Fanboy Rampage!!!

Millarworld comment on sneak peaks of the first NewXMen issue, post-Morrison:

"Oh my. That was dreck. Utter, utter dreck. Not only is the dialogue just...mbleargh...but it's not even pretty to look at. I guess Larocca's under the gun, because this is way below what he's normally capable of."

"I read this a few weeks ago...man, it's horrible. Did you know that they still have Cassandra Nova kept in their mutant holding cells? Oh yeah, and I think Weapon XV attacks them near the end of the issue."

"OH JESUS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Cassandra was not in a fucking containment unit. Gah, they reprogrammed her into a child and she became Ernst. FUCK. I hate this man."

(They also look at previews of the first Uncanny issue, post-Morrison-era: "Austen is a great man. He's making Claremont's third run on Uncanny seem like a God send by writing Xavier as a complete idiot 'You know I'd rather not use my psychic gifts to intrude like that!' Ugh.")

Ian Edginton on Crossgen, at Waiting For Tommy:

"I kept working for CrossGen because I knew if I quit, they'd never pay me what was outstanding and I needed to pay everyone back what I borrowed. In the end, I simply refused to turn in anymore work until they paid me. Within about ten minutes of my sending the email to Bill [Roseman], I had Mark on the phone playing both good cop and bad cop. He told me that they wanted me to stay onboard, that I was an important part of the CrossGen family, that they thought I was a major talent and that they'd gotten rid of writers such as Ron Marz to keep me. The latter wasn't even true since Ron left of his own accord! It was pathetic."

Lots more in the article, including a nice dig at American Power. There's also a surreal hype piece with Joe Quesada that has to be seen to be believed.

Diamond announce the winners of their Gem Awards:

"Gem Award nominees were selected by a panel of Diamond product specialists on the basis of their overall impact on the industry, while comics and related merchandise were chosen on the merits of their quality, creativity, and sales performance in 2003. Retailers were able to cast their votes with ballots contained with their February Previews Order Forms, Previews on Disk, Previews on Windows, and Previews Fax Order Forms, as well as via Diamond Online's Retailer Services Area."

DC get 9 awards, and the rest are pretty evenly split amongst other people...

Tasha Robinson gives some more background info on her Dave Sim interview at The Onion:

"When I initially contacted him to request an interview, he was dubious about the entire thing, but he agreed, under the condition that we agree, in writing, not to edit him, and to print exactly what he submitted. I consulted with my boss, wrote up an agreement, and we started the process; I sent him 10 starter questions. What I got back was a mixture of concise and interesting answers, dismissals of my questions, rewrites of my questions, and a two-page transcript of a fictional game of Jeopardy, with The Onion as a contestant. I was initially utterly baffled; I had no idea if he wanted us to print it, or he was just making fun of me. So I asked."

Robert Kirkman on his upcoming Captain America run:

"I'm doing a superhero book. This medium is all about escapism and I really don't want my run to be as horrifying as the six o'clock news. I'm bringing back the Serpent Society... I'm putting color into this book. I'm trying to have fun here. If you want a break from reality and a chance to relax... my Captain America arc offers that... I'm not touching on the higher themes of Cap and patriotism. It's been done before and been done better than I could ever do it. My story is about a guy that dresses up in an American flag and does his part in defending this country from crazy people that dress up in Halloween costumes. I'm trying to keep it simple. In light of where the books been for the last couple years, I'm hoping that will seem like a fresh take."

Catwoman wins GLAAD award. Ed Brubaker responds:

"...[I]t's great to see a depiction of a normal, loving couple who just happen to both be women getting recognition. Holly and Karon are two of my favorite characters to write, and I'm glad they've struck such a chord with readers, hopefully because of how real they are."

Mike Avon Oeming talks Thor:

"They knew I wanted some Thor work and Bendis kept bringing my name up at meetings. So when the time was right, it happened. So far, working with Marvel has been super smooth; Tom Brevort and Andrew Schmidt are great help and good guys. Plus I get to read Jurgens’ Thor scripts before they hit the stands, and that’s cool... I know I’m playing with their toys, so it’s their rules- but so far none of them have gotten in the way of being creative. I think I have it easy though with one story arc, plus not having to deal with picking up someone else’s story."

Heidi McDonald and Steve Bunche review the Hellboy movie:

"It’s worth seeing on the big screen for the abundant eye candy, but that’s about it. And at two hours and twelve minutes in length it’s a bit of a long haul without a few bong hits in you. Not that I know about that kind of stuff; I’ve, uh, read about it in exposes…Yeah, exposes!"

More retailers talking about Free Comic Book Day:

"Yes, we have sold out by moving the date away from the previous times. Take a moment to look at Jim Schifeling of Acme Comics' great success with a second FCBD he ran by himself. He proved that (at least at his store) people love free stuff. The time of year doesn't really matter. It is one of the constants of the universe -- make it free and they will come! Sure the 4th of July will take some people out of town. So what. Advertise the heck out of FCBD. Use Spider-Man 2 to your advantage. TV crews and newspapers love to tie in comic books with comic book movies. Add some comic creators for them to interview, have a party, and provide a fun shopping atmosphere. If you put in the time to talk to libraries, schools, singles groups, and anyone else that will listen to you I don't think you can go wrong."

"The innovative series of short films featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Superman and soft selling the American Express card made their debut on the Web today, and both Seinfeld and the Man of Steel were on hand at the Today Show studio for an interview with Matt Lauer. Lauer, Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by the Tick's Patrick Warburton) were sitting on a couch discussing the new spots when several comic book-related topics were addressed. The Man of Steel indicated that he was no slacker, pointing to his participation in a new and different Superman comic book that hits the store shelves every week, a sentiment that Seinfeld seconded. Superman also indicated his discomfort with the entire 'Death of Superman' episode, but stated that it was all in the past."

Okay, now I want to see these commercials.

Newsarama considers Marvel branding:

"Marvel already has Ultimate Marvel so why bother with this 'Marvel Age' stuff? Ultimate Marvel was to bring in new readers, right? So why use the exact same story and plot from the past with new art?"

"The point is to bring in new readers, younger readers. They are retelling of the original stories, aimed at younger readers."

"What about the essentials?"

"Ok...one more time, Marvel Ages are specifically to target the younger audience. Sure kids can buy Essentials and shit, but what 8 year do you know wants to read a black and white book that ISN'T a kids manga?"

Dave Sim, interviewed in The Onion:

"Leftist reactions are always histrionic. If it becomes necessary to renew my attack, I'll renew my attack. At this point, I think history will do most of the dirty work. Feminists are in an untenable position, defending something they no longer believe in, and which history will force them to recognize was destructive of most of the central pillars of civilization. I'm just the first one to point it out publicly. Everyone ignored Winston Churchill's warnings in 1937, but the question for Churchill wasn't, 'What are you going to do to convince people you're right in 1938, 1939, and 1940?' If you perceive reality accurately—and I think I perceive reality a lot more accurately than feminists do—then ultimately, history will prove you right."

(Thanks, Chris.)

This could be my new favourite message board post ever:

"Hi I'm looking for a comic publisher and before you mention it I know that DDP isn't taking any new submissions for comics, I would like this pubisher to create my comic. That's one of reasoms why currently I'm putting together a submission kit of my comic. Oh if anyone is interested in my comic idea it's a new Iron Age comic set in the Silver Age timeframe,"

How does that work? "It's takes place in the sixties, but the 760s BC!" Not to mention the great "I know you don't take submissions, but I would like someone to create this comic, that's one of the reasoms [sic] why I'm putting together a submission kit" bit.

(Thanks, Augie.)

Ian Feller, late of Crossgen, offers a comics consultancy:

"813 Services & Solutions offers solutions for any problem. We can help you complete your project or bring you a completed project based on your idea... 813 Services & Solutions represents some of the best and most professional artists and writers in the world. If you’re looking for that missing piece, or a complete team, we know creators that are right for you and your project... If you are considering translating your licensed property or great idea into magazine or graphic novel format, let us do the work for you. 813 Services & Solutions can handle all aspects of creation and production and will provide you with a high quality product that you will be proud to put your name on."

Return of the Librarygoing, Gun-totin', Man-Ape. Mr. Peiratikos Blog, I love you:

"And so 'Secret of the Man-Ape!' is a tragedy, a cautionary tale of the peril of acting on insufficient information. It is happy that the aliens are willing to jump to conclusions based on suspect intelligence, since we certainly don’t want Earth falling to the aliens. If only, though, Hal and the prof had not allowed themselves to be ruled by suspicion! They give in to paranoia, and the sad result is the prof’s violent death and Hal’s looking like an idiot for losing some library books to a gorilla."

Yes, it's the plot to the comic that had the cover of an ape that had to get three library books or else. Go and enjoy the genius.

(Via Shane.)

Millarworld consider Identity Disc:

"Other than Peter Parker...who in the MU has a secret indentity?"

"Um . . . Dar--no. Capt--no. Profe--no. Iro--no. The Hul--no. . . . Ghost Rider?"

"I'm just thinking this idea would have worked better in DCU."

"Yeah, if only DC were doing some sort of Identity-related event too... :)"

"Maybe some sort of...Identity...Crisis???"

Bob Greenberger responds to readers' comments about DC's collected editions. Of interest:

* Josie Mac's solo stories may be collected: "First of all, the good news is that our first GOTHAM CENTRAL: IN THE LINE OF FIRE collection will be out in the spring. Josie doesn't enter the series until later so we're still considering what to do with her introductory serial."

* "More Jamie Delano HELLBLAZER is on the drawing boards as are two projects designed to support the CONSTANTINE movie coming in September. HELLBLAZER fans will be in good hands through 2004."

* "'Can we see a Flash/Superman race TPB that collects all of their races?' This one keeps coming up and given the success of other recent Silver Age collections, this is more likely than not to happen although nothing has been approved."

"We should band together and battle evil in all its forms... um. Also, 'shite'."

From Neil Gaiman's blog, the Secret Origin of Vertigo.

Jamie Rich speaks the truth:

"How did we get here? How did we get from the creative excitement of twenty years ago to stagnation and boredom? Sure, back then Frank Miller did Dark Knight and it was a Batman book, but he preceded it with Ronin and followed it with a long run on personal projects at Dark Horse, most notably Sin City--and it was all according to Frank’s plans, he set the course. Could he get away with such things today? Wouldn’t people be asking when he’s going to stop doing these stupid crime comics and get back to what matters, like Daredevil? Would he be allowed to do something as amazingly outlandish as Dark Knight today? Probably not. I don’t think they’d have even let him do the sequel were he not Frank Miller; superhero innovation anymore requires that you have a tear in your eye, to remember the good old days. Just make sure they’re the right good old days."

Dan Evans, who really should take over this blog for a day when I'm away, brings the Rom love:

"Dan Evans: OK this needs to be settled
Dan Evans: HAVE YOU ACTUALLY EVER READ ROM THE SPACEKNIGHT?
NickLocking: No sir I have not
Dan Evans: HA!
Dan Evans: SO
Dan Evans: you cannot truthfully say as to whether it is in fact a good or bad comic, CORRECT!?
NickLocking: Well, I suppose, in theory
Dan Evans: AHA!
NickLocking: Why?
Dan Evans: I just tire of people clowning a comic that was actualy really good for a large part of it's run
NickLocking: I never clowned it!
Dan Evans: Everyone clowns it but it never gets the love"

Tokyopop and Diamond come to an... understanding:

"Diamond Comic Distributors and Tokyopop have announced an exclusive distribution agreement covering comic book specialty shops and hobby stores in North America. CDS will continue to distribute Tokyopop manga to bookstores, but comic shops and hobby dealers will now only have one source for Tokyopop titles. Diamond is raising the discount it provides retailers on Tokyopop products to a maximum level of 50%, starting with orders placed via the March 2004 Previews and reorders placed after March 31, 2004... Tokyopop Vice President of Sales & Marketing Steve Kleckner told ICv2 that Tokyopop will be shipping Diamond directly from the printers and that retailers ordering through Diamond 'should all get their books first.'"

Takeshi Miyazawa on what his favourite thing is about Mary Jane:

"She's a hot redhead – isn’t that enough? Seriously, though. I think the fact that she doesn't possess any powers and abilities is the best thing about her. No gimmicks. She deals with problems by thinking about them, talking to her friends and asking for advice. It's what anybody else would do and it's real. This all goes back to being able to relate to and she most definitely is easy to relate with."

Rob Rodi talks about Identity Disc:

"We wanted a roster of A-list villains -- or rather, A-list villains of a certain street-level type... You can’t realistically put Magneto or Dr. Doom into a story like this, so popularity was certainly one of the things driving our choices. And it’s funny how many of the really hot villains are certifiable sociopaths. But it’s even funnier how there are degrees of sociopathy. I mean, Bullseye’s as crazy as a rat in a coffee tin, but when you pair him up with Deadpool, he seems almost laid back. So it was enjoyable seeing how these guys’ various pathologies interacted."

Good Lord, you lose your internet connection and have deadline horrors, and suddenly it's been a day since you blogged something...

Pete Goodrich, I salute thee:

"I am not trying to say that everybody should think what I think, or like what I like. I know that everybody is entitled to their own opinion. So here's mine. The art of Jim Lee or Michael Turner? While debatably exciting or cool ('kewl'), but beautiful? You who think this: soulless, little tools."

A retailer comments on Marvel's deal with Source Interlink:

"Marvel's decision to sell to Interlink to rack comics at major book store chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders is another signal that Marvel has absolutely no interest in supporting the current specialty market model, and has in fact SOLD US OUT in their continuing effort to boost their sales, and more importantly to executives, their STOCK PRICE. I find it ridiculous that we as an industry decided to move Free Comic Book Day to time with the release of Spider-Man 2, a Marvel movie, when Marvel is willing to take the bread and butter of comic book stores away and pass it off to the corporate chains."

More toy fun. Secret Wars!:

"As far as getting accurate representations of the Marvel characters, this line failed miserably. The weapon choices were a little off, but could be forgiven considering the premise behind Secret Wars. The costume omissions were simply unforgivable. No palm repulser’s or boot jets on Iron Man were the least of the concerns. No cape for Dr. Doom? And what’s all that machinery on his chest? No cape for Magneto? Unforgivable. And the shield provided for Captain America was the standard Secret Wars decoder shield included with all the characters, and it was a far cry from character-accurate. I loved the line, but it hurt to have so many incongruities."

Rich Johnston on Crossgen's upcoming American Power book (Scroll down to "Corrupts, Absolutely"):

"I've heard comparisions made to that monstrosity of bad taste and bad thinking, 'Civilian Justice' and there are some internally at CrossGen who aren't best pleased. Even artist Greg Land has been heard to voice displeasure at the work he's now been given to write. CrossGen are going for controversy on this one, this isn't intended as an ironic piece of comment. The content of this book is intended to be read as-is, and more in line with Chuck Dixon's political thinking. The first issue of the ongoing series was to have been given a publicity push by coming out very close to the Free Comic Book Day prequel, but its schedule has slipped."

Millarworld discusses when it's best to say goodbye to your friends for their own good:

"This is just an open question - are you willing to let go, of your favorite characters, comics, concepts in the chance that they will be taken over by another voice/vision and that it becomes popular again even though you will hate it? Would you let go so that the rest of the new readers/viewers can experience it for the first time but leave you in the cold?"

Posters respond:

"SMALLVILLE... i had t let it go. the stories are really not going anywhere, and if they are they arent going there fast enuff... the character developement is slower than the plot. they rehashed the kryptonite as the focus of more and more stories, as well as the 'villian' of the week method of episodic stories instead of being series oriented. im tired of the lana/clark relationship.... lex being in the dark about clark is getting tired. i think the first season and the second kind had a nostalgic feel that is currently lost to the series, and was really going to be impossible to keep up. adding additional powers, and symbolism has lost interrest to me. i had to let it go."

"I think the Teen Titans cartoon is disturbing only because of it's use of Robin. And I don't like how they scream and their mouths get bigger than their heads. BUT, up until recently Teen Titans was an almost unrescuable property, and it's enjoying a big comeback thanks to the animated series and a nice, slick couple of new comics. So that's alright."

Marvel split their stock:

"As a result of this stock split, which was announced on March 2, 2004, Marvel's common shares outstanding have increased to approximately 109 million. Marvel's stock split was in the form of a dividend of one additional share of the Company's common stock for every two shares held at the close of business on March 12, 2004. Fractional shares will be paid in cash."

I'd be lying if I said I really understood what this means.

Chris Claremont writes Wolverine/Witchblade, which seems to start with them getting married. Which is novel:

"The premise is quite simple: we start the story at the moment in Las Vegas when they say their ‘I do’s’ and the Minister pronounced them husband and wife,” Claremont said. “They’re young, apparently in love and set to passionately consummate their wedding pretty much on the spot! The question is, how they got into this situation and what do they do about it? Should be fun."

I want to see more intercompany crossovers with this kind of domesticated thing. Lois files for divorce from Superman, with Matt Murdock as her lawyer. That kind of thing.

Bill Rosemann responds to the Broken Frontier article:

"Many false statements printed in that column.

"I'm not talking about the opinions expressed by those who are quoted. Opinions are opinions, and people will always have different views on events...that's fine...and that's Free Speech. But there are many other statements made as fact which are just false.

"I've contacted the reporter, and if he's interested, I'll point out which items simply aren't true."

(Thanks, John.)

Either I've missed something, or this is a bit of a scoop:

"...Broken Frontier has learned that Andy Smith, a former CGE-exclusive employee, is suing CGE for money owed him. Earlier this week, Smith entered Small Claims court in Florida to approach CGE about payment due him. Originally, the court date was in February, but due to other legal matters for CGE, it had to be postponed. When the court date came, CGE’s attorney and Alessi’s fiancé, Jennifer Hernandez, attempted to have the case automatically dismissed because Smith made a small technical mistake of filing against Mark Alessi, DBA CrossGen Entertainment instead of CrossGen Comics, LLC. But the judge awarded an on the spot amendment to Smith."

Cameron Stewart on Seaguy:

"What also appealed to me about the project was that it was the chance to create something new - at the moment I'm afraid I don't have much interest in, or feel that I can bring anything new to, Green Lantern or Daredevil or any of the big hero books, and I think that the toys and cartoon shows of my childhood are best left there rather than being in my comics. Maybe some time in the future you'll find me back in the corporate-trademark arena but right now I find it far more creatively satisfying to invent new characters and stories - not only am I drawing things that I've never drawn before, but I'm drawing things that NO ONE has ever drawn before, which makes it all the more exciting.

