Following the success of the busiest Mercy Sparx publishing schedule in several years, Heaven’s secret “fixer” returns in Mercy Sparx: Heaven’s Devilthis October. An all new quarterly series written by Josh Blaylock, with art by Blaylock and Brian Rogers, and colors by Eisner Award Winners Greg + Fake. The series continues from the events of the sell-out hit “Daddy Issues” miniseries and spin-off success Club Nephilim.
Mercy Sparx is known in divine circles as “Heaven’s Devil” – AKA Heaven’s fixer, sent to do the dirty work angels won’t touch. For years, this devil secretly living among us has left a trail of broken bottles, broken noses, and broken hearts in her wake. But now chaos has come calling again, as a mysterious “nobody” who has lurked in the shadows since Mercy’s first days on Earth rises to become her most dangerous nemesis yet. A perfect jumping on point for new Mercy readers!
Made successful through a savvy confluence between in-store comic shop releases and Kickstarter exclusive content, Mercy Sparx has found its way to new heights of success, and is currently still active in development for film & TV with Assemble Media.
Circuits-Seduction-Revenge, the gonzo cyberpunk, sexy action one-shot from last year also debuts an all new quarterly ongoing series, merging the worlds of “Circuits” with that of the Blaylock and Mark Powers’ The Encoded, taking place five years before the events of The Encoded #1. Written by Josh Blaylock with art by Jethro Morales, with covers by artists including Sveta Shubina and Joel H Herrera.
In 2050 AD, a mysterious rogue pleasure android wreaks havoc on the trillionaire class as they are forced to turn to an equally dangerous artificial life-form to stop her. In a time after humanity has survived the AI singularity and settled into a strange new equilibrium: futuristic metropolises under mandatory “logdowns,” cities reserved for sentient survivors of a deactivated AI consciousness, and breakaway communities living like it’s still 1985.
Mercy Sparx: Heaven’s Devil #1 and Circuits-Seduction-Revenge #1 both debut this October, continuing Devil’s Due Studios’ 25th anniversary year-long celebration and true to its new focus on stories in the supernatural, sci-fi, and high concept action realms.
Hero Initiative, the charity that helps comic book creators in medical or financial need, will host seven amazing creators at its booth at the 2026 Baltimore Comic-Con, September 25-27, 2026 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Tickets can be purchased online now!
Founder of the legacy indy comic book publisher and studio Devil’s Due, Josh Blaylock is not only a prolific comic book writer and artist, but an expert in licensing and pop culture trends. He began publishing comics while still a teenager, rising to fame six years later with the license acquisition and resurrection of G.I. Joe, Voltron, and other classic properties in the comic space, to huge success. The first of their kind, his comics launched a nostalgia wave that is still felt to this day, and pioneered a trend of independent publishers seizing the spotlight by revitalizing major licensed brands. He is most known for his supernatural action comic Mercy Sparx, and the world of characters surrounding it (currently in development as a major motion picture), with several other creations translated into toys, film, and television. Having published and written over 1,000 comic books with over $70 million in sales, Josh also regularly collaborates on projects in entertainment, fashion, and tech, including for North Coast Music Fest, Adidas, Pixel Vault, Hannibal Buress, Diplo, 0n1 Force, A System of a Down, Louis the Child, and more. His non-fiction book, How to Self-Publish Comics: Not Just Create Them, was made required reading at Savannah College of Art & Design.
Chicago cartoonist Jeffrey Brown is an Eisner Award winner best known for his bestselling Star Wars graphic novels, including Jedi Academy and the NY Times #1 bestseller Darth Vader and Son. Brown’s comics career began while he was pursuing his MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago when he abandoned painting to write and draw his first graphic memoir, Clumsy. He has written dozens of Star Wars, Batman, Marvel Super Hero, and other graphic novels. His newest book is Hulk Teach 2: A Tale of Two Teachers.
Peter Krause has worked as an artist in comics for nearly forty years. His credits include Power of SHAZAM!, Metropolis S.C.U., and Star Trek: The Next Generation — all for DC Comics. His work with writer Mark Waid on Irredemable (BOOM! Studios) and Daredevil: Road Warrior (Marvel Comics) garnered several Eisner nominations. Krause helped reimagine the Archie gang as teens during World War ll in Archie: 1941, and drew the adventures of two disparate superhero universes in Dragonfly and Dragonflyman for Ahoy Comics.
Along with writers Mark Russell and Bryce Ingman, Krause created the superhero spoof My Bad for Ahoy Comics. He also drew Blacking Out, a modern noir mystery written by Chip Mosher that was published through Kickstarter.
More recently, Krause has drawn a number of EC stories for Oni/Lion Forge. He is currently finishing the art chores on another Mosher-written crime story.
Laura Martin is one of the comics industry’s most lauded colorists. Recipient of Harvey, Eisner, Eagle, Squiddy, and Comics Buyer’s Guide Awards, Martin is regularly assigned high-profile and event-oriented comics on which to bring her palate to bear. Her work can be found in DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Virgin, and CrossGen comics through the years, and she is lately working on Bad Idea’s Eniac, DC’s Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, and Marvel’s Hulk.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Tone Rodriguez got his start in comics drawing on Violent Messiahs and Snake Plissken for Image Comics. His work followed at Dark Horse, Top Cow, and Crossgen, on dozens of books from ShadowHawk, KISS, and Conan the Barbarian.
He’s shown how diverse his work is by joining the folks in Springfield drawing The Simpsons and Futurama Comics for Bongo.
He also contributed to many TV projects, creating the look of The Dark Defender and creating the artwork for the comic book character on Showtime’s Dexter TV show and The Adventures of Jimmy Halpert comic for NBC’s The Office.
His most recent work has him working on the critically acclaimed Stray Dogs for Image Comics and is one of the artists on Feral, a comic book about a rabies outbreak told from the point of view of the feline.
Currently living in Louisiana, he’s a contributor to multiple small press projects such as Tremors (a comic book based on the 90’s movie franchise).
Bob Wiacek has worked with many great talents such as Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, John and Sal Buscema, Walter Simonson, Frank Miller, Barry Windsor-Smith, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Paul Smith, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Don Heck, Ron Garney, June Brigman, Colleen Doran, plus many others. He has inked Mike Grell on The Legion of Super Heroes #220 and Al Milgrom on Marvel Presents #7-The Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel. From that time on, he has inked every major title for Marvel, including The X-Men, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, She-Hulk, Man-Thing, Star Wars, Silver Surfer, and Fantastic Four just to name a few. At DC, he worked on Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Brave and the Bold, The Ray, Batman Family, Justice Society, Shazam, and Challengers of the Unknown, which is a small sampling as well. As far as independent publishers, he did work for Dark Horse, Image, Relium Media, Archie, and Valiant, where he worked on Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Solar. He has inked noteworthy issues in titles including Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, Star Wars, Iron Man, Batman, and Bloodshot. On the Iron Man 2020 project, he co-plotted with Walter Simonson, penciled and inked the book (with an able assist from Will Rosado). Of late, Wiacek has helped out inking All-New Wolverine and a JLA General Mills comic which was available in different cereal boxes. He has also inked Badger #1 for First Comics, Stars End #2 from Insane Comics, pencilled and inked the cover to ZaZa the Mystic, and will be working on an Indie project soon with Ron Wilson and Arvell Jones. Outside of comics, he starred in a commercial with rap group G-Unit in 2003, and has a small part in the independent film Manos: The Rise of Torgo, for which he did the poster.
Chuck Wojtkiewicz (Voit-KEV-itch) has been active in the world of comics, concept art, and storyboards since the early 80’s. Yep, he’s old as dirt! His best stretch in comics was at DC on Justice League International and various fill-ins, etc. He also worked for Marvel (Imperial Guard), Dark Horse, Image, and more. Falling into a full-time job at storied Blur Studio as Lead Concept Artist, he spent 14 years working on an endless parade of projects including Star Wars: The Old Republic, Kids WB!, Crimson Skies, The Goon Movie Kickstarter Storyboard Animatic, and the Deadpool movie. Since then, he and his lovely wife Marc have moved from LA to scenic Whidbey Island in Washington, where he freelanced on a couple of Gears of War projects and full comics art for Story Attic’s Scrollon line of stories. After major heart surgery in 2020, our hero (largely) retired, but keeps his art skills sharp with select art commissions. Come by and say hi!
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Jason Aaron (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), Josh Blaylock (Mercy Sparx, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Russ Braun (The Boys), Jeffrey Brown (Hulk Teach, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Becky Cloonan (War), Michael W. Conrad (In Bloom), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn), Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (The College Try), Paris Cullins (Blue Devil), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Colleen Doran (The Sandman), Scott Dunbier (DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artist’s Edition), Garth Ennis (The Boys), Trish Forstner (Feral), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels), Randy Green (Witchblade), Torunn Grønbekk (Catwoman), Gene Ha (Mae), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Larry Hama (GI Joe: A Real American Hero), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Dean Haspiel (Chest Face), Glenn Hauman (They Keep Killing Glenn), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hempel (Sandman), Jamal Igle (Superman), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Infernal Hulk), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Chris Kemple (Red Vengeance), Peter Krause (The Power of Shazam, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Mike Kunkel (Herobear and the Kid), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Nate Lovett (Commander Tomorrow), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Jose Marzen Jr. (Y: The Last Man), Mike McKone (Teen Titans), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Fantastic Four), Pop Mhan (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Mark Morales (Thor), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Trevor Mueller (Bat Pat), Sarah Myer (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Phil Noto (Fantastic Four: First Foes), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Patrick Olliffe (Untold Tales of Spider-Man), Ryan Ottley (Invincible), Jimmy Palmiotti (The Punisher), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Margeaux Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Tom Raney (Incredible Hulk), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), Tone Rodriguez (Feral, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Joe Schmalke (We Don’t Kill Spiders), Erica Schultz (Rogue), Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales, courtesy of Flesk Publishing), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matthew Dow Smith (DC’s Misfits of Magic), Scott Snyder (Friday and Sunday only, DC K.O.), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Liberty Girl Deluxe), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Martha Thomases (Dakota North), Billy Tucci (Shi), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and the Big Hero Six), Mark Waid (Action Comics), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker), Bob Wiacek (All-New Wolverine, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Chuck Wojtkiewicz (Justice League, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Rich Woodall (Sgt. Werewolf), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Long Distance).
The use of comics in politics isn’t something new and goes back decades, if not over a hundred years if you want to include political cartoons. But, in recent years, campaigns have re-embraced the printed page to help promote their candidates. The latest is Kat Abughazaleh who ran for Congress in Illinois’ Ninth District. The district covers parts of Cook, Lake, and McHenry counties and currently represented by Democrat Jan Schakowsky, who is not seeking reelection, in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in Chicago and all of Illinois.
The artwork was originally created as a direct mail comic illustrated by Chicago based artist and publisher Josh Blaylock, all five editions are being collected to help raise money for the campaign in a small, limited printed run.
Story: Josh Blaylock and Purveyor Creative Art: Josh Blaylock and Purveyor Creative Color: Jenn Chun Letterer: Shawn DePasquale Comic Formatting: Jamie Noguchi Art direction: Mia Festo Creative direction: Kat Abughazaleh
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The use of comics in politics isn’t something new and goes back decades, if not over a hundred years if you want to include political cartoons. But, in recent years, campaigns have re-embraced the printed page to help promote their candidates. The latest is Kat Abughazaleh who is running for Congress in Illinois’ Ninth District. The district covers parts of Cook, Lake, and McHenry counties and currently represented by Democrat Jan Schakowsky, who is not seeking reelection, in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in Chicago and all of Illinois. There’s currently about 16 individuals running in the Democratic primary.
