Dynamite Entertainment has put together their own trinity — with Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician having joined their Phantom license to take on the complete King Features lineup!

“Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician are two great additions to the iconic characters we currently publish: Green Hornet, The Phantom, Buck Rogers, Zorro, Project Superpowers, The Black Terror, Death Defying ‘Devil, Masquarade, The Lone Ranger and all of the titles we are proud to publish,” Nick Barrucci, Dynamite President and Publisher, said in a press release.  ”We promise to devote the same passion to these King Features properties as we have done so consistently throughout our publishing history, beginning with The Last Phantom.”

Flash Gordon is one of the seminal sci-fi swashbucklers, having been created in 1934 to compete with Buck Rogers. Mandrake the Magician, meanwhile, used his powers of hypnosis to battle foes ranging from gangsters to extradimensional creatures. The last time these two heroes were under the same banner as the Phantom was in 1967, under King Comics.

There’s no word as to any creative teams that might take on the book, or any dates as to when they might be released.

What are the ethics of post-apocalyptic survival? I dunno, but I have to say that the trailer for the Divide, starring genre names like Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia and Terminator’s Michael Biehn:

Eight survivors locked in a basement of an annihilated New York City. To say that it looks at least a little bit scary is a bit of an understatement. FirstShowing has more info on the upcoming flick.

Why Last Airbender fan Gene Luen Yang won’t be seeing The Last Airbender movie: Explained in comic form (Via Dirk Deppey’s Journalista)

I was more excited by the 90210 season finale Tuesday night: I never watched that show about one fat guy and a bunch of models stuck on the island of misfit weird shit for the better part of a decade, but I know it was very popular among my comics-loving peers. I hear it ended earlier this week and, prompted by its finale, Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon listed ten of his favorite comics finales. Today, he shares a bunch of favorite finales his readers suggested. Check out both lists; there are recommendations for tons of great reading in both.

Peter Wheat is a bad-ass: That guy wears a pair of proto-Osh Kosh B’Goshes and short sleeve shirt with huge Peter Pan color and is so handy with a sword he can take a shrew four times his size! Check out this gorgeous Walt Kelly fantasy comic, posted at the Ever-Lovin’Blue-Eyed Whirled of Walt Kelly (Via Comics Reporter and Journalista…I forget where I saw it first)

That means Robert Downey Jr. is going to have to play all of the Marvel heroes then, right?: “Disney sees ‘Iron Man’ as a model for Marvel”

“But in that case, what is a guy like Paulie doing in a comic book about an action-loving midget fighting organized organized crime to begin with?”: I’m very excited about reading the just-launched series DC Universe Legacies in trade eventually, and a little anxious too, as it seems like a series that’s either going to very good or very bad. So I was a bit disheartened by this very well written review of the first issue by Matt Seneca, who spends some time sapping down one element of it—the decision to put “a kindly old codger of the Greatest Generation in the narrator’s role”, a trick he notes that Marvel employed in the influential Marvels series (And, it’s worth noting, DC did the same in a similar project already, the vastly underrated 2007 miniseries JLA: Incarnations, which doesn’t seem to have ever been collected into a trade paperback, which seems criminal given that DC’s collected every stupid issue of the current, fairly awful volume of Justice League of America). Did any of you read Legacies this past week? If so, what’d you guys think of the first issue of Legacies?

“…where they were greeted by around 200 friends and relatives dressed as superhero characters”: Here’s a nice, short feature on a surprise superhero themed fancy dress birthday party, with a nice photo of a huge crowd of people dressed as superheroes. I love seeing things like thin, in part because I like to see the various characters people consider superheroes. For instance, amid all the Super- and Bat-people and Incredibles in this photo, there seems to be at least two Darth Vaders, one Mrio and three Luigis and…Shrek?

“It is the young who will be taking care of the future of the world when we are gone”: The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature on Utah-based artist Emmanuel Makonga’s self-published graphic novel, Africa’s Poachers: Tanura and Environmental Protection. Makonga is hoping his book will help educate folks on the problem of poaching, and to donate any profits to fighting it.

