Waiting for the nausea to pass: In his "Waiting For Tommy" column, Rich Johnston interviews Ian Edginton, who reveals CrossGen's Sojourn will end with Issue 41. Johnston also has a nauseatingly upbeat sitdown with Joe Quesada about how much "arse" Marvel is "kicking." Brace yourselves for that one.

A Hellboy primer: At Movie Poop Shoot's "Comics 101," Scott Tipton turns his eyes to Hellboy.

Catwoman honored: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation honored Catwoman as "Outstanding Comic Book" Saturday at its 15th annual GLAAD Media Awards. Other nominees were The Authority, Gotham Central, How Loathsome and Strangers in Paradise.

Silver Bullet Comic Books has the item, culled from a DC Comics release, which includes this comment from Catwoman writer Ed Brubaker:

"I'm thrilled to see our work on this book once again getting recognized by the outside media, although, personally, I thought that my Gotham Central partners, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, deserved to win for their Renée Montoya arc. But it's great to see a depiction of a normal, loving couple who just happen to both be women getting recognition. Holly and Karon are two of my favorite characters to write, and I'm glad they've struck such a chord with readers, hopefully because of how real they are."

Hammering at Thor: Silver Bullet Comic Books talks to Michael Avon Oeming about taking over as writer of Marvel's Thor, at least for one story arc:

SBC: "Given that Thor is a staple in the Marvel Universe, are there any worries you have about writing the series?"

Oeming: "Besides embarrassing myself, 40+ years of continuity and ruining my chances of ever writing a mainstream book again? Naw ..."

Tales his father told him, Part 2: Yesterday, The Toronto Star spotlighted cartoonist Seth (a k a Gregory Gallant) and his new book, Bannock, Beans And Black Tea. Today, it's The Globe and Mail's turn. But this time the focus is on his father John, whose stories are illustrated in the book:

"A typical anecdote involves Gallant working all day in the local priest's field picking potatoes. At the day's end, the priest's maid gave Gallant and his friend a bowl of cold mashed potatoes for a meal. As he left, Gallant looked into through the priest's window and 'saw just what we expected. There he was seated at a nice table and at its centre was a golden chicken surrounded by roasted potatoes and vegetables.'"

I predict a cease-and-desist letter: In a press release, DebtSmart.com's Scott Bilker trumpets his latest creation -- the Debt Daredevil (TM) online comic:

"I've always thought of myself as a credit-card and debt vigilante, but many radio hosts have referred to me as the Debt Daredevil."

Another day, another distribution deal: Book distributor Source Interlink has been busy, first inking a deal with Marvel and now making an arrangement with eigoMANGA to supply RUMBLE PAK to North American chain stores like Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks. Comic Book Resources has the press release.

The law according to Stan Lee? The Providence (R.I.) Journal (registration required) reports that Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has decided to hang a quote from Stan Lee, of all people, outside his state office building. The infamous quote, "With great power comes great responsibility," will appear on a bronze plaque outside 150 S. Main St.:

"... Lynch's office has become a miniature Spider-Man museum. In one corner is a Spider-Man pillow -- for when his children visit. In another corner hangs a 'bad Hawaiian shirt' bearing a Spider-Man logo -- a present from his criminal division. And on one wall hangs a gift from Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty -- a framed print that portrays Spider-Man swinging on a web, with a silhouette of the State House in the background and the words 'Remember, Patrick . . . with great power comes great responsibility.'

"'Now it's a running joke,' Lynch said, 'because everyone knows I use this.'"

Support group: The Kansas City Star (registration required) spotlights the Kansas City Comic Creators' Network, which just released the second issue of its anthology, Show and Tell.

Checking in on the Tribute: Comic Book Resources talks to Clifford Meth about The Uncanny Dave Cockrum Tribute. Barry Windsor-Smith's name doesn't come up, though.

Coming to a TV near you: Britain's Wakefield Today reports on a new Channel 4 show called Zero to Hero, in which contestants get a chance to live out their superhero fantasy. Comics artist Stewart "Staz" Johnson helps design the costumes:

"Using a range of household junk, or the kind of things lurking at the back of the garage, contestants and designers get together to make an outfit that the would-be new Supermen or Superwomen must wear to complete a task set for a fictitious comic book character.

"Tasks tough enough to challenge a superhero include walking on water, breaking a block of ice and scaling a sheer wall."

Of course, it's only a matter of time before someone swipes this for American TV.

The road to Hellboy: The Arizona Republic runs an LA Times interview with Mike Mignola and Guillermo del Toro about Hellboy's journey from indy comic to $60-million motion picture.

Cat and Mouse: Back at The Village Voice, there's a review of Bob Levin's The Pirates and The Mouse: Disney's War Against The Counterculture, published by Fantagraphics Books.

A growing empire: ADV Manga announced it has acquired 37 new manga titles. Anime News Network has the press release.

Examining Sim's soapbox: The Village Voice reflects on Dave Sim and the end of Cerebus:

"Cerebus's enormous contradictions have alienated it from the comic-book market. To Sim's readers, Cerebus was the satirical story of a talking aardvark in a realpolitik world. To Sim, Cerebus was a soapbox from which to proclaim his beliefs. And, like a true monomaniac, Sim painted himself into a corner, denouncing the Marxist-feminist axis to an increasingly hostile audience."

"O cruel April-time!" At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson wades through April Previews, and tosses in a few snarky comments:

"It's interesting that Marvel is trying to bring back more diverse comics, comics about something other than superheroes, by using superhero characters like Mary Jane to launch a 'new, ongoing teen drama'. Of course, without the Spider-Man tie-in, a significant portion of the Previews market wouldn't give it a second glance."

Hero and heroin? I generally like Mitchell Breitweiser's work well enough, but I thought Greg McElhatton's assessment of the art for Phantom Jack #1 was funny (and fairly accurate):

"On the downside, though, Breitweiser draws people's faces so strangely it's actually distracting. Every time Jack appears, his face is oddly glazed over like he's just injected heroin into his veins a couple of minutes earlier. Adding in strange poses and stances by characters (the Iraqi soldiers dragging Aziz to their death, for instance, seem to be standing on slippery floors that are causing them to involuntarily do the splits) and some bizarre anatomy (the heroin seems to make Jack's neck grow) and the entire comic ends up looking nothing short of odd. In a book that (aside from a certain invisibility power) tries to ground itself in the real world, being unable to draw people is a bit of a hindrance."

Coming of age: Newsarama talks to artist Takeshi Miyazawa about Marvel Age's new Mary Jane series:

"You'll see her life from all perspectives. Whom she hangs out with, how she deals with issues and what sort of emotional ride she goes through when deciding on a prom date. Imagine going back to high school and seeing MJ roaming the halls. It's kinda like that."

I realize I'm nowhere near the target demographic, but I'm actually looking forward to checking out this series.

Technically speaking: For someone who makes his living via his Internet connection, I'm shockingly inept when it comes to the technical aspects of this world wide web. Thankfully, Ron Phillips is not. Last night, he fixed a problem that had been plaguing my blog since I started it in October: I installed Site Meter wrong, so I couldn't view referrals. Everything is working properly now, giving me something new to obsess about.

Out in the cold? ICv2.com reports on the distribution deal between Tokyopop and Diamond, and gets reaction from Cold Cut Distribution, one of several smaller distributors who will be affected by the new arrangement:

"A spokesman for Cold Cut Distribution, one of several distributors directly affected by Tokyopop's decision, told ICv2 that Cold Cut had not been contacted by Tokyopop, but if the reports of a Diamond Tokyopop exclusive were true, 'It would not be a good thing for comic shop retailers.'"

As Franklin Harris points out: "What this spokesman really means is that this is bad news for Cold Cut."

Doom sayers: David Fiore looks at Grant Morrison's rescue of Doom Patrol from the clutches of Paul Kupperberg, and points to a related paper by Marc Singer titled "On Byron Shelley and Crazy Jane: Romanticism and Modernity in the Comics of Grant Morrison." I'm flagging it for more in-depth reading this evening; I recommend you do the same.

Gerber on Hard Times: UnderGroundOnline talks to Steve Gerber about Hard Times, Howard the Duck and the Man-Thing movie.

Importing kidculture, but not as comics: The Washington Post reports on Walt Disney's plans to import a top-selling international comic franchise into the United States -- as prose. Although W.I.T.C.H. comics sell more than 200,000 copies a month in Italy, Disney thinks American girls will prefer "chapter-book storytelling," at least at first. The first two volumes in the series will be introduced next month; a cartoon series is scheduled to debut next year.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... a spokesman? The New York Times (registration required) reports on the new Internet-only advertising campaign for American Express, which features Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman. The first of the Barry Levinson-directed "webisodes" premiered yesterday; the second spot is scheduled to air in May.

A dog's life: Britain's News Shopper covers a Snowy lookalike contest to launch "The Adventures of Tintin at Sea" exhibit at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. (For those not in the know, Snowy is Tintin's dog.) The exhibition includes the oldest existing drawing of Tintin, and an Andy Warhol painting of creator Herge.

Manga uproar: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Scholastic Inc. is pulling Shonen Jump from its list of books sold at school book fairs across the country. The comic had been bought by a fifth-grader at Hillcrest Intermediate School, where the principal was "stunned" by the content which, the article explains, included mild profanity, violence, a swastika, a female character "who asks readers to pick up the next issue to see which 'hot guy' would be the next to die," and cigarette smoking:

"This is a fifth- and sixth-grade building. These are 10- and 11-year-olds. It's against what we're teaching. It's against our DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) and the St. Vincent College prevention program."

Tales his father told him: The Toronto Star spotlights cartoonist Seth (a k a Gregory Gallant), who has created a book of his father's stories called Bannock, Beans And Black Tea. Seth will launch the book tomorrow at The Rivoli in Toronto, along with Chester Brown:

"I'll be reading in a boring manner to an uninterested crowd."

Early Demo: I love "The Making Of ..." documentaries, rough character sketches, early drafts of scripts -- most anything that gives a glimpse into the creative process. That's why I was glad to see Brian Wood link to the above image at his Delphi forum. It was his original idea for the cover of Demo #4. "It wasn't working," he writes, "so Becky came up with a much better concept." You can see Becky Cloonan's final cover here.

British comics duo still the rage: The Guardian reports on the popularity in France of classic British comic strip characters Blake and Mortimer, who are part of an exhibit at Paris' Musée de l'Homme:

"For generations of French-speaking children, Blake and Mortimer would have been their first contact with British culture. If readers were to believe the comic book, Brits wear tweeds, sport David Nivenesque moustaches and smoke pipes on every available occasion.

"Our heroes share a flat on Park Lane -- never a hint as to whether they have girlfriends or wives -- and have a faithful Oriental servant named Nasir who served under Blake in the war (yes, there's more than a whiff of colonialism in Blake and Mortimer adventures)."

Hell of a contest: Dark Horse has photos of the top winners from its Hellboy store-display contest. Good stuff. I just wish more retailers displayed such marketing savvy (and design sense) on a regular basis.

Interesting bedfellows: Tokyopop and Diamond Comic Distributors have struck a deal making Diamond the exclusive distributor of the publisher's English-language graphic novels to the North American direct market. And this should make retailers happy:

"In addition, Diamond has elected to raise the discount it offers its retailer customers on TOKYOPOP's titles. Effective with items in the March 2004 Previews, all TOKYOPOP items will be sold to Diamond customers at an "E" discount, up to 50% off. The same discount applies to all in-stock merchandise, beginning with orders placed after March 31."

Mr. Toad's wild ride: At Salon.com (click-through ad), Hilary Flower opens the Great Illustrated Classics edition of The Wind in the Willows, and discovers a childhood favorite has been Disneyfied. And don't get her started about Winnie the Pooh:

"If the Great Illustrated Classic of The Wind in the Willows is actually faithful to anything, that would be the many animated versions that have spun off from Grahame's book over the years. When Disney ate Milne's treasure, the evidence was everywhere. There are the trademark cartoon figures; there is the text that retells the popular cartoon more than Milne's stories. Fittingly, the Disney versions are to be found under 'D' in our library's children's section. Under 'M' you may, if you are lucky, find The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh, by Milne himself, intact and full of their original wit.

"But the Disneyfication of The Wind in the Willows is more insidious. Because, as Evil Clones are wont to do, Disney's Toad has gone back to wipe out the original, replace it with himself and cover his tracks. Only those who know to poke around will discern the plunder, and by that time the real treasure may be long gone. When our library's vintage copies of The Wind in the Willows finally wear out, the Great Illustrated Classic, with its sturdy library binding will be all that's left. And the only hint of the desecration will be the ambiguous but friendly 'adapted by' bit on the title page. We'll find Mole sick of cleaning. Toad flinging horrid little wagons. Mole sitting in his chair with a bubble of Badger over his head. Cleansed of 'divine discontent and longing,' bereft of 'poetry of motion,' with Mole never taking time out to smell Home, Little Portly neither lost nor found, and no Pan pipes to be forgotten by Rat or reader. Greatly diluted and poorly illustrated 'classics' will be the literary legacy left to our children."

The superhero question: At Ninth Art, Paul O'Brien takes a slightly different look at the old "Why do superheroes dominate comics" debate:

"The reason why the North American comics audience is overrun with fans of the superhero genre is quite simple: where else are they going to get those stories? Yes, there's a handful of TV shows and the occasional film. And there are some novels. But for the most part, those are just spin-offs of the comics. Comics have always been the driving force behind the genre.

"So if you're a fan of the superhero genre, naturally you will come to comics for your fix. You really have no alternative. This is the medium where all the important stuff is happening - for that genre. Comics attract these readers because they have a unique status as a destination for people who want those stories. That status isn't merely historical. It still reflects the position across the media as a whole - superheroes don't exclusively mean comics, but they primarily mean comics. More casual audiences may be satisfied with the occasional film or TV show. But the fan will come to comics.

"Like it or not, this is one of comics' major unique selling points. They do superheroes better, and more, than pretty much anyone else. It's their home turf."

"Marvel has ... sold us out": At ICv2.com, retailer Rick Keefe responds to news of Marvel's bookstore-distribution deal with Source Interlink. Needless to say, he isn't happy:

"I find it ridiculous that we as an industry decided to move Free Comic Book Day to time with the release of Spider-Man 2, a Marvel movie, when Marvel is willing to take the bread and butter of comic book stores away and pass it off to the corporate chains.

"I feel no need to support Marvel in the way that I have been in the past. Their decision just doubled or tripled or quadrupled the number of competitors that I and other independent comic specialty shops have to work against. It is a clear signal to me that Marvel DOES NOT have our best interests at heart."

A long and winding history: South Africa's Pretoria News touches on the 75-year history of Tintin, including the accusations of racism against creator Hergé:

"Hergé has rightly been accused of racial stereotyping, and it is noteworthy that Tintin's early Congolese adventures found little favour in later years.

"Yet, his close relations with such people as the Sioux of North America, or his long friendships with Chang, the inspiration for Tintin's Chinese adventures, suggest that much of the politically incorrect depictions were in response to the medium - the comic strip - rather than a dislike of, or contempt for, other peoples."

Manga, with a hip-hop beat: The Orlando Sentinel reports on Ahmed Hoke, a graffiti artist who tried his hand at drawing superheroes, but got nowhere fast. So, he turned to manga. Now he has a 158-page graphic novel called @Large, with plans for more volumes:

"Manga is great for me because it allows me the freedom to take the characters anywhere I want. I'm not trying to compare to American comics, but manga is a story. It's thicker, so you tell more of a story."

Daily dose of Pekar: Hm. We haven't had a Harvey Pekar story in a while. So, here's the University of Minnesota's student newspaper covering a book-signing.

Battling bullies: The London Free Press reports on a 20-year-old college student who has produced an anti-bullying comic book called Misadventures of Bully-Boy and Rumourgirl, to be distributed to Ottawa elementary schools.

