Back in December, Heidi MacDonald asked a bunch of comic creators to offer some reflections on the comics news of 2025 and what they might expect in 2026. In particular, she asked what they thought the biggest news story would be. And while MacDonald didn't solicit my input in any capacity, I offered up my thoughts on this very blog. Here's what I had to say...

2025 was insanely turbulent just in general. Not only was distribution radically disrupted, but publishers has to figure out on-again-off-again tariff issues repeatedly as many of their vendors and suppliers had radical shifts in how much they had to charge thanks to that walking shitstain in the White House. On top of which, we're in a Jenga-style economy where a single nervous brick can spell disaster. All of this means a great deal of business uncertainty. To mitigate that, I think publishers are going to lean into known quantities and we will see a large number of licensed and cross-licensed material. We're going to see more Batman/Deadpool type books. I recall seeing an announcement about a Fantastic Four/Planet of the Apes crossover for early in the year already. We're going to see more publishers farm out previously licensed material to other publishers as well -- Titan just announced they're going to put out an omnibus edition of some of Marvel's Conan comics. There's going to be a lot more blurring of lines of who's allowed to print what characters because publishers are looking for more known quantities that have an inherent fanbase built in from another IP holder.

I was reminded of this when I saw this week's release of Romeo & Juliet and Godzilla and I received my copy of The Rocketeer: The Island #1 (which features the Rocketeer in a fight against King Kong) in addition to seeing the announcement of It's Jeff/Aquaman and Supergirl/Blade crossovers. Of course, four books hardly makes a trend, so I went to see what's actually in the current solicitations list. A casual perusal turns up the following (in no particular order)...

Avengers JLA Facsimile Edition #2
The Justice League and the Avengers battle one another across two Earths for possession of the 12 weapons that will determine the fate of both universes! While their teammates put everything they've got toward winning this most desperate game, Batman and Captain America join forces to investigate those who've set up the board... and determine if there isn't yet another game in play.

DC X Sonic The Hedgehog The Metal Legion #1
The worlds of DC Comics' Justice League and SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog collide once more in another thrilling crossover filled with action, adventure, laughs, and perils! Mysterious mechanical rings have appeared on both worlds, linking them together and leading to all things wonderful, worrisome, and weird! The heroes are happily reunited, but little do they suspect there's a sinister origin to their reunions.

Jay and Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1
DOOM DECREES "THE DIM-WITTED DUO MUST DIE!" Capped, tan American Jay and friendly neighborhood wider-man Silent Bob make a quick stop in the Marvel Universe! But when Doctor Doom decrees these Jersey guys must die, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men and and a whole hoary host of heroes must team up on a joint mission to save the dim-witted duo from a lethal case of super-hero fatigue! "From the moment in Mallrats when they made the very first reference to Wolverine in cinema history, I've always wanted Jay and Silent Bob to meet their Marvel heroes in a comic book crossover - so much so that I pitched it to Stan the Man himself the day he shot his cameo in the movie way back in 1995. Thirty years later, Jays of Future Past represents both a love letter to the magic and mayhem of Marvel as well as giggle-inducing proof that our childhood dreams can still come true, even at age 55." - Kevin Smith

The Rocketeer: The Island #4
Kong has kidnapped Betty, but he must protect her from the only beast on the island scarier than him—a giant T. rex named King Bloodscale! And all the Rocketeer can do is try to keep up! Will there be a new king of the island? Or will Beauty kill the Beast? John Layman and Jacob Edgar bring you a final fight you never saw coming!

Conan and Dragonero #1
Two worlds collide in a savage crossover years in the making! CONAN OF CIMMERIA and DRAGONERO meet for the first time in an epic clash of steel, sorcery, and survival. Pulled to the mysterious land of Erondár by dark forces, Conan comes face to face with the famed dragon slayer, Dragonero, and the two warriors must set aside suspicion to stand back-to-back against a supernatural force poised to doom both their worlds. Published for the first time outside of Italy, this landmark crossover brings together two legendary heroes in a story that honors classic sword-and-sorcery while forging something bold and unforgettable. The barbarian and the dragon hunter draw their swords together!

