Dave Gibbons

Many of comics’ most popular characters have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most significant characters decade by decade. This week, with the release of Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice just six months away, we’re taking a look at the best Superman/Batman team-up comics.

Many of comics’ most popular heroes have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this new feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most beloved characters decade by decade. This week, we’re taking a look at the Green Lantern.

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.

The United Kingdom has a new charity that promotes literacy through the medium of comics, Comics Literacy Awareness, and it has named its first ever comics laureate: Watchmen artist and The Originals creator Dave Gibbons. The charity named Gibbons to the position at this year's Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, England. In his position as laureate, Gibbons will go on school visits, help with training events for school staff, and participate in education conferences.

One thing that you can say about San Diego's Comic-Con International is that it provides plenty of unique opportunities to meet with your favorite creators, and definitely a lot of pricey pieces of merchandise to remember those occasions. This time, though, IDW Publishing may have topped it with their new "Artifact Edition" of Watchmen, the classic 1986 story by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Similar to the publisher's line of Artist's Editions, the 12" x 17" hardcover, published in cooperation with DC Comics, will feature over 100 story pages from Watchmen, reprinted from the original artwork at full size, with numerous extras. An extremely limited run of 25 copies is being produced specifically for Comic-Con. This SDCC-exclusive limited edition Artifact Edition will be sold for $500, or roughly the cost of fifteen complete runs of Punisher 2099. Of course, while $500 is a pretty serious chunk of change (one and a half PlayStation 4s or one eighth of a foam replica of the Batcave's giant penny for your house, minus shipping), it's actually not a bad deal, mainly because the offer also includes dinner.

You may want to sit down for IDW's New York Comic Con 2013 Artist's Editions... today the publisher announced that it will be releasing Jack Kirby's New Gods Artist's Edition, two Jim Steranko Marvel Artist's Editions and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen Artifact Edition.

How does Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons really feel about DC's Before Watchmen franchise? A newly-released interview with the creator doesn't quite answer the question directly, but gives a fairly strong hint as to where his true feelings may lie...

Animation: Malcolm Sutherland's animated Ninja Turtles tribute brings an awesome artistic sensibility to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's beloved ninja brothers. Creators: Artist Grace Allison has officially joined Portland's Periscope Studio...

We are not the mainstream. That's a truth understood by anyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or in any other way queer. We are not the audience. We are not the market. We are not the people. It's also a truth understood by a lot of people with a passion for comics...

In case you've somehow forgotten that this Wednesday sees the release of the first of DC's new Watchmen prequel comics, Darwyn Cooke's Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1, don't worry: Starting this week DC Entertainment will be running televised ads to remind you -- and the rest of the world of Before Watchmen's arrival -- complete with limited animation and seriously serious narration...