“Is Comic-Con really needed when so many vintage titles and furry costumes can be found right in your back yard?”: That’s the lede of a feature story on the new Lake Effect Comic Book Convention that ran in a northeast Ohio newspaper. Can furry costumes really be found right in my back yard? And if so, why are people wearing them? What are they doing while wearing them? And does anyone, other than perhaps other people who wear furry costumes, want to know? Anyway, it’s a nice little local feature—the suggestion of a juxtaposition of two very different subcultures in the the first sentence of the story just made me laugh.

At this point, they’ve had almost as many battles as Namor and the original Human Torch: “Gaiman takes on McFarlane in Wis. federal court comic book clash”

Forget repulsor rays and jet boots — one of Iron Man’s greatest powers is the ability to change designs almost seamlessly, in order to rock just about any genre or time period.

Case in point — Marvel’s just unveiled some awesome redesigns of Iron Man, to be shown as variant covers in next month’s issues! The World War II suit seen above for Iron Man Legacy #3 was drawn by Pixar’s Bill Presing, while a cowboy variant for Invincible Iron Man #27 was created by Pixar’s Ronnie del Carmen.

Hey, it just occurred to me — are these some of the first fruits of the Disney/Marvel acquisition? I seem to recall way back when it was first announced that there had been some buzz between the Marvel and Pixar people… if these first few images are any indication, it would be rockin’ to see what happens between the two groups next.

Market Day
Written & Illustrated by James Sturm
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

James Sturm’s Market Day is my early favorite for Best of 2010, and it’s high on the short list for the best comic of the decade (whether ’10 marks the end or the beginning).

On the verge of becoming a father for the first time, Mendleman, a European Jewish rug weaver in the early part of the 20^th century, packs up his meticulously hand-crafted rugs and travels to the marketplace to sell his wares.  When he finds his most reliable buyer has retired, Mendleman searches vainly for another retailer who will appreciate the detailed and creative tapestries born from his loom.

Ultimately, a meditation on art versus commerce, Sturm’s Market Day allows readers inside the heart-crushing conflict between following one’s muse and the need to provide for oneself and one’s family.  Deep and meditative, Market Day follows Mendleman into the depths of his soul, considering the allure of creativity, the burdens of family, and vice versa, the human connections needed to create great art.

Mendlemen confronts the harsh economic realities that people prefer to pay less for low-quality, mass-produced goods rather than receive a long-lasting, beautiful artistry for a premium cost.  Mendleman’s pending fatherhood, an occasion filled with joy and white-knuckle terror, only underlines the tension between his attention to craft and his need to make a living.  In slow, open passages, Sturm drives deep into Mendleman’s conflicted psyche, bringing internal turmoil out in simple captions accompanying austere images.

Carrying the narrative on his clean, understated illustrations, Sturm allows each page to breathe, using large panels to capture Mendleman’s solitude.  The muted color palette also matches the protagonist’s internal mood, somber and reflective.  Inspired by the photography of Roman Vishniac and Alter Kacyzne, Sturm captures a simple authenticity on each page, in the clothing, the postures, the bartering culture, leaving the reader with an indelible impression of having traveled with Mendleman on his market excursion.

Market Day is a powerful statement about the act of creation, the willful drive to bring something of value and importance into a coldly indifferent world.  It’s heartbreaking and beautiful, drawn by a master of the form, brought to life against all odds because there are still important stories to tell.  James Sturm knows, and shares his knowledge here.  Read it, and be richer for it.

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!

In this week’s Thunderbolts #144, artist Kev Walker joins writer Jeff Parker to launch of a another new direction for the title, which has had  a lot of new directions over the years. The premise this time? A  team of super-criminals  have their jail time converted into a particular form of public service—following Luke Cage’s orders as he attempts to turn them into superheroes. In addition to bad guys Juggernaut, Crossbones, Ghost and Moonstone, the new line-up also includes…Man-Thing? All right! He’s my favorite muck-encrusted mockery of a man!

