New York Comic Con
NYCC | Remender, Hardman take over Secret Avengers next year
Secret Avengers
It’s probably not surprising to find out the writer who works in the “black ops” areas of the Spider-Man and X-Men titles will swim in similar waters with the Avengers. Today at the Avengers: Shattered Heroes panel at the New York Comic Con, Marvel announced that Uncanny X-Force and Venom writer Rick Remender will take over Secret Avengers with issue #21.1. He’ll be joined on issue #22 by regular artist Gabriel Hardman (Hulk).
“Yeah, it’s going to be a fun year,” Remender told Newsarama. “I’m definitely planning on interconnecting the three titles, and having a lot of things hopping from one to the other, which is fun. I can create my own little covert universe.”
The team roster will go through a bit of a change, as you can see in the promo art above by Art Adams. Hawkeye will lead the team, with new additions being Captain Britain and Giant Man. Issue #21.1 will introduce a new Masters of Evil and will feature artwork by Patrick Zircher.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 15, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Skullkickers is coming to the World of Munchkin
Steve Jackson Games announced at New York Comic Con that it will roll out a Munchkin game next year based on Image Comics’ fantasy-adventure Skullkickers.
Created by Jim Zubkavich and Edwin Huang, the hit comic is described by the writer as “a sarcastically self-aware sword & sorcery action-comedy series starring two monster-mashing mercenaries who will do whatever it takes to get paid.”
Munchkin is a line of popular card games that take a humorous approach to traditional roleplaying games — its slogan is “kill the monster, steal the treasure, stab your buddy” — based on the concept of “munchkins,” immature players whose aim is simply to “win.”
A Munchkin game based on Axe Cop, the webcomic by Malachai Nicolle and Ethan Nicolle, was announced in March for a fall release.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 15, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Joe Kubert’s poster for Lucasfilm’s Red Tails
Lucasfilm debuted a New York Comic Con-exclusive poster for its upcoming action drama Red Tails created by comics legend Joe Kubert.
Directed by Anthony Hemingway from a script by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder, the film is inspired by the World War II exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American combat aerial unit in the U.S. armed forces. Executive produced by George Lucas, Red Tails stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston and Nate Parker.
See the full poster below. Red Tails will be released Jan. 20 by 20th Century Fox.
- October 15, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | A round-up of Friday news
New York Comic Con picked up steam in its second day with announcements from Vertigo, Dark Horse, Marvel, IDW Publishing and Image, and the possibility of Sesame Street comics. Here are some of the highlights:
• Following in the footsteps of DC Comics: The New 52, most of Vertigo’s titles will be available digitally the same day as print.
• Geoff Johns announced that work is about to get under way on a Robot Chicken DC Comics special that will skewer the company’s superheroes in the same way that the show tackled Star Wars. The episode, written by Johns and MAD‘s Kevin Shinick, is set to air next summer.
• Confirming last-minute speculation, Ed Brubaker announced that he and frequent collaborator Sean Phillips (Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito) will release their next project through Image Comics. Called Fatale, the series blends noir elements with the supernatural world. “I’ve been wanting for a while to do something with a more supernatural element to it,” Brubaker told Comic Book Resources. “So Fatale mixes what we do and all the ways we’ve poked fun at the noir genre. If Incognito was us doing ‘What if Doc Savage, Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler had all existed in the same universe?’ then this is a weird combo of James M. Cain and Lovecraft. It’s got a real horror element to it — the first time I’ve really tried to do anything with horror — but it’s also got this really epic story to it.”
- October 15, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Scarlet Spider returns, hits the road in January
Scarlet Spider
After months of teasers, Marvel broke their silence at the New York Comic Con and announced a Scarlet Spider ongoing series by writer Christopher Yost and artist Ryan Stegman that will kick off in January.
As for who is under the mask, well, that remains a mystery, but Yost has confirmed it is someone who has a connection to Spider-Man.
