The kind folks at Wanted: Cheap Manga are scantilating one of Shintaro Kago’s utterly bizarre manga. This one’s about Russia, sorta. Oh, and it’s totally NSFW in case you were wondering. (link via Same Hat)

It’s a Web site devoted to one of the “most ground-breaking, thought provoking and violent boys comic ever to grace a British newsagent’s shelves.”

Marvel’s Captain America movie, planned for a May 2011 release, will be a period film, set during World War II.

So says Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who spoke to online journalists yesterday at Universal Studios about The First Avenger: Captain America and other projects.

That would seem to imply the movie will stay at least relatively true to the character’s comic-book origin, and tie directly into the Super-Soldier Serum references in The Incredible Hulk.

On that note, Feige confirmed speculation about a certain object glimpsed in a laboratory scene from Iron Man: Yes, that’s Captain America’s shield.

He also provided a few more details on Thor, saying that it will take place largely in Asgard, mythical home of the Norse gods: “”The film is not all Asgard, but it will be a big chunk in Asgard, yeah.”

Screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, The Cell) is expected to submit a draft of the script in a couple of weeks.

Topless Robot selects the “10 Worst Album Covers by Comic Artists,” shredding their claws over such works of art as Neal Adams’ cover for Trixter’s debut:

A highly influential Avengers and Green Lantern/Green Arrow artist—and certifiable crackpot, thanks to his “expanding Earth” theory—Adams did quite a bit of album artwork in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, but mainly for “WHO?!” musical acts like the Mighty Groundhogs and Bill LaBounty. Somewhere in between his failed Skateman series and failed Mr. T and the T-Force series (which both sounded like such can’t-miss concepts!), Adams accepted forgettable pop-metal band Trixter as a client, penciling the cover for their first self-titled album in 1990. Though their lone minor hit was called “Give It to Me Good,” Adams apparently never got that memo and accurately portrayed the group as huge tools.

Warner Bros. has relaunched the Batman: The Dark Knight website, now with all the bells and whistles, such as videos, a plot synopsis, a photo gallery and downloads. We’ve already seen most everything there, but the design is pretty nice.

The Dark Knight opens on July 18.

Universal Pictures has released two U.K. quad posters for The Incredible Hulk, which opens on June 12.

(Via IMP Awards)

Retailer Rory Root, who passed away earlier this week, has been eulogized and remembered around the internet ever since the news of his tragic death broke. I only met Rory in person once, earlier this year at WonderCon, where Ian Brill, Matt Maxwell and I spent probably an hour or so at his booth on Saturday night as the floor closed, talking to him about Mark Evanier’s Kirby book and how well it was selling, and checking out several pages of original art he’d acquired at the show. I’d traded a few emails with him before that, but it was nice to meet him in person and learn firsthand what a genuinely nice guy he was.

As we spoke with him, the con closed, and we saw artist after artist pack up from Artist Alley and walk by us toward the exit — and I can’t tell you how many of them stopped to shake his hand or say good night to Rory. Read the comments on this post and you’ll see the number of comic creators who had a great deal of respect for what he contributed to the industry and to their careers. I saw that same respect in the trail of artists who were packing it up for the night at WonderCon.

(more…)

So apparently Skrulls aren’t the only ones invading the Marvel universe as of late … Marvel.com rounds up all the “secret” appearances of Colbert ’08 propaganda. While Stephen Colbert’s presidential bid in the real world may be over, it’s “alive and well in the Marvel Universe,” the site reports.

Besides Secret Invasion #1, pictured above, other comics featuring Colbert references include She-Hulk #25, New Warriors #11 and Young X-Men #2.

Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 blog also has updates from Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis on the Colbert “easter eggs.”

What could be better than Marvel developing a Runaways movie? How about getting Brian K. Vaughan to write it?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, you can add the Runaways to the list of projects Marvel has in the incubation stages. Vaughan, who co-created the book with artist Adrian Alphona, will write the screenplay. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige will produce.

No word on when the film will appear, but the article mentions Marvel does have a pretty full slate already lined up through 2011.

The Hollywood Reporter looks at the fourth Indiana Jones flick’s chances of knocking off Spider-Man 3‘s reign at the top of the “biggest opening weekend ever” stack:

Paramount unspools “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” at 12:01 a.m. Thursday in about 2,000 locations, and industryites already are talking about a five-day haul north of $150 million. That would put “Skull” on course to best the “Spider-Man 3″ opening of $151.1 million in May 2007 — with an asterisk, given its five-day bow vs. the three-day debut for the Spidey sequel.

“Skull” represents the iconic Lucasfilm franchise’s first new installment in 19 years, and it’s expected to play in as many as 4,000 theaters by the weekend. Double and triple screenings in many venues easily will double that number, for a print run servicing upward of 8,000 screens.

Although the Reporter says reviews have been mixed so far, Metacritic is ranking it at 67 — “generally favorable reviews.” Which, quite frankly, doesn’t matter to me anyway … after watching the first three Indiana Jones films this past weekend, it would take some pretty horrible reviews to scare me away. I’ll be there for the early show tomorrow …

Month after month, I eagerly await my three-month ahead Christmas in the form of Marvel solicitations and each and every time I find myself thinking, “What on Earth am I going to talk about?”  I mean, these are three months away!  What could they possibly hint at that won’t have a big black CENSORED bar on it or be so tame as to let it loose upon the internet public?  Considering how thick we are going to get into Secret Invasion, what dare lay ahead for the True Believer that could be discussed?

And every month, I am floored by what can catch the eye, both good and bad.  Comics are a weird medium, folks.

So, let’s take a look at August, shall we?

(more…)

In a poll by DIMSDRIVE Research, male and female readers in Japan ranked Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece as the No. 1 manga that has made them cry. Who could’ve guessed that a wacky comedy-adventure about a ragtag crew of pirates on the hunt for treasure and fame would be such a tear-jerker?

Men selected Tetsuya Chiba and Asao Takamori‘s boxing manga Tomorrow’s Joe as No. 2, while women chose Riyoko Ikeda’s historical romance The Rose of Versailles. Takehiko Inoue’s basketball series Slam Dunk showed up at No. 4 on both lists.

(Via Topless Robot)

The official website for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe provides the first looks at Superman and a destroyed Metropolis from the upcoming video-game mashup. The site also has high-resolution shots of Scorpion and some kind of hell-like arena. Previously, we’d been shown Batman and Sub-Zero.

(Via Kotaku)

Subterranean Press has launched a website to promote The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman’s upcoming all-ages novel about a boy who is adopted by the occupants of a cemetery after his parents are killed. The book, illustrated by Dave McKean, will be released this fall.

Wil Moss talks to rising star Josh Cotter about the upcoming release of the collected edition of Skyscrapers of the Midwest:

PW Comics Week: Tell me about the genesis of the story of Skyscrapers—did you know it would be the story it is now, or did it start out smaller?

Joshua W. Cotter: I’d just finished a three-part minicomic called FUN—it was the first thing I’d ever done in comics. It was a little experiment that grew into a 72-page narrative. After finishing a story that long, I was interested in writing some short stories. There were a lot of issues about childhood that I wanted to address and [so I] decided to do a little one-man anthology-type thing. It took me about three months to create the first Skyscrapers mini from concept to execution, and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I wasn’t actually certain if I was going to do any more Skyscrapers minis after completing the first one, but once it started getting some positive feedback from the outside world, I figured I’d go ahead and do one more. Chris [Pitzer, AdHouse publisher] and I decided to collect the first two minis into one large issue, and at some point we decided to make Skyscrapers a four-part limited series.

I have reservations about calling the collected Skyscrapers a “graphic novel.” There are consistent themes and characters throughout the four issues, but I just don’t feel right about calling something that wasn’t initially conceived as a novel a “novel.” Not for me to decide though, I suppose.

Highlights magazine put a huge archive of Timbertoes strip up on their site. Let the trip down memory lane begin.

Sony Pictures has won a bidding war for the rights to a live-action update of Flash Gordon, the 1930s comic strip that has spawned a feature film, radio and movie serials, comic books and TV shows.

Breck Eisner (Sahara) will direct. No screenwriters are attached.

This announcement comes just two weeks after Nu Image/Millennium Films picked up the rights to another classic space-adventure property, Buck Rogers.

Created by Don Moore and Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon debuted in January 1934 as Heart’s attempt attract readers of Buck Rogers. In the original strip, Flash Gordon was world-famous polo player who, with his newfound companion Dale Arden, is kidnapped by the mad scientist Hans Zarkov to rocket to the runaway planet Mongo and save Earth from destruction. There, they battle the evil Ming the Merciless, and meet inhabitants like Prince Thun of the Lion Men, Prince Barin of Arboria and Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen.

Flash Gordon last hit the big screen in 1980.

I hadn’t heard of Bowen Press before reading this interview with CEO Brenda Bowen, but they sound like they have an intriguing line-up planned for the coming year, including a children’s graphic novel by none other than Lynn Johnston:

PW Comics Week: What are your plans for comics and graphic novels at Bowen Press?

Brenda Bowen: On my first list is Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel by C.M. Butzer. I’ve also just signed a novel in comics called Herbert’s Wormhole, written by Peter Nelson and illustrated by Ro Rao. It’s a funny book for children eight to 11 years old, about a kid who creates what Einstein only imagines—a wormhole that bores down to the future. It’s very funny. There is a television option with Curious Pictures, an animation studio here is New York, and it is in early development.

PWCW: What are some other developments?

BB: There is a new executive editor at the Bowen Press, Anne Hoppe. She has been at HarperCollins for a long, long time. She is just switching over to the Bowen Press because her sensibility really matches up with what we are trying to do here. Anne is bringing some very exciting comics-based books to the party. We are going to publish the first Emily the Strange novel, called Emily the Strange: The Lost Days, in summer ’09. It is going to be a gorgeous, sumptuous book, designed by Cosmic Debris and written by [Emily the Strange creator] Rob Reger. Black and red and white throughout and heavily illustrated, it is the first time that Emily will have a sustained narrative. There will be four Emily novels.

In summer ’09, we also have a book by cartoonist Lynn Johnston, who is the author and artist of the long running comic strip For Better, for Worse. It is a full-color picture book for children from four to seven years old. It is about a dog who loves to eat and doesn’t care about what he is eating, and he gets lost following one delicious scent after another, and then after a day of being lost he comes home. You will see that the family in For Better, for Worse is in the pictures. Although they won’t be identified as that, but it will be appealing to the readers of the strip.

Jamie S. Rich reveals on his blog that Image will publish a 10th anniversary collection of Mike Allred‘s Red Rocket 7:

This week I am working on a text piece for the 10th anniversary edition of Mike Allred’s Red Rocket 7, due from Image in September. This is one of my favorite comics I’ve ever been involved with. Having it back in print will be like righting a terrible wrong, like freeing an innocent man from prison. To go with that, I’m working on a little something for Newsarama for June.

The book originally ran seven issues and was published by Dark Horse.

As for the Newsarama thing … wait and see!

R. Crumb, via The Ephemerist.