Sarah Paulson, lately of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP will play Ellen Dolan in the SPIRIT movie, it’s being reported:

Paulson…joins Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson in the dark supernatural tale about a young cop who returns from the dead to fight crime, the Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday.

While Mendes and Johansson will play femme fatales, Paulson is set to play the hero’s more genuine love interest, Dr. Ellen Dolan, the police commissioner’s daughter.

Other cast members include Gabriel Macht as the Spirit, Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus and Dan Lauria as Commissioner Dolan. Of course, no one will notice with Paulson, Mendes and Johansson on screen, wethinks.

loans subprime equity home

In any case, there are inconsistencies between practices allowed by different airlines and even on deborah sloan airline in different countries.

We don’t know what a “sketchcast” is, but Brady Dale sent us this, and we guess it’s Etch-a-sketch you can share with your friends!

We’re told the above is how they roll in Atlanta. And we say more power to them.

We’re rolling off for a few days, so we’re a little discombombulated. There may be a lot of posting. Or none at all. That’s how WE roll.

We almost forget that actress Salma Hayek had a baby girl last week. Congratulations! Valentina Paloma Pinault is the first child for Hayek, 41, and fiancee Francois Henri Pinault, but great training for when Hayek plays mother of god-knows-how-many Luba in The Beat’s imaginary but much dreamed for adaptation of LOVE AND ROCKETS. And maybe even Salma is thinking the same thing: Paloma…Palomar….hm…..

BTW, the previous pictures of Salma Hayak we’ve posted are now the most Googled upon elements of this blog. Sad but true. We’re thinking this is one traffic-raising ploy that most of our readers will enjoy, however.

Cathy Malkasian (Percy Gloom) and Gilbert Hernandez appear tonight at Book Soup in West Hollywood:

WHO: Gilbert Hernandez & Cathy Malkasian
WHAT: Graphic novel signing
WHERE: Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 25th, 7PM

Municipal parking across the street. Can’t make it? Pre-order a signed book by calling 310.659.3100 or visiting www.booksoup.com

More info.

by Paul O’ Brien

I usually like to start this column by running through the big events of the month. But this month, frankly, there’s not much to point out. WORLD WAR HULK is still going, of course, and the X-Men have a little crossover of their own underway, with the “Endangered Species” back-up strip. But there are no new ongoing titles, and only a handful of miniseries. The biggest of those is HALO: UPRISING, and it’s a big step down from there. Overall, it’s one of the quietest months I can remember.

Even so, Marvel retain a comfortable lead over DC in the US direct market - 41% to 32% in dollar share, and by 46% to 35% in units. That’s the smallest gap in some time, partly due to the mysterious chart jump of COUNTDOWN, which Marc discusses over in the DC column. But it’s still a substantial margin.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1,252.  WORLD WAR HULK
05/07  Prologue               - 111,153
06/07  World War Hulk #1 of 5 - 193,868  (+74.4%)
07/07  World War Hulk #2 of 5 - 163,095  (-15.9%)
08/07  World War Hulk #3 of 5 - 156,526  ( -4.0%)

WORLD WAR HULK moves up to take the top spot for this month - not because it’s going up in sales, but because bigger projects like the FALLEN SON miniseries have ended. Still, sales on this book are stabilising nicely, and it’s doing as well as Marvel could realistically have hoped for.

There are three versions of this issue, and thanks to a quirk of the chart, one of them is listed separately. The number one chart listing refers to the main cover and the John Romita Jr variant, with estimated sales of 151,523. But way, way down at number 252, there’s the David Finch sketch variant, produced for the Toronto Comicon, which adds another 5,003 sales. Why is it listed separately? Because it’s got a lower price tag than the other two, and Diamond only list multiple covers together if they have the same price.

The book is also seeing reasonably significant re-orders on the earlier chapters. Issue #1 shifts another 5,264 copies, and issue #2 adds 7,773 to its total. As always, they’re included in the numbers above.
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Much to chew on and some awesomely great cartoonists to listen to:

Small Press Expo is proud to announce its slate of programming events for SPX 2007. There will be a series of Creator Spotlights, providing a unique opportunity to learn and interact with the special guests at this years Expo. There will also be a series of panels and workshops to further probe the world of graphic novels and comics. Below are the descriptions and participants, which are subject to change, with exact dates and times forthcoming on the SPX web site at http://www.spxpo.com.

CREATOR SPOTLIGHTS

Bill Griffith - As an underground cartoonist, Bill Griffith created such characters as Mr. The Toad and Zippy the Pinhead, while co-editing the anthologies Young Lust and Arcade. Zippy has since “escaped into the real world” as the star of a syndicated daily newspaper strip, surely the oddest character to still roam that now staid realm. Over the course of an hour Griffith will deliver a heavily illustrated slideshow talk about his life and work to date.

Jeff Smith - Jeff Smith’s Bone, a beautifully drawn black and white synthesis of Carl Barks and J. R. R. Tolkein, began as a self-publishing success story, drawing raves from all corners of the comics world. The series is now an international hit for young readers in its new incarnation as a series of full-color graphic novels from Scholastic. The artist will discuss his work in a special spotlight session with moderator Heidi MacDonald.

Kim Deitch - Underground comix veteran Kim Deitch continues to produce the best work of his career, most recently the graphic novels Alias the Cat and Shadowlands. His other books include The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Hollywoodland, and A Shroud for Waldo, and he has contributed to RAW, Weirdo, Zero Zero, Arcade, Esquire and McSweeney’s. Over the course of an hour Deitch will discuss his most recent books, his career, his thoughts about art and comics, and his current works-in-progress.

Gilbert Hernandez - In 1982 Gilbert Hernandez and his brothers Jaime and Mario burst onto the comics scene with the publication of Love and Rockets #1. Since then Gilbert has spun out a vast, intergenerational saga detailing the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of the citizens of Palomar, a fictional Central American town, as well as challenging short-form work and a variety of stand-alone stories for various publishers. The prolific artist continues to challenge himself and his audience with new work in a variety of formats and genres, including the self-contained graphic novel Chance in Hell. Long-time friend and publisher Gary Groth will lead a discussion with the seminal artist.

Rutu Modan - Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan is a co-founder of the Actus Tragicus comics collective, a group of Israeli cartoonists seeking to reach an international audience with accomplished, personal comics work. Her first graphic novel, Nobody Said It Was Going to Be Fun, was a collaboration with author and Actus collaborator Etgar Keret. Exit Wounds is her first full-length graphic novel to be published domestically in the United States.

Nick Abadzis - London-based cartoonist Nick Abadzis has worked in various areas of comics, including the British small press, Vertigo Comics, and 2000 AD, and has also drawn several children’s books. Most recently he wrote and drew the graphic novel Laika, about the first living being to be sent into space. Abadzis will discuss the research intensive process behind his latest work.

C.F. - C.F. (aka Christopher Forgues) is the creator of the mini-comics series “Low Tides” and also performs musically as “Kites.” His work has appeared in numerous anthologies including Paper Rodeo, Free Radicals and Kramers Ergot (including the wrap-around cover for that anthology’s fifth volume). Dan Nadel, whose PictureBox publishing company has just published C.F.’s book Powr Mastrs, will lead a discussion with the artist.

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PR:

John Nee has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Development, DC Comics. It was announced today by Paul Levitz, DC Comics President & Publisher. Nee will continue to report directly to Levitz.

Nee, who joined DC Comics in 1998 as VP, General Manager WildStorm, oversees Business Development, the WildStorm studio, and the CMX manga imprint. In his new role, Nee will continue to provide leadership for DC Comics in potential opportunities for expanding the company’s core businesses areas, including in international publishing, videogame production and new media initiatives with sister divisions Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros Digital Distribution.

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Jessica Biel is in talks to play Wonder Woman in the proposed JLA movie.

We said:

JESSICA BIEL

JESSICA BIEL

A couple more people speaking out on Diamond’s new mandatory barcode decree:
§ From the retail perspective, Neptune Comics’ Lisa:

Diamond primarily makes changes to benefit themselves - they have no competition so there is little need to make improvements to make retailers or publishers lives easier. That’s why I believe the new barcode mandate, while it will be helpful to every store that uses a barcode scanner to receive and sell merchandise, was primarily done to help them. And financially it will be tough on small publishers. I think eventually small publishers will start to sell directly to stores much more actively and/or they will be able to find or create some kind of distribution channel other than Diamond that will distribute their comics.

From the small publisher perspective, Scott King

I don’t get why they decided to tell news sites before they contacted the publishers. To find out that we are going to have to spend a couple thousand bucks a year for upc and isbn junk from Newsarama and Pulbishers Weekly is horse crap. It was rude and disrespectful of Diamond to announce it to us in this way. But I guess that’s just how Diamond does things.

