RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books LITG: bits and pieces

I understand that the "Iron Man: Fallen Son" will receive a considerable degree of US media coverage. What, I don't know. The FOC ordering deadline for retailers is this Tuesday. Retailers, if you haven't updated your orders, now's your chance. We're not quite talking "Captain America" #25, but we're certainly talking "Gay Batwoman."

It's a hard life being a retailer. On one hand, you could get prosecuted for giving away a free comic book. On the other, a simple call from Wizard's Price Guide could see you on the end of a federal charge.

Recently, during the controversy over the conflict of interest over Wizard's editorial side knowing the contents of "Captain America" #25 and its retail side seemingly getting a resultant unfair advantage in ordering stock of the issue to sell at hyped up prices on eBay, Wizard representative Drew Seldin confirmed that there are no firewalls of information at Wizard to prevent such information flowing.

On the members-only Comic Book Industry Alliance forum, retailer Phil Boyle of Coliseum Of Comics in Orlando stated, "After speaking with my lawyer today we will no longer be supplying prices to Wizard price guide. Since Wizard is a seller of comics on eBay and recently admitted that there are no firewalls between editorial and the sales department, we feel it's best not to give the appearance that we are helping to set prices with a fellow retailer."

Fellow retailer Jim Hanley of Jim Hanley's in Manhattan replied, "I have long taken the same tack when regarding all such price guide contributions" before elaborating with "Discussing pricing with competitors is a Federal offense. The current Justice Department may be somewhat lax in enforcement, but all those prosecutors do need to do SOMETHING.

"As I said here some years ago, it may be that Federal penitentiaries are 'country clubs,' where you can meet a swell bunch of fellas, but I prefer my three hots and a cot on my own schedule.

"Those who have other views of the situation should follow their own counsel and let the rest of us know how it goes."

You know, it doesn't take much to get an allegation of price collusion going.

For the last year, a user going by the name of MazingMan728 has been posting major issue spoilers for "52" and recently "Countdown" on the DC boards. Usually he posted a scene by scene description of the plot of the issue, the Monday before the book shipped. And while some creators have not been happy to see their work reduced so, DC Comics has not reacted negatively.

Last week though something changed. After Mazing Man did the same to the new issues of "JLA" and the "Flash," and did so at the ComicBloc boards, there were complaints, all of MazingMan728's posts from the DC boards were removed and a contrite apology issued. It did rather smack of those forced apologies issued by employees at CrossGen.

It appears that MazingMan728 was a prominent figure working at Diamond Comics, the sole direct market distribution agent for DC Comics. DC Comics were moved to track MazingMan728's IP number and use further clues to identify him.

It appears that DC were happy for MazingMan728 to post what he did regarding some books, and there is evidence that such posts increased interest and sales in the series. But when it came to major series, high profile built up event spoilers, it was a different story.

For the last year, a user going by the name of MazingMan728 has been posting major issue spoilers for "52" and recently "Countdown" on the DC boards. Usually he posted a scene by scene description of the plot of the issue, the Monday before the book shipped. And while some creators have not been happy to see their work reduced so, DC Comics has not reacted negatively.

Last week though something changed. After Mazing Man did the same to the new issues of "JLA" and the "Flash," and did so at the ComicBloc boards, there were complaints, all of MazingMan728's posts from the DC boards were removed and a contrite apology issued. It did rather smack of those forced apologies issued by employees at CrossGen.

It appears that MazingMan728 was a prominent figure working at Diamond Comics, the sole direct market distribution agent for DC Comics. DC Comics were moved to track MazingMan728's IP number and use further clues to identify him.

It appears that DC were happy for MazingMan728 to post what he did regarding some books, and there is evidence that such posts increased interest and sales in the series. But when it came to major series, high profile built up event spoilers, it was a different story.

I was walking through Piccadilly Circus at about 1.30pm on Thursday night.

That's where the car bomb that didn't explode was.

I survived a non-exploding car bomb.

This is the third time terrorists have tried to blow me up and failed. Where's my medal?

I'm told Mark Waid is only writing four issues of the Flash series. Possibly before taking over some nice big fat exec role at DC.

Told you it would get media coverage.

One little tweak is that the early Associates Press release had the funeral of Captain America taking place in the "latest issue of Marvel Comics" rather than the "latest issue of Marvel Comics' "Fallen Son"' which it was later amended to. So, about half the reports went with the former. Shouldn't be too much for a comic shop to handle, but it does throw up problems with certain titles and labelling issues that the comics industry takes for granted.

As promised, a DEFCOM-style list of upcoming publicity information, that any publisher can happily use to promote an upcoming event. DEFCOMIC. HA, like that? I do. Look this is a really slow week for me, I have to get them where I can.

DEFCOMIC 1. Insane media obsession. DEATH OF SUPERMAN.

DEFCOMIC 2. Mass coverage, even on a busy news day: DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA.

DEFCOMIC 3. Mass coverage, on a slow news day UNMASKING OF SPIDER-MAN.

DEFCOMIC 4. Spotlight coverage that gets everywhere GAY BATWOMAN, GAY AUTHORITY.

DEFCOMIC 5. Spotlight coverage that gets lots of places CAPTAIN AMERICA FUNERAL

DEFCOMIC 6. Inconsidered kneejerk feature articles LOST GIRLS, BISHOP.

DEFCOMIC 7. Considered featured articles ALICE IN SUNDERLAND, PERSEPOLIS.

DEFCOMIC 8. Mention in a prominent media feature - 2000AD (B.L.A.I.R. ONE)

DEFCOMIC 9. Appearance in the background of other media - MILK AND CHEESE, DEATH, FLASH.

DEFCOMIC 10. Slow news day, page 12 of the Times newspaper - FLYING FRIAR.

After the Ellison/Groth mediation, who's next? Could it be Rob Liefeld and Platinum Studios?

Rob Liefeld writes, "Okay, the good news is that after a long protracted period that has stretched on since last fall, Platinum Studios and myself have recently come to the most amicable of terms that we have had in the past ten years. We have settled much of the differences that divided us until now.

"In a nutshell, what this means is good news all around for all the Awesome-Extreme properties and that we will be able to start producing much more product, comics, toys, games than any time in over a decade.

"So, in the immediate future, I've made a deal with an established publisher to start running new product as of October 2007. Look for the first fruits of this partnership in next month's PREVIEWS. There will probably be some news coming out of San Diego as well.

"An all-new Youngblood series will begin in early 2008, likely in January. A very talented and popular writer is at the helm acting as the producer of the series, I have in essence granted a free license to him and I will be producing covers for every issue.

"Yes, Bloodsport is on tap to finish as is several other long dormant products.

"As for the Arcade imprint, there are still new projects to come in 2008 from Arcade but that's way too far in the future to talk about. Arcade will be a production label on Bloodsport when it emerges at the new publisher.

"So, small steps but positive steps.

"Trust me, you'll have plenty to discuss in about 30 days...."

No word from Platinum as of yet. See you in four columns time then.

Last week, I gave you word of a Punisher Baby on the way soon.

Well, I also hear words of a Bob Reynolds (The Sentry) and Bruce Banner (The Hulk) fist fight on the way. Let the weakling secret identities clash!

Also, a mutant birth? Apparently they've been non-existent after "House Of M."

Brad Meltzer on Newsarama on internet and comics. "Most positive is that we're all not alone as readers anymore."

John Byrne on his forum. "I would call that the most negative! And right there we see the danger of what happens when fans turn pro, and are unable to stop thinking like fans."

From the master, here are a couple of gems from an interview with Alan Moore in the new "Tripwire Annual," apparently coming back from the printers as we speak and Diamond-shipping in early August.

On movies: "I was invited to the premiere of 300 but I didn't even like the comic… I think it's far from the best thing that Frank Miller has ever done."

On removing his name from the "Watchmen" movie: "If they go for some other novelty option like they did with V For Vendetta then I'm in for another year of excoriating them in every interview I do until they remove my name from it."

There has been quite the fallout since last week's column broke the "League" story. DC responded releasing what must be their shortest press release ever, citing international copyright issues and "related issues" as to the book's limited distribution to the USA only.

There can be no more legal issues outside the USA than there were in the first two League volumes, which featured extensive characters from the library of HG Welles and others, out of copyright in the US but still in copyright in much of the rest of the world.

And there are plenty of other works that have taken classical in copyright characters and used them to their own ends without legal issues. "League's" reinterpretation and recontextualisation is both an artistic and legal defence.

In the recent Tripwire Annual, Alan Moore mentions that he is unsure if the solicited Tijuana Bible section will be published. May there be some customs considerations regarding this section?

Jess Nevins, author of "League" commentary works, wrote on the DC message boards "There's a lot more going on here than you know about…"

I understand that a number of UK shops have already been arranging their own personal deliveries for customers, and that international orders for the standard hardcover and next year's Absolute edition at Amazon.com have been rapidly rising.

Mark Millar said that no one guessed his and Hitch's big Marvel project would be "Fantastic Four."

That's a lie. Pretty much everyone guessed it. It was obvious, from the moment Joss Whedon asked Hitch "Now you're going from the ultra-modern to the possibly least-edgy characters in the Marvel 'verse."

It was only Bryan Hitch saying, "From the Civil War stuff and current issues, I'd say FF is pretty edgy these days. Besides, I've always thought I'd be a poor fit for the Fantastic Four; too many greats in it's history. Lest edgy in the MU? Millie the Model" and then "Okay, how about I just TELL you I'm not doing FF Would that be more specific?" that made people doubt it.

Some people are up in arms about being lied to, which is ridiculous. These are creators of fiction, they lie all the time. That's what they're paid to do. Admittedly, Mark has an industry reputation of bending the truth, but it all stems from the same desire and ability to create fiction and to tell the best story.

Talking of which, Tony Harris and Mark Millar are doing an Image project called "War Heroes." Mark was meant to announce it at Chicago. It's possible he may have not…

I love it when a comic creator goes nuclear. Mike was asked about the pros and cons of going exclusive and his reply took in the whole comics industry and its recent history…


It destroyed Capitol Distribution, Diamond's main competitor, and signalled the end of competitive distribution in the comic book biz.
…

It's not Diamond's job to level the playing field. It's Diamond's job to look out for Diamond and do what's best for Diamond.

…

But the possibility of DC publishing Madman was raised and I got stirred up. After the "DI" experience, I was ready to say goodbye to X-Statix and when I asked for details on bringing Madman into the deal at DC it appeared that the deal no longer existed at all.

…

I've since heard from a few people that DC was throwing exclusive deals out like candy at a parade just to see who would run for it. And then would pick and choose among the eager.

…

Dan Didio had done me wrong on at least two occasions, including flat out "PROMISING" to me about "re-soliciting and releasing the TEEN TITANS special in a few months", and canceling the METAL MEN book Evan Dorkin and I were doing after "not liking" the first issue we completed. I still don't know the full truth about both of those situations

…

"Why won't DD keep his word and release it! I go nuts just thinking about it! I don't dare accept any invites to New York for fear I'll lose it and go all "Bourne" in the DC offices until I get my hands around a certain executive's throat"

Yeah, um, sorry about that whole "X-Statix" thing, Mike.

see, I would've bought Metal Men if Dorkin & Allred were doing it.

This weekend, I have mostly been watching "In Search Of Steve Ditko," the upcoming BBC4 programme where Jonathan Ross goes in search of his comics artistic hero.

Jonathan Ross is a national institution in the UK. In the mold of David Letterman, he has created a number of chat show formats, as well as introducing Britain to Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, whose influence in British comedy would dominate the nineties. He's a regular participant of "Comic Relief," a weekly BBC Radio 2 show, the host of the BBC's weekly film review show and the recipient of an £18 million deal over five years at the BBC. Which he has spent mostly on comics. He used to own a comic shop in Soho, London called Top Ten, is the biggest single customer of comics in the UK and owns a number of copies of "Amazing Fantasy" #15.

American comic geeks probably know him best for kissing Neil Gaiman at the Eisners this year.

So what better man to introduce Britain, especially the snobby arty types like me who watch BBC4, to Steve Ditko?

And he does an admirable job. With comics fan BBC Radio DJ Paul Gambaccinni and Mark Millar both enthusing over Jonathan's collection (Mark discovering the only way to get a word past Paul is to be filmed on a separate camera), Ross plots Ditko's career and influence, talking to Cat Yronwode, Flo Steinberg, Joe Quesada, John Romita Sr., Joseph Rubenstein and many more. Ross even shows a clip from the bloodthirsty Turkish Spider-Man TV show. And Alan Moore recited his Steve Ditko song lyrics.

And Ross paints a man of mystery of strange genius, of peculiar politics who came to Marvel, left his mark and then left, never being truly acknowledged for his influence. Annoyingly it cuts out Ditko's return to Marvel with projects such as "Machine Man" and "Speedball," seemingly because it spoils the narrative being painted.

But amazingly, Ross does something with Stan Lee that I've never seen on camera. He presses the point over Stan's acknowledgement of Steve Ditko as co-creator of Spider-Man and for about twenty seconds, Stan drops the mask. The huckster, the showman, the face-front of Marvel is gone and you see the true man behind... before the mask comes back up again. For someone who's been brought up on Stan Lee, hell I even interviewed him myself twelve years ago, it's incredibly unsettling and worth the whole programme.

And then Ross, hand in hand with Neil Gaiman, goes stalking Steve Ditko across New York City, giving anyone else who wishes to do the same all the information they need. Do they succeed? Well, that's presumably one of the reasons you'll want to watch the show.

It's a bizarre show, both Ditko/Comics 101 for a general audience, but also exploring some of the myths and legends that genuinely have grown up around Ditko, with an incredibly enjoyable presenter who means every word he says.

The show airs on BBC4 on September 18th at 9:30pm for 60 minutes. Odds are it'll be on YouTube the day after. Set your Sky Plus boxes... now!

So, why did Dabel Bros. Studios and Marvel part ways?

I understand it was basically over repeated non-payment to creators. Marvel had to cover a variety of payments and, as stated in the contract, in such circumstances, the contract was cancelled and Marvel ended up with the rights to a number of series which they'll continue to publish.

This is good news for Marvel. Not only do they get to be the good guys, but they also gain the "Anita Blake" series which just netted them the #1 best selling graphic novel this month - and that's only in the direct market.

I understand that there were other issues concerning operating budgets and schedule dates. But it was the non-payment that threatened to really blow up in their faces and there was real fear at Marvel that the non-payment story might all come out in this very column before they had a chance to fix it.

So they fixed it.

Les Dabel tells me "I'm not sure where you got this information from. The conclusions they've drawn are inaccurate.

"This was a business decision, not some case of 'good guys' and 'bad guys' as you suggest. We parted ways with Marvel on good terms and we are looking to continue what we do best -- to bring as many new faces as we can into the industry."

I would like to clarify I spoke to creators who feel stiffed by the Dabel's and individuals at Marvel Comics who are very clear about having to pick up Dabel's tab on a number of projects.

If anyone out there has anything to add, now is the time to do it.

So, who is the next writer of "Legion" after Tony Bedard? One blogger has been told one name. "Jim."

Lee or Shooter? Both have a strong interest in the title.

Well, as reported, the new "Legion" artist is Francis Manapul, whose inker is John Livesay, who is working on a project... with Jim Shooter.

Tony Harris' next project, is a comic book series set in the 1940s and written with B Clay Moore.

Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man's legacy:

"It invented a more reader-friendly comic book. Even though it's 120 issues, you read that recap page, which by the way didn't exist in ancient comics prior to Ultimate Spider-Man. That was a Bill Jemas invention. The new writers don't want to bog down the writing with exposition, which is just lazy writing. So to do a recap like they do in front of 'Law & Order,' or 'Previously on ER,' to do that and get back right into the story. So that has now been applied to every comic book."

A Bill Jemas invention indeed, and one that appeared in "Nexus," "Bone," "Flaming Carrot," "Astro City," all the Milestone books, Penthouse Comix, "Deadpool"... and then pretty much every Marvel comic in the mid nineties, sporting a fold out cover recap page with an ad on the back, all before Jemas had editorial power.

I understand that, to celebrate Sandman's 20th Anniversary, Neil Gaiman was to write a "Sandman" mini-series. However, recently the project was pulled.

When asked, Neil told me, "We couldn't come to an agreement that would allow me to do a new six issue Sandman story for DC, and many people at DC and my agent tried hard to make it happen. Pity."

I understand that certain people at DC are quite upset - though not with Neil or his agent. Given the performance of the "Endless" hardcover volume, this could have been expected to be a No.1 best seller in the direct market for all six months and the No.1 in the bookstore bestseller lists.

I understand that at the Baltimore Retailer Summit in September, Diamond are going to announce either a reduction or abolition of the Diamond reorder penalty on most or indeed all non-Premier publishers.

What am I talking about?

One of the bugbears of comic retailers and non-Premier publishers is the reorder penalty. Any book that's reordered after it was initially solicited, has a reduced discount to retailers. Only books from the designated "Premier" publishers - Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image and, bizarrely, Acclaim - can be reordered at full discount. It's basically a penalty for not ordering those books when they were initially solicited. It forces retailers to order heavy upfront if they want to minimize costs. But it also discourages retailers from reordering from non-Premier publishers at all. Indeed, why support a non-Premier book when, if you sell out of it, it will cost you more to get more copies? Some publishers have chosen to pay for the reorder penalty to retailers themselves to get retailers to keep their books in stock. It's a system that has entrenched the comics publisher ghetto.

However, of late, a number of retailers have discovered that if they order through bookstore distributors, they can get near enough the same discount as reordering a non-Premier publisher title. Which has led to a number of retailers deserting Diamond for all their non-Premier books. Diamond's decision to change things will no doubt help many publishers, increase the diversity of comics in many stores, encourage growth - and also stop the bookstore trade from stealing Diamond's direct market share.

I've been hearing more and more from people, unpaid by the Dabel Brothers, but none wishing to speak out for fear of never being paid, for losing work, or be seen as a troublesome employee. You know, a comic book creator union can't come fast enough.

In a tricky position are the creators of "Half Dead," a graphic novel published by Dabel through Marvel, but since its creator owned, it's not one of the books that Marvel now own a license to.

As I write, the remaining stock of the book is being held at Diamond. It's been printed under Marvel/Dabel livery, however Marvel has no more rights to publish the title, and Dabel are financially unable to commit continue distributing book right now. The only option is for the creators to continue to distribute the already printed book through Diamond themselves - but Diamond won't do so unless it has legal signoff on the Marvel/Dabel livery on the printed copies.

It's in a stalemate right now, and if it isn't solved, the printed copies will be pulped.

That was the situation as of late last week, but this weekend, I understand Marvel had agreed to allow this one issue of the book be distributed with Marvel colors, as long as it doesn't happen with subsequent work. The creators are currently waiting on word from the Dabels.

HORSEFUCK. Maybe it's for the best, though.

I was walking through Piccadilly Circus at about 1.30pm on Thursday night.

So, who is owed what from the Dabel Brothers' collapsing their deal with Marvel? I have a few names and numbers, but this is the tip of the iceberg.


Ricardo Ratton and Alex Starling, owed $1650 for pencils/inks/colours for half of "Ptolus" #5
Eduardo Pansica and Alex Starling owed $3300 for pencils/inks/colours for all of "Ptolus" #6
Jason Berek-Lewis $250 for script for "Legacy: The Rebellion"
Ig Barros, $195 for digitally painted cover of "Magician" #7
Rodney Buchemi owed $6900 for pencils/inks of all of "Red Prophet" #7, 8 and 10 and the cover of "Red Prophet" #11 and 12
Vitor Ishimura paid $900, still owed $2400 for "Wyrms" #4 and #5
Luis Hernrique owed $800 for pencils of 16 pages of "Anita Blake" #6
Alisson Ricardo paid $540, owed $1175 for cover of "Origins Of Prey" #2, pencils for "Origins Of Prey" #3, 13 pages of pencils in "Origins Of Prey" #4.
There are plenty of other people who have asked me not to run their details, for fear that they will never be paid or will alienate potential employees.

In my experience, a willingness to say you are owed money by a comics company, in a straightforward manner, after a reasonable period of time will only engender good feeling from other companies towards that individual. But, especially with Marvel involved, I can understand individuals' concerns.

One explanation Les Dabel has given to people asking what happened is that he believes he signed a poor initial deal with Marvel, against his own attorney's advice. He paid off other debts initially, but gave Marvel until this September to pay enough money to keep the cashflow going. However, this did not stop Dabel from promising and failing to pay creators. Despite claiming he has guaranteed incoming arriving from Marvel, he states he couldn't get a bridging loan from any bank. And in San Diego he was claiming that he was ending his deal with Marvel to speed up payments to creators, at a loss to himself.

This story is thrown in doubt in that the deal broke up only weeks before September, the date at which according to Dabel, Marvel were meant to pay a large cash sum. Creators remain unpaid. And any bank, shown contractual guaranteed income coming in a short period of time, would likely fall over themselves to lend money.

Currently, Dabel Bros. artists who are promised payment by Marvel have been asked to sign the standard Marvel Work-Made-For-Hire agreement before they receive their cheques, creating uncertainty as to who actually owns what. And this only covers titles that Marvel is continuing to publish, other creators look like they may remain unpaid.

Kas R. DeCarvalho, Esq., corporate counsel for Dabel Bros. Productions, replied to enquiries Monday morning stating, "DB Pro is currently in the process of finalizing the termination of it's partnership with Marvel.

"While this process is underway, we apologize, but we cannot publically discuss the terms of that agreement. In the interim, we are in the process of paying off all DB Pro debts, and we remain committed to ensuring that all creators who have worked with the Dabel Brothers--whether on Marvel-published projects or otherwise--will be paid in full in the immediate future. Any previously un-invoiced requests for payment should be forwarded directly to DB Pro at ldabel@dabelbrothers.com."

More to come, I'm sure.

Last week's story about the possibility of Diamond announcing at Baltimore that they will be dropping or reducing their reorder penalty for retailers ordering from non-Premier publishers has shaken out all sorts of interesting things.

Some wonder how can Diamond afford to cut reorder penalties? Well, because more and more independent comics product is offered to retailers at 50% discount, as opposed to the 57% that some of the smaller publishers enjoyed during the Distributor Wars TM, there has been a defacto penalty on independent publishers anyway. There's talk of a move to online-only reorders. And of course, there's competition.

Diamond have enjoyed an effective direct market monopoly on comics distribution by brokering exclusive distribution deals with the four largest "Premier" comics publishers.

But I understand that there are one or two companies interested in entering the direct market distribution system right now, who will be making themselves known at Baltimore next week. Initially they are interested in working with high profile independent publishers who don't feel best served by Diamond, first in bookstores, then into comic stores. But their interest may extend across the independent publishers and to Premier publishers whose exclusive contracts with Diamond may be up for renewal.

Could this be the beginning of the end of the Diamond monopoly? Are Diamond's upcoming announcements the sign of them fighting back?

And will Baltimore be the perfect setting for a bunch of distribution hoodlums to make a grab for Stringer Geppi's territory?

Jim Shooter on "Legion". On again, off again, on again.

But how smooth will it be?

In an interview posted at Valiant Comics from July of 1998, Shooter stated:


I called Paul Levitz (DC VP) about 2 weeks ago and I said "you know Paul, I've been thinking about this for a long time - I think I've got one more 'Legion' story left in me, so here's what I propose: I'll do it sort of like the 'Watchmen' - a long story that you can collect it into a book... 'Jim Shooter's last Legion story', set in the time period back when I used to write the Legion... I think I could do something good, I think it would be fun, so what do you think?" He said, "I want to read it," so I said what's the next step? He said, more or less, "It's a done deal. I'll call you Friday when I get back to the office (he was in San Francisco) to finalize it." He said, "Think about what reference (old Legion books, etc...) you need, because I know you don't have files of your old stuff." We both talked about how great it would have been if Curt Swan, who'd drawn some of my old stuff, were still alive to do it. Anyway, we agreed that we were going to do this, and that we'd work out the details on Friday. I said okay... but I want you to know Paul, there are some people you have working on your staff who don't like me, and they might not be happy with this. He said oh, there's a couple who will sulk in a corner for a while over it, but don't worry- I'll take care of it.
He didn't call me Friday, he called me the next Tuesday. He said "well, the scars are deeper than I thought. There was so much hatred and resistance and upset... I gotta keep peace in my house, I can't go through with this." I said "You know - like I said - I've thought about writing this story for years, and the reason I never called you before is because I knew this would happen. I don't even know why I called you now." This is what I'm up against; I can't get work. Am I such a bad writer that no one can use me?

From a Silver Bullet Comic Books interview posted in 2004, Shooter stated:


TH: What about the "last Legion story" you were rumoured to do?
JS: I proposed writing one last Legion of Super-Heroes story, a ten or twelve parter that would make nice trade book, to Paul Levitz. Paul agreed to do it. Then we talked a few days later and he told me that there were people at DC who hated me, and were up in arms at the thought of my doing any work there. Paul said it would be "more grief than either of us needed," and that was the end of that.

I also understand that Jim Shooter walked from a Marvel Comics project when Tom Brevoort gave him some editorial suggestions.

This all underscores how polarizing a figured Shooter still is in the comics industry. There are long-time employees at both major publishers who have long memories. At DC, apparently those who would rather not work with Shooter include high profile and long-time editors and executives. How the addition of Shooter to the DCU roster affects those internally is yet to be seen. Have things been smoothed over in the past year to make this project a reality, or is this just being pushed through despite any internal objections?

Another question is how will new fans react to Shooter's return to the title? While it's sure to be embraced by long-time fans of Legion, newer fans might not be as easy to get on board."

I hear Garth Ennis is leaving "The Punisher."

I understand after seven years, he feels he's said all he has to say with the character, and he's moving on to other work, including new Marvel projects.

He leaves behind him a quite extraordinary run on the book taking the character through both slapstick black comedy and a serious and compelling study at violence in the criminal world and how it spills over, Garth Ennis has imbued his characters with humanity, emotion, desires and quite a lot of bullets.

From his original 12 issue black comedic run in 2000 with Steve Dillon for Marvel Knights, a second run that began with even more madcap stories, but then matured into stronger more adult themes for three years before the book went into all out MAX territory where it has remained, with a number of miniseries and one shots such as Born, Barracuda, The End, The Cell and The Tyger.

One of the most remarkable reinterprentive runs at Marvel, up there with Grant Morrison's "New X-Men", Brian Bendis' "Ultimate Spider-Man," Frank Miller's "Daredevil," Peter David's "Hulk," Byrne and Claremont's" Uncanny X-Men," Byrne's "Fantastic Four", Garth Ennis' "Punisher" has redefined the character, refreshed it, taken the extraordinary and made it the norm.

Just remember, before Garth came back to the title, Frank Castle was an avenging angel with wings and drawn by Pat Lee. Now he's the most fascinating character being published by Marvel.

It will be a tough act to follow. Luckily Mike Benson, writer of one of my face US TV shows, "Entourage" and the "Punisher MAX Annual" is one name being lined up to take over the book.

So what happened to the rumoured non-Premier reorder fee changes and the emergence of new potential comics distributors at Baltimore?

Well, there's a lot going on and a lot of dots to join. Some may even make a pattern, who's to say?

I hear the current rival distributor plans are at least a year away, and depend on certain publishers' exclusive deals with Diamond coming to an end.

Not DC though, their relationship is assured. Indeed VP Direct Sales Bob Wayne's 20 Years At DC event at Baltimore was very Diamond-heavy, showing the strong ties between the companies and photos of Bob and Diamond staffers through the years. It may have been a last-minute gag, but it did kind of set the scene. Even among the Premier publishers, DC has a kind of Premier-Premier status, with more Previews covers, reportedly a better brokerage deal and the right to buy Diamond under certain circumstances - though DC has no wish to, it stops any other publishers jumping in. And indeed, why bother?

Indeed Bob Wayne and Diamond's VP Purchasing Bill Schanes were seen watching the Marvel industry presentation together like the long-standing fanboy friends they are, Bob taking notes, Bill suggesting which of Marvel's launches to work around, and which to go head on with. One overheard snippet between the two was that the "Sinestro Corps" should have been handled like "World War Hulk."

Cut to Diamond telling retailers that stopping the re-order penalties for smaller publishers would cost Diamond much needed revenue. We'll see if that situation remains the same next year after Hachette play their hand. Certainly right now more and more publishers continue to creep into the lower discounts bands being offered to retailers, while Diamond's profit margin on those books continues to increase. It wasn't that long ago that publishers could expect retailers to order at 55-57% off cover price from Diamond, now some have to accept retailers ordering at 35% off cover, which severally restricts sales with no change to the 60% off cover price Diamond pay the publisher for the product, in an industry that is supposedly growing year on year. There could be plenty of scope for a rival to step up if they could also grab one of the current exclusive-to-Diamond Premier publishers

Cut to Steve Geppi's Museum. A pet project of Diamond President Steve Geppi, housing and displaying many classic comic books, artwork and materials to the public. It contains a good sample of Steve Geppi's own personal collection.

I understand that in August the museum had to auction three of Steve Geppi's Carl Barks paintings away for their employees to get paid and to pay off other debts owed by the museum, as well as other rare and museum-worthy comic items.

Cut to this month Steve Geppi, making a $7,000,000 donation for his name to be placed on a brass plate in the Baltimore Oriole's baseball stadium in Camden Park, a donation to which DC Comics is contributing. He's also fundraising with ex-player BJ Surjoff as guest bartenders to raise money for an autism charity.

Cut to this week DC President Paul Levitz, presenting a humanitarian award in Washington to Steve Geppi.

There are dots to join. Any conclusions however are all yours.

Jason Berek-Lewis, reported last week in LITG to have an outstanding debt of $250 from the Dabel Brothers from October 2005, was suddenly paid in full this week.

LITG works, folks.

Also the Screenwriting Expo Screenplay Contest has had to write to entrants stating that Dabel Bros. Pro will no longer provide the comic book production deal which has been listed as one of the prizes again this year. Entrants may withdraw from the competition and receive their entry fee back if they wish. However, they have signed a deal with Atlantis Studios to to fully produce a print-ready graphic novel from a winning script with colour artwork, lettering and promotion.

As for confidence in future Dabel productions, I understand that Chuck Dixon, who was very badly burnt by Rick Olney, is writing/scripting Dean Kootz's "Frankenstein" for the Dabels.

And the Dabels are also doing their best to get Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy to adapt before "The Golden Compass" movie hits.

Pullman loves comics you know... especially Batman.

BBC4 aired "Searching For Steve Ditko" last night, I reviewed it here and it's repeated on Wednesday night.

Couple of things. Firstly there's the moment after this clip where Stan Lee clarifies that he is happy for Steve Ditko to be credited as co-creator of Spider-Man but asserts that he believes himself to be the sole creator. Quite the bit of television, look for a YouTube serialisation soon, or if you have a UKNova account, the whole thing is up there now. The BBC are generally fairly laissez-faire with both services.

Secondly, my one gripe is that the reason Steve Ditko left Spider-Man is portrayed as a great mystery, and one that he won't speak about. Well not in public perhaps, but he did to friends, colleagues and people who just asked him. Mark Evanier shares that gripe, stating, "He was unhappy because he believed Marvel's then-owner was reneging on certain promises about sharing in the revenues of the characters Ditko co-created, Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. He was upset with the way his comics were then produced, feeling that he was doing most of the writing work on the comics he did with Stan Lee, but that Lee - as dialogue writer - was getting too much of the credit and money. (Marvel's two other best artists of the period, Jack Kirby and Wally Wood - both good friends of Ditko's - felt the same way.) There were also personality clashes between Lee and Ditko - they didn't speak for the last eighteen months or so of their 'collaboration' - and Ditko was displeased by many of the creative choices Stan was making, treating Spider-Man as a morally-confused, troubled protagonist. Ditko, as was obvious from his subsequent work, didn't like heroes who didn't rigidly adhere to his own interpretation of good and evil, black and white. But Stan, of course, was the editor and had the last word.

"Ditko told me all that in his studio in 1970, not long after he quit. He's said it to others and I also think it's pretty easy to perceive in his other comics and in the occasional essays he's written for the fan press. He may write things like 'My reasons are my own and I've never divulged them to anyone' but we don't have to believe that…"

First hand source there. Any chance of a sequel documentary that mentions Speedball as well? No? Damn.

Jacen Burrows, on his Livejournal site, has been talking about the miniseries he's drawing from Alan Moore's script.

"It is all original HORROR and having read the scripts I can say that it is deeply disturbing, incredibly intelligent and unlike anything you have read from him. I expect the same level of controversy and discussion that Lost Girls created."

He also mentions, in his most recent entry, being unable to sleep and possibly losing his mind because of the work - and that the book is about insanity.

So rumors are now circulating that DC Comics is going to launch a new "Titans" comic with the team of Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Flash, Red Arrow and more. Now I haven't heard any people named for art, but Judd Winick's name is all over the project.

Odds are they'll get George Perez on covers.

Looks like illegal comics downloading has taken a bit of a hit the past week or so.

"TorrentSpy" is banning anyone with a US IP address using the service to find torrent files, comics or otherwise. "ISOHunt" has done similar. While this is a hit for many US comics downloaders, it's the disappearance of Canada's "Demonoid" torrent site that has caused the most concern, a very familiar site for illegal comic downloaders.

However, "PirateBay" stands tall, seemingly impervious to any and all legal attacks.

Arrrr.

Marvel has paid Luiz Henrique for Dabel Brothers Pro money owed to him. Indeed, quite a lot of people are anonymously reporting to me they've been paid. But not all. I understand that Rodney Buchemi, who drew six books, has yet to see a dime. And agent Romulo Soares for Lynx Studios reports huge amounts still owed to his clients by the Dabels, and he's currently going through legal measures to secure it.

Romulo also alleges Mat Nastos owes him money for "Cadre: Origins" #2 to #4 from two years ago, and Jason Mckee of A-10 Comics owes Lynx money for "Damaged" #2 and #3 and "Hand Of The Devil".

Pierre Villeneuve, subject of one of last week's stories, owed money by Mat Nastos for drawing "Fiorre" #1, published a year ago, selling 20,000 copies, yet paying out nothing so far, got in touch.

Pierre tells me after reading the article, and seeing the YouTube clip, he got back in touch with Mat, who admits he let things slip but promises payment by December 1st at the latest. Pierre is willing to be patient and states he took his own sweet time drawing the book.

In the meantime, the letterer Angel Sainz, emailed to say that he is still owed for lettering "Fiorre" #1, and invoiced Mat $120 in July 2006. He's also owed $400 by Atomic Pop Art for "Tracy Duty."

Small sums, but they can mean so much.

again? same as it ever was. . .

I understand that the publishing rights to "GI Joe" are up for grabs. After the success of the "Transformers" and with a "GI Joe" movie in production, Hasbro are looking around.

Devil's Due are certainly in line to retake the franchise, but so are Marvel, who are pushing that the "Transformers" movie which made so much money for Hasbro, used a lot of content generated by Marvel.

One peculiar wrinkle is that Marvel and Hasbro are still in debate over the rights to "Rom." The original patent on the toy has lapsed, so it's all about the development of the property, and who actually did what. There's all sorts of interesting legal questions being asked. Those Dire Wraiths didn't come from nowhere. And the upcoming "Essential Power Man And Iron Fist" had to miss out the issue that featured Rom.

It's all good for lawyers...

Greg Rucka is to join JH Williams on the much delayed "Batwoman" book.

This was meant to be announced during the summer conventions. It's still being delayed - a mixture of managing professional workload, and DC's nervousness about potentially damaging a brand with the publicity a title lead gay Bat-character may bring, and the release of "The Dark Knight" movie.

Stable doors and horses anyone?

"Green Lantern" #25 will see the debut of the hate powered Red Lantern Corps.

. . .Byrne is charging around $20,000 an issue which breaks down as he states:

"Minimum 22 pages plus cover, pencils and inks. All character and costume designs, etc. Logo design if requested. Script if so desired, plot input if done 'Marvel Style.' Physical ownership and publishing rights to all the work*. No further claim on the property by myself

"In other words, a package that adds up to slightly more than the asking price (with some monies factored in for a representation of royalties that will not be paid in actuality), and if the buyer takes it to Hollywood and makes a bajillion dollars, s/he doesn't owe me another cent.

"*Unless the work contains characters owned by other publishers. If someone asked for, say, Iron Fist meets Batman, for instance. Then, just the physical ownership."