Because YOU demanded it! My initial videos with fashion authority Tim Gunn is what gave us the idea to start the Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. column. If you missed them, check out Part 1 and Part 2 already! Anyway, we had such fun that we had to reunite! This time, we’re joined by my partner-in-crime Jennifer Ewing.

Last week, we discussed the Green Lanterns Alan Scott, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. This week, we take a look at John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. Enough talk, though! Play the video and enjoy for yourselves!

Alan Kistler writes the comic book history/fashion column Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. He is an actor and freelance writer living in New York who has been recognized by Warner Bros. Films and major media/news outlets as a comic book historian. He is also a creator/host of the web-show and podcast “Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series.” He knows entirely too much about the history of comics, Star Trek, Doctor Who, time travel, and vampires that don’t sparkle.

You can find him on Twitter: @SizzlerKistler

by Manning/Ross/McKinley/Reddington/Shadowline!

Well, this is a welcome turn-up for the books to close out the week. From the DCU Blog:

We’ve been very fortunate in recent years to have fan favorite creators like Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, Felicia Henderson, Fiona Staples, Amanda Connor, G. Willow Wilson and Nicola Scott write and draw the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.

DC Comics is the home of a pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and Supergirl as well as fan favorite characters like Black Canary, Katana, Mera and Starfire. We’re committed to telling diverse stories with a diverse point of view. We want these adventures to resonate in the real world, reflecting the experiences of our diverse readership. Can we improve on that? We always can—and aim to.

That’s just a small part of a post signed by both co-publishers, Dan Didio and Jim Lee, which opens by saying “Over the past week we’ve heard from fans about a need for more women writers, artists and characters. We want you to know, first and foremost, that we hear you and take your concerns very seriously.” The post promises “exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months,” adding that they “know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.”

A way to try and head off some of the criticism they’ve received over the lack of female creators in the New 52 line-up? Undoubtedly. But also a surprisingly welcome response to criticism and fan upset that’s very unlike DC’s traditional “heads down, pretend nothing is happening” attitude. A victory, then, and a sign that maybe things are going to improve soon.

Back in April, we wrote about a online petition driven by fans who wanted to see IDW pick up the old Marvel Transformers comic book where it left off with issue #80 in 1991, in the same fashion as the publisher’s current GI Joe: A Real American Hero series. At that point, it was a possibility, but as of last week’s “IDW and Hasbro: 2012 Transformations” panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego, it’s official.

They’re actually starting with an issue #80.5, designed to catch up new readers or old-school fans who may have forgotten a few details in the interim two decades. In 2012 (undetermined as to exactly when, but said to likely be first half), will be #81, which will run until the story wraps in #100. The creative team will be writer Simon Furman and artist Andrew Wildman, the same crew on the book at the end of the Marvel series. The petition currently has 2,779 signatures, more than twice the number it was at in April.

“This has felt like unfinished business since 1991, when Marvel canceled their Transformers series with issue #80,” Furman told Newsarama. “In the aftermath of the cataclysmic battle against Unicron in issue #75, we (myself, Andrew Wildman and the editor at the time, Rob Tokar) seeded numerous storylines that would — optimistically as it turned out — play out over the next ten or more issues. Then, suddenly, it was like you have two issues to wrap everything up into a neat bow. Wasn’t going to happen. Sure, we gave the Autobots their ‘happy ending,’ but there was just so much left dangling, so much we wanted to explore in terms of story and character. Even that last issue hinted that the story wasn’t over, and that the Decepticon threat was far from over. And now, finally, thanks to IDW, we get to tell those stories — and then some!”

Furman said that though the book will “maintain the spirit of that bygone era,” it’ll be aimed at both new and old Transformers fans. We’ll have more information on the series as it becomes available.

Firstly, you have all read Laura Hudson’s piece on DC Comics and the lack of female creators in the relaunched DCU books already, right? If not, go and do so now, I’ll wait for you.

Okay, back? Well, it’s not just female creators who are losing out in the September relaunch; it’s female characters, too. Tim Hanley blogs the statistics, and they make for depressing reading: (more…)

So, let me get this straight. Marvel explains away its “Comics for Comics” program with SVP of Publishing David Gabriel saying “In these tough economic times, [we] feel it’s our duty to help,” and then they announce a promotional variant that requires the retailer to order two thousand additional copies? Putting aside the fact that this is the worst variant deal I can remember, I can only hope that (a) the 2000 figure is wrong for some reason (200, maybe, but 2000 extra copies? Seriously), (b) David Gabriel explains why this variant idea is somehow helping retailers in these tough economic times, and (c) DC suggests that it will offer a special limited edition variant of their own in exchange for copies of Amazing Spider-Man.

New Jersey native Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts comic strip has been picked up by 20th Century Fox to be made into a feature film.

The Hollywood Reporter says McDonnell and his brother Robert will write the script with Patrick also serving as executive producer. If you aren’t familiar, Mutts is a daily syndicated comic strip that began in 1994 and runs in newspapers across the country. It’s about a dog and cat duo, Earl and Mooch, and their daily adventures that occasionally feature their elderly owners or other animals (plus Little Pink Socks!). McDonnell also champions many animal-related welfare causes like adoption and endangered species. There’s even Animal Friendly license plates with the Mutts characters here in NJ.

“Fox has had success in the comics-to-movie genre before,” writes THR, “The studio made two films based on the popular Garfield comic strip that grossed nearly $350 million combined worldwide. The Mutts project was brought in by Fox Animation executive Ralph Millero.”

Here’s  hoping the film is made with classic animation, which would better compliment McDonnell’s style, rather than the Garfield CGI route. Regardless, this is awesome news for me, I love Mutts and it’s nice to see a fellow New Jersyite get the attention he so deserves.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Marvel/Disney has won summary judgments against the Jack Kirby estate, meaning that the House of Ideas will retain ownership over the characters that Kirby created for the publisher. The court apparently not only ruled in favor of the publisher/studio, but also denied the Kirby estate’s counter-motion for summary judgment. According to Kirby estate attorney Marc Toberoff, however, “This is just the beginning,” so expect news of an appeal sooner rather than later.

Developing.

Color me curious about the passing comment in this Bleeding Cool post about the success (or lack thereof) of Barnes & Noble’s attempts to sell comics at their stores:

…it sounds as if there may be a digital comics initiative from Barnes & Noble to come.

I wonder how this will work out? After all, on top of the existing digital comics outlets – of which ComiXology can probably claim to be the biggest, considering their apps for Marvel, DC, and Image – and things like Dark Horse Digital and even Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited program, September also sees the official launch of Diamond Digital, the direct market’s response to the digital comics revolution – If it’s not too early to call it a revolution, and if Diamond Digital makes enough sense to be seen as anyone’s response to anything.

Maybe it’s short-sighted, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s space for Barnes & Noble in this space, just now. Variety may be the spice of life – and a friend of capitalism – but with so many stores offering so many different ways to download the same material, is this going to strengthen or confuse the marketplace just as it’s really getting started?

Editor: Apparently I missed our original piece about the offer, in which Albert pointed out last July’s offer of Marvel for Marvel:

“Marvel offered retailers a very similar deal in January 2010, with a Siege #3 variant offered for Blackest Night tie-in books. Last July, they offered their own unsold comics as part of the program.”

So there you go. Still weird, though!

I admit, the whole “Tear off your Flashpoint tie-in covers to get a Fear Itself variant” thing has kind of left me cold; the “How could Marvel do that?” aspect is gone, because they did it before with Blackest Night and it’s the kind of cheap stunt that only really works in terms of PR shock once, and at least the McGuinness cover is better than the terrible Deadpool variant they offered for Siege way back when. But I was interested to see Tom Brevoort say this over on Twitter, in response to a fan complaining that Marvel should’ve offered the variant for returned Fear Itself tie-ins:

We’ve done this with Marvel books in the past too, but nobod[y] covers that because it’s not provocative.

Two things:

1. Isn’t the provocative nature the entire point of this offer? Complaining that people are covering it because it’s provocative feels as false as claiming that this is only being done to help retailers (which it can do, sure, but it’s really a PR exercise, let’s face it).

2. Has Marvel really done this in the past with Marvel books? I don’t remember any such offer offhand, but I’m sure someone out there will remember if it’s happened. To be clear: I’m asking whether Marvel has previously publicly announced a variant edition of one of their books in exchange for stripped covers of their own books as specified by title and issue, not just whether Marvel has offered variants in exchange for hitting specific order levels or whatever. Any retailers out there who can help me out here?

