Okay, I’ll admit for the past year or so I’ve found our friends over at Archie Comics to be the most innovative and most courageous outfit among the major publishers. The first to jump feet-first into the world of digital publishing, they’ve followed up with Mike Uslan’s media-quaking Archie Gets Married story arc, they’ve entered the slick magazine market, and – this month – they cover featured Archie Andrews’ interracial kiss.

They’re not resting on their laurels.

This September they’ll be introducing a new character, Kevin Keller. He’s a dreamboat, and Veronica Lodge dumps Archie like a he was Enron stock. But there’s one small problem for Ronnie.

Kevin’s gay.

“It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books,” Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater noted. Whereas there have been a handful of openly gay characters from other mainstream publishers (although sometimes the publishers conveniently forget the characterizations), no other American comic book publisher is so dependent upon sales on the general newsstand. The press on this event – and make no mistake about it, this is an event – will get Archie titles pulled off of some racks in certain communities across the nation. Remember, even the citizens of the state of California voted to withdraw the right of same-sex marriage; this nation’s road to freedom continues to have its major potholes. And Archie Comics has the guts to steer right into one of the biggest.

What is troubling to this reporter is that Kevin Keller defeats Jughead Jones in a hamburger eating contest. This, to me, is a sign of the apocalypse.

The story “Isn’t it Bromantic?” will appear in Veronica #202. It will appear in comic shops September 1st; you might want to consider advance-ordering.

Appearing at the Apple Store in Soho to promote Doctor Who on iTunes, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat discuss the upcoming
season, what the Eleventh Doctor is like, what role new
companion Amelia Pond plays, and who’s coming back. Enjoy.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Fox network has passed on Torchwood after reading Russell T. Davies’ script.

Perhaps that’s when they discovered the lead character, an American who cannot stay dead for very long, is omnisexual… and that’s a critical part of his character.

BBC Worldwide stated “BBC
Worldwide Productions and the Fox Broadcasting Company have mutually
agreed not to progress together with a 13-episode serialized Torchwood
format. We are currently in
discussion with several interested networks.” Former Torchwood and Doctor Who producer and now BBC Worldwide American agent Jane
Tranter said they were still making progress in placing the vaguely more adult Doctor Who spin-off. “It’s
very much ongoing and very much alive,” Tranter said.

We’ll see. What American executives perceive as fit for your eyes differs – greatly – from their British counterparts.

The Hollywood Reporter has the skinny on the Cartoon Network upfronts, and there are many familiar faces for comics fans this year.

Young
Justice: Being a teenager means proving yourself over and
over—to
peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself.  But

what if you’re not just a
normal teenager?  What if
you’re a teenage super hero?  Are
you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy
of
the Justice League?  That’s
exactly what the members of Young Justice—Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash,
Superboy,
Miss Martian and Artemis (the renamed version of Arrowette)—will find out, whether they have what it
takes
to be a proven hero. This
all-new series is based on the series by Peter David and Todd Nauck, and is produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Sam
Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave
and the
Bold) is the executive producer. Brandon Vietti (Batman:

Under the Red Hood, Superman
Doomsday, The Batman) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles,
The
Spectacular Spider-Man, W.I.T.C.H.) are the producers.

MAD:
Produced by Warner Bros.
Animation and using the iconic MAD magazine,
published by DC Comics, as inspiration, MAD is an animated
sketch-comedy series utilizing a chaotic
mix of animation styles and twisted humor to pull back the curtain and
expose the truth behind movies, TV shows, games, pop culture and, of
course, curtains! Classic MAD magazine
characters and features such as Alfred E. Neuman and Spy vs. Spy pop
up,
and no subject matter or individual will be safe from MAD’s
barrage of parodies and sketches.  In the end, viewers
won’t get even,
they’ll just get MAD!  Sam Register (Teen
Titans, Ben 10,
Batman: The Brave and the Bold)
is the executive producer.  Kevin
Shinick (Robot Chicken) and Mark
Marek (KaBlam! The Andy Milonakis Show) are the
producers.

The Looney Toons Show will star Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with
Yosemite Sam,
Tweety, Sylvester
— the whole gang. The network is having each episode as a
half-hour story along with “cartoons within a cartoon.” It will also having classic characters singing original
songs in two-minute music videos called Merrie Melodies and the Road
Runner and Coyote in CG shorts.

We regret to announce the passing of George Scithers, who died Monday after suffering a heart attack on Saturday at the age of 80. He was an award winning editor, winning the Hugo award four times, and a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2002.

Scithers’ first published fiction, the story “Faithful Messenger,” appeared in If magazine in 1969. His involvement in the field, however, dates back to 1957, when he began submitting to the fanzine Yandro. Two years later, he began publishing the Hugo Award-winning fanzine Amra. The term “swords and sorcery” first appeared there, and Amra became a leading proponent of the genre. Several of the articles originally published in Amra were later re-printed as part of two volumes about Conan the Barbarian which Scithers co-edited with L. Sprague de Camp.

In 1963, Scithers chaired Discon I, the 21st Worldcon, held in Washington, D.C.. He was a regular parliamentarian for business meetings of the World Science Fiction Society (the people behind WorldCon) and authored an invaluable guide to running science fiction conventions, The Con-Committee Chairman’s Guide.

In 1973, Scithers founded Owlswick Press, a small independent publishing company.
In 1977, he was named the first editor for Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, staying in that position until 1982 and winning two more Hugo Awards for his work there. After leaving IASFM, Scithers took the helm at Amazing Stories, and edited that magazine until 1986.

In 1988, he worked with John Gregory Betancourt and Darrell Schweitzer to re-establish Weird Tales, the magazine that had introduced one of his earliest interests, Conan the Barbarian, to the world, which won him a World Fantasy Award in 1992.

He was also a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac
Asimov’s fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.

He was the first publisher of many SF and fantasy talents, including Esther Friesner.

For a good look at the man, here’s an essay about George Scithers written when he was Fan Guest of Honor at the Millenium Philcon in 2001.

We’ve just been informed that American anime producer and pioneer Carl Macek died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 58.

Carl created Robotech out of editing and redubbing three separate anime series Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada, co-founded Spumco with John Krickafalusi (Ren & Stimpy) and
co-founded Streamline Pictures (Akira, Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star,
Laputa, My Neighbor Totoro) with Jerry Beck. Jerry remembers him here.

His history with comics was long-standing, as he directly wrote some of the Robotech comics for Comico, the books that pushed that company well into the black. Gerry Giovinco, publisher of Comico, has his own remembrance here. In later years, he was also responsible for the animated movie of the Chaos Comics character Lady Death, and had been working on translating episodes of Bleach and Naruto.

It could be argued that he was the most influential man in animation that never worked at Disney or Warner Brothers. He was a one of a kind guy, and will be missed.