Rich Johnston revisits The Boys’ cancellation:

The whole situation does seem rather rough on Wildstorm. After the “Authority” conflicts died down, they turned a corner with DC, behaved like good little soldiers, did DC’s bidding, but seemingly with little in return. With constant pressure to create a hit, when they do, they find it chopped down to protect a brand that no one else even saw being threatened.

Expect a big meeting between DC and Wildstorm personnel very shortly to try and resolve the issues - or put them out of their misery.

So, this was what Frank Cho had to say about Mighty Avengers when the book was announced, last summer:

Marvel has given me healthy head start. I’m hoping that it’s enough that I won’t need a fill-in artist anytime soon. My goal is to stay on this book until my Marvel contract runs out in March 2008.

(And that was before all of the Civil War delays, which made his head start at least three months longer…)
But now, news leaks that Angel Medina has apparently been picked as Cho’s replacement on the book already, a couple of months before the book even launches:

No traveler’s magazine stuffed in the seat back needed here. Angel Medina had special reading material for the plane ride out west for the Phoenix Cactus Comicon.

It was the script for his first issue as artist of Marvel Comics’ Mighty Avengers. Medina told The Continuum on Sunday that he will be following the opening arc by Frank Cho on Mighty Avengers for the next storyline.

Plans change, I guess.

The Comics Journal message board addresses Frank Miller’s recent appearance on NPR with something approaching… horror:

“Miller sounds terrible. Like he’s got some kind of trembling disease or something… I suppose I’d be more sad about this if I ever regarded Miller as any kind of thinker. I’ve liked him because he once knew how to rack up some really good adventure stories. His most political comic is Martha frikkin’ Washington, and that’s totally retrograde.”

“Frank Miller is a complete douche, a shameless whore, and has a complete shit to good work ratio of about 10:1 over the course of his career. I was at the Harveys in Pgh a few years ago when he tore up that copy of Wizard, and it was one of the most embarrassing, unintentionally hilarious things I’ve ever seen. I loved YEAR ONE, though.”

“I heard him and was shocked at the fact that he was saying this sort of thing, not in the bar with a bunch of other white guys, but in front of possibly a million people.”

“i think writing and drawing comics has addled homeboy’s brain, i really do. i think he can probably only think now in big, corny, operatic, caption-like thoughts, now. it’s a sickness funnybook folks are prone to”

Luckily, some other people have much more sensible, non comic-book suggestions to end world wars:

“Look, can’t we just swap babies with the enemy like they did in New Gods?”

CBR hosts a roundtable about the portrayal of Native Americans in comic books, with Jason Aaron, David Mack, Jeff Mariotte, Jay Odjick, Robert Schmidt, Michael Sheyahshe, Timothy Truman and Mark Waid:

In terms of heroic fiction, I think, sadly, everything we know about Native Americans was defined by Tonto… And that’s really sort of unfortunate and it’s a very narrow definition. And I think that as Native Americans started to really find their own voice in pop culture in the ’70s and ’80s, shamanism and mysticism became a little more prominent in the nation’s culture, and that helped comics writers and adventure writers find new and interesting things to do with Native American characters. But there’s still probably a long way to go.

Good morning to all from my sick bed. Let’s start with a quick link, shall we? Marc-Oliver Frisch looks at December’s sales figures for DC, noting - amongst other things - the 15% sales drop for the recent Batman fill-in:

The harsh December drop-off is a reaction to the book’s filler storyline by writer John Ostrander and artist Tom Mandrake, which was originally solicited to start in issue #660 — before DC changed their minds and moved it up by one month, presumably to accomodate the regular creative team.

In the short term, the decision to run fill-in stories no doubt has its charms; as a separate limited series or as a part of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the Ostrander/Mandrake arc would likely have sold below 30K per issue. From that perspective, these numbers are clearly fantastic.

On the other hand, there are the long-term numbers of Batman to worry about. In that regard, I’m rather skeptical whether DC is doing itself any great services by interrupting their high-profile team’s run in this fashion. Plainly, it’s rather unlikely for the numbers to just pop back all the way to their former strength once the regular creators return. (Writer Grant Morrison is back with issue #663, artist Andy Kubert rejoins him with the subsequent issue.)

Kevin sent me a link to Table of Malcontents, the Wired pop culture blog, which featured this particular treasure:

Not sure if you really can stand it, but one of the 20 questions posed to The Fountain director Darren Aronofsky by Moviehole.net readers dealt with his lone-dead Batman: Year One movie treatment with Frank Miller.

Yes. it would’ve been a very interesting and welcome 180-degree take on the Dark Knight’s adventures, certainly versus those lensed by Joel Schumacher. As far as Aronofsky’s concerned, however, he’s really glad his version of the Dark Knight never got made.

“My pitch was always very realistic. I wasn’t interested in fantasy, I was interested in the psychology of a real man dressing in a disguise to pay out real vengeance. The batmobile was a souped up lincoln continental with a bus engine. It was technical and rusty and extremely violent. They would have never let us have violence.”

Speaking of graphic novels turning into movies, Aronofsky confirmed he’s writing one for Lone Wolf and Cub.

I’m not sure whether this trumps the KISS comics, but it might: From MangaBlog’s Brigid Alverson comes word that Del Rey will release the OEL manga Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes in April.

There aren’t a lot of details on either the Random House site or on Amazon, other than it’s by artist Camilla D’Errico and writer Joshua Dysart (Swamp Thing, Violent Messiahs) — and, of course, that it stars singer Avril Lavigne.

Cartoonist/blogger Andre Richards, who originally found the listing, points out that the news may not be so much the Lavigne book as it is that Del Rey is producing original content. There’s also a listing for a second OEL title from Del Rey, The Reformed, by Christopher Hart. It’s due in October.

Update: Del Rey has issued an official press release.

Update 2: Del Rey’s e-newsletter includes a couple of pages from Make 5 Wishes. I’ve posted them above.

* I struggled for a headline using a Lavigne lyric, and now I have Sk8er Boi stuck in my head. So I gave up.

Even though there may be only less than six months until Eddie Campbell’s next First Second release — The Black Diamond Detective Agency — hits bookstores, the teaser trailer only left me wanting for more.

The same sentiment applies to Top Shelf Productions’ next salvo into the all-ages arena, Korgi, a new graphic novel series created by former Disney animator Christian Slade. And, my pals at Top Shelf are obviously so confident you’ll like it too, they launched a trailer of their own, in addition to posting a half-dozen gorgeous sample pages to attract your attention.

And you won’t have to wait as long either, as Korgi debuts in April…

Cartoonist Dean Trippe, who draws a wonderful Supergirl, joins the blogosphere discussion about the Maid of Might:

It’s easy to argue back and forth as to whether or not Supergirl has been portrayed as a ‘typical teen,’ because it’s a false model. Some say yes, some say no. But we’re not talking about a typical teenager, we’re talking about one of the most recognizable superheroines in comics. She even had a movie (well, not a very good one, but still). The recent internet uproar over the portrayal of Supergirl (and Batgirl!) demonstrate how strongly she strikes a chord with both male and female readers. And yet in Supergirl’s comics she has been portrayed as anything but heroic. It’s been incredibly disheartening for those of us who want to see a Supergirl we can admire. It’s also easy to blame ALL of the problems on the art, which, with the notable exception of Amanda Conner’s excellent fill-in issue, has shown her to look too old, too tall, too skinny, too slutty, and seriously unfashionable by anyone who knows teenagers. The writing and art often come off as a rant about how dumb teenagers are, rather than offering teenagers a model (even an imperfect one) to aspire to.

The ‘nutshell’ epiphany I had was this: Imagine young Clark Kent, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Bruce Wayne or any of the incredibly selfless, awesome HEROES we know and love, and run them through the ringer of degrading stories Kara Zor-El has been put through since her reintegration into the DCU. …

He goes on to address some of the more easily fixable issues with Supergirl, including her costume, her setting and her interaction with the rest of the DC Universe.

Related: When Fangirls Attack has been tracking a lot of the discussion

This post is why I think Dave over at Dave’s Longbox should write comics, or, even better, should write for Days of Our Lives, my wife’s favorite soap opera. His casting of Days character John Black as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is pure genius:

John Black (into phone): “MODOK, you scumbag. You better pray Marlena isn’t hurt or no force on Earth will save you from me. You read me, freak?”

MODOK: “Brave words, Agent John Black, but soon the city of Salem will belong to MODOK! If only Marlena had loved me when I was human, when I was a fragile psychiatric patient with no memory. Now it is too late for you both. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

John Black (trembling with rage): “MO-DAAAWK!”

When he slicks his hair back and puts on a black shirt, he is unstoppable.

More information has been released concerning the KISS comic we reported about a couple of weeks ago. According to The Hollywood Reporter, original band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have signed an agreement with Platinum Studios to produce the comic books, with the aging rockers having complete control of the content under the banner of KISS Catalog Ltd.

Curiously, the first release will be three-foot-tall comic set for March release. For $50. I can already hear complaints about shelving, and the lack of yard-long polybags.

The KISS-Platinum venture, called the KISS Comics Group, has plans to expand into multimedia platforms.

