Fanboy Rampage!!!

A discussion about John Byrne's Doom Patrol revamp on Micah Wright's forum surreally becomes a discussion on Batman's sexuality:

"So, I was shooting the breeze with a DC editor one con and he talked about the day he walked by the Bat Offices and overheard a half-serious debate about whether or not Bats was still a virgin."

"Obviously he is. Bats' super intelligence and ability to beat any other character in the DCU one handed stems from absatining. It's like that episode of Seinfeld where George becomes a genius while abstinent, but on a much larger scale."

"See my take is that Batman... he's into being the dominant alpha male in costume right? Mr. in control. Mr. high and mighty over all the other heroes. The man runs a multi-billion dollar corporation. Now setting aside the preference for molding young minds. I betcha dollars to dogshit that $1500.00 a night hooker steps on his balls with a 3 inch heel and makes him crawl around on all fours in a diaper saying 'mommy never loved me'"

"Batman is impotent. I mean, he can't kill The Joker, he can't kill any of those guys. He can't 'follow through' on any of his actions. And plus, his chances of still being able to maintain an erection after so many nut-shots/hours spent wearing spandex is highly unlikely."

"Denny O'Neil has retired, but even though the ghost of Wertham haunts the Bat-Office, I've heard that under Denny the internal line was that The Joker was homosexual."

Go and vote in The Squiddies, the second-oldest comic book awards still around.

(Via Johanna, whose blog you should all be reading anyway).

Previews is, apparently, too big for some people:

"As I was flipping through the last issue of Previews, it hit me that there are ALOT of comics book companies. Is this really a good thing? I hear people complain all the time that there a really good indie books that deserves to sell 100,000 copies an issue, but because it is an indie comic it is only selling 1,000 copies an issue. Wouldn't the market place be better served if say the top five comic companies bought up some of these smaller companies to streamline the marketplace some?"

"Think outside the box. Instead of being so Marvel/DC-centric, think about these other companies and remember that they are sovereign entities and more than that, they've been in business for years too! Conglomerates are the worst thing in the greater trade industries. Nothing of any substance can exist because about four or five companies control EVERYTHING. Its horrible. That's what independent companies are about. Existing on one's own without the aid or dependence on corporate control. Why in God's name would a fully operational company want to subjegate itself to another's rule? Most people would close up shop and call it quits before they go from being independent and being their own bosses to having to answer to the Marvel Board of Directors, or the Kingpins of DC, aka AOL-Time-Warner. Its like going from the master of your own destiny to a slave."

"More consolidation means less choice for consumers. I see what your thinking but in practice it does not work. Consumers end up with less and less choices and often higher prices because there is no competion to keep prices down. Often time the message or media delivered becomes more homogenous."

"Now, should there be even more diversity? Of course! It's kind of sad that Crossgen is going down in flames - from what I saw, they went for a genre that, while I wasn't very interested in it, wasn't really being served by anyone else. The best publishers are the ones who do what they want, publish what they want, and can afford to - most of the time. That's what I like about Fanta and D & Q."

Comicon posters are concerned about DC's Focus:

"I'm reading HARD TIME and find it a decent comic. I haven't tried the other three books. My bias — and it's an illogical one, I admit — is against the introduction of an entire line of books by one of the major publishers. Throw four or six or eight books at me at once, hype the hell out of them as a package deal, and I'll ignore all of them. Now, if you separately introduce a couple of new books, I might give 'em a chance. DC's CAPER, for example, which I recommend. But an entire line ... well, experience has taught me that one or two books in a line will be worthy, and the rest will be filler crap launched only to flesh out the publication schedule. Can anyone recall "The DC Explosion" of the 1970s? Would the DC Focus line be more successful if DC had introduced the books separately, at staggered times and on their own individual merits?"

"Sadly,I dont really expect the books to last.I was looking for something at least a little different and Steve Gerbers name was enough to interest me.But god forbid someone from skipping another fucking X-men comic to try out anything new..."

"Well, I personally didnt buy them because they are not in the DCU. I primarily only get DCU titles which include Vertigo titles that can be considered in the DCU. That is simply because I dont want to follow tons of different universes and it helps keep my monthly comic budget reasonable."

"This [referring to the above quote] is one of the most depressing posts I've ever read."

Robert Aguirre-Sacasa on adapting the new Spider-Man movie into comic book format:

"Adapting something — as the movie Adaptation shows in a great way, actually — is always a little bit tricky... You’re struggling with being true to someone else’s story (be it a screenplay, a novel, a New Yorker article, whatever) while — at the same time — trying to get your voice in there somehow. I’ve adapted some novels into plays before (for example Dracula for a community theatre, please don’t ask), and that requires a lot of condensing, of course, but it also requires you to find a way into the source material, if you know what I mean... Ditto adapting the Spider-Man 2 screenplay. Like with any story, you have to find a way into the story — or a way to unlock it — before actually writing it, you know? I didn’t get to see the movie early, alas, so I mostly worked from the screenplay and the movie preview. I remember when I got to the scene of Peter and Mary Jane talking in the café in the screenplay, when MJ asks Peter to kiss her, it was such a great scene, I was like: 'Oh, that has to be in the adaptation.' So I put it in and was much relieved when I saw that scene in the preview and was like: 'Oh, great, that did make it into the movie.'"

Of course, now that he's mentioned Adaptation, I want Charlie Kaufman to adapt Spider-Man 3 when it comes around.

Newsarama, like Pop, will eat itself:

"OK, I know we have talked about this before, but this is getting ridiculous. Read the responses to either/both of the Joe Quesada interviews. What. The. Hell. I wish I could find someone who likes ANYTHING about comics right now. HELLO!!! IS THERE ANYONE WHO LIKES ANYTHING REGARDING THE COMICS INDUSTRY!!!!??? ARE THERE ANY FRICKIN CREATORS OR EDITORS THAT YOU ACTUALLY LIKE!!!???? WHY DO YOU READ COMICS AND THE NEWSARAMA NEWS IF YOU HATE EVERYTHING!!!??? God."

"i totally agree. it seems all these fans do is complain. for example, now that hal jordan is coming back they are complaining about losing kyle rayner. it is just sickening. myself, i read the online preview of dd:father and i'm looking forward to it, i like joe's art and it looks like a more traditional dd story. as far as hal is concerned i am glad he is coming back. i was a big fan of his character when gerard jones wrote it. and i also like kyle so i hope they both stick around."

"I keep on hearing Joe Q dismissed the internet and when you look at stuff like that, it is easy to see why. Snipes everywhere you look. I read FATHER, and it was beautiful in everyway, I cant imagine someone not liking it, if they liked Joe Q prior work or the DAREDEVIL character. It shows that there are more comicbook politicians out ther making there voices heard then true comicbook fans that are too turn off by the negativity to make a peep."

Hey! It only took one day! Joe Quesada on variant covers:

"It's bad for business. I've been hearing that our largest competitor is considering these covers 'competing' with us, that's not competing, that's spiking sales artificially. That's adding extra innings to the ball game after you've lost and the winning team has hit the showers. They began competing fairly when they started to put some good talent on good characters and decided to tell some good stories. That's fun and that's competition that I can get behind, encourage and more importantly, respect. But, to just desire the top spot and not care how many multiples copies of the same issue you have to sell to one person to get there is just stupid and harmful to our business. Look, my editors and I spend so much time trying to make what's inside the cover of a comic great so that our readership will want to come back month after month. Now we have to spend time wondering how to spike the comic so that retailer and fan has to order more based on an alternate cover rather than the story or creative team. We as an industry need to stop this now before it's too late. So, you have to ask yourself is that really competing or is it just forcing units into the market place. Remember that the big complaint from our opposition when it came to no overprint was that new readers will get shut out, well of course we found that to be false, but what does this say about their attitude now towards new readers? Do they want new readers or are they looking for new collectors? What it says is that they've given up on it and are now catering to the completist mentality in order to survive. Look, this may sound like much ado about nothing, but I know what's coming down the pike, I know what's planned by other companies and it's not going to be pretty. We have worked so hard to stabilize our market in the last four years, and now we're going to push the greed button before it's even remotely healthy. Don’t get me wrong though - I don't mind an alternate here or there when it's something super special, but ask yourself, what's the only reason why someone does an alternate cover? It's to force the retailer into buying more of the same books and the fan to purchase the same comic over and over again."

FOUR versions of the first issue of Astonishing X-Men, remember.

Ron Marz on comics:

"I think the monthly format is a teat the American comic industry will never been fully weaned from. Too much of the industry's economics are based on the monthly format. It keeps a steady cash flow to the publishers, to the retailers, to the creative talent. You do see original graphic novels from DC, and from some independent publishers, but it's an expensive, risky proposition. It's a lot safer to serialize your story, then collect, so you can count on two revenue streams from the same material. It's an economic reality that won't change unless the overall comics market turns itself around in a substantial way."

New Marvel Fanboys live up the last part of their name:

"Ok, we all know that the Ultimate line was created both as a modern interpretation of old characters and as a way of getting away from heavy continuity. Now, the Ultimate line is pretty light on continuity errors, but they happen occasionally (Like Banner was supposed to be a vegetarian, but ate a steak at his meeting with Fury in issue 2 of The Ultimates). Again, nothing that's that big of a deal. But, UFF #5 brought up a very interesting continuity error. According to The Ultimates, the FF were established way before the Ultimates were (Since Stark and Fury discussed adding them to the new team). In Spidey, Dr. Parker, in the Venom arc, was discussing Reed Richards back when Peter was very young, not to mention the Reed Richards Building that Peter and Eddie went into AND when Spidey met the very-well established FF in the Super Special. But all of this is thrown into question because in the first battle of the FF, Dr. Storm shouts to Johnny 'Let the Ultimates handle this!' So, which is right, The Ultimates and Ultimate Spidey, or UFF? Sorry for being such a geek about this, but it just bugs me."

"There is no justification. This was just a flat out mistake. I wish someone at Marvel was still, you know, 'editing.' And this isn't some stupid little fan boy nit picking, this is a very very VERY OBVIOUS error, and it's really a shame that they can't get their shit together with such a new universe."

"I was really, REALLY bothered by this. Millar and Bendis don't seem to give a damn about their OWN continuity, let alone anyone else's. I was willing to overlook the fact that the FF are young and just starting out (since it could all be taking place in the past), and even the fact that Ultimate Marvel Team-Up established that Reed Richards went to college with Tony Stark (since, well, Peter Parker could simply have been wrong about that). But this is the final nail in the coffin. I'm thinking of dropping this series altogether. I could maybe overlook this error if the series was actually any good, but it's really not. I'm curious to see what Warren Ellis will do with it, so maybe I'll stick around until then, but, truth be told, I've never really liked anything I've read by Ellis, so I don't have very high hopes."

"Yeah, I have to say that this continuity error bugged me. And believe me, I'm usually one of the last guys to get irritated about continuity mistakes, especially when dealing with 40 year old universes, but this was real sloppy. No other way to look at it."

There is, apparently, going to be another JSA mini-series. This one by Kevin J. Anderson and Barry Kitson, who seem to like it; just listen to Kevin:

"Barry Kitson brings a majesty to this time period and these grand golden-age heroes that I've never seen before. In his own words, Barry says ‘the superheroes feel 'at home' in this era - it somehow seems to me they are given weight and presence by being shown in the era in which they were conceived.’ I took the pencils and immediately went to show them to my wife and frequent co-author. This is why I like writing comics!"

Millarworld is ambivalent about Jim Lee and Brian Azzarello's Superman:

"Well I've just finished reading 204 which I got from a friend and have to say that it seems to be a perfect match....was always sure Jim would do stellar art(check out the pics of Supes in space :) ) but never sure bout Azz's Superman. Story has a really nice flow to it and am actually surprised at Brians version of Clark...seems to be a very,very interesting concept for the story-arc...dont know how to do spoilers so won't say much but this will definitely be a great run...screw superman batman...this kicks its ass!"

"Loved this issue. I opened up to double page splash of Superman facing the space army or whatever it was and got very close to yelling out 'Holy shit' on the packed tram I was travelling home in."

"I bought it. Usual Azzarello 'snappy' dialogue IMO it felt really out of place. His characters are always talking like Atlantic City street hustlers...which is fine in 100 Bullets but the back and forth banter between the preist and the policewoman at the beggining seemed way too forced."

"Tried looking at this because of the art work, it looked great but the dialogue was painful to read"

Me, I thought it was just okay...

So it's Matt Haley who designed the Seinfeld Superman! For some reason, I thought it was Ty Templeton. Whatever happened to him, anyway? Here's Matt, anyway:

"A pal of mine, Shaun McLaughlin, is a producer at Warner Brothers Animation... He called me in a panic and asked if I could bang out a 'Curt Swan era Superman' animation model sheet, as nobody in that studio was into that style, so I did. It was fun, as I used to really love the Swan Superman, and it was quite a challenge to match his style... I sat with a ton of old Superman comics for a night and just soaked it all up. I enjoyed getting to see the finished product. Patrick Warburton did the voice of Superman, and he's perfect for it."

Oh yes, Wyoming!

Is Spider-Man going to age? Does anyone really care? Apart from the folks at Newsarama, that is:

"Let's leave aside the fact that the aging many feel is so integral to Amazing Spider-Man doesn't apply to his Ultimate counterpart. Taking in to account that comic book characters age slower than we do, where do you see this desire for aging ultimately going? Okay, you want a child from his marriage, you've got it. You want her/him to grow up too, you've got it. If you accept the idea that the world doesn't want to read about a Spider-Man that's pushing 40 or older(he's not the lead character in Spider-Girl and the sales speak for themselves), you must either accept the fact that Peter won't always be Spider-Man or that they'll restart the series. You may want to see another character become Spider-Man(as long as he's not Ben Reilly, right), but do you think Marvel will ever really do it?! It's all well and good to say that you probably won't be reading the books then, if you're even alive, but you must follow through on the changes you're demanding now. Where do you see it going?! They're going to have to pick up the pieces of the changes readers are demanding and they won't be able to freeze time at any point because this isn't Ultimate Spider-Man and readers supposedly won't stand for it."

"If Spider-man was never going to age, then why would they have glimpses of his future in the book? In #500, Spider-man saw his beginning and his end. He was told things about his future by none other than his future self. Aunt May will die, he will have a son named Ben, and other things seem to be implied. Perhaps Ben could become the next Spider-man. We even see a new Spider-man costume, and lo and behold a couple issues later, along comes this taylor for super heroes who designs the very same outfit for Spidey as seen in 'Happy Birthday'. It will be sad, yes, but I do believe that Spider-man will indeed have an ultimate ending. I don't know when and I don't know how, but I hope Marvel chooses what they think would be right for the character and the many fans that love him."

"I always liked the five to one theory. Five years in the real world equal one year for comic book characters. If we use the 5 to 1 theory, 616 Spider-Man will be 40 in about fifty years. By then Spider-Man will be public domain and any one will be able to make and sell any type of Spider-man comic they want. That is of course if there is still things being made called comic books. Story wise, if the older Spidy still sells that would be grate. If not, start over with 'Ultimate 2, the New Universe.'"

Geoff Johns on Green Lantern: Rebirth:

"This is a project that’s extremely important to all of us. This can’t be just a good series – it’s gotta be a damn great series. REBIRTH is the return of Hal Jordan. But we are not out to wipe the slate clean and go backwards to 1975. That’s immediately a response from some. Or that nothing ever changes. Or that someone 'lost' and someone 'won.' Truth is, you don’t know where we’re going, but we're going forward. And that’s good. Let the debates continue. We’re out to tell a killer story utilizing the Green Lantern mythology. There will be a lot of surprises, a lot of curve balls, some major revelations and some amazing artwork. Ethan’s pages are spectacular. The endless arguments of who the best Green Lantern is means nothing to us – Green Lantern is cool. Period. The concept is one of the richest in comics. Batman, the Justice League, Alan Scott, Green Arrow, the JSA…most every major player will be seen in REBIRTH. There are going to be a hundred different questions we get asked from here until October. What’s going on with Kyle? John Stewart? The Spectre? The Guardians? Guy Gardner? Kilowog? All I can say is -- it’s all in the book. I won’t be answering many questions beyond that statement."

Matt Brady interviews Joe Quesada about Daredevil: Father, including trying (twice) to get him to talk about the interesting new misshapen look Quesada has given DD:

"It's simple, Matt, I'm just letting my hand draw, I can't explain it further than that. I'm just having fun working with these big shapes and graphics and I can’t stop... I’m taking liberties as an artist. As a comic book artist we are afforded certain liberties and certain tricks that we use to enhance our stories. Just like film directors have computer graphics and certain techniques they can use, we have everything from distortion, forced perspective, panel breaks, splash pages and many other tricks to get a point or a feeling across. Yes, there's a difference in Matt's stature and posture when he puts on the suit. Of course it couldn't happen in real life, but that's why I draw comics. You ever see someone get dressed up in a suit or a tux who you're not accustomed to seeing dressed that way? There physical size hasn't changed, but somehow they look bigger, or perhaps seem to be standing straighter. They may not have changed but our perception of them has change. That's simply all I'm playing with."

Padding your resume. Now, we all have done it, from time to time. But I think that, in Steve Englehart (whose work I loved in the 80s on things like West Coast Avengers and Green Lantern Corps), we have discovered an example of a pad too far. Some examples of his building up his part too much:

On his Detective Comics run with Marshall Rogers: "From the moment this eight-issue run appeared, it was dubbed the 'Definitive Batman.' ...This series made The Batman someone an adult could appreciate, introduced his most famous woman, Silver St. Cloud, and showcased his most memorable encounter with the Joker in 'The Laughing Fish.' At the same time, it reestablished the dark, pulp roots of the character; I even asked for the panel borders to be thicker, to get more black on the page. It defined a man, a city, and an ambiance. The first Batman movie (the good one) was based on these stories. When Warner Brothers was stuck because two screenwriters failed to adapt them adequately, they brought me back to write a film treatment that did. Two other writers then finished the screenplay. This was the second film made from my stories, following Dr Strange and preceding the NightMan television series. Batman: The Animated Series and The Adventures of Batman & Robin, with their emphasis on 'Dark Deco,' were born of this run. Batman: TAS adapted the Hugo Strange stories and took 'The Laughing Fish' almost word for word. In short, these eight issues define the modern Batman franchise."

On making DC more tolerant: "[M]y insistance on including a gay hero, first in MILLENNIUM and then [in New Guardians], paid off down the line when DC founded a sub-line called Milestone and allowed it to use gay issues with no interference from above."

On the concept of Millenniums: "It's worth noting that we created [the millennium mini-series] in November 1986, when the concept of a Millennium was essentially unknown - a new era as yet nowhere close. We were probably the first to deal with it."

Of course, you could just ignore my snark and go and see all the comics that Englehart has written. There are some really great ones in there... and then there are the Malibu ones.

Marvel unveil their latest variant cover for Astonishing X-Men#1. As one Newsarama poster points out, this will be the fourth version of the book they'll be putting out; something to bear in mind the next time Joe Quesada complains about DC doing variant covers.

My only response to this, honestly, is fucking finally:

"DC today announced that it has acquired the North American publishing rights to all existing and future comic material from the UK’s Rebellion, publisher of 2000AD as well as Judge Dredd Megazine and others... The new arrangement came about as a result of ongoing conversations between DC and Rebellion which began shortly after they purchased 2000AD and its character library in 2000. The relationship grants DC access to the full library of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine material, including well-known (but rarely seen in the US) works by Garth Ennis, Simon Bisley, Frank Quitely, Mark Millar, Chris Weston, Sean Phillips, Glenn Fabry, and others. The relationship calls for a schedule that breaks down to having DC publish three volumes of Rebellion material a month. 'We’re going to start with two a month, for the first four months, which will be September through December, and then we’re going to go to three books a month starting in January, and there may be a couple of special books here or there,' said Georg Brewer, VP — Design & Retail Product Development. 'At least that’s our plan going out the door. We’re going to start the launch with a reissue of our Batman/Judge Dredd Files, which collects those team-ups. That will be in regular comics format in terms of trim size. The 2000AD material will be in trim size similar to the Humanoids books…7 3/8 by 10 and 3/16th inches.'"

Okay, so starting off my wishlist of reprints: Really And Truly. Sooner or Later/Swifty's Return. Revere. Big Dave. And if anyone can work out the fucking rights issue, Zenith.

Huzzah, I think:

"Reuters is reporting that Futurama co-creator David X. Cohen is teaming up with premium pay channel HBO to produce a cable series based on Joe Matt's Peepshow comic book series, which was collected into The Poor Bastard graphic novel published by Drawn & Quarterly... David X. Cohen plans to mix live action and animation in The Poor Bastard TV series in much the same way it was done in the American Splendor movie. Joe Matt will be an executive producer on the series and Donick Cary, who writes for the Simpsons, will work on scripts for the planned HBO series."

Paul O'Brien looks at Marvel's sales for March, commenting on the low sales of the launch issues of She-Hulk and Iron Fist:

"This, basically, is what you get if you launch an ongoing title starring a third-tier character with creators who aren't particularly well known in a month where they're bound to be overshadowed by other new titles. Let's be absolutely clear about this: HAWKEYE #1 sold better than either of these. I don't want to be too negative, because SHE-HULK is actually a very good comic and I'd love to see it do well. Nonetheless, this seems to be the basic sales level that Marvel can get by soliciting the first issue of, well, pretty much anything. Swift decline and cancellation inside of a year is almost invariably the result. (In fact, RUNAWAYS is about the only recent exception - and it's a Marvel Age book, so the normal rules don't apply.) If either of these books is going to buck that trend, they'll have to be very quick about it."

Axel Alonso talks about the upcoming Spider-Man "event", Sins Past:

"Sins Past digs deep into Spider-Man's history and unearths something big - something that no one will see coming... It also introduces a new character into the Spider-Man pantheon who's bound to raise some eyebrows. [The effect the story will have on all the titles] is hard to calculate, but it's safe to say, there will be no going back."

Silly Axel. There's always going back. Remember Aunt May dying, the Green Goblin dying, Peter Parker being revealed to be a clone of the real Peter Parker who was for some reason blonde and called Ben Reilly... The status quo always wins out in superhero comics, even if it takes eight years and the formation of an acronymonous lobbying group.

We all knew it was coming: Greg Land quits Crossgen. The Pulse has what little there is of the story:

"Land joined CrossGen a few years ago after a successful run on DC's Nightwing. He worked on several projects for the imprint including the fantasy series, Sojourn. Land was reportedly working on a new project for CGE, since he and writer Chuck Dixon's American Power series was shelved. The reasons for Land's leaving CrossGen are unknown at this time."

Ed Brubaker seals my interest in Ex Machina, as if Chris Butcher's Previews Review review wasn't enough:

"I just finished reading an advance copy of the first issue of Ex Machina, and it's one of the best first issues I've read in a long long long time. This book is beautifully drawn, and probably the best thing Brian Vaughan has written yet. If any of you were thinking of passing on it, don't. It is not to be missed. Seriously."

(This may also be the comic for my wife, as she loves Y The Last Man and practically everything Brubaker writes...)

Bendis starts raising the bar in Hollywood, as Jinx moves onto the big screen, to star Charlize Theron:

"“My manager and producing partner was talking to hers... And if I ever say anything more Hollywood than that you have permission to hit me about the head and neck with a USM hardback. After winning the Oscar, she then had the most unHollywood notion of honoring her word after she became a big time Oscar winner... So on top of my admiration for her obvious talent, I am quite pleased with her entire team's character. Good people."

Hal Jordan is back, in what may be the worst kept secret in comics. Newsarama reports what Wizard reports:

"Newsarama has learned that tomorrow’s Wizard #152 will send Hal Jordan fans into fits of glee. The issue contains an article outlining how, in the October-debuting Green Lantern: Rebirth, a five issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan VanSciver, Hal Jordan will return to the DCU in a costumed form, and with a ring. The current Green Lantern series will end with issue #181 in September. Johns is quoted in the article, saying that the storyline will encompass all facets of the Green Lantern mythos, including John Stewart, Guy Gardner, the Spectre, Alan Scott, and Kyle Rayner, who will, according to Johns, play a major role. And somewhere, members of H.E.A.T. (Hal's Emerald Advancement Team), who have lobbied for the return of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern for eight years are smiling – some for the first time in eight years, when it comes to the franchise."

Crossgen announce that, surprise surprise, things aren't going to plan for them with one of their planned launches:

"According to CrossGen, Raven House has been pulled from the schedule for June, and will now ship in August with a new artist attached. Raven House was to have been the next series in a line of diverse genres that also included the pirate series, El Cazador, the tongue-in-cheek spy thriller, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the recently cancelled-before-launching American Power... Originally, Leonardo Manco was attached to the project as the artist, but has since departed the miniseries. According to CrossGen, current Kiss Kiss Bang Bang artist Mike Perkins will now be the artist for Raven House. Questions about the future of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, (which was conceived of by Perkins) about the future of that series to CrossGen by Newsarama went unanswered."

Okay, I know I've been away and all, but did I miss the press release announcing that the Comics Buyer's Guide is going to become a monthly magazine? Even though I've not read an issue in years, there's something oddly sad about that for me...

Jason Pomerantz interviews Neil Gaiman about 1602 and other things at Comic World News:

"What I specifically wanted to play with was the feel of the original Stan Lee (and Jack and Steve etc) characters. I wanted the simplicities. I wanted to write the characters I fell in love with when I was seven (in UK reprints, so I got the Marvel universe from the start). I didn't want to do something that was like a Marvel version of Alan Moore's 1963, though -- apart from anything because the original Marvel comics were those things that Alan was recreating, which meant that if I went that route at best I'd come up with something that was an imitation of what Stan and Jack had done. So I decided to do something else instead."

Brandon Thomas is still feeling the aftereffects of the cancellation of Wildcats and Stormwatch:

"Personally, I wish I’d taken the time to write one single solitary letter to Wildstorm in appreciation of what they brought to the table. Yeah, I raved about Eye of the Storm in the column, yeah I told Joe Casey he was the shit, but that was the extent of my contribution. Haven’t written a letter to the editor of my favorite title in years, but if anyone deserved it, the decision makers at Wildstorm did, and bridging the gap between online support and 'real' support is critical. The Internet helped save a company once, it put Mark Waid back on Fantastic Four, and it resuscitates Spider-Girl whenever she’s about to get the ax. The online comics community is the staging point for change, so what happens from here is entirely up to us. Next week there will be another set of announcements and developments to talk about, and ultimately distract us from the disappointment of these latest cancellations, but we can’t afford to let this stuff slide. Or we’ll only return to this point a couple months down the line, another title lost and a petition too late to save it.

"We have to work with our retailers to bring books to their attention that are potentially overshadowed by the sheer volume of material coming out. We have to stop 'waiting for trades' because if the book isn’t an immediate sales force, than the mythical collected edition will never see print. If there is a title on the stands that isn’t resting comfortably in the top 50, and you’re interested in giving it a shot, drop that extra Bat-book and get behind it immediately, otherwise you’ll be waiting forever. And when that’s settled, we have to tell the publishers why there’s a larger audience than they might suspect for books with something more to say.

"The majority may be speaking loud and clear, but seriously, they’ve given us reality television, teen horror movies, and manufactured pop music… When has the majority ever known what’s good for them?"

A1, one of comics' better anthologies, returns again with another publishing of Alan Moore and Steve "Never Given His Due But He's An Amazing Artist" Parkhouse's Bojeffries Saga:

"Gracing A1’s return to form is Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse’s lost classic of supernormal suburbia, THE BoJEFFRIES SAGA. Featuring 17 pages of SAGA material, A1 BIG ISSUE ZERO features the first story arc in a newly reformatted 13 page version (unavailable anywhere else), for all those Moore completists, as well as Alan and Steve’s original 4 page prologue that introduced the clan to an unsuspecting world. In addition to THE BoJEFFRIES SAGA, A1 also features the work of master storyteller Steve Dillon, perhaps best known for his runs on PREACHER and THE PUNISHER. For BIG ISSUE ZERO, Dillon will be scribing a brilliantly poignant tale of life and loss, as only he can tell it, KATHLEEN’S HOUSE. Piling onto the list of top-line talent is Dave Gibbons and Ted McKeever. Two of the premiere writer-artists of the direct market, they’re teaming together for SURVIVOR - a fabulous mini-epic that’s been called a startling dissection of the demi-god hero genre, and often recognized as the best non-Superman, Superman story ever written."

Augie De Blieck Jr. offers a differing view on The Losers than the usual comics internet experience:

"The one big shortcoming of the book for me is its visual style. The one-named wonder, Jock, has a harsh angular art style that grates on my nerves. Imagine Mike Mignola or Matt Smith, but with less definition and much dirtier. Jock is good at displaying emotion and has some strong facial expressions in his toolbox, but at least two characters on the Losers team look alike, and hiding them half in shadows so often doesn't help the cause. The art problems carry over to the coloring. I think Lee Loughridge is one of the best colorists in the business today, but usually gets overlooked. Hopefully, Loughridge will be overlooked on this book, which does not point to any of her strengths. This book is filled with muddy earthtones, flat backgrounds, and flatter characters. Of course, the colorist has to deal with the art as given, and I'm afraid there's not much for her to work with here."

I have to admit, though, that even if I hadn't seen any of Jock's work before, just the description of "Mike Mignola or Matt Smith, but with less definition and much dirtier" would probably be enough to make me a fan sight unseen. Diff'rent Strokes for Diff'rent Folks, as Gary Coleman has probably never said in his life.

Hawaiian Dick's B. Clay Moore signs up to be Image's PR and Marketing co-ordinator:

"With the leap to Image full-time, Moore hopes to assist in realizing the vision put forth by Publisher Erik Larsen and Managing Editor Eric Stephenson. 'I think Image Comics is not only a terrific publisher, but a vital cog in the industry,' said Moore. 'Whether people care to admit it or not, Image helped revolutionize the way comics are made, and I honestly believe a strong Image is good for the industry as a whole. I want to do anything in my power to promote awareness of the terrific things going on at Image these days. My goal is to be a visible, easily accessible and tireless promoter of Image Comics.'"

The Harvey Award Nominations are announced. Dave Johnston for best cover artist, please.

Who's The Man at The House of Ideas? Millarworld get on the case:

"In light of the recent Robert Morales events at Marvel I got to wondering about who is the true boss at Marvel. I know it's not Quesada or Buckley. But is it Gui Karyo? Avi Arad? Ike Perlwhatever? Is it the shareholders who call all of the shots? If so who has the most in stock? Who's the chairman of the board? I mean, does Marvel even have a CEO? I'm trying to figure out who's the one guy who can fire everyone in the company if he one day decided. At DC it's Richard Parson's. Paul Levitz answers to him (though I'm pretty sure Richard Parson's could care less about what happens at DC as long as they make money). But who do Buckley and Quesada answer to? And whoever they do, who's their boss?"

"Ike Perlmutter.. wasn't he the guy who pressured Marvel into moving Jemas away from the publishing side of the company? In which case I'd say he's a pretty powerful guy."

"Ike is the largest shareholder, so he has the most clout in terms of major company actions (selling it, restructuring, i.e. drastic changes) In terms of day to day operations, whoever is being the most successful probably wields the most power. Up until this year, I would say Avi Arad has basically been the guiding force since the movies have been the most successful. However, with two flops (Hulk, Punisher), I think his clout has been cut back. On the publishing side, I think Buckley is definately in charge (recent events seem to dicate this). Quesada probably could lead, but I think he wants to keep his reputation clean, so he lets others (Jemas, Buckley) do the dirty work and receive all the fan hate mail."

Sometimes, quashing rumours is more important than anything else. Ask Brian "Michael" Bendis:

"ITEM! no one on line and almost no one in the comic industry knows the final avengers line up. there's a monkey on millarworld spouting like he knows. he is either lying or being goofed on. ITEM! just because i do not comment on rumors posted about my buisness dealings, it doesn't make them true. i just feel that there are quite a few people using the shit out of me on line, for attention or whatever, and i don't feel like contrubiting to any of it. theres more but i have to pea..."

There then follows eight pages of comments by people waiting for Bendis to return from "pea"ing...

Jim Valentino talks the return of normalman:

"This particular book started percolating in October of last year. Eric Stephenson was trying to talk me into reprinting the whole oeuvre into a phone book sized Essential or something and I was reluctant to do that. The following day, oddly enough, a buddy of mine, Todd Tochioka was over at the house smoking some beers and told me that he thought that all of these horror stories I told him about other peoples' experiences and mine would make a great vehicle for a new normalman book. I chewed on it for a few months, and then wrote the first half of the story in early January. I took a few days off in the middle of February - do the math, folks - to begin penciling it, then wrote the later half in the end of February, finishing the art in March."

Stuart Moore is concerned for the comics industry. And not in the way you may think:

"So why is the collective internet convinced that the Direct Market is in its death throes? At the same time that ICV2 reports that, in the first year-on-year comparison of Diamond’s new orders-tallying system, direct-market sales of new comics are up 17% and trade paperbacks are up 2%?... This subject came up recently in conversation with Matt Brady, Newsarama’s Grand Master of All He Surveys (Via Phone and E-Mail). And we came up with a possible answer. Actually, he came up with it -- but it’s so obvious and fits so well with the overall theme of this column, I’m happy to steal it here. It’s the World Outside. I don’t think I’ll get a lot of argument if I say that we’re living in chaotic times. And this country in particular is as polarized, as divided down the middle, as I’ve ever seen it. I highly recommend a recent Washington Post article (free registration required) on the subject, which builds off of an Austin American-Statesman analysis of the 1976 and 2000 election results.

"Speaking only to the Americans here: Half of you believe that the President is pursuing the only possible course to deter terrorism and keep our nation safe, and that his team is courageous, on the ball, and willing to make the necessary tough decisions. You fear that a Democratic president would be soft on terrorism and lead to more deaths and a weaker United States. The other half of us believe Bush is deluded, possessed of inherently bad judgment, and that his team is an incompetent group of political hacks who’d rather spend time on TV, defending their policies by splitting semantic hairs, than actually doing anything. All this, while Cheney and his cronies systematically shift more and more wealth to the world’s richest men, and distract us with ill-advised tax cuts and scare tactics about terrorism. To put it simply: We’re all a little worked up."

Rich Johnston reprints Robert Morales' post on the Joe Quesada board about what happened to his Captain America run in this week's Lying In The Gutters:

"Yes, Steve Rogers was supposed to eventually become an independent vice-presidential candidate, and he was supposed to eventually become President of the United States. But the challenge was you'd never get a real handle on his political stance - it was all about his character, and what everyone else would project onto it. In early February, Joe and Axel and I went out to lunch - pretty much to part company, but instead Joe came up with another story arc that was really great and challenging. We fleshed it out and were surprised at how positively the afternoon turned out. However, Buckley killed that idea. Then Axel came to me again and asked if I could come up with something else, so I suggested retelling Cap's origin for a modern audience, which hadn't been done in awhile. You'd find more about Cap's interaction with real history, where his shield and costume came from, it'd have cameos by Sgt. Fury and Bucky and Hitler and Ike - a big, sweeping historical epic. Buckley decided that World War II wasn't big enough - and it was clear to me then that Marvel management just didn't want me writing Cap, period... Cap as President was supposed to be a highly-publicized event - unlike Luthur's win, which I didn't know about for a while, and I follow comics. That they'd decide not to go with that storyline is understandable to the extent that Marvel isn't doing the kind of outside media promotion they used to for their books... I committed to doing 18 issues of Captain America; my run will end with eight issues. I've turned down any further work from Marvel, including a 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' series and a '1602' spin-off."

In happier news, Morales is moving onto doing more work with Kyle Baker...

Jae Lee's Hellshock to be completed, published by Dynamic Forces:

"This won’t be a mere reprint of the series. Fans will finally be able to read issue #4 of Hellshock Volume II in its entirety. Half of the issue was done 5 years ago. The other half will be done now. There will also be tons of behind-the-scenes materials. If you’re at all interested in what it takes to put a comic book together and the chaos that can follow, you’ll be able to read my first hand account of the story behind the story of what really happened during the making of Hellshock -- It’s insane. It’ll be but one of the many bonus materials that will be included in the Hardcover collection."

In other news, hell may have frozen over.

Newsarama has preview pages from the second issue of Astonishing X-Men. Just to add to that idea that the comic is going backwards with the (re)addition of costumes, these pages feature the heroes having a slugfest. It's a nicely drawn one, admittedly, but still...

Top Shelf decide they want all of my money this summer, god damn them:

"Exciting news for Craig Thompson and James Kochalka fans. Both will be appearing at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, debuting FOUR all-new books (timed to hit retail stores on the exact same day in July). All four titles are featured in the current Previews Catalog, so be sure to get your local retailer to pre-order them for you today! Here's what's coming... CARNET DE VOYAGE by Craig Thompson. Craig Thompson -- the award-winning creator of Blankets and Good-bye, Chunky Rice -- spent three months traveling through Barcelona, the Alps, and France, as well as Morocco, where he was researching his next graphic novel, Habibi. Spontaneous sketches and a travelogue diary document his adventures and quiet moments, creating a raw and intimate portrait of countries, culture and the wandering artist... AMERICAN ELF: THE COLLECTED SKETCHBOOK DIARIES OF JAMES KOCHALKA
(OCTOBER 26, 1998 TO DECEMBER 31, 2003) by James Kochalka. With an introduction by Moby Kochalka's diaries have utterly redefined the daily comic strip. His attempt to document the minutia of his life results in work that explores the full spectrum of human emotions. Drawn with verve and confidence by a cartoonist at the height of his powers, it is ambitious, hilarious, moving, and quite addictive! This astounding book follows the ups and downs of Kochalka's life through FIVE (!) full years of the strip, plus also includes 32 full color pages of supplementary comics and other artwork. Quite simply, this is Kochalka's masterpiece... CONVERSATIONS #1 by JAMES KOCHALKA & CRAIG THOMPSON. Two of our best cartoonists go head to head in this freewheeling collaboration/argument, discussing art and religion, confronting each other and playfully confronting God in one of the best comics "jams" ever set to paper. Kochalka and Thompson draw together, trading the pages back and forth, adding to each other's drawings as the conversation turns in unexpected directions. A wild energy forms as their two drawing styles merge together. It's like a comics version of My Dinner with Andre, but with a giant killer octopus."

The fourth title isn't actually a book, but a soundtrack CD to Blankets, which isn't my bag so much. But nonetheless, good lord, those other books look great.

Jim Valentino on why he left Image:

"Here's what I have to say about that; the real story is in the new normalman book. It's not hidden, it's not a sight gag and Newsarama readers, being the astute lot they are, will have no trouble picking it out. So, I expect every one of them who is even mildly interested in this nonsense to buy a copy of the book! Who says this isn't the age of shameless self-promotion?"

Newsarama asks Micah Wright about Stormwatch's cancelled third trade selling so well on Amazon.com's preorder list:

"I fell off my chair yesterday when I checked it three hours after I posted the URL. The book was up to #2471. Then later in the day, 1273. I never thought we'd break 1000. Then we hit 959. 669. Hellboy was #505. No way I can pass up Hellboy, not with a movie out. Two hours later, we're at #332. I told Alex Sinclair, my Editor on the book that if it broke 200, I'd buy him a nice lunch and if we made to the top 100, we were going to Vegas. I went to bed thinking that I was safe at 212. I woke up and it was at #162. Now I'm terrified that I'm going to have to fly Alex to Vegas for girls and gambling!"

Micah Wright presents today's True Manga Horror Stories:

"The thing that no one has realized about Manga yet, though, is that the more it spreads, the more chance it has of accomplishing in American Comics what Anime has accomplished in American Action/Adventure animation: utter devastation and decimation of the talent base.

"People ask me all the time why I don't sell Constant Payne to Cartoon Network. Why? Because to make that show right, I'd need $400,000/half hour... but why should CN take on that kind of production budget when they can lease an Anime show for $50,000/episode? This kind of thinking has led to the utter decimation of the domestic American action-adventure talent pool. Fewer and fewer shows are made here... Teen Titans and Justice League are the last two big shows, but they're both being made solely for the Synergistic Exploitation which comes from attacking on all fronts with comics, tv, toys, etc. There hasn't been a new American action show worth it's weight in salt in years. With brilliant storyboard artists like Dave Bullock reduced to doing covers for Superman and several other talented directors/artists getting into other fields or moving to Germany and Canada, I don't know if there are enough people left in this town to DO a good action/adventure show. Even if there were, I'm not sure that any of the big TV companies would be willing to lay out the cash for it because 'we can always go to Japan.' If DC is seriously successful with CMX, you can expect people to start asking 'Why do we publish books like 100 Bullets or Human Target or Y the Last Man? They sell 1/3 of what our Japanese imports sell and they cost us a LOT of money to pay the creators and produce.' Because it will ALWAYS be cheaper to license a completed product from another country than to make a new book and pay the American talent.

"And before you say 'no one would be stupid enough to fire all of the talent and make them angry and allow them to slip away never to return, I'd like to point out that this is EXACTLY what ABC TV did when they put 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' on TV seven nights a week. When Millionaire became an overnight sensation, ABC killed all of their underperforming or struggling new shows and subbed in episodes of Millionaire. Not only did they kill shows on the air, though, they also killed EVERY SINGLE show in their development slate because it cost almost a million bucks to make a new sitcom episode, but only $250,000 to make an episode of WWTBAM and no new show was going to perform at Millionaire's ratings level. So when the fad died, ABC was left with a decimated schedule and NOTHING in development to put on the air. That one decision is effecting their ratings even now, years later... because not only did they anger the people whose shows they killed and the people whose shows were in development that they killed and the people like Steven Bochco whose multi-show contracts were ignored, they also sent a massive signal to the rest of the industry that they were willing to do something that everyone saw as sure suicide, and it's made everyone very reluctant to deal with them.

"I'm not saying that this is what's going to happen at DC, but the precedents are there in fields which earn far more money than comic books. It's difficult to see how those market pressures will be resisted for anything other than company-owned superhero books with Synergistic potential... IF the CMX Manga experiment is successful."

Ladies and gentlemen, the end of the world. Actually, it gets worse...

24-Hour Comic Day was, apparently, a success:

"Various creators have already posted their stories in the Web, and some of the event hosts are quickly publishing photocopied versions of stories made in their store. [Event founder Nat] Gertler himself will be sifting through all the comics submitted to pick twenty interesting examples for the upcoming anthology 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights 2004. 'People have been asking me whether they should submit their stories even if they didn’t make it to 24 pages, or even if they were collaborative comics. Absolutely! The book is meant to capture what happened on that day, and while it will include mostly proper 24 hour comics, it wouldn’t be complete without at examples of collaborative comics and other things that happened during this vast creative whirlwind.' Cover sheets for submitting works are available on the www.24HourComics.com website."

What do Millarworldians think about the DC Focus line, asks Aaron Mehta. DC may not be happy to hear the responses:

"I purchased Hard Time #1 mainly for Brian Hurtt's art, and the previews in the back. The title was very average, and incredibly predictable -- seemed liked a Vertigo-lite for teens, or something along those lines. None of the other titles really interest me, but one thing about the line in general bothers me like hell -- what's up with the coloring (or non-coloring)? Everything's so terribly bland and gray."

"The only one that interested me in the previews/solicitations was 'Hard Time' so I picked up the first issue and found it to be incredibly cliched and underwhelming."

"I think that Hard Time will survive, if DC release a timely collection of the first storyline, but, without wanting to seem overly cynical, I really don't think that the rest of the books have a chance."

Still catching up on stuff: James Sime thinks about what went wrong at Wildstorm:

"You know what I'd like to see from my friends at Wildstorm? A strong and simple company trade dress for their line. Trade dresses sell comics. They make the issues look sexy all lined up next to each other and if a fan likes a book and wants something similar, a good trade dress is an obvious indication that a book may have a similar attitude, if not a similar theme. A sharp, creative trade dressing on a line of comics makes a line pop off the shelves. And I would really like a consistent cover design or motif that unmistakably says 'this is a Wildstorm Eye of the Storm book' from twenty feet away."

Brian Michael Bendis wants to be part of the solution:

"we have gotten bloated and lazy as a comic book community and the recent slaying of some quality titles with the shocking underperformance of dozens of others means its time for all of us, creators, retailer, fans, and hell yes!! publishers to shake off the sillies and get out the big drum and start whapping it. we have another free comic day around the corner, we have potential summer blockbusters hitting the cineplex every two months. we have books we love, we have a medium we love...SO WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO??!! sadly going on millarworld or this board and yelling WHY ISN'T ANYONE BUYING MY FAVORITE TITLE!! isn't nearly enough. its time to be creative. its time to open a dialogue with your retailer. tell him what you want! tell him why!!"

Millarworld also talk about most comics fans of a certain age's first comics crush, Kitty Pryde:

"Kitty is gonna have a big part in astonishing x-men. But, where has she been and what has she been up too in the marvel U?"

"Long story short, she's been paying her way through college by stripping at the local Coyote Ugly knockoff campus bar in Chicago. Also, her and Xi'an Coy Manh are kind of an item."

"There wasn't even really a thing b/n them at all. Just a moment.....nothing happened. Kitty's one of the most dynamic, strong women characters in comics today in my opinion. We need more Jewish heroes too!"

"I have no problem with a character coming out as gay - even though she's had two - to my knowledge - very realistically handled heterosexual relationships. (The issue where Colossus breaks up with her after the X-Men return from the first Secret Wars is one of a very small number of comics to actually make me cry.) But stripping??"

"She was just a bar tender, and her and Xian were just friends, Kneisel is making-up wild rumors about Claremont as usual. Though everyone would probably think the made-up scenario was totaly cool if done by someone else."

A poster at Millarworld claims to have the new members of The Avengers, post-Bendis revamp: The Thing, Spider-Man and Wolverine. No-one seems to be that impressed:

"I really, really, REALLY, hate Marvel right now... I know it'll pass, but right now... I just.. Ugh..."

"Now Wolverine is in his own team. The Thing is part of his own team. And Spidey's a loner. There's NO REASON AT ALL FOR THEM TO BE IN THE AVENGERS! It would be like Hulk, Ghost Rider Spider-Man and Wolverine suddenly being the new fantastic four or something, it's absolutely ridiculous."

"Spidey I could deal with. Ben Grimm and Wolvie? LAME! They both are two involved in X-Men and FF stuff. Leave them were they belong."

What happens if your principles are at war with your business interests? Well, if you're Joe Quesada, apparently you ignore your principles all together. Luckily, Gui Karyo is on hand to play Jimmy Cricket to Quesada's Pinocchio in a story that Newsarama really should've called "A House (Of Ideas)... Divided!":

"At a meeting today at Marvel, Joe Quesada who has pointedly said that he doesn’t want the return to variant covers, was trying to make a beachhead of the [second variant cover to Astonishing X-Men#1]. Quesada is, reportedly, taking the stance that Marvel is being forced to move back to variant covers by DC’s recent variants. But – if that was where the market was headed, Marvel should answer with another variant cover for Astonishing #1. Although Quesada had been recently strictly opposed to variants as a matter of course, President of Publishing Gui Karyo is now the one with his finger on the stop button, with reports of Karyo keeping an eye on the bottom line, and not wanting to put unnecessary inventory in the marketplace as a matter of course. Publisher Dan Buckely, reportedly took the middle ground in the meeting over the variant cover, which was at times heated, saying that some fans will want the cover, and, if treated as a incentive for retailers, it rewards retailers who take a strong position on the book. Since the variant cover was already announced to retailers, it won’t be pulled, according to sources, despite the disagreements in upper management."

Note that Newsarama's source just so also happens to have previews of the possible covers to show. Not that I'm saying that this is just all an attention-grabbing show on Marvel's behalf to get some more hype for Astonishing or anything, you understand.

I'm back. No new blogging until Monday, but I just wanted to thank Michael, Ed and Maria for their week of fill-in fun while I was out climbing every mountain...

(EDIT on Sunday: Okay, so I'm blogging today. So I was wrong. What else is new?)

Presented without comment (or, if you will, lazy blogging):

Did you know that there's a whole message board devoted to PHANTOM JACK?

Thanks to Tim Hartnett of Silver Bullet Comic Books, I guess I can turn in my "elitist" hat...

"Don't these people make you sick? They're on the message boards, they're in the comic shops, they're looking over the creators' shoulders every last second. They're quite possibly the reason why the popular comics industry has suffered so much in recent years. They are…the elitists!

"These self-proclaimed (hardly) Messiahs of the comic book industry are everywhere to be found these days. Their very presence scares many would-be fans from the comic racks. Their walls are plastered with posters of the works of Alan Moore and Frank Miller; John Byrne and Walter Simonson are on their dartboards. Everything they read is dark, dreary, scary, and sophisticated…at least to them. Everything has to be "mature." "Adult." "Unconventional." And if God forbid anyone say anything against Grant Morrison, The Dark Knight Returns, or the writing style of Mark Millar, they will tear you apart.

"These are my worst enemies."

In all fairness, he does make some sense at parts, like pointing out that a lot of the books some fans call "mature" are anything but, and that the majority of comics-related marketing just preaches to the choir. Still, trying to say that "everything" these "elitists" read falls into these categories smacks of as much close-mindedness as The Comics Journal is often claimed to embody.

Now, I'm off to find my own "worst enemies." If he can have some, so can I.

Over at Comic World News, Rachel Gluckstern on the events in this week's Doonesbury:

"The blatant portrayal of his injury is new as well. Though death has been depicted, it has been so discreetly. Even the sight of ill Andy Lippincott was kept off-panel for quite a while. Those who have passed on have only had portions of their heads showing, no face at all, and perhaps a leaf or two fluttering in the silence. BD is completely revealed, face, hair, missing portion of his leg and all. One might argue it lacks for subtlety, but few can dispute its impact and gravity. It is strong. It is stirring without being sappily sentimental. It is definitely tragic. And it illustrates more vividly than all the pokes at the president and his administration where exactly Trudeau stands on the issue of Iraq."

And, unlike some comic books today, I don't think that BD's leg is going to be brought back into continuity to appease the audience.

If Graeme were here, I'm sure he'd be happy to link to Johanna Draper Carlson's new blog, Cognitive Dissonance. I don't want to, though, because her first blog entries are about a hundred times more interesting than my fill-in blogging for Graeme. Damn your talents, Johanna.

"Bill" aka David Carradine is one of us, too.

"How old were you? Six, I think, six or seven. But then I kept collecting comic books all along and he eventually gave up on that and let me have them. I'd trade them and steal them and I read them all, everything from “Little Lulu” to “The Dark Knight” which I guess is my favorite. Then, I've kept up with all of the Marvel things. I read Frank Miller's illustrated novels and there's a whole other series of illustrated novels that appeared 10 or 15 years ago, or maybe more, where they take a science fiction book by someone famous, Phillip K. Dick, or somebody like that and they do it. I was into science fiction too so naturally, I would read those. Then, “Heavy Metal” magazine, and then there's extremely erotic comics too. I read them too. I read them all, and I read at least one newspaper everyday and I follow the comics in the newspaper. I read every single one of them, even the ones that bore me."

Well it's just a fact. Comics are BACK. ICv2 has this month's estimated sales figures, and sales are UP, with 14 of the top 25 titles showing a sales increase. The top ten are:

146,908 Superman/Batman #8
143,565 Avengers/JLA #4
117,253 New X-Men #154
108,791 Superman/Batman #7
106,873 Ultimate Fantastic Four #4
101,329 Ultimates #13
97,002 Ultimate X-Men #43
93,025 Ultimate Spider-Man #54
91,525 Ultimate Spider-Man #55
86,431 Uncanny X-Men #441

Of course, we need Paul and Marc's sales analysis to show us what's really going on.

Cartoons invade Cannes: Both Shrek 2 and Innocence (the sequel to Ghost in the Shell) have been placed in competition at this years film fest, surprising some. (Animated films were only reintroduced into competition a few years ago, after a nearly 30 -year ban.) Screenings out of competition include Troy, Kill Bill 2 and the Dawn of the Dead remake. Nerd Crown Prince Quentin Tarantino heads this year's jury.

Newly annointed Xeric winners Angry Jim and Karl Stevens are outed over at the TCJ board. I know another winner but I'm not allowed to say yet!

Over at Micah Wright's forum, it's been discovered that The third Stormwatch trade is still on Amazon, and Wright has declared a grassroots campaign to save it.

"Someone at DC hasn't removed StormWatch Trade #3 from the Amazon.com listing.

"So go pre-order a few copies."

The groundswell pushes the trade to #169 on Amazon's best-seller list. Come on kids, try to hit #100!

This calls for a little salt and what not, but according to the boisterous lads at AICN, David Hayter's Watchman script is to be directed by Darren Aronofsky. Moriarty quotes Hayter as saying:

"That said, I have continued to impress upon the Producers that they must not just give this film to some, so-called "A-list" director just based on name alone. You may have heard who they are talking to at the moment, and I, for one, thought it was a pretty impressive idea. One I was genuinely excited about. Please feel free to announce with my enthusiastic endorsement."

"This man has done little research, less exercise, and stains the name of TRON."

Angry V-sters rip fat scary Tron guy a new one.

Mark Evanier pays tribute to animation veteran Pete Alvarado, who recently passed away. (Link courtesy of The Pulse.)

"I just found out that Pete Alvarado, one of the most prolific comic book and animation artists of all time, passed away last January 30 at the age of 83. During his career, he worked for almost every animation studio in existence including a long stint for the Warner Brothers cartoon studio during its Golden Age. The Animation Guild's newsletter, via which I learned of Pete's passing, notes that he worked for Warners, MGM, UPA, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Krantz, Sanrio, Ruby-Spears, Filmation, Marvel, Disney and Hyperion, and that he was awarded the Animation Guild Golden Award in 1987"

Over at Newsarama, Ryan McLelland recalls an early example of cross platform promotion in Marvel Team-Up #74

"Live from New York it's Saturday Night Live with your host -- Stan Lee?!?! And musical guest Rick Jones!?!?! That's right ladies and gents because Marvel Team-Up #74 doesn't team our pal Spidey with The Thing, Moon Knight, or Obnoxio the Clown. This time out Spider-Man teams with those wacky Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players!!! (And this is years YEARS before Assistant Editor's Month)."

Photos from the Atlanta Comicon answer the question whatever happened to Jeff Jones? Hint: he doesn't have a beard.

Seen around:

In the future, all poorly-reviewed, moderately successful superhero movies will have sequels, that is, if local film commissioners have their say!

"The movie [The Punisher], filmed in Tampa last year, opened on Friday. While it has received mediocre to bad reviews from a majority of critics, Emerald said everyone seems to agree on one thing: Tampa looks great."


"Pretty little ex-Hooter girl" writes Spidey fanfic at Millarworld

Neil Gaiman has a beard now. Thanks to Paul Sizer for the link.

Finally, Marvel's side of the Icon story. Gui Karyo speaks!

NRAMA: Can you discuss a little about Marvel’s benefits in something like Icon? Business-wise, for a big company to publish and expend resources in something it doesn’t own at the end of the day doesn't seem very prudent. Marvel won't own anything, you'll only get a small fee per book, no matter if the book is a through the roof seller, the creators can pack up and walk. Where's the benefit here for Marvel?

GK: Well, first, since the economics of the deals with our creators are confidential, and will remain so, I don't believe your assessment of the fiscal value of this venture is accurate, and we do expect, in the full course of time, for Icon to make a healthy contribution to Marvel

Scary fat dude makes Tron costume.

This is not your father's Tron costume...oh wait, I guess it is. As a Tron-fanatic friend told me, "His ass is shaped like a toy boat."

Wednesday's with Steven Grant, over at CBR:

"By now you may have recognized that comics companies do a crappy job of promoting, particularly with new "untested" concepts. Comics companies, like most other American entertainment media these days, are geared toward The Franchise, that "iconic" product that can generate sales on name alone and will, theoretically, continue to do so for the indefinite future, from a variety of sources. (With a big enough franchise, like Superman, the actual comics sales become irrelevant to the secondary market money.) New properties have a major liability: they aren't franchises and most aren't likely to be, and no one has yet figured out the formula for deciding what the next big franchise will be, try as they might to pretend they do."

"But it's hard to think about happy lunches when a gentleman Lieber refers to as The Presenter comes by. From time to time at shows, you've no doubt felt awkward talking to someone at a table, standing over them so they have to crane their neck up to talk. This health-conscious fan has an interesting solution to that: he uses his limberness to stretch his legs apart and come down to your level!"


Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber invade Long Beach, make a pilgrimage to Dean Cornwell, eat peanuts, sell comics, and tell THE LAST GALACTUS STORY. Great reading from these gentlemen, as always.

Newsarama has previews of the upcoming Superman/Batman-Supermancover swap. Methinks Jim Lee has been looking at too many Italian fountains of late. Newsarama posters respond with incontinence.

The 2004 Harvey Award nominees are up at The Pulse. All in all, a slightly odder and less expected list than the Eisners, as usual. Big scores for Louis Riel and...Joe Kubert? Charles Burns is to the Harveys as Brian Bendis is to the Eisners. Discuss.

Agent Necrotron here! Calling all agents! Calling all Agents! While the cat's away, the mice will wear party hats.

Blogging is addicting. Now I want one. But, until then, I'm just going to shamelessly shill for Comic World News. Because Graeme told me I could. Big Daddy Kane was wrong.

Generally speaking, I'm not the biggest fan of Underground Online. I love Rich Watson's column, and I read Hannibal Tabu's "The Buy Pile," but had Brian Jacks not posted this to CBR, I probably wouldn't have even seen it... It's a great time waster where you play charades with Michael Winslow, the human beatbox from the POLICE ACADEMY movies. I'm a sucker for a human beatbox.

Even though he's not linkblogging anymore, Tim O'Neil is still one of my must-reads. Today, he's looking at the clusterfuck that was DC's MILLENNIUM event. Not only is it funny, but he makes some very cogent points...

Previews Review is up for June. Something that caught my eye:

EX MACHINA #1 (MR)
By Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris
$2.95, 32 Pages, DC/Wildstorm
Order Code: APR04 0356

"It starts in the middle of the “real world” in 1999, and just twigs a little something so that things go in a very different direction. Using advanced technology and superhero realism in the same way that many contemporary authors use “magic realism”, EX MACHINA becomes immensely compelling historical fiction of the history of our day-to-day lives. It’s political commentary with a shocking amount of immediacy, something I honestly couldn’t see DC ever publishing (but then it is coming out isn’t it?). It names names, it uses contemporary language in a realistic and engaging way, it uses contemporary storytelling in a practically-unseen way in comics, it’s beautifully drawn, and it’s RELEVANT. It’s a superhero book that is relevant. Let that roll around in your head for a moment."

And the cover is pretty as hell, too:

In a column on the silliest comics-related collectibles known to man at The Pulse!, "Bagheera" decides to take the column (and the site) to task:

"Again, Heidi and Jen, I ask you to consider the message you're sending to the comics community at large by CONTINUING to print these inane and completely ludicrous tales of an immature man-child. Remember, this is a COMICS site. Not an action figure site. (There are plenty of those for Mr. Dill to frequent, I'm sure.)"

Jen Contino's response gets the cookie:

"There are just as many people who would slam all of us regular comic readers and say we're immature and holding onto childhood by reading comics! I don't see any of us here as able or qualified to slam Dill for his love of toys, when * most * of us are into comics."

"Bagheera" later apologizes for overstating his case...

Preemptive nostalgia, or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Present," or something.

"There have been multiple threads in the past month about what you loved (or loathed) about previous decades: the 80's, the 90's, etc. However, while it's always nice to show your love and appreciation of history, what about nowadays?

Nostalgia is always in. Some fool is always waiting for The Beatles to get back together or for Madonna to return to her Like A Virgin look or for Jim Lee to draw X-Men again. But what do you appreciate about the 2000's so far? We're almost halfway through them. What do you think you'll miss about this decade when you look back on it, say, 10 years from now?"

Isn't it just a little early for '00s nostalgia? Hell, isn't it a little early for '90s nostalgia?

Future Comics is back. And as of yet, no one has made a lame Back To The Future joke...

Conan has a few creative changes, namely Greg Ruth filling in for Cary Nord on #8 and Leinil Francis Yu taking over as cover artist w/ #9. Ruth yay, Yu nay; Busiek stays, hooray hooray. That is all.

You know, for a fill-in guy desperate for some comics news, the gossip columns are really disappointing today. Rich Johnston's got next to nothing this week, acting as if the Wachowskis publishing new Steve Skroce and Geoff Darrow comics is something that happened recently. Oh well, we can all pretend, right? Other than that, he continues to live in the past, talking of Liefeld's Heroes Reborn and Wildstorm consipracy theories, amid plugs for Holed Up and Waiting For Tommy. Usually he has some good stuff. Here's the link.

Devil's Due solicits are ready for your viewing pleasure, too. Granted, '80s nostalgia comics are probably NOT the target audience for FANBOY RAMPAGE, but Army of Darkness is awesome. They can't screw it up too bad, right?

"ARMY OF DARKNESS: ASHES 2 ASHES #1

Written by Andy Hartnell, art by Nick Bradshaw, finishes and colors by Etienne St-Laurent, covers by J. Scott Campbell, Marc Silvestri and Ben Templesmith.

Featuring characters from the Sam Raimi film, Army of Darkness, the first issue of this new ongoing series features Ash having to leave behind the comfort, safety, and convenience of the S-Mart when a face from the past recruits him for another go-round with the Necronomicon and its minions. Ash gets a "do-over" to set right a new problem caused by his misspeaking those notorious magic words and is charged with the unusual task of returning to a certain cabin in the woods on the fateful night he first learned of the existence of The Necronomicon."

Right?

Dark Horse's July solicitations are up. (They were actually up on April 9th, but Graeme was in full-ICON mode on that day.)

Lots of these books look good, particularly Milkman Murders, by Joe Casey and Steve Parkhouse:

"The most horrific of all Dark Horse's new brand of horror comics comes from the mind of Joe Casey and Steve Parkhouse, who exposed the absurd side of British suburban life in his collaboration with Alan Moore on The Bojeffries Saga, and later took on global madness in Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. Now the two turn their attention to the depraved American suburb, where a forlorn housewife faces facts about the American Dream. The unraveling of her hopes leads to unprecedented terror, heralded by a demonic vision from some twisted parody of a Norman Rockwell image as painted by serial-killing folk-artist John Wayne Gacy--The Milkman."

Plus: The Ring will be a five-volume GN series, the Shockrockets TPB gets a home, Chronicles of Conan begins the John Buscema reprints, and Brian Vaughan, Dean Haspiel and others contribute to Michael Chabon's The Escapist #3 (was it just me, or did that first issue suck? Mayhaps they should have left the novel alone.).

.... I hope bringing up relatively old news like this isn't cheating. I don't know if I can handle scouring a dozen message boards.

Entertainment Weekly questions comic book movies' longevity, and racks up last weekend's revenge flicks:

''Kill Bill -- Vol. 2'' grossed an impressive $25.6 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates. That's 16 percent higher than the $22.1 million ''Vol. 1'' earned last fall. Terrific reviews combined with high audience expectations fueled the debut. The coming weeks will tell whether the sequel can top the $69.9 million take of the original.

Second place, as expected, went to ''The Punisher,'' the comic-book-based thriller starring Thomas Jane, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and John Travolta, with $14 million. That's considerably lower than the $23.2 million debut of ''Hellboy'' two weeks ago. Could audiences be tiring of these comic-book flicks? With ''Spider-Man 2'' less than three months away, don't count on it.

(You may need to be a subscriber to read the article.)

All The Rage has all the good gossip this week. Take, for instance, the beef with Thomas Jane (a.k.a. The Punisher):

“[Jane] spoke in a weird low voice and looked down at the floor the entire time. He didn't look me in the eyes once."

That's the best quote they had, really. Thank God for disrespected fanboys and their online revenge.

Over at The Fourth Rail, Don MacPherson takes a look at some of this week's releases.

DC Focus provokes another shrug, with Fraction #1:

"The essential premise behind this story is what four regular guys of varying degrees of amoral personalities would do if they happened upon Iron Man's armor. It's a solid premise, but the plot here is more than a little transparent. The story's predictability is its greatest liability, but there's plenty of potential in the premise and these characters, once the writer gets a chance to explore them in depth."

And he isn't too fond of Rucka's debut on Adventures of Superman:

"I'm a big fan of Greg Rucka's work, both in comics and prose, and I figured his strong characterization and penchant for realistic portrayals of dynamic professions would make for a nice fit with Superman, and more specifically, reporter Clark Kent. Instead, Rucka gets off to a somewhat shaky start, thanks to an obscure and rather uninteresting antagonist, a lack of clarity in the art and some rocky introductions to new characters. I remain interested in what Rucka may have in store in future issues, but I certainly hope it's something stronger and more coherent than this debut."

My two cents: Rucka rarely writes a bad comic, and he got me to care about Wonder Woman, so I'm giving this a shot. As for DC Focus, I'm all over the place. Hard Time started off strong but has now fallen into cliched routine (despite incredible artwork by Brian Hurtt), Kinetic is too early to tell, and Touch didn't grab me until the neat twist at the end. I'm thrilled that DC has an "indie" line, but why does it have to involve superpowers?

24: One-Shot writers J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes talk about using real time in comics:

"The format was indeed a challenge and it was difficult finding that balance," admitted Haynes. "We thought about the various mathematical solutions, but none of them seemed viable for either the publisher or the reader. For this project, though, we went with an even more fundamental approach. We stuck with what works for the show and that is characters you can develop a connection with, a plot with as many twists and turns as we can manage in forty-eight pages and, of course, relentless action."

"Comics can't ever replicate everything you see on a screen," continued Vaught. "It's obvious, but TV and movies have motion. On the other hand, the screen can't duplicate every element of the comic book experience either. There is that unique imagery conjured up in the mind by the combination of illustration and the visual representation of words and sound effects. While there are tons of similarities, there are still very unique components in each media form. Our best hope is to create something that could stand on its own, but functions better as a component of an overall experience."

There's also a page of preview art, sans dialogue. Seems difficult to make each page span half an hour....

Okay, so I'm off on vacation as of about ten minutes from now. All of you take care, and be nice to the three lovely people who will be filling my shoes while I'm gone. And to those three, play nice now.

I'll be back a week on Monday, barring unforseen horrific driving accidents.

The Batbooks get back to normal, if "normal" means a 25-part crossover between almost all of the line:

"[Editor Bob] story takes place within the grand scheme of things. Although a lot of people view events like this as 'money grabbers' and some are quick to complain before an issue even sees print. However, Schreck explained a little about why stories like Batman: War Games are necessary. 'We haven't done this since Bruce Wayne: Murderer & Fugitive which was extremely well received by our readers,' began Schreck. 'It's fun to shake things up and change the status quo and in the process, bring attention to these characters and let them strut their stuff. Why do people run to see Jason Vs. Freddie? It's obvious, isn't it? It's an event. We just don't settle that easily or aim as low as that example when it comes to our stories and we work very hard at putting together an event with some substance, with a story and drama that's worth the price of admission. Our writers and artists have been working with these characters for months and sometimes years on end, and they challenge themselves to construct a tale that they'd like to read themselves, if they were the consumer. I don't feel that raising awareness of our characters, providing solid entertainment and making a few dollars have to be mutually exclusive to each other.'"

Superman/Batman was the #1 book for March. Which, considering it outsold Avengers/JLA and Ultimates #13, is somewhat surprising...

Sid6.6 is upset about the way comics are going, at Millarworld:

"I don't know, guys. After what happened with Wildcats v3.0 and Stormwatch:TA i'm kinda jaded by comics now...everything seems so sinister...sales, bottom lines...does anyone remember when you used to read a comic without having to worry about that kind of shit? I read a few comics from every company but Wildstorm was the company that that got me into comics period. Wildcats and stormwatch were my 'anchor' titles that kept me grounded into this hobby and with both titles gone i don't really see the need to continue reading or supporting anyother books...i think i'm just gonna quit cold turkey. I'll still post here at Millarworld because i like the community and the discussions here but i'm am DONE with comic books...that's sad, i've been a reader since i was 8 and i'm 20 now...man this sucks."

