James Tynion IV

This month in DC's January solicitations, a number of iconic '90s characters make their return to the spotlight, Batman faces off against the Green Lanterns, and Doctor Doom invades the DC Universe... kind of.

To mark Trans Week of Visibility, ComicsAlliance has put together a list of great comics for younger readers featuring transgender or nonbinary characters. These are comics that are suitable for a wide range of ages, and come from a wide array of genres, from fantasy to electro-pop to superheroes to slice-of-life --- so there should be something for everyone. If you're a young trans or nonbinary comics reader, or if you know someone who is, or if you just want to read some amazing comics, these are our recommendations!

The Batman books tend to be at their best when they're working with self-contained storylines that focus on a different aspect of the character. That's been especially true with the Rebirth era, where Batman was relaunched with grand, over-the-top superhero action and Detective Comics put the spotlight on the Batman Family operating as a team under Batwoman, and where Nightwing was specifically about distancing Dick Grayson from his mentor --- at least for a while. With that in mind, it was pretty easy to worry that "Night of the Monster Men," a six-part crossover that ran through all three books, would derail that focus. Instead, it shored everything up, tying those ideas together in a way that strengthened all of it, and managed to pull off one of the best revitalizations for a villain that I've seen in a long time.

A while back DC announced plans to revive Jack Kirby's Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth in January in a form that, to say the least, is a little unique. It's called The Kamandi Challenge, and the idea --- loosely inspired by 1985's DC Challenge and its game of storytelling hot potato --- is that the twelve-issue series will feature a new creative team, randomly paired together from a list of twelve writers and twelve artists for each issue, each picking up the story where the previous team leaves off. It's an interesting way to mark the 100th anniversary of Kirby's birth in 2017. In advance of New York Comic-Con, DC has revealed a first look at some of the artwork from the series, plus new details of how the creative teams will approach the story.

Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh & Carey Pietsch's Lumberjanes and James Tynion IV & Rian Sygh's The Backstagers are two of the most popular all-ages comics on the stands right now and both have proven to big books for Boom Studios' all-ages imprint Boom Box. Next month, Boom Box will release New York Comic Con exclusive variants for each title and we have an exclusive first look at both covers.

On June 12th, 2016, a gunman entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed forty-nine people, as well as wounding fifty-three more. It was the biggest terror attack on American soil since September 11th, and a purposeful attack on predominantly Latinx gay and bisexual men in what was supposed to be a safe space. This December, DC Comics and IDW are coming together to publish an anthology titled Love Is Love, which sees over one hundred comics creators coming together to contribute stories, with all proceeds going to Equality Florida and the fund to benefit the survivors of the attack.

James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez's Detective Comics has been one of the absolute stand-out comics from the DC Rebirth initiative, melding X-Men style team dynamics with fan-favorite Batman characters and providing the highest of stakes for the heroes on Batwoman's team. Heading into this week's Detective Comics #940, things didn't look too good for Tim "Two Weeks From Retirement" Drake as he faced down a horde of killer drones, but the conclusion of "Rise of the Batmen" and the revelation of Tim's fate are more shocking than anyone could have predicted.

When DC Rebirth was announced, it promised to bring back a sense of levity and community that had been missing from the DC Universe since the shift to the New 52 --- and there's nothing like a holiday special to lighten the mood and remind people of the communal relationships between superheroes, so that's what we're getting this holiday season!

Brooklyn-based comics convention Flame Con hosted some of the industry's most prominent and prolific creators this year, such as comics writer James Tynion IV. In just over four years, he's written on Batman, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Talon, and several series at Boom Studios. He currently writes Detective Comics, The Woods, and his new queer-inclusive Boom series The Backstagers with Rian Sygh. In the first of a series of interviews from Flame Con, Comics Alliance got the chance to sit down with Tynion to talk about queer comics, Boom Studios, and... world domination?

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. With the event only days away, we've looked through the schedules and hand-selected some of the best events happening on Thursday and Friday for fans of comics, collectibles, TV and film, so you can be sure you don't miss that must-see panel or signing.