Fanboy Rampage!!!

Larry Young takes a break out of profiling the blogosphere to help those who'd like to pitch something to him:

"Believe it or not, I can tell you in the first two minutes of talking to you on the phone, rapping with you at a convention, or sitting around the Isotope with The Comic Pimp whether or not we will publish your book. But I don't want to hear, 'Hey, I got this project I wanna pitch you: In the future, the world's richest family hires an army to hunt vampires and bring 'em to a lab, with an eye toward distilling what it is out of their blood that makes them immortal, so they can be the world's richest family, forever. Time goes by, and they basically hunt vampires to extinction without ever figuring out immortality. But two old crusty guys remain vigilant, never giving up, never stopping their training, figuring that they must have missed one or two. And then one day, a vampire named Landon shows up, and they get back in the saddle, and chase down the last vampire, in hopes of giving their own wasted lives some meaning.' I mean, yawn. I got up and went to the bathroom and came back and you were still talking and I didn't miss anything.

"I want to hear, 'Hey, I want to pitch you something. Anne Rice meets The Fugitive. The last, reluctant vampire is hunted by rough dudes. This time, they're out for his blood. I call it 'Hemogoblin.'' See the difference? Sure, the first one isn't bad, per se, but it's much too involved for a quick pitch on the convention floor when I'm trying to talk twenty dollar bills out of the pockets of the passers-by. Look at the second one: if you can one-line it, tell me the title, and give me a marketing hook, chances are you can write a good comic book, too."

The Joe Quesada board takes a minute to stop and reflect:

"How do you feel the Ultimate line has gone? It was started off being aimed for a younger market but that never happened. We have three main books now - Spider-man, X-men and Fantastic Four. Ultimates is about to enter Volume 2 and then you have a couple of limited series. How do you feel as a package the Ultimate line is going? Is it being kept under control both continuity wise and also the number of books on release? How do you feel about the different books that are out there? Do you feel there is a sufficient difference between this line and the regular Marvel Universe?"

"I love the Ultimate Line. Ultimate Spiderman in the first arc made me care about the character more than I ever did with the 616 Spiderman. It developed Peter and all the other characters before the spandex even showed up which I liked. The art is top notch on all the titles and the stories are fresh and accessable to people no matter if they grew up reading 616 Spidey and X-Men or if they just jumped on at the onset of the Ultimate line. Never got into the team up either, I think the only one I ever bothered to get were the two issues that had the Punisher in them."

"It made sense in the beginning because it was supposed to be an attempt to tap into the younger market. Now that that's no longer the case, it just seems like a rehash of the real Marvel U. And honestly, at least IMO, most (if not all) of the concepts introduced by the Ultimate line could've just been incorporated into the real Marvel U and it would've been fine. The Avengers as a para-military group? Fine. The FF with a more sci-fi slant? Fine. And so on and so forth. But as for the quality of the books themselves? I'd say it's been pretty top-notch for the most part."

"I'm a big Ultimate line fan. Ultimate Elektra's the first ongoing of the line that I haven't cared for, but I'm not that intrigued by Elektra as a character. My only problem with the line is that each is less than 100 issues old, and each series has pretty much been about modernizing old Marvel U villains with every storyarc. Ultimate Nightmare is the first time that anyone's REALLY stretched into new territory, but if it ends up being Ultimate Galactus, I'll be eating my words. For Ultimate Marvel to survive, creators are going to have to take the characters to new and different places, not just contemporary versions of previously-written stories."

"I think the line in general is starting to wind down. Two years ago people were wanting everything Ultimaized but now the interest seems to be waning on the newer titles. FF is already losing steam and Elektra never had any. The mini's seem like they should just be included in the regular series too. Yeah, Spider-Man and X-Men are still going strong and I'm sure Ultimates vol.2 will be a top seller but everything else is falling below people's interest. Personally I just can't get into any of it no matter how hard I try. I lost interest in Spidey around issue 22 or so, X-Men just reads like another redundant alternate X-Men timeline to me, Ultimates is hit and miss, and FF is killing itself with a horrid pace. The line still has plenty of life left in it but overall I think the general interest is fading."

Newsarama fans react to the conclusion of DC: The New Frontier:

"And.... it's over, one of the GREATEST classic heroes mini series to come down the pipe in a LONG time. This is EXACTLY how I wish ALL super hero comics could be. This issue brings everything to head, the Silver Agers rally to stop an unstopable monster in such a way that totaly captivated me. Now THESE are heroes, heroes I want to read about. That 2 page splash in the middle, which everyone walking on the flight deck, that needs to be made a Poster ASAP, that was inspiring, I want it on my wall. This series is Tier 1 material, I'm talking Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns levels. If you havn't read it yet, do so. Don't wait for the TPB."

"This is probably the sleeper series of the year! Great art, great story....it feels like you're reading a book from the 50s."

"And while we're dishing out much-deserved praise, let's not forget the sublime coloring by Dave Stewart. His deft touch is the perfect complement to Cooke's art and is absolutely perfect for the tone of the story."

Robert Kirkman pleads with you to try Invincible over at Newsarama:

"I think we all like creator-owned comics, though historically they sell less than corporate owned comics. There are many factors that contribute to that, such as character recognizability, and things like advertising budget. One of the things I think is a major factor is perceived stability. We've all done it, we see an add for a cool book we think we'll like but we don't buy it because we're unsure if it will ever make it past issue 4, and it may take the book a year to get to issue 4. We think to ourselves, if it's good, and it lasts, I'll pick up the trade. Who wants to support a late book anyway? Then, or course, the book dies, just like we thought it would. It's just a fact of the business, some books just don't last. Invincible is not one of those books. Issue #16 was just released, our third TPB will be out in a matter of weeks. I'm making far-reaching plans on what to do in issue #50. We're here to stay, this book isn't going anywhere. Don't feel like we're going to leave you hanging, it's safe to support and enjoy this book. We're not teetering on the brink of cancellation. This is a healthy book and our sales are only getting higher every month... so please, give us a shot."

Ed Brubaker talks about his upcoming Authority series (and in the process, sees Bendis's Kieslowski and raises him a Milan Kundera in the ongoing game of "Well, I didn't expect them to get a namecheck in a Newsarama article about a superhero book from either Marvel or DC"):

"Well, one of the things that I’m sort of examining, if I’m examining anything in this giant, over the top superhero storyline is the comic book marketplace, and what sells in the comic book marketplace, and what people who read comics want... It’s something that Joe Casey and I have talked about a lot - that there’s a recapitulation theme running through all of mainstream comics – let’s do something that’s sort of like something that was done before, but let’s do it our way. Instead of creating a new supervillain, let’s just do a new version of this previous supervillain. That’s what people like – the retailers want to buy a comic that reminds them of a comic that came before, the fans want to read the adventures of the Teen Titans, or the Justice League, or the X-Men, or the Avengers fighting something that they’ve fought before, they want to see the Dark Phoenix Saga again. They want to be reminded of what they liked about these books when they were kids.

"I was looking at that and thinking about all the recapitulation. To me, acknowledging that upfront, and sort of making fun of that while both doing it, and doing a good version of it – making it something that’s more profound to me – that was my goal... The reason I fought to get to use the word 'revolution' as a subtitle is because 'revolution' has more than one meaning. It also refers to things going full circle. That’s a statement about comics right there."

Newsarama posters discuss the latest print-comics-on-demand solution, this time offered by Lulu.com:

"It's hard enough to sell an established book for $3.00, so how do you form a fan base when you have to charge $5.13 for a 30 page black and white or $9.03 for a 30 page color? And that's without making a cent of profit? I guess these might be good for mailing to art directors, but still. It would have to be one hell of a creative team to get me paying $9.03 for a 30 page color floppy. I don't think I'd qualify for someone paying that amount yet, and if I did, I'd almost certainly have a publisher..."

"They're basically betting on a few things, here:
1- Some people just want to see their stuff published and Lulu produces some professional-looking stuff at a price that isn't all that bad (even if it can be a little pricey).
2- Some people can make the pricing scheme work by doing a larger work... individual issues may not be that great price-wise, but the more pages there are the better (I believe, as I saw a decently priced trade on sale there) the price is.
3- The higher quality materials that they use will make some people willing to pay the difference.
4- There are at least some variations in the pricing and binding models, which allows some more control over the final look and feel of the product.
5- EDIT... also, that's 30 pages and no ads.
I know for a fact that it's #3 (they don't use the cheaper paper that most comics do, and I'm not sure that they will be at any point as it would require some major changes. I know it took them a while to even get the comic-size printing down pat with the changes it required) that's got the price as high as it is comparitively."

"I don't know much about self-publishing comics, but just the fact that this is "on demand" seems to make a difference...... that you can get individual copies printed up. If you wanted to have a comic published some other way, normally wouldn't you have to spend thousands of dollars just to get them to do it at all? If I had some comic that I just wanted to see printed, maybe a really limited run, paying $9 each or something to have a few copies printed up to maybe give to friends or hand out wouldn't be so bad (compared with trying to come up with thousands of dollars to have a run of comics printed)"

While I'm talking about Matt Fraction, Larry Young posts a script excerpt from Mr. Fraction's upcoming Five Fists Of Science graphic novel, which looks to be much more fun that any comic about Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla has any right to be:

"ON TESLA, reacting dumbstruck. In all honesty this is probably the only time we’re going to see him not being the smartest guy in the room. TWAIN is behind him now, speaking almost directly into his ear.

TESLA: …what?

TWAIN (1): IF I CAN END THE WORLD, AND YOU CAN END THE WORLD, AND TIM HERE CAN END THE WORLD—

TWAIN (2): --WHO WOULD ACTUALLY DO IT? STALEMATE."

EDIT: Larry was kind enough to send me a page of art from the book. It's in colour, which surprises me, but I like:

Joe Casey and Matt Fraction talk manga onto their Basement Tapes:

"There's a reason why the explosion of the First Person Shooter into the lifestyle of males 14-24 parallels the decline of the comics market. Why read about The Punisher when you can be The Punisher? Girl neuroses are an internal, shameful kind of thing-- body and soul dysmorphia-- that's an emotional kind of burden. Internal, interior-- reading first person accounts of a Girl Just Like You resonates by embracing, by being inclusive, by having a subtext of you're not alone and you can find your happy ending.

"Boy neuroses mean hitting stuff. And there are ultimately better vessels than comics that can provide that. Manga has such diverse readership-- it's targeting the emotional and visceral subtexts of people outside of the 14-24 male demographic. There's the question for the comics mainstream as it gnashes its teeth over the manga invasion: whom are you serving? What are you trying to resonate with inside your audience? You wanna know why marauding hordes of girls haven't read comics until now? There weren't any comics for girls."

It's the last line that makes this perfect:

"Remember a few years back when Marvel was rising its price from 1.95 to 1.99 of from 1.99 to 2.25n it was like earth was shaking and Marvel was killing us. Back in those days, all prices were raised at the same time and th milked fan base was pissed. Today, Marvel & Dc have a whole new method : raise the titles one by one and to make sre fans dont see it ; RELAUNCH. I was scanning Marvel Preview and I saw that Ultimates 2 was going to cost 3 bucks !!! Volume 1 costed 2.25 each. That's a raise. Astonishing X-Men is 2.99 each when Morrison's New X-Men was 2.25 (it's the continuiaton). X-Men the end, X Force, Excalibur, Rogue, Nightcrawler... (new series) all cost 2.99. Hard to be new readers friendly. Captain America & Iron man are going to cost 2.99 (Cap got a raise when he moved to MK, he's back to te regular marvel U and seems to cost the same) The What if cost 2.99. etc... Comics are becoming like Golf and Polo, you haveto be a cousin named richy rich if you want to get your fix"

The Bendis board sure are confident that New Avengers will be a hit:

"My store owner wanted my opinion on NEW AVENGERS. He wasn't sure how popular it'd be since the team didn't have the heavy hitters, 'Spider-Man, Wolverine on the Avengers? Spider-Woman!' I said, if Bendis writes it you can guarantee a lot of interest and GREAT sales. So he had initially thought of ordering 240 copies, but decided to cut it to 200. I told him move it to 220 and I'll buy those extra copies, but if you need them I'd sell them back to him. I committed to do this for the first six issues to make sure he kept ordering significant quantities to meet demand."

"Now I kind of want it to suck so I can have a hearty laugh. But I know it won't because Bendis has yet to fail and never will. It's impossible. Bendis producing bad material is like the Ultimates being on time!"

"Hell yeah! Heck, we only had 15 orders for it, and I added 20 more for the shelf... which is unheard of for this store. They havent ordered 35 copies of anything since the Death of Superman... I told the owner that I'd bet him that I sell them all... he said he doesnt take loosing bets..."

Marvel plans to move into children's books:

"Meredith Corporation, the publisher of The New York Times bestseller Trading Spaces: Behind the Scenes and leading global character-based entertainment company Marvel Enterprises, Inc. [...] announced a multi-year agreement today to develop and publish a portfolio of children's books products ranging from sound storybooks and coloring books to picture story books based on some of the best-known Marvel Super Heroes. The products will feature many of the highly popular Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, The X-Men and Iron Man, as well as other popular Marvel characters, such as Captain America, and the pre-school property Spider-Man & Friends. The initial offerings in the new children's book products will be released next spring."

The internet! It's a terrible thing, explains Mike Bullock, possibly still reeling from the spinning of his LITG appearance yesterday:

"The real world fans aren’t buying enough copies of Spider-Girl to keep that series afloat. What happens? The online community starts a petition that gives Mr. DeFalco’s book a stay of execution. A group of fans in one store, or even a chain of stores, would be hard pressed to pull this sort of thing off. Why is that? Well, it might be the urban legend that one internet poster carries the weight of ten actual opinions. I’ve heard that myth voiced numerous times. However, if between one quarter and one third of the U.S. is on the internet, then why does one internet voice get the power of ten instead of two or four? Not to mention the anonymity of screen names, an anonymity that gives credence to the rumors of various publishers and creative teams enlisting groups of people who register on message boards with hordes of ‘clone’ screen names to sway popular opinion, or make their opinion seem to be more the majority. Example: publisher ‘X’ decides they want to sling mud a creator ‘Y’. X simply gets two or three individuals to create five fake screen names and viola; it appears that ten to fifteen people are now slinging mud at Y. Sound a little to John Grisham for you? Welcome to reality."

Brian Michael Bendis reveals an unexpected influence on his upcoming Daredevil work:

"I'm going to do a thing called Decalogue, which I've been promising for a long time. It's the Ten Commandments; each story is a commandment. They're little vignettes and short stories that tell a bigger, BIGGER story. And the bigger story is 'what was Daredevil doing for that year when he became the Kingpin?' We skipped over it; all of a sudden he was the Kingpin and it had been a year. This is what happened then and how it really affected Hell's Kitchen... The idea behind 'The Decalogue' is my love for the Polish filmmaker, Krzysztof Kieslowski. Good luck spelling that. He's one of my heroes. I just love him tremendously, and I'd found a book of scripts for his Decalogue (or Dekalog), which he'd done in Poland about twenty years ago. In the introduction, he discusses quite frankly that he wished a bunch of other writers and artists would do the Ten Commandments as a theme. He mentioned how he wasn't the first person to think of this, and hoped that more people would do it. I miss him a great deal, and I think it's my way of A) getting my story across about Hell's Kitchen, B) getting religion in but also being my valentine to him, doing something that he wanted to have done."

As someone who's never read Bendis's Daredevil and loves Kieslowski ("Three Colours: Red" is one of my favourite films), this may finally be enough to get me to try out the title...

Geoff Johns comes to San Francisco:

"Fan Favorite writer Geoff Johns (FLASH, JSA, TEEN TITANS) will appear at Comix Experience in San Francisco in support of the release GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1 on Saturday, October 30, 2004, from 4 to 7 PM. 'Geoff is one of the most versatile writers in comics today,' said Brian Hibbs, proprietor of Comix Experience, 'and we're wildly excited to have an author of his stature in for a signing on a book like GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH!'"

Alan David Doane was last seen running to his local travel agent to book tickets to SF, in a mood that - according to onlookers - could be described as "extremely excited".

The Joe Quesada board considers whether Hawkeye died for no reason:

"I mean seriously. If Hawkeyes series had not gone down so badly would he be dead now. Tom B aproved this series and it was panned by pretty much everyone.Now the character is dead. I mean if fan reaction prevous to ther series being launched was as bad as it was and this guy didnt try and make it work more according to the fans wishes then surely this guy is responsible for the character being on the kill list."

"Why would you blame the editor for the story? Would a 'good' editor have prevented the death? Probably not. It wasn't a case of bad editing, it is a case of a writer offing a character that people are upset about. Nothing an editor can do in that case, methinks."

"I hate to say this, but it might be time for more than just a new/better creative team on the Avengers. Let's remember that the current editor was essentially picked by Perez (Perez was asked what editor and scripter he wanted to work with). Tom B has done/overseen some great stuff in the past, but it might be time for him to hand over the editorial reins to someone else (who? I don't really know. Maybe Roger Stern could be an editor again). Avengers has had a lot wrong with it, pretty much since Busiek left. Some of that blame has to land on the editor's doorstep."

To confound any plans to buy Crossgen for my wife's birthday (Happy birthday, Kate!), the deadline for bids has been extended due to Hurricane Jeanne. The new date for the auction? My birthday. What is it with Crossgen and birthdays?

Millarworld find themselves concerned with the shock of the New:

"Has anyone pointed out that within the next six months, Marvel will have all of the following titles on the stands: NEW INVADERS, NEW AVENGERS, NEW THUNDERBOLTS, NEW WARRIORS, NEW X-MEN [...] I don't know that it's a BAD thing. It's just... weird. Is 'New' the new 'X'?"

"'Everything old is new again', the Marvel motto."

"that's something completely weird according to me but very usual at marvel. I mean, take a look at what they did with FF or Iron Man or Avengers.. they gave these series new numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. then when the anniversary thing arrived on one of them they put back the old numbers... something I never understood under the quesada reign... marvel knights same thing with daredevil... it's all about money, sales. no less, no more. and if the series are good I don't care about the number on the cover. what disturb me is the price with all those 1st new numbers.... that is ridiculous."

Luckily, they're also discussing that very trend of renumbering:

"Relaunches suck. I like the new Avengers line-up, and like the creators, but I think coming out with a new number one doesn't really do anything. Eeryone knows about the restart; why shove it down our throats by putting out a number one and adding 'New' to the title? On the other hand, if there's a huge gap between relaunches (like Ultimates or the various DC relaunches), it makes sense to put a new number one."

"I'd like to see books like Thor and Daredevil go back to their original numbering as well. And that 3 digit number in shadow that's 'supposed' to be the real number, even that's not correct sometimes. I mean, look at the Iron Man Disassembled issues, they skipped a number! Even Marvel is confused."

"Personal experience, low numbers are less scary. That's why I started Ultimate X-Men before New, because the 130 number made me think I'd be missing a lot."

Last week, Joe Quesada spoke about his years of pain that resulted from having a door slammed in his face by an unnamed "big haired singer" of an equally-unnamed "metal band". Unsurprisingly, Dee Snider's not going to take it:

"When I first heard the story a few years ago, I took full credit and said 'that's me.' But, then, when I hear the rest, I know it's [bandmate Mark 'The Animal'] Mendoza knocking someone down and then laughing. It wasn't me. I'm the big haired lead singer - I'll take full credit for that, and I'm not a one hit wonder Twisted Sister actually had two hits, but I didn't slam the door in Joe's face."

Marvel change the Ultimates 2 variant incentive:

"Marvel announces an updated variant incentive for Ultimates V2 #1. Thanks to an incredible outpouring of input from retailers, Marvel has decided to alter its previously announced 50/50 black and white (cover and interior) sketch variant to heed the demands of not only retailers, but of customers. The revised incentive will simply be a 1 in 10 ratio with the same black and white sketch variant. So for every 10 books retailers order, 1 will be the variant. This will give retailers a reasonable percentage of the variants to sell off to customers who enjoy the sketch books, while also keeping the quantity fairly limited. Dan Buckley, Publisher of Marvel Comics said 'It was obvious to us right from the start that we miscalculated the 50/50 variant. For the first time that I can remember, we heard from multiple retailers expressing their concern for how this type of incentive would hurt the sales of the books in their stores. We would like to thank our retail partners for communicating their concerns to us so quickly and concisely.'"

Mike Bullock, once of DBPro, isn't convinced with his mention in this week's Lying In The Gutters:

"Good thing he gave all this a yellow light... It might have rang a bit more true if he'd said I was secretly Santa Clause as well. On a serious note as I've said nigh a dozen times now, [Bullock's creator-owned title Lions, Tigers and Bears] was never going to be published by DBPro and is still coming soon."

Sadly, no-one appeared to have told DBPro that, as the book was announced (in a press release probably written by Bullock, then DBPro's PR guy) in August:

"Dabel Brothers Production is proud to announce our newest creator owned series, Runemaster Studios’ Lions, Tigers & Bears. Created and written by Mike Bullock with art by cult favorite Jack Lawrence, Lions, Tigers & Bears is set to join Mike S. Miller’s The Imaginaries and Lullaby in DBPro’s new catalog of all-ages books."

Bullock, however, is keen to explain:

"You are misinterpreting that announcement. It doesn't say anywhere in that that DBPro is publishing anything. At the time that went up, I was a member of DBPro, DBPro announced a new creator owned property. It never says DBPro is publishing it, nor does it say who is publishing it."

JP Dorigo wants to help save comics. He's offering to promote the offerings of any mini-comics creator that responds to a questionnaire up at his column over at Broken Frontier:

"Anything printed will be considered! Full sized comics, mini-comics or a picture you drew of Spider-Man on a Burger King napkin. I realize some of you will have multiple works, so please focus on one. Whether it’s the one you’re most proud of or the one you think will sell best, you decide. Now get cracking!"

For those following at home, despite Bryan Singer stating point blank that Jim Cazaviel will not be the new Superman, Mark Millar sticks by his story:

"Ah, but there's a reason my bet focused on who'd be wearing the costume on the day PP started. Like I said, there's a couple of big PR stunts planned between now and then (Frabruary, last I heard). Being a sport, I'll obviously shell up the dough if my source is wrong, but you know how tight the Scots are with money so I'm pretty sure about this one, Harry boy."

Mark Millar: The only professional writer that can't spell February.

Over at Newsarama, the latest incarnation of a common conversation rears an ugly head:

"Manga is just following a trend that seems, to me, to be a fad. It gained huge popularity very quickly (a sign in itself), and the numbers continue to climb. I think what will happen is that the bubble will burst, and a period of disinterest in Manga will occur. Which is sad because Manga has some incredible reads."

"I dunno about Manga being a fad. If you look at anime, I've been a fan since the late 80's where you had to locate a fansubber and trade through the mail and that mess to now where you can buy it straight from any store that sells DVDs. Anime is stronger than ever, and it's only becoming more popular. If Manga can follow suit, I don't see it going anywhere. I teach at a high school and am now a co-sponsor of a manga/anime club. I'm actually finding more students reading (and drawing) manga than ever before. Having said all of that, I don't think we're going to see adults reading 'phone book' manga on the train as you would see in Japan, but I don't think this 'fad' is going to die off anytime soon."

"[Y]eah......... regarding manga as a fad, I don't think so. I mean, certainly it is especially a fad from a technical point, but manga isn't in the same boat as, say, pogs. It's not like manga just popped up overnight too............... it's just grown in popularity (along with anime) and will continue to do so. It's been popular worldwide, and even if it dies out in the US, it's still popular in many other parts of the world, and of course it's huge in Japan."

Rich Johnston makes public the rumour about the Ultimates 2 variant:

"'Ultimates' volume 2 will ship half normal issues and half with uninked black and white artwork and cover. Designed to encourage interest in the book, and especially in Bryan Hitch's art (the reason we've all been happy to wait so long), but retailers who contacted me are a little concerned. From conversations I've had, they'd appreciate a variant cover, even if a 50/50 split might be a little much if it's black and white... but black and white interiors? Again, if it was a "chase" variant, that might encourage interest, but at half and half, the chase is no longer there. Some retailers fear they may be stuck with half their order in black and white... only selling colour copies. Expect an outpouring of concern heading Marvel's way."

Carmine Infantino pulls his complaint against DC:

"According to papers filed electronically with the New York Southern District Court, the complaint by Carmine Infantino against DC Comics which sought $4,000,000 in damages has been dismissed as of September 20th. The dismissal came not through a decision by the judge, but rather pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(ii), which allows the plaintiff to dismiss an action without order of the court by filing a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared in the action. That is, the plaintiff, in this instance, Infantino, has opted to dismiss, and the court has agreed. According to the filing, the dismissal is made without prejudice, that is, Infantino could revise his complaint and refile if he so chooses. As of the filing for dismissal, DC had not responded to Infantino's complaint."

Priest gets nervous and hopes that he's not recognizing the signs:

"It's perhaps too early to crank up the bells of doom, but I think it is fair to suggest if you like [Captain America and the Falcon] and want to see it continue, it'd be a good idea to be fairly vocal about it to your retailers and to Marvel. Nobody at Marvel has said or done anything that would suggest we won't be here next year, but unfortunately, by the time they DO tell us anything, it may be too late to do anything about it. From where I sit, out in Colorado, it's painfully difficult to know what's going on in New York, and lately Marvel has become extremely conservative about what they'll approve and what they won't. So I'm a bit clueless about which way the wind is blowing for us up there. Based solely on the work I've seen Joe do and the fun we're having, I'm hoping Marvel has some small appreciation for this title and wants us to continue. But it's getting late in the day and we haven't seen any white smoke from the tower yet. Which may mean nothing, but, maybe this time we get a few lengths out front and not wait until we're in trouble to let Marvel know our audience wants us to keep going."

Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka talk about what is probably my favorite book out right now, Gotham Central. Greg, would you like to say something about its appeal?:

"Central is, by definition, and I do realize the ludicrousness in saying this, it’s a more human book [than superhero books] in a lot of ways. So it’s going to live or die on the humanity of the characters, and on treating them humanely. Cris isn’t the Punisher, and he’s not going to treat it like he is. There’s a conversation early in #24 where [Montoya’s partner] Daria’s talking to Cris’ wife – Cris and his wife have two kids, and Daria’s asking how the kids are taking it. There’s a discussion about it – how do you tell your kids that your dad killed somebody today? Dad’s a cop, yeah, they know that, but dad had to shoot somebody. He was a bad man, yeah, but when one of the kids you’re talking to is 14, 'he was a bad man' isn’t enough... So there’s another element of the book. It’s one of the things that I think makes Ed and I like writing it so damn much. Most of the mainstream comics we write don’t allow for that, and if you’d try to do that in a mainstream comic, follow up in a meaningful way on the actions or events, the outcry is deafening."

What do Brubaker and Philips do once Sleeper ends? Hit the high seas, of course:

"Black Sails mixes high adventure and horror in a vampire tale like no other. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, the creative team behind the hit comic Sleeper, cast a three-issue tale of mysterious vampire pirates with an intriguing hook: these men are manning the very ship on which Dracula himself once sailed. In Black Sails, Depression-era coastal towns are terrorized by a mysterious ship that sails only by night, drifting in with the fog, and leaving bloody waters in its wake. Brubaker’s moody and horrific story follows a darker path than readers are accustomed to seeing from him, and Phillips’s textured artwork is again the perfect complement to his prose. The series should hit your port [from IDW] in Spring of 2005."

Thanks to Matt Maxwell for pointing this out:

According to Amazon, Mark Millar's soon-to-be-released "Red Razors" (a collection of his old 2000AD/Judge Dredd Megazine strip with lovely art by Steve Yeowell) is actually called "Red Razors (The Sequel to the Dark Knight Returns)".

Millar hyperbole infecting Amazon? Amazon just having completely lost the plot entirely? You be the judge.

Jim Rugg talks to Ed Cunard about Street Angel, street gangs, and comics in general:

"I think the coloring of most Marvel and Image books is insurmountable, as is the atrociously disgusting computer lettering that most of those books use. Decompressed storytelling techniques combined with derivative, amateur 'writers' results in comics that are far less interesting than watching paint dry. It seems like a vast majority of comic book creators rely on Hollywood for inspiration and direction, and if there’s a more creatively empty place on Earth than Hollywood, I’m unaware of it."

Millarworld rebel against their leader:

"Things are looking quite good for Marvel in 2005. As Millar notes in another thread, the number of quality titles from this publisher will about double by the end of the year. I'm looking at almost every staple character/team having some exciting developments over the next few months. Avengers, Wolverine, Astonishing X-men, Cap America, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spiderman, Daredevil, and maybe Thor & Hulk are in good shape for the next year. This is good news to me. Takes me back to the glorious 80's in my mind. My question is, how long will this last? Will the titles live up to the promise? Will the creators pull out their best work, or will it be another let down? I am already jazzed by what's going on in Daredevil & Fantastic Four. Will These titles maintain their quality? I know there is no way of telling, but I am curious to see what other readers think. Excited? Cautious? If this is the beginning of a new era of greatness, how long will it last?"

"The problem is that Marvel corporate has chosen not to move strongly into the creator-owned/alternative arena (I think it's too early to judge whether Icon will change that), so they're playing with a much more limited deck than DC. Both the Marvel and DC Universes do the same dance: over-booking core characters, while trying to spur interest by reviving old/secondary/half-forgotten/fanboy-fave type characters. Genuine innovation is almost non-existent, and most buzz happens around favorite creators taking a turn with characters older than most posters here (Sieknewicz on Black Widow, Busiek on JLA, Brubaker on Cap, etc.), rather than anything really new. But at DC, this assortment is balanced with stuff like Astro City, Ex Machina, Fables, Y: The Last Man, The Authority, Planetary, etc. Even if the core DCU hits a bad patch, stuff like this will always make them look strong and diverse, while Marvel has to stand or fall with spandex."

"I agree. I actually am finding even less to be excited about. Marvel and their oversaturation methods are annoying."

"Marvel has some stuff I'm excited about, but they just don't take that many real risks. Marvel has Marvel. DC has Vertigo, Wildstorm, Humanoids, etc. DC's a much more exciting publisher as a result."

"I 'may' be sore that X-Statix has ended (no, hell, I AM sore), but I think Marvel is on a downward spiral already... They do have quality titles out there, but the ration of quality titles to absolute duds is not favourable for them. The 'throw shit on the wall and see what sticks' strategy isn't one I'm enjoying..."

The Bendis board stumble onto something odd. In the middle of an announcement of a Miracleman statue, this line appears: "Miracle Man (the comic) launched in 1986 and re-defined the way that comic stories were told. The series will be re-launched by Marvel in December." Needless to say, there is some confusion and excitement about this (not least because no such announcement has been made, and the December solicits are out and don't mention MM):

"that has to be a typo right? (or maybe they're talking about the series of Marvel statues)"

"Unless they bought the rights from McFarlane and no one noticed."

"WAIT! Isn't there supposed to be a character on the last page of Avengers #503 that's gonna knock everyone on their collective ass? Answer: Yes. Whoever writes the Marvel solicits wrote: The shocking double-sized conclusion to the comic event of the year! The Avengers come face to face with the enemy that destroyed them and nothing will ever be the same again. A story so big, a regular-sized comic could not contain it! The last page cameo will have the comic world talking for years! Guest-starring every Avenger... ever!! Holy shit, that would be so cool."

The only thing (besides the fact that it's rather unlikely) offering clouds on this horizon? This:

"so i wrote to neil gaiman. he was nice enough to write back. all he said was: No, someone is pulling your leg"

DC Comics to sue Kryptonite Bicycle Locks:

"DC filed suit in 2000 to block Kryptonite Corp from moving forward with its expansion plans, claiming infringement, dilution of trademark, and unfair competition, claiming that Kryptonite Corp, by using the words 'krypto' and other terms was attempting to confuse consumers into believing that there was a tacit connection between the product line and the Superman mythology. In response, Kryptonite Corp counterclaimed, asking for a recision of its agreement with DC, claiming that the purposes of the original agreement had been 'substantially frustrated,' and asked the Judge for dismissal of the case. Along with other summary judgments, Judge Owen refused to throw out the breach of contract claim filed by DC, and as such, leaves the bulk of DC’s case against Kryptonite Corp for trial."

That's right, dear readers. It's a slow news day.

Ed Brubaker talks about Captain America:

"...I went back and re-read the Essential Captain America volumes, and what I loved, and this is pure Stan Lee, he brought Cap back in the ‘60s, which was not a high point in patriotism in the country. Here’s Cap running around in his own series, and there’s a page from one of Steranko’s first issues where Stan just hammers home who this guy is – he’s a man out of time. He’s a guy form a simpler, more patriotic era, living in this harsh world of today, where everything is shades of gray, not black and white. He’s lonely. He’s had these horrible things that he’s had to live with. He carries the weight of the fucking world on his shoulders. Remember too that Cap was supposed to be the first of a whole army of people, but now he’s the only one. Plus – he feels that he failed. His partner, Bucky died. He woke up, in the current continuity, in the early ‘90s, to find out that his best friend is dead. Everybody he grew up with is either very old or dead. He carries this immense amount of tragedy around with him, while at the same time, carries this tremendous amount of responsibility of being the only super-soldier that America created. He has to live in this world that’s so different, but still fairly similar – there was just as much political corruption in his day, just as much weirdness between government and industry and the military-industrial complex starting in the early 1900s. Cap has so much fertile stuff that you can do with him without becoming a political rant. Plus, it’s a superhero comic at the heart of it. It can’t be just about the politics anymore than it can just be about the icon. It has to be fun to read. But I love the tragedy of the character – I’m just that type of writer who grooves on him being alone, and seeing what he’s seen."

Warren Ellis gets deja vu:

"I must admit to faint amusement at the current spate of media stories about the DC comics serial IDENTITY CRISIS, most of which are of a piece: POW! RIP! SPLAT! Superhero Wives Get Raped And Murdered! The New Noir Funnybooks! All of which recall, fifteen-odd years ago, the shocked coverage of WATCHMEN, which largely went POW! SHAG! IBBLE! Superheroes Slip Each Other One And Go Crazy! The coverage really is remarkably similar -- like the Eighties comics-mainstream renaissance never happened, and everything old is new again. I wonder what would happen to arts journalism if all their practitioners suddenly 'discovered' summer tentpole movies like the field had never existed prior to this year."

Fabian Niceza on what Rob Liefeld is planning for X-Force:

"I know he mentioned something about Wolverine, Deadpool, an old friend in a new face, did he mention the Imperial Guard and the Shi'ar? I forget. He's such an enthusiastic lad, it's hard to keep up with him. Needless to say, with Rob plotting, expect the kitchen sink sent back from the future and disguised as a VCR."

Evan Dorkin is having trouble with a promoter:

"Speaking of anger, I had a miserable time at the Big Apple show this past Saturday (followed, thankfully, by a fun time on Sunday). More later, maybe, when I have the time and temperment (sp). Basically, the weather was crap, the garage door broke from the springs (which snapped and went flying off the track) and slid down on me el kabong-style , catching me in the elbow and knee -- and then I almost got into a fist fight with a crazed Boston convention-promoter at the show. And business was terrible, which didn't help (but when you do mainly local shows and don't put out new stuff often, you have to take that on the chin). But getting screamed at and being threatened by a rabid comic book slob was too, too much. I was already down on comics this past week (month...year...), and this putz really, really didn't help things any. People like this goon are why I created the Eltingville Club in the first place."

The promoter responded (and this is only a short excerpt, please click here for the wonderful full version):

"Wow! Another guy with an ego because he was born with a talent and will most likely never have to 'work' for a living. I called you unprofessional because that is my experience with you. That makes it a fact. You only giving your yellow version of events Saturday makes you a liar. You got up in my face, you self important ass. Maybe having a child will make you grow up. Maybe not. I have been in the business since you picked up crayons and I will be making a living at it when comic fans are saying Evan who? ...Post whatever you want as I also have a web-site and I will be posting this and forwarding it to interested parties."

Dorkin replied (again, only a short excerpt):

"I stand duly terrified of your powerful website. Really, both I and my modem are quivering in fear of your e-sword of justice smiting us both down with your version of the truth. I myself don't feel the need to forward copies of this around to anyone 'interested' because I don't feel the need to wage a campaign to prove anything. If you want to keep this going, fine by me. Unlike you, I don't have to work, I have all the time in the world, so I can endlessly spin this bottle around for all eternity while you waste precious man-hours that could have been spent professionally reading comics or getting worked up over five-year old unreturned calls."

Thankfully, the promoter didn't realise how much of an ass he looked, as he kept at it:

"Like I said the first time, I was sending an apology when I found the lies on your site. You sound like a pathetic little man who never had to grow up. Obviously the fan boys are more interested in sucking up to Evan than the truth. First the no returned phone call. Then the feigned interest when I approached Saturday. Thats two blow-offs. Then you attempted to bully me. That should go good with fatherhood. I wasn't going to apologize because you were right since you were wrong by any standards. I apologized to them for what I had done to them. Get it? You obviously have lost touch with how things really work. If Mike doesn't want me at the show after a 12 year relationship then that is his business and i will ot lose a penny. But nobody threatens me. Will you let this through your spam filter?"

I hope this goes on forever.

(Thanks, Milo.)

Stuart Moore returns to Newsarama for a special "election edition" of A Thousand Flowers:

"I think even our overseas readers have gotten some inkling, some vague sense that there’s a hard-fought, crucially important election coming up in the U.S. And while I’ve retired this column (look for a book collection next summer), I couldn’t resist poking my head out for a look at some of the year’s most politically charged comics. Let’s get one thing out of the way right up front, to avoid getting into the usual political arguments in the 'comments' below: Most of these books slant toward the left side of the political spectrum. That tends to be true of creative people. Why? It’s very simple: Creative people are smarter than others. They think more. Their brains are much, much larger, blessed with greater perception, more able to see clearly the genuine, transcendent, objective truth of life. There’s no point arguing about it; you’ll just find yourself outgunned by their superior, almost godlike synaptic abilities. Okay?"

Somewhere, Augie is rolling up his sleeves and looking for a fight.

The Joe Quesada board review the latest issue of Avengers. Spoilers for those who don't know what's happened yet but do care:

"ugh. just not good."

"My friend who only reads comics when he's over at my place said, 'Doesn't anyone have a fire extinguisher on hand? Or why doesn't Cap just smother it with his shield?'"

"your know, I just didnt see hawkeye as being mortally wounded. Although the look to Cap from Hawkeye spoke spades in desperation, I still didn't get him having anything more then a flaming quiver due to the art. (man, I hope it was more than that, it just would be silly for him not to take off his quiver as opposed to kamakazi style suicide)."

The Bendis board want to know who the mystery guy with the fishbowl head is in this newly-released cover to New Avengers#2. I'd rather know if Luke Cage wants his old bright yellow shirt back, because surely he's going to get cold eventually.

Hey, Mark! Mark Millar! Want to do some shameless hyping of your employer's books at your forum? Of course you do:

"Right now I read Ultimate FF, Ultimate Spidey, Amazing Spidey, Astonishing and something else I can't actually remember this early in the morning. I looked at the online solicits for Dec a second ago and I'm going to read sixteen [Marvel] books. Granted, I'm writing three of them, but that's pretty bloody good doing. There's also another four I think are good books, but I just have no interest in. I won't name because it's rude. Just not my thing, but I appreciate that some people will love them. Anyway, good stuff. Still way too many X-books (and all at the low end of the market). Still, nature has a way of weeding these things out."

And later:

"I'm lucky I get all these books for free. I pity the rest of you..."

Sadly, no-one replying in the thread asks how many DC books he reads. Or books from any other publisher at all, really. It's all Marvel in Millar's world, I tell you...

