The writer, who’s penning Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl for the sprawling prequel to the acclaimed 1986 miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, drew some criticism yesterday when he told Comic Book Resources, “A lot of folks feel that these characters shouldn’t be touched by anyone other than Alan, and while that’s absolutely understandable on an emotional level, it’s deeply flawed on a logical level. Based on durability and recognition, one could make the argument that Superman is the greatest comics character ever created. But neither Alan nor anyone else has ever suggested that no one other than Shuster and Siegel should ever be allowed to write Superman. Alan didn’t pass on being brought on to write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein, and he did a terrific job. He didn’t say ‘No, no, I can’t, that’s Len’s character.’ Nor should he have.”

That of course led more than a few people to ask how Straczynski, who created the 1990s space opera Babylon 5, would feel if someone else were to develop a sequel, or prequel — “Babylon 4″? — to the television series (a revival has been long hoped for by fans, but the writer denied rumors as recently as August that he’s in negotiations with Warner Bros.). To answer the question, which he characterizes as “How would you feel if Babylon 5 was being done without your permission?,” Straczynski took to his Facebook page last night, writing, “It’s a fair question, and it needs to be fairly answered … but it has to be an honest comparison, apples to apples, not apples to pomegranates.”

“First, we have to take the word ‘permission’ off the table. Warner Bros. owns Babylon 5 lock, stock and phased-plasma guns, just as DC owns the Watchmen characters. [...] But I get that we’re talking about the emotional aspect of all this, not the legal stuff, which is pretty cut and dry,” he wrote. “So again: apples to apples. How would I feel if Babylon 5 were being made and I were shut out of anything to do with it, despite my desire to be involved? I’d feel pretty crummy about it. But as it happens, that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation in any way, manner, shape or form.”

Referring to repeated unsuccessful attempts by DC to convince Moore to revisit Watchmen — the most recent was in 2010, when the publisher offered to relinquish the rights to the comic if the writer “would agree to some dopey prequels and sequels” — Straczynski said, “He declined at every point. Fair enough. It’s his choice, and it’s his right to make it.”

“So now – apples to apples – let’s make the B5 comparison,” he continued. “Let’s say Warner Bros. came to me and said, ‘we want to do more Babylon 5, and we want you to run the whole thing. We’ll pay you anything you want, give you a proper budget, and you will have complete creative freedom.’ [...] So let’s say that Warners makes that offer, and I said, ‘No, I don’t want it, take your accursed money, your big budget and your complete creative freedom and begone, get thee behind me Satan!’ Let’s say they came back and said ‘Okay, then how about we pay you vast sums of money just to consult? How about that?’ [...] ‘What if we sweeten the deal? What if we offer to give you full ownership of Babylon 5, legally and contractually, so you own it? How about that?’

“If Warners offered me creative freedom, money and a budget to do the show the way I wanted, up to and including my completely owning the show, and I said no to that deal, and if after Warners waited TWENTY FIVE YEARS for me to change my mind they finally decided to go ahead and make B5 without me … then I would have absolutely zero right to complain about it,” Straczynski wrote. “Because it was my choice to remove myself from the process, it wasn’t something foisted upon me by anybody else.”

He went on to address other related topics, such as the supposed “sacredness” and one-off nature of the characters, before concluding this morning in a separate post that, “At this point, quite honestly the work needs to stand on its own. So with equal appreciation for both the kind words and the hard questions, and having said pretty much everything I can think of to say on the subject, I think it’s appropriate for me to recede a bit now into the shadows. As the books come out I hope that everyone who spoke out here, pro and con, will reconvene to continue the conversation and express their thoughts with the same clarity and precision they have demonstrated today.”

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld #6

DC Comics has announced it will publish the long-hoped-for collection of its 1980s fantasy property Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld in September — no doubt thanks to the character’s inclusion in Cartoon Network’s upcoming DC Nation programming block.

Created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Ernie Colón, Amethyst debuted in 1983, at a time when DC boasted such fantasy series as Warlord, Arion, Lord of Atlantis, and Arok, Son of Thunder. The initial limited series, subsequent short-lived ongoing and later one-shot and miniseries centered on Amy Winston, a teenager who discovers she’s actually the orphaned princess of Gemworld, a magical realm ruled by the evil Dark Opal. In short, it’s the perfect setup for a children’s fantasy story (although the later issues took on a darker tone than the original miniseries).

