Comic Book News June 15th – June 21st

Cornelia Tzana ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Assistant Comic Books Editor

JUST ANNOUNCED: Dark Horse Comics are now available via ComiXology, the leading digital comics distributor! ComiXology had caused an upheaval among Hellboy fans earlier this week with a video hinting at the possible addition of the comic to its catalogue. Dark Horse, publisher of Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola, has been keeping its publications away from ComiXology in an effort to focus in its own platform, Dark Horse Digital. The video was released on Friday and it showed something that looks a lot like like a watch ticking by on the wrist of Hellboy and ending with a distinct outline of the character. The distributor also heightened the expectations by setting up a timer counting down to the release of the news.
“We are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement which brings the Dark Horse catalogue found in the Kindle Store to the comiXology platform,” remarked President and Publisher of Dark Horse Comics Mike Richardson.  “For the first time, hundreds of Dark Horse graphic novels will be available to comiXology’s devoted readers. The technology is stellar and we are pleased that our books will be showcased flawlessly.”
Starting today, users will be able to have access to many Dark Horse favorites such as  “Hellboy,” “Sin City,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “300,” “Fear Agent,” “Usagi Yojimbo” and “Lone Wolf and Cub” along with the publisher’s full digital catalog of collections, graphic novels and manga.

Soon. http://t.co/fnmSOfsGUG pic.twitter.com/Jzs7zcpH2Y

— Comixology (@Comixology) June 22, 2015

• Wonder Woman has finally gotten an outfit that looks like it could actually protect her in battle. Diana’s new costume debuted in this Wednesday’s Wonder Woman #41. “I really wanted her new costume to reflect all of her roles: old – as in, member of the Justice League; and new – as in, God of War and Queen of Themyscira.”  says series writer Meredith Fitch. David Finch, the series artist took Jim Lee and Cliff Chiang’s design from the original “New 52” and enhanced it with armor pieces and other elements, including two blades which fans don’t seem to be very fond of, in the same way they seem to have some negative thoughts about David and Meredith Finch’s development of the character.
  Take a look at the new design below:

• Diamond Comic Distributors announced the fourth annual Halloween ComicFest (HCF) event. Much like Free Comic Book Day, readers can stop by  their local comic shop and get free comics as well as participate in special Halloween events like costume contests, sales, character appearances and more on Saturday, Oct. 31. This year comic book enthusiasts and newcomers alike will be able to get their hands on 21 titles— 13 full-sized comics and eight mini-comics— including Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers #1, Doctor Strange: The Oath, Donald Duck’s Halloween Scream! #1, Sabrina #1, Skylanders and Yo-Kai Watch just to name a few. Retailers will also be selling HCF Mini-Comic Polypacks, packs of 25 copies that fans can purchase and pass out on Halloween to trick-or-treaters.

• This past weekend, Anime News Network announced that the widely known and very popular manga One Piece, created by Eiichiro Oda has set a new Guinness World Record for “most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author”, with 320,866,000 copies of One Piece having been printed worldwide as of the end of 2014. Weekly Shonen JumpeditorYoshihisaHeishi attended the award ceremony on Oda’s behalf this past Monday. The creator commented on a written statement:

  

“Thank you for this certification for the Guinness World Record. Manga is an amusing way to pass time, but when I receive reports that say ‘through One Piece I made friends,’ or ‘through One Piece I found my sweetheart,’ I am really happy. I feel like this record number has the possibility to bring the same number of people together. I will not forget my predecessors in the manga world, the colleagues whom I work with, and my readers, and from now on I want to continue to draw a work that will not shame this record.”

One Piece was first published in 1997, and the manga has been published in more than 30 countries. Weekly Shonen Jump also revealed on Monday that the manga will bring big news in the 29th issue of the magazine, which ships on June 22.

• Devil’s Due Entertainment and 1First Comics have merged to form Devil’s Due / 1First Comics LLC, the first mini-major comics publishing company of its size emphasizing creator-owned work since the establishment of Image in 1991. This will combine each company’s comics libraries and business infrastructure. The merger brings together 1First co-founder Ken Levin’s film and TV development team and the marketing and convention expertise of Devil’s Due. More details on the development of the properties owned by each company will be announced in the following months.

Heard of a news story we missed? Let us know in the comments!