• Ryan Kelly draws Delirium.

• Congrats to former Blog@ columnist Neil Kleid, who welcomed his son into the world this week.

• Online comics retailer Westfield Comics talks to Larry Marder about his return to Beanworld. “I spent 15 years at Image Comics and McFarlane Toys, and three years before that at Moondog’s Comicland as Marketing Director,” he says. “I spent a long time managing other people’s creativity and I decided it was time for me to come back and do my own work.” Also, Blog@ sends our condolences to Marder, whose father recently passed away.

• Here’s an interesting comic reference in a non-comics news story — U.S. News & World Report interviews Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart about why people are drawn to living where they do:

Now you can find people who share your views by picking the TV channels you watch, radio you listen to, and websites you visit. Is it still important to live in a specific place with like-minded people?
If you’re in that consciousness, you can find people like you. They are there. And there’s a marketing reason to move. If you are around people who are like you, then the movies and books you like come to your bookstore. The author you like comes to city hall. If you’re a comic book artist, you move to Portland, and that way the stuff that you want is all around you. You are going to be around the stuff that accumulates around the people who are like yourself.

• How to get your fix in the DC universe.

• And finally, you can read Walking Dead #17 over on MySpace Comics for free.

Last week Midway revealed the box art for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, but now it’s rolling out the special North American Kollector’s Edition — featuring with hand-painted art by Alex Ross.

The Kollector’s Edition comes with a removable print by Ross, and a 16-page comic by Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias.

The full press release, and the Xbox 360 cover, can be seen after the break.

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Lionsgate has released a 3-D lenticular poster for Punisher: War Zone, complete with a frame made of fake guns.

The studio also has launched a fully loaded website, which now features all kinds of bells and whistles, including grainy animation that may trigger motion sickness.

The movie, directed by Lexi Alexander and starring Ray Stevenson and Dominic West, will open on Dec. 5.

Because I love to share, here’s a quick rundown of some of the more new and notable books I picked up at SPX last weekend:

* A bunch of Ignatz books, including Baobab #3, Delphine #3, Interiorae #3, Grotesque #2 and Sammy the Mouse #2. I think a lot of folks tend to focus on the Ignatz books by the big-name artists like Gilbert Hernandez and ignore the rest, and that’s a shame, as there’s some really great work being done throughout this series, and it remains a fantastic way to expose yourself to some unfamiliar artists. (more…)

Assuming you’re not sick of SPX-related stories yet.

The third annual Wonder Woman Day, a benefit to raise money in New Jersey and Oregon for domestic violence shelters, will be held Oct. 26 in Portland, Ore. and Fleminton, N.J. The event is organized by Andy Mangels.

The events include silent art auctions featuring a variety of artists, including Adam Hughes, Matt Wagner, Phil Jimenez, Terry Dodson, Joëlle Jones (who did the painting at the top of this post) and many more. Bidding will be conducted on site and online. More details are available at the link above.

Goof Button presents some great Whitney Darrow Jr. cartoons from the book Sex and the Single Child by one Sam Levenson.

On his Toycutter blog, John Struan spotlights some of the offerings from CustomCon21, the “online convention” dedicated to customized action figures. Among them is this terrific Stan Lee Mighty Mugg, which holds in its little hand a teeny-tiny copy of Amazing Fantasy #15.

Fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg is dipping a stylish toe into the world of superheroes with a limited-edition DC Comics book that will be released alongside her Wonder Woman-inspired holiday collection.

Titled Be the Wonder Woman You Can Be, Featuring the Adventures of Diva, Viva & Fifa, the comic features illustrations by Konstantin Kakanias, essays by Gloria Steinem and Les Daniels, a letter from actress Lynda Carter, a reprint of Wonder Woman’s first adventure, and several early covers.

The von Furstenberg-penned story centers on three friends — Diva, Viva and Fifa — who make “empowering choices.” While wearing DVF clothes, naturally.

