Red Hood
Comics A.M. | Could WonderCon’s Anaheim move be permanent?
Anaheim Convention Center
Conventions | WonderCon was held in Anaheim, California, this year because the traditional venue, San Francisco’s Moscone Center, was closed for renovations. Heidi MacDonald wonders whether the shift will be permanent, and a lively debate ensues in comments. SFBay, meanwhile, informally surveyed exhibitors, and found many retailers saw a steep drop in sales from last year, while many artists saw an increase in revenue. [The Beat]
Retailing | ICv2 sees an uptick in manga sales in comics stores and speculates that the Borders bankruptcy has led readers to a variety of different channels, including the direct market, which could be an opportunity for comics stores to expand their customer base. [ICv2]
Digital comics | Digital distributor comiXology will offer HD versions of all its comics for readers who use the new third-generation iPad, and Jason Snell says the new retina display and the HD comics make for a much better reading experience. [Macworld UK]
Comics A.M. | Stan Lee’s Guardian Project target of lawsuit
Stan Lee
Legal | Stan Lee’s Guardian Project, introduced last year at New York Comic Con, has sparked a lawsuit from a Hollywood manager who claims he was cut out of the venture, which transformed National Hockey League mascots into superheroes.
In the lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Adam Asherson contends the project, now co-owned by NBC Universal, dates back to 2003, when he was introduced to the idea by fellow manager Anthony Chargin and Chargin’s client Jake Shapiro. Asherson, who had a relationship with Lee, says he suggested the legendary comics writer would be the “perfect” partner for the endeavor. They pitched Lee on the project, called Defenders, which focused on the National Football League, with plans to expand to Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the NHL. For unspecified reasons, the NFL deal never came together. However, six years later The Guardian Project emerged with the involvement of Chargin, Shapiro and Lee — but without Asherson.
Asherson claims Guardian Media Entertainment, SLG Entertainment, Chargin and Shapiro have breach an oral joint-venture agreement, committed promissory estoppel and fraud, and breach fiduciary duties by leaving him out of the NHL agreement. [Hollywood, Esq.]
‘Self-confident’ Roy Harper and Jason Todd strut their stuff
While this response by “monkeyscandance” (aka Boa) to last week’s controversy about the depiction of Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 certainly won’t be the final word on the subject, it probably should be — because the cartoon’s terrific. The artist zeroes in on the original request for Starfire to be clad in a semi-transparent bikini, to hilarious results.
See the full cartoon below, and check out more of the artist’s work on DeviantArt.
What’s under the Red Hood? Well, see for yourself
Red Hood and the Outlaws #2
While there’s already been plenty of discussion online about Starfire’s shrinking, and improbable, costume on Kenneth Rocafort’s cover for Red Hood and the Outlaws #2, a commenter on the Comic Book Resources message board noticed that the fan service doesn’t stop there.
Peel your eyes away from Starfire’s gravity-defying brassiere and allow them to travel up the image — click to enlarge — at, oh, a 70-degree angle. Keeping going. To your left, but leaning to the Red Hood’s right. Once you see it, you won’t be able to un-see it … there you go! In case you ever wondered why Jason Todd didn’t don those tiny green shorts again following his resurrection, there’s your answer.
“Clearly the explosion had an adverse effect on his anatomy,” wrote Free-Man, who made the initial catch. “Or just really tight leather pants. I dunno.” Replied thewhtGuardian: “Either way it explains his anger, I’d want to take a sword to somebody too if my junk was all contorted.”
Red Hood and the Outlaws #2 is due in stores on Oct. 19. You’ll probably want to pre-order this issue, though, because as commenter Jake V noted, “DC knows what Jason fans really want.”