Lots of news coming out of San Diego of course and that'll continue all weekend. Here's what I've found most interesting so far:
The Collected Lorna
Marvel's got a $60 hardcover coming out in October that collects a lot of old Lorna, the Jungle Queen/Girl stories. I don't think I'll buy it until they release a cheaper, paperback version, but I hope it does well enough for them to do a second volume featuring Jann of the Jungle.
Not only was Jann almost a member of the World's Most Awesome Super Team, but her adventures were some of my favorite of the Golden Age jungle stories. Much better than Lorna and her jerky boyfriend anyway.
Squadcast
As much as I like most of Marvel's kids' line, I've always had a bug up my butt about the Marvel Superhero Squad line. It was too dumbed down; too tame. Any line that turns Hulk into a smiley, happy guy who prefers to use his words before his fists is most certainly not intended for me.
But lately the promo art for the Squad has had Hulk looking a bit more grumpy and/or mischievous, so when they announce a cartoon version with a line-up like this, I'm interested. I mean, it's cool enough that they've got some of my favorite people (Taye Diggs and Greg Grunberg to name two) providing voices, but they're also including characters like Black Widow and Valkyrie. And Kevin Sorbo playing Ka-Zar? That's almost as inspired as George Takei's playing Galactus. Well done, Marvel.
House of the Wolf Man
House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula aren't the greatest Universal monster films ever made, but they're a lot of fun on their own terms since they team up the Unholy Trinity of the Universal Monsters. I always felt that the Wolf Man got a little ripped off since he never got one with his name on it. Well, no more.
The sequel that everyone-would-have-been-waiting-for-if-only-we'd-realized-it may not be a Universal production, but it's sure got the spirit of the others. It even stars Ron Chaney. Thanks so much to Undead Backbrain for finding this.
Here's the trailer:
And here's the Facebook page if you want updates.
Back Roads
IDW has announced a new fantasy comic by Bill Willingham and Gene Ha. It's about a guy who learns that a multiverse of fantasy worlds exists and that its possible to travel between them on the Back Roads. Sounds like a great concept with unlimited potential. Just the sort of thing I'd expect the creator of Fables to do really well with.
More Bone!
Speaking of fantasy worlds, Jeff Smith is returning to his. The official press release is misleading and makes it sound like there are two new comic series coming out, but Smith is more clear on his blog.
Bone: Tall Tales will have some new material, but will also be a re-packaging of the Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails mini-series that Smith and Tom Snigoski did about Big Johnson Bone while the regular Bone series was still coming out. It'll also collect some material from Disney Adventures. The new material will include a framing sequence of Smiley and Bartleby telling campfire stories to some young Bone Scouts as well as some new Johnson Bone tales.
The Quest for the Spark trilogy isn't a comic at all, but a series of novels by Snigoski with illustrations by Smith. That's still very exciting though. According to Smith, the books "follow a new generation of Bone characters into the Valley."
Blacksad comes to Dark Horse
At last! I can't describe how awesome Blacksad is without doing a full review of the two volumes that have already been translated into English. It's an amazing series though and I've been waiting forever for the translation of the third and final book. Thanks, Dark Horse!
