As reported in a Twitter posting, Marc Bernardin was among those let go at Entertaiment Weekly yesterday, part of a general bloodbath at Time Inc. this week — as many as 500 employees are expected to be let go. Bernardin, who received the news while on vacation, tweeted:

Ladies and gentlemen, my 15-yr tenure at EW has come to an end. It’s been a hell of a ride, one that I’ve not a single regret about taking.

A long-time comics fan, Bernardin was instrumental in getting EW, then an influential media outlet, to start covering comics seriously earlier in the decade, with reviews and news stories. He stopped covering comics when his other career as a comics writer took off — he’s the author of the Highwayman and Monster Attack Network, and with partner Adam Freeman the current writer on The Authority.

As related on his blog, Bernardin seems to have a busy writing slate going on, so we’re sure he’ll be fine, but we wish him well anyway.

ICv2 has a full report on an appearance by internationally acclaimed author Salman Rushdie (shown above with his ex, Padma Lakshmi) proclaiming his interest in writing a graphic novel on the Craig Ferguson Show.

Rushdie answered, “Yeah, and actually I got asked recently if I’d like to write a graphic novel. I was kind of keen on it. When I was a kid I was a real comic book nut. I could tell you a lot about superheroes.”

Rushdie then launched into a discussion of Aquaman and segued into Kryptonite, muffing the difference between Green and Red Kryptonite after bragging that he knew what they were. But he circled back to the graphic novel concept and wrapped up with, “So I’m quite attracted to the idea of a graphic novel. I might have a go.”

Okay we get it…comics are cool now! In theory we like the idea of a Rushdie-penned issue of Red Tornado–especially if it dealt with the inner life of Ma Hunkel–but many of these celebrity comics writers are turning in stuff that is generally inferior in construction to the average Ed Brubaker issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA. So study up, people! Pow! Smash! Writing comics isn’t just for kicks!

§ If all profiles/travelogues were as good as Brian Heater’s account of a trip to Cleveland for Harvey Pekar’s 70th birthday, people wouldn’t wonder about the state of comics journalism.

In five days, Harvey Pekar will turn 70, a fact commemorated by the cake in the center of the room, shaped like a giant doughnut, with a dozen or so donught holes, powdered and glazed, erupting from its center. There will be a toast, too, before it’s all over, a crowd of people squeezed between the comics-covered walls, as the man himself attempts to blow out two candles on the massive white cake. Failing to do this, his wife Joyce happily steps in to put them both out.

With photos and video as well.

Over at TCR, Ng Suat Tong labors mightily and makes the startling and groundbreaking twin discoveries that cartoonists who write use the formal conventions of the comics medium more fluently than writer artist teams and — even more shockingly — that few comics writers are as inventive as Alan Moore and Grant Morrison.

While a number of comic writers claim to revere and admire Alan Moore, few if any have shown any interest in studying or emulating his works. Moore’s influence on comics writing virtually stops short at grimy, gritty realism. To be sure, I’m not asking writers today to develop an imagination on par with Moore’s but there are some skills which can be learned. For instance, his understanding of the formal properties and history of comics, a more complex interplay between text and drawing and the methods by which he layers structures and scripts. It is clear that Rick Veitch in his Swamp Thing run, which followed Moore’s, managed to pick up a number of these lessons and more.

I don’t think either of those particular points is not worth saying, but saying modern comics writers are crappy because they don’t use panel transitions as well as Frank Miller is like saying most people are crappy swimmers because they don’t have 8 gold medals like Michael Phelps. Accurate but not particularly useful.

I’m not sure how useful formalist criticism of comics writing is at this point. I think a lot of today’s hot shots fail because they don’t understand plot, theme and character, not because they don’t understand the proper use of the splash page ending. I think it’s pretty much the biggest given in all sequential art that cartoonists (writer/artists) make overall better comics than team-ups, and use comics as a more transparent transport medium for quality storytelling. (That said, the now-secret pasts of both Brubaker and Bendis as cartoonists is certainly an interesting avenue to explore.)

For what it’s worth, Sean T. Collins didn’t like the essay either. But at least there’s one more good sharp axe around now!

