The Institute for Liberty, an opponent of healthcare reform that characterizes itself as “an aggressive defender of the rights of individuals to pursue the American dream,” has launched a television ad called “Disney’s Dark Side” that accuses the company of hypocrisy: Although the House of Mouse contends it’s “protecting Florida’s family-friendly image,” IFL argues it’s more concerned with these resorts encroaching on Walt Disney World’s market share.

“The truth?” the TV spot’s narrator says. “Disney’s so-called family-friendly image includes profiting from licensing comic book characters to online casinos.”

That’s certainly true. An online search for “Marvel casino slots” brings up countless results — including, plainly enough, Marvel Slots, which provides information on games featuring Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four. Blade, Daredevil and Elektra also have their own slots (as you can see in the image above). Of course, it’s not only Marvel: Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics has a deal with Cryptologic for online slots featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Sandman, Watchmen and Green Lantern, among others. There’s also one based on Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.

But neither Warner Bros. nor Dark Horse has a dog, or a resort, in the South Florida casino fight. You can watch the TV spot below.

“DISNEY’S DARK SIDE”: New TV Ad Exposes Disney’s Hypocrisy on Gaming, Doubletalk on Family Values

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012 — The Institute for Liberty (IFL), a Washington-based advocacy organization, today launched “Disney’s Dark Side,” a television advertisement highlighting the company’s hypocrisy in opposing legislation currently under consideration in the state legislature that would allow for the construction of destination resorts in South Florida while bringing important reforms to Florida gaming laws.

“Disney has taken the public position of being morally opposed to gaming, while quietly profiting from the licensing of cartoon characters to online casinos,” said Andrew Langer, president of The Institute for Liberty. “Disney’s opposition to the construction of new, job-creating destination resorts has nothing to do with protecting Florida’s family-friendly image, and everything to do with protecting its own bottom line and stomping out any potential competition. That goes against the basic principles of free markets.”

Langer continued, “Disney recently laid off 1,400 Florida workers, but is earning billions in profits. Now it’s spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby against job-creating private investments, at a time when nearly one million Floridians are out of work.”

“Disney’s Dark Side” Script:

Why is Disney opposed to a $6 billion investment to help jumpstart Florida’s economy?

They say they’re protecting Florida’s family-friendly image.

The truth? Disney’s so-called family-friendly image includes profiting from licensing comic book characters to online casinos.

And while Disney’s shareholders rake in the profits, they’ve cut 1,400 Florida jobs.

Disney isn’t protecting Florida. They’re protecting their bottom line.

Let’s jumpstart Florida’s economy creating tens of thousands of jobs by allowing destination resorts.

The Institute for Liberty is a non-profit policy organization, involved in grassroots activism. It focuses on small business, entrepreneurship, and federal public policy. You can find out more on the web at http://www.instituteforliberty.org and www.disneydarkside.com.

CBLDF

Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has named Alex Cox as its deputy director, responsible for oversight of the organization’s home office and fundraising program. Cox, who came to the CBLDF in 2010, previously served as development manager. [CBLDF]

Publishing | Marvel Talent Coordinator Bon Alimagno is leaving the publisher for a position at San Francisco-based software company The Apollo Group. Previously editor of Harris Comics, Alimagno handled freelance scheduling at Marvel, working with David Bogart, the publisher’s senior vice president of business affairs and talent management. [The Beat]

Graphic novels | The Texas Library Association posts its 2012 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List of recommendations for tweens and teens. [Texas Library Association]

Conventions | Michael Dooley styles his article about Long Beach Comic Con as a look at The Other Comic Con — the one that caters to, you know, comics readers. [Salon]

Festival International de la Bande Dessinée

Conventions | The 2012 Festival International de la Bande Dessinée in Angouleme, France, will include an Art Spiegelman retrospective, a star-studded list of spotlight panels, and a composer-in-residence who will create a symphony to be performed at the festival. [The Comics Reporter]

Conventions | Kevin Czap has the lowdown on last weekend’s Genghis Con in Cleveland, which featured underground and indy comics. [Comix Cube]

Creators | Eastyn Cazin talks to Elephantmen and Northlanders artist Marian Churchland. [Panel Bound]

Manga | NBM Publishing notes that its first manga, Stargazing Dog, has gone back to press, and the publisher has fixed some of the typos that reviewers (ahem) complained about in the first edition. [NBM Blog]

Cartoons | A 1927 Disney cartoon, previously thought to be lost, has turned up in the U.K. and will go on the auction block in LA later this month. The star of this cartoon is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse. [Reuters]

Americus

Reviews | Johanna Draper Carlson looks at Americus, M.K. Reed and Jonathan Hill’s story of a book controversy in a small town, and finds an uncomfortable tang of reality: “Throughout, there’s an undercurrent of suspicion of the educated. Those who read books are perceived to be thinking themselves superior to those who don’t. The only book they need is the Bible, they claim (not realizing that being able to read the Bible themselves in a translation for the common people required the kind of fight Neil and his friends are waging). Throughout, they’re arguing against something they aren’t even familiar with, and when their ignorance is pointed out to them, it just makes them meaner.” [Comics Worth Reading]

Reviews | Robin Brenner and Esther Keller discuss Barry Deutsch’s Hereville, a graphic novel about an Orthodox Jewish girl, and the larger question of whether a creator can depict a lifestyle outside his own experience. [Good Comics for Kids]

Analysis | Noah Berlatsky reviews Ben Saunders’s book Do the Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes: “People often argue that superheroes are dumb because they’re simplistic; because they create a bone-headed binary between good and evil. Ben’s argument is that, in fact, Superman stories have traditionally not so much asserted as investigated this binary. In the light of late modernity, as religion has faded, Superman asks ‘how can human beings be good?’” [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Fandom | Heidi MacDonald does her annual purge and reorganization and has some practical tips and deeper thoughts about managing the physical presence of comics in our lives. [The Beat]

"The Sport of Tycoons," by Carl Barks

Carl Barks’ 1974 painting “The Sport of Tycoons,” which features the iconic image of Scrooge McDuck swimming in his gold-filled vault, sold at auction last week for a record $262,900.

The painting is based on Barks’ often-reprinted 1952 tale “Only a Poor Old Man,” the first story in which Scrooge was the main character (in which, while swimming in his money bin, he says, “I love to dive around in it like a porpoise, and burrow through it like a gopher, and toss it up and let it hit me on the head!”). “The Sport of Tycoons” debuted in print in 1981′s The Fine Art of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck by Carl Barks.

The piece, part of the Kerby Confer Collection, was accompanied by the Heritage Auctions sales of two other Barks originals — “Sheriff of Bullet Valley” ($107,550), and “McDuck of Duckburg” ($101,575).

The auction also saw Jerry Robinson’s original cover art for 1942′s Detective Comics #67, the first Penguin cover, fetch $239,000, which Heritage dubs the second-highest price for a piece of American comic-book art.

Detective Comics #67

Art | Jerry Robinson’s cover artwork from Detective Comics #67 is expected to bring in more than $300,000 when it goes up for auction Nov. 15. “Robinson penciled and inked this cover and the detail of his art is amazing close-up,” said Todd Hignite, consignment director for Comic Art at Heritage Auctions, “particularly his shading lines on Batman and Robin, and on the feathery details of the ostrich being straddled by that bird-of-prey, the Penguin.” [Art Daily]

Business | Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment Inc. and Vuguru, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s independent studio, are partnering to produce “original digital content.” [press release]

Comics | Darryl Ayo has a small manifesto about comics that makes a lot of sense: “Things that don’t make sense in North American comics: 1) comics that exist after their creators have ceased to. 2) these comics’ existence continues despite minimal effort to applicable to contemporary culture. Things that make perfect sense in North American comics: people’s general lack of interest in comics.” He points out a number of reasons why the comics audience is small and challenges creators and publishers to “Do better.” One point he makes that is rarely mentioned: The critical importance of editors. [Comix Cube]

Light Yagami, from "Death Note"

Manga | Japanese readers picked Death Note as the greatest Shonen Jump manga of the 2000s. (One Piece, the most popular manga in Japan, and Naruto, the most popular in the United States, didn’t qualify because they launched in the 1990s.) [Crunchyroll]

Creators | Sam Kieth and Jonathan Wayshak discuss When The Chickens Revolt, their “stream of consciousness web comic.” [MTV Geek]

Creators | Jim Ottaviani discusses his graphic novels Feynman and Laika, his storytelling techniques, and why science and graphic novels go so well together in an hour-long podcast with interviewer Jerzy Drozd. [Comics Are Great!]

Creators | Colorist and illustrator Jose Villarrubia is briefly interviewed. [Windy City Times]

Alan Moore: Conversations

Creators | Editor Eric Berlatsky talks about the recently released interview anthology Alan Moore: Conversations: “… This book is an effort to collect Moore’s assertions at various moments in his career, so that critics and readers can see what he was thinking at the time, and also to track some of his changes over time, some of which I discuss in the introduction to the book. For example, in a 1984 interview with Guy Lawley and Steve Whitaker, Moore talks about how great it is to work for DC, how they don’t interfere with his creative process, and what an improvement it is over 2000 AD, etc. You won’t get that kind of effusion about DC these days from Moore. So, you can trace how things started to go bad in ‘real time,’ as it were, instead of getting a retrospective — and necessarily revisionary — view. I think those things are valuable to scholars, but they are also interesting to a more general readership.” [The Morton Report]

Creators | Longtime Dick Tracy artist Dick Locher gets the hometown-boy-made-good treatment from his local paper. [DailyHerald.com]

Craft | Crogan’s Adventures creator Chris Schweizer has put together a field guide to tangents, lines that interact with each other in awkward ways, and he has some suggestions for avoiding them. It’s interesting reading, even for non-artists. [Chris Schweizer's LJ]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity weighs in on Kazuo Umezu’s The Drifting Classroom as part of a Halloween roundtable. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Webcomics | Here’s one that’s worth a look: Don Aliff reviews Out at Home: “What sets it apart is that it takes that familiar formula [family dynamic], twists it a little, adds a dash of wit and eccentricity, and then throws in a few explosions for the hell of it.” [Spandexless]

Avengers Assemble

Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought news for the Avengers, Superman, Legendary Comics and … Disney’s Prep & Landing? Here’s a round-up of announcements from the show today.

• With a big, blockbuster Avengers movie scheduled for next May, Marvel announced a new ongoing series, Avengers Assemble, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. The book will launch next March and will feature most of the Avengers featured in the movie — Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. The first arc will feature the villainous group the Zodiac.

• Speaking of that big, blockbuster Avengers movie, fans were treated to new footage from it featuring Bruce Banner and the Black Widow. Tom Hiddleston spoke to CBR about his work on the film.

• Marvel also announced that writer Rick Remender and artist Gabriel Hardman will take over Secret Avengers with issue #21.1, adding new members and pitting them against a new Masters of Evil.

• At the Cup O’ Joe panel today, Marvel also announced a Disney/Marvel crossover — Prep & Landing: Mansion: Impossible. It features the elves from the Disney television special who prepare homes for the arrival of Santa Claus every Christmas eve — only this time they’re trying to break into Avengers Mansion to get it ready for Santa. Written by director Kevin Deters and drawn by story artist Joe Mateo, the story will run in the back of the Marvel Adventures books as well as Avengers #19 in November.

• Marvel CCO Joe Quesada also announced that Marvel will publish a comic based on the Showtime television show Dexter. Novelist Jeff Lindsay will bring the popular character to comics with an all-new ongoing series with new stories set in the world of the Dexter novels

• During their All Access: Superman panel, DC Comics plans to release a second Superman: Earth One graphic novel next fall, by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Shane Davis. They showed off the book’s cover, and Davis revealed the Parasite will appear in it.

• It was confirmed that Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens will take over Superman from George Perez beginning with issue #7.

• DC’s CCO Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank have been tapped for “The Curse of Shazam,” a back-up story that will appear in Justice League starting with issue #5.

• Fans were treated to the first episode of Warner Bros. upcoming Green Lantern animated series. The first scene is available to view online.

• Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi will bring back Sabretooth, the character they decapitated some years back.

• Harold Parrineau will voice Blade in the upcoming Blade Anime from Marvel.

• Top Cow announced that David Hine will take over as writer of The Darkness, and a second volume of his comic with Shaky Kane, Bulletproof Coffin, is in the works.

Dragon Age

• Dark Horse Comics, who already have the license for Bioware’s Mass Effect video game, will publish digital comics based on the video game series Dragon Age. The comics will feature characters from the first and second game — Isabela, Alistair and Varric. (As a huge Dragon Age fan, I can’t help but wonder, which Alistair will appear in the comics? I have three different saved games on my Playstation 3 — one where Alistair became king, one where he became a drunk and one where the new queen of Ferelden had him killed. It’s likely not the third Alistair).

• Famed creator Mike Kaluta is working on a “big, meaty graphic novel” based on the John Milton poem Paradise Lost. Legendary Comics will publish it.

• Legendary will also publish a collection of Paul Pope’s The One Trick Rip-Off, an early work first published by Dark Horse.

• Viz Media will replace its Shonen Jump magazine with a weekly digital magazine called Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha.

• Steve Jackson Game will introduce a card game based on Image’s Skullkickers.

• Lucasfilm debuted a poster for the upcoming film Red Tails, drawn by Joe Kubert.

• And finally, ABC showed a sneak preview of their hey-isn’t-that-kinda-like-Fables TV show Once Upon a Time. A fan asked about the similarities between Once Upon a Time, Fables and NBC’s Grimm. “I haven’t seen what the movies are doing and I haven’t read those scripts,” said creator Edward Kitsis. “For us, this is our interpretation of this world. Fairy tales have become a genre the way science fiction is a genre, and I am always up for watching someone in a spaceship heading somewhere on a mission, and this is our version of that.”

Janelle Asselin

Publishing | DC Comics associate editor Janelle Asselin has left the company, reportedly for a job with Disney. She clarifies on Twitter that, contrary to a report, she wasn’t escorted from the building on Tuesday but, rather, left “at my leisure.” Asselin had been with DC since 2008, working primarily on Batman books like Batman and Robin, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Red Robin, Birds of Prey and the relaunched Batman, Batwoman, Detective Comics and Savage Hawkman. [Bleeding Cool]

Publishing | Longtime editor Betsy Mitchell is taking early retirement from her post as editor-in-chief of Del Rey, where she helped create Del Rey Manga. Tricia Pasternak, a former Del Rey Manga editor herself, has been promoted to editorial director. Del Rey was established as a science fiction prose imprint; the manga line was created in 2004 and was mostly shut down in 2010, when Kodansha began publishing its manga directly in the U.S. However, Del Rey still publishes a handful of manga and graphic novels, including xxxHolic, King of RPGs, and Deltora Quest. [Publishers Weekly]

Legal | In a twist that sounds like something out of a comic (or even an ad from an old comic), a witness in the Michael George trial testified he saw someone wearing an obviously fake beard outside George’s Clinton Township, Michigan, comics shop a few minutes before George’s first wife Barbara was murdered inside the store in 1990. [The Tribune Democrat]

Starfire

Comics | The latest critique of Starfire comes from Michelle Lee’s 7-year-old daughter, who was a big fan of the incarnations of the character in the Teen Titans comic and animated cartoon. She summarizes the whole problem with childlike simplicity: “Well, she’s not fighting anyone. And not talking to anyone really. She’s just almost naked and posing.” [io9.com]

