Longform

Ever since WB released the first teaser for Suicide Squad, one thing has been abundantly clear: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is the star of David Ayer’s DC super-villain ensemble piece. But for those unfamiliar with The Joker’s occasional sidekick and love interest, the beautifully bonkers and charmingly crazy villain is a bit of a mystery. To help you out, we’ve created a brief primer for The Dark Knight’s most delightful baddie, revisiting some of the character’s most notable moments and tracing her history from breakout Batman villain to Suicide Squad.

Most anime is adapted from manga, often produced by the manga publisher to raise awareness and sell it overseas. But what about the anime shows or film that go the other way, adapted from the screen to the page? How do those works hold up, and what changes or stays the same? That’s what Screen & Page aims to explore. This week, we're talking about an anime that set the internet on fire because of all the ways that it does --- and doesn't --- break the magical girl genre: Puella Magi Madoka Magica!

As someone who thought she was a dude in the late 1990s, Preacher was the comic I looked forward to every month more than any other. As someone who knows she isn’t a dude in the mid-2010s, I’m looking back on this series and examining what still works, what doesn’t work, and what its lasting legacy is. This week, it's a break from the regular series as writer Garth Ennis and editor Julie Rottenberg assemble a series of one-shots set in the Preacher expanded universe. What will different artistic styles bring to the table, and what can the tone of each one --- from frivolous to a serious as a tombstone --- tell us about how well fiction ages?

It's Star Trek's 50th anniversary and between the well-received Star Trek Beyond, the fact that all of Trek is available streaming basically everywhere, a new TV show coming next year, and the continued release of new novels and comics, it's a good time to be a fan of the USS Enterprise and its brethren. Comics have been a part of Trek lore from almost the very start. Beginning in 1967, when the original Trek was wrapping up its first season on NBC, Gold Key published a series that only had two consistent features: an irregular publishing schedule, and an almost total disregard for how the characters actually looked.

There is something missing from Comic-Con this year, and it ain’t just the free wifi. Looking over the Comic-Con website I keep wondering: Where are all the movies?

We've already rounded up the best events for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we've highlighted some of the best exclusive art prints to pick up, but there's so much more at SDCC. As the biggest convention of the year, it's a great way to interact with creators and this year's event has an amazing line-up of spotlight panels on some of the best writers and artists in the business.

We’re halfway through a summer of cinematic animation domination: Finding Dory is Pixar’s highest-grossing film, The Secret Life of Pets now holds the record for biggest opening weekend for an original film ever, and a fifth Ice Age film opens later this week. So now is the perfect time to unveil a list of the 20 best vocal performances in feature animation ever. (One caveat: Though some of the films mentioned here may boast more than one great performance, we restricted ourselves to just one performer from any given film.) With that in mind, let the countdown begin with...

San Diego Comic Con is without a doubt the biggest event on the industry's calendar, and people will be flying from around the world to attend panels, watch trailers, meet creators, and make friends. This year's event is bigger than ever, with so much going on every single day that it can be difficult to sift through all that information and decide how to spend your time. With the event only days away, we've looked through the schedules and hand-selected some of the best events happening on Thursday and Friday for fans of comics, collectibles, TV and film, so you can be sure you don't miss that must-see panel or signing.

In case you've been off the grid lately, Pokemon Go came out in the US and some other countries exactly one week ago today! And what a week it's been. Nintendo's stocks have shot sky-high, millions of gamers are discovering the concept of physical exercise, and CA's own Chris Sims was last seen roaming the Great Smoky Mountains armed only with a portable generator and wifi signal booster in pursuit of the legendary Ho-Oh. In honor of our new national pastime, this week we're recounting the time eternal ten-year old Ash Ketchum and his best buddy Pikachu fought God in Pokemon: Arceus & The Jewel of Life!

Marvel's next big line launch was formally unveiled this week via a special edition of Marvel Previews, including new #1s for Avengers, Venom, Captain Marvel, and Star-Lord, new launches for Champions, Jessica Jones, Kingpin, Bullseye, Slapstick, and Solo, and new concepts in Occupy Avengers, Iron Fists, Mosaic, Infamous Iron Man, and Unstoppable Wasp. Following our roundtable discussion of DC Rebirth, the ComicsAlliance team got together to break down the highs and lows of the new Marvel NOW. Join Elle Collins, James Leask, Katie Schenkel, Kieran Shiach, and Andrew Wheeler as they pick out the books they're most excited about and the books they're concerned about, and discuss Marvel's approach to legacy heroes and the state of diversity at Marvel today.