online comics
Comics A.M. | Comic sales slide slows; Thor press kit triggers bomb scare
Fear Itself #1
Publishing | The drop in year-over-year sales in the direct market slowed in April, with periodicals slipping 1.75 percent and graphic novels just .84 percent. Overall sales were down 1.46 percent for April and 6.5 percent for the first four months of the year. Marvel topped Diamond’s comics chart with Fear Itself #1, while DC led the graphic novel category with the 15th volume of Fables. [ICv2.com]
Crime | Police evacuated the bus terminal in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan, Friday afternoon after a suspicious package was discovered across the street. The Michigan State Police bomb squad was called in, and it was determined the mysterious package was merely a briefcase-shaped media kit promoting Acura’s involvement with Marvel’s Thor. A writer for Automobile, whose offices are next to the terminal, had discarded the “S.H.I.E.L.D. Assessment Test” kit in the recycling bin, but it wasn’t picked up — apparently because it isn’t recyclable. [WXYZ, Jalopnik]
Read the UDON-illustrated comic prequel to Nolan’s Inception
Inception: The Cobol Job
Warner Bros. has released an online comic prequel to Inception, the highly anticipated sci-fill thriller from The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan. Called “The Cobol Job,” the prequel is written by the film’s co-producer Jordan Goldberg (Batman: Gotham Knight) and illustrated by UDON Entertainment‘s Long Vo, Joe Ng and Crystal Reid.
Although it’s called a prequel, I’ve seen warnings that the comic is somewhat spoiler-ish, and will make more sense after a viewing of the movie. So, you may want to wait until you’ve returned from Inception‘s midnight debut to give “The Cobol Job” a read.