Animation

Every revival brings with it one inevitable question: whether revisiting opens the door to a full-scale continuation. The same could be asked of Adult Swim’s coming Samurai Jack Season 5, the first in over a decade, though creator Genndy Tartakovsky definitively confirms that the March revival will bring an end to Jack’s journey.

Star Wars may have taken place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but any Indiana Jones fan could tell you the two tales share some surprising links in the form of various easter eggs. Now, Star Wars Rebels is in on the fun with its own Indy gag, along with other Ralph McQuarrie and The Force Awakens nods from this Saturday’s latest.

In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent. This week's selection of the best cosplay ever includes Symmetra, Chirrut, Katana, Vision, and more!

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 hero of Eternia, He-Man!

Q: Hey, so in The Lego Batman Movie, there's a character called The Mime. What's the deal with that? — @comicsfan4life A: That signal, shining in the sky --- someone needs me to explain an extremely obscure Batman villain to them! I have been training for this day my entire life. It might come as a surprise, but I actually haven't seen The Lego Batman Movie yet --- although I definitely want to. As I understand it, though, the Mime is only one of several c- to z-list Batman foes who show up and somehow also manage to get toys out of the deal. So my question is, why stop with the Mime?

How do you say “psych!” in Japanese? Master animator and Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki dun got us again, totally convincing us that he was really retiring this time by saying things like “I am done making movies” and “This time is for real.” We believed him like a bunch of fools when he announced a “semi-retirement” following the completion of Princess Mononoke, we believed him when he said he wanted to call it quits after Spirited Away, and we believed him back in 2013, when he declared The Wind Rises to be his final feature. The Boy Who Cried Not Making Any More Movies has pulled the same trick on us all again, with the news that he’ll un-retire one more time for a new feature called Boro the Caterpillar.

At the time Netflix first confirmed an animated Castlevania series on its roster, it was a fair question how the animated venture might handle the video game franchise’s gorier elements. Well, if the first official poster is any indication, things are going to get real red, real fast.

What with social cliques, homework, and hormones, high school is tough enough already. Add to that a massive natural disaster, and it’s a different sort of catastrophe entirely. My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is both exactly what it sounds like and much more than that, an animated riff on the likes of San Andreas that adds an eccentric sense of humor to the genre. The newly unveiled trailer offers a sample of the thrills (jumping across shark-infested waters!) and the laughs (the bookcase-amputation joke is aces) to be had in this odd little festival favorite.

We don’t yet know if CW Seed’s animated Vixen will return for Season 3 (or another live-action Arrow appearance), but fans nonetheless have a new opportunity to catch up on her adventures. Vixen: The Movie will combine the two animated seasons into a feature-length Blu-ray, with plenty of bonus features.

Netflix’s animation partnership with DreamWorks has yielded significant returns thus far; not just for Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters, but also Voltron: Legendary Defender. That formation is getting even stronger, as reports indicate Season 3 is a go for fall 2017, with potentially many more episodes to come.