Comic Book Brain

Last Update July 18, 2026

Marvel Comics has a new Editor-in-Chief: Stephen Wacker – Comicbookmovie

Marvel Comics in quitting New York City after 90 years – MSN Hollywood Reporter

The publishing division is to shift all New York based employees of the comics and franchise group, (approx. 100+ people) to Burbank, California.

The move to California is seismic. New York City is considered the birth place of the comic book industry and the company's earlier incarnations, Timely Comics and Altas Comics, were headquartered on 42nd Street. New York is where most of Marvel's classic creators, including Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, resided. It is also where most of its key heroes – the Fantastic Four, the Avengers – lived; Spider-Man is perhaps the most New York hero of them all..."

After nearly a hundred years, Marvel Comics quite NYC – MSN New York Post

Spider-Man's new "scary" costume – AOL News

2026 box office "The Good, the Bad and the Meh" – Variety

There have been a few costly misfires (RIP, “Moana” and “Masters of the Universe”), but domestic ticket sales are up 10% from 2025, according to Rentrak. And Hollywood is having its hottest summer since COVID, with revenues for the four-month season expected to surpass the $4 billion mark for the first time since the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon of 2023...."

Marvel's new "Midnight Spider-Man" – Bleeding Cool

"Disney, have you learned your lesson yet?"

Moana tanks at the box office, the latest in a list of money-losers. However, there are a few very bright spots in the recent box office past - Learning lessons with Disney

Supergirl may have flopped, but Woman of Tomorrow is coming anyway – Polygon

...this isn't the end for fans of Supergirl — not by a long shot. Coming this fall, DC has partnered with Penguin Random House Audio to release a full-cast audiobook production of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic that inspired Gillespie's Supergirl (even if the differences are there for everyone to see). The eight-issue comic book series in audio form will include a talented cast, innovative sound effects, and original music..."

New ‘Avengelyne’ Comic from Image by Rob Liefeld – Yahoo News - Hollywood Reporter

"How Frank Miller changed comic books forever" – MSN Complex

The coming Avengers Doomsday movie is three hours long? – Mid Day

Scott Snyder had an idea for Marvel, they said "no", so Snyder did Absolute Batman – Comicbookmovie

Starting to look like Supergirl is going to top out at $130 million... significantly much less than what it cost to be made – Comicbookmovie

The total worldwide take since the release on June 24 stands at a terrible $115,601,000 [The-Numbers]

This isn't just one film getting creamed at box office engagement, this is another well-known title character being ignored by movie ticket buyers. Look at this:

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu - world wide take: $342,213,780 against a $166 million production budget plus $100 to $150 million spent on marketing. To break even, the magic number is estimated at around $550–$600 million. It's not even close. The Star Wars name can still pull bodies into seats, but only enough to cover the cost for a $80 million dollar film, that is, a mid-level sci-fi feature film, at best.

Masters of the Universe - international boxoffice is at $113,245,816 – the estimated production is $170-$200 million, plus a conservative marketing budget probably at $100 million, meaning the film needs approximately $540 million worldwide to get positive. That's impossible at this point. This is like turning on a movie recording camera and standing in front of it and just setting thousand dollar bills on fire.

The Death of Robin Hood - total earnings globally are apparently at $5,862,102 million against a $20+ million production budget. A $50 million take in ticket sales would probably cover the production and make some money for the financing entities The marketing was not very good and the poster put into theatres to trumpet the film was frankly offensive for a character with such a broad and deep recognition factor.

The disconnect between ticket buyers and the movie making studios seem to be getting wider. For a medium in which the term "popular entertainment" is attached there seems to be a specific and strong effort within the movie making system to shed the popcorn eaters and make product only for an elite smaller audience.

Comix Wellspring "suspends operations" – Comicsbeat

DC moves to ban shops that price gouge on exclusive variant covers

Story at Bleeding Cool

Neal Adams and Back Issue Magazine

Story at 13th Dimension

Back Issue magazine owes its existence to Neal Adams. And I, like so many others, owe my career in comic books to him. It all started with Batman #232… "

How movie franchises graduate to comic book runs to keep the characters and stories moving – Live Mint

The events and things happening around San Diego ComiCon that don't require a badge – San Diego Union Tribune

Collectibles market is "roaring" - Heritage Auctions posts huge gains and could be on path to outdo 2025 records – Art Net

Jim Shooter – The Comics Journal

The unique power of The Comics Journal to simultaneously celebrate, enjoy and condemn superhero comic books is part of the article on the famed Marvel Editor-in-Chief (1978-1987) Jim Shooter:

Shooter’s second submission, "Power of the Parasite" from Action Comics #340, is a wonderful case in point: Shooter not only wrote the script but (ignorant of the correct production process at National Comics) contributed his own layouts for Curt Swan to pencil over, and the result is a slam-bang fight scene staged dutifully and effectively through medium two shots: not a close-up or interesting angle in sight. It’s as though a superhero-worshipping cargo cult had attempted to recreate a Jack Kirby comic, and produced a genuine work of accidental art. It is enormously entertaining."

Analyses of Shooter's work covers the career highlights, but also:

...nothing about the series happens the way it should. Kenneth Connell stumbled his way toward deciding to use his powers for the good of the world, tries it, fails, changes his mind again. His romantic drama consists of flitting without commitment between an older and thoroughly incompatible divorcee, and a heartbreakingly devoted platonic friend whose obvious affection Connell repeatedly exploits and abuses. Kenneth Connell is, in short, an asshole, and it remains remarkable that Shooter was willing to paint so frank and devastating a portrait of a character into whom he had poured so much. In its own, accidental way, Star Brand is as effective a deconstruction of superhero fiction in 1986 as Watchmen and The Dark Knight...."

A nicely done biographical article (note the complaining comments at the end of the article which accuse the piece of containing distortions and lies) that builds up a coherent picture of Shooter as writer-artist and Shooter as "corporate titan."

Print sales in 2026 are "flat" – Publishers Weekly

Planning on a badge for the 2026 San Diego ComiCon? – MSN San Diego Union-Tribune

If you need a house you can buy Batman's for $32 million – Superherohype

The iconic estate used as the exterior of Wayne Manor in the 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West has hit the market for $32 million..."

Profile of Stephen Bissette – Seven Days VT

...Bissette had a surprising response when the cofounder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction called earlier this year with the supposedly good news that he was to be named the state’s next cartoonist laureate.

I told James Sturm no," Bissette recalled, chuckling.

"Modern superhero movies are no longer evaluated by whether they are entertaining. Instead, they have become progress reports for billion-dollar franchises" – AOL

As has been said, the superhero movie industry made millions of dollars on the front end of the trend, and now is losing millions on the back end of the trend. Maybe the Spider-Man film coming July 31 can halt what's happening.

"Superhero workshop" at the new Obama Pesidential building in Chicago – WBEZ

Harvey Awards announcements made – Forbes

The slightly out of date official web site is here

The big leadership changes at Dark Horse – Publishers Weekly

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

(Above) This is the only marketing support I've seen, thus far, for the Supergirl movie. Usually, by this point there's dozens of joint-promotions between a superhero film and the products it is meant to help sell.

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 ($55 million) on for the opening weekend. (Before the release and when not-so-good 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, but the emotional encouragement party didn't last long. So what happened?

More about Supergirl 2026

"No longer the Steve Ditko school" – Bleeding Cool

Why did Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe on the final page remove Steve Ditko's name?

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.

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?