Batman meets the werewolf (sort of): Comic Book Resources talks to Sam Kieth about Scratch, his upcoming five-issue miniseries for DC starring a werewolf named Scratch. Oh, yeah. Batman makes an appearance, too:

"It's the typical thing with these things. We've got a Led Zepplin here and if we stick Batman in, then it may not go down quite so quickly. I'm being sarcastic, really. I have to warn people, though, that Batman doesn't appear until the last issue, so, you should basically avoid the first four issues and just buy the last issue. I tell ya, we shoulda reversed it! We should have made the first issue the last issue, but of course it doesn't make any sense that way. Well, it doesn't make any sense, anyway!"

"By the time I finished [Scratch], and in fact my next project is a Batman project for DC, I was talking to Dan Didio and he said, 'It might have gone a little better for you if we'd come out with Batman, first.' It's basically a Werewolf book that Batman shows up in. It's not really a Batman book.

"I tell ya, if I drew Batman now, I'd totally draw him differently. I'd draw him super-realistically, because I think I've gotten so weird that I'm just taxing people's patients. That I'm getting so weird that even I don't know what to make of it anymore. It would be nice to get back to normal.

"That's not a good endorsement for a book, to talk about how far off course you've gotten is it? Go out and buy the first issue because by the fifth issue I'd pretty much had it!"

Churning out Garfield: The Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune profiles local resident Gary Barker, who has drawn Garfield since 1983. Yeah, I know it comes as a shock to everyone that Jim Davis doesn't draw his own strip.

Batman adventure: WTNH Channel 8 in Connecticut spotlights 13-year-old Ansonia resident Patrick Ugas, who will appear in an issue of Batman Adventures after winning a contest sponsored by DC Comics and Tang.

Review revue, Part 2: Johnny Bacardi gives a rundown of The Losers #10 and Hellboy: The Corpse one-shot, among others, while at Near-Mint Heroes, Shane offers quick-hit reviews of more books than you can shake a stick at.

Review revue, Part 1: The Science Fiction Crows Nest reviews Titan Books' The Matrix Comics and DC Comics' The Adam Strange Archives Volume 1.

Hollywood appeal: The Toronto Star tracks the history and allure of comics-based films, and turns to Toonopedia's Don Markstein and Comics2Film's Rob Worley for some insight:

"Ultimately, I think fans use pretty much the same criteria as everybody else. If the movie is good, it does good box office. If it falls short, so does the take."

Comics as art: The Pittsburg (Kan.) Morning Sun talks to David Beach, who is displaying part of his comic-book collection at Labette Community College's Hendershot Gallery in Parsons:

"What really makes a good cover artist or comic book artist is the detail they put into it. Some of the best artists would actually go out and take pictures, so they could see the buildings and where the telephone poles were, and draw the scene in the correct perspective and detail. The good ones wouldn't just schlock up a picture, they would try to make it art worthy, so you could get a sense of the story and the tension inside. That is what would make it attractive to buy and see what's going on."

Ultimate cover story: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, artist Mark Bagley addresses the problem of those annoyingly generic Ultimate Spider-Man covers:

"They’ve been bugging me for a while also. At first, the idea was to use a Spidey figure incorporated with a photo background. Very soon though, that became unwieldy and we started doing the poster shots. For quite a while I didn’t trust the cover colorist to do much more than a single figure and a simple background, but now that Richard Isanove has come aboard - he is really something special - I’m really trying to add more elements to the coves and to make them more reflective of the book’s contents."

Tough times for animators: The Arizona Republic carries a great article by LA Times writer Lynell George about how shifts in the animation industry have led to the elimination of some 1,000 jobs in Southern California in the past three years:

"The success of Disney and Pixar's Toy Story changed everything -- hand-drawn was out, CG was in. Recent poor showings for hand-drawn projects with high hopes -- Looney Toons: Back in Action and Treasure Planet -- haven't helped matters. Although the new technology created new jobs, they were neither numerous enough nor technically suited to the skills of established traditional animators. Ink and paint people are told that they can make the tech transition but most in-town productions want animators with lots of experience, says Bronwen Barry, a clean-up artist and 'in-betweener' who has served on the animators union executive board for more than a decade. 'Although it's nice for the resume,' Barry says, 'it's not the lifeboat that people thought it would be.'"

Memo from MegaCon: The Washington Times' Joseph Szadkowski reports from MegaCon, where he found few publishers, but many creators and fans:

"At first, I was disturbed by the lack of heavyweight comic-book publishers at the year's first major comic-book convention. There was just one large display, by CrossGen Entertainment, and a booth from Antarctic Press, but that did not stop an avalanche of sequential-art luminaries from attending. Fans in the know could find stars such as Wonder Woman artist Phil Jimenez, cover creator extraordinaire Kaare Andrews, Daredevil artist-writer David Mack and golden-age Flash artist Harry Lampert hanging out at tables, ready to do a sketch or sign a book."

The art of MAUS: Australia's The Age previews "Art Spiegelman: MAUS," an exhibit of original artwork from the Pulitzer Prize-winning tale being shown at The Jewish Museum of Australia.

Internet porn law struck down: A federal appeals court has overturned a Virginia law that limited the online display of sexually explicit material to minors, saying the measure imposed an unconstutional burden on protected speech. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was among the plaintiffs in the case. The Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press has the story.

CrossGen in court: Broken Frontier reports that former CrossGen-exclusive penciler and inker Andy Smith has sued the publisher in Small Claims Court for money owed to him:

"Trust me, I’ve said this and I mean it from the bottom of my heart: I don’t want to see CGE go down, I don’t want to see the doors close. I just want to see Mark Alessi out of there because I believe he’s the one that ran the place into the ground. He loves to spew that CGE is in the shape it’s in because of other people, but, in my view, it’s not because of other people. He didn’t listen to anybody. The most he knew about comics when he opened the doors was what he knew as a fanboy that read comics. That’s it. That’s what he knew. If it was me, I’d have hired people that knew the business, which he did, but then I’d listen to them, but he didn’t listen to them. So the company is in the position that it’s in now, money-wise, because of him and nobody else.

"All people who remained after the layoffs had their salaries cut. I was switched from penciling back to inking, even though I'd been promised a new book to pencil, and had $27,000 cut from my yearly salary. We were all told that absolutely everybody in the building took a pay cut. I think Mark referred to it as 'sharing the pain' in one meeting. But I've since learned for a fact that wasn’t true. At least one creator didn't take any pay cut, and some administrative people actually received raises."

Law enforcement: IDW Publishing has announced it will publish all-new adventures of Will Eisner's John Law, although the series will be produced by Gary Chaloner. Here's what Eisner has to say:

"The launching of the John Law series by Gary Chaloner represents a very important episode in my career. After all, it is most unusual for a character created so long ago to be given new life in the hands of someone so able as Gary."

Stealth "Breakdowns": Chris Allen sneaked in his "Breakdowns" column at Movie Poop Shoot. I could've sworn I looked for it yesterday, and it wasn't there. That's it; I'm joining the mailing list.

DC, by the numbers: At The Pulse, Marc-Oliver Frisch works his magic with DC Comics' sales estimates for February, noting that crossovers and shakeups of the status quo seem to be working wonders for the publisher. He also takes a look at a handful of non-DC titles, just for good measure.

"Place Ultimates ... in the dumpster": At ICv2.com, New Jersey retailer Ilan Strasser doesn't have much faith in Marvel's plan to wait to solicit Vol. 2 of The Ultimates until four issues are complete:

"As far as I'm concerned, Marvel can just place the Ultimates title in the dumpster and leave it there. Marvel now says they won't solicit the title again until they have a story arc in the can - so what? After that first 4 to 6 issue trade paperback is completed, how long will it take for Volume 2 of the book to become as pathetically sporadic as the first volume was?"

Award-winning lines: The Nashville Tennessean profiles Lipscomb University junior Nate Creekmore, who recently won a Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for his comic strip, Maintaining.

Intro to anime: The Cleveland Plain Dealer previews a local manga and anime convention, and provides a bit of a primer on the subjects.

Quantum leap: The Queens Chronicle talks to local comic book creator Philip Clark, who is self-publishing a 12-issue series called Quantum: Rock of Ages.

Phantom success: Nashville City Paper profiles local artist Mitchell Breitweiser, who illustrates Image Comics' Phantom Jack:

"I've pretty much known from the start that I wanted to be an artist, and that led me to doing comic art. And with comics, you aren't really limited - comics can be anything from a superhero story to a fantasy story to a real world story like Phantom Jack. I was fascinated that I had the chance to one day be drawing a scene out of Times Square in New York City and the next day I could be drawing a space scene with aliens and space ships blowing each other up. It's just a really cool aspect of the medium, there's a total variety."

30 Days of Niles: The Kansas City Star (registration required) talks to "one-man cottage industry" Steve Niles about creating 30 Days of Night, and the release of Return to Barrow. Niles will appear at this weekend's Planet Comicon.

CD art as metaphor: Atlanta's Southern Voice talks to the Indigo Girls about same-sex marriage and their new album, which features cover and interior-booklet illustrations by comic book artist Jaime Hernandez:

"Saliers describes the odd Hernandez-drawn storyline in the booklet, which involves a woman who plants statues from outer space in the desert, as 'a metaphor for the beautiful miracles the universe can provide.'

"'The cover art is this woman on a pipe, but to me, it is a balance between nature and the destruction of nature,' she says."

Teaching comics as literature: The San Diego Union Tribune spotlights Palomar College professor Rocco Versaci, whose "Comic Books as Literature" class focuses on such works as American Splendor, Ethel & Ernest and Summer of Love:

"Many people tend to dismiss comics as lowbrow and juvenile, but in fact comics are a complicated format that can express ideas, create characters, address issues, and tell stories in ways unmatched by other forms, such as literature and film. ... Because comics are both textual and visual, they can explore the rich ground upon which these two means of expression collide."

Shipping shocker, Part 2: Are you sitting down? Good. NYX #4 has been rescheduled again, moving from its old rescheduled release date of April 7 to its new rescheduled release date of April 14. I say Marvel should just call issues #1-3 "Vol. 1," then resolicit #4 as "Vol. 2" sometime later, when several issues are in the can, a la The Ultimates.

Ultimate Six #7 also is on the late list, rescheduled for April 14. I apparently haven't been paying attention, because I thought that miniseries ended a long time ago. Oh, yeah: The Ultimates #13 now is coming out March 31. Supposedly.

Juggling schedules: Spider-Man 2 has been moved to a June 30 release "to take full-advantage of the Fourth of July holiday period." Of course, that decision creates a little problem for Free Comic Book Day, which was scheduled for July 3 to coincide with the film's release.

Distribution deal: Source Interlink, "the nation's largest distributor to major bookstore chains and independent retailers," has signed a deal with Marvel to distribute comics to some 8,000 stores in North America, including Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks. Here's Interlink's president and COO James Gillis:

"The distribution of comic book publishing provides us with an additional strong growth opportunity. This agreement reflects our commitment to expand our core specialty distribution market beyond magazine publications. Marvel serves as the leading comic book publisher, and we are excited to effectively broaden the reach of Marvel's popular characters and plot lines to the specialty market."

Slott hulks out: UnderGroundOnline talks with writer Dan Slott (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell) about the new She-Hulk series:

"Well, off the bat I can promise that she is not going back to her savage persona. And I can also promise that we're going to keep the 'fourth wall' firmly in place. John Byrne did a fantastic job with that spin on the character during his runs on Sensational She-Hulk. It'd be foolish to try to Xerox that success. This book is going to be its own thing: in current continuity, but totally different from any other Marvel book out there. She-Hulk is about to enter the bizarre field of Superhuman Law. She's going to try cases in a world where time-travel, androids, and alien invasions are common place. These cases will be the springboard for action, adventure, and (hopefully) a little comedy. For example, in #2, a man is going to file a class action suit against the laboratory that caused his superhuman 'origin.' Issue #3 focuses on a ghost that wants to testify in his own murder trial. This new She-Hulk book is going to feature bizarre stories with its own unique voice."

Retailer worries: At ICv2.com, another retailer voices concerns about Free Comic Book Day, because of the date and the absence of Bongo comics:

"For us, as for him, Simpsons and related comics are one of our top sellers, and it'll hurt not to be able to pump them on FCBD. And about the date -- don't get me wrong -- my store will definitely participate, and we'll do all we can to do what we can with what we get. Still I can't help feeling a sort of resignation to the fact that it just won't be like it has been in the past."

Para trooper: Also at Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim O'Shea talks with Stuart Moore about Para, and his regular "A Thousand Flowers" column at Newsarama.

Looney tune: I've commented before on "Zack S." and his terribly unfunny column at Silver Bullet Comic Books. Lately his shtick has been fictitious interviews with comics creators. But this week, Mr. S. turns his attention to what ails the comics industry. Oh, how I long for the days of bad, made-up Q&A's. Here are some of the highlights:

"Diamond Distributors, the Halliburton of the comic industry, puts out the Market Shares for comics every month. Why did I just call them the Halliburton of the comic industry, you ask? For a couple reasons: they pretty much run the whole damn show here in comic Iraq, and trying to get a straight answer regarding money from them is like trying to get rednecks to stop breeding, it ain’t going to happen. Okay it’s not just Diamond that hides the numbers, the publishers don’t make any effort either. So, here’s the main question we got to ask, how the hell are we suppose to believe you? Every week thousands of fans fork over a good chunk of money, the industry claims to be poor, and at the end of every month they put out a guess as to what they’re making. This makes sense how? Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t."

"Okay, number five on this list is Tokyopop, I’m going to try to hold back my laughter long enough to get through this. I’ve got a news flash people, Manga is not the solution to breaking free of the super-hero mold. Not as many people as you think take Manga seriously. Think about it, why should they? The dialogue is usually garbage, the art all looks the same, and the cookie cutter stories are just plain retarded."

"Now we have to look at the top selling comics. Remember, I’m doing this to help you. I’m not trying to make you look like the lying sack of shit you are, I’m merely opening your tired little eyes to the truth. I figure there’s plenty of people out there telling you all this shit, but why listen to them, they’re all on the inside."

"Two X-Men books, two greedy attempts to cash in on older stories, one book with two of the biggest characters in all of super-hero land, and one book by one of the richest writers in the industry. Damn, could you imagine if comic book fans were in charge of the civil rights movements? 'Equal rights for all! Black and Whites can live together, we’re all human! Hey, is that nigger drinking out of my water fountain?' Lazy ass hypocrites."

"Oh yeah, you know those Graphic Novels everyone’s always talking about? The books that are going to save the industry. They’re in bookstores, more people are inclined to buy them, more diversity, blah blah. The number one selling GN in the month of February, New X-Men Vol. 6. You’re just sucking the fat cock of hypocrisy all the way back to your childhood fantasies, aren’t you?"

I'm guessing since the pale "You'll All Be Sorry" imitation didn't set the world on fire, Mr. S. is going for the scattershot Let's Try to Piss Everyone Off approach. Good luck with that.

"I would like to flee like a wounded hart ..." Sorry. I was channeling Oscar Wilde for a second. Anyway, The Arkansas City Traveler reports that Arkansas City is using "See ya in da funnies" as the theme of its big Arkalalah celebration, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the "first published comic book":

"I went on the Internet to find things going on, to find a big anniversary. Somewhere, I found that the first published comic book was 100 years ago."

I think it's great the city wants to give a nod to comic books, and far be it for me to question the information someone found on the Internet. But I'm not sure what this would be the 100th anniversary of. The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, published in 1842, often is considered the first comic book published in the United States. The Yellow Kid, widely (and perhaps erroneously) thought to be America's first comic, appeared in 1894-95. Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies appeared in 1933-34.

So, am I missing a 100-year comics landmark that the good people of Arkansas City have uncovered? What was the big comics event of 1904?

Retailer spotlight: The Contra Costa Times in California profiles local retailer Dr. Comics and Mr. Games which, its owners say, has a "fair amount" of female customers -- who make a beeline for the manga racks.

