Alita: Battle Angel review – lovestruck tweenies do battle in robot dystopia
Rosa Salazar stars as a battle-hardened cyborg who falls in love as the Sin City director softens up with mixed results
Will Matt Reeves’ The Batman save DC’s cinematic universe?
Or will it usher in the superhero studio’s demise? With so many past – often flawed – takes on the Dark Knight, no wonder fans are nervous about meeting his next incarnation
Comics and graphic novels of 2019: from Miracleman to Scrooge McDuck
Hotly anticipated titles from stars such as Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore will be joined by fresh work from new talents including Julie Delport and Emily Carroll
The 50 best films of 2018: No 6 – Black Panther
Marvel broke new ground with Ryan Coogler’s exhilarating introduction to Wakanda, bringing social conscience and diversity to the increasingly tired superhero genre
From zero to hero: how the Spider-Man franchise was saved
Bringing diversity to the ailing Spidey universe has helped free the characters, leading to an increase in both box office and critical acclaim
Best books of 2018
Observer critics pick their must reads of 2018, from life in 50s Harlem to a tale about the Troubles via Michael Wolff’s lurid profile of Donald Trump
Boys’ love to Pokémon: British Museum to host major show on manga
Exhibition will be largest on the comic books and graphic novels ever held outside Japan
Best books of 2018: Hilary Mantel, Yuval Noah Harari and more pick their favourites
Our favourite authors on the most outstanding books they read this year
Graphic novel ‘steeped in Islamophobia’ pulled after protests
A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library by Jack Gantos and Dave McKean withdrawn after more than 1,000 people object
‘Mini-Disney’: Judge Dredd publisher to open UK film and TV studios
Rebellion, which has previously announced a Dredd TV show and a Rogue Trooper film, will film both in former printworks in Didcot, Oxfordshire
Stan Lee, the progressive genius: Michel Faber pays tribute to Marvel’s mythmaker
From student antiwar protests in Spider-Man to antisemitism in X-Men … Stan Lee, who died this week, explored profound themes through the prism of escapist entertainment
Stan Lee was working on a new superhero called Dirt Man, says daughter
JC Lee says the late co-creator of Marvel was helping her develop Dirt Man, after ‘trying to get him to do a character with me my entire life’
Square Eyes by Anna Mill and Luke Jones review – dystopian visions
An inventive, immersive adventure vividly imagines a bleak near future shaped by sinister software
Why Smilin’ Stan Lee was the greatest superhero of them all
He started out filling the inkwells at a pulp magazine and ended up spawning an $11bn juggernaut. Our writer salutes a legend – and the musclebound crusaders who lit up his childhood
‘The greatest superpower is luck’: Stan Lee in quotes
As well as creating a universe of enduring characters, Stan Lee spent a lifetime championing equality, diversity, and the rich art of comic books