lara croft

Tomb Raider is a franchise with a lot of amalgamated input, and one that a lot of people have their own take on. Is Lara Croft a strong female character, or a 'Strong Female Character'? From franchise director to commentator and critic, everybody's got their own idea of who Ms Croft should be --- or be for. Recently Lara's been written by a succession of brilliant women, including Gail Simone, Rhianna Pratchett, and Corinna Bechko. As revealed today at New York Comic-Con, Mariko Tamaki is the next woman to take up Lara's story in comics form over at Dark Horse. ComicsAlliance spoke exclusively to Tamaki ahead of the announcement to find out more.

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved into a creative outlet for many fans to establish and showcase some impressive feats of homemade disguise, craftsmanship, and sartorial superheroics at conventions. In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we've discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

I didn't want to play Tomb Raider. I was never a huge fan of the franchise to begin with, but what really turned me off of the new game was the minor controversy last year that arose when executive producer Ron Rosenberg talked about how it was a game about players wanting to "protect" Lara Croft because players apparently couldn't project themselves onto the character like they do in other games. Throw in some rapey imagery in the trailer and some chatter about how that was going to be a key part of Lara's new origin story, and the whole thing seemed like something that was better left avoided.

Humor: Why Lara Croft from "Tomb Raider" is dumb as a bag of hammers. (Bully) DC: What if... the Joker were a video blogger? (Newsarama) Awesome: The Great Darth Vader (and Yoda) pumpkin statues! (iGeektrooper) Threads: Speaking of, if you want the new "Star Wars"-themed "Diesel Sweeties" Halloween shirt, you've got till end of day tomorrow...