Radiant Black is splitting into two series. Marvel’s Kid Venom is getting collected. A.I. is under fire by comic creators. All this on Comic Book Club News for October 3, 2023.
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Episode Transcript:
Radiant Black is splitting into two series
Kid Venom getting collected.
A.I. is under fire by comic creators.
This is Comic Book Club News for October 3, 2023.
Radiant Black Splitting Into Two Series:
Image Comics’ Radiant Black #24 presented fans with a classic call-in vote choice: which character should be Radiant Black going forward? Issue #25 released two variants, one with the character Marshall taking on the mantle; the other with Nathan becoming Radiant Black.
However, in a move that conclusively proves voting doesn’t matter, Radiant Black will be splitting into two series starting later this month with the release of Radiant Black #26 and Radiant Black #26.5. One issue will follow Marshall, the other Nathan.
Said writer Kyle Higgins of the move, via press release: “The Catalyst War is the most ambitious story that I have ever been a part of. This is a story that we’ve been building up to for over two years, an event told across timelines featuring two different art teams telling two different stories each month. Both timelines are integral to the event—the different choices that Marshall and Nathan make and how they impact their respective worlds is at the center of what The Catalyst War is about. And by the end of issue 30.5, you will learn who won the vote and who will be Radiant Black going forward. That is, if either of them survives…”
Though no release date has been announced for Radiant Black #30 or #30.5, if the schedule holds they should hit in February. And Image Comics promises fans that it will hit them with “another jaw-dropping plot twist.” Is it that democracy is a joke and anarchy is the only option? To the streets, comrades!
The Radiant Blacks — Radiants Black? — will hit stores on October 25.
Kid Venom Is Getting Collected:
What’s the opposite of one series splitting into two? How about four stories getting collected into one story? The four parts of Taigami’s Kid Venom story that has been running as a backup in the Death of Venomverse series will be collected into one issue next January.
Kintaro, a teenager living in 10th-century Japan, joins with a symbiote named Clinter, and fights Carnage as part of the Death of Venomverse storyline. The collected volume will include all four parts of this story, as well as more designs — and teases about what’s coming up for Kid Venom.
Taigami actually created Kid Venom as part of a contest held by Marvel and Shonen Magazine in 2018. Now that Kid Venom is officially part of the canon, said the creator, “It is an honor. I was a big fan of the Marvel Universe since I was in school, so this feels unreal that the characters and the stories that I came up with are in that Universe, and I still can’t believe it!”
Kid Venom hits stores on January 3.
A.I. Under Fire By Comic Creators:
Can A.I., which steals art from real artists and remixes it into something that looks awful, make comic book art? That’s the question that arose online when one X — the platform formerly known as Twitter – user posted a few panels of what they claimed was an A.I. created Batman comic.
Said the user, who pays for the platform so you already know they’re a tool, “OpenAI’s latest image generation model, DALL-E 3, makes it SO easy to create comic books! Here are 4 panels for a fan-made Batman comic made in under 5 minutes.”
The panels in question clearly steal art from Mike Allred, Brian Bolland, and others, and look like absolute gobbledygook nonsense. But are they art?
Comic creators online seemed to correctly not think so. Said writer/artist Tim Seeley: “AI makes terrible comics, because comics relies on the relationship between the cartoonist & reader over not only what is shown but what ISN’T. The AI puts nothing in the gutter. It just steals separate images. Collage not comics.”
Artist Gabriel Rodriguez was even harsher, stating: “If an AI generated comic, illustration, song or movie is the same to you as one created by humans, it probably means you never cared about art, stories or music and what sharing creative crafts are about.”
Seeley and Rodriguez are far from the only creators speaking out about this, and assuredly not the last. But who would you side with? The creators of some of the most beloved comic books of all time? Or a guy who pays $84 a year to a transphobic billionaire? I know which side I’m on.
Comic Book Club News Outro:
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And is taking other stories and repurposing them into a news rundown podcast art? We’ll discuss next time.
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