Here’s a new trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. the DC Universe that offers a glimpse at the game’s story:

The Viper Comics mini-series Villains by Adam Cogan and Ryan Cody has been optioned by Universal, with the current Wonder Woman movie writers, Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland, attached to script.

Per the Hollywood Reporter:

The graphic novel, by Adam Cogan and Ryan Cody, puts super bad guys center stage. The plot, told from the baddies’ perspective, follows a young man who is failing at life and finds purpose when he meets a Svengali-style villain who takes him under his wing.

Idealogy’s Matt Smith is executive producing. Viper Comics’ Jessie Garza will co-produce. Scott Bernstein is overseeing for Universal.

Other Idealogy projects in development include the “Tron” re-imagining at Disney, with Joe Kosinski directing; “The Blade Itself” at Miramax; and “Solace” at New Line, which Bailey wrote with Ted Griffin and Mark Pellington is directing. Bailey also just sold the spec pilot “The Unlimited” to ABC.

Cogan and Cody are currently working on a second mini-series, which is due this fall.

Marvel editor Tom Brevoort comments on Marvel’s sales figures for September, where the company had an “unprecedented” 50 percent of unit sales:

From my point of view, it scares the heck out of me.

As a general rule of thumb, I believe that the comic book industry functions best and is most healthy when there are three viable companies all vying for the top spot—the “Big Three” that you hear about every once in a while. We really haven’t had that kind of a field for awhile now—time was, it was Marvel, DC and Image, then maybe Valiant, and much later CrossGen. But right this second, while there are still many companies publishing comics, we’re having a hard time finding a “Big Two”, let alone a “Big Three.” And that means that the pressure is even greater on us to bring readers into the stores every month, and in a very uncertain economic climate. That’s almost too big a responsibility for any one company to have.

Stuart Moore, Joe Harris and Bill Sienkiewicz are signing copies of the Nightmare Factory this week in New York. More details can be found here.

• The webcomic Bellen! by Box Brown has been dressing up as other webcomics for Halloween. The first week included homages to Pictures for Sad Children, Octopus Pie, Cat and Girl, Diesel Sweeties and American Elf (above).

• A Thomas Weisel Partners analyst upped Marvel’s rating to “overweight,” saying the company’s unexpectedly strong performances have been undervalued.

While Marvel’s stock is doing about as well as any other company’s stock right now, the analyst said the sell-off “discounts its strong movie performance this summer and an improved film distribution deal.” He also said that Marvel Chairman David Maisel has said there will be no disruptions to the company’s 2010 film slate as a result of the crisis in the credit markets.

• Colleen Doran provides a list of agents currently accepting graphic novel submissions.

• A Space Ghost episode is turned into a puppet show. Brilliant.

• Not comics: Rest in peace, Tony Hillerman.

• Hey, look: a free David Heatley comic strip. Via Bully.

• BuddyTV’s John Kubicek chats with Cassidy Freeman, who plays the female Lex Luthor replacement on Smallville.

The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, moves from its typical springtime home to the fall this year … or, more specifically, to this coming weekend. The small press comics show will be held Saturday and Sunday at the San Francisco Concourse.

Special guests include Jessica Abel, Paige Braddock, Megan Kelso, Matt Madden, Ethan Nicolle and Chris Ware. The programming schedule includes panels with each of them.

In addition, the exhibitor floor will be filled to the brim with all sorts of comic retailers, creators and publishers, from mini-comics to bigger publishers like Image, Fantagraphics, SLG, IDW and Oni. I personally plan to help stimulate our faltering economy by spending a bunch of money on cool comics this weekend.

Here’s a sample of what some of them have planned … if you’re exhibiting at the show and would like a mention, let me know; I’ll post again later this week.

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Rich Vining shares an alternate take on Captain America that Jack Kirby once drew:

Tonight I stumbled onto something related I had completely forgotten about. One of their predecessors in the remix field was none other than Jack “The King” Kirby, who apparently redesigned the costume of one Captain America (whom Kirby co-created with Joe Simon in 1941) for some unknown purpose. From Captain America Collector’s Preview #1 (March 1995), with thanks to comics historian Greg Theakston

Gotta say, I prefer the original …

Remember that video I posted about back in August that featured the Joker’s fatality move in the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe game? (It’s been awhile, so go watch it … I’ll wait).

Well, it’s been altered for the final game, per a discussion the gaming blog Kotaku had with Midway’s Ed Boon. In order to be rated “T” for teens, they’ve had to make some changes to the game. Kotaku writes:

We asked Midway’s Ed Boon about the difficulty in getting that T-rating, something he said the team has been working closely with the ESRB on. They’ve sent “at least three” submissions to the ESRB, going in with something that’s full of M-rated content, getting feedback and “scaling it back.”

