IMDB.com has the trailer for Superman: Doomsday, the direct-to-DVD movie set for September release.

Western Canada’s largest comic con is today. Guests include Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, Gail Simone, Omar Dogan, Francis Manapul, Dave McCaig, The women of Firefly, and many others are set to appear.
Plus yours truly will be there.

If you have a chance, it’s located at:

Roundup Centre – Hall D
17 Ave and 2 Street SE
Calgary, AB
Canada
10am-6pm

Website and much more info: http://www.calgaryexpo.com

I really wish I were in New York City, so I could stop by Kids’ Comic Con today at Bronx Community College. There are workshop, panels, exhibits, demonstrations and portfolio reviews, all focused on young people, parents and educators. Admission is free.

Industry professionals scheduled to attend include Kyle Baker, Tania del Rio, Danny Fingeroth, Jimmy Gownley, Joan Hilty, Jamal Igle, Dan Mishkin, Mike Siglain, Mark Smylie and Steve Wacker.

Secret Identity will podcast from the event.

Laura Hudson writes an article for Publisher’s Weekly. That exact same article pops up on the Around Comics site, credited to “The Evil Monkey Crew.”

UPDATE: Tom Katers of Around Comics responds in our comments section: I don’t post the news on the site but I can tell you it definitely wasn’t our intention to plagarize an article. Apologies for any sloppiness, and we ask for the all powerul internets forgiveness.

With Spider-Man 3 a week away, the media blitz is in full swing. To make it easier on you (and ourselves) we’ll be collecting relevant links and stories related to the film into single posts each day between now and, well, whenever the blitz ends.

And for grins, I’ll throw out a random question every day. Today’s question: when will you see the movie — opening day, opening weekend, waiting for NextFlix or some other time?

So jumping into coverage, MTV.com has an article about the “third comic book movie curse,” and whether Spider-Man 3 will fall into the trappings we’ve all witnessed over the years:

The Spidey stars also have an admission to make: They must once again reinvent our concept of superhero movies, as they did in 2002 following the decades of legal wrangling that had kept the web-slinger from the silver screen. After witnessing fans despise “Batman Forever,” “Superman III,” “Blade: Trinity” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” we’ve been conditioned to face what seems as inevitable as death and taxes: Third superhero movies suck.

(more…)

Jessie Garza wraps up Sasquatch week here at Blog@ by chatting with Courtney Huddleston, who, first off, is a guy (just to clear that up). He also named his daughter Phoenix, which gets him points right there.

Huddleston worked on two different stories for the Sasquatch anthology–”The Sitter” with Scott Zirkel and “MonsterZ” with Jason Burns. His other projects have included the graphic novel A Bit Haywire, Sidekickin’ (due in May) and Decoy.

Garza: If Sasquatch really do exist, would it be fair to say that they are like the ninjas of the animal kingdom in terms of their stealth-ness?

Huddleston: I completely disagree. I actually believe that Sasquatches are looking for society, but are lost in the dense woods. Hikers have run into them from time to time, but have chosen to flee when the Sasquatch takes chase. They’re not trying to hurt anyone. They’re just looking for directions. Poor fellows.

(more…)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an article up on this weekend’s Pittsburgh Comicon, which includes appearances by Ethan Van Sciver, Tim Truman, Arthur Suydam, Mike Oeming, Rags Morales, Mike Grell, Joe Jusko and Adam Hughes, as well as the last con appearance by George Perez for a few years:

The annual Pittsburgh Comicon at the Pittsburgh ExpoMart in Monroeville has grown in respectability and influence with the comics industry. No longer a secondary stop on the way to comicons in San Diego and New York, the Pittsburgh Comicon now attracts the cream of the crop of comic book talent. This year’s roster is especially top heavy with big names:

Artist George Perez, arguably one of the top five fan favorites of all time, is making the Pittsburgh Comicon his last convention appearance for a few years. Known for his linear style and intricate rendering of superhero battles, Perez made his biggest mark on DC Comics’ “Crisis on Infinite Earth,” the Marvel/DC crossover between the Avengers and the Justice League of America and a superb run on “The New Teen Titans” in the 1980s.

My favorite part of the article would be this sentence from the opening paragraph:

Only a philistine would doubt that the once-maligned comic book subculture has made the transition from the anonymity of mom’s basement to the corporate boardroom. Comic books are hip and profitable.

In your face, philistines!

On the Digital Webbing forums, cartoonist and letterer Nate Piekos shows off the “Fantasti-Caster,” his Fender Stratocaster guitar with custom Fantastic Four graphics. “It’s for clobberin’ the blues,” he writes. More photos at the link.

As a community and an industry, we are desperately trying to prove that “Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!” Whenever the mainstream media starts talking about a comic book, its usually how they lead the story. We tout famous books like Sandman and Watchmen (rather than Maus and The Neighborhood) to our non-comics-reading friends as proof of the versatility and maturity of the medium.

Its not just us trying to prove ourselves to outsiders. We’re trying to prove ourselves to each other. The superhero books we read, leftovers from decades clutching the apron strings of the CCA-Nanny, are struggling to grow up and lose the trappings of childhood. With the Nanny gone (or at least too old and senile to babysit effectively), the writers and artists have tools that they are using as shorthand for “maturity.” Violence and sexual situations and sexualized violence and strong language have been increasing steadily for decades.

Of course, if you’re reading this website, you already knew that. Better writers than me have decried this, and better writers than me are actively using these “mature” tropes to good and bad effect in their stories. Chances are if you’re reading this site, you’ve already taken a side in the great “Maturity, Censorship, and Decency in Comics” debate.

As that debate is going on, both sides are killing the concurrent debate on social issues in comics.
(more…)

“It’s hard to believe Lenore has been bopping around, destroying stuff for fifteen years now. I really wasted my life, man.”

– cartoonist Roman Dirge, on the 15th anniversary of Lenore

“Note that those ‘surprising’ new releases are all shoujo. In fact, look back at that top ten list and you’ll see that every title on it is at least girl-friendly. Bleach, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist may technically be shonen, but they all have a lot of female readers. And two of the top ten, Vampire Knight and Absolute Boyfriend, are Shojo Beat titles, as is The Gentlemen’s Alliance+.”

– blogger Brigid Alverson, analyzing ICv2.com’s list of Top 10 manga properties

“I like comics because they can look as high-budget as you want and it only costs you ink! It’s a fun medium to experiment with ideas, visuals and storytelling.”

– actor/author/comics writer Bruce Campbell, on the appeal of comics

“Crime fiction in particular is a genre about losers, characters (even smart ones) who for whatever reasons make very bad decisions and have to deal with the consequences of them. Other types of stories, superheroes for instance, are about winners. But losers are much more interesting to write about than winners. In crime, as it’s written today, you don’t have to worry about who the hero and who the villain is; those roles are fluid and mutable. Its main downside is that it requires discipline, you’re restricted as a writer to real world considerations. Paradoxically, that also makes it a lot freer that many genres where you can just let your imagination run amok. In crime stories, you really have to focus on the story.”

– Two Guns writer Steven Grant, on the appeal of the crime genre

“I met Damon at the super-geek-happy-clubhouse (first rule of the super-geek-happy-clubhouse — there is no super-geek-happy-clubhouse). Damon is one of the kindest, nicest people around, so I just begged and cried and held tight to his ankle until he said yes.”

– writer Brad Meltzer, on asking Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof to write the introduction to Justice League of America, Vol. 1

Mark Millar breaks the news of the latest Bryan Hitch production:

Just heard from Bry two mins ago and his latest little boy was born this afternoon. So let’s get a nice, big congrats thread going here to wish he and Jo all the best. Nothing makes me realize how long we’ve worked on Ultimates than the fact that Bry was a single man about town when we started this and now he’s a married father of four. Fortunately, he’s still as slim and sexy as I am, which doesn’t make it sound so bad.

So all the best from us, young Hitchy.

Congratulations, Bryan. See? I can hold back the snark when I have to…

Did you know Jack Kirby had an inadvertant hand in helping the C.I.A. rescue several American hostages held in Iran? You see, back in the late 1970s, Kirby had done a series of concept sketches for a proposed adaptation of Zelaney’s “Lord of Light” . The film never got off the ground, but it became a useful cover story when a certain agent was looking for a way to get into Iran and rescue a group of Americans who had been forced to go underground following the revolution. You can read the whole fascinating story here.

“A plague is upon this land! Sales of canned pineapples are on the rise!” So begins “Tiki,” one of the funnier Jack Chick parodies I’ve come across in recent years (If you don’t want to bother with the lengthy introduction, you can read the whole thing right here). The mini was apparently done in 2002 by one Thaniel Dirkson. More than that I don’t know — Google didn’t turn up anything but this (admittedly fascinating) list of Chick parodies — but if someone does, feel free to say so in the comments below, mmkay?

As you all know, there’s a Boom! Studios book called What Were They Thinking? Which, coincidentally, was my exact thought when I read Hannibal Tabu’s unusual review/confession of Hunter’s Moon, a new Boom! book at CBR:

Before discussing our first Honorable Mention title, “Hunter’s Moon” #1, it’s time for some disclosure. The writer of these reviews was asked by Boom! Studios to serve as editor on this title during the last quarter of 2006. However, at the exact same time, an opportunity to start a committed relationship with a very demanding young lady popped up, and a choice had to be made. So the writer of these reviews essentially set the ball down and ignored it, which was wholly uncool and bordering on rude. So there’s some foreknowledge of the project. To be honest, this writer has been dodging the Boom! Studios overlord for months, feeling like a personal apology was owed (even watching the guy walk through the cafeteria at WWLA) but not being able to set aside the time to say it right. Let’s hope that at some point some kind of proper amends can be made.