Newsarama reports on the latest in the Crossgen saga:

"At a hearing on Tuesday, the Middle District Bankruptcy Court approved of CrossGen’s request to proceed with the sale of its assets, with John Taddeo being the lead bidder, with an offer of $500,000 on the table. As a result of the Court’s approval, CrossGen is now able to solicit other, competing offers for the assets for a Sale Hearing on September 28th at 10:00 am. Objections to the proposed sale must be made before that time, and files with both the Court and the Trustee’s counsel.
All competing bids (following the earlier stated bidding process) must be submitted to CrossGen no later than 5:00 pm Eastern time on Septmber 27th. If competing bids are received, an auction will be held for the assets on September 28th. At the auction, CrossGen may opt to sell all the assets to one bidder, or parcel them out among a handful of bidders, depending upon which will be of greatest financial benefit to the estate. If no competing bids are received, then the assets will be sold to Taddeo."

September 28th is, incidentally, my wife's birthday. If anyone out there wants to buy her Crossgen, I'm sure she'd be somewhat confused, but grateful nonetheless.

Greg Rucka talks about Wonder Woman, starting by answering those who find the book a bit slow:

"...I acknowledge that the run of #191 to #200 was a slow build, much like the first five issues of Wolverine were a slow build. It was very intentional. I wanted to get all my pieces out on the board, because I knew that a year later, things were going to start flying thick and fast. And in #208, things start flying thick and fast, and they don’t quiet down again until #211, and that’s only for a little bit. Then, #211, essentially through #218 just goes nuts again. So…I’m not going to apologize for taking my time to set it up, and for taking my time to define my characters and my take on Wonder Woman who, I had very specific feelings for how I wanted to represent her."

An amusing way to waste time at work: The DC Timeline:

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

It gets fun in the 1990s, when the author gets cranky:

"Atlas of the DC Universe published by DC/Mayfair. Answers the eternal question of where all the DC fictional cities and countries are located. Fans choose to ignore it, so that they can continue arguing."

"Marv Wolfman’s Team Titans begins with one of the stupidest gimmicks of all time. 5 different issues all numbered number one with different stories in them. The book features alternate future world variations of the actual titans, which is a pretty stupid idea for an on-going series in and of itself."

"[Post-Hal-Jordan-going-mad,] Green Lantern Corps Quarterly cancelled (#8) because they’re all dead."

Joe Kelly talks about Justice League Elite:

"Essentially I wanted a book where I could put characters through the ringer without having to get permission... When [Editor Mike] Carlin took over the JLA, he suggested a tie in between the Elite and the JLA to be my 'darker book.' So the JLE was born - A book about 'undercover heroes' who are proactively going into bad places to take down threats before they explode... and trying not to be tainted by the darkness they're up against... What's more important? Staying 'clean' or crossing the line to get bad guys off the street? These themes and questions are much more interesting to me than how much stuff gets blown up or inventing a new alien badass. Having a good time is the primary goal, but overall I want to tell a good story about a group of flawed people who screw up big time, and have to choose to either suffer defeat or transcend their own weakness. A climb back up from the depths and a rediscovery of who they truly are. It's basically a 3 year arc."

Diamond polled comic book retailers about Free Comic Book Day 2004. Overall, they were happy:

"In general, retailers reported more gains in traffic than in sales on FCBD 2004. More than half of that traffic (53%) was made up of new customers (38%) and returning customers who hadn't shopped in the store in quite some time (15%). One of the most encouraging aspects of the survey was the fact that 70% of the respondents gained customers thanks to the FCBD efforts and 35.8% of the storeowners reported that sales increased significantly in the month following FCBD, with most of the gains reported in the 10-20% growth range."

Millarworld covers the cover situation:

"Why do all titles have 'pin-up' covers these days, rather than covers that hint at the story inside, or show a great shot of something inside. Covers that basically serve as a trailer to a really cool film? I can say that personally, Marvel is losing money from me. Why would I spend $3 to take a flyer on a book based on a cheesy pin-up picture, knowing nothing on the contents inside? Not that all pin-ups are cheesy. Some of them are amazing, in fact. but it used to be I'd see a cover with a character in a jam, and then buy it just to read it and find out how they got out of it. That sort of thing."

"Eh, I don't really have too much of a problem with pin-up covers. As long as they are featuring characters that ARE in the story. USM does mostly story-based covers, but sometimes has pin-up covers. I have no problem with that. I mean, if the art is good I'm happy really."

"Ultimate Spider-Man is the worst for that IMHO. How many times can you just have Spidey in a weird pose? Somebody throw a pie for god's sake!"

"I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the pinup covers feel more open and accessible. Also, its is something different for Marvel and DC (early Image used to do pin-up covers all the time). On the other hand, its something that I think caters more to speculators and new readers as opposed to those who actually follow the book. An interesting mix of the two is Cassaday's covers for Astonishing. They're all pin-up covers that basically have very little to do with the interior stories... but they're not just heroes in poses. The covers to 2 and 4 in particular have a lot of, I dunno the term, 'personality?'"

"Except for issue #1, the cover of which was a f***ing hand! Jeez, what a ripoff. I can draw a f***ing hand."

Lee Barnett thinks about suspension of disbelief:

"Now I'm a grown up, despite what my wife and parents sometimes think. And I know that when I sit down to read a comic book, the odds are that what I'm reading didn't actually happen.... but the skills of the writers and artists create a situation that allow me to forget that for the time I spend immersed in the comic book. And, for the vast majority of comic books, I have no problem with this. But in rare circumstances, the book suffers a logic jump of such proportions that it's as if, in the middle of my son watching Recess, one of the characters was suddenly shredded alive by a rampaging Transformer, complete with the requisite blood and guts. Now, despite the argument that this would improve the show, an argument I'm not entirely willing to dismiss, it's so out of context that it would inevitably drive a coach and horses through any suspension of disbelief, willing or otherwise.

"Similarly, if Greg Rucka wrote a page in Queen And Country where Tara Chase was likewise, shredded alive by the same rampaging Transformer, it wouldn't seem as 'real' as the rest of the superb stories in the book. Comic books have their own generally accepted rules and regulations, whether or not they're explicitly stated. One, for example, is the convention about secret identities, and particularly the corollary that merely by putting a mask on, even a domino mask, or by taking off a pair of spectacles, workers, colleagues and friends won't recognise the super-hero as the fellow or lady they know in their usual lives. And usually, I can accept it, like I can accept that The Batman is an urban myth, despite there being previously confirmed footage of him. I can similarly accept that there are more aliens that speak English than people on this planet. But, as I say, sometimes the writer blows it."

Newsarama reacts to John Byrne's "Hispanic and Latino woman with blonde hair look like hookers" comment:

"Y'know... there's a fine line between saying you don't like hispanic women with lighter hair as a personal preference and calling them hookers. And that's all I'm going to say before I speak words that drop me down to that level."

"What do you expect of a man who compares music downloaders to rapists?"

"I've never seen so much negativity on one board as I have seen over there. And it's not really a point in saying anything to dissagree with Byrne or his moderators. If you do, you will be kicked out, after a verbal beating. I mean Byrne is a fine artist, and a good storyteller, but some of what he says is, well, not good."

Zeb Wells makes a million fanboys happy:

"[My] New Warriors project with Skottie Young got the green light. The premise is that the New Warriors have trouble getting work, and they hook up with a TV show, like 'Extreme Home Makeover,' and when people around the country get menaced by a Z-grade villain, the Warriors zip off in their van and save the day."

Did I say a million fanboys? I meant three.

Ed Brubaker talks Sleeper, and also a change in the way he's writing the book:

"I decided that I want Sleeper to read more like a story. So, I decided that’s what I was going to do. I’m going to write for the audience that’s actually reading it – the readers that are there every month, as well as the readers who pick it up in trade form. I’m not going to write for this mythical ‘new readership’ that’s not picking up the book. That new readership can buy the trades, and they’ll be in print for a long, long, long time. If people hear that Sleeper is good, they go and pick up the trade... I just feel like, especially with what I’m doing at WildStorm, my idea of doing a mature comic was to do a comic that demanded a mature amount of intelligence from the reader, which is not really the most commercial way to put out anything – to demand that they pay a certain amount of attention and maybe re-read something. But that’s what I would want as a reader – I want something that demands maturity on an intelligence level, not just because it has swearing and nudity. Well, I still want the swearing and nudity – I’m all over that, but that’s where I’m coming from. I’m respecting the intelligence of my readers. If you like what’s going on with this book, go buy the trades – get the back story, and the full story. Don’t expect me to hand it to you."

Because the V love me, John Byrne on the released photo of Jessica Alba as Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four movie:

"Personal prejudice: Hispanic and Latino women with blond hair look like hookers to me, no matter how clean or 'cute' they are. Somehow those skin tones that look so good with dark, dark hair just don't work for me with lighter shades. Like I said -- personal prejudice."

Unsurprisingly, only three people take offense at this racist bullshit. The rest fall over themselves to agree:

"I agree with the Master!!!"

"It's just his opinion. If he was trying to avoid offending anyone, he would not be able to speak. I do think that is a pretty popular opinion though. It looks as realistic (and flattering) as double D breast on a 102 lb girl."

"But you know? JB said: 'Hispanic and Latino women with blond hair look like hookers to me' He never said they were."

Via the V: The John Bryne forum tries to answer the question on everyone's lips:

"How is it possible for me to ask for, at least, a topless girl art from any comic book artists? How I do say 'please keep the nipples' in a proper manner and without sounding like an idiot?"

"I would think that the key would be to be clear and upfront about your desire and to accept graciously if the artist refuses."

"Just be honest and forward with them, I would think. Ask if they do nudes. I'm sure they would appreciate your candidness as much as you would appreciate theirs. ( unless they actually said yes. Then you might be a little more appreciative. heh.)"

Byrne himself steps in with advice:

"One word of advice --- check to see who else is standing by the table. I get the worst kind of drooling fanboys asking me for the most unimaginable drawings of female character (which I decline to do) and ignoring the young Mom who is three feet to the left with her 6 year old."

Joe Casey and Matt Fraction talk about the thrill of the (back issue) chase:

"Keeping up with what's new in comics is fairly easy. For me, it's just part of the gig to at least keep and eye out on what's showing up in the stores every week. But that's not the same thing as The Hunt. The Hunt is about finding lost treasures... things that have been around for years and we've just never seen them or read them. The proverbial Back Issue Discovery. So I thought we'd maybe trade info on a few recent finds. Stuff we've found that we didn't know existed (or, at least, we didn't pay attention to when it was new). Stuff that we've read and enjoyed either from an historical perspective or just for timeless entertainment value. In other words, no new releases. This isn't about hype. This is about the simple joys of discovery."

Shawn Hoke does a price comparison, showing you what you could be spending your money on instead of 12 Marvel books:

"Comics are like crack to some fans. They’ve gotta have them. And yet, the big two continue with the price increases, the crossovers, the special tie-in issues. I didn’t even mention the alternate covers. Astonishing? Yes, it’s both astonishing and mind-boggling. So come, weary readers- Past the Front Racks. Ignore the Greg Horn covers; she doesn’t even look like that in the book."

In possibly the greatest-named thread at Millarworld ever ("Killing superheroes (No spoilers), Is it ever okay?"), the board ponders fictional deaths:

"Death in comics seems to be rampant these days, what with Identity Crisis, Disassembled, Ultimated Spider-Man, etc. And it seems with each new death there's an outcry from a different segment of fandom. For the sake of discussion, and to avoid spoilers, we'll use Captain X as the victim. "Captain X is the reason I read comics! And even though I read dozens of books that don't feature Captain X I'm never reading another comic again!" Or, "Captain X died a stupid death just to sell comics. The only reason he was killed is because Writer X thought he was lame" And another, "They killed Captain X in a violent, gratuitous way which will scar the millions of children who read about the adventures of Captain X every month." Okay, so it's pretty obvious where I come down on all of this. I think people are overreacting. It seems like everyone is acting like this is something new, or just the pet fetish of certain writers (better not let Writer X near X-Lady, he'll have her raped, killed, and stuffed in a toaster!). Don't these people remember Gwen Stacy, Captain Marvel, Phoenix, General Zod, various and sundry Legionnaires, the JSA, etc.? Now, you can make the argument that most of those characters came back to life eventually, but at the time they died the death was intended to be permanant. Why was it okay then, but not now?"

"Alot of deaths are lame and pointless. You get the off one that fans accept because the stories well told(GA Starman, Barry Allen, 616 Gwen Stacy.). But then you get stuff that's just lame and silly like alot of the deaths in OWAW from a few years back. Do fans have the right to whine and not spend money on stuff? Sure they do. It's their money. With things like this you vote with your dollars. Is it taken to a silly point sometime? Yeah. But being a fan of anything leads to certain types of silliness. Like sports fans who go shirtless and wear face pant. Comic companies also the right to ignore their fans and do what they want. Stuff like bringing Hal Jordan back is made by higher ups. Same thing as leaving Ted Knight a corpse."

"Myself, I read for the stories, and death often makes a good story. Not always; I found the first issue of Identity Crisis to be painfully boring, but I certainly didn't have a problem with the fact that "someone was dying." Personally, I think the death of major characters like Colossus and Ultimate Beast are very good for the comics themselves, because they force the reader to take the story more seriously rather than viewing it as simply 'status quo' every month, which is what most superhero comics really are."

There then follows a list of "good" comic deaths and "bad" comic deaths.

Mark Millar continues his "I Know Something You Don't" tour, this time at the Bendis boards:

"In other news, HUGE Chosen news late last night. You'll hear about it in three months or so, but it's very good news indeed. I couldn't sleep last night. Seriously."

A Bendis boarder tries to guess:

"I am thinking that it is being adapted for the screen and called 'THe Passion 2' with Michael Moore and Mel Gibson co-directing."

Millar responds:

"Save this post. It's not accurate, but closer than you think. That said, there will be zero news for about three months. I'll explain why once they make the official announcement, but this is one of those occasions where I was asked to keep quiet."

So in other words, expect him to be going on about it and then saying that he really can't talk about it for a few months.

Brian Michael Bendis makes the big time, writing and drawing for the New York Times. Newsarama reports:

"Writing and drawing himself for the Times represented the first time Bendis had created his particular brand of autobiographical work in a while, and, as he explained, he was thrilled to find out it was still as easy as falling off a horse. Of course, his boss had a different take... 'Joe Quesada said, ‘Wow, you can draw a ball with two eyes on it. Good for you.’ But it felt really good to get ink all over my desk again. I snapped right into it.'"

Mark Millar creates Ultimate I Know Something You Don't Know with a thread called "Oh dear fuck!":

"As i don't post this stuff on the boards no more (I got enough grief to last me a lifetime with that shit), this is mods only. Go to our special secret place, boys and girls."

As he doesn't post this stuff on the boards "no more"? And you call yourself a writer, Mark. Meanwhile, the MW proles, they take the bait and act (somewhat understandably) not impressed:

"Oh man, Why would you do that? why?"

"Millar, you dobber, spill! Like you're not dying to anyway.. :) ...pretty please? even a wee clue?"

"this sucks...I hate being left out!! Millar- share it with the rest of us please!!"

"Fucking weak."

"Well at least Mark attracted a lot of attention to a secret that he doesn't want to share with others (except the mods). I sense a Rich Johnston now."

Remember, kids: Mark Millar is so cool, he knows super-secret stuff that he can't tell you!

Joe Quesada dodges having to give real answers to Jen Contino's questions at The Pulse:

"The Editor-in-Chief also couldn't get specific in terms of circulation numbers and why some series continue to be published while others, which might have been ranked around the same number or a little better, are cancelled. He said the amount of comics sold varied in determining which titles would continue or not. 'The number is different from title to title and on some occasions has nothing to do with numbers at all,' said Quesada."

Also: Daredevil Father is late because the issues are longer than usual, and NYX is being cancelled because it's so personal to Quesada.

In the first interview in Newsarama's Rucka-Brubaker week, Greg Rucka talks about his Adventures of Superman run:

"The way I write, and this isn’t the way everyone writes, is that I write from character. I don’t write from plot. I write from who’s the person, and how will they react in a specific situation. With Superman, with Clark, every story has to be a character story, because you have an infinite legion of people in power armor that he has to fight because nobody is strong enough to take him on. Those can be very dull stories – fight after fight after fight. There’s a reason Lex Luthor tends to end up in green and purple armor. That’s not the way into the character. The way into the character isn’t a bigger fight, a better fight, as much noise as possible. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing – I just finished an issue that is a great big fight, because that’s part of the joy of Superman – you can destroy whole city blocks. But he’s a challenge – he’s far more challenging than he looks. And I knew he was going to be difficult from the start, but he’s proven to be even more difficult than that, just because you want to get him right."

Milo George interviews Eddie Campbell for the newly launched Graphic Novel Review:

"I have felt that the concept of what comics is gets narrower as we go along. Each writer on the subject who defines comics wants to exclude something. McCloud excludes the single panel so Family Circus and Far Side are out. Blackbeard says there must be word balloons so Prince Valiant is out. Harvey says there has to be a visual-verbal balance. Somebody else says there must be no redundancy of information with words and pictures repeating each other. This is crap. Pictures have illustrated words and words have explained pictures since the beginning of time. Somebody reads a dull comic and extrapolates rules from it. Who do they think they are? There are all these people trying to be the rule-makers and the end result is bad for the art of Comics. Fuck 'em all, that's what I say."

Bill Jemas talks 360ep:

"Russ Brown and I are doing what we’ve been doing for almost 20 years now. We figure out how to turn valuable property rights into money – then we go out and get the money. In the past, we did that for our employers, now we are doing it for our clients... [I]n simplest terms, 360ep takes a property - a toy, a game, a novel etc. - creates a 'style guide' full of cool graphics and hot product concepts. Then we get out there and sell it the whole package to the entertainment produce manufacturing trade."

Millarworld react to Grant Morrison's criticism of the current comics audience in this week's LITG:

"I don't like how Grant Morrison acts like there's something wrong with people who don't get his work."

"Aaaaah, poor old Grant Morrison. Yeah, Seaguy didn't sell because the audience is too stupid to understand it - it certainly isn't because it was crap or anything! <_< Stop whining, Grant, and produce something decent - like We3, for instance!"

"Strange how I can pick up the metaphor and symbolism in significantly more complex works of literary fiction but failed to get seaguy. Perhaps because seaguy was just...well weird."

"It seems to me that Morrison just cant handle that he wrote an underachieving book in seaguy in regards to sales and popularity. So he has to come up with a reason that it must be the audiences fault through schizophrenia that the book was lacking."

Phil Hall reopens old wounds about the lack of praise for his online comics magazine, Borderline:

"Lots of self-important people hung around the WEF, many of them involved in their own projects and websites, all of whom felt what they were doing was far better than everyone else. One of the car crash elements of the WEF was the forum’s contributors’ ability to ignore the positive and accentuate the negative. This no holds barred forum (if you were a mate of Ellis, all holds barred if you weren’t) was by far the most popular comics place on the Internet (as far as US and UK comics people were concerned) therefore by virtue of the amount of people there the traffic was usually thick, fast and well read... Recently it was suggested to me by a mutual friend of both Warren and me that the general anti-Borderline behaviour on WEF might have been down to the fact the wrong person created the magazine!!!

"Borderline took a very trendy subject, world comics, and made it its own. The thing was (with the exception of Paul Gravett for two issues) no one working on the magazine was regarded as the right person. The WEF should have been the place where this magazine came from, it, after all, had all the right people on it (if not WEF then NinthArt). So instead of supporting it, they might have twisted it around and attacked the people who had the foresight to beat them to it. But that’s idle speculation (albeit, in my head, quite feasible)."

