The News is Breaking like the Wind!

Here's what Ned and I learned at the Diamond Comics Distributor's Retailer Summit on Monday and Tuesday:

• MARVEL COMICS - A Civil War comic with second-stringers, including Howard the Duck! (Take THAT, Brian Keene!); Hulk returns to Earth and boy is he -uh- stressed out!; Astonishing X-men: Unstoppable will be the final story arc (?) with Joss Whedon and Cassaday; Wolverine's son (!) will be examined as Wolvie's Origin is Explored; ULTIMATES 3 will debut in March or April; Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan will take over RUNAWAYS next year; there will be a crossover between the Marvel Universe and the soap opera GUIDING LIGHT (don't ask); there will be a MAX Sampler including Zombie, Hellstorm, Son of Satan, Wisdom, Foolkiller (why?) and Sleepwalker (again, why?); the Dabel Brothers' comics will now be published by Marvrel... look for ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER in mid-October of this year; and Stephen King's DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER REBORN will debut in February 2007 and feature the origin of the fabled Gunslinger!

• DC COMICS - A new JLA; an Alex Ross-covered JSA; a way-cool looking JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER DVD with animation based on Darwyn Cooke's incredible artwork from the mini-series of the same name; SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL and BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL, a Mark Waid/George Perez BRAVE & the BOLD series (WOOHOO!); the return of Superboy Prime in 52 (!!!); a STARDUST movie, based on the comic by Chris Vess and Neil Gaiman; a great-looking FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS book; RED MENACE, a story that takes place in the time of "Red Baiting" and Senator Joe McCarthy; the notice that the long-anticipated Kevin O'Neil/Alan Moore LEAGUE of EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER hardcover book is delayed until next year (grumblegrumblegrumble); and the possiblity of a Christopher Reeves Superman statue!

This is just the stuff I noted from the Big Two... my brain is still sorting through the info and my notes deteriorate after the first day...