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, 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!

It's the end of the year! We made it through 2015, a year that brought all kinds of new, weird and brilliant comics into our lives. It's been a huge year for the industry, with the arrival of several new publishers, multiple new digital publishing concepts, and a whole slew of creative talent pushing themselves into the spotlight. With so much going on during 2015, there's one question you might have not thought about yet: what's coming up in 2016? So much. There are new graphic novels, new publishing lines, new digital initiatives; it's all going on. And so, as we reach the Yearender, it's time to look ahead, to see what comics' future will bring.

On December 17, 2015, to celebrate the release of Star Wars: Episode VII --- The Force Awakens, Disney and Lucasfilm held special back-to-back marathon screenings of all the Star Wars films, in story order, leading up to and including The Force Awakens itself. ComicsAlliance’s own lifelong Star Wars fans, Dylan Todd and Chris Haley, spent almost 18 hours in a theater, and have returned from a galaxy far, far away to tell the tale.

Prez is an ongoing political satire set in a world so bonkers it could only be an outgrowth of our own. Satire has to sweat to keep up with a 2015 where a reality TV star who looks like he angered his barber has a chance at being elected President of the United States, and the creators of Prez decided the best way forward was to look back to the 1970s, to the Prez series by Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti. The eclectic cast of the new series includes Tina, the President's Christian transgender robotic bodyguard. Is this a well-intentioned attempt at diversity and crafting an interesting supporting character, as with the original series' Eagle Free, FBI director? Or does it miss the mark, as with the original's Eagle Free, FBI director?

A few months after Marvel and Netflix first announced plans for a live action Iron Fist TV series as part of their Defenders slate --- which also includes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the upcoming Luke Cage --- the website Nerds of Color launched a campaign calling for an Asian American actor to be cast in the lead role. We covered that campaign at the time, but interest has surged following the recent appointment of former Dexter writer Scott Buck as Iron Fist showrunner, and a conversation has emerged around the #AAIronFist hashtag on Twitter. Yet, according to one report, Marvel has already considered the fans' appeal for an Asian American Iron Fist and rejected the idea. Hopefully this is not the end of the conversation, because the conversation itself has exposed an uncomfortable truth; Iron Fist is a troubling concept to sell with a white guy in the lead. Comics fans have debated the pros and cons of turning a white martial artist into an Asian hero, but the debate has largely ignored the reality that Iron Fist's whole origin and conception belong to the past --- if he's a white guy.

One of the weirder new quirks of the gift-giving season over the past few years has been the rise of services that send you a big ol' box of stuff every month. It seems like there's one for almost every kind of geeky interest, from general nerd merch to video games to pro wrestling, and I have to admit that they make for a pretty solid holiday present. If nothing else, there's enough thrown into those monthly boxes that as long as you've picked the right genre, there's probably going to be something in there that your giftee is going to like. The one that I've been most curious about is Japan Crate, a service that loads up a box with Japanese candies and other snacks every month, but despite my fascination with foreign snack foods (and the chance that I'll get some kind of Super Sentai branded potato chips), I've been a little reluctant to spend money without giving it a shot. Fortunately for me, Japan Crate offered to send over a couple of sample boxes, and that was how I ended up sitting down with my girlfriend and eating an entire box of Japanese candy all at once in about an hour.

In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Comics are often set in opposition to “serious” literature, but that convention is one that has long been flouted by highly esteemed, award-winning authors who grew up reading comic books and aren’t ashamed to talk about their continued love for the medium. Some of them have even tried their hand at writing comics, or have populated their novels with characters who are cartoonists. Here are ten literary luminaries who have close relationships with comics. Some may surprise you --- but a few won't come as much of a shock! Most are living; some are literary giants that we've lost. Together they represent a diverse swath of the globe. Something they all have in common is excellence: Among these ten writers are three National Book Award winners, two Pulitzer Prize winners, two Mann Booker Award winners, two Nobel Prize Laureates, one MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, one National Humanities Medal recipient, one Officer of the French Legion of Honor, and one knight!

The weekend is here! Put down your paperwork, throw your stationery out of the window, and do a victory spin in your office chair, because it’s time to catch up on that greatest of all media: comics! What’s been going on this week? There’s so much comics that there’s no way anybody can keep up with all of it — so Weekender is here to catch you up on some of the stories you may have missed, and some of the best writing about comics from the past few days.

The weekend is here! Put down your paperwork, throw your stationery out of the window, and do a victory spin in your office chair, because it’s time to catch up on that greatest of all media: comics! What’s been going on this week? There’s so much comics that there’s no way anybody can keep up with all of it — so Weekender is here to catch you up on some of the stories you may have missed, and some of the best writing about comics from the past few days.