Time to add another couple of bookmarks, art lovers. Not only has Dave Johnson set up a blog where he discusses what works and what doesn’t work about today’s comic book covers – Be warned, gentle readers, he has opinions (but be reassured, aesthetes, they’re pretty spot-on) – he’s also part of another new blog, What Not, which seems to be a group blog where various creators post recent artwork. The members of said group? That would be Johnson, Amanda Conner, Andrew Robinson, Becky Cloonan, Cliff Chiang, Dan Panosian, Duncan Fergredo, Eric Canete, Francesco Francavilla, Jock, Mark Chiarello, Mike Oeming, Phil Noto, Sean Phillips and Bill Sienkiewicz. I think we can just go ahead and agree that this will be one absolutely stunning-looking blog, right…?

Let’s all thank Image Comics for saving the Bay Area from being conventionless next year, with Wondercon making a temporary move to Anaheim for the year; the publisher has announced that it will be holding its own comic-con, Image Expo, at the Oakland Convention Center – the original home of Wondercon, before it moved to San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center – between February 24-26 next year.

Announced guests will include Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino, as well as Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio, with other creators present including: Joe Casey,  Jonathan Hickman and Brian K. Vaughan. Despite the name and the Image-creator-heavy guestlist, the publisher calls the event “a celebration of independent creativity in comics” and has opened the floor to “anyone who makes creator-owned comics.” More details as they become available, but I have to admit, I kind of want to go already.

(As an aside, when was the last time a publisher held their own convention, WizardWorld aside?)

Proving that there is still power in print media, UK movie magazine Empire has a cover story this month on The Dark Knight Rises, complete with a Christopher Nolan interview. In a tantalizing preview on the mag’s site, some new details on the film are revealed.

Here’s the big news: A six-to-seven minute prologue will be screened in front of IMAX showings of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, starting Dec. 21.” The segment will be “an introduction to Bane, and a taste of the rest of the film,” the director said.

The most surprising tidbit? The movie takes place eight years after 2008′s The Dark Knight. Nolan says: “Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.”

There also looks to be a good deal of Bane talk in the article, with costume designer Lindy Hemming explaining how the “Venom” will work in the film, saying, “He’s suffering from pain and needs gas to survive. He can’t survive the pain without the mask. The pipes from the mask go back along his jawline and feed into the thing at his back, where there are two cannisters.”

The Dark Knight Rises is schedule for release on July 20, 2012.

Update, 1:45 p.m. eastern: Brilliant is not just a five-issue miniseries, writer Brian Michael Bendis has said on Twitter.

“BRILLIANT is NOT a 5 issue min. the first story isn’t even a five issue story. not sure why that is there,” Bendis wrote. More on this as it develops. — Albert Ching

Original story: For those wondering how next year’s Avengers Assemble series by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley was going to affect their creator-owned series Brilliant, well, it’s not a typo in the February solicits: Marvel announced late last week that Brilliant was now a 5-issue mini-series.

Brilliant has had a particularly troubled history; announced in March this year as a bi-monthly “maxiseries” (“This is a long miniseries so I guess the technical term is maxiseries. But it’s really something in between,” explained Bendis at the time) to launch in July, the series was bumped to an August launch in the last week of July because of a switch from pencils-only to a traditional pencil-and-ink look. The launch then slipped again to the end of September, with the bi-monthly schedule apparently impacted by Bendis and Bagley’s other commitments, as #2 now isn’t expected until December 21st. #3 and 4 were originally solicited for November and January releases, and the current schedule sees #3 released a week after #2 (December 28th), and then the book getting back on track with #4, apparently headed for a January 11th in-store date. #5 is scheduled to appear a month later, finishing the book’s run.

Avengers Assemble is scheduled for a March 2012 launch.

Alan Moore on comics being viewed as a male industry:

When I do signings occasionally, and get to meet some of the audience, I’ve noticed that there are a lot more women in the queues, which is perhaps a mark of the general female uptake of comics. It’s not such a boys’ field as it used to be. But also it seems that a lot of people don’t seem to be coming from a comics background. [When I created The Ballad of Halo Jones for 2000AD,] there wasn’t a single – I mean, I was annoyed – there wasn’t a single girls’ comic in Britain. I thought, well if you do more stories that are aimed at women, you’ll get more women reading the comics. It would seem fairly simple and straightforward, but there was a lot of resistance [to the idea].

Is this where I use that whole “plus ça change” phrase…? (Also, Is Halo Jones still in print? If so, you should really read it, if you haven’t already.)

Never mind images of the Phoenix, hints that something is coming or Point One special issues, Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso has offered probably the most speculation-inducing comment about the House of Ideas’ big 2012 event yet in his latest CBR interview:

[T]he first phase of a publishing plan is determining what your tent-poles will be — what projects will drive people into stores and get people buzzing about the year ahead. A few weeks ago, we released a little teaser that got people buzzing… Very soon, we’re going to reveal all. Three simple words that speak to the hardcore Marvel fan and the guy or gal on the street who’s seen one or two super hero movies.

“Three simple words that speak to the hardcore Marvel fan and the guy or gal on the street who’s seen one or two super-hero movies”? What three words would fit that bill? “The Phoenix Returns,” maybe, if those super-hero movies were the X-Men ones? “The Avengers Die?” Nah, they wouldn’t go that far. But… Well, the Point One teaser story featuring Nova made a point – no pun intended – of showing that the Phoenix Force didn’t only destroy a planet, but created new life. So what if the three words end up being some variation on “Marvel Universe Reborn”?

Dear Friends,

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold series finale airs at 7 p.m. tonight on Cartoon Network. I’ve seen the episode. It’s awesome.

Without spoiling too much, here are some reasons why:

1) Henry Winkler as Ambush Bug (pictured)
2) Paul Reubens as Bat-Mite
2) It’s written by Paul Dini!
4) More fourth wall-breaking “meta” commentary than a typical episode of Community (or, well, an Ambush Bug comic)
5) It guest stars Aquaman, and science has proven that The Brave and the Bold Aquaman is the best Aquaman.
6) Ted McGinley (yes)

So, yeah. Even if you haven’t watched the series thus far, make a point to watch tonight.

Peace,

Albert

Retailer Brian Hibbs considers the problems with publishers polybagging comics for sale:

Well, let’s take bags for the example: bags cut down on browsing, they don’t “sit right” on a rack (as they generally don’t have a true edge), and they look shabby. There’s some interesting questions on the secondary market as to whether or not a bagged comic without the bag is still “mint.” They add shipping weight (which we retailers pay for), and, based on recent experiences, they’re both prone to more distribution damages as well as taking up more room in shipping boxes, increasing costs.

What’s the upside for the retailer for any of this tradeoff?

I admit, the idea that polybagging could hurt sales by cutting down on browsing never occurred to me – in part because my local store bags everything before sale – but I do wonder how much the loss of browsing is offset by any “I have to know what’s inside! Maybe I should buy it!” impulse. It’ll be interesting to see what (if anything) happens to sales of the Ultimate books longterm as polybagging the issues becomes matter of course.

There is so, so much goodness in this Mark Waid interview with Tucker Stone, but let’s quote this part, shall we?

I’ve been carrying this banner for a long time: how to craft a first issue that makes people want to come back rather than feel like they’re punished for not coming back because they only got a little bit of a story, or because you’re not giving them the basics of storytelling. That stuff just makes me insane. I think some of the best work I’ve ever done has been first issue stuff–the Fantastic Four launch I did with ‘Ringo, or the Legion #1 I did with Barry Kitson. Whether you like the stories or not, the craftsmanship is something I’m proud of. Here is a story. Here’s what the characters want, what they’re interested in, what they’re after and what’s in their way, and what they have to overcome in interesting, visual ways that you can only do in comic books. How hard is that, for christsakes?

And yet I feel like a voice in the wilderness when I say that. Again, this is why I’m heartened by the response to Daredevil #1. It really feels like I’ve been doing these kinds of first issues for a long time. Clean slates, where I’m giving you what you need. And people got it! I feel like one of those guys who tops the charts with a number one single, and then you find out he’s been around for ten years and you just never knew. That’s heartening, that feeling that my personal taste and the market’s taste have finally lined up for a brief second.

Earlier in the interview, Waid and Stone make some comments along the lines of wishing that Daredevil was getting more attention in general, to which I wholeheartedly concur. People, if you like superhero comics and you’ve not sampled the new Daredevil series yet, you are missing out to a degree you can’t even imagine. It’s just great comics. End of free plug. Now go read the rest of the interview, because it’s filled with good stuff.

It’s a case of good news/bad news for fans who’d been hoping to see Brian Michael Bendis’ and Mike Oeming’s Powers debut on FX this fall. Let’s start with the bad: It’s not been picked up to series. The good? It’s not dead, either; FX has opted to “retool” the show, with reshoots being scheduled for the pilot, before making any further decisions about its future, according to Deadline Hollywood. On Twitter, Bendis was quick to explain why this was a good thing:

network spending more $$ on powers is good. they did the same to the sons of anarchy pilot. fx sees pilots diff then reg networks. a lot of pilots go through this. but they aren’t based on anything so you never hear about it. the network convos this week have been great.

However, the retooling/reshoots – which is more about tone and clarity than redefining the series, according to Bendis – doesn’t mean that FX has quietly given the show a green light; Outlaw Country, another pilot in contention for the same slot as Powers, had gone through the same process of retooling and reshoots before being officially dumped by the channel yesterday. Short version? Stay tuned – but don’t hold your breath just yet.

How best to cut down on harrassment and bad behavior at comic book conventions? Peter David is wondering whether we need a convention bill of rights:

I think it would be an interesting idea to produce a list of simple, basic rights that everyone attending conventions–both pros and fans–should expect. I mean, you’d think that they would be common sense; things that people would just know. On the other hand, the 10 Commandments were pretty common sense too, when you think about it, so I figure if it’s good enough for God…

On his list, basics like “Treat others as you would want to be treated,” rules about signatures and just how many you can expect in one go, and a request not to fall asleep in the front rows of panels (Seriously, people: If you’re that tired, you should probably leave the convention and go and find a bed somewhere, if only for comfort’s sake). But there is something about the idea of a list of basic convention rights, isn’t there? All I’d want to be in there would be something about ensuring relatively reasonably priced food available somewhere for morons like myself who always forget to have a good enough breakfast that morning, but can’t bring myself to buy a microwaved burger for $9…

Flickr photo by Parka.

So, February will see the final issues of  Black Panther, X-23, Ghost Rider and PunisherMAX, following on from the recent cancellations/endings of Alpha Flight, Herc, Iron Man 2.0, All-Winners Squad, Victor Von Doom and never-solicited Destroyers mini. And, considering that the full Marvel solicitations haven’t been released yet, there may be even more books ending that we don’t know about. It really does look like, as iFanboy have decided to call it, a Cancelpocalypse, but here’s my obvious question:

What is going to replace all of these books?

I can’t be the only one who’s thinking that we’re months (at most) away from a swath of all-new monthlies replacing these titles, New 52-style, in an attempt to regain market share and find new homes for the talents behind the disappeared books, right? We already know that Marjorie Liu is working on something for Marvel, and isn’t Ghost Rider‘s Rob Williams a Marvel exclusive? He’ll need a new book; similarly, I can’t believe that Francesco Francavilla isn’t going to show up elsewhere at the House of Ideas sometime soon. Things are looking amazingly grim for Marvel right now, but I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next.

In a great blog post, Uncanny X-Men writer Kieron Gillen considers just how to make comics featuring long-running characters accessible to new and old readers:

I’ve noticed a few people who said they felt absolutely lost. Which interested me, obviously, because it implies I made a right pigs ear somewhere… Thankfully, most of these people seemed to say what sort of things they felt weren’t explained, which is where I started getting really interested. They were all questions on a similar array of topics. I’ll choose one example, because it seemed to be the first one on a lot of people’s lists, and in many ways most characteristic of the reservations…“Why are the X-men in San Francisco?”

And I’m genuinely thrown.

I would have never have thought of explaining this. I wouldn’t have thought of explaining that any more than “Why is Spider-man in New York?” if I were starting Spider-man or “Why are they in Westchester?” if I was doing Jason’s job or even “Why are they living on Tracey Island?” if I were writing Thunderbirds.

The Uncanny X-men are a superhero team. They live on an Island off San Francisco. It’s just who they are.

Of course, I can see the reason why it’s thrown the people. It’s they know the X-men live in a mansion in Westchester. That they’re not living in Westchester is the problem. It’s not about giving the information to read the story that’s there. It’s about correcting pre-existing assumptions. In other words, it’s not a problem about being accessible to new readers – because a genuinely new reader would accept the fact the X-men live on Utopia in the same way that they except that Bilbo lives in the Shire – but rather a problem with the readers being old readers. They feel lost not because of the story on the page, but the gap between the old story in their heads and the story on the page, and wanting to know what connects the two.

Much more at the link, but it’s a really interesting question. How much do writers have to explain before you feel like you know enough?

UPDATE: From your editor… Turns out, this was the plan all along. Although the initial promo artwork billed simply “Zeb Wells. Joe Madureira. Ongoing Series,” Marvel Editor Steve Wacker points out on twitter that Joe Mad was always planned on having some rotating artist support, a fact mentioned in the backmatter of the first issue. The direct quote from Wacker in the book stated:

“Each issue Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira (occasionally joined by some of the other top talent from around the Marvel Universe) will be bringing some of Marvel’s biggest guns together with the world’s greatest super hero just to start some trouble, hit some faces and blow your minds.”

While that doesn’t give specifics, that, coupled with the initially announced three-issue first arc does give an indication that fans don’t need to get Mad about Mad: he’ll be back. The initial solicitation text for Avenging Spider-Man #4 does use the phrase “drop in” as well.

So, Greg Land is a fill-in artist on the title, Joe Madureira will be back (and is considered the ongoing artist), and other fill-in artists will be used as needed to make sure Mad’s style/timing don’t get thrown off in the process.

Wacker did let us know that a different “huge artist” will be on issue #5, too, and that it’s all part of the plan!

Original Story: Please tell me that I’m not the only person who finds it hilarious that Avenging Spider-Man has a new artist as of #4… and that it’s Greg Land. The only real question now is whether Joe Madureira will return to the title after Land’s arc, or whether he’ll be quietly forgotten. Between this and the “Marc Silvestri Incredible Hulk #2 has five pencilers” thing from last week, Marvel’s high-profile artist launches are really looking somewhat underwhelming right now.

With the release of Fear Itself #7.3 today, there’s one really obvious question I have to ask, but it requires a spoiler break. Join me under the jump, if you’ve read the book already. (more…)

Here’s a genuinely fascinating piece of odd comics history: Jim Shooter shares an internal Marvel memo analyzing DC Comics (newsstand only, I think?) sales from the mid-1980s, and it seems to suggest an amazingly low sell-through for most of the titles, especially considering the print runs: Even Crisis on Infinite Earths only has a 31% sellthrough rate, at only an estimated 79,000 sales? That seems much lower than I would’ve expected, to be honest. I wonder what the direct market sales were like back then…?

