Comics

Okay this might just be the coolest comics-related promo of the year. Aardman Films, the claymation studio behind Wallace and Gromit, has made a promo piece for the DC Nation cartoon block debuting on the Cartoon Network later this year. It takes a conceit first used on their breakthrough film, CREATURE COMFORTS, which animated zoo goers comments on what the zoo animals might be thinking. In this case, they take kid's voicing various DC superheroes. The result is charming and fresh. If DC Nation has anything this good we're in for a treat.

Two is a trend! Oni Press has just announced a new logo replacing the Dave Gibbons-designed original. The new logo was designed by Oni Press art director Keith A. Wood and will first appear on THE SECRET HISTORY OF D.B. COOPER, which comes out in March.

The ugly legal battle between Archie Comics co-CEO's Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit has escalated in recent weeks with new legal filings. And now a judge has banned Silberkleit from going anywhere near Archie's offices or contacting any of the employees.

One of the questions you ask when you hear about a new Shadow comic is "what kind of take are they doing?" Another is "how serious will it be?" And then there's "how faithful is it to the source material?" As it happens, I've had a chance to read the script for The Shadow #1. I can't speak to Aaron Campbell's art -- I haven't seen that yet. I can, however, tell you what the tone and the take are going to be.

Artists Jim Rugg and Benjamin Marra have gone spelunking on the internet and discovered a fellow named Jason Karns, whose art is violent, sexualized, and mind bogglingly lively in that post-Al Feldstein/Mars Attacks/Dario Agento/Herschell Gordon Lewis way. Karns is interviewed at TCJ and here's his blog -- WARNING VERY VERY NSFW -- which previews his flagship title: FUKITOR.

With Marvel's April solicitations up, we can now declare crossover season upon us. AVX (Avengers vs. X-Men, if you prefer) has been announced. Axel and Tom have talked about keeping it in the core books. Let's see how many titles that entails in April.

Who the heck is Afu Chan? He drew a story in SPERA, the fantasy anthology by Josh Tierney that also sports art by Kyla Vanderklugt, Hwei, and Emily Carroll, and was published by Archaia. But a glance at his Deviant Art page reveals an illustrator very much in the modern, pan-comics Moebius-inspired vein, but with violent, pastel brawls breaking out all over the place.

Starting with yesterday's highly corporate We Can Be Heroes press conference, DC Comics/Entertainment has been rolling out its new logo. It's seen briefly at the end of the WCBH video—but not in the eagerly awaited animated form, alas.

New manga! Fast cars! Sexy women (and men)! Nazis! Cats! Rock 'n' Roll! Murder!

In comics, were one privy to what goes on in the editorial suite, you could probably do "The Hour In Creative Differences," not "The Week." That said, there have been a couple cases of creative differences that have bubbled to the surface in the last week or so: the circumstances of how John Rozum came to leave Static Shock and the demise of The Infinite from Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld.

Over the holidays we kept referring to that day in the late '90s when everyone got a modem* for Christmas, and the next day you could barely get AOL on dial-up because it was so busy as everyone tried out their new toy. That was what we predicted for Boxing Day as far as tablets go. And sure enough, ownership has doubled over the last month, to the tune of 1 in 3 Americans now owning some kind of tablet.

Okay so that Allie McAmazon version of Wonder Woman didn't work out as a TV pilot. Despite being re-elevated to Trinity Status as one of DC's big three, Wonder Woman is still languishing in the development purgatory that so many DC characters seem to swim around in. But how's this for an electrifying concept for Diana: a film directed by DRIVE's kinetic stylist Nicholas Winding Refn and starring-MMA fighter-turned-actor Gina Carrano. Wow, now didn't that make you jump up and shout "2012!" Refn's movie was a great character piece, a twisted noir view of LA, a hipster retro fest, AND an edge of your seat action film. All traits that could make an amazing comic book adaptation.