The Unholy Dragon

Willow is nice. I used to be on the Standard Attrition forum and she was real active on there and a total pleasure. David Lapham, Ivan Brandon, Darick Robertson, and Ryan Kelly were all super nice on there as well. Despite launching it, Jason Aaron wasn't there much but he was real solid when he was. Brian Wood was always kinda a dick while also being the most chronically online there. I miss the vibes, but the reason it combusted was too inevitable to make it possible to try again. Half the users were lurking comics 'journalists' looking for scoops, eventually creating a controversy when Darick Robertson expressing frustration with not being able to do 100% of the art for the end of the Boys was deliberately misconstrued as him having an issue with John McCrea who did a few arcs there. But before that it was the most unguarded 'creators and fans just vibe together' space I've seen and never shall its like be seen again.

DC's next big crossover is a tournament arc to determine who will be the cosmic counter to Darkseid. Titled DC KO. Genuinely so stupid and goofy that it rules.

Also

Feels like taking the AoA approach (presenting this as the new status quo) and combining it with Sins of Sinister (alternate future that we're going to come back from and avert). I'm interested, but it's going to struggle to stand out long term against all the other X-Men comics like this, especially in the last 15ish years. Age of X, Ages of Apocalypse, Age of X-Man, and Sins of Sinister have all pretty thoroughly done a take on this bit.

These are getting a full reprint from Cryptozoic later this year. Crowdfund ended an age ago but I believe the modules should all be available at retail. It's EVERYTHING. All the sourcebooks and modules, every edition, from the first edition through the Batman ones that ended the Mayfair time with them.

Honestly, Diamond's scumfuck behaviour both in the leadup to and fallout from the sale has probably poisoned any chance of rebuilding they have. It's now becoming a "Extract value from the corpse of this thing" situation. Hilariously, Universal got Alliance for a lower cost and is now using that infrastructure to begin distributing to the US. Given that they're more or less the primary distributor for Canada (Missing a few pubs but Diamond was getting used less and less and Lunar is only at some shops) they could be a major player if they can get DC/Marvel/Image in the US as well.

It was noted in the Marvel thread but honestly, I think deserves one of its own. Jim Shooter passed away yesterday due to esophageal cancer. He was...a complicated figure. Pretty reviled by creators as an EiC, he also gave a lot of people their starts in the industry. He wrote his first published script at 13 and took over writing the Legion at 14, raising their profile and basically being responsible for them having the lasting impression they have. With Secret Wars, he created the crossover and brought us the Black Costume for Spidey. With the Valiant Universe, he created the blueprint for an interconnected superhero universe and arguably had the best example of it until it failed. He was always experimenting and trying new things in the industry and that's really admirable. It is also sort of apropos that the guy who singularly refused to allow Marvel to publish any openly gay characters died on the last day of Pride month. Jim Shooter contained multitudes, good and bad. That said, he contributed to a lot of my favourite comics in one way or another and he's one of the few figures you can honestly say the industry wouldn't have been the same without. RIP.

So, Denny did a very weird thing and chose to give Ra's an Arabic name with a Hebrew-derivative pronunciation. And since Denny iirc explicitly stated it's an Arabic title/name, he's actually just wrong about how it should be pronounced. According to most Arabic speakers I've seen kick in about it online, the Batman Begins pronunciation is closer to accurate, and it should be closer to Rass al Ghul...but also the Gh in Ghul is a substitute for غ (Ghain) which doesn't have a real English alphabet equivalent. So Rass al Ghoul is kinda close enough if you don't have experience with the Arabic alphabet/tones.

DC once again remembering that Batman looks good with a little Dick in him.

This aged well.

There's apparently going to be a significant number of backups in each one. We already know from the cover to that month's Marvel previews that Kevin Smith, Chip Zdarsky, and Kelly Thompson are writing backups in the Marvel produced one. I'm hoping for a Jeff/Krypto crossover from Kelly and Gurihiru personally.

Pretty much the defining writer for the Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, Spider-man 2099 (including co-creation), Aquaman, Young Justice, and one of the big Supergirl iterations. In addition to plenty of other great stuff besides including novels and TV work. Incredibly prolific and one of the best to ever do it (even if I'm not *as* high on his work as I was in my 20s). One of the best to ever do it. One of the few pages of original art I own is from an issue of his second X-Factor run. Another reason to treasure it. RIP.

Deadpool/Batman announced for September by Zeb Wells and Greg Capullo. Batman/Deadpool to follow in November by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora.

Grant Morrison returning to Batman...for a one shot crossover with Deadpool in November. Two one shots total. One written by Zeb Wells with Greg Capullo on art, the other reuniting Morrison and Dan Mora.

More for me. One of the best things about the modern slate is that there's something for everyone even if not everything works for the same someone. Both companies are pretty good at diverse lineups of creators and books so that most readers can find SOMETHING to like.