Opening statements were heard yesterday in the trial of retailer Michael George, who’s charged in the 1990 murder of his first wife.

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 Barbara to look like a robbery of their Clinton Township, Mich., comic-book store.

Michigan’s Macomb Daily reports that assistant prosecutor Steven Kaplan told jurors that George shot his wife dead rather than divorce her. He also conceded that the case against the 47-year-old man is largely circumstantial.

Defense attorney Joseph Kosmala argued that George wasn’t at the store at the time of the killing, but was instead asleep on his mother’s sofa some 15 miles away. Kosmala also underscored the lack of physical evidence placing his client at the scene, and argued that prosecutors don’t have new evidence, just “changed stories” in the 17-year-old case.

The trial continues today as the prosecution calls the first of about 40 witnesses. The defense is expected to call seven.

George was arrested in August 2007 at his Windber store after Clinton Township, Mich., detectives re-examined the cold case.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and second-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.

Fox 2000 will adapt Jeff Kinney’s bestselling children’s books Diary of a Wimpy Kid as a live-action movie, with hopes of transforming the property into a franchise.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has purchased the rights to the five novels, which blend handwritten text and comic book-style illustrations to tell the story of middle-school student Greg Heffley.

The first book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was released in April, and the second, Rodrick Rules, came out last month. Both books reached No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list. A third book, The Last Straw, is due out later this year.

IMAGI Studios has announced that Freddie Highmore (The Spiderwick Chronicles, August Rush) will star in the big-screen adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy.

The CGI update of the classic manga and anime, about a young robot created by a scientist to replace the son he lost, is set for a 2009 release. Last month David Bowers replaced Colin Brady as director of the $50 million production.

Sixteen-year-old Highmore also starred in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland.

Like the site’s name suggests, it’s an attempt to catalog every interview with Alan Moore that’s currently online.

Joe Casey talks to Tom Spurgeon about the hazards of promoting your work while at the same time promoting his new Marvel series, The Last Defenders:

SPURGEON: Does part of how you hype a book depend on accessing non-comics sources or is most of what you do tied into the comics press and comics-interested press?

CASEY: I might be somewhat short-sighted, but I really have no interest in outreach promo anymore. That is, I abandoned chasing anything that stinks of the “mainstream media” long ago. The thing about the dedicated comic book press is simply this… those guys like comics. They like to talk comics and so do I. My aim for creating awareness for something like Defenders is to hook in those readers who want a cool Marvel superhero team book. I know they’re still out there, because I’m one of ‘em. I talk to the comics press because we speak the same language. And I like that language.

The New York Times has picked up on that whole “Holocaust comic being used in German schools” thing:

On the new comic book’s cover, a teenager named Esther sprints from a truckload of Nazi soldiers. She faces a choice in the book: a policeman will let her flee, if she wants, rather than follow her parents to the camps.

Standing before the blackboard, Mr. Augner asked the students what they might have done in Esther’s place. Hands shot up.

“Her parents would have wanted her to hide,” one girl speculated. A boy pointed out that the policeman, and not only Esther, had to make a difficult decision, because he could have been punished for letting her escape.

Many students said they would have gone after their parents. One declared that she would die for them.

At which point a quiet classmate spoke up: “It’s a question of whether you want to die alone.”

The Anime News Network reported yesterday that the Canada Border Services Agency has determined that a number of sexually explicit anime and manga are “obscene” and cannot be brought into the country that brought us John Candy and Ann Murray. Titles include the animated series Words Worth and Cool Devices, Icarus’ comic Juicy Fruits, Eros Comics’ Super Taboo XXX and Domin-8-Me! and lots of other books with annoyingly suggestive titles. Icarus’ Simon Jones responds to the ruling here (link NSFW):

This isn’t really news, per se; Canada custom’s reputation for stringent enforcement is well known.  But keep in mind that this list isn’t from a court, or even an independent review board, that goes around looking for these things… these are actual items that were siezed at the border.  From the breadth of this list, these were likely part of a commercial shipment, in which case I feel very, very bad for the retailer who lost all this merchandise.

In addition to the new images from The Incredible Hulk, the latest issue of Empire magazine has a new image of Hugh Jackman from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The magazine hits the stands on Friday.

I’m going to have to beg an indulgence from you, Dear Reader, as I’m going to have to relate some personal tales before we get into this week’s meat and potatoes, a (hopefully) spine-tingling revelation about your favorite publisher and mine, Marvel Comics.  Okay, maybe my favorite publisher.  And hey, maybe more about comics in general than expected after all.

You see, I know no one really comes here for the exciting tales of Yours Truly, so I do feel a pang of guilt about even starting out with an anecdote, but it just so happens to be the very heart of the matter at hand.

Interested, sir (or madam, whatever the case maybe)?  Read on!
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On his blog, Matt Kindt announces a couple of projects he’s working on for Dark Horse and Top Shelf:

Can’t remember if I posted this yet or not but I just signed a contract with Dark Horse to publish my next graphic novel “3 Story: The History of the Giant Man” which is all about a guy that keeps growing and growing until he’s three stories tall. It’s told from the point of view of his mom, wife and then daughter and spans the 1940 through the 60s. I’ll post some art and preliminary sketches when I get a chance.

