Besides being the source material for a hotly anticipated film (albeit with mixed results), Watchmen the graphic novel has gotten a ton of people into (or back into) comics. However, if you’re unfamiliar with the scene, you might be wondering, “What’s next?”

Fortunately, we’ve put together a comprehensive After Watchmen page full of our most acclaimed, cutting-edge graphic novels. Want more Alan Moore? Check out The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Want most superhero stories with a twist? We’ve got several Invisibles trade paperbacks in stock. Interested in graphic novels aimed at the mature reader? Try out Y the Last Man or Transmetropolitan for size.

These are the graphic novels that are widely regarded as some of the best ever created. Even if you’re a longtime fan, there’s a good chance you’ll find something you need for your collection. So check them out now!

Questions? Comments? What would you add to our list? Post your ideas below!

Jamie S. Rich is a familiar face on the Portland comic book scene–first gaining attention on the editorial staff at Dark Horse Comics almost straight out of college, and then as editor-in-chief of Oni Press from 1999 to 2004. Since leaving Oni, he’s carved his own path as a freelance writer, publishing (among other things) the prose novels Cut My Hair, The Everlasting, and Have You Seen The Horizon Lately, as well as the manga-influenced comic series Love the Way You Love, several short stories, and the gorgeous (and currently out of print) graphic novel 12 Reasons Why I Love Her.

His latest major project is You Have Killed Me, an upcoming graphic novel from Oni Press that features his frequent collaborator (and neighbor) Joëlle Jones. Read on as Jamie talks about his beginnings at Dark Horse, his special relationship with Grendel, and whether or not Jamie is a girl’s name.

TFAW.com: Hey Jamie, thanks for meeting with me! Let’s start from the beginning: when did you start at Dark Horse?

Jamie S. Rich: 1994. I interviewed in ‘93, and I had a week-long internship with Diana Schutz. She had me sit in her little tiny office with a typewriter and type rejection letters for the submissions, and if I made one typo, I had to retype the entire thing. That was my internship. When Diana became editor-in-chief, she hired me to be her assistant.

TFAW.com: You also worked with Bob Schreck, right?

JSR: Yeah, I went from Diana to Bob, and worked mainly on the creator-owned books and Dark Horse Presents.

TFAW.com: You brought Usagi Yojimbo to Dark Horse, right?

JSR: No, [Stan Sakai] came over on his own. Mirage was ending, and he needed a publisher, and David Scroggy and Diana were all over it. They assigned it to me as my first solo editing gig. I think the thought was, Stan Sakai knew what he was doing at that point, so it would be easy to test somebody out on Usagi Yojimbo. I did the first 20 issues or so. I was spoiled–Stan’s the greatest guy in the world, and he didn’t really need much help at all. I think I only asked him to change one thing one time.

I also got to be in Usagi Yojimbo #100. I did a couple of pages in there with Andi Watson.

TFAW.com: What else did you work on while you were at Dark Horse?

JSR: I worked on Grendel as an assistant. After Bob left, I took over the Madman books. That’s when Madman went on hiatus, so we went right into Red Rocket 7.

Actually, I’m the editor for Madman now–I edit it for Mike Allred freelance. When I was editor-in-chief at Oni Press, I was his editor, so I’ve been his editor since he stopped publishing at Dark Horse.

TFAW.com: So Mike Allred must like you.

JSR: Yeah. Actually, in Madman #16, which comes out in May, I wrote a short story, drawn by Joëlle Jones. It’s a rare honor, because a lot of people have drawn pinups for Madman, but very few people have been asked to draw or write a story. It’s about the Atomics, who are a rock band but also a group of superheroes. I wondered, what would it be like to be a fan of this band, and they’re your life, and every time you turn around, they’re flying off into space? What does that mean? Should be fun.

TFAW.com: There’s a lot of music in the work you’ve done–do you pick a soundtrack for each of your books?

JSR: Yes, and I think that’s part of why Mike and I got along so well when we worked on Red Rocket 7. There was a time when I stopped reading comics for a while, and I got really heavily into music. When I write, I always have it on, and it always influences my work. You know, if I need to get in the headspace of this character, I’ll play this. I usually put the playlists on my blog if they’re not in the books.

TFAW.com: So what’s the soundtrack for You Have Killed Me?

JSR: Actually, that’s the strangest one, because it’s the only one that has nothing. It’s a period piece, so if I wanted to include a playlist, I would have had to educate myself about music in the ’30s, which Joëlle probably knows a lot more about than I do. There’s jazz music in it, because there’s a jazz club, but I don’t really listen to jazz. The difference with that was, I ended up watching a lot more movies when I was writing You Have Killed Me. Whenever I had the chance, I was watching another film noir.

TFAW.com: Which ones?

JSR: One called The Scar, and also Night and the City with Richard Widmark. I tried to watch things that had less of a detective/murder element, so I wasn’t ripping stuff off, but it was helpful for getting me into that mood and capturing that dialogue.

TFAW.com: What can you tell me about You Have Killed Me that isn’t in the solicitation copy?

JSR: The most important thing is, Joëlle and I are both fans of ’30s crime drama. Joëlle is more into hard-boiled and detective fiction, and I was more into film noir and old detective films, and we wanted to bring both of our loves together in this book. It’s a murder mystery, and the main character, Antonio, is a private detective, and at the beginning of the book, a young woman comes to him, whom he knows–

TFAW.com: Is it an ex-girlfriend?