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37: Writer Kurt Busiek is back with another untold tale of Spider-Man, specifically his first meeting with Captain America (And by “his” I mean Spidey’s, not Busiek’s). Karl Kesel co-writes, while Patrick Olliffe, Paolo Siquera, Sandra Chang and Amilton Santos provide art. If that’s not enough ASM for you this week, Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo have the latest chapter of The Lizard-focused story arc in Amazing Spider-Man #632.

Archie #609: Will Archie and Valerie’s blossoming romance end happily, in this second part of a two-part Archies/Josie and the Pussycats crossover arc?

Well, um, if Val’s crying tears of happiness, and that broken heart on the cover symbolizes a heart bursting because it is so full of love it can’t contain it, then yes, yes I bet they live happily ever after. Otherwise, it’s not looking so good.

Action Comics #858: Here’s the first of this week’s $1 reprints, alphabetically. Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Jonathan Sibal’s first chapter of a story arc that would eventually be collected as Superman and The Legion of Super-Heroes, and lead in to Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds and all of the various Legion appearances since. Two other reprint books cost but one single dollar this week: Authority #1, the beginning of the astoundingly influential Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary super-team series, and Marvel Zombies #1, the first issue of the first Marvel Zombies miniseries, by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips.

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Atomic Robo. Iron Man. Two peas in a pod, right? Well, the artist of Atomic Robo has a nice sketch up of the cool exec with a heart of steel, up on his Twitter account:

Now, as much as I totally dig Scott Wegener’s work, the other reason I wanted to post this was to give you a bit of speculation — namely, this tweet from Marvel editor Nate Cosby that said he “just gave go-ahead to @Scott_Wegna t’start drawing Iron Man script by @bclevinger. Yeah, I like Atomic Robo. What about it?”

So. Atomic Robo creators doing something Iron Man-related, maybe, possibly? Likely, the above sketch (which he says was influenced by Eric Canete’s work on Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin) probably isn’t something that would be seen in a book, but it’s a possible taste of what such a collaboration might look like. If it goes through, I can only hope that there are dinosaurs involved. As they say — speculators, start your engines!

[Hat-tip to Lan Pitts for catching my spelling error]

Stephanie Meyer, what have you wrought?!?!?!?

Any San Antonio readers of the Blog, many apologies for showing you this. Heck, I’m sorry to all of you for showing you this. But Techland found this clip of local teens joining Team Jacob as members of “werewolf” cliques. It’s genre news of a different kind, one that I really couldn’t turn away from, so I’m infecting you with it, too.

With fake tails, metal leashes and “fangs,” these kids are proudly (proudly? That’s probably not the right word. That’s probably the exact opposite of the word I’m thinking of.) walking through at least a half dozen schools in the San Antonio area, occasionally howling at each other. Between that and the nonchalant attitude of just about everybody there, I’m pretty sure that means there’s something in the water there. What do you think, Rama readers?

Ya like webcomics? Ya like science fiction? Then get ready, because there’s a new webcomics collective in town.

Spacedock 7 officially launched its webcomics initiative this week, with seven different webcomics being shown for your viewing enjoyment.

The comics include Escape from Planet Nowhere, by Otis Frampton; Cleopatra in Space!, by Mike Maihack; Topaz, by Joe Carroll; Red’s Planet, by Eddie Pittman; Dimension Dust, by Grant Gould; Gronk, by Katie Cook; and My Sister, The Freak, by Dani Jones.

Some of the comics are just starting out, but some of the others that have had a little bit more lead-in time, like Planet Nowhere, Cleopatra, and Red’s Planet, look absolutely fantastic. Give these guys a look!

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

There have been several reports coming in from Florida about the missing persons case for Thundercats writer Stephen Perry, which police are now seeing as a potential homicide.

His roommates Roxanne and James Davis have been charged with drug offenses, and are now being held as persons of interest in the case, according to the Fox affiliate in Tampa Bay.

Perhaps the more gristly item of the investigation is the fact that a severed human arm was found near Perry’s apartment. Police have issued no further statements over the find. Meanwhile, his son Leo has been placed with his mother, Krystall Carroll, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Perry, 56, had already been fighting uphill, struggling against cancer as well as financial issues, basically getting to the point where he at one point was living in a van. The Hero Initiative, who was working with Perry to help overcome these obstacles, has a video of him up on their main site discussing the organization.

