Daniel Radcliffe is ditching his Harry Potter image — and his pants as several stills from his role in EQUUS show. The stage role famously requires a young star to run around starkers as he blithely blind horses. 17-year-old Radcliffe seems up for the task, and producers have been stunned at how easily he dropped trou:

Thea Sharrock, director of the new show, said: “Oh My God” when she saw Radcliffe undress for the photoshoot in a hangar near Heathrow, according to the producer David Pugh. “There was no hesitancy about taking off his clothes,” he said. “When that boy takes his shirt off, Harry Potter has flown out of Hogwarts for good.”

Producers are said to be “overwhelmed with his talent” which is, all things considered, better than the reverse, if you take our meaning.

To get the mildly pervy taste out of your mind from the proceeding, here is a more wholesome still from the Satanist recruiting film, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

DC Comics placed six of its releases in the Top 10 in December, including two issues of Justice League of America, three issues of the weekly 52 and the debut of new ongoing series Justice Society of America, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Dale Eaglesham. The publisher’s output rate, which had seen a drastic 25% increase in November, was only marginally down from 88 titles to 85 (not counting magazines and cartoon adaptations). At the same time, however, a whole range of major DC titles again failed to appear in December, including three quarters of the company’s Superman line with All Star Superman, Action Comics and Superman, as well as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Authority, Astro City: The Dark Age and Deathblow.

Notable December releases from DC Comics were the debut of the ongoing Batman Confidential, by Andy Diggle and Whilce Portacio; the return of the eponymous Will Eisner creation in Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit; the launch of WildStorm’s Welcome to Tranquility, by Gail Simone and Neil Googe; another horror film adaptation with Friday the 13th; Vertigo’s latest stab at their favorite franchise with the limited series Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason; the DCU: Infinite Christmas Special; and the final issue of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s controversial butchery of superheroes, The Boys, which was recently canceled on short notice due to content issues.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1/2 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
12/2003: JLA #91            —  58,981
12/2004: JLA #109           —  63,791
————————————–
12/2005: JLA #123           —  76,899 (-  4.9%)
01/2006: JLA #124           —  74,069 (-  3.7%)
02/2006: JLA #125           —  74,341 (+  0.4%)
03/2006: –
04/2006: –
05/2006: –
06/2006: –
07/2006: Justice League #0  — 162,378 (+118.4%) [169,199]
08/2006: Justice League #1  — 212,581 (+ 30.9%) [238,353]
09/2006: Justice League #2  — 143,412 (- 32.5%) [154,923]
10/2006: –
11/2006: Justice League #3  — 140,939 (-  1.7%) [143,310]
12/2006: Justice League #4  — 136,709 (-  3.0%)
12/2006: Justice League #5  — 132,460 (-  3.1%)
—————–
6 months:  n.a.
1 year  : + 75.0%
2 years : +111.0%

The JLA relaunch continues to be highly successful, claiming the two top spots of the December chart as it catches up with its schedule. There’s a slight decline setting in, but it’s nothing to worry about. As usual, the sales of both issues were boosted through variant cover editions.

Shipping in the last week of December, issue #5 was, reportedly, one of several DC Comics titles held up on the West Coast due to logistical problems and didn’t reach stores until January in those parts.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, none of the DC titles in question display any especially abnormal sales. This is particularly odd because Marvel’s Exiles #89, which was involved in the same delay and operates on a much lower sales level than most of the involved DC books, apparently ended up being short of a whopping 10,000 units as a result, which makes up about a third of its sales. (See Paul O’Brien’s column on Marvel sales for the details.)

This leaves three possibilities. One, for some reason or other, DC’s books were not affected remotely to the same degree as Exiles. Two, the Diamond chart somehow factored in the missing DC units, but not those of Exiles. Or three, Exiles numbers dropped for some other, completely unrelated reason. Either way, there’s clearly a missing factor here. If anyone knows what’s going on, I’d be delighted to know.

(more…)

Colbert will only be signing, not doing any panel or media appearances. But maybe Stephen Jr. will make an appearance as well!

Oni Press is elated to announce that Stephen Colbert, the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, will be making an appearance at the New York Comic-Con in support of the new comic book miniseries, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen. Based on Colbert’s self-published, but undistributed, science fiction epic, Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure and the inspiration for the series of Tek Jansen animated shorts on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen is a five-issue miniseries set to arrive in comic shops everywhere this March. To help promote this launch, Mr. Colbert will be signing at the New York Comic-Con on Friday, February 23rd at 4:30 PM.

“We are so excited about Tek Jansen’s comic book debut!” exclaimed Oni Press founder and publisher Joe Nozemack. “Mr. Colbert and the rest of the BusBoy Productions staff have been so supportive and encouraging during the development of this project. We’re proud to be working with such a talented array of people and we’re delighted Mr. Colbert will be joining us at the New York Comic-Con.”

Oni Press, Inc., one of the premiere independent publishers of comics and graphic novels will also be setup at Booth #353. There, they will host a plethora of additional comic creator signings, portfolio reviews, and previews of some of the exciting projects coming later in the year from the publisher.

“The New York Comic-Con is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated pop culture events of the year and all of us at Oni Press are thrilled to be adding to that buzz with this appearance by one of the most beloved personalities on television,” concluded Nozemack. “Stephen Colbert has already changed punditry forever and comic book science fiction is next!”

Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen #1 (of 5) is a full color, 32-page comic book that retails for $3.99 US. It is written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with Jim Massey and illustrated by Scott Chantler with others. The first issue features a special 1-in-4 variant cover by Astonishing X-Men artist John Cassaday and it arrives in comic shops everywhere this March!

The nominations for Web Cartoonists’ Choice Award are up — you’ll have to go to the link for the entire list, but we’ve copied the top two here. Seriously go to th elink, because it has links for all the webcomics and you will discover many marvels and wonders. All in the link.

OUTSTANDING COMIC FINALISTS:

Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Narbonic by Shaenon Garrity

Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch

Scary Go Round by John Allison

Templar Arizona by Spike

OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER FINALISTS:

The Curious Adventures of Aldus Maycombe by Janine Harper

Breakdown by Elizabeth A

Lackadaisy by Tracey J. Butler

Out There by R C Monroe

The Broken Mirror by Elanor Cooper and JJ Naas

What Birds Know by Emelie Friberg and Mattias Thorelli

(more…)

BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, a werewolf film, got panned by the critics, but it did contain one piece of dialog that we might just quote:

Maybe she’s impressed by what Aiden does for a living. “I write graphic novels.'’ “You mean comic books.'’ “Noooo. Graphic novels.'’

Did you know that Dark Horse is putting out a collection of Nick Gurewitchs brilliant webcomick PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP? We didn’t!. Says Gurewitch:

I’m taking the rest of January off to finish some work on the PBF book for Dark Horse. It’ll be a nifty, full color, relatively inexpensive hardcover with lots of extra treats inside.

YAY YAY YAY!

§ iFanboy: When Brians do collide! at Rocketship no less.

§Artists’ Alley completely sold out at this year’s San Diego comic-con.

§ The comments section at MangaBlog leads the way to a 10-page pdf download of NON NON BA, the Angoulême winning album.

§ This fellow doesn’t care much for Joe Matt:

“Spent” by Joe Matt is a little book with big problems. It’s about a self-loathing, chronic- masturbating, penny-pinching comic book artist who is writing a book about a self-loathing, chronic-masturbating, penny-pinching, comic book artist. And it does a pretty good job of encapsulating everything that is wrong with underground comics. I kept waiting for a story - any story - to emerge. None ever did. The whole book consists of the main character, Joe Matt, dubbing porn, complaining and urinating in a jar. If I wanted to spend time with someone like that, I wouldn’t read this book. I’d visit my grandfather. At least he has some funny stories.

OUCH! Is this a graphic novel backlash beginning?

§OTOH, “Graphic Novel” is now a legitimate film technique, apparently.

“The visual style is (like) looking at a comic-book page. The full screen of the movie theatre is like a page of a graphic novel that is constantly moving,” said McDonald during an interview last week. He was putting the final touches on the film at the Royal Theatre, on College St., which now doubles as a post-production facility/repertory house. “It’s kind of like Laser Floyd” – the laser shows set to Pink Floyd music – “but with a bit more of a story,” added McDonald,.

