Over at CBR, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning talk about their reputation for “cosmic” books, including their (lack of) involvement in the upcoming Guardians of The Galaxy movie:

These are Marvel’s characters, and they will develop them as they see fit. Like I said, it’s a huge compliment to us that they’re doing that, but I think it’s only fair to say that we haven’t really been consulted in any way, shape or form. We wrote this stuff essentially as work-for-hire, and if Marvel came to us and said, “Would you like to consult on the movie?” that would be lovely. But for now, our interpretation is there on the page.

On the one hand, this isn’t surprising in the slightest; look at Jim Starlin commenting about his lack of forewarning that Thanos would appear in The Avengers. But on the other, considering the Marvel Creative Committee, I had hoped that the writers responsible for this incarnation of the Guardians might’ve been given the chance to have some input. Ah well… If nothing else, I hope the movie will see the Abnett/Lanning work have a series of top-selling deluxe hardcovers so that they’ll get some extra royalties from the whole thing…

There’s clearly something in the air – Maybe it’s the impending seventh season of the rebooted version of the show – because at the same time as the Mindless Ones’ Andrew Hickey writes about the launch of Marvel UK’s Doctor Who Weekly in the 1970s, Paul Scoones makes a preview PDF available from his book The Comic Strip Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who in Comics: 1964–1979.

Here’s Hickey on the launch of the Doctor Who title:

Doctor Who Weekly was started by Marvel UK, in the belief that all those seven-year-olds who loved Star Wars and were buying Marvel’s Star Wars comic would also buy anything else with space and robots in it. So they started a cheap weekly comic, with little attention paid to what was in it, so a bunch of young nobodies, most of whom had been in the business a couple of years at most, were asked to work on it. Nobodies like John Wagner, Pat Mills, Alan Moore, Steve Moore, Steve Dillon, Dave Gibbons…

Scoones, meanwhile, goes more in depth into the creation of the stories, with some interesting revelation:

BBC Publicity’s Editorial Assistant, Evelyn Thomas, raised some concerns with Donald Wilson (BBC Head of Serials) about the above proposed storyline. Wilson responded, ‘I am quite sure that you are right in worrying about this outline. It is a direct crib of our “Dalek” serial. If they want to do this they must do the Dalek serial and make acknowledgement, including financial acknowledgement, to the copyright owners, namely, the author and ourselves. I am personally against changing our four characters and I think we should hold out against this.’

Longtime and newcomer Whovians, these are things you might want to check out.

A little piece of comics history where I didn’t expect it: On his website, Avengers and Captain America writer of yore Steve Englehart lists “all the letters on [the] letters page” of Captain America and the Falcon #148 as one of his first Marvel Comics credits. While the rumor that the letters in letters columns are fake at least in part has been around pretty much as long as the letter columns themselves, this may be the first time that I’ve ever seen someone claim credit for all of the letters in a column. Does anyone have a copy of this comic to hand – and if so, can they give a sample of what Englehart’s fake letters were like? I’d love to know if they were all rave reviews, and whether there were some in-jokes or Easter Eggs to be found in there.

UPDATE: Thanks to FOOI (Friends Of Ol’ Internet), here’s the page in question:

(Thanks, Jeff.)

I have to ask: Is there a way to do a motion comics trailer for a book that doesn’t look kind of embarrassing? (Seriously, watch Wolverine’s arm at 0:46.) Also, I suspect reality might like to dispute the idea that the book is “brought to you by the highest-selling names in graphic novels,” considering The Walking Dead and everything…

The text that Marvel asked to be included with the video follows after the jump:

(more…)

Things seem to be changing over at DC next year, with Rich Johnston running reports today that not only will Geoff Johns follow Ivan Reis off Aquaman with #16, but Andy Diggle may be replacing Grant Morrison on Action Comics. Both are entirely unofficial, entirely unconfirmed and very possibly entirely wrong, for all we know – but something that strikes me about this is the possibility that DC is going to have a creative team reshuffle in the middle of Marvel’s Marvel NOW! reshuffle/relaunch, and wondering whether or not that could have a spoiler quality for the Marvel books. After all, if there is a big relaunch/Wave 4 launch for the DCU in January, that’ll only really be the third month for the Marvel NOW! books – early enough to disrupt their momentum, perhaps? Of course, with the amount of double-shipping Marvel likes to do, everything could be happily onto the sixth issue or so by that point, and well past the point where readers have jumped onto or off that particular bandwagon.

Also, any potential disruptive qualities of a DC reshuffle would rely upon the new creative teams being of high enough name recognition and quality to be able to do that. The question may end up being, Can DC come up with enough high-level teams to match the Remender/Hickman/Fraction/Bendis/Waid/Aaron/Gillen axis (And that’s even before you’ve gotten to Marvel’s deep artistic bench)…?

