Free Comic Book Day: Captain America-Thor

Retailing | Following a week in which much of the comics coverage was fixated on Action Comics #900 and Superman’s apparent renunciation of his U.S. citizenship, mainstream media outlets are now shifting their four-color focus to the 10th annual Free Comic Book Day, which will be held Saturday at more than 2,000 stores worldwide. You can see a list of notable creator appearances at the FCBD website, but here’s a rundown of some event previews: FCBD press release, Wired’s GeekDad blog, Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog, Phoenix New Times, The Marietta (Ohio) Times, The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia), The Daily Athanaeum (West Virginia University) and TribLocal (Evanston, Ill.). [Free Comic Book Day]

Awards | Rich Johnston asks a PRISM executive how DC Comics’ widely reviled miniseries Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal rated the group’s award honoring “the accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental illness.” “Obviously our criteria is a bit different from that of reviewers,” said Larry Deutchman, PRISM’s executive vice president of marketing and industry relations. [Bleeding Cool]

Conventions | The student newspaper of Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., reports on last weekend’s second annual Anaheim Comic-Con. [Coast Report Online]

TCAF poster by Jillian Tamaki

Creators | The National Post’s literary blog continues its mini-profiles of creators attending this weekend’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Rupert Bottenberg, Ryan Claytor, Kevin Czapiewski, Jimmy Beaulieu, Matthew Brown, Angela Melick and Jeremy Sorese. [The Afterword]

Crime | The whole “real-world superheroes” thing probably won’t fizzle any time soon. Salt Lake City, the Gotham of Utah, as its own team called the Black Monday Society. [Fox 13]

Comics | The origin of Thor’s alter ego Donald Blake. [Big Shiny Robot]

No doubt you’ll remember the various news stories that started popping up over the last year or so about “real life superheroes” — nonfictional, Kick-Ass-esque folks donning costumes to help their communities and fight crime.

Photographer Peter Tangen started a site where he’s shining “some light on this new breed of activism and altruism” with a new website called “The Real Life Super Hero Project” that features videos, feature stories and Alex Ross-inspired portraits of the heroes.

“Now, what began as a gallery exhibit, has come to serve as the launching pad of something far greater—a living, breathing community that inspires people to become the positive forces for change we all can be. To become more active, more involved, more committed, and perhaps, a little super in the process,” the site reads. They also have an active Facebook page, and you can check out a trailer for the site after the jump.

Via

from The Filth, by Chris Weston

He’s collaborated with top industry writers to lend his highly detailed art to such memorable titles as Mark Millar’s Swamp Thing run, Grant Morrison’s The Filth, Warren Ellis’s Ministry of Space, Joe Casey’s Fantastic Four: First Family, and J. Michael Straczynski’s The Twelve. But has artist Chris Weston’s greatest contribution to the fight for truth and justice just taken place in the real world — where he just may have helped the cops catch a bank robber?

According to a post on his blog, Weston was waiting in line at the bank yesterday and doing what many artists do to kill time under such circumstances — meticulously observing the guy in front of him — when that guy proceeded to approach the teller and forcibly demand cash.  Weston writes:

By the time I realised what was happening he’d escaped with the loot. I gave my contact details to the bank and then ran like the wind back to my studio and set about hastlily drawing some pictures of the robber. I’d studied this guy quite intensely and could remember every detail of his likeness and clothes.

Weston then provided the sketches to the local constabulary, who reacted with near-disbelief: Apparently, the man in Weston’s drawings perfectly matched a suspect they’d already picked up.

The sketches remain in the hands of the police, and since the case is pending Weston says he can’t comment further. But he promises to scan and post the crime-busting portraits if and when he’s given permission to do so. In the meantime, read the full story here and congratulate Chris for giving the filth a hand!

(Via Tom Spurgeon)

Twilight art

Publishing | ICv2.com calls the just-announced graphic-novel adaptation of Twilight from Yen Press “the closest thing to printing money that we’ve heard about this year.” That sounds about right. The retailer-oriented website goes on to characterize the move as “the kind of deal that could be a transformational event for Yen,” the three-year-old imprint of Hachette Book Group. Brigid Alverson rounds up some online reaction. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Viz Media rolls out its complete SIGIKKI online manga magazine, and reveals the titles that will join Children of the Sea on the free website. [press release]

Johnny's Resin figures

Legal | Here’s a little more on DC Comics’ multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Bradenton, Florida, resident John Stacks, who’s accused of selling unauthorized resin kit figurines based on the 1960s Batman TV series. “This was not a profit thing,” Stacks says. “This was a hobby that I enjoy. … It’s not that I’m making a fortune. I’m making nothing. It’s ridiculous.” [Bradenton Herald]

Crime | If you’ve been wondering what became of the young man who, dressed as Superman, got into a highly publicized scuffle with police last week in Times Square, wonder no more: Twenty-three-year-old Bronx resident Maksim Katsnelson has withstood the mockery, and even gained a fan following. Kevin Deutsch gets Our Hero’s backstory. [The Riverdale Press]

Publishing | Sean Kleefeld points out that Marvel stock is at its highest point ever. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Publishing | Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort has announced that Jeanine Schaefer has been promoted from associate editor to editor, and will move from his office to the X-Men office. Lauren Sankovitch, a former assistant editor in the Ultimates office, has been promoted to associate editor in Brevoort’s office. [Blah Blah Blog]

Naruto, Vol. 45

Sales charts | The 45th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto debuts at No. 31 on USA Today’s bestseller list, followed at No. 53 by the 23rd, and final, volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket. [USA Today]

Creators | Neil Gaiman chats with Neal Conan about Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? [NPR]

