norby ela

As the DVD release for the film version of Mark Millar and JG Jones’ Wanted looms on the horizon (Millar’s completed his work for it already), and the film’s worldwide box office total hovers near the $260 million mark the focus has shifted to Wanted 2 and…Wanted 3.

Word of the sequel came early on, just after the movie opened, actually. Millar said that he remembers the moment well. “At the premiere, everybody knew that it was going to make a lot of money, and we were all buzzing,” Millar told Newsarama. “On the way out, Mark Platt, the main producer put his arms around me and JG and said, ‘Okay, so what’s the plan for Wanted 2?’ I looked at him and said, ‘There is no plan,’ and he said to me, ‘Okay, well, have something for us next week.’”

Millar has said before that he and Jones would not be going back to Wanted in a comic book sequel to the original 2004 miniseries, and he’s sticking to that pledge. “I’ve got this reputation of being a total whore, and even when I’m adamant about something like this, people don’t believe me, but there is nothing else coming from Wanted,” Millar said. “That six issues was the end. I love doing new stuff anyway – I get bored so quickly.”

That’s not to say he’s not doing something for Wanted 2 though…

“What I will be doing is providing them with a very small amount of stuff for a story, and that will be used as a basic story that they can build from. It will be a small outline that can possibly be picked apart and not used – but it will be something exclusively for the second film, and no one will ever really see it.”

Given that the film version of the story differs from the comic book version in a number of ways (some quite substantial) Millar’s outline will be set in the film’s continuity, but will reach back to the comics. “It will be some of the stuff that we didn’t utilize from the first book for the movie – like chapters three and four – there will be some stuff from that, so in the loosest sense it will be based on the book, but only very little,” Millar said. “The nice thing about owning it and creator-owned properties is that JG and I will still be producers on the thing, and will still obviously get paid for the rights.”

Millar acknowledged that he too had heard that Terence Stamp has said his character of Pekwarsky would be coming back for the sequel, and reportedly play a much larger role. Also, Wanted screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt have been at work on the screenplay for the sequel for some time.

Even though it’s his first comic book to make the leap to film, Millar’s taking it all in stride, and talking like a poolside-sitting, cigar-chomping, sunglass-wearing Hollywood insider. “The minute the movie came out and made $55 million the opening weekend, they knew it would be headed toward the $300 million mark in theaters, and another $200 estimated on DVD,” Millar said. “So they invested $100 million in it, and made $500 million back, and they were really pleased with that, so immediately, Wanted 2 and 3 were greenlit, and James [McAvoy] was signed on for another two movies, so there’s a larger plan at work here.”

While Millar declined to mention any plot specifics that he’s suggested to the producers and screenwriters in his outlines, he did reflect on Wanted’s creation and originally writing the project – a time when veering off to write a creator-owned project caused some strife in the Millar household.

“I remember what my wife said to me about five years ago when I was writing Wanted – ‘Oh I wish you were just doing six issues of X-Men again,” because we were doing Wanted for virtually nothing, and here’s it’s turned out to be a nice long-term bet,” Millar said. “Obviously in comics, both Marvel and DC – they really don’t take care of you when you’re an older guy and after you’ve done your work, so it’s nice having these things out there that will keeping bringing in money even after you’ve done your time with the big publishers. You start to realize that Robert Kirkman is right in a lot of ways. Creator-owned work is the kind of stuff that will take care of you when you’re older.”

Millar’s next comic to make it to film, Kick-Ass (the fourth issue of which shipped this week) begins filming in early September, and is directed by Matthew Vaughn and boasts Nic Cage in its cast. That film and project, Millar said, is rife with possibilities for sequels and spinoffs.

“Kick-Ass is the only thing that I feel I could never get bored with – I genuinely love doing that, and already have the sequel worked out for the movie and the comic, because the story ends in a way that is so completely going into another one,” the writer said. “So Kick-Ass is the only thing I see as a franchise that will just run and run and run, but everything else I see as being quite self-contained.”

MANILA, Philippines - It has been a common game for political figures and other personalities to land as topics of editorial cartoons. But to be portrayed as an “alien” in an international superhero comic book was something unusual, especially for someone who heads a state like President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In his report in GMA News’ 24 Oras, Josh Villanueva said that in the current issue of Marvel Comics’ “Secret Invasion,” President Arroyo was portrayed as a “Skrull,” an alien life form who wants to penetrate and invade Earth.

Also portrayed as “Skrulls” in the comic book were US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Mc Cain, Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, and world famous TV host Oprah Winfrey. Even Pope Benedict XVI was not able to escape the satire, the television report said.

The report said “Skrulls” are part of the alien race of who can mimic anybody. In the series, they take the form of powerful, recognizable, and influential personalities to relay their message to the human race.

As a result, avid readers and comic book collectors were elated upon seeing the face of the Chief Executive on the comic book.

“Syempre’ natawa ako. Natuwa ako ng makita ko ‘yon. Di ko naman akalain na may makikita ko ‘yung isang pinoy sa comic books (I was thrilled to see a Filipino in a foreign comic book),” said Ernest Hernandez, a comic book collector.

These illustrations were crafted by a young Filipino artist named Leinil Yu, who is one of the many outstanding young illustrators in the country who was hired by international comic giant Marvel Comics to work for them.

Hernandez described Yu as the Manny Pacquiao of comic book illustrations.

“Well si Leinil, siya ‘yung pambato natin sa Marvel Comics or any comic book. Siya ‘yung parang Manny Pacquiao natin sa comics. As for now, siya ang pound-for-pound na pinaka magaling na artist dito sa Pilipinas (Leinil is the best Filipino artist there is. He’s the Manny Pacquiao of comics),” Hernandez said.

In line with this, Yu clarified that the illustration of President Arroyo in the series was not politically motivated. “Nothing politically tainted about GMA being there. It’s just a nod to the Filipinos,” Yu said in his blog in www.filipinovoices.com.

Sought for a comment, Malacañang chose to keep mum until they read the series.

“Secret Invasion” is one the most popular comic book series of Marvel, wherein it features other superheroes like Spiderman, Ironman, and Wolverine. It was launched last August 13. - GMANews.TV

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Marvel Comics finally withdrew from the Comic’s Code of Authority in 2001. The subsequently developed and used their own ratings system. [14] By this time, the Code proved to be outdated. Marvel Comics had already shown its ability to develop titles which varied in degrees of maturity that can accommodate younger and older readers. In 2001, Marvel Comics released its Max series which was aimed specifically for mature audiences and marked with an “Explicit Content” label. This series included stories featuring Blade, Luke Cage, Thor, X-Men and Punisher.

Also there was a return to horror titles featuring stories by Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. [18] Ultimate Marvel was another imprint targeted to more mature audiences. The first title featured Spider-man. In order not to confuse new readers, new origins were provided for the characters. The alternate universe known as “ Earth 1620” would also allow artists and writers more freedom to create without constantly considering past storyline.

By placing this realm within a “Multiverse,” Marvel Comics created an insurance policy that deemed writers unaccountable for the ultimate fate of their renditions of those characters. The Max label also presented the first comic book title featuring a homosexual character. [19] Although the Rawhide Kid, originally a golden age comic title, wasn’t the first homosexual Marvel Comics characters (Northstar of Alpha Flight and the Ultimate version of Colossus of the X-Men) , it still caused controversy. The limited series was criticized for containing sexual innuendos as well as not being deserving of an “explicit content” label. [20]

Even though the Comic Code gave Marvel Comics more freedom to publish more mature works, it still didn’t neglect younger readers. More and more younger readers had a growing affinity towards Japanese animation and comic books (known as manga). As manga sales continued to climb in bookstores, Marvel Comics decided to tap into this market. Marvel Mangaverse, released between 2000 and 2002, was designed to attract fans of Japanese manga. [21] Although the illustrations included large eyed characters, speed-lined backgrounds, contrasting visual representations for humor and drama which are typical to manga technique, the stories culture perspectives were different. Marvel Comics, refusing to surrender its desire to be a part of the manga market, released the Tsunami series in 2003. Unfortunately, this series failed to a last a year and was soon replaced by Marvel Age. [2] Marvel Comics changed the format to the smaller digest size.

Similar to the Ultimate series, Marvel Age stories were set in an alternate universe known as Earth 20051. [22] Marvel Next was yet another unsuccessful attempt to reach younger viewers. It featured characters such as the Young Avengers, Runaways and Amazing Fantasy. [2] Marvel Comics faced yet another dilemma concerning younger readers.

Though demographically it’s wise to release stories that are suitable for younger readers, the very act itself can “alienate” them from Marvel Comic’s mainstream universe. This could be worsened when characters are made especially for young readers that differ from the stories that created their interest in Marvel Comics’ characters to begin with.

Perhaps this was a consequence resulting from Marvel Studio’s blossoming film presence. In 2002, the sequels to Blade and Spider-man were released. Despite the success of the second Blade film, Spider-man 2 eclipsed the film industry. Breaking many box office records, the film grossed 146.7 million dollars within the first week. [24]

Its success was soon followed by a lawsuit filed by Stan Lee against Marvel Studios. Stan Lee argued that Marvel Studios had failed to pay the 10% of all earnings made from all TV and film products involving Marvel Characters which were contractually agreed upon in 1998. [25] Marvel Studios argued about a discrepancy in terms of “profit” versus “earning.” [2] The court finally awarded Stan Lee in 2007 forcing Marvel Studios to honor the former contract.

The continuing presence of Marvel characters in the home and computer game market has definitely benefited Marvel Comics. Since the first Spider-man game that appeared in the mid 1980s, characters such as Hulk, Avengers, X-Men have been a part of every game console and computer system. The Activision game company published a series of games based on the Spider-man films. After the third installment, the game still has proved popular. In 2006, Activision published Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Unlike the Capcom series, Ultimate Alliance exclusively involves up to 80 super heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. [31] This game proved so successful, that a sequel is already in the works.

House of M was another crossover series. The eight-issue series contained storylines that involved five different titles that tied into 25 issues. [31] Originating as a continuation of two other series Planet X and Avengers Disassembled, House of M seemed to be a crossover from a crossover. The series appeared as an attempt to bring storylines, characters and the mutant population to a more manageable level.

Perhaps the largest comic book event of the millennium is the Civil War series. The story, which began in 2006, was a seven issue series that revolves around the Superhuman Registration Act. This was a government mandate requiring super heroes and villains to formally register themselves as civil servants. Although those who registered would receive additional training and a monthly stipend, they had to reveal their secret identities. [27] Superheroes, who built their lives on the protection of others, became condemned by those same people.

