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Two primary announcements are coming out of the "Ultimate Marvel" Panel. (That really does sound goofy if you say it out loud, doesn't it?) First off, there's a new Ultimate Comics Iron Man mini-series coming out. Secondly, there's going to be an Event in the Ultimates line called "Divided We Fall."

It's the 25th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Could DC let this go by without new material? No. And not only did they get Gaiman to agree to do a new tale, they got a real artist's artist to illustrate it in the form of J.H. Williams III. Technically, this sounds like it will be a prequel, if not a prologue, to the original series. It should end just as the original issue #1 is about to begin.

Legendary continues to pick up more name creators. We already told you about Waid, Brooks and Davis. Now we hear J. Michael Straczynski has a project at Legendary:

Back in the 90s, Evil Ernie was hot book for awhile. Brian Pulido and Stephen Hughes had a hot run with the Chaos! Comics imprint, which also featured Lady Death (yes, that was when Bad Girls were at their peak). Dynamite acquired most of the Chaos! intellectual property, back in 2010 (Lady Death is over at Avatar). This looks to be the first book to come out from that IP family.

Archaia is another company that's throwing its hat in the growing category of "digital release, then print." Certainly, digital comics are an increasingly common thing, but the relationship between digital and print is still evolving. They're taking a direction with a couple titles that I think will end up being fairly common. They're also adapting/remaking a classic manga title.

You may recall Legendary Entertainment (best known for their film wing which does tiny films like The Hangover and Dark Knight) has a comics wing (Legendary Comics). Legendary's first comic was Frank Miller's Holy Terror. Their next announced book was by Matt Wagner and Simon Bisley. Then they announced a couple titles with Paul Pope. So you get the impression Legendary likes to deal with "name creators." That seems to be continuing.

J. Michael Straczynski has announced the formation of a new studio which will create comics, films, TV, video games, more; also announces revival of his 'Joe's Comics' imprint for Image; next will create world peace before flying off into space, searching for more worlds to conquer.

Back in July 1982, the Comics Journal ran an article titled “Archetype Meets Angst” by one Heidi D. MacDonald. Thirty years later, during Comic-Con International surrounded by so many people she knows, we here at The Beat celebrate our Editor-In-Chief, and bestow the honorary title of "exemplar"!

Has it really been 6 years since Alex Ross painted an entire comic? He did do pencils and inks with some computerized painted finishes for a Justice Society/Kingdom Come special edition in '09. Other than that I think it really has been just a page or two here and there since Justice wrapped in '06. Ross is returning to interiors in November for a pulp character (Shadow/Green Hornet / Zoro/ Black Bat / Miss Fury / The Spider) crossover mini-series called Masks from Dynamite in November.

As always, our pals at the CBLDF will be offering fantastic member benefits, throwing a great party and fighting to keep our speech free. Saturday's art auction includes some of their best items yet, with art by Paul Pope, Walt Simonson, Billy Tucci, and more.

Basically if you go to the Darkness and Light gallery on 5th Street on Friday you will see Lego builder recreating a Jim Lee painting in Legos. You don't see that every day. No sir.