Comics

Fresh off his success with his self-published SACRIFICE -- already sold out and a second printing on the way -- Sam Humphries has a gig writing JOHN CARTER: THE GODS OF MARS for Marvel, an all-ages five-issue miniseries which is apparently based on the second Mars novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The art is by Ramon Perez, fresh off TALE OF SAND, his Jim Henson adaptation for Archaia. This is a team we can get behind! The cover is by Julian Totino Tedesco   "Gods of Mars is going to be a blast -- tons of action and intrigue in a fantastic environment,” said Humphries. “From Landridge and Andrade to Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, there's an impressive foundation of awesome John Carter stories to build on. Combined with Marvel having the most exciting comics going on right now, and most talented editors in the industry – I can't wait to get myself to Mars."

As the comics market has gotten a lot dicier In This Economy, a few smaller companies have become a bit harder to spot in the forest. Companies like Moonstone, the long-running pulp-themed publisher of such things as KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, BUCKAROO BANZAI, and so on. In recent year they have been best known for putting out a bunch of pulp heroes now published by Dynamite, such as The Spider and so on. Things have been pretty quiet on the Moonstone front of late -- publishing small indie comics periodicals seems like a supersonic journey to insolvency and industry scuttlebutt around Moonstone hasn't been exactly robust. But Moonstone is still around -- here are their April releases, both collections and both Buckaroo Banzai-themed. Guess that cult film has found its afterlife in the comics, with the participation of auteur W.D. Richter a big bonus.

Image Expo, the February show that both fills the Northern California comic-con slot and gives Image a place to publicly celebrate their 20th anniversary, has announced more guests, including Blair Butler, Kevin Mellon, John Layman, Rob Guillory, and Nick Spencer. In addition, Jennifer de Guzman interviewed the principals for PW Comics World:

Add another art all-star to the new DHP lineup: Francesco Francavilla is drawing a three part BLACK BEETLE story that will start in issues #11 in April. Black Beetle is Francavilla's own pulp tribute character, previously published online and in a scarce ashcan. ANd as you can see from the art, it's a perfect fit for Franvavilla's retro style.

South African cartoonist Zapiro is famous for his sharply observant cartooning and also for standing up to constant and onerous political pressures because of his observations. Most famously he was sued by the Prime Minister of South Africa for defamation—but as this profile at PEN.org shows, he's always been at the center of controversy reserved for those who tell the truth.

Marc-Oliver can tell you how the actual sales levels of the DC relaunch are, but let's take a look at a slightly different metric: how do the relative popularity of the "New 52" compare to the way that retailers initially ordered them? With November's sales estimates, we see orders where the retailers had a chance to see how the #1's moved and potentially the #2's in some cases, before the cutoff dates for adjusting orders.

As they say, if we were in Berlin, we'd go to this. Maybe. We have no idea what it is but the invite was too cool not to post. Erik Mark Sandberg is actually an American artist, based in LA, who has exhibited worldwide. He's best known for his images of hairy children mixed with startling pop culture tableaux.

Following in the footsteps of Sergio Aragones and Darwyn Cooke, Jim Lee will provide the art for next year's commemorative Free Comic Book Day t-shirt, with an homage to the JLA and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. The shirt will be on sale in comic shops on April 11, in advance of Free Comic Book Day on May 5, but can be preordered via the January Previews.

Here's a peek at the cover to issue #7 of Dynamite's Patricia Briggs adaptation by Jenny Frison.

Well now, comiXology took one step toward becoming the next Diamond as IDW is now powering its stores via comiXology. IDW, always considered one of the most aggressive companies in terms of digital, also announced they will be fully day and date —at full cover price. IDW had formerly used iVerse to power their standalone stores for series like GI Joe, Transformers and Ben Templesmith, so this is quite a switch.

Dynamite has provided us with the cover to the third part of their Charlaine Harris adaptation, by Benoit Springer.

Like the novels, the comics adaptation of WHEEL OF TIME rolls on and on. Here's a first look at the cover to issue #23 by Andie Tong.