An amusing typo from a Death Note article in the new Wizard Anime Insider (#50, out this week):

“L wants to stop a man he believes to be wrong, but there’s growing pubic support for Kira”.

As this is a Wizard magazine, I’m not entirely sure if the editors did this on purpose or not…

This week’s Entertainment Weekly (#957, Oct. 5) reveals not just Project Runway Season 4′s premiere date — November 14th (which I had not seen announced anywhere prior) — but also the 15 designers.

This post contains massive spoilers (as the title indicates) for Y – The Last Man #58.

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN past the cover image here unless you’ve already read it, or aren’t planning on ever reading it and just want to know what the bitching is about.

With two issues still remaining, Brian K. Vaughan has done the unthinkable — killing off Agent 355!

I have to say that my feelings upon seeing my favorite Y character get shot in the head and fall to floor in a pool of her own blood — directly after having she and Yorick declared their love for each other — went something like this: Extreme shock. Unshakable disbelief and denial. Deep bewilderment. Sadness. Anger. Grudging acceptance. Back to bewilderment. (All with lots over overlap).

Clearly less emotional, or at least more able to coherently voice his thoughts, Hal succinctly likened it to watching a romantic comedy where the lead guy spends the whole time blind to the fact that the perfect girl for him has been with him the whole time — except instead of Happily Ever After, she gets KILLED in the last 10 minutes of the film!

While this turn of events completely blindsided most of us, it does make cold sense after the fact — as I’ve had explained to me numerous times, 355 had to die because she was the most likable character (who makes these rules anyway) and her death jolts the characters and fans back into its anything-can-happen reality.

All of which I, and any Y/BKV fan really, can understand, and even (perhaps begrudgingly) accept. I imagine we all had similar emotional responses to this turn of events. But something keeps bugging me — because this isn’t the first time BKV did this.

The first time it was Alex from Runaways, the smart, nerdy but cool black kid, leader of the gang. I remember (PCS co-founder) Shola was so into that book when it came out. He went around spreading the word about Runaways, especially Alex who was such a great character because he was like the black Peter Parker. As much as fans embraced Alex, black and minority fans had extra love for him — which is why it was extra painful when BKV killed him off. I remember Shola was especially pissed because he turned out to be traitor in the crew and died such an unheroic death; in fact he wrote Vaughan about this and apparently they exchanged a few emails about it. Shola understood & accepted it, although I wouldn’t say he particularly peace with it. More than anything I think the whole thing just reinforced in his mind that nobody’s going to write or care about black characters the way a black person would. As Cheryl Lynn would say, it was one of those “Make the fucking comics” moments.

Unlike Shola, I didn’t drop Runaways when Alex died, and I continue to be big fan of anything BKV is on (especially Y – The Last Man), but this issue did make me question a couple things:

· Does BKV have a plan to somehow make Dave Wylie the most likable character over the course of Ex Machina’s run? For Wylie’s sake, let’s not hope not.

· And on a more serious note… I was so bitter, however temporarily, about 355′s death that I briefly went around wondering if we as (black/minority) fans are better off never having these wonderful characters in the first place if they’re just going to get killed off. But I guess “it’s better to love and lost than to never have loved at all”. Or something like that.

· Lastly, what the hell does BKV have planned for two more issues? I have absolutely no clue. I also have no real emotional investment in the series anymore.

Rest in peace, 355. We’ll all miss you.

Check it out, MF Doom does in fact make a cameo in former friend Percy Carey’s Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm graphic novel.

Seriously, WHY?!?

Let’s discuss this further after shit hits the shelves tomorrow.

EDIT: Updated here

Nathan’s not the character I’d pick if I was making a Heroes t-shirt, but then again mine would look pretty shitty compared to these Tim Sale & Comicraft collabos. (Click here for more info on the upcoming Heroes World Tour; or here for info on Sale’s signing with Jeph Loeb at Midtown Comics)

I fell off the Powers wagon years ago (with the prehistoric arc which opened with barrels of graphic monkey sex — seriously!) but they’re touting this new issue (#25, out August 8th) as a good jumping-on point so I figured I’d check back in. I have to say I’m glad I did. The world of Powers is as visceral as ever — people in costumes are turning up dead, Oeming still is awesome, and Bendis is still Bendis — but at least one major thing has changed: Walker’s former partner Deena Pilgrim is missing and has perhaps gone rogue. Enter Detective Enki Sunrise.