The 648-page Showcase Presents: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Vol. 1, collects the character’s first appearance in 1983′s Legion of Super-Heroes #298, the original Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld 12-issue limited series, the subsequent Amethyst Annual #1, the one-shot with Superman in DC Comics Presents #63 and the first 11 issues of the 16-issue ongoing titled simply Amethyst. That leaves the last four issues of the ongoing, the 1986 Amethyst Special and the final four-issue miniseries for another (thin) volume.

Check out the solicitation information below:

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohen
Artists: Ernie Colon, Ric Estrada, Pablo Marcos, Alex Saviuk, Bob Smith, Gary Martin, Romeo Tanghal, Kurt Schaffenberger and Karl Kesel
Collects: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #298, AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD #1-12, AMETHYST ANNUAL #1, DC COMICS PRESENTS #63 and AMETHYST #1-11
$19.99 US, 648 pg

While it’s no shock that bestselling author Neil Gaiman would be an answer on Jeopardy!, that one of his lesser-known comics works would appear may come as a little more of a surprise. Matt Lobo tweeted a snapshot from Thursday’s episode referencing Marvel 1602, the 2003-2004 miniseries by Gaiman and Andy Kubert that placed key Marvel Universe characters in an alternate version of the Elizabethan era.

Although the comic spawned three sequels, it was met with decidedly mixed reaction from readers and critics. In short, it was no Sandman — which probably makes it perfect for a Double Jeopardy question. (And, yes, the correct question is, “Who is Queen Elizabeth I?” She was killed by a poisonous-gas device created by Count Otto Von Doom.)

During its two-season run in the early 1990s, it was looked at by comics readers as a potential bright spot in a fallow time for comics on TV screens. It’s comedy circled around the idea that publishers wanted Newhart’s character to revive the jovial Mad Dog as a dark vigilante in the vein of Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns,with a compromise being reached to resume publication but the simmering tension going on as the series progressed.

Although comics fans initially hoped the series would be a bright light in the fallow dearth of comics-to-TV hits in the early 90s, the retro-stylings of the show seemed out of place with the current tastes of comics fans. The series is notable for having a bustling amount of comic creators as guest stars, including Jack Kirby as seen here:

While Christmas is almost a year away, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up in more than a few stockings of comic book fans. The DVD collection is due in April.

Nearly five months after the debut of DC Comics’ “New 52,” the Washington, D.C., Fox affiliate has taken aim at the “edgy makeover,” zeroing in on the controversial first issues of Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws.

For the Fox report, titled “Relaunched Comics Using Sex and Violence to Sell” on the affiliate’s website, correspondent Sherri Ly turns to child psychologist Neil Bernstein, who characterizes the much-discussed sex scene between Batman and Catwoman as, “sort of like a fictionalized Playboy for kids at its worst.”

He goes on to suggest the comic may pose a danger to young readers, as overexposure to sex and violence could encourage aggression. Yes, really. “I think too many kids would be put in harm’s way or at risk,” he said.

Bernstein also dissects Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, in which Starfire propositions Roy Harper for sex, later saying, “Love has nothing to do with it.” “We want our kids to think sex is an act between two consenting mature individuals who care deeply for one another,” he says. “That doesn’t really come across and it’s too easily to misconstrue things particularly for a kid.”

And to underscore just how dangerous and easily misconstrued the comics are, Ly … went to a local middle school, and showed them to some children. Sherri Ly and Fox 5: putting kids in harm’s way?

While it can be, and certainly has been, argued that those issues of Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws are sexist, misogynistic or just downright bad, or that other comics in the DC relaunch have been gratuitously violent and gory, Fox 5 ratchets the debate to alarmist, Wertham-esque levels.

For further evidence, look no further than the promo for the report, which promised tips on “HOW TO K.O. THESE COMICS BEFORE THEY CORRUPT YOUR KIDS!” It’s that teaser that led the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to release a retailer advisory on “how to manage a media attack,” which breaks down “how to deal with hostile cameras if they come to your store.”

If you’re still a little deflated by the absence of Community from NBC’s midseason lineup — it will return … sometime — then this may pick you up: Megan Lara’s adorable Calvin & Hobbes-inspired illustration “Troy and Abed’s Dope Adventures” is available as a T-shirt from RedBubble.

(via Vulture)

Jennifer de Guzman

Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman announced that, after 10 years, she has left her position as editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing: “My decade SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere. I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)” [Possible Impossibilities]

Retailing | Chris Powell, current general manager and chief relationship officer for Texas-based comic chain Lone Star Comics, has accepted the newly created position of executive director of business development for Diamond Comic Distributors. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund board member will start his new position in March. [ICv2]

Miles Morales

Publishing | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso answers questions about Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe: “When a little boy or girl looks at Spiderman, they do not see race. They do not see anything but the bright colors and the human shape. I think it is very easy for them to project themselves into that suit and to imagine themselves in that suit. Part of the thrill for me is knowing that there are little boys who will now pick up a Spiderman comic and see that after the adventure and the mask is peeled back he will look like them. As a Hispanic, it is nice to see Spiderman’s [...]  last name resemble the last name of my son.” [Fox News Latino]

Publishing | SanJose.com profiles SLG Publisher Dan Vado, who talks about why he started working in comics: “I think comics decided for me; I don’t think I really had any choice. There was never any point where I said, ‘This is what I’m gonna do.’ Comics was always something I was going to do while I’d figure out what it I was gonna do, and I guess I never really figured it out.” [SanJose.com]

Kate Beaton

Publishing | The Beat names its comics industry People of the Year. [The Beat]

Creators | Brian Wood chats about his upcoming Dark Horse series The Massive: “The world it inhabits is sort of a minefield of current events, of divisive politics (global warming, regime change, corporate bad-behavior, etc) but all that has sort of come to pass by the time the story opens. The damage has been done, and so its less about why/how things got so bad and more about, okay, what do we do now? Powerful social themes, but not political in the same way DMZ is.” [Suvudu]

Creators | Comics writer and filmmaker Kevin Smith answers questions about women and comic shops as he touts his new TV reality series Comic Book Men: “This is a show about these four dudes who work in this store. There are no women [in the store] yet…There should be a Comic Book Women, and good willing, there’ll be a spinoff Comic Book Women, and I’ll make shit ton of money.” [ThinkProgress]

Super Pro K.O., Vol. 1

Creators | Jarrett Williams discusses his work on the Oni Press graphic novel series Super Pro K.O. [Spandexless]

Creators | Writer Kyle Higgins looks at what’s ahead for DC’s Nightwing. [USA Today]

Comic art | The collaborative art blog Relaunched puts out the call for contributors to “Watchmen Too,” a Watchmen 2 theme month. [Calamity Jon, Save Us]

Commentary | Don MacPherson looks back at some of his favorites of the previous year. [Eye on Comics]

Fandom | When asked during a 60 Minutes interview whether his company was thin-skinned, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason popped his claws: “We’re like Wolverine and our skin has been melted off, and we’ve had Adamantium fused onto our bones.” [Nerd Reactor]

Bleeding Cool noticed that just last week the company submitted two versions  of a new logo to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The design, which you can see at right, depicts a D flipping back to reveal a C below; one version includes the words “DC Comics” below, the other “DC Entertainment.”

Although the “flipping” aspect of the logo may not be obvious in its static form, it’s likely designed with animation in mind, for inclusion at the beginning of movies, television shows and video games. How that design might translate to comics remains to be seen.

Comic Book Resources has contacted DC for comment but received no response.

The publisher’s current logo debuted in May 2005 as part of an effort to emphasize the DC brand across all media. Designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios, the “swoosh” replaced the Milton Glaser-created “bullet” the company had used in one form or another since 1977.

Comics legend Stan Lee will appear on this Friday’s Christmas episode of NBC’s Chuck, playing himself but with a little bit of a twist. Entertainment Weekly posted the above clip of his cameo. Chuck airs at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific.

Emmy nominee Steve Buscemi has played a corrupt politician on Boardwalk Empire, a small-time crook in Fargo, a naive bowler in The Big Lebowski, and an offbeat private investigator on 30 Rock. Now add to that Gotham City police commissioner.

Hosting Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Buscemi starred as James Gordon opposite Andy Samberg’s Batman in a digital short about a lurky Caped Crusader with serious boundary issues. Check out the video, complete with a cameo by Aquaman, below.

Flex Mentallo Man of Muscle Mystery Deluxe Edition

Four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves … welcome to day three of our holiday gift-giving guide, where we ask comic pros:

1. What comic-related gift or gifts would you recommend giving this year, and why?
2. What gift (comic or otherwise) is at the top of your personal wish list, and why?

A great big thank you to everyone who helped us out this year, including the ones who’ll be showcased tomorrow. Be sure to come back then for our big wrap-up!

Mike Carey

1. The Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis. Leela helps Maggie deal with school bullies. Homer and Bender go drinking. England invades the USA. Come on, you need this.

Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery. The most ludicrous and wonderful supporting character from Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol got his own miniseries, and it’s just now being reprinted for the first time. I loved this miniseries when it first came out, and I’m gearing up to love it all over again.

Starstruck. The great Lee/Kaluta sci-fi epic, now between two robust hard covers. I should declare an interest: I wrote the intro. But I did that because it’s awesome beyond the feasible limits of possible awesomeness.

2. A Very Peculiar Practice, season 2. Wow. Just how much of my life right now is ’80s nostalgia? I think I need to get some professional help. Probably from Duran Duran.

Mike Carey has written numerous comics (and a few novels) over his career, including Lucifer, My Faith In Frankie, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Hellblazer. He currently writes X-Men: Legacy and The Unwritten.

Kelly Sue DeConnick

1. Boy, Parker: The Martini Edition looks amazing, doesn’t it? That would make a tremendous gift for, well, any crime fiction lover.

The Criminal: Last of the Innocent trade would be a less-expensive gift for the same lucky recipient.

And have you seen the Super Powers Charts from Pop Chart Lab? GREAT gifts for DC/Marvel devotees.

2. If someone could package up the time for me to workout and get enough sleep, I’d be eternally grateful.

Kelly Sue DeConnick is the writer of Osborn: Evil Incarcerated and co-writer of the recent Castle: Deadly Storm graphic novel.

Kagan McLeod

1. I just read last year’s It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi and would recommend it. Not really cheery holiday stuff, though. Along the same theme is the Blazing Combat collection which also came out last year. I liked Lewis & Clark by Nick Bertozzi and Mister Wonderful by Dan Clowes. Sam Hiti’s Death Day might be a unique gift, as it’s not distributed and you can only get it from the artist. And maybe for mom, a 3/4 scale Juggernaut bust or something.

2. I’ve started looking more often at Heritage Auctions for original illustration art. A Dean Cornwell painting would be nice, as far as things on personal wish lists go. For something more reasonable, I’m hyped for Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture: A Career Retrospective, which comes out in a few weeks.

Kagan McLeod is the creator of Infinite Kung Fu, and has done illustration for Time, Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Money, Wired and many more.

Kevin Colden

1. If you love someone who loves comics, give them an iPad. They need one. If they already have one, give them a pat on the butt for being so smart.

2. Personally, I’d like to find some copies of IDW’s Wally Wood and John Romita Spider-Man Artist’s Editions beneath my Chanukah Bush.

Kevin Colden, cartoonist at large, is the creator of Fishtown, I Rule the Night and Baby with a Mohawk.

Thom Zahler

Parker: The Martini Edition

I’ve been reading Darwyn Cooke’s Parker: The Martini Edition and the thing’s just masterful. If you know someone who doesn’t have it, I don’t think you can go wrong fixing that grievous hole in their library. It’s an amazing work by a man at the top of his game and working on a story that fits him perfectly. The book is just so pretty, too. (Full disclosure, my book, Love and Capes, is published by IDW. But don’t hold that against them.)

If you’ve got an artist who’s past the How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way level of learning, there aren’t a lot of good books out there to improve someone past the basics. One of the great exceptions to that is the excellent Drawn to Life series of books that collect Walt Stanchfield’s Disney master class lessons. I liked this book so much I couldn’t read it fast enough. I wanted to put it in a blender and drink it to get it in my brain faster. If you look at issue #12 of my book, hopefully you’ll see those lessons taking hold and pushing me to a new level. Of course, as Mark Waid wrote, you don’t get to the top of the ladder, you get to the bottom of a whole new ladder.

And, if you’ve got a writer who’s a Doctor Who fan, the Writer’s Tale collecting the notes of Russell T Davies last season of Doctor Who and subsequent four movies is not to be missed. It’s such a great behind the scenes look of how things get made and why things happen the way they do. And there’s a lesson in the writer not always being write, too. That kind of humility is important to teach.

For me, because of my travel schedule, I’d love to have a TiVo hard drive expander to catch all the things I miss, and maybe some Southwest Airline gift cards. Hey, “bags fly free” is a big deal when you’re schlepping books from one end of the galaxy to the other. And I wouldn’t mind a secret decoder ring from Thrilling Adventure Hour. I tragically neglected to buy one when I was in LA seeing the awesome retro-40′s radio show.

Oh, and peace on Earth, too. That’d be nice.

Thom Zahler‘s Love and Capes: Wake Up Where You Are, collecting the 2010 FCBD issue and IDW’s Love and Capes: Ever After, is available in stores now. And there will be a follow-up six issue miniseries in 2011. Oh, and he has a nice smile. Not enough people mention the smile.

