The sailor with a spinach fetish and burly arms is back! Thanks to IDW Publishers, Popeye will be returning in his own comic series. The series will be written by Roger Langridge.
Popeye, for those few unaware of the sailor, began his fame in comics before working his way into the mainstream media with cartoons and movies. He debuted in 1929 and was created by Elzie Crisler Segar.
After days of rumors, DC Entertainment has officially unveiled its new logo design for DC Comics. Earlier looks at the new peel design fell short of impressing most people. The grayscale version that had been leaked to the public was met with quite of bit of criticism for being dull and too much of a departure from DC’s previous logos. It seems that DC took notice of this less than spectacular reaction, though. As part of their press release, they didn’t just reveal one version of the new logo. They didn’t just reveal two or three versions. In fact, I’ll need a moment to go do a quick count.
Fourteen. I am seeing fourteen versions of the new DC Comics logo accompanying the press release. I feel like that should be followed by the Count’s laugh.
The CW, which was formerly called the WB, for years has been giving DC Comics based live action television shows for fans to enjoy. Their favorite characters can jump out of the pages of comic books to their television screen. In the past years they have had televisions shows like Aquaman, Birds of Prey, and probably the most successful Smallville. Now the CW is ordering a brand new DC comics television show based on the comic book character Green Arrow. The show they say will probably be called “Arrow”.
The Green Arrow is a not a new comer to live action television or the CW. Justin Hartley had played the Green Arrow AKA Oliver Queen since 2006 on the television show called Smallville. If you are a Smallville fan like I am you might be thinking like I was. This could be a spin off, but no such luck. When the show was announced by the CW that the show is ready for the green light on the pilot they made sure to mention that Justin Hartley right now is not involved in the project. When I heard this news I was a little disappointed and excited at the same time because this means that the CW can show that they can make a successful DC Comics television show without it being affiliated with Smallville.
Artist Rob Liefeld is not a popular man in the comic book world. Many people hate his artwork and thought the recent news that he will be taking over as artist for three of DC’s New 52 titles was a joke. It’s not. He is. And I am looking forward to it with admittedly wearisome optimism. Liefeld will be writing and doing the artwork for Deathstroke and will be plotting Grifter, and The Savage Hawkman.
Liefeld will be replacing Tony Daniel on The Savage Hawkman because Daniel’s heavy deadlines forced him to drop the Hawkman title so he could focus more of his time on his other title, more well-received title, Detective Comics. Liefeld’s plans for Hawkman entail an intergalactic fighting ring with some galactic battles.
Do you still have the itch for more Millennium Trilogy? It’s not enough to have the books, original movies, and American remakes? Well, then rejoice for DC is releasing a graphic novel of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on their Vertigo Imprint. As we all know, placing it on Vertigo means it couple potentially come to the comic medium with barely any censorship. The DC press release also mentions that the creative team is working together with the Stieg Larson estate to work on the conversion. Source material always has to change to adapt to the medium, but it’s nice to see that they’ll be staying as faithful as possible.
Six of the “New 52” titles (52 titles re-launched recently last year by DC Comics for the benefit of new readers) will be cancelled to make room for six new series. I was very disappointed when I heard about the cancellation of two of my pull titles: Static Shock and Blackhawks.
The official list of casualties are Blackhawks, Static Shock, Mister Terrific, Hawk and Dove, Men of War and O.M.A.C. The new list of titles are Batman Incorporated, World’s Finest (a.k.a. JSA), G.I. Combat (OK, now we’re just brazenly waving the G.I. Joe comparison in people’s faces), Earth 2 (which will feature Earth 2’s Huntress and Power Girl), The Ravagers (a spin-off of Teen Titans) and Dial H. The only book I am looking forward to is Dial H, a title that is supposedly taking a darker outlook along the lines of Animal Man and Swamp Thing and is written by award-winning fantasy novelist China Miéville.
After a long decade hiatus from the comic book world, Valiant Entertainment will be returning to the realm of comics. The company announced they were bringing back several of their popular 90s’ titles including Bloodshot and Harbinger. Valiant will also be taking on a new name: Diamond Book Distributor, its global comic book distributor.
Valiant was founded in 1989. Back in the 90s’, the publisher ranked among Image, Marvel and DC Comics publishers in sales and sold over 80 million comic books during it’s first five years in the business. The company produced numerous superhero titles that were unique because they attested to the effects of physics, consequence and continuity.
Before even hitting the shelves for release on January 4th, Fatale #1 (written by Ed Brubaker and penciled by Sean Phillips) sold out even though it was grossly overprinted.
Fatale #1 is a horror comic blended with crime-noir slated to be one of Brubaker’s and Phillips’ greatest works and does not disappoint. The story revolves around the godson of a detective novelist who finds out about his godfather’s troubling past and gets into a bit of trouble himself when some goons with guns come to his doorstep. With the help of a beautiful and mysterious woman named Jo who looks stunningly similar to his godfather’s former love interest, our protagonist must survive and uncover some of his godfather’s darkest secrets in the process.
Beginning with Avengers #25, Brian Michael Bendis will be joined by the legendary Walt Simonson for a story arc tying into Marvel’s upcoming Avengers Vs. X-Men event. This arc, which will focus on the Avengers’ perspective in their clash with the X-Men, will also be Bendis’ final arc on the the title.
First announced on Marvel’s Next Big Thing Liveblog, Bendis and Simonson both expressed a good deal of excitement at the prospect of working together. Bendis was especially happy to be able to work with Simonson after so recently working with another iconic artist, Neal Adams. Few details about their arc together emerged in the live blog discussion, though.
Grant Morrison, renowned writer of Batman and Robin, All-Star Superman and several other revolutionary titles, has explored another creative facet of himself in the world of music as a guest DJ on the public radio KCRW (89.9 FM and KCRW.com), whose home base is in LA.
Morrsion stopped by the station and picked five songs that inspired him during a Guest DJ Project. His Project Set list included: “The Queen Is Dead” by The Smiths,” Mogadishu” by Baader Meinhof, “The Heater” by The Mutton Birds, “Blue Flowers” by Dr. Octagon, and “Joe Public” by The Rutles.
