Welcome back everyone! A new week of comics news. There’s a lot that’s happened in the comics world recently, so we will get right down to it.
Writer Kelly Thompson has been helming the Hawkeye series, and has a history with Marvel working on X-Men, Captain Marvel, and Star Wars comics. It’s been announced that when her run of Hawkeye finishes in March, Thompson will continue to work for Marvel exclusively. Read all about it here.
More moves for Marvel this week with the announcement of Dan Slott’s departure from the Amazing Spider-Man series. It’s a shock to fans, as Slott has written Peter Parker’s story for the last ten years. Turns out that the popular writer is going to try his hand at some Iron Man work. Wanna know more? Read the interview.
One of the big announcements this week was the return of Conan the Barbarian after 19 years of quiet respect for the series’ 650 issue legacy. C.B. Cebulski spoke with the press personally and made some strong claims. Cebulski promises, of course, that the new 2019 Conan issues will live up to the Conan legacy. We’ll see, C.B. Clearly he’s having fun as the new Editor In Chief at Marvel.
Speaking of Cebulski, he’s at it again on Twitter making sure that no one manipulates the system like he did as a young writer at Marvel. It’s “do as I say, not as I do” in that office. Or maybe the new Marvel EiC really is learning from his mistakes… who knows? Not fast enough. Okay, enough about Marvel for now.
DC announced a very important return of a well loved fan favorite: Superman’s red trunks. Yeah, they’ve been missing for 7 years and no one knows why. Maybe they took a sabbatical because they couldn’t handle the fame. Either way, they’re back and won’t be hidden away any longer. Why the hype? Check them out for yourself.
Archie Comics’ Dick Tracy series was unexpectedly cancelled and it’s still largely a mystery as to why. The suspicion seems to be licensing issues, but the real question is: can Dick Tracy stand up in 2018? I guess there’s no way of knowing as long as we don’t have any new comics to test read.
Will Diamond Distributors change the way that they do business, for the sake of fans and local comic shops everywhere? Maybe so. Comics writer Greg Pak noticed a quote from an interview with Diamond’s Roger Fletcher where Fletcher says that Diamond may very well put the power of ordering comics from a local shop into the hands of the consumer. Will this be a digital portal? Who knows? See more of Pak’s investigation.
Lion Forge Comics has partnered with Hero Nation-Ypsilanti, a diverse comics convention in Ypsilanti, Michigan to offer a Black Panther screening for young people of color. Lion Forge also donated 100 free comic books to the cause. It’s nice to see a comics publisher making local efforts to support young comics readers and superhero fans of color.
Thanks for joining us this week! And of course, we’ll leave you with a few more fun tidbits because tons of things really did happen!!
– BOOM! Studios and Nickelodeon are bringing the public a Reptar comic based on the beloved Rugrats character
– Classic Robotech comics from 1985 are going to be re-released in print from Titan Comics
– Ten great comics made it as nominees for the GLAAD Media Awards, including popular favorites like America by Gabby Rivera, Black Panther by Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lumberjanes by Kate Leth, and more! Check out the whole list.
