After several rather rough weeks for the world of comics, I’m going to force some rays of sunshine into this edition of Comics Disassembled. How am I going to do that? Well, this week’s slate of ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics is going to be heavily balanced by some great art, because sometimes we need a reminder that comics are actually pretty good!

Also, I’m trying a new thing this week where I don’t actually number my picks. We’ll see how it works, but I kind of like it?

Chris Samnee, Cover Master

When artist Chris Samnee posted the above cover to Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #3 on Bluesky, my response arrived in multiple stages. Up first was awe at Samnee’s gifts in bringing each character and the situation to life. Next was being stunned by how he even conceptualizes things like this. Last was a realization, one that I showcased through this meme I created and then shared on Bluesky.

Everything — everything — Samnee does is incredible. This isn’t me trying to suggest that there’s Good Samnee and Bad Samnee. All Samnee is Good Samnee. But given the amount of art he produces and the different ways he does it, there’s going to be a scale to these things. My realization was that it basically goes doodles (the quick warmups he does in the mornings typically, I believe), sketches (slightly more detail, which he’ll often sell online, of which I have two), commissions (even more to it, and these are pretty rare relative to the others), and finally cover work, which is the final step in the evolution of the Pokemon that is Chris Samnee. Of course, interiors are where it’s at, as Samnee is a storyteller first and foremost. But those are a different species relative to the rest.

That cover for The Last Days of Lex Luthor isn’t the showiest of efforts the artist has done. It’s him and colorist Matheus Lopes taking a relatively simple idea and making it magnificent. But what always astounds me about Samnee, and Lopes for that matter, are the choices they make and the ones they choose not to make. This cover is a great example of that, and an excellent reminder that Samnee’s a genuinely remarkable cover artist.

Jenny Blake Isabella, Debuting

In a lovely bit of news, Jenny Blake Isabella — the co-creator of characters like Black Lightning, Tigra, and Misty Knight as well as a creator and editor who has worked on a vast number of projects for Marvel, DC, and beyond over a career that extends back to the 1970s — made her debut to the world as a transgender woman this past week. In a wonderful write-up on her website, Isabella shared her experiences with gender dysphoria and the warm response she received to sharing that she’s trans on social media, as well as what that means for her going forward. To be honest, anything I can say about the specifics of the subject would be better coming from Isabella anyways, so make sure to give that post a read.

But I do want to emphasize: this is a great story. It’s a person fully committing to her true self in her 70s during a time that finds people (and especially the American government) as unwelcoming to trans people as ever. The bravery it takes to do this — to be true to yourself in this very specific way — right now is inspiring and impressive. I love to see it, and I love the support Jenny has received in the wake of this news as well.