DC

Okay this might just be the coolest comics-related promo of the year. Aardman Films, the claymation studio behind Wallace and Gromit, has made a promo piece for the DC Nation cartoon block debuting on the Cartoon Network later this year. It takes a conceit first used on their breakthrough film, CREATURE COMFORTS, which animated zoo goers comments on what the zoo animals might be thinking. In this case, they take kid's voicing various DC superheroes. The result is charming and fresh. If DC Nation has anything this good we're in for a treat.

Starting with yesterday's highly corporate We Can Be Heroes press conference, DC Comics/Entertainment has been rolling out its new logo. It's seen briefly at the end of the WCBH video—but not in the eagerly awaited animated form, alas.

In comics, were one privy to what goes on in the editorial suite, you could probably do "The Hour In Creative Differences," not "The Week." That said, there have been a couple cases of creative differences that have bubbled to the surface in the last week or so: the circumstances of how John Rozum came to leave Static Shock and the demise of The Infinite from Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld.

Okay so that Allie McAmazon version of Wonder Woman didn't work out as a TV pilot. Despite being re-elevated to Trinity Status as one of DC's big three, Wonder Woman is still languishing in the development purgatory that so many DC characters seem to swim around in. But how's this for an electrifying concept for Diana: a film directed by DRIVE's kinetic stylist Nicholas Winding Refn and starring-MMA fighter-turned-actor Gina Carrano. Wow, now didn't that make you jump up and shout "2012!" Refn's movie was a great character piece, a twisted noir view of LA, a hipster retro fest, AND an edge of your seat action film. All traits that could make an amazing comic book adaptation.

Superheroes have often stepped up to campaign for charities, but this morning's announcement of Warner's new WE CAN BE HEROES initiative has set the bar pretty high. A multi-pronged campaign spearheaded by DC Entertainment and WB has committed several million dollars to teaming with three charities to fight starvation in the Horn of Africa, where 13 million people are currently at risk due to drought and war. In addition to selling merchandise, DC Entertainment will match donations dollar for dollar up to $1 million.

Having now had a little time to digest it, DC's secondary relaunch (wave two, line expansion -- pick your favorite term) looks like it might have a little more resonance for me, percentage-wise, than the initial relaunch. Whether this is a specific attempt to appeal to traditional fandom or happenstance, I can't tell you. I do have a few observations, though.

A piece at business site Fast Company has unveiled the new DC logo — and yeah, it's been chosen because it can be animated and — probably — make a sound. John Rood and Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management, roll out the new malleable, adaptable, interactive logo:

DC and Lego have teamed for an app that offers all-new, all-free comics. This could be significant, for reasons explained below.

Well, by now it's looking more and more like the new DC logo is for real.

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC's wildly popular starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you're in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here's run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don't go to the comic store without reading this first!

Here's what caught my eye this month, from DC and Marvel!

A little more information on the various crossovers has emerged over the week. Batman/Night of the Owls Over at Newsarama, Scott Snyder has shed a little light on this Batman Event that's spawned its own backup feature.