Publishers

Artist Ashley Wood ruminates on the occasion of a collected edition of Automatic Kafka, his surreal but energizing collaboration with writer Joe Casey, most recently lauded as part of the WildStorm heritage. What Thrillerwas the the '80s this was to the Aughts, and it's fantastic that it's finally been collected. Only one catch...it's in Spanish.

Continuing....

With the rampaging (heh) success of The Walking Dead TV show, expect comics as episodic fodder to get a fresh look in Hollywood --...

In all the massive changes taking place at DC of late, the fate of the Vertigo imprint has caused much speculation and fretting. The staff has been slashed, output has been slowed, and what the future focus will be has not been publicly revealed. This comes, ironically enough, at the very time that plans long hatched for Vertigo to become more of a graphic novel imprint are finally being published. Chris Mautner takes a look at several recent GN offerings, which include work by novelists Stephen King, Peter Straub, Denise Mina, and Mat Johnson, as well as more typical comics types like Matt Kindt, Sarah Glidden and Dean Haspiel. There are hits and misses but this is really a pretty lively line-up for any publisher, let alone one that is being completely rebranded.

Continuing our month of previews, here's a peek at WOLVERINE #4, the continuation of the "Wolverine Goes to Hell" storyline by Jason Aaron and...

This is either a zombie renaissance, or a comic book renaissance for TV, as The Walking Dead has officially been greenlit for a second season or a whole 13 episodes after record ratings. As the President of AMC put it:

"No other cable series has ever attracted as many Adults 18-49 as ‘The Walking Dead.

That's called making an impact. The second episode, which aired last night, w as down only a tick from the premiere's record breaking ratings. Congrats once again to Robert Kirkman and company. PR below.

The mystery continues with a killing fetish...

Last week ‘s Walking Dead left off with everyman hero, Rick Grimes, down one seriously gored horse and trapped inside a tank with throngs of the undead crawling all over it.  Will he make it out alive!? Yeah, sure, of course.  But not without trial, error, carnage and a morally compromised ol’ lady.   This week’s episode, Guts, started off driving home Rick’s cruel fate even further by opening up with his former cop buddy, Shane, licking the now wedding ring eschewing Mrs. Grimes all over. 

Continuing our previews of ELMER, the graphic novel by Gerry Alanguilan, available this month from SLG.

I'm going to cheat here a little by breaking up the first chapter of ELMER, by Gerry Alanguilan, which is collected this month by Slave Labor. Originally published in the Philippines as a mini-comic, it's many things: a bizarre SF social satire in the style of George Orwell or (as one reader suggested to me) Poul Anderson's Brain Wave -- and also Adam Hines' recent Rex the Wonder Dog, which has some of the same themes treated very differently. It's also a beautiful example of the Filipino komiks school, all lush penwork and atmosphere. it's also just a good read. Because it's the whole first chapter I'm going to break it up over two days. Tune in tomorrow for the second part.

Okay so Sally Field has been cast as Aunt May. Hiring a bone density spokeswoman to play a frail old biddy who was always clutching her heart is puzzling, but hey, it's the 21st century.

This video of Stan Lee being confronted with the original art for FANTASTIC FOUR #12 for the first time in 47 years or so (or if he did, he probably forgot) is undeniably touching. But it also contains secret clues to the biggest treasure trove of all, Robert Langdon!!!!