Digital Comics

If there's one thing the folks at Archie do better than any other company in comics, it's making their back catalog work for them. I mean, I realize that not everyone is the obsessive Archie fan that I am, but if you did want to jump right in and get a survey of the entire history of the company, it's actually pretty easy to do so, thanks to stuff like the Pep Digital collections and the Archie 75 Series. And this week, the spotlight has fallen on Veronica Lodge. In Archie 75 Series: Veronica, you can get a look at the high points of the Veronica's ongoing series, from her world-traveling first story arc to the debut of Kevin Keller --- and while it's not in the preview, there's also a rare appearance from Marcy, Veronica's nerdy cousin. Sadly, she's no Cricket O'Dell, The Girl Who Can Smell Money, but we'll take what we can get.

In 1986, Dark Horse launched with an anthology title called Dark Horse Presents and a book called Boris the Bear. Thirty years later Dark Horse has gone from a small piece of the '80s indie boom to one of the biggest and most successful independent comics publishers in the industry. Along the way it has published Conan the Barbarian (and still does), Star Wars (but not anymore, despite doing great work with the license), and Mike Mignola's Hellboy universe (still a cornerstone of the line). Now Dark Horse and Humble Bundle are celebrating the former's 30th anniversary with a really extensive Comics Bundle of Dark Horse books.

Things are looking dire for Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman '77 Chapter 22, the digital-first series from writer Marc Andreyko and artist Tom Derenick that recently came back from hiatus. Steve's body has been taken over by the brain of a supervillain, and Wonder Woman is trapped between his psionic attacks and the guns of her supposed allies, who aren't as concerned with Steve's safety as she is.

Coleman Engle's Victory Mountain debuted last week on the Stela Unlimited app, with Chapter Two out tomorrow. It tells the story of Doily Obsidian and her best friend Corey Berry, who both decide to compete on Victory Mountain USA, a wildly popular show where contestants fight their way up an artificial mountain for championships, glory, and the thing Doily's family needs most, money. We sat down with writer/artist Coleman Engle to talk about his influences and inspirations for this new project.

In 2016, Jason Aaron is a superstar writer working on titles like The Mighty Thor and Star Wars, while also putting out hit creator-owned books such as Southern Bastards. Several years ago, however, he was an up-and-comer with one hit Vertigo miniseries and an ongoing that was starting to garner some buzz, and he was let loose on a handful of Marvel titles where he established himself as a key player for the company to build itself around. This week, Comixology has a sale on select titles from across Jason Aaron's time at Marvel Comics, and among them are some comics that you may have missed when they were coming out, which you absolutely need to grab while they're on sale.

If you missed the announcement a few weeks ago, Comixology's new Unlimited service is being touted as Netflix for indie comics. Subscribers pay a flat monthly fee, and they get access to a library of titles from publishers like Image, Valiant, Archie and more, including smaller self-publishers. And, like Netflix, new stuff is showing up on a monthly basis to keep readers hooked. This month, as we roll into August, Comixology has announced the addition of another 25 titles --- and if you're looking for a good place to start, I've got a couple of suggestions. Starting today, you can read the entirety of Jody Houser, Francis Portela, and Marguerite Sauvage's Faith miniseries from Valiant, and the first volume of Eric Jones and Landry Q. Walker's amazing Danger Club.

For many people working in all kinds of creative fields, Patreon has been an absolute godsend. The ability to interact with fans and provide them with an easy way to support creators monetarily has in some cases been literally lifesaving, and the service has allowed many people the means to pursue their artistic ambitions. There are few fields that have felt the benefit of Patreon more than webcomics, and as of today it's even easier for creators to reach out to fans and get their support via Patreon. Digital comics publishing platform LINE Webtoon has announced a partnership with Patreon to integrate the two services and provide easy access for Webtoon readers to make Patreon donations.

DC superhero Vixen has been receviving a long overdue push in the last couple of years, led by CW Seed's animated Vixen series, a guest appearance on Arrow, and an upcoming role for a version of the character in Legends of Tomorrow. Yet for all her TV appearances, DC's best known black female hero hasn't had the same sort of support in comics. That may finally change with the news that Vixen will feature in the next arc of the digital first series DC Comics Bombshells.

The past decade in comics has been a constant process of innovation as publishers and tech companies try to figure out how digital comics might work in the future. Motion comics were big for a while before fading away, and in recent years the "Guided View" format of panel to panel transitions has become the preferred method. Google and the team behind the Android operating system have been exploring several alternatives to Guided View, including last year's introduction of a "Vertical Scrolling" featuring. However, a new innovation has just been announced at San Diego Comic Con that may change the game forever, and it's called Bubble Zoom.

The weekend is here! Take a look back at what’s happened in the past seven days. New comics, new stories, new podcasts, new art being made — it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!