Comics

Ah, the weekend. The perfect time to lock all the doors here at Stately Beat Manor, draw the curtains, and settle in for Weekend Reading 60! After sixty weekends inside reading, you might think we’re getting bored… but to be honest, we’ve hardly made a dent in our to read pile(s). What are you going

The death of Superman draws nearer in The Adventures of Superman #497 as The Never-Ending Battle arrives at The Beat. With the series’ original home on hiatus, this column is going to be found here for the foreseeable future, as I couldn’t leave off before the big one. The Adventures of Superman #497 Triangle Number: 1992

Joan Jett‘s iconic debut album, Bad Reputation, celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year, as does her first album with band The Blackhearts, I Love Rock ‘n Roll. To commemorate the occasion, publisher Z2 Comics has assembled an array of female creators for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – 40×40: Bad Reputation/I Love Rock ‘n Roll, a new anthology

It seems perennial Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror is having a busy summer this year. Not only is he set to appear to menace the Fantastic Four in their upcoming 60th Anniversary issue, but today Marvel announced a 5-issue limited series that would tell the definitive origin of the time-traveling menace. Popular comic writing duo

Welcome to The Beat’s crowdfunding round-up: a collection of some of our favorite campaigns from the week including one-shots, on-goings, anthologies and everything in-between. This week we’re checking out the physical debut of Magefront, a fairy tale of burnout with The Lost Sunday, and more. Let’s get started! Magefront: Book 1   Creators: Shea B

This week’s Heavy Metal #306 includes the first chapter of Black Beacon, a new sci-fi serial from writer Ryan K. Lindsay, artist Sebastián Píriz, and letterer Jame. The story follows a space-farer who must fight for survival aboard an interstellar outpost. Today The Beat is pleased to present an exclusive preview of the first five pages of the first chapter

Being the first of anything is an exciting prospect. There’s the thrill of forging a new path, the pleasure of knowing you were the first to do something, and the satisfaction of knowing others might be able to follow in your footsteps. For Benson Chow, the protagonist of Paul Tobin and Ron Chan‘s new graphic

Today, The Beat is pleased to afford you an exclusive first look at Eve #2, the second issue in the five-issue series published by BOOM! Studios and written by Victor LaValle with art by Jo Mi-Gyeong, colors by Brittany Peer, and letters by AndWorld Design. In addition to a main cover by Ario Anindito, the

The newly announced lineup from Abrams ComicsArts for Fall 2021 (and beyond) has been unveiled, featuring brand new comics from the Megascope and Surely Books imprints!  Surely Books This batch of releases features the first books from Abrams ComicsArts imprint Surely Books, curated by Mariko Tamaki, which focuses on work by LGBTQIA creators. The first

In the webcomic Sacrimony: A Tale of Love, Life and Death – In No Particular Order, with a story and art by M. Sorcier, readers follow the story of six main characters as they attempt to navigate the circumstances in which they have found themselves. The story begins with a mother and daughter who are

This month is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and just this past week DC Comics released the Festival of Heroes one-shot featuring stories by creators and starring characters from the AAPI community. Not to be outdone, Marvel Comics has now announced their own one-shot, to be released in August, with a similar conceit. Marvel’s Voices: Identity #1

Black Hammer Visions, the eight-issue anthology miniseries set within the world of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston‘s award-winning series, reached its midpoint this week. The series features big-name creators telling stories with new and existing characters from the Black Hammer universe. Black Hammer Visions is being collected in two four-issue hardcover collections, with the first volume due

Welcome to the Marvel Rundown! We’re trying something a little different this week. Instead of taking a look at one book in particular, we decided to delve into the Heroes Reborn event so far, consisting of two main issues and two rather good tie-ins, and analyse why this event is honestly a lot more engaging than a lot

After a stint drawing for the Distinguished Competition for the last few years, Marvel announced last month that the prodigal penciler John Romita Jr. had returned, and teased a high profile project for his first project back at Marvel. Sure enough, today Marvel revealed that Romita Jr. will be joining Fantastic Four writer Dan Slott

Comics are an excellent way to get your kids to read more. Comics for kids offer an opportunity for creativity, exploring new worlds, and even decompressing after a long day at school. The Small Press Spotlight is focusing on what two publishers are doing specifically for a younger audience. First up, Source Point Press introduced

Oliver Tree has a lot of titles already on his résumé. He’s a musician, a producer, a comedian, and a scooter enthusiast. Now he’s adding ‘author’ to the list with the forthcoming release of Oliver Tree vs. Little Ricky: Alien Boys, Tree’s debut graphic novel from Z2 Comics. Illustrated by Orpheus Collar and lettered by Justin Birch, the

In Hardears by Matthew Clarke and Nigel Lynch, with lettering by Dave Sharpe, the newest book from MEGASCOPE, readers are invited to take a journey to Jouvert Island, a magical locale where Barbadian folklore collides with superhero comics. When a horrible storm ravages the island, Mr. Harding and the Merchandors Guild present themselves as the

Writer Peter Milligan (OUT OF BODY, Shade the Changing Man, X-Force) and artist Piotr Kowalski (JOIN THE FUTURE, Sex) are shaking things up with God of Tremors, a one shot from Aftershock due this August. It’s the story of Aubrey, a 19th century boy whose epilepsy is mistaken as possession by a demon – but a grotesque

The Beat is a proud sponsor of Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel of the Month Clubs, which bring comics fans a curated mix of the best of new release graphic novels and conversations with the creators who make them. Each month, the staff of Comix Experience votes on three sets of upcoming books they are most excited about—one

The synopsis reads: “Three sisters trained by their Nazi-hunting mother must come together to help solve their mother’s murder…and try not to kill each other in the process.” In Erica Schultz’s latest series, The Deadliest Bouquet, Rose, Poppy, and Violet are three semi-estranged sisters trained in espionage and assassination by their mother, Jasmine. Now they

In lieu of live events due the pandemic, Dark Horse has had great success in the past year with live readings of its comics, particularly from the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Though it’s been a while since the last reading with The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars back in September, fans will be

This week marks the release of the new series from AfterShock Comics, Silver City, and today we have a great chat with the book’s writer, Olivia Cuartero-Briggs. This marks Cuartero-Brigg’s second outing with AfterShock, having previously teamed with Adam Glass to pen Mary Shelley Monster Hunter. In this new series, Cuartero-Briggs takes on solo writing duties for the first time, teaming

THIS WEEK: The DC Round-Up crew takes on a trio of big releases, including DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration, Future State: Gotham #1, and Justice League: Last Ride #1. ZACK QUAINTANCE: Okay team, for this month’s roundtable discussion, we’re actually tripling our fun and talking about not one but THREE notable new comics. Let’s start with

Not long after Drawn & Quarterly had announced their first two books for 2022 have they announced a third. Coming in February 2022 will be a Nazuna Saito collection entitled Offshore Lightning. This appears to be her first English-language book by a major publisher. A mature talent, Nazuna Saito produced her first manga in her

Celeste Bronfman has had a good career, with credits that include the Emmy-award-winning series Degrassi and Discovery Kids’ Big Top Academy. Now, the writer is branching out into comics, adding My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic to her growing list of titles. The Beat chatted with Bronfman to discuss the upcoming IDW book (which features

The Beat is pleased to exclusively announce the sequel to Bloom, the graphic novel by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau: Bloom Part II, arriving in Fall 2023. Hector and Ari in Bloom Part II (with baked goods). Picking up more than a year after the conclusion of the first comic, the story will continue the

Lupe is having trouble fitting in. As someone who has never really adapted easily, going to a new school is daunting, which makes her retreat even further into her loneliness. But then she meets Lina and everything changes. In Four Leaf on Webtoons, Lupe is thrust into a world of magic and danger, and for

Late last Friday, Marvel released a cryptic “Trial of Magneto” teaser drawn by John Romita Jr., who incidentally drew the original storyline of the same back in the ’80s in the Uncanny X-Men #200. Today Marvel announced that a 5-issue X-Men: The Trial of Magneto miniseries will be launching in the wake of a shocking

Today The Beat has an exclusive preview of Shadow Doctor #4, the new series from publisher AfterShock Comics that tells the true story of the writers grandfather. Shadow Doctor has been a really interesting comic. It tells the story of writer Peter Calloway’s grandfather, Nathaniel Calloway, a Black man who graduated from medical school in the early 1930s. He was unable to

When you say “weekend,” we say “reading”! It’s time for Weekend Reading 59 here at Stately Beat Manor, the fifty-ninth entry of our ongoing feature. What prose and comics will you be paging thorugh this weekend? As always, we’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you’re reading, either in the comments or