Author Archives: Ashley Kronsberg

AWA Studios Offers Indie Bookstore Incentive with Inaugural Launch

By Industry News,

Artists, Writers & Artisans, also known as AWA Studios, is an independent publisher crafting new characters, stories and worlds for a 21st century audience. The company approaches the comic book industry with a new business model, one that focuses on creators and gives them ownership of their work, the company, or even both. Founded by Marvel alumni Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas, along with former CEO of AOL and of Digital Media at News Corp, Jon Miller, AWA Studios aims to give power back to the creators with a genre-blending, sky’s-the-limit approach to storytelling.

AWA Studios breaks into the industry with five all-new inaugural graphic novels this October! To celebrate the launch, AWA Studios has introduced a special incentive program for independent bookstores. 

Independent bookstores can receive 60% OFF their purchase of five books or more.

Orders must include at least three different titles to be eligible. This offer is good until December 31, 2020. Place your order with your regional Diamond Representative or email Tom Sadowski to place a direct order. Offer is valid with direct orders only. Not applicable through any wholesalers.

For a list of upcoming titles from AWA Studios, see below!

1
2

The Resistance

AWA STUDIOS
9781733499316
Superheroes | Ages 16+
On sale: October 20, 2020

Year Zero

AWA STUDIOS
9781733499347
Horror | Ages 16+
On sale: October 20, 2020

DESCRIPTION: J. Michael Straczynski – creator of Babylon 5, co-creator of Sense8, and writer of beloved runs on The Amazing Spiderman,Thor, and Superman: Earth One – returns to comics teaming with Mike Deodato Jr. – the blockbuster artist of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Infinity Wars. Together they plant the flag for a new universe of heroes and villains. A global disaster leaves hundreds of millions dead in its wake. Shortly after, a few thousand suddenly manifest superhuman powers. Are they harbingers of more perils to come…or Earth’s last hope?
 
Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) team up to present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist – five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.
 
Learn More
Learn More
3
4
5

Archangel 8

AWA STUDIOS
9781733499330
Supernatural | Ages 16+
On sale: October 20, 2020

Red Border

AWA STUDIOS
9781733499361
Horror | Ages 16+
On sale: October 20, 2020

Hotell

AWA Studios
9781733499354
Horror | Ages 16+
On sale: October 20, 2020

In a world beyond the sight of mortals, Heaven and Hell wage war for the souls of mankind. Principal among God’s legion are seven archangels written about in religious texts for millennia. But there is an eighth archangel, known only from passing allusions in Apocrypha, who operates under a different code. Fighting without God’s sanction, he faces the enemy on his own terms, and shows just how bad good can be.
A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel’s most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family’s ranch, the couple soon realize their hosts have more than just skeletons in their closet. Trapped in a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination, the army of assassins on their trail might be the least of their problems.

You won’t find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and you’re truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel – where many check in but few check out.

Learn More
Learn more
Learn more

Manga Classics: Anne of Green Gables

By Featured Graphic Novels, , ,
aogg1
aogg2

Published by Manga Classics

ISBN: 9781947808188 / 9781947808171
Price: $19.99 / $24.99
Genre: Young Adult, Literary Adaptation
Ages: 16+

On Sale: November 10, 2020

Siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert were planning to adopt an orphaned boy to help out around their farm, Green Gables – instead, they got Anne Shirley. A plucky redheaded girl with a vibrant imagination, Anne turns first Green Gables and then the rest of Prince Edward Island on its ear. Manga Classics® is proud to be the only authorized manga adaption of Anne of Green Gables by the Heirs of L.M. Montgomery. This volume presents a faithful recreation of this classic kids novel, from the Lake of Shining Waters to the Dryad’s Bubble!

IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Creator(s) Bio

Advanced Praise

CRYSTAL S. CHAN is an award-winning author and television screen play writer. Â She holds a degree in language and literature. Crystal is a huge fan of authors such as Jane Austen and she is equally passionate about Sailor Moon. Her passion for classic literature combined with her love of the comics medium allows her to strike a solid balance between preserving the depth of the original content while adapting the language for a younger generation.

 

“A charming adaptation…”
– KIRKUS 

Preview Pages

The Golden Age of Heroes is Decades Past…

By Industry News, Interviews, , , , ,
Joseph D. Carriker Jr. is a game developer at Green Ronin Publishing, primarily known for his involvement in works such as the RPG books A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Blue Rose: the AGE RPG of Romantic Fantasy, Fantasy Age, and Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting. Along with his background in game creation, Carriker is also the writer behind SACRED BAND, a young adult novel following a team of LBGTQ+ superheroes.
 
In SACRED BAND, The golden age of heroes is decades past. The government could not condone vigilantism and now meta-humans are just citizens, albeit citizens with incredible talent, who are assisted in achieving normal lives (including finding good fits for their talents employment-wise) by a federal agency.