Creators | Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis answers 20 questions from Scott Nickel. [A Nickel's Worth, via The Daily Cartoonist]

Creators | Rachelle Goguen interviews collaborators Curt Franklin and Chris Haley, creators of the webcomic Let’s Be Friends Again. “I’m hoping to get to the point where we’re completely unemployable in the comic book industry due to ruined husks of bridges we’ve burnt,” Franklin says, “which is when I’ll take my mask off and reveal that I’ve been Chuck Austen all along and I’ll welcome Chris into my bunker; my years of work having created the perfect sidekick to aid me in exacting revenge on everybody who hated WorldWatch.” [Living Between Wednesdays]

Red Robin #1

Process | Letterer Todd Klein walks through his design of the Red Robin logo for DC Comics. [Todd's Blog]

ComicsLive for July 16

Chicago | Artist Dave McKean will sign at Challengers Comics to kick off a weekend full of activities. Details can be found here.

New York | Dan Nadel and David Mazzucchelli will speak at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art starting at 7 p.m. The museum is hosting an exhibit of Mazzucchelli’s work called “Sounds and Pauses: The Comics of David Mazzucchelli.” Details here.

Portland | Arnold Pander will sign his new Image graphic novel Tasty Bullet at Floating World from 4 to 6 p.m. Details here.

Batman ... RIP (New York Post)

It seems the World’s Finest are no match for New York‘s Finest.

Putting the Daily Planet to shame, the New York Post reports in an “exclusive” that New York City police took down Batman and Superman yesterday in Times Square.

Make that Frank Frisoli and Maksim Katsnelson, who were dressed as two-thirds of DC Comics’ Trinity.

It seems Katsnelson (Superman) may have been panhandling. When approached by police, he allegedly hit a female officer in the face. One witness says that it took seven officers to take down the Last Son of Krytpon — er, I mean The Bronx.

The Caped Crusader, Frisoli, was handcuffed and then released because he hadn’t punched an officer in the face, I guess. The Maine resident said the Not-So-Dynamic Duo had dressed up for a laugh.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the required license to perform in costume in public. Wait, a license? Has the Superhuman Registration Act finally spilled over from the Marvel Universe?

Damn you, Tony Stark! Damn you!

Geist

The recession can be blamed for any number of things, ranging from home foreclosures to layoffs to business closings. Now add to that list the rise of real-life superheroes.

CNN reports that the dismal economic environment is leading more people to don masks in an effort to help their communities and fight crime.

Ben Goldman of Superheroes Anonymous estimates there are somewhere between 250 and 300 real-life superheroes worldwide, up from around 200 just last summer.

“A lot of them have gone through a sort of existential crisis and have had to discover who they are,” Goldman tells CNN.

Of course as we, and Shadow Hare, have learned, more supervillains are discovering who they are, too.

But Stan Lee, for one, sees the increase in real-life superheroes as a positive sign.

“I think it’s a good thing that people are eager enough to want to help their community,” he says. “They think to do it is to emulate the superheroes. Now if they had said they had super powers [that would be another thing].”

They don’t have super powers yet, but they do have BattleSuits. And, in the case of Rochester, Minnesota’s Geist, bolas.

ROACH

Since gaining national media attention as Cincinatti’s self-appointed caped crusader, Shadow Hare has faced public mockery and a $10 bounty for his secret identity.

But now the black-clad protector of the Queen City may pray for the day when those were his biggest concerns.

It seems the rise of real-life superheroes, who organize via the World Superhero Registry, have triggered the inevitable backlash — one far worse than the so-called Consortium of Evil that sought Shadow Hare’s identity.

Introducing ROACH — Ruthless Organization Against Citizen Heroes — whose “primary goal is to be a counter balancing force against the Superheroes of the world who’s [sic] goodwill and penchant for spreading hope has gone on unchecked for far too long. Where they exist to help and motivate society, we exist to help and motivate ourselves and to bring society under our boot!”

Unearthed over the weekend by io9.com, ROACH appears highly organized, with a mission statement, a youth-outreach division called LARVA — Lower Aged Recruits for Violence and Aggression — and, of course, T-shirts.

And, yes, ROACH is recruiting. There’s even an ominous-yet-inspiring recruitment video. For more, see io9′s interview with the group’s mysterious founder The Potentate.

Shadow Hare, what have you gotten yourself into?

Shadow Hare

The worst side effect of publicizing your superhero efforts apparently isn’t widespread mockery. No, it’s attracting the attention of potential arch-nemeses.

Case in point: Cincinnati’s self-appointed protector Shadow Hare, whose mission to patrol the mean streets of the Queen City received air time last week on CNN.

The masked defender and his teammates in the Allegiance of Heroes apparently weathered the laughter of television anchors, Cincinnati residents and the online minions. But can Shadow Hare survive … the Consortium of Evil?

Io9.com points out that the mysterious E, a member of the equally mysterious Consortium, is determined to learn Shadow Hare’s secret identity — at any cost!

Okay, not any cost. It’s more like $10.

On Tuesday E placed an ad on Craigslist offering the reward for the identity of Shadow Hare. (The ad since has been removed.) That’s right, Our Hero already has a bounty on his head.

So far, there’s no response from the Allegiance of Heroes, the World Superhero Registry, or the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

Developing …

"Allegiance Assemble!"

The people of Cincinnati, Ohio, can sleep easier knowing they’re protected by Shadow Hare and the Allegiance of Heroes — “Allegiance Assemble!” — who brave the mean streets to “intervene on crimes if there is one happening in front of us.”

Ohio’s WLWT, via CNN, has the laughter-inducing story.