Ur W33K 1N G33K (September 21 – 27)0

by A.J. Focht

Before the final batch of DC’s New 52 hit stores, every issue had officially sold out at the distribution level. The order for a second printing of all 52 titles was given before the latest batch had even gone on sale. Justice League #1 remains the best selling comic of the year. Nearly a dozen comics have sold over 100,000, while Batman #1 and Action Comics #1 have broken 200,000.

This last batch of the New 52 garnered quite a bit of controversy. Most of the comics once again met with mixed reviews. The big names all held up: Batman #1 was fantastic, and Wonder Woman #1 gained quite a bit of positive attention for a change. Some of the other DC females also caused quite a stir – specifically there has been a lot of outrage about Catwoman #1 and Starfire from Red Hood and the Outlaws #1.

Catwoman was a very sexually driven piece, ending with a splash page of Batman and Catwoman mid-intercourse. Some have called it amazing and artful, most are calling it an attack on feminism and females in comics. More outrage came from Red Hood because Starfire was changed into a busty nymphomaniac with little regard for individual humans, a major change from her past character. I enjoyed Catwoman, and sit on the artful side of the argument. I also highly enjoyed Red Hood, but I’m not sure how approving I am of Starfire’s changes. Hopefully they will be part of what has been promised to be explained in issue #2.

A quick overview of the other super hero news out of last week: Justice League: Doom, a new Justice league animated movie, has cast some major vocal talents, most impressive of which is Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern. There were also new photos leaked from The Dark Knight Rises including shots of Bane’s doomsday device and pics of Catwoman in full costume complete with cat ears.

On the Marvel side of things, we’re told Captain America 2 won’t be out till at least 2014. Marvel Studios wants to make sure they don’t “cannibalize their films,” and are not intending to rush them. That doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to spill the details on their upcoming projects. Recently Kevin Fiege revealed several details about Thor 2, including the fact that it would take place across multiple worlds from the Thor universe.

Horror fans, and more specifically Stephen King fans, need to prepare themselves for a sequel to The Shining. King has announced his next novel will be a follow up concerning Danny Torrance (the little boy) when he is older. The first chapter of the book, read by King, is available on YouTube.

The zombies keep on coming. This week Lionsgate announced it has optioned rights to make a Dead Island movie, inspired by the recent video game. Back in February Dead Island‘s eerie trailer generated a growing fan base for the game. The quick move to a film leaves me worried it will end up on in the Hall of Shame with so many other video game based movies.

A galaxy far, far away isn’t that far off after all. BioWare confirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released on December 22. Now you’ll have a reason to ignore your family on Christmas, the Republic (or Empire) is clearly going to need your hard earned holiday vacation hours.

Not so much luck with Diablo III. The beta is well underway, but developers Blizzard, ever known for not releasing anything till it’s done, has pushed back the release. Diablo III is now looking at releasing early 2012.