Stan Lee abruptly canceled a couple of appearances recently, leading to concerns about the 89-year-old comic book legend’s health. Through his company POW! Entertainment, he’s ended speculation by reporting that he’s had a pacemaker implanted.

The co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, the Avengers and many more seems characteristically upbeat about his recovery from the surgery, with his official statement reading, “In an effort to be more like my fellow Avenger, Tony Stark, I have had an electronic pace-maker placed near my heart to insure that I’ll be able to lead thee for another 90 years.”

The full press release, written in signature Stan Lee style, follows after the jump.

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Wondering what was going on with the revelation that Tim Drake’s name isn’t actually Tim Drake, in this week’s Teen Titans #0? Scott Lobdell reveals how that came about, over at CBR:

After I finished the script and I believed it was sent off to the printers, I got a text from Editorial saying, “Loved the witness protection thing. We think it works better if we reveal Drake was never has last name. Took care of it.”

Now, some writers fly into a rage when their work is rewritten — and it only rarely ever happens to me! — but I thought, “Okay, I can see that. I can see all the potential for future storylines that can come from that, mysteries that ultimately need to be revealed.”

So in some ways, I was as surprised by the last page as everyone else who read it. I dig it.

Come October 10, there will be no escape from the CW’s new Green Arrow show, Arrow, apparently. Not only does the show premiere on television that evening, but it’ll invade your comic store, too:

DC Entertainment and comic book retailers across America have deemed Wednesday, October 10 “Arrow Day” to celebrate the arrival of Warner Bros. Television’s highly anticipated new show ARROW, airing Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW. Fans who visit their local comic book retailer on October 10 will receive a free ARROW #1 SPECIAL EDITION custom comic book that is the perfect companion for the show’s premiere that night.

DC’s VP of Marketing, John Cunningham, is quoted in the press release accompanying the news as saying that the new CW show “is one of the most highly-anticipated new shows premiering this fall and when you combine that with enthusiasm from comic book fans who now get to see one of their favorite Super Heroes on TV – there’s a lot of excitement comic book retailers can tap into.” Maybe I’ve not been paying enough attention – What can I say? I’ve been too busy watching Doctor Who and getting excited about The Mindy Project – but is there really a lot of excitement about Arrow out there?

On his message board, Mark Millar responds to the announcement of his new job as Fox’s Joss Whedon:

It’s way too early to talk about plans just yet, but as you can imagine the idea here is to make exactly the kind of superhero movies you and I want to see most. There literally isn’t a more talented bunch of film-makers to be working with and the team at Fox are incredibly excited about this bold new direction too. I also want to post this here to say thanks for the hundreds of emails I woke up to this morning and the thousand-plus tweets I got overnight from well-wishers. I wish I had time to reply to them all today – I usually reply to most of my tweets @mrmarkmillar – but this morning was an AVALANCHE and so I just wanted to so a big thanks, that I’ve read every one and that they’re hugely appreciated. A highlight, I think, was well-wishes from Stan The Man himself. That’s like the Pope sending a message. Couldn’t have been more exciting.

But my biggest thanks has to go to director Joe Carnahan, I think. It was Joe who suggested me to the bigwigs at Fox for this role as he’s always been a supporter of what I did in comics like The Ultimates and so on. He and Matthew Vaughn – both of whom have a very strong relationship with Fox – really pushed for me to get this gig and I just want to publicly thank them both for their support.

Joe Carnahan was, of course, the director behind Fox’s mooted, now dead Daredevil reboot.

Millar also used the post as a chance to update progress on his own Millarworld books; apparently, the first issue of Kick-Ass 3 is now written, as well as the second issue of his collaboration with Frank Quitely, Jupiter’s Children.

And thinking about cost-benefit ratios:

The [Amazon.com] listing for the Uncanny Avengers – Volume 1: The Red Shadow hardcover however, is a revelation.

$24.99 for four issues. Issues that cost $3.99 each. In the hardcover, that works out as $6.25 each.

