BullfightsOnAcid

Rumored for some time and finally confirmed yesterday, Wednesday Comics will be an experimental twelve-issue weekly series from America's oldest comic book publisher; dumping the now-traditional 22-page (with ads) comic book format in favor of an oversized (14" x 20") format filled with sixteen different one-page strips created by some of DC's top talent, like Paul Pope, Watchmen's Dave Gibbons, and Neil Gaiman. The characters you can expect to see in the series are a similar mix of big name (Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman) and the excitingly obscure (and, for that matter, science fictional: alien space-hero Adam Strange, teen-trapped-in-future-dystopia Kamandi and elemental robots-gone-wild the Metal Men, to name but three). Even better, this series isn't going to be the start of another company-wide crossover requiring you to buy seventy other books, according to DC executive editor Dan DiDio:

All the creators are working to make sure that these stories are being created from the standpoint that the readers is someone who has never seen or read anything with the character before, [a]nd really capture both the essence of the character as well as the magic of comics... The concept is that we are trying to recapture the spirit, format, and sense of enjoyment that people had from reading the Sunday comics that arrive in newspapers every week.

So, let me get this straight: Good creators, making stand-alone stories about good characters in a format that'll allow for experimentation in the form that hasn't been seen since the days of Little Nemo In Slumberland? DC may just have made a significant grab for the comic win of the year.

Wednesday Comics launches this summer.

(Image not from Wednesday Comics, but Kamandi by Paul Pope from his Flickr stream.)

Sunday Comics on Wednesday? DC's New 'Wednesday Comics [Newsarama.com]

The new series — just one of many announced by Image Comics and Rouleau's studio, Man of Action (creators of Cartoon Network's hugely successful Ben 10) during last weekend's Baltimore Comic-Con — centers around a "directionless genius" who discovers that someone is literally stealing thoughts from out of his head... and decides to track down the culprit. Rouleau explained what the story is really about:

The big theme of the story is 'What defines you? The ideas in your head or the actions you take?' It’s also about piracy — intellectual piracy. And privacy. With the technological age we’re in, our humanity is being redefined and made public — ripped apart, cut up and posted on the internet. How long will it be before people go right into our minds to get that information directly — without our consent? I think that technology is only about five years away.

While we're not convinced by his Fringe-esque take on where mindreading science is right now, we're definitely looking forward to this existential whodunnit-and-what-does-who-really-mean-anyway when it premieres in comic stores next year.

Man of Action: Four New Comic Projects With Image [Comic Book Resources]

Let's get everyone else's books out of the way first, shall we? Dark Horse ask what may be the unexpected question of the week - "Who wants to relive Pamela Anderson's second-greatest hit?" - with their Barb Wire Omnibus release. But then they make up for it with the particularly awesome MySpace Dark Horse Presents anthology, collecting the best of the first year of their web anthology, including the deservedly award-winning Sugarshock by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon. Image Comics are offering the first collection of their new-age illuminati supervillain book New World Order, and Marvel continue their alien war story with the first issue of Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man. Much more interesting from the House of Ideas is the first issue of the third volume of Runaways or the first hardcover "omnibus" collection of Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil run.

But, as I said, DC just plain have everyone else beat this week. They have the collection of mind-bending Duncan Rouleau's time-traveling robot Metal Men, which was completely underrated when originally released and will reward anyone willing to put the time and effort into it. Same goes for the Brave And The Bold: The Book Of Destiny collection, which features time travel, parallel worlds and more super-heroes than you can shake multiple sticks at.

If you're following the Final Crisis storyline, then you might want to check into Brad Meltzer's DC Universe: Last Will And Testament, which shows what happened to your favorite characters on the last night before Darkseid took over. Then skip over to Grant Morrison's sure-to-be-awesome Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, in which everyone's favorite corporate icon breaks free of reality's bounds in order to save his true love. (And if you find that Morrison's take on the Man of Steel agrees with you, then you should definitely pick up this week's paperback release of All-Star Superman, if you've somehow missed it until now.)

More Morrison can be found in the first hardcover re-release of his over-the-top JLA run, which features alien invasions, robots learning about humanity and the trouble with falling for your own dreams, all dispatched with humor and surprising speed. Somewhat stunningly, each of these - well, maybe with the exception of the Meltzer book, and that's only because of my personal distrust of any man who has a crush on Terra - is well worth your time and money. They're the kinds of books that reawaken your love of superheroes, science fiction or just comics that like to tackle their subjects with imagination and a sense of humor. Go forth and spend your hard-earned dollars with only a little bit of fear.

As you may have heard by this point, a full list of this week's books can be found here, and you can take that list to the comic books store closest to you... which you can locate by going here. Just remember to tell your local store clerk that, like Elvis, you were born standing up and talking back.