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The annual GLAAD media awards, recognizing " fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives" in the media came out yesterday, and five comics were nominated.

Yesterday's announcement of Milestone 2.0 was broken in the Washington Post, but principles Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan did more extensive interviews talking about what they have planned in a few places. Talking with Albert Ching at CBR they noted "We're Not in the Nostalgia Business", which is a pretty good platform to build from. While the details are still sketchy, they confirmed that they have some projects in the works with DC, among other publishers, although there was a long legal tangle to unravel.

It has only been over a month since Roberto Orci walked away from the director's chair on the upcoming Star Trek threequel, with Fast...

By Bruce Lidl Following immediately on the conclusion of the second Image Comics Humble Bundle, Archie Comics has joined the Humble Bundle comics movement with...

While diversity in comics has made strides in the Big Two in the past couple of years, Denys Cowan still wants to see a...

It's been the super secret plan of the Marvel staff for more than five years. It's been a glimmer in Jonathan Hickman's eye for even longer. But now, Marvel is joining the "big battle changes fictional universe forever*" trend with Secret Wars, which launches in May leaving carnage in its wake. As announced at a press conference with Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and E-i-C Axel Alonso at Midtown Comics downtown location, as part of the eight issue Secret Wars event Secret Wars #1 and Secret Wars #2 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic, the Ultimate universe is folding into the 616 Marvel universe and "There will be only Battleworld," promised Tom Brevoort. Issue #2 will be a huge extra sized reference staking out the new world, which ties in to the teasers marvel released last fall. Various universes form popular mini series of the past from Civil War to Marvel Zombies will return.

By: Alexander Jones During a special video presentation this afternoon Marvel announced that they are dissolving the Ultimate Universe into the main 616 Marvel continuity. Details...

We're looking for a few writers around here and near here.

§ Jason Enright is moving on from the Marvel monthly sales charts due to some exciting but unannounced news. I know a bunch of you apply for this every time, but please reapply -- previous experience with databases and a glee for number crunching required. Jason is graciously doing this month's chart but after that, we are on our own. Email me at comicsbeat at gmail.com if interested. This is a volunteer position.

§ The March crew of Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell talk a little about why we need this message and these reminders now with EW's Joshua Rivera.

Congressman Lewis is aware of this, and it’s his hope that people will take the time to reflect on what came before. “This book is a guide, we can use it,” says Lewis. “This is what people tried to do, this is what people did in the late ’50s and the ’60s to try to make things better.”

Happy MLK Day! It hasn't been a terribly eventful Monday insofar as entertainment related news goes, but here are a few relevant links that...

By Alexander Jones Modern comic events usually spell out impending doom for a select few of the superheroes we have grown to love. DC Comics...

Last fall, we here at The Beat teamed up with the awesome folks at The Devastator to put together a survey for convention exhibitors. With all the controversy over who is spending and what cons are con games, it seemed like time to seriously upgrade this survey. And you responded, with more than 100 people taking the survey, giving results on the top cons and CAFs that revealed average sales and average amount of satisfaction with each show. In case you've never heard of them, The Devastator is a humor/comic magazine based in LA that features sharp satire and art by founders Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows as well as people from The Onion, the Daily Show, Adult Swim, Marvel and more. The result, as crunched by the Devastator's staff, has some eye-opening statistics. You can read the entire report right here, and see some of the Devastator team's own comments below, but here are a few of my own eye-openers: