Movies: 1st 'Wanted' pics; Devil's Due goes H'wood

U.K.-based site Empire Online has the first pics from "Wanted," the Universal pic starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, based on the Top Cow comic by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. Click on the above pic for a closer look, then go to Empire's site for more.

* Comics publisher Devil's Due has opened up a Hollywood shop, with former Marvel producer Stephen Christy in charge. Company, repped by William Morris Agency, has already set up "Drafted," Lost Squad" and "Hack/Slash," and is looking for more. Company also has signed on with Uclick to make several of its titles available on mobile phones. Variety's Marc Graser has the full details.

Comics tech: Zuda's live; MySpace's Coalition; Platinum doings

* Zuda Comics is up and live. The first thing that strikes me is the interface, which appears to have been well-thought out but still has some bugs to work out. The art looks great on my laptop in full-screen mode, but so far the keyboard commands for advancing through pages doesn’t work in this mode. Conversely, shortcuts work fine in the regular browser window, but the lettering on the image at that size is jagged and too small to easily read. Again, there’s a few bugs to work out, but the presentation overall is pretty good.

Meanwhile, Zuda has announced its first instant winner: "Bayou," by Jeremy Love.

* MySpace is hosting an interesting experiment called Coalition Comix, in which readers have a chance to shape a new comics project. Running the project as “MySpace Storymaster” is Mike Carey, a veteran comics writer currently guiding the fortunes of the X-Men for Marvel. According to the PR, Carey determines the questions that will be put to readers, who have a chance to influence the story “on the deepest levels.” Coalition is a partnership between the MySpace Comic Books site and publisher Virgin Comics.

* Platinum Studios has teamed up with Skyward Mobile to create Mobile Comics, which the companies describe as “a new application that delivers a never-before-possible comics experience to users over their mobile devices.” Platinum’s “Hero by Night” and “Kiss 4K” will be the first comics featured in the application, which works on multiple platforms and can be downloaded for free www.platinumstudiosmobile.com and at www.skywardmobile.com through Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, Platinum has terminated its involvement in the comics news site Broken Frontier. The site reverted completely to editor in chief Frederik Hautain, who explains things here.

Events: NYCC showrunner; Shrine show Nov. 4; PW panel in NYC

* New York Comic Con has appointed senior staff member Lance Fensterman to the position of show manager.  In his new position, Fensterman will work closely with Greg Topalian, who launched and has been running NYCC since its inception and has been promoted to senior VP.

The show also announced that legendary artist Neal Adams and "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola will be guests of honor at the next convention, set for April 18-20 at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.

* The Los Angeles Comic-Book and Science Fiction Convention returns to the Shrine Expo Center this Sunday. Set to appear are Colin and Greg Strause, directors of “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem”; cartoon voice actor Marvin Kaplan; comics artist and animator Eric Canete; Disney and Playboy cartoonist Dean Yeagle; and “Stargate SG-1” actor Corin Nemec.

* “Comics & Graphic Novels: Harnessing the Power of Visual Literature” will be the topic of the next Think Future discussion series presented by Publishers Weekly and sponsored by the New York Comic-Con, Random House and Getty Images. The panel is scheduled for Nov. 14 from 9-10:30 a.m. at Random House in New York City, with a breakfast preceding the event. Scheduled to appear are
 John Cunningham, VP of marketing, DC Comics; 
Dan Frank, editorial director, Pantheon Books;
 Rich Johnson, co-publishing director, Yen Press; and 
Bill Schanes, VP of purchasing, Diamond Comic Distributors. It will be moderated by PW Comics Week co-editors Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald. Tickets cost $45 and can be ordered here.

Hero org on fund-raising tear

The Hero Initiative continues to crank up its efforts on behalf of senior comics creators in financial need, announcing FOUR recent fund-raising programs.

* First up, the org has teamed up with grocery stores in California, Nevada and Illinois to let people donate part of their club card purchases.

Simply sign up your grocery card from Ralphs, Food 4 Less, Cala Foods or Bell Foods at this site and a portion of what you buy at those stores through Nov. 7 will be donated to the Hero Initiative. (When signing up, enter the org’s nonprofit organization number or NPO of 80680; it’ll show up as benefiting the Hero Initiative’s previous name, A Commitment To Our Roots.)

Signing up also makes you eligible to win an Ultimate Spider-Man #100 Project hardcover book signed by Stan Lee. A number of local comic stores also are offering to everyone who signs up a free comicbook and a chance at winning even more stuff. Full list of participating stores can be found at the Hero Initiative's site.

* The Hero Initiative also is auctioning on eBay a prop shirt from this past Sunday’s comic-themed episode of Showtime’s “Dexter.” The episode featured appearances by comics creators Dan Wickline and Tone Rodriguez, one of whom was killed while wearing the blood-splattered prop.

* Next is the Hero Library, a collection of 52 graphic novels with original sketches that will be auctioned off one per week on eBay (use this link to search) starting Nov. 1. The first book is the hardcover edition of “Tom Strong, Vol. 4,” with a sketch by Jerry Ordway.

* Lastly, a new site called Bid Kahuna has teamed up with Comic Art Fans to benefit the org. The site challenges its members to guess the final bid amount on various collectibles auctions, with each month’s winner earning the title of “Bid Kahuna” and some prizes. At the close of each Hero Initiative Prize Challenge at BidKahuna, ComicArtFans.com will donate a portion their revenue to The Hero Initiative.

WB inks directors for 'Flash,' 'Green Lantern'

WB scores a pair of directors for a pair of DC icons, inking David Dobkin for "The Flash" and Greg Berlanti for
"Green Lantern."

Dobkin, whose credits include the upcoming "Fred Claus," "Wedding Crashers" and "Shanghai Knights," tells MTV that "Flash" will feature Wally West — the third Flash after Jay Garrick, the 1940s version, and Barry Allen, the beloved 1950s version who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. Dobkin also says the film will spin out of George Miller's "Justice League of America." He also revealed a tagline for the pic: "You can't outrun yourself."

Berlanti, meanwhile, will direct "Green Lantern" based on a script he will write with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green. Looks like the pic will focus on the Hal Jordan version of the character, which may set it apart from being a "Justice League of America" spinoff as that film is rumored to be using the John Stewart version of Green Lantern. Like "Flash," there are multiple characters who have used the identity, including Alan Scott in the 1940s, Guy Gardner in the 1980s and Kyle Rayner in the 1990s. Jordan remains the most popular with fans, and stars in the current DC comicbook sereis.

Berlanti and his crew have extensive TV and comics credits, Berlanti as a writer and exec producer on "Everwood," "Brothers & Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money. Guggenheim is currently with Berlanti on "Brothers & Sisters" and has penned segs of "Jack & Bobby" and "CSI: Miami." He's also penned "Blade" and "Wolverine" for Marvel Comics. Green's TV credits include "Smallville" and co-exec producer on "Heroes"; he's also written "Superman/Batman" for DC.

Levy looks back on 10 years of Tokyopop

Photo by Amy Graves/WireImage.com
(Click on image for larger view)

It’s been ten years since Stu Levy founded Tokyopop, which has gone on to major success as a publisher of both imported and original manga and the lifestyle that goes with it. In honor of the occasion, Daily Variety has published a special feature package in today’s edition of the paper that can be read online at www.variety.com/tokyopop

Having first interviewed Levy for Variety at the 2002 Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego, I was eager to ask about the many changes in the businesses of the manga, graphic novel and comics-to-film. The interview with Levy ran more than an hour in a conference room at Tokyopop’s 20th floor offices across from the L.A. County Museum of Art, and yielded way more interesting material about publishing and the market for manga than could be included in the two articles I was asked to write for the print edition. So here, we’re presenting some additional, manga-specific highlights from our extensive interview with Levy.

Variety: Did you have any overt intention of getting into the entertainment business?

Levy: I was exposed to it. As I moved on to high school and college and went from the geek side to kind of the trendy socialite side, I used to crash with my buddies a lot of Hollywood parties and concerts and things like that. And so it was kind of that combination of having an aspiration for entertainment plus this love for technology and geek culture that when I went to Japan it all came together and I fell in love with that culture and how multimedia it was, how futuristic it was.

Variety: How did that lead to you publishing manga?

Levy: My first business initiative really was as a multimedia producer and I turned it into a little company called Japan Online. It came along right when the videogames started, the CD-ROM-based videogames — Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, 3DO. When those things first started, the technology that I was using in my business merged with the old days of “Street Fighter.” I was in Japan and all the anime and manga and videogame guys all merged together and it was this incredible time creatively, where graphic design was moving into early 3-D work and everything was coming together on the computers. Around that time, I discovered manga. I had already been watching anime, and I was like, “Oh wow! This is the origin to everything.” What a better way to build some kind of position than grab an analog library of content that I can then move in the digital realm. Hence, manga. Then I founded Mixx.

Variety: How did Mixx become Tokyopop?

Levy: We were searching for domain names and thinking about stuff and we ended up with Tokyopop. We had for a while Mixx and Tokyopop. I don’t know when we started to actually use Tokyopop for everything, but we debated it constantly. We had Mixx, which is a cool name, but there were some trademark challenges. It wasn’t a clean trademark. And our online site was not Mixx.com, somebody else had that, so we had Mixx Online. And then there was Tokyopop, which people got immediately.
So finally, we said, you know we’ve got to put a stake in the ground and choose just one brand and run with it — and we chose Tokyopop.

Variety: In the company’s early days, what were your relationships like with the license holders in Japan? Was it difficult to convince them to give you a shot at publishing manga in the U.S.?

Levy: That was actually the easier part of it, to be honest with you, because no one was doing it. People in Japan, they thought it was so out there and, frankly, kind of strange or weird that I even had an interest in doing that. I guess they kind of thought it was sort of cute.

Variety: Did you look at previous attempts to publish manga in America? In the 1980s, there was always some publisher trying to do manga in the American-style comics format.

Levy: When we started, I was pretty ignorant to all that because I didn’t really grow up a comic book collector. My exposure was more to film and music. The extent of my American-based comicbook knowledge was that I used to love the Bob’s Big Boy throwaway and that was kind of my thing. I never really delved into collecting

Somebody always tried to publish manga but it was always in the comicbook shops, which I never thought about. I was always thinking about the malls and it hadn’t even occurred to me to approach the comicbook shops because I didn’t really consider the comicbook shops to be, at that point in time, a place that frankly was mainstream enough to actually make a business out of it. It seemed so niche-y that you couldn’t pay your bills.

Of course, once I wasn’t able to get any distribution anywhere, and I learned about the comicbook shops, Diamond and all of that, that’s ultimately where we had to start. But yeah, we could barely pay our bills from that distribution and a lot of that was because everything was driven by, at the time, especially Image Comics and to a lesser degree Marvel and DC.

Variety: How did you get into the bookstores and malls?

Levy: A year, year and a half in, Waldenbooks started to bite a little bit and it was mainly because of “Sailor Moon.” We put together media kits for “Sailor Moon” with Buena Vista. Although it was taken off TV at the time, Buena Vista was about to put out some videos and we teamed up and sort of decided to help each other out. They gave us some information for the media kit and they put a little ad, a postcard, in their videos. We went to the bookshops and Walden decided to try a couple “Sailor Moons” — and they sold. So that was kind of the in that we needed, and little by little they would take some more product.

Variety: The major turning point seems to have come in 2002, when you began publishing manga in the original right-to-left format, as well as in standardized books at standardized prices. How did you make those decisions?

Levy: That was definitely the stuff that we did that, out of everything we tried, was the most successful, which was able to build our company. It was from a lot of studying other businesses. Me, I had always been influenced by the videogame industry.

When the videogame guys — Playstation and Sega Saturn — first launched, everything was in the same package and you put it into the computer or your Playstation or your Saturn and it worked. It was all standardized, so the user didn’t have to think about anything other than, “Is this the content that I want? Is this a cool game?”

And then I remember the year before we decided to go with the right-to-left thing, I was getting pressure from the Japanese. “Publish it right-to-left! We hate it when you flip it! This artist doesn’t like that or this editor doesn’t like that!” And we had gone to the retailers out there around 2000 and said, “Hey, what would you think if we published this right-to-left?” And they said, “You’re out of your fricking minds to even think about it.”

So we went back to the Japanese and said we can’t do it. And they said fine, we understand, but these particular titles we can’t license to you because the artists won’t accept it.

And then in 2001 I went to Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time and I saw that in Germany, they were publishing “Dragonball” right-to-left and it was selling blockbusters. And so it was kind of like, well look, the Germans tend to be really conservative and if they’re accepting of a right-to-left format, why can’t we try something a little bit unique?

And so that’s when we talked about it and I said: “You guys, we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to standardize the thing. We’ve tried all these different sizes, we’ve tried these different price points, nobody wants to try right-to-left … Let’s just do it all at once and just go for it and make a big statement.”

I was in the room with a few people in the company and, I swear to God, there was probably only one other guy who got it. Everybody else in the conference room looked at me and said, “Should we start looking for jobs right now?” And one guy, our head of marketing at the time, was like, “Let’s do it. Let’s make this thing happen.”

And so we did a few things. We lined up all the various book sizes — from Japan, from Korea — put them all in a row, in order from smallest to biggest, and we said: “What’s the size? What will work from a production point of view? What will work from a marketing point of view? What’s the size?”

We looked at them all and we said, “Boom! The one right in the middle.” And that’s the size we use.

Variety: You also very strongly branded your books. How did you do that?

Levy: We tried a bunch of things and came up with this branding bar on the side of the book. And we made a point of really pushing the fact that it’s Tokyopop doing this, which at the time, for this business, wasn’t very common. Certainly, Marvel I think was successful at that, and Image was successful in the comicbook world. But in the book world, nobody was doing that kind of stuff. So there’s that, and the influence for the brand bar was frankly Nintendo. Nintendo did that with Game Boy and all of the Nintendo stuff had this huge stripe.

Variety: And how did you come up with the price point?

Levy: At the time it was, let’s make it easy on people. Let’s make the shelves all look pretty. Let’s make everybody know that any of these are $9.99 — just choose your content. That was the strategy and definitely quite a lot of people said we were out of our minds.

Variety: At what point did you know that this was starting to click with people?

Levy: Well, we got a bunch of recorders.

Variety: Did that happen very quickly?

Levy: That happened very quickly. We ran out of stock really quick. We ran out of stock! My God, maybe it’s working! And then our distributor went bankrupt, and it really screwed us. It was literally, we ran out of stock, we’re about to re-supply and then our distributor went bankrupt and we couldn’t use our inventory. Our inventory is frozen for two months, which probably actually got people wanting it even more because they couldn’t get the reorders immediately.

Variety: From a business perspective, how essential was it for you to start to develop original material that you own over versus the stuff you’ve licensed?

Levy: I was realizing at the time, well we’ve proven our name as Tokyopop, that we can market and we can distribute. But a lot of people, especially in Japan, were treating us like we were a distributor, maybe even like we were an agent.

So I decided that, yeah, it’s important for us to prove that not only can we work with finished product and adapt it, but we can work with creative people and we can express ourselves creatively as well and become more of a studio. That’s certainly what American comic companies do. We’ve been doing graphic novels, comic books for a long time. We know it really well. We think we understand the secrets of the success of Japanese manga, and why it resonates worldwide, so let’s take a stab at it.

Variety: How important is it for you guys to keep connected with your fans, whether it’s in print or online?

Levy: I think it’s critical. The fans are the key to everything.

Our general mentality is a totally open environment. Any fan can talk about anything they want on our website. I mean obviously pornography is something we have to be careful about because there’s a lot of underage fans. But other than that, in terms of if somebody’s a huge fan of our competitor's manga? So what? That’s great. We love that. We welcome that. Somebody wants to take some of our stories and crate a fan fiction or a mash-up video or things like that? We totally encourage that.

So my personal view on how to approach copyright is I really tend to lean towards opening it up and embracing fans expressing themselves creatively with IP that other people have created. I think that's what this country stands for and I think that obviously it’s a fine line, because with piracy, ultimately, if nobody gets paid for anything, then we’re all out of business. But I think fans are conscious of that and they respect you.

Variety: And where do you see the company 10 years from now?

Levy: Honestly, 10 years from now, we’ve either really made it or not. We’re going to go balls to the wall. The next five years, the next three years, the next 10 years, we’re just going for it. And either we’ve become a true part of the fabric of world pop culture, or we’re not here anymore.

CBR keeps tabs on comics people in fire zones

Seems like most of Southern California is on fire, and Comic Book Resources has been doing a great job keeping tabs on all the comics people who've been affected by it.

The impact on comics folks in the L.A. area has been pretty minimal. (It's quite calm aside from an orangish tinge to the sunlight at my home in Eagle Rock, which is nowhere near the worst of it). But there's plenty to check in on down San Diego way, as the city is home to publishers IDW and WildStorm as well as the annual Comic-Con. Convention spokesman David Glanzer tells CBR that at least one person associated with the convention has lost their home.

Fest taps "300" as "Movie of the Year"

The Hollywood Film Festival has named "300" its "Movie of the Year." The event, which honors the best in Hollywood filmmaking, chose the action pic based on Frank Miller's comicbook over "Spider-Man 3," "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Transformers" for the honor.

"Robot Chicken," meanwhile, applied the "300" style to another historical event, resulting in a buffed up George Washington, a beastly King George and a hilarious signature by John Hancock in "1776." (The episode can be found in full here; the parody is in the last minute.)

Comicstrip newbie 'Lio' gets live-action option

Oddball newspaper comicstrip "Lio" has been optioned by producer David Kirschner, who has set it up with New Line.

The strip, by Mark Tatulli, launched last year to become one of the rare recent successes in the strip biz. "Lio" is syndicated byt the Universal Press Syndicate and appears locally in the Los Angeles Times.

Updated: DC's Zuda set to go live Oct. 30

DC's long-awaited webcomics initiative Zudacomics.com goes live on Tuesday. The company is ready to kick things off with a submissions party in New York City. Official PR on the party (and a link to the invite required to get in) follow in the jump.

Zuda also announced the 10 candidates for its first competition, featuring some interesting indie comics names such as Corey "Sharknife" Lewis and Pop "Spyboy" Mhan. Descriptions from the PR:

Title: Alpha Monkey
Writer/Artist: Bobbie Rubio/Howard M. Shum
Summary: In a misguided attempt to save his son from the destruction of Earth by a comet (which then happens to miss the Earth entirely) a scientist rockets his son into another dimension. The child ends up on a parallel world ruled by Monkeys! Given unique powers by the planet’s bananas, the young boy fights off invading monsters as the planet’s new defender, Alpha Monkey!

Title: This American Strife
Writer/Artist: Jason Longo
Summary: A quirky, humorous “Dear Diary” recounting of the artist’s observations on life, This American Strife is a sharp-witted visual stab at editorial blogging.

Title: Battlefield Babysitter
Writer/Artist: Matthew Humphreys
Summary: In a family of superheroes, in a city of superheroes, in a world of superheroes, Katherine Fields is a babysitter. But when a routine night of babysitting turns into a villainous invasion, Katherine finds herself transformed into a super strong heroine. At $8.00 and hour, it’s going to be a long night.

Title: Black Swan
Writer/Artist: Mulele Jarvis
Summary:  A young college student, Nina, is embroiled in a 500-year-old vendetta when she encounters a spirit bound to a mystic dagger left on her doorstep. Implicated in murder and on the run from a detective possessed by a rival spirit it’s up to Nina to relive an age-old battle – without dying in the process.

Title: Dead in the Now
Writer/Artist: Corey Lewis
Summary: When Braz – a young, cynical boy – discovers the world’s first authentic zombie he decides to end Earth’s monotonous routine and usher in an age of zombie-infested, chaotic adventure! Gathering supplies and weapons, Braz sets his friends up like modern, urban Lost Boys with himself as their Pan.

Title: The Dead Seas
Writer/Artist: Pop Mhan
Summary: Legions of undead controlled by Necromancer warlords destroy life as we know it, plunging the Earth into a futuristic Dark Age. But it’s adventure and romance on The Dead Seas as a swashbuckling young pirate named Devin teams up with an adventurous crusader name Luna. Armed with the secret of Pandora’s Box, they set out destroy the Necromancers and save the world.

Title: The Enders
Writer/Artist: Tim Smith III
Summary: Aluna didn’t ask to be given godlike power and she certainly didn’t ask for her parents to be killed in the process – but the enigmatic alien known as The Ender works in mysterious ways. Without time to grieve, Aluna is tasked with using her power to save the Earth from imminent destruction.  The only question – how?

Title: High Moon
Writer/Artist: David Gallaher/Steve Ellis
Summary:  It’s the fading days of the Old West in the late 1890’s when an enigmatic drifter, Matthew Macgregor, ambles into the dusty town of Blest, Texas.  The nights are cold in Texas as Werewolves secretly haunt the town, but Macgregor has a supernatural secret of his own.  When the sun sets it’ll be a showdown at High Moon.

Title: Leprenomicon
Writer/Artist: Greg DelCurla/Fernando Ruiz
Summary: In old Ireland, when the banshee sings for you it means that your time on this Earth is coming to an end. But American Michael O’Connor refuses to take this news lying down. With the (forced) help of a kidnapped Leprechaun, he intends to solve the mystery of his own death even if it turns the world of faeries, gods, and plain old normal folk upside down.

Title: Raining Cats and Dogs
Writer/Artist: Sho Murase
Summary:  A young, snake-haired gorgon named Mika, winds her way through the contemporary, everyday wonderland of dating, work, after-hours adventures and everything in between alongside her friends Apple (a rokurokubi energy-vampire),  Feebe (a bake-neko cat girl) and Akiha (a normal human).

DC COMICS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATE
FOR ZUDACOMICS.COM

ZUDACOMICS.COM INVITES WEB COMICS CREATORS AND JOURNALISTS TO CELEBRATE SITE LAUNCH WITH
HAPPY HOUR AND LIVE SUBMISSIONS EVENT

(October 24, 2007; New York, NY) —Zudacomics.com, the first ever web comics imprint from DC Comics, will go live on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007, it was announced today by Richard Bruning, DC Comics Creative Director, SVP.

With the launch of the site, visitors will immediately begin to shape and define the Zuda experience. Online submissions will begin, allowing aspiring web comics creators to submit their work directly to the Zuda editorial team. The Zuda web community will be invited to vote on the first ever Zudacomics.com competition, choosing one from the ten webcomics offerings. In addition, all visitors will be able to read the first ever Zudacomics.com Instant Winner, which will have been selected by Zuda editorial in preparation for the launch.

To celebrate the launch of this ground-breaking site, Ron Perazza Director, Creative Services, and Kwanza Johnson, Zuda editor, are inviting aspiring web comics creators and journalists to attend a special launch event in New York City on Tuesday, October 30. As Perazza explains in an e-mail sent to the Zuda community:

If you're going to be in the New York City area (and are 21 years of age or older) on Launch Day (Tuesday, 10/30) then come on and join the Zuda staff for the Zuda Comics Launch Event and Live Submissions...um...Extravaganza! Face it, you can submit online any day of the week, but for this one night only, from 5:30 - 6:30 PM, Ron, Kwanza and Nika will be reviewing pitches live! Bring your best! And don't worry, if you can't make it at that time for the next couple of hours we'll still have a drop box where you can leave your submission and we'll have some laptops where you can submit "ye olde fashioned" way - digitally! Where will this magic happen? At one of the most magical places on Earth, of course.

Lansdowne Road
599 10th Avenue
(between 43rd and 44th Streets)
New York, NY 10036

-Team Zuda

P.S. In order to get into the party, you're going to need to bring an invitation.

Mark Millar will NOT write 'Superman Returns' sequel

As if to prove that there are still dreams to be fulfilled in comics and film, Scottish comics scribe Mark Millar jumped at the chance to pitch ideas for the next "Superman" movie as soon as he heard that there was an opening. Here's what he wrote Monday on his forum:

It's 8.58am right now, my guys at CAA get into the office in about seven hours and my call will be waiting for them to talk about this. I want to revamp Superman like Hillary wants thin ankles. Revamping this franchise is what I as given fingers for and so, invited or not, I'm putting my plan together now. I've been asked to work on half a dozen screenplays lately, but this is the only one I have ever truly wanted.

As most here know, I have literally hundreds of pages of notes and sketches just waiting for this opportunity. This would be my dream gig and, as a fan, I know exactly what this project needs to work. This has to be Superman for the 21st Century, keeping everything we adore, but starting from scratch and making the kids love it as much as the 30-somethings. I would honestly write this thing for free.

Anyway, my treatment is being polished as we type. Wish me luck. I want to do that Superman movie we all want to see.

Unfortunately, it turned out to not be all that simple. Millar writes today:

Well, sadly, I'm a Marvel guy and we were surprised to find out that WB couldn't hire me for a DC property. They were incredibly nice and superbly apologetic about it, but when they discussed the matter seriously DC explained just how associated I am with Marvel Comics at the moment and it's against company policy to hire the competition. It's absolutely nothing personal. I spoke to some friends at DC and they explained this has happened with a couple of big Marvel writers in the last couple of years and I absolutely respect that. It's a business after all and to have a guy writing Fantastic Four, 1985, Kick-Ass and another super-big project for Steve McNiven this year which would be mentioned in every article about a Superman movie is not only an insult to their own writers, but makes bad business sense. I have nothing but respect for the DC high-ups and, though obviously disappointed, can absolutely appreciate their position. They're the custodians of these properties and they obviously know what they're doing.

So no Millar-penned Superman movie at this stage, I'm afraid. That situation may change, of course. As a Warner chum said to me last night, the last Superman movie had a number of starts and stops and who knows what will happen over the next couple of years, especially after my Marvel contract expires. In the meantime, I'm keeping my 200 pages of notes and sketches on a slow boil, just in case. As for the next movie, I wish whoever does land this gig nothing but the best of luck. I wanted to bring my vision to the screen out of nothing but pure love and hope to be as thrilled as everyone else. They're talking to a couple of guys with a better screen-writing track record and, like the rest of you, I'll keep my fingers crossed that this sequel to Bryan's first picture all works out great.

What course will "Superman Returns" sequel set?

The news that screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris are off the sequel to "Superman Returns" raises even more questions about the Man of Steel's future on the big screen.

The departure of Dougherty and Harris from the project leaves Warner Bros. looking for new writers and a new approach on the pic — a dangerous spot to be in if you're trying to get a big-budget sequel into theaters for 2009 with multiple production-stopping strikes threatening the industry.

It's been suggested that the studio, unhappy with "Returns," wants a complete reboot, much like Marvel is making next summer's "The Incredible Hulk" as though the 2003 Ang Lee film never happened. WB maintains the next Superman film will be a sequel to Returns, but there's a lot of questions still to be answered, and those answers seem to be in a state of flux. Among them are whether or not star Brandon Routh will again don the cape and how the relationship between WB and director Bryan Singer will change given the criticism of the previous film's large budget and lackluster reception. 

Starting over from scratch may or may not be the right approach, but the next Superman movie needs to keep a few things in mind and try to remember what works about the character.

Superman was the first superhero and, in many ways, the simplest and most pure expression of the genre. The excitement kids felt when those first Superman tales appeared in late 1930s issues of Action Comics came from the simple thrill of seeing a hero fly (or leap through the air, as he did back then), bend steel bars, lift cars over his head and watch bad guys' bullets bounce off his chest. Superman himself was not a fully realized personality; he was a cypher of a hero who used his powers to ensure that the good guys always won and the world was as fair and just a place as it could be.

That made him a perfect hero for kids, who were given an ideal entry into Superman's world through the dual identity that replicated the division between their own worlds of play and fantasy and the reality of school, parents and chores. Lois' attraction to Superman and rejection of Clark was never more than a joke. Superman didn't care about girls, but Lois not being in on so obvious a secret made the kids feel part of the club, as though they worthy of Superman sharing his greatest secret with only them.