Others respond:

"I've given up on comics before and said 'Nope. Never gonna read them again. Quality has gone down and the prices have gone up'. My willpower is too weak. The longest I've lasted without comics since 1987 is four months."

"Wow. Giving up on a medium because of the decision of a mainstream company. If you aren't just a melodramic moron, I don't know what is."

I'd plug my Broken Frontier column about this very subject (well, kind of) that's going to be up a week on Sunday, if it wasn't for the fact that no-one will remember I've done so at that point...

Heidi MacDonald interviews Chester Brown at The Pulse:

"THE PULSE: What happened to UNDERWATER?

BROWN: I ended it. It wasn't working out. I was thinking in terms of putting it on hiatus and getting back to it when I figured out what I wanted to do with it. It was this big, big story and I wanted to do in around 20 to 30 issues and by the time I got to issue 11 or so I could see that it was going to take a lot longer than 20 or 30 issues to do, so that I would end up changing the story somehow. It was piece done. I really should have fully scripted it before I started out, as I did with LOUIS RIEL."

Fantagraphics changes the look of The Comics Journal:

"This August, Fantagraphics will release Comics Journal #262 in its new format, featuring more pages, more color, better paper stock and a new design. This issue, with a cover by Alex Toth and an examination of his life and work by Bob Levin, along with thirty pages of Toth's rare comics, will be 192 pages, 64 in color, for $9.95. All these changes, including expanded news and commentary, as well as a comics section,follow the hiring of the new editor."

Brian Walsh and Mike Deodato talk up Witches, Marvel's long-delayed attempt at the Charmed market:

Walsh: "The story was a perfect fit for me, allowing me to explore different ideas. I've worked with John and Axel before, so I was confident that they would offer me a large degree of creative freedom and support."

Deodato: "In my case, [the appeal of the concept] was pretty obvious -- magic, babes, more babes, and Doctor Strange!"

Brian Hibbs (who is either sending me weird emails, or has a virus at his Comix Experience email account that he should take care of) looks over recent news in this month's Tilting At Windmills:

"From this retailer’s POV, there’s only two bad things about Icon. The first is that, due to my individual ordering patterns, I’m going to lose 1% of my discount on Powers and Kabuki. While this works against me, the hope (perhaps futile because we have a great individual market penetration on Powers) is that we can make up the loss of discount in increased volume. It’s hard to say how many retailers are losing discount in this move – discount tiers are one of the absolutely secret pieces of data in this industry – but I have to assume it’s a respectable number. However, some retailers are likely to gain some discount – perhaps as much as 3%. In the overall picture, it probably amounts to a wash, but this is definitely a concern for stores in my position.

"Of equal concern is backlist. Particularly on books like Powers or Kabuki Comix Experience ultimately makes more money on the TPs of the work than we do on the initial serialization. Apparently, all existing backlist will stay with Image, but Marvel will be handling new collections. This is a concern because Marvel still hasn’t figured out how to handle backlist with any appreciable skill. In fact, it appears to this observer that they’ve made an unannounced switch to treating many trades as “frontlist”-only items. Several recent Marvel trades appear to have been printed either at or very near to initial orders, judging by how fast they sold out. – Supreme Power, Thor: Vikings and Captain America: The Truth being the some recent glaring examples. All went OP within a week or two of initial release."

Highlights of today's Millarhour chat on Millarworld, where MillarMark MillarMillar answered questions from his Millarfans (and Warren Ellis):

"No plans for ICON at all. I only heard about it when you guys did. Had no idea this was even happening until I read Rich's column. Do have another Millarworld book coming out in the place of the one-shots. Haven't figured out all the details yet or where it's going but probably Image or Top Cow and almost certainly this year. I have a few ideas."

"Image is very dear to me, actually. Marvel is wonderful, but it's a company like any other and everyone who makes it great could go on the whim of the board. Image was created out of necessity and so I really hope they stick around. I'm certainly planning most of my MW2 books from either Top Cow or Image Central with some huge name artists. It's five books, January 06 and genuinely the biggest names in the industry (exclusives will be up for many of them by then)."

"I've written Spidey up to issue eight. Huge fight with Venom and The Shocker. Wolvie's on issue 2/3 and Ultimates is on issue four."

"If I was a cheap 90s cover gimmick I'd be a new number one reboot, promising everything, but delivering nothing."

"[The comics sales] boom is getting louder every month. Look at all those lovely books in the top ten and, for once, the big sellers aren't shite. The reason I'm here is because I love it. Been offered MUCH more cash to do games and movies, but stubbornly stick to comics. I'd never do anything else until I;m utterly useless and leave through embarrassment (my early 40s)... Bad comic movies can't kill us now. The last wave of movies came on the success of BAtman and we died on the failures of Batman, Phantom, Rocketeer, Shadow, etc. Now we've just had too many hits. Around ten of them in total and not even Hulk or DD has lost money. We're here for a long time before it collapses in about seven or eight years. Even Sueprman and Batman have still to come."

"I'd LOVE to write Miracleman. It's in my all-time top 3 ever."

"Movie news, I'm currently working on three things. None of which are even at script stage but one of which is going to make a LOT of headlines if they let me take it to the next stage-- my recommendation was firing the producer. Can you guess what THIS ONE is?"

"Hitchy did the equiv of sixteen issues in 26 months. We're not even launching volume two until six issues are in the drawer so this means it'll be virtually impossible for any issues to be late. Even if he was hit by a bus we'd have six issues to roll out every month. V important 2 because volume 2 is very dense."

He also put up script previews of upcoming issues of Ultimates, Spider-Man and Wanted.

Ed Brubaker releases a statement on the status of Sleeper and the state of play at Wildstorm:

"To put it plainly, Sleeper is fine. For those who didn't realize it, Sleeper was already granted a reprieve to come back for Season Two in the first place, since its sales were not great the first time out. This was thanks to Jim Lee and Scott Dunbier wanting to give the book another chance, and to see how the first trade would sell. As it turned out, the first trade has done gangbusters, being one of Wildstorm's most reordered books this year so far, and the second is just a few months away."

He also talks to Matt Brady:

"As far as the theories about WS coming to an end, I can't see it happening. This is the same talk we heard about Vertigo when Sandman and then later Preacher ended. Wildstorm has a lot of future plans and new books in development."

More of both at link.

Andy Diggle on comics today:

"The X-Men back in spandex. Doom Patrol goes 70s. Wildcats 3.0 cancelled. What fucking century is this... ? I need a drink."

Justin Gray responds:

"'What fucking century is this... ?' The one that precedes a second ice age."

Robert Walker is launching his own self-published superheroine, Delete:

"I wanted Delete to be a good character, not a black character, but a good character who happens to be African American. As I started to create this female super-heroine, I realized that there aren't any lead title characters that are African American females in the industry. Why? Even certain comics which were minority based haven't done it either, they were mostly male driven. That realization came after the fact, though... [The character will be dealing with a demon invasion led by a] a Bill Gates type character who develops technology, superior technology, and gives it out to the public. His underhanded plan for the technology is he's inputted keys to unlock demonic dimensions so that they can pass through to our dimension and possess humans in order to step in to our universe. He's doing this so as to create an army of demons in our reality to conquer the reality from which he was banished from, the Omni-dimension. He's building soldiers here, building up his army, to over take another universe. This is all a metaphor of how we see our society today in how we want to conquer lands to take over, rebuild and make our own, how we look to technology for all the answers like with the Internet. This is a metaphor I explore throughout the series. The book is going to sort of educate people about New York City in the way that 'Sex and the City' did, but I'm going to travel outside of Manhattan. What I plan to do with these characters is to explore the territories of New York, almost advertise what New York is about."

On the one hand, it's good to be ambitious, and it'll be good to see something other than the traditional white male superhero. On the other, the book is going to educate people about what New York is about, but it's about a demon invasion being led by Bill Gates?

The Bendis board ponders the lessons of the cancellation of Wildcats and Stormwatch:

"well, it's the readers and retailers that are to blame: THEY rather want more Spidermans and Xmen and other 'safe' books than something more 'alternative' and provocative... Like Warren Ellis said: 'we lost' or why do you think he's writing UFF all of a sudden? Blame Marvel because they cater to the safe mentality of the readers and do it well. Too well. Blame Bendis for writing safe comics so well so he gets more safe gigs instead of more Torso and Jinx and Powers. (safe being established and proven here, just to be clear) It's all our fault"

"1. If readers want more Spidey and X-titles, and the other books aren't selling, you can't blame the retailers for ordering what sells. 2. Just because Warren Ellis feels that he lost, doesn't mean that Saul Colt, Dan Taylor, Steve Niles, and Dave Lapham feel that they lost 3. Blame Marvel for putting out product that their audience wants? Okay 4. Yeah, Stormwatch is being cancelled because Bendis writes Daredevil. That makes sense."

"Bah! That’s crap! The ultimate line was a very risky move for marvel to make. It actually proves that if they market and present something different and new right, it can find an audience."

Someone has too much time on their hands:

"How many comic book languages are there? I was trying to think of another comic book-created language I could use for something I'm writing. Then it occurred to me: how the heck many languages are there? Kryptonese? Check. Interlac? Check. But then I couldn't think of anymore! Especially for Marvel, which I find mildly shocking given all the alien races and made-up countries they have. I mean, has there ever been published a Kree alphabet? I know a couple words of Sh'iar ('Arin Haelar' or something from Uncanny #137). But what about Namor? Were his people ever shown speaking Atlantean? In fact, the only known Atlantean I'm aware of is a language Disney had made (with Mike Mignola's designs) for their ATLANTIS movie. Any issue of Black Panther where they spoke Wakandan? Thor and Norwegian? Any languages for Dark Horse or other DC books?"

He knows some Shi'ar language. Somewhere, Chris Claremont is very proud.

A retailer complains about Marvel's trading policy:

"Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that the new Marvel Age Spider-Man Digest, which just shipped today, contains issues 1-4 of this new series when issues 3 and 4 haven't even shipped yet? Now, don't get me wrong, I love the fact that Marvel is publishing these formats, especially for these titles, as I am positive that I will be able to successfully market them to younger readers. However, unless Marvel has plans to make issues 3 and 4 of the periodical format returnable, I guarantee you that I'll cut my orders completely (except for box customers) on both Marvel Age: Spider-Man AND Marvel Age: Fantastic Four."

Micah Wright's forum posters respond to the cancellation of Stormwatch:

"Well fuck. Good work anyway Micah. Maybe this can just give you more time for politics this year or something. Sure we'll see more original works from you in the future. Though maybe you need to reconsider the medium of choice next time."

"Okay, *this* just sucks. Sleeper can't be far behind, can it? I suppose they'll do at least half of v2, since much of it's already gone out in previews, but still..."

"Well, that was the shot in the other foot that crippled me. I have no faith in comics as a medium whatsoever and I'm done with 'em. Not buying anymore, and I'll read what I already own. This is just ass. Sorry, Micah. This was, by far, my favorite comic being published right now."

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Wildstorm has cancelled two fucking excellent comics (I'd say two of the best going, but I don't even READ anything except WildCATS 3.0, Stormwatch, and recently Sleeper anymore) this week."

"[W]here the devil is Jim Lee when his imprint is being scorched earth like this? I mean, if I was Jim Lee I'd be furious that DC was slashing and burning my child like this and be raising holy hell with the suits in charge of DC for doing this after he did what he's done for DC by way of doing Superman and Batman for them..."

The other shoe drops. Stormwatch: Team Achilles cancelled. Micah Wright speaks:

"Well, I started to suspect something was up two weeks ago when I learned that the third trade had been removed from the schedule for August. The series cancellation became official late last week, but I promised Wildstorm that I wouldn't comment on it until it had been made public and I keep my word about things like that... The last issue will be #24, on sale July 14th. It's being solicited right now, so be sure you order a couple of copies because you know how hard to find the last issue of a series can be... the retailers cut back on their orders and no one ever gets to read the last chapter!"

As I said about Wildcats: Fuck.

Dustin Nguyen responds to the outcry over Wildcats being cancelled:

"Joe's not only one of the most inventive minds i've gotten to collaborate with, but i feel he's one of the most original creators in the industry today and for whatever reasons the book was canceled, i can assure anyone that it wasnt due to the creative side... Rich and myself left to do a batman stint planning to come back bringing along any fans that we could reach outside the mature readers line of WS ( all while fullfilling both our short term goals of working on batman of course). Its funny... Wildcats was always the book we always said would break us in and take us to the next level or open up the 'big gig', but in the end, it was the one book we both wanted to get back on after the batman run. Joe had huge plans for us, and we had full support editorially. What happened, i have no idea, but i guess to predict the status of a book for more than half a year ahead nowadays is pretty shaky considering the market and numbers and such other things i dont understand too well. I guess we just needed to sell more comics."

More in link, including a good opening line.

Who says emails get no response?:

"well, I must admit, I'm fairly impressed.
I emailed Paul Levitz a few hours ago, and I actually got a response:

"Thanks, but I haven't been involved in this decision. It was made by the WildStorm team (Jim, John Nee and Scott Dunbier) based on sales and their future plans for the characters. I appreciate your support of the project, but your comments should be addressed to them.

"So, for all of you writing, I dont think that writing Levitz will hurt (who knows, a little pressure from above? you never know) but it looks like the attention should really be placed on the Wildstorm editorial staff."

Ed Brubaker sets the record straight on one conspiracy theory about the cancellation of Wildcats; namely, that the book was cancelled so that Dustin Nguyen would then be free to do more mainstream work for DC:

"This is utter bullshit. They didn't cancel the book to free up Dustin. I know what he's going to be doing next, and the two were not in the slightest connected. He's still returning to WS, not staying at DC."

I'll say it before anyone else does: Dustin as artist on Brubaker's Authority?

The Beat! takes a page out of Marvel's book today: The shocking return of a friend thought dead rocks the comics world to its very core!, you could even say.

Mark Millar talks about the Wildcats cancellation:

"The average Wildstorm book sells less than 10,000 copies and I'm just curious where the blame lies. The creators clearly aren't at fault and Jim Lee is obviously completely guilt-free (he's the one golden goose they have over there), but something weird happened in the twelve to eighteen months following DC buying that company. Top 10 books like WildCATS are now selling outside the Top 100 despite the fact that the material has improved on every level and the industry has grown considerably over the same period. As a creator, this disturbs me because I see terrific work from people I like being killed between the printing press and the comic-book stand. This is not another DC bash (because there are some new people over there that I like very much), but somebody, somewhere isn't doing there job and it isn't Joe and Dustin. If I were Humanoids, I'd be reasonably concerned right now."

And later:

"This is a book that didn't sell at all and Sleeper has the same problems. Both are excellent books and, like the rest of the WS line, they're dying (or have died) on their feet. The creators are holding up their end of the bargain so someone in the chain of command is clearly not getting these books in front of the right people. Wanted #1 has sold 82,000 copies and is off at a third printing as we speak, but Wanted is no better than WildCATS. Top Cow simply did a better job of making people aware of the book and made sure it reached the target demographic. Vertigo books sell 12-15K and WS books sell even less. Someone, somewhere isn't doing their job when an Avatar Press book like The Unfunnies is outselling this stuff. WildCATS getting cancelled pisses me off because the creators are feeling the pain for clear incompetence elsewhere. Books this good should get more support because I can name fifty books that sell more and read like shit."

And later again:

"DC didn't destroy their Wildstorm purchase until around 12 months after the buy, mainly because they didn't see the kind of radical, 21st century superheroes they'd been doing (mostly off the back of Warren Ellis). WS really was heading for greatness in 2000. They had Planetary and Authority, Alan Moore's entire output across four of five monthly books and both Morrison and myself had been talking to them about two or three creator-owned books each. Azzarello was lined-up for Authority, everybody wanted in, it was the coolest company around, beating out even Marvel Knights in fan buzz, and then DC just decided that they didn't feel superheroes should be done like this. Three VPs in NYC told me personally that they just didn't understand why people bought these books and they did everything they could to kill them... It's no accident WildCATS dropped from the top ten to the top 150 on DC's watch as the industry rocketed. They just don't dig the book and are not supporting Joe in any way because, as a VP said to me two years ago, 'the Wildstorm superhero books do nothing to improve the human condition.'"

But, remember, he's not bashing DC, just stating outright that they tried to kill an imprint they'd spent a lot of money purchasing.

Silver Bullet Comicbooks' The Panel asks "What are the benefits and drawbacks of the large-scale comics publishers predominantly choosing comics readers to be the next generation of writers/artists/production staff?" Scott Allie answers:

"That's like asking about Simon and Schuster's habit of hiring authors who also read."

Kevin Anderson on how he ended up reviving Starjammers for Marvel:

"It's a long and roundabout path -- an editor at Marvel had read my Dune prequels with Brian Herbert and also some of my other novels, so he wrote me from out of the blue and asked if I would like to take a crack at writing some issues of X-Men, Hulk or other core characters... I was thrilled with the opportunity, and we bounced around some ideas... but then he moved to a different job, and my proposals were handed off to another editor. Eventually, Marvel came back and said what they were more interested in was to have me pick up one of their 'mothballed' titles and retool it from scratch. Then we spent several months looking at several possibilities. I was interested in Killraven, because - as you can tell from some of my novels and short stories, I have a real connection with H.G. Wells and the War of the Worlds, but either there were copyright issues or Marvel had other plans for Killraven. Then we looked at trying to do something interesting with Man Wolf, and then I got a phone call from the editor: 'Kevin, I have two words for you -- Space Pirates!' And that's how we settled on Starjammers."

In the middle of a pointless debate, SLG's Jennifer deGuzman talks about the current state of the industry:

"[H]ere's how I see it from a practical viewpoint -- it's the sad state of the industry that most independent comics creators can't live from what they make on their comics, and I can't blame them for answering 'the call' when they get it. At the same time, I hated to see Andi Watson writing Namor (and I was ready to throw down when I read that "Andi has stepped up to the next level of comic creators" comment in Marvel's press release) because I don't care about Namor; I care about what characters and stories that Andi creates. I hated to lose David Hahn's Private Beach so he could work on Love Bites. I would hate to lose any of the talented people I work with because they had to make the difficult decision to work on characters and worlds that aren't their own because they needed the money.

"And what I hate most is that I'm not smart enough to figure out how to fix this situation. I can't step into the direct market and make them change what they order. I can't, no matter how much I want to, make indpendent comics sell like even the more obscure Big Two titles. Our director of sales Deb does a hell of a job showing comics retailers new stuff, and we try to publish good comics that we feel people will enjoy reading, but the industry's structure seems to be cast in...oh, god, I can't resist it -- cast in adamantium."

(Thanks, Heidi.)

This could be interesting to watch:

"Public Square Press, a New York-based publisher, has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute Norma Editorial's Spanish language graphic novels in the United States. Public Square will introduce the first batch of titles to retailers in the U.S. in June. Ten to fifteen new selections will follow each month in what is a very ambitious publishing program. Titles include Spanish language versions of Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Frank Miller's Sin City, and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis as well as Slaine and Judge Dredd from England, European graphic novels by Manara, Marini, and Hugo Pratt, and a line of 'How To Draw Manga' titles from Japan. Retailers will be able to order the books from Ingram, Baker & Taylor and Diamond Comic Distributors, or directly from Public Square Press."

Where did Crossgen go wrong? Millarworld investigates:

"personally, i think the first bad decision was to make such a huge investment in a) locking everyone with exclusive contracts b ) having everyone work on-site (meaning they had to move to florida and be given an office) this created a lot of expenses that had to be covered before the company saw any profit, we all know that comics do not produce tons of cash unless they´re ordered on huge numbers - and, being realistic, there was no way they could expect big numbers being a new company and publishing fantasy, a genre that has only seen high orders twice in the last decade (battle chasers and conan) and so-so orders once (tellos)"

"Shoddy business practices toward the end (unpaid artists) put the nail in the coffin. Please don't think I'm just bashing them or wanted them to fail from the beginning or some such nonsense. I just think business people who screw the talent out of their pay deserve to go belly-up."

"Ultimately, the industry didn't need another super-hero universe. The 1990s were littered with such things -- the original Image Universe, Valiant, Ultraverse, Triumphant, Comics Greatest World, Defiant. Did anyone think that another one would be successful? And, sorry, but Crossgen WAS a super-hero universe, no matter how badly they wanted to dress it up as fantasy or science fiction. It's ultimately tepid, company-owned work-for-hire, PG-rated genre comics. That's superheroes, kids."

BMW advert becomes comic shocker:

"Making the move from online cinema to printed page, this July BMW Films’ The Hire is translated into a six issue miniseries from Dark Horse... If you’re scratching your head about who or what “The Hire” is in the first place, you may want to check out www.bmwfilms.com for a quick minute. In total, The Hire is a series of eight short films starring Clive Owen as a driver hired to perform special jobs for which he is particularly well-suited. The films have been created by some of Hollywood’s top names, but this is the first time the property has made the jump to another media."

In other news, Marvel Icon plans to revive this comic in the fall:

Frank Cho to fill-in for Terry Dodson on the new Marvel Knights Spider-Man series:

"I am doing a fill-in issue of Marvel Knight Spider-Man (#5) to give Terry Dodson some breathing room. This issue starts a brand new story arc written by Mark Millar. I've finished the cover and page one already... 1) My version of Mary Jane is the bustiest in Marvel history.
2) I'm not used to drawing buildings and cars. So I'm buying bunch of car magazines and books on buildings and cities."

He then went on to say that Mary Jane, like every female character he draws, will look exactly like Brandy from Liberty Meadows, adding "But there's nothing wrong with that, right?"

Jean Schulz talks to The Pulse:

"[Her and Charles Schulz's] first meeting was simply a discussion about my daughter and her skating and I don’t actually remember any individual dates. What I find amazing, and your readers may also, is looking back at how very ordinary our life was in those days and indeed for the first 10 years we were married. We played a lot of tennis on the weekends, took tennis lessons, played in some tournaments, had dinner with a few good friends and generally had a very low key life... When Sparky did a 25th anniversary special with Phyllis George all of our friends were amazed that he was going to be on television. Sparky and my children always got along well, but they were pretty busy with their own lives."

It's a nice little gentle interview. Go read.

