Last Update July 7, 2026
The big leadership changes at Dark Horse – Publishers Wweekly
Near mint Fantastic Four #1 goes to auction (CGC 9.0) – Heritage Auctions
Reviews of Nolan's The Odyssey are starting to roll in – Deadline
The Odyssey opens on July 17. Initial projections had its domestic debut at between $80M-$100M. That could change if these early reactions hold up...."
Hollywood Reality Check
New Minions movie performs dead last for series opening; Supergirl continues crash and burn – MSN Variety
The new Minions and Monsters was predicted to "conquer the world" with a $170 million dollar starting 5-day weekend. Instead it pulled $61 million.
The Supergirl estimated domestic gross is $58.4 million, so far. That number is in the range of what the DC/Warners execs had originally planned on for the opening weekend. (Before the release and when reviews were starting to percolate, they dropped their estimated start to a more modest $40 million). When the initial previews on Supergirl were happening June 18-19, trade publications like Hollywood Reporter had a (at least in print) a tidal wave of positive affirmation for the film. So what happened?
"No longer the Steve Ditko school" – Bleeding Cool
Why did Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe on the final page remove Steve Ditko's name?
Supergirl finally tawdles to $100,470,000 worldwide – The Numbers
Behind the scenes of the Supergirl bomb – Hollywood Reporter
Gunn and [director] Gillespie had creative differences over the direction of the movie, numerous sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, and the film never found its footing in the post-production process. The test scores, which are counted on a scale out of 100 points, never escaped the 60s, according to multiple insiders. Another insider said the movie’s top score was 70...."
Marvel Treasury Special Featuring Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles – 13th Dimension
A quick pass through today on the various comic book web sites on the internet, whether news sites or company sites, saw a curious phenomenon: only a few acknowledged the 250th July 4th holiday in the USA.
The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival 2026 in Kendal, Cumbria, England – Down the Tubes
Katherine T. Carroll has died – Bleedingcool
Katharine Trowbridge, professionally known as Katharine T. Carroll and the US Publicity Director for Titan Publishing Group, died suddenly at the age of 68, last Sunday, the 28th of June. Katherine worked with Titan Publishing Group across Titan Books, Titan Comics, and Hard Case Crime for nearly two decades..."
Are comic book stores "cooked"? – Clownfish
"DC’s Absolute line is carrying the industry"
"AI backlash gaining steam" – MSN The Wrap
Creators themselves were far more blunt. While almost all of the creators I spoke to used AI to better understand their audience and help them create content, most expressed a distaste for wholly AI-generated content, noting that audiences can tell and dislike the trend...."
People are rapidly developing visual filters that, like reflexively ignoring pop up ads and commercial video, etc., is getting applied to obvious AI generated stuff online (and on TV). There's got to be something attractive for the item besides the perfect tonal qualities of AI motion and AI imagery. Humor helps get the AI video (or image) attention, but the media, especially advertising, is already up to its neck at efforts at irony and comedy, so how far can AI carry this approach?
End of the line for Marvel Manga effort? – Polygon
It seems that one of Japan’s biggest media companies and The Mouse have had a bit of a falling out: Shueisha and Walt Disney Japan have terminated a contract that allowed the former to publish manga featuring Marvel characters... Shueisha will gradually remove its Marvel-themed material from digital storefronts from Sept. 28 to 30, while also ending physical print sales..."
No mention if poor sales had something to do with it.
July: ICONS FEST, a two-day focused on Cleveland’s role in comic book history. – Cleveland
... Presented by the Maltz Museum, the event is inspired by the traveling exhibition, "Icons in Ink: The Jewish Comics Experience," which explores the contributions of Jewish creators to some of the world’s most recognizable superheroes...."
There's a schedule online at Cleveland.com
Famed travel writer Paul Theroux and Steve Lafler working on joint comics project – Press Democrat
Coming in November: DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artist's Edition 22X15 inches
Silver Age era art by Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, Curt Swan and others with complete interior pages for Green Lantern #1 by Gil Kane, The Flash #146 by Carmine Infantino, Superman by Al Plastino from Action Comics #282, along with other material.
DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artist's Edition listed at $195.00 at Amazon
The new comic books out today – all 359 covers from 26 publishers – Fresh Comics
Kim Deitch interview – The Comics Journal
Crazy prices on ebay for Absolute Batman #1 – Bleedingcool
Disaster at the box office
I suspect that DC/Warners knew they were heading into a lousy return on investment because of something unrelated to the movie itself: I saw very little, almost nothing in the way of retail store promotion for the film. No displays of Supergirl action figures, t-shirts, stuffy dolls, none of the usual cheap stuff cranked out on licensed properties that brings in royalty checks.
More on the Supergirl Film
Franco Devescovi has died – Rome, Italy – The Messenger
The prolific Italian comic book artist known for his work on 'Il Monello', 'Intrepido', and most notably 'Martin Mystère', has passed away at the age of 83. His extensive career spanned collaborations with renowned writers and contributions to iconic series..."
Supergirl ain't flying, it's crawling
Supergirl domestic at $38 million...DC/Warners planned on $50 million – Hollywood Reporter
The situation: this film has a reported $170 million production budget, an unknown amount spent on marketing (probably another $75 million?) but currently the total worldwide earnings reported put it at poor $68 million in total. The break even for this film likely is $400 to $500 million globally (if the usual arrangement of movie theaters keeping half of ticket sales is in play). Is that doable?
More on the Supergirl Film
Jerry Moriarty has died – NY Times
Influential painter who depicted comic book pages on canvas.
Why Tom King is important – MSN Men's Health
He-Man Masters of the Universe Toy Display at Walmart - the stock looks virtually untouched at about 3 weeks after the film's premiere.
Did they sell out? Or did the staff clear the shelves? What the aisle display for Star Wars Mandolorian looked like about three weeks before
More cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #1000 – Comic Book Movie
Whoa: Spider-Man Brand New Day trailer racks up massive 600 million views – MSN Deadline Hollywood
Supergirl movie debuts
Absolute Batman will become animated series – Hollywood Reporter MSN
"DCU's decision to double down on Jor-El and Lara being villains" – Comic Book Movie
Two editions of Action Comics #1 and a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 come to auction – Yahoo
The cartoonist as critic – The Comics Journal
The Kelley Jones art style animated film Batman Nightfall – Outlook India
Wednesday comics - – Fresh Comics
Marvel Comics — 92 issues
Image Comics — 66 issues
DC Comics — 54 issues
IDW Publishing — 37 issues
Dynamite Entertainment — 36 issues
See the whole list Comic Book Releases also "going blind with 461 different covers"
Batman Caped Crusader Season 2 promo
The Webslinger apparently has an alternative income source – Comicsbeat
Promo for Spider-Man Brand New Day movie coming July 31st reveals Peter Parker's upscale living conditions.
The upscale nature of Peter Parker’s pad was immediately spotted on social media – it even has its own washer/dryer, a luxury that ordinary New Yorkers in their 400 sq foot rent controlled hobbit holes can only dream of. It has high ceilings, tons of exposed brick, hard wood floors and even lots of light!... I would move in here in a heartbeat. Checking Zillow, I found a comparable apartment in BedStuy renting for $5495 – actually a pretty good deal..."
Charity donation drive to help with funeral costs for former Heavy Metal Magazine and Comics Journal editor Ted White – Go Fund Me
Anti-Putin Russian caricaturist Robert Kuzovkov AKA Semyon Skrepetsky shot dead
Story at UPI Press MSN
The things you may not know about the Batman movie of 1989 – 13th Dimension
Spider-Man hoodie and Helluva Boss Blitz & Stolas shirt at a Virginia Mall, June 2026
What happens when your shop has a lot of copies of Absolute Batman but the competing store in town doesn't? – Bleeding Cool
Still, this week made up for it, for us at least. Absolute Batman is the bestselling comic here in the store. People love it, and so do I.Absolute Batmanis the magnet that now brings in the most customers. But this week, it brought even more, and I saw lots of new faces, and sales are even higher than I expected. By 1 pm, I do what I tell myself never to do: I check the store sales, even though I should be focusing on the customers. My curiosity got the better of me, and two hours into opening, the sales total is already around the average for a total Absolute Batman Wednesday.
More people I have never seen before are coming in, even those who had abandoned their pull box through us. This is a perfect time for an awkward conversation. Finally, some customers tell me that another store not too far away was unlucky enough not to receive their full shipment for Wednesday, and that they did not have any copies ofAbsolute Batman at all... "
"Alex Ross is a monumental figure in the comic book medium" and he has "big plans for comicon" – ScreenRant
Review: Disclosure Day – Director Steven Spielberg has a lot of serious thoughts about UFOs and the spacemen who ride them, and has made other films that pay attention to the subject in a thoughtful way. But in Disclosure Day Spielberg goes "all the way" and makes a direct appeal to the audience in the form of star Emily Blunt looking straight across the "4th wall" and telling the popcorn eaters to "listen."
More about Disclosure Day, 2026
"Marvel relics" auction has Killmonger’s full Black Panther "Golden Jaguar" suit – Comicbook
Starting bid is $50K – Heritage Auctions
John Byrne comes back to X-Men – MSN Hollywood Reporter
Superman's "golden age roots" are featured in new series – Mary Sue
Lance Footer "legally blind" superhero artist at Charlotte Heroes Concention – North Carolina Post and Courier
The September books coming from Marvel – Bleeding Cool
Trenchcoat and Schwarzenegger arms for Absolute Batgirl – BleedingCool
A José Luis García-López Artist’s Edition book coming next year – Comicsbeat
You can now buy Wolverine's jacket and claws from X-Men United – Comicbook
That is, Hugh Jackman's outfit from the film. It is starting off at $50K - Heritage Auction
The "evil Superman" suit from Superman III (1983) is also up for auction
How one underground comic book took over a generation – Right Livin'
And landed on lunchboxes.
USA Today and Marvel team-up for digital access on an archive of comic books – MSN USA Today
USA TODAY and Marvel Comics have partnered to provide USA TODAY’s PLAY digital entertainment hub with access to the most popular comic-book characters in the Marvel universe. PLAY will be the exclusive home for the new vertically formatted “Spider-Man TODAY” Infinity Comic series, which runs for 48 weeks beginning June 16 – with new issues dropping every Wednesday. Readers also will be able to dig into 1,000 curated archival Marvel comics ranging from old-school classics to modern favorites..."
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Virginia USA based Elder Care for bill payment, case management, prescriptions, tax records or support for caregivers - AllStar Care Solutions