DC Raises Price; Offers Bonus
DC Comics, publisher of Superman and Batman among others, has announced that it will raise the price of two of its periodical series—Teen Titans and Booster Gold. The price will be raised to $3.99, a controversial price jump that Marvel had already announced for several of its books. However, DC’s price change will not be without some benefits for the reader, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio told Newsarama in an article upon the subject. The higher priced books will be longer and contain an all-new backup story about a different character. Starting in June, every issue of Teen Titans will also have a Ravager story and Booster Gold will have a Blue Beetle story. The new series of Doom Patrol will also sell for the $3.99 cover price and carry a Metal Men backup story by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen.
NBM To Publish Geronimo Stilton
Papercutz, publishers of the Nancy Drew and Tales from the Crypt graphic novels among others, has announced that they will be publishing the Geronimo Stilton graphic novels in English. The Geronimo Stilton books, about the adventures of a reluctantly heroic reporter mouse, are the most popular children's book series in their native Italy and have sold over 7 million copies in the US. The first Geronimo Stilton graphic novel, The Discovery of America, features Geronimo and his sister Thea traveling back in time to protect Christopher Columbus from the evil Pirate Cats and will hit the shelves this August. The 56-page hardcover color graphic novels will retail at $9.95 and further volumes, The Secret of the Sphinx and The Colosseum Con, will arrive later this year. Like the books themselves, the graphic novels originate in Italy, and also like the books, they have been extremely successful there. A Geronimo Stilton animated series is currently in production.
Jericho Becomes a Comic
Jericho, the cult classic post-apocalyptic television series, will now be returning in the form of a comic book series from Devil's Due Productions. Although a creative team has yet to be announced, producers Dan Shotz and Jon Turtletaub are actively involved in the comic's development. The show, which starred Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James, aired on CBS from 2006-2008 and covered the practical and political aftermath of a destabilizing nuclear attack on a small farming town and its inhabitants. More information is available in an article upon the subject at MTV's Splash Page blog.
Korean Comics Come to Africa
The Korean publisher Daewon Culture Industry has announced that Witch Hunter by Cho Jung-man will be translated and published for the Algerian market. This will make the book, a story of warriors fighting witches, the first Korean comic ever sold in Africa. Korean comics, known as manwha, have a lower profile in the United States than Japanese manga, but have been gaining recognition recently with such titles as Priest and Goong: The Royal Palace. More information is available in an article from JoongAng Daily.
Free Online Iron Man Game
Marvel Comics has unveiled Iron Man Armored Popper, a new casual game, on their children's site MarvelKids.com. The game, based on the upcoming Nicktoons cartoon Iron Man: Armored Adventures, joins Iron Man Flight Test, Iron Man Armory Assault, Hulk Central Smashdown, Hulk Bad Altitude and Wolverine MRD Escape in the site's list of free casual games. Iron Man: Armored Adventures premieres on the Nicktoons Network on April 24 at 7 p.m., and is a version of the Iron Man story in which Tony—as well as most of the other Iron Man characters—is sixteen when he first puts on the armor. More information is available at the Nicktoons site.
Goon Animated Film
Ain't It Cool News, the popular genre entertainment news site, debuted the very first images of the upcoming animated movie based on Eric Powell's Eisner Award-winning comic The Goon . The Goon is a comic about an old-fashioned mob enforcer who ends up battling such foes as mad scientists, skunk-apes and zombies, and is being made into an animated feature film by David Fincher and Eric Powell. Scoop courtesy of PWCW editor Heidi MacDonald's comic blog The Beat.
New Yaoi Titles From Netcomics
Netcomics, a print and online publisher of manwha and manga, has announced the release of five new yaoi titles. The new arrivals are Dining Bar Akira and Black-winged Love by Tomoko Yamashita, Age Called Blue by Est Em, Love Full of Scars by Delico Psyche and Merry Family Plan by Sumitomo Morizumi. Age Called Blue and Dining Bar Akira will see print in August and Black-winged Love, Love Full of Scars and Merry Family Plan will go on sale in October, but all of the volumes will be available months earlier in digital format on Netcomics.com. Yaoi, the manga genre of explicit gay love stories, has gained popularity in recent years, and Netcomics considers itself to be the premiere online provider of the genre in English with a catalog of over thirty titles. More details are available from Brigid Alverson of PWCW and SLJon her MangaBlog.
SLJ looks at Maximum Ride Manga
School Library Journal’s Esther Kelly takes a look at the manga-style comics adaptation of James Patterson’s bestselling teen fantasy adventure series, Maximum Ride, in her Good Comics for Kids column. The Maximum Ride manga edition is published by Yen Press.
ForeWord Mag Graphic Novel Prize
ForeWord Magazine announced the finalists for the Graphic Novel category of their 2008 Book of the Year award. The finalists are Cleburne by Justin Murphy, Rise of the Apostle by Robert James Luedke, Good and Evil by Michael Pearl, Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell, No Girls Allowed by Susan Hughes, The Clockwork Girl by Sean O'Reilly and Kevin Hanna, The Grand Inquisitor by John Zmirak and The Spirit: A Pop-Up Graphic Novel by Will Eisner. Winners will be announced at Book Expo America on May 29 at the Javits Center in New York City. ForeWord Magazine is a bi-monthly publishing magazine covering and reviewing books from small, independent and university presses as well as notable self published books.
