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An extended version of the article from Tuesday’s The Oklahoman:

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

Tulsa-born writer Sterling Gates, the new writer on DC Comics’
“Supergirl” comic-book series, knows exactly when he decided to be a
writer.
“At exactly 9:13 Central time, September 13, 1998,” he said.
“Seriously. I had just delivered a monologue that I’d written to a
group in my high school’s cafeteria. It was a monologue that detailed
the exact things I thought and felt when my father passed away, and
everything I wanted to tell him at his funeral.”
Gates closed his monologue by asking the crowd to call their fathers
and tell them how they felt, because you never know when it might be
your last chance.
“After the show, a girl came up to me and told me that because of what
I wrote, she was going to talk to her father that weekend for the
first time in seven years. She had been so moved by what I’d said,
she’d made that decision sitting in that cafeteria listening to me.
All because of something I wrote.”
That his writing was able to move another person so deeply made him
decide to commit to working as a writer and storyteller. A chance
meeting with writer Geoff Johns at a convention led to an interview to
work on “Blade: The Series.”  He broke in as an assistant in the
writer’s room for “Blade: The Series,” which aired on Spike. He’s
since written for the comics “Green Lantern Corps” and two specials
featuring Green Lantern characters. “Supergirl” is his first ongoing
series, and it’s one for which Gates has an affinity.
“I was a big fan of the Carmine Infantino-Paul Kupperberg ‘Daring New
Adventures of Supergirl’ comics in the mid-80’s,” he said. “I loved,
loved, loved ‘Supergirl’ the movie when I was a kid, and I read that
comic book adaptation they did so many times the staples fell out. I’m
also a big fan of the Jeph Loeb-Michael Turner story in
‘Superman/Batman’ that introduced this version of (Supergirl) Kara
Zor-El.”
While Supergirl is part of Superman’s legacy, unlike the Man of Steel,
she’s not a finished product.
“Unlike Superman, she can make some pretty drastic mistakes. She does
things that Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman don’t approve of, and
to me, that makes her more human,” he said. “But even if she screws
things up occasionally, she’s still a hero, she’s still doing more
good than you and I could do on a given day, and she’s someone we
should admire and respect.”
Gates moved from Oklahoma to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of
becoming a writer, but his home state is never far from his mind.  He
said moving to California was “culture shock.”
“That’s like asking about the difference between living on Earth or
living on the sun,” he said. “It’s a loud, bright, insane, amazing,
terrible, wonderful, intense, smoggy, happy city, Los Angeles. It
never stops moving, no one ever stops to really take it all in,
because they have to be somewhere fifteen minutes ago, and traffic has
made them late, and they don’t have time to stop and say how d’you do.
“Oklahoma is completely different, but different in a good way. I
never thought I’d miss Oklahoma until I moved away, and now I think
about moving back at least once a week. I think a lot of people move
away from Oklahoma, but their hearts never really leave.”

Fans, friends and organizations are working to help out Gene Colan, the classic artist of books including ”Daredevil” and “Tomb of Dracula” who is was hospitalized for liver failure earlier this month.  

Writer Clifford Meth is running a benefit auction; more information at his blog.

The Hero Initiative is making available a series of prints and posters to benefit Colan.

From the Hero Initiative release:

The Hero Initiative in conjunction with Marvel Comics is launching a series of Gene Colan-themed products, starting with a limited edition print of Gene’s cover art to Invincible Iron Man #1, available at Wizard World Philadelphia, May 30-June 1. Only 200 prints will be available at the show at a cost of $25 each. Net proceeds from sales of these prints by The Hero Initiative will benefit Gene Colan. Another 50 prints will be available at a later date, with plans to have them autographed by both Gene Colan and Stan Lee.

Also at Wizard World Philadelphia, guest writers and artists at the Marvel Comics booth will be signing and sketching two large poster-sized boards, which Hero will auction benefiting Gene at a later date.

And that’s just the start. Wizard World Chicago, June 26-29, will see the release of a second print featuring the cover art to Daredevil #47, the legendary “Brother, Take My Hand” story by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. A third print will be available later in the year, along with other products.

For August, a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula poster will be available for order via Marvel Previews with proceeds routed to Gene; and in September, a special book reprinting some of Gene’s greatest stories will be made available. In addition to these items, The Hero Initiative will take additional steps to help Gene in his convalescence.