A life less animated: The Los Angeles Times (registration required) looks at life for anime illustrators in Japan, where starting pay can be less than $500 a month:

"Despite the huge popularity of the industry and its growing cachet internationally, even big studios typically pay recruits between $1,200 and $1,800 a month. Their counterparts in Tokyo office jobs earn up to twice as much, including benefits such as subsidized accommodation and train passes. Even convenience-store work pays $8 an hour."

Back from the dead: The Seattle Times examines the growing popularity of zombies in film, video games and comics:

"This ain't a Psych 101 primer, but we'll let you pick our brains: Zombies are easier for monster-jaded audiences to buy into than other types of overfamiliar or preposterous menaces. They're just people, and maybe people you know, turned into mindless, inexorable things who don't just want to kill you, but devour your flesh. There are subtler fears, such as being absorbed into a group, and the original Dawn's satiric warning of idiot consumerism. But take that folkloric fear of the undead which has always run through ghost stories, add the species-deep terror of being eaten, throw in a helping of apocalyptic dread, and you've got yourself a horror subgenre with legions of slack-jawed fans."

Have pen, will travel: The San Francisco Chronicle profiles cartoonist/rapper Keith Knight (The K Chronicles), who's about to start an eight-city book tour for his book Red, White, Black & Blue: A (th)ink Anthology.

Local legends: The Kansas City Star (registration required) previews this weekend's Planet Comicon convention, which will feature local creators like Bruce Jones and B. Clay Moore.

All the world's a stage: The New Haven (Conn.) Advocate spotlights playwrights-turned-comics writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Marvel Knights' 4) and Colin Mitchell (Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach).

Dead man talking: CHUD.com talks to Robert Kirkman about the success of The Walking Dead:

"I think if The Walking Dead has done anything, it really has told people that I can do more than the goofy superhero type stuff. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on the range that The Walking Dead shows, because it’s completely different than anything I’ve ever done. I think it shows people that I can do a serious drama, because everything that I’ve written before The Walking Dead had some level of comedy in it. I think The Walking Dead is not funny in the least.

"As for effect ... The Walking Dead sales figures started going up with issue three, and we’ve gained sales on each issue after that. Just recently Invincible sales figures have gone up as well. I don’t know if that’s because people are reading The Walking Dead and come over to Invincible, or whether it’s the word of mouth that’s being generated from both books. But I can definitely see how the success of The Walking Dead is helping my other projects."

The law of the jungle: The Supreme Court has let stand a lower-court ruling that leaves the copyright of the art in the Tarzan books with the Burroughs estate, not with the heirs of artist Burne Hogarth, who had created illustrated versions of Tarzan of the Apes and Jungle Tales of Tarzan in the 1970s. The Washington Times has a brief story. (Link via Comics Worth Reading.)

Ass-chaffing comics: New York Press columnist Hiroshi, who routinely writes about gaming and comics, takes a swipe at Marvel's Ultimate line in the latest issue:

"I’m not sure how many people reading this are comic book fans, or how many are fans of the vintage Marvel days, but the Ultimate Marvel line chaffs my ass. Granted, they’re well-made, but how many times are they going to remake the characters? Reading Bendis’ turn on both Ultimate Spiderman and Fantastic Four just made me think he could write this stuff in his sleep. I know that recreating iconic characters is a tempting idea for writers (and highly profitable), but I wish movie studios, tv producers and comic companies would stop doing it."

Shipping shocker! We may not have The Ultimates to kick around anymore, but we still have NYX and Wolverine: The End. Diamond informs us that the latest issues are being rescheduled. Again.

Questions and answers: Alan David Doane has "Five Questions" for cartoonist Peter Bagge.

Peanuts, revisited: New York's Newsday reports on the serious re-examination of Charles Shulz and Peanuts, represented by the wave of books dedicated to the cartoonist and his creation. Seth, who is designing The Complete Peanuts series for Fantagraphics, talks about Schulz's appeal:

"Schulz managed to infuse so much of his personality into the work. A lot of newspaper strips -- there's been some good ones over the years, but mostly they fall short of being a real artistic expression. Schulz took it to a different level. His style totally suited the content, and he had an eccentric sense of humor and a melancholy personality that were just perfect for what he was doing. He gave Peanuts real depth and human feeling."

Author, graphic designer and comics fan Chip Kidd also is interviewed.

Ohio's comics center: At UnderGroundOnline, Rich Watson's "Small Press Nation" spotlights Columbus, Ohio, home of Ferret Press, Mid-Ohio Con and next month's Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE).

Ultimate cancellation? The long-running joke about the chronic lateness of The Ultimates has come to an end, at least for now. Last night, Marvel announced it is officially pulling the series from its schedule, but will relaunch the second volume once six issues are complete. Comic Book Resources has the press release.

Captain Marvel: The End: On his blog, Peter David confirms the end of Captain Marvel with Issue 25, and a return to the Hulk, at least in miniseries form. (Heads up via Fanboy Rampage.)

A bargain at twice the price: I just got the latest mailing from the Quality Paperback Book club, which offers Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in softcover for $5.99 (regular club price: $11.99).

Bracing for the invasion: Newsarama talks to Allan Jacobsen, co-writer of the upcoming Invaders relaunch. I'm worried:

"Basically, this is a story about a group of Idealists who are willing to go beyond borders to do what they believe is right. That being said, I want to be clear that this isn't a book about hate, and it isn't about disrespecting any real-world culture. It's about breaking down barriers the barriers that we've built between ourselves and inspiring disparate cultures to unite against a common threat."

"The new series has a different focus. There is a common enemy/threat that holds the new series together---an extension of what the Invaders battled in the original series, but more universal."

"Captain America – Well - 'a' Captain America. Wait and see. This character was part of the Invaders project before I came along. I admit I was hesitant at first about precisely how he fit in. After writing Invaders #1, he has quickly become one of my favorites. This is a man passionate about his commitment to his personal beliefs. Fiercely pro-soldier, though not necessarily pro-war. He's complex and extremely compelling to write."

Okay, if the new Invaders is a covert, "pro-active" quasi-military group -- featuring USAgent -- that hunts down superhuman terrorists, I'm going to ... to ... Eh, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my room reading tattered copies of Roy Thomas' old series.

Review revue: Johanna Draper Carlson updates Comics Worth Reading with reviews of Iron Wok Jan!, Soulcatcher #1, and others.

Johnny Bacardi reviews a handful of comics, including DC: The New Frontier #3 and Lucifer #48.

Slow learner: You'd think I'd learn to stop blogging on weekends, and save everything for predictably slow Mondays. But I never learn. So, while this day creeps and crawls along, go here to start reading some fine weekend blogging (including a WizardWorld LA news summary, and a breakdown of Marvel's June solicitations).

The shipping news: Previews Review updates with a rundown of comics shipping this week:

"TRES FANTA this week, a new POPBOT a few weeks back, my but Ashley Wood has been busy lately, hmm?"

Best of both worlds: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim O'Shea talks to Colleen Coover about the adult Small Favors and the all-ages Banana Sunday.

Comics piracy: At Ninth Art, Bulent Yusuf ponders the ethics of comics file-sharing:

"But how should you feel about this rampant orgy of electronic larceny? Probably the same conflicting emotions that come with downloading music. In the eyes of the law, you'll have wilfully ignored the intellectual property rights of another person or company. Thanks to the internet, the opportunity is there, and, short of having a policeman standing over your shoulder while you use your computer, there's no way you can get caught."

Le boin boin: On Saturday, a BBC News correspondent in Tokyo discovered manga. Now its Paris bureau is reporting on manga's inroads into France, where it accounts for 30 percent of the country's comic book market:

"Though the dialogue is mostly translated into French, real connoisseurs know that the words 'boin boin' signifies the bouncing of a character's breasts, while 'bashi bashi' is the sound of someone being hit on the head."

Complex questions: The St. Petersburg Times wonders whether television mysteries have gotten too complicated for viewers to solve. In its search for answers, the newspaper interviews comics writer-turned-TV writer Gerry Conway, who's now on the staff of Law & Order: Criminal Intent:

"For my mother, (traditional mysteries) were like comfort food for the mind -- she was able to sit down with characters she enjoyed, like Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher. Now we're dealing with an audience that expects a sense of novelty from moment to moment. It's the difference between sitting down to dinner and getting on a roller coaster."

Picking through Deadwood: This doesn't have anything to do with comics, but I'm a big fan of the Western (good Westerns, not those of, say, the Hopalong Cassidy variety). The New York Times (registration required) has a good, if brief, interview with David Milch about his new series Deadwood, which premieres tonight at 10 Eastern on HBO.

The Magazine also looks at how film and television repeatedly resurrect and transform the genre:

"Set in the mid-1870's in a bloody Dakota Terrritory settlement where prospectors rush to claw the gold from sacred lands belonging to the Sioux, Deadwood is relentlessly obscene, overwhelmingly pessimistic and meticulously depraved. It's the brainy, complex feel-bad series of the year, and every year needs one, at least on cable TV. Its good guys are bad, its bad guys are good and its medium guys are both and neither."

The WizardWorld report: Comic Book Resources, Newsarama and The Pulse all report from WizardWorld LA with varying degrees of completeness and success. I'll wade through all the nonsense so you won't have to:

* The long-rumored return of Rob Liefeld to X-Force comes to pass this summer with a six-issue miniseries written by fellow '90s refugee Fabian Nicieza. The Pulse has an interview with Liefeld, and a preview of some of the art. Now taking bets on the completion date for the series ...

* At his "Cup of Joe" panel, Joe Quesada made it known that Runaways and Captain Marvel are in danger of cancellation, and that we should expect more solo mutant books (which is, of course, just what the world needs). Quesada also made his annual promise that we'd see J. Michael Straczynski's Dr. Strange series later this year. CBR has the most coherent story.

* Comments were made about timing and similarity in titles between DC's Identity Crisis and Marvel's Identity Disc. Jeph Loeb referred to the Marvel miniseries as "Identity Diss," to which Joe Quesada responded, "What would Jeph know?" Oscar Wilde, eat your heart out. Newsarama has those oh-so-witty remarks.

* In the "This Is News?" category, Brian Michael Bendis announced he'll be exclusive with Marvel at least through 2006 (a deal that excludes his creator-owned work). He spoke obliquely about the "Avengers Disassemble" storyline, but said that Allan Heinberg, writer of Fox TV's The O.C., will pen a second Avengers title. Bendis also announced that Robert Kirkman will take over Captain America (although Kirkman says it's just for four issues), while Mark Ricketts will write Iron Man. CBR and Newsarama have the best reports.

* Marvel's panels certainly didn't produce any earth-shaking news, but they still came across as more exciting than the DC session, which seems to have been concerned with minor housekeeping matters such as guest appearances and confirmation of release dates. Among the titles mentioned were a relaunched Books of Magic series called Life During Wartime, The Witching and Grant Morrison's Vimanarama. Again, CBR and Newsarama have the best reports.

* The Pulse talks to Sean McKeever about the previously announced Mary Jane series for Marvel Age: "It’s not going to be a 'shiny, happy' series, but we want to strictly avoid the whole 'very special episode' vibe."

Women in tights: The Edmonton Journal talks female superheroes with scholar and author Lillian Robinson, whose book Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes hits stores this week:

"Over the last 30 years, feminists have raised questions about all aspects of society -- religion, education, psychology, health, literature. There are no sacred cows. ... We've been free to challenge everything except superheroes, which are treated as icons."

Whither the Good Ol' Days? The Times of India laments the passing of time and the changing of tastes -- primarily the decreased popularity of comics staples like the Phantom, Archie and Superman:

"Gone are the days when people used to wait for the Sunday paper to read the adventures of Phantom. Nor are these the days when kids pester their parents to buy them Amar Chitra Katha and Archie comics to pass time during summer vacation? TV toons have taken over the world of comics. Though many book sellers and publishers say there has not been a drastic drop in comic sales, they all agree that cartoons on TV have definitely made a dent into the comics market."

What's this manga of which you speak? BBC News discovers manga, notably yaoi, and cosplay parties:

"Yaoi is all about two men, in love, having sex, and a lot of girls are desperately wanting a love relationship. But those two men are not attracted because they are gay - that's the key point. They are attracted because they are in love with each other. I think a lot of women who read Yaoi Doujinshi, are interested in sex, but also they are rejecting their sexuality as well."

Love it or leave it: Mike Sterling has some funny comments about American Power, CrossGen's jingoistic offering for Free Comic Book Day.

Come on baby, cover me: I haven't seen a Marvel Comics cover I've liked in ... well, a long time. The Jemas-mandated move to "iconic" covers in which the characters strike a pose better suited for convention sketches ran out of juice sometime back. Much has been made of the lack of variety (and flavor) in Ultimate Spider-Man covers; it's gotten to the point that the casual reader can't be certain which issue he's picking up. The other Spider-books aren't much better. I mean, how many "iconic" shots of Spider-Man swinging out over the city toward the reader can we take?

But I don't come to bury Marvel's covers; I come to praise Kaare Andrews' cover for the clunky-titled Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #1 (shown above). Sure, it's essentially a pin-up, with Doc Ock -- the dumpy, geeky Doc Ock, not the recently redesigned Matrix clone -- glaring out at us. However, Andrews injects a sense of humor and menace, by depicting what I presume is a young, cherubic Octavius (is that his name?), proudly gripping a beaker, and standing within the clutches of the adult Octavius' mechanical tentacles.

That image by itself would make a cover stronger than most any other Marvel has published in recent months. But Andrews adds another element, another layer: He sets the two Doc Ocks against the background of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. I have no interest in the story of Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #1, but I must have that cover.

Now, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. Marvel released its solicitations for June yesterday afternoon, instead of the customary Monday at noon.

With the second Spider-Man movie opening July 3, it comes as no surprise that Marvel floods the shelves with six new Spider-books (that's in addition to the five it already had, plus myriad Marvel Age titles). Among them is Powerless, a six-issue series that explores what Peter Parker, Matt Murdock and Logan would've done if they didn't have superhuman powers. Alex Maleev's depiction of Logan on the cover makes me wonder why Marvel doesn't just advertise, "And starring Hugh Jackman as Logan!" (Yeah, yeah. I know. Money, contracts, legalities, blah, blah. I was just kidding, anyway).

Marvel's also taking full advantage of Brian Michael Bendis' heralded relaunch of The Avengers, with supposed tie-ins and guest appearances in no less than six books.

Speaking of glut, Marvel figures it'll exploit Joss Whedon's Hollywood profile by issuing an Astonishing X-Men #1 Director's Cut. A director's cut? As if that's not enough, there's a variant cover! Come on!

Other items of note:

* Ultimate Fantastic Four #7-8 -- Warren Ellis takes over
* Mary Jane #1 -- Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa launch a new Marvel Age aimed at girls that might actually be of interest to girls; this could be a Marvel first
* Amazing Fantasy #1 and Spider-Girl #75 -- Does anyone know what the hell is going on here?
* NYX #5 -- Solicited again
* Identity Disc #1 -- Marvel's villains team up in an attempt to stop Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, or something like that; on the plus side, Tony Harris is doing the covers
* Thor #80-81 -- Michael Avon Oeming unseats Dan Jurgens
* Thor: Son of Asgard #5 -- Dude, Thor's hot!
* The Avengers #84 -- Chuck Austen destroys the Avengers; wait, isn't that Bendis' gig?
* Invaders #0 -- Chuck Austen destroys my childhood memories
* Witches #1-2 -- So, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme needs three teen-agers to help him? Charmed, I'm sure

Hilarity of the day: NeilAlien's summary of this Ninth Art editorial made me laugh:

"Irrelevant elders like Byrne and Claremont need to be put out on the ice floe"

The Iranian experience: The Carnegie Pulse, Carnegie Mellon's online student newspaper, reviews Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.

