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DC Comics from Lunar Distributors for March 2, 2021
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Sunday, February 28, 2021
#28DaysofBlack Review: Ho Che Anderson's KING
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS
WRITER-ARTIST: Ho Che Anderson
EDITOR: Gary Groth
ISBN: 978-1-56097-622-5; paperback with French flaps (February 16, 2005)
240pp, Color, $22.95 U.S.
Introduction by Stanley Crouch
King was a three-volume graphic novel series written and illustrated by Ho Che Anderson and published by Fantagraphics Books. Anderson is a British-born, Toronto, Canada-based comic book creator and illustrator. Over his three-decade career, Anderson is known for such works as I Want to Be You Dog (1997), Scream Queen (2005), and Godhead (2018).
King was a comic book biography of slain Civil Rights leader and icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968). The first volume was published in 1993, the second in 2002, and the third in 2003. In 2005, Fantagraphics collected the series in a single over-sized paperback volume, entitled King, and subtitled “A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.” Stanley Crouch provided a weighty three-page introduction to the book. The 2005 edition eventually went out-of-print, and Fantagraphics released a new hardcover edition in 2010 (which is currently still in stock via Amazon). This review references the 2005 edition.
Any reader who is a fan of comic book biographies or historical comics will find that the King collection, even sixteen years after its collection, remains an essential edition to any comic book library. This paperback collection, with its French cover flaps, has the book design and printing quality of pricey art books and illustrated historical retrospectives.
THE LOWDOWN: King, Vol. 1 debuted in the second half of 1993, and, of the three volumes, it is the closest to actually being a biography that focuses on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a human. Certainly, the narrative here reveals him as a man grasping at greatness, but the Dr. King in Vol. 1 is like clay still being molded into a great man.
In this volume, Anderson uses collage and traditional drawing in various styles to illustrate the narrative. Some of the art may remind readers of Kyle Baker and Dave McKean and, from the fine art world, Pablo Picasso. It is simply a virtuoso performance in the illustration of a comic book, but it is also an example of someone taking advantage of the comic book medium's storytelling potential.
The script and dialogue are also important in Vol. 1. The easy thing to do is to describe this as a biography of King. It is that, but much more. King, Vol. 1 covers the early movements of the entire Civil Rights movement. It does so with such force and flavor that this sometimes comes across like a documentary film, except we're getting the most powerful and informative still moments from that film. The reader really gets a sense of struggle and conflict through the characters. Anderson manages to give each character a unique voice, which in turns broadens the scope of the narrative about the movement.
Early in Vol. 1, Anderson creates a series of talking head panels. Each character, a sort of background player, has a say, which allows him or her to have an immeasurable impact on the narrative's ability to communicate multiple points of view. It also allows for multiple points of view of the main character. This is similar to a Greek chorus, or even closer, this is like Frank Miller's use of the television talking heads in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
If, back in the early 1990's, Joe Sacco showed us how comics can be journalism (Palestine), Anderson, then, showed us how comic books can tell history. Thus far, comic's biggest achievement in the field of history is Maus; other than that, it's mostly been war stories. King might come across as that dreaded important book one must read, but it is a great work of comics in the tradition of Maus.
While Volume 1 of King covered the early years of the life of Dr. King and the early years of the American Civil Rights Movement, post World War 2, King, Vol. 2 leaps fully into detailing the life of the movement: inner workings and conflicts, public tactics and the face the movement presented to the public. Anderson reveals the players both major and minor, the movement's adversaries and sympathizers and people who straddle the fence.
Anderson uses the same illustrative techniques as in the first book: collage, drawing, painting, and some mixed media. His script remains the darling of this project. Here, Dr. King isn't so much a main character as he is a player (albeit the primary one) in a major social event. We do get snippets of Dr. King's character, but here he is most interesting as the most prominent figure in a movement that swells and ebbs with tidal consistency. I have a number of favorite moments in this volume. There are the private meetings between Dr. King and President John Kennedy (Anderson's account is speculative, as the subject of the conversations were known only to King and Kennedy). Two other exceptional moments are when Dr. King's daughter asked to be taken to a theme park and she couldn't understand why black children would be unwanted there; and the " I Have a Dream" speech.
