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Erik Larsen’s “Savage Dragon” will endorse Barack Obama for president in the pages of “Savage Dragon” 137, and on a special 1-in-5 variant cover.  The New York Times reports the Senator will be mentioned in the issue, though not “slugging bad guys or anything,” Larsen says.

I’ve heard some folks are upset by this — they don’t think their superheroes should endorse a particular candidate.  But, this isn’t a first for Savage Dragon — who socked President Bush in a previous issue.  The Savage Dragon has always been a fictional alter-ego for Larsen, who himself slants Democratic.  I think making it a 1-in-5 variant is a questionable business move, as there won’t be enough to satisfy demand in “blue” areas, and “red” areas won’t be as excited about it in the first place.  I think it’d make more sense as a separately orderable cover, if the goal is to get it in the hands of the people who want it.  This does seem to be a quick way to manufacture a collectible, though.

The comic book is slated to be on sale Sept. 4.

– Matt Price 

MTV New Media is promoting a series based on the comic-book “Invincible.”  In some ways, it seems like the old Marvel cartoons where they made Jack Kirby’s art move around and voiced over it.  It’s adapted directly from the original art.

Me, I think I’d rather read the comics than watch a half-animated, half-comic book thing on the internet, but check out the trailer to see what you think.  Episodes will be available on Xbox Live, MTV.com, iTunes, and MTV Mobile. MTV2 will air an “Invincible” special at 10 p.m. on Friday, June 25.

– Matt Price

Greg Elwell, Kyle Roberts and Matt Price talk about “Wolverine: First Class,” #1 ”Secret History of the Authority - Hawksmoor” #1, “Army of Darkness/Xena: Why Not” #1 and “Transhuman” #1 on this week’s comics podcast at newsok.com.

About “Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor” #1:  

Matt Price: I thought this had a decent feel with what you had of the early “Authority.”

Greg Elwell: Well, maybe … There are some good ideas in there. I certainly enjoyed Hawksmoor using the city to fight the robot, but, I dunno. The love story aspect - I wish there was one or the other.  But the nice thing is, a lot of characterization.

—

About “Wolverine: First Class”:

Kyle Roberts:  I liked it. It’s kind of the early 80s X-Men.  I really like all the facial expressions from Shadowcat and Wolverine, and the personality that shows through for both of them. … It’s written very well.

—

About “Army of Darkness/Xena”:

Greg Elwell:  I was not ever a huge Xena the Warrior Princess fan … when I did tune in, I’ll tell you the reason I did tune in: Bruce Campbell. … John Layman has done a really great job here by taking a couple of pretty wacky ideas and going full-tilt with them.

Matt Price: They’re taking it kind of tongue in cheek, and I think that’s the way to do it.

Greg Elwell: It’s an “A” in my book.

—

About “Transhuman” #1:

Matt Price: This is my favorite thing (Hickman) has done so far.  It’s about two companies that are both trying to build the next generation of humans. … I really wanted to read more.

Image Comics has announced a new series from writer Mark Millar and artist Tony Harris, called “War Heroes.”

“WAR HEROES is everything I’ve been leading up to with CIVIL WAR, ULTIMATES, THE AUTHORITY, KICK ASS and WANTED,” said Millar in the release. “In a way, it’s the culmination of superhero concepts I’ve thus far only dreamed about, brought to fruition due to Tony’s artwork beautiful line work and the unique creative freedom Image Comics provides. Consider this our ULTIMATES 3.”
Millar continued, “WAR HEROES is a grand step away from superheroes as you previously perceived them. Tony and I are doing this without any restriction, completely uncensored, taking superheroes to their next evolutionary step.”
WAR HEROES #1 is set for a June 25th release, and features a near-future America’s military turning to superpowered beings as a new form of weapon.

