Illustrator John Cuneo (nEuROTIC) has a nice section on his Web site highlighting sketches that never made it past the sketch stage. (hat tip: Tom).

– 20 things Every Superhero Comic Collection Needs.

– Laura Hudson talks to Brian Azzarello about his upcoming Joker graphic novel.

– Seth is curating a series of films from the National Film Board of Canada. Drawn! has the details.

– The Mindless Ones look at the work of ero-guru artist Suehiro Maruo (note: some images are probably NSFW).

– Peter Sanderson looks at the new edition of Patrick Rosenkranz’s seminal history of underground comix, Rebel Visions.

– Fantasy.fr has an interview with Devilman creator and manga-ka Go Nagai.

– Judith Rosen checks out the Comics and Classics store in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

– Craig Fischer has a short interview with alt-cartoonist Ben Towle.

– Evie Nagy looks at all the political comics coming out this month.

– Ooooo, I’m a Johnny Storm!

– Noah Berlatsky did not like David Heatley’s new book. Like, at all.

– Tom Spurgeon interviews Bill Schelly, who’s new biography of Joe Kubert, Man of Rock, should be out in stores any day now.

– In more depressing newspaper news: Acclaimed editorial cartoonist Chip Bok is taking a buyout and leaving The Akron Beacon-Journal. The number of full-time, on-staff cartoonists at daily papers gets smaller and smaller. Of course, so does the number of editors, reporters, photographers …

– On the BBC, they’re talking about comics.

– The Daily Cross Hatch begins a multi-part interview with Art Spiegelman.

– Go! Comi are so excited about their new 07-GHOST series that they’ve set up a whole Web site for it.

– Cool things to bookmark: Elizabeth Conley, Elena Diaz, Pancha Diaz, Andrew Farago, Shaenon Garrity, Konstantin Pogorelov, Jason Thompson, and Leia Weathington have formed a new group blog, titled The Couscous Collective.

– Steven De Souza, who wrote the screenplay for the 1987 Spirit TV-movie (remember that?) offers his thoughts on the upcoming Frank Miller film.

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.

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

We’ve all seen the rumors about The Dark Knight sequel: Director Christopher Nolan has signed on. Pre-production will begin in February. The villain will be played by Johnny Depp. Or Angelina Jolie. Or maybe Cher.

Well, forget all you’ve read. It’s wrong.

“It’s all B.S.,” The Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer tells MTV’s Splash Page. “All of it.

He goes on to say that he hasn’t even officially discussed the third film with Nolan, who’s “taking a long, long vacation.”

“We have mused here and there [but] I mean Chris is pretty much a one movie at a time kind of guy,” Goyer continues. “I wish I could tell you more. There really isn’t anything to tell.”

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:

(more…)

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.

– 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?

• At UGO.com, Vito Delsante counts down the “Top 50 WTF Moments in Comics,” from the story of Bill Finger to the marriage of Aunt May and Dr. Octopus to the Batman back-breaking stunt. Don’t worry, there are some good WTF moments, too.

• The recently launched all-ages blog Good Comics for Kids has found a new home on the School Library Journal’s website. I’ll miss Dan Hess’ banner, but I love his chibi renditions of the blog’s contributors.

• Cartoonist Sergio Aragones talks about becoming one of Mad‘s legendary Usual Gang of Idiots: “I had just arrived [in New York] from Mexico in 1962. And every magazine I went to, everybody rejected me because I had been doing pantomime cartoons. Everybody said, “These things are crazy, you should go to Mad.” So I went to Mad. And they were right.”

• Examiner.com spotlights the best comic shops in Los Angeles, but somehow overlooks Secret Headquarters.

• Hellboy creator Mike Mignola explains to Williamette Week why he left Portland, Ore., for New York City: “My wife hated it! She hated almost every second of living there. I loved it. It is a little rainy and dreary.”

The second episode of Warner Bros.’ Watchmen motion comic will debut next Tuesday on iTunes, followed by the third chapter on Oct. 20. The first installment launched in July.

Future episodes will debut every two weeks.

Announced during Comic-Con International, the motion comic is part of a larger initiative by Warner Bros. to deliver DC Comics properties via the Internet, mobile phones and video on demand. Of course releasing Watchmen, chapter by chapter, in hybrid comic-animation form also helps to create buzz for Zack Snyder’s movie adaptation, which is set to open in March.

Someone with an incredibly high threshhold of pain has whittled 1997′s Batman & Robin down to 10 minutes of its absolutely worst moments. How they decided which was the wheat and which was the chaff, I’ll never know.

