This past week was ComicsPRO, the annual comics retailer meetup in Los Angeles. Think of it like upfronts for TV: The industry brings its publishers and creators before a jury of judgmental, hangry retail partners looking for the next Saga or Something Is Killing the Children they can handsell to Wednesday Warriors.
This year’s ComicsPRO felt like more of a firehose of announcements than your average convention; as if to say, “Hey, don’t worry about the fact that the industry’s primary distributor for the past 30 years is going under, or the lingering threat of a tariff war between the U.S. and Canada that threatens to increase prices for printing and shipping comics; we’re relaunching Batman! Everything’s gonna be fine.”
It was a lot to sift through. But now that we’ve had a couple days to sit with it, here are some of the winners and losers from the past days’ announcements.
WINNERS
Lunar Distribution. Christina Merkler’s company, created in 2020 specifically for DC to bypass Diamond Comic Distributors after the shutdown, can take as many victory laps as it wants after this show. Lunar has spent the past couple weeks picking up smaller publishers in the wake of the Diamond bankruptcy, putting the exclusivity ring on Image periodicals and adding Two Morrows, Archie, Udon, Massive and … checks notes … Bad Idea (Bad Idea is still a thing?).
None of these is a big fish in the comics pond, but expanding your business to support all of these small publishers keeps variety alive in comics shops and goes a hell of a long way to building good will among all parties involved.
“Our plan is to stay controlled, stay focused and provide growth for all of us,” Merkler told the assembled retailers according to Heidi MacDonald’s excellent live-skeeting of the event. (Skeeting? Is this what we’re calling Bluesky posts? There’s got to be something better.)
I know comic shops haven’t been crazy about having to deal with multiple distributors the past few years, but it’s likely having that many to choose from is part of what’s keeping the industry afloat now. So good lookin’ out, Lunar!
Batman. In case of emergency, fire up the Bat Signal. Following Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb’s H2SH, DC is relaunching Batman in September with a new #1 and a new writer in Matt Fraction, last seen at DC on the brilliant Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, and returning artist Jorge Jimenez, easily the defining Bat-artist of the past five years. DC is also promising a new costume for the Dark Knight, and a new Batmobile. It’s a smart move, and a strong creative team.
But it begs the question: Will the second half of H2SH, scheduled for 2026, come out in this new volume of Batman? If so, isn’t it weird saying, “H2SH runs in Batman #158-163 and #7-12” or whatever it will end up being? I’m sure it won’t make a difference once it’s collected, but still.
Superman. Seeking to capitalize on this summer’s movie, DC also had plenty of Superman-related news to unveil. Writer Mark Waid and artist Skylar Patridge will take over Action Comics starting with June’s issue #1,087, telling a story about teenage Clark learning to be a superhero. Waid’s sweet spot these days is bright, colorful superhero stories that update the past (see World’s Finest), and Patridge is an up-and-coming talent who deserves one of DC’s flagship titles. DC also announced a five-issue Krypto series, also debuting in June, by new-to-DC-except-for-one-middle-grade-graphic-novel writer Ryan North (Fantastic Four) and artist Mike Norton (Battlepug) and a new Supergirl series launching in May by writer/artist Sophie Campbell (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
Oni Press. Once kneecapped by layoffs after a merger with Lion Forge, Oni has come back strong with hot indie titles, strong anthologies in its EC horror line and new licenses like the Nacelleverse and Adventure Time. All of this led the publisher to its strongest year of sales in its 28-year history last year, according to the company.
To pay that success forward, Oni announced an eight-point program intended to benefit retailers, including guaranteed returnability on at least one first issue or trade paperback per month; rolling sales on books in its back catalog; free in-store promotional materials; early access to variants; quarterly overship of select new series; bi-annual retailer conferences and listening sessions; and an $8,000 annual grant for comic shop improvements.
“Just a few weeks into the new year, we all recognize that delicate balance is currently being tested by market forces beyond our control on multiple fronts,” Oni President and Publisher Hunter Gorinson said in a statement. “For that reason, we think now is the time to doubly reassert our support of direct market retailers and the often-unforgiving work they do to make the business of publishing comics possible.”
