Archive Page 2248
August 2025
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
No Zoe Kravitz for Batman II? – Comicbookmovie
Another bankruptcy hearing for Diamond Wednesday – Bleedingcool
Looks like new Diamond bankruptcy hearing gains a plus for publishers – Comicsbeat
James Cameron working on a Terminator story "hard to write because current AI advances are overtaking his ideas" – The Playlist
He's also finishing up Avatar 4 and working on a World War II drama Ghosts of Hiroshima.
Superman II release date announced – MSN Superherohype
"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."
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..."
Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter
You will see Amazon links on this web site because I am an Amazon affiliate. I earn from qualifying purchases.
Original page August 1, 2025