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!

So I suffered a fairly cataclysmic power outage yesterday, hence me losing a decent number of post drafts and, more importantly, missing out on this beaut:

Wildstorm and Walking Dead alum Tony Moore have made me so very, very happy with this, the cover to Victorian Undead. No definitive date of release just yet, but rumors around the Interwebz place it at November.

Thought I was done linking to Playboy, eh? Not yet — especially not when they’ve posted a preview for the graphic novel of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds:

Isn’t that R.M Guera and Giulia Brusco art pretty? No word yet on when the whole thing comes out (or by whom), but click here to see more — since I’m linking to Playboy, it’s obviously not safe for work.

Even without Norman Osborn and J. Jonah Jameson running things, it looks like the Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger can’t get any love in the Big Apple.

According to the New York Post, theatre columnist/supervillain Michael Riedel has said that the Broadway production of Spider-Man might have had more Spider-Sense than financial ones.

Reidel says that all the actors have been released from their contracts, and that scene shop assistants “ran to the bank to cash their checks because they weren’t sure they’d clear.”

But here’s the crazy part:

But at $45 million — and with a weekly running cost of almost $900,000 — “Spider-Man” at the 1,700-seat Hilton could never be profitable.

The show would have to run five years, selling every single seat in the house, to just break even.

“That,” says a source who crunched the numbers, “is insane.”

Wow. Typical Parker luck, huh?

Darwyn Cooke’s Batman-themed collection, Ego and Other Tails, was my latest New York Public Library borrowing. I’m not super-familiar with Cooke’s work, having previously read only his Catwoman book (included in this collection of material) and Spirit stories (quite good in the beginning, got a little too serious and graphic toward the end and lacked the humor Eisner infused the strip with), but I’ve been feeling like a superheroic flight of fancy lately, and Cooke’s earned some more pages. Plus, I’m always curious to see what books lurk in the library to hook impressionable readers.

Well, the bulk of this collection is still Cooke’s Catwoman graphic novel, Selina’s Big Score. When I first read it years ago, I thought it was just okay. Well done and something you don’t see in superhero comics, but maybe a little too derivative of just about any caper film. Rereading it now, I find myself liking it much more than I remember. The dialogue is sharp, the character designs strong, the storytelling precise – except during the actual train robbery, when the pacing is deliberately cranked up and things pop across the page as quickly as possible, making the pages a little jumbly, but effectively so. It’s easily the highlight of Ego and Other Tails.

The other yarns, including the titular Batman: Ego, are solidly crafted, but rarely anything special. Ego has a nice conceit, Batman vs. Bruce Wayne in a mental showdown over a particular botched case, but the psychological issues don’t feel entirely compelling. The outcome is too easy and obvious. Still, it looks nice, and it was Cooke’s first comics work.

Four short stories round out the set: two black and whites, one drawn by Cooke with Paul Grist writing, one written by Cooke with Bill Wray drawing. The Wray story is funnier, with a goofy sense of humor and a nice bigfoot cartoon style. The Grist story is stylish, a snippet of a chase and capture, made enjoyable mostly by Cooke’s great artwork and ink washes. “Date Knight,” a Cooke and Tim Sale collaboration, is a Batman/Catwoman lark, a twist on courting ritual by way of a superhero rooftop chase, quite fun, and the finale is another Cooke Solo tale, with Batman showing up a couple supporting players from Selina’s Big Score early on in their careers.

Batman: Ego and Other Tails is a solid collection of material, a nice showcase for Cooke’s talents and a nice package for readers to discover in their local library.

Longtime readers of these posts on the Superman case may recall what happened after I posted the stripts & scripts from the previously unpublished 1934 collaboration between Jerry Siegel & Russell Keaton.

As Judge Stephen Larson recounts in a new opinion issued today (p.36), this post led the Siegels’ lawyer, Marc Toberoff, to contact pioneering publisher Denis Kitchen regarding Kitchen’s comment noting the existence of additional unpublished Siegel-Keaton material, and the correspondence led to the plaintiffs’ discovering a script for a Superman story that Siegel and Shuster would later adapt for Action Comics #4:

Plaintiffs have submitted declarations evidencing that the script in question was in the possession of Russell Keaton’s widow who turned it over, along with other materials, to the family’s literary and marketing agent, Denis Kitchen, in 1993. Mr. Kitchen thereafter on August 21, 2008, posted a comment in response to a blog story titled “Russell Keaton, Superman’s Fifth Beatle,” wherein he disclosed that, in addition to the subject of the story (which concerned the illustrated strips, but not the scripts, Siegel and Keaton had created concerning the version of Superman as someone from Earth’s future), “there’s LOTS more correspondence and scripts.” Plaintiffs’ counsel thereafter ran across Kitchen’s post while searching the Internet, and after contacting him obtained a copy of the script, which he then promptly produced.

As explained earlier, the discovery of this material led the Siegels to seek the copyright to additional Superman material beyond Action Comics #1:

According to Toberoff, the script he discovered due to the Newsarama post provides conclusive proof that other Superman material by Jerry Siegel should not be considered work for hire. The football story in Action #4 “was unquestionably recaptured” by the Siegels, he concludes, and it “gives rise to a strong inference” that the material in Action Comics #2-6 was also written earlier. Moreover, based on other evidence, Toberoff argues that the court should award the Siegels co-ownership of other Superman material published during a five-year termination window that ends on April 16, 1943, including the Superman dailies, Action Comics #7-61 and Superman #1-23.

Judge Stephen Larson has just issued his ruling on this claim, and while they didn’t get everything, the result is another notable victory for the plaintiffs: the Siegel heirs are now co-owners of the Superman material in Action Comics #4 as well as certain other key early pages & newspaper strips.

I’ll have more after I’ve read the entire ninety-nine page opinion. For those who can’t wait, here’s the conclusion:

At the conclusion of this final installment regarding the publication history of and the rights to the iconic comic book superhero Superman, the Court finds that plaintiffs have successfully recaptured (and are co-owners of) the rights to the following works: (1) Action Comics No. 1 (subject to the limitations set forth in the Court’s previous Order); (2) Action Comics No. 4; (3) Superman No. 1, pages three through six, and (4) the initial two weeks’ worth of Superman daily newspaper strips. Ownership in the remainder of the Superman material at issue that was published from 1938 to 1943 remains solely with defendants.

Joshua Dysart’s Unknown Soldier is featured in the New York Times today.

Unknown Soldier is unflinching in its depiction of violence, and that comes across even more strongly in the collected edition, without the monthly break between issues. One particularly horrific scene deals with the disfigurement of the title character: an inner voice navigates him through the violence, but when he reaches his breaking point, he hacks at himself to try to silence it. That gruesome episode came from Mr. Dysart’s imagination; some details he learned from his trip, he said, were too awful for the comic.

[snip]

“I witnessed people at the lowest point of their lives, and I came back and turned it into an action-packed war comic,” he said. “We try our best not to be exploitative, but in my heart I don’t know if this is the right way to do it.”

I’m a fan of Unknown Soldier; I think Dysart’s efforts to bring attention to an area of the world through comics are worthy and I appreciate his own conflict about whether he’s doing the right thing. It’s nice to see the comic getting this kind of recognition.

Because min seems to be missing some pages.

See, the first issue of DC’s big summer event series (which will, of course, last well into winter) cost $3.99 and was 40 pages long. But the second issue, which still costs $3.99, is only 24 pages long (27 if you want to count the three-page illustrated prose back-up, presented as an excerpt from Blackhand’s diary.)

DC didn’t deliberately publish fewer pages in the second issue of a miniseries while leaving the price at the elevated, for-40-pages level, did they? (The solicitation on their website says the book is 40 pages long; that’s counting ads though, as #1′s solicitation says it’s 48 pages long, and the average 22-page DC book is solicited as 32 pages—22 story pages and 10 pages of ads. But even subtracting 10 pages for ads, that 40 page figure is still off by three-to-six pages).

Because that’s not very cool. That’s what Marvel Comics did with Secret Invasion—start the series with an oversized $3.99 issue and then drop back to 22 pages for the rest of the $3.99 sereies—which was the point at which $3.99-for-22-pages pricing went from something reserved for Max and Marvel Knights imprint books to being commonplace among the Marvel Universe books too.

With their embrace of back-ups in their $3.99 books, I thought DC was going to eschew Marvel’s strategy of “Eh, the suckers will buy it no matter what we charge for it! Mwa ha ha ha!” It was looking like DC might be less evil in their pricing strategies, but perhaps they’re just slower to be evil…?

This does not bode well for future.

Jim McLauchlin at the HERO Initiative has blogged a series of images from Chicago Comic-Con’s Sachs and Violens Speed Dating party hosted by comics legend George Pérez. The party was held to celebrate the release of the Sachs and Violens perfume and cologne oil from Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratories.

Pérez traded in his “artist of Crisis on Infinite Earths” nametag for one that said “Doctor of Love” for the event, which was held to benefit the HERO Initiative. Check out the photos by Wizard Entertainment’s Dan Reilly, and a link to buy the perfume and cologne, at the link above.

Not safe for work? Whaddya mean, “not safe for work”?

As reported by our very own Jimmy Palmiotti, Maxim has posted a history of Marvel Comics in this month’s issue, which is out in stores now. Author Sean Collins talks about it on his site — you can read the article in its entirety if you pick up the magazine.

Meanwhile, Playboy has posted some exclusive previews up for Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos’ Filthy Rich, and Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries.

Now considering the fact that Vertigo carries mature-themed titles — not to mention the fact I’m linking to Playboy — this is not safe for work.

The Hero Intitiative has reported that Gene Colan, who drew the recent Captain America Annual #2 with Ed Brubaker, was hospitalized early Monday morning for pnuemonia.

According to reports, Colan will recover in the next few days, although doctors are worried about infection. This news comes one year after Colan had been hospitalized for liver failure.

If you want to send well-wishes and cards, here’s the Hero Initiative’s instructions:

As positive vibes are always a nice tonic, cards, letters and well-wishes are deeply appreciated, and can be sent to:
Gene Colan
2240 Burnett Street, #5D
Brooklyn, New York 11229

Colan has been a legendary penciler since the 1940s, having worked on titles such as Sub-Mariner, Iron Man, Captain America, and Daredevil.

Two years ago today, the comic book industry became a little less fantastic.

The reason? The unexpected passing of Mike Wieringo, a true bastion of the comics industry.

And in honor of ‘Ringo’s talent and impact on the industry, you better believe we’re gonna Dial H — for History!

Mike Wieringo was born in Italy in 1963, and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University, Wieringo networked through conventions until he met Brian Stelfreeze and Karl Story, where he finally broke in as a penciler with Millennium Publications, working on Pat Savage and Doc Savage: Doom Dynasty in 1991.

Yet those gigs failed to get ‘Ringo steady work, and he continued to hone his craft and pound the pavement for another two years until catching the eye of DC Comics assistant editor Ruben Diaz. After successfully pulling a two-issue stint on Justice League Quarterly, the higher-ups at DC decided to give the fledgling artist the gig that would cement his artistic legacy forever:

“My name is Wally West. I’m the Flash… the Fastest Man Alive.”

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By Jimmy Palmiotti

San Diego was a blast this year. Amanda and I got there a day early because I had to do a live interview on San Diego CW 6 TV about my work and the con. When doing something like that, it can be nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time and for me it was a bit of both. What most worried me was that I was going to say something stupid on air and hear about it the whole con from my buddies, but really… other than an awkward shout-out to Amanda, it went without a hitch. The people there were so kind and generous and even gave me a six-pack of local beer afterwards. Honestly, I just figured it was on so early that no one would catch it, but that wasn’t the case because it seems that’s the TV station of choice in all the hotel gyms, so I found out who my healthy buddies were quite quickly because of it. My reviews were good… and again, I am not a “TV” guy by any means, so I am glad I never have to watch it. Here it is on YouTube… watch how the reporter keeps going back to Jonah Hex… I thought it was funny. Amanda’s shout-out was funny as well. Next time I do any TV, I want it to be a reporter interviewing me for winning the lottery.

THE HEX PANEL AND BROOKLYN BRAVADO: This explains Comic-Con and how big it’s gotten in a way, so read on. I wanted to get a seat in the big hall to watch the Hex trailer. I had tried a week before to be included in the panel, after all its Comic-Con, but was told it’s for the film people only. OK… I understand that, but I wanted to be there at least part of the audience because director Jimmy Hayward told me he and his crew put together some cool footage that they were going to show. Well, you got to get there hours in advance to get on line for the WB panel, but thank God Fletch from DC had a ticket to get me reserved seating so I was able to just get there beforehand and relax. So… I’m walking to the main hall when I see some people I know from Warner Bros. walking into a room and I figure its for the panel so I just follow them to a deck where its extremely obvious I do not belong. It’s the holding area is for all the celebs… and I got to tell you, almost every celebrity guest was there, hanging out, talking to each other and waiting for their cues. So there I am, and I figure, hey… I’m a celebrity, I can be here… (LOL… I know, Brooklyn balls) and I finally spotted some friends, said hellos, then saw Josh Brolin and went over to him. He gave me a big hug, we spoke a bit then I spotted other people I know from the film set and said hi to them. Seemed that the panels were running late and everyone was just relaxing. I also saw a guy I know for years, a photographer for the stars, rich Buxo and we chatted as he shot pictures of the celebrity guests in front of us, like Mila Kunis [STUNNING], Robert Rodriguez [TALL], Gary Oldman [SO FRIGGING COOL], Denzel Washington [TALL AND THE MAN], Cameron Diaz [BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD SKIN, so kill that stupid rumor already], as well as a boat-load of directors and producers.

Josh and I took some photos together for the press, which was ultra cool of him… and then Megan Fox walked over. I introduced myself, got a big smile… we spoke a bit about some artwork and then she was whisked away to around 300 photographers. After that, again, I made my way to the green room where I managed to walk in without the special green band on my arm (I asked the guy at the door if my panel started yet, he said which one, I said “Hex” and he said in 20 minutes… yeah, the old bait and switch) …and I sat and saw the end of one panel, Cameron Diaz and a few others make their way to where I was, and then saw Josh, Jimmy, Megan and  Michael Fassbender hit the stage. I was able to watch the fantastic footage but I had to run across to the other side of the con to make it on time for a Radical panel to promote our new title with them called “TIME BOMB” and make it I did, by the skin of my teeth. I have to say, it was a pretty exciting morning and the bonus was the amazing footage of Josh as Jonah. I can’t wait to see the final product. Watch the panel, minus the footage, right here.

Also, at the Con, I made it through the entire show and only actually bought one book, and it was for Amanda. Don’t get me wrong, there were tons of things I wanted and some I turned down from other pros… but I hate carrying anything, so I got home and ordered a bunch of stuff online and am getting it delivered. Yes, that’s how lazy I can be.

THE POWER OF POWER GIRL: The best part of writing the book and working with Justin and Amanda is all the wonderful people we meet who love the book at the shows. Just wanted to shoot a big “thanks” to all the loyal fans and keeping the title in the spotlight.

MAXIM MAGAZINE… NICE REPORTING: So they do a piece on Marvel and interview a lot of Marvel people and they credit Marvel Knights to just Joe Quesada. Boy, am I glad my name is on each and every one of those books… revisionist history really blows. And Maxim… part of reporting is fact-checking…

KEVIN SMITH: Yeah, I know Kevin, worked with him, hung out with him and a long time ago even helped him here and there with some stuff for his films. Most of you know my interaction with Kevin from his amazing run on Daredevil when Joe Quesada and I created Marvel Knights. I don’t see him as often as I like, but when Amanda and I see his wife and him at screenings or at parties, it’s like running into old friends, and we just take up where we left off last time we were together. Anyone who knows me, knows I think the world of him and his talent and consider our friendship a special one… and then someone sent me this list and I got to say… what a damn sweet thing to say about Joe and I. Its funny, I admire so many people its sickening, but Kevin just shot up the list here. Thanks for the shout out, brother… and right back at you. We never could have launched Marvel Knights without you and the book all three of us worked on together is still one of the top examples of my inking at its peak, and still one of the best Daredevil stories done to date. Give it a read right here…

A cool interview done here with me for Graphic NYC. I love these guys and their work and I ramble a bit here, so be prepared to be dizzy. While at the site, give it a look around, you will be totally hooked. Chris and Seth are golden in my book.

DRUNK DRIVER: So Amanda and I come back around 1 am after a bowling charity for AIDS and we hear a car screeching, a bang, and another bang down the street, maybe a football field away it sounded. We took our car over because we really didn’t know how far away it really was and pull up to see a Hyundai wrapped around a palm tree, window cracked, bumper in the road and a ton of groceries all over. A skinny dude in his late 20’s is fishing for something inside when we got there and we asked if he was OK. At this point a car pulls up and calls the police to report the accident. Well, the dude is rambling about his cell phone and then tells us he is fine and says he lives right down the road and is going to go to his house. We are watching in amazement that anyone walked away from the wreck and I was suspicious from the beginning when we saw him… my Brooklyn intuition. I got in my car and went down the road to see what house he was going in to and he saw me and started running like he was on fire away from me down into the town. Yeah… the asshole was a drunk driver, it was his car and yeah… the law, that funny weird thing they quote in court all the time, says that unless someone “sees” you driving and crashing the car, you will not get charged with anything… yeah, unless you hit a pedestrian I guess, or kill another family in another car… this guy got off easy in my book. I have a friend who lost his brother due to a drunk driver and it changed everyone’s lives forever. Long story short, the cops come, take a report from us, ignore me when I am telling them he is running right down the street and then tell me I can go home.

GEM OF THE CON: Got a movie ticket-sized little book from Shannon Wheeler called Postage Stamp Funnies that is just plain awesome. Filthy comes to mind when describing the gag cartoons inside this little gem. If you see that sweet man around, shake him down for one. I laughed my ass off.

But the Batmobile is only a two-seater: Carpooling with superheroes seems like it would be a lot more trouble than it’s worth, what with the car chases, and the people shooting at you, and all the emergency stops and detours to answer Bat-signals or stop muggings.

Ever wonder what Chuck Dixon looks and sounds like?: Then check out this 47-second local TV news feature covering his stop at Comic Quest in Evansville, Indiana.

Local boy makes good: The London Free Press does a nice, basic feature on cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley, who’s about to get a whole lot more famous when the Scott Pilgrim movie drops.

Tom Spurgeon makes me laugh: Check out his reaction to Marvel’s 70th anniversary celeberation.

“It’s not ‘decadence’ in the proper literary sense, but then superhero comics have rarely been considered proper literature”: Check out Joe “Jog” McCulloch on three of last week’s decadent superhero comics, including Dark Reign: Zodiac, which looks pretty gorgeous. Any of you guys reading that? Is it as good as it looks? (And Jog makes it sound?)

Variety has announced that AMC is signing a development deal to produce a series based on Robert Kirkman’s Image comic book series, The Walking Dead.

Included in the discussions is Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont and Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd.

“This is not about zombies popping out of closets,” said AMC SVP of programming, Joel Stillerman to Variety. “This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

Of course, regular readers of the series know that the characters don’t always survive. In fact, the often shocking “anyone can die” theme of the book is often considered by fans and critics to be a hallmark. Speaking of a particular death from 2008, Newsarama’s Best Shots Team leader Troy Brownfield said Walking Dead held, “the most shocking page in mainstream comics this year. I’d figured for years that one of them would get it, but the other? And in that way? Heartbreaking. And creatively invigorating.”

The book, which began in 2003, dovetailed nicely with Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later to really help cement the zombie zeitgeist in comics. The tales of Rick Grimes and other survivors has led The Walking Dead to be Image’s top-selling series, even recently being used to promote other non-Kirkman written series from Image, including Chew and Viking.
UPDATE: Image Comics has released the following press release, confirming the Variety report and following it up with quotes from Kirkman about his admiration for Darabont. The press release promises more details to come, though, suggesting that maybe there’s a little more than just development limbo in store for The Walking Dead.

PRESS RELEASE – FRANK DARABONT RESURRECTS THE WALKING DEAD AT AMC!

AMC and Frank Darabont bring Robert Kirkman’s epic tale of human survival to the small screen!

12 August 2009 (Berkeley, CA) – As announced in Variety and Hollywood Reporter, AMC has signed on to bring THE WALKING DEAD to television screens. Image Comics’ epic tale of human survival in the face of a zombie apocalypse by writer Robert Kirkman and illustrator Charlie Adlard is being adapted as an ongoing television series by Shawshank Redemption and Stephen King’s The Mist director Frank Darabont.

“I’m a huge fan of Frank Darabont’s body of work and AMC has impressed me to no end with Breaking Bad and Mad Men,” Kirkman said. “I couldn’t be happier with THE WALKING DEAD ending up here.”

THE WALKING DEAD deal will bring Darabont in not only as Executive Producer, but also as writer and director on the adaptation. Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert from Circle of Confusion will also produce. While further information is under wraps, the plan is to keep the show extremely faithful to the Kirkman and Adlard’s comic book series.

More details on AMC’s adaptation of THE WALKING DEAD will be announced shortly.

This week you can choose your own Herc, with Marvel’s Prince of Power appearing in Incredible Hercules #132 by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Reilly Brown and a straighter, more traditional version of the hero appearing in Radical’s Hercules: The Knives of Kush #1, by Steve Moore and Cris Bolson. The former has Herc donning Thor’s duds for the cover, and beginning an arc in which Pak and Van Lente referred to him as “Hercu-Thor” in a recent interview. The latter is the start of Radical’s second Herc miniseries, this one sending lion skin-rocking hero and his band of mercenaries to Egypt.

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On the advice of several New Yorkers, I bought my comics at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn last week, and I think I’ve found my new comic shop. Located in a great area of Brooklyn, small but well laid out and neat, with the new books easy to find and the owners pleasant and helpful, it’s my kind of place.

Since I’ve found people I like giving money to, why not give them more of it, right? Since there’s a new Fables trade this week, plus DMZ #44 and the long-awaited Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #5, I know I’ll be shelling out a few bucks this week. As usual, I turn to you, readers: what am I missing?

In spite of having been corrected by many, many readers who say that Nekron is the presumptive winner here, I’m going to present the second five of my list of “suspects for the Black Lantern Guardian” and the reasons for why I think they could be in the running. To be honest, some of the candidates have changed in my brain as a result of talking with fans (I’d forgotten completely about the Mad God of Sector 3600) but I’m going to present the ones originally written and let y’all discuss them along with some of your admittedly cleverer ideas!

Cyborg-Superman

As last depicted (in Johns’ own Sinestro Corps War), Henshaw is obsessed with death, craving it although it can never come for him. The Anti-Monitor (who is the power source for the black battery) had association with another guy kinda like that—Pariah—and he forced Pariah to live a life full of pain and misery for years. Were Henshaw to learn of Pariah—and of the character’s eventual (short-lived) death—it would stand to reason that he might use the Anti-Monitor himself to bring about his own ending.

Why not him? Henshaw isn’t in any position to have much interest in the seven million dead of Coast City rising from the ashes with power rings.

Darkseid

Anti-Life has always been his obsession, and bringing about death on a broad scale one of his methods. So is it a stretch to think that the despot of Apokolips might be serving Death with a Big D in some capacity? Also, he was last seen as being on his way to transitioning into the Fifth World, living as sort of ambient energy after his body was killed, so it’s a fair guess that he could be the disembodied voice that Black Hand is hearing…AND that would speak to the hints that we’d start to get some Bruce Wayne clues during Blackest Night.

