Free Republic

Back in 1938, Action Comics #1 introduced a new superhero to the world when it featured for the first time, the Adventures of Superman. In those days, Superman didn't have all the powers and abilities that are attributed to him today. In 1938, Superman was "faster than speeding bullet" but by the late 1950's he was able to travel faster than the speed of light, making him capable of time travel. In 1938 Superman was "more powerful than a locomotive." By the 1960's Superman was capable of moving a planet off its axis. In 1938, Superman was able to "leap...

DETROIT — Comic book fans might call it a great origin story: In the aftermath of 9/11, a Muslim man creates a comic book series, "The 99," inspired by the principles of his faith. It builds a global audience and investors contribute millions for it to continue and expand. In two vastly different cultures, Naif Al-Mutawa’s tale hits a few roadblocks — "villains" if you will: Censorship from Saudi Arabia, home to the main Muslim holy sites; in the United States, a struggle to build an audience where free expression has been hampered by a post-9/11 rise in suspicion and...

Just when you thought the campaigns coming out of George Soros’ Open Society Institute couldn’t push the envelope any further, the Soros backed institute topped itself. OSI reportedly just released a new comic book titled Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe — which encourages drug addicts to use Methadone and Buprenorphine to combat heroin and other opioid drug withdrawals and even to fight HIV.

Fatter than a pile of bullsh*t . . . More powerful than a loco moonbat . . . Able to heap all bad things in a single Bush . . . Look! Up on the screen! It's a blog! It's a prog! No, it's . . . GRAY RANTER! Yes, GRAY RANTER, strange visitor to the Daily KOs, who comes to KOmmieland with powers of insanity far beyond those of moron man, and who, disguised as Alan "Dick" Grayson, ill-mannered one-term representative from Outlandish, Florida, fights a never-ending battle for speaking TRUTH to POWER in an EMBARRASSING WAY! That's...

An organizer behind a growing campaign to outlaw circumcision for infant boys now has created a comic book specifically targeting that Jewish practice, and critics say he's gone too far by using Nazi images and stereotypes. "This comic is modern anti-Semitism at its best. It is one story to fight against circumcision, and another to portray Jews in a false anti-Semitic stereotype. The Jewish depictions look like they came right out of Nazi Germany propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s," wrote Hailey Dilman in a commentary at Digital Journal.

Recently, enough signatures were gathered in San Francisco to place a ban on circumcision on this November's ballot. Today, the blogosphere is buzzing with an online comic book by one of the initiatives most prominent supporters called "Foreskin Man". The titled super hero is tasked with saving infant boys from the barbarism of circumcision. J.E. Dyer of HOT AIR has it correct: "It’s crystal clear from the dialogue that the perpetrator of this literary opus intends to depict the Judaic religious view of circumcision as evil and repulsive.  The “comic” hauls out every theme of Jew hatred in the arsenal. Note...

Whether or not you're as obsessed with comics as we are, you need to be paying attention. DC Comics is about to unleash one of the most important and disruptive events in all of pop culture. Starting this August, every superhero title under the DC Comics label is experiencing a reboot. Not just any reboot -- those happen all of the time. This is a serious reboot. Every single hero book is going to start again at issue #1. That means FIFTY-TWO books will experience a near-simultaneous relaunch. And yes -- everybody's getting a new costume. [SNIP]

The bad news: He’s supposed to be an immortal symbol of truth, justice, and the American way. Or at least he was before that line got written out of the script in order not to offend foreign audiences. The good news: Isn’t he … an illegal alien? Since when did we start admitting people from Krypton, anyway? Ah well. More work available now for American patriots like Batman and Spider-Man. I’m actually not sure what to make of this: Goyer’s installment, with tense art from Miguel Sepulveda, steals the spotlight in Action Comics No. 900. When Superman drops in on...

Chinese search engine Baidu is finding that it’s easy to get tangled in nasty copyright issues when it launches websites overseas. In the case of Japan, the flap involves comic books. Baidu (BIDU) launched a Japanese version of its service called Baidu.jp in 2007. The site boasts a Baidu Library file-sharing service where users can upload and download stuff like books and comic books for free. The Japanese site was Baidu’s first website outside of China.

According to Deadline, Wonder Woman is making a comeback to T.V. David E. Kelly will be producing and writing the new series. Some of us women remember watching the most famous superhero in the universe, twirl into one hot colorful outfit, sending the feminist message of total girl power. Linda Jean Córdova Carter the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and Irish father played the role of this kick ass Amazon woman.

