Ethan Van Sciver has a problem with the Bendis Board. Namely, there’s not enough Bendis:

How come Bendis doesn’t start threads that aren’t entertainment news reports? He never just says how is day is going.

I feel like I know Mark Millar from his board, but Bendis is an enigma.

(An example of a recent Millar thread that lets you into his world can be found here, for those who’re curious.)

The Board has some theories as to why Bendis is a man of mystery:

“He probably knows better by now.”

“he probably feels there’s enough new and strange threads going on here as it is. plus, he does post his live reports from airports and stuff. (sometimes) [...] either that, or he’s busy working.”

Apparently, we’re not missing anything, however:

“We get to know him pretty well from those five-hour gabfests on wordballoon. And what have we learned? He’s a foul-mouthed little man who writes comics, that’s what.”

The wonderful Movie Marketing Madness blog looks at what’s happening with The Dark Knight’s pre-release marketing:

I don’t think anyone’s speculating that the movie will actually follow the Long Halloween story, about a serial killer taking out corrupt officials and crime bosses but only on holidays. But putting all this together does tell me that Warner Bros. is going out of their way to get comics fans excited about the movie by referencing good stories from the books. That’s huge, and not something every studio behind a comics adaptation has done effectively, or without veering into pandering.

Retailer Michael George pleaded not guilty on Monday in Macomb County, Mich., to first-degree murder, insurance fraud and other charges in connection with the 1990 death of his first wife, Barbara.

George, owner of Comics World in Windber, Pa., and co-founder of Pittsburgh Comic-Con, is accused of staging the July 13, 1990, shooting death of his first wife to look like a robbery of their Clinton Township, Mich., comic-book store. Prosecutors say he wanted to collect his wife’s $125,000 insurance policy and their shared estate, and start over with another woman.

George was arrested in August in Pennsylvania after Clinton Township detectives reopened the 17-year-old case in January and began interviewing witnesses.

On Monday, defense attorney Carl Marlinga filed a motion to have George released from jail on “reasonable bond” to his mother’s house in Hazel Park, Mich. George currently is being held without bond.

Kevin Cornell and Matthew Sutter are having a face-off of sorts over at their website, The Superest, as they each try to outmatch the other’s super hero each day. It kind of works like this, according to the site: “Player 1 draws a character with a power. Player 2 then draws a character whose power cancels the power of that previous character. Repeat.”

For instance, this guy:

got beat by this guy:

who went on to lose to an eyeless, albino tortoise. You can start with the first hero and work your way up to the latest one to see who beat who. Fun stuff.

Via

Ahead of the release of the print edition of the latest issue on Wednesday, The Comic Journal’s website puts up selections from the main stories of the issue. Gail Simone talks about Women in Refrigerators and Wonder Woman, Jared Gardner writes about Otto Soglow and, most excitingly, there’re excerpts from an interview with the wonderful Posy Simmonds:

The other thing [about the success of newspaper strip Gemma Bovery] is that your editors tend to think that you’re immediately ready with another one. They said, “What have you got this autumn?” …I said, “You’re joking.” I mean, I’ve got an idea, but it’s going to take some work. I don’t think they realize that it’s like writing a film. I mean drawing a film. You’ve got to do location, props, costumes, dialogue, lighting, camera … you don’t get to sleep with the stars.

The Chicago Daily Herald has a feature on the workout the actors used in 300 to prove they were in Spartan shape, which is becoming somewhat of an exercise trend for non-movie stars:

As originally composed, the 300 workout consists of 300 grueling repetitions of tried-and-true exercises, with no rest in between:

• 25 pull-ups

• 50 dead-lifts with 135 pounds of weights

• 50 push-ups

• 50 jumps on and off a 24-inch-tall box

• 50 floor wipers (lying on your back gripping a stationary bar and lifting your feet over each hand alternately)

• 50 single-arm “clean and press” lifts with a 36-pound kettlebell, which looks like a cannonball with a handle

• 25 pull-ups

The only catch: the actors didn’t actually use this workout to train for the movie.

Actually, they used a variety of all-body conditioning for up to a couple of hours a day five days a week for two months. Then they used the 300 as a final, one-time graduation test to see what shape they were in.

Charles Schulz ranks No. 3 on Forbes’ list of the top-earning dead celebrities, after Elvis and John Lennon:

Indeed, all the members of this year’s club are the linchhpins of enormously profitable — and growing — merchandising empires. Albert Einstein’s name is used to peddle Baby Einstein DVDs. Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s books are a staple of every kiddie library on the planet. Hundreds of performances of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” pad the portfolio of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz each year — as do comic strips that are still syndicated daily in thousands of newspapers worldwide.

