Publishers

Two new positions, one a new face, one a familiar one.

Okay, some Dark Horse love for the new series RESIDENT ALIEN, one of a number of series premiering in the new DARK HORSE PRESENTS.

Continuing on the whole Image Comics kick we're on, here's a piece on NONPLAYER by Nate Simpson and why it might be the next NIGHTLY NEWS. Simpson -- not to be confused with Nate Powell or Nate Doyle -- is a relative newcomer to comics, but has a long background as a video game designer.

Another email PR this afternoon from Image Comics, announcing more sellouts and second printings, this time for THE INTREPIDS by Kurtis Wiebe and Scott Kowalchuk and Hoang Nguyen's CARBON GREY. While such press releases have a strong component of sheer hype, and don't necessarily indicate ginormous sales, it's worth noting that we get as many of them from Image these days as from Marvel (DC no longer sends out press releases). Given the recent strengthening of the mid-list, even as the top of the charts shrinks, this could be seen as another example of the increasing democratization of comics sales. We'd also note that both comics sport a a fresher, non-house style look. Maybe there is an audience for something new after all.

Continuing Thor's conquest of all media, Marvel is releasing a new animated Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers series, based on the Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic mini, that explains why they don't get along. The series will be available for download on iTunes, XBox and PlayStation starting 3/28 for $2.99 in HiDef and $1.99 in standard. The trailer debuted on Wired and producer Ruwan Jayatilleke talked about the story:

This Vanity Fairinterview with Stan Lee is FULL of awesomeness, and shows that Lee can still turn a quip like a young man of 70. But the bit that is getting the most excitement this day is the part where Stan answers the question he dodged in MALLRATS all those years ago -- the one about whether the Thing's junk was made of orange rock. Only they didn't call it junk back then--they called it a dork!

According to DC's March 8th retailer email, BATWOMAN #1 by JH Williams III, W. Haden Blackman, and Amy Reeder has been delayed again. The book had been delayed from an earlier launch, although Williams said it was always a bit nebulous:

History repeats itself as one more Roger Langridge's Muppet comics have been put in the vault by a business move. Fans of his near-universally acclaimed run on Boom's Muppet franchise may recall that his run on the beloved puppets began as a strip for Disney Adventures magazine, which was cancelled before the strips could run. Langridge made a few mini comics which he furtively handed out at cobs and the legend of the strips greatness grew. Result: when Boom got the license a call went out.

The fine folks at Comics Alliance did a very sensible thing and hired artist Ulises Farinas -- whose previous Marvel art efforts have been widely admired -- to create a massive Marvel vs DC Where's Waldo type illustration. Your mission: find the Invisible Woman and dozens of other people and objects. We've reproduced only a tiny portion of the whole here -- to see the whole thing at once would overwhelm your senses!

Just to balance out the International Women's day stuff here Man-Thing by artist (and Beat pal) Art Adams.

DC kicks off the year with a new sales record: Average numbers of the DC Universe line dropped by 21% in January, to 24,321 -- the lowest number in the history of these charts, by about 4,000 units. Traditionally a weak month in the comic-book market, January 2011 was even more of a downer than usual for DC. With only five titles selling above the 50k mark, average comic-book sales of the company at large fell to 21,922, the lowest figure since March 2009, while average Vertigo sales clung to the 10,000-unit mark, as they've done for the last three years. The poor January performance of the DC Universe line comes thanks to three different kinds of erosion. First up, DC failed to get Green Lantern, Batman Incorporated and The Flash out of the door, three of its major titles, while a fourth one, Batman: The Dark Knight, was still late from December. Second, DC is looking at a whole range of failing titles: Out of the 43 ongoing monthly DC Universe series currently on sale, eight have been marked for cancellation and won't be around come June 2011. That's almost 20% of the imprint's regular output. And there are eight more -- Doc Savage, The Spirit, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Jonah Hex, Booster Gold, Power Girl, Zatanna and Gotham City Sirens -- that look less than healthy and sell fewer copies than some of the ones that have already been axed. At the tail end of the spectrum, finally, six former WildStorm titles were absorbed into the DC Universe line in January, where they end up being the six lowest-selling books and dragging down the average. (If WildStorm were still around, this would be another new low for them: The six books, one of which missed the charts altogether, have average sales of less than 4,000 units.) So, for better or ill, 2011 is set to be a year of transition for DC, with some heavy lifting in the company's periodical line. See below for the details, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com's estimates can be found here.

Besties Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld will team on a new SFish book called THE INFINITE for Kirkman's Skybound imprint at Image, USA Today reports.