Comic Books

Ryan North, Erica Henderson and Rico Renzi’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is one of the best superhero comics being published today, but it’s also one of the best that fall loosely under an all-ages banner and is enjoyed by kids and adults alike. Everyone can enjoy Doreen Green’s adventures and her positive outlook on life, and the comic itself is spreading a positive message through Squirrel Girl’s empathy and how she approaches and interacts with the supposed super villains of the comic.

It's Kids' Week at ComicsAlliance! As the summer draws to a close and young comics fans get ready to go back to school, we're presenting a week of articles focused on great kids' comics, including comics recommendations for younger readers. Hey! Kids' comics! Lumberjanes is a fantastical young adult comic that debuted April 2014 from the Boom Box imprint of Boom Studios, created by Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters. The series follows five adventurous girls --- who are all completely different --- in a camp where nothing is what it seems.

This week I'm doing something a little different. With the DC movie universe expanding, all the talk about Suicide Squad, and the recent announcement that Black Manta will be in the Aquaman movie, I've been thinking about the future of DC supervillains on screen. We've also been doing this fun DC Supervillain Draft, and that's got me thinking in particular about the Legion of Doom, who originated in the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon, and what an interesting collection of classic DC villains they are. So I decided to cast the Legion of Doom.

With the pre-New 52 Wally West back and (literally) running around the DC Universe, it was only a matter of time before he and Linda Park found each other once again. Now, we're finally getting there in the pages of next week's Titans #2. Sort of. Mostly. I mean, look, they meet each other again, and that's a start, right? Check out an exclusive preview!

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, the first volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, was published on this day, August 18, in 2004. It introduced the twentysomething Torontonian slacker to the world, and secured Bryan Lee O’Malley a place in the comics canon.

I'm pretty sure that everyone reading this already knows that Judge Dredd runs every week in the pages of 2000 AD, but apparently that was not often enough for British audiences in the '80s and '90s. From 1981 to 1998, a daily Dredd comic strip ran in the UK's Daily Star, giving readers bite-size chunks of Mega-City One's most ruthless lawman. And they got weird. Admittedly, it's not the weirdest I've ever seen from a comic strip --- that week-long "Alone" storyline in Garfield will forever hold that title --- but if you've been looking for the story about a beautiful woman who fell head over heels in love with the genocidal animated corpse that is Judge Death, here it is, reprinted at long last.

Chris Samnee is one of the best artists working in comics today. His stock has risen steadily since 2010 as he went from Thor: The Mighty Avenger to The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, to a long, esteemed run with Mark Waid on Daredevil, winning both a Harvey and an Eisner award along the way. Now on Black Widow, again with Waid, he continues to develop his craft and turn heads, so much so that "one of the best artists working in comics today" doesn't seem to describe just how good he actually is. One of the reasons he's so good is that he's picked up tricks from some of the greatest artists to come before him, and one in particular stands above the rest: Alex Toth.

Two seasons in, The Flash very quickly burned through introductions of the character’s major comic “Rogues Gallery,” albeit with one notable exception. New reports suggest Season 3 will finally cast the infamous Mirror Master, among other Flash villains the likes of The Top, and others.

We already know that Avengers: Infinity War will feature the biggest roster of MCU characters yet — even bigger than Captain America: Civil War, no doubt, as Marvel’s next Avengers chapter is set to deliver an epic conclusion to Phase 3 (and finally give Thanos a chance to stretch his space-legs). Now that the studio has scaled the two-parter back to one film, it’s unclear if that lineup will still be as massive as originally planned, but it looks like we know of at least a couple more characters who will return.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, “Which comic books should I be reading?” or, “I’m new to comics, what’s a good place to start?” The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats. It’s with these challenges in mind that we’ve created Best Comic Books Ever (This Week), an ongoing guide curated by the ComicsAlliance staff. This is where new comics readers and seasoned Wednesday shoppers alike can find our picks of the best books the medium has to offer.