Andy Diggle is doing fabulous work on Thunderbolts right now, so it's a shame to see him go, but Jeff Parker is a very good comic book writer, as well, so I guess it is good news!

It's a BIT of a shame, though, to see Parker seemingly taking over Diggle's story rather than starting his own (Ellis started fresh with his run, as did Diggle).

Still, it's nice to see the book maintain a strong continuity of top level writers working on it.

Did I miss the reason why Diggle is leaving? Did he get a new book that I don't remember (besides Daredevil, as I would imagine he can write at least two books a month)?

23 Comments

• At August 10, 2009, Niels van Eekelen wrote:

  Don't recall if it's officially confirmed yet, but there's supposed to be an event/crossover coming up among Marvel's more street-level ...

• At August 10, 2009, Karl wrote:

  Parker is def not a top level writer, he doesnt draw readers like ellis did or to a smaller extent ...

• At August 10, 2009, David Uzumeri wrote:

  I imagine Brian was talking about Parker's creative quality, not potential sales draw. Parker's been a critical darling for a ...

• At August 10, 2009, Cass wrote:

  I'm waiting on an announcement for a regular artist. Fairly jarring inconsistency from month to month - sometimes from page ...

• At August 10, 2009, Matt Ampersand wrote:

  Actually, they are keeping the same artist if I am not mistaken (can't quite remember his name off the top ...

• At August 10, 2009, Randy wrote:

  Diggle is going to be doing a brother voodoo ongoing.

• At August 10, 2009, Okman wrote:

  Nah, I think it's Rick Remender you're thinking about for Voodoo

• At August 10, 2009, Marcus Brute wrote:

  I'm a big fan of Parker, but I'm so sure on how he'll hand a dark title like Thunderbolts; he ...

• At August 10, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Thunderbolts wasn't a dark title for 109 issues. The old Thunderbolts, Mach IV, the Fixer, Songbird and possibly others, are ...

• At August 10, 2009, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Thunderbolts, even with Diggle's great scripting, is a book that Marvel seems to have made redundant with Dark Avengers, isn't ...

• At August 10, 2009, r wrote:

  Is Jeff Parker going to continue with Agents of Atlas, when it is relaunched, following the team's crossover with X-Men ...

• At August 10, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  I like Jeff Parker too, but I don't know that he has the voice for it. Diggle and Ellis could ...

• At August 10, 2009, Adam K wrote:

  "Thunderbolts, even with Diggle’s great scripting, is a book that Marvel seems to have made redundant with Dark Avengers, isn’t ...

• At August 10, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  "Thunderbolts are more his black ops force for doing dirty work that he wouldn’t want to be known."

  Well...in theory. That ...

• At August 10, 2009, Matt M. wrote:

  I have been reading T-bolts since Ellis' run began. I was on the verge of dropping it until about two ...

• At August 11, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  Is it just me, or does the somewhat rapid succession of writers coming and going on T-Bolts make it look ...

• At August 11, 2009, ktiranno wrote:

  I've read that the artist isn't changing so the book will look the same. As for the reference to ...

• At August 11, 2009, igregory wrote:

  I've been hit or miss on T-bolts since the beginning, but I've enjoyed both the Ellis and Diggle runs. I ...

• At August 11, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  From CBR's interview with Parker:

  When Parker takes over “Thunderbolts” he’ll continue to tell stories about two very different groups of ...

• At August 11, 2009, olokin wrote:

  I hope this helps Agents of Atlas.

• At August 11, 2009, Ian wrote:

  "The premise (of Dark Avengers) is the same, with a tweak here and there, of the Busiek’s original Thunderbolts launch. ...

• At August 11, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  Those would be the tweaks. Which also remove pretty much all the dramatic weight from it, leaving it as an ...

• At August 12, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  @Ian: I disagree. Sure there is no plan to take over the world, but Osborn has basically already ...

Marvel now, apparently, owns the rights to Marvelman, after working out a deal with Mick Anglo, creator of Marvelman.

That, in and of itself, is notable, of course.

However, the thing everyone really wants to know is what this means for the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman stories, and Marvel, reasonably enough, has been mum on that.

So we have this weird situation where we have a "big" story, but no one knows the key part of the story.

Because while, sure, it's big news for Marvel to now have Marvelman, but if you don't have the Moore or Gaiman stories, it's sort of like announcing that you have Morpheus, but not the rights to print Gaiman's Sandman or Rorschach, but not the rights to print Watchmen, or V, but not the rights to print V for Vendetta, etc.

There are a lot of various people who need to give their permission to have these old issues reprinted, and while I am sure that when all is said and done, we WILL see those earlier issues (especially the Gaiman/Buckingham issues), it's interesting to note that we haven't heard word of it yet.

85 Comments

• At July 25, 2009, chad wrote:

  no doubt the deal marvel made includes that material also as long as the thing leads to neil gainman finaly ...

• At July 25, 2009, comb & razor wrote:

  So does that mean that they're really going to reprint all the Miracleman material as "Marvelman"?

  I think that might be ...

• At July 25, 2009, Kyle wrote:

  I think it's safe to assume that the Moore and Gaiman stories will be reprinted. Moore handed his portion ...

• At July 25, 2009, Larry King wrote:

  With a little tug and pull I think Moore will allow his stories to be reprinted, but what of Garry ...

• At July 25, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  But then why isn't the big story "MARVEL TO REPRINT ALAN MOORE'S MIRACLEMAN!"

  Because that seems far more important ...

• At July 25, 2009, Capt USA wrote:

  Are they going to put Marvelman into Marvel proper? There are just too many questions to ask about this deal ...

• At July 25, 2009, MIke-EL wrote:

  Marvel's output since Bill Gemus was ousted has been on a steady decline. I'm sure they'll f*** up Marvelman the ...

• At July 25, 2009, Kyle wrote:

  I don't know how I missed this interview at the Forbidden Planet blog, but Alan Moore said this back in ...

• At July 25, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Hopefully Mick made an obscene amount of money out of the deal.

  I can't wait to see a new MiracleMan series, ...

• At July 25, 2009, bad trotsky wrote:

  I just want to see the legendary series's put out in a format worth of it. This is something I ...

• At July 25, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  I don't care much for the Moore Miracleman stuff- it was the beginning of the "ultraviolence is OK in superhero ...

• At July 25, 2009, Tivo wrote:

  alan moore is on board from both that comment about anglo above and the fact he gave all his "rights" ...

• At July 25, 2009, Da Fug wrote:

  Yup, Brian. Those were pretty much my thoughts, too. SHOCKING announcement then "meh, whatever" when they didn't cough ...

• At July 25, 2009, Torsten Adair wrote:

  Todd McFarlane is still involved... he owns the film negatives from Eclipse Comics.

  Marvel could sidestep him via Dez Skinn or ...

• At July 25, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  Da Fug: there's a bunch of artists you forgot in there. i mean, it's safe to assume that Alan ...

• At July 25, 2009, jjc wrote:

  With stuff like this you just have to hope the right people (whoever that may be) get what they deserve ...

• At July 25, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  I'm very interested to see how this all ends. I wonder if Moore, et al having any rights left ...

• At July 25, 2009, urkotic wrote:

  Don't forget that the Warpsmiths were a fairly big part of the Moore Marvelman/Miracleman stories, and I believe Gary Leach ...

• At July 25, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I think that the people assuming this paves the way for the Moore and Gaiman material are way ahead of ...

• At July 25, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  Which of Marvel's top writers will be tapped for the All-New stories of Marvelman?

• At July 25, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Wonder what McFarlane thinks about all this is what I would like to know.

  It's funny that after all these years, ...

• At July 25, 2009, Somebody wrote:

  > Marvel could sidestep him via Dez Skinn or via expensive scanning.

  Marvel have reconstructed a *lot* of the stuff they've ...

• At July 25, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  Wow, didn't see this coming..I'm sure the new stuff will be terrible. Hope they do they old volumes justice ...

• At July 25, 2009, Kyle wrote:

  "I’m sure Alan Moore is swearing up and down right now."

  He isn't quite as cantankerous as he is often made ...

• At July 25, 2009, Craig wrote:

  I notice that the "MM" logo has been changed... which makes me wonder... does McFarlane own the Miracleman "logo?" In ...

• At July 25, 2009, Sleestak wrote:

  Did Marvel get the rights to use the Warpsmiths, also?

• At July 25, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  "Wonder what McFarlane thinks about all this is what I would like to know.

  It’s funny that after all these years, ...

• At July 25, 2009, red Ricky wrote:

  Some thoughts:

  1. The fact that Mark Buckingham didn't know about the purchase leads me to believe that Marvel hasn't worked ...

• At July 25, 2009, rush wrote:

  I don't think I like the idea of Marvel getting this. I would have preferred a company like Dark Horse ...

• At July 25, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  Mark Buckingham is certainly talking like they've got the rights to the old stuff, and he's expecting he & Gaiman's ...

• At July 26, 2009, James Moar wrote:

  "I notice that the “MM” logo has been changed"

  Quesada's drawing uses Mick Anglo's original Marvelman design. You might be right ...

• At July 26, 2009, benday-dot wrote:

  Red Ricky... I'll just object to your above comment that Alan Moore is "petty". All evidence is to the contrary. ...

• At July 26, 2009, red Ricky wrote:

  Benay-dot-- I’ll just object to your above comment that Alan Moore is “petty”.

  Fair enough. I should've stuck with ...

• At July 26, 2009, Felipe wrote:

  Regarding Alan Moore´s "pettiness" it should be remembered that, if Moore didn´t want to, we would never have a V ...

• At July 26, 2009, adam! wrote:

  from the linked interview, which could probably shed light to most of our questions about the mick anglo purchase:

  PÓM: OK. ...

• At July 26, 2009, Tuomas wrote:

  I don't think there's any reason to assume Moore would be against Marvel reprinting Marvelman. He seemed to be perfectly ...

• At July 26, 2009, Capper wrote:

  There are also potential tradmark issues, which are separate from copyright issues. McFarlane may own the trademark for "Miracleman," ...

• At July 26, 2009, Dean wrote:

  @ Tuomas:

  I don’t think there’s any reason to assume Moore would be against Marvel reprinting Marvelman. He seemed to be ...

• At July 26, 2009, comb & razor wrote:

  I don’t think there’s any reason to assume Moore would be against Marvel reprinting Marvelman. He seemed to be perfectly ...