Rusty may have been a kid during that glorious age but he remembers his idol, Sentinel, saving lives and righting wrongs — until he was outed in an incredible scandal that forced him into isolation. When a gay friend of Rusty living in the Czech Republic goes missing, Rusty is forced to acknowledge that while the world’s governments claim that super teams are outdated and replaced by legal law enforcement, there are simply some places where the law doesn’t protect everyone — so he manages to find and recruit Sentinel to help him find his friend.

But the disappearance of the friend is merely one move in a terrible plot against queer youth. A team of supers may be old-fashioned, but this may be a battle requiring some incredible reinforcements.

In the interview below, Carriker dives deeper into this world, expanding on the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in his novel.
 
SACRED BAND will be published by Green Ronin Publishing and can be found anywhere you buy books on October 13, 2020. For more information on the books, click here.

Kill A Man

By Featured Graphic Novels, ,
kam

Published by AfterShock Comics

ISBN: 9781949028478
Price: $17.99
Genre: LGBTQ+
Ages: 13+

On Sale: December 8, 2020

A brand new original graphic novel from writers Steve Orlando and Phillip Kennedy Johnson featuring art by Alec Morgan and lettering by Jim Campbell.

In the early days of Mixed Martial Arts, kickboxer icon DJ Bellyi is beaten to death in the ring after yelling a homosexual slur at an opponent, while his young son James watches in horror from the stands.

Sixteen years later, young James Bellyi has become an MMA star in his own right, with top-tier endorsements and an imminent title shot. But when James is outed as gay by an opponent in a press conference, he loses everything: his title shot, his fans, his team, even his family. To fight his way back, he turns to the only one left in the world willing to train him: Xavier Mayne, the man who killed his father.

Says Johnson: “We’re living in an important and dynamic time in American History, when we have the power and responsibility to decide what kind of nation the United States is going to be going forward. Telling a story with such an unlikely crossover — male queer culture and MMA culture — is Steve’s, Alec’s and my way of making that decision for ourselves.”

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

Creator(s) Bio

  • Extremely relevant story right now, as culture in general and sports culture in particular is coming to grips with masculine archetypes who are insisting to be allowed to be who they are.

  • Though action packed and very much a personal story, can stand on the shelf alongside recent graphic novels that address key moments from the history of the fight for civil rights, like March and They Called Us Enemy.

  • Scheduled release during LGBT History Month.

STEVE ORLANDO‘s first book ever was poorly drawn in fifth-grade classroom pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed from trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including Virgil, Crude and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. He launched Midnighter and took part in Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Find him at your convenience deep down the rabbit hole of discussing wine, spirits, or mythology.

Digital Assets

Kill A Man Twitter Banner

Kill A Man Poster

Kill A Man Bookmark

Download
Download
Bookmark

Violence and Manhood in Comics

LibraryCon Live 2020 Livestream Interview

Watch Interview
Watch Interview

Preview Pages

Sex Criminals Volume 6

By Featured Graphic Novels, ,
sc

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534310629
Price: $16.99
Genre: Fantasy
Ages: 16+

On Sale: November 3, 2020

The grand finale!

The big finish! The climax!

We speak of course about this, the end of the award-winning, boundary-pushing, taste-challenging SEX CRIMINALS. Suze and Jon have sex, stop time, and rob banks. The bank went after them. Now Suze and Jon finish off the bank, the Sex Police, and the bad guys all in one pop, hoping to dodge a huge load of trouble before it explodes in their faces.

Collects SEX CRIMINALS #26-30, 69.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Creator(s) Bio

MATT FRACTION writes comic books out in the woods and lives with his wife, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, his two children, two dogs, a cat, a bearded dragon, and a yard full of coyotes and crows. Surely there’s a metaphor there. He’s a New York Times-best-selling donkus of comics like Sex Criminals (winner of the 2014 Will Eisner Award for Best New Series and named TIME Magazine’s Best Comic of 2013), ODY-C, and Casanova. Under their company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, Inc., Fraction and DeConnick are currently developing television for NBC/Universal.

CHIP ZDARSKY is an Eisner Award-winning comic book author, known for his work on Howard the Duck from Marvel Comics, KAPTARA for Image Comics, and Jughead for Archie Comics. Prior to his career in comics, launched by SEX CRIMINALS, Chip worked for the National Post as an illustrator and columnist, writing and illustrating a weekly advice column called Extremely Bad Advice. Chip resides in the hearts and minds of a nation.