Van Jensen

1. Royal Historian of Oz TPB, SLG. It’s beautifully drawn, intelligently written and amazingly finds some fresh ground to explore in the land of Oz.

Owly, Vol. 1-5 and Friends All Aflutter. No matter who you’re buying for, but especially if it’s kids, you can’t go wrong with Owly.

Homeland Directive. Rob Venditti is the smartest writer in comics. Matched with Mike Huddleston’s experimental (in a good way) artwork, that’s a big win.

Infinite Kung Fu. The collection of Kagan McLeod’s epic was my favorite book from 2011. It’s everything awesome smashed together, but in a completely logical, smart way.

2. I’m a total Pinocchio nerd, for obvious reasons, so no big surprise that my wish list is topped by the Kikkerland Honest Boy Pencil Sharpener and the Pinocchio graphic novel by Winshluss. This isn’t really comics, but with the NBA locked out, I need to fill my basketball needs with Free Darko Presents: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History.

Van Jensen is the writer of all three volumes of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the upcoming Snow White: Through a Glass Darkly.

+++

Check out part one and part two for more gift suggestions.

Alvin Schwartz

Passings | Alvin Schwartz, the prolific writer who penned Batman comics and the Batman and Superman comic strips for DC Comics in the 1940s, passed away Oct. 28 after a long illness. He was 95. Before leaving comics in 1958, Schwartz wrote for most of DC’s titles, including Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash. [News from ME]

Creators | Tucker Stone talks to Mark Waid about his work on Daredevil, and Waid confirms that Marcos Martin, originally announced as the artist on every other arc, won’t be working on the book after issue #6: “Unfortunately, it was something that came up while we were working. He’s doing 4, 5 and 6. When he came on, I don’t think things were firmed up with his next project and now they have. I salute him, and I think it’s going to be great and I want to see him go off and do creator owned stuff. But my heart breaks.” [comiXology]

Bunker

Comics | Out magazine spotlights the debut of Bunker, the Teen Titan with “a decidedly more flamboyant twist.” [Out]

Comics | The Texas Library Association has released their “2012 Maverick Graphic Novel List,” which notes great graphic novels for teens. The list includes Daredevil Reborn by Andy Diggle and Davide Gianfelice, Astro City Shining Stars by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, Kagan McLeod’s Infinite Kung Fu, Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers, Barry Deutsch’s Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword and many more. [Texas Library Association]

Creators | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran will appear on the Dec. 12 edition of Stalked: Somebody’s Watching, which will tell the story of a fan who “believes he is in love with her and inundates her with love letters, cards, and gifts. When she spurns his advances, he attempts to ruin her career by spreading lies about her throughout the industry, according to the show’s description.

Creators | Tom Spurgeon talks to colorist Rich Tommaso about his work on Fantagraphics’ Carl Barks Library project. [The Comics Reporter]

Fox has released images and an official synopsis for this week’s episode of The Simpsons, which features a guest appearance by Neil Gaiman. In addition, Gaiman posted a clip from the show which, as you can see from the above screenshot, includes a glimpse of a bookstore display showcasing the author’s work, including The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1, and The Absolute Death. Clearly they’re not in the Springfield Barnes & Noble.

Here’s how Fox describes the episode, called “The Book Job”: “Lisa becomes disheartened when she learns the shocking truth behind the ‘tween lit’ industry and her beloved fantasy novel characters. But Homer decides to cash in on the craze and forms a team to group-write the next ‘tween lit’ hit, with the king of fantasy, Neil Gaiman (guest-voicing as himself), lending his expertise to the effort. After catching the eye of a slick industry publisher (guest-voice Andy Garcia) at the Springfield Book Fair, the team gets an advanced copy of their work and discovers that the corporate lit business is a bigger operation than they imagined.”

Gaiman previously appeared in animated for in a 2010 episode of Arthur. Check out the clip and images from “The Book Job” below. The Simpsons airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Stan Lee

“[Stan] Lee will receive a special Vanguard award from the Producers Guild in January, and the press release announcing the award claims that he ‘has exerted more influence over the comic book industry than anyone in history,’ which is probably true, but it also claims that he ‘created or co-created 90 percent of Marvel’s most recognized comic characters.’ We’ll never actually know the truth of those collaborations — like great modern American success stories, the truth has been lost in a neverending quagmire of lawsuits. (If this were The Social Network, you could argue that he was the Sean Parker of Marvel. Which isn’t a bad thing: Without Sean Parker, Facebook wouldn’t be Facebook.) [...] Lee will probably give a great speech when he wins the award. He’s always been good at talking, especially when he’s talking about his favorite subject, his greatest invention, the one character that we absolutely know for certain he’s 100 percent responsible for creating: Himself.”

– Entertainment Weekly writer Darren Franich, on the announcement that the Producers Guild of America will honor Stan Lee with its 2012 Vanguard Award, recognizing achievement in new media and technology

As we noted on Sunday, The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman was a guest on The View‘s “Halloween Spectacular” episode, where he survived a gauntlet of questions about his popular creation, zombies and zombie survival. You can check out Kirkman’s appearance below; his “Zombies 101″ segment begins at about the 11:20 mark, after the first commercial break.

ABC’s talk show The View will host their annual “spooky Halloween spectacular” episode this Monday, and who better to have as a guest than the creator of the hottest horror property around, Robert Kirkman. The Walking Dead creator is scheduled to be Whoopi Goldberg and co.’s first guest, so check your local listings and set your DVRs accordingly.

From Wonder Woman #2, by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang

It’s perhaps a little fitting that Wonder Woman’s first post-relaunch visit to Themyscira, a magical, hidden island that can teleport to any location or time, should have echoes of Lost. In the preview of this week’s Wonder Woman #2, from the Maxim magazine website of all places, we get our first exposure to the (re-) rebranded Paradise Island, complete with unnerving, and downright threatening, whispers, and Others Amazons emerging from the shadows of the jungle.

Also worth noting: Queen Hippolyta is blonde again, for the firs time since, when, the 1987 relaunch? Wonder Woman #2, by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, goes on sale Wednesday.

In anticipation of tonight’s debut of the second season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, comiXology is holding a half-off sale today on The Walking Dead comic books and graphic novels available across all Comics by comiXology platforms — iOS, Android and the Web. If you haven’t checked out the series before, or if you’re looking to fill in some gaps in your reading, it’s a good day to do it.

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.”

• Following in the footsteps of DC Comics: The New 52, most of Vertigo’s titles will be available digitally the same day as print.

• Geoff Johns announced that work is about to get under way on a Robot Chicken DC Comics special that will skewer the company’s superheroes in the same way that the show tackled Star Wars. The episode, written by Johns and MAD‘s Kevin Shinick, is set to air next summer.

• Confirming last-minute speculation, Ed Brubaker announced that he and frequent collaborator Sean Phillips (Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito) will release their next project through Image Comics. Called Fatale, the series blends noir elements with the supernatural world. “I’ve been wanting for a while to do something with a more supernatural element to it,” Brubaker told Comic Book Resources. “So Fatale mixes what we do and all the ways we’ve poked fun at the noir genre. If Incognito was us doing ‘What if Doc Savage, Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler had all existed in the same universe?’ then this is a weird combo of James M. Cain and Lovecraft. It’s got a real horror element to it — the first time I’ve really tried to do anything with horror — but it’s also got this really epic story to it.”

• Dark Horse confirmed that Demo creators Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan will reunite in February for an adaptation of the Robert E. Howard Conan short story “Queen of the Black Coast.” Wood, whose upcoming Dark Horse project The Massive has been extended to an ongoing series, told Comic Book Resources that he’s signed on for 25 issues of Conan the Barbarian, “to start.”

• Vertigo announced Saucer Country, a new ongoing series from Paul Cornell (Stormwatch, Demon Knights) and Ryan Kelly (Local, New York Five) that the writer describes as “The West Wing does The X-Files.”

• Beginning in April, Return of the Dapper Men writer Jim McCann will team with Morning Glories cover artist Rodin Esquejo and colorist Sonia Oback for Mind The Gap, an ongoing series from Image Comics that combines elements of science fiction, thrillers and police procedurals. “This book is my X-Files meets Twin Peaks whodunit,” McCann told Comic Book Resources, “where everyone is suspect, and no one is innocent!”

• During its Amazing Spider-Man panel, Marvel announced a Scarlet Spider ongoing series will debut in January from writer Christopher Yost and artist Ryan Stegman.

• Ape Entertainment revealed it’s in talks with Sesame Workshop to publish comics featuring the beloved characters from Sesame Street.

• IDW Publishing will release a graphic-novel adaptation of Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 film Alexander Nevsky, by Ben McCool and Mario Guevara.

• Expanding their partnership, Stan Lee and 1821 Comics announced they’ll launch a line of children’s comics called Stan Lee’s Kids Universe.