says that Samuel L. Jackson is going to play a villain called the Octopus in Frank Miller’s upcoming adaptation of the Spirit, which’ll be Miller’s first venture as a director.

Update: and while we’re on the subject, here’s a about Miller’s Ronin from 1983-84. I remember reading it over a decade ago at a museum library, and it was pretty good.

, who’s now getting the job of writing Supergirl at DC. He says he enjoys writing books with female leads. That figures, since he first came to prominence writing at least two books for CrossGen that had two lady leads.

, a Chicago comics fan who was the author behind the scenes for Spider-Man’s black costume 25 years ago:

Back in 1982, Schueller was a 22-year-old comic-book fan living in Chicago. Marvel, the publisher of “Spider-Man,” asked readers to send in ideas for the hero, and Schueller jumped at the chance. He spent two weeks crafting a story in which Spidey dons a new costume.

A black costume. Like in a certain movie currently in theaters.

“It occurred to me that Spider-Man is this character that creeps around in the shadows looking for bad guys, so why is he wearing this bright red and blue costume?” Schueller says.

“It seemed like he should have more of a stealth mode.”

He mailed the pitch to Marvel, and a few months later, he got a letter from then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter telling Schueller he liked his idea and wanted to buy it for $220. Shooter also offered to let the novice write the story.

As far as I know, Schueller didn’t actually write the resulting story himself; David Michelinie was probably the one who did the actual story that came out (and also Tom de Falco). But there you have it, that’s how the black costume came to be, as it debuted two years after the man who pitched the original idea came up with it.

Like many other Spider-Fans though, I like the red-and-blue costume much better.

, Japan is going to come up with its own manga awards. But, there’s no monetary prize to accompany it.

Aw, come on, surely that would make it more worthwhile, to win some big dough along with the main prize?

about an artist using computer technology to design his comic book material.

Update: here’s the same article, in longer format, , that tells a little more.

Here’s a few links to articles about the rabbi ’s take on the Jewish-inspired themes in comic books, which he wrote about in the book :

I’m sure that Spider-Man, one of the leading characters in discussion here, has more than enough Jewish-inspired details about him, but the sad part is how Marvel’s Joe Quesada-led editorial staff has been showing no shame in spoiling not only that, but much more as well. And even if and when Quesada leaves, there’s no telling if things’ll get any better.

(The first article here, by the way, contains an inaccuracy about Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben: they say he was gunned down by a mugger, when it was really a burglar who did it.)

I had to pinch myself to see if I was awake. ran an article about their new Minx line, which is aimed at girls, and purportedly tells about real girls in the real world. But their first offering on line here has me frowning:

The opening salvo in the new publishing imprint is “The Plain Janes,” written by Cecil Castellucci, author of such young adult novels as “Boy Proof” and “Beige,” and drawn by Jim Rugg of “Street Angel” fame.

“The Plain Janes” is about a young girl — named Jane, naturally — who moves with her family to the suburbs after surviving a terrorist attack in the city. At her new school, she comes across a trio of girls sitting at the reject table, all blessed with the same name as hers.

Frustrated by the dull safety of suburbia and still reeling from her traumatic experience, Jane bands the other girls together to form the secret art gang P.L.A.I.N., which stands for People Loving Art In Neighborhoods.

While their innocuous acts of art terrorism thrill their fellow students (at one point they wrap all the town fire hydrants in scarves and hats), they only manage to draw the wrath of local law enforcement, with everything coming to a head on New Year’s Eve.

?!?!? Is this what they think will be a masterpiece? How much more aren’t they telling here? What kind of scarves and hats are they putting on the hydrants? Keffiyehs? I can’t tell enough from this description here, but I can say that it sounds very insulting to depict a girl who’d been through a traumatic experience with terrorism doing something that frightens other people of if the same is going to happen right in their neighborhood. After what she’d been through, surely she’d feel much better off living in a safe neighborhood, away from danger?

While “The Plain Janes” makes a few missteps (many of the supporting characters — particularly the other Janes — come off more as types than individuals), it’s a perfect choice for the imprint’s launch as Castellucci and Rugg complement each other very well. The result is a charming, fun book that doesn’t feel weighted down by political allegory or “chick-lit” frothiness.

What’s fun about causing a scare for everyone with “art terrorism” by causing them to fear that the real thing could be around the corner? That’s not funny, and despite what they say, it still seems to have some kind of political underlining to it, which sounds tacky at best. However, if their acts really are innocuous, then why are they describing it here as terrorism? Isn’t that a little extreme, or is it an attempt to trivialize the meaning of terrorism?

I think they’re making a mistake to launch this line with a book involving a political theme, and the whole idea of making this about “real people”, which may turn out to be far from real as the story comes to light, may have been the wrong way to go too. Surely they didn’t consider that girls are just as interested in fantasy and escapism as boys are? And where did DC ever get the idea that “the real world” in and of itself was what would appeal to girls as part of this line? A better idea would’ve been to publish an adventure in the Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld vein. Why do they think that realism is truly what girls want? It all sounds very odd to me.

A subject that went into obscurity for some time, DC’s unremarkable new Batwoman, Kate Kane, returned to memory after I stumbled over . She may have appeared in the first issue or two of 52, but since vanished up until the last few issues.

I don’t know if it’s because DC partially backed away in the face of deserved criticism, but here’s my take on why this is a failure:

They could’ve made her an Estonian or an Armenian. Instead, they made her a lesbian.

They’ve could’ve made her a Coptic Christian. Instead, they made her a lesbian.

They could’ve made her a fugitive from Putin’s neo-communist Russia. Instead, THEY MADE HER A LESBIAN.

Mind you, nationality alone would not a character make. But it would certainly be more creative than the sleaze they came up with that other year.

But, there’s another fatal flaw discovered that dooms this new Batwoman too: seems the reason Kate Kane’s been out of the picture for a while was because…she’d been seriously wounded by a villain, and had to spend time in the hospital. There’s more of that mentioned in the .

So, not only was a female character rendered something derivative like being a lesbian, she was also depicted as a loser in a battle against a thug. Two birds killed with one stone, and yet another act of sexism to add to DC’s record.

So many chances to prove their attention spans run farther than the domestic-like perceptions they seem to go by, and again, they throw it all away.

. There are a couple items here that I’m interested in getting, but Sword of the Atom isn’t here. And THAT’S what this guy is looking for.

I’d better write to DC again.

With that having been said, I looked at the price for the collections of the Metal Men and Superman’s Silver Age Kandor adventures, and wow! These are only about 17 dollars, much less than what the DC Archives have cost. Maybe they’ve come to their senses at last!