I’ve been perusing the latest DC Comics solicitations (May 2009), and the unfinished cover to Justice League of America #33 caught my attention…

Notice anything familiar?

Two things I’ve gathered from this:
1.  The JLA seem to go down WAY too easy, no matter who they battle.
2.  It never hurts to assign an A-list talent to do your covers if your superhero team is a pretty big deal.

Today’s New York Times features an obituary for Ben Blank, a leading innovator in television news graphics. As the obit notes, before Blank, TV news consisted of an anchor, a desk and wall sporting a clock or map. Blank realized that “to pique and retain the viewer’s interest, it was necessary to provide a visual mnemonic that would serve as a logo for the story.” Thus was born the “over-the-shoulder” graphic that has become ubiquitous in video news on both TV and the Web.

While Blank’s contribution to our media culture is noteworthy in itself, what particularly drew my attention was this singular fact: before being hired as a graphic designer for CBS, Blank spent four years as an Air Force cartoonist.

The comics connection is not merely incidental–it reflects how comics and cartoons provided a template for how we communicate today. A single panel gag cartoon, a comic book cover, a splash page: each serves an effective means to convey complex information and to establish an intuitive personal connection. Blank’s genius lay in adapting this design rhetoric across seemingly disparate junk media, to the television from the cartoon.

When we think about the status of comics today, sales stats and museum exhibits are only part of the equation. Small, often invisible shifts like Ben Blank’s–the cartoonist who remakes TV news, comic artists working on Madison Avenue, a novelist who grew up with EC, the comic geek who jumps from commercials to major motion pictures–these are the moments through which comics have come to define modern culture.

It just doesn’t get more special than this: Please enjoy this Two Days After Presidents’ Day Special, a lovely music video by Brad Neely about our first and greatest centaur president, George Washington, and his many exploits saving children and watching British children die. (NSFW, unless you work from home). Who is this Brad Neely character? A cartoonist super-genius, that’s who. Check out his work here, and learn the story of Sodom and Gomorrah here (also NSFW, yet remarkably accurate). (Via Wonkette)

Hey, have you heard about this economy thing, and how it’s not so great anymore?: This check-in on a local comic shop actually makes pretty clever use of the stereotypical “Biff! Bam! Pow!” headline.

Shocked by Static’s return: This guy didn’t care for Static’s recent introduction into the DCU, and I suppose dude has a point—having him appear in issue #4 of a Teen Titans spin-off sure does seem a little counterintuitive, instead of, say, a Static #1.

Wondering about Wonder Woman: Noah Berlatsky has a pretty interesting three-part essay up about the problem of Wonder Woman that’s well worth a read. I don’t agree with some of the points he makes (particularly that Howard Porter is the worst artist in the world! He’s not even the worst Justice League artist in the world), but he argues them all rather effectively, and why Wonder Woman doesn’t work as well as her contemporaries is a subject I’ve always found fascinating. I’ve liked at least something of almost every version of the character I’ve read over the years, but even the very best runs never seem to even approach the giddy heights of the original William Moulton Marston/H.G. Peter run. Which is precisely why DC should publish a Wonder Woman Chronicles line to compliment the Batman Chronicles and Superman Chronicles trade programs they’ve got going (And they should also publish a Captain Marvel Chronicles and Plastic Man Chronicles, but that’s another post).

Well, it is provocative: Daryl Cagle discusses a Mike Lester cartoon using the infamous Jim Jones massacre as a metaphor for Barack Obama’s presidency so far, and wonders about how many people even got it. That’s pretty interesting, considering the term “drank the Kool-Aid” is so often used on the Internet (Why, on this very site! Often in reference to whether someone like a particular writer or band of superhero comics!) that I always just assumed the origin of the metaphor was common knowledge. (Via Comics Reporter)

Kyle Baker gets it: Dan DiDio may have been cagey in discussing it with our own Matt Brady, but Baker continues to talk about his amazing-looking Hawkman story (and reveals it’s part of a bigger project…pearhaps with similar amazing stories from similar talents…?) Here he talks with Jennifer Contino about the story and his work in general. Here’s a choice quote about his Hawkman story: “There’s also action on Dinosaur Island, because dinosaurs are always cool. Hawkman carries a mace, so it’s important for a writer to create dilemmas which can be resolved with a mace. A guy with a mace fighting a T-Rex is a good fight to watch.” Exactly! One of the things that bothers me about Hawkman is he’s always hitting regular, non-superpowered people with his mace; that would totally kill or at least brain-damage just about any regular person you hit on the head with it! (Via Journalista)

Joss Whedon sits down with TVGuide.com to answer reader questions regarding universes various and sundry.

