Last Update: May 31 2025
Grouping graphic novels by author instead of by type? – Comicsbeat
Review of the new The Art of Fantastic Four book – Superhero Hype
Printed in an oversized 10″ X 14″ hardcover format, The Art of Fantastic Four is a treasure trove of Kirby’s artwork from 1961 to 1970. It contains several complete stories from issues #60, #71, #82, and #83. It also contains the king-size special Fantastic Four Annual #6..."
The science of Spiderman sticking to walls
Story at Sportskeeda
Five things that "make no sense" about Superman – Comicbook
The article is derived from the game that's been played around superheroes forever: the technical or scientific impossibilities. Sometimes it boils down to the the contradictions that are built into some hero's power array, that these overlapping powers would kill the user if deployed at the same time (or were even resident within the same person at the same time).
But, like most of pop culture, you have to ignore the reality scratching up from under the surface if you want to enjoy and "believe" in the phantasy spectacle of the story. "World building," however deep, cannot account for everything once you start comparing these stories to the infinitely detailed variables of reality.
Which is to say, picking out five nonsensical things about Superman is clearly clickbait.
Thunderbolted
A headline that makes little sense:
"Why Is Thunderbolts Headed Towards Becoming Marvel's 2nd Lowest Earning Film Despite Successful Run" – Times Now
The A.I. brain cells are grinding together on this one:
Thunderbolts* has emerged as the biggest hit for Marvel in past few months. The movie, not [now] called The New Avengers brought back the fame and fortunes for the Studios, emerging a global hit. However, despite all the success, it is also set to become the second lowest earning MCU film...."
It is a global hit but it's also a financial loser that cannot make its production money back? This is the classic "doublethink" of the 1984 novel by George Orwell:
... the core psychological mechanism required to live under the Party’s rule — believing lies while being aware they're lies..."The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
After 27 days, Thunderbolts at $358,321,585 worldwide - Box Office Mojo
Why Thunderbolts* is a financial loser:
The accepted production and marketing cost for the film is estimated at $280 million, though many doubt this is the true figure—with the actual number likely higher. Even so, this means that Thunderbolts* would need to earn at least $560 million at the global box office (since theaters typically keep around 50% of ticket revenue) before it begins turning a profit.
See the Top Earning Superheroe Movies of All Time list - - currently Thunderbolts is ranked #73 without consideration for inflation.
With DC and Marvel buddying up to make a Deadpool/Batman crossover, why not go forward with a some other crossover projects, too? – IGN MSN
Warner Bros has got a few hits going for them, but they're getting clobbered anyway – Boundingintocomics
They've got hits with A Minecraft Movie and Sinners but its not making the difference in their finances.
July's Superman movie is the second shortest film in DCU– Superherohype
That might be a good sign, because over-long movies are a plague.
John Romita Jr and Mark Millar getting back together on Kickstarter project – Comicsbeat
Comic Book wrier Peter David has died – UK Independent
Well, it almost happened
"Legendary" dark version of Batman Forever, aka "Shumacher work print cut" was about to be screened in Los Angeles for free, then legal things occurred – AV Club
New Fantastic Four movie promo
Fantastic Four First Steps premiers in USA on July 25, 2025
Why Boston is a comic book hub – MSN Boston.Com
Mission Impossible Final Reckoning at $30 million, so far, for opening weekend – The Numbers - Looks like Lilo and Stitch movie could go to $165 million over Memorial Day weekend - Hollywood Reporter
The two movies are expected to fuel the biggest Memorial Day of all time in terms of ticket sales, as well as set numerous records in their own right. While the mash-up isn't expected to be quite the same cultural phenomenon that Barbenheimer was, the potent combo of the two movies can't be ignored. Parents may take their kids to see Lilo one day, then ditch them and go see Mission sometime else over the long holiday weekend (as for a moniker, how about "Stitchin: Impossible")..."