Having just watched my local comic shop shutter after 18 years, it’s good to see a publisher be transparent about how it plans to support retailers.
Dark Regards. We get a lot of press releases from comics PR folks. Real talk: It doesn’t all get opened. Maybe I don’t know the creative team. Maybe the pitch is too generic. Maybe it’s just about variant covers. Into the bin it goes.
To be clear, I appreciate the work comics PR folks do. They’re often the first time I hear about a new book (unless it got announced by another site first). And if you’re a creator or a publisher, you should appreciate them, too. Too often, the job of marketing falls upon the creators who are already trying to make deadline and probably don’t need another reason to venture into the hellmouth that is social media in 2025.
All of this is to say, the press release for Oni Press’ Dark Regards by writer Dave Hill and artist Artyom Topilin made me sit up and take notice. Here’s the pitch:
“Two decades ago, Dave Hill and his first band set out to rock their high school auditorium in a fury of heavy metal hellfire. They failed miserably. Years later, Dave has made a new life for himself as a rising star in the New York comedy scene – a career where getting laughed at on stage is the entire point and not just a tragic consequence. But when Dave’s metal ambitions are re-awakened by the über self-serious, “Satanic” genre of Norwegian black metal, Dave creates a ridiculously hyperbolic alter ego and a band to match that, together, reignite the spark of his forgotten rock ‘n roll fantasy. But when Dave’s internet-fueled rumors of Witch Taint – a metal band “so extreme that you must remove all sharp objects from the immediate area” when their music is played – spreads all the way to Europe, his story will spiral dangerously out of control as Norway’s most extreme black metal butchers come to reap their revenge … and put everything and everyone Dave holds dear in the crosshairs (of their axes, which, truth be told, don’t actually have crosshairs, but, hey, it’s a metaphor).
This was enough to get me stroking my chin and going, “Hmmm, interesting. I’ll have to check this one out.” Then, three days later, the follow-up email came (all bold text from the original release):
“PORTLAND, OR (February 21, 2025)– Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning publisher of boundary-breaking comics – is proud to announce that DARK REGARDS #1 – THE TRUE STORY OF THE VIRAL HOAX SO INSANE IT COULD ONLY BE TOLD AS A COMIC BOOK from the mind of multi-hyphenate writer-comedian-actor-musician Dave Hill (Tasteful Nudes) and breakout artist Artyom Topilin (Cruel Universe, I Hate This Place) – will feature (not even kidding) a highly limited,1:50 HUMAN BLOOD VARIANT cover illustrated by Dave Hill himself … and printed with ink that contains the ACTUAL BLOOD of writer Dave Hill, series editor Karl Bollers, and Oni President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson.”
Sure, putting blood in comic book ink is a gimmick with history. KISS did it. Mark Gruenwald’s ashes did it. But still, amid the deluge of comics news that came out this week, this stood out. This told me, “This is a comic you should be giving free promotion to.” So Oni PR, my hat off to you. And Dave Hill, please come on The ComicsXF Interview Podcast and talk metal with me.
Exquisite Corpses. Image Comics had a few decent announcements at ComicsPRO — a new Robert Kirkman comic; Free Planet by Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Dougherty; giving a retailer appreciation award to Four Color Fantasies in Winchester, Virginia. But its capper came from the Tiny Onion crew, as James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh announced Exquisite Corpses, a 13-issue series about a menagerie of murderers launching in May, featuring a murderer’s row (yeah, yeah) of creators including Jordie Bellaire, Pornsak Pichetshote, Che Grayson, Tyler Boss, Adam Gorham, Claire Roe, Gavin Fullerton, Marianna Ignazzi, Valentine De Landro and Becca Carey.
Tynion and Walsh handle the framing of the story, while the others tell the stories of the people trying to survive the invasion of these killers.
“We see EXQUISITE CORPSES as the action-horror answer to the Energon Universe,” Tynion boasted in his newsletter — a bold claim backed up by the caliber of talent on the book. Also, according to the newsletter, there may be a trading-card game or something similar to go along with the comic, so you can play murder games with your friends. Neat!
