It’s a bit of a quiet week in comics, so I’m going to use this week’s edition of Comics Disassembled to highlight some leftover items from the past couple weeks of news to start. So, let’s dig into ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, including Abrams…Comics?

1. Abrams, Releasing Singles

Abrams has long played in the graphic novel space, doing so through a wide and growing number of imprints. Its dominant house is Abrams ComicArts — it’s the mothership, really — but its portfolio has been expanding. A lot of that is the type of thing you’d expect a book market-centric publisher to do, like Abrams Fanfare, the upcoming kids imprint that features a lot of talent, including a graphic novel from the elite team of Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux. But one upcoming effort is pretty surprising, and it hit during San Diego Comic Con. It’s called Abrams Comics, an imprint of Abrams ComicArts, and it will be publishing…single issue comics???

Not just single issue comics, but two from Frank Miller and one conceptualized by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, with the latter written by Aronofsky, Ari Handel, and Jeff Welch while featuring exceptional artistic talents like Martin Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran, and Aditya Bidikar. That one’s called Human Nature. The other two are remnants of a sort from the short-lived publisher that was Frank Miller Presents, as Miller’s series with Emma Kubert and friends — Pandora — will continue onwards at Abrams Comics while Miller will work with penciler Ryan Benjamin, inker John Livesay, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Pete Carlsson on a new title called Invasive Species. These three books will launch between the fourth quarter of 2024 and January 2025.

To be honest, the comics aren’t my primary interest. Human Nature sounds promising, if only because of Morazzo, O’Halloran, and Bidikar’s talents. What is my primary interest, however, is the fact that it’s a graphic novel/book market publisher getting into the single issue/direct market space. I find that interesting and extremely unusual! What does it mean? I’m not sure. But I might have to find out, because it’s a curious thing indeed. One to watch, this one is, especially as a first step — if it ultimately proves to be one.

2. Rachel Smythe, Nowhere Near Done

Speaking of news I’m way behind on, this item was too notable to not mention. You know Rachel Smythe? The extremely popular cartoonist behind the Webtoon sensation Lore Olympus? Many have wondered what would be next for her after she wrapped her long-running webcomic series. Would it be another Webtoon entry? Would it be something else? Well, now we know: it’s something else! Smythe revealed (to Cosmopolitan!) that her first two post-Lore projects will be original graphic novels at Inklore, the Random House Worlds imprint. The first is called Eleanor’s Deathbed and the latter is Patients in the Dark, and both sound up her and her fans’ alleys, as they blend the natural and supernatural in interesting sounding ways.

When are they coming? TBD, it seems. My guess is it’ll be a bit, as Smythe just wrapped Lore earlier this summer, I believe. Graphic novels take time! But either way, it’s good to know that Smythe has some comics cooking, and that she’ll be trying something new in the process. I’ll be curious to see how working in print first changes her work! It’ll be very interesting to see, and we’ll check in on that when it comes out in…TBD!