EC Comics Returns From Oni Press, Folio Society To Release Classic Batman Collection, Deadpool And Wolverine Team Up For New Comic | Comic Book Club News For February 20, 2024

EC Comics is back as an imprint at Oni Press. The Folio Society will release a classic collection of Batman comics. Deadpool and Wolverine are teaming up for a new comic book. All on Comic Book Club News for February 20, 2024.

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Episode Transcript:

EC Comics rises from the dead.

Folio Society to release Batman collection.

Deadpool and Wolverine to team up, in comics.

This is Comic Book Club News for February 20, 2024.

EC Comics Returns As Imprint From Oni Press:

EC Comics, the controversial publisher created by M.C. “Max” Gaines that led to Tales from the Crypt, MAD Magazine and more before the Comics Code Authority took it down, is back. Only this time, it’s a brand-new anthology imprint at Oni Press bringing together some of the biggest creators in the business.

Said Oni Press Editor-in-Chief, Sierra Hahn, via press release provided to Comic Book Club News: “Seventy years ago, EC Comics redefined what comics could be with shocking, confrontational and brilliantly crafted stories that challenged the existential issues at the center of American life – censorship, racism, sexism, nuclear proliferation, and more. Today, those battles continue in alarming and pernicious new ways. What better time to resurrect the undying spirit of EC Comics – one of the most entertaining, subversive, and influential publishers of all time – with an all-star cast of storytellers to examine today’s society through the lens that William Gaines and his legendary collaborators have left us.”

Oni’s new EC Comics line will launch with a minimum of two titles released on a monthly basis, starting in July with Epitaphs from the Abyss, a horror anthology, and continuing in August with Cruel Universe, an anthology about my life. Just kidding, it’s a science-fiction anthology.

The long list of creators includes Jason Aaron, Brian Azzarello, Christopher Cantwell, Cecil Castellucci, Matt Kindt, Peter Krause, and Dustin Weaver, to name a few, as well as covers by Lee Bermejo, Greg Smallwood, J.H. Williams III, and more.

Here’s hoping the return of EC Comics doesn’t cause the Comics Code Authority to also come back to life for one last scare.

Folio Society To Release Batman Collection Of Vintage Comics:

Continuing on our classic comics cavalcade, finally, someone is releasing a Batman comic book. Or rather, re-releasing, as the Folio Society will reprint 12 classic Batman adventures in a gorgeous new book appropriately titled, DC: Batman.

The 320-page volume will include everything from Detective Comics #27, aka the first appearance of Batman, to The Killing Joke, the first issue of The Dark Knight Returns, the first part of the Knightfall storyline, and much more. In addition, the set will include a stand-alone facsimile edition of Batman #1, scanned from the original 1940 copy of the book, ads and all.

Said Folio Society Head of Editorial, James Rose via press release: “Created towards the end of the Great Depression by artist Bob Kane with writer Bill Finger, Batman is an icon as familiar as James Bond or Tarzan, one who has evolved to reflect the changing attitudes of the twentieth century. The stories selected for DC: Batman reveal how the character and his billionaire alter-ego Bruce Wayne gradually evolved from the dutiful crimefighter of the 1940s to a man possessed, as crazy as the criminals he puts away. The Caped Crusader faces a rogue’s gallery steeped in gothic horror, from the Weimar cinema-inspired The Joker to the Jekyll/Hyde figure of Two-Face and the Moriarty-like Ra’s al Ghul.”

The set will cost $100, and is available starting today.

Deadpool And Wolverine Team-Up Comic Coming From Marvel:

And from the past to the future, in what I’m sure is a total coincidence given the upcoming movie Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel will be releasing a comic book titled Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII.

The three-issue miniseries will bring lauded Deadpool writer Joe Kelly back to the merc with a mouth, along with Adam Kubert on art. Here’s the synopsis, per Marvel: “The mysterious Delta believes in change. Change is good. But as he sets his sights on Deadpool, and Wolverine is caught up in the plot, is the third time really the charm, or the curse? Get ready for WWIII to erupt on the scene with the wildest duo in comics from legends Joe Kelly and Adam Kubert!”

While that blurb certainly teases this is the third in a series… It’s not. Kelly and Kubert have worked together before, and both have had takes on the title characters. But this not the third in a series.

That said, given the monthly release of the issues, with the first issue hitting on May 1, the finale should be out in July, before the movie. That said, Amazon doesn’t have the collected edition listed to come out until October 1. Alas!

For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I’m just giddy at the idea of a Batman comic. Just imagine! What a time to be alive.

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