Brand New Day Another Month Away

It was bound to happen I guess. Marvel just announced that the final two issues (out of four) of "One More Day" are going to be delayed. How long, you ask? Well, about a month on each. Sensational Spider-Man #41, originally scheduled to ship next week, 10/31/07, will now be shipping in about a month, on 11/28/07. The final part, Amazing Spider-Man #545, was supposed to come out on that same day, the 28th, but has now been moved back to 12/27/07. No word was given as to why the change happened, but I think most of us can figure it out pretty easily. How long did it take Daredevil Father to come out?

Let's look at the breakdown. The first issue came out on April 25, 2004. The second came fourteen months later on August 31, 2005. They ran pretty good for the next couple issues, 3 came out in late September, 4 was out on the first week of November, and 5 by the end of December 2005. Not too bad, but then it was another eleven months till the 6th issue came out in November of 2006.

So is it a big surprise that "One More Day" has been delayed? Yes, in that it's only being delayed a month. No word yet on how this will effect the shipping dates of "Brand New Day", which was originally slated to come out on December 5th, 12th, and 19th for the first three issues. We'll keep you updated if we hear anything new.

-Dan

Rumor mill strikes gold! Film at 11

The rumor mill finally got one right. Albus Dumbledore, famed Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, is not only dead, he's also gay. Or was gay, I should say. Not that he stopped being gay, more of a case of him stopping being altogether. Apparently on Friday Oct 19th, J.K. Rowling was at New York's Carnegie Hall as part of her "Open Book Tour". Usually Rowling will read a part of the book, and then take questions from the audience. I'm not sure how, or why, the question was asked, but she was asked if Dumbledore would ever find "true love". I have news for you kiddies, wrong movie. And mostly dead is not dead. It's mostly dead. Dumbledore is dead. And the series is over to boot!

However, the author responded saying that Dumbledore already had, in Gellert Grindelwald. This does explain a few things in the last book. I figured the whole thing with Grindelwald was just a English thing. Y'know, the very homo-erotic friendships that seem to feature in any movie about British guys in school. I think even a little in New England boarding school movies as well. Anything with guys and a boarding school really. Except Taps. Nothing homo-erotic about that movie. But going back to the Grindelwald thing, Rowling was quoted as saying "Falling in love can blind us to an extent... he (Dumbledore) was horribly, terribly let down." I assume this is referring to his whole "going evil" phase.

But anyway, I don't know what this really has to do with anything. Sure now that the series is done, Rowling could say anything she wants about the characters with out having to "back it up" so to speak. But then again, she could before as well, there was nothing stopping her from putting a little something in the book that spoke to this, but she chose not too. Is there a reason? And if not, why mention it now, does it add something to the story, or does it just build up hype and heap attention on a series that might already be cooling off before it's movie half finishes?

-Dan

With Great Power....I got nothing

And that my good friends is the basis for the new Marvel Spider-Man comic, Spider-Man: With Great Power. Coming out in January of 2008, this is not a modern story, but one of Peter Parkers youth. For the astute reader, in Amazing Fantasy #15, there is a panel that shows many newspaper clippings about Spidey's fame. Obviously for him to get so popular some time must pass. Even today, with our pop-centered micro-second ultra fame reality shows and such, it still takes a couple of weeks before someone starts putting their names on the front page of a newspaper. So Spidey must have been big, really f'ing famous. All before Uncle Ben died. But how much time? No one's sure, not even the creators of the new series. But who are these mysterious uber-men who can pierce the veil of time so easily and pull stories from out of the ether? (That's ether in the Hunter S. sense, not the ethereal sense) None other then David Lapham and Tony Harris. But wait, isn't Tony Harris already doing another book? Something about machines or such? Where does he find the time? Oh, that might explain the one issue in how long?

On with it already! Anyway, this is supposed to be about Peter, after the bite, before the hero. All power, no responsibility. I think this is the guy they showed in those House of M tie-ins. A little money, some groupies, all the benefits of being a media darling. That's about it, they really haven't put out too many details about what will be happening in the book. Flash, Liz Allen, and Jonah will appear, but as far as any villains, no word yet. And I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even have any, maybe Kingpin and the like, but probably no Super-Villains. Just too early in his career. Oh, and the FF might show up. Maybe, I don't know. How about vampires, yeah, you like vampires, right? Yeah so some vampires. Maybe a zombie or two, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Seriously though, if you want to find out some real information about this, head over to the good folks at Newsarama. As always, they got the juicy interviews with both David Lapham, and Tony Harris.


Dan

Ghost Rider Spotted at Star Clipper!