Thundercats/The Powerpuff Girls
In the greatest crossover since peanut butter met jelly, The Powerpuff Girls travel from Townsville to Third Earth and discover the world of the ThunderCats! After being trapped in a runaway rocket by Mojo Jojo, the Townsville Trio find themselves on a strange planet where their super-powers don’t work. Luckily, someone named Snarf is there to provide a situation report — and wouldn’t you know it, there’s evil that needs defeating! But without their Chemical X-enhanced abilities, what can Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup do against a foe like Mumm-Ra? Find out as writer PAULINA GANUCHEAU and artist COLEMAN ENGLE open up the Treasures of Thundera in ThunderCats/The Powerpuff Girls!

Thundercats X Silverhawks #3
The greatest crossover event in the galaxy continues! Cheetara and Tygra are overwhelmed by invading Darkbird forces, and the SilverHawks are desperate for interplanetary backup to arrive. But everything on Third Earth stops when there’s a massive explosion in the sky...

Iron Man Super Smash
(published by Abrams)
In this action-packed and heartfelt second original graphic novel in the Iron Man: Mighty Marvel Team-Up series, Iron Man must work with the Incredible Hulk to save a group of innocent monsters from being used for destructionIt’s monster mayhem! When Iron Man looks to connect with the Hulk outside of super heroing, Tony Stark creates a new suit big enough to keep up with Hulk’s desire to smash! But when a group of monsters are unleashed across the world, Stark realizes that all of that smashing might be doing more harm than good. And when it seems like there is more to these monsters attacking at random, Hulk and Iron Man must put their heads together and find out who is really behind these monster attacks and calm the monsters at large!

Marvel Dimensions
(published by Abrams)
Alex Ross, the award-winning and bestselling creator of Marvels, Kingdom Come, and Fantastic Four: Full Circle, takes readers through the Marvel Universe—but all is not as it seems Marvel Dimensions is legendary artist Alex Ross’ second book in the Marvel Arts series, following the national bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-winning Fantastic Four: Full Circle. The story opens with a sweeping tour through the classic origins of Marvel’s most iconic characters. Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Wolverine, and many others appear in dramatic, fully painted spreads that echo their earliest stories. A narrator describes each moment with confidence, guiding the reader through these touchstones of Marvel’s history. But as the story moves forward, the tone begins to shift. The voice behind the narration is not who the readers expect and carries a motive that slowly pushes the narrative somewhere darker and far more unpredictable. Once this change becomes clear, the book expands into something larger and more surprising. Storylines twist in on themselves, characters behave in unexpected ways, and events ripple across the Marvel Universe with growing tensions. Ross uses the structure of the book to create anticipation and pull the reader deeper into a mystery that keeps widening. Every new sequence reveals another layer, building toward a final act that reframes everything that came before it. A bonus 32-page comic book is included that is pivotal to the storyline. With Marvel Dimensions, Ross approaches the Marvel Universe from a new angle with new character invention that invites readers to question what they think and what they know. Marvel Dimensions may be the latest title in the Marvel Arts line . . . but it is only the beginning.

X-Men Elsewhen Vol 01
(published by Abrams)
Legendary comic book creator John Byrne returns to the title he first drew 50 years ago, Uncanny X-Men, with this one-of-a-kind new graphic novel series, X-Men: Elsewhen. This three-volume graphic novel series picks up the story from Byrne's original run, taking the characters in new and unexpected directions. In Volume 1 of X-Men: Elsewhen, the Dark Phoenix Saga is over and Phoenix is . . . alive?!Diverging from the epic finale of the original storyline from 1984, X-Men: Elsewhen presents a universe where Jean Grey's powers and intellect have been greatly reduced, and from there, everything you thought you know about the X-Men is forever changed.John Byrne's monumental return to the X-Men heads in entirely new and surprising directions, as the X-Men head back to the Savage Land, face their climactic adventure with the Sentinels, and contend with special guest–stars such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four along the way. X-Men: Elsewhen is a three-volume graphic novel series in the Marvel Arts line that sees the return of acclaimed X-Men artist Byrne decades after his last work on the series. Byrne has written and penciled every page and inked multiple chapters, all of which pick up the story from where his first go–round ended, taking this beloved lineup of characters—and his fans—in exciting new directions.

DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artists Edition
(published by Image Comics)
A COLLECTION OF DC SILVER AGE ART UNLIKE ANY OTHER! A one-of-a-kind look at artwork from DC Comics’ Silver Age that redefined The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, and more in this gorgeous, oversized Artist’s Edition! Dive into some of DC Comics’ finest stories and covers from the Silver Age in this massive Artist’s Edition, featuring all the interior pages from beloved comics like the 1960s Green Lantern #1, complete stories from CARMINE INFANTINO’s run on The Flash and SHELDON MAYER’s run of Sugar and Spike, and even more Silver Age treasures. With a unique look into an era that changed comics forever, DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artist’s Edition also features over 75 classic covers from a Who’s-Who of iconic artists like JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, and more. Although appearing to be in black and white, all the art is scanned in color, enabling the reader to see the work as close to the original as possible—ink gradients, blue pencil, and all the unique nuances that make original art so special—are all clearly visible and printed at the same size as drawn. The Artist’s Edition featuring comics and covers from DC Comics’ Silver Age is an art book disguised as a comic collection. The only better way to see these pages is by looking over the artist's shoulder at their drawing board!

King Conan The Original Comics Omnibus Vol 03
(published by Titan Comics)
This mammoth volume includes one of the more rarely collected stories from the conclusion of John Buscema’s first long tenure on the Conan line of books as presented here and in the Conan of the Isles graphic novel. The rest of this collection includes the remaining run of issues of Conan the King as penned by Don Kraar and then Jim Owsley (aka Christopher Priest) with notable artistic runs by Mike Docherty and Geoff Isherwood. Collecting: Conan the King (1984) #36-55 and Conan of the Isles graphic novel (1988) Marvel Graphic Novel #42

I'll also note that, although I'm not 100% sure on the current status of the Star Wars license, I'm also seeing Star Wars comics being published by Marvel, Dark Horse, Titan Comics, and VIZ. And let me iterate again that this is just a casual perusal of the April previews for me to find all this.

This is not just Marvel and DC playing the game; this is most of the major publishers/IP holders getting involved. These are people saying, "Can we sell enough to justify a Thundercats comic? Maybe, maybe not. But we'll definitely get extra customers from Powerpuff Girls fans that will help make it profitable!" Publishers who are putting out other publishers' work because they decided they don't have enough original material themselves that will sell, so they borrow on the IPs of other companies.

It's obviously way too early into 2026 to say if this indeed a trend, much less a notable story for all of 2026. But I certainly wasn't wrong in predicting we were going to see an increase in this type of thing! Expect to see more of this throughout the year.

If you're a regular reader of mine, you know I'm a sucker for anything related to Jack Kirby. So when I saw the solicitation for Mike Hoffman's Secrets of Jack Kirby: Methods and Techniques, it was a no-brainer to put my order in.

Now, let's get a couple things straight right up front. I've been reading Jack's work since I became interested in comics as a kid. And I've been professionally studying his art in particular for over twenty years. The odds of a 72-page book talking about Jack's art telling me something I didn't already know are about nil. That's not why I got this. Jack's body of work has been studied more than virtually any other comics creator ever; everyone who's ever worked on it or with Jack has been interviewed repeeatedly. There are no "secrets" in what Jack did; he used regular ol' comics storytelling ideas, but he just implemented them very, very well. My interest here is in seeing how someone else looks at Jack's art and how they might use/interpret what he's doing differently. Where they feel more emphasis should be in studying his work.

Second, the solicitation copy for the book reads, "A fascinating and insightful examination of the actual working methods of Jack Kirby's famed comics work, profusely illustrated." So this not a how-to-draw-like-Jack instruction book. And again, at 72 pages, there's only going to be so much of Jack's decades of comics work it will be able to cover.

