Comics

When Dark Horse announced their digital comics initiative back at NYCC, they went about it in a different way from most other publishers. Instead of partnering with an existing storefront like comiXology, they decided to use their own webstore and application to sell comics -- and at the $1.49 price point. There was also talk of add-ons that made going to the physical comics shop a part of the experience. Since then details have been sketchy, but today Dark Horse released the first information on the program, via a mailing to retailers in the Diamond Daily. A bit of the information was also released to the press, including the plan to release ORIGINAL digital material -- but only to those who purchase brick and mortar comics.

So this is what it is all about -- a new book by Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston called BUTCHER BAKER. Details and more...

The much-anticipated ALL-STAR SUPERMAN dvd is coming out in 2/22/11. Based on the popular tale by Grant Morrison, the animated film includes James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as Superman, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, and Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace) as Lex Luthor, with additional voices by Ed Asner. Frances Conroy, Matthew Gray Gubler, Linda Cardellini, Arnold Vosloo, Catherine Cavadini, Finola Hughes, Alexis Denisof, Obba Babatunde, Michael Gough, and John DiMaggio. Creative credits include Bruce Timm executive producer, Sam Liu, director and Dwayne McDuffie, writer. More info here.

Political commentary blog Scholars and Rogues is running a series of artistic tributes to the late Harvey Pekar by such folks as Kenny Be (Westword), A.N. Cargo (S&R), Derf (The City), Benjamin Frisch (Wonkette), Karl Christian Krumpholz (Byron), Mike Keefe (Denver Post), Peter Kuper (MAD), Zina Saunders (Overlooked New York) and Aaron Williams (Nodwick). A new piece will be posted each Monday through the end of the year. Above art by Karl Christian.

It had to happen. Sort of. "New Action" cartoonist Benjamin Marra takes on the occasionally dizzy columnist and author of such books as Are Men Necessary? Maureen Dowd in a no holds barred action inferno:

Scroobius Pip is one half of UK indie hip hop duo dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip. Their songs tackle issues including suicide, domestic...

It was another busy day for Mark Millar, who is quickly becoming the Oprah Winfrey of comics, using his success in one platform to become a world wide mogul of cross-platform entertainment. Not content just to script best selling comics that turn into successful movies, he's launched a magazine and now...a comic-con: Kapow Comic Con, which will be held April 9-10 at the London Business Design Centre in Islington, a venue which holds about 5000 people a day.

Now we know.

Over the holiday week, the biggest news was the official announcement thatD&Q will re-release the complete works of Lynda Barry. Next fall will actually see...

As many of you have noticed, the recent server shuffle has resulted in a loss of visual images.  The Beatrix herself is spearheading our crack team of technological troubleshooters, and we hope to restore normalcy soon. Normally, in situations such as this, we would run "classic" columns from before the advent of the World Wide Web.  Unfortunately, our tape archive was mistakenly recorded over with the 67th Academy Awards. So instead, we have reverted to ASCII mode.

Is this wrapped up? Are you more or LESS interested in reading it now?

Were you a good boy or girl this year? Did you avoid Internet snark, practice goodwill towards your fellow human being, and cross with...