Comics

Richard Starkings' ELEPHANTMEN is a real warhorse for Image Comics, featuring kick-ass art and an intricate story. In March there's a special jumping on point and here are a few mages of art by Axel Medellin.

Problem solved! ComiXology, the leading digital comics provider, is going to let brick and mortar comics shops set up affiliate storefronts on their sites, building on comiXology's existing programs for retailers, such as digital pull lists and so on. Prominent retailer Chris Powell explains, “Having seen comiXology’s Retailer Tools and Pull List services, we trust comiXology’s technology to help us thrive in a market where customers are interested in both print and digital comics.  ComiXology will help us provide the one-stop shopping that customers are looking for.  Digital comics can be a great tool for reaching out to new or lapsed customers, and retailers should not be afraid of this new format.  Instead, they should look for ways to make the digital format complement their existing print business."

An astonishing icepunk adventure by the great French cartoonist Jacques Tardi is coming in March from Fantagraphics. It looks incredible.

It was only the golden age of last week that Marvel and ComicsPRO, the organization for comics retailers, announced a special promotion for FORMIC WARS #1: ComicsPRO member stores would be able to release the issue on TUESDAY, 2/15, instead of the customary Wednesday.

As more folks start off their year with funding announcements, Graphicly has just announced that they have received $3 million in VC via various...

Before there was JOE THE BARBARIAN, there was Sean Murphy's OFF ROAD, the story of some guys on a weekend trip that becomes, by turns, confessional and dangerous. Kind of like the Breakfast Club in a jeep. IDW has released a new edition today -- the original was published by Oni. More proof that when you OWN YOUR WORK you can keep making money off it.

Variety confirms that everyone's favorite orphan is getting a reboot courtesy if Will Smith's production company, with daughter Willow Smith set to star. Smith's production company is teaming with Jay-Z to form a new movie-making joint venture and ANNIE is on the list.

2011 is going to be a tumultuous year for comics. Heck, it's already tumultuous. There's going to be consolidation and retrenchment. So over the next few weeks we'll be checking in at a few companies to see what's going on -- some of it's great and some of it is not so great. We will start with Top Cow which announced last week that they were consolidating many of their functions at Image Central, including production, marketing and sales efforts.

Okay, so a member of the Fantastic Four died in FF #587 -- a comic which would normally be on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, like usual, but went on sale early at selected retailers. At the same time, a story hit the wires, NPR and just about every other media outlet with a "DEATH IN THE FAMILY" type story, effectively spoiling what had been a pretty well kept secret until then. Twitter was fluttering from the moment the stories hit. Whether you were outraged or shrugged your shoulders at the spoilage it was yet another example of a Big Two publisher planting a major media story and having no good option for timing. This also happened, famously, with the death of Captain America, the death of Batman, and surely many others stories we are too jaded to remember.

When we ran yesterday's news about a new Suicide Girls comic from IDW, the PR included a rough version of the cover by Cameron Stewart. Stewart tweeted the finished version and it's a lot nicer. And for a comic based on a website featuring nude models, it is totally classy.

Actress Brea Grant, artist David Hahn and cover artist Cameron Stewart are not a creative team to be taken lightly. The Suicide Girls are an early adapter in the "tattoo'd Goth Girls are sexy" derby, and for a subscription you can look at naked but kind of artful photos of lots of them, and the individual models have more of an empowered air about them than most naked girl sites. Anyway, a comic book.

Talk about an undersea no-brainer: SpongeBob SquarePants creator Steve Hillenburg will be creating the first ever standalone US SpongeBob comic, to be distributed by Bongo. Former Nickelodeon Magazine comics editor Chris Duffy, who edited the SpongeBob comics in that magazine, will edit the series.