Publishers

Get ready to hit refresh a few times. I'm sitting in the ballroom at the glamourous Oakland Marriott and the Image Keynote is about to begin.

The Image Expo grown into a roughly the sort of Friday crowd I'm expect to see at a Chicago Show, relative to the size. Two or three big lines and milling about for everyone else. Yes, Friday is always the best day for mingling at a show. A few more photos:

Image Expo is a go. Looks like a relatively quiet Friday at a regional con, so far. Which is to say it's going to be better access for the fans. When I arrived about 45 minutes before opening there were maybe 50 people already in line waiting to get in. With the gates open, I'm seeing a steady trickle of people arriving. Not preview night at San Diego, by any stretch of the imagination, but the Chew booth got bull rushed by at 15-20 people as soon as the doors open. A couple pictures from before the opening bell:

If you're going to be in the Bay area tomorrow through Sunday, you might think about dropping by the Oakland Convention Center for the Image Comics Expo. This is a combination 20th birthday party for Image Comics and a sorta/kinda replacement for Wonder Con, which has moved to Anaheim this year while the Moscone Center in San Francisco is undergoing a remodeling.

The internet is NOT forever. DC's website is undergoing a huge overhaul in a few weeks, according to The Source, with a new design, and new, exclusive content, and the old forums are going to be erased.

The new Nerdist YouTube channel is hosting the first look at the Plastic Man shorts that will be airing shortly on DC Nation. As we reported earlier, Tom Kenny voices Plas, while Andy Suriano and Stephen DeStefano are involved in the animation—the John K. influence is strong but it works with the character.

In advance of this weekend's Image Expo, Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen are teasing a new book at iFanboy but given the Daft Punk reference, smart money is on a a new PHONOGRAM. Two previous minis about the magical powers of pop music were cult favorites, resulting in mainstream work for both, an X-Men gig for Gillen but also McKelvie's famous quote about working on an indie book resulting in "a constant low level money anxiety." Regardless, its return would be a joyful thing indeed.

Here's the latest AVENGERS photos, showing Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson feigning interest in mundane supercomputers. And then Hawkeye, Cap, and Black Widow striding confidently into battle.

You gotta hand it to Archie Comics. They are completely staying on top of current trends and even controversies. If it isn't gay marriage and interracial dating, it's now income inequality and the Occupy Movement, as shown by this awesome Jill Thompson variant cover. Not that this comic will necessarily deliver a sharp critique of Keynesian models vs the Austrian School...by now "Occupy anything" is just another buzz word. But it is definitely today's buzzword.

Have you heard? Sex sells. Specifically a book called Stuff About Sex... For Guys Who Are Not Like, Total Idiots, a digital-only books of sex tips by cartoonist David Mellon that in only a few days has become one of comiXology's top 20 graphic novels. Published by Top Shelf, here's a sneak peek at the first two pages—it's basically a bro-to-bro sex guide for the uninitiated. The author is a self-confessed hippie and it shows....but you know, maybe we need more hippies!

The major con season for 2012 kicked off with MegaCon in Orlando. And so did the con news tidbits season.

New collections from Marvel, including a storyline which takes place between paragraphs in another book! And the Justice League as zombies! New Titles from DC, including Silver Surfer and Captain America!