The $25 comic will be sold in DVF boutiques and at dvf.com, along with a special $50 T-shirt and a $230 tote. Proceeds will benefit Vital Voices, an organization that “identifies, trains, and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe.”

• Colleen Doran sent this one over to me — check out some really nice preview pages from an as-yet-unpublished book called Elf~Fin: Hyfus and Tilaweed. They’re looking for a publisher, by the way.

• High Moon creator David Gallaher has a new column over at ComicMix called Mixing It Up, where he “experiences the world beyond comics to discuss the influences, hobbies, and thoughts of your favorite artists and writers.” In the first column, he joins his fellow Zuda compatriots Johnny Zito and Tony Trov for Zombie Prom in Philadelphia.

• If you crave some additional reports from SPX beyond what Chris Mautner has shared so far, you can check out reports from The Beat, Ben Towle, The Daily Cross Hatch, Zack Smith and the Cool Kids Table, a new blog by Marvel’s Ben Morse, DC’s Rickey Purdin and freelancer Kiel Phegley.

• Laura Hudson, meanwhile, returns from SPX wanting to break up with mainstream superhero comics. “Coming directly off of my weekend at SPX, as well as recently reading a string of excellent, engrossing non-superhero graphic novels like Skim, Swallow Me Whole, and Alan’s War, picking up a comic book like Nightwing #149 feels a lot like shutting my hand in a car door,” she says. “And I’m thinking — I’m thinking I should stop doing that.”

• Wayne Alan Harold has pictures from the Mid-Ohio Con.

• Fortress of Fortitude remembers Ann Nocenti’s awesome run on Daredevil.

• SLG is now accepting digital submissions. SLG chief Jennifer de Guzman also has some tips for what she looks for in a submission.

• The Exterminape cometh.

• Todd Dezago, writer of Perhapanauts, is holding a scary story contest on his blog.

• “I remember going from $20 dollars a page, pencil and ink, to $40 a page, pencil and ink. And then, the next two years, every time I took a job in, I got a cut and I ended up at $20 a page again. We were flying without a parachute. I used to be afraid of getting a mortgage.” — John Romita Sr.

• And finally, blogger Sean Kleefeld looks at online comics that are eventually published in print form and the “extras” that they add to the print version.

If you weren’t already anxious about the state of the U.S. economy, this news should do wonders for you: Some troubled stock-market investors reportedly are sinking their money into vintage comic books.

No, I’m serious.

If the early ’90s taught us anything, it’s that they’d probably be better off stuffing their cash in a mattress. However, The Wall Street Journal quotes a Kentucky retailer as saying “There’s kind of a buying frenzy” in Silver Age comics.

As evidence, The Journal points to the “Silver Age Comic Book Pricing Index” — I’m a reader, not a collector, but I didn’t realize there was such a thing — which seems to indicate that while Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index is down, the buying and selling of ’60s comics is up.

Likewise, according to Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com, the market for original comic-book art is booming — in Europe, at any rate. That’s thanks, in large part, to the weak American dollar.

Writer Joseph V. Tirella points out that a European collector can snag Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott’s cover art for Fantastic Four #171 from the website of New York dealer Albert Moy for €23,809 ($32,095). An American buyer would have to pay $35,000.

Related: Portfolio.com’s slideshow of original comic art

A few weeks back I mentioned the Endless Reflections art show at Nucleus in Alhambra, Calif., an exhibit featuring artwork inspired by Neil Gaiman’s classic Sandman series running this October.

Well, if you aren’t close enough to Alhambra to check out the exhibit, you can now view and buy the artwork online, by creators like Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, Barron Storey, Bryan Talbot, Dave McKean, John Watkiss, Marc Hempel, Mike Dringenberg, Mike Allred (who did the really cool Beatles homage at the top of this post) and many more. Many of the pieces have already sold.

If anyone’s looking for a belated birthday present for me, that Allred piece would like nice over my mantle (if it hasn’t sold yet).

