How do you make the launch of a new superhero comic imprint a pop culture event? For DC’s Black Label, the answer is Batman’s exposed penis, swinging out of the shadows to highlight the freedom allowed to the creative team of Batman: Damned. Writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo give readers full-frontal Dark…
Wildstorm created a new modern superhero universe when it debuted in the ’90s, embracing the storytelling conventions of the time to give readers high-energy superheroics with an x-treme edge. The genre has changed considerably in two decades, so when writer Warren Ellis and artist Jon Davis-Hunt reimagined the…
When it comes to creating a superhero team, humor can often be more effective at bringing characters together than world-shattering stakes. Writer Kelly Thompson, artist Stefano Caselli, and colorist Tríona Farrell show how in the pages of West Coast Avengers, a title that introduces a compelling new superhero team by…
Mark Millar and Robert Kirkman have had similar career paths, both rising to fame in Hollywood thanks to successful adaptations of their creator-owned comic book titles. While Millar focuses on film adaptations of his work (Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kingsman), Kirkman has made an indelible mark on television thanks to the…
Hawkman has one of the most confusing histories of any superhero, thanks to the cycle of reincarnation that seen him live as an ancient Egyptian prince and a cosmic police officer, among the many roles he’s played throughout the millennia. In the right creative hands, that confusing continuity provides rich narrative…
Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint was having a fairly quiet debut year—until The Seeds thundered in with its bleak and bold vision of the future. David Aja’s return to sequential comics after his groundbreaking run on Marvel’s Hawkeye, The Seeds features striking artwork that blends duotone coloring and screentone…
Bruce Banner’s curse is his legacy. His father’s exposure to radioactive material fundamentally changed Bruce from birth, imbuing him with a second self gifted with acute intuition, driven by rage, and prone to destruction. This other half eventually gained a physical form when Bruce ended up in the blast radius of a…
Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka’s Runaways has been all about getting the old team back together, resurrecting both Gertrude Yorkes and Victor Mancha to recapture the magic of Brain K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s original series. And it works. Rowell and Anka have reinvigorated the title by doubling down on the…
Michael DeForge’s relationship with Koyama Press is one of the most rewarding professional partnerships in comics, as Koyama regularly releases new DeForge graphic novels and compilations of the cartoonist’s constantly expanding body of work. And the publisher is doubling down on DeForge this year, publishing a…
There is no end. Adventure Time is built on the idea of a world that springs from the ruins of an apocalyptic global war, and there’s always something that grows after devastation. After eight years, 10 seasons, and 283 episodes, Adventure Time concludes with the four-part “Come Along With Me,” but it establishes from…
In any political regime, there are people who benefit and people who suffer. The proportions may vary, but even the worst administrations are advantageous to a select population. Hydra’s takeover of the United States in Marvel’s Secret Empire event threw the country into chaos, but Steve Rogers is discovering that…
This month’s Sandman Universe #1 is a good omen for Vertigo Comics’ new line of titles reviving Neil Gaiman’s Sandman mythos, bringing a talented line-up of writers and artists together to craft distinct introductions to their upcoming ongoing series. Writer Simon Spurrier, artist Bilquis Evely, and colorist Mat…
How do you push forward when you’ve lost your job, your home, and your romantic partner? The central character of Aisha Franz’s graphic novel, Shit Is Real (Drawn & Quarterly), is dealing with this triplicate of misfortune, sending her a downward spiral as she struggles to maintain personal relationships and find…
Last year, DC Comics released six one-shot specials that featured DC superheroes and villains interacting with Looney Tunes characters. Elmer Fudd hunted Batman, the Martian Manhunter fought Marvin the Martian, and Lobo became the latest fool to chase down Road Runner. This goofy experiment has since become a…
What are the challenges of being married to a Berserker Orc? Hum, the central protagonist of Boom! Studios’ Coda, is a former bard married to a woman created for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on the world in the name of a dark lord, and he’s desperate to find a cure for the fury that instinctually overtakes her…
There was some major anxiety among Laura Kinney fans when Marvel announced that the she would be stepping down from the Wolverine role and going back to her old X-23 codename in a new solo series. Tom Taylor’s run on All-New Wolverine gave Laura a new sense of purpose as she took over for the deceased Logan, and…
Cartoonist Keiler Roberts doesn’t shy away from pain in her autobiographical work, understanding that the hard parts of life are what make the joys so valuable. Her work is as delightful as it is harrowing, exploring how these different emotions often intersect. Her first book for Koyama Press, Sunburning, was full of…
DC’s Midnighter was one of the best action comics of the last five years, and getting the book’s creative team back together on Wonder Woman has significantly turned up the intensity and excitement of the Amazon warrior’s solo series. Writer Steve Orlando, artist ACO, and colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr. take Diana on a…
The Sentry is a superhero rooted in the human spirit’s potential for extraordinary good and devastating evil, a Superman-like golden god with a flipside that’s defined by darkness. The character was off the grid for a few years, but he’s back in the Marvel Universe after returning in Donny Cates and Gabriel Hernandez…
Few comic-book artists understand the power of darkness like Nate Powell. Darkness hides potential horrors, but it can also create intimacy, bringing people together by keeping the rest of the world out of sight. Powell fluctuates between these two facets of darkness in his new graphic novel, Come Again (Top Shelf),…