"And I wanted to draw a talking fish who smokes."

Chuck Austen talks about his X-Men run:

"We've gained a lot of new readers – many who say they never read comics before, a great many of them women, coming in because of the movie, and staying because of my and Mike Marts's approach. Marvel likes that. They want to keep broadening the market, and appreciate what I'm doing, even when certain fans don't. God knows I wish I could be more like Mark Waid or Geoff Johns and make the die-hard fans happy at the same time I appeal to newer readers, but I seem to be geared for newer people, casual readers, and can't seem to change the way I do things."

Rik at Millarworld asks which creators have peaked, and when it happened. To which I say, From Hell was better than Watchmen.

We interrupt this broadcast with a couple of requests. Firstly, Mark Peyton, could you email me? I have a mysterious proposition. Secondly, Kate and I are off on vacation in the middle of April, and I'm wondering if anyone wants to fill in on Rampage duty for a week while we're driving around the place. If anyone's interested, email me; the link's on the left there.

Now back to your regularly scheduled bastardry.

Mike San Giacomo looks back at the long, strange trip that was the making of Phantom Jack:

"So, what have we learned from all this? Damned if I know. In many ways I'm more confused now than when this whole thing started. I thought I had figured out how to break into Fortress Marvel. Everyone seemed to like my work and we were talking about other cool projects. But The Big Chill that followed when Bill Jemas left the building made it clear that I (and a bunch of other fledgling writers and artists) were back to square one. Square one? Heck, the gameboard was closed up, put back in the box, and we were told to go home."

Barb Lien-Cooper says Don't believe the hype. But don't take her word for it, either:

"Sadly, comics like Rex Mundi -- comics that ARE telling great stories for the sake of great storytelling -- are suffering because the hype machine has lead us down so many blind alleys and bad paths that we no longer trust the hype. Maybe the people we should be trusting are ourselves. Don't believe the hype. Believe what your eyes and mind tell you. Don't be a zombie. You have a mind! Use it!

"Yes, Rex Mundi is a great comic. It's great because it ISN'T written as a one-sentence pitch, but as a real comic that can't be summed up in one "high concept" sentence. The focus is on a memorable story. But, don't believe me about looking for comics that tell good stories instead of make good pitches. After all, I'm an "internet personality", a possible member of the hype machine myself, as well as a woman who writes comics. I'm a suspect device, just like any part of the hype machine."

In other news, don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters.

Shawn Hoke reviews recent mini-comics at great speed in his latest column over at Broken Frontier:

"Over the last few weeks, my 'to be read' comics pile has been growing and almost every day, new comics have been arriving. I’ve ordered minis from some people and then others have sent their comics to be reviewed in this column. Some of the best surprises are the ones that are sent by people who fall into the latter category. Rest assured, if you send your comics to me, I will let you know what I think of your work. If I don’t talk about your comic in a column, I will let you know in an email why I didn’t. If you are considering sending your work to me, please keep in mind the theme of this column. If your book is a super hero or fantasy book that simply mimics what the big companies are already doing in their books, tell me that up front and I’ll advise you to save your postage. I might enjoy the book, but I would have a hard time fitting it into the spirit of the column. If you send your book in and I like it, I will do my best to spread the word to others."

Clifford Meth pays tribute to one of Marvel's unsung heroes (well, heroines, really) - Marie Severin:

"If Marie Severin had been a man, you’d be saying her name with John Buscema and Gene Colan. You should say it that way from now on. But Marie’s never been one to play the sympathy card, nor characterize herself as a victim. Usually, she puts on an aw-shucks, self-effacing tone when discussing her work—I’ve heard her do it—but today, when we spoke, she got serious."

Hawaiian Dick's B. Clay Moore explains why Kansas City is the new cool place for comics kids in this week's Open Your Mouth:

"The past couple of years have seen a new spirit permeating the area comic scene, and Kansas City talent seems to be emerging right and left. With the founding of the Kansas City Comic Creators Network (now known simply as the Comic Creators Network) a year or so ago, the area seemed energized. Even those who didn't actively participate within the group were aware of the group, and comic creators at all levels of experience (and, quite frankly, talent) began to find outlets for their creativity, and support from fellow artists."

Marc-Oliver Frish looks at the DC numbers for last month:

"DC Comics's approach of choice in the year 2004, apparently, is to beat the competition silly with an onslaught of multiple crossovers, revamps and creative team changes. The results of that strategy have been mixed so far. On one hand, gains of books like the Superman titles, the Eye of the Storm books, GOTHAM KNIGHTS or HAWKMAN seem to have profited immensely, so far. On the other hand, it's doubtful whether these are anything but short-term increases. And, in spite of those increases, DC only has two books in the Top Ten, one of them barely, and only four in the Top 25.

"What's curious this month is the number of reorders DC titles are receiving. 13,000 copies of BATMAN #623, 9,000 copies of SUPERMAN/ BATMAN and 8,000 additional copies of a single HAWKMAN issue are pretty spectacular."

Spider-Man 2 release moved up. Also, the release date of Spider-Man 3 is announced.

Mark Brooks off Cable/Deadpool:

"Cable Deadpool #2 will be my last issue on the series and a new artist will be taking over after that. I was told a few weeks ago that I would be moved to the newly relaunched Amazing Fantasy to help helm the new series with Fiona Avery but it would mean leaving my current title. I would love to think I could pencil both at the same time but there just aren’t enough hours in the day and I think both books would suffer quality wise not to mention my wife feeling like a widow for the last few months while I locked myself in my office 24/7."

Regie Rigby considers comics' place in the classroom:

"Are there any good educational comics anyway? Although there’s a Graphic adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by the people who brought us Fool Britannia’s small press/self published comic of the year which I rather liked, most comic strip adaptations of 'great' literature tend to be a little turgid, or over simplistic. Even the ones that stick reasonably closely to the text are generally ruthlessly abridged – if they weren’t, many would be a thousand pages long and unless Dave Sim fancies a new challenge now Cerebus is over, there are few writers or artists who are prepared to take on a work of that size. But if I accept that my principle objective is to provide good, entertaining examples of the form I’m suddenly faced with the whole cannon of the most versatile medium of communication in existence. What kind of comics do I want? Should I eschew the Spandex brigade, or is a collection which excludes Watchmen unthinkable? Should I focus on 'mainstream' themes, or are the complex themes in Morison’s The Invisibles relevant to some of the Advanced Level Literature students? Where do cartoons like Mutts fit into all of this?"

Retailers discuss the date of Free Comic Book Day 2004:

"You know, the amount of grumbling I hear on this subject leads me to wonder: are all the grumblers the ones who voted against this date to start with? Or are they the people who actually voted for this date and now regret it? The only thing certain is that we have foolishly tied an event that was supposed to be about comics to a movie -- and although it may be a comic-based movie, it's a movie. One day there won't be a movie to hitch our star to. I wish we'd had the courage to stand on our own two feet this year instead of doing what we did -- and possibly mucking up what could have been the best day of the year for comics for many years to come."

Top movie becomes comic book shockah:

"MIG.Biz has announced the April release of a 56-page full color, magazine-size comic book adaptation of the new Dawn of the Dead movie from Universal... The Dawn of the Dead comic book adaptation features artwork by Miguel A. Insignares, who has worked on numerous Hollywood films doing set dressing and storyboards, and comic book industry veteran Dick Giordano, a longtime DC Comics Editor and more recently a key member of the Future Comics team."

In light of the Warren Ellis thread at Millarworld, other creators are getting their own Q+A threads. There's Cameron Stewart, who admits to having a letter published in Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run:

"In my defense, I was only about 16. But I do think it's kind of cool that Rachel Pollack made a reference to it in one of her followup DP issues..."

(I had letters published in Books of Magic, Cam, so my shame is greater.)

There's also Mike Weiringo:

"I think that the way I drew SUPERMAN was influenced by several factors. One, Eddie Berganza hinted to me that he hired me at the time because he felt my work was similar to Ed McGuinness's stuff, and that was the look he wanted for the books. FROM that, I kind of felt a bit of pressure (probably mostly self imposed) to try to tailor my work to resemble Ed's as much as I could. I'm never happy in a situation like that-- but it was how I felt editorial preferred things. I'd love to have another crack at SUPERMAN now. I'd be much more apt to draw him in a way that makes me comfortable."

Who's next?

Millarworld has preview pages from Claremont and Davis's Uncanny X-Men. Note the Tom Orzechowski-style lettering (all caps, too) by Chris Eliopoulos... it really is very retro, isn't it?

Eddie Berganza talks about Superman's revamp:

"Superman as I've said concerns the human spirit and of course the American Way... After 9/11 both took a major beating. It was hard to get a grip as to what Superman should be. We were all lost, maybe a little afraid of what to do next, and the fans know when you blink. We actually needed a real Superman, and the books (most obviously in art) were very removed from reality: A futuristic city of the future, weird villains and not much Clark.

"So this year, Superman will be more grounded. Not so much in terms that all the books will be about flushing out world terrorists, but in attitude, motivations and his actions. This is the year were we get a more proactive Superman that you don't want to mess with. If you're a little lost girl, he'll be there to save you, but if you're a guy with a gun or an alien armada attacking Earth, then look out because he's not going to go easy on you. This is not like Batman's revenge scenario, but more of an empowering fantasy. We all want to have the power to make a difference. Superman does, so he should. This year, he will."

Joe Kelly on Enginehead:

"I feel that DC is really got a creative drive on - if they feel that they’re really hitting all the marks in the superhero genre, which it looks like they are, then by all means, they should start exploring other avenues than what’s come to be seen as the standard superhero comic... That’s really encouraging – when we put down the pitch for Enginehead…Ted and I still laugh about it. There are some people who look at it, and think we’re doing something really bizarre, but we think it’s a pretty mainstream book. It may have a little more grit to it, and have some more adult themes to it, but it’s still a superhero – he’s still this guy with a crazy science fiction origin who comes to smack sense into the bad guys, and do the right thing. So in a lot of ways, it’s very mainstream. It’s just not dressed in the same colors. Hopefully, people will give it a shot – at the very least, it’s compelling – you know that something is evolving and coming out of all of this. It’s definitely got a slow burn to it."

Dan Buckley and Mackenzie Cadenhead talk up the new Mary Jane series:

"We knew we wanted to create a comic that revolved around a focal female character and, because MJ is a very popular one, she seemed like an excellent choice... But the opportunity comes with the fact that she is a popular character whose story has most often been told secondarily, through someone else's perspective (Peter Parker/Spider-Man). It's a chance for us to learn about how MJ views the world, not just what she does in it. Peter will be integral to Mary Jane's story... How could he not be? But with Mary Jane as the focal character, Peter will exist to readers through MJ's eyes. Similarly, Spider-Man is, to MJ, the icon he is to the rest of us. He's not just a super-hero but a superstar. And that's someone who will always hold a special place in a teenage girl's heart."

AdHouse releases cover images for their first three comic books, announced yesterday.

Erik Larsen addresses fans who want to see Paradigm return at Image (scroll down):

"You REALLY want to see the book published? Pay the printing bill--because promises of support don't cut it. Image Comics has to pay that bill--and readers simply aren't purchasing enough copies to make that worthwhile.

"Is that a crappy situation? YES! Yes, it is--we don't LIKE to have titles come to an end any more than you do. It frustrates the hell out of me that so few Image books make it past issue 10 (and that only two titles have made it past issue 100). I think we've got some great titles coming up. I hope readers will support them. But the situation at Image is that EVERY BOOK needs to make it on its own merit. EVERY book kicks in a flat fee to support the Image office and help pay for ads and such. We CAN'T take money from Spawn to pay for Paradigm. ALL of our titles are creator-owned and it's not fair to take money from one creator to subsidize another. The money HAS to come from somewhere and that SOMEWHERE has to be from YOU.

"I WANT you guys to get the books that you want to get. I'm on your side here. I'll do all I can to help--but there are limitations to what I can accomplish. I can green light a project but I can’t force you to buy it. If you want titles to stick around you NEED to support them--you need to rally support and tell your friends and total strangers what a swell book it is. I’ve known of readers that had their stores order 20 copies of a book they love and GIVE THEM AWAY to readers that they thought might be interested in reading them. This is a bear of a market and the big two are pumping out product by the ton in an effort to bury the little guys. We ARE the little guys--and the ONLY WAY to fight back is to get readers to support the books we put out."

A great look at Grant Morrison's NewXMen run by Gardner Linn:

"Cyclops--Scott Summers--is the X-Men's prototypical super hero, their leader and all-around stick-in-the-mud. He's married to Jean Grey, a telepath and telekinetic who every once and a while plays host to the destructive cosmic power of the Phoenix. But Scott's not happy with the marriage, and he can't tell Jean--but he can tell the seductive Emma Frost, with whom he begins a telepathic affair. So begins Scott's descent from super hero to human being (mutant, actually, but you get the point), from boring cliché to screwed-up, vibrant, living person."

For some reason, I didn't know that the collected edition of Skidmarks would have a Tim Sale cover or a Joe Casey introduction... but all of that is gravy, as the comic itself is fucking great. Go and buy, all of you.

(Active Images are also going to be rereleasing Glenn Dakin's Temptation, which is another great book. I don't know if Rich Starkings is just working his way through his favourite UK comics from the 80s, but if he collects all of Nick Abadzis's Hugo Tate, I will love him forever...)

The Panel, at SilverBulletComicBooks, ponders whether comics "needs" more ethnic characters. The most interesting reply (to me, at least) was Alan Grant's:

"Once, at a Batman script-meet, then-DC President Janette Kahn announced that Batman's new doctor/potential girlfriend would be a black American. Each of the assembled editors, writers and artists (all male, all white) was given a book on the Civil Rights struggle and sent off to create a modern, strong, black female doctor. I don't think we succeeded--I can't even remember her name, or whether we killed her off at the end of the series. I'm not saying it can't be done. Just that we couldn't do it."

DC offer retailer incentives for the relaunch of Sleeper:

"Retailers who place an initial order for SLEEPER SEASON TWO #1 (APR040357) in quantities of 100% or more of their initial orders on COUP D'ÉTAT: SLEEPER #1 (DEC030299) will be eligible to the SLEEPER VOLUME ONE: OUT IN THE COLD TP (STAR20357) and the SLEEPER VOLUME TWO: ALL FALSE MOVES TP (APR040358) at 70% off their cover prices."

Now, the question is, how many retailers are going to order that high on the book when there's no Jim Lee involved this time? Hopefully I'll be surprised.

(They're also offering 50% returns on Identity Crisis if retailers order it above Batman #618-level...)

DC Dill talks about the effect that DC's Super Powers toyline had on him:

"Now that I think about it, I should talk to my mother about her discovery of my ‘secret stash’. Think about it… My mom was no dummy and probably checked our rooms for signs of drug use regularly. And me, I am a dummy, hid my Super Powers action figures in a SHOE BOX UNDER THE BED! What an idiot. Just picture it, a mid-eighties mother in the midst of Nancy Reagan’s War on Drugs tiptoes into her son’s room, pulls back the bed sheets, looks under the bed, and finds an unmarked shoebox that clearly doesn’t belong there. This shoebox is clearly hiding something not meant to be found. Would this be the moment that one of her babies broke her heart? She pulls out the shoebox, and with trembling fingers and pursed lips slowly opens the lid.

"And she finds a complete set of Kenner’s DC Comics Super Heroes Super Powers Action Figures lying in a row. Joker probably wrapped up in a small net I had found for Batman. All of their weapons and accessories in a small plastic box in the corner of the shoebox. And underneath that, the comics they came with stacked neatly. She probably shrieked out loud: 'Oh the horror! My son has fallen to the dark disease of toy collecting!'

"I am such a dork."

Dynamic Forces start their own convention:

"Rather than taking on a 'convention' style set-up, Dynamic Forces’ FanFest is modeled after the more intimate gatherings such as those seen in country music, NASCAR, sports, and other pastimes/media with large fan followings. Instead of publisher booths and/or panels, the creators at the FanFest will simply be at tables, accessible to all fans who attend the event. The FanFest will be held from 10am until 6pm on the 24th, and will actually be a part of a busy weekend for conventions/gatherings across the country, one of seven different such affairs nationwide, reflecting the increasingly tightly packed convention season."

As if more reason for me to love Eddie Campbell was needed, The Pulse interviews him about his upcoming Batman graphic novel and two-issue stint as Captain America artist:

"You know, Iron Man's in it too and it's great to spend time with these old pals of mine. I almost feel that any minute the Lava Men are going to turn up, just like they did in an issue of the Avengers I illustrated way back in 1965 when I was nine."

ADD on The Ultimates:

"Personal problems, time-intensive modern artistic techniques, blah-fucking-blah. DO THE GODDAMNED WORK, or don't be surprised when people no longer give a flying fuck about what was once one of the most-anticipated and talked-about comics on the stands."

(While I'll accept that the ridiculous delays in publication have contributed to the lessening of buzz for the book, am I the only one who thinks that another, and maybe more important, reason that people are now no longer talking about the book outside of complaining about its lateness is because the second storyline didn't really build on the achievements of the first in any way? It was just more of the same, only less so.)

AdHouse bucks the trend:

"After two years of creating books with spines (aka trade paperbacks), AdHouse has made the decision to publish in the traditional comic book format (aka 'floppies', 'pamphlets' or 'comics'). Current plans are to have three saddle-stitched comics debut within the year."

Fiona Avery and Mark Brooks talk up Amazing Fantasy:

"'There sure are a lot of Spider-Mans already, huh?' Avery joked. 'But I suppose if Marvel's putting out that many Spider-Men and they are going home with lots of folks, then that's a good indicator of a strong market.'"

Okay, so this was surprising:

"Sources at Tokyopop have confirmed to ICv2 that the U.S. manga publishing powerhouse is teaming up with a Japanese publisher to create a new manga series based on Paramount's Star Trek property. The project, which was revealed at Wizard World LA, is currently in the final approval phase at Paramount, and more details will be made available in the near future. Current plans call for the series to be written by U.S. and Japanese writers, with Japanese manga-ka providing the art."