Captain America. As much as my love of Steve Rogers is deep and abiding, I haven’t consistently read Captain America since Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run ended in 2021. Christopher Cantwell’s United States of Captain America mini was milquetoast. The Jackson Lanzing/Collin Kelly run was OK but didn’t pull me all the way in. J. Michael Straczynski made him The Good Landlord. Jed MacKay, smartly, put Sam Wilson in the stars and stripes on the Avengers. Meanwhile, Steve’s best stuff the past few years has probably been him being sad at the first Hellfire Gala and being resurrected by the X-Men during Judgment Day. But these are just moments. Then, on Thursday, Marvel announced writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Valerio Schiti would be launching a new volume of Captain America in July, and all was forgiven.
Schiti is one of Marvel’s best artists, jumping from one A-tier book to another including S.W.O.R.D., Judgment Day and Avengers. And Zdarsky can write a long, entertaining run on a superhero. His take on Batman was full of ridiculous action sequences, perfect for a man who fights skull-faced Nazis and mad scientists with faces for tummies.
Jeff the Land Shark. Look, Jeff is hot right now. My son sees him every day playing Marvel Rivals. He’s built like he was made to be sold on disneystore.com next to Stitch and Baymax. It’s just good business to have a Jeff book on the shelf, and it’s even better business to involve his co-creator, Kelly Thompson. Unfortunately, Gurihiru, who drew Jeff in the Marvel Unlimited webcomics, is sitting this one out (except for covers), but I’m sure Tokitokoro will acquit themselves admirably.
LOSERS
Pretty much everything else Marvel announced. Let’s go through these one by one, shall we?
- Gwen Stacy is coming back from the dead as a hyperviolent vigilante operating under the name Gwenpool.
- NYX is ending and in its place, Kamala Khan will time travel through the most familiar moments in X-Men history in a series of Giant-Size X-Men one-shots.
- Marvel is putting out more of those poorly designed, more expensive than DC $14.99 premier collections.
- Spider-Girl, a spinoff of Spider-Boy, a spinoff of Spider-Man, co-created by Dan Slott, will get her own series, written by Torunn Grønbekk.
- A teaser of this year’s Amazing Spider-Man #975 appears to show more symbiote stuff.
- A series of one-shots will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bring on the Bad Guys collection by celebrating Marvel’s most basic villains.
- A new Spider-Man & Wolverine team-up comic, starring Wolverine, who is already in a Deadpool team-up comic, in addition to his own solo series, Uncanny X-Men and Weapon X-Men.
These are moves by a company ignoring everything going on around them and sticking to an aggressive philosophy of playing the hits. To take Ms. Marvel from a series that explored what mutant culture means to an event whose sole reason for being is to get high on the smell of X-farts is just gross. To take Gwen Stacy, one of the Earth-616 characters who should stay dead in perpetuity, and bring her back as a grim and gritty ’90s psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est, taking the name of a character who actively subverted those tropes, is gross. Continuing to make Spider-People when you can’t even make a good Earth-616 Peter Parker comic is gross.
Yeah, yeah, we haven’t read the books yet, so we shouldn’t judge. Fine. But these announcements pile on to what’s already there: a deluge of X-books playing it safe in a time of rampant racism. Spider-Boys and New Champions and sidekicks that are just variant covers to goose speculators. Hellverines and Hell Hulks (that one’s good, actually; keep doing what you’re doing, Ben Percy).
At a time when the industry is facing some stiff headwinds, comics’ biggest publisher should be leading with those ideas they claim to be a house of. Instead, they’re acting like the rounding error of a multibillion-dollar corporation more than willing to kiss the ring of the shitty forces in power. Maybe we didn’t need Krakoa anymore, but that meant we needed the next bold new thing, not all the stuff we just rattled off. And another thing—
Umm, hey Dan?
Yeah.
You forgot something.
I did?
Yeah. https://www.comicsbeat.com/comicspro-25-marvel-dc-crossover-2025/
Oh. Oh word? [clears throat] Maybe things aren’t so bad after all.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
