BitterNews for Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

• Snooki and the rest of Hobbiton will be guests on the 1st episode of Jay Leno’s second shot at ruining the Tonight show. Stay classy, chinster.
• DanDiDio, in an effort to pull a sleight of hand on his new bosses, is trying to find a post-Blackest Night sales driver in his otherwise sales-and-quality bankrupt DC Universe by doing the unthinkable (and highly unadvisable) Watchmen sequels and prequels. It’s hard to guess just how stupid Dan must imagine his new bosses are, but anyone with half a brain can see what a desperate and foolhardy move this is. DC doesn’t have the talent to pull it off and it’s a fool’s errand anyhow. Watchmen is DC’s bestselling book of all time (that alone says something about how poorly editorial is treating their huge library) but new stories could easily kill what may be the pinnacle of the genre to date and endangers it’s potential as a cash cow 50 years from now.
• Great, if small, load of comics today – Siege is coming along nicely, with a stunning last page that we’ve all been waiting for. Jonah Hex was another great one with Jordi Bernet art. Big surprise was Wolverine-oriented; the usually entertaining one-shots hit a big bump this week as Wolverine: Savage was a horrible piece of shit under a sharp cover, and Wolverine: Weapon X #10 was absolutely stunning – a great, well-written story exploring Logan’s relationships with women. Ultimate Comics X was very nice, and reaffirms faith in Jeph Loeb at the same time the preview for the next Ultimates series looks clichéd and awful. Next week looks similarly light for shipping books.
• Some movies are opening Friday. You will not care.
• Mark Millar’s Nemesis has an online preview – actual book not out until March 3rd.
• Transformers 3 will be in 3-D. I am so surprised.
• Captain America casting expected to be announced soon.
• Avatar is #1 film in domestic gross. Still sucks.
• Heidi MacDonald’s beat is now at comicsbeat.com
• Rob Liefeld reads 4 newspapers a day. Maybe drop one and spend that time concentrating on anatomy books, or drawing feet.
• American Idol beat Lost in ratings last night.
• The new Judge Dredd film sounds like the movie we hoped for back in the 90’s.

BitterNews for Monday, January 25th, 2010

• Mattel Named to FORTUNE’s 2010 “100 Best Companies to Work For” List; it must be great to work there – they never fire anyone, no matter how bad they are!
• 3A Toys have been dropping hints about upcoming projects – in addition to already announced collaborations with McFarlane (Spawn), 2000ad (the entire Universe), and Metal Gear Solid, today they hinted that Tank Girl is coming to 3A. I’d love a Hewlett designed 1:6 comic style Tank Girl…
• Cold Space is a new comic book series co-written by Samuel L Jackson and Eric Calderon drawn by Jeremy Rock, published by Boom! Jackson & Calderon worked together on Afro Samurai.
• Gareb Shamus is Vince McMahon-ing the comic con business, since the San Diego crew seem unwilling or unable to take it national. Wizard is launching a new Wizard World comics convention, in New Jersey. (what exit?). It will be October 15th-17th this year at the New Jersey Convention & Exposition Center (NJCEC), in Edison.
• Will Joseph Gordon-Levitt Be The New Spider-Man? It looks likely, esp in the wake of the Director announcement. So, if you weren’t already convinced that Sony fucked up ditching Raimi, this should do it. This guy must have a golden tongue (and I don’t mean fer talking with), because one of the top female execs at Sony has been looking for a franchise for him to take over and look what dropped in his lap. Ugh.
• AT&T may be losing it's iPhone exclusivity as early as Wednesday at Apple's media event. Jobs is calling the tablet “the most important thing he’s ever done.”
• Good Charlotte finished an album and have scrapped it – apparently it didn’t meet their high standards (!).
• Nikki Sixx has broken up with Kat Von D, giving hope to aging irrelevant rockers and aging pickled whores everywhere.
• Aerosmith begins auditioning singers soon.
• Gary Coleman arrested for domestic violence. If reports are true, he’s still a virgin, so I can see why he might beat his wife of many years.
• Sag Awards were essentially a re-run of the Golden Globes.
• Throwing Muses recording new album with “Donations” from fans. Time to hang it up.
• Fox beat out Lion’s Gate and Paramount in bidding war for domestic rights to Robert Rodriguez’ “Machete” – spin-off of Grindhouse trailer. Film is already completed.
• LA Johnson, director who worked closely with Neil Young has died.
• MAKE IT STOP!: Jane’s Addiction recording new material. Just stay broken up, please. Thanks.
• Roman Polanski ordered to return to US for trial. Looking forward to the testimony about how he drugged and ass-raped a minor.
• Avatar #2 film of all time in USA, proving people are stupid.
• Gremlins 3 is in the works; might be 3-D.
• Planet of the Apes re-re-boot happening, now called “Ceaser” and a new take on “Conquest”.
• John Edwards (after finally admitting he is the father of his mistresses child) is getting self-kicked in the crotch again, this time by a sex tape he made with his baby-mama, which was discovered by the former aide who not only tried to cover up the affair because he believed in Edwards, but who now is probably the one leaking it in advance of his own tell-all book, the Politician, which comes out in early Feb. Andrew Young (the author and ex-Aide) will be on 20/20 Friday to promote the book.
• Damages starts season 3 tonight – a major character is supposed to die in the first episode. Remind your mom.
• The cast of Jersey Shore is holding out for more money for season two from MTV. Wow. Can’t they find more semi-literate Ugnaut whores that’ll suck anything? Snooki must have a few sisters, probably some she hasn’t even met yet!
• David Bowie is dumping out another live album tomorrow, in hopes of keeping up with those bond payments. He’s also reissuing his debut album as a 2CD set, but only in the UK.
• Also in stores, the only two albums by the Other Two, the husband/wife team from New Order that didn’t start Revenge or make records with the Pet Shop Boys after New Order broke up the first time. These are less than marginally interesting records, avoid.
• Another Fozzy album comes out, too. Yikes! Did Michael Alago get another A&R job that allows him to hang out with shirtless rock boys?