Comics

I just got off the phone with Michael Murphey from iVerse Media, and the real details about Diamond's digital comics distribution program bear minimal resemblance to how this was initially portrayed by early accounts from the ComicsPro meeting. Moreover, and this will be the first time I've said this about a Diamond Digital project, it seems like a very reasonable plan.

IDW has hired a new marketing and PR person, namely John Schork, who has joined the company as Associate Manager, Marketing and Public Relations. The position opened up when AnnaMaria White left to start her own PR company. Schork was formerly an assistant editor at Dark Horse. In his new position he'll work with IDW's Director of Marketing Dirk Wood and Marketing Coordinator Chloe Zuanich on industry outreach and social media.

Uh, uh, looks like maybe Dynamite should have entitled its Barsoomian comics "Master of the Male Wedgie" and not Dejah Thoris and so on, because ERB, Inc., the family-owned corporation which controls existing trademarks to the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, is suing Dynamite, Dynamic Forces, and Savage Tales Entertainment for trademark infringement and unfair competition over Dynamite's publication of books entitled "Lord of the Jungle," "Warlord of Mars," "Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris", and "Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom" based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs originals.

It's a story of twists and turns as only a 9-7 season can be, but perhaps the most incredible thing about this online graphic novel chronicling the New York Giants' championship season is that it is being created by someone known as Chris in Philly. Preferring to remain anonymous—surely because his fellow Philadelphians would egg bomb his house if they knew about it—Chris is using Photoshopped archival materials to tell the exciting story of how Eli Manning led his team to a Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots. It's a classic story of the underdog coming out on top.

James Kochalka has a new tumblr called KOCHALKALAND and it includes doodles and noodles in the Tumblr way, such as the above piece of art for an iPad sequel to Kochalka's video game Glorkian Warrior. The sequel is called Glorkbot’s Mini Adventure, for iPad and other platforms. The game is being developed by Kochalka and Pixeljam.

As a tribute, of sorts, to the deceased musician everyone has been mourning this week, Top Shelf has posted I Think About Whitney by Liv Strömquist. It was originally published in 2010 and collected in the Top Shelf/Galago anthology FROM THE SHADOW OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, vol 2.

So let me get this straight; comics pirates have been tapping directly into Marvel's servers to get the pristine digital copiesthat they post like clockwork every Wednesday?

Sam Humphries is going to the ultimate ultimate with ULTIMATE COMICS: ULTIMATES. We are really just posting this as a shout out to long time Beat pal Sam Humphries, who will be co-writing the book with Jonathan Hickman starting with issue #10; Luke Ross is the interior artist. Humphries has been at the writing game for a few years, but he's finally about to blow up, with a ton of new assignments.

The Madeleine L'Engle classic gets a new look in this adorable comic.

Dynamite has passed along the covers to GAME OF THRONES #6 and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files FOOL MOON #3. Both issues go on sale in May.

Although we're used to those strategic "print run sellout" press releases coming from publishers at a steady clip, it's less often that comics publishers tout topping the BookScan sales chart, which tracks sales in bookstores, and other non DM outlets, for the week. However, Dark Horse notes that Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Promise Part 1 "soared" to the top of the BookScan chart last week. This is the Gene Luen Yang-penned bridging story between the popular TV show and the eagerly awaited sequel, Legend of Korra. The art is by the Japanese team Gurihiru.

With The Shadow already scheduled Dynamite is now scheduling their second pulp adaptation, The Spider. The Spider was effectively The Shadow's nastier little brother. Originally created to tap into the popularity of the Shadow's pulp magazine, The Spider amped up the Shadow's format: more violent, more lurid, wider-ranging schemes from the villains, more outright "weirdness" in the "Weird Tales" sense of "weird." The other major difference was that The Spider had a more streamlined backstory: only one identity and a much smaller circle of sidekicks/assistance.