Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

This is kind of like Kryptonite to my eyes.

Sigh. Bizarro and Lex Luthor are looking pretty bromantic here. Although the “Game of Speaking Only When Touching” sounds even more nefarious when you type it out. Thanks to Topless Robot for reminding us why we can’t have nice things.

Deadline Hollywood has announced that Zac Efron will star in the film adaptation of Fire, an Image comic written and drawn by a pre-Marvel Brian Michael Bendis.

The story is about a college kid who is recruited by the CIA — and the fallout from when that partnership dissolves. Neal Moritz and David Engel will produce, and Bendis himself will write the script.

Andy Diggle has some footage of the upcoming Losers film, a tease from Entertainment Tonight:

What do you think? It’s looking like Chris Evans is bringing the charisma he had back in Fantastic Four to Vertigo’s hard-boiled band of on-the-run mercenaries. Sound off!

Well, perhaps it hasn’t won an award, but it’s the most entertaining thing I’ve seen today.

There’s a new comic out there, and it has an axe. Axe Cop is drawn by Chumble Spuzz artist Ethan Nicolle… and written by his 5-year-old brother Malachai. The result is a story about a cop with an axe and an ever-present mustache and a flute-wielding partner that transforms from a dinosaur to an avocado.

This is something possibly more surreal and wonderful than Grant Morrison in his prime. Especially Uni-Baby. You can check out the main site here, or check out the temporary hosting here.

[Extreeeeeme hat-tip to Laura]

I don’t know about you, but good art almost wakes me up better than coffee.

Which is why seeing Rafael Albuquerque’s AWESOME Incorruptible covers really perked me up. Want to see more? There’s another cover if you click here.

“All without Pattinson. Without Lautner. And without the ever-so-sad-looking Stewart”: Writing for Creative Loafing’s blog, Ryan Jent talks about the upcoming Twilight graphic novel adaptation, and notes a positive angle—it will be divorced from a great deal of the baggage that the movies and the novels’ ensuing Beatlemania-like popularity have grafted onto the simple story of (Vampire) Boy meets Girl. (Also: good headline)

So how did Obama’s State of the Union address go Wednesday night?: You could listen to what various cable news pundits, newspaper writers and bloggers thought, or you could check out Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoonists Index.

Good news for Captain Marvel fans: Chip Kidd answers a “what else are you working on” type question at the end of this interview by mentioning a coffee table art book on “the golden age of Captain Marvel.” If it’s half as good as his collaboration with Art Spiegelman on Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits, it should be something to see.

“In certain creative hands, in certain dramatic situations, the pleas, insults and hauntings of the dead can be delicious fun, inventive, cruel, horrible and ingenious”: Writing for The Comics Journal, Rich Kreiner has great praise for the Black Lantern zombies as being a vast improvement over regular old zombies, on account of the Lantern versions being much, much scarier. Unfortunately, the scariest part about them—that they were actually our heroes’ loved ones, back from the dead—was undercut by the knowledge that they were actually just faked copies early on in the storyline. But Kreiner’s not writing about Blackest Night as a story or an event; he’s simply focusing on the great idea at the start of it.

As funny as the article is, the comment section is practically guaranteed to be even more (inadvertently) hilarious: To mark the occassion of the current volume of Green Lantern hitting its fiftieth issue this past week, Comics Alliance‘s Caleb Goellner and Chris Sims rate twenty-three Green Lanterns, from dimmest to brightest. Do note the placement of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner on their list, and who tops the list as the best Green Lantern ever. There are only six comments as I type this, and already they’re fantastic. Why is it that the subject of Green Lanterns inflames the passions of comics fans on the Internet so?

Those readers asking where Dan Jurgens will go next, after the announcement of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Chris Batista as the new creative team on Booster Gold later in the year, had an answer delivered in a kind of circuitous way by DC’s The Source blog on January 15.

(Sorry for the delay in follow-up, but I was out of town at the time.)

It appears as though Jurgens, along with Tony Bedard, has been announced as one of the writers running DC’s upcoming weekly DC Universe: Legends, a weekly series tying into the upcoming Sony Online Entertainment DC Universe Online massive, multiplayer online game. After the announcement, DC released a link to an IGN interview with Executive Editor Dan DiDio, who revealed that Jurgens, along with Tony Bedard, was one of the writers on the series, which doesn’t yet have a release date or a timetable attached to it.

Jurgens and Bedard are currently unavailable for interviews, presumably for the same reason that DiDio had so few details to offer. Jurgens indicated that the project was an exciting one, and when he’s been cleared to talk more about it, we’ll have more details here. The future of Dan Jurgens and Booster Gold was discussed during this month’s Gold Exchange column.

Comic fans who wondered what impact Disney’s acquisition of Marvel Entertainment would have on Boom! Studios and its licensed Disney and Pixar properties, weren’t completely alone. At the time, Boom! executives only reinforced their enjoyment at working with the properties, but issued no formal comment on the merger.

