Digital comics distributor Graphicly has joined forces with Facebook to make instant access to comics even easier.

“Who isn’t on Facebook?” Graphicly asked via their blog.  ”At Graphicly, as we built out the social features of our application, we realized that there is an amazing amount of conversations occurring on Facebook around comics and creators. What was missing? The comic books themselves!”

With that, the company has launched Graphicly on Facebook. The application allows creators and publishers to embed a comic book or graphic novel onto any Facebook Page. “This simple application can enable any creator or publisher to provide their comics (either the complete book, or just a preview) and make it even easier to buy and read comics, all from their Facebook Page,” says Graphicly.

Graphicly is already integrated into sites like Newsarama, ComicVine and iFanboy but this is a huge step towards spreading comics more easily to the masses since people share everything else on Facebook already.  Graphically says the app is now being used by Archaia, Top Cow, Red5 Comics and more than 50 other creators and publishers across the web. Here’s what it looks like on Archaia’s Facebook page.

What are your thoughts about being able to purchase your digital comics while surfing on Facebook? Or, if you don’t buy digital, do you think you might be tempted now that it will likely be right in front of you?

For those wondering how – if at all – Grant Morrison’s Batman Incorporated fits in with New 52 continuity, the news that the just-solicited Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes oneshot will feature Spoiler seems a little… unexpected. The oneshot contains the material originally solicited as Batman Incorporated #9 and 10, by Morrison, Cameron Stewart and Chris Burnham. As those with long memories may remember, the original solicit for BI #9 went a little something like this:

Is an exclusive girls’ finishing school a secret training ground for teenaged assassins? Find out the truth as Batgirl undertakes her most dangerous mission yet at the request of Batman.

So, it looks like we’re to assume that in New 52 continuity, Stephanie does exist, but was always Spoiler…? What with the strange “it all holds up, apart from the parts that don’t” (Hi, Batgirl!) continuity the franchise seems to have developed with the September relaunch, it’s possible that Batman has become to The New 52 what Superman was to Post-Crisis continuity. Which is to say, it’s better if you just don’t think about it too much.

Jim Shooter gets to the nitty and the gritty of working in the comic book industry by sharing Marvel Comics contracts from 2002. Never mind the interesting language to ensure that everyone knows that Marvel owns everything (“TALENT acknowledges that the Materials may be derivative of preexisting material including, without limitation, the names, pictorial and literary representations of fictional characters, companies, places and things… that MARVEL owns or otherwise has rights in the Preexisting Material; and TALENT would be unable to produce the Materials without the Preexisting Materials,” it says at one point), the truly surprising thing about one of the contracts is that it’s in Comic Sans. Of all the typefaces available, you’d think that a comic company would know better…

Equally interesting reading from the same post: A memo from DC Comics this past May changing its reprint royalty policy, essentially asking creators to take less money than was originally offered in a pre-trade paperback world.

Spoilers are enough of a problem in big comic book stories without the publishers putting them out themselves. And, no, I’m not talking about mainstream media outlets revealing plot points the day before a comic’s release – Although, yeah, that too – but instead, things like the PR for Fear Itself: The Fearless that Marvel sent out yesterday. Spoilers! (more…)

Color me fascinated by the news that SLG has made the jump to offering all of its single issues through digital only, especially given publisher Dan Vado’s reasons why (In the announcement, he’s quoted as saying “The market has been pushing us away from serialized comics and more towards books and graphic novels for some time… However it is difficult to publish a 200 page graphic novel from an unknown artist without having some sort of lower-cost entry point like a comic book series to help build an audience, so going digital first seems like a good way to introduce readers to new creators and build an audience which we can build on for potential book releases”). This feels oddly important, both in terms of an indicator of where the direct market is at these days, but also as a test of the strength of the digital market: Will there be enough of an audience there to subsidize – and advertise – the eventual print editions, or is this more of a “Whatever we can make from digital is a bonus” scenario?

It’ll be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit, and if so, which ones – For all of the news of DC and Marvel both claiming various digital victories in the last few weeks, I can’t help but feel that the real strides in digital are being made by indies (SLG, Archie and IDW in particular). If we see companies like Boom!, Dynamite or even Dark Horse pushing a similar strategy – pushing some titles as digital-only until the collection, say – I wonder how long it’ll take before the Big Two follow… and what that will do to the direct market.

A random thought about the creative changes happening at DC concerning the New 52 books, both real and rumored: How much of this is brought on by the immediate feedback on the launches to date, and how much to information that we’re nowhere near privy to?