The extremely original approach caused many characters to re-evaluate their purpose. A resistance movement was led by Captain America against the government movement led by Iron Man. In 2007, the series dramatically concluded with the death of Captain America. [2] Although the series was only seven issues, over 40 related tie-ins and subsequent features were involved.

Marvel Comics launched an online comic book archive site entitled Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. This site gave readers access to 2,500 back issues of Marvel Comics for a monthly fee. [1] Since the release of the second Blade and Spider-man films, Hulk, X-Men, Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider have appeared on the big screen. [29]

In May 2008, the film Iron Man made over 100 million dollars during its opening weekend. The film ranked 10th largest opening of all time and fourth largest opening for a film based on a comic book. [30] Another rendition of Hulk was released a month later.

A new animated series entitled Wolverine and the X-Men will be released in the fall of 2008. [36] Film director John Singleton, known for dramas such as Boyz N tha Hood and Higher Learning, plans to produce films featuring the Black Panther and Luck Cage. [29]

A film featuring Wolverine is scheduled for release in 2009. [29] Stan Lee, who has diminished his ties with Marvel Comics in the early part of this decade, continues to be labeled “chairman emeritus.” [1] Recently he accepted the offer to create a line of titles for Virgin Comics.

The world of Spider-man has taken another turn. Peter Parker’s Aunt May died as a result of event that occurred in the Civil War saga. Spider-man made a deal with a character called Mephisto. In exchange for reviving Aunt May, Spider-man had to return to a time long before his marriage to Mary Jane. [30] Beginning from Amazing Spider-man #545, Spider-man will live in an altered reality that relinquished over 20 years of storytelling. Despite the numerous criticisms from readers, it has been proven that Marvel Comics will respond. For responding, to whatever occurs, is the defining standard that has and always will set Marvel Comics apart from all others in the comic industry.

Once, it was proudly declared that “comics aren’t just for kids anymore.”

Now, the slogan could very well be: “comics AREN’T for kids anymore.”

That may sound like hyperbole, especially at this time when both DC and Marvel comics have active lines of comics, aimed mainly at kids in the form of ” Johnny DC” and Marvel Adventures.

Of course, the very fact that they actually have to segregate these “kids” lines from the rest of the books just emphasizes the fact that the majority of DC and Marvel comics are no longer suitable for children. This is certainly a major change from the old days when ALL DC and Marvel comics– including ” Swamp Thing” and ” Tomb of Dracula”– were considered suitable for kids… older, more mature and educated kids– but kids nonetheless.

Content has much to do with this: many books rely on gore and violence that would barely qualify for a PG-13 rating in a movie. But even the style of storytelling would probably confuse most children. Editors used to work on the principle that “every comic is somebody’s first.” Not anymore. Today’s comics are built on years of backstory and continuity that is older than most children. To make things harder, the books no longer contain footnotes or captions or other forms of exposition that inform the new reader that “kryptonite is lethal to Superman” or “J. Jonah Jameson doesn’t know that one of his photographers is the very object of his hatred– the Amazing Spider-Man!!!” This is not made easier by the decompressed storytelling techniques, where whole panels are devoted to silence and scowling superheroes. Combine this with the highly-detailed art, heavy shading and small panels of the day, which win critical raves but sacrifice clarity– and you get a comic that is just hard to understand, even for adults.

What is even more shocking is the mentality of some fans that comics must be pushed away from kids. There are people on message boards saying they want comics to be more “mature” as if the rape of Sue Dibny wasn’t enough for them. The success of “The Dark Knight” movie has gotten some people saying that all subsequent superhero movie and TV spin-offs should be similarly dark and violent. Then there are the those who are enraged (and yes, that is the proper to word to use) when they see Cartoon Network coming out with a DC superhero cartoon that is aimed at kids. The screaming over “The Batman” may have subsided but now, you have all these complaints about the coming ” Brave and the Bold” series, simply because it features a non-Goddamned Batman who apparently doesn’t betray his friends or force kids to eat rats.

Of course, part of the problem is that comic books are no longer found in supermarkets and grocery stores where kids could pick them up as ‘impulse buys’ for dimes and nickels so the comic book companies had no choice but to market their products through specialty stores– to specialty fans, meaning adults who could take the long trip to the stores and had the big bucks to pay for comics.

But don’t forget that comic books are still available outside of comic book stores. The big-name DC titles, “Superman,” “Batman” and “Justice League” still pop up at news-stands and as the movies and TV shows are released, they will likely be snapped up by more kids as well. Imagine their surprise when they open “Justice League” and catch Roy Harper and Hawkgirl in bed– or read “Teen Titans” to see Wonder Dog kill Wendy and Marvin.

As an aside, isn’t it strange that some of the best comic books for kids (” Bone,” ” Herobear and the Kid”) are harder to find than than copies of “the Punisher”?

No one is calling for a return to censorship– not that anyone would even listen to such calls. The comics code barely has any authority nowadays. The ” Teen Titans” issue where Marvin and Wendy get gobbled up was code-approved and most DC and Marvel books don’t even carry that approval anymore. Still, at least the fact that they even try to get code-stamped shows that DC Comics is still trying to get kids to read. (Oddly, one of the non-code books is ” Blue Beetle,” a title with a youthful protagonist who looks and acts like he should be marketed to kids.)

But maybe someone at the BIG TWO should think about how to get kids back into comics– not just on the kids imprint but on the “faces” of the company– Superman, Batman, etc. Besides, it isn’t like comic companies aren’t trying to make their characters more popular among kids. Go to any department store and you will see toys, T-shirts, shoes and lunch boxes with Superman, Batman, Spider-Man Iron Man, the Hulk and Wolverine (yes, Wolverine) on them. Some of these items are being marketed to really young children– four to six year olds.

There is an audience and a market: J.K. Rowling becoming one of the richest women in England is proof of that. Mainstream comics are still trying to find a way to reach that audience and market. But for now, they struggle to sell even 30,000 copies of a comic title that used to sell eight times that many in the 1960s.

The distribution and marketing problems probably require more drastic solutions but as for writing the comics to make them entertaining for both kids and adults, that is hardly some lost mystic art. DC can just look through their recent archive editions and see how Bill Finger, John Broome and company did it, way back when. Heck, many of the old-school writers are still out there and they probably need the work.

This is probably all just a rant from an old-time fan who still wishes it were 1976 or 1967 or 1963 again, when we still had the Super-pets and Wonder-tot around. But at least in those days, readers had more of a choice. They had fairly mature tales in titles like ” Jonah Hex” or ” House of Secrets” but could still enjoy wacky hi-jinks in the pages of ” Jimmy Olsen.” Even Marvel, the “cool” comic company of that era didn’t show people being murdered wholesale (much less by heroes turned cannibalistic zombies) There should be a place for both the mature stories and the lighter, more accessible fare. Comic books, especially those of the superhero genre, by their very nature, with their fantastic characters and outlandish plots, will always have a natural appeal to children. Who else would believe in people in long underwear performing superhuman feats? So why shouldn’t the comic book companies find ways to exploit this appeal?

Besides, I’m pretty sure virtually every fan out there learned to love comics when he/she was still a kid. Did anyone out there really start reading comics at age 25 because he saw “Batman Forever” in the theaters?

It had become increasingly apparent that through much of the 1990s Marvel Comics has struggled to satisfy its new readers without turning away its old ones. Marvel Knights was one of the few attempts that seemed to fulfill this goal. The series, under the creative lead of Joe Quesada, involved several characters who form a group and share a single storyline that spanned many issues and became an imprint for a line of titles. Marvel Comics outsourced the work through Event Comics, owned by Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti. [16]

The keys to Marvel Knight’s success include storylines that don’t interfere with the “actual” Marvel Universe, more edgy content and less involvement of top Marvel Comics characters. After much popularity, the series became a normal line under Marvel Comics’ production.

The most important factor that would definitely salvage Marvel Comics, as well as give it hope for the future was the New Line Cinema release of Blade. Blade, originally appearing in the Spider-man series, was a powerful half-vampire who dedicated his life to killing vampires. The enormous success of the film made Blade a franchise character. It also created a cinema fan base that eagerly awaited more films based on Marvel Comics’ characters.

The new millennium marked a new beginning for much of the industry. While comic sales declined towards the end of the 1990s, the sales of graphic novel were rising. Their inclusion in bookstores and libraries exposed readers, unfamiliar with comic books, to other genres outside of American mainstream comic books. More literary columns were devoting space for graphic novels. Thus sequential art received further attention by much of the traditional literary industry.

Soon major publishing houses owned subsidiary comic companies. Even though larger comic companies like DC and Marvel Comics had more experience, they still needed to remodel their marketing strategies. In 2000, Quesada became Marvels 13th editor-in-chief. [1] Riding on the strength of the Marvel Knights series and the ambitious film release schedule, Marvel Comic’ future definitely looked positive.

The film release of X-Men, proving more successful than Blade, forced the film industry to seriously consider the “profit potential” of comic book-based properties. September 11th, 2001 set the overall tone for much of this decade. The destruction of something that was thought to be indestructible brought about feelings of doubt and uncertainty. Many people were forced to contemplate their own lives and the purpose behind them. History has already proved that this was a time for super heroes.

In memory of the September 11th tragedy, Marvel Comics released three titles. [17] One of these, Heroes, was a poster book. The Amazing Spider-man #36 featured Spider-man and other character’s reactions to the event. A Moment of Silence, inspired by true stories, included four wordless stories offering different points of view. In 2002 and 2003, Spider-man and Daredevil were released in the cinemas. [13] Spider-man instantly became the largest seller since Blade thus far. Marvel Comics set out to release three films a year. Numerous animated series were being released as well. In 2000, X-Men: Evolution, distributed through Warner Brothers, was perhaps the finest rendition of the X-Men made. [36] The popular series, which won two Emmy Awards, was able to avoid the complications created by the Saban series in the 1990s. Before long, Spider-man had two new animated series. One was computer animated and followed traditional lines while the other was based on the 2099 character.

Shiela Tiongco sent a message to the members of Manila Comic-Con 2008.

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Subject: Manila Comic Con - Postponed until further notice

Hobbylink Productions, Inc has agreed to postpone the Manila Comic Con. This difficult decision is based on the request of the co-presenters, sponsors and the general public to move the event to a bigger venue and a later date to give them more ample time to prepare for such event. The large interest for the people to attend this event might make the current venue difficult to hold and execute the program well and we are currently in negotiation in a location that will hold such amount of people. We will be announcing the new venue and date in the next few weeks.

We are sorry for this delay and thank you for all your support in this event. Such positive comments made the organizers more motivated to give you a bigger and more exciting Manila Comic Con.

By Vaneta Rogers, Newsarama

When comic book fans think of Aspen Comics, they think of artist Michael Turner. With the official company name being Aspen MLT, Inc. – with the MLT standing for Michael Layne Turner – it’s not unusual to think of one being part of the other.

So with Turner’s death in June, many fans have wondered if that also means the end of Aspen Comics.

“No way,” says Vince Hernandez, Aspen Comics Editor-in-Chief. It’s business as usual, and the editorial and creative people at Aspen haven’t even thought twice about moving forward.

To answer the questions of fans, Newsarama talked to Hernandez about the future of Aspen Comics, what is going to happen with the comics Turner was unable to finish, and the status of other projects coming from the company, including the Geoff Johns/Michael Turner project Ekos.

Newsarama: Vince, you’re aware that people are wondering about the future of Aspen.

Vince Hernandez: Yeah. A lot of people are braced for the worst. Everyone is asking us if we’re continuing on without Mike. We don’t fault them or anything. It’s a fair question. But for us, there was never a question that we would continue. We’ve always worked under what Mike would want us to do while he was alive. And after he passed, for us it was just a matter of saying, all the stuff we do going forward, we’re going to do in his memory. But everything else is the same.

It was never a question of whether we would go forward. There was never a moment we even thought about quitting or stopping our line or anything of that nature. There’s not a big message we want to send out or anything. We just want to keep doing the books we do. We want to continue to provide the kind of work that people expect from Aspen Comics.

NRAMA: I think a lot of fans don’t realize that you’ve been functioning as a company in more recent years without a lot of administration from Mike because of his health, haven’t you?

VH: Absolutely. And honestly, when Mike started the studio, he didn’t want it to always be about him. He and Frank [Mastromauro] brought in talent that we’re still using today. We’ve always tried to build in-house talent and build from the ground up. For the last couple years, with Mike’s health, like you said, we were still publishing. He was still doing our covers and a lot of the Marvel covers, but at the same time, while he was going through all the medical stuff, we were putting together other mini-series and books that could stand on their own without necessarily relying on Mike’s art.

That’s what we’ve been doing the last three or four years. We’ve been building up this roster of talent. Right now, I’m really proud of the art and the creative teams that we have. In terms of our history, it’s one of the worst times because we lost Mike, but it’s one of the best times in terms of who we have working on our titles.

NRAMA: Let’s address some questions that fans may have going forward about Aspen’s comic books. Is that OK?

VH: Sure!

NRAMA: Aspen had an agreement with Marvel, and Mike’s work was a big part of that. Does the agreement continue?

VH: Absolutely. It was a union built out of good relations. They were one of the first people coming to us with support after Mike’s passing. Obviously, the series that was planned with Mike is a no-go. The one with Jeph Loeb. But everything else we planned with Marvel hasn’t changed much in terms of what we’re planning to do with them in the future, besides Mike’s presence.

NRAMA: Mike was working with Geoff Johns on a series called Ekos. You’ve said the Marvel project with Jeph Loeb is a no-go. Is Ekos also going to also be a no-go?

VH: Well, we haven’t announced what we’re doing with that. But it’s definitely still going to be coming out. Geoff knows the story completely, top to bottom. It’s all done in terms of story development. We just haven’t figured out how we’re going to go forward with it. Mike was involved 100 percent with developing that story. I know they were really excited in the last couple weeks before Mike passed, and he was talking about some of that story stuff even then. So that’s very much a go and Aspen will be doing it.

NRAMA: Mike made it clear in our most recent interviews with him that he fully intended to finish the first volume of Soulfire so that the second volume could begin this year, but of course, that didn’t happen. What are the plans for those unfinished issues?

VH: We put Soulfire on hold for a little bit. It’s a series that Mike was doing, and the second volume will be done by J.T. Krul, who’s writing it, and artist Marcus To. He’s the person who will be following up Mike, and he’s spent the year working on the book. He’s already on issue #5 of Soulfire: Volume 2. We were waiting until Mike could finish Volume 1 before we started to release Volume 2. Now that game plan has changed, so we’re reworking the schedule.

NRAMA: Is someone going to finish Volume 1 for Mike?

VH: Yes. We can’t say who it is yet. But our hope is that it will be one person who will be doing the three issues that are left. I know a lot of people have spoken with us about getting different artists to finish the comic. I know Superman/Batman did that when Jeph Loeb’s son died. But we just wanted to go with one artist that we thought would best capture what Mike did in the first eight issues. So Volume 1 will be completed, then we’ll jump into a new five-issue miniseries called Soulfire: New World Order, which is a series by artist Francisco Herrera, then we’ll have Volume 2 by J.T. and Marcus.

NRAMA: For people who are reading this interview but have never tried Soulfire, what’s it about? And what story does New World Order tell?

VH: Soulfire tells the story of the young boy in the future named Malikai who is discovering he has powers he didn’t know about before. And during this discovery, he gets rescued by this girl with wings named Grace, who is from the past. It’s a futuristic world, and people have abandoned any use of magic, and Grace returns to teach this kid Malikai the way of magic, which has been lost. And we have a main villain named Ranier, and he has other plans for Malikai. And New World Order is basically the unleashing of magic on this futuristic world where they live in 2211.

NRAMA: Let’s take this opportunity, then, to talk about what’s lined up in the next few months for Aspen Comics.

VH: The big thing right now is that we’re in the middle of our launch for Fathom: Volume 3. That’s introducing our newest artist, and we spent year trying to convince him to get on the project, and that’s Ale Garza. It’s written by J.T. Krul, and Issue #1 came out in August. Fathom is about the underwater world of the Blue, and the humans who live on the surface. And it follows a character named Aspen, who is the link between the two worlds. In Volume 3, you’ll see some new characters and we’ll find out more about what happened. Aspen is on the run from the U.S. government in the beginning of Volume 3, and she gets pulled back into the world of the Blue.

NRAMA: Anything else you have coming out?

VH: In October, we have Soulfire: Shadow Magic #0, which I’m writing with art by Sana Takeda. Her art’s amazing. Have you seen it?

NRAMA: Yeah! We interviewed her about her work on Drain for Image Comics.

VH: Yeah, that’s the series she did with C.B. Cebulski. She has a really different style from any artists we’ve had before, and we like to work with artists like that. And so Soulfire: Shadow Magic is a five-issue miniseries that starts in December with a #1 issue.

We also have Executive Assistant: Iris coming out later this year. It’s written by David Wohl with art by Eduardo Francisco. It’s a completely new property that will be a six-issue miniseries by David. It’s based off a true story that David found in an article awhile back. It deals with a program that’s been going on in China where these high-powered Chinese executives have these women who work for them, who train to be personal bodyguards or assistants, even being assassins sometimes. This comic is about this executive assistant named Iris, and she’s been this for her whole life. And she finds out that she’s being used for things that she’s not happy with.

Another series we have coming up is by Frank Mastromauro, who did Shrugged and is our president. He’s creating a property with me and the artist on Shrugged, Micah Gunnell. And that will be coming out early next year.

And we’ll continue to do the Aspen Showcase books. The next one up is a Benoist one written by J.T. Krul with art by Micah Gunnell. And we want to continue doing those one-shots.

Beyond that, we have a couple more properties that we’re really excited about that we’ll be announcing soon. They’re top-tier writers in comics that people are going to be surprised are working with us, as far as their style of writing.

NRAMA: Is there a concern that you’re going to be missing the attraction to your products that Mike’s covers provided, and thus the sales numbers you had in the past?

VH: Well, there’s the reality of it. We knew there would be questions about whether we could continue without Mike’s presence on the books. But we’re not concerned about it. There’s going to be a drop, obviously, in the covers that Mike did and the work that he did with Marvel and everything. But it’s not something we’re concerned about. It’s what Mike would have wanted. And that’s what we’re going to do.

The way Frank has always run the company is to live within our means. We’ve never shot further than what we can do. We’re not going to just put our head down and wonder where all the money went. We’re just going to go forward. We’ll make it someplace else. This company was formed during tumultuous times. So we never even thought twice about it. The schedule we have coming up is twice as big as last year’s, and we’re going to keep it going. So I really don’t have time to be concerned. [laughs]

NRAMA: Although Soulfire and Fathom are your flagship titles, is the plan to expand into other areas like you did with Shrugged?

VH: Yes. But we’re not going to go overboard. We’ve always lived within our means in terms of what we do as a company. We don’t have a certain growth quota in terms of how many comics we need to produce. We expand when it’s necessary or when there’s a property that we really don’t want to pass up. It’s not always something we’re outwardly looking to do, but if we’re big fans of the series and it fits what we do, we’ll do it. That’s our game plan. For us, it’s picking and choosing things that can be done without being late, but things that are still the high quality that our fans expect. They expect a certain level of entertainment from Aspen. And we want to continue that.

Like you said earlier, we’ve done a lot without Mike when he was going through all his health stuff. And he knew that. And he was one of the biggest supporters of that. So for us, the last two months have been business as usual. It’s tough because we’ve all been grieving. It’s hard without Mike. But he would have wanted us to keep going. And for us, it wasn’t even an issue. We’ve just kept going. And we’re going to keep going.

“Think about it. Your father dies in a robbery, and you invent a bulletproof man.” Author Brad Meltzer, on the origins of Superman.

Superman settlement: Artist Joe Shuster, left, artist Neal Adams, writer Jerry Siegel and Jerry Robinson, who invented The Joker in 1939, celebrate Siegel and Shuster’s agreement in 1975 with Time Warner.

What’s this?
By David Colton, USA TODAY
On the night of June 2, 1932, the world’s first superhero was born — not on the mythical planet of Krypton but from a little-known tragedy on the streets of Cleveland.

It was Thursday night, about 8:10 p.m., and Mitchell Siegel, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, was in his secondhand clothing store on the near East Side. According to a police report, three men entered. One asked to see a suit of clothes and walked out without paying for it. In the commotion of the robbery, Siegel, 60, fell to the ground and died.

The police report mentions a gunshot being heard. But the coroner, the police and Siegel’s wife said Siegel died of a heart attack. No one was ever arrested.

What happened next has exploded some of the longest-held beliefs about the origins of Superman and the two teenage boys, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who invented America’s best-known comic-book hero.

Past accounts suggest Siegel and Shuster, both 17, awkward and unpopular in high school, invented the meek Clark Kent and his powerful alter-ego, Superman, to attract girls and rise above their humble Cleveland beginnings.

But now it appears that the origin might have been more profound — that it was the death of Jerry Siegel’s father that pushed the devastated teen to come up with the idea of a “Superman” to right all wrongs.

“In 50 years of interviews, Jerry Siegel never once mentioned that his father died in a robbery,” says Brad Meltzer, a best-selling author whose novel, The Book of Lies, due Sept. 2, links the Siegel murder to a biblical conspiracy plot.

“But think about it,” Meltzer says. “Your father dies in a robbery, and you invent a bulletproof man who becomes the world’s greatest hero. I’m sorry, but there’s a story there.”

The first ‘Superman’

The evidence for such a psychological underpinning is strong.

It was just a year after Mitchell Siegel’s death, 1933, that writer Siegel and artist Shuster came up with “The Superman,” a grim, flying avenger they tried to sell to newspaper syndicates and publishers for five years. In the oldest surviving artwork, this early Superman, whom they call “the most astounding fiction character of all time,” flies to the rescue of a man who is being held up by a masked robber.

Was it Jerry’s alter-ego flying to rescue his helpless father?

“America did not get Superman from our greatest legends, but because a boy lost his father,” Meltzer says. “Superman came not out of our strength but out of our vulnerability.”

The more Meltzer looked, the more intriguing things became. A letter published in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on June 3, 1932, the day after the robbery, denounces the need for vigilantes in the harsh days of the Depression. The letter is signed by an A.L. Luther.

“Is that where (Superman foe) Lex Luthor came from?” Meltzer says. “I almost had a heart attack right there. I thought, ‘You have to be kidding me!’ ”

In search of answers

Meltzer was not the only one looking. Comic-book historian Gerard Jones first disclosed the fact of the robbery in 2004 for his book, Men of Tomorrow, after interviews with Siegel’s cousins.

“It had to have an effect,” Jones says. “Superman’s invulnerability to bullets, loss of family, destruction of his homeland — all seem to overlap with Jerry’s personal experience. There’s a connection there: the loss of a dad as a source for Superman.”

Although they never went public, the father’s side of the family was told for decades that the elder Siegel had been shot in the robbery. That’s the dramatic angle Meltzer takes in his conspiracy novel. Siegel was shot twice in the chest at his store, he writes, and “a puddle of blood seeped toward the door.”

In an afterword to his work of fiction, Meltzer concedes that the facts remain murky. In an interview, Meltzer said that some in the family were told “since they were little kids” that Siegel died by gunfire. Others were told he had a heart attack. “It was probably a heart attack,” Meltzer said.

And yet Meltzer is not ready to embrace either answer as final.

More definitive is Marc Tyler Nobleman, author with artist Ross MacDonald of this year’s illustrated book Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, who concludes that Mitchell Siegel died of a heart attack during the robbery. The coroner, he notes, reported “no wounds” on Siegel’s body, and the gunshot might not have been related to the robbery.

“I spent a long time going after this,” Nobleman says. “I believe I have the first accurate account. Jerry’s father wasn’t shot and robbed. He had a heart attack during a robbery.”

A fortune sold for $130

The rest of the saga of Siegel and Shuster is better known, but no less tragic. It wasn’t until 1938 that the familiar red-and-blue-garbed Superman appeared on the cover of Action Comics No. 1. The creators got a check for $130. In return, DC Comics acquired rights to the character “forever.”

Siegel and Shuster bristled as Superman grew in popularity — on radio, in wartime cartoons and serials in the 1940s. They went to court several times, winning settlements but never rights to the character. By the 1970s, Siegel had been working as a mail clerk for $7,000 a year, and Shuster was almost blind.

“A shameful legacy,” says Blake Bell, author of The World of Steve Ditko, a biography of the co-creator of Spider-Man. Comic-book creators “had no pensions, no contracts, no health benefits, and companies didn’t even pay for the artists’ supplies. When these artists tried to negotiate greater rights for themselves, they were either collectively cast out or made false promises.”

After hearing that Warner Bros. had paid $3 million for the rights to make Superman the Movie in 1975, Siegel and Shuster tried again to reap some benefits. This time, though, they had help from the artistic community and from fans who knew their work.

In a landmark settlement, DC Comics agreed to pay the two men $20,000 a year for life. More important, friends say, DC agreed to add “Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster” on all printed and filmed material in the future.

“Having their names listed as Superman’s creators was the biggest victory of all,” says Steve Younis, editor of SupermanHomepage.com. “It’s worth more than any kind of monetary reimbursement.”

The man who helped negotiate the Siegel and Shuster deal was artist Jerry Robinson, who co-created The Joker in 1939 but who received little recognition for decades. (He’s now a creative consultant for DC Comics in the wake of The Dark Knight film.)

Robinson says he threw a party in his Manhattan apartment when the Siegel and Shuster settlement was announced.

“Kurt Vonnegut, Jules Pfeiffer, Will Eisner, Eli Wallach and his wife were there,” Robinson, 86, says. “Walter Cronkite came on, and they showed Superman flying, and he described what had happened. At the end, he said, ‘Another triumph for truth, justice and the American way.’

“We opened Champagne. Jerry and Joe were there, and it was a very emotional moment. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”

The struggle goes on

Michael Uslan, executive producer of the six Batman movies since 1989, including The Dark Knight, says there has been a “sea change” in how corporations view comic books and their creators. “Here you have people in their 80s and 90s seeing their comic-book work being taken seriously,” Uslan says. “They are deriving economic benefits now either directly or through consultancies.”

Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel in 1996, but their legal battles have been never-ending. In March, a court ruled that Siegel’s heirs (wife Joanne and daughter Laura) were entitled to parts of the billion-dollar Superman copyright. Because of the ongoing litigation, neither the families nor DC Comics would comment, not even about Mitchell Siegel’s death 76 years ago or its implications.

But in an e-mailed response, the Siegel family did say, “It is gratifying to know people want to know about Jerry Siegel, and that he is getting recognition for his creativity.”

Earlier this week it was announced that Wildstorm’s “Sleeper,” created by the award-winning “Criminal” team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, has been optioned for a motion picture adaptation by Sam Raimi’s Star Road Entertainment, with the “Spider-Man” director set to helm and Tom Cruise tentatively attached to play the lead. With that news in mind, CBR caught up with Brubaker to talk about the upcoming film and what details he can share about its production at this early stage.

“Sleeper” tells the tale of one Holden Carver, an individual impervious to physical pain, who goes undercover in the organization of a criminal mastermind called Tao. But for security reasons, Holden’s handler John Lynch (one-time Gen-13 mentor) is the only person who knows Holden is actually on the side of the angels, and when an attempt on Lynch’s life puts him into a coma, Holden Carver is on his own out in the cold.

Characters from “WildC.A.T.S.” play a pivotal role in the story, but even though both “WildC.A.T.S.” and “Gen-13” have in the past been optioned at other film studios, Brubaker does not believe that poses much of a hurdle for the burgeoning “Sleeper” production. “I think it’s as simple as when they buy a story but some of the characters have been optioned by another studio, they can’t call Parker by his real name, so he becomes Porter or Walker instead,” Brubaker told CBR News.

Brubaker was also quick to correct the common misconception amongst the Hollywood press that “Sleeper” is a “WildC.A.T.S.” spinoff. “‘Sleeper’ isn’t a spin-off of ‘WildCATS.’ ‘Sleeper’ as a property came together just after I turned in the first ‘Point Blank’ script, and Scott and Jim asked me to come up with a monthly idea. So I came up with ‘Sleeper,’ and then Scott suggested I seed it into the end of ‘Point Blank,’ which seemed like a good idea.

“So I revised Point Blank so the secret was about Holden Carver, but ‘Sleeper’ was already being worked on, and Sean had designed the characters. That’s why every issue of ‘Sleeper’ says ‘Created by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.’ It’s just that, because of its ties to the overall WS universe, a few characters in ‘Sleeper’ also were in other WS books before ‘Sleeper.’ But all but four characters were created by me and Sean just for ‘Sleeper.’”

Brubaker is thrilled that Tom Cruise is circling the “Sleeper” film project. “Tom Cruise is not just one of the biggest stars in the world, he’s also a great actor who tends to pick really interesting and exciting projects to star in,” Brubaker said. “And look at him in ‘Collateral’ and tell me he couldn’t play Holden. I was actually thinking of him in ‘Collateral’ a bit when I wrote ['Criminal: Lawless.'] That intensity.”

Brubaker said that while he was in high school, his brother looked almost exactly like Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.” “It was uncanny, and I’m not kidding,” Brubaker remarked. “It drove me crazy because the girls just fell over him when he put on those Raybans. Now I win, though, because Tom Cruise wants to star in my movie.”

Who are the writer’s other casting choices? “Cate Blanchett would be my pick for Miss Misery, I think, because she reminds me in all the right ways of Veronica Lake,” Brubaker said. “And she’s one of the best actresses in the world, and she’s never played a part like this.”

Brubaker hasn’t given the casting for the other roles that much thought, and realizes that ultimately these are decisions that aren’t up to him. Indeed, Brubaker does not yet know what the extent of his involvement with the “Sleeper” film is going to be. “I have a relationship with the guys in Raimi’s office on this project, so I’m hopeful I’ll be involved on some level, but it’s not up to me,” Brubaker said. The writer has heard rumblings that a few big name screenwriters are interested in penning the adaptation. “I have no illusions it’ll be me, even though I am doing screenwriting now, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to write it.” That said, Brubaker would love to consult on the film and be kept in the writing loop.

This is not the first time Hollywood has courted Brubaker’s hit series. “This is the fifth time, I think, that I’ve heard of serious action on ‘Sleeper’ at this point,” Brubaker revealed. The seeds of the current production were sown late last year when Star Road Entertainment producer Russell Hollander told Brubaker he was trying to set the film up at Sony. “That deal didn’t work out for a few business reasons, but Russell and [Raimi’s partner] Josh Donen didn’t give up.” Russell put “Sleeper” in Cruise’s hands, and the movie star was a fast fan. “I even heard that Tom Cruise called them the other day to push it along, because he’s so excited about it.”

Published under DC Comics’ Wildstorm imprint, the film rights for “Sleeper” are already owned by parent company Time Warner, so Warner Bros. Pictures was the logical place to develop the project. “From what I understand, they’re just working on the deal at Warners with those guys now, and it’s all moving nicely.”

Rumor has it that WB is looking to turn “Sleeper” into a film franchise. If so, where does Brubaker think the first installment should leave off? “Honestly, I haven’t even thought about it,” Brubaker said. “I’d love a franchise, of course, but wow, let’s just get the first one made and I’ll be happy.”