[Via TV Guide]

Making the online rounds from Marvel.com . . . M.O.D.O.K. gets his Bale on.

We understand that the writing credits belong to Sean T. Collins, Alex Kropinak and Jon Gutierrez, and that “Marvel Super Heroes: What The–?!” shall be ongoing. Enjoy.

Look no further, Newsaramites! For we have assembled not one, but three trailers that Fox has released this week for the May film!

The first, called “Outcasts”:

The second, called “Brothers”:

The third, called “Legends”:

It’s true: in comics, redheads do have more fun.

(Even if they also happen to die a lot. I’m looking at you, Jean Grey!)

Major props to Chris Arrant for finding this bit of art — it comes straight from the blog of Dustin Nguyen, artist extraordinaire. Called “Red Carpet,” the Detective Comics artist said “it started with just batgirl, ivy, mj, and medusa but got out of hand.”

And I think it’s awesome.

Most of you probably know Dean Haspiel from his high-profile collaborations with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames. But he’s also one of the leaders in the webcomix movement, with the ACT-I-VATE collective, Next-Door Neighbor for Smith, and work for the New York Times.

Haspiel took some time to answer my questions about comics for the Web, and I personally recommend his webcomix to anyone–they’re equal parts swagger and romance, sci-fi and mythology. Enjoy!

Blog@: Which webcomics do you write/draw/edit/have some affiliation with?

Dean Haspiel: I created, write and draw:

BILLY DOGMA in IMMORTAL [Act-i-vate]
BILLY DOGMA in FEAR, MY DEAR [Act-i-vate]
Dean Haspiel’s STREET CODE [Zuda]
SNOW DOPE [NY Times.com]

If that wasn’t enough, I created and edit:
NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR anthology [SMITH Magazine]

And, last Fall I was asked by the merry folks at Marvel to write and draw:

Frankenstein’s Monster vs. Werewolf By Night in “Another Bad Night” [Marvel.com]

Blog@ Can you tell me about the differences with making comics for the web? Formatting, artistic choices, story length, panels per page, etc.

DH: There’s isn’t that much difference between preparing a comic for print and a comic for the Internet. In fact, all the webcomix I make are prepared with a print destination in mind. However, format and presentation between print and web is slightly different. For instance, I paced my two BILLY DOGMA stories, “Immortal,” and the sequel, “Fear, My Dear,” for the ACT-I-VATE website differently than I imagine the final print version to be. Those stories were presented online as one panel revelations per click. An assembly of panels made up weekly installments until the story was completed and seamless. A print version will most likely show four panels per page, changing the original reading experience, and the colors will be presented in the more limiting CMYK rather than RGB, which allows for a larger palette online. (more…)

The library is a great place for readers to discover comics, and it’s a great place for comics readers to check out things that they want to try without spending their hard-earned cash. I’m looking at comics that I find in the New York Public Library system.

It was probably a year ago that I took the first volume of Checker Books Flash Gordon reprint series out the library, and I enjoyed it considerably. Efforts to take out subsequent books have all met with similar fates: two or three months of the book being “on hold,” only to receive notice that the last remaining copy is no longer available. So, New Yorkers who’ve destroyed Flash Gordon vols. 2 through 4, I say thank you with all my considerable sarcasm. However, I got to volume 5 before you could destroy it. So suck it.

Without knowing what occurred in the three volumes I’ve passed over, I must admit, I had absolutely no difficulty diving right into the fifth collection of Alex Raymond’s classic Sunday newspaper strip, compiling material from 1940 and ’41. Regular comics readers will likely find at least one peculiarity to these comics – there are no dialogue balloons. Each strip is six panels with accompanying text – often with dialogue in the narration.

Every single panel moves the plot along. These strips, I’m not kidding, move like lightning. The pace is relentless, danger dogs Flash in every strip, and somebody’s always scheming against him. The blocks of text slow the reading down, but you read only four pages and you can’t believe how much has happened.

If I’m going to recommend a classic adventure strip, Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates is still the gold standard. Raymond doesn’t give his characters the emotional depth, nor does he add natural and believable elements of humor, but Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon certainly deserves recognition. It’s pure plot, pure cliffhanger excitement, restless, excitable and explosive, and Raymond draws the hell out of it. Each page is packed with images of Flash’s lady-love Dale Arden in exotic bikinis, shirtless Flash demolishing Ming’s guards, and iconic sci-fi spaceships and citadels. As an added bonus, in vol. 5, the inflexible status quo of traditional adventure comics is pulverized, as Flash’s revolution against Ming reaches its great culmination. But don’t worry, Raymond has plenty more drama in store for his heroes.

Any reader looking for a solidly crafted, juggernaut paced good time is going to find plenty of pleasures in Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon comic strips. And, if you’re really lucky, you can find several of these adventures in your local library.

Nominees for the 2009 Glyph Awards have been announced. Below are the contenders:

Story of the Year
Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Incognegro; Mat Johnson, writer, Warren Pleece, artist

Justice League of America: The Second Coming; Dwayne McDuffie, writer, Ed Benes, artist

Pilot Season: Genius, Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist

Best Writer
Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, Pilot Season: Genius

Mat Johnson, Incognegro

Jeremy Love, Bayou

Jeff Mariotte, Presidential Material: Barack Obama

Dwayne McDuffie, Justice League of America

Best Artist
Jamal Igle, Supergirl

Jeremy Love, Bayou

Warren Pleece, Incognegro

Afua Richardson, Pilot Season: Genius

Larry Stroman, Black Panther Annual #1

Best Male Character
Black Lightning, Final Crisis: Submit; Grant Morrison, writer, Matthew Clark, Norm Rapmund, Rob Hunter & Don Ho, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden

Black Panther, Black Panther Annual #1; Reginald Hudlin, writer, Larry Stroman & Ken Lashley, artists; created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Lwanga Moses, Unknown Soldier; Joshua Dysart, writer, Alberto Ponticelli, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert

The Spectre, Final Crisis: Revelations; Greg Rucka, writer, Philip Tan, Jeff de los Santos & Jonathan Glapion, artists; inspired by the character created by Jerry Siegel & Bernard Bailey

Zane Pinchback, Incognegro; created by Mat Johnson, writer, and Warren Pleece, artist

Best Female Character
Destiny Ajaye, Pilot Season: Genius; created by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Storm, X-Men: Worlds Apart; Christopher Yost, writer, Diogenes Neves, artist; created by Len Wein & Dave Cockrum

Vielle, Fungus Grotto; created by Shatia Hamilton, writer and artist

Vixen, Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist; created by Gerry Conway & Bob Oksner

Rising Star Award
Jennifer Crute, Jennifer’s Journal

Damian Duffy & John Jennings, The Hole: Consumer Culture

Charlie Goubile, Blackbird

Starline X. Hodge, Candi

Ashley Woods, Millennia War

Best Reprint Collection
Aya of Yop City, Drawn & Quarterly

Me and the Devil Blues V1, Del Rey

Nat Turner HC, Abrams

Best Cover
Final Crisis: Submit, Matthew Clark & Norm Rapmund, artists; Richard & Tonya Horie, colors

The Hole: Consumer Culture; John Jennings, illustrator

Pilot Season: Genius, Afua Richardson, illustrator

Unknown Soldier #1, Igor Kordey, illustrator

Vixen: Return of the Lion #1; Josh Middleton, illustrator

Best Comic Strip
Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist

Cafe con Leche; Charlos Gary, writer and artist

Fungus Grotto, Shatia Hamilton, writer and artist

“Jefferson Jacks” from Crankshaft; Tom Batiuk & Tony Isabella, writers, Chuck Ayers, artist

The K Chronicles, Keith Knight, writer and artist

Fan Award for Best Comic
Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #33-35; Christos Gage, writer, Sean Chen & Sandu Florea, artists

Pilot Season: Genius; Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist

Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist

Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist

Young Avengers Presents #1; Ed Brubaker, writer, Paco Medina, artist

The judges for the 2009 competition are: Valerie D’Orazio, president, Friends of Lulu; Mathan Erhardt, writer, Comics Nexus; Ed Mathews, columnist, Pop Image; Tim O’Shea, writer/interviewer, TalkingWithTim.com; and Elayne Riggs, comics reviewer and commentator.

Forget Kryptonite — starting fourth quarter 2009, Superman’s biggest problem will be trying to line up triple 7s.

CryptoLogic Limited has announced that it will expand its online slots games to incorporate the DC Universe. By the end of the year, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Aquaman will all have their own slots games.

“CryptoLogic leads the way in bringing the world’s biggest entertainment brands to the world’s best Internet casinos, and there are few brands bigger than the DC superheroes,” said CryptoLogic president and CEO Brian Hadfield in a release. “It’s all about doing what we do best: branded games are the fastest-growing part of our business, and we expect these and other games will help drive CryptoLogic’s revenue growth for years to come.”

I’m not 100% sure what the target audience for all this is, but apparently Superman and Batman aren’t the first superheroes to have their name on a slot machine: CryptoLogic has previously made games based on the Spider-Man and Hulk franchises.

Amber Atoms #1: A new ongoing sci-fi series from Image Comics by writer/artist Kelly Yates, featuring “a modern day ‘Flash Gordon.’” Here’s a five-page preview.

Birds of Prey #127, Robin #183:  Two more Batman family titles ship their final issue and join Nightwing in cancelled-for-now limbo, making room on the schedule for the half-dozen or so new Bat-titles launching out of Batman’s “death” event and the upcoming Battle For the Cowl series.

It’s sort of interesting that all three of these are going down at roughly the same time, in conjunction with a new event story,  as they also all launched out of the various Bat-events of the ‘90s, and have managed to survive ever since, with sales that were never dynamite yet nevertheless never dropped into cancellation territory (Although Birds sure seemed awfully close of late; here’s a preview of its last issue).

They’re not the only series reaching the end of respectably long roads this week. Sabrina The Teenage Witch #100 brings to a close the long-running “manga-style” iteration of the title by Tania Del Rio, and Ultimate Fantastic Four #60 is the last issue of the Ultimatized version of the superhero team that essentially launched Marvel Comics.

Garth Ennis’ Battlefields Vol. 1: Night Witches: Hey everyone who trade-waited Ennis’ three-issue war comic (like me) the wait is over! Now, why is this more expensive than it would have been to just buy the three single issues…?

Grendel: Devil’s Reign: Matt Wagner and Tim Sale? That’s a combo to pay attention to. This $19.95, 185-page trade is written by the former and drawn by the latter, and is set in the far-flung future. This is “Tim Sale’s first major series in comics, collected for the very first time,” the solicit says, so it should be well worth a look from fans. Here’s a few pages worth of preview.

(more…)

One of the better FPSes in terms of story, the Half Life series has been praised for the right combination of tension, action, background dealings and face-to-face confrontation. Sounds like a natural for a live action adaptation, right? Well, the Purchase Brothers sure thought so, and decided to take matters into their own hands. With a reported budget of only $500 (sounds like a bunch of people worked for free), they put together an amazing sequence that shows just how well the Half Life games can translate to live action. Here’s part one, with part two promised to come soon.

(Thanks, James!)

So Neil Gaiman Batman. I don’t have time to do it justice here, so I’ll be writing more about it later, probably after the second issue hits and I can really go into both. Suffice it to say for now that I loved it. Regular readers of my blogs will know that I’m not a regular Batman reader, but that if I’m going to swing in the direction of any superhero, he’s my man. But Gaiman’s twist on the story, and particularly on Catwoman, made me jump up and down and squeal, and Andy Kubert’s art is simply breathtaking. If you didn’t pick this one up, you’re really missing out.

This week, I’m thrilled for Hellblazer–Peter Milligan has stoked the flames on my unhealthy love for John Constantine, and I can’t wait to see what happens next–but that’s it. And I don’t think that’s enough for my addiction! Help me out, ‘Rama readers. What hidden gem am I missing?

If you like what’s you’ve read so far totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

The band Coheed and Cambria will be releasing a DVD/CD collection of their Neverender concert, in which the band performed all four of their concept albums over the course of four nights.

Now why is this on Newsarama, you might ask? Glad you wondered.

Because the band has also created a graphic novel series called the Amory Wars, which is based on those four concept albums, including songs like The Crowing. (Many props to Alan S. for pointing this out yesterday.) When the set is released on March 24, you’ll be able to get a brand-new perspective at an obscure but experimental series.