Next month BOOM! Studios is releasing a hardcover adaptation of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s epic poem Nyarlathotep, with illustrations by Black Metal artist Chuck BB. Last week Newsarama ran the “transcript” of a seance where BOOM! editor-in-chief Mark Waid and BB tried to contact Lovecraft about the project, and now BOOM!’s sent us another piece of artwork from the project.

Midway has released more screenshots and the box art for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the big crossover fighting game due out next month.

Kotaku has more images, but you can see Captain Marvel taking on Raiden after the break.

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You’ll recall that last week Bluewater Productions tore a page — or a cover, in any case — from IDW’s book by announcing the release of a biography of former presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The news landed with a resounding thud as several people, myself included, took jabs at the obvious mimickry of IDW’s Presidential Material comics, an error-riddled press release, and a cover that, among its other shortfalls, included an American flag with 14 stripes and a Sen. Clinton who didn’t much resemble Sen. Clinton.

After apologizing last week for sending out the wrong press release and for giving the United States an extra original colony, Bluewater President Darren G. Davis now has issued a second release apologizing again for “the incorrect portrayal of our most cherished American symbol” — the flag, not Clinton — and changing some of the cover art.

Oh, Female Force still looks like Presidential Material, but now Old Glory has the appropriate number of stripes, and Clinton’s depiction has been altered drastically.

I stared at the figure for quite a while, trying to figure out just who it resembles; it’s not the senator from New York, that’s for sure. It’s, unsettlingly enough, a certain former senator from Kansas in a wig and ill-fitting pantsuit.

Good luck getting that image out of your head.

The first issue of what’s planned as a quarterly series on female politicians will hit stands in January.

– The new blog Comix Claptrap has a podcast interview with cartoonist Vanessa Davis.

– The blog Disorder & Its Opposite suggests 10 Ideal Books to Introduce Readers to Comics.

– Ger Apeldoorn shares some more Harvey Kurtzman strips.

– Chris Sims looks at Tom Spurgeon’s top 50 list and comes up with his own:

22. A Comic Where Somebody Punches Hitler

Because seriously, fuck that guy.

– Feel like a free Warren Craghead mini comic? Here you go.

– Seriously, what’s up with Hi & Lois anyway?

… who stole this art work by Seth, then shame on you. Give it back right now.

Update: Canada’s National Post talks with Seth, who says, “I was disappointed, but mostly because I wanted to sell it. I’ve had artwork disappear before — comic art gets stolen all the time.”

Sharp-eyed viewers of HBO’s True Blood may have noticed a famous — or is that infamous? — Alex Ross illustration lurking in the background of one scene in this week’s episode.

On a wall at Fangtasia, the vampire bar in Shreveport, La., hangs Ross’ depiction of President Bush draining blood from the neck of the Statue of Liberty. The image caused a bit of a stir when it first appeared as the cover of The Village Voice on Oct. 26, 2004.

I’d meant to post something about this yesterday, but I have a mind like a sieve. Luckily, The New York Observer jogged my memory.

True Blood, Alan Ball’s follow-up to Six Feet Under, is based on Charlaine Harris’ popular series of “Southern Vampire” novels. You can read the show’s online comic, The Great Revelation, at the HBO website.

DKNY Jeans has launched a sub-site for the line of clothing comics creator Paul Pope designed for them, DKNY 2089. It includes some of his sketchbook as well as an “inspiration” section with art by Moebius and Jack Kirby, among others.

Pope talks about the clothes on his blog:

The 2089 line has hit the stores and is now available anyplace DKNY and DKNY Jeans clothing are sold. Internationally, an alternate 2089 line is available through Club 21 and features additional style and prints not seen in the North American 2089 line, including a pair of black jeans with a silkscreened grasshopper print. I did four window displays for four separate Asian markets (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Macau), as well as a lot of press here in the US.

Don’t forget to enter the sweepstakes while checking out the site.