This work could have had the same problem that movies have when they attempt to cover a large historical movement or a public figure with a rich past. Sometimes, movies hop from one big moment to another and end up looking like an over produced highlight reel, as in the case of Michael Mann's film, Ali. Anderson makes full use of the space on every page, using concise unadorned dialogue and brief bits of conversation that advance his story. Imagine the excitement that Neal Adams brought to comics four decades ago in page layout. Combine that with traditional layout, Film-Noir, fine art, collage, and you have Anderson's King.
When King, Vol. 2 was first published it was another example of the continuing evolution of comic books as a serious medium of storytelling, and revealed that comics could engage in the kind of myth making and communication that prose and film, both fiction and non-fiction, have been doing for a long time.
King, Vol. 3 is the last book in Ho Che Anderson's three-piece suite, an interpretative biography of Dr. King. In his afterword to the third volume, Anderson wrote he understood that some readers might find this last book's appearance “visually eclectic.” Anderson wrote that he felt he had earned the right to indulge himself.
The book's narrative eclecticism is, however, equally worthy of notice. It's as if the author devoured the history of the Civil Rights movement and regurgitated a book that couldn't possibly contain the movement's far-reaching story, but the author would certainly give it his best shot. Of course, Dr. King was the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement and is focus of Anderson's graphic novel, but even as a fictional character, King seemed lost in a movement larger than his life, but not his legend. For all that King the comic has, it seems to be missing not just something, but a whole lot of things. Vol. 3 perhaps revealed the shortcomings of this entire concept without crippling the larger novel.
If we accept Anderson's conceit of his book's personal bent, many notions of historical accuracy get tossed. This isn't to say that the book is inaccurate, but as with any broad movement in history, each pair of eyes might see the same thing as any other pair, but look at it differently. The Civil Rights movement is exactly that, a movement; it's not a single incident in time. The Civil Rights movement is a whole bunch of events and moments artificially lumped together in hopes that it'll be easier to make sense of what happened.
It is best to examine King the comic as a graphic narrative and to investigate how well it works as a comic book, rather than to argue its historical merit alone. Pretensions aside, this is still a comic book, and (dammit) there's nothing wrong with that. We should always remember that comic book creators produce work like The Spirit or Love & Rockets just as they easily create digestible products for reading, which we can also enjoy
What Anderson does in King is take the graphic narrative another step forward the way comic books like The Spirit and Love and Rockets did. Both were revolutionary in their form at the time of their initial release and even further ahead of the high concept/low brow narratives that make up the bulk comic book storytelling today (DC Comics' “Black Label” line). It's as if Anderson took all the raw materials that he could use to make comix and used them to produce his final volume of King, making it far more adventurous than even the previous two volumes.
Anderson uses talking heads, collage, splash pages, photographs, line drawings, paintings, color effects, special effects, surrealism, expressionism, and guess what? It all works; it actually looks like a comic book. So often comic books try to look like something else, for instance, comic book art that looks like anime or painted comics that look like Norman Rockwell paintings. King is a comic book, an expensive comic book printed on enamel paper with card stock covers, but by gosh, still a frickin' comic book.
Visually, King 3 has such a sense of organic unity, in which all the disparate parts come together to give this book its own life. Each reading seems to tell a story different from the previous reading. The book seems almost self-aware, as if the words and pictures deliberately communicate something beyond the static images on the surface of the page.
There is one thing about the story of movement Anderson gets right. Civil Rights are an ever growing ideas that absorb people, places, and times, and the best an observer can do is understand just that. Who can ever nail this thing down, and, in way, it seems that Anderson's fictional Dr. King can't ever really put his finger on it the entire pulse of the movement. King has an idea of his place inside the movement, but he has trouble getting a fix on where the movement itself is going.
