This week’s MyCup O’Joe was an interesting read, for all those who dig some old-school comics artistry.

Among other things, Quesada not only talked about collaborating with Stan Lee on a 10-page story for Amazing Spider-Man #600, but also discussed Gene Colan’s involvement on Captain America #601, which used to be the Captain America Annual. (Marvel has a pretty cool interview with Ed Brubaker up on their web site about that, right here.)

Some other interesting quotes:

Regarding “hate” on Marvel Divas: Marvel Divas…if it’s for you, great. If it’s not for you, okay, that’s fine as well. But I just don’t get how people want to hate on things without having read a stitch of it.. What have you read of it? What have you seen of it? If you want to hate it after the fact, fine. Hate on it. Maybe we didn’t give you a book you loved. That’ll happen. There are hits, there are misses. But if people want to hate something before they’ve read it, before they’ve seen anything of it… okay, knock yourself out.

But what about Spider-Woman?: The reason for the delay on Spider-Woman is quite simple. As we’ve announced previously, that series is going to debut as the first of our all-new Motion Comics, a major digital initiative that we believe is going to become a bigger and bigger part of our publishing program as more and more of the world turns to digital platforms for their entertainment. The drawback with working in a new medium like this is that there’s plenty of experimentation. Everything is new, and so little has been done before, so it’s taking us all a bit longer to work out the kinks than it normally would, and we’d rather delay and get it right than rush it along being only a fraction of what it could be.

For me, however, I think my favorite part of the interview was when Joe Q revealed some artwork for some upcoming Noir titles. If my eyes are not deceiving me, is the fourth page a new Noir version of… Luke Cage?

It’s been a long, winding road for Kate Spencer, but DC’s blog the Source has finally showed the latest iteration of Manhunter:

Drawn by Georges Jeanty (best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the Manhunter co-feature will come out with the upcoming Batman: Streets of Gotham in July. This is a new lease on life for the Marc Andreyko-penned series, which survived cancellation edicts three times due to the savvy of a small but  incredibly vocal fan base.

This new feature will chronicle Kate Spencer’s new role as the D.A. of Gotham City. I particularly dig the black-and-white work, which you can see if you click here.

We’re all trying to make our comics dollars go farther in the recession, with prices going up and all. G. Willow Wilson has an offer to give you even more incentive to spend your money on her Eisner-nominated comic, Air.

From her blog:

Whacky as it is, AIR is a book with a message. So, for every copy of AIR bought this May Day (Friday, May 1st), I will donate $1 to the Koru Foundation, a UK-based charity that helps impoverished communites the world over develop low-cost renewable energy projects, bringing climate-friendly electricity to villages without a single light bulb. Ironically, the people most threatened by climate change are those who had the least responsibility in creating it. I saw this firsthand in North Africa, where desertification is already destroying ancient farming cultures. By acting now, we can help ease the burden on our planet while bringing power to communities without it.

Here is what to do:

1. On Friday, May 1st, click here to purchase a copy of AIR: Letters from Lost Countries from Amazon.com
2. Email info [at] gwillowwilson [dot] com. Write ‘May Day AIRlift’ in the Subject line. In the body of the email, copy and paste your Amazon order number. Do NOT include any financial information, your address, or anything else! Just the order number.
3. Sit back, wait for your book to arrive, and feel good about having done something for our planet.

She doesn’t mention buying from your local comic shop, but since we all also want to support our local businesses while money is tight, maybe there’s a way you can figure out to do that too?

Either way, if you’ve been waiting for a push to try Air, this is a good one. I personally highly recommend the book–it keeps getting better with each issue, and the first trade will certainly be worth your money no matter how you spend it. But why not do it when it’ll do something good for the world as well?

Kyle:  You know who’s gonna be the Goddamn Batman? I’m gonna be the Goddamn Batman.

Connor: Dude, you’re two.

