DC’s younger reader imprints are off to a mixed start, but there are plenty more titles to come. DC Ink is for young adult readers, ages 13 and up. The line launched with Mera: Tidebreaker, followed by Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale, promoted on Free Comic Book Day and out now. Coming up next, as described here, are Teen Titans: Raven, out early July, followed by Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass in early September. The latest announcement is Batman: Nightwalker, […]

File this under a “wow, never saw that coming” label, similar to the IDW/Top Shelf acquisition news four years ago. The New York Times is reporting that Lion Forge and Oni Press will announce later today that they plan to merge as an example of how “smaller publishers are adopting new business strategies to better compete.” The move, the companies say, will strengthen their library of original comics and graphic novels and help them to leverage their characters on other […]

It’s TCAF Time this coming weekend! If you’ll be in Toronto May 11-12, 2019, come by the Toronto Comic Arts Festival! I will be moderating two panels: It’s Science! in Comics (Saturday, 12:15 PM) — She blinded me… with science comics? On the contrary, graphic non-fiction is enlightening, particularly for educating young adult readers. Nothing’s as easy to understand as when we see it explained with amusing pictures. Alison Wilgus, Maki Naro, Margreet de Heer, and Mike Holmes will share […]

Thanks to the generosity of Udon Entertainment, I have a set of Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu volumes 1 and 2 to give away to one lucky reader. Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu is a charming manga series about a modern-day Japanese restaurant that somehow appears in medieval Germany, where everyone is amazed by how good the dishes are. Volume 3 was released last month, so it’s still easy to start reading. To enter to win this contest, leave a comment below telling me […]

I really enjoy the Giant Days series by John Allison and Max Sarin from Boom! It’s about three university girls learning about life and keeping up with friends while occasionally, odd things happen. Given that the last few issues have been dealing with the impending end of college days, it shouldn’t surprise me that the series won’t continue forever… but I was still sad to hear that issue #55 will be the last. (#50 is the most recent, with a […]

Following up my thoughts on the gold comics from today’s Free Comic Book Day giveaways, here are the handful of silver titles I recommend. A Sheets Story (Lion Forge) — A short story in the world of Brenna Thummler’s Sheets graphic novel, about a laundromat girl and her ghost friend. Marjorie, her father, and her younger brother are going to visit grandmother, and Marjorie’s feeling the pain of awkward adolescence. It’s a complex story that unfolds in unexpected ways, and […]

Tomorrow, May 4, is this year’s Free Comic Book Day. Visit a participating comic shop near you to get one or many free comic books (depending on the store) from a selection of over 50 choices. As Diamond Distributors says, Founded on the belief that there is a comic book for every person out there, FCBD offers a huge selection of 51 free titles designed to appeal to a broad range of age levels and their tastes. You can find […]

Various publishers have smartly created digital comics to tie into popular movies or video games. In addition to providing obvious starting points (sometimes a huge problem for superheroes with decades of history and multiple titles), they also mean a better chance of getting a hit when someone is randomly typing in a search online. The problem with these comics is that they can’t really change anything or do anything significant with the character. They’re not “real” in the eyes of […]