Francis Portela

With the Valiant Universe being overwritten by a timeline where the Soviet Union took over using the most powerful being in the world, characters like Bloodshot and X-O Manowar have found themselves recast as "heroes of the revolution," but Obadiah Archer and Aram Anni-Padda aren't so "lucky." In March, Eliot Rahal and Francis Portela are bringing you Divinity III: Escape From Galag 396, a one shot in which Archer finds himself imprisoned as a religious extremist alongside an immortal enemy of the state. Check out an exclusive first look at the covers and some of Rahal's thoughts on the story below!

If you missed the announcement a few weeks ago, Comixology's new Unlimited service is being touted as Netflix for indie comics. Subscribers pay a flat monthly fee, and they get access to a library of titles from publishers like Image, Valiant, Archie and more, including smaller self-publishers. And, like Netflix, new stuff is showing up on a monthly basis to keep readers hooked. This month, as we roll into August, Comixology has announced the addition of another 25 titles --- and if you're looking for a good place to start, I've got a couple of suggestions. Starting today, you can read the entirety of Jody Houser, Francis Portela, and Marguerite Sauvage's Faith miniseries from Valiant, and the first volume of Eric Jones and Landry Q. Walker's amazing Danger Club.

I'm pretty excited about virtually any new comics project from Fred Van Lente, but I'll admit that I've been having a little trouble getting an idea of what Generation Zero, the new book from Valiant by Van Lente and Francis Portela, is all about. Really, the only thing I knew was that it was going to feature someone spraypainting a school bus, and really, that could be anything from wacky high school hijinx to something that happens during the Purge. Now that I've read a preview and gotten a look at the solicitation, though, I think I get the high concept: It's The A-Team for #millennial #teens. Check out a preview!

The second annual Valiant Summit just wrapped at the UCB Theatre in New York City, the Belle of the East Coast. Broadcast on livestream, the summit saw several writers and artists take to the stage to talk about a string of new books from the publisher that will fall under the banner “The Future of Valiant”, including Rafer Roberts, Jody Houser, and Matt Kindt. The event was Valiant's answer to Image Expo, with five new titles announced, including the long-rumbled Britannia, plus the previously announced Faith ongoing. Here's the full rundown.

Faith #2, the second installment of the critically acclaimed and much-discussed superhero comic by writer Jody Houser and artists Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage, arrives February 24th from Valiant Comics. This issue finds Faith blaming herself for an explosion caused by a mysterious adversary who appears to be hunting down psiots (which I think is basically just the Valiant version of mutants?). She then gets call from an ally named @x, who must have been on Twitter really early to snag that handle. The official synopsis promises an appearance by Torque, Faith's ex-boyfriend and former teammate, but we don't get to see him in the preview pages.

There are few superheroes like Faith Herbert, a.k.a. Zephyr. Aside from the obvious --- she's a superheroine whose body type is uncommon among comics superheroines --- Faith also has an attitude and outlook few others share. She's a fan, and as a result, she sees the world in a way unique among superpowered heroes. Until now, both in the previous and current Valiant Universes, Faith has brought the perspective mostly to team books, with only a 2014 solo one-shot to her name --- and that was more or less a Unity tie-in. January 27th sees the release of her first true solo series. ComicsAlliance talked to writer Jody Houser about what we'll see through Faith's eyes with the help of artists Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage.

After more than 20 years as a member of the Harbinger team, fan-turned-superhero Faith Herbert, better known as Zephyr, is finally taking a starring role in the form of a four-issue mini-series from writer Jody Houser and the art team of Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage, and it's pretty exciting news. It's always fun to see a genre-savvy character taking on a role as a superhero, but kicking off a new series with a focus on building up Faith's civilian life --- which, according to the solicitation, seems to be heading in the direction of a job writing about cats for a Buzzfeedesque website --- has a whole lot of potential to add a new dimension to Valiant's growing world of superheroics.

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.

Tim Drake fans can rest easy as DC just announced the covers and creative teams for their September-shipping 'teen' titles, with extra interview information courtesy of io9. Today, we've got Teen Titans, Hawk & Dove, Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion Lost, and the long-awaited new Static Shock series. C...

Press Release This summer, the biggest, most exciting criminal heist is happening right here in the pages of Marvel Comics' Super-Villain Team-Up/M.O.D.O.K's 11 #1. As the "head" of Marvel's most unusual and most-wanted group of villains ever assembled, M ...