The usual smattering of notable news pertaining to indie comics from March 3rd - 5th, 2013!
"Birds Of Prey" scribe takes over for "Red Sonja"!
At this weekend's Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC), Dynamite Entertainment has announced that critically acclaimed writer Gail Simone ("Birds of Prey", "Secret Six", "Wonder Woman") has been hired to take over the well known Conan spin off, "Red Sonja", in July. Former "Red Sonja" artist Walter Giovani will handle the art for her run. The covers to the run will be drawn by a variety of female artists, such as Fiona Staples and Nicola Staples. In an interview, Simone states that she's on the book because she's fond of the character and wants to define expectations; the series is still mostly known for "T&A" art.
The character was originally created at Marvel Comics in 1973 and even saw a feature film adaptation in 1985. While the franchise where she originally launched from, "Conan the Barbarian", has moved to Dark Horse Comics since, Dynamite has had the rights to her since 2005. While it isn't a title which usually registers on the Top 100, the addition of a hot writer mostly known for DC Comics should help boost its profile.
IDW's "X-Files" comic gets a writer!
In another announcement from the ECCC, IDW Comics have announced that their new "X-Files" comic will be written by Joe Harris. A writer who has written for Hollywood as well as written titles across Marvel and DC Comics (such as "Fury of Firestorm"), he seems set to aim the series for what IDW is calling "X-Files Season 10". Such a practice imitates Dark Horse's successful "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series which continues onward from the show. The artist for the series will be Michael Walsh.
Harris plans to bring the franchise into the current era; after all, it has been over half a decade since agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were seen in film. He plans to carry on the mix of conspiracy stories with classic elements of horror and science fiction which made the show popular. This will also be the first ongoing comic book series for "The X-Files" since the Topps Comics series ended in 1998.
Kirkman, Skybound and AMC unite for exorcism franchise!
Robert Kirkman, his Image Comics imprint Skybound, Fox International Channels and the producer of "The Walking Dead" on AMC are all uniting to begin a new franchise for both TV and comics based around exorcism. The series lacks a name but stars Kyle Barnes who has been involved with exorcism since childhood and now must go on a spiritual journey which could threaten the earth.
"The Walking Dead" on AMC continues to get rave reviews and ratings for the network, and another of Kirkman's comics, "Thief of Thieves", is being geared to debut on AMC as well. It seems that Kirkman is fast becoming the Mark Millar of cable TV.
Joe Casey "cracks the Spider-Man code" with "The Bounce"!
It seems that we are seeing another third party comic book series loosely based on an established superhero. Joe Casey, a longtime scribe for Image Comics ("Butcher Baker", "Haunt") as well as one of the writers of Disney XD's "Ultimate Spider-Man" cartoon, is taking that experience and shape it into a similar-yet-different superhero named "The Bounce". Uniting with artist David Messina ("Star Trek Countdown to Darkness"), the series centers around the bouncing masked vigilante Jasper Jenkins whose brother is an anti-superhero prosecutor. Casey is claiming to have been able to capture the original magic of the web-slinger from the 1960's and is set to recreate the hero in a world similar to our own.
Naturally, this is hardly the first time someone has sought to re-create Spider-Man with a new body and name. Image Comics' "Invincible" started out along similar means. Casey is capitalizing on the full freedom of Image Comics to be able to take the character in directions Marvel Comics wouldn't allow. It will remain to be seen how well this fares; Image characters of old were often proxies of established superheroes (Youngblood, Glory, even Spawn), so this may be a "back to the future" series for Image Comics. The first issue hits shelves on May 22nd.
Comments