“After the events of Dan Slott’s amazing #spiderisland, Scarlet Spider’s entire life has been turned upside down,” Yost told MTV Geek. “ScarSpi (like ScarJo) has one motivation — get the hell out of New York. For reasons that are as yet unrevealed, ScarSpi is on the run, heading down Mexico way. But as the story progresses, those motivations will change because life gets in the way.”
The original Scarlet Spider was Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker who first appeared as a part of the infamous Clone Saga back in the 1990s. Reilly assumed the identity for a brief time before taking over as Spider-Man from Peter Parker. Later a villain took the name. Reilly eventually died saving Peter Parker from the Green Goblin. More recently, three “Scarlet Spiders” appeared in Avengers: The Initiative, wearing the “Iron Spider” armor Tony Stark once gave to Peter Parker.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 14, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Are Sesame Street comics on the way? (Everything’s A-OK)
It looks as if Sesame Street, the television series that’s educated and entertained children since 1969, could be making the move to comics.
It all seems very tentative, but Ape Entertainment has announced it’s in talks with Sesame Workshop to produce a series of a series of comic books featuring such beloved characters as Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Elmo. If the deal pans out, the comics would debut next year in print and digital editions.
- October 14, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Vertigo moves to same-day digital release for many titles
Spaceman #1
Executive Editor Karen Berger announced this afternoon at New York Comic Con that several Vertigo titles will follow in the footsteps of DC Comics: The New 52 and be available digitally the same day as print.
The following series will move to same-day digital release beginning with issues identified as jumping-on points for new readers:
- Sweet Tooth, beginning with Issue 26, available now
- Spaceman, the new miniseries by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, with its Oct. 26 debut
- The Unwritten, beginning with Issue 31, on sale Nov. 9
- iZombie, beginning with Issue 19, on sale Nov. 16
- The Unwritten .5 issues, beginning with Issue 31.5, on sale Nov. 23.
- Fables, beginning with Issue 112, on sale Dec. 21
- American Vampire, beginning with Issue 22, on sale Dec. 28
- Hellblazer, beginning with Issue 287, on sale Jan. 18.
Look for more coverage from the “Vertigo Visions” panel later on Robot 6 and Comic Book Resources.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 14, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Cornell, Kelly to visit Saucer Country
Saucer Country
Demon Knights and Stormwatch writer Paul Cornell is teaming with New York Five and Local artist Ryan Kelly for a new Vertigo series, Saucer Country. Announced at the New York Comic Con today, Cornell described the book on his blog as “The West Wing does The X-Files.”
The story centers on Arcadia Alvarado, the governor of New Mexico, who Cornell said is ‘abducted by aliens’ on the even of her announcement that she’s running for president
“Those speechmarks are because she’s not exactly sure what happened. But she’s going to use all her staff and resources to find out. What happened to her might also be a threat to U.S. security,” he said on his blog. “Saucer Country is a trip through UFO mythology, a subject I’ve always been fascinated with. It’s a dark, suspenseful, serious thriller with, I hope, some warm, very human characters at the heart of it. Between arcs that feature Arcadia and her staff venturing into the murky worlds of flying saucer lore, we’ll be featuring one-off ‘true story’ issues, a short version of which already appeared in the Strange Adventures one-shot earlier this year.”
Watch for it in 2012, and you can see some previews pages over on Blastr.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 14, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Dark Horse confirms Wood and Cloonan on Conan
Dark Horse has made it official, announcing at New York Comic Con that Demo collaborators Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan are reteaming for an adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian short story “Queen of the Black Coast.”
Often considered among the best Conan stories, the 1934 tale finds the Cimmerian taking to the high seas, where he joins up with the pirate queen Bêlit for an adventure marked with romance, terror, murder and madness.
Dark Horse teased the reunion of Wood and Cloonan two weeks ago with a vague convention schedule listing and a graphic that read simply “Brian & Becky & Dark & Horse.” The duo partnered on Channel Zero: Jennie One in 2003, which they followed with their breakout work Demo and the 2010 sequel Demo: Volume 2. They also collaborated last year on two issues of Wood’s Vertigo Viking series Northlanders.
