Comics

Name Your Price for $375 Worth of Archie Comics and Give Money to Charity

Buy ‘Humble Comics Bundle: Riverdale & Archie’ and give money to CBLDF at the same time.

The gang’s all here in the Humble Comics Bundle: Riverdale & Archie from Humble Bundle and Archie Comics to benefit CBLDF! But this bundle won’t last forever — there’s just one more week to name your price on $375 worth of Archie Comics and support CBLDF in the process!

Get Road to Riverdale, the stories that inspired the CW show Riverdale; the awesome reboot of Archie by Mark Waid; The Art of Archie: The Covers, a collection of art from the classic series; volumes of Betty & Veronica; and more. You can even pick up Afterlife with Archie and face the “impending zombie Arch-pocalypse”! What’s not to like?

Pay what you want. All together, these comics would cost over $375. Here at Humble Bundle, you choose the price and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle! This bundle has a minimum $1 purchase.

The Humble Comics Bundle: Riverdale & Archie will run until December 13 at 11 a.m. Pacific time.

Customers can pay just $1 or more for:

  • Archie Vol. 1
  • Jughead Vol. 1
  • Josie & The Pussycats Vol. 1
  • Reggie & Me
  • Archie’s Pal Kevin Keller Vol. 1
  • Betty & Veronica Vol.1

Customers who pay $8 or more will also get:

  • Riverdale Vol. 1
  • The Archies #1
  • Road to Riverdale Vol. 1
  • Archie Vol. 2
  • Jughead Vol. 2
  • Road to Riverdale Vol. 2
  • Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Vol. 1
  • Afterlife with Archie Vol. 1: Escape from Riverdale
  • The Black Hood Vol. 1

Those who pay $15 or more will receive all of that plus:

  • Archie Vol. 3
  • Archie Vol. 4
  • Jughead Vol. 3
  • Road to Riverdale Vol. 3
  • The Art of Archie: The Covers
  • The Death of Archie
  • Best of Archie Deluxe Vol. 1
  • Best of Archie Deluxe Vol. 2

To see the full bundle, head to https://www.humblebundle.com/books/riverdale-archie-comics

As with all Humble Bundles, customers choose how their purchase dollars are allocated, between the publisher and the charity. The Humble Comics Bundle: Riverdale & Archie supports the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

What is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund?

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.

C.B. Cebulski, Marvel’s New Editor-in-Chief, Wrote As “Akira Yoshida” 13 Years Ago

Was often hired to give an “authentic voice” to Japanese-infused comics.

Thirteen years ago, a young writer from Japan was making waves in the comic book world. After some success in the world of manga, Akira Yoshida wrote comics for Dreamwave, Dark Horse and Marvel Comics, among others.
He was especially prolific at Marvel where he wrote 12 issues of Thor: Son Of Asgard, six issues of X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, five of Elektra: The Hand, five of Wolverine: Soultaker, five of X-Men: Kitty Pryde – Shadow & Flame and five of X-Men/Fantastic Four.

One of the comics set in Japan written by “Akira Yoshida”

Marvel editors and executives sung his praises. They claimed to have met him at conventions, received him at the Marvel offices and even taken him to lunch. Then — as suddenly as Akira Yoshida appeared — he vanished.

There was only one problem. He didn’t exist. It was confirmed this week that “Akira Yoshida” was a pseudonym for C.B. Cebulski, who worked as an associate editor for Marvel at the time, and was just named Editor-in-Chief on Tuesday.

As an editor working for Marvel, Cebulski was prohibited from writing for other companies for competitive reasons, and prohibited from writing for Marvel to avoid favoritism — where the various editors would pass work back and forth to each other to pad their own wallets. So Akira Yoshida was born.

But this week, after Cebulski was announced as EIC for Marvel, Image Comics Brand Manager David Brothers tweeted out a challenge to industry journalists:

Hey comics journo friends: we should definitely be asking Marvel and new EiC CB Cebulski on why he chose to use the pen name Akira Yoshida in the early 2000s to write a bunch of “Japanese-y” books for them.

Journalists took him up on the challenge, and discovered that “Yoshida” wrote frequently about Japan, infused his books with Japanese culture and created Japanese characters. Part of the reason this worked so well was that Yoshida could speak with an authentic Japanese voice. He actually was Japanese — except he actually wasn’t.
Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston cracked the case on Tuesday.

Cebulski confessed to Marvel execs what he had done. He could have been fired, but he pled his case internally to the highest authority at the company. The story was that back then, he had been planning to leave Marvel, but set up a writing career first — and Akira Yoshida was a fiction he created to get his first writing gig on Darkstalkers for Dreamwave and then Conan for Dark Horse. And it was from that gig that his fictional pseudonym was approached by another Marvel editor, quite unaware that Cebulski was Akira, and Cebulski found himself hired by his own company. And kept the lie going.

And as to the Akira Yoshida that Marvel people had met, including his bosses, that was a Japanese translator who had visited the offices – and yes, who had had lunch with Mike Marts – and who was mistakenly identified as Akira Yoshida. So everyone remembered having met him – even though they never did

Cebulski did live in Japan on and off in his 20s, and even edited some manga — but “living in Japan” is not the same thing as “being Japanese.” Yoshida was often hired because he brought an authentic voice to comics infused with Japanese culture. Now that it has been revealed that Yoshida was actually the very white Cebulski, accusations are flying of “cultural appropriation” and “yellowface.”

Cebulski gave a statement to Bleeding Cool, explaining his side of what happened.

I stopped writing under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida after about a year. It wasn’t transparent, but it taught me a lot about writing, communication and pressure. I was young and naïve and had a lot to learn back then. But this is all old news that has been dealt with, and now as Marvel’s new Editor-in-Chief, I’m turning a new page and am excited to start sharing all my Marvel experiences with up and coming talent around the globe.

Whether this will be enough to placate Cebulski’s numerous critics is anyone’s guess.

Big H/T to Bleeding Cool.

The Triumphant Return of Mockingbird’s Feminist T-Shirt

Roughly one year and five days ago, a group of socially maladjusted mouthbreathers drove writer Chelsea Cain off of Twitter because she put a cover they didn’t like on a comic they didn’t read. That comic was Mockingbird #8, the last issue of the critically acclaimed series.

Mockingbird #8

What set the misogynistic misanthropes off was the t-shirt that Bobbi Morse a.k.a. Mockingbird wore on the cover of that last issue: “Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda.” Hate mail poured in and Cain, wisely, decided Twitter was not worth the abuse and just left.

Then came the backlash to the backlash. #StandWithChelsea was a trending hashtag on Twitter. Women and allies rallied around the cover because, scientifically speaking, it’s freakin’ awesome.

But after issue #8, Mockingbird and her shirt disappeared … until last weeks’ Amazing Spider-Man #789.

After going bankrupt and getting evicted from his place, Peter ends up crashing on Mockingbird’s couch. After he wore the last of his clean clothes, he grabbed one of Bobbi’s shirts to wear while doing laundry. She commented that “it wasn’t a good look for him” — giving us one of the greatest bits of meta continuity in recent Marvel history.

Frankly, I think Pete wears it well.

Follow us on social media to keep updated on all Mockingbird’s feminist t-shirt related news.

‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Harley Quinn’ Are the Most Searched for Costumes of 2017

Google has released their list of most searched for Halloween costumes this year, and comic book hero “Wonder Woman” tops the list, followed by villain (or antihero) “Harley Quinn.”

“Princess,” which has ruled the list of most popular costumes for more than a decade, didn’t even crack the top 10 on Google’s list, landing at number 11.

  1. Wonder Woman
  2. Harley Quinn
  3. Clown
  4. Unicorn
  5. Rabbit
  6. Witch
  7. Mouse
  8. Pirate
  9. Zombie
  10. Dinosaur
  11. Princess
  12. Moana
  13. Ninja
  14. Superhero
  15. Mermaid
  16. It
  17. Batman
  18. Monster
  19. Vampire
  20. Doll
Photo via halloweencostumes.com

Google also broke down the list state-by-state. Wonder Woman was the top choice in 24 states, while Harley was the top choice in five states and the District of Columbia.

Alaska: Ninja
Alabama: Wonder Woman
Arkansas: Clown
Arizona: Wonder Woman
California: Wonder Woman
Colorado: Wonder Woman
Connecticut: Wonder Woman
District of Columbia: Harley Quinn
Delaware: It
Florida: Wonder Woman
Georgia: Harley Quinn
Hawaii: Wonder Woman
Iowa: Wonder Woman
Idaho: Rabbit
Illinois: Wonder Woman
Indiana: Dinosaur
Kansas: Wonder Woman
Kentucky: Clown
Louisiana: Wonder Woman
Massachusetts: Wonder Woman
Maryland: Wonder Woman
Maine: Superhero
Michigan: Wonder Woman
Minnesota: Zombie
Missouri: Clown
Mississippi: Mouse
Montana: Dinosaur
North Carolina: Wonder Woman
North Dakota: Unicorn
Nebraska: Wonder Woman
New Hampshire: Rabbit
New Jersey: Wonder Woman
New Mexico: Harley Quinn
Nevada: Wonder Woman
New York: Wonder Woman
Ohio: Harley Quinn
Oklahoma: Wonder Woman
Oregon: Unicorn
Pennsylvania: Harley Quinn
Rhode Island: Witch
South Carolina: Harley Quinn
South Dakota: Witch
Tennessee: Wonder Woman
Texas: Wonder Woman
Utah: Witch
Virginia: Wonder Woman
Vermont: Catwoman
Washington: Wonder Woman
Wisconsin: Zombie
West Virginia: Clown
Wyoming: Joker

Story via Vogue.

‘Logan’ Director James Mangold Working on ‘X-23’ Spinoff

Last year’s Logan was a bittersweet success for writer/director James Mangold. While it was by far the biggest commercial and critical success for the Wolverine franchise, it also marked the final appearance of Hugh Jackman as the adamantium-laced mutant. But on a recent publicity junket to drum up Oscar buzz for the critically acclaimed movie, Mangold revealed he was already working on a spinoff movie featuring Logan’s young protege Laura Kinney, a.k.a “X-23.”

Mangold had been toying with ideas for an X-23 film since the end of filming on Logan, but he said studio resistance to the idea of a Laura-led sequel evaporated this summer for one simple reason:Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman.

“Patty’s success with that film only solidifies more for studios that there’s less to fear with a female protagonist,” Mangold told The Hollywood Reporter. “The more that keeps getting hit home, that ends up giving me more space turning around and going, ‘Well, here we are with a female protagonist. That’s incredible. And what are we going to do with her?’ And that’s where we are with that [the Laura script] right now, dreaming.”

Mangold is working on the script with Thor: Ragnarok screenwriter Craig Kyle, the man who created Laura for the X-Men: Evolution cartoon way back in 2003.

X-Men franchise producer Hutch Parker agreed that there is more story to tell with Laura. “Yes, there are other facets of that character and some others potentially to explore in their own way,” says Parker. “It may not be in the same exact tonality or with the same genre orientations as Logan, but I think part of what has been opened up in this universe to all of us now is, drawing on different genre traditions, there are new pathways to be opened for new characters that populate this universe.”

Dafne Keen and Hugh Jackman at the MTV Movie Awards

While it is unknown if the sequel would pick up where Logan left off, or move forward in time to feature an adult Laura, Daphne Keen, the breakout star who played Laura in the film, is on record as wanting to explore the character more. “She is an emotional bomb. She’s complicated — she tries to be so strong but she feels so kind of vulnerable at the same time. I really love her. I’d love to keep playing her,” she said.

