Nightwing pays tribute to George Pérez in the latest issue. The TMNT 40th Anniversary book sort of brings Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird back together. Mark Millar floats idea of publishing his own Superman comics. All on Comic Book Club News for April 16, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Nightwing pays tribute to George Pérez.
Eastman and Laird sort of back together for TMNT 40th.
Mark Millar to publish own Superman comics?
This is Comic Book Club News for April 16, 2024.
Nightwing Pays Tribute To George Pérez In Latest Issue:
George Peréz, the prolific comic book artist who passed away at age 67 in 2022, gets a loving tribute in this week’s issue of Nightwing.
In the issue, which is #113 but legacy numbered #300 — and spoilers past this point — Nightwing is celebrating his birthday by buying pretty much everyone in Blüdhaven pizza. So of course, he heads to Marv & George’s Pizza for a two-page tribute written by Tom Taylor and Marv Wolfman, with art by Bruno Redondo.
Dick Grayson was created by the duo of Wolfman and Pérez, so if the shout-out in the name of the restaurant was it for the tribute, that would be cute and sweet. However, the creative team takes it a step further. Marv Wolfman is clearly the proprietor of the establishment. And on the wall is a picture of Pérez, the George of the restaurant’s name. After talking to Nightwing about how much he’s grown and changed, the two-page story inside the main story ends with Marv telling Dick Grayson: “I am so proud of everything you’ve done, Dick. And George was too.”
I’m not crying, you’re crying. Also, I’m crying. The issue is on sale in stores today.
TMNT 40th Anniversary Sort Of Brings Eastman And Laird Back Together:
IDW has announced plans for a one-shot special celebrating 40 years of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And as part of the book, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird are back together. Sort of.
The duo fell out due to creative differences decades ago, but over the years have had their names attached to various TMNT projects. In 2019, The Last Ronin series was based on an old pitch by the team, though Laird was seemingly not involved in the project. Then in 2023, Laird inked a cover for an issue of TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo penciled by Eastman.
And now, on the TMNT 40th Anniversary special, Laird has once again inked over pencils from Eastman, just for the special. They may not be in the room together, but you know. It’s something.
Eastman, along with other creative teams from throughout 40 years of Turtles history will be contributing stories and pin-ups to the 70-page book. It will hit stores on July 10, 2024 and cost a whopping $11.99, but I guess when you back up the money truck, there’s got to be money in it, first.
Mark Millar Floats Idea Of Publishing His Own Superman Comics:
I regret to inform you that Mark Millar is at it again. As reported by Bleeding Cool, Millar posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he is thinking about publishing his own Superman stories after the character enters the public domain
Said Millar: “I’d been thinking about writing a Superman story late summer, but Superman goes public domain in 9 years so I can write my stories in 5 years time & pay the best artists in the industry to draw them so it’s all banked and ready for me to publish myself in 2033. All my favourite artists take forever, but if I gave them a 4 year deadline to draw each arc I’d happily bankroll them and maybe do six arcs in total, published over 3 years. This could be amazing. In the second year I could even have Batman in there. Something to mull over!”
So, let’s mull. First of all, Millar has his year wrong. Superman enters the public domain in 2034, and Batman in 2035. Second, not all of Superman’s lore goes into the public domain at that time. Things like the “S” shield, logos, and other trademarks are still owned by DC. And this is the original version of Superman from 1938, meaning jumping — not flying. No kryptonite, heat vision, or X-ray vision. Anything from post-1938 is off-limits, at least until the next year. And most importantly, it can’t be seen as associated with DC in any way.
Essentially, you can hew towards Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s original vision, but that’s it — probably not the in-canon story Millar is trying to get going here. Given all that, maybe he wants to try something different, like putting Batman in a white suit and letting him curse. That would really get tongues wagging.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And this has been another episode of “Mark Millar unsuccessfully negotiates in public.”
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