Millarworld is upset about the cancellation of Wilcats. So upset, in fact, that they're not going to take it anymore:

"Don't you like intelligent comics, while we discuss stupid, and bad comics like Uncanny X-men or the next youngblood, one of the best books in the industry has been cancelled, just because people keep buying that type of shit instead of going and buying good comics. Spending money in something you don't like just to have it complete and denying other great titles that will actually make your money worth sucks. Why give all the attenion to Austen, that is undobtly a bad writer, when Joe Casey it's having trouble and cancellation in what was the best book(only second to Sleeper). It sucks, I know people here buy many good comics, but if you go to other boards it's all about the freaking X-Men and how bad some books are but I keep butying them, when good books such as Wildcats 3.0 are getting cancelled. You know there's book out there like Stormwatch, Sleeper, Fables, and many more comics that deserve more attention that those that doesn't. Seriously think a little and gicve a chance. And how about trying to save Wildcats, for the inferior Spider Girl worked, why not for Wildcats."

"It's not working with Captain Marvel, but don't let that stop you. It you feel that this book shouldn't be cancelled, let them know DAMN IT!"

"DC doesn't care. No amount of fan response will change this. Have they ever reversed a decision due to fan outcry? Not in my memeory. That's Marvel's bag."

"We can try. Dude, do u know the power this site have. Many of us have been mention in big news, and this site is the point of many news through the week. Not only that many mods and important people of here are fans of this book. I think we could to this, why not try. Well it's Joe Casey, bring him here."

(Frank Davis is thinking along similar lines at Micah Wright's forum: "The best thing we can all do is either start a petiotion and see if we can have Joe back, or at the very least thank Joe for the years of quality he gave us. I know Joe is reading this, so let's not be angry, let's thank him for all the excellence that he gave us for the last four years of Wildcats both in Volume 2 and 3.0")

Well, fuck:

"As was mentioned in the article about Stormwatch: Team Achilles, the post Coup D’Etat Wildstorm Universe is an unstable place. Unfortunately, this means both within the fictional world as well as in the real. Wildcats 3.0 writer Joe Casey has informed Newsarama that the series has been cancelled."

Joe Casey talks to Newsarama about the cancellation:

"Issue #24 [August] is the final issue. The reasons were completely financial. I hate it when I see people trying to spin things in their favor just to pump themselves up. Let’s just be honest here… in this particular case, it was low sales that did us in... I just got the call last week so I’m still kind of reeling from the news. But I knew the writing was on the wall when I heard they weren’t doing any more Wildcats 3.0 trade paperback collections - well, aside from some weird Cyberforce crossover tpb, I guess. As far as those are concerned, what’s out there now is all there is and -- as far as I’ve been told -- all there ever will be."

(Thanks, Jeff.)

Mark Thompson talks about Checker Publishing:

"I began publishing comic books we created in our studio. I wanted to do what I thought was cool. Our timing could not have been worse, launching in 1996, you get the picture. I actually closed the doors of that venture in 1999 ... never expecting to give it another shot. But it kept gnawing at me that our contemporaries (primarily Marvel) were such poor business people that there had to be an opportunity to be successful in the marketplace. It was a poser - especially since most of the competitive product (comic books) was really not that good. The path to success hit like a lightning bolt as fan after fan remarked how they preferred the graphic novel format and sales interest among retailers began to reflect this phenomenon. The examination of the graphic novel format and the complete abandonment of the traditional comic book page format was the epiphany I needed. The graphic novel format was simultaneously profitable and editorially liberating. What differentiates us from the other publishers is twofold: we don't just do pamphlets for our movie projects and we don't stick to 'pet' projects , I.E.: 'I only do what I personally like' ... There' s no other publisher out there like this. We do what the fans want, and what is historically critical to the survival of the artform ... with the occasional project which is undertaken simply because it is fun ... which is why comics are picked up for the first time by fans anyway."

Gary Groth at The Pulse:

"The one thing I'll say on the record is that the amount embezzled [from Fantagraphics] was a drop in the bucket relative to our cash flow crisis last year. In other words, it had nothing to do with our public plea for readers to buy books."

And that's literally all he said.

Also from Amazon, and along the lines of great cover designs, Seth's next Peanuts cover:



Walter Cronkite doing the introduction on this one? Hmm...

Mike Oeming's new Image project, Six, appears in August:

"The story is really weird, kind a of a mix of Richard Linklater's Waking Life and The Hidden, a great B-movie from the eighties. Or, for you art snobs, Jean-Luc Godard's whacked-out classic, Alphaville."

I had to sit through Alphaville in a lecture when I was at art school. The following week, we were shown Threads, the most depressing movie ever. One of my lecturers had a strange taste in movies.

Courtesy of Amazon: What seems to be the cover of the tpb of The Filth:



Now, that's beautiful.

Millarworld have the Marvel July solicitations early. Of note:

* Avengers 500: "It begins with the return of an Avenger thought dead -- and by the time it's over, everything you know about the Avengers will have changed!" Wait, so they'll no longer be a team of superheroes published by Marvel? Wow, Bendis wasn't kidding when he said that he was out to change things...

* Captain America and the Falcon is pencilled by Joe Bennett. Huzzah!

* Captain America's main title has this start to the solicit: "Marvel Knights no more! Cap returns to the Marvel Universe proper, where he's thrown headfirst into one of the most hectic days of his career."

* Spectacular Spider-Man is an Avengers Dissembled tie-in: "Spidey's life is thrown into turmoil as he begins to undergo a shocking transformation — one that may well leave the web-slinger scarred forever! What is the cause of this strange mutation — and how does it connect to the troubles plaguing the Avengers?"

* No-longer-New X-Men has "The shocking return of an enemy thought dead" which "rocks the X-Men to their very core", which is nice. But what's with dead characters coming back in Marvel team books this month?

* Rogue gets her own series, written by Rob Rodi. She's dealing with demons from her past, which seems to be what she spends half of her life doing.

* Cable/Deadpool has the greatest solicit this month: "One of them's frozen solid, the other is a pile of blue goo! They'll need each other to survive — and it might involve exchanging bodily fluids!"

* Man-Thing gets a new miniseries, to tie in with the movie.

* There's a Guardians of The Galaxy revamp, too. But this time they're disaffected twenty-somethings! Cutting edge!

* Some great TPBs this month. In particular, Essential Avengers 4 and Captain America and The Falcon by Jack Kirby...

Augie De Blieck Jr. sums up the pros, the cons and some undecideds about Icon:

"Image has been around for better than a decade now with the same financial deal in place. They've weathered the bust and the low markets. Their owners are committed to the system that's in place, and have stuck to it through thick and thin. Marvel had one attempt at a creator-owned line scuttled last year AFTER contracts were signed for books such as DESPERATE TIMES, and even AFTER books were published such as GUN THEORY. Marvel is not a private company. It's answerable to its share owners, ultimately, and can easily fall victim to the whim of its senior officers. See how easily they've changed gears from In Your Face and Out With The Old to Chris Claremont Doing The X-Men Again, and everyone back in costumes and avoiding thorny issues. Do you want to bet your franchise on that not happening again? Bendis and Mack just did."

A poster at the Joe Quesada board has a theory about Crossgen and Marvel:

"So, hypothetically speaking, let's say, for the sake of argument that, possibly, Crossgen might end it's existence as a company. Possibly, that is. Now, it is conceivable that it's characters will be up for grabs, as with Chaos! Which would suck for Lady Death, but let's ignore that for now. What I'm trying to say here is: wouldn't it be nice if Marvel picked up a few of 'em? Sojourn especially would be cool. Not in the mainstream Marvel U I mean (please no, that'd kinda spoil the premise), but under an imprint. It'd be a shame to lose these essentially cool comics. Who has heard from the other Chaos! characters, 'cause I certainly haven't? I wasn't that big a fan and have just the few Chaos! comics, but still, there was very little actually wrong with them. If Marvel backed these characters, put decent writers on them (AND GOT GREG LAND, DAMMIT!), this could be pure gold. or at least really nice."

Well, Icon is set up to do licensed properties...

Micah Wright on Stormwatch, post Coup D'Etat:

"Coup was something the writers of the WSU came up with together... And really, it didn't screw up the book too much... it provided me an angle to get in some new stories, introduce new players and get out into the world a bit. To establish a new headquarters, that sort of thing. I'm enjoying it, actually... The [next] issue’s also going to have an ending that no one is expecting and the next issue, man alive, are the readers going to be hopping in glee. The conspiracy is just starting, and no one conspires better than Ben Santini."

GenX Maverick, possibly not his real name, is considering trust issues at Newsarama:

"There's so much damn gossip in the comics industry. When I was 18, boy, would I have envied all the secrets I get to be in on now! But the reality is, I must tread lightly. More importantly, I cannot be cavalier and simply share it with those I trust without thinking about the confidence I've been asked to keep. Having the trust of comics pros and others in the industry is flattering and humbling... but it's also a huge commitment where you now have to put your own integrity and reputation on the line... I really appreciate the nascent friendships I've started here at Newsarama. I value the camraderie and thoughtfulness I've had the privilege of experiencing from not only the posters here but also from Newsarama's old guard (you know who you are and you know I'm talking to YOU--so no names). I might not post as much as I have in the last few months. Yet it's important to me that everyone here knew I value and respect them immensely. That I take my presence on this site not only very seriously, but also that I want to be mature and professional about how I conduct myself online & off on a permanent basis from here on out."

(Thanks, Ed.)

Scott Robins looks at the Marvel Age line in this week's Previews Review:

"I've read the stories in the Spider-Man digest and sure, they aren't sophisticated, they're a bit cliché (especially in the eyes of a long time comic book fan), they do take an easy road in repackaging old stories with more appealing art-but this is what will sell to an 8 year old who wants to read Spider-Man. The tricky thing about children's books is that you really have to know your market. It becomes clear very quickly when a book will tank. Spider-Man, and to a certain extent, Spider-Girl have already in-place audiences and markets for the books, thanks mostly to the successful movie. Kids wandering through a bookstore will recognize Spider-Man. In fact, I'm selling the Spider-Man digest on my book club this Fall.

"It's the other two I worry about. Even though RUNAWAYS and SENTINEL are critically acclaimed books in the direct market, will this translate into sales in bookstores? Marvel really needs to get out there with some aggressive marketing strategies to make kids, parents, booksellers, and everyone else aware of these books. I'll be picking up both to see if they're as good as everyone says they are and if, more importantly, they will speak to a tween/teen reading audience. I do find it interesting that this line, touted as being Marvel's foray into the bookstore market, currently has each title CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE for order on Canadian bookstores like Chapters and Amazon.ca as well as American stores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. For some reason I would've thought these would hit the bookstore market before the direct market."

The Bendis board weighs in on the Cooke/Millar discussion from last week:

"He seem to be making arguments both for an agaisnt adult oriented books at the same time. Or is he just saying costumed books shoudlnt be adult? Whatever, he draws great!"

"I think that you don't really have to go that far to make a book child-accessible. Read the Spider-Man books from the 80's. Hell, read any of the mainstream superhero books. They all had their fair share of violence, they all dealt with social and political issues and whatnot. They dealt with drugs, abuse, war, corruption, teen violence. And they worked. Kids read 'em. I was 5 or 6 when I first started reading comics, and I didn't quite get some of the stuff at first, it still made a connection. Don't dumb down comics. Kids aren't stupid, so don't insult them. But just find that thin line and go from there."

"I agree with Millar. If Cooke is right, then Fables should be cancelled. After all, it's using characters that were designed to only appeal to kids, right? I don't want to read kiddie books. I like superheroes. I'm an adult. I'm insulted by people who say I shouldn't like superheroes because they're for kids. It's the writing that determines the level of the book - see millar's arguments re: Harry Potter vs Alan Moore-type sex wizards."

"New Frontier is one of the coolest books I have ever read... and it seems awfully geared toward adults to me."

"Yeah, no shit. From what he said on Millarworld, shouldn't Cooke burn in hell for that Wonderwoman scene alone?"

Mike Oeming talks about his upcoming Thor run:

"I don’t want to give too much away. Let’s say you’ll see things here that have never been done in Thor before. This is a lot about Thor’s family, his relation to Asgard as its Lord in absence of his father, what does it mean to lead the Gods - to be a god - to rise above the rest and become a god? It sounds grand, but truly it’s a personal Thor story. This is his story. There's lots of 'cosmic gobbly-gook' but it’s truly a personal story about Thor."

Thanks to the wonder of eBay, you too can own a piece of comics history:

"You are bidding on this wonderful Crossgen Comics pre-employment pack that was sent to all potential Crossgen employees by the wonderful Mark Alessi ! At the 1st inception of Crossgen it looked like a wonderful place. It boast's a great 'philosophy', amazing 'facility', and it has a flyer explaining each and several other outstanding draws to they re Florida facility. And thats just in the 'Crossgen Comics Inc.' section ! Than it has a 'universe' section, a 'Character' section, a 'Press' section, an 'Art' section and my favorite the 'Staff section'. All chocked full of really cool pamphlets explaining each individual aspect of this rock solid company. It also comes with the 'Crossgen Sampler', 'Crossgen Primer' and 'Crossgenesis' comics. And all this wonderful stuff coms in a beautiful Crossgen binder. On the inside cover of the binder it reads: 'To set and maintain the industry standard for quality in comic book publication. To deliver product in a and consistent manner. To provide readers with a high quality, entertaining product that does not insult their intelligence. To treat all Employees with integrity, Courtesy, Dignity and respect. To share the wealth with those who help create it. To prove it can be done.' And as EVERYONE knows, theyve lived up to ALL of these standards !"

No-one has bid as I write this. I hope you'll all have changed that tomorrow.

(Thanks, S.)

DC's July solicits are up. That which catches my eye:

* The "DC Comics Presents" specials begin, with Batman, Adam Strange, Green Lantern and Hawkman getting the all-star creator treatment in honor of Julie Schwartz.

* DC's Humanoids also start this month: Technopriests, Townscapes, and Metal Hurlant start the line...

* Eddie Campbell's Batman graphic novel appears.

* Gail Simone takes over The Legion, which goes biweekly (as does JLA).

* Plastic Man welcomes Kyle Baker back with a great solicitation: "Something's gone wrong! Time has gone crazy, and it's affecting all of the DCU! Who would do this? And why? Seems risky, right? Things are bad enough as it is. Why make them worse?"

* Talking of great solicitations, how good is this one for JLA: Another Nail #3?: "Things get downright insane when shifting temporal displacements wreak havoc on not just Earth, but the entire universe! It's Batman vs. the Joker in Hell! Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Legion of Super-Heroes in a land that time forgot! Green Lantern and the Doom Patrol battle Power Girl, Black Orchid and Star Sapphire beneath the streets of Midway City, and more!" It's Batman... vs. the Joker... in Hell! How can you miss that?

* That said, it won't be as much fun as Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 3. I fucking love these stories.

* Ah, another beautiful Darwyn Cooke cover for The New Frontier...:



* Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic returns, with an extra "k" at the end of the title for pretension's sake. A good creative team, though. Si Spencer returns!

* Another nice Sleeper cover, too. But what else would you expect from this book?

Rich Johnston on Icon, at the very-slow-today Lying In The Gutters:

"So as for being a step forward for creator rights, Icon seems a very exclusive club. Invitation only, very limited, it seems a reward for doing other high-profile Marvel company-owned work, and then only the top names. It's a perk for the work-for-hire creators, not a step forward for creator rights. It's two tier, it's favouritism, it's... well, 'apartheid' is a term already being used to describe it by some creators not yet invited to the party. No problem with that, of course, Marvel's business, but when it's spun the other way, it deserves a little unspinning. And a number of Marvel creators are already tutting."

Via Millarworld: Is this the Icon brand logo?

Well, they're honest, if nothing else:

"I love T&A, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm sick and tired of the snobbish and pretentious attitude, of people insulting comics with women who are drawn sexy, with clothing designed to maximise that effect. They insult these comics without ever reading them, and act like they are intellectually superior, and those who read these comics are pathetic perverts. It's annoying. I don't see why people should try to make me feel ashamed of liking comics like Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, or the original Lady Death, or Shi, or Demonslayer. Even Elektra and Birds of Prey get that abuse, sometimes. I love T&A. End rant."

"What people don't realize is that alot of people that like T&A like it because it's visually pleasing....that doesn't mean i get a hard on because i find it 'pleasing' I can't get hard looking at a 2D illustrated picture but it's nice to look at. I just have a deep respect for the female form....thats all. I hate it when people complain about T&A and sound all self righteous...Bah!! It's funny to me because you would think that with the extremely large number of comic fans that have never seen a real life naked women..they would be thankful for getting to see a drawing of one The people that bitch the most about T&A always seem to be the cynical nerd fanboys who try way too hard to sound like highbrow intellectuals and criticize everyone and everything on a regular basis. Comics message forums are full of people like this Somehow tossing off to a Neil Gaiman trade makes them better than those who like to look at women....."

Chuck Dixon on American Power:

"The reasons for the cancellation of AP are VERY inside CG. It has a lot to do with future plans for the company. It is NOT another sign of the apocalypse for CrossGen. It was done for strictly business reasons that I'm not going to make public right now. Am I disappointed? Yes, I am. I'd written two and half scripts and was really into the series. The folks here at CG whose opinions I trust were very much enjoying the project. Will it someday see the light of day? We'll see what the future holds. But don't believe most of the crap you read about CG on the web. And, am I angry about the outrage that AP caused? Nope. That was the plan all along. Thought it astounds me that you can publish any kind of stories you want trashing the USA and be lauded as 'daring.' But portray terrorists as the animal scum they are and you're dragged over the coals."

(Via Newsarama, which also reports that Crossgen have pulled out of this year's Free Comic Book Day event.)

Chuck Austen on Lois Lane, in his recent Silver Bullet interview:

"The fact is, I can write Lois charming, and likeable, and very sweet and loving. You can do anything with these characters, and make them work. So Lois is what I make her in my writing. If I don’t like her, I have no one to blame but myself. In fact, I wrote a Lois and Clark love story that hasn’t been printed yet — it was a fill-in I did before I got the gig — though it may be done soon. In that story, she is as I would write her in the series. Someone who loves her husband deeply, even though they have occasional problems. Charming and sweet, funny and loveable. Simple and straightforward, and it works great."

Randy Lander disagrees:

"Austen gives a primer on how not to write Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane and, as a bonus, Darkseid and some of his crew [in his first issue of Action Comics]. Nobody feels in character, and worse, they're not even interesting in the way they're being portrayed out of a character... there's Lois Lane, who is such a coward that she won't even tell her husband that his boss has (inexplicably, by the way) demoted him. and so heartless that she can't have dinner with her husband to ease the pain of a rough day because she's afraid the truth might slip out."

Paul O'Brien isn't convinced by Chuck Austen's continuation of Grant Morrison's NewXMen:

"Honestly, you wonder whether anyone - Austen or his editors - actually read or at least understood the scripts for the last few months. The point of the last scene in issue #154 is that Jean Grey influences Scott to say yes to Emma's proposals (pursue their relationship, reopen the school) and thereby builds a happier and better future. Picking up straight where that issue left off, Austen goes straight back to having Scott say no again."

(He also writes the greatest review of Captain America and the Falcon I've seen yet: "When did Bart Sears lose the plot, exactly? Wasn't he popular, several years ago? Didn't he understand at one point how to draw a comic? This is a decent script. It is, however, an almost unreadable comic, thanks to Bart Sears. I was one of the minority of reviewers last month who was prepared to look past the art to the story. I was wrong. This is just incredibly annoying. What the fuck does Sears think he's doing? Why aren't Marvel sending this crap back to be re-drawn? Does anyone actually like the art in this book?")

Ninth Art looks at this week's comics, including Bite Club:

"Vertigo allegedly opted to abandoned horror after Warren Ellis' run on HELLBLAZER, but without it, all the supernatural stuff that Vertigo still churns out ends up strangely toothless. For the cost of this six issue miniseries, you could buy SCARFACE on DVD, which sounds much more tempting. Stay tuned also for Vertigo's THE WITCHING, not to be confused with WITCHES, a series from Marvel launching at the same time. Both star three teenage witches - a ginger one, a Goth one, and an ethnic one - as they discover their powers, blah blah blah zzzz. Or just rent THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. Weren't comics supposed to inspire films, these days?"

Just to keep Augie happy, TCJ board posters react to Icon:

"Not exactly huge, exciting news to many here, but noteworthy nonetheless. Marvel in the past hasn't been too hospitable to projects which they didn't own outright (even if they did have some control over them). Last year's aborted Epic project is testement to this. On the other hand, they seem to be trying to do well by their 'boys,' Bendis and Mack, more than trying to expand their publishing initiatives."

"I give it....oh let's say....9 months to a year (how long did that Epic revival thing last? 6 months ?) plug will be pulled, creators will be alienated and ripped off...and Marvel will go back to being Marvel.."

"The 'first' time creator ownership was offered...? so what kind of deal did Sergio Argones have for Groo or JM J. DeMatteis for his Moonshadow when they were published by Epic ?"

"It would be nice if Marvel and DC just acted as publishers, and not property owners, but that's never going to happen. They make their money by owning those popular trademarks, they're not going to change their publishing plan. Besides, the creators of their stuff are either dead, going to die relatively soon, retired, or otherwise moved on."

Apparently, I blinked and missed The Comics Journal's website being updated at the start of the month. Amongst the updates, Michael Dean writes about ACTOR:

"Since its inception, [Jim] McLauchlin said, A.C.T.O.R. has disbursed approximately $70,000 worth of aid to a total of 13 creators. Since more than $53,000 had been disbursed prior to the 2002 audit, that total suggests the amount of disbursements has slowed in the past year and a half. Asked if there was a point at which he would become concerned that A.C.T.O.R. is pulling money in faster than it's finding the creators who need it, McLauchlin said, 'I think it's good to be bringing in money. You never know what's going to happen in the future. If there's a point where I would be concerned that we have too much money, I don't know what that point would be.'"

Deep Sleeper moves from Oni to Image:

"Our relationship with Oni came to an end recently when all parties failed to reach an agreement regarding film rights to the series. Oni decided to end our publishing agreement and allowed Mike and me to start fresh with a new publisher. I’m aware that even the slightest loss of momentum can doom an independent comic book in today’s market, and I hope those of you who enjoyed the first two issues will follow the book to its new home. In the end, we’re asking you fine people to hang in there a couple more months for issue three than originally planned. I apologize for the delay, and promise that the conclusion to the series will be worth the wait.

"Although I’m sad to leave Oni this way, I couldn’t be happier with the welcome we’ve received at Image. Eric Stephenson and the gang at Image went above and beyond with getting Deep Sleeper up and running in record time. Mike and I hope this is just the beginning of a long and happy relationship with the publisher. I have nothing but gratitude for the opportunities Oni gave me as a new writer and my time there will be remembered fondly. I think Oni makes some of the best books in the business, and the probably the saddest part of this whole thing for me is that I won’t be getting Queen and Country or Love Fights for free any more."

Completing the cycle, Oni have announced that they will take over publication of Avengers, Thor and Iron Man this Summer.

