Despite reports circulating yesterday, Archaia Studios Press is being acquired by Chicago-based Kunoichi Inc., and not Devil’s Due Publishing.

The confusion may be because DDP President Josh Blaylock also founded Kunoichi. There remain very close links between the two companies, with one 2007 profile and at least one press release referring to Kunoichi as the “sister company” of Devil’s Due. P.J. Bickett, Devil’s Due CEO, apparently owns Kunoichi.

In addition, ASP founder Mark Smylie says he had “some initial conversations” with DDP.

“Further cause for confusion may stem from the fact that we are still in separate talks with DDP about working together on a few opportunities once the Kunoichi acquisition is completed,” Smylie writes in an email, “including a potential publishing partnership of which we are one of several players in the fold. There’ll be more on all of that soon, I hope.”

DDP’s Bickett acknowledged that discussion in a statement sent this morning: “While DDP and Archaia Studios Press had some initial exploratory conversations, DDP is not acquiring ASP. We are continuing to have conversations with Archaia about the possibilities of working together in some capacity, as we are with many other publishers both big and small.”

Under the terms of the Kunoichi deal, Smylie will remain as managing editor of the ASP titles.

Founded in 2002, ASP has been home to Smylie’s Artesia, David Petersen’s Mouse Guard, Alex Sheikman’s Robotika, and A. David Lewis and mpMann’s The Lone and Level Sands. In addition, the company has released English-language editions of Hub’s Okko and Matz and Luc Jacamon’s The Killer.

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– Rick Veitch is planning to unleash a 300-page special edition version of Brat Pack. Most excellent.

– Alex Dueben interviews Bill Griffith for CBR.

– Stephanie Mangold profiles Good Neighbors authors Holly Black and Ted Naifeh.

– Allan Holtz runs into scanner trouble while at the Library of Congress.

– Kai-Ming Cha talks to famed illustrator Yoshitaka Amano about his musical influences.

– Norton will be publishing all of Will Eisner’s instructional comics in one volume. Ada Price has details.

– James Vance looks at Jerry Siegel and Russell Keaton’s aborted 1936 collaboration on a Superman newspaper strip.

– Jennifer de Guzman ponders what Minx’s demise really means for comics.

– Our own Tim O’Shea talks to Paul Sizer about his lates book, BPM.

– Bookslut talks to Shannon Wheeler about his Postage Stamp Funnies series.

As Americans brace themselves for tonight’s presidential debate, it’s fitting that tomorrow marks the release of IDW Publishing’s heavily promoted biographies of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama.

In a similar vein, Wednesday also will see After 9/11: America’s War on Terror, Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon’s follow-up to their celebrated adaptation of the 9/11 Report.

But if politics and war — and the politics of war — aren’t your bag, you’ll also find the first issue of the new Marvel Zombies miniseries, the third installment of Grady Klein’s The Lost Colony series, oversized editions of Hellboy and I Luv Halloween, and an Owly collection. Those are just for starters, though.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Marvel Studios has signed a long-term lease to film its next four movies at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Marvel also will move its Beverly Hills-based executive and production offices to the Raleigh complex.

The deal covers Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers, which will be produced over the next three years.

Back in July Hollywood gossip columnist Nikki Finke reported that Iron Man director Jon Favreau the effort to keep production in the Los Angeles area, setting up a meeting a meeting between Marvel, the California Film Commission and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to push for tax credits for filmmakers.

In today’s report, Finke congratulated Favreau “for leveraging his new-found clout for the greater good of the Hollywood community.”

You can read Marvel Studios’ press release after the break.

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Today the judge in the Siegel case is holding a status conference to set the “FINAL and DEFINITIVE schedule” for the trial. The judge’s all-caps emphasis may seem a bit unusual for a routine scheduling order, but it’s a visceral reaction to the twists and turns the case has taken since the calendar was originally set back in April.

A lot of it is legal wrangling that we’ll set aside for another time, but one issue is particularly relevant to readers of this site — because that issue arose from one of our most recent posts.

The post in question was from late August, and it revealed previously unknown artwork and scripts from the 1934 collaboration between Jerry Siegel and Russell Keaton. As Siegel lawyer Marc Toberoff explains in a court filing:

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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

In lieu of his usual Sunday interview feature, Tom Spurgeon offers “Two Dozen Things I’d Decree To Make Comics Better.” There’s always something to quibble with sure, but by and large it’s hard to debate the merits of items like the following:

4. Make An Industry Goal Of Reliable, Accurate, Instant Information On The Availability Of Comics
I can walk into a bookstore and get a reasonably accurate answer as to whether something is in print and whether or not I can order it. About half the time I try to ascertain this kind of information in a comics shop I’m greeted by obfuscation, ignorance and bullshit. I don’t know what has to be done so that people can provide accurate information upon demand, but I figure this should be more of a possibility now than at any time in comics history. As emperor I would declare that we come to industry-wide agreement that this is a desirable goal: an expectation that someone can walk into any comic shop or any bookseller and find out about the availability of any comic. Then we work on the problem itself.

More at the link.

– What costume to not buy your kids this Halloween.

– Express Night Out profiles Bryan Lee O’Malley.

– Brian Cronin looks at the work of editorial cartoonists Bill Mauldin and David Low.

– Eric Reynolds is apparently into fumetti now.

– The Austin-American Statesman has a two-part interview with Art Spiegelman.

– The Associated Press looks at IDW’s Obama/McCain comics.

– Chronogram talks to Jessica Abel.

– Did I link to this Steve Bisette essay on royalties? Well, I am now.

Following up with his report on the DC Nation panel, Tucker Stone reports on the Harvey Awards and offers a more rounded view of the Baltimore Con itself, focusing at one point on this particular incident:

Sitting in the hallway was Mr. Brady, preparing what is probably the most inclusive report on the 90 minute panel, when Dan Didio walked by him, turned, and asked if Mr. Brady was interested in getting lunch. The request was turned down, as Mr. Brady wanted to finish typing up his panel report. I was pretty taken aback—make no mistake, I was standing between the two when they had the back and forth, so it’s not like I was sneakily eavesdropping—but wouldn’t the readers of Newsarama, a vocal group of super-hero comics fans, prefer for the head of the website to take any and every opportunity to sit down with the Senior Vice President of DC Comics, even if it’s for an informal conversation? Wouldn’t that be something far more interesting, rifer with quotable moments, than anything that came out of what the DC Nation panel had provided? I’ve got nothing against Newsarama, and I happen to quite like some of what the Blog portion of the site provides—but I couldn’t help but see this little random moment, a random moment I literally walked into solely because my wife was in the bathroom, as a terrible error in judgment, and one that I still find markedly absurd.

In Brady’s defense, and as someone who works in a newsroom, when you’re on deadline, you’re ON DEADLINE and everything else has to take a back seat. I’m sure a lot of Newsarama readers wanted to know about the DC Nation panel there and then, and he was no doubt feeling the pressure. And it’s very doubtful that, had he accepted the lunch offer, DiDio would have offered anything revealing that could have been on the record. Still, Tucker’s larger point — that in covering cons and comic-related events journalists need to not lose sight of the potentially better story when covering the more familiar one — is I think well worth bearing in mind.

Paramount Pictures has signed a deal to distribute the next five Marvel Studios films: the two Iron Man sequels, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers.

Paramount distributed Iron Man, Marvel’s first independent production, which earned $574 million worldwide.

News of the agreement was broken early this afternoon by Hollywood gossip columnist Nikke Finke, who has since updated with official confirmation from Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore and Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel.

“Paramount is an excellent partner and an outstanding global distributor,” Maisel said in a press release. “Through our experience on Iron Man, Paramount has demonstrated a passion and ability to release Marvel properties theatrically, allowing us to focus on making great movies for the largest audience possible.”

Presumably, the distribution deal will carry the partners through 2012; although the third Iron Man film isn’t yet scheduled, Marvel’s prime release spots for 2011 are filled by Captain America and The Avengers.

Update: Variety notes that the new deal helps to fill holes in Paramount’s distribution schedule left by DreamWorks’ departure from the studio.

At the Mental Floss blog, Mark Juddery considers “5 Memorable Moments in Comic Book Censorship,” including the altered ending of a Steve Ditko story from Marvel’s trange Tales #83 (April 1961):

Artist Steve Ditko’s story told of a vengeful socialite who meets a guy dressed as the Devil at a costume party, and falls for him. But at midnight, when it’s time to unmask… you can probably guess the rest. “Mask?” says the Devil. “What mask, my love?”

However, the editors were afraid of what the Code might think, so they removed the final panel (which presumably suggested a terrible fate for the socialite) and hurriedly replaced it with two small panels, drawn by another artist, in which she faints, recovers and resolves to change her malicious ways, while the “Devil” (who is obviously somewhere else) pulls of his mask, and is revealed to be one of her would-be victims in disguise. Yes, they included all of that. When you’re censoring a story, you can squeeze a lot into two small panels.

Related: Blake Bell, author of Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, has more on the story.

DC Comics has confirmed a report that it will shut down its Minx imprint of graphic novels aimed at teen girls in January.

“Minx was an experimental imprint for DC Comics and we are extremely proud of the books we published and the stories we told during the past two years,” the publisher said in a statement released this morning. “We thank all of the writers and artists who lent their talents to our endeavor and especially thank readers who came along for the ride. DC Comics remains committed to publishing diverse material for diverse audiences as we continue to welcome new readers.”

According to Comic Book Resources, some solicited and otherwise approved books will be published, while others won’t — at least not as part of the imprint.

Announced in November 2007 and launched the following spring with much fanfare and an impressive — by comic-book standards, at least — marketing budget, Minx targeted the growing young-adult demographic in the book market.