Filing down the filing: Publishers Weekly (subscription required) boils down Marvel's year-end SEC filing to four paragraphs, noting that publishing sales rose 13.5 percent in 2003, to $73.2 million, while operating income increased 30.2 percent, to $25.4 million:

"Marvel said it intends to expand its line of products aimed specifically at the mass market, and cited the release last year of its first young adult prose novel, Mary Jane, as an example of the product extensions it is planning. Those efforts, however, are not expected to have a significant impact on revenue in 2004. Growth will come from expansion of its core comic book and trade paperback lines."

A fitting eulogy: On his blog, Neil Gaiman reprints a funny and touching eulogy for Julius Schwartz written by Alan Moore and read by Gaiman at the memorial service:

"And now we hear that Julie has been…discontinued? Cancelled? But they said the same about Green Lantern and the Flash back in the early 'fifties, so we can't be certain. This is comics. There'll be some way around it, be some parallel world Earth-Four Julie, born thirty years later to account for problems in the continuity, and decked out in a jazzier, more streamlined outfit."

The invisible man: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim O'Shea chats with Marvel Knights 4 artist Steve McNiven about his influences, storytelling, and who came up with the "new" way to depict Sue Storm's invisibility powers:

"Certainly not me. I think someone else came up with that, but who or where or why I'm not sure. Maybe it was the same guy that got rid of thought balloons in comics."

Freebies: The sponsors and titles for July 3rd's Free Comic Book Day have been announced. Newsarama has the info.

By the numbers: At The Pulse, Paul O'Brien works his number-crunching magic on ICv2.com's February sales estimates, tracking losses and gains of Marvel titles of a several-month period. For those of us who irrationally follow the monthly Diamond Top 300 with the intense focus of day-traders, this is an interesting read.

But one Comicon poster thinks this type of analysis can only do harm. Here's "Cray_ws":

"... [T]his doesn't do anything for me, if anything this serves no bigger purpose than to create a greater divide among the readership(fans). It pits a Marvel reader against a DC reader. It creates more arguements than debates. Then there's a question of the correct figures and the non-Diamond sales. So basically this report while very well done is missing a big part.

"Vast majority of comic readers on this site and as well as others are easily influenced by others for whatever reasons and and rarely their own reasons. What the highest grossing movie shouldn't be a factor if i show go see it or not. I would think the same applies to comics or any other form of entertainment."

Golden years? At Ninth Art, Andrew Wheeler ponders the fates of once-revolutionary creators who continue to toil in the comics industry. Yeah, he's talking about John Byrne, Chris Claremont and the like:

"Now, I don't mean to be ageist. There's no reason he [Byrne] shouldn't still keep going if he's still got what it takes. And indeed, he can still draw better than many other artists out there, even if he is a shade of his former self. It's not his linework that marks him out as a dinosaur, but his attitude. Byrne today is more notable as an outspoken and trenchant crank than as a creator. His recent works suggest that he's increasingly out of touch with his audience and has nothing left to say beyond, 'I remember when all this was pre-Crisis', yet he insists on writing his own stories with gleeful disregard for the works of others and little appreciation for his substantial shortcomings as a writer, and nothing he does can justify his arrogance."

More from APE: At UnderGroundOnline, Rich Watson continues his report on last month's Alternative Press Expo, this time reviewing many of the comics and multimedia works he found.

A place to rest your head (and read some manga): Japan's Asahi Shimbun reports that many late-night office workers who miss the last train home are killing time in all-night coffee shops, where they can read manga and surf the Internet until morning:

"The two-year-old shop has a package deal popular with salaried workers, according to store manager Misaki Sato. For 1,280 yen ($12 U.S.), customers can stay five hours between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. They can choose from 25,000 comic books, surf the Net, play video games or get some shut-eye in a reclining chair. Soft drinks, tea, coffee and fruit juice are included."

The Cool Japan movement: The Age spotlights the new Gaijin! magazine, and Australia's growing fascination with Japanese popular culture:

"They see the Asian influence in films, particularly cult movies like Kill Bill, is loads cooler than what's coming out of Hollywood. They see the clothes, particularly from independent designers but also the massive streetwear designers like A Bathing Ape (which can be seen in Chinatown streetware shops), is cooler than the American and European brands. And then in dance music, there is a huge influence from India and Japan."

In remembrance: Comic Book Resources has the copyrighted text of Harlan Ellison's eulogy for Julius Schwartz.

Comics empire: AuctionBytes.com reports on the purchase of Hake's Americana & Collectibles, the leading pop-culture collectibles auction house, by Diamond Comic Distributors owner Steve Geppi.

As seen on TV: IDW Publishing will add Fox Television's 24 to its stable of comics based on TV shows, which includes The Shield and CSI. Comic Book Resources has the story.

More pimping for friends: It's been hinted on Steve Niles' website and in the Digital Webbing forums, but now comes official word that Niles has written a story for Digital Webbing Presents, scheduled to appear sometime this fall.

And in this week's "Open Your Mouth," J. Torres mentions that his Monster Fighters Inc. will make a return, this time in the pages of Digital Webbing Presents, which is holding an open call for artists to illustrate the story. Francis Manapul will draw the cover.

There. Another good deed out of the way.

And the winner is ... Variety's comics blog has some highlights from Comic Shop News' recent reader poll of dubious achievements in comics. Here are my favorites:

The "All in the Family?" Award -- John Constantine
"Yes, I understand that sleeping with her will create a god-like child that will eventually save humanity. But dude, that's your sister!" -- Cora Worden

The "Where the Girls Aren't" Award -- The Industry
"The industry as a whole in America are ignoring the 13-17, the pre-teen, and the 5-and-under comics audience, as well as females of all age groups. I'm sorry guys, but most of the female characters created for the American comic and video game market, like Lara Croft and the current Batgirl, are appealing primarily to guys; to me, they seem like they're basically guys with boobs..." -- Nina Twersky

A Visitation with Scott Morse: UnderGroundOnline talks to Scott Morse about Batman: Roomful of Strangers, his approach to storytelling, and his art style:

"Well, I work in different styles, depending on the tone of the story in question. I try to change it up to fit what I'm working on, so that things don't feel stagnant and repetitive. I just don't want to be another clone of everything else being published, so I try to push myself to try new things design-wise and color-wise. I draw on influences ranging from strong draughtsmen like David Mazzuchelli, J Muth, Kyle Baker... all the way to old children's book and animation designers like M. Sasek, the Provensons, Mary Blair, and my mentor, Maurice Noble."

Astonishing pencils: Marvel provides a glimpse of John Cassaday's pencils for Astonishing X-Men #1. Comic Book Resources is all over it.

Coming to terms: Silver Bullet Comic Books reports that Marvel Comics has reached an agreement with ailing artist Dave Cockrum that will financially compensate him for the characters he helped to create, while the company will retain full ownership of the properties. Cockrum has been hospitalized since December with complications from pneumonia, diabetes and a possible stroke.

Marvel released this statement yesterday:

"Marvel has stepped in to help Dave Cockrum, and it is clear that he and his family are satisfied with Marvel's actions, and appreciate its assistance in this matter.

"While the terms are confidential, Marvel is pleased that it could help Dave and his family, and wish him a speedy recovery and the very best."

Kim Jong Il, manga superstar? Voice of America reports that a manga series portraying North Korean president Kim Jong Il as an "evil despot" is selling well in Japan. The two books have sold more than 700,000 copies.

Expect trading cards and plush toys within the year.

Mid-life crises? BBC News uses the record-setting sale of a rare Beano first edition as a springboard for examining the life of a high-priced comics collector:

"The average comic collector is someone whose mum threw away all their comics when they started getting interested in girls, and years later found themselves able to afford 'childish throwaways'."

Drawing on the classics: Thailand's The Nation writes that Sky Books has adapted the classic Ramayana Indian epic as a manga for children (the Thai variation is called the Ramakian):

"Youngsters don’t like studying difficult Thai literature because they hate reading text without any illustrations. ... Cartoon books like this will help draw them to literature."

Wheelin' and dealin': The Alien Online reports that Vintage has bought McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, Volume II, by novelist and comics writer Michael Chabon, and that actor-writer Amber Benson and writer Christopher Golden have sold two original novels based on their animated online drama Ghosts of Albion.

Conspiracy theory: The Associated Press reports on Golgo 13, a manga whose storyline highlights a growing fear in Japan: that Washington officials are conspiring to keep the dollar low and force the Japanese government to buy U.S. currency and save the American economy.

More bang, less pow: The Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun looks at DC Comics' Batman in the Forties collection, and wonders whatever happened to brute violence on the funny pages:

"With Batman in the Forties, we're able to see how these costumed do-gooders were able to become overnight national icons. The stories had such appeal. They had a unique, if somewhat bizarre, fusion of campy, cartoon humor for the tykes and sheer, realistic violence for the adults, many of whom were slugging it out in World War II."

Tales of the City: I don't usually do comics-to-film news, but ... eh. England's Empire Online looks at some of the casting rumors surrounding the Robert Rodriguez film adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City. Among the actors reportedly "targeted" for roles: Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis and Elijah Wood.

List-making time: Montgomery Blair High School's Silver Chips Online (Silver Spring, Md.) names "five comic books every casual reader should have": Watchmen, Marvels, Torso, Astro City: Confession and X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills.

Yeah, I had the same reaction.

Planet Larry: Sean Collins has 10 questions for AiT/PlanetLar publisher Larry Young about comics blogs ("pretty self-indulgent affairs"), his online persona ("I don't have a 'persona'") and plans for maintaining his company's success ("slow and steady wins the race").

Hear me Roar: Does anyone else think of the TV show Roar when you see anything about Marvel's Thor: Son of Asgard miniseries? No? Come on. Thor has a rat-tail, Conor (Heath Ledger) has a rat-tail. Eh, maybe it's just me.

Going global: Malaysia's Malay Mail loves Vertigo's The Losers: Ante Up: "This is definitely the coolest, funniest and most explosive series to have come out from Vertigo in the last two years."

The reviewer also enjoys the Batman "Broken City" storyline ("this is Batman as he should be") and Rose and Thorn #3 ("there is an appealing humanity in all of Simone’s work").

The American president: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim O'Shea talks to Gossamer Books president Angel Oberoi about the publisher's first book, Abraham Lincoln: The Civil War President, a graphic novel for elementary school students.

Pimping for friends: My sometimes-collaborator Brian Churilla has taken over the art chores for the Action Datsun webcomic at Movie Poop Shoot. Colors are by Eric Erbes, who provided the grayscales for our story, "Bad Elements: Good for the Soul" (coming in September from Digital Webbing Presents). There. I've done my good deed for the day.

Happy anniversary: Newsarama marks the fifth anniversary of indy publisher AiT-PlanetLar, which published Astronauts In Trouble: Live From The Moon #1 on this date in 1999. Publisher Larry Young talks about the past half-decade, as well as the outlook for the future of the company and the medium:

"I think people are just going to be reading more comics. When you see Entertainment Weekly, and Variety, and Wired, and other mass-media treating comics seriously as an art form, well, of course that’s reflected in growth. I can’t even tell you the last time I saw a “BAM! POW! BIFF! COMICS AREN’T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE!” headline, and that’s nothing but good, if you ask me."

Expansion pact: Publishers Weekly (subscription required) reports on Digital Manga's expansion plans, which include publishing 15 titles this year, including a series of nonfiction manga. The company's sales tripled last year, and founder and president Hikaru Sasahara thinks they will continue to grow. In the article, he compares the manga market with the Japanese gaming market in the United States:

"No one would have thought gaming would grow like it has in the U.S. Now it's bigger in the U.S. than in Japan." And he expects a similar growth pattern for manga. ... The U.S. and Japan are converging on culture. We listen to the same music, wear the same fashion, eat the same junk food, have the same mentality. The notion that manga is a fad is just the wrong perception."

Gotta catch 'em all: The San Antonio Express reports that Pokémon isn't finished with us yet. Despite increased competition from the likes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the newspaper assures us the '90s phenomenon is poised for a comeback.

Sports fantasy: The Houston Chronicle discovers the new NBA comic books published by Ultimate Sports Entertainment, and sold at Wal-Mart:

"(The comics) are very family-oriented. They give kids someone to look up to."

Deep Sleeper: Comic Book Resources talks to Ed Brubaker about Sleeper: Season Two and Gotham Central, but mostly Sleeper:

"My biggest hope, though, is that we get more stores to just start carrying the book at all. From what I've heard, it sounds like very few stores were racking this book each month. I thank all the ones that were, a lot of whom did really well with it, but I want the stores we didn't get the first time around to get onboard this time. There's no reason now for anyone, retailer or reader, to not buy the book if they're interested -- The first Season will be out in Trades, and the new #1 will hit stores the same month. If that doesn't help, nothing will, probably."

From prose to comics pros: The New York Times focuses on novelists-turned-comics writers Michael Chabon, Greg Rucka and Brad Meltzer:

"Writing comic books is 'the ultimate 11-year-old fantasy,' Mr. Meltzer said. 'When they first offered me the job, I was going to say no, but my wife said to me, "Moron, you've been waiting your whole life for this." As always, my wife was a lot smarter than me.'"

Hey, big spender: The Scotsman reports the first issue of Beano sold at auction for £12,100 ($21,964 US). It's thought to be the most expensive British comic ever bought at auction.

The shakeup continues: Morales off of Captain America. Miller off of Iron Man. Bendis relaunching The Avengers. Now comes word that Dan Jurgens will leave Thor, and Hawkeye will end with #8. Newsarama has the story.

Their thing: This has nothing to do with comics, but is anyone else following the weekly back-and-forth about The Sopranos at Slate.com between mob writers Jerry Capeci and Jeffrey Goldberg? Every Monday, they exchange emails about the previous night's episode, but the discussion quickly turns to funny mob anecdotes, an examination of gangster morality, and even a dissection of FBI grammar:

"Why does the federal government insist on referring to the mob as the LCN, i.e., La Cosa Nostra? Doesn't La Cosa Nostra translate as 'The Our Thing'? So wouldn't 'The LCN,' a designation which turns up in indictments regularly, translate as 'The The Our Thing'? Enlighten me, please."

Through their discussions, Capeci and Goldberg help to pinpoint why mob stories appeal to so many people (including me):

"... [W]hat is really interesting about mobsters, to me and I suspect to others, is that they get to live a fantasy life in which you can wake up at 1 in the afternoon, park wherever you want, wear track suits all day, eat heavily discounted food, and hurt people who annoy you. It's that transgressive quality that makes them so appealing. Also, their nicknames. Ridiculous nicknames make mob reporting fun. (I believe that the introduction of the street names 'Big Pussy' and 'Little Pussy' in the first couple of episodes of The Sopranos is what actually signaled to curious HBO watchers that something unusual and clever was happening here.)"

Go here for the Week 1 conversation. Week 2 starts here. It's good stuff.

Machina head: What's that saying about asking and receiving? Last night I hoped DC Comics would start hyping Ex Machina, and this morning Newsarama comes through with an interview with writer Brian K. Vaughan:

"I've always been interested in using this medium to ask questions about contemporary society, but that doesn't mean Ex Machina is going to be a boring polemic. It's a fast-paced political thriller, an action-packed sci-fi drama for adults, with all of the intelligent sex, horror, humor, violence, and shocking twists that readers of books like Y: The Last Man and Starman hopefully know and love."

Political thrills? Check. Horror? Check. Action? Check. And just look at those Tony Harris sequentials.

I don't know what to make of this, though:

"So to make sure that only the most deserving people get a copy of our first issue, it will only be sold to readers who are registered to vote. Our protagonist is independent, but Tony and I don't care which party you choose to affiliate yourself with, if any, as long as you're registered. It only takes a few minutes of Googling to find out how to do this in your area, and you've got three damn months before our first issue comes out to make it happen, so I don't want to hear any crying from the feedback section down there. And yes, this is open to residents of all democratic, socialist, U.S.-occupied, whatever, countries, just as long as you're registered.

"I realize this means that most people under 18, as well as many convicted felons, won't be able to buy our premiere issue, but because this is a "mature readers" series, teenagers probably aren't ready for some of the shit that happens in our first three issues, and felons will just shoplift the damn book anyway, so I'm comfortable with our restrictions.

"Retailers and readers with any questions about this policy and/or its enforcement are welcome to contact me anytime at: BrianKVaughan@aol.com."

Alternative in the spotlight: I somehow missed this yesterday. I must be getting old. This week's Publishers Weekly (subscription required) profiles Alternative Comics and publisher Jeff Mason:

"We publish books that we think will sell forever. I' m really dedicated to publishing books that I want to read and want other people to read, and I try to hit all my price points so that everyone's getting a good deal."

(Thanks to Artblog for pointing it out.)

Questions and answers: Alan David Doane has "Five Questions" for Small Favors' Colleen Coover.

Coming of Age: Sean McKeever will write a Mary Jane Watson series beginning in June for the Marvel Age line. Takeshi Miyazawa will be the artist. Newsarama has the information, based on McKeever's email newsletter. On his website, McKeever writes:

"It will be a Marvel Age teen-drama series, and will exist within its own continuity--one where MJ goes to school with her pals Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Harry Osborn, and Harry's nerdy friend, Peter Parker.

"Expect more on this at the end of the week."

The Pulse has the full text of his newsletter.

Raijin goes "on hiatus": SBC also passes along word that manga publisher Raijin Comics will stop publication of its magazine and comics lines. In a letter posted on its website, Raijin writes that, "Based on our research with readers, retailers and distributors, we have come to a conclusion – our publications, though appreciated by hard-core manga fans, are not penetrating a larger market."

In the letter, Raijin says its magazine and comics lines will be "on hiatus for the time being" while the publisher takes "time out to come up with ways to broaden the appeal of our publications, retooling stories and overall editorial content."

Newsarama also reports on what it calls "the manga wars":

"As previously reported, a manga bloodbath has been coming for a while, according to many industry observers, as the volume of manga releases for 2004 looks to be roughly double what it was for 2003 – and all publishers are fighting for readers. Add to that, DC Comics looking to establish a beachhead in the market with its CMX imprint due later this year (most likely accompanied by a significant flex of DC’s marketing muscle in both the bookstore and direct market), as well as Del Rey coming in with strong properties, and the fight for space on the shelf is going to get far uglier as the year goes on. Most likely, lower sellers will drop out of stores entirely, as they won’t pay for their shelf space in the eyes of the bookstore market, middle sellers will sell less, while big titles will sell more."

Augie De Blieck Jr. also comments on the announcement in this week's "Pipeline."

Martin Emond dies: SBC reports that creator Martin Emond (White Trash, Lobo) committed suicide yesterday in Los Angeles:

"After starting every comic creators' dream career he changed tack, shifting from comics to illustration work, painting covers for Glenn Danzig / Verotik. He was also heavily involved with the New Zealand clothing label Illicit, which has almost become the unofficial street-wear uniform in New Zealand, and had sell-out shows in LA."

The critic: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim O'Shea interviews Time.com comix comics columnist Andrew Arnold.

Numbers crunching: Although Newsarama is shying away from giving estimated sales figures for Diamond's Top 300, ICv2.com stays the course by releasing the numbers for February. The retailer site notes in its overview that sales were seasonally lower, "with 16 of the top 25 books down vs. January." ICv2 also offers this uncharacteristically upbeat assessment: "Although it seems like a long slide for comic sales recently, it's worth comparing sales in 2004 to orders one year ago, in February 2003 ... when the cut-off after the top ten comic titles, for example, was considerably lower than it was this year (even accounting for the difference between orders and shipments)."

For fans of manga and trades, the newly expanded graphic novels chart may be of particular interest. It's nice to note that, after all this time and with no movie tie-in, Watchmen still sold an estimated 841 copies in February.

Rock on: RockRage Online takes an interest in The Nail, the upcoming comics miniseries by Rob Zombie, Steve Niles and Simon Bisley.

License to ill: Marvel has announced licensing agreements with LeapFrog, which designs educational products like Learning Screen Karaoke, and VTech, which makes electronic educational products like Alphabet Classroom. As part of the agreement, LeapFrog will combine its LeapPad cartridges and books with Spider-Man, and VTech will combine the Spider-Man and Friends pre-school line with its V.Smile TV Learning System.

Here's Marvel's Tim Rothwell: "The educational toy market has seen an impressive boom over the past three years due to advances in technology and improved playability. Joining the Marvel brand with industry innovators like LeapFrog and VTech allows our world-famous properties to penetrate new markets."

Comics on exhibit: The Pittsburg (Kan.) Morning Sun reports that comic-book art will be displayed through at Labette Community College's Hendershot Gallery. The exhibit, called "How Many Super Heroes Fly Off the Page, Comic Book Art of the Last 40 Years," features work by the likes of Ross Andru, John and Sal Buscema, John Byrne, George Perez and John Romita Sr. and Jr.

June, she'll change her tune: DC Comics' solicitations for June are up, with seven debuts and a handful of noteworthy offerings:

The Big Event of the Month is the first issue of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, which centers on the murder of a DCU superhero. The rumor mill pointed to Elongated Man, then Black Canary, as the victim, but both appear long-faced on the cover, along with Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Hawkman and Zatanna. So, who's left? Hawkgirl? Martian Manhunter? Kyle Rayner? Hey, maybe this is clearing the way for the return of Hal Jordan. Hey, maybe I don't really care who dies (but can't help but speculate anyway).

Sam Keith's five-part Batman: Scratch debuts, with the Dark Knight going up against a werewolf when children start disappearing in a small town. Although the world could go on without another Batman miniseries, I have a soft spot for werewolf stories.

Howard Chaykin's Challengers of the Unknown miniseries premieres, too, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. His recent work has been fairly inconsistent.

The Sandman just keeps on giving, this time spawning another ongoing series called The Witching, which explores the Triple Goddess concept in a new form. I'm not sure Vertigo's version of The Craft (or maybe Charmed) looks that promising, but the series does feature covers by Tara McPherson. I'll pick up the first issue for that alone.

I hope the DC Hype Machine kicks into full gear for Wildstorm's Ex Machina, the new series by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris and Tom Feister. I'd buy this just to see Harris' sequentials again, but having Vaughan as the writer makes the political thriller a no-brainer. I'm buying it.

It's a big month for Sleeper, too, as the second trade paperback hits the shelves, followed quickly by the beginning of Season Two.

Here's what else looks promising (well, to me at least):
* Gotham Central #18 -- always a good read, but this issue features Penguin and Mad Hatter
* Catwoman #32 -- Sean Phillips steps in as artist on a standalone story, which means I can actually pick up this book again; well, at least for one issue
* 100 Bullets #50 -- Azzarello and Risso's story of crime and conspiracy reaches the halfway point
*The Losers #13 -- a new two-part story begins; that's good enough for me

Takes a lickin' ... At MacFixIt.com, Slave Labor Graphics' Dan Vado shares how one of the publisher's Macintosh computers survived a car crashing through the company's office:

"Last week, a drunk driver plowed through the front of our offices, destroying most of the equipment in our production department (we are a comic book publisher.)

"In one of the pictures you will see a G4 1.25 Ghz computer in the rubble. This machine had traveled at least 20 feet in the air, hit a wall and came down on a heap of rubble.

"After we cleaned up, I plugged the thing in just to see if it would boot up. Amazingly enough, the thing came on and has been running without trouble ever since."

(Here's a link to the photo mentioned.)

The shipping news: Previews Review updates a little early (!) with a rundown of the good stuff shipping this week, and Christopher Butcher's apology for having recommended Robin:

"Just as an apology to everyone I talked-up this book to a few months back: I’m very sorry. It’s not good. Ham-fisted writing, losing excellent artist Rick Mays two issues in to be replaced by… well, artists inferior to Rick Mays. The plot is just stupid, and feels Very Heavily Editorially Dictated In A Bad Way… Yeah. I apologize profusely for having been excited about this one. I Fucked Up. My Bad."

Deleted scenes: In other Avengers news, er, gossip, Rich Johnston claims the "controversial" Hank/Janet sex scene from Geoff Johns' run has been cut from the trade paperback.

Disassembling The Avengers: WizardUniverse reports that Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch will take over The Avengers for a four-issue arc titled "Avengers Disassemble" beginning with July's #500. The storyline will end the current series and lead to a new Avengers title later this year by the same creative team.

Here's Bendis: "This is the darkest chapter in Avengers history. It’ll blow up their status quo and create a new one by the end of the arc. Hopefully, it’s a Shakespearean-level tragedy that uses the Avengers’ history to propel them forward."

More information is promised in Wizard #151, which goes on sale March 24.

Update: Newsarama's coverage mentions that John Jackson Miller will leave Iron Man at the end of June, which seems somewhat odd in light of Miller's March 4 interview with X-Fan in which he spoke enthusiastically about the series (but only through #83).

Word of Miller's departure follows news that Robert Morales will leave Captain America with June's #28.

The market for manga: Writing for Publishers Weekly (subscription required), Heidi MacDonald examines whether the U.S. market is becoming oversaturated with manga releases. The answer? There's a glut of titles, but the market can handle it. Here's ADV Manga's Robert Boyd:

"There may be shakeouts. But why would the category collapse? It's popular. You never hear people saying that there are too many rock 'n' roll records."

Dallas Middaugh, Del Rey Manga's director of manga, also addresses the notion that manga is a fad:

"If it's a fad, most people don't realize it's a five-year-old fad. It was five years ago that Pokémon started it all, and it's gotten bigger every year since then. People look at manga as though it just started within the past year or two, when the truth is that manga has been around the U.S. market for 20 years."

Aardvark endnotes: At Ninth Art, Paul O'Brien examines the achievement of Cerebus separate from the rantings and ravings of Dave Sim:

"... [I]t's worth taking some time to remember that CEREBUS is indeed a landmark comic, albeit a severely flawed one. Besides, it's easy to overlook the book or dismiss it as a bizarre freak title. CEREBUS remains determinedly cult material - unlike MAUS, it never became a byword for intelligent comics. Nor is it a SANDMAN or WATCHMEN, with an array of clone books that demonstrate how influential it was. Not many people are making biographical funny animal comics about religion, philosophy and gender politics. And the huge sprawling epic format has swung almost completely out of fashion in favour of the more concise, self-contained graphic novel. Nobody is doing this kind of thing any more. By contemporary standards, SANDMAN is regarded as a bit of an epic undertaking. CEREBUS seems more like an epic folly."

From Zero to heroes: The Miami Herald has breakfast with novelist and comics writer Brad Meltzer, who says a certain Emerald Archer paved the way for his latest political thriller:

''I credit Green Arrow for the way The Zero Game came out. It freed my brain from the voice I had in my last novel, The Millionaires. It's like scrubbing your mind clean."

Looking for Peanuts: USA Today looks forward to Fantagraphics Books' The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952:

"Even die-hard Peanuts fans may be surprised by the first book. Shermy, who eventually faded into obscurity, is the prime character. Charlie Brown appears in early strips. But like most of the beloved characters, he possesses little of his later existential angst. Chief antagonist Lucy is a toddler, not the mean-spirited, football-grabbing nemesis she evolved into. And Snoopy is just a small, affectionate puppy without his later fantasy life.

"'The characters really hadn't found (their) voices,' Fantagraphics editor Eric Reynolds says."

An expanding market? The New York Times reports on Vertical Inc. -- probably known best for publishing Buddha and Ring -- which hopes America's growing fascination with manga and anime will translate into an appreciation of contemporary Japanese prose fiction:

"Japan has become a brand in terms of good storytelling and cool stuff, and I think that can carry over into literature."

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?" Speaking of Batman, ITV.com reports the Batmobile edged out the Aston Martin from Goldfinger and the Mini Coopers from The Italian Job on UCI Cinemas' list of Top 10 movie cars. The survey was conducted to celebrate the release of Starsky and Hutch; ironically, the duo's Ford Gran Torino didn't make the list.

Ahhh, democracy: University of Alabama's Crimson White reports that Batman, Bruce Wayne, the Riddler and Wolverine were among the write-in candidates in the recent student government elections:

"There is no word yet if the Student Elections Board plans to sanction Wayne/Batman for running for two offices as two different people, though his identity is officially a secret."

Getting there is half the fun: The Chicago Tribune (registration required) has an entertaining profile of local playwright/singer/online comic writer Brett Neveu, who's looking to make it big. In one or more of those areas. Sometime. Soon.

Money matters: Johanna Draper Carlson points out that comic artist Lea Hernandez is included in Parade magazine's annual survey of "What People Earn." Hernandez makes $14,000 a year.

Credit where credit's due: Markisan Naso loves following the message board antics of Rob Liefeld. Someone has to, I suppose. In this week's "All the Rage," Markisan chronicles the back and forth on Millarworld about Liefeld crediting Kurt Busiek with writing Bloodsport: Genesis instead of plotting it. Here's a frustrated Busiek:

"Rob knows I only plotted the book, and he agreed to credit me that way. But his word isn't worth much, and he's been crediting me as 'writer' for years, in a transparent attempt to fool people into thinking I did more than I did. First, he claimed that since they hadn't settled on a scripter yet, it was fair to list me as sole writer (why was he soliciting it if he didn't have a scripter?), then that I'd co-written with others (except that those were correctly credited) and now, apparently, he thinks (or will claim) it's not confusing to credit both a 'writer' and a 'scripter' (when's the last time you saw that?). Or maybe he'll claim he's just kidding around, to see if I'll jump when he pokes me.

"... At this point, I'm annoyed enough by Rob being such a weasel about this that I'd like to ask anyone who's a fan of my work not to buy YOUNGBLOOD GENESIS. Nothing against Brandon Thomas, who's a nice guy, or Chad Walker, who I've never met, or Dan Fraga, who's always been a good guy to talk to. I hope they find better work elsewhere. But if Rob won't keep even simple promises that don't cost him any money to live up to, it would be nice if there was a price to it."

Liefeld, of course, feigns surprise at Busiek's reaction, then offers a condescending lesson in writing terminology:

"To the point, Kurt wrote the plots, yes, otherwise known as the STORY. Without a plot, there is a blank page with no character interaction, no ideas, period. The artist has nothing.

"Arguing back and forth about the credit is just tiresome, Kurt is credited as plot in both books, but the plot was written by a writer who happens to be Kurt Busiek. The Walkers drew the story from the verbal word pictures that Kurt imagined on his written page. Some pages have dialogue and in many cases, Brandon Thomas used that same dialogue. So the fact that I'm in the habit of saying that Kurt wrote the book and Brandon scripted is not intended to set off Mr. Busiek. I look at pages he wrote and I refer to him as writing them, seems all too reasonable to me. Certainly not the stuff of firestorms. ..."

Markisan then updates the exchange with an apology from Liefeld to Busiek "for any ill will created by my mentioning him as writing the Genesis book."

Making a splash: The Orlando Sentinel (registration required) spends four paragraphs at MegaCon with artist Andy Lee, who uses the Buddhist style of splash painting for "convention sketches":

"The style lends itself to the mystery and surreal quality of a lot of the characters."

"I'll never escape Oregon": The Portland Oregonian chats with cartoonist Matt Groening about hometown memories, The Simpsons, Life in Hell and good friend Lynda Barry:

"She takes me to task when she thinks I'm not living up to my potential, and I dig it. My life is more like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and she lives on a farm and really values her privacy. ... We pace each other in our cartooning. I know she's appalled at some of the decisions I made. She thinks I sold my soul to Hollywood, but that's OK."

Gettin' some mainstream lovin': The Washington Times' Joseph Szadkowski previews Swamp Thing #1 (misidentified as an Antarctic Press book) and The Black Forest graphic novel, and sings the praises of a scene from The Ultimates #12:

"In Marvel Comics, Ultimates No. 12, a bloodstained battle between Captain America and the extraterrestrial Nazi named Kleiser culminates when the alien demands that the hero surrender, and a battered but furious Cap screamingly replies: 'You think this letter on my head stands for France?'

"Yep, makes me remember why I love the current age of comic books."

