The Fight to Save the Comic Book

This week as Comic-Con 2011 rages on with crowds bigger than could have ever been imagined twenty years ago, the Hollywood Reporter Weekly spoke to DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio & Jim Lee about their fight to save the very industry that birthed comic conventions.

"As the publishing industry suffers, DC has made the risky decision to reboot its entire line of books, including the amphibious superhero."

First off, congrats to the Hollywood Reporter for getting Aquaman's physiological nature correct and for scoring the exclusive preview of the breath-taking Ivan Reis & Joe Prado pages we featured on the Shrine last evening. It is so awesome to see Aquaman prominently featured in such an influential magazine (everyone who is anyone in Hollywood reads it, we are told!). Jim & Dan could have just as easily brought Superman or Batman art with them so the fact that they chose Aquaman speaks volumes about DC's new support for the character.

Highlights of the article include:

• In the 1980s, a hit book could sell more than 500,000 copies; now a comic is considered a success if it scores one-tenth of that.

• This is moving forward--there's no looking back here, from our standpoint. This is who we are, and we're defining the company for the future. - Dan Didio on the New 52

• Geoff (Johns) has dived into the grandeur of the character while addressing that he's been a running joke. It's going to have humor and majesty. - Jim Lee on Aquaman

The Reporter deftly follows up Mr. Lee's description by adding "And, if all goes well, buoyancy." Nicely put and we couldn't agree more!

The special Comic-Con edition of THR pictured above is over-sized, features the aforementioned Aquaman artwork on high-quality, glossy paper and we are told it is simply beautiful. If you are interested in purchasing the issue, here is the link: The Hollywood Reporter.

Kingdom Come Audio Book - 1998

This is really fun.

This is the cover to audio version of Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come mini-series, done with a full cast of actors and sound effects--the whole Radio Drama treatment.

Of course, there are a lot changes in this version--mostly, there's a lot of expository dialog ("Superman is lifting up the entire building!", "Green Lantern is shooting a beam of green light from his Power Ring!", etc.), since this version doesn't have the luxury of Ross' breathtaking visuals.

But for people who enjoy audio books and radio productions, its nevertheless a lot of fun to listen to, and its a real treat getting to hear some of Waid and Ross' best lines delivered by actual actors.

Of course, Kingdom Come features only the briefest of appearances by Aquaman, but luckily Arthur's one scene is reproduced for the audio version:

...see? Fun!

The audio version's cast features voice actors I'm not familiar with, but who for the most part do pretty good jobs (in particular, the two actors playing the older Superman and Batman pretty much sound like what I heard in my head when I first read the series). Since they are not individually credited, I don't know who voiced Aquaman--too bad, I would have loved to give him official credit. After all, he is part of Aquaman history.

Fun bonus: some then-DC staffers also provide voices, like Denny O'Neil, Mike Carlin, Dan Raspler, and even Waid himself!