ComicsAlliance » superheroes

Give 'Em Elle: Worlds Full of Superheroes

Elle Collins — Tue, 17 May 2016 19:00:33 +0000

Welcome to Give ‘Em Elle, a weekly column that hopes to bridge the gap between old school comics fandom and the progressive edge of comics culture.

This week I’ve been thinking about superheroes universes, and what it means to have a whole population of costumed characters running around. Sometimes I think that the population of superheroes (and villains) that you don't have a chance to get to know is almost as important as the heroes at the center of the story.

One Multiverse Under A Groove: Kenny Keil Draws Superheroes' Favorite Dance Crazes

Patrick A. Reed — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 19:00:46 +0000

Kenny Keil is one of our long-time favorite artists here at ComicsAlliance. He first grabbed our attention a few years ago, when he published a series of drawings mashing up superheroes and classic Hip-Hop album covers to incredible effect, and since then, he's gone on to co-create and illustrate the all-ages sci-fi/rap comic Rhyme Travelers, provided the art for Big Boi's Mash-Up Mondays series of releases, become one of Mad Magazine's "Usual Gang Of Idiots", and been a regular contributor to our series of "Celebrating Comics History" posts. And recently, he's once again melded the iconography of music and comics in creative and unusual fashion, and begun to release a new series of images that casts comic and cartoon characters in a giant dance-off, taking famous moves and routines and pairing them with appropriate heroes and villains (with plenty of in-jokes along the way for continuity and pop music fans) – some are single panels, some are sequential, some are delivered in animated gif form for maximum comedic effect, and all are wildly entertaining. The full ongoing series can be viewed on Keil's tumblr, but we've decided to showcase a few of our favorites, and provide some annotations for good measure! Continue reading…

Sidekicked: How Superhero Publishers Are Failing Kids

Janelle Asselin — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 18:17:32 +0000

Comic readers are often annoyed by the outdated assertion, “but comic books are for kids!” As those of us within this culture know, comics today are usually made for and marketed to adults, especially single issues and superhero comics. However, comics, as a medium, should and can serve a vast variety of demographics. Publishers simply need to be ready to create the books that readers will read.

Most comic readers can point to some great comics for kids, including Smile, Bone, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and Adventure Time -- but for many parents and young readers, there is a huge void in the comics that exist today. There are very few high-quality, positive, superhero comics for kids.

Superhero Body Diversity: Female Artists Offer Their Take

Andrew Wheeler — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Two weeks ago we ran an article on ComicsAlliance looking at body diversity and superheroes. We asked four artists to rank male and female superheroes by size and describe which athletic types they resembled...

Olympians: Superhero Bodies and What Real Athletes Look Like

Andrew Wheeler — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:30:00 +0000

There are certain phrases that have a special resonance for a Marvel kid like me. "Pocket dimension." "Lift (press)." "Marital status: unrevealed." This is the language of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and I used to pore over the pages of those little encyclopedias like I thought there was an exam coming... Continue reading…

Italian Artist Igor Scalisi Palminteri Imagines Saints As Superheroes [Art]

J. Caleb Mozzocco — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Ordinary men and women blessed with extraordinary abilities who fight for what they believe in no matter the consequences aren't exclusive to superhero comics. Catholic saints also possessed such powers as levitation, flight, extra-sensory perception and the ability to communicate with animals and used these skills to help those around them...

New Era Adorns Heads With Marvel, DC, Transformers and G.I. Joe Characters In New Cabesa Series

Caleb Goellner — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

New Era is no stranger to superhero and pop culture hats, but there's some extra iconography going on in the recent Cabesa series, which pops the embroidered faces of everyone from Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Deadpool, Cobra Commander, Optimus Prime and more front and center on a color-coordinated snapback cap...

Fabian Gonzalez Makes a Mightier Alphabet With 'ABC Superheroes' [Art]

Caleb Goellner — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:30:00 +0000

We see relevant pop culture alphabet redecos on a pretty regular basis around these parts. Why, who could forget Sean Murphy's awesome Wolverine ABC's or Brandon and Emma Peat's "A is for Ackbar" series of Star Wars letters...

More Charlie Sheen Quotes Presented By Superheroes

Laura Hudson — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Earlier this week, we decided that the only way to deal with the exploding celebrity Death Star that is Charlie Sheen was to take his spectacularly hubristic comments and put them in the mouths of superheroes, with the help of Chris Haley and Curt Franklin of the webcomic Let's Be Friends Again......

Superheroes are Bad for Boys. Or, Possibly Good for Boys.

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:30:00 +0000

It looks like the ultimate goal of psychology it to let parents know there is no way to be sure they're bringing up their kids right. On the heels of two much-talked-about studies about how modern superheroes and their non-stop aggression are bad for adolescent boys, MSNBC...