Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark struck back Tuesday against a lawsuit by Julie Taymor, claiming the former director violated her own contract before she was fired in March, and shouldn’t receive any royalties from the $75 million Broadway musical.

Taymor, who also co-wrote the long-troubled show, sued producers in November, arguing that the overhauled musical violates her copyrights. She also said she deserves full credit and pay, despite her public ouster. Taymor seeks at least $1 million, as well as future royalties.

But according to The New York Times, the producers’ countersuit insists Taymor “could not and would not do the jobs that she was contracted to do,” forcing others to undertake those responsibilities, resulting in a new show over which she has no claim.

In the court filing they say Taymor refused to create an original, family-friendly musical based on Marvel’s Spider-Man and instead “insisted on developing a dark, disjointed and hallucinogenic musical involving suicide, sex and death.”

Following Taymor’s firing, Spider-Man shut down for three weeks to undergo an overhaul at the hands of new director Philip William McKinley and writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Glen Berger. When the musical returned in mid-May for previews, it was described as “virtually unrecognizable” from the show savaged by critics in February.

“As a result of all of the changes that Taymor could not and would not make, the Spider-Man musical is now a hit,” the producers say in their suit. “The show is a success despite Taymor, not because of her.”

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which costs $1.2 million a week to produce, grossed about $1.4 million last week, behind Wicked and The Lion King. It has brought in about $81 million since performances began in November 2010.

Matthew James Thomas

Another cast member of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was injured Wednesday, the first since the once accident-prone Broadway musical underwent a sweeping overhaul in April.

Newsday reports that Matthew James Thomas, who plays Peter Parker in the Wednesday and Saturday matinees, suffered a head injury backstage at the Foxwoods Theatre near the beginning of the second act. Production stopped for about 10 minutes as Thomas was taken to the hospital for stitches. Star Reeve Carney, who happened to be in the theater at the time of the mishap, stepped into the role for the rest of the performance.

Producers described Thomas’ injury as “minor,” and released a statement saying, “He is fine and will be back in the show for his next scheduled performance on Saturday.”

Thomas, who was named as Carney’s fill-in about a year ago, is the sixth performer to be injured in the $70-million musical. The most recent was Arachne actress T.V. Carpio, who was hurt March 16 during one of the show’s many fight scenes (she replaced Natalie Mendoza, who left after suffering a concussion during the problem-filled first preview). The worst, however, was aerialist Christopher Tierney, who fell about 30 feet in December, breaking four ribs and fracturing three vertebrae. He returned to rehearsals in April.

The latest injury comes just as original director Julie Taymor, who was forced out of Spider-Man in March after five delays and a barrage of scathing reviews, filed a lawsuit against the producers, demanding proper pay and credit.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, has extended his contract with the musical through May. Carney’s original contract was set to expire in November. “I can’t imagine a more wonderful, harder-working company than my mates on Broadway, and I look forward to being with them until shooting begins, and again as soon as we’ve wrapped,” he said. [Wall Street Journal]

Creators | The works of cartoonists Frode Överli, Lise Myhre, Christopher Nielsen and Jason are being featured on postage stamps in Norway, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first comic book to be published in the country, The Katzenjammer Kids. [cats without dogs]

Creators | Firebreather creator and former Wonder Woman writer Phil Hester is profiled in conjunction with a visit to Limited Edition Comics and Collectibles in Cedar Falls, Iowa. [WCF Courier.com]

Creators | Jamaica Dyer discusses her webcomic Weird Fishes, her inspirations and her imaginary friends. [Innsmouth Free Press]

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9: Freefall #1

Creators | The Vampire Diaries writer Andrew Chambliss discusses his work on the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine comic, where he’s enjoying writing the character Spike: “So far, Spike lands at the top of my list of favorite characters to write. I think that’s for several reasons. One, he’s British and it’s just plain old fun to write with those cadences and syntax. Two, he’s a bad boy, which I am decidedly not, so it’s fun to step out of my persona and into his. And three, he and Buffy have been through so much together that there’s so much rich emotional history to draw from when I’m sitting down to write a Spike scene. I was a big fan of Buffy and Spike’s journey together in the later seasons of Buffy so it’s fun to be able to call back to some of those storylines.” [Hero Complex]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Sean T. Collins interviews up-and-coming comics artist L. Nichols. [The Comics Journal]

Comics | io9 recounts how “Star Wars saved the comic book industry” back in the 1970s. [io9]

Manga | Kristy Valenti has eight reasons why you should read — or re-read — Moyoco Anno’s manga Flowers and Bees, a subversive take on the beauty industry featuring a teenage boy’s quest for bodily perfection. [comiXology]

My Faith in Frankie

Comics | Shaenon Garrity, who loves to rehabilitate forgotten comics, lists her five favorite Vertigo comics that you probably don’t even know exist. [comiXology]

Digital | Alex Zalben argues that same-day digital comics “must be released at 12:01 a.m. ET online.” Which would mean digital comics would come out in most of the United States on Tuesdays. [MTV Geek]

Design | Daniel BT describes panel and layout glitches that drive him crazy, such as a line that interrupts a panel and looks like a border — even though it’s not. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Exhibits | Michael Cavna looks at some of the artwork on display at the Library of Congress exhibit Timely and Timeless, which features artwork from comic strips, magazines, graphic novels and more. [Comic Riffs]

If you’ve been following the media on Spider-Man:Turn Off the Dark, then no doubt you’ve already heard “Rise Above,” the song written by Bono and the Edge for the multimillion-dollar musical. If not, the producers have you covered, as they’ve released a video of the song featuring the two U2 members and Reeve Carney, who plays the webslinger on Broadway. The video shows rehearsals as well as a few on-stage clips, but probably not nearly enough Spider-Man. Watch it above and see.

Via Vulture

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the retooled $75 million Broadway musical, took in $1.7 million for the week ending this past Sunday, which is above the $1.2 million the producers have indicated they need to reach to stay viable. The amount made it the No. 3 musical for the week, after Wicked and The Lion King. [Associated Press]

Legal | Robert Corn-Revere, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s general counsel, discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. EMA, which sought to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. He notes that the court drew upon the history of comic book censorship in reaching its conclusion to reject the ban: “Citing the amicus brief filed by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, it noted the crusade against comics led by Dr. Frederic Wertham and observed that it was inconsistent with our constitutional traditions. The Court traced the history of censorship that targeted various media directed toward the young and held that restricting depictions of violence could not be justified under established principles of First Amendment law.” [CBLDF]

CBLDF advertising

Legal | Toronto comics retailer Chris Butcher comments on the CBLDF’s efforts to help a U.S. man facing criminal charges in Canada for possession and importation of child pornography because of comics that were found on his computer: “If you are a fan of any manga or anime, if you are a fan of comics, if you have even one comics page, anime clip, or ‘dirty’ picture on your computer, tablet, or phone, this is about you. This is about you being pulled aside, searched, your electronics confiscated to be sent away for weeks and months, all because you’ve got scans of Naruto on your desktop. This isn’t about ‘child porn’ or any variation thereof, this is about legally equating a description of a thing–written or drawn–with the real thing.” In related news, the Bonfire Agency has created ads for the CBLDF focused on this issue. [Comics212]

Webcomics | Greg Rucka and Rich Burchett have set up a site for their webcomic Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, which was announced in April. The strip begins July 11 [Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether]

Creators | Public Radio International recently interviewed Shigeru Mizuki, creator of Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, the story of a doomed battalion in World War II that was recently published here by Drawn + Quarterly. [PRI's The World, via The Manga Critic]

Hark! A Vagrant

Criticism | Kristy Valenti analyzes Kate Beaton’s “voice” in Hark! A Vagrant. [comiXology]

History | Douglas Wolk traces how comics moved from being primarily aimed at kids to a more adult-oriented medium [Huffington Post]

Manga | Johanna Draper Carlson chronicles the history of josei manga (manga written for adult women) in the U.S. Sadly, it is mainly a story of good starts and poor follow-through. [Comics Worth Reading]

Comics | Robot 6 contributor Matt Seneca discusses the hardcover collection of Thor Godstorm, modern superhero comics and the art of Steve Rude. [Death to the Universe]

Reviews | Comic writer and soda blogger Neil Kleid yields to the taste of Dunkin’ Donut’s Captain America Cherry Coolata: “’Terrible’ would be spinning it politely. ‘Undrinkable’ hit the target more accurately, for after the fourth attempt and a rush of pounding drums to my cranium married with tense, shaking utensils I once called ‘fingers’ forced the expulsion of the remainder of the cup into the nearest trash receptacle.” [SodaBlog]

Business | Dean Haspiel and Seth Kushner join fellow Brooklyn entrepreneurs in a discussion of the secrets to success for small businesses. [Inc.]

Digital | Aspen Comics, which recently inked digital distribution deals with comiXology and iVerse, completes the triumvirate by signing with Graphic.ly as well. [CBR]

Borders

Retailing | Bankrupt bookseller Borders Group said in court papers filed Friday that it will name a stalking-horse bidder by July 1, with an eye toward completing the sale of all of its assets by the end of July. The Detroit News spotlights the two private-equity firms that have placed bids to buy at least a majority of the book chain’s 416 remaining stores: Phoenix-based Najafi Cos., which owns the Book of the Month Club, Columbia House and BMG; and Los Angeles-based Gores Group — the likely stalking-horse bidder — whose investments include Alliance Entertainment and Westwood One. [Reuters, The Detroit News]

Legal | Peanutweeter, a blog that combined frames from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts strips with real, out-of-context tweets, has been taken down by Tumblr as the result of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint from Iconix Brand Group, which acquired a majority stake in the Peanuts assets last year. One blogger, however, argues the blog should be considered fair use. [RIPeanutweeter, Boing Boing]

Retailing | David Ranii looks at how some North Carolina comic stores are weathering the recession. [The Charlotte Observer]

Geoff Johns

Creators | The Detroit Free Press profiles native son Geoff Johns. [Detroit Free Press]

Creators | Heath McCoy profiles artist, and Calgary native, Fiona Staples ahead of her Joe Shuster Awards win: “So many (artists) get disappointed, because they really wanted to work at Marvel or draw Batman or that sort of thing, and that only happens for a fraction of them. It’s not the most practical goal … You sort of get tunnel vision fixating on these things … My goals are just set in terms of the level I want my art to be at.” [Calgary Herald]

Comics | BBC News Scotland spotlights Spirit of Hope comic produced by the U.K. nonprofit group Comic Book Alliance to benefit earthquake victims in Japan and New Zealand. [BBC News]

Comics | Roger W. Rautio Jr. of Canton, Ohio New York, hopes to establish a permanent Comic Book Hall of Fame. He just needs money and a location. [Watertown Daily Times]

Broadway | Julie Taymor, who was fired in March as director of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, is alarmed that the producers consulted focus groups for their overhaul of the $70-million musical: “Shakespeare would have been appalled. Forget about it. It would be impossible to have these works come out because there’s always something that people don’t like.” [The New York Times]

Theater critics and even Sesame Street have had their say on the long-troubled musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which finally — finally! — opened on Tuesday. And then Conan O’Brien took his turn, examining the assessment by Ben Brantley of The New York Times that the revamped $70-million production is suitable only for “a less-than-precocious child of 10 or so.”

O’Brien reimagines a scene from the show an elementary-school nutrition play that takes a disturbing turn about the time a G-string clad Green Goblin makes an appearance waving around an enormous banana and carrot. And then things get worse …

Fear Itself #2

Publishing | May marked the worst month of the year for the direct market since January as sales of comic books and graphic novels fell 11.21 percent versus May 2010. Chart watcher John Jackson Miller chalks up the decline to a combination of retailers ordering more Free Comic Book Day titles than “for-profit” books and publishers’ summer events heating up a little later this year. Marvel led Diamond Comic Distributors’ list of top comics for the month with Fear Itself #2, followed by the first issue of DC’s Flashpoint. Avatar topped the graphic novel chart with Crossed 3D, Vol. 1. [The Comichron]

Legal | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has joined a coalition that includes booksellers, media companies and the ACLU of Utah in seeking to permanently stop enforcement of a 2005 Utah statute that would regulate Internet speech that some consider “harmful to minors,” including works of art, graphic novels, information about sexual health and the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. The law has not gone into effect because Utah consented to a temporary injunction until the case can be decided. [press release]

Awards | A reminder: Online voting ends today for the 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The winners will be announced July 22 during Comic-Con International in San Diego. [Eisner Awards]

Archie Comics

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon talks at length with Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater about the publishers’ marketing strategy, digital initiatives, and how recently introduced gay character Kevin Keller fits into Riverdale: “You know, with all of the bullying going on in the world today, and all of the issues young people grow up with, it just proves the point that kids are kids, and that Archie, the gang, Riverdale, it’s all-inclusive. That’s how kids are in high school today. The point of his being gay, he’s just another kid. That’s the point of putting him in there. He’s accepted, and everyone should be accepted wherever they go. That sounds a little bit utopian, but why not? Why can’t we at least put that forth? Put forth the fact that everyone no matter what their orientation is, what the color of their skin is, what their religion is, whatever it may be, everyone’s accepted: there is no divisiveness. When you turn on the TV and you hear all this vitriol back and forth between political parties and all this nonsense it’s enough to get you nuts. The point of Kevin was ‘Hey, stop with this craziness. Everyone’s included. We’re all part of the human race no matter who you are or what you are.’” [The Comics Reporter]

Wizard

Conventions | Jerome Maida previews Wizard World Philadelphia, which returns on Friday to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. [Philadelphia Daily News]

Conventions | Lisa Allmendinger looks toward the third annual Kids Read Comics! convention, which kicks off Saturday in Chelsea, Michigan. [AnnArbor.com]

Conventions | On a related note, Snow Wildsmith offers tips on taking children to conventions. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Greg Rucka talks about his upcoming run, with artist Marco Checchetto, on Marvel’s Punisher: “You find yourself in the position of going to your editor and saying, ‘So, who can I kill? Who is on the list of characters we can put a bullet in and is not going to horribly destroy what’s going in the rest of the universe?’ You never want to take a character out of play. It’s easier to take stuff away from the universe than to put it back into the universe.” [USA Today]

Broadway | The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has filed an arbitration claim against the producers of the $70-million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark for failure to pay royalties to original director Julie Taymor, who was fired in March. [The New York Times]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | As of last night’s preview performance, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is officially “frozen,” meaning there will be no more script rewrites, new lyrics or altered choreography before the $70-million musical opens on Tuesday. In fact, the producers are confident enough to invite critics to attend previews over the next three nights, with their reviews to be published after the opening. “The show, in my opinion, is bulletproof at this point,” Reeve Carney, who stars as Peter Parker, told The New York Times. “I mean, as bulletproof as anything can be. And we want to do right by the people who stood by us, to help this show be seen for what it is.”

However, it’s not all good news for opening night. The New York Post reports that producers hoped  the Empire State Building would be lit in red and blue on Tuesday, but the landmark’s owners would do it only if a change were made to the show: specifically, that the climactic battle between Spider-Man and Green Goblin be moved from the Chrysler Building to … the Empire State Building. [The New York Times]

Retailing | Najafi Cos., a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, is reportedly interested in buying at least half of the 405 bookstores operated by the bankrupt Borders Group. [Bloomberg]

Retailing | Don MacPherson talks with Canadian retailers about how a full-on strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers would affect their business. [Eye on Comics]

Justice League #1

Publishing | Chris Sims traces the history of DC Comics reboots while Glen Weldon tries to sort out the important aspects of the publisher’s September relaunch: “The salient reason that more people aren’t reading about mainstream superheroes, of course, is not because they are unaware of their existence, or confused by backstory — it’s that they don’t happen to be particularly interested in mainstream superheroes.” [ComicsAlliance, NPR]

Publishing | Patrick Rosenkranz profiles Dark Horse Senior Editor Diana Schutz. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Scott Snyder chats about writing Swamp Thing as part of DC Comics’ upcoming line-wide relaunch: ““I would never ever take on this series lightly. [Alan] Moore’s Swamp Thing is a masterpiece and I would only take the series on if I had a take that honored everything that came before — keeping it part of the character’s past, not erasing anything — and moved forward in a way I thought was compelling, different, and central to the core of the character.” [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Chris Sprouse discusses his work on Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. [Omnivoracious]

Creators | Beau Smith talks about Wynnona Earp, his run on DC’s Guy Gardner, digital comics and more. [GeekDad]

Comics | T.J. Dietsch counts down the 10 coolest comic-book watering holes. [Topless Robot]

Kevin Keller #2

Publishing | We noted in late April that Archie Comics appeared to be embracing cultural and political commentary with its upcoming Kevin Keller miniseries, which features Riverdale’s first openly gay character and his father, a retired three-star general. But now the publisher, or at least the character, is going a step further, marching into the middle of the debate over gays and lesbians openly serving in the armed forces by revealing that Kevin aspires to be a journalist, but only after attending the U.S. Military Academy and becoming an Army officer. “Even though we don’t tackle the specific issue of Don’t Ask Don’ Tell, the goal was to show that patriotism knows no specific gender, race or sexual orientation,” cartoonist Dan Parent says. “While it sounds like heavy subject matter, I tried to show it simply that Kevin, like his dad, loves his country. Being gay doesn’t effect that in any way.” [The Associated Press]

Publishing | DC Comics’ line-wide reboot has received extensive coverage by mainstream media outlets, based largely on the original USA Today article or The Associated Press report. But my favorite piece is this one by George Gene Gustines that turns back the clock to 1985 and attempts to explain to The New York Times audience the effects, and problems, of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the publisher’s subsequent attempts to streamline continuity: “… If the goal was to make the DC universe easier to understand, the end result was the opposite: to this day, fans frequently mention ‘pre-Crisis‘ and ‘post-Crisis‘ as a way to distinguish stories. Twenty years later, in the Infinite Crisis limited series, DC tried to clean continuity up again: Superman’s career as Superboy was back; Batman knew who murdered the Waynes; and Wonder Woman was a founder of the Justice League again.” [The New York Times]

Axel Alonso

Publishing | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso talks about diversity, working with creators, cover prices, distribution and the pressures of his new job: “We always joke that working for Marvel is like working for the Yankees. Anything less than the championship isn’t acceptable. On the publishing side, we are the market leader, and it’s surprising when we have any competition in any way, shape, or form.” [Complex]

Legal | Suvendrini Kakuchi provides an overview of the issues surrounding the controversial Tokyo Metropolitan law that goes into effect next month further restricting the sale or rental to minors of manga and anime containing “extreme” depictions of sexual acts. “The Tokyo Metropolitan law has definitely dealt a blow to the comics industry,” says a spokesperson for Japanese publishers. “Many aspiring animation artists have stopped producing new works fearing they will become targets of the law.” [Inter Press Service]

Retailing | The Comic Vault in Chicago will close its five-year-old Montrose Avenue location at the end of the month because of “a personal family matter.” [The Comic Vault]

