Comicbookland

The very first issue of X-Men #1--sold for $101,000 at a Missouri rare comic book auction--apparently setting a world record for comic book pricing.

The 1963 comic was penned by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. According to Digital Spy, the auction sold 3,000 comics for more than one million dollars, auctioning off an epic collection of comics inherited by an anonymous relative of a deceased comic book collector.

Here's more from the article: "According to Tina Weiman of Mound City Auctions, it is unknown whether the original owner knew how much the comics are worth. 'I don't think he necessarily knew the value of them,' she said. 'I don't know when he looked at them last. I know that that were pulled out from underneath the basement steps.'"

Novelist Stephen King has penned his first comic book, a five-issue cycle for Vertigo's upcoming series, American Vampire. The series launches in March 2010.

According to an article at The Daily Beast, the series' creator Scott Snyder met King when the author blurbed his short story collection, "Voodoo Heart." King was so inspired by "American Vampire" (art sample via Vertigo) that he asked if he could write a few issues.

Here's Snyder explaining his unique writing experience: "I start getting these emails from him that are like, how much he's enjoying Skinner, and maybe he'll actually do a little more, and finally a little ways in he's like, 'Do you mind if I go off the res a little bit? ... Steve took that story and took it to so many places that were not in the original script, and it was just amazing to watch. He added terrific story twists--he added incredibly scary and wonderful gore."

Thanks to UnBeige's Stephanie Murg for giving us a heads-up on mediabistro.com's upcoming online course on writing comic books and graphic novels, which will be led by Disney Comics co-founder (and Simpsons Comics scribe) David Seidman. For those of you who live in Los Angeles, Seidman will also be teaching a one-night version of the same material—at $65 compared to $350 for the 4-session version, it sounds like a good deal if you can get to the classroom!

To celebrate the 70th birthday of writer Harvey Pekar, best known for the autobiograpnical comic book American Splendor, last week, the Pekar Project at Smith magazine assembled a gallery of Pekar portraits by close to 100 artists, some who've collaborated with him (like Dean Haspiel) but many more who are simply fans. And apparently there's room for more—artists are invited to contact Smith comics editor Jeff Newelt if they want in on the action.

(While you're looking at the birthday gallery, check out some of the all-new Pekar stories with artwork by Sean Pryor, Tara Seibel, Joseph Remnant, and Rick Parker.)

Today the comic book publishing industry pondered the dramatic news that Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has struck a $4 billion deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL).

The merger will bring 5,000 comic book characters into Disney's massive collection of popular cartoons and films. On the Morning Media Menu, we discussed the merger as well, quoting some of the best Disney/Marvel crossovers from around the web.

More importantly, Publishers Weekly reminded readers that in addition to film and licensing, Marvel has carved out a strong place in the publishing industry: "Marvel's periodical comics line has been the industry leader for most of the past decade, and graphic novel sales have also surged with such titles as the homegrown Marvel superhero series, Civil War and 1602, and graphic novel licenses from bestselling prose novelists Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton."

In a deal that will rattle the very foundations of the comic book industry, the Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has struck a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL).

The company press release valued the cash and stock transaction at $4 billion, based on stock prices on Friday. Disney now owns the rights to more than 5,000 Marvel characters, an nearly endless supply of spin-off possibilities. Hardboiled author and Marvel writer Duane Swierczynski proved this point on Twitter: "I want to write a Punisher/Jiminy Cricket team-up."

Disney CEO Robert A. Iger had this statement, laying out the huge swath of imaginary territory now controlled by Disney: "This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories."

As Julia Child's recent bestseller status proved, a popular movie can always drive blockbuster book sales. But today, the NY Times recorded what may be a first for publishing--a video game pushed sales higher for a classic comic book.

Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's dark, psychologically-complex book, "Batman: Arkham Asylum," was released in 1989, but a special edition just debuted at #10 on the paperback Graphic Books Bestseller List. A brand new video game by the same name debuted in stores this week, sending a new generation of video game fans scrambling to the bookstore.

Here's more from the article: "[It is] an electronic adventure which pits the Dark Knight against his deranged foes. The game has received many positive reviews and boasts some incredible graphics. A confrontation between Batman and Harley Quinn can be previewed here."

What happens when you serialize parts of your graphic novel online, for free? For the author featured in this video, that strategy helped pack his book release party with loyal fans.

Magazine editors, librarians, and publishing types mingled at the packed celebration for Josh Neufeld's new graphic novel, "A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge" at Idlewild Books in Manhattan earlier this week. The event also featured a musical set by Mary McBride.

Neufeld first published a large portion of his new graphic novel at Smith magazine, and in this exclusive GalleyCat interview, he explained how that free serialization helped his book. The video includes three striking images from the book, all pictures courtesy of Josh Neufeld.

With this simple post: "Don't go thinkin' I started usin' computers or anything. I'm just givin' my twitters over the phone," the curmudgeonly poet behind the comic book series American Splendor has carried his stories into the 21st Century.

The dictated Twitter stream was part of the Smith magazine's Pekar Project, reportedly Pekar's first foray into web comics along with a rotating crew of artists. The project began when Pekar began collaborating with Cleveland artist Tara Seibel, who created that image for the first installment.

Here's Smith comics editor Jeff Newelt describing the project: "Pekar's been mining the mundane for magic for more than 30 years in his autobiographical American Splendor comics. Now he has teamed with SMITH and four remarkable artists--Tara Seibel, Joseph Remnant, Rick Parker, and Sean Pryor--to create his first ongoing webcomic series. New stories appear every other week, with interviews, creator spotlights, and behind-the-scenes goodies."

Back in 1986, when we were youthful comic book fans, we entered the "Why I Ought to Be in Blue Devil" contest, which promised us the opportunity to enter DC Comics continuity; ultimately, we lost out to some guy who had the power to make balloon animals. We haven't thought about that in years (really, we haven't), until we recently learned about the impending publication of The Kid Who Saved Superman, part of a series of chapter books featuring licensed DC heroes and villains published by Stone Arch Books designed to "transform relucant readers into reading enthusiasts." The story, written by comics veteran Paul Kupperberg, has its origins in a "Find a Hero" contest back in March: Students from across the United States submitted essays about real-life heroes from their schools; 13-year-old Hakeem Bennett wrote about a visually-impaired teacher at Brooklyn's P.S. 36—and now they're both making guest appearances in the book (along with the teacher's seeing-eye dog).

In the story, Superman rescues Hakeem and his classmates when they're trapped in a mountain during a school field trip, except the earthquake has knocked loose a big chunk of kryptonite... You can sort of see where it's going from here. We imagine Hakeem will be pretty popular when school resumes in a few weeks.

(Here's an interesting coincidence: Kupperberg's brother, Alan, was the one who drew that issue of Blue Devil in which we didn't appear, unless you count a brief mention in the letters page. Now that we're thinking of it again, we wonder whatever happened to the kid who made balloon animals.)