Teases aside, the fate of Marvelman remains up in the air; Marvel announced that they’d bought the character two and a half years ago, but aside from a couple of reprint projects, they still haven’t done anything with him – especially not what everyone wants the company to do, which is reprint the Alan Moore run and complete the Neil Gaiman run. With Axel Alonso recently promising an update soon, Pádraig Ó Méalóid takes a look at all of Marvel’s public statements to date on the property, and it makes for particularly frustrating reading. Whatever happened to the publishing plan mentioned by Joe Quesada back in 2010…?

Over on his blog, The Sixth Gun writer (and up-and-coming Marvel star, what with The Fearless, as well as Captain America and Hawkeye and Wolverine coming up) Cullen Bunn shares his writing technique, and it has a lot more longhand than you might’ve expected…:

Some writers might go directly into scripting at this point, but I like a little more of a safety net. For me, the more prep work I do early on, the less time I have to spend during the actual scripting. If the story is clear once I sit down at the computer, I can devote more energy to “painting a picture” for the editors and artists. Obviously, I do a lot of work in longhand before I sit down at the computer. I like this because I can do the heavy lifting while sitting on the couch or watching my kid play at the park or while having a margarita.

Also surprising: Bunn’s scripts are long – He estimates that, for the 24 page Sixth Gun he uses as an example for this blog post, the script goes 50 pages. It’s a fascinating post, and filled with all manner of great process stuff for those of you (well, us, really; I love that kind of thing) who’re into learning about writing…

Want to know more about the co-creator of pretty much all of your favorite Marvel Comics characters (Note: claim void if your favorite characters were all created post-1970 or so)? Well, keep your eyes on the pay-per-view screen because, according to Deadline, EPIX is close to buying the rights to With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary feature that traces the life of Lee from childhood to the modern day, with interviews from various Marvel movie stars, as well as other comic creators. The movie is expected to appear on the pay cable channel and EPIX’s website later this year, following its debut at the Slamdance Film Festival tomorrow.

The other week, Axel Alonso talked about the importance of licensed titles to Marvel’s current output:

The third party titles have been a solid addition to our publishing plan — they sell well and they allow us to communicate with a new audience — so of course we’re doing more.

Bearing that in mind, I have a small suggestion for whoever makes the licensing decisions at Marvel: Please try and get the Micronauts license again.

I’ll admit that a lot of this decision is powered by nostalgia; I loved the Micronauts series (both of them; yes, I am that rare New Voyages fan) way back when, and would love to see that material made available again as an Essentials series. Micronauts is a comics franchise unlike other toy tie-ins, because so much of what makes the original incarnation(s) work is owned by Marvel and so can’t transfer to whoever else attempts it, a la GI Joe or Transformers; without Bug or Marionette or Rann, it’s not the same book, and even “the Microverse” is pretty much a Marvel concept. It helps the connection when you consider the number of Marvel Universe characters who guest-starred in the Marvel runs, whether it’s Nick Fury, the Beyonder or the X-Men (There was even the X-Men/Micronauts mini in the 1980s), making the idea of someone other than Marvel reprinting the material almost impossible.

But it’s not just happy memories – or the chance of some sweet reprint royalties – that could and should make this appealing to Marvel; the Micronauts are reportedly being primed for a movie produced by JJ Abrams and written by the people behind Zombieland, which sounds as close to a recipe for ideal franchise revival as possible. Projects like John Carter show that Marvel is okay with movie tie-ins, and even if Micronauts isn’t a Disney property, it still feels like something that could very much appeal to the Marvel faithful if done properly.

It’d be nice to imagine that someone at Marvel has already done the math about this, and can see how it could work out. While Marvel continues to mine the archives for new material to collect in book format, Micronauts remains one of the company’s few sadly-untouched properties (Outside of this and Rom, it’s hard to think of a long-running series that hasn’t been revived in the last few years). Maybe if we all close our eyes and wish real hard…

The annual GLAAD Award nominees have been announced, and the comic category has some strong contenders this year; both Archie’s Kevin Keller and DC’s Batwoman feature LGBT leads, with the latter’s Secret Six and Marvel’s two nominees, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade and X-Factor all featuring prominent LGBT characters in their core line-up. My biases may push the choice in Kevin Keller‘s favor, if only because of Archie’s boldness not only introducing the character into the traditionally conservative universe but also allowing him to get married – but what do you think? Who deserves the win – and which books (and characters) should’ve made the nominee list but didn’t?

Consider it the cost-cutting exercise you haven’t noticed just yet, but Marvel’s collected editions are getting shorter after the fact. In the last two weeks, the following collections have all been announced as dropping 8 pages from their solicited page count in Marvel’s updated forecasts to retailers: Avengers: Big Three TP, Enders Shadow Ultimate Collection TP, Ultimate Comics Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1 Premiere HC, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis Vol. 1 Premiere HC, Vengeance HC, X-Factor: Super Unnatural Premiere HC and X-Men: FF Premiere HC, with Fear Itself: Fearsome Four Premiere HC losing 16 pages in the revised solicit. The prices of each book, of course, aren’t changed by their new length.

With all of the upheaval at Marvel in the last few months, it’s not too much of a stretch to guess that this is another part of the same cost-cutting that has apparently seen a new cancellation threshold for series being installed as well as the dismissal of 15 employees in October. What’s unanswered with all of the product updates is what content (if any) is being lost with the eight (or, in Fearsome Four‘s case, 16) pages that have been cut – Covers, sketchbook material or merely endpapers with creator and backlist information? At its new pagecount of 136 pages, Ultimate Comics Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1 still can contain all six issues of story advertised, along with the covers for each issue and still have ten pages left over, by my count; is “all” that’s being lost peripheral extra material?

Update: Asked and answered, apparently: Marvel collections editor Jen Grunwald tweets at me: “You DO realise that all of Marvel’s comics are now 20 pages instead of 22 so that a 4-issue TPB would drop 8 (etc.) pages, right?” I’d assumed that the pagecount of the stories would’ve been factored in before solicitation – and also that the 20 page stories weren’t behind the 8 page drops, because most of the affected collections have more than four issues in them – but if anyone would know, it’d be Grunwald…

Writing about the lack of visual continuity in the new DC Comics logo the other day made me think about the current Justice League logo, and the way that it, too, has broken with tradition. Y’see, for the most part – of the nine logos the book has had since the title launched way back in 1960, all but three haven’t featured a shield motif in one way or another (and those have all been the most generic and forgettable of the logos, interestingly enough). (more…)

The new DC Comics logo is real, and officially launched at Fast Company. Here are some of the variant versions we’ll see in months to come:

The story includes DC’s EVP of Sales John Rood and Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management, talking about the change, with Desai explaining that “The peel element can tie back to the storytelling content or character we’re showcasing, and leverage those colors. The ‘C’ can be a vessel to showcase stories and character. It’s unexpected, requires a little thinking and some storytelling behind that mark.”

Seeing these finished, colored and variant versions has taken me from kind of liking the logo to really liking it – It may not be Milton Glaser’s classic DC bullet, but it’s more attractive to me than the current DC spin. Apparently, the look will begin appearing on comics in March.

Apparently I blinked and missed the announcement of Marvel’s 2012 convention schedule:

As 2011 rocked, we here at Marvel.com are working on a jam-packed-ride for all the cosplayers, costumers & fans out there! We’re still working on the details, but expect more profiles, photo posts, and con recaps, plus much, much more!

For now, check out Marvel’s convention schedule:

Mar 16-18 – Wonderconin Anaheim, CA.
Apr 13-15 – C2E2in Chicago, IL
Jul 11-15 – San Diego Comic-Conin San Diego, CA
Oct 11-14 – New York Comic Conin New York, NY

First: I swear Wondercon gets earlier every year. Second: Doesn’t that seem a remarkably short list? I know that Marvel tends to keep the official corporate convention appearances at a minimum, but even so, this really seems like the company will be keeping a relative low profile this year. Third: No Disney Con? Or maybe that doesn’t as a convention appearance for some reason?

Today sees the release of both Oni Press’ Wasteland #33 and Dynamite Entertainment’s Lord of The Jungle #1, both of which are specially-priced promotional issues that offer a full-length issue for just $1.00. I’ve read – and enjoyed – both, but it’s a fair bet that I was going to pick both up nonetheless (Especially as I’ve enjoyed Wasteland for some time; if you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, you really should pick the series up). Why I’m mentioning the books, though, is that I’m wondering if specially-priced (i.e., cheap) promo issues work: Have you found yourself trying series that you usually wouldn’t because they were a buck? Or, just the opposite, have you ever found yourself avoiding a book because of this kind of stunt? Use the comments, people: I’d love to know what people think.

