Last Update: August 18, 2025
"Batman" edition electric SUV car – Guessing Headlights
It's claimed the car is bulletproof.
Limited-edition Mahindra BE 6 Batman Edition SUV, a collector's dream inspired by The Dark Knight Trilogy."
"Summer of Superman" and driving people to comic shops – Business Journal Daily
Greg Bartholomew, owner of All American Cards and Comics in Warren and Boardman [Ohio], said both locations are seeing new customers spurred by the movie. Over the past 30 years, the biggest bumps that comic shops have seen tied to movies or television shows were connected to properties that people hadn’t heard of before, such as "The Walking Dead" or "Hellboy."
Bankruptcy hearing coming for Diamond – Bleedingcool
"I blame the Dark Knight series from Frank Miller for 'almost ruining comic books" – Comicbook
This is the kind of article that begs for a rebuttal.
The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen were unbelievably popular, and for good reason. Comic books were still shaking off the guidelines of the Comics Code Authority, which heavily censored the types of stories that could be told. These two stories threw those guidelines out to tell much darker stories with much more adult themes, and they were beloved for it..."
This is only partially true. For years before the Dark Knight appeared there were plenty of titles that bucked the Comics Code, and a whole world of publishing of comics that had nothing to do with the code. From Heavy Metal magazine to the many publishing houses that popped up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a lot of stuff coming out that any dedicated comic book buyer with access to a comic shop was seeing (and buying) and these titles didn't have that little white stamp up in the corner.
The specific difference regarding these two titles that exceeds anything about the Comics Code is that Frank Miller and Alan Moore had built up a fan audience ready for anything new from them and they were riding the zeitgeist of the era (and even influencing it) and both Miller and Moore struck while the moment was right. I remember the crowds waiting at my comic book shop on the day that Dark Knight Returns volume three came out: the popularity of the book's first two volumes and the anticipation for the last two volumes had built fast and somehow had roped in a lot of lapsed comic fans who jumped back into the hobby on the enthusiasm of Miller's "updating" of the character. In a mass we browsed around the shop waiting for the boxes to be opened and Volume Three to be handed out, but also the second printings of Volume One and Volume Two that a large number of us had missed out on. From the strength of word-of-mouth and many quite positive reviews in the general media, we enthusiastically waited for our turn. The closest I've seen to this phenomenon since were the crowds of Harry Potter fans awaiting Rowling's latest tome on their release date.
I think an argument can be made that The Dark Knight Returns updating was to return the character closer to its roots in pulp, and then to lard in a whole synthesis of 70s and early 80s crime movies (plus Miller's love for the noir genre in general). On top of that was that Miller "explained" Batman to the audience in the language of his generation and time. Bats and other superheroes at DC had long been produced by the World War II and Korean War generation of artists and writers, and though part of the comic book audience of the 1980s overlapped into that, a big chunk of it did not, and the Comics Code had precious little to effect regarding that social difference.
Fraud: 17 artists suing Cadence Comic Art – Bleedingcool
"Too comic book" – why the Blade script got refused – MSN Superhero Hype
My observation was that as the money piled up from the 2000s/2010s superhero films, the Hollywood types who gathered around "comic book movies" to stick a hand into the windfall began the predictable campaign to move "comic book movies" away from comic books and bury them in old-fashioned Hollywood melodrama. The result was to lose the reason "comic book movies" were unique and able to win over a huge "normie" audience. You can turn on the TV to get overheated melodrama. Mixing that up into confused super-scripts and bloated CGI productions just wasn't a winning combination, marring the reason those films had been succeeding, which was, of course, because they were "comic book movies."
Review of the manga You Can’t Live All On Your Own – Yattatachi
Harvey Award nominees for 2025 – Harvey Awards
Valiant has a new compact graphic novel line coming – Bleedingcool
Annoyed by "rage-bait in advertising and media" – Comicsbeat
People who use “trigger the libs” or “anti-woke” statements and jokes are losers. I could go into a whole spiel about how it’s wrong to do this (which it is) or that it’s an indication of a right-wing shift in the broader culture (which it is), but above all else, it’s lame and boring. Or cringe as the kids call it..."
