The Locke & Key TV series may not be dead after all. Again.

After being passed on by Fox at the pilot stage and shopped around to other networks, Deadline reported Wednesday that MTV is interested in the show — at least mildly so. The post basically boils down to two factors, that the trailer has attracted a lot of buzz on YouTube (which hasn’t gone unnoticed by those in the biz), and that MTV programming chief David Janollari has seen the pilot and liked it. Yet Janollari also hasn’t talked to the producers and the show may very well be cost prohibitive for a basic cable network, so it may not necessarily mean anything. But that’s at least a hint of renewed hope.

This news came the same day as Newsarama’s own Jill Pantozzi (positively) reviewed the Locke & Key pilot in the latest installment of Hey, That’s My Cape.

FanExpo took place in Canada late last month. I’ve never attended myself but I know a lot of folks who have and although it takes place not too long after San Diego Comic-Con and right between Baltimore Comic Con and Dragon*Con, seems to be a pretty popular show. That being said,  Jenn, Emmy and Christine who make up The Dangerous Ladies had some interesting comments about DC’s marketing at that show via their Tumblr.

The post that sparked the thoughts on marketing was one titled “Didio & Me” where Jenn, a big DC fan, had this to say, “I had been at the DC table earlier and seen how sparse it was –– practically nothing. Just the big New 52 posters seen previously at SDCC, some white tables, the odd signing and freebies. Not even new freebies, mind, these were the same leftovers from SDCC 2009, things that actually said ‘coming in 2009, Batman and Robin!’ and stuff like that. Promotion-wise, the DC booth was a total bust. They had TV screens playing commercials for the Supernatural anime, for some reason, and the 52 commercial popped up on a cycle, but otherwise there was nothing.”

Bear in mind, this event took place on August 25, right before the relaunch and release of Justice League #1. The convention may not be a top priority for DC, especially just after SDCC, but freebies from 2009? Jenn and the others (who are the Bat-ladies above) actually spoke with Dan DiDio about this. “Last year, we had kind of ribbed Dan for the boring booth. He had promised us something really spectacular this year, so I teased him about the lackluster booth. Dan looked surprised — he hadn’t been in there yet, and didn’t know what was going on at the booth. So I told him, and expressed my surprise that DC wouldn’t capitalize on this weekend to really get people going for this new 52 thing. His response was that “Well, this is the last week of the old DCU. We’ll let it have its last hurrah before we start the new stuff next week.’” (more…)

I missed this over the holiday weekend, but look! It’s Brian Clevinger’s un-used Firestorm pitch!:

The first question readers will ask is “Who gets to be the face of Firestorm?” There’s a good case for each. Ronnie’s been Firestorm longer than anyone, so there’s a lot of momentum in his favor. On the other hand, Jason’s tenure as a Firestorm headliner was cut short and going back to Ronnie feels like a step backwards. Either way, we piss off too many people.So, both of the guys get to be Firestorm. They’ll be able to switch between “driver” and “passenger”(typically with some bickering, of course). Whomever’s driving Firestorm has access to the full suite of powers, but the guys have different approaches to using them just as they have different approaches to life.

There’s a lot there, and I admit that I would’ve enjoyed reading Clevinger’s take – There’s enough pick up from Brightest Day‘s dangling plot threads, as well as a nice use of Solaris from DC One Million, for me to be hooked in, and Clevinger’s love/respect for the characters/concept is very, very clear. I can guess why DC eventually went with Simone/Van Sciver instead – Bigger name recognition, both have history with DC, and their take is likely to be less continuity-heavy and potentially more off-the-wall and weird enough to grab attention more quickly – but I hope that Clevinger gets feted by DC again in the future; they need more of this kind of stuff, I think.

