Category: News

IDW Publishing announced yesterday the forthcoming release of The Bloom County Library. Beginning in October 2009, each of the five volumes will collect nearly two years worth of daily and Sunday strips, in chronological order. This will be the very first time that many of these comic strips have been collected, and the first time in a beautifully designed, hardcover format. The books will be part of IDW’s gorwing Library of American Comics imprint, and designed by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney.

"Fans have pestered me for years,” said Berkeley Breathed, “for this ultimate Bloom County collection in that polite, respectful badgering way that only fans can manage. Thank God I can now tell them something better than just ‘please remove your tent from my lawn.’ I can say, ‘It’s coming!"

Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed newspaper strips of modern times. Premiering on December 8th, 1980 — a month after the election of Ronald Reagan as President — the strip brought to the comics pages a unique amalgam of contemporary politics and fantasy, all told with hilarious humor and wit.

The beloved and quirky denizens of Bloom County include Opus, Steve Dallas, Bill the Cat, Milo Bloom, Michael Binkley, and Cutter John.  Breathed was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1987 for his work on Bloom County. The strip was published in an astounding 1200 newspapers.

The phenomenon that was Bloom County spawned a merchandizing bonanza, as well as two spin-off strips, Outland and Opus. The first paperback collection of the strip, Loose Tails, sold over one million copies. Bloom County paperbacks cumulatively sold over six million copies. At the height of the strip’s popularity, Breathed walked away on August 6th, 1989.

IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier conceived the series. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be editing the Bloom County Library,” said Dunbier. “This is a series that I can’t wait to hold in my hands.”

The Bloom County Library will also contain a series of “Context Pages” sprinkled throughout the volumes. These pages will provide perspective for the reader, presenting a variety of real-life events and personalities that were contemporary at the time of original publication.

This will make Linda happy… we’ve obtained preview footage of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “The Eyes of Despero” airing this Friday, February 6 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM. The episode is written by comics veteran J.M. DeMatteis.

This week: In the middle of thwarting a robbery by the Cavalier, Batman is whisked away into outer space.  When he arrives on their home world, he discovers The Green Lantern Corps is MIA after a battle with Despero – leaving the entire universe defenseless!  To save us all, Batman joins the surviving Green Lanterns, G’Nort, Guy Gardner and Sinestro, to defeat the rampaging tyrant Despero before he turns OA, the living Green Lantern planet into his personal weapon of mass destruction! Take a look…

And in the teaser, Batman teams up with Dr. Fate to battle Wotan.

(more…)

It’s come to this.

A man wielding a batleth robbed two 7-Eleven stories in Colorado Springs overnight.  The first assault using the deadly Klingon weapon occurred at 1:50 a.m. when a man police described as white in his 20s, wearing a black mask, black jacket, and blue jeans walked in brandishing the weapon.  The clerk recognized the traditional armament and forked over an undisclosed amount of cash.

Thirty minutes later, according to The Denver Channel, the same man hit a second store but this time the clerk showed bravery in the face of certain death.  He too recognized the ancient weapon but refused the demand and the would-be thief showed his true colors and fled.

Police are reviewing the stores’ surveillance tapes and Lt. David Whitlock said he does not plan to release the video or photographs "at this time."
 

Yes, you know it’s silly. I know it’s silly. And thank heaven, even Marvel knows it’s silly. The press release reads:

Marvel is pleased to announce the first four issues of Kick-Ass are going back to press again — this time with Kick-Ass Umpteenth Printing Variants #1-4!

Now this is the shameless Marvel marketing machine I remember! Coming soon: the Zillionth Printing! Mark my words.

New York Comic Con and Disney*Pixar have just announced that the first 50 minutes of the forthcoming movie Up will screen for the first time at New York Comic Con.

Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen, a man who spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed Carl by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life.

The screening will be introduced by director Pete Docter and begin at 6:30 PM on Saturday, February 7 in the IGN Theater inside NYCC. Methinks you should get on line Friday.

NASA and Google released a new Mars overlay providing 3D views of the canyons and mountains of the Red Planet, part of the beta launch of the downloadable Google Earth 5.0 client application. Now all we’re waiting for is for them to find this somewhere on the planet’s surface…

Fifty years ago, a single-engine plane crashed into a Iowa field, instantly killing three men and officially opening rock ‘n’ roll heaven.

The years haven’t dimmed the fascination with the night of February 3, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake the night before and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight to their next gig. Their deaths would be immortalized in the Don McLean song "American Pie" as The Day The Music Died.

Our friends at FindingDulcinea.com have a great write-up about the performers.