INSTANTANEOUS PRESENTED:
THE COMIC COVER ART EXHIBITION
AT THE GRACE EMILY 16th-23rd DECEMBER
PIECES NOW READY
FOR COLLECTION AT PFC!
Once again, Instantaneous presents the public with outstanding artwork by a plethora of South Australian artists.
This time around, Instantaneous showcased original Comic Book Covers created especially for the exhibition.

The works were displayed upstairs at the Grace Emily Hotel
until December 23rd.

All pieces were professionally auctioned, with proceeds going to local charities.


Pulp Fiction Comics wants to thank everyone
who made the opening night a raging success!

More information here.

Fables pair take on JSA; Sim to launch Cerebus Archive

DC has announced the Fables/Jack of Fables writing pair of Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges are the new ongoing scribes of Justice Society of America as of issue #26, succeeding the outgoing Geoff Johns.

Indie comics iconoclast Dave Sim will return to his roots with the forthcoming Cerebus Archive, showcasing early comic strips and stories from 1972 onwards plus previously unseen 'making of' material such as rejection letters and correspondence from various publishers. The bimonthly series will debut in April, published on alternate months to Sim's new ongoing title Glamourpuss.

 

Phantom sequel heads down under; NSW, Victoria court Green Lantern

Sydney's Sherlock Symington Productions has acquired the movie rights to legendary comic strip hero the Phantom and will shoot a followup to 1996's big-screen adaptation in Australia, with production slated to begin in the second half of 2009. Screenwriter Tim Boyle says The Phantom Legacy will be set in the present day and centre on the generational nature of the Phantom identity, passed down from father to son in the Walker family.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reports Sydney's Fox Studios is competing with a bid from Victoria to host the production of Warner Bros' forthcoming Green Lantern movie, slated for release in 2010. Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) is rumoured to be the frontrunner for the lead role of Hal Jordan.

LXG director to reboot Crow series

Variety reports Stephen Norrington will write and direct a forthcoming reboot of the Crow film franchise, based on the cult comics series by James O'Barr. A former sculptor and special effects artist, the London-born Norrington kicked off the successful Blade series but has not made a film since 2003's critically panned League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, loosely based on the Wildstorm title by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.

Aaron, Garney to launch Wolverine: Weapon X

The recent Wolverine pairing of writer Jason Aaron (Scalped) and artist Ron Garney (Skaar: Son of Hulk) will reunite for a third Wolverine ongoing series, Wolverine: Weapon X, launching next April to coincide with the cinema release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Speaking with Newsarama Aaron noted the series will reflect current continuity but with an aim of being accessible to new readers, adding Logan's former Weapon X teammate Maverick/Agent Zero will be a regular supporting character.

 

Geoff Johns quits JSA

DC superstar writer Geoff Johns is set to wrap up his lengthy tenure on JSA to concentrate on forthcoming special projects including Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin and Green Lantern event Blackest Night, with the current creative team of Johns and penciller Dale Eaglesham leaving the book with April's issue #26. Johns has penned the JSA monthly title and its predecessor Justice Society of America for around one hundred issues, first joining the book in 1999 as co-writer with David Goyer.

ABC America eyes Fables TV series

US television network ABC will produce an hour-long pilot for a potential television adaptation of award-winning Vertigo series Fables, to be helmed by Six Degrees creators/executive producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner.

Dan Dare moves to Dynamite

Dynamite Entertainment has acquired the comics rights to UK space adventurer Dan Dare, formerly held by now-defunct publisher Virgin, and will be producing a hardcover collection of this year's seven-issue Virgin miniseries by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine.

