§ Revolving door: Rick Marshall has joined MTV’s Splash page blog:

I’ll be joining the current editor, Casey Seijas, in helping to make this new spin-off from their already successful MTV Movies site an even more attractive online destination for comics and movie fans. It’s a lofty goal, though, as Casey and the Splash Page crew have been doing a great job on the site since it launched in late July. If you haven’t done so already, I hope you’ll bookmark Splash Page and subscribe to the Splash Page RSS Feed. As always, I’ll do my best to reward your support with the most interesting content I can provide.

§ Reporter Van Jensen has joined the Top Shelf brotherhood of the traveling pants.

§ Just a nice one: a profile of 88-year-old former Timely artist Marion Sitton:

Marion Sitton sat mum as Stan Lee looked over his artwork. Sitton studied the future Spider-Man creator’s face as he took in the OK Corral scene Sitton had completed the previous week.

Lee praised the authentic-looking boots and other lifelike features of his cowboys.

“You can draw,” he said, “I’ll give you that.”

Those words granted Sitton membership in 1948 into Timely Comics’ artists bullpen. During the next six years, he was one of dozens of artists at Timely, later renamed Marvel, who drew dueling cowboys, fedora-wearing mystery men and embracing lovers. Superheroes were not in his repertoire.

We’re in transit back to civilization today. Full posting resumes tomorrow.

We’ll have more coverage of the Virgin Comics realignment soonish. Three former Virgin freelancers confirmed the company’s publishing shut down in our own comments thread, but elsewhere on the Web, the response seems to be a resounding “So?”…it looks like Virgin never really got a hold of any kind of audience. Another pamphlet publisher down the tubes.

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The LA Times rounds up the epic story of how the original Mickey Mouse may just not be “copyright Disney” anymore:

All signs pointed to a Hollywood ending with Disney and Mickey Mouse living happily ever after — at least until a grumpy former employee looked closely at fine print long forgotten in company archives.

Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney’s long-held copyright, though a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as “frivolous.”

Although studio executives are not yet hurling themselves from the parapets of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, the unexpected discovery raises an intriguing question: Is it possible that Mickey Mouse now belongs to the world — and that his likeness is usable by anybody for anything?

As the story takes pains to explain, Disney owns the trademark on the more recent evolution of the Mouse, but the earlier versions are in public domain–despite Congress constantly passing copyright extensions for just this very reason — so copyright is a bit hazy. The story also contains a great roundup of Disney’s various copyright battles over the years, and how the teensy-tiny loopholes they have used against others may now be turned against the studio giant.

More from Cartoon Brew.

Technorati Tags: Disney

That is the true next level in comics’ ascendance, as WaPo sends book guy Bob Thompson to see what all the excitement is about:

To a lifelong Prose Guy, whose idea of a good time involves a comfortable couch and a book full of nothing but words, the graphic novel galaxy can still feel far, far away.

Yes, I know comics can be ambitious and aimed at adults. Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” made this indisputable two decades ago, and there has been plenty of impressive work done since. But I can’t help wondering, even as I begin to explore the rise of what’s sometimes called “sequential art,” if I can ever overcome my personal bias toward prose.

The lengthy piece is accompanied by a comic drawn by Jonathan Bennett depicting the history of RAW, etc. in an enchanting clear ligne style.

§ Bob Greenberger is the new News editor at ComicMix:

Almost a year ago to the day, Mike took me to lunch to talk about my life post-Weekly World News and we began discussing a role for me within ComicMix. It led to additional writing and some work on Phase 3, which will be announced finally in the coming weeks. A fulltime post never quite gelled and that seemed fine.

Things are different now. The site is a little more mature and stable. They know what they need and one of those things is to take their news coverage to a new level and felt I could do that. I spat out a variety of thoughts as to what was working and what I saw as things that could be done differently. Mike agreed with most everything I said and threw the offer on the table. The salary and hours provides me with an incredible base to work from which takes a lot of mental pressure away.

§ We know you are sick of San Diego but when noted academic Henry Jenkins — who has made a study of fan group dynamics — posts his thoughts, it’s worth a link:

HJ: Luckily Henry and Cynthia were along, but it was overwhelming a bit, trying to negotiate and keep up with three people in a space that congested. So that was its own kind of challenge. Sometimes I was thinking it would be great just to be a single person navigating through the space and not have to have large-scale logistics! The scale of it just blows you away. I’ve been on the floor at E3, which is supposed to be one of the largest entertainment trade shows. I’ve done South by Southwest. But neither of them are anywhere near the scale of Comic-Con.

