Mike Mignola + Ben Stenbeck team up for a new shared universe called ‘Lands Unknown’

‘Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown’ will debut from Mignola’s new imprint at Dark Horse in December.

Dark Horse Comics today announced Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, the first publication in a new shared universe, called “Lands Unknown,” created by Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck.

It’ll also be the first publication to carry the name of Mignola’s new imprint at Dark Horse, Curious Objects. In recent years everyone from Stan Sakai to Brian Michael Bendis has launched an imprint with the publisher as a part of moving there — or moving back there, in Sakai’s case. So it seems only fair that the longtime Dark Horse creator, whose Hellboy is celebrating 30 years this year, would have one as well.

The release doesn’t say much more about what to expect from Curious Objects, but Mignola did share more about the Lands Unknown shared universe.

Continue reading “Mike Mignola + Ben Stenbeck team up for a new shared universe called ‘Lands Unknown’”

‘Flash Gordon Adventures’ will arrive from Papercutz this fall

Art Baltazar and Franco will chronicle new kid-friendly adventures featuring Flash, Ming, Dale and more.

Papercutz, the kids comics company owned by Mad Cave Studios, has announced their Flash Gordon graphic novel series aimed at kids — Flash Gordon Adventures by the Tiny Titans team of Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani.

Mad Cave announced the acquisition of the Flash Gordon license last year, and has since revealed several comic series they’ll be publishing this year. So this new series by Papercutz is part of that bigger plan. And bringing in Baltazar and Franco is of course a stroke of genius.

“When I was a kid, I watched the Flash Gordon serials every weekend with my dad. Then! I played with the action figures and watched the cartoons! The cartoon had all these cool aliens and colorful characters,” Baltazar said. “Flash is cool space adventuring swashbuckling hero and he did it  first!  When Papercutz announced Flash Gordon, I was like, ‘Dang! I know that guy. I can make some cool comics with him.’ So they asked, and I said, ‘Yes!’” 

Continue reading “‘Flash Gordon Adventures’ will arrive from Papercutz this fall”

Massive Publishing + Masked Republic tag-team to launch Luchaverse comics featuring Rey Mysterio + Tinieblas Jr.

‘Luchaverse: Catalyst’ #1 will feature stories by Ivan Plaza, Marco Lopez, Ben Harvey, Diego Simone and more.

Wrestling fans have known for years that WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio is a big superhero fan, based on the numerous times he’s dressed up as Wolverine, Captain America, Flash and more at big events. But now a new comic will imagine the world’s most famous luchador as a superhero himself.

Massive Publishing and Masked Republic, a company that represents luchadores outside of Mexico, are teaming up to launch The Luchaverse, a new line of comics starring luchadores like Mysterio and Tiniebelas Jr. By day they might be fighting in the ring, but at night “those with an ancient secret lineage serve humanity as monster hunters and world protectors.” Which I kind of already suspected Mysterio was doing in his off hours.

“Being able to bring some of today’s biggest names in lucha libre into our original story world and break the mold of what lucha libre films were, and what wrestling related comics have been, is a dream come true for me,” said Ruben Zamora, Masked Republic founder & CEO, and the co-creator of the Luchaverse.

Continue reading “Massive Publishing + Masked Republic tag-team to launch Luchaverse comics featuring Rey Mysterio + Tinieblas Jr.”

Jughead + Jaguar are up to their necks in gangsters in this preview of ‘World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #32

The U.G.A.J. returns to comics, but does it stand for “United Girls Against Jughead” or “United Gangsters Against Jaguar”?

Courtesy of Archie Comics, we’re pleased to present a preview of a new story featuring Jughead, Jaguar, Superteen and Powerteen from World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #32, which comes out May 1.

The story calls back to an organization from the 1960s Jughead comics — United Girls Against Jughead. Because Jughead was anti-romance, the girls of Riverdale were afraid his opinions might influence the other boys he hung around with. So they formed U.G.A.J., and came up with plans to undermine him, like using food to try to lure him into a romantic relationship of his own. Man, the 1960s, am I right?

In this new story by Francis Bonnet, Rex Lindsey and Glenn Whitmore, Jughead discovers a secret hideout marked with the letters “UGAJ,” but they mean something different here — “United Gangsters Against Jaguar,” the heroine who recently starred in her own one-shot. When both Jughead and Jaguar are captured by the gangsters, it’s up to Betty and Veronica, as Powerteen and Superteen, to save them.

Check out the preview below, along with a complete, classic Sabrina the Teenage Witch story.

Continue reading “Jughead + Jaguar are up to their necks in gangsters in this preview of ‘World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest’ #32”

Emily Carroll’s ‘A Guest in the House’ wins the L.A. Times Book Prize

The horror graphic novel about a woman haunted by her new husband’s dead wife adds another accolade to its shelf.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll has won this year’s L.A. Times Book Prize.

The graphic novel was up against four other nominees in the Graphic Novel/Comics category, including titles by Simon Spurrier and Matías Bergara, Derek M. Ballard, Sammy Harkham and Chantal Montellier.

Carroll’s latest has been stacking up accolades, appearing on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023 and also being nominated for a Lambda Literary Award last month.

Continue reading “Emily Carroll’s ‘A Guest in the House’ wins the L.A. Times Book Prize”

Three Count | Rebel, Modern Carapace, Ron Guillory on YouTube

Here are three things to download, to buy and to watch this week.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. Like a zombie it’ll dig itself back up again.