It’s happened somewhat quietly – Understandably, perhaps – but The Dark Knight Rises has overtaken the international gross of The Dark Knight this weekend; the third movie in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy has now made $487,800,000 outside the US, compared with the $468,576,467 total of the previous movie. Domestically, it’s lagging behind, with $409,916,000 in total US gross versus the $533,345,358 of The Dark Knight.

(For those looking to compare these numbers to Marvel’s The Avengers; there’s almost no comparison: That movie made $617,603,000 domestically, and $863,900,000 internationally this summer.)

Unexpected good news for oldschool comic fans – Steve Skeates is writing new comics:

“Although Steve is an industry legend, he’s very approachable and still absolutely loves comic books,” says Surprising Publisher Mark F. Davis. “Hiring Steve Skeates turned out to be an excellent choice, as he hasn’t lost even a hint of a step in his ability to script fantastic comic book adventures.”

Surprising’s All Surprising Comics issue 1, featuring one of the stories, is available now from the company, and the other two stories will see print later this year, Davis says.

Skeates now is working on an online weekly comic strip for Big Bang Comics featuring the Knight Watchman, “sort of like a Batman-type character but done in almost a Golden Age style, like a ’40s comic book,” Skeates says. “I’m enjoying that.”

“When I got thes job to do Depthon, I was surprised how much I was enjoying writing those stories. ‘Oh boy, this is fun.’ So there’s something I do miss (about comics).

“We just started this Watchman thing. So maybe that will work out too.”

Skeates is one of those almost-entirely unsung heroes of the late ’60s and 1970s; he wrote for Marvel, Warren, Carlton and a lot of classic DC books, including what might be the greatest Aquaman run of all – Sorry, Geoff and Ivan – with artist Jim Aparo (One that included a secret DC/Marvel crossover). While other writers from the era have become more well-known in recent years – I think we can all agree that Bob Haney is a genius now, right? – Skeates remains under-appreciated, I think; while we wait for the collected editions of classic work that he’s due, maybe it’s time to go search out his Surprising Comics work…

Well, apparently it’s on a lot of people’s minds today. After my mention of digital pricing and Marvel NOW! earlier today, CBR’s Axel-In-Charge column has this exchange:

On a similar thread, Personamanx asks, “Any chance of you guys adding digital copies to you 2.99 books? I know a part of the reason why it’s only on 3.99s is to justify the price to an extent but I love being able to buy a physical copy of a book and then have the digital copy if I want to reread it. It’s a lot easier than digging though long boxes.”

Alonso: No current plans for that, Personamanx.

The $2.99 Marvel NOW! books will, however, have added Marvel AR content.

It’s only one store’s experience, sure, but this latest Tilting At Windmills from Brian Hibbs is must-read material for what it has to say about the New 52 DC relaunch:

What most impressed me a year ago was the sheer number of “lapsed” comics readers coming back into the store for the first time in a decade-plus — there was tons of sampling being done, and a truly significant number of those new customers have seem to stuck. I’m sorry to universalize from my individual experiences, but I can’t think of a clear and unambiguous way to measure this in the national sales charts, but in my individual store, customer transaction counts (basically: every time the register is popped, to make a sale) are up 20%. I also have about 20% more subscriber customers than I did a year ago — and exceedingly few (like “I can count them on one hand” few) new “DC-specific” subs that were opened had to be chased down for payment or cancelled.

What I see is that a lot of new customers came into the market looking at the DC reboot, and they didn’t only buy DC comics — they saw the wide wide range of material that’s available, and discovered new favorites. The entire Direct Market is up, directly counter to the general experience of all other print media, and this at the same time that major expansion to digital was announced, providing virtually every comic on sale in print and on line at the exact same time. John Jackson Miller calculates that Direct Market year-to-date sales through July are up 18.5%. Can you name any other print media where this is anything close to true in the year 2012?

Not snark, but genuinely asking: What is the likelihood that Marvel NOW! can produce anything close to this in terms of results? Was this a one-time deal?

Here’s something that’s been on my mind recently, in regards to “bundled” print and digital editions: I saw someone complain on Twitter yesterday about the fact that DC charges a dollar more for “digital combo pack” comics, while Marvel’s are free, which is true – but also somewhat misleading, at the same time. Because, after all, with the exception of Avengers vs. X-Men, Marvel’s $3.99 books – the only ones bundled with the free digital editions – contain 20 pages of story… which is the same pagecount as DC’s $2.99 books. So, if you’re buying a 20 page print comic from either Marvel or DC that contains a bundled digital edition, you’re going to be paying $3.99.