Anderson also seems to have a little difficult putting his finger on the pulse of the story because he moves from one plot to another or in and out of subplots like a journalist running madly from one news hot spot to another. Best example is when Dr. King discusses with Ralph Abernathy the possibility of Abernathy taking King's place as spokesman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference if something were to happen to MLK. The wonderful exchange between the two is a fascinating peek at Dr. King's place in the SCLC, but it only tantalizes with the mention of other "leaders." Ho Che leaves the idea of SCLC rivalries dangling because Dr. King's rivals for power over the larger movement are perhaps more important to this story. Throughout the series, Ho Che gives the reader a small taste, here and there, of King the man, even if the narrative demands a deeper look than what the author gives.
Still it's good that Anderson didn't make the King he was “supposed to make.” He didn't make the one for which other people (like me) would have wished. In spite of what faults it may have, King is example of what a cartoonist can create within the medium of the so-called "graphic narrative" when he uses all the artistic elements available to him. Anderson took an adventurous leap forward with this comic book – a brave, personal, artistic statement and an adventurous leap forward with the comic book – warts and all. King shows that comics can deal with subject matter weightier than, say, Wolverine's origins or just how screwed up Batman/Bruce Wayne is. Maybe Ho Che Anderson is one of the few cartoonists capable of treating comics as a medium of art and communication the way the great novelists, short story writers, musicians, and filmmakers treat their respective mediums.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of great comic books will want to read Ho Che Anderson's King.
A+
10 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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Saturday, February 27, 2021
#28DaysofBlack Review: HARDWARE: The Man in the Machine - no text
MILESTONE MEDIA/DC COMICS
WRITER: Dwayne McDuffie
PENCILS: Denys Cowan; J.J. Birch (issue #8)
INKS: Jimmy Palmiotti; Mike Manley; Joe Brozowski; Joe James; Jason Minor
COLORS: Noelle Giddings
LETTERS: Janice Chiang; Steve Haynie; Steve Dutro
COVER: Denys Cowan and Jimmy Palmiotti
EDITOR: Bob Joy
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2598-8; paperback (March 30, 2021)
192pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $24.99 CAN
Hardware created by Dwayne McDuffie; Derek Dingle; Denys Cowan, and Michael Davis
Milestone Comics was the publishing division of Milestone Media and was published and distributed by DC Comics. Milestone was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers, consisting of Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle. Milestone Media's founders believed that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comic books and wished to address this. In 1993, Milestone Media launched its first four titles Icon, Blood Syndicate, Static, and Hardware, the subject of this review. DC Comics ceased publication of Milestone titles in 1997.
Hardware was created by the late Dwayne McDuffie; Derek Dingle; Denys Cowan, and Michael Davis. The first seven issues of Hardware were written by McDuffie and drawn by Cowan (pencil art) and a rotating group of inkers: Jimmy Palmiotti; Mike Manley; Joe Brozowski; and Joe James; colored by Noelle Giddings; and lettered by Janice Chiang, Steve Haynie, and Steve Dutro. The eighth issue featured the art team of J.J. Birch (pencils) and Jason Minor (inks).
In 2010, DC Comics published the trade paperback Hardware: The Man in the Machine, which collected Hardware #1 to #8 (April 1993 to October 1993). Like all Milestone titles, Hardware was set in the Milestone Universe, called the “Dakotaverse.”
Hardware #1 (“Angry Black Man”) introduces Curtis “Curt” Metcalf, a genius inventor. He uses a special suit of armor (the “Hardware shell”) and a variety of high-tech gadgets to fight his employer, respected businessman, Edwin Alva.
Metcalf was a working class child prodigy and inventor who was discovered at age 12 by Alva. With the blessing of Metcalf's parents, Alva enrolled Metcalf in “A Better Chance,” which was “a program intended to get minority students into elite prep schools.” Metcalf proved to be much smarter than all the other prep school students and graduated at age 14. With Alva paying his college tuition, Metcalf earned the first of his seven college degrees at age 15. In exchange, after graduation, Metcalf began working in Alva Industries' “Inspiration Factory,” where the employees created high-tech gadgets by the hundreds. However, it was Metcalf's inventions that made Alva many millions of dollars. After a few years, Metcalf approached Alva about getting a share of the profits from his inventions. Alva not only declines, but he also tells Metcalf that he is a mere employee, a “cog in the machine,” Alva's machine.
Metcalf begins secretly using Alva resources to create the hardware, software, and technology that becomes Hardware. Metcalf also discovers that Alva is secretly a powerful crime boss. Metcalf as Hardware begins his war against Alva, destroying Alva's criminal machine one piece at a time. However, Hardware also rings up a high body county, so will he lose his soul in his personal war against his boss?
THE LOWDOWN: When the discussion of black superheroes pops up, it often turns to the question of whether actual African-Americans as writers would tell better stories about Black superheroes than writers who are white. Of course, some always say skin color doesn’t really matter, but they’re always white, speaking from the perspective of advantage and of white privilege.
A white man can certainly write really good comic books featuring African-American characters. In the 1970’s, Marv Wolfman and Chris Claremont wrote excellent darkly comic and bloody horrific stories featuring Marvel Comics’ vampire hunter, Blade. But there’s just something about a writer who has lived as a black man in America writing stories about a fictional character that is not just a black superhero, but also a black person living in America.
But sometimes, being a black writer spinning a narrative about a black character does matter. Witness the short-lived, mid-1990’s comic book series, Hardware. Hardware was the first comic book published by Milestone Media. Milestone was an imprint of DC Comics that sought to publish superhero comic books featuring a more diverse cast in terms of skin color and ethnicity, in particularly African-Americans. In the case of Dwayne McDuffie, who died in 2011, Hardware’s scribe and co-creator, the title had a storyteller who certainly understood what it was to be a talented African-American who repeatedly bangs his head against the glass ceiling of white privilege, of white supremacy, and of white racism.
What McDuffie gave Hardware was the sense of being more than just a fictional character with a skin color default setting (as many, if not most, white comic book characters are). McDuffie made the character, in a sense, an idealized version of a black man struggling to prove that he can be and is exceptional in spite of what others may expect of him based on his skin color.
It is not impossible for a white man to write a title like Hardware. Still, there is something that rings true and feels genuine about the African-American experience in McDuffie’s work on Hardware. From the opening scene in which a young Curt Metcalf studies the parakeet that will not stop banging its head against the glass window for freedom to the scene of an adult Metcalf learning to check his rage and see the bigger picture of his revenge, McDuffie was likely writing what he knew, but regardless, it reads like the truth. That is what made McDuffie not just a really good black writer of comic books, but an exceptional comic book writer when compared to just about any other comic book scribe.
Hardware is not perfect. The character blends Marvel's Iron Man with DC Comics' Batman, but the storytelling and graphic design seem to owe a lot to the big guns and high-tech gadget superheroes that defined most of the early Image Comics superhero titles of the 1990s. The issues that make up Hardware: The Man in the Machine focus on Curt Metcalf's violent, ruthless, and gory war of revenge. Hardware is indeed an “angry black man,” and that makes the series mostly stuck in violent mode early on. Hardware is not Dwayne McDuffie's best work, but it is unique. Also, there is the chance to enjoy the inventive designs and imaginative compositions of another under-appreciated black comic book creator, the great artist, Denys Cowan.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Milestone Comics will want to read Hardware: The Man in the Machine.
B+
7 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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I Reads You Juniors: February 2021 - Update #94
by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon.
NEWS:
DC CINEMA - From THR: A retired federal judge who oversaw one of the three investigations into the misconduct on the set of Joss Whedon's "Justice League" says that Warner Bros. executive Walter Hamada did not interfere with her investigation, despite allegations otherwise from actor Ray Fisher, who played "Cyborg" in the film.
MILESTONE - From DCBlog: DC Comics has announced the creative teams for the upcoming titles in its Milestone revival.
DC CINEMA - From Variety: Warner Bros. is rebooting its "Superman" franchise with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates writing and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot producing.
MANGA TO ANIME - From CBR: There is now a first image from the new anime adaptation of the 2000 to 2003 title, "Tokyo Mew Mew."
VIZ MEDIA - From YahooNews: Everything you need to know about "Demon Slayer," the manga, the animated TV series, and the record breaking film.
DC CINEMA - From VanityFair: The true history of "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
DC CINEMA - From TheWrap: In an exclusive story, "The Wrap" is reported that Warner Bros. and DC Films are prepping a movie starring the character "Blue Beetle." The film will focus on the Jaime Reyes version of the character making this Warner's first superhero film featuring a Latino character.
MANGA - From BleedingCool: Kodansha announces four new digital titles for April 2021" "Girlfriend, Girlfriend;" "Nina the Starry Bride;" "The Honey-blood Beauty & Her Vampire;" and "And Yet, You Are So Sweet."
DC CINEMA - From WeGotThisCovered: There is supposedly a "mind-blowing" cameo in "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
From Variety: Zack Snyder has still not seen the 2017 theatrical release of his film, "Justice League." He also says that he will not be paid for "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
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DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: DC Comics announces 11 new titles at COMICSPRO, the annual meeting of the retailers group. They are Deathstroke Inc.; Harley Quinn Animated Series sequel; A Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary title; Elseworld; "DC Vampires" (working title); Robin and Batman; Joker: A Puzzle Box; The Legend of Batman; Crush and Lobo;Nubia and the Amazons; DC Middle Ages.
MARVEL TV - From WeGotThisCovered: "X-Men: The Animated Series" (1992-97) has proved to be popular since it was added to the Disney+ streaming service. Now, there are talks of reviving the series.
DC CINEMA - From WeGotThisCovered: The DCEU (Warner Bros.' movies based on DC Comics characters) has found its "Supergirl." She is Sasha Calle, and she will reportedly make her debut in the DCEU film, "Flash."
DC TV - From DCBlog: See the "Superman & Lois" trailer "All Right Now" (posted Mon., Feb. 8th, 2021). "Superman & Lois" debuts Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021 on The CW.
MILESTONE - From DCBlog: Milestone returns to DC with an "Infinite Edition" and all-new digital-first series! DC reveals first wave of Milestone Comics!
SPAWN - From BleedingCool: Image Comics' President Todd McFarlane announced his plan to create a greater multi-character, interconnected comic book universe based around his Spawn comic. His stated goal is to establish a shared fictional universe over time in the vein of what the other comic industry giants, Marvel, and DC Comics, have accomplished with their comic book universes.
From BleedingCool: Todd McFarlane talks about "Spawn's Universe" with Rich Johnston.
From BleedingCool: Todd McFarlane talks about "King Spawn #1," which is due in August.
From BleedingCool: Todd McFarlane talks about "Gunslinger Spawn #," which is due in October.
From BleedingCool: Todd McFarlane talks about the "Spawn" spinoff book, "The Scorched #1," which is due in October.
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BOOKS TO TV - From Deadline: Kalinda Vazquez and George R. R. Martin ("Game of Thrones") are adapting the late science fiction novelist Roger Zelazny's 1979 novel, "Roadmarks," for HBO.
EN MEMORIAM - From 2000AD: British comic book writer, Si Spencer, has died Wed., Feb. 17th, 2021. He worked on such titles as "Crisis" and "Judge Dredd Megazine." In the U.S., he wrote such comics as "Vinyl Undergound" and "Hellblazer: City of Demons." Spencer also wrote for British television, including a stint on "EastEnders."
DC TV - From DCComics: Meet Black Lightning's daughter, "Thunder," as she debuts on Season Fourof The CW's "Black Lightning" TV series.
COMICS TO TV - From Deadline: Tim Burton is developing a live-action TV series based on "The Addams Family," and it will focus on precocious daughter, "Wednesday Addams." Netflix will stream this young adult series.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: With Marvel Studios' "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" set to debut in July, Marvel Comics launches the "Shang-Chi" comic book.
DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: DC Comics has announced two upcoming digital-first series. "Superman '78" will be set in the world of the 1978 film, "Superman: The Movie." "Batman '89" will be set in the world of director Tim Burton's 1989 film, "Batman."
STAR WARS - From BleedingCool: Marvel is to publish "Star Wars: War Of The Bounty Hunters," a new series written by Charles Soule that goes back to Soule's original pitch document for writing Star Wars comic books.
DC CINEMA - From CBR: Director Zack Snyder confirms "Justice is Gray," a black and white version of "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
DC COMICS 4 SALE - From BleedingCool: A number of industry individuals have also heard about DC Comics being for sale.
From BleedingCool: Crazy rumor - could very wealthy DC Comics fans be looking to buy the comics side of DC Comics?
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STAR WARS - From BleedingCool: Are Marvel, Charles Soule and Steve McNiven teasing a new Boba Fett comic book?
JOSS WHEDON - From YahooEntertainment: Joss Whedon: A timeline of allegations against the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' creator
MILESTONE - From TheBeat: DC Comics announces expanded "Milestone Returns" one-shot and digital-first titles.
MANGA TO ANIME - From BleedingCool: There is a trailer for Season 2 of the "Demon Slayer" anime, which is of course based on the ultra-hot manga series. The second season is due later in 2021.
DC CINEMA - From YouTube: There is a new trailer (Sun., Feb. 14th) for the film now known as "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
EN MEMORIAM - From AVPress: Notorious Underground Comics artist, S. Clay Wilson, died at the age of 79, Sunday, February 7, 2021. He is best remembered as an early contributors to "Zap Comix" and for his character, "The Checkered Demon." He will also be remembered for his highly-detailed, violent and sexually explicit art.
MANGA - From Previews: Seven Seas Entertainment announces that it has licensed two new manga, "Sundome!!Milky Way" and "Yokai Girls."
EN MEMORIAM - From Locus: Science fiction and fantasy artist and illustrator, Rowena Morrill, has died at the age of 76, Thursday, February 11, 2021. Morrill painted covers for books by such science fiction luminaries as Philip K. Dick, Harry Harrison, Ellen Kushner, H.P. Lovecraft, and Anne McCaffrey, to name a few. Her work was collected in two art books, "The Fantastic Art of Rowena" (1983) and "The Art of Rowena" (2000). Morrill was nominated for the "Hugo Award for professional artist" four times in the 1980s. She was awarded the "World Fantasy Award for life achievement" in 2020.
From DC COMICS - From DCBlog: DC gives a first look at Gotham City's newest villain, "Miracle Molly," from Batman #108.
DC CINEMA - From DCBlog: Director Zack Snyder offers a first look at actor Jared Leto in his "Justice League" film.
MILESTONE - From BleedingCool: DC Comics has delayed the relaunch of Milestone Comics (Milestone Media) until April 2021 (from February).
DC COMICS - From CBR: The long-running Batman comic book series, "Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight" (1989-2007), will return as a digital first, weekly anthology series, beginning in May 2021.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Marvel's launched new X-Men comic book, "X-Corp," in May 2021.
COMICS - From EW: This "Entertainment Weekly" interview with HBO/HBO Max chief, Casey Bloys, may be of interest to comic book fans.
COMICS - From WKYC: An artist turns torn and tattered comic books into portraits of celebrities and popular characters.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Legendary Comics announces upcoming comic books and books related to the film, "Godzilla vs. Kong."