The comic introduces Kat and inspired by a love of comcis, graphic novels, and manga, and introduces the candidate to voters, focusing on what she cares about and why she’s running.
The artwork was originally created as a direct mail comic illustrated by Chicago based artist and publisher Josh Blaylock creator of Mercy Sparx, The Disavowed, and more at Devil’s Due.
Now, all five editions are being collected to help raise money for the campaign in a small, limited printed run.
Hero Initiative, the charity that helps comic book creators in medical or financial need, will host six amazing creators at its booth at the 2025 Baltimore Comic-Con, October 17-19, 2025 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Tickets can be purchased online now.
Founder of the legacy indy comic book publisher and studio Devil’s Due, Josh Blaylock is not only a prolific comic book writer and artist, but an expert in licensing and pop culture trends. He began publishing comics while still a teenager, rising to fame six years later with the license acquisition and resurrection of G.I. Joe, Voltron, and other classic properties in the comic space, to huge success. The first of their kind, his comics launched a nostalgia wave that is still felt to this day, and pioneered a trend of independent publishers seizing the spotlight by revitalizing major licensed brands. He is most known for his supernatural action comic Mercy Sparx, and the world of characters surrounding it (currently in development as a major motion picture), with several other creations translated into toys, film, and television. Having published and written over 1,000 comic books with over $70 million in sales, Josh also regularly collaborates on projects in entertainment, fashion, and tech, including for North Coast Music Fest, Adidas, Pixel Vault, Hannibal Buress, Diplo, 0n1 Force, A System of a Down, Louis the Child, and more. His non-fiction book, How to Self-Publish Comics: Not Just Create Them, was made required reading at Savannah College of Art & Design.
Aaron Campbell is known for his critically acclaimed work on titles including Hellblazer: Dead in America, Suicide Squad: Blaze, and the award-winning John Constantine: Hellblazer. He is the co-creator of Infidel (Image Comics), named one of the best horror stories of all time and one of the best books of 2018 by NPR. Aaron is also the co-writer of West of Sundown (Vault Comics) as well as being a prolific cover artist.
Matthew Clark started his career in earnest in 1997 working at the art studio, Studiosaurus. In 1999, Matthew became the regular artist on DC’s Wonder Woman, following that with Felon from Top Cow (written by frequent collaborator Greg Rucka). Since then, Clark has worked for DC Comics (including Teen Titans, The Outsiders, Adventures of Superman, Doom Patrol), Marvel (notably, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, The Amazing Spider-Man), and Valiant (Bloodshot, Harbinger), as well as contributing artwork for Kurt Busiek’s acclaimed series, Astro City. Matthew is currently recovering from a triple bypass operation and has started his rehabilitation as of this writing.
Brian Haberlin is an award winning American comic book artist, writer, editor, and producer. He is best known as the co-creator of the Witchblade franchise and for his innovative augmented reality and pioneering digital art style.
Haberlin started his career working at Lorimar/Warner Brothers Television, but eventually he gave up his job at Warner Brothers in order to pursue a career in comics, his life-long passion.
Haberlin began his career in comics working at Top Cow Productions, where he developed most of the modern methods of comic book production used today. He rose to VP of Creative Affairs while there and ran the creative side of the company. While there he co-created Witchblade, prompted by the lack of realistic female superheroes in comics. The Witchblade franchise has since expanded to include multiple spin-offs, a live action television series, and an anime series.
Haberlin formed his own studio soon after, producing work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Image Comics. He then started Avalon Publishing. Through Avalon, he published/created many successful fantasy and sci-fi titles, including Stone (highest selling independent comic the year released), a fantasy series which incorporated elements of Filipino mythology, Aria (#2 selling comic in the U.S. in its release), an urban fantasy, Area 52, a science fiction title, Nine Rings of the Wu-Tang, and M-Rex, which has been adapted into the successful Cartoon Network series Generator Rex. And many others.
