* You heard it here last: Warner Bros. is revamping the whole way it does the superhero-movie business, both by nuking Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns would-be franchise launch and starting the Man of Steel from scratch and by developing its multitude of characters with an eye toward bringing them together down the line in a Justice League movie rather than the other way around–in other words, doing it Marvel Studios/Avengers style. I think there are both good things and bad things about this news. “Good” includes the sense that they’re going to try to make a good movie out of Justice League rather than doing it on a comparative shoestring with a bunch of pretty nobodies. “Good” also includes scrapping Singer’s Superman Returns continuity, what with its bastard super-children and complete lack of punching. “Bad” is some dopey suit saying “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” thus ignoring the lessons the past 20-plus years of superhero comics have taught us about the wisdom of going dark with everyone and acting like the success of superhero movies begins and ends with The Dark Knight (and Watchmen, one supposes) while ignoring Spider-Man, Iron Man and so forth. “Bad” is also the taste left in my mouth anytime I read Hollywood executives talking about how best to make millions of dollars off the hard work and creativity of people who have died and will die in relative penury.

* Speaking of execs in need of defenestration: Clive Barker tears Lionsgate head Joe Drake a new one over his mishandling–deliberate, Barker once again alleges–of Midnight Meat Train, which Barker says was buried a long with several other films in order to keep the spotlight on the Drake-shepherded genre effort The Strangers. (Via Dread Central.)

* Quote of the day:

Vertigo’s typically indifferent colors don’t help, of course: strap in for the color brown, everybody! Do they get a discount on brown? Is that how they keep the costs down? Seriously, dead seriously: What is with these people, and the color brown? Does anyone even know? This is an open invitation to any Vertigo colorist willing to do an interview about the color brown. Please explain.

—Abhay Khosla, in a review of Air that’s ever so slightly less unreadably schticky than normal. This has long been a point of bafflement with me, too.

* Joe McCulloch reviews the inaugural entry in Rick Geary’s Treasury of XXth Century Murder, The Lindbergh Child. How kickass would a Treasury of Victorian Murder Omnibus be?

* I’ve had two dreams about the lost fourth season of Deadwood in the past week. They’ve been violent and awesome.

* I enjoy many current superhero comics by several different superhero comics creators, some of which are good, some of which are very good, some of which are even great, but it occurred to me the other day that really the only guy working at a level comparable to the best or even the very very good alternative comics creators right now is Grant Morrison, and when I read writing that fails to keep this sort of thing in perspective by treating random aspects of current superhero culture like it’s the most important and innovative and forward-looking comics material on Earth, I get very irritated.

* Finally, congratulations to Rick Marshall on his new gig as co-editor of MTV’s Splash Page comics/movie blog!

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