Well, the released-today Batman solicitations for October show that those “We’ll keep those books on schedule even if it means switching up creative teams” thing has turned out to be 100% true – and claimed an unsurprising first victim:

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #2
Written by DAVID FINCH and PAUL JENKINS
Art by DAVID FINCH and RICHARD FRIEND with JAY FABOK
Cover by DAVID FINCH and RICHARD FRIEND

On the plus side, let’s be honest: Paul Jenkins and Jay Fabok both have the same Top Cow charm of David Finch, so it’s possible that the change in creators won’t slow up the content in any way whatsoever. But still: I wonder whether Finch will disappear from the book for a bit to build up a run of completed issues?

With Marvel already teasing December comics as part of its pre-SDCC strategy, I find myself feeling conflicted. On the one hand, the December date seems oddly comforting, as it suggests that Marvel will happily sit back and let DC’s relaunch take up retailers’ time, money and brainspace for a few months – X-Men relaunch aside, of course – which is… good? surprising? unlike Marvel’s traditional attitude towards industry dominance? (All of the above, most likely). There really is something wonderful about the idea that Marvel will back away from the big projects and massive hype until DC’s move has begun to be processed by the industry at large, even if it’s accidental (I suspect the timing of Fear Itself‘s finale may have more to do with the December launches than kindness on Marvel’s part). But on the other hand: We’re already talking about things that are coming out five months from now? (more…)

The complete Comic-Con International: San Diego programming schedule is now up, but if your specifically interested in knowing what Image Comics/Top Cow has going on, we’ve got you covered. To find out where Robert Kirkman, John Layman, Marc Silvestri and more can be found — plus AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series panel — keep reading after the jump.

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Get your heavy-duty raincoats out, DC’s Red Lantern cat Dex-Starr is not going to be happy about the new kitty in town. Introducing…SPIDER-CAT!

Revealed on the Marvel.com blog today, Ryan Penagos wrote, “Spider-Kitty would also be appropriate. I would also accept ‘best thing Marvel’s ever done.’” I’d say I have to agree with him.

The story is included in Spider-Island: I Love New York City #1 and is written by Marvel’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz artist Scottie Young. The art is provided by art by Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin. The rest of the Spider-Island tie-in book is written by Greg Rucka, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Joe Caramagna with art by Max Flumara.

So who IS Spider-Cat and just how would he/she fair in a fight against Dex-Starr? Now THAT is a Marvel/DC crossover that needs to happen. Spider-Island: I Love New York City #1 hits stores in September.

And the four-day reveal of Comic-Con International: San Diego’s programming has come to a close, with the complete list of Sunday programming. As usual, it’s skewed a bit towards family-friendly fare for the final day. The full list can be found here, and here’s a peek at a few noteworthy happenings.

10:00-11:15 The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel— As always, we gather to remember the man some still hail as The King of the Comics, Jack Kirby. If you don’t know who that is, you have no business being at this convention. Moderator Mark Evanier discusses the life and times of Kirby with Walt Simonson (Thor), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Richard Kyle (Graphic Story World), and Mike Royer (inker of lots of Kirby comics). Room 5AB

Even though I think few would argue with the sentiment (or the obvious importance of Kirby to both the comic books industry and Comic-Con itself), “you have no business being at this convention” is surprisingly blunt for panel copy.

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Rebecca Black may be saving all of her affection for Friday, but Saturday at Comic-Con International still has a lot to offer.

The full schedule is up here, and below are just a few highlights worth pointing out. Thursday and Friday schedules are here and here, Marvel’s list is here, and DC’s slate can be found here.

