david aja

Recently, the subject of rotating art teams in superhero comics reached a tipping point, and people have started to wonder if the concept does more harm than good in the long run. With double-shipping in superhero comics becoming more prevalent and artists’ contributions are becoming seen as interchangeable, it’s important to stop and ask: Are rotating artistic creative teams good for comics in the long-run, or does it start us down a path of recognizing the writer’s contributions as inherently more important to the finished product?

It’s that blessed time of the year where we all try to take stock of what we’ve done with our lives and what other people have created that we enjoyed. That's right, it's time to start putting together our "Best of 2016" lists, and today we're going to take a look at the Best Marvel Covers of 2016.

Jessica Jones, star of her own Netflix TV series and one of the most groundbreaking female Marvel characters of all time, is back in her own title after more than a decade! Not only that, but Jessica Jones #1 reunites her original Alias creative team of writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Gaydos, colorist Matt Hollingsworth, and cover artist David Mack.

The 28th annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards took place this Friday at San Diego Comic-Con, where the creators, editors and publishers of your favorite comics were honored for their accomplishments. While many will be nominated, only a select few will take home the top honors in one of comic's most respected awards. It was a particularly good night for publishers Drawn and Quaterly and Fantagraphics, with fan and critical favorites like Over the Garden Wall, Cliff Chiang and Bandette being recognized as well. Check out the complete list of winners and nominees below.

Welcome to Cast Party, the feature that imagines a world with even more live action comic book adaptations than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you’re ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist. This week we're departing from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, to imagine a whole new Hawkeye. I've said it before, and I'm far from the only one: A Netflix series based on the Hawkeye book by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Annie Wu (and Javier Pulido and a few other artists) would be amazing. But Marvel can't make it in their shared universe, because Jeremy Renner's probably not up for it (and he's wrong for this version of the character anyway), and because movie Hawkeye is a family man who lives in the country, not a New York loser who'd go to war over an apartment building.

Valiant Comics' shared superhero universe is smaller and less familiar than those of its major rivals, but even a small shared universe can offer a lot to learn about. To help those readers looking to take the plunge into the Valiant Universe, we’ve assembled our own team of delinquents to break things down. Ste...

That tiara in her hair; that not-Magneto's-daughter stare, which strips mutant-dom bare, it's Scarlet Witchcraft. As one of the biggest female heroes in the Marvel Universe never to have had her own book before, it's welcome news that Wanda Maximoff is finally getting her time to shine in Scarlet Witch #1. Written by James Robinson, the series promises to dig deep into the question of how witchcraft works (or doesn't) in Wanda's world, and might even explain how her formerly-mutant powers work. Check out a preview, with art by Vanesa R. Del Rey.

Valiant Comics' shared superhero universe is smaller and less familiar than those of its major rivals, but even a small shared universe can offer a lot to learn about. To help those readers looking to take the plunge into the Valiant Universe, we’ve assembled our own team of delinquents to break things down. Steve Morris knows Valiant inside out; J.A. Micheline is new to the universe. Micheline has the questions, and Morris has the answers. Last time, Steve introduced JAM to the four main story types in the Valiant Universe: political (books like Harbinger and Bloodshot), sci-fi (X-O Manowar), comedy (Quantum & Woody, Archer & Armstrong), and supernatural (Shadowman, The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage). He set JAM the task of reading the first sixteen issues of Shadowman and The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage --- and now they're back to talk about it!

When Marvel first announced an ongoing Scarlet Witch series from writer James Robinson, there was a conspicuous lack of an artist attached. On the one hand, it was a bad sign; announcing books without artists tends to devalue the role of artists. On the other hand, it was also a good sign; it spoke to Marvel's efforts to put the right artists on the right books, and perhaps specifically to assign diverse talent to diverse books, like artist Natacha Bustos on Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, and writer Jose Molina on the Santerians revival. To that end, a lot of fans were hoping Wanda Maximoff's first solo series would not come from an all-male creative team. The good news is that those fans have got their wish, with Vanesa R. Del Rey now joining Robinson on the title. The bad news is that it's only for one issue.

Comic covers are meant to get their message across in a single striking image, with the implication of movement provided only by the reader's imagination. We see the single frozen moment; our brain tells the story. Yet some talented digital artists have discovered that there's some fun to be had in animating these images and providing just a little more movement to the moment. We've collected some of our favorite examples of animated comic covers from the past few years, from an endlessly recursive Batman to a lolling Hobbes; from a struggling Spider-Man to a spinning Justice League.