On the Viz Media blog, Mike Montesa offers a tour of the company’s San Francisco offices, housed in the former Northpoint Theater.

Nabiel Kanan (Exit) has begun a new webcomic (link: Derik Badman).

These photos and captions were provided by Newsarama writer Vaneta Rogers, who I met for the first time in person at the con this year. She was a lot of fun to hang out with in the line to get our press badges and at the Eisners.

Grant Morrison signs at the DC booth:

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There was quite a bit of big publishing news at this year’s comic-con, some of which got buried underneath the plethora of press releases, panels and general announcements. PW, however, caught the news of book publisher Abrams creating a new comics imprint:

[Editor Charles] Kochman will direct the new imprint, which will launch with four new titles: The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle; The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death by Todd Hignite, designed by Jordan Crane with an introduction by acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel; Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster by Craig Yoe; and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? by Brian Fies, the creator of the award-winning Web comic/book Mom’s Cancer.

Abrams publisher Steve Tager said launching a new imprint “made sense. We’ve published comics and pop culture titles in the past—we’ve sold half a million copies of the Art of Walt Disney—so Charles is building on a history that Abrams already has. But he brings a passion and experience in the category. He’s brought in more graphic novels and launching an imprint just makes sense in this marketplace.” Tager said the imprint will be able to cross-promote with Abrams’s children’s book line, special markets department and internationally—he noted that Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier’s biography of comics artist Jack Kirby, is a bestseller for Abrams U.K. “We’ve been coming to Comic-con for several years now and our education in the category continues,” said Tager. “And our designers and sales reps all love Charlie’s books; he focuses on the little things and that’s what makes his books special.”

I fell behind on posting pictures from the con, so let’s see if I can catch up ….

Here’s the Brave and the Bold banner that was hanging outside the convention center:

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Shaky footage of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer shown at Comic-Con has, of course, made its way to YouTube. A quick, if somewhat blurry, glance shows appearances by Deadpool, Blob, Gambit — to cheers! — and what appeared to be Emma Frost.

The movie opens on May 1.

– Tom Spurgeon talks to Blake Bell, author of Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Dikto.

– Do comics really do well in bad economies, or is that a myth?

– Did you know that superhero comic books sometimes resort to political commentary? I’ve been living in a cave for the past 20 years, so I sure didn’t.

– What everyone else did instead of going to Comic-Con. That picture of Eric Reynolds’ daughter is adorable.

– Geekanerd dissects the Watchmen trailer.

Hey, is it me, or is everybody talking Watchmen these days? I’m fearful the Watchmen popularity wave will end with a new Cartoon Network show, Watchmen Babies. This week I snagged a few Watchmen-related quotes as well as tapping that San Diego gathering that I held in disdain last week.

“I’ve picked it up again to skim a few times, hoping each time that I would appreciate it, get into it, like I hadn’t before. I hated Shakespeare until my sophomore year of college, when a professor-prompted epiphany finally demonstrated to me how awesome King Lear was. I read both The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye in high school but appreciated neither until I read them on my own while in college; I reread Gatsby a year or so ago, and discovered it was even better.

I keep hoping I will experience something similar with Alan Moore.”
- Will Entrekin’s confession of his inability to enjoy Moore’s Watchmen

“I’m wondering if the reclusive British writer will be able to stay soured on the movie industry after Snyder is done borrowing the Owl Ship.”
- Geoff Boucher speculating on whether the expected success of the Watchmen film will change Alan Moore’s view of Hollywood

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Editor’s Note: Paul Levitz returns to Blog@Newsarama with thoughts on the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award he received during the Eisners Friday night, as well as Comic-Con and Watchmen.

by Paul Levitz

Mistake or not, I’m not giving it up.

In a field like comics, giving a publisher a humanitarian award is almost oxymoronic. Ultimately, the publisher’s job is to run the business, in an industry that is always (and rightfully) centered on its creative goals and accomplishments. Luckily, I grew up loving comics, so I never disagreed with those priorities, even when I recognized that the mix of my skills would lead me to spend more years on the business side than writing or in editorial.

Even more luckily, I learned early that it’s good business to align people’s interests…and that means the creative people need to win when the company does. Friends and mentors like Jenette Kahn, Joe Orlando, Dick Giordano and Phil Seuling taught me how to try to do that, and DC has been part of a corporation that values and rewards creativity as one of its fundamental values, so I was never doing this alone.

Receiving the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at Comicon International this week was one of the highlights of my life, for its unpredictability (special thanks to Mark Evanier for keeping me from leaving the Eisners for a counter-scheduled DC event–the best turn he’s done me at San Diego since he almost drove us to Tijauana when he gave me a lift here for my first SDCC almost 35 years ago), for the warmth from my peers in the room, and for receiving recognition for a part of my work that has always been close to my heart. The last time I felt remotely that way was receiving an award at the 100th anniversary dinner for Stuyvesant, and getting it from my favorite high school English teacher, Frank McCourt.

* * *
The rest of Comicon is a blur, set to the soundtrack of the WATCHMEN trailer playing in the DC booth. So many friends touched, bits of good news passed on, and positive developments for DC and the whole field. With the wind at our backs from the phenomenal success of THE DARK KNIGHT (was it really less than two weeks ago that we were celebrating at the premiere?), the debut of the WATCHMEN trailer and Comicon sneak peek, and so much more, we’re at a great moment. There’s our rich history to look back on (and celebrated at moments like the 50th anniversary LEGION panel), and an even brighter future ahead.

Speaking of ahead, spent time at Comicon on an opportunity which may create more new graphic novel readers in a short period of time than anything in memory. For years, our retailers have told us that WATCHMEN was the field’s best gateway drug–give a copy to a potential new reader and there’s a good chance of conversion. The WATCHMEN trailer created a response unprecedented in bookselling, boosting sales of the graphic novel by enormous percentages. It hit #2 on Amazon.com (not #2 graphic novel, #2 overall) and has stayed on all hit lists in comic shops and book stores. We’re literally printing every copy we can, shipping over 200,000 in a matter of weeks. If we get historic rates of conversion, we’ll have significantly increased the total audience for graphic novels in America.

I’m going to go collapse on a couple of chairs in the meeting room of the DC booth now, and gather my strength for Chapman’s annual Dead Dog Party.

As thousands crowded into the San Diego Convention Center, many more filed into theaters — apparently to watch The Dark Knight. The Warner Bros. sequel led the weekend box office, raking in an estimated $75.6 million and pushing its domestic total over $300 million in just 10 days.

That figure — $314.2 million, if you want to be precise — outpaces the 16-day record set by Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, released in July 2006.

Sony’s Step Brothers came in at No. 2, followed by Universal’s Mama Mia! and Fox’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

I’m exhausted, and I’m not even in San Diego.

Saturday’s “DCU: A Guide to Your Universe” panel at last put an end to relentless questions about the status of the Milestone Media characters: They’re being incorporated into the DC Comics universe, initially in the pages of Justice League of America and Teen Titans.

The same panel also revealed that the Archie Comics line of superheroes — The Fly, The Shield, The Black Hood and others — have been acquired by DC. The characters, licensed by DC in the early ’90s and published under the Impact imprint, will be reintroduced during J. Michael Straczynski’s run on The Brave and the Bold.

Marvel, meanwhile, announced that Mark Millar, original writer of Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, is returning to help reshape the Ultimate line.

“The Marvel Universe has basically been turned into the Ultimate Universe, right down to the military super-teams,” Millar told Newsarama, “so now it’s time to go back and take things to the next level. I have a very big pad filled with notes here and am blazing on this stuff. I just want to take things to the next level.”

The publisher also revealed its followup to Secret Invasion: a cosmic event called War of Kings.

Other convention-related announcements:

• ComiPress has a good rundown of the manga acquisitions and new releases announced at Comic-Con.

• Devil’s Due Publishing has entered into a parntership with Humanoids to release some of the French publisher’s titles in the United States.

• Mike Grell will helm a new Warlord series from DC, debuting next spring.

• IDW Publishing announced that Joe Hill’s Locke & Key will return in December as an ongoing series, and Steve Niles is revisiting vampires with Epilogue.

• The sequel to Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s Eisner Award-winning miniseries The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite now has a title and a release date: The Umbrella Academy: Dallas will debut in November.

• Dark Horse is revisiting the Aliens and Predator franchises.

• Writer Andy Diggle (The Losers, Hellblazer) will take over Marvel’s Thunderbolts beginning with Issue 126.

• Top Cow is releasing Art of Wanted, an oversized art book containing images from the comics, stills from the movie, and concepts from the upcoming video game.

You can follow our complete Comic-Con coverage here.

Gary Miereanu of Warner Home Video sent this photo of Nathan Fillion posing with “Wonder Woman” yesterday on the convention floor. Fillion, best known as Capt. Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly, provides the voice of Steve Trevor in the direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman animated movie. (It’s set for release in February.)

Any reason to run a Nathan Fillion photo, I say …

Devil’s Due Publishing announced yesterday at Comic-Con that it has partnered with Humanoids to release some of the French publisher’s titles in the United States.

Humanoids entered into a similar, if short-lived, pact with DC Comics in 2004.

This new partnership calls for two to three serialized comics and graphic novels to be released each month, with at least an initial focus on works by well-known American creators.

The imprint launches in November with I Am Legion: The Dancing Faun, illustrated by John Cassaday. That’s followed in December by The Zombies Who Ate the World, by Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis.

Other titles will include Redhand, written by Kurt Busiek, Metal, illustrated by Butch Guice, and classic books such as The Metabarons and The Technopriests.

The full press release can be read after the break.

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I’m stealing another item from Random House’s Suvudu blog, which has the video of Frank Miller’s keynote address from Friday’s Eisner Awards ceremony.

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof solved at least one mystery at Comic-Con yesterday: the whereabouts of his unfinished 2006 miniseries Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk.

The second issue of the planned six-part series was released in February 2006; the third issue initially was solicited for April 2006, but it never appeared.

That status of Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk has been a recurring question at Marvel convention panels, but at yesterday’s Ulimate Universe panel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada — with some help from Lindelof — finally had an answer.

When, like clockwork, the question was posed, Lindelof ran to the stage with the script to Issue 6 in hand.

“Hey, these pages are blank,” Quesada joked.

Lindelof apologized for the delays, and said he’d be “eating s**t” in the hall outside. (You may remember that last July he was about to turn in the script to the fifth issue.)

Lindelof even provided a title for the final issue: “The One That Took Two Years To F***king Write.”

Now how’s Leinil Fancis Yu’s schedule?

What would Mark Waid do … or, more accurately, what should Mark Waid do?

At the BOOM! Studios panel on Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con, Waid said he wanted fan input on his next project for BOOM! Should he do superheroes, or something else?

So, what do you want to see from Waid? A western? Horror? Comedy? Something with giant robots fighting dinosaurs Or even original superheroes? Let’s hear your opinion in the comments section.

Now that The Dark Knight‘s been out for a bit over a week, reviews and commentary are appearing all over the place. One particular topic of note among feminist fans is the movie’s treatment of the Rachel Dawes character.

I don’t think I have to warn you that these links and quotes contain massive spoilers.

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Producer Barry Josephson (Bones, The Tick) has attached himself to an adaptation of Spooks, the guns-and-monsters miniseries from Devil’s Due Publishing.

The comic, which debuted in February, was written by Larry Hama and R.A. Salvatore, based on a concept by Ryan Schifrin and Daniel Alter. It centers on a secret branch of the government that protects humanity from the creatures of the night. When the king of all vampires allies himself with the deadliest of witches, it unleashes an invasion of classic monsters on Washington, D.C.

According to ShockTillYouDrop.com, Josephson will find a writer to adapt the comic, and then shop the project to studios.

As I was uploading these pictures, the entire cast of Pushing Daisies walked right by me … the lead had a trail of girls following behind him, yelling for pictures and the like. And now the hallway is empty and quiet, just like that …

About 20 minutes ago, I was sitting outside enjoying the ocean view (and a little peace) when Baltar from Battlestar Galactica came out and had a smoke next to me while I ate. I don’t think I’d ever see any of these folks in a panel, as the lines are insane (People actually camped out last night for Hall H, which had the Heroes and Lost panels).

Anyway, I promised pictures, so … these are from yesterday, and include a couple from the Eisners. I hope to post more from yesterday as well.

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Heh … I have all sorts of pictures I took yesterday to upload, and here I go and post one I didn’t take. Sony sent over this pic of Jim Lee and Mark Hamill (aka the voice of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and, of course, Luke Skywalker).

Actor Mark Hamill, better known as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars(TM) trilogy, and legendary comic book artist Jim Lee, meet at Sony Online Entertainment’s fan party during San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 25.

Photo Credit: Caroline Miller, Sony Online Entertainment

I had a hands on demo of the game yesterday. You can read my giddy schoolgirl review — and discussion with one of the producers as I played the game — here. It really is going to be awesome.

I’m getting ready to cover the Gerard Way/Grant Morrison panel. Hopefully more later …