Girls Gone Archie: Celebrities Take the Comic Book Stage.

The Acadamy Awards aired last night, celebrating the best of the the big screen. But did you know many screenwriters,musicians and actors have dabbled in comics?

Archie Comics has recently been famous for pairing their characters with stars: Obama, Kiss, the cast of Glee, George Takei…now HBO’s Girls creator Lena Dunham has signed on to pen four issues of Archie debuting next year. 

Archie Comics

“I was an avid Archie collector as a child — conventions, first editions that l kept in plastic sleeves, the whole shebang. It has so much cultural significance but also so much personal significance, and to get to play with these beloved characters is a wild creative opportunity,” Dunham said in the press release.

Recently Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, writer of the critically acclaimed Afterlife With Archie, was internally promoted to Chief Creative Officer. “Roberto is the ideal person for the CCO role, and why this is the next logical step in Archie’s evolution as a real pop culture company — a place where the strongest, most unique voices can come and contribute to Archie’s world. The best part is — we’re just getting started.” CEO John Goldwater stated.

This follows the trend of celebrities flexing their writing talents…in comic book form. Actors Rosario Dawson and Tyrese Gibson have written for Image Comics in their own miniseries(Occult Crimes Taskforce and Mayhem!, respectively). Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader and Seth Meyers tagteamed on a Spider-Man parody one shot: The Short Halloween(parodying the successful Batman:The Long Halloween). Longtime voice of the Joker and Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill wrote The Black Pearl for Dark Horse. Jennifer Love Hewitt conducted a miniseries, Music Box at IDW. Nick Fury(aka Samuel L Jackson) wrote Cold Space for Boom Studios. Jada Pinket Smith wrote Menace for Awesome Comics. Patton Oswalt wrote for JLA(DC) and Kevin Smith has written for Daredevil(Marvel). Orchestrator of the Marvel cinematic universe, Joss Whedon wrote a definitive era for the X-Men in their Astonishing X-Men series.

See cover images and a more complete list compiled by Jason on Listal.


One of the factors behind DC’s cross country move to Los Angeles is for the publisher ties in this. It is rumored that they would like to tap the Hollywood screenwriters for potential comic book writers.

Culture of Comics' Top 10 Recommendation for People Who Don’t Read Comics(Part 1 of 2)

Bleeding Cool’s Erik Grove published a great(and self explanatory) article: Essential 8 Comics For Reaching Comic Book Curious. I agreed with many of the choices but there are also many omissions. The comic book community has been revitalized lately. New companies are popping up and old ones are always in the process of reinventing themselves and staying on the forefront of art and story. New creators, the world over, are getting their chance to really craft their own stories and take their characters to new levels. Here is a list, in no particular order, of not your average comic books that can interest just about anybody. Tune in for part two tomorrow!




1.Afterlife with Archie(Archie)

Archie Comics

The most surprising release of last year was Francesco Francavilla and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s unique take on the Americana classic. The Archie property, forever stuck between Betty and Veronica, is now stuck in a horrific nightmare…the living dead are taking over Riverdale. Not like any classic Archie story and very different from the other popular zombie comic, Afterlife with Archie is a love letter to pulp classics that the genre was built on.The art is vibrant and dark and the action is suspenseful- it will leave you waiting for the next issue. Follow the twitter here and be on the look out for the first collected edition in April.



2.Daredevil(Marvel)

Marvel Comics

“Better than the Ben Affleck movie” isn’t saying much…but Mark Waid’s Daredevil, ending this month with issue 36 with a relaunch already in the works, is a different take on the character, much more based in reality. With his identity recently exposed, the character faces discrimination, social injustice, super villains and his business partner’s cancer. The art style. created by Paolo Rivera and continued by Chris Samnee, is different, with Daredevil’s super senses demonstrated in new and visually exciting ways. Classic villains and superheroes appear regularly but this solo series(Daredevil’s third volume) is really a tale of growth and struggle.




3. Morning Glories(Image)

Image Comics

One part Degrassi, one part Battle Royale and two parts Lost. Morning Glories is an addicting tale. Nick Spencer(writer), Joe Eisma(art) and Rodin Esquejo(covers) have teamed up to produce a very, very complex and compelling tale…broken into “seasons”. The story covers gifted students in a mysterious(oftentimes deadly) academy. Every issue offers a piece of the puzzle and more information about the wide cast of characters that the reader grows to care for. Like Lost, every answer leads to ten more questions but the comic delivers a wide range of emotions and the art and characters are very lifelike.




4. Invincible(Image)

Image Comics

Robert Kirkman,the creator of Walking Dead, wanted to tell a different kind of superhero story-one with consequences. Invincible is a teen superhero with newly acquired superpowers( inherited from his alien father). The series shows the characters growth- from his first team up, first girlfriend to eventually college and his first in space mission. The characters are never reset. Everything in the series counts and nothing gets ignored. The team (Cory Walker illustrated the first arc, then Ryan Ottley took over for the duration. All issues have been written by Kirkman)has worked on the series for over 100 issues and they know how to juggle the characters and the conflicts. The property was granted various miniseries and just rewarded a second ongoing: Invincible Universe. Find some collected volumes(all named after 80s sitcoms) at your local library.




5.Fables(Vertigo)

Vertigo

“Legends in Exile” –fairy tale characters live in New York- the big ones live upstate. Snow White is sleeping with the Big Bad Wolf(who has a human form). Cinderella is a super spy and Goldilocks is a serial killer. And just wait til you see the mouth on Pinocchio. Created by Bill Willingham and interiors by Mark Buckingham. The majority of the eye catching covers were by artist James Jean(replaced by Joao Ruas). The fable world has a rich history and multiple spin off series, mini series and over sized graphic novels and prose. Try out the first story arc for a detective story, but don’t worry Willingham knows how to turn things on their head before they get stale. The series just got their own video game by Telltale Games and it is rumored that ABC’s Once Upon A Time. Recently, Willingham announced an end is in sight and issue 150 will be its last.

Tune in tomorrow for the last 5 on the list! All comics can be found at a local comic book store or online at Comixology. Fables, Morning Glories, Daredevil and Invincible have already gotten international reprints in a variety of languages. To read these comics at no risk: visit your local library to order a copy of a collected edition!