OC creator to pen new X-Men movie

Josh Schwartz, creator of television series The OC, Gossip Girl and Chuck, has signed on to write and potentially direct a revamp of 20th Century Fox's successful X-Men film franchise under the title of X-Men: First Class. Expected to focus on previously introduced students of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters including Rogue, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Angel and Jubilee, the film joins a stable of X-Men spinoff projects under development including April 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Superman spacebound as Adventure Comics returns

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times DC executive editor Dan DiDio revealed the publisher's longest-running title Action Comics will soon shift its focus away from Superman, with the Man of Steel set to leave Earth and journey into space in the pages of the main Superman title following the current 'New Krypton' crossover. DiDio also confirmed the forthcoming relaunch of anthology title Adventure Comics, and heavily hinted it will feature yet another revamp of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Joe Johnston to direct Captain America

According to the Hollywood Reporter director Joe Johnston has signed on to helm the forthcoming Captain America movie from Marvel Studios. Slated for release in May 2011, the provisionally titled First Avenger: Captain America will be a World War II-era period film leading into the highly anticipated Avengers feature scheduled for July of the same year.

Johnston started his career as a storyboard artist and designer on the original Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark before going on to direct features including The Rocketeer (adapted from the comics series by Dave Stevens), Jumanji and Jurassic Park 3, and is currently in post-production on a remake of The Wolfman starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.

 

Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey cancelled

DC has confirmed Robin, Nightwing and Birds of Prey will wrap up in February, with the Batman line set for a shakeup at the conclusion of the Grant Morrison-penned Batman RIP.

 

Loeb sacked from Heroes

Award-winning comics writer Jeph Loeb (Ultimates 3, Batman: The Long Halloween) and fellow writer-producer Jesse Alexander have been axed from superpower-themed television series Heroes, with US network NBC seeking to revamp the show amid falling ratings for its third season. A former staffer on Lost and Smallville, Loeb has been with Heroes since its inception and recently wrapped up work on its mid-season chapter finale.

 

Mendes to direct Preacher movie

Columbia Pictures has acquired the screen rights to cult 1990s Vertigo series Preacher with plans for a big screen adaptation directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes. The Sony Pictures subsidiary becomes the latest home for Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's acclaimed neo-Western after US pay network HBO abandoned plans for a television version helmed by Daredevil and Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson, adding to a storied history including an aborted previous movie project produced by Kevin Smith. An Academy Award winner for 1999's American Beauty and a noted stage director in addition to his film work, Mendes has previous experience adapting comics material from 2002's Road to Perdition, based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner.

Mahnke to complete Final Crisis

Final Crisis artist J.G. Jones has confirmed to Comic Book Resources he will not illustrate the DC miniseries' January finale, with Doug Mahnke stepping in to pencil the issue with inks by Christian Alamy. The move comes after DC had previously drafted in Carlos Pacheco to co-illustrate with Jones from issue #4 onwards to keep the title on schedule, as the cornerstone of DC's summer continuity event in competition with Marvel's Secret Invasion.

 

Thor to return to original numbering

Marvel's recently relaunched Thor ongoing series will jump in numbering this January to issue #600, reflecting the landmark number of Thor-centric issues (between Thor/Mighty Thor and Journey Into Mystery) since the God of Thunder's first appearance in 1962. The 64-page special issue will feature the acclaimed continuing serial from writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Olivier Coipel plus a bonus story from Stan Lee and a surprise guest artist, capped off with wraparound covers by Coipel and Marko Djurdjevic.

Spider-Girl cancelled

Amazing Spider-Girl writer Tom DeFalco has announced the cult title has been cancelled as of issue #30, although the comics veteran and former Marvel editor in chief hopes to continue the series as a regular 16-page feature in the ongoing Amazing Spider-Man Family. Introduced in 1998's What If? #105 as the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Parker in the MC2 alternate continuity, Spider-Girl enjoyed a 100-issue solo series run before being relaunched as Amazing Spider-Girl in 2006.

Brolin in for Jonah Hex movie?

Industry trades Variety and the Hollywood Reporter claim Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, Planet Terror, forthcoming W) is likely to sign on for the lead role in a Warner Bros adaptation of DC's cult Western anti-hero Jonah Hex, to be helmed by Crank writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Introduced during the 1970s in the pages of All-Star Western before graduating to a successful solo series, in 2005 Jonah Hex was revived in the current critically acclaimed ongoing series penned by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray.

Branagh to direct Thor?

Variety reports Academy Award-nominated director and actor Kenneth Branagh is in talks with Marvel Studios to helm a big screen version of Thor, slated for release in 2010. The project was previously in development with director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake, forthcoming Kick-Ass), from a screenplay by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend), but ran into problems after Vaughn allegedly proposed a budget of around $US300 million.

Following the success of Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk Marvel Studios has renegotiated its distribution arrangement with Paramount Pictures, inking a new contract which will see the House of Ideas' film arm taking a higher percentage of the box office gross in return for Paramount picking up worldwide distribution rights for forthcoming Marvel films. The deal outlines the next five Marvel Studios productions as Iron Man 2 (May 2010) and an unscheduled Iron Man 3, Thor (July 2010), Captain America (May 2011) and The Avengers (July 2011).

Baltimore Comic-Con highlights

Marvel

Dan Slott is the new ongoing writer of Mighty Avengers as of the post-Secret Invasion issue #21, handing the reigns of Avengers: The Initiative to current co-writer Christos Gage.

The delayed Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD ongoing series by the Eisner-winning Daredevil pairing of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev will debut next March.

The recent Powers #30 is the last issue of volume 2 of the series, which will relaunch with a new #1 next year tieing in to the book's 10th anniversary and the debut of the long-awaited Powers television series.

Damon Lindelof's remaining scripts for the missing-in-action Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk mini have been submitted, and artist Leinil Francis Yu will complete the project once finished on Secret Invasion.

Image

Mark Millar and Peter Gross' controversial 2004 miniseries Chosen, originally published at Dark Horse, will be collected at Image in a new edition under the 'American Jesus' banner ahead of the second chapter in a planned trilogy.

February sees four new Image projects from the Man of Action collective: The Great Unknown, an existential mystery written and illustrated by Duncan Rouleau; Soul Kiss by Steven T. Seagle and Marco Cinello; Joe Kelly and Diego Greco's Bad Dog; and a new deluxe hardcover edition of Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard's cult superhero noir Codeflesh, featuring the complete series remastered in full colour plus an exclusive new story.

Harveys

All Star Superman was the big winner at this year's Harvey Awards, beating Marvel's Captain America for both Best Continuing Series and Best Single Issue (issue #8) while earning a second consecutive Best Artist award for Frank Quitely. DC was the dominant publisher with its share in All Star Superman's three awards plus Best Writer for Brian K. Vaughn (Y the Last Man and Ex Machina) and Best Cartoonist for Darwyn Cooke and his acclaimed revamp of Will Eisner's The Spirit. Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's The Umbrella Academy followed up its Eisner win with the Harvey for Best New Series, while Mike Mignola was the surprise winner of Best Cover Artist.

DC nixes Minx

DC Comics is closing down its Minx imprint after the young adult-oriented graphic novel line struggled to establish itself in a market dominated by the popularity of manga. Launched in mid-2007 under veteran Vertigo editor Shelly Bond, Minx's digest-sized black and white books were aimed squarely at teenage girls but despite some positive reviews for titles from established young adult novelists and comics talent including Mike Carey and Andi Watson failed to attract significant readership.

Virgin Comics becomes Liquid; Death-Defying Devil gets mini

Struggling publisher Virgin Comics has restructured and relocated from New York to Los Angeles under the banner Liquid Comics, after apparently losing the financial backing of Richard Branson's Virgin group, and will be continuing with an unspecified number of its previously announced comics and multimedia projects.

Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's Project Superpowers universe continues its expansion with a forthcoming Death-Defying Devil solo limited series by Joe Casey and Edgar Salazar, launching in December through Dynamite Entertainment.

Writers and Artists Unite
@ the Grace Emily February 7th

Prospective writers and artists, professional scribes and illustrators, curious comic buffs and those up for a great chat or just a relaxing time are all more than welcome to get down to the Grace Emily Hotel, 232 Waymouth St Adelaide on Saturday the 7th of February from 2pm for the usual monthly gathering of awesome talent!

Yes, the Grace plays host to everyone creatively minded on a sunny Saturday afternoon; kitted out with some snacks and PFC-funded happy hours, how can you possibly go wrong?