Links: Rainbow Lantern

After dropping hints that one of its superheroes would come out of the closet, DC Comics revealed his identity last week. The character: Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. Scott will lead the Justice League in the forthcoming New 52 Earth 2. “I feel if you’re going to have a team, you need to have realistic diversity,” Earth 2 writer James Robinson explained. “After all, I have gay friends and straight friends and we’re all mixed together. It stands to reason, just based on the population of the world, at least one member of the team is going to be gay.”

Speaking of superheroes, Wall Street Journal reviewer Tim Marchman caused quite a stir with his recent critique of mainstream American comics. “If no cultural barrier prevents a public that clearly loves its superheroes from picking up a new Avengers comic, why don’t more people do so?” he asks. “The main reasons are obvious: It is for sale not in a real bookstore but in a specialty shop, and it is clumsily drawn, poorly written and incomprehensible to anyone not steeped in years of arcane mythology.”

Reed Exhibitions announced that New York Comic-Con would be absorbing the smaller New York Anime Festival; in previous years, the two shows ran concurrently at the Jacob Javits Center.

The seventh Wimpy Kid book, The Third Wheel, will have a 6.5 million copy print run — the largest of any book scheduled for release in 2012.

Steve Bennett takes a trip in the WABAC machine and unearths Billy Bunter, star of a long-running gag/adventure series in the British boys’ weekly Valiant.

An ink and gouache drawing for Tintin in America fetched 1.3 million euros at a recent auction in Paris. The drawing — one of only five surviving cover images drawn by Herge — had previously sold for 764,000 euros in 2008.

Reviews: At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson looks at the first issue of Marvel Super Heroes Magazine, a new publication aimed at young readers. She also posts a new Great Graphic Novels for Kids column, examining a variety of titles from DC Super-Pets: Deep Sea Duel to Yes, Let’s.

Young Readers (Ages 4-8)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5-8 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Manga Xanadu)
Whitney on Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever (No Flying No Tights)

Pre-Teens (Ages 9-12)
Nic on vols. 1-7 of Amazing Agent Luna (No Flying No Tights)
Sean Kleefeld on Crogan’s Loyalty (Kleefeld on Comics)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1-2 of Dance Class (Comics Worth Reading)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 5 of Pokemon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl/Platinum (Sequential Tart)

Teens (13+)
Drew McCabe on Ame-Comi: Wonder Woman #1 and Archie #633 (Comic Attack!)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Andrew on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (No Flying No Tights)
Lori Henderon on vols. 1-3 of Free Collars Kingdom (Manga Xanadu)
Orion Tippens on The Incredible Change-Bots (All Day Comics)
Nick Smith on Mastering Comics: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures Continued (ICv2)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (The Manga Critic)
Bonnie on The Sign of the Four: A Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel (No Flying No Tights)

Filed under: News