Publishers

As I've written before, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 is probably my favorite superhero movie after the original Christopher Reeve Superman. (I'm not in love with the Nolan Batmans although I get why people like them.) It's one of the very few superhero films with an autuer's imprimatur, and it's just plain goofy as heck, veering between horror pastiche of the directors own work, sappy musical and a sad meditation on middle-aged loneliness. Raimi is old enough to have the original Ditko Spidey as his inspiration, from the upside down kiss to the rogue's gallery of old men in greying wife-beaters—supposedly one of the reasons Raimi and the studio parted ways on Spidey 4 was that Raimi wanted the Vulture as the villain, and the studio wanted a more up to date bad guy. In Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man 2, all the references have been updated. This is the ultimate world of Bryan Hitch, Greg Land and Greg Horn, all blazing cgi and mottled, gloomy photoshop. The soundtrack has been similarly updated, with a group known as the Magnificent Six—which includes everyone from Pharrell Williams to Johnny Marr—blasting catchy singles. In what passes for innovation here, a scene where Peter Parker does the obligatory Google search to find out a mystery, instead of the chugging string music of every other superhero movie, we get a Phillip Phillips song.

The NY Times has the first official look (aside from iPad sightings over the years) of Scott McCloud's The Sculptor, his first sustained fiction...

If you want to know what Marvel is shipping in July, the answer is GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!

This May, IDW will continue to develop their range of all-ages titles with The Littlest Pet Shop, from the twin creative teams of Georgia...

Here's the DCU and New 52 solicits for July -- and as a BONUS becuase of the lead time needed for the lenticular covers, the September Future's End solicits, with NO CREATIVE TEAMS ATTACHED, probably because ANYTHING could happen between now and then. We'll have Vertigo and trades in the next post. Of note -- the new Grayson, Teen Titans and Suicide SQuad books and HArley Quinn at Comic-Con by Amanda conner -- a good time is guaranteed in that one.

DC has announced its latest month of cover variants and the topic is Batman, in honor of his 75th Anniversary. Artists include Kevin Nowlan,...

Back in the original days of Image Comics, Rob Liefeld's Supreme was one of the central characters, a Superman analog who later enjoyed a fantastic run with Alan Moore at the writing helm. And now, with other Extreme STudios character completely rehabilitated (Glory, Prophet) Supreme is getting a new look with Warren Ellis and Tula Lotay (ELEPHANTMEN, The Witching Hour) taking on SUPREME: BLUE ROSE.

Boom!'s new young adult, creator-owned series, Lumberjanes, about a scrappy gang of girls fighting monsters that lurk in the woods behind their summer camp,...

If large crowds and enthusiastic cosplayers at Wondercon are any indication, Fox TV's Bob's Burgers is definitely gaining in popularity. With two years in...

There was a wee burst of comics news at WonderCon, and here's a quick round-up. ¶ Two more Artists Editions from IDW including John Buscema's Silver Surfer, reprinting Silver Surfer #5 and #6 and more. AND Walter Simonson's Manhunter and Other Stories Artist's Edition reprinting the whole story by Simonson and Archie Goodwin.

...well, we'll know by then I suppose. On Facebook, DC co-publisher revealed that all three weekly series will have a similar stopping point....

  When someone thinks of the name “Disney,” many things can come to mind; Some may think of their theme parks. Some their animated films....