Is DC racist? Millarworld investigates:

"I was talking to a friend who used to work at one of the two majors in comics and he informed me that racism is alive and well at 'That Damn Company' as he referred to it. He said African Americans and latino members of the company could only rise SO high in said company and that he himself was passed over by newly hired white employees time and time again, which is what drove him to resign from his editorial position. He went on to explain that the 'minority' staffers (this includes writers and artists alike) were often humored by the executives and were seldom taken seriously when they tried to introduce new ideas on re-vamping white characters. The suits tried to placate some of these creators by asking them to create a similar hero and put him / her in an urban environment, something hip and now, to coin a phrase... Now mind you I have asked non-minorites as well as minorities (a term I personally loathe but will use it for simplicity’s sake) and they chalked it up to sour grapes on the part of a black or Spanish guy who wasn’t good enough and got shot down time and time again. I’ll admit that this is possible, but how many times can this be applied before it’s untrue?"

"Anyway, I hope what you're talking about isn't true, but it wouldn't surprise me, either. It should be remembered that it only takes a few jerks in key positions to effectively steer a company into this kind of shameful behavior. Doesn't mean everyone in charge is like that. This is the kind of thing that I think isn't talked about all that often, but should be. I think of the accusations made by Colleen Doran against a deceased DC editor which have only recently come to light since his death."

"Well...You have to figure that up until recently the comics industry was an old boys network..i can definetly see a lot of sexism happening...as for outright racism..sure i can see that too..But then again lets keep in mind DC did publish the Milestone line which featured characters of ethnic origin and was founded by ethnic creators... Its also strange when you think that comics were founded by primarily jewish creators who at the time were being discriminated against in other fields..."

"I will say this however. Marvel in recent years has been pretty good at getting minorities into top spots. Their executive editor Axel Alonso is hispanic. Also, Captain America, arguably Marvel's most iconic character is being written right now by two minorites which I don't think alot of ppl realize. You got Priest on CA&F, and then Morales on the Knights title. Also, Oliver Copiel, black guy, is drawing Cap over on Avengers. You also got Sacasa on 4 as well that you could throw in there. And then I just think about the ballsiness of the Truth mini-series and what that did, and I'd say Marvel at the very least is making some attempts... Now over at DC, well, that's a different story. I don't think we'll ever see a minority write a monthly Superman or a Batman. Sooo...."

EDIT: The original source has been revealed to be Joe Illidge, ex-editor at DC. As Rich Johnston points out in the thread at MW, Illidge has previously spoken about discrimination at DC: "The machine is aware. The only Black person now in DC editorial is Harvey Richards, assistant editor to Andy Helfer and Joan Hilty - hardly the most high profile of positions. It just makes me wonder and helps me perceive a pattern in mode of behavior."

(On a related tangent, Mark Millar denies a charge of racism in Wanted: "How can I be racist when I'm an African Scotsman???" and "What are you talking about? I'm black. Anyone can see that.")

Newsarama posters start a thread that is going to end in tears: "Who is Matt [Brady]'s favorite poster?":

"No matter what you parents tell you they always have a favorite, it inpossible not to. So kids, I think time to find out who Matt loves best. Matt's wife is not included becasue I wouldnt want her to get upeset when he says its Deathlok."

"how in the world would we know? i mean .. we could count PMs from him and his wife or something ... I think I have kept most of mine. although -- does it count when they're 'business' related .. like about moderating type stuff? well, anyway, I think Xaraan's right -- only Matt can say for sure, and I doubt he'd say"

"You have PMs from him and his wife??? LOL, well that takes me out of the running!!!"

Marvel finally admits what we all know: Ultimates is a late, late book:

"Marvel has announced that it has offically pulled Ultimates off of its schedule, following the release of #13 later this month. All orders placed by retailers for #1 have been cancelled by Marvel. When v.2 #1 is resolicited, all retailers will need to place new orders. The chronically late book started as a monthly, and then moved to bi-monthly, and then an occasional book. Despite its irregular schedule though, the series enjoyed both huge numbers and critical acclaim- when it did come out, and did not seem to suffer, sales-wise, from chronic lateness, as many pundits felt that it would."

The Marvel press release is great:

"Marvel & the creators behind the best-selling Ultimates series have refocused and retooled the first issue of ULTIMATES VOLUME 2,#1 to make it bigger, badder, bolder and, most importantly, regular! To accomplish these goals, the brash series has been removed from the schedule, with all original orders cancelled. The blockbuster title will be resolicited at a later date, when it can be guaranteed to ship monthly... Offered artist Bryan Hitch, 'With Marvel's continued and unprecedented support, they are allowing us to step back and stockpile a whole arc before release which is just fantastic. That's not to say we are resting on our laurels here, we have realistic, workable schedules and are 100% committed to giving the fans the best we can, every single month!'"

Bill Sienkiewicz heads to Tinsel Town:

"According to the Script Sales website, Bill Sienkiewicz's Stray Toasters is heade down Hollywood way, with Sienkiewcz teaming with young filmmakers Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Thorsson."

Jim Henley on superheroes:

"It is certainly true that, with few exceptions, 'People don't dress in funny costumes and run around on rooftops beating each other up—they don't gain superpowers and devote themselves to the common good—they don't form clubs and societies to combat evil scientists and giant purple starfish.' But would they if they could? If people gained superpowers (our speculative extrapolation), would anybody dress up and fight on rooftops, devote themselves to the common good, or try to take over the world? I can't see why they wouldn't.

"Here's a core truth I've noticed about the Real World: people are as outlandish as they can afford to be. No, not everyone. Not even most people, most of the time. But did you watch the Super Bowl halftime show? Seen Croc Files? Made a casual study of rapper aliases and street gang names? Noticed the proliferation of volunteer fire departments and neighborhood watch groups? Browsed the latest fashions on the runways of Milan? Heard about the guy with the beard in Central Asia behind some globe-spanning conspiracy to restore the glories of 'The Caliphate' with himself at the head?

"We are an outrageous planet. If some of us could fly or shoot rays from our hands, I wouldn't put anything past us."

Darwyn Cooke answers a question many seemed to have had about New Frontier #3:

"Regarding the man from Tennessee..... He is NOT and existing character. He is a character I created to deal with an important issue that NF couldn't afford to ignore. What we see is this man uses cultural legend (John Henry) to fashion his personna. The idea was what if the legend of John Henry was used by a man for inspiration during this era. If anything, he is a retconned forerunner to Steel.

"As for his look, you've all made wonderful guesses, but no one has pinned the source of inspiration. The first thing I had was the notion of the hanged man who returns for vengeance, a la 'Hang 'em High' et al. In Kanigher and Kubert's immortal Enemy Ace, there is an issue where he faces a nemisis known as the 'Hooded Hangman'. He looked incredible with the hood and noose. When designing a costume for 'John Henry', the first thought was to contrast the white hoods.....Kubert's hangman leapt to mind. As for his relatively costumeless look otherwise, well, I don't think this man has the money or inclination for such things. He's not John Henry Irons retconned, or Black Hood, or anyone, for that matter. He's a new character, created for the series."

The Pulse has a preview of Marvel Age: Fantastic Four. I'm not sure the art works with the story for the first few pages, at least...

As has been noted in the Comments section of the previous entry, Peter David confirms Captain Marvel's cancellation, announces a Hulk limited series that he'll be working on, and hints at another limited series featuring "a mutant character of my acquaintance"...

Still waiting on Peter David's official comment on Captain Marvel's again-rumoured cancellation, but while we wait, he's replied to this comment on his blog: "A cancellation would sadden me, but I have to say that the title got as much PR as you can possibly get--a relaunch as well as a publicity stung (stupid as it was). Not sure how much more you could ask." His response:

"A penciller who lasted past four issues? An official declaration as winner for U-Decide? Publicity that was more than bi-annual? An inker? Since you asked, I mean."

Yeah, sounds like he's fine with the way everything went down...

Brandon Thomas admits his secret Marvel ambition:

"This time last year, I would’ve said Luke Cage, but right now…hmm…still Luke Cage, but I’d throw in Danny Rand too. Make it this weird superhero buddy movie. Think Lethal Weapon, expect with crazy obscure updated Marvel villains in it. Like Modok or something…"

Somewhere, John Jakala is as excited about this idea as I am.

Allen Jacobsen talks Invaders:

"Here's the core concept: The Invaders: Soldiers, Super-Heroes, Sentinels of Liberty since the Second World War. Beyond borders, beneath the seas, behind enemy lines, they hunt the hidden terrors that threaten civilization... The team exists to battle threats that are virtually impossible for other super-humans to battle. Not to suggest that our team is 'better' than any other, but the Invaders unit are privy to some information that most of the world's superhuman population is unaware of. Basically, this is a story about a group of Idealists who are willing to go beyond borders to do what they believe is right. That being said, I want to be clear that this isn't a book about hate, and it isn't about disrespecting any real-world culture. It's about breaking down barriers the barriers that we've built between ourselves and inspiring disparate cultures to unite against a common threat."

Mike San Giacomo on Wonder Woman:

"Greg Rucka said he was going to make Dr. Veronica Cale the premiere Wonder Woman villain, but to get the picture you have to read this issue. There's very little Wonder Woman presence in this issue, Cale gets all the face time. She explains her history and her philosophy of Wonder Woman hating to a captive audience. As Rucka promised, Cale has a point."

Sadly, however, I'm with Newsarama poster Blind Assassin:

"Am I the only one who thinks that issue #202 of Wonder Woman is just....well...ridiculous? ...Veronica Cale (which lots of people on message boards have been loving) is supposed to be WW 'archnemesis'..(so people have said in their reviews of the book) is nothing but a jealous woman?Sorry, but that just seemed silly to me. Veronica Cale is all bent out of shape and wants to take down WW, because she is jealous. That's it."

Rich Johnston reports on, amongst other things, the fact that Marvel's Witches series may have been solicited with incorrect creator information:

"Mike Deodato's drawn-for-ages comic book, 'Witches' is solicited this month (just as DC's remarkably similar 'The Witching'). Originally planned for publication a couple of years ago, it looks the same except for one tiny difference. The writer, Bronwyn Taggart seems to have had a sex and name change, to Brian Walsh... I understand Walsh was hired for rewrites, dialogue changes and a juggle about of the work, and that Will Conrad may finish the art on the series."

Millarworld on Quesada's phone stunt (From Newsarama: "At this point in the panel, Quesada’s phone rang. Keeping within earshot of all attendees, Quesada said, 'I know, I know…don’t cry. It will be over soon.' He then hung up, and told the crowd it had been DC’s Dan Didio on the other end of the line"). Ethan Van Sciver started off:

"Dude, I thought Jemas was gone. I'm glad I work for a company that doesn't do classy things like this."

He later clarified: "It's just tacky. Paul Levitz never responded to the barrage of bullying that Jemas threw his way during his time at Marvel. Paul looked dignified, and Jemas got the fans calling him 'Jem-ass', remember? It makes the whole company look flimsy and silly. DC just sort of pretends Marvel doesn't exist, and does it's own thing. I admire that." But by that point, others had started to comment on Quesada's - and, by extention, Marvel's - attitude towards DC:

"It would have seemed more harmless without Quesada's history of making snide remarks about DC. He usually seems to come across as a nice guy I think, but just seems obnoxious and childish when he makes his comments about DC. He does so poorly what Lee did so well. Way back when Stan Lee was doing it, it seemed like friendly jibes at the competition, a friendly rivalry."

"I just don't get the 'phantom war' between Marvel and DC that the former likes to pretend it's a part of. And I don't understand the mentality that the business will do better if it's set up as if Marvel and DC are locked in some kind of bitter struggle. I don't WANT one to 'defeat' the other. I read books from both companies, and so I want both companies to flourish... Did a war or poorly-chosen words boost sales and renew interest in Marvel over the past 5 years? No, it was the desire on Jemas and Quesada's part to take chances with their creative teams and the directions of their comics. If Quesada thinks that he can dial back the content of his books to the early 90's (see: X-Men in spandex, X-Force returns, etc.), and increase interest instead by goading Dan DiDio and Paul Levitz into a petty street fight, he's probably mistaken."

"Maybe Joe sees it as a kind of hypercharged Stan-Lee-ism. Whatever he thinks, it just feels tasteless. While I agree with him that DC and Marvel had gotten too friendly during the 90s (which seem to be very in, otherwise, at Marvel right now, alas) and that a bt of competetive spirit will bring both companies into the mood top produce better books, JoeQ is often dangerously close to schoolyard mobbing. Fun to read, absolutely, but somehow not fitting with his Good-Cop image. It's a bit weird to see him try to do Quesada AND Jemas these days."

Peter David writes about something else DC are planning to set up in memory of Julie Schwartz:

"The notion will be to provide a fund (in conjunction with a college yet to be determined) which will pay for an annual lecturer of note (a different one each year, of course) to come to the university and talk about the popular arts, comic books, science fiction and fantasy, and their impact on our culture... Anyone else interested in contributing can send donations to the Julius Schwartz Scholarship Fund (that's what it's currently called; it will likely change, but I figure, why confuse the people in the mail room), c/o DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019."

He also promises commentary tomorrow on Joe Quesada's announcement that Captain Marvel's cancellation is, again, on the cards.

Newsarama posters aren't happy about Identity Disc:

"Avi Arad's Marvel has sunk to a new low--reduced to ripping off the plot of DC's Identity Crisis. Hell, they're not even being subtle about it---they're releasing it the same damn month."

"OK, let's say it's not a joke. WHO THE HELL WOULD BUY THAT? It seems so lame, I can't imagine them selling more than, say 100 copies of this."

"Well, yeah, they're starting it two weeks early, but if you think about it, orders start getting placed around the first of the month...a little after Diamond catalog is released...near-perfect timing for an APRIL FOOL at all of us (and by us I mean you all) Seriously, if this is real? I'm going to be very depressed."

At Wizardworld LA, Marvel show off their forward-facing attitude that makes them number one! First off, we have Rob Liefeld and Fabian Niceza doing a revamp of X-Force, which, God knows, everyone's been asking for for years now. Also on the "Haven't they done that before?" tip, we also find out that the upcoming Avengers revamp sees the launch of a second ongoing Avengers title (which I want to be called Solo West Coast Avengers West Coast Force Works Spotlight), this time written by a writer of TV hit The OC just so that someone can say "This is how we do it in the MU, bitch." Oh, yeah, and Identity Disc was originally to be called Sinister Six, but it was decided that that may be confusing in light of Ultimate Six, so it'd be much less confusing to rename it with something almost identical to DC's big title that happens to be launching in the same month (Joe Quesada calls the similarity "serendipitous", which is certainly a generous way of looking at it). So, that's all right then.

Marvel's solicits are up. And with them, the question: How much milking of Astonishing X-Men are Marvel planning? The existance of three solicits for the title this month - for #2, "SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 VARIANT" and a Director's Cut version of the first issue ("Now, go behind the scenes of X-MEN: RELOAD with this expanded edition of ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 - featuring never-before-seen character designs and cover sketches by John Cassaday!") - suggest that they're planning on milking this cash cow very dry. Not that Marvel aren't also planning to milk the Spider-Man cow dry, either - The hopelessly addicted Spider-junkie will find over 20 different Spiderbooks to buy in June...

Marvel release more covers from upcoming books, which - amongst other things, shows who's on which X-Men team. And surprise, surprise, Wolverine is on all of the main teams!

DC pays tribute to Julie Schwarz with a series of new comics based upon classic covers from his editorial reign:

"The specials will each contain two 11-page stories, all inspired by the respective classic Silver Age covers the books will carry. Artists and writers who either worked with Julie or were inspired by his work. Each issue will also contain Harlan Ellison’s tribute to Julie, along with the original covers the tribute covers were patterned after."

Books in the first release include Adam Strange by Grant Morrison and Green Lantern by Brian Azzarello, with more to come from people like Darwyn Cooke. Me likee.

Neil Gaiman posts Alan Moore's rememberence of Julie Schwartz:

"And now we hear that Julie has been…discontinued? Cancelled? But they said the same about Green Lantern and the Flash back in the early 'fifties, so we can't be certain. This is comics. There'll be some way around it, be some parallel world Earth-Four Julie, born thirty years later to account for problems in the continuity, and decked out in a jazzier, more streamlined outfit.

"A funny, brilliant, endlessly enthusiastic twelve year old got up in an old man suit, Julie spent his life mining the gold-seam of the future; is too big, then, to be ever truly swallowed by the past. He was a friend, he was an inspiration, was the founder of our dreams. He ruined my reputation as a gentle pacifist by claiming that I'd seized him by the throat and sworn to kill him if he didn't let me write his final episodes of Superman, and how, now, am I supposed to contradict a classic Julius Schwartz yarn? So, all right: it's true. I picked him up and shook him like a British nanny, and I hope wherever he is now, he's satisfied by this shamefaced confession."

Brian Hibbs doesn't wait for the trades, he writes about them instead:

"There are a couple of cardinal rules that need to be observed. The chief among these is that numbered series need to be perpetually stocked. When volumes 4 and 5 of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men are out of print (as they currently are), sales velocity plummets on 1-3 and 6. There also needs to be a consistency and a plan when it comes to numbering. Placing a 'volume 1' on the cover or the spine is only a good plan when there is going to be a volume 2 and beyond. Readers are attracted to numbered TP series because they believe, if they like it, there will be more for them to read – but this means that like must be placed with like. Organizational plans like Marvel’s 'Legends' collections almost certainly become failures because there isn’t a consistent 'through-line' of quality and style. Wolverine: Meltdown is so far in content and tone from Wolverine: X-Isle that calling them 'Wolverine Legends' volumes 2 and 4, respectively, is counter-productive."

Millarworld is running a Q&A thread with Warren Ellis:

"The three-issue minis: I think most of them found their audiences, and all of them had elements I'm still fond of. I think a lot of people approached them like they were three-act pieces, which none of them really were -- they were short stories broken into three parts each. Some of them worked better with the breaks than others. Everyone involved gave them their all, no-one phoned it in. I don't think any one reader could be expected to like them all, because they were all pretty different in execution from each other, even given some thematic overlaps.

"I'm glad I did them."

Mark Millar updates the status of Millarworld:

"Run and those other related one-shots are all completely cancelled. I was thinking about getting another artist, but it's complicated and it wouldn't feel right to Ashley. Frank and Cass are both under enormous deadline pressures too so these four single issues are just being canned outright. It's a shame because the orders were nice and I was very fond of the project.

"My Marvel exclusive, however, allows me to do something in its place and I'm going to start working on a replacement project that's got nothing to do with Run, Pow or any of the others this summer. No details until around May or June, I'm afraid, but this will be a short series (either 3 or 4 issues) with a superstar artist, publisher as yet undecided. Haven't really started thinking about it yet, Wolverine being my priority right now."

The Free Comic Book Day comics are announced at Newsarama. As with last year, the indies come up with the more interesting selections...

24 becomes a comic, from IDW:

"Two pages of printed story will equal one hour of time elapsed in this 48-page one shot. Handling the clock and the story will be J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes of Battlestar Galactica fame. Art will by by noted CSI: Miami artist, Renato Guedes. The story is called 24: One Shot. In it, CTU agent Jack Bauer has to protect a beautiful and deadly terrorist for twenty-four hours, but after an attack by her former friends, he has only one bullet left in his gun."

Unless Dan Evans does recaps for it, then it won't be real 24 in my eyes.

Publicity ploys pay off for Rich Johnston!:

"While Rich Johnston’s Holed Up #2 will be in the upcoming issue of Diamond Previews, there’s a bit of a snag…in a first for a book from Avatar, Diamond refused to show the text on the cover."

Tom DeFalco attempts to clarify Spider-Girl's status:

"As far as AMAZING FANTASY is concerned, the entire creative team of SPIDER-GIRL and I sincerely hope that Fiona Avery and Mark Brooks have as much fun with their title as we still have with ours. It’s not an either/or proposition, people. You can actually buy and enjoy both SPIDER-GIRL and AMAZING FANTASY and you might be glad you did!"

Non-comics note: After email troubles recently, there's a new email address for the blog. Click the email link to your left and send all manner of shit if you feel the desire.

SBCB has more on the Marvel / Cockrum settlement:

"Marvel Comics and artist Dave Cockrum have reached an agreement on a contract that will allow Marvel to continue to fully own the many characters Cockrum created for the company, while compensating Cockrum for his years of service and the seminal characters he created. In an undisclosed agreement today, author Clifford Meth accepted a deal for Dave Cockrum that, combined with other industry events, will help get the Cockrum family back on its feet after months of financial burdens resulting from Cockrum's hospitalization."

Reggie Rigby's in full flow again:

"Before sitting down to write this edition of Fool I took a trip down to my local branch of WH Smith. (The UK’s biggest purveyor of newspapers, magazines and sundry periodicals, amongst other things.) Were I interested in buying comics from them (and I confess I’m not, having deserted the high street for the safety of specialist comics shops over a decade and a half ago) my choice would be limited to the following: A large selection of cartoony stuff aimed at pre-schoolers and the under tens. Batman. Spider-Man. The X-Men. 2000AD. Commando. (a digest sized war comic, mostly aimed at the young male market.)

"So, we’ve got lots of kids comics, some superheroes, some Sci-Fi Fantasy and some war.

"If variety is the spice of life, then your average punter must imagine that we have a very bland diet indeed. But how the hell would anyone who didn’t hang around in comics shops know that there was anything else out there? All the other stuff, the From Hells, the Cerebus’, the Hellblazer, the Transmetropolitan, the Alec, the Strangers in Paradise, the Maus. All of it is hidden from view. Why is nobody marketing this stuff? If the Trades and Graphic Novels of this stuff make it into bookshops they are generally hidden in some unlovely corner of the store. Such stuff never makes it onto the news stand racks. Don’t the publishers want to sell more copies? Don’t even get me started on the distribution system!"

The Joe Quesada forum consider the Current State of The Industry:

"Classic comic characters have become unrecognizable to the people who grew up reading their adventures. The history has been discarded and the characterization has been warped to fill whatever direction the writer wants to take the story. Comics have become desperate with creators who do not respect the art form and whom want to conform it to those that they feel are more respectable. Comics have attempted to be so shocking that nothing about them can shock us anymore. As so, we drift from one title to another and comics have become as faddish as other pop culture junk forms with the hot picks of the month replacing quality. Occasionally someone gets it really right, but it’s harder to enjoy with the sense of wonder and amazement removed from a lack of consistent characterization. Mainstream comics no longer have much to say except that we can dissect the comics themselves, which really overstates how important these icons are in terms of literature."

"A year ago, I would've found plenty to complain about in comics. Now, there are just too many diverse, good comics out there, especially at Marvel, for me to complain. Things are looking very good from where I'm sitting."

"There should be ONE Spider-man title- cowritten by Byrne and Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema. EVERYONE knows Stan Lee, so even people that don't like comics would be more tempted to try it out, just because Lee is representative of the entire genre. In much the same way, Claremont should be given X-Men Editor-in-Chief status. While his stories are faltering, his ideas are quite sound still. Marvel still needs a Vertigo-like imprint. MAX and Knights are doing nothing. As for DC, kudos to them."

Marvel releases preview art for Astonishing X-Men #1 to go along with the already released script preview. It's nice, but also oddly underwhelming.

Silver Bullet breaks news concerning Dave Cockrum. According to SBCB, Eli Bard, Senior Litigation Attorney at Marvel, released this statement this afternoon:

""Marvel has stepped in to help Dave Cockrum, and it is clear that he and his family are satisfied with Marvel's actions, and appreciate its assistance in this matter. While the terms are confidential, Marvel is pleased that it could help Dave and his family, and wish him a speedy recovery and the very best."

Updates are apparently on the way, including details.

Fanboy meltdown: Man Of The Atom gets banned from Newsarama for, well, completely losing it in regards to Gail Simone. Some examples (all to Gail, who appeared after the thread again turns to discussion of the time MOTA called her a whore because she didn't read something he'd written. No, really, you did read that correctly):

"WHY would I want the opinion ofsomeone who I don't respect, someone whoI think is lower than dog poo? STOP bringing the fan fic, my hatred for you has nothing to do with fan fic and everything to do with you being a bitch. There, you got me banned from another board for being a bitch, hope you're happy..."

"...Bitchy Gail, because she writes comics, can come here and lie, take one thing and ignore another. Since I don't write comics I can't insult her for being a liar. Go check CBR, her board. She's obssesed with me for some reason, she keeps opening threads to attack me for no reason other than she can..."

"I never asked you to read my work, I dont'give a fuck what your opinion of it is. You're the fucking bitch that gets off provoking me., you're the fucking bitch that came here to fight. It's yourfucking personality that I hate, not what you do for a living..."

Kind of scary...

Dan Jolley talks Firestorm:

"It's funny, I've seen a couple of people on message boards make comments like, 'If they wanted a Black urban character, they should've hired a Black urban writer!' And, 'How the hell is a white guy from the South going to write an African-American teenager from Detroit?' And, I guess, my answer would have to be, 'the same way I wrote a forty-year-old undead ex-Nazi in 'Obergeist' [laughs]. Writing a character who's not just like you always involves a combination of research, observation, and imagination. You just create the character, and then see where he takes you.

"And, while the issue of Jason's ethnicity will not be ignored, it's also simply not the focus of the story. 'Firestorm' is not about an African-American guy. It's just about a guy. The guy in question is indeed African-American; he's also shy, likes to read, and is trying his damnedest to grow a convincing moustache."

Jay Faerber is interviewed at the increasingly smaller (Length-wise, at least. What gives, Rich?) Waiting For Tommy about reviving Strykeforce, the old Top Cow book starring a man with three arms:

"First of all, I'm writing this book specifically to appeal to multi-limbed individuals such as Stryker. I think this readership demographic has been overlooked for far, far too long. Plus, my upcoming Stryker 12-issue maxi-series is designed to explain exactly why he isn't constantly losing his balance, and ... Okay, I give up. Yes, he's got three robotic arms on one side of his body, and yes, that can tend to look quite silly. But it's a big adventure comic. It's all about crazy characters and visuals, so just go with it, y'know?"

The Beat!, snarky journalistic Ms. Hyde to Heidi McDonald's Dr. Jekyll, turns its eye to Marvel's annual report, released last week:

"For those who like to know what other people make, Marvel has been bringing on a number of execs of late. For instance, John Turitzin, Exec. VP and General Counsel signed on for $350,000 + a 50% bonus. Licensing man of action Bruno Magliore (President of Marvel International) will make $370,000 plus 50% bonus. Of course the big money is in Hollywood. New Marvel Studios prexy and COO David Maisel will pull down a cool $500K (plus – you guessed it -- a 50% bonus). It's great to see that the Marvel which once made employees stumble around in the dark to conserve power, and subsist on a single pot of coffee a day can now afford to bring high-powered execs on board to drive the business into the 21st century and reassure the stockmarket. Perhaps next up they can afford $40K to hire a publicity person, or scrape together the money for a wee booth at San Diego – or even pay for editors to take talent to dinner once in a while."

You've had Spider-Woman! You've had a second Spider-Woman! You've had Spider-Girl! You've had a third Spider-Woman! But are you ready for... Amazing Fantasy?:

"She's fierce, she's sassy...she sticks to walls! Amazing Fantasy #1 is where it all begins: Meet an all-new, all-different heroine! Fiona Avery (Amazing Spider-Man) and Mark Brooks (Marvel Age Spider-Man) launch a surprising series of teen-friendly adventures set in the current Marvel Universe!"

All-New! All-Different!

Akira Yoshida talks about his new I Was A Teenage Thor (oh, alright: "Thor: Son of Asgard". Happy now?) miniseries:

"My biggest influence is still what Stan and Jack did in the early days. I really want to channel what they brought to life in those original Tales of Asgard stories. My stories are the "untold tales" from that time period, about some of the other adventures young Thor had before he got the hammer in Journey Into Mystery #102. But I also love the characterization and dynamics that Walt Simonson set up between the older Thor, Sif and Balder in his run. I am trying to bring some of that more relaxed sense to their relationship here in its younger years in this series."

Oops:

"A while back I saw the trailer for 'Star Trek: Insurrection' and saw a cool stunt where a Federation tank/APC raced off the edge of a big cliff and into the back of a shuttle. At least it would of been cool if Mark hadn't written the scene already in Ultimate X-Men (issue 3 I think) when Wolvie drives a car off a cliff and into the back of the blackbird!! Anyone else seen any blatent rip-offs of comic book scenes in the movies or on TV?"

Of course, a quick check at IMDB shows that that Star Trek movie was made two years before Ultimate X-Men even started... which makes the follow-up post even better:

"Yeah, comics probably steal from movies more than movies steal from comics, but I was so shocked when one of my fave Ult. X-Men seuquences got ripped off in - worst of all - a Star Drek movie . . ."

[EDIT: Turns out the guy got the movie wrong, and the movie in question did come out after UXM. Which means the humour is gone. Le sigh. Never mind. Go about your business...]

There's a Newsarama thread where the posters end up talking about Bendis saying "its too bad that newsarama has become so surreal. i do believe a couple of those kids got themselves a quote of the month in the new powers". Matt Brady pops in to lend some perspective:

"sorry all you surreal guys and gals...
But I'm figuring that no one who's a regular Nrama poster who sent info in for the Powers v2 #1 letter column in order to get laid will be eligible anymore. You guys are just too surreal...c'mon...let's have some nice, normal, putting your personal info in the back of a comic so you can get laid...reality. Focus people, focus.

MattB

I keed because...well, irony always strikes me as ironically ironic."

Someone's translated the Kryptonian (Kryptonese?) in the latest issue of Superman/Batman, because they obviously had a lot of time on their hands that day. Now, as much as I love S/B, this dialogue is really painful:

"Father, why have you forsaken me? I told you once! I don't want to hurt you!"

(Via Newsarama.)

Over at TCJ, they're thinking about bad times for good people:

"Even as a young teenager, I always knew that Marvel's stated policy that 'good shall always triumph over evil' was total bullshit - not to mention very limiting in a story sense. It gave me a certain respect for writers who had the guts to have their hero losing at the story's end. My favorite example was from Shade: The Changing Man #50 (not sure why people don't like this series) where Shade has allied himself with the 'devil', condemns his homeworld, sees his true love get shot dead and has his baby stolen from him. The only mistake the writer made was not ending the series right there. Who's got other examples of a heroic or noble character (Jimmy Corrigan doesn't count) going down to a miserable defeat?"

"I challenge you to find an adventure story in any medium where the hero loses. It's not often done because it enrages the audience, who like adventure stories mainly as escapist power fantasies. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) That being said, my favorite superhero story is Alan Grant's origin of Robin 3. Because Batman loses, and everything is fucked up, and the triumphant origin story readers have in their mind (the handshake, the swearing in, the unveiling of the costume) becomes a wretched tragedy. I love that."

"Come to think of it, I suppose you see less of this in comics just because of the continuing series format. I mean, Spiderman's got to beat Doctor Octopus eventually."

Tim Pilot 84 (for that is his name) continues his predictions for Marvel's summer push on the Joe Quesada board:

"Oeming will be taking over writing for THOR (don't know if it's ongoing), and he will be joined by Andrea Di Vito (Brath)... There is a 5 issue miniseries called IDENTITY DISC to coincide with DC's Identity Crisis. It is written by Robert Rodi with art by John Higgins & Jimmy Palmiotti. Covers by Tony Harris. Basically, Sabretooth, Bullseye, the Juggernaut, Deadpool, Sandman and the Vulture are forced to work together by a mysterious agent who somehow knows every dark and dirty secret about their lives. Their mission: to retrieve the nearly priceless Identity Disc! It is located in the bowels of an impenetrable A.I.M. terrorist base and is purported to contain the true identities, the home addresses and even the credit reports of every hero in the Marvel Universe. The best part--'But how long can these psychopaths work together before chaos begins?' ...Witches #1 & #2 are due in June, written by Brian Walsh and pencilled by Mike Deodato Jr. This appears to be solicited as a new ongoing...Mike Deodato Jr. will be the new penciller for Amazing Spider-Man after JR Jr (don't know if it's just to fill-in while Romita Jr. is on Wolverine)... Paco Medina will be doing an FF arc called 'Dysfunction' which deals with the FF meeting a 'cracked' version of themselves from an alternate dimension..."

Stan Lee has been sold for just $810. Which seems kind of low, to me.

Larry Young celebrates five years of AiT/Planet Lar:

"I always like to do the new thing, to invent new categories, and the like... We did the script book because, at the time, if you wanted to read a comic book script, there was only Alan Moore’s From Hell script and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman script available in print. If people wanted to talk about comics scripts, you had to say 'Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Larry Young' in the same sentence, and that’s nothing but good in terms of bringing attention to your company. Then, forward thinkers like Warren Ellis were touting graphic novels as the natural evolution of keeping work in print. AiT/Planet Lar jumped in feet first, and for a year or two there, you couldn’t talk about graphic novels and trade paperbacks without mentioning my company’s name, too. Also good, for the spotlight on our comics. It’s an old marketing trick; if you invent your own category, you can rule it because you have no competition, and when others get wise to your success, you’re already entrenched as a category-leader. You see this all the time in the real world."

What is this 'real world' of which he speaks of? Is it where The Ultimates takes place?

Newsarama reports that Peter Milligan and Rob Haynes' JLA: Kid Amazo graphic novel has been postponed with no new publication date set. Ladies and gentlemen, start your conspiracy theories.

(Psst, Jen (or Heidi, whoever sees this first)! It's not Kid Amazon!)

DC sign Ian Churchill to an exclusive contract. I refuse to believe I'm the only person who's wondering what DC are playing at. I mean, Ian Churchill? He's not even done anything recently. Next: DC signs Tony Isabella and Mike W Barr. At the very least, they should sign Stan Lee exclusively for the cheap PR.

Ed Brubaker talks about Sleeper, Catwoman and Gotham Central:

"[Holden Carver is] a good man pretending to be a bad man, and wondering if there's any difference between the pretense and reality. I think that appeals to people, because most people do things they're ashamed of, but still think they're good inside. Plus, Holden's dilemma is just really compelling. It's been said a billion times by now, but he's like Donnie Brasco as a super-hero. He's down in the underground, making real friends, and having to betray them. He's losing sight of which side he's on."

Micah Wright asks why mature readers books don't sell. This could either turn into a good thread, or something that makes me want to alternate between hating modern day fanboys and "the industry" and beating my head off the desk:

"I mean, if Marvel weren't printing The Punisher and Supreme Power (and if those creators weren't who they are, and hadn't signed their deals before the Fall Of Jemas, we all know Marvel WOULDN'T BE printing them), that means the #1 Mature Readers comic on a monthly basis is "Y The Last Man" selling 23% of what the #1 superhero comic sells. For an industry which caters almost exclusively to 25-50 year old men, that's fucking pathetic. These customers are mostly well above the 18-years-old that it takes to walk into an R-rated film... why aren't more R-Rated comics available for them and why don't the customers read the ones which ARE available?"

Dave Sim is apparently posting over on the Cerebus Yahoo group:

"Well, all I can say is, when I read the front page story on the Arts & Life section of the NATIONAL POST with a big colour picture that Superman was going back to his home planet and would be riding a cool motorcycle, I thought, DAMN! Why didn't I think of that? If I'd've just had Cerebus go back to his home planet and ride a cool motorcycle as the ending of issue 300, I COULD'VE BEEN ON THE FRONT PAGE OF CANADA'S OTHER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER!"

Matt Brady looks at the Avengers rumours so far:

"In addition to what Newsarama.com reported yesterday - that both Iron Man writer John Jackson Miller and Captain America writer Robert Morales will be leaving their respective series with the June issues, Newsarama has also learned that long-time Thor writer Dan Jurgens will be leaving that title around the same time; and that May’s issue #8 of Hawkeye will be that series final issue... Also, according to sources, Captain America - a title that never seemed to find its creative footing under the Marvel Knights banner after the departure of artist John Cassaday, will take the creative team change as the opportunity to move back to the Marvel Universe proper to again be a core part of the Avengers family... With their MVP writer lined up for the event itself, speculation (unconfirmed at this point) has centered on Bendis 'assembling' a Grant Morrison-eque/'JLA Big Guns' type line-up for the Earth Mightiest Heroes, featuring Marvel’s biggest, most enduring solo stars like long-time founding Avengers Cap, Thor and Iron Man, possibly standing alongside Marvel’s other solo and licensing superstars like Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk and Daredevil, or in others words, a regular monthly line-up not completely unlike the characters Bendis has assembled for the hit quarterly Secret War limited series."

Millarworld gets excited and upset about the possibility of minor Authority villain "Three-Willie" Seth showing up in Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee's Superman run:

"I think it would be good for Superman to beat up Seth, to boost his rep a bit."