Dracula, Motherf**cker

By Featured Graphic Novels, ,
dm

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534317000
Price: $16.99
Genre: Horror
Ages: 16+

On Sale: October 13, 2020

Vienna, 1889: Dracula’s brides nail him to the bottom of his coffin. Los Angeles, 1974: an ageing starlet decides to raise the stakes. Crime scene photographer Quincy Harker is the only man who knows it happened, but will anyone believe him before he gets his own chalk outline? And are Dracula’s three brides there to help him… or use him as bait?

A pulpy, pulse-pounding graphic novel of California psych-horror from acclaimed creators ALEX DE CAMPI and ERICA HENDERSON.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

Creator(s) Bio

  • Perfect title to capitalize off the recent BBC hit adaptation of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA

  • Combines both horror and noir, making it perfect for seasonal Halloween round-up displays and endcaps—shelve this alongside THE WALKING DEAD, 300 DAYS OF NIGHT, LOCKE & KEY, and the latest JOSH MALERMAN or STEPHEN KING

  • Henderson cultivated a devoted following with her work on The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Jughead

ALEX de CAMPI writes comics. She is best known for her critically-acclaimed teen survival thriller NO MERCY and the groundbreaking, digital-native comic VALENTINE. Her latest work is the spy noir miniseries MAYDAY. She was nominated for an Eisner for her first comic work, Smoke, and it’s all been downhill from there. Alex also directs music videos, and has worked with acts as diverse as Grand Duchy (Frank Black / Violet Clark), Joan As Police Woman, and Amanda Palmer to the retro-fabulous Puppini Sisters.

Alex’s background is a three-whisky conversation and involves several continents. She is a single mother of an awesome daughter; they live in the Stephen Kingdom (Downeast Maine) with two dogs. She has an opinion on nearly everything. You can peruse them, along with stupid photos and memes, at @alexdecampi on most social media.

ERICA HENDERSON is a multiple Eisner winning comic artist known most for rebooting The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Jughead. She has not lived in New York for a decade but still has very strong opinions on bagels.

Gunning for Ramirez Volume 1

By Featured Graphic Novels, ,
gfr

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534316973
Price: $16.99
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Ages: 16+

On Sale: October 6, 2020

What if the deadliest assassin in all of Mexico, a man with dozens of kills to his name, was actually a vacuum repairman in Arizona?

Falcon City, Arizona. Jacques Ramirez works at Robotop, the leading home appliance company in the southwest United States. Jacques is efficient, thorough, and discreet. That last one is easy: he’s also mute. But everything changes when two members of one of Paso del Rio’s largest drug cartels stumble upon Jacques and believe him to be the deadly hitman who betrayed them in the past: the ruthless Ramirez.

Could it be that the cartel’s legendary clean-up man is really a legendary vacuum cleaner expert? Now that they’ve found him, the men of the cartel will do everything they can to kill this traitor!

Nicolas Petrimaux presents a tribute to the action thrillers of the 1980s and 90s, a brutal narrative with never a dull moment. Gunning for Ramirez is as much a descendant of Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. as it is Taratino’s Pulp Fiction or Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO meets Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION and the perfect handsell for fans of DEADLY CLASS, TOKYO GHOST, and Netflix’s OZARK.

  • A no holds barred, one-and-done standalone action story, previously published internationally by Glénat Comics to critical acclaim, and with a strong sales track abroad.

Preview Pages

Phantom of the Opera: the Graphic Novel

By Featured Graphic Novels, , , ,
phantom

Published by A Wave Blue World

ISBN: 9781949518092
Price: $16.99
Genre: Literary Adaptation
Ages: 13+

On Sale: October 20, 2020

Everyone has heard the whispered tales of the phantom who lives beneath the opera house, the mysterious trickster behind all the little mishaps and lost things. But no one has ever seen the monster . . . until now. When the promise of blossoming love lures him out from his intricately constructed hideaways in the labyrinthine building’s walls and cellars, a hideously disfigured artist trains the lovely Christine to be the opera’s next star for a steep price. Does she choose her newfound success or her beloved Count Raoul? This doomed love triangle threatens to combust when a tragic death, a series of betrayals, and increasingly dangerous accidents cast the players of The Palais Garnier into a heart-wrenching horror story that will echo through the ages.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the iconic gothic romance, is retold with all the spectacle its legend demands in this devoted graphic novel adaptation that marries stunning artwork with Gaston Leroux’s haunting prose.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

Creator(s) Bio

Advanced Praise

  • UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION: A pop culture phenomenon for over 100 years, Phantom of the Opera has thrilled multiple generations through several classic film adaptations and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic stage musical that has netted $6 billion in gross receipts over its 30-year run. The book is perfect for fans looking for a new take and newcomers looking for an accessible way into the story for the first time.

  • CHILLINGLY FUN CLASSIC HORROR: Ideal for “monster kids” who appreciate old fashioned classic horror films from Universal and Hammer Pictures, Leroux’s monster sits proudly in that pantheon. Tomi’s faithful adaptation recreates the time period for gothic treat that’s macabre and atmospheric without gore or outright terror.