JSR: It’s the sister of his ex fiancée, and she says, “My sister has disappeared,” and that’s the mystery, where she’s gone and why. The little sister was in the bedroom, and the older sister was in the bathroom that connected to it, and there’s only one door out, and if there were a window, it would go straight down a cliff–so the question is, how did she get out? Also, it’s a couple of weeks before her wedding.

TFAW.com: To another guy?

JSR: Yes. Antonio Mercer, the detective, is a rich boy who wants to deny his fancy lifestyle, so it all comes crashing down at once. Her family says, “You know her better than anybody, so you are the one who can find her.” So he starts sifting through his two-sided life. There is the high-society life that he’s from and that she’s a part of, and there’s the criminal underworld that he works in and she’s been dabbling in–horse races and jazz clubs, etc. So it’s him trying to figure out where she went, and why all these dead bodies keep showing up.

TFAW.com: So is this the third time you’ve worked with Joëlle?

JSR: This is the second full run we’ve done together. We’ve done a bunch of short stories, including a story in a book called Portland Noir. It’s for a series of books by Akashic Books, where they go from city to city and hire writers to write crime stories set in their towns. We’re the only comic book story in the Portland book, which–as you know, living here–there are a ton of comic book artists and writers here. So among all these prose stories from crime writers is this cool little comic.

TFAW.com: So how did working with Joëlle this time around compare to working with her on 12 Reasons Why I Love Her?

JSR: With 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, by the time I met Joëlle, the script was done. We had a more tentative relationship then. Joëlle hadn’t done much at that point, besides a Sexy Chix story for Dark Horse, and I had worked with newer artists before as an editor, but not as a writer. So there wasn’t as much collaboration or talking about the story as it developed, because it was already done.

With You Have Killed Me, we talked a lot more about what we wanted to do. For example, the horse race was something that she wanted to draw. The script really grew from our conversations and her recommendations.

TFAW.com: Do you two have any other projects coming up?

JSR: I actually just finished the first script for an Oni series called Spell Checkers, which is a high school comedy with magic, about three girls who rule their high school as witches. That was based on a sketch that Joëlle did. I don’t remember how it came up, but she said, “We should do something with these three girls,” and she forgot about it and then was surprised when I came up with a script for it.

The main story will be drawn by Nicolas Hitori De, and Joëlle’s drawing a bunch of flashback scenes for it. It’s kind of like Hopeless Savages, an Oni book I edited, in that there’s a flashback in every issue. Now that we hang out all the time, that’s how our collaboration goes–it’s influenced by us talking and sharing what else we’re doing.

TFAW.com: So did you choose Joëlle for 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, or did the editor choose her?

JSR: I found her through Diana, through Sexy Chix. I asked Diana who Joëlle was and if she needed work, and Diana said yes, she should be drawing more comics, and it turns out we live in the same neighborhood, and we probably ran into each other and didn’t know it at our various jobs. So, yeah, I needed an artist, and as soon as we met, it was pretty obvious that I wanted to work with her.

TFAW.com: What drew you to her work?

JSR: I love her line work, her style, but her real talent is in her acting; her characters are always so alive, and her backgrounds are as alive as her characters are. As a writer, you can only dream of having an artist where you can ask for anything, and they can pull it off. The only time she’s changed stuff is when I’ve asked for some bizarrely subtle gesture, and she says, “Yeah, that’s not going to work.”

TFAW.com: There’s an element of romance in many of your comics. Do you consider yourself a romance writer?

JSR: It’s weird, because when I started out, I would tell you that I was a romance writer. Now I don’t say that as much, because it got me pigeonholed a little bit. I think You Have Killed Me shows that I can do other things. Spell Checkers will be my first comedy, and there’s actually no romance in that.

Actually, I recently had a friend tell me that my “brand” is heartbreak, which is true, that’s what I think I do more than flowery romance. Overall, it’s the human element that interests me. So even when I’m doing a zombie story for the Dark Horse Book of the Dead or a crime story like You Have Killed Me, I’m focused on the characters.

TFAW.com: So where does Love the Way You Love fit in there?

JSR: There was a character in my novel The Everlasting, a supporting character named Tristan, and I realized that there was another story I wanted to tell. He’s actually in my other novels, too, but it’s in The Everlasting that I refer to a specific subplot in his life. But I needed another venue to tell that story, it didn’t fit in the novels, and that’s when I started thinking about doing it as a comic book.

TFAW.com: Love the Way You Love Sides A and B have been recognized by the Young Adult Library Services Association as 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Did you mean to write toward a young adult audience?

JSR: To a point. I was reading a lot of Shojo manga, and I wanted to write something more upbeat. I’m not one to really think about the audience so much as what I want to write. It just so happened that the characters were young.

TFAW.com: What advice do you have for people who want to break into comics? How did you get your start?

JSR: I originally got into comics because I was a huge Comico fan. I was buying Robotech from Comico, and then Elementals, and then I got into Grendel, which kind of changed my mind about what comics could be. So I was already writing letters to comics at that point, and I started writing to Grendel–

TFAW.com: Did you write in as “Jamie S. Rich”?

JSR: Oh, yes! I’ve been Jamie S. Rich since the fifth grade. That’s when I started writing my signature, and I was tired of all the Jaime Summers-Bionic Woman jokes, and people saying I had a girl’s name, and I was trying to make it more sophisticated.

