Gary Friedrich, co-creator of the Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider, was ordered to pay the publishing company $17,000 this week in a counter-suit resulting from an intellectual property claim against the publisher.

This is a really messy case, that no matter how you look at it it’s going to be terrible and ugly, but before we get into all of that, here’s a little backstory on the case. Some of this information is cloudy, but it seems like the counter-suit has been won by Marvel, but they’re offering to drop that lawsuit if Friedrich settles to new arrangements made by the publishing company. Not everything is clear, and as of writing this article, I don’t have access to the court documents and all the information needed, but the details are truly irrelevant if you take the rest of the situation into consideration.

DC Comics announced today that they will be going back to Smallville to bring fans of the show an eleventh season in digital comic book form this April.

Smallville: Season 11 will be a weekly digital comic penned by show writer, comic scribe, and personal favorite Bryan Q. Miller that goes deeper into Clark Kent’s first year as Superman while still using the mythos set up in the televised series. All of the characters that fans of the show know and love will still be major players in the series including Lois Lane, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Chloe Sullivan-Queen, General Lane, and many more.

Web comics are a wonderful thing. There are a variety of style that show anywhere from a single comic panel, strip, or full page with a host of topics and plots to choose from. One recent approach to web comics was that of Jim Zub (Skullkickers), Shun Hong Chan, and UDON with their recent web based comic Makeshift Miracle: The Girl From Nowhere, which is now getting collected and will be released in May.

There’s plenty to talk about with the specifics of the story of Makeshift Miracle and the all new hardcover presentation, but before we get into that, I want to tell you why Makeshift Miracle caught my eyes in the first place.

Each and every week “Mr. I Look Good In A Suit” MK2Fac3 and “Mr. I Look Good In A Plastic Incredible Hulk Mask” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible…theoretically. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of February 8, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

I’ve really got nothing fun or interesting to tell you this week. I mean, I had a job interview, but who cares about that? You’re here for comics! And boy let me tell you, there are a whole lot of comics to talk about this week. So, let’s skip this intro and get to the meat of the week. Ladies and gentlemen, I present…The GoD List!

Key of Z #4
Written by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Cover by Nathan Fox and Jeromy Cox
Evil Ink Comics/BOOM! Studios
Release Date: January 25, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

I’ve read a lot of zombie-themed comic books, but I can honestly say that I’ve never read one quite like Key of Z, and I’m going to tell you right now, from the first issue to the last issue, this series is fantastic.

I’ve been following the creation of the series since 2010 when creators Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert first announced that they would be working on a zombie comic that would take place in New York City and encompass a lot of specifics from the area under the working title Subway Seriez, which is still used as the subtitle for Key of Z, as evidenced by the cover of issue three.