Per the site, Schulz earned $35 million over the past year. Rounding out the top five were George Harrison and Albert Einstein.

Via

What do kids love more than church? Rock’n'roll super hero church, of course. The Columbus Dispatch has a story up on Pastor Jonathan Roe and the Dayspring Community Church and their “Superhero Sunday” service:

Many who attend Dayspring Community Church in Canal Winchester arrived in costume to celebrate Superhero Sunday, a one-of-a-kind service aimed at kids. Boys dressed as comic-book heroes and girls wearing satiny princess gowns danced, sang and fidgeted their way through the hourlong service.

The day’s theme was an opportunity for the Nazarene church to entertain its littlest members and to welcome the community’s many young families, Roe said.

“It’s just finding new ways to bless and reach families,” he said.

The service opened with a live rock band that pulled the kids out of their seats and into the aisles. Roe’s sermon was illustrated by clips from Superman Returns playing on two big-screen TVs. And, at the close of the service, the church raffled off an overnight stay at Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort on the East Side.

Despite the name, I don’t think it has any connection to Cable …

It should surprise absolutely no one, but Sci Fi Wire reports that the long-stalled Wonder Woman movie has been placed on the back burner while Warner Bros. focuses on Justice League of America.

So says producer Joel Silver, who was questioned at a press conference for Fred Claus: “They’re going to make the Justice League movie, and we’re kind of pausing on Wonder Woman now. Let them go ahead and do that picture [first].”

George Miller is directing JLA, which reportedly is being viewed as a launching pad for other superhero films, including Wonder Woman. On Sunday, David Dobkin revealed he’s directing The Flash, and on Monday WB announced Greg Berlanti will helm Green Lantern.

Wonder Woman has been in development hell since Silver seized control of the movie in 2001. A series of screenwriters took turns at the script over the next few years until March 2005, when Joss Whedon was brought onboard to write and direct.

However, by February 2007, Whedon, too, was out, due to creative differences with Silver and Warner Bros. Even before his departure was made public, the studio bought a script from a pair of newcomers, supposedly as a preemptive measure to protect itself from a plagiarism lawsuit. But considering that their story took place during World War II, and Whedon’s was set in the present, that seems unlikely.

No matter, I suppose. That treatment won’t see the light of day, either.

Less than a year after being purchased by Platinum Studios, comic site Broken Frontier finds itself independent once more:

On July 13, Platinum Studios informed me that effective immediately, the company was terminating its involvement in this website (‘involvement’ not being the proper term to use, though, since Platinum fully owned BF at the time).

While Platinum gave me the assurance that their termination of the deal had absolutely nothing to do with the site’s performance or my creative talents running it, I still felt as if struck by lightning: suddenly, I was unemployed and saw my dream job go up in smoke.

Then how come Broken Frontier is still around, you ask?

‘Ill weeds grow apace’ is what they say, right? [insert sarcastic laugh here]

Although I won’t go into any details, I can say that as of this month, the site is completely, for 100%, in my hands again. BF is back where it was this time last year: a budding, independent online resource for coverage of all things comics-related… in whatever shape, size or medium.

Arguably another bad omen for Platinum, but good luck to BF boss Frederik Hautain (the man who gave me my online break, for better or worse) for the future…

Empire Magazine’s website has the first officially released photos from the upcoming adaptation of Wanted, Mark Millar’s Eminem-friendly supervillain version of Fight Club. Interestingly enough, their comment about the comic suggests that they’ve cut to the core of the series’ origins:

The premise of the original Wanted comic book series, which we haven’t actually read, is said to take inspiration from across the DC universe sounds like juicy material… Very excited to see how this one turns out.

Taking inspiration being, of course, the friendly way of suggesting that it’s a rip-off…

Marvel.com continues to exploit their website by giving us The Weekly Watcher, a five minute round-up of what’s happening behind the scenes at the House of Ideas. Sure, right now, you’re thinking “Why would I watch that?” but the answer is easy enough: Moustache Contest footage.

Everyone needs more moustache footage.

Wil Wheaton, who will guest star in the comic convention episode of Numb3rs, shares on his blog a report and photos from the set.

Citing “VERY reliable word … from multiple retailers,” TVShowsOnDVD.com is reporting that the direct-to-DVD Justice League:  The New Frontier will hit stores on February 26, 2008.  The movie will be released in Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and standard DVD formats, with the standard DVD retailing for $19.99. 