So I was writing to Grendel every month. I was 14. And I went to my first Comic Con at 15, and I walked up to [Comico editors] Diana Schutz and Bob Schreck and introduced myself, and Diana was like, “Are you Jamie S. Rich from Quartz Hill, California?” So that was essentially how I got into comics. I had no idea that a lot of people got into comics that way at that time. Now you write a blog. When I was in college, I was still writing to Diana, and she said, “When you get out of college, give me a call.” I don’t know if you can do it that way anymore. But, you know, I’m awesome.

TFAW.com: Ha ha ha ha!

JSR: He said laughingly! Write that part down.

My thanks to Jamie for his time! And readers, be sure to check out our 10-page preview of You Have Killed Me!

So, has anyone tracked down the hard-to-find 12 Reasons Why I Love Her? (I have, and it was worth it.) Are you looking forward to You Have Killed Me? Post your comments below!

Jamie S. Rich is a familiar face on the Portland comic book scene–first gaining attention on the editorial staff at Dark Horse Comics almost straight out of college, and then as editor-in-chief of Oni Press from 1999 to 2004. Since leaving Oni, he’s carved his own path as a freelance writer, publishing (among other things) the prose novels Cut My Hair, The Everlasting, and Have You Seen The Horizon Lately, as well as the manga-influenced comic series Love the Way You Love, several short stories, and the gorgeous (and currently out of print) graphic novel 12 Reasons Why I Love Her.

His latest major project is You Have Killed Me, an upcoming graphic novel from Oni Press that features his frequent collaborator (and neighbor) Joëlle Jones. Read on as Jamie talks about his beginnings at Dark Horse, his special relationship with Grendel, and whether or not Jamie is a girl’s name.

TFAW.com: Hey Jamie, thanks for meeting with me! Let’s start from the beginning: when did you start at Dark Horse?

Jamie S. Rich: 1994. I interviewed in ‘93, and I had a week-long internship with Diana Schutz. She had me sit in her little tiny office with a typewriter and type rejection letters for the submissions, and if I made one typo, I had to retype the entire thing. That was my internship. When Diana became editor-in-chief, she hired me to be her assistant.

TFAW.com: You also worked with Bob Schreck, right?

JSR: Yeah, I went from Diana to Bob, and worked mainly on the creator-owned books and Dark Horse Presents.

TFAW.com: You brought Usagi Yojimbo to Dark Horse, right?

JSR: No, [Stan Sakai] came over on his own. Mirage was ending, and he needed a publisher, and David Scroggy and Diana were all over it. They assigned it to me as my first solo editing gig. I think the thought was, Stan Sakai knew what he was doing at that point, so it would be easy to test somebody out on Usagi Yojimbo. I did the first 20 issues or so. I was spoiled–Stan’s the greatest guy in the world, and he didn’t really need much help at all. I think I only asked him to change one thing one time.

I also got to be in Usagi Yojimbo #100. I did a couple of pages in there with Andi Watson.

TFAW.com: What else did you work on while you were at Dark Horse?

JSR: I worked on Grendel as an assistant. After Bob left, I took over the Madman books. That’s when Madman went on hiatus, so we went right into Red Rocket 7.

Actually, I’m the editor for Madman now–I edit it for Mike Allred freelance. When I was editor-in-chief at Oni Press, I was his editor, so I’ve been his editor since he stopped publishing at Dark Horse.

TFAW.com: So Mike Allred must like you.

JSR: Yeah. Actually, in Madman #16, which comes out in May, I wrote a short story, drawn by Joëlle Jones. It’s a rare honor, because a lot of people have drawn pinups for Madman, but very few people have been asked to draw or write a story. It’s about the Atomics, who are a rock band but also a group of superheroes. I wondered, what would it be like to be a fan of this band, and they’re your life, and every time you turn around, they’re flying off into space? What does that mean? Should be fun.

TFAW.com: There’s a lot of music in the work you’ve done–do you pick a soundtrack for each of your books?

JSR: Yes, and I think that’s part of why Mike and I got along so well when we worked on Red Rocket 7. There was a time when I stopped reading comics for a while, and I got really heavily into music. When I write, I always have it on, and it always influences my work. You know, if I need to get in the headspace of this character, I’ll play this. I usually put the playlists on my blog if they’re not in the books.

TFAW.com: So what’s the soundtrack for You Have Killed Me?

JSR: Actually, that’s the strangest one, because it’s the only one that has nothing. It’s a period piece, so if I wanted to include a playlist, I would have had to educate myself about music in the ’30s, which Joëlle probably knows a lot more about than I do. There’s jazz music in it, because there’s a jazz club, but I don’t really listen to jazz. The difference with that was, I ended up watching a lot more movies when I was writing You Have Killed Me. Whenever I had the chance, I was watching another film noir.

TFAW.com: Which ones?

JSR: One called The Scar, and also Night and the City with Richard Widmark. I tried to watch things that had less of a detective/murder element, so I wasn’t ripping stuff off, but it was helpful for getting me into that mood and capturing that dialogue.

TFAW.com: What can you tell me about You Have Killed Me that isn’t in the solicitation copy?

JSR: The most important thing is, Joëlle and I are both fans of ’30s crime drama. Joëlle is more into hard-boiled and detective fiction, and I was more into film noir and old detective films, and we wanted to bring both of our loves together in this book. It’s a murder mystery, and the main character, Antonio, is a private detective, and at the beginning of the book, a young woman comes to him, whom he knows–

TFAW.com: Is it an ex-girlfriend?

