August
27 Disney mag axed; another author goes manga; legal doings

We’re back from a few days off watching short films in the desert. Here’s what’s what in comicbook land in the slow, dog days of summer 2007:

* The long-running Disney Adventures digest magazine has been canceled. The November issue will bring the periodical’s 17-year run to an end. Disney Adventures is one of the few remaining mass-market periodicals to feature comics for kids, and was readily available at supermarket checkout stands across the nation. The mag had a circulation of 1 million, but declining ad revenues sealed its fate. Its not clear if the Comic Zone! companion mag also is shutting down.

* TOKYOPOP and HarperCollins have signed a deal for author Ellen Schreiber to write the story for a manga based on her popular “Vampire Kisses” novels. The first of three parts, “Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives” goes on sale next month with art by rem.

* Recent developments in a pair of closely watched legal cases saw the settlement of the lawsuit between author Harlan Ellison and Fantagraphics and the delay until November of the trial of Georgia comicbook retailer Gordon Lee on charges of distributing harmful materials to a minor. Lee is being defended by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.