Mark Waid

In the solicitation for this week's Archie #14, there's a quick line about Cheryl Blossom and Veronica Lodge that casts their relationship into a new light, for me at least. I mean, I knew Cheryl was a wrecking ball with the kind of vast reach and Byzantine plans that you usually only see James Bond fighting against, but I hadn't considered that when she's around, Veronica suddenly becomes Betty. Well, she becomes sort of like Betty, just without the kind heart. But still, it puts her status as Riverdale's most disruptive force in pretty simple terms. And that disruption is going to be on display this week in Archie #14. Check out a preview --- but keep in mind that Cheryl won't show up until after these pages. Instead, we find out all about Archie trying to get Jughead to buy a phone. Enjoy!

Q: Did anyone actually come out improved from DC's Underworld Unleashed crossover? — @JordanLevells A: Huh, Underworld Unleashed. There's one I haven't thought about in a while. This week, though, I actually got a few questions about DC's neon-green, diabolical deal-making crossover, and I think I know the reason why. With Neron showing back up in the pages of Midnighter and Apollo, and with Halloween on the horizon bringing devils and haints to mind, there's no better time to look back on the series where a bunch of heroes and villains literally sold their souls, and nobody actually got what they wanted out of it.

In Avengers #1.1, by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson, a new team of Avengers must figure out how to live up to their predecessors. But this is a flashback story, and the mostly green new team consists of Captain America, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver.

Champions #2, by Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos, features Cyclops joining a team that doesn't start with "X" for the first time ever. To be clear, this is the young Cyclops who came to the present in All-New X-Men, not the older Cyclops who as far as we know is dead. But either way, Scott Summers is a character inseparable from the X-Men, and now he's going to be a Champion instead.

When Archie #12 hits shelves today, it looks like everyone's relationship is falling apart just on the eve of the Blossoms sweeping in like a hurricane. In other words, it's a bad day to be a teenager in Riverdale, and you can see just how bad with a preview below!

Archie and the gang have always had a pretty interesting relationship to music. I mean, "the kids form a band" is a pretty standard plot for virtually any story about teenage characters, but the Archies have the distinction of actually producing the real-life #1 single of 1969, coming in ahead of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. That kind of accomplishment, even almost 50 years later, is going to shape how those comics work. So with that in mind, it's always a pretty big deal when Riverdale's favorite teens break out the instruments and start jamming, and in this week's Archie #11, Betty and Veronica are taking their rivalry to a whole new musical level. Check out the formation of the Ronnies and Betty and the Waves in a preview below!

Chris Samnee is one of the best artists working in comics today. His stock has risen steadily since 2010 as he went from Thor: The Mighty Avenger to The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, to a long, esteemed run with Mark Waid on Daredevil, winning both a Harvey and an Eisner award along the way. Now on Black Widow, again with Waid, he continues to develop his craft and turn heads, so much so that "one of the best artists working in comics today" doesn't seem to describe just how good he actually is. One of the reasons he's so good is that he's picked up tricks from some of the greatest artists to come before him, and one in particular stands above the rest: Alex Toth.

Suicide Squad is the latest film from DC Comics' cinematic universe, and while it has received mostly negative reviews, many die-hard DC fans have come away thrilled by the villain-centric romp. If you're one of those that loved the film and want more comics in the same vein --- but you already know to check out the John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Luke McDonnell run on the series --- we've got a list of five independent comics to seek out next. Love that? Try this!

Before Ms. Marvel was a superhero, she was a fan. A superhero fan specifically, writing fanfic for the internet's consumption about the Avengers and other heroes. That's a big reason she was so excited to become a hero, and even more excited when she was asked to join the Avengers at the beginning of All-New All-Different Avengers. Now readers of that series get to dive into that world with her in All-New All-Different Avengers Annual #1. The book features "fan fiction" stories of the Marvel universe written by G. Willow Wilson, Mark Waid, Natasha Allegri, Faith Erin Hicks, Scott Kurtz, and Zac Gorman, and features art by Allegri, Hicks, Kurtz, Mahmud Asrar, Chip Zdarsky, and Jay Fosgitt. It seems like just the relief we all need from the grimness of Civil War II, and it goes on sale August 10.

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.