Haberlin became Editor in Chief for Todd McFarlane Productions in 2006, and penciled and inked its flagship title, Spawn, for two years during David Hine’s run as writer.
In 2012, Haberlin formed Anomaly Productions with Skip Brittenham to produce truly innovative cross-platform content, and comics that routinely sell out and are top sellers in their releases, with Anomaly, Anomaly: The Rubicon, Shifter, Faster Than Light, Between Worlds, Sonata, Creative Creature Catcher, The Marked, Hellcop, and Lighthouse at the End of the Universe currently in release as graphic novels, comics, children’s books, and augmented reality apps, with the upcoming, Fury Formula and Love Inc. to debut in the coming months.
He has been featured in many books and magazines around the world such as: Wired, Rolling Stone, Imagine FX, 3D World, Creating Comics from Start to Finish, Secrets of Painter Experts, and Secrets of ZBrush Artists to name just a few.
He routinely speaks around the country and world from The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D, to the South Korean KOCCA academic conference and currently has 3-4 hours of his own panels each year at San Diego Comic Con.
Haberlin also runs Digitalarttutorials.com and Traditionalarttutorials.com that produce art education tutorials from his methods. He teaches comic art at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and his work is in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum.
Haberlin has also entered the fine art community, being featured recently in two prestigious magazines: American Art Collector (cover) and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and having his work featured in five gallery shows this year.
Jamal Igle is the recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Art. He is writer/artist/creator of Molly Danger for Action Lab Entertainment, the co-creator of Venture with Dynamo 5 creator/writer Jay Faerber, and the penciller/co-creator of The Wrong Earth with writer and Editor in Chief, Tom Peyer for AHOY Comics. Jamal is a comic industry veteran whose detailed pencils have graced books as varied as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the all-ages action miniseries Race Against Time, as well as mainstream hits such as G.I. Joe, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Green Lantern. Jamal has served as the series artist for popular runs on Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Nightwing, Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Superman, Supergirl, and Zatanna for DC Comics, Noble Causes for Image Comics, and a four-issue run on New Warriors for Marvel Comics.
Jamal recently completed the sequel to the hit series Black called White from Black Superpowers/Black Mask Studios, and The Wrong Earth: Night and Day, The Mysterious Micro-Face for NPR Planet Money, and Milestones in History for DC Comics. Jamal also worked with legendary Batman writer Scott Snyder on his new creator-owned series, Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine for Comixology.
Currently, Jamal is hard at work on the newest volume of The Wrong Earth as well as helping shape the next generation of comics creators at The School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Mike Norton is the creator of the Eisner and Harvey award-winning webcomic, Battlepug and the co-creator and artist of Grumble as well as the critically-acclaimed Revival. He has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and just about everybody else. He likes to pet dogs, drink beer, and watch movies you wouldn’t see on a dare.
