Author: Rick Marshall

Here is one of those things you find in your travels around the InterTubes that’s just too cute/funny to keep to yourself.

Super You, in addition to having a theme song of the same class as "It’s a Small World" when it comes to getting stuck in your head (WARNING: Music plays automatically when you visit the site), offers custom-made superhero outfits for kids. You simply choose a size and color for each part of the outfit (unitard, cape, belt, etc.), wait for the costume to arrive, and next thing you know, your favorite little crimefighter has a new costume.

What could be better for a child’s self-confidence and creativity than to be able to create their own superhero costume? By creating Super You, I hope to teach children that being Super is whatever they want it to be—and that being Super comes from within.

My favorite part about the whole arrangement? The costume arrives in a black "Super Briefcase" for kids to open — preferably away from the prying eyes of supervillains and those they’re sworn to protect.

After 29 years of For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston is ending her long-running newspaper comic strip… and then she’s starting it over again.

Say what?

In the same week that Nicholas Gurewitch announced that he’ll be moving Perry Bible Fellowship into semi-retirement, Johnston recently announced that she’ll be doing the same — albeit with a different definition of "semi-retirement" — to her long-running series.

According to ChicagoTribune.com, Johnston plans to tie up the series’ current plot threads by September, then relaunch it from the beginning, running strips from the start of series and "augmenting" them for present-day presentation. She also plans to redraw strips for which the original art is missing.

The semi-retirement has been long in the making, as Johnston has been peppering the series with "flashback" strips since September 2007 in preparation for her retirement. This move to the "hybrid" strips has caused some confusion among regular readers, and has led to at least one newspaper announcing that it will drop the series once the current run is completed and before the relaunch kicks off.

As of now, readers are seeing present-day strips on some days, and old strips — some from as far back as 28 years ago — on other days. Some readers have expressed confusion because they don’t realize some of the strips are old. They think someone else is drawing it on the days when old strips appear, because Johnston’s earlier drawing style is significantly different from her current one.

According to Johnston, returning to the early years of Better or For Worse creates a new set of challenges for her as an artist:

"The work that I’m doing now is very structured," she says. "The characters are much more realistic. I draw every brick on a building. The way I used to draw was much more fluid and easygoing and big expressions and lots of slapstick. … I would like to go back to that, and I think I can."

Nicholas Gurewitch, creator of the weekly comic Perry Bible Fellowship, announced plans this week to move his phenomenally successful web- and print-based comic strip into semi-retirement.

After the first print collection of his PBF strips, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, sold more than $300,000 in pre-orders alone, Gurewitch announced on Monday to both the newspapers carrying his strip and the general public that he now plans to move the strip into semi-regular production.

"I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career," wrote Gurewitch of the decision.

According to Gurewitch, several of the newspapers carrying his strip will continue to do so, despite its irregular production. The creator now plans to devote his time to other projects.

This announcement came on the heels of what could possibly be one of the strangest interviews ever conducted on FOX News, in which Gurewitch and the FOX interviewer, Greg Gutfeld, attempted to perform a live-action reenactment of a PBF strip.

Blorgable.com spoke with Gurewitch about the experience:

"Visiting Fox News in New York felt like journeying into Mordor," Gurewitch confided later. "Pretty exciting. And a lot more pleasant, probably."

According to Gurewitch, who plans to live off sales of the collection and PBF prints for the immediate future, a second print collection could be in the works, too.

"At this point we’re selling off what remains of the second printing," Nicholas says. But what lies in the future? "I think we’re looking at something larger for the next book. Dark Horse Publishing said they were down for doing a 256-pager, which is great by me. Maybe something to the effect of the Perry Bible Fellowship Almanac.""

Garth Ennis ends his four-year run on the Marvel MAX Punisher series next month, but fans won’t have long to wait for his next project. War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #1 hits shelves the same month.

War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle features the return of Phantom Eagle, a Marvel character who first appeared in 1968. In this interview with Publishers Weekly, Ennis discusses his decision to leave Punisher, the draw of war-themed subject matter and his affinity for adult-oriented fare.

“Writing for adults has always made sense to me. The [backwards] nature of the comics business, with most people writing and drawing stories under the restrictions of children’s/teen’s publishing, is something I find rather frustrating—particularly as the actual audience is mostly well over 20,” said Ennis. “That doesn’t mean every single story should read like The Punisher; it just means you should have free reign to write each story as it feels appropriate.”

Ennis also hints that return to the Punisher character is certainly plausible, as he is the "kind of character you never completely say goodbye to."

(And yes, we realize that PW referred to the character as "Iron Eagle" — it’s an understandable mistake. The movie certainly was a classic.)

For more on War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle, conducted this interview last month with Nick Lowe, the editor of the series.

Dark Horizons has posted a pair of blurry photos of an action figure based on Two Face, the character played by Aaron Eckhart in the upcoming Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. The photo was taken during this week’s Toy Fair convention, at a press-restricted event.

This is the first indication of what the character will look like in the film.

The photos interestingly reveal some notable changes from both the comic’s look and his previous film appearance in 1995’s "Batman Forever". Rather than a suit utilising different colors, this one is the same navy blue suit but the scarred half seems more scuffed and crumpled. The facial scarring does not fully encompass half his head rather about a third of it and is dark purple in color. One eye looks notably red and the surrounding socket damaged (the most likely use for the CG will be here).

For a larger version of this photo, as well as the other photo, visit Dark Horizons.

(via SHH)