Becky Cloonan

Earlier this month, DC released the first paperback collection of Gotham Academy, Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschl's fan-favorite series about Olive Silverlock, Maps Mizoguchi, and their fellow students at Gotham City's most prestigious prep school. We recently got the chance to chat with the entire creative team, and what ensued was a fast-paced and giggle-filled conversation, evidencing the same careful planning and casual camaraderie that has made the series itself such an immediate hit – audiences tend to sense when creators enjoy working on a project, and and it's clear that with Gotham Academy, this trio are having the time of their lives.

Sad news; the third volume of Boom Studios/Archaia's Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard comes to an end next week with the fourth of its collections of short stories by some of the most talented artists in the industry, spinning their own mousey tails tales within the world of David Petersen's Mouse Guard. But good news! The series is going out just as strong as it came in, with new stories illustrated by True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys' Becky Cloonan, Big Hero 6 animator Ryan Lang, and Sabertooth Swordsman's Aaron Conley in stories of ghosts, monsters, and a drunken journey into the belly of the beast. And best news, we have a two-page preview of each story for you to enjoy.

The return of the Joker and his latest rein of crazy over Gotham comes to an end in April with the concluding chapter of Endgame in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman #40. The effects of the Joker's assault on sanity won't only be felt in the pages of that book, but in a series of one-shots spinning out of Batgirl, Arkham Manor, Detective Comics, and Gotham Academy. In the case of Gotham's finest/spookiest/strangest private school, the endgame plays out on the dark and sinister night of a city-wide blackout, with Joker-infected crazies at large on the streets. Holed up at the academy, students Olive Silverlock, Maps Mizoguchi and their... "friends"... tell each other scary Joker stories --- and those stories come from a team of exceptional guest artists. Series writers Brenden Fletcher and Becky Cloonan are joined by Six Gun Gorilla artist Jeff Stokely, Adventure Time character designer Joy Ang, illustrator Clio Chiang, and Anya's Ghost author Vera Brosgol. Check out our exclusive preview... if you dare.

The Kitchen has reached the midpoint of its eight-issue run, and from here you might get a sense of which direction things are heading in for Kath, Raven, and Angie --- mob wives turned mob bosses in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York in the late 1970s. In the fourth issue of writer Ollie Masters and artists Ming Doyle and Jordie Bellaire's crime drama, the husbands got out of prison --- and as you might imagine, the reunions weren't entirely happy ones. In issue #5, the men are ready to reassert themselves, but the women aren't going to just fade into the background. The series is building to a fascinating confrontation in its really rather... unorthodox examination of women's changing roles in the workforce in the latter half of the 20th century. This is a comic that takes a serious and mature approach to storytelling, and it's easy to imagine that it won't end well for anyone, and it certainly can't end well for everyone.

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.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of David Petersen's beloved series Mouse Guard, a new collection of short stories set in the Mouse Guard world is about to debut. With stories from creators as varied as Mark Buckingham, Becky Cloonan, and Dustin Nguyen, the four part Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 3 begins in March.

A great comic book cover is an advertisement, a work of art, a statement, and an invitation. A great comic book cover is a glimpse of another world through a canvas no bigger than a window pane. In Best Comic Book Covers Ever (This Month), we look back over some of the most eye-catching, original and exceptional covers of the past month. 2015 got off to an impressive start with stunning compositions from Riley Rossmo, James Harren, and Ken Niimura; wonderful character portraits from Marko Djurdjevic, Becky Cloonan, and Kaare Andrews; amazing colors from Darwyn Cooke and Artyom Trakhanov; and a really fun He-Man piece from Stjepan Sejic.

Aside from the obvious, I don't usually like to refer to things as being my "favorites." I talk about so much stuff that I love all the time that every time I settle on a favorite, I almost immediately end up contradicting myself when I remember something else that I love, like when I went on and on about how Impulse #3 is my favorite single issue of all time right before I re-read G.I. Joe #21. There's just so much out there that's great that nine times out of ten, settling on a single thing as my favorite ends up being pretty limiting, and if there's one thing I hate, it's having to go back and admit that I might've been wrong about something. For me to actually settle on something as a favorite, it has to be so obvious that it's above and beyond everything else out there that it's self-evident. So with that in mind, believe me when I say this: Gotham Academy is, without question, my favorite comic on the stands right now, and it just keeps getting better.

Boom Studios has a reputation in the comics industry for publishing an increasingly diverse group of books and creators. This commitment to diversity in genre and people is reflected in an all-new initiative the publisher announced today in Previews with a letter from founder Ross Richie. While 2015 is the 10th anniversary of Boom, the publisher wants to talk about what's next rather than what's come before. They call this discussion of the future Push Comics Forward and they don't want it to be only about Boom. Push Comics Forward is Boom's way of focusing on the ongoing conversation about diversity and the future of the industry. To learn more about this initiative and what to expect from Boom for the next ten years and beyond, we spoke with Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon.

For the past few days the comics internet has been abuzz with the news out of the 2015 Image Expo, but there's something that was announced at last year's that I'm every bit as excited for as the new batch: Southern Cross, the new sci-fi horror comic from writer-artist Becky Cloonan, artist Andy Belanger, and colorist Shari Chankhamma. Originally announced at Image Expo 2014, Southern Cross is set for release in March, and to get people excited, Cloonan and Belanger have been posting designs from the series on a Tumblr dedicated to the comic -- and clearly, it's working, largely because they are awesome.