Marvel

A sad day for those who hoped, perhaps against hope, that Jack "The King' Kirby's heirs would get some of the money their father's creations have made over the years. Characters including Captain America (created in the '40s with Joe Simon), The Hulk, Iron Man and Thor-- you know, if they called next year's potential biggest-movie-of-all-time THE AVENEGRS "JACK KIRBY'S AVENGERS" they would not be far from the mark. Deadline has analysis, seeing it as a big setback for lawyer Marc Toberoff, who has won many unlikely IP cases against giant studios in the past:

This post has been edited to add actual content, now that the panel has finished!

Saturday brought a boatload of news from DC, which isn't surprising, given the number of comics panels they held.

Normally, a lot of teaser ads are well planned and nice to look at, but not really worthy of much thought or memory. These really caught my eye, due to the great design. These are worthy of framing, and I hope Marvel will make them available either as freebies at conventions, or (better yet) via their print store.

Well, the second full day of Comic-Con is coming to an end, and there's been lots of amazing stuff announced! I've diligently sat deep in Stately Beat Manor, watching the news feeds, so you don't have to! Read on!

Since Uncanny X-Men just got renumbered - oh, I'm sorry, "ended" and "restarted" - today's X-Men panel was pretty sure to bring interesting news. It's been pretty clear for the last few weeks that Marvel's big push this convention was probably going to be X-Men, which makes sense, since the line has been losing visibility for years, overtaken by the various Avengers. And now, with a successful new X-Men movie under their belt, the time must have looked right. So what's up?

Star Wars Ruined Comic-Con!

It's Preview Night and the ICv2 Conference at San Diego Comic-Con, and while the big announcements are still being held back for the convention proper, news has begun to come out of San Diego in a trickle that will soon become a torrent.

Tom Brevoort believes in the satisfying chunk. Or in his case, "big, sizable, meaty chunks" of of story like those found in graphic novels. Marvel has significantly rejected the notion of creating original graphic novels over the years, with former E-i-C Joe Quesada continually saying they don't make economic sense. However, maybe they do make more reading sense for new readers in a world of tablets and Kindles. Marvel has announced a new line of Season One hardcover original graphic novels which will give modern readers a modern take on the origins of classic characters:

HUGE SPOILERS Watch at our own risk -- it will be gone by dawn anyway. If you stick around to the very end of the CAPTAIN AMERICA credits, there's a teaser for ANOTHER movie. Can oyu guess what it is?

With DC's New 52 changing the face of comics, and getting mostly positive reviews from retailers, it was time for Marvel to announce their OWN new initiative which is aimed at people who want to open new stores. Marvel will provide deep discounts and free trade paperbacks and access to Marvel's Retailer Resource Center. The promotion also applies to existing accounts who want to open a new store. It almost goes without saying that in a challenged retailing environment, opening new stores is of vital importance.

Is it a new comic book about the adventures of Saul Bass?  Or just the return of Iron Fist?