For those who were watching the latest Shrek film this week, you might have noticed an interesting little something something with the teasers — namely, that we’re getting two peas in a super-criminal pod.

Exhibit A — Megamind, with Will Ferrell:

Exhibit B — Despicable Me, with Steve Carell:

I’m thinking that Carell wins, only because of his minions and his maniacal shouting of “Freeze ray!!” in public areas. (I think I’m going to do that in the office randomly today.) Despicable Me comes out from Universal Studios in July, while Megamind, by Dreamworks, is out in November. What say you, Rama readers? Which supervillain comes out on top?

I’m still stuck on whether Captain America could take Batman, or if Superman could lift Thor’s hammer: Tom Spurgeon’s “Three Arguments We Could Be Having”

If the Onion AV Club were teachers, they’d be good ones to have: The AV Club takes a look at another round of comics and comics-related books, and everything gets a passing grade.  Even the ones that are judged most harshly—Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel, Forget Sorrow and The Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 7—get C’s. Maybe they grade on a curve?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine makes two: “One Ryan Reynolds superhero movie it’s definitely okay to skip”

This headline riffing on a decades-old TV show gets a pass for having an unusual construction: “Wholly comic books, Batman!”

“What the hell happened?”: At The Beat, Rich Johnson takes a look at recent manga sales trends in the US, which have been dropping, and leading to some bad news among manga publishers (Viz lay-offs, CMX’s demise, etc).  Here’s hoping US publishers of all sorts of comics ask themselves some of the same questions Johnson asks, and devote some energy into finding some answers—for a long time now, manga seemed like the key to helping Western comics unlock a wider audience.

God of War #1
Based on the Sony Videogame
Script by Marv Wolfman
Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
Cover art by Andy Park

The script reads like a cut scene from 300, and the art is murky and obscured.  The idea of a story based on a video games seems a little unlikely to me, as a game’s story has to remain loose to allow for game play.  Even as the player is shuttled in a certain direction, hours are left for exploring and experimenting.

Here, the story is unremarkable, heavy-handed and uninspired.  The illustrations fail to convey any excitement or drama.  Just to be sure I wasn’t missing something, I even showed this comic to fan of the game, who was shocked that the comic art was so much less detailed and interesting than the animated game art.  And the 300 comparison was his; I’ve shamelessly lifted it for my purposes.

DV8: Gods and Monsters #1
Written by Brian Wood
Illustrated by Rebakah Isaacs
Colored by Carrie Strachan
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher
Cover art by Fiona Staples or Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair

Very interesting high concept here.  I know jack about DV8, but Brian Wood’s exploring an interesting idea in this eight-issue miniseries.  A group of superpowered teens wind up, I have no idea how, in a Neolithic world.  Ours?  I dunno.  But there they are, and being superpowered, they’re essentially perceived by the cavepeople as gods.

The debut issue is spent laying groundwork, but the eventual conflict between the various tribes begins to brew early.  Seeing how each character evolves in the context of their own tribe should be fascinating, and Rebekah Isaacs gives a solid, slight Chris Sprouseian sheen to the proceedings.  I want to read more, so that’s what we call an effective first issue.

Garrison #1
Written by Jeff Mariotte
Illustrated by Francesco Francavilla
Colored by Jeremy Shepherd
Lettered by Johnny Lowe

Garrison – first name? last name? we don’t know – is killing a whole lot of people, so the government’s after him.  The issue’s focal character, a government agent named Jillian, is paired up with a fellow from another agency.  Garrison kills the dude, and Jillian freezes when she has a free shot at taking Garrison out.

And uh, that’s about it.  Some intrigue, passable art (coloring could stand to brighten up a hair, but that may be a printing issue rather than a coloring issue), but not a whole lot here.  You have your basic explosive mystery riff: government ops with some secrets, and an enigmatic and likable anti-hero with a story to unfold.  I can see some readers really enjoying it, particularly if Mariotte takes it in a surprising direction, but the debut issue feels a little by-the-numbers.  Lots of room for Garrison to go somewhere different, however.