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: REIGN 2), Eddy Barrows (Superman), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Marty Baumann ((Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Josh Blaylock (Mercy Sparx, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Russ Braun (The Boys), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Letizia Cadonici (House of Slaughter), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Jim Cheung (Young Avengers), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (Emma Frost: The White Queen), Chris Claremont (X-Men), Matthew Clark (Adventures of Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Becky Cloonan (Somna), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Michael W. Conrad (Manowar: Invictus), Dani (Sensational Wonder Woman), Alan Davis (Excalibur), Deans Family Productions (Crass Fed), Jeff Dekal (Something is Killing the Children), Kevin Delgado (Tuff Stuff, courtesy of Comics and Collectibles R Us), Vito Delsante (Stray), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Saturday and Sunday only), David Finch (Moon Knight), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales), Barbara Friedlander (Swing with Scooter), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels), Dan Goldman (Unfinished Business), Randy Green (Witchblade). Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters), Brian Haberlin (Spawn, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hampel (Sandman), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Jamal Igle (Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Incredible Hulk), Derek Kirk Kim (The Last Mermaid), Dan Krall (House of Night), Adam Kubert (Wolverine), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Tula Lotay (Barnstormers), Nate Lovett (Dungeons & Dragons), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Alex Maleev (Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black White and Red), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Charlie McElvy (Spider-Squirrel), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Josh Middleton (Aquaman), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Mark Morales (Thor), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Sarah Myers (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Tom Nguyen (The Switch), Mike Norton (Battlepug, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), John J. Pearson (In Bloom), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Barbara Perez Marquez (The Cardboard Kingdom), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Amy Reeder (Power Girl), Esad Ribic (Conan the Barbarian), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Craig Rousseau (Herculoids), Jim Rugg (Street Angel), Andy Runton (Owly), Stuart Sayger (Conan the Barbarian), Joseph Schmalke (Seven Years in Darkness, courtesy of Groundbreaking Comics), Bart Sears (Deathstroke), Declan Shalvey (Old Dog), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Jeff Smith (Bone), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Chelsea Dagger and the Women of Excalibur), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Karl Story (The Mandalorian), Zoe Thorogood (It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Universe), Billy Tucci (Shi), Brian K. Vaughan (Spectators, Friday and Saturday only), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and Big Hero Six), Charles Vess (Stardust), Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Web of Spider-Man), Maria Wolf (Phoenix), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), John Workman (Wild Things), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).
Massive Publishing has announced the launch of its brand-new initiative: The Massive Pilotprogram — a creator-first platform designed to help comic book creators launch new series by combining the power of crowdfunding with Massive’s publishing infrastructure.
The Pilot Program offers fans and collectors a unique opportunity to support and shape the future of independent comics. Each Pilot crowdfunding campaign features a high-end early release version of the series debut, and will be produced in limited quantities for collectability. These premium editions will feature upgraded paper stocks, specialty covers, exclusive content, and collectible treatments curated specifically for campaign backers who are investing in the future of the series.
This initiative gives fans early access to potential breakout series with backer-exclusive content, both physical and digital. Series that gain traction will be fast-tracked for full release and direct-market distribution. The crowdfunding to store shelves with upgraded limited editions isn’t new for publishers. What stands out about the announcement is that 100% of the initial funding goal goes directly to the creative team, covering production costs and supporting creators from day one. That would mean that Massive covers the credit card costs and crowdfunding platform costs as well as printing costs. Shipping would assumed to be paid by backers.
This debut issue will set the tone for what Massive’s Pilot Program is all about. Follow the campaign on Kickstarter and be notified when it goes live on Tuesday, June 17th.
Massive Publishing has announced The Disavowed, a new “mature reader” series from the mind of Josh Blaylock that deconstructs the ‘80s retro phenomena with a brutal twist. The series, described by early reviewers as G.I. Joe meets The Boys, features interior artwork from artist Pop Mhan. This new five-issue comic series follows the rise and fall of a 1980s military super team formed to stop an esoteric terrorist cult and its re-emergence in the present day.
The series will include an impressive list of guest cover artists, including Michael Golden, Tim Seeley, Dave Johnson, Steve Kurth, and Adam Riches– some of whom will be familiar to longtime fans of Devil’s Due Studios and their licensed retro titles from the early aughts (G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Voltron, Micronauts). Attendees at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) can get an exclusive “Weaponized Nostalgia” Ashcan before the series launches on Backerkit this fall. Check out and follow the pre-launch campaign page here!
This polarizing title celebrates and satirizes nostalgic icons of the past while holding nothing sacred in its depiction of the decades-long, action-packed, bloody war between these two rival factions. By pushing the envelope with these story archetypes, Blaylock has created something completely new in The Disavowed.
