Adam Hughes

I don't know about you, but I did not wake up this morning expecting to see the phrase, "Jughead relaunch from the writer of Sex Criminals." And yet, here we are. Following up on the upcoming relaunch of Archie with Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, Archie Comics announced today that they plan to expand the rebooted Riverdale through a Kickstarter campaign. The goal is set at $350,000, with the money going to a trio of rebooted comics: Jughead from writer Chip Zdarsky and an unannounced artist, Life With Kevin by Dan Parent and J. Bone, and, maybe the most surprising one of all, a new Betty & Veronica #1 written and drawn by Adam Hughes.

It's inspired cosplayers and artists alike, and hangs in pride of place on many comic fans' walls, yet Adam Hughes' Real Power of the DC Universe poster was originally just a giveaway at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2008. Recreating a high glamour photo shoot with DC's biggest female heroes (and anti-heroes), including Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Power Girl, Supergirl, Batwoman, and Oracle, the poster is both a great piece of work and a wonderful tribute to these powerful characters. The poster has become a truly iconic image over the past few years, so we reached out to Hughes to find out the story behind its creation, and to learn about the choices he made --- including why Catwoman is in a black dress!

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, and some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it is awesome.

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, and some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it is awesome.

If you're getting a sense of deja vu right now, that's because you actually have read this article before. Right before the latest volume of Batman: Black & White began back in 2013, ComicsAlliance published a list of the ten best stories in the celebrated anthology series. But the fourth volume was really, really good, and included some stories strong enough to be considered among the very best. Making a new version of that same list with just a few replacements would be cheating you, and require me to read my own writing (ecch). So instead, we're just going to stick with the 'ten best' thing. Here are the highlights from the latest volume of Black & White, and a few that were barely edged out of the first list. Will there be another version of this article after the next volume? You bet your ass. We're gonna stay here until we get this right, people.

Everyone needs to get on board the Spider-Gwen train, because the hooded Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman was one of the most exciting new (or improved) characters of 2014, with our favorite new costume of the year, and with February's Spider-Gwen #1, by Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and Rico Renzi, she'll aim to really make her mark as the best spider-themed hero out there. OK, that's a tall order. But definitely in the top three, which places her in the top 1% of spider-heroes. Marvel has released a three-page unlettered preview of Spider-Gwen #1 showing Gwen in action, plus a look at three awesome variant covers by Adam Hughes, Skottie Young, and Kris Anka. The Hughes cover offers a glimpse of classic Gwen; Young serves up another of his fantastic baby variants; and Anka treats us to a shot of an unmakes Spider-Gwen delighting in the joy of webswinging. It's a gorgeous image that shows Gwen every bit at home on the end of a webline as Peter Parker. (She might want to put that mask back on, though. J. Jonah Jameson would kill for this picture.)

Q: What is the lasting impact of Justice League International? Does it have one? -- @dagsly A: Does Justice League International have a lasting impact?! Well let me ask you a question, Dags: Does Batman have pointy ears? Does Clark Kent wear glasses? Does Aquaman have pruney fingers and breath that smells like krill? Just so we're all on the same page here, the answer to all of these questions is "yes," especially in the case of JLI having a lasting impact. It's not just that it was a good book, but that it formed a foundation and a blueprint for the way pretty much every team book would work thirty years later. I mean, I don't want to exaggerate any more than I usually do or anything, but after Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four and Claremont, Byrne and Cockrum's X-Men, Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire's Justice League is arguably the most important team book in comics history.

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.

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.

New York Comic Con is right around the corner, and if you're planning on heading to Manhattan's Javits Center next weekend, the good people at Boom! Studios want to give you as many chances to part with your money at Booth 1344 as they possibly can. To that end, they're offering up a slate of pretty amazing looking variant covers, including a beautifully painted wrap-around cover for the Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake hardcover and an NYC-specific image where Jake Lawrence's Teen Dog takes a ride on a cosmic subway. My personal favorite, though, is the first issue of Sleepy Hollow, the tie-in to the amazingly bonkers Fox television show, which features Abbie and Ichabod charging through the forest with a hot pink lantern, as drawn by Lumberjanes co-creator Noelle Stevenson. It is basically amazing.