Hero of the Week: Marvel for removing its policy about gay characters only starring in adult-targeted comics.

Hero: Ed Brubaker for sharing. As much as I like Ed’s stuff (and I do; I really do), I was gonna pass on Immortal Iron Fist. I’ve never been a big fan of Danny Rand. When it comes to kung fu superheroes, I like mine Chinese and in red-and-gold pajamas. But then I read closer and learned that Matt Fraction is going to be co-writing it.

Brubaker calls Fraction “one of the more developed and unique voices coming out of the indies,” and I agree. If you don’t want to plunk two dollars down for a copy of Casanova, just read one of his interviews and you’ll get a taste. I mean, just hearing Fraction talk about what’s been wrong with recent Iron Fist comics (“the Awesome was missing”) and how he and Brubaker plan to fix it (“There’s… a lot of dudes that need to get kicked in the face”) tells you a lot. I’m on board.

Maybe they’ll even give Shang Chi an appearance or two.

Villain: The folks keeping the Adam West Batman series tied up in litigation so that we’re still waiting for a DVD collection. Will no one think of the children?

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Hero of the Week: Ape Entertainment for publishing good stuff. I should know by now not to get too attached to new publishers, but between The Black Coat, Horrorwood, the upcoming re-launch of Athena Voltaire, and this week’s news about a Teddy Scares series (I’ve got Redmond Gore, the homicidal scarecrow teddy bear, staring at me from atop my bookshelf as I type), it’s hard not to get excited about Ape.

Villain: Top Cow for cancelling The Necromancer and not really telling anyone. Writer Josh Ortega’s mentioned recently that his genuinely scary horror series was going on hiatus until next year, but I figured that was just part of a “series of mini-series” approach that Top Cow was trying out. However, at Top Cow’s WizardWorld Chicago panel, Publisher Matt Hawkins expressed his frustration that the title has been cancelled without ever getting a real chance at taking off. I’m frustrated too. Especially since I completely missed any announcement about the cancellation, if there was one. However…

Hero: Top Cow for trying again. In that same panel, Hawkins said that they’re trying to get Marvel to okay a Necromancer/Marvel cross-over that could revitalize the concept and get the Necromancer issues so far collected as a trade paperback, which in turn could justify another shot at a series. It’s nice to know that Top Cow sees value in the series, even if it hasn’t found its audience yet. Hopefully Marvel will play along.

Hero: Robert Kirkman for being a swell guy and running a preview for Ed Brubaker’s Marvel-published Criminal in the back of the Image-published Walking Dead. Yeah, Marvel’s also been pretty nice to Kirkman, but it’s still a nice thing to do.

Hero: San Francisco’s BART system for using comics to attract young riders. As part of their Kids Ride Free Saturdays program, BART is handing out free manga and anime from VIZ Media and will even be printing VIZ characters on the back of a million BART tickets starting in September. Looks like this manga stuff is getting kinda popular.

Hero of the Week: SciFi.com for putting up the Amazing Screw-On Head pilot early for viewers to comment on. Cast them votes, people!

Hero: Denys Cowan for promising new life for Milestone characters. As Senior Vice President of Animation for BET, Cowan told Newsarama, “In San Diego we’re going to make a major announcement about one of the Milestone characters. I started Milestone and I remain very attached to all those characters and all the things that we did. Milestone characters will have a place on BET network.”

Hero: Michael Caine for spilling that the Joker will be the next Batman movie villain. Now fans can quit wondering about which character and get to the more important task of obsessing over who’s going to play him.

Hero: Marvel for coming up with new ways to keep Spider-Girl alive. I don’t read the comic, but I admire the spunk of her fans and if it takes “cancelling” the title and relaunching it with a name that’s more easily confused with one of Marvel’s most-recognizable titles, good for them.

Villain: Marvel for not showing as much love to Alpha Flight fans. Maybe they are with the promised “non-Alpha Flight book that Alpha Flight fans are going to love,” but they’re making us wait a lot longer than those Spider-Girl people had to.