Lois' role in the comic grew over the years, especially once the Comics Code severely restricted the amount and type of violence and action that could be portrayed, reducing the Man of Steel too often to starring in a maudlin soap opera that revolved around Lois' vain pursuit of his affections. But it wasn't until the 1970s that anyone began to seriously explore the idea of Superman being attracted to or in love with Lois Lane — adding a strange, overly anxious twist to scenarios already overloaded with awkwardness as the changing marketplace forced the Man of Steel to become a Marvel-style hero with feet of clay. Superman, it seems, simply doesn't "grow up" as well as his longtime pal Batman or the Marvel characters for whom this kind of angst was part and parcel of their creation.

That's at least one reason why the character has been constantly re-invented and revamped ever since.  Superman has become notoriously difficult to write, with a minefield of potential traps and difficult questions of logic, character and plot that anyone tackling the job has to overcome. Fans in the 1970s and 1980s, who were increasingly the only audience left for comics, were unimpressed by the classic hero, preferring instead the brooding violence and relative realism of Batman, Wolverine and The Punisher.

Those same traps await writers adapting the character to film or TV, though producing a live-action version of the character imposes some limits of its own that can at the very least make such productions more aware of the problems. Richard Donner's 1978 "Superman" film is the best example. Donner famously resisted a campy approach and the temptation to have Superman interact with the likes of Kojak. He got it right by keeping the character of Superman relatively simple, and succeeded by placing that character in a more realistic world that the audience at the time would recognize as contemporary.

(But, what then about the spectacular ending of that film, in which Superman is so distraught over Lois' death that he spins the Earth backward in time to save her? Donner's original take, as seen in his cut of "Superman II," was to have Superman spin the Earth back in time at the end of the second film to erase Lois' memories of his true identity — a story much more in line with the tone of the classic Superman comics of the Golden and Silver Ages. Alas, it was the need for a better ending to the first film that forced the change, not creative issues, demonstrating yet again how thorny issues seem to crop up almost constantly with this character.)

What was so disappointing about "Superman Returns" was it fell right into the trap of trying to make Superman carry more emotional weight than he's built for. Also unlike "X-Men" and "X2," "Superman Returns" was more about the Donner film and less about finding the character's best comicbook moments and bringing them to the screen. As such, "Returns" ended up being too introspective and more about Superman the clueless jerk who fathered a child out of wedlock than Superman the triumphant hero. People left the theater feeling depressed instead of inspired.

Questions about the viability of "Superman Returns" predate its release, with so much attention — justifiably, given the result — paid to the pic's massive budget and eventual underwhelming performance. While WB says it stands behind Singer and pledges to proceed with the project as a sequel, the departure of Harris and Dougherty make it easier than ever to imagine Singer walking away from the project.

At the heart of this are growing questions about the way in which WB has developed the DC properties. While Marvel has managed to get pics made of most of its top characters and many of its minor ones, DC projects like "The Flash" and "Wonder Woman" remain in development hell despite having once had talents like David Goyer and Joss Whedon attached. 

That's what makes "Justice League of America" both exciting and a bit scary — it could be the breakthrough needed to launch more DC characters into their own films, or it could cut the legs out from under the projects still being worked on. ("Batman Begins" and its upcoming sequel, "The Dark Knight," are the exception that proves the rule, with many people crediting director Chris Nolan for the film's success rather than than decision made by the studio. Batman also has proven easier to adapt to live-action and is more capable of carrying the emotional weight audience want from a contemporary superhero film.) "Justice League of America" is still an incredibly daunting film to make well, especially given the short production schedule the looming strike may pose.

While answers to the many questions surrounding a Superman movie are at this point fuzzy, it's still too early to count out either the Man of Steel or Singer, whose track record is on the whole a very good one. The story of the Man of Steel's cinematic adventure is, as always, an ongoing battle that, with a little care, he's more likely to win than lose.

“30 Days,” “Persepolis” prove comics’ depth, breadth`

Fall is often the slow season for comicbook movies, being a time when most studios are rolling out their Oscar bait or tempt audiences with fare based on more prestigious books.

But two comics adaptations that in almost every way couldn’t be more different offer some of the most compelling proof to date that comics’ ability to generate diverse and compelling material is increasingly valuable to filmmakers and succeeding in expanding such adaptations beyond the finite number of superhero franchises.

Opening today, “30 Days of Night” actually began its life as a film pitch by writer Steve Niles that was rejected by everyone around town who read it — until he turned it into a comic for IDW in 2002 and it was an instant sellout. The comic’s influence has been profound, establishing the names of Niles, artist Ben Templesmith and IDW within the industry and with fans. That Niles was involved in adapting his own work to the screen, as well as the hiring director David Slade, who brings some good indie cred from his previous film, “Hard Candy,” the success of another comicbook franchise seemed assured from Day 1. The film even retained the logo design used for the original trade paperback release of the series.

But the film version is, surprisingly, not as vigorous a tale as the comic. The plot remains essentially the same, retaining the very cool original ending. The changes were relatively minor, with the film estranging Sheriff Eben Oleson (changed from Olemaun) from his wife, Stella, and changing the character from a native Inuit to suit Josh Hartnett. There also were elements of the vampires plotting their scheme in/from New Orleans that are omitted.

All of this is minor stuff, but where the film falls short is in the details of the execution and especially the look of the film. Templesmith’s painted art gave the comic version a hazy, dreamlike quality with the occasion bright streaks of color (mostly red) and a chilling look for the vampires that included extra teeth, beedy eyes set just a bit too far apart and white skin stained red around the mouth. The film does its best to emulate some of Templesmith’s style, especially in the digital color correction, but always feels limited by a budget that makes it hard to imagine the actors are anywhere but on a decidedly not-freezing sound stage somewhere.

None of this is likely to matter much to filmgoers, most of whom will not have read the book in advance but enough of whom likely will be tempted to do so afterward to make IDW happy. Even critics, whose routine evisceration of horror flicks has increasingly lead studios to not screen them in advance, have been relatively kind to “30 Days.” Its box office and long-term potential also should make this work for Columbia Pictures in the financial realm, even if its creative reputation doesn’t ride out the long haul.

That makes “Persepolis” almost a mirror version of “30 Days of Night.” The film has been a hit with critics, festival programmers and audiences in its country of origin, France. But as a black-and-white, hand-animated tale about the life of Iranian cartoonist Marjane Satrapi, has little chance of making much of a dent in America except as an Oscar contender. Expect “Persepolis” to get a lot of attention from industry insiders and awards watchers because France submitted it as its entry in the foreign-language category, where it’s likely to stand a better chance of being recognized than in the CG-toon dominated animated feature category.

Regardless of whether the film takes an Oscar, it’s a real creative triumph that has used the success of the comic to get made a film that’s unusual in many respects: it’s hand-animated, almost completely in black-and-white and co-directed by the woman who also created the comic. It also is sure to provoke debate (or at least some shouting on cable news) about its portrayal of real Iranians and how they live their lives under an oppressive political and religious regime.

It will be worth watching to see how the film does when it opens Dec. 25 in the United States with an English dub to see if the success the graphic novel found in bookstores with regular, book-reading adults can in any way carry over to the film. Even if it makes a little bit of a difference, it may be enough for people to try making films of more literary graphic novels.

Which is a real shame, because the film is extremely faithful to the details and the spirit of the graphic novel while also being an imaginative work of animation that will surely find a significant following.

As different as these pics and their circumstances are, both prove the increasingly diverse and challenging material that comics bring to the table — especially as inventive original films that can appeal to the masses become increasingly rare.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" sets shooting, release dates

Variety's Pam McClintock has all the details on the long-gestating Wolverine spinoff movie, announcing a title, shooting dates and locations, and even a few hints about the plot.

The title, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is interesting for the way Fox is obviously connecting the pic to the previous films. We'll have to see if the Magneto spinoff pic is similarly named.

Pic has staked out May 1, 2009, for release, which is a bit further off than anything the filmmakers have suggested so far. That perhaps means for the first time an "X-Men" film will have s bit of time in the post-production schedule to not have to rush it. It also keeps the X-Men films, surprisingly, on schedule for a release every three years.

The casting news is good, with Liev Shrieber in talks to play a younger version of William Stryker, played in "X2" by Brian Cox. The scant plot details include mention of Weapon X, which makes sense given Stryker's connection to the project, as well as Victor Creed (a.k.a. Sabretooth, played by Tyler Mane in the first "X-Men" pic) and shooting in New Orleans that has fans immediately thinking of an encounter with the Cajun mutant Gambit.

An 'FF2" offer — and a BitTorrent experiment

A cool offer from BitTorrent, the P2P downloading service that now offers legit downloads of movies, TV shows music and games, creates an opportunity for a little experiment.

The offer is for readers of this blog to follow this link to a page where you can try the service and download a legit, licensed copy of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" for a mere 99 cents, a big savings off the regular $14.99. This offer is good through 3 p.m. PT on Oct. 23, 2007.

That's the cool part.

The experiment is this: It only supports Windows XP computers and I'm an all-Mac guy, so if anyone out there gives this a shot, please drop me a line and let me know how well the service worked, what the quality of the offering is, and (if you feel strongly about it) what you thought of the movie. I'll post a follow up after getting some responses.

OC Weekly on Liefeld; Liefeld on Moore

Anyone who remembers the strange days of the early 1990s, when Image Comics both real and imaginary were items of value cherished and sought after by fans everywhere, will want to take a look at this Luke Thompson look-back with Rob Liefeld published in the OC Weekly.

Lots of interesting bits in there, like this one:

Jeph Loeb, an award-winning comic-book writer and screenwriter currently working as an executive producer on TV’s Heroes, admitted to Liefeld some years ago that he had hated his guts.

Liefeld recalls, “We were finally close enough where he could divulge to me, like, oh, he goes, ‘Rob, the success you and your buddies had threatened all of us; it ticked us off. And, you know, you guys made us all look like old men, and uh, you kind of were a harbinger of a new generation.’ And I mean, I definitely felt that at the time because we pulled a lot of young readers in with us. I saw kids—I guess I’d call ’em skateboard kids, and more ‘normal kids’—coming into the comic conventions. Without us, you don’t get to where the San Diego Comic-Con pop-culture explosion is now. We were sort of the bridge event for that.”

There's also a much-discussed sidebar in which Liefeld talks about working with Alan Moore and how the famous writer of Watchmen, From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is really just in it for the money (though if that's the case, it's not clear why Moore turns down the money associated with the adaptation of his work to film). From Liefeld:

“Alan just wants to get paid more money, that’s it. Sorry Alan. I got my body of work out of Alan Moore, he doesn’t intimidate me, I don’t put him on a pedestal like Jack Kirby and Frank Miller,. He’s just a guy who wants to get paid, and he cuts deals for himself that he doesn’t like down the line, and then he gets whiny and cries about it...Hey man, he worked for me for two years, I was quiet for like ten years. And then I watched him burn every other bridge, and I go “Hmm.” Although we didn’t have a falling out with him. He just stopped working with us, because he now wanted to invest in his new universe with Wildstorm comics, and again, like I said, OOPS! That went up in flames. He gives 'temperamental artist' a new meaning.”

Allred: 'Madman' script completed

"Madman" creator Mike Allred has completed a second draft of the screenplay for a proposed adaptation to be produced by Robert Rodriguez for Dimension Films. Allred and co-writer George Huang are awaiting notes, and said (via IGN):

"It can be a struggle to figure out exactly what the movie should be. It's where it's faithful to the original series, but also feels contemporary and in the now," Allred explained.

"The bottom line is that all the elements I'm excited about are in there, and all the moments that I think the most diehard fans would want are in there," he revealed. "Right now, we're waiting on the studio notes, and hopefully we'll get the green light and be able to start casting and scheduling. Otherwise, we'll go back for a new polish and start up again. But that's the exact situation we're in now."

NRO covers L.A. library panel on comics' future

New Rage Order has video coverage (in six parts) of a panel titled "The Future of Graphic Literature," held Sept. 29 at the public library in downtown Los Angeles. It featured a Boom! Studios-heavy lineup, including Mark Waid, Ross Richie, Chip Mosher, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Kazu Kibuishi, Chip Mosher, Christos Gage and Tony Fleecs. The reportort says only about 20 people attended (which isn't all that bad considering that part of downtown on a Saturday is usually pretty sparsely populated anyway), but now can reach a wider audience thanks to the magic of the interweb. 

Ignatz Award winners announced

The winners of the indie-centric 2007 Ignatz Awards were announced Saturday at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Md. It was a good night for Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly, which took home four awards. Here's the full list:

• Outstanding Artist
      Jaime Hernandez, Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics Books)
• Outstanding Anthology or Collection
                              Curses by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Outstanding Graphic Novel
                              Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Outstanding Story
  "Felix" by Gabrielle Bell, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Promising New Talent
      Tom Neely, The Blot (I Will Destroy You)
• Outstanding Series
                              Mourning Star by Kazimir Strzepek (Bodega Distribution)
• Outstanding Comic
                              Optic Nerve #11 by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Outstanding Mini-Comic
                          P.S. Comics #3 by Minty Lewis
• Outstanding Online Comic
                          Achewood by Chris Onstad
• Outstanding Debut Award
                              Papercutter #6 edited by Alec Longstreth (Tugboat Press)

Hero Initiative initiates book, auction fund-raisers

The Hero Initiative continues to come up with innovative and interesting fund-raising ideas to support its very worthy cause of providing financial assistance to comics creators in their old age.

Up first is "The 3-Minute Sketchbook," which features the sketches collected by fan Michael Finn from top artists, all done within the titular time frame. The book is due out Oct. 31. The org also is running a contest at Texas-based Lone Star Comics, which has the book on sale now, in which anyone who buys a copy of the book is entered into a raffle for lunch with artist Darick Robertson of "Transmetropolitan," "Wolverine" and "The Boys" fame, during the upcoming Wizard World Texas convention.

The org also will benefit from four special events with legendary Spider-Man artist John Romita Sr. being sold by AuctionCase on eBay starting Oct. 18. The events, all of which take place in New York City, are:

• Tuesday, Nov. 27: Win a tour of Marvel Comics with John Romita Sr., and lunch with the Marvel legend!
• Wednesday, Nov. 28: Lunch with John Romita Sr. and current Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
• Thursday, Nov. 29: Lunch with John Romita Sr. at the famed Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.
• Friday, Nov. 30: Meet John Romita Sr. at the Jim Hanley's Universe comic store, where you'll be presented with a "Romita Library" of vintage comics and current hardcovers by John, followed by lunch.

