Don’t worry, Fraggles. Just because you’re comic book stars now doesn’t mean you have to share story space with other underground-dwelling comic book characters, although you may have to share shelf-space with some of them every once in a while.

This week sees the release of Fraggle Rock Vol. 1, a $20, 110-page hardcover collecting the first four issues of Archaia’s anthology comic featuring the Fraggles. I haven’t read every single story in here yet, but I’ve read about half of them, and those ones were all somewhere between pretty great and really great. Whether you grew up with the characters or are new to them, this is a rock-solid all-ages comic. In fact, you might say it’s a Fraggle Rock-solid all-ages comic (Tee hee!).

This volume contains stories by Katie Cook, Jeff Stokely, Jeffrey Brown, Leigh Dragoon, Paul Morrissey, Tim Beedle, Joanna Estep and many more.

What else is out this week? Oh, only about 5,000 other comics (Seriously, Comics Industry, you really need to learn to pace yourself a bit). Here are some things that grabbed my eye on this week’s shipping lists…

1 for $1: Groo: It’s a good week for cheap comics. One dollar will get you a reprint of Dark Horse’s first issue of Sergio Aragones’ Groo comic, or the first issue of Star Wars Legacy by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, or the first issue of Image Comics’ The Darkness (by Garth Ennis and Marc Silvestri) or Radical Premiere-Mata Hari, an introduction to Rich Wilkes and Roy Allan Martinez’s comic book take on the legendary title character. That’s an awful lot of comics for just $4.

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects: The title story comes from a 2002 Mike Mignola one-shot so deeply weird it makes his Hellboy and BPRD stuff seem like prosaic, slice-of-life stuff.  Here’s how publisher Dark Horse describes it:

When Emperor Zombie threatens the safety of all life on earth, President Lincoln enlists the aid of a mechanical head. With the help of associates Mr. Groin (a faithful manservant) and Mr. Dog (a dog), Screw–On Head must brave ancient tombs, a Victorian flying apparatus, and demons from a dimension inside a turnip.

Here’s how I personally describe it:

This is my favorite Mike Mignola comic ever.

Anyway, this $18, 100-page hardcover collects no only the Screw-On Head one-shot, but also the “The Magician and the Snake” from 2002′s Dark Horse Mavericks: Happy Endings and nearly fifty pages of brand new material, “all as weird and hilarious as the beloved Screw-On Head.” You can check out a brief preview here. What’s that? Not enough Mignola for you this week? My God, you’re insatiable! Well, there’s always Baltimore Plague Ships #2 and Hellboy: The Storm #3.

Batman: Cacophony: Is this the very worst Batman story ever published? Probably. Don’t believe me? If you’ve got $15, your local comic shop will be happy to hand you this 145-page trade paperback collecting Kevin Smith, Walt Flanagan and Sandra Hope’s terrible, terrible 2009 miniseries.

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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!

Earlier today, Jock tweeted the cover of January’s Daredevil: Reborn #1. He’s since removed it, but here it is for posterity. Feel free to speculate away!

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While Cartoon Network’s Batman: The Brave the the Bold has been fairly well-received by fans and critics, it did take me a while to warm to it. The first time I saw the pilot, and a later episode featuring Aquaman, my feeling was that the cartoon was being consciously marketed to a younger audience than Batman: The Animated Series or The Batman. While I certainly understood that urge on the part of the studio and DC (after all, hooking kids in early is rarely a bad thing), it didn’t appeal to me as an older fan—and one who came to comics fairly late in his youth. At 13, I was brought back into comics after a few years away by the Doomsday! storyline in Superman, and don’t have the warm, fuzzy memories of young-childhood comic reading that most fans do.

That said, by the time the show’s first season was ending and Booster Gold appeared in “Menace of the Conqueror Caveman,” I watched the show and really dug it. At the time, I thought maybe it was just my natural pro-Booster bias coming out, but August 17 saw the release of Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 1 Part 1 on DVD from Warner Home Video. Not only did the Booster episode not make the cut for this two-disc set (which collects the series’ first thirteen episodes), but neither did the great J.M. DeMatteis-penned “The Eyes of Despero,” an episode that featured Bats teaming up with Guy Gardner and G’Nort, aped the famous Justice League International “one punch” gag and was overall so entertaining that I bought a picture book version of the episode to read to my infant son.

