Interviews

Mark Batson is known for producing some of the biggest hits for major artists like Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, James Blunt, Dave Matthews Band, Nas, Maroon 5 and more. Now the music veteran is trying his hand at graphic novels with his series, Loaded. The first book of the series, The Story of Ghost, follows the title character; a James Bond-esque assassin in the making. The second part, The Story of Sin, is also slated to be adapted into a television series --- with Dr. Dre set to produce the music. We spoke with Batson about the Loaded, moving from music to comics, the adaptation, and also have a sneak peek at the first volume.

Imagine a world where every person has their own god. Not just their own view or idea of god (that would be our world), but their own personal diety, visible and following them around and helping them exert influence over the world. Now imagine you lived in the world and didn't have a god of your own. That's the plight facing Ennay, the protagonist of Godshaper, a new ongoing comic written by Si Spurrier with art by Jonas Goonface. Ennay isn't just a man with no god. He has powers over the gods of others. He's also found a friend, in a small god with no accompanying human named Bud. But gods aren't supposed to exist without their humans, so what's Bud's deal? That's only one part of the story that Godshaper will be telling. As part of our exclusive reveal of this exciting project, we had a chat with Spurrier and Goonface about what makes a god, what makes a world, and what it means to have a world with so many gods running loose in it.

While there have been many attempts to adapt the world of WWE, no-one has tried to fill in the gaps between weekly episodes of Raw and SmackDown, a gap in the market now filled by Dennis Hopeless and Serg Acuña's new WWE title at Boom Studios. With the first issue of the ongoing on sale today, ComicsAlliance chatted with Hopeless about adapting wrestling into comics, finding his place in established continuity and his relationship with WWE corporate.

In Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman's The Few, America is broken and divided, as the people left alive fight for scraps in the remains of what is now the no-longer United States. As the Republic wages war on the Remainder States, two survivalists find a young woman in the woods with no memories --- and a baby. With the first issue of The Few hitting stores this week, ComicsAlliance caught up with Lewis and Sherman to talk about post-apocalyptic fiction in the current political climate, and what it can tell us about the modern day.

Gosh! Don't ya ever wish you could go back to simpler times, where milkshakes and ascots and groovy tunes made life the cat's pajamas? Well, fold up your fictional feline fashion, friends, for decades past were never so simple for marginalized folk. Luckily, Kathleen Jacques' webcomic Band vs. Band captures years of ace aesthetic and kooky kitsch with none of the exclusion. There's just super style, boss band battles, and a killer crescendo of gay romantic tension. Tune in to ComicsAlliance's conversation with Jacques for more.

Quantum Teens Are Go is Magdalene Visaggio's follow-up to her breakout Black Mask Studios hit Kim & Kim, with Constantine: The Hellblazer artist Eryk Donovan. It's a teen drama, a sci-fi story, an action adventure --- just every cool genre thrown together into an entirely awesome, bright kinetic comic! With the series premiering next month, ComicsAlliance sat down with Visaggio and Donovan to discuss the past, present, and future of Quantum Teens are Go.

This week sees the release of Detective Comics #948, the first part of "Batwoman Begins," a two-part story that leads into the upcoming Batwoman solo series. That series will be scripted by Marguerite Bennett with art by Steve Epting, so Bennett has joined scripter James Tynion IV as co-plotter on this Detective story, featuring art by Ben Oliver, and Tynion in turn will co-plot Batwoman. ComicsAlliance sat down with Bennett and Tynion to talk about who Kate Kane is, how she's different from Bruce Wayne, and why it's important to fill the DC Universe with queer characters --- including a new transgender character who will be introduced in this story.

Two high school boys, two very different personalities — one, Johnny, is a black nail polish-wearing alternative "cool guy" who has been kicked out previous schools; the other, George, is a sensitive, shy, and socially shrinking boy who is (probably) dressed by his mom. On the first day of school, they're seated together. How will these disparate souls reconcile their— Oh? They get along just fine? Refreshing! In Savanna Ganucheau's slice-of-life webcomic George and Johnny, the titular characters, though surface differences, become fast and affectionate friends as they navigate high school, band drama, and super queer thrift stores.

Over twenty years after six teenagers with attitude burst onto the scene, the Power Rangers are as popular as ever, and this week they're crossing the dimensional barrier to meet up with DC's most iconic heroes, the Justice League. Ahead of the release of Justice League/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, ComicsAlliance spoke to creators Tom Taylor and Stephen Byrne about crossing the two universes over, maintaining the appropriate tone, and the likelihood of Bulk and Skull versus Batman.

Ever since DC launched Batman '66, the crossover that virtually everyone wanted was a meeting between the Adam West-era Caped Crusader and Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman. Now, it's happening in the pages of Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77, a crossover from Jeff Parker, Marc Andreyko, David Hahn, and Karl Kesel that takes place across three different eras, pitting Batman and Wonder Woman against Ra's al-Ghul, Talia, and a handful of other special guest villains. It's an incredibly entertaining story that goes well beyond what both series were able to do on TV. To find out more about it, ComicsAlliance spoke to Hahn and Kesel about the challenge of drawing a story with three different flavors of retro style, and the era's perfect "casting" of Ra's al-Ghul, and we got a first look at this week's issue.