@@@@ Comic Book News from the San Diego Comic Con! @@@@ 6-pg Preview of Devil’s Due’s ECHOES OF THE DAMNED #1! @@@@ RIP Creig Flessel. @@@@

What’s SHOOT THE MESSENGER?

Well, AICN COMICS: SHOOT THE MESSENGER is your weekly one stop shop for comic book news that’s dropped in the previous week. Thanks to Newsarama, CBR, Wizard, etc. for reporting it as it breaks. Click on the links for the original stories. This column cuts the crap to run down all the vital information for those of you who don’t follow it as it comes in, and serves it all up with that special ingredient of @$$y goodness. It’s also the place for interviews, previews, and special reports.

Hey folks, it’s Stones Throw here with a host of news updates from a little-known event called the San Diego Comic Con. As always, click on the links for more information--but first, it’s time for… THE ADAPTATION/MULTIMEDIA SPECIAL!!! Which kicks off with some incredibly cool news from IDW:

@ Darwyn Cooke will adapt Richard Stark’s PARKER books into a series of original graphic novels, starting in summer 2009. The artist says he’ll be sticking as closely as possible to Stark/Westlake’s original text…
@ BOOM! Studios will be starting up series featuring the Pixar characters. EIC Mark Waid is writing “The Incredibles” (with Darwyn Cooke covers) as well as a “Muppet Show” comic…
@ Phil Hester and Ande Kuhn’s Image series FIREBREATHER is being adapted into a two-hour Cartoon Network feature…
@ Comic book wunderkind Ed Brubaker is writing “Angel of Death”, a series of 8-10 minute web episodes for Sony’s Crackle.com. Quentin Tarantino’s favorite stuntwoman Zoe Bell will star…
@ The first 13 issues of INVINCIBLE will be converted into MTV music videos for distribution on MTV2, mobile phones and people’s Xboxes. Newfangled!...
@ TV’s GREATEST AMERICAN HERO will return in a comic book series from Catastrophic Comics and Arcana Studios. Star William Katt is signed on to co-write (look for an interview with Mr. Katt in future editions of SHOOT THE MESSENGER!)…
@ Forget the election—the real battle between Messrs. Obama and McCain is to see whose 28-page IDW comic book biography will sell the most copies come October…
@ Top Cow preps WITCHBLADE and MAGDALENA flicks…

All very cool, especially the Cooke/Parker GNs and the prospect of new Pixar comics. Now let’s catch up with our friends in San Diego, starting with DC COMICS…

@ Neil Gaiman and artist Andy Kubert will be taking over BATMAN and DETECTIVE for a month in January, giving Morrison and Dini a month off (thanks, Desiato, for the clarification on that one)…
@ Looks like Barry Allen is back to stay—Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver will handle a FLASH: REBIRTH miniseries, starting in January…
@ Kevin Smith returns to comics in November with a three-issue BATMAN mini featuring his Green Arrow villain Onomatopoeia. Readers will be interested to know I spelled that right the first time…
@ The “Archie” heroes (like the Shield, the Black Hood, the Fly etc.) will be introduced to the DCU in JMS’ BRAVE AND THE BOLD series…
@ The Milestone characters will be integrated into the DCU proper, too, starting with Static in TEEN TITANS and continuing with a McDuffie arc on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA…
@ Vertigo has new takes on war series THE HAUNTED TANK (the ghost of the Confederate General Jeb Stuart haunts the tank of a young black soldier in Iraq) and THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER (set in the modern day warzone of Uganda)…
@ The imprint will also set up Vertigo Crime, which’ll feature black and white graphic novels by crime writers as well as comic book scribes like Brian Azzarello, who has FILTHY RICH, set in the early ‘60s, coming up…
@ Alan Moore’s SWAMP THING gets swanky hardcover editions…

While, over at MARVEL…

@ Jeff Parker’s AGENTS OF ATLAS return in a new ongoing series…
@ David “Hack” Mack will adapt Philip K. Dick’s ELECTRIC ANT. Paul Pope provides the covers…
@ Andy Diggle’s the new writer on THUNDERBOLTS…

At DARK HORSE…

@ Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ MARTHA WASHINGTON will be collected in an “Absolute”-style omnibus…
@ And Bernie Wrightson’s illustrated MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN gets a hardcover 25th anniversary edition in time for Halloween in October…
@ IMAGE announced Robert Kirkman’s new status as a partner. He’ll be collaborating with all the original Image founders on a jam-style comic called IMAGE UNITED.
@ Finally, check out a nice interview with Mark Millar from the guys at
Den of the Geek where the plucky Scotsman talks about WANTED, WAR HEROES, and his dreams to one day make a SUPERMAN film.

Bug’s going to wrap this week’s STM Column up with a preview of an upcoming miniseries from Devil’s Due.

Hey folks, Ambush Bug here. We’ve got a special 5-page preview of a new noir minseries from Devil’s Due Publishing called ECHOES OF THE DAMNED. It hits stores in October, but we thought we’d let you guys see the pages now. Check them out.

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This horror/crime thriller is written by James Pascoe with art by Roger Robinson. I really love Robinson’s use of darks and lights which exemplifies the detective noir genre. Look for this one in October.

This week’s SHOOT THE MESSENGER ends on a downbeat note. Creig Flessel, creator of the Shining Knight and cover artist for some of the Sandman’s first appearances, died on the 17th of July. AICN Comics sends its best wishes to his family and friends.