"This strikes me as odd. What the hell would good ol Three Willie be doing in a SUperman book? I loved him in the Authority but I must say I'm a little wary of him being in Superman."

"Does it seem strange to anyone else that DC would use a character created by Mr Millar, especially after all the censorship hoo-hah during his run on the Authority, in a title that is probably going to be one of the biggest for DC? Have they forgiven and forgotten?"

...Or maybe they don't care, in that they own the character. Mark Millar chimes in himself:

"Oh My God. You're right. Right down to the visor. Please, God, don't let them have Superman getting fucked up the arse by deranged hillbilly super-being Three-Willie-Seth."

(Suddenly I'm reminded of this old Millar quote: "Then, after the 'sucking the cock of Big Brother' trend this turned into, there was nothing funnier than seeing a Superman clone get fucked up the ass in Authority.")

My favourite part of Previews Review this week:

"JAN041540 THOR SON OF ASGARD #1 (Of 6) 2.99
Christopher: Frighteningly obvious Hollywood baiting. 'What if Thor was a teenage heartthrob?' I can only imagine buying this if you have no real self-esteem. Otherwise, why would you be paying money to Marvel for them to market their books to someone else? It’s sort of like, I dunno, paying some huge multi-billion-dollar conglomorate to advertise THEIR products for them, right? Who would be dumb enough to do that?"

A poster on the Joe Quesada message boards has some rumoured Marvel launches for this summer:

"...[S]ome Spider-Man project by Fiona Avery, a VENOM/CARNAGE mini by Peter Milligan, a SPIDER-MAN/DOC OCK project by Zeb Wells and Kaare Andrews, and I guess Michael Avon Oeming is taking over writing THOR. There's also some miniseries called POWERLESS that deals with Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, Logan and others, but it deals with them as if they never got their powers and how their lives would be about righting wrongs and vanquishing evil anyways. There were a few other things, but that's all I can remember right now."

The Oeming Thor is the more interesting of the books, as much as I love Milligan...

Richard L, I don't know who you are, but this is the best thing I've read on Millarworld in a long time:

"You can have adult super-powered characters or superhero-like characters for adults but I'm afraid Batman isn't one of them - the only way to do that is to recreate him as an essentially impotent character struggling to reconcile his own need for a violent outlet for trauma (Dark Knight ends with him finding a better way for a reason). Let's face it 'I'm a multi-billionaire genius and the best way I can find to help the people of Gotham is to dress as a giant rat' is not an approach you can take with an adult sensibility and not conclude that he's mad as a hatter. Both Watchmen and Dark Knight were taken as heralding a new age - an 'adult' approach to superheros when infact both were about the impossibility of treating these iconic characters as "adult" and having them continue to behave in the way we have come to expect.

"Comics can be for adults and some of the most challenging and interesting modern literature for adults comes in the form of a comic book. But the mainstream characters - the archetypes and the bit-part players that surround them - simply cannot be written as adult characters with out appearing utterly ridiculous to all concerned. Like I said, that doesn't mean you can't write these things in a way that both young and (relatively) old people can enjoy, just that you should not be trying to approach Superman with an adult sensibility.

"That's why we get these constant arguments about his actions - because the greying audience increasingly expects Superman to act in a manner psychologically authentic to the adult reader when, of course, the character simply cannot hold that weight - he becomes something completely different. The key, I would argue, is that for the mainstream superhero, ditch the 'adult' garbage and accept these characters for what they ARE, limitations and all. Stop trying to make them something completely different - which is what being 'adult' with them (what Moore called last week the current 'intellectual posture' towards them) does."

Reminds me of the "Being clever's a fine thing, but sometimes a boy has to leave the house and meet some girls" bit from Flex Mentallo, which is never a bad thing. I'm waiting to see if there's any backlash against this opinion...

Bendis talks about Avengers:

"for long time avengers fans, rest assured you are reading the words of one. i am a huge avengers fan. you don't take a gig like this unless you are a fan. don't let the online crazies convince you otherwise. it is so hard to break in to comics, you HAVE to be fan to get here. everyone who works on these books is a true true life long fan. but i am also a fan of the future. and taking the concept of the avengers into it. with the help of avengers editor tom breevort and andy schmidt you can look forward to a real step forward without forgetting where we came from."

Brian Vaughan guarantees that I'll be picking up Ex Machina in June:

"[T]his is not another one of those postmodern comics that will be 'deconstructing the superhero,' or simply exploring what superheroes would be like in the 'real world.' I love good old-fashioned superhero comics - I write like nine of them! - and I don't feel the need to point out all of the things that supposedly make them silly or unrealistic. Comics about comics have become a bit of a self-licking ice cream cone, anyway. We sometimes forget that those two deconstructionist superhero masterpieces of the ‘80s were as much about the politics of the time as they were about capes and tights. I've always been interested in using this medium to ask questions about contemporary society, but that doesn't mean Ex Machina is going to be a boring polemic. It's a fast-paced political thriller, an action-packed sci-fi drama for adults, with all of the intelligent sex, horror, humor, violence, and shocking twists that readers of books like Y: The Last Man and Starman hopefully know and love."

ICv2 have their February sales analysis up:

"Sales were seasonally lower in February, with 16 of the top 25 books down vs. January. Although it seems like a long slide for comic sales recently, it's worth comparing sales in 2004 to orders one year ago, in February 2003 (see "Comic Dollar Declines Slow in February"), when the cut-off after the top ten comic titles, for example, was considerably lower than it was this year (even accounting for the difference between orders and shipments)."

Millarworld resurrects the controversy over The Authority:

"What should have happened then, waht DC should have done. They should not have waited 9 months for Art Adams (I love the guy, but that's a huge gap), and they should have hired Dustin to finish Millar's epic (Issues 22-23 and 24). The, Kev would have been published ( 25 & 26), and it would have given Hitch some time to draw his arc (issus 27 and 28) before his big bucks contract for the Ultimates at Marvel. Then, they should have gotten the planned Azz/Dillon duo to do the commited 12 issues (29 - 40), and wait for the next best things in comics to shaw up to write & draw the book (let's say Bryan K Vaughan fresh from Y the last man and Trevor Hairsine who was a DC boy back at the time). The book would have remain good, and would be in the top 20 today."

"DC fucked this book around a lot. They didnt give it any respect, even though the sales were great at the time. DC didnt want any edgey stories, especially after Sept 11 2001, so they forced Millar to water down the later part of his run."

"I agree that the editorial really fucked this title hard. I recall seeing the things that they had forced the artists to change on the pages and they really did detract from the hardcore nature of the final story arc."

Tim O'Shea interviews Andrew D. Arnold, Time magazine's Comics - I'm sorry, Comix, reviewer:

"TIME.comix is very much a kind of advocacy journalism. Exposing Time's more general readership to the constantly growing array of interesting and sophisticated graphic literature has been its main point. To that end I almost never do negative reviews, except in the case of particularly high-profile books that do not live up to their hype. Instead I try to encourage readership by covering books that I think would offer a positive and enriching experience."

Brandon Thomas leaps on the "I'm Rick James, bitch" bandwagon by naming his interview with Lee Ferguson "Super Freak":

"I got offered the chance to draw and color a Luke Cage series at Marvel with some guy. What was his name? Man, talented writer, but I can't seem to recall...it's on the tip of my tongue... Great script, would've been a great project.

"While I was waiting to start on that, I also had a story approved for Spider-Man Unlimited, which would've been my first pro writing assignment, and a big deal to me, personally. I grew up as a HUGE Spider-Man fan, so I was looking forward to taking a shot at writing, drawing, and coloring a story for the web-head. However, both projects tanked within a 24-hour period, pretty much convincing me that the comic gods hate me [smiles]. I was pretty inconsolable for a few weeks after that, but when I did bounce back, as I tend to do, FREAK was waiting, and I poured all of my energy into finally getting that ready to go. I think at the risk of sounding melodramatic, it literally kept me sane when everything else was going crazy around me."

Marvel does something interesting: launches an ongoing Mary Jane Watson Marvel Age series, written by Sean McKeever:

"This brand-new series begins in June, and I couldn't be more excited about it. It's a teen-drama series featuring Mary Jane Watson in high school with her friends Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Harry Osborn, and Harry's nerdy pal, Peter Parker... It takes place within its own continuity, developed by editor MacKenzie Cadenhead and myself. Every issue will contain a stand-alone tale with ongoing character plotlines, just like a television drama. The potential for this series within and outside of the comicbook-store market is huge, and it's the most proud and jazzed I've been about a project since 'The Waiting Place', and I hope that even those who read comics mostly for superhero action will check it out."

Ignoring the obvious complaints (Why use Mary Jane instead of a new character, especially if it's taking place within its own continuity? Oh, that's right; because Marvel is crazy about never creating anything new when existing IP can be used instead), this could be worth paying attention to. Or it could be another Trouble.

As if to end the day on a symmetrical note, the Bendis board present their own Controversial Comic Book Opinions:

"Daredevil could whup Batman's ass in a fight. Jesus, didnt he tip a limo over?"

"DC has the worst villians ever. Most iconic heroes, but their villians are horrible. And when they get a villian in the regular DCU who's actually kind of interesting (Manchester Black as a Punisher-styled antithises to Superman,) they kill him. Only Batman's rogues gallery are worth being interested in - but they get continually soiled by being 'over sold'."

"DC is held down by the fact that its owned by Time Warner who is never willing to take any big risks with its property. Standards and Practices bullshit."

"i think the elitist snobs that snipe at each other and newcomers on boards like newsarama, millarworld, joeq, and, to a lesser extent, here are doing nothing but damaging the comic book industry. they are stupid people and have no valid opinions to me."

DC's June solicits are up! Time for the usual round-up of nice pretty things:

* DC release another 99c sampler for their Archives line, this time focusing on the Silver Age with Justice League, Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes and Sgt. Rock goodness. Huzzah!

* Gotham Central has a lovely cover and a fun storyline:



* Catwoman has Sean Philips on guest art just as Brubaker and Philips' Sleeper Season Two starts, a week after the second Sleeper trade is released...

* What is Ex Machina? Looks like it could be fun, but have I missed the hype about this?

* Garth Ennis' War Stories get collected.

* Meanwhile, on the DC takes more creative risks with their superheroes than Marvel front, Sam Keith does a Batman mini while Kyle Baker takes the month off, and Plastic Man gets a fill-in... by Scott Morse. Grooviness personified.

A studio of good talented folk have a blog, although they may not know about it yet (Check out the first post for an explanation). Go see, and tell Steve to stop referring to himself in the third person, because it kind of freaks me out.

Rich Johnston gets scooped:

"Warren Ellis has stated that Marvel have chosen their new 'Avengers' writer, and I understand from secondary sources that it's Brian Bendis, and one of the reasons Bendis dropped out of 'Ultimate Fantastic Four.'"

He also has some stuff he wasn't scooped on, though.

Marvel's next "big" news: Bendis takes over another book:

"Confirming rumors that had been in the air, WizardUniverse.com has reported that Brian Bendis will write Marvel’s Avengers beginning in July and end the current series. According to the report, and sources that have spoken with Newsarama, Bendis will be joined by his Ultimate X-Men collaborator, David Finch for the four-issue 'Avengers Disassemble' arc, which will end the current series, paving the way for Bendis and Finch to relaunch the series later in 2004. According to Bendis, the crux of the arc comes when past mistakes come back to haunt the team."

But wait! That's not all!

"The July start of 'Avengers Dissasemble' will also mark a change in the Avengers franchise as a whole. Newsarama has learned that current Iron Man writer John Jackson Miller will be leaving the title at the end of June; while current captain America writer Robert Morales has confirmed that he will be leaving the series with issue #28, which ships in June as well, thanks to double-shipping. Both June issues will be drawn by Eddie Campbell."

Personally, the Eddie Campbell on Captain America news is the most interesting thing out've the whole article. I mean, the Avengers split up? Again? Past mistakes come back to haunt the team? Again?

Evan Dorkin posts at the TCJ boards to weigh in on how much money comic creators make, and the upsides of comics as a career (Scroll down):

"Being a lifetime shut-in means the world can't harm you, or even affect you if you avoid the news. Doing comics for a living is like slipping into a personal mylar snug that keeps you safe for decades as it shuffs out your social life. Think of your studio as a low-cost Panic Room. No sun means no skin cancer. Cars can't hit you (unless you work at SLG and stay late on a Friday after the bars close). No chance of life-threatening STDs as long as you stay focused and chained to the board. And best of all, if you don't make any money, you can't die in a freak boating accident like Max Gaines. Boating accidents are for rich people, like Coppolas. Not you, baby. You're safe at home, dry as a baby's powdered ass, doing comics about life!

"So, you might not make any money, but you won't pay much in the way of taxes, and, again, I can't stress this enough, you'll never die in a boating accident. If you really need to make money, just run up your credit cards and refuse to pay anything back. What's the worst that could happen? You can do comics in prison if you're caught and sentenced, hell, you'll get fed and have a social life forced on you, so big deal. And if you get away with it, you'll have the dough to make comics about how you got away with it."

In the middle of a thread on Sk8Jesus about which Delphi forum is the meanest, someone talks sense:

"Warren Ellis's shit always seemed like a calculated ruse to me, like he was being a dick to generate controversy and sell more books. And I suppose it worked. John Byrne is just mentally ill. And so is his message board."

Chris Claremont talks about his return to Uncanny X-Men and Excalibur:

"It’s bittersweet to bring X-Treme to an end, when it feels like the series was only just getting started and we were in the process of building our momentum through a really exciting series of stories. On the other hand, only an idiot would complain about (a) the opportunity to work with Alan Davis and (b) work with him on what I’ve always considered the flagship book of the X-Canon, especially since it appears I’m coming onto the title 350 issues after I took it over for the first time,way back in the day! ...I’m older, I’m – hopefully - wiser, I’m - even more hopefully - better at my craft."

Robert Morales confirms his removal from Captain America:

"My last Cap issue is #28, which I'm working on now. I'm holding off on commenting until Cap #25 comes out, though, because anything I have to say would involve becoming Mr Spoiler before then. The Truth trade is wonderful, with corrected dialogue/art and a new appendix. Buy it - even if only to use as a coaster or cumbersome mousepad!"

I know what you're thinking: "Is it DC's year? Is it Marvel's? WHOSE YEAR IS IT???????" Luckily, you're not alone. The crack team at Millarworld are discussing that very subject as we speak:

"Not sure what DC has planned(I'm sorry but John Byrne's Doom patrol is not a huge announcement for me), but if this is supposed to be the year of DC, I haven't seen it yet, and the year is almost half over. I'm hoping to see some big events soon, especially with Green Lantern. Hopefully, we will start to see Morrison, Ellis's DC superhero projects soon, because if they don't start until the end of this year, it will definitely be Marvel's year."

"Marvel does seem to care more about bringing in new and younger readers."

"DC doesn't even bother to give recap pages to get people in"

"I don't know. Bendis' heart is in the right place and all, but 2004 for Marvel seems like the year of MORE Spider-Man and X-Men. Sure, you can have dozens of quality titles, but it gets a bit boring when you see 10 new Spidey or X-Men books on the shelf a week. My prediction for Marvel's June/July solicts? MORE Spider-Man in lieu of the movie!"

"The only real reach out to non-traditional markets DC has is Vertigo and they've had that for years. It's not a superhero line, which is something Marvel does need to play with. Marvel just seems to want to throw more stuff out there. With all the movies and product tie-ins...I'd say the ball is still very much in their court. DC just seems to want to cost on the Time/Warner giant."

Is Grant Morrison a hack? What is a hack anyway? Newsarama investigates:

"Hmm that last one there....well, what writer wouldn't want commercial success? And yet Grant has also had many obscure works that one wouldn't consider 'mainstream' or 'commercial success'..."

About Comics plan to collect the best of the 24-Hour Comics Day comics for publication:

"We wanted to offer this book as soon after the event as possible. The problem is that we can’t actually tell people at solicitation what creators are in the book, because the distributors’ catalogs will be printed before 24 Hour Comics Day. Will the book have work by some well-known professional cartoonists? Probably. Will it have work by future comics superstars? Quite possibly. Will it be an interesting collection of energetic material? Absolutely!"

Travis Johnston, Dan Evans and Nick Locking discuss DC's one-robot JLA, Amazo:

"Has DC ever explained how Amazo is able to mimick Green Lantern's power ring? Wouldn't he have to be able to tap the Central POwer Battery on Oa? Also woun't he need willpower? How can a computer mimic willpower?"

"I assume that Amazo is made from Amazonium which can tap the GL power pipeline."

"I think the element you are referring to is Bullshittonite."

Newsarama posters, God Bless 'Em, have started the week off in style with a thread of opinions they themselves consider controversial. Amongst those opinions:

"Batman and Superman are two of the least likeable and imaginative characters in comics, and have stalled storytelling in the DCU..."

"Tom Defalco's Fantastic Four was better than Simonson."

"I thought the first arc of NAMOR was very touching, and was very much in line with the heart of the Sub-Mariner concept."

"Grant Morrison is worse than Ron Zimmerman."

John Byrne on the Birthright revealed as Official Reboot of Superman story:

"MAN OF STEEL was 20 years ago -- and that was about 15 years after the "Kryptonite Nevermore" reboot. This is about on schedule. Bad idea to reboot with the rewind button, but other than that. . . ."

Admit it. You're almost disappointed.

CBR has the market data for last month. Superman Batman sold surprisingly well, it seems, so much so that CBR seem to overlook it when looking for the top selling DC book that month...

Newsarama reacts to Mark Waid's announcement that Birthright is the new Superman origin. Some of the better negative comments:

"Did they really make a vegetarian? I always found that so stupid, makes him look like such a pansy"

"Well, DC has finally done it. They've been slowly, inexorably driving me away from the Superman titles for years and I've finally had enough. I'm officially DONE with 'new' Superman comics. 'My' Superman is not a goddamned liberal tree-hugging pansy-ass vegitarian, thank you very much. It's not even been a full 20 years since 'Man of Steel' by John Byrne, WHY do we need a new origin? Because of that sorry, sorry, SORRY-ass 'Smallville' show?? Did DC learn NOTHING from it's attempt to 'marry-up' the comics continuity to that god-awful 'Lois and Clark' show?? Good-bye, post-Crisis Byrne Superman, I'll miss you."

"So does this mean the post-1986, pre-2003 Superman I have close to 800 comics of isn't the official Superman anymore? Oy Vey!"