The report also lists more of the adaptation’s voice cast, including Brooke Shields as Carol Ferris, Miguel Ferrer as J’Onn J’Onzz, Phil Morris as King Faraday, and Kyra Sedgwick as Lois Lane.  They join David Boreanaz as Green Lantern, Neil Patrick Harris as the Flash, Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, Kyle MacLachlan as Superman, and Jeremy Sisto as Batman.

One very minor thing that still kind of jumps out at me today:  the credit list refers to Superman as “Superman/Clark Kent,” but I don’t remember Clark appearing either in the original miniseries or the expanded collected edition.  Everyone else gets some secret-identity action (Bruce Wayne’s only appearance is at the Ted Grant prizefight, I think), but not Clark — right?  It may be nothing, but it may be a sign that the adaptation focuses more on the superheroes than, say, the Challengers of the Unknown. 

On his LiveJournal, Sharknife creator Corey Lewis reveals background information and production art for Dead in the Now, his entry for Zuda Comics:

“REVERSE-ZOMBIE TALE”
Doesn’t mean it’s a story about a world of zombies that are plagued by a “human” virus (although that… would be… cool… F***!). ANYWAY, my story deals with your standard zombie virus, but, unlike most all other zombie stories, Dead in the Now is about a person who finds the FIRST “root” zombie, and decides HIMSELF to let the usher in the catastrophe of allowing the undead lay claim to the world. Of course, the steps he takes to build his zombie army, and the moral issues he deals with along the way are the MAIN NOUGAT of what make my comic so awesome.

I’m in! Zuda goes live tomorrow.

Norwegian artist Matt Skull has built a fantastically detailed scale model of Scrooge McDuck’s money bin, based on plans created by Don Rosa and Dan Shane for the story “The Beagle Boys vs. The Money Bin.”

You can see the original plans on Shane’s webpage.

(Via Mediabistro)

Tonight at 9 p.m.* the PBS show American Masters will present Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, an hourlong documentary on the life of the famed Peanuts creator. Newsday has a story on the show:

CMS needs no introduction, nor does anyone need to be told why his appeal has endured for 57-years-and-counting (the first Peanuts comic strip appeared Oct. 2, 1950). But what’s interesting, terribly interesting, about Monday’s PBS “American Masters” film, “Good Ol’ Charles Schulz” (at 9 on WNET/13), is that it is etched in such dark and gloomy tones. (”It was a dark and stormy night,” began Snoopy’s unpublished masterpiece.) Schulz was a depressive who yoked melancholy, regret and sadness to an “extraordinary sense of optimism,” his biographer, David Michaelis (”Schulz and Peanuts”), says in the broadcast, on which he served as a consultant.

Yet how could someone like this create a body of work like that — 17,897 strips constituting one of the greatest contributions to American comic art? That question presides over tonight’s 90-minute special. The answers are elusive if only, perhaps, because the man was as well.

While you’re waiting for the show to come on, be sure to check out the official Web site (the first link above) which has an interview with the filmmaker, excerpt from Michaelis’ new biography and extra footage.

In related news, the Daily Cartoonist has a link to a podcast by Editor & Publisher editor Dave Astor on Michaelis’ controversial bio.

* Obviously the time may vary depending upon your local PBS station. You can double-check the air date here.

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead, who offered their latest album on the Internet for however much fans are willing to pay, Ambrosia Publishing announced they will offer several of their digital graphic novels for whatever price you want to pay.

The books they’re offering for whatever you want to offer include Smuggling Spirits, Clockwork Creature and They Do Not Die!, all of which have free previews available on their site. “There’s no catch or hidden fee. If you want to pay 1 cent, then pay .01. If you want to pay $2.00, then pay 2.00,” their press release reads.

In addition, this month they started serializing Plastic Farm and Nantucket Brown Roasters.

And speaking of Radiohead, The San Jose Mercury News has a story on how well album sales have been going for their new album.

Tom Spurgeon spends a lengthy bit of space focusing on the good things about comics these days:

I honestly couldn’t tell you if there’s enough story, or if it’s bad if some people don’t value story as much as I do. Maybe I’m not looking close enough to see incremental differences of degree, maybe I’m not as taken with certain, classic modes of delivery, I don’t know. I do know comics remains stuffed with stories, stories that I’ll be reading and telling people about until the day I die, stories that thrill the vast majority of readers who come to the medium, and take up a huge portion of the collective creative class’s attention. Story has nothing to worry about. Story rules.

Joe Sacco was in Seattle (specifically the Fantagraphics bookstore) this past weekend to celebrate the release of the new Special Edition of his magnum opus, Palestine (which by the way, looks to be a fabulous package based on my limited perusal). Flog has all the photos plus videos of a talk he gave at the store.