DC Comics’ new logo was officially unveiled this morning, followed by the release of mockups showing how the “peel” design would appear on digital devices, collected editions and single issues. However, a closer look at the latter reveals a comics conundrum: a New 52 cover for Batman, with the current creative team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, is labeled as Issue 708, while George Perez’s Superman #1 cover is numbered somewhere between #700 and #709 (it’s partially obscured, making it difficult to tell). Here’s the thing — despite the New 52 covers, both of those issues were published before the New 52 was announced in July 2011.

Batman #708 was printed in March 2011 during David Hine and Guillem March’s run on the book. Any issue of Superman that begins with “#70_” would had to have been somewhere between June 2010 and March 2011, spanning J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Roberson’s runs. Assuming these are the numberings from March 2011, that would mean the final two issues should be Green Lantern #64 and Wonder Woman #609. Could this be a sign of the New 52 numbering being a last-minute change for DC? Or maybe DC wasn’t letting the outside firm in on its relaunch plans, which could indicate this logo has been in development since well before March.

Then again, it could just be a coincidence, but it is an odd oversight to present a new logo with numberings from issues that hit stores 10 months ago.

Whatever the case, it brings us to the question why the company didn’t roll out its new brand identity in late August, when it relaunched its entire line, or even last month, when it published a mammoth hardcover collecting all 52 first issues – one that now rests on shelves sporting the nearly seven-year-old “swoosh.”

DC’s “peel” logo will make its comics debut in March, when most of the covers presumably will bear the number 7.

by Ilias Kyriazis

I linked to Ilias Kyriazis’ image of his favorite DC characters earlier this month, and as we wait patiently for the Marvel version he mentioned he’s starting, here’s something to enjoy in the meantime: Kyriazis imagines what the Avengers might look like 15 years from now.

The line-up includes several kids of current and former Avengers, like Luna Maximoff, Valeria Richards and Danielle Cage, all grown up and following in the footsteps of their parents. They’re joined by a few wild cards like Molly Hayes and Quentin Quire. If you head over to his blog, he shares the background of each character and why he chose their respective looks.

Archie #631

Creators | Dan Parent discusses an upcoming Archie storyline that will bring Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats to Riverdale, causing sparks to once again fly: “The fans can expect the next step in what I think is the most romantic story in Archie history. The chemistry between Archie and Valerie was hot the first time they got together, and now you’ve really got to see it simmer, all the way from the rekindling of their romance to getting much more serious than we’ve seen before.” [USA Today]

Editorial cartoons | Cartoonist Jeff Stahler has resigned from The Columbus Dispatch following accusations that he lifted ideas from other cartoons, including one that ran in The New Yorker. [Poynter]

Creators | Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter responds to a video that highlights the strange and disturbing events of Avengers #200, in which Ms. Marvel was raped and then gave birth to her rapist: “I take full responsibility. I screwed up. My judgment failed, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Sorry. Avengers #200 is a travesty.” [Jim Shooter]

Batman: Noel

Sales | ICv2 and John Jackson Miller offer additional analysis on the November and year-to-date sales charts. [ICv2, Comichron]

Retailing | Patrick Rosenkranz checks in with retailers in Chicago, Hollywood, Brooklyn and Portland, Oregon, for a “seasonal snapshot” of the current comics retail climate. [The Comics Journal]

Publishing | AnnaMaria White, director of marketing and public relations for IDW Publishing, is leaving to start her own marketing company. [The Beat]

Creators | Paul Gravett interviews Shaun Tan, the award-winning creator of the wordless graphic novel The Arrival. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | Atomic Robo creator Scott Wegener guests on the latest Comic Book Diner podcast. [Comic Book Diner]

Creators | Archie Comics writer and PR guy Alex Segura talks about the Archie Meets Kiss arc in the latest War Rocket Ajax podcast. [Comics Alliance]

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1

Manga | Deb Aoki picks 25 manga she’s really looking forward to in 2012. [About.com]

Exhibits | A new show at the Kyoto Manga Museum in Japan showcases the art of three Americans who work in the manga style: Takeshi Miyazawa, Felipe Smith and Svetlana Chmakova. [Anime News Network]