Comics | Former superhero reader and current manga blogger Deb Aoki describes the Starfire/Catwoman controversy for her manga fanbase and discusses how shonen manga manage to provide good, even fanservice-laden, stories for men without alienating their female readers: “The fascinating and diverse female casts of Bleach and Naruto are a big part of these series’ appeal to both male and female readers. Yes, there are some busty babes in both series — but Soul Reaper Rangiku Matsumoto is a commanding officer in the Soul Society in Bleach, and Tsunade is a strong and dynamic Hokage (leader) of Naruto’s ninja village to name just a few.” [About.com]

Comics | Brian Truitt spotlights Marvel’s ABC television tie-in Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm, the just-released graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Lan Medina. [USA Today]

Wolverine and the X-Men #1

Comics | Writer Jason Aaron and editor Nick Lowe discuss the upcoming debut of Wolverine and the X-Men, which establishes Logan as headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. [The Associated Press]

Creators | Jonathan Callan has started a Facebook campaign to persuade the Animation Writers Caucus to give a Lifetime Achievement Award to the late Dwayne McDuffie. McDuffie’s wife Charlotte has posted there, asking that members of the Caucus nominate McDuffie via write-ins, as his name is not on the eligible list. [Facebook, via Blog@Newsarama]

Creators | Kate Beaton gives a pair of interviews about her popular webcomic Hark! A Vagrant!, which has received a printed collection from Drawn and Quarterly. [The L Magazine, io9.com]

Creators | Geoff Johns discusses DC’s relaunched Aquaman, which debuts today: “Everybody around has at least heard of Aquaman, and they’ve probably heard all the jokes — the same jokes Aquaman’s heard — and they have their opinion on Aquaman. Whether it’s good or bad, that’s what the book’s all about.” [USA Today]

Creators | For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, writer Jim Ottaviani was interviewed about his new graphic novel Feynman while riding on a teeter-totter with the interviewer. [HD Teeter Talk]

Comics | Caroline Small, the treasurer for Small Press Expo, meditates on the difficulty of bringing art-comics to a wider audience. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Americus

Censorship | The Good Comics for Kids bloggers, many of whom are librarians, discuss MK Reed and Jonathan Hill’s Americus, a graphic novel about religious fundamentalists challenging a YA fantasy novel in a small-town library. The discussion touches on the issues the book raises and the way those issues are portrayed in the graphic novel. [Good Comics for Kids]

Comics | Kristy Valenti takes a look at Rob Liefeld’s fashion sense: “From a fashion (and commercial) perspective, ideally, a superhero artist should create an iconic costume (for example, Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man kit, Gil Kane’s Green Lantern look, or even Power Girl’s indefatigable “boob window”); Liefeld’s costuming is more like a collection, with certain motifs he returns to.” Such as high-waisted pants, shoulder pads and French-cut bikinis. Call in the fashion police! [comiXology]

Comics | Daniel BT suspects that life is imitating art as DC’s latest effort matches all too closely a Cracked parody of superhero comics art from the 1970s. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Manga | Translator Tomo Kimura lists the top ten manga creators in Japan and the number of books they have sold, from a list compiled by Nikkei Entertainment magazine. All ten are published in the U.S. as well as Japan, and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda tops the list with almost 55 million sold. [Tomo Kimura's Translation Notes]

The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths

It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. As usual, we’re focusing on graphic novels, collected volumes, and first issues so that I don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “ Dark Horse Presents is still awesome!” every month. And I’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

Also, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell me what I missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.

Ape

Puss in Boots Movie Prequel – I don’t care for movie prequel comics as a rule, but swashbuckling cats are awesome in any incarnation. As long as these are fresh gags and not just ones warmed up from Shrek, I expect to enjoy this.

Archaia

Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, Book 1 - I just introduced my son to The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth a couple of weeks ago, so this is great timing. He had the same questions about The Dark Crystal‘s world that I always do, so I’m looking forward to seeing Archaia’s take on answering those. Totally feel like the world’s in good hands with this publisher and these creators.

The Sigh - If Archaia’s snagging Marjane Satrapi’s (Persepolis, Chicken With Plums) new book has been reported already, I missed it. I’m surprised that wasn’t bigger news.

Siegfried, Volume 1 – I’ve been meaning to read P Craig Russell’s Ring of the Nibelung adaptation for years, so I think this might be what pushes me to finally do it. It would be fun to read Russell’s and compare it to this version by Alex Alice.

Bone: One-Volume Color Edition

Boom!

Seven Warriors #1 – Francis Manapul draws this story of seven warrior-women who fight to save the king of 6th-century Libya from the armies of the Persian and Byzantine empires.

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #1 – I’m absolutely loving Boom’s ongoing Planet of the Apes series, so I expect to also like this mini-series set during the events of the ’68 film and featuring Dr Zaius.

Operation: Iron Cross #1 – Boom’s already got my attention this month, so this WWII spy thriller also stands out.

The first volumes of Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero, Stan Lee’s Starborn, and Stan Lee’s The Traveler - After Graeme’s warm recommendation of Boom’s Stan Lee line, I want to check them out. And at $10 each, these are made for checking.

Peanuts #0 – I’m still curious to know who the creators on this are, but the idea of new Peanuts material is exciting and Boom has a good record for getting this kind of thing right.

Cartoon Books

Bone: The One-Volume 20th Anniversary Slipcased Color Edition - The affordable version I’ve been waiting for. It’s still $150, but that’s money well spent on a book this good-looking.

Dark Horse

House of Night #1 – Ordinarily I wouldn’t be excited by yet another vampire story set at yet another school for supernatural teens. And indeed, I haven’t paid any attention to the series of YA novellas this is based on. It’s Joëlle Jones and Karl Kerschl on the art that sells it.

Uncharted

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Volume 1 – The Promise, Part 1 – Aang’s adventures continue as written by Gene Yang (American Born Chinese).

Brothers of the Spear Archives, Volume 1 - Collecting the back-up stories to Dell’s Tarzan series featuring art by Jesse Marsh and Russ Manning. I haven’t read this stuff, but it’s ’50s jungle adventure, so I imagine that the standard warnings about racist characterizations apply.

Disney Comics and Stories Classic Characters #5: The Phantom Blot – We usually stick to comics in this column, but a Phantom Blot statue warrants an exception.

DC

Uncharted #1 – The treasure-hunting game that most makes me want to buy a PS3 becomes a comic with a Hollow Earth story.

Dynamite

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #1 – Dynamite puts their spin on the universe’s greatest space pulp hero.

EC

EC Archives - I know that EC’s been reprinting archive editions of Weird Science and Two-Fisted Tales for a little while now, but this is the first time I’ve noticed their getting a whole Previews page to themselves to advertise it.  Very eye-catching.

Mr Twee Deedle

Fantagraphics

Mr. Twee Diddle: Raggedy Ann’s Sprightly Cousin – The Forgotten Fantasy Masterpieces of Johnny Gruelle – I almost drowned in the amount of praise Fantagraphics poured on Gruelle’s work in the ad, but simply looking at the cover, it appears to be justified.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, Volume 2: The Mad Scientist/Mummies on Parade – Even if I wasn’t already turned on to the awesomeness of Jacques Tardi’s Belle-Époquian heroine, “Mummies on Parade” would be enough to necessitate this purchase.

Athos in America – Jason returns to The Last Musketeer and includes other Jasony stories like “The Brain That Wouldn’t Virginia Woolf.”

Gumby Comics

Gumby’s Spring Specials Collection – I haven’t read these, but if they’re anything like the Gumby Summer Specials by the same creative team (Bob Burden, Steve Purcell, and Art Adams), they’ll be worth having.

IDW

Jack Avarice is The Courier #1-5 – I like the idea of a mini-series told in weekly installments over a month. That sounds cool and exciting, especially when it’s a spy/voodoo action-adventure thriller thingy.

Rocketeer Adventures, Volume 1 - The anthology about everyone’s favorite jetpack-wearing hero by everyone’s favorite creators is finally collected. I say “finally” like it’s been a huge wait only because it’s felt that way.

Hawken

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro-Series #1: Raphael - IDW’s determined to get me back into TMNT again. It’s working.