Obviously, sales probably contribute something, but with every book released so far selling out, it’s not as if any of them are clearly underperforming just yet. So, even if we put down creative changes to either personal reasons – That’s what John Rozum’s leaving Static Shock seemed to amount to, and JT Krul’s leaving Green Arrow may be down to his mysterious new project – what are we to make of rumors of books already being marked for cancellation at #6? Is this the result of a greedy mindset of “(Book X) isn’t performing as well as Justice League, even though it’s selling above our initial estimates, maybe we can come up with something that will sell better?” or are order numbers on the second and third issues significantly beneath the first?

Update: J.T. Krul has spoken out on the matter, with this statement to Newsarama:

“I am working on a new DC project, among other things, and wanted to focus on it. I had to let something go and there was no way I was leaving Captain Atom. It’s my favorite DC project to date.”

Krul also posted about leaving Green Arrow on his Facebook page: (more…)

This news broke over the weekend but I wasn’t near a computer to update until now. I have to say though, this did make my weekend shine a bit brighter. The man accused of stealing around $5,000 worth of Superman comics and other collectibles from Illinois man Mike Meyer has been arrested.

Newsarama was one of the first to spread the news about the theft in the hopes that those in the comic reading/collecting world might be able to keep an eye out for the stolen items. Now, the same St. Louis newspaper who reported the story thanks to Meyer’s friend Bill Smith, has written 37-year-old Gerry A. Armbruster was arrested and charged on Thursday. He was caught attempting to rob an elderly man of jewelry and money. The paper writes, “Police said their investigation of that more recent incident allowed them to link Armbruster to the Superman theft.”

Meyer, a 48-year-old mentally disabled man, was robbed of over 1800 items in his collection by an old co-worker he only knew as “Gary.” Granite City police were investigating the crime when Smith brought it to the attention of the paper and from there, the world. Sympathizers from all over immediately offered to donate items from their own collection as well as countless other items to Meyer in case the thief was never caught. The Superfriends of Metropolis organized quickly to help as well as many on a specially created Save Superman facebook page and a local comic book shop. Folks went so far as to list the items they were planning to donate on a Collectors Society message board in order to prevent duplicates being sent. One of the Superfriends members is actually going to hand-deliver a chunk of the donations to Meyer in person dressed as George Reeves era Superman.

“Celebrities and publicists associated with Superman films past and future have expressed interest in reaching out to him,” writes the paper, “Cleveland, Ohio officials have offered to pay Meyer’s way to the city for a grand tour of the house where Joe Shuster created Superman. The Chamber of Commerce in Metropolis, Ill., the official ‘Hometown of Superman,’ also reportedly has a plan in the works.”

Since Armbruster was apprehended, the police returned Meyer’s stolen collectibles. The paper writes, “As for his Superman collection, Meyer now has close to double what he had lost. Smith has about 40 more items ready to be delivered, and dozens more have been promised. Meyer said he wants to take the donations and give them to charity, possibly delivering them to a children’s hospital.”

Meyer spoke briefly with the newspaper and told them, “I felt very happy and felt justice was served…People were generous to me; this is how I can be generous in return.”

Thank you to everyone who helped, whether it was donating to Meyer or spreading the word. It’s nice to see a happy ending for a change.

According to Axel Alonso, Marvel editorial retreats can get mighty violent… Well, in the metaphorical sense, at least:

On Wednesday, a major creator who will remain nameless [Laughs] tossed out a couple of big grenades, and I wanted to run across the room and punch him. But by the time Friday rolled around, and we’d addressed his questions, I wanted to hug him. That’s the dynamic I’m talking about. We’re like boxers that beat the hell out of each other for fifteen rounds then embrace when the final bell rings. A witness might say, “What in the Hell? They just tried to knock each other’s blocks off!” But the reason is, those boxers really challenged each other, they put on a great show, they brought out the best in each other. That’s what happens with us — except there are 30 boxers in the ring. [Laughs]

Alonso doesn’t tease more about the storyline that was being worked out at this most recent retreat, but he does find time to remind everyone that – despite the success of DC’s New 52 – a reboot is nowhere near the future for the Marvel Universe:

DC is doing what they felt they needed to do — it’s not what we need to do. Any success that DC has with their line-wide reboot might inspire us to up our game, but it doesn’t inspire us to rethink our publishing plan. We have a plan and we’re sticking to it. “Fear Itself” and “Schism” set up big things in the Marvel Universe, all of which will come to a head in the event we’ve planned for 2012. A reboot is not on the menu.

Hopefully, this will end the still-recurring rumors that Marvel will “have” to consider a reboot in order to compete with how well DC is doing right now. Still, it’ll definitely be interesting to see how the December chart looks, considering the Avengers: X-Sanction launch and the probably fourth month sales of the New 52…

After reading the new Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1, I found myself wondering whether or not there was any way that Marvel could have just… well… skipped Miles Morales’ origin story altogether.

It’s not that what is there is especially egregious, or anything, it’s just that there is almost no way to gives Miles an origin story that doesn’t place too much stress on the character way too early. Either he has an origin filled with so much coincidence that it stretches credibility too far – The spider that just so happens to have the same number as Miles’ school lottery number (Nice Douglas Adams reference, though) just so happens to escape from the laboratory where it’s been genetically modified and then just so happens to survive long enough outside of the lab to (a) climb into the Prowler’s bag, (b) not be killed and/or discovered at any point between then and biting Miles, and (c) bite a teenage male, as opposed to anyone much-less-Spider-Man-like – or he has one that either ignores the original Spider-Man entirely (“My parents have been killed! What’s that on my window…? That’s it! I shall become a spider!”) or relies on him too much – something that I think the “Let’s recreate Spider-Man” angle at the start of UC:SM #1 flirts with, to be honest. (more…)

The animated adaptation of Eric Powell’s The Goon may not be anywhere near theaters yet but the creator tweeted yet another video of what it will look like when it eventually gets there. The video warns, “This is early rough test animation for the David Fincher / Blur Studios / Dark Horse Entertainment produced film THE GOON. Based on the Dark Horse Comic’s series by Eric Powell. THIS IS NOT INDICATIVE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT.” The action finally starts 30-seconds in.

Clancy Brown, who voiced Lex Luthor in several DC animated properties and Paul Giamatti voice The Goon and Franky respectively and are planned to take on the full-length roles whenever the film actually happens. As the videos preamble states, this is test footage and while it looks great, isn’t nearly as polished as Blur’s proof of concept trailer. The film, originally announced in 2008, is apparently still looking for funding. With stuff like this floating around I’m surprised it’s taking so long. Director Fincher has said it’s difficult because it’s “adult animation.” Powell lamented that he wished he sold as many comics as this video got views and also said, “Even though there’s probably no way in hell to raise 50 million, I might start a Goon film Kickstarter just for shits & giggles.”

Writer John Rozum has resigned from writing the new DC comic series Static Shock.

CBR reported Rozum made a post first on his Facebook page and then followed it up with a statement on his blog about the decision. Via the Facebook post,  ”Just so everyone knows, I have resigned from ‘Static Shock.’ Before any speculation starts the decision was entirely mine. My issues for leaving had nothing to do with the character or with DC Comics. I plan to continue working for DC long into the future and am developing new projects for them at this time. I’m also open to any other offers, so if you are in the position to give me work, please let me know.”

The first issue of the new series was released just last week. The writer was paired with artist Scott McDaniel, who was also co-writing the series with him. Rozum made it clear on his website that the decision was his and his alone and that he was not fired by DC. “I’m not giving any details at this time, but before speculation begins I’d like to say a few things which I hope will curtail a lot of unwarranted hostility and placing of blame where it shouldn’t be placed,” he wrote. He also said his choice had nothing to do with the character himself. “I think Static is a great character with loads of potential, which I hope will get exploited.”

It’s been a long road getting the Milestone character to this point. Created in 1993 by the late Dwayne McDuffie, Static Shock (aka Virgil Hawkins) was primarily a Milestone Media character until he got his own Warner Bros. animated television series in 2000. He made his first canonical DC appearance in Terror Titans then officially joined the Teen Titans. DC announced he’d be getting a solo series with writer Felicia Henderson and McDaniel on art which instead turned into a one-shot in honor of McDuffie following his passing. With the relaunch, it was announced Rozum and McDaniel were on a new Static Shock series.

“Given a lot of people’s suspicious feelings regarding the relationship between DC Comics and Milestone Media, I will also warn not to read into this that my decision was based on any decisions regarding the handling of the character by DC Comics. This is not true,” wrote Rozum on his website. “I maintain a belief that the folks at DC also share a belief that Static has a lot of potential as part of the DCnU and that they would like the character to remain true to his origins, and established nature.”