"Mark, there's a reason Elliot S! Maggin isn't writing Superman books now. He was one of the prime writers for the character the decade prior to the Byrne revamp - you know, the decade that saw Superman sales plummet like a rock despite a popular movie series, the crapola decade, where DC was forced to say that sales and popularity were so low that if they didn't shake it up they couldn't come up with a good reason NOT to cancel Superman."

"ThankYou,DC for taking the place of Marvel as the big bad Comicbook Devil. In their obvious attempt to be more like Marvel, they tried to copy the success of the Ultimate line but instead of respecting the fans like Marvel did, by making Ultimate a seperate continuity, they make things worse by completely retconning 20 years of an icon's history. Now a good mini like Birthright is going to be ripped because it cant compare to nostalgic memories of fans."

(There's also another thread where posters complain about "their favorite moments in Superman that Waid has undone", which includes the wonderful line "Since this is the 'new' origin for Superman, perhaps Birthright should be retitled Birthwrong.")

Newsarama follows up the puff piece about reviews with a preview of the second issue of Chosen, which again demonstrates that Mark Millar has a real problem with dialogue, but those watercolours are lovely.

The Scooter Girl trade is coming out! Huzzah! But much more excitingly, the press release quotes onetime guitarist for Adam & The Ants, Marco Pirroni:

"Is this Chynna Clugston-Major's scream for understanding in a mechanizied ethos or a teenage love story between two ‘60s obsessed Mod revivalists? Don't ask, just buy it!"

Ridicule is nothing to be scared of!

In retrospect, maybe these are the people Barb and Park should've been writing to (preferrably not including all those references that only comic fans would get):

"Watch what your children read. That’s what Cleveland County Sheriff’s Capt. Bobby Steen is advising parents to do about comic books available to teens at area bookstores like Waldenbooks in the Cleveland Mall. The books are part of a growing genre of graphic novels from Japan....'They need to know that this is out here. For $9.99 they can look about getting in a hot tub naked with a girl,' Steen said. Teens as young as 14 are buying the books, he said. Love Hina Books contain illustrations that are violent and contain sexual innuendoes and nudity. However, the books contain no illustrations of explicit sexual activity. Steen considers the books sexually suggestive, despite their non-pornographic classification, and he worries that the books may put ideas into teen-agers’ minds. 'I would not want my child reading it,' he said. 'Teens have got so much peer pressure on them. This is very, very suggestive.'"

Mike Daniels at Millarworld discusses Rob Liefeld's legacy, particular as it pertains to his collaboration with Mark Millar, "Youngblood: Bloodsport":

"The twists and turns between what Rob said, or his promises if you like, compared to what he actually did or is doing, since announcing Bloodsport, are pretty bewildering and take some unravelling. The contrivances and contortions by one creator concerning a single 4 issue mini are pretty unsurpassed in the history of this industry in terms of the abject failure of everyone of his initial (and quite a few subsequent) goals . For anyone interested in the facts about the rise and fall of Bloodsport I'm afraid it takes a fair few para's to trace it's stunted birth and death. For anyone who just wants the short version; basically Rob repeatedly did the opposite of what he promised his fans he would do, whilst all the while slamming other creators, many of whom are far more successful than him in both his media of choice as liars and losers."

Mark Waid talks about (the great, in my opinion) Superman: Birthright:

"Accept no substitutes-'Birthright' is officially the DC Comics Origin of Superman. I wish we could have simply said that up front nine months ago when the series began, but overall plans for Superman in 2003 were still somewhat in flux, so DC decided to be a little more circumspect about it and instead surprise fans with the building falllout to 'Birthright' as it pops up in the regular ongoing Superman monthlies. Readers seem very surprised, in a very good way. 'Birthright' is very much the foundation of everything DC's planning for Superman in the future. It was our job to pave the way, it is essential Superman reading, and it's an honor to present it."

Ethan Van Sciver discovers that he's been targeted by Brazilian Fundamentalists about the hidden messages in an issue he drew of NewXMen:

"The thing I resent most is the last line of the article, where they quote the Bible and in effect call me 'the malignant one.' I think that Moses forgot about Igor Kordey and Frank Quitely, who were equally malignant. I'm sick of being singled out like this."

Park Cooper and Barb Lien-Cooper argue that comics aren't just for kids:

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please keep in mind that this evidence is NOT being presented to suggest that the comics industry has gone horribly astray from its intended purpose of being for kids! THAT is what the gentlemen of the prosecution want you to believe when they point with outrage at THE AUTHORITY, at THE ULTIMATES, at Ant-Man and Wasp (out of costume) having sex (and using their powers to do so) in the pages of THE AVENGERS. These examples are issues for another hearing entirely. We making the case for the defense present the above questions to the jury as evidence of a colossal hoax that has been perpetrated upon the American people -- indeed, an illusion that our neighbors in France, in Japan, in various other comics-producing countries have NEVER believed -- the myth that comics, or even superheroes, should be first and foremost for children. We declare that false charges have been brought entirely on the basis of this widely-perceived generalizing statement. If you are not prepared to believe the testimony of expert witnesses such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, nor Pat Mills, then please attend to the pleas of logic."

Like last week's column by Barb, I have to wonder if there's some controversy that I'm missing here. Who has even been arguing that comics are just for kids these days? Surely there's a better argument to be made that there aren't enough comics for kids anymore? If the column was addressing the more obvious issue of the more conservative atmosphere in American culture in general over the last few years, that'd be one thing, but this seems like another time Barb (and in this case, Park, as well) is reacting to something that no-one is actually saying.

Everyone loves Chosen, although I always wonder why some quotes get... well, chosen, for PR. In particular this - "Mel Gibson's not the only one with something to say about Jesus Christ. Mark Millar's three-issue look at the second coming is more serious than you might expect from someone so well known for going over the top." - from Variety doesn't actually say whether the book is any good or not, just that it's more serious than you'd expect...

I'm not sure whether I'm flattered or not that I'm the first blog mentioned in a thread on the Bendis board called "Blog Fuckheads".

Is Larry Young, responding to Chris Allen's comments about the AiT blog, just playing around by acting up to Allen's other commentary about his online persona when he wrote this (Today's entry, about comic blogs)?

Found via The Comics Journal messageboard, click here to see possibly the greatest comic cover ever.

Who wouldn't want to read this comic, if only to find out why those three books in particular?

Brian Hurtt shows his sketchbooks to J. Torres and everyone else, over at Open Your Mouth:

"Like I said earlier, I rarely draw in my sketchbooks anymore unless I'm working out ideas. When I do feel like just doodling I tend to do it on typing paper in blue pencil. If I like the page I'll hold onto it but very often the pages get misplaced or thrown away. I held onto this one because I kind of like some of the drawings and because one or two of the drawings actually represent new ideas for use in another story I'm playing around with. I always tend to have lots of story ideas that I'm working on at any given time. For me it's really just play time. It's what I like to do to occupy my time. My characters are like a basket full of dolls that I like to take out and play "let's pretend" with. It's more acceptable than me getting out my actual basket of dolls and playing with. I think people at the coffee shop would look at me funny if I did."

The Authority board over on the DC boards discuss whether The Authority was right to take over the US, as seen in the current Wildstorm books:

"They do not have the legal capacity to 'govern' or the necessary manpower to govern or police, and what does 'they’re taking over' really mean? After citizen Soldiers rampage, what the hell is there left to 'takeover' or 'govern' except refugees fleeing Florida and watch the planet become assimilated into Jack Marlowes plutocracy?"

"[In the Wildstorm Universe], we've got a government with none of the traditional hallmarks of legitimacy, engaging in acts that endange both the American people and the world as a whole. We have a strong indication that the democratic process will not (indeed, cannot) work. And we have a small group of people with the power to change these facts. Under these conditions, I think a decent argument can be made that it would be immoral for the Authority (and others like them) not to forcibly overthrow the oppressive, illegitimate government. Of course, that argument would closely parallel the argument used in support of the invasion of Iraq, so your feelings about the legitimacy of that action might color your feelings about this."

"The Authority group above 'normal' laws (so they say) so taking over the US Government isn’t right it isn’t wrong. It’s something they see they have to do, due to past various histories the members of team have gone through in their Stormwatch years and post Stormwatch years."

Tim Hartnett, meanwhile, is pondering about comic pricing:

"As I just said, we need to make our product as stylin' as possible, with little regards to substance. We need to hire popular screenwriters who usually aren't interested in superheroes (the primary subject of popular comics), so they require a hefty salary. That raises the price. Then, contributing to that stylin' nature, we need as much pretty coloring and design as possible. That's expensive too. Not to mention the fact that no one seems to be buying this stuff in the first place, that usually makes it a few cents more."

Reggie Rigby considers the possibility of a mainstream audience coming into comics:

"Where would “popularity” get us? Seriously. Oh, I don’t doubt that the money would be nice. The thing about the popular crowd is that they always seem to have cash to spend, and in a market economy anything that diverts the cash from their pockets into the pockets of the people who create comics is only going to encourage the production of more comics which can only be a good thing.

"But think for a second. What kind of comics would the popular crowd want? They’d want the popular ones. If they bought Hellblazer they’d complain that it was different from the movie. If they bought Batman they’d complain that Alfred didn’t look like Michael Caine (not sure about him as Alfred to be honest – but you never know). Because money talks, and they have more than we do (why are we geeks always so strapped for cash? The only rich geek I can think of is Bill Gates – actually that explains it, he has all the geek cash…) there’s even a danger that the publishers would go so far as to alter our characters to match the preconceptions of the popular crowd.

"We don’t want that, do we?"

Newsarama reviews the first issue of the Byrne/Claremont run of JLA, and apparently doesn't comment on the fact that - although the book is bad - it's still better than the Denny O'Neil story that came before it:

"The story so far looks promising. Not a lot to go on really since this issue was mostly just set-up. Chris Claremont's dialogue is a little clunky in one or two spots but otherwise its fine. The story deals with a great evil rising up and the JLA is trying to figure out WHAT they're up against let alone how to beat it. We also have a group hiding in the shadows that is watching the JLA deciding whether or not they should step in. If we hadn't seen the story about John's new title we MIGHT have been in the dark about who these people were. As it is I was just 'Oh hey, this is where they begin the reintroduction of the Doom Patrol.' It's too bad, it could have been a nice little surprise."

Wayne Chinsang, Jim Mahfood, and Dave Crosland talk about their upcoming Image book, Bad Ideas, and comics in general:

"You can have a humorous superhero book. A humorous underground, emo-comic. Humor can be peppered in everything. But people are so scared about someone fucking with a character that they’ve grown to love, or a storyline that is decades old, that there is no room to breathe. Here’s an example. If someone handed me a superhero book, I’d totally fuck with it. Like, give me Aquaman, for instance. Boom! Instantly, a drunk, retarded shark that can’t 'communicate' with Aquaman comes up and swallows him whole. Dead. Gone. Replace him with a new character: a gay Hispanic sailor named Aguaman. Real Aquaman fans are probably having a heart attack now."

Crossgen begin to maybe perhaps think about paying monies owed? Here's hoping.

(Via Franklin Harris).

Someone at Millarworld runs a press release from DBPro in its entirity, including this surreal disclaimer:

"The statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are considered 'forward-looking statements' and may be contradicted by events beyond the scope of the foreseeable future. DB Production’s actual future performance may differ from the forward-looking statements made in this document as a result of a number of factors."

Translation: Don't listen to us, we're just making shit up here.

Newsarama posters discuss Byrne's revamp of the Doom Patrol:

"The decision to start from scratch and not reference any previous incarnations was not John's, but the powers that be at DC, specifically Dan DiDio. Mr. Byrne mentioned this on the JBF last night."

"Besides the Vertigo series by Morrison and the last one, has there ever been a Doom Patrol series set in Post Crisis continuity? I don't think there has. Weren't those two series (the Vertigo and DC one) linked? So if you ignore the Vertigo one that cancels out the second one. Vertigo comics take place in a reality similar but separate from the DC Universe. While you may have seen Clark and Bruce in Sandman and Swamp Thing in Aquaman and Daniel in JLA, they aren't the same ones."

(The above comes from Man Of The Atom, who tends to make things up to support his views, as you can see...)

"Uh, can't we have at least a mini crisis to explain this? I like Rita Farr as much as the next guy but I also like the fact that continuity in the DCU generally means something. Can't we just have the Time Trapper sneeze or... something? This just looks sloppy."

Chip Zdarsky writes about his recent comic book tour:

"Next up: BARRIE! Whoever said 'you can never go home again' must have been some sort of retard, cause my hometown of Barrie is only a 45-minute drive from Toronto! And furthermore, it was exactly like I left it: barren, crime-ridden, and delightfully underage! I sauntered into a local pub with my dirty wares and set up in a corner where the owner couldn't see me. A local band was playing and I seized a moment between sets to grab the mic and do an impromptu reading from one of my comical books. I 'worked the room' for roughly five minutes as I silently read the comic to myself, every once in a while letting out a slight chuckle, or an exclamation like 'Heh. That's pretty funny' or 'That arm doesn't look quite right.' The audience was filled with anticipation of the next band."

The Comics Journal board posters wonder what the best comics about heartbreak would be:

"Joe Matt may be a cynical bastard, but I actually felt sorry for him when he drew that flashback sequence of Trish and him kissing after they broke up The Poor Bastard. That manipulator!!!"

"Every comic is about heartbreak. Just ask the artist."

"Charlie Brown and that little redheaded girl. How I hate him!"

Me, I say it's probably the Peanuts strip where Peppermint Patty realises that Charlie Brown will never like her the same way he likes the redheaded girl...

ADD has five questions for Tom Beland, which I post here not only because it's worth reading, but also to remind myself to buy the True Story Swear To God trade for my wife, who started reading it at the Isotope APE party and loved it. She'd also love this quote:

"If you have a person in your life that wants you to succeed, you have to listen to them. I don't care if you're depressed, can't draw cars, no one else is buying your work, whatever...that one person believes in you. They want to see you do the best you can do...and the one thing you should focus on is making them proud they believed in you. It's that easy."

My favourite fanboy comment of the day so far:

"How can you deny change in the comic industry? It's what makes Marvel be able to stay one step ahead of the game. When old ideas are brought back to the forefront, the must be tweaked, or people are going to feel like they're reading the same book, but in a different generation!"

Because Marvel is all about change, obviously.

John Byrne reveals the cover for his last issue of JLA , in the process also revealing what his new DC title will be...

Ethan Van Sciver and Jerry Ordway sign DC exclusive deals. Newsarama respond:

"Good on DC, this is in direct response to Marvel signing Hitch who averages about 6 to 8 issues a month. Van Scier is roughly at the same rate."

Because I'm anal and geeky, this makes me happy:

"This is an attempt to list significant events in the history of DC Comics in as chronological order as possible. Most dates are the cover dates from the comics themselves. It should be recognized that these dates tend to be two months after the actual release date. Other dates come from various published sources and have varying degrees of precision. Everything is relative. No attempt is made to list everything that ever happened. More detailed information is contained in the various works cited in the bibliography. Non-DC comics events listed are included because of their relevance to the history of DC Comics, not to their own companies. An attempt has been made to refer to the company by the appropriate name in each time period. This is not an attempt to explain super-hero continuity. There are other web sites that do that. All opinions given are mine and probably can't be changed. Factual errors will be thankfully corrected."

Any timeline that includes such entries as the one for March, 1970 ("Gil Kane takes over the Flash from Ross Andru. Barry loses his crew cut.") is genius.

(Link via Mark Evanier).

You know what's hilarious? The Image press release for Phantom Jack, the one-time-Epic book from Mike San Giacomo, which ends like this:

"'If Mike's comic is half as interesting as his amazing investigative reporting, well then, it'll be twice as interesting as everything else on the market. Can't wait,' commented Brian Michael Bendis, the multiple award-winning writer of POWERS and Ultimate Spider-Man. Everyone in the industry respects San Giacomo’s writing about comics. With the release of PHANTOM JACK #1, the rest of the world will get a peek at his writing for comics."

Congratulations, Judd Winnick:

"Comic scribe Judd Winick's The Life and Times of Juniper Lee will premiere [on Cartoon Network] in February 2005. The title character is a typical modern-day 11-year old girl with the atypical special responsibility of fighting the forces of chaos and mischief."

Megacon rumours have started: Green Lantern to be cancelled and relaunched with an A-list creative team?

Slave Labor: They Make Comics So Good, They're Getting Ram-Raided:

"As you might have heard, the SLG office had a run-in with a drunk driver. At about one a.m. early Saturday morning, a drunken woman plowed her car through our front doors and windows, taking out part of the store and our editorial and production department. No one was in the office at the time, so no one was hurt. We don't anticipate any significant delays in production or shipping. We're still a little dazed, but we're tough SOBs here at SLG, and this hasn't come close to knocking us over. We'll just need a little time to clean up and set things in something close to resembling order. As Dan just said to me, 'You can drive a Honda Civic through the heart of our business, and all that we'll say is, 'Hand me a broom.'' Thank you, everyone, who has exressed concern for us. And, treats: Witness the carnage!"

Bitter? Not Gary Martin, writer of Steve Rude's new series, The Moth:

"As readers of Newsarama know, Rude also found a possible lawsuit to go along with his new comic, because of a symbol that appears on both The Moth and a certain Marvel hero’s (who has a movie hitting theaters this spring) chest. 'We were certainly put to the test when Marvel’s lawyers threatened to sue us, simply because they wanted something to do,' said Martin. 'But Steve boldly stood his ground, while our first publisher quickly fled with his tail between his legs.'"

Jim Valentino has a tail?

Harvey Pekar signs with Ballentine:

"American Book Award-winning comic book writer and pop-culture icon Harvey Pekar has signed with Ballantine Editor Chris Schluep to write three original graphic novels for Ballantine Books. In addition, Ballantine will publish an anthology of the best of Pekar’s previously published stories from his critically acclaimed autobiographical comic book series, American Splendor... Pekar’s wife and sometimes-collaborator, Joyce Brabner, was thrilled by the new publishing partnership with Ballantine. 'People have been frustrated for the last ten years or so. They’ve known Harvey’s around, they’ve known he’s alive, but they can’t find his stuff anywhere. Now, publishing with Ballantine, the work will have a much wider distribution and Harvey will find a much broader audience. And now,' Brabner added with a grin, 'we can at last afford to add protein to our diet.'"

Good news.

