Publishers

The season of writer changes continues at DC. It's been rumored for weeks that Gail Simone left her co-writing duties on Firestorm. Today, DC confirms Simone's departure and names Joe Harris her replacement. Issue 7 will be his first.

Evidently, due to some misunderstandings, Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson has released a statement regarding the publisher's imminent switch to simultaneous print and digital release: digital comics will be priced at $2.99 for the first month, dropping to the standard price of $1.99 after that. You can read the statement below. While it's obvious that keeping DH's retail partners from mutiny is part of these decisions -- DH also has a jacked-up digital price for a one month window -- it presupposes that the print and digital audiences are the same. There isn't really any evidence that this is the case right now. However, in the short term, digital sales will continue to be seen as a direct competitor to print. Like we said, we understand the concerns on both sides.

Marvel has sent out an announcementfor some kind of event taking place on Wednesday at 3 pm EST. This is the event that has been coming for a while. Given the flame-like background with a bird-like figure in the middle, best guesses are that this is tied in to some kind of basilisk. Or possibly salamander. Or just possibly, maybe...a Phoenix!

A new Image teaser for a new kind of zombie book went out this afternoon...and it looks gory and pretty at the same time.

By Todd Allen What is it about the Legion of Super-Heroes that pulls in ex-Marvel editor-in-chiefs.  Roy Thomas wrote it.  Gerry Conway wrote it.  Jim...

The new 52 Universe is getting even more diverse with the return of Steel, who returns in ACTION #4 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales. In addition to teaming with Superman in the main story, the "John Henry Irons" of the DCU will get his very own 8-page back-up by Sholly Fisch and Brad Walker. And he'll be back for another back-up in ACTION #7. Created as one of the "variant Supermen" during the Death of Superman story, Steel had a pretty good comics run in the '90s, getting up to issue #52 of his very own series -- until he had the misfortune to star in a movie. With Steel by basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, the film is considered one of the very worst superhero movies of all time. Since then he's appeared as a back-up character here, there, and everywhere. Despite the cinematic setback, Steel has always been a pretty cool character, so it's about time he returned.

I happened across Iron Man 2.0 Vol. 1: Palmer Addley Is Dead at the library and thought I'd give it a go. I'd given the monthly version a look, but it hadn't held my attention. Sometimes, a comic reads better as a book and I've enjoyed Nick Spencer's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Infinite Vacation.

Alan Moore! Warren Ellis! Garth Ennis! Limited editions! And a DVD?

Up now: Dynamic Entertainment, publisher of comics, graphic novels, and the occasional special edition. They publish a variety of titles, from licensed properties, Golden Age and archival characters, and some amazing original work, like The Boys!

So what's new? And what caught your eye?

I hope this has been worth the wait! Here are the independent publishers Random House distributes, and there are some lesser known (but quite good) titles here!

YouTube has a new promotion for its new streaming service where you can watch recent movies for 99 cents -- among them GREEN LANTERN. If you've been waiting for a budget-conscious way to watch Hal Jordan save the universe from an angry cloud, this is your chance. You can also watch Harry Potter, Conan and that movie where Ton Hanks lives out his biker fantasy by riding a scooter with Julia Roberts on the back.

I don't know about you, but when the holidays come around and the relatives want a cheap-ish gift, I usually send them some links to Marvel Essential volumes on Amazon. They're relatively inexpensive, my relatives don't have to figure out where the comic shop is (in rural areas, this can be an issue) and they like the thickness of the volumes when they wrap them. Imagine my shock Thursday night as I was online and noting the massive amount of Essential volumes that were out of stock. Marvel's inability/unwillingness to keep tpbs in print has been a hot button topic in recent months, but this is a bit beyond anything I would have expected. This doesn't mean Diamond doesn't have some copies in the warehouse for the DM, but my experience with Amazon has been if they think it will take a few weeks to restock, you'll see a 4-6 weeks to ship notation and they'll take your order. Here's a list of major Essential series, how many volumes are out and then the ones where the only purchase option on 12/1 were the "used & new" 3rd party resellers. I'm not listing Dazzler/Ant-Man/Human Torch.