Heidi MacDonald at The Beat reports that comics artist Michael Turner died Friday night in Santa Monica at the age of 37.

Turner, best known for portraying sexy heroines  such as Witchblade and Fathom and covers for such high-profile series as Identity Crisis and Civil War, had been battling bone cancer for the past eight years.

More details are forthcoming from Aspen Comics, the comics publishing company Turner founded in 2002. More on Turner can be found at Newsarama.

"Wanted" opens today at 3,175 theaters and looks to defy expectations of being an R-rated action movie that’s based on a relatively unknown comicbook from a novice overseas director opening against another sure-fire hit from Pixar.

But the power of an all-star cast that includes Angelina Jolie, the most beautiful and popular actress on the planet right now, the always-trustworthy Morgan Freeman, newcomer Common and up-and-coming star James McAvoy has piqued interest in the pic. As such, "Wanted" has capitalized on its chances and won over audiences and, surprisingly, even critics of all stripes by being an inventive, entertaining and engaging R-rated action film of a type long absent from summer movie screens.

There’s no way “Wanted,” directed by Timur Bekmambetov based on the 2004 Top Cow comic by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones (original review), will trump “Wall-E” at the box office this weekend. But with prognosticators still estimating as much as a $40 million opening gross, second place is nothing to sneeze at.

Should that scenario play out, “Wanted” also will make a significant mark on the comics to film evolution, joining the likes of “300,” “Sin City,” “Hellboy” and its upcoming sequel and the heavily anticipated “Watchmen” as comic films that aren’t based on long-running Marvel or DC superhero franchises.

A few things to catch up on that were impossible to post about last week during a DSL line outage that actually forced me to use dial-up for three days.

We recently spoke with "The Spirit" producer Deborah Del Prete, who says a green-screen cut of the film has been completed and has everyone very excited about the results. The production is now waiting as more than 1,800 VFX shots are coming in from San Francisco-based house The Orphanage. ... Expect to see some new footage from the film at Comic-Con ... Meanwhile, four new posters have been released for the film, each featuring one of the femme fatales from the Frank Miller-directed film. Head over to Yahoo! to hear the actresses speak the lines. Can't say I'm thrilled to see the "keep the mask on" line reappear after All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #7, but it should work better with The Spirit than Batman.

INTERVIEWS AND UPDATES: "Get Smart" director Peter Segal talks about his planned "Shazam!" movie at SciFi Scanner. ... View and vote on entries in the "Veidt Enterprises Advertising Contest" for the "Watchmen" movie at YouTube. ... Rumors abound that director Zack Snyder is lobbying Warner Bros. for a longer running time on "Watchmen," a trailer for which is expected to be attached to "The Dark Knight."... Guillermo del Toro says he plans to complete his "Hellboy" trilogy with a third film — after he directs the two-part "Hobbit" feature ... Apparently, Frank Miller is working on the screenplay to a prequel to "300."

NEW AND NOTABLE: Time magazine notices that Hollywood likes comics. ... Midtown Comics puts together a funny series of webvideos titled "Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist." ... Oni Press has teamed up with 60Frames to produce comics from TV scribes such as Tom Fontana of "Oz" and showrunners of the new "Beverly Hills 90210" series Gabe Sachs and Jeff Juday. ... Webcomics site Zuda is bringing back series that failed to win their month's competition, but that fans wanted to see more of in its "2008 Invitational" event.
AWARDS, EH?: The winners of the 2008 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards were given out recently in Toronto, with top honors going to writer Cecil Castellucci for The Plain Janes; artist Dale Eaglesham for his work on DC's Justice Society of America; and cartoonist Jeff Lemire for Essex County Vol. 1 and 2. The full list of winners can be found here. ... The noms have been announced for The Harvey Awards. Creators can download and cast ballots here, with the winners to be announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Sept. 27. ... A list of this year's Lulu Awards winners can  be found here.

PEOPLE AND ORGS: A scholarship has been established in the name of comicbook artist Mike Weiringo, who died unexpectedly last year at the age of 44. The scholarship is designed to benefit students at the Savannah College of Art and Design interested in pursuing a career as a comicbook artist. ... The Hero Initiative  has published a tribute book to Weiringo, completing the "What If?" storyline he was drawing for Marvel at the time of death and including tributes from artists and writers in the comics biz. ... Hero Initiative also continues to assist former Marvel artist Gene Colan, who needs assistance paying medical bills, selling prints featuring his Iron Man art at conventions and through AtomicComics.com. ... Even more Hero news: all 100 original covers from the Ultimate Hulk project will be on display in a special "green room" at Wizard World Chicago this weekend. Also, the first 10 covers will be auctioned at the show. ... James Perham, a former editor for Valiant Comics, has died at the age of 43 from heart failure.

As soon as sellouts became a possibility, it was inevitable that folks would try to sell their tickets to next month's Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego at a profit.

Right now, there are about a dozen or so auctions up on eBay for Comic-Con passes. Prices on completed auctions show people willing to pay more than $100 for a sold-out one-day Saturday pass that originally sold for $35. Four-day passes, which originally cost $75 each and have been sold out for weeks, are going for as much as $300 each. Plus, there's this solicit right here in the comments section of this very blog.

But buyers should beware. It looks like many folks are selling the emailed confirmation notice that would then be presented at the con to receive a badge. Problem is, if the buyer's name doesn't match yours, you may not get what you paid for.

I checked with David Glanzer, spokesman for the Con, who emails that con-goers will need to present both their confirmation printout and a matching photo ID to pick up their badge.

Additionally, Glanzer writes this even applies to complimentary passes:

I would also discourage people from purchasing Complimentary Passes that may appear on auction sites or online community sites.  These passes can be invalid.

Each complimentary pass is encoded with a bar code/number system. Each complimentary pass has been pre-scanned with the recipients information (whether that be an individual or a group). Even if the complimentary pass is left blank (as many are) the information is still recorded in our database.

If someone tries to redeem the complimentary pass and their ID doesn't match what is on file, the pass becomes invalid.

This won't stop everyone (or perhaps even most people who want to do so) from selling their badges, though it may force a few to secure the actual badge before transferring ownership rather than just forwarding the email confirmation. There also are a number of auctions promising to "transfer" the membership, promising they've secured special permission to do even even though there apparently was a deadline for this and it's passed.

All of which makes this a definite case of buyer beware, and should prompt anyone who absolutely must attend the show to get the still-available one-day passes for Thursday, Friday and Sunday before they, too, are gone.

The just-wrapped Heroes Con in Charlotte, N.C., was dominated by rumors and speculation about a big shakeup at DC Comics. Most of the focus was on exec VP Dan Didio, who is the point man for all things superhero and has born the brunt of criticism regarding the failures, both perceived and real, of the line.

But while fans were primed for some kind of major shakeup, the resulting news that John Nee had resigned as DC's senior VP of business development was not what fans were expecting. Add in that Nee was well-liked, parent company Warner Bros. was pleased with his performance and that his decision to leave was completely his own, and the whole thing could have been written off as yet another overblown Internet rumor were it not for the vehemence with which fans voiced their discontent with DC in general and Didio in particular.

With Didio reported to have signed a significant contract extension, it's clear that Warner Bros. doesn't share these fans' dismay. And the reasons for that may not do much for comicbook readers' self-esteem. First, DC is a small part of the WB that, unlike its main rival Marvel, is pretty much exclusively concerned with publishing comicbooks. And that's definitely small potatoes: ICV2.com estimated the graphic novel and comicbook market at retail in 2007 at just over $700 million — a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.8 billion in revenues that Warner Bros. Filmed Entertainment reported in just the first quarter of 2008. DC's value is in its vast catalog of intellectual properties and its ability to generate and incubate new ones.

That said, media interest in comics is massively disproportionate to the number of people that read them, and the one thing that may prompt WB execs to scrutinize DC's efforts is bad press. Fan discontent, while vocal, can quickly turn around with a couple of hits. And DC arguably has a few of those, such as the popularity of Geoff John's run on Green Lantern and Morrison's Batman R.I.P. crossover, though it could use a few more. The pendulum of fan favor has long swung back and forth between DC and Marvel, and while it's right now mostly on Marvel's side, it will swing back at some point. Of course, coming up with a new hit series is increasingly difficult — witness the constant recycling and reviving of old characters, and the struggles new series starring even such well-known characters as Flash and Wonder Woman have had in recent years.

But even a few hits are unlikely to satisfy DC and Didio's critics any time soon. Even if the company decided big changes were in order, it would take months for them to show up in the books. Even if DC were to replace Didio, the number of candidates qualified to appease fanboys, run a publishing operation and imbue the company's characters with the kind of new energy they need to attract new readers is astoundingly short.

For DC to gain ground on Marvel will require both creativity and consistency. Raiding talent alone will help, but not as much as finding new writers and artists and letting them loose on the DCU. It also apparently requires some internal editorial issues — editors and creators working on superheroes have to do better job of coordinating their storylines and characters if the idea of the DCU as a cohesive world is going to work.

And lastly, WB could help out immensely by getting more DC-based movies made. It's a lot harder for DC than for Marvel to get movies made: WB only makes so many movies a year and DC movies have to compete for those slots with everything from Clint Eastwood's latest to Harry Potter; Marvel, as a stand-alone company, in many ways needs to make movies to survive. And it's not fair to throw the comics operation in with the movie operation in DC's case anyway, as everyone I've ever talked to at DC Comics says no one at the publishing operation has much of anything to do with movie or TV projects.

Fair or not, fans always will see comics as a Marvel vs. DC thing, and movie success plays a huge part in that. It'd be hard to argue DC was falling behind if they had a Green Lantern movie to answer the box office success of Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk. And while it seems unlikely now that major changes are imminent at DC, the company also has to address that a lot of folks who read comics are unhappy with what they're seeing at DC.

Warren Ellis reports that the film rights to "Red," a graphic novella he and artist Cully Hamner did a few years back for for DC/Wildstorm have been sold to Summit Entertainment. Brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber, who also scripted the upcoming adaptation of Greg Rucka's "Whiteout," have been tapped to write the script. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing

Interestingly, this has been reported as the first time a DC-affiliated project has left Warner Bros., though DC's VP of creative affairs Gregory Noveck will be an exec producer on the film. It apparently took two years to extricate "Red" from WB, which should surprise no one who attended the panel I moderated at Book Expo America a few weeks back, where one of the panelists (I honestly can't remember who — I was in panicked moderator mode and not taking notes the way I would if I were covering it) explained that WB has to actively pass on a DC project before it can go out to another studio. In a town where the easiest way to get fired is to have passed on a project that becomes a big hit for someone else, don't expect this to happen again any time soon.

Universal, meanwhile, has picked up the rights to Vasilis Lolos' graphic novel "Last Call" from Oni. Barry Josephson will produce.

On the "Justice League" movie front, Variety's Michael Fleming examines the changing nature of deals in Hollywood and mentions the studio is likely to revisit a gross deal made with director George Miller on the project, whose status has been indeterminate for a while now.

Robert Downey Jr. may venture further into the comic book fold, as he's in talks to star in DreamWorks/Universal's "Cowboys & Aliens," based on the Platinum Studios graphic novel of the same name.

Sam Raimi tells Sci Fi Wire that he's waiting to see a script for "Spider-Man 4" before deciding whether he'll return to direct another installment in the series.

Bloody Disgusting reports that "Battlestar Galactica" helmer Michael Rymer has signed on to direct the live-action "Witchblade" feature.

"The Incredible Hulk" smashed its way to the top of the box office last weekend with a domestic gross of $55 million. What's especially interesting is that the film is being hailed as a success all around when compared to the 2003 Ang Lee version, which opened with $62 million. Seems like it may be a bit early to declare victory on the b.o. front, even though the new film is fun, engaging and easy to watch in a way that Lee's more complicated version was not.

The story behind the movie continues to fascinate, with Anne Thompson setting the record straight on the matter. Turns out while there's something there, it's far less salacious than most sites have made it out to be.

Meanwhile, "Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier says that the eventual Blu-Ray DVD release of the film will include 70 minutes of additional footage, including the cut Captain America scene. As for a sequel, Leterrier tells MTV that he'd like to leave it up to the fans to decide whether a sequel would feature the Leader or Doc Samson as the villain. Fans over at ComicBookMovie.com are voting in an impromptu poll, with the Leader way out in front, followed most closely by the option for "both."

In other Marvel movie news: Fans' joy over the success of "Iron Man" has turned to worries about director Jon Favreau not having been signed to direct the sequel. Word went out a while back that Marvel had not signed the director to helm a second film for the Golden Avenger. Reports have since surfaced that talks have begun. Favreau appears up for it, though he's questioned on his MySpace group whether the planned release date of 2010 isn't pushing it. He also talks about possible villains for a sequel, with The Mandarin being a likely candidate.

As for the rest of the Marvel movie lineup, the most recent oddball-unlikely rumor concerns a report from LatinoReview that Leonardo DiCaprio sits atop Marvel's wish list to play Captain America.

And lastly, new pics from next summer's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" have been showing up online, confirming the film will follow the comics' lead in turning Logan onto a meaner, mutant version of Forrest Gump — i.e, a really old guy who's been involved in every historic event of the 20th century.

Perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid to Marvels' "The Incredible Hulk" is that watching the movie is almost exactly like reading a classic Hulk comicbook.

And, yes, that is a big compliment.

You can check out Variety's official review from Todd McCarthy here; what follows is my take on the film, which I'll try to keep spoiler free.

Perhaps even more than "Iron Man" — which in retrospect has proven somewhat unsatisfying for being extremely conservative and taking few chances — "Incredible Hulk" is as close to a pure translation of a comicbook to the screen as anything we've seen to date.

That means the film has a lot of the great elements of the comic — including a fast pace and some really great mayhem — as well as some of the bad — the plot loses some emotional oomph in the third act as it becomes a typical comicbook-style superbrawl.

The big question all along about the film has been the visual effects and the look of the Hulk himself. The Hulk looks much better than he did in the 2003 Ang Lee film and is likely about as good as the current technology will allow. You're still aware you're looking at a CGI creation, though, and comic fans in particular will likely get different mileage based on how willing they are to forgive the flaws. The film does take some nice cues from the TV series by keeping the Hulk in shadows and he's only partially seen for a large part of the film. That buys the film some time to get into the story before fully exposing the CG Hulk, making it easier to accept since by this point the film is rolling along at a pretty good clip.

Performances are all very good and the action sequences are fast and exciting, if not the most innovative ever filmed. The addition of humor is extremely welcome — Tim Blake Nelson is great as Sam Sterns, who's set up to become The Leader in a sequel — as are the quick tips of the hat to the old TV series and the by-now de rigeur cameos by Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno. There are plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the comics, the most exciting being the Tony Stark cameo that continues to lay the groundwork for an eventual Avengers film.

Bottom line is Marvel has made a very entertaining Hulk movie that likely will surprise most comicbook fans and moviegoers by exceeding expectations. Unlike the last film, the word of mouth should be very good and bring some of that huge "Iron Man" audience back for the summer's second helping of Marvel goodness.

It's been four years, 24 issues, 11 variant covers, and one movie adaptation since Joss Whedon and John Cassaday began their run on Astonishing X-Men, which at last comes to a conclusion in Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 (Marvel, $4.99). Despite all the publishing delays and the extra pages this final issue affords, the conclusion is ultimately a big let down.

For those waiting for the trade, be warned: the rest of this review is all SPOILERS:

With just under two months to go, Comic-Con Intl. has sold out of four-day passes. One-day passes are still available, but if you want to go and don’t yet have your passes, get on it now or risk losing out. Remember, no passes will be sold on-site; they must be bought in advance. So far, no listings on eBay or Stubhub, but as the show gets closer, that might change.

COMICS DEAL REPORT: Disney has signed a trio of execs — Ahmet Zappa, former Twentieth TV chief Harris Katleman and comics creator Christian Beranek — to oversee its new Kingdom Comics initiative, which will develop graphic novels for potential film development and turn old Disney favorites into graphic novels. ... Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures has teamed up with Platinum Studios to produce a feature film based on the upcoming Platinum graphic novel "Final Orbit." Russell Gewirtz is set to adapt the comic. ... Holding Pictures has optioned Steve Niles' "Wake the Dead." James V. Hart is adapting and Jay Russell is set to direct. ... Ryan Condal is set to adapt Warren Ellis and Chris Sprouse's sci-fi title "Ocean" to the big screen for "300" producers Hollywood Gang ... /Film reports DreamWorks has acquired "Roundtable," a  spec script by Brian K. Vaughan. ... David Goyer's "Supermax" is reportedly being retitled "Green Arrow." ... ICV2 reports "My Life Me," an animated series created by "Dramacon" creator Svetlana Chmakova, is going into production on 52 11-minute eps and 26 original shorts for mobile and video on demand platforms. Project is being produced by TV-Loonland and CarpeDiem Film & TV.

PUBLISHING NEWS: Marvel expands its relationship with Stephen King, announcing a comicbook adaptation of "The Stand." Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will write and Mike Perkins draw the series, which will be based on the unabridged version of the novel. ... Former Marvel editor Andy Schmidt joins IDW as a senior editor. He'll oversee G.I. Joe comics, the license to which the publisher recently acquired. Joe books were previously published by Devil’s Due. ... Top Cow will preview at Comic-Con Starfall, a new series coming from Darkchylde creator Randy Queen. ... More rockers write comics, as Claudio Sanchez of the prog-rock group Coheed and Cambria will pen "The Armory Wars: The Second Stage Turbine Blade, Vol. 2" for Evil Ink and Image Comics. ... Prior to its restructuring a few days back (more on that later), TOKYOPOP announced for Book Expo three new manga series to be published in conjunction with HarperCollins: Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha, Warriors: The Rise of Scourge, and Bad Kitty: Catnipped. Publisher also acquired the rights to publish "Goth: A Novel of Horror!" and a manga adaptation of the book, which is in development as a feature film at Fox Atomic.

WEBCOMICS: Publisher AAM Markosia has launched a webcomics division, with two free features, "Baby Boomers" by writer Richard McCauliffe and artist Chad Cicconi, and "Digging For Apples" by Donna Stewart. ... Caanan Grall's Celadore won the May competition at Zuda; the June contenders are now up and running. ... Webcomics collective  The Chemistry Set is coming to print in August with an anthology from Desperado Publishing titled "No Formula: Stories from The Chemistry Set, Vol. 1."

MORE SHOWS AND EVENTS: The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival is set for this weekend at the Puck Building on Lafayette Street in New York. Guest of honor is animator Bill Plympton, with Lynda Barry, Scott Morse, Brian Wood, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Art Spiegelman and J.J. Sedelmaier appearing at the fund-raiser show. ... Wizard World Philly saw the usual pantheon of Marvel and DC panels and plugs. The redesigned Newsarama has a convenient wrapup, while artist Mike Manley writes about low attendance and wonders if the show's days are numbered. ... The next DC Universe DVD release, "Batman: Gotham Knight," gets a panel and screening at the upcoming Anime Expo, set for July 3-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

MISCELLANEOUS FILE: Marvel's getting a lot of press for portraying U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown heroically in the latest issue of Captain Britain and MI-13. ... Feevee net Starz will air the special "Comic Books Unbound" starting June 10, offering a decent  if not particularly memorable overview of the comics to screen phenomenon. ... Filmmaker Chris Cowan is making a series of "Elseworlds" shorts based on DC characters that will go up on YouTube.