Publishers

Marvel sent out another one of their teasers earlier today which got people talking a little. While the news that Greg Pak and Mike McKone were taking over writing and drawing duties of ASTONISHING X-MEN with #44 in November was notable enough, the idea that Scott and Ororo -- who are in pretty tight relationships with others at this time -- might be locking lips is positively TMZ territory! Pak explained:

B-but...you died!! Marvel continues to release teaser images for a November FF event, and the latest image shows the Human Torch in a variant cover by Joe Quesada.

You have to take "anonymous spy reports" with a grain of salt, but this write up on the recent DC retailer roadshow in London had some interesting candid comments from DC's SVP of sales Bob Wayne. new formets -- OGNs, digital -- seem to be inevitable:

With Disney's D23 Expo coming up in a few days, the Mouse is priming the pump for some possible Marvel-related announcements. At the Television Critics Association press tour, ABC president Paul Lee confirmed that the AKA Jessica Jones and Guillermo del Toro=produced Hulk pilots are still in the works, saying both were being "aggressively" developed. He also dropped some arcane hints about...Castle?

As The Big Day approaches, DC is putting out more information on its massive reboot. Newsarama has an addendum to the retailer FAQ that went out some weeks ago.

Based on what we know of publishing data, August 8th, 1961 was the day FANTASTIC FOUR #1 arrived on newsstands. Tom Brevoort sent out a birthday tweet. Although there's talk of boycotts and justified anger over Marvel's shoddy treatment of some of its greatest talent over the years, we should still mark this day. Pairing the protean storytelling of Ditko and Kirby with the breezy populism of Stan Lee created some of the greatest adventure comics that have ever been, and we suspect they'll be read for another 50 years.

Over on his blog, Norwegian superstar Jason has revealed the front and back covers for October's JASON CONQUERS AMERICA, a 32-page tribute to all things Jason:

Marvel just sent out another one of its mystery teaser campaigns, with the above graphic and the tag "Coming in November 2011." Of late the FF has of course been renamed and renumbered Fantastic Force, in the wake of Johnny Storm's death. However, there had been some speculation that Marvel wouldn't pass up the opportunity to publish FANTASTIC FOUR #600 in what would have been the original numbering. Since two issues are shipping in October, the timing is right. Or it could be the return of Johnny, aka the Human Torch.

A new Cup O' Joe with Marvel's Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada reveals many things, including more about the origin of MIles Morales, and the fact that Quesada has been commissioned by the actual President of the United States for a piece of art. But it also contains an explanation of what has vexed many of late: Marvel's spoilerific PR in major media. For instance the story of the new dark-skinned Spider-Man broke on Tuesday inUSA Today, spoiling the story with its ubiquity before the issue in question came out. However, says Quesada, there really isn't any other way to do it:

If you're a Carl Barks collector, Heritage Auctions is selling a ton of great stuff, including autographed comics, correspondence, and, at the very high end some of Barks incredibly collectible -- and expensive -- oil paintings, like "Red Sails in the Sunset" which starts at $30,000. There's also this Barks Treasury Gold Limited Edition with Signed Certificate #320/1000 (Applewood Books, 1997) made out to "Steve."

Well now. A new day, a new action-oriented reveal for a WB movie character, in this case, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in next year's THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Textured catsuit? Check. Goggles? Check. Red lipstick? Check. Big-ass motorcycle? Check check check.

There have been about 42 multigabillion reactions in the media to the new multi-culti-ultimate Spider-Man, and we're not going to link to all of them, but here are the three best that have crossed our desk today. Perhaps we'll update this post if more good ones come in. • As you can see Stephen Colbert weighed in last night with some funny, funny jokes. Colbert is an avowed comics fan with many crossovers in his resume already, including having Joe Quesada on as a guest, and guesting himself in an issue of Spider-man.