Goose, meet gander
Superman heads to PVOD – Variety
Thunderbolts starts streaming on the 27th – Deadline Hollywood
Weekend box office; Weapons will probably dominate, again – MSN Gold Derby
- Jurassic World Rebirth at $802,643,920 worldwide - released July 2
- Superman at $586,633,636 worldwide - released July 11
- F1 at $579,547,225 worldwide - released Jun 27
- Fantastic Four at $442,881,566 worldwide - released July 25
- Weapons at $108,344,723 worldwide - released August 8
Emma Stone and Spider-Man, 2012 and 2014 – Hollywood Reporter
Baltimore honors memory of Lenny "Batman" Robinson – MSN WBAL Baltimore
More about the "Route 29 Batman"
Sample art from the Batman – Deadpool crossover book – Comicbook
"Great comic book movies" without superheroes – Comicbook
Their list is fine, but, no Ghost World?
"Archie’s comics digests are no more" – Comicsbeat
...it’s very sad to me to see the last newsstand comics digest disappear. Certainly, others will feel a stab of sadness. I guarantee that if you put a digest-sized comics collection of GOOD comics in front of a child, even today with the triumph of screentime, they would read it and enjoy it. Given the success of roughly digest-sized manga and kids graphic novels from Scholastic, this can’t even be argued. But an end comes to even the most treasured format when so much else has changed around it. Where is Archie going from here? That’s a great question. The brand has life left in it, despite all this."
Well, this scares me more than anything, more than Diamond imploding. Archie was the last comic outpost in the grocery store chains, the one place where Americans still shop despite Amazon and all the other ways of getting goods without walking between electric sliding doors.
Of course, Archie Publishing is just one company, and it’s a minor matter since Marvel, DC, and the rest dropped out of grocery stores long ago. This shift started happening back in the 1970s. In fact, I was once asked to come by a grocery store that had shelved hundreds of brand-new Marvel comics the distributor didn’t want back, and the store didn’t want to just toss in a dumpster, so, gratis, I took the books off their hands.
The bottom line was that comics were no longer worth having on the newsstand, and this was back when People, Sports Illustrated, and Better Homes and Gardens were selling in the millions off the racks. This was circa 1977, and finding comics on spinner racks in drugstores or piled on the lower rungs of newsstands was easy. Other grocery stores still carried comics, so this event was just one chain quitting. But over the decades, the complete absence of comic books from the everyday paths of the general population has steadily grown, narrowing and narrowing, until it has come down to this—Archie as the last holdout.
The article at Comicsbeat covers a lot of ground on the Archie digests, the publishing houses of A360 and McClatchy, and discusses issues about distributors as Archie has been changing distribution companies much like the rest of the industry has been forced to do.
But this is a reckoning on an unwelcome fact: comic books are being forced deeper into a niché when they're supposed to be, and were for so many decades, mass entertainment.
Fluffing up the news on the new Batman video game: best ever – Bam Smack Pow
Webtoon stocks jump on higher profits than expected – Stock Story org
Corenswet to be in Batman movie? – Newsweek
"I really want to be in that movie"
Looks like the Gunn Superman is going to overtake Man O' Steel from Snyder – Comicbook
Man of Steel – 2013 – Worldwide $668,045,518 and Domestic earnings $291,045,518 domestic
Superman – 2025 – Worldwide $579,194,652 and Domestic earnings $331,394,652 domestic
On the other hand, Man O' Steel was earning those numbers in 2013 era dollars, which are worth $1.38 compared to 2025 dollars. That means, if MOS was released today and sold the same number of tickets (hypothetically) the box office would be $921,065,000. Such an event in 2025 would probably mean Warners would want to hang a medal on Zack Snyder's chest, and Henry Cavill's.
Zach Cregger's Weapons beats down both Fantastic Four and Freakier Friday at Box Office – MSN Superhero Hype
- Jurassic World Rebirth at $799,984,075 worldwide - released July 2
- Superman at $578,843,139 worldwide - released July 11
- F1 at $570,681,000 worldwide - released Jun 27
- Fantastic Four at $434,212,709 worldwide - released July 25
- Weapons at $70,000,000 worldwide - released August 8
Michael Kobre talks up the Fantastic Four and Jack Kirby – Los Angeles Review of Books
Ben Grimm’s agony created the template for all of Marvel’s anxious, conflicted heroes who would be introduced in the next few years. Over time, his character would evolve, tempering the rage and self-loathing of the early issues, and Ben would become a more avuncular presence in the family structure of the team—alongside Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, the nominal father figure; Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, who would become a wife and mother; and Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, as the literally hotheaded kid brother. Yet Ben’s pathos as a man in a monster’s body would always be a defining aspect of his character..."