So what does this look like in practice? What Hoffman does is take pages of Jack's art -- mostly interior comics pages, mostly just the black and white line art -- and explain one artistic technique that is used on each page. For example, there's one page discussing "circular composition" and it showcases a page of Jack's art that utilizes a circular composition. There's another page discussing "left/right balance" and it showcases a page of Jack's that utilizes a strong left/right balance. The book goes through about 40 different artistic ideas this way, mostly devoting one page for each topic; although a few get multiple pages. Then there's a three-page comic sequence by Hoffman in which he conspicuously uses many of those techniques, followed by a few Kirby-related text pieces he'd originally done for other outlets.

The good thing about using Jack's work to showcase examples of different artistic ideas is that he produced a LOT of work over his career, so it's not hard to find excellent examples. This is especially beneficial in Hoffman's book because his explanations/decriptions are generally limited to only two or three sentences. For example, the description accompanying "functional flatness" reads in its entirety: "The large figure in panel 3 is mainly shown 'flat on' to the viewer -- though the arms are folded back -- this is a [sic] intentional contrast against a highly dimensional background using radical perspective." If "functional flatness" were a phrase in comics, that might be sufficient but it's not a phrase I've heard before. And just to make sure I'm not just letting whatever personal limitations in my education get in the way, a Google search on "functional flatness" turns up mostly a lot of engineering related results and even by adding "comics" to my search query, most of the results are discussing the physical flatness of comics and how to get rid of spine roll. If Hoffman wants to push the idea of "functional flatness" in comics art as a thing, that's fine of course, but his descriptor here is a bit lacking for what's effectively a new term.

The book has a fair amount of that. There's not a page on "foreshortening" but there are ones for "balanced exaggeration" and "perspective manipulation," and another on "no foreshortening." So it's a little challenging if you want to look for a specific technique Jack used -- you have to know what Hoffman decided to call it, which may or may not be related to whatever terms you learned in any art classes. Further, the book doesn't have any of the concepts organized by any artistic principle (like everything related to layout together or everything related to linework together) but it's just all alphabetical based on whatever terms Hoffman is using. That page on "no foreshortening" is listed under "N" for example.

The additional text pieces are fine for what they are, but they do strike me as basically filler. Half of them don't really speak to Jack's art in any way, and the other half are more on his overall approach to comics broadly, not anything relating to the techniques showcased in the book.

I find myself struggling to think of an audience this book would be good for. The core (I think) idea of explaining artistic concepts through Kirby examples would be useful to younger/less experienced artists is solid enough and the Kirby examples are great, but the explanations/descriptions are not descriptive enough for that audience. And for people who are familiar enough with the concepts that they don't need longer explanations, there aren't enough examples that they wouldn't be able to find just thumbing through their own collections. This book seems to be a middle-ground that wouldn't serve either potential audience very well. But with a retail price of only $14.95 US for the paperback version, I can't complain too much about getting to look at Jack Kirby artwork. (A hardcover version is also available for $24.95 US.)

Usually when I'm talking about Winsor McCay, I'm talking about one of his brilliant comics. Probably Little Nemo in Slumberland. But he was a beast of an artist and cranked out tons and tons of work, including several experimental animated films, which he drew (and sometimes colored!) by hand. He even took Gertie the Dinosaur on tour and presented it as part of a Vaudeville-style act, with McCay himself seemingly interacting with the animated Gertie.

However, I recently came across one of the films he was working on in 1921 that was -- as far as anyone can tell -- was never completed and/or presented publicly: The Centaurs. It was produced by Rialto Productions -- basically McCay's own production house. There was about three minutes' worth of animation completed, but because it had been stored poorly, about half of it didn't survive when it was discovered to be in the possession of long-time McCay associated Irving Mendelsohn in 1947. (My understanding is that the actual film strip itself was literally crumbling to dust.) What we have left is then radically incomplete, offering little in the way of actual story. What we do have suggests something of a love story -- with a male and female centaur expressly affection for one another and meeting with (presumably) his parents before a child centaur is introduced. There's also a seemingly unconnected scene where the male centaur throws a rock at a passing bird for no apparent reason.

