Welcome to our second edition of SHOOT THE MESSENGER, y’all. I’m Dave Farabee and I’ll here each week to give you guys da goods on the big comic book news of the last week. I piece together this stuff from message boards, blogs, and the big comic news sites - Newsarama, The Pulse, and Comic Book Resources - and my goal’s to distill it all down into minimalist form for quick ‘n’ dirty consumption. Look to the sources for details, come to us for the headlines.
Before we start, a quick correction from our first outing: it seems I incorrectly cited SHE-HULK writer Dan Slott as the source of the quote “We are such whores” in regards to returning SHE-HULK to its original numbering (and thus putting issue 100 within sight). It turns out the quote actually came from Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
AICN regrets the whore-confusion.
On with the news! Don’t forget to click the links!
*Grant Morrison and Jim Lee may be producing a WILDC.A.T.S. relaunch in 2006. News appears to have been inadvertently leaked in the WizardWorld: Chicago biographical write-up for Lee. No confirmation as yet.
*Mike "MADMAN" Allred gets the spotlight in issue 7 of DC's artist-centric title, SOLO. October release.
*October sees Vertigo releasing DOOM PATROL VOL. 3: DOWN PARADISE WAY TP, the third collection of Grant Morrison's DOOM PATROL run. This bodes well for the entirety of the series being collected.
*Lesser-known ‘90s Vertigo series, CHIAROSCURO: THE PRIVATE LIVES OF LEONARDO DA VINCI, gets released as a trade in October.
*A lost Warren Ellis project, DOWN, sees print as a four-issue mini from Top Cow in November. Tony Harris and Cully Hamner draw. Details.
*Batman's war on crime spills into the suburbs in Steve "30 DAYS OF NIGHT" Niles' BATMAN: GOTHAM COUNTY LINE in October. Three issues, prestige format, art by Scott "THE LIFE EATERS" Hampton. Details.
*Eisner-nominated creator Ted “COURTNEY CRUMRIN” Naifeh will write and draw POLLY & THE PIRATES, an all-ages miniseries from Oni Press. Six issues, September release, more details here.
*Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada has had his contract with Marvel extended and will be taking on the additional role of Chief Creative Officer, Publishing. Details
*The announcement of the date of WizardWorld: Atlanta (a new convention, and Wizard’s sixth) has ruffled some feathers, as the date coincides with long-running local convention HeroesCon (currently in its 25th year). Some have interpreted this as the equivalent of a hostile takeover, and a number of pros have stated their intent to boycott WizardWorld: Atlanta. Wizard has since said that the announced con date was unofficial. Details. More details.
*Greg “PHOENIX: ENDSONG” Pak will be writing a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA miniseries in 4th quarter 2005, produced through Dynamic Forces and based on the new series. Details
*Cult ‘80s series MAZE AGENCY returns as a miniseries through IDW Publishing in November. Original creator Mike W. Barr will write.
*Peter David’s creator-owned FALLEN ANGEL, formerly produced through DC, begins its run at IDW Publishing in December.
*IDW Publishing will be releasing a new black-and-white magazine, DOOMED, meant to carry on the horror tradition of ‘70s magazines like CREEPY and EERIE. Retro-tradition to include newsprint paper. Stories to adapt established horror work from writers like Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson. Artists include Ted McKeever, Ashley Wood, and Eduardo Baretto.
*New blaxploitation spoofing to come from comedian Marlon Wayans in the form of SUPER BAD JAMES DYNOMITE. Quarterly series, produced through IDW Publishing, December release.
*Eric “AGE OF BRONZE” Shanower returns to the WIZARD OF OZ comics that put him on the map with ADVENTURES IN OZ in 2006. IDW Publishing.
*Transformers guru Simon Furman will pen a BEAST WARS miniseries for IDW in January.
*Kevin Grevioux, screenwriter of the movie UNDERWORLD, will be creating two new imprints for the publisher Alias. Astounding! Studios will be an all-ages imprint while the imprint Darkstorm will feature titled closer to UNDERWORLD in tone. Details.
*Rob Liefeld looks at youth superheroes gone wild in his new project for Arcade Comics, NITRO GEN. Details.
*Ed “CAPTAIN AMERICA” Brubaker will pen the six-issue miniseries, X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS, in November. Trevor “ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE” Hairsine draws. Details.
*Peter David’s new Marvel ongoing, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, debuts in October.
*Keith Giffen writes the supernatural-themed NICK FURY’S HOWLING COMMANDOS in October. Details.
*Trailer for V FOR VENDETTA movie adaptation.
*Warren Ellis’s Apparat titles, released through publisher Avatar last year, will be collected in a trade in November. Apparat 2 titles are scheduled for early 2006.
*Manga giant Tokyopop continues to expand into original publications featuring American talent. Chuck “U.S. WAR MACHINE” Austen will team with hentai artist Hiroki Otsuka on the baseball manga BOYS OF SUMMER. Becky “DEMO” Cloonan will write and draw the punk pirate manga EAST COAST RISING. Pop “BATGIRL” Mahn will write BLANK, a high school amnesia thriller. Jimmy “HAWKMAN” Palmiotti and Justin Gray will write the kid-heroes manga, ZEROES. Paul “WOLVERINE ENCYCLOPEDIA” Benjamin and Stephen “DEADSHOT” Cummings will write PANTHEON HIGH, described as “Breakfast Club meets Clash of the Titans.”
*Brian K. Vaughan has confirmed that Y: THE LAST MAN will end with issue #60.
*Image will be reprinting early SPAWN issues in new hardcover and trade paperback formats in October. First collection to include issues 1-7 and 11-12.
*Fans of THE WALKING DEAD’s original artist, Tony Moore, can see what he’s been up to in October with the release of Image’s FEAR AGENT. Written by Rick “STRANGE GIRL” Remender, the series follows the adventures of a drunken alien exterminator.
*Image to publish scripts for the first six issues of THE WALKING DEAD in October.
*Reclusive but hugely-influential comics artist Michael “MICRONAUTS” Golden will be tributed in Image Comics’ HEROES & VILLAINS: THE WORLD AND ART OF MICHAEL GOLDEN. 64 pages, October release.
*Marvel is poised to follow the current HOUSE OF M event with a variety of spin-off projects per information excerpted from a recent Marvel e-mail to retailers. The relevant excerpt:
“The core of our publishing plan for the next 18 months springs out of House of M and the events therein. Immediately after House of M finishes, you’ll see a number of projects, storylines, specials and one-shots that deal with the instantaneous ramifications of the climax of House of M while setting the stage for the big event of 2006. Among these projects are:
November
House Of M: The Day After One-shot
Generation M Limited Series
X-Men: Deadly Genesis (30th anniversary of the All-New, All-Different X-Men) Limited Series.
Wolverine #36 begins a year-long story arc, “The Quest,” directly out of the events of HoM
Son of M Limited Series
And in 2006:
New Avengers #15 begins a six-issue arc introducing a major new villain out of the HoM