§ A webcomicker has won the prestigious Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at Sundance, as Talk About Comics reports:

“Everything Will Be OK,” directed by Don Hertzfeldt and based on his webcomic “Anesthetics,” has won the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival, it is reported. As Marc pointed out in comments, “It’s extracool news considering it was up against all the live action movies - animation almost never wins at Sundance! Go animation!!”

More here and here.

§ Is Kate Beckinsale set to play Carrie Stetko in the movie version of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber’s WHITEOUT? So says Film Ick:

Joel Silver is producing a heist-come-chase film called White Out. It’s apparently a bit like Hard Rain, but instead of being set amidst torrential floods, it all goes down in the middle of a calamitous snowstorm; and it’s also a bit like Insomnia in that the Antarctic setting is about to be plunged into months of darkness as the story gets underway.

Kate Beckinsale is reportedly set to star as US Marshall Carrie Stetko, our heroine in pursuit of the robber-killers.

§ Is Ari Gold teaming up with Stan Lee for an Unstoppable Force? This little bit from a profile of actor Jeremy Piven, who plays driven agent Gold on ENTOURAGE, seems to provide a clue:

“We’ve got a really exciting project that we’re working on with (Marvel comics genius) Stan Lee.” Called “Huckster,” it considers the “world of politics and p.r.”

§ BTW, do you remember that Bruce Campbell Old Spice commercial we so admired recently? turns out it was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the Little Miss Sunshine directing duo. Click link for AdWeeks analysis of the campaign and word of who painted the world’s longest ship.

§ WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO hopeful profiled

Like most kids, Malik is like a parrot, and Frison’s remarks in front of the TV that day last year didn’t go unanswered. “This is a dream of yours, isn’t it?” he said. “Yeaaahhh,” Frison said. “You’re going to be on the show next year.” That sealed it. When auditions in 10 cities were announced for the second season, the 39-year-old software trainer fashioned XSeven, who can absorb personalities and abilities of up to seven people at a time, and pieced together a skintight uniform adorned with orange and gold flames.

§ Kill yourselves now. The director of GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES is planning a CG-Live action feature starring ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS.

§ Doink recalls Bam Bam at funeral:

“We’d be walking through an airport, and maybe because of the travel schedule he might not have slept for 28 hours,” recalled Ray Liccachelli of Rockaway, N.Y., who was Bigelow’s main adversary for several years in his role as Doink the Clown. “I was always very fortunate because people didn’t recognize me. I was always under a costume. But poor Scott. It was like the circus was in town. And he always tried to be as gracious as he could. “Could I have an autograph? Sign my shirt? Sign my back, sign my leg?’ He was always nice to them.

“One year I wrestled 297 days, and I know Scott did at least that or more, with 13 overseas trips thrown in there. At one point I wrestled Scott every day for seven months, in what seemed like every town across America, and the world.”

comics212 has had a snappy new facelift and lets lose with a new salvo:

Every once in a while I’ll come across an essay, blog post, or even snarky comment from someone who’s been through a fandom and come out the other side, and when they have grievances I tend to give them a bit more weight… as in any weight… and really listen to what they have to say. I stumbled over a discussion about “Moe” a few months back that was like that, and it was really interesting because of it… I learned something, it was great. But coming across a series of columns like Bob Holt’s ‘I Love Comics’ at comicsnob.com? Not so much. I can’t even pull out a quote to illustrate why I think the column is weak, so much as the columns just belie a shallowness of experience and thought on the subject.

§ Living Between Wednesdays relives Superman and Big Barda making a porn film, courtesy of John Byrne:

[Link via Eric of all people.]

§ Over at Comic Coverage, Mark Engblom has a very funny, PSA-type take on the lateness epidemic. [Link via Tim Rakarich]

Dear Neil Gorman of The Comicology Comic Book Podcast has just discovered The Beat, and boy is he glad he did!

Today when I was doing a google search form some comic book news I found This site: PW: The Beat it is a GREAT site for comic book news and I think that anyone who enjoys comicology would also enjoy it.

Thanks, Neil! We’ll try to remain timely and informative!

Well, we got our new Swiffer Wet Jet, and the special bottle of stuff to clean the hardwood floors, only to find that we’ve fallen into a terrible trap, as reported by The Onion:

The blank, oppressive void facing the American consumer populace remains unfilled today, despite the recent launch of the revolutionary Swiffer dust-elimination system, sources reported Monday.

The lightweight, easy-to-use Swiffer is the 275,894,973rd amazing new product to fail to fill the void–a vast, soul-crushing spiritual vacuum Americans of all ages helplessly face on a daily basis, with nowhere to turn and no way to escape.

[snip]Despite high hopes, the Swiffer has failed to imbue a sense of meaning and purpose in the lives of its users.

“The new Swiffer, as seen on TV, requires no spray or chemical cleaners, so I’m sure you can understand how excited I was to finally find something that could give my sad, short existence a sense of worth,” said Manitowoc, WI, homemaker Gwen Hull. “When you finish the clean-up job, simply tear off the patented Swiffer Cloth and throw it away–as easy as one, two, three. But when I did this, tossing the soiled, disposable Swiffer Cloth into the garbage can like so many hollow, rejected yesterdays, I thought to myself, ‘Is that it? Aren’t I supposed to feel more fulfilled than this?’ It all felt so futile. I felt like that Swiffer Cloth in the trash represented me, my hopes and dreams made manifest. I felt like it was my goals and aspirations for a better life that were lying there in the garbage, never to be heard from again.”

In our own case, it was not so much ennui as a dirt build-up that thwarted our chances for happiness. The Wet Jet is handy and efficient, and performed well during a spontaneous, urgent “Cat Yak” test, but even after a soaking, the kitchen floor failed to pass the “Paper Towel” test — a wipe with Bounty still got up plenty of dirt.

(BTW, that is an actual picture of The Beat with the Swiffer, because when we want to mop the floors we always put on a pair of white capri pants, wink wink.)

Still, we’re commited to a new level of janitorial oversight here at Stately Beat Manor. We’re not giving up on our Swiffer, oh no. We’ve got to have something to live for, after all.

[Thanks to Ruth C. for the link.]

Argentinian master José Muñoz won the Grand Prix for cartooning in Angouleme. Born in 1942, Munoz is perhaps best known for ALACK SINNER and his other collaborations with writer Carlos Sampayo.

The other prize winners are listed in this French article. As near as we can make out, the best album was given to a manga for the first time, Non Non Bâ by Shigeru Mizuki. Five “Essential Albums” were also named:

- “Black Hole” de Charles Burns (Delcourt)
- “Lucille” de Ludovic Debeurme (Futuropolis)
- “Lupus” de Frédéric Peeters (Atrabile)
- “Le photographe” d’Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, Frédéric Lemercier (Dupuis)
- “Pourquoi j’ai tué Pierre” d’Olivier Ka et Alfred (Delcourt)

“Best Newcomer” went to Panier de singe by Jérôme Mulot and Florent Ruppert, from L’Association. The Heritage Prize went to Sergent Laterreur by Touis and Frydman. Canicola, an Italian series, won “Best Alternative” Prize.

Pictures and more en Francais ici. (That’s Jean-Claude Mézières, above, with Ludovic Debeurme.) Covers and commentary by Beaty at The Comics Reporter. Manga Blog rounds up info on Mizuki.

SuperDeluxe is a new “comedy video” channel just launched by Turner Entertainment. Poke around and you’ll find a few cartoons and familiar faces, among them this short featuring the voice of Toby Radloff, Harvey Pekar’s nerd sidekick by cult animator Lance Myers. In this episode, Ted deals with his mother’s refusal to bathe until he loses his virginity — a situation many a nerd has faced, to be sure.

Demand is high fir the next MoCCA Art festival…but you can still get on the waitlist.

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art today announced that exhibitor space has sold out for the 2007 MoCCA Art Festival to be held June 23-24 at the Puck Building (295 Lafayette Street at Houston) in New York City. “Even with all the extra tables we added upstairs this year, the space still sold out faster than ever before,” says 2007 MoCCA Art Festival Director Derrick Kennelty-Cohen. Faced with an unprecedented flood of exhibitor applications for the 160 ground-level exhibitor tables originally offered, 2007 MoCCA-Fest organizers had announced in mid-November that they were adding several dozen exhibitor tables by converting the seventh floor ballroom from lecture hall into exhibitor space. Now, less than two months later, all those additional tables have been snapped up as well.

Applications for Waitlist Accepted

According to MoCCA-Fest Exhibitor Relations Manager Jeremy Hughes, MoCCA will continue to accept 2007 exhibitor applications (still available for download at www.moccany.org) for several more weeks. Applicants will be placed on the 2007 Exhibitor Waitlist while Hughes and Kennelty-Cohen “tinker around with different layouts for the seventh floor that could [make it possible to] squeeze in a few extra tables here or there.” For artists, collectives or publishers on the Waitlist, Hughes offers hope by noting that “there’s always at least some movement off the Waitlist.”

2007 MoCCA-Fest Biggest and Best?

With reservations in hand for a total of more than 214 exhibitor tables (a 33% increase compared to 2006), the 2007 MoCCA Art Festival is already guaranteed to be the museum’s biggest ever and, according to Kennelty-Cohen, offers a star-studded and diverse guest list that may very well make it the best Festival ever as well. Scheduled exhibitors and panelists for the 2007 MoCCA-Fest include Jessica Abel, AdHouse Books, Jeffrey Brown, CBLDF, Center for Cartoon Studies, Becky Cloonan, Evan Dorkin, Drawn & Quarterly, Sarah Dyer, Fantagraphics, Fred Hembeck, Friends of Lulu, Kaiju Big Battel, Hope Larson, Dan Nadel, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Ted Rall, Bill Sienkiewicz, Raina Telgemeier, Top Shelf, and Brian Wood, among many others.

YALSA’s complete list of 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens is up.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), has announced its 2007 recommended list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The list, to be prepared annually, was released for the first time during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Washington, held January 19-23, 2007.

In beautiful downtown Seattle the 11-member committee worked hard to narrow its 141 official nominations down to the final list of 67 excellent adult and young adult graphic novel titles. The books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and reading appeal for teens.

The inaugural committee was dedicated to making a strong list that showcases a wide range of quality materials. The list includes everything from serious non-fiction to high fantasy, romantic manga to superhero parodies.

You should definitely go to the link for the names of the librarians who voted and more info, but we’ve also put the complete list in a sidebar listing. Congrats to everyone — this is a truly wide ranging list.

NOTE: This will be a two-part article, the first part focusing how you will probably fail to make money creating your own comics, the second on more positive aspects of doing so and what established comics creators point to as the secret of (realistic) success.

Thus Slave Labor editor Jennifer DeGuzman kicks off a highly realistic look at the comics creator’s life:

ICV2 has proclaimed 2006 “A Very Good Year (For Comics)”, but that was not true for us. When “event” comics from the big guys are driving an increase in pamphlet sales, it seems the little guys suffer for it. Good comics get canceled and their creators, good artists and storytellers, have to struggle with self-doubts and disappointment.

You, if you are an independent comic creator, might find yourself in this position. Then again, you might not get that far. When there are bills to be paid, food to be bought, a family to support, you might decide you need to spend your time working on something else that will actually make you enough money to live on.

[snip]T., who drew a graphic novel for an advance that he broke down to $13 a page, told me, “I had low expectations going in but even those were shattered after the gig. It’s my understanding that it’s like this with every small publisher.”

Welcome to the glamourous world of comics! BUT…see the very next entry!

Almost like being there with Bart Beaty at The Comics Reporter:

Friday and the crowds have arrived in full force to the town of Angouleme. Thursday has been fairly well written off as an aberration and a bit of a disaster in terms of sales and excitement. The crowds never materialized on the icy streets, but now navigating the tents has become a full-scale challenge. I arrived this morning from the CNBDI and walked into the midst of an enormous crowd queuing for the chance to receive a Guardino book signing. A feeling of mad desperation in the crowd.

Over at Mike Lynch Cartoons cartoonists are invited to submit work for the NCS Division Award nominations. You need not be an NCS member to enter. Full list of categories and requirements for each in the link.

Cartoonists are invited to submit their work (or the work of someone else) for consideration for one or more of the following Division Awards. You will need an NCS Division Awards Entry Form.
[snip]

DEADLINE: February 23, 2007

Three finalists will be announced at the National Cartoonists Society Web site < http://reuben.org/> by April 2007.

An award plaque will be presented at a black tie dinner at the 61st Annual Reubens Award Dinner in Orlando, Florida on May 26, 2007.

FOR AN ENTRY FORM and more information contact:

Mike Lynch fatcats3@gmail.com

or

Dave Coverly speedbumpcomic@comcast.net

§Frank Miller on NPR.

§ Top Shelf has a trailer up for Christian Slade’s new comics Korgi.

§ McCloud family Winterview with Hope Larson and Bryann Lee O’Malley, with “Newlywed Game” style questioning!

§ Revision announces that iFanboy will become an internet TV show:

Internet television network Revision3 today announced the debut of iFanboy — audio and video shows for hardcore comic fans and casual pop culture patrons alike. Each week hosts Josh Flanagan, Conor Kilpatrick, and Ron Richards will deliver in-depth interviews with leading comic and graphic novel creators and publishers, as well as everyday comic book fans. Whether it’s remote reporting from the hottest comic book conventions, interviews with the stars of the genre, or in-studio advice on the comic books you should be reading, iFanboy will cover a new topic every week with passion, honesty and humor.

“Comic book pop culture is exploding,” said Ron Richards, one of the hosts of iFanboy. “Our audience ranges from 16 year old kids to physicians in their 40s. While they’re an incredibly diverse group, what they share is their passion for the world of comics and the unique culture that surrounds it. Some of the most popular names in entertainment grew up being fans of comics — from Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and Chasing Amy and writer of the comic book Daredevil — to Joss Whedon, writer of Astonishing X-Men and the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. As the comic fan base and culture grow by leaps and bounds, these fans are looking for a source of irreverent, but seriously fanatic information. That’s what iFanboy delivers.”

An Indian comic about a barn owl, nonetheless is pegged as a “Comic book to titillate ‘adults only’”:

Is it a play? Is it a musical? Or is it a theatre of the absurd? Actually, it’s none of the above.

It’s the launch of a comic book for grownups, and is curiously titled Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers, the second graphic novel from Author stroke artist stroke cartoonist Sarnath Banerjee.
“It’s a book of scandals, of 18th century full of sex, intrigue, blood, fueds and duels. It’s a dark mysterious story which lot of it is me. It’s reality slipped into magic and magic slipping into reality with ease. Despite all the movement in space and time, the narrative is much more linear and much more rounded off. Like my face, the story rounds off. It follows a traditional way of telling a story,” opines Banerjee.

So this is an art form which is too little words to be a novel, too many words to be an object of art in its own right, and too wry and too intelligent to be a first level comic. So what exactly are we looking at?

Meanwhile, in China, they are in love with a funny little rabbit who comments on society:

Always ready to do a good deed, the little cartoon rabbit scooted up with an extinguisher to put out a fire. But when he sprayed the flames, they exploded into a conflagration, burning him to a crisp and leaving only his signature sunglasses intact.

Suicide Rabbit, China’s whimsical Everyman, was the fall guy again, victimized this time by rapacious merchants — seemingly ever-present in this country — who sold him an extinguisher with chemicals that fed the fire instead of putting it out. It was another telling episode in the life of a long-suffering cartoon character who has captured the imagination of many of China’s 137 million Internet users.

Suicide Rabbit, introduced in August by Liu Gang, a 35-year-old cartoonist, has attracted a swiftly increasing audience by portraying with gentle humor the million little abuses suffered by Chinese people as their society endures a bumpy transformation.

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How many well-known faces can you spot?

U decide.

DC sent out the above image (click for a larger view) this afternoon as a teaser with the headline:

“Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction”

As non-DCU scholars we are baffled by this. Are we supposed to be baffled? What damn dirty apes blew up the Statue of Liberty? Why is Superman sad? Why does Black Canary have a package?

Help us understand.

UPDATE: Okay, since the quote is from the book of Jeremiah, maybe the Elseworlds are teaming up with J. Michael Straczynski? Or maybe the book wil be drawn by Euro ‘tooner Hermann Huppen?