Because McCay had been passed away for over a decade before any of the footage surfaced, it's unclear why he seemed to have left it abandoned. I've seen speculation that the partial nudity proved too risque for the times, that McCay ran out of funding, and that he was simply getting too old/infirm to continue work on it. Given the other circumstances of his life at that time, I'm disinclined to believe all of those ideas, but I am at a loss to offer any other reasonable explanations.

In any event, as I only recently discovered this footage myself, I thought I might offer it up here as something of a tangental interest to those who might only know McCay from his comic strip work...

Mark D. White's latest book at the intersection of comic books and philosophy is Ethics of the Fantastic Four. In it, he discusses... well, the ethics of the Fantastic Four. He's not looking at individual decisions, but at the cumulative overall approach each character takes that helps to define who they are. He devotes an entire chapter to each of the four primary members, as well as one for Dr. Doom and another for Galactus and the Silver Surfer. He of course offers an introduction to some broad ethical frameworks to work from, and he does have a sort of case study by way of Marvel's Civil War event.

The challenge with this type of overview of fictional characters with decades of continuity is that every character has been worked on by hundreds of creators, even if you limit yourself to a single outlet. White entirely avoids extra complications by strictly focusing on the primary comics continuity, and skipping other media as well as alternate reality versions. But even so, we're still talking about hundreds of creators across thousands of comics.

That's what wound up impressing me most about the book overall. White really did an impressive amount of research, pulling out references to what I would consider obscure stories and incidents to both serve as strong examples or emphasize points he's already made. He very much could've written much the same book with half of the references but by calling out odd, one-off stories on a regular/consistent basis, he really emphasizes that he's not cherry picking examples to prove a point but letting the collective body of all the comics to drive his thesis.

The chapter that perhaps raised my eyebrow the most of was the case study on Civil War, mainly because I felt Reed Richards was written wildly out of chatacter for that story and used more as a plot contrivance than letting the chatacter direct his story. White does spend time prefacing the analysis by looking at an earlier story in which Reed comes to the exact same problem from the polar opposite (and more character driven) position, but he doesn't try to reconcile the two viewpoints or offer how one might change positions so radically. I don't know that one necessarily can rationalize that (I know I've never been able to) but he does at least point out the discrepancy. I don't know if he chose that as his case study in order that he might try to sort it out, or if he just wanted to highlight the most significant disconnect, of if he just wanted to play on the timing of it being the twentieth anniversary of that storyline.

My background with the Fantastic Four is much stronger than my background in philosophy, but White does an excellent job of making both topics extremely accessible. He cites plenty of sources if he mentions an incident or story that you might want to follow up on, and I found his end notes to be as enlightening as the main text.

Ethics of the Fantastic Four came out last year from Ockham Publishing and should be available through your favorite book shop. it retails for $12.99 US.

When I was just getting into comic books in the early 1980s, my options for "research" were pretty limited. There were no comic shops nearby to pick up back issues, conventions for few and far between, the internet didn't yet exist, and my income as a 12-year-old was limited to pocket change I earned caddying at a local golf course. (Which, by the way, was nowhere NEAR as neat a job as Caddyshack led me to believe!) The reprint policies we see today were FAR from the norm, which meant that even finding reprints of old comics was difficult!

But for some reason, in 1981, Ideals produced a series of four trade paperbacks featuring a short collection of stories reprinting tales of Spider-Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four housed under a "Secret Story of..." umbrella. They had original painted covers (I believe all by Bob Larkin) and all featured the same back illustration and cross-promotion (seen below at right). Each book contained an origin (though not necessarily the original telling), one stand-alone story from around 1970, and a then-recent-ish stand-alone story. I presume the intent was to show how the characters have progressed over the course of two decades. David Anthony Kraft provided introductions for each story, short character biographies, and some general background information.

