Who could’ve guessed that retailer Gordon Lee, comics legend Stan Lee, DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Virgin Comics would be the big newsmakers on the first day of New York Comic Con?

The big story, without a doubt, was the announcement Friday evening by Neil Gaiman that charges against Rome, Ga., retailer Gordon Lee have been dropped.

Lee’s legal battle stemmed from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After several false starts, the case finally went to court in October, only to end in mistrial during the prosecutor’s opening statement.

Gaiman said Friday the case has cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which represented Lee, more than $100,000.

But Gordon wasn’t the only Lee in the spotlight: Stan Lee (no relation) kicked off the convention in fine form Thursday night when he was presented with the inaugural New York Comics Legend award. The event, held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, drew countless creators and media-types, including Comic Foundry‘s Laura Hudson, who had an interesting encounter with the folks from Virgin Comics.

The Stan Lee juggernaut continued on Friday during the invitation-only event for Ultimo, his collaboration with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha’s Jump SQ.II spin-off magazine. As expected, Viz Media’s “exciting news” is that Ultimo will be released in North America shortly.

But wait! The Man isn’t finished: He’ll oversee a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics, which also announced that writer Grant Morrison and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur are collaborating on an animated series to be delivered via the Internet and mobile phone. The series, titled MBX, is a futuristic retelling of the Mahabharata epic poem.

DC’s Wildstorm imprint, meanwhile, continued efforts to rebrand itself — or, perhaps, simply brand – with the announcement of three license acquisitions: Prototype, Gears of War, and The X-Files. That last property is expected to be officially announced today. However, X-Files creator Chris Carter let the information slip last night.

More coverage of New York Comic Con:

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Today German automaker Audi launched its sleek Iron Man micro-site as part of its cross-promotional deal with Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios.

The agreement, announced in July, calls for Tony Stark to drive the $108,000 Audi R8 supercar. Other Audi cars also appear in the movie.

On the micro-site, visitors can tour Stark’s workshop, and, of course, explore design details of the Audi R8 and A5. There’s also historical information on the Iron Man comic books and the automaker.

The full press release can be found here.

Oh, you crafty, crafty Warner Bros. marketers. Writing for Road & Track magazine, Sam Matini “road tests” the Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer:

As soon as the Mach 5 leaves the line, you lose consciousness for a split second. Everything goes white, as the sudden onslaught of intense g-forces overwhelms the senses. You’ll come to with your eyes open wide as you find yourself already halfway down the drag strip (this may explain why Speed’s eyes were always so big and round). You hit 60 mph in just over a half-second. The quarter-mile mark comes and goes in 2.7 sec. at 197.1 mph. Compared to a top-fuel dragster, the Mach 5 is faster off the line — thanks to absolute grip — although the dragster closes the gap a bit once it gets going.

Matini even checks out the two circular saw blades that jut out from under the hood, activated by pressing the “C” button on the steering wheel.

(Via Anime News Network)

Losers artist Jock is one of seven artists who designed a Tinbot, a tin iPod case that sells for $29.95. It’s a bit more than I’d probably pay for an iPod case, but it sure looks great.

Inspired by the 1960s campy TV series, RedHotPhones, a website that sells nothing but red phones, made this little gem available for sale.

Heavy-duty traditional desk phone with dial replaced by blank plate, and bell disconnected if you prefer a silent signal.

Neon light flashes when call comes in. No external power or battery required.

Brand-new. Two-year warranty. Bright red phone with red color lens centered within chrome ring.

Normally used for answer-only, but can make calls if connected to a phone system with memory dialing, or a ring-down circuit.

At $112 USD each, it’s a bargain for any playboy millionaire vigilantes.

The only thing that would make this complete is your own prim and proper butler to let you know when the commissioner is calling.

So when will I finally get my Bat-Shark Repellent?

Via Engadget.

A Danish court has ordered one of that country’s largest Internet service providers to block users from accessing The Pirate Bay, the embattled BitTorrent tracker.

DMT2-Tele2 was ordered shut down access last week after the court ruled that The Pirate Bay, whose servers were based in Sweden, facilitates the “unauthorized distribution of copyright protected works.” The ISP is expected to decide next week whether to challenge the ruling.

In response to the decision, The Pirate Bay has set up another site that can be accessed by Tele2 customers.

Last week Swedish authorities charged four operators of The Pirate Bay with “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws.” After the police raid, the site’s servers reportedly were moved out of the country.

(Some links via Dirk Deppey)

In what could be a major blow to illegal downloading, Swedish authorities today charged four operators of The Pirate Bay, the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker, with “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws.”

If found guilty, the four men — Hans Fredrik Neij, Per Svartholm Warg, Peter Kolmisoppi and Carl Lundstroem — face a year in jail.

Sweden, which has some of the loosest copyright protections in Europe, has been considered a haven for torrent trackers. (When ComicSearch ran afoul of Marvel in December, the site’s administrator pledged, “I’m now looking at moving my hosting to Sweden.”)

Prosecutors say The Pirate Bay generates about $4.5 million in annual revenue through advertising.

Bloomberg’s Lucy Birmingham uses a visit to the December installment of Tokyo’s Comiket — the semiannual fair considered the world’s largest comics convention — as a chance to examine the changing international manga market:

North American manga sales doubled to $200 million between 2003 and 2006 and probably rose 10 percent in 2007, according to Milton Griepp, chief executive officer of ICv2.com, which provides information on the industry. That’s about half the value of the non-manga comic market, according to data from Diamond Comics, the world’s biggest comic distributor.

Even so, manga has yet to reach its popularity in countries such as Italy and France, the top markets outside Japan, where sales are seven times larger than in the U.S.

To gain a bigger slice of the U.S. market, where most buyers are teenagers, manga publishers need to target adults. “If Americans can understand the Matrix movies, then maybe they can enjoy science fiction, suspense or horror manga,” said Shogakukan’s [Masakazu] Kubo.

It’s a choppy read that jumps freely, or maybe abruptly, from topic to topic, ranging from mobile manga to copyright to censorship.

Ever think about building your very own giant mech?

At least $725 million for the parts and materials, according to an estimate published on the SciencePortal.jpSciencePortal website run by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The price tag for this giant humanoid, which would stand 18 meters (60 feet) tall and weigh 43.4 metric tons (nearly 100,000 lbs), does not include the cost of labor (this is where an extensive pool of robot slave labor comes in handy), nor does it include the cost of the infrastructure needed to support the machine once you are ready to climb aboard and take it for a walk.

More analysis kindly translated and posted at Pink Tentacle.

I went to MacWorld up in San Francisco yesterday for my day job; it’s not quite the madhouse that San Diego is, but then again, what is? It was fun to see all the cool new Mac-related stuff up close and in person, though … those MacBook Air laptops are much cooler in person.

Anyway, even in the sea of Mac aficionados, I still managed to find some comic/pop culture stuff:

–Punks artist Kody Chamberlain, I understand, was on hand giving demos of the Axiotron Modbook at the Axiotron booth. I dropped by twice but missed his presentations.

–Mimoco was on hand selling their mimobot designer flash drives. The line includes several licensed properties, like Halo, Happy Tree Friends and Star Wars (pictured above). The Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker helmets are removable, BTW, and reveal their heads (and the USB plug) when you take off the helmets. I chatted with the guy at their booth for a little bit; he said they’re all comics fans and would love to do something comic-related in the future.

In a move that shouldn’t surprise too many people, Verizon and Tokyopop have teamed up to offer downloadable manga, anime and other items of interest.

Featuring TOKYOPOP manga entertainment, the availability of the TOKYOPOP V CAST Video channel from Verizon Wireless marks the first time manga movies, anime clips and Asian entertainment have been available in one package to mobile customers.

TOKYOPOP on V CAST offers 15 to 20 four- to six-minute videos each week from TOKYOPOP’s popular manga entertainment, including manga videos known as imanga, anime clips, and other popular Asian-influenced entertainment.

Available titles include Bizenghast, Rave Master and PiNMeN. I’ll refrain from being a jerk and asking if Bizenghast’s creator M. Alice LeGrow’s contract with Tokyopop allows her to see any of this cell phone money.
You can read the full press release after the jump. (more…)

Bill Gates announced at the big Consumer Electronics Show this week that he’s retiring from his day-to-day role at Microsoft later this year in order to replace Hugh Jackman in the upcoming Wolverine movie.

Not really. If you’re wondering why Gates is dressed as everyone’s favorite mutant, check out the video here.

TorrentFreak reports that the latest issue of Donald Duck magazine in The Netherlands depicts Donald and his nephews as music pirates who are threatened by the head of a record label — one Scrooge McDuck.

According to the website, the comic strip provides a lesson in copyright as Huey, Dewey and Lewey illegally download an album because they’re low on cash; they’ll buy it later when they have the funds. However, Donald decides there’s money to be made by copying and selling CDs. The boys are horrified, and tell him about copyright, adding, “If nobody buys CDs anymore, the record labels and artists will become beggars.”

Of course, Donald’s plan is thwarted by Uncle Scrooge, who warns him that’ll he’ll have to pay a hefty fine if he doesn’t stop pirating music.

Although some Dutch websites suspect anti-piracy group BREIN was behind the strip, the magazine’s editor said there was no outside involvement.

In related news, an Italian court has ordered Donald and his girlfriend Daisy, Mickey Mouse and Tweety Bird to testify in a counterfeiting trial.

Lawyers say the summons, which cites the fictional characters as damaged parties, seems to be a clerical error. The criminal trial involves a Chinese man accused of counterfeiting Disney and Warner Bros. products.

In this episode of the The BitTorrent Saga, ComicSearch learns A Very Important Lesson: When the cease-and-desist notices are flying, it’s probably not a good idea for a comic tracker to draw attention to itself by sending an “open letter” to one of the publishers making the demands.

TorrentFreak reports that after ComicSearch administrator “Deicist” sent an email to Marvel in support of fellow comic tracker Z-Cult FM, the site received a response — but not the one it apparently expected:

I am going to ask nicely first, and request that you please remove all Marvel comics from the tracker and ask that your members refrain from putting up new torrents containing Marvel comics. You are on notice that if you continue, it will be at your own risk.

TorrentFreak has what’s reportedly an exchange of emails between Deicist and an unnamed Marvel representative that ends, more or less, with ComicSearch pledging to remove the publisher’s titles from its tracker.

Related: Scott Saavedra, on the “justifications” for scanning and torrenting

Malaysia’s The Star carries what I think is an expanded version of The Daily Yomiuri’s profile of Lupin III mangaka Monkey Punch who, at age 70, discusses digital art and the 40th anniversary of his famous creation:

After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo and entered an electronics vocational school, while working a part-time job and creating stories for a fanzine, which he and his friends published, and also for a publisher that specialised in rental books and magazines.

His work was discovered by an editor of Futabasha, the company behind Weekly Manga Action, for whom he created the Lupin III series, loosely based on the Arsene Lupin novel series and 007 movies. The artist’s strange pseudonym, he explains, was given to him by his editor, who compared his characters’ faces to that of a monkey.

The Lupin III manga series still continues, but Monkey Punch remains only involved as a supervisor.

“Many contemporary comic magazines are weekly. So if I had a series in the magazines, I’d have no time to do what I want – researching possible manga digitalisation projects, for example,” he says. “And quite frankly, I want Lupin III to be a series that is written by a variety of young mangaka, just like the Spider-Man series has worked as a stepping stone for cartoonists in the United States.”

To mark the 40th anniversary of Lupin III, an exhibition called Monkey Punch Gengaten: Pen to Digital is being held at Japan’s Saitama Municipal Manga Kaikan.

There’s no getting around it. The big news of this week was Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited program launching, beginning a move of their back catalog online for subscribers to rent and read. Everyone was talking about it, everyone had an opinion about it, and the mothership went after creators for theirs. Keith Giffen, for example:

I guess, deep down where I live, I don’t care. Sound a bit harsh? Yeah, I guess it does. Something like this has been, pretty much, inevitable so it really comes as no surprise to me. Marvel wants to see if it can utilize the web? Good luck to them.

(To be fair to Marvel, Keith’s disinterest was a line item in his new, DC-exclusive, contract.)

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Publishers Weekly Comics Week shows their love for the written word (or at least the folks who type it) with a sizable profile of Robert Kirkman (and his ever growing list of ongoing projects) and an interview with Joss Whedon, who plans to do another Serenity mini-series:

PWCW: Can you tell me anything about the plot of the second miniseries?

JW: The second one basically involves the rather stunning concept of the gang trying to pull a heist that doesn’t go completely wrong. And what happens when things go right for them, how that’s not going to work at all.

PWCW: Does it have a title yet?

JW: Better Days. And that’s also a reference to the fact that it takes place before the movie and before certain people were iced.

Also in this week’s newsletter: A look at DMP’s attempt to adapt Japanese novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi’s popular prose novel series, Vampire Hunter D; an interview with Shooting War creators Dan Goldman and Anthony Lappe; a story on audiobook adaptations of Infinite Crisis and 52; and this month’s best-seller list.

Remember Nissan’s manga- and anime-influenced concept car, the Mixim? Now it looks as if Honda is dipping into the same pool with the PUYO, which will debut later this month at the Tokyo Auto Show.

What, am I the only one who thinks it resembles the Catbus from Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro?

The, um, concept behind the concept car is a little … strange … and possibly creepy: “‘PUYO’ is a Japanese onomatopoeia that expresses the sensation of touching the vehicle’s soft body. It is meant to convey a warm, friendly impression.” My Catbus impression may be supported by this tidbit from the press release, which contends “the goal was to create a personable design with the feel of an adorable pet.”

(Via Neatorama)

Related: More concept cars

Tech blog Engadget found this astonishing custom PC modifications which uses the 13″ Incredible Hulk action figure. The creator of this monstrosity, ‘deathstarchris’, talks about his 14-month creation and his inspiration.

I bought the action figure and put it on my desk and the more I stared at it, I thought “I bet I have enough distance to fir a MB inside his grasp. Did a lot of searching, and found an older intel board that did the trick. Micro ATX format. 8 & three quarter inches. Soon into the project I realized I would need more figures for parts. Ended up buying three.

A good chunk of my inspiration came from Dale Keown and the amazing way he transformed the way I saw The Hulk. The New Incredible Hulk #377′s cover is present in all the imagery I used. Keown took the raw imagery and made it clean and filed with presence. Dale changed my thinking of ‘traditional’ and all I can hope for is I can do some justice in the same arena.

More about this computer modification can be found in a flash presentation on FusionMod. Click the image in the top post to start the show. Slow computers beware! The presentation is pretty resource heavy.

The Independent reports on the Mixim, Nissan’s latest concept car, whose design is influenced by manga, anime — particularly, Ghost in the Shell — computer games and Second Life.

The car, which is being unveiled this week at the Frankfurt Motor Show, will be marketed to “the next generation of drivers.”

“Anime, video games, manga, all of this somehow creates a kind of generational background which is shared all over the world,” says François Bancon, general manager of Nissan’s Tokyo-based exploratory design studio. “It may have originated from Japan, but it’s now part of, say, any French kid’s culture. They probably don’t even know where it came from originally. It’s now a global vocabulary.”