I just did an interview on Fear Itself #5, and it’s gone from having questions to being told, now, that Thor wouldn’t say “ass.” Thor isn’t real. My Thor doesn’t talk like Stan [Lee]‘s Thor and his Thor didn’t talk like [J. Michael Straczynzki]‘s Thor, and his Thor didn’t talk like Walter [Simonson]‘s Thor. Everybody’s Thor talks differently. Also, being told that Spider-Man wouldn’t leave. Spider-Man, who has single-handedly kept the costume-shaped trash can industry afloat in the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man, who has quit numerous times. I’ve been accused of misspelling the name of a character I made up. I made it up; I can spell it however I want to. I can spell Odin with a “U” if I want to.

I keep thinking about this quote, from Matt Fraction’s fascinating interview over at Comics Alliance yesterday, and flipping between “Yes, that’s it exactly” and “No, that’s kind of missing the point of the shared universe as a concept” with alarming frequency. (more…)

And now it’s time for Marvel Design Math. Today, the Season One trade dress! Step one: Take the angled type treatment from Chip Kidd’s covers for DC’s All-Star line -

- add in the bottom-of-page design dress from Panini’s Marvel Exklusiv line from Europe -

- and voila!

Another design classic from the House of Ideas.

It’s alive! After coming up with fifty-two additional potential titles for DC Comics, the DC Fifty-TOO blog announced that its work isn’t over yet after all:

What’s a month of solicitations without a second month of solicitations?  Stay tuned come Monday for some second issues, awesome variant covers, and some all-new number ones from folks who weren’t in on the first 52.

Sure enough, we’ve already seen the second cover for Liberty Belle, as well as debuts for Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love and Lex Luthor. Knowing that the site will continue showcasing ideas and takes on familiar characters that, in the words of founder Jon Morris, “look like so much fun to read” is definitely good news. I’m still of the mind that DC should seriously consider bringing some of these cartoonists on to provide stories to back up the covers; who wouldn’t want to read DC Fifty-Too: The Anthology, after all?

A little late, I find this post by Warren Ellis, spinning out of Twitter comments by Ed Brubaker and Brian Michael Bendis, about digital distribution of comics reshaping narrative in the same way that collecting everything into trades and hardcovers did:

Brian (and Joe Quesada, I guess) see digital comics as potentially doing to the serialised graphic novel what the mp3 did to the album. Digital comics services are still very much all about the single rather than the graphic novel. They’re not selling TRANSMETROPOLITAN as ten collections. They’re selling it as sixty singles. Mp3s are priced individually at most music services because people will buy the bits of an album they want. The days of being able to force the sale of a complete unit of songs, in a predetermined running order, are long gone. And I suspect what’s being said here is that there’s a belief that comics could go a bit like that. I also suspect it’s a bit of wishful thinking, hoping that waiting-for-the-trade will go away if you write technically infinite storylines that put the focus back on the individual single, and the individual single being the point of instant gratification that you load on to your tablet.

That said, if you deliberately write against collection as a method to embrace digital distribution…

…well, as I’ve said before, Archie Goodwin once told me that the only qualititative difference between superhero comics and soap operas is that superhero comics replace love scenes with fight scenes. And those shows only end when they get cancelled.

(more…)

Something occurred to me while reading the blog post by Flash editor Brian Cunningham at the end of last week, when he announced that Barry Allen was now no longer a married man in the New 52 – Well, something besides “Wait, wasn’t Barry essentially single in the last Flash series? I mean, there was some kind of flirting/dating with Iris potentially, but were they supposed to be married?” – namely, what the hell does DC suddenly have against matrimony?

