New 'Supernatural' Comic Book Series

According to this article from buddytv.com, Supernatural: Rising Son is a six-issue miniseries that will tell another story about the young Sam and Dean Winchester, much to the enjoyment of comic collectors of the Supernatural: Origins comic books published by WildStorm last year. The first issue is set to hit stores on April 23 and will pick up a few years after Origins, following a 7-year-old Sam and 11-year-old Dean as they travel with their father, John.
“Whereas the first series was more about John and his becoming a hunter, this one's much more of a dysfunctional family story,” explains writer Peter Johnson, who's also a co-executive producer on the TV show. “We're really going to explore the differences between Sam and Dean in this one,” Johnson continues. “Dean is becoming aware of what his dad's up to and we'll see him training and hunting a little bit, while John will start to key in on something different about Sam.” The bad news about the series is that show creator Eric Kripke, who had a lot of input on Origins, couldn't have any involvement due to the writers' strike. While the strike doesn't preclude people from writing comic books, Kripke bowed out due to the thin line between writing for a TV series and writing a comic based on a TV series.
Despite that, Johnson promises that the Rising Son story will fit in nicely with the show, and even feature some familiar faces such as Bobby, a fellow demon hunter. He also says that readers should expect “freakier monsters,” including “some badass female villains and a big bad villain that may have something to do with the TV show.”
For those who missed Origins in its single issue format, a trade paperback collecting the entire series will be published in April. Johnson also mentions that he made an editorial change in the collected edition regarding the Winchester's signature Chevy Impala. In the original comic the Impala was something John found on the road, but due to the protests of fans it will now be something that was in the Winchester family prior to the beginning of the comic series.
There's already talk of a third miniseries being planned that would bring the story right up to the pilot of the television series. Even with Supernatural being sidelined due to the writers' strike, fans of the Winchester boys should have plenty of demon slaying fun to indulge in for months to come.

Graphic Novels Gaining On Traditional Comic Books

Most of the business at comic book stores isn't in comic books anymore. According to pop culture trend tracker ICv2, graphic novels have begun to outsell comic books. Graphic novels are essentially comic books on steroids, with longer, more complex, darker stories. The term can also include putting together a long story arc initially published in half a dozen regular comic book issues, but purists tend to refer to those as trade paperbacks.

Statistics aren't available yet for 2007, but 330 million graphic novels were sold in North America in 2006--a 12 percent increase. That wasn't bad news for comic book publishers like DC and Marvel. There was an even bigger jump in sales of traditional monthly periodical comic books like "Batman" and "Spider-Man." They were up 15 percent to 310 million in 2006. And comic book publishers like DC are doing quite well with graphic novels. Where they once appealed almost exclusively to teenage boys, they now sell to people of all ages, male and female.

In Spotsylvania County, Mike Porter, comics collector and owner of the new Little Fish Comics & Collectibles store at Cosner's Corner, isn't just trying to ring up sales when he insists that graphic novels like "Watchmen," "Kingdom Come" and "V for Vendetta" qualify as legitimate literature.

Porter is a true believer. In 1995, he was a teacher's aide lecturing on Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" as part of a science-fiction literature course at Guelph University in Ontario, Canada. He says students and their parents would come to him and ask if there was additional literature they could read to help with the course. You know, Mr. Porter, "real" literature. "Real" books. Not comic books. No, Porter would say, the best examples of the graphic novel form are real literature. "It's definitely literature," he says standing in his store surrounded by Batman, Spider-Man and Superman comics and action figures. "It stands up to any distopian literature."

George Orwell's "1984" is an example of distopian literature. Distopian protagonists, such as Winston Smith in "1984" and the character V in "V for Vendetta," challenge negative aspects of their societies, putting themselves at risk in the process.
An argument can be made that anything that gets people--especially young people--to read in today's TV and video game culture is good. For the rest of Michael Zitz' Free-Lance Star article, click here.

The Dark Knight Trailer And Analysis!

It's here! It's here! The Dark Knight Trailer is here! Ok, it was leaked earlier this week, but that won't stop me from watching it again and again. Click here for a great article outlining the trailer from MTV.com, as well as the trailer itself. They also have the leaked version on several of their other pages for your viewing pleasure. If you are lost, The Dark Knight is the sequel to the smash hit Batman Begins, based off the DC Batman comic books. I've outlined what is known about the movie in my blog The Dark Knight and have included in it some trivia about the filming. Enjoy Batman fans!!! Remember, if you're curious about the value of your collections, Batman or otherwise, add them into our What's My Item Worth collection and we will do our best to estimate it.

Comic Book Organizing Has Never Been Easier

iTaggit Comic Collectors:

It has come to our attention that Amazon has made it even easier for you to organize your collection of comic books on iTaggit. Use our easy Amazon uploader through the Add Things button. Then type in the title of the comic you are looking for. We are currently unsure of how far back their library goes, or how extensive their variety of titles is, but at least it might save you some major time on your most recent acquisitions. Let us know if we can help you find your comic book's value through our “What's My Item Worth” collection.

Marvel Releases 2,500 Comics Online Today

Comic book readers and collectors have a new medium to look forward to in the Marvel world. Today, Marvel is releasing over 2,500 issues of various origin back-stories on their website. Subsequently, 20 more issues will be released every week following. Although Marvel has decided to release these issues to the online public, they will only be viewable through the site's web viewer and cannot be downloaded to the reader's machine for storage. Check out the original article by Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins from Mashable.com for the rest of the story.

The Top Ten Moments of Comic-Con '07
(as originally written by Neil Miller)

Being about a week removed from the heart of this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, I can say that now is the time to look back and reflect on some of the most memorable things that happened. If you were there, you could probably jot down 20-30 great moments in a matter of minutes. It was that much fun. If you weren’t there, here are 10 things that should have you kicking yourself for missing the event:

10. Tony Stark’s Car at the Omni Hotel.It wasn’t enough just to have the man himself, Robert Downey Jr. (aka Tony Stark in 2008’s IRON MAN) in the house, they had to bring his slick ride along as well. On Saturday during the Marvel Studios panel, this hot ride showed up in front of the Omni Hotel directly across from the Convention Center. I bet I could get chicks too with a ride like that…

9. The Heroes Panel . Any time you put Hayden Panettiere in a room you are going to get a reaction. The reaction was extremely positive as Hayden and her castmates gabbed on about the upcoming season of Heroes and the spin-off show, Heroes: Origins. Also exciting was the announcement that Kevin Smith would write and direct at least one episode of Origins. The show had a huge presence at this year’s Con and that’s a good thing — people just can’t seem to get enough of it.

8. The Stars of Balls of Fury.Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Dan Fogler were all on hand to promote their upcoming flick BALLS OF FURY. Their panel, which was part of the Focus/Rogue Studios presentation, was one of the most entertaining panels of the entire Con. “Reno 911″ co-star Cedric Yarbrough showed up in the Q&A align along with some interesting characters like Bob Stencil (more on him later). From talking about the gayness of mustaches to Thomas Lennon in spandex, these guys really know how to entertain. If their movie is half as entertaining as their panel, it is going to be one you won’t want to miss.

7. Stan Lee shows up to the Marvel Panel.Comic-Con just wouldn’t be Comic-Con without an appearance from Stan Lee. And as if it wasn’t enough that the crowd that assembled for the Marvel Studios panel was getting bombarded with footage from IRON MAN, the man himself decided to drop by and give his blessings to the flick. Stan was pumped up for IRON MAN. You should be, too.

6. The “Masters of the Web” Party and Panel.Sure there was some controversy over Robert Sanchez at IESB’s comments during the “Masters of the Web” panel on Sunday, but we should not let that overshadow the great time had by all. Saturday night’s party was one of the highlights of the entire week, hands down. Robert and Kelvin Chavez from LatinoReview.com truly know how to throw a bash. Plus the panel the next day, a panel of guys for whom I have immense respect, was both insightful and entertaining.

5. The Joyous Masses.No, I am not referring to the cult-like nature of some comic book factions. I am referring to the 123,000 strong who attended this year’s Con. They are dedicated and often costumed, but they are to be taken seriously. Like die hard sports fans, these folks are honest with themselves and not afraid to just “geek out” — something that is honorable, indeed.

4. Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy.We can’t claim to have scooped the fact that Zach Quinto would be named as Spock in the upcoming STAR TREK flick, but we can say that it makes sense. Not only was the announcement a delightful surprise, but the fact that Leonard Nimoy would be involved was also good to see. Seeing these two on stage side-by-side was eerie. Can’t wait to see the film.

3. Bob Stencil.Bob Stencil was a rather interesting character, constantly popping up to ask questions in Hall H. It turns out that he is a Comic Con veteran and a traveling comedian of sorts. His crowning moment was his discussion with the guys from BALLS OF FURY about the gayness of his mustache. Check out his MySpace page for more… You shan’t be disappointed.

2. Kevin Smith vs. a Heckler. This rather infamous event was twice as funny in person as it was watching it again later on YouTube. A non-believer in fan favorite Kevin Smith grew a pair and attempted to call him out asking, “Are you ever going to make a movie with original characters that doesn’t suck?” He forgot rule #1 of Q&A: Don’t mess with the guy with the microphone. Don’t worry, Kevin Smith reminded him. Check out the video here.

1. Jon Favreau Showing off Iron Man. By and large the best moment of the Con came on Thursday of all days. No one expected Jon Favreau to show up during the Paramount Panel, as IRON MAN had been officially moved to Saturday’s Marvel panel. But he did show up and he did show off IRON MAN. A shockwave of chills flowed through Hall H as the clip displayed Robert Downey Jr. embodying Tony Stark and donning not one, but two suits. Then as if to add the cherry on top, Iron Man was shown flying through the air followed by 2 F-22s. From that moment there was no two words that got more play during the Con than IRON MAN.

So there you have it, my own personal Top 10 Most Memorable Moments from Comic-Con 2007. I guess that closes out our Con coverage for the year. It is a little sad, really. As a Comic-Con virgin, I have to say that I have never seen anything like it. The fans. The spectacle of it all. The great people I met both in and outside of the business. It was all a bit surreal. And I can’t wait to go back next year.

To check out more on Neil Miller and his blog page, click here.