If rumors are true, DC Comics is just days away from announcing a new corporate logo (which has so far received more than its fair share of abuse online; personally, I quite like it). What’s surprising about this – beyond the fact that the reveal wasn’t timed with last September’s linewide relaunch of the entire DCU line – is the logo itself, which is the first in the company’s 77 year history to break with the brand’s visual signature of the circle. After all, here are DC’s logos to date:

Even with the tilted spin of the most recent logo, there’s a sense of evolution and continuity from redesign to redesign that the rumored new logo just… doesn’t have. Clearly, it’s the end of an era…

Last week, Marvel stripped announcements across five days of press conferences, with Next Big Thing events for previously-known events like Remender and Hardman’s Secret Avengers run and the 15th anniversary of Thunderbolts mixed in with artist changes (Walt Simonson joining Avengers), crossovers (“The Omega Event” running through Avenging Spider-Man, Daredevil and Punisher) and a book relaunch (Captain America And…). In comparison, DC lumped the announcement of six new series into one USA Today story.

There’s something to be gleaned from this comparison, but I’m not entirely sure what it actually is just yet: That Marvel knows how to make the most out of what could otherwise be bland status updates? That DC prefers to emphasize the overall “New 52″ line over individual books or individual creators (I feel that Marvel tends to place creators at the center of their announcements, whereas DC’s feel more focused on the characters, DC as a company and the upper echelons of management, but that may just be me)? That Marvel just generally makes more of a song and dance out of things than DC…? If nothing else, that last one does fit the stereotype for both companies, so maybe it’s really just as simple as that – but I can’t stop myself feeling as if both companies could choose to learn from each other in terms of which announcements to emphasize, and which to just leave out there without feeling the need to push.

Warren Ellis offers the public service of explaining to would-be comic writers exactly what the purpose of a comic script is:

This set of instructions must surround your story to the extent that you feel necessary and comfortable. Some writers produce reams of panel description because they require fine control of the artist, letterer and colourist to meet their vision of the story. Some writers boil their description down to a telegram because they require only that the most basic requirements of the panel be met in order to achieve their goals.

Both methods, however, and everything in between, are about manipulation of the artist. That sounds grim, doesn’t it?

Is it strange that I hope that this is the first installment in a series of posts commenting on/teaching comic writing skills by Ellis? The lack of his voice in the comic criticism/analysis continues to feel like a noticeble absence, even all these years after he last wrote about comics on a regular basis.

What makes a hit comic? In a thread over at Millarworld, Mark Millar tries to explain:

A book needs 2 of 3 things to sell in the direct market… a big writer, a big artist and a big character. 3 is better but to really do well you need at least 2. This is why the Millarworld books sell so well every month as they’re aimed at established readers. Trade sales are more mainstream and so the artist doesn’t need to have established himself at Marvel or DC.

It’s an interesting thread overall, if only for the glimpse inside Millar’s take on how to promote your books and your brand:

Like Marvel, I also embraced a multimedia approach and quickly got them going as movies, T-shirts, games, toys and had the success of those bring heat to the new projects… I’ve timed this carefully. Not just building a rep on company-owned, but I think the cycle at the moment is people wanting fresh concepts like they wanted them in 1992. There’s only so many times a villain can come back in the old books. The Millarworld books so far show the audience and multimedia potential is unlimited. A lot of people really hadn’t gotten what I’ve been doing here, but they’re starting to see it now. All going well we’ll have 2 or more movies a year coming out by 2013 and beyond.

Millar also promises that he will continue to be the center of his own brand:

I’ll never bring in other writers. That’s the huge mistake Image made when they expanded too fast in 93/94 and collapsed their model. People knew picking up an Image book meant they were getting one of their fave Marvel artists, but when other guys were writing and drawing those books they diluted their appeal. I’d rather write 3 volumes of Kick-Ass and have them permanently in print with movies, TV shows, games, etc, than have someone come in and dilute what makes it work.

Say what you like about Millar, he’s maintained a level of success from the Marvel work that made his name through to his own creator-owned work, so he’s clearly doing something right…

Marvel has released the cover for Avengers vs. X-Men #1, and as you can see, the Jim Cheung image is going for that superhero classic cover pose – The face-off:

What I’m more interested in, though, is seeing the clues planted in the AvX cover for the rest of the series: Wolverine and Beast are both on the Avengers’ side when the series launches? Well, now we have a better idea of who’ll be crossing sides at some point during the twelve issues, if nothing else…

Something from Axel Alonso’s last CBR piece stuck in my head all weekend:

For “cosmic” to matter, it has to be relatable. For Nova to compete with Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine — and we’d love him to — his story has to touch your heart and it has to be grounded in things you can recognize and understand. If the stakes of a Nova story only matter “out there” in space or on some far-flung planet, then no amount of good craft is going to help us reach an audience larger the hardcore cosmic fans.

