1.  THE STARS OF DCTV. Details about DC television projects have come to light during the past week or so.  First, Aqualad, an original Teen Titan who was so lame that he was left out of Wolfman/Perez’s New Teen Titans for the first three years of the team reboot, is a member of the upcoming DC animated series “Young Justice” (a non-Teen Titans cartoon about Teen Titans like Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin).  And he’ll be in comics, too, starring in Aquaman: Reborn #10.  Sorry, I meant Brightest Day.  Why do all the Brightest Day covers have Aquaman front and center?  Second, it looks like Darkseid might be the big bad for the final season of Smallville.  And finally, DC is working on a live-action Blue Beetle show with a Latino star as the Jaime Reyes incarnation of the (kinda lame) hero.

2.  MEN IN BLACK BACK IN 3D. So, with two minority-featuring DC live-action projects underway, it’s time for an indie project to jump in as well, right?  Too bad it’s this warmed over Will Smith flick.

3.  MARVEL MOVIES. Some updates on the Marvel big screen front.  First, Deadpool.  Rumors abound that Robert Rodriguez has been offered the director’s seat.  I dunno how they’re gonna film it, though, what with Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern flick already getting the (ahem) green light for a sequel.  (Wouldn’t it be cool if Deadpool’s self-awareness that he is in a comic book translated on the screen as self-awareness that he is also Green Lantern?)  The screenplay is being drafted by the dudes who wrote Zombieland, one of the most fun violent movies I’ve seen in years.  Second, the next Ghost Rider flick will be directed by the team who did “Crank” and “Crank 2” (not terrible movies, but not great ones, either), and will likely continue to star Nic Cage.  Based on the title (“Spirits of Vengeance”), it sounds like it will be based on the Jason Aaron story arc involving Danny Ketch.  Not Aaron’s best work, but a solid story.  Finally, Captain America: First Avenger may include The Invaders—or at least some of them.  Wicked!

4.  BLACK PANTHER ON iTUNES! It’s just the title sequence, but the Marvel Studios/BET manga project is now up on iTunes.  I truly hope this is in advance of the series being released in the USA.  So far, only Australia has seen it.  Reggie Hudlin, who wrote the comic for several years and is now a BET executive, talks about the show here.  It’s supposed to come out tomorrow, June 23, on iTunes–which is annoying as hell–and some gamer networks (Xbox, Zune, Playstation).  But Shout! Factory has the DVD rights.  Their website is silent about it, but I’m hoping it will be released on a “normal” platform so I don’t have to huddle round the computer screen with my kids.

5.  THE WALKING DEAD. AMC released more stills.  Every shot looks true to the comic, from the zombies to Rick Grimes (left).  High, high hopes here.  The show blog has some other photos, here.

6.  Finally, a free ad spot for the free webcomic Wayward Sons, written By Benny Powell with art by Weilin Yang.  I thought it looked pretty good.

Tags: Blackest Night, Comic books, Superheroes