So far this year I not only met my hero Peter Bagge but I will also be hanging out with my favorite super-hero Ghost Rider and his creator Gary Friedrich. This event is to hot to pass up. Seriously, what better way is there to show your allegiance to Satan this Halloween then to pal around with his hell-bound cyclist Ghost Rider! I've heard nothing but great things about Mr. Friedrich and it's going to be great to have the opportunity to ask him about the silver and bronze age of Marvel comics. I
hope to see you all there.

Ghost Rider Creator Gary Friedrich will be at Star Clipper October 27, 2007 from 1 to 5 PM! Fans of the macabre, rejoice: Gary Friedrich, creator of Ghost Rider, is coming to Star Clipper just before All Hallow's Eve for a Ghost Rider signing and event! Our skulls are burning with anticipation if you know what we mean!!

Gary will be available to sign his limited edition posters, a script of the first page of Marvel Spotlight 5 featuring the first appearance of Ghost Rider with original Michael Ploog artwork (only $5 each!) and Ghost Rider DVD's, comics and books. But wait, there's more! Come in and get your picture taken with Gary and Ghost Rider himself!! That's right, Ghost Rider will be accompanying Gary for his signing and will arrive in style on a Doc's Harley-Davidson! Doc's is Missouri's oldest exclusive
Harley-Davidson dealer and we are excited to partner with Doc's and Gary Friedrich for this signing event! A modest fee for picture-taking will apply. Please call 314-725-9110 with questions. Don't miss this one- time supernatural event!

Plus, books, comic, apparel, toys and novelties in the store will be 15% off!!! Hell yeah!


-Jon

Moving on up, to the Outside

WTF happened to Tony Bedard all of a sudden? One minute he's writing Countdown, Supergirl, Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Black Canary, Birds of Prey, and Outsiders. Then I check the new solicits from DC, and he's only credited on two titles, writing an arc on Batman Confidential, and "scripts by..." on Countdown. I know most of his gigs were temporary, but I know he was supposed to be doing Batman and the Outsiders monthly.

But I guess that's all changed. Earlier this week DC announced that uber-Bat scribe Chuck Dixon would be the regular writer starting with issue #1. All the more surprising since is supposed to arrive in stores less then a month from now on November 14th. On DC's website it also has #2 coming out on 11/28, and then #3 on 12/5, a week later. So not only does this sound like it's been a planned move, but that it might have been planned for a while now. But am I worried? Not in the least. Chuck Dixon has a longer history writing Batman then anyone else writing in comics presently. And this is a Batman book, no doubt about it. Not just in the name, but in the fact that Batman will set the tone for the team, thus setting it for the book. There are also rumors (perpetuated by a DC teaser poster) that the current line-up for the first issue, may not last all that long, and some may be gone as close as the third issue.

And this makes the second big announcement about Dixon to come out of the Bat offices in as many months. In September it was announced that he would be returning to one of the characters he's helped to define, Robin. Starting back in the 90's Dixon wrote 100 issues of the monthly Robin series, as well as the first, second, and third Robin mini-series that preceded it. It's been five years since and a lot has changed for Robin in the intervening time. He's not just Batman's some-time partner anymore. He leads one of the worlds premiere super teams, friends and family all around him have died, and he's also now Batman's son. These are some major changes, and Dixon has said he wants to explore all of these, saying that both Batman , and the Teen Titans will each play a larger role in Tim's "solo book".

If you want, you can check out this interview with Dixon about Robin over at CBR, or check out this one about Outsiders over at Newsarama.

Blab! Art Show at Philip Slein Gallery

The always cool Philip Slein Gallery is hosting the Blab! Art show from October 12 to November 10. The Exhibit features work from a variety of great artists:

Gary Baseman
Greg Clarke
Drew Friedman
Fred Stonehouse
Travis Louie
Tom Huck
Ryan Heshka
Esther Pearl Watson
Teresa James
Chris Pyle
Walter Minus
Laura Levine
Richard Beard
Travis Lampe
Kevin Scalzo

Each of whom has appeared in Blab!, an annual coffee table book from fantagraphics that acts as a anthology of the best in fine arts for each year.

I'm most excited about Walter Minus' work being on display in St. Louis. The French artist is known for his highly sexualized portraits of women, and have appeared in both Blab! and his book Darling Cheri. Here are a few examples:





Star Clipper has plenty of copies of Blab! on sale now.

-Jon

Shaun of the Trekkies?

As most of you know, I'm not a big Trek fan. Goes back to that whole "science fantasy" crap. However, I might just be down for the new Trek movie coming out next Christmas. And why is that you ask? Very simple, Simon Pegg as Scotty. F'ing A! This is just about the only thing that could get me out to see this thing. It's just brilliant.

But what about the rest, you ask? Well, if you're a big fan, you probably already know most of these, but for those who aren't... here's how it breaks down.


Chris Pine as James Kirk


Zachary Quinto as Spock (is that his first or last name? Educate me Trekkies!)


Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy


Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott


Anton Yelchin as Chekov


Zoe Saldana as Nyota(?) Uhura


John Cho as Hikaru Sulu


Eric Bana as Nero (Villian)

I also am told that Leonard Nimoy will portray Spock as well, so this will probably be some sort of flashback or the like. Filming for the much anticipated film is supposed to start next month at the Paramount studios, but will also film for two weeks in some ice bound European country. I don't remember which, sorry. I also want to the thank the good people over at dtheatre.com, where I totally stole these side by side pictures from. I'm sorry, but they were just too cool. Except for that one of Eric Bana, that's from my personal collection.

-Dan

Size Matters: A Mini Comic Blog

For those of you who made it to the John Porcellino signing last Wednesday, you know that Star Clipper has a reputation for having an expansive collection of mini comics, zines and indie press. We pride ourselves as being the only comic shop in the region that doesn't focus exclusively on super-heroes, offering diverse products that comic shops in larger cities than St. Louis don't even carry! So, to all our regulars that missed it (understandably, the weather was kind of nasty that night), let me turn you on to the world of mini comics, where size does matter!

First off, what exactly is a mini comic? Most mini comics tend to be handmade creator-published comic books that our inexpensive and can range from a number of genres. A common thread that tie minis together is that they normally lose money for their creators to publish and distribute them. Thus, like web comics, it's the labor of love that keeps the scene thriving, not an incentive to make it big common to mainstream comics.

St. Louis has a growing reputation for it's burgeoning mini comic scene. Talents such as Kevin Huizenga,Ted May,Mardou, and Dan Zettwoch all reside in the Gateway to the West. Interestingly, since mini comics are even less mainstream than alternative press comics, St. Louis has a large number the most popular creators in the field. Of the mini comic creators not from St. Louis, John Porcellino is perhaps the biggest name. Porcellino's semi-autobiographical self-published King-Cat Comics series has reached 68 issues, and the best of the first 50 issues is collected into the wonderful 300-page book King-Cat Classix. The simple line drawings and slacker sensibility of Pocellino's King-Cat influenced the mid-90's generation to create their own mini comics, especially many of St. Louis' creators.

If you missed the Porcellino signing, don't fret, we just restocked our mini comic supply of Porcellino, May, and Zettwoch, and they are on a special display in the front of the store. Next time your at Star Clipper I encourage you to check them out. If you like what you find a Size Matters is a great blog to keep you updated on what is happening in the world of mini comics.

-Jon

Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom
w - Joe Casey
a - Charlie Adlard
published by AIT/Planet Lar

Joe Casey is best known for his work on WildCATS, Automatic Kafka, and sometimes even as one of the creators of the hit show Ben 10. Charlie Adlard might even be better known in the comic community for his work as the artist on Walking Dead, though he also worked on Astronauts in Trouble, and (a personal fav) Wildstorm's The Establishment. However most people don't know a that these two superstars have worked together before. In September of last year, the released their second book from AIT/Planet Lar, Rock Bottom. This was a story that the team had been working on in one form or another for at least four years. Originally titled The Monolith, they ended up changing the name after Palmiotti and Gray developed a character with the same moniker for DC.

Jazz pianist Tommy Dare has problems. He's getting divorced from his wife. Which is understandable as he got another girl pregnant right after his wife had a miscarriage. That night at the local House of Blues, Tommy's hands become stiff and unwieldy, and the next morning he can barely get out of bed. Soon Tommy finds out the terrible truth, his body is slowly turning to stone. Not just his skin, but his entire body. Now it's a race against time for his doctors to find someway to help him. As his condition worsens it becomes not a tale of a man becoming less human, but of a man regaining his humanity.

This is not the usual gore-fest or super-punch-out story these guys are used to doing, but that alone I think made them work that much harder on it. Joe Casey's dialog just sings through it. The pacing is wonderful, slowly, gradually bringing you down the same path that Tommy walks before you. Charlie Adlard forgoes his usual style for a simpler pure line art. The only shading used in the whole book is that on Tommy himself to represent the rock. Fantastic. I highly recommend this tale. You can also check out their other previous work together, Codeflesh, also from AIT/Planet Lar. If you want you can pop over to the CBR and check out an interview with the pair from last year. They also have the first twelve pages up, so have fun!

-Dan

Ultimate Princess Ai

If you haven't read Courtney Love's Manga "Princess Ai" now is your ultimate chance. Prince Ai - The Ultimate Collection was released this week through Tokyopop, and collects all 3 manga volumes in one book. As the story goes, Ai is an amnesiac alien that finds herself lost on the streets of toyko, with only a memory of her name and a mysterious heart-shaped box. To get by, Ai takes up residency as a rock musician at Club Cupid and befriends a sensitive musician named Kent, who she later falls in love with. Just as Ai begins to remember parts of her past she discovers that her talent agents are plotting to destroy her home world Ai Land.

For those of you who might be saying why should I care that Courtney Love is writing a manga, I say because you gotta love Courtney! She is America's Sweetheart! What you might not know is before Courtney formed Hole and became a rock star/actress, in the 80's she lived and gigged in Japan and became obsessed with manga.

Princess Ai is loosely based on Courtney's own life. Ai in Japanese means love, and the character acts as her alter ego. The character Kent is also based on Love's late husband Kurt Cobain, and the Heart-Shaped Box that Ai carries is a reference to the Nirvana song of the same namesake. Courtney is famous for giving Kurt a Heart-Shaped Box when they met which led to
their romantic relationship.

Princess Ai is currently being adapted into an anime called "Princess Ai ~ Ai Land Chronicles." Here is the only low quality trailer I could find:



So for Love's sake check out Princess Ai. Oh, and ask me my Courtney story sometime...

-Jon

The Invasion Cometh.... And Then Goeth?

With a title like Resurrection, and the setting of a truly post-apocalypse world, and their overabundance lately, you might think this is a zombie book. Well you would be wrong. It may just be about as different as you can get from a zombie story. This story starts the day the alien bugs leave Earth. In fact, almost the moment they leave. It's about what comes next. What do you do when the entire world has been bombed into a parking lot? There is no industry, no agriculture or livestock left anywhere. No foreign aid, no multi-national relief efforts, you probably can't even count on the help of your neighbors or townspeople.

About a month ago we got a special b&w photocopied preview of this comic, and when I read it I was surprised how interested I became in it. This is the part you never get to see, this is after the credits roll, the rebuilding. But that doesn't mean the danger is gone, just that it comes from humans and our own humanity, not the aliens. Case in point, after the aliens leave, two groups of human's run into each other. Almost from the word "go" guns are drawn and they're ready to start killing each other again.

It has a good ensemble cast, reminds me a little of early Walking Dead artwise, but mostly in their design and layout of the book, not the actual art itself. But the question remains, where is it going? How do you start rebuilding the world? Do you even start?

Personally, I'll be hanging around to check it out. If you want to see a special sneak peak, check out the first twelve pages online.

-Dan

Suburban Glamour

Phonogram artist Jamie McKelvie returns to Image this week with his all new 4 issue mini series Suburban Glamour. McKelvie's new series tells the story of Astrid and Dave, two suburban teens depressed about their dead-end lives. Passing there time by playing in "ramshackle" rock bands and doing a bit of underage drinking, the two teen's existences look to be pointless until they can graduate high school and get out of town. Yet, when Astrid is visited by her long estranged imaginary childhood friend she is warned that everything for her and Dave is about to change.

McKelvie distinctive art style looks similar to what you might remember from Phonogram, however the similarities between the two series ends there. Phonogram was a surrealistic series about how "music is magic," where Suburban Glamour is more of a straight forward fantasy adventures. McKelvie has described his new series as "Blue Monday meets the Labyrinth." He explains:

I think the "Blue Monday versus Labyrinth" line pulls in both elements of the story reasonably neatly - the group of teenagers stuck in a small town versus a fantasy world starting to overlap with their own.

For more on Suburban Glamour check out the rest of McKelvie's interview with newsarama.

Groovy!

-Jon

Steve Gerber is Trapped in a World He Made

Steve Gerber must be pissed this month. Why, because Marvel recently released two blasphemous ripoffs of his most popular creations in the same week, Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown. Gerber, a St. Louis native, is famous for being one of the first highly publicized comic writers to take one of the major comic companies, Marvel, to court for "creative control" of his character Howard the Duck. The case was eventually settled out of court.

Howard the Duck was a satirical, ill tempered water-foul famous for being trapped in a world he never made. The most remembered of all his adventures was his failed run for president in 1976 as part of the "All-Night Party." He was also a master of Quack-Fu, had a relationship with "hairless ape" or human Beverly Switzler, and lived in Cleveland, Ohio. Howard the Duck was made into a terrible cult movie in 1986.

The new Howard the Duck series is written by Ty Templeton, with art by Juan Bobillo. Howard returns, more gruesome looking then ever, as a taxi driver being hunted by two reject scientist. Issue one has both a regular and zombie cover!

