Per my column yesterday, you know I’m not going to parrot press releases from Marvel and DC, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cull actual news from them where I discern it exists:
Marvel’s gearing up for their World War Hulk event, and as I’m married to someone who inked the Hulk for over two years I had to ask my Marvel press contact if he had any word on who’s slated to ink all the books. So here’s your complete list of “top 2-3” creative teams (writer, penciller/inker or writer & artist) for all upcoming World War Hulk tie-ins:
WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE: WORLD BREAKER
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Al Rio/Scott Hanna, Lee Weeks (p/i), Sean Phillips/Tom Palmer
INCREDIBLE HULK #106
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Gary Frank/Jonathan Sibal
HULK: PLANET HULK HC
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Carlo Pagulayan/Jeffrey Huet; Aaron Lopresti/Danny Miki and Sandu Florea; Juan Santacruz/Faul Fernantz Fonts; Gary Frank/Jonathan Sibal; Takeshi Miyazawa (p/i)
That’s right, I’m all about loving the inkers!
Marvel’s also got another Spotlight book in stores on May 23, this one focusing on the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer; perfect timing considering the movie coming out in mid-June. John Rhett Thomas supplies the original written content with pre-existing images from the FF’s 40+ year history. Hope that means some royalty checks for lots of terrific artists!
And Matt Fraction (check out his sweet reminiscence of Vonnegut) is writing a special 48-page Sensational Spider-Man Annual tying in with its “Back in Black” storyline. Sal Larocca’s on pencilling chores, including “Romita-esque flashback sequences” — good luck with that, Sal!
Meanwhile, DC’s sent out its latest Direct Channel newsletter, which discusses sales incentives for retailers on the second Minx title Clubbing (writer Andi Watson has a nice write-up), brags about mainstream press for the debut Minx title The Plain Janes in PW and Variety, and lists books going back to press, returnable and resolicited books, release dates and so forth. An invaluable resource for retailers, as always.