August
16 Wind from Chicago

Marvel has tapped Lions Gate exec Eric Rollman to oversee the DVD animation titles the comicbook publisher and the studio pacted to produce recently. "Avengers" is first up for Rollman, with an expected release date of 2006.

They first met years ago in the pages of Dark Horse Comics and now "Aliens vs. Predator" is tops at the box office with an opening frame take of $38 million.

Most of the action the past few days was in the Midwest, where Wizard World: Chicago had an announced attendance of 54,500 for the three-day show.

The story from the show that has everyone talking came from writer Brian Michael Bendis when he discussed his proposal to do a Batman/Daredevil crossover. Bendis said he got Marvel on board with it and had support from DC editors, but that DC president and publisher Paul Levitz said no because he didn't want to work with Marvel while Joe Quesada was still editor in chief there. DC VP Bob Wayne was in the panel and protested Bendis' characterization of the decision and the panel got a little circus like as they discussed the matter. In the end, everyone calmed down and Bendis has apologized for bringing up the topic, which he only did in hopes that fan support could get Levitz to change his mind. Comic Book Resources cites a an interview Quesada did with the New York Observer as an reason for Levitz's decision in which Quesada was quoted as saying:

"What the fuck is DC anyway?" Mr. Quesada said, stoking the fires. "They'd be better off calling it AOL Comics. At least people know what AOL is. I mean, they have Batman and Superman, and they don't know what to do with them. That's like being a porn star with the biggest dick and you can't get it up. What the fuck?"

Wayne reiterated to Newsarama that DC wants a change in management at Marvel before it will consider publishing another crossover, while Quesada told the site this was not a good excuse to not publish a book that fans would love and would be successful.

The rest of the news from Chicago was more in line with the norm of a big con. There were lots of announcements, including a new Wildstorm series by "Danger Girl" partners Andy Hartnett and J. Scott Campbell. Marvel gave a sneak peak at its plans for "Avengers," including some news on a new series called "Young Avengers." It also announced exclusive contracts with artists Steve McNiven, Adi Granov, Oliviel Copiel, Trevor Hairsine, Jimmy Cheung, and David Finch, as well as a "What If?" fifth-week event and the return of Jean Grey in a new "Phoenix" series. On the DC side, David Goyer talked about "Batman Begins" and brought exclusive footage to show the con, rectifying many fans complaints about the lack of such footage at last month's Comic-Con Intl. Also, DC teased the return of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and a new series for Jack Kirby's "The Demon," by John Byrne and Will Pfeiffer.

And the Wizard Fan Awards were presented, with Bendis taking best writer and Jim Lee winning top penciller.