JSR: It’s the sister of his ex fiancée, and she says, “My sister has disappeared,” and that’s the mystery, where she’s gone and why. The little sister was in the bedroom, and the older sister was in the bathroom that connected to it, and there’s only one door out, and if there were a window, it would go straight down a cliff–so the question is, how did she get out? Also, it’s a couple of weeks before her wedding.

TFAW.com: To another guy?

JSR: Yes. Antonio Mercer, the detective, is a rich boy who wants to deny his fancy lifestyle, so it all comes crashing down at once. Her family says, “You know her better than anybody, so you are the one who can find her.” So he starts sifting through his two-sided life. There is the high-society life that he’s from and that she’s a part of, and there’s the criminal underworld that he works in and she’s been dabbling in–horse races and jazz clubs, etc. So it’s him trying to figure out where she went, and why all these dead bodies keep showing up.

TFAW.com: So is this the third time you’ve worked with Joëlle?

JSR: This is the second full run we’ve done together. We’ve done a bunch of short stories, including a story in a book called Portland Noir. It’s for a series of books by Akashic Books, where they go from city to city and hire writers to write crime stories set in their towns. We’re the only comic book story in the Portland book, which–as you know, living here–there are a ton of comic book artists and writers here. So among all these prose stories from crime writers is this cool little comic.

TFAW.com: So how did working with Joëlle this time around compare to working with her on 12 Reasons Why I Love Her?

JSR: With 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, by the time I met Joëlle, the script was done. We had a more tentative relationship then. Joëlle hadn’t done much at that point, besides a Sexy Chix story for Dark Horse, and I had worked with newer artists before as an editor, but not as a writer. So there wasn’t as much collaboration or talking about the story as it developed, because it was already done.

With You Have Killed Me, we talked a lot more about what we wanted to do. For example, the horse race was something that she wanted to draw. The script really grew from our conversations and her recommendations.

TFAW.com: Do you two have any other projects coming up?

JSR: I actually just finished the first script for an Oni series called Spell Checkers, which is a high school comedy with magic, about three girls who rule their high school as witches. That was based on a sketch that Joëlle did. I don’t remember how it came up, but she said, “We should do something with these three girls,” and she forgot about it and then was surprised when I came up with a script for it.

The main story will be drawn by Nicolas Hitori De, and Joëlle’s drawing a bunch of flashback scenes for it. It’s kind of like Hopeless Savages, an Oni book I edited, in that there’s a flashback in every issue. Now that we hang out all the time, that’s how our collaboration goes–it’s influenced by us talking and sharing what else we’re doing.

TFAW.com: So did you choose Joëlle for 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, or did the editor choose her?

JSR: I found her through Diana, through Sexy Chix. I asked Diana who Joëlle was and if she needed work, and Diana said yes, she should be drawing more comics, and it turns out we live in the same neighborhood, and we probably ran into each other and didn’t know it at our various jobs. So, yeah, I needed an artist, and as soon as we met, it was pretty obvious that I wanted to work with her.

TFAW.com: What drew you to her work?

JSR: I love her line work, her style, but her real talent is in her acting; her characters are always so alive, and her backgrounds are as alive as her characters are. As a writer, you can only dream of having an artist where you can ask for anything, and they can pull it off. The only time she’s changed stuff is when I’ve asked for some bizarrely subtle gesture, and she says, “Yeah, that’s not going to work.”

TFAW.com: There’s an element of romance in many of your comics. Do you consider yourself a romance writer?

JSR: It’s weird, because when I started out, I would tell you that I was a romance writer. Now I don’t say that as much, because it got me pigeonholed a little bit. I think You Have Killed Me shows that I can do other things. Spell Checkers will be my first comedy, and there’s actually no romance in that.

Actually, I recently had a friend tell me that my “brand” is heartbreak, which is true, that’s what I think I do more than flowery romance. Overall, it’s the human element that interests me. So even when I’m doing a zombie story for the Dark Horse Book of the Dead or a crime story like You Have Killed Me, I’m focused on the characters.

TFAW.com: So where does Love the Way You Love fit in there?

JSR: There was a character in my novel The Everlasting, a supporting character named Tristan, and I realized that there was another story I wanted to tell. He’s actually in my other novels, too, but it’s in The Everlasting that I refer to a specific subplot in his life. But I needed another venue to tell that story, it didn’t fit in the novels, and that’s when I started thinking about doing it as a comic book.

TFAW.com: Love the Way You Love Sides A and B have been recognized by the Young Adult Library Services Association as 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Did you mean to write toward a young adult audience?

JSR: To a point. I was reading a lot of Shojo manga, and I wanted to write something more upbeat. I’m not one to really think about the audience so much as what I want to write. It just so happened that the characters were young.

TFAW.com: What advice do you have for people who want to break into comics? How did you get your start?

JSR: I originally got into comics because I was a huge Comico fan. I was buying Robotech from Comico, and then Elementals, and then I got into Grendel, which kind of changed my mind about what comics could be. So I was already writing letters to comics at that point, and I started writing to Grendel–

TFAW.com: Did you write in as “Jamie S. Rich”?

JSR: Oh, yes! I’ve been Jamie S. Rich since the fifth grade. That’s when I started writing my signature, and I was tired of all the Jaime Summers-Bionic Woman jokes, and people saying I had a girl’s name, and I was trying to make it more sophisticated.

So I was writing to Grendel every month. I was 14. And I went to my first Comic Con at 15, and I walked up to [Comico editors] Diana Schutz and Bob Schreck and introduced myself, and Diana was like, “Are you Jamie S. Rich from Quartz Hill, California?” So that was essentially how I got into comics. I had no idea that a lot of people got into comics that way at that time. Now you write a blog. When I was in college, I was still writing to Diana, and she said, “When you get out of college, give me a call.” I don’t know if you can do it that way anymore. But, you know, I’m awesome.

TFAW.com: Ha ha ha ha!

JSR: He said laughingly! Write that part down.

My thanks to Jamie for his time! And readers, be sure to check out our 10-page preview of You Have Killed Me!

So, has anyone tracked down the hard-to-find 12 Reasons Why I Love Her? (I have, and it was worth it.) Are you looking forward to You Have Killed Me? Post your comments below!

Seriously?

That’s the face of Cobra Commander?

Really?

Elisabeth caught wind of a new Cobra Commander Toy over at HissTank and I got over there as quick as possible to get a glimpse, and now we’re bringing it to you.

I was jazzed when I saw the preview for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie, but I’m starting to feel like Stephen Sommers et al. are killing off one of the last vestiges of my childhood.

I am just as upset at the look and feel of the new Cobra Commander as I was about what they did to Soundwave in the Transformers movie.

Check out our supply of cool G.I. Joe comics and toys while you’re here.

Am I out of line? Please don’t let me be the only 80’s child out there who’s disappointed.

Hey there, true believers! Josh and I are back to live blog Marvel’s Dark Reign titles for the week. We’ve got seven comics to cover this time, so go get yourself a tasty beverage and a comfortable seat. As usual, we try not to give too much away, but be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Let’s kick this off with Mighty Avengers #23. I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this one–the team’s mystical adventure battling the Chaos god Chthon seemed pretty far removed from the other Dark Reign happenings, and frankly, this team seemed made up of a bunch of also-rans. The Vision? Stature? Hank Pym? Borrrring!

But this issue surprised me–not only did the action come to a satisfying conclusion, but I was drawn in to Hank Pym’s need for respect and admiration. He knows he’s considered an also-ran, and he’s still fighting the damage his Skrull impostor inflicted on his reputation. Throw in a cameo by Thor and the realization that Wanda isn’t quite what she seems, and I’m actually intrigued. Mighty Avengers #24 should be interesting!

This month’s War Machine #4 had a small piece on how Rhodey met Glenda way back when, so that was worth the read. I like seeing his character-defining moments and other motivations. It’s comic book voyeurism. After a little skirmish and a heart-to-heart convo between Rhodey and Ares, there’s a couple of explosive endings.

I think this title jumped the shark a little. I was a big fan of the first couple of issues, but I don’t like where it’s heading. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who are happy about Ultimo tech coming into play, though. We’ll see you back here next month for War Machine #5. We’ll see if Pak and crew can bring me back into the fold.

Now we’re getting to my favorite title of the week–New Avengers #51! I know I’m not the only one, because we’ve already sold out of this issue. If you missed out, make sure to pre-order New Avengers #52, because demand is growing every month!

So the battle is on to see who will fill the shoes of Dr. Strange and become Sorcerer Supreme. If that isn’t heady enough, there are also Avengers (past and present) coming out of the woodwork, denouncing Norman Osborn on national television! Is Osborn’s Dark Reign starting to show some cracks, or is public opinion still in his favor?

What I like the most about this book is the interaction between the Avengers themselves. The dialogue is hilarious, and there’s an easy sense of humor that comes across. It’s definitely a treat if you’re a longtime comic book fan, but frankly, I can see this title appealing to newcomers as well. My only quibble: Wolverine is not an Avenger. Wolverine is not an Avenger!  This is something that needs its own series of blog posts, so I’m stopping here.

Thunderbolts #130 is the second part of the “Magnum Opus” arc that started in Deadpool #8. Dazo’s art takes a little getting used to. I was so comfortable with Medina’s Deadpool that this issue was a little difficult for me to get into.

This issue really advances the “Magnum Opus” story arc, and I’m really happy with the action throughout. Follow the Crimson Comedian in his attempt to exit Avengers Tower, evade Osborn’s Thunderbolts kill squad, and get even with the guy at the top.

This issue is good stuff. This has been a really popular book, so be sure to get your pre-orders in soon for Thunderbolts #131 and see if Waid can tame the heart of a Widow. All sources point to no.

New Avengers might be my favorite title this week, but I was really, really looking forward to Ms. Marvel #37. I don’t want to give away the major event in this issue (although it’s all over the Internet), but–yeah, it kind of left me flat. Suffice it to say that Carol Danvers has left the book, and the Dark Avenger’s Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Moonstone, will take over next issue.

My problem with this issue is two-fold: it kind of shuffled Carol, a 40-year veteran, out the door without a lot of fanfare. There was a really interesting character development that happened, and then–poof!–out with the old, in with the new. Also, there hasn’t been a lot of setup for Moonstone. It would have been a lot more interesting if there had been some contact–and conflict–between the two Ms. Marvels beforehand. Instead, I’ll be reading about a stranger next month in Ms. Marvel #38.

Elektra is the most dangerous assassin on the planet, but after returning to Earth from Skrullville, she’s in pretty bad shape. After being caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. and interrogated by H.A.M.M.E.R., she shows us what she’s really made of in Dark Reign Elektra #1.

Get. This. Issue. If you’re even teetering on the edge, get this issue. One of the Thunderbolts has crossed Norman Osborn, and the events of this issue might spark a change to the Thunderbolts lineup. We’ll see you back here next month for Dark Reign Elektra #2! It’s going to be a good time, to be sure!

Alrighty–the Greek gods enter the picture with Incredible Hercules #127! Let me just say that I have never read this title before, so I was a little lost at first, but the story was straightforward and easy to latch onto–it seems designed to snag new readers who are following Dark Reign.

So Hercules, his sister Athena, and his boy-genius sidekick, Amadeus Cho, are locked in battle with Hera, the evil stepmother from hell. Except this Mommy Dearest is a Greek goddess and a corporate titan. Ulp. Just when the action starts heating up, Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers enter the fray, which throws everything even further into chaos. So now I’m eagerly awaiting Incredible Hercules #128. Norman Osborn couldn’t possibly prevail against immortal gods . . . can he?

Whew! Okay, folks, that’s all she (and he) wrote. Now it’s your turn: what’s your favorite Dark Reign title? How is this comic book event stacking up next to Civil War and Secret Invasion? Entertain us today, it’s Friday!

You’re about to hear Mark Waid’s name mentioned a lot out there in the comic book community in the next few months.

He’s about to lend his talents to Amazing Spider-Man in May, and he’s also got a slew of other books that are coming out soon, including a new Incredibles comic book series and a couple of his own series–Irredeemable and The Unknown.

What would happen if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? That’s the premise behind Irredeemable, Waid’s new comic book series coming at you from Boom! Studios next month.

TFAW.com was lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with the increasingly busy Waid about his upcoming series. Here’s how it went down:

TFAW.com: This sounds like a really exciting project. What was the catalyst behind the idea of Irredeemable?

Mark Waid: It’s been percolating for a while; there was no specific flashpoint for it other than, quite possibly, my admiration that The Sopranos managed to make an ongoing, charismatic, and sympathetic point-of-view protagonist out of a mob criminal.

Some of it also came out of my years of thinking about Lex Luthor as someone who could have been a hero except for one internal flaw–his own insecurity. Those are the characters who are the most interesting–the flawed ones.

TFAW.com: We’ve seen backstories on villains before, but how is this different from the standard villain origin story?

Waid: Because the Plutonian was loved. Revered. Absolutely a saint, and absolutely the greatest hero the world had ever known. And it wasn’t a trick, wasn’t a guise. He was sincere. But things . . . got to him.

TFAW.com: The subject matter seems pretty heavy. I mean, you’re taking a superhero and pushing him past his breaking point. It’s probably safe to say that this isn’t your standard cape book, right?

Waid: I’d say that, definitely. Everyone in this book has very complex reasons for what he or she is doing, and none of them are wholly altrustic in a traditional comic-hero sense.

TFAW.com: You’ve probably got dozens ideas in the back of your mind at any given moment. Why is this the time for you to tell this story?

Waid: Honestly, on a personal level, I feel like I’m ready. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in the past few years about the difference between the rules comic-book superheroes teach you and the rules the real world demands of you–and how the lessons superheroes teach us at a fundamental age can so easily be warped and misinterpreted.

TFAW.com: We’ve seen the first few pages of Irredeemable #1 and the world premier trailer on YouTube. They’re edgy and dark. How would you describe the look and feel of the book?

Waid: It quite purposefully looks, at least on the surface, much like a traditional superhero book; that’s deliberate. But that’s because it’s the best way to disguise the darkness inside and surprise you.

TFAW.com: What has Peter Krause brought to the table in terms of creating the world of Irredeemable?

Waid: An immeasurable amount. While Paul Azaceta did the designs for the main character, the Plutonian, Peter’s been responsible for committing to paper the looks and designs of the dozen other supporting heroes and villains in this world. Plus, Peter’s dynamic storytelling and the great facial expressions in his art communicate so much.

TFAW.com: Moving on to your other new title, The Unknown. What can you tell us about that?

Waid: Catherine Allingham is the world’s greatest detective. Everyone knows it; she’s a legend, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. But she’s been diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor.

She’s got six months to live–and she’s decided that she will not go to her grave without first cracking the greatest mystery of all–what happens when we die. And she thinks she’s found an answer through detection, and that leads her and her assistant, the brawny expert-at-people-reading Doyle, into high-octane adventure.

TFAW.com: A brain tumor? Harsh. Giving Catherine six months (and only four issues) to find out if death is the end . . . it sounds like quite the task.

Waid: Well, there’s not much challenge in writing a detective story about a detective who ends up stumped, is there? What I like about this is that it gives us the chance to deal with much bigger issues than “who stole the Mona Lisa?” or “who’s the murderer, Prof. Plum or Col. Mustard?”

I’m trying for pulp adventure with a horror bent–Doc Savage by way of David Lynch. And our artist, Minck Oosterveer, is astounding me. I hope he remembers me when he gives his Eisner Award-winner speech.

TFAW.com: (I’ve been nodding my head the whole time.) Good stuff! I’m on board. I appreciate that you have a strong female lead. What would you say to a guy who thinks this is just a “girl’s book”?

Waid: I’d say that, by that definition, Terminator 2 is a “girl’s movie.” Check out The Unknown. And don’t be threatened by a strong female lead!

