Kelly Thompson

Mega Princesss, out next week from Boom, is an all-ages story about a young princess named Max who really wants to be a detective. She has a pony named Justine, who can be kind of a jerk, and because it's her birthday, her fairy godmother just gave her superpowers. To Max's disappointment, however, her superpowers come from the world's princesses, so they're mostly about dancing, charm, and being able to detect a pea under a pile of mattresses. But with her baby brother missing, Max is going to have to use her detective skills, her princess powers, and her powered-up Jerk Pony to solve the case. ComicsAlliance sat down with Mega Princess writer Kelly Thompson and artist Brianne Drouhard to talk about the feminist princess moment, building fantasy worlds, and the importance of a mean pony.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink catches up with Pink Ranger Kim in the years after her tenure as a Power Ranger, and pits her against a new threat from an old enemy. With the third issue of the miniseries, Tini Howard has taken over scripting. ComicsAlliance checked in with Howard to talk about her approach to the Pink Ranger, and why Goldar is such a great character, and we got to share a preview of her first issue.

The comics world is full of questions — like “Who would win in a fight?”; “Which one of the Powerpuff Girls is best?”; and “Who is the handsomest hero and why is it Gambit?” Here at ComicsAlliance, we spend a lot of time thinking about everything from the big questions that matter a whole lot to the small ones that are still kinda fascinating. With The Question, we’re going to give our writers the opportunity to give their answers, because if we’re always thinking about this stuff anyway, we might as well write it down. For our latest question, we wanted to keep things simple. We’re now more than halfway through the year, and 2016 has brought so many exciting new comics. With all that in mind: What's your favorite comic of the year so far?

Ever since I first saw Pizzazz, Roxy, and Stormer enter this world by literally crashing through a wall on motorcycles shaped like guitars, I knew they were destined for bigger things. Sure, they're a little villainous, and they're definitely antagonistic, but there's no way that they were going to spend all of their times playing second fiddle to Little Miss Pink-Hair and the Singalongs, right? Now, the time in the spotlight has finally come for everyone's favorite mischief-makers: At San Diego Comic-Con, IDW announced an upcoming Misfits series, spinning out of the events of the ongoing Jem and the Holograms comic, written by Kelly Thompson with covers by M. Victoria Robado, and interiors by an artist to be announced later.

Marvel's next big line launch was formally unveiled this week via a special edition of Marvel Previews, including new #1s for Avengers, Venom, Captain Marvel, and Star-Lord, new launches for Champions, Jessica Jones, Kingpin, Bullseye, Slapstick, and Solo, and new concepts in Occupy Avengers, Iron Fists, Mosaic, Infamous Iron Man, and Unstoppable Wasp. Following our roundtable discussion of DC Rebirth, the ComicsAlliance team got together to break down the highs and lows of the new Marvel NOW. Join Elle Collins, James Leask, Katie Schenkel, Kieran Shiach, and Andrew Wheeler as they pick out the books they're most excited about and the books they're concerned about, and discuss Marvel's approach to legacy heroes and the state of diversity at Marvel today.

I love music, and I often find myself thinking about how it relates to comics; which characters would listen to which artists, and so forth. But what's the best way to get around the medium's limitations when it comes to stories about music and musicians? It's a question that's especially relevant to some of my favorite recent titles. The classic way to visualize music in comics is just to put the lyrics in a word balloon with some musical notes scattered around to convey singing. I’m going to be honest; I hate this approach, and in this day and age, I’m sure I’m not the only one. I find it impossible to read the lyrics as a song instead of a tuneless poem. There are better ways, as seen in books like Jem And The Holograms and Black Canary.

Ever since the Jem and the Holograms comic started early last year, creators Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell have been hearing one question from fans of the original 1980s animated series: "When are you going to include the Stingers?" The Stingers, for those who don't know, are the third most important rock band in the Jem saga (after the Holograms and the Misfits, of course), a glam rock trio who formed in Germany. It made sense not to throw them in too early; after all, they didn't appear on the cartoon until Season 3. But nevertheless they have a fan base, and those fans want to see what Thompson and Campbell do with them. And that brings us to Issue 16, the finale of the "Dark Jem" storyline and Sophie Campbell's last issue on the book.

Under the direction of writer Kelly Thompson, artist Sophie Campbell and colorist M. Victoria Robado, IDW's relaunch of Jem and the Holograms last year has proven to be a huge success, becoming a fan-favorite title that emphasizes the all-female central cast and creative team. It's a book by women, for women --- but for everybody else too! (Seriously, it's brilliant.) With Campbell's tenure on the series now drawn to a close, the new artist on the series is Meredith McClaren, who previously worked with Thompson on Heart in a Box at Dark Horse, and is also known for her work on Hinges at Image. McClaren takes over on Jem as of next month's issue #19, so ComicsAlliance caught up with her to talk about working with Kelly Thompson, bringing pop power to comics, and what we can all expect from her turn in the spotlight.

The new blockbuster Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film is in cinemas now, and surprisingly it patches the flaws from its predecessor and ramps up the ridiculousness in a way that makes it an enjoyable family superhero film for the summer. The Turtles have been mainstays of film, TV and video games for decades, but their origins go way back to the black and white independent comics boom of the '80s. If you’re a fan of Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles, odds are you’re already keeping up with IDW’s excellent ground-up re-imagining of the franchise, but if you want more in that vein, we’ve selected five of the best independent, creator-owned, or alternative licensed comics that live up to the spirit of Turtle Power!

This week saw the release of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink #1, and for fans of America's greatest tokusatsu heroes, it might just be the most unexpected story of the year. Rather than focusing on her time as a Power Ranger in Angel Grove, Kelly Thompson, Brenden Fletcher, Daniele Di Nicuolo and Sarah Stern's series picks up when Kimberly is retired from active duty and stumbles across a plot that threatens her family --- and an entire city in France. To find out more, I talked to Thompson about the choice to show readers an era of Kimberly's life that we've never seen, the exploration of her relationships with the other rangers, and the new costume that Kimberly's sporting in the series.