Publishers

So, what can we discover when searching DC Comics' trademark filings? Not much...

A month or so ago, I'd pulled Dracula: A Company of Monsters out of the library and found myself pleasantly surprised by it. Somebody in the comment section mentioned Daryl Gregory, co-writer on the Dracula book, was doing Planet of the Apes and it was worth checking out. Sure enough, the library had that, too. Daryl Gregory may be one to watch, because his Planet of the Apes is better than his Dracula, and he's two-for-two.

What might be coming soon to a theater near you? Or a toy store? A quick search at the United States Patent and Trademark Office finds some interesting trademark registrations for Marvel Comics!

In a surprise move, Tony Daniel announced his exit from Detective Comics over on his Facebook account. Why is this so surprising? If you look at the May sales estimates, Detective Comics #9 is sitting at 96K copies. Easily over 100K if you factor in UK sales. If you ignore the Batman Annual, it's DC's #4 title. Batman, Incorporated looks to have outsold it by 470 copies in the US, so there's a decent chance it will be DC's #3 title when the July numbers come out. OK, so you do have some "Night of the Owls" boost going on right now. It's been the #5 book for DC most of the time. That's a big change on a pretty successful title.

In a surprise move, Tony Daniel announced his exit from Detective Comics over on his Facebook account. Why is this so surprising? If you look at the May sales estimates, Detective Comics #9 is sitting at 96K copies. Easily over 100K if you factor in UK sales. If you ignore the Batman Annual, it's DC's #4 title. Batman, Incorporated looks to have outsold it by 470 copies in the US, so there's a decent chance it will be DC's #3 title when the July numbers come out. OK, so you do have some "Night of the Owls" boost going on right now. It's been the #5 book for DC most of the time. That's a big change on a pretty successful title.

Marvel's final war teaser reveals that the Punisher is involved. Damn. Occam's razor and all that.

All the signs have been pointing to Guardians of the Galaxy as the mystery 2014 Marvel Movie...and guess what! It is!

There's an absurd number of great comics out today but here's one that hasn't had too much advance buzz—maybe because author Gilbert Hernandez is SO DARNED PROLIFIC. Anyway, FATIMA: THE BLOOD SPINNERS #1 is his take on zombies, with an eyeball-squeezing mix of a deadly femme zombie hunter and mindless violence. It's a four-issue miniseries and it also features alternate covers by Peter Bagge.

Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik has told friends that Friday will be his last day at Top Cow, where he was publisher for the last 4 years of a 6 month stint. But fear not, Sablik has a NEW job at a comics publisher which he'll be announcing at Comic-Con. Jessi Reid, Top Cow's Social Marketing Coordinator, will be taking over Sablik's duties at Top Cow.

Marvel have revealed that issue #692 of Amazing Spider-Man will bring 'Alpha' to the World. But what is Alpha?

Just guessing tomorrow will be Hulk, right?

Disclosure: Author Sean Howe interviewed me for this; and he interviewed everyone else. Coming from Harper in October: