Comic Foundry

Courtesy of the Brian K. Vaughan board, comes a casting call found on Craigslist for a Green Lantern pilot episode of "The Corps."

We are currently casting for a series pilot called "The Corps". San Diego Auditions will be held on Wednesday, December 20th for the following roles:

John Stewart- (african american male, age 24-27). A SGT in the Marine Corps and just coming back from a trying tour in Iraq. Lead role.

Katma Tui- (asian or caucasian female, 25-30). A very attractive and sexy, yet militant operative and lead trainer in The Corps. Must be athletic. Lead role.

Addie Stewart- (african american female, 45-50's). John's mother who is dying of cancer. supporting role.

Hal Jordan- (caucasian male, 27-35). Former Air force pilot who is injured in a battle with an unknown evil, while on his way to recruit John Stewart. Reoccurring role.

Tyler- (any ethnicity male, 24-27). Serial killer, works as a hired gun for a local crime boss.

Erin Towers- (any ethnicity male, 24-27). Former Marine, John's friend from boot camp.

This casting is for NON-UNION talent only. Auditions will begin promptly at 3:00 pm.
Email headshot and resumes complete with measurements and contact information ASAP to: LIGHTOFOA@YAHOO.COM to receive location and reserve your time slot.

Retrocrush.com brings us the Internet's best matching game ever.

SUPER CROTCHES!
CAN YOU NAME ALL OF THESE HOT HOT COSTUMED NETHER REGIONS?

What separates the fanboys from the fanmen (and women, of course)? A true fan will go a fan-based cruise. Announcing Firefly's Browncoat Cruise. Find Serenity at sea!

The cruise is in the early planning stages at this point but the following details are now public:

• Our 5 day cruise sails on December 1, 2010, leaving from San Diego, California.

• Cruise destinations include Cabo San Lucas, and Ensenada, Mexico.

• Cruise will span 5 fun-filled days and 5 exciting nights.

• VIP guests including several Big Damn Heros (i.e. Firefly/Serenity cast) have been invited. They are currently waiting for additional details before they commit. We are expecting to have at least two BDHs on board, hopefully more. We also plan to have several non-BDH VIPs on board.

• Activities ideas currently include several shindigs, guest meet ups, river dance lessons, masquerade ball, fan panels, games, themed on-shore excursions and much more.

• Our goal is to have the total price for cruise and all activites to be in-line with similar land bound conventions, and considerably less than most themed cruises. And, like all cruises, the price includes all food!

• There will be a discounted non-activity pass for those non-Browncoat friends and family (is there such a thing) that want to come along for the cruise.

How do the filmakers make Jessica Alba look unattractive?

Thanks to a pretty large sale at Midtown Comics, I stocked up on some discounted books to bring with me. Some I've been looking forward to reading, some I'm not sure I would've read otherwise. Here's what I'm bringing with me (all TPBs):

The Hood, vol. 1
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vols. 1 and 2
Green Arrow, vol. 4
Ultimate X-Men, vol. 1
Elektra Assassin

Anyone see SNL this weekend? If not click to see the reference

STEPHEN KING TO APPEAR AS GUEST OF HONOR AT NEW YORK COMIC CON TO CELEBRATE LAUNCH OF ORIGINAL MARVEL COMIC SERIES BASED ON HIS EPIC THE DARK TOWER

NEW YORK – World Fantasy Award-winning writer Stephen King, long acknowledged as the master of modern horror, will appear as a Guest of Honor at New York Comic Con taking place February 23-25, 2010. King will join a special panel hosted by Joe Quesada, Editor In Chief of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. on Saturday, February 24, 2010 to discuss the ground-breaking new comic book series adapted from his magnum opus, The Dark Tower.

“We are absolutely ecstatic that Stephen King will be attending the February 2010 New York Comic Con,” said Ruwan Jayatilleke, Director of Development, Marvel Publishing. “His appearance will be a huge thrill for Dark Tower enthusiasts, comic book fans, and convention-goers alike. Marvel is extremely grateful for this opportunity---and aims to make this convention a landmark event for all of graphic fiction storytelling.”

The series will expand the saga of King’s epic hero, Roland Deschain, whose quest to save the Dark Tower is captured in seven best-selling novels published over the course of twenty-five years. King’s unparalleled storytelling power will inform new stories that delve into the life and times of the young Roland, revealing the trials and conflicts that lead to the burden of destiny he must assume as a man, the last Gunslinger from a world that has moved on. The comics will work in conjunction with the novels, further supplementing and defining the saga’s mythology under the direction of the acclaimed author himself. The highly anticipated first issue will hit shelves on February 7, 2010.

