News

ICv2 reports that Stan Lee Media has lost a legal battle over the rights to Conan. Although the big Cimmerian wouldn't seem to be much of a hot property after last year's movie flop, the folks at Stan Lee Media dive for any scrap of IP like a hobo battle for a bottle of Thunderbird.

Hall of Fame artist John Severin, one of the last of the legendary EC artists, has died at age 90. Severin—whose sister Marie was also a famed artist and colorist for Marvel—was among the greatest draftsmen of the EC crew. He was especially well known for his Western comics, which were meticulously researched and elegant in their line. In recent years he had continued to work, notably on THE RAWHIDE KID in 2003, a controversial gay western; he also worked on THE PUNISHER and B.P.R.D.

When last we left the status of Ashes, the original graphic novel crowdfunding to the tune of $32K, artist Jimmy Broxton was no longer on the project and writer Alex de Campi wasn't sure if there would be a new artist or if she'd be refunding the money to everyone who contributed via Kickstarter. Turns out, there will still be a graphic novel and there will be multiple new artists.

Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has fired back at former collaborator Tony Moore, who is suing him for fraud. IN a statement released via his lawyer, Kirkman stated:

We've been meaning to write up the disgusting legal maneuver that has left 69-year-old Gary Friedrich owing Marvel $17,000 after a failed attempt to get some ownership of Ghost Rider, a character he co-created back in the '70s. In a story first reported here by Torsten, Marvel/Disney filed a countersuit for copyright infringement based on Friedrich's convention appearances selling Ghost Rider-related merchandise. As Daniel Best wrote:

How many statistics can one news day handle? DC has just released results from their Retailer Survey which they launched in conjunction with the New 52. As we noted at the time, the survey was aimed at gauging interest in each and every New 52 title, as well as general readership demographics. As such, it represents the most comprehensive reader survey a comics company has made in some time. While it's very New 52-centric, it does reveal a lot. While DC has released their own bullet points, which we've shown below, ICv2 has more info and an interview with John Rood. You'll want to head over there and digest the whole thing. But here's the broad picture:

Even as the success of THE WALKING DEAD across all media has soared—it's basic cable's highest rated program—there has always been a bit of a silent partner on the book: co-creator Tony Moore who left the book after six issues. Although credited as co-creator on the series, he's been noticeably absent from promoting the book or TV series in its recent wild run of success. And now we know part of the reason why: he's just filed suit over his share of the profits of the book, profits he claims he has never had an accounting for and which he fraudulently signed away.

In the 4th "New 52" writer shuffle of the week, DC has announced Gregg Hurwitz as the new writer for Batman: The Dark Knight, as of issue #10. I suspect they really mean co-writer on that, as I'm under the impression artist David Finch, for whom the title was created pre-relaunch, has a pretty good amount of input on the plot.

The recently concluded Angoulême comics festival is the most respected comics event in the world, but also one a bit remote from the daily comics grind of the average American reader. Two con reports will bring you up to speed in a hurry. Before we link, one note: I wrote earlier that crowds were reported as smaller this year, but the overwhelming evidence is that the festival was packed, as usual, with official attendance given as 215,000.

We've mentioned a few times here a lawsuit for copyright infringement by DC against an outfit called Gotham Garage, which sells replica Batmobiles—based on the '60s Batman TV show in particular—as well as other vehicles based on famed fantasy cars, like the Mach Five. If you were thinking of buying one, better hurry, because a judge has ruled that the Batmobile is subject to copyright.

Yes, The Beat is two years old today as its own standalone website. Woot. And we're celebrating just as we always do --slaving away into the wee hours of the day so you have something to read with your coffee. Oh yeah, we also changed the background just for the day—yes, it's awful, but it's our blog and we'll be tacky if we want to.

You knew you couldn't go much more than two weeks without DC shuffling creative teams on the not-as-new 52. This time, it really is more of a shuffle than wholesale replacements, though, as three books get a new writer and DC's announcing things a little further out.