Darwyn Cooke

The Humble Bundle deals on comics are usually a pretty good way to catch up with older stories that you may have missed out on, but every now and then, there's one that features a brand new title to love --- and right now, the IDW Creator Showcase bundle is offering up a pretty good mix of both. Not only is it full of old favorites like Locke & Key and 30 Days of Night, it also features the debut issue of Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman's Cosmic Scoundrels --- and friends, that is a comic book that hit shelves last week that can be yours (along with a ton of other great titles) for as little as a buck.

There’s a strong strain of the collector in fandom, and buying for a comics fan can be a difficult endeavor, because so much of what they want is something they already know about. But even the most famous writers, artists, and characters have obscurer works that often go overlooked. This gift guide looks at deep cuts for the superfan in your life, and we've divided into three sections; favorite artists, favorite writers, and favorite characters. If you know someone who is passionate about Darwyn Cooke, devoted to Warren Ellis, or a big-time Superman fan, we may have the perfect gift suggestion.

San Diego Comic Con is without a doubt the biggest event on the industry’s calendar, and people will be flying from around the world to attend panels, watch trailers, meet creators, and make friends. This year’s event is bigger than ever, with so much going on every single day that it can be difficult to sift through all that information and decide how to spend your time. Yesterday we gave a rundown on what to expect on Thursday and Friday, but things heat up as the weekend kicks in and the major studios make their presence known. Expect big reveals from Marvel Studios, DC's TV offerings and more, plus great panels featuring your favorite creators in comics.

The best superhero film ever made isn't The Dark Knight. It's not the 1978 Superman. It's not even Spider-Man 2. No, the best superhero movie is 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. Now, you might be asking, how does a 75-minute, direct-to-video animated film beat out those other films, which are widely adored and were helmed by some of the most acclaimed directors working today? The answer is, none of those films were built around the work of the great Darwyn Cooke, who passed away this past weekend from cancer.

In a blog post on Friday, Darwyn Cooke’s wife Marsha announced that her husband had been undergoing palliative care following treatment for an aggressive form of cancer. It was confirmed the next day that Darwyn Cooke passed away in the early hours of Saturday, May 14, surrounded by friends and family at his home in Florida. Cooke’s loss is felt throughout the comic book industry, not just as a creator and cartoonist, but as a friend, colleague and idol. Darwyn Cooke’s iconic and unmistakable style represented the very best the industry could offer, and the world is a much poorer place without him.

Of the many artistic talents to pass through DC Comics, few have as distinctive a style as Darwyn Cooke. Taking an aesthetic rooted in both Jack Kirby and 1950s magazine illustration, Cooke has carved out a distinctive identity as the artist behind such hits as New Frontier, the Catwoman original graphic novel Selina's Big Score, and The Spirit, leaving perhaps the most distinctive mark on that last character since his creator, Will Eisner. Now until the 16th, thanks to Comixology, you get a chance to check out the vast majority of his DC Comics work, all for under $50. The marquee item here is of course New Frontier, and you can get the entire six-issue miniseries and a later one-shot for under $15. That's a great deal, but if you already have that series and you're looking for a fresh recommendation, we'd strongly suggest picking up Jonah Hex #50.

On this day in 1940, DC Comics published Batman #1, which, as well as being the first appearance of The Joker, also featured the first appearance of the character we would come to know as Catwoman. Selina Kyle has been one of the most versatile characters in not only Batman’s canon, but the whole DC Universe. She’s been a hero, a villain, an ally, a lover, and for over twenty years she has been a leading lady in her own right.

Gotham was certainly an interesting prospect when it was first announced, and many Batman fans were unsure whether a TV show about a rookie Jim Gordon and a child Bruce Wayne could work. Now we’re halfway through season 2, and the show continues to surprise with how weird and wonderful it can be, while providing interesting and unique takes on classic Batman tropes. If watching Gotham has inspired you to try out some more noir crime comics, we have some suggestions. We're going to look beyond the obvious choices of Batman, Detective Comics, and the comic that most directly inspired Gotham, Gotham Central. Instead, we’ve picked out five of the best independent crime and detective books for you to check out

Three issues' worth of questions and mysteries will (hopefully) reach some conclusions when the fourth and final issue of Gilbert Hernandez and Darwyn Cooke's The Twilight Children is released this Wednesday, January 27, and we have an exclusive preview. The Twilight Children tells the story of strange goings-on in a small beach town. There are weird glowing orbs, blind children with peculiar insights, and a couple of characters who might be aliens. At the center of it all is Felix, a young scientist, Tito, a woman who always gets what she wants, and of course Ela, a mysterious girl who very likely isn't from this world.

It's the end of the year! We made it through 2015, a year that brought all kinds of new, weird and brilliant comics into our lives. It's been a huge year for the industry, with the arrival of several new publishers, multiple new digital publishing concepts, and a whole slew of creative talent pushing themselves into the spotlight. With so much going on during 2015, there's one question you might have not thought about yet: what's coming up in 2016? So much. There are new graphic novels, new publishing lines, new digital initiatives; it's all going on. And so, as we reach the Yearender, it's time to look ahead, to see what comics' future will bring.