Seventy-one years after his first appearance, Superman continues to capture our collective imaginations. Armed with a blue cape and the power to fly, he single-handedly launched the "superhero" genre. So when an unknown copy of the very rare, very first Superman comic book comes to light -- and to auction -- word spreads faster than a speeding bullet.

He's been described as "a strange creature that hatched from an egg." His favorite food is a meat-and-potato stew, but he loathes apples. He communicates sotto voce with a verve that only his friends can understand. When he's nervous or stressed out, watch out -- he is infamous for passing some serious gas. He is featured prominently at major retailers all over the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of people have created fan sites, and millions more have viewed his antics on video sites like Veoh and YouTube. Even THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE featured him in a piece.

In January, IDW Publishing will debut the comicbook prequel to the next TERMINATOR movie, TERMINATOR: SALVATION. The movie is the fourth installment in the big screen contingent of the action series, starring Christian Bale as John Connor and directed by McG. The movie opens in May 2009.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION MOVIE PREQUEL is written by Dara Naraghi (LIFELIKE) with art by Alan Robinson and cover by Nick Runge.

Webcarzz, Inc., the company developing the upcoming virtual world targeted towards boys and their affinity for cars and racing, has entered into a partnership with cartoonist Kyle Baker. Baker will develop a comic book series based on the signature Webcarzz world, an isometric playground populated by original cars that kids are creating. The announcement was made in a press conference Friday as part of the Kids@Play Summit at CES.

Marvel Comics' new issue of SPIDER-MAN will feature soon-to-be inaugurated President-Elect Barack Obama.

Written by Zeb Wells with art by Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata, the story takes place in Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day and finds one of Spider-Man's oldest foes attempting to thwart the swearing in ceremony of the 44th President of the United States.

IDW Publishing will release the new graphic novel by Troy Little entitled ANGORA NAPKIN in January 2009. An animated pilot of ANGORA NAPKIN is also in production and set to air on Teletoon in Canada in March 2009.

ANGORA NAPKIN is an adult comedy about a pop music trio of girls who constantly find themselves mired in the horrible and confronted with the macabre. Unable to recognize the dark side of any situation, they always seem to come out on top (with the help of their impromptu peppy songs).

The success of Ray Harryhausen Presents: THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, a short stop-motion animated film produced by Hand Made Heroes Film & Television has resulted in a comic book deal with Bluewater Productions. The comic will arrive in February, 2009.

When Bluewater President Darren G. Davis and Director Marc Lougee of Hand Made Heroes discovered they were both producing work independently under the Ray Harryhausen Presents banner, Bluewater penned a deal with Lougee to further develop film and comic book cross-over properties.

IDW Publishing has joined with Paramount Pictures, J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions, Kurtzman/Orci Productions and CBS Consumer Products to publish a four-issue limited comic book series tied to next summer's new STAR TREK movie, which will be released in theaters on May 8, 2009.

The seventh book in the d'artiste series from Ballistic Publishing -- MATTE PAINTING 2 -- features master artists Yusei Uesugi (the first digital movie matte painter), Max Dennison and Chris Thunig. With more than 30 Hollywood blockbuster movies to their credit, they show you the approaches and techniques used to create unforgettable movie environments.

Today, in association with Image Comics the hardbook comic titled DEAD SPACE hits comic book stores nationwide and will hit Amazon, Border's and Barnes and Noble at the end of the month. The DEAD SPACE hardbook serves as a prequel story for the award-winning videogame that tells the gut-wrenching tale of a deep space mining colony that unexpectedly pulls an ancient and vicious alien life force from the dark rock.

THE INDIE FILM RULE BOOK is a strategic guide to independent filmmaking -- and everything you can't possibly learn in film school. This book is designed to help the inexperienced (and experienced) filmmaker go from zero to Park City while optimizing their chances of succeeding in the world of truly independent film.

The swift stroke of a pencil, the delicate positioning of a puppet, and the intricate process of building a 3D-render: these are but a few of the magical elements presented by Academy Award nominated producer Don Hahn in his upcoming book THE ALCHEMY OF ANIMATION.

Available October 7 from Disney, it comes seven years after Hahn's first animation book, ANIMATION MAGIC. A trailer for the book can be found on YouTube.

What is FUBEAR? FUBEAR is the schism that exists between "funny ha-ha" and "funny-strange." At least that's what creator David Slade says.

Coming this August from IDW Publishing, FUBEAR is a nice, small, square hardcover collection of the illustrations which served as inspiration for the animated comic/horror short MEATDOG: WHAT'S FER DINNER, a short film that premiered at Comic Con in July 2008 and will play to the over seven million users of Xbox LIVE this fall.

In celebration of the upcoming 10th anniversary of the genre-defining EVERQUEST online game franchise, Sony Online Ent. is releasing EVERQUEST: THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S EDITION early next year. The retrospective celebrating the first decade of the EVERQUEST phenomenon will be available online and at select retailers in North America.

VIZ Media and Stan Lee's POW! Ent. have announced the North American debut of the exciting Prologue Chapter of ULTIMO in the September 2008 issue of SHONEN JUMP magazine, which hits retail outlets nationwide on August 5 for $4.99.

ULTIMO is the result of a historic collaboration between comics legend Lee, creator of many iconic superheroes including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, and Hiroyuki Takei, the creator of the popular SHAMAN KING manga series.

Milan, Italy-based animation production company, Atlantyca Ent. has appointed one of Italy's most prominent authors, Pierdomenico Baccalario, as editor-in-chief to head the company's content-publishing division, which is dedicated to creating and developing new content for book products based on popular entertainment properties and characters.

The ELEMENTAL series showcases the world's best digital artwork created with Autodesk software. ELEMENTAL 3 is packed with exciting imagery from Autodesk customers with a strong emphasis on architectural and design visualization. For the first time in an ELEMENTAL title, Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Mudbox artwork are also included.

Among adult readers in Japan, BLACK JACK is Osamu Tezuka's most popular achievement, and perhaps the most close to the creator's heart, as Tezuka considered entering the medical field -- majoring in medicine in college -- before devoting his life to comics.

Eric Goldberg's CHARACTER ANIMATION CRASH COURSE!, published by Silman-James Press, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It's 240 pages of cartoon goodness, all geared to getting great performances from your characters on the screen. It comes with an accompanying CD that has animation movie files of selected sequences in the book.

DC Comics will release a prequel to upcoming TV show FRINGE, according to USA TODAY. FRINGE, from J.J. Abrams (ALIAS, LOST, CLOVERFIELD, upcoming STAR TREK) is set to start airing this fall on Fox.

Writers and artists are still being hired, but DC will release the comic on August 27, two weeks before the two-hour premiere on September 9.