Hero: Steve Niles for recommending Josh Ortega as his replacement on the Death Dealer comic. Ortega surprised me by making Necromancer an honest, scary comic. Denied the chance to read his arc on Speakeasy’s defunct Beowulf, I’ve been eager to see something else from him.

Villain of the Week: Wizard for screwing up a news story and causing much confusion. The offending paragraph has since been removed, but in a report on Warren Ellis’ Heroes Con panel, Wizard reported that “Fans hoping for more volumes of Fell will be disappointed to learn that the author has no plans to return to the series. ‘I think one is enough because it’s a bastard to write,’ said Ellis. ‘One is enough. I think it has got the ball rolling for other people. Casanova is out now. I think there’s going to be at least one more book in the Fell format in the next six months from Image.’” Fortunately for Fell fans, Ellis clarified on Ben Templesmith’s LiveJournal that the series will continue and that “the dick from Wizard with the laptop was in the far corner of the room and well out of earshot. The question was, ‘Will you create more books in the Fell format?’”

Hero: Warren Ellis for turning readers on to Antony Johston and Christopher Mitten’s Wasteland in his Bad Signal newsletter. Ellis’s recommendation isn’t quite enough to get me to try new things, but his comparisons to Lost and “the high points of The X-Files” got my attention, as did his mention of “mysteries within mysteries and an original mythology to become immersed in.”

Villain: Allan Heinberg for not staying on Wonder Woman forever and ever. I know we’ve only seen one issue, but based on that issue, and Young Avengers, and the fact that he’s good enough to write for Grey’s freakin’ Anatomy, he was the man for the job. Fortunately…

Hero: Jodi Picoult for being the woman for the job. I’ve never read a single word of hers, but she was fan enough to include real, live comic book pages in her latest best-selling novel, so her taking up WW after Heinberg is exciting news to me. And I don’t wanna get into the “women should write women characters” debate, but if she can do for Wonder Woman what Gail Simone did for Birds of Prey, the world will be a happy place.

Hero: Marvel for giving Brian K. Vaughan a Doctor Strange mini-series. At last, a talent worthy of the creation.

Villain: Me for missing another deadline and getting this column up a day late. Sorry, boss.

Hero of the Week: Superman Returns for finding a nice balance between Donner/Reeve homage and something new to say. I’m not fond of being hit over the head with a pointless Superman/Christ analogy, but the filmmakers did an excellent job of communicating how tough and lonely Superman’s life must be.

Villain: Wizard for scheduling next year’s WizardWorld Philly opposite Shelton Drum’s Heroes Con. Didn’t Wizard learn their lesson with Atlanta?

Hero: The makers of the Spider-Man 3 trailer. I’m not a fan of Venom or the symbiote storyline at all, but man that’s an exciting preview.

Villain: Diamond Comic Distributors for refusing to carry PictureBox’s line of comics for what sound like shady reasons.

Hero: Rick Remender for taking his Classic Battlestar Galactica gig so seriously that he’s not watching the new series (one of the best on TV of any genre), so as not to taint himself. Way to take one for the team, Rick.

Hero: Wildstorm for trying to figure out a way to publish more comics featuring old Milestones characters. Here’s hoping they figure out a deal that’s good for the original Milestone creators and that those creators are the ones who get to work on any new series. Just tell me what I need to do to see a new Xombi series written by John Rozum.

Villains of the Week: Marvel and the entire American news media for spoiling the end of Civil War #2 the morning before it came out and anyone had a chance to buy it, much less read it.

Villain: Anyone claiming to be a Spider-Man fan who was surprised by the “spoiler,” which had already been effectively revealed in the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man.

Hero: Mark Millar for dedicating precious energy to coordinate a series of auctions benefitting Crohn’s research. I know people with Crohn’s and if I’ve learned anything from knowing them, it’s that time and energy are precious commodities to people who are usually struggling just to get through the day. Mark has a personal interest in seeing a cure developed for Crohn’s, but he could easily be doing what I’m sure he sometimes feels like doing: curling up in a ball and wishing he were dead just to stop the pain. Mark’s a hero for working through that and trying to find a way to help. Special mentions: Prof. John Hermon-Taylor for devoting his life to finding a cure, as well as any of the entertainment people who contributed items to Mark’s auctions.

Villain: Rome, Georgia prosecutors for drawing up yet another indictment to replace the one that Gordon Lee’s lawyers filed motions against last month. I don’t understand but about a tenth of what’s going on, but for crying out loud… enough already.

Hero: Peter Parker Kirkman, for successfully making the transition from womb to world and changing the lives of Robert Kirkman and his wife. It’s late recognition (he was born a couple of months ago), but we’re just finding out about it now. Happy first Father’s Day, Robert!

Villains of the Week: DC and Judd Winick for screwing around with Captain Marvel. Honestly, I don’t know how to make the character more popular either, so I’m very aware of the glass walls around me as I pick up this stone. All I know is that Cap’s just as honorable and interesting as Superman (and has a way cooler costume) and it’s a shame that he’s getting the equivalent of a mystical desk job in his new mini-series while Freddy Freakin’ Freeman is going to get to fly around and play the super-hero role. I’m afraid to know what’s happening to Mary. Jury’s still out on Winick’s idea to separate the SHAZAM pantheon from Wonder Woman’s, but maybe you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I say that I don’t have my hopes up.

Hero: IDW for bringing back Day Taylor and Chris Faison’s Hero Happy Hour for another round in August. Night Ranger, Scout, and the rest of the Hideout Bar and Grill gang have been sorely missed.

Villain: Newsarama and Joe Quesada for making us think Joe Fridays was dead and starting all sorts of speculation as to why that might be.

Hero: Newsarama and Joe Quesada for bringing back Joe Fridays. It really is an excellent feature. Joe deserves extra Hero Points for being willing to put himself in such a vulnerable spot every week. The risk is worth it, Joe. Thanks for doing it and welcome back.

Villain: Paradox Entertainment (owners of the rights to Conan), if the allegations made against them by Red Sonja, LLC are true. It’s understandable that Paradox would want to promote their Robert E. Howard character Red Sonya, but trying to do so by deliberately confusing her with the very popular Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor-Smith Red Sonja character is going too far. You know… if the allegations are true.

Hero: Random House’s Villard division for picking up Elk’s Run and publishing it as a complete graphic novel. It’s about time someone with the right resources threw some support behind this baby.

Villain: Marvel for going back to the “X-Men’s Early Years” well again with X-Men: First Class. Just release a Children of the Atom hardcover already.

Hero of the Week: The Harvey awards for nominating the Elk’s Run crew in seven different categories. The book is excellent, but has still struggled to find a wider audience. It deserves the recognition.

Hero: DC for coming out of the closet and getting some excellent press about their attempts to diversify their line of super-heroes. Is there anyone who isn’t interested in the new Batwoman? Their Chinese super-team, The Great Ten, might be a more challenging sell, but it’s another bold idea.

Villain: DC for not following through on their plans to kill off Nightwing in Infinite Crisis. Not that I hate the guy or anything, but that would’ve been the boldest move of all. It’s probably for the better though. The world will be a lot less whiney this way.

Hero: Marvel for making the first issue of Jack Kirby’s Eternals available for free online. For those who like Gaiman and Romita, but aren’t sure about the concept, it’s a great way to try the characters out.

Hero: The CBLDF for going on the offensive in the Gordon Lee case and alleging prosecutorial misconduct against the DA. It’s a great thing when someone defends the little guy, but it’s even better when they can take The Man down a peg or two in the process.

Hero: This is tangential to comics, but Grey’s Anatomy for snagging Allan (Young Avengers, Wonder Woman) Heinberg as a staff writer. His strong sense of characterization is perfect for the show.

Hero: DC for promising more of the Seven Soldiers of Victory after the SSV whatever-it-is concludes. Especially if that means a Frankenstein ongoing.