Book Expo America

Conventions | Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald round up the graphic novel news from Book Expo America, held last week in New York City, while Laurel Maury covers the “Hot Fall Graphic Novels for Libraries” panel. [Publishers Weekly]

Broadway | Jacob Bernstein reports that, less that two weeks away from the scheduled opening of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, producers of the $70-million musical are embroiled in a bitter pay dispute with former director Julie Taymor, who was fired in early March. It’s unclear precisely how much Taymor is owed, but the “best guess” from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society is in the “$200,000 to $300,000 range,” plus royalties as an author of the show. [The Daily Beast]

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #1

Creators | Ed Brubaker chats about the new volume of his and Sean Phillips’ acclaimed crime series Criminal, titled “The Last of the Innocent”: “… The idea for this story came to me when I was sitting at my father’s deathbed. I was suddenly finding myself wishing I could return to my childhood, and for me, that was about comics and cartoons and Rankin and Bass and the 60s and 70s… And I started thinking about Seduction of the Innocent and the ideas just collided a bit, I guess. But yes, while there are a lot of Easter Eggs and analogs – that’s part of the language of comics and its history – but the story itself is probably the most personal thing I’ve ever written. I also think we’re trying to take what we do to another level, by incorporating so many layers to this piece.” [MTV Geek]

Creators | Fred Van Lente and Dale Eaglesham talk about their new Alpha Flight series, and the timing of the Canadian federal election. [Macleans]

Creators | Collaborators Viktor Kalvachev, Kosta Yanev and Andrew Osborne discuss their pulpy Image Comics series Blue Estate. There’s also a preview of the third issue. [USA Today]

Creators | Eva Volin catches up with Jim Ottaviani at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. [Good Comics for Kids]

Fear Itself #1

Publishing | Marvel’s Fear Itself #1 topped Diamond Comic Distributors’ April charts with an estimated 128,595 copies, the highest monthly sales for a comic since X-Men #1 surpassed 140,000 copies nine months ago. Retail news and analysis site ICv2 sees the strong debut of that crossover and the performance of DC’s Flashpoint prequels as signs “that this summer’s big events may be able to reverse the downward sales trend in the first quarter of 2011.”

DC’s Fables, Vol. 15: Rose Red led the graphic novel category with about 11,600 copies, followed distantly by Dynamite’s The Boys, Vol. 8: Highland Laddie. [ICv2.com]

Retailing | The bankrupt Borders Group reportedly has been unable to find a buyer for its entire business, which could signal the end of the second-largest book chain in the United States. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in February, and is closing about one-third of its locations. [Detroit Free Press]

Publishing | IDW Publishing Senior Editor Andy Schmidt, who oversaw such licensed titles as G.I. Joe and The Transformers, is leaving the company to work for Hasbro. Schmidt, who was previously an associate editor at Marvel, came to IDW in 2008. [Bleeding Cool]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | The three-week hiatus for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark did little to affect the musical’s box-office appeal: The $70 million production grossed $809,941 last week in just five preview performances. [The New York Times]

Conventions | Stacey Whittle wraps up last weekend’s Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo. [SFX]

Creators | Erik Larsen looks toward the double-sized 175th issue of Savage Dragon, which he hesitates to call a “milestone”: “You tend to look toward the big round numbers — 100, 200. Passing up Kirby’s run on Fantastic Four was kind of the milestone for me when I got to 103. It was like, ‘OK, now we’re going!’” [USA Today]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up a four-part interview with Peter Bagge. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Joe Casey discusses his six-issue Marvel miniseries Vengeance, which doesn’t tie in to the publisher’s big Fear Itself crossover: “I begged them to let us suck off the teat of the latest Marvel Monstrosity Event, but to no avail. I figured it’d help us sell at least two copies of this thing. … But since that ship has sailed, we’re just pressing onward with the usual, incredibly low expectations.” [MTV Geek]

Comics | Luke Plunkett looks back at DC’s Atari Force comics. [Kotaku]

Comics | “Why Aquaman is the best damn superhero in comic history.” [io9.com]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark returned last night from a three-week hiatus “virtually unrecognizable” from the troubled musical savaged by critics in February.

That assessment comes courtesy of the production’s most vocal detractor, the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, who quotes lead producer Michael Cohl as saying, “It’s almost a brand-new show.”

Indeed, it certainly looks that way. As anticipated, Arachne, the eight-legged villainess created by former director Julie Taymor, has been reduced to a minor role (she previously dominated the second act). Both the “utterly superfluous” Geek Chorus — a group of four comic fans that provided much of the show’s exposition — and the Furies — Arachne’s minions who performed the widely panned “Deeply Furious” shoe-shopping number — have been cut entirely.

