Publishers

Mostly the work of Tom Kenny (Spongebob), Andy Suriano (Clone Wars) and Stephen DeStefano (Venture Bros.), the PLASTIC MAN cartoon pilot was created in 2006 for Cartoon Network but didn't get picked up, alas. It seems to have been much inspired by Kyle Baker's take on the character. And it turns out that more is on the way!

In the new Axel-in-Charge feature at CBR, Axel Alonso announced that the most senior editor at any comics company anywhere is retiring:

This is from the Enquirer so salt and all that, but apparently Maddox Pitt-Jolie, adapted son of Angelina and Brad Pitt, is dying to be an action star, so they are grooming him to play the lead in the movie adaptation of Paul Pope's upcoming BATTLING BOY comic -- which PItt's production company has optioned.

Via this morning's teaser it turned out that November FF tease from Marvel was actually FF #600! Color me shocked! The lineup has been given as: However, Hickman earlier tweeted:

Heads up: For various reasons, one name has been left off the teasers for FF600. @mingdoyle is also going to be joining us. #stoked!

Doyle's name was on a recalled teaser image earlier, as we noted. Good to hear she's actually on board the book. But is that Human Torch flying merrily on the cover a ghostly echo of a departed friend? Or...is he still alive? Worra worra worra

Marvel sent out another one of their teasers earlier today which got people talking a little. While the news that Greg Pak and Mike McKone were taking over writing and drawing duties of ASTONISHING X-MEN with #44 in November was notable enough, the idea that Scott and Ororo -- who are in pretty tight relationships with others at this time -- might be locking lips is positively TMZ territory! Pak explained:

B-but...you died!! Marvel continues to release teaser images for a November FF event, and the latest image shows the Human Torch in a variant cover by Joe Quesada.

You have to take "anonymous spy reports" with a grain of salt, but this write up on the recent DC retailer roadshow in London had some interesting candid comments from DC's SVP of sales Bob Wayne. new formets -- OGNs, digital -- seem to be inevitable:

With Disney's D23 Expo coming up in a few days, the Mouse is priming the pump for some possible Marvel-related announcements. At the Television Critics Association press tour, ABC president Paul Lee confirmed that the AKA Jessica Jones and Guillermo del Toro=produced Hulk pilots are still in the works, saying both were being "aggressively" developed. He also dropped some arcane hints about...Castle?

As The Big Day approaches, DC is putting out more information on its massive reboot. Newsarama has an addendum to the retailer FAQ that went out some weeks ago.

Based on what we know of publishing data, August 8th, 1961 was the day FANTASTIC FOUR #1 arrived on newsstands. Tom Brevoort sent out a birthday tweet. Although there's talk of boycotts and justified anger over Marvel's shoddy treatment of some of its greatest talent over the years, we should still mark this day. Pairing the protean storytelling of Ditko and Kirby with the breezy populism of Stan Lee created some of the greatest adventure comics that have ever been, and we suspect they'll be read for another 50 years.

Over on his blog, Norwegian superstar Jason has revealed the front and back covers for October's JASON CONQUERS AMERICA, a 32-page tribute to all things Jason:

Marvel just sent out another one of its mystery teaser campaigns, with the above graphic and the tag "Coming in November 2011." Of late the FF has of course been renamed and renumbered Fantastic Force, in the wake of Johnny Storm's death. However, there had been some speculation that Marvel wouldn't pass up the opportunity to publish FANTASTIC FOUR #600 in what would have been the original numbering. Since two issues are shipping in October, the timing is right. Or it could be the return of Johnny, aka the Human Torch.