Godzilla: Goliaths and Gangsters – The Monster Island crime story is collected.

Godzilla: Legends #1 – TMNT isn’t the only IDW license getting a series of spotlight issues. In this one: Anguirus vs Destoroyah.

30 Days of Night: Night Again - The Joe Lansdale/Sam Kieth mini-series gets a collection.

Hawken #1 – IDW’s not going to let Oni and Image have all the Western weirdness with The Sixth Gun and Deadlands. And I can’t think of many artists I’d rather see do this kind of story than Tim Truman.

Shaman’s Tears - It’s been more than a decade since I read this story by Mike Grell, but my memory is that it was one of my favorite of Image’s second wave of creator-owned series. The other being Jerry Ordway’s WildStar, in case anyone wants to reprint that.

Image

Guns and Dinos #1 – I’m rooting for the dinos.

Mudman #1 – Paul Grist has a new superhero comic. That’s all fans of Jack Staff need to know.

Giant-Size Elephantmen #1 – I’ve got some catching up to do on Elephantmen and this inexpensive collection (three issues for $6) looks like a good place to jump back in.

Super Dinosaur

Girls: The Complete Collection – I got into the Luna Brothers’ creepy series late and always meant to go back and read the earlier issues, because it was really very good. It was underrated (the title and the abundance of naked women understandably leading many readers to think it was just about gratuitous nudity), but it’s a serious horror story with an unsettling vibe similar to something by Charles Burns.

Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors, Volume 1 – This collection was difficult to wait for, so I’m glad it’s here.

Reed Gunther, Volume 1 – Same with this one.

Super Dinosaur, Volume 1 – And this one too. Especially this one, ’cause I read the first issue and was immediately anxious to read the next. Fantastic, all-ages fun. Image is going to kill my wallet in November, but I’ll be smiling as I bury its poor, leather corpse.

Marvel

Northanger Abby #1 – Jane Austen’s parody of a gothic romance novel is as sensational as any actual gothic romance novel. I love Janet Lee’s work and am looking forward to this adaptation, but there’s a part of me that wishes Marvel had gone for a Haunted Love/House of Secrets vibe with it.

Six Guns #1 and 2 – It’s too soon to say that Western comics have made a comeback, but I’m really excited that we’re seeing so many of them lately. Even modern ones like this. Andy Diggle seems perfect for it too.

Victor Von Doom #1 – Doom’s early days as illustrated by Becky Cloonan. Thank you, Marvel.

Skaar: King of the Savage Land

Skaar: King of the Savage Land – Ka-Zar vs Son of Hulk, dinosaurs, and some giant robots.

Oni

Salt Water Taffy, Volume 5: Caldera’s Revenge, Part 2 – Jack and Benny continue trying to survive ghost ships and evil whale hunters.

Papercutz

The Smurfs, Volume 9: Gargamel and the Smurfs – I recently read one of Papercutz’ Smurf volumes to see what the fuss is about. I never really enjoyed the cartoon as a kid and I stayed far, far away from the movie, but Peyo’s comics are so well-liked that I got curious. And they’re really good. They remind me of what I loved about Casper when I was a kid: fantastic creatures having adventures in a forest fantasy world and occasionally learning some nice lessons about how to get along with other people. I’m looking forward to reading more.

That’s it for me. What are you looking forward to?

Incredibles by Bill Morrison

Day two of D23 kicked off early for us, as the big movie presentation kicked off at 10:30 a.m. and we knew there would be a line. We just didn’t realize how long of a line …

*****

(Before I get into that, though, I should mention the above artwork has nothing to do with the movie panel; it’s Bill Morrison’s homage to New Teen Titans #1 and the Incredibles, and was being sold at the Disney Fine Arts booth. I just thought it was really cool).

So yeah, we got there early and there was already a line snaking back behind the convention center. D23 had two lines each morning, one for D23 members and one for non-members. Members could start entering the show at 9 a.m., while everyone else came in at 10. We got in line around 8, I believe, and it was around 9 by the time we got into the convention center. We went directly to the Disney Arena line, where the big presentation was being held, and waited … and waited … then we’d move a little bit and wait some more. Eventually we made it really close to the door, and someone popped up to tell us we might not make it in because they were running out of seats. We almost bailed at that point, but luckily we didn’t because we were in the very last group of people they let into the arena.

They confiscated our cell phones before we went in, gave us the wand to make sure we weren’t sneaking in a camera, and sent us to the very top row about two minutes before the presentation began. The presentation itself went from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., I believe, and was a star-studded, clip and news-filled production. Let me see if I can remember everything they covered … the first part of the presentation focused on their upcoming animated films, as Pixar’s John Lasseter walked through several upcoming projects for both Pixar and Walt Disney Studios. These included:

–Planes, a direct-to-DVD spinoff from Cars that features, um, planes. It features a cropduster named Dusty, who will be voiced by Jon Cryer … the first of many special guests to come out on stage. They introduced him as “The star of the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men …” and at that point I was thinking how awesome it would be for Charlie Sheen to come out and talk about Tiger Blood. The clip they showed had White Zombie’s More Human Than Human playing behind it, which was an interesting choice.

–Wreck-it Ralph, which I mentioned yesterday … it’s about the bad guy from a video game who wants to be a good guy. So he spends his days in a 1980s video game destroying buildings so that the game’s hero, Fix-it Felix Jr., can use his magical hammer to fix it and of course take down Ralph. They had the game set up at one of their booths:

Fix It Felix Jr.

Wreck It Ralph

They showed the first four-and-a-half minutes of the film, which features John C. Reilly as Ralph, Jack McBrayer as Felix, Jane Lynch as Sergeant Calhoun (a character from a Halo-like game) and Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz. The footage was incomplete; in some parts it was black-and-white line art, but the voice over by Reilly was really funny. At one point Ralph attends “Bad-Anon,” a support group for video game bad guys. I didn’t know anything about this film until this weekend, but what we saw was great … it comes out in fall 2012. Oh, and both Silverman and McBrayer came out on stage to say a few words about it.

–Brave is next year’s Pixar film, set in Scotland and featuring a princess who has to choose one of three idiotic suitors for political reasons. She rides a horse, she shoots a bow, and she ends up meeting a witch who casts a spell … they showed clips from this as well, and brought out Kelly Macdonald and Kevin McKidd, who voice characters in the movie. It’s an action-adventure fantasy thing from Pixar, so it ought to be good.

–Monsters University, a prequel to Monsters Inc. Before they were buddies, Mike and Scully were rivals back in college, and this will detail those college days. Billy Crystal, who voices Mike, showed up to huge cheers from the crowd. It comes out in 2013.

–They also announced two new Pixar movies, which would come out after Monsters University … both of which are currently untitled. The first one is kind of a “What if the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs never hit the Earth?” and the promotional image showed a kid riding on the head of a brontosaurus. The other will take you into how your mind really works. They had mock logos made up for both of them, i.e. “Pixar’s Untitled Movie about Dinosaurs,” which was pretty funny.

–The animation part of the presentation ended with Buzz and Woody from Toy Story bringing out a cake in honor of Pixar’s 25th anniversary, and everyone in the arena receiving a cupcake. This was pretty awesome, and the cupcake was really good.

Next up was the live-action stuff, which included:

–John Carter, for which they brought out director Andrew Stanton, and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe. Stanton said he was first introduced to John Carter through the 1970s Marvel series, then went back and read the books. They showed the trailer and several clips, including one that featured Dafoe’s character, one of the nine-foot-tall four-armed martians, meeting Kitsch’s character. Both Dafoe and Samantha Morton’s characters will be done with CGI, but both of them walked aorund on stilts when filming their scenes so they could interact with the other characters. It sounds kinda insane. I like dthe clips they showed; Collins’ Deja Thoris should be one of the highlights.

–Frankenweenie, which is actually a stop motion animated film by Tim Burton. Burton is working on the film in London, but sent over two of the producers and a model of Frankenweenie for them to play with on stage.

