Comics

Disney has made it official: The CAPTAIN AMERICA sequel will bow April 4, 2014. Chris Evans will reprise his role from CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and THE AVENGERS. The second installment will pick up right where THE AVENGERS leaves off, as Steve Rogers struggles to find his place in the modern world while working with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.

And so the orphan comics begin...one of the three most prominent comics reading apps is getting out of the app business, as Graphicly has just announced they're focusing on transitioning all kinds of material— not just comics—into ebook format for tablets. You can read the whole announcement below, but basically all of the books your purchased through Graphicly apps will still be readable—you just won't be able to download the apps any more. That leaves comiXology and iVerse in the comics app business...for now. Ebooks are a huge and growing market and lots of print publishers are trying to get their products into the new platforms. Graphicly has been moving more and more into offering self-authoring tools, so it all seems like a natural progression. And where does this leave such comics-centric acquisitions as iFanboy? Developing...

Frank Milller! David Mazzucchelli! IDW! Artist's Edition!

–The panelists of Mythic Fiction in Comics included Bill Willingham, Kurt Busiek, Chris Roberson, Matt Wagner, and Dark Horse editor Rachel Edidin and they all agreed that superhero comics were a dying genre. They also all thought that it would be beneficial for everyone to allow the characters to lapse into public domain.

—Quoted by Matt Funk

Marvel has released a reminder about tomorrow night's Avengers vs X-Men launch parties....and here it is:

The internet is crossing international lines! Or at least it is with 2000 AD, the essential UK anthology, which will soon be available digitally only 2 days after it hits UK newsstands. Not quite day and date but better than the two weeks it takes physical copies to get to the US. Copies can be purchased at 2000 AD's own store; subscriptions can be purchased via Clickwheel. In addition, 2000 AD publisher Rebellion is working on their own digital comics platform for later this year.

We were just warming up to mention Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey Wells' new Kickstarter campaign for their webcomic SKIN HORSE....but it already achieved its goals in a mere 12 hours! But more money means more premiums, so consider pledging on.

BOOM! Studios has reaffirmed their exclusivity with Diamond to comics shops throughout the world, according to this morning's press release. Boom! has experimented with other distributors in the past — such as a brief affair with Haven for second printings—but Haven went away so...back to Diamond. Boom! also had distribution deals with Simon and Schuster for bookstores and backlist, but that may have run out.

MAD Magazine now has its own iPad app; the laffer launched yesterday on Alfred E. Neuman's birthday. The app is free to download but you can purchase individual issues through it for $4.99, or back issues for $1.99, or subscribe for $1.99 per issue or just pay an annual fee of $9.99 upfront. If you're a print subscriber you get the digital sub for free. All in all, there's bound to be a good deal there. The e-mag will include all the print material with added interactive elements.

Emerald City was mostly Marvel and DC lite, so the announcements are very indie/creator focused. And here they are, with a corresponding Pants Peeing Index ®, as in how likely this news is to make you pee your pants in excitement on a scale of 1-5.

Grant Morrison will present Mxyzptlk as a Kryptonian God of Chaos, in direct contrast to Brainiac, a God of Order. Both will battle across multiple dimensions (as hypothesized by String Theory), forming the "brane" of his long-awaited "Multiversity" epic.

All of you Scott Pilgrim fans, here's a whole new edition to purchase and display with pride—a reprint of the one that started it all, SCOTT PILGRIM'S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE, in full color by Nathan Fairbairn, in a deluxe 6x9 hardcover. AND a new cover! The news was announced at tonight's spotlight on creator Bryan Lee O'Malley at ECCC.