So yeah, participating comic shops across the country will once again give away free comic samplers that they had to pay for themselves. Check with your local shop to see if there are any additional events, like sales or creator signings, planned. Among this year’s batch of free comics includes the Radical Publishing sampler, which will contain the first eight pages of After Dark, the forthcoming sci-fi book conceived by Wesley Snipes and Antoine Fuqua (and written by Peter Milligan).

Must… resist.. making joke about school’s name…

10-page preview (plus covers and credit page)

IMDB page for Samuel L. Jackson

Amazon link to buy Unbreakable 2-disc edition DVD

Prodigal: Egg of First Light #1 (of 2)

CBR interview with Geoffrey Thorne

Amazon link to buy Star Trek Titan: Sword of Damocles, written by Thorne

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Also this week:

Black History Leaders TP

Gold Digger Sourcebook Signature HC. By Perry.

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Also notable:

Brightest Day #0

Doc Savage #1

Amelia Rules: The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular HC, SC

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Losers director Sylvain White (along with star Jeffrey Dean Morgan) talks about the comic art used in the film. Plus: seven clips from the film.

Archie and Valerie make the cover of Rolling Stone! Sort of.

Mat Johnson talks about his college graphic novel class.

Early registration for the second Onyx Con in Atlanta ends this month.

The filmmakers behind the Morrie Turner documentary are looking to raise funds through the purchase of this print.

Slightly off-topic: two comics buddies of mine (not to mention two sharp fellas as well) – former PCSer Guy LeCharles Gonzalez and Joe Illidge – will be part of a seminar this Thursday in Manhattan on marketing and editorial skills in the digital age.

Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers

Reggie Hudlin website

Denys Cowan website

Amazon link to buy Black Panther: The Deadliest of the Species TP (the first book featuring the female BP)

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Also this week:

Buffy TVS #34. Pencils by Jeanty.

Authority #21. Co-written by Bernardin.

Spawn: Endgame V2 TP

New Avengers: Luke Cage #1 (of 3)

Gold Digger II Pocket Manga V9

Obama/McCain Election 2008 TP

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Also notable:

Batman and Robin Deluxe HC V1

Hate Annual #8. Uncertain if this is for this week or not. The Diamond site has a pic of the cover listed with this week’s releases, but it’s not on the actual list. But it is due this month.

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Alex Simmons‘ Kids Comic Con is this Saturday, held once again at the Bronx Community College campus here in New York. Details at the website.

From WonderCon this past weekend: the Losers movie panel discussion.

Five examples of sci-fi-themed hip hop videos.

Here’s a piece on a long-forgotten Golden Age-era comics creator named EC Stoner.

Ashley Woods is taking pre-orders for her first Millenia War TP.

The Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta is currently showing an exhibit featuring the work of the cult superhero hit Brotherman. It’s on the first floor of the Cary-McPheeters Gallery and runs through June 30. For more information, click here. (Thanks to Yumy Odom for the tip.)

Time article from 2002 on Ho Che Anderson’s King

HCA page @ Fantagraphics’ site

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Also this week:

The Brave and the Bold: Milestone TP

Nextwave: Agents of HATE Ultimate Collection TP

War Machine: Dark Reign TP

Escape from Wonderland #4 (of 6). Written by Gregory.

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Also notable:

Human Target #1.  With the TV show now revived, co-creator Len Wein relaunches the comic as well. (I don’t think this has any connection to Peter Milligan’s Vertigo version.)

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The Princess and the Frog won three Annie Awards this weekend.

A second Onyx Con has been announced, to be held in mid-August.

A couple of pieces by two of this year’s GCA judges: David Brothers talks about the history of Milestone on the occasion of the release of Milestone Forever, and Brian Cronin talks about an unused Barry Windsor-Smith Storm story that was remade with new characters.

Zapiro puts the shower head back on Jacob Zuma’s head.

Here’s an interesting look at how blackface is applied to other minorities in other cultures.

Check out this strip about boxing legend Joe Louis by Golden Age legend Irwin Hasen.

Milestone Forever

5-page preview

Dwayne McDuffie interview @ Comics Bulletin

Wikipedia entry on Milestone Media

The long-awaited mini-series that closes the book on the Milestone Universe (prior to the merger with the DC Universe, anyway).