Their run on Conan the Barbarian, described by the publisher as “a perfect jumping-on point for new readers,” begins Feb. 8.
In addition, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund announced this morning that limited-edition prints of the above image, signed by Wood and Cloonan, are being sold for $50 this weekend at the CBLDF booth (#1158) to benefit the organization.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 14, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Why would Ed Brubaker be at an Image Comics panel?
Ed Brubaker
iFanboys Ron Richards caught an interesting little aside on Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson’s blog. Today at 4 p.m. Eastern, Stephenson will join Robert Kirkman, Rob Liefeld and Tim Seeley for the panel “Creator-Owned Comics with Robert Kirkman.”
“We won’t be joined by Ed Brubaker. Or will we?” Stephenson writes.
Is this a tease that Brubaker may be doing something for Image Comics? That might be jumping to conclusions, especially since Brubaker seems to be pretty busy at Marvel with Captain America and his various Icon series. But you may remember that Kirkman and Stephenson held a similar panel in San Diego this past summer, where Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples’ upcoming project Saga was announced.
“The BKV announcement was THE news of the show, so, it’s safe to say there’s some level of expectation for a similarly sized announcement,” Richards said on iFanboy. And a new Brubaker-at-Image project would certainly fit that bill.
I guess we’ll find out at 4 p.m. if a) they actually are joined by Brubaker at the show and b) if he’ll be there to announce something. Maybe he’s just interested in talking about creator-owned comics …
Update: Brubaker was only at the panel in video form, but they did announce Fatale, an Image series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
- October 14, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Free Comic Book Day adds Halloween 2012 event
Diamond Comic Distributors announced at Thursday’s retailer breakfast at New York Comic Con that it will add another Free Comic Book Day event, set for Halloween 2012.
ICv2.com reports that while the traditional FCBD will still be held May 5, 2012, Diamond found interest from publishers in supporting a second, similar event on Halloween, “which has become, next to Christmas, the holiday with the most retail impact.”
Many retailers already hold kid-focused events on Halloween, with some giving away comics left over from Free Comic Book Day. Diamond has in the past encouraged stores to give away themed kid-friendly minicomics as “sugar-free safe bag stuffers.” This year’s selections include 16-page issues of Scary Godmother, Archie’s Laugh Comics, Donald Duck and The Smurfs. However, next year’s offerings will be part of a full-fledged Free Comic Book Day event.
CBR’s Coverage of New York Comic Con is brought to you by
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
- October 14, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Stan Lee and 1821 Comics launch kids imprint
Reggie the Veggie Crocodile
Expanding their partnership, Stan Lee and 1821 Comics will unveil a line of kids’ comics today at New York Comic Con.
Called Stan Lee’s Kids Universe, the imprint will feature characters like the Fuzz Posse, a group of police dogs, and Reggie the Veggie Crocodile, a reptile who becomes an outcast because he shies away from meat.
“The whole idea is to give them the kind of stories that they haven’t read before that they can easily understand and relate to,” Lee tells The Associated Press. “While we want these to be reasonably educational and good for kids — that goes without saying — but our main purpose to be entertaining … kids have a great sense of humor if you can reach them the right way.”
- October 14, 2011 @ 04:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | A round-up of news from Thursday (and before)
Green Arrow
The New York Comic Con officially opened its doors this afternoon, but comics publishers and distributors have been releasing announcements leading up to it all this week. Here’s a round-up of news from today, as well as some that hit earlier this week.