• At July 26, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  Moore blocked the publication of a "Captain Britain" trade paperback for many years.

• At July 26, 2009, Doug Atkinson wrote:

  He also stood in the way of the 20th anniversary Watchmen action figures, which is something Dave Gibbons had been ...

• At July 26, 2009, Felipe wrote:

  I´m sorry but I really don´t see Moore as complicated man, or an unpredictable primadonna. Quite the opposite. In his ...

• At July 26, 2009, Felipe wrote:

  On the other hand, guy worships a sock-glove puppet.

  So what the flick do I know?

• At July 26, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I think a lot of people here are treating this like it's a lot more simple than it is - ...

• At July 27, 2009, red Ricky wrote:

  Fine, he didn't say he was raped in the deposition; he said he would've been better if he'd "molested ...

• At July 27, 2009, Ted wrote:

  "Not only is potentially offensive, it’s just cheap."

  I have to agree. That comment seemed to be in very poor taste.

• At July 27, 2009, Chris Gannon wrote:

  red Ricky,

  "Fine, he didn’t say he was raped in the deposition; he said he would’ve been better if he’d “molested ...

• At July 27, 2009, Raskal66 wrote:

  I'll pick up the trades of the old stories, but don't really have an insterest in adding what will certainly ...

• At July 27, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Seeing as the original strips in Warrior were Magazine-size, I'm looking forward to seeing MarvelMan in some kind of "Absolute"-style ...

• At July 27, 2009, Sean wrote:

  "He seemed to be perfectly fine with Marvel reprinting his old Captain Britain comics a few years ago, in fact ...

• At July 27, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  Steve Bissette disagrees with Moore's reasonableness towards his fellow artists. That said, I agree that for the most part, Alan ...

• At July 27, 2009, Rush wrote:

  Damn, what's with all the Alan Moore bashing? If anything I would say FU to Marvel, Quesada and all the ...

• At July 27, 2009, Felipe wrote:

  >As far as I’m concerned, he’s not the Pablo Neruda or Federico García Lorca of comics; and he’s certainly no ...

• At July 27, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I'm working on my internet translation dictionary:

  "Pretentious:" A work of art which I, personally, don't understand.

  "Overrated:" ...

• At July 27, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Fine, he didn’t say he was raped in the deposition; he said he would’ve been better if he’d “molested and ...

• At July 27, 2009, Ted wrote:

  I was going to respond but I think MarkAndrew has it exactly correct.

• At July 28, 2009, T. wrote:

  I’m working on my internet translation dictionary:

  “Pretentious:” A work of art which I, personally, don’t understand.

  “Overrated:” I, personally, dislike ...

• At July 28, 2009, Sean wrote:

  "It’s a work with some full on sex scenes in"

  I think it's more like a bunch of sex scenes with ...

• At July 28, 2009, Sean wrote:

  "with the caveat that he seems to want to retroactively change some of the contracts he signed without regard to ...

• At July 28, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I grant that he wants to retroactively change that contract, but it seems like his desire is coming from a ...

• At July 28, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  "other than the specific DC contract, the one that he signed believing that his books, like 100% of all the ...

• At July 28, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Just curious. So is it possible for someone on the internet to call something pretentious or overrated and be right? ...

• At July 28, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I don’t fully understand why he falls back on it so often, but it comes off (to me) as him ...

• At July 28, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  "They’re just always presumptively wrong the minute they use those words and can’t ever be offering a valid criticism?"

  Theoretically, no. ...

• At July 28, 2009, Matt wrote:

  If this hasn't been mentioned yet, Buckingham said at the Willingham spotlight that his work would be reprinted and that ...

• At July 28, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Buckingham also mentioned that the first he heard of it was when Marvel announced it, so that would make you ...

• At July 29, 2009, adam! wrote:

  Moore lost years of productivity during his prime as a writer trying to figure out how to get free of ...

• At July 29, 2009, adam! wrote:

  and, you know, just seeing how effective of a doorstop FROM HELL is and saying the creators weren't TOO PRODUCTIVE ...

• At July 29, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  "Except for when they first started feuding because DC labeled licensed products as ‘promotional items’ as opposed to ‘merchandise’ just ...

• At July 29, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  On a tangent, I do agree that Moore does fall back on the rape device more than he should. Now, ...

• At July 29, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  It’s completely ludicrous to compare Moore and Gibbons to Siegel and Shuster. Or Kirby. Or Ditko. Or Bill Finger. That’s ...

• At July 29, 2009, plok wrote:

  "Screw the Siegels and the Shusters".

  Man, what the hell did they ever do to you, that would make you say ...

• At July 29, 2009, plok wrote:

  And as far as not begrudging Moore his beef with DC goes, it actually kind of sounds like you begrudge ...

• At July 29, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Man, what the hell did they ever do to you, that would make you say such an awful and mean-spirited ...

• At July 29, 2009, plok wrote:

  Follow your own advice, you insufferable ass.

• At July 29, 2009, plok wrote:

  And don't bother trying to get my goat anymore, all right? It's fucking childish.

  For general information, this concludes the ...

• At July 29, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Good.

  Because I'm not getting on 'your goat' or being childish - I really don't even care about you (I only ...

• At July 30, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  "Except for the fact that with all of them, a company took control of their work, retained the ownership and ...

• At July 30, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Robert, I still don't think you get it. It doesn't matter what MONETARY benefit they got, what we are talking ...

• At July 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  In what way has DC ever used Watchmen in ways the creators wouldn’t?

  We'll never know.

  Why are they comparable to Siegel ...

• At July 30, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I still don’t think you get it. It doesn’t matter what MONETARY benefit they got, what we are talking ...

• At July 30, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Alan Moore sold the “sentimental benefit” of owning the Watchmen.

  THAT'S my point. Moore LOST something when he sold Watchmen. He ...

• At July 30, 2009, Felipe wrote:

  >Actively trying to sabotage a project that people paid good money for and spent a lot of time on is ...

• At July 31, 2009, Robert R. wrote:

  Alan Moore should have basically said what he had for years. "I hope they turn out well for the people ...

• At July 31, 2009, Dean wrote:

  If I sell a car, and get good money for it, but then decide that I would rather have my ...

14 Comments

• At July 20, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You totally broke the CBR frontpage with this post. At least, the CSBG links are borked.

• At July 20, 2009, Carl wrote:

  This is really more cross promotion than straight advertising. I'd also be wary of the the cameras following them ...

• At July 20, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  I think TV ads for comics are a great idea. The old animated GI Joe comic ads are what got ...

• At July 20, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I really doubt that the margins are there to support straight TV ads for comics. This is cross-promotion with ...

• At July 20, 2009, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  I'm not sure if TV advertising has really been tried. Buffy's doing well just by dint of having been on ...

• At July 20, 2009, Alvin (locomambo) wrote:

  TV promo, cross- promo, straight TV adds for comics probably not but I grew up on KISS and Gene Simmons ...

• At July 21, 2009, red Ricky wrote:

  I think it will work, i.e. help Nick sell his first issue. So it's good, but it won't help ...

• At July 21, 2009, LouReedRichards wrote:

  I'm right there with you jazzbo. Those GI Joe commercials were incredibly cool!

  I too often wonder how many people got ...

• At July 21, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  I believe I've heard that G.I. Joe was the first comic book ever advertised on TV. Hey, that sounds like ...

• At July 21, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  I've seen commercials for the local comics shop around here. It's pretty well-done--it shows the store, gives the address ...

• At July 21, 2009, Ken Raining wrote:

  Didn't Malibu run ads for the Ultraverse on MTV?

• At July 21, 2009, Carl wrote:

  The fact is that TV commercial time is extremely expensive. They were probably able to do it for GI ...

• At July 21, 2009, red Ricky wrote:

  Carl, just to clarify, you are thinking national commercials; and yes, they can be expensive. But the ones Dan ...

• At July 22, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Yeah, I mean what Ricky is talking about.

  Bart: "Who watches TV at two A. M.?"

  Homer: "Drunks, ...

The internet is an awesome place for comic book creators to interact with their fans. It's neat that they can share stuff with fans - their insight into the books they are making, news about their upcoming work, etc.

However, if you are interacting with people publicly, you have to understand that if you say something newsworthy, it not only WILL be spread around, there really is nothing wrong with the fact that it is spread around.

If you post on your twitter account, "Hey guys, I'm the new writer on Teen Titans!" then that will make the rounds of the comic blogosphere, and it likely will end up at a place like CBR's Robot 6 comic news blog or wherever (heck, maybe even on Comics Should Be Good!).

There's nothing wrong with that.

If you were not supposed to tell anyone that you are the new writer on Teen Titans, then I'm sorry that you're going to get yelled at for announcing it too early, but come on, how the heck can you blame a news site for running news?

If the end result is that less comic book professionals will be willing to share info with the public, then yeah, that's too bad, but I don't think you can (or rather, you should) blame the news sites for such a thing. If the information is publicly available, then the information is publicly available. There's nothing wrong with posting publicly available information if it is newsworthy, like, say, Warren Ellis posting on his Twitter account that Planetary is finished.

9 Comments

• At April 26, 2009, Crash-Man wrote:

  Planetary's finished!?

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Ha! See? Newsworthy!

• At April 26, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  I should totally get a twitter account and announce that I'm the new writer of Teen Titans.

  I'm sure the ...

• At April 26, 2009, bad trotsky wrote:

  Well we actually have comic creators who post here on CBR unlike your Distinguished Competition . I want them ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, can't say that I'm particularly convinced by the argument that decisions should be based on whether they could possibly ...

• At April 26, 2009, Kirk Warren wrote:

  Reminds me of the recent Tony Daniel blow up after he posted sketches that gave away the identity of Batman ...

• At April 26, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  He took his blog down for a bit but is back up and running after cooling his head a bit.

  He ...

• At April 26, 2009, Lynxara wrote:

  That this conversation is happening is kind of baffling. In tech journalism, using people's Twitter accounts and blogs as sources ...

• At April 27, 2009, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  He gave away Batman's identity? Really? Was it Bruce Wayne? Because they've never been in the room together at the ...

Regarding Twitter, first off, Twitter is a collection of mini-blog posts. That's really all it is. It's a quicker way of making ultra short blog posts (and replies to other people's posts). I've seen some people try to argue that Twitter is more akin to a casual conversation, to which I say, only in the sense that a blog post is akin to a casual conversation. Twitter is just mini blog posts (or mini message board posts, whatever comparison you want to use). In all three cases, your Twitter posts, your blog posts and your forum posts, you're talking about writings that are your intellectual property, no matter how short in length they might be.

That said, when it comes to citing Twitter posts, if you think of them as blog posts, it really makes it a lot simpler.

To wit, no one cares if you quote a hundred words from a blog post (with a link to the blog post you're quoting, of course), because that's just fair use.

However, if you posted an entire blog post without the blogger's permission, I think we'd all agree that that is not good, right? That's not fair use.

That was Brevoort's complaint in this instance. If you collect a pile of CB Cebulski's Twitter posts on how to break into the comic industry and post them as a piece "How to break into the comic industry," you've basically just posted an entire blog post of Cebulski's.

Now, as to this particular matter, David Pepose apparently asked for Cebulksi's permission before doing the post. If so, then there's no problem. Brevoort has even said that yes, there's no issue if the person gives permission for you to republish their stuff in that manner.

So, really, this seems to be a pretty simple situation to me.

If you quote a public Twitter post that's newsworthy (like Warren Ellis talking about Planetary being finished), then fine.

If you quote a whole pile of someone's Twitter posts without permission (particularly if they are written like Cebulski's, where it's clear that it is all part of one larger piece - "how to break into the comic industry"), then not fine.

If you quote a whole pile of someone's Twitter posts WITH permission, then fine.

I think that's about that.

20 Comments

• At April 26, 2009, Grico wrote:

  Really you should cite your source for anything that is a thought or idea. For news that is a scoop, ...

• At April 26, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I disagree, only because of Twitter's format: it's not possible to link in any lasting way to a series of ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Sure, there's a slight difference in format, but there's that same difference in blog posts and forum posts, and the ...

• At April 26, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I see what you're saying, but in those cases, you can link back to what you're quoting with ease, which ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  So long as you have a permanent archive, it's not ephemeral. When you link to forum posts, it's the same ...

• At April 26, 2009, bad trotsky wrote:

  Bah this argument is silly. Get permission or don't do it. Game over.

• At April 26, 2009, Kirk Warren wrote:

  Another problem he had with the post was that they just copy and pasted the Twitter feed. They didnt ...

• At April 26, 2009, bad trotsky wrote:

  I think Twitter is more like IRC than a mini blog. . You should not be posting twitter logs ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Bah this argument is silly. Get permission or don’t do it. Game over. There's practically (if not absolutely) NO one ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  You should not be posting twitter logs without a link to the original work. I don't think you should be ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Another problem he had with the post was that they just copy and pasted the Twitter feed. They didnt even ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brigid wrote:

  But... but... What about ReTweeting? The very first post in that CB Cebulski string is him ReTweeting tweets from me ...

• At April 26, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  To clarify, I don't think reposting a series of Twitter posts is proper, but I also think that because of ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brigid wrote:

  ... as long as they spell my name right, of course.

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Right, Brigid, I am not saying you shouldn't repost a Twitter post. In fact, I am specifically saying that that ...

• At April 26, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, Chad, I get that our disagreement was not over the main point ("don't post a series of Twitter posts").

• At April 26, 2009, Troy Brownfield wrote:

  Hey all . . . Troy Brownfield from Blog@Newsarama here . . .

  Brian, I would like to point out ...

• At April 26, 2009, Dugger Benson wrote:

  "Brian, I would like to point out that Kirk Warren is wrong. David had the blessing from CB to post ...

• At April 26, 2009, Observer wrote:

  I took Siegel's rant to be about the fact that Marvel wants to milk Twitter for what is basically free ...

• At April 28, 2009, Strip Business 4-27-09 | Strip News | ArtPatient.com | ArtPatient.com wrote:

  [...] this that started the whole thing and you probably have an opinion on it. Lots and lots of people ...

At the time, it was interesting to note that the consensus (well, the consensus among the people I was talking with) was that his best fit, if he wanted to move into superhero territory, was to follow Brian Michael Bendis on Daredevil. However, even then, Ed Brubaker was rumored to be getting that gig (it is simply astonishing how long Brubaker was rumored to be following Bendis on Daredevil. He did not take over until 2006, but I assure you, it was already being talked about like a sure thing in late 2004).

But what was seen as a bit of a foregone conclusion at the time was that Diggle definitely should (and would) move to Marvel Comics when his exclusive contract expired at the end of 2005.

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum - he renewed his DC exclusive for another year. And when the one year extension ran up, he became the regular writer on Hellblazor.

Finally, almost two years later, he finally ended up where we all figured he was heading back in 04/05, writing for Marvel. And now he is going to be succeeding Ed Brubaker on Daredevil (and he surely will do a wonderful job), so it's just like we all figured would happen - just over three years after we figured it would happen.

This situation strikes me in two ways - one, how the heck did DC use Diggle so poorly during the THREE YEARS they had him under exclusive? I mean, we got some excellent comics, to be sure (Losers, Green Arrow Year One were my favorites in particular). But you're telling me that he couldn't even get, say, a Peter Tomasi-esque workload? Andy Diggle would have been golden on anything DC gave him, and yet the highest profile assignment he had was...an arc on Batman Confidential? For serious? This is not like the Kuberts - while sure, that did not do much for DC, but that was more the Kuberts being late. This was DC deciding that while they liked Diggle enough to lock him up, they didn't like him enough to put him on, like, Nightwing or some such title. That's so odd to me.

The other thing that strikes me about this is how it really drives home how important timing is. Diggle is going to come on to Daredevil soon, and he is going to be great. However, he could have come on to Daredevil in 2006 and been great as well. It just so happens that that Ed Brubaker was primed for the book then, as well (and don't get me wrong, Brubaker was great, too - this is not a "Oh man, I wish we had had Diggle instead of Brubaker!), so instead, Diggle had to wait three years to get his shot at the book. Imagine, though, if he had NEVER gotten his shot? Karl Kesel seemed always to be on the cusp of writing the Fantastic Four, but it never happened. I know plenty of folks who waited years for Christopher Priest to finally get a "major" book. It never happened. What other writers can you recall who always seemed to be on the cusp of being "big" but it never quite fell into place?

45 Comments

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  one, how the heck did DC use Diggle so poorly during the THREE YEARS they had him under exclusive?

  When ...

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  Karl Kesel seemed always to be on the cusp of writing the Fantastic Four, but it never happened. I know ...

• At April 5, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Here you go.

• At April 5, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Thanks, Dan, but I meant discussions pre-blog, even! (was there ever such a time?!?!) Discussions on the CBR message boards.

• At April 5, 2009, Dean wrote:

  And now he is going to be succeeding Ed Brubaker on Daredevil (and he surely will do a wonderful job), ...

• At April 5, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  What other writers can you recall who always seemed to be on the cusp of being “big” but it never ...

• At April 5, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  I missed a few years there, but whatever happened to D. Curtis Johnson?

• At April 5, 2009, McK wrote:

  Just to play devil's advocate, maybe Diggle didn't want to work on certain titles or titles that he wanted to ...

• At April 5, 2009, Peter Gasston wrote:

  Let's not overlook the fact that his Batman Confidential arc was pretty poor, and while his run on Hellblazer started ...

• At April 5, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Yeah, but let's not forget everything Bill Willingham writes that isn't Fables: It's still garbage.

• At April 5, 2009, Sebastian wrote:

  @ Dean (somewhat)

  Bendis' DD got me into comics and I'm absolutely loving Brubaker's run. I'm hanging on for Diggle because ...

• At April 5, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  I was probably the one guy (outside of the Marvel editorial staff, I guess) who was always relieved when someone ...

• At April 5, 2009, Eliot Johnson wrote:

  Bri I think you're being too hard on the Adam Strange series. Yeah it was no fun that it had ...

• At April 5, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "(his IMO not-too-good issues of FF 2099 didn’t seem encouraging)."

  Hasn't he written like a million FF one-shots and fill-ins since ...

• At April 5, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Kesel could easily have done much better than Waid, McDuffie and Millar for example

  Well, his arc that he co-wrote with ...

• At April 5, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Kesel wrote a Thing-in-the-future FF Annual that was outstanding. His Daredevil run was great (and lighter in tone than most ...

• At April 5, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Kesel did a bunch of FF one-shots and fill-ins indeed. All I read were quite good. But I did enjoy ...

• At April 5, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I'll second the Pfeifer nod - his Catwoman run is some incredibly good superhero comics, and his work there weaving ...

• At April 5, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  Oh, and Phil Hester can't get something big from DC or Marvel to write? That's some bu11$h!t right there. ...

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  DiDio’s DC is stunningly similar to Jim Shooter’s Marvel.

  I wouldn't put it that far, because Shooter's Marvel ran a tight ...

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  Maybe Didio's DC is more like Harras's Marvel?

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  Well, his arc that he co-wrote with Waid wasn’t the best story during the Waid run, so I wouldn’t say ...

• At April 5, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Not for nothing, but the thing that (in my mind) makes Diggle special enough to have this entry just on ...

• At April 5, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  While we're talking about it, where DID Kesel go? I loved his work on the Superboy title.

  And I've yet ...

• At April 5, 2009, Inside Joke wrote:

  It's never occurred to anyone that Diggle (whom I love. Thunderbolts might be the most underrated book on the ...

• At April 5, 2009, T. wrote:

  It’s one thing to say, “Why didn’t DC use that good writer?” It’s another thing to say, “Why did DC ...

• At April 6, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  stealthwise: Kessel is currently the mind behind the Marvel Apes universe.

• At April 6, 2009, Sam wrote:

  Let's hope he gives us something a bit different on DAREDEVIL. Brubaker was good, but I've had enough of ...

• At April 6, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  What about Mark Waid on Superman?

• At April 6, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  "Dick Grayson might develop his own fan base, who have their own opinions about the title."

  Um... are we talking about ...

• At April 6, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  I've never seen so many writers whose work I don't care for mentioned in one thread before - Diggle, Moench, ...

• At April 6, 2009, Kirk Warren wrote:

  Christos Gage seems like a writer on the cusp of breaking out, but never quite gets there. He's Marvel's ...

• At April 6, 2009, Jack Harkness wrote:

  Shooter's Marvel gave us Simonson's THOR and Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR and Miller's DAREDEVIL. Let me know when Didio puts ...

• At April 6, 2009, Paul McEnery wrote:

  What about the Hellblazers wot he done?

• At April 6, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Right on. Vertigo has been consistently good to great with bouts of amazing.

  I'm no big supporter of ...

• At April 6, 2009, Andy wrote:

  five = twenty-five

• At April 6, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Christos Gage seems like a writer on the cusp of breaking out, but never quite gets there. He’s Marvel’s go-to ...

• At April 6, 2009, Sean wrote:

  Wait, people *don't* like the Mark Waid 'Fantastic Four'? There hasn't been a better 'Four' since at least Simonson's ...

• At April 6, 2009, Philip A Moore wrote:

  ok here somthing to consider may be Andy DIggle wanted to write comic books that weren't DC for a ...

• At April 6, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Waid's FF was great fun when he wasn't using the supposedly "classic" FF characters like Doom and Galactus. With ...

• At April 6, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  That should be "antagonists," not "villains" in the first sentence of my second 'graf. Golgotha was a perfectly good ...

• At April 6, 2009, Philip A Moore wrote:

  Ok what the heck Does FF have to do with this post ? I mean I was always more ...

• At April 6, 2009, T. wrote:

  Shooter’s Marvel gave us Simonson’s THOR and Byrne’s FANTASTIC FOUR and Miller’s DAREDEVIL. Let me know when Didio puts out ...

• At April 8, 2009, Len Kaminski wrote:

  Mike Loughlin: "I wonder what happened to Len Kaminski."

  Yeah, so do I...

• At April 8, 2009, Chris Arrant wrote:

  Me too. I remember him doing research, rather publicly, for some further DC work some 2 years ago on the ...

48 Comments

• At March 4, 2009, Matt D wrote:

  "How well do you understand Bendis' mind?"

• At March 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  The next Sorcerer Supreme should, both from a "practical" and an interesting story perspective, be Doctor Doom. That would be ...

• At March 4, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I'm betting it will be Doom, actually. It fits best with Dark Reign.

• At March 4, 2009, Tracer Bullet wrote:

  It's not like there are a lot of characters to chose from. Doom, Brother Voodoo, uh, Scarlet Witch, um, Sersi ...

• At March 4, 2009, Lawrence wrote:

  I think Doom would be the best choice, but we all know it's going to be Luke Cage.

• At March 4, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  Uh, what happened to Dr. Strange? I haven't picked up a Marvel book since House of M (not that I ...

• At March 4, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  What this does is give certain fans, the ones who guess correctly, a feeling that they are superior to the ...

• At March 4, 2009, PhoenixRisingNYC wrote:

  I actually think that the Hood will end up being the new Sorcerer Supreme...not because he should (because we all ...

• At March 4, 2009, PhoenixRisingNYC wrote:

  I actually think that the Hood will end up being the new Sorcerer Supreme...not because he should (because we all ...

• At March 4, 2009, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  While I didn't go into EVERY possible choice, on my blog, I went into (with great depth) MANY of the ...

• At March 4, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Doom would be awesome... IF Brubaker was writing it. His Books of Doom was excellent.

• At March 4, 2009, Tracer Bullet wrote:

  Is it me, or is The Hood long overdue for a disturbingly brutal ass-beating? He'd look mighty fine with a ...

• At March 4, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Isn't the Hood's cloak really Dormammu?

  I can't see the high powers of magic granting that kind of status to Dormammu.

• At March 4, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Why is Marvel doing this any sillier than us (the fans) doing it on CBR or other forums? Even if ...

• At March 4, 2009, plok wrote:

  I think there's a difference between a good story, and just a cool moment -- where's really the story potential ...

• At March 4, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Oh man, if it was Doom, I would actually pick that up. What a character arc. The most megalomaniacle tyrant ...

• At March 4, 2009, plok wrote:

  I'd think the best of those opportunities would be the chance to make a comparison between Strange's original character arc, ...

• At March 4, 2009, Thomas Pierce wrote:

  I still maintain, that this story should be written by Paul Cornell in another story, with Bachalo or Marcos Martin ...

• At March 4, 2009, Jacob wrote:

  From what I gather, Captain America is dead, Iron Man is an ass, Hulk is either gone or became Hercules, ...

• At March 4, 2009, Grico wrote:

  Yeah my money is on the Hood. Bendis likes him and from the list most of the other characters on ...

• At March 5, 2009, Iron Maiden wrote:

  Even though the deck is stacked in the Hood's favor since this a Bendis pet, Doom would be the ...

• At March 5, 2009, Rhod wrote:

  I have a sneaky suspicion it might be Brother Voodoo (or maybe thats just wishful thinking on my part).

  "From what ...

• At March 5, 2009, Graeme White wrote:

  Why does it have to be an established character at all?

  And why isn't Damian Hellstrum on the list?

• At March 5, 2009, plok wrote:

  I don't think there's a good answer to either of those questions.

• At March 5, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I dunno, I think you can make a good argument that whoever the next Sorcerer Supreme is, it should be ...

• At March 5, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  I love the idea of Doom, Sorceror Supreme... Let's face it, another Doctor...

  Hate the idea of the Hood...

  How about ...

• At March 5, 2009, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  ROM : SPACE-SORCERER SUPREME!

  ;-)

  ~P~

• At March 5, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Yeah, second me in wondering WHY (in terms of in-story reason) there's going to be a new Sorcerer Supreme. I ...

• At March 5, 2009, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  Not really.

  Marvel (Bendis, mostly) had a bunch of stuff that had Strange "failing" on multiple occasions (House of M, Civil ...

• At March 5, 2009, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  If you will kindly indulge my posting yet another link to my blog...

  http://tinyurl.com/within-you-without-you

  I expound upon the NATURE of Doctor Strange ...

• At March 5, 2009, mrjayberry wrote:

  What are my odds on Wolverine, he just isn't getting enough face time?

• At March 5, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Y'know who'd make a good sorcerer supreme? Doctor Strange. Written by Brian Vaughan. Drawn by Marcos Martin. Just a wild, ...

• At March 5, 2009, tk. wrote:

  Yeah, someone give that Stephen Strange guy a shot at it. Man, I wish he still had a series ...

• At March 5, 2009, Nick Marino wrote:

  yeah it'll probably be Doom or Hood. it's nice to see BV getting some play, but i don't think Bendis ...

• At March 5, 2009, Dizzy D wrote:

  I had expected to see at least Ian McNee on that list as well. Marvel really tried to push him ...

• At March 5, 2009, Ryan Day wrote:

  It should be Night Nurse. Obviously.

• At March 5, 2009, Ryan wrote:

  I feel like it's going to be The Hood, because he's one of Bendis' pet characters that we're all just ...

• At March 5, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  If Strange makes his choice for his successor based on a reality-show style competition that subjects the contestants to various ...

• At March 5, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  You know who else'd make a really good sorcerer supreme? Doctor Gregory House.

  Greatest. Crossover. Ever.

• At March 5, 2009, Aaron Walther wrote:

  Well, it was actually supposed to be Matt Murdock, but everybody figured it out so Bendis changed it to the ...

• At March 5, 2009, karl wrote:

  this post makes every single discussion about a work of fiction from the point of view of a character moot ...

• At March 5, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Karl, you may be the biggest buzzkill since Buzz Killington.

• At March 5, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  this post makes every single discussion about a work of fiction from the point of view of a character moot ...

• At March 5, 2009, Luis Dantas wrote:

  The logical choice would be Clea, wouldn't it?

  I'm disappointed by most candidates. Haven't we had enough evil megalomanic protagonists ...

• At March 5, 2009, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  MAN-THING : SORCERER SUPREME!

  (hey... he's already the Guardian of the freakin' NEXUS of ALL REALITIES, fer cryin' out loud.)

  ;-)

  ~P~

• At March 5, 2009, karl wrote:

  brian -

  so which authors use logic? i mean is there a chart with powers and abilities that people ...

• At March 6, 2009, plok wrote:

  I love that "not trying to be a dick here" thing. WHICH AUTHORS USE LOGIC DAMN YOU BRIAN

• At September 15, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I find it interesting that only one person here picked the right one. I don't see why that is-- ...

Not only is Immonen a great artist, but he's also timely, so that helps the book's schedule. I only wish he was doing the book for the big 50th issue this month!

17 Comments

• At February 8, 2009, Preston wrote:

  Though I don't read New Avengers anymore, I just couldn't imagine Immonen fitting the book's tone since I'm so used ...

• At February 8, 2009, thomas wrote:

  ugh, Tan is fine on NA

  get Immonen out of Bendis' clutches

  if Kirk ever needs a break on Captain Britain & ...

• At February 8, 2009, Grant wrote:

  I'm pretty happy with the news. I'm not crazy about Tan's stuff. I'm curious how he'll alter his style ...

• At February 8, 2009, Matt Ampersand wrote:

  I freaking love Immonen. I'm glad he is getting such high profile work.

• At February 8, 2009, Lierson wrote:

  Immonen is a great artist, but his style is more suited to Mighty Avengers than New Avengers...

• At February 8, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Immonen is awesome.

  I wish he'd draw something I want to read, though.

  Man, I miss Nextwave...

• At February 8, 2009, Lawrence wrote:

  Anything Immonen draws is a must buy. While I wish he was staying on Ultimate Spider-man, I'm glad he's moving ...

• At February 8, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Immonen's style is flexible enough that he should be able to fit New Avenger's tone fine; he's one of ...

• At February 8, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  See, I was hoping Immonen leaping off USM meant a possible Nextwave reunion. But I guess he likes money.

• At February 8, 2009, fanboy d wrote:

  they've had some bad artists on that book...which is weird when it's one of the highest selling and they've got ...

• At February 8, 2009, Grico wrote:

  Well that increases my New Avengers interests but enough to buy it. I wish he was coming to Mighty or ...

• At February 8, 2009, I AM FeAR wrote:

  More Nextwave would be so very awesome indeed.

  I dont read New Avengers, and Immonen wont make me buy it either.

  The ...

• At February 8, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  I'm looking forward to this, but at the same time I wish they would just bring back Nextwave. The ...

• At February 8, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  So did New Avengers ever turn less unbelievably, spectacularly, impossibly terrible?

  'Cause, I dunno, from what I've read I'd be about ...

• At February 8, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  I'm pretty happy abou this. I've been enjoying New Avengers dispite its art since it started. Finally everyone's ...

• At February 9, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  I'd rather have Busiek and Immonen doing SHOCKROCKETS again.

• At February 9, 2009, Ryan Day wrote:

  Bah. I love Immonen, but have no interest in New Avengers.

  Know what would be awesome, though? If Immonen was drawing ...

This is great news, as the Fantastic Four is the exact type of series that plays to Hickman's inventive nature.

Dale Eaglesham is a capable partner for him on the book.

I look forward to the run a good deal (and I await learning where Millar and Hitch will end up)!

16 Comments

• At February 8, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  I'm so sad that Marvel scooped him up so quick.

  I hope he becomes an Alan Moore style "Fuck the Man!" ...

• At February 8, 2009, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  Kinda doubt he'll be a "fuck the man" type unless he gets huge. IIRC some of the delays on ...

• At February 8, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I was excited to hear about Dark Reign: FF and even more so about the main FF title.

• At February 8, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  I'm sure it'll be excellent. I'll probably even start getting it.

  I just don't think it's a good use of his ...

• At February 8, 2009, Grant wrote:

  I need to get some trades of his stuff. I hear good things about Pax Romana.

• At February 8, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  I'm a little sad actually, as I really enjoyed his creator owned stuff. Hopefully, he'll be able to carve ...

• At February 8, 2009, mordechai Luchins wrote:

  Oh look, a new writer comes on a series and announced they'll be going "back to basics."

  And then when this ...

• At February 8, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Looks like I'll be buying the Fantastic Four ongoing for the first time in my life.

  That's a creative team ...

• At February 8, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Oh look, a new writer comes on a series and announced they’ll be going “back to basics.”

  He doesn't actually say ...

• At February 8, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  Damn. I'm so torn. I've heard good things about Hickman and I love Eaglesham's pencils, but I can't ...

• At February 9, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  Funky:

  "(Hickman) doesn’t actually say ("going back to basics") anywhere..."

  Not in those exact words, BUT:

  "... what you ought to expect out ...

• At February 9, 2009, Anthony Cheng wrote:

  Hickman's exactly the kind of author they should have handed the rebooted Ultimates line to and said "go wild." His ...

• At February 9, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  So Hickman phrased it more eloquently. Big deal. The “Back to Basics” approach *is* taking the history of the series ...

• At February 9, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Hey Grant, mordechai, Dalarsco and everyone else, you can read the first issue of Pax Romana free right here!

  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12738

• At February 9, 2009, PRONEA | Jonathan Hickman » Back from NYC… what a trip! wrote:

  [...] (pretty cool gig). Marvel’s PR machine spun into motion: CBR, Newsarama, IGN, Marvel proper, CSBG (and this that I ...

• At February 20, 2009, d. e. ford jr wrote:

  "I hope he becomes an Alan Moore style “Fuck the Man!” type of writer soon."

  alan moore basically is the man--ever ...

Note the stress of the word "may."

Brian Hibbs recently wrote a great column about possible price increases and the possible market reaction, and I found myself absolutely agreeing with him.

There are a few points at play here:

1. Marvel and DC feel as though they NEED $4 comic books right now. Last month, issue sales were down from a year ago, but the actual dollar intake by the companies was UP, so they were actually making more money now than they were a year ago. Why? Because their highest selling titles were $4 (Secret Invasion and Final Crisis, plus others).

2. Standard economic theory is that you charge more for the lower selling products, because the higher selling products sell enough to pay for the lower price point. Meanwhile, the lower selling products usually have a cult following who will support the niche product at a higher price point (for a time, at least). To wit, Marvel Illustrated comics. Shanower and Young's Wizard of Oz looks AMAZING, but come on, it's a niche product, so Marvel is charging more money for it.

3. However, an across-the-board $4 price point would likely not work right now. Hibbs notes the same thing I've noticed - fans will not pay $4 for, say, a third X-Men comic book. Or a third Batman comic book, etc. Perhaps $3.50, but not $4 (by the by, I disagree about $3.10 or $3.25 being a viable price point - fans are irked by price increases PERIOD, so there's no point in doing it if it is not going to significantly affect your return - I think $3.50 achieves that, though).

4. That said, what fans WILL pay $4 for is the "important" comic books. You see this right now with Secret Invasion. If the content is "key" to the shared universe, then readers do not seem to mind the extra buck. Hibbs notes this with his costumers, and I concur from what I've seen.

5. So therefore, Marvel APPEARS to be handling this the way Hibbs thinks works - they're charging a dollar more for the books that they know the fans will buy anyways because of the content. A new Avengers book by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato? That's going to sell. Jeph Loeb's Hulk? It's going to sell. $3 or $4 is likely not going to make a marked difference. $4 for, say, Green Lantern Corps or Young X-Men IS.

So while this definitely sucks, I think Marvel is probably handling it as well as they can right now with the current market.

32 Comments

• At November 21, 2008, Ron wrote:

  I will not buy any 32 page $3.99 books. I will download them and if they are good enough, pick ...

• At November 21, 2008, bob wrote:

  The price of Marvel comics at Hastings (and I'm guessing other non DM outlets) has been $1 more for a ...

• At November 21, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I'm very selective, will buy non-super-hero/self-contained/no-continuity books.

• At November 21, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  "Hibbs notes this with his costumers".

  I just thought of a bunch of comic nerds in super-hero costumes stomping into a ...

• At November 21, 2008, ticknart wrote:

  "4. That said, what fans WILL pay $4 for is the “important” comic books. You see this right now with ...

• At November 21, 2008, garbonzo wrote:

  I finally made the switch to trades. I realized I was one of those people who was buying books ...

• At November 21, 2008, johnnie p wrote:

  i collect as much as read but when i start getting 40,50 or 60 dollars a week? not anymore.with the ...

• At November 21, 2008, Jim wrote:

  I've been dropping book like mad for the last year. It was not going to take much to completely ...

• At November 21, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  Except for the recent Alex Ross special from DC, all of DC's books priced at $3.99 have extra pages of ...

• At November 21, 2008, fan4fan wrote:

  Important? Secret Invasion?

  Please.

  That is an event book, meant to part us with our money.

  I stopped collecting when comics went ...

• At November 22, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  I might still buy Captain America, but that's about it.

• At November 22, 2008, Paul C wrote:

  I think the thing that annoys most people would possibly be the underhand tactics that Marvel have been using. From ...

• At November 22, 2008, FD wrote:

  As a result, I am dropping several titles, even the current $2.99 ones and going to wait for the trades ...

• At November 22, 2008, Fred MANSON wrote:

  I only have one comic book in my monthly list that is sold at $3.99. When I saw the one ...

• At November 22, 2008, Metal Misfit wrote:

  I can't imagine paying $4 for these books. I'm a tightwad-- I thought $2.99 was pushing it. =D I dropped ...

• At November 23, 2008, jazzbo wrote:

  I mentioned this in the last thread on this topic, but I'm going to go ahead and repeat myself.

  Raising ...

• At November 23, 2008, red-Ricky wrote:

  I think that another price increase, compounded with today's recessionariy economy, could cripple the Local Comic Book Store.

  In my particular ...

• At November 23, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  As I just said on the previous part of this thread, marvel and DC need to realise that they are ...

• At November 23, 2008, Hal-fan wrote:

  I won't pay it. I've put up with it for the special event books, but now we're seeing those ...

• At November 24, 2008, J to the AAP wrote:

  Important? Secret Invasion?

  Please.

  That is an event book, meant to part us with our money.

  As opposed to those other comics they ...

• At November 24, 2008, Dave wrote:

  As a number of people have said, this only works if you look at the course of the next six ...

• At November 24, 2008, will_butler wrote:

  For me, it's completely a matter of quality. I've pared my list way down, and I don't currently buy ...

• At November 24, 2008, Torsten Adair wrote:

  DC's Johnny DC comics sell for $2.25. Scooby-Doo! #137 has ten pages of Warner Brothers-related ads, three pages ...

• At November 24, 2008, Fledermaus wrote:

  Here's my view on comic book prices...

  I live in Belgium and was raised with comic books. So much so, I'm ...

• At November 24, 2008, Gunner Downe wrote:

  Nope, that'll be just about 5 bucks Canadian and that is too much for me I'm afraid.

• At November 25, 2008, fanboy d wrote:

  so why don't they just charge more money for advertising space instead of charging the fans? no one ever addresses ...

• At November 25, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Remember, DC Comics is a Time Warner company, WB advertise for free in DC books.

• At November 25, 2008, J to the AAP wrote:

  Remember, DC Comics is a Time Warner company, WB advertise for free in DC books.You're sure about that? I agree ...

• At November 25, 2008, J to the AAP wrote:

  By the way Fledermaus, I certainly know who Kiekeboe is, I even bought some as a kid. Then again, I'm ...

• At November 25, 2008, Torsten Adair wrote:

  Sorry... should have analyzed Marvel as well...

  Wolverine Origins #28 (Nov 08) $3.99 nine regular ads, ...

• At November 25, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  I'm pretty sure that a corporation has to charge for ads to sister corporations. That's what I remember from accounting ...

• At December 23, 2008, ctc wrote:

  Raising prices is a really, REALLY bad idea. They need to pull new readers in, and you're not gonna do ...

Does this mean that it is simply just going to continue under the "Topps" name now?

Anyone out there actually play Heroclix? Heroclix has always struck me as a neat little game, but I've never actually played myself, so I was wondering if there are any players out there who are into it. It seems pretty popular, as far as I can tell.

20 Comments

• At November 12, 2008, Tom Reed wrote:

  I used to be a Heroclix Fanatic. I collected every piece from every set, and played a few times a ...

• At November 12, 2008, Evie wrote:

  Heh, we've had an ongoing thing on our podcast trying to get people to give us any insight into Heroclix, ...

• At November 12, 2008, Xander wrote:

  I play when I can, but I work Saturday nights when the tournaments around here are usually held. If ...

• At November 12, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  Heroclix is one of the nerdiest things ever.

  And I say this as a guy who writes about comics on the ...

• At November 12, 2008, suedenim wrote:

  Parsing the Topps guy's statement, it sounds like he's saying "We're gonna fire all the guys in that other office ...

• At November 12, 2008, Bryant wrote:

  I liked Heroclix the times i played it but it seemed overly dependent on going first; i.e. whoever won the ...

• At November 12, 2008, Hal-fan wrote:

  Great game when you play larger games than tournament size (300-400 pts). We played mega games with teams over ...

• At November 12, 2008, Lynxara wrote:

  What I played of Heroclix was... okay. I really felt like it didn't offer a cost/enjoyment ratio that justified the ...

• At November 12, 2008, Random Stranger wrote:

  I've got a ton of clix but I stopped collecting when I stopped having a regular opponent. It's cute ...

• At November 12, 2008, Jeremy wrote:

  My friends and I played pretty fanatically for quite awhile. Fortunately, they were the ones who actually bought the figures, ...

• At November 12, 2008, Peter wrote:

  I played/collected when it first came out, but stopped after the 3rd or 4th expansion set - just not enough ...

• At November 12, 2008, sononsj wrote:

  Apparently it'll continue but under a different brand? And I've never played, just bought the figures.

• At November 13, 2008, KAM wrote:

  I tried it once at an introductory session at Spy Comics. My knowledge of comics characters & their powers worked ...

• At November 13, 2008, Deadsmurf wrote:

  The Prepainted plastic Miniature gaming niche in the hobby game industry is well dying, I'd be suprised if Heroclix continues ...

• At November 13, 2008, Mr. Chris wrote:

  I've been playing for about 3 years. I still have probably a 100 pieces or so that I have ...

• At November 13, 2008, Aqualad wrote:

  I liked collecting the pieces but found the game boring and tedious. I only played three times, even ...

• At November 13, 2008, Black Manta wrote:

  I play alot. I'm actually a little happy about what's going on. I always felt that the game could be ...

• At November 13, 2008, George S. wrote:

  Wow. It's sorta funny looking outside my little Heroclix box. Every day I'm surrounded by people who say this is ...

• At November 15, 2008, sundown wrote:

  Wow. The level of ignorance about Heroclix in some of these comments is astounding. If you don't know anything about ...

• At December 4, 2008, Thexpert wrote:

  This is the best collectable mini game made. To put it into perspective tactically, you have tictactoe/ccgs/checkers/chess/star wars minis/warhammer et ...

Reginald Hudlin is still writing the book.

I think that what we have here is a clever way of Marvel ending the Black Panther/Storm marriage. If T'Challa is killed and replaced by a female Black Panther, then you have Storm now free and clear of the marriage without a divorce, and you still have a Black Panther. And, to boot, you get a FEMALE Black Panther, which is an interesting twist (and, of course, you can always bring T'Challa back in the future, only now he can't be married to Storm for some reason - maybe it's T'Challa from the past or whatever).

However, the only way this works is if the new Black Panther is NOT Storm. If it IS Storm, then while that's certainly a clever enough idea, I don't think that really does anything for Storm. If it is T'Challa's sister (introduced by Hudlin, no less), then it is a very clever idea by Marvel.

Can't wait 'til we find out which one it is.

59 Comments

• At October 21, 2008, Grico wrote:

  Can't wait til she goes toe to toe with Ms. Sinister.

• At October 21, 2008, T. wrote:

  You lost me at "Reginald Hudlin is still writing the book." Not interested.

• At October 21, 2008, Rich wrote:

  Can't we just let Jason Aaron take over this book? Please?

• At October 21, 2008, Anthony Cheng wrote:

  Better yet, can we get Christopher Priest back?

• At October 21, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Better yet, can we get Christopher Priest back?

  Enjoying a Christopher Priest run on any book is a heart ache waiting ...

• At October 21, 2008, Alonso wrote:

  Brian, any idea on the art credit for this? It's of the Alan Davis/ Brian Hitch 'school', but I can't ...

• At October 22, 2008, Frank Rook wrote:

  What's most unfortunate about this latest incessive trend of Marvel feminizing its male characters, is the thought that they may ...

• At October 22, 2008, Jono11 wrote:

  Marvel Apes is the wrong idea. When are they gonna do Marvel Chicks?

• At October 22, 2008, Bat2supe wrote:

  That's exactly the kind of news that bore me to hell at best, having said character replaced,probably dead, by a ...

• At October 22, 2008, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  Enjoying a Christopher Priest run on any book is a heart ache waiting to happen.

  That said, his website has hilarious ...

• At October 22, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I'm still waiting for Priest to return to Quantum and Woody.

• At October 22, 2008, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  She looks like the new Batgirl.

• At October 22, 2008, Matt wrote:

  Aaron's Black Panther 3-issue-run has been better than Hudlin's complete run on the character.

• At October 22, 2008, thekamisama wrote:

  So it is clever when you back out of a comic book marriage of an X-"Man", But it is not ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  meh

  stupid

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  I also thought she looks a like like the new Batgirl. At least give her the half-mask, capeless Panther ...

• At October 22, 2008, Kent Allard wrote:

  I smell the return of T'Chaka

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Honestly?

  I say thee meh.

  Saying that I can't be bothered to come up with anything better

• At October 22, 2008, The Dane wrote:

  Poor Batgirl. How many years does she have to kick around until she actually becomes Batgirl and not the new ...

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  To "The Dane":

  >>Poor Batgirl. How many years does she have to kick around until she actually becomes Batgirl and not ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  572

• At October 22, 2008, marvelcomicsgroupy wrote:

  I think this new female Black Panther series has something to do with T'Challa being involved in the War of ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Bat Lass? Is she joining the Legion of Superheroes?

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  I though the War of Kings was just Black Bolt and Vulcan.

  Why would T'Challa be involved in an intergalactic war? ...

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>Bat Lass? Is she joining the Legion of Superheroes?

  That was indeed a tongue in cheek reference to DC's penchant to ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  I am far too youthfull to remember that story, I'm afraid.

  I always wondered why Joker never had a boy sidekick. ...

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>The Joker and Laughing Lad!”

  That sort of works. At least better than Duela Dent officially calling herself "The Joker's ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Now, be fair. It's only after COIE she started getting called that. Before it was Harlequin

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>Now, be fair. It’s only after COIE she started getting called that. Before it was Harlequin

  I don't think so. ...

• At October 22, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  i think this is almost definitely Shuri, who we've seen T'Challa training for a couple years now under Hudlin. i ...

• At October 22, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Anyone going to bet against a female White Tiger, female Black Panther team-up at some point?

• At October 22, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>Anyone going to bet against a female White Tiger, female Black Panther team-up at some point?

  "Ebony and Ivory: Adventures ...

• At October 22, 2008, Eric P. wrote:

  I have enjoyed all of the Hudlin BP I've read, but I'm only up through about issue 13 or so ...

• At October 22, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  "Anyone going to bet against a female White Tiger, female Black Panther team-up at some point?"

  When I saw the amulet ...

• At October 22, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Before anyone has a go... it was a quick glance, and yes, I do know what hte White tiger amulets ...

• At October 22, 2008, Chris wrote:

  If this means the end of the marriage between T'Challa and Storm, I'm all for it :)

• At October 22, 2008, Jason wrote:

  Does anybody else remember a female Panther appearing in one of those Marvel Milleninal Visions, or something titled like that? ...

• At October 22, 2008, Lorendiac wrote:

  I did a little quick Googling to find what I said on another forum right after I heard about the ...

• At October 22, 2008, Joey wrote:

  This leaves me with one question. Where is Kasper Cole?

• At October 22, 2008, MRW wrote:

  Maybe it's just because I don't really care about this marriage, but would it really be that big a deal ...

• At October 23, 2008, Bright-Raven wrote:

  The idea of marrying Ororo and T'Challa was not a bad idea, it was just twenty to twenty two years ...

• At October 23, 2008, Joe S. Walker wrote:

  They might as well put up a neon sign saying WE'VE GOT NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH THIS MINOR ...

• At October 23, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  Yeah, but Black Panther has so much potential as a MAJOR character, it's just being ignored. I say put ...

• At October 23, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>But for the love of God, do NOT resurrect his Leopard alias, that just sucked.

  T'Challa was named "The Black Leopard" ...

• At October 23, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  I'm sorry for people who aren't digging Hudlin (I don't like him on Panther much, either) but I loved Aaron's ...

• At October 23, 2008, Paul wrote:

  >>>I wish it was wilder than the typical passing of the mantle Maybe Black Panther’s been living a lie all ...

• At October 23, 2008, Chris wrote:

  I care so little about the Black Panther, but to me, it's obvious the new Black Panthress won't be ...

• At October 23, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  Well, part of Storm's backstory is that she's African, so it makes sense there.

  My favorite pairing with Storm is Wolverine. ...

• At October 23, 2008, Chris wrote:

  Being Africans is really very too little in common. They're not even from the same country.

  It's as if I ...

• At October 23, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  Yeah, but in some families you have the pressure to marry within your creed, race, background, etc. After scouring all ...

• At October 23, 2008, Chris wrote:

  Hmmmmmm.... but in that scenario, he would have gone after a Wakandan, which Storm is not.

  I think the main ...

• At October 23, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Which is something that really pisses off people who are from Africa, or who lived there for any length of ...

• At October 23, 2008, Philip A Moore wrote:

  Why is it that Marvel thinks the only way to make a character new is to make them I girl. ...

• At October 23, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  Oh yeah, there's a female Kraven as well! Damn, women are taking over the Marvel U.

• At October 24, 2008, sean wrote:

  I remember the female Doc Ock and the female Punisher and the female Thing, but not the female Kraven. ...

• At October 24, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  It's not too hard to remember the female Kraven, because she's a relatively new character.

• At October 24, 2008, Dalarsco wrote:

  I like this. I love T'Challa, who manages to be cool despite Hudlin's shoddy writing, but now I ...

• At October 24, 2008, Vichus Smith wrote:

  Why drop it before you know what's up? You know this is temporary, at best. For Hudlin's writing, though, I ...

• At February 15, 2009, James wrote:

  I'd prefer it be Storm. I figure I'm one of the few who likes the marriage.

But then they dropped the big bomb -

Whatever happened to the caped crusader?

Neil Gaiman.

Andy Kubert.

January 2009.

Talk about just blowing everyone else out of the water - one of the few comic book writers out there whose mere presence on a comic book gets media attention, and DC has him writing BATMAN (even if it is only for a short period of time, which is likely)?

What a pull by DC.

And that about does it for the stuff that struck my fancy! Feel free to drop a note in the comments about any SDCC news (that I did not mention) that has YOU really excited!

38 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, Sam wrote:

  Yeah, DC completely upstaged Marvel at this year's con.

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  A mighty two issue run. Which is better than nothing. I'm more confused about the fact Morrison has been saying ...

• At July 28, 2008, Rebis wrote:

  Wish Gaiman were writing more than two issues. I was hoping for a mini-series (even if it's within the main ...

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  The only problem with Judd leaving GA/BC is that it's because he's going to be writing something else.

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Hmmm...is this a possible reboot? Or is the title just a coincidence (referring to Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the ...

• At July 28, 2008, Ralph wrote:

  "Hmmm…is this a possible reboot?"

  They are going to unmarry Batman and Robin? Nooooooooooooooooo!

• At July 28, 2008, ElCoyote's Prophet wrote:

  Y'know, of all of DC's major characters, Batman is the last one I want Neil Gaiman writing. I'd rather see ...

• At July 28, 2008, T. wrote:

  Well, it makes sense for DC to have so much more in the term of announcements...they've been getting trounced! ...

• At July 28, 2008, Dan K wrote:

  Cool. I was thinking just recently that the "end of Batman" idea is strong enough to stand another intepretation.

• At July 28, 2008, John Stanshall wrote:

  So, is this just going to be a fill-in for Morrison or is this a fill-in until they find Morrison's ...

• At July 28, 2008, McK wrote:

  So, is this just going to be a fill-in for Morrison or is this a fill-in until they find Morrison’s ...

• At July 28, 2008, Chad wrote:

  Sorry for the blasphemy, but while it certainly makes for a big-splash SDCC announcement, I'm not that jazzed about having ...

• At July 28, 2008, schmakt wrote:

  I don't read Batman... I've tried, and I just don't care. The occasional elseworlds or mini (I like Death ...

• At July 28, 2008, DanCJ wrote:

  Damn this two issue storyline that won't fit into a TPB properly! Ah well I'm sure they'll find somewhere ...

• At July 28, 2008, BizarroBeachHead wrote:

  I've not really been a fan of Gaiman's superhero work(with the exception of his unfinished Miracleman stuff), so I'm not ...

• At July 28, 2008, Karlos wrote:

  Two issues??

  Man, I was hoping for a more substantial run than that - although it'll no doubt feel longer, what ...

• At July 28, 2008, jccalhoun wrote:

  On gaiman's website he says they will be "oversized issues" so possibly closer to 48 pages each?

  I'm torn ...

• At July 28, 2008, Ryan Day wrote:

  This is probably the least-exciting announcement to include Neil Gaiman's name. I love the guy, but Batman? I've found most ...

• At July 28, 2008, ElCoyote's Prophet wrote:

  Andy Kubert may be the faster Kubert, but he's also the lesser Kubert, Adam's the craftsman, Andy's stuff no matter ...

• At July 28, 2008, Andrew wrote:

  I enjoyed Gaiman's Eternals, but I'll admit that it's a "meh" kind of comic, but am I really the only ...

• At July 28, 2008, Michael wrote:

  I liked 1602, too.

• At July 28, 2008, Rebis wrote:

  I was just thinking that, if they are going for some sort of bookend to "Whatever Happened to the Man ...

• At July 28, 2008, jccalhoun wrote:

  If you are going to get a Kubert to draw it then Joe is the only one that matters. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  I'll probably buy it, because it's only two issues and I liked American Gods. But this news doesn't particularly excite ...

• At July 28, 2008, CBrown wrote:

  Everyone remember: If you don't like Gaiman's work, or you don't like Batman, you have the inalienable right to not ...

• At July 28, 2008, John Cage wrote:

  No... I think if read comics you pretty much have to buy this or you'll be run out of town ...

• At July 28, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  They have more to prove, especially given the last market share figures, grumblings among fandom and the rampant speculation of ...

• At July 28, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Gaiman has a talent for literary synthesis. I liked Andy Kubert's art on 1602. This could be fun.

• At July 28, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  Two issues eh? At least they should ship on time, but knowing Gaiman, they'll have to resolicit as nine ...

• At July 28, 2008, Jbird wrote:

  I can't wait until Batman becomes a neo-pagan lesbian.

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Why not? We already have a Jewish lesbian Batman ;)

• At July 28, 2008, edc wrote:

  meh to gaiman & batman.

  YAY FOR THE BLACK HOOD! I hope they do the impact version - dude wears bloody ...

• At July 29, 2008, monel wrote:

  I didn't get what was going on until I read the comments. So they will bring back Denny O'Neil ...

• At July 29, 2008, Jbird wrote:

  Honestly, a Gaiman-written Batwoman might be something I'd read.

• At July 29, 2008, buttler wrote:

  Eh, give her time to fade first -- then he can bring her back like he did Element Girl and ...

• At July 29, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  "So there is no misunderstanding in the unlikely event a movie producer or Dido reads this, "

  JJ Abrams already thought ...

• At July 29, 2008, JimZipCode wrote:

  I don't get the negativity toward 1602 and Eternals, I thought they were fine series. Enjoyed them very much. ...

• At November 4, 2008, Alternating Reality Bookstore » Blog Archive » Angela Limited 3 Part Comic Book Series wrote:

  [...] SDCC Thoughts on Neil Gaiman Writing Batman [...]

"One of the things I'm always asked at conventions," said Stewart, "is when is the next Seaguy." Stewart said that he's been asked that question for five years, and now both "Seaguy 2: Slaves of Mickey Eye" and "Seaguy 3: Eternal," will be out soon.

This is followed by the announcement that Sean Murphy, a young artist who I dig a lot (here is his website), is going to be the artist on Morrison's upcoming Warcop series.

To quote Dr. Sam Beckett, "Oh boy!"

15 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, Grico wrote:

  Eh, I need to read Seaguy again. Didn't make that much sense to me when I read it, or have ...

• At July 28, 2008, DanCJ wrote:

  I wasn't mad on Seaguy, but I know I'll be reading these in the vain hope of making sense of ...

• At July 28, 2008, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Awwwwww yay! Hopefully there'll be some other new creator-owned-ish stuff as well.

  Been too many years since we ...

• At July 28, 2008, ejulp wrote:

  I was obsessed with this when it came out, very excited for it.

• At July 28, 2008, ejulp wrote:

  It had some of the better "word play" I've seen from Morrison.

• At July 28, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  Now THIS is exciting news.

• At July 28, 2008, sebastian wrote:

  What makes me most excited was the announcement that there would be a complete Seaguy trade somewhere down the line. ...

• At July 28, 2008, DubipR wrote:

  About freaking time!

• At July 28, 2008, Cayman wrote:

  Seaguy was great and wonderfully weird. I'm looking forward to more.

• At July 28, 2008, chris w. wrote:

  Da fug!

• At July 28, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I wasn’t mad on Seaguy, but I know I’ll be reading these in the vain hope of making sense of ...

• At July 28, 2008, Djed wrote:

  Great news. I loved Seaguy, especially Cameron Stewart's art. Also good to see that Morrison is doing some more work ...

• At July 29, 2008, DanCJ wrote:

  "The first mini is a complete story, and everything you need to know is in there!"

  I know there are people ...

• At July 29, 2008, sean wrote:

  I'm not sure if I like 'Seaguy' despite it not quite adding up to anything sensible, or because of it.

  It's ...

• At July 29, 2008, Jack Norris wrote:

  Yaaaay!

  I'm endlessly shocked that the old canards about Morrison's supposed "pretentiousness" and "impenetrability" get trotted out for something so totally ...

Then again, it could be Batman fighting Constantine Drakon, so I should just count my blessings, eh?

10 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  let's hope for a monthly series with no years of delays in-between.

  I'd be more amped up if he was completing ...

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  Smith's Green Arrow run wasn't horrible or anything but I remember, at the time, my least favorite part in the ...

• At July 28, 2008, Ralph wrote:

  I remember Marvel announcing on a con that Daredevil: The Target mini was officilally dropped.

• At July 28, 2008, Graeme Burk wrote:

  Well, I loved Smith's version of Batman, and I thought Onomatopoeia was really cool, so I'm quite happy to hear ...

• At July 28, 2008, Eric wrote:

  Not getting this. I understand that Daredevil: Target's time has passed, but why should I support something from him again. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Cass wrote:

  @Eric: You lucked out that he didn't finish the series. Have you read the 3-years-in-the-making second half of Spider-Man / ...

• At July 28, 2008, bird wrote:

  i liked Onomatopoeia but i could see it getting old pretty fast. it's only 3 issues so i'll probably buy ...

• At July 28, 2008, Chris Griswold wrote:

  I really can't stand Kevin Smith's writing. When he gets to write comic books, he just eats up the pages, ...

• At July 28, 2008, T. wrote:

  I'm not a WInick fan generally, but I actually didn't mind Constantine Drakon. I thought he was kind of ...

• At July 29, 2008, JdRavnos wrote:

  I like Onomatapeia, and I think he works well as a Batman villian. He's a creepy cape-killer who only talks ...

Chris Arrant at Newsarama has a good interview with Grell (that's where the image comes from).

In the interview, Grell first explained that it was meant to be a mini-series to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Warlord, but soon was given the green-light as an ongoing series!

I wonder if perhaps a series of mini-series would be better here, too, but whatever, man, it's Grell back doing Warlord! Woohoo!!

17 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  it'd be alot better news if he was drawing the interiors.

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  I think they really need to support it with a Showcase: Warlord.

  Otherwise, I doubt sales will be any better than ...

• At July 28, 2008, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  I hope we get some reprints out of it. I would prefer color TPBs, but will settle for Showcase books ...

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  Honestly, Grell doesn't need to do the entire interiors, just the awesome opening spreads. Those are some of my favorite ...

• At July 28, 2008, McK wrote:

  My favorite part of the Newsarama interview is Grell's comments on the terrible 2006 Bruce Jones reboot of the character. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Cayman wrote:

  I don't really expect this series will last substantially longer than the Jones series did.

• At July 28, 2008, DubipR wrote:

  Has major potential to be good. If we can't have Grell interiors, I pray to God that DC is ...

• At July 28, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  This was the most exciting news of the whole convention for me. I second the suggestion for some Warlord Showcase ...

• At July 29, 2008, Gary Zenker wrote:

  Warlord was one of my favorite series when Mike Grell was drawing it. My only disappointment in a new series ...

• At July 29, 2008, JimZipCode wrote:

  Did Mike Grell actually write all of the Warlord run where he is credited as writer? I remember a ...

• At July 29, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Jim, there was a period towards the end of Mike Grell's original run on Warlord where he left the writing ...

• At August 14, 2008, Anonymous wrote:

  Grell is back on Warlord? Cool!

• At August 14, 2008, Tony Phillips wrote:

  Okay. I just posted the above comment to see if this would work. It seems that recently all of the ...

• At August 14, 2008, Tony Phillips wrote:

  BTW, Mike Grell hit the nail on the head with THIS comment:

  As point of fact to that, that ...

• At August 21, 2008, box wrote:

  To JimZipCode:

  > Did Mike Grell actually write all of the Warlord run where he is credited as writer?

  From about Warlord ...

• At February 16, 2009, Tony Phillips wrote:

  The guy doing the artwork is Joe Prado. He's a young guy and I've seen his work in the new ...

• At April 2, 2009, Tony Phillips wrote:

  I came off as a bit of a jerk in the above post. I'll buy it-eventually anyway. Joe Prado ain't ...

41 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Yay!

• At July 28, 2008, John wrote:

  Dagger looks 13

• At July 28, 2008, Eric Grant wrote:

  Who with the what, now?!!?! Man, she must have a pretty tight hat to have kept that under all this ...

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  They hold off for years and years with Quesada saying they still just haven't gotten the right pitch and this ...

• At July 28, 2008, Craig wrote:

  D'Orazio doesn't deserve attention for "saying goodbye" then "returning" to comics. She'd be like Brett Favre, except that would mean ...

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Yeah, I like the modifications to her costume, and I love the characters...but yeah, too young-girl, hip-manga-style looking for me. ...

• At July 28, 2008, The Dane wrote:

  Aw, I saw the Miyazawa artwork and got all excited. *sigh*

• At July 28, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  1. I don't do manga.

  2. Skilled writers have been trying to get a job writing for Marvel for years and ...

• At July 28, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Gods, you people are pathetic.

• At July 28, 2008, Grapeweasel wrote:

  It looks more like Cloak and Liz Allen.

• At July 28, 2008, MarkAndrew wrote:

  It doesn't look like comics from twenty years ago and it's drawn by an experienced editor with a VAST working ...

• At July 28, 2008, buttler wrote:

  Holy flash points for controversy, the bile really runneth over in the comments for this entry. Meanies, the lot ...

• At July 28, 2008, Slam Bradley wrote:

  It's absolutely imperative that this be judged long before anyone has seen a page of it, based on a couple ...

• At July 28, 2008, Paperghost wrote:

  Valerie is great. As a reader of her blogs for some time, I've been impressed by her honesty, her writing ...

• At July 28, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  It’s not like she’s just “that woman who bitches about DC” on her blog or whatever.

  I agree. Ms. d'Orazio has ...

• At July 28, 2008, Matt Algren wrote:

  I don't know Valerie D'Orazio's work, but as far as artwork goes, it's pretty cool.

• At July 28, 2008, bad_trotsky wrote:

  Cloak and Dagger are pretty young. They are older than the Runaways tho and should be shown as such.

• At July 28, 2008, Annoyed Grunt wrote:

  Really, if bitching about DC got you work at Marvel every blogger would have their own series.

  However, having a bit ...

• At July 28, 2008, Cayman wrote:

  I've enjoyed Valerie's blog and I'm curious to see what she does with this series. I've enjoyed Cloak & Dagger ...

• At July 28, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I can't believe people are being THAT judgmental about a book before even reading it. Oh wait, this is the ...

• At July 28, 2008, Nessor Sille wrote:

  Looks pretty good to me.

  Drawing art with a shojo influenced style does not make this "manga", anymore than the "Marvel ...

• At July 28, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  Maybe I am wrong about this. Maybe it WILL be good. Maybe her boyfriend will write it for her.

• At July 28, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Alan, your hostility towards her is seriously weirding me out.

  Did she, like, punch your mother in the face or something?

  I ...

• At July 28, 2008, Chris Griswold wrote:

  This thread has shown me that the first few posts on a CSBG thread are pointless and not worth reading; ...

• At July 28, 2008, david brothers wrote:

  I think that Alan's pitch for Cloak & Dagger was turned down.

  Happens to the best of us, Alan. One day ...

• At July 28, 2008, Jesse wrote:

  The only thing I don't like about her pitch is the implication of Dagger cutting herself. Okay, sure, her name ...

• At July 28, 2008, The Dane wrote:

  Wait, how did I get lumped in with the hate wave of negativity. *whines* All I said was that I ...

• At July 28, 2008, Chris Griswold wrote:

  Sorry, it was hard to see your beacon of hope amidst the bile. You're cool, dude. I'll even write that ...

• At July 28, 2008, John Seavey wrote:

  Personally, I think it's smart for Marvel to go with a manga-inspired style, given that manga outsells their books by ...

• At July 28, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  On the other hand, manga-inspired art didn't help Runaways or Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane become top sellers. I hope this ...

• At July 29, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  “If you like the ‘Runaways,’ ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ ‘The Sandman,’ or ‘Strangers in Paradise’ you will love ‘Cloak & ...

• At July 29, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  I'm not sure whether I like her or not. One the one hand, I didn't care for any of those ...

• At July 29, 2008, Grapeweasel wrote:

  It's not like they showed great confidence in her by handing her an icon.

  There's really nothing to lose here for ...

• At July 29, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Besides the C&D fans if it sucks? All 50 of us, anyway ;)

• At July 29, 2008, Jack Norris wrote:

  I enjoy her blog a lot, and have thought for some time that I would happily check out any book ...

• At July 29, 2008, Tom Gaines wrote:

  <>

  Acclaim Comics

  * The Tick - A World Full of Pain(t), (assistant editor)

  * ...

• At July 29, 2008, Tom Gaines wrote:

  Sorry, that was in response to what else she has done in addition to being President of Friends of Lulu, ...

• At July 30, 2008, Bright-Raven wrote:

  Tom:

  "I don’t seem to remember this reaction when Gail Simone (happy birthday, Gail!) started writing after her column - or ...

• At August 5, 2008, Jason wrote:

  I'm intrigued but find Dagger's costume a negative distraction. I'm hoping the over-done "look at my flesh" look will be ...

• At September 16, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I can't remember ever seeing this book. Did it get cancelled before it even appeared?

• At October 31, 2009, fanboy d wrote:

  WHEN THE HELL IS THIS COMING OUT?!

That's a smart idea.

Has Supergirl's title EVER been this tied to the main Superman titles? Ever?

10 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Tied or not, let them just pick a direction for the title and character and stick with it for, lets ...

• At July 28, 2008, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  For a while during the triangle period, Supergirl, Superboy, and even Steel would all show up for long multi-issue segements. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Jacob T. Levy wrote:

  But Supergirl didn't then have a solo book. I think the answer has to be 'no.' During the ...

• At July 28, 2008, John Trumbull wrote:

  Integrating the Supergirl title into the Superman family of books is one of those simple ideas that seems horribly obvious ...

• At July 28, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  Smart idea? Sounds pretty awful to me...

• At July 28, 2008, Eric wrote:

  I hate the idea that all three books are now going to be required reading to get the story. I ...

• At July 28, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Smart idea? Sounds pretty awful to me… Smart idea from a sales perspective.

• At July 28, 2008, Cayman wrote:

  Hopefully it'll be good.

  Supergirl has had some fun issues and some truly dismal ones since her title launched.

  Robinson's first ...

• At July 28, 2008, Grant wrote:

  You know I'm not a big fans but Johns Superman stuff has been pretty entertaining lately (even though the continuity ...

• At July 28, 2008, Grant wrote:

  I'm currently cringing at some typos.

Well, would anyone actually want that?

Remember Just Imagine Stan Lee?

I'd have stressed instead the fact that Hama's recent G.I.Joe work has been just as good, if not better, than his old work, so you have a guy whose famous for creating a title AND has been doing good recent work on the title (G.I.Joe: Declassified was really quite good).

I wasn't much a fan of Hama's Spooks, but his recent G.I. Joe work still has me looking forward to this series.

10 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Amen.

• At July 28, 2008, Josh P. wrote:

  His Storm Shadow solo book was also quite good.

  While I am sad for yet another Hasbro property reboot, I will ...

• At July 28, 2008, Grico wrote:

  Well personally I would have thought a re-boot to tie in with the movie continuity in like 6-8 months would ...

• At July 28, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Being a huge fan of the original Marvel run, (started off by the UK version, "Action Force") I was ...

• At July 28, 2008, Tom Daylight wrote:

  They did "What If Stan Lee wrote Ultimate Spider-Man?" in the "Wha... Huh?" one-shot. (It was actually written by Stan ...

• At July 28, 2008, yo go re wrote:

  it's not exactly that it was written by Stan Lee, but that they reprinted the original Amazing Fantasy #15 story.

  I'm ...

• At July 28, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Definitely a fair concern, yo.

  I certainly would be a lot more concerned about this had it not been for Hama's ...

• At July 28, 2008, yo go re wrote:

  Well, I liked "Spooks" pretty well, too - well enough to read all of it via someone else's copies, at ...

• At July 28, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, it was amazing how much characterization and empathy he put into the characters in that series (it didn't hurt ...

• At July 29, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  Hama's one of those writers I'll pretty much trust sight unseen (Brubaker has recently displaced Johns on the list, while ...

At the same time, I remember a few years ago, when the signs all seemed to be pointing to Diggle being the next DC writer to make the move to Marvel, but then he stayed at DC, instead - and promptly did basically nothing of note (I mean, don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed his Hellblazer work and I absolutely adored his Green Arrow: Year One mini-series, but he did not exactly have a ton of major projects that would make you say, "Ah, so THAT'S why he stayed!")!!

So while it's a few years later then one would think, he's at Marvel now, and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeves for the Thunderbolts. I just hope Songbird isn't screwed!!

7 Comments

• At July 28, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  but he's leaving HELLBLAZER.

  bummer.

• At July 28, 2008, Jacob T. Levy wrote:

  Yeah-- best Hellblazer's been in many years.

• At July 28, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  It's good news and all but I'm not sure if I wouldn't have rather just kept Gage on the book. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Ryan Day wrote:

  This seems like another case of DC discovering a talented writer and then doing nothing with him. His Green Arrow ...

• At July 28, 2008, DubipR wrote:

  In complete agreement with Ryan. DC dropped the ball (again) and let one of their unsung talents go away. ...

• At July 28, 2008, Cayman wrote:

  He seems like a good choice.

  Too bad he's not bringing Jock with him.

• At July 30, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Maybe they can get Jock on covers? He's not DC exclusive, is he?

  Speaking of covers, anyone know who did the ...