Kelly Thompson

After only six issues, the cast of Jem and the Holograms has already had to deal with discovering a secret sentient supercomputer, creating an entire alternate persona for their stage-frightened lead singer, a battle of the bands, a massive food fight, three first dates, and --- in typical Jem fashion --- at least one attempted murder. That's a lot to deal with even without the whole thing where they're, you know, a band that's also trying to raise money for orphans. With a schedule like that, they're going to need some downtime. And that's exactly what's on the schedule for next week's Jem and the Holograms Outrageous Annual, which finds the group having a nice relaxing evening at home with a bunch of movies. But what with this being comics and all, they find themselves thrown into their own versions of the stories that they're watching, including Aja's starring role in a segment that looks an awful lot like Mad Max: Fury Road. Check out a preview of two of the four stories below!

One of the best things about the relaunched Jem and the Holograms comic is how rewarding it's been for long-time fans of the show, going deep into characters' personalities and teaching us new things about them that were only hinted at in the cartoon. Jerrica's stage fright, for instance, was a new invention for the comic that helped to drive the story in a very entertaining way. The first arc did a lot to set that stuff up, but now that we're moving into the second, they're not done yet, because in #7, we learn the shocking news that Jerrica Benton doesn't listen to podcasts.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats.

It's not unusual at all for the release of a new comic to be accompanied by interviews with the creative team --- as you may have noticed, we tend to do a few of those ourselves around here. What is unusual is when it's the characters within the comic conducting the interviews themselves. Which is exactly what's going on at IDW, where Rio Pacheco, erstwhile love interest of Jerrica Benton interviews Jem in a nifty little promotion for Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell's upcoming Jem and the Holograms comic. Not only does it drop a few interesting tidbits about how the new take on Jem is going to work, but we finally get our first look at the redesigned Rio.

There is no one, no one on the face of this planet, who is more excited about Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell's upcoming Jem and the Holograms comic than we are here at ComicsAlliance. But as much as we love the good guys, we have to admit that our heart belongs to the Misfits. I mean, their songs are better --- it says so right in the theme to the cartoon! That's why we're proud to reveal a set of exclusive character profiles for the Holograms' ruthless antagonists, featuring Campbell's character designs for the new series.

I think we can all agree that the announcement of a new Jem and the Holograms series by Kelly Thompson and Ross Campbell is the single most important comic book news of 2014/ever, but until now, we've only really had half of the equation. Sure, the book and the creative team were announced, but we only got to see the new designs for Jerrica Benton and her sisters. The Misfits, the rival group that bears no relation to the real-life Glenn Danzig/Jerry Only band of the same name, had yet to take the spotlight. Now, though, Roxy, Pizzazz, Stormer and Jetta have been revealed in all their punk rock glory, ready to both make better songs and also commit seriously egregious felonies in the name of rock supremacy.

IDW has announced that their publishing schedule for 2015 is going to include four important elements that have been sorely lacking from the world of comic books: Glamor, glitter, fashion and fame. In what is likely the single greatest announcement in the history of the medium, it was revealed today that next year's lineup is going to include an all-new Jem and the Holograms ongoing series, from writer Kelly Thompson and CA favorite artist Ross Campbell. Much like IDW's approach to other licenses they've picked up over the past few years, like G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jem is planned as a reboot, bringing the Holograms into the 21st century with Campbell's amazing contemporary designs.

Here at ComicsAlliance, we obviously have a vested interest in seeing comics bloggers do well with their various projects. That said, it's a lot easier to get behind stuff when it looks like it's going to be amazing, which is why we're all pretty excited about Kelly Thompson's Storykiller and the roster of incredible artists she's gathered to illustrate the special edition of her new novel. As you