Look, I know tht there are a lot of you really looking forward to Onslaught: Reborn #1 this week, but hold on to your pants. There are actually some good books coming out this week that you may want to know about!

Mike Carey’s Crossing Midnight #1 debuts this week. Loeb and Cooke’s Batman/The Spirit hits shelves this week and I’m rather sure it will be a better read than what Loeb is doing on Onslaught: Reborn #1, so you may want to check it out. Who’s getting Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage #1?

Was I the only one to overlook the new Art of Brian Bolland hardcover from Image this week? Now I’m seriously wishing that I had a second job… Spawn has reached #162 and, truth be told, I’m surprised people still buy that book.

Marvel will be making many fans happy with the release of The Immortal Iron Fist #1 by fan faves Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. Heck, I might just check it out. But let me tell you what will not be on my pick list this week: ONSLAUGHT: REBORN #1!! Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is still going strong, but even though it will come back, I’m going to hate to see it go. It just won’t be the same. Sigh.

Gang, tell us what’s on the list!

(more…)

There is no other way to open this post than to simply say … HAPPY THANKSGIVING! It’s another great week of comics with my second most favorite holiday to boot! I hope that this week, of all weeks in the year, rewards you with some comics that you simply can’t wait to read. Let’s see what the Blog@ gang are looking forward to this week!

Lisa Fortuner’s Pick Of The Week

I am willing to stop at the comics store on the way to the airport and possibly miss my flight and my Thanksgiving Dinner to get Wonder Woman #3.

(more…)

Ever had one of those weeks where things just don’t seem to fall into place like they should? That would be me this week. But I have to tell you, Wednesday seems like it will be the day that changes all of that for me. This week, I’ll be picking up (if they all ship…ahem!) Invincible #36, The Walking Dead #32, Astonishing X-Men #18, Civil War #5, Iron Man #13, New Avengers #25, Squadron Supreme #7, and Leading Man #4. Can ya tell I’m a Marvel guy? Not a single DC book in the mix for me. Just nothing that I want to get from them, especially with offerings like Texas Chainsaw Massacre #1. Uh, I’ll pass. Though the Absolute DC: The New Frontier does is tempting, I must admit…

Enough about all of that! On to the important people and their important opinions!

(more…)

Sorry we’re running a little late this week with CWFW. Wife, kids, school, yadda, yadda, yadda… But it’s an interesting week, nonetheless.

Grant Morrison’s Batman finishes up the “Batman and Son” storyline this week. Dark Horse gives us more Star Wars with Star Wars: Dark Times #1, focusing on a grim and gritty future for the fan-favorite universe. There seems to be a good amount of anticipation for Marvel’s Doctor Strange: The Oath series by Brian K. Vaughan and Joe Casey is at it again with The Avengers with his sequel, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II #1. Also from Marvel, Bullet Points #1 by J. Michael Straczynski and Tommy Lee Edward hits shelves and another series I’ve been looking forward (almost overlooked, actually) is Wisdom #1 by Paul Cornell (whom I’ve never read before, but am told is a very good writer) and Trevor Hairsine.

But enough about all of that! Let’s see if any of it even caught the attention of the Blog@Newsarama gang…

(more…)

Why am I always the odd man out? Last week I wasn’t in the love party for Seven Soldiers #1 and this week I’m not again. Why, God, why?! Anyway…

Folks liked having the guest contributor, so look for more CWFW’s with pros telling you what they are looking forward to buying for that week. Got my sights set on one up-and-comig creator in particular…

Looks like DC has a potential hit on their hands with Superman Confidential #1 and Marvel is finally bringing back fan-favorite creator Alan Davis this week with Fantastic Four: The End #1. Image brings us two number one’s this week: Freshman Vol. 2 and Nightly News. And I think that Dark Horse has been doing a great job with Star Wars: Legacy which continues this week with #5.

You know something else that I think is great? Getting a year older. Ah, the joys of wisdom gained, of things learned, of hair falling out… Wait, nix that last one, but do wish Blog@Newsarama’s very Tom Bondurant a very Happy Birthday today, will ya? Maybe he’ll even stop by to tell us how old he really is, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. Speaking of the birthday boy, let’s see what he’s got to say about this week’s comics…

(more…)

This week will be a little different. We have a special guest contributor and a real strong push for a long awaited #1. Formalities aside, let’s dive in.

James Patrick’s Pick Of The Week

NEXTWAVE #9.

When Chris asked me to participate and told me to pick the book I’m most looking forward to this week, I thought it would be an indy book. Not only am I partly an indy creator, not only do I look for ward to more indy books than other books, but they also deserve and need the attention. So of course I looked over the list and realized the book I’m most looking forward to is from Marvel. Not wanting to undermine the validity of Can’t Wait For Wednesday, my pick is Nextwave #9. Thankfully it doesn’t read like most other Marvel books and it’s a book that deserves more attention – or sales anyway – though it’s probably too late to be saved.

Yes, it was announced this week Nextwave will only be 12 issues, maybe followed by minis, and it’s a damn shame because I like my monthly dose of this book. It’s like an acid trip in comic’s reading in that it takes you out of the day-to-day reality of mainstream monthlies. You just never know what’s going to happen in Nextwave, and, having caught the preview of Nextwave #9 and having seen how they seemingly get their next foe from (SPOILERS) Captain America’s pee, I won’t be disappointed with this issue. I miss the book already.

Oh, and to keep some of my cred, I’m looking forward to snagging Hawaiian Dick V2 and catching up with second printings of Phonogram 1 and 2. Image, so not hardcore indy, but still.

James Patrick has the critically acclaimed Death Comes To Dillinger trade in November Previews (NOV06 3844) this week and a story in Angel: Masks from IDW next week. James has written the critically acclaimed Crackurz and Lionxor, as well as contributed to the indy smash Hero Happy Hour. He’s written strips for Kevin Smith’s Movie Poop Shoot and was head writer on the television show Independent Axis.

Thanks, James! I can’t wait to see more Death Comes To Dillinger!

(more…)

Are you a Wesley Snipes fan?

Uncle Sam isn’t right now. From Zap2it:

“The “Blade” actor was indicted Tuesday, Oct. 17 on eight counts of tax fraud amounting to about $12 million swindled from the government in false refund claims and also failing to file tax returns for six years, report news sources.”

Seems that Snipes has teamed up with the wrong accountants:

“According to the indictment that was unsealed in Tampa, Fla., Snipes paired up with the shady firm American Rights Litigators, known for its history of filing false claims in return for 20 percent of the client’s refund. Snipes filed these bogus claims in 1996 and 1997. Two men, enterprise owner Eddie Ray Kahn and CPA Douglas Rosile, are also named as defendants for helping Snipes.”

What’s to become of the famous vampire killer?

“There is an official warrant out for Snipes’ arrest, but so far authorities believe him to be on the lam. Rosile has already turned himself in, but official say that Kahn may have fled to Panama. Snipes faces a maximum of 16 years in prison if he’s convicted on all counts.”

I’m just wondering if he’ll smile for his mug shot like Mel Gibson did… 

It’s a big week for both of the big companies, Marvel and DC. DC opens with The Authority #1 and WildCATS #1 and also with what appears to be the fan-favorite, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. Marvel slightly follows up with Amazing Spider-Girl #1 and Hellstorm: Son of Satan #1, the primary emphasis being on Amazing Spider-Girl #1, what with the relaunch due to such a strong and loyal fanbase (more loyal than strong, I’d say).

Image is still pimping Casanova (which isn’t all that bad, really) and debuting Impaler #1 as well as Tabula Rasa #1(which I can’t seem to find any info about, so I’m assuming it’s an ongoing…?)

And last but not least, Dynamite attempts the big time with Highlander #1 and Virgin Comics brings us John Woo’s Seven Brothers #1. I hope that no one forgot that AIT-PlanetLar decided to change the title of their Seven Sons to accomodate Mr. Woo. Probably under duress, but I digress, and truth be told, I’m more interested in Mr. Young’s offering…

And if I’m not mistaken, there’s a little parody one-shot hitting the shelves this week called Civil Wardrobe.

Enough about alla dat hoopla! Let’s see what the most important people in the world had to say about this week’s issues!

(more…)

DC is still plugging away at bringing fans their weekly dose of 52, an experiment that seems to be rather successful for the company. DC is also rewarding Sandman fans with the Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 Hardcover for the astonishingly low price of $99.00 (That’s right, not $99.99, but $99.00).

Image is still bringing the edge with Bomb Queen Vol. 2 #1 and the mystery with Emissary #5. If you’re a Rick Spears fan, his new Image series The Pirates of Coney Island #1 hits shelves as well.

For those of you waiting for more work from Greg Land and you can’t get enough of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, then Ultimate Power #1 should suffice. Let’s see if the Blog@ Gang will be sampling any of those goods…

Tom Bondurant’s Pick Of The Week

Well, the fall horse-racing meet is underway in my old hometown, so if I were there, I’d hope for a longshot to come in, and spend the money on Absolute Sandman Vol. 1. Otherwise, I’m eager to see Firestorm #30, mostly because it looks like I figured out the Mystery VIllain’s identity a couple of months ago and this issue might just be the confirmation. (Besides, Firestorm has turned into a reliable bit of superhero comfort food that, unfortunately, appears to need all the help it can get.)

Lisa Fortuner’s Pick Of The Week

Just Green Lantern Corps #5, and 52 for me. A very light week.

Hey, what’s on your pull list? Take a look at the Diamond shipping list and stop back here to let us know what you’ll be getting. I’ll try to be more controversial next week.

Are you a fan of Harvey Pekar? Yeah?

So is Comic Book Galaxy. So much, in fact, that they’re teaming up with Houghton Mifflin to give away a copy of The Best American Comics 2006.

Contributors include Robert Crumb, Chris Ware, Kim Deitch, Jaime Hernandez, Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco, and Lynda Barry—and new talents such as Justin Hall, Esther Pearl Watson, and Lilli Carré.

For your chance to win a copy, simply e-mail your name and address to Comic Book Galaxy before midnight, October 31st.

That ADD. Always killing ‘em with kindness…

Hey, did you know that Peter Cullen will reprise his role of the voice of Optimus Prime in the upcoming Transformers movie? But more importantly, did you know that YOU can provide the words for him to speak?

“Paramount Pictures announces the “MAKE PRIME SPEAK” contest, a bold initiative that will supply what fans demand – Optimus Prime speaking their words. Fans can submit a line of dialogue that they would most like to hear Optimus Prime say in the film.” All of the details can be read at the site.

The film is set to debut in July 4th, 2007 and is directed by Michael Bay, action movie extraordinaire.

I’m pretty much fine with anything, as long as he doesn’t stop, look at the screen and say, “I saved 15% on car insurance by switching to Geico…”

From an interview to a full fledged blog concerning all things Criminal related, ADD launches A Criminal Blog and he’ll even let you help him keep up with it all.

“Thanks for checking out A Criminal Blog, your support of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s new comic is most appreciated. If you’re anywhere near as excited about its release as I am, you’ll want to know everything you can about it as we count down to Wednesday, October 4th. So, what I’m asking is that if you spot any Criminal-related news, on a blog, message board, comics news site or anywhere, please e-mail me the info so I can share it with A Criminal Blog readers.”

Also, be sure to get today’s release of Walking Dead #30, which will contain a five page preview of the upcoming comic.

Related: Brubaker is interviewed at Word Balloon. Get the MP3 here.

ADD is back with a fantastic Five Questions for Ed Brubaker discussing Brubaker’s new Marvel ICON series, Criminal. In it, Brubaker discusses how Criminal will be different from Sleeper:

“Sleeper seemed to go far into the extremes of human behaviour — lust, greed, murder, betrayal. I’d expect we’ll see more of the same in Criminal, but short of duplicating “The Sleeper Formula” (for lack of a better term), how will Criminal be different?

Criminal is casting a much wider net, in a way. Sleeper was very much about one man and the elaborate trap he was in, and Criminal is about a bunch of different people who all live outside the law, or under its radar, at least. And since they’re all new characters, it’s like I get to just unfold this whole new world in the pages of our book. But also, to go in a different direction than Sleeper, most of the characters are pretty realistic. I think even our first main character, Leo, is more realistic than most of the criminals you see in movies or comics, because he uses his head and doesn’t want to be involved in violence, and he really doesn’t want to go to jail.”

Oh, and if you’re a journalist, Brubaker wants to bend your ear:

“But beyond that, I’m lining up a lot of print and online interviews. I’ve got a big feature set-up with a pop culture journalist for the Seattle Times, and his stories often get picked up and run all over the country. With the way articles about comics go lately, I’m optimistic about those chances. And I’m working to get a lot of the weekly papers around the country to write features around the time we publish. It’s a lot of hustling really, and asking readers and friends to do some hustling too. I honestly think we’re going to do pretty well with the book, and I’ve already been fielding a fair amount of interest from Hollywood , but I figure better safe than sorry. So, if there are any journalists out there reading this, contact me at: edbrubaker@gmail.com and give me some coverage, man.”

Go, read, promote, rinse and repeat.

