Publishers

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a new action-RPG set in Middle Earth that takes place during the War of the Rings but is concerned with the action in non-southern front places. LIke Eriador and Rhovanion. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That's right! Carn Dûm, baby!

Artiest Renae De Liz (THE LAST UNICORN) is putting her energy where her mouth is and compiling WOMANTHOLOGY, an anthology of female creators, with a lineup that includes:

For years, we wondered why Disney didn't do it's own Comic-Con...and now they are with the biennial D23 festival in Anaheim. This year's show, set for August 19-21, is the suspected reason why Disney's Hall H presence for such films as John Carter and The Avengers will not be at Comic-Con. And indeed, the presentation schedule has just been announced and not only does it include a 90 minute Hall H style presentation, but an entire Joe Quesada-led Marvel event. This would be an awesome thing to attend if it weren't just a month after Comic-Con for us East coasters. Anyone want to cover it for us? Also, nice to see the Disney princesses getting named as legends.

Despite the debut of this year's big blockbuster series Flashpoint, average DC comic-book sales were down in May. In part, that's because Flashpoint itself came in 13,000 units below the magical 100K mark and ended up charting second after Marvel's Fear Itself #2, which has to be quite a disappointment for DC. On the other hand, most of the rest of DC's line didn't join in the crossover until June, so the overall numbers may still pick up. The other notable thing about DC's May output is that there wasn't a lot of it. The number of new comic books released by DC in May was 59, which, along with January 2004, holds the record for the fewest number of books released by the company since Diamond started publishing data on actual sales. Looking at the solicitations, it's not hard to find the reason: None of the five Green Lantern film tie-in books scheduled for May came out (one of them still hasn't been published as I'm writing this), while the launch dates of Static Shock and Batwoman were pushed back to September. And, while we're at it, the David Finch vehicle Batman: The Dark Knight remained in limbo in May. DC's Web site currently lists issue #3 for July 13 and issue #5 for August, with no information on #4. So not even DC seems entirely sure what's going on with the book.

It's month two of event season, and FEAR ITSELF tie-ins are starting to crop up across the Marvel Universe. And there's also the relaunch of MOON KNIGHT - wisely given a clear run in a month that's otherwise pretty light on new titles. DC's FLASHPOINT event also gets underway in May, but with the crossover titles not hitting until June, it's no surprise that Marvel were once again the top company in the direct market. They led DC by 46% to 28% in unit share and by 42% to 27% in dollars. All of this, of course, could be turned upside down in September - a month which will be unpredictable if nothing else. But for now, let us cast our minds back to a simpler time. Thanks as always to ICV2.com for allowing us to use these figures. And a reminder for newer readers: these numbers only relate to the North American direct market. They don't cover newsstands, or foreign markets. And the same material will also (eventually) sell in digital and trade paperback format, so the total sales will be higher. On the other hand, these numbers reflect the orders placed by direct market retailers - it doesn't follow that all the copies were actually sold to customers. But the longer a book has been going, the more accurate the retailers' estimates ought to be.

The complete BIG QUESTIONS by Anders Nilsen is ure to be one of the books of the year, a 600+ page meditati

This October Steve Niles and Sam Kieth will be teaming on an ongoing 30 DAYS OF NIGHT comic. The story adds new characters to the vampire saga that spawned the popular film. Now you may be asking yourself, wasn't there already an ongoing? N0 -- there were lots of mini series but not an actual ongoing comic book. More via PR:

So much good stuff! Bestselling author Christopher Moore writes a graphic novel! Ray Bradbury, Grandmaster, has two classics adapted! Grant Morrison writes about superheroes and religion! Disney and Hitler, together again! Girlie comics from Marvel! "Good Girl" comics from Jim Silke, Doug Sneyd, and Dean Yeagle! Great Women comics from Gail Simone, Colleen Coover, Megan Kelso, Jill Thompson, and Corinne Mucha! (Can't find female creators on the newsstands? Check the bookshelves!) And lots of masterful work from Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Starlin, and Floyd Gottfredson!

Looks like some of the New 52 Issue Twos are rolling out. Artist Adam Hughes tweeted:

By Jeff Trexler-- In March 2008, Grant Morrison's homage to Siegel and Shuster appeared in comic shops on the very same day that the Siegel heirs recaptured half the original Superman copyright.  Now Morrison is set to work his shaman's magic once again in the September relaunch of Action #1--and this time, the Siegels could lose everything. Morrison's upcoming Supergods holds the key to understanding why. For an explanation and a sneak preview of Morrison’s new book, click below. A mysterious appeal, Joe Shuster’s super-swastika and the final crisis of the legal multiverse--this one has it all.

In answer to all the questions that retailers -- and a few readers and certainly Beat readers have -- DC has sent out an FAQ on the relaunch/reboot/September to their retailer accounts, with a cover letter by Bob Wayne. It shows great insight into what people are squawking about and gives a good fact sheet on returnability, pricing, digital, and so on. Well be back later with analysis of all this.

DC has launched a subsite for their September relaunch, and at last it has a name The New 52. The site includes the video of DC execs promoting the launch which was widely circulated yesterday, as well as previews of the various titles. It also, as Comics Alliance slyly pointed out, hadn't been properly proofed, as when it went live it included earlier, Earth-4 versions of the creative teams on a number of books: