With horror more in vogue than ever, UDON has announced that you just can’t keep a good monster down.

The publisher announced on its blog this week that, due to the positive response from its Darkstalkers Tribute Book, they would move forward with a three-issue miniseries based on the Capcom fighting game. The premise of the series? Vampires, succubi, mummies, catpeople, lagoon monsters, and more fight for the fate of the world!

The cover shown above is drawn by Alvin Lee; meanwhile, Street Fighter writer Ken Siu-Chong will be writing the stories, while Joe Vreins and Eric Vedder will be drawing the interiors. The book is due out in January.

Do you want to see Superman Returns, just as Bryan Singer intended it?

If so, Latino Review has a post that might interest you — a petition for Warner Bros. to release Superman Returns: The Bryan Singer Cut. For those who think it could never be done, there is precedent: in 2006, Warner Bros. released Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut.

The petitioners have put up a trailer, as well, which has some stills of Superman Brandon Routh in a black Kryptonian suit:

What’s most interesting about all this is the fact that, despite the talent involved, Superman Returns underperformed by a huge margin, leading DC Entertainment to waver on whether or not they even plan to take another live-action crack at the character anytime soon. Could this director’s cut have the magic that was missing in the full film? What do you think, Rama readers?

For all our New York readers out there — looking for a cool comics-related scene?

Then look no further — DC Comics, in honor of its 75th anniversary, has teamed up with Bloomingdales on 59th Street and 3rd Avenue to have a storefront display!

The windows are set to stay up through around Thanksgiving. Check it out if you get a chance!

Is it that time of the month again already? Last week, Paul O’Brien and Marc-Oliver Frisch posted their monthly analysis of Marvel Comics and DC Comics sales figures, assembled from ICv2.com’s numbers, at Publisher Weekly’s The Beat.

And then I read the results. And had some thoughts while reading those results. And I wrote them down. And now I’m going to post them on the Internet. And then you can read them and we can all talk about these figures, and what they mean.

But not here, in public like this. Let’s meet after the jump and do it there, okay?

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With news of Mary-Louise Parker, John C. Reilly, and Helen Mirren joining the film adaptation of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner’s Red, don’t you think you need a little bit more evil in the mix?

The Hollywood Reporter has some news for you, as Dr. Doom and William Stryker have entered the building.

Julian McMahon, who played Reed Richard’s deformed, electricity shooting (yay, creative liberties!) archfoe in the two Fantastic Four films, along with X-Men 2′s Brian Cox, are apparently in negotiations to join the film, the Reporter said.

McMahon is in the running to play the Vice President, who is at the center of the conspiracy, while Cox will play a personal nemesis of protagonist Bruce Willis.

In addition to these two, Ernest Borgnine is in talks to play the keeper of the CIA’s records, while Richard Dreyfuss will have be “a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts.”

My first thought of course is going to go to the grudge that I have against the channel’s name change.  I honestly do not understand why they couldn’t just leave it as SciFi.  It does make more sense.  But, there is nothing I can do about that. So, on to some more important things:  Syfy is expanding its comedy block.

Starting on December 8th, the combination of live-action with 2D and 3D graphic animation will give Syfy its new half-hour show, the five-episode comedy series “Outer Space Astronauts.”  This will be leading into the season finale of the hit reality series “Scare Tactics.” 

Credit for this new thirty minute show goes to creator/executive producer Russell Barrett, along with executive producers David O. Russell and Scott Puckett.  According to THR.com Syfy exec vp original content Mark Stern said, ”Syfy fans have never seen animation quite like this before.  Russell literally produced this in his basement for more than a year, and that allowed him to create a unique series with a sharp, sly sense of humor.”

This futuristic comedy about eight military misfits who journey to the far reaches of the galaxy on board the O.S.S. Oklahoma was developed, executed and edited out of Barrett’s home with help of his childhood friends, some of whom star in the show. 

What do you think, readers? Any interest?

Superman: New Krypton vol. 1 & 2
Written by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates
Illustrated by Jesus Merino, Leno Carvahlo, Steve Scott, Nelson Pereira, Kevin Stokes, Lee Loughridge, Sal Cipriano, Pere Pérez, David Baron, John J. Hill, Pete Woods, Gary Frank, Renato Guedes, Jon Sibal, José Wilson Magalhães, Hi-Fi (I assume that’s his real name), Steve Wands, David Curiel, Brad Anderson, Rob Leigh, Jamal Igle, Keith Champagne, Nei Ruffino, Jared K. Fletcher, Tom Chu and Jorgé Correa Jr.

Yeah, I dig Superman. I sit here reviewing Jason and classic strips and relevant prose books and intriguing literary-minded independent comics, but at my core, I totally dig Superman. Of course, I have more conflicted feelings toward the Superman comics themselves and many of the extraneous elements of the Superman mythos, and Kandor is no exception. The possibility of Superman being reunited with his people is one of potential; yet I’ve never – in any incarnation – cared much about Krypton or Kandor. It’s all just an excuse to justify powers beyond those of mortal men, to me.

Despite a large indifference (meaning, they were okay, but nothing that affirmed by love of the character) the few volumes leading into New Krypton, I did my best to give the books a fair shake. Geoff Johns’ lead-in, Brainiac, was solidly plotted, but trended toward predictable, and Robinson’s Coming of Atlas managed a few sharp lines, but padded an issue and a half of story out across five full issues.

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Since the day Booster Gold #7 was released and I wrote my first story for Comic Related, “The Gold Exchange” has been there every month, within a week (or so) of the release of a new issue of Booster Gold, without skipping a beat. We’ve talked to creator/writer/artist Dan Jurgens almost every month (excepting once or twice when he was neither writing nor drawing the issue) and had Jeff Katz join the roundtable a bunch of times back when it first launched. I’m happy to say that this month, Geoff Johns has finally had a chance to take time out of his insane schedule to sit down with us and talk Booster Gold and Blackest Night, two of the things he knows best.

And it was an issue where a LOT happened. Black Lantern Ted Kord attacked…Daniel Carter? Well, I guess with Booster Gold missing (actually, he wasn’t missing so much as he was taking a few hours to himself to go back and relive the agony of Ted’s funeral), one dead Carter is just as good as the next? Anyway, we got some Supernova action, plenty of Daniel and Rose, and guest art by Blue Beetle penciller Mike Norton in the pages that featured Jaime Reyes (but no contribution from writer Matt Sturges this month, as Jaime was part of an oversized Booster story, rather than headlining his own tale). What did it all mean? And what’s in store for next month, in part two of the story Geoff Johns calls his favorite Booster Gold adventure?

Blog@Newsarama: So first of all, how did the Black Lantern Ted Kord issues come about? Did you see what was going on in BN and say, “This has to happen?” Or did DC or Geoff or someone come to you and suggest it?

Dan Jurgens: Months ago the basic question came up as to whether or not we’d like to tie in with Blackest Night and if so, who would we like to use as a Black Lantern? Ted Kord was the obvious choice. In fact, we were first concerned it might have been too obvious. But we quickly discounted it, realizing that there was a strong story waiting to be told.

After that, it was a matter of Booster Gold editor Mike Siglain, Blackest Night editor Eddie Berganza, Geoff and myself getting together and talking about what we wanted to do in terms of the particulars of the story. It was during these conversations that we realized no funeral for Ted had ever been done and that became a natural for us.

Blog@: Geoff, My understanding was that Blackest Night started smaller and bled gradually out over the DCU as editors and the like came to understand what a hit it was shaping up to be. That said, how soon after the story left Green Lantern’s back porch, did you know there would be a Booster/Ted meetup?

Geoff Johns: There was always going to be a Booster/Ted confrontation in Blackest Night, but when it expanded beyond our series – thankfully, since we couldn’t do it justice in the space we had compared to what Dan is doing it moved over to Booster Gold.  It truly is my favorite issue of Booster Gold yet.  Dan really did a phenomenal job on it. (more…)

Talk about looking to the past for inspiration: Jeff Yorkes has created a great-looking mash-up between the Dark Knight and another era…

…that of Mad Men.

It’s definitely appropriate, considering Batman has another trip through time this week, in the ’30s pulp themed Batman/Doc Savage comic, which sparks DC’s new Firstwave line. What do you think? Could you see Bruce Wayne perhaps owning Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce? Would you rather see him in the ’30s, or the ’60s? Sound off!