The article in particular examines Kirby's Jewishness and how that impacted some of the characters at Marvel. There is more focus on The Thing/Ben Grimm as a representation of Kirby's "inner" identity: "Benjamin Jacob Grimm—whose name is a conflation of Kirby’s own, Jacob, and his father’s, Benjamin."
The epic crossover of Batman and Deadpool – Collider
Superman at the top of the Bleeding Cool bestseller list – Bleeding Cool
James Gunn says nope to Robin being in Batman II – Yahoo News
Disney makes deal to settle Gina Carano lawsuit – MSN Markets Today
The path by which the Diamond Bankruptcy could turn into going after Steve Geppi personal assets – Bleeding Cool
Summer box office race: Superman and F1 winning – Hollywood Reporter MSN
- Fantastic Four at $385,197,068 worldwide - released July 25
- Superman at $565,543,139 worldwide - released July 11
- F1 at $558,045,574 worldwide - released Jun 27
- Jurassic World Rebirth at $771,311,075 worldwide - released July 2
The controversy hitting the Angoulême comics festival, one of the largest comics events in the world – Comicsbeat
"Why James Gunn's Superman gives me hope for comic book movies" – MSN CBR
...because director James Gunn embraced a Silver Age sensibility that embraces his comic book origins rather than running from them."
Coming next from out of DC movies – Newsweek
- James Gunn directing the "next installment in the Super-Family" which will feature David Corenswet, presumably again in the Superman suit.
- Craig Gillespie directing Supergirl – releasing June 26, 2026.
- Matt Reeves writing and directing Robert Pattinson in The Batman: Part II. Production starts spring of 2026.
- James Watkins directing Clayface with Tom Rhys Harries as the character, releasing September 11, 2026
Texas Latino Comic Con August 9 – Hoodline
Latino heritage "through the vibrant lens of comic books, narrative art, and the dynamic world of lucha libre." At the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas.
Disney's Lilo & Stitch a "billion-dollar cash cow" – inc.com
Lilo & Stitch (May 2025) $1,025,231,858 international box office
Lilo & Stitch (23002) $274,749,220 international box office
Comic Book Price Guide for 2025-2026 delayed by Diamond implosion. It's put out by Gemstone and the story of the delay is at Bleeding Cool
Will Fantastic Four stay on top of box office this weekend? – MSN Variety
The Fantastic Four First Steps should have dominated at the box office through the dog days of summer. Instead, ticket sales are falling fast and the superhero adventure will be unseated from the top spot on North American charts..."
Where's all that box office money? Studios looking to 2030 for recovery – Comicbookmovie
About $11.8 billion in U.S. cinema revenue was reported in 2019. However, this number has dramatically decreased over the past few years. In 2024, it dropped to $8.9 billion, and it isn’t expected to fully recover until 2030...."
Obviously, "recovery" is dependant upon the film makers producuing something an audience wants, a point of importance which indicates that, at present, the film makers are not accomplishing this. Blaming the pandemic is not addressing the real problem, though the pandemic is certainly responsible for "breaking the habit of movie going." But, worth noting, there are billion-dollar-earning movies still happening:
Billion-Dollar Movies (2020–2025)
2021
Spider‑Man: No Way Home – approx. $1.92 billion
2022
Avatar: The Way of Water – approx. $2.32 billion
Top Gun: Maverick – approx. $1.50 billion
Jurassic World: Dominion – approx. $1.00 billion
2023
Barbie – approx. $1.45 billion
The Super Mario Bros. Movie – approx. $1.36 billion
2024
Inside Out 2 – approx. $1.70 billion
Deadpool & Wolverine – approx. $1.34 billion
Moana 2 – approx. $1.06 billion
2025 (to date)
Ne Zha 2 – approx. $2.22 billion
Lilo & Stitch – approx. $1.03 billion
Looks like Sgt Rock and Swamp Thing are both back as future releases from DC movies, not so for The Authority – Boundingintocomics
DC is officially leading the race for highest earning super-film in 2025 – Mens XP
Pedro Pascal got more payout for FF First Steps than the whole cast at Superman, combined – MSN Comic Basics
The massive payday makes sense for Marvel Studios, which has been leaning heavily on star power to bring in audiences. Some fans have even joked about “Pedro fatigue” because of how many high-profile projects he’s been in lately...."