Syndication dreams: The Saginaw (Mich.) News profiles local cartoonist Jay P. Fosgitt, who hopes to syndicate his Mother's Goofs strip, which now appears three times a week in Central Michigan University's student newspaper:

"I'm going to keep sending my work out. The biggest challenge is the syndicated strips have been around for 50 years. They aren't going away, and newspapers are making less room for comics."

Planet of the APE: Publishers Weekly chimes in with an uncharacteristically long roundup of last month's Alternative Press Expo. The article briefly touches on the usual suspects -- Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, Top Shelf, Slave Labor, AiT/Planet Lar, Oni Press -- and dubs Paul Hornschemeier (Mother, Come Home) as the convention's "breakout artist."

PW wraps up its APE coverage with a glance into the crystal ball:

"The chatter at APE suggested that, with old-fashioned comics pamphlets rapidly declining as a medium for art or literary cartooning, future stars may make their name initially in anthologies like the Granta-style paperback series that Fantagraphics is just starting to put together. Comics' ongoing intersection with the art world looks promising, too: Last Gasp Distribution's booth featured Raw, Boiled and Cooked: Comics on the Verge, a new exhibition catalogue copublished with the Maryland Institute College of Art."

The numbers game: Diamond's Top 300 list for February is out, but Newsarama isn't estimating sales numbers this time around, noting that "Newsarama is currently reevaluating its estimation methods, and will not be providing an estimated number of copies shipped at this time."

In the comments section, gossip maven Rich Johnston asks about the change: "The change in sales reporting methods... Newsarama's figures are aften significantly higher than ICV2's. Is the change a result of this discrepancy? Is the reality half-way between the two?"

Newsarama's Matt Brady responds, in part: "nah - more of a deal where the time to do them was eating into too much other stuff for now. And I always thought ICV2's were aften significantly lower than Newsarama's. ... But I'm thining that explanation won't stop some lurid, suggestive version from showing up in your next column. But hey - while we're lurid and suggestive, let's just say that I've arranged for a cleaning woman to come by the office every month on the same day the Diamond numbers come out, and I'm too distracted by her French Maid outfit to do any math at all."

Somebody do something interesting: This is looking like an incredibly slow news day. So, this could be it for today.

Now that's a comics convention: At Ninth Art, Jim Wheelock offers a glimpse at Festival International de la Bande Desinée, held each January in Angoulême, France:

"For four days every year, these folks literally fill the town up to its 12th century parapets. I imagine it must be hell for the one guy in Angoulême who hates comics. His neighbours probably keep him under guard, tied to a chair in his kitchen, while they read TINTIN stories to him in a futile attempt to convert him. Or maybe they eat him. A lot of time at Angoulême makes you think like that."

More than just books: I wish my local library did things like this: The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reports that the Grandville Library will play host to a mini-comics workshop for teens.

Canon fodder: Also at CBR, Mark Waid finally confirms what's been long-rumored on comics message boards: His Superman: Birthright is being adopted as the character's "official" origin. Well, at least until the next reboot:

"If by 'calculated' we mean 'thought out in great detail to the Nth degree by creators who love the character,' then yes. Accept no substitutes -- Birthright is officially the DC Comics Origin of Superman. I wish we could have simply said that up front nine months ago when the series began, but overall plans for Superman in 2003 were still somewhat in flux, so DC decided to be a little more circumspect about it and instead surprise fans with the building falllout to Birthright as it pops up in the regular ongoing Superman monthlies. Readers seem very surprised, in a very good way. Birthright is very much the foundation of everything DC's planning for Superman in the future. It was our job to pave the way, it is essential Superman reading, and it's an honor to present it."

That noise you hear is the groans of thousands of fanboys.

The replacement: Sean McKeever talks to Comic Book Resources about stepping into Marvel's Mystique after the cancellation of Inhumans and Sentinel:

"Initially, what attracted me to the book was that I had just gotten laid off Sentinel and Inhumans. I needed the work! Heh! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this would be a great way to write the kinds of fast-paced, plot-based stories I've been wanting to tell for a while, where it's an action book but it's also a nice character showcase, like I tend to be known for. So I came up with what I thought was a cool science-based story, figured a way for it to be more than 'another mission' for Mystique and pitched it."

Meeting of the minds: The Sarasota, Fla., Herald Tribune catches up with Will Eisner, who will take part in a Comics Summit on Diversity with Ho Che Anderson, Howard Cruse, Trenton Doyle Hancock and Mary GrandPre, among others. The event is sponsored by Ringling School of Art and Design:

"The issue of stereotyping is likely to come up during the comics summit. Eisner argues 'there's nothing wrong with stereotyping, per se -- sometimes that's the only way you can communicate visually. It's a way to quickly convey an idea or create an image of a person.

"'The danger is when you use stereotyping for evil purposes.'"

Slow and steady wins the race: I can never remember when Rich Johnston's "Waiting For Tommy" appears. I think it's Wednesdays. In any case, I just read the Q&A with John Cassaday, in which he talks about the return of Spandex in Astonishing X-Men, his future in comics, and the (eventual) end of Planetary:

"I've got two scripts in front of me and Warren is in the middle of the next, which is #22. I plan to plug away at them as they come during my X-Men stint. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. Warren has made noise about extending the series past the original 25 issues in order to take his time ending it. If it needs more pages and we stretch it to maybe 27 or 28, why not? It has taken forever and at times has definitely been a monkey on my back, but I absolutely love Planetary. I know I'll miss it when it ends. However, it will be nice to close the back cover of that last one and move on ..."

Speculator's market: The Tucson Citizen profiles 48-year-old John Lindstrom, who thinks he's sitting on a goldmine of Silver Age comics:

"'The reason I started collecting them seriously is it was going to be for my kids' college tuition,' Lindstrom said.

"But daughter Ingrid, 21, and son Johann, 20, have not needed the extra help.

"'So now it's our retirement or maybe his retirement,' Lindstrom said, pointing to his younger son.

"'When I married him 23 years ago, he said he collected them for when the kids went to college,' wife Ecaterina said with a laugh. 'The kids are in college, but I don't think he has sold one (comic book) yet.'"

Stop the presses! Diamond reports that NYX #4 and The Ultimates #13 will -- wait for it -- ship late! Yes, it took me by surprise, too. Marvel optimists list both books as now shipping March 31. It makes an April debut for Vol. 2 of The Ultimates seem even more like wishful thinking (not on my part, of course; I gave up on the series several issues back).

Mr. Science: At UnderGroundOnline, John Byrne tackles the extraterrestrial question. What extraterrestrial question, you ask?

"Let's imagine, for the sake of discussion, that there is an alien civilization on a planet circling Proxima Centauri, which for the sake of easy math we will say is 4 light years from Earth. Let us further assume that civilization is at exactly the same level of technological development as we find in the most advanced countries on Earth today. Us, for instance.

"We began announcing ourselves to the Universe, via radio waves, about 100 years ago. About 50 years ago we started listening, to see if we could hear anyone else doing the same thing. So far, no certain contacts have been made, so our hypothetical civilization on that Proxima planet -- let's call it Proxima IV -- is not likely, since it would be screaming at us at the top of its lungs, being that close. Even against all the background noise of the Universe, we would easily detect their version of Will & Grace beaming our way."

Yeah, I don't know either.

Blogging explosion: At Movie Poop Shoot, Chris Allen has some interesting thoughts on the place and purpose of "The Comics Blogosphere" in the greater scheme of things:

"You can't improve your tennis game unless you play someone better than you, so bless all these folks for putting such sustained effort into expressing their comics-related thoughts, as I feel it can only improve my own stuff. There's an old dodge a lot of creative people use to deflect criticism that one does not have the right to criticize if one hasn't created anything of his own, but the truth is that insightful criticism is really necessary for an artform to grow and mature, and to be taken seriously."

He also (finally) finishes his Publishers Report Cards for 2003 roundup, his assessments of ibooks, PennyFarthing Press, Pantheon, AiT/Planet Lar and VIZ.

Girl talk: Newsarama talks to VIZ's Erik Jansen about the appeal of shojo comics:

"Since the main characters of shojo are almost entirely female, it's natural that women and girls will identify with them and the struggles they face. In shojo, many of the questions and struggles depicted have to do with day-to-day issues like love, family, responsibility and identity. Regardless of the level of fantasy, artifice or artistic ambition involved, most shojo stories remain endearingly grounded in such universal concerns.

"Love is a constant theme throughout almost every shojo story and the genre focuses strongly on what modern sensibilities view as the most important part of it - how one’s choice of who you love defines you. Many popular VIZ shojo titles, like Sensual Phrase, Maison Ikkoku and Boys Over Flowers heavily explore topics like love, relationships and coming of age."

Not too cool: Andy Diggle and Jock talk to Comic Book Resources about one of my favorite series, The Losers:

"I think anything that tries to be cool simply isn't ... you can smell it a mile off. Andy's right that you can't take it all too seriously. Definitely put the cool stuff in there, but it'll all get pompous very quickly without some quirky human touch or a wry sense of humour ..."

A rare breed: At Toronto's Eye Weekly, Guy Leshinski looks at comic's double threat -- those rare creators who can write and draw, like Phoebe Gloeckner, Ivan Brunetti and R. Crumb:

"For starters, it takes Mormon devotion to learn how to draw. Looks simple enough when Dan Clowes does it, but you can bet your batusi Mr. Enid Coleslaw (Clowes' anagrammatic alter ego) spent his adolescence sweating boulders to master a proper circle, not to mention the clammy grotesques that populate his books. Pro cartoonists, even modern primitives like the Fort Thunder clan (a group of art grads from Rhode Island who suppress all hints of tutelage in their work), spill litres of saliva licking clean their Rapidograph nibs and run their carpals ragged practising shadow and perspective, proportion, volume, movement, composition, etc."

Money don't get everything it's true: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim Hartnett charts comics prices over the past four decades and discovers ... they've gotten more expensive:

"I'm just like the average fan, though. Every month, when new solicits come out, I look to see if the prices of the comics I've been reading have been raised. So far, we're still running the base price of $2.25 for the cheapest, although I don't know how much longer that's going to last. Marvel's already raised their standard newsstand price to $2.99.

"So are comics really worth that? I personally don't think so. Especially since you don't even get a complete story anymore. And not only do you not get a complete story, but so little happens in a comic, that I find myself dropping more and more series for that reason."

The great Escapist: Newsweek reviews the first issue of Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, and absolutely gushes:

"Chabon’s 'The Passing of the Key' is, not surprisingly, the strongest story in the collection. The story is taken—at times verbatim—from the pages of the novel. Comparing Chabon’s two takes on the one tale is instructive: the comic misses some of the novel’s virtuoso lyricism, but the novel misses the comic’s ability to provide motion to even the most static passage of exposition through illustration, and the sheer immediacy of the storytelling. This short comic does a better job than any manifesto could of making an argument Chabon has made time and time again: literature cannot survive if it continues to deny itself the pleasures of thrillers, ghost stories, adventure tales, detective fiction and, yes, comics. 'Escape and escapism, in art and literature, have received a bad name,' he writes in his introduction to this collection. 'It was given to them, I believe, by the very people who forged the locks and barred the doors in the first place.'"

Some Q's and some A's: Alan David Doane has "Five Questions" for Tom Beland (True Story, Swear to God).

Resisting labels: At ICv2.com, retailer Jim Crocker responds to Buddy Saunders' call for a content-rating system for comics:

"The problem with any ratings system, of course, is that Mr. Saunders' idea of what constitutes 'appropriate' is another retailer's (or publisher's) idea of 'completely unacceptable,' which is yet another retailer's idea of 'Why in the world does this have a label?' It's a problem I have constantly with Tokyopop's rather arbitrary content labels and especially with Marvel's nearly meaningless age level ratings."

Made in Japan: The San Jose Mercury News examines how Japanese popular culture -- particularly, anime and manga -- is being embraced in the United States, at least on certain levels:

"But while the imprint of the Japanese cultural tsunami has spread wide, some critics lament that it remains shallow -- Americans don't really learn much about the deeper values that shape life in Japan outside its stylistic entertainment industry.

"Lost in Translation, a story about the midlife crisis of a 50-something American actor (Bill Murray) and the identity crisis of the bored young woman he meets at a fancy Tokyo hotel, could have been set anywhere. Japan was a very cool, but superficial, backdrop.

"'Americans are fascinated by Japanese society but they continue to dance along the edges and never get into deeper elements. It continues to amaze me,' said Peter Goodman, editor of Stone Bridge Press, speaking at a recent seminar on Japan's cultural influences. Goodman's small East Bay publisher puts out manga in translation as well as conventional books on Japan."

Beat the geeks: The Orlando Sentinel pokes fun at comics geeks by trolling MegaCon for political opinions. Here's a sample:

"One of the first I spoke to was Buzz Ryan, admiral of the Florida garrison of the 501st Imperial Stormtrooper Legion. He was a solid supporter of George Bush; no word yet on an endorsement from the Ewoks or the rebel alliance."

Ah, good times.

Wolfriders on the storm: And while we're talking about DC Comics press releases, the publisher also cranks up its Elfquest output with the announcement of an original, 96-page hardcover graphic novel titled The Searcher and Sword. It's the first new Elfquest story in, well, forever. SBC is johnny on the spot with that release, too.

Comics exclusives: DC Comics announces another round of two-year exclusive contracts, this time with veteran artist Jerry Ordway and Marvel refugee Ethan Van Sciver. Silver Bullet Comic Books has the press release.

Taking the Tiger by the tail: The Pasadena Star News spotlights Black Tiger: Legacy of Fury, a new martial-arts comic by local writer John Hervey II, who has sunk some $6,000 into the first issue:

"Hervey said he probably needs to sell 5,000 to 6,000 copies just to break even. About 1,800 had been ordered as of Tuesday."

Son of Sammy: Comic Book Resources talks to comics creator Azad about the upcoming A Very Sammy Day one-shot from Image Comics:

"Much of the misery I put Sammy through is inspired from personal experiences. A lot of it is kind of ordinary stuff that I embellish or exaggerated.

"For example, in the first mini series, Sammy has to deal with a phone operator in Acapulco who doesn't speak English, and she keeps transferring him around until he blows his stack. That incident, down to me trashing my room in my underwear out of frustration (yes more info than you need to know) happened almost verbatim. In my case, tough, I think I knocked over a chair or two, but Sammy trashes the room like a rock star.

"Otherwise, I'm pretty clumsy and about as unlucky as anyone else I suppose."

Moon-struck: Western Michigan University's student newspaper previews a lecture called "Sailor Moon: Japanese Superheroes for Global Girls," which will focus on the growing influence of anime and manga in the United States, and the sexuality of works like Sailor Moon:

"When the girls [take on super powers], they become sexy. I'm wondering if that embodies a certain sense of feminism or if it's really anti-feminist. I'll talk to girls who think 'Yes, I want to look good, too,' and believe that it gives them an extra sense of power."

Teaching comics: The Newark (Ohio) Advocate covers a comic book workshop for kids at the public library, overseen by local artist Russell Merritt.

Return to Gotham: CNN.com reports that Warner Bros. is taking a decidedly different approach with Batman Begins, possibly raising film adaptations of comic books to another level:

"This new movie, Batman Begins, is a beacon both for DC Comics and the film industry. If it succeeds, it will raise the bar to a new level.

"The golden goose for the genre has and always will be Batman. More than $400 million in domestic ticket sales for Spider-Man suggest otherwise, but there would be no big budget theatrical Spidey film had the Caped Crusader not broken the territory first.

"This film is shaping up to be something more than escapism and more than cinematic junk food.

"With its cast and crew, Batman Begins can be something to elevate the seemingly tangential genre of comic book movies to a cornerstone of film itself."

Interestingly, the very postive and forward-looking CNN story doesn't disclose that CNN, DC Comics and Warner Bros. are all part of the Time Warner family.

The shipping news: Previews Review updates with a rundown of books shipping this week.

Cover story: At SBC, Tim O'Shea interviews one of my favorite illustrators, Tara McPherson, who recently has provided covers for Vertigo's Lucifer and The Sandman Presents: Thessaly, Witch For Hire. Sadly, we learn she doesn't have much interest in drawing sequential art:

"That hasn’t come up, and personally I really don’t have a desire right now to do interior art. I’m really passionate about covers being the initial image that draws people’s attention, and it parallels some of the art that really inspires me. Take for instance Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque portraiture, I love how powerful those images are. Artists like Bronzino and Rembrandt suck you in to their art when you see them. In a way, what I try to create with my covers mimics that of the gallery painting. The presentation of a bold and beautiful image meant for the viewers pleasure and intellect. But, as they say never say never. I would like to paint a whole book someday..."

Average joes: At Time.com, Andrew Arnold -- who annoyingly spells comics as "comix" -- reviews Dennis Eichhorn's Real Stuff and David Chelsea's David Chelsea in Love.

Local boy does good: The Palm Beach Post talks briefly with local novelist and comics writer Brad Meltzer.

Offices damaged: Comic Book Resources reports that the offices of Slave Labor Graphics were damaged early Saturday morning by a drunken driver who drove her car through the front of the building. No one was injured, but there is extensive damage. Photos and an official statement can be found here.

Literary license: Swink magazine will launch next month, touting itself as a bicoastal, biannual publication "dedicated to identifying and promoting established and emerging literary talent." A press release promises something of particular interest to comics fans:

"Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, and Chris Offutt will be contributing comics they drew as children for Swink’s upcoming issue featuring a section on the role comic books have played in many authors’ lives."

I'm running a little behind this morning because of a free-lance project that required quick turnaround. Regular blogging will begin shortly.

What joy have I in June's return? Dark Horse Comics releases its June and July solicitations, which include B.P.R.D.: A Plague of Frogs, a guest appearance by Hellboy in The Goon #7, a Stevel Niles-Rob Zombie collaboration in The Nail #1 ... and a Neil Gaiman book? Why haven't I seen anything about the Creatures of the Night hardcover before now? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places:

"Written by Neil Gaiman, art by Michael Zulli.

"From the New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman comes a brand new hardcover collection, featuring two magical and disturbing stories lushly adapted to comics by veteran painter Michael Zulli. Newly rewritten by Gaiman for this graphic novel, these two ominous stories from the author¹s award-winning prose, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, feature animals and people not being quite what they seem. In 'The Price,' a black cat like a small panther arrives at a country home and is soon beset by mysterious and vicious wounds. What is he fighting every night that could do this, and why does he persist? 'The Daughter of Owls' recounts an eerie old tale of a foundling girl who was left‹with an owl pellet‹as a newborn on the steps of the Dymton Church. She was soon cloistered away in a local convent, but by her fourteenth year word of her beauty had spread‹and those who would prey upon her faced unforeseen consequences.

"48 pages, $12.95, in stores on July 4."

Going APE: At UnderGroundOnline (again), Rich Watson reports on APE 2004, using the expo has an opportunity to ask industry insiders whether self-publishing is financially viable nowadays. Watson talks to Jeff Mason, Trina Robbins, Dan Vado (Slave Labor Graphics), Derek Kirk Kim and others. The different angle makes it one of the better APE reports, despite being some two weeks after the fact.

The rumor with legs: While Rich Johnston salutes Mark Millar for a successful sleight of hand marketing campaign falsely connecting Eminem with the Wanted movie deal, Rap News Direct reports the story as gospel:

"Eminem is currently being considered to play the starring role of a comic book character in the upcoming film Wanted. Comic book writer Mark Millar is bringing this super villain comic book series Wanted to the silver screen and he's looking at Em for the starring role. 'I'm really excited about the possibility of Marshall playing the lead role,' Millar said, 'and Universal has already been in talks with his people, and also lined up one of the top five producers in Hollywood.' Millar will also reportedly be executive producer of the film. He is interested in getting Tommy Lee Jones and Beyonce Knowles for other villainous roles."

Masters and Monsters: UnderGroundOnline talks with comics legend Neal Adams about the recently released Neal Adams Monsters, and reprints of his earlier work for DC and Marvel:

"They try to make it like they are not reprinting Neal Adams; it's just X-Men or Batman stories. Each time they do it, it gets clearer they are doing Neal Adams books. It's sort of embarrassing to me because people want me to sign these things. Sure there is per page royalty but its pretty much what everyone else gets and it's not very big. There's no real recognition that they are doing Neal Adams reprints. Then the herd starts to thin out; they're reprinting an awful lot of Neal Adams and not so much anyone else. In this past year they wanted to reprint every Batman story I ever did in three volumes, from the crappiest World's Finest to some of the cooler stuff. I finally called over and told them they had to give me some kind of additional percentage because essentially you are saying "It's Neal Adams' Batman." You're not selling Batman you're selling Neal Adams. They finally said I was right. After they print $75 and $50 books I guess they finally decided to admit it before it turns into something stupid. So we're going over contracts now and they will pay me additional money."

Questions, followed by answers: Alan David Doane has "Five Questions" for Damon Hurd, writer of My Uncle Jeff and A Sort of Homecoming.

Reviews a-go-go: Publishers Weekly (subscription required) unloads this week with reviews of Neal Adams Monsters, Lovecraft, Fruits Basket: Book One, Les Bijoux Vol. 1, Miss Me, Berserk: Book One, Hellsing: Vol. 1, Comanche Moon and Fray.

"Tits and innards": At Ninth Art, Antony Johnston, Alasdair Watson and Andrew Wheeler wonder what the For Mature Readers label says about comics and their creators.

Culture vultures: The Chicago Tribune (registration required) covers a lecture at Evanston's Comix Revolution about The Simpsons' simultaneous existence in popular culture and counterculture. The discussion was led by Northwestern professor Bill Savage, a contributor to the new book, Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture:

"Can you have something made by an evil multinational conglomerate -- not to put it politely -- and at the same time say something serious about multinational conglomerates and how they've affected our world?"

Mainstream moment: The Seattle Times spotlights DC/Vertigo's The Human Target.

Silver linings: The Norwalk (Conn.) Hour speaks briefly with Arlen Schumer, author of The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, which focuses on the works of artists Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert and Jim Steranko:

"This period in comic book history really set trends in the art of comic book storytelling."

Manga mystery: While the Shelby Star sounds the alarm about manga, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin embraces it with a glowing review of the Kindaichi Case Files series from Tokyopop.

Parental advisory: The Shelby (N.C.) Star passes along a warning to parents from the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department: Beware the manga your kids are seeing at area bookstores. Sheriff's Capt. Bobby Steen is particularly concerned about Love Hina, which was brought to his attention by an upset parent:

"They need to know that this is out here. For $9.99 they can look about getting in a hot tub naked with a girl."

Steen goes on to fret that the manga is using "cartoons" to sell sex to teens. "I think that's wrong."

Luckily, a local Baptist minister is there to point out the obvious -- that it's up to parents to monitor what their children read, watch or do: "What I saw is no worse than what you’d see on regular television or the Internet or the grocery aisle looking at magazines."

Still, Steen's not happy: "What can be done? Legally? Nothing. Hopefully, morally, people will take these off the shelves."

Sea change: The Fall River, Mass., Herald News reports on an exhibit of sea-inspired art at the Maritime Gallery in Mystic, Conn., that includes works by MAD Magazine's Jack Davis, Finding Nemo's Peter deSeve and Washingtoon's Mark Alan Stamaty.

A history in panels: The Albany, N.Y., Times Union examines the allure of the newspaper comic strip, and traces the history of sequential art from prehistoric France through the creation of Superman to the online syndication of Dilbert:

"It seems a humble thing, really, the comic strip: 5 5/8 inches wide, 1 1/2 inches high in the daily paper (bigger and in color on Sundays). Over a few panels a joke is told, a prank executed, a story line slightly advanced by recurring characters, then it's over. Much of each day's comics section, admittedly, is pretty uninspired stuff -- worth a smile at most. The cumulative effect of regular morning encounters, however, can be powerful. The noted communications scholar Marshall McLuhan observed that comics, with characters that are both friends of and stand-ins for readers, 'provide a sort of magically recurrent daily ritual.'"

The Man show: At SBC, Tim O'Shea talks to Jeffrey Brown about Be A Man, the parody of his own graphic novel, Clumsy:

"Well, a lot of the criticism around Clumsy seemed to deal with not the book, but with me and my behavior. Because I'm too sensitive. And so I was thinking, well, what would I do differently to be more manly exactly? How did these people want me to act? So I just re-wrote some of the stories to kind of work out this frustration, question these people's assumed social constructs of expected behavior and gender roles. Plus, it was funny."

He likes them! He really likes them! On his blog (first item), The Interman's Jeff Parker responds to criticism of comments he made about superhero comics in a Sequential Tart interview:

"Maybe I'll elaborate on the superheroes thing before people think I hates 'em. I don't! Me and Spidey are like this. But a couple of bloggers have taken my Sequential Tart interview the wrong way, especially Sean Collins who suggests I'm bashing superheroes to look all smart and with it. Believe me, I know I have no prayer of looking smart -- (unless maybe I start wearing a tweed coat with elbow patches, and a mortarboard on my head, that should do it), and I'm really not bashing superheroes. I draw them every now and then, and will happily read them, like Darwyn Cooke's excellent New Frontiers. There's plenty of room for superhero books aimed at longtime readers, Watchmen and Dark Knight cemented that back in the '80's. But I think the prime target should be kids heading into their teens, that's who the concept of empowerment -- at least the physicality of superheroes -- speaks to clearest. Not people my age. We still need escapism, but as I said in that extended metaphor, we've literally loved that genre to death.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to working on the problem of Dark Matter."

(Thanks to Laura Gjovaag for pointing out Parker's response.)

Inter-blogging on The Interman: The bloggerati react to statements The Interman creator Jeff Parker made about superhero comics in a Sequential Tart interview. David Fiore, Steven Berg take Parker to task, while David Allen Jones, Laura Gjovaag and Christopher Butcher think he has some good points.

Life stories: Newsarama talks to writer Dennis Eichhorn about his career, the Real Life trade paperback, and why it isn't being published by Fantagraphics:

Newsarama: "Speaking of your relationships in the early days of Real Stuff, why isn’t the new trade paperback being published by Fantagraphics?"

Eichhorn: "After I did 20 issues of Real Stuff over two years we got tired of working with each other.

Newsarama: "What does that mean?"

Eichhorn: "Well, at one point we got into an argument over censorship. One of my stories had a reference in it to McDonald’s hamburgers and they wanted it taken out. It pissed me off and we got into a stupid argument which kind of soured our relationship. I came to find out years later that Fantagraphics had been sued twice by other people and it was really expensive for them. So one thing they didn’t want is another lawsuit.

"I did find out later on that National Lampoon had ridiculed McDonald’s and used their logo even and nothing had ever come of it. So I don’t think they would have done anything with regards to my comic. I had to go along with Fantagraphics but it was the only time they censored me and I got pissed off about."

Um, did I miss the book burning? At SBC, Barb Lien-Cooper champions friend Mark Millar's The Unfunnies in a somewhat puzzling column titled "Why The Unfunnies Has a Right to Exist." I realize there were mixed reactions to the first issue of the series, with some critics declaring it brilliant while others thought it was sophomoric and "shocking" for shocking's sake. But was there some movement to have the comic banned or to have the creators jailed? Did I miss a memo, or the mob of torch-wielding villagers? Here's Lien-Cooper:

"You don't have to agree with me. You have every right to hate and condemn The Unfunnies for its subject matter. America is the marketplace of ideas, after all. But, I hope that you can at least understand the comic as an exercise of authorial free speech and the right of the creator to write his or her own comic his or her own way. There's been a wave of conservatism in comics in this post-Preacher age. Mark Millar's work got caught in the chilling effect back when DC had problems with parts of The Authority. Since then, Mark's been even more insistent about having the authorial power to tell his stories without undue tampering. If you find no other reason for saying The Unfunnies has merit, at least try and understand why the work exists. Comics need to live free or die as an artistic medium. Only creator freedom can do that. Therefore, I applaud Avatar for having the guts to support creator freedom by publishing works like The Unfunnies that are seen as too controversial for other comic book companies to publish."

Shopping guide: The Portland Oregonian spotlights the local Excalibur Books & Comics, tracing the history of the store and offering some pointers for novice shoppers:

"Comic books are the food of the masses. They are a history of what interests people. What we all see, we can all have: Anything you can imagine, there is a story out there that will satisfy you."

The great Pumpkinhead: The Kansas City Star talks to children's book author/illustrator Eric Rohmann, who claims as his influences Dracula, comic books and the cartoons of Edward Gorey. Rohmann's latest book, Pumpkinhead is about a boy named Otho who is born with, as you may guess, a pumpkin for a head.

Cartoons on display: India's KanglaOnline reports on an exhibit at the Manipur Press Club that includes more than 250 cartoons and 50 comics from local, national and international newspapers and journals. The exhibit was organized by All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the World Comics India.

Legal briefs: The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) examines what the decision in the Neil Gaiman-Todd McFarlane lawsuit could mean to broader issues of joint authorship and copyright.

The Baltimore Sun also has a version of the article.

A market for superheroes: Does Aquaman not float your boat? The Teen Titans don't get you going? Maybe you need a different kind of superhero like, um, Kaptain Kelmore, "the financial superhero." Fighting supervillains is nothing compared to battling "fiduciary mayhem" and saving "investors from mutual fund prospectus confusion." Sounds riveting, right?

Well, it seems to be working for the Kelmoore Investment Company, which is publishing the second installment of the alliteral adventures of Kaptain Kelmore:

"'Two years ago, we created Kaptain Kelmoore to help educate investors about options investing -- our firm's specialty,' said Tammy Wendoll, Senior Executive Vice President. 'The informative, but light-hearted comic book presentation of a complex financial vehicle became enormously popular with financial advisors and individual investors. Since then, Kaptain Kelmoore seems to have developed a cult following.'"

The comic can be ordered through the company's website, or by calling a toll-free number. Some 20,000 copies of the first two issues have been ordered by investors.

The play's the thing: The Daily Northwestern previews a student play called Spider-Man Versus Batman, which seems to focus on failure and binge drinking. Everything else is pretty much "top secret." But here's my nomination for quote of the week, courtesy of one of the actors:

"It's written by a 21-year-old college student, so it's very relevant."

More relevant, perhaps, are the cease-and-desist letters destined to come from DC and Marvel.

Wanted, dead or alive: It looks as if the "rumors" are true. Well, at least part of the rumors. Variety reports that Universal Pictures has, indeed, acquired the rights to Mark Millar's Wanted, with Marc Platt set to produce. Millar will executive produce the film, along with Top Cow's Marc Silvestri, and Jason Netter of Kickstart Productions, which brought the property to Platt.

As for the rumor that Eminem is eyeing a starring role, Variety has this to say:

"London's Daily Star quoted Millar claiming that Eminem was in talks to play the lead role, but the rapper's reps at UTA, as well as a rep for Universal, say Eminem is not attached, nor is he in talks on the pic."

Graphic content: Metroactive of Santa Cruz, Calif., profiles local artist and comics creator Kristin Olson, known as "Koak," whose often-disurbing autobiographical work is on display through March 15:

"It's a lot easier to do personal stuff if you have this -- I know it's not really a security blanket, but if you just kinda have this little blockade, you can pretend it's not you. And when you're doing really sexual or open stuff, it's kind of a safe wall for doing stuff like that, especially on the Internet. It just makes it a little bit easier."

Under pressure: Cartoonist Ted Rall tells Editor & Publisher his editorial cartoons were dropped this week by NYTimes.com because of pressure from conservatives. NYTimes.com seems to say the same thing, but in vague and longer terms:

"After two years of monitoring cartoons by Ted Rall we decided that, while he often does good work, we found some of his humor was not in keeping with the tone we try to set for NYTimes.com ... While NYTimes.com and its parent company support the right of free expression, we also recognize an obligation to assure our users that what we publish, no matter what its origin, does not offend the reasonable sensibilities of our audience."

Comics history: This makes me wish I still lived in Connecticut. The Hartford Advocate reports that on March 11 comedian and writer Arie Kaplan will give a presentation at the Connecticut Historical Society Museum called "How Jews Created the Comic Book," focusing on such creators as Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and Stan Lee. The presentation is part of the Historical Society's current exhibition, "Heroes, Heartthrobs and Horrors: Celebrating Connecticuts Invention of the American Comic Book."

On a related note, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency spotlights a new comic called Jewish Hero Corps, then expands its focus to include the contributions Jewish creators have made to American comics:

"When you consider the over-representation of Jews working in the comics industry, it seems surprising that most comics readers and most Jews seem unaware of the Jewish contribution to this art form and unaware of Jewish topics in stories."

On Fire: Alan David Doane abandons the "Five Questions" format for a fascinating conversation with Alan Moore about his novel Voice of the Fire and his pivotal role in the history of modern comics:

"Sometimes, on my darker days, I tend to feel that most of my influence upon comics has been negative, that perhaps people who read the early Swamp Thing or Watchmen or a lot of the work that I was doing in the '80s, that what they took from it wasn't its urge to experiment or its urge to stretch the limits of the form and the medium. It seems that perhaps what a lot of them took from it was the violence, a certain kind of intellectual posture...a few other things, and it seemed to condemn comics to a lot of very depressing and grim post-Watchmen comic books. Maybe that's too bleak, like I say, it depends from day to day, it depends what sort of mood I'm in and you've caught me on a tired day today, so, I'm perhaps being a bit pessimistic there."

Go read it. Now.

Comics matters: PopMatters, "the magazine for global culture," beefs up its sometimes-anemic comics section with new reviews of A Small Killing, Judge Dredd: The Complete America, Marshall Law: Fear and Loathing, Red #1-3, and X-Statix #13-18.

The big questions: At The Pulse, Jai Nitz asks creators and retailers: "1. What one (1) genre comic (non-superhero) would you like to see on the market; 2. What creative team (besides yourself) would you put on the book; and 3. What is your favorite non-superhero title on the stands right now?"

Romance and Western comics by Alan Moore are pretty popular choices. But Brian Azzarello has one of the more interesting responses: A karate book by Bob Fingerman & Ryoichi Ikegami.

Pandora's box: Wizard wants comics fans to send in questions for its writers to ask Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada:

"Ever wanted some one-on-one time with Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada? Got a question you’re dying to ask the superstar artist? Wondering what’s next coming up in Quesada’s new Daredevil mini-series or the rest of the Marvel Knights relaunch? Think you know more about running a comic company than any other Marvel fan? Well here’s your chance to go toe-to-toe with Quesada. Wizard’s conducting a fan Q&A with Quesada for Wizard #152 and we need your help.

"Just e-mail your questions for the EIC to askjoequesada@wizarduniverse.com and we’ll sit down with him and shoot him the best questions you’ve got! So let’s hear ’em already! Email us your Joe Quesada questions...if you dare! (Dare? Get it? Daredevil? Quesada draws Daredevil...ah forget it.) "

Of course, Wizard being Wizard, it's unlikely the "best" questions will be asked.

What about the children? The Los Angeles Times reports on a joint program by Sony Pictures, CalArts and the city that instructs kids in drawing, design, animation and media technology:

"Students receive six hours a week of instruction that could start them on paths to a variety of arts-related careers, including cartoonist, animator, comic book illustrator, video game creator and Web designer."

Off-color: The Hartford Courant (registration required) reports the former owner of Eastern Color Printing has admitted to failing to stop top executives from playing financial shell games in an attempt to save the company from bankruptcy in 2002. Eastern Color Printing in 1933 published Funnies on Parade, which many consider the nation's first comic book.

Fleet Bank lost $2.2 million in the shell-game scheme, and the financial officer who concocted it faces up to five years in prison. A. Robert Palmer, Eastern Color Printing's former chief executive officer and owner, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of misprision of a felony -- concealing knowledge of a felony. He could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Reflections on an aardvark: Bruce Baugh offers an interesting analysis of Dave Sim's Cerebus, mapping the long, and sometimes puzzling, journey of the series and its creator.

Mister green genes: PopImage talks to writer Andy Diggle about resurrecting Swamp Thing, and becoming DC's newest go-to guy for revamps:

"I seem to have become the 'Revamp Guy'! DC asked me to revamp The Losers, then they asked me to revamp Swamp Thing, and now I'm revamping something else for the DCU. That's fine by me - as I said, I enjoy 'fixing' things - but I'm also developing my own projects. It's all about getting the balance right. It's like how Martin Scorsese says he chooses his projects -- 'one for me, one for the studio.'"

Diggle also pauses to compare the US and UK comics markets.

"What UK market? If you exclude the kiddie comics, there's not much going on here beyond 2000AD and Warhammer. We all had high hopes for Com.X, but their output has been minuscule. It's a shame. Jock and I actually pitched them some ideas a couple of years ago, so we could have been making money for them right now instead of for DC. Way it goes, I suppose."

Ghost in the machine: Technology seems to be plotting against me this morning. ICv2.com is having trouble. So, too, are the websites for The Hartford Courant and The Los Angeles Times. I hope everything gets back on track soon; otherwise, it's shaping up to be a slow news day.

Better late than never: The folks at Previews Review miss the pre-order deadline, but still deliver an informative and entertaining rundown of the books shipping in March. I'd missed the solicitation for the Nightmares & Fairytales Vol. 1: Annabelle Speaks trade paperback, so they score extra points for bringing it to my attention. Your tardiness is forgiven, guys.

Curses, foiled again: Steven Grant examines the '90s-era tactics Marvel is using to market Secret War, complete with commemorative editions and special ordering incentives:

"What I don't get is why they just had to muck it up with the special edition nonsense. That's like trying to create an instant collectible under the guise of helping out retailers and promoting a book. All they had to do was go back to press with it. Just do another run of the thing to order. No visible differences. The people who didn't get copies before and wanted it, it wouldn't have made any difference to them. What, they're going to say, 'Gee, this is a rip, we only got the comic we asked for!'?"

And while he's on the subject of the 1990s, Grant also looks at the decade as the Golden Age of "anti-character":

"Seriously, I've been writing little reports on character after character, and it's like someone flipped a switch and the business decided the essence of character was a superpower or eight, a costume and a fighting name. Character after character introduced without motive, history or explanation, as if superpowers (or, often as not, some sort of expensive, heavily armed armor) were the most natural thing in the world. Which, I guess, in a world where half the population are super-powered mutants and the others are gods in drag, they are, and that's also part of the problem."

Deep Sleeper: Newsarama talks to Ed Brubaker about Sleeper "Season Two," which debuts in June:

"One of my favorite things about episodic fiction is the time that passes between events. On The Wire -- which is the best TV show ever made, in my opinion, about a year passed between seasons, in the timeline of the show. You got to see where everyone was and what their new status quo was and that was cool. It allowed them to evolve as characters. The same thing happens on The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Time passes.

"That's a cool thing, because it allows you to give each Season an arc or theme of its own. With Sleeper, the first Season is all about Holden's struggle to hold onto his humanity and what he thinks he is while living this other life. The next Season is about something else, and some secrets are revealed, plot threads that maybe no one even noticed were left dangling at the end of Season One. The biggest difference between Seasons One and Two is that Season Two is about the other characters -- Lynch and Tao -- as well as Holden."

Hero for hire: Hollywood Reporter has word that Oscar-nominated director John Singleton is negotiating with Marvel for a crack at Luke Cage for Columbia Pictures.

Marvel also is developing Iron Fist at Lions Gate Entertainment.

One of these films, I'm certain, will go direct to video. Can you guess which one?

Drastic measures: The Tri-Valley Herald reports on the lengths to which Avenue Elementary School in Livermore, Calif., goes to promote literacy through its "Read to Succeed" campaign:

"The children can read anything they want, magazines, newspapers, recipes, comic books, anything. One student even read the dictionary for six hours."

Students who read for six hours out of school over a four-week period receive a free pass to Marine World. I just hope comics edges out recipes on the list of student favorites.

Wall Street Marvel: Why crunch numbers when someone else will do it for you (and probably better)? I was going to sift through Marvel's fourth-quarter figures, but I just ran across Fool.com's assessment of the company's stock split, and a translation of Allen Lipson's corporate double-talk:

"A little more of that and I'll have everything I need to fertilize my garden this spring. Under the plan, shares will be repriced from around $33 to $22. Do they really think that America's comic-book fans can't afford the extra $11 a stub? This looks like a facile and unnecessary attempt to hype the stock. Here's some unsolicited advice for Marvel's management: Sell the superheroes. Make loads of money. Let the shares sell themselves."

Return of the King: UnderGround Online marks the 10th anniversary of Jack Kirby's death with a tribute from comics pros like Roy Thomas, Jim Steranko, Roger Stern and John Byrne, and a reprint of the last published interview with Kirby, conducted in 1994 by Christopher Golden for the old HERO Illustrated magazine. Kirby passed away just 11 days after the interview.

Brace yourselves: Alan David Doane has Five Questions for Cerebus' Dave Sim.

The shipping news: Christopher Butcher and Scott Robins update Previews Review with a rundown of the books shipping this week. As usual, they offer solid recommendations, along with some biting commentary.

True colors: In this week's "A Thousand Flowers," Stuart Moore traces the evolution of color technology in comic books.

Industrial-strength teddy bears: At Silver Bullet Comic Books, the ubiquitous Tim O'Shea talks to industriacide creator Sean Dietrich about the release of the trade paperback from Rorschach Entertainment.

Money matters: Reuters reports that Marvel has posted a fourth-quarter profit, but claimed a slight drop in revenue because of a decline in sales of Spider-Man movie merchandise. Ah, well. More fuel for the lawsuits against Sony, I suppose:

"Marvel, known for comic strips made into movies like The Hulk, reported net income of $13.5 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a loss, after preferred stock dividends, of $48.7 million, or $1.03 a share, a year earlier. Before preferred dividends totaling more than $55 million, it earned $7.2 million in the prior year's fourth quarter.

"Fourth-quarter revenue slipped to $85.7 million from $86.5 million in the year-ago period, which was boosted by the hit movie Spider-Man."

The Business Wire has Marvel's official press release, along with more complete breakdowns, for all of you numbers junkies. Of course, you have to put up with corporate-speak like this, courtesy of President and CEO Allen Lipson:

"As our corporate and character brands have grown in value for our licensing and media partners around the globe, we continue to prudently exploit them via an extremely efficient business model focused on generating cash with relatively minimal capital risk or investment. As each Marvel brand is introduced into mainstream popular culture via a variety of media including film, TV, comics, video games and DVD, we are creating a growing portfolio of attractive licensing franchises. This has a long-term layering effect which builds the value of the Marvel brand and provides the 'content clout' necessary to continue increasing shareholder value."

I'm going to look over the numbers later today to see whether I can make any sense of them.

A fine line between "revival" and "a coma": Texas A&M's The Battalion looks at what it calls a "revival" of comic books, focusing on the aging audience, the "mature" content (read sex), and the recent string of comics-based movies. Oddly enough for an article about the popularity of comics among the "older college audience," there's only a vague (possible) reference to manga:

"My dad was in Tokyo for a while, and he collected a bunch of comic books and sent me some. I read them all."

Instead, the story sticks primarily to Marvel Comics, which it contends is "always willing to push the boundaries of the mainstream market." Apparently, The Battalion didn't get the memo from Avi Arad.

It is the wind of March: The March edition of Sequential Tart is online, with plenty of interesting content, including interviews with J.M. DeMatteis, Jim Mahfood, Jeff Parker and Christopher Golden, and commentary about the dismissal of manga, and the complaining chorus of manga "purists."

Not bad for a 74-year-old: Newsday reports that the eternally youthful Nancy Drew still has a faithful audience, thanks in large part to a fashion makeover, a new book series and an upcoming graphic novel. But the plots are still murder-free:

"The kids who read Nancy Drew also listen to Britney Spears. That's one reason we wanted to make Nancy cooler and more contemporary."

Mutant menace: Marvel's Joe Quesada and Mike Marts talk to Newsarama about the big plans for X-Men: Reload (although Quesada doesn't understand why everyone keeps calling it Reload). They also discuss trying to fill Grant Morrison's shoes, which apparently is editor-speak for "We're going to undo everything Morrison accomplished over the past couple of years":

"We also can’t say enough about Grant Morrison’s role in revitalizing the X-Men world. Obviously, when Grant left, we had big shoes to fill, and we’ve been very, very blessed in being able to fill those shoes, but also, I think that Grant did a great job of redefining the franchise in a lot of ways, and almost sort of cleansing the palate for fans of the overwhelming storylines and gigantic crossovers that X-fans were sort of getting tired of for a while. I think that Grant did a great job with that, as well as bringing in new characters, and creating a whole new feel for the book."

It worked so well for DC and Jim Lee ... Newsarama also reports that John Romita Jr. will take a break from Amazing Spider-Man to work with Mark Millar on Wolverine and Garth Ennis on Punisher.

Movie madness: Newsarama checks in with Dark Horse Comics editor Scott Allie about the publisher's plans to take advantage of the Hellboy movie hype. Marvel and DC should take notes:

"We're doing a lot. We did a deal with Pocket Books to put the two Chris Golden Hellboy novels in mass market bookstores. We're doing a paperback of The Art of Hellboy, and an art of the movie book. We've created an endcap display for all the Hellboy collections -- five by Mike Mignola, plus two others by other people.

"The five Mignola collections got new covers and new designs. The idea with the new design was to make it more distinctive. So much of the Hellboy business is the trade paperbacks, and we realized that most stores rack their collections spine out-all the casual reader sees as he walks by the aisles is the spines of all these books. While the old trade spines were classy, they didn't stand out at all. They were too simple, and didn't stand out from anything. The Sandman trades have a really nice design where, when you see a group of them on the shelf together, they stand out. The Marvel books, with that ghastly yellow beacon on the spine, stands out, but not in a way that tells you what the book is or if you want it."

Men behaving badly: Also at Ninth Art, Paul O'Brien wonders what reaction to the recent firing of Igor Kordey says about fans, the artist and Marvel Comics:

"For one thing, there's been a bit of hand wringing over the degree of glee shown by some of Kordey's detractors. Of course, tastes vary, and many of those who enjoy Kordey's work might be equally gleeful if another creator were to be similarly removed. Let's be honest, when Chuck Austen finally moves on from the X-Men books, it's not going to be greeted by people saying, 'Well, gee, I hope it works out for him.' (Unless, of course, he's just been hit by a bus or something.)"

Curse you, real world: We now return you to regular blogging, already in progress. (Sorry about that.)

Comics piracy: Ninth Art talks to Scurvy Dogs co-creator and artist Ryan Yount about pirates, his series, and the high cost of making comics:

"The biggest cost of making comics is the time and effort you put into them. Second to that is the tremendous monetary cost of printing and distributing your comic. It helps to have a good perspective on things. Andrew and I are both totally committed to doing more SCURVY DOGS stories.

"And the money thing, well, we've both accepted that it's worth it to us to put our stuff out there. The "price of entertainment", if you will. The fun lasts longer than a weekend in Reno, anyway."

CrossGen update: Publishers Weekly (subscription required) checks in with CrossGen's director of sales and marketing, Chris Oarr, about the troubled publisher's equally troubled trade program:

"'We're on the cusp of finalizing a new round of financing that will allow us to resume our graphic novel program.' The relaunch should come in three to five weeks, Oarr said. The first list will be tilted toward proven bestselling titles. 'You should begin seeing trade paperbacks available from CrossGen perhaps as early as May,' Oaar said."

Not just comics anymore: Asia Times Online reports that Hong Kong-based comics publisher Culturecom is branching out by offering low-cost, Chinese-language central processing units for computers.