Even at the Amazon discount of 34% off (for now), that still works out as $4.12 each.

That’s from Bleeding Cool. $6.25 per issue? That’s amazing. And not in a good way. In that the HC hasn’t officially been solicited yet, and Amazon listings can always be updated, what’s the betting that we see a price reduction (or page increase) before the official solicit of the collection?

Maybe the “NOW!” in “Marvel NOW!” is there to suggest that fans buy the comics NOW! in individual issues because it’ll be prohibitively expensive to wait for the collection?

You have to wonder how DC feels about Wonder Woman’s appearance on the cover of the new Ms. Magazine. Obviously, it’s a great PR moment for the character and the publisher, and continues a historic connection between Ms and Wonder Woman, but it’s Wonder Woman in her classic outfit – which, at this point, is three costume changes ago – and drawn by Mike Allred, who’s working for Marvel these days. I wonder if there was any discussion of whether or not Cliff Chiang could offer up a modern-day WW for the cover? At least that way, the character might have looked like something other than a relic from years gone by…

This is actually really sweet – To celebrate Brian Michael Bendis’ eight-year run on the various Avengers books for Marvel, the publisher presented him with a plaque:

Bendis said in a recent Word Balloon interview that he estimates he’s written 272 Avengers stories during his tenure. That’s an amazing record, anyway you look at it.

No pressure, Jonathan Hickman.

So, Brian Smith, the DC editor that suddenly rocketed to attention when he apparently drove Rob Liefeld to leave the publisher, is himself leaving DC this week:

Last day at DC this Friday! Good times, learned a LOT (good and bad). Back to freelance and creator owned comics for me.

He later clarified that he was “not fired, didn’t quit [and] not being escorted out of the building. Standard two weeks notice, no drama of any kind,” for those wondering if this was related to Liefeld’s attempts to name and shame him last month. Perhaps it’s because he was robbed of such a “victory” that led to this classy response to the news. Oh, Rob.

With Avengers now on Blu-ray and DVD, it’s also the latest film to get an “Honest Trailer” pointing out some of what they perceive as the film’s inconsistencies. Captain America fans might not want to take the video to heart.

Here it is:

A little PR birdie tells me through email that Marvel’s The Avengers has another feather in its cap as of Monday: It has become Amazon.com’s most pre-ordered title in history, with pre-release orders for both physical and digital versions combined totaling more than the previous record holder, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2. People just couldn’t resist the idea of taking Mark Ruffalo home with them, I guess.

I wonder how long it’ll be before we start getting updates about how well the Blu-ray, DVD and downloads are selling? Somehow, I foresee some records being broken in that direction, too…

I’ve said it elsewhere, but Chad Nevett’s GraphiContent blog has been home to some really wonderful commentary on Marvel’s Avengers Vs. X-Men event during its entire run. I’m particularly taken by his commentary on the scheduling of New Avengers #30:

I’m a little fascinated by the fact that both New Avengers #30 and Avengers #30 seem to take place after the end of Avengers vs. X-Men and… things are fine. We all expect that to be the case, but it’s more than that. Things aren’t just fine, they’re almost ‘normal.’ You could put either issue in a different place in Marvel’s history and not much would change. You’d need to rework some of the specifics in New Avengers #30, sure, but the basic idea of that issue was, after a big superhero to-do, Luke Cage struggles with what it means to be a husband and father while also being a superhero, and joins some other Avengers in fighting some bad guys before quitting the team. Take out Emma Frost and the fact that the bad guys hate mutants and… nothing that matters would change. The same thing applies in this issue, except in an even bigger way. You literally just need to take out the opening double-page spread and I’m not sure there’s a specific Avengers vs. X-Men reference in the comic.

This is the event that Matters (capital M, of course) and Will Change Everything Forever (for now) and, before it’s over, we’re being treated to comics that demonstrate just how much it doesn’t matter. At all. It’s just another crisis — another big event. Another giant threat to the planet that the heroes have to stop. The specifics don’t matter. Phoenix? Might as well be Thanos or the Beyonder or Norman Osborn or an act of congress or the Scarlet Witch or Apocalypse or Kang or Ultron or Dr. Doom or the Skrulls or the Kree or the Kree and the Skrulls or Galactus or anything else. Because it doesn’t matter.

I wonder whether the issue was originally supposed to come out after #12 of the main series – An issue that was solicited for September release originally, remember, then pushed back for good reason before release – which would have mitigated this reaction. But still: Things like Captain Marvel or Hawkeye take place explicitly after AvX, and have featured a perfectly-fine world for a couple of months now. It’s a thing; we as readers ultimately know that the world isn’t going to end/be massively changed by big crossover events, and yet releasing comics that show that before the end of an event nonetheless feels as if the game has been given away, in some way.

Over at iFanboy, Jim Mroczkowski is feeling nervous about Marvel NOW!:

Marvel has dominated my pull list for ages, and when they say, “We’re ending just about everything, shuffling the deck, and starting fresh,” my immediate response is not, “Bully and huzzah, a slew of new lit’rature to devour!” The first, unbidden thought in my head is, “Oh, man, it is going to be incredibly satisfying when all those books I read come to a natural end.”I cannot be the only person thinking that way. I know I’m not, in fact; I’ve heard other people ’round these parts say the same thing. Although I’ll be giving all kinds of #1s chances this winter, I can’t shake this funny feeling that’s whispering, “What if Marvel just accidentally engineered the perfect comics Jumping-Off Point?”

Clearly, I’m being contrarian, but I can see as many books I’m curious to pick up (The new Iron Man and Hulk books, the new team on Journey Into Mystery, the new status quo for Red She-Hulk) as are disappearing in the reshuffle. I’m wondering if that’s because I’m not massively enamored with Marvel’s current output in the same way as many, but I’m opening this one to the floor. We heard similar “Well, this is the place to say goodbye” comments when the New 52 was coming up, so is this just the same thing for Marvel? Isn’t there even less reason to drop off considering that continuity stays in place with Marvel NOW!?

Bleeding Cool has a very unexpected name being attached to Warner Bros’ Justice League movie, thanks to what sounds like a very awkward undercover comic store incursion by some WB marketing people:

The biggest give away for the [comic store] staff was when they asked what impact films had on comics sales. The staff replied that it was very little, unless it was an unknown character. Their immediate response was “Oh, like Jonah Hex” which didn’t fit with the rest of their limited knowledge – and they didn’t seem aware that the Green Lantern and Jonah Hex movies were not well regarded.

The staff explained how Marvel could make a movie out of any character but because it would tie into the bigger picture, it stood a greater chance of success. The interlopers were really interested in what obscure characters there were realated to the league… and then they asked the big one.

“What would fan reaction be to a Justice League movie with Frank Miller’s name attached?”

Oh, wow.

On the one hand, you can definitely understand Warners’ excitement about getting the guy who did The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City to do their big superhero movie. On the other, that’s also the guy behind Holy Terror and The Spirit movie. Potential for complete and utter disaster: Vast. Then again, they also put the guy who did Watchmen and Sucker Punch in charge of Man of Steel…

This is a fascinating attempt to try and work out what Marvel and Disney’s actual profit is from the $1.5 billion take of Marvel’s The Avengers in theaters:

Well, the studio first has to recoup the cost of production.  Given that The Avengers cost $220 million to make, movie’s profits come down to $530 million.  Additionally, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek article by James Ellis about another $100 million was spent on marketing this movie; bringing the film’s earnings down to $430 million.

However, we’re not done yet.  At this point, Disney needs to start paying Box Office-bonuses to people who get a cut of the movie’s gross profits.  For instance, after Iron Man became a huge hit, Robert Downey Jr. had his contract re-negotiated so that he’d get a cut of the final profits.  Few people will ever know how much money Downey Jr. has coming to him, but according to an article from The Hollywood Reporter by Matthew Belloni insiders have estimated that it could be as high as $50 million.  Meaning, that Disney/Marvel will have about $370 million dollars of profits from The Avengers.  This is less than 25% of the film’s total box office haul.