[Hat tip to Dean for the link]

Gosh darn that Parker luck!

The L.A. Times has reported that Ol’ Spidey has gotten himself into a little bit of a tangled web — with the LAPD.

What happened? 39-year-old Spider-Man impersonator Christopher Loomis was arrested by police, after calls came in of Spider-Man assaulting someone at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

A cultural landmark known for costumed versions of Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, Superman, and more, it proved to be difficult for the police to find which of four Spideys clocked a bystander in the face. Second one proved to be a charm, and he was arrested for oustanding warrents to the tune of $5,500.

Looks like somebody’s going to be crashing with Aunt May for awhile.

You excited for this weekend’s premiere of the AMC remake of the Prisoner, with James Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellen?

Well, if you’re truly jonesing to jump back to the Village, AMC has something for you — a motion comic preceding the series, written by M. Scott Veach, and art by Mitch Breitweiser.

In a lot of ways, it looks like a ton of work — but boy does it pay off. Using different drawings on a static background as opposed to moving one stationary image, this may very well be one of the better motion comics I’ve seen, and that’s without music and voiceovers.

The first chapter — totally free, mind you — is up on AMC’s web site.

UPDATE: Whew, a little hasty with my trigger finger there — Warren Ellis rightly notes the credits, which I somehow missed. Thanks for the heads-up!

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 4: “See, What Had Happened Was…”

Welcome back, Blog@teers!

I enjoy posting these strips and seeing how my work has (hopefully) evolved since the first time I drew these strips.  I absolutely hated this strip the first time around, and it almost caused me to hang up my hat only a month into the series.  Whatever I was trying to achieve, I didn’t feel like I was reaching it.  Looking back, I think this episode was fairly solid, and it is one of the most pivotal moments in The Thrill-Seekers (Although there is one bit of dialogue that I would change).

In this episode, I establish early in the story arc’s run, what Alicia Patterson’s ultimate, tragic fate is.  It is this knowledge, and desire for revenge on her behalf, that drives all of Pastor’s actions for the rest of this storyline.

Thanks again for checking in, and I invite you to visit www.WorldOfHurtOnline.com every Wednesday for the latest episodes of The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic!

Also, feel free to weigh in.  I’m eager to hear your opinions, critiques, or suggestions.

Thanks!

- Jay Potts

With yesterday’s news of Dollhouse getting canceled, sci-fi got a little bit lonelier on TV. But Variety has some news that might just change that.

Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury will be adapting six of his short stories for “The Bradbury Chronicles,” to create a six-hour television event.

White Oak’s Merrill Capps, Todd Klick, Cory Travalena and Dale Olson are said to produce the series, but currently the works to be adapted are still up in the air, and there is no network attached.

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!

Dark Horse has finally released a softcover edition of Brian K. Vaughan’s The Escapists this week. The book, which is based on characters and concepts introduced in Michael Chabon’s New York Times-bestselling novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and serves more as a sequel to that book than a tie-in to Dark Horse’s previous anthology of short comic stories featuring Chabon’s The Escapist character. It’s been available in hardcover since January 2008 and has, according to Vaughan, been an “evergreen” sales item at comic shops and bookstores around the country.

“it’s not connected to an event or a crossover,” Vaughan explained to Blog@Newsarama in a recent interview. Of course, he went on to elaborate, there is one book, the reading of which makes The Escapists better. “You can just pick it up. I guess I always imagined it would be great if we could have just a few of the people who read and loved ‘Kavalier & Clay’ could pick up this book but now I’m talking to people who picked up The Escapists, having never read ‘Kavalier & Clay’, and this book has led them to Michael Chabon’s novel which is definitely that kind of reverse commute that I never imagined happening but that’s very humbling if people picked up that novel because of this book.” (more…)

Welcome to the new and current Academy Awards. Sure, there are your dramas and your foreign films, but this year, animation is where the action is. Twenty animated films from this lackluster year of film have been chosen and submitted to the Academy for consideration.