Headed by Vertigo’s Shelly Bond and Karen Berger, the line debuted with The PLAIN Janes, by popular YA novelist Cecil Castellucci and Street Angel artist Jim Rugg. They also recruited the likes of Andi Watson, Derek Kirk Kim, Rebecca Donner, Brian Wood, Aaron Alexovich, Alisa Kwitney, Ross Campbell and Mike Carey.

Despite the $250,000 marketing budget, assistance from Alloy Marketing + Media — the company that promoted The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Gossip Girl – mainstream-media coverage, and a mix of talent familiar to readers in both the comics and the YA book markets, Minx didn’t seem to find its audience. (That, of course, is a familiar refrain.) CBR reports that Random House, DC’s book-trade distributor, apparently hasn’t been able to place the Minx books in the YA sections of chain stores, which would seem essential when marketing a graphic novels written by the authors of The Queen of Cool and Boy Proof and Flirting in Cars.

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– Comic Debrief talks to Douglas Wolk.

– Not comics, but really cool: A Babar exhibit in New York.

– Matt Thorn provides a fascinating look at the rise and fall of the phrase “shojo” in Japan.

– Here’s a rather nifty blog devoted to Frank Franzetta.

– Matthew Penney examines the nonfiction manga of Mizuki Shigeru.

– Nick Blodgett talks with Carnal Comics publisher SS Crompton about the ups and downs of publishing x-rated funnybooks.

– Van Jensen examines IDW’s plans for the G.I. Joe franchise.

– The Comics Journal has a quick rundown of what some publishers will be debuting at SPX.

– Kai-Ming Cha looks at the new Afro Samurai manga.

– Our own Tim O’Shea talks with Dean Haspiel about his new graphic novel, The Alcoholic, among other things.

– Johanna Draper Carlson tells you how to make a career writing comics.

– Same Hat! has some nice photos and videos from a recent Lynda Barry talk.

The Australian marks a world-record milestone for Frew’s The Phantom comic series: 60 years, and more than 1,500 issues, of uninterrupted publication.

The newspaper notes that each issue, “published every fortnight or so,” still sells about 30,000 copies — nearly a decade after the death of creator Lee Falk.

Although All-Star Batman & Robin #10 received the lion’s share of the attention last week, it wasn’t the only title that DC Comics recalled.

The “terrible and glorious” production error that led to the (supposed) pulping of the Frank Miller-Jim Lee comic has been widely documented. But what about Action Comics #829 and DCU: Decisions #1? Surely, they didn’t include no-no words.

Well, no.

On Monday, Rich Johnston reported the offenders were the bottles that Clark and Pa Kent are holding on the cover of Action, and a Condeleezza Rice lookalike in Decisions.

Johnston followed up yesterday with a closer look at that Action Comics cover which, as originally solicited and printed, shows the Kent men shooting the breeze while holding bottles of “Crow [Illegible] Beer.” It looks as if the obscured word is “Root,” which is a wholesome enough drink.

But just in case anyone thought that the well-over-21 Jonathan and Clark were sharing a beer, the reprinted cover replaces the bottle labels with the generic “Soda Pop.” (The image on the DC Comics website has been updated, too.)

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That’s the question Chris Butcher poses. Looking over this week’s releases, he wonders if his wallet can handle the strain:

I’m just looking at all the books I wanted to buy from this week and last, and it’s well over 200 bucks, and that’s kinda crazy? A little? Maybe I’m just over-reacting because I’m trying to find space from all of this stuff on the racks and there ain’t space, maybe not. But you guys tell me; does your budget for comics and graphic novels allow you to buy everything you’d like? Do you suppliment purchasing with visits to the library or being a filthy stinking internet thief? Is there a larger the-economy-is-shit worry you have when deciding that the hideously underpriced $30 Local hardcover needs to go home with you today or not?

I think it’s a good question, especially considering that as the economy keeps slipping, more and more of us may have to make tough choices about our respective comics budgets. I know I’ve had to cut mine back severely, though I’ve gone over the proscribed amount already for this month. Sigh.

In his latest “MyCup O’ Joe” Q&A, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada addresses Robert Kirkman’s call for creators to focus more on original work rather than producing corporate-owned comics:

Look, the hard reality is that work-for-hire keeps every facet of the entertainment industry going, and that includes comics. It makes no difference if you’re a big-name talent or lesser known. And for a very clear sample of that, Robert needs to look no further than most of the other partners at Image Comics, who, after launching their creator-owned ideas, now run their businesses through work-for-hire. I don’t say this to be disparaging, just as a matter of fact.

Robert also states that in the work-for-hire world, when you’re hot you’re hot and when you’re not…your career is over. He also states that it’s been “proven” that creators have longer careers in the world of creator-owned. Well, “proven” is pretty hard to quantify, no less validate, and for every guy who has had a long career in the world of creator-owned, I could find just as many, if not more, who have been doing