You can just tell that Disney have been dying to do this for awhile, can’t you?

As I said on Twitter, the scariest thing about this advertisement is hearing “The Imperial March” turned into “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO.

That’s just wrong.

CBR looks at how Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy has impacted the comics industry – In short, late comics shipments to affected areas, many closed stories in same for obvious reasons, and a number of companies closed because they’re based in New York City:

“We won’t have a full accounting of how this has impacted our freelancers in the area until we can regroup later in the week, but, for now, we’re just grateful that everyone appears to have weathered the storm safely,” [Valiant Entertainment's Hunter] Gorinson continued. “And that goes not only for Valiant, but our friends and colleagues at Marvel, DC, Archie, and the plethora of amazing local retailers across the five boroughs, and all of our fellow New Yorkers citywide as well.”

It’s obviously a minor concern in the grand scheme of things, but it goes without saying: Hopefully everyone connected with this ridiculous industry we call comics has come through this whole thing as unscathed and as safely as possible.

Here’s a random thought experiment for you all: Should Marvel regain the Star Wars comic license, as many are predicting in the wake of yesterday’s surprise news that Disney is buying Lucasfilm, which current Marvel talent would you like to see write and draw the Star Wars characters?

(By “current Marvel talent,” I mean “Those working on Marvel books being published now, or already solicited for the next few months,” so Gerry Duggan is fine, but Mark Millar isn’t, if that makes sense.)

Me, I’d be genuinely curious to see what Bendis could do with the franchise; I feel as if his Avengers has had Lucas’ fingerprints all over it, in some indescribable way (There’s a nervously-chatty superheroes = C3PO transfer in my mind, I think, and maybe Norman Osborn as the Emperor in some strange way that doesn’t quite work). Jason Aaron, too, could bring something to it. But, really, I’d love to see Jeff Parker given the reins; he gets the mix of comedy and adventure that makes Star Wars work for me in a way that few other writers at Marvel seem to, and I’d be excited to see what he could do with the franchise.

Artwise, is Daniel Acura still doing work for Marvel…? Because, really, I couldn’t imagine someone else who I’d be quite as into doing some Star Wars work…

Of course, Dark Horse still has the license and are doing just fine with it, thank you very much (The January-launching Brian Wood series is something I am looking forward to to an amazingly high degree), so this is nothing more than speculation and fanboy wish-fulfilment. But still: Just imagine…

Courtesy of Best Shots contributor Aaron Duran, here’s information on exhibitor registration on the 2013 Stumptown Comic Festival, taking place on April 27-28 at the Oregon Convention Center. It’s the 10th anniversary of the show, with guests including Bill Willingham. More after the jump.

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As if I needed more reason to love John Hodgman, turns out he’s a fan of Paul Levitz’ Legion of Super-Heroes run from the ’80s, as evidenced in a Pop Candy interview by Newsarama contributor Zack Smith:

I guess I like the one from the ’80s where Star Boy just spends the whole comic hoping that his girlfriend, Dream Girl, doesn’t get elected club leader for a second term . It was a little while before I realized: oh. This is what this comic is going to be about. Just a dude in a star t-shirt broin’ out plasma spacesuit guy and feeling sorry for himself. I loved it.

He also has some smart words to say about the importance of continuity:

Comics have a problem, and that is continuity–the obsession with placing the characters in an existing world, where every event is marked in canon. You’re supposed to believe that these weepy star boys of now are the same gung ho super teens fighting space monsters in the sixties, and they’ve only aged perhaps five years.

It eventually strains credulity, and can shackle a writer who wants to try a something new. Very few narrative forms have to deal with this principle, and a fan base that gets mad when it’s violated, except for maybe soap operas (which is what comics are). So there are these periodic memory wipes and start-overs. But to me, it never felt right with the Legion. There are just too many of these kids, none of them is iconic, the whole pleasure is the continuity– the evolution of comic styles and sensibility encoded in their being.

Now I want to see Hodgman writing a Legion annual or something. Wouldn’t that be great? Hey, DC…!

A thought occurred, while reading Jim Mroczkowski’s latest iFanboy column, and finding this section:

If other media are drawing in new customers, it doesn’t seem to have been a game changer so far. Sales have not been on a rocket to the moon since Marvel’s The Avengers came out. I have yet to see another human being on earth reading a comic book in public.

