It’s the holidays, so I’d like to think that the comics industries could be pleasant for these brief moments of festivity and cheer. And mostly, judging by the headlines, it has been so, however, the Miami Herald did just discover Comicsgate and has run a piece detailing its history, its connections to Gamergate, and the political climate. This is by no means a pretty read, as it details the harassment many comics industry people — particularly women — have had to deal with. But it serves as a solid reminder of why She-Hulk is the hero we need in the new year.
Moving on from the negativity, let’s take a look at a few of the big items from this month.
Relaunches and Reboots and Other New Stuff
Though it’s disappointing to see G. Willow Wilson leave Ms. Marvel, the character will continue to shine in The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, written by Saladin Ahmed, with art by Minkyu Jung, and featuring covers by Eduard Petrovich, Elsa Charretier, and Babs Tarr. Tarr recently addressed concerns about apparent colourism in her cover.
IDW is relaunching the Transformers canon with a series that returns the robots in disguise to a time when Cybertron was at peace. Presumably, that peace won’t last too long…
Matthew Rosenberg revealed his new Uncanny X-Men, which will appear in March. Everyone on the team looks as tired of the X-Men reboots as we are… Go home, Cyclops. You’re a punk.
This march, the world will meet the UNCANNY X-MEN.
Cyclops. Wolverine. Mirage. Magik. Havok. Multiple Man. Karma. Banshee. Wolfsbane. Hope. pic.twitter.com/fayA8WZbMN— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) December 18, 2018
Marvel’s new Conan the Barbarian series will launch in January with an impressive list of variant covers and the much anticipated January 4th return of Young Justice will be prequeled by the release of a digital comic.
Marvel has revealed the Art Adams cover of their next universe upheaving event (because we need one at least once a year?), “War of the Realms.”
And finally, Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, revealed his new science fiction series, Samurai 8, at Shonen Jump’s Jump Festa convention. The series will debut some time in 2019.
Other Different Stuff
Following her death earlier this year, Comics Beat has written the obituary that comics illustrator and colourist Marie Severin truly deserved, honouring her revolutionary work that she did in spite of an industry that still tries hard to erase women from its history.
“She stood for the women with talent – more talent than a lot of men who were given opportunities – but who were shunted aside to coloring or production work. She represented the women whose work editors would not even consider because of their gender. She represented the women who were shut out of comics, shut out of illustration, shut out of advertising, and so many other fields. Women who some people continue to erase from history, claiming that they had no talent or did not apply or did not even exist.”
NPR interviewed comics creator Taneka Stotts who reminds the industry that women and people of colour are indeed here, making great work, and are going to keep doing so.
Polygon has a list of Marvel meta, documenting the times Marvel comics have appeared or been mentioned within the Marvel Universe.
Polygon also has a helpful guide for the best ways to access digital comics.
And that’s it for the news this week — this year. Here’s looking forward to a new year that will bring us lots more incredible reads, and a lot less trash fires. I know, I know. A girl can dream.