Lawsuit from publishers against who is holding their Diamond bankruptcy consignment inventory
Story at Bleedingcool [Greek]
New owners of Diamond holding some $13.5 million in inventory from various comics publishers who want their books back – Bleedingcool
The Diamond Bankruptcy "slog" – Comicsbeat
Superman vs Fantastic Four - Review
Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Terrific, Ms. Teschmacher
Why is Superman the better movie? Because Fantastic Four stays entirely cramped within the Marvel formula. Disney plays it safe with FF, and I don't blame them after all the money-losers they've had lately, one after another, but star actor Pedro Pascal looks like he's being smothered, and we barely see him using Mr. Fantastic's stretch-skills. It's in there, but, wow, for a "Fantastic Four" movie to not be the mother lode of stretching from its erstwhile leader makes you wonder if Disney can parse the 64 years of material they're handling. And I'll go further than that, this is a color-themed movie that tells you exactly what its about: powder blue and white, the classic "she's having a baby" color scheme, because this movie is about giving birth to Mr. Fantastic Junior, not the Fantastic Four. What's the problem with that? Hang on, I'll tell you.
More of Superman vs Fantastic Four - Review
Batman 2, Teen Titans, etc., James Gunn doesn't seem to confirm or deny anything – Yahoo News
This effort at understanding AI, and more particular, how artists have to interact with clients in order to survive, doesn't cover everything just right, but is a good survey. Basically, the argument that AI is a tool and shouldn't be blamed when the actual place the artist is getting ripped off is by the client cheating, lying or withholding money, is a good starting point.
Fantastic Four at $368,727,635 worldwide - released July 25
Superman at $551,211,000 worldwide - released July 11
Remembering the classic comic book movie stinker The Spirit starring Scarlett Johansson & Samuel L. Jackson – MSN Screenrant
This film is almost unwatcheable as a film. As a series of amazing motion images it fares much better. When Martin Scorsese claims superhero movies aren't really "movies, but theme park rides" this film comes a lot closer to proving his case.
Smith Educational Comics moving into the animation market – Manila Times
Marvel X-Men movie cutting costs by enlisting young, unknown cast – Gamesradar
Fantastic Four movie still rules box office but the drop off in ticket sales is "biggest second-weekend box office drop in MCU History" – Fiction Horizon
Fantastic Four at $269,186,446 worldwide - released July 25
Superman at $534,106,392 worldwide - released July 11
Remembering the life and work of artist, educator, publisher, and activist Turtel Onli – The Comics Journal
Could DC comic book movies be the future for the genre? – Digital Trends
Fantastic Four movie expected to stay at top of box office but new releases Naked Gun and Bad Guys 2 have got to fight for the number two slot – Yahoo - Gold Derby
The new George Lucas "narrative art" museum will "transform how you view comic books" – Yahoo
If you'd like to own a 1989 Tim Burton-style Batmobile, here's your chance – AutoBlog
The odd looking empty rows of tables for Diamond Comic Distributors at SDCC – Bleedingcool
Diamond's absence was partially expected due to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the debtors' executives and lawyers did have an internal meeting and billed the bankruptcy debt for it to debate what to do with this asset. In the end, the answer was… nothing. They didn't manage to use it or sell it...."
The Tim Burton Batman and Batman Returns coming back for theater release August 25 – Comicbookmovie
The remastered versions of both movies (from 1989 and 1992) will play at Dolby equipped cinemas at AMC Theatres locations across North America.
Superman movie flies past $300 million mark in the domestic market – rare for DC movies of late – MSN Hollywood Reporter
In a second milestone, Superman has already passed up the entire lifetime of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, which topped out at $291 million domestically in 2013, not adjusted. That film was the last solo Superman movie; in 2016, Snyder's sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice grossed $330.4 million domestically. (The latest Superman pic will soon overtake Dawn of Justice as well.) Overseas, Superman has already cleared $500 million...."
That last remark about "$500 million overseas" isn't accurate, but corresponds to the total world-wide take (including domestic) that has accumulated so far for the James Gunn Superman reboot.
Superman as a "surrogate dad" – Washington Post
Six "letters to the editor" at the Washington Post explore what Superman/Clark Kent means to them. Some letters provide analysis:
Although he could fly and lift tremendous weights, and bullets bounced off his chest, he was the son of the Kents, that good, kind and sometimes humorous couple in Kansas. That’s why he wanted to use his powers to save lives and help people by doing things that humans couldn’t. And he didn’t want to take credit, nor to endanger people he loved, so he disguised himself when he did those things. His “secret identity” was Superman, not Clark Kent..."
Superman Then - Superman Now
Versioning and reversioning Superman has been an industry for decades, and as a kind of Rorschach test for how DC Comics is thinking (and feeling) about what a "good superhero" is really about – more about Superman and his changing times
Thinking about J.M.W.Turner and Corben's Den series – The Comics Journal
I never had much patience for Corben's Den series. His pages were easy to spot because the typical American newsstand of the 1970s carried Heavy Metal magazine almost everywhere. His exposure to the mass audience was likely at its peak during this time, and not just due to sales, but because Americans were inveterate magazine page-flippers in that era. People would browse through periodicals, one after another, deciding which ones to actually buy and take home, or would simply peruse various issues for ten minutes at the news racks, which were packed with an endless array of titles, all competing for attention (and, of course, sales). Den was meant to help Heavy Metal move copies, and it it was full of the nudity, violence and, importantly, as pointed out in the Comics Journal article, the sheer magazine-quality color that Corben employed through a combination of ink drawing and air brush skills, something wildly more sophisticated than the simple Gravure-printed color halftone screens at DC and Marvel comics.
Corben's story writing was an acquired taste, though, to put it mildly.
On the other hand, I later recognized that Corben could be a dynamic interpreter of someone else’s writing. A strong example is his adaptation (with Simon Revelstroke) of House on the Borderland, as well as his short The Spectre tale that appeared in Solo #11 (Feb. 2006), the all-Corben issue from DC Comics, with John Arcudi providing the script. In that story, Corben presents the Jim Corrigan version of The Spectre — somewhat in the spirit of how Jerry Siegel originally conceived him — in a short adventure that is both darkly humorous and brutally harsh, doubling as a meditation on death. Corben also had a long association with adapting (or, depending on your perspective, massacring) the works of Edgar Allan Poe. And then there’s a historically significant moment: in 1975, Corben illustrated and contributed to the narrative adaptation of Robert Howard's Bloodstar (originally titled The Valley of the Worm) as a single, cohesive 94-page tale. This predates Will Eisner’s A Contract with God (1978), giving Bloodstar and Richard Corben a legitimate leg up in the sweepstakes for first "graphic novel."
Comics important again at 2025 SDCC – Publishers Weekly
Little publishing news broke at the show, with no bombshell announcements dropping during any panels. Robert Kirkman announced the return of Capes, a 20 year old spin-off of his popular Invincible franchise, under writer Benito Cerino, while X-men artist John Byrne’s fanfic based on his own work, X-Men Elsewhens, will come out from Abrams Comic Arts via their partnership with Marvel. Uncertainty over how Diamond’s bankruptcy will affect publishers may have contributed to the news dearth. Several publishers were absent due to a lack of books to sell. (Diamond is holding onto inventory while the legal mess untangles.)
The writer of the article, Heidi MacDonald, is usually talking up comic books at her ComicsBeat website, such as:
SDCC "winners and losers" – Comicsbeat
Fantastic Four First Steps at $117 million domestic / $99 million international – The Numbers
Superman at $292 million domestic / $114 million international – Box Office Mojo
SDCC talking up the coming Batman-Deadpool teamup – Comicsbeat
Debuting in September, Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman #1 features writing by Zeb Wells with Kevin Smith; Kelly Thompson; Chip Zdarsky; Al Ewing; and Frank Miller, with art by Greg Capullo with Adam Kubert; Gurihiru; Terry Dodson; Dike Ruan; and Frank Miller..."
Greg Capullo is doing the cover but there's going to be a bunch of variant covers.
An interesting plus are the backup stories: Rocket Raccoon/Green Lantern and a Wolverine Old Man Logan/Batman written and drawn by Frank Miller.
Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter
Time to go to Disney World? Goofy 4 Mickey
Classic Film, reviews and more Cinemagraphe
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