I had big plans for my first edition of “Meanwhile,” our weekly tour of the comics blogosphere. Big plans. New mini-features (featurettes?). New graphics. The works.

But then my Internet service provider struck, leaving me with an intermittent connection for the past three days. So, all of the bells and whistles will have to wait until next week.

Enough of my excuses, though. Let’s just dive into what’s making the rounds in the blogosphere, from the “new” Supergirl to a new arrival. (Congratulations, Dr. Scott!)

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Buoyed by the film adaptation, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess’ illustrated novel Stardust debuts at No. 79 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list, while the 20th volume of Tite Kubo’s Bleach climbs 26 spots to No. 85.

But the 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto continues its descent on the chart, falling 42 places to No. 130.

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

The Paramount Pictures adaptation of Stardust opens tomorrow nationwide.

After a downbeat — okay, lackluster — week, comics spring back with some pretty solid releases. Ah, the resilience of funny books.

That creeping in-the-middle-of-things feeling I had last week is gone, as publishers unleash a handful of new series, ranging from a new BPRD at Dark Horse and a Black Adam miniseries at DC to Army of Darkness: From Ashes at Dynamite Entertainment and Andi Watson’s Glister #1 at Image.

And then there’s Vertigo’s new The Un-Men ongoing — essentially, a 25-year-old spin-off of a series that’s not currently being published.

Chris Mautner and I have tinkered a little with “Can’t Wait for Wednesday” this time around, pushing our picks of the week to the top. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with us highlighting what we think is worth mentioning, and you telling us your choices in the comments below.

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A selection of some of the funniest, most interesting and strangest quotes from the past week:

“The last thing he ever writes: ‘If lost, please return to Light Yagami’.”

– blogger and retailer Hal Johnson, making a joke that will only be funny to fans of Death Note

“I hate to let people down when it comes to my work, and I hope that everyone understood that my reasons are the best imaginable: we want to stop while we’re doing well. I can’t do it without J. I didn’t realize that until I was faced with the possibility of it. I hadn’t ever considered doing The Spirit without J. and when I did, I realized it was a losing proposition to try. We’d exhausted a search for the right talent and other tangential issues deepened my concern for the ability to keep things on the quality level the Eisner name demands.”

– cartoonist Darwyn Cooke, on the announcement that he and inker J. Bone will leave DC’s The Spirit with Issue 12

“We are NOT contestants. I can’t expect the corporation looking to break into Hollywood with the next big idea to understand that. But I SHOULD be able to expect the people MAKING these comics to understand it.

“We are NOT contestants. You don’t need to ‘win’ your success in some foolish contest where a media corporation dangles a contract over your head. You are a creator. You may not have much, but the one thing you do have (maybe the ONLY thing you do have) is the internal spark that allows you to create a character or a universe out of thin air. If the one thing you have is the dignity of being a creator, why would you give that one thing away so eagerly?”

– cartoonist Scott Kurtz, on contests such as those sponsored by Platinum Studios and DC’s Zuda imprint

“Following extensive research, we discovered The Dandy readers were struggling to schedule a weekly comic into their hectic lives. They just didn’t have enough time. They’re too busy gaming, surfing the net or watching TV, movies and DVDs.”

– editor Craig Graham, on The Dandy‘s change to the biweekly Dandy Xtreme

“We respect the fact that the studio is still calling it Rory’s First Kiss, especially if Batman draws more problems, in terms of crowd control. But, clearly, there’s no sense pretending it’s not a Batman movie.”

– Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, on efforts by Christopher Nolan & Co. to keep shooting of The Dark Knight under wraps

The 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto dropped 30 spots to No. 88 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list, while Tite Kubo’s Bleach, Vol. 20, debuted at No. 111.

Both are published in North America by Viz Media. Naruto, Vol. 15, peaked three weeks ago at No. 53. In August 2006, the eleventh volume climbed as high as No. 21.

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

And while we’re on the subject of Bleach, blogger John Jakala offers suggestions for how fans can fill the five-month gap between the release of volumes 21 and 22.

At Comic-Con, Viz announced Bleach will be serialized in Shonen Jump beginning with the November issue.

Related: Japanese comic rankings for July 24-30

At Comic-Con, Viz Media announced it will preview the popular basketball manga Slam Dunk in the December issue of Shonen Jump, and then release the paperbacks beginning next year. But first the publisher features a brief excerpt of an interview with creator Takehiko Inoue, who discusses, of course, basketball.