Steven Seagle writes to tell us:

Man of Action Studios, the creative collective of Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, and Steven T. Seagle – creators of the hit BEN 10 franchise and the upcoming GENERATOR REX both for Cartoon Network as well as countless cult comic books will return to booth 2007 at CCI. MOA will be stocked with all of the BEN 10 DVDS as well as a full selection of this year’s new Man Of Action Comics (published through Image). Series artists Marco Cinello (SOUL KISS), Max Fiumara (Four Eyes), as well as Rouleau (The Great Unknown) will be signing – check the booth for schedules. Kelly and Seagle appear Thursday at 4:30 on the panel: Workshop - Creating Creator Owned Comics The Image Comics Way (Room 7A/B). Casey will appear on the Marvel Comics : Dark Reign panel Saturday at 11:30 (Room 6A). Each Man of Action will be announcing a new series at the con and the company is actively seeking artists for a variety of new projects, so bring portfolios by for review.

John Broome Photo by Maureen McTigue	Frank Jacobs

The winners of the award recognizing pioneering comics writers have been announced:

John Broome and Frank Jacobs have been selected to receive the 2009 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The choice made by a blue-ribbon committee chaired by writer-historian Mark Evanier was unanimous.

The Bill Finger Award was instituted in 2005 at the instigation of comic book legend Jerry Robinson.

“Each year, we select two writers who favored us with important, inspirational work that has somehow not quite received its rightful recognition,” Evanier explains. “The idea is that the award may go some distance to rectifying that, and I sure hope this one does. Because no one is more deserving than Frank Jacobs, for his past and current work, and John Broome for the legacy he left behind.”
Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs was the first freelance writer hired by Al Feldstein when he assumed the editorship of MAD magazine in 1957, and his byline continues to appear in MAD more than 50 years later. More than 300 issues have featured his witty satires of movies and TV shows, but he is most famous as the magazine’s poet laureate, filling its pages with his amazing poems and song parodies, many of which have drawn praise from the composers of the works he burlesques. MAD has published numerous original paperbacks of Jacobs’ work, and in 1972 he authored The MAD World of William M. Gaines, the definitive history of MAD and EC Comics.
John Broome
Photo by Maureen McTigue

John Broome began writing for science-fiction pulps in the early forties. When his agent, Julius Schwartz, left agenting to become a comic book editor, Broome followed. From 1946 through 1970, he wrote for DC Comics, mostly for books edited by Schwartz. His work included “The Justice Society of America” and “Detective Chimp,” among other features, but his most notable scripts helped define the Silver Age of Comics with The Flash, Green Lantern, “The Atomic Knights,” and “The Elongated Man.” Broome passed away in 1998, only months after making the only comic book convention appearance of his life: at the 1997 Comic- Con International.

The Bill Finger Award honors the memory of William Finger (1914–1974), who was the first and, some say, most important writer of Batman. Many have called him the “unsung hero” of the character and have hailed his work not only on that iconic figure but on dozens of others, primarily for DC Comics.

In addition to Evanier, the selection committee consists of Charles Kochman (executive editor at Harry N. Abrams, book publisher), comic book writers Kurt Busiek and Tony Isabella, and writer/editor Marv Wolfman.

The 2009 awards are underwritten by Comic-Con International. DC Comics is the major sponsor; supporting sponsors are Comics Buyer’s Guide (CBG) and Heritage Auctions.

The Finger Award is presented under the auspices of Comic-Con International: San Diego and is administered by Jackie Estrada. The awards will be presented during the Eisner Awards ceremony at this summer’s Comic-Con on the evening of Friday, July 24, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

Via Spin

Dwayne McDuffie, the current writer on the regular JLA book, has been removed after he made a long series of comments revealing editorial behind-the-scenes.

In this week’s Dan Didio Q&A, Len Wein has been announced as the writer of future JLA issues, which led folks to wonder what had happened to McDuffie:

8. A reader asked that, with as much as they’ve seen Len Wein writing Justice League, and as much as Dwayne has stated publically that he’s not enjoying writing Justice League, is Dwayne McDuffie still writing Justice League?

DD: As of right now, Len’s the writer of Justice League, and once his arc is done, we’ll be able to announce the new direction for the series.

At his forum, McDuffie answered a fan’s question as to why he had been removed:

Nope, it was my own doing. I was fired when “Lying in the Gutters” ran a compilation of two years or so of my answers to fans’ questions on the DC Comics discussion boards. I’m told my removal had nothing to with either the quality of my work or the level of sales, rather with my revelation of behind-the-scenes creative discussions.

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed, because next summer was planned to feature a JLA-driven crossover, where my book’s story line would have been the driving force. I’m distressed by where I left Black Canary, as my intention was to use the current subplot to strengthen her character and relationships with the new membership, and instead I’m leaving her at the bottom of a hole I’d intended to rebuild her from. I was also just about to get a regular artist for the first time since I’ve been on the book, which would have been nice. That said, I’m sure DC’s going to put together a creative team that will generate major excitement around JLA, which is as it should be.

As for me, I’m still busy story-editing both Ben 10: Alien Force (just nominated for 3 Emmys!) and the upcoming new Ben 10 series “Ben 10: Evolutions.” As far as comic-related stuff, the all-new “Milestone Forever,” is still on track for late this year/early next year, and the Milestone trade paperback program is in full swing, with Static Shock, Icon and Hardware volumes already on the way. I’ve also recently completed a console video game script that I can’t talk about yet, but that will be of interest to anyone reading this thread. I’m currently writing a Direct-To-Video animated feature for Warner Animation, the second of two I’ve taken on this year. Again, I can’t say what they are until they’re officially announced, but they’re likely of interest to superhero fans, and one of them I can’t help looking at as what-could-have-been. You’ll see what I mean.

Okay we get it–don’t cry for McDuffie, he’s busy with his Emmy-nominated TV show, etc., etc., etc.

And what were the offending comments that got him bounced? Johnston did indeed have a looooooong list of candid comments from McDuffie, of which this is representative:

I do get frustrated, but it comes with the job. The nature of monthly comics has changed drastically over the past 20 years. JLA used to be THE place to go to see the big guns together, dealing with the gravest threats in the DCU. Now there are several big event crossovers a year, and those titles are where the huge stories happen. So I have to tell stories that feed into and come out of those events. I’d prefer if, as on Justice League Unlimited, I could tell stories that were at the center of the characters lives, but that was a very different circumstance. JLA the comic is part of a larger patchwork, and my mandate is to support the bigger story of the DCU. I think we could do a much better job of making the comic feel more self-contained while still serving the needs of the DCU, and I’m working on ways to do that, but the truth of the matter is, every three or four months, I have to sort of drop everything and deal with a crossover or other event. In my next arc of 6 issues, there are three of these events (four if you count the Milestone guest shot). That makes JLA integral to the DCU, but it also makes us lurch around more than a bit.

But it all started out so well. Cut back to 2007:

Newsarama: Dan, to start off, you clearly had a wide field of writers to choose from when filling Brad Meltzer’s shoes on Justice League of America - someone who’s an unknown, a traditional, safe pick, another novelist, a screenwriter, a comic book writer…what went into the decision to go with Dwayne?

Dan DiDio: A lot of things went into choosing Dwayne, first of all the choice was made by Eddie Berganza, who’s the editor of the series. He gave me the list of people he wanted to work with, and Dwayne was at the top. I’ve been a fan of Dwayne McDuffie’s writing since his Damage Control days, and was a big fan of all his Milestone material, and everything he’s done in comics, and animation. He’s such a solid writer, and he’s been so busy in animation for so many years that he hasn’t been able to do comics that often. We’d talked over the years, and we’ve never been able to put anything together.

Then he started to come free as his schedule started to open up, and he handled the end of the Firestorm series for us, and quite honestly, I thought his three issues of that series captured the actual essence of the book that I always wanted it to be.

One of the things he does so well is write team books with multiple characters and develop the distinct personalities of each one. He can handle a big cast like very few other writers can, and we figured that he would be the person who knows the characters best who would be able to handle the team really, really well. And his knowledge of the characters isn’t just from the animated series, but also from his knowledge of DC Comics and his past history in comics as well.

He’s one of the best comic writers out there who’s not writing many comics, and I’m glad we’ve got him writing for us right now.

In a way this is a dog-bites-man story. By his own admission, McDuffie was “frustrated” working the DC way; whether because of those frustrations or some other reason, his run on the book wasn’t well-received. McDuffie’s comments weren’t particularly bitter or recriminating, (unlike those of other writers departing various comics companies over the years) just factual statements of this or that. But both Marvel and DC prize discretion and loyalty from freelancers, so ending an unhappy relationship would seem to be the best for both sides.

There are, perhaps, two salient points here; #1, having an alternate source of income (his TV work) left McDuffie free to speak his mind. #2, you understand why people sometimes roll their eyes at all the happy talk interviews these days; the real story is often way more complicated. Not that one side is any more good or evil than the other…it’s just more complicated.

Via his Twitter feed, writer Mark Sable reveals that he was detained for 30 minutes prior to a flight by the TSA after a random search turned up a copy of his script to UNTHINKABLE. In the BOOM! series, a government think tank spends its time thinking up possible terrorist scenarios. Read Twitter backwards!

# Just hope TSA writes a spoiler free review for Unthinkable.9:55 AM May 10th from Tweetie

# My privacy, a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium.9:53 AM May 10th from Tweetie

# I hope the TSA enjoyed the waterboarding in issue 3.At least they know comics aren’t just about superheroes.9:52 AM May 10th from Tweetie

# Nothing like starting the day explaining you’re not a terrorist, but writing about them.9:50 AM May 10th from Tweetie

# Talk about life imitating art imitating life. I ouldn’t make this up if I tried.9:48 AM May 10th from Tweetie

# Wow.Just detained by TSA for over half hour.They read and questioned me about the script for Unthinkable9:41 AM May 10th from Tweetie

More reax in the link.

Everyone is talking about this career-spanning interview with writer/BOOM! EIC Mark Waid at AICN. In a comics media drowning in promotional interviews, the long, in-depth interview is a thing of the past (or a TwoMorrows publication) but this one pulls out the stops, and Waid spells out his version of some of the most colorful comics incidents of the past decade, like…Crossgen:

[Mark Alessi’s] idea of creative guidance was to; quite literally, scream until he was red in the face that there wasn’t enough detail on the page and that he wanted to see every single blade of grass, Goddamnit! He’d punish guys who drew perfectly well without his help by focusing on some detail or another on one of 22 pages–some face that somehow wasn’t exactly what he saw in his head, whatever the hell that was–by berating them at the top of his lungs and then sending them home for the day, “and don’t come back until you can draw it right!” That, people, is art directing at its finest. Despite his inappropriate behavior, which was deservedly notorious, there were some damn good Crossgen books put out–but I swear to you, none of them were issued by Crossgen so much as escaped FROM Crossgen.

And…the Jemas Years at Marvel:

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Along with Joe Quesada, former Marvel publisher Bill Jemas was one of the principle architects of the revitalization of the House of Ideas back at the turn of the century. His tenure led the way to some big successes — like the Ultimate line–and some big flops — remember Marville? He certainly made a strong impression. After leaving Marvel he started his own branding/marketing company 360eps, but what is he up to now? Well, believe it or not, he’s translating the Bible:

Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first written.

His goal is to write an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the Hebrew text than are widely used English translations like the famed King James Version. He already has completed the first chapter, available online and in his book “Genesis Rejuvenated.”

By presenting alternative English definitions for Hebrew words to those chosen by KJV translators in 1611, he hopes that his internet-accessible “Freeware Bible,” as he calls his translation, will show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect.

You can read Mr. Jemas’s Bible translation here. The article goes on to state that although his work is controversial among Bible scholars (given his lack of background in the field) some are finding it worthwhile.

