Still on track for a May 6, 2011 release, Spider-man 4 has another big name writer taking a swing at the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Gary Ross, who has previously worked with the film’s star Tobey Maguire on Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, will write the third major draft of the screenplay, to which Maguire and director Sam Raimi are already attached.

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer in 2007 and most recently wrote music and lyrics for the currently-on-Broadway “Shrek” musical (look out, more Spidey dance numbers!) previously tried his hand at the web-slinger’s next on screen adventure, as did James Vanderbilt, writer of thriller Zodiac.

Some may see three high profile writers as a bad portent, but it should be noted that the grand majority of Hollywood movies take several writers and several drafts to get hammered out. Being the fourth film, Raimi will likely have significant changes he’ll make as Director as well. The current ongoing comic, Amazing Spider-man, of course also has a team of writers telling Peter Parker’s stories, rather than a single writer doing a long-form multiyear arc.

As noted last night, yesterday’s Siegel opinion contains a number of interesting points beyond the outcome. One that deserves its own post: its revelation concerning the state of the Superman movie franchise.

In the court’s discussion of the lack of any reversion clause, the judge observes that for the “plaintiffs to succeed in proving that the Superman film agreement was in fact below fair market value, they must establish that there would have been a film sequel or a reversion of rights by this point if the agreement contained such a reversion clause keyed to film development.” However, the Siegels could not demonstrate this, in part because there is no sequel currently in the works.

As Warner Bros. President & Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn testified,

aside from his “hopes” to develop the Superman character, at present the property is not under development at Warner Bros. (Trial Tr. at 166). No script has been written, filming has not commenced, and the earliest a Superman film could be theatrically released would be in 2012. (Trial Tr. at 155). As Mr. Horn explained, “we had hopes to keep the [Superman] character alive and to once again reinvent Superman. We are — our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again. What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie . . . did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us.” (Trial Tr. at 153). Thus, in the seven years since the Superman film agreement was executed a single movie has been released and no further development has occurred.

This statement in regards to the Superman movie being stalled is part of Warner Bros.’ broader assertion that the character is, in the words of the defense, “damaged goods.” A key element of the company’s strategy at this point is to talk down Superman’s value, which is why Warner Bros. believes there are problems with the films going forward–the property is “viable . . . but challenged,” as evidenced not only by the latest film but the fact that the character’s circulation numbers put him number 4 in popularity “on a good day,” behind the X-Men, Spider-Man and Batman.

The judge also makes an interesting observation regarding Superman and gender. The context: his discussion of the incomparability between the Superman franchise and the film deals presented by the plaintiffs, such as musicals (e.g., My Fair Lady), adaptations of bestselling novels (Tom Clancy) and other comic book films (the Green Hornet, “a low-tier comic book character that appeared mostly on radio during the 1930s and 1940s and that has not been seen since a brief television show in the mid-1960s”). Besides these apples-to-oranges comparisons, the judge observes, the plaintiffs made a comparison that he found completely absurd, as they likened Superman to

even more incredibly, a web creation then popular with little girls — the NeoPets.

So there you have it–even a federal district court has found that comics aren’t for girls.

On the surface, the latest court ruling in the Siegel Superman lawsuit is relatively straightforward: the court examines whether Warner Bros. paid fair market value for the Superman movie & Smallville licenses, and the ruling finds in favor of the defendants. However, there’s much more to this opinion than who won.

One clear theme that emerges in this opinion is the judge’s dissatisfaction with how the plaintiffs have been arguing their case. For example, the judge repeatedly asserts that the plaintiffs did not provide pertinent comparative data and failed to address what was arguably the central issue in this phase–namely, the value not of the Superman property as a whole, but of the rights in Action Comics #1 shared by Warner Bros. and the Siegels. The judge also makes a striking argument that DC unreasonably failed to include a standard clause for reversion of rights should Warner Bros. fail to make another Superman movie, only to conclude that he lacked a basis for ruling against Warner Bros. on this issue as well.

All told, the judge makes a point of stating in regard to the Superman movie rights that the reason he found in favor of the defendants was “insufficient evidence”–in other words, it’s not so much a determination that the licenses actually reflected fair market value as the lack of needed evidence for finding otherwise.

Whether the judge is correct on this point I’ll leave to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals–what I find most significant is the extent to which he is arguably signaling that the Siegels may not want to count on the present court to provide a significant amount over what they might get in a settlement. The judge’s evident frustration sends a message that is all too common in situations such as this–namely, that while the plaintiffs may have won a moral victory, that might not necessarily translate into significant cash, at least not without clear documentation and convincing arguments. In this regard, it’s worth noting that the judge calls attention to how different the original Superman was in contrast to his current incarnation–it will be most interesting to see how he assesses the value of the Siegels’ copyright interest in relation to current material.

In addition, there are a number of other reasons why this opinion is well worth reading:

As noted earlier, the next phase of the case involves apportionment of the value of the relevant Superman material between the Siegels and Warner Bros. That is ultimately the real prize, and I’ll post the details on the schedule as soon as they’re available.

Shortly after I posted the opinion the following statement from DC & Warner Bros. appeared in my inbox:

DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment are very gratified by the court’s thorough and well-reasoned decision in this matter. The decision validates what DC and Warner Bros. have maintained from the beginning, which is that when they do business with each other, they always strive for – and achieve – fair market value in their transactions. We are very pleased that the court found there was no merit to plaintiffs’ position that the Superman deals were unfair to DC Comics and, by extension, the plaintiffs.

No big surprise here–the judge is always smart when you win. But is that all that the opinion says, or is there more than meets the eye?

Check back soon for more from this fascinating opinion.

The DC Bullets softball squad returned to action Tuesday against Vanity Fair in Central Park’s North Meadow making a fashion statement with their new uniforms, sporting a Batman/baseball design (seen above) created by Andy Kubert (thanks, Andy)! As the game started, the preponderance of June rainouts may have left the Bullets’ bats in a funk, but some solid defense and a couple baserunning blunders by the Variety crew opened the door for the Bullets to seize an extra-inning victory. If they could just get the bats on track…

(more…)

Last year a federal court awarded the Siegel heirs half of the copyright in the Superman material in Action Comics #1. Remaining to be decided, however, was how much that copyright interest was worth.

Today the court released its ruling on the first issue related to this question: namely

“whether the license fees paid” by Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. (“Warner Bros”) to its corporate
sibling, DC Comics, for the audiovisual rights to the Superman copyright pursuant to various
licensing agreements entered into during the 1999 to 2002 period “represents the fair market value
therefor, or whether the license for the works between the related entities was a ‘sweetheart deal.’”

A more complete explanation of the details of the opinion will have to wait for another time–I have about two minutes to write this before another commitment. In a nutshell, the judge agreed with Warner Bros. that the license fees paid were not below fair market value.

Remaining to be decided at a future date: how to allocate the relevant profits between the Siegels and Time Warner.

Today is Wednesday, which means one thing to me—It’s my own personal weekly holiday, known around the Caleb household as Comic Book Day.

Today is a special Comic Book Day though, as not only is it Wednesday, not only is it Comic Book Day, but it’s Wednesday Comics Comic Book Day, the Wednesday on which the first issue of DC’s Wednesday Comics is published.

Like a lot of folks who like great comics, I’ve been kind of looking forward to this book. It’s got several artists contributing who are on my own personal Will Buy Anything From list, including Joe Kubert, Paul Pope, Mike Allred and Kyle Baker. And those are just four of the, let’s see, 28 creators contributing 16 ongoing features starring DC’s biggest, most popular heroes (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash), weirdest, oddball characters (Metamorpho, The Metal Men) and pretty much everything in between.

But beyond that, I’ve been looking forward to this issue because I was so intensely curious about it.

I knew the facts regarding the book (if “book” is even the right word for it), that it would be the size and shape of a regular-sized comic book, but unfold into 14-inch-by-20-inch pages that look and feel like newspaper, thus evoking the sort of comics section that hasn’t even existed since before my life time. But I honestly had no idea how that was going to look, read and feel. Not until I had it in my hands, anyway.

And hey, now it’s in my hands!

I wasn’t quite sure the best way to go about reviewing it, so I figured I would just pseudo-liveblog my reading of it. That is, I’ll review it as I read it. Or rather, I’ll read it, and then review it as I re-read it, so it’s as if I’m reviewing it as I’m reading it. So join me after the jump to read me writing while reading over my own shoulder. Or something like that.

(more…)

Mattel posted this news and video today over on their MattyCollector.com site:

San Diego Comic-Con is just about here, and man, do I have an early show-stopper toy for you! You already know our DC Universe Classics Wonder Twins figure set includes Zan, Jayna, an eagle, and a water bucket with the face of Zan. Sweet, but that’s not what I’m talking about… it’s the AMAZING package that features lights and sounds you gotta see to believe!

DCUC Wonder Twins packaging w/lights and sound

Remember, the set that includes Gleek will only be available at SDCC while supplies last. If you don’t make it to SDCC, you can still get the Wonder Twins — but without Gleek — here at MattyCollector.com on Monday, August 3rd at 12:00 Noon!

For more information on Mattel’s Comic Con Exclusives and panels click here.

For everyone who is interested in just how much a story can change over the course of story meetings and editorial collaborations, you should check out Tom Brevoort’s Blah Blah Blog.

Drawing from a document dated at 5/24/07, Tom has gone play-by-play on the initial story outline from Brian Michael Bendis for last summer’s Marvel event, Secret Invasion.

Not only is it interesting in the fact that it was initially sketched for six issues (as by the time the project saw the light of day, it had expanded to eight), but it certainly had some darker moments, such as these highlights:

The Skrull queen is a suicide bomber. Her last hope. Sentry takes her and launches into space.

Sentry takes the explosion in the face. It?s massive. An explosion meant to wipe out the human race.

It massively depowers the sentry.

Thor catches sentry and saves him.

Not to mention:

SANCTUM- When Luke and Jessica rush to doctor strange?s house, the Wong Skrull has already killed himself and the baby.

Whew! Talk about an introduction for a Dark Reign! You can read the rest of Bendis’ pitch by clicking here.

Do you have a fever, and the only prescription is more Green Lantern?

Well, DC Direct is offering not one, but five chances to get your Hal Jordan fix at the San Diego Comic Con!

In keeping with the lead-up to Blackest Night, there will be a Green Lantern, Orange Lantern, Blue Lantern, Red Lantern, and Sinestro Corps version of Jordan, available to con attendees only.

According to IGN, there will be only 1,500 of the variants, and 3,000 of the Green Lantern version. Yet it’s a bit more complicated than this: attendees will only be able to buy two figures at a time, meaning that you’ll have to check out DC’s booth every day, from Wednesday through Sunday, to get the entire one-man Corps. Here’s a break-down of the schedule:

Wednesday (Preview Night) – July 22 – 6:00 pm Hal Jordan: Green Lantern – 3,000 pieces available

Thursday, July 23 – 10:00 am
Hal Jordan: Yellow Lantern – 1,500 pieces available

Friday, July 24 – 10:00 am
Hal Jordan: Blue Lantern – 1,500 pieces available

Saturday, July 25 – 10:00 am
Hal Jordan: Orange Lantern – 1,500 pieces available

Sunday, July 26 – 10:00 am
Hal Jordan: Red Lantern – 1,500 pieces available

What say you, Lantern fans? If the numbers (and fan tendencies) are any indication, getting a full set will certainly be some fierce competition.

“What Can the Watchmen Director’s Cut Fix? What Can’t It Fix?”: These are the questions asked by the headline of this article at Film.com. If by “director’s cut” they mean a new edit of the movie by the director, then I answer, “Not much.” If by “director’s cut” they mean completely cutting the director out of the equations, then I answer, “Everything.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, how I amuse myself…

“When it comes to going meta, Grant Morrison has nothing on Adam Warren…and he’s now doing wonders exploring each of the characters, giving them shades and dimensions that I, for one, didn’t think they’d ever have when this started”: I like Johnny Bacardi’s “Confessions of a Spinner Rack Junkie” reviews because they’re not a strictly week-by-week thing, but include book released over a period of a couple weeks. That helps give readers a greater sense of the strengths and weaknesses of individual issues in relation to one another in a much larger pool of books than one normally sees in this types of features. Well, that’s one of the reasons I like Bacardi’s reviews. In addition to, you know, Bacardi being a good writer and comic critic, of course. That quote refers to the fifth volume of Warren’s knockout Empowered series, by the way.

Can Evan Dorkin sell ice to Eskimos?: I don’t know, but he can certainly sell comics to me. Of course, selling me a Dorkin/Jill Thompson comic isn’t all that big of a challenge. Check out his aggressive pitching for Beasts of Burden here.

“Listen, if these dudes are going to keep getting themselves into improbable pickles, they should be the ones to carry around dozens of spears that are each designed to be useful in only one, very specific situation”: Slate.com has a video slideshow essay thingee, complete with eight clips from the cartoon, about the Greatest War Of All Time—The mid-‘80s conflict between G.I. Joe and Cobra, a war which was not only totally awesome, but in which not a single combatant died. How were casualties completely, miraculously avoided? That’s the subject of the piece, sub-titled “Wonderfully absurd escapes from mortal danger in the original G.I. Joe cartoon.” It’s worth watching just to see Snake Eyes in a dress and Boy George-looking hat and wig ensemble. And the bit with Timber at the end. We’re going to be seeing a lot of articles like this over the course of the next month, aren’t we?

“Staring at my navel lets me hear the quiet inner voice that’s too often drowned out by other daily activities, like staring at my face or biceps”: Colbert Report writer Glenn Eichler contributes a column all about navel-gazing to the New York Times. What does that have to do with comics, other than, of course, navel-gazing being a popular subject for comics? Eichler is also a graphic novel-writer, although his first effort won’t be published until this fall. It’s called Stuffed, it’s drawn by Nick Bertozzi, its beign published by First Second, and I’m going to go ahead and hazard a guess that it’s going to be pretty good, since Bertozzi never really draws any bad pictures and First Second doesn’t really publish any bad books.

It appears that your favorite superheroine, Wonder Woman, is running for Mayor of Washington, DC. And she’s running against quite a slate of opponents: Superman, Green Lantern, Batgirl, and Batwoman are in the mix.

OK, it’s obviously not actually true, so what gives? The New Organizing Institute runs a boot camp for political organizers, and part of their project is to run a virtual campaign for office. The bootcampers have had to design a site and a campaign for their superheroes, and there will be an actual election.

I’m with Wonder Woman–how can you resist this?

Dear fellow DC Residents and allied Truth Seekers:

I made a cornerstone decision over fifty years ago. I had just defeated the alien forces of the Imperium and joined with the Justice League as its sole female member when I was given the opportunity to leave planet earth and become a princess in another realm.

After having seen the worst form of war imaginable, I could not leave planet earth without knowing that I had done everything I could to fight for peace. So, unsurprisingly, I am still here.

I have dedicated my life to pursuing the self-evident truths of democracy through transparency, to equality and empowerment of the underserved and to peace and security. I have helped women maintain their uniqueness while also gaining more equal rights as men. I have worked towards keeping our country safe and secure through promoting a more peaceful world, and most importantly, I have sought to fight the cynicism and apathy that has taken hold of DC citizens and asked them to join me in being WONDERful.

While aliens pose no threat to earth at this moment, many other things do: inequality, crime and injustice, war and genocide, rat infestation. But, most of all, we are threatened by an ominous cynicism that could crush people’s belief in super heroes. If people stop believing in super heroes, they stop believing in their own ability to change the world. And then, won’t need aliens to come to earth. But, we can fight this cynicism with hope, change a little booze, a little rock n’ roll and a whole lot of action.

This is why I am formally announcing my candidacy for the Mayor of DC.

Together, we can make DC Wonderful. We can re-build lives in DC with a Lasso of Truth that will help free peple of their fears and bring them back into society, gain equality for women and other underserved communities and ensure create a more secure city through promoting peace.

Join me. Plus, I show leg.

Yours in truth,

Wonder Woman

Check it out–it seems like a fun way to teach people how to run a campaign. Voting will be 7am EDT to 6pm EDT on Friday, July 10th. You can even follow Wonder Woman on Twitter!

Now, once she’s mayor, can we send her down to Congress with that lasso?

Not enough human flesh consumption in your comics? Well, Chew on this!

Image has announced that the well-received new series Chew will be be piggy-backing on the upcoming issue of Walking Dead #63 on July 17th.

The first issue of Chew will be printed in black-and-white as a flipbook in tandem with Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman’s story. According to Image’s post, the entire 48-page book will not experience any price hikes, being released at the going price of $2.99.

Chew, written by John Layman and illustrated by Rob Guillory, follows Tony Chu, a cop with a disgusting manner of finding clues: by getting a psychic impression off anything he eats.

“As a creator, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing that a lot of people are interested in reading your book. The flip side of this is there’s nothing more frustrating than hearing how people can’t get a hold of your book to read,” Layman said in a press release. “So, Image and Robert Kirkman concocted this great plan to put CHEW in a lot of people hands– and for the unbeatable low, low price of ‘free’.”

Meanwhile, via Twitter, Image partner Robert Kirkman said “Honestly, CHEW is hotter than TWD was when it started. Our sales never climbed as fast as this. Don’t miss out. Get in on the ground floor.”

Radical Publishing has announced that Incarnate writer Nick Simmons, along with his father KISS frontman Gene Simmons, will be signing copies of the new book at the Radical booth at the San Diego Comic Con.

In addition to hanging out at the booth from June 23-25, Nick will be attending Radical’s Creators Panel at noon on Friday, while Gene will have a jam session at the Radical Event at the Hard Rock at an as-yet-unannounced time over the weekend.

