Publishers

Fine. You heard about some cancellations. You heard about Marvel Now. There's a few more interesting things in today's Marvel October solicitations. For my money, the most significant non-trumpeted news is the debut of the Dexter comic. Yes, Dexter the serial killer from the long-running Showtime series. And it's written by the novelist who created the character.

Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda have been announced as the creative team for a new Star Wars series debuting next year, from Dark Horse Comics.

The fifth nominee for this year's Russ Manning Award is Dave Wachter, the artist for Night of 1000 Wolves, That Hellbound Train, and several other less-ominous sounding comics.

Say goodbye to nine of Marvel's titles! Marvel Now! ushers in a new world without the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, or... Rogue/Gambit.

Sometimes you get a fuller story when the solicitations are announced, and today would be one of those times. Let's start out with another primary creative change: Dan Jurgens is taking over Firestorm:

The AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover continued in May, while NEW MUTANTS and JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY had their own little private event with "Exiled". There's also the launch of the new FURY MAX title, the weekly mini HULK SMASH AVENGERS, more flogging of the undead horse with MARVEL ZOMBIES DESTROY!, and the return of Icon's TAKIO. As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, though by a smaller than usual margin - they led DC by 39% to 37% in unit share, and 35% to 33% in dollar terms.

This morning's Marvel teaser suggests that the new Marvel NOW! relaunch will be tied in with the Point One program which saw various series get a ".1 issue" that was new-reader-friendly. The program did quite well, we're told. Details will be revealed at the Cup O' Joe panel, Friday, July 13th, 3:15 PM PST. This move solidifies the "jump-onable" nature of the Marvel NOW! program.

Mickey Mouse diplomacy? Disney characters were recently seen at a state concert in North Korea.

The third nominee for this year's Russ Manning award is Tyler Crook! Artist for Petrograd and B.P.R.D, amongst others.

Debuting this week, concurrent with Comicon, is the Secret Agent Poyo special from Image. Poyo is a rooster. A fighting rooster. The deadliest fighting rooster in the world. So yes, this comic has it's roots in cockfighting, but Poyo will basically kill anything that moves. Yes, Poyo is an angry bird. Poyo first turned up in Chew a couple years back and was an instant hit. This is the character's close up and it almost defies description.

More creator change announcements at DC today. Ann Nocenti taking over Catwoman under unusual circumstances and Tony Daniels moving on to a higher profile title... for a little while.

The Russ Manning Awards Draw Closer. Here's a quick rundown of nominee Craig Cernak