It’s depressing, sure, but how many people do you generally see reading in public these days? Or, perhaps I should say, not reading a smartphone, laptop or some other electronic device? For all we know, maybe they’re all on ComiXology or Madefire or something similar…

If you’ve been tempted to try some of the Monkeybrain titles but haven’t taken the dive just yet, wait a couple of days. Chris Roberson explains why:

Over the decades, countless comic creators have given us excitement and inspiration, entertained and educated us. And we need to give back.

For most of the history of American comic books, the only income that creators received were the page rates for the work they did. Writers, artists, letterers, and colorists would be paid a flat rate for the pages they turned in, without any royalties for sales or equity for their creations. If a comic were to be reprinted, the creators would not receive any additional payment, nor would they be compensated if characters and concepts from their work were used elsewhere, whether in other comics, in other media, or in merchandising. And since the overwhelming majority of comic creators were freelance employees, there were no pensions or retirement funds for them to look forward to.

In more recent decades, comic book publishers have instituted new policies for comic creators. Some began to offer royalties and bonus incentives for creators, so that if their work sold well or was reprinted, they would participate in those profits. Some publishers instituted creator equity deals, so that if a creator’s concepts and characters were to generate profits in other media, the creator would reap some of the benefit. But few if any of these policies have been made retroactive, and as much as later generations of creators have benefited from the improved financial arrangements, generations of creators who came before them have not.

There are far too many stories of well-respected, talented writers and artists who created successful and beloved comics in previous decades, and who now are living in reduced means—unable to afford health care, unable to find paying work, some even homeless. At the same time, characters created and co-created by many of these same creators have gone on to appear in major motion pictures, on television, and in toy aisles.

The American comic book industry was built on selling morality tales to young readers, stories of men and women who fought for justice and stood up for what was right. And the writers, artists, and others who created those stories deserve better than they have received.

Thankfully, they have the Hero Initiative in their corner.

For more than a decade, the Hero Initiative has provided a safety net for comic book veterans who need assistance, whether in the form of financial support, emergency medical aid, or an avenue back to paying work. In that time, the Hero Initiative has granted more than $500,000 to over 50 comic book veterans. But as a not-for-profit corporation, the Hero Initiative relies on donations and contributions to continue its work.

Throughout the month of November, Monkeybrain Comics will be donating all of its income to the Hero Initiative. Our creators will still receive their cut of the profits, but the portion of each sale that we retain as publisher’s profits will be donated in its entirety to the Hero Initiative.

As we in the United States prepare to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving, please consider giving thanks to the veteran creators who have given us so much over the years by donating to the Hero Initiative. And we encourage other publishers to join us in supporting the Hero Initiative through direct donations. Unless and until creator royalties and equity participation policies are made retroactive, charities like the Hero Initiative are the only support many veteran creators have available to them.

Sincerely,
Chris Roberson
Monkeybrain Comics

If you have been checking out the Monkeybrain books through ComiXology, you’ll know how good they are across the board. If you haven’t, I suggest that you wait until Thursday and try out Edison Rex, Amelia Cole and The Unknown World and Bandette first, although you can’t really go wrong with any of them. There’s even a couple of new titles being launched tomorrow: Brandon Seifert, and Michael Montenat’s Spirit of The Law and Zach Smith and Rich Ellis’ The Stars Below, previews of which are below. Seriously, this is a great think Chris, Alison and Monkeybrain are doing, and I hope they everyone tries out some new comics and helps the Hero Initiative as a result.

Looks like San Diego Comic-Con is going to stay in San Diego through 2016, at least:

A $500 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center has been authorized by San Diego officials, with San Diego Comic-Con extending its deal for an additional year through 2016, according to Variety.  Construction will begin next year and will be completed in time for Comic-Con 2016.  The expansion may finally allow Comic-Con to expand its attendance beyond the current 130,000, where it has been capped since 2007 because the Convention Center is maxed out even with the addition of off-site space for things like programming and premium redemption.

Because that’s what Comic-Con needed: More people.

The first bit of the animated Axe Cop — scheduled as part of Fox’s upcoming “ADHD” block — has arrived, with Nick Offerman (yes, Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation) voicing the title character, and a distinctly seasonally appropriate theme. The description of the video calls it a “test,” meaning that the show may very well look and sound different by the time it premieres on Fox Saturday nights “next year,” but it’s pretty accurate at this point to Malachai and Ethan Nicolle’s web (and sometimes print) comic.

Hey, here’s the clip:

Something else odd in the Marvel shipping update:

CAPTAIN MARVEL #8 is written by Kelly Sue Deconnick & a TBD author.

The odd part isn’t the announcement of a co-author, but that said co-author is “TBD,” considering that DeConnick announced awhile back that #7 and 8 will be co-written by Screamland‘s Christopher Sebela. Hopefully this is some odd internal Marvel miscommunication and not a sign that Sebela won’t be handling #8 (The issue was originally solicited with DeConnick writing solo).

I’ve actually come to really like the Marvel method of paring “established” writers with newcomers to introduce them to the publisher – It’s how we got both Matt Fraction and Rick Remender, after all, so it’s got a proven success rate, as well as keeping a constant influx of new blood on the writing side. Admittedly, I still get a little worried when I see a co-writer being added to a book I’m enjoying – I’ve taken to assuming it means that the established writer is getting ready to move on – but, as a formal way of introducing new creators to the company, it’s pretty hard not to admire, breaking both creators and readers in gently, and sometimes resulting in things like The Immortal Iron Fist.

It’s apparently all change for Marvel’s new A+X series, with the previously announced creative line-ups shifting around according to the latest shipping updates from the publisher: Kaare Andrews’ Beast and Spider-Man story originally solicited for #2 will now appear in #4, with its slot in #2 now being taken by the Chris Bachalo and Rogue story originally announced for #3. The now-empty slot in #3 will be filled by Jason Aaron and Pasqual Ferry’s Storm and Black Panther story solicited for #4, now bumped by the delayed Kaare Andrews story. Got that? I hope so, because I’m not planning on going through it again. Meanwhile, Marvel has also revealed that the hilariously vague solicit for the second story in #4 (“Your other two favorite characters fight your favorite villain”) actually refers to a Captain America/Quentin Quire team-up, so there’s that.

How central to the first Superman story is the man part of the character’s name…? Darren Reid looks at the gender politics of the Superman story from Action Comics #1 (The original, 1938 version):

Contemporary stereotypes do indeed abound throughout Action Comics #1 but the victimhood of the women featured therein is associated not necessarily with weakness, but oppression. Such a distinction is important because it suggests that Siegel and Shuster recognised that the place reserved for women in society was not necessarily the result of weakness on their part but the willingness of men to oppress and abuse them. At the very least, this association –particularly in the context of the domestic violence depicted in this story– suggests that women deserved protection from men who might otherwise use them for their own selfish, destructive ends.

Few of the male characters in this issue, Superman aside, are represented in positive terms with most instead depicted as thoroughly villainous in nature (1938: 12-14). Although superheroes tend to be associated with super villains, in this story men in general fulfil the corrupted, oppressive role that these larger-than-life characters would eventually come to embody and exaggerate. In contrast, the women in this tale tend to be victims not necessarily of the stereotypical weaknesses this story references but of the men who seek to dominate their lives and affairs.

It’s telling, perhaps, that the villainous man who tries to force Lois to dance with him is called “Butch.” I’d snark about subtlety, but I don’t think I’d noticed any of this before…

(Via.)

Actually, that last post about The Nao of Brown reminded me of another of this year’s best-looking books, and it’s another one that’s maybe slipped through the cracks for a lot of readers: Ron Wimberly’s Prince of Cats. It’s a retelling of Romeo and Juliet that updates the story to today’s contemporary urban sprawl, and mixes in some ninjas while it’s at it, and it looks amazing; Wimberly’s art is like a mix of Mike McMahon and Jose Munoz, with a wonderful approach to color that really makes each scene pop. Even if you don’t want to see wordplay and swordplay mix it up with a love that dare not speak its name – and if you don’t, why not? – it’s worth chasing down just to see what it looks like. Great stuff.

Over at the Comics Journal, Chris Mautner talks to Glyn Dillon, creator of one of the year’s best books, The Nao of Brown:

The majority of the book was done in watercolor. The Ichi pages are digital, Photoshop. I did use Photoshop to help with the watercolor. I would print out [pages] in the way they used to where they’d print out your black line and your blue line and a colorist might paint that and they’d have an acetate sheet over the top. You can do that at home now. I’d print out the black line at a lower capacity onto watercolor paper, paint that and then scan that back in and put it together with the black line again. So if I fucked up I could just print out a new page.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: You need to search this book out, even if it’s only to see the artwork. Genuinely beautiful stuff.

Bad news for those expecting a repeat performance of X-Men: First Class with 2014′s X-Men: Days of Future Past, it seems:

Matthew Vaughn has decided not to direct the sequel to 20th Century Fox’s hit spinoff X-Men: First Class. Ready for the next shocker? Atop the studio’s replacement short list is Bryan Singer, who launched the X-Men feature franchise with the first two superb films, and who has been a guiding influence in this spinoff by writing the treatment and producing. If this works out, Singer and Vaughn would essentially be switching roles.