He reiterated, “My decision had nothing to do with DC Comics. I’ve been very happy overall with my time at DC over the roughly 15 years that I’ve worked for them and I plan to continue working with them into the future. The feeling is mutual. I’m developing new material for them even as I write this. DC Comics is in no way responsible for my decision to leave Static Shock, and have been very supportive of this decision. For now, this is all I’m going to say on the matter.”

DC Comics Editor-In-Chief Bob Harras gave CBR this statement which reflected Rozum’s sentiments, “John Rozum called me today to tell me that he’s leaving ‘Static Shock.’ DC Comics has had a great relationship with John for 15 years and he and I had a great conversation about new ideas, new concepts and moving forward. We’re all excited to see what comes next.”

No word yet on whether Rozum’s decision will affect the release dates of the following issues, how many he’s completed or who will take over for him.

Closet romantics (No pun intended), there’s apparently a DC New 52 book for you. From an interview with JH Williams III about Batwoman:

Her relationship with Maggie Sawyer came along, and one of the interesting things to us in writing this relationship was that so often heroes have relationships that are doomed to fail. We’re not sure if we want to go there and have this character just be another superhero who can never make it work with anyone. We’re definitely interested in seeing where this will take Kate. What I like about it is Kate having an interest in someone who, while she’s a cop, has lived a pretty normal life in a lot of ways. And Kate…well, she hasn’t. [Laughter] So that normalcy has a lot of attractiveness for her, and in some ways, that’s similar to what originally attracted her to Renee [Montoya, AKA the Question]. Of course, Renee ended up becoming something else. So the new relationship provides a lot of interesting dynamics for us, and we’re really excited by it.

As someone who has complained about the seeming anti-romance agenda of the New 52 previously, this comes as good news – especially considering that it hopefully means that we’re not going to see a sensationalistic “Look she’s a hot lesbian!” scenes in the future, always a fear considering the awkward introduction of the character (Essentially “It’s Batman! But she’s a lesbian!”). That said: How long before DC gets attacked for portraying a happy, stable lesbian relationship in its comics?

Here’s a random question, brought on by a hypothetical that appeared in my head out of nowhere earlier today: Who is the most valuable superhero publisher?

Maybe if I explain how I ended up with the question, it’ll make more sense; I was reading something about Disney earlier this week, and specifically about the Disney love of branding and how valuable said branding is to the corporation, and I found myself thinking, “I wonder if Disney would have rather owned Superman than Spider-Man?” There’s something about Superman – The iconic quality, sure, but also the wholesomeness and optimism – that makes me think that he just seems more “Disney” than any of the Marvel characters, even if the latter are far more successful and popular on the pop cultural stage as it is today… But that does make him more valuable for a company like Disney? Is Superman past his sell-by date in today’s world, beyond a specific market?

If you were looking to purchase a comic publisher for your corporate overlords, would you go for Marvel or DC, and why for whichever one you choose?

(Personally, I think Marvel might be a better investment in the short term, but DC has Batman, so…)

Founder of Atlanta’s Dragon*Con was arrested Tuesday for violating conditions of his bond from previous child molestation charge. Edward Kramer was taken into custody after he was discovered alone in a motel room with a 14-year-old boy.

The Gwinnett County News of Atlanta reported Kramer, who launched the popular convention in 1987 but claims no association with it now, was arrested in Connecticut after Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter received a tip Tuesday from someone in Florida whose daughter was filming a movie in the town he was staying. “The woman alleged that Kramer was claiming to be the guardian of a 14-year-old boy who was acting in the film and that he was staying in a motel room with the boy, ‘which is exactly like the allegations in our case,’ Porter said.” He is not accused of molesting the boy, but child endangerment in this particular arrest.

Eleven years ago, Kramer was charged with multiple counts of child molestation and aggravated child molestation. The paper writes, “Three teenage boys asserted that he sexually abused them after dazzling them with action figures, sci-fi memorabilia and celebrity connections.” He had long claimed he was too ill to stand trial for the alleged crimes and was under house arrest for some time until a judge lifted that order in 2008. But accounts from several witnesses in Connecticut say he isn’t as ill as he’s appeared in the past. “The movie is being filmed in a campground, in a fairly rural area,” Porter said. “Mr. Kramer was hiking on the trails, didn’t require a cane, didn’t have his breathing apparatus and didn’t ride in his wheelchair.”