– Matt Price

Universal has released several images and a new trailer for “Wanted,” starring Angelina Jolie and James MacAvoy.   It’s based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and JG Jones.  I’ll get more pictures up later today, and have some information from Top Cow about the “Wanted” graphic novel from the ComicsPRO conference sometime this week.   The movie opens June 27.

Synopsis by Universal:

Based upon Mark Millar’s explosive graphic novel series and helmed by stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov—creator of the most successful Russian film franchise in history, the Night Watch series—Wanted tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice.  In 2008, the world will be introduced to a hero for a new generation: Wesley Gibson.   25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known.  His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably.  Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing.  There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut.Until he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie). After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant powers.  As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself.

 With wickedly brilliant tutors—including the Fraternity’s enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman)—Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted.  But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye.  And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

– Matt Price

“Coyote” volume 1 from Image Comics collects the first story arc of “Coyote” from Eclipse as well as the two published issues of “Scorpio Rose.”
“Coyote” was born from a trip writer Steve Englehart took to the desert. The trickster character Coyote is able to walk between worlds, rendering himself invisible. The cocky lead character is nevertheless compelling. He faces off against a shadowy villain determined to realign the world order.

This collaboration with Englehart’s “Detective Comics” artist, Marshall Rogers, was one of the earlier mature readers comics in the comic-shop market.

“Scorpio Rose” was a reworking of a “Madame Xanadu” storyline originally prepared for DC. The character would later tie into the “Coyote” storyline. The planned third issue was never completed, but the graphic novel provides the breakdown and script notes for the planned finale.

Overall, this is artist Marshall Rogers at his best, and a good example of the often-underrated Englehart’s talents.

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:

By Matthew Price

Acting Assistant Entertainment Editor

WORD BALLOONS

The celebrity superheroes of “Noble Causes” get a new status quo in issue No. 32 of the Image Comics superhero series, scheduled to ship in March. 

Writer Jay Faerber moves his family of superhero characters five years in the future with issue No. 32.

“Everyone will have to learn who the family is all over again, to some degree,” Faerber said. “Some characters from the previous issues are in the book, but their circumstances have changed. Plus, there are new characters, a new locale, even a new tone. Issue No. 32 is essentially a new No. 1, but we wanted to keep our numbering consistent so we didn’t go down the re-numbering route.”

“Noble Causes” is about the Noble family, world-famous superhero celebrities.

“The original tag line I used to sell the series to Image all those years ago was: ‘The Kennedy family, with super-powers,’” Faerber said. “And that still applies today — the Nobles are larger-than-life and generally want to do good, but they’ve got a lot of skeletons in their closets. … The book strikes a balance between world-saving action and more character-driven subplots and dramatics. The focus of the book, however, is always on the characters and how they relate to one another.”

Several of those characters and relationships will have changed over the five-year gap.

“The biggest and most noticeable change is going to be the cast,” Faerber said. “We’ve gotten rid of a handful of characters, and introduced some new family members as well. And the older characters have all been redesigned — some more drastically than others.

“Doc, the patriarch of the family, has remarried during the five-year gap, so his wife is a new character, and she brings with her two of her own children. So we’ve kind of got a super-hero Brady Bunch, with a mixed family of heroes.”

Turkish artist Yildiray Cinar pencils and inks “Noble Causes.”

“Yildiray is really changing the entire look of the book. He’s going for a more old-school approach,” Faerber said. “For example, in the past, I shied away from using sound effects, but Yildiray really lobbied hard for them, so we’re bringing them back. He and (colorist) Ryan (Vera) have also come up with a different sort of color palette for the book, as well.”

Faerber said he hopes the five-year jump in the title will provide a good jumping-on point for new readers.

“The biggest challenge of working on a long-running independent series is finding ways to make it easy for potential new readers to read your book,” Faerber said. “Unlike Marvel and DC, I can’t entice new readers by bringing in a new writer, because I’m the writer, and I’m not going anywhere! So this five-year jump is hopefully a way that can bring in new readers.”

Faerber said there are many rewards from working on “Noble Causes,” including working with many talented artists and ultimately, owning his own work.

“Just looking at the collected editions sitting on my bookshelf is the biggest reward — having such a body of work that I wrote, which I own, is pretty cool.”

Press release from Image Comics:

YOUNGBLOOD gets second printing to keep issue in-stock!

18 January, 2008 (Berkeley, CA) - With YOUNGBLOOD’s return to Image Comics being reordered at an exponential rate, Image Comics has gone back to press to ensure copies are available for the foreseeable future.

“We anticipated a high level of interest in Joe and Derec’s work on YOUNGBLOOD, but we were frankly caught off-guard by the amount of advance reorders the book generated as press time drew closer,” said Image Executive Director Eric Stephenson. “We’re thrilled with what the guys are doing with the book, though, and want to make sure copies are available for everyone interested in checking it out.”

The new YOUNGBLOOD comes courtesy of THE LAST DEFENDER’s Joe Casey and GREEN ARROW’s Derec Donovan, who previously worked together for a sixteen-issue run on ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, while being overseen and featuring variant covers by series creator Rob Liefeld. YOUNGBLOOD marks Casey’s second acclaimed relaunch of an Image classic. With WILDCATS, Casey was praised for upgrading the original concepts with a post-modern spin. Similarly, YOUNGBLOOD’s new direction combines the bombastic beginnings of Liefeld’s celebrity heroes such as Shaft and Badrock with the more classic approach developed by Alan Moore, featuring new heroes such Johnny Panic and Doc Rocket and Casey’s own sensibilities. In addition, a limited, black and white Rob Liefeld variant cover will be made available on as a 1-in-4 cover for retailers ordering the second printing.

YOUNGBLOOD #1 2nd (DEC078061), a 32-page comic book for $2.99, will be available in stores January 30th, 2008.

Comments from me:

The first issue was kind of entertaining -we’ll see how it goes. A variant on a 2nd print is a little unusual, but, it probably makes financial sense.  Also, Liefeld is someone that I would really like to interview at some point.

- Matt

And no, it’s not all, “Hey, sailor, got a few bucks in your pocket?” solicitations.

Pervs.

Here are some highlights:

THE WALKING DEAD #50
story by Robert Kirkman, art and cover by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn.

This book has been building up a fan base over time for a good reason — it’s a captivating read. Everything to this point is available in trades (I think) so it’s a good jumping on point.

THE PERHAPANAUTS #1 
story by Todd DeZago, art and cover by Craig Rousseau

Much like “Proof” and “BPRD,” this series deals with “imaginary” creatures living in the world, fighting to keep it safe. Difference is, DeZago and Rousseau have proven over two mini-series and an annual that they can tell a good story with humor and an eye toward the future.

INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE PRIMER #1
stories by Robert Kirkman and Bruce Brown, art by Cory Walker, Jason Howard and Cliff Rathburn.

For those of you looking for a way into the Invincible Universe, look no further. The first issues of three funny and smart series are collected together for $6. For me, if it came down to getting rid of one of the Marvel, DC or Invincible Universes, I’d have to figure out if I like Batman better than Spider-Man, because Invincible is one of my top reads every month (when it comes out).

GØDLAND #23
story by Joe Casey, art and cover by Tom Scioli

Hey, you know what’s really good? GODLAND. So start reading it, you jerks.

If you’d like to see the other solicits, click here.

- Greg

I’m a little behind the curve today (home sick, and no work e-mail access), but I don’t want to leave loyal Nerdage readers out in the cold…  So two new comics from B.Clay Moore hit comic book stores today, and that’s worth talking about.

The first, “76,” features Moore’s Jackie Karma, a karate expert dealing out bicentennial justice. Preview at Newsarama.

Check out a preview of Moore’s latest “Hawaiian Dick” arc, of which #2 is out today, at New York magazine.

– Matt