Comics

Valiant is releasing some teaser images for its relaunch this summer, and here's X-O MANOWAR.

This interview with Young Justice Lead Character Designer Phil Bourassa has a few clues if you want to connect the dots. Early in he explains his intro to the world of animation:

It's been a while since we saw a new batch of cartoonist-inspired covers for Penguin Graphic Classics editions, all designed by Paul Buckley. But here you go. Mike Mignola on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (which was adapted as APOCALYPSE NOW, for those who came in late).

Just to finish our "digital news Monday," Marvel's recently teased "Infinite" something-or-other will be revealed this Saturday as part of SXSWi's Screenburn video game conference. Despite the gaming setting, it's expected this will have something to do with digital comics, as indicated by the panel description:

Twin press releases today that Dark Horse's digital comics offering are coming to B&N's Nook and the Kobo Vox, a lesser known but respected platform. Popular titles like MASS EFFECT,HELLBOY, STAR WARS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SERENITY, and SIN CITY will all be available for both platforms. DH was already on their own store and via various Apple platforms.

While they haven't reached Marvel's level of reformatting their trades, DC does release a dizzying array of formats for their classics, from the Absolutes to the omnibus to the deluxe and...even more. (We're actually starting a column on reprints this week to make some sense of it all.) But it seems an upcoming new edition of BATMAN: YEAR ONE, the Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli classic, isn't the one you should be giving permanent home to on your shelf. The Comics Journal has the scoop.

The DCU is getting a new look for Shazam, and the New York Post has the first glimpse. Once known as Captain Marvel and The Big Red Cheese, he's now officially Shazam, and a backup strip in JUSTICE LEAGUE by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank debuts in JL #7 later this month. Based on the new art and focus, this Shazam seems to be trading in his old crew of a talking tiger and cute bunny for a different crowd—say, Hellblazer and the Phantom Stranger.

According to this posting on the Source, DC collections are adding LoC information and will be added to the library's holdings. The Library of Congress has a few other comics connections of late, including an SPX collection, so the place of comics in the nation's greatest library is clearly growing.

Since debuting in 2009, Comixology has sold more than 50 million comics, CEO David Steinberger told ICv2. 5 million of those came in December alone. That's 1.4 millino less than the 6.4 million comics sold in the same period, ICv2 notes. However, a significant portion of the digital comics were free, so it's not a direct comparison.

This sketch by Frank Quitely has been making the rounds...and why not?:

With all the chaos and hype going on today, it sometimes comes to pass that not all good books get the attention they deserve. Here's a quick rundown of things you might not be picking up that are worthwhile. (I'm assuming you've already had someone nagging you to pick up Mark Waid's Daredevil run, so we won't get into that here.)

The CBLDF is offering this swell poster for THE MASSIVE by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson as member thank you. BUT ONLY THIS WEEKEND! So hurry if u want to get this charmingly model kit-evoking poster.