Steve Epting

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Agent of SPECTRE–Next Bond story partners 007 with nemesis Blofeld

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December 20, 2020

It’s one of our favorite tropes, and now it means the pairing of the most unlikely characters. James Bond teaming up with Ernst Stavro Blofeld against a common foe? Where do we sign up?

At your local comic shop, coming in March 2021.

James Bond: Agent of SPECTRE is Dynamite Comics’ next James Bond serialized monthly comic book story, sure to resurrect the double-agent element of some of the best Bond stories. TV screenwriter Christos Gage (Daredevil, Hawaii Five-O) will partner with the artist known for defining the retro style of the 21st century Bond comics, Luca Casalanguida, who we’ve seen on so many 007 titles, including Hammerhead, Kill Chain, and The Body, with colors by Heather Moore.

We’ve seen several appearances of Blofeld on the big screen, and from some major dramatic actors. So which Blofeld style do you think Casalanguida will go for?

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Tags: 2021 comic book series, Agent of SPECTRE, Agent of SPECTRE preview, Blofeld, Christos Gage, Dynamite Comics, Heather Moore, James Bond, James Bond Agent of SPECTRE, James Bond comic book series, James Bond comics, Luca Casalanguida, Sean Phillips, Steve Epting

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borg’s Best of 2019–The Best in Comics

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes — Leave a comment

December 29, 2019

Our borg Best of 2019 list continues today with the Best in Comics. If you missed them, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2019 here, the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2019 here, and the Best in Television 2019 here.

We reviewed comics from every major publisher this year, and were pleasantly surprised with all the new characters and content available. You’ll find both some new creators on the list this year and some fan favorites who keep making better comic books each new year.

Here are the best comic books for 2019:

Best Limited Comic Series (tie) – Sara by Garth Ennis and Steve Epting (TKO Studios) and Goodnight Paradise by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli (TKO Studios). The new publisher TKO Studios began with a bang with these two incredible stories. Sara is what every fan of war comics hopes for, and Goodnight Paradise brings the realities of life in the 21st century to the comics page in a story that will stay with readers a long time.

Best Ongoing Comic Book Series – Ghost Tree by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane (IDW Publishing). Haunting, mythic, and sweeping, this story of a man reflecting on his past and coming to terms with the present combines with Asian legend tropes to form an emotional and curiously funny tale. Sure to leave readers begging for more.

Best Sci-Fi Comic Series, Best Comic Book Writing – Ascender by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen (Image Comics). Lemire owned this category with two fabulous science fiction tales, both with strong female lead characters. Runner-up: Sentient by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta (TKO Studios).

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Tags: Alberto Ponticelli, Alex Lopez, Anita Bennett, Ascender, Aztec Empire, Batman, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Crisis in a Half Shell, Ben Herrera, Best Comic Books 2019, Best in Print, Best in Print 2019, Best of 2019, Big Red Hair, Bobby Curnow, Crisis in a Half Shell, David Hahn, DC Comics, Dustin Nguyen, Dynamite, Ed Piskor, Fantastic Four: Grand Design, Frank Cho, Freddie Williams II, Gabriel Walta, Garth Ennis, Ghost Tree, Goodnight Paradise, Hard Case Crime, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, James Tynion IV, Jaxxon, Jeff Lemire, Jin Yong, Joshua Dysart, Kevin Eastman Studios, Mario Mentasti, Marvel Comics, Max Allan Collins, Ms. Tree, Ms. Tree One Mean Mother, Obey Me, Paul Guinan, Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls, Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls Issue #1, Rob Bredow, Sara graphic novel, Sentient, Simon Gane, Stan Sakai, Star Wars 108, Star Wars Adventures, Steve Epting, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Green Lantern Issue 6, The War of the Realms, Titan Comics, TKO Studios, TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo, Usagi Yojimbo, Valance

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All 84 variant Detective Comics #1000 covers complete checklist & gallery–Detective Comics reaches landmark issue this week