This week, though, the Disney Insider e-mail newsletter was delivered to fans’ e-mail boxes, with the headline “Are You a Disney Comic Book Fan?” and a feature story attached that introduced fans to Boom! and even linked to the Boom! site. Featuring an interview with Boom! CEO Ross Richie, discussing his publishing philosophy and the approach to the Disney characters. The Marvel merger was not mentioned.

Whether or not I’m reading too much into it might be a question, but I do wonder if this was a strategically-timed story, to reassure fans that everything’s still cool. What say you, ‘Rama readers?

And Top Shelf is collaborating with the foreign invaders—in fact, they’re rolling out a red carpet!

This spring Top Shelf is launching a “Swedish Invasion” initiative, in which they’re planning on introducing elements of Sweden’s vibrant alternative comics scene to American readers. In addition to publishing seven titles, they’re also bringing many of the cartoonists themselves over for a visit in April.

On April 9, Rocketship Comics in Brooklyn, New York will host about a dozen Swedish cartoonists, plus the Top Shelf crew, and that weekend they’ll all be appearing at the MoCCA Arts Festival (along with non-Swedish cartoonists Nate Powell, James Kochalka and Alex Robinson).

Later in the month, on April 17, Mats Jonsson, Kolbeinn Karlsson, Simon Gardenfors and company will be at Double Door in Chicago for a party (at which Gardenfors, a “well-known Swedish rapper”—four words I don’t hear grouped together in that particular order often enough—will also perform). That weekend, April 16-18, they’ll also be appearing at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Of course, that probably doesn’t matter all that much to you if you don’t live in NYC or Chicago, or aren’t going to visit either town on those particular weekends. What does matter wherever you are and are interested in comics is what Top Shelf is publishing.

The books that are part of their “Swedish Invasion” initiative are…

—Hey Princess by Mats Jonsson, a $15, 470-page autobiographical graphic novel about moving to and trying to make it in the big city.

—120 Days of Simon by Simon Gardenfors, a $15, 415-page original graphic novel that resulted from the artist’s challenge to himself to spend 120 days away from home, with the stipulation that he couldn’t spend more than two nights in the same place. Epic adventures ensue.

—The Troll King by Kolbeinn Karlsson, a $15, 160-page, full-color fantasy graphic novel that sounds awesome: “A dwarf falls into a river and is taken to a place beyond space and time. A carrot takes a bath and finds itself transforming…Welcome to the surreal world of The Troll King.” I never knew how badly I wanted to read about a bathing carrot that finds itself transforming until just this moment!

—Second Thoughts by Niklas Asker, a $10, 90-page graphic novel about two artists who meet one another and share a moment in a London airport.

—From the Shadow of the Northern Lights Vols. 1 and 2 by Galago, a pair of 200-page anthology collections of  comics from Swedish magazine Galago, featuring, Top Shelf says, the work of the finest comics artists Sweden has to offer. My ignorance of Swedish comics art means I have to take their word for it.

—Swedish Comics History by Fredrick Stromberg, a $20, 125-page, nine-by-nine-inch softcover book devoted to the, um, history of Swedish comics, from ancient picture stories the Vikings etched in stone to the comics of today. Well not today-today, but the day Stromberg submitted the book to the publisher, I imagine.

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

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 26: “Tell The Truth, Shame The Devil – Part 6”

Duke knew he was sending Alicia to a horrific fate to a horrific fate of torture and sexual assault.  However, the twist that Duke’s callous, unforgivable actions would have been in vain if not for her accidental death, is particularly heartrending.  The coda in the final panel is chilling, and is one of my favorite bits of writing in the series, to date.

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

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!

Damn. Tiny, ICONIC Zelda Rubinstein has passed away.

Though she appeared in several films (like “Sixteen Candles”), she’ll always be a cinematic immortal for her appearance in TOBE HOOPER’s “Poltergeist”. (Yes, Spielberg produced, etc., but Tobe “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Hooper directed it.)

Remember that Samuel L. Jackson teaser from BOOM! Studios a few days back? Well, we’ve finally got the goods!

BOOM! sent us a press release this morning, announcing that Samuel L. Jackson would be teaming up with Afro Samurai co-producer Eric Calderon to write the sci-fi actioner COLD SPACE. The series follows an outlaw named Mulberry, who realizes there’s money to be made in the middle of an intergalactic civil war.

“I’m a long time comic reader and big fan of many genres in graphic novels and manga – from crime thrillers, westerns, & super-hero books, to samurai dramas, science fiction and horror. So I actually do read the stuff – and lots of it,” Jackson said in a press statement. “Now’s my chance to put my stamp on the medium with something new, but with a classic taste of the stuff I already like.”

Meanwhile, BOOM! CEO Ross Ritchie said pretty much what I would have said in this situation: “C’mon, who are we kidding, this is a fanboy dream! Don’t pinch me, I don’t wanna wake up! This is going to be a straight-up blast!”

Interior art will be drawn by Narcopolis artist Jeremy Rock, while covers will be split between Incorruptible’s Jeffrey Spokes (responsible for the image above) and the Eisner-winning cover artist of Batman and 100 Bullets, Dave Johnson. The book is due out in April.

