Publishers

A piece at business site Fast Company has unveiled the new DC logo — and yeah, it's been chosen because it can be animated and — probably — make a sound. John Rood and Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management, roll out the new malleable, adaptable, interactive logo:

In many ways, Rob Leifeld's old Extreme line was the epitome of the Direct Market in the mid-90s. Imagine my surprise when I'm reading the relaunch of one of those books at realize it's very much a mid-80s comic. As with the Prophet re-launch, the Glory re-launch is something a bit different. This time out writer Joe Keatinge and artist Ross Campbell channel Miracleman and Airboy for their new series, debuting with Glory #23. Miracleman and Airboy? Yes, I said it.

IDW has a new POPEYE book and Roger Langridge is going to write it. So there is hope for the world after all.

DC and Lego have teamed for an app that offers all-new, all-free comics. This could be significant, for reasons explained below.

You wanted 99 cent comics? You got 'em. Digital comics, that is. In what's a first for the Transformer series, IDW is making one of it's premiere licensed comics available first as a digital-only 12-part series selling for 99¢ for an 8 page chapter. The chapters will be released every two weeks starting today.

Viz Media is running a nice promotion: new users can download their free app for iPad, iPhone or iPod and, after registering for an account, download a free volume 1 manga of your choice.

Well, by now it's looking more and more like the new DC logo is for real.

Over on her blog, former SLG Publishing editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman reveals she has left SLG. She's joining Image Comics as marketing & PR coordinator.

The video game company behind the popular PROTOTYPE series -- NOT the comics company. Dark Horse will create a three-part story bridging the gap between the original Prototype and PROTOTYPE 2 which comes out this year. The series will be released digitally, starting February 15th. Creators include Paco Díaz, Chris Staggs, and Victor Drujiniu.

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC's wildly popular starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you're in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here's run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don't go to the comic store without reading this first!

Last year the Beat inaugurated the Person of the Year award. In an industry where changing the status quo isn't always greeted with joy, this is our way of recognizing the people who either move the needle and shake things up or exemplify a level of excellence that others can aspire to. This year, votes were much more across the board. One person clearly got the most votes as a single person. However, a different executive team had more votes overall when both parts were added up. So, we used our executive power to declare both a Person of the Year and a Team of the Year. Who moved the comics industry in 2011 and will continue to be heard in 2012? Read on.

The actual Jim Cheung cover to AVENGERS vs. X-MEN #1, this April's big cross-fight event, has just been revealed.