Disney to Acquire Marvel Comics for $4 Billion

In a blockbuster deal that brings together two of the biggest brands in American film, animation and comic books, the Walt Disney Co. has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock.

‘The Pekar Project’ Webcomic Debuts on ‘SMITH’

After moving from the comics page to the big screen, acclaimed autobiographical comics creator Harvey Pekar has now made his way to the Internet with a new webcomic series called, The Pekar Project, to be published on SMITH, an online magazine featuring personal storytelling.

New Book Deals For Yang, Roman, Kibuishi, Knisley

First Second will publish new graphic works by Gene Yang, author of American Born Chinese, Teen Boat creator Dave Roman and a new work by Lucy Knisley, author of the French Milk. And Villard and Scholastic Books have signed on to publish additional volumes of Kazu Kibuishi’s Flight anthology and Amulet series respectively.

Digital Comics Get a New Platform with Sony PSP Deal

Last week, Sony announced they will be offering comic book content as digital downloads for the PSP portable gaming device, via the Playstation store. This confirms rumors of Sony seeking significant comics content for the device dating back to March 2009.

Confessions of an Immature Pervert: Erika Moen Overcomes Puritanism

Those who still think young women's diaries are full of blushing and crushes will be shocked by Erika Moen's online journal. DAR! A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary (found at www.darcomic.com) is a webcomic that can be raw, ribald, and revelatory.

Last Gasp Finds Beauty in The Strange Tale of Panorama Island

The literary manga market is expanding further with the announcement that San Francisco art book and manga publisher Last Gasp has licensed Suehiro Maruo’saward-winningThe Strange Tale of Panorama Island.

Comics Briefly

Taking Millar’s ‘Kick Ass’ from Page to Screen

Originally released as a periodical comics series in 2008 under Marvel’s ICON imprint, Mark Millar’s Kick Ass been already adapted into a feature film directed by Matthew Vaughn, director of such films as Layer Cake and Stardust. Lionsgate has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights and the film will be released in 2010. But with its hard R-rated world of pop culture references, extreme violence, language and tween serial killers, Kick-Ass has never had a simple route to the public.

Fletcher Hanks Rides Again

Get ready, fans, the second volume of odd-ball 1930s comics creator Fletcher Hanks has hit the shelves. You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! completes the collection of Hanks’ work begun with the 2007 volume, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!, edited by Paul Karasik, published by Fantagraphics Books and winner of the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Archival Collection/Project.

In Marvel’s ‘Strange Tales,’ Indie Artists Take on Superhero Icons

This September, Marvel Comics unveils their long-awaited Strange Tales MAX anthology series. Culling creators from all over the world of alternative comics and literary graphic novels—from Paul Pope and Matt Kindt to Molly Crabapple and Peter Bagge—the stories in the three-issue Strange Tales comic recast such Marvel super heroes as Spider-Man and the Black Widow as quirky and complicated indie comics icons.

Comics briefly

Mr. Vengeance Goes to Comic-con

In one of the most memorable scenes of Korean director Park Chan Wook’s movie Old Boy, his middle-aged protagonist wields a hammer and faces off with a gang of armed young thugs. Old Boy is a live-action feature length film adaptation of the manga by the same name. PW Comics Week met with the director at the recent San Diego Comic-con and discussed Old Boy, his other films and why it’s good for a creator to torture his characters.

Panel Mania: The Year of Loving Dangerously

In the autobiographical The Year of Loving Dangerously, Ted Rall, kicked out of college, broke, jobless, shunned by his parents, and suicidal, avoids homelessness by drifting into the arms of numerous women. The Year of Loving Dangerously is written by Rall, a politacal cartoonist and commentator, and illustrated by Pablo Callejo; it will be released by NBM in December 2009.

Reynolds and Fantagraphics Face the Future

Whenever comics industry observers get together to talk about the people who've made a difference in the business over the last decade, the name Eric Reynolds inevitably comes up. Recently promoted to Associate Publisher for the Seattle-based art comics publisher Fantagraphics he has overseen the company's successful navigation of the new opportunities for graphic novels in bookstores.

Boom! Dreams Up Unique Android Retelling

Boom! Studios is heading into uncharted territory with their adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? The series, which editor Ian Brill has called a graphic translation, will mix comic art with Dick’s original text from the novel.

August Comics Bestsellers

Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid: Last Straw remains king of the list followed by Naruto vol. 45, newcomer Rachel Russell’s 'Wimpy' homage, Dork Diaries, Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis; Sherrilynn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter manga adaptation and Halo: Uprising.

Jamie Rich Kills Again

Jamie S. Rich is well-known for his novels, both graphic and prose, about modern romances, including Cut My Hair, Love the Way You Love (with Marc Ellerby), and 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, drawn by Joëlle Jones. He and Jones have teamed up again for You Have Killed Me, a noir mystery that's a departure from his usual subject matter.

New Site Offers Apps for Reading Comics on Phones

Software developers at Genus have created Findacomicapps.com, a website that provides a neutral platform for developers offering apps for reading comics on the iPhone and other mobile devices through the Apple App Store.

Panel Mania: Cat Burglar Black

In Richard Sala's Cat Burglar Black, K., a teenage girl who was raised in an orphanage where she was trained as a thief, is sent to a boarding school for cat burglars on a mysterious aunt's recommondation. In this preview K. shows off her skills to her new classmates. Cat Burglar Black will be released by First Second on September 1st.

Stitches: Peering into a Dark Past

A newcomer to the world of graphic novels, David Small has already captured the attention of the industry and readers. The Caldecott-winning artist is a veteran illustrator of children’s books. His first graphic novel, Stitches: A Memoir, was one of the hits of BEA, and has been making the rounds of the blogs leading up to its publication on September 8.