In spite of not having either of the episodes that would usually make me buy the show, an open-minded re-watching of the first dozen or so episodes yielded pretty positive results. Jaime Reyes’ much-ballyhooed role as Batman’s de facto #2 is justified by how well the character is handled (although anytime you get Jaime and not a lot of his brilliant supporting cast, it’s too bad—WB network take notice) and how much basic juvenile escape fantasy is implicit with a kid who gets powers–it’s a bit like Captain Marvel, especially since Jaime may physically appear as old as he is in the comics but something about him screams “kid” to me.

This show should really appeal to the fans who are forever complaining that there’s not enough fun in mainstream superhero comics anymore, and that everything is too dark. Not entirely unlike the aforementioned Justice League International books, Batman: The Brave and the Bold takes well-rounded characters who are fun and maybe even have a sense of humor and plunge them into terribly dangerous situations–but rather than the danger corrupting all the characters’ innocence, the show allows the characters to brighten up their bleak situations. Escapism at its best, and since I got my discs late you can own it on DVD today!

Elephant Man
Written & Illustrated by Greg Houston
Published by NBM

Greg Houston’s latest book, a superhero parody, has moments, but it’s not quite as enjoyable as it could’ve been.

Elephant Man, the misshapen hero of Baltimore, is besieged by an outraged television reporter attempting to reveal his superheroic shortcomings, while the three-headed villain a priest, a rabbi and a duck launch a crime wave with similar intentions.

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I think surprise should probably in be quotes: In a post entitled “Another Surprise Revelation Hitting Batman in November,” DC’s Source blog links to a New York Post article that reveals that once Bruce Wayne is done returning, both he and Dick Grayson will be Batman. Er, Batmans. Batmen? They also offer a breakdown of which Batman will be appearing in which Bat-titles.  If you’ve seen DC’s solicitations for comics shipping in November, and if you haven’t, you can see ‘em right here, then you would have already noticed that there are two different Batmen with two different costumes in the dozen or so Batman books, and which Batman was in which Bat-book was fairly apparent based on those costumes (Detective Comics was the only up in the air one, since that cover’s Batman had his gloves, belt and crotch area covered by his cape). Anyway, confirmation!

It’s never too early to start getting excited about the next Jason comic: The cartoonist shares a page from his next album, The Isle of 1,000 Graves, on his blog. According to Fantagraphics, it will be available here in the United States next May. (Via Flog)

Is James Gunn’s Super the least realistic superhero movie of all time?: I think it may be. I mean Liv Tyler married to Rainn Wilson? Come on.

“Comic book artist Frank Cho has made a career of being bawdy and bold”: The Washington Post has a nice big feature on Cho, which you can read here.

“No Name Superhero Iron Fist To Get His Own Movie”: Actually, his name is Iron Fist. You used it right there in your headline.

Asian-American comics character likely to be played by an Asian-American: Er, it probably doesn’t sound like news the way I framed it there, but apparently the role of Nico in the in-the-works Runaways movie wasn’t initially being specified as an Asian-American role, and now it is. Techland sums it up better. It’s weird because I could have sworn that movie had already come out, and that Dakota Fanning or Kristen Stewart had played Nico.

Rip Hunter, Booster Gold and company may be spending two or three books a month looking for Maxwell Lord, but in Wednesday’s Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2 by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund, all they were looking for was one another. Following the destruction of Vanishing Point in the series’ first issue, the father-son time-traveling team (along with their teammates Superman and Green Lantern) were separated by a chronal blast that also threw the four back to Pytharia, the homeworld of Claw the Unconquered and Starfire (no, not that one—read the book). Dan Jurgens sat down, as he has every month since Booster Gold #6, to talk about the events of the day.