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From within the panels of The Disavowed, The United Five–The worst kept government secret of the 1980s and the subject of rampant ’90s internet lore, the U-Five was formed to stop the esoteric cult-turned-terrorist organization, Komodo, which claimed to harness knowledge from another realm that could threaten the world. In 1989, United Five’s mission was accomplished (at least for a while), but not before many, including Curtis Howzer (Codename: Dane [The Great]), gave their lives. Now, Curtis’ son Matthew Howzer is determined to uncover the truth about his father’s death and the United Five organization. His obsession leads him to pursue a military career that unveils the true story behind the conspiracy theories, uncovering a story that was far more fantastical, debauched, and brutal than anyone could have believed.
Now, after decades of rumors and conspiracy theories, the United Five have returned. Their purpose is to stop its former members, who are no longer the beloved heroes of yesteryear and are referred to as The Disavowed.
The SDCC Exclusive limited edition ashcan preview of The Disavowed will be available at San Diego Comic Con at the Massive Publishing and Devil’s Due booth #2300, while supplies last.
ArkWorld Vol. 1, the debut issue of a new prestige format series from Devil’s Due Comics by Josh Blaylock and Travis Hymel has sold out at the distributor level. A second printing has been ordered for September, as vol. 2 will be released in November – featuring a cover variation on the original first printing Daniel Leister cover.
Originally slated for an April release, the 48 page prestige format title was intentionally delayed while the events surrounding Covid 19, and changes in industry distribution, disrupted the comic book market. Despite aggressively overprinting pre-orders with a risk that they may be reduced due to stresses on comic book stores, the quantity actually doubled by the time orders were adjusted for the new September release date, after printed product shipped. The resulting increase has caused an immediate depletion of almost all inventory.
ArkWorld hails the launch of a brand new genre of sci-fi Blaylock coins as “Archeopunk”. A story that questions, what if civilization didn’t begin six thousand years ago, but was simply being reset after a massive, global catastrophe thousands of years earlier?
In vol. 1 readers meet a couple who abruptly find themselves swept up in a deep state conspiracy that threatens the globe. Only, the year is 11,000 BCE, and the world at this time is nothing like we have been told. Nor does our couple know the role they will play in the survival of society’s knowledge in the years to come.
House of Logic and 36 Chambers have found a publisher for their new comic book project, Samurai in a Hoodie, in Devil’s Due Comics. House of Logic, Co-Founded by Artist Glyph Sputnik, and 36 Chambers, co-founded and operated by Wu-Tang’s RZA will be working with Devil’s Due founder Josh Blaylock to develop Samurai as a 360 degree brand featured in comics, music, apparel, and entertainment.
Samurai explores themes of being a loner and outsider while surrounded by millions of people in an urban metropolis, the humor it sometimes takes to survive in the inner city, and intense, supernatural martial arts action from cover to cover.
Sputnik, whose comic combines classic American Comics, Manga, and Afrofuturism, is joined by co-collaborators Nikiya Price (Sputnik’s Co-Founder and sister, hailing from the worlds of academic publishing and product development), RZA, Mustafa Shaikh – Co-Founder of 36 Chambers, and Amby Warhol – Chicago based creative and Editor at House of Logic.
In the wake of Covid-19, a release date has not yet been set for the comic book series, but an inaugural release is planned for late Fall, with production well underway.
Devil’s Due Comics founder Josh Blaylock is offering up over 20 years’ worth of industry secrets in his all-new DIY manual, How To Self-Publish Comics: Not Just Create Them. The 168-page guide — significantly updated for 2019/2020 — is an anomaly in DIY literature, in that it features a successful artist sharing wisdom about everything but the creative.
In lieu of providing instructions on how to write or draw, How To Self-Publish Comics explains how to successfully navigate the industry once you’ve honed those skills. Blaylock bypasses the industry jargon with clear and simple instructions on:
Building Your Publishing Infrastructure
Forming Your Creative Team
Sales & Marketing
Determining, engaging with, and maintaining your key fan base
Conventions
Crowdfunding
Digital Publishing
How To Self-Publish Comics also includes (and demystifies) purchase orders, invoices, printer quotes, and other must-know components of the publishing process. The book is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the way the comic book industry works, from concept to shelf.
