Meghan Hetrick

Some people say that politics and politicians have no place in comics, but that's just not true. Captain America Comics #1 saw the hero punching out Adolf Hitler on the front cover; FDR was in an issue of Detective Comics two full issues before Batman debuted; and this November, Valiant's premiere female superhero teams up with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Faith #5.

Marvel unveiled its July variant cover theme at C2E2 this past weekend, and the pictures definitely tell a story. As a follow-up to March's "Women of Power" covers, which highlighted the strength of Marvel's heroic women, the July covers are dubbed "Mighty Men of Marvel." While "covers with men on them" might seem like an unremarkable theme, given that it describes most Marvel covers already, it's clear from the art released thus far that the concept was meant to be more bold than that --- but it's equally clear that Marvel missed its target.

Modern day miracles meet the dark legends of Scottish mythology in Red Thorn, the recently launched series from writer David Baillie and artist Meghan Hetrick that's part of Vertigo's 2015 renaissance. The series is set on the streets of Glasgow, where an American girl called Isla brings her drawings to life while occult magics from centuries ago start boiling back up to the surface. Scotland's rich history --- both real and mythical --- swirls through the series like a thick mist, offering a look at the harder, grittier types of legend that seem so quintessentially Scottish. The series marks the culmination of a years of planning from Baillie and Hetrick, who spoke to ComicsAlliance about their work together, what readers can expect from the series, and just what the heck a "semmit" is.

Vertigo is making a big push with its 12 new series this fall, with an impressive roster of creators including Gail Simone, Holly Black, Peter Milligan, Gilbert Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke, and Micheal Allred. Survivors’ Club, The Twilight Children, Clean Room and Art Ops launch next month, followed by Unfollow, Slash & Burn, Red Thorn and Jacked in November. The four books rounding out the dozen are Sheriff Of Babylon, Lucifer, New Romancer and Last Gang In Town, all launching in December and solicited in this month's Previews catalog. We have an advance look at those solicitations, and with it your first comprehensive look at the new Vertigo line-up. Check out the covers, creative teams, and synopses below, in order of release:

With most of its major hits and standout series having run their course months or years ago, Vertigo has been due for a renaissance for a while now. Judging from the announcements made at San Diego Comic Con late on Thursday, the publisher may be rallying, with 12 new series set to launch in the closing months of 2015 at a rate of one new issue #1 every week. Those 12 titles include a couple of previously announced books that have been rescheduled, but enough new announcements to suggest that Vertigo means to impress with its ambition. Sci fi and the supernatural are inevitably well represented, and the roster includes veteran talents, emerging names, and a few cross-disiplinary transfers in the form of novelists Lauren Beukes and Holly Black — the latter on a relaunch of Lucifer — and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke.

Who doesn't love a good postmodern murder mystery? Boring people, that's who. Dull, uninspired, abandoned buildings pretending to be human beings who prefer their detective stories to be streamlined and logical, with a series of clues that can be interpreted to lead to a definite answer, and no funny business with fragmentation, parallel narratives, or the sudden appearance of the author in their own story. If, however, you're an interesting, exciting, attractive person with an undeniable elan, Vertigo's Bodies might be more your style. Written by Si Spencer and drawn by a team of four artists, Bodies takes place in four distinct time periods ranging from the 19th century to the far future, where four detectives investigate four identical murder cases. Not just identical in that it's the same M.O., with the exact same injuries and found in the exact same spot throughout time; identical in that, over a span of 160 years, it's the same body.

This week, Chris and Matt gush about the amazing work Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth and Chris Eliopoulos do on the highly experimental and enjoyable Hawkeye #19. Then they talk about the Brian Buccellato-written Detective Comics Annual #3, which features collaborations with a whole slew of artists. Speaking of big groups of artists, they then pivot to talking about the new Vertigo series Bodies, which is written by Si Spencer and has art by Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay and Phil Winslade.

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, as well as the special qualities of comic book storytelling, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great pinups, fan art and other illustrations on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art Ever (This Week), a weekly depository for just some of the pieces of especially compelling artwork that we come across in our regular travels across the Web. Some of it’s new, some of it’s old, some of it’s created by working professionals, some of it’s created by future stars, some of it’s created by talented fans, awnd some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it is awesome.

In the overwhelmingly male comic book industry, it has been a challenge for some editors and readers to see the ever growing number of talented women currently trying to make a name for themselves. With that in mind, ComicsAlliance offers Hire This Woman, a recurring feature designed for comics readers as well as editors and other professionals, where we shine the spotlight on a female comics pro on the ascendance. Some of these women will be at the very beginning of their careers, while others will be more experienced but not yet “household names.” Artist Meghan Hetrick recently broke into comics with work on Fairest, Joker's Daughter, and DC's recent Lois Lane one-shot. You might also know her from this informative and entertaining tutorial on how to draw breasts correctly. She's got a variety of other projects on the horizon as well, as she told us in this Hire This Woman interview.

DC can't get enough of the number 52; Vertigo is really into the number four lately. Not only is the upcoming quarterly anthology CMYK based on four colors, another new series, titled Bodies, will feature four different detectives solving a murder mystery that runs through four different points in London history: 1890, 1940, 2014, and 2050. The Si Spencer-written, eight-issue series will also feat