If we had to guess, we’d imagine that when actor-musician-model Tyrese Gibson wanted to join the infectiously lively world of graphic novels, he wasn’t aware that part of this world is nitpicking bloggers, commentators and message board fans who fact check every utterance. But in a long interview at CBR, he and collaborator Mike Le address some of the complaints over quotes and talk about the future of MAYHEM. Specifically, Gibson refutes previously quoted claims that MAYHEM was the first comic for iTunes, which, as we all know, isn’t so.

Tyrese: That’s a misquote. The reporter misunderstood what I said. What I said and what I meant was this is the first time in history that Apple has teamed up with a creator to develop a digital comic book for iTunes. I know there have been many digital comic books way before “Mayhem,” and I am aware of other digital comic books that have been sold on iTunes.

In another quote, Gibson shows he understands multichannel delivery:

Tyrese: Let me say this, I strongly hope the digital sales drive consumers to discover comic books, which then drives them to their local comic book stores to buy more comic books. Digital comic books do not have to mean the death of printed comic books. I believe they can co-exist and help each other thrive. In this recession, anything that can help bring more traffic to comic book stores is a blessing.

Over the summer watching the MAYHEM experiment was vastly entertaining, and it’s safe to say the program had some pluses, but also pissed off a lot of people with, to put it mildly, over-aggressive marketing tactics. The bottom line is that quality was not one of the big selling points of the project, unfortunately, and what really fuels repeat business is a good story. However, it’s good to see Tyrese & Co. addressing some of the issues they raised. And their teaming with Apple is part of the Jobs Crew’s greater recognition that comics are a major part of the future business model for digital downloads.

Somewhat related: for the first time book app downloads have surpassed game app downloads for the iPhone:

In October, one out of every five new apps launching in the iPhone has been a book. Book publishers from Your Mobile Apps to Softbank are adapting books for sale in the AppStore at record rates. Flurry believes that Apple is poised to take market share from the Amazon Kindle in eBooks, in spite of the iPhone’s smaller four-inch display compared to the Kindle’s six-inch display. If Apple is actually working on a larger tablet, as rumored, it could steal even more market share.

Hurry Tablet!!!

Does anything signify contemporary terror in comics more than this series? Cover by Charles Adlard.

Here’s two more preview pages from the LIBERTY COMICS #2 anthology coming next month from Image.

Paul Pope

Chynna Clugston-Flores

In addition, Image has just released the Jim Lee Variant cover.

LEE and his story with NEIL GAIMAN, ‘100 Words’, lead off an all-star ensemble of industry greats in the all-new second volume of LIBERTY COMICS. Passionate comic book storytelling, all in service to an important cause, the incredible contributions list includes a Painkiller Jane story by JIMMY PALMIOTTI and JIM RUGG; a new Mr. Gum adventure from MIKE ALLRED, DAVE JOHNSON and JAMIE S. RICH; The Apocalypstix by RAY FAWKES and CAMERON STEWART, a return to Channel Zero by BRIAN WOOD; a preview of Choker by BEN MCCOOL and BEN TEMPLESMITH; and a special Martha Washington piece by DAVE GIBBONS, alongside exclusive material by PAUL POPE; KATHRYN & STUART IMMONEN; CHYNNA CLUGSTON; PAUL GRIST; and JASON AARON & MORITAT. LIBERTY COMICS already features two covers, one by Batman: The Long Halloween’s TIM SALE and a new Kick Ass image by creator JOHN ROMITA JR.

Liberty Comics #2 is an upcoming benefit anthology, proceeds from which benefit the CBLDF.

CBLDF Defenders of Liberty NEIL GAIMAN & JIM LEE lead off an all-star ensemble of industry greats in an all-new second volume of LIBERTY COMICS! Passionate comic book storytelling, all in service to an important cause, the incredible contributions list includes a Painkiller Jane story by JIMMY PALMIOTTI and JIM RUGG; a new Mr. Gum adventure from MIKE ALLRED and JAMIE S. RICH; The Apocalipstix by RAY FAWKES and CAMERON STEWART; a return to Channel Zero by BRIAN WOOD; a preview of Choker by BEN McCOOL and BEN TEMPLESMITH; and a special Martha Washington piece by DAVE GIBBONS, alongside exclusive material by PAUL POPE; GAIL SIMONE and JÖELLE JONES; KATHRYN & STUART IMMONEN; CHYNNA CLUGSTON; PAUL GRIST; and JASON AARON & MORITAT.

Alternate covers feature a new Kick-Ass illustration by JOHN ROMITA, JR. and a special noir image from TIM SALE.

All proceeds from LIBERTY COMICS will benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

The book comes out on October 14th, published by Image, and we’ve been given a few EXCLUSIVE pages to preview here. Thanks to Joe Keatinge for arranging this. First up: The first NEW Channel Zero story by Brian Wood in several years. Click for a larger version.

Okay, we don’t normally run these kinds of press releases either, but at least we get to run a picture of an elephant holding a sword. Perhaps you have always wanted to try ELEPHANTMEN, the SF series written by Richard Starkings, with art by various fine folks. If so, they have prepared a special jumping on point…just for you! More info here.

Todd McFarlane has been Twittering ever since Tyrese talked him into doing it. And now we get Todd’s doodles from when he’s in meetings. He writes:

Here’s a PARODY drawing of a classic hero. Idle time makes the mind wonder. This was done in the program COREL PAINTER.

Rumors that The Walking Dead, the immensely popular comic created by Robert Kirkman with art by Tony Moore followed by Charlie Adlard, was on its way to becoming a TV series have been around for a while. The rumors gained a lot of momentum when Variety announced that Frank Darabont is near a deal to write and direct an adaptation for AMC.

Joel Stillerman, AMC’s senior veep of programming, production and original content, said the project appealed to the cabler because of “the quality of the storytelling” in Kirkman’s work. The series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels, he said.

“This is not about zombies popping out of closets,” Stillerman said. “This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in ‘Walking Dead’) is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

The deal is said to be quite lucrative for Darabont and producing partner Gale Ann Hurd.

The Daily News talks to Tyrese Gibson, whose MAYHEM comic goes on sale today:

Gibson has been trolling the Internet, reading the harshest criticism and vowing to convince naysayers that he isn’t some celebrity dilettante dabbling in a get-rich-quick scheme.

He gets so worked up during his interview with The News that he refers to his hero, a tortured soul looking to torture the drug- dealing mob boss that wronged him, in the first person several times.

He’s not just trying to woo existing comic fans, either. Gibson says he is serious about getting the word out to fans of his movies that have never set foot in a comic store that there’s a larger world of pop culture that they’ve been missing.

The big event is at LA’s Meltdown, where Gibson will perform a signing and a concert tonight for wristband holders. Let us know how it went!

Wow, finally made it to the Wired Cafe where free Wi-Fi, music and Tequila cocktails prevail. Also, some of the kids from Twilight are sitting at the next table. The Wi-Fi and phone signals on the show floor and in the press room are JAMMED, Lt. Uhura, and this cafe for media is definitely a godsend. We’re not quite ready to hit the tequila though.

We never thought we’d say it, but maybe just sitting behind a booth is the way to go if you can’t be at the Wired Cafe. We made the mistake of going to Hall H after the Image panel and perhaps it was best described as Cosplay pandemonium, and long queues to get anywhere and sad files of attendees shuffling off to supposed nerdvana.

This morning we went to the Image Comics Show to support FMB and Ben Templesmith as they announced CHOKER, and it was a star-studded panel with, in addition to the always dapper Mr. Templesmith., Frank Cho, annoucning 50 Girls 50, Tyrese Gibson talking about….uh….something….and Image partners Robert kirkman and Rob Liefeld. As the panel went on, Todd McFarlane and even Jim Lee showed up. While much of the Image Show was the Tyrese Show — “I’ve never been around people who were so passionate about something,” he enthused — McFarlane, Liefeld and Kirkman took over the second half of the panel, talking about the process of creating IMAGE UNITED — a six-issue crossover featuring art by 6 of the 7 image founders and a script by Kirkman. McFarlane joked that he would do a lot of the finished inking and that an “anal” Erik Larsen would notice every line and sometimes white the extra inks out.

Lee showed up for a brief cameo of his wraparound cover for MAYHEM #2, prompting McFarlane to say that Tyrese had gotten Lee to draw more in a week for MAYHEM than he had drawn for IMAGE UNITED.

A new Image book by Ben McCool and Ben Templesmith. More promo art below.
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ELEPHANTMEN creators — Richard Starkings, Moritat and John JG Roshell will be at Comicraft’s usual spot in the Independent Publisher’s Pavilion — booth 2106, just across from DC Comics. Comicraft will be premiering the new Image Comics trade paperback DAMAGED GOODS collecting Marian Churchland’s SOLD OUT issues of ELEPHANTMEN as well as copies of the new ELEPHANTMEN VOLUME 2 hardcover — FATAL DISEASES. Moritat will be sketching on request alongside a number of special guests. Stop by the Comicraft booth to find out who! Plus — free posters, buttons, fridge magnets and tattoos!

Image Comics, the world’s greatest creator owned comic book publisher, returns to San Diego with a bigger guest list than ever before and exclusives galore, all available at booth #2729!

In addition to a slate of panels including an unprecedented Image Comics workshop on creating creator owned comics, spotlights on Mike Allred & Robert Kirkman and their annual Image Comics Show featuring the company’s most massive announcements of the year, Image will also feature a very special Image United signing event on Saturday at 10 AM, the only signing featuring all seven members of the crossover’s creative team including Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Rob Liefeld (Youngblood), Todd McFarlane (Haunt), Marc Silvestri (Top Cow Pilot Season 2009), Whilce Portacio (Fortress) and Jim Valentino (ShadowHawk).

Throughout the weekend the Image Island will include booths showcasing Image Central, Todd McFarlane Productions and Shadowline with a pantheon of creators including Mike Allred (Madman Atomic Comics), Glen Brunswick (Jersey Gods), Camilla d’Errico (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra), Greg Epinoza (Pug), Tyrese Gibson (Mayhem!), Kieron Gillen (Phonogram), Rob Guillory (Chew), Phil Hester (Firebreather, Darkness), Greg Horn (The Art of Greg Horn), Jason Howard (The Astounding Wolf-Man), Andy Kuhn (Firebreather), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), John Layman (Chew), Mike Le (Mayhem!), Rob Liefeld (Youngblood), David Mack (Kabuki), Derek McCulloch (Pug, Stagger Lee), Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour), Ryan Ottley (Invincible), the crew behind Image’s Harvey award-winning anthology PopGun, Cliff Rathburn (Invincible, Walking Dead), Jimmie Robinson (Bomb Queen), Tone Rodriguez (Mayhem!), Jon Sommariva (Gemini), Kris Simon (Bruce The Little Blue Spurce), Andy Suriano (Charlatan Ball), Josh Wagner (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra) Will Wilson (Mayhem!) and Jim Valentino (ShadowHawk). In addition, there will also be an exclusive first look at Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman’s long-awaited collaboration, Haunt, available from Todd McFarlane Productions!

There will also be special signing appearances by Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows), Marco Cinello (Soul Kiss), Alex Grecian (Proof), Sonny Liew (Liquid City), Ted McKeever (Transmet, Eddy Current, Metropol), Whilce Portacio (Fortress), Nick Spencer (Existence 2.0), Christian Ward (Olympus), Christopher Yost (Killer of Demons) and Man of Action Studios members Joe Casey (Gødland), Duncan Rouleau (The Great Unknown), Joe Kelly (I Kill Giants) & Steve Seagle (Soul Kiss) with many, many more!

Image will also once again be teaming up with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for their annual San Diego Comic Con Welcome Party, 7:30 - 11:00 PM at the Westgate Hotel on 1055 Second Avenue. For even more fun stop by Top Cow Productions, Booth #2629, featuring a full lineup presented by the Image Comics’ partner studio run by Marc Silvestri!

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Remember near the end of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND when the ET research team tentatively plays the five note theme that has been haunting the UFO-chasers…and waits, and waits and then the mother ship ANSWERS BACK? Well that’s kind of what happened at The Beat yesterday!

When we wrote about the marketing clout actor/musician Tyrese Gibson was bringing to sell his new Image Comic, MAYHEM, we kinda suspected we’d get caught up in it, and indeed, Tyrese Tweeted about the post twice and urged his followers to comment:
Very Important! Post comments! Somebody GO!!
and

Your making NON believers Believe! I Love YOU http://bit.ly/SSFjk

and his followers OBEYED with over a hundred messages in a few hours, from different IPs. (We removed some duplicates and obvious trolls.) We think this does have to be noted as a successful campaign — many of the posters mentioned being new to the comics world — who knows if MAYHEM will keep them there, but it seems to be a genuine outreach to a new audience. In the comments, Brian Hibbs wrote:

I ordered 3 copies of MAYHEM #1. Without the sense that Gibson was behind it, based on the cover and the solicitation blurb alone my “natural” order would have been zero copies.

so in that sense it’s already a success.

We’re told that one of Tyrese’s comics advisors is Percy Carey, aka MF Grimm, whose graphic novel SENTENCES came out from Vertigo last year. Carey has already written some sharp things about the comics industry, so we’ll be watching to see how all this plays out.

In the meantime, just to be clear, we think Tyrese and his Twitter street team are swell, and it’s fun to play along. So, pax everyone.

To the list of hardest-working celebs in comics (Rosario Dawson, Milo Ventimiglia) the name Tyrese Gibson must be added. With MAYHEM — co-created by Mike Le and Will Wilson, and artist Tone Rodriguez — coming out from Image in August. As the co-star of the record smashing TRANSFORMERS 2, how did Gibson spend the opening weekend? Why, Twittering endlessly about his new comic. And (although we’re not sure, but probably well before the FOC date) he even came up with a direct-to-the-consumer marketing campaign, urging his 180,000+ followers to call their local comics shops to get them to order more copies of MAYHEM. He even Twittered the shops’ phone numbers. And seemingly, some fans obeyed the call. We don’t have time to reverse the Twitter order, but here’s a sampling:

# It’s STANDARD in the comic book industry to ORDER ONLY 2 or 3 copies I think it’s PURE B.S!! PRE-ORDER 400 and Make your CUSTOMERS aware go!
#
Joe phone isn’t picking up .. I wonder why..!! To ALL Comic shop Owners and RETAIL this is NO JOKE MAYHEM is a MOVEMENT JOIN IN!!!

#
Everyone Calling NOW!! @wallstmnymgr he just said no one is calling

#
This is exactly why YOUR the greatest!! Thank you!! @JQuezBoxing I Just PreOrdered 5 Copies Of MAYHEM In Vegas

#
@LaurenDayMakeup If a Comic Book store doesnt know wht Mayhem is by now they have living under a rock #Mayhem is going 2 be the BEST COMIC!
#
@Bartosz1991 How about London? We want MAYHEM!!!!!! LONDON LOVES YOU!!! Plenty of London Comic Shops call Forbidden Planet

All of this in between mourning Michael Jackson, partying with P.Diddy and the other commitments of the busy movie star. It’s certainly a real commitment to his own comic, and, who knows, better advertising than most books get these days. Perhaps a follow-up call to some of those shops is in order to see if the stumping had any effect.

Who knows, maybe Tyrese is the new marketing guru of comics.

THE MAXX was a strange but compelling comic by Sam Kieth that came from Image back in the ’90s. It was about a homeless man who became a superhero in a place called The Outback, which might just be imaginary. He’s helped in this by a social worker named Julie Winters, and the comic was very, very odd. Then MTV made a cartoon out of THE MAXX which was just as odd and just as good. (Jesus, remember when cable TV took chances?????) Anyway, now MTV.com is streaming the series, and from what we’re hearing, they hold up pretty well. Since it isn’t on DVD, we recommend you go take a look.

’90s NOSTALGIA!

Another highlight of the weekend was the public unveiling of Longbox at Heroes Con. What is Lngbox? The short version is iTunes for comic books. CBR has details.

Rantz Hoseley, the editor behind Image’s “Comic Book Tattoo” anthology of comics inspired by Tori Amos, introduced his latest endeavor at Heroes Con this weekend. Longbox, a digital comics platform similar to iTunes, is expected to launch later this year as a free download for Mac, PC, and Linux. Developed by Quicksilver Software, Longbox comics can be download for a suggested price point of $.99 per issue, with the potential for block and subscription pricing. The first two publishers confirmed for Longbox are Top Cow and BOOM! Studios. CBR News caught up with Hoseley to discuss the details of Longbox and its potential impact.

We also find this quote quite interesting:
Hoseley believes the very existence of digital comics from major publishers represents a sea change from the perception of online content that existed when Longbox was in its planning stage. “Three years ago, when we started doing development, publishers were very, very resistant to it. The majority of publishers wouldn’t even discuss the possibility of it: digital comics are the devil come to steal the milk from our children’s mouths,” he recalled. “The difference is that now, every publisher realizes, especially with the increasing cost of monthlies and the declining sales of monthlies, that there has to be a way to expand the market. With every other form of entertainment embracing digital distribution and sales medium, it is very foolhardy to not do likewise.”
Lots more on this later.

Robert Kirkman and the Image folks have a little fun with recent comics events with this press release for INVINCIBLE #63, on sale today.

In an unprecedented move, writer Robert Kirkman and illustrator Ryan Ottley have made a cryptic, semi-confident promise that INVINCIBLE #63 might be kind of a big deal for reasons they wouldn’t say and plan to back it up with a special Wednesday shipment direct to comic shops!

“All I’m saying is INVINCIBLE #63 reorders should be double or triple over all retailer’s orders combined plus fifty thousand,” Kirkman stated. “I even heard President Barack Obama might call a press conference to discuss the contents of this very special issue, because there may be something of national interest in there. Also, every newspaper ever could possibly make it a front page story. Who knows?! All I can say for sure is every single human being on the planet, regardless of whether they read comics or even know what they are, will definitely be extremely interested in this issue, maybe even enough to buy a copy!”

INVINCIBLE #63 might even possibly be the biggest comic book event of all time, up there with The Death of Superman, The Death of Captain America, The Entirety of the Early Nineties and Action Comics #1! The only certainty is everyone must place a ridiculously massive order for a non-returnable product they may or may not make a profit on sometime in the near future. Or never. Don’t ask - just buy it! You trust us, right?

Added Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson, “There’s a chance this could very possibly be an event of undetermined importance, both for comics fans and people of all walks of life, with only the most passing familiarity with comic books, or even books, period. We can’t really say what happens in this issue, but trust us, something does happen. And it might even be something interesting. Best not to jinx it, though, so let’s just go with, ‘Something happens.’ It’s somewhat likely a number of people we have yet to identify will want one.”

INVINCIBLE #63 (APR090384), a 32-page full color comic book easily worth around $500, but costing only $2.99, will be in stores June 17th, 2009.

We’re left wondering why they didn’t just promote this issues as a valuable addition to the “Good Compound Fracture Art” genre. Wouldn’t that have sold more copies?

Since leaving his job as Publisher of Marvel Comics, Bill Jemas has been taking on many unusual projects besides 360ie, his IP branding company. For instance, he’s been translating the Bible. And he’s also been trying to bring peace to the world and promote green causes via Peacepaint, a clothing company featuring eco-friendly designs.

“Peace first. Ask questions later,” declared Bill Jemas, 360ie CEO. “Our fall 2008 line revolves around the world peace movement.” Mr. Jemas, former Marvel Comics Publisher, co-created the ID line with accomplished graphic designer Farrah Gross, 360ie’s Art Director. “We work with dozens of freelance artists and have created a beautiful collection with many diverse messages. But to start, we decided to focus on peace art with peaceful messages.”

To support the broader Peace Movement and publicize its own peace-apparel line, 360ie is launching peacepaint.com – a website that aggregates information about the cause and links to major peace-oriented organizations. Peacepaint.com also comes with an eye-catching twist – exhibiting the best ID designs in body paint on some very sexy canvases!

What does that last part mean? Well, basically that painting these designs onto sexy girls is a good way to get attention! Can’t say we disagree.

Can you find the panda bear?

§ Meanwhile, what about toy magnate/comics iconoclast Todd McFarlane. What’s he been up to? He hasn’t been sued lately, so he’s kind of dropped out of the news, aside from ongoing cutbacks at his McFarlane Toys. It seems he is thinking about making a new SPAWN movie, and has some ideas for casting and so on, such as a role for Leonardo DiCaprio as a Sam or Twitch-like role:

“It’s a big wish, but his dad was a big fan of underground comic books and he came from that. It’s not a big special effects movie, it’s a character movie, so I could shoot it in 40 to 50 days and you don’t have to budget that much time.”

[snip]Although Todd wants Leonardo to play a detective, it is unlikely to be either Sam or Twitch, the two famed officers from the original comic series, as he is hoping to work on another project focused on the two characters.

He added to MTV News: “We had Sam and Twitch in the book, but because of some of the stuff I’m trying to sell in Hollywood, we might have to change the characters a bit.

OOPS. We mistakenly had the dumb idea that GØDLAND, the quirky comic by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli is NOT coming out any more — #30 is in next month’s solicitations, and Casey was kind enough to provide the cover for us.

The series is going to wrap up in a year or so, but it is still very much coming out, and we apologize for suggesting otherwise.

Over at CBR, the stupendously talented Brandon Graham (see above) talks more about how KING CITY went from purgatory at Tokyopop to publishing at Image:

Graham released “King City” Vol. 1 in 2007 through American manga publisher TOKYOPOP, and gained an Eisner nomination for Best Writer/Artist - Humor in 2008. The company planned to follow it up with Vol. 2, only to cancel the release as part of blanket cuts made to their digest-sized American OGN line. To add insult to injury, Graham was already around 130 pages into drawing the book when he found out TOKYOPOP wouldn’t be releasing it, and they weren’t willing to give him back the rights to the property so he could take it somewhere else.

Enter Image Comics. There’s something that sets Image apart from most other contemporary comics companies, according to Graham: they make comics. “They don’t do movies or video games, they just want to publish comics,” Graham said. Image’s “comics first” mentality made them specially-suited to print “King City,” while letting TOKYOPOP hold onto the actual rights to the book.

Hm, now why would Tokyopop have no interest in publishing something that is so valuable that they would never give up the movie rights? Does that make sense?

There is a moral to this story, kids…can you guess what it is????????

PS: The image above is from Graham’s Oni series, MULTIPLE WARHEADS.

Technorati Tags: WORK FOR HIRE IS BAD

A few quick notes on notables things:

§ BOOM! has announced that its line of kids comics will be carried at Disney’s Soda Fountain Studio Store on Hollywood Blvd. BOOM!’s kids line includes books based on the Muppets and Pixar properties. We can’t attest to what the intervening 10 years have meant, but back when we worked at Disney, getting into Disney Stores with comics was always a big deal, so this is a nice way to get comics in front of an audience that has children and some spending money.

§ Brandon Graham’s KING CITY is one of the Tokyopop original GNs that was left unfinished in the downsizing of their OEL/OGM/whatever you want to call it program. However, it is coming back:

The deal is set. Tokyopop and Image comics are putting out my KING CITY book
in twelve 32 page chunks starting on August 19th
It’s going to be printed wider than standard comics size. BIG!
Golden age size. Ivan Brandon’s Viking book just came out the same size I think.

So Image will put out a once manga sized book as a periodical comic and then collect the whole thing again? That’s pretty progressive. While the details of the workings of the deal aren’t known, internet hopes that Becky Cloonan’s EAST COAST RISING will also go this route are high.

§ This is kind of a catchall, but Robot 6 has an excellent list of links to all kinds of e-publishing news. One of them concerns comics selling well on iTunes, and we just happened to make this snapshot tonight of iTunes best selling “Book” apps which includes comics:

Of course we have no idea of what the actual sales numbers on these are, but Twilight and the Bible are very popular in general, so you can see comics are holding their own. STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN’s popularity has been previously noted, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are also in there. So…this thing is happening.

Jeff Katz, sometime comics writer (BOOSTER GOLD) and movie producer (WOLVERINE, SHOOT ‘EM UP) has finally announced his new comics venture, which has been teased since he left Fox last fall. It’s called American Original, and he describes it as a “nerd machine.”

American Original will produce movies, TV shows, Web projects and graphic novels. Katz has inked a deal with Top Cow Prods. — which was behind “Wanted” and vidgame “The Darkness” — to publish the comicbooks.

Company will initially launch two divisions. American Original Press will publish up to 10 comicbook titles per year, with the goal of adapting them as films, TV shows, Web series or games; American Original Entertainment will serve as the production arm.

Ben Austin, a former New Line, Fine Line and Fox staffer, will be director of development.

Well, so far so good…just another comics-to-movies shingle like (fill in the blank)? In an interview at Newsarama with Vaneta Rogers, Katz explains that there will be some differences, which we’ll quote at length:

With American Original, Katz is helping geeks take advantage of their new-found power by borrowing a deal-making structure from Hollywood. In the film industry, it’s common to hear about deals called “first-dollar gross after cash break-even.” In comic books, that kind of deal is non-existent. But according to Katz, that model will be the basis of everything American Original does.

“What that means is, all I have to do is recoup my up-front nut on the print side, be that in print or through an ancillary deal, and those creative talents, once that hits break-even, their corridor kicks in for them for the next, hey, hundred years for all I care. They get to collect a piece of gross. They can sit in their underwear and make money,” he said.

“Through the life of the intellectual property, I make a toy deal, I make a video game deal, I make a movie deal, I make a toothbrush deal – through the life of the IP, they see that property; they get that gross. All I have to do is break even on my initial print run.”

Katz said he also hopes to teach comic book creators how to do all this by themselves. “My ambition is that by the time I’m finished working with these guys, they can tell me to go screw myself because they don’t need me anymore,” he said with a laugh. “It behooves everyone in the system to keep the status quo and keep everything the way it is because you don’t want your talent learning how to fish. I say screw that, because the future is in us learning how to fish for ourselves.”

Katz said that all of entertainment is cutting redundancies, and this new business model is a move in that direction. “The age of conglomerates operating like oil tankers is over. We have to be fleet. We have to be cigarette boats. And I believe that a more stream-lined model can enable that,” he said.

Although this may sound a lot like the typical “creator participation deal,” in effect it’s a bit more like that deal mixed in with the Image deal: once costs are paid, the creator and American Original will share all the money from all deals and revenue streams. And by putting the publisher and production company/agency under one roof you are cutting out a lot of middle men.

HOWEVER, if we’re reading all this PR correctly, AO will “own” the IP, so the Image Central deal is still better in many ways, with the creator getting ALL the revenues after break-even and not a piece. But, for the genre creator who wants to partner with an experienced Hollywood player, it could be an attractive — and lucrative — deal.

As planned for over a year, Dark Horse and Image are joining the ranks of “FOC” publishers at Diamond. Already used by Marvel and DC, “Final Order Cut-Off” allows retailer to raise or lower orders right up until print time in accordance with changing factors, such as increased publicity, or negative reaction to previous issues. Diamond’s PR below:

Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics — including Image Central and Top Cow Productions — have announced that they will implement new Final Order Cut-Off (FOC) programs, effective with products carrying an FOC Date of Thursday, April 23.

“We’re very pleased that two more of our Premier Suppliers have joined the FOC system” said Diamond VP-Marketing & Sales Roger Fletcher. “The change is a welcome one for retailers who rely on FOC to adjust their orders and manage their purchasing and buying decisions in a timely manner.”

The new system allows retailers greater flexibility to increase, decrease and even cancel orders up to the FOC date, which will be Thursdays at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. (The same date/time as other participating publishers.) Product will generally reflect FOC Dates with a 20-day adjustment window, meaning that an item carrying the April 23 FOC Date is scheduled to be on sale Wednesday, May 13.

“We are pleased to announce this move to the FOC,” said Dark Horse Comics President Mike Richardson. “As every comics retailer knows, times are tough. It is important that Dark Horse not only support them with great product, but with our best efforts to make their ordering decisions as easy as possible. This system will help every retailer who orders Dark Horse product and should lead to better business for all of us.”

“We’ve been enthusiastic about implementing FOC for quite some time now,” Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson said. “FOC allows retailers to test the waters with our all of our new projects, whether they’re by seasoned veterans or comics’ newest names with limited risk while still getting all the benefits of supporting a series from the floorboards up.”

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Toby Cypress is one of the most stylish and underrated comics artists around town, and when you peep his blog, you’ll see why. He recently started posting new pages of his long-gestating graphic novel, RODD RACER, and it looks cool as hell.

There’s a bit of news and announcements out this morning from WonderCon. At the Image panel, Erik Larsen talked about Obama and John Layman talked about his new series:

Layman was on hand to talk about his new ongoing title, “Chew,” with artist Rob Guillory.

“’Chew’ is about a federal agent who is able to get psychic impressions from the things he eats,” Layman said. “When there’s a corpse that shows up in the sewers or the garbage dump, he is sent and has to chew on the corpse to figure out what killed them.”

The story is set after a bird flu epidemic has wiped out the poultry population, and the agent actually works for the Food and Drug Administration “keeping you from eating chicken,” Layman said. “Meanwhile he’s solving crimes by eating really, really gross stuff.”

J.K. Parkin also reports this nugget:

Duirng the Q&A, a fan asked about new technologies, and Starkings was quick to pull out his iPhone and show off “Elephantman #1.” He said the Web and iPhone aren’t the future of comics – “they’re already here.” Electronic media aren’t replacing comics, he said, but supplementing them, pointing out that if you were ever stuck in an airport without comics to read, you could always download them via Wi-Fi. He also touted Rantz Hosley’s Longbox initiative, which he said was intuitive to use.

At the BOOM! panel, a new co-publishing deal with Fox Atomic was announced, as well as a new series by Mark Waid, with covers by Paul Pope:

Waid will be following up Irredeemable with a new series, The Unknown. The four issue miniseries will deal with a globetrotting female detective who debunks the paranormal but is lost when confronted with the one mystery she can’t solve, what lies beyond death. Waid, who wasn’t able to attend the panel due to a conflict with Mega Con, calls the book “Doc Savage as written by David Lynch.” Dutch artist Minck Oosterveer is doing the interiors, with covers by the likes of Erik Jones and Paul Pope.

PR on the BOOM!/Fox deal below:

BOOM! Studios announced today that Fox Atomic, a division of 20th Century Fox, has entered into a broad multi-title comic book and graphic novel co-publishing deal that will see the formation of a Fox Atomic Comics imprint at BOOM!.

Titles will cover a vast array of different titles and characters, some very familiar to fans, others being new turns on old favorites, as well as entirely new, original series.

Fox Atomic first made a splash with a series of SpikeTV Award-winning original graphic novels in 2007 including 28 DAYS LATER: THE AFTERMATH, featuring work from 30 DAYS OF NIGHT creator Steve Niles, followed by THE HILLS HAVE EYES: THE BEGINNING written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. A third graphic novel, the International Horror Guild Award-winning THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY was also released, adapting stories from Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award-winner Thomas Ligotti. THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY: VOLUME TWO, the second graphic novel in the series, followed in 2008.

The new Fox Atomic Comics and BOOM! Studios collaboration will see titles serialized as individual single issue comic books before being collected into trade paperback graphic novels available in the direct and mass bookstore markets.

The new venture will see a broad expansion of Fox Atomic’s titles after its previous success. Partners are keeping the specific details of the series under wraps with expectations for further announcements later in the convention season featuring marquee series and high-profile creators.