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Also this week:

Buffy TVS #32. Pencils by Jeanty.

Authority #19. Co-written by Bernardin.

Gold Digger #114, GD Tech Manual #11. By Perry.

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Also notable:

Siege #2 (of 4)

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The submissions period for this year’s Glyph Comics Awards is now over. Thanks to everyone who submitted stuff. We’ll announce the nominees two weeks from today, including the Fan Award, in which you get to vote on the winner.

I totally forgot to post the trailer for Sylvain White’s The Losers, which looks like a lot of fun.

Animator Floyd Norman will be making an appearance at a northern California comic shop later this month. (Thanks to Pam for the tip.)

Darryl Hughes talks about his new webcomic The Continentals, which has landed a publishing deal.

Off-topic: To follow up on last week’s post about performance-capture acting, here’s an actors roundtable featuring a group of probable Oscar nominees for this year discussing the subject. Morgan Freeman calls it “cartoons.”

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Available this week:

Authority #18. Written by Bernardin & Freeman.

Siege #1 (of 4). The mini-series that reunites the classic Avengers. Art by Coipel.

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Also notable:

Image United #2 (of 6)

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Some more Avatar items for you (now that it’s passed $1 billion worldwide already): Here’s more support for Zoe Saldana getting a Best Actress nomination. Here’s an Oscar-related podcast in which her chances at Best Actress are discussed, among other things. Also, this column makes the argument that the movie is a way for white people to fetishize the Other. And in a related item, Saldana and Sam Worthington’s deleted sex scene will be included on the DVD.

Marc Bernardin will be a guest writer at IO9 this week.

In preparation for Iron Man 2, MTV’s Splash Page interviews War Machine co-creator Bob Layton this week.

ECBACC will host another comic book workshop in Philadelphia this coming March.

Pam has pics and video from the LA portion of last weekend’s worldwide Thriller dance event. (That’s Pam in the lower left in the glasses.)

Azrael

interview with writer Fabian Nicieza

4-page preview (plus cover) of Batman Annual #27, which you apparently need to read before the first issue of Azrael because the crea’tors can’t be bothered to begin a story with the first issue of the series, but that’s DC Comics for you, fanboys

Female Force: Oprah Winfrey

TFAW link to buy the books in Bluewater’s “Female Force” series, which also includes Michelle Obama and Condoleezza Rice

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Also this week:

Zero Killer #6 (of 6)

Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #6 (of 6). Pencils by Chriscross.

The Question: Riddles TP. Art by Cowan.

Supergirl #46. Pencils by Igle.

Spawn #195

War Machine: Iron Heart TP

Escape from Wonderland #2 (of 6). Written by Gregory.

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Michael Jackson may be dead and gone, but this weekend people around the world are gonna do the Thriller dance in his memory.

Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze put together a short film with Kanye West in a supernatural misadventure of sorts.

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Justice League of America: When Worlds Collide HC

Dwayne McDuffie website

Wikipedia entry for Milestone Media

Amazon link to buy Icon: A Hero’s Welcome (new edition)

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Also this week:

Stormwatch PHD: Worlds End TP

Perhapanauts Halloween Spooktacular

Uncanny X-Men: First Class #4 (of 8). If only for this scene. (Thanks, Jon!)

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Also notable:

Green Lantern Corps #41. Blackest Night tie-in.

Act-I-Vate Primer HC. I saw a panel discussion at a Brooklyn book fair recently with these guys, and they do some terrific online comics. This collection is an all-new sampler of the creators in this comics collective. Good stuff.

Amelia Rules: A Very Ninja Christmas HC

Star Trek Countdown HC

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The Black Age of Comics Convention in Chicago was last weekend (which I totally forgot about). Here are some pics from the BACC blog, and some more from the Black Superhero message boards.

Congratulations to Kyle Baker, whose book Nat Turner won the Harvey for Best Graphic Album, Previously Published. Full list of winners here.

Olivier Coipel will be the artist for Marvel’s next big event, Siege. Writer Brian Michael Bendis talks about it here.

Foul Play is a San Francisco theater production who are currently putting on adaptations of “B-movies,” including the old Jane Fonda SF romp Barbarella. In this new stage production, a black actress takes on the lead role.

A whole bunch of news items on South African cartoonist Zapiro.

Jamal Igle video interview.