I had the wonderful opportunity to chat it up with iPhone/iPod developer Olivier Yiptong about his new app Comicstrips. It’s the best comic reader for the tech! Check out their site for the straight poop.

download original audio source

Zenescope Entertainment seems to have landed one heck of a coup, based on the art below:

That’s right, Danger Girl artist and Amazing Spider-Man cover artist J. Scott Campbell, now working on a cover for Zenescope’s new series Escape from Wonderland.

The series follows the journey of Alice Liddle, who fell into a rabbit hole and spent years both building a life — and fighting for it — in the magical realm of Wonderland.

Dark Castle, the horror division for Warner Bros., has picked up Devil’s Due’s alien thriller The Nye Incidents, Variety reports.

The series, which is apparently based on true events, centers on medical examiner Lynn Devlin, who discovers the brutal murder of an alleged alien abductee. Devil’s Due has a preview here.

This victory may be double-edged for the publisher, however — Todd Lincoln (the visual effects director of From Dusk Till Dawn) was announced to be the director for this film, this may impact another long-in-development project of his: Hack/Slash, which was supposed to come out later this year from the in-transition Rogue Pictures.

Yet if the timing works out, this could be a much-needed boon for Devil’s Due, which just last year struggled with “corporate re-structuring” as well as several high-profile layoffs.

It’s an uncomfortable topic that’s been getting a lot more traction in casual comic shop conversation. With the economy where it is, and prices where they’re going, how are you managing your weekly pull list at the comic shop? If you were to look at your weekly list, how do you determine overall what stays and what goes? What’s the bottom-line criteria for your bottom line?

I know that my situation is a little different than a lot of people. Though I buy a lot of things for myself, I have a number of purchases that are guided in the interest of doing things for Newsarama. However, as a general customer, I find that it’s harder for me to sometimes “sample” a new title if that’s $4. I’m much less likely to go past the first issue if it doesn’t immediately grab me.

In terms of that great burden that a lot of us long-timers bear, completism, the decisions become a little harder. It can honestly be difficult to kick a book to the curb if you have, say, the past ten years of it. It gets tricky when you now have to balance the price of a single issue against, say, an upscale coffee or a fast food value meal or a half-way decent beer (actually, in that context, if you skipped the comic, the coffee, the value meal and the beer, you’d have $16 or more for a trade).

So, my question to you: how are you managing, and is there something that you had to drop in the face of this?

So many artists whose blogs I follow posted lovely stuff this week, I thought I’d devote an entire linkblogging section to pointing this out. So!

Molly Crabapple has CD cover art she did for a cajun band. Alligators in bowler hats! You love it.

Joelle Jones has a preview of Madman Atomic Comics #16, with her art.

Ryan Kelly has a “sketch” up from his upcoming DMZ #42. I put it in quotes because what Mr. Kelly calls a sketch is what many other artists would call finished art.

Fiona Staples has sketches as well, from the upcoming North 40.

The Phonogram boys have posted a 5 page preview of the long-awaited Phonogram 2.2. And I will have a review of it later this weekend, I promise.

Becky Cloonan has some fabulous sketches that she did at Emerald City Con, of the Sandman, Delirium, and Nick from Demo, among others.

Brian Wood put up the cover for Northlanders #20 (by Massimo Carnevale) and a page from Northlanders #18 (by Danijel Zezelj).

Anyone see any great art on the ‘net this weekend? Leave a link!

Given the spate of stories that happened shortly after the economy collapsed, suggesting that comics might be a good long-term investment for people scared of staying in the stock market, it shoud be no surprise that KDKA Pittsburgh is reporting some “experts” claiming they’re a “sure thing,” and that certain high-profile comics “never” lose value.

Oy.

Someone should explain to these people that the comics market of the ’90s imploded specifically as a result of speculators who thought nothing bad could ever happen–and that there are no assurances when it comes to investing. If the recent economic times couldn’t convince them of the latter, though, I suppose an object lesson in the former is in order.

