Sheena, Will Eisner and Jerry Iger’s jungle adventurer returns next month in the pages of Dynamite Comics’ new series, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. Sheena is stuck, transferred to a strange place and time, manipulated as a pawn, held hostage for the lives of her animal friends. In a throwback to Predator, she is sent on a solo mission into the jungle to discover what happened to a lost research team. Taken inside a giant biodome she must uncover the secrets of the dome and those who brought her there. Can she survive as new obstacles are thrown in her path? Stephen Mooney writes this very different take on Sheena, with artwork by Jethro Morales and several variant covers by Dynamite’s familiar pantheon of cover artists. The first issue is the set-up, introducing a sci-fi/tech environment with Sheena’s backstory hidden from the reader. Here is her mission, but why is she here in the first place? It’s a good start for high adventure comics fans.
Here is a preview trailer and the variant covers for the first issue of Sheena: Queen of the Jungle:
After an earlier, year-long reboot series, a holiday special, and a great mash-up with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Dejah Thoris, space vixen Barbarella gets a new monthly series at Dynamite Entertainment beginning this month. Following writers Mike Carey, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Leah Williams, the future of the cult sci-fi icon in the new series Barbarella is in the hands of Portuguese-American sci-fi writer Sarah Hoyt in her first comic book series with artwork supplied by Madibek Musabekov. The big news comic book collectors will want to be aware of is a variant cover by Brian Bolland, his first for Dynamite. Despite the prior, more adult-themed incarnations of Barbarella, the monthly series is targeted at teen+ audiences, and the racy bits are only suggestive. But that doesn’t stop Musabekov from creating some daring–and goofy–futurist artwork, and a host of cover artists stepping up to give sci-fi fans something for everyone.
Check out covers for the first three issues of the new Barbarella series below.
The wedding of Batman and Catwoman is shaping up in the issues of DC Comics’s Batman bi-weekly series, with the date set at Issue #50, greeting comic book readers next month. Writer Tom King continues his ongoing Bat-tale with an abundance of interior and variant cover artists, including Mikel Janin, Joëlle Jones, Jim Lee, Frank Cho, Alex Ross, Mike Mayhew, Tim Sale, Neal Adams, Lee Bermejo, Joshua Middleton, Dawn McTeague, Frank Miller, Jock, Andy Kubert, Ant Lucia, Eric Basaldua, Natali Sanders, Greg Capullo, Joe Jusko, Olivier Coipel, Scott Williams, Warren Louw, Tyler Kirkham, Rafael Albuquerque, Tony S. Daniel, J. Scott Campbell, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, David Mack, Lee Weeks, Mark Brooks, Dave Johnson, Clay Mann, Greg Horn, Francesco Mattina, David Finch, Paul Pope, Joe Madeurera, Mitch Gerads, Alé Garza, Becky Cloonan, Jae Lee, Francesco Mattina, Ty Templeton, Joseph Michael Linsner, Nick Derington, Jason Fabok, Arthur Adams, Jim Balent, Lucio Parillo, Amanda Conner, and Michael Turner. The standard cover will feature the work of Mikel Janin. So how is this going to go down? Anyone else remember the wedding storyline for Green Arrow and Black Canary? It seems plenty of villains will be around if the variant covers are any indication.
We think we found nearly all the base images for the variant covers (below). Let us know if you see one when missed and we’ll update the images below. We did not include every logo or no-logo version, or black and white or similar variants.
A quick heads-up for Frank Cho fans. He is selling the above interlocking triptych variant cover series, and if you want these beauties, you’ll want to order them soon. The image features the main characters of the Batman Universe: Catwoman, Nightwing, Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. (Cho’s covers will be available at a discount off his release price with a code you can get by signing up for his newsletter here), and Joe Madureira has a similar offer for his covers here. Even more artists are posting pre-order options for their own variants almost daily.
Did we mention variant covers? If you haven’t been following Batman, the cover art of Batman and Catwoman over the past few months has been something fans of the characters dream of. With black and white and other versions available, expect at least 30 variant covers for Issue #50. Many of these options from contributing artists, like Frank Cho, will be found at exclusive sellers, including Kirkham (Hastings), Fabok (Yesteryear), Mattina (7-Ate-9), Jimenez (ZMX), Jae Lee (DF), Sanders (Comic Market Street), Jusko (Midtown), McTeigue (Yancy Street), and Adams (Legacy), and creator exclusive variants only at San Diego Comic-Con or webstores include Alex Ross, Mark Brooks, Greg Horn, Joe Madureira, J. Scott Campbell. With the release of Batman Issue #50 on July 4 comes Catwoman, Issue #1. In a rarity for comics, take a look (above, right) at what Catwoman is holding in this cover by Joëlle Jones… Janin’s cover to Batman 50.
And even more have been announced, like three Alex Ross exclusives, available for pre-order for San Diego Comic-Con at his website here. Greg Horn has three covers available only at his website here. Mark Brooks has eight variants available here. J. Scott Campbell has five variants available here. Jock has three covers here. Aspen has pulled some art from the late Michael Turner for variants, too. See even more below.
Here are many of the 50+ cover images and some variations on those variants for Issue #50 previewed so far:
