Having installed a marketing guy, Avatar is now sending out press releases, and the first one is announcing a talent hunt for artists!

Want to work on an Alan Moore or Warren Ellis project?

Avatar Press is looking for artists for a number of projects over the coming year, including Alan Moore and Warren Ellis comics. Also needed are artists for licensed books that require the ability to draw good likenesses, artists for future Lady Death series, and over a dozen other high-profile projects.

“We currently have 22 artists working on comics for Avatar Press, and we’re still not where I’d like to be in terms of having artists available to assign to upcoming projects,” says Avatar Press EIC William Christensen. “We are focused on making inroads into addressing the scheduling issues we have had in the past, but one thing I need to do to continue to make progress on that is to hire more artists. I’ve got a number of already-written or in-progress upcoming projects currently without artists attached that I’d like to get firmed up on the schedule, so Avatar is looking for pencilers or penciler/inkers who can work in a variety of genres.”

Penciler/Inkers or pencilers may send their submissions or links to their samples to submissions@avatarpress.net.

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This may not seem like a big deal, but for comics retailers, Virgin allowing a more generous discount means retailers may feel more inclined to order more issues up-front. Virgin has done a lot of promotion for their line, and reorders have been good, but this is a step that retailers have been asking for for a while.

Effective with the February Previews, Diamond has increased the discount on Virgin Comics’ acclaimed line of comic titles.

Formerly available at an “F” discount (lower of 45% or standard discount), all newly solicited Virgin books will now be offered at an “E” discount (lower of 50% or standard discount), making them more lucrative than ever before. (Please Note: Though this discount change is effective with February-solicited titles, the February Previews went to press prior to the change, and as a result all Virgin titles are listed at an “F” discount in the February Previews Retailer Order Form. Diamond’s electronic ordering methods will reflect the change, and all February-ordered Virgin titles will receive the improved “E” discount. The improved discount does not apply to previously solicited and/or shipped Virgin releases.)

The Scotsman has a very long and sad account of the events leading up to the murder/suicide of cartoonist Harry Horse and his wife:

THE phone call had been planned for months. The three sisters of Harry Horse, the political cartoonist and children’s author, hoped to achieve in unity what they had failed to do alone: reconnection with their estranged but beloved brother.

It was agreed that in January they would gather round the kitchen table, put on the phone’s speakers and dial their brother’s home in Shetland. Kay, the eldest sister, who lives in the United States, was to return home as a surprise for their mother’s birthday and she, Mary-Anne and Emma had decided to bridge the family rift. It was a call never made. The discovery of 46-year-old Richard Horne – Harry’s real name – and his wife, Mandy, 39, dead on the bed of the couple’s home in Papil, on the island of Burra, on the morning of Tuesday, 9 January, after what is thought to have been a suicide pact, ended any chance of reconciliation.
For Horne had, one by one, cut his family out of his life as he struggled to cope with the mental torment of watching his wife dying of multiple sclerosis, a condition that first confined her to a wheelchair and later robbed her of speech.

§ All kinds of internet gossip rag scuttlebutt about Katie Holmes turning down a role in the next Batman movie:

Katie Holmes has turned down a $2 million deal to star in the sequel to ‘Batman Begins’.

The actress was expected to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes alongside caped crusader Christian Bale for ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ but has pulled out because of “scheduling conflicts”.

Rumours have already circulated that Katie has been replaced by ‘Wedding Crashers’ actress Rachel McAdams for the comic-book adventure, also starring Heath Ledger as The Joker.

While some are blaming this on Holmes’ conversion to Cruise control, we’ll note that she was never mentioned as being in the movie, and Mary Jane and Lois Lane aside, love interests almost never come back in superhero movies. Batman and Indiana Jones need a new main squeeze every time out. All we can say is: THANK GOD!

§ 300 is being released in IMAX:

“Warner Bros. Pictures and the filmmakers are very excited to bring this unique cinematic experience to both conventional and IMAX theatres this spring…The immersive IMAX Experience will transform this film, offering audiences an alternative way to view this highly-charged picture.”

Director Zack Snyder also just got his own production deal at WB where he’s prepping…WATCHMEN.

The trailer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is up and it looks a lot funnier than we thought, but then the entire trick is making this funny in more than a 15-minute portion.

Speaking of Adult swim, they have announced their first two live action programmes, The Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job from the makers of Tom Goes to the Mayor, and Saul of the Mole Men, “a comedy-adventure shot entirely in-front of a green screen” said to be inspired by Sid and Marty Krofft. Both Debut on February 11.

Daniel Radcliffe is ditching his Harry Potter image — and his pants as several stills from his role in EQUUS show. The stage role famously requires a young star to run around starkers as he blithely blind horses. 17-year-old Radcliffe seems up for the task, and producers have been stunned at how easily he dropped trou:

Thea Sharrock, director of the new show, said: “Oh My God” when she saw Radcliffe undress for the photoshoot in a hangar near Heathrow, according to the producer David Pugh. “There was no hesitancy about taking off his clothes,” he said. “When that boy takes his shirt off, Harry Potter has flown out of Hogwarts for good.”

Producers are said to be “overwhelmed with his talent” which is, all things considered, better than the reverse, if you take our meaning.

To get the mildly pervy taste out of your mind from the proceeding, here is a more wholesome still from the Satanist recruiting film, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

by Marc-Oliver Frisch

DC Comics placed six of its releases in the Top 10 in December, including two issues of Justice League of America, three issues of the weekly 52 and the debut of new ongoing series Justice Society of America, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Dale Eaglesham. The publisher’s output rate, which had seen a drastic 25% increase in November, was only marginally down from 88 titles to 85 (not counting magazines and cartoon adaptations). At the same time, however, a whole range of major DC titles again failed to appear in December, including three quarters of the company’s Superman line with All Star Superman, Action Comics and Superman, as well as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Authority, Astro City: The Dark Age and Deathblow.

Notable December releases from DC Comics were the debut of the ongoing Batman Confidential, by Andy Diggle and Whilce Portacio; the return of the eponymous Will Eisner creation in Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit; the launch of WildStorm’s Welcome to Tranquility, by Gail Simone and Neil Googe; another horror film adaptation with Friday the 13th; Vertigo’s latest stab at their favorite franchise with the limited series Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason; the DCU: Infinite Christmas Special; and the final issue of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s controversial butchery of superheroes, The Boys, which was recently canceled on short notice due to content issues.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.

—–

1/2 - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
12/2003: JLA #91            --  58,981
12/2004: JLA #109           --  63,791
--------------------------------------
12/2005: JLA #123           --  76,899 (-  4.9%)
01/2006: JLA #124           --  74,069 (-  3.7%)
02/2006: JLA #125           --  74,341 (+  0.4%)
03/2006: --
04/2006: --
05/2006: --
06/2006: --
07/2006: Justice League #0  -- 162,378 (+118.4%) [169,199]
08/2006: Justice League #1  -- 212,581 (+ 30.9%) [238,353]
09/2006: Justice League #2  -- 143,412 (- 32.5%) [154,923]
10/2006: --
11/2006: Justice League #3  -- 140,939 (-  1.7%) [143,310]
12/2006: Justice League #4  -- 136,709 (-  3.0%)
12/2006: Justice League #5  -- 132,460 (-  3.1%)
-----------------
6 months:  n.a.
1 year  : + 75.0%
2 years : +111.0%

The JLA relaunch continues to be highly successful, claiming the two top spots of the December chart as it catches up with its schedule. There’s a slight decline setting in, but it’s nothing to worry about. As usual, the sales of both issues were boosted through variant cover editions.

Shipping in the last week of December, issue #5 was, reportedly, one of several DC Comics titles held up on the West Coast due to logistical problems and didn’t reach stores until January in those parts.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, none of the DC titles in question display any especially abnormal sales. This is particularly odd because Marvel’s Exiles #89, which was involved in the same delay and operates on a much lower sales level than most of the involved DC books, apparently ended up being short of a whopping 10,000 units as a result, which makes up about a third of its sales. (See Paul O’Brien’s column on Marvel sales for the details.)