–Oz the Great and Powerful, which tells the story of how the Wizard came to Oz. It stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz, and it’s currently filming in Detroit. None of the stars were there, but they sent a video.

–The Odd Life of Timothy Green, for which star Jennifer Garner came out to promote. This is a Peter Hedges film, who wrote What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Pieces of April. It’s about a couple who find out they can’t have kids, so they write down everything they’d want in a kid and bury the scraps of paper in the back yard. A kid, Timothy Green, grows out of the ground.

–Jason Segel, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy came out to promote this fall’s Muppet film. They showed a couple of clips, which look funny and awesome and really made me excited to finally see this.

–The they promoted an upcoming DisneyNature film about chimpanzees. It looks like a propaganda film to make us think these things are cute and cuddly, but we all know better, right? Like I never saw Planet of the Apes …

–Last and certainly not least, Marvel’s Kevin Feige came out after they played a “sizzle reel” that recapped all the Marvel Studios films that have come out since 2008 (i.e. the Iron Man films, Hulk, Thor and Captain America). The clips they pulled all kind of tied together, so you had General Thunderbolt Ross talking about the super soldier program, Nick Fury visiting Iron Man, etc. In other words, it was all about the continuity they’ve been building. Interestingly enough, the Hulk clips didn’t feature Ed Norton Jr. at all.

Feige then introduced a scene from the Avengers that he said the rest of the world wouldn’t be able to see for awhile. Let me see if I can remember all the details …

It opened with Loki trapped in some sort of cell in the helicarrier, talking with Nick Fury. Fury says if Loki so much as tries to scratch the glass, the cell will fall 30,000 feet to the ground below. Loki says the cell wasn’t really built to hold him, but a mindless beast … they then flash to Black Widow, who glances up at Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner. So apparently SHIELD has captured Loki and has him imprisoned. They also flashed to Thor at one point in their conversation, and to a glove that was either Iron Man or Cap (I think it was Cap), as well as Cobie Smulders/Maria Hill. Loki says something about how powerful he is, and Fury offers him a magazine to read. It cuts to Banner, who says something like, “He really grows on you, doesn’t he?”

Next a plane is shown flying over a city — I’m assuming this was a Quinjet. I mean, it’s gotta be a Quinjet, right? It was quick, so I’m not 100 percent on that. Anyway, the next scene has Tony Stark talking to Loki, and he gives the God of Mischief a “roll call” of the Avengers, noting they have two super assassins, Hawkeye and Black Widow, who we get to see in action; a demigod — hey, there’s Thor being Thor-like; a living legend “who kinda lives up to the legend” — hey, there’s Cap! — and then says they all have a reason to hate Loki.

Loki says, “I have an army.”

Stark replies, “We’ve got a Hulk.”

Flash in a quick shot of the Hulk roaring, and cut to the logo …

There were other flashes in there … I’m pretty sure there was another shot of Hawkeye, plus Clark Gregg/Agent Coulson at some point. It was pretty loaded and looked really cool.

Next Feige said that Joss Whedon and the cast were wrapping up shooting, for which they had about two weeks left, and said that unfortunately Whedon, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Evans couldn’t make it, but sent their best … then he introduced the cast members who were at the show — Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders and Tom Hiddleston. Downey took the microphone and made a comment about how they felt like kids visiting their parents on the weekend, then told them to roll the footage one more time. Here’s the group out on stage, courtesy of Marvel.com:

So, wow … it was pretty cool to see all of them assembled like that. We did some other stuff today, but it’s hard to top all that.

D23 2011

We’re back in our hotel room after a day at Disney’s big D23 event in Anaheim, and what a day it was … you can check out some pictures from it after the jump.

*****

D23, Disney’s fan convention, came back to Anaheim after its debut in 2009. It was noticeably busier this time around than it was two years ago, and by the time we made it to the convention center, there were already massive lines for the big arena presentation and, of course, for the “dream store” where you could spend money on all sorts of Disney stuff. This is a very well-run show, as the Disney staff was always on point, pleasant and helpful as they moved mass quantities of folks in and out of auditoriums and other areas, and everything, for the most part, is set up to give you room to move. There were a couple of times today when I got that about-to-be-crushed, floor-of-Comic-Con feeling (particularly in the shops), but they were few and far between — for the most part the crowds never felt overwhelming.

I guess the biggest disappointment of the day was the fact that Marvel doesn’t have a booth at the show. They’ll be represented Saturday at the movie presentation and Sunday at the Marvel-specific presentation featuring Joe Quesada, but I was hoping maybe they’d show up full force and set up something on the floor. Ah well; maybe they’re still dipping their toes into being part of the bigger Disney family, and the next D23 will feature a bigger presence.

Anyway, onto the pics …

Pirates of the Caribbean was well represented at the show, both in the form of a giant version of the Black Pearl and an area where they showcased props from the film (and of course pushed the upcoming Blu-Ray/DVD release):

The Black Pearl

Pirates wheel

One of the highlights on the show floor was the Parks and Resorts area, where they showed off some of the upcoming additions to their theme parks. For instance, next summer brings an expansion to Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It’ll include new rides, like a mine train featuring Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. They had a miniature set up showing the additions:

… as well as one of the prototypes of the mine train cars:

There’s also a new Cars Land that’s opening at Disney’s California Adventure, and they had some of the Cars that’ll live there:

We also went to the Disney Parks arena presentation, where they showed additional details and a lot of CGI demonstrations of the new rides and attractions. Unfortunately they didn’t announce anything major there, like a new ride or park, like they did in 2009. Instead they mainly gave updates on the progress of all the stuff they announced last time, sharing more details now that a lot of this stuff is close to being finished.

Walt Disney Animation Studios had a booth, where they were promoting a new Prep and Landing Christmas special and a new film due in 2012 called Wreck-it Ralph, about a video game bad guy who wants to be good.

Wreck It Ralph

The Collectors Forum area most resembled the dealer’s room at a comic convention, where various vendors set up to sell collectibles, artwork, T-shirts and a whole lot more. Several of the artists who worked on BOOM!’s Disney books, including Allen Gladfelter and Amy Mebberson, had a booth where they were quite busy doing sketches. Most of the dealers in the area were Disney-centric, but a few of them had Marvel merchandise, including the very cool T-shirt sellers Mighty Fine:

Mighty Fine booth

Probably my favorite T-shirt purchase of the day — and there were many — was this 20th anniversary Rocketeer shirt:

Rocketeer shirt

… celebrating the film that featured Dave Stevens’ famous creation. These are branded with D23 on the back, but I think they were probably made for the 20th anniversary event they held earlier this summer. This is one of two Rocketeer shirts I bought; the other one featured a Bull Dog Cafe logo.

Working at a time when artists and writers seldom signed their work, Connell wrote Disney, Dell, and Gold Key comics for 30 years but is still an unfamiliar name to most comics readers. “He did a three-panel gag for Mickey Mouse every day of his life, including Sundays, for 20 years,” his wife Ruth told the Californian. In addition to Super Goof, he came up with Space Family Robinson, which became the television series Lost in Space, as well as Wacky Witch. Yet few people (including the Eisner judges) knew his name, partly because his work was unsigned, and perhaps also because he was humble about it anyway—and when he retired from comics, he stepped away from the industry entirely.

Disney & Marvel

Legal | The Los Angeles Times reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Toby G. Scammell with insider trading. Scammell has been accused of using confidential information “surreptitiously gleaned” from his girlfriend to make $192,000 off of Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. Scammell’s girlfriend was an intern working in the corporate strategy department at Disney. [Los Angeles Times]

Comics | Heidi MacDonald rounds up questions creators have raised about the Womanthology project, which raised $109,000 on Kickstarter, specifically about how the extra money will be used and whether the creators who are involved will be paid. Organizer Renae De Liz has posted additional details on the Womanthology site. [The Beat]

Conventions | Wizard World Chicago Comic Con gets into full swing today in Rosemont, Illinois. Comics guests include Brian Azzarello, Jim Cheung, Mike Deodato Jr., Gary Friedrich, Patrick Gleason, Mike Grell, Dave Johnson, Ariel Olivetti, Eduardo Risso, Bill Sienkiewicz and Ethan Van Sciver. The Chicago Sun-Times briefly spotlights attending artists Ivan Brunetti and Don Kramer, while the Daily Herald interviews Brunetti and Nate Powell. [Wizard World]

Awards | Voting is open for The Shel Dorf Awards, which announced the nominees for an expanded awards program this year. Robot 6 has been nominated in the “Comic Blogger of the Year” category, so thanks to everyone who nominated us. The winners will be announced Sept. 24 at Detroit Fanfare. [Shel Dorf Awards]

Rachel Rising

Creators | Russell Burlingame conducted two different interviews for two different sites with Echo and Rachel Rising creator Terry Moore, one that covers several topics and another specifically on digital comics: “Not just me, but everybody in comics is watching the digital front move in like a storm. But it’s not hitting like we thought. It’s taking longer. There are no digital book success stories yet, most of the people on planes are not reading an ebook, nobody’s rich yet… in fact, nobody’s replaced their print income yet. When digital can replace your print income, then the storm will hit.” [Comicbook.com, Comic-Related]

Creators | Landry Walker and Eric Jones go in-depth with Comic Box Commentary on Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade, from the original pitch to their favorite scenes to thoughts on what might happen if there were a sequel: “It’s all a bit of a jumble in my head,” Walker said. “I do think we would see some familiar characters from Argo appear. Brainiac 5. The Phantom Zone. We’ve shown some of the art produced, so obviously Lex is back at some point. Satan Girl. Melinda Mee (Bizarrogirl). The Locker of Solitude (have to keep a super horse somewhere). Robin. Lena Thorul, Jungle Princess…” [Comic Box Commentary]

Creators | Mike Mignola discusses the upcoming Hellboy in Hell series he’s writing and drawing. [LA Weekly]

Creators | Kristy Valenti interviews artist Jim Rugg (Street Angel, Afrodisiac) about his family dynamics and his many and varied interests. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Leland Myrick, the artist for First Second’s graphic novel Feynman, talks about his collaboration with Jim Ottaviani on the biography of the famous physicist. [Lagrange Points]

Creators | Tom Racine turns his video camera on two successful webcomics creators, Brad Guigar (Evil, Inc.) and Dave Kellett (Sheldon). [Tall Tale Features]

Blue Lantern Batgirl

Comics | With the releases this week of Batgirl #24, the last issue before the DC relaunch in September, writer Bryan Q. Miller provides his notes on the last pages of the book that denote what he saw for the future of Stephanie Brown. [DC Women Kicking Ass]

Comics | Kirstin Butler counts down “10 Masterpieces of Graphic Nonfiction,” including The Photographer, Burma Chronicles and a graphic novel adaptation of The Elements of Style. [The Atlantic]

Digital | Marvel comics are now available via comiXology’s web portal as well as its mobile apps. [comiXology blog]

Blogosphere | Comics Should Be Good contributor and CBR reviewer Chad Nevett will once again participate in Blogathon 2011, to raise money for the Hero Initiative. [GraphiContent]

Amazing Spider-Man #666

Publishing | Sales of comic books and graphic novels in July fell 6.17 percent versus July 2010, with dollar sales of comic books sold through Diamond Comic Distributors falling 4.27 percent and graphic novels falling 10.10 percent year-over-year. Unit sales for comics were only down slightly, at .52 percent, which ICv2 points out “indicates that comic book cover prices have in fact declined. The problem is that circulation numbers have not risen enough to make up for the decline in revenue from lower cover prices.” Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man #666, which kicked off the “Spider-Island” event, was the best-selling comic of the month, while League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III Century #2 from Top Shelf topped the graphic novel chart. John Jackson Miller has commentary.

Marvel saw a slight increase in its dollar market share for July when compared to June, while DC’s jumped from 28.03 percent in June to 30.55 percent in July. IDW, the No. 5 publisher in terms of dollar share in June, moved to the No. 3 position in July. The top seven publishers were rounded out by Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite and BOOM! [ICv2]

Darkwing Duck #18

Publishing | BOOM!’s Disney comics officially end in October with the publication of DuckTales #6 and Darkwing Duck #18, for which the solicitation says, “This is it fans, the last Disney single issue from KABOOM! has arrived. It’s the end of an era as we say goodbye to Disney at KABOOM!” [Comics Continuum, via]

Conventions | The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York will hold the 10th annual MoCCA Fest on April 28-29, the same weekend the Stumptown Festival will occur in Portland, Ore. Heidi MacDonald has commentary. [Convention Scene]

Creators | Brian Heater talks to artist Joseph Remnant about illustrating Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland after Pekar passed away last year. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Comics | Robert Stanley Martin has posted the results of the Hooded Utilitarian’s International Best Comics Poll, which were voted on by 211 editors, journalists, academics and retailers (including Robot 6 contributors Sean T. Collins, Chris Mautner and Matt Seneca). Topping the list is Peanuts, followed by Krazy Kat, Calvin and Hobbes, Watchmen and Maus. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Organizations | Derek McCaw interviews Dr. Mauricio Heilbron, the Hero Initiative’s medical consultant. [Fanboy Planet]

FreakAngels

Webcomics | Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s long-running FreakAngels webcomic has reached its conclusion. [Warren Ellis]

Webcomics | Doug TenNapel has brought his webcomic Ratfist to an end after 150 episodes, and he reveals that a print version is in the works. [Ratfist]

Retailers | San Francisco-based toy and comics retailer Neon Monster will close down its brick-and-mortar shop on Aug. 7 and its online store on Aug. 14. [Neon Monster, via Twitter]

Reviews | Cartoon Brew rounds up commentary on BOOM!’s third DuckTales comic book in a post titled “Is This the Worst Disney Comic of All-Time?” Per CB poster Amid: “Panels are flipped and repeated, characters speak to other characters that aren’t even drawn into the comic, backgrounds appear to be drawn by a twelve-year-old in MS Paint, and even the cover is an uninspired swipe of an earlier Daan Jippes cover.” The comic even inspired one fan to write a song about it. [Cartoon Brew]

Manga | The four-woman manga supergroup CLAMP is resuming work on Legal Drug after an eight-year hiatus. The series was published in the U.S. by Tokyopop, and there is no word yet on whether the new volumes will be published here. [Anime News Network]

Comics | Sean Kleefeld shows off some new pieces of original comics art he just picked up. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Fandom | Chad Rouch remembers the day his brother tossed Captain America’s shield out of a moving car. [Orlando Sentinel]

Fantagraphics has revealed the final cover to Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes, the first volume in their series of Carl Barks collections. In addition, you can get a good look at the cover and spine courtesy of a brochure they published to promote the book.

This volume will include:

• The title story, “Lost in the Andes.”
• Two stories co-starring Gladstone, including “Race to the South Seas.”
• Two Christmas stories, including “The Golden Christmas Tree.”
• Several Donald stories, including ones where he plays a TV quiz show contestant and ends up encased in a giant barrel of Jell-O, a truant officer who matches wits with his nephews, and a ranch hand who outwits cattle rustlers.

Lost in the Andes also features an introduction by noted Barks scholar Donald Ault, and detailed commentary/annotations for each story at the end of the book, written by the foremost Barks authorities in the world.

In addition, they’ve also revealed the cover to the second volume of their Floyd Gottfredson/Mickey Mouse collections:

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Trapped on Treasure Island by Floyd Gottfredson

Both covers were designed by Jacob Covey.