Gang piles on Posehn's 'Christmas'

Brian Posehn, the writer-actor who’s appeared in sitcoms such as “Just Shoot Me,” has signed an option with Hollywood Gang Prods. for “The Last Christmas.”

Posehn, a well-known comics fan who appeared as the minister at Reed and Sue’s wedding in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," co created the series with Gerry Duggan. Published by Image Comics, the series pits Santa Claus against zombies in a post-apocalyptic world.

Platinum grabs O'Reilly, option for Arcana

Sean O'Reilly, who founded Canadian comics publisher Arcana Studios in 2004 and turned into a success despite current market conditions, has taken a job as publisher of Platinum Studios' comics line. He also will oversee the company's animation efforts across various platforms.

Full details come in the press release in the jump, which states in the headline that the deal also includes an option for Platinum to buy Arcana, but no further details are given in the release itself.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLATINUM STUDIOS NABS SEAN O’REILLY
AS PLATINUM STUDIOS COMICS PUBLISHER AND HEAD OF ANIMATION

Deal includes an option to acquire Arcana Studios
LOS ANGELES, Calif., October 8, 2007 – Platinum Studios, Inc., an entertainment company that controls one of the world’s largest independent libraries of comic book characters, announced today that it has retained Sean O’Reilly, editor in chief of Arcana Studios, to become publisher of Platinum Studios Comics and head of Platinum Studios’ animation efforts across digital and film platforms.
“Sean is a comic creator, a publisher, and an entrepreneur – that makes him incredibly knowledgeable and valuable to Platinum Studios,” said Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Chairman and CEO of Platinum Studios, Inc. “In a very short period of time, Sean has delivered a fantastic track record of finding and developing great content. In addition, his keen eye values content for its cross marketability and financial opportunities.”
As a lifelong fan of comic books, O’Reilly’s dream was to become a comic book creator and in 2004, he realized that dream by creating Arcana Studios. In one year, O’Reilly took his company from a one-person operation in his basement to one of Canada’s largest comic book publishers.  O’Reilly’s artistic vision, paired with an innate ability to spot talent, has delivered quick success as nearly all of the Arcana titles have been translated and distributed throughout the world.  O’Reilly's imagination proved boundless as his small company won The 2004 Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher, as voted by both retailers and readers.  Arcana Studios was also nominated for a Harvey Award in its first year of operation, a feat unheard of in the quarter century tenure of the award.

”When I started Arcana Studios, I was hoping that I would be able to create great comic books, sell them around the world and license them for films,  television and merchandise,” said O’Reilly. “However, after dealing with many companies in that space, I realized that I needed to partner with a much larger organization to fully realize my dream and I found that with the team at Platinum Studios.”

In a very short time, O’Reilly has propelled Arcana to the forefront of the independent comic book scene with titles such as KADE, ClockWork Girl, 100 Girls, Assassin, American Wasteland, Ezra, Darwin’s Curse and GearHead. Also in its short time, Arcana has become an official Disney vendor and has worked with CapCom, Jet Black Games, UpperDeck, SpikeTV, Propoganda Games and A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games and the Arcana comic, KADE, has been seen in HBO’s “Entourage”.

O’Reilly will take on the duties of publisher, a newly created position, of Platinum Studios Comics, which so far this year has published Blood Nation, Hero by Night, KISS 4K, Unique, NightFall, The Weapon, Ghosting, Consumed, Red Mantis and Blood Nation. Atlantis Rising, Unique TPB, Hero By Night TPB and Incursion are due out by year’s end.  In addition, O’Reilly will spearhead the company’s efforts in film and television animation as well animation for the web and mobile downloads.
O’Reilly received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. Canada in 1997. In 1999, O’Reilly graduated with his Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. and completed his Master of Science at the University of Oregon in 2002.

Comics execs Goldwater, Massarsky die

Two execs who had an effect on the comics biz — one long term, the other short term — have died in the past week.

Richard Goldwater, prexy and co-publisher of Archie Comics, died Oct. 2 after a battle with cancer. Born in 1936, Goldwater was the son of John Goldwater, who co-founded the house that created Archie, Betty and Veronica, and joined the company after college.  A full obituary is up at the Archie site.

Steven J. Massarsky, co-founder and formers publisher of Voyager Communications and its Valiant Comics line in the 1990s, died Oct. 5 at age 59 from cancer. A former entertainment attorney, Massarsky's stint at Valiant was not without controversy, most of it centering around co-founder and former Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter, who was forced out of the company. Voyager was acquired by video game company Acclaim in 1994, with Massarsky staying on to head up the division. 

Vega, King join 'Spirit'

Any one who's read Frank Miller's work knows how much the acclaimed writer, artist and now director loves beautiful women and femmes fatales. This is, after all, the man who created Sin City stories with titles such as "A Dame to Kill For," "The Babe Wore Red" and "Booze, Broads and Bullets." So it's no surprise that he's packing as many beautiful actresses as possible into his adaptation of "Will Eisner's The Spirit," with Paz Vega and "Sin City" alumna Jamie King joining the production.

Vega will play the knife-tossing Plaster of Paris, while King will play "a phantom siren" named Lorelei. They join an already impressive cast of actresses, which includes Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson and Sarah Paulson.

Newsarama joins Imaginova

Comicbook news site Newsarama, long one of the main destinations for news related to the direct market world of comics, has been acquired by Imaginova Corp. Newsarama chiefs Matt Brady and Mike Doran are sticking around, and according to the release and a statement on the site, not much is going to change.

Imaginova adds Newsarama to a portfolio of sites that includes LiveScience and Space.com. This is the company's first venture into the genre entertainment field.

Full press release in the jump.

IMAGINOVA EXPANDS ITS NETWORK WITH ACQUISITION OF COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY'S MOST POPULAR NEWS SOURCE
Newsarama to Serve as Platform for Imaginova's Foray into Genre Entertainment

New York, NY - October 8, 2007 - Imaginova® Corp., a leading digital media and commerce company that reaches a large intellectually curious audience, today announced the acquisition of Newsarama.com, the media property of record for the global comic book community. For Imaginova, home to popular sites such as LiveScience.com and Space.com, Newsarama marks the company's entrance into genre entertainment.

"Newsarama is a great complement to our established media brands. Imaginova's current audience shares many attributes with the Newsarama community. Our audience is bright, tech-savvy, early adopters, very much at home in the digital world," says Dan Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer of Imaginova. "We are creating another extraordinary vehicle for national brand advertisers who are looking to reach our core demographic."

Newsarama is the source for anyone interested in the comic book genre and will continue to feature news and reviews of the latest comic book releases, entertaining pop culture content, sci-fi and insider buzz on animè, manga and indie publications. "Comic books have grown beyond their niche appeal - just turn on the TV or go to the movies. Genre entertainment is more mainstream than ever and this acquisition is our gateway to covering the broader entertainment industry," says David Arcara, Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Media, Imaginova.

Effective immediately, Newsarama Senior Editors Michael Doran and Matt Brady will join the staff of Imaginova's award-winning editorial team and will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the site.

"Matt and I are extremely proud of the vibrant community we've built with Newsarama," says Newsarama founder, Doran. "We're looking forward to working with the talented staff at Imaginova to grow our site and offer new features." 

Imaginova will continue building out the Imaginova Network of original content digital media properties that appeal to a passionate and highly engaged audience.

About Imaginova
Imaginova, a leading digital media and commerce company, is the preeminent online destination for the Intellectually Curious. The Imaginova Network of media properties, including LiveScience.com, Space.com, Aviation.com, Newsarama.com and SpaceNews.com, delivers engaging and entertaining editorial and multimedia content to a robust community of curious and well-informed users. Imaginova's original content is syndicated through major online portals and licensed by educational publishers and institutions. Imaginova is also the premier source of innovative consumer products available at OrionTelescopes.com, LiveScienceStore.com, and StarryNight.com. Founded in 1999, Imaginova Corp. is privately held and based in New York City, with offices and news bureaus in Virginia, California, Toronto and Paris.  For more information, please visit www.Imaginova.com.

About Newsarama.com
Newsarama.com is the go-to source for daily comic book news, previews, reviews and commentary. Newsarama is also home to the largest comic book message board on the Web, featuring lively discussions on a range of topics including classic and new comics, manga, animè, indie publications and the latest news affecting the comic book industry. For more information, please visit Newsarama.com.

Hires: Rotterdam to DC; NYCC ups Williams

DC Comics announced it has hired Steve Rotterdam to the post of senior VP sales and marketing, in which he will oversee both the direct market and bookstore sales divisions. Rotterdam comes to DC from Eastwest Marketing, where he was chief creative officer.

Over at the New York Comic-Con, Jay Williams has been named manager of programming and education, and will head up a kids day initiative for the show, which will next be held April 18-20.

Inbox: Giving back; digital TwoMorrows; 'Victory' delay; 'IX' nixed

* San Jose-based site Comic Book Shelf has announced it will donate a percentage of every purchase to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and The Hero Initiative. The retailer will donate 10 percent of each sale to the orgs to be evenly split. The store will double that percentage from now through Nov. 1. Both org do good work and deserve the support.

* Top Cow has announced that Aphrodite IX has been pulled from its Pilot Season series, in which fans vote on which one-shot specials will become regular series. The publisher says Aphrodite IX wasn't coming together in the right way for Pilot Season, though it does have other plans for the title.

* TwoMorrows Publishing has announced it will offer digital editions of its various comics mags, including Back Issue, The Jack Kirby Collector, Write Now!, Draw!, Rough Stuff and Alter Ego. Each mag is in full-color and can be bought for $2.95 per issue, ($3.95 per issue for the Kirby Collector). The digital editions will be available weeks in advance of the print version; subscribers can peruse the digital version while waiting for their copy to arrive. According to the PR, if digital editions prove popular enough, the company will look into expanding its offering to its back catalog next year.

* Speaking of The King, Image Comics has delayed the planned release of Jack Kirby's "Captain Victory" hardcover edition, saying more time is necessary to restore the art to the standards of its previous Kirby project, "Silver Star."

Fans choose plot for 'ReBoot'

Fans of the pioneering CG-animated TV skein "ReBoot" have cast their votes in favor of developing a webcomic based on a story called "Arrival" by writer Jeff Campbell, producer Shea Wageman, artist Shaun Martens and designer Kelly Schmidt.

"ReBoot" owners Mainframe Entertainment see this is as the first step in their plans to develop the property into a feature film trilogy. Contest, which I first wrote about in July, saw more than 15,000 individual ratings cast on the social networking and webcomics site Zeros 2 Heroes.

Full details in the PR, after the jump.

Thanks to Fans, “ReBoot” Storyline Reborn On Comics Social Networking Site

Zeros 2 Heroes facilitates selection of “ReBoot” contest winner

Vancouver, British Columbia (October 1, 2007) – Zeros 2 Heroes, in conjunction with Rainmaker Animation, announced a first for social networking today when it revealed that fans of “ReBoot” have chosen who will reshape the storyline of the classic animated TV property. In an unprecedented competition, “ReBoot” fans selected the plotline that they want to see developed into a web comic book property. This marks the first step in re-launching the property in advance of Rainmaker’s upcoming trilogy of “ReBoot” theatrical feature films. Selected from among five creative teams, the winning production was the brainchild of Jeff Campbell (Writer), Shea Wageman (Producer), Shaun Martens (Artist), and Kelly Schmidt (Designer). Over the past month, the team won the backing of fans for their concept titled, “Arrival”.
With more than 15,000 individual ratings, hundreds of blog posts and online reviews, the fans of “ReBoot” – the classic episodic series, which originally aired on ABC, YTV and the Cartoon Network – have spoken: The world of Mainframe is about to get a whole lot bigger, and it all has to do with the emergence of a new Supercomputer. The winning concept’s storyline revolves around the idea of a self-aware program called GNOSIS that uses the power of the Supercomputer to conquer and enslave the entire Net.
But what could spell trouble for the “user” and “earth” in the vivid make-believe world of “ReBoot” promises to bring real-world possibilities of success for Rainmaker Animation. Earlier this year, Rainmaker established a strategic alliance with Zeros 2 Heroes to utilize the latest social media techniques to develop a “ReBoot” comic storyline on the web, one method of a new generation of cross-platform content distribution. Zeros 2 Heroes Media, a comics and genre entertainment social networking site, created an innovative online contest that directly engaged fans using a variety of web 2.0 applications.
Five undiscovered writers were selected to work with Rainmaker producers and artists to create five new concepts on the Zeros 2 Heroes website. The site members selected the winning storyline for the “ReBoot” web comic book property, sparking the launch of efforts to take “ReBoot” to the big screen.
“ReBoot” fans were accorded an opportunity to review the Rainmaker writers’ pitches, meet the creative teams, vote for their favorite storylines and continue to interact with other fans of the property, honing ideas and aiding in the overall creative process. Based on this feedback, each team revised and uploaded several new versions of their work during the run of the contest.
“We spent long hours listening to the fans and a lot of time refining our ideas based on this feedback,” says winning writer Jeff Campbell. “In the end, it paid off. The fans decided that our concept was best suited for the new ‘ReBoot’ storyline.”
Paul Gertz, Executive Vice President of Rainmaker Animation, states, “We’re absolutely thrilled with the outcome of the ‘ReBoot’ re-launch campaign. The intensity of the fan activity was beyond our wildest expectations and the concepts that were presented to us were unique, well thought out and fully vetted by the people who count the most: the ‘ReBoot’ fans.”
Matt Toner, President of Zeros 2 Heroes Media, adds, “It’s a win-win situation for both Rainmaker and the fans. In a very real sense, the fans are directly involved in the reshaping of this classic property, an experience that has been proven to build a deep connection and profound loyalty. Rainmaker now has a heavily fan-vetted ‘ReBoot’ storyline with recognized commercial potential that can immediately be developed.”

Dick Wolf to make 'Dynamite' TV

"Law & Order" guru Dick Wolf is looking to mount a "300"-style greenscreen drama series based on the 1950s comics character Johnny Dynamite. "Disturbia" director and writer J.H. Wyman have signed on to the projet, which will see the ex-cop travel to Vegas looking for his missing girlfriend only to find Satan has set up shop buying and selling souls. Ske