Also I’m busy finishing the writing on my next graphic novel for Top Shelf — official title now IS “Super Natural”. I posted some preliminary sketches earlier but I’ve changed a few things and finished the first 12 pages or so of the art. Full color, etc. Haven’t done any of the lettering yet but here’s some of the raw art so far. Houdini under water!

From the DC Nation panel at Wondercon:

Fan: Will there be afterlife detective stories featuring Ralph and Sue Dibny? “You’ve already seen them,” DiDio said, and moved to the next question.

Jon Hex has worked out where they’ve already appeared: Batman and The Outsiders. Are they now the new Deadman and wife? And if so, can they appear in a new series with that title?

One of the things I heard a few different times at WonderCon was, “Where are all the ‘Incredible Hulk’ pictures?” It seems like new Iron Man pictures are almost a daily thing, but the Hulk has been quite elusive for such a big guy.

Well, Empire Magazine has a couple of images up, one of Edward Norton hulking out, along with a picture of William Hurt as General Thunderbolt Ross.

They also talk to director Louis Letterier about the film:

“We didn’t want to make a cerebral movie,” he says of comparisons to Ang Lee’s earlier film. “We wanted full action, Hulk smashing stuff up. But Ed Norton’s script has given Bruce’s story real gravitas – Marvel has always made their superhero movies with great actors to make it tangible and Ed has nailed it here. Admittedly, I’m not the most adult director, but just because we’re making a superhero movie, it doesn’t just have to appeal to 13-year-old boys. Ed and I both see superheroes as the new Greek gods, so there’s a classical undercurrent to Bruce’s psycho-drama. It’s Prometheus, Pandora’s Box, Hercules…but with explosions!” That’s what we always felt was missing in the Greek myths.

On his blog, Mouse Guard creator David Petersen walks through the production process for a page from Winter 1152 #3.

Marc Guggenheim talks about his Amazing Spider-Man gig:

The great part of us coming in at this stage of [“Amazing Spider-Man”] is because we get to reap all the benefits of what “One More Day” did to the character and his status quo without having to deal with how they got there. I recognize that de-marrying Peter and how they did it were both controversial things, but we are just running with the ball and not looking back… We knew that there would be resistance, but we also knew what we are doing is good and exciting and quality wins out. For whatever reason, and despite the movie and video games, it seems that it’s been hard recently to get people excited about Spidey as a regular comic book. What “One More Day” did for us is give us the opportunity to tell stories people get jazzed about.

Over at the First Second blog, Mike Cavallaro talks about working in “Deep Six Studio,” where he gets to rub shoulders alongside folks like Dean Haspiel:

Making comics is a curious endeavor. There are other jobs like it, but then only to a degree. You’ve got this work you need to generate, and you’ve got a deadline, but you’re pretty much on your own until then. It’s easy to fall off, meander, doodle, check email obsessively, etc., etc. No matter how much you love what you’re doing, there are many pitfalls, and it’s easy to not get things done.

The studio makes falling off somewhat difficult. Checking your email is likely to produce a sarcastic, “how’s that page comin’?” from across the room. Obsessively over-noodling will cause a roomful of verbal whips to crack. For as much goofing around that goes on there, you’re still more likely to get work done than you are to doze off (Dean’s music insures against the latter, anyway).

From the book I Could Be Dreaming. Courtesy of Mike Lynch.

The release of the Jessica Jones- and Luke Cage-centric New Avengers #38 has Don MacPherson feeling nostalgic for the old Brian Michael Bendis:

New Avengers #38 recaptured the strength of Alias, and it’s clear that Marvel knew this particular issue would appeal to those of us who remember that mature-readers series with fondness. It brought back Gaydos to illustrate the issue. Yes, the visuals were much brighter this time around, but the characters are in a much different mode now as well. The argument between Jessica and Luke allowed Bendis to show off the wonderful beats he can bring to dialogue and the convincing tone with which he dazzled so many readers early on in his career in comics.

Mind you, the 38th issue was really an aberration in the overall picture of New Avengers. Lately, it’s been far more focused on plot than character, on action rather than substances. It’s been criticized (justifiably so, to a certain degree) for misogynist leanings, and despite a strong start, it’s been spinning its wheels with its current “outlaw Avengers” riff. The “Return to Alias” issue show what a strong title it could be, but it also doesn’t leave the reader with the impression that the creators plan a creative shift, with a strong focus on characterization, for the title.

MacPherson launches into a re-examination of much of the Bendis catalog, from Fortune & Glory to Ultimate Spider-Man to Powers to Mighty Avengers, and comes this close to penning a eulogy.

The essay, of course, sparks a thread on Bendis’ message board, where a surprising number of members agree with MacPherson’s assessment.

And then Bendis himself responds:

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A new Aphrodisiac comic from Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca.

Jury selection begins today in Mount Clemens, Mich., in the trial of retailer Michael George, who’s charged in the 1990 killing of his first wife Barbara.

The Detroit News provides some solid background, and notes the number of national media that have been drawn to the case of “comic book murder.”

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 Barbara 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, 47, was arrested in August 2007 at his Windber store after Clinton Township, Mich., detectives re-examined the cold case.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and second-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.

Mark Andrew Smith sent over this Guy Davis pin-up from his upcoming book, Aqua Leung, which is due in April.