Digital Comics

There's something about being a comics fan that brings out the completion and the collector in us, and sometimes that manifests in tracking down old issues of a series you love, and sometimes it means that you can't help buying a comic you're not enjoying because it has your favorite character in it. Comic fans like to collect things, and this San Diego Comic Con, Comixology is appealing to that trait by releasing a wave of SDCC-exclusive trading cards celebrating some of the hottest creators of the modern era.

"Time on Ice" is a free short comic from Dead Canary Comics that will eventually feature in the publisher's upcoming sci-fi anthology. A tight, grim little story by writer C.S. Baker and artist Vincenzo Sansone, "Time on Ice" offers a Twilight Zone-worthy twist, and bodes well for the quality of the overall anthology when it happens.

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!

The 50th chapter of DC Comics Bombshells is out tomorrow, and it's an exciting one. If you haven't been reading Bombshells --- which is a shame ---you need to know that it's about an alternate version of the DC Universe in which superhero women are the biggest heroes of World War II. It's by writer Marguerite Bennett and a number of great artists, with Chapter 50 drawn by Mirka Andolfo.

Spider-Man is one of the most beloved characters in fiction, I think that's fair to say. However, take a second and think about how huge that is. Everyone loves Spider-Man, or near enough. Your five year old niece, and your dentist and the garbage man all probably love Spider-Man! But what is it about the character that is so universal that makes him so widely loved, outside of the fact that he beats up a dude dressed like a Keebler Elf on a hoverboard? I think it's his relatability and his personality, and that's something that's explored in new, fun and interesting ways in Hannah Blumenreich's twenty-page Spidey Zine, which you can get right now on Gumroad for free (or pay-what-you-want). Whether Spidey is watching television with Aunt May, hanging out in the street, or mourning the loss of his Uncle Ben, Blumenreich's slice of life comics cut to the core of why we all love Spider-Man.

Since 2012, Viz Media has fought the omnipresence of poorly translated bootleg manga by offering weekly manga chapters published simultaneously with Japan in the digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Now Viz has gone one step further in that cause by unveiling a new section of Weekly Shonen Jump's website with free official translations of popular and new series posted daily.

A warrior, a valkyrie, a magic user, and an elf fighting monsters in dungeons? Obviously, that's going to remind most people (most nerds anyway) of fantasy gaming. But surely I’m not the only one who immediately thinks specifically of the classic ‘80s game Gauntlet? “Wizard needs food badly!” But Kelsey Wroten’s Dungeon Punchers takes the familiar in a new and rather less serious direction. It’s still the story of these four archetypes on a monster-filled adventure, but there’s a thick layer of self-aware irony that’s all too rare in fantasy, and Wroten’s art gives everything a fun, playful air that’s impossible too take seriously, but equally impossible not to enjoy.

It was only last month that Comixology launched Comixology Unlimited, a new subscription-base service with a Netflix-style model that gives access to a library of titles to read for a flat monthly fee. Since then, there's been one major question among readers: What exactly are we going to get on there? Now, a month after the launch with titles from Image, Dark Horse, Valiant and IDW, the digital comics platform has announced the first wave of additions, set to hit Unlimited on June 27 --- including the first three issues of Afterlife With Archie, the first five of Ryan Browne's God Hates Astronauts, and the first eight issues of Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered.

When you look at the sheer range and number of original stories being told in comics form today, it’s hard to imagine a better time to be a comics reader. Online and in print, from all around the world, artists and writers are telling stories with their own voices and styles, and there’s so much to choose from that it’s sometimes difficult to know what to read next. With Should I Be Reading… ?, ComicsAlliance hopes to offer you a guide to some of the best original ongoing comics being published today. Do you like Vikings? Do you like lesbian heroes? Do you like comics about Viking lesbian heroes? Then you might just like Heathen, Natasha Alterici’s creator-owned comic series.

It wasn't that long ago that Archie Comics made headlines with the introduction of Kevin Keller, the first out gay character to go to Riverdale High; he quickly became a hit with fans, and he was one of the first signs that Archie as a publisher was willing to shake up what people thought they knew about the company. Since then Kevin has become a mainstay of the Archie books and has proven to be a successful spinoff character in his own right. He'll even appear in the cast of the upcoming TV show Riverdale This week, Archie Comics launches Life With Kevin, a new digital first series starring an adult Kevin Keller living away from Riverdale, chasing his dreams in the big city. ComicsAlliance caught up with cartoonist Dan Parent to talk about the unique style of his new book, adapting the Archie formula to adult characters, and of course, Kevin's love life.