Tag Archives: Titan Comics

Conan Comes to Titan Comics

Marvel Comics’ publishing rights to Robert E. Howard’s classic Cimmerian Conan have once again expired, as announced back in June, finding a new home at Titan Comics.

The character, made famous in the pages of Weird Tales magazine back in the 1930s, has seen a storied journey as his rights have bounced from one publisher to another. Howard, the father of the “Sword & Sorcery” genre, only wrote Conan for a few short years, completing 21 stories (and starting another 17) beginning in 1932, up until his suicide in 1936 at the age of 30.

Conan 115
Conan the Barbarian #115 (1980), art by John Buscema

Many of his unfinished works were completed by other authors (Wheel of Time‘s Robert Jordan among them) and published after his death. In the decades since Howard’s death, the character has seen numerous iterations but endured his popularity. Perhaps no print version though is more recognized than the one put out by Marvel Comics starting in 1970, written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith to start, and later by John Buscema. The look of Buscema’s Conan, which he drew on and off from 1980 till 1999, is, in my mind, the definitive version of the character.

Savage Avengers #5 (2019)

The comic license for Conan would stay at Marvel for over 30 years before Dark Horse picked it up and started publishing Conan books in 2003. After an extended run with the character, Marvel reacquired the rights in 2018, where they have integrated him into the main continuity pretty heavily, teaming him with a team of Savage Avengers and teaming him up with Dr. Doom and Kang the Conqueror to stop classic Conan villain Kulan Gath.

Upon releasing the rights, Marvel chose to send the character back to his Hyborian Age, giving him a fitting send-off as he sacrifices his place in the present to send the rest of the team home, thus leaving the door open for a possible reunion down the road. But for now, Titan Comics will take the reigns.

As announced by CBR back on Halloween;

CBR can exclusively reveal that Titan Comics, working alongside entertainment studio Heroic Signatures, will be co-publishing a new, ongoing Conan the Barbarian comic book series. Launching in July 2023, the series will see the return of longtime Conan scribe Jim Zub (Thunderbolts, Uncanny Avengers), and feature the artwork of illustrator Roberto De La Torre (King-Size Conan, Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and colorist José Villarrubia (Promethea, Sweet Tooth). Sharing a first look at De La Torre’s art for the title, Titan promises, “This will kick off a brand-new, exhilarating series of comics of characters from across the Conan and wider Robert E. Howard mythos!”

Those names should be familiar to Conan comic fans. Jim Zub wrote on Marvel’s recent run of Conan the Barbarian, as well as recent work on Red Sonja, Thunderbolts, Murder World, D&D-based stories with Rick & Morty and Stranger Things.

For the art side of things, Roberto De La Torre will pencil the series. I love the look of De La Torre’s Conan, and he seems like a great choice for Titan’s launch. He worked on a lot of the recent Conan stuff at Marvel, including with Zub on Barbarian.

And the colorist will be José Villarrubia, who previously worked on King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel for Dark Horse back in 2012, and more recently on Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher: A Grain of Truth. He also did the original run of Sweet Tooth for Vertigo.

Before the new series in July however, Titan will release the old Roy Thomas stories in Omnibus form, much like Marvel and Dark Horse have done before.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: ORIGINAL COMICS OMNIBUS VOL.1 
Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith
Titan Comics, HC (776 pages) – $125.00
On Sale June: 14, 2023

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN: ORIGINAL COMICS OMNIBUS VOL.1
Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema
Titan Comics HC (968 pages) – $150.00
On Sale June 28, 2023

Titan Comics’ ‘Sharky!’ Preview Looks Fun As All Get Out

I’m a simple kind of man when it comes to my comics. I either like them indie, subdued, about relationships and emotions, or about Superheroes, explosions, bad-ass fights and occasionally titties. It’s the ever present dichotomy in me that really spells out who I am as a person. Regardless however, occasionally a book comes along that clearly looks to appeal more to the latter half of my comic-fandom, by looking to be a balls out nutty mash up of all things awesome. Case in point, Titan Comics’ Sharky!, a book that looks to please with it’s description alone, as given straight from Titan Comics themselves.

