Comic Book Brain

Last Update: February 3, 2026


Keeping the Angoulême International comics festival alivele Monde

The residents of Angoulême, in southwestern France, have their own way of referring to the event that livens up their city every last weekend of January. They do not call it a "festival," and certainly not the "FIBD" (the French acronym for the International Comic Book Festival), but more simply la bédé, the French slang term for a comic book..."


The Deadpool-Batman crossover "The World's Last Superhero Comics"The Comics Journal

Last September’s Deadpool/Batman (Marvel Comics) and November’s Batman/Deadpool (DC Comics) are not only the publishers’ latest crossovers but their final superhero comics. The vanishing point of print superheroics..."

It's instructive to remember that The Comics Journal has been predicting the demise of superhero comics for a very, very long time.

Death of the Superheroes, 1979

Fujitake Death of the Superheroes

The Comics Journal for many decades has had a fairly low threshold of pain when it comes to superheroes. This 1979 cover by Fujitake (for the interior fantasy-article by Steve Skeates) kind of sums up the frustration of the magazine with the most lucrative genre within the American comics medium.

Steve Skeates started in comics in 1965 as an assistant to Stan Lee at Marvel Comics. From there he quickly went into freelance writing and worked for nearly every major comic book publisher, such as: Marvel, DC Comics, Tower Comics, Charlton Comics, Gold Key, Archie, and Warren Publishing. He died on March 30, 2023 at the age of 80.


Quite a headline

"This May, Marvel Comics celebrates Free Comic Book Day Comics Giveaway Day with previews of Armageddon, Amazing Spider-Man #1000, the return of Doctor Doom, and more"Comicbookmovie


New Disney theme parks boss Josh D'Amaro takes over from Bob IgerReuters


"Saving Marvel," interview with Peter Cuneo, Chairman of Marvel Entertainment (1997–2003)Polygon

Marvel was hit especially hard when the comic book speculator market collapsed in 1993, which ultimately saw nine out of every ten comic book shops close. The early 1990s enjoyed great comic book sales and it was the first time comics began to be recognized as a valuable art form. However, publishers took advantage of this by launching new comics with limited-edition covers and other gimmicks. Sales were strong for a while, but eventually collapsed, nearly killing the entire industry. Coming into Marvel, Cuneo he knew his job wasn’t about interfering with the comics...."

The phrase "...the early 1990s enjoyed great comic book sales and it was the first time comics began to be recognized as a valuable art form" isn't really accurate but the article does give a pretty good overview of the collecting industry in that era and forward.


Spider-Man Holiday Snow Wear 2025

Joshua Williamson interviewAIPT Comics


"Ten hottest comics of the week"Bleedingcool


"Parasitic behavior” and the lawsuits around the cancelled, the replacement version, and the 2026 Angoulême International Comics FestivalDaily Cartoonist

What's happening to the Angoulême International Comics FestivalComicsbeat

Earlier this month a newly reformed Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême (ADBDA) announced a call for an alternative organiser to develop and organise a brand new comics festival in the town. This call followed the collapse of the 53 year old institution in late 2025 following author and publisher boycotts against controversial organiser 9e Art+, who had been reinstated by the Association FIBD despite widespread opposition..."


Obituary of Sal BuscemaThe Comics Journal

Because he worked on so many different Marvel titles, Buscema eventually had a hand in creating a number of well-known Marvel characters. Buscema and Steve Englehart created the Defenders super-team in 1972, adding Valkyrie to the group with the fourth issue. With writer Roy Thomas, he co-created the Squadron Sinister and the supervillain Llyra for the Sub-Mariner title. With Steve Gerber, who succeeded Englehart on The Defenders, Buscema co-created Starhawk. In 1976, Buscema co-created Graviton in The Avengers #158 with writer/editor Jim Shooter. During his long tenure on The Incredible Hulk, Buscema, collaborating with writer Bill Mantlo, co-created the U-Foes and the Soviet Super-Soldiers. Buscema later described his run on the Hulk from 1970 to 1985 as, "probably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. The fact that the Hulk is my all-time favorite character might be a contributing factor. I never tired of the character. Every story was a new challenge...."


Bill Schanes buys Bud Plant's Bud’s Art BooksDown the Tubes


Impact of the Amazon layoffs Comicsbeat "...the remaining Comixology staff may have been among them."


The "war" over the origin story of Wonder WomanBleedingcool

I've heard far more radical origin revisions for Diana Prince.


Walmart Display Fantastic Four

Walmart Display January 15, 2026


The Future of Will Eisner's work

Get out your wallet: Will Eisner copyrights are coming up for saleNY Times

The Times story claims that the sell-off includes Eisner' graphic novels, his books for kids, the books he made on how to make comic books, and probably his most famous work of all The Spirit, the 1940's superhero that Eisner revived from time to time, including a 72 page The Spirit Returns which was done in 1996 and never published.

As Yahoo reported in 2025:

Will Eisner is known as the father of the graphic novel for his 1978 publication A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories. The milestone in sequential art was deeply personal, written a few years after Will lost his young daughter to leukemia, and it was instrumental in shaping the medium.



Christina Hodson is writing Batman: The Brave and the Bold filmMSN Moviefied

Hodson also wrote Birds of Prey, The Flash, and Bumblebee.


2026's action film slateYahoo News

The "15 most-anticipated" action movies discussed, such as : Good Luck - Have Fun - Don’t Die, Spider-Man Brand New Day, The Bluff, Supergirl, Masters of the Universe, The Odyssey, Avengers: Doomsday and others.


Desk Knick Knacks of superheroes and Star Wars

Auto alignment and weld shop


Old law on comic books that could theoretically get many a comic shop owner arrested, has been repealed in CaliforniaKCRA Sacramento


Pattinson's Batman II: Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan is going to be Two-FaceForbes

Reports of Johansson’s casting don’t confirm a specific role, but considering Stan is playing Dent, I am guessing she’s portraying Harvey wife Gilda Dent, who plays a significant role in the best-selling comic book story arc The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sales. The comic story is among the potential influences for the movie’s plot..."


Signed Batman Cowl 2000 Dollars

Only $2000.00


The 1942 Wonder Woman #1 Facsimile Edition will be in Golden Age size13th Dimension


Jim Lee talks about the "harsh truth" in Manga vs American comic booksInde News


In the top fifty comic sales for 2025, Marvel only has seven titlesMSN Bounding into Comics

Their bestselling title was the Wolverine-Batman crossover.


Interview with Tessa Hulls, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for graphic novel autobiography Feeding GhostsThe Comics Journal


Disney's new "science comic book" lineComicsbeat


Independent Publishers Group (IPG) enters the "chaos" following the collapse of Diamond Publishers Weekly

[CEO Joe Matthews] ... said that distribution for small publishers has become more difficult in recent years. As book prices fail to keep up with rising costs, small distributors have been forced to consolidate and drop low-cost formats, including mass market paperbacks and floppy comics. The economics of floppy comics make that format untenable for IPG to carry, Matthews explained..."


Muskegon Michigan Museum of Art prepares for comic book art exhibitWood Gand Rapids "60 years of original comic book artwork in POW! The Art of Comics. "

Official Museum web site


How many comic book businesses were killed by the Diamond bankruptcy?Comicsbeat


Swamp Thing "37 year saga" to concludeCBR


20 years of Marvel’s most infamous eventComicsbeat

Marvel celebrates the anniversary of the original Civil War crossover with Civil War: Unmasked, a five-issue series by Christos Gage, Edgar Salazar, and colorist Morry Hollowell.


Who liked, and still likes, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’? Warner Bros. Execs Pam Abdy And Michael De Luca Boundingintocomics

The "audience was wrong" is the battle cry of Hollywood producers since the industry began.


Nicolas Cage

The "Nicolas Cage Action Comics #1" goes for $15 million - the new recordMSN Nerdable

It was stolen from Cage in 2011, eventually got tracked to a California storage unit, Cage sold it for $2.2 million (he paid $150K for it back in the 1990s) after recovering it, and has this month gone for $15 million - - officially, and easily, the highest price paid (yet) for a comic book. There's going to be a whole new slew of media stories about finding forgotten comics under beds and in attics "that could be worth millions."


GO TO ARCHIVES

Super-movie-money-man-2025


Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter

Classic Film, reviews and more Cinemagraphe

Belief-Code, Body Code and T3 Therapy? See sacred-connection.com

Virginia USA based Elder Care for bill payment, case management, prescriptions, tax records or support for caregivers - AllStar Care Solutions