Adrian Tomine’s SHORTCOMINGS is sure to be one of the hottest graphic novelsof the fall, and to help speed it along D&W has just launched a website including tour dates, which we have to reproduce as a jpg, but if you follow the above link you can get all relevant details.

Stately Beat Manor is humming with projects, activities and cat yak and we are way behind on pointing you to many interesting things that may prove to be the butterfly stamp of some future world. So don ‘t miss out!
§ Feisty Canadian dollar briefly catches up with US buck. While to us this just means more expensive Timmy Horton’s, to Don MacPherson, there is much more to it; fluctuating currency levels means that Marvel and DC should examine their prices more often:

Cover prices on many Marvel comics released this week were $2.99 US/$3.75; DC, $2.99 US/$3.65. Marvel’s Canadian price is a little more than 25 per higher than the American one. DC’s is about 22 per cent higher. As I type this, one U.S. greenback is worth $1.01 Cdn.

Canadian comics retailer Calum Johnston, owner of Strange Adventures in Halifax, N.S., said the currency difference doesn’t impact his price that much since he and his staff always take it into account.

“So long as the retailer is buying the comics or books based upon the U.S. price, the pre-printed Canadian price is no worry. We just charge the going rate. Currently most Marvel and DC stuff is $3.25,” he said. “Most of the TPBs have to be stickered with the correct exchange; it’s just too time consuming to sticker every comic.”

§ Tintin Pantoja proposes a GLOBAL MANGA MANIFESTO

point one: The term ‘manga’ refers in general to sequential art, in particular to sequential art first published in Japan, henceforth referred to as ‘Japanese manga’.

point two: Japanese manga ecompasses a near-infinite range of styles, formats, themes, stories, and idioms. Many of these recurring styles have influenced artists outside of Japan.

Six more points in the link.

§ Todd Allen looks at Platinum’s stock offering.

Inuit artist/cartoonist Alooktook Ipellie is remembered; Ipellie died of a heart attack on the 8th. Above: Self portrait: inverse Ten Commandments.”

§The Boston Glpobe profile 10-year-old cartooner Alexa Kitchen:

“When I was 2 or 3, I started drawing,” says Alexa, who’s now 10 and a professional with a white-hot career. She just published her second book, and she’s earned acclaim from the likes of R. Crumb (”incredible”) and the late Will Eisner (”marvelous”) as well as two nominations for industrywide awards. She never stops: She draws two or three hours a day, every day.

Long-limbed with sleek dark hair, Alexa folds herself up like a pretzel in an easy chair between her parents in the family’s living room in this woodsy Pioneer Valley town. Original comics, penned that morning, lie strewn over the coffee table.

Sonaste Maneco , as near as we can make out, is an online comics magazine out of Argentina. The latest issue has some interesting content, according to an email we received:

With exclusive interviews to MILO MANARA and ALBERTO ONGARO, Sonaste Maneco analyzes the relationship between the Fumetto and the Historietas, the Italian and Argentinian comics. Manara talks about his works with Hugo Pratt, Federico Fellini and Alexandro Jodorowsky, his passion for Pablo Picasso and the Modern Art, the relation between the Mafia and the Catholic Church, the Italian immigration in Argentina, the global phenomenon of terrorism; and the differences between eroticism and pornography.

This issue also includes a special supplement dedicated to 1806 – Invasion!, the graphic novel made by unhil and Thalos, dedicated to the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807; as well as a tribute to the memory of Roberto Fontanarrosa. And, as always, a complete service of features, reviews, critics of Isidoro, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man 3 and the theatre plays Boogie el Aceitoso and Free Zone, based on El Eternauta comic, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld & Francisco Solano López.

It’s a sizable download and if you can read Spanish and like comics there’s plenty to keep you busy. We wish we could read that Manara interview!

Jeff Trexler does the heavy lifting of updating court motions on the Superboy copyright case. Among items of note: director Bryan Singer is to be deposed, and Jim Steranko and Mark Evanier have filed declarations in favor of the Siegel family. There is a separate Superman case ongoing (in which the Siegel family claims to own 50% of the copyright interest in the character elements originated by Siegel and Shuster, who created the character. That case goes to trial on January 22, 2008. Can you say verrrrrrrrry interesting, boys and girls?

Beat pal Pepo has one of the finest Spanish-language comics blogs out there, CON C DE ARTE, and today he has a long analysis of the 1983 mini-series SWORD OF THE ATOM by Jan Strnad and Gil Kane, entitled, more or less, “Husbands and Women.” Fire up your Spanish or Google’s to read the rest:

Ayer me llegó el TPB que recopila SWORD OF THE ATOM, una miniserie de cuatro episodios publicada por DC en 1983 (anterior, por tanto, a WATCHMEN y DARK KNIGHT) con guión de Jan Strnad, dibujos de Gil Kane y color de Tom Ziuko, continuada al año siguiente por los mismos autores con tres episodios más. No he podido resistirme a escanear algunas páginas de la memorable escena inicial, con una discusión matrimonial motivada porque el héroe, Ray Palmer alias Atom, descubre a su mujer besándose con otro en el coche. Algo antes de sorprenderla, Ray espera en casa a su mujer, extrañado por su tardanza, mira por la ventana y piensa: “Qué raro, juraría que vi dos luces, y luego… simplemente desaparecieron!”

Clickwheel has been around for a bit as the first company to attempt to take advantage of comics on the iPod. While it hasn’t been maing many headlines lately, it does have some recent updates in regards to the new generation of iPods:

In the wake of Apple’s new iPod line, Clickwheel, the site for creating and distributing comics to iPod and iPhone, is proud to unveil a brand new look as well as added features and content at Clickwheel.net, including community tools and exclusive online content featuring 2000AD’s flagship character, Judge Dredd.

The new Clickwheel front page features an updated look, a built-in player for viewing content on your computer and new features for registered users including: bookmarking tools that alert users when their favorite comics have been updated, a listing of the top ten downloaded features daily and those most recently updated and added, and rating and tagging tools to help both readers and creators enjoy and share their comics.

Among these comics are three pieces exclusive to Clickwheel. For users new to the concept of comics on the iPod we have part two of Colin White’s Comics on small Screens, a series exploring the possibilities of creating comics in this new medium. Clickwheel is also the exclusive home of a new series from the creators of the phenomenally popular webcomic, Brat-Halla called Random Encounters. True to its name, Random Encounters is an RPG/Fantasy driven comic packed with action and humor for fans of any genre. Both of these comics are available as iPod/iPhone formatted comics ready for download, or as PDFs that can be viewed on any PC or iPhone.

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Craig Yoe announces a new website to promote his upcoming book Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings:

By day their cartoon creations included Mickey Mouse, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Betty and Veronica, Wonder Woman, Batman, Nancy, Betty Boop, Krazy Kat, and Blondie. But when night fell, they abandoned their pursuit of heroic deeds and good clean fun to draw the risque—slinging ink to make kink.

Collected for the first time in the “clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings” (Last Gasp) book are scores of rare, previously suppressed, underground sketches by mainstream cartoonists: Carl “Donald Duck” Barks, Steve “Spider-Man” Ditko, Otto “The New Yorker” Soglow, Chuck “Bugs Bunny” Jones—69 scintillating artists all together! These cartoons will shock and amuse you with their sexy strays from the straight and narrow! A thick 160 color and black and white pages in the regular edition; 16 additional rare and titillating pages in the Limited Edition.

Craig Yoe, author of the popular “Arf” book series on comics and cartoon history says, “I’m very proud of “Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings” inspite of, or may because, it’s the dirtiest thing I’ve ever been associated with. I hope cartoon and comics fans enjoy getting between the covers as much as I enjoy sharing these rare risque drawings by these great cartoonists”.

Many juicy and/or naughty drawings at the site which is NSFW.

Tom Hart has a new comic strip up at The Panelist, called The Money Warrior. A new strip by Tom Hart is always a cause to celebrate.

I’ve teamed up with the terrific folks at The Panelist.com, a website about investing ethically, to start a new weekly strip, The Money Warrior!

The Money Warrior’s on the hunt! He’s current, direct, ruthless and primal! The Money Warrior wants to kill you some money!

Check the first strip directly here.

The Money Warrior started as a bit of a parody of Jim Cramer of Mad Money, and in fact I created the first iteration for my Metro strips. But those strips reminded me that in the end, I dislike parody and that I’d rather invent my own creations, something new from a starting point of parody. The folks at the Panelist recognized a similar traveler in the Money Warrior, and asked for more.

There’s a whoopie-do tonight at the Nokia store for the new Heroes game — which ends in time for the season premiere tonight.

PR:

The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced prominent online artists and performers Chris Hazelton, GeekNights, Juno Blair B, Lindsey Henninger, and Uncle Yo will be featured at its inaugural event, December 7-9, 2007 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The New York Anime Festival, organized by the creators of the New York Comic Con, is committed to being an event which spans the anime world, and NYAF’s newly announced guests — podcasters, webcomic authors, and online illustrators — further expand the convention’s boundaries. Existing guests, including Kobun Shizuno (Co-Director of Evangelion: 1:0 You Are (Not) Alone), David Kalat (author of J-Horror: The Definitive Guide), and Yoshi Amao (founder of performance group Samurai Sword Soul), come from both the pop culture to traditional culture realms.

“I’m very pleased to welcome NYAF’s new guests,” Show Manager John McGeary said. “Chris, GeekNights, Juno, Lindsey, and Uncle Yo are all talented fans of anime and manga, and they’ve each turned their love into something creative. We’re very happy to give them this opportunity to shine.”

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Are you a publisher who would like to acquire an acclaimed book by two of the contemporary comics scene’s brightest stars? Well then, Brain Wood and Becky Cloonan have got an idea for you:

Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan announce the immediate and full reversion of publishing and other media rights for their critically-acclaimed comics series Demo.

First published in 2003 by AIT/Planet Lar, Demo challenged the format of the typical superhero book for a grounded and more realistic look at the personal lives of young people with unusual powers. The unconventional series was nominated for two Eisner Awards and has seen print in multiple languages. Wizard Magazine named it the “Indie Book of the Year”, Comic Book Resources said it’s “what the X-Men would be if they were created today”, and Variety proclaimed it “more human than mainstream comics dare to be.”

“Demo is one of the most important things I’ve done,” series writer Brian Wood said. “And it’s been my continuing mission for it to reach as many people as possible. We’re currently exploring options and offers from other publishers with that goal in mind.”

“Working on Demo was a real turning point for my career in comics and as also an artist;” artist Becky Cloonan said. “Now this opportunity marks a turning point for Demo itself.”

“We will update readers and retailers when future plans for Demo are finalized,” Wood said. “Should be soon, so stand by.”

Brian Wood is currently writing DMZ and Northlanders for DC/Vertigo, The New York Four for DC/Minx and Local for Oni Press. Becky Cloonan is currently illustrating American Virgin for DC/Vertigo and writing and illustrating East Coast Rising for Tokyopop.

We could just listen to this all day: Doug Pratt writes to say that he has remastered what seems to be the only extant internet version of the Mighty Marvel Marching society record from the 60s.

Having scoured the Web and YouTube, it seems that my MP3 files from five years ago of the two Marvel Comics records from the 60’s are perhaps the sole sources that everybody has used. It would be great if somehow the original master tapes turned up, or somebody had copies in better shape, but I’ve done what I think is the best possible job of remastering my copies. “The Voices Of Marvel” is noticeably improved.

§ James Thurber’s home profiled

It was in that attic in the 1970s that a former owner discovered several of Thurber’s drawings on the wall — hidden under a layer of wallpaper hung by Thurber’s wife, Althea, who stayed in the home after the couple divorced. The drawings included scenes of band members and their instruments, clowns and fishing by the river.

“Thurber seemed to have a lot of nervous energy and was always doodling,” Ohno said. “His hands were always moving. When talking on the telephone he would often doodle on the walls.”

§ Late cartoonist Artie Saaf has as updated website his family informs us, with a short bio, an index and a gallery, all a work in progress.

§ E! Online praises Daniel Clowes new strip MR WONDERFUL.

§ Chris Butcher vs Dirk over what kind of mature manga books are best to push:

Hahaha… Yeah, of course. Welcome to the 21st century, us brick and mortar retailers might not be able to figure out that Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s books are available online. Whatever, I’m glad the books are available to people who want them, but those print-runs are already set, and my friend Stephen at Fanfare has made it quite clear that the endeavour is a labour of love for him, likely to continue virtually regardless of sales (though he was quite happy at JAPAN and MARIKO PARADE needing to go back for new printings, recently). When it comes to publishers with deep pockets being willing to license and publish work for grown-ups, sales are king and it makes a lot more sense to push the books that are coming out… or books that are legally available at the very least, than to not.

§ Detroit Comics owner Brian Kelly profiled

§ Manga-loving pol thwarted in political bid; Japan not to be taken over by giant monsters

§ Comics-loving novelist Junot Diaz profiled.