The Gold Exchange: I like the framing device of using Older Booster and Younger Rip as a setup for the Younger Booster/Older Rip story. Is that something that’ll continue through the mini?

Dan Jurgens: Yeah. It gives some insight into the Booster/Rip relationship and also helps provide some important pieces of the back story. I think it also serves to make them both more human while also elevating Booster. (more…)

At today’s DC Nation Panel at the Baltimore Comic-Con, DC Comics Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler told a fan who asked about Batman: The Animated Series that a Batman Beyond ongoing series was launching soon. The fan-favorite character, who has a DVD box set upcoming, is currently being featured in a miniseries that makes his adventures canonical within the DC Comics Multiverse for the first time.

While the fast-paced nature of a convention panel moved moved right along to the next subject, Sattler’s response piqued Lucas Siegel’s interest and he talked to DC, who verified exclusively to Newsarama that Batman Beyond will be an ongoing monthly series after the current mini is over.

There’s been no conversation about a creative team yet, although an ongoing following on the heels of a successful mini often means that the same team will take it on. What say you, ‘Rama readers? Will you buy more Terry McGinnis? And should the same creative team take it on, or are there some other creators you’d like to see take a swing?

Emperor Kurr (Savage Dragon) took on Thor (not to be confused with The Mighty Thor) in this week’s Savage Dragon #163, as our savage roundtable enters its second year, a year in which the main character of the comic has been dead, either physically or mentally or both. Still, critics (including this writer) have maintained that it’s been a terrific year—one of Larsen’s best, signaling a real renaissance for the character and its creator. This issue featured some of longtime fans’ favorite characters, with Dimension X and the God Squad featuring prominently and the Emperor Kurr and Daredevil stories picking up speed. Plus, this is the first part of the new “Emperor Dragon” storyline. After a month like that, you can bet that Gavin and I had a lot of questions for Erik…!

Russell Burlingame: Rex’s exposition dialogue toward the beginning of this issue is all stuff that we learned/assumed during the last arc; is that mostly for the benefit of readers picking up at part 1 of a new story?

Erik Larsen: That and to catch up anybody that might start reading here or to keep folks up on what’s going on–I’ll do my best to keep readers up to speed.

Gavin Higginbotham: Rex and Horridus have discovered that Mister Glum has begun conquering Dimension-X. Evil Angel only made mention of plans of conquest a couple of years ago, those two must really have stepped up their efforts to have transformed so many planets into new Glum Worlds. Have they got their own army now? Perhaps the Absorbanoids and the rest of Deathseed’s army? Or is Glum’s armor more powerful than we know?

EL: We’ll find all that out as things unfold but typically, conquered peoples join up with the new power and things snowball from there. Certainly Glum isn’t defeating everybody in hand-to-hand combat. (more…)

Writer Brian Clevinger announced back in January that Atomic Robo, his Red 5 Comics creation with artist Scott Wegener, was getting an animated short film courtesy of The Fictory, titled Atomic Robo: Last Stop. Now we have the first teaser trailer, and though it’s definitely just “a teaser,” it looks pretty much exactly how you’d hope it to look:

Psyched? It’s scheduled for “late 2010.” Don’t forget that both Clevinger and Wegener have upcoming Marvel projects, both with the word “Avenger” in the title — Clevinger is writing Captain America: The Fighting Avenger, and Wegener’s providing art for Avenger’s: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

When the human Captain Leonard MacKenzie fell in love with the Atlantean princess Fen, their union produced a hybrid child with unique abilities. Namor, whose name means “Avenging Son,” was born with incredible strength, bulletproof skin, and the ability to breath both air and water. He could even defy gravity, aided by wings on his ankles that allowed him to control his flight path.

In 1939, Namor began crossing swords with the surface world, often provoked by humans who looked at him with fear and suspicion. Called the “Sub-Mariner” by the media, Namor came to believe humans were a threat to his people and he staged attacks against New York, leading him to battle the android superhero known as the original Human Torch. But when the Nazi menace rose, Namor saw them as a greater threat and joined with Allied forces to combat them. He even teamed with Captain America and the Torch to form a team known as the Invaders.

