Teen feline comic rockers enter Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian A Clockwork Orange in this new mashup by My Retrospace. We wonder if the bubbly Melody’s ears wiggled when she sensed something strange was afoot after being asked if she could spare some cutter. Check out the revamped ultra-violence in full past the break. Read More »

Dan Clowes is a comic book artist, a screenwriter, and a damn fine man. He won the PEN Literary Prize for Graphic Literature this year, and is the author of Ghost World, Mister Wonderful, and the Eightball comics, among others. On October 11th, The Death-Ray will be released in a classy hardcover format, so get ready for that, because it’s an incredible meditation on the idea of justice in a world that cannot simply be divided into black and white. We called Mr. Clowes yesterday and had a discussion with him about Spiderman, the Iraq War, aging, and what is was like to grow up in Chicago in the ’70s. The results are below. So read on, dear readers, and tell us your thoughts and darkest secrets in the comments section.

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Last week, Marvel debuted a new biracial superhero in Ultimate Spider-Man — creators hoped the new half-black, half-Hispanic Spider-Man, Miles Morales, would reflect the diversity of modern society. While some (including your author) welcomed Marvel’s progressive adaptation to a changing market, many fans took to the internet to share their disdain. The eruption of fan backlash was disheartening and, at times, ugly.

Some ranted that Marvel was taking unnecessary steps towards being “politically correct,” while others complained that such a recognizable superhero shouldn’t be open to adjustments. The climax came when Glenn Beck joined the noise, somehow connecting the character to Michelle Obama. For our part, we think it’s important to point out that, while it can be slow to change, the comic-book world is becoming a more diverse place — Miles Morales isn’t the first non-Caucasian superhero and isn’t likely to be the last. To celebrate the Marvel Universe’s newest addition, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite superheroes of color.

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As if we didn’t have enough opportunity to geek out over our favorite music, now we can look forward to Unite and Take Over, an anthology of comic stories, each one inspired by a different Smiths song. ”The concept is pretty simple,” creator Shawn Demumbrum says, “what’s the story that plays in your head when you listen to your favorite Smiths song?” The anthology sets 15 different creative teams to work creating comic stories out of some of the most beloved tracks (including some of the songs that will mess you up the most), like ”Girlfriend in a Coma,” “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” “Cemetery Gates,” “Pretty Girls Make Graves,” “What Difference Does It Make.” Each artist and writer team ”uses the song as an inspiration, a jumping off point, a theme or a mood,” so if they’ve done their job right, the comics will stand alone as great works of art in addition to recalling some Morrissey brilliance. Demumbrum and his team are planning to unveil Unite and Take Over at the Tuscon Comic-Con this November. Want a copy for your very own? Head over to Kickstartr to make sure this project happens, and follow along at the project’s blog. [via Largehearted Boy]

Today at Flavorpill, we had a hard time deciding which one of Woody Allen’s many muses is our favorite — but it’s probably a toss up between Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton. We discovered ShelfLuv, a new website that allows you to manage a virtual reading list of your favorite titles and connect with friends and other like-minded readers. We tried to decide who had the best Civil War facial hair. We got a good look at the single most valuable piece of American comic art ever to sell. We watched five minutes of The Lion King recut into something that vaguely resembles The Wire. We got a peek at the script for HBO’s now-scrapped Nikki Finke-inspired pilot Tilda. We laughed out loud as we streamed the full Book of Mormon original cast recording — it’s so good! We celebrated author Roger Hargreaves’ 76th birthday with sixteen Mr. Men and Little Miss-themed Google Doodles. We were jealous of Mark Zuckerberg’s $7 million croquet lawn. We downloaded The Very Best’s Super Mom Mixtape. And finally, we considered making “Believe It Or Not” Salad — just one of the really odd dishes from the 1933 Congressional Cook Book — for dinner. It definitely sounds better than the Cheap Chicken (which is inexplicably made out of ham).

What if Spider Man rode around Queens on a bicycle made out of webs? Or Superman took to the streets of Metropolis on a heat vision bike? Maryland-based mountain biking enthusiast and illustrator Mike Joos has created a hilarious series of affordable posters that re-imagines some of our favorite superheroes on two-wheelers. (Note: If you’re not a comic book geek, he also has bike-themed prints featuring Cookie Monster, Hans Solo, and George Washington in his Etsy shop.) Click through for our favorites.

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Thanks to some help from the staff at Bergen Street Comics (which incidentally, made our list of America’s 10 greatest comic and graphic novel stores) the talented designers over at Pop Chart Lab have put together what they’re calling “a taxonomic tree of over 100 wondrous powers and abilities, with over 200 superheroes and supervillains as examples thereof.” Click through to check out a full-size version, but you’ll need to visit their website to to play around with the zoom and grab a limited-edition poster for $20 (if you pre-order by Friday).

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Over at Society6, Fabian Gonzalez has designed ABC Superheroes, an appealing (and, at $13.99, affordable) poster that pictures comic-book superheroes from A to Z: Superman is S-shaped, Batman looks like B, etc. But some of the characters are trickier to recognize, at least for the layperson. Check out the print after the jump and take a stab at identifying all 26 superheroes in the comments.

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Before Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, there was Jim Henson’s pilot for a TV adaptation of Brant Parker and Johnny Hart’s comic strip The Wizard of Id (which debuted in 1964 and is currently drawn by Parker’s son, Jeff). The pilot featured Henson’s puppets, as well as some familiar voices (well, hello there, Kermit!) and promised to be wonderfully bonkers. Unfortunately, the show was never picked up, and by the time ABC floated the idea of a Wizard of Id movie, Henson too busy to resume the project. Watch five minutes of the pilot after the jump.

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Sometimes, your standard family tree just doesn’t cut it. Sure, there are marriages, siblings, offspring — but what about clones? And nemeses? Joe Stone’s got it covered in this infographic that maps the relationships in The Avengers universe. No, there are no names. In fact, the only caption we get is “Gross Old People Sex.” And if you don’t get it, Stone (who has already created similar X-Men and Fantastic Four charts) has some advice: “Read more comics.” [via SlashFilm]