Publishers

Sometimes you get a fuller story when the solicitations are announced, and today would be one of those times. Let's start out with another primary creative change: Dan Jurgens is taking over Firestorm:

The AVENGERS VS X-MEN crossover continued in May, while NEW MUTANTS and JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY had their own little private event with "Exiled". There's also the launch of the new FURY MAX title, the weekly mini HULK SMASH AVENGERS, more flogging of the undead horse with MARVEL ZOMBIES DESTROY!, and the return of Icon's TAKIO. As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the North American direct market, though by a smaller than usual margin - they led DC by 39% to 37% in unit share, and 35% to 33% in dollar terms.

This morning's Marvel teaser suggests that the new Marvel NOW! relaunch will be tied in with the Point One program which saw various series get a ".1 issue" that was new-reader-friendly. The program did quite well, we're told. Details will be revealed at the Cup O' Joe panel, Friday, July 13th, 3:15 PM PST. This move solidifies the "jump-onable" nature of the Marvel NOW! program.

Mickey Mouse diplomacy? Disney characters were recently seen at a state concert in North Korea.

The third nominee for this year's Russ Manning award is Tyler Crook! Artist for Petrograd and B.P.R.D, amongst others.

Debuting this week, concurrent with Comicon, is the Secret Agent Poyo special from Image. Poyo is a rooster. A fighting rooster. The deadliest fighting rooster in the world. So yes, this comic has it's roots in cockfighting, but Poyo will basically kill anything that moves. Yes, Poyo is an angry bird. Poyo first turned up in Chew a couple years back and was an instant hit. This is the character's close up and it almost defies description.

More creator change announcements at DC today. Ann Nocenti taking over Catwoman under unusual circumstances and Tony Daniels moving on to a higher profile title... for a little while.

The Russ Manning Awards Draw Closer. Here's a quick rundown of nominee Craig Cernak

CBR has a nice roundtable on creator-owned comics that rounds up Robert Kirkman, Mark Millar, and Steve Niles. Since they are all "strongly for" the piece doesn't really ignite any banter, but it does allow many long, entertaining manifestos. For instance, how Millar terrorized Alan Moore when he was a teen.

In order to view this both impressive and oppressive 3D rendering of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Gotham City one must first allow Nokia—the formerly ascendant Finnish company that was once the world's largest cel phone manufacturer—to tattle to you friends on Facebook every time you look at it AND tell Nokia you like them. Luckily I do like Nokia -- or at least I did like my tiny blue Nokia from 2000 that was my very first cel phone.

Axel Alonso and Tom Brevoort gave a fairly wide-reaching interview to Comic Book Resources on the topic of the "Marvel Now" relaunch. It jumps around a bit, but does get some more information out into the public and comes straight from the horses mouth. Let's parse it a little.

Joe Kubert continues to be pretty active over at DC. Currently inking his son, Andy, on Before Watchmen: Nite Owl, Joe's going to be having his own anthology at DC. Joe Kubert Presents is slated to have a six issue run, debuting on Halloween. Joining Kubert for the anthology are Brian Buniak and Sam Glanzman.