Comics

Fight! Marvel is releasing a series of teasers for Avengers vs X-Men, the big slugfest for 2012, and we're pleased to EXCLUSIVELY present this one by the great Alan Davis .

The biggest superhero brawl in the history of the Marvel Universe begins this April in Avengers Vs. X-Men #1!   Which team will reign supreme? Join the conversation on Twitter with #AvX!

For the moment, it looks like the rumor mill was wrong on the Bat-book backups being linked. At least if they are, it in't in an obvious way. DC has announced the backup in Detective Comics will be a 10-page feature about Harvey Dent, A.K.A. Two-Face. Since this is going to highlight Dent's history, I suppose it's possible the Court of Owls (the backup in Batman) will pop up in Dent's past, but that's not the first thing that comes to mind.

National Cartoonists Society president Tom Richmond announces a major, inevitable evolution of the comic strip with a new webcomics division for the Reuben Awards. The Reubens have traditionally honored the best in comic strips and illustration -- two artforms now mostly associated with Mad Men-era martinis and horn rim glasses on the "up to date" scale. Richmond's post has all the salient background info but here are the guidelines and the screening committee:

All little girls love horses, and Lisa Hanawalt is representing for all with War Horse: An Illustrated Review. 100% good.

From the moment Disney purchased Marvel, people were drawing a line between their Disney XD channel -- an attempt to lure more of the lucrative audience of young boys -- and the Marvel characters. Marvel animation has been running non-stop on the cable channel ever since, but in April, the Marvel Universe programming block will roll out with the new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon as the tentpole. Produced by Man of Action — Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven Seagle—the creators behind Ben 10 and Generator Rex, with input from Jeph Loeb,joe Quesada and Brian Michael Bendis, the show does not lack for comic book bonafides. Plus, it's got JK Simmons reprising his lifetime role as J. Jonah Jameson. Soundboard that.

Before we get into the Bat-office's announcements, it has come to my attention that Detective Comics #1 has made the December Top 300 List for Diamond. When #4 is coming out, #1 is still charting? With an index of 3.01, that means Detective #1 sold about 3% of Batman #4. Figure Batman #4 is selling roughly 140-150K, then Detective #1 probably had ~4200-4500 copies order THREE MONTHS after it debuted, if my rough math holds up. I know Animal Man is the fashionable pick for surprise title, but it seems like a lot of people are jumping on the Detective band wagon after the fact. Tony Daniel seems to have hit a nerve.

This interview with Chris Onstad about his hiatus from ACHEWOOD could almost have come under our previous belt-tightening post.

Over at FLOG, they have released the back cover for Jaime Hernandez's God & Science: Return of the Ti-Girls, a collection of the story from the first two issues of LOVE AND ROCKETS: NEW STORIES VOLS. 1 AND 2. While Jaime's story from volumes 3 and 4 "The Love Bunglers" has rightfully been held up as one of the greatest comics of all times, for a lighter course, this might be a suitable choice. We can't help but think that all of the people calling for great superhero stories featuring women will find Ti-Girls a masterpiece, as well, an entire superhero universe made up of nothing but superheroines of various shapes and sizes.

Over at Newsarama, Vaneta Rogers gets some new information out of DC's dynamic press junket duo of John Rood and Bob Wayne. It seems that "holding the line at $2.99" is getting a more politically nuanced definition. Batman and Detective Comics will both be making the jump to $3.99 and getting a few more pages.

Today marks Charles Addams' 100th birthday, so we, along with Google, celebrate this influential cartoonist!

After announcing Batman: Earth One, DC follows up by announcing the second volume of the JMS/Shane Davis Superman: Earth One graphic novel series. The first volume of this Superman reboot sold VERY well and made a strong case for original graphic novels in the superhero genre. (As opposed to Vertigo's Sandman and Fables offerings.) While the Batman volume appears to be set for July, no date seems to be released for Superman:Earth One. Volume 1 was released in November 2010, so it would make sense if this were another late fall/holiday gift release.

Due to a computer glitch we had a corrupted file for the cover to Zak Sally's SAMMY THE MOUSE collection up in a previous post, so for your viewing pleasure here's the real deal. If you missed the news, Sally is collecting the three Ignatz issues of his dark strip for a 104-page trade which he funded on Kickstarter. The book will be out in March and yes -- he used that amazing printing press in his garage to print it himself. He hopes for a second collection later this year.