As if Mjolnir wasn’t big enough, Marvel decided to go extra large with their new Thor movie standee (you know, those giant cardboard things in theater lobbies).

I was all prepared to find one and take a silly picture with it when I read Marvel is holding a fun contest of sorts for just that type of thing. From Marvel.com:

“[We] wanted to let you know that once the standee begins appearing in movie theaters across the country on March 18 you can send in photos of yourself and your friends standing next to it to a special Flickr page! After you submit your photo with Mjolnir to flickr.com/groups/thorstandees, we’ll review and pick select photos to appear here on Marvel.com!

Thor will hit theaters May 6, the standee will, I’m sure, hit many defenseless patrons on March 18.

DC Comics releases this week contained a tantalizing five-page prelude of Batwoman #1 (one you can view right here); showcasing art from the ever-acclaimed J.H. Williams III, who co-wrote the book with W. Haden Blackman. The preview said “April 2011,” but it looks like that won’t end up being the case — per Diamond, the publisher has canceled orders on both Batwoman #1 and #2, with a new date yet to be announced. Batwoman #1 was originally solicited for release in February. We’ll get you an update with a new release date when we know it.

Brecht Evens’ late 2010 graphic novel The Wrong Place was a great one, but it was also a revelatory one. Evens used words and pictures to tell the story, but he also used color, page space and implied, invisible panels co-created by the reader’s act of reading to tell that story in a unusual, perhaps even unique way.

I haven’t read all the comics yet (although I’m working on it!), but I’ve read a lot of them, and I can honestly say I’ve never read anything quite like The Wrong Place.

This week Top Shelf released Evens’ Night Animals, and while it’s rather different than The Wrong Place, it is a new Evens comic and thus the most like Wrong Place of anything I’ve seen so far.

The title page of the slim, 48-page volume bears the sub-title, “A Diptych about What Rushes through the Bushes,” and the contents that follow are two short, wordless stories that indeed share a nighttime setting and a massive menagerie of beautifully, bizarre creature.

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Ok, this is just too awesome for words. Up for bid on Ebay for the next six days, a custom tattoo designed personally for you by comic artist Cliff Chiang and inked by artist Brian Stringer at C2E2. The best part? Proceeds go to the Hero Initiative.

Here’s the gist: “The winner will have the unique opportunity to have Chiang draw, in advance of the show, any character of their choice or any other subject matter that can be agreed upon, as an 8″x10″ illustration. Then, this artwork will be tattooed by Brian Stringer at C2E2.”

And not only to you get the tattoo of your choice out of it, you get to keep the original illustration too. Of course you must have a valid state ID and be 18 years or older in order to win. Also, according to the listing, “The tattoo will be black and gray, any color work at tattooer’s discretion. No cover-ups, text, or logos. Any character head shot, bust, or action pose, up to 8″x10″. Up to 4 hours of tattooing. No neck or face tattoos.”

I’m planning on bidding but I’m worried it’s going to get too rich for my blood by the time the six days are up. I will try though. This is such a cool, original idea and a rare opportunity. Not to mention a great deal. And as I mentioned, 100% of the proceeds go to Hero Initiative so it’s a good cause too.

Following persistent rumors, a new director has been brought on board troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: Philip William McKinley, who directed Hugh Jackman (comic book connections wheee) in the Broadway version of The Boy From Oz. The latest press release from the show also included the previously disclosed news that former Sensational Spider-Man writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has joined the production to provide “book rewrites.” Additionally, in a shocker worthy of Herman Schultz himself, the opening date has been moved (again) from March 15 to “an event in early summer.”

This leaves original director Julie Taymor mostly out of the mix, with the press release stating that her “previous commitments” make it impossible for her to be involved in the day-to-day productions, but she is “not leaving the creative team.”

Keep reading Newsarama for more on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The full press release is after the jump.

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Gilbert Hernandez, Master of The Universe: Fantagraphics’ Flog blog links to a link featuring Hernandez MOTU art, which the blog saw linked to at another site’s blog. Which I am now linking to. Not the original, but the link to the link and the link to the other link to the link. Journalism! Anyway, it’s an awesome piece of awesome art. Even if it makes me realize I am either so old my long-term memory is rotting away, or my knowledge of MOTU characters has been replaced by other, more relevant facts over the decades—Who’s the lizard guy? Whiplash? A Snake Man? And there was a girl Orko? What the hell? I have no memory of this!