Thanks for your time Mark! We’re definitely looking forward to both of these new Boom! titles. In fact, we’re so excited that we’re going to randomly pick 20 people who pre-order Irredeemable #1 and we’ll send them a signed copy of the first issue, free of charge.

Get your pre-orders in now folks, and don’t forget about our Irredeemable #1 First Look and The Unknown #1 First Look.

What do you think of Irredeemable or The Unknown? Let us know below!

Tired of being the last one to know about hot new comics, graphic novels and collectibles?

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It’s easy to sign up for a Watchdog! Just sign in to your account and enter a couple of search terms.

Some of the hottest Watchdog terms include: Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape, Batman, The Walking Dead, MIke Mignola, and Dark Reign.

There are more than 10,000 other terms people are searching for, so sign in to your account and set up your Watchdog today. We’ll keep our ear to the ground and update you when we find something we think you’ll like.

Nearly two years ago, Raven Gregory and Zenescope Entertainment grabbed us by our ocular nerves and bodily jerked us into their beautifully twisted re-imagining of Lewis Carroll’s world of Wonderland. With Return to Wonderland, we were introduced once again to Alice Liddle, who had grown up (and grown quite mad) since last we met her. But more intriguing still, we met her children–daughter Carroll (or Calie for short) and her troubled son Johnny. And it was through them, and their eyes, that we were to once again tour the world of Wonderland, a world grown far darker than we remembered.

At the helm of this adventure was Raven Gregory, who was to reprise his role as writer for the 2008 followup, Beyond Wonderland, which comes to an action-packed conclusion this month. We recently had the opportunity to talk with Raven about Wonderland, the artistic process, and what lies ahead. So without further ado:

NOTE: THIS INTERVIEW FEATURES MODERATE LANGUAGE AND SUBJECT MATTER

TFAW.com: Hi Raven, thanks for taking some time to talk with us today.

Raven Gregory: No problem. It’s cool to be here.

TFAW.com: You have a diversified range of experience in comics, from The Gift, to Se7en, and your body of work with Zenescope Entertainment. Can you give us a sense of what you’re doing now?

RG: Well, I do staff writing, talent relations, and editorial for Zenescope. I also handle all the Wonderland projects coming in and out of Zenescope, as well as write the main series. Other than that, I write, write, and then write a little bit more when I’m not spending time with the family.

TFAW.com: With Return to Wonderland available as a trade for some time and the Beyond Wonderland TPB just over the horizon, the struggles of the Liddle family, Carroll (or Calie) in particular, have been diverse and twisted. For those readers who’ve not yet fallen through the looking glass, can you give a rough synopsis of where we find ourselves at the beginning of Beyond Wonderland?

RG: Calie is attempting to start a new life, running away from her past as best as she can. Little does she know that something from the other side of the looking glass has found its way back to our world and is silently stalking her.

TFAW.com: And there’s a whole new world of challenges for Calie in Beyond Wonderland?

RG: Yeah, one of the biggest of which is how she relates to other people. How she maintains relationships when there’s this huge “thing” that hangs over her head every day of her life. A “thing” that’s really hard for her to talk about or share with other people, as they might, and probably would, think she was crazy. She’s at a point where even she is not entirely sure that what happened in RTW (Return to Wonderland) really happened. But events are fast moving to the place where even she cannot ignore the craziness that is again creeping back into her life, whether she wants it to or not.

TFAW.com: I, and many others, have been drawn in and delighted by all the “Easter Eggs” hidden throughout the series to date (such as the Forest of Signs). Do these stem from conscious attempts at abstraction, foreshadowing of events yet to come, or some combination of both?

RG: There’s a lot of all of the above. Some stuff I don’t even realize I do until after someone else points it out. The fact that CALIE is an anagram for ALICE was pointed out by our Editor-in-Chief, Ralph Tedesco. We were talking and he was saying how cool it was that her name could be rearranged to spell ALICE, and I was all like . . . “It does? . . . uh . . . I mean yeah, yeah, I meant to do that.” Then there’s other stuff like Watchmen shout outs (which I love) and Contra codes (up down up down left right left right) that I just throw in for shits and giggles, and it really does run straight across the board and all over the place.

TFAW.com: Personal interest ((THERE BE SPOILERS HERE)). There’s a scene in Return to Wonderland where Johnny has dumped the body of his adulterous father’s lover into a hole in the basement. Besides her, you can see the corpse of Alice’s evil rabbit AND a fanged skull. I’ve got to know, what’s going on with that?

RG: Some of the story I like to leave up to the reader’s interpretation to decide what they think is going on. I don’t want to always spell it out and would rather let the reader come up with their own ideas. But that one in particular was pretty simple, in the sense that there’s a live rabbit at the beginning of the RTW series, and shortly there after the rabbit is gone or zombified. So in reality, you might think that Johnny (being that serial killers usually start out with animals) killed the rabbit or you might think that the rabbit has been dead all along. It’s really up to the reader to decide . . . but everyone knows that there’s more to that rabbit than meets the eye.

TFAW.com: Moving on, one element of the Wonderland series is the delicate balance between the erotic and the terrifying. As puppet master of this show, how do you view the relationship between these two elements and how they work together?

