Marvel's August, September, and October 02023 solicits sound like a Doctor vs. General Strange battle royale; include Hickman's G.O.D.S. #1

DOCTOR STRANGE #6 [out 2 Aug in three days!]
Jed MacKay (W)
Juan GEDEON (A)
Cover by Alex Ross
G.O.D.S. VARIANT COVER BY EMA LUPACCHINO
STORMBREAKERS VARIANT COVER BY NIC KLEIN
VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ
VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ
Many years ago, Doctor Strange fought in a five thousand-year battle called the War of the Seven Spheres. But what was it? And how did it create the mysterious threat that plagues Strange today? PLUS: A bonus page written by Jonathan Hickman- WHO ARE THE G.O.D.S.?
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

DOCTOR STRANGE #7
Jed MacKay (W)
Pasqual Ferry (A)
Cover by ALEX ROSS
VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND
VARIANT COVER BY STEPHANIE HANS
MEET GENERAL STRANGE!
Stephen Strange is a doctor who has sworn to do no harm. But there's another, darker side to him, and its his duty to win at any cost. Can Stephen best his mirror image, trained through thousands of years of mystic war?
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

DOCTOR STRANGE #8
Jed MacKay (W)
Pasqual Ferry (A)
Cover by ALEX ROSS
VARIANT COVER BY PETE WOODS
NEW CHAMPIONS VARIANT COVER BY Romy Jones
With the enemy revealed, Doctor Strange and his allies rush to confront his evil doppelganger, General Strange!
But does the Doctor stand a chance again the General's five thousand years of experience?
And will Stephen and Clea's marriage hold in the face of such a threat?
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

G.O.D.S. #1
This ENORMOUS EXTRA-SIZED first issue features DOCTOR STRANGE, who, while not boring at all, is easily the most boring person in the book.

BLADE #4
Doctor Strange guest-stars in this action-packed heist that gives new meaning to the term "bullet train"!

GHOST RIDER #18
Guest starring DOCTOR STRANGE!

STRANGE ACADEMY: MILES MORALES #1
STRANGE ACADEMY: MOON KNIGHT #1

[30 July 02023]

Meta, Microsoft, Hundreds More Own Trademarks To New Twitter Name [Twitter is changing its name to "X"- X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges- including Disney/Marvel?- they have been known to use "X" quite a bit- X-Men, X-Force, X of X, X-cetera]

Interesting: This isn't the first time Elon Musk has tried to rebrand something X.com [Paypal in 02000]

Marvel was bought for $4 billion in 02009- and Star Wars for $4 billion in 02012- both by Disney- Disney earned $18 billion in global box office from Marvel movies 02009-02019- Disney recouped its purchase of Star Wars in six years- it's astonishing to think that each purchase cost $40 billion less than Twitter

[25 July 02023]

"Go Bleed On That Page, Hero!": The Tradd Moore Interview [Comics Journal]

[24 July 02023]

Disney Reveals 'Doctor Strange 2' Cost $100 Million More Than Its Estimated Budget [Forbes]

• $213.7M spent on pre-production and filming
• $135.3M spent on making the movie/post-production
• $349M total cost to make movie!
• estimates were "only" $200M
• COVID-19 delayed production, increased costs
• -$54.5M UK 25% reimbursement [Forbes]
• takes cost down to $294.5M
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness grossed $955.8M [Box Office Mojo]
• studios get half of the ticket sales so $477.9M
• $477.9M - $294.5M = $183.4M profit?
• unclear if massive marketing costs are included here, but unlikely; was even $100M profit achieved?
• maybe after merchandising?

[22 July 02023]

Announced at Comic-Con: The next wave of the Marvel Legends figure series is Marvel Knights- with a Clea figure, and a Mindless One Build-A-Figure! [Toyark]

[21 July 02023]

Marvel Settles Creator Copyright Lawsuits- But Not Steve Ditko [Bleeding Cool]

Marvel Settles With Four Artists In Superhero Copyright Fight [Reuters; 9 Jun]

Disney's Marvel has agreed to end its court battles with four artists who attempted to reclaim copyright interests in superheroes they co-created including Iron Man, Ant-Man and Captain Marvel, according to federal court filings published on Friday. The filings said Marvel would drop its lawsuits against Larry Lieber and the estates of Don Heck, Gene Colan and Don Rico with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled. A Disney spokesperson and an attorney for the artists said they had reached an "amicable resolution." Marvel did not appear to have settled with the estate of comic book artist Steve Ditko, which is seeking to reclaim his share of copyrights in Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

Marvel, Artist's Estate Ask For Pre-Trial Wins In Superhero Copyright Fight [Reuters; 22 May]

Walt Disney Co's Marvel and the estate of artist Steve Ditko both asked a Manhattan federal judge on Friday to hand them a win without waiting for trial in their copyright dispute over rights to superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Marvel urged the court to reject the estate's effort to reclaim Ditko's interest in the characters, arguing he co-created them on the company's behalf. Ditko's estate argued that he developed his heroes and stories independently, and that Marvel intentionally avoided hiring him because of the "dire state of its business" at the time.

Also, a Ditko letter in the treasure trove of litigation documents: What Steve Ditko Thought About Doctor Strange And Other Marvel Movies

[18 July 02023]

How Manga Was Translated For America [NY Times] [gift link probably won't live long; found via Hacker News] [fun article/presentation with many little items like vertically vs. horizontally-oriented word balloons, how they used to flip the art so manga could be read like American comics and it made everyone left-handed, the Japanese love for onomatopoeia, etc.]

[16 July 02023]

Will Burning Comic Books Be Next? [CounterPunch]

[14 July 02023]

San Diego Comic-Con International is 20-23 July [Program Schedule]

Update: According to the SAG-AFTRA Member Strike FAQ, members cannot do promotion/publicity services like conventions, panels, social media, etc., for struck work or struck companies. The strike is expected to hit the ever-more-Hollywood Comic-Con hard. Comic-Con will be just for comics again!

Update: 'Too Big To Fail': San Diego Comic-Con Survives- And Thrives- With Or Without Hollywood [The Wrap]

Update: New York Comic-Con is 12-15 October

[9 July 02023]

The East Village Zine Fair is taking place this weekend 8-9 July [EV Grieve]

[7 July 02023]