This week’s roundup of kids comics news includes four properties that are returning in a new format—perhaps they were all just a bit ahead of their time. The one new property is an intriguing fantasy tale about a boy with autism.
The UK publisher David Fickling Books has been publishing the weekly children’s comic The Phoenix since 2012, and now it will finally be available in print form for American readers: Scholastic is publishing the weekly comic digitally on the comiXology platform and will also release collected print editions that will bind up 9 to 10 issues, featuring six different series, in a single volume.
The Phoenix Colossal Comics Collection: Volume One is scheduled for publication on March 27, 2018, as a full-color, 208-page paperback. The Phoenix, which just reached its 300th issue in the UK, has been hailed for its high-quality art and stories by a range of creators that includes Philip Pullman, Neill Cameron, and Jamie Smart.
The entire backlist is now on comiXology and new issues will appear weekly. Scholastic is offering the first two issues free in digital format through November 14. (A Phoenix iTunes app was launched in 2013 but it is no longer available.)
Dark Horse Comics announced this week that it will publish Sean O’Neill’s Rocket Robinson and the Pharaoh’s Fortune, a middle-grade adventure graphic novel that O’Neill first self-published in 2013 with funding from a successful Kickstarter campaign. The title character is the son of a diplomat who travels around the world with his pet monkey Screech, and this first volume finds him in Cairo, where a note written in hieroglyphs leads him into a fast-paced adventure. The series is an updated spin on classic adventure stories such as Tintin and Indiana Jones. Rocket Robinson and the Pharaoh’s Fortune will be available on May 30, 2018.
A couple of years ago, Archaia published a series of comics based on Jim Henson’s TV show, and now they are collecting them into an omnibus edition, to be published in March 2018, according to the Muppet fan site Tough Pigs (see "BOOM! Extends Deal with Jim Henson Company"). The book, to be titled The Fraggle Rock Omnibus, will be softcover with a MSRP of $19.99.
Udon Entertainment is publishing a new, full color edition of Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man manga, Mega Man Mastermix, which they first published as a black and white manga (titled Mega Man Megamix) in 2010 (see "The Return of the Blue Bomber"). Mega Man is the lead character in the Capcom game of the same name, and Archie Comics also published a Mega Man comic, this one written by Ian Flynn illustrated by a variety of artists (see "Archie to Publish 'Mega Man' Comic"). Udon’s new edition of Ariga’s manga will be colored by Josh Perez (Rom vs. Transformers), and the first volume will be available January 24, 2018, with several variant covers. The book will be 80 pages, full color, with a MSRP of $7.99.
Uncivilized Books announced its Spring 2018 lineup, and it includes a new addition to their young adult imprint, ODOD Books. Tsu and the Outliers, by Erik Johnson, is a graphic novel about a non-verbal boy who lives in a small town where rumors of a monster circulate among the locals. In addition to being different from those around him, Tsu has special powers that lead him into scary terrain and difficult choices. Johnson’s story is a fantasy tale that also draws on the experiences of a parent raising an autistic child. This is Johnson’s first full-length graphic novel; he is also the co-author, with Kirstin Cronn-Mills, of the prose/graphic novel hybrid Original Fake, which was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Uncivilized Books will publish Tsu and the Outliers as a full-color, 112-page softcover volume in Spring 2018 with a MSRP of $15.95.