And speaking of Fantagraphics: I confess that my first reaction to seeing this 3D rendering of what the publisher’s upcoming Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race To Death Valley was to utter a swear word, preceded by the adjective “holy” and followed by an exclamation point.

You know what a a live-action Inhumans movie means, right?: Live-action Lockjaw!

Maybe if DC would have promoted the return of Super-Hip, Doom Patrol wouldn’t have been canceled: Johnny Bacardi proclaims his excitement over the inclusion of obscure DC character Super-Hip in an upcoming issue of Doom Patrol. (How obscure is Super-Hip? He appeared in DC’s Bob Hope comics, which I’d love to see get Showcased some day, and an old Doom Patrol comic, which Bacardi shares. He also teamed up with Batman and Brother Power, The Geek to fight the Mad Mod in the first few pages of an issues of Batman: The Brave and The Bold, the only comic book in which Batman could team up with Brother Power, The Geek and Super-Hip to fight The Mad Mod).  Bacardi also talks up Keith Giffen’s Doom Patrol in general. Have any of you guys been reading it? (It’s looming cancellation indicates that too few people were). Is it that good? I tried the first few issues, and dropped it during the Blackest Night crossover—I didn’t much care for the art.

The downside of part of the Comics Comics crew taking over The Comics Journal‘s website?: No more comics Comics Comics.

Batman Inc. update: Has Batman appointed the Batman of Vermont? Looks like.

It Came From the NYPL

Cross Game v. 2
Written & Illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi
Translated by Lillian Olsen
Lettering and touch-up by Jim Keefe & Mark McMurray
Published by Viz

In Cross Game v. 2, Mitsuru Adachi spends 280 of 350 pages chronicling a single baseball game. If you’re a baseball geek like me, it’s pure heaven.

The series’ overall arc, continuing from the first book, continues to revolve around high schooler Ko Kitamura developing into a baseball phenom, while his adversarial-cum-burgeoning-respect relationship with Aoba Tsukishima slowly evolves from childhood tensions into something more mature.

And, yeah, the emotional core of the series, Ko and Aoba’s relationship, is present in this book, but ultimately, v. 2 of Cross Game is devoted to Adachi’s astonishing ability to capture the magical moments of a baseball game on a comic book page. Using motion lines, severe angles, close-ups, quiet open panels of baseballs suspended in space, and angular poses that capture the contortions of charging fielders and off-balance throws, Adachi visually described the poetry of sports in static imagery.

Cross Game is, for this baseball fan anyway, a beautiful comic series; one I’ll probably begin buying before vol. 3 arrives in the U.S. But it’s great to know that I can continue to discover great series like this at my library; hopefully you’re all discovering similarly wonderful series at your branch.

The comic book in which Spider-Man made his first appearance went for an amazing $1.1 million in a transaction Monday night. That’s gonna buy a lot of web shooters.

Amazing Fantasy #15, written by Stan Lee , with a cover by Jack Kirby and interior art by Steve Ditko, was originally published in 1962 and sold to many for just 12 cents. (Sales for the issue were some of the highest for Marvel at the time.) These days, they’re a little harder to come by. This particular comic was graded 9.6 or near-mint, plus, and was sold by ComicConnect.com from a private seller to an undisclosed buyer. Aren’t they always? WHO ARE THESE RICH GEEKS AND DOES ONE WANT TO HELP ME OUT WITH MY CAR INSURANCE?!

I digress.

The sale now makes Amazing Fantasy #15 the second most expensive comic ever behind Superman’s debut in Action Comics which went for $1.5 million last year. However, it is the most money ever shelled out for a Silver Age book.

Chief Executive and Founder of ComicConnect, Stephen Fishler, said in a statement Tuesday, “People have often wondered how much this near-perfect condition book would sell for, and today we found out.”

Is it just me, or does this seem like a fairly light week for comic books? Or, at least, terribly noteworthy comic books? Please let me know if it’s just me. Otherwise, here’s what jumped out at me this week…

Comic Book Comics #5: The Action Philosophers team of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey finally roll out the latest issue of their series about the history of comics. This one’s the “All-Lawsuit Issue!” and features some of the greatest battles in comics history, including DC vs. Fawcett, Disney vs. The Air Pirates and Jack Kirby vs. Marvel. Also featuring Miracle Man, Dan DeCarlo, Steve Gerber,  Howard the Duck, Josie and the Pussycats,  and the Creator’s Bill of Rights. Whew! You can check out a preview here.

