Comics

A few days ago, we linked to Scott Morse's sweet poster for the ATP film festival that's being held this November, and suspected more cool old movie posters by cartoonists were forthcoming. Well, just call us Salander, because earlier today, Morse retweeted a link from Criterion to a huge photo of the whole collection, which includes posters by (squinting hard) Kate Beaton, Scott Campbell, Connor Willumsen, Robert Goodin, Jason Latour, Francesco Francavilla and many more. We're trying to get some images of the rest of the flyer, because they look amazing! The whole giant image is in the second link.

Looking to get high today? What If Kirby is a new site devoted to new, detailed, mind-blasting scans of Jack Kirby's artwork, and honestly just a few minutes of browsing sent The Beat tripping into new realms. Purchase of a membership in the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center gives access to the real hard stuff however: even bigger scans.

There's a new Spider-Man franchise underway and it stars young Brit actor Andrew Garfield as the webslinger. But who is this man and will he be able to fill the tights and heavy eyewear of Tobey Maguire and Nicholas Hammond before him? Doing the rounds to promote his new film NEVER LET ME GO, he opened up for the first time about playing Peter Parker, and even if it's just his press agent telling him what to say, as is so often the case these days, Garfield has sold it beautifully:

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' INCOGNITO is back, with a new miniseries, INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES, and of course Phillips has provided a stunning cover for the first issue. The book is on sale on October 6.

Via Superitch, an example of Canada's WWII comics efforts, in the shape of a complete Johnny Canuck story. We would give a lot to have a larger image of this cover, but alas, the internet has failed us. THAT'S how special Johnny Canuck is.

A couple of quotes from Warren Ellis were making the Twitter rounds this weekend. This one, from 2000 (!), is from Ellis' column for CBR, and concerns the fine art of writing a comic book pitch:

An epic of the Aughts.

The following is a selection of new titles due to be published in September 2010.

There is no particular order to the titles presented below.

This list is not comprehensive, as there are over 275 graphic novel titles scheduled for this month. If you would like to browse them at your leisure, click here. Instead, I have selected titles which caught my interest. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore. Please be advised that publication dates are not set in stone. Also, your local comics shop might receive copies before your local neighborhood website or library. Links connected to publishers will link to the publisher's website, sometimes to the exact title. Links for the ISBN-13 (also known as the Bookland EAN) will take you to the title as featured on BarnesAndNoble.com . I consider my tastes to be rather eclectic. If you feel I've neglected or slighted a title, publisher, or creator, please feel free to mention it in the comments below.

Monthly lists such as this will be posted at the end of the previous month. I will also be posting specific subject lists (comic strips, comics history and surveys, superheroes...) for each season, but these will not have a set schedule.

So Darwyn Cooke got caught on video saying that superhero comics should "...stop catering to the perverted needs of forty-five-year-old men." He called out rape, children being forced to eat rats, explicit sex, foul language, and a lack of new characters. And now some people are getting upset. Oh come on, like you've never thought any of that. Unfortunately the whole thing got derailed by his swipe at turning Batwoman into a lesbian, which came off as rather homophobic to some. Personally, I have to admit, I read it more as the character continuity issue of a man who likes his Bronze and Silver Age comics, which is somewhat humorous, given that he's complaining about comics being ruled by the whims of forty-somethings, but he is large, he contains multitudes. (To which I say, Darwyn, it wasn't "overnight". She may have been around since 1956, but she hadn't made any significant appearances since Crisis on Infinite Earths which basically changed everything. SEE? I can be as big of a geek as you are.) So let's break this down from the point of view of someone who is not forty five or male -- me.

We've done it! Jim Woodring's giant steel dip pen -- to be used for drawing demonstrations and healing the lame -- has been funded! Plans are underway, and Woodring has moves to the next phase: How The Giant Pen Will Work.

With BOOM!'s DARKWING DUCK comics doing well for the '90s nostalgia crowd, was it only a matter of time before they brought back RESCUE RANGERS, as well? Absolutely. Imagining chipmunk terrorists Chip and Dale as bold adventurers, with the addition of rodent heroes Monterey Jack, Gadget and Zipper the Housefly, the Rescue Rangers were another staple of the Disney Afternoon and a favorite of furry fans everywhere. Ian Brill is back as writer, with Leonel Castellani as artist.

There can be only 12 regenerations of Doctors, so, the 13th Doctor will be the the final one in the Doctor Who universe. A...