NEW YORK -Comic book fans will soon be getting their first glimpse at an unlikely new superhero — a Muslim boy in a wheelchair with superpowers. The new superhero is the brainchild of a group of disabled young Americans and Syrians who were brought together last month in Damascus by the Open Hands Intiative, a non-profit organization founded by U.S. philanthropist and businessman Jay T. Snyder. The superhero's appearance hasn't been finalized, but an early sketch shows a Muslim boy who lost his legs in a landmine accident and later becomes the Silver Scorpion after discovering he has the power...

NEW YORK -- Comic book fans will soon be getting their first glimpse at an unlikely new superhero -- a Muslim boy in a wheelchair with superpowers. The new superhero is the brainchild of a group of disabled young Americans and Syrians who were brought together last month in Damascus by the Open Hands Intiative, a non-profit organization founded by U.S. philanthropist and businessman Jay T. Snyder.

[T]he Aug. 2010 comic sales were down 17 percent from one year earlier, the steepest year-over-year sales slide since the 19 percent drop in May 2009...Only time will tell if this is an aberration or the sign of a steepening slide for the sequential art industry....the most popular comic book in the country sold a little over 90,000 copies nationwide. That's a smaller circulation than many regional newspapers. As many people know, comic books used to have sales figures in the millions. Even as late as 1996, an issue of X-men had a circulation more twice what it is now....

A struggling family facing foreclosure has stumbled upon what is considered to be the Holy Grail of comic books in their basement – a fortuitous find that could fetch upwards of a quarter million dollars at auction. A copy of Action Comics No. 1, the first in which Superman ever appeared, was discovered as they went about the painful task of packing up a home that had been in the family since at least the 1950s. The couple, who live in the South with their children, asked to remain anonymous. "The bank was about ready to foreclose," said Vincent Zurzolo,...

The director of "Captain America: The First Avenger," the 2011 summer blockbuster that will coincide with the character's 70th anniversary, says that the screen version of the hero will be true to his roots -- up to a certain point. "We're sort of putting a slightly different spin on Steve Rogers," said Joe Johnston, whose past directing credits include "Jurassic Park III" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." He's a guy that wants to serve his country but he's not a flag-waver. We're re-interpretating, sort of, what the comic book version of Steve Rogers was."

<p>Even for an actor who has played a vampire-hunter with a guilty conscience, a Baltimore crime lord with a taste for Adam Smith, and an asset manager with a stalker, the role of the Norse deity Heimdall – guardian of the burning rainbow bridge between the world of men and the world of gods – was always going to be a bit of a challenge.</p>

Wonder Woman got a makeover, but she's still behind the curves. Her designers seem not to realize that for decades women have been in the ascendancy in the marketplace, and it's male action heroes who require a makeover, literally and figuratively. Exceptions still rule the imaginations of children, but in the world where most grown-ups live, the male sex seems to need a Wonder Man to idealize possibilities. Or to put it bluntly, woman is the new man. For the first time, women make up the majority of the workforce. Women dominate the numbers in undergraduate education and in professional...

Police in central Florida are accusing a man of killing his roommate, who was a comic book author and writer for the 1980s cartoon series "Thundercats." Zephyrhills police recommended a first-degree murder charge Wednesday for James William Davis, who was being held on unrelated charges.

A Japanese serial graphic novel genre popular with young teens has raised the ire of a Crestview mother whose teenage son got hold of an adult version of the genre from the Crestview Public Library. “Manga” depicts highly stylized adventure and, occasionally, violence in fantasy settings. Margaret Barbaree, founder of a citizens’ group called Protect Our Children, presented examples from a manga book to the Crestview City Council last week that she described as “graphic” and “shocking,” taken from material she said is “available to children” at the Crestview Public Library. “My son lost his mind when he found this,”...

Wonder Woman has a bold new look, one of the most dramatic changes of her 70-year history. Criticized for years for fighting crime in effectively a one-piece swimsuit — often considered either sexist or simply impractical — the DC Comics icon has a new costume as of this week's Wonder Woman #600, and it's one considerably less revealing, complete with long pants and a jacket. Signature elements such as the character's bracelets, tiara and magic lasso remain. The costume was designed by acclaimed penciler and DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee. DC Comics announced the change Tuesday evening. "It’s a look...

