Dark Horse Comics does a great deal to show they love comics as much as many readers do. One of those ways is by collecting material like Creepy, Eerie, Crime Does Not Pay, Journey Into The Unknown, Silver Streak and Forbidden Worlds, which led to the massive censorship of the medium with the Comics Code. I’m a huge fan of the pre-Comics Code books, and Geeks Of Doom was lucky enough to get an exclusive look at several pages of the upcoming second volume of the Crime Does Not Pay Archives, which we’ve provided here below for your viewing pleasure.

The book looks really cool, and if you’re into crime comics like Stumptown, Gotham Central, Queen and Country, and the many other works from Greg Rucka, you should really check out where the genre started with books like Crime Does Not Pay. And speaking of Rucka, he actually has written the forward to this book. So, if you love crime comics, pre-Comics Code books, or just comics in general, make sure to get your hands on a copy of these archives.

Each and every week “Phoenix Barbarian” MK2Fac3 and “Bulldog Barbarian” 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 April 25, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Nothing means nothing. Nothing means nothing, man. No more, I’m talking about all the way to the top, yeah. I’m justifiably in a position that I’d rather not be in, I’m in a position to tell all you readers, yeah, that there are a whole lot of comics coming out this week, yeah, and every comic site has their say. But the cream will rise to THE TOP, oh yeah, GoD Madness has got more to offer in the way of great comics, yeah, than any of those other comic sites think we have. Now, the card’s stacked against every book that we pick this week, yeah, but let me say it, let me say it OUT LOUD that MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 are not happy with your decision to not buy all of these books that we suggest, yeah. WE ARE THE CREAM in weekly comics suggestions and there is no doubt about it, yeah. You, dear reader, you know that The GoD List is the CREAM OF THE CROP!

Rumors have been getting passed around about these two titles for the last few days, but Marvel officially announced the new creative teams for The Punisher and Daredevil during Saturday’s Cup o’ Joe panel at C2E2 2011.

Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Marcos Martin will be taking over on Daredevil, while Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto will be taking over The Punisher. (See Checchetto’s Punisher promo art here above.) The two new series will be released in July and August respectively, with new #1 issues for each series.

On Monday, DC Comics announced which artist will join new writer Scott Snyder (American Vampire) for their namesake series, Detective Comics.

Starting in November, artist Jock (The Losers, Green Arrow: Year One, and a recent stint on Detective with Greg Rucka) will join Snyder on one of DC’s biggest titles. Snyder has been getting rave reviews for his Vertigo series American Vampire, and DC must certainly be very pleased with Snyder’s success to be handing over the reins to this series to him after a relatively short time in the business. Jock also brings a very unique style to the book and while I may be a fan of his style, I’m curious to see if others are as excited about him taking over the series.

But this isn’t the only news announced this week. On Friday, DC also announced that artist Francesco Francavilla (Zorro, Garrison) will be drawing a back up feature in Detective Comics, also written by Snyder.

In a WonderCon shocker, current Detective Comics writer Greg Rucka announced during his spotlight panel that he has turned in his last story for DC Comics.

The fan favorite writer was putting out what will no doubt turn out to be a classic run on Detective Comics with artist JH Williams III and I’m sad to see him leave the book, as it was my favorite title DC was putting out.

That being said, I’m happy for Rucka because now he can focus on creator-owned books like Queen and Country and Stumptown.

On Twitter, Rucka commented:

To all who sent kind words: thank you! No bad blood w/ DC; just time to move on.

On his blog, JH Williams III wrote the following message:

Whiteout
DVD | Blu-ray | Video On Demand
Directed by Dominic Sena
Starring Kate Beckinsale, Tom Skerritt, Gabriel Macht
Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Release date: January 19, 2010

In the frozen wasteland of the South Pole a serve storm, known as a ‘whiteout’, is rapidly making its way to the across Antarctica, prompting an early winter evacuation of a geological encampment. All non-evaculating personal will stay behind for the winter with no flights in or out for six months, so those scheduled for winter leave have get out now. Agent Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is one of the people on their way out. After a two-year stint in Antarctica, the agent is ready to leave her sub-zero beat and resign from her position as a U.S. Marshal all together. Unfortunately, just as she’s about to finally leave, a body is found on the ice, with evidence of foul play. While her friend, Dr. Fury (Tom Skerritt) offers to ship the body elsewhere to absolve Carrie of her duties, the Agent decides to continue the investigation herself with only days left to solve the case before she’s stuck there for the winter.

