sci-fi week

Back in the dim and distant times before the manga boom at the turn of the century, if you wanted anything that looked even remotely like Japanese comics you had to hunt through long boxes and hope that you could track down a whole story. But like a lot of inconvenient things from the '90s --- like, say, VHS tapes --- that's an experience that I have a lot of nostalgia for, and the last time I was digging through dollar books at a con, I thought it might be fun to replicate what it was like to go into some random '90s manga completely cold. That's how I ended up with a copy of Eat-Man #1, the story of a man who eats things --- and based on this one issue, I think it might be my new favorite manga.

Everyone loves comic book trivia, but with over 75 years of superhero comics behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in comics in our continuing video series. You think you know comics? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at comics' fifty year mission to boldly go where no comic has gone before: Star Trek!

In a post-apocalyptic world where only animals remain, Mac Smith's Scurry follows two mice as they attempt to keep together and stay alive through the most dangerous landscape imaginable. It's a terrific series that has been running as a webcomic since January, with each page fully painted by Smith. Scurry is a blockbuster success; with the launch of a Kickstarter to bring the series to print, Smith has seen his modest target of $8,000 blown out the water. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter has received almost $70,000 in pledges! The series has hit a chord with readers, so Back Pages spoke with Smith about how the project came together, why he brought it to Kickstarter, and just what readers can expect if they back the comic.

Welcome to Cast Party, the feature that imagines a world with even more live action comic book adaptations than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you’re ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist. To kick off Sci-Fi Week, I’m looking at a new spin on a classic: Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. But to keep this version fresh and different from the classic 1980 film, I'm not adapting the original comic, but rather the 2014 Dynamite Comics series by Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner.

The first thing you notice about Omega the Unknown, Marvel's short-lived mid-'70s sci-fi series, is its narration. Like most Bronze Age comics, it's densely narrated, but something about this the narrative voice in this work is different; rambling, like a Beat poet. It hops from adjective to adjective, not in the grand carnival barker style of Stan Lee, but like a hepped-up poet taking joy in his words and phrases. Deliberate, but seeming not to be; that's probably the best way to describe the way writers Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes narrated their bizarro epic.

Everyone loves trivia about their favorite animated features and series, but with over 100 years of animation history behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in cartoons in this continuing video series. You think you know cartoons? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at the defender of the universe, Voltron!

Karen Berger came to DC comics at the cusp of the 1980s as editor for titles including Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld and House of Mystery. As executive editor of Vertigo, Berger made stars of writers and artists who have gone on to dominate the industry, and the imprint became synonymous with an experimental, stylistic approach which gave it an added edge over every other publisher. In 2012, Berger resigned from Vertigo. She has been largely absent from comics since, but at Image Expo earlier this year she announced a new series from writer Sara Kenney and artist John Watkiss called Surgeon X, with herself as editor. ComicsAlliance spoke to Berger to look back at her extraordinary career, and her continued dedication to bringing new and experimental ideas to the medium.

With Should I Be Reading… ?, ComicsAlliance hopes to offer you a guide to some of the best original ongoing comics being published today, and this week we're focusing on some of the very best science-fiction in comics. Discover the world of tomorrow with ComicsAlliance's Sci-FI Week! Writer Rick Remender and artist Matteo Scalera have created not just one dense, beautiful, wondrous world in Black Science, but several for readers to explore as Grant McKay and the Dimensionauts explore the alternate realities of the Eververse.