Chris Sims
The Top Five ‘Teen Titans Go’ Guest Stars
This week, we're turning our attention to the only incarnation of the Teen Titans that matters: Teen Titans Go, which has shown us an ideal version of the DC Universe where the heroes are mostly preoccupied with burritos and where Batman bros down with Commissioner Gordon instead of fighting any actual crime. But who are the best guest stars? Watch and see!
Ask Chris #225: The Secret Origin Of Santa Claus
Q: Merry Ask Chris-tmas! What's the weirdest version of the Santa Claus origin story? -- @prograpslady
A: You know, it wasn't that long ago that I wrote about two different version of Santa's origin that were done as stop-motion TV specials from Rankin-Bass, and as much as I love them both, they're not exactly what you'd really expect. I mean, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is essentially the story of a revolutionary who brings down a corrupt European government through illegal toymaking and is then hunted until he has to relocate to the North Pole, and The Life And Adventures of Santa Claus has him raised on the milk of a lioness and taught about Japanese samurai by a twelve foot tall druid who shot laser beams from a silver axe in a war against child-hating goblins.
I guess what I'm getting at here is that even for someone who's spent a lifetime getting used to origin stories with nonsense words like "bitten by a radioactive spider" and "inhaled hard water fumes," Santa's beginnings are pretty weird.
Mega Man Morality: The Debate About Forgiveness, Ethics And The Nature Of The Soul (Seriously)
Back when it first started up, I wrote a review of Archie's Mega Man comic where I called it "the smartest superhero comic on the stands," mostly because of the way that it took on some pretty serious ideas without detracting from the accessible, all-ages adventure that made it such a fun read. That bit in the first arc where Mega Man starts to withdraw from his family, becoming cold and, well, robotic because of the psychological toll of destroying other robots like himself is still one of my favorite scenes in comics from the past few years.
Forty issues later, I can still stand by that statement. Mega Man hasn't just continued building one of the most enjoyably action-packed stories around the bare-bones plot of "go right, shoot robots" that it got from the video games, it's also having conversations about ethics, forgiveness and what it means to love someone that nobody else in comics is coming close to. And it's great.
WHAT: ‘Archie’ Relaunches In 2015 With Mark Waid And Fiona Staples
Over the past few years, Archie Comics has taken a lot of inspiration from the world of superheroes. We've seen inter-company crossovers, high-profile creators, the launch of a Mature Readers line and a couple of superhero imprints, and now, they're embracing the superhero comic's most time-honored tradition: For the first time since 1942, the Archie title is getting relaunched with a new #1.
That's kind of a big deal in and of itself -- with 661 issues as of this December, I'm pretty sure that Archie is currently the longest-running monthly comic on the stands that has never been rebooted or renumbered -- but the bigger news comes from the announcement of the new creative team handling Archie's biggest new direction yet: Mark Waid and Fiona Staples.
Ed Brubaker Looks Back On Batman, Part Three: Catwoman
With long runs on hit titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Sleeper, Fatale, Criminal and more, writer Ed Brubaker has cemented his position as one of the most prominent writers in American comics, and he got his start with superheroes with Batman. After being brought in from the world of crime comics to write the Batman comics in 2000, Brubaker rose to prominence with his work on Gotham City's heroes, including cowriting the seminal Gotham Central, relaunching Catwoman with a critically acclaimed and influential new direction, and retelling the first encounter between Batman and the Joker.
This week, ComicsAlliance is taking a look back at Brubaker's tenure on the Dark Knight with an in-depth interview. In part one, we discussed the writer's work with Scott McDaniel on Batman and his collaboration with Sean Phillips on the Elseworlds one-shot, Gotham Noir. In part two, we talked about Brubaker's run on Detective Comics, his landmark work with Greg Rucka and Michael Lark on Gotham Central, and his and Doug Mankhe's influential Joker story, The Man Who Laughs. Today we conclude our discussion by talking about his relaunch of Catwoman alongside Darwyn Cooke and Cameron Stewart, why he was worried that it would be a "poisoned chalice," and why it's one of the most significant comics in DC's long history.
Ed Brubaker Looks Back On Batman, Part Two: Gotham Central And The Man Who Laughs
With long runs on hit titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Sleeper, Fatale, Criminal and more, writer Ed Brubaker has cemented his position as one of the most prominent writers in American comics, and he got his start with superheroes with Batman. After being brought in from the world of crime comics to write the Batman comics in 2000, Brubaker rose to prominence with his work on Gotham City's heroes, including cowriting the seminal Gotham Central, relaunching Catwoman with a critically acclaimed and influential new direction, and retelling the first encounter between Batman and the Joker.
