Last Update: August 8, 2025
The controversy hitting the Angoulême comics festival, one of the largest comics events in the world – Comicsbeat
"Why James Gunn's Superman gives me hope for comic book movies" – MSN CBR
...because director James Gunn embraced a Silver Age sensibility that embraces his comic book origins rather than running from them."
Coming next from out of DC movies – Newsweek
- James Gunn directing the "next installment in the Super-Family" which will feature David Corenswet, presumably again in the Superman suit.
- Craig Gillespie directing Supergirl – releasing June 26, 2026.
- Matt Reeves writing and directing Robert Pattinson in The Batman: Part II. Production starts spring of 2026.
- James Watkins directing Clayface with Tom Rhys Harries as the character, releasing September 11, 2026
Texas Latino Comic Con August 9 – Hoodline
Latino heritage "through the vibrant lens of comic books, narrative art, and the dynamic world of lucha libre." At the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas.
Disney's Lilo & Stitch a "billion-dollar cash cow" – inc.com
Lilo & Stitch (May 2025) $1,025,231,858 international box office
Lilo & Stitch (23002) $274,749,220 international box office
Comic Book Price Guide for 2025-2026 delayed by Diamond implosion. It's put out by Gemstone and the story of the delay is at Bleeding Cool
Will Fantastic Four stay on top of box office this weekend? – MSN Variety
The Fantastic Four First Steps should have dominated at the box office through the dog days of summer. Instead, ticket sales are falling fast and the superhero adventure will be unseated from the top spot on North American charts..."
Where's all that box office money? Studios looking to 2030 for recovery – Comicbookmovie
About $11.8 billion in U.S. cinema revenue was reported in 2019. However, this number has dramatically decreased over the past few years. In 2024, it dropped to $8.9 billion, and it isn’t expected to fully recover until 2030...."
Obviously, "recovery" is dependant upon the film makers producuing something an audience wants, a point of importance which indicates that, at present, the film makers are not accomplishing this. Blaming the pandemic is not addressing the real problem, though the pandemic is certainly responsible for "breaking the habit of movie going." But, worth noting, there are billion-dollar-earning movies still happening:
Billion-Dollar Movies (2020–2025)
2021
Spider‑Man: No Way Home – approx. $1.92 billion
2022
Avatar: The Way of Water – approx. $2.32 billion
Top Gun: Maverick – approx. $1.50 billion
Jurassic World: Dominion – approx. $1.00 billion
2023
Barbie – approx. $1.45 billion
The Super Mario Bros. Movie – approx. $1.36 billion
2024
Inside Out 2 – approx. $1.70 billion
Deadpool & Wolverine – approx. $1.34 billion
Moana 2 – approx. $1.06 billion
2025 (to date)
Ne Zha 2 – approx. $2.22 billion
Lilo & Stitch – approx. $1.03 billion
Looks like Sgt Rock and Swamp Thing are both back as future releases from DC movies, not so for The Authority – Boundingintocomics
DC is officially leading the race for highest earning super-film in 2025 – Mens XP
Pedro Pascal got more payout for FF First Steps than the whole cast at Superman, combined – MSN Comic Basics
The massive payday makes sense for Marvel Studios, which has been leaning heavily on star power to bring in audiences. Some fans have even joked about “Pedro fatigue” because of how many high-profile projects he’s been in lately...."
Lawsuit from publishers against who is holding their Diamond bankruptcy consignment inventory
Story at Bleedingcool [Greek]
New owners of Diamond holding some $13.5 million in inventory from various comics publishers who want their books back – Bleedingcool
The Diamond Bankruptcy "slog" – Comicsbeat
Superman vs Fantastic Four - Review
Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Terrific, Ms. Teschmacher
Why is Superman the better movie? Because Fantastic Four stays entirely cramped within the Marvel formula. Disney plays it safe with FF, and I don't blame them after all the money-losers they've had lately, one after another, but star actor Pedro Pascal looks like he's being smothered, and we barely see him using Mr. Fantastic's stretch-skills. It's in there, but, wow, for a "Fantastic Four" movie to not be the mother lode of stretching from its erstwhile leader makes you wonder if Disney can parse the 64 years of material they're handling. And I'll go further than that, this is a color-themed movie that tells you exactly what its about: powder blue and white, the classic "she's having a baby" color scheme, because this movie is about giving birth to Mr. Fantastic Junior, not the Fantastic Four. What's the problem with that? Hang on, I'll tell you.