With Arachne diminished, Patrick Page’s Green Goblin is given a more prominent role. Previously, the classic villain was killed off in the first act, only to make a confusing return in Act II. Now, Entertainment Weekly says, his climactic battle with Spider-Man is, appropriately enough, the show’s finale. He’s also given the only new song, “Freak Like Me”; most of the other musical numbers have been reworked.

Characters like Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Norman Osborn’s wife Emily, who had been little more than footnotes in the $70-million production, have been given upgrades as well.

In short, as Riedel writes, the show now “hews more closely to Spidey’s original comic-book sensibilities.”

However, the overhaul, spearheaded by new director Philip William McKinley, Taymor’s co-writer Glen Berger and script doctor (and comics scribe) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, creates a tangled web of credits.

Critics are invited to attend preview performances June 9-11, ahead of the show’s scheduled June 14 opening night. You can view the new trailer for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark below.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | The $70-million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will emerge Thursday from its three-week hiatus a vastly changed production, featuring five additional flying sequences, expanded roles for Aunt May, Uncle Ben and Mary Jane, a scaled back (and transformed) Arachne, new songs and a lighter tone. “There is still a ton of emotional complexity in the musical, and some of that original darkness,” says playwright and comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who was hired to help rework the script. “But we all also wanted a show that would honor the rich legacy and history of the Spider-Man story: the high school love story, the pretty girl next door, the science geek who is coping with new powers.” The new opening night is set for June 14. [The New York Times]

Publishing | Gregory Noveck, former senior vice president-creative affairs at DC Entertainment, has been hired as senior vice president of production for Syfy Films, a joint venture of Syfy and Universal. Noveck, who oversaw DC’s film and television ventures, left the company in August amid a massive restructuring. [Heat Vision]

Publishing | Rich Johnston reports Disney has decided that all Marvel superhero content must originate in the United States, which means that Panini/Marvel UK can no longer publish its own Marvel stories aimed at younger UK readers: “And since the US don’t generate this kind of content readily enough, a number of titles will be cancelled, repurposed or relaunched.” [Bleeding Cool]

G.I. Joe #1

Publishing | Writer Chuck Dixon and editor Andy Schmidt chat about IDW Publishing’s relaunched G.I. Joe line. [USA Today]

Digital comics | ComiXology CEO David Steinberger discusses his company’s comics app, its PullList app and the Guided View Authoring Tools program. [Big Shiny Robot]

Creators | Chew writer John Layman talks about taking his Eisner Award-winning series a year into the future, jumping from last month’s Issue 18 to this week’s Issue 27, which features Tony Chu’s sister Toni: “I thought, ‘Why not throw it out there?’ I’m always very aware of the monthly readers, because they pay our monthly rent. We get big checks twice a year from the trade-waiters, and I don’t begrudge them. But if we can do things to keep people interested on a month-to-month basis, we will.” [USA Today]

Creators | Sean Rogers interviews Chester Brown at length. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Christopher Irving profiles Jeffrey Brown. [Graphic NYC]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has been investigated by the New York State Department of Labor, lampooned by Saturday Night Live and savaged by critics. And now the $70 million musical is about to endure Law & Order‘s ripped-from-the-headlines treatment.

TVLine reports that an upcoming episode of NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent will center on “a high-flying, fast-crashing show” called Icarus, whose director is described in the casting breakdown as “high-strung and larger-than-life,” and “a born-again drunk.”

However, while ousted Spider-Man director Julie Taymor oversaw the production when four actors were injured — a fifth was hurt after her firing — her television counterpart will be at the helm when a performer is murdered. Of course, Taymor isn’t the only person cast in an unflattering light (this is the Law & Order franchise, after all): The episode also features a rock-star composer named Arno who’s secretly bisexual and cheating on his wife.

There’s no word yet on when the CI episode will air. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark — the real one — is on hiatus through May 12 while a new creative team, led by Philip William McKinley, makes sweeping changes to the show. Opening night is scheduled for June 14.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris, producers of the troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, talk candidly about the $70-million musical — or “$65 plus plus,” as Cohl says — as it shuts down for more than three weeks for a sweeping overhaul. Will the production, plagued by delays, technical mishaps, injuries and negative reviews, hurt their reputation? “It might,” Cohl concedes. “It’s a matter of the respect of those whose opinions I care about. Most will recognize that Jere and I stepped in dog poo and are trying to clean it up and pull off a miracle. We might not.”

In related news, Christopher Tierney, the actor who was seriously injured on Dec. 20 after plummeting 30 feet during a performance, will rejoin rehearsals on Monday. [Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter]

Naruto, Vol. 50

Publishing | The 50th volume of Masashi Kissimoto’s insanely popular Naruto remained atop the bestseller list of graphic novels in bookstores for a second month, according to Nielsen BookScan. It’s also worth noting that the Top 20 for March included all six volumes of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, and the return of return of perennial bestseller Watchmen. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Gary Groth responds at length to Jim Shooter’s recent recollections of the dispute between Marvel and Jack Kirby in the 1980s over the company’s refusal to return his original art: “Shooter’s two blog entries purporting to accurately describe Kirby’s dispute with Marvel are such falsified claptrap that they reminded me of Mary McCarthy’s infamous quip about Lillian Hellman’s writing, made in an eerily similar context — that every word is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’” [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Sam Adams interviews cartoonist Ben Katchor about The Cardboard Valise, his early comic-strip experiences and influences, and much more. [The A.V. Club]

27: First Set

Creators | Collaborators Charles Soule, Renzo Podesta and W. Scott Forbes discuss their Image series 27. [USA Today]

Creators | Periscope Studio members Steve Lieber, David Hahn and Dylan Meconis talk about using the Wacom Cintiq for their work. [Computer Graphics World]

Creators | Writer Jai Nitz chats about writing some of Dynamite Entertainment’s Green Hornet titles. [The Oklahoman]

Comics | Cyriaque Lamar previews 18 sci-fi comics debuting over the summer. [io9.com]

Borders

Retailing | The bankrupt Borders Group agreed to revise its $7.8 million retention bonus plan by tying potential payments for top executives to the company’s ability to pay unsecured creditors. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn told the bookseller on Thursday it must make further changes to the proposal, and negotiate with the U.S. trustee, before he would approve it.

The struggling bookseller says that 47 executives and director-level employees have quit since the company declared bankruptcy on Feb. 16 — two dozen just this month — leaving only 15 people in senior management positions. The book chain had sought to pay $6.6 million to 15 executives, including $1.7 million to CEO Michael Edwards, and $1.2 million to 25 director-level managers in a bid to retain key personnel.

Under the new terms, agreed upon by Borders and the creditors before Thursday’s hearing, the top five executives would receive $4.9 million at most if they recover $95 million to unsecured creditors under a sale or restructuring by Aug. 15. They could get $1.8 million in $73 million is returned. [The Detroit News, Bloomberg]

Tokyopop

Publishing | Deb Aoki, Becky Cloonan, Katherine Dacey, Heidi MacDonald, Jason Thompson and Jason Yadao offer thoughts on Friday’s news that Tokyopop is closing its North American publishing operations. [Tokyopop]

Broadway | The final preview performance of director Julie Taymor’s version of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was, fittingly enough, marked by a (minor) technical glitch: Peter Parker (Reeve Carney) and Mary Jane (Jennifer Damiano) were left dangling momentarily before their scene started. The troubled $70-million musical now shuts down for three weeks while an expanded creative team, led by new director Philip William McKinley, make sweeping changes. Its new opening date — the sixth announced — is June 14. [Showbiz411]

Retailing | Brian Heater takes a tour of Philadelphia’s comic stores. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Scott Adams

Creators | Dilbert creator Scott Adams has confessed to sockpuppetry after MetaFilter users accused him of maintaining a false identity online to attack critics and point out his own “certified genius I.Q.” [Gawker]

Creators | Kurt Anthony Krug uses the upcoming release of the Captain America and Thor movies as a hook for a brief profile of veteran writer William Messner-Loebs. [Brighton Patch]

Creators | David Brothers spotlights some recent work by Tonci Zonjic, “a master of cinematic comics.” [Comics Alliance]

Webcomics | Desmond Wilder recommends 10 webcomics “you need to read before you die.” You’ve probably already read them. [The Bottom Line]

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

This weekend will provide audiences with their last chance to see Julie Taymor’s version of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, warts, shoe-shopping numbers and all. When the curtain comes down on Sunday afternoon, the $70-million musical will go on a three-week hiatus, during which an expanded creative team, headed by new director Philip William McKinley, will make sweeping changes.

When the lights come back on May 12, The New York Times reports, Spider-Man will be vastly different from the show Taymor developed for the better part of a decade (until her firing early last month) and that critics savaged in February.

The newspaper confirms that many of Taymor’s signature elements will be stripped, including the four-person geek chorus — described in some reviews as “useless” and “utterly superfluous” — and “Deeply Furious,” a widely panned number in which the eight-legged villainess Arachne goes shopping for shoes with her minions.

Green Goblin’s Act I death has been cut — the classic villain previously died in the first act, only to return, to some confusion, in the second — and his role expanded. However, Arachne, a character created by Taymor in 2002, as expected doesn’t fare as well. Inspired by Greek mythology, the villainess was depicted as responsible for Peter Parker gaining his powers, and came to dominate Act II. Now Arachne has been reduced to a kind of guardian angel.

According to The Times, the new creative team aims to make Spider-Man less dark and more family-friendly in an effort to fill the Foxwoods Theatre. While the show as grossed about $1.3 million a week in its unprecedented preview period, that’s barely enough to cover production costs. And the musical needs to be at least moderately successful on Broadway to ensure future productions in Las Vegas and London.

Patrick Page as Green Goblin and Reeve Carney as Peter Parker in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"

The sweeping changes to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the elimination of one of Julie Taymor’s signature elements, the widely panned Geek Chorus.

Based on the troubled musical’s four original creators — Taymor, her co-writer Glen Berger, Bono and the Edge — the geeks are four comic-book fans who make up the plot as the story unfolds, serving as a device to cover the show’s complicated scenery changes while doling out chunks of exposition. As practical as their purpose might be, they were described by some critics as “useless” and “utterly superfluous.”

The New York Times reports the four actors — Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Alice Lee and Jonathan Schwartz — were told Thursday night that the Geek Chorus will be cut when the $70-million production goes on hiatus on April 18. The newly expanded creative team, led by director Philip William McKinley, Berger and script doctor (and comics writer) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, apparently has found a way to execute scenery changes without the aid of the chorus. According to Broadway World, there’s no word yet on what will happen to the performers once their roles are dropped.

The loss of the geeks is only the first in what’s expected to be a wave of major changes made in the wake of Taymor’s departure on March 9. Green Goblin’s confusing story arc will reportedly be clarified, the unpopular “Deeply Furious” number cut, and the role of the eight-legged villainous Arachne reduced if not eliminated entirely (The Times says the character, another of Taymor’s signature creations, “is expected to remain, for now, though as a scaled-back character”). Bono and the Edge are also writing at least two additional songs.

In another change, Broadway World confirms that Chase Brock is replacing original choreographer Daniel Ezralow, a Taymor loyalist who designed the show’s complex flying sequences.

Spider-Man will return from its three-week hiatus on May 12, and continue preview performances until the scheduled opening night on June 14.

T.V. Carpio

The beleaguered Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was dealt another blow Tuesday with the announcement that T.V. Carpio, who plays the villain Arachne, will be sidelined for the next two weeks following an injury sustained during one of the show’s many fight scenes.

According to The New York Times, Carpio was hurt during a March 16 preview performance in an aggressive Act II showdown between the eight-legged Arachne and Peter Parker (played that evening by Matthew James Thomas). Although the newspaper reports the nature of the injury was not disclosed, it’s believed to be a neck injury; Broadway World contends it’s “whiplash.”

Understudy America Olivo has been performing as Arachne, and will continue in the part until Carpio’s return.

Carpio is the fifth performer injured in a production plagued by difficulties. In fact, she took over the role of Arachne from original actress Natalie Mendoza, who left Spider-Man in late December after she suffered a concussion during the problem-filled first preview.

The $70-million musical, by far the most expensive and technically ambitious show in Broadway history, has had a tumultuous month — which is really saying something, considering its rocky past: In the wake of overwhelmingly negative reviews and rumors of behind-the-scenes tensions, director Julie Taymor stepped aside on March 9 to make way for an expanded creative team tasked with overhauling the production. And just this week a report surfaced that producers are seeking to replace choreographer Daniel Ezralow, a Taymor loyalist responsible for designing the ambitious flying sequences.

Preview performances will be shut down from April 19 to May 11 to accommodate what are expected to be sweeping changes to the show — including a reduction of Arachne’s role. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is now scheduled to open on June 14.

Disney Publishing Worldwide

Publishing | Disney Publishing is pushing further into the kids’ periodical market with four new magazines, including two standalone issues tied to Marvel’s upcoming Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger movies. Marvel’s comics division apparently won’t be producing content for the publications. A third magazine, based around Cars 2, will be monthly beginning in the fall, while the fourth, tied to the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb, will be bimonthly. [Variety, Deadline]

Broadway | On the heels of the recent departure of director Julie Taymor, producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark are reportedly in talks to replace choreographer Daniel Ezralow, who designed the $70-million musical’s complex flying sequences. Chase Brock is likely to step in for Ezralow, who was described by a cast member as “a Julie person.” [Bloomberg]

Zita the Spacegirl

Publishing | Mark Siegel, editorial director of First Second, discusses the state of the market, webcomics and what lies ahead for the five-year-old imprint: “I know it sounds like PR spin, but I genuinely feel like 2011 is the year that First Second has been preparing for all along. In terms of the range of themes, genres, styles, [and] age categories, it’s what the First Second dream was from the start.” [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Archie Comics has teamed up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten for a story out this week in Archie Double Digest #217. [The Associated Press]

Publishing | The 2003 biography Godspeed: The Kurt Cobain Graphic is being republished in “a smaller, manga-style format for a new generation of fans to pore over.” [Independent Online]

Retailing | Caitlin McGill spotlights A Comic Shop, the Winter Park, Fla., store that recently added a lounge, and created the Fangirls club to give female readers a place to meet. [Orlando Weekly]

Internet | PopCrunch names the 14 best comic book websites, a list topped by Comic Book Resources. [PopCrunch]