10:00-11:00 From Buddha to Batman: Deepak Chopra and Grant Morrison Discuss The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes— Five years ago, New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned spiritual guru Deepak Chopra joined legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Supergods) at Comic-Con to discuss the role superheroes play in the social fabric. What started as a thought-provoking panel discussion has since become a profound new teaching manual for discovering the superhero within — Chopra’s new book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes. Now Chopra and Morrison are back to elaborate on what the superhero archetype means for us today. Joined by Deepak’s son Gotham Chopra (founder of Liquid Comics) and moderated by Chris Carle (editorial director of IGN Entertainment), the discussion will cover the seven essential laws that govern the realm of superheroes and the cultural importance of superheros — why they matter, why they will always be with us, and what they tell us about who we are…and what we may yet become. Q&A to follow. Room 6A (more…)

The Comic-Con International: San Diego programming train keeps rolling on, and the full Friday schedule is here for your perusal (and inevitable panic attacks about missing one awesome thing while you’re watching another awesome thing). The full shebang is here, and below are just a few selections that managed to catch our eye. Thursday’s schedule is here, DC’s full list here, and Marvel’s panels are here.

10:15-11:15 Star Trek: The Captains— William Shatner is joined by fellow Star Trek captain Avery Brooks to present a preview of the EPIX Pictures original documentary produced and directed by Shatner, in which he travels the world to interview all the actors who’ve played Starfleet captains. This lively discussion and Q&A session is moderated by Comic-Con fave Kevin Smith. Room 6BCF

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Well, here’s an interesting one. It’s not often you see comic book industry news on TMZ, but here’s something that caught their interest: the site is reporting that Archie Comics is taking legal action against their co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit due to offensive behavior, including at least two different rants involving the word “penis.” The aim, TMZ says, is for a judge to grant an injunction that prevents Silberkleit from returning the office.

Silberkleit joined the company as co-CEO in 2009, and last fall was the subject of a profile in Fortune magazine. The company’s other co-CEO, Jon Goldwater, has been much more visible in the comic book press and the subject of many Newsarama interviews, most recently in April of this year.

Some have said that corrupting a life is worse than simply ending it. Harleen Quinzel entered was a young woman with a genius level I.Q. who entered college on a gymnastics scholarship. After graduating and becoming a psychiatrist, she went to Arkham Asylum and began having private sessions and interviews with the Joker, claiming she intended to publish a book on the subject of serial killers and mass murderers. To gain the Joker’s trust, she consented that he could call her “Harley Quinn” rather than Dr. Quinzel, as  reference to the term “harlequin.” But as time went on, the Clown Prince of Killers pushed and manipulated the psychiatrist further and further, convincing her that she loved him.

Over the years, Dr. Quinzel helped the Joker escape Arkham Asylum many times until she was discovered and became a patient herself, her license revoked. Some time later, she was able to escape and decided that now she would publicly join her beloved “Mr. J” as a costumed aide. After her first adventure as Harley Quinn, the Joker left her for dead and she only survived thanks to treatment from the toxic criminal Poison Ivy. Ivy’s chemicals had a curious effect on Harley, enhancing her strength and agility greatly, enough so that she was now able to provide quite a fight for heroes such as Batman. Seeing the advantage of having such muscle around, the Joker apologized for his actions and recruited Harley to his side.

Despite her strong feelings for Gotham’s most notorious murderer, Harley has attempted to live a life that does not involve him, spending more time with folks such as Poison Ivy and Catwoman. And in DC’s newly relaunched Suicide Squad title, coming soon, she’ll evidently find a new role in the near future.

Originally introduced in Batman: The Animated Series, Harley has graced not only comics and cartoons but also video games. Let’s take a gander at all her different interpretations, eh? As usual, we’ll be sticking mainly with mainstream reality (and the aforementioned other media), so there won’t be any pics here of how Harley may have looked in a parallel universe or Elseworlds story. (more…)

Comic-Con International: San Diego’s programming has been officially half-revealed — Thursday and Friday’s schedules can both be found here — and now we know all of Marvel’s panel plans for the event, taking place July 21 to July 24. (That’s less than two weeks away, folks!)