Much, much more at the link, but it’s worth remembering: $370 million may be less than 25% of Avengers‘ take, but it’s still an amazing amount of money.

Oh, poor Judge Dredd. Apparently, he just isn’t destined for movie success, with his second movie following the lead of the first and… well, flopping at the box office:

In sixth place, comic book adaptation/remake Dredd bombed with just $6.3 million from 2,506 locations. That’s less than one-third of Kick-Ass‘s $19.8 million, and only a little over half of the original Judge Dredd‘s $12.3 million (and that movie was considered a flop 17 years ago!). It’s at least up on Shoot ‘Em Up ($5.7 million) and about on par with April’s Lockout ($6.2 million), though those comparisons suggest Dredd is on track for less than $20 million through its entire run.

It made less than half of the first Dredd movie?

Ouch.

Buzzfeed has the reveal of Jim Lee’s new cover to the second printing of Justice League #12:

First off: Is it just me, or is that a far better composition than the first printing cover?

Secondly: Alex Sinclair does a really nice job on this, doesn’t he?

Looks like a downgrade for X-Men Legacy:

X-MEN LEGACY #1 is rated T+, not T as previously solicited, has no Free Digital Code, and is priced at $2.99 and not the previously solicited $3.99.
X-MEN LEGACY #2 is rated T+, not T as previously solicited, has no Free Digital Code, and is priced at $2.99 and not the previously solicited $3.99.

Well, “downgrade” in one sense. You could also look at is as “I still get the 20 pages of story, but for a buck less,” too, if you don’t care about the digital code.

Also in the Marvel updates: Looks like Marco Checchetto is completely off Punisher War Zone, sadly; not only wasn’t he solicited for #3 last week, but he’s now been moved off #2, as well, replaced by Carmine Di Giandomenico. Shame; I’d hoped the book would get to hold onto him all the way through the end of the run, but such things aren’t meant to be.

If you’re sad that you missed Alan Moore’s first convention appearance in twenty-odd years this weekend, don’t worry: This is the Internet. Not only does Bleeding Cool have a fairly in-depth write-up of the appearance, but there are also a series of phone-cam-shot YouTube videos from the event, all included under the jump. Enjoy, and don’t get too mad about the Stan Lee thing. (more…)

According to eagle-eyed Patrick Dane over at Bleeding Cool, Lego may have accidentally spoiled something for next year’s Superman movie with a product listing of next year’s bricky releases that includes something called “Superman Black Zero Escape”:

While most of us thought we would only have Michael Shannon as General Zod, it would seem that Black Zero could feature in the film. Not only that, but he will be a big enough threat to escape from. Or in a situation for him to escape. Just…expect some escaping.

For those of you who didn’t know, Black Zero is known as ‘the Man that Destroyed Krypton’. That is exactly what it sounds like. Black Zero is space saboteur that specialises in destroying planets. He was hired to give Krypton the last push over the edge of destruction.

Far more recently, it’s also been the name of a military cell led by Zod’s second-in-command, Ursa in the New Krypton/World of Krypton/Last Stand of Krypton story arc from a few years ago. Somehow, I think that that‘s what it refers to, given that we know Zod and Ursa are going to be in the movie, but we’ll see…

Well, this is unusual. Axel Alonso is dropping hints about international Marvel variance in his regular interview at CBR:

And finally from Spidey616: Any hints when/if we’ll be seeing Coldmoon & Dragonfire, two new characters introduced from last year’s Point One issue?

Alonso: Depending on where you live in the world, you may have seen them already, Spidey! Beyond that, all I can say for the moment is keep your eyes peeled!

Have Coldmoon and Dragonfire been appearing in some international licensed titles that have gone unreported online (Then again, it’s not like that many people were really all “Where can we see these amazing characters who are like the Wonder Twins again?”, but still)? And while we’re talking last year’s Point One special, did the Watcher framing sequence stuff ever actually lead anywhere?