Following fan outcry, Marvel has released a corrected version of its new Ultimate Fallout teaser:

I admit it: I couldn’t resist.

(The real one is here.)

With Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel full steam ahead, most Superman fans are trying to forget about 2006′s Superman Returns but a deleted scene released this week is making that a bit difficult.

I don’t…it’s…hmm. Not sure what to make of this. What are your thoughts?

It’s a deleted scene from the forthcoming Superman Anthology Blu-ray and according to The Hollywood Reporter cost $10 million to produce and would have been the opening to the Bryan Singer directed film. Whatever the case, I think it’s safe to say they made the right decision not including this in the theatrical release. It’s a well-done piece of film but way too long and terribly dull in my opinion.

Blog@Newsarama reported yesterday that The Walking Dead showrunner, Frank Darabont, was leaving that coveted position. Today his number two, Glen Mazzara, has been announced as his replacement.

Deadline writes “Mazzara, who joined the show at the beginning of Season 2 as No. 2 to Darabont, will now indeed be the series’ new showrunner. He remains an executive producer alongside Robert Kirkman, on whose comic the series is based, and Gale Anne Hurd.” The news of Darabont’s departure, although we don’t know if it’s from the show completely, was a huge shock considering he sat on The Walking Dead panel at San Diego Comic-Con last Friday.

Yesterday, Deadline had this to say, “Darabont, who spent five years trying to get a TV version of the zombie saga off the ground and wrote and directed the AMC pilot, hails from the feature world, and I hear that he never quite adjusted to the daily grind of producing a TV series.”

“Production on Season 2 of Walking Dead has not been interrupted by the showrunner change, and the series remains on target for an Oct. 16 premiere,” writes Deadline, “Mazzara has been part of The Walking Dead since Season 1 when he wrote one of the six episodes as a freelancer.” The writer/producers has previously worked on Starz’s Crash, The Shield and Hawthorne.

Here’s Warren Ellis on recent rumors around the Big Two publishers’ editorial practices:

I’m hearing a lot lately about writers being put into foot races on gigs.  And not only do they not know who else is running for the job – but many of them seem not to be told they’re in a foot race at all.  Writers who assumed they were writing the gig are being told that they never had the gig at all, that other writers have been run parallel to them.  Even though they were put through multiple drafts.  They didn’t know they were in competition. (more…)

Here’s a treat for process junkies: Todd Klein, uber-letterer, runs through the creation of a page from Fables, including the ways in which Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha differ from traditional penciler/inker teams:

Before sending the pencils to Steve Leialoha, Bucky paints gray washes over them, as seen here, sometimes doing a bit of the inking as well. Here he’s inked Bufkin’s eyes in the last panel, and I think a bit of linework on Bungle, the glass cat, as well as the panel borders. He’s also added shrubbery in mostly darker watercolor grays where there was nothing in the pencils. This is what Steve received from Bucky, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen art done quite this way before: doing gray tones over pencils. Steve told me it’s not a problem for him to ink them, though it takes him longer than the standard way and size, and if anything doesn’t come out quite right he fixes it on the computer after scanning his finished inks. Frankly I don’t think there are many inkers who would be able to handle this as well as Steve, who is a fine artist in his own right.

As a fan of Fables, I may be biased but, with Buckingham’s style taking on a mix of Mignola and Kirby in recent years, it’s become one of the best-looking books around for me. Seeing behind the scenes like this is great.

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week I found items pertaining to the First Avenger, Captain America. This week I’m going with one of my childhood favorites. That’s right kids, I’m talking about the Princess of Power herself, She-Ra.

Well we’ve got Lego Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc. I say it’s about time we get a Lego She-Ra. Until then there’s these custom made She-Ra and Swift Wing Legos! User littleRaccoonMama created this one and is selling the set for $40.

Just the other day a girl friend of mine needed a flask. Too bad this one isn’t sold in stores. It’s the She-Ra Princess of Power Flask from user stellarcustominages. This one features most of the cast and something tells me you’ll think you’re the Princess of Power after drinking from it. There’s also one available with just She-Ra’s face, both $32 each.

I still own all my She-Ra dolls and for obvious reasons the redheads were always my favorite. That’s why I’m in love with this Castaspella Light Switch Plate. User goblinhut is selling it as well as a Catra, She-Ra and a Entrapta one for $6 each!

