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Last year a federal court in New York denied the Kirby heirs' attempt to claim the copyright in Spider-Man and other Marvel properties. Why, then, is their lawyer betting the future of the Siegel lawsuit on the same losing arguments?

BOOM! Studios has reaffirmed their exclusivity with Diamond to comics shops throughout the world, according to this morning's press release. Boom! has experimented with other distributors in the past — such as a brief affair with Haven for second printings—but Haven went away so...back to Diamond. Boom! also had distribution deals with Simon and Schuster for bookstores and backlist, but that may have run out.

Emerald City was mostly Marvel and DC lite, so the announcements are very indie/creator focused. And here they are, with a corresponding Pants Peeing Index ®, as in how likely this news is to make you pee your pants in excitement on a scale of 1-5.

Holy crap, it is award season! Here's this year's Stumptown Award nominees. The nominees were selected by a screening committee; winners will be selected by online voting at this link, which is open until 11:59 pm on Wednesday, April 18. The awards will be presented to the winners during the Comics Fest After Party on Saturday, April 28 at the Jupiter Hotel.

Hero Initiative is the non-profit organization that aids comic creators in medical and financial need—and if you've been reading the Beat lately you know that they are more needed than ever. Tonight, as part of the Emerald City Comicon, they are having a bowling fundraiser which sounds like a great time for a great cause, as they say. Although spots have already been auctioned off, you can still go watch the fun:

DC's latest filing in the Siegel case made headlines because of the company's request for a trial. But was that really a surprise? In today's post, we'll look at what the filing reveals about DC's not-so-secret war -- and how the final fate of Superman may be determined by Facebook and the Winklevoss twins.

Some moves at the top for VIZ, as Ken Sasaki moves into the role of president and CEO as Hidemi Fukuhara moves up to the role of Vice Chairman for VIZ Media.

ComiXology's collection of media mavens continues with the addition of Peter Levin to the advisory board. Levin is the CEO of Nerdist Industries, and has worked with Nikki Finke and the Angry Birds in the past. Other advisory board members include ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp, former DC publisher Jenette Kahn, and former ZDNet head Jeff Ballowe. So as you can see, this advisory board doubtless has a lot of advice.

"You've just won the MegaMillions lottery! What are you going to do with your winnings?"

Last week, Silver Springs, MD police made a fantastic collar when a routine pullover for a license plate violation revealed a Lamborghini driven by a man in a Batman suit. But was it THE Batman or just a pale imitation?

The force behind Ben 10, Generator Rex, and now the Disney XD Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, Man of Action Studios is is getting even more projects out there, THR reports. MoA—aka Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle—has several new projects in the pipeline:

The Doug Wright Awards, which recognize English language Canadian comics creators in three categories, have just announced the 2012 finalists. Expected names like Chester Brown and Kate Beaton are mixed with newer folks like Ethan Rilly and Connor Willumsen. There's not a title on this list that isn't worthy of reading.