Unfortunately, the video is not embeddable, so I’ll have to just toss you the link and leave it at that. It’s the final trailer for Absolute Justice, the 2-hour Justice Society of America episode of Smallville written by Geoff Johns. It features your live-action JSA in motion and talking, and it is absolutely freaking awesome.

Head over to Michael Ausiello’s page at Entertainment Weekly right this second, and get your JSA on.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Apparently all those slow-mo deductive kung-fu fight club skills are helping Sherlock Holmes, because he just KO’d Lobo for his director.

The LA Times is reporting that Guy Ritchie is putting his plans for the Last Czarnian on hold in order to film the sequel to the bromantic Sherlock Holmes movie.

The movie has not only brought in $389 million since Christmas (not bad when you’re going head-to-head against Avatar), but has also gotten Robert Downey Jr. a Golden Globe nomination. But here’s what producer Joel Silver said would likely happen, now that Ritchie’s picked Baker Street over the DC Universe:

“I would guess [we're going with] a dfferent director,” said Silver, who is producing “Lobo” with Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona. “It’s all happening at once now. Everybody is talking about everything …. It’s an ongoing conversation. Downey loves the experience of playing Sherlock and would love to play him again, and I’d love to see him play it again. Jude and all of them will be back and it will be great.”

What say you, Rama readers? You happy these plans got fragged, or are you ready to call Guy Ritchie an intergalatic space bastich?! Sound off!!

Will Hulk smash puny Avengers? One interview suggests he might!

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige spoke with SFX Magazine about the upcoming Avengers film, and SuperheroHype had an interesting excerpt from it all:

“My only concern is that when we launch a franchise–whichever character’s franchise that may be–it should stand on its own two feet… So by the time ‘The Avengers’ comes in 2012, it’s not just a team superhero movie with a bunch of characters with powers. It’s three people – four including the Hulk; five including Nick Fury – who you’ve seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”

Now, that’s interesting to me for a couple of reasons — first and foremost, it makes me think that, yep, your favorite Jolly Green Giant will indeed be in the Avengers film (which would kind of have to be the case, or the Robert Downey Jr. cameo at the end of the last Hulk movie would look a little weird).

But the thing that concerns me about all this is the hesitance to get supporting characters in the film. Keep in mind we’ll be seeing Black Widow and War Machine in the upcoming Iron Man 2, and there are even rumors we might see Hawkeye in the upcoming Thor film. What does that mean for all involved? Characters such as Hawkeye, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are seen by many as the core Avengers group (along with the five Feige described earlier), and it’d be a shame not to add on to what the previous films did. Even the first X-Men movie had six characters, and that was including having to balance Magneto and the Brotherhood!

The rest of the interview talks about the “science” of Thor, as well as Feige’s desire to see a Marvel Cosmic movie. You better believe I’d love to see that last one. Check out the rest of it here.

Our own Vaneta Rogers noticed some links flying about on Twitter to possible Green Lantern movie concept art. The site, Omelete, admits that these may not be the real deal, but they ARE interesting.

Here’s the text, brought from Portugese to English by Google Translate:

New concept art of Green Lantern fall network
Were these the designs of Abin Sur, Tomar-Re and Kilowog in the movie?
27/01/2010 Marcelo Hessel

New concept art from Green Lantern, the film’s Green Lantern of DC Comics, fell on the network. They show the designs of lanterns Abin Sur, Tomar-Re and Kilowog – check out the gallery.

The images look professional, but the problem is to check the veracity of the arts. The first appeared in Kilowog site Cosmic Book News, no information about the source. Then came the other forum The Green Lantern Corps. Who published them say they are real and that “may not be the final visual in the film, but certainly were produced just before the start of pre-production.”

In the forum the author of the posts also declined to mention where he got the arts.

Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan), Peter Saarsgard (Hector Hammond) and Blake Lively (Carol Ferris) are already in the cast. Mark Strong is playing Sinestro. Filming begins in March, directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). The premiere is scheduled for June 17, 2011.

While we won’t post the actual photos ourselves, we will point to the links for Kilowog and Abin Sur/Tomar Re. We’ll withold judgment as to the authenticity of the images until we have confirmation, but the characters represented DO track with statements by Campbell last week that confirmed the presence of Kilowog, Tomar Re, and Abin Sur in the script.

In what was probably motivated at least in part by Marvel’s controversial Deadpool variant offer, DC Entetainment announced earlier this week on their blog The Source that a number of upcoming tie-ins to the Blackest Night follow-up story “Brightest Day” will ship with plastic Flash and Green Lantern rings for retailers ordering more than ten copies of April’s The Flash #1 and Green Lantern #53.

Given the popularity of Geoff Johns and Green Lantern, and the fact that it’s the first issue of a new series for The Flash and the first time Barry Allen has been featured as the title character in his own ongoing since the mid-1980s, it’s likely that most comics retailers would be carrying more than ten of these books anyway, so almost all retailers should be eligible to participate in this promotion without increasing their orders (at least substantially). It was not immediately clear from the wording of DC’s blog post how many rings a retailer could order for every ten comics ordered; the Blackest Night issues offered retailers the opportunity to order bags of fifty rings. The post said that more information would be made available to retailers soon. (more…)