Publishers

From the gory, lurid world of pre-Code comics....Dark Horse is putting together some kick-ass collections -- in fact, you'll soon be able to read the insides of all those comics that we post whenever we're sick or late or whatever. ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN indeed.

A chat with JG Quintel, creator of Cartoon Network's Regular Show about British TV sensibility, the Leprechaun Movies, and why good indie comics artists can also make for good animators. Featuring a special guest appearance by Regular Show storyboarder and cartoonist, Benton Connor.

Why not get that smell of burnt Watchmen toast out of your pores by indulging in some Avengers perfume?

Yes, it is PRODUCT DAY here on The Beat! And this one is pretty darned cool. Converse has long had a design-your-own Chuck Taylor's program on their website. And they've just added a DC Comics themed range to the site. The designs feature the Joker, the Riddler, Catwoman, and, of course, Batman himself.

We'd like to think that even Alan Moore could smile about this one at some point: Dynamic Forces has partnered with Warner Bros. for a a line of licensed toasters. Properties include The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story, Where the Wild Things Are, The Goonies, Gremlins, Little Shop of Horrors, Watchmen, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Mad Magazine, Friends, and so on. And yes, these toasters will burn Gizmo or Freddie Krueger right on to your toast for breakfast thrills!

An interview with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward about the post-apocalyptic movie genre, Dungeons and Dragons, the Adventure Time licensed comic, Bob's Burgers and more. With special guest appearances by cartoonist/animators Jesse Moynihan, Levon Jihanian, and Andy Tauke!

Marvel is having another news-breaking conference call this afternoon, and we'll have all the details soonish, but it has to do with The First X-Men, and involves Neal Adams and Christos Gage. And here are the covers.

After previous shooting sprees from Punisher and stabbing sprees from Wolverine, Marvel decide to combine the two for their new miniseries 'Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe'. Stabblam!

Dynamite has landed a new comics license in Pathfinder. Pathfinder, if you're not current on role-playing games, is a sort of spin-off of Dungeons & Dragons. Essentially, the D&D 3.5 rule set is available for licensing via a "Game System License" and Pathfinder jumps off from that point. Tor talks about Pathfinder as being like D&D "3.75" and an alternative to the latest rule revisions to the mother ship.

The juggernaut that is the Avengers movie (as opposed to the Juggernaut in the X-Men films) is still rolling. How did it do this weekend? The weekend box office estimates for the U.S. are for $103M. That brings the global total to $1,002,082,000. Marvel has to be feeling pretty good.

Marvel release a new X-Men teaser image, create a sensational wall of vagueness as to what said image means

While THE AVENGERS has been hailed as a feel-good ball of action-comedy that kicks off the summer with smiles and cheers, in one regard it is a bit unsettling. You see, it is yet another in a long, long line of movies that has trashed Manhattan real estate in a willy-nilly fashion. For about a hot minute after 9/11, destroying Manhattan in entertainment was considered crass—who needed fakery, when you had the real thing?—however, it soon came into vogue again as a symbol of the unsettled post 9/11 era.