Miles Morales

Comics | In a post subtitled “Why the new biracial Spider-Man matters,” David Betancourt shares his reaction to the news that the new Ultimate Spider-Man is half-black, half-Latino: “The new Ultimate Spider-Man, who will have the almost impossible task of replacing the late Peter Parker (easily one of Marvel Comics most popular characters), took off his mask and revealed himself to be a young, half-black, half-Latino kid by the name of Miles Morales. When I read the news, I was beside myself, as if my brain couldn’t fully process the revelation. My friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was … just like me? This is a moment I never thought I’d see. But the moment has arrived, and I — the son of Puerto Rican man who passed his love of comics to me, and a black woman who once called me just to say she’d met Adam West — will never forget that day.”

The New Yorker, meanwhile, posts the opening on an essay from the year 2120 that looks back at the cultural significance of the new Spider-Man. [Comic Riffs, New Yorker]

Legal | Analysis of the Kirby estate/Marvel case continues, as both Modern Ideas and Copyhype look at the concept of “work for hire” in light of the ruling. [Modern Ideas, Copyhype]

Creators | Roger Langridge talks about his life as a comics creator and reader and his work on the Muppets comics, Thor: The Mighty Avenger, and his new creator-owned work Snarked! [Graphic Eye]

Comics | Responding to the USA Today article on Flashpoint #4, which features a brief appearance by President Obama, Bully looks back at several Obama “guest appearances” in comics from the past few years. [Comics Oughta Be Fun]

Howard the Duck

Creators | Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter continues his remembrances of writer Steve Gerber, recounting Gerber’s lawsuit against Marvel over ownership of Howard the Duck, and Disney’s legal threats over Howard’s appearance. Shooter shares model sheets of the character that were provided by Disney artists to accentuate the differences between Howard and Donald Duck. [Jim Shooter]

Creators | Ian Burns talks to King City creator Brandon Graham about his early life, his influences and much, much more. [The Comics Journal]

Publishing | Clan Apis creator Jay Hosler notes the book that started as “a floppy comic about bees” is now in its sixth printing. [Drawing Flies]

Publishing | NBM/Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier predicts that preorders for the upcoming Ninjago graphic novel, based on LEGO’s ninja-themed toy line of the same name, could surpass 100,000 copies, putting it into Twilight territory. [ICv2]

Publishing | Noah Berlatsky sees the demise of Borders as presaging a grim future for manga in the United States. [The Washington Times]

Awards | Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch has been named an Oregon Spirit Book Award Middle Reader Honor Book by the Oregon Council of Teachers of English. [Abrams, via Comics Reporter]

Manga | Deb Aoki shares the best and worst manga as chosen by the participants on the Best and Worst Manga Panel at San Diego Comic-Con. [About.com]

Tr!ckster

Conventions | Chris Smits writes about his experience of Tr!ckster, the creator-owned comics alternative to SDCC: “So, throughout my time spent in San Diego for the con, Tr!ckster became my travel shampoo: I washed, rinsed, and then repeated. Justice can not be done to how incredible it was to have such a haven across the street from the convention center. Anytime I had an inkling of con fatigue or (more likely) a frustrating build up of rage, the realization that I could just walk over there was amazing.” [Creator-Owned Comics]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity pens an appreciation of her favorite CLAMP manga, Wish, “a breezy four-volume series that features all the things I love most about the team: simultaneously cute and elegant artwork, charming characters, tantalizingly chaste romance, a dash of homoeroticism, and a heaping helping of fangirl nerdiness.” [Anime News Network]

Analysis | In homage to Wally Wood’s “22 panels,” Daniel BT compiles a list of 22 manga panels that always work. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Comics | When Captain Israel met Foreskin Man. [Huffington Post]

Disney will also be showing off their Disney Comics iOS app and they will have heaps of plain ol’ books at their booth (#1016), including limited quantities of upcoming releases. There will be giveaways: Phineas and Ferb masks and magazines, Rick Riordan Heroes of Olympus pens, and more. Filmmaker and author Don Hahn will be giving a panel on “Why We Create” and also signing copies of Brain Storm and The Alchemy Animation, and illustrator Joey Chou will also be there to sign his picture book It’s a Small World.

Individual stories are 99 cents, with themed bundles available for $3.99 through In-App Purchase. The app debuts in the United States and will be available in more than 80 countries. It will be available in additional markets later this year.

Disney boasts that the app offers “a new, director-style reading experience,” with readers allowed to choose portrait or landscape mode, automatic or manual smart paneling, and double-page spreads. Readers also may preview titles before purchase, share their stories on Facebook and save content for offline reading. There’s also a feature that automatically updates readers when stories relating to their favorite characters become available. Also: sound effects!

“Comics are a tremendous part of our heritage and we see great potential and interest in bringing our extensive catalog of Disney Comics to mobile devices,” Russell Hampton, president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, said in a statement. “We create over 25,000 original comic pages each year and it’s critical that we deliver this content to our readers around the world. We have over 1 billion Disney comic readers today, and our Disney Comics App will further broaden that audience.”

Read the official announcement after the break.

Disney Publishing Worldwide Launches Disney Comics App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Over 80 Years of Disney Comics Are Now Available to Readers Digitally, Including Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Cars 2 and More

Fans can Tweet the Release Using the #DisneyComics Hashtag

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.–Disney Publishing Worldwide announced today its new Disney Comics App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is now available on the App Store. Disney Comics gives readers instant access to one of the most extensive collections of comics, short stories and graphic novels ever created, ranging from classic adventures starring Mickey Mouse to brand new comics from Toy Story and Cars 2.

The launch collection includes more than 50 comics for readers of all ages and features Disney classic characters like Donald Duck; Disney-Pixar comics featuring Toy Story’s Buzz and Woody; Disney Channel-inspired content including High School Musical; and feature film-based comics based on Tron: Legacy and Tangled. Disney Publishing will release two new titles each week following the launch.

The Disney Comics App will launch in the U.S. and will also be available on the App Store in over 80 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Additional markets will launch Disney Comics later this year.

“Comics are a tremendous part of our heritage and we see great potential and interest in bringing our extensive catalog of Disney Comics to mobile devices,” said Russell Hampton, President, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “We create over 25,000 original comic pages each year and it’s critical that we deliver this content to our readers around the world. We have over 1 billion Disney comic readers today, and our Disney Comics App will further broaden that audience.”

The Disney Comics App offers a new, director-style reading experience; readers can choose portrait or landscape mode, automatic or manual smart paneling, and can view double spreads. Disney Comics also enables readers to preview comics before making a purchase, share their stories with Facebook friends, and save all content to their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch for offline reading. An added feature lets readers receive automatic updates when stories relating to a favorite Disney character become available.

The Disney Comics App is available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, or at www.itunes.com/appstore. Individual stories are $.99 and themed bundles are available for $3.99 through In-App Purchase.

For more information, visit www.disney.com/disneycomics and www.facebook.com/DisneyDigitalBooks, or follow @DisneyDigiBooks on Twitter.

Gary Groth in action

…so I’m not even going to try. Instead I’m just going to link you to Alex Dueben’s thusly titled interview with Fantagraphics Co-Publisher and The Comics Journal Editor Gary Groth over on the CBR mothership, in which the trailblazing alternative-comics publisher and critic tackles a wide variety of the biz’s big topics. Here are a few choice nuggets:

On Fantagraphics shifting to digital:

To one degree or another, all of our books can be read on a screen.

We’re cognizant of that and we’re certainly moving in that direction. I think what the future is going to hold is that books are going to be on multiple platforms, in digital and in print. I don’t think one is going to necessarily overshadow the other. They can be available in various formats. We’ve been literally working on the digital formats for the last year, just working out all the bugs and talking to the various platforms. I’m sure by this time next year, a lot of our books, if not the majority of them, are going to be available digitally.

On the Borders bankruptcy and its affect on graphic novel sales:

I don’t think it’s affected us. I think whenever something happens like when Borders closes, something comes and fills that gap, even if that something is only Amazon. Borders didn’t affect us at all, because Borders didn’t buy many of our books. As you probably know, the book buyer at Borders was apparently obsessed with manga and bought almost exclusively manga. Of course it would have been nice to have been sold in Borders for all those years, but we weren’t. Trying to be sold in Borders was like beating our heads against a brick wall, so when they went under, we didn’t suffer at all. Barnes and Noble is still strong. We’re strong with independents. There are a number of chain stores in the South that we sell pretty well to, like Books-A-Million. Amazon is either the first or second largest seller of our books.