According to Deadline, Vaughn is stepping down to free up his schedule to make the movie version of The Secret Service, the comic book he dreamt up with Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.

This is great: Geeks of Doom compares the economics of being Peter Parker and being Bruce Wayne:

The full thing – including how many years it would take both heroes to earn as much money as their movies have taken at the box office – can be seen here.

How healthy is the New 52? Marc-Oliver Frisch crunches numbers for the answer:

As far as the boosts for the “zero” issues are concerned, the notable thing is that only 11 of the 45 current “New 52″ titles that were around six months ago display a sales increase in their six-month comparison, and out of those 11, three are titles that are about to be axed. So, while the overall figures of the DC Universe imprint keep suggesting a healthy market position for DC’s comic-book line, there is still a considerable underlying rot that keeps eating away at the line, and which is being masked by things like the release of Annuals for the better-selling titles, or the Before Watchmen books, or the replacement of lower-selling “New 52″ titles with new ones.

In other words: Yes, DC may have won the dollar and market share for last month, but that doesn’t mean that they should necessarily feel happy with the way things are going over there. When you look at some of the order estimates for the individual books, that really gets underscored: Fury of Firestorm only has 17,000 orders and is getting another relaunch with Dan Jurgens at the helm this month…?

Dan Slott possibly spoiled his own storyline on Twitter, with a message to Superior Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman that appeared to give away the identity of the new Spider-Man — or perhaps was meant to throw fans off the scent. All manner of potential spoilers once you click on the link. (more…)

Dylan Todd looks at the logos of some of the Marvel NOW! books over at Guttersniper:

Next up is Mark Waid and Leinil Yu’s Indestructible Hulk, a logo that just makes me wanna barf so hard you guys. First off, where in the hell are the Marvel designers getting their fonts from? These are the weirdest typefaces I have ever seen. Why is the x-height on the “HULK” font so high? Why is it this tall, kind of bold condensed font and not something more squat and muscly and tough? This is the most generic thing I have ever seen. It looks like it was put together by someone who had never really heard of the Hulk and they just ran it through whatever that rocky surface/dirty leather Photoshop effect and were like, “Okay, whatever.” And then, two days later, went back and slapped that “#1” on there, too because the greens don’t match at all. Like, I just … I … what the hell am I even looking at? This is a character that was the runaway star of the summer’s biggest movie and this is what you’re going out there to attract new readers with? Guh. I’m just … I can’t go on, I’ll go on.

It has to be said: Considering that Joe Quesada has talked about Marvel NOW! meaning that the publisher is “going to start to look at our covers with an eye towards strong design and commerciality above all else,” the logos and graphic design that we’ve seen from the books so far really has been pretty disappointing. Remember when Rian Hughes was designing logos for Marvel? Those were the days.

Paul O’Brien looks at the orders for Marvel over the last few months, and doesn’t exactly like what he’s seeing, when it comes to recent launches:

91,99. X-TREME X-MEN
07/12  X-Treme X-Men v2 #1 - 36,802
08/12  X-Treme X-Men v2 #2 - 25,689  (-30.2%)
09/12  X-Treme X-Men v2 #3 - 24,490  ( -4.7%)
09/12  X-Treme X-Men v2 #4 - 22,584  ( -7.8%)

An 8% drop, four issues in, and below the 25K mark? This isn’t looking at all healthy.

Captain Marvel‘s in the same boat, falling from an estimated 41K to 24K between #1 and #4, and Gambit looks like it’s heading in the same direction; #3 has 28,530 estimated orders, down from #1′s 40,418. Hawkeye seems to be doing better, though; #2 comes in at 33,563 which is above the second issue levels of both X-Treme and Captain Marvel.

(Also: How odd is it that two X-Titles are firmly in the mid- to low-list of sellers? Those of us who lived through the ’90s are having cognitive dissonance right now.)

There’s almost no doubt that the Marvel NOW! books aren’t going to have this kind of problem – Uncanny Avengers had launch numbers of, what, 300,000 in total? – and it’s possible that the four titles mentioned above suffered through launching at a time when Marvel’s promotional engines were still firmly on Avengers vs. X-Men mode. Nonetheless, it’s looking very much like Marvel is going to settle into a mode very similar to DC’s, wherein its high-sellers are doing really, really well, but there’s no real mid-list books, and everything that isn’t a big name sells at dangerously low numbers and risks cancellation within a year of launch. But how to fix this?