When adding onto the digitial comics explosion, perhaps its fitting that BOOM! Studios has staked out new territory for online distribution. (Note: I said “ironic” earlier just because it’s an explosion tied to a company called BOOM… get it? …Well, at least my mother understands me.)

The publisher announced today that their release of HEXED #1 on Google Android is the first comic ever to be released on the mobile operating system. According to their release, “in less than 48 hours the free comic had been downloaded more than 10,000 times, and received a stellar 4.72 out of 5 rating from over 600 user reviews.”

“The ‘HEXED #1′ release on Android has gone above and beyond our wildest expectations. ” said iVerse Media founder Michael Murphey in the release. “In less than 24 hours we received 100s of emails from Google Android users not only praising the software, but — more importantly — raving about the quality of the story and art… and it just keeps coming. The book has been reviewed over 900 times now, and people not only love it… they want more.” Furthermore, the series will also be available on the iPhone starting this week.

Click here to see Yahoo’s new clip, which was released yesterday.

Me, I’m not 100% sure what I saw, which I guess fulfills the qualities of it being a “teaser.”

I am quite sure, however, that the action will take a cue from the last film and literally make my head explode.

(Whether in joy or in sonics-induced pain, we will soon find out.)

Over the years, millions of readers have swooned over Mr. Darcy, the man who was so cool, rich, and detached from Elizabeth Bennet.

Now imagine if we focus on the word “detached.” And insert a Predator in the mix.

Don’t look at me like I’m crazy — I’m not the first person to come up with the idea. According to Variety, Elton John’s (yes, I said Elton John) Rocket Pictures will be producing “Pride and Predator,” which does exactly that.

“It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect,” said producer David Furnish. Will Clark (assistant director of Assault of the Killer Bimbos) will direct the film.

I’m sorry, but I really can’t imagine any news better than this today. No, sir.

On January 27, John Updike died. Updike was an inspiration to me all of my writing life, through the accident of us both passing through the same small Massachusetts town. Updike lived for some time in Ipswich, the town that I wrote about in The Devil’s Footprints and in the Abe Sapien story “Down in the Flood” in Hellboy: Odder Jobs. I grew up obsessed with this town that I moved into on Christmas Day, 1977, and it was right around that time that I decided I wanted to be a writer. (If I were to go back in time to that little kid and tell him I’d missed the mark and was an editor and part-time writer, I think he’d have a lot of questions; eight year olds don’t understand compromise.) So when I heard about Updike’s work, this important American writer who’d lived in my small town (that eight year old also failed to understand that he didn’t live there any longer), I was inspired. I read with great interest his celebrated short story “A&P,” set in Ipswich. I wasn’t ready for his novel Couples, but I soon learned that a number of the characters in the book were based on the parents of friends of mine. I’m of course unsure if that’s true, but it’s part of the apocrypha that magnified my identification with the author. While Updike was not the writer I wanted to be—my focus thirty years later remains a bit more genre focused than his—his presence made the writing life that much more attainable to me. I didn’t want to be Updike, but I wanted to rub shoulders with him, and that was easy to imagine.

But I’m not trying to convince you of my connection to John Updike. More important to me was Stephen King, whose stories about small New England town spoke directly to me in another way—he was reflecting the world I lived in, and he was the biggest writer in the world when I was a child, certainly the most important writer in my chosen genre. I identified with Updike because of an accident of location; I identified with King because he seemed to be reflecting my daily experience. Even Lovecraft, who wrote about the towns that I lived in, made me feel personally, directly wired into the literary tradition. In Martin Scorsese’s great documentary No Direction Home, Bob Dylan talks about the importance of believing in something special in yourself—if you’re going to do the impossible, if you’re hoping that your work is going to mean somethin to other people, you have to carry around that special belief in yourself. It’s the only thing that’s gonna drive you through the hard work, the disappointments, and challenges along the way. Wherever you find that belief, that identification, embrace it, make the most of it. I’ve read relatively little of Updike, and I never did meet him, but I feel like I owe him a lot, and I’m sorry that he’s gone.

Scott Allie is the Senior Managing Editor at Dark Horse Comics. His writing includes the horror comic The Devil’s Footprints, set in his hometown of Ipswich, MA.