Looks like changes are underway and DC Entertainment is finally moving forward with its plans and getting things in order. Today, DC Comics announced changes to its executive management structure including the promotions of Editor-In-Chief Dan Didio to Co-Publisher with Jim Lee as well as naming Geoff Johns to the position of Chief Creative Officer. This announcement follows the departure of publisher Paul Levitz, who stepped down in September of 2009.

The full details from a press release posted on DC’s The Source blog are reprinted below.

Jim Lee and Dan DiDio Named Co-Publishers DC Comics
Geoff Johns to Serve as Chief Creative Officer

John Rood Named EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development

Patrick Caldon Named EVP, Finance and Administration

(February 18, 2010 – New York, NY and Burbank, CA) DC Entertainment, founded in September 2009 to unleash the power of the DC Comics library of characters across all media platforms, has named its executive management team, including new co-publishers of DC Comics and a Chief Creative Officer, as well as heads of Sales/Marketing/Business Development and Finance/Administration. Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, made the announcement today.

The new senior executive team includes Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, who have been named Co-Publishers of DC Comics, and Geoff Johns, who will serve as Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. Additionally, John Rood has been named Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, and Patrick Caldon will serve as Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration. Each of these executives will report directly to Nelson.

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On Wednesday, there was a collective sigh of both disappointment and confusion when Peter Saarsgard was announced as Dr. Hector Hammond, the villain in the upcoming Green Lantern film, starring opposite Ryan Reynolds. The idea of Saarsgard as a villain was definitely a fun one, but the fans of the franchise wanted Sinestro, and we didn’t understand why we weren’t getting him.

It seems like we all just needed to wait a few hours, as DC and Warner Bros. have stated that they will be including Sinestro in the film, and they only have one actor in mind to play him: Jackie Earl Haley. The folks over at Hitfix did some legwork and uncovered Warner’s plan for the character.

With Sinestro, don’t expect him to stroll in and suddenly be pure evil in this film.  And don’t expect him to be onscreen for the entire movie.  But unless something drastically changes, he is in the film.  And I’m hearing that based on the relationship they have with him from “Watchmen” and “A Nightmare On Elm Street,” Jackie Earle Haley is the only choice for Sinestro by the studio.

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Happy Holidays everyone, and just in time for those holidays there are some excellent comics coming out this week.

From DC Comics, we have the constantly-getting-better Detective Comics. I swear to God, this book just gets better and better with every issue. If you’re not buying this book than you are missing out on one the most groundbreaking comics of the year.

From Image, we have the line of Image United comics. With art by the founding fathers of Image and written by Robert Kirkman, this is sure to be a collector’s dream.

I’m most looking forward to the new issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, I think this book is in my early running for Best Continuing Series, if I was allowed to vote for the Eisners. Dale Eaglesham is off for two issues but I’m sure that it won’t slow down the brilliant writing that Hickman is doing with the characters.

I’ll also be checking out the spoilerific Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield book. Now that Steve Rogers is officially back, it’ll be intriguing to follow the reaction.

That’s all I’m getting this week. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read so let us know what you liked/didn’t like in the comments. Otherwise, check out the complete list at Midtown Comics.

Have a Happy Holiday!

I’m particularly fired up for some brand new Adam Kubert art this week. The Kubert Brothers are probably my favorite comic artists working today, and this week we get Adam Kubert handling a Dan Slott Spider-Man issue, where our favorite web-slinger gets put on Norman Osborn’s List. This is probably the Must Buy of the week in my opinion, and there you have it.

Other good issues include the beginning of the Gauntlet story in Amazing Spider-Man. With Mark Waid writing and Paul Azaceta drawing the introduction, Joe Kelly and his I Kill Giants artist Niimura handle a Black Cat story.

From DC we get the penultimate issue of the Flash: Rebirth, with some incredible art from Ethan Van Sciver. At this point, with Blackest Night and everything else it seems like this book has kind of gone by the wayside and we know that Barry Allen is back and he is back to stay. So why stay with this book? Well, I feel like its still interesting to see how he comes back, plus all the Flashes together makes for some neat visuals.

Finally, an Indie book called Viking, written by one of the best comic writers that you may or may not know of, Ivan Brandon, takes on a viking crime book with artist Nic Klein. This is a beautifully dialogued, and gorgeously rendered book that is a feast for your eyes. Its easily the best put together comic on the market so I urge you all to try it out.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

We’re pretty big fans of the first season of Batman: Brave and the Bold, which is showing on Cartoon Network. The show, being the only one of DC’s animated properties still on the air, has proven itself to be a great blend of both comic lore, and comedic animation for all ages. If nothing else, we were hooked with last week’s musical episode starring Neil Patrick Harris.

This week, we’re treated to another special guest star as Greg Ellis lends his voice as Dr. Fate to help Batman take down the evil Equinox in a planet-wide battle. In the episode, Fate and Batman team up with just about every other hero Batman has ever worked with to take down a plot to pit order versus chaos throughout the whole world.

We’ve got three new clips from Friday’s episode, the first of which has James Remar (The Warriors) stepping in as one of Batman’s more famous of enemies. In the second clip, Dr. Fate and Batman go head-to-head on whether magic or science can be used to solve this problem. And in the final clip, Equinox’s evil scheme is finally revealed as the duo look in on some trouble brewing in Atlantis.

Check out the three clips after the jump. Be sure to catch “Fate of the Equinox” on Cartoon Network Friday, November 13th, at 7:30PM/6:30PM Central.

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With DC Comics rebranding itself as DC Entertainment recently, many anticipated a slew of movie announcements and the like to emerge after the deed was done. One such update we hoped for was what plans the company had for Superman. Many hoped the franchise would get a reboot, or at the very least a sequel to Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.  It should be noted at this point that while Superman Returns faced lackluster reviews, I for one liked it. Well, an update actually did come, and the news isn’t good.

DC Entertainment’s Diane Nelson told MTV:

“We actually don’t have any current plans for Superman,” said Nelson when asked if the new environment (and the recent legal decision regarding the character) made a “Superman” movie more or less likely in the near future… We’ve obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it’s a key part of the family, but we don’t have current plans behind Superman,” she said.

No current plans? Nelson, and DC collectively, have to be aware of the recent lawsuit they lost which means they could lose all control over Superman by 2013 if they don’t do something with the property, right? Sure, this could be media spin and development is, in fact, underway. But what if it’s not?

If a project doesn’t start shooting by early 2010, it seems unlikely DC will able to bring a new Superman film to the big screen in time to satisfy their contract. Even more unsettling is the possibility that DC could lose the Superman rights in their entirety and the new Disney/Marvel giant could scoop them up. Welcome to “Bizarro World.”

These days its sometimes hard finding good comics to read every week and even harder finding the money to pay for all of them. There are a lot of comics coming out each week but fortunately, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read and what you spend your money on.  So, with that in mind, there’s a lighter load of comics this week from a superhero mayor of New York City, to a jerk from the future to gigantic fighting robots.

My first recommendation this week is Ex Machina #42, written by Lost writer/producer Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by the brilliant Tony Harris (Starman). Easily my favorite book on the stands now, it tells the story of Mitchell Hundred the first super-hero known as the Great Machine who can get machines to do anything he wants. 

After 9/11, Hundred decides he’s merely maintaining the status quo as a superhero and decides to reveal his identity on national television and declare his candidacy for Mayor of New York City. Of course, he wins, and this comic is about his time in office.

Part West Wing and part super-hero action, with only eight issues left, I can’t wait to see how this story concludes.

My second recommendation is X-Men Origins: Wolverine producer and friend of The Flickcast Jeff Katz’s book Booster Gold is a high flying adventure telling the story of the 25th Century football star who travels back in time to fill his large ego.  Co-written with Flash: Rebirth star Geoff Johns the trade paperback, out tomorrow, is a classic fun adventure comic where Booster must act exactly as he normally does, like a dick, in order restore the timeline. 

Also, but probably inadvertently, he causes the creation of the Sinestro Corps. They don’t make comics this fun anymore.

My third and final recommendation is Rick Remender and Eric Nguyen’s comic Gigantic. Which is part Japanese Giant Robot vs Giant Monster Battle Royale and part Mojo-verse storyline from old 80’s X-Men comics. 

To be honest, I don’t know what to make of this comic besides saying “You remember this guy: Ultraman?” Yeah, its kinda like that, except not cheezy.

If these comic recommendations don’t suit your fancy, be sure to check out the excellent Midtown Comics list and order there. They will even mail your comics right to your door.