Publishing | Mark Millar’s hint that some sort of big change is about to rock the industry has Rich Johnston speculating on five possible big events, aside from the domination of digital, that could change comics forever in 2012. Here’s a fun idea: Set a reminder on your calendar for December 31, 2012, to go back and check how he did. [Bleeding Cool]

Design | French designers Thomas Blanc and Florian Amoneau have kicked off the Comic Sans Project, which “tries to re-imagine the much-maligned font by posing a simple aesthetic question: What if the world’s most recognizable logos used Comic Sans?” I don’t think the redesigned logos, which include Star Wars, Microsoft, Playstation and McDonald’s, really make their case. [Mashable]

Reviews | Rob McMonigal reviews Zahra’s Paradise, First Second’s webcomic-turned-graphic-novel about a protester who disappears during the Iranian elections. [Panel Patter]

Comics | When historians, academics and other nobs gather at NATO headquarters in Brussels to celebrate the 30th anniversary of martial law in Poland, comics will be there, too: Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia will do a presentation and signing of their graphic novel Marzi, the story of a girl living in Poland at the end of the Communist era. The comic was published in the U.S. by Vertigo. [Forbidden Planet Blog]

History | Mike Lynch presents a gallery of old photos and caricatures of the late Jerry Robinson from National Cartoonists Society events of years gone by. [Mike Lynch Cartoons]

But he’s out to change that.

Grant is collecting some of his most popular pieces from the past year into a limited edition art book. Measuring nine inches square and clocking in at 70 pages, Grant’s book is available directly through the artist for $35 by emailing him at Keron@KeronGrant.net. If you’ve forgotten how good he is, he’s given us a sample of what’s inside the book.

Eleven Fine Art in London kicks off an exhibit called “Supermen- An Exhibition of Heroes” Sept. 16, which features collages of real-life heroes made from fragments of comic books.

In honor of the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, Ben Turnbull’s collages “celebrates the real life heroes, the firemen, and policemen who protect us everyday, in iconic new images meticulously constructed from fragments of fictional superheroes including Captain America, Daredevil, and The Fantastic Four as well as Batman, Spiderman (sic), and the Hulk,” according to the gallery’s website.

“The life-changing events of 9/11 led us all to believe in the need for real life superheroes,” Turnbull said on the site. “Superman didn’t fly down to save the falling buildings, there was no Caped Crusader ready to do battle with the arch-enemy and Spidey didn’t spin his web. Without the need of a phone-booth or a revolving door these true patriots donned their iconic costumes and sacrificed life and limb for what they believed in. With every cut-comic hero and dialogue I hope to bring out the true merits of the Brave and the Bold in their fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

You can check out more of the artwork here. The exhibit runs through Oct. 22.

Eisner Awards

IDW Publishing led the 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards with five wins, including Joe Hill for best writer for Locke & Key and Darwyn Cooke for best writer/artist for Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit. The awards were announced last night during a ceremony at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Other winners included Vertigo’s American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque, for best new series,  Image’s Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory, for best continuing series, and Skottie Young for best penciler/inker for Marvel’s The Marvelous Land of Oz. Comic Book Resources earned its second Eisner for best comics-related periodical/journalism.

The complete list of winners can be found below:

Best Short Story: “Post Mortem,” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Best Continuing Series: Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)

Best Limited Series: Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)

Best New Series: American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)

Best Publication for Kids: Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC Comics)

Best Publication for Teens: Smile, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix)

Best Humor Publication: I Thought You Would Be Funnier, by Shannon Wheeler (BOOM! Studios)

Best Anthology: Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, edited by Paul Morrissey and David Petersen (Archaia)

Best Digital Comic: Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl

Best Reality-Based Work: It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album — New: Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee (Archaia), and Wilson, by Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album — Reprint: Wednesday Comics, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC Comics)

Best Adaptation from Another Work: The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips: Archie: The Complete Daily Newspaper Strips, 1946–1948, by Bob Montana, edited by Greg Goldstein (IDW Publishing)

Best Archival Collection/Project — Comic Books: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material: It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia: Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

Best Writer: Joe Hill, Lock & Key (IDW Publishing)

Best Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW Publishing)

Best Penciler/Inker or Penciler/Inker Team: Skottie Young, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art): Juanjo Guarnido, Blacksad (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist: Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Baltimore: The Plague Ships (Dark Horse)

Best Coloring: Dave Stewart, Hellboy, BPRD, Baltimore, Let Me In (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young’s Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC)

Best Lettering: Todd Klein, Fables, The Unwritten, Joe the Barbarian, iZombie (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (WildStorm/DC); SHIELD (Marvel); Driver for the Dead (Radical)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism: Comic Book Resources, produced by Jonah Weiland

Best Comics-Related Book: 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, by Paul Levitz (TASCHEN)

Best Publication Design: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer Artist’s Edition, designed by Randall Dahlk (IDW Publishing)

HALL OF FAME
Judges’ Choices: Ernie Bushmiller, Jack Jackson, Martin Nodell, Lynd Ward
Elected: Mort Drucker, Harvey Pekar, Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award: Nate Simpson

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Patrick McDonnell

Bill Finger Excellence in Comic Book Writing Award: Del Connell, Bob Haney

Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award: Comics and Vegetables, Tel Aviv

Project: Rooftop, the costume redesign site run by our own Chris Arrant, and comics retailer Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics have teamed up for a contest that asks artists get “to spin a new web” for Marvel’s Spider-Man.

In “Spider-Man: Webhead 2.0.,” artists can redesign Spider-Man for a chance to win one of several prizes:

• First Prize: The Spider-Man Diamond Select Maquette (retail value of $85) and a bagged copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #160.
• Second Prize: Spider-Man Masterworks Vol. 5 Softcover (retail value of $25) and a bagged copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #160.
• Third Prize: Spider-Man: Peter Parker Essential Vol. 3 (retail value of $18) and a bagged copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #160.

“Encouraging artists is something I’ve always enjoyed doing,” said Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord CA, president of ComicsPRO and founder of Free Comic Book Day. “I came up with some cool Spidey-related prizes and look forward to seeing all the Project: Rooftop entries!”

The deadline for entries of Aug. 8. You can find all the details over on the Project: Rooftop site.

Although Klein is best known for his lettering, he’s contributed logos to virtually all major American comic companies, and his logo work is seen on the Batman: Year One storyline, logos for The New Teen Titans and its characters, as well as Witchblade, Tom Strong and Iron Man.

Klein’s releasing his Daredevil logo study in four parts, with the final installment due any day now. Begin with Part 1 which starts with the title’s debut in 1964. Read the installments, and then scroll back through his archives for other interesting logo studies.

Warren Ellis

Politics | Warren Ellis joins the list of creators who want nothing to do with Heavy Ink after Travis Corcoran’s inflammatory remarks. At The Daily Cartoonist, Ted Rall pushes back on the outrage, saying, “If I only bought from companies and individuals whose political beliefs I agreed with, I wouldn’t be buying much.” [Warren Ellis, The Daily Cartoonist]

Conventions | Now there’s even more of Fan Expo Canada to love: The self-proclaimed “largest combined gaming, horror, comic, science fiction and anime event in the country” is expanding from three to four days, Aug. 25-28, 2011. [Convention Scene]

Manga | A Chinese artist named Xiao Bai is this year’s winner of the Japanese government’s International Manga Award. The prizewinning entry, Si loin et si proche (So near and so far), was published in Belgium last year. [Monsters and Critics]

Creators | Frank Santoro explains why size matters for an artist: Art that is drawn the same size as the finished comic (like Art Spiegelman’s Maus) has an immediacy that pages drawn large and then reduced lack. [Comics Comics]

Uncle Scrooge

Comics | Tom Spurgeon points out that Fantagraphics is planning to republish the works of Carl Barks, not produce an archive, and he explains why the difference is important. [The Comics Reporter]

Comics | Shaenon Garrity takes a look at the long-out-of-print graphic novel From Inside, by John Bergin, which was published by both Tundra and Kitchen Sink. [The Comics Journal]

Piracy | Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media reports on some curious research he did tracking sales of books from computer publisher O’Reilly and Christian publisher Thomas Nelson: Piracy actually caused sales to increase. [O'Reilly Radar]

Digital comics | Publishers Weekly’s Calvin Reid goes looking for comics at the Consumer Electronics Show and finds them in a variety of forms, including digital comics on tablets that aren’t the iPad. [Publishers Weekly Comics Week]

Design | Jeet Heer is happy that someone is collecting Sheldon Mayer’s Sugar and Spike but not happy that it’s DC shoehorning it into their Archive edition format. [Comics Comics]

Conventions | EigoMANGA publisher Austin Osueke will demonstrate how to use desktop software to create manga and comics at Macworld later this month. [Macworld]

Four Freedoms Plaza travel poster, by Justin Van Genderen

Designer Justin Van Genderen has created a beautiful set of comic-book travel posters showcasing Superman’s Metropolis, Batman’s Gotham, Spider-Man’s New York City, the Fantastic Four’s Four Freedoms Plaza and Akira’s Neo Tokyo. All five are available for purchase from Imagekind.

Van Genderen is also responsible for those minimalist posters for Star Wars planets, and the lovely black-and-white trio inspired by Superman II.

(via Rampaged Reality)

Tic Tac Toe Jam

I thought this was pretty clever in the same way as Kerry Callen’s crossword comics was — Matt Madden shares how to play Tic Tac Toe Jam, where two cartoonists create a nine-paneled comic while playing a game of Tic Tac Toe. Each artist has to work their respective letter, “X” or “O,” into their respective panels on the board.

“What appeals to me about the idea is that the constraint works at a few different levels: there’s visual play and word play and there’s also an unusual storytelling challenge since you’re not telling a story in a linear fashion, instead you’re jumping from panel to panel, alternating with someone else, and trying to mold it all into some kind of coherent narrative,” he wrote.

One of the examples he shares, seen above, naturally works in references to the X-Men.

The image above, featuring pretty much every variation of the Batman symbol, has been tearing its way across Tumblr for a few days now. I first saw it at Quipsologies, which describes it thusly: “Proof that Batman has one of the greatest logos ever: Recognizable (and equally bad ass) in any incarnation.”

Sounds about right to me!

Here’s something I’d like to throw to the group, though: Which of these Bat symbols do you consider to be the “real” one? Weaned as I was on Tim Burton’s Batman, I have to go with the fifth one down in the third column–that’s the version I myself wear in the classic yellow-on-black t-shirt form. What say you, Batfans?

If you’ve ever dreamed of working at LexCorp, Stark Industries or even Acme Labs, here’s the first step to making that dream come true — business cards. Fro Design Co. has created a print featuring business cards for Wayne Enterprises, Duff Breweries, Sterling Cooper, the Dharma Initiative and several other fictional companies.

Via

Return of the Dapper Men

We already know that Todd Klein is an award-winning letterer for all sorts of comics, and if you’ve been following along, you also know that he’s worked with various writers and artists to design some really awesome prints. So it’s no surprise that he designed the cover for writer Jim McCann and artist Janet Lee’s upcoming graphic novel, Return of the Dapper Men. The book is due from Archaia in November.

“Having a master designer like Todd Klein on board Team Dapper is a great honor,” said Archaia Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy in a press release. “I’ve been talking for months about how special this book is, and how much fun it is as an editor to be working on a fairy tale entirely unlike anything seen in comics before. With Todd joining creators Jim McCann and Janet Lee as we bring Dapper down the homestretch to publication, I can promise readers that this is one of those instances where the quality and artistry of this book lives up to the hype!”

Apple

Technology | Apple said it is adding new security measures to its iTunes store after a developer reportedly hacked into numerous customer accounts to boost the ranking of his comic apps, which briefly dominated the book category. The company claims the weekend incident was an isolated — about 400 of its 150 million iTunes users were affected — but customers tell The Wall Street Journal that hackers have hijacked accounts before, with Apple doing little to stop them. [The Wall Street Journal]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald looks at the tug of war between San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim for Comic-Con International, and the tough decision facing event organizers. “This has been by far the most challenging thing we’ve ever done,” said David Glanzer, the convention’s director of marketing and public relations. “Nobody thought we wouldn’t have a decision by June.” The board hopes to make a decision before this year’s event kicks off in two weeks. “If we don’t [make an announcement],” Glanzer said, “a lot of the focus is going to be on that.” [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | Rich Johnston uncovers some more details on DC Comics’ digital-royalties plan. [Bleeding Cool]

Marvel Comics app

Digital publishing | Devin Faraci offers some criticisms of the Marvel Comics app: “The inability to access your Digital Comics Unlimited on the iPad wouldn’t be so bad … if the Marvel app itself wasn’t so lacking in content. I don’t know how the decisions were made when launching this app, but they were all made wrong. 500 books were available on launch, and there are apparently 600 or so on there … but it feels like a sparse collection of almost random books. Part of this comes from the fact that titles relaunch semi-yearly now, so there could two or three different Avengers titles in there. But even if you figure out which series of Avengers is which, and then figure out which issues go where, the content remains spotty.” [CHUD.com]

Legal | Tomomichi Amano takes a look at the issues surrounding the defeat last month of a controversial bill in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly that would have tightened regulations on the sexual depictions of minors in manga, anime and video games:  “Every prefecture in Japan has a juvenile protection stricture which describes what defines an ‘unwholesome book,’ and rules that govern where and how such books can be sold. Industry groups such as the Japan Book Publishers Association (JBPA) say they have asked publishers to place voluntary constraints on the material they publish –- such as labeling manga with ‘not for minors’ logos and toning down sexual content. But the stakes are potentially high for publishers. Once a manga is labeled as an ‘unwholesome book,’ it can no longer be carried in Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores. And non-bookstore purchases account about 60% of total sales of comic magazines, says Tamio Kawamata, an official at the JBPA.” [Japan Real Time]

Afrodisiac

Awards | Afrodisiac, by Brian Maruca and Jim Rugg, has been selected by the professional design association AIGA as one of the 50 best designed books/book covers of 2009. [AdHouse Books]

Creators | St. Louis Magazine profiles DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee, who grew up in the city: “It wasn’t abundantly clear that I was going to become a guy who would make a living drawing people running around with their underwear outside of their clothes. I thought of comics as a hobby for a long time.” [St. Louis Magazine]

Creators | Denis Kitchen talks about his career, self-publishing and his upcoming BOOM! Studios collection Denis Kitchen’s Chipboard Sketchbook. [Publishers Weekly]

Creators | Michael Cavna spotlights the personal and professional relationship that developed between Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate). [The Washington Post]

Man of Steel #1

Creators | Matt Price marked John Byrne’s 60th birthday (July 6) with a rundown of 60 Byrne comics we should read. [Nerdage]

Creators | STORM interviews Forgetless artist Marley Zarcone, who’s illustrating an issue of Vertigo’s Madame Xanadu. [Stormantic]

Creators | Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler explains what it’s like to work behind a table at Comic-Con. [Pop Candy]

Creators | David Brothers spotlights Amanda Conner’s masterful use of facial expressions and body language in DC’s Power Girl. [4thletter!]

Reviews | Brian Heater on Weathercraft; J. Caleb Mozzocco on the first volumes of Dorothy of Oz and Toto! The Wonderful Adventure; Gavin Lees on Children of the Atom; and Greg McElhatton on Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites.

"Bayou," from Zuda

Publishing | David Harper gathers reactions from a handful of Zuda creators to the closing of the website and the continuation of select titles through comiXology and the PlayStation Network. Chris Bolton, Sean Kleefeld, Crash Landen and Rich Lovatt have commentary. “From my vantage point,” Kleefeld writes, “the split between DC and Zuda (emotionally and philosophically) was about the same as can be seen between newspaper cartoonists and webcomic creators. There were these old school print guys who, for the life of them, could not wrap their head around free digital comic distribution.” [Zuda Comics]

Publishing | At Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Digital Manga Publishing announced it has acquired 10 new licenses. In addition, Wedding Peach artist Nao Yazawa will create a new series specifically for DMP’s eManga website. [Anime News Network]

Banners! Banners! Banners!

