Covered is a truly awesome blog that I came across today via an article by Wired. At Covered, old school comic book covers get re-imagined by other artists. The result are pretty fantastic. Artists such as Mark Grambau take something like this:

And reimagine it like this:

The contents are countless, and they’re all absolutely awesome. Check out the blog Covered.

If you haven’t been reading DC’s Wednesday Comics then you’re either stupid or crazy. Provided you’re not both, go to your local comic shop right now buy as many of them as you can. Yes, they’re that good.

Those of you who have been picking up this weekly treat have probably already decided which strips are worthwhile and which aren’t. To me, the only real toss-away strips are Metal Men (apparently DiDio writes an interesting story about as well as he edits), Teen Titans, and (until last week, anyways) Caldwell’s Wonder Woman. Other than that, we’re talking straight-up comic-book masterpieces.

One of these masterpieces is Superman. The story is simple enough — Superman is having some sort of existential crisis and he travels about while trying to figure out what it all means. The execution, however, is perfect. Arcudi’s writing and Bermejo’s pencils depict Kal-El as both iconic and humanly relatable. Kudos to them.

But what I find most breathtaking about this comic are the colors. When I fold open the newspaper-style strip, my eyes explode and nearly knock the lenses out of my glasses. I don’t even know what to write…the colors of this Superman strip are just perfect. Vibrant, warm, welcoming, heavenly.

So once I realized that I was in love with the colors, I decided to contact the woman responsible: Barbara Ciardo.

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Pepsibones has been vociferously arguing that the Disney acquisition of Marvel could actually be super disco breakin’ and shit. He proposes that the deep-pockets that have picked up Marvel could actually benefit fans. How so, you ask? Well, if comic books are in fact dropping and dropping in sales, they may be willing to eat the cost moreso than if Marvel was alone. Why would they be willing to do that?

It’s easy.

Marvel and DC have long since been using their comic books as thinktanks for movie ideas, t-shirts, theme parks, et cetera. In other words, they’re a the testing ground for more lucrative propositions. And if Disney is willing to eat the cost on this comic book R&D, they should do us a favor as well.

Drop the cost of comic books. If they’re capable of eating cost, why not make the average comic book cheaper? Them shits are currently bordering on $3.99. If they were halved in price, being the sucker I am, I’d be more inclined to pick up some of the slop out there. Like the fifteen Avengers titles.

Pepsibones isn’t alone in his sentiment, Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool reported that Disney may be thinking the same thing internally in a good article:

Via Bleeding Cool:

However, what if Disney was preemptive? What if Disney want to do something that makes a big impact on the comics business. It may make less money, it may cost them in instant revenue, but it also may reignite the kind of buzz that will help the slew of Marvel and Marvel-related films and merchandise.

What if the comics, rather than creeping towards the $3.99 price, suddenly dropped. To $1.99. Across the board.   Sales would rocket, market share would sour, other publishers would be squeezed off the shelves, plastic rings or no plastic rings,   comics revenue would fall. But buzz would increase, increase, increase.

C’mon Disney. Do all of us Marvel zealots a solid and drop the price. We know you can afford it, you gobble up companies like I eat slices of pizza. Careless and with no regard for the ramifications.

It’s a common fear of mine that my comic book store of choice, Webhead, is a bad year away from folding. The owner Dean, who is a good lad of mine, told me recently that they wouldn’t even be capable of staying open without their business selling shit online.

I was floored. I knew things were bad, but not that bad.

Then I came across this great article by Christopher Butcher that was linked from another blog I frequent, The Beat. Here’s an excerpt:

Things aren’t stable, behind the scenes (and sometimes spilling onto message boards and websites) people are very worried. Fans, Retailers, Publishers. Distributors. But the thing that to me is the most disconcerting and heralds the biggest change? Diamond Comics Distributors drastically raising their order minimums.

I can’t imagine that this is going to do anything but make life more difficult for the struggling comic book store. It’s a lengthy article, but it’s worth checking out if a Wednesday trip down the comic book store means the same thing to you as it does to me.

Check out the article here.

Whenever I wander around Warren Ellis’ Whitechapel Forums (which is pretty much everyday) it doesn’t take long before I find something worthwhile. Some days, it’s a new book to read or an 8tracks mixtape or some scientific article I can barely wrap my head around. In other words, Whitechapel is a failsafe source of discovery.

Today was no exception. Browsing the Splash Page Art Challenge Thread, I was struck by the work of George Zapata (who posts as ‘gzapata’). His submission (as seen below) wonderfully depicts the differences between Batman & Superman. And while this interplay between light/dark, cheerful/brooding, inspiring/frightening has been explored ad nauseam, Zapata’s effort is much more refreshing and playful.

From Superman’s ridiculous hair-curl to Batman’s scowl, Zapata helps the reader remember that these are cartoons — they don’t always have to be  complicated characters of  socio-cultural critiques. Sometimes, believe it or not, comic books can just be fun – and that’s exactly what these two pages prove.

I made my way to Zapata’s website to discover that he is a former student of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and is trying to cut his teeth in the comic book world. I emailed George and asked for permission to post these images and he has yet to respond. With that being said, I’m going to assume he’s cool with it.

Go to his  blog. Check out his sick art. Let him know what you think. Help out the small guys.

Last night, Pepsibones asked me if I had heard about Guy Ritchie. Yeah, I said, the dumb ass is directing the Lobo movie. Which is going to excite my fourteen year old self. Lobo was awesome back in the day, because he was a dumb swearing piece of shit who stabbed stuff. I was fourteen. Hopped up on testosterone and giggling at boobs. This dude understood me.

I convey to Pepsibones that I thought Lobo sucked now, when he hit me with:

Yeah, but did you know he was created as a commentary on Wolverine and other ridiculous anti-heroes?

I was aware of that, but it only was made vaguely known to me after I had evolved out of my primordial testosterone madness. Into my uh, post-mordial, testosterone semi-madness. And that said, I wasn’t the only boner-sporting adolescent who completely missed the message, according to the guy behind Lobo’s popularity, Keith Giffen:

Via Lobo’s Wiki:

I have no idea why Lobo took off,” Giffen once said in an interview. Referring to the 1990s incarnation of Lobo he created, he said, “I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine, hero prototype and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure”

No idea? I can help you dude. Because people always miss the point! Especially in mainstream culture. Maybe in indie comics or Focus Feature films the point is gotten, over-analyzed and then thrown to the wolves. But shit like Lobo? C’mon. It was marketed towards teenage boys who wanted to see gunshots and swears. It’s ironic, how the very medium you used to make your commentary turned against you! People always miss the point. The Dark Knight was just about Batmobiles, the Matrix was just about guns and kung-fu, and Fight Club was about people punching one another.

There isn’t much room for social commentary when dealing with us mouth-breathing teenage boys.

Are you fools ready to Fuck Crime! next April? I hope so! Because the movie adaptation of the comic book Kick-Ass is spilling into theaters on April 16, 2010. I have to say, I’m one of the few people I know that isn’t totally jizzing over the comic book. It’s yet another Mark Millar riff on SUPERHEROES IN THE REAL WORLD, ala Wanted, Marvel 1985, et cetera, et cetera. And it seems to rely on hyperviolence and shock value. I should probably admit after stating that though, that Mark Millar is one of my favorite comic book writers. And he’s scribed countless stories I’ve adored. Maybe I’m just burnt out on ultraviolence. It’s not his fault. I love you Mark! It’s just that every time I read an issue, I get the feeling there’s the “Are you shocked?! Are you offended? Eh! EH?!”

No, I’m not. I jerk off to scat porn. A little girl saying the word “Cunt” doesn’t blow me away anymore.

That said, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the clips that leaked from San Diego Comic Con this year. They’re pretty god damn faithful. Deep down inside I’m sweating the movie, and I have the funny feeling it’s going to blow my god damn socks off. As well, the fact that the movie was independently funded reeks of awesomeness and I love the fact that they just shot the fucking movie they wanted, and sold it afterwards. I think I may be fawning. Fuck. Shit.

I’m conflicted.

Lay off me, I’m bipolar.

DC, not comfortable with being utterly forgotten today, has released some new pictures of their MMO, DC Universe. I feel bad for DC. I don’t begrudge them from trying, but I have seen the future of this release. And it staunch mediocrity at best. Maybe it’ll cut out enough of a chunk to exist for a while. Maybe it’ll even be fun. But there’s no way that they’re going to be able to conquer the market. Blizzard continuously pumps out new WoW content to keep us junkies playing. Sure, maybe we’ll dabble in DC Universe. But like any man who leaves his girlfriend for a while for that cute girl who works at Newbury Comics and listens to the Pixies, we’re going to realize the truth: There’s a reason we spent four years with our beautiful WoW. Shit can’t compete.

