Month: March 2020

Credit: Diamond Comic Distributors Diamond’s founder Steve Geppi has issued an official statement confirming and explaining the decision to cease receiving new product from printers for distribution starting in April, and outlining the current timeframe for its change in operation. Geppi’s full statement follows below:  CORONAVIRUS EFFECTS ON DISTRIBUTION As everyone knows, the world faces

Credit: Creative Stock55 / Shutterstock.com As the tendrils of coronavirus snake throughout the world and throughout society at large, certain of those tendrils reach into the comics world. The constant news and updates can feel like white noise, and in that noise, there are highlights you may have missed. Here are a few interesting dispatches

Credit: Marvel Comics Credit: Marvel Comics Credit: Marvel Comics Even Krakoa, an ostensible mutant utopia, isn’t immune to the presence of those who challenge society’s good graces – more so when your societal “undesirables” are super-powered mutant villains. So what does Krakoa’s Quiet Council do with those who aren’t given to play nice?  Writer Zeb

Credit: BOOM! Studios Monday BOOM! Studios today announced the “BOOM! Retailer Support Services Program,” what the publisher calls their “comprehensive set of initiatives effective immediately to aid comic book shops worldwide affected by the current health crisis.” The program will initially deliver a series of benefits to qualifying Diamond accounts pending details being finalized with

Wednesday Marvel offers a refresher course on the history of the Kree/Skrull War in preparation for the 2020 event Emprye.  Check out this preview. ROAD TO EMPYRE: THE KREE/SKRULL WAR #1ROBBIE THOMPSON (W) • MATTIA DE IULIS & JAVIER RODRIGUEZ (A)Cover by PHIL NOTOVARIANT COVER BY RON LIMEMPYRE IS COMING!The build-up to Marvel’s massive event

Credit: Shutterstock.com 507 Chinese movie theaters have reopened following an easing of new Coronavirus cases in the country. Chinese state media CGTN reports (via Variety) that 507 theaters in five different provinces have reopened. Citing data from Chinese ticketing firm Maoyan, CGTN lists theater openings in Xinjiang, Shangdong, Sichuan, Fujian, and Guangdong, provinces spread across the

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan has penned a Washington Post op/ed calling on the United States government to act to protect movie theaters from financial ruin the wake of mass closings due to Coronavirus, most of which have shuttered indefinitely thanks to social distancing regulations aimed to prevent the spread of the contagion. “In this time of unprecedented challenge

Credit: IDW Publishing IDW Publishing has responded to Diamond Comics Distributors’ announced plans to cease accepting and distributing new products beginning April 1.  In the statement, IDW President/Publisher/CCO Chris Ryall offers new, extended dates for returnability of IDW product, and has announced plans to suspend publication of its planned releases scheduled for May 6 through

Credit: Steph Desiato (Flat Squirrel Productions) With Monday’s announcement that Diamond Comics Distributors would stop receiving new product from printers for distribution, Newsarama went to well-known comic book retailer Joe Field to find out what this means for the industry. Field, the California retailer who came up with the idea for Free Comic Book Day, explained

Credit: DC Credit: DC Aquaman #58Written by Kelly Sue DeConnickArt by Miguel Mendonca and Romulo Fajardo, Jr.Lettering by Clayton CowlesPublished by DCReview by David Pepose‘Rama Rating: 8 out of 10 At the risk of sounding reductive, many superhero comics fall into certain tropes, pulled into these familiar cliches like the tide. Over-the-top fisticuffs, exaggerated costumes,

Credit: Diamond Comic Distributors Following reports that Diamond Comics Distributor’s warehouses will cease receiving new product from printers for distribution starting in April, Diamond’s founder Steve Geppi has issued an official statement confirming and explaining the decision and outlining the current timeframe for its change in operation. Geppi’s full statement follows below:  CORONAVIRUS EFFECTS ON DISTRIBUTION

Credit: Marvel Comics Comic writer and artist Skottie Young is putting his money where his mouth is during the worldwide fight against coronavirus and COVID-19. Young is donating 20% of all sales at SkottieYoung.com to Hero Initiative, the charity that helps comic book creators in medical or financial need. “Comics are my whole life. I