“Gene Colan,” said Roy Thomas, longtime Marvel Comics writer and Hero Initiative Board member, “is one of the most amazingly talented comic book artists in the history of the field. When I was scripting one of his stories, there was no one-not even Neal Adams or John Buscema-whose pencils could make me feel more strongly as if I were looking into a real world. He combines often-photographic realism with dynamism worth of a Kirby…and that makes him unique.”

– Matt Price

Batman 676 variant from Tony Daniel’s blog.

Kyle Roberts and I discuss the first part of “Batman: R.I.P.” in “Batman” #676.  We also talk about the upcoming “Gotham Knight” anime DVD starring Batman, and “The Dark Knight,” the upcoming film starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.  Check it all out at this week’s comic podcast.

– Matt Price

The DC Universe is shaken up, Dave Sim returns, and Brian Wood’s “Local” releases its penultimate issue.  The easy sell of this week should be “DC Universe” Zero, which retails for only 50 cents. It’s written by Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. Also by Johns this week – ”Green Lantern” No. 30 and “Action Comics” No. 864.  “Action” features art by Gary Frank (edit: whoops, this issue is Joe Prado), and the cover, shown here, by Kevin Maguire (”Justice League International”). The Oklahoma adventures of Thor get a hardcover release, written by J. Michael Straczynski.  Full list and commentary after the break.

  (more…)

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:

The Planet Comicon, in Overland Park, Kan., expects dozens of comic-book creators and media stars this weekend.

Scheduled to be there is Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on “Star Trek,” and Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in “Star Wars.”

Comic-book creators scheduled include Kurt Busiek, David Finch, Bruce Jones, Angel Medina and more.

The show’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Overland Park International Trade Center at 115th and Metcalf in Overland Park. For more information, visit www.planetcomicon.com.

DC’s release on the death of Jim Mooney, prolific artist for DC and others:

ARTIST JIM MOONEY DIES AT AGE 89

Jim Mooney, the prolific artist who worked on memorable DC Comics features
including Batman, Supergirl and Tommy Tomorrow, has died at age 89.

“Jim Mooney’s beautiful women and noble men graced the DC universe for decades,
showing up (sadly uncredited for much of the time) from the adventures of Batman
and Robin, to the far future of Tommy Tomorrow, to his legendary run on
Supergirl,” said Paul Levitz, DC Comics President & Publisher. “Few artists have
made our characters look better.”

Born in 1919, Mooney broke into comics in 1940 with early publishers Fox and
Fiction House. He soon moved to Timely Comics, where he specialized in funny
animal features, then joined DC Comics in the late 1940s as penciller on BATMAN
and DETECTIVE COMICS, as well as solo Robin tales in STAR SPANGLED COMICS. In
the 1950s, he contributed numerous stories to DC’s mystery titles and
illustrated Tommy Tomorrow in ACTION COMICS and, later, WORLD’S FINEST COMICS.

In 1959, Mooney became the regular artist on Supergirl, one of his signature
features, in ACTION COMICS, beginning with the second installment of the series.
He continued to illustrate Supergirl through the 1960s, while working on HOUSE
OF MYSTERY’s Dial H for Hero and several Legion of Super-Heroes tales for
ADVENTURE COMICS.

Mooney moved to Marvel Comics in the late 1960s, where he went on to draw
Spider-Man, Man-Thing, Omega The Unknown, Marvel Team-Up, Thundercats and
numerous other series. Most recently, Mooney contributed to Claypool Comics’
Elvira and Soulsearchers and Company.

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:  