Luke Cage and Iron Fist to be in Daredevil Season 2? – Superherohype
Mafalda comic in English translation – Comicsbeat
There’s no real way to quantify this, but it’s quite possible that to date Mafalda is the most famous comics character in the world who has not had her books translated widely into English. Well, that’s about to change. Next month, New York Review Books is releasing Mafalda Book One, a collection of the classic Argentine comic strips by the cartoonist Quino, available in English for the first time with a new translation by Frank Wynne...."
Wait, what?
Diamond is going to stop distributing comic books – Bleedingcool
Weekly bestseller: Invincible spin-off title – Fiction Horizon MSN
Diamond Select Toys getting shut down – MSN Fortress Solitude
Rebooting Red Sonja – Comicsbeat
Julie Newmar, original Catwoman, makes rare public appearance – People Magazine
Thunderbolts* goes to $325.7M worldwide though it loses top spot at box office – Deadline
To turn a profit, general estimates put the required worldwide gross for Thunderbolts aka The New Avengers needing to cross the $560 million mark.
Mike Deodato talks about not getting paid by Marvel for Riri Williams/ Ironheart TV show featuring the character he co-created – Bleedingcool
Supposedly, this Disney+ show was filmed three or more years ago and was shelved, and is now coming out because it has to meet certain contract obligations with the cast. Which is to say, the show is "rumoured" in that internet-way that rumours are spread around, that Ironheart, as originally filmed, was "incomprehensible" and the "worst thing Disney has yet made with Marvel characters."
The other complaint I've seen, and one that occurred to me, too, when watching the trailer, is that Riri sounds like a Marvel villain ("the world shall acknowledge my greatness!")
Is Marvel carefully setting up a plot twist in which the character learns that seeking "greatness" comes with a price and isn't the way heroes generally motivate themselves to do the things they do? Is Marvel trying to appeal to an audience that will identify with a narcissistic personality type? Is this actually a throwback to ancient heroes like Beowulf, who lived and adventured as a hero trying to make their name "live forever"?
Layoffs hit Diamond Distributors staff – Comicsbeat
List of new comics and comic-related books – Daily Cartoonist
Image Comics August book list – Bleedingcool
Chicago Alternative Comics Expo coming in June – Cake Chicago
Eisner Award nominations are out – Comicsbeat
Krysten Ritter will be Jessica Jones again for next Daredevil TV Show – Comicsbeat
Alec Baldwin Batman? Instead it was Michael Keaton in 1989 – Cinema Blend
New Superman Trailer
Why does Manga beat American comics? What could be the reason? – Fandomwire
back in August 2022, One Piece totally crushed it by selling over 516 million copies worldwide...
"
The article makes a comparison between Manga sales and (for example) Superman sales, and approaches the subject from various angles. Worldwide, manga simply has deeper reach and higher numbers.
Manga has completely blown up in the past ten years. In 2021, the manga market represented 70% of the comic book market, and superhero comics only represented around 15%..."
Hollywood box office sure is getting unpredictable – Los Angeles Times
Diamond seeking an extension before final close on bankruptcy – Bleedingcool
Thunderbolts getting closer to a $300 million global total – Deadline
When does it come to home streaming, Blu Ray etc? Newsweek "Marvel's latest ensemble film Thunderbolts* is slated to hit Disney+ this summer following a theatrical debut that drew praise for its performances and direction, though its box office figures have been more restrained compared to recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) entries."
This is not the Tumbler Batmobile
Batmobile Tumbler for sale: $3 million – Fox Business
New Superman Trailer
Is the Diamond Distributors bankruptcy saga finally coming to an official end? – Bleedingcool
Mark Zingarelli has died – The Comics Journal
Mark Zingarelli, a prolific illustrator and cartoonist whose work appeared on the cover of The New Yorker and pages of Weirdo comics, died on April 18th. He was 72. The cause of death was septic shock and endocarditis, according to his wife, Kate Alexander Zingarelli...."