Famed novelist John Updike has died at age 76. Besides winning awards and being one of the best prose stylists of recent American letters, Updike was a friend of comics, having planned to be a cartoonist in his youth, and studied painting for quite a while. Or as Jeet Heer wrote:

Years ago while doing some research at Boston University on the papers of the cartoonist Harold Gray, the creator of the Little Orphan Annie, I came across a fan letter that was unusually eloquent. When I looked at the name of the bottom right hand corner of the type-written page it all became clear: it was a missive sent in 1948 by John Updike, then an aspiring cartoonist, when he was 15 years old. As I got to know Updike’s writing I started to realize that the letter was a simply one thread in a large and comfy biographical quilt. Like almost all American kids of his generation, Updike consumed comics even before he could read, so they were intertwined with his earliest experiences of art. Cartooning appealed to him as a potential vocation and he composed his first fledgling fan letters around 1942, when he was ten. After Updike settled on a literary career, he often returned to comics as a way of giving visual and mnemonic potency to his prose. His most recent writing on cartooning was his review earlier this year in The New Yorker of a much-disputed Charles Schulz biography. (For more on Updike and comics, see the articles I’ve written for the Boston Globe and the Guardian).

Screenwriter Todd Alcott examines the genre:

First, let me make something clear: there is nothing wrong, shameful or second-rate about adolescent fantasies. Adolescent fantasies drive the entire movie business and have for more than a generation. “Grown-up” drama was once where all the money was spent in Hollywood, now it’s the opposite: all the money is spent on adolescent fantasies, while adult drama must squeeze itself in where it can. Adolescent fantasies thus call the shots in this world of professionals — movies based on superhero comics, fantasy novels, children’s books and pop-culture flotsam attract the biggest names, the highest salaries and our brightest talents. No offense to the wonderful movies nominated for Best Picture this year, but the three movies I went to see more than once in the theaters, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda and The Dark Knight, are not on the list. The question here is not “are superhero movies any good?” but “can superhero movies ever be anything but adolescent fantasies?”

Thank God, a NEW controversy! Last week, Bill Willingham penned a piece for Big Hollywood, a newish website dedicated to presenting a more conservative view of the entertainment industry. The piece was entitled: Superheroes: Still Plenty of Super, But Losing Some of the Hero. While admitting his own part in superhero deconstruction back in the day with THE ELEMENTALS (remember Willingham’s fine art for that series?), he feels the right way to go is with a more heroic model of the superhero:

Borrowing some wisdom from the famous parable of the mote in one fellow’s eye, and the whole beam in another’s, it would be the height of hypocrisy for me to make any call for our industry to clean up its act, until I’ve first cleaned up my own. I’ve already made some progress down that road. In my run writing the Robin series (of Batman fame), I made sure both Batman and Robin were portrayed as good, steadfast heroes, with unshakable personal codes and a firm grasp of their mission. I even got to do a story where Robin parachuted into Afghanistan with a group of very patriotic military superheroes on a full-scale, C130 gunship-supported combat mission. And in my short run on the Shadowpact series I kept to the same standard (but with less success as several story details were editorially imposed).

But ’some’ progress isn’t enough. It’s time to make public a decision I’ve already made in private. I’m going to shamelessly steal a line from Rush Limbaugh, who said, concerning a different matter, “Go ahead and have your recession if you insist, but you’ll have to pardon me if I choose not to participate.” And from now on that’s my position on superhero comics. Go ahead and have your Age of Superhero Decadence, if you insist, but you’ll have to pardon me if I no longer choose to participate.

The post brings about a pretty healthy response, but nothing like the comments section at Robot 6 which erupts into an all-out culture war that we hardly dared wade into, although Kurt Busiek seemed all too eager.

After reading the piece, we got the impression that Willingham, being one of the better “Big Two” comics writers out there, is still more interested in telling good stories than trying to serve some absolutist political viewpoint. Or maybe he’s just on the cutting edge, because “grim and gritty” is getting old. Apparently Willingham will be a regular at the site — can you say, boon to blog-kind?

The Gerber Curse is an anonymously written online biography of the famed writer. Three chapters are up and more are planned. It’s fascinating reading, with historical background and analysis of Gerber’s best known works. According to the mysterious author:

The Gerber Curse is a work in progress. As of this writing, there are three chapters covering Steve Gerber’s life and work up to 1978. More information and illustrations may be added to these chapters in the future, or some information may be deleted or altered. There’s still another 30 years to cover. Chapter 4 will deal with Stewart the Rat, Destroyer Duck, Gerber’s work in animation, and his lawsuit (with Destroyer Lawyer in his corner) against Marvel Comics over the ownership of Howard the Duck.

Psychologist William Moulton Marston had a life full of achievements — he helped invent the polygraph test, he created Wonder Woman, and he lived with two women at once! But this book cover would indicate yet one more feat to be proud of: he also wrote lurid novels about Romans — who probably liked a little loving submission now and then, if we interpret those wall paintings in the background correctly.

Thanks to Eric S. for the link!

You’ve got a lot to answer for, Dustin Harbin.

About Comics’s Nat Gertler reports that the collection of You’ll All Be Sorry!, Gail Simone’s epochal humor column from the Golden Age of the Internet, has been delayed…but it will contain much NEW and BONUS material, including 50 all-new Condensed Comics Classics:

You’ll All Be Sorry!, the collection of Gail Simone’s humor columns, is indeed late (the first significantly late book in the 10 years About Comics has been publishing), but it is now complete and printed, and will hit stores in early January. As advertised, it includes some new Gail material — a couple new columns (including “How to Write Comics the Gail Simone Way, with Boobs and Food!”), and a new humorous introduction/column. But those of you who followed Gail’s column may remember the Condensed Comics Classics, where she got various famous comics creators to do very short funny script versions of some of their famous work. And yes, Gail has collected some of those from her columns in this.

But for the book, Gail reached out to her friends, and got more than 50 all-new Condensed Comics Classics, which are scattered through the pages of this book. They are short bits, but the writers include some of the biggest names in comics. Kurt Busiek, Darwyn Cooke, Peter David, George Perez, Adam Hughes, Marv Wolfman, and many more are in here.

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Variety announces that WANTED director Timur Bekmambetov will direct a new version of MOBY DICK , which wouldn’t in and of itself, be of that much interest to a comics blog, except that everyone connected with the movie seems to be rushing to tell Variety that this classic tale of man, marine mammal, vengeance, and destiny is actually almost as good a basis for a movie as a graphic novel!

The writers revere Melville’s original text, but their graphic novel-style version will change the structure. Gone is the first-person narration by the young seaman Ishmael, who observes how Ahab’s obsession with killing the great white whale overwhelms his good judgment as captain.

This change will allow them to depict the whale’s decimation of other ships prior to its encounter with Ahab’s Pequod, and Ahab will be depicted more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive. [snip]

“We wanted to take a graphic novel sensibility to a classic narrative,” said Collage.

Ah yes…that much prized “graphic novel sensibility.” Are the writers unaware that Bill Sienkiewicz already turned Moby Dick into a graphic novel?

…and one that looked pretty damn cool.

Technorati Tags: Herman Melville

§ Geoff Boucher chats with Alan Moore and makes a shocking discovery…Moore doesn’t think much of the upcoming WATCHMEN film!

“Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it’s been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come.”
[snip]
“There are three or four companies now that exist for the sole purpose of creating not comics, but storyboards for films. It may be true that the only reason the comic book industry now exists is for this purpose, to create characters for movies, board games and other types of merchandise. Comics are just a sort of pumpkin patch growing franchises that might be profitable for the ailing movie industry.”

Much more Moore in an excellent piece that covers a lot of territory. It also reminds us that the DVD THE MINDSCAPE OF ALAN MOORE is coming out on the 30th! MTV’s Splash Page even has an exclusive snippet.

Technorati Tags: Alan Moore

If there’s one word we’d use to describe writer Mark Millar, it’s “chipper.” It’s all happening right in front of his eyes and he can’t believe it! Reading his update on the Hollywood status of his WAR HEROES project, you can’t help but see that he’s got it covered!:

I was in London working (and hanging out with some MW buds) over the last couple of days, but War Heroes officially went out to the studios yesterday after a few weeks of informal chats. I woke up to find a cluster of emails from Martin Spencer, my agent at CAA, and my attorney Harris Miller.

The good news? Pretty much all the big guys in town are going in for this and things should really start moving in the next couple of days. Tony and I had a dream director in mind for the project and, weirdly, he was the first email, suggesting he directs if his production company gets their hands on the material. But three genuine heroes are already in the mix for this so I have a feeling we’re going to end up in good hands.

After weeks of informal chats (we wanted to wait until issue two was actually in print and they had either script or full plot for the remaining issues) we’re really going to MOVE now. It’s going to be an exciting few days, I think. As ever, I’ll keep you posted. But this is my last NEW Hollywood thing until the Spring. I’ve pretty much finished all my current commitments and want to get deep into Ultimate Avengers before I start up anything else.

“Pretty much” his last Hollywood commitment….hm, could that leave the door open to more schmoozing and dining and texting and leaving messaging? Whatever it is…it’s exciting!

But…see also…rumors that WAR HEROES is too similar to GRUNTS, another optioned comic about soldiers with superpowers:

Millar describes War Heroes as “Full Metal Jacket meets The X-Men”. The series is “set a couple of years in the future. John McCain has just won the election and the war in the Gulf is getting bigger, so they give the troops superpower pills. That gets all the young American kids signing up to fight the Iraqis.”

Grunts is described as “24 meets the X-Men” with “Tom Clancy on speed” military style action. The pitch: “During World War II, an American squad encounters a German superhuman assault squad and starts a Eugenics Race that carries into present day! “

§ It seems that the Way family boasts not one but TWO comics writers: My Chemical Romance’s Mikey Way is writing a story for DC.

§ Should Chuck Pahlaniuk write comics?

§ Art Brut’s lead singer Eddie Argos takes on the ultimate expression of pop culture: comics blogger.

Is this a trend? Press releases complete with giant photos of Dan Slott holding a copy of SHE-HULK and Mike Siglain standing in front of a boat? It’s all in reference to now-IDW editor Andy Schmidt’s Comics Experience courses.

Comics Experience is pleased to announce that Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man and Avengers: The Initiative) will be teaching the Introduction to Comics Writing course and that DC Comics Editor Michael Siglain (52, JSA, Batman family) will be teaching the Introduction to Comic Book Art course. Both courses start this September.

“After teaching the classes for a little over a year, I was looking to bring something new to Comics Experience. Then it occurred to me to ask, whom would I want to take these classes from? So, I didn’t have to look far to find Dan and Michael,” Comics Experience owner Andy Schmidt said. “Dan Slott, much to my surprise, agreed almost right away and Michael Siglain earned my trust over his past guest appearances. He also has an art background that makes him a better choice for the class than I was!”

Both instructors are following the general guidelines that Schmidt set out but they are also bringing new ideas to the classes. The intention is to make these courses different, but more importantly—better.

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Robert Kirkman took to the bytewaves at CBR yesterday to deliver a video editorial explaining that he left Marvel Comics to save comics. The basic thrust of the piece (once you get past the alarming DELIVERANCE-style banjo picking at the beginning) is that prose writers don’t aspire to write Moby Dick II, so why should comics scribes aim for JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #756? Creator-owned is the way to go.

A comic industry where there are more original comics, so there’s more new ideas, more creator-owned books by totally awesome guys that are selling a ton of books. Those books are mature and complex and appeal to our aging audience that I count myself among who are keeping this business alive. And we also have a revitalized Marvel and DC who are selling comics to a much wider audience than ever before. And that audience, as they age, may get turned on to some awesome creator-owned work eventually. So everyone is happy.

Obviously, given recent discussion of Elvis, Col. Parker, and so on here and elsewhere, Kirkman’s vision of an industry where Marvel and DC satisfy the kids while mature, creator-driven work expands horizons, popularity and licensing opportunities is pretty utopian…but who’s to say we don’t already have the tools in place?

Vintage Grant Morrison in an interview with A. David Lewis at PWCW:

GM: Yeah! Because it’s the obvious, isn’t it? Again, this isn’t a mystical concept, because I’m not a mystical person sometimes. I got into magic to see if it was real. If someone says, “Ok, a demon will appear if you do this spell,” I just say, “Bullshit.” So, I did this spell, and then the demon appeared. So I had to revise my vision of what the world was and how it worked. Again, that’s another element of magic for me, trying to figure out, why do these things happen—what are we doing to our nervous systems to make us believe a demon has entered the room? It became to me about the actual “nuts and bolts” of it, not the fantastic thing or the mystic thing or the names of angels. I became interested in what’s actually going on.

PWCW: But you tried it out, and a demon did appear?

GM: Yeah!

PWCW: Wow.