Wednesday means new comics, anyone reading this blog knows that.  So, with that in mind I’d like to point you in the direction of a couple of books I’m looking forward to.

From DC Comics today, we have the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank interpretation of Superman’s modern origin in Superman: Secret Origin #1.  Think of it as Geoff Johns’s way of doing Smallville. We also have the final issue of Wednesday Comics, DC’s brilliant effort at distributing comics the old fashioned way, in newspaper form. There were some beautiful stories in this including Paul Pope’s Adam Strange, Karl Kerschl’s The Flash, and the 100 Bullets team on Batman. I’m looking forward to seeing how they collect this astounding collection.

At Marvel we have the comic book form of Spider-Woman. Like I mentioned in my review of the motion comic, I think I like this book better in its natural format than  this motion comic business.

The other book I really like is Immortal Weapons #3 featuring a story by Rick Spears.  Frankly, one cannot get enough of a Rick Spears story, and I love anything involving the Iron Fist universe these days.

Other than that,  its all I got.   Happy Reading!

Because of the holiday on Monday, there are no new comics today, but there will be tomorrow. Diamond has a list of all the books coming out tomorrow.

I’m personally looking forward to Adventure Comics #2.  Francis Manapul’s art has something called heart to it, especially with the Superboy stories.  Heart in the sense that it just reminds me of how much I enjoyed comics in high school, like Scott Lobdell’s run on X-Men and the Impulse series which had to be my favorite series in high school.  Unfortunately, it was recently announced on DC’s The Source that Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul would be leaving Adventure Comics after issue six, but they would be moving to the new Flash series. So even though that’s unfortunate, its for something even more fun.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Kreuk will play Hannah a new love-interest for Chuck in a multi-episode arc where she goes to work at the Best Buy…errr, Buy More. Routh, will play the new agent in charge of the Bartowski Project.  Regardless, this stunt casting has worked out for Chuck to say the least with last season seeing  fan favorites Chevy Chase, Scott Bakula, and Tricia Helfer.  I personally can’t wait for Chase’s new show Community with Soup host Joel McHale.  Though the best thing to come out of the Chuck ‘verse was the miniseries written by show staff writers Peter Johnson and Zev Borow and drawn by Jeremy Haun.  It just kind of confirmed the fact for me that the series would excel as a comic.

In other Superman actor news, MTV’s Splash Page has the first picture of Tom Welling as Neo.  And I have to ask: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!  I would really love to know the reason behind saying yes to this design, because I can’t see it making any kind of sense at all. Have a look:

Barring that, there are many good things to look forward to in Smallville this season including a Geoff Johns written episode introducing the Justice Society of America,  General Zod, Metallo and, yep, the Wonder Twins! Yes way! Set DVRs to obliterate. Smallville premieres Sept. 25 with “Savior” which is written by fan-favorite Geoff Johns, according to Splash Page.

Because he has yet another movie to write! According to the Hollywood Reporter, Johns has been brought on to co-write another draft of the Shazam! screenplay.

Actor-turned-writer Bill Birch has been tapped to reboot “Shazam!,” Warners’ adaptation of a DC Comics series featuring Captain Marvel.

Geoff Johns, one of the three DC Comics heavyweights hired by the studio to act as consultants on DC projects, is also helping with the kick-start, co-writing the story with Birch.

It’s somewhat fitting that Birch takes on “Shazam!” as his very name echoes the name of the comic’s hero, Billy Batson, a teenager who becomes Captain Marvel when he utters the magic word “Shazam!” The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

With him co-writing The Flash movie as well,  writing another episode of Smallville it seems like Johns has become the go-to-guy in bringing DC heroes to television/movie audiences. And, frankly, I don’t think there is anyone better to do the job.

Johns said the idea was in the Top 5 Worst Pitches he’s ever heard. What’s worse? Giving Jimmy Fallon his own show, but I say its worth a tune in for The Roots alone.

