Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man

After the death of Peter Parker in June 2011, the new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man has been announced as Miles Morales, a teenager from Brooklyn. Half-black and half-Latino, Miles' ethinicity is an interesting contrast to his white predecessor from a largely white neighbourhood in Queens. Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor-in-Chief commented that, "When the opportunity arose to create a new Spider-Man, we knew it had to be a character that represents the diversity -- in background and experience -- of the twenty-first century."

The story begins in Ultimate Comics Fallout #4, released in America on 3 August.

Unite and Take Over: Comic Stories Inspired by The Smiths

"What story plays in your head when you listen to your favourite Smiths song?" asks Shawn Demumbrum, the co-owner and manager of SpazDog Comics from Phoenix. Demumbrum plans to create an anthology of comic strips based upon a selection of the Manchurian foursome's songs, with each tune inspiring a four-to-eight page comic strip. So far, 13 writer/artist teams have been set up to work on the project, due to be published in November. "Suffer Little Children", "Panic" and "Rubber Ring" are included on the set list, which can be seen in full here.

Demumbrum is promoting the project on the website Kickstarter, to help fund production costs.

IdeasTap: Short Animation Competition Awards

The Barbican and IdeasTap have come together to find six talented animators. IdeasTap is an on-line network and charity that funds new creative talent for British people aged 16 - 25. Winners were chosen by panel of animation experts, including Jayne Pilling and Tim Webb. Information about the winners' work and a link to each of their short animations is found here.

One of the most interesting works from the competition is Betty by Jessica Wainwright. Judge Robert Rider described it as about an "elderly woman [who] looks back at her life and compares it to modern times. The idea of animating her memories and references as characters and objects on the kitchen table was highly original."