I am both stunned and entirely not surprised by the news (so far unconfirmed by Marvel) that X-23 has been canceled. Not surprised, because I’ve seen the sales figures and Marvel is undergoing a very public belt-tightening period right now, but stunned because this means that Marvel will now have no ongoing solo title with a female lead character, which seems… almost unimaginable, really. I can’t believe that this isn’t something that won’t be addressed – i.e., fixed – as soon as possible, but still: Come February, there will be no solo female ongoing series from Marvel.

As hard as it is for me to get my head around that idea, it shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise; Marvel doesn’t have the female iconic lead character like DC’s Wonder Woman, and has struggled throughout its entire existence to try and fill that gap (Who’d be the closest Marvel has to a WW? Storm, perhaps? The Invisible Woman, just by her sheer longevity?). It’s a problem not helped by the fact that a lot of its high-profile female characters are simply variants on more established male characters (She-Hulk – whatever version – or Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman – again, whatever version. Or Ms. Marvel, for that matter, or X-23 herself. And remember the appallingly-named Rescue?), which makes them appear even more like after-thoughts than they may actually be. But, still; this is a publisher that has only recently had a year of Women at Marvel, complete with a Girl Comics mini and a couple of Women at Marvel collections. And now there’s not going to be a regular ongoing series with a female lead? That’s terrible – And I’m not sure whether Marvel, the market or some mix of the two are really to blame.

What happens when you mix yo-yos, magnets and the House of Ideas? That would be Slingers, a new game from Marvel and Upper Deck that’ll be available in time to make an appearance under your holiday tree of choice. Here’s how ICv2 describes it:

The game features a Slinger, which works somewhat like a yo-yo with a patented retractable mechanism and an “Invisible Energy Shield” that allows players to pick up collectible medallions, which will feature Marvel characters. If players sling too hard, the Slinger will hit the ground, for which the device will deduct points and potentially lives from the player. If they sling too soft, they won’t be able to pick up the medallions.

Apparently, “[m]edallions will have different rarity levels and point values, and are seeded at different ratios within packs,” making it… trading cards meet some kind of wrist action? The jokes are far too obvious, but I have to admit that I’m really curious to see this game in action. Apparently, it’ll be available from the Upper Deck website this month, and from Toys-R-Us stores next month.

I don’t know if you’ve seen Cartoon Network’s DC Nation trailer yet, but amongst all of the clips of upcoming shows – including Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series -  it keeps showing sequences from the Blue Beetle live-action test footage released in June 2010.

Unless I’ve missed something, there’s been no announcement of any live-action Beetle series at all, never mind one for next year. Has Warners/DC Entertainment been working on something on the downlow, or is this just a trailer being recut from as much DC footage as possible (Note that the Stephen DeStefano Plastic Man shows up, as well…)?

It was recently announced that Dr. Who would finally make his way to the big screen in what appears to be the start of a movie franchise. Director David Yates, who was behind the last four Harry Potter movies would helm the project. Now, it doesn’t have a release date just yet as Yates told Variety they are now looking for writers and it may take “two to three years” to get it just right. He and Jane Tranter, head of L.A.-based BBC Worldwide Productions are making sure they appeal to long-time Whovians, as well American audiences not that familiar.  However, the “British sensibility” won’t be lost, “but having said that,” notes Yates, “Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too.”

No word yet if current Doctor, Matt Smith, will be involved to some capacity, but since this is being seen as a big budget reboot exclusively for the big screen, I doubt it. Especially Yates made it clear that his movie adaptation would not follow on from the current TV series, but would take a completely fresh approach to the material. I’m sure a plethora of Who fans feel confused and concerned about this, but it gives non-Who fans a chance to jump on without worrying about 40 years of continuity. Then again, one of the characters greatest attributes is his continuity and how he draws from his previous lives, but if you can have Smallville and Superman Returns at the same time…

So if they are starting over again, and having an older Doctor, can we just sign Alan Rickman or Ian Holm up already?