Sure, there are DC books that are $4.99 for print and digital bundles – Action Comics, Batman, Justice League and Detective Comics, I think? – but those books have 28 pages of story, which actually breaks down to being cheaper than the $3.99 price point on a price-per-page basis (Just over 17 cents a page against just over 19 cents).

I remember, somewhere in the depths of my memory, that Marvel announced that all of their $3.99 books were going to have digital download codes included at some point in the future. Has any such announcement been made about free download codes in all of the Marvel NOW! books? Some of those, after all, are $2.99, and that would significantly change the price point argument.

Found via Mark Waid’s Twitter, this is just wonderful:

Hospital Heroes is an exciting new charitable endeavor in which I, Dustin Dorough, will be hitting the road to visit at least one children’s hospital in every one of the 48 continental United States and two Canadian provinces while wearing my movie quality Superman uniform.

During these visits, the children will receive:
An autographed 8×10 picture of Superman (Thanks to Superhero Photography by Adam Jay www.superherophotography.co.uk)
A “Certificate of Heroism” in recognition for the bravery exhibited in their personal struggles and all those that they have been able to inspire with their strength in fighting their illnesses.
A chat with the “real” Superman, photo opportunities, etc. I will be 100% in character the entire time.
The most important thing a hero can give: Hope.

He’s looking to raise money for the project via IndieGoGo, asking just $6,500 to travel the US and make some sick kids very happy indeed. He explains,

I’m asking for the bare minimum cost to cover the expenses of food, fuel and materials to give away to the children. Unfortunately, a 15,000 mile road trip can get expensive, especially when over the course of three months. To save money, I am willing to sleep in my car nightly and shower using my nationwide LA Fitness membership. If I were to stay in a cheap motel ($40) each night, it would cost nearly $4000 for lodging alone. Though, hopefully I will be able to borrow the sofas of some nice people along the way. If the fundraising exceeds expectations, I will stay in an inexpensive hotel from time to time.

To his credit, he adds that “If I DON’T meet the fundraising goal, then the trip will just have to be shorter. I’m visiting as many children’s hospitals as I can with however much I’m able to raise, no matter how long or short the journey may be.” People, please help Mr. Dorough not only cross the country, but do so without having to sleep in his car.

Something that I always like checking out every Thursday is ComiXology’s list of their top-selling comics; it’s a somewhat anal habit, I know, but it always helps me get my head around the ways in which the digital market (or, at least, ComiXology’s share of the digital market) differs from the Direct Market. I mean, look at the books above: Sure, there are the books you’d “expect” to be on a top-selling list (Avengers Vs. X-Men, The Walking Dead, Batman, Green Lantern), but there are also a bunch that seem surprising, and point to the different make-up of the digital audience: Masters of The Universe? Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time: Eye of The World? Really? That’s not only surprising, it’s kind of wonderful.

Seeing books that would never have the chance of becoming best-sellers in the DM as is do so well digitally is one of those signs that digital is bringing in, maybe not a new audience necessarily, but at least a different audience from the one headed to stores on a weekly basis. That can only be a good thing for the health of the medium, right?

(Also worth noting: The first and third best-selling titles on ComiXology are creator-owned? That’s pretty great, really.)

Megan Fox is Lois Lane.

Or, at least, she is in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, which now (finally!) has an airdate of September 9 at midnight on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Fox is just one of a whole host of familiar voices who’ll be part of the special episode, with others including Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Alfred Molina (who’ll be voicing Lex Luthor, something that seems like genius casting to me). Alongside the regular Chicken writers, Geoff Johns is one of the minds responsible for the one-off DC-centric episode, which likely explains Aquaman’s importance in the image above. How many arms do you think will be ripped off of characters by the end of the half-hour?

It’s now official: Avengers 2 will be released May 1, 2015. Marvel Studios has apparently confirmed the rumored release date of the sequel to this summer’s massive movie smash, according to reports. As announced last week, the sequel will again be written and directed by Joss Whedon, presumably wrapping up his just-revealed three-year exclusive contract with the studio.

Something to ponder: If Avengers 2 is being released in May 2015, does that mean there’ll be a second Marvel movie that summer? And if so, what…?

When the Stuart Immonen-illustrated cover of All-New X-Men #2 was released earlier this week, most fans presumed that the woman off to the right was Rachel Summers/Grey, because, well, there’s a pretty strong resemblance. Turns out that isn’t the case, according to series writer Brian Michael Bendis, in a post on his message board (he also clarified that it’s not one of his most enduring Marvel creations, either):

The mystery woman is not Jessica Jones OR rachel summers. hmmm…

But it does look like Rachel is still definitely a part of the Wolverine and the X-Men cast, and that Storm is also joining that crew, as they’re both on the cover to November’s issue #21 — as Jason Aaron told us earlier this month, the book is getting “at least one high-profile addition” in the Marvel NOW!/post-Avengers vs. X-Men era, and X-Men don’t come much more high profile than Ororo Munroe.

