Publishers

Here's the lineup:

There are some well-sourced rumblings out there that DC is ending its First Wave line. The First Wave books centered around several pulp heroes, including Doc Savage, The Spirit, the Blackhawks, and Rima the Jungle Girl. The reason isn't entirely clear, but the stand alone DOC SAVAGE and SPIRIT books were selling below 10K copies, which is well into the danger zone on today's comics.

Just to forestall a heart attack by Mike Richardson, I'll spoil the answer right here: YES. The reason the question even came up is some dissension following Dark Horse's win in the Diamond Awards for "Best Manga Publisher," which, given the wide ranging publisher programs of Viz, Yen and TokyoPop was surprising, to say the least, as Johanna explained:

What is the great Italian cartoonist up to?

Continuing its rollout of their revamped Kaboom! kids comics line, BOOM! is teasing a new series by Roger Langridge called SNARKED as part of the line. Peanuts AND Roger Langridge? This is looking better and better.

What a difference two letters make; just by adding a syllable, BOOM! has made its kid's line even more kid friendly, as the graphic above suggests. Although the Pixar license has gone back to Disney/Marvel, BOOM! is still publishing classic Disney materials, including Barks and Rosa, and the successful Disney Afternoon line, which just added DuckTales, and now, according to this image, is adding Peanuts to its lineup.

The new THE MIGHTY THOR #1 by Fraction and Coipel will have several variant covers, including one by Walt Simonson himself. The book goes on sale 4/27.

This week's EW contains the first photos of Henry Cavill "as" Superman -- if you call wearing a T-shirt dressing as Superman. According to the story, the first time he wore the duds, the handsome Englishman was able to overcome the inherent silliness of the panties and cape look:

Hm, top creators (we're guessing) on new titles. Sounds like the way things used to be in the olden (Marvel Knights, MAX) days before events drove the horse. Will these be real re-imaginings for Daredevil, Punisher, and Moon Knight? Wait and see.

Ooookay, NOW we are cooking! You know that part where Thor throws his hammer right in the dude's face? That was alright.

While it's been obvious for a while that BOOM! was no longer going to publish their Pixar comics, no official word has been circulated on what would become of the Pixar characters in comics. Now it seems...surprise! They are going to Marvel! With a magazine reminiscent of the old Welsh magazine titles for the newsstand -- for those old enough to remember -- or Nickelodeon Magazine for the Gen Y set.

Chester Brown's PAYING FOR IT is sure to be one of the most-discussed GNs of the year, and D&Q has just released the final cover. In case you missed the log line, it's an account of Brown's decade-long practice of hiring prostitutes and his arguments for the dignity and necessity of the profession -- in Canada certain forms of prostitution are legal, but that situation is changing for the worse, and Brown makes a pretty impassioned plea in the book to expand on the legalization of what really should be a business transaction between adults. We've read the whole thing, and while we're not quite on board with some of of it, he does make a good case for keeping things safe and legal. The book will have an intro by R. Crumb and blurbs from many famous folks, including Neil Gaiman, who writes: