comicbooks

The Korean-based Webtoon Entertainment is the world's biggest comic book publisher. It was founded in 2005 by its CEO, Junkoo Kim, while working for South Korean technology giant Naver Corporation, who still owns over 60% of the company. Webtoon Entertainment allows comic book creators to publish their work in a vertical scrolling digital reading platform. A number of titles have seen adaptations for the screen courtesy of Netflix, Prime Video, and Crunchyroll. Popular titles include The Mafia Nanny, Love 4 A Walk, Star Catcher, Childhood Friend Complex, The Remarried Empress, Down To Earth and Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story.

But Webtoon Entertainment has just reported big losses in an investor call for Q4 and the full year, even as it achieved higher sales, with David Lee, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Webtoon Entertainment, attributing the losses to increased IPO-related expenses, higher marketing costs, and goodwill impairment in the web novel sector, as well as and currency fluctuations driving the loss, as currencies in Asia dropped against a burgeoning dollar in 2024. Foreign currency adjustments made up a $62 million loss in Q4, and $72 million for the year, against only $18 million loss for the whole of 2023. And that South Korea's political instability had a temporary impact on user engagement. America, take note. Asset writedowns made up $70 million of the losses, but that wasn't far off what they went through in 2023 with $63 million written down.

And even with all those losses, Webtoon's sales were up 5.6% for Q4 and up 5.1 % for the full year to $1.35 billion. So, you know, there's a lot of money coming in, even if a lot of it is still going out.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25218368

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you already know I include a spreadsheet with a list of comic book conventions in the UK, including dates, locations, and links to the organiser’s page. In some cases, I even include deadlines to submit for artist alley, as well as table prices (building it as I go).

...

Who is this article’s intended audience?

• comic book creators who want to know which cons to apply to.
• comic book readers who want to know which cons to go to to find cool comics.
• conventions organisers who are willing to read some unsolicited feedback / advice 😅

Why the last one?

I only started exhibiting at conventions last year, but I’ve been attending for many years. The current state of comic book conventions worries me. Most are increasingly less friendly to independent comic book creators (and readers). I’m hoping to address some of those concerns with this article.

...

ThoughtBubble

In my opinion, by far THE BEST comic book convention in the UK. There’s no other like it.

100% focused on comics. No movie and TV celebrities, no cosplayers, no funko-pops, no fan-art of Baldur’s Gate 3 or whatever. Nothing against those, but it’s nice to have a convention that truly focus on original content by amazing creators. And this convention has no lack of top names in the comic books industry.

“Kirbyvision,” a definitive feature documentary about legendary comic book artist and creator Jack Kirby, is in development with acclaimed filmmaker Ricki Stern (“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “UFOs: Investigating the Unknown”) set to direct.

...

Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential creators in comics history, Kirby co-created Captain America with Joe Simon in 1941, famously depicting the superhero punching Adolf Hitler on the first issue’s cover months before the U.S. entered World War II. Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Kirby went on to create or co-create numerous iconic Marvel characters including the Avengers, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thor and the X-Men (many with Stan Lee).

...

“Jack was not only one of the great comic book artists of all time, but a true visionary genius,” Stern said. “In this new feature length documentary, we actively campaign for the recognition he finally deserves as a leading artist and storyteller of the 20th Century.”

Braun added, “If there were a Mount Rushmore of 20th century pop culture luminaries, Jack Kirby should be the first one to be carved into the mountain. ‘Kirbyvision’ will let audiences experience the full scope of Jack’s limitless imagination, creativity and heart.”

The documentary has secured cooperation from the Estate of Jack Kirby as represented by the Rosalind Kirby Family Trust, with access to personal documents, home movies and creative materials, much of which has been unseen by the public until now.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25139105

All drawn by Christian Ward, they are:

• Spectregraph with writer James Tynion IV from DSLTRY
• Batman: City of Madness from DC Black Label
• Aquaman: Andromeda with writer Ram V from DC Black Label

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25110201

These seven single page comic strips were printed in Dark Star magazine between 1979 & 1980.

Contributors to Dark Star Magazine were not paid for their work.

The first two were written and drawn by Alan, the last five were written by Steve Moore with Alan providing the artwork.

CB Cebulski: In our careers exactly, there's always that Marvel-DC rivalry that people talk about, but at its core, we're fans of each other's work. There's mutual respect on the editorial and creative level, and we really enjoyed working together. This was a really good project to have done, but I think there's another white whale; we got the omnibuses out, but maybe there's another white whale we haven't seen for 20 years or so?

Marie Javins: I'm trying to figure out what you could possibly be talking about. the only other white whale I can think…. ohhhh…. should we do that?

CB Cebulski: Should we?

Marie Javins: Should we ask them?

CB Cebulski: What do you think? Another crossover, a modern crossover. Are you up for it? What do you think?

[There is an appreciative cheer from the retailers]

CB Cebulski: I guess the retailers voted, so I guess we have no choice but to do this, Marie.

Marie Javins: Right, can I make more fart joke comics as part of this?

CB Cebulski: I don't think that that's exactly what they were talking about.

Marie Javins: But I brought the swatches. I brought the swatches from the printer, you can smell it. You can come and rub and smell it. I've got them right here.

CB Cebulski: Well, I don't know that's what their applause was about. I think they're talking about a Marvel/DC DC/Marvel crossover in… can we get it done in 2025?

Marie Javins: That's tight, but I guess we could, like, later this year?

CB Cebulski: I guess so, 2025, we got, we got what, ten months to go? I think we could put together some creators and some character ideas and do something.

Marie Javins: But even if I start right now, it's gonna be… later. You're all right. [To audience] I already know he secretly started you know, mine might be a little later, but they don't have to be the exact same time.

CB Cebulski: In all seriousness, folks, We are doing two crossovers, two one-shots, Marvel/DC, and DC/Marvel.

Marie Javins: He's going to do the Marvel/DC one… Can we tell them anything else? Do you think it's okay if I tell them that it's Bat-Mite2/Punisher?

CB Cebulski: I don't think we've gotten that far yet. I wouldn't want to lie to them if that's not what we're doing, which I don't think we are

Marie Javins: I think it sounds good.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24794805

On the Margins: Comics, Gender, Identity & Subversion is an upcoming two-day conference about comics at Ulster University in Northern Ireland in May, “Exploring Why Comics Matter”. BEANO artist Nigel Parkinson is among the speakers, addressing the success of DC Thomson’s surviving humour weekly.

Other comic creators taking part include artist and writer John Farrelly, writer Mark McCann, and Andrew Pope, editor of Local Colour Comics,

This two-day event will focus on exploring the intersections of comics, gender, identity, and subversion, bringing together academics, artists, writers, and industry professionals to discuss how comics shape and reflect cultural narratives.

...

On the Margins: Comics, Gender, Identity & Subversion Friday 2nd – Saturday 3rd May 2025, Ulster University Cromore Road Coleraine BT52 1SA | Full Programme Here | Free, but Booking Requested via EventBrite

Godzilla is most famous for terrorizing Tokyo, but he has attacked other cities around the world as well. Godzilla Vs. America is a new anthology devoted to profiling the King of All Monsters as he makes his way across the United States. This first issue is devoted to Chicago and tells four wildly different stories involving the legendary Kaiju and the Windy City.

Strangely enough, most of the stories have a comedic or satiric tone. The first story, “Godzilla Does Chicago,” sets the tone for what follows. Written by Mike Costa with art by Ryan Browne , this tale focuses upon an unlikely performer called Fangoolie (a loving nod to legendary Chicago horror host Svengoolie.) Fangoolie is a “fan man” who crashes sporting events in a flying fan suit. After he accidentally causes the Chicago Bears to lose a big game, he executes an ill-advised plan to steal Mechagodzilla. Hilarity ensues when the real Godzilla shows up.

Godzilla takes a supporting role in the second comic, “Blue Line Sign.” Written and illustrated by Tim Seeley , this romance focuses on a woman trying to approach her crush on the train. Naturally, Godzilla attacks just as she gets ready to make her move. “Chi Godzilla” by Ezra C. Daniels centers around a politician trying to capitalize on the destruction of his ward. Finally, “Godzilla Versus Chicago” by Caroline Cash details one woman inadvertently becoming the city’s savior after an energy drink turns her into a giant.

Yanick Paquette is one of my favourite comic book artists, including work on Terra Obscura, Seven Soldiers, Batman, X-Men, Swamp Thing and Wonder Woman. But he wants everyone to be a better artist. And on Substack, that is what he is setting out to do, with his Secrets Of Drawing posts, illustrated Scott McCloud Understanding Comics style. He tells me, "I write and draw to scratch my pedagogical itch", that's a desire to teach, "and help fellow artists as I've been helped by my other masters before. They are free masterclasses and turn out to be more time-consuming than expected to produce. Knowing that they are being read and enjoyed goes a long way to justifying carving out time for this little pro bono project."

Published in print at the tail end of 2024 but added to online through the year, anthology/website Cartoonists for Palestine was undoubtedly one of the year’s most important comics projects. And yet somehow we failed to give it the attention it was due last year. Edited by Yazan al-Saadi, Tracy Chahwan, Shay Mirk and Andy Warner (some names there may be familiar from our recent review of Lebanon is Burning and Other Dispatches) this 250-page anthology with work from around 60 creators is available in physical format by Crucial Comix but is also available to read or download for free online here.

...

Ultimately this is barely even scratching the surface of what is covered in Cartoonists for Palestine. And, honestly, this is barely even a review. Instead it’s a plea to share this powerfully communicative comic and, though this is an international effort, also to share the stories of any Palestinians who may have created work in any field of the arts bringing the horrors of these last months of genocide to wider audiences. Cartoonists for Palestine is a vital social record which we will be adding to our nascent, upcoming (and very much work-in-progress) Palestine comics resource list in due course.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24628974

Bryan Talbot’s new graphic novel, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor, a prequel to his Grandville saga, will be published in September in France and in November in the UK.

With top-hat and cane in hand, Detective Inspector Stamford Hawksmoor shadows the murky backstreets of London on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer.

In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24505565

Although cover dated 26th February 1977, today marks the 48th Anniversary of the launch of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, 2000AD! I think most readers of downthetubes will agree it’s one of the most vital and important British comics in the history of the medium, and one which still publishes mind-blowing new stories – every single week.

That said, the team behind the comic are often asked, “How do I start reading 2000AD?” and you can see why – it can be daunting to look at Rebellion’s vast library and wonder where you should actually start! With that in mind, they’ve curated a “starter pack” list of their finest current collections, available from all good book and comic shops, and digitally, too. If you want to try 2000AD, start with any of these!

Alongside, Rebellion have also included classic stories featuring some of our most famous characters, purely in the interest of looking to spread the word of 2000AD further, of course, and not because they want to give anyone a real dose of Thrill Power Overload….

So, let’s see what the team picked. Which 2000AD thrills would you choose to introduce new readers to the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic? Ace Garp? Dan Dare? The Ballad of Halo Jones? RoboHunter? Ian Why not comment below?

MODERN 2000AD CLASSICS:

• Brink: Book One
• Devlin Waugh: Blood Debt
• Dreadnoughts: Book One
• Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man
• Lawless: Book One
• The Out: Book One
• Thistlebone: Book One

CLASSIC CHARACTERS

• Judge Anderson: Satan
• Judge Dredd: Vs Death
• Nemesis The Warlock: The World of Termight
• Rogue Trooper: Genetic Infantryman
• Sláine: The Horned God
• Strontium Dog: The Galaxy Killers
• Zenith: Phase One

Both kinds of comic book publishers are putting out Godzilla comics right now, Marvel and DC. But IDW has been putting them out longer than anyone else right now, working with Godzilla owners Toho International, Inc. for more than a decade. They have now officially extended their partnership through 2029, and that's where Bleeding Cool gossip about a new Godzilla continuity publication plan comes into play. Back in November last year, Bleeding Cool reported the news that "IDW will be starting a new Godzilla universe of stories beginning in July 2025… A series of interlinked, shared universe, comic books in a similar fashion that Image and Skybound have done with Transformers and GI Joe." And now we have the proof:

"Welcome to the Kai-Sei era, an all-new GODZILLA​ connected universe launching with three jaw-dropping titles, each one expertly designed to unleash completely different genres and tones for all kinds of fans.

...

"We couldn't be more excited to present to you the new home of Godzilla – The Kai-Sei Era," commented GODZILLA line editor Jake Williams. "The Kai-Sei Era is the only ongoing Godzilla story of its kind – crafted for comics readers who have never bought a Godzilla book, and Godzilla fans who have never read a comic. We aim to bring you the absolute best stories possible – whether those stories contain super powered G-Force members trying to kill Godzilla, mutants in a wasteland trying to survive in its wake, or mercenaries flying around space in Mechagodzilla. Every month readers will be able to take a peek inside a brand new universe composed of unimaginable horrors, kaiju old and new, and heroes to keep it all at bay. We're telling the best Godzilla stories in the world, inside the best comics on the shelves."

"In addition to the upcoming connected universe, IDW Publishing will continue to release limited series that are outside of the connected universe, like the recently announced GODZILLA: HERE THERE BE ALIENS in May. Plus, GODZILLA: HEIST makes its debut in comic shops today, with the anthology limited series GODZILLA VS AMERICA kicking off next week and the first issue of the limited series MOTHRA: QUEEN OF THE MONSTERS arriving the following week."

Fairy tales and folklore. We all grew up with them, no matter where we're from. In most cases, we don't know where the stories came from or who wrote them, but along the way, across the centuries, there are chroniclers and authors that manage to organize, streamline, and in some cases, re-write these stories into a condensed manner which helps them stand the test of time and be passed down to future generations:

Hans Christian Andersen.

The Brothers Grimm.

Charles Perrault.

Walt Disney.

Now, a new player enters the field, and I'm all for it: Mike Mignola.

"For a long time I have wanted to create a place where I could concentrate on very loose adaptations of folk and fairy tales," Mignola tells Nerdist recently. "I’ve worked a lot of that stuff into Hellboy but really wanted to do them as their own thing. And as I do feel that I’ve done about everything there is for ME to do with Hellboy, it felt like now was the right time."

As Mignola says, his massive Hellboy ouvre is chock-full of fairy tales and folklore woven into it - but the shadow of Hellboy looms so large on all of those that its hard for them to stand on their own as stories. That's why Mignola's new publishing imprint, Curious Objects, where he can do standalone stories that can either just be short stories or just turn into their own sprawling universe a la Hellboy (if he and we, the fans, want it to).

It all kicks off with the new anthology Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Unknown Lands.

Abstract

The portrayal of comic book characters is often oversexualized, which is intended to boost sales in a market traditionally dominated by male readers. However, the comic book market today has a diverse readership, and women in particular consume more comics than in the past. Against this background, the present study uses a sample of 648 comic book covers to empirically test whether the underlying sex sells logic actually works. In this context, the results of the regression analysis show no evidence that sexualized images are associated with comic book sales. The article provides theoretical explanations for this result and discusses scientific and managerial implications of this finding.

Valentowitsch, Johann (2024) Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol 36, Issue 3, p188

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24280534

Celebrating 50 years of Battle in 2025, Pat Mills, the creator of 2000AD, has launched his successor to “Charley’s War”, “Ragtime Soldier”, drawn by Gary Welsh and Phillip Vaughan, which first appeared in an eleven-page story in the Great War Dundee anthology, published in 2019.

The crowdfunder continues the story, including the original tale (still available to download from Millsverse here), delivering a 48 page adventure in the style of “Charley’s War” the groundbreaking antiwar story first published in Battle.

The Kickstarter offers the best price for this book, which is curated by ComicScene.

...

“I had discovered so much more since writing ‘Charley’s War’, “Pat reveals. “So in Ragtime Soldier we relate these new and darkest stories of World War One. Stories that no one has dared to tell before and will never be dramatized anywhere else. How our soldiers were given drugs to send them over the top, and how they became desperate addicts after the war. How there was provable trading between the British and the German enemy, in order to keep a conflict going that made millions in profits for the arms manufacturers.

“Ragtime Soldier has the same comedy, comradeship, heroism and tragedy as ‘Charley’, but it has exciting differences too,” Pat continues. “We now see the war from a heart-warming Scottish and Dundee perspective, the city where I started my writing career, and with a Scottish creative and publishing team behind it. And we also discover the sinister events that happened after the war on the Home Front.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24430300

There used to be two types of Godzilla stories you could tell. The first used Godzilla as a metaphor, mostly for the horrors of atomic warfare – see the original 1954 Godzilla or Godzilla Minus One. The second has Godzilla acting as a protector of the Earth, often battling other monsters or teaming up with them – Legendary’s MonsterVerse built an entire franchise on this concept alone. But Godzilla: Heist #1 from Van Jensen and Kelsey Ramsay takes a different approach, seeing the King of the Monsters unwittingly play accomplice to a grand heist.

This happens thanks to an extremely clever thief named Jai. Using a series of drones and a computer that predicts Godzilla’s movements, Jai is able to lift $90 million from a casino. But this puts him in the crosshairs of another group of thieves, who strong-arm him into using his skills to break into Whitehall, which is home to Britain’s defense ministry. Like any good thief, though, Jai has a few tricks up his sleeve.

I was genuinely surprised by Godzilla: Heist, and not just in terms of its high-concept pitch but that Jensen actually puts a lot of work into pulling it off. His script starts off slow, showcasing Jai setting everything into place before Godzilla bursts into the scene. Like any good heist, Jensen throws in a few twists, including the real reason why Jai decides to go along with the Whitehall job, which involves another major figure from Godzilla lore.

...

Godzilla: Heist #1 is a truly unique Godzilla story, mixing the absolute destruction the King of Monsters is known for with a high-stakes robbery. If this is the level of creativity IDW is going for with its new Godzilla books, it’s sure to pull in plenty of new fans.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24429805

Following the previously announced Godzilla Vs X-Men, Godzilla Vs Fantastic Four and Godzilla Vs Spider-Man, I get the rather predictable word that it will be followed by Godzilla Vs Avengers #1 one-shot for June. However, that still leaves two of the six slots unfilled. Might one of them be Godzilla Vs Hulk? And the other, either Godzilla Vs Deadpool or Godzilla Vs Jeff The Land Shark? Anyway, I do know Godzilla Vs Avengers #1 one-shot for June for sure, with covers by Lee Garbett, Mike Allred and Nick Bradshaw. But that is all. The first, Godzilla Vs FF is out in a month.

First page: https://jl8comic.tumblr.com/page/282