Semi-random thought: Why isn't there an annual anthology of Best Comic Book Writing? Maybe it's because I'm currently dropping in and out of the Best Food Writing 2003, and have the Best Music Writing 2003 somewhere in the apartment to follow up, but I'd like to see some publisher - AiT? Twomorrows? IDW? I don't know - make some sort of attempt to collect the best writing about comic books each year, not just to keep it around in some kind of permanent manner, but also as some kind of, I don't know, validation of critical writing for comics. Sure, the state of said critical writing isn't the greatest, but if you looked at everything written online by bloggers, columnists, news sites and message boarders, as well as industry magazines like TCJ, Comic Art, Comic Book Artist, the Twomorrows magazines, CBG, and so on, not to mention mainstream media sources (Parts of "The Fortress of Solitude", for example), there's got to be a book of really good stuff in there somewhere each year. So why isn't anyone doing it?

...I'll get back to being snarky about other people now.

The Colleen Doran/TCJ story mentioned in today's Lying In The Gutters (scroll down to "Black Day") continues on Doran's message board, as TCJ's Tom Spurgeon appears, to explain the current situation as he sees it:

"No one really knows how the material will be used, or even, I think, if it's confirmed to be used, but there are all sorts of scenarios in which the use of previous research material becomes relevant following a period in which it isn't. If properly cited, and I trust it will be, I think any potential community reaction goes straight to the person writing the article and the magazine publishing it, not the quote giver."

Doran responds:

"I hope you can understand my own position here. Frankly, I freaked out when the Journal reporter called. I thought I had completely recovered from the bad old days, but I babbled. I had no idea I was going to be so angry and upset. I really chewed him out. I'll bet his ear is still burning... I sincerely hope that this is one story that remains shelved, at least for some time. It's just too soon. It should have been dealt with years ago. I couldn't get the industry to do anything about these problems when I was a nobody and had no power. Now people want to pay attention? Now it's too little, too late. It's over as far as this deceased guy is concerned."

More in link.

The Bendis Board sings "The Way We Were", remembering Felicia, one-time Marvel gossip source:

"I don't think anyone(other than Rich Johnston) knows for sure who she was. Like many, I had some ideas. but it retrospect I think I may have been shooting a little higher up the food chain then 'she' was. anyways, dead and buried as far as I'm concerned. maybe she'll come back one day under a different alias, if marvel starts to 'fuck up' again. who knows."

"in terms of affect, i remember when i heard the news, and how she used the board as a vessel, at bendis' expense an all. just a violation of what this board stood for. plus, didn't it close down for a while? i dunno, i definitely dirty, being privy with such info and feeling like i was somehow part of something messy."

"She was a poster that made a bunch of bogus predictions, and one of them happened to come true. I talked to her through PMs all the time on the old board, and I could tell that she wasn't the great insider she claimed to be. Besides Rich Johnston probably doesn't know dick about her since he always posts bullshit rumors too."

(And that's not mentioning the subtle second post, which puts those misogynistic rumours to rest once and for all...)

Paul O'Brien reviews the first issue of the art-is-so-bad-I-couldn't-read-it Captain America and the Falcon:

"Marvel have claimed that a reason having both mainstream and Marvel Knights versions of Captain America and the Fantastic Four is to allow different takes on the same characters. It has to be said that thus far, they have entirely failed to convince with this argument. Both Fantastic Four books have had the team lose all their money, for unrelated reasons. Both Captain America titles are doing stories about Guantanamo Bay. If this is diversity, I am a banana."

Newsarama updates everyone on Crossgen's status (hey, remember Crossgen?):

"When asked about the health of the company, Rosemann said that currently, CrossGen is focusing on stability – stressing things that are working, and ending things that don’t have a large demand, even if, Rosemann said, the books are tremendous favorites among the CrossGen staff and fans. To these ends, Rosemann said that CrossGen will continue to announce new projects (such as Rave House) throughout the spring and summer, both in new genres not yet explored by the company or industry at large, or in genres already represented in comics, but with new twists. In regards to CrossGen’s Hollywood expansion plans, Rosemann said that virtually everything is in various stages of development... As the movies happen, Rosemann explained, the comics will be brought back to capitalize on the interest and demand generated by the movies."

Have any of the freelancers been paid yet, though?

Evan Dorkin continues his comics Q+A:

"Again, the disclaimer -- I'm a working cartoonist of some twenty years or so (good lord!), but that doesn't mean I'm an expert. These are my opinions, there are many ways to break into comics, make comics, work a con table, deal with criticism, and generally have fun and frustration with comics. I'm just trying to pass along some experience and help folks avoid the pitfalls and brick walls I've encountered in my bumpy funnybook career. I have had very little formal training, know little about computers, am mystified by many aspects of the industry, and I am doing this in my 'spore time' so expect a ton of typos as I type as fast as I talk. Disclaimer over and out."

The Byrne board discusses Lee/Kirby collaborations:

"I am currently reading the 'Jack Kirby Library' which is basically a compilation of interviews and essays with and/or about the late Jack Kirby throughout his career. One particularly long interview (conducted in 1989) reveals quite a bit of information I was unaware of. Kirby goes on and on about how Stan Lee deserves literally ZERO credit for any of their collaborations. He claims to have come up with all the ideas, created all the characters and doesn't even give Stan credit for dialogue! He says even that was included in the margins or attached to the back of the art. He even claims that Stan 'has never written anything' and 'can't spell'."

"I respect Jack Kirby. I enjoy looking at his work, and I appreciate his true genius. But, looking at the evidence as presented in countless publications, in interviews, original artwork, and so on, it is obvious that both men were involved with the creation of many Marvel characters. When deciding who is telling the truth (And remember, Stan Lee, himself, actually will give Kirby his due when asked about it), temper it with the knowledge that Jack Kirby also claimed that he created Spider-Man. He created a "Spider-Man," but to hear him tell it, it was THE Spider-Man."

"Honestly, I don't think it was a case of Stan slighting Jack so much as it was two things. First, Stan and Jack BOTH reputedly had awful memories. When you have a unique working relationship like Stan and Jack did (Stan did a plot outline, Jack pencilled the story and added in his notes, Stan did the finished dialogue), I can see it being difficult to remember who contributed what to a certain story (particulalry if you're editing and/or plotting and/or scripting the sheer number of titles that Stan was). Secondly, from Stan's point of view, as I understand it, he WAS the writer. He framed the basic contours of the story and did the dialogue. Jack's point of view, as I understand it, was that since he'd taken Stan's idea and made it into a story, he was the writer. I guess probably the most accurate credits would have been 'Cheerfully Co-Plotted, Scripted, and Edited by Stan "The Man" Lee. Craftily Co-Plotted and Drawn by Jack "King" Kirby', but a) credits really weren't done that way at the time and b) Stan was the first editor that I'm aware of to regularly credit ALL talent on his titles. It was just a difference of opinions, but sadly, it helped poison the single greatest comic partnership of all time."

"When Roger Stern started working as an editor at Marvel he was, of course, given a desk. He soon discovered it was Stan's old desk, which had been recycled into general use. From this desk Roger got two things, left behind by Stan. One was what Roger calls 'Stan Lee's Magic Thesaurus'. The other was an ancient copy of Stan's written plot for FANTASTIC FOUR 1. Roy Thomas even referenced this item in at least one of his ALTER EGO pieces. Nuff said?"

Am I the only person who wants to see what Stan Lee's Magic Thesaurus looks like?

God Bless Ken Kniesel for saving what otherwise looked to be a linkless day:

"It just occurred to me that the wait between issues of Ultimates is beginning to catch up with Youngblood: Bloodsport's glacial pace. So I decided to start a poll about it. Which dream team artistic pairing makes the interminable delays the most excruciating for you?"

"I can't even remember when Bloodsport #1 came out, but can remember the last Ultimates issues, so I am going to have to vote for Rob. I think #2 is due out soon though. Still I think maybe only 2 or 3 Ultimates issues have come out since then right? I don't follow the book so I wouldn't really know."

"I gotta say Hitch, that damn Ultimates is taking way too long. It's almost gonna come out with the expected release date of the next volume. I think Hitch is doing unbelievable work, but he's really taking long."

"Yeah, the big L just plain ol' doesn't work on his stuff and blames it on everyone else for nothing ever happening with his 500 ideas, then again Hitch really hasn't taken responsibility for his stuff being really late either, but at least it comes out."

Matt Maxwell praises The New Frontier, as all good people should:

"One of the things that I really love about New Frontier is the historical detail, from the romantic revisiting of the Right Stuff-era test aircraft to the furnishings in Barry Allen’s apartment to the fashions (particularly on Mr. Cooke’s women) all reinforce the time and place of the setting. Normally, I don’t make a big deal about this, but it’s not often that period pieces feel right. New Frontier pulls it off flawlessly (though I’m sure that there was a lot of sweat and research behind the scenes)."

(I now have an excuse to post this exchange between a fan and Darwyn Cooke from the DC boards:

"So, its been 2 issues already. Where are the DC gorillas?"
"be patient."

If the series has talking and/or crying gorillas, I will be very happy indeed).

I know it's asking for trouble, but I couldn't resist... The Bendis board is a beehive, apparently:

"Not that I'm advocating it.. but don't they realize how easy it'd be to flood/tie-up/clutter/eat up bandwidth/and generally be annoying their little blogs? It's like the kid who keeps hitting the beehive with a stick.. don't be surprised little boy when the bees come after you."

(This is the second thread they have discussing online reaction to the board in light of the Fuck Marry Kill thread and subsequent hijinkery: Here's another.)

Millarworld reacts to the confirmation of the Wanted Being Optioned For A Movie rumours:

"you should make the director get mwers to be the cameo apparence villains in the backgrounds"

"I really hope this movie goes through. In my opinion, it's set in 'the real world.' Our world is exactly the kind of place where I'd expect supervillians to thrive."

"I second the cameo demands. Let's face facts- the Pub is just a scary as anything Mark could dream up...."

"Can I be one of the manwhores?"

"I think that the fact the main character is a villain in a world rule by villains is a good idea that has been litle used. As for the possible success, Pulp Fiction portrayed criminals and it was a great movia and a hit. I even played a theater version in my school."

David Hine lists his influences for the new X-book, District X, at Newsarama:

"The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen; The Little Friend by Donna Tartt; Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, My Life in the NYPD by Jimmy the Wags; Ultimate Punishment by Scott Turow, Devil’s Knot by Mara Leveritt, Money by Martin Amis; Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, Pattern Recognition by William Gibson and Dead Air by Iain Banks. Plus lots of books on Crime, Forensics and the Street Life of New York."

Almost enough to make me want to check it out (Also, is it just me, or does this book - "District X is essentially a crime/thriller comic set in the NYPD’s 11th precinct, an area which has attracted mutants from every nation on earth... Lucas Bishop has been appointed by a federal agency to keep crime in check... Ismael Ortega is a uniform cop who finds that a badge and a handgun aren’t always enough to police the toughest streets in New York. Crime-levels here are among the highest in the country and there is a simmering gang-war, which is threatening to reach boiling point." - sound like Marvel's answer to Powers and/or Gotham Central?).

Newsarama remembers DC's failed (but fun) Impact line from the 1990s, complete with quotes from the creators:

"I don’t want to sound like a bitter person, but I think DC dropped the ball... [Editor Mike Gold] had a very strong concept, marketing concept as well as a creative concept, and had expected more support from DC. I think the final blow for the line was that retailers were just starting to get swamped with content; they were trying to rely on the big companies for marketing advice."

Barb Lien-Cooper explores "Why The Unfunnies Has A Right To Exist":

"I'm not writing about The Unfunnies because the mini-series' creator, Mark Millar, is my friend. If I didn't think the work was worth defending, I'd tell him to his face (or, rather, via e-mail). Instead, I'm doing so because I'd like to get in on the debate concerning what will probably be the most controversial comic book of the year."

There's a debate? Really? Unless I've missed something, the entire debate has been between people who thought the comic was a bit shit and those who thought it was a bit shit but figures it's probably building up to something anyway. I've certainly missed people who are "ready to throw the comic and its author into the proverbial fire", to use Ms. Lien-Cooper's own words...

Mark Evanier is the king of great obscure comic book stories:

"Long before comic books discovered the mini-series, there was the mini-comic. In 1966, Marvel issued six 'comic books' that... varied a tiny bit in size but were generally under 7/8" in height and a bit less than 1/4" thick with black-and-white interiors. Each was bound along the left ledge with the kind of rubbery glue used to bind a pad of writing paper and featured jokes and an occasional smidgen of story. I dunno who wrote them but some of the art was stats from the comic books and some of the new art was by Marie Severin."

An Alan Moore/Constantine movie update, courtesy of Neil Gaiman:

"Oh, it's true that Alan's rejected the money for CONSTANTINE and assigned it to his cocreators, but he's now done that for all films of his and things he's done that might one day be filmed. This was because he was deeply hurt and offended and irritated by being accused in the Larry Cohen lawsuit of having written League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as some kind of studio shill, and because Alan never does anything by halves. Up until the lawsuit his position was that he didn't care about the films people made from his work, but was happy to cash the cheques; after, he decided that he didn't even want to cash the cheques. His share of Constantine was redistributed among his co-creators, John Totleben, Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch and to Jamie Delano and John Ridgway.

"As far as I know, from having spoken to him, Alan's view on Constantine itself is the same as his view on From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is that he'll probably rent the DVD one day, you never know, hell might freeze over, -- and that the important work is the comic -- the main difference being here that the film is, from what I understand, mostly based on the Garth Ennis and Jamie Delano issues of the Hellblazer comic. (And, for whatever remains of the record, Alan hasn't seen anything of Constantine -- no scripts, no nothing. Nor has he had any contact with DC on it except for asking Karen Berger to redistribute the money and the credit.)"

Omar, famed internet troll, makes a bet:

"If the following conditions are filled, I will publicly apologize to John Byrne for ever having doubted him, and will dub him "a comic book legend who has proven he still has what it takes to draw readers to a title", without any sarcasm or any qualifiers. This will be done within two weeks of the DOOM PATROL #12 sales numbers being released from Diamond, in a thread started in the Comicon Comics section titled "The Truth About John Byrne". It will be my only post to that thread.

"1. John Byrne pencils, plots and scripts the first 12 issues of DOOM PATROL. This won't be a problem because he's so gosh darned reliable, and isn't "growing roses" like today's lazy, undiciplined creators.

"2. Of issues 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, four issues must be in the top 10 selling DC-published comic books for that month. This fits with the original premise of the title appearing there "regularly", but gives some leeway for special events such as possible 5th-week crossovers that might skew the results of one or two months against DOOM PATROL.

"If Byrne's work is as bad as we all know it's going to be, this gives retailers time to look at the unsold copies sitting on their shelves month after month and realize what a LAB RATS-style mistake they made by ordering more than their subscriber copies.

"If by some chance Byrne's supporters are correct, and the man will produce quality work that today's readers want to see, this gives him time to have a first TPB out as well as second printing of the under-ordered first issues of the title. Sales will be up and the book will be in DC's top 10, because even though the Byrne-haters spread their lies and lowered expectations, the fact is that they will have been proven wrong and readers will have had time to see that.

"If my conditions go unfilled, one of two people (whichever one takes the bet first) must post the following in a thread in the Comicon Comics section titled "The Truth About John Byrne": "John Byrne is a hack. He no longer has what it takes to draw readers to a title." It must be their only post in that thread. The catch: the only two people I am interesting in having this bet with are Matt Hawes and Rod Odom. They have until 12pm EST on March 8th to take me up on it. Sorry, everyone else, but it has to be someone with as much on the line as I will have. I'm sure a DOOM PATROL thread won't escape their notice for long, though."

What a scary. scary thought:

"JANUARY 2004: ONE OF EVERY TWO COMICS SOLD ARE PUBLISHED BY MARVEL!

"After one full year of leading the industry Market Share of Monthly Units Sold, Marvel begins 2004 with greater than 48% of January Unit Sales and greater than 38% of Dollar share with a powerful January lineup at the beginning of a strong, new year. Marvel, the #1 publisher of comics in the U.S., also returned to the top 10 in force, maintaining the #1 slot with ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR, and securing spots 1 through 9 for the House of Ideas."

A week after Coup D'Etat finishes, some people still have issues with the start of it:

"I bought 'Coup d’Etat: Sleeper' yesterday and literally felt ill after reading it. I understand moral ambiguity and the stresses of being undercover, but this story is just evil. Carver and Miss Misery murder several members of the U.S. military in order to let the engine fall into the government’s hands. There is nothing ambiguous about the graphic drawings of U.S. soldiers having their limbs blown off and brains blown out. The most disgusting part was when Carver and Miss Misery joke around about their 'acting'; totally unaffected by the murders they just committed. I returned from combat in Iraq last August and am getting out of the Marines when my enlistment ends this week. The Marines who I trained are returning to Iraq this September. These are not faceless soldiers; they are real people. With U.S. service members dying at the rate of one per day in Iraq, this is not the type of thing I want to see put forward as entertainment. I would like to know how Mr. Lee and Mr. Brubaker would explain this story to the family members of the Marines who were killed or paralyzed in my regiment."

"I agree that the taking of those soldiers lives was overly casual. To say its a comic book, as if nothing that transpired within them had any moral weight, is foolish. All I can say is that in part, disregard for the 'rules' is part of what makes these books popular - and perhaps popular for the wrong reasons. Its not a matter of Freedom of Speech, its being mature enough to use those rights wisely,even in 'fiction'; Rights which REAL soldiers have died to protect, that we may enjoy our lives (hopefully in a responsible manner)."

"I think you've also failed to realize that THEY ARE THE BADGUYS. Holden as a psuedo badguy has to keep up apearances of being a heartless badguy. Also I think that it's kind of lame that you think the killing of soldiers(what ever country) is more henious than killing inocent people(There's no one railing for the life of that truckdriver Holden shot in cold blood a while back, is there?). Holden has killed both civilians and non to keep his cover. It just gives more to the question of: Is what he's doing worth the lives being spent?"

"So it's okay to depict any soldier other than an American soldier being blown to bits? This is what bothers me. All soldiers endure the same problems that they must overcome but it's a fact that American film/literature/video games have all projected certain nationalities as ethically 'killable'. Why when we all should feel for humanity in general should we make one nation's soldiers untouchable in depiction while stereotypically portraying other soldiers as evil and mindless."