The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art: Jerry Robinson’s 1974 classic has been reworked and updated to cover the medium from its orgins to today for this $40, 300-page, nine-by-twelve-inch hardcover from Dark Horse. Preview here.

Girl Comics: Marvel’s 2010 stunt miniseries featuring all-woman creators on every single aspect of the book is finally released in trade format. So if you were waiting for the trade, you can stop waiting now. It’s a $16, 120-page book, and features a who’s who list of contributors, including Ann Noncenti, Jill Thompson, Collen Coover, Lea Hernandez, Carla Speed McNeil, Trina Robbins, Faith Erin Hicks, Stephanie Buscema, Ming Doyle and plenty of others.

Legion of Super Villains #1: Artist Francis Portela joins writer Paul Levitz for a $5, double-sized oneshot featuring Legion of Superheroes bad guys. Portela was the artist for that all-villains, “MODOK’s 11” miniseries Marvel published a few years back. I liked his art on that. I guess he’s building a reputation as The Guy To Hire To Draw Villain Books…?
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Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week I showed you what the crafters were making out of the form of the most famous video game character in the world, Mario. This week, I decided his taller, skinnier, John Leguizamo-esque brother Luigi deserved his time in the spotlight. Poor fella. Always getting chosen second…

First up, this iPad LUIGI Inspired Case (which also fits Kindle DX) will just shout “I LOVE LUIGI!” User nokomomo created this one which costs $45. And you know, if you like that other guy there’s one for him too (plus a few other geek-inspired cases).

Because you need your fingers free to game but sometimes it’s cold all alone in the dark, Luigi Super Mario Brothers knit fingerless gloves. $15 from user tinybully, who happens to have a wide selection of fingerless gloves available including many comic book items.

Rest your weary gaming head on this Luigi quilted pillow cover. From user raindrops23, it measures 16 inches by 16 inches and is made up of 256 pieces/pixels. Yours for $42. And perhaps you’d like to pair it with this Luigi baby blanket from user punzie for $70?

Nothing says PARTY like Luigi. And it’s always nice to say “thank you” after a party. (Especially if you threw fireballs.) Then might I suggest these Luigi Says Grazie Paper Bag Puppet Greetings? A set of 8 from user ElvesInTheAttic for $26.

Carry all your power-ups in this nifty Luigi tote bag! From user rehashimoto, $17. Also worth checking out? Her awesome GameGirl bags!

Lastly, I’m rounding out today’s column with something absolutely adorable (you know I’m a sucker for adorable). This is Player Two, a print from a series of illustrations on vintage book pages. User fortawesomestudios has Luigi as well as several other favorite game characters available for $11 each.

As always, bear in mind, since Etsy is a craft website and not a commercial, mass-market dealer, items are almost always one-of-a-kind or in very limited availability. When you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the next time you surf round. (Yes, it’s a very dangerous site for your wallet.) Also, since most items are created individually, many sellers are willing to customize something specifically to suit your needs. Just ask!

It’s like chocolate and peanut butter tiger blood and Adonis DNA coming together: Bluewater Productions, the publishers of unauthorized biography comics ranging from Joe Biden to Justin Bieber are planning one for Charlie Sheen, the troubled actor who has been in the news once or twice in the last couple of weeks.

Infamous: Charlie Sheen will be out “this summer” (exactly when has not been revealed), which may be way too late to truly capitalize on the current crest of Sheen-a-mania, but Bluewater promises an “up to the moment” account of Sheen’s life, which will surely take a variety of wacky turns between now and then, given how the actor was fired from his hit CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men just yesterday. One can only imagine the collective excitement at Bluewater HQ when this story started blowing up recently, though we must warn the publisher — since they’ve received cease and desists before — that Sheen seems to be on a real litigious streak as of late.

Realizing that this will be an even more controversial than usual for them release, Bluewater president Darren Davis said in a statement that along with having fun with Sheen’s bizarre catchphrases, they also want to “make sure that part of the focus of this issue deals fairly with mental health and substance abuse issues.” (Well, good luck with all that.)