Another Fatality that’s seen some revision was Kitana’s, one that involved her opponent being impaled by her trademark blade-fans. Initially, the first fan went into the torso, the other into the forehead. That second was a T-rating no-no. Double fans delivered to the chest, however, that’s a T-rated way to end someone’s life.

It kind of makes you wonder why they don’t just release a mature-rated “director’s cut” at some point.

Can the Punisher + a skrull rifle take out the Sentry? It sounds like we’ll find out in the new Punisher series that launches in January. Jim McLauchlin talks to Joe Quesada about the new book in his latest MyCup ‘O Joe Column:

In 2009, the Marvel Universe is going to become a very, very scary place. It will be the type of place that’s begging for a guy like Frank Castle. With Punisher 1, we’re throwing Frank Castle right into center ring, hunting Big Game like only he can. It all starts with him standing on the edge of the Jersey shore with a Skrull rifle, his sights trained on the head of a major Marvel Universe player. You’ll have to wait and see who he’s aiming at, but suffice it to say, not since Civil War has Frank Castle been so affected by the ripple effects of the Marvel Universe—and never has it more needed his unique brand of justice. What’s the old saying? “One man with one bullet, in the right place, at the right time, can change the world?” Well, just imagine what Frank can do with a million bullets.

But can fans afford to buy another monthly title — esp. if the prices keep going up?

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• Artist Jim Rugg shares a commission he did for a local comic shop.

• Joshua Dysart has started a blog on his site about his Vertigo title The Unknown Soldier, where you’ll be able to check out a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff like script excerpts, pencils, layouts, etc.

• Friends of Lulu is looking for nominees for treasurer, reporting secretary and membership secretary for their board of directors. Lulu President Valerie D’Orazio has more details.

• Mark Evanier reports on the death of Tom Fagan, who was responsible for the annual Halloween parade in Rutland, Vt. “Writers and artists from the industry journeyed to Rutland to participate in the festivities, often in costume, and art began to imitate life: Many comic book stories were done that were set in Rutland involving DC and Marvel heroes actually attending,” Evanier writes.

• Austin English has a new blog where he’s interviewing various comics creators like David King and Dylan Williams.

• Just in time for your Halloween viewing pleasure, SLG Publishing posts a creepy story on their website — “The Addlepated House of Odds” by Kurt Hartman.

• The Sardinian Connection posts Mike Carey’s afterword from an Italian tribute book to Watchmen (the afterword is in English, BTW).

• Don MacPherson wonders why he hasn’t seen more about Stephen Colbert’s comic book tie-ins on The Colbert Report.

• Shannon Smith takes a look at the minicomic anthology Not My Small Diary #14.

Marvel.com shares a trailer for the upcoming Hulk vs. animated DVD, featuring the Hulik smashing his way through Thor and the rest of Asgard:

The DVD comes out in Jan. 2009.

BOOM! sent over a video featuring Ed Quinn, who plays Nathan Stark on the Sci Fi Channel’s Eureka, and the show’s co-creator Andrew Cosby. The pair, naturally, talk about the BOOM! Studios Eureka comic book series that was announced in San Diego this summer and ships in December:

Check out the covers to issue #1 after the jump …

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Following up on the interview Mark Waid did with the team behind their new series Hexed, BOOM! sends over the cover to issue #2, which is due in January.

A little more than a month ago, I mentioned that Matt Maxwell was looking for a home to serialize the sequel to his first graphic novel. I’m proud to announce that starting next Monday, Blog@Newsarama will begin serializing The Thirsty, Matt Maxwell’s sequel to Strangeways: Murder Moon!

I’ve been a fan of Matt and his work since he first showed it to me at WonderCon a couple of years ago, so I’m really excited that he’s chosen to let us serialize it before he publishes it next spring. A new page will appear every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we’ll have bonus material along the way as well. The full press release can be found after the jump, and watch for the first installment next Monday!

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AppScout points out that the first color Bone graphic novel is now available for the iPhone for 99 cents. I haven’t downloaded it, as I already own the originals, but I’m tempted — it would be kind of cool to have a Bone icon on my phone.

Confetti Cakes created this cake for the Warner Bros. premiere party for LEGO Batman: The Videogame:

This recreated cityscape from the new game is entirely edible and made of vanilla, chocolate and red velvet cake. It’s the heaviest cake they’ve ever made and took 12 days to create. Very cool.

Laura Vandervoort, who was a regular last season on Smallville, will guest star as Clark’s cousin Kara on the Nov. 6 episode. KryptonSite has a description and possible spoilers for the episode. The last time we saw Kara on the show, you may remember, she was trapped in a giant mirror from the 1970s The Phantom Zone by Brainiac.