It is also unclear whether Laura would remain “X-23” or become the new “Wolverine” in the proposed sequel, but Logan star Hugh Jackman is ready to pass the torch. The veteran actor recalled that he was not even supposed to play the part of Wolverine. It was awarded to Scottish actor Dougray Scott initially — but fate intervened when shooting on Scott’s film Mission Impossible 2 went long, forcing X-Men producers to give Jackman a shot at the role.

“I met him early on and I said to him, ‘Man, I am sorry.’ And he said, ‘It’s just business, but you have just gotten one of the greatest roles out there, so go crush it,’ ” Jackman said. “I just remember being so impressed by that and his class, and hopefully I am a big enough guy that when someone else takes over, I will do exactly what was done to me…and I feel glad to just be a part of the legacy of that character. I feel great parts — great characters out live the actors that play them. Bond, Superman, Batman…so, there you go.”

So he’s made peace with leaving the role of Wolverine behind. Would he be interested in producing the way he did for Wolverine: Origins?

“No, I won’t be a producer on a Laura sequel,” he says. “But I will be lining up on the Thursday night at 10 p.m. to watch it though.

She is just phenomenal.”

First ‘New Mutants’ Trailer Is Ready to Terrify You

The first trailer for Fox’s X-Men spin-off The New Mutants dropped at midnight last night, and it looks like we are getting our first true horror-themed superhero film.

Starring rising stars Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) and Blu Hunt (The Originals) — The New Mutants appears to be taking its cues from the incredibly influential and deeply disturbing “Demon Bear” storyline from the original series.

The New Mutants comic was Marvel’s first try (of many) at capitalizing on the popularity of the X-Men franchise with a new title. After the original X-Men went missing, Professor X assembled a new team of young mutants and began training them. And the team stuck together even after the original X-Men returned.

The Demon Bear – Bill Sienkiewicz

While the book started as traditional superhero fare, and ended by being transformed into the testosterone-soaked, guns-and-swords, very ’90s X-Force, in between there was a period when artist Bill Sienkiewicz joined writer Chris Claremont and they pushed the envelope of superhero comics into unexplored areas — particularly horror.

Their first story together — The Demon Bear Saga — explores what happens when a supernatural entity from her past stalks Native American team member Danielle Moonstar (Mirage) eventually pulling the entire team into a mystical realm known as “The Badlands” where they must fight the demonic creature for their very souls.

Black Superhero Drama ‘Raising Dion’ Series Greenlit at Netflix

Creator Dennis Liu will help write and direct. Michael B. Jordan set to produce.

Two years ago,music video director turned comic-book writer Dennis Liu made a bit of a splash by directing a trailer for his self-published comic Raising Dion. The trailer focused on the exploits of a single black mother trying to raise her 7-year-old son after learning he has superpowers.

The trailer was exceptionally well-made, and the comic got picked up for the creator-owned athology IF. Now Netflix has announced a 10-episode series based on the comic has been ordered straight to production vial Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society Productions.

 

The series follows the story of a woman named Nicole Reese, who raises her son Dion after the death of her husband Mark (Jordan). The normal dramas of raising a son as a single mom are amplified when Dion starts to manifest several magical, superhero-like abilities. Nicole must now keep her son’s gifts secret with the help of Mark’s best friend Pat, and protect Dion from antagonists out to exploit him while figuring out the origin of his abilities. The ten-episode series will premiere on Netflix in more than 190 countries around the world.

By using the idea of “superheroes” as a setting rather than a genre and moving the point of view to Nicole, Liu was able to turn the traditional tropes and narratives on their head and gave us a story that was refreshing and honest. The series also smartly sidestepped a series of stale tropes. Nicole is not superwoman, keeping up with Dion is clearly taking a toll. On the other hand, she is not to be pitied — downtrodden and crushed by the world.

The challenges that single mother Nicole faces as she struggles to keep her son safe from harm and make sure he becomes a good and moral person are the same struggle that every single mother faces.

“I started this project many years ago because I wanted to see more diverse representation on film and television,” said Liu. “More than ever, we need more stories told from different points of view and my hope with Raising Dion is to create a cinematic experience for all families that will lift your spirits and make you laugh and cry.”