If it's Monday, it's someone leaving Crossgen day:

"According to sources, James Brietbeil, Director of Sales, Direct & Foreign Market resigned from CrossGen mid to late last week. With the recent departures of Chris Oarr (Vice President of Sales) and Bill Rosemann (Sr. VP of Publishing), the company currently, on paper, has no sales staff. However, Newsarama has learned that Barbara Kesel, Director of Creative Development, is handling some of Brietbeil’s duties, including the coordination of Free Comic Book Day."

All The Rage is back, and jumping to conclusions again:

"A lot of people have been asking me what happened to [David] Mack’s Ultimate X-Men work, which suddenly disappeared from the schedule without any explanation from the House of Ideas. Well, I’ve been trying to get an answer. I asked David about his X-scripts, hoping to get confirmation that they will be released in some form. He hasn’t responded. I take the silence to mean his X-work will be coming out and he can’t talk about it."

Rich Johnston's Holed Up from Avatar is released early. He uses the press release announcing this to talk up Marvel's Astonishing X-Men:

"Holed Up, the new comic from Lying In The Gutters rumourmonger Rich Johnston, and published by Avatar is to ship on April the 21st to the USA, April the 22nd to the UK. Solicited for May, Holed Up is shipping early to, in Richard's words, 'get a look in before Astonishing X-Men comes and takes the wind out of my sales.' Holed Up, by Rich Johnston and Gonzalo Martinez tells the story of a family of survivalists, working together to keep federalists and communists at bay, and proving that the family that flays together stays together. However, in May, Marvel Comics are publishing the first issue of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men. 'That monster's going to sell 300,000. It's all anyone's going to be talking about. So I want to get a week or two of people talking about Holed Up before I get flattened.' Avatar Press have also chosen to give Holed Up a significant over-order, ensuring copies of Holed Up are available for curious readers and retailers 'before the great vacuum known as Astonishing X-Men sucks all the interest away' said Rich Johnston."

Between this and the last Waiting For Tommy, you have to wonder if Rich is angling for an Icon invite or something...

DC Dill is all about the Justice League merchandise:

"The licensing stuff may not be important to a lot of you, and most of you probably wince when you see the stuff in the store, and it’s doubtful that all that junk will amount to anything on the collector’s market anytime soon, but nevertheless I’m enamored. I have a set of Justice League tattoos that we found at an arcade ticket redemption booth, as well as some packaged paddle balls sporting images of Superman, Green Lantern, Batman and Wonder Woman that we found at that same ticket redemption booth. I picked up all the Justice League birthday party stuff I could find, I picked up the Toys R Us exclusive Justice League Christmas wrapping paper last year, I grabbed the Justice League line of books for younger readers, I swiped all the JLA-starring coloring books and children’s storybooks I could find as well as the Justice League Magic Fun Slate, I purchased the Justice League kite (both this year’s model and last year’s), I bought the Justice League valentines (one box for my collection and one box for Ashton to pass out in class), and I even picked up the Batmobile children’s slippers. Who among you could resist Batmobile slippers? ANSWER ME!"

Erik Larsen talks about Icon:

"I think some people are really blowing this out of proportion. On our end--it's a couple books--and books come and go all the time. For Marvel--it's a couple books--and they've already got a hundred of 'em that they're making more money on--this won't be a serious revenue stream for them if the Icon deal is anything like the Image deal. As far as retailers and fans go--there won't be much of a change--the same books will be coming out by the same creators. Dale Keown took Pitt from Image and self-published. Groo went from Marvel/Epic to Image to Dark Horse. Bone was here for a while and then Jeff Smith went back to self-publishing. Both Gray Area and Phantom Jack were supposed to be Marvel/Epic titles and they ended up at Image. These sorts of things happen all the time. I'm not happy to see these two titles go by any means but I'm hardly getting ready to slit my wrists either."

The Pulse reports on Fantagraphics' dirty laundry:

"We discovered an employee had embezzled money from us. This employee no longer works here and we hope to have the matter resolved to our satisfaction later this year. I don't think this is an industry issue or an issue that affects anyone but us, and therefore don't want to go into the gory details — which I believe is the victim's prerogative. If Danny wants more dirt, he's going to have to sick the crack team of internet investigative journalists on us. (Somehow I don't think I have anything to worry about.)"

Newsarama have updated their Icon coverage with statements by Erik Larsen, Brian Bendis and David Mack.

Larsen:

"How will the loss of these two titles affect Image? In all honesty -- not a lot. Kabuki hasn’t had a new miniseries in years and Powers is a single title. Brian, Mike and David are keeping their trade paperback libraries at Image and we will continue to sell them through our backlist. Of course we're sorry to see them go, but it’s not the end of the world. We take a small flat fee from every title that comes out through Image and financially this isn’t a huge hit. At this point we’ve got literally dozens of exciting new titles in the works that we’re thrilled to be publishing. The loss of a couple of our older titles isn’t something that pleases us on any level--but we’ll get over it."

Bendis:

"The good news is that nothing about the quality or content of the comics will change. This is fully creator owned publishing initiative just like image central is. We own every page, every staple. All content is ours. Produced exactly like we have for many years at image. Same letter columns, same production people, same everything. No ads except for in house ads in the back. Everything is the same except the company logo. Most people won’t even notice the change. If you are already a reader of Powers, stay cool. It’s all the same goodies."

Mack:

"The move to our new imprint at Marvel is not a competition with the service the Image offers to the creative community, but a unique opportunity that offers Powers and Kabuki the best of both worlds for the new launch of our books. Marvel saw that we were in a certain situation, and offered us this solution. It is an invite-only imprint that Marvel made for us as a reward for our level of work with them."

More of all statements here.

Park Cooper and Barb-Lien Cooper offer some absolutes for comics. Amongst them:

"Creating a comic is not something that anyone can do. It takes a lot of commitment and a lot of organization, which is something that many people often seem to forget. It also takes talent, a fact often forgotten entirely."

"Don't write or publish a comic if you can't spell or use correct grammar. Words are your power tools and the English language is your workshop. Spelling is one of the most useful tools in your toolbox. Please disabuse yourself of the idea that concepts such as spelling, grammar, and use of words don't matter in comics because you have ideas, an artist, and enough money to self-publish. Craft will come eventually, with practice, but my God! You have to conquer the basics like subject/verb agreement and knowing what words mean before you write."

"There is, however, a power in DIY, do-it-yourself comics. There is a punk beauty in creating without paying attention to what people think the rules are. And sometimes the comics you make by your own rules might be bad! That’s okay! Like poetry, like any other art form, sometimes you HAVE to make some bad works of artistic expression, especially when you’re just starting out! That’s fine! All that matters is this: when you get finished or otherwise arrive at a good stopping point and you realize you’ve made a bad work of art, don’t feel bad. Write it off as a learning experience and go make some more. JUST DON’T SHOW IT TO ANYONE. If you must burn or otherwise destroy it in order to make sure no one ever sees it, that’s fine. Do whatever it takes."

So, just to get this straight, punk comics are great because there's a beauty to not paying attention to what other people think the rules are, but you shouldn't do it if you can't spell, use proper grammar or have no "talent".

Comix-Fan reacts to Icon:

"i'm....speechless."

"Wanted to do this for a long time? Then why didnt you stick to creator owned through Epic???? I just dont understand the business logic of this company anymore."

"Ohhhh good move there, Marvel...You know Image is not throwing a party at their place. Now I see where all that money is going to from the movies, into your major hitter Bendis. But maybe its time to start spreading the wealth with some other writers, like what Anthony said."

"Tsunami, Epic...well third time has got to be a charm. Espically when Bendis is involved. Great move Marvel."

"How anyone can think this is a bold move on Marvel's part is beyond me? A bold and more risky move would be to have kept Epic! Epic had the more untried creators, and very little profit was going to be received there! This 'ICON' on the other hand already had two fan-favorites with a big enough fan base to sustain itself. I doubt the fans of these two series will drop it just because of a change in publisher!
Yep, real 'bold' of Marvel indeed!"

The Pulse reacts to Icon, starting with Heidi McDonald's take on the story itself:

"The announcement comes as a blow to Image Comics, which recently restructered, partially to offset the loss of several studios. The two titles were arguably the most established books at 'Image Central.' The move is also an about face for Marvel, which had appeared to eschew all creator owned titles during the Epic comics experiment."

"Interesting. I'm a serious DC-head, and I currently read none of Marvel's output whatsoever. I guess with Powers in the Marvel fold, I'll actually be adding a single Marvel comic to my must-buy list.
Makes sense for Marvel from a Marketing standpoint. Maybe this will become Marvel's version of Vertigo?"

"It's a very positive sign that Marvel is still interested in publishing books like POWERS and KABUKI - frankly, one of the most encouraging signs we've had from them since the change of management.
Clearly this is a huge blow for Image, and not merely in symbolic terms. According to Diamond's website, in January 2004, Image's market share was 4.2%. I honestly wonder how far away they are from being banished to the back of Previews."

Newsarama runs the Icon press release, with more reactions from posters who don't post in the other forums there:

"WOW THIS IS HUGE NEWS!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!! No wonder both books have been having such huge delays.....!!! WOW!!! I hope this means Romita Jr. can come back to Marvel with Gray Area! Wow this really is the end for image.....those poor bastards have nothing else.....(Wanted is ending and Rising Star is hopefully starting and ending soon)"

"Anything that brings greater exposure to Powers, one of the greatest books of the last few years is ok with me. Lets hope all those Marvel Bendis fans can be channelled towards this book. I also look forward to this opening the gates for more intriguing creator owned work coming out of Marvel. By the way, lets try not to drag this thread down with resurgent bitching about Epic, eh?"

"Great to finally have confirmation on this....the Bendis board's been talking about this all week!"

Glen David Gold reacts to Icon. Okay, he doesn't. He's writing for the second issue of the Escapist comic book from Dark Horse, which is just what Michael Chabon wanted:

"With 'McSweeney's,' I was trying to blur the distinction between literary and popular fiction and our idea of a popular writer and a literary writer... In the same sense, I'd like to help break down the categories a little bit in comic books, too. I know a lot of writers of fiction who are comic book lovers. I think, for a lot of them, it never occurred to them that they could write for the comics. I had a feeling if I gave them the opportunity to write a script they would probably say yes, and that was the case.''

(Via Artbomb.)

Micah Wright reacts to Icon (I could keep this "reacting to Icon" thing up all day):

"I'd read that contract really well and show it to two lawyers. And I want to say 'I give it six months,' but I pray I'm wrong. This is exactly the kind of thing that DC/Vertigo and Image need to kick them out of their slumber."

And after someone suggests that Mark Millar must be feeling shit considering his Millarworld titles were rumoured to have been originally due to see print at Marvel, pre-Epic collapse:

"Yeah, except by my figuring, Millar and JG Jones are splitting more than $30,000/issue of WANTED. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over his "plight" at the end of Epic... It was the success of that book which probably prompted Marvel to say 'oh, what the fuck did we do?' And if they take the book to Marvel, it'll probably sell 3x what it's currently selling and everyone will be happy. This is great news for comics... I just hope Marvel doesn't have some 'we get to make your movie' thing attached or hidden fees or anything stupid like that. If this is a genuine attempt to make a creator-owned line, I'm more thrilled than anyone alive. A challenge like this is EXACTLY what DC needs to wake it from its stupor."

Other posters at Micah's board aren't as thrilled, however:

"Yeah, the MOB crew is about to get bent over twice."

"This will either change the creator owned book in a positive, or absolutely kill the notion all together."

Newsarama reacts to Icon:

"As long as they don't put a giant fucking MATURE CONTENT sticker on Powers, I don't care"

"A new ICON imprint, huh? Now they want creator owned and licensed properties huh? Well if they stick with it great. Does that mean the Epic stuff that should've gotten a real chance, gets its chance here?"

"The only thing that slightly bothers me about this is Marvel's little 'If it don't sell a shitload, let's can it or relaunch it' strategy. I know Kabuki is only a series of minis, but Powers is ongoing. I love Marvel dearly but I'm hoping they don't screw this one up. It'd be really nice to see Romita Jr.'s Grey Area move back to this ICON line now. It's would've been nice if Phantom Jack stuck around too but I guess that's too late now. Hey Marvel... pick up The Crow! Get Maleev on art chores and I'm happy. Damn, who am I kidding... I could write a book on this right now 'cause I'm so happy! Once again, it's a good day to be a fan of Marvel, Powers, and Kabuki."

The Image Central board reacts to Icon:

"YAY for corporate america! YAY! I GOT MAIL! YEEAAH! I GOT MAIL! I GOT MAI I GOT MAIL I GOT MAIL I GOT MAIL I GOT MAIL I GOT MAIl.. YYYYYAAAAAAAY!"

"the question now is what happens to JRJR project. since he's been a Marvel guy for so many years I was surprised when his name wasn't mentioned. both Powers & Kabuki were solicited by Image but will be coming out through Marvel, can the same be said about JRJRs book?"

Millarworld reacts to Icon:

"Wow."

"This'll last all of six issues. I hope Valent... Larsen doesn't take them back."

"Ouch! Eric Larsen just caught a nasty uppercut courtesy of Marvel. It's almost like a reverse Image kind of with two of his top creators leaving for Marvel."

"Yes about time too! Seriously, I think its great for that creator owned work benefits from the Marvel brand in terms of greater exposure and wider distribution!"

"Funnily enough, the fact that Powers was published by Image once put be off buying it. I sort of fell out of the comics scene in 1995 until a couple of years ago, only picking up the odd title here and there, so I missed the rise of Bendis. I saw Powers in a store and thought it looked interesting, but saw that it was published by Image and (somewhat foolishly) assumed that Image still only published crap (hey. that's how it seemed when they launched!). It wasn't until I picked up a copy of Daredevil that I discovered Bendis' work, and that was enough to convince me that Powers was worth a shot after all."

The Joe Quesada board reacts to Icon:

"If only they had thought about this a year ago, we might still have Morrison."

"I don't know about you, but I still have Morrison. Is there an invisible force field keeping you from buying non-Marvel?"

"I would rather him be on a Marvel book. If he decides to write Batman or something, I'll buy it (I am getting Seaguy). But I would be more excited if he were doing a Marvel book"

"Very, very good move. This was the one area Marvel was lacking in compared to DC, and in one fell swoop they've made up for it with a splash. I hope more creator-owneds are to come. I think it's a good strategy to start with creators who are 'brand names' unto themselves. But I don't know what Bendis means by first 'true' creator-owned line... the original Epic was somehow fake?"

"Yay, Marvel is finally getting current with 1992. Big pat on the back there."

The penny drops:

"Marvel Comics announces the launch of ICON, a new publishing imprint that will produce projects utilizing properties outside of the Marvel Universe. ICON will launch with two titles fans are already familiar with: Brian Bendis' 'Powers' and David Mack's 'Kabuki.'

"Marvel is not new to publishing licensed properties. It has had a successful history with such classic licenses as GI Joe and Transformers. However, Marvel, which works with the top talent in the comic industry, has long been considering ways to offer its creators a home not just for their Marvel projects, but for their other work. The new ICON imprint has been created with a mandate to pursue both these creator and licensed projects, while maintaining the highest level of talent and the brands that readers have come to expect from Marvel. Dan Buckley, Publisher, said, 'We had been considering this kind of imprint for a while before talking to Brian and David. But once we did, everything fell into place. Starting with Brian and David on Power's and Kabuki really sets the standard for the whole line. We are very excited about this initiative, and are thrilled that Powers and Kabuki are launching it.'

"Bendis offered, 'We have always said that we have benefited so much from the generations of comic creators before us who worked so hard to pave the way for creator rights. We have had it so good and we are stunned that we get to help take it to the next level... Marvels first true creator-owned imprint.' Said David Mack regarding Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief , Publisher and President of Publishing, 'Bravo to Joe, Dan and Gui for making this happen!'"

Alisdair Watson is the latest person to point out creative stagnation in the comics industry due to the overwhelming market share belonging to the superhero genre:

"What worries me more than the usual 'the direct market is a stranglehold around comics' stuff, is that I can see a day where the only people who aspire to make their living out of writing comics are people who genuinely want to write superhero comics. This frightens the hell out of me. I forget who it was who, when asked why they thought that the 'British Invasion' of the 80s produced so many successful comics that were doing new and different things, said that the difference between American comic book writers and British comic book writers was that American writers grew up reading comic books, and British writers grew up reading everything, but whoever it was may well have been onto something.

"Most of the 'British Invasion' brought with them a slew of influences from outside comics that were new to the medium, and made their work seem much fresher than their American counterparts. There was a sense that these people had in interest in comics as a form, rather then being interested in the superhero genre. I worry, though, about an industry in which the only easy way to make a living wage is to write superhero comics, because the only aspiring talent it'll attract are people who have grown up reading and loving superheroes."

I fully expect someone to say "If you don't like superheroes, you don't have to read them" again before too long...

Chuck Austen talks:

"So, in a nutshell, that’s the genesis of being offered and taking over a book. They think you can increase sales... Hopefully you can appeal to both segments, the fans and the casual readers. But if not, higher sales is the only measuring stick. If you can get higher sales, you’re gold — no matter what the seven deadly trolls think of your approach. If you can’t, you’re done. Simple as that. So if you think we’re ruining your favorite characters just because we’re heartless bastards, you’re incredibly naïve. Most of us need these jobs and can’t afford to be blasé about screwing with stuff, so we do what we hope will work, and if it worked before, we keep it. If it didn’t, we change it to make it more popular. Like it or not, it’s a business. No one gets an exclusive contract or bonuses for getting books cancelled. Just because it worked for you, doesn’t mean it 'worked.' Every cancelled show had its fans. This is, ultimately, a business."

Newsarama on Daniel Krall's Follow Me Closely:

"Promising a cool retro look and a European adventure starring assassins and the idle rich, FOLLOW ME CLOSELY will be Krall’s true emergence as a cartoonist. 'FOLLOW ME CLOSELY has a lot of great elements that are just so Daniel,' Oni Press editor in chief Jamie S. Rich said. 'There’s the cool fashion, the gorgeous backgrounds, cute girls and disaffected men.'"

The preview art is gorgeous, so I'm immediately tempted...

Mark Ricketts talks about his Iron Man stint:

"I'd been waiting for the right Marvel project to come along when Bendis asked if I'd be interested in writing this Iron Man arc. When he told me his plans for the Avengers, I jumped at the chance to join the party... I'm definitely a long time fan. I mean, how slick is Tony Stark? C'mon, he's an armor-plated James Bond! He not only flies and blasts balls of crackling energy from his fists, but he's also a ladies’ man -- a major playah! Money, chicks, smarts, and super powers--isn't that the American male fantasy?! Isn't that Tony-freakin-Stark?!"

The Eisner nominations are announced. I'd love Brubaker to get Best Writer, Kyle Baker to get Best Writer/Artist (Humor) and Sleeper to get Best New Series, but my favourites never win these things.

Okay, it may be retro and it may be a Chuck Austen book, but goddamn if I'm not happy about the new look of the covers of Action Comics.

An interesting rumour from Millarworld's thread on (fittingly) LITG this week:

"A bud of mine who used to work at Marvel (and still has some friends there) dropped me an email last week telling me to get ready for some big news soon, said Epic wasn't as dead as we all thought, and he suggested I get my ass in gear putting my book together."

Epic relaunched as Marvel's creator-owned line?

Joe Quesada board posters aren't happy with the way Avengers/Thunderbolts is turning out:

"I was under the impression that Kitson was on art for 3 issues. He merely does breakdowns here. The art is pretty bad. God it's only a six issue mini series. Can't Marvel do anything right. 6 issues 3 artists. What a joke. If it affects sales i'm sure it won't be Marvels fault at all. It will all be down to their being no audience for Thunderbolts just like Hawkeye. I realsie Kitson made his DC deal but if this is all he ahd drawn then i don't see why they didn't just get Grummet to do the whole lot."

"How van you blame Marvel? Kitson was actually contacted for the whole series, but Marvel let him out early."

"If this is all he had drawn why SHOULD they have got Grummet to do the whole lot? In effect you are saying Marvel should have paid two different artists to do the same work."

"A significant collection of 1930s comics has surfaced in New York state, where they were found in the insulation of an old house. The 21 books include such rare issues as Detective Comics #2, of which less than ten are know to exist; Tip Top #1; New Comics #1; Star Ranger #1, the first western comic; and The Comics Magazine #1."

Suddenly, lots of eager fanboys are ripping apart their homes in the vague hope of lightning striking twice.

Jeff Smith talks Shazam and Bone:

"This has nothing to do with epics, but when I was six, the Batman TV show was originally on twice a week - it ran on Wednesdays and Thursdays, there was a cliffhanger at the end of the first show with Batman and Robin in danger, and I just couldn't wait for the next day to find out what happened. The idea of a cliffhanger and then tuning in the next day to see how it all played out, was just fantastic to me at age six or seven. It didn't even matter to me that the way they got out of the trap or situation was something stupid or outrageous. Bone brings this all full circle for me, by making this one big complete piece with all the cliffhangers fitting together."

Travis Johnson talks about the first issue of the Variance Press Anthology, due next month:

"I was sure there were plenty of creators who had the same kind experiences I had. I figured that if I created my own publishing venture, I could try to harness some of the frustration they felt and at the same time, give them the chance other publishers wouldn't. There are some really talented people out there who just haven't been given a fair shake by the comics industry because they don't know the right people or their stories aren't what the majority of the industry thinks is cool or hip. Variance Press is now and will always be committed to two things: (1) creating quality genre fiction for a market we know is out there and (2) to give talented new creators a shot to be published."

Somewhat full disclosure: I may be illustrating a story in the first issue. Therefore, all of you should buy a copy so I can get some royalties.

Rags Morales talks about his career and Identity Crisis:

"[W]ith a story like this, that has a coffin on the front of the first issue, you’re going to make enemies. Every character has at least one fan who feels passionately about them. That’s good – we want people to be appalled, we want people to be pissed off, we want people to send us death threats…well, maybe not death threats, but e want people to have an emotional response to the work, because that means that we did our job, and we did our job well."

Peter Sanderson writes about Julius Schwartz:

"Having revamped and saved Batman once, Schwartz now did it a second time, through his work with O'Neil, Adams, and such other talents as Frank Robbins, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. The result was 'the Batman' as we know him today in comics, animation, and film: the driven avenger from his earliest stories, presented in contemporary terms. With the retirement of his longtime colleague Mort Weisinger, Schwartz took over as editor of the principal Superman titles, which, despite their brilliance in the early 1960s, had run out of creative steam and no longer satisfied an older readership raised on Marvel's innovations.Again, Schwartz modernized the look and upgraded the writing of the books, and if his Superman books did not represent the cutting edge of superhero genre, they were still imaginative, intelligent and entertaining enough to hold their own for over a decade."

(Via Elayne Riggs.)