Credit: IDW Publishing Chained to the Grave #2 (of 5) Brian Level & Andy Eschenbach (w) –  Kate Sherron (a & c)Writers Brian Level (Darth Vader, Thanos, Deadpool) & Andy Eschenbach and artist Kate Sherron (Invader Zim, The Amazing World of Gumball) bring you a tale of intrigue, murder, magic, and the good ol’ wild,

Credit: Aspen Comics Press Release In light of the ongoing current events regarding the COVID-19 virus and its effect on the direct market, Aspen Comics will be suspending their spring and summer line-up of new releases including April’s Fathom and May’s Soulfire: Exiled series in an effort to assist retailers weather the current uncertainty of the market. The publisher hopes

Credit: DC DC has informed retailers that Legion of Super-Heroes #6 and #7 have both been postponed. Series writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ryan Sook remain solicited for both issues, as well as next week’s #5. Legion of Super-Heroes #6 is currently estimated for a April 29 release, after originally being solicited for April

Credit: Arthur Adams (DC) Credit: DC DC Black Label’s Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #2 has been pushed back four weeks from its originally scheduled April 8 release. The issue will now release May 6, as announced in DC’s weekly mailer. No reason for the scheduling change was given. Harley Quinn and the

Credit: BOOM! Studios Credit: BOOM! Studios Press Release LOS ANGELES, CA (March 20, 2020) – BOOM! Studios today announced that the critically acclaimed team of writer Brian Azzarello (Batman: Damned) and artist Maria Llovet (Heartbeat) will return to the world of their bestelling erotic series, FAITHLESS, in 2021 with a third and final six-issue series

Credit: Marvel Comics Credit: Marvel Comics Marvel has announced “secret” variant covers for all six issues of Empyre, which will be limited to one copy per Direct Market retailer. What’s on the “secret” variants? Well, it’s a secret. What we do know is that every retailer selling Empyre #1 will receive a single copy of

Credit: Marvel Comics Credit: Marvel Comics Marvel has released a new Empyre teaser by David Nakayama showing Cyclops holding a Krakoan blossom alongside several X-Men – and some Kree and Skrull soldiers. The teaser bears the caption “Enemies must become allies”, potentially implying that the mutants of Krakoa will wind up as the Kree/Skrull alliance’s

Credit: Image Comics CHU #1WRITER: JOHN LAYMANARTIST / COVER: DAN BOULTWOODJUNE 17 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99“THE FIRST COURSE,” Part OneTONY CHU is a cibopath, able to get psychic impressions from what he eats. SAFFRON CHU is a cibopars, able to learn secrets from who she eats with. Tony is a

Peter B. Parker from ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Credit: Sony Pictures Animation Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s Peter B. Parker – a.k.a. actor Jake Johnson – is offering a free voice message for kids currently stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. The actor made the offer on his Instagram: Remember, kids only – although parents

Credit: AMC AMC has announced that it will postpone the premiere of its latest Walking Dead spin-off show, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, to an undisclosed date later this year. The show, described as a “two season limited event”, was originally scheduled to premiere April 12. Here’s the announcement, via Twitter: The Walking Dead: World

DC has released a first look at pages from next month’s Batman #93, the penultmate chapter of “Their Dark Designs” (the lead-in to “The Joker War”) featuring the end of the first encounter between Harley Quinn and the new villain Punchline, by the creative team of James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Javier Fernandez, Tomeu Morey

Credit: DC Comics / Marvel Comics Credit: DC/Marvel To be upfront, I’ve written a version of this story in my head every six months or so for the better part of the last decade. It’s also the subject of frequent conversation between myself and a buddy/colleague in the business. And over the years, although we

Credit: DC Credit: DC Combining a return of the Spectre with the mythology of Wonder Woman, writer Robert Venditti is finishing up his run on Justice League with “Vengeance is Thine,” while also welcoming Aquaman back onto the team. Venditti told Newsarama in January that his run would focus on team dynamics, and the Spectre

You can read the entire first issue of Eliot Rahal and Clara Meath’s Midnight Vista right here before the trade paperback’s April 1 release. MIDNIGHT VISTA TPB$16.99 / 120 pages / Color / On Sale 04.01.20Writer: Eliot RahalArtist: Clara MeathColorist: Mark EnglertLetterer: Taylor EspositoCover: Juan DoeOliver Flores and his stepfather, Nomar Perez, were turning right