I realize I haven’t posted on here in a very, very long time, but I have an excellent reason… I’ve been working on a major non-profit initiative called Reading With Pictures. Working in conjunction with Diamond Comics Distributors, Northwestern University and numerous other educators, academics, publishers and cartoonists, we plan to revolutionize the way that comics are used in the classroom.

And you can help by clicking on the link below to vote for Reading With Pictures in the IdeaBlob business concept contest and give us the seed money to make this idea a reality!

Posted at Big Hollywood in response to Bill Willingham’s post on Superhero Decadence:

Superhero Decadence. What a sadly necessary phrase to add to our lexicon. As someone who’s written the kid-friendly animated Batman comics and has designs on writing a fairly adult in its themes and presentation superhero project down the line, I certainly believe there’s room for any and all interpretations of the characters. They contain multitudes, as do we all.

The problem is in making the “adult” version the dominant version and on insisting that your ongoing adventure serials reflect that darkened world view. The current crop of creators on “Amazing Spider-Man” have been doing some of the most light-hearted and entertaining takes on Spider-Man in years. Only here’s the problem — eventually fans will demand drama. The villain is going to have to truly “hurt” the hero. Spider-Man will win the end as he always does, but we all know the bad guy will come back. They always do (Marvel has action figures and licensing deals to think of, after all). Only next time, the villain will have to raise the stakes or else why bring him back?

In contemporary mainstream comics, the heroes ALWAYS lose… even when they win. When the villain comes back, someone has to die (and then the next character to die has to get eaten by the Blob on panel), or get raped (but we don’t show the actual penetration, so it’s still tasteful). And that’s just the villains. The heroes fare little better.

It’s as if every episode of “Law & Order” ended with the convicted defendant vowing vengeance on Jack McCoy — and then next episode he breaks out of prison, murders McCoy’s beloved niece and then stuffs her dismembered corpse into, say, a refrigerator. Does anyone think that would actually make “Law & Order” more realistic? More relevant or interesting or adult? It certainly wouldn’t make it more popular.

I guess my problem comes down to the fact that most so-called “adult” takes on superheroes are adult in the same way that a late night movie on Cinemax is “adult.” They have pretensions to sophistication and sneer at the “kid’s stuff” while reveling in their gratuitous sex, violence and “shocking” subject matter. That’s not adult, that’s juvenile.

And Superman, Batman, Spidey… they deserve better than that.

One of my old Northwestern (Go ‘Cats!) chums, Ms. Lindsay Muscato , now of the Neo-Futurists, recently posted an interview with me on the writing process over at the Gapers Block.

Eldarius Magnus returns!

It’s taken me a while, but I have at last returned. A lot’s changed since I last updated this thing. I’ve kept writing and kept making appearances at schools and libraries. In the process I’ve got to live out a childhood dream by writing Superman and have inexplicably become a national expert on comics for kids. Life has been good, and I have to admit that it’s getting better all the time.

Updates will be coming several times a week from here on out, so prepare for awesomeness!

And speaking of awesomeness, here’s a cinematic ninja haiku courtesy of www.xtranormal.com.

Ninja Haiku

Come see me and my NU brother-in-arms Russell Lissau as we sign our respective issues of The Batman Strikes at two, count ‘em two, Comix Revolution locations in the Chicagoland area!

On Saturday, August 25, we’ll be signing at the Rev in Evanston from 1-3 pm. That’s 606 Davis St., just a few blocks off the Davis stop on the Purple Line.

Then on Saturday, September 1, we’ll be doing it all over again at their store in the Randhurst Mall in Mt. Prospect.

Hope to see you there!

Written by Josh Elder; Art by Christopher Jones and Terry Beatty; Cover by Sanford Greene and Nathan Massengill

Gearhead’s turning Gotham City into a gigantic demolition derby! Batman’s going to need all the help he can get, even if that means letting Batgirl get behind the wheel of the Batmobile!

Johnny DC | 32pg. | Color | $2.25 US

On Sale August 8, 2007

So I’ve finally caught up with all the sleep I lost at Wizard World Chicago this past weekend. I’ve been a zombie the past few days, but it was well worth it. I got to finally meet Chris Jones, the artist of Batman Strikes, pitch some new stories to the editor of the aforementioned book, meet some old fans and create some new ones, and have an all-around great time hobnobbing amongst my people.

Can’t wait to do it all again next year.

spend some more time with two of my favorite comics people and (I hope) future collaborators Dean Trippe and Stuart Sayger, got to meet Geof Darrow and give him a copy of MON for his daughter, sell a few dozen copies of my books and hang out amongst my people for a little while.

A great time was had by all and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Everyone’s favorite webslinger doesn’t just fight bad guys, he also fights social ills. Like drugs, racism and… teen pregnancy! Like in this charming PSA comic from 30 years ago co-produced with, yes, Planned Parenthood.

I could describe the plot, but I assure that I will fail to do it justice. Of course it’s still not as bad as the time Spidey admitted to being “touched inappropriately” when he was a young boy.

So yeah, this looks pretty darn awesome. And now I can’t wait to see the 2.0 armor ‘ol Tony will sport for most of the movie.

In yet another effort to make the Gospel relevant to the young people comes the Manga Bible.

You think you know what’s in the Bible? Think again!

Siku’s provocative, edgy style brings a whole new dimension to the most important book in history.

The Manga Bible launches in February 2007, when the New Testament is published in two different formats: Raw and Extreme. Siku is currently hard at work on the Old Testament, and the full Bible will be released later in 2007.

Not that I’m opposed to spreading the Good News, but really — “Raw” and “Extreme” editions? Is this thing going to get advertised on ESPN2? Though I personally can’t wait for the manga-fied Samson battle sequences (”Apocalypse Jawbone Thrust!”), but I will be very, very upset if we get any upskirt shots of Mary Magdalene.