RG: It’s a balancing act. Calie is me as a teenager. I don’t look at it as erotic. I look at it as when I was young, I was very comfortable with myself and my sexuality. I liked, and still do like, having sex. Why this isn’t portrayed in comics I get, but to me this is a part of the character’s makeup and I like to make my characters feel like real people. In Beyond Wonderland, there’s a scene where Calie is naked in the shower and her and her boyfriend have obviously just had sex, and I get all types of shit about showing her ass and what not. But everyone who “gets” it knows that in relationships there are times that people use sex as a bandage and a quick fix tool to get past problems. Brandon was about to leave her so she did what some people would do in a case like that. Not to mention she’s so emotionally drained and damaged at that point that she’d do just about anything to keep him from leaving, and all of a sudden it means something totally different than an erotic visage it’s portrayed to be. And sometimes I just like butts.

TFAW.com: Have you ever had a scene you wanted to include, but that you thought was just too much? Or one that someone else balked at during the creative process?

RG: Well, this one is a spoiler, so if you haven’t read the HC of RTW you shouldn’t read the rest of this. In the first issue of RTW there’s a dream sequence with Johnny and his family at the table that is quite bloody, with body parts chopped and all. Originally, there was supposed to be a male member on the table as well. Zenescope said it was too much. My argument was that Johnny was molested as a child, which led him to becoming the serial killer he eventually becomes, so it makes sense. They said no. Other than that, that is the only thing they censored me on. Everything else is in there, and after looking back on it, I agree with their choice. Sometimes we as writers can go too far because we can’t rein in our imaginations, and everything in Wonderland just looks so darn pretty we want to throw it all in.

TFAW.com: So can you tell us anything else about the future of the Liddle family and Wonderland?

RG: Beyond Wonderland #6. In stores in two weeks. Calie versus Johnny. And only one is getting out alive, and it’s not who you think. ‘Nuff said.

TFAW.com: What else can we look forward to from you in the future?

RG: We’re ramping up another Tales from Wonderland series featuring the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the Mad Hatter. Also look for another big announcement coming not long after the last issue of Beyond Wonderland hits the stands.

TFAW.com: Sounds awesome, I’ll be keeping my ears open. We’re looking forward to the conclusion of Beyond Wonderland, wish you every success in the future, and appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today. Thanks Raven.

RG: No, thank you.

We really appreciate Raven taking the time to chat with us, and encourage you to step through the looking glass with the Wonderland series. Any fan of horror, action, and good old-fashioned storytelling is sure to be pleased. And once you’ve whet your whistle, you’ll find there are all manner of worlds of comic awesome to be found at Zenescope . . . and apparently something secret in the works that we’ll be sure to tell you about as soon as it’s announced!

As I was scooting through our upcoming graphic novels, I spotted some solicitation copy that knocked my socks off! I swear I did not write this*, and now I really want to take a look at Marvel Masterworks Human Torch HC Vol. 02 Variant Edition Vol. 113:

“Hot dog! The swingin’ ’60s solo adventures of the Human Torch come to a cacophonous conclusion in this much-demanded Masterworks milestone!

Written by the one-and-only sultan of the Silver Age, Stan Lee, and illustrated by the Bullpen’s professor of pencilling, Darlin’ Dick Ayers, these tales of the Torch (and his odd-couple partner, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing) are bona fide and certified cover-to-cover fun!

Join in as the Torch tests his mettle against the Wizard, the riotous Rabble Rouser, and Plantman. Then, place your bets in the battle of fire and ice between Johnny Storm and the X-Men’s Iceman, illustrated by Jack Kirby!

After that, it’s team-up time! The Thing joins the show, and it’s clobberin’ time vs. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Paste-Pot Pete, the Beetle (not those Beatles, they come later), the Mad Thinker, and the Puppet Master. And before we close it all down comes . . . the Watcher!

Guest-staring the Amazing Spider-Man, the X-Men, four guys named John, Paul, George, and Ringo, and if that doesn’t sell you on it, then I’ve got five words that will: “Thing in a Beatle wig.” That’s it! We stuck a fork in ya. So reserve that copy today, True Believer!”

Wow . . . the Thing in a Beatle wig? Multiple guest stars? $20 adjectives? How could I resist?

What do you think, true believers? Is that the best blurb you’ve read all month or what?

*There was, however, some editing on my part, for readability’s sake!

As announced at anticipation.ca (site for Anticipation - The 67th World Science Fiction Convention), the nominees for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story have been announced. A diverse collection of talent and subject is represented, including cult favorite Serenity: Better Days. However, I can tell you that there isn’t a title in here that isn’t worth reading. This really shouldn’t come as any surprise given that these are the Hugos, which honor the best in science fiction and fantasy each year. Check out the list below and you’re guaranteed a treat. From all of us at TFAW.com–a heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

• The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle Written by Jim Butcher, art by Ardian Syaf (Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Publishing)
• Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
• Fables: War and Pieces Written by Bill Willingham, pencilled by Mark Buckingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, color by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein (DC/Vertigo Comics)
• Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic Story and art by Howard Tayler (The Tayler Corporation)
• Serenity: Better Days Written by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, color by Michelle Madsen, cover by Jo Chen (Dark Horse Comics)
• Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores Written/created by Brian K. Vaughan, pencilled/created by Pia Guerra, inked by Jose Marzan, Jr. (DC/Vertigo Comics)

So what say you, the comic masses? Are the nominating members of Anticipation on target, or miles off true north? Did they suss out the creme de la creme, or are there deserving titles that have been slighted? Let us know what you think.