Proof that Chris Arrant is a much better interviewer than I could ever be comes in his new Newsarama piece about Mike Miller's Comic Book Digest. When asked to explain what Comic Book Digest is about, Miller answers "We’ve been trying to come up with a way to produce a new comic magazine that focuses on the quality of the comics medium, rather than on the hype of big-money-mass-market books. Not that we aren’t interested in things that make lots of money and are mass-market, but books like that already have a leg up in the industry, and cover-to-cover coverage in Wizard magazine. We wanted there to be a way that some of these fantastic titles from smaller or even virtually unknown companies can have a chance to shine -- to let customers take a meaty enough chunk of one of these books to really be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to plunk down their 3 bucks for it," before going on to name those "smaller or virtually unknown companies" that'll be promoted in the first issue:

"Comic Book Digest #1 will feature full 8 page comic previews of the following titles: Mike S. Miller's The Imaginaries #1 (DBPro), Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #118 (Image), Transformers: War Within: The Age of Wrath #1 (Dreamwave), Transformers Generation One #8 (Dreamwave), Deep Sleeper (Image), 100 Girls #2 (Arcana), Point Pleasant #1 (Ape), Gun Fu #3 (Axiom), Raymon E. Feist's The Wood Boy #1 (DBPro), Quantum Mechanics #1 (Image)."

Showing incredible self-restraint, Arrant doesn't reply "Yeah, that Dreamwave is certainly a virtually unknown company. And don't get me started on Image! Why, if only those guys could get some attention..."

Rich Johnston has yet another suspect for the Identity Crisis killer:

"'Nightwing's' 100th issue is rumoured to be his last (though not officially confirmed as such). This has caused a number of people to see it as proof of the rumour that he's the killer from "Identity Crisis." He also follows the classic murder mystery trappings of appearing in the first issue, with a similar trenchcoat worn by the killer, and all the deaths start on the anniversary of his parents' own demise."

Meanwhile, Will Pfeiffer reveals the truth on his new blog:

"I'll talk a lot of comics in this blog (oh, will I ever), but I'm not gonna spill the beans about any industry gossip or secret revelations about upcoming books. This is my job, you know? That being said, I will share this little tidbit: The killer in IDENTITY CRISIS? Ozymandias.

"Now you know."

Newsarama previews Avengers Finale, the very special final episode before Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt join the team:

"For those riding the wave of sheer chaos that this story has been so far, and are waiting for the heart, this is the heart. This is the emotional ending to a very tragic story. This is the very special last episode. The surviving avengers get together one last time to decide what the fate of the Avengers is and how they feel about it... We got [the artists] that we did by a mixture of groveling by me, Tom Brevoort, and Andy Schmidt... Andy got Neal Adams, which was a shocker. Tom got George Perez, which was just incredible, because we felt that we needed both of them to make this a truly special Valentine, because that is what this is, it’s a Valentine to all that has come before us. The rest are artists that each wanted to be part of this, to express themselves here. For those who loved the Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special a couple years back, and are looking forward to the Daredevil Anniversary issue from the art they have seen, this issue is right up there. This is some of the nicest art I’ve ever seen in a Marvel Comic."

Newsarama have the August sales chart. Astonishing X-Men takes the top spot, showing that variant covers help sales, and X-Men: The End is surprisingly the #4 most-ordered book for the month, showing that apparently retailers are mad. I mean, what's that all about?

Brian Hibbs looks at DC and Marvel's ordering policies, and Chuck Rozanski's bias as one of the largest retailers in the country, in this month's Tilting At Windmills:

"I think variant covers send exactly the wrong messages to comics consumers (because, let’s face it, your comics are, in the main, actually worthless as a 'collectible'), and set up a have/have-not division in the market which is extremely unhealthy. Chuck has every right and obligation to seek more benefits and protections for his being one of the top DM retailers – but don’t try to sell that kind of program as being a panacea for the average small store, because that dog just don’t hunt."

Mark Millar tries his best to sell Ultimates 2.

On the title: "Not The Ultimates Volume 2 or V2 or, God help us, Ultimates 2.0. This isn't the second season or anything like that. It's the sequel. This is what X2 was to X-Men. We just want to improve upon what we did in the first year. And yes, I say year with a smirk on my face."

On the covers: "Ish 1 is everybody, issues 2 and 3 are mostly about Banner/ Hulk, issues 4 and 5 are the origin of Thor and issue 6 features an ex-Ultimate with The Defenders so all the covers are appropriate to that. It's great having covers that relate to the comics again, isn't it? What the fuck was all that about??"

On the prospect of his writing Ultimates 3: "I'll be taking six to twelve months off and doing something else for a bit. Just to catch up on oither stuff and recharge. I think I'll have said it all with the sequel. This is better than the original and I doubt I could top it. The ending is as good as I can do, really, so in Summer 06 it's someone else's baby."

Newsarama posters have had it with the spoilers:

"I can understand if the book has come out... but for books that havent even come out yet? This shit is annoying as hell. I think it would be cool if we had ourselves a spoiler section (MATT, YOU READING THIS?) anyway, too many spoiler threads, too much temptation."

"I think that's my problem right there. Not the the spoilers themselves, but the temptation. I am a weak willed comic fan."

"I agree the temptation is great... but I have stayed strong and I DON'T know who is dying in Avengers #502!! I don't know I started frequenting the message boards for spoilers/rumors but I know feel I have been checking out too many spoilers!"

"We need a support group: I CAN'T RESIST SPOILERS!!!"

The Joe Quesada board, noticing that Marvel Knights 4 rises in price to $3.50 in December, prepares to complain:

"Im standing my gorund on the $3.50 price rise. If we buy boos at this price were sending the signal that it's okay to keep on raising the prices . I will go to trade on the $3.50 titles instead. The price rises are getting out of hand now. They are gettign close to being double the price they were 5 years ago."

"Marvel is trying to really rape some folks' wallets in December. This is the month of reckoning for me, when a whole lotta books are gonna get dropped like a bad habit."

"Im dropping the book, I refuse to pay 3.50 for an average comic book and sales do not suck on the book it sells around 45,000 so sales cant be an excuse, honestly, I kinda liked the book, but without McNiven it doesnt seem as great. I am not boycotting Marvel or anything, but a 3.50 price will keep me away from a book, its keeping me away from Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Strange, and if Peter David's Hulk arc is 3.50 I will skip that too. I will drop 4 and spend it on the cheaper, Ultimate FF or FF, and if this is too make up for the poor sales of the Marvel Age books, cancel them, there is no real reason that we fans should have to pay for a companies attempt to try and get new readers in. Im sorry, I love comics, but as a high school student I shouldnt be charged extra for something else that is costing the company money. I dont see Pepsi rising sales on Moutain Dew because some other pop doesnt sell great numbers. Poor move Marvel, just poor."

How does the blogosphere define news? Larry Young asks the question, so that you can all look inside our minds.

Johnny California is feeling a bit proprietarial about his company-owned characters:

"Where is the REAL Superman and what have you done with him?! In the DCU, the Powers-That-Be want Superman to be a limited and easily manipulated factor in their political machine. He’s turned into some kind of adjunct to law enforcement and the military. Captain America isn’t Marvel’s Superman; Superman has become DC’s Captain America. His problem is that he has a reputation to uphold. He’s got to be an example. He’s stupidly let the public define him. If you want to beat Superman, forget about Kryptonite, just hire a PR firm. Superman has been felled by flattery.
Fuck that! Frank Miller had it right!

"His Bruce Wayne didn’t question whether or not it was “healthy” for Robin to fight criminals. He needed a soldier who would die for him. He SHOULD be looking for orphans and the disenfranchised, malcontents and turning them into uncompromising and expendable Caped Crusaders. Does anyone really think that Wonder Woman is a diplomat?!!! Bullshit! She’s a one-woman invading army who has no faith in any of the laws or governments of MANkind that have allowed their people to suffer through nearly perpetual states of warfare and famine and who continue to endlessly pollute the environment.

"Superman was better off when he was an 'urban legend' who did what had to be done and then leapt away before the news crews showed up. These heroes are outlaws who are above the law. They make their own law. WHY DO WE HAVE TO READ THE AUTHORITY AND SUPREME POWER TO GET THIS STUFF?"

Someone tries to explain:

"These characters are corporate trademarks. They'll be used in whatever way Time/Warner decides is most commercially advantageous at the time. If, at some point, they can make more money licensing the versions of the characters you've just outlined, they will."

But California is having none of it:

"For me, Frank Miller really got the essences of the characters right at the end of DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN when Superman asks his daughter what she wants to do with the world. Sure, it can be a little more complicated when telling a story, but the essential dramatic question for any superhero is 'Who do I hit?'"

Yet more on the return of Bill Jemas:

"Contrary to assumptions and rumors floating around the Internet, 360ep will not be a new comic book publisher, although there may be comics in its future. 360ep is an entertainment property management company. The company will offer representation to intellectual property holders who are looking to license their property to different media and consumer product lines, as well as manufacturers and producers who are looking to license characters and trademarks in order to produce products and/or entertainment vehicles featuring said characters and marks... Boiling it down, 360ep will aid property holders/creators/owners in finding licensing opportunities for their property, while also matching manufacturers that are looking for the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or other hot, or up-and-coming intellectual properties."

"DeMatteis? Ploog? We will crush them like bugs, under foot or heavy machinery!" say Crossgen as they file a response to the creators' legal attempt to get Abadazad back:

"In its response, CrossGen asserted it’s percentage ownership of the property (at least 65%), and stated that according to the contract, the earliest the intellectual property could revert to DeMatteis and Ploog would be five years after August 25th, 2004 – the date of the last collected revenue, and only then upon CrossGen’s recoupment of all costs associated with the property from DeMatteis and Mike Ploog."

Brian Wood and Rob G say hi.

(It's the Fanboy Rampage exclusive - yeah, you heard me, exclusive - preview of The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker, the third Couriers book due at the dawn of next year. Thanks, Larry.)

The Pulse reports that next Tuesday is the deadline for those wishing to bid for Crossgen:

"September 21 has been set as the date for the CrossGen Entertainment initial hearing to determine: 'the deadline by which parties must object to the sale, the bid deadline, the auction date, and the final hearing date, according to CrossGeneration's Senior Vice-President and General Counsel Jennifer Hernandez... 'The sale is a sale of all of the assets of CrossGen except some specific contracts that will be rejected (e.g., our cell phone and server contracts). Once the sale is closed, the funds from the sale will be designated to creditors according to what the secured creditors (Blue Ridge Investors II, LP and Dee Gee Entertainment, LLC) have agreed to. Technically, until the secured creditors are paid in full (a sum of approximately $1.45M), all of the proceeds of the sale and any suits or other actions to recover CrossGen funds would be paid to the secured creditors. In order for unsecured creditors and administrative costs (court, trustee and attorney fees) to be paid at all when the secured creditors have not been paid in full, the secured creditors must agree to allow a portion of the funds (in this instance $500,000.00) to be paid to unsecured creditors and to pay for administrative costs. Typically this occurs, but we do not have an agreement with either secured party as of yet. The unsecured creditors (e.g., employees, freelancers, landlord, American Express, Quebecor, the IRS) are represented by a creditors' committee consisting of representatives of some of the unsecured creditors owed the most money and appointed by the Trustee... After the sale, the bankruptcy case will continue in an effort to obtain additional funds to be paid to creditors.'"

Courtesy of Heidi: Arthur Magazine has an interview with Grant Morrison (called "the 21st Century's Philip K. Dick", which seems oddly fitting) this month, and a Cameron Stewart cover to boot. Thank the Lord for buying things over the internet with Paypal, I say.

(Slightly offtopic: Arthur's edited by Jay Babcock. Am I misremembering, or is that the guy who was behind the original Barbelith annotations site for the Invisibles way back when...?)

The Bendis board gets activist on comics' ass:

"what's the best way to change the general public's idea that 'comic books are for kids and/or nerds' and that 'all comic books involved superheroes in tights'... ? cause this is really starting to get on my nerves... if people just understood that there are TONS of other stuff out there OTHER than superhero comics, stuff that they would most likely enjoy, it would really change a lot... i'm not against superhero comic books, i enjoy them, but i'm just saying that for the general public, superhero comics are probably not their cup of tea, but people need to understand that other stuff DOES exist out there...."

"I actually think the general public would be inclined to read superhero books...look what movies make a lot of money and cds are at the top of the charts."

"Yes, there's still a perception that comics are generally 'kids' stuff.' But you're never going to get to those people. When I worked at Borders, I helped a customer who was convinced I was giving him the wrong book when I showed him 'Maus.' That was a 'cartoon book,' he said; he was looking for a 'serious book.' It's the same sentiment that keeps animated films from being taken seriously by mainstream audiences. You're better off banging your head against a wall than trying to persuade them."

"Well, I haven't read the previous pages but just for the record, I wore my Daredevil shirt to school yesterday and am planning on wearing it regularly. I also started reading the Underboss TPB during break but people were talking about serious stuff so I put it aside. I always have some sort of TPV in my bag though should I am just waiting for that moment when noone has anything important to say and then BAM! Have you read this??? Oh you want me to help you with your English? Well READ THIS!"

MediaSharx takes a dip in the superhero nostalgia pool, comparing the Super Powers figures with the Secret Wars figures:

"DC licensed out the rights to its stash of characters to Kenner, who brought STAR WARS into the toyboxes of every household in America. Unleashing THE SUPER POWERS COLLECTION, which would run for three lines before Kenner killed the line, there were thirty three figures produced, including characters that weren't even in the show, such as Shazam! (Captain Marvel), Dr. Fate, and Green Arrow, plus a score of original characters such as Cyclotron and Golden Pharaoh. For full details of the Collection, including art and line up on the never produced forth wave, visit the extensive archive at Toy Otter. Not to be outdone, Marvel Comics was approached by Mattel to bring the other side of the super hero coin to plastic life (er...kind of a rubbery plastic at least). However, Mattel wanted only Marvel's biggest, guys like Spider-Man and Captain America. Taking it to a level beyond Super Powers, Mattel packaged every toy with a plastic shield and a lenticular image, and to tie it all together - since the closest thing Marvel had to a universe-expansive cartoon was SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS, and that had ended a year prior - Marvel Comics released MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS, a twelve issue maxi-series - the company's second after CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS."

All I'm going to say is this: Super Powers had two Jack Kirby tie-in comics. It wins.

Anyone want (unlettered, sadly) preview pages of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America? They're right here.

Who Loves The Sun? Who cares that it is shining? Who cares what it does since... Oh, I'm sorry, we're talking about continuity? Millarworld know what they're on about, at least:

"Continutity in comics. It seems that the issue gets talked about now more than ever. My question is, does it really matter anymore? With all the reboots that occur now, or the re-imaginings of titles, is there such a thing anymore as continuity? Is it just a fanboy problem or does the average reader want a reliable history?"

"I like what She-Hulk does with continuity. It embraces it fully, and uses it to tell new kinds of stories, instead of rehashing it or getting weighed down in it. That sense of history and complexity is something I find very appealing. Like much of the work Tolkien put into developing the languages, cultures, and histories of Middle Earth, it makes the universe seem more real and alive. But I don't flip out if there are some inconsistancies. We have that kind of stuff in real life too. Just look at our histories of things like Jesus or King Arthur. Everyone has a different version of how things went down. Comic fans, in general, seem to be okay with continuity glitches as long as the stories are really good. I'll use She-Hulk as an example again. The book is completely ignoring what's going on in Avengers Disassembled. Does anyone give a shit? Not at all, because the book's great."

"When you read Super-Man before the 80s you didn't expect anything to have lasting consequence for exemple and that was fun. I don't like it when they build-up a story just to have it dropped because 3 people on the internet complained it was boring. I find reboots annoying because 20 issues later, the same people are gonna complain about back-story they don't know about."

"I love continuity [...] When writers ignore continuity it makes me feel like the characters AREN'T who they're supposed to be . Almost like they're actors playing the role of said characters as opposed to actually being the real thing. Many times a characters history and experiences [like real people] is what defines them and enables them to grow . Ignoring past events or writing significant things off as trivial just lessens the reading experience in my opinion and cheapens the characters. Characters should have memorys and history just like we do. Taking away continuity is like giving characters alzheimer's . It sucks"

The Bendis board look at Youngblood: Genesis:

"I can't imagine it'd be any good in all honesty. I like Kurt Busiek and all, but I just don't see it. As my daddy said, 'No matter how much sugar you put on shit, it's still shit.'"

"I love how every two years or so ol' Rob'll sucker another decent writer into doing Youngblood. Why do they accept? Why?"

"If I recall correctly, this was a project Liefeld hired Busiek for back when he was still with Image, entitled Youngblood: Year One. The thing never came out... BTW, I flipped through this. I never thought my opinion of a comic could be so low. Even the LETTERING sucked."

Johanna Draper Carlson reports on the Legion panel from Baltimore, straightening out what the upcoming relaunch means for those obsessed with continuity:

"The perception is that there's too much continuity for new readers. As a result, they're going to reboot completely from scratch, as if the book and concept was created in 2004. There are promised to be good, in-continuity reasons given in the Teen Titans/Legion Special due out October 6. A seven-page preview by [Mark] Waid and Barry Kitson will set up the new continuity and universe and establish the tone... Waid stated that he's not starting with an origin. He's starting with a team of roughly 18 people that will act like a police force, with lots of characters running around. Every issue, he wants to build a sense of soap opera and leave the reader wondering what happens next. The team is like the Society for Creative Anachronism of the 31st century, with kids that idolize the heroes of our century. In a world that's so bland and sterile and polite, they want to raise hell and liven up the place. They believe in the heroic ideal, where initiative and action are important, in contrast with regimented and organized adults. Waid wants to talk more about society than technology in this go-round... [DC head honcho and former Legion writer, Paul] Levitz added that the Zero Hour [reboot] seemed to be the generic future of the DCU, and no one was thinking about what it really meant to be in the future. Now, there's more thought put into the world. Then, there was a nadir of social consciousness in our culture, and now, there's lots of debate about what the future will bring. Waid added that he sees more and more young people saying that they can make a difference, and the sense of what a hero is has changed dramatically. He remembered John F. Kennedy as a hero, and now, he's as far away to young people as Julius Caesar. He wants to create independent, free-spirited kids with energy who are still bright and optimistic. Waid is as excited about this as anything he's ever done."

Everyone who thinks that Bendis's take on Avengers hasn't been sensationalistic and unsubtle enough yet, you may enjoy the cover for #502 (available via Pop Culture Shock's preview):

Along with Jim Lee, Joe Casey talks about The Intimates at Newsarama:

"The way we've structured this series breaks away from the notion of 'arcs'. Instead, we're jamming as much stuff as we can into every issue. In a way, we want The Intimates to have the feel of a great sitcom, where every "episode" is fairly self-contained. If readers come back every month, I want them to come back for the characters. It may be a bit naive, but we actually want readers to care about these characters. What a concept, huh? We want them to pick favorites and stay loyal to them, no matter where those characters take them."

Toybiz President and CEO Alan Fine takes on the same duties for Marvel Publishing:

"Mr. Fine, 54, has held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Toy Biz since October 1998, except for a brief tenure as an independent consultant to Marvel during 2001. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Marvel, a position to which he was appointed in September 1996. Prior to joining Marvel, Mr. Fine was Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager and then promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Kay-Bee Toys, a national toy retailer."

There's also a new CIO at Marvel Publishing:

"David Cho comes to Marvel with more than twenty years of experience managing technology-driven information businesses that serve professionals and consumers, including the last ten years in various positions at The McGraw-Hill Companies. During his tenure at McGraw-Hill Mr. Cho most recently served as Senior Vice President, Applications & Operations at McGraw-Hill Corporate and as Senior Vice President, Technology & Communications where he identified $100 million in incremental revenue by commercializing technology-enhanced products and services. Mr. Cho earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and an MBA in Operations Management from Columbia University."

Shawn Hoke takes up residence at Comic World News with a review of Art Spiegelman's In The Shadow Of No Towers:

"Poor Art Spiegelman. He creates the first comic book to win a Pulitzer Prize, becomes a poster boy for comics being taken seriously as a medium, and then nearly disappears into the world of art and literature. Later, compelled by the events of September 11, 2001, he gathers his drawing tools and begins his first major comics work since the prize winning Maus. When this new book (In the Shadow of No Towers) is released, reviewers weigh in lamenting, 'It’s okay, but it ain’t no Maus.' Well, no shit. It ain’t Maus, and it isn’t supposed to be."

Rich Johnston updates LITG with more on Bill Jemas's new company. For one thing, it's actually called 360EPM, and for another, it looks like Epic Take Two (Well, three, but you know what I mean):

"I understand that Mark Millar's pocket of proteges, Mark Peyton, Brandon Thomas and Barb Lien Cooper are being lined up for projects at the company, though none have chosen to comment on this. From this, one might presume that Mark Millar might have a surprise or two up his sleeve for the company as well. This is likely a tiny aspect of the company, expect an array of big names to be announced - possibly in the Newsarama interview announced as imminent on billjemas.com. Expect the kind of projects, in comics and other media, that Jemas pushed for at Marvel. A varierty of genres. Media-friendly concepts. Diversity of style. And the creators that were invited to pitch, and write to Epic and more, but maybe didn't go as far as they'd have liked."

Now I'm waiting to see if Bill's going to go after any bloggers to turn into creators... Kevin Melrose, I'm looking at you...

Steven Grant talks about publishers that don't know what they're doing:

"Most companies' game plans seem to come down to this: we'll put out a lot of comics, everyone will buy them, producers will want to make movies from them, and we'll own all the rights. A friend of mine calls this the FIELD OF DREAMS philosophy, after the Philip Kaufman film about a sports fan who erects a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield: 'Build it and they will come,' the voice of God tells him. 'Build it and they will come' is the operative philosophy of many would-be companies. It's a philosophy for idiots, a business plan that practically guarantees failure. Yet, time and time again, you get new publishers out to make a 'killing' in comics, which in 1993 was theoretically possible, but these are different times. It's certainly possible to get your comics turned into movies, and it's still theoretically possible for your characters to even become icons. But it takes promotion, it takes money, it takes time, it takes work. It takes good work. And luck. Spider-Man isn't an icon today because everyone woke up one morning and 'Wow! We want Spidey underroos!' He's an icon because AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, in the early years, was good enough, striking enough, original enough and enough of the time, with enough consistency that, over time, he caught on, and caught on enough that the piles and piles of later crap might've occasionally threatened continued publication, but never threatened his iconhood."

(He also mentions his collection of his Master of the Obvious columns, available for download at his website, which is well worth the time and money. There's a lot of good stuff in there.)

Non-Young Gun Kaare Andrews talks to Chris Arrant at Newsarama about his Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus mini-series:

"I have a bunch of the Essential black and white trades. And I remember looking through a lot of Mike Zeck, John Byrne, Paul Smith and Frank Miller when I was trying to figure out how to draw this thing. I had actually forgotten how different comics looked back then. I've been collecting since I was around 12 and reading since I was 4 but I had actually forgotten what those books looked like. So much simpler, so much quicker. In the ‘70s there was kind of this generational 'over-render' where everything and one was crosshatched. Awful stuff. It actually reminds me of the ‘90s when little 'Todd-lines' [shading remiscent of Todd McFarlane] were everywhere, which I loved. But go look at some old Paul Smith. Simple. And it works, Go look at some early Frank Miller. Quick. Graphic, Same with Zeck, even the same with Byrne...the newsprint and crappy printing technology worked out for these guys. So anyway, I was looking at these books and I had originally thought of doing a fully painted mini-series and I started thinking how fun it would be to just go old school. Music references the ‘80s all the time, fashion too... why couldn't I? And I did. And it's fun. Now if you hold up my work to any of these other guys you might even wonder what I'm really talking about. But there is a spirit there that I want to channel, not copy, but become inspired with. And whether or not it actually looks like an 80's book is unimportant. I don't want it to look like an ‘80s book. Otherwise we would be printing on Baxter paper and cutting colored film. But that's the process, that's where I'm coming from."

One of the majesties of Millarworld is the towering (263 pages and counting) Rob Liefeld thread at Millarworld. It's like an alternate universe where the 90s never ended (as opposed to this one, where they did and then came back again). That said, even Rob's thread has those who would rather detract from Liefeld's genius:

"Outside of his fans Liefeld's 'new' X-Force has been grading F from most critics and it's not down to just hating the art either. Clearly one of the primary 'creative' forces behind this series is Liefeld's attempt to use as many old 'unseen' pages as possible to try and ensure he gets it finished in time. The plot has been constructed around pages from different series, not a good way to construct a story. It clearly isn't the case that he thinks unused plot elements from an earlier series would fit in well to this story as evidenced by the 'kitchen sink' approach of using old gatefold covers as double page spreads of sequential art! ...Liefeld's proven cut and paste approach to the structure of this series also cast doubts over any sequence that seems out of place or somewhat jarring like the first couple of pages of #1. Liefeld and Jay have both stated that Rob has literally dozens of completed unused pages from projects that were abandoned, given that Liefeld is using some of his best known 'unused' pages to pad out his current work (which he can do as he's plotting) it's more than likely that many Youngblood and Re-Gex etc. etc. pages are being slightly reworked in lieu of new work. Leaving the element that causes the most heated debate aside; Liefeld's art, how can anyone argue that a plot driven by whatever finished pages (from entirely different series and scripts) Liefeld can pass off as new or construct a plot around using his new work as merely a bridge to work the old material in is good? Liefeld describes Nicizea's work on this as the best writing he's ever done and no doubt the man deserves a medal for apparently been given bundles of pages from old series and asked to write a new narrative around them. All stories are plot driven, in the case of Liefeld's X-Force finished pages of art based on entirely different plots and scenario's are driving the plot and that's why it's crap."

Not that this goes down well with the faithful:

"Mike daniels [the poster that wrote the above] is wrong everybody just so you know. Similar to a propaganda film, he gives you half the facts and never the hard truth. He bases his posts on assumptions and rumors. Just a warning for anyone who considered reading this overly long post from someone who obviously has a personal vendetta against Rob Liefeld."

"Mike Daniels [...] Once again.... you really need to get a girlfriend or find someway of spending your time other than bitching and moaning about Rob Liefeld. I've seen and heard it all when it comes to Liefeld hating but you seriously take it to another level. At least some of the 'normal' people that hate Rob seem like they have lives outside of message forums....you on the other hand do nothing but stalk and complain.....and complain to such a degree that it's 'unnatural' [...] I can't tell you how many times i've seen you're name sitting there in the Liefeld thread browsing. You ,my friend, have a problem , and should probably seek out a professional to help you work out whatever issues you have."

The Joe Quesada board approach DC's recently-released list of Identity Crisis tie-ins with cool, analytical minds:

"I'm very annoyed about this. I'm not reading Identity Crisis, and if the Flash story feels like it needs it, I'm just dropping the title. I hate big crossovers."

"I personally think this sucks. And I could have sworn they said there would be no crossovers or tie-ins before this whole thing started. Way to go, DC."

"If this was on any other board, I would call this trollish behavior, but given the natural slant of this board...carry on. DC SUCKS!!!!!"

There's a surprisingly similar thread at the Bendis board:

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. All those people who bitched about Avengers Disassembled 'tie-ins' now have something new to bitch about."

"Yay, DC can fuck with my enjoyment of Flash now! Oh, wait... It better not be essential to read IC, grr..."

Steve McNiven - sorry, that should be Young Gun Steve McNiven - talks to Newsarama:

"I don't find 'Young Guns' thing too odd. The clouds parting and a voice ringing in your head, now that's odd. Tumors with teeth. that sort of thing. Young Guns is Marvel's idea to gather a group of artists whom they feel are doing some cool stuff that people should check out. Why they asked me to be a part of it is anybody's guess. But I'm not complaining... I know that I would feel pressure if I was sitting next to these guys drawing my books 'cause these guys are all incredibly f ***ing talented. But I also know alot of other guys working at Marvel that could switch places with me and no one would bat an eyelash. Andrea DiVito for example. All I know is that you hear enough negative stuff in your life so it’s good to hear a few good things like 'rising superstar', although it would have been much cooler if it was a ringing voice inside of my head."

While I'm piling on the small news stories, Doug Mankhe adds another two years to his DC exclusive deal, and Paul Pelletier replaces Juan Bobillo on She-Hulk with #9.

Millarworld's Ryan Higgins continues to be that board's MVP, reporting on the following announcements to retailers:

Marvel cancels Mary Jane and Weapon X.

DC cancels Kinetic, and "postpones" collected edition.

DC announces (a full?) list of Identity Crisis tie-in issues. Books that tie-in: Adventures of Superman, Flash, Firestorm, JSA, Manhunter and Teen Titans.

If it's mid-month, then Ryan Higgins must be breaking the embargo to sneak out the new Marvel solicitations. Of interest:

* Ultimates volume 2 launches: "The ULTIMATES return in this BLOCKBUSTER first issue! It’s been one year since they stopped an alien invasion, and now things get hard. New members, new costumes and 12 months of gossip to catch up on! Who's getting married? Who's divorced? Who's gone nuts since we last saw them? Why, just in this first arc we see Ultimate Hulk, the secret origin of Ultimate Thor, and we get a look at the entire Ultimate Universe as drawn by Bryan Hitch! It’s guest-stars galore, with everyone from the X-Men, Daredevil, Captain Britain and even The Defenders. Why are you reading this? Go reserve a copy NOW!"

There's a variant cover, of course.

* Marvel really, really want you to buy Astonishing X-Men: "Did you miss the return of Colossus last August? Were you the guy who said, "This book’s never going to stay on schedule, so you waited for the trade paperback? Are you insane?! How can you wait!? Folks, if you’re missing this, you’re missing the best comic in comics right now! But, it’s not too late to jump on board."

It's the "best comic in comics", after all. Boy, they really want that #1 spot, don't they?

* Chris Claremont writes X-Men, filling in between Chuck Austen and Pete Milligan...

* From the solicit for Cable/Deadpool: "The ultimate throwdown -- CABLE vs. THE SILVER SURFER -- and guess who determines the winner? DEADPOOL holds the key to saving the world... or saving Cable's life... which choice will he make? The lives of Cable and Deadpool will never be the same as the X-MEN and S.H.I.E.L.D. guest-star in the action-packed, tragic conclusion to the "Burnt-Offering" arc (formerly known as 'The Passion of the Cable,' until the lawyers, clearly unable to understand the concept of the Fair Use Law, got all kinds of nervous)." Now, ignoring the genius of Cable versus the Silver Surfer, someone should have told the person writing the START of this solicitation that the storyline's been renamed, as the solicit starts "'PASSION OF THE CABLE' PART 4 (OF 6)".

* The Young Guns get their own sketchbook. But if these artists are guns, what about the established superstars? Thankfully, the solicit gives us the answer: "And if that’s not enough, this sketchbook gives you a glimpse at two upcoming projects from two of Marvel’s WMDs, John Romita, Jr. & Greg Land!" Yes, that's right: John Romita Jr. is a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Who says Marvel can't be tasteful at the same time as topical?

* The New Avengers solicit is great: "It’s high-octane Avengers action from the ongoing creative team that makes you trade your aunt Betty to Johnny down the block if you miss an issue! Think you saw it all in Disassembled? As Doom would say, 'bah, fool!'"

That's Dr. Doom as portrayed by Mr. T, obviously.

* A month after the relaunch of Captain America and Iron Man, Marvel reprint those two issues together in one book, as Tales of Suspense. Because, you know, Marvel were short a book that month. There's also a Director's Cut variant of New Avengers #1, as well.

* What If? returns... as a fifth week event type thing. Seven books, all released in one month. Ouch. There is a trade of some of the original series, though.

* Captain America and the Falcon go up against the most-demanded villain ever: "While Cap works with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Ali Morales and S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Nick Fury to track down the deadly A.I.M. leader M.O.D.O.K. and ferret out MODOK's connection to rogue Naval Intelligence Admiral 'Jimmy' Westbrook, Falcon proceeds on his own track, unleashing the newly-restored and re-powered Anti-Cap to help destroy the Rivas drug cartel, and, hopefully, bag Admiral Jimmy and MODOK at the same time."

How many more times can you say MODOK in one sentence? Mind you, it'd help if they could decide whether it's M.O.D.O.K. or MODOK.

Courtesy of Matt, news that Bill Jemas has indeed taken up temporary residence at billjemas.com:

"In a few weeks, this website will be folded into a larger one. Some good friends are joining me in starting up a new business. When that happens, this site will become part of the new business’ site. Right now, all I can say about the new business is that a great group of friends from the comic book industry, Marvel Enterprises, Madison Square Garden, Marvel Entertainment, the National Basketball Association, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, Harvard Law School and Rutgers College are all teaming up, and that our business plans and prospects look pretty good."

Newsarama has pencil art from Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7, guest-starring the Spider-Mobile. Matt Brady responds to someone's request for an explanation of what the Spider-Mobile is with aplomb:

"a side effect of drugs at a plotting meeting in the '70s, fueled by the need for a toy line."

"It's like holding a mirror up to a mirror, creating an inward-focusing reflective spiral!"

Indeed.

After being accidentally leaked (and then removed) by Pop Culture Shock over the weekend, the DC solicitations for December and now officially released. Of interest:

* David Lapham starts his run proper on Detective Comics: "Gotham City at night is no place for children, as Batman knows all too well. As the Dark Knight tries to shut down a drug ring that's turned deadly, Bruce Wayne must contend with a wayward 14-year-old who's getting dangerously close to Gotham's underworld!" Nice Lapham cover, too:



* John Arcudi takes over as Aquaman writer. With HERO cancelled and Josh Dysart replacing him on Swamp Thing, where's Will Pfeiffer these days?

* Gotham Central guest-stars Catwoman and has a lovely cover. But if Josie and Driver are the main characters, shouldn't this be written by Ed Brubaker?



* Talking of Brubaker and Catwoman, the first post-Brube issue is solicited.

* Identity Crisis concludes: "For the past seven months, a new level of humanity has been brought to the DC Universe. Here's where it all comes together. Lives are saved but souls are wrecked as this landmark story concludes!"

A "new level of humanity"? Is that what they're calling it these days?

* Surprisingly (and happily) to me, Plastic Man makes it past 12 issues. The reason why may be in the solicitation: "There's a reason why this series won both Harvey and Eisner awards. Find out with this action-packed new story!"

* Green Lantern: Rebirth's solicit gives away part of the story, surely? "As his willpower grows, Hal Jordan continues to fight the forces of the Spectre. But is the world ready for him?"

* The Waid/Kitson Legion reboot begins: "The early days of the 31st century are a Golden Age for the galaxy, as poverty, famine, war and disease have become relics of the past, not only on Earth but on most other known worlds. The Dawning Millennium is utopian: shining, optimistic, bright...and deadly dull. That is, until a bright, defiant, energized team of super-powered teenagers from different worlds is assembled! They form a team of passionate activists and fierce dreamers crusading to make a difference and leave their mark on a society that has forgotten how to fight for change! Every issue of this monthly series will be a whopping 40 pages for just $2.95 US. Get ready for The Legion of Super-Heroes: fighting for justice and tolerance while learning from — and learning to tolerate — one another!"

Millarworld discusses the upcoming new Legion of Super-Heroes series:

"How come no site, anywhere, has the news from the Baltimore panel regarding the Legion re-boot. Does anybody know except the two dozen people who were there? Does anyone want to know? It was fairly exciting. As a gigantic Legion dork who was there with somebody who doesn't like the Legion, the both of us walked out eager and excited. Waid and Kitson are going to blow Teen Titans out of the water. Basic points covered were that the series is indeed going to be an entire reboot of continuity. The Titans/Legion crossover will explain why the current continuity is ending, and why we're getting the new one. The premise is that, in the future, the world is sort of sterile and lacking human initiative. Meanwhile, this gang of kids is getting together to form a club. They're super-hero 're-enacters', a la the misfits who today wear suits of armor and pretend to be King Arthur. Only, this club wants to make a difference in the universe, and goes out to do just that. In order to be in, they must wear a bright shiny costume, they must have a super-power, and they MUST choose a name using the word Girl, or Boy, or Lad, or Lass, or Kid, etc. Their enemies will include super-villains, and groups who are not strictly evil, but who oppose the notion of change. Waid said that the only thing we can take for granted as remaining true from the original was the basic spirit of the characters and stories, and that the three original founders are still the three original founders. He also said if we saw a line-up of the twenty-five characters on the team in issue one, we would recognize about fifty to sixty percent of them."

"ANOTHER reboot? God DAMMIT! All this time everything I heard and read said there wouldn't be one. And now this. Dammit."

"This sounds poor. Really poor. My interest has pretty much been killed by this thread so far."

"After the horrible way in which Empire ended, I am staying away from this book. I just don't trust these two creators anymore. Especially with a property that I love-Legion. Plus, I don't see Karate Kid, Wildfire, or Timberwolf in any of those pictures, and if they aren't in it, my interest is even lower. Too bad."

"Waid... Waid! WAID!!!!! What the #$@^?!! (settle down, breathe) I thought this wasn't gonna be a reboot!!! (easy, you love the man's Fantastic Four) I'm spittin' mad!!! (steady, you're gonna buy it anyway. it's the Legion for cryin' out loud) WHY? WHY? WHY? *cowers in corner* Find a happy place. Find a happy place."

The Bendis board considers this article on ICv2, about the rumored return of Bill Jemas:

"I guess he can get back some of the hate Austen gets now or austen can join with him and the hate can be tripled."

"JEEMY is probably one of the smartest and most business oriented men I've ever met. I think that only good things could come from this. He's my boy! And to think, I used to hate that mother when he worked for MARVEL..."

Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley explain the concept behind Young Guns, their latest promotional push for Marvel, which is based around artists new to the company:

"Not all of them have been around for a while but let’s be more specific... Let me recount something from my own experience. I've told this story many a time to establish creators joining us here at Marvel and they all seem top have the same experience. When I came back to marvel to work on Marvel Knights, I had already done some major work at other publishers and with my own company for close to eight years. Yet, when my first issue of Daredevil hit the stands I started receiving e-mails asking who I was and where I came from. I was completely new to the legion of Marvel fans. That was truly an eye-opening experience for me. Since then, I've seen this happen for many established professionals walking through our doors and meeting the Marvel faithful for the very first time. So, although guys like David Finch aren't ‘new’ per se, they've done so little work in the past that to Marvel readers, they are a new experience. The same can be said for Olivier who did quite a lot of work but on a very low profile title for another publisher. Jimmy Cheung started here at Marvel, but truly discovered himself over the last two years, but also did it on a very low selling title. So, to us, these are artist that are hitting their stride, going onto high profile projects and ill be altering the direction of Marvel Comics in the next few years."

There's even a logo, so now you know that they're being serious.

Everything old really is new again at Marvel, as Peter David returns to the ongoing Hulk title:

"The combination of the positive fan response to the 'Hulk' limited series by Lee Weeks and me, and the fact that Bruce Jones is now exclusive with DC, prompted Marvel to say, 'Why the heck are we doing this as a limited series instead of as part of the ongoing?' So rather than it being issues 1-6 of 'Tempest Fugit,' the Hulk series will simply start up again in January after a four month hiatus and my storyline will be issues 77 through 82 of the regular book. Which means that, to all intents and purposes, I'm back writing the Hulk. Whether I'll stay beyond that hinges on a few things. First, I want to make sure that I'm comfortable back writing the Hulk. So I've really only committed to six issues Then again, I initially only committed to six issues of 'Young Justice,' so it's not unprecedented for me to stay around. Second, of course, is fan and retailer response, and third is whether Marvel wants to keep me around on the series. But naturally those two aspects are inextricably bound. If the retailer and fan support is there, that will send Marvel one message. If it's not, that sends them another. And they will act accordingly, and I wouldn't blame them. So ultimately what it comes down to is, I'm back on 'Hulk.' Whether I stay or not is up to a variety of factors, not the least of which is you guys."

