Culture

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more — but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance have got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, and so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new podcasts, new art being made — it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

Five nominees have been announced for the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics, which will be given at the Long Beach Comic Expo on February 20th. The award is meant to recognize work that promotes diversity in comics, whether on the page or on the creative side, and is named for the late Dwayne McDuffie, who was an outspoken advocate for diversity through his work in comics and animation.

Jughead Jones, always famous for being the only Archie character who's not into dating, now canonically identifies as asexual, as of today's Jughead #4, by Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson. Interestingly, it's not Jughead himself who uses the word, it's his friend Kevin Keller, who's specifically contrasting his own experiences as a gay high school student (looking for other boys to date) with Jughead's experiences as an asexual student (not looking for dates at all). But Jughead quickly agrees, and points out that his asexuality makes him better equipped to deal with Riverdale High's problems than Archie, who of course is constantly distracted by girls.

It's no secret that white male leads have dominated comic books since --- well forever. In the '60s, Marvel and DC finally started to put a change to that with the addition of super-powered people of color, which led to some of today's biggest names in comics. But it still wasn't enough. Eventually the lack of diversity led to the onset of Milestone Media in the '90s, where Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle crafted several intriguing characters. With an increasingly active black nerd, or blerd, community, new black characters are being created every day --- primarily through independent publishers, though Marvel has also kickstarted a focus on one of its most notable black characters --- but more on that later. To celebrate Black History Month, ComicsAlliance is running down our list of 20 Great Black Comic Book Characters. Our list considers old staples as well as some new favorites, including a certain katana wielding badass, space explorers and of course, plenty of superheroes.

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more — but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance has got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, and so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new hirings, new podcasts, new art being made — it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more --- but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance have got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, and so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new hirings, new podcasts, new art being made --- it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

This year's Angouleme was the subject of controversy when the list of creators in contention for the Grand Prix was unveiled, and all 30 nominees were men. The longlist was eventually thrown out in favor of an open vote, which coalesced around three names; Hermann Huppen, Alan Moore, and Claire Wendling. Huppen, known professionally as Hermann, is rumored to have won, despite having said he would decline the award. The controversy prompted some debate about which women should have been in consideration, with the sort of career and longevity that a lifetime achievement award is meant to recognize. Some people have argued that few eligible women exist, but the reality is that women are undervalued, and the extent of their contributions have been overlooked. We've compiled a list of 12 women who deserve recognition for their lifetime of work in comics, but this is just scratching the surface.

As we all know from reading comic books and watching movies, the 1970s were a time when lethal ninjas and club-wielding goons lurked around every corner, kicking sand into the faces of honest, hard-working comics readers at every opportunity. The people cried out for something, anything, that could save them from these ruffians, and as they always have, comic books stepped up to help in the most efficient and effective way possible: Advertising! Comics had always provided their readers with the most exciting purchasing opportunities — nuclear submarines, X-Ray glasses, even the occasional piece of real Kryptonite — but between 1971 and 1974, they were full of opportunities to train yourself in the lethal arts of self-defense. That's why we here at ComicsAlliance are compiling a comprehensive list of the greatest promises for deadly hands and death touches in this, our Grand Compendium Of Comic Book Martial Arts Instructional Advertisements From The '70s.

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more — but the comics industry has been busy too, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance has got your back; when it comes to comics, we never slow down, so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new hirings, new podcasts, new art being made — it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

Prism Comics, a non-profit group devoted to the promotion of LGBTQ-friendly comics and creators, is now accepting applications for the 2016 Prism Comics Queer Press Grant. Prism gives its annual grant to creators who are self-publishing comics with queer themes and characters, and submissions are judged primarily on their merit, though the financial circumstances of the creators are also considered. In addition to money, the grant recipient will receive promotional assistance from Prism. Last year's winner was Dave Davenport, for his graphic novel Stray Bullet, which deals with HIV. Other past winners include Ed Luce, Tana Ford, and Blue Delliquanti.