Jeff Lemire

Recently, Valiant Entertainment put out a teaser image proclaiming "DEATHMATE IS COMING," leaving everyone to speculate what Deathmate means and what it might have to do with the 1993 Valiant/Image crossover of the same name. It looks now like the new Deathmate has nothing to do with that crossover, because she's not an event, she's a character. I suppose it's possible she's the daughter of Doctor Solar and Void, who loved up on each other in that story, but given who currently owns what, that seems highly unlikely. In fact, Deathmate seems far less human than even those far-out characters. She appears to be a some sort of incredibly cybernetic (or just robotic) killing machine. She'll make her debut as an antagonist in the upcoming Bloodshot Reborn story "Bloodshot Island," which begins in issue #14, written by Jeff Lemire with art by Mico Suayan. The book goes on sale in June.

Dark Horse unveiled a slate of new titles for the coming year in a presentation at the retaiiler event Comics PRO in Portland on Thursday, as part of its planned 30th anniversary celebrations. In addition to the previously announced free 40-page 30th Anniversary Dark Horse Day Sampler, showcasing classic Dark Horse titles, the publisher will debut new series by fan-favourite creators including Jeff Lemire, Gail Simone and Cullen Bunn.

Marvel launching an event story to tie into an upcoming movie is the least surprising thing, even when the movie is from Fox. So with that in mind, Apocalypse Wars is soon to be upon us, running through the main three X-books. The first chapter happens in Extraordinary X-Men #8, by Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos, which comes out March 16th. The preview pages don't feature Apocalypse or the promised trip to the future; they mostly focus on Storm and Old Man Logan being friendly, in a way that makes me really hope they're not re-igniting the Storm/Wolverine romance but with an older grosser Logan. You won me over to that one, Marvel, but this would be pushing it.

Bloodshot is a man who has problems. A lot of problems. In the past, those problems have involved the usual thing where his body is constantly being subjected to ridiculously over-the-top trauma and the nanites in his blood that rebuild him every time, and the fact that he occasionally hallucinates a cartoon child version of himself called Bloodsquirt. But in the upcoming Bloodshot Reborn Annual, there's a far more literal and pressing concern: A gigantic, indestructible slasher named "Jacob," who has been terrorizing a camp and needs to be taken down before he machetes any more unsuspecting teens. And yes: that's Jacob, and not... any other name you might be thinking of. Wink wink.

I'm not really sure I understand why Old Man Logan is a thing. The original series by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven is one of the most miserable and misanthropic comics you'll ever be unfortunate enough to read, and injecting that streak of vinegar into the Marvel Universe doesn't feel like much of a win. Besides, the character's main distinction from the usual Wolverine is that his hair is grey. Logan was already a grumpy old dude. Oh, and this Logan is alive. That's a pretty good distinction. This refugee from another timeline in the newly rebooted Marvel Universe allows Marvel to keep telling new Wolverine tales without hurriedly backtracking the death of the previous Wolverine, who got turned into a hood ornament not so very long ago. It's a deft bit of shuffling to create the illusion of permanent change, but if the result is that Laura Kinney gets to be Wolverine for a little bit, I'm in favor of it. Plus, this new Old Man Logan series comes from Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, and that's a solid creative team. Maybe they can make something great from this wet wodge of unhappiness?

From October 1950, when the very first installments of Peanuts was published, every single installment of the strip was drawn by Charles M. Schulz's own hand, and the only variations in the style of the characters' depictions came organically through the evolution of Schulz's own drawing style. Even when the characters have appeared outside their home strip, in various animated specials or in the Dell or Boom comic books, the animators and artists have closely aped Schulz's style. That's what makes Boom Studios' new Peanuts: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz so compelling. It's difficult to imagine what any other artist's version of the iconic characters might look like, but this book is full of them, and being faced with these characters divorced from their creator's designs is fascinating and at times even disconcerting. It's hard to look at the realistic image of Charlie Brown by Ryan Sook on the cover of the book, staring into the eyes of the "real" Charlie Brown, and not be a little freaked out, isn't it?

The Diamond Retailer Summit is underway in Baltimore this weekend, timed to coincide with Baltimore Comic Con, and Marvel has taken the opportunity to unveil more new titles for the All-New All-Different line relaunch, including ongoing series for two former West Coast Avengers, Moon Knight and Mockingbird.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was built out of spare parts. With heavy-hitters like Spider-Man and the X-Men owned by different studios, Marvel Studios bet big on less popular characters and emerged victorious. Suddenly, Iron Man and Captain America became a big deal for ordinary, non-nerd people. Marvel no longer needs their big guns to matter. And now, they’re showcasing their clout by ruthlessly removing the X-Men from the comic book landscape using the characters they intend to replace them with – the Inhumans.

In his career in comics, Jeff Lemire hasn't shied away from building worlds. Essex County, Sweet Tooth, Trillium, and even his work at Valiant Comics have all presented readers with fully realized, fleshed-out settings. But Descender, Lemire's Image Comics science fiction series with painted art by Dustin Nguyen, may be his most ambitious project. The series focuses on a child-like robot in a war-torn galaxy full of mistrust and betrayal. It wrapped up its first six-issue arc last week, so we talked to Lemire about his plans for the next arc, the mystery behind the destructive force known as the Harvesters, and his influences. We also touched on his new series, Plutona, which steers back to the superhero genre.

In what must be one of the last official announcements to come out of Marvel ahead of Wednesday's reveal of the full All-New, All-Different line-up, Marvel has unveiled the new flagship X-Men roster from the creative team of writer Jeff Lemire and artist Humberto Ramos, with colors by Edgar Delgado. Extraordinary X-Men introduces yet another adjective to the X-Men's arsenal, and brings together a team of Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Magik, plus the present version of Iceman, a past version of Jean Grey, and a future version of Wolverine.