What does Fables creator Bill Willingham think of the similarities between his series and the ABC show Once Upon A Time? Well, he interviewed himself over at CBR to explain:

Is “Once Upon a Time” (which we should now refer to as “Once” for brevity) a rip off of “Fables?”

My best guess, based upon the scanty evidence, is probably not.

Is “Once” influenced and at least in part inspired by “Fables?”

Despite superficial similarities, “Fables” creator Bill Willingham firmly believes any similarities “Once Upon A Time” has to his comic is simply a result of working form the same source material

My best guess, based upon the same scanty evidence is, yes, it probably is, but perhaps not on more than a “this is the type of thing that’s in the air these days” level.

He goes on to elaborate on the crossover between the concepts for the show and the series, and their similarities, before explaining that what he’s trying to do is “a call to arms — or more accurately, a call to disarm”:

As grateful as I am to discover so many loyal “Fables” readers, willing to man the barricades, to help protect a story they love; as much as it moves me to realize I’ve been part in creating something that clearly moves you, affecting your lives in ways only a good story, well-told can, I think it’s time to lay off. Perhaps it’s time to quit rising up in public venues to accuse these folks of Grand Theft “Fables,” even if you still think it’s so.

I’m quite enjoying Once Upon A Time, in part because I just enjoy seeing Jennifer Morrison’s attempt at being a badass private eye/bounty hunter on a weekly basis; I also love Fables, so I’m glad to see Willingham being so calm about similiarities between the two.

If you’re hoping to see the six minute “prologue” for The Dark Knight Rises that’s accompanying Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in theaters December 16th, you’d better hope that your local theater has the right IMAX set-up. Warner Bros. is only releasing the preview scenes to theaters with specific equipment, leaving a lot of fans destined for disappointment. The full list of the theaters that will get the prologue is under the jump. Everyone else: I feel your pain; there’s no theater near me, either. (more…)

There’s no escaping the festive cover from the Modern Master in Day Five of the Blog@Newsarama Advent Calendar. Yes, that’s a clue as to whose work you’ll see when you click through… (more…)

Seasons Beatings! It’s an old-school slugfest on Day Four of the Blog@ Advent Calendar… (more…)

Yes, Virginia! There is Blog@Newsarama advent calendar! And if you click through, you can see what cover is there for the third day… (more…)

Hey, do you like to get excited about cool things that you won’t be able to purchase for eight months? Well, you’ve come to the right blog post: Today Dark Horse announced firm plans for both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 hardcovers, and the first collection of the comic’s latest volume, the now three issues-old Buffy Season 9.

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If you’re planning on attending WonderCon 2012, registration is now officially open. Remember that it’s leaving the Bay Area this year due to construction at the Moscone Center, and moving about four hundred miles south to the Anaheim Convention Center. That venue happens to be directly across the street from Disneyland, which could be either an attraction or a deterrent, depending on your perspective and tolerance for mouse ear-adorned tourists.

Unlike its sister convention, Comic-Con International: San Diego (an big, big, big sister), there isn’t usually a huge rush on WonderCon tickets. Still, it’s steadily grown each year, and 2012 already has Matt Fraction, J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Mignola and Fiona Staples announced as special guests, so you may not want to snooze on this one.  WonderCon 2012 is scheduled for March 16-18.

A massive change is coming to the comics industry, according to no less an authority than Mark Millar:

[T]he industry, as we all know it, about to go through some massive changes unlike anything we’ve seen since I was a child. I don’t just mean digital (though that’s obviously a factor). But massive, very interesting stuff going on that’s going to change things quite radically for people working in the industry and anyone reading the books. The next 12 months is looking like a comic book revolution. Some of it’s good and some of it’s bad, but we’re looking at a very different industry a year down the line in terms of where people are going to be working, what they’re getting paid, etc.

I love change. It’s what comics is all about. But fascinating to hear what’s going into new contracts in particular. I think there’s a massive, massive boom coming, but not in the way you think.

What prompted this was a conversation Millar had with Bryan Hitch, who – Millar explained – “as creators [are] privy to info that doesn’t trickle down for a year or so sometimes,” but no further hints were given about what kind of change we’re looking at. It’s worth bearing in mind that Millar has a history of making grand statements like this that don’t really come to anything – Anyone else remember the number of times he predicted a giant comics boom that never actually materialized? – but it’s an interesting hypothetical to play with nonetheless; just looking at the moves that both DC and Marvel have made over the last year reveals an industry in flux and uncertain about what the future is, so I wouldn’t be surprised if things are very different this time next year. But different in what way…? I’m not sure I could make any kind of safe guesses; after all, this time last year, who really could’ve predicted DC relaunching its entire line, going linewide day-and-date and taking more than half the direct market as a result, never mind the apparent cull of Marvel’s lower-selling Marvel U books or Image Comics announcing their very own comic convention. 2011 has been a very odd year for mainstream American comics, so perhaps hinting at a massive change but staying very vague about what that kind of change actually is is the safest option of all…?

