Longform

In most incarnations, including on numerous different occasions in mainstream DC continuity, Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the last daughter of Krypton. However, she's not the only person to be known by that name. This week we're looking at the other heroes to claim the mantle of Supergirl.

Since the dawn of the Silver Age, legacy characters have been a staple of superhero fiction, and having a new character step into a well loved role can open up new opportunities for writers and artists to tell different kinds of stories. In The Replacements, we’ll look back at some of the most notable and not-so-notable heroes and villains to assume some of these iconic mantles. Bruce Banner may have been the first person cursed to become the rampaging beast known as The Hulk, but over the years a Hulk Family of sorts has sprouted up with friends, enemies and children carrying on his legacy.

It seems that at least once a year the Big Two superhero publishers push for a major relaunch of their titles with a wave of new number ones that often feature characters that haven’t had an ongoing series in a long while. The choices are sometimes baffling, but the relaunches usually result in at least a few surprise hits, like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Marvel is currently in the process of launching an all-new, all-different Marvel Now with characters like Foolkiller and Solo, but there are a lot of great characters that just aren't being used to their full potential. We’ve put together a list of five ideal candidates for the next big Marvel relaunch, or the next phase of the current one.

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 films 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. Today, we're looking at the feature film that launched the legendary Hayao Miyazaki's career, and the acclaimed manga that inspired it: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind!

Larry Hama's career in comics has spanned more than forty years, not just on the page but also behind the scenes, where he's mentored countless new writers and artists as they make their way through the industry. He continues to redefine the industry and the way people approach comics as a whole. ComicsAlliance spoke to Hama about his artistic career by discussing five of his milestone works.

Civil War II has completely overwhelmed the Marvel Universe, with all of your favorite titles tangentially tying into the event in whatever way they can in hopes of a sales bump. With a founding Avenger dead and battle lines nearly drawn, it's time to dig back into the story for more Civil War Correspondence, and review where I stand on the conflict. I reserve the right to flip-flop at will, although that's looking less and less likely. This time around we’re looking at the fourth issue of Civil War II, as well as two issues of The Ultimates, and I finally pick a side as a fan-favorite Marvel character crosses a line and becomes potentially irredeemable.

This past Monday, August 22nd, saw the end of one of the Big Three shonen manga of the 2000s (alongside One Piece and Naruto), and what was at one time one of the most popular shonen titles in the world. Tite Kubo's Bleach published its 686th and final chapter, "Death and Strawberry," in the latest issue of Viz's Weekly Shonen Jump. In anime and manga circles the reaction has been celebratory, but also somewhat muted. Given that Bleach ran for over a decade, and spawned a highly successful anime, four feature films and many stage musicals, and is still a merchandising and cosplay bonanza, why is that? The truth is, to most Western fans at least, Bleach overstayed its welcome.

Jessica Drew was created as the first Spider-Woman in the '70s, partly to ensure that Marvel Comics had the legal rights to the name, but over the decades she has become one of the premier female characters for the publisher, in part thanks to her reinvention as part of Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers. Yet Jessica hasn’t been the only hero to call herself Spider-Woman, and today we look back at the other women to carry the name.

It’s not a radical idea to say that superhero comics should be for children, but it seems an increasingly radical idea in a time where a Marvel comic recently had Hawkeye shoot Bruce Banner through the eyeball. All-ages comics at the Big Two are the exception, not the rule. Are the demands of continuity the reason why? Does "everything should fit together" inevitably create, for lack of a better term, "tone bleed"?

Avengers Academy is a hit mobile game where your favorite Marvel Comics characters are inexplicably reimagined as teenagers attending high school, and I am addicted to it. I’m not the only one, as the charming character designs and spot-on characterization of the students has millions of people playing. So why isn’t there an Avengers Academy comic?