Michael Cho

Occupy Avengers, the upcoming series from David F. Walker and Carlos Pacheco, sees Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, borrowing a name from an activist movement that was a really big deal in 2011 as he attempts to "take back justice!" Check out an unlettered preview, courtesy of Marvel.

Darth Vader, by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, is coming to an end with issue #25. To mark the occasion, Marvel is releasing the issue with 12 different covers. The main cover is by Juan Gimenez, and looks like it could be the poster for a Darth Vader movie. Adi Granov offers a similarly cinematic cover, which also features Doctor Aphra, BT-1, and 0-0-0, the supporting cast of the series. They appear on a few of the other covers, while the rest focus on the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.

As a resident of Toronto, I often have cause to think about the art of Michael Cho; not just because I see him at shows and signings, and sometimes in the pub (full disclosure: I have been to the pub with Michael Cho), but because he created a distinctly niche art book that I'm very fond of; a collection of illustrations of Toronto's back alleys. Toronto has a warren of broad private streets running behind the actual streets, and when I'm strolling this city and the light and shadow hits the alleys in the right ways, I'm reminded how perfectly Cho's high contrast graphic style draws out the character and elegance to these ordinary urban spaces. And if Michael Cho can do all that to an alleyway, imagine what he can do to a big, bold, actual comic book superhero. Actually, you don't need to imagine it. After years of creating his own striking superhero prints, Cho has been picked to provide variant covers for a slate of Marvel books shipping in February 2016, and the results are fantastic. Check out the first few covers below:

To help any con-going readers with their convention plans, ComicsAlliance has put together this handy list of panels we recommend. Some are panels we think sound cool and some are panels where you can see CA contributors! You may not be able to experience everything (and probably not everything on this list!), but here's what we think are the best panels to attend on the final day, Sunday, July 12th!

If you're getting a sense of deja vu right now, that's because you actually have read this article before. Right before the latest volume of Batman: Black & White began back in 2013, ComicsAlliance published a list of the ten best stories in the celebrated anthology series. But the fourth volume was really, really good, and included some stories strong enough to be considered among the very best. Making a new version of that same list with just a few replacements would be cheating you, and require me to read my own writing (ecch). So instead, we're just going to stick with the 'ten best' thing. Here are the highlights from the latest volume of Black & White, and a few that were barely edged out of the first list. Will there be another version of this article after the next volume? You bet your ass. We're gonna stay here until we get this right, people.

Also a contributor to the recent volume of Batman: Black and White, Cho does a very good job with the characterization of his Shoplifter protagonist: grumpy, wry yet oddly affable, and smart. She's both a familiar and refreshing protagonist and serves well as a universal conduit for the emotions and experiences portrayed. I'm usually the first person to shunt the concept of "quit your day job, and do what makes you happy" à la Zen Pencils, Cho's an accomplished enough writer that his presentation of Corinna's decision to pursue her creative passion is more the result of a cumulative desire to change what isn't working for her, an acknowledgement of the problems she's having and possessing the strength and fortitude to realize only she can enforce a difference. She's under no illusions about what the future may bring, but for now, she's done enough to make herself feel better, and hopeful, and that will do. Shoplifter's a short book -- 90 pages or so, and the concise length serves it well -- there's no flab here, no room for distracted interjections, no complaints. It may be slight, but it's elegantly executed, and I like the fact that Cho didn't feel the need to draw this out, the story's assured and cogent (although spending more time with the character would perhaps leave a greater impact on the reader). Visually, it's as attractive as you'd expect from Cho, alternatively surrounding Corinna with beautiful rendered city and then leaving her swathes of space; she's as lost in one as the other. The rose and black color scheme is a gorgeous combination that does much to imbue the narrative with a sense of warmth and closeness, and also to dispel any notions of otherwise suggested tone. It's rare that you read something so evenly handled yet characterful and uplifting, but Shoplifter manages it. I chatted to Cho about the new Pantheon book, its themes and the process by which it was created.

With hundreds of panels to choose from at San Diego Comic-Con, the show can be an overwhelming experience — and it’s far too easy to miss a panel you think you might have loved, or to find yourself on the wrong side of the con floor five minutes before a great panel is about to start! Take heart, brave reader. ComicsAlliance has sifted through the schedule to offer up our pick of the best programming at the con. Today we offer our suggested highlights for day two, Friday July 25, 2014 — with an emphasis on comics programming. We’ll also let you know where and when you can find ComicsAlliance contributors at the San Diego show.

To celebrate the centennial anniversary of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster's birth, some of the men and women who've benefited from his tremendous artistic influence have paid homage to and shared their impressions of Shuster's work, his legacy, and his signature character.

Thursday's links are here for you. And you're there for them too.

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, as well as the special qualities of comic book storytelling, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great pinups, fan art and other illustrations on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art Eve