You know what’s super-exciting and happening in just a couple of hours? The season premiere of Chuck, my favorite show currently on TV. And while last year’s third season wasn’t as spectacular as we had all hoped and expected after the terrific second-season finale, it was still one of the best shows on TV and a singularly entertaining genre show.

Chuck: The Complete Third Season, which hit DVD and Blu-Ray on September 7 (so you can own it today on DVD or Blu-Ray), features not only every episode of the show’s most spy-tastic season but also a fun mockumentary detailing the history of Jeffster (up to the night of the protest concert featured at the end of the season), as well as an actual documentary about Chuck‘s presence and history at Comic-Con International.

This season sees Chuck‘s supporting cast (which, like Manhunter or Blue Beetle comics, is arguably the strongest part of his story) getting a lot more super-spy screentime, with Awesome and Morgan being introduced into Team Bartowski pretty early in the season, giving them an interesting mix of day-to-day stories and cloak-and-dagger tales. Chuck’s father, played by Scott Bakula, makes his return to the show as well for a final few episodes that, while added at the last minute when the network ordered more of the show, still fit seamlessly into the rest of the season and were, to me, the strongest and best-written episodes of the season (perhaps the looming spectre of cancellation that’s always hanging over the head of this show had been lifted a little, and that allowed the writers more freedom). Sprinkle in a little non-spy characterization for Adam Baldwin’s Casey (finally!) and you’ve got a really interesting season which, while it kind of dragged in places, certainly had a few great moments.

Seeing the show return in spite of not being all that much more highly-rated than Heroes (a onetime ratings juggernaut that NBC gave the ax at the end of last season) created a great sigh of relief for lovers of good TV, and especially for me (as I was very disappointed with almost everything last season). It’ll be interesting, with this season already chock full of guest stars and promising to cope with the ramifications of where Sarah and Chuck went at the end of season 3, to see whether it can pick up any new eyes or whether it’ll be four seasons and out for our favorite electronics store clerk-turned-super spy.

Some questions posed by the new “Heroes for Hire” teaser . . .

1) Are Abnett and Lanning out of the cosmic titles, as rumored?

2) Is Moon Knight out of Secret Avengers?

3) Does The Punisher think “Hey, I’m gonna kill villains anyway; I might as well get paid for it?” Doesn’t that just make sense?

4) Does Ghost Rider have the most diverse resume in comics? Agent of darkness, angel, stunt cyclist, Champion, hero for hire, fry cook at Denny’s, etc.

5) Isn’t it strange that Misty Knight gets a solo teaser but doesn’t make the group poster?

6) Marvel Math: How many Marvel films are represented by this one image, and how many of them were bad?

7) Is there any doubt that Abnett and Lanning will do a great job with this idea?

Readers, questions?

Who is responsible for this crazy-looking Spanish-language know-off of Batman and Robin ?: I suspect Robin, who gets top-billing. (Via Comics Reporter)

How do you know you’ve been reading too many comics?: Here’s one sign.

Okay, I guess you can miss a few deadlines if you have an excuse this good: So if Grant Morrison hasn’t been finishing up all his Batman and Joe The Barbarian scripts bang on time, what has he been doing?

“The State of the Graphic Novel”: That’s not really the best headline, given that Jared Keller’s piece bearing it for The Atlantic is simply a Q-and-A with Robert Kirkman, but it’s an interesing enough interview nonetheless.

“Zap! Pow! Wham! Now, you’re learning!”: I guess I’m just going to have to learn to accept the fact that these sorts of headlines will literally never go away. Nor will headlines like this.

If I were a powerful Hollywood producer, you know what I’d do?: Cast Ian McKellan as the lead in a movie about the pope, just to annoy the pope…and allow McKellan to make another provocative t shirt.

Wait, raising money for charity doesn’t seem all that menacing…: Did you notice a couple of weeks ago when a Dennis The Menace cartoon featured two little girl characters that looked more like likenesses of real little kids than all the more cartoony, stylized tots that usually populate the world of Dennis The Menace? (I know Comics Curmudgeon Josh Fruhlinger did). Well, The Comics Journal‘s R.C. Harvey did, and he asked current strip artist Marcus Hamilton what was up with that.

“…I have a few suggestions for more or less common varieties of comics that I would be happy to see quietly disappear”: Writing for the Techland blog, Douglas Wolk has made a list for certain sorts of comic books he wouldn’t mind not being around any more. Part of me is tempted to try and find examples of great comis from each category to offer as counterarguments, if only to be a jerk, but that seems like an awful lot of work, given how rare comics in categories like “Thinly disguised movie proposals” or “Licensed titles based on TV shows in which the characters are obviously drawn from photographs and video freeze-frames of the actors” are any good at all, let alone great.

“Children create sketches for Gandhi comic book”: This sounds like a cute idea.  The aritcle doesn’t include any examples, so maybe I’m imaging cooler results than actually, um, resulted, but I’m a big fan of little kid art, and I bet something like a bio comic would be a lot more visually interesting if a buch of little kids drew parts of it than the more standard sort of art you see in certain sorts of bio comics.

Andrew Robinson has been in the comic scene for almost 20 years now, with his cover art ranging from Starman, Superman/Batman, Titans, as well as indie work such as The 5th Beatle and Dusty Star. While he faded out for a while, he’s back into swing with some killer new stuff. I know I’m late to the ballgame, but check out some of these commissions he worked from Baltimore Comic Con.

The Shade is probably my favorite of that assortment. I love the detail of the shadows and smoke. If you’re a fan of Robinson, or want to see more of what this talented guy has to offer, check out his DeviantArt account.

What started simply as a doodle from artist Katie Cook, took Twitter by storm today (at least for me since I follow a ton of artists). Soon you had artists like Skottie Young doing his rendetions of various cat characters.

I can’t post them all, obviously, but my favorite has to be Catvengers Assemble by Mike Maihack. Vision Kitty is too adorable. Yeah, I said adorable.

Over at Project: Rooftop, P:R regular Jemma Salume put a little twist on the Seven Evil Exes, well, maybe not little. With a bit of creativity, Salume put together all of the Exes, if they had been the opposite sex. Must admit, there is some pretty cool stuff. I love how “Ingrid Todd” turned out. Dean Trippe added the clever names. Be sure to check out the rest of them here.

Looks like the people over at Warner’s Animation have found their Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor for their upcoming “All-Star Superman” movie.  James Denton (Desperate Housewives), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace).  This would be Denton’s and Hendricks’ first foray into animated voice overs, while LaPaglia had worked on Happy Feet and the upcoming Legend of the Guardians. In addition to Denton, Hendicks, and LaPaglia, Ed Asner is Daily Planet editor Perry White, Frances Conroy as Ma Kent with Linda Cardelini, Arnold Vosloo and Matthew Gray Gubler as yet to be named voices.

I am more than enthused about this casting call. While, I might not be the biggest Superman fan on the planet, this just seems stellar, especially for the no-brainer that is Ed Asner for Perry White.

So sound off, readers. What do you think of All-Star Superman‘s cast?

You know, it seems that there’s been some confusion recently about the characters called Ice Maiden and Ice. So just to make sure we’re on the same page, here are the basics.

Originally, there was this girl who showed up with blue skin and ice powers. She was called Ice Maiden and she palled around with the international group known as the Global Guardians, representing Norway.

A while later in Justice League International #12, we met a new Ice Maiden whose name was Tora Olafsdotter. This was intended to be the same character, except that she now had Caucasian skin. She was named Tora because the creators behind Justice League International were under the impression that Ice Maiden’s name had never been revealed. They were mistaken. She was named “Sigrid Nansen” in one of DC’s Who’s Who books. Oops.

Tora was said to be the princess of a tribe of legendary Nordic ice elementals. She and her best friend Green Flame left the Global Guardians and joined the Justice League, changing their names to Fire and Ice. After years of fighting evil alongside the League, Ice died in battle. Later on, the original blue-skinned Ice Maiden appeared again, explaining that she was Sigrid Nansen and had been the first hero to be called Ice Maiden. Sigrid had gained her powers from an experiment meant to imbue a person with the same abilities of the magical Nordic ice elementals. After Princess Tora, a true elemental, was discovered, Sigrid felt like a second fiddle and so she had left the Global Guardians, vanishing from the public eye. Thus, Tora had taken up her costume and codename, before joining the Justice League soon afterward.

Joining the League after Tora’s death, Ice Maiden became a hero in her own right. She later left the team and, sadly, fell into a tragic fate that has left her comatose to this day. Meanwhile, Ice was resurrected and is active again, seeking to regain her footing in the world.

So, Ice Maiden I = blue-skinned Sigrid, a metahuman. Ice (formerly Ice Maiden II) = Tora, a magical ice elemental. Got it? Sweet! Now let’s get on with this fashion overview.

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This one’s interesting. In the wake of some recent controversy surrounding promotion opportunities and the fact that part three of “Grounded” in “Superman” was running one month late, we see now via DC’s The Source blog that the fourth part will be supplanted by a fill-in, er, “interlude”.

Writer G. Willow Wilson (AIR) and newcomer Leandro Oliveira provide a “Grounded” interlude in October’s SUPERMAN #704, detailing a visit Lois Lane makes to the town where she went to college in anticipation of Superman’s arrival. When she runs into an old boyfriend and sees the nice, normal family he has, Lois is can’t help but examine the choices she made and wonder if they were the correct ones.

For the record, I understand that JMS was sick. I get sick. We all get sick and f— up at work. I get that. What I don’t get is how major storylines at major publishers so frequently twist in the wind because of circumstance. Shouldn’t everything be done far enough in advance so that JMS CAN get sick? Should a whole schedule be derailed because one part of the larger machine is unable, for good reason, to function that day or week? The fans can handle it; if a book’s late, we can deal with it. But, honestly, doesn’t it seem like the retailers are constantly taking the brunt of this kind of thing in the face?

What wouldn’t Batman say?: As Albert Ching shared on the main page yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter has an article of great interest to the comics world regarding Warner Bros.’ relationship with DC Comics, with CEO Barry Meyer characterizing it as changing from “custodial” to “entrepeneurial” and promising a big organizational announcement next week. What could it be? Heidi “The Beat” MacDonald suspects that it’s the long-rumored move of DC HQ from NYC to LA (Or somewhere else on the West Coast…I just got caught up withe acronyms there for a second). But let’s not lose focus on the really intersting part of the Hollywood Reporter story: It includes an anecdote in which Meyer was told by someone at DC in a meeting “But Batman wouldn’t say that.” What wouldn’t Batman say? I know we all think we know Batman pretty well, and he does have a pretty distinct voice for a comics character, but once I started thinking about things Batman would never, ever say, I couldn’t really think of anything. “Does this make me look fat?” or “Are you going to finish that sandwich?” were among the first two that came to mind, but I could totally hear Diedrich Bader’s Brave and the Bold Batman voice saying both of those…and anything similarly silly. Is there any thing so cheesy Batman could say that you couldn’t imagine Adam West’s Bat-voice repeating it? Is there anything so harsh and vulgar that Batman might say that you couldn’t imagine appearing in a dialogue bubble of Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, with a thick black bar over it? The next place I went was pop culture references and catch phrases, but then I realized the old Bob Haney Batman would certainly say such things. Man, I can not think of anything that no Batman would ever say. Maybe—maybe—”Make mine Marvel,” but I imagine there are circumstances in which even that phrase could be uttered by a Batman…

Librarians are surprisingly easy to knock down: Exhibit A.

MTV comic book movie news: Blake Lively won’t be Star Sapphire in the first Green Lantern movie, but there are plenty of hints that she will be in a future one. So if you want to see Lively in a front-less fuschia latex sheathe, be sure to see the GL movie repeatedly opening weekend, I guess. Meanwhile, The Avengers‘ Jeremy Renner says movie Hawkeye won’t be wearing his familiar purple get-up, but will instaed wear a costume that’s “a little more reality-based” and “not a big, puple comics sort of thing.” Will he still wear a hat with a giant H on it and a loin cloth over his pants?  Will he use unsettling slang?

“Cuba as Seen Through Cartoons”: The Wall Street Journal has a Q-and-A interview with Inverna Lockpez and Dean Haspiel about their new original grpahic novel, Cuba: My Revolution, “a ficitonal tale inspired by” Lockpez’ real life. For more on the book, publisher Vertigo’s blog has a couple of substantial posts, including this one on Haspiel’s cover process.

Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ Vertigo series, The Unwritten, has swooped up numerous award nominations and has found itself on the New York Times Best Sellers list twice already. It is a tale of intrigue, fantasy, father-son relationships, and finding your purpose in life. Tom Taylor has been on quite an adventure in the past year and a half and with the revelations of issue #16, it’s really only begun. Blog@ spoke to the author of the series, acclaimed writer Mike Carey about the ambitious undertaking he took with the most recent issue and what’s in store for Tom, Savoy and Lizzie. Caution, there are spoilers for those of you not caught up. (more…)

Back on September 10th, we made the following post:

1. Produce a body of work.
2. Potentially alienate your industry in a series of interviews.
3. Make music.

Quick . . . who is it?

[Alan Moore photo by Jose Villarubia, via Swindle Magazine]

Update: Answer? One was kidding.

The Thin Black Line: Perspectives on Vince Colletta, Comics Most Controversial Inker
Written by Robert L. Bryant, Jr.
Published by TwoMorrows

Probably the most surprising aspect of Robert L. Bryant, Jr.’s, portrait of comic book illustrator Vince Colletta is how fair it actually feels.  Stories – often legends – of Colletta’s inking shortcuts are not hard to come by, so Bryant tracks down and interviews creators who worked directly with Colletta or who knew the man personally.  Among the industry luminaries to speak are, among others, Joe Kubert, Joe Sinnot, Dick Ayers, Mark Evanier, and Erik Larsen (whose first job at Marvel Comics was inked by Colletta) in addition to Vinnie’s son Franklin.

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Whether you play the Left 4 Dead video games or are a fan of noted comic book artist Mike Oeming (or, y’know, both), there’s a lot to like about the digital-only Left 4 Dead comic — full title Left 4 Dead Presents: The Sacrifice — that hit online this week.

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1.) Yesterday DC’s Source blog revealed the cover for the second issue of  Batman, Inc., the new ongoing series by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette (That’s a detail from it above). The image features Batman Bruce Wayne in his new, kinda lame costume standing side-by-side with a new character, who is also dressed in black and wearing a mask a bit like Batman’s (Needs ears! Everyone who works with Batman should have to wear little bat-ears!).

So who is that guy? I don’t know, but if the premise of the new title, as Morrison has expressed it in interviews so far, is for Batman to start franchising his crime-fighting operation, then that is apparently a new Batman-type character, along the lines of the Club of Heroes/Batmen of Many Lands character formulation.

I checked with my personal Japanese translator (i.e. my friend who happens to have been born in Japan), and she says the letters to the left are katakana, while those on the right are kanji. The writing in the left column says “Batman,” while the writing in the right column says “Mishu,” so presumably that is the new character’s name.

So is that dude the new Japanese Batman? (Maye, maybe not; kanji are based on Chinese characters, so I guess he could be Chinese…or maybe from a fictional DCU Asian country where they speak Chinese and Japanese).

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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!

This is Ultraa.

This is Ultra the Multi-Alien. Ultra the Multi-Alien is not Ultraa.

This is Ultra Boy, Ultra-Humanite (with DJ Rubber Ducky and Santa Flash), and Ultra Detergent.

Everybody got that?

“I want that power. By right, it is mine. For ultimate power is the ultimate destiny of Doom.”

Leave it to comicdom’s mad scientist, Eric Canete, to draw Marvel’s greatest mad scientist, Dr. Victor Von Doom. Dr. Doom has one of the most iconic looks to him, yet remains one the more simple of designs. Though, with Canete’s eye, nothing is ever just simple. What Canete has done here with the good doctor is really a visual feast. Showing off Doom in some sort of Kirby-esque contraption.

As always, I’m blown away by Canete’s intricate line work. Especially around the energy from the cannon and background. The feathering on even his mask is even more impressive.

If you’re not following his blog, you are missing out on some great artwork and an intense talent.

After their 8-2 finish in the New York Media Softball League, the DC Bullets went into last Sunday’s playoffs as the #2 seed and matched up against #3 Wall St. Journal in the first round.  Despite taking the season series from WSJ (by 15-11 and 12-10 scores), the Bullets knew that Wall St. Journal, the defending 2009 champions, would be a big hurdle to overcome as several key members who’d missed the earlier games showed up for the playoff showdown.

The extra talent on the Journal’s bench proved too much for the comic book makers, who fell 21-5 and faced WNYC in the consolation game while WSJ went on to top High Times for their second consecutive league title. So congrats to Wall St. Journal on a well-earned championship.

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Comics Are For Everyone.

There is a pretty interesting post over at Valerie D’Orazio’s blog (former president of the Friends of LuLu organization) about her future and her next endeavor called Comics Are For Everyone.

I do not see the organization being a non-profit for at least the first year of its existence, as I have to tie up loose ends with FoL and then there is a long process to become a non-profit. But this organization will include an awards ceremony, and the first one will take place in 2011. If we can work with one or more preexisting comics charities or charitable causes and help them raise money that year, that would be great.

While the organization only has 5 goals to its cause, they are quite beefy, almost daunting.

1. Return Comics To The Masses
2. Create Tomorrow’s Heroes & Icons
3. Increase Opportunities For Comic Creators
4. Eradicate Sexism/Racism/Homophobia/Ageism in Comics
5. Give Back To The World

Wow. Just Wow. It’s sort of a comic revolution. Along with the goals, C.A.F.E. will oppose discrimination and encourage unity,
educate current and aspiring comics freelancers, promote the work of young and young-at-heart creators, reward diversity in comics with both recognition and awards, lobby for the creation of more new characters instead of the same retreads, organize comic professionals and fans in the support of charitable enterprises, and spotlight comics in genres other than superheroes: children’s, crime, romance, sci-fi, western, etc.

This seems like such a task, but I for one, am all for this.