Firestorm fans get organised:

"The R.I.F.L.E. The Ronnie Is Firestorm Legion of Elementals. Our goal shall be the return of Ronnie Raymond as the one, true Firestorm. I say we join up with B.A.S.H. and H.E.A.T. and pledge our support to their causes if they join ours, kinda like a sympathy strike or something. What say you?!"

"I contend my acronym--RNB--is better. But, no one's taking this contest seriously, so I'll up it--$10."

"Ya gotta make a word with your acronym to get comic boys to pay attention..."

"RNB = Ronnie's Not Black?"

"How about a side group in support of Firestorms History...F U C K Firestorm Usless Comicbook Knowledge"

(This comedy gold thanks to SK)

The Pulse has an interview up with Chris Weston, where he talks about his major US projects:

"Visually, Greg [Feely, of The Filth] was a combination of both Grant and mine's image. Grant's lack of hair, and my stooped, downtrodden posture. More importantly, he included some of my own biographical details into the character of Greg Feely, which was nice! In particular all those personal problems that plagued me while I was drawing The Invisibles: my dying cat; the intimidation wreaked on my household by a gang of evil youths... I think it's a very British strip, in attitude... I wanted to capture that gloriously miserable and defeatist atmosphere that pervades our rain-drenched seaside towns: oppressive cops, bored youths, neighbourly paranoia, grime and despair. That's my experience of modern-day England; everyday is like Sunday, folks."

He also talks about his lack of future plans:

"I plan to spend the next few months frequenting the Millarworld forums in a blatant attempt to garner cheap publicity. Maybe start a feud with another creator or something."

Newsarama posters complain about Newsarama posters:

"why do people on these boards bury their heads in the sand.... you can show them a stop sign and tell them it has 8 sides has white letting and is red..... and they'll insist that it is not red but green, has rhinestones for lettering on it a boa wrapped around it and boom box underneath it playing Abba's 'Fernado!'"

"Yea I don't like the attitude of a some of those guys. It's been mentioned how some of those newer posters seem to be dummy accounts to hype up the stuff in the articles. That and it just seems to me a lot of the guys in the news sections are bandwagon types. Or they post to hate on people or comics just to do it, because everyone else is doing it."

"The thing that scares me about the news boards is the pros read 'em. And they remember who you are. A lot of the newbies and neophytes might think twice about posting before saying some of the things they say if they knew that. The walls do have ears, my friends, so just keep that in mind. Who or what you bash today can come back to bite you in the ass in tomorrow."

Erik Larsen talks to Rich Johnston:

"Image is really about giving creators a chance to do things for themselves--if a creator bring us an uncommercial book and it fares poorly--are WE to be blamed? I think the creator needs to take some responsibility for their own success. We take a small flat fee off all of our titles. A person who sells a million copies puts as much money into Image as the guy who sells 5000. You're not punished because of your success. We do the same work for both books--why should we get more money from the more successful creator?

"On that same front--IF we start fronting money--it would not be unreasonable to expect something MORE in return. If I'm risking thousands of dollars on a book I'm going to want a piece of the action. I think, ultimately, that the standard Image deal is a better deal--but a second deal is not impossible in the future. I know that there are folks here that would like to make that happen."

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Darwyn Cooke, clarifying comments he made in his CBA interview, over at Millarworld:

"The Ultimates thing revolves around the book, Marvel's approach and Mark's interpretation of Kirby and Lee's characters. It is a small part of a broader discussion that is basically me asking why we decided to take a genre of comics meant for young readers and subvert it for an aging audience that can't let go. Why is that what is being created? And why is that is what we seem to want? I believe I put it this way in the article....... Its like being 12, Julie Newmar in the catsuit does it for you. But then you're forty and you need the full gangbang with cumshots to get a jolt. I doubt this opinion will make me many friends here, but it is something I feel strongly about.

"More importantly, why? Why are we doing it? And I don't need the stock answer that there's some books for kids and some for adults. Why does this group of Adults need this at all? Why haven't they turned to other genres for more adult content? This is not even an issue aimed at creators. More the general audience we sell to. You guys love to buy this stuff. It sells like crazy. Beyond the marketing and the aging audience, why do we as adults need to see these established characters more 'adult'? Beyond short term financial gain, is there a reason for this?

"As long as I'm rolling lets go - So, then Santa pulls out his dick, and its huge. He starts screaming at the cheerleading ninjas 'Here's your gift you stupid bitches!' My life partner and I turned to eachother and thanked God and J.P. Morgan that someone had finally made Santa more 'Adult' so that we could continue to enjoy his wacky antics. Y'know what I mean?"

And later, clarifying:

"...[O]f couse we need more adult comics. Actually, what we really need are more adults who want to purchase adult comics. 'Cause lots of us would like to make them if there was a market. Some of us just don't consider Superheroes swearing and sexing and killing very adult. Take even one minute to step outside this circle we're in, and think about my Santa analogy again. 'Adults want adult comics.' I would say the sales charts indicate that that is bullshit, plain and simple. They want the same stories and characters they liked as youths, dressed up with bigger tits, hotter language, and more graphic violence. Many adult themes are explored by premier creators, but these books are rarely strong sellers.

"Your comparison to other media is logical- but a comic is not a game, it is an entertainment- like film or animated fare. Only a desperate industry in need of a quick fix would denegrate it's core brands this way. In 15 years will Disney do a raunchy sequel to Finding Nemo to keep up with its aging market? Maybe, but I doubt it. Because in the real world, the market doesn't force adult issues onto these characters. The audience moves on to entertainment designed for them. If you knew an adult who ignored all of the film entertainment choices available to an adult to fixate on cartoons that show Mickey and Donald and Bugs and Elmer drinking and fighting and fucking...if he wrote endless reams of comment justifying it as art because he never grew past the characters. Well...?

"Grafting adult themes onto superheroes designed to be all ages is what I don't understand. You're adults..you want comics with more "adult" content. Me too. Showing superheroes in these situations is my peccidillo. Its not adult, its juvenile titilation. What 'adult' would want to know about the Hulk's hard on unless it was as a momentary joke? Not many, I'd wager (let the jokes begin)."

And now, Mark Millar responds:

"Rather than people like me and the people who read my books being afraid to let go of this material you think belongs entirely in the hands of younger readers, I'd suggest the opposite and throw it right back at you. I'm absolutely all for superhero books out there aimed at 5 year olds and 8 year olds and 10 year olds as well as the more mature readers. I think the market needs as many people reading these books as possible, but I'm curious why you believe it's wrong for adults to get a different kind of pleasure from this material, especially when it sells so well. You mentioned my interpretation of 'Lee and Kirby's characters' and this interested me a great deal. I'd suggest that you're probably feeling an emotional childhood attachment to this particular period and, quite simply, don't want to see your childhood favourites being fucked with. I completely understand that and the nostalgic kick is a big part of why many people read comics. However, if you're offended by something that clearly a huge amount of people enjoy it's surely best just to avoid it and read the more mainstream stuff?"

More in links, but I want to see blood. (I'm also interested to see if Cooke or anyone else puts his earlier CBA comments in context, namely his other comments about having no problem with "mature" superheroes that were invented to be such, but instead having the problem with people putting characters created to be kids' stuff into an adult context...)

Possibly the greatest Comicon thread ever: Confessions of Horrible Geekdom:

"I confess that I, a man in my mid-thirties who hasn't read an X-book in years, and not regularly since I was a teenager, still imagine Wolverine claws popping out of my hands when I get annoyed or stressed. There. I feel better. Also, I want a utility belt."

"Try muttering Dr Strange style spells under your breath when angered. If you get overheard there is no 'good' way out. Still amused by the thought of 'banishing those who annoy me to a shadowy alter realm'. Or having them attacked by 'the hoary hosts of Hoggoth'."

"I work in a wheel factory. At one point a few years back I worked in the press department stamping the discs out that would be welded into rims to create wheels. As these discs would get pressed out, a certain amount of scrap material would be sent down scrap chutes. Sometimes these scraps would fall on the floor and we'd clean up big piles of them. One night (I was on the midnight shift at the time) I noticed how these scraps were almost perfect duplicates of Wolverine's claws. Being the comic geek I am I immediatly sorted out six near duplicates of Wolverine's claws and "tried them out". They had the right heft, and curve (and looked near enough to Frank Miller's version) to be damn near perfect. I slashed, stabbed, and "snitked" them out for about 15 minutes. Luckily no one saw me goofing around with the scrap "claws" because I'm sure it was some sort of safety violation or another. But it wouldn't matter because I didn't care at the time. For 15 minutes I got to play Wolverine with "real" claws. And if it wouldn't have been considered stealing by the company, I probably would have brought them home to make a pair of Wolverine gloves. hehehehehe"

How long does Crossgen have? The medical experts at CBR say that the prognosis isn't looking good:

"If they last more than 6 months I'll be completely shocked."

"The way things have been going lately, I'd say 6 months to wrap things up. I hope they survive, but I seriously doubt it."

"I would not be surprised if the stop all publishing after Negation:War. They can still negotiate their movie deals and start publishing again if any money and character recognition comes in from those projects."

What writers aren't Marvin The Paranoid Androids? That's what Millarworld wants to know:

"Can anyone tell my some writers who (as much as I hate using anything from Monty Python) look on the bright side of life. Miller and Moore have very dark tones which is labelled as realism (which is bull). The only writer that springs to mind for me is Bendis on Ultimate Spider-man."

"Mark Waid. Also, I'd say Grant Morrison. He uses pretty dark stuff to tell his stories, but ultimately it's all quite positive..."

"I think many of the so-called A-List of writers are ultimately very optimistic. Look at Morrison, for example: Animal Man, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Doom Patrol and JLA all had their share of darkness and struggle, but they all wound up ending on some kind of positive note. Same goes for Ellis' Transmetropolitan and his run on The Authority."

"Stan Lee and Jack Kirby changed the comic stratosphere in the 1960s with the introduction of the X-Men and Avengers. The JLA and JSA have been fighting the good fight, triumphing against their adversaries and undergoing personal losses at the same time. The Authority changed the way we look at superheroes in recent years, with anti-heroes changing the world in their own image. And now, there are two creators hoping that the world of superheroes is ready for a new change. This July, brace yourself for Chuck Austen and Tom Derenick’s seven-part limited series WorldWatch, published through Wild and Wooly Press."

What, you think that's maybe too much hype for Chuck Austen's new project? Think they could try and calm things down to a more reasonable level? Tom Derenick can't quite keep away from the comparisons:

"He had an itch to do superheroes in a big soap opera kind of way... I know technically superhero comics are a soap opera but trust me, Chuck’s taking it to a new level here as far as clashing egos and backstabbing. He’s mixed it up really well, when you read it you can feel the passion he has for these characters. It’s some of the best work I’ve read from him and I think he’s done some great stuff. I received the script for issues #5 and #6 and you’d swear to God he was channeling Alan Moore at some points."

DC look at the sales figures of the last few issues of NewXMen and the sales figures of Hush and wonder if there's some way to get those two great tastes to taste great together:

"Top comics creators Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri joined forces in 1993 for the unforgettable WILDC.A.T.S/Cyberforce crossover, which brought together two of comics' hottest teams. That event is collected as the WILDC.A.T.S/CYBERFORCE: KILLER INSTINCT TP. This 160-page trade paperback collects Cyberforce #1-3, written by Marc Silvestri and Eric Silvestri with art by Mark Silvestri and Scott Williams, and WILDC.A.T.S #5-7, written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi with art by Lee and Williams."

Party like it's 1993. Again.

These two posts, on the subject of Marvel Comics in the early 1990s, could be some of my favourite things I've read today:

"early ninties marvel gets a lot of shit. which just isn't fair. spider-man, despite some people's thoughts on maximum carnage, was fun fun fun. just fun. great art on 3 out of 4 books (lets just forget web of spider-man ever existed eh...? please?) and fun stories. yes that PURSUIT story was the start of the "I AM THE SPIDER" and eventual clone stories but before that, it was all great stuff. the x-books were good to. i mean, they were exciting and well drawn. and more than any time, it felt like they were a family. which i dug. epting's avengers were too x-men like but still compelling at times. paul ryan's fantastic four (sorry, i don't mean to omit the authors but i forget their names) was great for a young reader like i was. EARLY 90'S MARVEL...
UN-DER-RA-TED
CLAP CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP
UN-DER-RA-TED
CLAP CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP"

And then, once some people had suggested that perhaps the latter half of that decade was better...

"bull shit. late ninties marvel is some of the worst fucking things i've ever read. the crossing? clone 'saga'? HEROES REFUCKING BORN?

"early ninties marvel has bagley's spider-man including round robin and the spider-slayer (available in trade paper back biatch)

"X-cutioner's song which was the shit

"Marvels was amazing

"bow down to early ninties marvel. bitch."

Say what you like, he definitely knows what his opinion is. And he isn't afraid to use fake football chanting, complete with handclaps, to get his point across.

Jim Krueger tells fans at Comix-Fan what's next for the people who created the extremely anal Earth X trilogy-and-then-some at Marvel:

"Okay, Alex has been telling people for about a week now. So here it is, without saying how or exactly what we're going to do, we will next be doing Justice League of America."

He hints at all-Alex Ross art for the project, too.

Tokyopop and Disney try to take over the world, apparently:

"TOKYOPOP Inc. and Disney Publishing Worldwide are bringing a number of popular Disney films and television series to life for readers with a new line of Cine-Manga(tm) books. The first new Disney Cine-Manga title, Lilo & Stitch, is set to debut in stores this April, with versions of That's So Raven, Princess Diaries 2, The Incredibles and The Lizzie McGuire Movie set to roll out in 2004. In total, there will be more than 24 Disney Cine-Manga projects slated for release over the next three years... TOKYOPOP currently publishes Cine-Manga based on the Disney/Pixar mega-hit Finding Nemo and wildly successful TV shows Kim Possible and Lizzie McGuire. These books have proven so popular that over 670,000 units were sold in 2003 alone, and mass retailers including Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy have taken in the line. TOKYOPOP's Cine-Manga are also frequent members of Nielsen BookScan's Children's Overall Paperback Bestseller lists."

Is John Byrne mysoginistic?:

"One of the things about Byrne (and most comics writers) is that whenever he wants to give his male characters more "depth," he kills off or tortures the women around them. When he wants to give the women more depth, he just tortures them directly. I don't have any of the issues in the story arc any more, but he scripted a tale in which the Invisible Girl is transformed into the evil 'Malice' by the "Psycho-Man" through a process which she describes as a sort of 'mental rape.' As a result, she has to wear a skimpy leather outfit with spikes on it and try to trash the FF. When she finally gets her revenge on the Psycho-Man, she decides to change her name to the Invisible Woman, to reflect how her abuse has helped her grow as a person. Never mind that she's already married, had a child, had a miscarriage… I guess she's not really a woman until she's put through the wringer."

Mark Millar on American Power:

"Despite being the wettest, most Jimmy Carterish liberal in comics, I was really looking forward to this. It looked fucking BRILLIANT and I'm really disappointed CG have shelved the first book I was actually going to pick up. Help me SAVE AMERICAN POWER and defeat the Eastern Menace!"

You can post on the thread at Millarworld to sign Millar's "petition" to save the book.

Augie De Blieck Jr. on DC's first wave of Humanoids books:

"I'm very disappointed to see that they're shrinking the books, but not terribly surprised. Paul Levitz made it plain that this was his plan when he announced the deal in the first place. Of course, the albums' size and format was what made Humanoids stand out on the shelf and made their presence known. It's what attracted so many people to their booth in San Diego a couple of years ago.

"Now, they're Just Another DC Imprint... I know it's the content of the book that counts for everything and not the mere format, but I really liked those oversized albums. They held the art very well, and you can tell the books were drawn with that size in mind. The amount of detail included in some of these books is breathtaking. We don't get that from Humanoids anymore, which loses a large part of its luster and is now just another translation factory."

Are Powers and Kabuki going to Marvel? Bendis replies to the rumours by not saying anything:

"mack is in nyc, oeming is auditioning for the apprentice, and i had family stuff tonight and a screening today. no one is blowing you guys off, we love you guys more than you will ever know. we just want to see how much money rich can make off of us without bothering asking any or the principal figures in his rumor if its true. and yes, rich, i did get your email. AFTER YOU POSTED!! ggrrrr...."

Rich Johnston replies to the reply:

"Don't you love the internet? I e-mailed principal figures asking if the rumour was true before LITG went to press. No responses yet. I'm interviewing Erik Larsen for WFT, it's the question he declined to answer. My source was good, I went with it, then updated the story when I got confirmation from someone closer to the situation. Like I say in LITG, I've been wrong before. My gut says this one's right, definitely in gist, if not in detail."

Stuart Moore goes through his closet and pulls out random things, including early sci-fi writing by John Broome:

"Yes, it was a brilliant, freaky idea to write an entire story where the Flash gets turned into a piece of pavement. And Broome gets credit for humanizing Green Lantern in a series of mid-60s stories. But Broome had to pen a lot of Silver Age classics to make up for sentences like, 'The flaming red head of Mulloy had irritated him even before he ever spoke to the ebullient reporter.' Thankfully, he did."

Newsarama goes mad over the "The Official Handbook to Who's Who in the Wanted Universe" one-shot, Wanted Dossier:

"Fuckwit huh? It's amazing that while I love peurile and juvenile humour such as South Park, even I can't understand Mark Millar's need for nothing but shock and the lack of a good story. If it wasn't for the amazing artwork of Ultimates I wouldn't even contemplate buying that when the inevitable hardcover comes out. Unfunnies had to be the least funniest thing I've read, and Wanted sucks, so did Ultimate X-Men! I'm in a great mood today, can't you tell?"

"Uhm, could somebody pleae tell me why a 6 issue mini series needs to take a break? Is Jones playing Hitch, or is Millar playing Ellis? Sheesh. It's not a bad little bit, but I think the whole 'Watchmen for villians' thing has so badly telegraphed this story, I can't really see there being any more suprises... Heck, the only time I was really suprised was when Wesley DIDN'T kill his girlfriend.... Nice to know Millar has some boundaries..."

"what the fuck is wrong with all of you nay-sayers? you guys have some serious issues. this is one of the best mini series i've read in a long time. is it a possibility that this thing is coming out after the first mini series and between the reported second? shit. all of you should just go jerk off."

"It's you who has the issues, boy. Millar is nothing but juvenile humor. Something you grow out of when the acne goes away."

Matt Brady is forced to step in:

"wtf? Are you all auditioning for a who's stupider prize or something? Fuckwit is the name of the character in Wanted - this is not an open casting call. State your opinion, fine - it's your opinion, and not an objective fact. That means that the 'this is nothing but...' beginning means 'I think that this is...' Why is it people always find it hard to put themsevles out there and state their feelings as their own, rather than like something they recieved in the mail, wholly objective and independent of their own brain? Insult someone else becuase they have a different opinion than you do, and that is in direct violation of Newsarama Rule #1: don't be a dick. Follow Rule #1."

Chuck Dixon's fans react to American Power being pulled:

"Whatever some people might have thought of the IDEA behind 'American Power,' at least let the book speak for itself. I think it would have been a wiser investment to release AP."

"And here come the PC Police. Someone call the CBLD! LOL (Yo everyone!)"

"Very interesting, though we don't know any details yet. But I'm sure if, say, Dark Horse decided to no longer publish The Chosen (the comic about Jesus Christ as a modern young boy) due to it being in poor taste, the online fanboys would be in an uproar with their cries of censorship. Will the online fanboys be consistant in this case? It will be quite interesting to see the hypocrisy that arises out of this situation."

Rabid Right-Wing Comic Fans across America get sad:

"THE PULSE has just learned that CrossGen's upcoming series American Power written by Chuck Dixon and featuring art by Greg Land has been shelved in favor of another project Monster Rally. Sources close to CrossGen said new investors thought the book [American Power] was in poor taste."

Matt Madden's wonderful Exercise In Style page, found via Johanna's Comics Worth Reading.

Evan Dorkin's updated, and this bit in particular needs to be reprinted (emphasis mine):

"Anyway, can't recall everything I wrote about, and don't feel like re-writing it all in any real way, shape or form -- but it covered the latest Comics Journal Special, the Mike Sekowsky issue of Alter Ego (and why I despise Roy Thomas Part 247), the latest issue of Comic Book Artist (and a rant about the creepy, fanboy ickiness of the inclusion of cheesecakey sad fanman cosplay photos of girls in Catwoman and Harley Quinn get-ups), some movie stuff, some work stuff, some plugging, and an update about another local appearance we're doing soon."

What the fuck was with the Catwoman and Harley Quinn models? In the middle of a great article about Darwyn Cooke, there're these weird-ass freaky photos of women trying to be the characters and just succeeding in being... wrong. In what world was including that a good idea?

Mark Millar on his Spider-Man book:

"Although I'm really, really pleased with this (it's probably the best thing I've done) I was very nervous about this book because-- let's face it-- it was coming out amid a glut of Spider-Man minis and four regular monthlies so I thought we might just get crowded out. However, lady luck seems to have smiled on us again and this thing has just done ASTONISHINGLY well. I thought we were doomed when they cheekily upped the price to 2.99, but everyone seems to have come out in their droves for this book and I really appreciate it. Thanks, you sexy beasts.

"As for the preview, Newsarama and so on should be sticking up a big colour, lettered preview from issues one and two and I'm eager to see what you think. These feature Spidey, Black Cat, Electro, The Vulture, The Owl (oh yes) and a few other goodies. Wanted, Chosen, etc, mark a pretty different type of storytelling from the decompression of The Ultimates Volume One and this is even more evident in Spider-Man. It's pretty much a villain an issue and, in terms of style, much closer to Superman: Red Son or the JLA issue I wrote (ish 27) shortly before they kicked me out of the DCU for being too pretty. It's dense, very realistic and completely fan-orientated. There's no stopping for slow-coaches; this is a celebration of Spider-Man and everything that's ever been in it so catch up on your back-issues before the 14th."

When Marvel Titans clash! Tom Brevoort? I believe you were replying to a fan's comment that Peter David needs a more high-profile book at Marvel than he's previously been given?:

"Sorry, no. The Hulk's been a Marvel mainstay and, as a result, a high profile assignment since the '60s."

Mr. David? You wish to add something?:

"'High profile?' Tom, trust me--I was there. If *anyone* else at Marvel had wanted to write the Hulk fifteen years ago, I would never have gotten the gig.

"I was the editorial pariah, Tom. At the time there was a massive schism between editorial and direct sales (which was where I was working.) The editorial side was furious that this inexperienced sales guy was handed 'Spec Spidey,' and Oswley wound up firing me off the book in hopes of placating Shooter and saving his job (which, ultimately, it didn't.) So even if they wanted to offer me work, no editor would dare if the assignment was at all desirable. A leper walking in off the street saying, 'I've always wanted to write funny books' would have had a better shot than I. It wasn't as if Bob Harras came to me with 'Hulk' because they wanted to reward me with a 'high profile' title. He came to me because no one else wanted it. Something in the way he said, 'I've come to you because nobody else wants it' tipped me off. When I said to him, 'Aren't you worried you'll get the other editors or Shooter mad at you?' he shook his head and replied, 'Nah. I already cleared it with Shooter. It's the Hulk. Nobody cares.'"