And, for whatever reason, our local library had a set of these.

It was a small library; the town only had a population of about 7,000. They had a few floppies that periodically came (I only recall The Avengers but I'm sure there were a few other titles) but these Ideals books were just about the full extent of their graphic novels section. As I recall, they were shelved between the Garfield and Peanuts collections, and the how-to-draw books, mostly ones by Lee Ames. I checked these out fairly regularly, particularly the Fantastic Four volume, and until I got my hands on a set of the Marvel Handbooks around 1988/89, these were pretty much the extent of what I was able to learn about the history of the Marvel Universe.

Strange to think now of the limitations fans faced even as recently as the 1980s with regards to older stories. We knew they were out there; the current issue number indicated that there were several hundred issues that came before. If you could get to a comic shop, you could rummage through the back issue bins, but even if they did have every issue (which they never even came close to!) you couldn't afford them all. You could find the origin stories in a few places, but if you wanted to see what happened in #5, or #12, or whatever, you were largely out of luck until you could find an original copy and afford to purchase it. So in that sense, the "secret story of" wording was pretty accurate; the stories were pretty secret by virtue of their scarcity.

But even back in the day, I recognized that those Ideals books did not live up to the publisher's name. The spot illustrations used throughout the books were very badly cropped and placed. I didn't think the story selections were all that good (greatful as I was to have them available). Kraft's interstitial prose struck me as both sophomoric and condescending. But they did help to connect me with comics that were published before I was born, and provided a window to a larger tapestry of stories. And for that, I'll have to thank them.

Here are this week's links to what I've had published recently...

Kleefeld on Comics: Steve Englehart on the FF
https://ift.tt/QxDhE47

Kleefeld on Comics: From Ghost Rider to Buzz O'Keefe
https://ift.tt/GHoikum

Kleefeld on Comics: Bill Gaines circa 1991
https://ift.tt/QBh1tmf

Kleefeld on Comics: Defacing Old Comic Strip Art
https://ift.tt/bGjqeNp

Kleefeld on Comics: Alley Awards
https://ift.tt/NAUMSow

The original idea for a comic award came from writer/editor/historian Roy Thomas. (Although he had held none of those titles before that point.) Thomas has suggested the idea in a 1961 letter to Jerry Bails as a kind of feature for their then-only-months-old fanzine Alter-Ego. They were originally going to be called the "Alter-Ego Award" but, realizing that no comics award had ever been done before, they decided on the "Alley Award" after the character Alley Oop. Thomas' rationale was that "surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically."

Voting was solicited through Alter-Ego and sent directly to Bails who counted the ballots himself initially. By the third year, however, he was receiving so many ballots that he invited several other fans to his house to help. The so-called "Alley Tally" wound up being the first recorded gathering of fans (including Ronn Foss, Don Glut, Don and Maggie Thompson, Mike Vosburg, and Grass Green) and is generally considered a precursor to the first comic book convention.

The first Alley Awards were announced in Alter-Ego #4 and the cover featured a drawing by Foss of the statuette he created. He'd originally carved the sculpture out of wood, made a cast of that, and then produced a series of the finals out of plaster, which he then painted gold or silver.

Beginning in 1965, an actual awards ceremony was held at Academy Con, switching to Phil Seuling's Comic Art Convention when that began in 1968. As both shows were based out of New York City, a number of comic book professionals were able to attend over the years, including Stan Lee, Burne Hogarth, Otto Binder, Hal Foster, Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, Mort Weisinger, James Warren, Roy Thomas (by then having moved to New York and becoming a professional), Gil Kane, Bill Everett, Carmine Infantino, and Julius Schwartz.

By this point, an interconnected comics fandom had become relatively well-established, and Bails' original intentions of getting everything rolling had been very successful. There were several venues open to comic fans, and interest in Alter-Ego and the Alleys dwindled as fans sought other, more narrowly focused options. Both the magazine and awards ended in 1969, with a final awards ceremony for the '69 Alleys conducted the following year.