[quote] Titan Comics and ATOMEKA are pleased to announce the release of SHARKY – the first in an irreverent, thrilling, genre-mashing graphic novel series by Dave Elliott and Alex Horley.

Perfect for fans of bestselling creators Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Robert Kirkman, Simon Bisley and Richard Corben, SHARKY marks the debut of an all-new hero!

SHARKY has been raised alone by his single mom, with no idea of who his ‘love’em and leave’em’ father was. Hitting the brick wall called puberty, he discovers that the ‘no-good-S.O.B.’ who contributed to his genes is none other than ODIN, king of the Norse Gods – and his mother is a child of ZEUS, ruler of Olympus!

 Now, whenever something sets off his hormones, he transforms into the demi-god SHARKY – complete with a pumped-up body The Rock would kill to have – and the strength of Hercules!

 When two of the black sheep of his family tree visit Earth and create havoc by raising the dead as an army to take over the world, Sharky has to pick sides, with the fate of the planet at stake. With no time for training, it’s a case of working out Superhero 101 as he goes – and if he fails, his friends’ lives are forfeit! [/quote]

I don’t know about you, but that’s exactly the kind of comic I would probably end up making if I was given free reign. Actually it’d probably be a bit more like Robo-Cop, but mixed with Re-Animator. Also it’d be really gory and sexy. I think I would call it Gorno Cop. Which reminds me, I should really try pitching that out there to some comics publishers, maybe Avatar would go for it! ZING!

Back on topic, Sharky does look pretty irreverent and fun, and it’s weird and funny to see The Mask actually doing things. Most people only remember that weird and awful Jim Carrey movie or it’s horrendous sequel. I was never a big fan of the comics version of the character but I’ve been told it was a neat thing. Regardless it’s fun to see a comic that doesn’t take itself seriously, and is willing to just go apesh** and throw everything at the wall. Take a peek for yourself with these pages from Sharky!

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Sharky Cover

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It’s a book that’s being written by David Elliot, and drawn by Alex Horley, two guys who’ve been in the business a while and have worked on tons of projects including but not limited to Heavy Metal Magazine, 2000 AD, JLA and if you’re a CCG gamer like a lot of folks I know, you may recognize Alex Horley’s art from the World Of Warcraft or Magic: The Gathering Collectible Card Game. I definitely see the Heavy Metal influence in the art style, and that’s pretty great. It looks pretty interesting as you can tell, and it’s something I’ll probably be picking up out of curiosity and appreciation for indie books alone.

SHARKY! will hit book stores on September 11, 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com

Preview of IT CAME!

If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I love old, campy B-Movies. If there’s another thing you should know about me, it’s that I particularly enjoy making fun of them. It’s the reason shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000 appealed so much to me, and the reason I can and do enjoy 90% of Hollywood’s releases these days. Zing!

Anyhow, the other thing I love is a good indie comic with a fun concept, it’s something I’ll always read any day over the infinite milieu of any X-Man or League of Justice member, or lately even any Avenger. Sure superheroes are fine and dandy, but there’s nothing quite like a well done, perfectly simple and entertaining comic miniseries. Enter Titan comics, who have managed to combine two of my favorite things into one with their upcoming book, IT CAME! Which is a title for a book so wonderful and subtlety suggestive a retailer could stock it on shelves entirely unaware of the hidden double entendre of its meaning. Or perhaps I just have a filthy mind. Regardless, the press release for it sounds great, as follows:

IT CAME! Cover

 

[quote] “Titan Comics is pleased to announce the launch of the brand-new creator-owned series, IT CAME! – a four-issue, 1950s B-movie style mini-series by Dan Boultwood.

Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will love this hilarious romp, a knowing throwback to the heyday of low-budget Sci-Fi cinema! Trundling through the 1950s British countryside, unthinkingly misogynistic space scientist, Dr. Boy Brett and the suitably chaperoned Doris Night pop into a quaint village pub for a cheese ploughman’s… But waiting for them outside is a most unwelcome visitor: Grurk, an indestructible, rampaging robot from outer space, on a mission to harvest the British Blitz spirit for energy!

Pursuing Grurk in their Morris Minor, will Boy and Doris be able to save the British from a life without stiff upper lippedness, or will Her Majesty’s Kingdom be forever resigned to an eternity down in the mouth?

Creator Dan Boultwood says, “IT CAME! can be summed up by calling it a 1950s comedy B-Movie pastiche from a studio that never was. Which, coincidentally, is also how I sum up my everyday life, but with less giant space robots. Only a little less, mind you.”

“We’re incredibly excited to welcome Dan into the Titan Comics fold,” says, editor, Mark McKenzie-Ray. “IT CAME! is a wonderfully witty and fabulously fanciful tribute to the greatest 1950s B-movies, with all the charm and relish of a freshly brewed cuppa. Dan’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous and so different from anything out there right now. IT CAME! represents everything our new imprint is all about.”

Dan Boultwood was a long-time collaborator with award-winning writer, Tony Lee, having worked together on the Eagle award-nominated, Hope Falls, The Baker Street Irregulars and Prince of Baghdad for weekly British children’s anthology comic, The DFC. Now, Dan Boultwood makes the leap from critically acclaimed illustrator to all-round creator in this splendidly spiffing comic series.

Quaff that hair, knot that tie and keep your notions of gender equality dialled back sixty years – for the sake of the planet!

IT CAME! #1 will hit comic stores on Aug 7, 2013. ” [/quote]

For those who have seen it, the book looks like a sister companion piece to 2001’s The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra, which was a modern movie made with the similar B-Movie pastiche as this book. If you haven’t seen The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra, I highly implore you to seek it out and watch it, as it’s probably one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. With that, this book appears like it’ll be in exactly the same vein, and easily looks exactly like the kind of movie they’d riff on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I’m looking forward to reading the first issue come April.

http://youtu.be/Pe9Fs10IIk0

Comic Rack: Guillermo del Toro’s DC Movie, Marvel’s New Teasers & More!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

 Guillermo del Toro IS Working On A DC Movie

After a bunch of flip floppy wish wash from PR executives that we’ve previously touched on, lots of rumors and hearsay, it’s finally been confirmed that Guillermo del Toro is actually working on a DC Comics film. Or plans to anyway, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to come out. Not that I wouldn’t love it, because his idea of a dark supernaturally themed DC movie with Constantine (Pronounced Constan- TYNE), sounds totally awesome and something right up his alley.

[box_light]“The movement for this happened before [The Avengers],” del Toro adds about DC building its own cinematic universe. “They were already galvanized to launch ‘Justice League’ and they were galvanized to make their universe cohesive… They are really, really, with ‘Superman’, very, very confident with what they have. They are now feeling they have two pillars. Batman and Superman… There’s a foundation that now they can build on.”[/box_light]

I’ve long been a fan of Guillermo’s, and think he’s one of the most creative and crafty directors out there that knows how to tell supernatural stories in a way that’s neither cheap nor boring. If Man of Steel is a big hit and the Justice League movie does in fact get made, you better believe I’ll be counting down the days until this project comes to fruition.

Find out more here.

Jeff Lemire Is Doubling Down On DC Projects

Comic Rack 1:9:13- Lemire-Projects

I’m such a huge fan of Jeff Lemire that simple, quick news like this can get my imagination running in a thousand different ways. The news is basically that he’s hinted at bringing some old school DC characters back into the modern fray. Which ones you ask? Well, they would consist of Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth, Jemm: Son Of Saturn, Red Tornado, and even The Spectre. Right now it’s all conjecture based on some images he tweeted, so It could all be for naught. I’m sure there’s always the possibility he was being a comics nerd and sharing some cool pictures with his fans, in the same way I share pictures of my cats with my fans. All zero of them. Regardless of my pathetic nature, if Lemire does end up doing something with these projects, you’ll definitely be informed right here the moment it does.

