• I’m sure most of you have heard by now, but JJ Abrams will be directing the next Star Wars movie.  It’s still way too early in the development process for script or casting news.  I’m not sure how I feel about Abrams getting the gig, but I did enjoy his version of Star Trek.  I’m cautiously optimistic.
• Doctor Who returns March 30!
• John Jackson Miller announced on Facebook that Christie Golden will also be attending MidSouthCon this March. Ms. Golden has written novels for Star Wars, Star Trek and World of Warcraft in addition to her original fiction.
• While at the comics shop last week, we saw where JJM will also be at the Horn Lake, MS branch of the First Regional Library on March 20 for a book signing while he’s in town for MidSouthCon.  Costumes are encouraged.
• SUPERMAN: UNBOUND will be the next DC Universe Animated movie.  Yay, the Superman-Batman movie rotation remains unbroken.  :/  The trailer is here.
• Deadline is reporting that Revenge’s Emily VanCamp has been cast as the female lead in Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier.  While who she is portraying hasn’t been announced, she sure looks like Sharon Carter to me.  ScarJo’s Black Widow better have a cameo in this movie, Marvel.  I will not be amused if this does not happen.
• Last, but not least, the “extended” preview of Iron Man 3

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Noel, and she is one of the most gracious ladies I have ever met.  She retired from public appearances after a bad fall in 2010, but she is enjoying retirement in her new home in Metropolis, IL.

The Noel Neill “Lois Lane” statue in Metropolis, IL
Photo by Nicki Workman

Happy birthday, Noel!

Noel with the official Superman of Metropolis Josh Boultinghouse
Photo by Lin Workman

First is a Wonder Woman sketch by George Perez.

He also brought back a print of Huntress & Power Girl from World’s Finest that Perez drew.

Second is a Batgirl sketch by Terry Beatty.

Photo by Lin Workman; Puppetry by Kevin L. Williams

In happier news, today is Yvonne Craig’s birthday.  The original Barbara Gordon is 75 years old.  Happy Birthday!

Yvonne Craig Batgirl Sketch by Lin Workman

In other happy news, the Reading With Pictures Kickstarter campaign has exceeded its goal of $65,000 to publish The Graphic Textbook.  Reading With Pictures, founded by our friend Josh Elder, is committed to getting comics into classrooms as educational tools.  It’s a fantastic organization, and it’s not too late to contribute.

We officially became Mr. and Mrs. Lin Workman on October 29.  While we had a traditional ceremony, we couldn’t resist throwing in geek touches, especially since we met thanks to a Star Wars message board and a bad Wampa joke.

Mr. & Mrs. Workman

Lin designed and sculpted our “wedding cake” topper.  We opted for cupcakes instead of the traditional wedding cake, but the cupcakes were arranged in tiers similar to a cake.  Our baker even provided us with a 6″ cake for the topper to rest on.  Early in the wedding planning, Lin joked that we should have Batman and Batgirl as our cake topper.  I don’t like the idea of Bruce and Barbara paired romantically, and as much as I love Barbara Gordon, my first and truest superhero love is Wonder Woman.  I told Lin that the topper had to be Wonder Woman carrying Batman over the threshold.  At first he thought I was joking, but he became really excited when he realized that I was serious.

Sculpted & Designed by Lin Workman; Photo by S Fogle Photography

The line art that Lin created for the cake topper was also used on our programs and our invitations.  Lin has posted a series of pictures showing how a few strands of wire became our cake topper on his website.

Our Wedding Cake Topper - Designed & sculpted by Lin Workman

Lin really wanted me to walk down the aisle to a harp version of the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back, but I thought that wouldn’t fit with the traditional ceremony (and I didn’t want to be murdered at the altar by my mother).  As a compromise, we played the Throne Room music from Star Wars immediately after we walked back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Workman.

The grooms cake couldn’t have anything else but the Bat Symbol.

The Groom's Bat-Cake

Everything I’ve seen so far looks promising. Please don’t suck.

Love,
Me

Click here to take the survey.  This is your chance to tell DC Comics what you think.  It’s also a chance to show DC just how many female comics fans are reading their product.

Help get the word out.  The survey closes Friday, October 7.

(Via Bleeding Cool)

Brigid Alverson at Robot 6 wrote that Justice League #1 was available online illegally almost an hour before the print edition went on sale on the east coast.  However, you cannot purchase a digital copy of the same comic until 2pm EST today.

Imagine my surprise when I received the following email at 3:01 AM CST this morning from DC Comics:

A little Marketing 101, DC.  You do NOT send an email with a clear call to action such as “Buy Now” if your customers cannot buy it immediately!

The digital version of Justice League #1 should have been available at midnight.  If you wanted to give the midnight launch to the brick-and-mortar retailers, then I’m ok with that, but the digital copy should have been available this morning.  DC has spent considerable time and money to build awareness of the The New 52 outside the comics community.  They are squandering those efforts by delaying the digital release.  Is a non-comics person more likely to walk into a comic shop to pick up Justice League #1 or purchase it through their iPad this morning before they head to work?

As Brigid said so succintly,

 If you’re going to do digital, dammit, do it right.

Many in the industry are under the wrong impression that we want to “win the month” at all costs with sales of DC Comics – The New 52.  Sure, we’d love to get our books into more hands than ever before, profitably.  But it’s most important that any industry growth comes in an additive manner, so that all publishers may succeed.  To be clear – DC is not a market-share-chaser.  If we were, we would not be creating a quality lasting direction across a controlled number of titles.  We would instead be flooding the market with over 200 titles a month, changing your prices with abandon, killing off a character every quarter or so, and/or randomly announcing decimal-pointed event-ish thingies.  We haven’t.

Ouch.