George “Digger” Harkness was born to an American soldier and an Australian woman. An illegitimate child, Harkness grew up in poverty but quickly discovered a talent for both crafting and using boomerangs.

As a young man, he got a job working for a toy company, demonstrating the use of their boomerangs. When audiences ridiculed him, Harkness turned to crime instead, keeping his costume and creating specialized boomerangs to become Captain Boomerang.

He became a member of the Flash’s Rogues Gallery, though years later he joined the Suicide Squad in order to be pardoned for his crimes. Harkness later returned to his criminal ways but was increasingly outclassed by both heroes and other villains.

He eventually became so desperate he accepted small jobs working for other crooks. His last act was an assignment to kill Jack Drake, the father of current Robin, Tim Drake. Harkness succeeded, but Drake managed to shoot and kill him as well.

A quick scan of the shelves at your local comic shop this month should be all it takes to realize that writer/artist Todd Nauck has been keeping busy. The popular Young Justice artist’s name graces the cover of four different issues in a five-week span, including the launch of two new miniseries and the grand finale of another series.

One of those new miniseries marks the return of Nauck’s popular creator-owned series WildGuard to comic shops, and provides yet another look at a world where superheroes are chosen via American Idol-esque competitions and readers have helped determine everything from storylines to costumes.

Nauck also lends his considerable talents to the first two issues of American Dream this month, featuring the alternate-reality heroes of Marvel’s MC2 universe — specifically, the female Captain America. The first issue was a sellout for Marvel, with rave reviews for the work of both Nauck and series writer Tom DeFalco.

However, it isn’t all new beginnings for Nauck, as he helps close the door on the cartoon-inspired DC series Teen Titans Go! with issue #55 at the end of May. The kirds-oriented series has had Nauck embracing a new artistic style — one that’s now turning up in his other projects, too.

I spoke with Todd about nearly achieving the "quadfecta," finally finding time for more WildGuard and juggling the different artistic styles required for each of his very-different projects this month.

COMICMIX: When we spoke during New York Comic Con, you were excited to have the "quadfecta" schedule this month, with an issue hitting every week of May. Although some last-minute scheduling shifts pushed up one of the release dates, it’s still an impressive run of four comics in five weeks. When you first found out there was a chance of the schedule lining up like this, did you push for the quadfecta or was it entirely by chance?

TODD NAUCK: Entirely by chance. I couldn’t have planned it. The only book I could have a say in the release date was WildGuard: insider since that is my creator-owned book. I had the release date on May 14th for WildGuard: Insider #1 set around December or January for solicitations.

Then I come to find out my Marvel series American Dream is coming out bi-weekly with issue #1 out May 7th and issue #2 out May 21st.

Then I had to find out when Teen Titans Go #55 (the last issue of that series) was coming out. As I frantically flipped through the DC section of Previews I was hoping it would be May 28th. And wouldn’t you know, that was the exact date for Teen Titans Go #55.

I had hit the "quadfecta!" Four books, each coming out in a different week of the same month.

WildGuard: Insider #1 did get released early for Free Comic Book Day, though. But a lot of WildGuard fans probably expect it in their pull boxes for May 14th. So it’s still quadfecta-ish! (more…)

Punisher War Zone won’t be hitting theaters until December, but that’s not about to stop the marketing machine at Lions Gate from advertising it. The first poster for the film has been released and, well, it’s about what you’d expect. The Punisher loves bullets and he loves skulls, so why not combine the two?

It looks like an image ready made for a shirt at Hot Topic, if it isn’t already on sale there already. At least the poster lets us know that lots of bullets will be fired in the film. Will there be anymore parking ticket antics with fire hydrants like in the last Punisher movie though?

Punisher War Zone hits theaters on December 5. The film stars Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle/The Punisher, Dominic West as Jigsaw and Wayne Knight as Microchip.

(via UGO)

"Once more into the breech," in the immortal words of the Human Cannonball. And no, you aren’t going to get puns of a better caliber.

• Wolverine comics from the 1950s. (Via Avram Grumer.)
• The works of Richard Mullins— it may be fine art, but somehow I don’t see this guy getting the job pencilling Action Comics anytime soon.
• Via Johanna, we learn that Newsarama is rebuilding, and may be wrecking a lot of their existing infrastructure to do so. Good luck with that, fellas.
• Brad Guigar shows how to Unshark Mask in Photoshop. A handy skill when you least expect it.
• Want to do nothing but lie around for 90 days reading comics? NASA might pay you to do it.
• The other career of Alex Ross. And then he photographs himself to paint himself to…
• Lt. Worf endorses Barack Obama:

I am moved by the story of his humble origins, his absent Kenyan father, his mother working to make ends meet, and growing up without his father in an environment where his racial identity was unclear.  After all, I, Lieutenant Worf, am a Klingon by birth, but raised by Caucasian humans, the Rozhenkos, on the farm world of Gault.  So I know a little bit about absent fathers, and being a dark-skinned man, looked upon as an alien in a white world.

• A former voice actor for Peanuts specials is a candidate for a school board. His platform? "Waa waa WAA waa waa…"
• In a switch, Jessica Alba wants to stare at you.
• And finally, Rating The Super Hunks. I’ll take Rachel’s word for it, but bear in mind she thinks the guy in the Iron Man costume is worth marrying.