Hot on the heels of our Infinite Crisis review (audio edition) comes word that 52 is getting the exact same treatment: a novelization this July by Greg Cox, and a full-cast audio adaptation by GraphicAudio.

Greg tells our Glenn Hauman: "I thought I’d shamelessly plug the 52 novel, which goes on sale in a couple of weeks. If nothing else, this is the first gay Batwoman novel, which gives it some small claim to newsworthiness!  :)" Probably so; those introductory issues of 52 have been up-priced in some venues and doubtlessly will be footnoted in next year’s Overstreet Guide.

Thanks for the news, Greg. We’re looking forward to both versions!

Artwork copyright DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Okay, the Mars Bars trick isn’t working, so you can stop sending ’em. The CW is not going to renew Veronica Mars.

However, series creator Rob Thomas told The Toronto Star he was in discussions this week with DC Comics; "they want to do (Season 4) as a comic series."

The comic book medium is becoming the popular new way to zombify dead teevee series. Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has been writing a Season 8 for Dark Horse, and it’s been selling through the roof. Me, I’m holding out for Season 2 of Jack Of All Trades.

Thanks and a tip o’the hat to Larry Shell.

The 2007 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Creator Awards were handed out this weekend and, according to the JSA (get it?) website, here are the winners:

Fan Favourite – English: web comics creator Dan Kim (April & May & June, Penny Tibute, Kanami)

Fan Favourite – French: Michel Rabagliati (Paul a la Peche)

Favourite International (non-Canadian) comic book creator: Brian K. Vaughan (Runaways, Y the Last Man, Ex Machina, Pride of Baghdad, Doctor Strange: The Oath).

Outstanding Web Comics Creator: Dan Kim (April & May & June, Kanami, Penny Tribute)

Outstanding Writer: Darwyn Cooke (Superman Confidential)

The Outstanding Artist : Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone (Batman/The Spirit)

The Outstanding Cartoonist (writer/artist) award went to Darwyn Cooke (The Spirit)

Hall of Fame inductees were Albert Chartier, Jacques Hurtubise, Gerry Lazarre and Gene Day. Hurtubise and Lazarre were both on hand to accept their induction into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame. The late Gene Day’s brother David Day was on hand to accept for his brother.

On July 16th, United Media (home to Peanuts and Garfield) will launch a new newspaper comic strip with the highly punny name Secret Asian Man.

The creation of Tak Toyoshima, the strip tells the story of Osamu Takahashi, a struggling comic strip artist with a wife and son. Osamu – also known as Sam – is a second generation Japanese American. Toyoshima is the art director of the Boston alternative newsweekly, The Weekly Dig, where the strip has been running for some time. Secret Asian Man already appears in a number of such alt-weeklies across the country; being picked up by the Snoopy Syndicate is quite an achievement for an alternative comic strip.

For more info, check out Secret Asian Man‘s website.

Artwork copyright 2007 Tak Toyoshima. All RIghts Reserved.

As Lillian Baker and I (plus my entire family) eagerly await the debut of Ratouille from Pixar, Variety reports that the studio’s 2009 release will be Up.  This will be about "a 70-year-old man who teams up with a wilderness ranger to fight beasts and villains."  The script is by Bob Peterson, and Peter Docter is the director.  He did Monsters, Inc.

The premise doesn’t sound that exciting to me, but neither did the story of a a few fish when i first heard it.  And Finding Nemo was great.  Hence, I have high hopes for this.

Next summer, Pixar’s pic is Wall*E.  In 2010, look for Toy Story 3.

When we’re in a somber mood, which is an easy kind of mood to be in these days, we hope that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were not prophets. Joe and Jerry were, of course, the creators of Superman, and way back in 1938 they told what’s become known as Superman’s origin story.

Surely you’re familiar with it; it’s been retold and edited and redacted and emended and amended and recast in comics, in movies and books and on television, and probably video games, for these past 68 years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some earnest young writer is, at this moment, reworking it yet again. But in the event your long-term memory is gebollixed for some reason, I’ll give you the trading card version.

Jor-El, a scientist, tells the poobahs of his civilization on the planet Krypton that their entire world is soon to disintegrate. The poobahs refuse to believe him and – oops – the darn world does blow itself to bits. Jor-El does manage to get his son away in a spacecraft before the final blooey. The kid lands on Earth and becomes a mighty champion of justice, etc. etc.

If I were to rewrite this familiar story, I might consider making Jor-El an environmentalist who’s worried about, let’s say, global warming. And maybe, in this version, the poobahs are politicians who take Jor-El’s carefully reasoned and scientifically unimpeachable work, which Mr. El has presented in the form of a document, and had someone with negligible scientific credentials edit Mr. El’s writing so heavily that it’s meaning is altered.

I mean, my suggested revamp isn’t really too far from the original, is it? What’s scary is that it isn’t far at all from some recent real-life history. And that’s why, despite my great respect for Messrs. Siegel and Shuster, I hope they’re lousy prophets. Remember how their story ended? The poobahs insisted they were right and Jor-El was wrong, despite plenty of contrary evidence, and – Blooey!

If we were to redo, once again, what Joe and Jerry began with, we might consider expanding it to allow a look at the poobahs. The trick in doing this kind of thing is to ask, if these fictional characters were real, what kind of people would they be? Not conventionally “evil;” at least, they wouldn’t think of themselves as “evil;” no one does.

But arrogant, certainly: so sure of their own unchallenged superiority that they feel they don’t have to listen to, much less heed, anyone else. And prisoners of their own egos, which would not allow them to admit ever, being wrong. And not only greedy, but able to rationalize their greed, if there were a profit to be made from their acts.

All that would congeal into deep, impenetrable ignorance. Not lack of education, nor stupidity, but ignorance, which, in this context, we might define as a refusal to acknowledge the truth that’s available to them.

I’d like to read that story. In a comic book, not in a newspaper.

RECOMMENDED READING: The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins.

Dennis O’Neil is an award-winning editor and writer of comic books like Batman, The Question, Iron Man, Green Lantern and/or Green Arrow, and The Shadow, as well as all kinds of novels, stories and articles.

Artwork TM and © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.