As I write this, it is Sunday morning of the biggest weekend in comics. Since Friday’s post, there were many more announcements from the San Diego Comic-Con that I found interesting. There’s a lot of news, so please bear with me.

The Eisner Awards were handed out on Friday. Here’s a link listing all the nominees and the winners, but highlights for me include:

• Saga won for Best Continuing Series, which is no surprise, but I often think that once an amazing series gets over a year or so issues, people tend to think of it as “Yeah, it’s great, but oh look! New Shiny Thing over there!” In other words, it really does deserve the win, and you should be reading it. Also, artist Fiona Staples won for Best Penciller/Inker.
• The Best New Series AND Best Publication for Teens is Lumberjanes, which means I should buy the first trade and check it out. However, I already came to that conclusion before the Eisner win based on word of mouth, mostly from the YouTube community that I monitor.
• The Private Eye won Best Digital/Slash Web Comic. I bought that first “issue”, but for some reason didn’t continue buying the other releases. I think it has to do with my antiquated attitude about print comics being what I want. I also, perhaps cynically, thought that eventually it would be released in print (which I still think it will be), but that’s not how it was conceived or designed, so maybe I should meet this comic on its terms, rather than mine.
• Best Writer and Best Writer/Artists awards went to Gene Luen Yang and Raina Telgemeier, respectively. These are new names to me, and I’ve long been a comic book reader that tends to be more focused on the writer, so I should check out their work.
• J. H. Williams III won the Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Interior Art) for is work on Sandman: Overture, which is well-deserved. Considering what I just wrote about being a “writer guy”, I read Sandman: Overture more for Williams III’s art than I do Neil Gaiman’s words, so to this guy, that means something.
• Darwyn Cooke won Best Cover Artist for his DC Comics variants, and I am once again kicking myself for not picking up some of those comics. His Teen Titans variant is now on my comic Wish List.
• Favorite color artist Dave Stewart won Best Coloring, which is a good choice.
• Stan Sakai won for Best Lettering over Todd Klein. That’s not a knock against Sakai, but now I’m very curious about Sakai’s work because I consider Todd Klein to be a master letterer.

Comic Book news:

• DC’s Convergence will continue in the form of some spin-off titles, three of which have been announced: Superman: Lois and Clark, Telos, and Titans Hunt. I was really disappointed with the Convergence event as a whole, but I still find myself wanting to read the Superman and Titans books.
• Joss Whedon is bringing a six-issue “Victorian, female Batman” comic called Twist to Dark Horse. The Julian Totino Tedesco (not the series artist) cover image looks pretty cool, though evokes the Shadow quite a bit with that red scarf.
• The previously announced return of the Milestone characters will be through DC Comics again, but apparently as a part of DC’s multiverse (Earth-M). I never read the original Milestone stuff (and I’m apparently the poorer for it, based on everything I’ve read about the various series), but I will definitely be paying attention this time.
• I’m very excited that Grant Morrison is not done (yet) with the DC universe because he will be doing a Multiversity Too series of books exploring characters in the multi-multiverse. He also plans to do more Batman stories with various artists. Finally, he is also doing a digital first comic called Avatarex with Graphic India and artist Jeevan J. Kang as part of a Humble Bundle.
• J Michael Straczynski will be doing another Earth One OGN and it will focus on Barry Allen Flash.
• Francis Manapul will be working on an Aquaman: Earth One book. (It would be nice for the Wonder Woman: Earth One book to come out before either of these.)

Movie/TV news:

• There were some photos revealed from the upcoming Jessica Jones Netflix/Marvel series. I’m really looking forward to this series, not in any small part due to Luke Cage being a part of it. I do have to wonder how … raunchy the tv show will be compared to the comic book.
• Another Green Lantern movie is heading our way, but will feature the Corps, which could be very cool. One of the things about Green Lantern in general is all of the aliens in the Corps. This is expected (as of now) in 2020. Chris Pine is reportedly going to be Hal Jordan. Given that I have a bit of a man-crush on Pine, I hope the rumor turns out to be true.
• The Internet went ape-shit bonkers over the news that Bruce Timm would be adapting The Killing Joke as an animated movie. I read tweets saying how disgusting this was and that DC was misogynistic. Others talked about corporate greed overcoming good judgement. It’s a good thing that Twitter has Mute. My objection to this story being adapted has nothing to do with the three pages involving Barbara Gordon, rather, it’s that the Batman part of the story is not that good, especially that joke at the end that Joker tells. The movie is bound to sell very well, I’m sure.
• Another problem I have with the TKJ announcement is that it overshadowed the other two animated movie announcements: Batman: Bad Blood, which will introduce Batwoman to the animated universe, and Justice League vs. Titans, which has me superexcited to see some version of the Teen Titans (I’m assuming) in an animated movie. It doesn’t quite make up for the previously announced and then cancelled New Teen Titans animated movie, but it should still prove to be fun to watch.
• There was also a trailer for the upcoming Suicide Squad movie that I saw (really, someone recording the trailer and posted it on Facebook), and I’m looking forward to this as well. Sometimes it’s hard for me as a long-time comic book reader so entrenched in these characters (and certain versions of them) to understand why anyone who is not a DC Comics reader would want to see this movie, but the trailer made me go, hmm, I think I can see why now.
• Finally, the newest Batman v. Superman trailer was revealed, and where I was trepidatious about this movie, I am now excited to see it in part because Zach Snyder said that while he is channeling Frank Miller, this movie is not The Dark Knight Returns (and to that I say good). Affleck looks good as Wayne, especially in the scenes during the events of Man of Steel. Holy Hunter’s character talks about holding Superman accountable for what happened (as does Wayne), but it’s countered by Jeremy Iron’s Alfred suggesting that Superman is not the enemy, but fear is. This is good moral ground to dig up and sift through, and that’s what I like to experience in comic books and their media adaptations involving these beloved superheroes, not just slugfests and wanton destruction. Enjoy!