Variety is reporting that the superhero farm is looking to hire five writers to work with executives and permanently rework their characters into movie-ready pitches; characters mentioned in the story included kung-fu hero Iron Fist, X-Men character Cable, and Batman-ripoff Nighthawk. The move comes after the success of last year's Iron Man, which apparently demonstrated to the studio that characters without the existing awareness of an X-Men or Spider-Man could, nonetheless, translate into big box office bucks. The writers will be on staff for a year, with an option to continue beyond that point, and are expected to be hired to start work on endless pitch production before the end of this year. And I thought we'd seen the end of the superhero movie glut...

Marvel's hiring writers [Variety]

MTV's executive vice president of new media, David Gale, is ready to make the new animated venture sound like a breakthrough:

I like to think of it as cinematic comics — digital cinematic comics... I think it’s important that in this age you really give the freedom to the consumer. If all you do is put it on a Web site and ask for them to find it, it’s very challenging. I also think the evolution of download-to-own is becoming such an expected format for people to get content.

But just what is this cross-platform cartoon? The New York Times explains:

The process starts with digital scans of the actual comic book pages. They are turned into an audio-visual experience through a process called Bomb-xx developed by Gain. In the end, the formerly two-dimensional comic book suddenly pulses with music, while word balloons pop up and fill in as actors recite the dialogue and panels zoom in and out and pivot in all directions.

Yes, that's right; it's someone reading a Flash-animated comic to you. With music.

The worst thing is, this is pretty much exactly the same thing that Marvel Comics were doing in the late '60s with their Marvel Superheroes cartoons, except they had the common sense to get rid of the word balloons:

(They're still using the same technique now, for freebie trailers for books like World War Hulk.)
So, apparently MTV's new evolution of content is to rip off an idea that was already underwhelming forty years ago, but now you can watch on your cell phone. Go technology.

A Comic Book Superhero Is Headed to Small Screens [New York Times]

Magneto's mutant haven, Genosha looks a bit like the emerald city, and Professor Xavier's wizard impersonation isn't doing much to hinder the comparison. There were so many mutants in this clip I lost count, was that The Hulk and burqa sporting Dust? Plus more Sentinels, which the X-Men never tire of fighting. The cartoon series will air on Nicktoon in the summer of 2009.

But if the bleak genocide storyline and running mythology of the X-Men cartoon isn't your cup of tea, there's antoher Marvel cartoon on the way, aimed at a demographic of 6 to 8-year-olds. It's titled the Marvel Superhero Squad and will feature all the greats including, Captain America, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four. They're living in some kind of stylized superhero city and fighting villains like Doctor Doom every week. [Illusiontv and Marvel]