldwin. The book stars Haley, a lover of gothic romances who finds herself in a gothic romance. Except it’s not, and she has to find a way to navigate her way through a very different kind of story. The book is wildly inventive and laugh out loud funny, which are two things that I always expect from Garrity’s work.

We spoke recently about gothic romance, mad scientists and ending her long-running strip Skin Horse next year.

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Victor Santos launches ‘Ginger Revenges’ through Substack

The free webcomic will be available a page at a time through his newsletter.

Victor Santos, known for projects like Polar, Moon Eaters, Paranoia Killer and more, will syndicate a new comic through his Substack newsletter, the creator revealed.

Ginger Revenges is about a teenager who seeks vengeance against her gangster dad after her mom dies. Santos says he plans to post one page per month, but that each page will have “a lot of panels, like a digital modern version of the Sunday Pages from the old American newspapers.”

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Webtoon expands to graphic novel publishing with Webtoon Unscrolled

Former Marvel and DC exec Bobbie Chase will oversee a line of graphic novels that will bring popular Webtoon comics to print.

The popular mobile comics juggernaut Webtoon has announced plans to launch a new graphic novel imprint, Webtoon Unscrolled, that will be headed up by former DC, Marvel and Disney publishing executive Bobbie Chase.

Webtoon Unscrolled will publish print versions of their online comics, starting with the popular Tower of God by SIU and True Beauty by Yaongyi next fall.

“Webtoon has transformed the comics landscape, helping creators find new fans all over the world,” said Ken Kim, Chief Executive Officer, Webtoon Entertainment in a statement. “As the global leader in digital comics and IP, Webtoon’s storytelling technology and creators are fueling a Literary Creator Economy, ushering in a new era of publishing and entertainment. With Webtoon Unscrolled, we’ll bring some of the biggest names and undiscovered talent from Webtoon to bookshelves.”

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Fund Me Tuesday | ‘Outrage’ by Fabian Nicieza + Reilly Brown

Help bring the Webtoon comic to print by pledging by Nov. 12.

Fabian Nicieza and Reilly Brown’s creator-owned comic Outrage started life as a webcomic on Webtoon, and now a print collection is being crowdfunded via the publisher Rocketship.

Outrage Volume 1 will collect the entire 26 chapter run of the first season of the Outrage webcomic, running 150 pages. As they have with other collections of webcomics, Rocketship has redesigned the pages for print.

“After our years on Marvel’s Cable & Deadpool comic, Reilly Brown and I had been looking to work together again and we both thought the silliness and seriousness of Outrage would be a perfect fit,” Nicieza said on the project’s Kickstarter page. “The digital comic debuted on Webtoon in the fall of 2018 and was an instant success among readers with slightly unhinged inclinations.”

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Sunday Comics | Happy Halloween!

Check out spooky webcomics by Janie Lee, Grant Snider, Sarah Hopkins 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.

It’s my last legal day of the year to share spooky things with the universe, so I thought I’d dedicate this edition of Sunday Comics to all things Halloween. Or, to be more specific, to Halloween-themed webcomics, whether they provide tricks, treats or just plain old creeps.

Let’s start with Camp Counselor Jason, a series of comics by Junkmix, aka Janie Lee, that features a different take on Jason Voorhees and other horror icons. In Jason’s case, the Cap Creek Lake murder machine from the Friday the 13th movies isn’t the maniac you find in the movies — instead, he “becomes a camp counselor to make sure no kids ever drown on his watch.”

He’s still got his machete and hockey mask, though.

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Sunday Comics | 24-Hour Comic Day, Inktober and more

Check out recent comics by Melanie Gillman, Derek Laufman, Elsa Charretier 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.

I mentioned Swordtember in a post earlier today, and it’s far from the only online challenge aimed at creators going on on social media right now. Yesterday, in fact, was 24-Hour Comic Day, the “annual celebration of comics creation” where artists attempt to create an entire comic in 24 hours.

As the Crow Flies creator Melanie Gillman once again took up the challenge, creating a comic called The Night-Mother. It’s a horror story, and Gillman includes several content warnings at the beginning, including violence and miscarriage. But it’s a very well-done comic, especially for one they created in just 24 hours — or almost, anyway. Gillman still has a few pages left that they were hoping to finish today. Here’s the first page:

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Smash Pages Q&A: NireLeet

The illustrator and teacher discusses the story “Not Alone,” which was part of Decoded’s Pride Month anthology.

NireLeet is a teacher and illustrator, and this year for Decoded, the annual story-a-day anthology for Pride Month, she made the short comic “Not Alone.” A quiet and perfectly told story, it’s a story about a witch that’s about loneliness in a way that will resonate with people more than the story would have previously.

This year’s collection of Decoded has been released as a full color PDF, and NireLeet just launched Malic’s Deep, a new webcomic on Tapas. We spoke recently about art, fantasy and the joys of teaching art in elementary school.

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Archie + Webtoon will launch ‘Big Ethel Energy’ on Sept. 21

Keryl Brown Ahmed and Siobhan Keenan team up for a new webcomic about Ethel’s life after leaving Riverdale.

Archie Comics and Webtoon have announced the first webcomic they plan to release as part of a deal between the two companies that was shared at last year’s New York Comic Con.

Big Ethel Energy, which will feature an older version of the character Ethel, will launch on Sept. 21. It’s by writer Keryl Brown Ahmed and artist Siobhan Keenan.

”We’re so excited for this partnership with Webtoon,” said Archie Comics Senior Director of Editorial Jamie L. Rotante. “The work they’ve been doing is incredible, and the modern sensibilities they bring to their storytelling, along with the gorgeous and colorful art, aligns perfectly with Archie’s vision. It’s been amazing working with Webtoon and watching the evolution of Ethel take shape.”

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DC + Webtoon’s first collaboration, ‘Wayne Family Adventures,’ is now live

The new comic focuses on the family life of Bruce Wayne and all his various vigilante kids.

DC and Webtoon, who announced a partnership last month, have launched their first webcomic just in time for Batman Day — Batman: Wayne Family Adventures.

The new comic, which you can read right here, focuses on Batman’s role as a father to all of his vigilante children. Three episodes went live today and feature Duke Thomas, aka The Signal, moving into the Wayne mansion; a family dinner featuring all the various Robins; and a Barbara Gordon-centric episode that has her bonding with her dad.

The comic is by the creative team of writer CRC Payne, lead artist StarBite, storyboard artist Maria Li, background artist Lan Ma, letterer Kielamel Sibal, and colorists C.M. Cameron, Camille Cruz and Jean Kim.

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Sunday Comics | Kurtz + Kerschl’s wonderful take on Superman

Plus: Check out some great, award-nominated webcomics on Tapas and Webtoon.

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, or on Twitter of Facebook.

Let’s start off with a short fan comic that’s been making the rounds on social media. Two Superman fans named Scott Kurtz and Karl Kerschl — oh hey, I know those names — shared this eight-years-in-the-making comic featuring the Man of Steel.

“Eight years ago, I came home from seeing Man of Steel and wrote a 5 page Superman story,” Kurtz said on Twitter. “Karl Kerschl offered to draw it. Eight years later he finished it. I’m gobsmacked!”

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Sunday Comics | Looking at the NCS Divisional Award nominees

Check out webcomics by Tom Siddell, Ariel Ries, Rosemary Mosco 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, or on Twitter of Facebook.

The National Cartoonist Society has announced the nominees for this year’s Reuben Award and the accompanying NCS Divisional Awards, so this week I thought I’d spotlight the six webcomics nominated in the “Online Comics – Long Form” and “Online Comics – Short Form” categories. We’ll start with the latter.

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