§ Indeed, Comic-Con is now so huge that Variety uses it as the baseline to judge the Democratic National Convention, where, you know, the potential future leader of the free world will be chosen:

The easy answer: Causes. In fact, outside the convention hall itself, it will be a veritable ComicCon of causes, as dozens upon dozens of events are slated throughout the week promoting everything from African poverty relief to the plight of war veterans to the world trade imbalance.

(Thanks to Beat Pal RS for many of these links.)

This story in the WSJ reveals that DC Comics’ days as the shy, studious librarian of the Warners empire are doneski, as Warners bets on a new film strategy with DC at the center. The plan involves fewer films but larger tentpole opportunities for each of them. And all eyes are on DC:

“Films with our DC properties have the opportunity to support other divisions in the company in a way that our other movies don’t,” Mr. Robinov says, for example, with products such as a Superman game or toys. By 2011, Mr. Robinov plans for DC Comics to supply the material for up to two of the six to eight tent-pole films he hopes Warner Bros. will have in the pipeline by then.

These will not be chipper films, like the crash-and-burn of SPEED RACER:

Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

News of the film slate is forthcoming:

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

MEANWHILE, back at the ranch, Val links to a report from the Toronto DC panel which suggests that the new word at DC itself may be “stable characters you can build a franchise on”, at least per Dan Didio.

“What happens is that if a character doesn’t work, we go, ‘We got a brand new direction to put him in! We’re moving him into something new! We’re going to try something brand new and different! We’re going to throw everything out and start over again!’ We make that mistake, but what that does is, it alienates fans.

“Our biggest mistake is that we don’t continue and build on…what we should be doing is let it sit for a while and then come back with a good strong story with what’s going on. That’s what Geoff [Johns] does. That’s Geoff’s secret weapon. He doesn’t throw it all out and start all over. He builds on what’s existed and makes it better…We get too worried about the minutia…all we should be doing is telling great stories with out characters.

“What we’re doing coming out of ‘Final Crisis’ ” and I’ll say this here, and I’ll say this everywhere ” is that we’re locking our characters down. We’re going with a good interpretation, and we’re staying with it. That’s why you don’t see Aquaman right now, because we want it to be clear what it is, who he is and what he’s all about.”

Rumors about Virgin Comics are flying fast and furious this weekend. Sources are telling me that the comics publishing is getting drastically reduced or eliminated and most of the New York staff has been let go…however, official announcements or confirmation have not yet come.

Virgin Comics launched in 2006, funded by billionaire mogul Richard Branson, with input from author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. However, the principal movers and shakers at the company are comics-loving entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman, and Gotham Chopra. From the start, Virgin has produced several lines of comics — the “Shakti” line, based on Hindu mythology and culture, and the “Director’s Cut” line which features concepts by directors such as Kapur, Guy Ritchie, and John Woo. The “Voices” line includes comics based on concepts by a variety of Hollywood/entertainment types, from Nicolas Cage (Nowhere Man) and Dave Stewart to Hugh Jackman and, most notoriously, Jenna Jameson.

Virgin Comics had also recently arranged with the Sci-Fi Channel to both produce comics based on TV shows and develop comics as shows. The first was The Stranded, by Mike Carey, which is being developed as a pilot.

Virgin’s most recent notable announcements are a deal with Stan Lee to create an entire new superhero universe, and The MBX, a series of webisodes based on the Mahabharata, written by Grant Morrison.

Virgin’s print comics line never seemed to catch fire, either in the US or India, so cutbacks would come as no surprise. It would be equally surprising to see a lot of their development deals and web-based material disappear, however.

Developing.

Everyone else has been linking to the 1907 comic strip Madge the Magician’s Daughter by W.O. Wilson — why shouldn’t The Beat?
While enjoying this newspaper strip’s whimsy and imagination, it also gets us pondering. What would W.O. Wilson be doing today? The market for lavishly drawn comic strips has dried up; ditto illustration. Perhaps he would do children’s books. As wild and fun as the strip is, the art is kind of weird and wonky…nowhere near the virtuoso skill of a Feininger or O’Neill. If we plopped Wilson down in today’s comics market, he’d probably be doing weird-ass indie comics for AdHouse or Top Shelf or PictureBox, and he’d be considered an “indie” artist. Whatever that means.

We are, like, totally on vacation.

Check out this gallery of amazing Charles Burns art previewing an upcoming show at the Adam Baumgold Gallery.

A new comic by Larson/O’Malley! Bear Creek Apartments. And there was great rejoicing! And server crashing, apparently.

Cory Doctorow Meets DJ Spooky: A CBLDF Benefit Mashup!

Sadly, we’ll be out of town, or we’d be there in a flash.

Offered without context..James Kochalka’s retelling of FF #9, page 17:

You know, it isn’t just the movie people who are snapping up the comics! Cartoonists are still getting book deals at traditional publishers left and right. This week’s PW Comics Week had a few items of note. Dash Shaw, the new lit comics It Kid, has signed up for his next book at Pantheon, a print version of his online Body World:

The deal was negotiated by agent Bob Mecoy. The book was acquired by Pantheon editorial director Dan Frank along with editor/designer Chip Kidd, who will both edit the book. Mecoy also said there was “unprecedented” interest in both Bottomless Belly Button and Body World from Hollywood film studios, although no deal has been reached.

The same issue also notes that agent Judy Hansen has negotiated a two-book deal at Scholastic for Flight’s Jake Parker for his character Missile Mouse.

Missile Mouse was introduced earlier this year in Flight Explorer, an anthology based on Flight with comics created for young readers, published by Villard. Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, the first of the two graphic novels, will be published in 2010.

Hansen also writes to us to say that she’s negotiated another two-book deal for Benjamin Hatke, another Flight and Flight Explorer author. Mark Siegel at First Second has acquired two graphic novels starring Zita the Spacegirl (left). The first book is titled Zita the Spacegirl: The Longest Day.

Mucho good reading ahead.

Kreegah!

§ Jeff Smith on PBS News Hour.

§ Jeff Trexler looks at the filing in the WATCHMEN lawsuit. Analyze away!

§ Silver Age Bullpenner Scott Edelman presents an original Stan’s Soapbox manuscript:

One of my duties as an Assistant Editor at Marvel Comics in the mid-’70s was to write all of the text for each Bullpen Bulletins page except for Stan’s Soapbox. (Thanks for the opportunity to channel my childhood idol, Len!)

Which meant that Stan would hand me a yellow sheet of paper each month on which he had typed out his musings, complete with edits in the form of crossed-out clauses and handwritten additions. I’d hand both his text and mine (for the rest of the page) to a different Stan, Stanley Aaron, the typesetter who would make it all look pretty so it could then be pasted up for print.

§ Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley join Joost Swarte as announced guests at SPX.

§ Have you heard? super girl nada pudica.

Kreegah! On vacation. Less posting then ever. I have a few longish essays I’ve been working on that I may get to post…or maybe not.

Have fun.

ICv2 has released its July sales analysis. Periodical sales continued a slight decline:

The dollar total for comics purchased by comic stores dropped again in July, by 3%, the sixth consecutive month of year over year declines. It’s getting harder to lay the declines at the feet of tough comparables, with the tail end of Civil War Initiative and Captain America: Fallen Son titles, along with World War Hulk, not providing particularly tough competition for the year over year comparisons. Certainly general market conditions are having an impact, with store visits and purchases impacted by inflation and other macro-economic issues. But July 2008 sales were still higher than July 2006, so the longer term trends are positive.

More:
Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual–July 2008
Top 300 Comics Actual–July 2008
‘Secret Invasion’ Stays Strong in July

§ Tom Cruise and Sam Raimi have bonded over SLEEPER, the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips miniseries. Cruise is “loosely” attached to star, Raimi would produce with Josh Donen.

Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, “Sleeper,” which ran from 2003-05, centers on an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain and allows him to pass it on to others through skin contact. He is placed undercover in a villainous organization by an intelligence agency and falls for a member of the group, named Miss Misery.

Although the movie is seen as a “franchise” (aren’t they always?), there is a big rights tangle that must be unraveled:

Even if Cruise opts not to do “Sleeper,” his interest in the project is propelling it forward, despite complicated rights issues that must be sorted out. Raimi and Donen have long been fans of the book, and the project could have found homes at Sony and Regency if those issues hadn’t been so complex. “Sleeper” is a spin-off book from Wildstorm flagship title “WildC.A.T.s” and features characters from another spin-off book, “Gen 13.” Both books had been set up at different places around town and some of those deals were made before DC bought the imprint in 1999.

Hint to Cruise: Do CRIMINAL instead! It comes under the Kirkman Principle.
§ Meanwhile, Mandalay has “nabbed” rights to JULIUS by Antony Johnston and Brett Weldele, out from IP farm Oni.

F. Gary Gray is attached to direct.

Written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Brett Weldele, “Julius” is a contempo urban crime adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”

Mandalay prexy Cathy Schulman said that Gray “has a vision for this adaptation that will satirize obsessive consumerism while providing a thrilling ride for audiences.”

“Thrilling ride…” Hrm, hrm…

No, not a lawsuit by Alan Moore…rather it’s a battle of studio titans, as Fox has been suing Warners saying they control the rights to the “greatest graphic novel of all times.”:

At the heart of Fox’s suit, filed in February, is the contention that it never ceded rights to the property. And according to the federal Judge Gary Allen Feess, Fox retained distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons through a 1991 claim. Furthermore, Feess appears to agree that under a 1994 turnaround deal with producer Larry Gordon, Gordon acquired an option to acquire Fox’s remaining interest in “Watchmen,” which was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under the 1994 agreement.

“It is our company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation and thus will not comment on the specifics of this case,” Warners said in statement. “That said, the court’s ruling simply means that the parties will engage in discovery and proceed with the litigation. The judge did not opine at all on the merits other than to conclude that Fox satisfied the pleading requirements. We respectfully disagree with Fox’s position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project.”

Yesterday’s ruling was simply a refusal by a judge not to dismiss Fox’s claim, not a decision either way. However, Fox seems to smell blood…or money

Surprisingly, Fox said it would rather see the film killed instead of collecting a percentage of the box office.

“When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover,” said a source close to the litigation.

Oh boo hoo hoo! As commenters at an excellent Nikki Finke round-up of the story point out, Fox seemed perfectly happy to let Paramount make the movie a few years back, until Par pulled the plug on the Paul Greengrass version at the very last minute. Or could it be, as one commenter comments:

Studios will wait gladly years for a chance to screw another studio over in this way when they have them contractually by the balls.

The judge’s refusal to dismiss the suit is a big blow to Warner, especially after a somewhat similar suit saw them pony up some $17.5 million just to allow the DUKES OF HAZZARD movie to be released:

But before reaching the screen, the movie was tied up as a group of people who held rights related to the “Hazzard” TV show sued Warner Bros., the studio making the film. Last month, in an out-of-court settlement, the studio paid them $17.5 million, according to people familiar with the situation. It is believed to be the largest sum ever to arise out of a case involving movie rights for a TV show. It amounts to about one-third of the film’s original budget. Mr. Toberoff, who usually takes his cases on a contingency-fee basis, declined to say how much he made from the “Hazzard” case. Warner Bros. declined to comment on any aspect of separated-rights issues.

A similar settlement — which is most probably what will still Fox’s weeping over copyright infringement — would put a big crimp in WATCHMEN’s bottom line. But it will still make more on DVD than the DUKES OF HAZZARD.

Given THE DARK KNIGHT’s history-making box office performance, it’s unthinkable for DC’s superheroes to remain the wallflowers of the Warner universe. Not one but TWO stories in Variety on Friday pointed this out.

The first puts DC’s superheroes into the wider picture of Warner’s release schedule:

It’s a tentpole whose supersized budget for top talent, lavish action sequences and special effects can pay off big time by selling a helluva lot of tickets — and raking in the dough for other divisions, including TV, homevid, merchandise and vidgames.

If Warners got its way, it would have at least four of those blockbusters a year. Yet the studio is light on tentpoles next summer. Make that most of 2009.

With nothing but the Green Arrow prison drama directly on tap, things look so thin that HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE had to be moved to Summer ‘09 to prevent this year’s Batman-led profits from completely shaming next year’s more modest slate. Here then is the problem: WB’s development feeder.

The other article is a more direct look at what will be done with this potential gold mine of superheroes:

The Time Warner comic-book arm is sitting on a stable of well-known superhero properties like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League, but has been slow to develop the bigscreen adventures.

Getting the movies made would involve many of Warner Bros.’ other divisions — including TV, homevid, consumer products, online and vidgames — that would create tie-in projects for release around the films.

“They need a lot of lead time and it all needs to be choreographed,” Robinov says.

Yet with the dearth of tentpoles next year, those same divisions will have little to work with and will have to focus on more classic product like Looney Tunes.

In other words, the way forward isn’t yet clear. The article quotes WB studio head Alan Horn and production head Jeff Robinov, along with DC’s main movie man, Gregory Noveck, senior VP of creative affairs.
Noveck hasn’t yet emerged as the kind of Avi Arad-like figure who can convert lines on paper to lines in the theater. Robinov may be too preoccupied with larger studio matters to specifically oversee DC’s development.

What this article clearly suggests is that some changes will be made in the way DC movies are moved through the pipeline.

“We’re having a lot of internal discussions on it,” Horn says. “We haven’t committed to any change at DC at this point,” adding that both Warners and DC are committed to turning “the properties into viable movie product in an intelligent way so that we introduce them like planes on a runway. They have to be set up the right way and lined up the right way and all take off one at a time and fly safe and fly straight.”

Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca have contributed a “A Graphic Novel of the Season’s New Looks” for New York magazine. Personally, we’re a little dubious about this fall’s square necklines, but excited about the idea of voluminous sweaters….BUT NOT for men!

As expected, THE DARK KNGHT finally fell to number 2 at the box office, although it took a superteam of Nacho Libre, Iron Man and Zoolander to stop him, with a cameo by Ethan Hunt.

Nonetheless, DARK KNIGHT is now officially the second biggest grossing domestic film of all time, and expect a new cottage industry of psychoanalysis as to why. The Guardian lays out various theories in the link, and you know it is serious whenever someone uses the word Manichean!

“Nolan turns the Manichean morality of comic books — pure good vs pure evil — into a bleak post-9/11 allegory about how terror (and, make no mistake, Ledger’s Joker is a terrorist) breaks down those reassuring moral categories,” writes Dana Stevens in the online magazine Slate. If the references weren’t obvious enough, the Time magazine critic Richard Corliss calls the Joker “the Bin Laden of movie villains”.

Both conservatives and liberals have been rushing to claim that The Dark Knight has become such a phenomenon because it validates their beliefs about the ethical issues at the heart of the war on terror. “There seems to me no question that The Dark Knight is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W Bush in this time of terror and war,” the conservative novelist Andrew Klavan writes in The Wall Street Journal. “Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.”

Technorati Tags: Batman wins

Rumors about PUNISHER: WAR ZONE have been all over the net, centering on a couple of key themes: that it will be cut down to a PG-13 to grab the DARK KNIGHT audience; and that director Lexi Alexander has been removed from the film. First Showing has some debunking based on the DP’s postings on a message board:

Lexi is not off the film.

Lexi is still involved in the edit process.

The film is not (nor could it ever be) PG-13.

Today I saw a cut that ran 91 minutes.

Lexi did in fact get married.

Lexi is an incredibly talented director, and this film kicks major ass, as will be proven when it is released IN THEATRES DECEMBER 5th.

The film is most certainly not all exploding heads, but will reveal a great deal of Frank’s persona and pain.

Did you know comics can be used as an educational tool? It’s true! Look at this moderately headlined story from the UK, for instance: Midlands supercriminal’s comic book guide to drug smuggling.

It features crime tips, including the best way to transport cannabis from the sea to dry land and safest way to communicate plans.

It also describes in detail how police undertake surveillance operations.

Jason said the book has proven a big hit at Winson Green where it is being widely read by inmates.

And said he hopes it will be contained in prison libraries in the future.

But last night Birmingham Perry Barr Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, said he was shocked that prisoners have been allowed to read the book.

“I’m absolutely appalled,” he said. “I don’t want to stop former criminals writing about their experiences. But to actually put information into a book like this which will only increase the criminal knowledge of inmates is highly dangerous.”