It's like seeing your parents fight, if your parents were comics professionals you weren't related to, and not really fighting at all.

More Crossgen gossip, courtesy of someone calling themselves Broken Shakespeare, at CBR's Crossgen boards:

"A few monthes after CG started restructuring (just a few weeks after CG encountered "printer" file corruptions) I was made privvy to some info by someone claiming to be a current employee (and later, an ex-employee). What they had relayed to me was that Mark was ready to wash his hand of it and close up shop. Bill was concerned about the creators who would be out of work (and probably his own career too) and talked Mark into proceeding with a new wave of books like KKBB and El Cazador. It basically sounded like a deal to me. Bill would be promoted to VP of Publishing and Mark would mostly step aside and give Bill most of the control of Publishing. In exchange, CG would keep its doors open and Bill would have a set period of time to turn sales around for CG with new titles. If it didn't work CG would still close its doors. Mark had enough confidence that Bill could pull it off that he was willing to gamble a little extra money to stay in business a few more months.

"Now this was back in November/December that I was told this (and posted this info on the old CG message boards as it was relayed to me). I was also told that CG had to get it's sales up (either by raising existing sales at the time, or getting higher sales with new titles) by the end of Q1 of 2004, that was the deadline (no pun intended) given to Bill. Interestingly enough, March 31st marked the end of Q1 2004 and Bill resigned on April 1st. Hmmm... coincidence. Are the doors closing far behind? If this is the reason that Bill left, I can tell you one more thing... Two months. I was told that when Mark was originally planning to close the doors, CG was going to take two months to tie up loose ends and publish the books they had already paid for the art (thus minimizing the financial loss). So back then, CG had a bigger inventory of completed work and more titles being published and they had planned on wrapping things up in two months. Now they probably have fewer completed books in inventory (if any, because of the creator shortage) and fewer ongoing titles, so they could actually probably wrap up in LESS than two months... If folks really wanted to save CG, they should have listened to what was leaking out six months ago and started trying to save CG back then (it would have helped if CG had been more public and honest about the problems they were facing, even if that went against Mark's wishes). I think it is finally apparent to most that CG does need saving, but it's the 11th hour and it looks more and more likely that time has run out."

"Would the last one to leave Crossgen..." etc.:

"Following this weekend’s news that CrossGen’s VP of Publishing, Bil Rosemann had quit the company last Thursday. Newsarama has now learned that VP of Marketing and Sales Chris Oarr resigned from CrossGen this morning. In his position, Oarr coordinated the production and marketing of CrossGen’s trade paperback collections, acting as the primary liaison with the publisher’s trade distributor and retail partners. Most recently, Oarr spoke with Newsarama in regards to returning the trade program to a normal schedule."

If ADD wasn't on hiatus, then he could've resurrected his Crossgen Deathwatch just for today alone...

It's true; the majority of people who read comics are losers. But there's an upside to that: If you're the world's biggest loser, then you can win the entire run of Vertigo's Losers up until this very point, which is hardly something to be sneezed at.

Click here to find out more. You know you want to.

Lions Gate and Marvel plan to give away reprints of Amazing Spider-Man #129 at screenings of The Punisher:

"Lions Gate Films, a division of Lions Gate Entertainment (AMEX and TSX: LGF) and Marvel Enterprises (NYSE: MVL) will celebrate the premiere of the new comic book adaptation The Punisher with a special giveaway reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #129, the 1974 Marvel Comic book that featured The Punisher’s first appearance. Participating theatres will give away one comic book with one paid admission to The Punisher, while supplies last. The original Spider-Man #129 is a collector’s item and sells for over $900.00 on eBay. The Lions Gate special edition marks the first time the book has been reprinted."

That last line, however, gets some Newsaramians confused, and for good reason:

"I remember seeing a Marvel Milestone edition made of this issue, as well as also being reprinted in Marvel Tales #209. I know it's in Essential Punisher, and I'm pretty sure it's in the new Punisher Movie TPB. So, how can they say it's never been reprinted before?"

"Thats true, I have the Milestone reprinting. It was full colout with the same ads. All that was different was the cover."

Are Marvel going to go the "It's never been reprinted with this cover" explanation route?

Top Shelf launches an online comics (or "comix", as they prefer) section, with work by Farel Dalrymple, Rob Goodin and Gregory Benton, amongst others. Go and check it out.

You know the great thing about Previews Review? No, it's not the snark, the wit or the incisive commentary, although those are great. No, it's the fact that I don't have to read Previews itself to get good news about things... like, for example, La Perdida's fourth issue is due next month:

"Jessica Abel is currently doing the best work of her short career on this book, perfectly capturing the strange, alien beauty of a wholly foreign culture in both her prose and her illustration. Comics needs more of this, people boldly following a unique aesthetic and bringing more of the larger artistic discourse into our medium."

YES.

Mark Waid gets a short interview at Silver Bullet Comicbooks. Nice reply to "What was it like working for Crossgen?", though:

"Like being sucker-punched every day. I stayed through the end of my contract, but there are only so many lies and so much insane bullying by a frothing lunatic that any human being can tolerate before he bolts."

What happens after you break in to the industry? Gerry Alanguilan starts an accidental masterclass over at Millarworld:

"Before anything else, a budding pro goes through a somewhat difficult stage of proving he can do 22-23 pages in a month, every month, with an average of 5 panels a page, that's roughly 100 full drawings a month. That is not so easy as one may think. The thrill of finally being able to work in comics will fuel you through the first few weeks, but it will soon become hard work if you came into the business with motivations other than a love for the medium."

An Australian retailer reports on Marvel in the bookstores:

"In the end, those that adapt will survive. Those that refuse to pay attention... no more need be said. In other words, if you feel threatened, then start doing something now about your options."

Mike San Giacomo writes about the upcoming revamp of the Doom Patrol, including this interesting quote from Mike Carlin:

"John Byrne wants to pretend that this is the first time we have ever seen these characters... Look, I'm a huge comics fan and I know that this is a bitter pill to swallow. I know that some readers are going to be very upset with us."

I thought Byrne was saying that DC editorial was behind the idea that this would be the first appearance of the DP?

Rich Johnston reports that two of Image's top titles, Powers and Kabuki, may be going to Marvel. If it's not true, then I'm sure we'll hear from Bendis sure enough...:

"There was some disquiet expressed to me about the relative lack of oomph of the 'Powers' Volume 2 relaunch at Image - though this was denied at the time. Nevertheless, Bendis' Marvel books chart high, even 'The Pulse' does fairly well, whereas 'Powers' doesn't in comparison. Marvel have relaxed their recently imposed no-creator-owned comics role for these titles. Whether this is an exception for these two books, or whether it will be offered to others, I do not yet know."

(There's already a thread on the Bendis board about this...)

Bill Roseman quits Crossgen:

"As with his position at Marvel, Rosemann quickly became the public voice and later face of CrossGen, as CrossGen chief Mark Alessi took a lower-profile approach in regards to the press and media. Rosemann was responsible for both coordinating media coverage of the company's output, as well as providing various outlets with preview material, acting as public spokesman, and overseeing publishing. To the end, Rosemann was a stringent defender of the company, its output, and many of its policies. Rosemann's departure is the second high profile such leave-taking that happened last week, as writer Ian Edginton reported to Newsarama and other outlets that he had quit Sojourn in protest of company policies and management. Edginton particularly cited the company's upcoming book, American Power, which has been drawing mostly negative publicity from fans and the online comics community."

Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb. James Sime offers up some interesting reading:

"For the past five years Erik Enervold (Art Director of Joliet Pattern and initiator of the FCBD signage program) has been developing the [International Comic Arts Association], a non-profit trade organization to represent the entire comic industry. He's already done the work to get by-laws down and mission statements written. We're talking about an actual comic industry trade organization, that is already organized and has a small but dedicated full-time staff to run it. And judging by the grab-the-bull-by-the-horns attitude of it's founder, it's pretty apparent that the ICAA is serious about making the organization's goals a reality. Now you might not be able to hear it, but that, my friends, is the bomb dropping."

Dan Jolley talks up Bloodhound, a new DC series:

"I look at this book as living in a less-comedic version of the spot formerly occupied by Hitman. When guest stars show up from the rest of the DCU, they'll be seen through the 'Bloodhound filter,' much the way Batman and Superman were a little different when they showed up in Hitman, but what makes the characters special will still be there... [Main character Travis] Clevenger will be dealing with both original and DC-owned villains, but I think I think DC — Dan DiDio in particular — is actually just as interested, if not more, in how he interacts with other DCU heroes. Dan seems to be looking forward to seeing Clevenger go head to head with Batman."

Christopher Priest updates those who could survive the large thighs and misshapen faces:

"Thanks, in no small part, to you, CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON will remain on Marvel's publishing schedule at least through Year One. Marvel informed me today we are green lit through issue #12, so no danger of CREW-ing this book (at least for now). Thank you all for supporting this title, thank you Bart for your brilliant work giving us a great Nitrus boost out of the gate. and for those of you doing the wait-and-see, you heard it here first: the book is solid. Get on board!"

(He also comments about the rumoured upcoming Black Panther mini: "And, had we had JRJr, T'Challa's book would still be on the stands. Which is not to disparage my friends Sal and Bob, had they had Brian Bendis instead of me, BP would still be a going concern as well. These days it's all about the numbers and the names. The right names get you the right numbers. Lots of fans who passed us up will be curious about the new book. That's just the way it works. I have not heard from any official channels that this project exists. But, assuming it does, I wish the new BP crew every success. I greatly enjoyed my tour of duty, but have no immediate plans to go back to Wakanda nor do I have any emotional bias towards the next guys and gals to take over.")

Peter David answers the fans, including commenting on U-Decide:

"I took some major PR hits from it, I received zero support from the pro side of the industry but instead only derision, and all of it was in order to support a book that I didn’t even own. I was blinded by the fact that I was so excited about the upcoming storyline I wanted to do and I wanted as many people to read it as possible, and the only publicity the book was receiving was, 'We’re raising the price because sales suck.' My attitude should have been, 'You know what? Screw it. It’s their book and if they don’t want to push it, oh well.'"

Mark Millar posts about the comics internet's favourite passtime - Complaining about Chuck Austen:

"Sure, he's written some comics which you or others might not have liked, but I'm hard pushed to think of a creator who hasn't. There's plenty of books I don't like, but I just don't read them and don't see any sense in attacking them month after month. I think the Austen situation has moved way beyond critiquing someone's work and has moved into personal assassination now. Like him, I do this job because I love it. I know he says he doesn't go online anymore, but like the rest of us I'm sure he does and I don't even want to THINK how he feels when he reads post after post after post where he's given a bloody shit-kicking on an hourly basis."

Amusingly, the first response is somewhat defiant:

"maybe he 1: should write better comics 2: shouldn't bash people in interviews, especially when he names names."

The thread then becomes a mix of good points (Ryan Landau talks sense, for example: "In my opinion, criticism of Chuck is fair game--to a point. I have no problem with people discussing their opinions of his abilities, strengths and weaknesses alike. And I have no problem with people criticizing Marvel and DC's decision to put him on some of their most high-profile books--so long as you back it up with evidence. Don't just say, 'Marvel and DC f***in' suck for putting this s***ty ***hole on blah blah blah.' Back it up. Cite books of his you don't like, stuff like that. And if people want to talk about their personal feelings about Chuck as a person...well, that's thornier. In one sense, he's given a lot of people a rather vivid mental image of how he is through his interviews and postings. Like me, it's all they have to go on. But the outright meanness has to end. The gleeful virulence has to end. Mark's right: regardless of what you think of this guy as a writer or as a person, he's still a person. And some of the stuff I've seen posted about him goes beyond a criticism of his abilities or his demeanor. It crosses the line for critical and becomes vindictive and hateful. And that's not right for anyone. Except maybe Hitler. But Chuck Austen isn't Hitler.") and old grudges...

Shawn Hoke reviews Ron Rege Jr.'s Skibber-Bee-Bye:

"Cartoonist Ron Rege usually elicits strong reactions, like my negative reactions to Alex Ross or Michael Turner, or simply a dismissive shrug of the shoulders. I know this, because my first reaction to Rege’s work a few years ago was a bewildered dismissal. There seemed to be too many lines, too much going on, and the art felt flat. About a year ago, something changed. Not Rege’s art certainly, but my reaction to his work had changed. On as lark, I picked up a copy of his Skibber Bee-Bye. I read the whole thing (256 pages) in one sitting, with a big-ass smile on my face. It was similar to that feeling you get when you are transported to another world through a book."

Matt Maxwell is thinking about recycling:

"We need new characters, new worlds, new visions. Reinventions are fine and dandy (I liked League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as much as the next guy, but The Invisibles, even with its flaws, is a far more satisfying and provocative work) but if you live by them, you’ll be stuck in some kind of endless loop. Even if the new work surpasses the original (which does happen, but that’s the exception, not the rule) it’s ultimately not much more than pastiche. Yes, there are reinventions that have made a place for themselves, right alongside the original. But honestly, out of the deluge of retreads, there are very few (Doom Patrol as imagined by Grant Morrison and the recent Catwoman series by Ed Brubaker, et al, strike me as two examples) that stand up on their own merits."

Alex Dueben doesn't like superheroes:

"My issue with superhero comics isn't that they aren't capable of saying something, of being more than people in spandex with violent tendencies, but that they seem almost universally disinterested in being anything more than that. The writing tends to be simultaneously anaemic and overwritten to the point where I have to force myself not to grab a red pen and edit it. Most of the artwork I admit to being disinterested in - where I don't enjoy it or like it but I don't hate it either - and that seems to be the reaction most editors are actually looking for when selecting artists. That casual apathy seems to be what propels most successful superhero comics. The maintenance of an artificial status quo surrounding characters that cannot change."

Andy Park talks about his new cover gigs for Excalibur and Weapon X at Marvel, and touches on the fate of the missing Alias TV tie-in that was supposed to come out via Rob Liefeld:

"Ah, the book that has plagued me for the past year or so. Well, like I said before, I finished the entire #0 issue from pencils to colors. It was written by [Alias series creator] JJ Abrams, so it was a great read. But unfortunately it never came out. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure why. I’m not really in the know. All I hear is that it’s politics. I wish I knew the details but unfortunately I don’t know that much more than any or you. I’m just sad that the book never came out. I was really proud of it. Maybe it’ll still come out, who knows? I certainly don’t. Sorry..."

And now that it's no longer April first, I can assure all of you that I don't really think that about Ian Edginton. Or Rob Liefeld. Or even Mark Millar. But I did write a column for Broken Frontier about my deep, abiding and genuine love for the Super Powers toy tie-in comic DC did in the '80s that'll see print on Sunday, so it's not as if my taste is that good after all.

This just in from Chris Butcher: DC announce LOTS of new collections for this summer. Of interest:

* Crisis on Multiple Earths 3.
* Two digests collecting some of Mark Millar's run on Superman Adventures (Whatever will he complain about in terms of DC now?).
* The Legion: Foundations, collecting the most recent Darkseid arc from the regular title...

More from Marvel's resident genius, Mark Millar, this time on the oft-promised Ultimates Hardcover Director's Cut edition:

"Definitely, definitely not extra material. We talked about this last year and Hitchy was v excited by it, but I'd honestly rather see his genius pencils employed in volume two than going back to volume one. I recently re-watched the Star Wars trilogy and feel that tinkering with something that worked the first time is a huge mistake and, in an era where decompression sucks the devil's right testicle, why make something longer just because you CAN. I'd rather see the book untouched (maybe a splash of Iron Man and maybe an extra splash of Cap somewhere as Hitchy suggested), but the extras should really be all our notes, emails, sketches, etc, instead because the book is v nice as is, the pacing is v nice as is and I just don't see the point of distracting from volume two (which is where all our efforts are going at the moment)."

Ian Edginton continues his hate-filled campaign against Crossgen, this time at Newsarama:

"The thing that really got to me though was the launch of the American Power title. I realise that I’m basing my opinions on a single picture and a couple of paragraphs of copy but isn’t that what everyone is supposed to base their orders on too and what’s worse it’s for Free Comic Book Day, when more kids are likely to pick it up than usual? That book is just wrong in so many ways I don’t know where to start. It’s crass, morally questionable and outright offensive to the families and memories of the men, women and children who died in 9/11 and the Atocha station bombing. From the way the book has been pitched, we’re not talking about a piece of finely crafted, probing, investigative literature or even journalism. It’s exploitation plain and simple."

Edginton's tirade against the time-honoured tradition of topical comic storytelling betrays his obvious hatred of Crossgen. Did he complain when Doctor Doom and Magneto wept manly tears together in the moving 9-11 issue of Amazing Spider-Man? Did he complain when Captain America socked Hitler on the jaw on his very first cover? I don't think so! Just because he doesn't get paid immediately, or even after months of waiting, he thinks that he can comment publicly about his problems with CG's output? Comics are a business, buddy! Sometimes cash flow slows down - even Marvel had bankrupcy problems before Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas turned the ship around. If you don't like it, get the hell out of the industry!

"I liked super heroes, especially Marvel super heroes. They were totally cool and stuff, and I couldn’t get enough of ‘em. And [Secret Wars II] had not just one or a few but DOZENS of super heroes, all in the same damn book! How could I go wrong? Well . . . as I was soon to learn, I could go terribly, terribly wrong."

Tim O'Neil, I've been there too.

Someone on Millarworld gets it:

"There are plenty of ways to market books. Millar seems to be particularly smart in his approach, which is to find a 'hook' for the mainstream press to latch onto... Gay Superman and Batman! Eminem wants to do a Wanted movie! Superman ISN'T about TRUTH JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY???!! A modern updating of JESUS CHRIST?"

Why hadn't anyone thought of High Concept comics before Millar? That's a question we may never have an answer for...

Sean Collins on mainstream comics missing the point:

"Listen, Marvel did a lot of good over the past four years, and they're still doing a lot of good now. I think Marvel bashers really miss how the company turned things around for all the other superhero publishers--getting writers rather than artists acknowledged as the backbone of the industry warrants Quesada & Jemas's inclusion in the proverbial comics hall of fame all by itself. But take a look at Marvel's current publishing plans--those good books are something Marvel's moving away from now, not something they're headed toward. Do you think you'll see something like Jones's Hulk or Milligan's X-Force come out of the Reload initiative? Do you think anyone but Bendis will get a chance to write something as moody and risky as Bendis's Daredevil or Alias? For that matter, do you think Millar will be able to do with The Ultimates what Millar did with The Ultimates? Even the Bendis-centered Avengers-titles revamps, helmed as they are by solid indie pros, are being touted as back to basics. I'm not saying the experiments of the last few years have always worked, but good Christ, has no one told this company that its basics have sucked for three decades?"

At last, someone recognises a modern classic:

"Some may even be right, but I’m sure it’s just the way you look at it. I found [Rob Liefeld's Captain America #2] fun, very fun in fact, with a quick pace story that seemed to end all too quickly. Though I’m usually very put off by Liefeld’s big gun big thigh artwork, I found his art this time around enjoyable. Loeb’s wit shines here and made the most of a rather light plot. Throw in a beautiful pin-up by Pop Mhan in the back of this book and you have yourself one great read!"

I'm always amazed at the way that very few people pick up the obvious connection Liefeld has with Kirby, especially in terms of the energy and invention on each page he draws - Instead of just trying to draw feet, for example, he consistently comes up with new ways not to draw them (Have people running in clouds, have guns cover them up, have the panel border cut them off, and so on) - and it's that connection that gave Liefeld's CA run a purity of vision and purpose that the concept has been lacking ever since.

Comics' greatest modern writer (well, it's either him or BMB) explains why The Ultimates didn't call a Skrull a Skrull:

"Marvel request a couple of years back to avoid FF movie problems. Likewise, The Ultimates wasn't called Avengers so some variation (without ALL the characters, of course) could be sold as a movie, game, TV show or whatever. All I did was quite simply go back and take the name from the original Kirby source material and the African legends he was interested in. Check out David Icke's book for the conspiracy angle on all the Chitauri, Atlantis, Lemuria stuff-- it's like a Kirby comic, except that it's taken really seriously by huge numbers of conspiracy buffs."

He also talks about the way they're approaching the exciting second volume:

"Anyway, volume 2 is bulletproof because we're not even soliciting tunil the talented f*cker is halfway through the second volume. We're doing the Jim Lee trick because we want to guarantee every ish ships on time. There's really no way this can get screwed up. Thanks to all who stayed with us. Keeping us a top 4 or five book throughout all those delays really is great and appreciated."

Who could complain about five months gaps between issues when the book is that good?

Thank God Mercury Studios are doing something for the little man:

"Here's how it works: At three of the biggest cons this summer: Philadelphia, San Diego, and Chicago, Mercury members will be selling raffles at their own tables and at the CDLBF booth. Throughout the show, we'll reach into a barrel and pick out a winner. The lucky fan and a Mercury artist of his or her choice will be taken to "Bukkake Alley." There, the fan will be given a squirt-gun loaded full of Burt's Bees Vanilla-Verbena Conditioner, and the pro will get a pair of diving goggles and a towel. For the next sixty seconds, it's Bukkake time!"

And it's for charity!

Heidi MacDonald offers up good stuff in The Beat! this week: a Colleen Doran DVD, Shonen Jump banned, and Compgate 2:

"Don't get The Beat! wrong. It's fun to read a stack of comics every month. If you're involved in the creative end of things (or a full time journalist) it's necessary to do your job. How else are you supposed to tell who's a good inker, or what the latest plot threads are, or why everyone should pick up SLEEPER or MONOLITH? And yes, yes, you can always buy the really good ones, but that's a whole different diatribe. But after you've read what you need to read, and filed away a handful of floppies for your permanent collection…that leaves a giant stack of comics. And what to do with them. What to do with them. It's not like junk mail. You can't just chuck em in the trash. There are too many of them. And besides, do you really think that anyone who works in the comics industry is emotionally equipped to just throw out comics?"

Marvel continue their inventive work burrowing into the greater public consciousness, thereby making comics more of a lifestyle product and less of a cult medium:

"Marvel Enterprises, Inc., a global character-based entertainment licensing company, has recently signed agreements that effectively consolidate its licenses into single marquee partners for the underwear, candy and costume categories. These new arrangements represent Marvel's strategic approach to category management whereby Marvel seeks to enhance the caliber of its partners while expanding the marketing and promotional support for its product lines, resulting in higher returns to all parties."

If we ever want comics to transcend into the mainstream, then this is the kind of thing we need more of.