Publishing | Chris Eckert picks at DC Comics’ multitude of cover banners: “Banners are approaching the abused status that colons suffered during the dark period of Countdown Presents: The Challengers of the Beyond: The Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm though I pray DC finds help before they hit that low.” [Funnybook Babylon]

History | Ken Quattro unearths Will Eisner’s testimony from a 1939 lawsuit brought by DC Comics against Victor Fox involving a Superman clone named Wonder Man. It’s a fascinating read. [The Comics Detective, via The Beat]

Libraries | The Toronto Public Library’s Word Out! 2010 summer reading list for teens features Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, Tory Woollcott’s Mirror Mind, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Vol. 1, Hope Larson’s Mercury, Kathryn Immonen and David Lafuente’s Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Olivier Ka’s Why I Killed Peter, Inio Asano’s What a Wonderful World, and Nagaru Tanigawa’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia, Vol. 1. [Toronto Public Library, via Kathryn Immonen]

Captain America #601

Creators | Gene Colan is selling original pages from Captain America #601. [via Mark Evanier]

Creators | Reyhan Harmanci spotlights Mark Bode, son of the late underground cartoonist Vaughn Bode. [The New York Times]

Creators | Tucker Stone continues his lengthy profile of artist Cliff Chiang. [comiXology]

Creators | Writer Ian Brill discusses BOOM! Studios’ new Darkwing Duck series. [4thletter!]

Comics | Eric Diaz counts down “the 10 lamest superhero costume changes ever.”  [Ranker]

Music | U.K. band Marvel decides it’s time for a name change. [BBC News]

"Gyakushu!" Vol. 3, by Dan Hipp

Following the announcement on Friday that Tokyopop has teamed with digital-distribution website Zinio to offer some of the publisher’s titles online, cartoonist Dan Hipp has revealed the new cover for the third volume of Gyakushu!

Debuting in February 2007, the violent revenge tale was canceled after just two volumes, a victim of Tokyopop’s 2008 OEL manga implosion. Now the first two previously published volumes are available for download from Zinio, with the third volume set to debut on the website later this week.

See the full cover after the break.

"Gyakushu!" Vol. 3, by Dan Hipp

From "Wonder Woman" #600, by Phil Jimenez

Following up on its promise of a week-long celebration of the Amazon Princess, the DC Universe blog has unveiled this character-filled illustration by Phil Jimenez from Wonder Woman #600, which hits stores this week. Jimenez is, of course, well-acquainted with the character, as he wrote and drew her title from 2000 to 2003.

See the full image after the break.

"Wonder Woman" #600, by Phil Jimenez

Cover for "The Best American Comics 2010," by Michael Cho

On his blog, illustrator Michael Cho unveils his cover for the 2010 edition of Houghton Mifflin’s The Best American Comics, which is guest-edited by Neil Gaiman. “Like most of my favourite cover assignments, the concept for this one came together pretty intuitively and I had an idea of what kind of response the image should provoke,” Cho writes.

On Twitter the artist also offers a look at a beautiful Peter Parker/Spider-Man painting that he’ll be taking with him this weekend to the Toronto Comics Art Festival.

Nothing like a little art process to help start the day … artist J.H. Williams III takes apart and reassembles a variant cover he did for the upcoming Batman Beyond miniseries from DC.

“This one was a bit unusual because I had to draw it and then sort of take it apart and put it back together,” he wrote on his blog. “I was a little worried about this one because I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do it after drawing. I knew that the inked version was far from feeling finished to me because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. All I knew is that I wanted to try out some different things stylistically than I normally do. So I winged a lot of it, trying out a different drawing look on Bruce Wayne, something less realistic. Same goes for the color processes, I approached it very organically, not knowing where it was all headed.”

Head over to his blog to see how it all came together.

Via