(Filmdrunk, via Topless Robot)

Tom Spurgeon posts what is sure to be the big comic-book meme of the week: Fifty Things that Every Great Comics Collection Should Have:

46. A Tijuana Bible

Comics have a fine tradition of filth that your collection should recognize even if you have no taste for the stuff yourself. If the modern stuff depresses you more than interests you, that’s okay — although there’s a lot of interesting work in modern porn from Frank Thorne to F. Solano Lopez to the New Bondage Fairies — but you should at least have one of the old Tijuana Bibles. As many have pointed out, these bootleg sex narratives are kind of a precursor to MAD and underground comix in the way they satirize popular forms and figures through acts of sexual excess and tweaking standard formulas. You don’t need to dig up the originals; there are works out there that have been put into reprint form.

Got to the link to read Tom’s entire annotated list or click on the jump to read a quick rundown. Then come up your own suggestions. Note though, that for everything you add, you have to take something off of the initial list.

(more…)

I’m as guilty as the next blogger of occasionally misinterpreting a quote or unintentionally taking one out of context. But this may take the cake.

Yesterday I linked to a brief interview with Stan Lee in which the comics legend was asked about the now-debunked rumor that Will Smith had been offered the role of Captain America in the upcoming Marvel Studios movie. Here’s the entire exchange, as published, just to make sure we’re all on the same page:

5. There was a rumor going around that Will Smith would be cast as Captain America. Any truth to that?

I would love us to do something with Will Smith, but I don’t know that he’s Captain America. That would be a long shot. It would be a real leap to make Captain America black … then again, I don’t know. It might be a really smart thing. If Barack Obama becomes President who knows … suddenly a lot of our characters will be black!

I thought the last sentence was a bit kooky, but otherwise, not much to report, right? Wrong.

“Stan Lee Wants To Make Will Smith A Black Captain America,” states the headline on Contactmusic.com:

(more…)

Ralph Niese has been named the grand-prize winner of Project: Rooftop’s Vampirella ReVamp contest, co-sponsored by Harris Comics.

More art from Niese, the other winners and runners-up, plus judges’ commentary, can be found at the Project: Rooftop website.

• Stephen Chow will make his American directorial debut on Seth Rogen’s The Green Hornet, and co-star as Kato. Chow has directed five feature films, including Kung Fu Hustle and its sequel, which is now in production. “I’m excited to be taking on The Green Hornet — obviously I’ve been a huge fan of the show since I was a kid,” Chow says.

The movie is set to open on June 25, 2010. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• The legal battle between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. over Watchmen swirls around veteran producer Lawrence Gordon. [The New York Times]

• Uh, spoilers? Alessandra Stanley reviews tonight’s season-three premiere of NBC’s Heroes. [The New York Times]

• Photos from the set of Kick-Ass, with some comics-panel comparisons. [Slashfilm]

• Police in Kyoto, Japan, have charged a man with violating copyright law for illegally uploading the movie Wanted using P2P file-sharing software. The 33-year-old could face 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $96,154. [Variety]

• Frank Miller’s The Spirit gets into the guerrilla-marketing game. [FirstShowing.net]

I first heard of Matthew Wayne Selznick last July when he was interviewed on J.C. Hutchins’ UltraCreatives podcast. MWZ is a conventional and podcast novelist who narrated his book Brave Men Run.

The story is set in “the Sovereign Era, an alternate history where the sudden appearance of people with remarkable physical and psychical powers promises to change the course of human destiny.” The tale begins in 1985 in a world very similar to our own — until the world learns that those with super powers live among us.

At the center of Brave Men Run is Nick Charters, a teenager a lot more interested in hanging with his new girlfriend than in dealing with his unusual abilities and the mystery of how he came to have them. Think Breakfast Club meets Spider-Man.

The podcast novel, which is how I experienced the story, is a lot of fun. Selznick does an expert job managing the narration. His characters are interesting and smart. He keenly captures the flavor of ’80s angst, fanning Cold War flames with the addition of real super powers.

It’s a great story and I want more. So get to writin’ on that sequel, Mr. Selznick!

The print incarnation of Brave Men Run is available from Swarm Press.

As you’ll be reminded online roughly 137 times, today as International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Never mind that no real pirate ever said “Shiver me timbers” or “Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle rum.” Nothing’s stopping you from doing it.

Weird day.

I was talking to Paul Aponte, author of The Siblings Scarington. We got onto the subject of webcomics and how he’s considering the Scaringtons for a webcomic story. He was challenged with the logistics. I offered to scout around to see what I could find for him on the subject.

I then chatted with Hero By Night creator DJ Coffman a little bit to see if he was coming to Wizard World Texas this year. Last year he came to the show and had a hideous coffee experience. I offered to bring him real coffee this year. No love, though. He’s buried in projects and won’t be coming to Texas.

And here’s the weird thing … I clicked over to DJ’s site later in the day and found his brand new write-up on how to host “your own friggin’ web comic!” Dude, you’re totally in my head!

DJ provides an eight point step-by-step guide complete with images on how to build your webcomic site. Great stuff.

What am I thinking now, DJ?

Matt Shepherd injects some classic Frank Miller into Campaign 2008 with McCain: The Mavericking Maverick Mavericks More.

(Via Christopher Bird)