After all, it’s not just Barry Allen who suddenly finds himself de-married in the New 52-verse; Lois and Clark are famously in the same boat, and from the looks of pre-release interview, solicits and other material, Mr. Terrific and The Savage Hawkman have gone from being widowers to being swinging bachelors without a care in the world that isn’t related to fighting crime and looking good doing it. It goes even further, of course; if Ryan Choi really is the Atom in the new 52, then it’s not just the Ray Palmer/Jean Loring marriage that doesn’t exist anymore, it’s all of Ray Palmer. In fact, in the new DCU, I’m having trouble thinking about a marriage that has actually survived… Ralph and Sue Dibny, perhaps, but they’re potentially dead if Identity Crisis and 52 still happened (Seriously, aside from the Legion of Super-Heroes relationships, am I missing a marriage that’s made it through the New 52 unscathed? I mean, even Ma and Pa Kent are dead now).

This all has the aim, of course, of making the characters seem younger and more relatable to readers. After all, no comic readers are married, and no young people ever get married, so… success achieved, DC! Congratulations on making One More Day seem restrained.

(A stray thought: Wouldn’t it be hilarious if, in the middle of these announced de-marrying of characters, DC quietly retcons in a marriage? I’d love it if, in the middle of Green Lantern #1, Hal Jordan casually mentions that he and Carol have been married for years without his superhero identity causing any problems.)

UPDATED BELOW! Comic retailers and collectors in the general St. Louis area should keep their eyes open for anyone selling Superman memorabilia and comics.  A mentally disabled fan from Granite City, Illinois has been robbed of thousands of dollars worth of his personal collection.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 48-year-old Mike Meyer was robbed by a co-worker two weeks ago. The website says Meyers has been on Social Security for a mental disability since age 23 but has worked part time to supplement that aid.

According to the paper, “Meyer was tricked out of about 1,800 of his favorite Superman comic books, some dating to the 1950s. He also lost many of his favorite collector’s items: lunch boxes, an old-time radio, a Monopoly game and television set — all Superman-themed. The loot is worth about $4,000 to $5,000 in total, according to a friend who also collects.” They recount the story of how the theft occurred:

Meyer said mostly only his friends and family knew of his collection, but he also made the mistake once of telling someone less trustworthy: a guy named Gary whom he worked with at the Hardee’s on Madison Avenue in 1991.

Meyer said he ran into Gary recently while at Kyle’s Baseball Cards and Comics in Granite City. Gary asked Meyer whether he still collected Superman items and asked to see the collection. Meyer first gave an excuse, but then Gary called him later saying he was in the neighborhood and hoped to stop by.

“He just kept talking like a salesman,” Meyer said. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Meyer said he let Gary into the house that day and gave him a quick tour. Gary asked to see “my most precious comics,” Meyer said.

The next night, Gary was back again, asking whether Meyer would let Gary’s girlfriend watch some of his Superman movies. Meyer said while he and the girlfriend watched, Gary disappeared for a while.

Meyer noticed the theft two days later, on the morning of Aug. 24, and called police. All he knows is that Gary has dark hair, a goatee, is about 35 and drives a silver or gray car.

Meyer said a lot of what Gary stole from him was sentimental, “He invaded my privacy, and he took away my peace of mind.”

“He uses his powers not to benefit himself, but to help others,” Meyer told the paper when speaking about his favorite character, “He’s the champion of the oppressed.” Here’s hoping someone can help Meyer. Granite City police are investigating but if anyone receives any offers to buy Superman comics (Meyer says he owned #99 – the present) or the other items mentioned or sees them online please contact the police immediately with any information.

Update #1 – I’ve been in contact with a friend of Meyer’s and he’s given me the following information of what was taken from him to the best of his knowledge:

Here is what I know is missing: A 1960s Captain Action costume (on a generic doll, ha), a Seinfeld statue (I know these are expensive now), several recent Superman statutes (not sure which ones), most of his Superman Returns action figures and other bubble wrap figures and his complete collection of Superman and Action Comics… mostly 1950s to current and many in not particularly great condition. Also there is a Superman TV set, a Spinball Pinball Game, a Superman clock, and assorted other items. He still has a good part of his collection remaining, but most of his prizes are gone, alas. I am pretty sure none of the Superman statues will be in boxes. he had the boxes in a separate location in his house.

