The entry deadline to submit work to Ballistic Publishing’s D'ARTISTE: CONCEPT ART is April 3, midnight GMT. D'ARTISTE: CONCEPT ART is the fourth title in the D'ARTISTE DIGITAL ARTISTS Master Class series. D'ARTISTE: CONCEPT ART features the community's leading digital artists demonstrating their techniques and approaches. More than just tricks and techniques, d'artiste delves into each artist's overall approach, their choice of subject matter and what inspires them.

DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that SUPERMAN RETURNS director Bryan Singer and SUPERMAN RETURNS screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris are providing the plots to four comicbook prequels to the upcoming film. The four forty-page prequels will be published by DC Comics throughout the month of June and will bridge the gap between the first SUPERMAN film and SUPERMAN RETURNS, which premieres in theatres on June 30, 2006.

Mindful that the competition for jobs in the 3D animation industry has never been greater, Geoffrey Kater merges the often disparate disciplines of design and computer animation in his new book, DESIGN FIRST FOR 3D ARTISTS (350 pages, $49.95, Wordware Publishing, available online and from major retailers), to teach emerging animators how to create their own personal design style. He offers to lay down exactly what it takes today to do good work and thrive in the animation market.

JAKKS Pacific, Inc., in conjunction with Disney Publishing Worldwide, will offer TeleStory products with content based on the library of classic and popular Disney characters. The TeleStory interactive books connect directly into a standard TV using JAKKS' Plug & Read technology and serve as a fun, introductory reading guide for preschool-aged children.

SLG Publishing and Disney are teaming on TRON: THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE, a comic book written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones (LITTLE GLOOMY, X-RAY COMICS) and drawn by Louie De Martinis. The comic picks up where the critically-acclaimed videogame TRON 2.0 leaves off.

TOKYOPOP and game producer Blizzard Ent. announced the release of WARCRAFT: SHADOWS OF ICE, the second volume of the successful manga series, based on Blizzard's popular WARCRAFT game universe. WARCRAFT: DRAGON HUNT, the first volume of the trilogy, has gone back to print four times in less than one year. The manga is written by NEW YORK TIMES best-selling fantasy author Richard Knaak — who has also written four WARCRAFT text novels — and is illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim, artist of TOKYOPOP's KING OF HELL series.

Devil's Due has announced a FAMILY GUY comic mini-series, set from release in April, reports ICv2.com. The bi-monthly series will be written by FAMILY GUY TV series writer Matt Fleckenstein, with art by Benjamin Phillips. The comic will be published in a 48-page, full color perfect-bound format. Each of the three volumes of the series will focus on one of the star characters, featuring one-on-one advice on life from the featured character woven throughout the stories.

Artists at DAZ Prods., a developer of professional-quality 3D software and models, have applied state-of-the-art graphics technology from NVIDIA Corp. to the process of illustrating a new book for the holiday season.

Stephen King and Marvel Comics have joined forces to launch a new comicbook series adapted from King's magnum opus, THE DARK TOWER. King’s first foray into comics will begin its first issue April 2006.

VIZ Media Llc. has announced a partnership with the World Bank to present 1 WORLD MANGA, an original new series that will use the universal appeal of the graphic novel to address key global issues, such as poverty, HIV/AIDS and the environment. As part of its depositary library program, the World Bank will donate copies of the manga to 300 libraries around the world. VIZ Media’s proceeds from the sales of 1 WORLD MANGA will go to several noteworthy charities.