Publishers

Poor Emma Stone. As lovely and charming as she is, she did not know that by answering some nerdy question on the red carpet she was stepping into a hotbed of fannish research. While everyone went all Zapruder inspecting the bulges on Andrew Garfield's wrists in the recently released look at him in Spider-garb, she innocently answered the burning question:

A fine infographic chart which, if not for the initiated, still lays out mutant heredity in an elegant way.

So, this month is a bit light. There are always some significant titles every month, so here's the list for January.

Little is known of the new Vertigo book by the Eisner-winning 100 BULLETS team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, but as this editorial...

Tokyopop has just signed a deal with Diamond Book Distributors for distribution to both comics shops and bookstores. This marks Tokyopop's return to Diamond...

This grainy scan from tomorrow's EW is running around the internet. We smell something, and it smells like THE ROCKETEER.

[Little more than a week ago, Marvel announced a big change at the top, with VP, Executive Editor Axel Alonso being promoted to the role of Editor-in-Chief. A ten-year Marvel veteran, Alonso originally forged his name as one of the best regarded editors of the modern era during a stint at DC's Vertigo imprint where he developed 100 Bullets and won a reputation as an editor of thought-provoking action who got career-defining work from writers like Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello. As one of the main players at the Jemas/Quesada Nü-Marvel, he continued to make waves, introducing a gay Rawhide Kid, editing the acclaimed Peter Milligan/Mike Allred X-Statix and revitalizing such characters as Luke Cage and the Hulk. In recent years he's continued to bring in new talent, including a bevy of crime fiction writers like Victor Gischler and Duane Swierczynski. It's a strong creative portfolio for someone coming to the position and seeing how Alonso makes his mark on perhaps the most fabled job in comics will be one of the most important stories of the next few years. Despite his busy busy schedule, Alonso very graciously made time this week to answer some of the main questions facing any comics industry executive in these interesting times.]

Just how gay were the old Marvel Swimsuit Specials? Very, very gay, Richard Cook writes, and JR JR demonstrates:

Long-running comics publisher Archie is taking the plunge to become the first comics publisher to put its entire line for sale in print and digital at the same time, it's been announced on their blog. DC announced day and date with BATMAN BEYOND last week, but this is the first time a publisher has made the whole line available. The policy goes into effect on April 1, and will include KEVIN KELLER #1, starring the popular gay character.

§ In the never-ending discourse over gender and comics, one of those classic anecdotes -- this one told by a man:

The big news of the day: D&Q has picked up Kate Beaton and will publish her next collection, HARK! A VAGRANT. Beaton's current print outlet is the Topatoco edition of Never Learn Anything from History, which, every time we've seen Beaton at a show -- is sold out. Grrrrrr. It isn't clear from the PR if this is a new edition of that material or all new but the word "next" suggests the latter.

The Vertigo blog has some news and art this am, a new blurb for AARON & AHMED, the GN by Jay Cantor and James Romberger. Also news of MARZI by Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia, sort of a Polish PERSEPOLIS about a young girl growing up in '80s Poland. Interestingly, this is NOT an original GN but a translation of the original, which was published in France, a bit of a change for the imprint. (That's the Spanish version above.)