DC’s Injustice comic could have been a cheap cash-in on the success of the fighting video game, but instead it became one of the best Justice League stories of the decade. Writer Tom Taylor set the groundwork for this comic-book expansion in the first Injustice: Gods Among Us series, and when he came back for …
Christopher Priest has a long history with Spider-Man, serving as a writer and editor on Marvel’s Spidey titles in the ’80s. As a writer, he would drop in for a few issues and then depart, and that pattern holds true with Priest’s new Spider-Force, a three-issue miniseries tying into the Spider-Geddon event. The plot…
It’s time to change what “matters” in superhero comics. For too long, readers have flocked to books that are hyped up by their importance to a larger superhero universe, stories that promise to have long-reaching ramifications that change the future of these fictional worlds. These events are often empty calories,…
Following Brian Michael Bendis’ takeover of DC’s Superman line, the Supergirl ongoing series has been given a new direction courtesy of two of Bendis’ pals, writer Marc Andreyko and artist Kevin Maguire. New villain Rogol Zaar claims he is responsible for the destruction of Supergirl’s (and her cousin’s) home planet…
Cosmic Ghost Rider has proven to be one of Marvel’s most popular new characters, but his appeal goes beyond the cool factor of seeing Frank Castle become the future Spirit of Vengeance. By having the Punisher serve as an agent of Mephisto, a herald of Galactus, and the slave of Thanos, Donny Cates has made Cosmic…
One of the great joys of reading graphic memoirs is seeing how artists imbue real, everyday encounters with energy and expression, using their creativity to enrich the mundane. In her new Drawn & Quarterly graphic memoir, Blame This On The Boogie, Rina Ayuyang details her time growing up as a Filipina-American in…
For more than a decade, DC’s Green Lantern and its adjacent titles have doubled down on space opera, presenting the alien police force as a cosmic army rather than a group of individual cops fighting crime in their own individual sectors. That changes with The Green Lantern, which assembles a team of superhero comic…
As valuable as escapist entertainment can be, we also need to pay attention to the pressing real-world issues that are shaping/destroying our world. Vertigo’s Border Town engages with serious themes of racism, xenophobia, immigration, and cultural identity, but it has a playful, fantastic spirit that makes it a…
Chelsea Cain didn’t have to stay in comics. Her work on Marvel Comics’ Mockingbird brought a barrage of social media attacks against her from misogynist fanboys, and it would have been totally understandable if she decided to walk away from a toxic industry to pursue other creative endeavors. But that would mean…
The Immortal Hulk is a twisting thrill ride and chilling character study rolled into one brilliant superhero reimagining, constantly upending reader expectations to illuminate new facets of the titular monster. It’s Marvel’s best comic right now, featuring a creative team at the top of its game. Writer Al Ewing has…
It’s been almost eight years since DC Comics released its last Secret Files And Origins one-shot, but that changes with this week’s Batman: Secret Files #1, a new single-issue anthology featuring an outstanding line-up of creators telling short stories about the Dark Knight. The Batman creative team of Tom King, Mikel…
In the early ’90s, South Africa was on the brink of a full-blown civil war. Tensions between the white colonial government and the black population were blowing up into bloody conflicts—violence that intensified when Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years, signaling the death knell of the apartheid…
In Katie O’Neill’s poignant new middle-grade graphic novel Aquicorn Cove (Oni Press), a young girl copes with her own painful loss in a seaside town battered by a recent storm. Exploring how individuals and communities recover from the devastation of the past, O’Neill pairs the central narrative of Lana grieving over…
The Flash has one of the best rogues’ galleries in comics, but how do you find ways to keep these characters fresh? Joshua Williamson has been writing this series for nearly 60 issues, and for his most recent extended storyline, he’s embracing cosmic forces to give Flash’s villains a dramatic power upgrade. The events…
All too often, cartoonish comic book art is dismissed as childish and frivolous. Exaggerated visuals are assumed to lack seriousness or dramatic depth, but the work of Rob Guillory is a prime example of why these assumptions are wrong. Yes, there’s an inherent sense of humor in Guillory’s art, but he’s shown time and…
Eric Kostiuk Williams’ comics are visually defined by their malleability. His forms shine like latex and stretch like taffy, and his stories take place in surreal, psychedelic environments that morph as time passes. That fluid visual aesthetic ties into major themes of his work like gender expression, queer culture,…
Amanda “Livewire” McKee has long been one of Valiant Comics’ most compelling characters, a woman who forged a heroic path after discovering that the cause to which she devoted her life was less noble than she thought. She was a member of the Unity superhero team, led her own group of superpowered individuals in the…
With James Wan’s Aquaman hitting theaters in two months, DC is boosting the hero’s profile on the page with crossovers putting him at the center of stories featuring major properties like Suicide Squad and Justice League. After facing off against the Squad last month, Aquaman is about to be submerged in “Drowned…
After hijacking Kitty Pryde and Colossus’ wedding in X-Men Gold #30, the newly married Rogue and Gambit have embarked on a honeymoon that has gone about as well as these things normally do for superheroes. Which is to say it’s been a total disaster. They decided to go to space to get away from all the drama on Earth,…