I think what’s so odd about the statement for me is the idea that things can only be relatable if they’re happening on Earth. Surely a Nova story – or a Green Lantern story or whatever – can be perfectly relatable no matter where it takes place because the reader empathizes with the emotional journey/choices/situation of the characters, whether or not they’re human and living in a location that you can find on Google Earth? I can’t help but think that complaining that the stakes of a story only mattering “‘out there’ in space or on some far-flung planet” is kind of missing the appeal of a lot of sci-fi, not to mention storytelling-as-metaphor, which just seems odd considering Alonso’s history, as well as Marvel’s bread-and-butter of telling stories about people who can do fantastic things far outside the ability of its readers.

That said, it may explain why we’ve not really seen much of the Cosmic books over at Marvel in recent months…

The Adventures of Tintin won Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes Sunday night, beating out Arthur Christmas, Cars 2, Puss in Boots and Rango. Tintin getting the edge over Cars 2 means that it’s actually the first non-Pixar film in the history of the award to win (past winners, in reverse chronological order, were Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-E, Ratatouille and the original Cars).

Director/producer Steven Spielberg accepted the award, but in his speech, neglected to mention Hergé, the late, legendary Belgian writer and artist who created Tintin. That fact wasn’t lost on multiple observers, including Fear Itself artist Stuart Immonen, who tweeted the following:

The natural next question is whether or not Tintin will earn a similar recognition at this year’s Academy Awards — nominations are announced on Jan. 24, just a tad more than a month before the Feb. 26 show.

Color me a little disappointed here. The Daily Blam reports that during the Television Critics Association press tour, the Powers pilot that was greenlit may not be picked up after all for the 2012 television season. The show would feature Jason Patric as Detective Walker, Lucy Punch as Detective Pilgrim and Charles S. Dutton as the head of a homicide police precinct. The pilot also stars Carly Foulkes as Retro Girl, Bailey Madison as young orphan Calista, Titus Welliver as Triphammer, and Vinnie Jones as, you guessed it,  mobster Johnny Royale.

Everything seemed to be in place, so what exactly happened? “[It's a] fairly substantial rewrite,” FX president John Landgraf explained, adding that much of the pilot would have to be re-shot. “Right now we’re in the process of deciding whether to pull the trigger on that re-shoot.” After filming had completed late last year and the network screened the show, screenwriter Charles Eglee was brought back to perform rewrites on the script which would retool major aspects of the pilot that didn’t quite mesh well. The Hollywood Reporter described the project as “still in limbo.”

This really is a shame, especially with the success of The Walking Dead and Smallville‘s 10 year run, I think this program would be a great addition to any line-up FX might have planned. Maybe a lead in to the second season of American Horror Story?

Readers and Powers fans, what do you think about this situation?

This is interesting: After the trial on Fantastic Four #601, Marvel seems to be moving towards the “self-cover” format for its titles – wherein the paper stock for covers and interior pages are the same – with the following titles being switched to the format according to the most recent shipping update:

Another trial, or perhaps the start of a push towards a new format for Marvel books in general…?

If anyone was surprised to see Ariel Olivetti’s name mentioned as one of the creators working on DC’s newly-announced GI Combat, thinking that he was a Marvel exclusive artist these days, Rich Johnston found a particularly revealing interview with the artist where he talks about working on Iron Man 2.0:

The scripts were awful at the end, at first it worked well with the other story that Marvel was publishing… but later it went to hell. They invented an archivillian that made no sense. The scripts were backwards, the writer married in the middle, leaving everybody stuck, they put an replacement writer who was worse. The editor kicked the replacement writer off and he wrote the scripts. A disaster that thankfully ended.

In the penultimate issue I could draw ten pages and nothing more, because the script never came. So I had a week to deliver the rest and the script was not finished yet. And in the final issue I draw five pages nothing more. I got the script and they said, “How many pages you can do for next Friday?”. And we had five days, five pages. Because I color directly, How would you do it? It’s impossible. So they called in other guys and you will see for yourself. The last issues of Iron Man 2.0 are a disaster. There is one woman who is blonde, then in the other frame is a brunette. It is impossible that in a week all the artists could agree and say “Man, the blouse you have to draw is red, and the girl who was drinking tea, I did drinking beer. ”

Olivetti  went on to compare Marvel to McDonalds, and say “At one time Marvel worked like a little clock, but it melted down 2 or 3 years ago,” before suggesting that he was about to ask permission to leave his exclusive contract early due to lack of available work. This really doesn’t paint whatever happened behind the scenes on the book in anything close to a positive light, and makes you wonder whether the recent spate of multiple-artists-on-one-issue at Marvel is also down to later-than-ideal scripts…