These twenty films cover all aspects of animation, going from a couple of chipmunks in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, to a lonely old man who somehow gets his house completely tied to balloons, allowing it to go Up!. Thanks to the twenty films being submitted, you might look out for the entire category during the Oscar race to up the ante to 5 instead of the measly 3 choices it used to have. By rules created by the Academy, if a certain category of film has more than 16 choices submitted, there could be 5 nominated for that golden statue; if it’s less than that, you’re stuck with 3 nominations.

Now, the Academy has many choices to mull over. Depending on how it all goes, we might end up seeing a ragdoll living in a post-apocalyptic world with a number as a name stomping out the competition, while a “Bah Humbug” echoes from the back of the Kodak Theatre. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Here’s the list, check to see if your favorites made the cut:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin — Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary & Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. Aliens
Planet 51
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
A Town Called Panic
Up

Nominations will be announced on February 2nd.

According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, Fox has informed showrunner Joss Whedon that it will not order any additional episodes of his cult-favorite show Dollhouse. Ausiello says that, though the show has been benched for November sweeps, the remainder of its thirteen second-season episodes will be “burned off” in December, two at a time on Friday nights, so fans can take a little solace in knowing that it won’t just abruptly end, like many recent cancellations have, or be concluded in six or eight months, a la last year’s Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies cancellations.

Whedon’s last well-liked but prematurely canceled show, Firefly, has spawned a handful of comic book spinoffs, a critically-acclaimed and reasonably successful feature film (Serenity), and (most recently) the best moment of the 2009-2010 TV season, when the character made a bizarre cameo on ABC’s Castle. So who knows what’s in store next for this one.

When it comes to the Justice Society, Smallville fans will be getting two for the price of one!

Michael Ausiello reports that the Geoff Johns-penned episodes — initially scheduled to air apart as “Society” and “Legends” — are now being packaged together as a two-hour bonanza.

The CW special — which will have Hawkman, Stargirl, Dr. Fate, and Amanda Waller — will be hitting the CW on January 29. Stay tuned to Blog@ for more Smallville news to come!

UPDATE: Ausiello has some additional Smallville spoilers up, noting that there will be an episode entirely at Comic Con. Also, starting at around 3:01 in this video, there’s a spoilerific scene of Clark and Lois that will definitely be a talker…

It hasn’t been a great week in terms of comics and cartoons in the public sphere. Here’s just a couple of the stories that have really popped out at me:

- Tom Richmond reports on his blog about his politicial caricature app for the iPhone, which had a really great twist to it — it had contact information for all 540 senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. Which Apple promptly deep-sixed. No, it’s not like he’s out drawing Bill Clinton in his underwear, or George Bush pulling an NPH in the backwoods of Texas — he pretty much just drew (tame) caricatures.

From the man himself:

This is truly ridiculous. These caricatures aren’t mean or very exaggerated. They are simple, fun cartoon likenesses of the politicians and the purpose of the app is a informational database. There is no editorial commentary involved at all.

This is the very reason that Apple as a company should be taken to task over its ludicrous and inconsistent app approval policies. Clearly this app does not “ridicule public figures” and is violating nothing, but Apple has decided the world must be protected from the insidious subversiveness this would force upon the public and the brutal, heinous ridicule that my cruel, cruel caricatures would subject these politicians to.

- Meanwhile, the Sioux Falls, SD school board voted to remove Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from its libraries. The problem? “There were two or three of the snapshots where the scenes were a little more edgy, if you will,” said Ann Smith, the district’s library services coordinator, to the Argus Leader.

What frustrates me about this sort of thing is that (in my humblest of opinions), kids need to be challenged in their readings. This is how we’re going to have not just educated comic readers, but educated people, period. Are swear words and references to sex uncouth? Possibly. Is it going to warp children’s minds forever if they hear about it? I doubt it — even if parents don’t care enough to engage their children over what they are reading. “It seemed that the book was more of an adult’s reflection on their middle school experience,” said one of the school committee members. Ya think?

Don’t worry, it’s not a dark ultraviolent future, or a visually overwrought film with the Red Triangle Gang.

Kate Beaton’s chuckleworthy take on the Amazing Amazon is back, on Hark! A Vagrant!

If you liked Wondy’s explanation of why cleavage is important in a crimefighting sense in Kate’s earlier doodles, you should check this new strip out. The second-to-last panel alone is worth the click.