The terror that flaps in the night is back! The avian-themed superhero cartoon "Darkwing Duck" -- a personal favorite from the Disney Afternoon of yore -- is heading to comics not to the Disney-owned Marvel Comics, but rather to Boom! Studios, where it will be written by Boom! editor Ian Brill and illustrated by James Silvani in a four-issue miniseries this June.

"I watch the original shows now and I'm amazed that it is so true to itself. If they wanted to do a show that's a whole parody of 'Twin Peaks' ('Twin Beaks'), they did!" Brill said. "When I watched that episode as a kid I didn't know what 'Twin Peaks' was, but I knew I was watching something cool and weird. I didn't think, 'they're referencing something I don't know...I feel left out.' I thought, 'Darkwing has to go to this weird town and Bushroot's dead husks get wrapped in plastic and thrown down a river? This was worth finishing my homework early!'

The DC Nation panel Q&A session at Emerald City Comic-Con on Saturday afternoon jumped into several controversial issues in the comics world, including the recent death of Lian Harper and the Marvel Comics promotion that invited retailers to strip covers off DC books. It also featured revelations about the new "Batman Beyond" series ad the future of the JSA on "Smallville," with DC creators on hand that included Brian Azzarello, Peter Tomasi, Geoff Johns, Fletcher Chu-Fong, James Robinson, and Eddie Berganza. DC Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler moderated, and free donuts were offered to every fan who asked a question.

The first question jumped into the recent controversy over the death of Lian Harper, the young daughter of Speedy who was recently killed in "Cry for Justice," when a female fan expressed her displeasure with the "fridging" of the character:

James Robinson: "That decision [was] a controversial and one that I know has been greeted with some displeasure by some people... I'm sorry if it upset people. In all honesty, they wanted to kill Speedy too, and I said no, so give me some credit for that."

Ian Sattler: "I'm happy it upset people because it means that the story had some weight and emotion."

When a fan asked about the possibility of a Marvel/DC crossover, the response was negative. Geoff Johns added, "If they stop telling people to rip up our books, we'll talk." Asked by another fan how the comics stripping controversy began, Sattler laughed, "We didn't start it, but we're going to finish it. I think we may have already finished it."

ComicsAlliance is live on site at Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle, where the the big Marvel Q&A panel, "Mondo Marvel," just kicked off at the convention center with a huge roster of Marvel writers on hand: Matt Fraction, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Kieron Gillen, Joe Kelly, C.B. Cebulski, Joe Kelly, Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, and Paul Tobin. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada began by telling the audience: "This is actually your show. You guys get to run this panel," and invited fans up to a mike at the front of the room to ask questions.

The first question came from a Spider-Man who asked, "To what degree do I have to to debase myself to get your to get Spider-Man and Mary Jane together?"

Joe Quesada: "You know what... no. We worked too hard to get Peter to this point. The marriage -- I understand why certain people want to see [it], but we have to manage the charcaters for the future, and a married Peter Parker --as cool as they may seem -- forom a writer's standpoint... it handcuffs the character."

Ed Brubaker simply handed the fan a piece of paper that said, "No. Sorry."

This weekend marks one of the Pacific time zone's most celebrated shows - Emerald City ComiCon 2010.

ComicsAlliance Editor-in-Chief Laura Hudson is en route for all the Seattle action and you can expect live coverage of the show's biggest panels including Mondo Marvel, DC Nation, Image, Dark Horse and more. There's also the matter of our exclusive Dark Horse Twitpic contest, which could score Tweeting attendees rad lithographs. You didn't think we'd forget a cool chance to help you win cool stuff, did you?

Stay tuned to CA all weekend long for fun content, coverage and contests straight from CA's capable, possibly Hulk-like hands.

MODOK Month continues here at ComicsAlliance, and as much as we love the guy, we have to admit that as much as we love MODOK, the more we think about him, the more questions we have that just have not been answered.

Today, for instance, we were wondering just how he gets around in public. As cool as they are, you can't stay in a secret underground lair all the time, and sometimes you've just got to get out among the people, if for no other reason to acquire the delicious McRib sandwich. Unlike a lot of characters, however, MODOK can't exactly just take his costume off and blend in with the public, which presents a problem that we were completely unprepared to answer.

Fortunately, the mid-90s "Iron Man" cartoon, in addition to showing us MODOK's Oh-Face..


...has provided the answer.

Who's going to play Captain America? Filming on "The First Avenger: Captain America" is just a few short months away and we still don't have an answer to that all-important question. But unless something catastrophic happens in the next few days, we at least know who he's going to be fighting - Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull.

Heat Vision reports that Weaving is in "a delicate stage" of negotiations with Marvel Studios over whether or not he'll play the Skull in director Joe Johnston's "Captain America" adaptation. Casting should be finalized within "the next day or so," with the only obvious roadblock being the studio's reportedly tough negotiation tactics with prospective talent, as demonstrated when Mickey Rourke almost walked away from "Iron Man 2."

Agent Smith as Red Skull? I definitely dig it. It's one of those obvious casting calls that I never considered but makes total sense. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see who lands Steve Rogers, so keep those fingers crossed. If Keanu Reeves gets it, I'm going to punch somebody.

Despite a thriving community of readers, well-wishers and an ever-diversifying talent pool, the sequential art medium still isn't quite met with the kind of social approval it deserves. "Comic Book Literacy," a new independent documentary feature film, aims to change that however, by educating viewers on the medium's vast potential to entertain, teach and communicate.

C2E2 attendees can be the first to catch the documentary during its premiere on Sunday, April 18 at 1:45 p.m., followed by a Q&A session with director Todd Kent.

Here's CBL's official synopsis:

"Comic Book Literacy" emphasizes the positive attributes of a misunderstood medium. The film features appearances by comic book writers and artists such as Paul Dini, Scott McCloud, Terry Moore, Joe Quesada, Jim Salicrup, Gail Simone and Art Spigeleman as well as historians and scholars who discuss the role comics play in education in both an historical and contemporary context.

Debuting the doc at a convention stocked with present-day comic lovers isn't a matter of preaching to the choir, either, as the filmmakers will be showing the film at schools, film festivals and book conventions through 2010 with a goal of reaching the masses by obtaining wide distribution.

"Comic Book Literacy" joins "Dig Comics" as yet another enthusiastic documentary project spreading the reading word and I say the more the merrier.

You can watch a short trailer for the documentary after the jump.

Threads: A design from Sean T. Collins's sweet David Bowie comics sketchbook by "TV on the Radio" singer Tunde Adebimpe is now on sale as a t-shirt, with the proceeds to benefit disaster relief in Haiti. (via ADD)

Too Hot: Barnes and Noble has reportedly refused to carry Molly Crabapple's lovely erotic graphic novel "Scarlett Takes Manhattan," calling it "too pornographic." iPhone preview here. (via Robo t6)

Manga: Guess who's throwing their hat into the manga ring? Eminent indie publisher Fantagraphics, that's who. The line, which has been four years in the making, launches in September with a short story collection by shoujo creator Moto Hagio, who helped spearhead the shoujo movement in the 1970s. They're following it up in December with "Wandering Son" by Shimura Takako, a manga that explores the transgender issues of a boy who wants to be a girl and a girl who wants to be a boy. If you don't like the controversial nature of LGBT topics, you are "strongly encouraged to lump it."