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March 24, 2019

Detective Comics, the title DC Comics took its name from, first hit the shelves of newsstands just before March 1937, 26 months before Batman would first appear in the famous Issue #27 in May 1939. This Wednesday the monthly comic book’s landmark Issue #1000 is arriving, and it’s going to be packed with content from several writers and artists. It’s 96 pages in all, including the first appearance outside video games of Arkham Knight. And as you’d expect, DC Comics is releasing the issue with several covers (our count below is a whopping 84 or about a cover for each year Detective Comics has been in print!), including a standard cover, a set of decade-inspired covers, both a blank sketch cover and new black edition, retailer incentives featuring logos or no logos, and several limited, exclusive shop, convention, and creator store variants. More than a few are simply stunning, and this is the rare mass cover event where the final regular cover set (10) includes several works as interesting or better than the exclusives (the Frank Miller with the classic title art really takes us back to the 1980s). Check them all out below–all 100 images including art without logos–with links to where to buy them (exclusives that haven’t sold out in pre-sales).

Writers for stories in Detective Comics Issue #1000 include Brian Michael Bendis, Paul Dini, Warren Ellis, Geoff Johns, Tom King, Christopher Priest, Dennis O’Neil, Kevin Smith, Scott Snyder, Peter J. Tomasi, and James T Tynion IV. Interior artists include Neal Adams, Greg Capullo, Tony S. Daniel, Steve Epting, Joëlle Jones, Kelley Jones, Jim Lee, Doug Mahnke, Alex Maleev, Alvaro Martinez, and Dustin Nguyen.

DC Comics did a nice job of pulling out creators defining each decade, with Steve Rude (1930s), Bruce Timm (1940s Detective Comics #69 homage), Michael Cho (1950s), Jim Steranko (1960s), Bernie Wrightson (1970s), Frank Miller (1980s), Tim Sale (1990s), Jock (2000s), and Greg Capullo (2010s)–all appear to only be available with the trade “Detective Comics” logo (but we’ve included images of the original art below). DC Comics publisher Jim Lee is back again with the standard cover, a wraparound design. The rest reflect a crazy big stack of variants by everyone and anyone, most available with the Detective Comics logo (with “trade” logo) or without logo (“virgin”), some in black and white, some with sketch art, some with foil cardstock. The following are all the non-standard variant artists and where to get them (we heard an Andy Kubert cover may be out there, but could not confirm this): Neal Adams (three designs, NealAdams.com), Jay Anacleto (trade, virgin, and B&W) (Unknown Comic Books), Kaare Andrews (trade only, no virgin-only edition confirmed) (Third Eye), Artgerm (trade, virgin, retro) (Forbidden Planet), Lee Bermejo (virgin, trade) (Midtown), Brian Bolland (trade, virgin, B&W) (Forbidden Planet), Greg Capullo (gold foil version of his 2010s cover) (WonderCon variant), Clayton Crain (virgin, trade) (Scorpion Comics), Tony S. Daniel (trade, no virgin-only) (artist website, Comic Stop), Gabriele Dell’Otto (trade, silver virgin, and gold convention) (Bulletproof), Jason Fabok (trade, virgin, B&W) (Yesteryear Comics), Riccardo Federici (trade, virgin) (ComicXposure), Pat Gleason & Alejandro Sanchez (trade, virgin, B&W) (Newbury Comics), Adam Hughes (trade, virgin) (Frankie’s Comics), Jee-Hyung Lee (trade, virgin, B&W) (Frankie’s Comics), Dan Jurgens & Kevin Nowlan (sketch, line art, and color versions) (Dynamic Forces), Mike Lilly (trade-only, no virgin cover) (Comics Vault), Warren Louw (virgin, trade) (KRS Comics), and Doug Mahnke (trade, virgin) (Planet Comicon).

Plus there’s Francesco Mattina (trade, virgin) (Midtown), Mike Mayhew (trade, virgin) (The Comic Mint), Stewart McKenny (trade, we couldn’t locate anyone selling the virgin cover) (Comics Etc.), Dawn McTeigue (virgin, trade) (Comics Elite), Rodolfo Migliari (trade, retro trade, virgin) (BuyMeToys.com), Lucio Parrillo (trade, virgin) (Scorpion Comics), Alex Ross (two covers) (via his website), Natali Sanders (virgin, trade) (KRS Comics), Nicola Scott costume match design to her Superman image for Action Comics #1000 (trade, virgin) (Kings Comics), Bill Sienkiewicz (two designs, signed or not, one in trade, one virgin, via his website), Mico Suayan (trade, virgin) (Unknown Comic Books), Jim Lee & Scott Williams (midnight release vertical and convention silver foil, B&W, and four villain designs) (Torpedo Comics, Bedrock City Comics, Graham Crackers).

