The comic book, animation, illustration, pinup, mashup, fan art and design communities are generating amazing artwork of myriad styles and tastes, all of which ends up on the Internet and filtered into ComicsAlliance’s Best Art Ever (This Week). These images convey senses of mood and character — not to mention artistic skill — but comic books are specifically a medium of sequential narratives, and great sequential art has to be both beautiful (totally subjective!) and clear in its storytelling (not so subjective!). The words and the pictures need to work together to tell the story and create whatever tone, emotion and indeed world the story requires. The contributions of every person on a creative team, from the writer to the artist(s) to the letterers, are necessary to achieving a great page of sequential storytelling.

It is the special nature of comic books that we’re celebrating in this all-new recurring feature: Best Sequential Art Ever (This Week).

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The last twelve months offered comic book readers a wide variety of work ranging from the most crowd-pleasing superhero epics to the most idiosyncratic of indies, and the return of old favorites to the emergence of exciting new talent. It was a busy and productive year for the industry, and one we’re pleased to celebrate with what we’re certain will be an uncontroversial, unenumerated list of awards that will prompt only resounding agreement and unbroken fellowship amongst our readers in the comments below. Welcome to part four of ComicsAlliance’s Best Comic Books of 2013.

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If you were wondering what's in store for the characters you remember from Telltale Games' first season of its The Walking Dead video game in the new second season, the new trailer makes it abundantly clear: peril.

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From the looks of what Diamond Comic Distributors has release so far, Free Comic Book Day 2014 on May 3, will once again be a most family-friendly affair.

Diamond unveiled what it's calling its "gold-level title" list today, 12 books from publishers including DC Comics, Marvel, Image, Archie, Dark Horse, Viz Media, Bongo Comics, Boom! Studios and Fantagraphics. The fare is almost all kid-friendly stuff, with Hello Kitty, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Spongebob Squarepants, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and Uncle Scrooge comics all on tap.

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As Hans Gruber once said, Christmas is "the season of miracles," and there is nothing more miraculous than the present Warner Bros. has just given us. After announcing all the way back in August of 2012 that there was going to be an animated crossover movie between Scooby-Doo and World Wrestling Entertainment, it seems that my dream of a better world is perilously close to becoming reality. Today, a trailer for Scooby-Doo WrestleMania Mystery has arrived online, and it is everything I have ever hoped for in my life.

The trailer, featuring appearances by the Miz, Brodus Clay, Sin Cara, AJ Lee, Triple H, Kane and, of course, John Cena, teases plenty of in-ring action for Scooby and Shaggy, although Velma and Daphne's heated rivalry for the Divas Championship remains unconfirmed. Check it out below!

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When it comes to the holiday gift-giving season, comic book readers are notoriously difficult to shop for. I mean, most of us are down at the shop buying our favorite stuff every single week, so when the time comes for people who like us to get us something we want, well, a lot of times we already have it. That’s why we’re stepping in with a public service, bringing you comics-related items sure to make the season brighter, whether you’re browsing for a gift or just looking for something to drop hints about so that you don’t get stuck with a random assortment of back issues again.

We can all agree that the 1966 TV series is, of course, the One True Batman Above All Others, and recent developments in licensing have finally given us the toys we've (I've) wanted for years, but today, you can get them super cheap. I'm talking Surf Jams Batman for five bucks cheap.

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It's been over 1600 years since St. Nicholas of Myra first punched someone out for heresy right in front of the emperor, and in that time, he's mellowed out from a surprisingly violent theological hard-liner to the jolly old gift-giver that we know today as Santa Claus. He's beloved by children all over the world, owns a set of flying reindeer and has an origin story more complicated than most X-Men, but there's one area where Santa Claus is truly lacking: action figures.

Seriously, with the possible exception of Robin Hood, there has never been a character so beloved that is so dreadfully underrepresented in posable plastic. There are, however, a few options, so for those of you in dire need of something to fill that vacant spot in your miniature Christmas village, we're making like elves and doing our best to rank the 10 best Santa Claus action figures! Or at least, you know, the ten that actually exist.

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Courtesy of Marvel, ComicsAlliance brings you an advance look at new periodical comic books, collected editions and graphic novels going on sale in March 2014 (and in some cases beyond) from the publisher’s mainline Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate Comics, the mature readers MAX imprint and the creator-owned label Icon. All of the following books can be purchased at finer comic book shops, where you can also pre-order your selections to ensure you’ll get a copy before they sell out.

Highlights include omnibus collections of Jason Aaron's work on Wolverine, Wolverine and the X-Men and Punisher Max, the relaunches of Daredevil, Moon Knight and Silver Surfer, and a new issue of Hawkeye drawn by letterer and designer Chris Eliopoulos.

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After a few months of teases, DC Universe Online has illuminated its plans for new content in the coming year. A "War of the Light" DLC trilogy is set to kick off in early 2014 with a debut entry centering around Red Lantern-ly rage.

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If you thought the Uglydoll x DC Comics collaboration was going to stop at plush versions of Babo as Superman and Ice-Bat as Batman, prepare for plastic. Funko will be bringing vinyl versions of Uglydoll characters decked out in DC superhero costumes into the fold in 2014. First up? Ice-Bat as Batman, Babo as Superman and Wedgehead as Robin.

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