Cap Lives! Captain America Back from the Dead!
After cryptic ads for a Captain America project entitled Captain America Reborn and promising retailers an important, unnamed event in Captain America #600, on Monday, Marvel Comics confirmed that Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, will be returning from the dead. In an article in the New York Daily News, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada confirmed that the character will be resurrected in a storyline beginning in Captain America #600 and culminating in the six issue mini-series Captain America Reborn by popular artist Bryan Hitch and Eisner-winning writer Ed Brubaker.
Created in 1940 by comics legends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character of Steve Rogers was a sickly young man who volunteered for government experimentation in order to help the war effort and became the idealistic, patriotic superhero Captain America. The character appeared to die at the end of Marvel’s critically acclaimed 2006-2007 Civil War comics event, after which other characters attempted to fill his shoes.
DC’s Wednesday Comics’sin USA Today
The entire run of the one page-per-week Superman serial comic appearing in DC Comics’ Wednesday Comicswill also be serialized on USAToday.com. A highly anticipated experimental comic from DC Comics, Wednesday Comics is a weekly anthology of one page superhero comics formatted to resemble an old-fashioned tabloid-sized Sunday comics section. Lee Bermejo and Joe Arcudi will be creating the Superman comic in question, and comics all-stars Neil Gaiman, Joe and Adam Kubert, Kyle Baker and Paul Pope will all be members of the book’s dream team of creators. The series will run for twelve weeks, starting Wednesday, July 8.
Ace Books Goes Graphic with Patricia Briggs
New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs will be bringing her work to the world of comics with an upcoming adaptation of her book Alpha and Omega: Cry Wolf. The werewolf fantasy will be adapted for the comics publisher Dabel Brothers into a comic book series and collected into graphic novels by her prose publisher, Ace Books. Founded in 1952, Ace Books is the oldest science fiction and fantasy specialty publisher still in business. Alpha and Omega: Cry Wolf will be their first venture into graphic novels. Dabel Brothers Publishing is an independent comic publisher known for such adaptations as George R.R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight and Jim Butcher’sDresden Files series. Briggs’ Mercedes Thompson series has already been adapted into comics by Dabel Brothers.
WWII’s WASPs to be Bluewater Comic
Bluewater Productions, known for their Female Force biography comic series about prominent women of our era, will be publishing a new series about the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. The WASPs, as they were known, were civilian women who flew American military airplanes during the war, ferrying machines and cargo for the Air Force in dangerous but non-combatant conditions. The book is the brainchild of Reichen Lehmkuhl, the author, gay advocate and former Air Force member who came to fame as a contestant on the Around the World in 80 Days-like reality show The Amazing Race. Lehmkuhl’s grandmother was a member of the WASPs. The book is also being developed for a possible movie.
Typhon, Sikoryak's Carousel at MoCCA
Comic creator and multimedia artist R. Sikoryak will be presenting a special edition of his Carousel series of comics slideshow art events on behalf of the comics anthology Typhon and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Art from Typhon will be presented in a live art event by many of the original creators. Presenting creators will include Danny Helman, Pshaw, Hans Rickheit and Sikoryak himself, among others. Typhon Carousel will take place from 7 p.m. into the night at 594 Broadway, suite 401, New York, NY. Entrance is $5 to the general public, free to MoCCA members.
Del Rey gets Samurai Deeper Kyo, Wild @ Heart
Del Rey Manga has announced the acquisition of two manga titles from Japanese publisher Kodansha, Samurai Deeper Kyo and Wild @ Heart. Samurai Deeper Kyo, an adventure series set in feudal Japan, was formerly published in the United States by Tokyopop. Del Rey Manga will pick up where they left off, publishing a combined edition of volumes 35 and 36 this December. Wild @ Heart is a new series from the creator of the popular manga Zodiac P.I. about a girl’s relationship with the Tarzan-like wild child her father brings home from the jungle.
C2E2’s Virtual Spotlight with Alex Ross
The Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, the new comic convention premiering in April of 2010 from the people who organize the New York Comic Con, has unveiled their Virtual Spotlight interactive live web series. Conceived as a way to bring audiences convention-like programming throughout the year, the Virtual Spotlight series will allow fans at home to experience seeing major comics figures as if they were at a panel or a question and answer session at a convention. The first scheduled guest is acclaimed comics artist Alex Ross, known for his hyper-realistic style and his work on the famous graphic novel Kingdom Come. Ross, who will also be a guest of honor at C2E2, will take part in the online event at 1 p.m., June 29. Interested viewers are encouraged to register for Virtual Spotlight early, as only the first 999 to sign up will have access.
Quesada’s Cup O’Joe now on CBR
Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has moved his long-running column “Cup o’ Joe” to the comic book news site ComicBookResources.com. “Cup O’ Joe” was previously available on Marvel.com and the social networking site Myspace.
This Week @ Good Comics for Kids
This week School Library Journal’s blog Good Comics for Kids has the 6/10 listing of comics suitable for all ages, and this week’s links roundup.
This Week @ The Beat
Cost of a bigger San Diego con: $53 mil a year…for 30 years Announcing the ICv2 Comics and Media Conference: Building Connections Comics and Graphic Novel Sales down in May Captain America’s media splash not as big as hoped? SIMON’S CAT coming to print