"Sgt. Meyer, I'm afraid your outrage is lost on the vast majority of this anti- American, anti- Christian, anti- military crowd that dominates these message boards. Kalens response is fairly typical, no loyalty, no love, not even any gratitude for being fortunate enough to have been born in the greatest nation in human history. Just a flip remark for noting that they were 'American' soldiers."

The Bendis board asks "Does anyone like Newsarama?":

"i used to post there but all they kinda do is complain..got annoying so god damned fast.. HEY EVERYBODY LETS BITCH ABOUT CHUCK AUSTEN FOR 46 PAGES AND WONDER WHY WE'RE ALL VIRGINS!! YAY!!!!!"

"You know. I used to, and then I stopped reading the message board part and stuck to only the news and interviews. Now I loves it. Their community is so...elitist and jaded. I come here to talk comics, and that’s pretty much it."

"It's a cool site for news and thats about it. Alot of assholes on that message board."

Dig the irony.

Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir talk about New X-Men: Academy X, the awkwardly-retitled New Mutants:

"The basic idea is Mutant High... Kids in high school with mutant abilities. But unlike our run on New Mutants, these kids have the expectation of being future X-Men thrust upon them. It's still a school, but the training is now required... There are obviously plenty of examples of books that focused on the mansion and the mutants training there... Most X-books could fit in that category. But Uncanny and X-Force, these were books about superhero teams. What Marvel wants here and what we're writing is a book about the school. About a school for mutants, kids who one day may be X-Men but right now are high school students. Now we know that's been done with Claremont's New Mutants and Generation X, but I think most people can agree that those books drifted into superhero territory and sometimes lost the school focus. That's because there's always been a pressure to make sure an X-book reads like a superhero book. But this is an era of more diversified books in the line. There's less pressure, I think, to turn this into a superhero book with younger heroes, like a Teen Titans. Our goal is to focus on the school. Will there be adventures? Sure. These kids are being trained. But they're not just junior heroes. They're students."

So, wait, there's going to be a school focus or something? Damn, these people should stay on message more. I almost missed that.

Barb Lien-Cooper discusses manga and female readers:

"Because women such as I have only had limited success in refuting the stereotype that "chicks don't dig comics", I have cheered and hoorayed the rise of manga. While manga isn't simply purchased by female audiences, it has brought a significant number of females (and their purchasing power) into the comic book community. The popularity of manga has brought many female faces to comic book conventions. It's also brought girls and women into the graphic novel sections of bookstores and (to a lesser extent) comic book stores. Manga — more than CrossGen marketing to teenage girls, more than Friends of Lulu, and more than Sequential Tart — has brought in so many female readers that it's easier to see (at last) we are here. It's all but impossible to ignore manga or the sheer number of comic-book-digging chicks it's brought into the comic book community. Except that you can, if you've got a certain mindset to do so. No, you can't ignore the increasing number of female fans that manga brings into the comic book community, but you can marginalize their influence. Believe me, I've heard just about every excuse in the book for ignoring the importance of female manga comic book readers."

From Aint It Cool:

"After reviewing the script and casting of HELLBLAZER, Comic Kingpin Alan Moore has done the unthinkable. He's washed his hand of the entire debacle. That's right- he's instructed DC to NOT credit him as the creator of the character. And putting his money where his mouth is, he has instructed that the royalties that he was splitting with his co-creators goes EXCLUSIVELY to the artists, Veitch and Bissette.

"Often we hear about an artist upset that his creation has been butchered but this is the first I can recall where the creator asked that both name and money be rejected. Moore is apparently so upset at the desecration done to Constantine by Producer Lauren Shuler Donner that he is stating that he will never support a film project based on his work again. DC Toady Paul Levitz is running around trying to get Moore to change his position, but Levitz is the one who had 30,000 copies of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5 pulped. The bad PR this move could create in the geek community is of grave concern to Warners and DC."

"DC Toady"? And considering Moore's views on his other works that were adapted into movies, somehow I doubt this is true...

Scott Morse is doing a western. It's called Spaghetti Western, and looks like this:



Yum.

Shaken by the comics manifest destiny given to them by Bendis yesterday, the denizens of Bendis Board take time to reflect:

"We're a bunch of goofy kids (I'm almost 30 and I'm still a goofy kid, it's not an age thing) who start threads about which superhero has the biggest schlong and when the last time you shat yourself was. Yeah, we're occasionally insightful and almost always honest... but I'm still weirded out by the idea that anyone would take our collective opinions seriously."

"yeah, when you get those moments when everything becomes SO clear and you figure everything out, you can sometimes realize how weird you are sometimes, yet how influencial you can be (and what you can create)..."

"Well, we have some pretty good debates. We review the comics on a weekly basis, and we provide a much better sampling of opinions than a board (like Newsarama) usually does. We also read a wide array of material...meaning we're showing the industry what we appreciate, and they're starting to respond by releasing more and more stuff outside the spandex realm... I think if anything, this is the most constructive breakdown of the industry I've seen by its own audience. I'm glad to be part of that."

Meanwhile, Millarworld look set to do the same thing...

Steven Grant on the Commemorative Edition reprint of Secret Wars #1:

"What I don't get is why they just had to muck it up with the special edition nonsense. That's like trying to create an instant collectible under the guise of helping out retailers and promoting a book. All they had to do was go back to press with it. Just do another run of the thing to order. No visible differences. The people who didn't get copies before and wanted it, it wouldn't have made any difference to them. What, they're going to say, 'Gee, this is a rip, we only got the comic we asked for!'?"

Newsarama has a cautionary tale for those who may be tempted to make amends, Bendis-style:

"My fiance is reading the Earth X and Universe X thread in which a discussion about Marvels takes place. She turned to me and said, 'Why don't you have Marvels?' I replied, 'Because it's twenty bucks.' She demanded, 'You need to buy it for you so I can read it.' This has happened with several books recently. She has laso been taking a great interest in the PREVIEWS catalog lately. This can only mean danger for my wallet. Don't get your fiancees, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. into comics. Get them addicted to something cheaper, like crack. You have been warned."

"Thankfully (I think), my girlfriend and I share none of the same interests. She couldn't give two shits about comics; she hasn't even gone so far as to admire a cover sitting in my 'to read' pile, and she enjoys good art."

"i'm trying to get some girls at my school to read comics. and other guys. of course, some of the guys are assholes. so if they ask me what my favorite comic is, i will just tell them Fuck You. yeah, thats right. the Wanted #2 title."

Ed Brubaker talks about the upcoming return of Sleeper [Spoilers for those who haven't read the end of the first series yet]:

"Season One is his struggle to remain true while descending, it's about pretending to be something and whether that makes you that thing in the end. Season Two isn't necessarily his redemption, though. It's more about, can he be redeemed? Does he want to be? Does he feel so betrayed by his own side that he prefers being with Tao? And, what can Lynch offer him to make him come back to the side of the so-called angels?"

Last night, in an attempt to get his message board posters to make amends (or "ammends", if you go by Bendis's spelling) for the Fuck, Marry, Kill thread, Bendis wrote:

"tomorrow is new comic day, you will either lend or buy a comic for a woman or girl that you know that you genuinely think they will like, a positive message, go forth."

The follow up posts show that the Bendis board really are trying to making amends for their comments yesterday:

"If I didnt think I would either get slapped or have charges pressed against me, I would..."

"oh, did anyone say 'Sandman'? girls love Sandman. or so I've found."

"I give pretty girls free comic books every week. It is better then flowers!"

These people have the ear of the industry, remember.

Bendis on the removal of the Fuck Marry Kill thread:

"TAKE A HINT AND DO SOME SOUL SEARCHING ON THAT ONE. LETS RAISE THE BAR, YOU GUYS ARE A POWERFUL COMMUNITY IN COMICS.

"companies read these threads and have changed entire publishing plans based on your commentary. ours and millarworld have the ear of the industry, i know this for fact. while other elitist communities have degradaded themselves in elitism you have prospered. you are the voice, don't ever let it sink to that again."

"According to information released by Marvel to retailers, the Secret War Book One Commemorative Edition will now ship three weeks earlier than issue #2 of the limited series, to arrive in stores on approximately May 5th. Canceling their earlier guidelines, Marvel now will not tie the orders for the Commemorative Edition to the orders for #2 or any previous orders. Marvel noted that it may limit the print run of the Commemorative Edition."

Best part of the press release about DBPro's new painted storybook series:

"The problem was that the story has a slower, more deliberate pace than most comic books, and the artist was being asked to draw a lot of people talking about a murder rather than showing the murder itself. And since Mr. Silverberg’s wonderful writing was getting lost in the process, we racked our brains trying to figure out how we could adapt the story in a new and different way."

It's a fucking storybook! How is that new? It's illustrated text! That's been around for centuries! It's not even new to comics fandom (Off the top of my head, there was the Elektra/Wolverine storybook and the Sandman storybook just in the last few years alone)! For the love of God! Next, DBPro introduce their latest innovation: "We've created this new and exciting thing called 'the printing press'."

Matt Brady knows his target audience, when writing about Human Target:

"As readers of the current series know, Chance has recently been fighting less and less to hold on to his own identity – but not necessarily to an identity. 'He sometimes uses the term his ‘default’ self, that self to which he returns after a ‘brief life,’' [Writer Peter] Milligan said. 'I think it’s important to him what that is - although maybe it’s becoming less important that it started out as his.' See – told you it was some pretty deep stuff. But hang on if you’re getting sleepy – there’s lots of guns and shooting too."

The Bendis board strikes back:

"So wich superhero/villan is packin' the biggest geraldo. Galactus doesn't count."

"i am gogin to say luke cage. i mean... look at jessicas face! i dont think that was anal sex... i think he is just one well endowed man."

"Cyclops... because Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Psylocke, Madelyne Pryor, and that pilot weren't going for his whiney personality and his wet blanket attitude. Plus the guy couldn't even show his eyes. He had to have a big cock to get those ladies. Emma and Jean fighting over him? When they could have had their share of men? It's the summer's sausage that they wanted"

This Bendis board thread has to be seen to be believed. And not in a good way.

(EDIT: The thread has finally been deleted. For historical purposes, the thread was Fuck, Marry, Kill: Comic Book Women, where - for about five pages - Bendis board posters decided which of the following three women they wanted to fuck, marry, or kill: Colleen Doran, Jill Thompson or Chynna Clugston-Major. It was as misogynistic as it sounds.)

MC Hammer is developing a movie based around "a wealthy and reclusive Chicago heart surgeon and comic book buff - who dons a night-time alter ego of a Panther-suited, motorcycle-riding, martial arts-using crimefighter." As Hammer, who is still 2 Legit 2 Quit, explained "This is really the first serious, fully-developed, stand-alone, African-American Superhero that is also a role model - to be created for film."

(What about John Shaft?, I ask, only half-joking)

The character is called The Panther. Isn't Black Panther still somewhere in development hell? Let's see if Marvel sues.

The Kirby-L Yahoo mailing group considers religious allegories in Jack Kirby's work:

"I've always looked at Mister Miracle as a Christ stand-in. If Jesus were a superhero, 'Mister Miracle' would be an accurate name for him. Just about every issue of MM has him crucified to some object, like the cover to #1. In Mister Miracle, it's rare that you actually see him escape from a trap. He dies and resurrects. Usually, the trap springs, and the villains congratulate themselves on his death, the
heroes shed a tear. Only after his death is mourned, he shows up, miraculously untouched."

"The Surfer could also be a fallen angel. Lightray came to Earth and was 'resurrected' on page 8 in New Gods 6."

Millarworld goes to town (complete with bad Ellis impressions) on some poor bastard who thinks that comic characters should always be "hot and good-looking and the women must have C-cups at a minimum":

"You are the intolerant wastes of the human gene pool and should be jettisoned into the cold silent depths of space, you failed-stomach-punch-abortion."

"[Y]ou've just been inducted into my illustrious "Colossal Wastes of Skin" Club! Your reward? Nothing, except the knowledge that you probably aren't worth the bone and meat your body consists of, and that you've just posted one of the more idiotic, braindead pieces of tripe I've ever had the grand displeasure of reading! How you celebrate is up to you--go to Disneyworld, go to Jersey, go to Hell in a handbasket for all I care, just as long as you keep your stupid, shallow mouth closed. And you know what? I don't care if saying this gets me into trouble. I'm young, I'm financially comfortable and tonight, I'm pissed off enough to rage-f*** a hole in the wall. So, just to make sure you understand what I'm trying to say: You're an idiot."

"So much pithy sardonicism, so little argument. Little munchy nuggets of disdain spread through, like a crunchy peanut butter of spite. I only have a few things to say; Fuckwigget, asstocking, jizzbuffer. There, I have creatively expressed my anger for this walking ejaculatory mistake. Thank you for your time."

If you're curious about what comics people like Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker and others read, here's the place to deal with that curiosity.

Stuart Moore talks about the way colour in comics has changed:

"DC started off strong, and initially a few colorists began separating their own work on DC’s computers, with interesting results. But DC stumbled in two areas. First it dismantled its in-house coloring department, preferring to shop everything out. This could have worked -- but instead of working with the new color-and-sep studios, the best of which were doing cutting-edge work, DC reverted everything back to the two-step guides-and-separations system. This discouraged innovation, because the colorists who painted the guides didn’t trust the separators, with whom they had no contact, to carry out a complex effect properly. I once saw a demonstration of the DC system; it was pretty amazing for its time. It could handle watercolor textures, complex grads, and many other effects. But few colorists knew about them, and more importantly, no one trusted separators five thousand miles away to pull off what the colorist intended."

Anyone remember Danny Vozzo's early computer colouring in Doom Patrol? Those were the days...

Matt Brady speaks to Joe Quesada and Mike Marts about the Reload event, but doesn't ask about Igor Kordey for some reason. Still, Joe's not happy anyway:

"First of all, I think it’s funny that people keep referring to it as 'Reload,' like it’s some storyline in and of itself. I’ll take it though – it’s fine. If people want to talk about it under that header, that’s fine."

Joe, the reason people are referring to it as Reload is because that's what Marvel's own solicits are calling the relaunch. Maybe you missed that.

Interesting post from "GOD" on Newsarama concerning the Eminem/Wanted movie rumours (Scroll down):

"The introduction to this piece is somewhat misleading Matt. It's far more appropriate and much closer to the truth to say 'Apparently pretending that a current Rap star is interested in your property does pay off, when it comes to trying to sell it to Hollywood' The cental premise of this hype, that Eminem is interested in Wanted is baloney, bull, untrue, a con, a snowjob, whatever phrase fits the bill, instigated by Millar himself to promote and sell Wanted as a property... Apart from the fact that everything concerning Eminem's involvement has no other basis other than Millar himself, the likelyhood of Eminem wishing to attach himself to a vehicle (when he has already stated that he has no desire to act again and has shown no interest in any other film since 8-mile) which he does not own and where his own likeness would be used to generate profit for both Millar and TopCow in any number of printed sequels or spinoffs is contrary to every professional descision he has made since becoming successful. Like every other Millar tale, this is pure fiction, impressive on the surface until you start to see all the plotholes and mischaracterisation."

Someone's posted this on Millarworld. We'll see what happens next.

Beau Smith remembers working on Guy Gardner at DC:

"I had my way for a couple of issues… #22 and #23 and then the cluster fuck known as Zero Hour crawled up my butt and pitched a tent. DC was really big into crossover 'theme' issues. Things that connected the whole DC universe. Ya see, DC hit it big with the 'Death Of Superman.' The thought that kinda thing worked once… it should work over and over. Marvel was doin’ the same thing. They would get a character that would get hot… The Punisher… Ghost Rider… next thing ya know those two guys are guest starring in every issue of every title. They weren’t beatin’ the dead horse, they were nukin’ it!"

"TalesOfWonder.com was named as the first Marvel VIP Retailer and will be featured on Marvel.com in the month of March. To earn this achievement, TalesOfWonder.com purchased and sold more Marvel backlist titles than any other of the 3,000+ direct market retail account in January 2004."

For some reason, this just makes me cringe. "Sell more of our books than any other retailer and you'll be our special friend!"

Mainstream newsmaking! Mark Millar hits the (UK) Times:

"Millar, who has set up his own company, www.millarworld.biz, has created a number of controversial characters. In the DC Comics publication, The Authority, he devised the gay superheroes, Midnighter and Apollo — a camp version of Superman, who outsold the dated hero three times over."

Poor Warren Ellis. And did Authority really outsell the Superman titles by three times the amount?

Lying In The Gutters has some interesting Marvel gossip this week, not the least of which is the removal of Robert Morales as Captain America writer. Wonder if Chris Bachalo and Dave Johnson will go with him?:

"I understand Bob's departure from Captain America was down to his take on the book being an overtly political one. No surprise, that was always the editorial plan, and he showed that ability with the fine "Truth" miniseries. We can surmise that Gui Kayro and Dan Buckley's declaration (with David Bogart on bass) is that this doesn't just mean sex and violence, storylines inspired by topical political thinking, however well disguised, are a no-no."

In other Marvel news, John Romita Jr. leaves Amazing Spider-Man temporarily, to do runs with two of Marvel's superstars on Wolverine and Punisher:

"According to Romita, the two runs on the respective series will be a years' worth of work, and he doesn't know exaclty when he will be getting back to Amazing, but he does consider his time away from the series as a sabbatical, rather than a full-out departure."

Also, Mark Millar confirms that the relaunch of Ultimates will be at least a month late. Newsarama's posters aren't being kind:

"Gee, well no shit, Sherlock. This come as a surprise to anyone, considering #13 is running ridiculously behind?"

"Well, I'm surprised they're trying to say it's only going to be a month late."

"5 bucks says there will be a delay before the 3rd issue."

"This is the kind of shit that is killing this industry. Lateness and erratic shipping send people away. Hard enough to keep your regular fanbase with crap like this. Then you want to reach out and make comics more mainstream without any consistency? Get real folks. This is a bigger problem than fanboys bitching about not getting their monthly dose of their favorite writer or artist. Get your act together Marvel."

Aaron Lopresti is the new artist on Excalibur:

"I got wind of it on [last] Tuesday, an official offer was made to me on Wednesday and I started working on it on Thursday. You guys knew almost as soon as I did... I was pulled in after the fact [of Igor Kordey's firing] and had nothing to do with that situation. I’ve had plenty of bad things happen to me in my career so I know how Igor feels. But we are all professionals, so we just move on and do the best we can."