The hits just keep on coming as the comics industry starts looking like someone’s old four-color punching bag. On the heels of the cutbacks at Viz Media, now comes word that DC has shuttered their CMX imprint. And now you’re wondering, is this all just manga-specific or is it an early warning system for a greater industry-wide problem that we don’t want to talk about because…hey! Look! The new comics are here!

But that’s a question for people smarter than me to think about. I’m busy looking forward to July 22, where I’ll be at the Marriott bar in San Diego navel-gazing into my second Pale Ale. Now let’s read some fun stuff…

Brian Wood’s DMZ, Matt Bird makes the case that Hollywood should seriously consider adapting it. “We get angry when the occupied become insurgents, but we also can’t help but wonder: ‘What would I do if the war came to my town?’ That big, fat question needs to be vented on screen.”

I Am The Walrus: I always like reading what comic art critics write about when they aren’t writing about comics. Case in point: Jeet Heer’s reviews of Yann Martel’s Beatrice And Virgil and Efraim Sicher’s The Holocaust Novel. Bonus: a review of The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman added to the mix. It’s all in the current issue of the Canadian magazine known as The Walrus.

The Simpsons & Futurama: Not only did they crossover, but Brian Winkeler (Bastard Road) has a review of the graphic novel: The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis.

Scott Adams: That Dilbert guy blogs about the value of attention, so, y’know, pay some, okay?

Harker: Lew Stringer discovers an excellent, British-produced crime comic, and then blogs about it. It’s called Harker, by Roger Gibson and Vince Danks. Looking at the samples, all I can say is: Want!

John Scalzi: Award-winning sf author (Old Man’s War; Zoe’s Tale) wrote this post about how punishing a publisher really hurts just the authors who publish there. It was written mostly for book people, but comic book fans should give it a look, too. It feels like one of those universal insights.

Bob Fingerman: Did you know that the writer/cartoonist Bob Fingerman has a novel coming out this August? I didn’t, but now I do. It’s called Pariah and it’ll be published by Tor Books.

Joss Whedon: Jessica Crispin writes on the creator of Firefly and Dollhouse and manages to tie in prostitutes, rape and King Kong theory.

Hello, I Must Be Going: If there’s a place where cartoonists should be hanging out, shouldn’t it be called: The Groucho?

Robert S. Napier: Currently, Bob Napier is a novelist and his newest is The Toyman Rides Again. But long before then, he was very active in comic book fandom as a member of Apa-5 (with Frank Milller, among others) and publisher of the fanzine George. Evan Lewis has the first part of an interview with him over at Davy Crockett’s Almanack.

That’s it from the internets this week, so click and be happy.

[Artwork: Bender from Futurama, © 20th Century Fox]