By Matthew Price

Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS
LAS VEGAS — Comics publishers gathered at the 2008 ComicsPRO annual meeting to share information about upcoming plans with comic-book retailers.DC Comics’ vice president of sales Bob Wayne talked about DC’s upcoming crossover “Final Crisis,” and the prelude to the series, “DC Universe Zero.”“DC Universe Zero” is a 50-cent comic set for May release that is written by Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison, with art by George Perez, Tony Daniel and J.G. Jones.“When you finish reading ‘DC Universe Zero,’ you’re going to say, ‘Wow, I really wish I had ordered more copies of this,’”
Wayne said. “It does set up some of the things that appear in ‘Final Crisis,’”
Wayne said.“Final Crisis” is a seven-issue miniseries, with issue No. 1 set for a May release.
Wayne said “Final Crisis” is “Grant Morrison telling stories the way Grant does.”“It starts with Anthro and goes to Kamandi. From the first boy on earth to the last boy on earth, and everything in between,”
Wayne said.In addition,
Wayne announced a sequel to “Plain Janes,” the best-selling title in their “Minx” line of young adult graphic novels for girls.
“Plain Janes: Janes in Love,” from Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, is shipping in September.“The comic shop market has surpassed all of our expectations at DC on how many copies you would be able to sell of these titles,”
Wayne said.
Wayne talked about DC’s newest weekly comic book, “Trinity,” following in the footsteps of “52” and “Countdown.” The lead story of the book each week will be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Mark Bagley.“Mark Bagley has shown he’s a guy who has consistently been able to produce a high number of pages,”
Wayne said, “and we feel very comfortable that Mark can continue to do this on this particular project.”
The first issue of “Trinity” is 40 pages for $2.99. Back-up stories for “Trinity” will be written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with rotating artists.
ComicsPRO is the largest organization of comic-book retailers in the world, with more than 100 members. Other representatives at the conference included Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Cartoon Books, Top Cow, the Hero Initiative, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and Graphitti Designs.

More notes from the ComicsPRO conference:

* Top Cow outlined plans for their “Witchblade” property, including keeping the creative team of writer Ron Marz and artist Stjepan Sejic on the book for 34 issues.
“This creative team is going to be on the book until issue 150,” Top Cow’s Filip Sablik said. “We’ve heard that you want consistent shipping, you want a creative team you can rely on, you want a book that can turn and make money for you month in and month out. We’re going to do that for you with ‘Witchblade.’”

* The nonprofit organization, the Hero Initiative, which helps comic-book creators in need, will collect the “Stan’s Soapbox” columns from Marvel Comics as a fund-raiser.

* The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is planning a retailer resource guide, to help comic-book retailers to be aware of good retailing and legal practices.

* In May, “Stupid Stupid Rat Tales” and “Rose” will come back into print from Cartoon Books.

]”Captain America” continues to be one of the best comic books on the stands, and Act Three of Ed Brubaker’s “Death of Captain America” story begins with “Captain America” No. 37.  Issue No. 37 goes on sale April 16.

From Marvel:

Acclaimed artists Steve Epting and Jackson Guice join Brubaker for Captain America #37, as the Red Skull targets the very soul of America with his latest gambit! As James “Bucky” Barnes must adjust to the new mantle once worn by his mentor, he must also search for the kidnapped Sharon Carter—whose jaw dropping discovery last issue may change the entire direction of Captain America!

LAS VEGAS — “Witchblade is obviously our flagship title,” Top Cow’s Filip Sablik, vice president of marketing and sales for the publisher, told the assembled retailers at the annual ComicsPRO meeting.   “We’ve got two things that we’ve done recently that we think have panned out pretty well for you guys, and they’ve done very well for us.”

The first is the recent $4.99 collection of the first Ron Marz arc in “Witchblade” was exclusively for direct-market comic-book retailers, and had been selling very well.   It collects six issues at the same quality level of all Top Cow collections.

The second is a promotion for comic stores to increase their orders on the recently shipped issue No. 116 of “Witchblade.”  That issue introduces a new artist, Stjepan Sejic.  He and Marz have signed onto “Witchblade” for the long haul, Sablik said.  

“This creative team is going to be on the book until issue 150,” Sablik said. “We’ve heard that you want consistent shipping, you want a creative team you can rely on, you want a book that can turn, and make money for you month in and month out.  We’re going to do that for you with ‘Witchblade.’”

In issue 116, Sara Pezzini and Dani Baptiste begin a new chapter as joint bearers of the Witchblade.  “Witchblade” mixes police action and fantasy adventure. The Witchblade is an ancient mystical weapon of great power. 

Sablik lined out four goals for the company across the board in 2008:
1. Timely shipping of product
2. Comic Shop Locator information in all trade paperbacks and hardcovers
3. Labeling variants in ordering material consistent with the ComicsPRO position paper on variant covers
4. Providing a trailer loop of professional trailers to retail stores promoting Top Cow products

– Matt Price