Mattel has been hard at work lately trying to meet the concerns of fans of the DC Universe Classics line. One of the initiatives to try and better meet demand is to offer “open stock” to online retailers. This is basically a solid case of a single figure. So if Shazam is doing really well, but Killer Moth isn’t getting any orders, the online retailers can adjust their orders and order a few more cases of Shazam without worrying about getting Killer Moths that there is not demand for. Unfortunately the Wave 6 and 7 chases will not be offered in open stock due to an error or some sort, but it is the intention of Mattel to offer the Wave 8 variants in open stock. This is really great news for fans who order online.

In addition to this news, Mattel also announced that they were able to redirect all remaining stock of the KB Exclusive Maskless Batman Beyond and Sonic Arm Cyborg to online retailers. The status of these figures was in question since KB Toys has gone into liquidation and the exclusives were difficult to come by in the first place.

Great news all around and its good to see Mattel trying to address the concerns of fans and correct some early mistakes in the line’s life.

Gift Guide is a series of articles highlighting some of our top picks for gift suggestions. Each article covers a specific genre with explanations of why we think these items make worthy gifts.

Today’s Gift Guide topic is graphic novels. When you think about the term graphic novel today, often it is associated with comic books and superheroes. This is not always the case, however. Today’s list is comprised of half superhero stories and half non-superhero stories that are equally, if not moreso, compelling.

American Born Chinese
Gene Yang weaves together three separate stories. The first is a folk tale of a Monkey King who must come to terms with his true nature after declaring himself a god. The second storyline follows a young chinese boy that moves to America. After living there for a while, he meets another boy who recently moved from China and is quickly frustrated at his culture shock. The third plotline follows the sitcom of a boy in high school who’s Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee, comes to visit and immediately and deliberately follows one stereotype after another, completely embarassing the high schooler.

Why we like it: In addition to winning the Michael Printz Award, what could be considered the young adult literature equivalent of the Newbery Medal, the book takes a hilarious and light hearted look at racial stereotypes, coming to terms with, and appreciating this heritage.

Check out the rest of our list after the jump!
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MattyCollector.com has announced the lineup for wave 8 of this increasingly popular line with pictures. In addition, the Collect N’ Connect figure (Build-a-Figure, for Marvel Legends fans) will be Giganta! All figures in the wave as with all figures in the line have been sculpted by the Four Horsemen.

The line up will feature:
Commander Steel
Dr. Fate
Dr. Fate (Classic – Chase)
Gentleman Ghost
Hawkgirl
Mr. Terrific
Vigilante
Red Parademon
Yellow Parademon
CnC – Giganta

Pictures are located after the jump
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The success of The Dark Knight means WB wants to do another Batman movie. But the success of Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, X-Men, etc means WB has to try harder to do other movies.

The Wall Street Journal talks to Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov, and he states that of 8 big summer movies planned before 2011, at least 4 of those will be DC properties. The good news is none of those is going to be Justice League. WB plans to launch individual films following the Marvel Entertainment model. From the article:

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

Supermax, the Green Arrow prison break movie from David Goyer, is my big hope. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are long overdue, and Flash has enormous potential for chases and special effects.

Joshua Middleton gives us a look at his cover for JLA Classified 52 at several different stages of its development. From concept sketch to final coloring, Josh has explained the process behind the art in brief detail (is that an oxymoron?). You can see the article on his blog here.

I have posted things from Josh’s blog in the past. He is among my favorite artists and its nice to see him give background on stuff like this. You can check out his site here.

A lot of news with the League, I’ll start with the people…
Firstly, my big awesome idea of putting Welling in tights isn’t going to fly. Will it be Routh? How many Supermen do we need?
Next, Jessica Biel was apparently offered and then passed the role of Wonder Woman. As much as I’d like to see her in this outfit, I don’t think she’s right for the role. We got one shot, the gal they cast should be an amazon. A relative unknown, Victoria Hill has been tested for the role, and may just get it.
UGO got a leak of the supposed script for Justice League, and it sounds like a mixture of the comics Tower Of Babel and some of the OMAC/Brother Eye stuff. Basically elaborating on Batman’s files on how to take down the other leaguers, and them falling in the wrong hands, and being used to turn them against each other. They imply a shocking ending thats on par with “Luke, I am your father.”

The script could be a fake, the casting is still far from finished, but with so much chatter on the blogs, the early buzz is starting to become genuine hype. I hope they can deliver, because as I’ve said with all adaptations: I’d rather have NO movie than a BAD one.

From the man who brought you Babe: Pig In The City and Happy Feet will come the big screen debut of DC’s best and brightest: The Justice League.

Let’s forget that Miller hasn’t directed anything other than children’s movies in the past 15 years. Let forget that Warners is pushing a movie with Superman and Batman into theaters when they already have independent Superman and Batman series. Instead, let’s think of the one way this might be good: Tom Welling as Superman. He’s paid his dues, time to give him the cape. Include the Leaguers already on Smallville, set it in Smallville’s universe, and get Rosenbaum as Luthor while you’re at it. Keep Bale and Batman out of it.

Variety says the movie will begin casting and go into production soon to be completed before the Hollywood strike, planned for a 2009 release. Right around when Bryan Singer was hoping to get Man of Steel out. Ugh.

IESB has been breaking all the news on this proposed JLA movie. They’ve received word that the way a JLA movie can come to pass and not interfere with any other movie series is an all motion capture computer generated imagery animated movie. Yes, they’ll cast actors, track their movements, and assign those to CG characters.
While Ryan Reynolds and Brandon Routh have made no secret they want to be on board as The Flash and Superman, respectively, Batman star Christian Bale says he hasn’t been approached, and adds: “It’d be better if it doesn’t tread on the toes of what we’re doing, though I feel that it would be better if it comes out after Batman 3”
Couldn’t agree more, but a CG movie would certainly elevate awareness of Wonder Woman, The Flash and any other hero they might want to turn into a bigger movie. And even if its very well animated and photo-real as promised, people are more likely accept it has nothing to do with current Superman or Batman movies, and re-casting would be perfectly acceptable.
Casting begins next week, we could be hearing some definite announcements very soon.