The benefit of large comics publishers offering smaller imprints is that it provides a built-in space for titles that differ in some way from the main lineup. They’re often experimental or off-brand, highly creative, and deeply personal. For years, fans have been bemoaning Vertigo’s slow starvation under DC’s…
Jamie Madrox just came back from the dead, and he’s already managed to screw over the entire future. The main Jamie died in the Death Of X miniseries, but this is a character whose entire schtick is creating multiples of himself, so of course one of his duplicates survived. That duplicate has a half-life, though, and…
Image Comics’ Island was an astonishing showcase of talent, and even though the anthology ended last year, it continues to provide new gifts. Johnnie Christmas’ Firebug with colorist Tamra Bonvillain and letterer Ariana Maher debuted its first chapter in 2016’s Island #7, introducing a rich fantasy world and engaging…
Lunella Lafayette’s adventures with her bright red dinosaur companion have steadily expanded in scope with each new arc of Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, and the book’s current storyline has taken her to both outer space and an alternate dimension where she met her evil doppelganger. Writer Brandon Montclare, artist…
America Chavez’s love life sucks. She’s still dealing with the fallout of a recent breakup that bled into her superhero and student lives, and now a different ex-girlfriend has re-entered America’s life and literally stabbed her in the back. Luckily, America has her superhero bestie, Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop, at the…
From war-torn South Vietnam to the apartment of supernatural stoners to a psychedelic plane of reality inside a laundry machine, the best comic books of 2017 (thus far) have taken readers to some fascinating places. The A.V. Club has assembled a list of the can’t-miss titles from the first half of the year, and it’s…
Marvel has come under fire for comments about diversity this year, so it’s nice to see the publisher commit to a character like Lunella “Moon Girl” Lafayette, whose ongoing series doesn’t sell especially well on a month-to-month basis but brings in more readers with collections. Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur has been…
Monsters in pop culture are cyclical, with media fixating on a particular type long enough for audiences to get sick of it before moving on to the next one. For a while it was vampires, and for the most part creators are hitting the tail end of zombies as a reasonable plot device. Soon it will be aliens again, or…
Young Animal’s Doom Patrol series has been exceptionally weird, with writer Gerard Way, artist Nick Derrington, and colorist Tamra Bonvillain embracing the strangeness of Grant Morrison’s ’90s Doom Patrol while bringing their own unique vision to these unconventional superheroes. As the first Young Animal title to…
Each week, Big Issues focuses on a newly released comic-book issue of significance. This week, it’s Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #13. Written by Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare (Rocket Girl, Halloween Eve) with art by Natacha Bustos (Spider-Woman, Strange Sports Stories) and colorist Tamra Bonvillain (Nighthawk, …
Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur has done phenomenal work using its central conceit of a superpowered preteen and her giant red dinosaur to explore real issues facing prepubescent young girls. In the book’s first arc, Lunella Lafayette’s fear of being exposed to the Terrigen mists that activate her Inhuman DNA was a…
2016 has been an incredible year for graphic novels, and this week sees the release of one of the year’s most anticipated new titles: Dark Horse Comics’ Angel Catbird. The first graphic novel by literary icon Margaret Atwood, Angel Catbird tells the tale of Strig Feleedus, a genetic engineer who transforms into a…
Each week, Big Issues focuses on a newly released comic book of significance. This week, it’s Nighthawk #4. Written by David F. Walker (Shaft, Power Man And Iron Fist) with art by Ramon Villalobos (E Is For Extinction, Original Sins) and colorist Tamra Bonvillain (Rat Queens, Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur), this issue…
The comics landscape is expanding every year, and it can be difficult to find what’s good in the sea of ongoings, miniseries, graphic novels, digital comics, and webcomics. 2016 has featured new works by some of the industry’s top talent as well as impressive projects by up-and-coming creators, so The A.V. Club …
David F. Walker’s big break in the comics industry was his Shaft miniseries at Dynamite, showing that he has a strong talent for telling street-level stories that don’t shy away from major social and political issues. Walker wasn’t able to use those writing muscles when he was working on DC’s Cyborg, and jumping over…
DC Comics giving musician and writer Gerard Way his own imprint was one of the comics industry’s most surprising announcements this year, and the formation of Young Animal represents an exciting new phase for the publisher. Dedicated to reviving the stranger properties at DC Comics, Young Animal definitely has an…
You know him, even if you don’t know his name. Pepe The Frog has become famous across the world—or, at least, across the internet—almost completely removed from the context of the stories in which he first appeared. Before the memes, the gifs, and long before “dat boi,” Pepe was just a humble cartoon amphibian in Matt…
It’s been an interesting few years for James Robinson. While Robinson’s Starman was a decade-defining series in the 1990s, Robinson languished for much of the ’00s. Between writing the script for the ill-fated League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen film and Justice League: Cry For Justice, it’s fair to say that Robinson…
After months of focusing on the Secret Wars events, Marvel draws its attention back to the far more diverse cast of characters that have been earning press and critical praise for the past few years. Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #1 (Marvel) is one of the more hotly anticipated new titles, and so far it’s earned that…
Did you know kids love dinosaurs? It’s the reason Marvel had Jack Kirby create his short-lived series Devil Dinosaur back in the ’70s, and it’s the reason why Kirby’s creation is being revived for a new all-ages title: Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur. Rather than teaming the titular red T-Rex with his usual Neanderthal…
