Comics

STRANGE TALES, the indie-does-Marvel anthology made a splash with its first issue, and thanks to our pals at Marvel, we're happy to provide an EXCLUSIVE preview of the 2nd issue, on sale next week. This time, it's cover artist Jaime Hernandez with Space Phantom and many mighty Marvel heroines limned as only Jaime can.

This week's EW debuts Chris Evans in actual Cap clothing, which turns out to be similar to the outfits that were leaked a while ago. The online excerpt include Evans discussing his fear of the role, and director Joe Johnston going firmly back into ROCKETEER territory:

This week's New Yorker cover -- woot! Via Flog

Times are tough, people. Several folks in our comics community can't pay the rent this month and are raising funds via selling cool things. Help them out if you see fit.

Repaneled is a newish blog that recreates classic comics panels in new art styles. Up today: Anthony Vukojevich's reimagination of a key panel from Gabrielle Bell's San Diego Comic-Con Comicumentary.

It's called "Batman and the Giant Pile of Box Office Receipts". Okay, it's really called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Everyone has surely made a Viagra joke by now, and there was ours.

If we could fly, we'd blast over to Versailles to see the spectacular show by Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami currently housed there. The opulent palace built by French monarch Louis XIV (The Sun King) is perfectly complemented by the extravagant work by the great Murakami, who has worked with capitalist icons like Louis Vuitton in the past and whose work often engages with materialism. However, Prince Sixte-Henri de Bourbon-Parme, a descendant of Louis XIV, feels the show is slumming for the historical landmark.

With the Garrity Doctrine igniting uproar all over the intertubes, Webcomic Overlook's El Santo presents a rebuttal of sorts, Ten Things To Know About the Future of Webcomics. While any kind of manga-vs-webcomics fight is silly -- they are parallel and non-competitive -- lists are always fun. He admits a lot of the list is quite off the cuff, but a couple of points strike us as especially pertinent:

And it costs about $20 a year. Priceless.

Kate Beaton gets her annual spot in the Halloween countdown with Children of the Night.

Witchlands is a long-brewing ongoing series by Kurt Busiek and artist Conner Willumsen, which has been delayed by this and that and then was planned to come out from WildStorm but is now coming out from...parts unknown. Whoever is publishing it, it's going to look great, as Busiek has just posted a few preview pages. Willumsen has long been a Beat Future Star pick, and the cover by Zachary Baldus is equally fabulous.

One of The New Yorker's most iconic cartoonists, Leo Cullum has passed away at age 68. The NY Times obituary has an associated slide show, and proves that some New Yorker cartoons will actually make you laugh out loud.