Note: third page is not sequential with first two

We asked Oeming to tell us a little more about this intriguing new addition to the Powersverse:

“Enki comes in as Deena is going through crisis. We wanted a character that people would love, but wasn’t a clone of Deena, and we didn’t want to do the obvious which is create the opposite of Deena either. Enki is her own character, her flaws may be her loyalty to the job, but you know with Bendis writing that loyatly will be tested. There wasn’t any pre-thought put into her ethnicity, Powers is a world that reflects the one we see around us, I think it was just instinctual, much like how most of Powers is developed.

I wanted to give her a keen sense of fashion; since Deena is very tom boyish, I did want Enki to be thoughtful of her dress. The type of clothes reflect a strong sense of confidence and self-respect she carries. Her scarf is like Walkers tie, it’s her ‘cape’. After the first issue I drew her, I called Brian and said “Please, please lets keep this character around!!” And he laughed, he said ‘I knew you’d love her!’ and I do.

Welcome to Powers Enki, I hope we dont kill you.”

My thoughts exactly!

Actually, Enki is not Walker’s only new (to me at least) partner if you get my drift, but let us not venture further into Spoilerville.

Reading the accompanying press release (pasted below) for this book raises some interesting questions:

· Are comic fans (as the creator puts forth in the press release pasted below) for the most really part color blind?

· And can an assumedly white creator who apparently decides somewhat arbitrarily to make his lead character black really do justice to said character?

I mean, to be so surprised that black fans (whom he properly refers to as “African-Americans”) would be so gratified to pick up a postcard for a comic with a black protagonist — I just think you’re kind of out of touch.

But in the end the proof is in the pudding, not the PR. And I did find this little preview book fun enough. Let’s give it a B- to go along with the coveted BBWABOTC “award”.

From VLE’s Press Release:

Herc Brown #0 is VLE Comics’ first full-color offering, featuring Hercules Brown, the son of the Greek god Zeus and a beautiful African-American blues singer. In order to maintain his birthright as an Olympian demi-god, he must prove himself worthy despite a penchant for making friends on the wrong side of the law. Wes Craig, whose art most recently received intense praise in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comic book, handles the art with his brother, Drew Craig.

Issue #0 is a special introduction to the character priced at 99 cents. The tale sets everything up, with Herc learning that his real father is none other than the Greek god Zeus. This is also VLE’s first African-American character.

“We didn’t really set out to create an African-American character for the sake of appealing to any particular audience,” said Steve Antczak, VLE Comics CEO and the creator/writer of Herc Brown. “Actually, I think comics fans are for the most part color blind when it comes to the characters they love. However, I will say that at New York Comic Con we got a lot of unexpected praise from African-Americans who stopped by our table, when they saw our Herc Brown postcard. Not only did it surprise me that anyone would notice, it surprised me just how gratifying their reactions were.”

I realize this might be old news, but is it just me or does this Power Girl look exactly like a blow-up sex doll here. All that’s missing is a hole for a mouth. Supergirl’s looking pretty pornified, which is par for the course, although she’s looking more like an adult porn-star here than an underage one. (For the record I usually like Ed McGuinness’ stuff).

SUPERMAN/BATMAN SERIES 5: VENGEANCE 2
The best-selling action figure line continues!
Designed by: Ed McGuinness
Advance-solicited; on sale February 13, 2008
Supergirl 6.5″
Power Girl 6.5″
Batman/Superman 6.75″
The Joker & Mr. Mxyzpltk 2-pack 6.75″ h & 4.5″h approx.

3rd Place: Spock: Fascinating. (Star Trek: Year One #1)

2nd Place: Spock: He’s dead, Jim. (Star Trek: Year One #1)

1st Place: Wolverine: KHAAAAANNN!! (Wolverine #55)