In attendance from the publisher: chief creative officer Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb and a roster of creators including Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Greg Pak, Rick Remender and Skottie Young. At 11 panels, it’s pretty much the company’s usual slate: some line-specific ones, and more broader happenings like the con staple “Cup O’ Joe.” There’s no Marvel Studios panel this year, as previously noted, but 2012′s Spider-Man and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance films will be a part of Sony’s Hall H presentation at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 22.

Full list is after the jump, and if you’re looking for what DC has going on at Comic-Con, that is here. Of course, Newsarama will be covering all pertinent Comic-Con panels, with the vast majority of them coming to you LIVE!

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Brian Wood’s Vertigo title Northlanders may be ending early next year with issue #50, but he’s not leaving the world of fictionalized warfare behind — IGN reports that he’s writing a digital comic prequel to The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an in-development role-playing video game scheduled for release this fall. Simon Coleby is on board as artist. Comic book adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work are rare — Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 film inspired a comic, but it was never released in the United States due to copyright reasons.

Exactly how the comic will be digitally published has yet to be revealed, though IGN makes the reasonable guess of ComiXology, since the game is being released by Warner Bros. Interactive, and WB owns DC, who works with ComiXology. Parts 1 and 2 will be accessible to gamers who preorder through Toys R Us, and Amazon preorders will only get you part 2.

File under “What the what?”: Ghostface Killah is being sued for, amongst other things, using the name “Tony Starks” without paying any royalties to Marvel Comics. And, to make matters more strange, he’s not being sued by Marvel.

The suit against the Wu-Tang Clan rapper and co-defendants Sony Music Entertainment has been brought by composer Jack Urbont over what he claims is unlicensed use of the Iron Man theme music he wrote for the 1960s animated version of the character on the 2000 album Supreme Clientele; the “Tony Starks” claim is, seemingly, just an unconnected add-on thrown in there for good measure. Color me interested to see what attorneys from Marvel or parent company Disney have to say about the lawsuit.

Remember that bit in Blackest Night where the superheroes got deputized by the rainbow lantern alliance and became their own toyetic variant editions? Well, so does Marvel, it seems*:

So, that’s Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, someone (Red She-Hulk, perhaps? Valkyrie?), Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye and Spider-Man, looks like. Which raises the question: Where’s Steve Rogers? And any characters get to keep their enhanced powers once Fear Itself is over?

Also, now I’m sad that Fear Itself can’t continue for a couple more issues so that some other Asgardian figure can create artifacts that only affect mutants so that we could get THE UNCANNY. And then maybe Heimdall or someone could send some to Earth that only Spider-Man supporting characters can touch, and then we could get THE AMAZING (Oh, wait, that’s Spider-Island, isn’t it?)…

(Also also: So, heroes and villains can become The Worthy, but no villains get to reform to become The Mighty? Someone needs to complain to Odin, I think.)

(* Seriously, though: Fear Itself is really, really reminiscent of Blackest Night, right? With the variant characters and the mystical objects and the mythology of a character’s backstory being revealed to be false? It’s not just me? Tell me that it’s not just me.)

Well, this is interesting: DC Comics and ComiXology have released a digital only “omnibus” collection of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s Planetary, collecting the entire 27 issue run, along with the 8 page preview story, in one $24.99 digital edition.

The new format – apparently only available for a couple of weeks as part of an experiment, according to ComiXology CEO David Steinberger – somewhat addresses concerns on the part of some critics that the current model of releasing single issues digitally is unwieldy, overly expensive and more complicated for those wishing to read a complete story than it has to be. It’ll be interesting to see how the omnibus – which is cheaper than buying the individual issues, but just slightly (never mind, it’s $1.99 an issue, not 99 cents like I misremembered) – fares in the digital marketplace, but I hope it succeeds, selfishly. I know that I’d rather buy digital collections than individual issues making up an entire run of a particular story.

Start your guessing engines: The subject of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness’ next collaboration – and apparent returnee from the land of the dead – will be revealed during Saturday’s Cup O’ Joe panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in a couple of weeks. My bet? I think it’ll be Bucky, if he isn’t already alive again by December, when the series launches.