There’s a science to squarely hitting a moving round ball with a round bat.  Thursday afternoon, during a 20-8 drubbing of Scientific American, the DC Bullets softball team looked very knowledgeable in their field.  The team pounded out eleven extra base hits, including four home runs, five doubles and two triples.

After a scoreless first for Scientific American, the Bullets went right to work.  Neil Hiremath (2-3, 2 R, RBI), centerfielder and basepath terror, and third baseman Mike Lorah singled to open the bottom of the first.  Co-captain and shortstop Adam Schlagman followed with a double to score Neil.  (A double?  Really?  That’s how we scored that?)  LF Andrew Arnold and LP Vollano, the Bullet’s slugging DH, followed with back-to-back home runs.  Learning from their mistakes, the SA outfielders played Andrew and LP significantly more deeply afterwards, holding Andrew to a 1-3 day, with a three-run jack.  LP finished 1-2 with his solo tater.

Scientific American showed a glimmer of hope for the game when they retired the Bullets in order in the second, having retired five consecutive hitters at that time.  However the Bullet defense continued to hold the line, behind strong pitching from CNap, Christine Napolitano (0-2) and Jeff Boison (2-2, 2 R, RBI).  CNap pitched the first, second and fifth innings, and Jeff handled the third, fourth and sixth frames.

After holding the opposition scoreless through three innings, the Bullets busted out again in the last of the third.  The right field tandem of Brian Walters (2-2, 2 R) and Allison Dugas (2-2, R, 2 RBI) sandwiched singles around a groundout, tacking on a quick run.  Jeff Boison added a single, and C Katie Kubert’s (1-2, 2 R, RBI) fielder’s choice erased Allison.  Neil Hiremath singled again, chasing Jeff home, and Lorah singled to load the bases.  With two away and two runs home, Adam Schlagman put an exclamation point on the inning, driving a pitch on the outside corner of the plate down the right field line.  With nobody guarding the line, Adam cleared the bases easily.  The grand slam highlighted a massive 3-3 day that included 2 R, 5 RBI, two doubles and a home run.

Channeling some of their 2008 memories, the Bullet defense stumbled in a big way in the Scientific American fourth, however.  The first six SA hitters reached base, with a few assists being given by flummoxed Bullet leather, and before the comic book makers could put out the fire, SA tallied six runs.  Looking to rebound from their rocky defensive effort, the Bullets nearly came up empty in their portion of the fourth.  After the first two batters were retired, CF Pat Brosseau (2-2, R, triple) slammed a ball into the right field gap for a triple, and 1B Brian Cunningham (2-2, RBI, double) ripped a double to left center to bring Pat home.  At the end of four, the Bullets had Scientific America doubled up, 12-6.

In the fifth, after two additional Scientific American runs, the Bullets busted the game open.  Sal Cipriano (1-2, R, double), co-captain and second baseman, doubled, and 3B Nel Yomtov (1-2, R, RBI, triple) followed with a triple to the right center field gap.  After an RBI groundout cleared the bases, consecutive singles by Brian W., 1B Jerry Cerza (1-2, R), Allison D., Jeff and Katie scored three more runs.  A pop up produced the inning’s second out, but then Mike Lorah capped his 3-3 afternoon and the game’s scoring with a three-run homer to deep center field, giving him 3 R and 3 RBI to go with his long ball.

The 6-0 Bullets look to improve on their 2-0 record in the New York Media Softball League next Thursday, at 7pm in Riverside Park, when they face The Daily Beast.  Local fans are encouraged to enjoy some softball on the Hudson.

Game Notes:

After a scoreless sixth for Scientific American, the Bullets added on another run, courtesy of singles by LP, Brian C., and CF Vince Letterio (1-2), but time on the field permit expired before Scientific America could bat in the top of the seventh.  By time expiry/rainout rules, the game effectively ended after the SA half of the sixth, leaving the final score 20-8.

