colleen doran

This year's Angouleme was the subject of controversy when the list of creators in contention for the Grand Prix was unveiled, and all 30 nominees were men. The longlist was eventually thrown out in favor of an open vote, which coalesced around three names; Hermann Huppen, Alan Moore, and Claire Wendling. Huppen, known professionally as Hermann, is rumored to have won, despite having said he would decline the award. The controversy prompted some debate about which women should have been in consideration, with the sort of career and longevity that a lifetime achievement award is meant to recognize. Some people have argued that few eligible women exist, but the reality is that women are undervalued, and the extent of their contributions have been overlooked. We've compiled a list of 12 women who deserve recognition for their lifetime of work in comics, but this is just scratching the surface.

At a time when most of comics was tiptoeing around the notion of gay, bi and lesbian people existing – much less being portrayed well – The Legion of Super-Heroes was making text out of subtext with characters such as Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass, and doing it during one of the series' most creatively daring periods. Yet as the fate of the character Shvaughn Erin illustrates, a step forward for some can often leave others behind.

If you're following any comic book artists on Twitter or Tumblr, then there's a pretty good chance that you saw the word "Inktober" pop up an awful lot over the past four weeks. Created by artist Jake Parker in 2009, it's a month-long exercise in getting better at working with ink (as opposed to just pencils) by producing a piece of art every day for all 31 days of October. And it's also exactly the kind of thing that we love to see here at ComicsAlliance.

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.

Ever wanted to be drawn by Jill Thompson or Colleen Doran? Or get Julia Baritz to draw your mom as a superhero? And in the process help fund a documentary about the history of women in comics? Well, here's your chance. Sequart, the organization that produced Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods, The Image Revolution, and other comics-related documentaries has teamed with Respect! Films for a Kickstar

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great images 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 artwor

A sequel to the Eisner-nominated 2005 limited series Smoke (with artist Igor Kordey), writer Alex de Campi's graphic novel Ashes was one of comics' bigger Kickstarter successes, raising over $32,000 in 2011 via the increasingly influential crowd-funding platform...

Last month Dynamite Entertainment announced a relaunch of Red Sonja, with the new monthly series to be written by Gail Simone. The publisher also revealed plans to have the series' covers be created by a rotating cast of women artists. Today, Dynamite released all six covers for Red Sonja #1, including work from Fiona Staples, Amanda Conner, Colleen Doran, Nicola Scott, Stephanie Buscema, and Jenn

Today is the first day of Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. It also happens to be the first day of Women's History Month, and Dynamite Entertainment is kicking off both with a big announcement, as the publisher revealed today that Gail Simone has signed on to write a new ongoing Red Sonja series, with the first issue arriving in stores this summer...

I like Kickstarter a lot. It's an efficient way to directly connect with artists while also making sure that a project that interests you gets funded. There are still a few hitches that need to be worked out, but my experience with Kickstarter has been largely positive...