Why not him? Aside from just having been shot by the Bat-God-Killing-Gun at the end of Final Crisis, there’s the fact that…well, he was the VILLAIN in Final Crisis. Using him again so soon would seem a little uninspired.

John Stewart

Most folks don’t remember it, but at the end of Green Lantern: Mosaic, John Stewart was at least briefly imbued with the powers of a Guardian of the Universe. I was never entirely clear on when that power was taken away (maybe a reader can tell me), but my position is that, first of all, when Appa Ali Apsa started taking on human characteristics, it drove him mad—so what might happen when a human gets Guardian-powers? I wonder if subconsciously some part of his mind and some fraction of the powers he was granted have been working on this for years. This would be a serious twist AND fit Johns’ bill of a very, very dangerous badguy.

Why not him? It’d seem pretty random and arbitrary. Plus, he’s one of DC’s few reasonably popular African-American heroes and was “The Black Guy” on Justice League Unlimited, so at a time where the company is looking for diversity, it’s hard to imagine DiDio signing off on making Stewart a mass-murderer.

Hector Hammond

As mentioned by a reader in the previous installment of the list, Hammond is a classic Green Lantern villain who has made brief, menacing appearances in Johns’ current run and who has mind-control capabilities. While he’s never undertaken anything on this scale, it’s safe to say that anyone who turns out to be this story’s villain, will never have attempted anything so big before.

Why not him? Apparently Johns has made convention comments fingering Hammond as the first post-Blackest Night bad guy. Also, the scope of his power has never been great enough that Hal couldn’t overcome it with time and/or a little help—so the notion of his controlling a Martian Manhunter with even a portion of his original memories and powers seems a little preposterous.

Blackguard

Seriously? Come on—“Blackguard, the Black Guardian?” How cool would that look on a business card? And he’s got beef with Booster Gold and the JLI, so raising Beetle would be a natural. He was last seen in one of the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI miniseries (which apparently are non-canonical to some extent anyway) as part-owner of a bar with Guy Gardner, giving him a connection to the GLs.

Why not him? He’s a putz with little or no power, who really had no business putting up a fight against Booster twenty years ago. Also, he was last seen in one of the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI miniseries (which apparently are non-canonical to some extent anyway) as part-owner of a bar with Guy Gardner.

DC announced on its Source blog today that writer Tony Bedard, penciler Scott McDaniel, and cover artist Stanley “Artgerm” Lau will be taking on the Great Ten!

This series will look at the ten “super-functionaries” of the Chinese government, including August General In Iron, Supreme Accomplished Physician, and Celestial Archer. Created by Grant Morrison, these heroes have previously been seen in comics such as 52, Checkmate, and Green Lantern.

“When I went off to college, I really got into Eastern philosophy — Taoism, Buddhism, Zen, etc. Around the same time, I picked up ANIMAL MAN and I’ve been a hardcore Grant Morrison fan ever since,” Bedard explained to the Source. “So I leapt at the chance to do a GREAT TEN series, to flesh out these characters Grant dreamed up and tap the amazing storytelling potential in both them and their country. It’s a chance to do a different take on super-heroes, and just like my R.E.B.E.L.S. series, I think THE GREAT TEN is going to take a lot of people by surprise.”

The book is due out on November 4. You can click here for more preview art.

Paramount has announced that despite the film’s 42 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, G.I. Joe will have another shot at the silver screen.

Vice chairman Ron Moore told the LA Times that a second film was in development — currently all the stars have it in their contracts to do a second film, with the only person not obligated is director Stephen Sommers.

But as they say, knowing is half the battle, and the rumors surrounding this $97 million grossing film are pretty interesting. One thing that was confirmed was the fact that critics were barred from prescreening the film — Paramount, burned over the nasty coverage Transformers 2 earned, said they wanted “audiences to define this film.” Ouch.

Another rumor — one vehemently denied by Paramount — was that tensions ran so high between Sommers and the studio that the director was locked out of the editing room. Both Sommers and the studio denied the rumor — one thing that will certainly bury it is if he comes back for another film.