Tokyopop's Mark Paniccia joins the advisory board of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art:

"While The Kubert School doesn't have classes geared towards manga right now, I believe including representatives from Tokyopop on their advisory board shows a commitment to expanding the definition of 'comic art.' The School is by far the best place on the planet to learn the nuts and bolts of visual story telling and much of what they teach now is absolutely applicable to manga. Look at the influence manga is having on kids and you can see what direction this is going in. There are thousands of aspiring manga artists out there - as proven by the amount of Rising Stars entries we get. These artists are absorbing material from Japan and Korea and creating a hybrid with Western sensibilities and Eastern-influenced styles that are completely unique to America. It’s opened up the market to demographics not seen in decades of comics publishing. Girls are finally reading comics again and that is a true testament that comics are still a viable medium. They’re even reading books like Battle Royale, which would go against traditional marketing wisdom. And don’t forget that there’s a lot of boys who would probably never pick up a floppy that are reading books like Rave Master, Ragnarok or even Marmalade Boy. It’s also giving opportunities to creators that might have been overlooked before. All in all it’s helping comics grow market-wise and artistically."

The date of Free Comic Book Day 2005 has been decided: May 7, 2005:

"While tying the event to a major comic book movie release did have its proponents who pointed to cross-promotion at a time of heightened comic-book awareness, as well as easy tie-ins with theaters near comic book shops, those opposed pointed to 2004, when originally, FCBD was to be the day after Spider-Man 2 opened, but was, in reality, three days after the opening, as Sony changed the opening date long after the date for FCBD was set. It was also argued that tying the event to a movie only works when a movie is being released that year, as well as the opinion that if the movie is a bomb, FCBD as an event may be harmed."

Diamond's Steve Geppi follows in Paul Levitz's footsteps:

"Geppi took the stage and said, 'There’s probably some of you old timers in the audience who are probably extremely shocked right now that I’m up here as a new member of the CBLDF board, because for those of you who go back far enough, you know that I once had the reputation – not a truly valid reputation – but an accused reputation of being a censor. That was at a time when I thought I was doing the right thing because I was looking at some of the things that were being sent in the mail to us to solicit an quite frankly I didn’t think the retailers should be exposed to them. And I’m not talking for the purpose of violence or sex, I just thought the quality was poor, and then I got accused of being a censor... But, I do very much believe in free speech and I very much believe in what the CBLDF represents. I’m proud and honored that they considered me to be a board member. I’m even more proud that I come on board at the same time with a good friend of mine and a good friend of the industry’s: Paul Levitz.'"

How sensitive are Newsarama posters? The answer may surprise you:

"I have noticed that perhaps some fellow posters were offended by the last line in the recent issue of Invincible #15: 'This is so gay.' When the girl was taking her boyfriend for a fly. I actually wondered this as I read it. Thinking that someone could be put off by this. I just wonder how many of you were offended by this?"

"If Kirkman really was going for accuracy in kids' speech, he'd use the N-word. But if he knows it's wrong or offensive to use that, then he should know it's also wrong & offensive to use 'gay' as a derogatory comment. There's a reason there are over 4,000 Gay/Straight Alliances in public schools throughout the United States right now. Homophobic language and terminology is a big part of the reason why. Shame on Kirkman for resorting to such a low blow; gay teens everywhere suffer from the daily use of this language creating a bigoted environment where it isn't safe to come out."

"SHAME on Kirkman? You're kidding right? We need to evolve past this hyper-sensitive state of society. HE WAS NOT INTENTIONALLY DEGRADING HOMOSEXUALS. IF that was his demeanor (which it clearly WAS NOT), then by all means anyone would have the right to be offended. Lets grow up. And yes, even the word "nigger" can be used quite effectively in literature when in proper context. Accurately portaying the teenage psyche (which includes conversational idioms) of a generation is part of this proper context."

"Y.M.C.A I LOVE TO STAY AT THE Y.M.C.A. Sorry it was getting way to serious there for a minute. but the guys in those videos were kinda macho"

Everyone's talking about the Bendis board! Millarworld have a thread inviting Bendis boarders over to MW! Steve Higgins at Broken Frontier celebrates the fact that the posters there not only saved the board from permanent shutdown, but also gave Bendis a birthday cake! It's the new rock and roll, apparently. The "kids" dig it!

Rich Johnston thinks about DC's marketing for a second:

"Last week, we printed a job availability for a Senior Vice President of Sales And Marketing. As was pointed out, Bob Wayne is currently only a VP... making the new guy Bob Wayne's boss. So what are the implications for DC's marketing, public image and resources for the new hire? ...Having both the book market and the comic book market under one department does make sense, but there will be consequences. Direct Sales have a much bigger marketing staff, while book sales and mainstream publicity departments exist with relatively few. Direct Sales have sales reps that call up Diamond comic book accounts on a weekly basis, but book sales only has three people to call on book and library accounts all over the US. Direct market communications have at least three people for a handful of websites and magazines while mainstream publicity has two people for the whole world. With CMX, Humanoides and 2000AD projects seemingly more suited to the bookstore market than comic shops, it is likely that there may be some major internal changes as part of the new arrangement."

Paul Levitz joins the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund:

"The announcement was made during a dinner with members of DC’s retailer focus group (the RRP) at Diamond’s Baltimore Retailer Summit. Levitz joins President Chris Staros, Treasurer Milton Griepp, and board members Louise Nemschoff, Peter David, Neil Gaiman, Greg Ketter, and Frank Mangiaracina. 'This is fantastic news for the CBLDF and for the comics community as a whole,' Staros said in a press release. 'Paul brings over 30 years of experience in nearly every facet of the comics business and a commitment to the artform that is unparalleled. His extensive knowledge, enthusiasm, and experience will only make the Fund a stronger organization.' CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein: 'Perhaps more than any other person in the field, Paul Levitz has been most responsible for comics’ ongoing welfare and stability,' Brownstein said. 'As the head of DC Comics, he encourages the unwavering support of our Direct Market retailers, while simultaneously growing the artform by taking chances on innovative content across ever-diversifying genre lines. The commitment that Paul has demonstrated to our retailers, creators, and medium over the course of his career can’t help but serve the Fund well during his tenure on our Board.'"

Citing that it's not as if he dislikes Levitz personally or anything, it's just that he doesn't like the way Levitz does business, Mark Millar has since announced that - until Levitz leaves the CBLDF - he will never do anything to benefit the CBLDF or even comics as a whole. Somewhere a Greek chorus of fanboys point out that that's not really a big change.

Gui Karyo leaves Marvel:

"According to independent sources, Gui Karyo, Marvel's President of Publlishing, left the company late this week. According to reports, Karyo’s departure was voluntary, as he left to seek other opportunities. Karyo, who joined the company in 2000 oversaw the operational and fiscal management of the publishing business... It is unknown if a replacement has been named for Karyo, or who will be handling his responsibilities in the interim. Karyo’s departure was the second Marvel saw this week, with Andrew Lis, who worked in public relations and marketing, departing Tuesday to work outside of comics."

Newsarama posters are already guessing that Lis and Karyo may have left to work with Bill Jemas on his rumored new "360 Squared" company.

Barb Lien Cooper weighs in on the controversial "Is Batman Gay?" topic that's apparently keeping the Silver Bullet Comic Books writers up at night:

"Batman is a work that is incredibly popular and constantly brings new generations to its stories. Some of those readers are gay, looking for a hero they can claim as at least partly their own. I don’t know about you people, but MY Batman (or any comic book hero or heroine) is a big enough hero to be open to however you need to see him to most benefit you. It wouldn’t make him less of a hero in my eyes if he were gay. Heck, if I can believe a man can fly, I can accept if a man is bi, can’t I? He’d just be my gay 'dad'. Batman’s still a character I feel a lot of affection for because he helped me through my formative years. If a gay reader had a different but similar experience with his/her imagined version of Batman, how can I deny that reader that same good feeling of identification inside? I’m not going to rain on their parade by saying 'nope, Bruce Wayne’s absolutely, positively straight', because I frankly don’t care one way or another. Batman is still Batman, no matter who he swings his bat-a-rang with between panels. I mean, doesn’t a secret identity in and of itself say to you 'this is a person who likes to keep his private life private?'"

Phew! I'm glad that's sorted.

In other Bendis news, he reacts to reader criticism of his Avengers run over at CBR:

"It's kind of interesting that there's no middle ground- they either totally get it or they don't. I kinda feel like the Michael Moore of comics this time around. It's weird to be so polarizing. It's kind of fun. A lot of it might change when the story is complete, that happened to me before, but there are a few things being said about it all that I want to refute. The number one argument over the latest issue was people saying, 'The Avengers don't argue' and I gotta ask, 'What Avengers were you reading?' For years Hawkeye's entire personality was if Cap said something, Hawkeye said the opposite. Also, clearly, in the latest issue the team is not themselves. Experiencing a damn bad day and doing their best to cope. Another criticism is of the style of dialogue I've chosen for the book, a more natural, more conversational style that a book like this isn't used to having, something I firmly believe can be accomplished in mainstream comics, even in a bigger team book where they can all talk like real characters and not plot devices. Yes, most mainstream books are written with a very similar language. Its one I study and enjoy. But it doesn't have to only be that way, with that flavor. People who read 'Ultimate Spider-Man' or 'Daredevil,' they know this, but there are people reading 'Avengers' who are new to this kind of writing and think I don't understand the characters or don't have a grasp of them, or I somehow hate them. But all it is is a different interpretation of them. I fully understand what makes these characters tick, on levels that would embarrass any comic reader in the world. I want to take that information and instead of just treading on it, I want to build on it with a new dialogue style. It's not too different from when an artist with a strong style comes on a book. Look at David Finch- he's got such a strong style and writers can have that, too. So, what you're getting is a different interpretation. Different doesn't mean wrong, it just means different. I fully believe that the Avengers are doing nothing that contradicts their behavior in previous issues- they may sound different, but they aren't acting different."

The Bendis Board are concerned:

"Where are the Powers personal ads in issue #4??? i want mine to get in [...] should i repost it?"

"I put mine in too, and was dissapointed. Bendis, my birthday is wednesday and I got no powers personal. Bendis made me sad"

"Apparently, my request for loving from fat chicks was ignored. I wasn't kidding."

Luckily, Bendis is on hand to make sure that no-one's request for loving from fat chicks is ignored ever again:

"i didnt get enough to fill the column but now i have enough for three. five has a lot of them. send them in."

Mark Millar hypes up an Comix-Fan review of John Layman's new Gambit book as only he could:

"Actually, it gets a good one and deservedly so. He might have the smallest penis in the North West, but he's made Gambit pretty interesting and it's a fine-looking book. He shouldn't be looking this slick this quick, the bastard."

Mike Baron is back, which for some reason makes me happy. Sadly, his new book doesn't sound up my alley, but what can you do?:

"From the Eisner-winning mind that brought you Nexus and Badger comes the hard-luck story of one man's goal to settle the score with his ex-employer over a misunderstanding. But not just any misunderstanding, this one's harsh: GrindCorps, a leading mine processing corporation, set up one of their lead demolitions experts, Frank Grace, to conveniently have an 'accident' on duty so they could collect his insurance policy. Apparently, it seemed more profitable to have a dead man on payroll than one with a pulse. But unbeknownst to them, Frank survived. He's back. And he wants payback. Coming this November from Image Comics is The Detonator. Written by Mike Baron with artwork by Mel Rubi and Barbara Kaalbeg, this is a high-octane story that promises action and delivers on that promise."

Warren Ellis ponders fame as he streams:

"Working in graphic novels makes you a niche author. If you're lucky, you can become a cult-level writer. Moving ten thousand copies of ORBITER in hardback actually makes me a relatively successful science fiction author, where hardback print-runs are typically in the low thousands for anyone but a marquee name. Over six years or so, the first TRANSMETROPOLITAN book has gone into four or five printings, moving forty to fifty thousand copies, which I guess makes me 'cult' (no jokes, please) without making me Chuck Palahniuk. That's pretty much the glass ceiling for a writer like me. Beyond that, you get the people who have the genuine gift for speaking to a mass audience, which is something beyond skill. Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are among the great technical craftsmen of the Western medium, but they also possess that rare human sonar that allows them to take soundings off the collective yearning."

For just $500,000, Crossgen could be yours! And look who may be interested (my emphasis):

"According to the motion filed by CrossGen, the company spent the year before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy submitting proposals and having discussions with various parties in regards to marketing itself and testing the waters for purchasers and/or investors. Parties named by CrossGen in this search include: (in film) Warner Brothers, Sony, Chuck Russell Productions, Disney, Beacon, Buena Vista, ImageMovers, Threshold Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Classic Media, IDT Media, Branded Media, Endeavor Agency; (in videogames) Climax, UbiSoft, A2M; (in comics) Marvel, DC, Diamond; (in education) Bill and Melinda Gates Education Foundation, Educational Opportunity and Research Foundation; (investment companies) Perot Investments, Barret Capital Management, Lion Investments, Peregrine Capital, Platinum Advisory Services; and individuals: Peter Frank, George Steinbrenner, Mark Cuban, Howard Schulz, Ira Zinman, Bill Jemas, Michael Milliken, Tom Sawner, JoAnn Serdar, Robertr Thomas, Michael Howe, Chris Peifer, Dr. Bruce Underleider, and Paul Soltoff."

Johanna has the panel line-up for this weekend's Baltimore Comic-con, and there're some interesting things to see (For me, I'd love to see the 70s panel with Chaykin, the Simonsons and others, as well as the John Romita Snr. and Legion panels).

Over at the Joe Quesada board, it's that eternal topic: Trades versus single issues:

"I feel sorry for you guys who wait for trades... Because the cliffhangers in stories such as Identity Crisis and Hush make it that much sweeter."

"Don't feel sorry for me mate. I love trades. Much easier to look after than flimsy little issues. As for cliffhangers I don't see the problem. Do you mean to say that books through out history are ruined as cliffhangers at the end of chapters mean nothing? I doubt it somehow. It's still a cliffhanger you know. It still works."

"Trades= no crappy ads, no wait between issues, no delays at all, more than 4 minutes reading in one, often cheaper...."

"Trades also don't have the 'woo boy, I really hope the next issue is worth all of this time and money I've already put down for this storyline' and then having it not be worth the time and money. That's $20 you'll never get back! Maybe even more so!"

This then goes on for eight pages.

Larry Young continues his conversation with the comics blingblangblogosphere at CBR, including this overview by Ken "No Longer Ragefucking" Lowery:

"If you consider the blogo-hive to be something like a comics magazine, you could say guys like Kevin Melrose and Shane Bailey cover the news aspect. They find the relevant and interesting stories, maybe comment on them a bit but basically just let you read them unfiltered. Jakala, Dr. Scott (Polite Dissent), Dorian or Mikester, they do feature-style stuff, writing on topics that don't have the immediacy of whatever it is Kevin and Shane are talking about. Me, I'm just a columnist. Mine is a vanity blog, basically. Just so happens a fair amount of people like to hear me go off on stuff. No, I know... ranting at high volume isn't exactly a sellers market on the Internet, but I get by just fine."

You'd think you'd know what to expect from a Newsarama thread called "Bash DC Thread at last! ", wouldn't you? But, sadly, most of what's actually there is some people trying hard to bash without their hearts really being in it:

"Superman a vegetarian? stupid... Doom Patrol not dead? stupid... the cancellation of Wildcats... Action Comics written by Chuck Austen, someone needs to learn how to write dialogue... JLA, when will you return to your greatness? (what? Busiek is writing it after AUsten? well, thats a start... oh wait, Im supposed to be negative)... why cancel Legion again? WHY? TOO MANY BATMAN MINI SERIES... thats all i got"

"Bob Wayne smells funny. Brian Azzarello's mother was a hamster. Batman broods too much, and his father smelt of elderberry. The craptacular season of the Seattle Mariners can be directly blamed on DC's decision to publish 'City of Light.'"

"Uhm - I'll try bashing DC if you like. Okay, here goes... uhm, DC is... they're , uhm, somebody already mention Austen, right? Better not repeat then. Uhm, DC is so awful because... because they, uhm, OH! I got it... DC sucks because they... darn lost it. I give up. Sorry to let you down."

The best DC bashing comes from someone who later admits to doing it just to parody the traditional Marvel complaints:

"It's easy, watch. War Games? What the hell, a CROSSOVER? Didn't DC learn it's lessons in the nineties? Oh god, it's the downfall of the comic industry because DC couldn't fucking learn it's lessons from 10 years ago. And oh. my. god. It's LIKE TWENTY-FIVE DIFFERENT PARTS! IT MUST BE THE MOST PADDED STORY OF ALL MANKIND! May DC's corrupt publishers rot in hell! (and you KNOW it'll be put in TRADE format)."

The Bendis board reviews another Avengers #501 review, this one from Ain't It Cool News:

"Dear Ain't it cool news, Shut up. Your pal, Lobo.

"Seriously, though, and in an effort to not sound like a complete ass, I don't get it. I'm really fucking digging Bendis' Avengers. I expect it's probably because I never much cared for the Avengers until Bendis took over (Gave Avengers Forever a shot. Didn't really like it.) so I don't notice any character differences, or talkyness, or bizarre wrong take on Hank and Janet's marriage stuff. I guess it sometimes helps to have absolutely no background on a title."

"I don't care what anyone else says about this issue, because I loved it. And, to think, Avengers #500 was my first-ever Avengers book. All those people who don't like Bendis because he's changing things, and they are used to the old school, well, get used to it. I mean, change is envitable right? (yeah, I screwed up the spelling up on that word...)"

"Didn't you hear? All the cool kids are bashing Bendis now. Jump on the wagon! We're done gonna have us hog-wallerin' good time! Yeehaw! Natural selection has a sweet tooth for people like that."

Bendis, of course, pops in to defend the right for people to review his work badly without being insulted on his message board:

"as far as these guys go, i know vroom. he works at the mall by my house. he asked me to help him get a job which i couldn't and ever since its been this loud booming obnoxious stuff. too bad, i liked the guy and hes been on this board forever. they get paid by the hit so i guerss they shoot over the top. because slamming millar and me is the key to getting hits. i told them to thier face, they have this great forum to champion and critique comics but instead they put on the asshole hat. who would ever walk into a comic store based on anything these guys say or do?"

What is Millarworld trying to hide? That's the question on some posters' lips over there:

"Speaking of blabbing stuff on the boards, what happened to Millar's 'Huge Comic News thread'? Am I drunk or did that just disappear. I could've sworn I even posted on the thread. I blame whiskey."

"What was his huge comics news then?"

"It was all an alcoholic haze."

"but huge news nonetheles"

"I knew I couldn't be that drunk! I'm wondering why they deleted the thread? If you can't tell us the secret huge news maybe you could at least tell us that."

"Server error."

"So Mark's thread about huge comic news got wiped out by a server error. All the mods know what it is and at least one said it is shocking. Mark said the news was bad and that it'll probably show up on Newsarama in a day or so. So we all just get to wait and speculate."

"Before the 'Huge News' thread disappeared....I had asked if any of the mods could hint whether or not is has anything to do with Carmine Infantino's lawsuit against DC? I'd think DC suddenly losing the rights to those characters would be shockingingly bad news...."

"Millar said it had nothing to do with him. That's probably why it's DC. Come on Mark, there's still nothing over at Newsarama, how about some hints!!"

"There's nothing to see here. Move along."

"When people say that...there usually is something to see there."

"oh ho, I'm guessing this news wasn't supposed to be popping up anywhere and now everybodies hush hush about it. Server crash my ass. There was a thread asking about this again last night that vanished. I call conspiracy. I think people will notice if a 7 page LITG thread disappears accidentally."

"I think that after 2 threads on one topic 'vanished', mentioning that topic anywhere else is the perfect way to obtain more information, and not an incredibly stupid move that's likely to get somebody either warned or banned and another thread closed."

"What's the point of an Industry Rumours board if the juiciest leaks are sealed up by the mods? You guys sucking corporate @$$, now?"

Just why is The Man keeping those Millarworld posters down? Will they ever find out the truth?

It's the last page that makes this an incredible work of genius.

How necessary is the Ultimate line? The Bendis board discuss:

"USM is the only book of any real value to me. There are no stories being told in any of the other books that couldn't be told in one way or another in the mainstream Marvel Universe. USM, with it's teen Spidey, is really the only Ultimate book we need to have."