If you didn't already know, why is Jack Kirby an important American Artist? – Los Angeles Daily News
The exhibition shows the dizzying range of Kirby’s work, its development and evolution over time, and its inventiveness and continuing influence on our culture. My colleague Peter Larsen wrote about the exhibit, and I got to walk through it with co-curator Ben Saunders, who grew up in Wales reading Marvel Comics and eventually became a professor of English at the University of Oregon, where he founded the first comic studies minor in the world about 15 years ago. Saunders makes the case for Kirby as one of the artistic giants of the last century, citing his influence on everything from comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to musicians....
The Skirball Cultural Center web site page has the Kirby exhibit – May 1, 2025 thru March 1, 2026
There's a new Asterix and Obelix adventure coming in English in September – Bleedingcool
Ironfist - Daredevil TV show rumours – Superherohype
Sizzle Reel for Kung Fury 2 The Movie
Thunderbolts* is hanging in there – Hollywood Reporter
It's not Thunderbolts* anymore, but rechristened The New Avengers. Renaming a film that's already in theater is usually a desperation move when an unfriendly film title is viewed as wrecking the film's chances with audiences (for example, The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn became Birds of Prey after the first weekend release was poor).
The New Avengers is moving forward with a pretty good hold on audience count for a second weekend, but unless it can really keep doing it into the next several weekends, too – which is going to get harder with a lot of new competition coming – that appears the only way to make its money backin theaters and give Marvel a "win."
... the superhero pic may fall only 51 percent to 53 percent to $35 million or more in its second outing, one of the strongest holds in Marvel Cinematic Universe history. The ensemble superhero pic, led by Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, will finish Sunday with a global total north of $200 million....
Thunderbolts aka New Avengers set to cross $100 million mark this weekend – Yahoo News
The humongous fees cutting into the Diamond Distributors bankruptcy legal action – Comicsbeat
Pulitzer Prize Award given to the "graphic novel" Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls in the "Memoir or Autobiography" category. The Pulitzer explanation for the award:
An affecting work of literary art and discovery whose illustrations bring to life three generations of Chinese women – the author, her mother and grandmother, and the experience of trauma handed down with family histories..."
Now this is not good news
"BCW Comic Book Bags And Boards Being Hit By 150% Tariffs"
Story at Bleedingcool
Rube Goldberg Silver Award 2025 nominees listed – Daily Cartoonist
Is Thunderbolts* a success? A flop? The experts disagree
It is being said that if you factor in inflation, Thunderbolts* is the worst opening for an MCU film, if you don't include the disastrous The Marvels record-setter. Thunderbolts* has an estimated cost of nearly $280 million, i.e., $180 million for producing it and then an estimated $100 million spent marketing. With those numbers hanging over its head, Thunderbolts* needs to "grow legs" as they say, and have a good second weekend, then carry on through subsequent weekends to earn the money back to pay for itself and to establish the bona fides for the "Marvel is back" declarations.
And, maybe it will do it. Even the negative reviews I've seen (haven't see the film yet, probably this weekend) has people trashing it the usual way its done anymore with super movies, but then even these naysayers are listing the things they like in the film, and some of those lists are pretty long.
There are plenty of Thunderbolts* is a "success story" stories already out there, but since we're early into the run (5 days!) that doesn't have any validity (yet).
Related: After 7 days (USA) Thunderblots* aka The New Avengers at $177,301,321worldwide – The Numbers
The Clayface movie is getting a rewrite – Gamesradar - James Gunn is producing and its supposed to come out September 11, 2026.
The new Vision TV show will be the last Marvel series with major characters – Superherohype – Sounds like the new strategy is to require people buy the box office ticket to get to see top-tier Marvel heroes in new adventures and you won't be able to do this with a Disney+ subscription until later on after the theater run, then streaming sales and physical media.
The experiment in streaming (that appears to be coming to an end) is just like the experiment in VHS same-day sales that was attempted some 40 years ago when home-video was in its infancy. The idea was to get stuff out into theaters and then home video at the same time to make the huge advertising costs on a film to do double-duty by not only selling popcorn seats, but also use it to get home viewing sales (either through rental or direct to home). Instead, the result was that home video sales cannibalized the popcorn seat sales and traded the low-earning home video sales for the bigger-earning theater tickets. Streaming has tried a version of this and it has resulted the same way as it did then, circa 1983. (Likely) it would take another pandemic scare to reverse this.
Headline: "France To Create Its Own Wonder Woman/Harley Quinn Graphic Novel" – Bleedingcool
This is crowd sourcing pushed to a whole other level! 68 million people teaming up to create a Wonder Woman/Harley graphic novel? That's incredible!
Wait, looks like France has designated just two people to perform the honors:
Wonder Woman & Harley Quinn: The Forbidden Gift is a new comic book/graphic novel that has been created and is published from French publisher Urban Comics. Written by Sylvain Runberg, and drawn and coloured by Miki Montlló.
Its a 120 page original to release in September, 2025.
"Marvel knows you're bored with superhero movies, hence the Thunderbolts*" – Business Insider
Marvel has been struggling with superhero fatigue
..."
But that prompts the question: what causes this mysterious "superhero fatigue"?
Related: Disney CEO Bob Iger says: Thunderbolts is our new strategy – Variety
Related: After 5 days, Thunderbolts at $165,545,849 worldwide - Box Office Mojo
"...the Thunderbolts' real name at the end of the movie, The New Avengers, brings back a sense of camaraderie that the MCU has been missing..." – Hollywood Reporter
Felicia Hardy is coming in a new series with a (cough) new attitude – Marvel.com
After 5 days, Thunderbolts at $165,545,849 worldwide - Box Office Mojo
"...from Super-Thief to Super Hero..." - why are they giving away the surprise before the book hits in August?
Review of "Drawn to MoMA: Comics Inspired By Modern Art" – The Art Newspaper
The "mystery of Mad Peck" 1942–2025 – The Comics Journal
A mysterious figure on the fringe of the underground scene, Peck was the designer and a writer for his friend Les Daniels' groundbreaking book on comics history, Comix: A History of Comic Books in America (Bonanza Books/Crown, 1971), one of the very first books to seriously explore the comics medium. He also published several small booklets and novelty catalogs featuring his work through his Mad Peck Studios during that era and his strips appeared in important counterculture publications like the East Village Other and the Chicago Seed...."
Comix: A History of Comic Books in America was a book that wasn't soaked too deep in nostalgia like many of the books on comics, probably because part of the book was of such recent stuff (in 1971) that it was like a sampler of what was out there since so many of us getting comics then were confined to rather narrow supply sources.
Attack of the anti-fan – Comicsbeat
...social media is ruled by anti-fans who would rather talk about the stuff they hate than the stuff they love..."
The article lists a lot of anecdotes of "toxic" clashes and the feelings of various famous (within comicdom) people, but it doesn't mention by name the 'anti-fans' they're talking about. It also doesn't bring up the other side of this equation, the "celebrity" attacks on fans which churns up a lot of news coverage but has no particular ability to boost sales (or gain new fans for the medium) and of course the obvious question is: how could it? Whether the customer is a slob or a gentleman-or-woman of fine means and taste, barking at them about their opinions and choices just isn't going to work out in a marketplace. This is true in all the other mediums of art, from music, to painting, sculpture, folk crafts, graphic design, etc. Only pleasing the customer works if you're selling a service. If you've ever had a bad experience at a restaurant or hotel, you know this: you (likely) don't go back.
Jenette Kahn to auction art collection May 15 – Bleedingcool
Jenette Kahn's collection includes furniture (such as this Catwoman Chaise obviously based on Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman from Batman Returns) and art (A Bob Kane Batman lithograph) and a whole lot more. Kahn was head honcho at DC Comics for 26 years, from 1976 to 2002.
Items are online for auction at Heritage Auctions. Probably there will be a dedicated page to the collection on May 8th when they publish the reserve prices on the items.
Wal-Mart superhero stuff - April 28, 2025
The "mysterious" status of the Diamond Distributors auction sale – The Comics Journal
A comic strip history starting with The Yellow Kid – South Florida Reporter - A nice outline of the highlights in a time line list
Thunderbolts* kicks off with strong $162 million worldwide haul over weekend – Hollywood Reporter
May 4th, 2025
Celebrities who want to make comic books – Uproxx
Frankel is a comics guy, through and through, who discovered that there’s an overlooked niche in the medium: comics by folks who may well be just as big fans of the hobby who have for years been hamstrung by low expectations from gatekeepers within the industry. ... The end result has been stories and books that feel more like cash grabs than actual comics from musicians who love comics. Josh’s plan is simple: Becoming a one-stop shop for those artists looking to put their ideas to a different kind of page, pairing them with writers and artists who can bring those ideas to life, and making the process pleasant for everybody involved...."
The 2025 Minicomic Awards – Comicsbeat
The Nib & Ink Fest is a month-long online comics fest hosted by the Cartoonist Cooperative. The judges for the 2025 Minicomic Awards were Barbara Benas, Ashanti Fortson, Gigi Murakami, Cam Marshall, Evan Dahm, Arpad Okay, and Madeline McGrane..."
At the Free Comic Book Day in London – Bleedingcool
Thunderbolts* has strong start – MSN Variety
Marvel's "Thunderbolts*" will easily top the weekend box office after cracking a $31.5 million gross across Friday and preview screenings from 4,330 theaters...The hope for Marvel is that "Thunderbolts*" may open smaller, but will hold much stronger."
"Promising" start to Thunderbolts* run – Hollywood Reporter MSN
The star-studded movie, led by Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, kicks off the summer box office in what's become a tradition for Kevin Feige‘s studio. The pic is winning over critics and audiences alike; as of Friday morning, Thunderbolts* boasted a 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the top four scores for a title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe..."
Movie Reviews Thunderbolts*
"Maybe... Thunderbolts* rescues Marvel from slump" – MSN Business Insider
'"Florence Pugh can't rescue this flop" – Mashable MSN
"Best Marvel in years" – Indie Wire
"‘Thunderbolts’ is Marvel, and Florence Pugh, in high gear"... "a return to form for Marvel" – AP News
One reason the Avengers movies and their spin-offs were successful — before they became hopelessly mired in their own mythos — was their willingness to not take themselves all that seriously. “Thunderbolts*” demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of that strategy as a movie that includes some genuine wit but also a tiresome amount of what has become the series’s signature in-jokey sarcasm...." – "Another Marvel widget" – Washington Post
Sounds awful, but no. The original formulaic Marvel screenplay was rewritten by Lee Sung Jin, creator of TV’s Beef, and then again by Joanna Calo, the co-showrunner of The Bear. Between them they’ve found the sweet spot that allows a powerhouse performer such as Pugh to hold a drama together with tear-jerking scenes of ache and regret while nonetheless adhering to the nominal structural demands of a superhero movie..." – "Thunderbolts* review — we needed this Marvel film with Florence Pugh" – UK The Times
Black Hammer One-Shot for Free Comic Book Day
Story at Forbes
Whether you’re a newcomer to the Black Hammer series or a longtime fan of the Eisner Award-winning title, you won’t want to miss acclaimed writer Jeff Lemire’s one-shot yarn featured in Dark Horse’s Free Comic Book Day issue (out this Saturday, May 3)..."
Butch Guice has died – Bleedingcool
Saturday is Free Comic Book Day 2025 – freecomicbookday
X-Men - Deadpool movie in the works from Ryan Reynolds – Comicsbeat
Almost $12 million box office for Thunderbolts* start on Thursday night – Deadline Hollywood
As noted in the article, that's a pretty good start. If Friday holds up then the whole weekend might be a (much needed) "win" for Disney.
Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter
Time to go to Disney World? Goofy 4 Mickey
Classic Film, reviews and more Cinemagraphe
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