His defense attorney Edwin Marger made this statement to the paper: ”I am more than surprised, I am flabbergasted. As I told the judge today, I don’t know if this was a 14-year-old child or a 41-year-old midget, so until I speak to my client, I’m not taking anything for granted.” The paper says, “Conditions of his bond stipulated that he report his whereabouts on a weekly basis to the Gwinnett County district attorney’s office and that he have no unsupervised contact with anyone under age 16.”

In his latest report to the district attorney’s office,” writes the paper, “Kramer claimed to be staying in Brooklyn, N.Y., so that he could be near his mother in her ‘last days,’ Porter said. However, authorities have since learned that Kramer’s mother died in March.”

Kramer is currently being extradited back to Georgia.

UPDATE: Dragon*Con chairman Pat Henry has issued this statement via Facebook:

Edward Kramer resigned from the Dragon Con Convention in 2000 after legal issues. He has not had any role in Dragon Con planning or activities since that time.

Since 2000 the convention has been managed by three of the other founders. These men have been involved with the convention since the beginning. In that time the convention attendance has grown from less than 10,000 to over 46,000 this past Labor Day.

I’m sure the current convention runners and fans of the show find the connection to Kramer unfortunate but him being the founder of Dragon*Con is part of his persona and therefor part of the story.

A question on Tom Brevoort’s Formspring touches on something I’ve been thinking about lately:

This is what I’ve been wondering: Why is the DC New 52 as successful as it is? (more…)

Looks like The Spectre is the latest DC Comics property in development as a television series, according a report on Deadline.

The show has received a script commitment from Fox, with Love Happens co-writer and director Brandon Camp signed to pen the pilot, and Gran Torino producer Bill Gerber also on board. In one incarnation or another, The Spectre has been around DC Comics since 1940′s More Fun Comics #52, though he hasn’t yet been seen in the publisher’s current The New 52 relaunch.

In his classic version, The Spectre is murdered cop Jim Corrigan, reborn as the embodiment of God’s wrath. And hes not the only ghostly DC character currently in TV development — last month, news circulated that a Deadman series was in the works at The CW.

If a pilot is greenlit and picked up as a series — a big if with any project at this early stage — it would also mark the return of a DC adaptation to the Fox lineup, which canceled Human Target earlier this year.

Arguably the greatest “They really should have either picked a better image or changed the caption” example in recent memory, may I present to you the crossover page from today’s Fear Itself #6 – under the jump for those nervous about spoilers, of course. (more…)

It was just yesterday that Dan Didio talked about the amount of ownership creators were feeling about their New 52 books… Something that everyone else in DC editorial might have done well to remember before announcing that Birds of Prey #4 would guest-star Batgirl. Which lead to this tweet from Batgirl writer Gail Simone:

And, when former Batgirl writer Bryan Miller asked why Babs was apparently wearing Stephanie’s costume, Gail replied:

Thankfully, Gail admitted that this was all “just trivial stuff, in the end. No worries,” but still: It might serve as a heads-up to DC editorial to check with creators before using their characters in future if you really want to keep that ownership mentality up…

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last time I had a little something for everyone by showcasing an item for each member of the new Justice League but I’m going in a different direction this week. Princess Peach used to be relegated to the end of each Super Mario Bros. level but she’s come a long way since then, even starring in her own titles. Here’s a few fun items I found on the craft website.

Princess Peach is known for her trademark pink dress, bouncy hair and of course, her crown. Here’s an 8-Bit Princess Gold Mirror Laser Cut Necklace from user neighborhoodstory. It’s almost big enough to wear on your head and sells for $12.

The famous Princess has had a starring role in video games but none quite like this. It’s a piece of art titled “Princess Peach escapes the Castle” by user ArtbyMcKenzie. The piece was created for a Nintendo-themed art show and is being sold for $315.

Need to light some torches to see your way in that grubby castle? Why not use this Princess Peach Perler Bead Lighter Case/Sleeve on your favorite lighter and scare all the ghosts away? From user J3S13, $5.

Princesses Peach and Daisy are looking absolutely fabu in this print from user the Gorgonist, except here, they are Princes! Also check out the Mario Monster Girls, both $7 each.

And just because I can’t resist a puppster in a costume, here is a PRINCESS PEACH NINTENDO Dress Dog Costume. User YoungUrbanPuppy has will make it custom to fit your pup for $24.50. And yes, Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Bowzer costumes are also available should you wish to inflict them on your best friend.

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!