§ Here’s that FLASHPOINT #1 cheat sheet courtesy of Greg Burgas, explaining what’s new and different in this mystery universe.
§ DMZ, Brian Wood’s long running dystopian comic, is ending with issue #72, and Ron Richards has everything you need to know to get ready.
§ Over at Marvel, Sean T. Collins investigates statements by Tom Brevoort to shed light on the oft-suspected thesis that Marvel has been pushing the Avengers over other characters because they have the film rights to the Avengers.
That’s an eminently reasonable and plausible response, as is Brevoort’s accurate contention elsewhere that they’ve published plenty of high-profile Spider-Man and X-Men comics since the Avengers blew up, thank you very much. But in a recent “Talk to the Hat” interview with CBR’s Kiel Phegley, Brevoort goes further than I’ve ever seen in confirming a relationship between Marvel Studios’ rights to the Avengers franchise and the concurrent rise of that franchise to the top of the sales charts. It’s just not quite the nefarious, Illuminati-style relationship you might have imagined…
If we could throw our hat into the ring, as it were, we’ve often heard this thesis stated as fact, and it does make business sense, so don’t spend too much time on it. You’ll never find the smoking gun, though.
§ Finally, the first of what we suspect will be numerous very entertaining interviews with Joe Casey about his upcoming Marvel event book.
JC: Lemme tell you something… The “secrecy” is nothing more than confusion and chaos on our part. None of us on this side of the curtain are entirely sure exactly what kind of book we’re doing here. But there’s something glorious to be found within that chaos, and I, for one, intend to ride this wave all the way to the shore. No one’s paying attention anyway, so hanging on by our fingertips seemed like the right way to go, creatively speaking. As for any connection to that Turn-Of-The-Eighties crossover extravaganza… I wish I could claim one, but we’re all still shivering in the long, cold shadow of that beloved, four-color classic.
