With comic properties being snatched up by movie studios like lucrative hotcakes, a Luna Brothers film project is clearly inevitable. With their cinematic style, self-contained stories, and strong emotional centers, Joshua and Jonathan Luna’s titles are a perfect fit for the silver screen.

Probably the best thus far, a very original and dark superhero tale called simply The Sword could make an amazing, violent, and beautiful modern fantasy film. Of course, the cast would have to be as moving as the source material. Here are my humble suggestions for a movie adaptation of The Luna Brothers’ The Sword.

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It has never been a hotter time to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes. The old chap now has two blockbuster Hollywood movies. Plus, Sherlock has a highly rated and successful BBC television series. The only thing he is missing is a comic book.

His mortal enemy Professor James Moriarty is brilliantly featured in his own series published by Image comics called, what else, Moriarty. It is the beginning of the 20th century, the dawn of World War 1, Sherlock Holmes has been dead for twenty years, and Moriarty has been drafted into service by MI5.

This issue is part four of the storyline called The Lazarus Tree.  A full-scale riot breaks out in the streets of Kyauktada, and the British authorities sweep in to take control. The mystery begins to unravel, and Moriarty becomes aware of the lurking threat of Moran’s sniper rifle hunting him in the shadows.

The characterization of Moriarty is brilliant. He is essentially an evil Sherlock Holmes. He sees common details that people miss, he is a brilliant doctor, and he is even a brilliant professor, dealing with concepts and theories that are way beyond his time. The major problem with the character is that even though he interesting; the writing never truly gives us a reason to like him.

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For you comic book lovers torn between Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire and the newly announced Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet — with all its reported Marvel comics goodness – here’s a bit of news to help fuel your debate. Or, perhaps, solve it.

ComiXology has officially announced their app, which features an array of thousands of comics from several publishers, will be included as a built-in with Amazon’s device and will ship with it at launch.

“Launching with a $199 price point makes Amazon’s Kindle Fire a great device for making comics accessible to the masses and the vibrant 7” screen is perfect for our Guided View™ reading system,” said CTO and co-Founder John Roberts.

This is good news for anyone who was worried the Nook Tablet might have the advantage over the Kindle Fire in the comic book reader competition. ComiXology has so many great comics it doesn’t seem like those who ordered a Kindle Fire, and wanted to use it to read comics, have any reason to be jealous of their Nook-using pals.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is available for pre-order now. Although, if you want one any time soon you better hurry as demand has been pretty big.

Check out the full press release from ComiXology after the break.

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One show that we’re pretty much universally in love with around The Flickcast offices is AMC’s The Walking Dead. After a hugely successful first season on the network, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic series promises to be even bigger and better when season two arrives.

Previously, we’ve had some bits of info about the second season including the first pic and the first teaser. Now, there’s a brand new teaser for the season which debuted during the season premiere of Breaking Bad Sunday night and we’ve got it for you right here.

In this new video we see our main man Rick Grimes in action as he deals with some unwanted attention from a couple of the undead. Needless to say he’s not a fan of them and takes care of business. Good to see him back in action.

Check out the teaser after the jump. The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October. Not. Soon. Enough.

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Going back to the early days of comics, heroes have been created to stand for something. Peace, justice and the American way has been a strong theme since this trend began and never seemed to falter.

As time as passed, the simple blind patriotism has faded and led to more complex characters that have evolved with the times. Today, on the anniversary of America’s independence, we take a look back at some heroes and even some villains who have proudly worn the red, white and blue.

While there are many we don’t have the chance to look at below such as the Flag, Liberty Bell, the Shield or even the Spirit of 76, we look at all those heroes and what they stood for, the men and women who helped give us the freedom to be able to live in a land where these characters actually exist.

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As an Android-powered phone user have you been jealous of your friends who get to enjoy reading comics on their iPhone or iPad? Well, time to feel better as comiXology has announced a Beta release of its industry-leading comics reader for Android.

The new beta is available in the Android marketplace and enables fans to read comics on devices running Android 2.1 or higher. The Comics by comiXology beta app gives users the ability to discover, purchase, and read more than 2,500 digital comics and over 300 free comics from 40 publishers.

Launch partners providing content for the app include DC Comics, Image Comics, Vertigo, Top Cow, Boom! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Archie and many more. Users can search and browse through comics based on titles, creators, publishers, genre and ratings, and find local comic book retailers with the built-in retailer finder.

“Our enthusiastic community has been asking us for an Android app and it’s with great pleasure that we bring it to them in time for the holidays,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Comics by comiXology on Android delivers comic books to mainstream audiences on even more devices. Now, more people who want to read a comic will have the opportunity to do so, when and where they want, while giving our content partners another major distribution outlet.”

Comics downloaded to the Android app will be available on the iOS and Web version as well through cross-platform synchronization so users can enjoy comics purchased on all their devices. So, great news for Android users. Even better news when those Android-powered Tablets start arriving in quantity.

You may not have noticed but the country still seems to be in the midst of an economic “situation.” Things are not so great out there and as people tighten their belts entertainment purchases like comic books and graphic novels tend to decline. Given all that’s happening, it’s not much of a surprise that sales of comic books and graphic novels are down in 2010.

According to statistics from Diamond Distributors and compiled by ICv2, sales were off when compared with the first eleven months of 2009. Dollar sales of comics were down by 5.79% and graphic novels were down a bit less but still declined 4.35%. Total sales of comics and graphic novels are down 5.66%.

Even with sales down there was at least one bright spot. Sales of graphic novels, while down overall for the year, spiked upwards in November by 14.8% over 2009′s numbers. The reason? Robert Kirkman’s 13th volume of The Walking Dead was released.

In addition, the first volume also was a good seller in November and was in the top ten for overall sales. I guess it helps sales when you have a hugely popular TV series and people want to read all about it. Still, not so great news for the rest of the comics industry. Let’s hope things get better in 2011 — for all of us.

Shhhhhhh! You hear that?

“Braiinnnnsssssssssssssssssssssssss!”

It’s AMC’s The Walking Dead arriving on your Apple iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad courtesy of the comiXology app. While the world anxiously awaits AMC’s Halloween premiere of the brand new zombie-destroying series, comiXology has launched a dedicated digital comic app in collaboration with Image Comics and the comic’s creator Robert Kirkman.

“Robert Kirkman and Image Comics have been great partners of ours and we love to see them continually pushing the envelope with The Walking Dead series,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Through this new app, zombie lovers everywhere will be getting a full dose of their favorite comic on their mobile devices all in one location. We’ve even added all the collected editions.”

In case you’re not familiar with the franchise, The Walking Dead is a mostly black-and-white comic first published by Image Comics in 2003, and created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The story arc focuses on Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. The series won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at the San Diego Comic Convention.

“Today’s app release will provide fans of The Walking Dead, new and old alike, another way to enjoy this series,” said Robert Kirkman. “The Walking Dead app will make the series that much more accessible to the new generation that, more often than not, experiences their entertainment completely digitally. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with comiXology, on the eve of the debut of the AMC television series, to bring this series in front of a whole new generation of readers.”

Interested in grabbing the dedicated app? Head over to iTunes and download it now. And don’t forget about the new series on AMC, premiering on October 31, 2010.

In place of my usual witty wordage, I’ve done an interview on Marvel, DC, Image, and Boom! (among others) comic book artist Dan Panosian in beautiful, living color. His artwork encompasses Captain America, The Flash, Spider-Man, X-Men, Prophet, Wolverine, Green Lantern, Irredeemable, and a couple issues of the fondly remembered Marvel Swimsuit Special, so you can be sure there was a lot to talk about.

His current book, X-Factor Forever is on shelves now. If the interview just wasn’t enough for you, check out his website at DanPanosian.com and his bountiful blog, the Urban Barbarian. If you’re in the LA area, you can see him and a smattering of other artists boozin’ and sketchin’ during a clandestine meeting of the infamous Drink N’ Draw Social Club held every Thursday night at Casey’s in Downtown LA.

But for now, press play on the video after the jump and be profoundly amused by his words of wisdom.

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With some casting already handled, AMC has finally found an actor to play Rick Grimes, the reluctant hero of its The Walking Dead series adapted from the Image comic by Robert Kirkman. According to THR, that man is Brit Andrew Lincoln, who is probably best known for romancing Kiera Knightley in the film Love Actually.

In case you’re not familiar with the comic or the series, it revolves around a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse and their struggles with said zombies and within their group as well. The group is led by Rick Grimes, a former cop who also struggles with his own demons, both external and internal.

According to the trade, Kirkman couldnt be more pleased with the selection of Lincoln. “Andrew Lincoln, wow–what an amazing find this guy is,” said Robert Kirkman, who wrote the comic book series upon which the series is based. “Writing Rick Grimes month after month in the comic series, I had no idea he was an actual living breathing human being and yet here he is. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how this show is coming together.”

Jon Bernthal, currently seen in HBO’s The Pacific, has already been cast in the series as Grime’s former police partner Shane. The Walking Dead, which is being adapted, produced and directed by Frank Darabont, starts shooting in June in Atlanta.

With Grimes cast, now what  I’m wondering who’s going to play the Samurai sword wielding Michonne?