UPDATE #2 – Meyer’s friend has given me permission to post his address. Anyone willing to make donations to Meyer can send them here:

Mike Meyer c/o Bill Smith
7041 Kingsbury Blvd.
St. Louis, Mo. 63130

The Avengers, Man of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises are three of the most highly anticipated movies of next year and with the advent of their filming, lots of pictures have surfaced online. Some feature the famous cast members in action, while others show them having fun in their downtime on set. Well, artist Noelle Stevenson has been following the leaks closely, specifically The Avengers, and finally shows us what it’s doing to her.

Stevenson, also known to her fans as Ginger Haze on Tumblr, has a penchant for highlighting the way fans (herself in particular, but I can totally relate) perceive our favorite film or literary characters. Here we have delightfully ridiculous depictions of Loki and Thor, Tony Stark and Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow and of course, the artist herself.

Stevenson also showed us what she saw in her mind after viewing video and shots of Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth filming this scene together recently.

Seriously though, the footage was almost exactly like that.

I love all of Stevenson’s work but I must also direct you to her recent series having fun with X-Men: First Class and, if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan you should also check out her Broship of the Rings. Keep them coming Noelle, you aren’t alone in your superhero world views.

There are a lot of fans and bloggers out there who salivate over any type of juicy argument, backhanded compliment or subtle insult between comic book professionals on Twitter. However, there’s also a ton of positive, constructive and simply entertaining discussion out there in the industry generated through the microblogging site, such as this gem from Sept. 2 between Top Shelf Productions publisher Chris Staros and Tales Designed to Thrizzle cartoonist Michael Kupperman:

Fans upset that the end of AMC’s The Walking Dead Season 1 veered away from the comics quite a bit will be happy to hear Season 2 has us back on track, heading directly to Hershel’s farm.

New showrunner Glen Mazzara spoke with AMC.com a bit about his past work but also what we can expect to see in The Walking Dead Season 2. “What’s been surprising is that in the graphic novel the story that takes place on Hershel’s farm is really only a few issues. We’ve been able to mine that for many episodes, and we’re very excited about the depth to which we’re able to push the characters, the different dynamics that we’re able to explore,” he told them.

“Our approach to our group of survivors when they reach Hershel’s farm is that they are a plague unto themselves,” he continued. “Nothing goes right for Hershel once Rick and his band show up. They make the zombie apocalypse look like kids in a candy story. What’s interesting is that if this was a show solely about Hershel, Rick and his band would really be the antagonists. And that’s been really surprising because every action that Rick and his band take is completely logical, but you’ll certainly sympathize with Hershel.”

We told you earlier this week that AMC has decided to split the second season of the hit show into two parts. The premiere will air October 16 and be 90 minutes long and after seven episodes the season will pick up again February 12. The role of Hershel will be played by Scott Wilson.

Mazzara also spoke about the adaptations originator. “What’s great about this adaptation is that Robert Kirkman is such a huge part of it. In Crash [his previous show], the writers and director of the film were involved at certain points, not involved at others, and then when the show deviated from what they believed Crash meant, I had a problem as a show-runner,” he said. “On this show Robert has been very open to letting us tell our own story. Robert sees them as two different works of art — and they’re not in conflict with each other. As long as it’s good and as long as it’s scary, he’s happy.”

Speaking of the comic, Mazzara said he’s “dying to meet the Governor” (as we all are) and that his family are excited about his new post. “My son seemed to have a lot of unique ways to kill zombies. None that I really am interested in putting on TV, but that’s a big topic of conversation at the dinner table.”

Marc-Oliver Frisch is about to blow your mind:

Here’s a number for you: Out of 65 DC Universe comic books published in July, 32 were by the writer/artist creative teams listed in the solicitations — less than half of the bunch.