No release date has been set yet, but late 2018/early 2019 seems likely. The original comic, which explores Nicole’s relationship with Dion’s father is available for free download on Liu’s website.

Sci-Fi Author Nnedi Okorafor Joins Marvel to Pen New Black Panther Series

Black Panther: Hail to the King will be a Comixology exclusive starting in December.

We’ve been pretty bummed as the fantastic Black Panther stories written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxanne Gay have come to an end this year, but Marvel is determined not to give us too long of a mourning period. According to the Nerdist, Marvel has hired World Fantasy-, Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning novelist Nnedi Okorafor to write a new series, Black Panther: Hail to the King.

With art and colors by Andre Araujo and Chris O’Halloran Black Panther: Long Live the King will be a biweekly comiXology exclusive, released in December on comiXology and Kindle as part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive digital content, which is also available to members through the popular comiXology Unlimited. This story will take place in the expansive world of Wakanda that Coates has built up in his ongoing series, and will follow T’Challa as he desperately tries to defend his home from a terrifying new threat.

Okorafor got her comics try out in last month’s Edge of the Venomverse: War Stories #1, where she introduced Ngozi, a paralyzed teenaged Nigerian “Chibok Girl” who comes into contact with a Venom symbiote and discovers she can walk again.The Chibok girls were 220 schoolgirls abducted by the militant group Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria in 2014.

First Teaser Trailer for Marvel’s Runaways Drops

Right before a select few people get to see the sneak preview of the pilot at New York Comic Con, Hulu has released the first teaser trailer for their upcoming adaptation of Marvel’s Runaways.

Like the comic book before it, the television series will focus on the six kids who discover that their parents are supervillains plotting to destroy the world. Stealing powerful items that unlock their hidden powers and abilities, the kids go on the run seeking to stop their parents’ evil schemes.

Marvel’s Runaways premieres on November 21s on Hulu.

Comic Book
Television Show

 

NYCC: Marvel’s Retailer-Only Panel Erupts into Anti-Diversity Chaos

Retailer blames “blacks,” homos” and “freaking females” for the recent slump in sales.

Marvel hosted a retailer’s-only panel at New York Comic Con yesterday. The panel was part of the Diamond Distributors’ breakfast event, and it started harmlessly enough with Marvel’s panel — consisting of Tom Brevoort, Nick Lowe, Christina Hanigan and Charles Soule — making a series of announcements regarding upcoming titles an events. But when it came time to take questions from the crowd, the event turned ugly.

After answering questions regarding issue numbering, their ability to put out a weekly comic on time and making the Marvel Universe feel more interconnected; the event went off the rails.

Bleeding Cool gives us the play-by-play:

Then one retailer got lots of applause for objecting to the ordering process for the Marvel Lenticular covers, and got lots of applause, Bleeding Cool has covered repeatedly objections to the way Marvel Comics have handled this.

But he kept going with his objections and soon he was bringing up the fact that Marvel now had female versions of characters instead of the males, with echoing shouts from the crowd of retailers about not changing all the characters all at once – which is something I have also heard Marvel executives themselves echo. But things were getting tense.

Two older retailers started raising their voices arguing about diversity and how it does not work. The words “black”, “homo” and “freaking females” were used multiple times, at which point other retailers started to boo those retailers and the room started to turn on itself. Marvel editor Nick Lowe tried to get calm by saying that Marvel try and they tell stories for everyone, that the old heroes are not going anywhere, neither are the new ones, there is room for them both.

Marvel ended the event amid the chaos and cleared the room, but angry retailers confronted editors and executives in the hallway, continuing the argument.

While analysts have pointed to a number of causes for Marvel’s sales slump (too many “events,” the constant cancellation and resolicitation of books with a new #1), the idea that “diversity” is what has caused a sales slump at Marvel has been a staple among the “angry white male” demographic for a while — but it’s almost always prefaced with the caveat that they just “really respect the original characters,” and that they aren’t “sexist or racist or anything.”

We’ll be sure to let the “blacks,” “homos” and “freaking females” know.