So: with a long way to go between now and November, who’s your guess for the character on the All-New X-Men #2 cover? The use of the word “mystery” implies Marvel is keeping her identity secret for a reason, though that certainly might just be a red herring. Speculate away!

Over at Bleeding Cool, Brendan Connolly seems to have found the logline for Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy:

About a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.

So, that’s a merging of the original run’s Vance Astro with the second incarnation of the team from Annihilation, right…? Is it too early to assume that the “universal conflict” will be Thanos-related? The real question, perhaps, is what exactly the “something everyone wants” is going to turn out to be… Maybe someone’s a fan of mid-90s band 10,000 Maniacs:

For everyone who hoped that working on the family-friendly Fantastic Four would bring out a new, family-friendly Matt Fraction… Well, you kind of have your wish, I guess. Introducing the Mattastic Four Tumblr:

It struck me that, as I was setting out to create the post-Pixar FANTASTIC FOUR then perhaps working blue, as I am wont to do elsewhere, wasn’t in anyone’s best interests. SO! So proceed safe and secure in the knowledge that this blog will neither scandalize nor mortify anyone.

Fraction describes the new Tumblr as “a work blog, and a kinda-celebration of all things FF”; currently, it’s leaning more towards the latter, but that’s not a bad thing at all considering it includes a shot of Artie Simek (Even if all we end up with is an FF-centric version of Tom Brevoort’s spectacular Marvel Age of Comics, I’ll be happy). There’s also a Twitter account to accompany the blog.

This could be very big indeed: The judge in the ongoing DC Comics/Shuster estate lawsuit over ownership of Superman has cancelled a planned hearing in the case, announcing instead that he will issue a ruling on the case without listening to oral argument.

Variety reports that US District Judge Oris Wright cancelled a hearing scheduled for next Monday in the ongoing battle between the comic book publisher and the relatives of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. DC had filed a motion last month that challenged a copyright termination noticed filed by Mark Warren Peary, the nephew of Shuster, saying that a 1992 agreement in which the estate received an annual stipend in exchange for any claim to the rights to the character was still in effect. “A deal is a deal, and like the Shuster family’s claims to the Superman copyrights rejected by the courts in the 1940s and 1970s, the new claim must, too, be rejected.”

Whether or not Wright agrees with such logic remains to be seen; while he has cancelled Monday’s hearing, Judge Wright hasn’t said when his ruling will be issued. Expect updates sooner rather than later, however.

Sad news from Jeph York of the Marvel Collected Editions department:

Okay, after three months of solicits with no Premiere Classic HCs in them, I should probably end the suspense and make this official:

Marvel has ended the Premiere Classic hardcover line.

They’ll still be collecting modern series in Premiere-sized HCs, and the Omnibus, OHC and Masterworks programs are not in danger. But the Premiere Classic line is being put to bed with volume #106.

Sorry, guys. I know quite a few of you loved them.

Apparently, not enough loved them to make the line worthwhile in Marvel’s eyes. The Marvel Premiere Classic line, which collected much-loved series and storylines from the past five decades of the House of Ideas’ back catalog in (relatively) affordable hardcover format, had been around since 2006; we can but hope that this might mean an uptick in trade paperbacks and Essentials collecting material from the 1980s-1990s period in replacement.

I am so happy that this made it into the Marvel solicits unedited:

A+X #2
KAARE ANDREWS & PETER DAVID (W)
KAARE ANDREWS & MIKE DEL MUNDO (A)
Cover by KAARE ANDREWS
Variant cover by ED MCGUINNESS & TBA
Sketch Variant by ED MCGUINNESS
• Spider-Man and Beast fight zombies in a story by Kaare Andrews (AVX: VERSUS)!
• Iron Man, Kitty Pryde and Lockheed fight the Brood in a story by Peter David and your favorite artist!

Now, I like Mike Del Mundo quite a bit – Just look at his portfolio, and I’m sure you will, too – but “your favorite artist!” is just a little bit too much hyperbole, surely…? I can’t work out if it was meant to say “your new favorite artist!” in an intentionally over-the-top hyperbole sense, or if it was written as placeholder and not replaced in time. Either way, it’s so breathlessly ridiculous and yet also generic that I kind of love it.

(That said: Kaare Andrews and Del Mundo illustrating that book? That’s going to be one fine looking issue.)