Find out more here.

Marvel Teaser Season Is Back, And One Features Brian Wood!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Brian Wood-XX-Marvel-Now!

In yet another teaser released by Marvel to make us all speculate endlessly until we don’t, we’ve got the vague hint at some new book that will be possibly related to X-women. The teaser released shows a picture of two X’s, with a DNA double hellix behind them, along with Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel’s names. It’s a bit obvious it’s referring to women in some way, what with the XX chromosome being referenced, but the question is who exactly? We all know Brian Wood is pretty familiar with writing women so it’s a question of who he’ll be writing about, rather than if. A solid speculation could be that the DNA helix hints at the genetic code that leads to mutants, and along with the X being such a famously mutant related letter at Marvel it’s a safe bet to make that it’s gonna be an X-Men related title. Some say it could even be called X-Women? I personally think that’s a corny title, but I’m positive it’ll be an interesting book nonetheless.

Along with that came another teaser announcing Phil Noto’s arrival as artist of the new Thunderbolts series. It’s titled Explosive and the image is certainly that:comic-rack-marvel-teasers-explosive

As always there are more teasers from Marvel, some of which are utterly baffling, like this “Birth” one:

Comic-Rack-1:9:13-marvel-Birth-teaser

And this trio of obvious ones for Hulk, Deadpool, and Spider-Man, respectively:

Comic Rack-1:9:13-Hulk Teaser Comic Rack 1:9:13-Deadpool-Teaser Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Spiderman-teaser

Find out more here, here, here, here and here.

Dan Slott Keeps Pumping Out The Spider-Man Craziness By Bringing In Spider-Man 2099

Comic Rack-1:9:13-Spiderman-2099

Listen, I haven’t read a Spider-Man book in years. I think the last time I did was when they switched Amazing to 3 times a week. I decided that was way more BS than I could handle at any given time, along with all of the One More Day nonsense that was going on. It pretty much put me off of Spider-Man forever, which hasn’t been remedied by the terrible movies and it’s subsequent reboots and forced sequels. He’s by far always been my least favorite character, and seeing all the wacky stuff Dan Slott has been doing to Spider-Man has done little to raise my interest in that book. Sometimes something is done when it’s done for you, and that’s that. That being said, I do find it interesting he’s bringing back Miguel O’Hara into the current continuity. That’s right, Spider-Man 2099 is going to be integrated into The Superior Spider-Man somehow. I remember reading issues of Spider-Man 2099 in the late nineties and being really stoked when I found his action figure because I thought it was rare. Regardless, the amount of novel things Dan Slott seems to be trying with Spider-Man these days, without getting into spoiler territory, is pretty interesting. It almost makes me wish somebody as gutsy and ballsy as him would try something like that with Batman or Superman, but he’s already gotten death threats and whatnot for stinkin’ Spider-Man, so I wouldn’t blame him for avoiding any other superhero properties for a while.

Find out more here.

Titan Comics Launches A Creator-Owned Based Imprint!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Titan Comics

I’m a pretty huge fan of creator owned comics. They’re by far what I read the most of nowadays, and to me are always the more personally rewarding stories. I love me a good superhero book, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing like a perfectly made mini-series that takes chances with its story and uses the medium of comics itself to tell a more effective story than any of the Big Two could. While I’m not very familiar with Titan, I always applaud another indie publisher throwing their hat into the ring and I’m especially fond of the plan to focus on creator owned content. It’d be pretty great if we got another big creative owned hit from them the way Image did with The Walking Dead or Invincible. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!