Wouldn’t a good time be when that time he spent watching the guy walk through the cafeteria at WWLA? Luckily, the actual review gets that proper amends thing off to a good start:

However, looking at the issue at hand, some of the concerns that this writer had with “Hunter’s Moon” in the conceptual stage have carried through to execution. The story here has great atmosphere and emotional content, but is simply too slow. In the style of a film thriller, it does a great job of establishing the relationships between characters and making them important to the reader … but in a method that borders on plodding. If you like a nice, relaxing drive, this is a great comic … but if you’re often speeding to where you have to be, you might appreciate the craft of this work but it might be a smidge deliberate.

The moral of this story: If you have the chance to work at a comic book company, don’t get in a relationship with “very demanding” young people of the gender of your choice. And if you do, then apologize to the person in charge of the comic book company instead of telling the internet that you would’ve if only you hadn’t spent the time watching people cross crowded cafeterias before giving said person’s company’s new book a crappy review that kind of digs at a lack of editorial input to help a book that may have needed it, giving you another reason to apologize to said person. The end.

I’ve deliberately avoided talking about the whole Todd Goldman mess up ’til now, mainly because it’s such an unbelievable clusteryouknowwhat that I knew it would take more blogging power than poor little me could muster. But now, circumstances compel me to speak up, namely because other people are being told to shut up. (more…)

Jon Favreau talks about Iron Man and Marvel Comics in general:

There is a certain amount of responsibility I feel because it’s the first movie Marvel has done autonomously as a studio and I want to make sure the fans know that we’re going to consider them and the history of the source material with a little bit more responsibility than it had been in the past. The studios really, I think, were happy to have the property, but didn’t really feel compelled to stick to it any more than they felt was in their best interest.

Variety reports that David Goyer will direct Magneto, the second spinoff from the successful X-Men movie franchise. Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, is the first.

Magneto, written by Sheldon Turner (Wanted, The Longest Yard), tells the origin of the Master of Magnetism, which means Ian McKellen’s part likely will be limited.

In the movie, Magneto meets Charles Xavier, who is among the soldiers that liberate Auschwitz. Magneto then hones his magnetic powers by hunting down and killing Nazi war criminals, and his thirst for revenge turns he and Xavier into enemies.

According to the trade paper, the parts will be played by actors in their twenties.

The film is slated for a 2009 release.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Magneto first appeared in X-Men #1 (September 1963).

The ACME Novelty Toy Gallery features 3-D versions of the toys Chris Ware has designed for ACME Novelty Library and other publications. The batman one above is from Batman Collected.

Link via Drawn!

DC’s new Amazons Attack miniseries debuted this week to a surprising commotion, particularly surrounding the current brutal, militaristic characterization of the Amazons. (Be warned, the following links contain spoilers)

Point:

Ragtime at the blog Comic Book Thoughts has a rather cynical response to the characterization:

Maybe you’ve been thinking recently about Amazons, and how the peace-loving women of Paradise Island could attack in the new mini-series, “Amazons Attack.” I mean, they lived separately for years, and they didn’t attack any of the other times that the world almost got blown up, or Wonder Woman got killed or captured or depowered, or the OMACs attacked.Apparently, they are now all really, really evil. Not just the leaders, but all of them. Evil evil evil.

Counterpoint:

Blog@’s Ragnell thinks that the characterization isn’t so farfetched:

These are not a peaceful people. The Themiscryans are a warrior race patroned by a war-goddess, a hunting-goddess, a love goddess who is not the nicest of love goddesses, and a mother goddess who didn’t mind letting the entire world starve to death over her daughter. They’re also the reincarnated souls of women who were violently killed by men, and who have characteristically distrusted the male gender since Perez was writing. They had peace because they were on an isolated island. The Bana-Migdall tribe, which is now intermingling with the Themiscyran tribe, was not nearly so peaceful when we met them. They are also, by tradition, a Monarchy.As far as they know, they have just been grievously wronged as a people again, through the treatment of a member of their Royal Family.

Please weigh in with your opinion!

Viz Media has announced it will release three new volumes a month of Naruto from September to December as part of its “Naruto Nation” campaign.

The accelerated schedule will put the American releases in step with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28. (I won’t spoil it for you, but you can get a hint of the storyline shift by reading the linked press release.)

The release schedule will be: September, Vols. 16-18; October, Vols. 19-21; November, Vols. 22-24; and December, Vols. 25-27.

To coincide with the release of the 12 volumes, Viz’s Shonen Jump will provide in-depth character and story information, and then, beginning in January, serialize the new adventures. Viz also plans other Naruto-related offerings, as detailed in the release.

Blogger David Welsh offers his initial thoughts on the announcement, and comes up with a great headline: “And we shall rename your land ‘Narutopia’.”