And Superman? Gunn pushes his way outside of the super-formula a bunch of times, and he typically does that in all his films, to reach out of the genre formula he's working in and liven-up things with his humor and to do the same old super-stunts but try to make it happen from a new direction. I appreciate that, and as much as watching Galactus stroll through a city was fantastic, Gunn has put together a better (as in more fun) script that does the same things better (such as a giant kaiju strolling thru Metropolis). It's not all surprises, in fact it mostly adheres to formula, for example watching Mr. Terrific do the easiest character lay-up throws in cinema by just walking through every disaster and problem and playing it "cool," all the same it was funny but also accomplished what that hero had to do to help save the day.
By comparison, The Thing and Johnny Storm are mostly knick-knacks on the shelf that get picked up and put onto the board every now and then (and it is a big plus for the film when they're there, probably because we're expecting a team movie and whenever it drops gear into being such, it improves. It just won't stay in that gear, though!), but all of the consequential matters of Fantastic Four First Steps center on the "she's having a baby" plotline. Hence the problem: the baby doesn't bother to appear until almost the end of the movie. There are plenty of films made which rachet up the tension about mothers-to-be (finally) having the actual birth, but FF buries that tension under the Galactus invasion and whether the Silver Surfer (who, CGI-wise, looks like a throwback to 1984's Terminator. In fact they're probably dating) will be a destructive force for Sue Storm and the crew to fear.
In Superman, all of the main cast is indispensable to the story and to defeating the bad things about to happen plot-line, and I think this is summed up by how Gunn has Eve Teschmacher (played by Sara Sampaio) probably being the main lynch-pin of defeating Lex Luthor. That a second or third tier character in the cast is the seed for beating the villain, and you hardly notice it unless you think through all the dynamics of the story, and since the script is portraying her as a neurotic laugh-magnet, its not immediately obvious to anyone that the "bimbo" out-thought the "smartest man in the room" (Luthor) and also did what all the other heroes couldn't do, either. The character not only pulls a prank on the villain, but Gunn pulls a prank on the superhero formula (and on the Richard Donner era Superman. Gunn also puts in another visual in-joke: the Corenswet Superman battling a "DNA double" who looks like the Henry Cavill Witcher).
Superman isn't miles away the better film. Both movies are done competently (not something you can take for granted anymore from Hollywood) and the craftsmanship on both are ahead of what's been hitting the bijou for the last several years from these respective studios. A big plus is that there's no story confusion in either film (like many recent super-movies) from being edited to death, but both films are obviously missing important footage and both are certainly pared down from something longer. Superman, for example, the first third is weirdly out of step with itself, as if something central is missing. Fantastic Four comes right out of the box headed straight for birthin' babies, and the straight line it follows simplifies everything. To his credit, Gunn tries to juggle a lot more story objects, and, after getting past the wobbly beginning, he smoothly handles everything having to do with story advancement and keeping the cast straight for we popcorn eaters. Fantastic Four, though, simply can't do the whole story in the amount of run time it has, there are unsettled story strings left dangling, and if they put out an extended version, that'd certainly help.
Both films are cursed by the dumb-assery of CGI. Both have giant crowds in the streets dumbly watching as things become lethal with monsters and falling debris and they just stand there, curious and concerned for the trouble but they don't run and they don't duck when loud ka-booms sound, which if you've ever been around crowds that encounter danger and loud noises, they react like a herd of gazelles spotting a pride of lions: time to go.
Both Clark Kent and the Fantastic Four work out of big buildings in a city, but hilariously, the FF building is practically empty except for the FF itself, and you have to wonder, who keeps it all clean and spotless? When they go out through their giant lobby, there's not even a security guard, something that building needs badly as the ongoing story shows. The Daily Planet building, though, is more realistically populated and Gunn is able to move around larger groups of people and fill out the screen with a much more realistic portrayal of a city in background, just not counting, as already mentioned, the utterly stupid NPC figures that stand around in the street waiting to be crushed by giant things.
Both films needed to be competent if the superhero genre is going to continue from Marvel and DC, and in that area they've succeeded. The fear these would be the same screwed-up productions with their inner-confusion splashed all over the screen like so many other recent films didn't materialize. For the month of July 2025, Disney/Marvel and Warners/DC got back into the crowd-pleasing business.
Batman 2, Teen Titans, etc., James Gunn doesn't seem to confirm or deny anything – Yahoo News
This effort at understanding AI, and more particular, how artists have to interact with clients in order to survive, doesn't cover everything just right, but is a good survey. Basically, the argument that AI is a tool and shouldn't be blamed when the actual place the artist is getting ripped off is by the client cheating, lying or withholding money, is a good starting point.
Fantastic Four at $368,727,635 worldwide - released July 25
Superman at $551,211,000 worldwide - released July 11
Remembering the classic comic book movie stinker The Spirit starring Scarlett Johansson & Samuel L. Jackson – MSN Screenrant
This film is almost unwatcheable as a film. As a series of amazing motion images it fares much better. When Martin Scorsese claims superhero movies aren't really "movies, but theme park rides" this film comes a lot closer to proving his case.
Smith Educational Comics moving into the animation market – Manila Times
Marvel X-Men movie cutting costs by enlisting young, unknown cast – Gamesradar
Fantastic Four movie still rules box office but the drop off in ticket sales is "biggest second-weekend box office drop in MCU History" – Fiction Horizon
Fantastic Four at $269,186,446 worldwide - released July 25
Superman at $534,106,392 worldwide - released July 11
Remembering the life and work of artist, educator, publisher, and activist Turtel Onli – The Comics Journal
Could DC comic book movies be the future for the genre? – Digital Trends
Fantastic Four movie expected to stay at top of box office but new releases Naked Gun and Bad Guys 2 have got to fight for the number two slot – Yahoo - Gold Derby
The new George Lucas "narrative art" museum will "transform how you view comic books" – Yahoo
If you'd like to own a 1989 Tim Burton-style Batmobile, here's your chance – AutoBlog
The odd looking empty rows of tables for Diamond Comic Distributors at SDCC – Bleedingcool
Diamond's absence was partially expected due to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the debtors' executives and lawyers did have an internal meeting and billed the bankruptcy debt for it to debate what to do with this asset. In the end, the answer was… nothing. They didn't manage to use it or sell it...."
The Tim Burton Batman and Batman Returns coming back for theater release August 25 – Comicbookmovie
The remastered versions of both movies (from 1989 and 1992) will play at Dolby equipped cinemas at AMC Theatres locations across North America.
Superman movie flies past $300 million mark in the domestic market – rare for DC movies of late – MSN Hollywood Reporter
In a second milestone, Superman has already passed up the entire lifetime of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, which topped out at $291 million domestically in 2013, not adjusted. That film was the last solo Superman movie; in 2016, Snyder's sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice grossed $330.4 million domestically. (The latest Superman pic will soon overtake Dawn of Justice as well.) Overseas, Superman has already cleared $500 million...."
That last remark about "$500 million overseas" isn't accurate, but corresponds to the total world-wide take (including domestic) that has accumulated so far for the James Gunn Superman reboot.
Superman as a "surrogate dad" – Washington Post
Six "letters to the editor" at the Washington Post explore what Superman/Clark Kent means to them. Some letters provide analysis:
Although he could fly and lift tremendous weights, and bullets bounced off his chest, he was the son of the Kents, that good, kind and sometimes humorous couple in Kansas. That’s why he wanted to use his powers to save lives and help people by doing things that humans couldn’t. And he didn’t want to take credit, nor to endanger people he loved, so he disguised himself when he did those things. His “secret identity” was Superman, not Clark Kent..."
Superman Then - Superman Now
Versioning and reversioning Superman has been an industry for decades, and as a kind of Rorschach test for how DC Comics is thinking (and feeling) about what a "good superhero" is really about – more about Superman and his changing times
Thinking about J.M.W.Turner and Corben's Den series – The Comics Journal
I never had much patience for Corben's Den series. His pages were easy to spot because the typical American newsstand of the 1970s carried Heavy Metal magazine almost everywhere. His exposure to the mass audience was likely at its peak during this time, and not just due to sales, but because Americans were inveterate magazine page-flippers in that era. People would browse through periodicals, one after another, deciding which ones to actually buy and take home, or would simply peruse various issues for ten minutes at the news racks, which were packed with an endless array of titles, all competing for attention (and, of course, sales). Den was meant to help Heavy Metal move copies, and it it was full of the nudity, violence and, importantly, as pointed out in the Comics Journal article, the sheer magazine-quality color that Corben employed through a combination of ink drawing and air brush skills, something wildly more sophisticated than the simple Gravure-printed color halftone screens at DC and Marvel comics.
Corben's story writing was an acquired taste, though, to put it mildly.
On the other hand, I later recognized that Corben could be a dynamic interpreter of someone else’s writing. A strong example is his adaptation (with Simon Revelstroke) of House on the Borderland, as well as his short The Spectre tale that appeared in Solo #11 (Feb. 2006), the all-Corben issue from DC Comics, with John Arcudi providing the script. In that story, Corben presents the Jim Corrigan version of The Spectre — somewhat in the spirit of how Jerry Siegel originally conceived him — in a short adventure that is both darkly humorous and brutally harsh, doubling as a meditation on death. Corben also had a long association with adapting (or, depending on your perspective, massacring) the works of Edgar Allan Poe. And then there’s a historically significant moment: in 1975, Corben illustrated and contributed to the narrative adaptation of Robert Howard's Bloodstar (originally titled The Valley of the Worm) as a single, cohesive 94-page tale. This predates Will Eisner’s A Contract with God (1978), giving Bloodstar and Richard Corben a legitimate leg up in the sweepstakes for first "graphic novel."
Comics important again at 2025 SDCC – Publishers Weekly
Little publishing news broke at the show, with no bombshell announcements dropping during any panels. Robert Kirkman announced the return of Capes, a 20 year old spin-off of his popular Invincible franchise, under writer Benito Cerino, while X-men artist John Byrne’s fanfic based on his own work, X-Men Elsewhens, will come out from Abrams Comic Arts via their partnership with Marvel. Uncertainty over how Diamond’s bankruptcy will affect publishers may have contributed to the news dearth. Several publishers were absent due to a lack of books to sell. (Diamond is holding onto inventory while the legal mess untangles.)
The writer of the article, Heidi MacDonald, is usually talking up comic books at her ComicsBeat website, such as:
SDCC "winners and losers" – Comicsbeat
Fantastic Four First Steps at $117 million domestic / $99 million international – The Numbers
Superman at $292 million domestic / $114 million international – Box Office Mojo
SDCC talking up the coming Batman-Deadpool teamup – Comicsbeat
Debuting in September, Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman #1 features writing by Zeb Wells with Kevin Smith; Kelly Thompson; Chip Zdarsky; Al Ewing; and Frank Miller, with art by Greg Capullo with Adam Kubert; Gurihiru; Terry Dodson; Dike Ruan; and Frank Miller..."
Greg Capullo is doing the cover but there's going to be a bunch of variant covers.
An interesting plus are the backup stories: Rocket Raccoon/Green Lantern and a Wolverine Old Man Logan/Batman written and drawn by Frank Miller.
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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