Frank Frazetta's original 1955 artwork for Weird Science-Fantasy #29, considered by many comic art fans to be the finest comic book cover of all time, has been sold in a private treaty sale for $380,000 – almost certainly the most ever paid for a single piece of original American comic book art – to Heritage Co-Chairman and Co-Founder Jim Halperin, a collector known to own one of the finest comic book and original comic art collections in the world. It was an outright purchase for immediate payment, with no trade-ins involved. "Knowing I'm a huge Frazetta fan, and a...

Leapin' lizards! After 86 years in the Daily News' comics, there are no more tomorrows for "Little Orphan Annie." The plucky redhead with the saucer-shaped eyes appears in her final newspaper strip on Sunday, June 13. "It's kind of painful," said cartoonist Ted Slampyak, who started drawing Annie, Sandy and Daddy Warbucks six years ago. "It's almost like mourning the loss of a friend." The strip's debut came on Aug. 5, 1924, exclusively in the Daily News. Cartoonist Harold Gray, who created the character, drew her until his death in 1968. Daddy Warbucks' adopted daughter starred in a radio series...

CHICAGO (AP) - The iconic redheaded orphan Annie is ending her time on newspaper comics pages after 85 years. Tribune Media Services announced Thursday that it will cease syndication of the "Annie" strip on June 13.

Frank Frazetta, the great painter of fantasy book covers, has died. The artist, most closely associated with Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian" character, was the subject of the 2003 documentary "Frazetta: Painting With Fire." After a series of strokes, Frazetta trained himself to paint using his left hand. His signature work often featured bare-chested "sword and sorcery" heroes, helpless women and fantasy creatures. His paintings often sell in the million-dollar range. Frazetta was 82

WASHINGTON - US Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor has attained true stardom. This month, she joins House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore and conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh in having her own comic book. Describing the four as "some of the most fascinating and polarizing figures on the national political stage," Bluewater biography comics is publishing separate comic books on each that will be in comic book stores tomorrow. "These four individuals represent some of the most influential and historic figures of the 21st century," said Bluewater president Darren Davis in a statement. "Each has a...

Thursday April 29, 2010 Marvel/DC Comics Illustrator Creates Pro-Life Comic Book By Peter J. SmithUNITED STATES, April 29, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Professional illustrators come in all shapes and sizes, but very few of them have a pro-life or Christian perspective. But that is something that Dan Lawlis, a professional illustrator for over 20 years who has created comic book art for companies like Marvel and DC Comics, wants to change.Lawlis is endeavoring to use the internet to bring a new comic book vision to the world, and has made his first go at the effort with the comic called...

DES MOINES, Iowa, April 28 (UPI) -- Members of the media accompanying President Barack Obama to Iowa discovered a comic book featuring the commander in chief in a coffee shop. The reporters said they were waiting in a Des Moines coffee shop while Obama exercised between 7:40 a.m. and 8:25 a.m. and discovered Issue 3 of comic book "Barack the Barbarian," from Chicago-based Devil's Due Publishing, in the cafe. Obama spokesman Bill Burton joked about the comic book to reporters, USA Today reported. "When you come to Iowa you see all sorts of fun things," Burton said. "And it's nice...

...Comics books have a history of injecting politics into the pages. It wasn't too long ago that Spider-man got a fist bump from Obama: And Superman met with President Reagan: President Bill Clinton even had a spot in Power Girl: I may have made that last one up.But it leads me to my point.Politics is the least of my problems with today's comic books. Sure, it was right for Warner Todd Huston to point out that Marvel was publishing a negative stereotype of the Tea Party movement. But that was one comic, in one title, from one publisher. In the...

A "tea bag" reference in a recent Captain America comic book that has angered the Tea Party movement will be removed by Marvel Comics in future editions, the story's writer told FoxNews.com. In issue No. 602 of Captain America, "Two Americas, Part One," the title hero and The Falcon, a black superhero from New York City, stumble upon a protest rally in Boise, Idaho. They see scores of protesters carrying signs that say "Stop the Socialists!" and "Tea Bag The Libs Before They Tea Bag YOU!" Captain America says the protest appears to be an "anti-tax thing," and The Falcon...

Marvel Comic’s Captain America is the mightiest soldier with the super powerful secret soldier formula that makes him a super man. Sadly, this muscle bound hero that took on the whole Nazi army during WWII seems to be afraid of those American people who’ve joined the Tea Party movement. Not only is Cappy quaking in his little red booties, but he’s sure that the Tea Party folks are dangerous racists, too. Isn’t it wonderful that a decades old American comic book hero is now being used to turn readers against our very political system, being used to slander folks that...

Marvel Comic’s Captain America is the mightiest soldier with the super powerful secret soldier formula that makes him a super man. Sadly, this muscle bound hero that took on the whole Nazi army during WWII seems to be afraid of those American people who’ve joined the Tea Party movement. Not only is Cappy quaking in his little red booties, but he’s sure that the Tea Party folks are dangerous racists, too. Isn’t it wonderful that a decades old American comic book hero is now being used to turn readers against our very political system, being used to slander folks that...

Marvel Comic's Captain America is the mightiest soldier with the super powerful secret soldier formula that makes him a super man. Sadly, this muscle bound hero that took on the whole Nazi army during WWII seems to be afraid of those American people who've joined the Tea Party movement. Not only is Cappy quaking in his little red booties, but he's sure that the Tea Party folks are dangerous racists, too. Isn't it wonderful that a decades old American comic book hero is now being used to turn readers against our very political system, being used to slander folks that...

When I was a kid, I loved superheroes. I had a large toy box in my bedroom with no toys in it – just comic books. I can still recall being told to go clean up my room (since comics were strewn all over the floor like a shiny, variegated carpet). Half an hour or so later, when my parents would come to check on my progress, what do you think they found? Yep. Me, sitting in the midst of a superhero sea, reading a comic book. The dialogue went something like, “I told you to pick up your comics,...

Steve Ditko is one of the most innovative and influential comic book artists of all time. He co-created “The Amazing Spider-Man” (Ditko’s original and imaginative design for that character is an icon known world-wide) and worked on such well-known characters as The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. His creative contributions to those characters during their early years helped secure their longevity and appeal over the decades. [SNIP] Originally included in the graphic novel, “Steve Ditko’s Static,” published by Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko in 1988, “In Principle” is chillingly more relevant today than it was when it was originally published....

Bono and The Edge have described their forthcoming Spider-Man musical as "dizzy" and "not a straight take on the myth". Turn Off The Dark, the production the Dublin band has written music and lyrics for, is set to open on Broadway in New York in 2010. They also confirmed American actress Evan Rachel Wood would play the part of MJ and revealed more about the other characters. ...Bono said: "We've got a new villain, it's a girl. It's a very extraordinary role. We've taken it to a much more dizzy place than you'd expect. We've got big tunes. We're very...

10. Radiant City Radiant City first appeared in 80s’ comic Mister X. Published by Vortex Comics, it’s quirky storyline and new-wave, post-atomic style graphics made it something of a cult hit – British style mag The Face loved it. Mr X became a very cool secret for nerds and hipsters only. Here’s Canadian Dean Motter on his creation. ‘It is a noir tale set in the futuristic present as envisioned in 1939. It concerns a city – Radiant City - designed to be a utopia, but its subliminal design flaws are driving its citizenry insane. Mister X is one of...

A US columnist is out of a job after posting an online review of an illegally downloaded copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Roger Friedman, who wrote the piece on his regular column, had worked at the Fox news website for 10 years.

Darwinian evolution in the light of genomics Eugene V. Koonin* National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA ABSTRACT Comparative genomics and systems biology offer unprecedented opportunities for testing central tenets of evolutionary biology formulated by Darwin in the Origin of Species in 1859 and expanded in the Modern Synthesis 100 years later. Evolutionary-genomic studies show that natural selection is only one of the forces that shape genome evolution and is not quantitatively dominant, whereas non-adaptive processes are much more prominent than previously suspected. Major contributions of horizontal gene transfer and diverse...

America faces an economic calamity. Trouble brews in faraway lands. Sound familiar? More than 70 years ago, the very first superheroes debuted in the dire times of the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. Their names became legend -- Superman, Batman (or, as he was then known, the Bat-Man), Wonder Woman, Captain America -- and they're still with us today. A new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles celebrates these icons from the Golden Age of Comic Books. Through a collection of rare original artwork and comics, the exhibit explores how a group...

PORTLAND, Ore. - One of the Northwest's most notorious unsolved crimes may have a comic book connection and while it may sound kooky, the FBI agent in charge of the case says the new clue is no laughing matter. In November 1971, a man identifying himself as Dan Cooper, later mistakenly called D.B. Cooper, hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle, claiming he had a bomb. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, he released the passengers in exchange for $200,000 and four parachutes and asked to be flown to Mexico. He jumped from the plane somewhere near the Oregon state...

The first couple of times that Barack Obama popped up in comic books he was fairly conservative. He received an endorsement from the Savage Dragon during the election, and he hung out with everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man at his inauguration. Now, that Barack Obama is actually President and occupying the White House his comic book appearances have gotten a little more risqué. No longer is comic book Barack Obama content to sit on the sidelines and let the superheroes take care of business. No, comic book Barack Obama wants a piece of the action himself. On a WonderCon variant cover...

To millions of Americans fascinated by comic-book superheroes, Bill Jemas of Princeton is an industry legend who helped breathe life into Marvel Enterprises by pushing the wildly successful “Ultimate Spider-Man” series that rejuvenated the company. These days, however, Jemas, a high-energy 51-year-old whose controversial four years as Marvel’s president remain fodder for comic-book blogs, finds himself engrossed in a task far removed from dialogue balloons. Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first...

FAIRBANKS — Lipstick or not, the Female Force is strong. A new comic book series from Washington-state-based Bluewater Comics tells the real-life story, in comic book form, of forceful females in today’s political spotlight — including Gov. Sarah Palin. While Palin was not the first woman featured in the four-part series, she may be the most important, at least in Alaska. “I really like your governor. I hope she likes (the February 2009 issue of Female Force),” said Bluewater Comics editor and Female Force co-creator Darren G. Davis. The series is a sort of biographical look at four major female...

Obama-Man, Obama-Man, does whatever a spider can. Marvel Comics says it plans to print a second and third round of its latest "Spider-Man" comic book after the issue, which features President-elect Barack Obama, sold out in record numbers Wednesday -- just hours after hitting stands. The company expects it to be the industry's best-selling comic in over a decade.

Pretty funny.Gutfeld: "It's as racist as it is not not racist". LOL!

Once, comic books were against Nazis and Hitler and were very up front in supporting America's fight against them. But those days are over. Both DC and Marvel Comics long ago embraced left-wing politics, and when it came to the war on terror, they were for the most part silent. Fighting "global warming" and on behalf of other mythical left-wing creations was far more important (as was transforming Wonder Woman into an ugly, steroidal man). Now, though, comic books are back to supporting the President, since he embodies their far-left ideology. Yup, Spider-Man is in the tank for Obama and...

With a comic book aficionado about to be sworn in as the president of the United States, it’s no surprise that comic book makers are eager to capitalize on their new inside-in-the-beltway connection. But is it true that comic books are now turning partisan? It’s been all over the news this week that Marvel Comics is planning a special issue Jan. 14 , 2009, issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama on the cover. Inside are five pages of Obama-Spider-Man escapades, as Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama’s swearing-in....“Even Comic Books Crawling with Pro-Obama Bias?,” asks Ken Shepherd at...

Obama and Spider-Man appear in comic together WASHINGTON (AP) - Spider-Man has a new sidekick: The president-elect. Barack Obama collected Spider-Man comics as a child, so Marvel Comics wanted to give him a "shout-out back" by featuring him in a bonus story, said Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor-in-chief.

Today, Stan Lee, quite possibly the biggest name in comics, was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In the 1960s, Lee built the success of Marvel Comics on the backs of his famous characters: Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and The X-Men, among many others who are still followed today by millions of fans. Rather than mimic his contemporaries with stalwart, righteous super-heroes, Stan Lee created flawed characters who instantly tapped into the growing pains of his readership. Known for his enthusiastic approach to narration, Lee was his usual chatty, sarcastic self about the award in...

Like other kids the world over, Middle Eastern children have long fantasized about superheroes battling injustice in American cities or fighting beasts in Japan. Five years ago, they got some champions of their own to cheer on when Kuwait-born businessman Naif Al-Mutawa created a new breed of superheroes endowed with Muslim traits and virtues. Now Mutawa is on an even greater mission: taking those same Islamic characters around the world. The 99, a comic-book series based on characters that each personify one of the 99 qualities that the Koran attributes to God, met early resistance in places like Saudi Arabia....