Switching gears from picking the usual Pick of the Week format, G4's Blair Butler instead showcased a host of worthy graphic novels/collected editions on the new Fresh Ink! Online. On the docket this week are Poseurs, Invincible: Ultimate Collection Vol. 6, Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die and Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Masterpieces.

Blair also gives a righteous shout out to Andy Khouri's latest Best Art Ever (This Week).

Watch this week's episode of Fresh Ink! Online after the jump.

Welcome to Digital ComicsAlliance, your headquarters for digital comics news and recommendations. In our weekly post about digital comics, we're going to give you three important things: the major news, the big sales where you can get good books cheap, and of course, our recommendations for the comics you should be downloading. This week, we're doing something different. Our recommendations are free, and in varying states of completion.

1. Name: Rival Schools
Creative Team: Corey Lewis (story & art), Erik Ko (story), James Stokoe (art), Alejandro Fuentes (art)
Platform: Web!
Price: Free!
Format: Four issues! Over 160 DRM-Free JPEGs!
Why: Corey Lewis is an art monster. Remember Sharknife? Peng? This guy's done some of the most fun fight comics you'll ever read, and odds are good that you missed out on his Rival Schools adaptation. He's joined by James Stokoe of Orc Stain, Murderbullets (there's 100 free pages in there, too), and Wonton Soup fame. Together, they're turning the best fighting game you ever forgot existed into a fun comic about high school, kidnappings, evil secret societies, youth gangs, and getting the stuffing beaten out of you by your gym teacher. Rival Schools features the kind of plot that's perfectly suited to Lewis's strengths. Things are happening, evil is on the move, and somebody has to punch it in the face. Grab this.

This video is literally titled "Smallville Finale Emotions." That is all. (Via TR)

While American audiences are going to have to wait a full year for it to cross the Atlantic, the UK opening of Batman Live is a mere two months away! And that means that it's time for the marketing to start in earnest. As spotted on DC Women Kicking Ass, ads are now playing on European television promoting the Dark Knight's arena show, and I have to admit, they're looking pretty awesome.

So far, we've seen a British TV ad that highlights the characters and a German spot that focuses more on the sets and scenery, and you can check them both out right here at ComicsAlliance!

ComicsAlliance spoke with writer/artist David Hahn about the ambitious All Nighter and its journey from Minx to Image, as well as his approach to the book's predictably excellent artwork and visual storytelling. Additionally, we have the entire first issue of All Nighter for you to read for free.

Archie and the gang are headed for India this year with the release of 12 prominent titles -- including its Archie Marries Betty/Veronica saga -- through publisher The Variety Book Debut, which has been distributing Archie titles since 1974. Printed languages will include Hindi, Malayalam and English -- three of the most prominent languages of India's some 22 official languages.

Each single issue will cost 30 rupees (about $0.67 USD), which is intended to help make the comics an affordable form of entertainment in Indian markets like magazine stands. What's more, the titles are planned to be distributed digitally following their print releases, although pricing and platform details are forthcoming.

Provided the releases are successful in India, The Variety Book Debut has plans to triple output with 36 titles over the course of the next year.

While the mainstream superhero comics audience remains predominantly male, it shouldn't be news to anyone reading this blog that women like comics, too. They write them, read them, draw them, blog about them and show up in healthy numbers at comic book conventions. Recently, however, there was some interesting backlash against the idea of "geek girls" -- namely the perception that there is an insincere or pandering element to some women identifying themselves as geeks or comic book fans, particularly when they happen to be attractive actresses or comics bloggers who prominently identify that they are ladies.

We decided to assemble several of the most prominent women in comics media to talk about the "geek girl" phenomenon, how things have changed (or not) over the last couple decades, and the way women in comics are regarded by the mainstream media, superhero comics, and other female fans. ComicsAlliance Editor-in-Chief Laura Hudson teamed up with Blair Butler, the host of G4's Fresh Ink, Heidi MacDonald, the editor of The Beat, and Jill Pantozzi, a contributor to sites including Newsarama and Publishers Weekly to discuss.

Production of The Dark Knight Rises got underway this week and was marked by the first official photograph of a character in costume. Bane, played in the Batman film by Tom Hardy, was revealed Friday morning in the first installment of what will no doubt be a grand viral marketing/alternate reality game in support of Christopher Nolan's new film.

Get ready to feel your eyeballs start to bug out like a Real Ghostbusters figure, because the prints we're about to point you toward come from a veritable Justice League lineup of talent. The Molded Heroes gallery blends all sorts of takes on classic toys, and more than a few of them are suitable for display, particularly Chris Hodge's Colecovision and Atari paintings, which basically function as ancestral portraits for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Here at ComicsAlliance, we value our readership and are always open to what the masses of Internet readers have to say. That's every week, Senior Writer Chris Sims puts his comics culture knowledge to the test as he responds to your reader questions!




Q: Who's the better American icon: Superman or Scrooge McDuck? -- @crimsondude

A: While my pick for the best American icon in comics would probably go to Wild Dog -- who drives a pick-up truck, wears a football jersey and camo pants, carries an uzi and fights terrorists in Iowa -- it's hard to argue that both Superman and Scrooge McDuck probably have a better objective claim to the title. After all, despite all their differences, the Last Son of Krypton and the Last of Clan McDuck are both quintessentially American characters.

Launching in June is Eldritch!, a charmingly insane and drawn serialized graphic novel that's already been vetted for consumption by our webcomics-reading peers. Created by Drew Rausch (Cthulhu Tales, Disney's Haunted Mansion) and Aaron Alexovich (Fables, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, Avatar: The Last Airbender), Eldritch! was the winner of the final Zuda webcomics competition before DC Comics shuttered that digital imprint. The creators have pressed on with the work and will release the story in 24-page installments that can be obtained and enjoyed in virtually every digital format imaginable, all for $0.99 an issue. Below you can check out a nine-page preview of Eldritch!, which we can accurately describe as a teenage sibling rivalry tale set against the backdrop of the most important conflict in human existence, that of science vs. the supernatural.