Much discussion has been raised concerning the recent announcement that Heath Ledger will play The Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. To see what that could possibly look like, I found this:

We all know about the legendary performance of Jack Nicholson in the same role in Tim Burton’s Batman movie, but let’s not confuse performance ability for the much more important acting factor - looks - as the Boston Herald explains to us that “there’s no question that Ledger’s performance will be, in the very least, easier on the eyes!“

Those of you, like Blog@Newsarama’s John Parkin, who actually wanted to see this back-and-forth between Kirkman and McFarlane, you can!

Behold the power of YouTube.com!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb_8caBaN-g

Of course, speculation has already begun as to whether this was a genuine situation of one creator asking another creator about more work or if it was simply a PR stunt for both Kirkman and McFarlane.

Before any blame gets shifted to him for the lateness of The Ultimates V2, artist Bryan Hitch clears the air:

“People can stop blaming me before they start on this one. I haven’t got the script yet. If Ultimates 12 had been the last as planned we would have been done last week. That issue’s now 38 pages and 13 will be whatever the fuck it turns out to be. I’m working on some other stuff until Mark, now recovered, get’s his MCW stuff caught up and then does Ults 13 next month.”

But there is good news, which we won’t hear about in detail until later this year, to come from this delay:

“It’s all worked out well anyway. The delay Mark’s been forced into means he and I put off our MASSIVE SUPER HOT FOLLOW UP until next year but left me with just enough time to squeeze in an unplanned for gig that nobody’s gonna see coming. JoeyQ might let something slip at Chicago as there should be some nice pictures to go along with it then…

All of this means there should be some very exciting announcements between August and Christmas about the next two years stuff; I’m certainly very excited and an excited Hitchy is a productive Hitchy. Let speculation begin…”

Superman Returns opens this week in 13 countries and has already opened here in the USA and many of us at Blog@Newsarama have had a chance to go see it. What did we like? What did we hate? What did we find strange? Pull up a seat, grab a drink, and see what we thought about Superman Returns!

SPOILERS AHEAD!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

What were you expecting with Superman Returns?

Tom: Ultimately I thought it would at least be a respectful return to the “Donnerverse.” I’m a big music fan, so I knew the music would at least be good, and I figured the effects would allow for bigger “stunts.” I wasn’t sold on the leads, except maybe Kevin Spacey, and I didn’t know if Singer’s respect for the first two movies would weigh down this one.

Lisa: I came in expecting a good movie, at least. There were a lot of reassuring rumors building up to it, the director has a good record, and everyone I knew who saw it before me gave it a good review.

Shane: I was expecting to be let down honestly. I wasn’t too excited until this last week and then all of a sudden I really wanted to see it. I finally saw it Saturday and though it was a bit slow I wasn’t let down at all.

Michael: Not much. The previews made it look like it was basically a fifth Christopher Reeve movie. As much as I miss Christopher Reeve, I’ve already seen four of his movies and was having a hard time getting excited over another one.

John: I was expecting a fun summer movie that hopefully would live up to the legacy of the first two Superman films. And I expected Kevin Spacey to steal the show, quite frankly, not only because he was playing such a fun bad guy, but also because, well, he’s Kevin Spacey.

Stephanie: I noticed that I go into almost all movies thinking they will suck. I’ve become rather cynical about movies and I try not to let myself expect much. I did go in saying to myself, “Please be better then X-Men 3, please be better than X-Men 3.”

(more…)

In the latest issue of The Walking Dead, a fan addresses a printing error in The Walking Dead Volume 1 Hardcover. When questioned about this error at his Image messageboard, Robert Kirkman is more than happy to oblige:

“At this point anyone who has a deluxe Walking Dead Hardcover with errors would need to mail it to my P.O. Box printed in the issues and have me send them a replacement.

I think this more than likely happened to less than a dozen books. So it’s really not a widespread problem.

So if you have one, contact me.”

Always one to please the fans, Kirkman also addresses what’s holding up the Invincible Volume 2 Hardcover:

(more…)

PopCultureShock is reporting that Indie hit series, Elks’ Run, has been acquired by Villard, a division of the Random House Publishing Group.

“I’ve had my eye on Elk’s Run since last summer,” said acquiring editor Dallas Middaugh. “There’s a reason reviewers and comics professionals have been so excited about it. I’m very, very happy to be able to publish the complete series at last, and to give it the presentation it deserves.”

“This has been one the most unexpected adventures in publishing I could possibly imagine. I never dreamed that one day we would end up with such a wonderful company and incredible people like the folks at Villard…” said Fialkov. “Our devoted fans and their undying support have really kept us going.”

The series has also been nominated for seven Harvey Awards: Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Limited Series, Best Letterer, Best Cover Artist, Best New Talent, Best Single Issue.