The Comic Source Podcast

Josh Williamson and Hayden Sherman join Jace to discuss the return of Legion of Super-Heroes.
Williamson explains the years-long process that led him to the series, his conversation with Mark Waid, why Superboy needed to return to the center of Legion mythology and why Lightning Lad serves as the emotional point of view for the opening story.
Sherman discusses designing the future of the DC Universe, creating different visual languages for the Legion's many planets and drawing inspiration from classic Legion stories, European science-fiction comics, 2000 AD, Ronin, Judge Dredd and Spider-Man 2099.
They also discuss introducing the enormous Legion cast gradually, honoring the property's passionate fan community and preserving the hope that has always defined the team.
Follow The Comic Source: https://linktr.ee/thecomicsource
 
Chapters
00:00 Pre-Interview Conversation
00:38 Introduction
01:00 Why Josh Williamson Chose Legion of Super-Heroes
03:52 How Hayden Sherman Joined the Series
06:49 Balancing Legion with Absolute Wonder Woman
06:56 Comics, Community and Lightning Lad
12:38 Building the Legion's Character Dynamics
14:04 Designing Distinct Worlds and Cultures
16:49 The Science-Fiction and Comic Influences
19:48 Hope at the Heart of Legion
20:19 Preordering and Final Thoughts

Christopher Cantwell joins Jace during San Diego Comic-Con 2026 to discuss an ambitious slate of upcoming work spanning Gotham City, the Green Lantern universe and the final frontier.
Cantwell begins by discussing his role on the second season of Lanterns. A longtime Green Lantern reader who previously wrote Hal Jordan in Challengers of the Unknown, Cantwell describes the project as the television assignment he would have selected for himself and praises the distinctive approach established by the first season.
The conversation then turns to Cantwell's two-issue Gotham Central story within the Bad Seeds event. Gotham's police department has been compromised under Commissioner Vandal Savage, leaving Jim Gordon, Espinosa and a small collection of honest officers attempting to solve a murder while carrying out orders issued by the city's corrupt leadership.
That storyline establishes the foundation for Gangs of Gotham. Anarky is placed in Gotham's East End and ordered to unify its gangs before the district is bulldozed. Although he continues to consider himself an opponent of corrupt institutions, the promise of influence forces him to confront whether he still believes his own revolutionary rhetoric or has become another person willing to compromise everything for power.
Stephanie Brown is simultaneously operating undercover inside the Street Demons biker gang. She has risen to become the gang's second-in-command, but Batman is the only member of the Bat-family who knows where she is. Cantwell describes a Steph who remains highly capable but is becoming increasingly isolated and resentful as her messages to Bruce go unanswered.
Cantwell also explains how the series incorporates established characters including Jim Gordon, Arnold Flass, Harvey Bullock, Holly Robinson, Magpie and the Ten-Eyed Man while creating an entire ecosystem of gangs built around food, fuel, shelter, information and protection. Instead of treating the East End as interchangeable scenery, the series examines how abandoned institutions and limited resources force communities to develop their own hierarchies and systems of survival.
The discussion concludes with Cantwell's upcoming Star Trek series, which examines exploration, colonization and the psychological pressure created when a crew enters genuinely uncharted territory.
 
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Lanterns Season 2
03:47 Gotham Central and the Bad Seeds setup
05:49 How Gangs of Gotham begins
07:13 Stephanie Brown undercover
08:07 Anarky, power and hypocrisy
10:57 Jim Gordon and Gotham's honest cops
13:49 Building Gotham beyond Batman
15:18 Why Anarky matters now
18:43 Community, survival and found family
21:01 Batman's absence and Steph's isolation
23:45 Arnold Flass and Gotham's corrupt system
25:53 Holly Robinson and the East End
27:17 Cantwell's new Star Trek series
29:11 Final thoughts and preorder reminder

Marvel is laying out its future after Avengers: Armageddon, with a new Avengers series from Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto, Maximum X-Men, Eddie Brock reuniting with Venom, new books for Mary Jane Watson and Spider-Woman, and several other major announcements. This week I break down what Marvel's post-Armageddon direction could mean, along with DC launching new ongoing series for Vixen, Static and Steel, the continued expansion of the Absolute Universe, and Terminal #1 reportedly selling 300,000 copies before taking the top spot on the Prana Bestseller list. I also cover the biggest announcements from Image, Skybound, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni Press, Archie, BOOM! Studios, Mad Cave, Ignition Press and San Diego Comic-Con, along with this week's hottest books, two weeks of Prana Top 10 Best Sellers, and the biggest Final Order Cutoff recommendations for August 3.
https://linktr.ee/thecomicsource
 
00:00 Marvel, DC & Terminal Headlines
01:05 Intro and SDCC Catch-Up
04:12 Marvel After Avengers: Armageddon
16:10 Midnight Universe, WEBTOON & Manga
23:22 Spider-Woman, Indiana Jones & Mangaverse
26:26 Muppets, Stormbreakers & Marvel Masterworks
30:57 DC News — Vixen, Static & Steel
36:11 Batman, Gotham & DC Next Level
44:04 The Absolute Universe Expands
54:02 Image Comics & Skybound
01:00:06 Terminal, Battle Beast & Savage Dragon
01:07:58 Dark Horse Comics
01:13:43 IDW & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
01:17:15 Oni Press & Archie Comics
01:19:32 BOOM!, Mad Cave & Ignition Press
01:27:19 Bill Sienkiewicz Documentary & Eisner Awards
01:32:03 The Warbird Movie Rumor
01:34:36 What Hit
01:37:54 Prana Top 10 — July 15
01:43:30 Prana Top 10 — July 22
01:47:56 Final Order Cutoff
01:55:24 Closing & Comic Source Weekly Shirts
 