• Geoff Johns will be introducing the Justice Society of America to TV show Smallville. That’s pretty great news, though I’m not really sure how they are going to fit into this context, though with a wide range of characters to draw from, I’m sure the episode will be chock full of fun characters.  Also,  we’ll see Clark in costume for the first time: he’ll be rocking the black and silver costume he wore after dying in the comics.  Laura already made the mullet joke, so I’m just going to stop right there.
• In other Johns news, he and former assistant Sterling Gates will both be taking on new “Flash” books.  Johns will write “All-Flash” which will include the entire family of speedsters, and Gates will write a solo “Kid Flash” book which makes me happy that Bart is getting his own title again.
• Clips, clips, clips.  A bunch of clips landed at Comic Con, including  Green Lantern First Flight, and clips from the anime versions of Wolverine and Iron Man, both written by Warren Ellis.
• “Pushing Daisies” creator Bryan Fuller wants to write superhero comics.  I say let him, since his show has been canceled with the comic spinning into Wildstorm.
• “Lost” actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje may be playing the Black Panther. I wouldn’t even know how to pronounce that name.  I think this is a stellar idea, he’s both jacked and intimidating.  Also: he was awesome on “The Wire”.
• Archaia Studios is teaming up with Spock. To produce new comics under Quinto’s production company.  Seems like this kind of thing is happening more and more in the comics market place as comics and film become more attached. I realize that’s stating the obvious, and I do not think its a bad thing. I think it can only bring new readers into comics and that, for me, is always a good thing.
• Joss Whedon says there is going to be more “Dr. Horrible” comics coming. Plus the posters for his “Cabin In The Woods” horror flick look great.

Coming up we’ll have a list of all the things that came out of Comic Con that’d we like, David Tennant’s final thoughts on leaving “Doctor Who” and some other announcements.

Cover by Ethan Van Sciver to The Flash Rebirth #1.

An interesting piece from the Hollywood Reporter creeped up yesterday, and it seems like no one has written a thing about it.  Apparently, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and Marv Wolfman have been hired by Warner studios to consult on the film properties of DC characters they’ve written.

Levitz and DC’s Los Angeles-based film exec Gregory Noveck have overseen a reorganization of the development slate. While Warners execs still drive the creative side, DC now has more input, making it an actual participant in the shaping of material.

“The creative process is by and large a true partnership,” Noveck said. “They’ll ask us a ton of questions, and we’ll give a ton of answers. We will talk back and forth. We’ll discuss writers and talent, but ultimately it’s their decision.”

This past fall, Warners quietly hired three of DC’s biggest writers — Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman — to act as consultants and writers for its superhero line of movies. The move involved taking back the reins on projects being handled by such producers as Charles Roven (“The Flash”) and Akiva Goldsman (“Teen Titans”).

Hollywood insider types have grumbled about working with Johns, Morrison and Wolfman, according to the THR story.  Even though all have film experience.  Though, apparently, the situation has already paid off, because Johns wrote a treatment for “The Flash” movie with screenwriter Dan Mazeau and will be a producer.

This is most certainly welcome news to this “Flash” fanboy, and also fills my heart that Warners is taking this approach.  By hiring these writers, you almost certainly have the trust of the fans who love these writers. It also gives fans a security blanket knowing that people like Johns, Morrison and Wolfman care about what we like, and want to bring that to the big-screen version of characters they love just as much as we do.

The studio is taking pitches on sci-fi hero Adam Strange and the underwater-breathing hero “Aquaman,” to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way shingle.

Also in the pipeline: “Bizarro Superman” being written by “Galaxy Quest” scribes David Howard and Robert Gordon; a sequel to “Constantine,” with Goldsman and Erwin Stoff producing; two concurrent Green Arrow projects, an origin story and a prison-set one titled “Super Max”; and “Shazam,” which was set up at New Line but has moved to Warners, with Pete Segal attached to direct.

The projects Morrison and Wolfman are working on are currently in-development, which is Hollywood-speak for “still writing” and “none of your business.”

Now, would probably be a really great time to say GIANT SPOILERS from this week, and last week’s comics.  So you’ve been warned.

And. Here. We .Go.

Dave at home. Found in his natural position.

DAVE: So, BLACKEST NIGHT #1: Really? Really, with the ripping out of the hearts of Guardians and Hawkpeople left and right? Jesus. Geoff Johns, you’re a good, pleasant guy, a kind-hearted individual, where does this come from? You gotta see someone. You have some repressed anger going on here.

Jeff at home.

JEFF: Reminds me of George Lucas’ similar fixation with using lightsabers to chop off limbs. The Star Wars universe is filled with amputees! The first comic book I ever read was an issue of Green Lantern when I was four years old. I think Hal used his ring to make a big-ass green fist to punch the baddie. I’d say this is a bit of a departure from the tone of that issue.

Yeah maybe a little bit of a departure. That’s funny. What is also funny, but probably not really, my first comic as a kid was a Green Lantern comic too.  It was an annual, I think it, and I still remember the cover: it had Hal Jordan bursting through this giant robot.  No idea what it was about, but I think I still have it somewhere in my parent’s garage upstate.

I don’t know if you had a chance to check it out, but I just got done with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep #1 and found it okay. Art not too flashy- refreshingly so- and a lot of bang for the buck. Given the source material (it’s a direct adaptation of PKD’s novel) it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Just one quam:

It’s #1. OF 24!!!!!! Am I going to be around in two years or so when it concludes? Maybe. Is Boom, the book’s publisher? Can they sustain interest in this for two years? I wish them all the best, but…. To  paraphrase the closing line of Blade Runner’s theatrical cut (which I prefer): I don’t know how long this book and I have together. Who does?

Whaddya think of that Spider-Man variant with Nixon on the cover?

I did look at it [Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep], and you’re right, it is hard for them to get it wrong by transplanting Dick’s words into the comic.  However, I imagine most of the people that book would appeal to are huge into the movie, and have probably read the book a while back.  So, in the end, I’m not really sure why this is a must buy.

I don’t think anything of the Nixon variant, though I will say how about the giant reveal in Amazing Spider-Man annual with Ben Reilly being alive? Sorry, spoilers, but its been a week so if you have a problem, feel free to pick a fight in the comments.

OMG. I didn’t see that. Was he wearing that Flashdance meets Carnage Scarlet Spider costume? Cuz that thing’s rad…

No, he was calling himself Velociraptor, which is probably just as Flashdance as his previous version. He had jaws, and bone knives coming out of his forearms, very much like that formerly stupid mutant. What was her name? Oh yeah, Marrow. God, remember when the X-Men comics had a fixation on gross mutants…Marrow and Maggot? Those were the times.

I feel like I have to bring it up: but Wednesday Comics? I loved Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman strip, but I hear the predominant favorite is Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook’s Kamandi, but that doesn’t surprise me.

Ryan Sook could draw a comic about styrofoam and it’d be gorgeous.

Kerschl and Fletcher’s Flash page is my fave. Haven’t felt anything but “meh” about the character since the height of Mark Waid’s nineties run, but this is dead on the characters I loved growing up.

I liked Johns’ run on The Flash, but that was forever ago, and the book just hasn’t been that good (barring the short stint Tom Peyer had on it).

I just finished The Nobody and you mentioned something about how you liked the smell of it.  I liked how it was this almost Cormac McCarthian statement on loneliness.  I also really loved Jeff Lemire and how he captures a small town, I haven’t seen that done well in comics ever, but Lemire really captured what its like to be in a small town, or be from a small town.

Yeah. It’s pretty terrific, and as deftly executed as his previous Essex County books, which Top Shelf is reprinting in one volume later this summer.

Back to the smell of the book… from a book sniffer’s perspective let me say that it’s important your book stand out from the crowd. The Nobody’s piquant, inky aroma is distinct to say the least. And bloody hell is it pronounced!

[LAUGHS]. Yeah, this is my first introduction to Lemire so I will definitely be picking up Essex County when it comes out, and his new Vertigo series “Sweet Tooth”.

Last bit: ScarJo shows up in EW as the Black Widow.  What are your thoughts on this? She looks more like Anna Mercury than she does the Black Widow but I still say I would rather see Emily Blunt.

Ah, Scarjo & Ryan Reynolds, comic book movies’ power couple. Ya know, I just IMDB’d Emily Blunt and I’ve not seen anything she’s ever been in. Daaavid, have you been watching “The Devil Wears Prada” behind my back? I gotta agree with you. She’s much more exotic and her cool eyes and demeanor more suitable.

At this point in the conversation, I jump through the screen like Ray Palmer does through a telephone and begin strangling Jeff for “The Devil Wears Prada” crack. This concludes the first issue of THURSDAY WALK OF SHAME. Maybe there will be another one next week, if Jeff survives. (Dave exits, while sharpening knives).

The big one, of course, is “Blackest Night #1” which comes with a free Black Lantern Ring.  I don’t know, but I’m pretty stoked about that, but this comes from someone who doesn’t even wear his class ring. Check it out:

Also out this week is the new hardcover of the tear jerking “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” storyline that storyteller extraordinaire Neil Gaiman did with Andy Kubert.

For the adults, a new print of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s “Lost Girls” comes today as well.  I’m going to say it again: this is for adults.  This is NOT “Supergirl’s Adventures in the Eight Grade.”

From Marvel this is the week where we finally get all of the sold out “Deadpool: Suicide Kings”.  I’ve been hearing nothing but a ton of fun things about this comic, but its been selling out before I get the chance to peruse an issue.  So, I’m looking forward to checking them out.

Like I mentioned the other day, I’m a Doctor Who fan, and this week marks the first issue of the new ongoing series from IDW.  Other notable releases in science fiction comics this week is the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” which was the basis for “Blade Runner.”