Uncanny Avengers #5 was mostly a strong issue, the best of the series so far, in part because it gave readers the clearest sense of the team's dynamic and purpose, and in part because the guest art from Olivier Coipel was exceptional. Yet there was one part of the issue that didn't hit its mark. Uncanny Avengers #5 features the formal unveiling of the Avengers Unity Team, the public name of ...

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 hits stores today, a new series by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven that hopes to boost the profile of Marvel's space-faring super-team ahead of next summer's movie release, so that when your non-comics friends ask you, "Who are these Guardians of the Galaxy?", you don't answer, "the who-dians of the what-now?" But... who are the Guardians of the Galaxy? ...

It's hard to say goodbye. Unless you're an X-Man, in which case it's kind of a hobby. Over the years, the "quitting the X-Men" cover has become a recurring meme for the mutants, usually with the same formula; one character sadly traipsing off-stage on the right, and the team watching mournfully in the background on the left. Inspired by the Tumblr blog Cyclops Was Right, (with an extra ...

This April Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel launch a new X-Men title with a roster of Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rachel Grey, Rogue and Storm. That the team is all-female is unusual for a series that isn't defined along gender-lines. What makes the roster extraordinary is that it's an all-star line-up. These are first draft X-Men, and the book could easily have added more top picks -- ...

It's Valentine's Day! What better way to celebrate love than by ogling some fine-looking fellas? We know what you're thinking. "This is lowbrow stuff, beneath the lofty ambitions of clever old ComicsAlliance, and hey, where are all the hot chicks?" But we do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Comics provide such a rich vein of female objectification that female character's ...

Uncanny X-Men returns next week with a new #1 from Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo - and a very unusual variant cover from artist Stuart Immonen. The "Deadpool 53 State Birds" cover is Marvel's tongue-in-cheek response to DC's 52 state flag variant covers for Justice League of America #1. It's a fun and funny image, but it's also beautifully composed and full of character. Immonen ...

In 2005, as part of an overhaul of Marvel's Avengers line in the wake of Avengers Disassembled, writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung launched Young Avengers, a new title with a cast of kid heroes inspired by established characters. The series -- and its central gay teen couple, Wiccan and Hulkling -- earned a passionate following, and despite an erratic release schedule the creative team ...

In the current arc of All New X-Men, the team's resident big brain Hank McCoy uses his time machine (hey, Henry, could you have mentioned you had that before?) to bring his past self to the present day (in apparent violation of Marvel's own time travel rules, but rules are totally boresville), to brainstorm a cure for his chronic MacGuffinism (a serious medical condition that inspires really ...

I joined Comics Alliance in January of 2012, and my first pitch out of the gate was for this column. I love cover art. I love the tension between the freedom that covers offer -- you can do almost anything on that canvas -- versus the restrictions of scale and necessity. I wanted the opportunity to not just highlight the best covers, but to talk about what makes them great. Here at the ...

A great comic book cover is both an advertisement and a work of art. It is both a statement and an invitation. Sometimes a great cover conveys character, sometimes mood, sometimes moment. Great covers can pastiche the classics or pay tribute to the past, or they can strive to show us something new. Great covers always show us a glimpse of somewhere else, on a canvas no bigger than a window ...