Based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber, Whiteout takes quite a few liberties from its source material, the major one being how Agent Stetko is presented. In the film, Beckinsale plays Agent Stetko as a beautiful, yet withdrawn woman married to the job which she seemingly once loved, but is now conflicted about after a pre-Antarctica drug bust gone array left her traumatized. In the comic, Agent Stetko’s reasons for taking an assignment in Antarctica remain the same — to run away from the trauma from her previous assignment — but how others treat her is entirely different.

Detective Comics #861
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Jock
Co-feature Art by Cully Hamner
Cover by JH Williams III
DC Comics
Price: $3.99; Release date: January 27, 2010

JH Williams III became one of my favorite artists last year when he was brought on board Detective Comics (along with writer Greg Rucka), bringing with him his impressive layouts and a highly photo realistic style.

With Detective Comics #861 Jock takes over for Williams on art detail, bringing a very different dynamic to the art. The two have radically different styles, with Jock having a much more angular style. He doesn’t have the way with the intricate layouts that Williams does, but he adds grit to the issue that Williams doesn’t have. Jock’s has an economy of line, and the coloring adds a very expressionistic angle to the art. If you’re used to his art, and enjoy it as I do, the change will not be as much of a bitter pill to swallow, but if you’re looking for a style similar to Williams III, you may not enjoy the change as much.

A new storyline starts in this issue as Batman and Batwoman are tracking down the same case in two different eras and I’m assuming we will see how they are connected at some point, but as when Williams was drawing it, the star here is Jock’s art. He has a great way of projecting the mood of the scenes.

On January 19, 1010, Warner Bros Home Entertainment will release Whiteout on Blu-ray, DVD, and Video On Demand.

The film stars Kate Beckinsale as U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko who’s investigating the first-ever murder on Antarctica, and is based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka.

See here below for synopsis and bonus features, as well as clips and the trailer for the film.

Bonus Features

– The Coldest Thriller Ever: A featurette on what it was like filming under extreme temperatures and the places used to represent Antarctica.

– Whiteout: From Page to Screen: A look at bringing Greg Rucka’s graphic novel to the big screen.

– Additional scenes: Deleted scenes from the film.

With a title like Queen & Country, you might think that the newest British romantic comedy was on the way. You’d be wrong. The title is based on an Oni Press comic book, and is now officially being developed as a feature-length motion picture for Fox, with newcomer Ryan Condal working on the script.

Queen & Country is described as a “female Bourne Identity,” and it follows a woman named Tara Chace, who is a Special-Ops agent who’s being hunted down after she pulls off a big time assassination in Europe.

To go along with his work on a few novels, the book’s author, Greg Rucka, has done a bunch in the world of popular comic book characters. His resume includes issues of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Elektra for Marvel Comics, as well as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman for DC Comics.

Fans of DC Comics premier superhero have been happy for the last few months with the resurgence of the entire line, largely under the hands of writers Geoff Johns, James Robinson, Greg Rucka, and Sterling Gates, and they should know that the writers have a lot planned for the Big Blue Boy Scout in the coming months.

Here’s some of the news that come out of the San Diego Comic-Con panel on Superman:

Codename: Patriot will be the name of the next big storyline through all the books, and will place more of an emphasis on what’s been going on with the planet Earth while Supes has been away on New Krypton. The story will focus on Lois Lane’s father, General Lane, and will be the next step towards a BIG Superman event coming up in 2010. Codename: Patriot will be a big game changer and will affect all the characters for the next year. There will also be a Superman: Secret Files out to tie-in with Code.

The Young Justice era Teen Titans will be showing up in Geoff Johns’ Adventure Comics, as well as having what the creators call one of the best Krypto the Super-Dog scenes ever.