  • LAVISH ARTWORK: With its impeccably detailed linework, readers can get as hopelessly lost in each panel as the characters do in the labyrinth below the opera house. Tomi’s goal is to give fans of Gaston Leroux’s prose a visual spectacle on par with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical in book form.

  • DEVOTED ADAPTATION: A devoted lifelong fan of both the musical and the original novel, Tomi is the perfect artist for a graphic novel adaptation. He spent years researching the costumes and settings for the story and painstakingly drawing these details into his labor of love.

  • INTRO TO CLASSIC LITERATURE: With its commitment to accuracy and authenticity, this PHANTOM OF THE OPERA adaptation is a great gateway book to classic literature for kids and students, and an entry point to graphic novels for literature readers who may be new to the medium.Broken Frontier anthology ( A Wave Blue World).

Varga Tomi is a Hungarian artist and colorist. He graduated from The Kubert School in Dover, NJ in 2015. Since then he’s worked with a number of publishers and high-profile creators, most notably IDW and Kevin Eastman on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and A Wave Blue World and Marguerite Bennett on the Broken Frontier Anthology and Ghastly Tales.

“This adaptation proves a faithful and attractive enough version that die-hard Phantom fans will likely pick it up.”
– PUBLISHER WEEKLY

Trese Volume 1

By Featured Graphic Novels, , ,
trese

Published by Ablaze

ISBN: 9781950912193
Price: $16.99
Genre: Horror
Ages: 13+

On Sale: October 13, 2020

When the sun sets in the city of Manila, don’t you dare make a wrong turn and end up in that dimly- lit side of the metro, where blood-sucking aswang run the most-wanted kidnapping rings, where gigantic kapre are the kingpins of crime, and magical engkantos slip through the cracks and steal your most precious possessions. When crime takes a turn for the weird, the police call Alexandra Trese.

Trese Vol 1 “Murder on Balete Drive” features all new, redrawn artwork throughout, and includes a substantial bonus section with behind-the-scenes sketches, info and details on the making of the book and further insight into the world of Trese, as told by its creators Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo!

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

Advanced Praise

  • Award-winning Filipino comic book
  • Soon to be a Netflix anime series
“I feel like you and all the smart Filipino writers and artists out there are doing something really brave and powerful, making a whole new wave of Filipino art and story. Well done!”
– NEIL GAIMAN 
 
“Budjette and Kajo’s Trese is a gem. It excites the little child in me which used to believe in the wonders of Filipino folklore, and my adult self who enjoys intelligently written and drawn tales.” 
– LEINIL YU

“It is the book I would love to write myself… they capture the true atmosphere of the Manila I know and love”
– WHILCE PORTACIO

“Trese continues to impress and surprise.”
– GERRY ALANGUILAN, CREATOR OF THE AWARD-WINNING GRAPHIC NOVEL ELMER

“The unconventional monster art and moody, action-packed narratives make this horror-crime series a must-follow for any aficionado of the macabre.” — PUBLISHER WEEKLY

Beyond Kuiper

By Featured Graphic Novels, ,
9781947784192_e6822

Published by Heavy Metal

ISBN: 9781947784192
Price: $24.99
Genre: Science Fiction
Ages: 16+

On Sale: November 24, 2020

There is no Drake Equation. There is no question on sentience. The galaxy is alive and filled with life. The only issue: we humans aren’t invited.

The Galactic Star Alliance awaits your exploration.

In this illustrated novel co- created & written by Matthew Medney (Heavy Metal Magazine CEO & NYU adjunct professor) and John Connelly (Lockheed Martin Aerospace Engineer), humankind acknowledges the vastness of time, the cyclical nature of civilization, and the obscurity of our own history.

If our galaxy is so full of sentient life, why has no one said hello? We thought of a simple, logical reason: no one wants to. Stepping back and casting an objective eye on ourselves, it seems painfully obvious that humans lack a fundamental respect for our planet and for each other. We possess extremely short memories and long grudges, and the likelihood of receiving alien tools to hasten our expansion seems downright foolhardy.

The Galactic Star Alliance has been alive and well for millions of earth years. Hundreds of thousands of sentient worlds and trillions of beings walk, run, and crawl across the many home worlds of the Alliance. This revelation led to many questions: How is faster-than-light speed travel possible, and could cohesive, interstellar civilizations exist without it? Is it conceivable to govern a coalition not of different countries, but of different species? Each question led to another and each answer built our world, piece by piece until it spanned thousands of answers and millions of light-years. As for the title, from where would our judges watch us?

But our galaxy has spoken to us humans. There are some who believe it is out there. Not as science-fantasy but as science.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Digital Assets

Book Trailer

Interview

Listen