December
17 Cool Effect

Diamond's sales ranking for November-shipping comics has come out. Marvel led DC 36%-31% in dollar share and 43%-34% in unit share. Here's the top 10 selling comics for the month:

1) Superman/Batman #13
2) Astonishing X-Men #6
3) Identity Crisis #6
4) Superman/Batman #14
5) Superman #211
6) Avengers #503
7) Avengers Finale #1
8) Ultimate Fantastic Four #13
9) Ultimate X-Men #53
10) Uncanny X-Men #452

All the numbers are up at Newsarama.

"Spider-Man 2" was announced today as one of the seven films that advance to the famed bakeoff for the best visual effects Oscar nomination. The other six contenders are "The Aviator," "The Day After Tomorrow," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "I, Robot," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." While it was no surprise "Hellboy" didn't make the cut, the absence of "Van Helsing" is interesting. The three official nominees will be announced Jan. 25 and the winner will be announced Feb. 27.

David S. Goyer has signed on to write, produce and direct a feature film based on DC's classic speedster, "The Flash." The WB project will be overseen by Lynn Harris, who produced Goyer's most recent project, Marvel's "Blade: Trinity." Harris praised Goyer for his credibility with comics fans. In addition to writing all three "Blade" films, Goyer worked on the script for next summer's "Batman Begins" with director Christopher Nolan. He also has extensive comics writing experience, including runs on "Starman" and "JSA."

Italian thriller comicbook "Dylan Dog" is being developed into a CGI feature film by Platinum Studios, Reality Management and The Shop Animation Studio. Shop co-founder Ian Pearson will direct from a script he wrote with Gavin Blair.

Fox has tapped Sheldon Turner to write a script for a "Magneto" film, based on the "X-Men" villain played by Ian McKellan. Turner was inspired by the character's origins as a Holocaust survivor and set the film in the character's formative years with Professor X playing a prominent role. "I pitched a film that is almost 'The Pianist' meets 'X-Men,' about a guy who, after watching his family slaughtered, has an awakening of his powers and seeks revenge," Turner told Daily Variety. Film follows the pattern set by Fox in its plans to develop a "Wolverine" spinoff for star Hugh Jackman and the upcoming "Elektra," which was spun out of the "Daredevil" feature.

Marvel has signed a worldwide, multiyear deal granting mobile publishing rights to Mforma Group, which will create games, ringtones and other content based on Marvel's characters. Deal will include content related to upcoming Marvel pics "Elektra" and "Fantastic Four."

A preview of 2005 comics at Time.com spilled the beans on Marvel's plans to launch Ultimate Iron Man with scifi writer Orson Scott Card at the helm. Over at DC, the publisher signed an exclusive contract with artist Frank Quitely, amid speculation that he and past collaborator Grant Morrison are working on an ultimate-style version of Superman. Michael Bair, inker of the just-concluded Identity Crisis, extended his exclusive deal with the publisher for another year. Chuck Austen, meanwhile, has departed as writer of Action Comics.

An upcoming anime movie based on Santa Inoue's "Tokyo Tribes" has been licensed by MTV for realease in the U.S. The film is expected to be released in theaters in Japan in 2006; no plans have been announced for its release in the U.S. "Tokyo Tribes" is published in the U.S. by TOKYOPOP, which just announced it has sold 500,000 copies of its Cine-Manga title "SpongeBob Squarepants: Bikini Bottom's Most Wanted" Scholastic, the in-school book club.