– The marketing juggernaut continues: Sam Thielman talks with Art Spiegelman about the latter’s new book, Breakdowns.

– The comic strip Rhymes With Orange has a new Web site.

– Chris Arrant profiles Faith Erin Hicks and her new comic The War at Ellsmere.

– Eddie Campbell guides you through Comic Book Morality 101.

– Todd Allen looks at some of the new Webcomic offerings from Shadowline, Liquid and Marvel, and smells trouble … for them.

– Chip Zdarsky shares his ideas for Marvel Comics and it’s totally NSFW (hat tip: Heidi).

– Brigid Alverson writes about plans for the upcoming Haruhi Suzumiya manga.

– Spurious has an interesting essay on Charles Crumb, Robert’s late, tragic older brother.

– Erin Finnegan looks at Tokyopop’s release of Otsuichi’s Goth novel and manga.

– Richard O’Connor blogs about working on an animated They Might Be Giants video with Kim Deitch.

This week writer Philip Gelatt, artist Rick Lacy and Oni Press served up what Gelatt calls a “smoothie made up of James Bond movies, mid-twenties malaise and toss-away scraps of social theory” in the form of Labor Days Vol. 1. It’s the story of Benton “Bags” Bagswell, a chores-for-hire handyman in London who gets involved in comedic globe-trotting hijinks.

I spoke with both Gelatt and Lacy about the book, which made its debut at the Small Press Expo last weekend and hit stores this past Wednesday.

JK: So the first volume of Labor Days came out this week. What’s it about?

Phil: That’s always been the hardest question for me to answer, and I wrote the damn thing. The short answer is it’s about a guy named Bags. He starts the book as a complete loser and borderline drunk, and then finds himself sucked into a cross-continent chase after a mysterious videotape. The book is very much about Bags, this consummate nobody and miscreant, tossed into an array of situations that he has no business being any part of and meeting an array of bizarre characters including spies, Marxists, radical feminists, gun-blade enthusiasts and fire-breathing hoodlums.

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Comics writer J. Torres unveils a new project on his blog called Lola: A Ghost Story:

“Lola” is the Tagalog (Filipino) word for grandmother and this story is loosely based on some tall tales about my own maternal grandmother’s childhood, some other family “history,” as well as some folklore and mythology from the Philippines.

Torres said the project, which is drawn by Elbert Or and will be published by Oni, should be out next year.

On his blog, Brandon Graham posts an amazing two-page spread from the next issue of Multiple Warheads, his quirky scifi-adventure series from Oni Press.

To help promote the release of the mammoth Local hardcover Oni put out this week, MySpace has all of issue #3 of Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s series up on their site.

– Build your own square-headed Scott Pilgrim.

– Charles Brownstein with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund passes on a message about Echo creator Terry Moore and his wife Robyn, who live in Houston and were affected by Hurricane Ike:

As you may be aware, the Abstract Studios team, Terry & Robyn Moore, live in Houston where they are set back slightly by Hurricane Ike. They personally are fine, but don’t have any utilities, including electricity and other business necessities. They’re only able to be online for about 10 minutes a day because of very nice neighbors. They want people to know that they’re going to be out of touch for about a week, and ask that you please be patient while they get back up to speed. Please join me in keeping them in your thoughts.

– Congrats to the cartoonist Kaz, who won an Emmy for his story on an episode of Camp Lazlo!

– PWCW previews the New York Anime Festival.

– Bid adieu to The Holy Consumption.

– Dave Sim reviews Blake Bell’s book about Steve Ditko.

– Frank Santoro writes about Frank Franzetta.

– Here’s a profile of mangaka Shigeru Mizuki.

– Stephanie Mangold looks at Antarctic Press’ future plans.

– Hey, Chester Brown is running for office!

– Evie Nagy reports on Oni’s plan to publish “definitive editions” of Queen and Country.

– Van Jensen writes about the popularity of Image’s PopGun anthology.

– The Southern California comics retailer Brave New World Comics is hosting a party this Friday to celebrate their Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award.

– Eight reasons why the G.I. Joe comic was better than the cartoon.

Compiled by JK and Chris.

• Screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay (Aeon Flux, The Tuxedo) will pen Columbia Pictures’ adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s series The Boys. Columbia optioned the comic back in February. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• Just how dark can Warner Bros. go with the Superman movie reboot? Kevin Smith, Jeph Loeb, Mark Waid, Steven T. Seagle and Michael Golden weigh in. [Splash Page]

• Despite an announcement made yesterday by Herge Studios, Steven Spielberg’s representatives say he’s committed to directing the first film in the planned Tintin trilogy for DreamWorks. A spokesman for Herge Studios, which holds the rights to the property, had said Peter Jackson was moving into the director’s chair. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• Director Edgar Wright provides updates on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Ant-Man. [Wizard, via Cinematical]

• Although rumors had circulated that 20th Century Fox was scrapping the adaptation of Dragonball, the studio apparently is releasing a trailer on Oct. 17. [ComingSoon.net]

• Marvel’s Avengers movie could shoot at Toronto’s new state-of-the-art production facility Filmport. [Hollywood North]

– Wil Moss talks to the Apocalipstix team.

– Good news: IDW is going to alter the format of the Dick Tracy books in order to allow the Sunday pages to be printed at a larger size.

– Brigid Alverson talks to Templar, Arizona creator Charlie Trotman.

– The Daily Cross Hatch chats up Cory Doctorow.

– Frank Santoro on Kyle Baker’s How to Draw Stupid.

– Franklin Harris recounts the history of EC Comics for Reason.

– James Kochalka takes a stab at recreating a classic Fantastic Four page.

– Yen Press is hopping on the four-panel manga bandwagon.

Mandalay Pictures has acquired the film rights to Julius, Antony Johnston and Brett Weldele’s modern-day retelling of Julius Caesar.

F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, The Negotiator) will direct.

Released in 2004 by Oni Press, Julius reinvisions Shakespeare’s play as an urban crime drama centering on the charismatic leader of a London gang whose generals conspire against him.

Eric Gitter of Closed on Mondays Entertainment, Oni’s movie-production arm, will produce. Peter Schwerin and Joe Nozemack will executive produce.

Julius is the latest in a string of Oni projects being developed for the big screen: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Resurrection and Resurrection at Universal; Courtney Crumrin and The Damned at DreamWorks; and Maintenance and Billy Smoke at Warner Bros.

Bryan Lee O’Malley points to an animated ad for the Scott Pilgrim series, created by Chris Niosi, and voiced by him and his friends.

What better way to welcome a new graphic novel about a band touring after the end of the world than to throw a party featuring bands, the creators and prizes? The Beguiling in Toronto is putting together a gig featuring the creators of Apocalipstix, Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart, along with local bands Terror Lake and DAME.

Full press release after the jump …

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Oni sent over today the artwork they showed during their San Diego presentation on Saturday. I posted the cover for the next Scott Pilgrim book already, and the main site has my Oni panel report up in the comic section if you’d like more details on each project. I’ll try to add some extra commentary, though, in my post here.

So let’s see what they have coming up …

First up, here’s Billy Smoke:

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Coming next February, the next Scott Pilgrim volume is titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe. This was announced at the Oni panel on Saturday; watch for my full report from the panel on the main site.

On his blog, Greg Rucka shows off a poster he’ll be handing out on Saturday (I’m guessing at the Oni panel) promoting his upcoming book Stumptown. Be sure to click over for a bigger view of it and check out all the names in the phone book.

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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Thursday programming for the San Diego Comic-Con is back in the game, with hopefully Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the “on deck” circle. They’ve also announced a special preview night screening of the new Fox TV show Fringe:

6:00–7:30 and 7:30-9:00 Fringe Pilot Screenings—Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly present two exclusive premiere screenings of the pilot episode of Fringe, the highly anticipated new FOX series from J.J. Abrams (Lost), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind the upcoming Star Trek feature, Mission: Impossible 3 and Alias. When an international flight lands at Boston’s Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv, The Pacific) is called in to investigate. When the search nearly kills her partner, Special Agent John Scott (Mark Valley, Boston Legal), a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), our generation’s Einstein. There’s only one catch: He’s been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son, Peter (Josh Jackson, Shutter), in to help. Under Special Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick, The Wire), our trio will discover that what happened on that fatal flight is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth. Fringe also stars Kirk Acevedo (Oz), Blair Brown (The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd) and Jasika Nicole (The Mastersons of Manhattan). From Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Fringe premieres September 9 and airs Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on FOX. (Please note: we will clear the room between screenings. Seating is limited. Pick the screening time that works best for you!) Ballroom 20

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Matthew Fox will star in movie version of Oni’s Billy Smoke

Matthew Fox (Lost, Speed Racer) is in negotiations to star in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Billy Smoke, the upcoming Oni Press graphic novel by B. Clay Moore and Eric Kim.

Set to be published next year, Billy Smoke centers on an elite hit man who’s nearly killed during a botched assignment. He then realizes his only way to redemption is to rid the world of all assassins.

Moore is best known as the writer of Hawaiian Dick and Leading Man, both of which are being developed as films — the former at New Line, the latter at Universal. Kim illustrated Love As A Foreign Language, also from Oni.

Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road is producing Billy Smoke with Eric Ginter of Closed on Mondays Entertainment, Oni’s film arm.

The Ticker

• New promotional media have been released for Hellboy II: The Golden Army: a third trailer, a featurette, and an animated prologue written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. [Collider]

• Variety‘s John Anderson gives Hellboy II a (mostly) glowing review, calling it “the hipster’s hit of the summer.” He doesn’t like Luke Goss as the villainous Prince Nuada, though: “Goss embodies all the menace of Keanu Reeves.” [Variety]

• New one-sheets have been released for Punisher: War Zone. I’d post the actual images, but I’m protesting the obnoxious website watermarks. [IGN.com]

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Oni Press has partnered with online entertainment producer 60Frames to create print and online comics.

Variety reports the first titles will include Men With Guns: Assassin, by Tom Fontana (Oz, Homicide: Life on the Street) and Ark, developed by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah (Freaks and Geeks). The former is a gritty drama that Fontana originally planned as a TV series, and the latter a sci-fi mystery created by Robbie Thompson.

Both comics will launch simultaneously next year online and in print.

The deal also calls for 60Frames to create web series based on several of Oni’s titles.

Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to The Last Call, Vasilis Lolos’ offbeat graphic novels about two slacker teens who are swept aboard an interdimensional Ghost Train.

The first volume was released in last year by Oni Press. A second volume is due next month.

Alexander Young of Josephson Prods. and Eric Gitter of Oni’s Closed on Mondays Entertainment will produce the film. Evan Spiliotopoulos will write the screenplay.

Universal is developing three other Oni Press titles: Scott Pilgrim, Leading Man and Resurrection.

If you haven’t heard of Philip Gelatt before, that’s because he’s not a published comics writer just yet. But he will be in about 24 hours.

Tomorrow sees the debut of Gelatt’s first published comics work, Indiana Jones Adventures for Dark Horse. Later this year brings Labor Days from Oni, his creator-owned book with artist Rick Lacy.

I sent Phil a few questions about his time with Indy, working with Dark Horse and Lucasfilm, and how an unpublished writer landed a gig writing such a well-known character …

JK: From what I understand this is your first published comics work, correct? How did you land the gig?

Phil: Yep, my first published book, yeah. I finished writing the first volume of Labor Days before I did this book, but it’s not coming out ’til the fall.

I got this gig through a friend who had done some art for Dark Horse. He learned about the book and was almost the artist on it, but that fell through. Anyway, he told me they didn’t have a writer for the thing yet, which led to me spending a hectic week pulling together every idea I’d ever had about Indy and turning it into a synopsis that I then sent into them as a pitch to get the book. I was incredibly nervous about the whole thing and I really appreciate the guys at Dark Horse giving me a shot at it.

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