Some time after the end of WW II, an attack on Atlantis left the Sub-Mariner an amnesiac and he wandered the streets of New York for years. He was eventually discovered by Johnny Storm, a member of the Fantastic Four who called himself the new Human Torch. Johnny helped restore Namor’s memories only to discover that the Sub-Mariner was once again intent on waging war against humanity, believing that surface people had destroyed his home and civilization. Eventually, the Sub-Mariner found that his people had survived, relocating to safer territory, and his need for vengeance cooled. Since then, he has often worked with Earth’s heroes as well as against them, depending on what he believes will benefit his people. Most recently, Emma Frost of the X-Men has recruited Namor to also act as a protector of Earth’s mutant humans, those born with the special X-gene that gives them superhuman abilities. How long the Sub-Mariner will stay with the X-Men is anyone’s guess.

And during all these adventures, he’s had a unique wardrobe (or lack thereof). And since he’s got a new series premiering this week, it seems an appropriate time to look over his aquatic apparel, don’t you think?

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“Swamp Monsters and Stoners”: As a big fan of the original run of Man-Thing comics, I really enjoyed this interesting piece by Oliver Ho about the real-world origins of Marvel’s Man-Thing and the extreme weirdness of the comics he originally starred in. They weren’t good comics per se, but they sure are fascinating comics.

“Marvel now working on Iron Fist film”: This is the best “Oh hey, Marvel is still planning on making an Iron Fist movie” report you’ll read.

 “I don’t think there’s another full-time employed editorial cartoonist in America who can draw an egg as well as I can”: Political cartoonist Clay Jones is quite proud of his egg-drawing ability.

“Indie comic films endure rough summer”: The headline of this “Hey, they can’t all be Spider-Man 2” story is sort of unfortunate, as it confuses the issue a bit—Does “indie” refer to the publishers of the comics under discussion, or the film studios and production companies involved? Because movies based on DC and Marvel comics flop too, like The Losers and Kick-Ass, which the writer mentions by name. There’s an obvious point that ultimately gets made, one that I’m always surprised isn’t common knowledge in Hollywood (and places-that-talk-about-Hollywood) yet. That point being that no matter how popular a comic book is, it’s only that popular for a comic book, and movie operate on an entirely different scale. The comic book audience is the Bottle City of Kandor to the Metropolis of the movie audience.

Do you like comics? Do you like attractive people?: Then you’ll love Hot Nerds Reading Comics, which is a collection of (mostly) very attractive people reading and/or rolling around on beds littered with comics. Study the captions, and you’ll see that you recognize the names of some of these hot nerds…some of ‘em have written and drawn some of your favorite comics. (Via Flog)

Bryan Lee O’Malley, tourist: The Scott Pilgrim series creator took pictures on the set of the movie based on his comics, and he would like to share them with you. (Well, maybe not you personally, but you get the idea…). I particularly enjoyed the philosophical questions raised by the caption of this photo, followed closely by this one, which seems to acknowledge that the movie could have used a bit more of Alison Pill’s Kim Pine. Maybe in the sequel, Kim Pine Vs. The World…? (Confidential to Hollywood: I would also accept Wallace Wells Vs. The World, Knives Chau Vs. The World or Todd Ingram and Lucas Lee: Buddy Cops)

Wait, where’s Wondy’s jacket?: Artist Jo Chen shares a very nice-looking picture of Wonder Woman, for “an undisclosed project.” 

Cartoonist Matt Bors weighs in on a ginned-up controversy, from half a world away: Via Twitter. (Via this dude at Alternet)

See, there problem was putting a specific number right there in their name: In preparation for/hype-enation of an upcoming Fantastic Four storyline, Marvel.com runs through some of the past replacement FF members. 

What about the other 364 days of the year?: Tomorrow is apparently Read Comics in Public Day which, as far as comics-related holidays go, isn’t quite up there with Free Comic Book Day (For one thing, no one gives me free comic books on it). Meanwhile, Dirk Deppey says “Saturday is Kick a Person Reading Comics in Public Day.” Now I’m torn. I really like comics, but I also like kicking people…

If I understand the political ad correctly, DC, Marvel and Team Comics in general should be working against school levies in order to boost their circulation…?: Dean Trippe responds to some dumb-ass political mailer thing some dumb senator made, which implies that if teachers get laid off, kids will read comic books. Or something. (Via Progressive Ruin)

The Newsboy Legion by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby v.1
Written & Illustrated by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with Arturo Cazaneuve, Steve Brodie, John Daly, Gil Kane and Harry Tschida
Published by DC Comics

As they’ve done with previous Jack Kirby hardcover editions, DC Comics puts together a nice package here – 300+ pages, hardcover (though personally, I’d pay a couple extra bucks for a stitched spine rather than a glued one), newsprint paper (preserving the pulpy origins of the material, though many readers may prefer a sturdier stock to ensure that their $40 books last a few years) – in the first collection of the Newsboy Legion stories created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Star-Spangled Comics #7 through 32, originally published from April 1942 to May 1944, are compiled here, introducing Tommy, Gabby, Scrapper and Big Words, four doggedly determined newspaper hawkers from the worst part of town.  Together, they battle mobsters and Nazi spies with last-minute assistance from their guardian, policeman Jim Harper and his alter ego, The Guardian (clever, that).

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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!

…is trotting out the JLA: Earth-2 version of The Crime Syndicate to fight the JLA yet again, because Grant Morrison seemingly said all there was to say about the evil opposite Justice League in the original graphic novel and because it indicates that new-ish Justice League of America writer James Robinson didn’t really have anything new to do with the team other than have them fight the same old villains over and over again.

But as Ethan Van Sciver’s cover for the upcoming JLoA #50 indicates (you can see the whole thing at The Source), by the time the Crime Syndicate shows up to fight again, the League will still consist of a handful of legacy characters…with Jesse Quick and Jade apparently filling the Flash and Green Lantern slots in the League.

So instead of the Justice League vs. their evil opposites story, this could be the Justice League’s evil opposites vs. generally weaker, less-experienced characters with similar powers, so I guess that could qualify as a new twist. For example, Superman vs. Ultraman may be a ho-hum match-up at this point, but a Supergirl vs. Ultraman match-up  at least has a smidgen of suspense about its outcome.

Now, why is Jesse Quick there instead of Wally West, who doesn’t seem to have much going on these days, and why is Jade there instead of one of the other four Green Lanterns who used to be on the JLA…? Other than the fact that it would potentially make the story more interesting, of course.

This concludes Caleb’s most fannish post of the week.

[Hat tip to Chris Shields]

Any artist will tell you that a great inker can make you look even better. The art of inking has been around since comics themselves. From legends like Kevin Nowlan and Dick Giordano to contemporary legends like Karl Story and Scott Williams, just to name a few, have done tremendous work on making great comics. There’s awards for inking, as well as tutorials and they’ll tell you that it’s more than just being a “tracer”.

Chasing Amy reference’s aside, there seems to be a bit of debate over at DeviantArt, the world’s biggest site for amateurs and pros alike to display works, about the art of inking.  Over at Jeremy Dale’s DA blog, I read this, basically stating that art that isn’t yours is not allowed. Yes, that includes penciled artwork that you happened to ink.

You are not particularly clear in your reply, but from what you have said I would assume that this “inker” simply took sketches and drawings that were the work of another artist and “inked” them without first obtaining proper permission to do so.

This practice is in violation of our copyright policy since you must obtain a proper license to use any material which you intend to use (“ink”) before you submit it to your deviantART gallery.

That was DA’s response to artist Bob Almond about the situation. So basically, Deviant Art told this inker that nothing in his gallery “may not contain material or images which were not created entirely through your own effort”, and his images were deleted. I don’t get this rule and needs to be altered. What about collaborations? Or colorists? It’s utterly mind-boggling that an art site would see things in generalizations and black and white.

I’m sorry, but this is just ridiculous. DeviantArt needs to rectify their rules because not only is inking a legitimate artform, the talented men and women behind the brush and pens need to be recognized.

