On Friday, Isotope in San Francisco will play host to a release party for the fourth issue of Hard to Swallow, the gay erotic comics anthology, featuring creators Justin Hall and Dave Davenport.

The event, held from 7 to 11 p.m., also helps to kick off the Folsom Street Fair weekend. DJ Bearzbub of The Eagle & The Cinch Saloon will provide the music for the 21-and-over party.

Isotope is located at 326 Fell St. (at Gough).

The official press release can be found after the break.

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A judge in Macomb County, Mich., has denied bond for convicted killer Michael George while he awaits a new trial in December.

The retailer and convention organizer was convicted in March of the 1990 killing of his first wife Barbara and sentenced to life in prison. However, on Sept. 12 Circuit Judge James Biernat Sr. overturned the jury verdict, citing prosecutorial misconduct and new evidence that could lead the jury to believe another person was responsible for the murder.

In his decision on Tuesday, Biernat said George poses a flight risk, and should remain in the Macomb County Jail. The new trial is set to begin on Dec. 2.

Barbara George was shot in the head on July 13, 1990, in the Georges’ Clinton Township comic-book store. Prosecutors contended that Michael George staged the killing to look like a robbery so he could collect money from an insurance policy and a shared estate, and start over with another woman.

It’s a good week for fans of classic comics as publishers roll out collections ranging from Nemesis Archives, Vol. 1, and Showcase Presents: Metal Men, Vol. 2, to Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Barks/Rosa Collection, Vol. 3, and The Complete Terry and the Pirates, Vol. 4.

Looking for something a little more recent? Then try the Absolute edition of Frank Miller’s Ronin, the premiere hardcover of Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones’ Marvel Boy miniseries, or the special edition of Dan Clowes’ Ghost World.

But if single issues are more your thing, there’s a new Solomon Kane series, the end of The Ultimates 3, the introduction of Lady Bullseye in Daredevil, and the finale of the Atlas story arc in Superman.

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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The owner of Sarge’s Comics in New London, Conn., was sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation for making and selling pirated DVDs.

Robert P. Miller, who pleaded guilty in August 2007 to one count of copyright infringement, also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $9,575 to the Motion Picture Association of America and other parties, and perform 100 hours of community service.

When agents raided Miller’s store in June 2005, they reportedly recovered 778 DVDs and CDs containing pirated works, as well as a CD/DVD burner. He admitted to making copies of movies and television shows to sell to his customers.

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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– 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.

This week, we say good-bye to Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman, give a passing nod to another installment of Secret Invasion, and take a second look at a handful of popular manga, conveniently repackaged for our enjoyment.

Wednesday also sees the return of Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting, the second issue of Millar and Harris’ destined-to-be-a-movie War Heroes, a hefty hardcover collection for Wood and Kelly’s Local, and an outsider’s view of Burma in the form of Guy Delisle’s new graphic novel.

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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Comics retailer Michael George, who was convicted in March of killing his first wife in 1990, will get a new trial.

In a decision handed down earlier today, Macomb County (Mich.) Circuit Judge James Biernat Sr. cited prosecutorial misconduct and the release of new evidence that could lead the jury to believe another person was responsible for the murder of Barbara George.

The misconduct apparently is related to the assistant prosecutor’s use of Michael George’s mug shot during closing arguments.

Barbara George was shot in the head on July 13, 1990, in the Georges’ Clinton Township comic-book store. Prosecutors contended that Michael George staged the killing to look like a robbery so he could collect money from an insurance policy and a shared estate, and start over with another woman.

George was sentenced in June 20 life in prison.

The new trial is set to begin on Dec. 2.

Related: The Detroit Free Press has more details on the new evidence

Just about everyone, from creators to readers to online pundits, has weighed in on the production error that led DC Comics to recall All-Star Batman & Robin #10. Everyone, that is, except writer Frank Miller.

But, thankfully, the LA Times’ Geoff Boucher gets Miller on the phone, only to discover he was unaware of the printing mistake that allowed some R-rated language to show through black bars designed to blot them out.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Miller says. “I have no idea how this awful thing happened. It’s just one of those terrible and glorious things that happen time to time in publishing.”

Yes, just awful. However, Miller continues, “my first reaction is simple: I want at least three copies.”

Miller goes on to explain the practical reason behind including the actual curse words under the black bars, instead of, say, just leaving the space blank:

“I wrote the actual words in the script and had them put on the page so the black bars would be the right size on the page,” Miller explained. In this latest issue, the bars are there but on a few you can read right through them; they’re more gray than black. “It’s a simple printing error,” Miller said. “That’s what it is.”

Despite DC Comics’ request that retailers destroy copies of All-Star Batman & Robin #10, many readers here and elsewhere report they were able to purchase the issue at cover price.

They made out like bandits, apparently, as bidding on eBay for the offending issue has climbed as high as $102.50. A package of the regular cover and the variant is going for as much as $152.50 (another has a “Buy It Now” price of $199.99). They’re among about 160 auctions, many of which hover in the $15 range.

Heidi MacDonald notes that some retailers are selling the book using their personal eBay accounts “to avoid whatever steps DC or Diamond may take to shut down the sales.”

Retailer-oriented website ICv2.com, meanwhile, considers the expense to DC of the destruction of a print run and the presumed reprinting. The previous issue sold more than 93,000 copies in the direct market.

Update: Newsarama has more

As Watchmen continues its leisurely drift down the USA Today bestseller list, the 31st volume of Naruto arrives at No. 24, which Anime News Network says is the highest-ever debut for a manga.

It’s also the third-highest spot held by Masashi Kishimoto’s popular fantasy-adventure series.

In its eighth week on the chart, the collection of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 miniseries slipped six places to No. 26. The trade paperback peaked at No. 13 last month.

But Naruto and Watchmen aren’t alone on this week’s chart. Matsuri Hino’s Vampire Knight, Vol. 5, debuts at No. 100, Tite Kubo’s Bleach, Vol. 22, at No. 105, and Warriors: Into the Woods at No. 135. Jeff Kinney’s hybrid Diary of a Wimpy Kid holds to No. 74 in its 59th week on the list.

USA Today’s chart tracks all genres and formats of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

Retailer and comics creator Kirsten Baldock dropped us a note to let us know that Isotope Comics is accepting submissions for the 2008 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics. This is the sixth year they’ve given out the award; previous award winners include Rob Osborne, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Josh Cotter, among others. You can find complete details on how to submit your mini-comic for consideration after the jump.

The awards will be given out in conjunction with the Alternative Press Expo, a really great event held in San Francisco the first weekend in November. This year’s guest list includes Jessica Abel, Paige Braddock, Megan Kelso, Matt Madden, Ethan Nicolle and Chris Ware. If you’re in the Bay Area that weekend, definitely check it out.

The art up top, by the way, is from Max Riffner’s Quick Step, which won the award last year.

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Over at The Beat, Heidi notes that Diamond asked comic shops this week to destroy copies of All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10:

Dear Diamond Customer:

Please be advised that copies of DC Comics’ ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #10 (FEB080203-4D) may be included in your September 10 shipment.

At DC’s request, please do not place this book out for sale to your customers. Instead, please destroy any copies that you receive. You will be credited for these copies on your September 17 invoice.

Diamond apologizes for any inconvenience this creates for you or your customers. If you have additional questions, please contact your Diamond Customer Service Representative. Thank you.

So, why the call to shred copies of a book customers have been anticipating for months? Apparently there was a printing problem, as Funnybook Babylon points out:

The reason behind All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder’s recall revealed! The censor bars didn’t print properly a whole bunch of times! Cusswords are visible! Look out!

You can see pictures of black censor bars inadequately covering up all sorts of dirty words over at their site. So what caused the bars to malfunction? Back to The Beat, where Heidi reprints an email from Nat Gertler saying it looks like the black bars were a different shade of black than the letters, and while it probably looked fine on a computer screen during the proofing stage, once it was printed, well … not so much.

So, mystery solved; now we just need someone to come up with a clever name for the uncensored versions so people can start listing them on eBay.

If you prefer your comics in hardcover form, this is the week for you.

DC Comics collects Batman #667-669 and 672-675 in The Black Glove, as well as the first three arcs of Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s celebrated Gotham Central.

Marvel, meanwhile, celebrates the 10th anniversary of Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada’s Daredevil: Guardian Devil storyline with a premiere hardcover, releases a collected edition of the recent Omega: The Unknown miniseries by Jonathan Lethem, Farel Dalrymple & Co.

Plus there’s another volume of Krazy & Ignatz from Fantagraphics, American Widow from First Second, Good Neighbors, Vol. 1, from Graphix, and Naruto: Collector’s Edition from Viz Media.

And those are just some of the hardcovers.

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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Isotope Comics will host Achewood creator Chris Onstad next Saturday to help celebrate the release of The Great Outdoor Fight collection by Dark Horse. Come for an autograph, stay for the cookies.

More details after the jump …

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In its seventh week on the USA Today bestseller list, the Watchmen slipped six places to No. 20. But the collection ruled the BookScan graphic novel chart for the second month in a row.

Buoyed by excitement over the trailer for Zack Snyder’s movie adaptation, the collection of the 21-year-old miniseries leaped onto the USA Today chart just days after the teaser’s July 17 debut with The Dark Knight. The trade paperback peaked at No. 13 on Aug. 21. USA Today’s chart tracks all genres and formats of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

To meet increased demand, DC Comics has printed an additional 900,000 copies of the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons collection. That means the book will have a print run of more than 1 million copies this year.

However, Watchmen isn’t the only comic to benefit from movie buzz. Last week Batman: The Dark Knight Returns debuted on the USA Today list at No. 107, some six weeks removed from the premiere of the Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight, and two decades removed from the miniseries’ initial release. The collection of 1988’s The Killing Joke also enjoyed a one-week stay on the chart.

Those Batman books continued to perform well on BookScan’s August graphic novel list. The Killing Joke Special Edition hardcover was just behind Watchmen, at No. 2, followed by The Dark Knight Returns. A little further down was The Long Halloween (No. 8), Year One (No. 9), and Arkham Asylum (No. 13).

How many of you went to the comics shop at lunchtime only to realize — too late! — that the new books don’t hit the shelves until Thursday?

Pesky Labor Day.

But when you return tomorrow you should find another issue of Buffy Season 8 — complete with centaur-Dawn! — a new Love & Rockets series, the first volume of Takehiko Inoue’s popular Slam Dunk, and a things-will-never-be-the-same 75th issue of Fables.

Oh, and strangely enough, a pair of miniseries about missing or sunken submarines — one each from Marvel and BOOM!

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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Earlier this month Action Philosophers/Marvel Adventures writer Fred Van Lente contributed one of our I ♥ Comics features, taking fans inside Rocketship Comics as he worked there for a day. Now Rocketship co-owner Alex Cox turns things around on Lente and interviews him for the Rocketship blog:

ALEX: We’ve spoken in the past about writers using themes throughout their work, and having more to say than just the details of a plot. If you had to pick one overall thematic point that pops up when you write, what would it be?

FRED VAN LENTE: I’m interested in people the most, like most writers, and what informs their decisions. I strongly believe that the most interesting dramatic struggle is the one you have with yourself: The battle between what you want to do versus what you should do; when you should act versus when it would be better to do nothing at all.

That’s why I like superheroes so much — their powers and identities allow you to take internal battles and make them literal, they let you dramatize those conflicts. Hercules is the strongest guy in the world, but bears the weight of every foolish thing he’s ever done — and in 3,000 years, he’s done a lot of them. Amadeus Cho’s mega-smarts make him his own worst enemy. Wolverine is at constant war with his own bestial nature. And so on.

In its sixth week on USA Today’s bestseller list, the Watchmen trade paperback slips just one spot to No. 14 as the “trailer effect” continues to fuel interest in the 1986 miniseries.

Here’s the real surprise, though: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, leaps onto the chart at No. 107.

I might’ve understood if the collection of the 1986 miniseries had appeared on the USA Today list last month, after the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight; the movie spurred increased sales of several Batman trade paperbacks.

But six weeks removed, this seems to come out of nowhere. We can’t even point to that Cher casting rumor as the cause, as the book chart is based on sales through Aug. 24.

USA Today’s list tracks all genres and formats of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

If this week’s shipping list is any indication, we may have reached the Dog Days.

For those with extra cash in your pocket — hey, gas has dropped 15 cents a gallon, right? — Marvel is releasing the hardcover Daredevil By Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus for $100. If you’re looking for something a little less expensive, Wednesday also sees the premiere of the third volume of Runaways, by Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos.

DC says good-bye to Catwoman and hello to two more Final Crisis tie-ins: DC Universe: Last Will and Testament and Superman Beyond.

Elsewhere, Dark Horse collects Chris Onstad’s popular Achewood comic, Abrams spotlights Al Jaffee’s Tall Tales strips, and Image debuts Guerillas.

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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