Oh baby, yes! Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment just announced via a press release that The Joker will be a playable character in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The catch, however, is that the villain will only be playable on the PlayStation 3 version of the game, and only in the challenge levels of the game. These are said to take place in Crime Alley and allow for players to fight against swarms of enemies, and now they’ll be able to dance around laughing while shooting them rather than stalking in the dark and taking them down without the kill.

It’s a nice bonus for PS3 owners desperate for exclusive content. There’s no reason given for the exclusive, but I’d offer conjecture that it has something to do with Sony/WBIE’s upcoming DCUOnline. Of course, the character will actually be DLC released the same day as the game, so there’s always the possibility of it being a timed exclusive, giving 360 owners the chance to laugh further down the line. Either way, this game just keeps looking better, and June isn’t too far away.

For all of you who dug it when Darwyn Cooke filled in for Jimmy Palmiotti a week or so back, here’s some news regarding all things Cooke:

IDW has released a preview of Cooke’s new series, a comics adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Hunter. If you click here, you’ll get to see 21 pages of goodness from the Eisner Award-winning writer/artist behind Batman: Ego and DC: The New Frontier.

The full 144-page book is scheduled to be released by IDW this July.

No, gentle readers, that was not a typo — the Web really has been unleashed on the DCU!

Originally part of the Archie Comics superhero line, the Web will make his introduction into the mainstream DC Comics universe this summer, as part of the company’s four-part Red Circle miniseries.

This above cover by Jesus Saiz was released by the Source earlier today. Originally created in 1942, the Web was a criminology professor with an interesting personal life — in that his wife knew of his superheroics, and actively tried to get him to quit. (That does sound a little familiar, actually — Mary Jane did that to Spider-Man all throughout the ’90s and even briefly separated from Peter in the 2000s on this issue.)

Still, the Web’s wife eventually warmed to the idea of crimefighting, even hiding her identity from him by assuming the mantle of Pow Girl. (Their marriage must have been so messed up.) Despite having appeared only in a dozen or so comics, the Web still has come out every time the Archie characters have returned, including in DC’s earlier stab at the Impact line.

While there’s little information on the J. Michael Strazcysnki reboot of the Web, it’s looking like this new character is distinctly more superpowered than his predecessor, complete with actual webs.

[Smartitude gleaned from International Hero and Toonopedia]

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

OK, this is just a big tease.

Warren Ellis has a page of sketches up at his blog for something called CAPTAIN SWING AND THE ELECTRICAL PIRATES OF CINDERY ISLAND, and I really, really want to know more. So far, the drawings are steampunky with a traditional pirate-looking gun, but since Ellis is the man who brought us the Bowel Disruptor (in the pages of Transmetropolitan) I wouldn’t want to place any bets on what that gun will actually be used for.

Go look, already.

If you walk down the right back alley in Sin City, and you can find anything…

Even people to buy your sequel rights.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, it looks like the sequel rights for Sin City are being shopped around Hollywood, as representatives for Frank Miller are “looking for a new place to set up a potential follow-up.” This may have to do with Miller’s disappointing directorial debut, the Spirit, which despite a Christmas-time marketing blitz did poorly critically and commercially.

Yet the Weinstein Company, who most recently held the rights to the Sin City franchise, told THR that “TWC’s rights to produce sequels to ‘Sin City’ remain intact as they always have been.” The film, made for $45 million, ended up making $158 million worldwide. It also has one of my all-time favorite movie trailers, linked below:

Whew, I can’t believe I almost missed this — Super-Con, which will be hitting San Jose May 16-17, has announced this year’s guest list!

Amongst the comics related folks who will be hitting the event are Eduardo Risso (of 100 Bullets and Wednesday Comics fame) and Arthur Suydam (whose creepy style has graced the covers of Marvel Zombies and Radical Comics). But wait — there’s more!