As for Gerber's other series Omega the Unknown, it never reached the popularity of Howard. Omega the Unknown only ran for 10 issues in 1976-77 before cancellation, but for those who remember it has become something of a legendary cult classic. For its time, the series took the unusual wrought of focusing on a 12 year old boy named James-Micheal Starling and his connection with superhero Omega. By the 10th issue Omega was killed and the story was left unresolved. Writer Jonathan Lethem was a teenage fan of the orginally series an has embarked on a new 10 issue limited series to reprise Gerber's Omega.



Gerber was notably outraged about the new omega project and ask on his blog that banners noting that Omega was one of his creation be posted. So here is ours:



So if you check out the new series make sure to pick up the Essential Howard the Duck as well. It's great stuff!

Waaugh...

-Jon

The Legacy of Cap

From Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1)

leg a cy [leg-uh-see]
n. pl. leg a cies

1. Law. a gift of property, esp. personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.
2. anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor: the legacy of ancient Rome.
3. an applicant to or student at a school that was attended by his or her parent.
4. Obsolete. the office, function, or commission of a legate.
–adjective
5. of or pertaining to old or outdated computer hardware, software, or data that, while still functional, does not work well with up-to-date systems.


Which of these describes the new Captain America? What, you hadn't heard? Where do you live, under a rock? It even made the national news. Course it's a pretty slow news day, the only real competition is Al Gore getting the Nobel. So yeah, slow.

Yes, there will be a new Captain America this January, and the new Cap has got some new threads as well. Actually, that's one of the things that gets me worried, they're (Marvel) showing off the costume change more then they're playing up the fact that it's a new person wearing the shield and wings. The wings, according to the costume's designer Alex Ross, were an essential part. In an interview with Newsarama, Ross said' "I did not want to provide a single drawing or sign off on my participation on it, without those wings."



In that interview the word legacy comes up a lot. The legacy of Captain America and this costume's place in it. The new guy's place in "the legacy". That's what got me thinking about the definition of the word. Because most people think of first, a gift from the past to the future. But as we see, there are several things that it might mean, unintentionally, but that might be just as appropriate in this case. Did Civil War make them think Steve Rogers was so out of time and antiquated that he was no longer relevant? Who names the new Cap, did Steve specifically ask for someone, or is it one of his former proteges taking up the mantle? As you see, it might have been a very carefully chosen talking point for them.

I would also point you towards one of the blogs over at Wired.com, where Adam Rogers makes some very interesting, if moot (aren't they all), observations. Defiantly worth a look. Expect the new Cap in January.



-Dan

The Queens of the Jungle

Picking out your weekly comics can be a challenging task. On a normal week at least twenty new comics come out, and budgeting your money to pick up your regular stash as well as a few good new funny books can be trying. However, when three new comics hit the shelves at relatively the same time and seem to be exactly the same thing, this problem becomes even greater. This just happened to me with all the Jungle Women comics that are currently on the racks.

First, came Sheena - Queen of the Jungle which, besides a few quick glances, I basically ignored. Next, Marvel released Shanna The She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest. Scratching my head with confusing, I assumed these two comics were the same and went on with my daily business. Most recently, Dynamite Entertainment released Jungle Girl, and finally all three comics had my attention.

Now, let me explain I am new to the world of Jungle Women comics, so of the three available to me I want to make sure I pick out the right one. But what in the hell is the difference??? All three protagonist seem to be exactly the same thing: scantily clad voluptuous blondes fighting dinosaurs in the jungle! Even there names are hard not to get confused. Sheena. Shanna. Jana! More still,what better evidence can I give you then a simply comparison of their covers:







You can't tell a difference can you? Well, with a bit of research I discovered a few cool individual aspects for each one. Sheena - Queen of the Jungle was originally created by S.M. Eger and Will Eisner and was the first female character ever to be given her own comic book title in 1942, even before Wonder Woman. Marvel's Shanna the She-Devil had a brief run in the seventies and ended up becoming the wife of Marvel's main Jungle Man Ka-Zar. Jungle Girl is a creation of
Liberty Meadow's Frank Cho, and is perhaps the most voluptuous of the three. Ultimately though, all three are derivative of each other, a female Tarzan if you will, that will protect us men from those hungry hungry dinosaurs.

So after careful deliberation I had to choose Frank Cho's Jungle Girl, simply because it was the most ludicrous of the three. The content is hysterical, with panel after panel of revealing butt shots for no particular reason. Any person who has ever taken a contemporary ethics class should be appalled by these ridiculous male fantasy comics. Still, I can't help thinking they're pretty darn funny...

-Jon

Best Books You Aren't Reading Part 1 of ???

What's up all? I've been pretty busy myself, y'know, Halo 3 and all. I, and apparently every other XBoxer f@#$ing love that game!

Anywho, on to the point. Bunch of stuff coming out this past Wednesday, and I wanted to make sure you hadn't missed a few of the smaller titles that might be worth your attention. You know this. It's not your first time at the party. Enough of this! On to... The Best Books You Aren't Reading, Part (I'm not keeping track).


Simon Dark
w - Steve Niles
a - Scott Hampton
Psychotic homeless dude kills bad guys, alright not homeless, just... well you'll see. Very good art, though colorist Chris Chuckry really takes the cake, almost reminds me of V for Vendetta? Not sure why. If you want you can check out an online sneak peak over at DC.

Living With The Dead
w - Mike Richardson
a - Ben Stenbeck
I am so sick of Zombies I could just scream! Mostly due to Marvel just sucking the life out of it (sorry, my pun). However, this is not too bad. Enjoyable even. A bit funny at times too. The last two human survivors of the zombie apocalypse (maybe), need to replace a blown out amp. So it's off to to the mall for a Peavey. But what the guys find there could be their ultimate downfall. What happens when the last two dudes find the last woman? Includes a Zombie Survival Kit (not guaranteed), and what could be a delicious Chicken a la King recipe for four. I'll let you know how it turns out. From the fine folks at Dark Horse.

JLA Classified
w - Justin Gray
a - Rich Leonardi & Sean Philips
Justin Gray takes a leap off into solo writing with this new arc on JLA Classified. J'onn J'onzz takes a look back through his life with the different incarnations of the League. But something's wrong, memories are getting jumbled up and rearranged. Course that can happen when you have more then one person living in your head. Check out Ghost's of Mars, all issues in stock now.


Green Arrow & Black Canary
w - Judd Winick
a - Cliff Chiang
Cliff Chiang was a brilliant choice for this book. This is the book that will make him a superstar. He just "get's" these characters. And that his art looks like a magical blend of Frank Cho, Pascal Ferry, Matt Wagner, and Ed McGuinness doesn't hurt at all. Again the color is fantastic, my hat is off to Trish Mulvihill. And the writing? You ain't got nothing to worry about, it's all good. Best first issue I have seen in a long time, and easily the Best Book of the Week!


Booster Gold
w - Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
a - Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund
This is a classic super-hero book. Here are the people in trouble, go do your thing and save them. But since it's Booster, things are never going to be that easy. Take this issue, the mysterious forces trying to get rid of the "real" heroes tried to hire Jonah Hex. But how does this tie in with Superman dying while still a teenager? To find out, Booster is just going to have to beat it out of Hex. Good luck Booster! Lucky for him it's a whiskey drinking fight. Well, maybe not that lucky. We got the reprints of the first issue back in, so check out all three issues. It's like Exiles when Winick was writing it. Yeah.

-Dan

The Vinyl Underground

Solving crime has never been so ultra-hip as it is for The Vinyl Underground, a new ongoing Vertigo series from British television writer Si Spencer (Torchwood). Lead by Morrison Shepherd, a fading celebrity recovering from a serious drug habit, The Vinyl Underground quartet investigate the occult throughout the streets of modern London. The story begins with Morrison and his ex-lover Abi joining forces to prove the innocence of Abi's father, a witch doctor accused of beheading a boy for a ritual killing. The team is rounded out by Perv, and ex-con that has seizures which reveal the future, and Leah, a tough morgue assistant that doubles as a sexy internet model.

Spencer explains that finding the right voice for The Vinyl Underground was particularly hard until he focused on the importance of London itself:

"The Vinyl Underground" is not just a detective thriller about a bunch of graduates hanging out in an abandoned underground station investigating occult crime, it's a love-hate story about the streets that shaped its characters, and that shaped its author."

Vertigo titles always seemed to be the best the comic biz has to offer, so I suggest picking The Vinyl Underground up from the start so you can say you read it first. For some other takes on The Vinyl Underground check out these reviews.

-Jon

Futurama Returns

Good news Earthicans, due to the popularity of the return of Family Guy, another lost cartoon gem is returning for your viewing pleasure, Futurama! That's right, Matt Groening's second greatest creation will begin anew on cable station Comedy Central, with at least 13 new episodes in 2008. Voice Talents Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth), Katey Sagel (Leela) and John DiMaggio (Bender) are all confirmed to be returning to the show.

However, if you just can't wait until that 2008 Planet Express delivery, don't fret because Futurama: Bender's Big Score will be released on DVD November 27. This will be the first Futurama movie, written by Ken Keeler and David X Cohen, and as Cohen has explained will "show what really determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election."

Here is a sneak peak at Bender's Big Score:



Oh, and this Hypnotoad says come buy all the Futurama Comics from Star Clipper! NOW!!!



-Jon

Get Contracted!

You remember me telling you about ZudaComics.com, right? Well there has been some new developments on that. On the 21st Zuda Comics put up their contracts. I say contracts because there are three in total. The first is the Submission Agreement. This is for everyone interested in, well, submitting something. Now, if you happen to be so luck as to be an instant winner, or your strip is voted in by the fans, you will need to sign both the Rights Agreement and Services Agreement. Well, so what does all this really mean, you ask? It means you can start submitting your work to Zuda right now! Well not right now, but soon, very soon I would expect. In the meantime there are few other cool things to keep you entertained. You can skip over to the message boards to hear what some of the possible creators have to say. Or check out the Postcards page to see some of the cards that have been sent back since San Diego. If you want to find out more about the contracts, check out The Deal. And last, and probably least, on any page of the site you'll see the Zuda logo, and their tag line, "click here to continue", try it out, it's a good laugh.

-Dan

Where You're Reading From

Happy Columbus day, everyone! I figured that in celebration of the man who "found" the new world I'd share statistics with all of you about where you're reading our blog from.

The vast majority of you are in the United States (3,543 in September). Believe it or not, more regular readers (readers who read at least 10 times per month) are in California (about 200) than Missouri (about 180). That's regular readers, mind you - California still leads on overall readers in September (531) and Missouri comes in second (493). After that, it's New York, Texas, Florida...pretty much following demographic stats by populations. In Missouri, the vast majority of readers are in the St. Louis Metro area, but we have readers scattered across the state - lots of regular readers in Columbia and KC.

In terms of countries, the UK comes in second with London leading the way - nearly 50 regular readers. Wow! Who are you people? Cameroon brings up the rear with 1. Cameroon? Please leave a comment Cameroon!



So there you go - a quick look at some reader stats. Let me know where you're from!

-Ben

In Film - The JLA: UPDATE

According to Entertainment Weekly, Jessica Biel has passed on the role of Wonder Woman. No word yet on a final casting, but things are happening quite quickly on this movie, so expect to see something. Rumors also abound about the actor for GL John Stewart, with both Transformers star Tyrese Gibson, and rapper T.I. name's mentioned. Personally I think T.I. looks more like the JLI cartoon version, but too young. Again, that's just me. Also, I hope they go with the more relaxed and older comic version of Stewart, rather then the much more intense and angry JLI version.

-Dan

In Film - The JLA

Comic book super-heroes are big business in Hollywood these days, and have been for the past decade or more. The X-Men, Spawn, Spider-man, Superman, and even the Punisher are among the characters that have made the jump from the printed page to the celuid screen. But over the years there have been two fanchise's that were being woefully ignored, the Avengers and the Justice League. Well I can't speak to the Avengers, but from what I hear over at Variety, the Justice League is coming. Not that soon, but soon enough I think. 2009 or early 2010 probably.

Warner Bros. announced last week that George Miller is on board to direct the live action adaptation. No real word yet as to what type of story we can expect, only that Kieran & Michele Muroney have turned in a script that turned up more then a few smiles. One rumor I read has it following the OMAC storyline and featuring Max Lord. Another is that may be a reworking of JLA: New World Order. As a matter of fact, pretty much the only things that have been confirmed are that there will be a JLA movie, and that Miller is on board to direct. The character line up has not been confirmed, but will probably include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman. As far as a cast, no announcements have been made yet, Warner Bros. say that they want to announce the cast as a whole. However, there are rumors circulating that Jessica Biel is "in talks" to play Wonder Woman. Eh, whatever, it's not like I have a better suggestion. Unless they know this girl Liz I used to work with.

Also, Brandon Ruth and Christian Bale will most likely not be reprising their respective roles as Superman and Batman. Christopher Nolan, director of "Batman Begins" and the upcoming "Dark Knight" would rather that WB wait to make JLA until after he has completed his Batman trilogy, most likely so there won't be two different actors playing Batman at the same time. But expect to see more info coming quickly. Warner Bros. is fast tracking the film because of a series of strikes likely to happen next summer. The Screen Actors Guild, and the Directors Guild of America both have contracts that expire June 30th, 2008. This means that they would have to start filming by the beginning of March at the latest. Which is really not the best news, I mean really, who wants to see a Justice League movie that was just thrown together?

-Dan

Red 5 Comics

As I mentioned in my next to last blog about Baltimore, the guys over at Red 5 Comics gave out a complete set of their launch line up at the Summit. I've had some time over the past week to sit down and read them and I must say I'm impressed. This is probably the strongest launch line-up I've seen in... well I don't know when. Now it's obvious that these guys are big Star Wars fans, everything from the name of the company to the ads in the books give you a hint, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Paul Ens, the former director for StarWars.com and Lucas Online is co-founder and writer of Neozoic. Scott Chitwood, the other founder, was one of the co-founders of TheForce.net.
Okay, that's all well and good, but what doe's any of this have to do with Star Wars? Nothing really, just a common bond. Of course that common bond is probably what got Kevin Rubio, creator of TROOPS, and writer of Star Wars: Tag and Bink to sign on with Red 5. Lucas Marangon, who did the art for the Tag & Bink books also came on with Rubio to create their new comic, Abyss. I don't want to say too much about Abyss because the plot is full of small twists and lots of funny little jokes that I might ruin. Suffice to say Eric Hoffman's father has died, and Eric is finding out his inheritence is a little more then he thought it would be. Easily the best out of all the Red 5 books, and that's saying something.

Midknight shows a lot of potential. Story-wise it's great. Art, not so much to be honest. There is certainly talent there, it just needs to be developed a bit more. I think by the time it gets through it's first story arc the artist, who is also one of the creators, will have it nailed. It just seems a little, I dunno, flat? It'll get there, but it'll just take a little time for the art team to come together. Maybe it's just different and I'm too set in my ways to see it for what it is. I mean the guy was the Wizard.com 2006 "Artist to Watch", that's gotta count for something, right? The writing is good and I really like the concept, it's something we're familiar with, but just haven't seem much of. "Husband and wife crime-fighters, fighting crime after the kid's bedtime." It's a good book and worth picking up.

Neozoic really gets going right from the start. The meteor that was supposed to wipe out the dinosaurs instead hits the moon. Of course this would've been almost as disastirous as what actually happened, but then again, they're finding many dinosaur races lived hundreds of thousands of years past the impact we had thought wiped them out, so whatever. It's a "what if" story and this one requires specific events take place and we just have to accept those. Once you have I think you will find a fun, witty, original story.

Lastly this brings us to Atomic Robo. Think Brit, Hellboy, and Nicolas Tesla all baked together into a delicious marble cake with Iron Man frosting. Yeah, that's it exactly. I don't know what else to say about it really. If Abyss hadn't been so damn funny this would have easily been my favorite out of the four, hands down. Buy this book. Seriously, do it. C'mon, I said DO IT! (5 points if you get the reference)

-Dan

Strange Brew

If any of you loyal clippers have ever wondered why Dan and I switch shifts the first Wednesday of every month its because I have another part-time job. Yes, besides being the full-time assistant manager here at Star Clipper, I'm also the projectionist for the Webster University Film Series for their Strange Brew program. Strange Brew is a monthly film screening at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood focusing on cult films. This month we're showing Mothra, the Japanese monster flick about a giant moth destroying Tokyo for true love!

So after stopping by Star Clipper tonight, head over to Schlafly, have a beer or two, and watch Mothra with me! Schlafly Bottleworks is located at 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood, MO.

Also, make sure to check out the rest of the Film Series Calendar.

I hope to see you there the first Wednesday of every month!

-Jon

Star Clipper at the "Big Read"

Star Clipper at The Big Read in Clayton, presented by Centene Corporation

Saturday, October 6, 2007, 9 AM to 5 PM

Star Clipper will be a Big Exhibitor at the Big Read in Clayton's Central Business District – come visit our booth at the all-day event! Additionally, owner A.J. Trujillo will join local comics creators Dan Zettwoch (Ironclad), and Ted May (Ted May's Injury) on a panel discussion about comics moderated by Cliff Froehlich. Cliff Froehlich is the current director of Cinema St. Louis and former executive editor of the Riverfront Times and arts-and-entertainment editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The panel and demonstration will run from 4:15-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, at the McCarthy Building Companies Big Bee Stage.

The Big Read festival, presented by Centene Corporation, features publishers, book-sellers, national authors, readings, book signings, panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations and an interactive children's area with readings, costumed characters and projects that engage the young reader. The Big Read is free and open to the public.

The Umbrella Academy

Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame has teamed with artist Gabriel Ba (De:Tales) as the writer of the six issue limited series The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite from Dark Horse. The series is based around a disbanded group of superheroes known as the Umbrella Academy that unexpectedly reunite after the death of mentor Dr. Reginald Hargreeves, who happened to be a alien disguised as a human. During the team's formative years they seemed undefeatable, yet for undisclosed reason the group broke up, and their rocky reintroduction gets them mixed up in an adventure to save the world.

Some of you might remember the first Umbrella Academy story "...But the Past Ain't Through With You" was printed last May as part of Free Comic Book Day. However, Apocalypse Suite is the official launch of the series. Writer Way has explained that his main influence for The Umbrella Academy is Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and Pat McEown's ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worm. So, if you are a fan of either of those series, or you are just a big My Chemical Romance fan, which I have to admit I am, make sure to pick this comic up.

Also, make sure to check out this in depth interview with Way for more on the making of The Umbrella Academy.

Now go join the Black Parade!

-Jon