Comics

By Todd Allen To say that the original Black Kiss comic was controversial when it came out was something of an understatement.  Howard Chaykin spent the '80s...

Artist on multiple Marvel books including Amazing Spider-Man and the relaunch of Daredevil, Paolo Rivera has announced that he will be stepping away from his Marvel exclusive after 10 years of service.

The nominees for this year's Russ Manning Award—a sort of "most promising newcomer" for artists—have been announced and they are:

Last week, we told you about the webcomic, The Oatmeal getting sued for defamation and The Oatmeal's hilarious response. I was also wondering what the response of the lawyer filing the suit was going to be. He's suing the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Foundation. Oh, yes. This just got even stranger and it's making some waves in legal circles.

Okay, so as the world has just noticed, in LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: Century 2009 we finally see Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's multiverse spanning pop culture adventure reach the current day (or close to it) and since the current day isn't in the public domain, there's good old-fashioned satire in the tradition of about 8000 previous books. The Independent's Laura Sneddon has the lowdown:

THOR 2 filming begins in August.

The occasion of ASTONISHING X-MEN's same-sex wedding has also seen several parties and receptions at various comics shops across the nation, including Zeus Comics, which held a bachelor party last week. But Midtown Comics is going all the way by hosting two actual same sex weddings this Wednesday, with a reception taking place at the Eventi Hotel. Two couples—Scott Everhart and Jason Welker, and Khris Wilson and Chris Orme—will be tying the knot. Both events are private but people are being encouraged to take photos outside, as the shop will be opening late due to the nuptials.

Meanwhile, what is going on over at the Billy Ireland collection of comics and cartoon art? Oh just some doodles by Playboy/New Yorker cartoonistEldon Dedini like this one of painter Diego Rivera. Dedini donated his art archives to the collection before his death.

The Beat salutes the secret superheroes, fathers!

If you're going to have a Star Trek: The Next Generation comic, there's a very short list of people who would be more authoritative to write it than Brannan Braga. The only other name that pops into my mind is Ronald D. Moore. IDW has tapped Braga to write Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive, which is being promoted as "the final chapter in The Borg saga."

A couple months back, Dynamite starting publishing new adventures of two classic pulp magazine heroes: The Shadow and The Spider. Both characters have seen comic adaptions over the years, particularly The Shadow. With a couple month elapsed, its time to step back and see how these characters that predate comic book superheroes (and influenced the creation of Batman) are holding up.

On today's list of Birthday Honours, writer Grant Morrison has been awarded an MBE for his services to Batman.