J.A. Micheline

Ibrahim Moustafa burst onto the scene in 2013 with his collaboration with Christopher Sebela on High Crimes, a critically-acclaimed murder mystery that takes place atop Mount Everest. His covers for High Crimes were highlighted on ComicsAlliance as some of the best of 2013, and since then Moustafa has gone on to do cover work for a number of different series --- including the first three issues of Doctor Fate. Since working on those Fate covers, Moustafa was tapped for guest interiors for issue #8 of the series, which hit stores earlier this year, and he'll return to the book for issue #13 this summer. ComicsAlliance sat down with Moustafa to hear more about that experience, his process, and what we should expect from him next.

There is a hesitation in calling something or someone the ‘first.’ More often than not, there are too many unknowns, too many what-ifs, too many complications for us to arrive at that designation with any certainty. We call Matt Baker “the first known African-American artist to find success in the comic book industry.” Today is the anniversary of his birthday and it presents us with a lot of questions.

Dark Horse announced at NYCC this weekend that it's publishing the first print edition of Anne Szabla's webcomic Bird Boy, the beautifully illustrated tale of a young boy traversing a mythic land of gods and monsters in an attempt to prove himself to his tribe. We sat down with Szabla to talk about the announcement, what it means for the future of her webcomic, and what readers new and old can look forward to in the print version.

Ron Wimberly has been working in mainstream comics for more than ten years, on projects like Metal Hurlant, Lucifer, and the Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite; but it wasn't until his 2012 graphic novel Prince of Cats that he really exploded. Since then, he's worked on the interiors of books including She-Hulk and Prophet, and produced some exceptional cover work and character redesigns. More recently he announced two new creator-owned books with Image. ComicsAlliance spoke to Wimberly to hear more about his plans for the near future, including his collaboration with Saul Williams, and the imminent return of Gratuitous Ninja.

Barnaby Bagenda, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Tom King's The Omega Men from DC Comics has become a critics' favorite since its debut in June, though it unfortunately never found the audience it deserved. The book is filled with twists, turns, questions of morality, questions of politics --- and some absolutely gorgeous art and colors. Omega Men has helped elevate the profile of penciller and inker Barnaby Bagenda, making him one of the artists to watch out for in 2016. ComicsAlliance sat down with Bagenda to hear about his inspirations and his thoughts on structure.

A few weeks ago, ComicsAlliance had a nice long chat with writer Steve Orlando about Virgil, the queersploitation graphic novel set in Kingston, Jamaica that he's been working on with artist J.D. Faith, colorist Chris Beckett, and letterer Tom Mauer. In honor of the book's release, we sat down with Faith, Beckett, and Mauer to hear about their experiences working on the book, and how they operated together as a team.

Nine Worlds Geekfest is a London convention that is --- and let’s just get this out of the way now --- unconventional. The event was born out of a Kickstarter in 2013 which sought to put on a “weekend-long, multi-genre convention” with a note that they are “founded on the radical belief that geekdom should not be restricted by class, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, or the ability to cite Wookieepedia in arguments.” This is the kind of lip service you see at most conventions, despite actual attendants finding the truth to be slightly different. But Nine Worlds puts its money where its mouth is.

Virgil is a project long in the making. The creative team of Steve Orlando, J.D. Faith, Chris Beckett, and Tom Mauer first launched the story in August 2013 as a "queersploitation" graphic novel publicly funded by Kickstarter. At Image Expo in July, Image announced that the book would join its upcoming line-up and receive a wider distribution, which was great news for the team’s fans. The graphic novel is set in Kingston, Jamaica --- a country where anti-gay violence is unfortunately prevalent --- and follows the story of Virgil, a police officer on a mission of violent revenge after his boyfriend is kidnapped. ComicsAlliance sat down with writer Steve Orlando to talk about queersploitation, inspiration, and representation.

Marvel, you and I are taking a break. It’s not me; it’s you — and you made the decision really easy. In the past two to three weeks, I have watched you disrespect and disregard marginalized voices and I’ve had enough.

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.