Last week we talked to Brandon Montclare, writer of November’s Chaos War: Chaos King one-shot. Since then, we’ve heard from the art-side of the equation — veteran illustrator Michael William Kaluta, known for Starstruck, Madame Xanadu and numerous other works over the course of his prolific career.

His thoughts on his current project, and his own history with Marvel Comics, follow after the jump!

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It looks like the Black Widow will be the only thing stopping the Avengers from being a boy’s club, as Joss Whedon confirmed that there’s only going to be one female Avenger in the upcoming film.

“It is true that the movie is only going to have one female Avenger,” Whedon told the Herald-Sun in Australia, according to Moviehole. “But she will not be the only female character.”

Scarlett Johansson’s character, the Black Widow, has already been signed for the movie (and was featured prominently in a star-studded SDCC photo-op with the big-screen Avengers assembled). The other confirmed Avengers include Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, the Hulk and Nick Fury.

Rumors floating around thus far include love interest characters such as Pepper Potts and Betty Ross — and I wouldn’t rule out characters like Sharon Carter or Maria Hill, either. What say you, Rama readers? Which female Avengers would you have wanted to see?

Penny Century
Written & Illustrated by Jamie Hernandez
Published by Fantagraphics

At this point, I don’t know what else there is to say about Jamie Hernandez or Love & Rockets.  I suspect that one day he’s going to make a truly terrible comic, if only because he must feel at least a little bit bad about showing nearly every other creator up so often.

In 1996, when Jamie and his brother Gilbert felt that they’d said as much as they wanted to say under the Love & Rockets title, they folded their long-running, acclaimed comic magazine, and each moved on to separate comic projects.  For Jamie, this meant creating a three-issue Whoa, Nellie! serial and a new series titled Penny Century.  Both series took place alongside his previous Locas stories in Love & Rockets; Maggie’s female wrestling champion aunt and two colleagues took the lead in Whoa, Nellie!, while Penny Century continued Maggie and Hopey’s life tales, with more focus on their blond bombshell, billionaire’s wife pal Beatríz “Penny Century” García.

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I’ll have to take their word for it: I missed most of the 1970s and not being able to read for the part of the decade I was around for, I have nothing to add to Tom Spurgeon and friends’ “25 Emblematic Comics of The ’70s—A Lengthy First Draft,” beyond noting that I enjoyed reading it and found a lot of titles to add to my “To Read” list (I’ve only read about half of these books at this point).

If conventional wisdom holds that the Watchmen movie didn’t really work…: Why on earth would anyone want to try another movie based on deconstructing the comic book superhero genre using off-brand analogue of name-brand superhero characters? Only with a shorter-lived, less-popular title? I don’t know; The Authority movie discussed here in this bit of gossip is just gossip at this point, anyway.

Local boy makes good: Well, local man. Here’s a little feature from Brownsville, Texas’ The Herald about high school teacher Kevin Garcia, whom the paper reports is making a contribution to Namor: The First Mutant that “will be added at the end of the comic book series and will chronicle the life of Namor through the eyes of Namora, a female version of the Atlantean hero.” So….a back-up story? (Marvel.com’s solicitation doesn’t mention Garcia or a back-up, although online solicitation info is often less than complete).  It’s sort of unclear. Also unclear? Why the paper ran a cover image of Dark Reign: The List—X-Men #1 with the story, instead of one of the covers from Namor: The First Mutant #1. There were at least three different covers to choose from and everything. (UPDATE: Garcia himself clarifies in the comments).

Hopefully as The Thing: “New ‘Fantastic Four’ Casting Rumors Include Adrien Brody”

Actually, I’m not sure I should be: “Why You Should Be Concerned About Frank Miller’s Gucci Ad”

Here’s your regular reminder that Bully, The Little Stuffed Bull is awesome: The Internet’s most washing machine-safe comics blogger takes a look at Archie Comics’ not-always-so-timely attempts to stay on top of the latest youth trends. And man, it is an exhaustive list. Check it out here.