• DC Comics, who were having a pretty good week already, announced two creative team changes for the New 52. Ann Nocenti of Daredevil and Longshot fame will write Green Arrow starting with issue #7. She spoke to Comic Book Resources about her approach to the series: “I have a particular way of writing a comic. Comics are short. They are only twenty pages, so you can take a year of comics and that can be your opera, and the opera can have a lot of different passages in it. I kind of believe every issue should be a single story, just a complete story. But there is a momentum that forms like triptychs over it, and then it forms your big overtures, and then the whole thing ends up kind of operatic. I also want a beginning, middle and end, a classic short story approach to every single comic. What I do is I try to figure out, what is the kick in this comic, what is the main feeling I want to get, and everything in the comic has to serve that.”
• And Marc Bernardin (Monster Attack Network, The Highwaymen, The Authority) will take over the writing duties on Static Shock beginning with issue #7. “As a fan and as a writer, one of the great things about Static isn’t just that he’s a new hero, it’s also that he’s a young hero,” Bernardin told CBR. “He will make the mistakes of youth and, even though the New 52 is resetting a lot of heroes to their early days as do-gooders, there’s nothing quite like the fumblings of a teenager.”
- October 13, 2011 @ 08:54 PM by JK Parkin
Chiang, Crabapple, Cavallaro support Shirts For A Cure at NYCC
Shirts For A Cure, a project started by the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment to raise money in their efforts to provide financial assistance to underprivileged women who cannot afford breast cancer medicine and therapy, sells exclusive shirts for various bands and musical artists on their site. And they’ll be at the New York Comic Con this weekend selling shirts created by artists like Mike Cavallaro (his design is shown above), Molly Crabapple and Brian Ewing.
In addition, Wonder Woman artist Cliff Chiang will hold a signing at their booth Friday at 4 p.m., where you can get one of the last 50 of his limited edition Wonder Woman print.
And even if you can’t attend the con, go check out their site … they’ve got some cool shirts for a great cause.
- October 13, 2011 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Lovecraft’s Old Ones to infest IDW titles next year
Infestation 2
In advance of this week’s New York Comic Con, IDW Publishing announced a sequel to last year’s Infestation crossover that will run from January through April.
Infestation 2, like its predecessor, will feature a supernatural threat that spreads into several different “universes” inhabited by IDW properties. Instead of zombies, this time around the threat is the “Old Ones” from horror writer H.P Lovercraft’s stories. Duane Swierczynski (Birds of Prey, Cable) and David Messina, who drew the original Infestation series, are the creative team on the two-issue Infestation 2 series, while other creative teams will tackle the related books featuring Transformers, G.I. Joe, 30 Days of Night and more. Here’s a breakdown of the event:
- Infestation 2 #1 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on Jan. 25, with covers by Alex Garner and Livio Ramondelli.
- Infestation 2: Transformers #1 and #2 will be in stores on Feb. 1 and 15, respectively. It’s by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Guido Guidi and is set in the “Hearts of Steel” timeline.
- Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron #1 and #2 will be in stores on Feb. 8 and 22, respectively, written by Dungeons & Dragons novelist Paul Krill.
- Infestation 2: Team-up one-shot will be in stores on Feb. 29, featuring the Weekly World News‘ Bat Boy and Groom Lake’s grey alien Archibald. It’s by Chris Ryall and Alan Robinson, with covers by Eric Powell and Bill Morrison.
- Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 and #2 will be in stores on March 7 and 21, respectively, by Tristan Jones and Mark Torres.
- Infestation 2: G.I. Joe #1 and #2 will be in stores on March 14 and 28, respectively, by Mike Raicht and Valentine de Landro.
- Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night one-shot will be in stores on April 4, by Swierczynski and artist Stuart Sayger.
- Infestation 2 #2 will be available in stores on April 11.
Every issue of the event will feature a connected cover by artist Livio Ramondelli, and IDW will produce special incentive temporary tattoos with each issue. IDW will also release promotional ashcans in November with interviews and artwork.
Update: Comic Book Resources talks to Ryall about the project. He confirms that J. Scott Campbell’s Danger Girl will be a part of the event, although she won’t have her own series or one-shot tie-in. IDW will publish a new Danger Girl series next spring.
- October 13, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin