Publishers

Army of Darkness (as in Evil Dead) returns to the world of comics today with a new first issue. We caught up with Army of Darkness writer Elliott Serrano (who likes to pretend he's a mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper as the "Geek To Me" columnist at the Chicago Tribune's Redeye) to talk about Ash, Bruce Campbell and the new series.

Via Fast Company, of all places... So this is going to be the Minutemen Frontier? No surprise there. And, of course, it does look great.

Dropped into this little item about BEYOND THE FRINGE, a digital tie-in to the popular TV show, is the news that Jhonen Vasquez, the incredibly popular creator of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, will be doing some digital comics for DC, along with Becky Cloonan. SWEET.

Ut oh, guys... it's a leap year! So if you're the type to skedaddle from matrimonial minded maidens, be sure to grab some reading material before you head off to the Valley of the Shmoon!

Comic books crossing over? The crossover quote of the week goes to Dan Buckley in his Comic Book Resources interview:

What is James Robinson's and Nicola Scott's Earth Two comic really about? The official line is, it was originally to be titled Justice Society. We know that Worlds' Finest is about the Earth Two Power Girl and Huntress (who is confirmed as the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, per the original concept of the character) getting trapped in whatever DC is calling its main dimension. But I don't think anybody's ever said Earth Two was necessarily going to be where the superheroes started out in World War II. Like most people, I'd just been assuming that was what they were talking about, and then DC releases an alternate cover for the first issue:

How many statistics can one news day handle? DC has just released results from their Retailer Survey which they launched in conjunction with the New 52. As we noted at the time, the survey was aimed at gauging interest in each and every New 52 title, as well as general readership demographics. As such, it represents the most comprehensive reader survey a comics company has made in some time. While it's very New 52-centric, it does reveal a lot. While DC has released their own bullet points, which we've shown below, ICv2 has more info and an interview with John Rood. You'll want to head over there and digest the whole thing. But here's the broad picture:

Even as the success of THE WALKING DEAD across all media has soared—it's basic cable's highest rated program—there has always been a bit of a silent partner on the book: co-creator Tony Moore who left the book after six issues. Although credited as co-creator on the series, he's been noticeably absent from promoting the book or TV series in its recent wild run of success. And now we know part of the reason why: he's just filed suit over his share of the profits of the book, profits he claims he has never had an accounting for and which he fraudulently signed away.

In the 4th "New 52" writer shuffle of the week, DC has announced Gregg Hurwitz as the new writer for Batman: The Dark Knight, as of issue #10. I suspect they really mean co-writer on that, as I'm under the impression artist David Finch, for whom the title was created pre-relaunch, has a pretty good amount of input on the plot.

Wow, February 1 is a banner day in comics history. It is also the day that Image Comics was created—20 years ago. Via Facebook co-founder Jim Valentino shared a photo of the founders and one pal on that fateful day, from left to right Erik Larsen, Hank Kanalz, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. They'e all still in the game, all better off than they were 20 years ago. Collectively, they've changed the industry a time or two. It was also a day when people wore denim shirts. Ah, what a time...

And also from Image...this Shep Fairey-influenced teaser for..something. Guess we'll have to be...calm until we find out what it's all about.

Okay, just so we don't forget the OTHER member of the Big Two on this day long to be remembered...Marvel has a new project involving...more than one man tagged Spider. It comes out in June. As you were.