So, courtesy of Tom Brevoort’s Formspring, here’s a little more detail about that Fantastic Four self-cover format:

We’re [going to be "cheapening" the cover stock but] also going to be bettering the paper stock on the interior, so it’s kind of a zero sum game. This is the same format that most Image titles use, and nobody has complained or even noticed.

Still no hint at whether this is a trial for a future format change across the entire line or a one-off experiment for design reasons, mind you, but I can’t say that I’ve picked up an Image comic and thought “Wow, this paper stock is terrible,” so perhaps worst case scenarios can take a break for awhile.

(I admit, I have fond memories of the all-newsprint-including-the-cover issues of 2000AD when I was a kid, so this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to me from the get-go.)

To those wondering if the New 52 would mean that DC was likely to start placing less emphasis on collecting pre-relaunch material… This doesn’t look too hopeful:

DC Comics has cancelled orders for SUPERGIRL: GOOD LOOKING CORPSE TP (SEP110193). This title will not be resolicited.

For those without exceptionally good memories for the titles of Supergirl collections, Good Looking Corpse was going to collect #60-67 of the last run, AKA the Nick Spencer/James Peaty/Kelly Sue DeConnick-written issues. The collection was supposed to ship next week, making this cancellation particularly last-minute.

This news follows other recent trade cancellations from DC, including final volumes of JSA All-Stars and REBELS. Also recently canceled, a second collection of the most recent Spirit title, and Thunder Agents Chronicles volume 1. Clearly, this isn’t a good time to want some lesser-known titles from DC’s collection department.

The second installment of my misguided attempt to recreate the experience of opening up small cardboard doors to see what picture is underneath, all in the name of counting down to Christmas, is under the jump. Dare you click through? (more…)

There has been unconfirmed rumblings of DC producing Watchmen prequels — without Alan Moore’s involvement — for a while now. Bleeding Cool today added more fuel to the speculative fire by reporting that Andy Kubert, most recently seen as the artist of DC event Flashpoint, will be illustrating one of four prequel miniseries. This information comes “quite conclusively from a reliable source at DC Comics,” Rich Johnston says.

Other creators cited by Johnston as involved: Darwyn Cooke, J. Michael Straczynski, J.G. Jones, original Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons and Watchmen colorist, John Higgins. Furthermore, Bleeding Cool hints that Andy might not be the only Kubert involved — keep in mind that brother Adam has been a strictly Marvel guy as of late, so that either means a change in his status or Joe Kubert’s in the mix.

Before this can happen — if it does indeed happen —  Kubert’s drawing Action Comics #5 and #6, starting this coming January.

The reasons to look forward to Comics: 2012 continue to arrive with the spectacular news that Evan Dorkin is producing the first new Dork strips in five years for future issues of Dark Horse Presents:

So, what I’m doing is twenty-four pages of comics to be spread over three issues of DHP, with each eight-page anchored by a new Milk and Cheese strip. The other features will include a new Murder Family episode; several pages of Fun gag strips, as well as the return of The Eltingville Comic Book, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Role-Playing Club. If all goes according to plan I’ll also be doing a one-page Fisher-Price Theater adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and a short Devil Puppet story.

I’ve said it elsewhere, but Dorkin is one of the most underrated cartoonists in the industry, and I’m over the moon to see that he’ll have more new work out there soon (Especially new Eltingville). Maybe this’ll lead to a brand new Dork series in its own right…? We can only hope.

Seeing this tweet from Brian Michael Bendis yesterday -

- made me think about how the landscape of comics has really changed over the last few years. Timeliness of books, with the one-two punch of digital release dates and greater competition for marketshare, has become far much more important than it used to be, to the point where high-profile launches like Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hulk and Action Comics have multiple artists working on the book as early as the second issue to ensure ship dates, and the idea of a “regular” artist who draws every page of every issue in a series (Hell, in a particular story-arc) seems to be becoming more and more of a thing of the past; look at the artistic musical chairs going on in the New 52 books from DC, for example. (more…)

A little piece of comic history over at The Yellowed Pages: The “dummy issue” for 2000AD from way back in 1976, with unlettered pages to give the publishers an idea of just what kind of thrill power would be on offer on a weekly basis from the new comic before it was officially greenlit. Looking back at it now, it seems so old-fashioned and familiar (for those of us who grew up with the series, at least) that it’s hard to imagine how daring it must have seemed at the time, or that this is the starting point for one of the most important comics in the western industry. In related news, isn’t it about time someone actually invented real aeroball already?

When I was a kid, I loved the first of December because that meant that my family could break out the advent calendar and start the countdown to Christmas Day. There was always something about the daily routine of opening the little card doors and seeing what was underneath (especially if it was chocolate). With that in mind – as well as my love of holiday-themed comics, the more sentimental and ridiculous the better – I decided to attempt my very own version of an advent calendar right here on Blog@: Every day between now and Christmas Day, I’ll post a holiday comic cover under the jump, as your own little festive treat. Click through for the first! (more…)