Even a full-scale bombing can’t keep a good Smurf down. Last seen in <a href=”

controversial UNICEF ad, the blue-skinned, three-apples-high Smurfs appear to have survived their encounter with the horrors of war and are making a comeback for their 50th anniversary.

2008 looks to be a blue-ribbon year for the inhabitants of Smurf Village with the debut of a new 3-D film, television series and comics dedicated to the adventures of Papa Smurf, Brainy and the rest of the Smurfs, as well as their eternal foe, Gargamel.

According to CBC:

"An ‘invasion’ of projects about Belgian illustrator Pierre (Peyo) Culliford’s best known characters will begin later this month and end in October, the actual 50th anniversary, officials from IMPS, the group controlled by Peyo’s family and rights holder for the Smurfs, said Monday."

Sounds smurfy!

It’s the first broadcast of the week and that means ComicMix Radio gets to dig through the new comics and DVDs tempting us from inside our favorite stores, including the special edition of the Family Guy Blue Harvest Star Wars parody!

Plus:

• The Writers Strike might put a stake through the heart of the JLA movie

• Get ready for cool Iron Man fast food toys… and we’ll tell you where to get them!

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In today’s brand new, full color Demons of Sherwood adventure, Robin of Locksley is pushed into greater heroic adventure.

Fires! Swordplay! Attacks and rescues!  All this, and more, as Robert Tinnell and Bo Hampton tell you what happened to Robin Hood, Maid Marian, the Merry Men and the rest of Sherwood recovered from their happily ever after.

This just in from AP:

Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and driving under the influence after a Ventura County car crash that killed a man and injured Avary’s wife, authorities said.

Avary, 42, was the driver in the single-car collision shortly after midnight Sunday in Ojai, said Capt. Ross Bonfiglio of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Killed in the accident was Andreas Zini, 34, a resident of Italy who was apparently visiting the couple. Firefighters cut Zini from the car with Jaws of Life, and he died several hours later at Ventura County Medical Center.

Avary’s wife Gretchen, 40, was ejected from the car and found in the road by deputies, Bonfiglio said. She was hospitalized in stable condition.

Avary was booked but later released on $50,000 bail, Bonfiglio said. He did not know whether Avary has hired an attorney.

Avary won an Academy Award along with Quentin Tarantino for writing "Pulp Fiction," and was also a co-writer of the recent epic "Beowulf." He and his wife live in Ojai, a popular artists’ colony and tourist destination 14 miles north of Ventura.

We’ll post more as we hear about it.

UPDATE: Neil Gaiman writes:

I just read the news about Roger Avary, and am mostly posting this because people have already started writing to let me know about it, and to stop that turning into a flood. (I still can’t access Blogger except via a sort of email work-around right now.)

According to the news reports (and I have no other information), Roger crashed his car yesterday. His wife Gretchen was thrown out of the car and is in hospital with serious injuries, and the passenger, an Italian friend of Roger’s called Andreas Zini, was killed. Roger has been arrested for suspicion of manslaughter and DUI, and released on bail.

And I’m worried about all of them. Worried about Gretchen and their kids, worried about the family of their poor friend, and worried about Roger (who, it’s probably worth mentioning, I’ve known well for over a decade, and who barely drinks).