On whether he has any advice for DC regarding their line-wide relaunch:

[Laughs] I don’t think I do. Good fucking luck.

I’m not even sure what that’s supposed to accomplish. It seems like a pitiful attempt to con more people into buying the same old shit. I probably shouldn’t be so cynical. I’m sure that some brilliant talent could breathe some life into this stuff. Like I said, I’m not one to talk. I haven’t read this stuff, but it just seems so completely uninteresting to me, and in a way, it’s idiomatically alien to me. We get a box of comics from DC every so often and I’ll look through it. Stylistically, the work kind of repels me. It’s too frenetic and manga-influenced. I’m way too old for that stuff. I wish I could be a more cogent commentator on that stuff, but then I’d have to devote time to actually looking at it.

On why Disney is publishing its complete Floyd Gottfredson/Mickey Mouse and Carl Barks/Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge comics through Fantagraphics instead of its subsidiary, Marvel:

I haven’t the slightest idea. It was never brought up. I’ve literally never asked them, “Why would you want us to publish them rather than Marvel,” so anything I give you would be an inference. When I was negotiating with them, to tell you the truth, I hadn’t even thought about it.

There’s much more where that came from, including discussions of the death of the alternative comic book, the Kirby and Siegel/Shuster lawsuits, Disney’s role in extending copyright, the Fantagraphics brick-and-mortar store, the Golden Age of Reprints, the relaunch of The Comics Journal, and the great undiscovered cartoonists. Read the whole thing.

When it first came out, Tron was a groundbreaking movie because of its use of computer animation, which up till then had only been seen in limited doses. Thirty years later, an online graphic novel based on the movie, Tron: Legacy, is breaking new ground again by using HTML5 to create a webcomic that is much more dynamic than your standard still-pictures-in-a-browser format.

This is not some cheesy “motion comic” where Hulk’s arm moves up and down while the rest of the picture stays static. Check out the demo video: The motion is not figures on a background but the backgrounds themselves, which rotate to give the reader the feeling of moving through deep space. (If you’re the type of person who gets seasick at iMAX movies, this may not be the comic for you.) Oddly, the fight scenes are more static than the setup, because those scenes don’t have the same three-dimensional motion effect. The plot itself seems to be rather elemental, and you don’t have to have seen the movie to follow the comic—everything is laid out for the reader.

The demo video is a bit of an ad for Internet Explorer 9, which is the browser this graphic novel was developed for. I was able to view it fine in Safari on my Mac, although it was a bit jerky. You scroll through the comic by dragging, so it’s not quite as smooth an experience as in the demo, and it’s a bit disorienting because there are no indicators to tell you how long the comic is or how far along you are. Still, it’s nicely done and worth looking at for the novelty value, if nothing else. Sort of like Tron itself was, back in the day.

*****

And via Art Asylum comes word that the Future Foundation, or FF, will get the minimate treatment, and while this box set can be found in San Diego, it won’t be at the SDCC … you’ll have to go to the Disney Store at the Fashion Valley Mall, 7007 Friar Road, to purchase it. After that, it’ll be available at Disney Stores nationwide.

There’s more minimate action set for San Diego; in addition to the Marvel vs. Capcom set I posted earlier today, Art Asylum will also have an Alice: Madness Returns minimate at the Diamond Select Toys booth, and a set of Thor minimates at the Action Figure Xpress booth.

Mickey Mouse Vol. 1

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley
by Floyd Gottfredson; edited by David Gerstein and Gary Groth
Fantagraphics Books, 288 pages, $29.99

It must seem difficult for younger generations to fully understand just how integral Mickey Mouse once was to the  Disney franchise. While at one time his smiling, three-circle face was the iconic symbol for the company, today that image has been shoved aside to make room for Cinderella’s castle. The Disney bread is now officially buttered by a bunch of divas and Buzz Lightyear. These days Mickey is relegated to stalwart supporting cast member, fit for entertaining the preschooler crowd on daytime television, though efforts like the recent Epic Mickey video game show an interest in making him a viable player in their stable once more.

Even for my generation (that’s Gen X for those of you keeping score), understanding Mickey’s appeal was a tough proposition at times given how bland he seemed to appear in various cartoons and other products we or our parents were expect to shell good money out for. Everything about him stank of goody-two-shoes pitchman. No wonder he eventually faded from the limelight.

Of course, twas not always thus. As has been acknowledged time and again whenever various pundits write about Walt and his empire, Mickey Mouse was something of a rapscallion at first, given to casting a lustful glance towards Minnie, socking an oversize enemy or smacking around barnyard animals for humorous (and musical) effect. That avenue quickly dried up as Mickey became more popular and dull, until the only place you could see a remnant of that character was on the comics page. There, cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson and a carousel of artists and assistants created a Mickey that was funnier and decidedly ballsier than anything found in other media.

While it would be unfair to say Gottfredson’s work has been ignored by the comics cognoscenti — anyone who’s read the strips has acknowledged Gottfredson as a master of the medium — it’s not like it’s gotten its just due, either. Most attempts at reprinting the strips have been slipshod at best, with only the occasional anthology or FCBD issue to entice readers.

Now Fantagraphics has risen to the fore with “Race to Death Valley,” the first in a multi-volume plan to release most (if not quite all, since the later work shifted to more gag-friendly material) of Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse strips. It’s a pretty spiffy package, sharply designed and full of smart, well-written essays that provide a rich portrait of the artist and his times, as well as some great comics.

It’s interesting to note how many stumbling blocks the Disney crew ran into before they found a formula that succeeded on the newspaper pages. Initially, Disney and animator Ub Iwerks simply attempted to adapt some of their cartoons to a gag-a-day formula. That proved unsuccessful, however, (and little wonder, those initial strips are rather awkward to put it mildly) and the syndicate suggested changing the focus to make it more of an adventure strip, similar to The Gumps, which was the big thing back in 1930. This proved better fare, but Disney found the chore of writing a daily strip too much of an extra burden, he passed the job on to Gottfredson, who managed to smooth out a lot of the strips rough edges (most notably perhaps being Disney’s penchant for making awkward similes).

Which is not to say that Gottfredson’s genius appeared full blush upon the very first page. It clearly took some time for the creator to find his bearing. The intial title story suffered through a number of awkward lulls (not to mention a head-scratching denouement), though you can sense Gottfredson growing more confident as the story continues. Future storylines found the artist trying on (and discarding) a couple of supporting characters and inserting Mickey in a variety of different situations — at the circus; in a boxing ring; at a camping site, thwarting nefarious gypsies; and facing up against neighborhood bullies. At one point a heartbroken Mickey even contemplates suicide after a would-be suitor starts muscling in on his turf. By the time we get towards the end of the book, though, Gottfredson has Mickey’s basic traits — full of pluck and determination, industrious — and the strip’s rhythm – fast-paced  but not immune to the occasional bit of slapstick — down rather well.

As impressive as Gottfredson’s work is, it’s in the ancillary materials or “special features” that makes this book really shine. Editors Gary Groth and David Gerstein have gone the extra mile here so that we not only get background on the strip and Gottfredson himself, but also biographies of the numerous contributors, international translations and spin-offs, the afore-mentioned early strips, memorabilia and much more. With its shameless abundance of riches, Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 sets a new standard in reprint publication.

In writing Mickey’s adventures, Gottfredson managed to create a near-magical American small town where loopy, daring adventures lurked around nearly every corner, but you still had time to play Cupid to your friends or visit the cranky fireman that lived downtown. That, combined with Mickey’s “never say quit” attitude must have seemed awfully appealing to modern audiences. It’s a tribute Gottfredson’s talents that it still seems rather appealing today.