Jonah Hex In: A Good Jonah Hex Movie

One of my biggest fears when I heard about DC’s New 52 was that they’d use it as an opportunity to cancel some of their smaller books that never got the attention (or, honestly, the audience) that Batman and Green Lantern got, but that I really enjoyed, like Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s Jonah Hex.

I don’t remember why I was so worried… oh yeah – because DC fucking cancelled Jonah Hex.

But I should have known that Jonah Hex is IMPOSSIBLE to kill (If the Goddamned movie couldn’t do it…)! DC’s kept Gray and Palmiotti on to script All-Star Western, which will be starring ALL of DC’s star western characters, including Jonah Hex, and…

Yeah, pretty much Jonah Hex.

This past weekend, DC released a motion comics trailer for the book, which you can see after the jump:

Scalping Batgirl

Bleeding Cool’s reporting that Batgirl #1 – which doesn’t even go on sale until tomorrow – is selling on eBay for ten bucks… which is more than triple the cover price.

Now granted, the book’s already sold out at the distributor level, but it’s already gone into a second printing (Which, if Justice League #1 is any guide, should turn around back into comic stores in a week or two), and again: IT HASN’T EVEN GONE ON FUCKING SALE YET.

This, of course, is not a problem for me, because when I heard this news I promptly emailed my local comic store owner, who knows me by name and asks after my general welfare when he sees me, and asked him to set a copy aside for me. Which I GUESS you could try with your iPad. It might respond. If it does, well… I’d say seek help, but the people sitting next to you on the bus while you whimper at your computer that you “Really want to get your hands on Batgirl” will probably make sure you get some whether you want it or not.

No, if you want an honest-to-God first print copy of Batgirl #1, your iPad won’t help you. But that’s understandable; if I’d ever taken my local comic store owner into an airline lavatory and made him perch on my lap while I masturbated, he wouldn’t help ME, either. (via Bleeding Cool)

Writing Big

Now to me, here’s some good news: Tony Daniel, the writer and artist on the DC Rebooted Detective Comics #1, did an interview with USA Today talking about how he’s writing some honest-to-Christ Batman whodunit stories, as opposed to stories about The World’s Greatest Caveman No Pilgrim No Why Is Batman Time Traveling Curse You Morrison Your Weed Is Laced Arrrgh.

The article has a bunch of art from Detective Comics #1. Check it out and come back…

Not only is Daniel apparently committed to doing some old school detective comics, he’s the first creator on a major DC book I’ve heard really taking advantage of the reboot to come up with some new villains:

Worlds Finest Comics Unintentional Blasphemy

I tuned out on Anne Rice after Tale of the Body Thief, but apparently somewhere between 1993 and now, she found Jesus. In, like, a big way. The kind of way you normally find Jesus when you’re facing a long prison term, or are personally responsible for raising a generation of mopey Hot Topic consumers.

Hot, Sweet, Marvel Male Action

Just came across this (Hey, it was a long weekend, and I live 250 yards from a liquor store, a bar and a comic store. I’m only human. A deeply, deeply broken human) – Marvel published a live blog of a conference call between writers Matt Fraction, Cullen Bunn, Christopher Yost and Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort where they talked about the upcoming followups to the Fear Itself storyline: The Fearless and Battle Scars.

Go check it out for details from the horses’ mouths (And for some pretty art from Mark Bagley, Paul Lelletier, Frank Cho and Art Adams), but the nuts and bolts are that, no matter what happens with the Serpent in Fear Itself, the Hammers of The Worthy are still gonna be kicking around, in areas like Utopia, New York, the ocean and other far-flung areas that, purely by coincidence, are the perfect locations for heroes and villains to easily locate them so they can punch each other.

Brain Bleach – Argh, I Can’t Unsee What I Have Seen

Things I’ve learned wandering around the intertrons today:

• 

  That's right. Make it rain for Mommy!

  Voodoo, one of the DC new 52 relaunch titles, will follow the heart warming tale of a stripper who discovers she’s a monster. That’ll put a dent in those tips.

I’ll probably read this. I’m currently working through The Essential Dazzler. I have no moral high ground.

Plotpoint

The DC Source blog released some promotional hype for the New 52 Flash reboot that’s coming in on September 28 with art by Francis Manapul and co-written by Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Here’s a taste; you can see the whole nut here.

Flash’s editor, Brian Cunningham, chimed in on the new series:

But it also has something else. It’s something we let slip at Comic Con, but many of you might not have heard it, so brace yourself for this SPOILER WARNING:

The Flash is a single man. He’s a bachelor who has never been married.

I’ll give you all a few seconds to take that in and digest it.

Yes, folks — in the post-FLASHPOINT world, Barry Allen has not only never dated Iris West, but he’s dating someone else entirely in issue #1! And that someone is…his longtime coworker Patty Spivot!

If that upsets you, sorry about that. But I make no apologies for opening up a traditional storytelling avenue with our hero’s romantic life, something that’s been shut closed for a very long time now.

Look: I love The Flash. Mike Baron’s stuff right after the first Crisis reboot is amongst my favorite 12 issues of comics. William Messner-Loeb’s run on the book was fun back when I was in college (I even have a soft spot in my heart for Chunk, fer Chrissake), and what Mark Waid and Geoff Johns did with the character was damn entertaining.

That said…

Issues With Commitment

Heidi MacDonald of The Comics Beat did a pretty thorough interview with Jim Lee about the DC relaunch of Justice League #1 this past Wednesday.

A bunch of comic stores in New York City did midnight sales Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, and Jim talks about how he and Geoff Johns brought pizza to the comics fans waiting in line:

I’ve seen midnight openings for video games and movies, but I’ve not seen a store signing at midnight with creators before — certainly not at DC. Geoff and I wanted to go the extra step and be there in person for people who are so into a comic that they were willing to forgo sleep.

Oh, Jim… I know you’ve been to San Diego Comic-Con… how can you be surprised that a fan would be willing to forgo sleep when you know full well that many of us are perfectly willing to forgo bathing?

(via Salon)

Superman Is, In Fact, a Dick

Newsarama’s got a five-page preview of the new Action Comics #1 that’s dropping next Wednesday in the second salvo of DC’s New 52 reboot. Go take a look and then come back. And bring a six-pack.

You might find yourself confused that Superman’s costume seems to be little more than a Superman t-shirt, but don’t be alarmed: the initial storyline in Action Comics is supposed to correspond to Superman’s first year as the world’s first superhero. Which doesn’t explain how he found the Superman t-shirt; it’s not like he could just go to a comic store like I do for Superman t-shirts… maybe he had it made for him at one of those novelty t-shirt places at the mall… actually, that doesn’t hold up because it’s not fucking 1987… and even if it was, those places were staffed by high school kids who fucked up making me a simple block-lettered “Medicate Me” shirt to wear to prom, so I doubt they were silk screening, and even if they were they were probably huffing the dye.

But I digress.