Oni Press Solicitations June 2023

Oni Press plans to kick off summer with five new releases. The highlight of the month is the anticipated premiere of the sci-fi anthology XINO!

Each of the three planned issues for XINO will be 40 pages in length and contain short stories from both established comics writers as well as new talent. The staff for the first issue includes Melissa Flores, Daniel Irizarri, Christopher Condon, Nick Cagnetti, Jordan Thomas and Shaky Kane, and the tales within will deal with oddities like suburban paranoia and an “intravenous video game system.” Phil Hester has also contributed a story but they won’t even tell us what it is. XINO issue #1 will be released June 14.

Aw geez! In the latest issue of RICK AND MORTY Mr. Sanchez is once again in a mess of his own making, as obnoxious tech bro Glug Vronsky aims to attack and dethrone him, to become Rick 2.0. While dealing with Glug, Morty has to stop a careening spaceship from colliding with Earth. Rick also apparently has several angry gods coming straight for him with vengeance on their minds. And Summer will get involved in all this somehow. RICK AND MORTY #6 will be releaased June 21.

As we covered earlier, Cullen Bunn’s horror drama LAMENTATION will release its second issue in June. Struggling actress Jennifer thought the Requiem Theater’s new play would be her big break, but now it could be the end of both her career and life. She’s trapped in the building and facing the threat of murder from an unknown assailant. Issue #2 will be out June 7.

Or, for something different, try the biographical Japanese-American graphic novel TURNING JAPANESE or the historical queer drama PARALLEL. The former will be released June 7 and the latter will be out June 14.

Oni’s full list of releases can be browsed below.

XINO #1 (of 3)

• Written by CHRIS CONDON, MELISSA FLORES, PHIL HESTER & JORDAN THOMAS
• Art by NICK CAGNETTI, PHIL HESTER, DANIEL IRIZARRI & SHAKY KANE
• Cover A by MATT LESNIEWSKI
• Cover B by ANDRÉ LIMA ARAÚJO
• Cover C by MATT SHEEAN & MALACHI WARD
• Cover D by SHAKY KANE
• Full Art Variant (1:10) by SHAKY KANE
• B&W Variant (1:15) by MATT LESNIEWSKI
• B&W Variant (1:20) by ANDRÉ LIMA ARAÚJO
• ON-SALE June 14, 2023 | $5.99 | 40 pgs. | FULL COLOR

Because the future is getting weirder everyday, we give you XINO #001—the first of three 40-PAGE intra-ocular lozenges of subversive, surrealist science-fiction to cure your awful awareness of it all. Try not to worry—the insertion process will be guided by the megawatt brilliance of Oni’s brightest talents—past, present, and future—as they slowly tune your hopes, dreams, desires, paranoia, alienation, anxiety, and adrenaline to produce the desired results.

In our first exploratory outing: Rising stars Melissa Flores (The Dead Lucky, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) and Daniel Irizarri (Judge Dredd) surgically activate the hidden dimensions of the human senses; cult phenoms Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) and Nick Cagnetti (Pink Lemonade) debut the world’s first intravenous video game system; underground radicals Jordan Thomas (Weird Work) and Shaky Kane (Bulletproof Coffin) surveil the suburbs for signs of covert infiltration, and master cartoonist and foundational Oni creator Phil Hester (Gotham City: Year One, The Coffin) returns to the fold to leave his deepest mark yet!

• IOD: 4/27/2023
• FOC: 5/15/2023

Lamentation #2 (of 3)

• Written by CULLEN BUNN
• Art by ARJUNA SUSINI
• Cover A by YANICK PAQUETTE W/ DAN BROWN
• Cover B by JOHN BIVENS
• B&W Variant (1:10) by YANICK PAQUETTE
• ON-SALE June 7, 2023 | $6.99 | 48 pgs. | FULL COLOR

Trapped within the Requiem Theater, lead actress Jennifer fights for her life and freedom as threats encroach from the real world and within the play. When the mysterious Prince Razide selects her as his bride, new dangers emerge, and she still doesn’t know who—or what—lies beneath the prince’s mask

The Haunting of Hill House meets The Phantom of the Opera in this dizzying horror mystery by acclaimed writer of nightmares Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, The Empty Man, The Sixth Gun) and illustrator Arjuna Susini (Made Men, Forever Forward).

• IOD: 4/27/2023
• FOC: 5/8/2023

Rick and Morty #6

• Written by ALEX FIRER
• Art by MARC ELLERBY W/ ANDREW DALHOUSE
• Cover A by MARC ELLERBY
• Cover B by FRED C. STRESING
• ON-SALE June 21, 2023 | $3.99 | 32 pgs. | FULL COLOR

It’s an epic battle of the Ricks! Hyper tech bro Glug Vronsky wants to become the new Rick; a Rick 2.0, if you will. Morty is losing his mind and slowly turning into Rick, and Rick is, well, the same old Rick! And they’re all fighting aboard a giant dog spaceship that’s headed straight for Earth, only they don’t know Summer’s coming in ninja-style to join the party. Meanwhile, the Goldenfolds, Noelle, and a slew of weird gods plan to exact revenge on the foolish fool who tried to do away with them: Rick Sanchez. Geez, guy can’t catch a break, can he?

• IOD: 4/27/2023
• FOC: 5/22/2023

Parallel

• Writer/Artist/Cover by MATTHIAS LEHMANN
• ON-SALE June 14, 2023 | $29.99 | 456 pgs. | B&W | SC

Karl Kling’s story is one of revelations, and these he has addressed in a letter to his daughter, Hella, who had disowned Karl many years ago. Karl’s letter is a cri de coeur from a father to a daughter he never really got to know, and he comes clean to her about his failed marriages, his fractured family relations—and his love for men.

Taking place between the end of World War II and the 1980s, Parallel chronicles Karl’s efforts to comply with social norms in order to keep his sexuality a secret. It also paints a picture of a life torn between conformity and rebellion, and the cruel realities of twentieth-century German society, where homosexuality was proscribed and punishable until 1994. Matthias Lehmann poignantly depicts the story of a decades-long yearning to live an open and free life, and the price Karl and those he loves must pay for it. It is also a story of finding the courage to finally tell the truth no matter the obstacles…or the cost.

In Parallel, creator Matthias Lehmann deftly explores the complexities of being gay at a time when queer relationships were forbidden. Torn between his longing for a family and his simultaneous desire for gay love, Karl Kling hides his homosexuality from his wife and child while pursuing male romances in 1950s Germany.

• IOD: 4/27/2023
• FOC: 5/15/2023

Turning Japanese

• Writer/Artist/Cover by MARINAOMI
• ON-SALE June 7, 2023 | $29.99 | 240 pgs. | B&W | HC

The year is 1995. Fresh out of a long-term relationship, twenty-two-year-old MariNaomi finds herself amidst a flurry of major life changes. Newly immersed in the pan-Asian diaspora of San Jose, California, half-Japanese Mari searches for connections to a culture that has so far eluded her.

It doesn’t take long for Mari to find a new love and a new job—at a hostess bar for Japanese ex-pats—in a bid to learn the language and culture. Turning Japanese follows Mari from Northern California to Tokyo, Japan, as she tries to get by in an unfamiliar city with rudimentary language skills—all in the hopes of finally connecting with her Japanese relatives without the use of her mother as a translator.

Turning Japanese: Expanded Edition includes new story pages that bring fresh insight and a new resolution to this classic comics memoir of our times

• IOD: 4/27/2023
• FOC: 5/8/2023