Mark Waid

Getting Fiona Staples to be the artist on the new Archie series was quite a coup for the publisher, but there's a price that comes with hiring superstar artists: They don't hang around forever. Staples will be exiting the book after the third issue. That's the bad news, according Archie Comics President Mike Pellerito. Here's the good news: The publisher already has the next two artists lined up, and they're both very exciting in their own right: First, Annie Wu (Hawkeye, Black Canary) will step up for issue #4, and after that, Veronica Fish, who is the artist behind the promo image for the upcoming CW series Riverdale, will take over through the sixth issue.

If you've been reading ComicsAlliance for long enough, then you already know that Jughead Jones rounds out our (my) illustrious list of the five greatest characters in comic book history, a list that is etched in stone and will never be changed. So as you might expect, with the relaunch of Archie, we've been on the edge of our seats wondering what the new take would be on Archie's perpetually sleepy best pal. As it turns out, we didn't have to wait that long. In this week's second issue of Archie, from the team of Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, Jughead takes the spotlight for the origin story of his true name!

Under normal circumstances, most comics are happy to introduce a single supervillain at a time, establishing a clear and distinct threat to the hero before the villain is ultimately defeated and goes away for a while to plot their revenge, maybe showing up as part of a villainous team-up somewhere down the line. If, however, you've been reading Mark Waid and Dean Haspiel's The Fox, then you already know that it's not really a book that does things the normal way. Case in point, this week's issue, where the Fox and She-Fox are confronted with not one, not two, but five new villains --- six if you count their sinister boss, Mr. Smile --- in an all-out brawl to save his son. Check out a preview below, featuring more supervillainy than you can shake a floppy ear at!

Comics — you have a race problem. Deny it if you want, but after last week’s Strange Fruit controversy (which Boom Studios has yet to address), this week’s discussion about Marvel’s appropriation of hip hop and black culture (which Tom Brevoort addressed first badly, then wrongly) and a general pattern of racial diversity promised in press releases but rarely actually seen in the creative process… the writing is on the wall.

Welcome back to All For the Wookiee, where we take a look at the recent Star Wars universe offerings from Marvel and pick the most Star Wars-ish moments. This time around, we've got Lobots, revenging Sith, crime pixies and Jedi Batmans. It's a real good time. In this installment, we take a look at Lando #1 by Charles Soule and Alex Maleev, Darth Vader #7 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, the final issue of Mark Waid and Terry Dodson‘s Princess Leia miniseries, and the third issue of Kanan: the Last Padawan, from Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz.

Now that the first volume of Archie has ended after 666 issues, in accordance with prophecy, the blood moon has risen high to herald the arrival of a new series of adventures for the man-child who bears hair the color of flame. Or... or maybe I'm just reading way too much into a coincidental issue number of the last issue? Either way, the Archie reboot from Mark Waid and Fiona Staples is now upon us, and I'm pretty excited. To celebrate our impending Archiegeddon, we've got a preview of the events of the first issue, in which Riverdale's favorite son finally takes the stage to play a little music.

Popular comics and entertainment news site The Wall Street Journal offered the exclusive confirmation this morning on the new post-Secret Wars Avengers roster and creative team, already outlined but not formally confirmed by one of the Marvel Free Comic Book Day offerings earlier this year. As expected, the book will be written by Mark Waid with art by Mahmud Asrar, with the addition of artist Adam Kubert on alternating arcs. The team members are exactly as outlined in the FCBD comic, with no surprises; Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Spider-Man, Ms Marvel and Nova.

Period piece comics can be precarious if not handled with care, but when done properly they make for inventive narratives drawing from a rich historical backdrop. Enter Strange Fruit, the upcoming Boom Studios series from the heavyweight creative team of J.G Jones and Mark Waid. Set in the fictional town of Chatterlee, Mississippi, issue #1 of Strange Fruit begins with the arrival of the Mississippi Flood of 1927, one of the most destructive natural disasters in US history. Heralding a much more significant anomaly, the flood plays as a secondary plot device to brewing racial and classist tensions in what appears to be a former plantation town.

The impending relaunch of Archie is almost upon us, and that can mean only one thing: variant covers, including retailer exclusives from some of the country's most prominent comic shops. Yes, when Mark Waid and Fiona Staples kick off their new take on Riverdale's favorite son next month, their story will be wrapped up in not one, not two, but seventeen different covers, each one made for a specific store.

Welcome back to All For the Wookiee, where we take a look at the recent Star Wars universe offerings from Marvel and pick the most Star Wars-ish moments. From deranged protocol droids to mad alien queens to rogue troopers, we have it all in this last month’s comics. This installment is jam-packed, with two issues (5 and 6) of the main Star Wars series from writer Jason Aaron and artist John Cassaday, the penultimate issue of Mark Waid and Terry Dodson's Princess Leia miniseries, and issues 5 and 6 of Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca’s Darth Vader. And yes, we will discuss "The Moment" in the newest Star Wars issue and what that means for the new canon.