An original novel pitting Batman against the Court of Owls, a secret society of wealthy families that's controlled Gotham for centuries using murder and money.Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the timeRuling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and limeThey watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bedSpeak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Talon for your head.—a nursery rhymeThe Court of Owls is a criminal secret society that has existed in Gotham City since the 1600s, led by some of the city's wealthiest and most influential families. They employ deadly trained assassins known as Talons, taken as children from circuses such as the one where Dick Grayson's parents were killed. These children are trained to become the assassins known as Talons. Bruce Wayne came to the Court's attention when he announced plans to reinvigorate Gotham, threatening their control. They sentenced him to death,...

The definitive story of Harley Quinn by her co-creator, Paul Dini, and Pat Cadigan, revealing the secrets of her history even as she seeks to kill Batman.Dr. Harleen Quinzel grew up in an abusive household with a criminal and became a psychologist to deal with her own broken family. At Arkham Asylum, she attempted to treat the Joker and instead fell hopelessly in love with him, helping him escape and becoming a member of his organization. Quinzel became Harley Quinn, a bizarre contradiction of violence and mercy. She blames Batman for her inability to maintain a stable relationship with the arch-villain, and that causes her to have an abiding hatred for the hero, who she seeks to kill. Upon capture she becomes a violent inmate at Belle Reve Penitentiary, and is assigned to the group of government-maintained super villains known as the Suicide Squad. Copyright © 2017 DC Comics. BATMAN, THE JOKER, HARLEY QUINN, SUICIDE SQUAD and all related characters and...

Upon scorched soil, a life-pod from an alternate universe is uncovered. Inside, there is a man, bringing with him an ominous message that could sway the very future of the All-Union.Meanwhile, freelance magician, Ayesha Swanson, finds herself embroiled in a plot to rob her of her magic—a plot that may lead her to discovering her true heritage!Recommended for fans of Doctor Who & Hellblazer.Upon scorched soil, a life-pod from an alternate universe is uncovered by Politruk Blinov. Inside, there is a man—a captain of sorts—bringing with him an ominous message that could sway the very future of the All-Union.Meanwhile, another dimension away, Ayesha Swanson, freelance magician for the United Kingdom Xenobiology Division, finds herself embroiled in a plot to rob her of her magic—a plot that may lead her to ultimately discovering her true heritage!Set within the Love Amongst Strangers universe, the new volume of our anthology series, Blackfriars Bestiary weighs in with nine unique stories, each detailing a unique corner of the vast series universe and featuring a diverse array of characters. Featuring authors such as Jack Buxton (Love Amongst Strangers: The Other Side), Bryn Fortey (Merry-Go-Round and Other Words), Joseph W. Patterson (Psychopomp), Jason S. Kenney (Love Amongst Strangers: Twisted) and Artifice Comics legends, Ed Ainsworth and Matthew James Pierce, Blackfriars Bestiary 2.1 serves as your jumping on point for the adventures of Ayesha Swanson and Mister Mo and the world in which they live.Recommended for fans of Doctor Who, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and John Constantine, Hellblazer, Blackfriars Bestiary is your first port of call for all things action and supernatural!

A sweet, funny contemporary teen romance for the inner geek in all of us from graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks. Miriam's family should be rich. After all, her grandfather was the co-creator of smash-hit comics series The TomorrowMen. But he sold his rights to the series to his co-creator in the 1960s for practically nothing, and now that's what Miriam has: practically nothing. And practically nothing to look forward to either-how can she afford college when her family can barely keep a roof above their heads? As if she didn't have enough to worry about, Miriam's life gets much more complicated when a cute boy shows up in town . . . and turns out to be the grandson of the man who defrauded Miriam's grandfather, and heir to the TomorrowMen fortune.In her endearing debut novel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks pens a sensitive and funny Romeo and Juliet tale about modern romance, geek royalty, and what it takes to heal the long-festering scars of the past...

Third grader Vera Vance has signed up for the comics camp after-school program, but her mother would much rather she focus on academics, athletics, music. . . anything but comics!Vera loves all things comic books, so she can't wait for the comics after-school class to start—even though her mother wonders whether it's educational enough. But Vera is determined to participate, and starts developing her own comic about Big Spoon and Little Spoon with the encouragement of her enthusiastic friend Nixie and instruction from teachers who are accomplished cartoonists themselves. As the weels go by, the after-school teachers announce that for the final class, students will go on a field trip to a local comic-con—and they can even enter a page from their comics in a contest that will be judged there! Vera isn't surprised when her mother says she can't go. But maybe Big Spoon and Little Spoon can convince her mother to accept her...

From the author of Hot Dog Girl comes a fresh and funny YA contemporary romance about two teens who fall in love in an indie comic book shop. Jubilee has it all together. She's an elite cellist, and when she's not working in her stepmom's indie comic shop, she's prepping for the biggest audition of her life.Ridley is barely holding it together. He's the black sheep of his family who can never do anything right. His parents own the biggest comic store chain in the country, and Ridley can't stop disappointing them—that is, when they're even paying attention.They meet one fateful night at a comic con prom, and they can't help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other's throats every chance they get.But the feud between their families may be the least of Ridley and Jubilee's problems. As Ridley's anxiety worsens and their relationship becomes more intense, Jubilee tries to help him cope on her own. But what...

Crammed full of exquisite art from around the world, with fascinating background stories about the artists, editors and publishers, Erotic Comics: A Graphic History examines how this much maligned artform developed into a publishing phenomenon that spans the globe. Volume 1 delves deep into comic history, from the bawdy English cartoons of the 17th century, through the magazines impacted by the two World Wars, up to contemporary magazine titles such as Penthouse and Hustler. The book bulges with sassy postcards, provocative Tijuana Bibles, salacious pin-ups, shocking '50s bondage comics, cheeky cartoons and liberated '60s underground comix. Erotic Comics: A Graphic History is perfect for fans of adult comics, art history and erotic illustrations.

Just in time for Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron: an all-new, original prose novel by the New York Times-bestselling author of Rocket Raccoon and Groot: Steal the Galaxy! and Guardians 3000! The Mighty Avengers face an array of their greatest foes-all at once! In Berlin, Captain America battles the forces of Hydra. In the Savage Land, Hawkeye and the Black Widow attempt to foil A.I.M. In Washington, Iron Man fights to stop Ultron. In Siberia, Thor takes on an entire army. And in Mangapore, Bruce Banner and Nick Fury battle the High Evolutionary. Only one thing is certain: This isn't a coincidence. But what larger, deadlier threat lies behind these simultaneous att acks on Earth?

A cutting-edge mystery novel that combines the illustrations of Batman artist Terry Beatty with a New York Times bestelling author.Manhattan, 1948. America's most famous exstriptease artist, glamorous Maggie Starr, now runs her late husband's newspaper syndicate, distributing the Wonder Guy comic strip. Wonder Guy, soaring superhero, represents all that is good about postwar America. But when the cartoon character's publisher winds up dead, Maggie finds herself working with her stepson Jack Starr (also her V.P. and chief troubleshooter) to find a killer among cartoonists, wives, mistresses and minions of a different sort of "syndicate"-suspects with motives that are anything but superheroic.

In Chicks Dig Comics, editors Lynne M. Thomas (Hugo-Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords) and Sigrid Ellis bring together essays by award-winning writers and artists who celebrate the comics medium and its creators, and who examine the characters and series that they love.Gail Simone (Birds of Prey) and Carla Speed McNeil (Finder) describe how they entered the comics industry. Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil) reveals her superhero crush, while Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother) confesses to being a comics junkie. Jen Van Meter (Hopeless Savages) sings the praises of 1970s horror comics, and Seanan McGuire (the October Daye series) takes sides in the Jean Grey vs. Emma Frost battle.Other contributors include Marjorie Liu (Dark Wolverine), Rachel Edidin (Dark Horse Comics), Jill Pantozzi (Newsarama), Kelly Thompson (Comic Book Resources), and SF/F authors Sara Ryan, Delia Sherman, Sarah Monette, and Elizabeth Bear. Also featured: an introduction by Mark Waid (Kingdom Come) and exclusive interviews with Amanda Conner (Power Girl), Louise Simonson (Power Pack), Greg Rucka (Queen & Country), and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise).

An unvarnished, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes account of one of the most dominant pop cultural forces in contemporary America. Operating out of a tiny office on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart banter and compellingly human flaws. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, Daredevil—these superheroes quickly won children's hearts and sparked the imaginations of pop artists, public intellectuals, and campus radicals. Over the course of a half century, Marvel's epic universe would become the most elaborate fictional narrative in history and serve as a modern American mythology for millions of readers. Throughout this decades-long journey to becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Marvel's identity has continually shifted, careening between scrappy underdog and corporate behemoth. As the company has weathered Wall Street machinations, Hollywood failures, and the collapse of the comic book market, its characters have been passed along among generations of editors, artists, and writers—also known as the celebrated Marvel "Bullpen." Entrusted to carry on tradition, Marvel's contributors—impoverished child prodigies, hallucinating peaceniks, and mercenary careerists among them—struggled with commercial mandates, a fickle audience, and, over matters of credit and control, one another. For the first time, Marvel Comics reveals the outsized personalities behind the scenes, including Martin Goodman, the self-made publisher who forayed into comics after a get-rich-quick tip in 1939; Stan Lee, the energetic editor who would shepherd the company through thick and thin for decades; and Jack Kirby, the World War II veteran who'd co-created Captain America in 1940 and, twenty years later, developed with Lee the bulk of the company's marquee characters in a three-year frenzy of creativity that would be the grounds for future legal battles and endless debates. Drawing on more than one hundred original interviews with Marvel insiders then and now, Marvel Comics is a story of fertile imaginations, lifelong friendships, action-packed fistfights, reformed criminals, unlikely alliances, and third-act betrayals—a narrative of one of the most extraordinary, beloved, and beleaguered pop cultural entities in America's history. Review“Sean Howe’s history of Marvel makes a compulsively readable, riotous and heartbreaking version of my favorite story, that of how a bunch of weirdos changed the world. That it’s all true is just frosting on the cake.” (Jonathan Lethem )“A warts-and-all, nail-biting mini-epic about the low-paid, unsung ‘funnybook men’ who were unwittingly creating twenty-first century pop culture. If you thought the fisticuffs were bare and bloody on the four-color page, wait ‘til you hear about what went down in the Marvel bullpen.” (Patton Oswalt )“Exhaustively researched and artfully assembled, Marvel Comics is a historical exploration, a labor of love, and a living illustration of how the weirdest corners of the counterculture can sometimes become the culture-at-large.” (Chuck Klosterman )“Page after page, Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics manages to be enchantingly told, emotionally suspenseful and totally revelatory. If I knew more about superpowers, I’d be able to explain how he did it.” (Sloane Crosley )“Sean Howe is to Marvel Comics what Procopius was to the Byzantine Empire: a court gossip of breathtaking thoroughness and exactitude, and a sly and nuanced writer. It is imperative that this work not fall into the hands of alien species, or we’re done for.” (Luc Sante )“A jittery, hilarious, anecdotal, and exhaustive history of the company. . . . If you’re a comics fan, this is essential reading. If you’re not, then it’s merely fascinating. Howe has written a biographical history of modern America’s id.” (GQ )“Sean Howe’s gripping new history lays out five decades of Marvel adventures and insanity, and will make you believe that comic-book creators have even weirder lives than their mutant creations.” (Rolling Stone )“Marvel Comics is a meticulous chronicle of the real secret origins of the superhero, a tragic love story about the relationship between a long parade of passionate, talented superhero devotees and the company that didn’t love them back.” (The Los Angeles Times )“It’s about time somebody wrote Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, and it looks like Sean Howe was the right guy for the job. Howe’s clear-eyed history. . . is as full of colorful characters, tragic reversals and unlikely plot twists as any book in the Marvel canon.” (Newsday ) About the AuthorSean Howe is the editor of Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!: Writers on Comics. He is a former editor and critic at Entertainment Weekly, and his writing has appeared in New York, the Los Angeles Times, Spin, and The Village Voice. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Adapting what may be the most popular of graphic novels, by the edgy Hard Case Crime author, adding layers and exploring the nature of morality.A tragic, unnamed engineer-turned-criminal is immersed in chemicals that disfigure him bizarrely, driving him mad and thus giving birth to the Joker. While the insane criminal is imprisoned, Batman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) patrol Gotham City together, taking down perps such as the crime boss Maxie Zeus. Simultaneously Detective Harvey Bullock works with Commissioner James Gordon to take down a drug factory. Back in Arkham Asylum, Joker learns of a new technology he wants to acquire and escapes, setting out on a mission designed to break the Commissioner, forcing him to abandon his ideals as a police officer. In a violent home invasion he shoots and cripples Barbara, then takes Gordon hostage. Batman races to rescue Gordon, ultimately confronting his arch-foe in an amusement park fun house. This edgy adaptation by Hard...