So it’s late Thursday night and I’m spending my free time searching online for X-Men board games (don’t you judge me), and I happen to come across this segment on Cartoon Network’s Mad, a parody mashup of the X-Men and The Office:

It’s surprisingly current (reflecting the departure of Steve Carell from the show), and it’s rather impressive how they manage to work in almost all of The Office‘s extended cast in two-and-a-half minutes. It’s also fairly fascinating that Wolverine is in his ’80s look and Cyclops has the ’90s visible hair thing going on — well, fascinating at least to someone searching the Internet for an intact copy of X-Men: Alert.

EDIT: Wow, both Robert Kirkman and producer Gale Anne Hurd have confirmed on Twitter that this is NOT an official The Walking Dead teaser but fan made. I’m floored. Watch it and see why both I and The Hollywood Reporter were fooled.

[Original story] I’d like to say the wait is almost over, but it isn’t. We’ve still got four months to go until The Walking Dead Season 2 premieres on AMC. But thankfully we’ve got our first teaser trailer to drool over.

Guh.

The trailer comes via The Hollywood Reporter who spoke with Robert Kirkman a short time ago and told them Season 2 will pick up right where Season 1 left off. “The last time we saw our characters, they were loaded up into the RV and they were driving away from the CDC,” Kirkman said. “We will definitely see where that caravan is going and follow them on their journey. So, pretty much where we get blown up.”

Meanwhile, showrunner Frank Darabont spoke with Deadline about the new season not too long ago either. “It’s fair to say that the first six episodes were teeing up a lot of conflicts that will be more fully explored in our second season,” said Darabont, “We find a growing conflict with our two main guys, Rick [Andrew Lincoln] and Shane [Jon Bernthal]. We’re really excited about putting all of the characters on a chessboard and seeing how wonderfully and effectively we can toss conflict into the game.”

Personally, after last year’s booth, I can’t wait to see what they pull out for San Diego Comic-Con in two weeks.

Courtesy of the back of a Fantastic Four page – page 16 from #3, apparently – here are the costume insignias that the FF didn’t get, as designed by (and presumably, discarded by) Stan Lee, according to the annotations:

It’s interesting to see that only a couple included the number 4, as opposed to the letter F – You’d think that using a numeral would have been a no-brainer, but apparently the graphic shapes of a good old F couldn’t be dismissed so easily.

(Thanks to Jordan Smith.)

The latest entry in DC’s animated feature lineup is Batman: Year One, starring Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne, Bryan Cranston as Jim Gordon, Eliza Dushku as Catwoman and Katee Sackhoff as Sarah Essen. The first trailer debuted today online, and here it is:

Batman: Year One is out on DVD and Blu-ray on October 18, and will premiere with a screening on Friday, July 22 at Comic-Con.

Following last year’s tradition, Comic-Con International: San Diego’s Thursday programming schedule has arrived exactly two weeks in advance, and like always, there’s no “easing into” things with this event — a staggering 16 panels are scheduled for the very first hour of the show, with the doors of the convention center barely open. We had all of DC’s programming earlier, so here are a few selected highlights of what to expect on July 21. The full, massive list is here, and check back in the coming days for the rest.

10:00-11:00 Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe— For fans of USA’s hit series Burn Notice who’ve always wanted to know what happened before Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) teamed up with Michael Weston and Fiona, Comic-Con attendees are invited inside the USA made-for-TV movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, debuting on DVD exclusively at Comic-Con! The Burn Notice prequel chronicles what turned out to be the last military mission of former U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander Axe and the expedition that took him from the jungles of Colombia to sunny Miami Beach. Go one-on-one with Bruce Campbell, star of Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, and Burn Notice creator, writer, and executive producer, Matt Nix. Ballroom 20

Bruce Campbell and Comic-Con — a classic combination.

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