In addition to the various San Diego wrap-up stories, this week’s PWCW contains an interview with manga-ka Arina Tanemura, best known in the U.S. for her shojo series Full Moon, Gentlemen’s Alliance+ and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, who was at Comic-Con last week:

PW Comics Week: Your series—Full Moon, Gentlemen’s Alliance+ and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne—are all carried by protagonists who transform back and forth between the girls that they are and the young women that they would like to be. Why are these character transformations important to you as the creator?

Arina Tanemura: I think that all girls want to be young ladies, adults, and I wanted to exaggerate that desire for a little girl to become mature. And I wanted to make it into a romantic story—we usually have to be very patient [to grow up]. I wanted to delete that time so that they can become that dream figure of themselves.

It may simply be a post-Comic-Con malaise, but this seems like a pretty low-key week for comics.

Oh, sure, there are some notable comings and goings: Marvel wraps up its successful Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born miniseries — with three covers and a sketchbook, no less! — while kicking off another installment of Shanna the She-Devil. Dark Horse ends another Conan miniseries. And DC takes another stab at the Metal Men, while welcoming an 89 percent less slutty-looking Supergirl (thanks to a new creative team).

But overall, it feels like we’re well into the middle of things as we trudge toward autumn: another issue of Word War Hulk, another issue of Countdown, and countless trade paperback collections.

For a rundown of the titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just click “more.”

And, as always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Did you know there was a musical based off of the manga Bleach? I certainly didn’t. And it seems to have caught Bleach fan John Jakala by surprise as well. Nevertheless, he’s got links to an FAQ, a YouTube video and the cover of the soundtrack album up on his site.

If that doesn’t sound wierd enough, in the comments section someone notes that a musical has also been made of The Prince of Tennis. Which not only begs the question “why,” but also “why haven’t we tried something like this?” I want to see Spent: the Musical.

While the official unveiling of the armor from the Iron Man movie seemed to cause a stir, the big news of Day 3 came from Dark Horse, which announced a deal with the CLAMP collective to create an original shojo series for release beginning in 2009.

The agreement, which gives Dark Horse its first shojo title, calls for the manga to be released simultaneously in North America, Japan and South Korea. The publisher will release the series in a new format that it calls “mangettes,” 80-page digests that will come out on a monthly schedule.

The four-woman CLAMP team is known for such popular titles as Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, xxxHolic, Legal Drug and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

Vertigo confirmed it will publish a graphic novel from singer-songwriter Neil Young, based on his 2003 album Greendale. He’ll collaborate with writer Joshua Dysart and artist Sean Murphy.

And Marvel unveiled the creative teams for its now three-times-a-month Amazing Spider-Man series.

More Comic-Con coverage:

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The big publishing news of Day Two didn’t come from DC or Marvel, but from Boom! Studios, which announced that writer Mark Waid will join the publisher as editor-in-chief.

Waid, who until recently had been DC-exclusive, will continue to write The Flash and The Brave and the Bold.

“It’s no secret that I’ve been itching for years to step into more of an editorial role in the business and pass along twenty years of accumulated wisdom and creative experience culled both from my successes and my idiot blunders — all of which came with some gift of knowledge,” Waid told Comic Book Resources. “So when Ross [Richie, Boom! Studios Publisher] came to me, handed me the keys to a comic book company, and said, ‘Run it your way’ — there’s no way to pass up an offer like that. Especially because I know the slate of projects it has mapped out for the next year or two, and they’re really jaw-dropping.

The major announcements from Marvel and DC came in the form creative lineups and exclusive agreements.

At the “DC Nation” panel, Executive Editor Dan DiDio revealed that Grant Morrison and JG Jones will tackle the much-touted Final Crisis miniseries. Marvel, meanwhile, named Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi to take over Astonishing X-Men, and Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos to pick up Runaways.

Marvel also announced that writer Marc Guggenheim and writer-artist Phil Jimenez have signed exclusive agreements.

Elsewhere, IDW Publishing announced it has secured the licenses to produce comics based on Doctor Who and Speed Racer, while Viz Media revealed it will release Takehiko Inoue’s popular basketball manga, Slam Dunk, beginning next year.

More Comic-Con coverage:

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Via John Jakala comes news that Viz Media will begin serializing preview Takehiko Inoue’s popular basketball manga Slam Dunk in the December issue of Shonen Jump, and then release the paperbacks starting next year.

The announcement was made today at Comic-Con during Viz’s “Shonen Jump: SJ Evolution!” panel.

Voted the No. 1 manga of all time at last year’s Japanese Media Arts Festival, Slam Dunk originally was serialized from 1990 to 1996 in Weekly Shonen Jump, and then collected in 31 volumes.

It has sold more than 100 million copies in Japan.

Viz also confirmed it will serialize Tite Kubo’s Bleach beginning with the November issue of Shonen Jump.

As Day One of Comic-Con winds down, the big story is shaping up to be the crowds.

Saturday, three-day and four-day passes were sold out even before the doors opened yesterday evening for a typically laid-back Preview Night. Of course, the packed floor and frenzied pace were anything but typical. Apparently, they were a sign of things to come, as late today, convention organizers announced that Friday is sold out, too.

Of course, attendance is hardly the only news coming out of Day One.

On the publishing front, cartoonist Darwyn Cooke revealed that he and inker J. Bone will leave DC’s critically acclaimed The Spirit with Issue 12.

Marvel, meanwhile, announced that Iron Man director Jon Favreau will team up with artist Andi Granov for Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas, a four-issue miniseries set to debut around the time the film is released in May 2008. (The San Diego-exclusive Iron Man trailer seemed to create a buzz, too.)

More Comic-Con coverage:

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In a week dominated by all things Harry Potter, the 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto inched back up two spots to No. 58 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list.

It’s the fourth week of release for the latest volume of the international phenomenon, which climbed as high as No. 53 two weeks ago before slipping to No. 60. In August 2006, the eleventh volume peaked at No. 21.

The first volume of Shiro Amano’s Kingdom Hearts II, which made it to No. 136 last week, fell off the chart.

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

With all the excitement of the looming Comic-Con International, with its usual round of project announcements and exclusive agreements, let’s not forget that new comics come out this week. Like clockwork, or something close to it.

You’d think it would be a quiet week for releases, but Wednesday will see a new issue of All-Star Batman and Robin – only two months or so after the previous issue! — more of World War Hulk and its tie-ins, at least three of Warren Ellis’ creator-owned projects, and the latest installment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8.

For a rundown of the titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just click “more.”

And, as always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Although superhero comics and genre movies and TV shows dominate Comic-Con International, there is a significant manga and anime presence, as publishers like Del Rey, Seven Seas, Tokyopop and Viz and producers and distributors like ADV Films and FUNimation stake their claim in San Diego.

That, of course, means there’s plenty for manga and anime fans to take in during the convention. I won’t be going — I’m on monitor duty at Blog@ Central — but if I were, here are five things I’d likely do:

1. Have books signed by Japanese creators who rarely appear in the United States: This year sees signings by Yoshitaka Amano (Vampire Hunter D) and Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun) at the Dark Horse booth, Arina Tanemura (The Gentlemen’s Alliance †, Full Moon) at the Viz booth, and Ryusuke Hamamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sea Sir Sun) at the Image Comics booth. The Amano and Nightow signings are ticketed events, so grab a Dark Horse employee for details.

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In its third week, the 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s smash-hit Naruto series slipped seven spots to No. 60 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list.

Meanwhile, the first volume Shiro Amano’s Kingdom Hearts II eased to No. 136, up 13 spots from its debut last week. The Tokyopop series is based on the popular Walt Disney/Final Fantasy video game mash-up.

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

Naruto, Vol. 11, climbed as high as No. 21 in August 2006.

In its second week of release, the 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s international phenomenon Naruto has shot to No. 53 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list, up an impressive 54 spots from its debut.

Naruto, Vol. 11, climbed as high as No. 21 in August 2006.

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

The first volume of Shiro Amano’s Kingdom Hearts II, based on the popular Walt Disney/Final Fantasy video game mash-up, squeaked in at No. 149 in its first week.

Chris Butcher has a short preview of Viz’s upcoming, all-in-one volume of Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet, including cover images and a rundown of special bonus features:

Bonus Material:
- Poster Insert, Measuring 7 1/8″ x 20 1/4″, in full colour
- Approximately 12 full colour manga pages. In colour for the first time in North America, and even the Japanese All-in-One edition did not feature these pages in colour!
- Foreword Q&A with TEKKON KINKREET movie director Michael Arias and screenwriter Anthony Weintraub.

This is just-about the best presentation of this material that I can think of, and the material itself is among my favourite manga ever (if not my favourite stuff). I’ve posted about Matsumoto and BLACK & WHITE before, and this September you’re going to to get your opportunity to pick it up for yourself and find out what all the fuss is about. Make sure you do!

Oh, believe me, I plan to.