Alex's column, The Issue, looks at a stand-out standalone comics single every month. In his life as a non-comics journalist, he writes about videogames and all things mobile for publications including Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun and Killscreen. He also has a dog, who may or may not be named after a comics character. Find all this and more rambling on Twitter @AlexJaySpencer.
Alex Spencer
Costume Drama: The Ever-Changing Look of America Chavez
After a couple of years as the undisputed champion of ‘character most bafflingly lacking their own comic’, Ms America Chavez finally has a solo title. With the second issue about to land, it’s a good time to look at one of the very best things about the character: her costume de…
Costume Drama: How Iron Fist’s Classic Costume Channelled His Chic
It's obviously not the most disappointing thing about the series, but when it was confirmed that Netflix's Iron Fist show wouldn't feature the character's classic duds, my heart sank. Partly because it meant more screen time for Danny's civilian look (best summed up as "…
Image at 25: How ‘Sex Criminals’ Proved That Comics Can Do Rom-Coms
Rom-coms are all too rare in comics. Most stories have a romantic plot threaded through them somewhere, but books dedicated to telling a love story are few and far between in the modern market.
So when Sex Criminals came along, nearly a decade into my relationship with comics, it stuck out like an …
So when Sex Criminals came along, nearly a decade into my relationship with comics, it stuck out like an …
10 Forgotten Comics From Real Musicians [Music Week]
Music and comics have a long history of influencing one another, whether it’s story titles borrowing lyrics, band names taken from dialogue, or that one time that Matt Fraction had a Britney Spears analogue punch a bear in The Order. Sometimes, though, that connection goes beyond nods and win…
Eat Nuts And Kick Butts: The ‘Unbeatable Squirrel Girl’ Mixtape [Music Week]
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, by Ryan North, Erica Henderson and Rico Renzi is a vibrant, self-reflexive, upbeat and funny female-led comic --- and those happen to be all the qualities I enjoy in my pop music as well! So stick on your headphones, grab some nuts, and let me kick your ears' butts in …
Pin Ups: Comic Artists Cover David Bowie For ‘Moonage Daydreams’ Exhibition [Music Week]
Moonage Daydream is an art exhibition that describes itself as an "illustrated tribute" to David Bowie. Twenty-one artists from comics and beyond have taken on 21 different albums or singles, creating new cover art inspired by the music. That includes Iain Laurie of And Then Emily Was Gone…
Repetition and Replicants: The Use of Sampling in King and Walta’s ‘Vision’
Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta's The Vision features a lot of quotation and repetition. Dialogue and scenes are reprised a few pages or issues later; objects that make a quick appearance in issue #1 play a vital role in the climax; dialogue is lifted directly from comics published nearly …
The Issue: Double Exposure In ‘Shutter’ #23 [Fantasy Week]
Throughout its run, Shutter has delighted in pushing the boundaries of comics. Leila Del Duca turned her pen to pastiches of everyone from Hergé to Winsor McCay to Richard Scarry. Owen Gieni separated his colors out into cyan, magenta and yellow to tell three stories on a single page. One memor…
The ‘Saga’ Continues: Catching Up With Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples’ Masterwork [Sci-F…
When a comic runs for a long while at a consistent level of quality, with a single reliable creative team, it can often slip out of the conversation. When it launched four and a half years ago, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Saga was the talk of the comics town --- a critical darling and o…
The Issue: Cold And Alone In ‘Transmetropolitan’ #8 [Sci-Fi Week]
Welcome to The Issue, where we look at some of the strangest, most interesting, and most distinctive single issue comic stories ever to grace the medium. For Sci-Fi Week at ComicsAlliance, we're looking at one of comics' best single issue science fiction stories.
Transmetropolitan writer …
Transmetropolitan writer …