“Nick’s work on Incarnate has been nothing less than incredible and we’re excited to premiere it at this year’s Comic-Con International.” said Radical President and Publisher Barry Levine. “Here at Radical, we pride ourselves on fostering creativity, talent and quality – and the Simmons family has that in spades. Both are huge comic fans and it’s our pleasure and privilege to host them this year for both the Incarnate signings and the Radical Event at the Hard Rock.”

Incarnate has been marketed at the company’s first “American Manga” title, which follows the immortal Revenant Mot as he and his clan are being hunted down by a band of heavily armed soldiers.

The shojo animated series Nana will be available on the iTunes store, Viz Media has reported!

Episodes will be exclusive on iTunes through the end of August — and buying the Season One pass will also get viewers a special bonus episode. The series follows two girls named Nana — Nana “Hatchi” Komatsu, who has traveled to Tokyo with her boyfriend, and Nana Osaki, a punk rock dynamo who is shooting for the top of the rock-and-roll pantheon.

“NANA has touched millions of fans in Japan and North America with its realistic portrayal of two young women coming of age in life’s fast lane in modern Tokyo,” Ken Sasaki, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, VIZ Media, said in a press release. “The anime series possesses all of the attributes that made the original manga such a smash hit and combines them with a rocking soundtrack and creatively designed characters that audiences can really root for, laugh and even cry with. We invite fans to check out NANA on iTunes and take these girls’ adventures along as they navigate their own busy lives.”

The original manga by Ai Yazawa has sold more than 43 million copies. You can learn more about all this by clicking here.

The return of Peter Milligan to Vertigo just keeps on getting better. His take on John Constantine is going to new and interesting places–not easy for a character as old as Constantine–and now with this first issue of a new ongoing series, Milligan’s teamed up with Davide Gianfelice for a nasty little tale rooted in Greek myths and stories.

Anyone familiar with the story of Oedipus will recognize the plot of this first issue, but there’s no need to bone up on your classics to enjoy this story. You do need a strong stomach and a taste for the perverse–but if you’re a Vertigo reader, you already knew that, right?

Eddie is just a kid looking for his mom, but that goes about as spectacularly wrong as it can possibly go, and he runs off to Greek Street, the part of town run by criminals and other lowlifes, and watched over by gorgeous strippers who know all the dirtiest secrets.

This first issue sets up a bunch of loose ends will probably only get more tangled before any of them get resolved, and just begins to set up its world and its rules. There’s magic here, but how much and of what kind and how it will be blended with the gritty, cruel criminal underworld we just don’t know.

What we do know is that it’s vintage Vertigo, with Gianfelice’s luscious art making even the most gruesome scenes beautiful and otherworldly and at the same time making the horror truly gripping, visceral. If this book lives up to this first issue, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

Yeah, good point poorly-drawn Grimlock! When’s Michael Bay gonna wise up and start using the Dinobots? They’re giant robots and dinosaurs in one! What could be more popular? Squabbling robots with gold teeth who speak Hollywood stereotype street slang? An ankle-humping remote-control car version of Wheelie? Freaking Arcee? Feh. Well, even if you can’t find giant robots that transform into giant robot dinosaurs with speech impediments at your local cineplex, you can find them in Transformers: Maximum Dinobots Vol. 1, a 130-page, $20 trade collecting IDW’s miniseries of the same name, by Nick Roche, Marcelo Matere and, (of course) Simon Furman.

It looks like a huge week for big, must-read comics, even if the field of super-comics seems a lot lighter than usual. What looks good, and what looks not-so-good? Look after the jump to find out!

(more…)

The School Library Journal announced today their list of more than two dozen “Comics That Celebrate America’s Cultural Diversity.”

Divided into categories for pre-teens and teens, it’s a nice list of some of the deeper books (both superhero and otherwise) that are hitting the shelves.

Some of my favorites on the list include Incognegro, a really smart OGN from Vertigo chronicling an African American reporter who “passes” for white to investigate hate crimes in the 1930s South, to mainstream Big Two books like Blue Beetle and Young Avengers, as well as some books I hadn’t read yet, such as Zuda’s Bayou and AdHouse’s Johnny Hiro.

You can check the entire list here, whether you’re filling your kids’ shelves or your own.

[Tip of the hat to David Gallaher for the link]

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!

I… well, there really are few words I can use to describe SLG Publishing’s preview for Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer, other than “awesome.”

The original graphic novel by writer Van Jensen and artist Dustin Higgins will be out in September. It deals with the wooden puppet boy swearing revenge on the nocturnal bloodsuckers after they kill Geppetto.

Really, in any event, you could not have a higher concept if you put it in a hot air balloon — I am really pumped to see what happens here.