Want to see them all? Here goes:

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Tags: Adam Hughes, Alejandro Sanchez, Alex Maleev, Alex Ross, all Detective Comics 1000 covers, Alvaro Martinez, Artgerm, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brian Bowland, Brian Michael Bendis, Bruce Timm, Christopher Priest, Clayton Crain, Dan Jurgens, Dawn McTeigue, DC Comics, Dennis O'Neil, Detective Comics, Detective Comics 1000, Detective Comics 1000 complete variant cover checklist, Detective Comics 1000 variants, Detective Comics complete variant cover checklist, Doug Mahnke, Dustin Nguyen, Francesco Mattina, Frank Miller, Gabriele Dell'Otto, Geoff Johns, Greg Capullo, James T Tynion IV, Jason Fabok, Jay Anacleto, Jee-Hyung Lee, Jerry Robinson, Jim Lee, Jim Steranko, Joëlle Jones, Jock, Kaare Andrews, Kelley Jones, Kevin Nowlan, Kevin Smith, Lee Bermejo, Lucio Parrillo, Michael Cho, Mico Suayan, Mike Lilly, Mike Mayhew, Natali Sanders, Neal Adams, Nicola Scott, Pat Gleason, Paul Dini, Peter J. Tomasi, Planet Comicon, Planet Comicon exclusives, Riccardo Federici, Rodolfo Migliari, Scott Snyder, Scott Williams, Steve Epting, Steve Rude, Stewart McKenny, Tim Sale, Tom King, Tony Daniel, Tony S. Daniel, variant covers, Various, Warren Ellis, Warren Louw

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Review–Ennis and Epting’s graphic novel “Sara,” the real deal for fans of gritty WWII stories

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January 26, 2019

Review by C.J. Bunce

If there was a Sergeant York or Audie Murphy on the Russian side of the fight in World War II and the soldier was a woman, you’d have the lead character in Sara, a new six-part graphic novel from TKO Studios, a new publisher for 2019 (more on that below). In Nazi-occupied Russia, the Russian forces are losing. A small band of skilled Russians snipers is making headway one kill at a time. The undisputed best of the bunch is Sara, an ex-college recruit reputed to have 300 kills. She soon becomes the target of Nazi Germany’s own best special military forces. From Eisner Award winning writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, War Stories and Battlefields, Fury) and artist Steve Epting (Velvet, Batwoman, The Winter Soldier, The Avengers), with color by Eisner and Harvey nominated artist Elizabeth Breitweiser and letters by Rob Steen, the gritty realism, badass protagonist, and top-level artistry is sure to make Sara a contender come award season.

If you’re a fan of Russia or Soviet-era stories like Doctor Zhivago, From Russia with Love, and The Hunt for Red October, or graphic novels Nevsky: A Hero of the People, Red Son, and The Death of Stalin, there’s something in the Sara graphic novel that you’re going to like. But that’s just the setting. The real fun will be the callbacks readers will experience along the way. With a Russian twist, expect the same kind of war experience from watching movie classics like Stalag 17, Sands of Iwo Jima, Memphis Belle, To Hell and Back, and Sergeant York. Ennis’s historicity and Epting’s adherence to detail anchors the story in a way that will have you feeling like you’re right there in the forest among the soldiers. This is the story many of us were hoping for when we heard of the Russian espionage movie Red Sparrow.

As with all new TKO Studios releases, the story is available as a graphic novel in a digital or print edition, or as six issues in a collectible box. The six issue/chapter shifts are well plotted: an introduction of key characters in the middle of activity and flashbacks to Sara’s military training are all nicely paced to a vintage 1940s war movie style, and the battlefield threat increases gradually culminating in a nicely planned cliffhanger, followed by a satisfying payoff–it has all the beats in the right places.

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Fantastic Four–Dozens of artists join in for 60+ variant covers for today’s re-launch

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August 8, 2018

Today writer Dan Slott and artist Sara Pichelli are bringing back the title Fantastic Four to Marvel Comics with a re-launch beginning with part one of a new Issue #1 story, “Fourever,” arriving at comic book stores today. Marvel Comics sidelined the team of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm since the end of its Secret Wars series. Now fans of the team and “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” will find out what they’ve been doing since then. We’ve gathered the dozens of cover options available for this issue, shown below.