Oh, and if shit could compete? It’s going to be Star Wars: The Old Republic. The loudest of MMO detractors are salivating over this release. My friend, The Dude, never misses a chance to take a swing at WoW and the stupidity of MMOs. And you know what? He’s pledged that he will be picking up the Old Republic. There’s only so many hours in the day, and when push comes to shove, it’s going to be a Star Wars/WoW world. That shit is just the truth.

[ check the pictures @ kotaku ]

August 31 was the day the entire nerd community was sent into oblivion. You see, today we all found out that Disney has bought Marvel.

In my mind, this is the perfect way to bring Captain America back from the fucking time stream or wherever he is at the moment. He will literally ride Walt Disney’s disembodied head and burst out of some transdimensional portal. Oh, you didn’t know? If you straddle dear old Walt’s head, twisting his left ear forward and his right ear backwards at the same time, a rocket burst ignites and he accelerates at a speed that pierces time and space. It’s coming. Just wait for it.

Here, suck on a press release:

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.

Good god damn. For $4 billion, Disney now owns everything Marvel. Everything. Comic Book Resources is covering it. But remember, Marvel has theme parks, they have movies, they have video games. Throw a rock at a nerd venue and you’ll hit someone covering the story. Are we going to see Marvel characters in a video game finger-fucking Goofy in Kingdom Hearts? Just maybe.

Via Destructoid:

In a conference call with investors discussing the detail today, Disney’s senior vice president of investor relations Lowell Singer directly addressed the videogame issue. He mentioned Marvel’s “smart licensing agreements with some of the best videogame manufacturers in the business” before adding that they’re not rulling out “the blend of licensing and self-produced and distributed videogames.”

“As these licensing deals expire we have the luxury of considering what’s best for the company and the products,” he mentioned, referring to the previously mentioned deals with THQ, Activision, and Sega, as well as Gazillion, many of which won’t expire until nearly 2020. If changes are coming, it’s likely we won’t see them for quite some time.

This shit is undoubtedly big news. How do I know? I woke up to a text message from my boy Patrick Mars letting me know. Every single fucking website has covered it. Pepsibones literally met me outside our house today as I was coming home. He asked a simple question:

Have you heard the big news?

And I immediately knew what he meant. I threw the question back at him:

Do you like the big news?

I don’t think either of us knew how to feel. In fact, when I begged him to write this article, he was all, “I don’t know man, I don’t have anything to say until I figure it all out.”

At first blush, I don’t like it. A completely irrational response based on nothing. Okay? I just feel like it’s another level of red tape for the creators to work through.

“Oh hey, can I turn Captain America into a pedophilic monster who is addicted to Hydroxycut? Oh, that wouldn’t work with the cross-promotion they’re doing with the Even Stevens reunion?”

More and more barriers of labyrinthine plans and levels of control. Meh. Don’t dig it.

In a perfect world though, it’d be great. As I’ve already detailed at my big boy job, maybe it’ll prolong Marvel’s ability to produce comic books. Anyone who has spoken to a comic book owner knows that Marvel barely or doesn’t make money off of their comic books. They eat the cost, make up a bit on Trades, and use it as a farm for movies, toys, video games, t-shirts, and Spider-Man dildos. If this allows them the capital to continue eating the losses, I’m fucking sold.

As usual, in a perfect world, it’d be fantastic. In my cynical mind, it’s going to end in tears.

What do you guys think? Leave a comment.

Earlier this afternoon I dug through the archives I share with Caffeine Powered, as I was on a mission to find one of my all-time favorite comic books. Thanks to the wonderful organization skills of my brother, it was with minimal effort that I was able to pump my fist and shout “Huzzah!” I held in my hands X-Men #25, the very first comic I remember reading.

Actually, I need to pause for clarification. X-Men #25 was not the first comic book I owned. Looking at it today I realized that the comic was published in October 1993; as a seven year old at that time, I must have already been familiar with paneled pages.

Furthermore, when I first got my hands on X-Men #25 almost sixteen years ago, I didn’t read it. In fact, I’m not sure if I could read at that age. But even if I was literate, I distinctly remember skipping the words in favor of the images (sorry Fabian Nicieza!).

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