As Bluewater seems keenly aware, Sheen has been sounding more and more like a comic book character himself these days, colorfully carrying on about warlocks and “fire-breathing fists.” Earlier this week, we saw a speculative crossover between Marvel’s Deadpool and the one-time Wall Street star.

Press release and the cover, featuring a rather flattering likeness of Sheen (in contrast to how he looked on his webcast last night), are both after the jump.

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Start your motherboards, the race is about to be on. San Diego Comic-Con hotels open up tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. PST.

If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and take a good look at the list of hotels included in the Comic-Con block this year. There’s also detailed information about each of the establishments via a PDF on that page. Make a decent sized list of your most to least wanted hotels and have it handy tomorrow. You can choose up to 20 (and I suggest you do) but having a few fallbacks is a good idea too.

The rooms are available at discounted rates and I don’t think I have to warn you they go FAST. If you are one of the lucky ones remember, once confirmed, all hotel reservations will require a deposit of at least one night’s room and tax for each room booked. This deposit can be refunded in full up until May 10, 2011.

Starting at 9 a.m., you can attempt to book rooms via the official website or or call 1-877-55-COMIC (1-877-552-6642) or 212-532-1660, Monday–Friday 9:00 AM–7:00 PM Eastern time.

Good luck all and may the Geek Gods be with you.

Tired of Charlie Sheen-related humor yet? What’s that? You were five days ago? If you hear one more “tiger blood/adonis DNA” reference you’ll go as crazy as, well, a certain CBS sitcom star? Try to clear some space in your heart for at least one more piece of Sheen-inspired comedy, as Ben Christian and Cory Smith of The Independents team the Major League star up with another fellow of questionable mental state, beloved merc-with-a-mouth Deadpool, in a most certainly not licensed by Marvel (yet linked by Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso on Twitter) one-page webcomic. Click on the comic to see it full-size.

I think it was Garfield who said it best – “I hate Mondays.” So I’m attempting to infuse a little beginning of the week cheer with another cartoon cat who’s known for being slightly more chipper. I’m talking about Hello Kitty. DeviantArtist Katie Dreyer has put together an adoption centers worth of the disgustingly cute Sanrio character dressed up like DC heroes and villains. Enjoy!

From our neighboring Mars and the much farther Zamarron comes Miss Martian and Star Sapphire!

Seems like a bit of a contradiction to have the Birds of Prey dressed up as cats but hey, it works.

Catman didn’t have far to go but Bane Hello Kitty? Priceless. In fact, the entire Secret Six this way seems like some sort of twisted alternate world torture I could see writer Gail Simone forcing upon them down the road.

Everyone knows the ultimate Gotham villain pairing isn’t Harley Quinn and The Joker, it’s Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy! Although a Catwoman Kitty is sorely missing from the pack.

Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, Stephanie Brown as Robin, take your pick.

And the group wouldn’t be complete without the Trinity. Sure, Superman is taking the day off but Supergirl looks significantly cuter.

Dreyer has one Marvel character so far in her Hello Kitty menagerie and it’s one of the least likely candidates – Deadpool.

Along with the “killing me with cuteness” section of her DeviantArt page, Dreyer also dips her hands in some prop and costume work. She herself has cosplayed as Renee Montoya, has put together some sweet DC masks (the Oracle one is now in the possession of Gail Simone apparently) and made a Kryptonite sample out of rock candy.

On Ollmann: Jeet Heer at Comics Comics and Jeet Heer at The National Post both discuss Joe Ollmann’s excellent Mid-Life. Say, what are the chances of two guys named Jeet Heer both writing about the same book on the same…Hey, wait a minute!

In which I bury the lede: The Comics Journal has an exclusive preview of Seth’s upcoming and hotly anticipated The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, which features a similar style and subject matter to his excellent Wimbledon Green. By the way, The Comics Journal‘s website has been completely redesigned. New site edtior Tim Hodler has an editorial here, and Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon has a lengthy Q-and-A with Hodler and his fellow site editor Dan Nadel here.

Avengers movie to film in Avengers comic writer Brian Michael Bendis’ hometown: Apparently. (Only 50 miles from where I am as I type this, if you have a small role for  a 5’8, 34-year-old bald guy with bad posture and no acting experience, Joss Whedon!). Meanwhile, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer has a poll asking, “who is Cleveland’s ultimate villain?” Two of the five they suggest already have their own comics: Lebron James and The Torso Killer.

Does it count as a “reveal” if it’s simply a reiteration of old news?: “DC reveals future ‘Earth One’ plans”

“First look: Super-creators pair up for ‘The Infinite’”: I don’t have anything to say about the fact that Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld are teaming up for a comic book series, beyond noting that it’s odd to see it announced in USA Today. The Walking Dead show must have really raised Kirkman’s star, and Liefeld’s career over the last decade or so hasn’t done much to diminish his.

On the occasion of Will Eisner’s birthday: As Lan Pitts noted yesteray, Google used their doodle to honor Eisner this weekend. Ty Templeton, Johnny Bacardi, Michael Cavna and Politically Illustrated were among others who marked Eisner’s birthday.

Popeye v. 5: Wha’s a Jeep?
Written & Illustrated by E.C. Segar
Published by Fantagraphics

We’re closing on the end of Elzie Segar’s monumental comic strip accomplishment with the fifth volume of Fantagraphics’ recent Popeye reprint series. The next book will be the end, as Segar passed away and the strip passed into the hands of other – often still talented, but simply not as original – cartoonists.

This fifth volume introduces Eugene the Jeep, the yellow-furred, future-predicting pet and Popeye’s long-lost father Poopdeck Pappy into the mythology, effectively completing Popeye’s peculiar family unit. Popeye, Olive Oyl and Swea’pea form the semifunctional nuclear unit, with Wimpy, Castor, Eugene and Pappy rounding out the extended family.

While the daily strips focus on extended sequences, including Popeye’s kingdom Spinachovia feuding with Olive’s island nation and then facing invasion from neighboring Brutia. Then Eugene arrives and instigates the search for Pappy; Segar’s Sunday pages are couched in the strip’s unlikely family dynamic.

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Here’s some news from this weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con, announced today at the show’s “Marvel: Next Big Thing” panel and confirmed by the subject on Twitter: Nick Spencer, current writer of Iron Man 2.0 and soon-to-be writer of Secret Avengers, is the latest creator to sign an exclusive deal with Marvel Comics.

The news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: he’s got two (that we know of!) monthly books at the publisher, and his DC work seems to have slowed down — he only ended up co-writing one issue of Supergirl after being originally announced as the new series writer, and his Jimmy Olsen storyline that started as an Action Comics back-up in the pre-”holding the line at $2.99″ era wraps up in a one-shot this month.

As these things tend to go, it’s not affecting his creator-owned work (like Morning Glories and The Infinite Vacation at Image) or things he has already ongoing, namely DC Comics series T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. (That’s right, I made it through a whole blog post about Nick Spencer’s rapid success in the comic book industry without using the term “meteoric rise.” Well, until just now. But still, feeling good about it.)

Good on you, Google.

You might have noticed today while going to the internet’s most famous search engine, that the banner is honoring Will Eisner, one of the quintessential contributers to the comic medium. The image above showcases Eisner’s most famous creation, the pulp hero, the Spirit. Eisner passed away six years ago, though today would have been Eisner’s 94th birthday.

If you’re not familiar with Eisner’s work, you might want to look into A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories, as well as Comics and Sequential Art, which is still used today as an exemplary study for comics and illustration.

Here’s to you, sir.

Following four major on-set injuries during the rehearsals and preview performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (which has still yet to officially debut; the current date for that is March 15), Deadline is reporting that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued the musical with three citations, totaling $12,600 in fines. Maybe not a huge financial setback for the highest-budgeted Broadway musical in history, but more discouraging news for the production. The exact violations are for “improperly adjusted or unsecured safety harnesses,” “unguarded open-side floors that lacked fall protection,” and a failure to “shield employees from being struck by moving overhead rigging components.”

The full text of the report is after the jump.

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In news welcome to any child of the ’80s reared on The Princess Bride, Cary Elwes has been added to the cast of NBC’s Wonder Woman pilot, says Deadline. He’ll be playing the role of Henry Detmer, “the acting CEO of Themyscira Industries, who is deeply devoted to Diana.” He’s like an uncle figure to Diana, but in a potentially creepy development, is also said to also be a potential love interest. He’s joining Adrianne Palicki, playing the title role, and Elizabeth Hurley — announced earlier this week as the pilot’s villain, Veronica Cale.