Other attendees include Adam Hughes (cover artist for Wonder Woman), Travis Charest (cover artist for WildC.A.T.s), Frank Cho (artist for Mighty Avengers), Bruce Dern (actor for Big Love), Michael Golden (Doctor Strange), Joe Jusko (Tomb Raider), as well as Bill Morrison, co-founder of Simpsons comic publisher Bongo Comics. John Wesley Shipp — yeah, the Flash — will also be at the event, as will Marina Sirtis, better known by genre fans as Star Trek: TNG’s Deanna Troy.

The event will go from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, at the San Jose Convention Center. You can buy a $20 one-day pass or a $30 weekend pass for the event by clicking here.

For all you fans of Kick Ass out there, Empire has posted an image that might make your day:

A first look at Chloe Morentz playing Hit Girl in the upcoming film Kick Ass.

“Think Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman and Uma Thurman rolled into one,” Morentz told Empire. “She’s an 11 year-old and she’s the ultimate assassin. She kills, I think, 20 people in a minute.”

The film, which is set to come out later this year, will star Aaron Johnson (he was in Shanghai Knights), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (or McLovin’, as he is more popularly known), and would-be Superman Nicholas Cage (just click here, you won’t regret it).

We’ve been following DC’s releases of teaser images for its upcoming J. Michael Straczynski-helmed revival of the Red Circle characters, with both The Shield and Inferno, and today, it’s time for one of the more iconic heroes from the line: The Hangman.

The initial design work below is by J.G. Jones, while the DC Blog, The Source, has the cover to The Hangman’s issue by Jesus Saiz.

While “The Hangman” has been a popular name for characters since his introduction (both Marvel and DC have characters with the same name), this Hangman is a fairly vengeful hero (you rarely name yourself after an executioner if you don’t follow through with it). If you think it would be hard to have a character going by the name “Hangman” without having a violence-riddled origin story, you’re right. Brother of John Dickering (The Comet), Bob Dickering was kidnapped by gangsters, thinking that he was The Comet. John came to rescue and was killed, and Bob swore vengeance against all criminals and took on the name “The Hangman.”

And yep – DC is promising a look at The Web later today.

This afternoon, I was chatting with a friend about her tattoo appointment. She’s planning on getting the Nautilus as drawn by Kevin O’Neill across her ribs (yay for comic book tattoos). I realized that I have yet to write my own review of the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel, Century 1910. You already have Troy‘s, but I have some other comments.

This League is a tease more than a complete story–it introduces new characters, heroes (Orlando, Raffles, and Carnacki, as well as “Jenny Diver,” the daughter of Captain Nemo) and villains, and builds to a surprising climax, but it leaves you panting for the next volume, rather the way the first one did.

The character of Janni/Jenny is really the backbone of the story, though she has little to say. Her story relies instead on O’Neill’s storytelling skills, and they’re certainly up to the challenge. Janni flees her father but cannot escape his legacy. The story is familiar, except normally it’s a son trying to avoid having to live up to his father, rather than a daughter fed up at her father’s wishes for a male successor. Janni’s final turn comes not really as a surprise, but still a thrill. For her, embracing her father’s legacy is less a surrender than a realization that she can do that on her own terms.

Orlando, Raffles and Carnacki may not be as flashy as Hyde and the Invisible Man, but they provide different opportunites for Alan Moore. This is less a book about monsters, as the first two were, and more a book about literature. As Troy notes, it reaches out into music and magic as well. But it was always telling that the main character, the one responsible for pulling together the original League, was a human woman who survived the attack of a monster rather than the monster himself.

Mina Murray remains stiff and proper on the outside, but apparently a bit more liberated in the bedroom. She is, as always, the brains and the wrangler of the operation, the one everyone gripes about and the one they can’t function without. And at the end of this book, while all the other characters are fighting, Mina’s best weapon is still her self-possession, her calm confidence while everything else is falling apart.

The book may be titled “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” and my friend may have referred to the first League as the manliest book on her shelf, but for me, the best parts of this new League are the extraordinary women. I can’t wait for more.