Most of the others were either completely drawn by guest artists or had help from one or more of them. And for a couple, even the story credit changed. Not counting the six DC Retroactive books, the video-game adaptations and the New Wave titles, none of which are involved in the day-to-day of the DC Universe, the strike rate is 22 out of 55. So, presuming that’s not a coincidence, it looks like the big DC relaunch was about 40% well-planned, at this juncture.

That’s just… horrible. It’s from Frisch’s look at the July sales figures for DC over at the Beat, which makes for great reading, especially in the light of their stunning September sales; considering we’re on track for 200,000+ orders for Justice League #1, that’s more than four times as many as Justice League of America was selling before the New 52 hit. Presuming that Bleeding Cool’s order estimates for DC’s New 52 are accurate – that’s admittedly a big presumption – then here’s a really quite staggering fact: The lowest ordered New 52 book might still have orders higher than the tenth best-ordered DC book from July. If that really turns out to be the case, that’s an incredible result for DC.

All week, Ron Marz has been sharing the process of creating his upcoming book Voodoo at CBR (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4), with different installments about writing, drawing, coloring and lettering. For process junkies, this has been manna from heaven, but even if you’re not engrossed in seeing pages go from script to finished letters, Marz’ take on comics as a collaborative process is well worth checking out:

I usually include suggested, or “first draft” dialogue in most of my scripts, so the artist has a sense of what’s being said, as well as the order in which characters speak (for left-right placement of figures). Since the team had to hit the ground running for “Voodoo” #1, the suggested dialogue in the initial script is probably slightly more sparse than usual.

As the art pages come in, I go back into the script and write the finished dialogue. This allows me to script to what’s actually on the page, rather than what I’d hoped would be on the page. It also gives the artist greater latitude to make adjustments in the visuals, since I can react in the final dialogue. I can play off of expressions, body language or background characters. Looking at the art, the characters start to speak to you, tell you what they want to say.

Even more, it acts as a taster for what Marz and team are doing in Voodoo; I’ll admit that my interest in the title was almost zero before reading these columns, but now I’m curious to see the finished book, just to see how things turn out, and whether the weird-but-appropriate idea of narrative as stripping gets carried through to the actual book.

Clearly, this whole “New 52″ thing is working out for DC – in September, at least. DC has announced that both Action Comics and Batgirl have sold out at the distributor level before their release next week and , with both being sent for a second printing already, while Justice League‘s second print is also already sold out before its release, and it’s going back for a third printing. Considering that pre-orders for JL were announced as being somewhere in the 200,000 range, and that that was presumably for the first print, it’ll be fascinating to see what the final orders for the book end up being. Equally fascinating: Seeing how much of this buzz will carry over into the second issues, and beyond.

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. As a special treat for the start of a brand-new era at DC Comics and the release of Justice League #1, I’ve found one item for each new member of the team. Or at least the members on the cover.

First up, Superman! You’d definitely stand out toting around this Superman Comic Bag. User RebelDowntown created this with comic fabric as the exterior and lined it with red silk on the interior. $35.

l’m kinda in love with this Flash Handmade Felt Bird. “Member of the Justice Flock,” writers user TweetandTweed, “the Flash Bird (a.k.a. The Scarlet Speedster) has superspeed, which allows him to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes and seemingly violate laws of physics.” Also $35.

The last place you expect to find a Green Lantern is in the kitchen but if they were taking a break from intergalactic law enforcement to cook, I’d like to think they’d be wearing this Green Lantern Apron from user Jordandene. $50.

Who needs a utility belt when you can wear a regular belt? This brown leather and hemp Batman logo belt buckle is $30 from user GettingWeddy.

Ahh Aquaman. There wasn’t too much on Etsy for him but I thought this Recycled Comic ID holder was pretty cute. Just $4 from user Japip, with a different image on the opposite side.

On the other hand, there’s an abundance of Wonder Woman stuff on the crafting website. This Wonder Woman tissue box caught my eye as something different. From user buckaroosmercantile for $14.95.

