Marvel

Artist Paolo Rivera was commissioned to create a special poster as a gift for the CAPTAIN AMERICA movie's cast and crew. This is the result:

Thanks to his "pack-ratty" mother, Jim Shooter's two Merry Marvel Marching Society kits from the '60s are intact and in mint condition. The first one included the record with the amazing Bullpen greetings from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Flo Steinberg, and so on.

For a movie about mutants, X-MEN FIRST CLASS has led to a lot of interesting discussion. Set in the '60s -- a time of great social change and timeless fashions -- filmmakers Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman had more on their mind than just fighting.

by Paul O'Brien

Event season is upon us again. FEAR ITSELF launched in April, together with its spin-off anthology FEAR ITSELF: THE HOME FRONT. Further down the charts, "Death of Spider-Man" and "Age of X" are also underway. April also sees the relaunches of THOR and HERC, as well the de facto launch of a new series, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, continuing from THOR's previous numbering.

It's also worth noting Marvel's increasing trend towards shipping extra issues of ongoing titles, apparently in place of low-selling miniseries. Now that the hordes of Captain America and Thor minis which were used to generate movie tie-in material are out of the way, it's actually thinning out quite a bit at the lower end of the chart.

As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, leading DC by 40% to 27% in dollars and 48% to 27% in units. Of course, FLASHPOINT doesn't start until next month, so you'd expect the gap to be larger than normal in April.

You've probably already thought of most of these, but Funny or Die has put them all in one place.

Ah... Memorial Day approaches, and with it, summer vacation. Day after day of nothing which must be done, but full of possibilities! Maybe an escape to the air-conditioned refuge of your local library. Perhaps a day spent on the porch, sipping something cold and sinful (I prefer Brown Cows, served in a large ice tea glass). Or maybe hiding away up in a hayloft, or deep in a cool root cellar, where no one can find you. Whatever your preference, there's nothing like a good book to make you forget the world around you. Below are some suggestions for your summer reading pleasures. (And if you need a nap to avoid the afternoon heat, give your kids something to read. It'll keep them quiet long enough for you to recharge your batteries.)

Marvel editor Steve Wacker was tweeting some art earlier in the day, including rather nice page by Emma Rios on the Cloak & Dagger Spider-Island tie-in. Clickee for largee!

Fox has been holding back on the January Jones/White Queen lingerie shots for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS but The Hollywood Reporter is delivering with some shots in era-appropriate (and now fetishized) garb.

Nothing much goes on at the third day of the BookExpo America -- it's generally a chance just to run around and talk to the people you missed the first two days, although most people have already gone back to the office. We'll have a full write-up tomorrow both here and at PW, but in the meantime, a couple of photos.

With screenings unfolding around the globe, all the buzz on X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has been great (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), and last night the film had its world premiere in NYC, with Marvel's own John Lowe doing some red carpet commentary. Releasing studio Fox has just added to the fun with a new iPad app X-Men EXTRA which plays into the whole conspiracy angle of the film, which follows Xavier and Magneto as young allies in the 60s. As you can see the app has some fun with the historical record, ala Boilerplate, imaging Emma Frost standing beside Jackie Kennedy in a fetching go-go booted ensemble. Check out the byline for another in-joke.

Do successful comic book movies create new comics readers? As the "Watchmen Principle" demonstrates, when a movie is based on a finite graphic novel or series, the answer is yes. When it is based on an ongoing 50 year saga the results are not so clear. CBR's Greg Hatcher chanced upon a display of bagged comics at his CostCo which showed that Marvel had put together a product that seemed to be aimed at people who liked THOR and wanted to know where to go next: A photo-cover of hunky Chris Hemsworth as Thor graced the front of the package and an assortment of alluring titles lurked beneath.

Behind the scenes at FLASHPOINT and Marvel, among other things.