The writer of "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" might not be on Twitter, but Twitter knows that it's his birthday today. Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman and loads of other comickers tweeted well-wishing out to Alan Moore (even though he doesn't have his own account... that we know of).

Back in New York, Marvel's Spider-Man summit appears to have subsided, and Victor Gischler inquired about a hypothetical Deadpool summit, which Fred Van Lente in turn discussed with him. After the jump, you can read my little Twitter mixtape about what they had to say, along with Mark Waid's reaction to the latest "Doctor Who" special and Jimmy Palmiotti's thoughts on Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."

It's all in the Twitter Report for November 18, 2009. Read more...

Geoff Johns opened up with some episode titles and director info for his two-part "Smallville" story that's coming up, and Tom Welling will direct the second part, titled "Legends," according to those tweets. Johns said he has the utmost confidence that Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Stargirl will be treated with respect.

Todd Nauck, meanwhile, showed some tweet respect to Johns, dedicating a Slurpee pic to him. You can find that, along with Chip Zdarsky's Astro Boy artwork, Edgar Wright's evaluation of "The Vampire's Assistant" and Mark Waid's post from Singapore.

They're all waiting after the jump in the Friday Twitter Report for October 23, 2009. Read more...

I don't have to tell any of you who read the Twitter Report regularly that Andy Diggle and Jock have been two of the busiest tweeters in the worlds of comics and Hollywood over the last few months. Just look at Jock's tweet that he's starting yet another movie project while wrapping up "Judge Dredd" script visuals. Diggle, meanwhile, pleaded to his followers yesterday to petition DC for a hardcover edition of "The Losers" before the movie hits next year.

Also yesterday, baseball fans and non-baseball fans in our feed were watching the Twins/Tigers game, Joe Quesada and Frank Tieri among them. Check out their colorful commentary along with Mark Waid's micro-review of "Zombieland," Jamie McKelvie's fan moment with Edgar Wright, and Stan Lee's new superhero concept.

It's all in the Twitter Report for October 7, 2009. Read more...

"Mad Men" and "30 Rock" may have won big at the Emmy Awards ceremony Sunday, but Neil Patrick Harris got Mark Waid's pick for performance of the night. Meanwhile, Jon Hamm, star of the night's Outstanding Drama Series winner, got a nod from Rob Liefeld in a tweet calling him an ideal candidate to star in "The First Avenger: Captain America."

Amid the other Emmy and NFL tweets that flew around Sunday, Jock updated on his "Judge Dredd" work and "Losers" set visit plans, adding that he's going to be drawing Jeffrey Dean Morgan for a charity event. Elsewhere, Jimmy Palmiotti called for a moratorium on vampire-genre tales, and Chris Staros lavished praise on the Windy City Comicon show in Chicago.

Check out all of those posts, as well as memorial note from Joe Quesada and which "Losers" creator had a meeting with Marvel today. It's in the Twitter Report for September 21, 2009. Read more...

Kanye West was the talk of Twitter last night at the VMAs for his un-prompted interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, and some of comics' biggest names were among those sounding off. If you're interested in a quick rundown of what Mark Waid, Brian Michael Bendis and several others posted. Look no further than the Twitter Report.

And even if you're not, you can still read on to find out which writer is scheduling his week around the release of "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2," what happened after Phil Hester announced he was open to reading other people's scripts and which new projects Steve Niles is excited about.

It's all in the Twitter Report for September 14, 2009. Read more...

Ted Kennedy's death made headlines early enough to meet comics creators who were wrapping their night's work, as well as those who were just waking up, judging by the Twitter Report feed. Creators Mark Waid and B. Clay Moore were among those to comment.

Tweets of the last 12 hours also brought a completely unexpected TwitPic post from artist Todd McFarlane. For anyone who's wanted to see him draw Batman digitally, you'll definitely want to click on this link.

To read through all of those posts, as well as Brian Bendis' thoughts on his lunch with comics legend Stan Lee, you need look no further that the Twitter Report below for August 26, 2009. Read more...