The legendary first KISS comic book was published in 1977 by Marvel, and featured the band’s blood mixed with the red ink.

Related: The Platinum press release

I want to throw out a big “Welcome” to the newest member of the Blog@ family, Wayne Beamer! Wayne’s going to be helping us out with the daily blogging chores, filling the opening we had when Chris Hunter left us earlier this month.

For a preview of what’s to come, check out his blog, Illustrated Fiction, and watch for posts from Wayne to start popping up later today …

The theme this week seems to be those amazing animals, as the ronin rabbit Usagi Yojimbo reaches its 100th issue at Dark Horse, Fantagraphics debuts the high-end and killer-looking Beasts hardcover, and Marvel brings us the triumphant return of Spider-Ham!

Yes, that’s right … Spider-Ham! I don’t know what else I can say beyond that. Let’s hear from the rest of the Blog@ crew … or from Tom, anyway …

(more…)

Katie’s out … is Rachel in?

With Katie Holmes bowing out of the next Batman movie, rumor has it that Rachel McAdams may be stepping in:

Then, Variety confirmed that Holmes had officially dropped out to join Mad Money with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah. Now, the rumor mill is at full tilt about Rachel McAdams being the front-runner to replace Holmes as ‘the girl’ in the film. It’s all completely unsubstantiated at this date, but another rumor — that McAdams has been asked to make an appearance in the film as Selena Kyle — seems somehow more credible. Also, Nolan is still looking for his Harvey Dent, so it may be a while before this cast begins to fall into place.

If it happens, it will definitely be an upgrade.

(more…)

Word that Stephen King and Joss Whedon — well, more so the latter than the former — are bringing The Dark Tower and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to comics has Ann Patterson of the Spartanburg, S.C., Herald-Journal reconsidering her view of the medium:

Not that I haven’t read my share of comics, but I considered them one step below the standard beach books, with little social-redeeming value. And I admit to all the comic fans that it’s been awhile since I’ve read one.

I’m preparing to readjust my thinking and to apologize to the comic book fans of the world.

This summer, I plan to read all the Buffy the Vampire comics by Whedon. No so the King ones.

Once I was a King fan, but his Dark Tower series finally did me in. I read the first one, liked it and waited patiently for the second one to come out. I read that one, even though it seemed disconnected to the first one, and waited for the third one. By the time it came out, I was through with King.

Now King is creating a series with Marvel Comics to bridge the gaps between the Dark Tower volumes. For some readers, that’s great news; for me, it’s too little, too late.

Lordy, that article is riddled with typos, isn’t it?

Marvel will release The Dark Tower on Feb. 7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 is due from Dark Horse on March 7.

On his MySpace blog, cartoonist Benjamin Roman (I Luv Halloween, The Cryptics) teases his upcoming weekly webcomic, MotorFace.

From New Joe Fridays last week:

Q: “Lord Simian”- At a con this past year, when someone asked about sequels to Marvel Zombies, you stated that you were instead doing Marvel Apes. You said several times you weren’t joking, and that there would be an Apes book before Zombie sequels. Here we are, expecting a new Zombie mini, and a crossover with Army of Darkness, so speaking on behalf of all monkey fans…. where are our Apes, Joe?

JQ: Lord Simian, dude, I am so with you on this. I’ve pitched the idea to Kirky as a sequel to Zombies, but it didn’t float his boat, apes just don’t rock his world. That said, I wouldn’t discount it happening sometime down the road. While as E-i-C I have some control when it comes to making certain things happen, I always feel it’s best to wait until a far out idea is embraced by a creator or editor rather than shove it down people’s throats. Someday, Lord S, someday.

This is totally a cause I can get behind. Who’s with me? GO APE FOR MARVEL IN 2007!!!

(This also seems like an appropriate place to point out that this Wedneday is National Gorilla Suit Day:

Which also started as one man’s dream and grew into a worldwide movement. Surely we can do the same?)

Now you can show what side you’re on… in person:

WizKids has announced a special Heroclix Civil War tournament event, which retailers can hold in February either separately or in conjunction with other previously scheduled HeroClix events. In the tournament event each player builds a 300-point army, which must include either one Captain America or one Iron Man sculpt. Then the battle between Captain America’s rebellion forces and Iron Man’s pro-government army begins. It is permissible to construct an army from sealed boosters, as long as the above restrictions are met.

No, I don’t understand that last bit, either.

Fabian Nicieza lets us know how those plans for world domination are going:

With 2006 over, did you accomplish everything you set out to do with [Cable and Deadpool]?

NICIEZA: No. I had hoped we could get a licensing line of fashionable men’s underwear produced with both characters. So really, nothing went exactly as I had planned at all.