Scientific American scored twice on heads up, aggressive base running, scoring from third on an infield fly and later going from second to home on a groundout.  The next Bullet defender with a mental lapse like either of those two will buy a round for the whole team after the game.

Defensive standout notice for second baseman Allison Klein (0-2, RBI), snaring a hard line drive and making a bare-handed catch on a force play at second base with a runner barreling down on her.  And a tough luck tip o’ the cap to the Doc, Lauren Fries, who showed some shortstop chops in the last inning, but at the plate ended up with nothing to show for three of the hardest hit balls of the afternoon.

The Spidey franchise dying on the table? The talented doctors at College Humor have a tried-and-true medical solution to save the webslinger and his cinematic future — a gritty reboot:

For those who are upset with Sony that Sam Raimi isn’t sticking around, watch till the end. “You know, it’s people like you that keep this genre from being taken seriously.” Very funny stuff.

[Tip of the hat to Lan Pitts]

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

Some costumes are just iconic. People who have never read a comic will recognize it on first glance. It just has that staying power, so much so that changes to it are usually fairly simple and subtle. Because no one wants to mess with what works.

Bruce Wayne was born in Gotham City, heir to the multi-million dollar companies of Wayne Industries and Wayne Enterprises. Despite their fortune, Bruce’s parents Thomas and Martha believed in actively giving back to their city, Martha through charity work and Thomas through being a physician. Another major influence in Bruce’s life was Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred had once worked as an agent of MI-6 before leaving violence to pursue a career on stage, but circumstances later led him to leave England and adopt his father’s former role as Wayne family Butler. Alfred was Bruce’s teacher in many areas and his best friend.

When he was six-years-old, Bruce accidentally fell into a cave beneath Wayne Manor, a forgotten place that had once been used by his ancestors as a hiding place for escaped slaves. The incident caused Bruce to develop a great fear of bats and he had many nightmares. A few years later, Bruce was given a new reason for nightmares. On one of the rare evenings where both of Bruce’s parents were able to spend time with him, the family attended a theatrical re-release of The Mark of Zorro. Leaving the theatre later, they were confronted by a mugger named Joe Chill who demanded Martha’s pearls. When Thomas instinctively moved to protect his wife, Chill shot Bruce’s parents before his eyes and then ran off. Having asked her mother to wear the pearls so their outing would be a special night, Bruce blamed himself for his parents death.

Refusing to be overcome by hate and grief, young Bruce made a promise on the graves of his parents, to protect people from suffering as he had and to make the city his parents had called home a place where such crimes would be unthinkable. He spent the next several years training, learning from Alfred and many others, including detectives, bounty hunters, criminals, assassins, martial arts masters, escape artists, magicians, boxers. Eventually, he returned to Gotham City and a series of events led him to create the identity of the Batman.

During the day, Bruce Wayne masquerades as a mentally lazy playboy with little interest in his own company. But at night, he becomes a fearsome Dark Knight whose enemies sometimes wondered if he was a man in body armor or a demonic force. Over the years, Batman has worked alongside the Justice League of America, the Outsiders, and has trained several apprentices to aid in his war on crime and evil. He knows he will never win the war, but he believes every single life is precious and worth saving.

Got it? Great. So let’s take a look at how Batman’s uniform has evolved over the decades.

1939 MODEL

With the success of Superman’s adventures, National Publications (which would later evolve into DC Comics) asked its writers to come up with new superheroes and masked mystery-men. It’s been said that Batman creator Bob Kane originally intended his dark detective to wear a red bodysuit with black shorts, black boots and no gloves. He’d be disguised by a simple domino mask and would wear stiff, bat-like wings attached to his back. These wings were inspired by DaVinci’s drawings of how a man might be able to achieve limited flight. The idea of the Batman was also inspired by the character Zorro (who also used a cave as his lair) and by a mystery-suspense 1930 film titled The Bat Whispers, which involved people being hunted by a killer who wore a dark, bat-winged cloak that helped him hide in the shadows.

Kane liked this idea of a hero who would lurk in the shadows, seeming like a dangerous creature on first glance. Despite the fact that Batman’s creation was spurred on by the success of Superman, Kane decided that his hero would not possess any supernatural abilities but that he would only appear supernatural at times to his enemies.

When Kane’s collaborator Bill Finger (who would create Bruce Wayne’s origin story and many of the things we love about him) saw this design, he suggested a few changes. A winged cape rather than two stiff, completely separate wings. A horned cowl rather than a domino mask. Gray instead of red. Gloves so he wouldn’t leave fingerprints. And blank eyes to give him a more menacing appearance. This last trait was inspired by the Phantom, who had been a very popular hero in newspaper strips for some time now.

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“It’s a breathtakingly lyrical and poignant work”: That’s Jeff Yang, writing about Belle Yang’s graphic novel Forget Sorrow, which he read at the World Expo in Shangai. His piece in the San Francisco Chronicle is part feature and part review, and includes a lot of local color regarding the Expo as well as some interesting commentary from Belle Yang on the process of creating a graphic novel.

Well, at least he’s humble: “Avengers Director Joss Whedon Says ‘I have No Directing Skills’”

“Their presence in Iron Man 2 epitomizes the conflict between specific story needs and the demands of a shared superhero universe”: That’s Mel Valentin blogging about “‘Iron Man 2′ and the Shared Universe Problem” at Cinematical. I still haven’t seen Iron Man 2 yet so I can’t offer an opinion on the matter, but Valentin notes that in order to expand Nick Fury and the SHIELD sub-plots screen time, Iron Man 2 had to sacrifice some of its own story needs in service of an overarching, multi-movie story. Whether they ultimately can make this work or not, it’s going to be very interesting to see how films try to replicate something second-nature to the comics they’re based on.

And speaking of Cinematical…: This was new to me (or perhaps I saw it and forgot it?), but chances are many of you have seen it before. The site has a gallery of story-board images from James Cameron’s never-got-out-of-development Spider-Man. Some look like they would definitely have lead to striking film images (like number 3), while others make it pretty clear that the webbing-as-semen metaphor wasn’t something Sam Raimi and company thought of (like number 5).

“It’s profoundly charming”: Dan Brown (author of The Great Expectations School, not the author of The DaVinci Code) reviews To Teach: The Journey, In Comics by William Ayers and Ryan Alexander-Tanner on The Huffington Post. Brown loved it.

“You’re talking about the part where Promethus cuts off Arsenal’s arm. Spoiler alert!”: Tucker Stone and Benjamin Marra discuss Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal at length. Hilarity ensues.

No joke, Faith Erin Hicks has created one of the best Wolverine comics I’ve ever read: Seriously, check this out. Can you think of a better example of the Wolvie-as-grumpy-uncle-to-super-teens aspect of Wolverine? Or the world weary-always-having-to-fight-ninjas aspect of Wolverine? I can’t. Damn, that’s some good Wolverine comics-making… (Via Warren Peace Sings The Blues)

“I’m not saying the whole thing isn’t utterly depressing, it is, but only because it’s just a monumental waste of time and resources and talent and opportunity…”: Retailer, blogger and manga fan Chris Butcher reacts to the demise of CMX. In summary, he says it was poorly launched, generally poorly run, rather poorly received and it’s not all that surprising that it’s not going to be around much longer. It sure lasted longer than Minx though, didn’t it?

Can I ask a stupid question about that Heroes/comic series lawsuit thingee?: Here’s a piece from Kevin Melrose on Spinoff Online, “How Does The Fourth Season of Heroes Compare To Carnival of Souls?” I’ve never watched Heroes or read/hear of the comic book doing the rip-off alleging, so am perhaps the least-suited person to say anything at all about any aspect of this story. But I do have a question. The comic book in questions was actually entitled Carnival Souls, the same name of a classic 1960s horror movie widely regarded as one of the best and scariest of the period and therefore not exactly an obscure film? The comic wasn’t a licensed adaptation, was it? Because that’s pretty weird.

Example #413 of Why Bully Is A Genius: “Seige Reading Group Guide and Discussion Questtions.” In a perfect world, that would be reprinted in the back of the Seige collection.