Get your TiVo prepped, comics crew. We're told that veteran writer Mark Waid, Editor-in-Chief of Boom Studios and author of series such as DC's "Flash" and "Kingdom Come," will be a special guest on tonight's episode of "L.A. Ink."

The synopsis for the episode indicates that Waid will help to "transform the crew at the shop into larger than life comic book characters." A promotional photo for the episode shows one of the series' ink-friendly stars dropping by the Boom office to meet the "comics guru" himself. Read more...

If Warner Bros.' new directive is that the studio's adaptations of DC characters be even darker, where does that leave Wonder Woman? From the sound of things, the film's producer isn't too keen on playing up the powerful sexual metaphors that the superhero represents. But that's exactly what the filmmakers should play up, argue comic book writers, if they want to make a Wonder Woman who's not just darker, but also more true to the spirit of the original and yet the most modern version we've ever seen.

"Wasn't the guy who created her a protofeminist?" asked former "Catwoman" writer Ed Brubaker. "He had multiple wives-slash-lovers, and was a crazy character for his time."

William Moulton Marston actually based Wonder Woman on his wife Elizabeth, who he considered to be pretty liberated -- after all, she and he shared a live-in female lover in a polyamarous arrangement. Back in the 1940s, this was radical, and the couple's ideas about women, love, and sex seeped into his construction of Princess Diana. "There was an awful lot of bondage," "Sandman" creator Neil Gaiman said. "She's got a magic lasso that makes people do whatever she wants. You could certainly up that, and make something dark out of that -- or at least dead kinky." Read more...

Additional reporting by Jennifer Vineyard and Shawn Adler

Last week, Warner Bros. announced that they would be making some major changes with their film franchises based on the rampant success of "The Dark Knight." However, despite mentions of "Batman 3” and the possibility of at least two new franchises starting up, the one topic that seems to be on everyone's minds is "Superman," and how Warner Bros. not only plans to reboot the franchise after the disappointing box office from "Superman Returns," but to give the film a much darker tone and feel.

Immediately, fan reaction ran the gamut of those who were thrilled to hear about a "Dark Knight"-influenced Superman to those who equate a meaner, nastier Superman as sacrilege. And these reactions certainly weren't limited to the fan-fueled message boards -- comic book writers and artists were also quick to voice their opinions on the new directive.

""How stupid is that?" exclaimed "Hellboy" and "Buffy" writer Christopher Golden. "That announcement made my head spin. 'Iron Man' isn't dark. 'Iron Man' worked because Favreau brought in all the best Iron Man creators and had them read the script and asked them, 'Tell me what we did wrong?' -- and it worked because it had all the best things about Iron Man boiled down into the best movie they could make. 'The Dark Knight' was really good because it had all the best things about 'Batman' boiled down into the best movie they could make. Making a dark and gritty Superman movie because Dark Knight made a ton of money is incredibly stupid." Read more...

“The Dark Knight” is a juggernaut at the box office -- no doubt about that -- but what does that mean for the comics? Especially considering this Batman film drew from the comics (such as “Long Halloween,” “Killing Joke”) more than ever before?

After all, the idea that Batgirl was actually Jim Gordon’s daughter, Barbara, was introduced in the ‘60s (after a previous Batgirl appeared in the comics in the ‘50s) came from the Batman TV show. “Suddenly the Commissioner had a daughter, and she was brought into the comics,” pointed out Ed Brubaker (“Batman: The Man Who Laughs,” “Gotham Central”). "And the character of Renee Montoya was created for “Batman: The Animated Series” (although she appeared in the comics first because of production issues). “She was created for the cartoon,” Brubaker said. “The influence just goes back and forth.”

So could there be a similar give-and-take from “The Dark Knight” back into the comics world, and if so, what might that look like? And is the movie already inspiring those who write Bats -- perhaps another “Fugitive” storyline? Read more...