Pickings were rather slim when it came to the newest member of the new Justice League, Cyborg. I found this Cyborg Mini Plushie from user snowtigra for $5 and this Smallville-era Cyborg t-shirt from JamesLinckeCreations for $17. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more items once the new series gets going.

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!

So, everyone’s had a chance to read Flashpoint #5, right? If not, click for the rest of this post at your own risk. (more…)

It’s nearly the norm at this point for cable shows to split their seasons in two — right now Doctor Who is in the midst of the second half of its sixth season on BBC America — and it looks like AMC’s The Walking Dead is following suit.

Today the network announced that not only will the Oct. 16 season premiere of the show based on Robert Kirkman’s Image series be 90 minutes long, the show will take a pause after seven episodes, and return for the back six starting on Feb. 12, traditionally a considerably less spooky time of the year.

AMC has scheduled that same date as the premiere of Secret Stash, an unscripted series set at Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash comic book store. Here’s the official description:

The Secret Stash is a one hour series that captures the world of the local comic book store. Way before comic book culture went mainstream, the comic store has not only been a place for people to buy, sell, or trade for cool stuff; but also to hang out and be part of a community that just loves comics. Secret Stash will capture both of these aspects of comic store life. It will document the daily banter of The Secret Stash and it’s employees and devoted customers; and it will capture the fun and emotion of buying and selling collectibles and comic memorabilia that happens in comic book stores all across the country and in mega-venues like Comic-Con.

Tom Spurgeon points me in the direction of this update on the Schulz Library in Vermont, post-Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene:

Against many odds–and with the amazing help of our friends–I’m thrilled to announce on behalf of The Center for Cartoon Studies community that the entire Schulz Library collection is safe and secure in the dry storage area of the Telegraph Building, a few blocks from where it once resided in the old firehouse. However, given the hectic nature of moving the books in the wee hours of the morning with the sound of risinig water a few feet away and emergency lights a’blazing, the collection is a bit jumbled.

The immediate task at hand is to get the books organized and ready to move to wherever the library will be next.

Volunteers in the area to help sort and store books are invited to email Caitlin McGurk at mcgurk@cartoonstudies.org to find out when and how they can help, and the rest of us can donate to the library’s reconstruction effort.

After making it through three-fifths of the story, I finally understand what X-Men: Schism is all about… because I read Kieron Gillen explain it in an interview with the LA Times:

[T]he core disagreement is about how much of the present should you be willing to give up for the future. As I said, Cyclops made all sorts of hard, leaning gray decisions — which he’s doing to make sure the mutants have a future. Wolverine, while involved in most of the gray decisions, thinks that Cyclops is still working in some kind of bunker-siege mindset and acting against principles which should be sacrosanct.

I don’t know why I feel as if this could’ve been made clearer in the books themselves, considering that Schism – by its very nature – is all about setting up and purposefully not resolving the conflict between the two sides, so of course it’d take time for the conflict to become obvious. And yet, I still feel as if Schism is oddly draggy, which leads me to wonder whether there’s something… not wrong, exactly, but wrong-ish about the expectations readers have about the series given the way the series and subsequent Regenesis branding has been hyped: We’ve known from the start – before the start! – that this series would lead to a separation of the united mutant front that’s been living on Utopia for years, and that it would split the X-Men into two distinct camps. With that in mind, is it the reader’s fault for being impatient to actually see that conflict as quickly as possible?

I’m genuinely torn – I know that, in order to sell Schism, the idea had to be given away to catch readers’ and retailers’ attention (especially considering the low orders; remember the last-minute attempts to convince people that it was really, really important?), but in doing so, I think the actual story got screwed because we all knew the end, and getting there suddenly became an entirely different thing. Would it have been better for Marvel to have kept quiet about Regenesis and the spin-off books until later? Should Schism have been shorter? Am I the only one who feels impatient for the actual schism to happen already?