The last one before I head out to the San Diego Comic-Con … if I get any last-minute additions, though, I’ll post them once I’m on the ground.

A few Blog@ related items …

–I’ve set up an SDCC-specific photo gallery, which you can view here. The only thing in there right now are some images related to SDCC events, but we’ll add pics from the con as the week goes on.

–As a reminder, our Twitter feed can be found here … I’ll be posting updates from the con over there throughout the week.

–If you’re going to the con, I know for sure I’ll be at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party on Thursday night. So stop by and say hi.

Now updates …

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Although most eyes will be on San Diego this week, at least a few bodies will end up at the comic shop.

If one of those bodies is yours, what will you likely find? Three significant anthologies — Comic Book Tattoo, Flight, Vol. 5, and Meathaus S.O.S. – the landmark 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men, and a mammoth Scud hardcover, for starters.

Plus, the just-optioned-by-Showtime Exterminators ends at Vertigo, while at Avatar, Warren Ellis’ Black Summer wraps up.

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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Benderspink seeks out Red 5’s Zombies of Mass Destruction

Production company Benderspink continues its comic-book roll, picking up the film rights to Red 5’s new horror/action series ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction #1.

Created by Underworld screenwriter and Marvel’s New Warriors scribe Kevin Grevioux, ZMD is the story of a government weapons program in which zombies are dropped into war zones at night to infect the enemy population. To control the spread, the walking dead are engineered to be photosensitive and dissolve with the rising sun. But when one fails to self-destruct in the Middle East, an elite team of soliders must infiltrate hostile territory to stop a growing zombie army.

Benderspink also has set up Y: The Last Man and Drafted at New Line, Pencilneck at Lionsgate and Pet Robots at Disney.

The Ticker

• Producer Andrew Lazar wants to film Jonah Hex in New Orleans, for a potential 2010 release. [Times-Picayune]

• Screenwriter David S. Goyer says he and director Christopher Nolan have “talked loosely” about a villain and theme for a third Batman movie. [MTV Movies Blog]

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In a press release sent out late yesterday, Viz announced that they have created a new Hollywood-based company entitled Viz Productions that will “produce and license live-action theatrical film and TV projects based on animated and manga (graphic novel) series.” Here’s a sample from the pr:

“VIZ Productions will give Hollywood a unique conduit to some of the most innovative and unique entertainment properties from Japan. Hollywood has always looked to comic books and graphic novels and has recently discovered the untapped pool of Japanese manga for development into live action features. Worldwide, the creators of manga are viewed as artists, and the rich storylines are already a hit with the coveted 12-34 demographic,” says Jason Hoffs, Head of Production for VIZ Productions. “With our pool of resources of dramatic storylines and incredible characters coming from manga and animation, we are confident that the development of many new projects will attract the best talent, actors, directors, writers and bring a new array of films to domestic audiences.”

So beyond the announcement about the company’s creation, there’s not too many details about what they’ll be producing and their immediate plans are. Hopefully more news will be made available during Comic-Con.

Full press release after the jump. (more…)

– Tom Spurgeon interviews Wondermark creator David Malki.

– Paul Karasik writes about Will Eisner for the Times Online.

– The Hero Initiative has five new Hulk #1 covers up for auction this week … that’s five rather than 10 because of “The Beast Men Call San Diego,” says Jim McLauchlin. The one pictured is by Jeff Parker.

– NPR discovers comics from across the seas.

– The Giant, His Shadow and the Magical Cloud

– Here’s the trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film.

– Shaenon Garrity looks at how U.S. presidents have been portrayed in manga.

– Gary Trudeau talks about satire at Comic Riffs.

– Batman is one sick puppy.

– Jason Rodriguez continues to report from his road trip to San Diego. Look for a Dean Trippe guest appearance in part 2. [part 1, part 2, part 3]

Compiled by JK and Chris.

More publishers, more creators, more activities, more of everything …

Feel free to keep sending me stuff up until the show starts.

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UDON will have a Street Fighter Tribute limited edition hardcover, among other activities …

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I should have done one of these yesterday, but I didn’t and now I’m paying for it. So this one is going to be extra long. In this addition: a Pop Candy meet-up, Entertainment Weekly’s awesome panel schedule, Dark Horse signing schedule with extra Whedon, Electronic Arts, 007, Michael Golden, the BBC, free WiFi, Knight Rider and much more!

As always, you can send me your con activities any time between now and when it starts, and I’ll post them here.

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The Comic-Con website says the show will offer free WiFi this year, sponsored by the movie Eagle Eye:

Free Wi-Fi at Comic-Con!
Dreamworks Pictures’ Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, is proud to be the official sponsor of Comic-Con Free Wi-Fi. Be sure to see Eagle Eye, in theaters September 26th.

Free Wi-Fi is available in all areas of the Convention Center except the Exhibit Hall.

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Whitney Matheson at USA Today’s Pop Candy blog is hosting a meetup in San Diego on the Saturday of the con. You can find more details on the meetup — as well as the really sweet promotional artwork Keith Simmons painted (pictured above — over on Pop Candy.

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It’s a light week — for a change! — with a handful of notable releases.

Two stellar creations by the late Steve Gerber receive the spotlight this Wednesday as Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple’s Omega: The Unknown miniseries concludes and Howard The Duck gets the omnibus treatment.

Countdown to Final Crisis rises from the grave with a trade paperback, Scott McCloud’s Zot! returns with a black-and-white collection, and Viz Media rolls out Takehiko Inoue’s basketball manga Real.

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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We’re just a little more than a week away from the San Diego Comic-Con. Last night the meters measuring how many badges they had left were getting dangerously close to being sold out, so I imagine they’ll be gone soon.

Also, the official signing schedule is up … these are the signings that the con arranges and puts in the special autograph area, so it doesn’t include all the signings they’ll be having at booths on the floor.

If you’re a creator, publisher, company or any other entity that’s exhibiting at the San Diego Comic-Con, there’s still time to send in your update. I’ll likely be doing these reports right up until the show starts. So send’em on over.

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Mattel will have several folks signing at their booth during the convention, including Keith Giffen, who will be signing the exclusive Lobo figure they’ll have at the show:

–Four Horsemen (Jim Preziosi, Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Eric Treadaway and Chris Dahlberg) - Famous action figure sculptors, responsible for Mattel’s DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe action figures (Thursday – Saturday, 1 p.m.)
–Keith Giffen - Appearing courtesy of DC Comics, creator of “Lobo” (Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.)
–Frank Varela – Mattel Graphic/Concept artist (Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m.)
–Emiliano Santalucia - Cover artist on the recent Masters of the Universe animated series (Thursday and Saturday, 3 p.m.)
–Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivias - Husband/Wife team, VW Bus Artists (Friday, 3 p.m.)
–Greg Smikins - VW Bus Artist (Saturday, 2 p.m.)
–Mattel Executives - Available for interviews regarding Hot Wheels® and much more (throughout show)

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• Viz Media sends word that Marc Weidenbaum, vice president of original publishing, and Eric Searleman, senior editor, will perform the publisher’s first Comic-Con portfolio reviews from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27.

• The Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick reveals that production has begun on the show’s fourth season. [Publick's blog]

• Apple profiles Dark Horse Comics, with a focus on the company’s network of 145 Macs. The feature includes a sidebar that details the production process for an issue of Hellboy – from initial discussions between Mike Mignola and editor Scott Allie to lettering to press — and a publisher timeline. [Apple.com]

• Speaking of Hellboy, Mignola talks about his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy II: The Golden Army: “It’s my job to take del Toro’s idea, which nobody else can make heads or tails of unless he’s drawn it in his sketchbook, and decipher it. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, we speak the language of monsters and we have very similar tastes in artists so I can usually understand what he’s going for.” [Underwire]

• The talented artist Kristian Donaldson updates his blog with news that the second edition of the Supermarket trade paperback from IDW will get a new format — 6″ x 9″ — and a new cover (above). Also, he’ll be reteaming with Supermarket writer Brian Wood for Issues 35 and 36 of DMZ, which sport covers by John Paul Leon. [Donaldson's blog]

• I’m enjoying Kyle Latino’s illustrated summaries of the comics he reads each week. [This Week in Comics, via Super Punch]

Writing for PWCW, Kai-ming Cha and Ed Chavez cover the Anime Expo and found it a bit lackluster:

Despite all the announcements, there was a slight sense of ennui about the proceedings, given the current flattening of the American manga market. Asako Suzuki of CMX commented that the “energy wasn’t there this year,” but Jim Chadwick said that he enjoys exhibiting at the show because it’s CMX’s chance to shine. “We get overshadowed by DC [at Comic-con],” he said. “Here, we get to pitch our line. This is more our demographic.”

On her own blog, however, Cha is a bit less sanguine about the future of the industry:

Guys, I’m at AX and I’m gonna say it: the future looks bleak.
I’m not sure that manga readers here are really manga readers and I would even go so far as to say that they’re not even comics readers. There’s a love for the medium, but only within the shojo or shonen genre.
They love the anime, and honestly, while I was watching the Le Chevalier D’eon anime, I couldn’t help but thinking “this is cartoons. It’s for kids.”
It’s not just because I read manga and am looking for some semblance of sophistication in my life, but I really do think that manga is more sophisticated than the anime adaptations. But the audience for manga is the anime audience, and they love the anime, but they’re young. And they’re not goign to be loving this when they’re older.
It really looks like this market is going to outgrow manga. That doesn’t mean that manga is some trend that will die, but that it’s going to take a lot longer for the market to mature than we’re anticipating. It’s not going to be within this generation. This generation is going to outgrow it adn it’s the next generation going in that’s going to keep the current market as we know it alive.

I’ve been wondering aloud for awhile now if the current manga and anime fans were going to stick with the medium as they grow older or dump it like so many pogs and Goosebumps books. Cha seems to suggest it will decidely be the latter.

For those who lament an apparent lack of comics for kids, this Wednesday Thursday is for you.

Not only does this week see the eighth color volume of Jeff Smith’s Bone from Scholastic, but also Jill Thompson’s Magic Trixie and an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, both from HarperCollins.

Looking for something that skews a little older, and a little more superhero-ish? Then how about the Final Crisis: Requiem one-shot? Hey, nothing says summer fun like a wake for a crispy Martian!

Oh, okay, there’s the “Batman and Son” trade paperback, the fourth issue of Secret Invasion, and a teaser for Captain America: White, the latest in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s line of “color” books.

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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Chris Butcher examines the current state of the manga industry in what will hopefully be a multi-part series:

It’s a little bit like why I think the pleas for more josei and more seinen are misguided; there’s no market for these books. There isn’t even an effective delivery system for them, they aren’t even designed for their target audience. The audience for the books isn’t going to find them in the manga section, and the books don’t look like something that they’d like in the first place because they adhere so strongly to manga packaging conventions (likely in a bid to capture the existing market) that even if you put a josei title next to the women’s fiction (read: chick lit) most women would look at it like some child/freak/pervert dropped it on the wrong table. Sure, you can do your buying online, but then you’re not a casual buyer, you’re not growing the audience, you’re selling to the initiated. That’s the situation we have right now, and that’s why there are so few books.

After the avalanche of titles last week, this Wednesday seems far more manageable.

Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi take the reins from Joss Whedon and John Cassaday on Marvel’s Astonishing X-Men, and DC pulls the plug on The All-New Atom while launching the certain-to-be-adorable Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (by Herobear’s Mike Kunkel).

Fantagraphics delves into the world of Steve Ditko with Blake Bell’s Strange & Stranger, Mike Mignola and Richard Corben reteam for Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Ross Campbell surfaces at Minx with Water Baby, and Keith Knight’s The K Chronicles receives the “omnibus” treatment.

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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After all the rumors and half-answered questions, ICv2 makes the news official. The Japanese manga publisher Kodansha is planning on setting up its own U.S. imprint that will publish English versions of their books:

The reason for the move, according to Nikkei, is “to boost its earnings in America, where its income has been limited to royalties received from U.S. firms.

Rumors of Kodansha entering the U.S. market were circulating at the BEA, but were contradicted by statements from Ali Kokmen of Del Rey manga, who told the Japanator Website earlier this month that Del Rey had reps in Tokyo acquiring the rights for manga series for 2009 and 2010. Del Rey and Kodansha did not respond to ICv2 requests for comment at the time.

There are lots of questions to be sorted out. What books will Kodansha debut? What does this mean for Del Rey? Will series like Fairy Tail still fall under their imprint or will they be picked up by this new subsidiary? What about Dark Horse? Hopefully more details will be coming soon.

Early reviews swoon for Dark Knight – and The Joker

Batman: The Dark Knight doesn’t open for another three weeks, but the first reviews are starting to appear. And they’re incredibly positive.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine gives the sequel three-and-a-half out of four stars, describing it as “raw and elemental,” and marveling at how director Chris Nolan “brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art.”

And at AICN, a reviewer calls Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker “truly one for the books.” That’s something echoed by Travers, who dubs the late actor “mad-crazy-blazing brilliant” in the role.

On that note, Nolan talks to Wired a bit about his vision for The Joker:

The director wasn’t interested in plumbing the murky origins of the Joker himself — the Clown Prince is more a Loki-like force of chaos. “He’s like the shark in Jaws,” Nolan explains. “The Joker cuts through the film, he’s incredibly important, but he’s not a guy with a backstory. He’s a wild card.”

It’s a good article that focuses primarily on the technical aspects of filmmaking, and Nolan’s desire to to shun digital effects: “Anything you notice as technology reminds you that you’re in a movie theater.”

In other Dark Knight, and Joker, news, the viral-marketing campaign continues for the film, which opens in North America on July 18.

Who watches the length of Watchmen?

Watchmen director Zack Snyder says he’s editing down the first director’s cut of the film, which now runs about three hours long — and seems to indicate he’s at odds with the studio over length.

“The balancing act for me is, you want the movie as tight as possible for, I don’t know why, I guess so people can enjoy it,” Snyder tells SciFi Wire. “But for me, the hardest part is just, when is it not Watchmen anymore? I don’t think that’s a danger, but it’s a thing that I am trying to be the gatekeeper of while other forces conspire to say, ‘No. Length, length, length. Playability.’ Whatever the hell that means.”

He goes on to say how everyone who made the movie loves it, and how wonderful the experience was. But then:

And so then you come back from that experience, and you go to the studio, and the studio’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t love it like we do. Right? It’s like just a movie, like, ‘Oh, we have this movie, Watchmen, and it’s f–king long.’ Like, ‘What are these superheroes? They look crazy.’ So you have that experience. So for me, right now, I’m in the middle of that. So for me to go to Comic-Con is to get a chance to go back to people that love it.”

Watchmen, based on the miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is set to open on March 6, 2009.

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In a week when Marvel unleashes some 34 titles on comic stores, IDW Publishing provides some unintentional relief by shipping … none (the books are tied up in U.S. Customs, so watch out for next week).

Marvel’s avalanche includes three Secret Invasion tie-ins, Joss Whedon’s final issue of Runaways and Matt Fraction and David Aja’s final issue of The Immortal Iron Fist, and the second installment of Marvel 1985. DC’s output — about half that of its competitor — features the second issue of Final Crisis, the long-awaited All-Star Batman hardcover and the collection of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s critically acclaimed Demo.

Elsewhere, Dark Horse releases the first volumes of Gantz and Indiana Jones Adventures – opposite ends of the spectrum, certainly — Drawn and Quarterly gives us Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Good-Bye, and NBM Publishing rolls out hardcovers of Bluesman and Ordinary Victories.

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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