This leaves three possibilities. One, for some reason or other, DC’s books were not affected remotely to the same degree as Exiles. Two, the Diamond chart somehow factored in the missing DC units, but not those of Exiles. Or three, Exiles numbers dropped for some other, completely unrelated reason. Either way, there’s clearly a missing factor here. If anyone knows what’s going on, I’d be delighted to know.

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Colbert will only be signing, not doing any panel or media appearances. But maybe Stephen Jr. will make an appearance as well!

Oni Press is elated to announce that Stephen Colbert, the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, will be making an appearance at the New York Comic-Con in support of the new comic book miniseries, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen. Based on Colbert’s self-published, but undistributed, science fiction epic, Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure and the inspiration for the series of Tek Jansen animated shorts on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen is a five-issue miniseries set to arrive in comic shops everywhere this March. To help promote this launch, Mr. Colbert will be signing at the New York Comic-Con on Friday, February 23rd at 4:30 PM.

“We are so excited about Tek Jansen’s comic book debut!” exclaimed Oni Press founder and publisher Joe Nozemack. “Mr. Colbert and the rest of the BusBoy Productions staff have been so supportive and encouraging during the development of this project. We’re proud to be working with such a talented array of people and we’re delighted Mr. Colbert will be joining us at the New York Comic-Con.”

Oni Press, Inc., one of the premiere independent publishers of comics and graphic novels will also be setup at Booth #353. There, they will host a plethora of additional comic creator signings, portfolio reviews, and previews of some of the exciting projects coming later in the year from the publisher.

“The New York Comic-Con is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated pop culture events of the year and all of us at Oni Press are thrilled to be adding to that buzz with this appearance by one of the most beloved personalities on television,” concluded Nozemack. “Stephen Colbert has already changed punditry forever and comic book science fiction is next!”

Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen #1 (of 5) is a full color, 32-page comic book that retails for $3.99 US. It is written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with Jim Massey and illustrated by Scott Chantler with others. The first issue features a special 1-in-4 variant cover by Astonishing X-Men artist John Cassaday and it arrives in comic shops everywhere this March!

The nominations for Web Cartoonists’ Choice Award are up — you’ll have to go to the link for the entire list, but we’ve copied the top two here. Seriously go to th elink, because it has links for all the webcomics and you will discover many marvels and wonders. All in the link.

OUTSTANDING COMIC FINALISTS:

Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Narbonic by Shaenon Garrity

Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch

Scary Go Round by John Allison

Templar Arizona by Spike

OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER FINALISTS:

The Curious Adventures of Aldus Maycombe by Janine Harper

Breakdown by Elizabeth A

Lackadaisy by Tracey J. Butler

Out There by R C Monroe

The Broken Mirror by Elanor Cooper and JJ Naas

What Birds Know by Emelie Friberg and Mattias Thorelli

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BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, a werewolf film, got panned by the critics, but it did contain one piece of dialog that we might just quote:

Maybe she’s impressed by what Aiden does for a living. “I write graphic novels.” “You mean comic books.” “Noooo. Graphic novels.”

Did you know that Dark Horse is putting out a collection of Nick Gurewitchs brilliant webcomick PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP? We didn’t!. Says Gurewitch:

I’m taking the rest of January off to finish some work on the PBF book for Dark Horse. It’ll be a nifty, full color, relatively inexpensive hardcover with lots of extra treats inside.

YAY YAY YAY!

§ iFanboy: When Brians do collide! at Rocketship no less.

§Artists’ Alley completely sold out at this year’s San Diego comic-con.

§ The comments section at MangaBlog leads the way to a 10-page pdf download of NON NON BA, the Angoulême winning album.

§ This fellow doesn’t care much for Joe Matt:

“Spent” by Joe Matt is a little book with big problems. It’s about a self-loathing, chronic- masturbating, penny-pinching comic book artist who is writing a book about a self-loathing, chronic-masturbating, penny-pinching, comic book artist. And it does a pretty good job of encapsulating everything that is wrong with underground comics. I kept waiting for a story – any story – to emerge. None ever did. The whole book consists of the main character, Joe Matt, dubbing porn, complaining and urinating in a jar. If I wanted to spend time with someone like that, I wouldn’t read this book. I’d visit my grandfather. At least he has some funny stories.

OUCH! Is this a graphic novel backlash beginning?

§OTOH, “Graphic Novel” is now a legitimate film technique, apparently.

“The visual style is (like) looking at a comic-book page. The full screen of the movie theatre is like a page of a graphic novel that is constantly moving,” said McDonald during an interview last week. He was putting the final touches on the film at the Royal Theatre, on College St., which now doubles as a post-production facility/repertory house. “It’s kind of like Laser Floyd” – the laser shows set to Pink Floyd music – “but with a bit more of a story,” added McDonald,.

§ A webcomicker has won the prestigious Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at Sundance, as Talk About Comics reports:

“Everything Will Be OK,” directed by Don Hertzfeldt and based on his webcomic “Anesthetics,” has won the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival, it is reported. As Marc pointed out in comments, “It’s extracool news considering it was up against all the live action movies – animation almost never wins at Sundance! Go animation!!”

More here and here.

§ Is Kate Beckinsale set to play Carrie Stetko in the movie version of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber’s WHITEOUT? So says Film Ick:

Joel Silver is producing a heist-come-chase film called White Out. It’s apparently a bit like Hard Rain, but instead of being set amidst torrential floods, it all goes down in the middle of a calamitous snowstorm; and it’s also a bit like Insomnia in that the Antarctic setting is about to be plunged into months of darkness as the story gets underway.

Kate Beckinsale is reportedly set to star as US Marshall Carrie Stetko, our heroine in pursuit of the robber-killers.

§ Is Ari Gold teaming up with Stan Lee for an Unstoppable Force? This little bit from a profile of actor Jeremy Piven, who plays driven agent Gold on ENTOURAGE, seems to provide a clue:

“We’ve got a really exciting project that we’re working on with (Marvel comics genius) Stan Lee.” Called “Huckster,” it considers the “world of politics and p.r.”

§ BTW, do you remember that Bruce Campbell Old Spice commercial we so admired recently? turns out it was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the Little Miss Sunshine directing duo. Click link for AdWeeks analysis of the campaign and word of who painted the world’s longest ship.

§ WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO hopeful profiled

Like most kids, Malik is like a parrot, and Frison’s remarks in front of the TV that day last year didn’t go unanswered. “This is a dream of yours, isn’t it?” he said. “Yeaaahhh,” Frison said. “You’re going to be on the show next year.” That sealed it. When auditions in 10 cities were announced for the second season, the 39-year-old software trainer fashioned XSeven, who can absorb personalities and abilities of up to seven people at a time, and pieced together a skintight uniform adorned with orange and gold flames.

§ Kill yourselves now. The director of GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES is planning a CG-Live action feature starring ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS.

§ Doink recalls Bam Bam at funeral:

“We’d be walking through an airport, and maybe because of the travel schedule he might not have slept for 28 hours,” recalled Ray Liccachelli of Rockaway, N.Y., who was Bigelow’s main adversary for several years in his role as Doink the Clown. “I was always very fortunate because people didn’t recognize me. I was always under a costume. But poor Scott. It was like the circus was in town. And he always tried to be as gracious as he could. “Could I have an autograph? Sign my shirt? Sign my back, sign my leg?’ He was always nice to them.

“One year I wrestled 297 days, and I know Scott did at least that or more, with 13 overseas trips thrown in there. At one point I wrestled Scott every day for seven months, in what seemed like every town across America, and the world.”

comics212 has had a snappy new facelift and lets lose with a new salvo:

Every once in a while I’ll come across an essay, blog post, or even snarky comment from someone who’s been through a fandom and come out the other side, and when they have grievances I tend to give them a bit more weight… as in any weight… and really listen to what they have to say. I stumbled over a discussion about “Moe” a few months back that was like that, and it was really interesting because of it… I learned something, it was great. But coming across a series of columns like Bob Holt’s ‘I Love Comics’ at comicsnob.com? Not so much. I can’t even pull out a quote to illustrate why I think the column is weak, so much as the columns just belie a shallowness of experience and thought on the subject.

§ Living Between Wednesdays relives Superman and Big Barda making a porn film, courtesy of John Byrne:

[Link via Eric of all people.]

§ Over at Comic Coverage, Mark Engblom has a very funny, PSA-type take on the lateness epidemic. [Link via Tim Rakarich]

Dear Neil Gorman of The Comicology Comic Book Podcast has just discovered The Beat, and boy is he glad he did!

Today when I was doing a google search form some comic book news I found This site: PW: The Beat it is a GREAT site for comic book news and I think that anyone who enjoys comicology would also enjoy it.

Thanks, Neil! We’ll try to remain timely and informative!

Well, we got our new Swiffer Wet Jet, and the special bottle of stuff to clean the hardwood floors, only to find that we’ve fallen into a terrible trap, as reported by The Onion:

The blank, oppressive void facing the American consumer populace remains unfilled today, despite the recent launch of the revolutionary Swiffer dust-elimination system, sources reported Monday.

The lightweight, easy-to-use Swiffer is the 275,894,973rd amazing new product to fail to fill the void–a vast, soul-crushing spiritual vacuum Americans of all ages helplessly face on a daily basis, with nowhere to turn and no way to escape.

[snip]Despite high hopes, the Swiffer has failed to imbue a sense of meaning and purpose in the lives of its users.

“The new Swiffer, as seen on TV, requires no spray or chemical cleaners, so I’m sure you can understand how excited I was to finally find something that could give my sad, short existence a sense of worth,” said Manitowoc, WI, homemaker Gwen Hull. “When you finish the clean-up job, simply tear off the patented Swiffer Cloth and throw it away–as easy as one, two, three. But when I did this, tossing the soiled, disposable Swiffer Cloth into the garbage can like so many hollow, rejected yesterdays, I thought to myself, ‘Is that it? Aren’t I supposed to feel more fulfilled than this?’ It all felt so futile. I felt like that Swiffer Cloth in the trash represented me, my hopes and dreams made manifest. I felt like it was my goals and aspirations for a better life that were lying there in the garbage, never to be heard from again.”

In our own case, it was not so much ennui as a dirt build-up that thwarted our chances for happiness. The Wet Jet is handy and efficient, and performed well during a spontaneous, urgent “Cat Yak” test, but even after a soaking, the kitchen floor failed to pass the “Paper Towel” test — a wipe with Bounty still got up plenty of dirt.

(BTW, that is an actual picture of The Beat with the Swiffer, because when we want to mop the floors we always put on a pair of white capri pants, wink wink.)

Still, we’re commited to a new level of janitorial oversight here at Stately Beat Manor. We’re not giving up on our Swiffer, oh no. We’ve got to have something to live for, after all.

[Thanks to Ruth C. for the link.]

Argentinian master José Muñoz won the Grand Prix for cartooning in Angouleme. Born in 1942, Munoz is perhaps best known for ALACK SINNER and his other collaborations with writer Carlos Sampayo.

The other prize winners are listed in this French article. As near as we can make out, the best album was given to a manga for the first time, Non Non Bâ by Shigeru Mizuki. Five “Essential Albums” were also named:

- “Black Hole” de Charles Burns (Delcourt)
- “Lucille” de Ludovic Debeurme (Futuropolis)
- “Lupus” de Frédéric Peeters (Atrabile)
- “Le photographe” d’Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, Frédéric Lemercier (Dupuis)
- “Pourquoi j’ai tué Pierre” d’Olivier Ka et Alfred (Delcourt)

“Best Newcomer” went to Panier de singe by Jérôme Mulot and Florent Ruppert, from L’Association. The Heritage Prize went to Sergent Laterreur by Touis and Frydman. Canicola, an Italian series, won “Best Alternative” Prize.

Pictures and more en Francais ici. (That’s Jean-Claude Mézières, above, with Ludovic Debeurme.) Covers and commentary by Beaty at The Comics Reporter. Manga Blog rounds up info on Mizuki.

SuperDeluxe is a new “comedy video” channel just launched by Turner Entertainment. Poke around and you’ll find a few cartoons and familiar faces, among them this short featuring the voice of Toby Radloff, Harvey Pekar’s nerd sidekick by cult animator Lance Myers. In this episode, Ted deals with his mother’s refusal to bathe until he loses his virginity — a situation many a nerd has faced, to be sure.