Comics

I've been raving about all the great comics art that was up at the Society of Illustrators during April for the MoCCA fest, but they're not stopping with Alt.Comix, Little Nemo and Craig Yoe. The new exhibit is a show of Hugo Pratt art. The creator of Corto Maltese is one of the all time great comics illustrators and this sounds like a must see. The show runs until June 13th, so get on down!

You know what I was thinking the other day? I wish there were more movies about superheroes. It would be nice to go to...

Movie #2 in a series is often bigger than #1—Aliens, Catching Fire, Despicable Me 2, Spider-Man 2, Terminator 2 etc etc etc. Avengers was...

Avengers: Age of Ultron launches the Summer movie season on May 1st, but before that the Marvel synergy machine rolls out across every facet...

The intergalactic monkey-knife-fight known as Convergence continues with issue three.

The Oscar winner joins in an undisclosed role

Little girls like superheroes! At least that's what WB's hopes with a while new universe created just for girls aged 6-12. As announced in a news blast the new line will come with heavy hitting partners, including Mattel, which will launch its first ever action figures for girls, Random House and Lego. Dolls for girls! Inconceivable! While the news is a stunner for the long boy-focused DC Entertainment line, with the swift evolution of comics to a co-ed undertaking, it's only good business. Plus, if you hang around Disney long enough you'll notice two things: #1 girl-based licensing programs like Disney Princesses make billions of dollars. #2 people like superheroes. Put em both together and you MIGHT have a winner.

What is Dynamite's announcement for today? A Red Sonja one shot reuniting talents from her run since her 1973 debut, including Roy Thomas, Gail Simone, Luke Lieberman, and Eric Trautmann, along with writer Cullen Bunn and artists Dave Acosta and Rich Buckler. Because when it's a character's 42nd birthday, it's time to celebrate with classic brokeback. Here's a startling fact: Although most often associated with the Conan the Barbarian oeuvre, Red Sonja, as "The She-Devil with a Sword" was actually created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in an issue of Conan. The character was based on a short story by Conan creator Robert E. Howard called "The Shadow of the Vulture" that featured a character called red Sonya of Rogatine. It was Thomas who figured out how to add her to the Conan mythos.

Canada's Koyama Press continues to present a lively slate of boundary-pushing work, and this fall they are putting out their biggest line ever, including two books by Michael DeForge, new books by Jane Mai, Cole Closser and some newcomers, a kid's book and a revamped version of Julia Wertz's Drinking at the Movies. I expect one of the most interesting will be Robin Nishio's Wailed which follows "a group of friends who also happen to be the vanguard of alternative comics making." And you thought The Sponsor was shattering! All the details below:

A second season of Daredevil appears to be in the cards, though its original showrunner won't be returning.

A month or so ago, Oni Press announced that they would start taking Open Submission for new series. This essentially means that ANYONE can send them a comic pitch and someone will eventually look at it. Not too much else was discussed, but it certainly caused a buzz. Today, Oni Press posted their submission guidelines for their first wave and the date when people can let loose the floodgates.

The Fresh Romance Kickstarter campaign is in its final hours but it's already made nows. Not only is it well over 150% funded, but editor/publisher Janelle Asselin's plan to bring back romance comics in a contemporary guise with Rosy Books has definitely struck a nerve. As the last few hours count down, we caught up with Asselin for a quick check in on how the campaign got going and how she prepared for such a time consuming but ultimately successful task. And as a bonus, here's a look at the story from Sarah Vaughn (ALEX + ADA) and Sarah Winifred Searle (SMUT PEDDLER) about a couple headed to the altar for all the wrong reasons.