This week, ComicsAlliance is taking a look back at Brubaker's tenure on the Dark Knight with an in-depth interview, and today, we continue our discussion of his work on Detective Comics and focus on two of his most well-known projects: Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Gotham Central.
Arcade Brewery Releases Jason Aaron & Tony Moore’s ‘Festus Rotgut’ Comic On Beer Bottles
I'm not really a beer drinker, but that has never stopped any of my friends who do enjoy the bitter taste of malt and hops from trying to convince me to give it a shot. "Oh, this one's pretty sweet, it's like chocolate" they'll say, giving me something that doesn't taste anything like a milkshake, or "it's an acquired taste." I have never acquired it, but really, if they actually wanted to get me interested in beer, they should've probably told me there's one out there that comes with a story by two dudes who did that issue of Ghost Rider about demonic truckers.
That, at least, is the strategy currently being employed by Chicago's Arcade Brewery, who have released a new six-pack called Festus Rotgut Black Wheat Ale, in which the labels tell a six-part story by Jason Aaron and Tony Moore.
Ed Brubaker Looks Back On Batman, Part One: The Most Driven, Depressing, Exciting Character Of All Time
With long runs on hit titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Sleeper, Fatale, Criminal and more, writer Ed Brubaker has cemented his position as one of the most prominent writers in American comics, and he got his start with superheroes with Batman. After being brought in from the world of crime comics to write the Batman comics in 2001, Brubaker rose to prominence with his work on Gotham City's heroes, including cowriting the seminal Gotham Central, relaunching Catwoman with a critically acclaimed and influential new direction, and retelling the first encounter between Batman and the Joker.
This week, ComicsAlliance is taking a look back at Brubaker's tenure on the Dark Knight with an in-depth interview, and today, we start off with a look back at the writer's work on Batman and Detective Comics, discussing how he got the jobs, how Batman got him back into reading superhero comics, and the surprising character he picks out as a favorite.
Adam WarRock’s ‘Spider-Gwen’ Rap Is Your Spider-Jam
It probably shouldn't be surprising that Jason Latour and Robbie Rodriguez's Spider-Gwen is inspiring musical tributes from readers. She is, after all, one of the year's most talked about costume designs, ranking just behind the Batgirl of Burnside in terms of spiking fan interest even before the comic came out, and once it did, the revelation that she was the drummer for a band called the Mary Janes paved the way for people to express their love of Gwen Stacy through the magic... of song.
We loved Married With Sea Monsters' grrl-group take on The Mary Janes' fictional anthem "Face It Tiger," and we're equally fond of the new track from ComicsAlliance's favorite MC, Adam Warrock. As you may already know, Adam (alias Euge Ahn) does a fundraiser every year called the 24-hour Rap-A-Thon, where he does as many tracks as he can in a single day, and one of those tracks was all about Gwen Stacy's turn as the new Spider-Woman. Today, he dropped the remix, and it's pretty great.
IDW Announces 2015’s Most Outrageous Comic: ‘Jem And The Holograms’ By Ross Campbell & Kelly Thompson
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.
Turtles, Bastards And Sex Crooks: The Best Of Comixology’s Cyber Monday Sale
If you've been wondering why people have been asking you "a/s/l?" all day and then following it up with a friendly "haha nice," it's because it's Cyber Monday! Today, we all set aside a little time for the tradition of shopping as our ancestors did so many snowy winters ago: on the internet in pajamas. Truly, it is the most wonderful time of the year.
To that end, a lot of your favorite online retailers are having sales today, including the digital comics retailers at Comixology! In fact, there's so much on there that we have decided to take it upon ourselves to guide you to the best of Comixology's Cyber Monday Sale!
12 Facts You Might Not Know About The Guardians Of The Galaxy
Everyone loves comic book trivia, but with 75 years of superhero comics behind us right now, there's always some new obscure fact to learn. That's why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite characters in our new video series. You think you know comics? Well here's a few things you might not know!
This week, we're going deep with the biggest movie stars of the summer, the Guardians of the Galaxy! Find out about their obscure origins as a time-tossed team battling the galactic scourge of the Badoon, all the way up to their rebirth as one of the decade's most prominent franchises!