So did you hear the big news? Marvel’s moving to a new office building in Manhattan!

Not to be outdone, Warner Bros. decided to shake things up with a large scale corporate shift. This interview with Diane Nelson from Comic Book Resources actually sheds very little light on the nuts and bolts of it.

And the lack of real answers has caused Tom Spurgeon to raise some questions he’d like to see answered about the situation forward-going.

Naturally, and because I sometimes can’t keep my mouth shut, I have my own take on the matter.

Sadly, and contrary to earlier reports and speculation and denials, it appears that the number of employees being terminated is far higher. Closer to 1/3 of the company. Jeez, I wish those people well. This is not a good time for anyone to be looking for a job, especially anyone with comic book office skills.

Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool takes a look at the long, slow death spiral of Wildstorm once DC purchased it from Jim Lee. Since I was sitting in the room with the original Image founders when they proposed leaving Marvel and forming their own company it saddens me to see it die. That meeting also included the most recent Wildstorm Editor-In-Chief Hank Kanalz because at that time, he was writing the dialogue for what would become the first Image title, Youngblood #1. The photo at right was taken from that meeting. [Let me also be quick to point out that I did not create anything related to Image; I was merely in the room as a representative of Malibu Comics along with Dave Olbrich and Chris Ulm.]

Let’s see what else is out there this week:

Victor Gischler: George A. Tramountanas puts the novelist and comic book writer on the spot for X-Position, with lots of questions about Jubilee’s new vampirism.

Archie: Jaime Weinman reviews the new IDW/Library of American Comics collection of Bob Montana’s Archie.

Norm!: Did you know that artist Norm Breyfogle (Prime; Archie) once drew a Batman story for Marvel Comics? I didn’t know that, but Daniel Best knew that and he’s got the story at 20th Century Danny Boy.

Punch: Dr. K is back to regular blogging and he’s continuing one of my favorite themes: The Gil Kane Punch of the Week. Nobody hits like a Kane character.

In Star Trek 5 , Captain Kirk asked the question, “Why does God need a starship?” Several days ago, Steven Thompson at Booksteve’s Library asked a variation of that question: Why does The Human Torch need a rifle?

That’s it for now. Enjoy your internets responsibly.

[Artwork: Photograph of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld forming Image Comics, photo by and © Tom Mason]