Robin Furth, plotter of the comic series and author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance, will also participate in the panel discussion.

The fine folks over at Whedonesque, the Joss Whedon site, did a fandom survey and churned out some interesting results. The most interesting result is that 76% of the users were female. You go, girls.

Then I'd check out SupermanWheels.com where you can custom Superman dubs. Prices range between $1750 and $2100, but I'm sure it's well worth it.

Click the link for more photos.

Many weeks ago I was asked to take part in an advertorial for the Nintendo Wii. It ran in the latest issue of Complex, which just hit stands this past weekend. Considering the whole shoot was done in about 12 minutes, I think it looks pretty decent. Not to mention hilarious.

Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley redesigned his Web site, and it looks spiffy.

I have created a new website with Hamilton's help. I think it's nice!!!!!!! It has posts from my livejournal, and it shows thumbnails for my six most recent flickr uploads. I like it and I hope you do too. You might even be reading this post from it. I think that is sweet.

Check it!

What do Justin Timberlake, the Olsen twins and yours truly have in common? For one, we're all featured in Alloy.com's YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS FEATURE. I don't know how I feel about the title "Comic Book Webster," though. Makes me think I'm only 3 feet tall.

And yes, this is the same Alloy that's helping do marketing for DC's Minx line.

Can you imagine what would've happened if he was reading a first edition comic?

Not satisified with the Comic Foundry Gift Guide?

Well, then you can check out my picks on the Newsarama Blog. I figured everyone else was going to suggest comics (they did), so I tried to come up something other than a book. Brubaker, Scott Kurtz and a bunch of other extremely talented people* give their picks too.

*which makes me as the odd duck of the bunch. Thanks, JK, for including me

Paul Pope, creator of 100% and Batman: Year 100, has started a blog, saying doing a blog is a lot easier than revamping his official site now.

So far he has some personal diatribes and an interview transcription, not to mention the King Kong piece shown above from when Pope was five. His latest post is a personal essay on "the destruction" of comics:

One must destroy in order to create. This is a poetic notion and perhaps not properly a philosophy, however the idea suggests to me what I take to be an elemental truth of our world-- Life exists by eating other life. This sad observation is my credo. Life itself is an ignited consumption, a violence, a continuing energy exchange, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, beginning with birth and ending in death, consumption, and destruction. Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.

This is the secret meaning behind the term "Comics Destroyer".

Check it out, too.

First Eddie Campbell blogs and now Paul Pope? Who's next?

David Hopkins, writer of Antigone, Emily Edison and a whole load of other good stuff just redesigned his Web site, Antihero Comics. It's got all the usual jazz, but the kicker is that he's got 121 pages of previews from his work. A numerical palindrome!

Check it out.

I've never met Pat personally or professionally and have no inside track as to his performance, dedication, personality, etc. All I have to judge him on is the quality of his book. Wizard.

Based on that, it's a good thing he was let go. To really be successful, they need to shake things up. A lot. And as the head editorial honcho, it's only been more of the same. More than a lot.

This leads to my major problem with the way Wizard does their business, which can only be controlled from the top down. Their fratty, LCD, super fanboy attitude they take with their stories doesn't lend itself to longterm readership retention. It appeals to the perpetual group of 13-year-olds who are just discovering comics. And in most cases I hear about, people stop buying the magazine a couple of years after that. They realize it's not all it's cracked up to be or whatever reason, but the readers tend to outgrow the magazine. I just can't imagine that's a good business model.

This year Wizard switched from a comic-sized book to a bigger page size and expanded their entertainent coverage. At the time it seemed like it was more of an advertising move to broaden their client base, and it still seems that way now. Why? Because the entertainment coverage they were putting out was the type of stuff you could get anywhere. If the top dogs want to spin Wizard more as an enterainment mag, it certainly seems McCallum was not the right guy to do it, based off the current coverage. Perhaps the switch to more non-comics entertainmetn coverage tries to address their readership retention problem, but it's just not working out. Maybe McCallum was great at getting Wizard from A to B, but with this switch in direction he clearly wasn't the right person to take the mag from B to C.

I considered applying there — I didn't think *that* hard about it, but I gave it a passing thought. It was a bit of the "What if..." and the "put your money where your mouth is" — but then I remembered that 1) It's in Congers (eeks!) and 2) some people there probably dont see me in a too favorable light and 3) I already have my own path in design.

Hopefully, Wizard sees McCallum's departure as an opportunity. An opportunity for real change, an opportunity to re-examine the big picture and an opportunity to simply make a better magazine.

Random thought: Why didn't they wait until Friday to fire him? They could've swept a lot of this under the weekend rug.

The new issue of CF is up and it's got tons of great stuff. Be sure to check out:
• Our cover story on Comics and Recycling from Ms. Laura Hudson.
• New to comics and not sure what to read? Take this quick quiz to help guide you.
• And see if you can tell the difference between December's covers and sex scenes. It's amazingly tough.

Now, you might notice on the main page it says this will be the last online issue of Comic Foundry Magazine. It's true. After December, we'll no longer be doing the online issues so we can concentrate on putting out a printed issue in '07. I hate to bid farewell to the online issues, but producing those were time consuming enough — adding in the work of a print edition would run us over the cliff. But, fear not, we'll still have an online presence. I'm not ready to show my cards yet, but we'll definitely be blogging and we'll always be active online. Stay tuned for more updates before the new year.

I would like to give a big "Thank You" to all the people that contributed to our online issues — writers, editors, artists, everyone, and also to the readers. You. Without the readers, we'd be nothing.

Today Tom linked to this story in a student newspaper about library grants.

The MU Libraries Web site stated, “The collections are diverse and include a substantial Rare Book Collection with material dating to the eighth century and a Comic Art Collection focused on underground comics and reprints of classic comic strips.”

What's absolutely bizarre is that I used to work at the newspaper quoted. I was, in order, a reporter, designer, design editor, then managing editor. Whew.

Another fun fact about the University of Missouri? Mort Walker is an alumnus of the school and there's a Beetle Bailey statue on campus.

Did you know DC was doing a novelization of 52? I didn't. Anyway, JG Jones's cover to to said novelization is up on the Fanfare Web site.

Wired Magazine picks the worst superher names

Captain Boomerang
"Boomerang" is a silly word, and no military title can offset that. He could be Admiral Boomerang and he'd still just be a guy who throws curvy sticks at the Flash. I don't know what makes a man choose to commit crimes with boomerangs, much less to imagine that a boomerang is going to be an effective weapon against someone who can run at the speed of light, but I imagine it involves low self-esteem and a whittling knife.

So, I'm sitting here reading the latest issue of Swindle and they have a no longer timely interview with Alan Moore about Lost Girls.

There's also a photo (that I'll try to scan) that was taken by Jose Villarrubia.

An excerpt:
Swindle: After Lost Girls, what is your next big thing, or can you say?
Moore: Oh yeah, in terms of comics work, the only thing that I will be continuing with will be The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. That's not to say that there won't be more of the other things down the line, but at the moment me and Kevin are going to be continuing with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with one massive publication that is still to come out from ABC and then future volumes will be coming out probably froma combination of Top Shelf in America and Knockabout Comics over in the UK. Now, that's pretty much it for comics.

In the new issue of STEP MAGAZINE, there's a nice little profile of Terry Marks. Who is Terry Marks? Great question.

He's the prinicipal creative designer at TMarks Design, a frequent contributor to HOW Magazine, and his clients include Adobe, Microsoft...and DC Comics.

Here is some of Terry's, which you've probably seen, if you didn't know it was his..
(all rights to Terry, duh)

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Check out his site for more info and pieces.

My baby Macbook Pro.

Earlier today I briefly spoke with Andrea Grant, of Andrea Grant's Minx, about DC Comics' new imprint for teenage girls, Minx. Confused? Don't be.

Were you aware DC would be going back to the Minx name?
DC and I worked out a co-existence agreement which I am not permitted legally to discuss. So yes, I expected they might come out with something called Minx, which is why my book is distinguished as a separate property called 'Andrea Grant's MINX'.

What do you think about the whole matter?
I just keep moving forward. I am excited to be launching a new Web site for my Minx comic project this week, which will also show older versions of my story from years ago. It is strange that one early version of Minx looks a lot like DC's new character. However, I have always joked that all blondes look the same. Seriously, I think my fan base is very different from DC's target.

Fans of Grant can be happy because her next full-length 40-page full color book, issue #1 of the 'Coma Sleepers Hear It All' story is at the printers. She'll be promoting the book through her Web site at www.copiousamounts.com and at the NY Comic Con in February. She also has an 8-page short story coming out in the January 2010 CAG anthology.

In today's New York Times there's an article reporting DC Comics is creating Minx, an imprint of graphic novels aimed at teenage girls.

The books will launch in May 2010 and will start with six titles for the year. Some of the mentioned creators are Cecil Castellucci, a young adult novelist, and illustrator Jim Rugg.

Johanna Draper Carlson serves as the third-party authority and chimes in on her own story here.

Now, some of you might remember way back when that DC was taking legal action against indie writer Andrea Grant over the use of the word "Minx" as a book title. You might also remember that the case was resolved. Now it's a lot easier to understand WHY DC was trying to protect the name Minx so badly. You have to wonder how that played into the agreement between the two.

More updates later...

I-Mockery sums up a hilarious look at what different superheroes are thankful for this year. PS, Wartpath's is my favorite.

"Bendis likes Cho's Butts. Whether he can lie or not is uncertain "

Heidi already mentioned Chris Ware will be doing variant covers for the New Yorker, but here's what they'll look like...

According to Derrick Kennelty-Cohen, exhibitor coordinator of the MoCCA Art Fest, MoCCA plans on adding at least 60 additional tables to compensate for how quickly space is selling out this year. How are they fitting 60 extra tables in the current space at the Puck Building? The additional tables will not be on the main floor of the Art Fest, but instead upstairs.

Despite the additional space, the show is almost sold out, which doesn't typically happen until February or March.

From HEROES, as if you didn't know

Just like he was in the last issue of Complex, James Jean is listed as a contributor in the new issue of Wired.

Why? For the lovely full-page illustration he did posted above for the feature, Murder on Myspace."

Only a handful of comic artists are doing editorial illustrations, but Jean is by far the most popular of the magazine crowd. Well, maybe tied with Tomer Hanuka, who was actually once neighbors with Jean back at SVA.

Gene Yang's American Born Chinese lost M.T. Anderson’s book, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party.

Yang's book was the first comic/gn ever to be nominated for the prestigious award.

The full list of the winners is available here.

A line started YESTERDAY outside the Best Buy near me to purchase the PS3. It drops Friday.

To do this weekend in NYC:

There's a shit-ton of comics-related events going on this weekend.

Fri-Sat-Sun
The headliner is the Big Apple Con, which boasts such highlights as: Adam West, Val Kilmer, the entire cast of the Warriors and Aaron Douglas from BSG. Oh, and comics persons too: Both John Romitas, Bernie Wrightson, Travis Charest and a bunch more. I'm sure there will also be at least 2 former pro wrestlers and 5 female adult entertainers*.

I wasn't going to go, but after typing all this I might reconsider. $15, though.

* and by "entertainers" I mean porn stars**

** and by "porn stars" I mean people dressed in next-to-nothing, which 1) makes it very awkward to walk past them at the show 2) makes it even more awkward because there's a crowd gawking

Sat
My personal recommendation is the Saturday Morning Cartoons exhibit at MoCCA, which opens on...Saturday.

I have to admit that I'm biased here because seven cels I own are going to be in the show. From which shows? Well, you'll have to wait for the video report, won't you?

Sat
Gabrielle Bell's release party at Rocketship. Let me just say something. I love Rocketship. Alex and Mary are tops and incredibly nice to boot.

(sidenote: I moved jobs in July and so my previous LCS, Midtown Comics, was no longer convenient. Now I'm forced to go to Cosmic Comics, which is painful. I know, I know - Midtown is huge and they don't *need* my support like Cosmic does. But I don't care. For most of the times I've gone, the people that work at Cosmic were assholes).

Which brings me back to my point. Alex and Mary are not assholes. You should go to the Gabrielle Bell show, even if I'm not. (sorry).

In case you haven't seen it yet...

As a senior member in the art department of a national magazine, I of course attended the annual American Illustration/American Photography party last night. It was quite an event and I ran into a ton of great illustrators, photographers and designers — really the cream of the crop. Among them were a bunch of comics people and I had interesting conversations with:

• James Jean...who left sunny California to visit NY and is now working on some longterm projects...
• Kagan McLeod...who apparently is developing rap star
• Ben Trinh...who has a release party for his new book coming up in a few weeks
• June Kim...whose new book "12 Days" was just released from TokyoPop
• Koren Shadmi...who recently graduated from SVA and recently collaborated on a new graphic novel, "The Critical Citadel"

Why hasn't someone remixed images from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' seedy crime noir book Criminal to the music of sultry songstress Fiona Apple's Criminal? You KNOW it'd be hilarious.

If you're one of the many people in Canada waiting to buy Lost Girls, you're in luck. The book cleared customs.

Top Shelf Productions is pleased to announce that the Canada Border Services Agency (Canada Customs) has formally cleared Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie's LOST GIRLS for importation into Canada.

In a thoughtful letter from the agency, dated 27 October 2011, the CBSA stated that the "depictions and descriptions are integral to the development of an intricate, imaginative, and artfully rendered storyline," and that "the portrayal of sex is necessary to a wider artistic and literary purpose." They concluded with "Its importation into Canada is therefore allowed."

We're very grateful to the Canada Border Services Agency for their enlightened decision regarding Lost Girls, as well as to our Canadian attorney Darrel H. Pearson (of Gottlieb & Pearson) for helping us prepare the documents necessary to request a formal review of the work.

What this means is that the book will now be available to all Canadian retailers and fans as soon as the new printing arrives at our distributor (Diamond Book Distributors) in mid-December. This new printing will likely sell out in a single day, so please be sure to put your orders into the Diamond system as soon as you can, to make sure you get the copies you need.

In a move hinted at by LITG, DC announced today it'll be reconfiguring some of the Transmetropolitan trades.
Four key titles in Vertigo's TRANSMETROPOLITAN collected edition series will be reconfigured in spring 2010, putting more classic, cutting-edge stories by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson in each of two newly created volumes.

TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 1: BACK ON THE STREETS and TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 2: LUST FOR LIFE will be combined into a single, new TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 1: BACK ON THE STREETS TP, featuring issues #1-12 of the series. In its new configuration, the series will be comprised of a total of nine volumes.

At the same time, TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 10: ONE MORE TIME and TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 0: TALES OF HUMAN WASTE will be combined into the single, new TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 9: ONE MORE TIME TP, featuring TRANSMETROPOLITAN #55-60 and the Specials TRANSMETROPOLITAN: I HATE IT HERE and TRANSMETROPOLITAN: FILTH OF THE CITY. This title also will include the two TRANSMETROPOLITAN stories from the VERTIGO: WINTER'S EDGE Specials, which were previously available in TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 3: YEAR OF THE BASTARD and TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 4: THE NEW SCUM.

The covers of the new titles will be redesigned to prominently feature the creators' names. DC will renumber the intermediate volumes of TRANSMETROPOLITAN TPs as they go out of stock and are sent back to press.

If you read one thing on CF this week...
Read Chris Tamarri's interview with Jamie Rich!

Seriously. It's a fantastic interview. Already a fan of Rich? Perfect piece to complement. Don't know who he is? Perfect time to get to know a creator you should already know.

Read it. Then weep. (the weeping is tears of joy).

cheers

The next Hulk film is slated to hit theatres on June 27th, 2011. Unlike the first film, this movie will be produced directly under the Marvel Studios. While no actor is yet confirmed to star, Louis Leterrier (Unleashed) will be directing. Stan Lee is also reportedly booked for his three-second cameo.

[source]

According to Stevie King, his delayed Dark Tower series from Marvel will hit stores on Feb. 7, 2010:

The latest news from Marvel is that the first issue of The Dark Tower comics will be on-sale on February 7, 2010.

The Dark Tower Sketchbook, featuring character designs, penciled pages, commentary, and a primer on the world of the Dark Tower, will be available free at your local Marvel retailer on December 13, 2011.

Here's a pretty photo I stumbled across for the TV show HEROES. What's interesting is that Kitty Pride wannabe DL Hawkins (Niki's fugitive husband) is in the promo shot. That's a first, isn't it? Maybe it's a shot of all the people with abilities? So.... that would mean Simone and super-genius Micah have abilities as well...?

Fun with the White Pages discovered this:

There are 27 Bruce Waynes living in the US.
26 Clark Kents.
131 Peter Parkers.
4 Reed Richards.
1 Charles Xavier.

Dare I say...More than meets the eye?

If you're around Memphis, forge the urge to pick up your week-late issue of Seven Soldiers. Instead, head on over to the Comic Foundry homepage for our latest offering.

But wait, there's more!
We'll be adding more hard-hitting content to the issue throughout the month, so be sure to stay tuned.

Image PR and Marketing man Jim Demonakos has officially announced he's leaving the company.

Bon chance!

Hola! And welcome back to BUY THE NUMB3RS! I’m Marc Mason, owner and Dark Prince of The Comics Waiting Room. Each month in this space, I take a look at a soon-to-arrive comic and attempt to predict how many copies it will sell. This month’s contestant: The return of THE AUTHORITY!.

When THE AUTHORITY first hit shelves back in 1999, it was the first shot fired in a revolution of sorts. Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch created a superhero comic that wasn’t quite like anything else on the market. The storytelling was on a grand scale, told through large, “wide-screen” panels. The characters were wildly flip and sarcastic, reveling in their powers and their status as living weapons of mass destruction. The pacing was very decompressed, leading to a full-fledged movement in mainstream comics that continues anywhere you find something written by Brian Bendis or Mark Millar to this day. But mostly… mostly the book was just damned great. To this day, it holds up as an example of what happens when things go right, and talented creators do career-level work.

Then… it all went to shit. Ellis and Hitch finished their run. Mark Millar and Frank Quitely got off to an interesting start, but it quickly devolved into an exercise of sadism, as Millar used the book as a way to work out some of his more disquieting concepts. Finally, Millar ended his run, and the book was put to bed. And rightly so. There’s only so much that can be done with the characters before the book becomes a brutal self-parody. So, of course, DC/Wildstorm waited little more than a year before resurrecting it. That time around, Robbie Morrison and Dwayne Turner to do the job… this, in 2003, was the equivalent of replacing Lee/Kirby with Don McGregor and Alan Kupperberg. Ugly. So after a year of that, the book was retired again, only to see it given mouth-to-mouth months later by Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen. Better team, but still… the ultimate question was: what’s the point?

Now, DC/Wildstorm is trying again, and for the first time since Millar’s first few issues, there’s a creative team with the perfect potential to make the series return to greatness. The new AUTHORITY #1 is written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Gene Ha. Pure superstar creative talent. But how will it fare in the marketplace? Let’s check some numbers:

Sales for AUTHORITY #1, published in March 1999, written by Ellis and drawn by Hitch: 40,100. Good, strong jump out of the gate, especially considering that Ellis and Hitch weren’t “Ellis and Hitch” at that point. (Sales data from CBG Xtra)

Sales for AUTHORITY #29, published in December 2001, written by Millar and drawn by Art Adams: 40,314. That’s damned astonishing, really. To see that consistency in the number twenty-nine issues later is remarkable, especially considering shipping delays and creative team changes. Plus, this was the final issue of the first series.

Sales for AUTHORITY Vol.2 #1, published in May 2003, written by Robbie Morrison and drawn by Dwayne Turner: 44,351. There was obviously a market for the characters. Unfortunately, this creative team cooked that market a dinner made of poison mushrooms and it died a horrific, vomiting death.

Sales for AUTHORITY: REVOLUTION #1, published in October 2004, written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Dustin Nguyen: 26,572. My case in point. A far better creative team, a writer who was relatively hot at the time… and half as many people gave two shits. For DC/Wildstorm, this was still a decent number… but that’s putting lipstick on the family pig and taking it to the prom.

Sales for SEVEN SOLDIERS #0, published in February 2005, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by J.H. Williams: 53,217. Morrison has taken a Bat-book under his wing, but this was his most recent “audacious” move with characters that had been mostly neglected. Fantastic numbers.

Sales for TOP TEN #1, published in September 1999, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Gene Ha: 55,100. This was Ha’s last major debut work, and remains one of the most consistently beautiful comics ever created. Very solid debut sales numbers, too. (Sales data from CBG Xtra)

So how will this latest edition of THE AUTHORITY do? Even with Morrison’s presence, it’s difficult to believe it will top the Ellis/Millar series in sales. Even though Grant’s profile is huge right now, I don’t see that translating into readers for a series that has the stink of bad previous series to deal with. So I’m going to temper my expectations, and guess that the book will do somewhere a little over 29,000, give or take a few.

Do you buy my numb3rs?
FOLLOWING UP: Column five featured my guess at C.S.I.: DYING IN THE GUTTERS #1. My guess for total orders was 5,500. ICV2 has released final sales numbers for August, and the total pre-orders for the book came to: 8178. That’s the first time I’ve really guessed on the low side, but I’m okay with it. This is really outstanding news for the folks at IDW, and they must have popped a bottle of bubbly when their orders came in. This may just breathe new life into the C.S.I. franchise.

I just saw THIS POST from Johanna at Comics Worth Reading. To tie in to All-Star Batman and Robin 5 (which has been delayed. Shocker!), Wizard posted an eight-ass mix-and-match gallery. Click the link to see the hubub.

On the Beyond Ridiculous scale, this is only a 4 out of 10 because it's become expected. Not surprising at all. I'll save the big words and just sigh.

Hellboy Animated: The Sword of Storms premieres tomorrow on Cartoon Network. For all the info and big scoops, be sure to check out Comic Foundry's video interview with Tad Stones here

Want to see Venom's head? From an ad sheet for the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie.

If your LCS gets its comics through Memphis, you're Seven-Soldiers-Shit-Outta-Luck this week.

SHIPPING ADVISORY ON SEVEN SOLDIERS #1 AND SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #23
Due to an error, retailers serviced by Diamond Comic Distributors' Memphis Distribution Center will not receive SEVEN SOLDIERS #1 (AUG060221) and SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #23 Standard Edition (AUG060226) this week

These issues now are set to reach retailers on November 1. Retailers will be invoiced for them with their November 1 shipment.

However, the SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #23 Variant Edition (AUG060227) will be received on October 24 as previously scheduled. DC Comics recommends that retailers hold these copies until the Standard Edition arrives, one week later.

Movie News:
The movie American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe is filming right outside my office. I'll let you know if anything notable happens.

This is not even close to being comics-related, but it's still interesting.

This article by the AP suggests that TV theme songs are going the way of Speakeasy.
Back in the day, even into the `90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.

But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show's title or logo at various points throughout an episode.

Trudeau Profile in WP

The Washington Post has a very nice Garry Trudeau profile up. Please read it. It's very good reading for a surely slow Monday. It's Monday, right?

Sorry, True Believers, it's been a while since a posting. I just came back from a funeral back home. It was actually pretty cool because the relative was in WWII, so there was this military detail there that did the flag presentation, a gun salute and played TAPS.

I did, however, fall asleep during the funeral ceremony. Three times. It was an accident! In my own defense, I hadn't slept the night before and was wearing a new suit (looks fantastic) that was just a liiiiiiiiittle bit too tight.

Anyway, I'm back, back in the New York groove.

From the great editorial/sequential illustrator Kagan Mcleod

Build you own classic characters!
Through Dot-S you can make just about any character you want via a system similar to Lite Brite. I'm holding out, though, until I can recreate A Boy and His Blob.

Check out these Transformer costumes. The creator made Transformer suits that fully transform from Autobot to car. And you can wear them — presumably not during the transformation process.

Keith Murphy over at the Comic Book Artists Guild asked me to pass this along:

Halloween Indie Party For Comic Book Artists Guild Announced
The comic book community is invited to attend the Indie Halloween Party on Saturday October 28th from 6-11 PM at The Twins Pub in New York City. Admission to this event is free. The party will take place on the entire upstairs level of the bar and will feature a costume contest, cash bar, DJ and live music. Sponsors for the event will be displaying their comic books for sale.

CAG will be celebrating the premiere of their new horror anthology “Psychosis” published by Guild Works Productions.

The Twins Pub is located just 3 blocks away from the convention center, midway between the 34th Street subway station and the Javitz center.

For more information go to: www.comicartguild.com or www.guildworksproductions.com

Indie After Party
Saturday, October 28th
The Twins Pub
421 9th Avenue (between 33 and 34 St.)
New York, NY 10001
6-11 pm

From IMDB

Gyllenhaal Laughs Off Batman-Ledger Reunion
Jake Gyllenhaal has laughed off internet rumors claiming he will reunite with his Brokeback Mountain co-star Heath Ledger in the forthcoming Batman Begins sequel. Gyllenhaal was reportedly in talks to play Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent - the role taken on by Tommy Lee Jones in 1995 film Batman Forever. Ledger has already been cast to play The Joker in The Dark Knight, which sees Christian Bale taking on the Caped Crusader for a second time after his successful debut in 2005. But Gyllenhaal's agent says, "No, the other guy from Brokeback Mountain is in it if you haven't heard."

I'm not saying I was the first or only one to make the very obvious connection, but for the sake of fun let's just say I was.

The new issue of Comic Foundry is up! We changed it up this month and in attempt to push the medium we did all the stories in video format. There are a bunch of stories on the site now and we'll be adding more as the month progresses.

Be sure to check out our special report on FRAK PARTIES and our interview with the Hellboy Animated director Tad Stones.

Wow. Have you seen the latest trailer for the new Ghost Rider movie? It looks, well, horrific. Judging a book by its cover, the movie looks bad enough to be on a viewing of Mystery Science Theater.

Avi Arad must have LOVED the film Simon BIrch. Why else would he have kept hiring Mark Steven Johnson (writer and director of Simon Birch)? Johnson has made three films for Marvel: Daredevil, Elektra and Ghost Rider — he wrote all three and directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider. Is it just me or does it seem like his movies are getting worse? (The answer is: No, Tim, it's not just you. It's the entire universe)

According to sources that aren't my own, TWO FACE is in the Batman Begins sequel. No word on casting yet but we can all bet it's not Lando or Al Gore's old roommate. But with Heath Ledger coming in as The Joker, the obvious chose for Harvey Dent has to be Jake Gyllenhaal. Right?

From Screenhead, via IGN

Here's the beef: I don't think I DVR'd LOST. The season premiere is tonight and I have to work late. I was here until 10:45 last nite and I'm assuming more of the same. What's a boy to do?

So, today I was called upon to be a model for an upcoming advertorial we're doing with Nintendo. They had the new Nintendo Wii on set — nunchuck controllers and all. The only sad part? It wasn't plugged in. So, I didn't get to play the Wii, but I did get to play with the controllers. I'll tell you what — even that was fun.

The controllers themselves are fit my hands well, which was surprising since I have big hands. The Nintendo unit is tiny though. Looks like it'll be very easy to travel with. Both controllers have triggers and I can't wait to play the boxing game...

On Transformers.com you now have the chance to suggest a line of dialogue for Optimus Prime in the new Transformers movie. Ten winners will have the line recorded, and one will make it into the film. Feel free to suggest "Da Comic Foundry Rulz #1." I have. 32 times.

Ghost Rider poster revealed. Sigh.

Wait - the release date is Feb. 16. Now check out the tagline text they put on this thing (with the bad breaks):

Long Ago
He Made a Deal
To Save Someone
He Loved

With it coming out two days after Valentine's Day, it almost seems like they're trying to take a piece of the romance market.

In other Marvel movie news, anyone else catch Jon Favreau on the Late Late show with Craig Ferguson last night? Or did you only tune in when Kristen Bell came on? He spoke about Iron Man, the MySpace page and having all the props around the house.

No new issue today. We've been hit with a very big project that just wrapped. Unfortunately, it knocked us back a week so our new issue will be out next Monday, October 9th. My very deep apologies for the delay.

Want to be Wolverine for Halloween? This guy sure does. So much, in fact, he made his own retractable claws to go with his scruff beard. See the whole process here.

No adamantium or healing factor required.

Remember way back in May when indie creator Andrea Grant and DC were going head-to-head over the use of the title "Minx"? Well, according to a statement from Grant it's over:

"You all know about my little DC Comics trademark war over the word MINX…which was featured in the New York Post back in May. It took some time but I am pleased to announce that the dispute has been amicably resolved, thanks to all the amazing press we got and my wonderful lawyers.

"My book title will remain ‘Andrea Grant’s Minx’ and I want to thank all my friends and comic book colleagues for all the support."

Sounds like a win in my book, kiddies.

I just picked up the latest issue of Wired Magazine.

It has not one, but TWO great comic references this month.

The first is a full page devoted to Shooting War. Very pretty Dan Goldman images.

The second is an 8-page feature on Gizmodo, fully illustrated by Jae Lee. I guess he has time to work on it since the Stephen King (Peter David) book isn't exactly setting speed records.

New Sony ebook can display comics

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

It'll playback DRM'd books you can purchase through the Connect Bookstore (more on that later), with titles provided by all the major publishing houses. But it's easy enough to use simple text, RTF, PDF (unprotected)), JPGs, GIFs, MP3s, and AAC files. It'll even do RSS feed...including some Gawker titles, thank you very much!

Yes, it'll playback greyscale images, or music files from its Memory Stick, or SD card. (Yes, SD card) The greyscale images look all right.

Gizmodo has the full story

300 trailer online!
The highly anticipated trailer for 300 is now online. 300 is adapted from some guy I've never heard of - Frank Miller? Anyone? It also stars Heidi heartthrob Gerard Butler.

Watch it on the more stable iflim here.

Top 1001 bestselling graphic novels in tasty, visual form, via Cover Pop.

I suspect this has made it's way around the net, but in case it hadn't here's a neat little tool to see the top selling graphic novels in arranged via color spectrum.

Clearly, the new CW is taking what it learned from Top Model and applying it to Smallville.

Thứ Tư, 28 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Ba, 27 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Ba, 20 tháng 12, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 18 tháng 12, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Năm, 8 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Tư, 7 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Hai, 5 tháng 12, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 4 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Năm, 1 tháng 12, 2011

Thứ Ba, 29 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Hai, 28 tháng 11, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Sáu, 25 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Ba, 22 tháng 11, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 20 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Năm, 17 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Tư, 16 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Ba, 15 tháng 11, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 13 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Năm, 10 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Ba, 8 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Hai, 7 tháng 11, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 6 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Bảy, 5 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Năm, 3 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Ba, 1 tháng 11, 2011

Thứ Hai, 31 tháng 10, 2011

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Thứ Ba, 25 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 10, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 23 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Hai, 17 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Năm, 13 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Tư, 12 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Ba, 11 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Hai, 10 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Tư, 5 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Ba, 4 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Hai, 3 tháng 10, 2011

Chủ Nhật, 2 tháng 10, 2011

Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 9, 2011

Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 9, 2011

Thứ Năm, 22 tháng 9, 2011

Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 9, 2011

Thứ Hai, 19 tháng 9, 2011