By Danica Davidson

Occupy Wall Street has been in the news a lot lately, and the protests — and protests against the protests — have moved over into the comics world. A group of graphic novelists supporting the Occupy movement, organized by Matt Pizzolo, has sprung up: Occupy Comics. The group will publish materials influenced by the Occupy movement and donate their proceedings to help the protesters.

Explaining its vision, the Occupy Comics website says, “I think artists & writers of comic books have a unique ability to evoke broad ideas and ideals in captivating, dramatic ways. So I’m reaching out to artists & writers in the comics community about this . . . Comics is a small world compared to scale the protests have taken, but think globally act locally, right? A single piece of art can ultimately transcend everything else.” Read more...

Tags alan moore, Occupy Comics, OWS, Steve Niles

The Top Ten and JLA Eisner-winner subs for Jim Lee for #7 of the Justice League reboot.
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Tags DC Comics, Gene Ha, Geoff Johns, Justice League, New 52

When you’ve got a big, world-threatening villain who’s just too tough for one hero to take down, who do you call? The Justice League or The Avengers, of course. But what if they’re busy? Then you call one of these ten teams, who are just as tough, as over-powered and unstoppable as the JLA or the A:

10. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Alan Moore’s decades spanning organization brings together the best (usually English) literary characters of each era to battle that years most dastardly threat. Got a Martian invasion? Than call the LXG… What alien army is going to beat the combination of Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, Mina Murray (from Dracula), Alan Quartermain, and Captain Nemo?

9. Ultraforce

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Tags Avengers, JLA, The Authority

By Danica Davidson

Comics publisher Valiant has had its ups and downs, but the new Valiant is launching itself and giving you a first look with its Free Comic Book Day release! It won’t happen for a few months yet, but the company has announced that this May 5 they’ll be releasing a free comic to show what they’ll be publishing in the future.

“X-O Manowar! Bloodshot! Harbinger! Some of the best-selling heroes of all time return this Free Comic Book Day, just as all-new #1 issues of Valiant Comics begin arriving in stores!” Valiant announced in an official press release. Read more...

Tags Valiant, X-O Manowar

The Captain Britain and MI:13 writer is departing the Wildstorm transplant, replaced by Marvel vet Paul Jenkins

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Tags DC Comics, New 52, Paul Cornell, Paul Jenkins, Stormwatch, Wildstorm

The architects behind the next big Marvel event gathered for a livestream today to talk about what was in store for Avengers vs. X-Men as well as answering a few fan questions in the process. As it goes, there wasn't a lot especially revelatory during the almost 45 minute chat, save learning that the Scarlet Witch will have a major part to play in the story and that the writers —Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jason Aaron, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction —will be divvying up the writing chores for the series, with Aaron and Bendis collaborating on the skeleton of the plot. Read more...

Tags Adam Kubert, Avengers Vs. X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jason Aaron, John Romita Jr., Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction, nick lowe, OLIVIER COIPEL

This week’s issue of Detective Comics sees writer-artist Tony Daniel’s creation the Dollmaker enacting a plot that traces all the way up to the heights of Gotham’s power elite. Who is Dollmaker and why is this new villain such a threat for the Bat? In a recent phone interview, I asked Daniel about the character, bringing Batman into the New 52, being unencumbered by continuity in his own corner with Detective Comics, and the gory nature of his run with the Dark Knight.

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Tags DC Comics, Detective Comics, Dollmaker, New 52, Tony Daniel

The latest project from MTV Comics, Divination, debuts today on MTV Geek -- and we chatted with creators Val Staples and Gina Iorio about the manga-inspired comic!

MTV Geek: Could you guys tell us a little about the main character of the piece—she’s convinced capital “D” Death is after her, right?

Gina Iorio: She's right.

Val Staples: So, it's that simple, huh? Scaring away our readers already?

Iorio: Okay, I want to change my answer. Our main character Ana is surrounded by death and dying. But she doesn't say “I see dead people.”

Staples: We also can't exactly say that Death itself is after her. It's way more complicated than that. But I don't want to give anything away. Death is a theme. And a lot of the characters and associations deal with supernatural elements rooted in themes centered [on] life and death. Demons, angels, zombies, ghosts, reapers...

Iorio: ...aliens.

Staples: No, there's no aliens.

Iorio: There should be.

Staples: I'm considering ignoring Gina at this point.

Iorio: I only said that because you said “zombies.” I hate zombies.

Staples: I should clarify, our zombie isn't a flesh eater. I'm a bit worn out on flesh eaters. We're going back to the pre-Romero age of the zombie. We won't have any rotting corpses that crave brains (sorry, Romero zombie fans). It will all become clear as the story goes on. It's all tied together in a nice package. Read more...

Tags Divination, Gina Iorio, Val Staples

Lost in the hype over Marvel’s announcement that, at some point in the near future, a superhero team would be fighting another superhero team in a mainstream comic book was the slightly bigger news that in 2012, writer Brian Michael Bendis will be leaving The Avengers.

As reported over at CBR, Bendis – who, whatever you think of his run on the Avengers titles – has nearly single-handedly reinvigorated the franchise to the point that it may viably be the inspiration for one of the biggest movies of all time, wants to go out on a high note. So post Avengers vs. X-Men (the Event we snarkily referred to in the first paragraph), which he’s co-plotting and writing with Marvel’s other “Architects,” Bendis will stop writing The Avengers, New Avengers, and even Avengers Assemble, a new title he’s just launching in March to draw in potential new fans from the movies. Read more...

Tags Avengers, Avengers Vs. X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis, Marvel Comics, X-Men

The longtime Birds of Prey and current Batgirl writer is making her exit at issue #6 with Ghost Projekt creator Joe Harris taking over with issue #7.

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Tags DC Comics, Ethan Van Sciver, Gail Simone, Joe Harris, New 52, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man