"I don't even think Ultimate Spider-man is different enough to justify it's existance. If you want teens, read New X-Men or Jubilee or Emma Frost or some other crap. Or just go watch Dawson's Creek. If you want Spider-man with zany antics - go read Spider-man. Millar's got a good balance. If you want to see crusty old ladies bitch about life, go do some public service in a home."

"I love all of them, and anyone who disagrees with me is an asshole."

JM DeMatteis and Mike Ploog sue Crossgen:

"Three issues of [Abadazad] were published before CrossGen’s financial difficulties forced the company to cease publishing comics. Since its last issue was released, the property is one most mentioned by readers in the hopes that it would be able to find a new home and the story continue. Apparently, DeMatteis and Ploog were among those hoping to see it pulled from CrossGen’s financial problems and taken somewhere else. The claim by the two creators states that given that CrossGen filed for bankruptcy, it still retains the assets it held while doing business, including their portion of Abadazad. According to the original Publishing Agreement signed by DeMatteis prior to the publication of the series, Abadazad would enjoy a normal 'Code 6' relationship with CrossGen, that is, Code 6 would own 75% of the property, while DeMatteis, as the property’s creator, would own 25%. Originally, thirteen issues and two trades were to be published, with Code 6 allowed to make the decision after that to continue publishing... DeMatties and Ploog claim that according to the terms of the contracts and applicable law, CrossGen’s defaults give rise to various rights in favor of the creators, including the reversion to DeMatteis and Ploog of any intellectual property transferred under the contracts. Or, in other words, since CrossGen can no longer perform their portion of the contract, it is the creators wishes that the Court immediately reject the contract, which would allow, with a few more legal steps, DeMatteis to regain ownership of the property."

I love that Blogspot is refusing to publish anything today. I keep writing, but no-one sees it. I feel like [insert critically-praised-but-sells-for-shit writer of your choice here].

EDIT: Fuck! It's back up! Let's see for how long...

Jeff Lester makes me laugh a lot with his tale of late night phone calls from Bendis and Millar:

"You know, it’s just so gratifying, really, to hold up a bunch of your own books, a bunch of really terrific material that’s the best stuff you’ve ever written, and say to all those people who accuse you of being late on your deadlines, or of being an almost-pathological liar about your scripts being done and worked on by very slow artists, it’s great to hold up a fistful of books and say, ‘See, you fucking bastards! I’m not lying! I’m not behind on my deadlines because I spend all my time trolling my own forums and pretending to be a nineteen year old fetish model so I can cyber Warren Ellis on IM! It’s not that I spend three months hyping my own projects, and then another three months completely blocked because of all the unrealistic expectations I’ve put on myself, and can only produce a script after watching 24 hours of Cinemax and ripping off whatever’s on! That’s completely mad! See? I’ve got the thick stacks of books in my hands right here to prove it!’ You know? It’s great to be able to prove that. I can’t tell you how great that is."

"Simply" JD Lombardi tries to start some shit at the Bendis board:

"Bendis DISSED on some micro-messageboard! CLICK HERE [...] Hurry before these goobers delete or move the thread! Isn't it something the crap you find when searching for your own name on the web? These people were talking about me, but they definitely said worse about Brian... Give'em a piece of your mind."

The dissing in question consists of this: "You know what I think? Bendis is really a double-agent, working for DC. He's set Marvel up really good too. He waits several years, giving them real quality work (which I know he's capable of), and even claiming he'll only work for Marvel. Then all of a sudden he starts giving them this--which no one with any real intelligence would think is any good anyways. Hawkeye has been a true Avenger for years--now he's claiming all of it is their fault? BS. She-Hulk has always been far more in control than her gamma-enraged cousin, but ever since Geoff Johns' Red Zone, everyone's decided to literally make her SHE-Hulk. (That is to say nothing more than a female version of Hulk.) And both Austen AND Bendis keep screwing up Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. Johns had them three steps from being together, and now its like they hate each other. Both of them need a good ass-kicking to knock some sense into their heads. You know, this has been said before, but I really, REALLY think Marvel's gonna get reamed on this one. And its sad because they'd really only just recovered from that Heroes Reborn and Clone Saga crap, and now Bendis does this. He's working for DC, I tell ya, and after this stunt I'm sure DC will give him enough to have him set for life." and this: Bendis is too boring for me anyway... i don't read any of his stuff.." Neither of which seem that bad to me, but apparently JD feels differently. When someone complains that pot-stirring is bad, he responds:

"C'mon...Tis my nature to stir the proverbial pot! Make people talk or notice some bit of schlock. This is a thread somewher about Bendis...not unlike ones that people often link to from Millarworld, etc...don't wipe me!!!"

By the time that someone tries to talk some sense into JD - "Bendis doesn't need us to stand up for him every single time. While I am sure he is proud of it from time to time, it gives others a negative look at us that all we do is stick up for Bendis. People are allowed to have opinions that differ from us. Hell, it happens on this board everyday. But when you start purposely trying to stir a pot then you have crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed. Trying to rally the Bendis Boarders to go and defend Bendis on another board is pointless. This is the internet. What do you gain from winning an argument? Nothing. So back off and stop trying to cause problems." - he's already slouched into martyr mode:

"I really can't see ANYONE in here pissed off. God forbid if you think my humor in starting this thread was something serious. DRY humor is difficult to do on the internet."

(He'd also doubted that this thread would turn up here - "this isn't even a 'ram' yet, let alone a RAMPAGE...can't post it on that site without some violence or threats of death or...'don't like it don't read it' posts!" - but I'd hate to disappoint...)

Millarworld ask for Bill Jemas to employ them:

"I wouldn't mind working with the guy again. His column had fanboys frothing at mouth, and it was great to get a behind the scenes glimpse. On the off chance he's reading this, we've put together a studio of over 200 contributors with 50-75 projects in the works currently, if he's looking for a stable of artists/writers to help out. Either way, best of luck to him, I hope everything works out."

"can't say I liked Marville (you did, Rich? don't remember), but I'm REALLY missing Bill as Marvel president... damn ,those were good creativer times, I'm now down to just one Marvel title [...] if Bill comes over and wants a fellow Greek onboard, i wouldn't say no"

"BILL If You Want A goid Noir Cop Pitch by A NYPD recruit...HIRE ME! Picture the Angle! It's like a military book written by an Army Ranger.... WAIT! I'm, not making it up! I'll show you my placement test! Im not Micah Wright! Please Bill?"

Newsarama finally decides what Marvel is up to. And the answer is, "kickin' butt":

"Before a couple of months ago, I wasn't really looking forward to my monthly comic shipment. Sure, I was excited to get new comics, but nothing really stood out and yelled 'MUST READ FIRST!' Now, I have two comics that I read several times before reading anything else: 'Astonishing X-Men' and 'The Punisher'. For all the complaints, criticisms, etc. of Marvel, I gotta say they are kicking major ass with these two titles. Not only are they both action-packed, but they both focus more on character development than most titles. I love what Ennis is doing with Frank and how he has complete freedom to give us a version of the Punisher that makes sense."

"Kabuki is the Marvel book I look forward to the most. And, yes, it kicks serious butt!"

"Yeah, I have lots of Marvel books on my pull list. Fantastic Four, Avengers, Amazing Spidey, Daredevil paperbacks, Powerless, Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, and even Mary Jane. Hell I'm buying all of the Marvel Knights 2099 books this month!"

Somewhere, Joe Quesada is reading, and happy that the new nostalgic Marvel is so successful.

DC free ship Fallen Angel #1 to retailers, tied to quantities of Hellblazer:

"On September 9, retailers will receive free copies of a special new printing of DC Comics ' FALLEN ANGEL #1 (PROM60034), featuring the first story from the FALLEN ANGEL TP (APR040304). This issue, which features the words 'This issue free' on the cover, is written by Peter David, with art by David Lopez & Fernando Blanco and cover art by Brian Stelfreeze. The issue also includes a letter to readers from David. This edition of FALLEN ANGEL #1 is provided to retailers in quantities equal to half of their initial orders of HELLBLAZER #200 (JUL040693).

"'I am very pleased that DC feels that FALLEN ANGEL is worth the time, consideration and energy for this extra promotional step,' says David. 'Part of it stems from the nearly unanimous critical raves the series has gotten, and part from DC's knowing that upcoming issues will answer a lot of questions. As for the much-debated background of the Fallen Angel herself, well... let's just say that the final panel of issue #18 should pretty much point the way, once and for all, in the direction of her true origins. By giving readers a second look at series' start, DC is inviting and urging readers who missed it the first time to give it a try.'"

For those who'd like more free Fallen Angel, hope you entered Johanna's contest...

Jamie Boardman talks up the Rebellion/2000AD deal:

"For those books which form part of a series, we’re doing our best to begin at the beginning and then run sequentially (with the exception of Judge Dredd, where there’s simply far too much material to be looking at a complete collection, and where many stories happen with no particular timeframe in mind). Series titles like Nikolai Dante, Sláine and Strontium Dog will be released at a rate of one every four months, which should allow peoples’ wallets time to recharge! Of course, we’ll be keeping all these books in print, too, so anyone who wants to should be able to track them down whenever they feel like a thrill-powered read! ...We have been speaking with Dan DiDio about the possibilities of crossing some of our characters over, and I know a fair few of our creators would love to do some work with assorted DC characters — and vice versa — but that’s really all I can say at the moment. I would just like to take a second to reiterate that this is a licensing deal only — we’ve not sold 2000 AD to DC."

Stan Lee pushes the same envelope that he pushed with Stripperella. You know, the one that no-one except Chuck Austen wanted him to push in the first place?:

"A silk pajama-clad superhero fights crime with the aid of a superbuxom team of specially trained Playboy bunnies. If that sounds like it must be a cross between the oeuvres of Stan Lee and Hugh Hefner, that's because it is. MTV has ordered an animated pilot for 'Hef's Superbunnies,' a collaboration between cartooon veteran Lee's newly launched Pow! Entertainment and Playboy's Alta Loma Entertainment division. Hefner's name and likeness will be featured in the pilot, and he also might provide the voice of his cartoon alter ego."

Duncan "The" Falconer ponders aloud at Millarworld about the Bendis Backlash:

"You know, I really like Brian, but roughly since the June 7 entry here, there's been a growing backlash-wave against him. His Avengers has been porly received most places - I couldn't get #501 as it was sold out where I looked, but liked #500 alright, if perhaps mostly for Finch-sheen. Couple of clunkers in the dialogue, but nothing eyebleeding as other pundits would have you believe. Ultimate Spider-Man, which I don't personally read, has lost a lot of kudos post the events of #63 (iirc,) too. I mean, it hardly surprised me, but there y'go. His Ultimate FF and Secret War have been largely dismissed out-of-hand. And the latest Daredevil arc seems to be acting as set-up for a Black Widow series. I might not actually object, given that said will have a Scottish writer and Bill the Sink. It's unusual (and mildly irritating) though, to see the title being less self-contained in this fashion. Given that Brian's titles are now all effectively published by Marvel, do we think that the backlash is founded on a desire to see spreading of wings, the writer pushing himself a bit more again? Or what?"

Millarworld responds:

"Bendis is the most successful writer in comics these days. I think a backlash was inevitable."

"The backlash is unwarranted. I'll buy anything with the guy's name on it."

"I don't think the backlash really relates to any deterioration (real or perceived) in the quality of his work- I'm sure it's more that there are a lot of long term Marvel fans who hate change in their favourite characters, no matter how much they deny it. I've read the Avengers for nearly 25 years ( oh god!) and I can see that it is time for a change in the title, so I'm prepared to wait and see if the new line up works before I criticise Bendis. The severity of the criticism against him is completely OTT - give the man time to see how he handles what looks initially like an unworkable team. The critics may be proven right, but most of the criticism is based on assumptions which may or may not be born out. Feel free to slag him if he does produce an abysmal run of issues, but he hasn't done it yet, imo."

"Bendis came up as a critic's darling. He made the reviewers proud of themselves for touting his indie work, and spearheaded the style Marvel embraced so much during the past year and a half. Now he's part of the establishment -- as if even the most 'mainstream' comics company could be considered establishment -- so people are rebelling a bit."

The question of the day at the Bendis board:

"would u forgive bendis if ...he just forgot about the whole carnage arc ever happening and just bought back gwen stacy??"

"nope. couldn't forgive him. Because, personally, i'm one of the people who thought Gwen's death was necessary. What can i say, i'm a traditionalist."

"nope"

"Gwen died to add a sense of moral conflict and grief to Peters life, I guess. Maybe having his Uncle Ben and his Parents die isn't enough. *shrug*"

"I would forgive Bendis because he's a good writer and no matter how sucky it seemed at the time there would be a good reason for it in the end."

Rich Johnston reports on the Millar/Knowles bet. Millarworld complain. First, Carlos Fraile, mentioned in the story:

"I'd like to know how the fuck I am a reliable source and Rich, pretty convenient to leave aside thepart when I said that any other scoop that mark has given me was absolutely true just so you know, I don't like to be named there under that circumstances at all"

Rich reappears to point out that the quote was sent to him without that last part, but that doesn't sooth Carlos's savage breast:

"you had it sent...... what abut checking your sources? this would have take you 5 minutes browsing the thread, this is not the fucking watergate"

Meanwhile, Mark Peyton wasn't happy either: "You didn't even bother to ask me and it's not like you don't have ways to contact me, Rich."

Newsarama previews the final three covers to Identity Crisis, including the cover to #6, where Batman gets a headache while in his closet of evil villain photographs:

Greg Mannino and Mark Masterson talk to Chris Arrant about the latest "modern" take on the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy:

"I have always loved the 1939 Wizard of Oz film. Watching Judy Garland singing 'Over the Rainbow' is still one of my favorite movie moments. The night I came up with the idea was the weekend after Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers hit movie theatres. I went to a late showing by myself because all of my friends had already gone to see it; I couldn't wait. After being blown away by the film, I walked into my house and got comfortable, Gollum still dancing around in my head. I turned on the TV and The Wizard of Oz was on. I watched it for only a minute when 'it' hit me... A modernized dark version of The Wizard of Oz!"

As long as it's not like the freaky McFarlane Toys bondage version, that's all I ask...

Millarworld react to the latest big Marvel announcement: A Beta-Ray Bill series:

"uh huh. So what?"

"Gee, they cancelled Thanos but they're doing a Beta Ray Bill series..."

"Uh, that's big news? Jesus..."

The creators behind Spider-Man India talk about their new transoceanic hero:

"This project offers a very unique way to really make an international hero also a local hero. One of the greatest aspects of people's identification with a character like Spider-Man is the fact that he lives in the real world versus a fictitious city. For Indian readers to see for the first time, this new version of Spider-Man bouncing off rickshaws and climbing local monuments like the Gateway of India will be great fun and hopefully bring in many new readers to experience this great character for the first time. Even the names of the key characters are also going to be transformed to Indian equivalents: Peter Parker to Pavitr Prabhakar; Mary Jane to Meera Jain; Uncle Ben to Uncle Bhim and Aunt May to Aunt Maya for example. The goal is to really reinvent the origin of Spider-Man so that he is an Indian boy growing up in Mumbai, swinging from local monuments and dealing with local problems and challenges which readers in this market can more readily identify with."

Poor Brian Michael Bendis. It seems like he just can't catch a break with his Avengers run. I've already pointed out Randy Lander's review of the latest issue ("Certainly Bendis's dialogue has the same distinctive ring that it always has, it just sounds wrong and often uninformed coming out of these characters' mouths. It'd be kind of like having Mamet writing Star Trek... clearly, there's talent there, but it's just so mis-applied."), but his Fourth Rail partner Don MacPherson wasn't particularly enamoured either ("Bendis is taking a more realistic approach not to the super-hero action, but to how the characters react to it. The problem is that one gets the impression that this is the first time these men have had to deal with such an overwhelming and devastating crisis. That robs the story of a good deal of its drama. Everything crumbles apart too quickly, too conveniently."). Neither was Paul O'Brien at the X-Axis ("Wow. This really isn't working. Brian Bendis is a great writer, but he's a writer who deals in plot, mood and character. He's not a writer who deals in Big Thing Go Boom, and boy does it show."). Newsarama posters, as could maybe be expected, also give the issue a kicking ("Wow, I feel like i just threw away $2.25. Dont get me wrong, the art was great, but story wise, NOTHING happened. I felt ripped off after reading this, its almost a throw away issue in an attempt to further maximize this whole arc. Bendis has people talk and talk and talk and She-hulk kinda does stuff, BUT THATS IT.").

But, just when he may be losing all hope of anyone that doesn't post on Millarworld or the Bendis board appreciating the book, Silver Bullet Comic Books appear with a crack team of reviewers setting the record straight:

"There are some people who just aren’t getting this. They claim that it’s just cheap shock tactics, and that it’s all being done as a desperate grab for attention, with no respect for the characters. Well, I suppose that those people have to complain somewhere now that X-Statix has finished, but this is Avengers, not an experimental Grant Morrison project. It’s really not hard to understand, and as such Bendis shouldn’t have to explain the plot to those too feeble-minded to comprehend, but he takes the time to do so, through Hawkeye, this issue. With any luck, that’ll stop the moaning. To be fair, Marvel’s promotional people are going for the cheap shock tactics with all the 'Next issue: one of these Avengers will die!' and 'Follow the carnage at Marvel.com' crap, but it’s pretty clear that that’s not what the story is about. Even as a big fan of classic Avengers, I have to say that I think Bendis hasn’t put a foot wrong so far. They’re a team who play a very high stakes game, and people are going to be in danger, and they’re going to get hurt. It’s not that I’m enjoying seeing my favourite Marvel characters getting ripped apart, but that I’m enjoying seeing them finally face challenges worthy of their talents. It’s not sadism, it’s (relative) realism."

Anyone concerned with the fact that all of the female Avengers have been written out of the book very quickly (well, apart from the Scarlet Witch, but she's the one I think is behind it all anyway) can be comforted with this piece of wisdom:

"I suppose I could go on about three women being knocked unconscious in this crisis, too, but I’m just not as disturbed by that as I was by the rapes and murders blighting the maligned DC heroines in Identity Crisis. These gals are tough, and while I’ve always found Bendis to be aware of sexism, I won’t say he creates it so much as depicts it."

Obviously, the problem with Identity Crisis is that (a) the murder victims weren't tough enough, and (b) Brad Meltzer was creating sexism instead of depicting it. If only he was as writing a story as (relatively) realistic as one featuring a zombie who explodes just in time for a robot to fly a jet into a building before vomiting up balls that turn into other robots and then getting torn apart by a woman who turns into a big monster when she gets mad. Christ knows, we need more of that kind of realism in comics these days.

Steve Dillon explains why City Lights, his project with Garth Ennis, has been so long in coming:

"It’s a project that was twelve to thirteen years in the making, and we’re finally getting moving on it... It became a big thing in both mine and Garth’s heads, and it took Garth years to get down to writing it, because he had to be in the right frame of mind for it, because we’d just built this thing up so much. So I was badgering him, and threatening physical violence to him to get the scripts started and something in to me. But the minute he did, I suffered from the same problems he did. I looked at it, and though, 'Christ, I’ve really got to get this right. This has got to be the thing.' It’s difficult... I’ve promised Will [Dennis, Vertigo editor] that he’s going to get some City Lights in the next month or so, and I’m sure once I’ve started it, it won’t be a problem. It was a bit similar with starting Preacher, but City Lights is a bigger thing in my head than Preacher was, but again, as we felt with Preacher, Garth and I see City Lights as being something that could be the best thing since sliced bread, or something that no one will understand. But, as I said, once I started on Preacher, it just went, and I’ve gotten to a point where I really miss something like that – I really miss doing Preacher, but I’m sure City Lights will be the same. Since its been building up for years – and Karen [Berger, Vertigo Executive Editor]’s been on us for years to get it written and drawn, there is a bit of worry about how people will see it, but I think it’s mostly our own expectations – if, after all this time, we don’t pull put all the stops and do the best job we can. Even if nobody likes it, if we know that we’d done the best job we can on something we’d been talking about for that long, then we’ll be happy. Hopefully, the audience will like it as well."