As Marvel states in its marketing materials for the new series:

A void no other team can fill. And it’s time for the world to move on. But can it? A life-changing decision by the Thing! A momentous declaration by the Human Torch! A clarion call-to-arms that summons Doctor Doom! And a signal in the sky that heralds the return of hope to the Marvel Universe! All this, and Alicia Masters adopts kittens! So cute! Plus, the Impossible Man!

Marvel has amped up its cover artists yet again for the variant covers for this latest of several recent renumberings of main titles. So you’ll find covers from Alex Ross, Artgerm, Art Adams, Adam Hughes, Steve Epting, Sara Pichelli, Esad Ribic, George Perez, Mark Brooks, Skottie Young, Simone Bianchi, Joe Quesada, Eric Powell, Humberto Ramos, Nick Bradshaw, Mike Wieringo, Jack Kirby, John Cassaday, Emanuela Lupacchino, Walt Simonson, Rob Liefeld, Jen Bartel, Will Sliney, Mike Mayhew, Bill Sienkiewicz, and many more–more than 55 including virgin art and blank covers, most new, some pulled from archives of artists of the past, plus some homages to comic book covers from the past.

Bonus stories will be included in the issue by Simone Bianchi and Skottie Young. New Fantastic Four pins and backerboards will also available at some comic book stores today.

Take a look at all these covers we spotted:

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Batwoman re-takes center stage in DC Comics Rebirth universe

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January 19, 2017

One of the most popular characters and series to emerge from DC Comics’ New 52 reboot in 2011 was J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s Batwoman. Not only was the series popular, it received critical acclaim for Williams’ gritty storytelling and the stylish and spectacular, ethereal, and surreal artwork by Blackman. The classic B-level superheroine of the 1950s had been reintroduced as Kate Kane with a new Alex Ross-designed costume in 2006. In the DC Comics weekly series 52 the character became the most memorable legacy of the series–ex-military, a lesbian, of Jewish descent, with her ex, Renee Montoya, a Gotham police detective—rare constructs for any character in comicdom. In the best of ironies, the character created to combat accusations of Batman’s sexuality in the 1950s became a symbol of the very thing she was made to deflect.

Beyond the symbolism of the modern character and success as a new iconic character, Williams and Blackman wrote a great Bat-book. But after several successful months as a New 52 series, editorial decisions and creator ideas crossed streams and the series fizzled out. Happily for fans of the character, DC is bringing Batwoman onto center stage once again. Beginning this month in Detective Comics Issue #948 and continuing in February with Issue #949, the two-part “Batwoman Begins” arc forms the prologue for the monthly Rebirth continuity one-shot Batwoman: Rebirth in February and the series Batwoman, beginning in March.

Writers Marguerite Bennett and James T. Tynion IV are co-writing the initial story with Bennett to take over the series later in the year. Artwork will be provided by Steve Epting and Ben Oliver. Jae Lee will be creating a variant cover for the series’ first issue.

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Tags: Batwoman, Batwoman Rebirth, Ben Oliver, DC Comics, DC Comics Rebirth, J.H. Williams III, Jae Lee, James Tynion IV, Kate Kane, LGBTQ characters, Marguerite Bennett, Renee Montoya, Steve Epting, W. Haden Blackman

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Velvet–Brubaker and Epting team up again with new spy series

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October 22, 2013

The former Captain America creative team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting are back. Tomorrow Image Comics is releasing their creator-owned spy series, Velvet. This time, it’s not another spy book driven by a James Bond-inspired agent. Velvet Templeton is just the secretary for the world’s greatest spy. Or is she? Think of Velvet as if Miss Moneypenny were a tough-as-nails secret agent in her own right. When the world’s greatest secret agent is killed, Velvet can no longer keep her cover intact.

It’s the next hard-boiled mystery series by Fatale writer Ed Brubaker. Steve Epting’s artwork in Issue #1 is striking and his heroine sultry and powerful. His work is reminiscent of Mike Grell’s James Bond mini-series. Bettie Breitweiser’s colors rounds out the triple threat behind this cool new series.

Here’s a preview of Velvet, Issue #1, for borg.com readers courtesy of Image Comics:

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