News Sources
Marvel
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/maximum-x-men-assemble-avengers-armageddon-aftermath-december-2026
https://www.marvel.com/articles/live-events/sdcc-2026-san-diego-comic-con-all-the-marvel-news-recap
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/chip-zdarsky-marco-checchetto-launch-avengers-1-ahead-of-doomsday/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-punisher-will-join-marvels-avengers-in-the-wake-of-armageddon/
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/friendly-neighborhood-mary-jane-and-venom-new-comic-series-queen-in-black-aftermath
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/spider-woman-ongoing-marvel-series-by-dan-watters-andrea-broccardo/
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/indiana-jones-and-the-sword-of-pandemonium-bold-new-era-marvel-comics-december-2026
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/07/30/marvel-webtoon/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/marvel-comics-launch-a-new-manga-line-in-japan-with-kadokawa-for-2026/
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/07/31/marvel-first-look-marvel-mangaverse-web-of-blood-ghostlock/
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/07/31/marvel-50-years-the-muppet-show-covers/
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/07/31/marvel-autumn-fall-stormbreakers-variant-covers/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-first-new-marvel-masterworks-books-from-clover-press-revealed/
DC
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/deniz-camp-reveals-details-of-upcoming-batman-shadow-of-the-bat/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-26-dc-announces-absolute-black-canary-and-beyond-ark-m-one-shots-at-absolute-universe-panel/
Image Comics and Skybound
https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/rob-liefelds-highly-anticipated-avengelyne-comic-book-set-to-launch-this-october-series-already-in-pre-production-for-adaptation
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-26-robert-kirkman-talks-terminal-invincible-and-transformers-in-robert-kirkman-live/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-26-sanford-greene-announces-bitter-root-black-white/
https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/scott-snyder-jocks-horror-masterpiece-gets-expanded-remastered-wytches-vol-1-pledged-edition-this-fall-ahead-of-tv-show-adaptation
https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/jaw-dropping-savage-dragon-281-sells-out-at-distributor-instantly-rushed-back-to-print-this-week
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-26-image-unleashes-its-artists-for-a-frank-panel-discussion/
Dark Horse, IDW, Oni and Independents
https://www.darkhorse.com/newsfeed/dark-horse-books-presents-stranger-things-the-first-shadow/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/dark-horse-dnd-ongoing/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sdcc-26-dark-horse-mattel-barbie-comics/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/digest-072326/
Ignition Press, Awards and Industry
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/ignition-pavilion-packs-in-five-times-the-capacity-of-hall-h-at-sdcc/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/2026-eisner-award-winners-announced-at-sdcc/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/would-keanu-reeves-play-the-lead-in-a-bad-idea-comics-warbird-movie/
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/produce-this-last-nights-bad-idea-comics-san-diego-comic-con-party/
https://www.comicsbeat.com/bad-idea-warbird/

Jace and Rocky break down all five DC releases for the week of July 29, 2026. DC's Hawk Girl Summer #1 delivers an entertaining mix of standalone stories that give several underused DC characters a chance to shine, including great stories starring The Shining Knight and Kid Eternity. In Batman/Superman: World's Finest 2026 Annual #1, after the Flash, Batman and Superman all become trapped by the same villainous setup, Alfred and Pa Kent are the ones who figure out how to save them. In Justice League: Knightvision #1, Batman and Lex Luthor pursue Prometheus after their shared vision, while his use of Apokoliptian technology plants more seeds for Darkseid's next move against the heroes of the DC Universe. Detective Comics 2026 Annual #1 pairs a comedic Black Mercy story involving Batman and Lobo with a much darker Professor Pyg backup, giving readers two very different but entertaining stories. In Superman 2026 Annual: Year 1000 #1, Superman's decision to restore every version of the Legion gives the Darkseid-controlled Legion a chance at redemption while placing all of the team's different incarnations back on the table. They also discuss San Diego Comic-Con, the convention's lighter slate of major announcements, Jace's upcoming interviews with Joshua Williamson, Hayden Sherman and Christopher Cantwell, and the success of the Ignition Press pavilion. As always, Jace and Rocky rank every reviewed book and reveal their Books of the Week.

Artificial intelligence is changing nearly every industry—but what happens when criminals start using it to commit the perfect crime? Writer Zack Kaplan and Eisner Award-winning artist John J. Pearson join Jace to discuss Smart Division, their new sci-fi thriller from Dark Horse Comics. They talk about building a story around AI-assisted crime, designing two detectives with completely different worldviews, creating traditional painted artwork in a technology-driven story, and why this series feels frighteningly close to reality. If you enjoy grounded science fiction, crime thrillers, and comics that explore where technology could take us next, this is a conversation you won't want to miss. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thecomicsource Creator Links Zack Kaplan: https://zackkaplan.com John J. Pearson: https://www.instagram.com/johnjpearson https://www.patreon.com/johnjpearson 00:00 Introduction 01:20 What Is The Smart Division? 06:35 Reuniting After Mindset 09:15 Creating the Painted Art Style 12:35 AI, Crime and Giving Up Control 19:05 Designing Will and Stevie 28:10 Two Opposing Worldviews 31:05 The Opening Page and Meaning Behind the Title 35:25 Which Character Do They Relate To? 37:05 Where to Follow the Creators