Chris Sims
Show Up For Roll Call In Kibblesmith And Charm’s ‘Valiant High’ #1 [Exclusive Preview]
Valiant High feels like something I accidentally wished into existence. Even putting aside the fact that I'm a huge fan of teenage superheroics and alternate universe stories about heroes and villains going to high school together, they would've had me hooked just with the phrase "Teenage Ninjak." And now, we're finally getting to see it.
After being announced last year as part of Comixology's new line of digital-exclusive titles, the first issue of Daniel Kibblesmith and Derek Charm's Valiant High debuts next week, and you can report early for roll call with a seven page preview.
The First Rule Is Everyone Has Fun: Colleen Coover Talks ‘Small Favors’ [Love & Sex Week]
Since its original run from 2002 to 2004, Colleen Coover's Small Favors has been one of the most highly regarded erotic comics of all time. It tells the fantastic story of Annie, a woman who uses up her lifetime supply of self-pleasure and is sentenced to be monitored by a manifestation of her conscience, Nibbil. Unfortunately for her prudish side, Annie and Nibbil quickly fall in love and spend eight issues having extremely imaginative sex with each other and a few new friends --- all within the context of a happy and charmingly romantic love story.
Now, thirteen years since its final issue, a hardcover collection from Limerence Press is set to hit shelves in April, complete with a new story that Coover drew based on a script from the original run. ComicsAlliance spoke to Coover about the history of Small Favors, how the experience shaped her career, and the rules that governed the universe of her "girly porno comic" love story.
Hedging Your Bets #17: Total Eclipse
This week, Sonic With Punches takes on Sonic With A Gun, and every now and then I fall apart! And I need you now, tonight! And I need you more than ever! And we'll only be makin' it ri-i-ight, 'cause we could never be wrong together!
On The Cheap: Get Warren Ellis’s Run On ‘Stormwatch’ For $12 Total
This week's debut of The Wild Storm is pretty interesting for a lot of reasons, but chief among them is the return of Warren Ellis to the superhero universe that he helped to shape into the setting of some of the most compelling superhero stories of the past 20 years. Well, kind of a return, I suppose, but while the new series is a reboot from the ground up, there's definitely a history there. And with that history, as ever, comes a sale on Comixology.
Bizarro Back Issues: Betty, Veronica, And the Dark Sorcery That Is Love! (1994) [Love & Sex Week]
It's Valentine's Day, and that means that our thoughts here at ComicsAlliance are turning inevitably to our favorite romances from comics. Well. Maybe that's not the right word, since I'm not sure that a high school love triangle between an indecisive klutz and two girls who would be better off without him really qualifies as romance, but you get the idea. Love is in the air, and when Betty and Veronica are involved, that's naturally going to include a little bit of competition.
That's certainly to be expected, but sometimes, it gets a little too intense. Like, say, that one time back in the '90s when Veronica turned to the darkest sorcery in order to win Archie's heart, and Archie wound up in the hospital.
Young Animal Takes On The Fourth World For The Allred Family’s ‘Bug: The Adventures Of Forager’
Since its debut last year with some of the most compelling titles on the stands, it's safe to say that the Young Animal line has had some success digging into the more obscure characters from DC's catalog. We've even got a Cave Carson book that features Wild Dog, and it's one of the best things going.
With that in mind, it makes sense that the line's approach to Jack Kirby's Fourth World looks beyond the usual characters, like Orion and Mister Miracle, and puts the spotlight on someone else. Hence Bug: The Adventures of Forager.
Fighting Fantasy Comes To Comics With ‘Ian Livingstone’s Freeway Fighter’ [Exclusive]
As Fighting Fantasy closes in on its 35th Anniversary, Titan has announced a comic based on Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter. Set in a post-apocalyptic world of high-octane action that's more than a little reminiscent of Mad Max, the comic features a brand new adventure from Andi Ewington, Simon Coleby, and Len O'Grady
Ranger Station Episode 69: The Beetle Invasion
we're looking back with an in-depth guide to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, including its source material from Gosei Sentai Dairanger in ComicsAlliance's Ranger Station!
This week, despite the title, it's not a crossover with Big Bad Beetleborgs. Thank God.
Ask Chris #327: The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
Q: Is it possible that Lex Luthor is actually in love with Superman? Is it the reason for his obsession and jealousy? — @RedEarth18
A: No.
Don't get me wrong: As much as it's been overused and misapplied over the years, the trope of a villain who's lashing out at a hero through some twisted kind of love isn't exactly one that I'm opposed to. It can be the source of some genuinely great storytelling, like Noelle Stevenson's Nimona, and it adds a lot of layers to villains that you don't often see in straightforward adventure stories where someone wants to punch someone else because they robbed the Crossword Puzzle Museum. I just don't think it works for Lex.
Ninjak And Shadowman Unite For New Valiant Event Series ‘Rapture’
If your problem with the Valiant Universe has been that it just hasn't been heavy metal enough, then folks, I have some good news, and it comes in the form of Ninjak jump-kicking a skeleton's head off while also chopping that same skeleton in half with a katana.
In May, Matt Kindt and Cafu are launching Rapture, a new crossover that teams up Ninjak and Shadowman, focusing on an ancient war that threatens to destroy both Heaven and Earth.