Catra comes from Hordak’s Evil Horde, that doesn’t mean she can’t be associated with hearts. Check out this Catra hologram necklace from user HeadlessTessDIY. $16.99 for this one or $8.99 for a simpler version sans heart.

Created from an old comic book, these She-Ra earrings are simply delightful. From user ZacharyPryor, these go for $35 and there’s also a matching cuff available for $29.

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!

Just four days after appearing at the show’s panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego, Frank Darabont has left his position of The Walking Dead showrunner, Deadline reports.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s leaving the show entirely, Deadline says: “talks are still ongoing” for Darabont to remain on the show in some capacity. The second season is currently in production.

Darabont directed the pilot episode of the series, and wrote the first two. Last December, news circulated that Darabont had fired the show’s writing staff, and was considering switching to an all-freelance model for the future, though that didn’t end up happening. This past Friday at Comic-Con, Darabont appeared at the show’s panel with fellow executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comic. This was Darabont’s first stint as a TV showrunner, as most of his experience is in the film world, directing movies including The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

Last week, the premiere of The Walking Dead‘s 13-episode season was set for October 16 on AMC. Watch the trailer here.

With “Odyssey,” the J. Michael Straczynski-Phil Hester storyline that relaunched Wonder Woman nearing its conclusion, Colleen Doran – who worked with JMS on Book of Lost Souls over at Marvel years ago – has started to share some of the early design work she provided for the storyline… including redesigns of the title character that are pretty damn wonderful, actually.

As Doran explains,

I know this will set the internet into a tizzy, but this was more rumination than reality. I was not asked to draw a series, just to do some concept sketches. It is very unlikely any of these sketches will be used for anything.

Well, they’ll be used for eBay – Doran is selling the original sketches, as well as prints of the colored versions. Go here to buy them.

Just because Marvel isn’t relaunching their entire line in one month a la DC’s September assault doesn’t mean that all of their books aren’t going to get a do-over eventually. Following this summer’s The Mighty Thor and Captain America relaunches – with their existing series getting renamed and continuing at the same time – and this fall’s Wolverine and the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men relaunches, 2012 will see an Avengers relaunch, according to editor Tom Brevoort… well, kind of:

While having just relaunched the Avengers books with the Heroic Age, we’re not looking to relaunch the line again to get an “Avengers” #1. We do have an “Avengers” #1 project coming out around movie time which will be to “The Avengers” what “Captain America” #1 is to that movie and what “Mighty Thor” #1 was to “Thor”. But that’s something can speak more about later, once we’re closer to announcing the project.

So, I guess that means Avengers will continue (perhaps under a different name – Mighty Avengers is still available, after all), while we also get a brand-new title, presumably teaming the Marvel Universe versions of the movie cast (Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury and Maria Hill)? But, apparently, it won’t be a relaunch of the entire line – although I wouldn’t be surprised if we see everything you’d expect from a relaunch bar the renumbering, especially considering that it’ll likely be coming on the heels of the end of The Fearless and the entire “Battle Scars” branding. In fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the new Avengers series turns out to launch with the much-teased Bendis/Hitch “Age of Ultron” storyline…

Continuing his – admittedly somewhat biased – history of his time at Marvel Comics, former editor-in-chief Jim Shooter has been writing a series of blog posts about the 1980s crossovers between Marvel and DC, and why the Justice League/Avengers crossover destroyed everything:

Many times since I left Marvel, at conventions, in fanzines and more recently, online, there have been laments from readers to the tune of: “How can they let (name of creator) do that to (name of character)? How can they let (so and so) ruin (hero or group).

Well, when I was at Marvel, as much as possible, I prevented such things. I rank the JLA/Avengers plot I wouldn’t approve high on that list.

In other words, I did my job.

It’s a fascinating series of posts (five of them in total: one, two, three, four and five) that paints such a picture of an astonishingly petty DC editorial team that it almost brings its own credibility into question – If everything happened the way Shooter describes, that DC managed to publish comics on a regular schedule during that period is almost unbelievable – while making Shooter out to be a man who’d sacrifice everything for the job. But even with the potential that this is, at best, an extremely slanted version of what actually happened, it’s well worth reading – and check out the comments section, especially in the fourth installment, for extra info on the events described.