Millarworld thinks about the Auteur theory:

"I think it's safe to say that Grant Morrisson is an auteur in the old fashioned Andrew Sarris sense of the word. You read a Morrisson book and there's a good chance you're going to be running across one of his usual themes, concepts or even creations (I think I've seen Barbelith show up in a couple of places). And of course there's the other implication of the auteur theory, being that the work of an auteur, no matter how poor or failed, is inherently more interesting than the work of a lesser talent, if only because it is part of a larger canon. Are there other comic creators who could be considered auteurs? Dave Sim wouldn't count as he's only really done one comic - a creator would had to have worked on a number of titles, creator owned or work for hire, to really qualify. I think Garth Ennis might."

"I think it applies to tons of guys. When I pick up anything by Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, Will Eisner, Erik Larsen, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Robert Kirkman and so on I pick it up because they did it. I pick it up because they add their unique qualities and themes. So, yeah. Auteurs all around."

"Chris Ware and writers who also draw their books (cartoonists) like Frank Miller are definitely as close to authors as you can get. However, with books like the Ultimates and Authority, I think Hitch was an 'auter' as much as Millar and Ellis. I think Gibbons was as much the Auter of the Watchmen as Moore even."

"I prefer to think of Frank Miller as THE badass of comics, period, rather than some fancy French word."

Over at Silver Bullet Comic Books, Regie Rigby proves he has his finger on the pulse of the concerns of TODAY's comic fans:

"The relationship between Apollo and The Midnighter does serve as an interesting way to view the close relationship between Batman and Superman. The two characters have had an interesting dynamic going on throughout the years of their in print relationship and in many ways they are like an old married couple. Apollo and The Midnighter illustrate this reading of the character beautifully. Supes and Bats are complete opposites in so many ways, but opposites can both attract and compliment each other – just like so many marriages. But however much I love Ellis’ interpretation, I prefer to think of Apollo and The Midnighter more as characters in their own right, rather than simple pastiches of The Bat and the Boyscout. What about the actual Bat – the Batman who appears in the DC Universe. Is he gay? Well, no. He really isn’t. He may well be a good illustration of a certain kind of gay archetype, or stereotype or whatever, but as a character, he isn’t, because he has never been written as such. I would point doubters at his relationships with Silver Saint Cloud, Vicki Vale, Vesper Fairchild and Selina Kyle – amongst others."

I know that sometimes a deadline comes around and there's no inspiration for your column, but still... Is Batman gay?

Possibly the greatest post on the Bendis board in quite some while:

"shit!!!....ult spiderman 65 was eff'n awesome!!!! Just when i thought bendis lost his touch with 64...POW! comes 65...oh and lets not forget avengers 501!!!......ooo....how good these comics feel in my hand!!! ...i think im gona get an orgasm!"

If nothing else, he's definitely excited.

Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis talk about their new series, Hero Squared, and their old series at Newsarama:

"Newsarama: First of all, at one time, you guys were working on the sequel to FKATJL. What's up with that?

Keith Giffen: Our side of it's done. Been done for a while now. We're waiting on it same's the FKATJL fans out there. Last I heard, DC 's going to sandwich it into some kind of JLA anthology whatever. Say, Marc, just what do you call a book that traffics in projects a company would just as soon not publish given the choice?

J. M. DeMatteis: Marvel Fanfare?"

For those playing at home, Harry Knowles sees Mark Millar's bet:

"Mark Millar has issued a bet for charity, he named his charity as the CLYDE COAST MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS THERAPY CENTRE... a wonderful wonderful charity. Unfortunately - the charity that I won't be paying (CUZ Jim Caviezel is not gonna be SUPERMAN in the Bryan Singer directed film) would be THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND. So now - the good folks at Clyde Coast need only wait for the first day of photography on SUPERMAN to be 1K richer!"

Joe Casey explains what's behind his upcoming Avengers project, Earth's Mightiest Heroes:

"A little over a year ago, for whatever reason, I rediscovered the lifelong passion I’ve always seemed to have for the Avengers. It was my favorite series as a kid, the first comic book I ever took seriously. In hindsight, I think it was some unconscious need to get back to writing full-on, mainstream superheroes again - as opposed to super-icons, as I’d been doing on Superman. I’ve done enough experimenting with my own creator-owned work by now -- which I’ll continue to do -- so suddenly writing superheroes seemed like it could be fun again. No pressure to reinvent the wheel, just writing good stories about cool characters that I loved as a kid. So, I contacted Joe Q. and told him flat out that I wanted to write Avengers. Keep in mind this was, I think, July of 2003. I told him I wanted to atone for the mess I’d made on Uncanny X-Men -- I mean, that book sold like gangbusters but I look at some of the things I did now and wonder what the hell I was thinking -- and that the only way to do that was to stick to my guns and only write the Marvel characters I had a passion for. Basically, my childhood heroes. Joe hooked me up with Tom Brevoort, an editor who I’ll always jump at the chance to work with, and Tom suggested we take a stab at a 'Year One' - type project. They’d gotten close before, but for whatever reason, it hadn’t happened. This time, it happened."

Tommy Lee Edwards talks The Question, and shows off some of his wonderful art for the series. I mean, look at this:



"Yeah, the mask is a funny thing. Because of the way I draw and color this series, though, we do get a little information to grab onto in the way I render some of the form on the Question's featureless face. A lot of the acting relies on his body language and subtle posture-shifts. The biggest challenges on this book have pretty much been created by Rick Veitch, as my brain oozes from the extreme thought put into this thing. There are so many complex story-telling things we've put upon ourselves in an effort to tell this story in a unique way. Laying this stuff out is by far the most enjoyable challenge I've ever had in comics."

Larry Young, Comics' Great Satan, talks blogs at CBR:

"Any half-awake community manager will tell you that bloggers and discussion boards are the early-adopters and opinion leaders in any industry; they write and cajole and instruct and review not because they're paid to but because they care. And since I've always found people with passion to be the most interesting cats at the party, I decided to introduce you to the people behind the comics blogs I check out every day and ask 'em a few questions about why they do what they do."

Alas, poor John, we knew him well.

If I can get maudlin and depressive with all of you for a second, I'd like to tell you that I will miss John's blog more than the rest of you. John "The Jackal" Jakala - along with Dirk Deppey, but this is the bit about John, so we'll just ignore Dirk right now - was the man who, indirectly, started me down this comics blogging route way back when, so you all know who to point fingers at and blame the next time I piss you off. His Grotesque Anatomy blog was a font of good taste and good sense in a world gone mad, and the calm and piece of mind that he brought to me personally, reminding me that it's really not always a good idea to get into a hissy fit about another blogger "dissing" my "threads", will be much missed.

Why am I talking as if he's dead, you ask yourself?

Because he is.

What not many people don't know is that John and I, on occasion, would team up to fight crime. It was something that we'd like to keep to ourselves, really, not make a big thing out've. Our way of giving back to the world, you know... Anyway, on one of our many exploits, we happened to run into a small blond child who could turn into a fully grown superhero, but this same blessing of super powers was also a terrible curse that made him very sick, leaving him just a few days ago in hospital, dying. Luckily, John could control his "chi", and sat with the child for days, keeping him alive albeit in a coma. While I went to go and get a "mochachino" to keep John's spirits up, the poor child woke up and - confused from the great deal of pain that he was undoubtedly in - pummelled his head into a wall before disintegrating in some unexplained way that I doubt I'll ever understand.

Of course, no-one saw this, and the police discovered me standing over the body, so I was hauled in for questioning. Luckily Hannibal King, my detective nemesis, realised the truth and helped me escape "the fuzz" and start my life on the run. Only one thing remained - to post on John's blog pretending to be John himself, and give everyone the closure that they needed about the whole incident. And so, that's what I did.

John - You'll be much missed by everyone. But especially by me because, if you were here, I wouldn't be being hunted down like a dog by The Man.

Christmas!

Newsarama reviews The Fourth Rail's review of Avengers #501:

"I'll take this with a grain of salt, seeing as he hates this Avengers arc yet gives Jubilee a 7/10 and recommends it. That pretty much guarantees I'll like Avengers. So cool."

"Seriously, I read the Avengers review and said 'Wow, maybe I'll want to pick up an extra book this week if that's going to be that bad.' Then I looked and saw Jubilee as a 7 out of 10 and decided that this was just someone who just doesn't like the new direction. I love the Avengers, I think it sucks to kill so many of them off for shock value and I think the new lineup completely misses what the Avengers are all about. That said, I'm very anxious not because of what's going to happen in this story but what's going to happen after it. Five gets you ten that everyone is going to decide 'We liked the old Avengers better.' And once Bendis is out the surviving Avengers will return and the book will be better than ever."

"Landers sounds like he's thinking along the same lines as I am. Hopefully all you Bendis-lovers will read this and realize that despite an enjoyable history, creative talent can really screw something up if not applied right."

"This has me worried. But then again, I absolutely HATE that review site (but what's funny is that I read them each and every week). Ah well. He could be going hard on the book, or it could be a completely shitty book. Who knows."

This time, there's money riding on it. Mark Millar ups the ante on whether he knows who will play Superman in the movie of the same name:

"[J]ust to hammer home how confident I am as regards my source (pretty much as good as it gets), I will personally write a cheque to charity for 1000 dollars from my Wolverine royalties (Wolverine 20 and 21 out October 2004) if Jim Caviezel isn't cast as Superman on the day principal photography starts. Warners may have a couple of PR stunts planned prior to the final announcement, but this is a bet that Jim C is standing there in a Superman costume once the cameras start rolling. Now is AICN so sure of their sources that they will do the same?"

An email from Kirk Boxleitner arrives, to tell me that Radio Free K-Box, or that forum where everyone talks about shagging comic characters as others know it, has moved locations. Everyone, please update your bookmarks to here, and wonder with me at this particular rule:

"No kiddie porn involving real-life children."

But kiddie-porn involving fictitious children is alright? Seriously, what the fuck? Somewhere there's a Power Pack thread in there, isn't there...?

Anyone who's been keeping away from the spoilers for the most recent issue of Astonishing X-Men #4, but thought that they'd go over to Marvel's website to see when the trade is coming out is in for a bit of a surprise on the front page:

"In Astonishing X-Men #4, a classic X-Men character makes a colossal return to the Marvel Universe...a return so Astonishing that we kept it a secret UNTIL NOW! Read the book the critics are raving about: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men! (WHAT? You're the guy who hasn't read Astonishing X-Men? Start here, Late-Coming True Believer!) Can't believe it's Colossus? You bet that it'd be Phoenix?! Download the beautiful artwork by John Cassaday (and his awesome cover for the issue), produced just to keep Colossus's return so astonishing!"

There's also two versions of John Cassaday's variant cover on the page for you to see. Meanwhile, the Avengers Deathwatch has been updated for those who want to have the latest issue of Avengers spoiled for you, as well (Matt Craig, you may want to check this out. It's not as bad as you think).

The New York Post picks up on Mark Millar's announcement at Millarworld that the new movie Superman has been cast:

"Superhero-loving geeks losing sleep over the troubled 'Superman' movie can chill out. Comic book writer Mark Miller reports on his official site: 'You remember I told you to relax about 'Superman?' That a very, very trusted and experienced director we'd all love was coming over? . . . That everything would be fine? Well, my same good buddy has informed me that . . . Jim Caviezel [Jesus Christ in 'The Passion'] is officially the new man of steel and what a perfect choice he is. Expect an announcement shortly . . . and it's starting everything from scratch. Brainiac. Krypton. Robots. Alien super-cities.'"

First off: Look at the name of the writer of the article. Is Mr. LITG moonlighting?

More interestingly, Considering Millar's record in such announcements (summed up by Millarworld poster Mike Daniels thusly: "It's worth bearing in mind much as we all like Mark, when it comes to movie scoops and predictions he's more than a little creative (Eminem's Wanted anyone?). The facts concerning Mark's scoops on Superman are that he didn't name who the new director would be until after the fact, and has indulged in a little retconning subsequently regarding anything he said that would contradict Singer helming it. Mark's hints as to who the new director would be were that they were responsible for grossing over a billion dollars for Warner Bros in the last few years (definitely not Singer then!), not to mention that his source told him originally they'd be using all unknown actors except for Luthor and Jor El. Mark now claims he told Carlos before Xmas that Singer was attached, 'cept according to Carlos he didn't, in fact Mark told folks as recently as Mid July this year that the rumours of Singer taking over directing Superman weren't true! So up until Singer was officially announced, Mark said he knew who the new Director was but never hinted that it might be Singer, hinted they'd grossed nearly a billion dollars for WB, the inside scoop was that an unknown would be playing Supes and news of Singer directing Superman was wrong. Post the official announcement of Singer we've gotten Mark saying he was right all along (he wasn't), He'd related this news to other parties pre-Xmas (he hadn't, quite the contrary in fact) and that Caviezel is playing Supes according to his solid source (the same one presumably who told them it'd be an unknown previously). Mark if you could bottle your creativity and sell it, you'd.....oh wait, you're ahead of me there!"), I find this being picked up by "real" media - well, the New York Post, but you know what I mean - very amusing, and wonder if this will be the second time Mark's caught out telling porkies about movies in order to make himself look cool. Whatever will his inside Hollywood contacts think then? You have to wonder if somewhere, Millar is shitting his pants and already working out how to pretend that he never said any such thing, don't you?

Grant Morrison talks about (the wonderful) We3:

"I read up on human attempts to communicate with animals, i.e. teach animals English, which in most cases, come across up as brave attempts by animals to communicate with humans - chimps and dolphins will bend themselves backwards trying to approximate an understanding of English, while humans generally refuse to think like animals or to make any effort to learn and use animal languages as animals use them. The mistake is to imagine that animal sounds and signals 'translate' into human words. They don't. Anyone who's spent a long time in the company of animals will know that animal communication is just what it is. The sound or signal can always be directly connected to some external event... I wrote some sample dialogue to get the characters down - the dog loyal, needy, driven; the cat selfish, aloof, vicious; the rabbit distracted. Then, while Frank was drawing the first issue, I read up as much as I could on the psychology, habits and behavior of dogs, cats and rabbits. In all cases, I'd pretty much got it right on the first pass but Stephen Budiansky's The Character of Cats and The Truth About Dogs were indispensable aids as were Catwatching and Dogwatching by Desmond Morris, What Is My Cat Thinking? by Gwen Bailey and the ever-reliable The Private Life of the Rabbit by R.M. Lockley. And of course, once I saw Frank's incredible drawings, it really helped me nail the characters down. His artwork conveys so much emotion and nuance that there's really no need for any but the most essential words."

And, really, any excuse is good to show Frank Quitely's beautiful, heart-breaking (yes, I'm an old softy), covers to the series:

Steven Grant on naming characters:

"I once created and unsuccessfully pitched a team book to Marvel called HARDCORPS, only to have Valiant come out with a book called HARDCORPS a year later. Pretty much killed the possibility of my ever using the name. It happens. My version was never published so there was no claim on it, and I don't see how Valiant ever would've heard of it. Parallel development. On the other hand, THE ULTIMATES. I created the superteam The Ultimates (heroes or villains, take your pick) for EDGE, the book Gil Kane and I did at Malibu/Bravura in the '90s. The second arc of the EDGE saga, had it been published, would've been titled THE ULTIMATES. That book never came out, but the group existed, and, given that we're all connected to the Internet and know what Google is, it wouldn't have taken a lot of work for Marvel (which bought Malibu, after all) to do a quick search for "The Ultimates," find out there was already a team of that name, and come up with something else. (They could've found it; whether they'd've cared or not's another question.) Now, of course, the Edge series is being collected by iBooks as THE LAST HEROES, which necessitated me having to figure out a new name for the good that fit about the same space so we wouldn't have to do as much relettering, a small annoyance I could easily have done without. (When I first heard of Marvel's ULTIMATES, I did drop them a line about it and never heard anything back. I also approached a different publisher about doing a mini-series or one-shot featuring my Ultimates prior to Marvel's release, and he was very interested – but, unfortunately, got back to me about it six months after Marvel's ULTIMATES debuted. It was probably never all that good an idea to start with, but time had turned it into a really bad idea.)

"The upshot: if you come up with what you think is a great character name, show the comics talent who've come before you a little damn courtesy, and waste three minutes doing some research to see if a character by that name has already been published. Okay?"

John Gallagher updates on the status of Even More Fund Comics:

"In less than 24 hours since I took my plea to the comics community, and contributors of Even More Fund to resend their files for this benefit for the CBLDF hours, due to a horrendous computer crash-- I have received about 117 pages of material, over 2/3 of the scheduled book. It seems almost everybody knows about the battle to get this book out for Baltimore, and artists and writers have either sent (or are in the process of sending) files to the skydog server, for re-inclusion in the re-designed Even More Fund Comics. If I can recover all files by early Friday of this week, the printer has said they can deliver just 500 copies to the Baltimore comicon Sept. 11, as the show begins. So anyone coming to the show, get your copy early, and get all the fine folks attending to sign it-- they are the heroes who saved this book.

"But it gets better! Some creators who had intended to send in artwork and stories, but had lost track of Even More Fund's status, saw the cry for help, and now EVEN MORE stories are being added to the book! Even More Fund was scheduled as a ten dollar book, with 144 pages of stories, art, and sketches-- at last count, the book will now come in well over 180 pages--maybe more, and still be just $10..."

Brian Vaughan sets the record straight regarding online sales estimates, and Ex Machina's first issue sell-out, at Newsarama:

"The truth: DC graciously overprinted an obscene amount of EX MACHINA #1's, and we still managed to sell out of the entire warehouse-full of 37,000 copies (and issues #2 and #3 are still being reordered heavily, and are on pace to hopefully sell out at similar numbers). Obviously, these are sweet sales figures for any series in today's crowded market, much less for an all-new, creator-owned, R-rated book! The fact that retailers are still ordering the first issue more than two months after it came out is a great sign. Ongoing series are marathons, not sprints, and retailers are clearly ready to support our run.

"I say this not to brag, but to let those of you who dig the book know that EX MACHINA is in no danger whatsoever (as a matter of fact, it's selling much stronger/faster than Y: THE LAST MAN did at its debut). The pundits at the Pulse are well-intentioned in encouraging people to start writing letters of support, but I swear that it's absolutely unnecessary. DC/Wildstorm is 100% behind this book, and after seeing how well we launched, Tony Harris and I are more certain than ever that we'll be spending the next four years telling all fifty issues' worth of stories about Mayor Hundred and his first term in office. So thanks again for helping to make the book a hit, everyone. Issue #4 comes out soon, and Tony and I both think it's our best issue yet (even better than #1!), so we hope you'll check it out."

Joe Casey and Matt Fraction discuss influences in this week's Basement Tapes:

"Well, sure, we've seen the same things, but does that make it all sacrosanct as raw material? I don't buy into the thought that having influences, reflecting influences, or just plain showing that you've paid attention and learned something about craft from those that came before you somehow negates anything you've brought from the table. Is this heading into reference/influence/homage/rip-off territory? Christ, I hope not. I can feel people clicking over to Augie already..."

Newsarama makes guesses as to the identity of the Identity Crisis killer:

"I think it's Wolverine"

"and Spider-Man"

"I think that Lex Luthor, Dr Light, Shadow Thief, Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang (will soon be anyway) are affiliated with each other. I think that Luthor is forming a Legion of Doom-esque group consisting of major archvillians to combat the influx of groups that are emerging at the same time (JLA, JLA Elite, JSA, Teen Titans, Outsiders etc.) and that the murders are initiation rites for its new members. The first issue's murder was orchestrated by Luthor and consisted of himself, Dr Light and Shadow Thief. Shadow Thief was the doorway past all of the defense mechanisms at the Dibney's disposal and transported both Light and Luthor into their home. They had their way with her and killed her and Dr Light eradicated all traces of evidence (fingerprints, fluids, hair fibers etc) by using his powers. The second murder, I have yet to figure out the suspect or their MO, but I will get back to you on it."