crime

On its own, the police procedural doesn't have that much traction within modern comics. In the early days of the medium -- especially in newspaper strips -- it was a different story, and straight-up police tales were among some of the most popular of the day. A little over a decade ago, though, everybody seemed to realize the potential to mix police procedurals with other genres, frequently to fantastic and award-winning results: Alan Moore and Gene Ha's Top Ten; Gotham Central, by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark and others; and Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Those books realized the natural fit that cop stories had within superhero stories, and thus a sub-genre was born. But there's still plenty of room left for cop shows in comics, and over the last few years, the sci-fi procedural has definitely been in its ascendance. With Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood's The Fuse, we have a new standard by which to judge all others.

Click through to see what's shaking this May 6th.

Click past the cut for all of Wednesday's links.

He might not be the hero we wanted, but he just might be the hero one city deserved. The Bradford Batman, the previously-unidentified vigilante who delivered a wanted felon to the Bradford Police Station, has been unmasked as Stan Warby, a local Chinese-takeout delivery man...

It may not be Gotham City, but it looks like Bradford, Northern England has a caped crusader righting wrongs and defending the defenseless, nonetheless. On February 25, a man dressed in an Adam West, Batman '66-style costume delivered a wanted felon to the police department before "disappearing into the night...

Toys: Toynami will release another wave of DC Skelanimals later this spring. TV: Power Rangers Megaforce will officially debut on Nickelodeon on February 2, at 1 p.m. Tech: Cregle Inc.'s iPen 2 aims to serve as a universal stylus and mouse on desktop Mac and PC units and the iPad...

In an event dreaded by all movers, touring rock bands and anyone else who has ever depended upon portable storage, Avatar Press EiC William Christensen reports that the publisher's convention trailer and its comic book contents were stolen this past Tuesday...

When I was in law school, my absolute least famous class was criminal procedure. It's affectionately termed the "Law & Order" class, because it deals with the sorts of things Sam Waterston dealt with every week: illegal searches, Miranda warnings, burdens of proof. Bu...

Eats: Capcom Bar will serve dishes based on its Resident Evil and Phoenix Wright games, among others, when it opens in Japan on January 25. Manga: Digital Manga will bring Osamu Tezuka's Barbara manga in North America following last week's successful fundraising efforts on Kickstarter...

There's been an outpouring of support in the comics community for Superman fan Mike Meyer these past few weeks after the 48-year-old mentally disabled man from Granite City, Ill. was robbed of a substantial portion of his massive collection of Superman comics and memorabilia after being tricked by an acquaintance he welcomed into his home...