DC COMICS - From DCBlog: DC Comics announces a "Justice League" digital-first limited series from writer, Chip Zdarsky, "Justice League" last ride.
HEROES REBORN - From BleedingCool: Marvel's "Heroes Reborn" title, "Magneto & The Mutant Force" will offer an alternate take on the X-Men.
IMAGE COMICS - From CBR: Rodney Barnes, the writer behind the great horror comic, "Killadelphia," has revealed that the is working on a horror comic with hip-hop icon, rapper Xzibit, which is due this year.
From CBR: Rodney Barnes also revealed that the Tony Award-winning musical, Hamilton," is one of his influences for the creation of "Killadelphia."
MARVEL - From TheNewYorker: Who really created the Marvel Universe, asks this article from "The New Yorker."
MANGA - From CSMonitor: Japanese comic creators grapple with racism
MANGA - From KyodoNews: "Demon Slayer" helps Japan print sales see smallest drop since 2006
MANGA - From ScreenRant: "Stitch" from the classic Disney animated feature, "Lilo & Stitch," is headed to manga. TOKYOPOP will debut "Stitch and the Samurai Vol. 1" in May 2021.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: This May, Doctor Strange reforms "The Defenders."
SONY MARVEL U - From WeGotThisCovered: Rumors say that actor Keanu Reeves has been offered the role of Spider-Man villain, Kraven the Hunter," possibly to play him in a solo movie, a la "Venom."
CHARITY - From BleedingCool: Neil Gaiman composes "Doctor Strange" poem for charity.
SALES - From BleedingCool: Adult graphic novel sales in bookstores double in a year.
HEROES REBORN - From Newsarama: The "Heroes Reborn" tie-in, "Heroes Reborn: Siege Society," re-imagines the "Masters of Evil" and "Thunderbolts."
BOOM! STUDIOS - From TheBeat: BOOM! Studios announced the creative teams for all four issues of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Tricksters, the first issue of which will be available at your local comic shop on March 17th, 2021 – including new art from issue #3!
FANTAGRAPHICS - From Print: Acclaimed cartoonist and comics creator, Gary Panter, is profiled in conjunction with his new book, "Crashpad."
DC COMICS - From DCBlog: The blog profiles five "iconic Black DC creators," including one DC fired.
BIDEN! - From DelawareFirstMedia: Vancouver-based TidalWave Comics has profiled politicians in comic book form for over a decade . They released “Political Power: President Joe Biden” and “Political Power: Madam Vice President Kamala Harris” on Inauguration Day.
DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: ShazaDam?!
BOOM! STUDIOS - From BleedingCool: Keanu Reeves's "BRZRKR #1" sells 615,000 to comic book shops.
VIZ MEDIA - From Previews: Diamond Previews interviews VIZ Media editor, Hope Donovan, about the new titles, "My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions."
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: "Heroes Reborn: Young Squadron #1" imagines Miles Morales as "Falcon" instead of as Spider-Man, and Kamala Kahn as "Girl Power" instead of as Ms. Marvel.
DC COMICS - From DCBlog: In an interview, writer Mark Russell talks "Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex."
BRITISH COMICS - From 2000AD: The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast Lockdown Tapes – Kevin O’Neill, part one
DC COMICS - From GamesRadar: DC Comics has announced "Let Them Live," an anthology series that will publish previously unpublished DC Comics stories. The series will debut as a digital comic on the "DC Infinite" digital reading service.
COMICS TO TV - From Deadline: "The Walking Dead's" extended 10th season will be comprised of six episodes. The first will debut Feb. 21st on the streaming service, AMC+, and debut on cable net, AMC, ON Feb. 28th.
COMICS TO TV - From Deadline: The Nowlan Family Trust, which oversees the "Buck Rogers" Estate, has sent a cease and desist letter to Legendary Entertainment over its plan for a George Clooney TV reboot of the Buck Rogers property. The trust reportedly has a deal with David Ellison's Skydance Productions to "exploit" the property.