  1. To Download: Rebel by Ken Lowery and Gavin Guidry

I was today years old when I discovered that Ken Lowery and Gavin Guidry had done a 16-page Star Wars: Rogue One fan comic. It features Jyn Erso doing what Jyn does best — screwing up the plans of the Empire while saving orphans. It’s well done with some really great full page images that showcase Guidry’s ability to draw action shots:

Continue reading “Three Count | Rebel, Modern Carapace, Ron Guillory on YouTube”

Ron Robbins + Laura Braga play a game of ‘Truth or Dare’ with Archie Horror

The one-shot will bring Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror-verse for some fun and games.

I would think one of the fun things about working on the Archie Horror line would be that you could grab your copy of the Archie Encyclopedia, open it to a random page, point at a character and ask, “Ok, what evil thing can we do with them?”

Archie has a vast library of characters just waiting for their turn to do something terrible, or at least have something terrible done to them. Which brings me to Chilling Adventures Presents … Truth or Dare, a new one-shot announced by Archie this week. It brings a character named Trula Twyst into the Archie Horror universe, and based on her encyclopedia entry, I suspect she was destined to be there all along:

Continue reading “Ron Robbins + Laura Braga play a game of ‘Truth or Dare’ with Archie Horror”

BOOM!’s ‘Power Rangers’ titles will end in July

Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice will bring the current storyline to an end in the ‘Darkest Hour’ one-shot.

BOOM! Studios has announced the end of the current iteration of their Mighty Morphin Power Rangers titles, which will reach their conclusion in July with the one-shot Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour. That will follow Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #122, the final issue of the main series, which has been published for eight years.

Writer Melissa Flores will team with artist Simona Di Gianfelice and colorist Raúl Angulo on the one-shot.

“After nearly two years, the Darkest Hour comes to a close,” Flores said. “This event has been one of the biggest tasks of my career, but I’ve enjoyed every single, heart-wrenching minute. Although I put our poor Rangers through the ringer, I hope the ending is as satisfying for the reader as it was for me to write it!”

Continue reading “BOOM!’s ‘Power Rangers’ titles will end in July”

Mat Johnson + Steve Lieber explore family secrets + time travel in ‘Backflash’

The new graphic novel will debut from Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint this fall.

Mat Johnson, writer of Incognegro and its sequel, Incognegro: Renaissance, is working with Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen artist Steve Lieber on a new graphic novel that offers “a delightfully strange and fresh take on time travel.” Backflash, which will be published by Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint, is scheduled to come out this fall.

They’re joined by colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Clem Robins on the project, which is being edited by Karen Berger. She previously worked with Johnson when she was at Vertigo on the first Incognegro book, as well as Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story, Right State and a Hellblazer special. She also edited the five-issue Incognegro: Renaissance since coming to Dark Horse.

According to the news release, Backflash tells the story of Devin whose life is “spiraling out of control, until he discovers the impossible: with a random touch of an article of family memorabilia, he can travel back in time, mentally reliving the best moments of his past while escaping his problems of the present.” But it comes with consequences, as he discovers a family secret he was never supposed to find out.

Continue reading “Mat Johnson + Steve Lieber explore family secrets + time travel in ‘Backflash’”

‘Justice Warriors’ returns this fall as an original graphic novel

‘Justice Warriors: Vote Harder’ takes aim at politics and elections.

Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson’s Justice Warriors will return from Ahoy Comics this fall as a full-length graphic novel, titled Justice Warriors: Vote Harder.

A dystopian satire series that pokes fun at capitalism and law enforcement in a future of severe inequality, the first Justice Warriors miniseries was released in 2022 and collected in 2023. This new graphic novel takes aim at politics and elections, which no doubt makes it the perfect companion to what’s happening in America this year.

“Bubble City is having its first ever mayoral election and mutant cops Swamp and Schitt are pulled in to special duty to protect the vote from the people,” Bors said in his newsletter. “Ben Clarkson and I have been hard at work, along with our colorist Felipe Sobreiro, to top our first volume of the series and bring you an election year satire for the ages.”

Continue reading “‘Justice Warriors’ returns this fall as an original graphic novel”

Jason Aaron, Paul Davidson + Alex Lins explore Marvel’s undersea world in ‘Namor’

The eight-issue miniseries kicks off in July.

If you thought Jason Aaron’s time at Marvel was over when his exclusivity ended, think again. The writer of Thor, Avengers and Punisher will work with Paul Davidson and Alex Lins on an eight-issue miniseries starring one of Marvel’s first characters, Namor the Sub-Mariner.

“The Last King of Atlantis” will start with the antihero in prison, never intending to return to the sea. Meanwhile, seven would-be kings vie for the throne of Atlantis.

“He’s always been a guy who has wavered back and forth between outright hero and outright villain, while spending a lot of time floating around somewhere in the middle,” Aaron told Marvel.com about Namor. “And all of that has left him in a very dark place, locked in a surface world prison, praying he never has to set foot in the seas again. That’s where our story begins.”

Continue reading “Jason Aaron, Paul Davidson + Alex Lins explore Marvel’s undersea world in ‘Namor’”

Can’t Wait for Wednesday | It’s the end of an era for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

Check out new comics and graphic novels hitting stores this week by Sophie Campbell, Dan Watters, Ram V, Matthew Roberts, Dave Stewart, Charlie Adlard, Cullen Bunn, Dan Schoening, James Tynion IV, Christian Ward, Tim Lane, Kristen Kiesling, Rye Hickman, Bianca Xunise and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Wednesday | It’s the end of an era for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’”