If you’ve been looking for a reason to try out some of the comic book applications that have been popping up in the iTunes application store, here’s your chance to try them out and help a good cause.

iVerse, a company that’s turned Shadowhawk, Proof, Flash Gordon and several other comics titles into iPhone applications, will donate half of all proceeds from a “Hero Initiative Spotlight” book each month to the charity. The program kicks off this month with Shadowhawk v.2 #1, which is 99 cents in the app store.

“I think it is terribly important to support the creators that helped build this industry.” said iVerse owner Michael Murphey. “We are working on the future of this industry with these digital comics – but it would be completely impossible for us to be where we are, without the amazing work that these creators have done, and we’re honored to be able to work with Hero on this project.”

You can find out more about iVerse and the titles they offer (including several free ones) at their website.

In one of the least-convincing Internet hoaxes since a certain Nigerian prince sent a message of an “urgent, private” nature, a video purporting to be the teaser trailer for The Flash made the rounds last week.

There are a few dead giveaways, not the least of which is that it looks terrible beyond even Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, or Legends of the Superheroes. Another tell is the preface that attests the trailer was shown before a “private screening” of Watchmen. (While footage of the Zack Snyder movie has been shown to journalists around the country, none of the reports mention anything about The Flash teaser.)

And did I mention the teaser is god-awful? It’s so bad that Defamer asks for a moratorium on “dorm-room exercises masquerading as official teasers.”

“Your mastery of Windows MovieMaker is impressive, but seriously, enough.”

I think they’re being kind, though.

AppScout points out that the first color Bone graphic novel is now available for the iPhone for 99 cents. I haven’t downloaded it, as I already own the originals, but I’m tempted — it would be kind of cool to have a Bone icon on my phone.

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.

Starting today, you’ll be able to order a Dell computer with Iron Man already loaded.

Variety reports the PC manufacturer has made a deal with Paramount Pictures to offer the movie as an option for customers as part of Dell’s personalized purchasing process. The move is Dell’s first step toward creating a broader digital-content storefront.

For now the $20 Iron Man preload, which comes with exclusive bonus footage, is only available to consumers in the United States.

• 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]

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?

The Iron Man sequel will introduce the Mandarin, transform James Rhodes into War Machine and take some cues from Matt Fraction’s The Invincible Iron Man.

“I’ll tell you which [comic books] we’re looking at very closely, not so much for story but for tone: the Matt Fraction [ones],” director Jon Favreau said yesterday during a press conference to promote the Iron Man DVD. “I haven’t talked to him yet, but we want to talk to him and get him out here. The Fraction series seems to be informed as much by our movie as by what had happened with Iron Man before.

What’s more, he envisions the Mandarin as the behind-the-scenes villain — used sparingly — for a planned trilogy. Favreau recognizes the character is “surrounded by minefields,” in part because of his roots as a Yellow Peril-style stereotype.

He notes that he’d like to shoot the film in IMAX, and possibly employ 3-D technology.

And what about War Machine? “I want to do it,” Favreau says. “We’re drawing War Machine. We’re figuring it out. We’re talking to Terrence to see if he can take some time out of his new life as a musician to be War Machine.”

Favreau said that he, Justin Theroux and Robert Downey Jr. are in the early scripting stages for the movie, which opens on April 30, 2010.

Over on his website, Scott McCloud provides an FAQ on his new Google Chrome comic book:

Who wrote the script?

The engineers, for the most part! I helped conduct interviews with about 20 engineers who worked on the project, then adapted what they said into comics form. Some paraphrasing, lots of condensation, and one or two late drop ins, but basically it was a very organic adaptation and I had a lot of latitude.

Is the food at Google as good as they say?

Better.

It’s also free for employees … the food, that is, in the Google cafeteria. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, from what I hear.

In their continued bid for global — or at least internet — domination, Google is releasing their own web browser called Google Chrome. And they hired Scott McCloud to create a comic book about it. You can read the whole thing over at Google Books.

Paramount is getting in on the “mobile comics” market.

Variety reports that the studio’s Paramount Digital Entertainment division as partnered with Singapore-based Omnitoons to deliver “manga-styled series” based on the hit British movie Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (which featured Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson). Adaptations of Eagle Eye and the Mission: Impossible franchise will follow.

The studio views the comics primarily as marketing support for movies at, or just before, the time of their international release.

The comics will be available for download from major service providers and content distributors worldwide.

Laura Hudson looks at all the different ways comics are being delivered digitally these days:

The diversity of initiatives is dizzying: Marvel Comics, Boom! Studios and Viz Media have made select back issues available in digital form; DC Comics and Top Shelf Productions now curate Web sites of comics developed specifically for the internet; Korean manhwa house Netcomics offers comics online for a small fee; and Tokyopop, Devil’s Due Productions, Papercutz and Virgin Comics have joined with mobile digital publishing services like uclick and GoComics, to distribute their content on mobile phones—not to mention e-books, animated comics on iTunes, or the smart phone-based reader from ClickWheel, which also offers a format for reading comics on the iPhone.

But as publishers scatter in a variety of different digital directions, it’s hard to know when—or whether—some kind of industry standard will emerge. Some pundits are more optimistic about the possibility than others

– Stephen DeStefano shares a Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend commission.

– The Hugo Awards were announced this past weekend in Denver.

– As were the Doug Wright Awards (though not in Denver).

– Tom Spurgeon talks CCI with David Glanzer.

– Alley Oop turned 75. I didn’t even know it was still around.

– A Matt Bors’ cartoon makes it all the way to Gitmo and the hands of Salim Hamdan.

– Own an iPhone? Like comics? Bookmark this site.

– It’s not comics, but I liked this MTV story about fan reaction to Diablo III screenshots and the developers explanations as to why they did what they did.

– Arvid Nelson and Jesse Falcon join the Comic Book Club this Tuesday.

– io9 picks the VP candidates. Yes, it’s comics related.

– Cartoons for grown-ups.

– Trent Reznor thought about turning Year Zero into a graphic novel. Instead, he’s talking to HBO.

– Mike Sterling presents “Things not to say to a comic book shop employee.”

– Where were you?

Compiled by JK and Chris.

On the heels of the recently announced DC Comics and Invincible “motion comics,” Marvel is expected to reveal a similar initiative today at Comic-Con: It will adapt a never-before-released Stephen King short story as an animated series.

This is the “Marvel to the Nth Degree” announcement the publisher has been teasing: The story, called “N,” comes from King’s upcoming short-story collection Just After Sunset.

The Wall Street Journal reports the 25-episode series will be distributed online and via mobile channels in advance of the book’s Nov. 11 release. Beginning Monday episodes will be released daily, five times a week, through Aug. 29. iTunes also will sell pass for all of the two-minute episodes for $3.99.

This is the fourth venture between King and Marvel: The publisher previously has released two miniseries based on his Dark Tower books, and a 30-issue adaptation of The Stand debuts early next year.

You can see a teaser video for “N” after the break.

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Disney has renewed its first-look deal with Stan Lee’s POW Entertainment.

As part of the two-year agreement, which covers TV, movies, games and other media, Disney has greenlit Time Jumper for distribution across multiple platforms.

The project revolves around an agent of a secret government organization called H.U.N.T. — Heroes United, Noble and True — who has a cell phone that doubles as a time machine. When his brother is lost in time, the agent must find him before a criminal cartel does.

Disney Interactive Media Group’s Disney Online and Disney Publishing Worldwide also will develop their own content based on Time Jumper. A comic is planned, too.

Lee set up three other projects with Disney in April: Blaze, Nick Ratchet and Tigress.

No doubt timed to coincide with the Watchmen trailer (those marketing guys are sneaky!), iTunes is now offering a Watchmen “Motion Comic.” If you have the software, you can find it by doing a search for “Watchmen.”

It’s sort of like the Invincible one that Kevin linked to earlier this week, only without the jerky MTV-ish editing. I didn’t watch the entire 25 minutes, but it looks like it contains all of the first issue of Watchmen.

(Thanks, Richard!)

Fans of Invincible soon will be able to follow the adventures of Mark Grayson on iTunes, mobile phones, MTV2 and elsewhere.

The New York Times reports that MTV New Media is partnering with Gain Enterprises to produce the “digital cinematic comics.” That’s right, it’s not traditional animation:

The process starts with digital scans of the actual comic book pages. They are turned into an audio-visual experience through a process called Bomb-xx developed by Gain. In the end, the formerly two-dimensional comic book suddenly pulses with music, while word balloons pop up and fill in as actors recite the dialogue and panels zoom in and out and pivot in all directions. The frenetic energy is not unlike that of an MTV video.

Episodes 1 through 12 will cover the first four issues of the series, launched in 2003 by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker (Ryan Ottley became penciler with Issue 8). The first six installments will be previewed next week at Comic-Con International, and then made more widely available beginning Aug. 22.

You can see a preview of the first episode here.

• 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]

When the first trailer for The Incredible Hulk debuted in March, there were complaints online — shocking, I know — about the quality of the CGI, specifically the appearance of the Green Goliath. Some went so far as to say it was worse than Gumby-esque Hulk in the Ang Lee film.

But if you caught the three new TV commercials over the weekend, you may have noticed the movie’s special effects have been fine-tuned.

You mean you didn’t notice? Well, that’s okay, because Alex Billington of First Showing did. He even provides the above visual aid comparing an image from the teaser trailer (top) with one of the new TV spots (bottom). In the shot, the Hulk’s skin tone appears to have been tweaked, his hair has been given more detail, and he’s been given the remnants of a shirt.

Is it an improvement? I don’t know. Of course, I didn’t have a problem with his appearance in the initial trailer … The Incredible Hulk opens on June 13.

Technical difficulties prevented me from posting an installment of “Stark Ravin’” yesterday, so I’m just going to jump right into the links.

Note: Some of these links may contain spoilers.

• Iron Man will actually debut at 8 tonight at some 2,000 theaters across North America, which may cut a little into the weekend gross. Still, the tea-leaf readers predict an opening weekend of at least $60 million (probably more like $70 million) — and as much as $102 million by Monday morning.

The movie’s production costs are an estimated $150 million, with another $75 million for prints and advertising. [ The Hollywood Reporter, Slashfilm ]

• If you’re looking for the much-rumored Samuel L. Jackson cameo, stick around until after the closing credits. [ Slashfilm, Rich Johnston ]

• $486 million-a-year Marvel has a lot riding on this, its first solo film [BusinessWeek]

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