MARVEL - From ScreenRant: Wu-Tang Clan unites with Deadpool in "Deadpool #10.
BLACK PANTHER - From ComicBook: Writer Geoffrey Thorne talks Serial Box's "Marvel's Black Panther: Sins of the King."
FANTAGRAPHICS - From THR: Ed Pisko, creator of "Hip-Hop Family Tree" and "X-Men: Grand Design," has a new project. It is "Red Room," a 12-issue shared universe anthology that Fantagraphics Books will publish.
DC TV - From Deadline: Actors Elizabeth Faith Ludlow and Rizwan Manji will play the respective recurring characters of "Keeya" and "Jamil" on James Gunn’s upcoming HBO Max series, "Peacemaker."
DC TV - From Deadline: Actress Azie Tesfai will co-write an episode of the upcoming "Supergirl" Season 6, the series' final season. Tesfai plays "Kelly Olsen" on Supergirl.
MARVEL - From GamesRadar: Marvel gives new hints about "Heroes Reborn" which may have links to "Avengers: Endgame."
BLACK PANTHER - From BleedingCool: Acclaimed poet, Nikki Giovanni, has contributed to Titan Comics' new short-story anthology, "Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda," dubbed "a ground-breaking anthology from the African Diaspora."
From THR: Actor Jeffrey Wright who will appear in "The Batman" will star in a podcast, "Batman: The Audio Adventures" from HBO Max.
From Outerhaven: Manga Planet licenses the publishing rights to six romance manga from Japan's Starts Publishing.
From ScreenRant: The Death Note manga is coming back with a brand new collected volume, "Death Note Short Stories," that will publish the March 2020 one-shot for the first time. The volume is due Feb. 4th, 2021.
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FEBRUARY 2021 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:
From BleedingCool: Ablaze for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Antarctic Press for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Archie Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Artists, Writers & Artisans for February 2020
From BleedingCool: BOOM! Studios for February 2020
From BleedingCool: Dark Horse Comics for February 2021
From TheBeat: DC Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Hero Collector for February 2021
From BleedingCool: IDW Publishing for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Image Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Marvel Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Marvel's "King in Black" for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Oni Press for February 2021
From 2000AD: Rebellion Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Scout Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Titan Comics for February 2021
From BleedingCool: VIZ Media for February 2021
From BleedingCool: Zenescope Entertainment for February 2021
MARCH 2021 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:
From BleedingCool: Archie Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: AWA Studios for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Behemoth Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Black Mask Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: BOOM Studios for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Dark Horse Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: DC Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Heavy Metal for March 2021
From BleedingCool: IDW Publishing for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Image Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Mad Cave for March 2021
From BleedingCool: March Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Oni Press for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Second Sight for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Scout Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Titan Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Vault Comics for March 2021
From BleedingCool: VIZ Media for March 2021
From BleedingCool: Zenescope Entertainment for March 2021
APRIL 2021 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:
From BleedingCool: AfterShock Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Antarctic Press for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Behemoth Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Black Mask Studios for April 2021
From BleedingCool: BOOM! Studios for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Dark Horse Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: DC Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Dynamite Entertainment for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Hero Collector for April 2021
From BleedingCool: IDW Publishing for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Image Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Marvel Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Oni Press for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Scout Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Second Sight for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Source Point Press for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Titan Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Valiant Comics for April 2021
From BleedingCool: Zenescope Entertainment for April 2021
MAY 2021 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:
From BleedingCool: Ablaze for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Archie Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Black Mask for May 2021
From BleedingCool: BOOM! Studios for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Comic House for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Dark Horse Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: DC Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Dynamite Entertainment for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Hero Collector for May 2021
From BleedingCool: IDW Publishing for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Image Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Mad Cave Studios for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Marvel Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Vault Comics for May 2021
From BleedingCool: Zenescope Entertainment for May 2021
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