News from San Diego

San Diego Comic-Con gets under way for real today—last night was Preview Night—but the news has already started rolling in, as publishers unveil their flagship projects for the next few months. Here’s the latest news in comics for kids and teens:

Archaia, the publisher that gave us The Dapper Men, Mouse Guard, and the Fraggle Rock anthologies, will publish Cow Boy, an all-ages graphic novel written by Nate Cosby, illustrated by Chris Eliopoulos (Franklin Richards, Pet Avengers), and featuring short stories by an Roger Langridge (The Muppets), David Gallaher and Steve Ellis (High Moon), Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener (Atomic Robo) and others. You can see a seven-page preview at the Cow Boy blog.

Archie Comics announced that Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Riverdale, will get his own series next year. I talked to Kevin’s creator, Dan Parent, who will write and illustrate the series, about what exactly he has in mind.

Dark Horse announced three new series for fall, one of which is a graphic novel set in the world of P.C. Cast’s House of Night novels. The comics are set between scenes from Betrayed, the second novel in the series, and are co-written by Kent Dallan and illustrated by Joelle Jones (Troublemaker, Token).

While not strictly a teen product, Marvel’s newly announced graphic novel line will make their many comics franchises more accessible to new readers.

And just for fun, Robot 6 shows off some of Amy Mebberson’s Green Lantern/Muppets mash-ups. Amy was the artist for the Muppet Show comics and is now one of the illustrators of Ape Entertainment’s new Strawberry Shortcake comics.

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