CBR Week in Review: 1/23-1/27

Every week, CBR has more news and features than Wolverine has variant covers. Week in Review is the one-stop source for the highlights of the week, the results of our weekly features and the cool stories you may have missed in the rush to get to the juiciest news.

WEEKLY FEATURESThis week kicked off with CBR's Cover of the Week, where Rodin Esquejo's "Morning Glories" #15 cover took the coveted badge, besting Paolo Rivera's "Daredevil" #8, Joan Ruas' "Fables" #113, Michael Kaluta's "Memorial" #2 and Cliff Chiang's "Wonder Woman" #5.

In this week's X-Position, "Generation Hope" writer James Asmus answered questions about Hope, the lights and the upcoming cancellation of the book in April.

Meanwhile, CBR News Editor Kiel Phegley spoke with Joshua Hale Fialkov in "The Bat Signal" for "I, Vampire's" road trip to Gotham City and how the Caped Crusader reacts to a vampire army threatening Armageddon. In a second installment of "The Bat Signal" this week, Josie Campbell interviewed Kyle Higgins on the future of Dick Grayson in "Nightwing."

If quick hit reviews are your speed, this week's "The Buy Pile" with CBR columnist Hannibal Tabu saw a single issue jump from the Read Pile to the Buy Pile: "Secret Avengers" #21.1

Over at Robot 6, Tim O'Shea spoke with Joe Infurnari and Glenn Eichler in "Talking Comics With Tim" about the "Beavis & Butthead" duo's new First Second book, "Mush!: Sled Dogs with Issues".

The folks over at Robot 6 also continued the existential debate of "Food or Comics" with a diverse wish list of this week's books -- including "The Bulletproof Coffin," "Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise" and "Polly and the Pirates, Volume 2."

Comics Should Be Good continued its fun Cover Theme Game and Comic Book Legends Revealed took a look at the rumor of Robin's try-out issue before becoming a DC mainstay, Harlan Ellison providing a "Dial H for Hero" superhero and more.

Finally, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso set the stage for Marvel's April releases in this week's "Axel in Charge."

CBRIn breaking news this week, DC announced a new initiative to benefit famine relief in the Horn of Africa. The publisher's "We Can Be Heroes" campaign features the Justice League and will benefit three different charities in the interest of African famine relief. This week also saw Oni Press adopt a brand new logo for the first time since the publisher began in 1997. This news followed DC unveiling its all-new logo design last week.

For DC fans, Paul Jenkins spoke on "Batman: The Dark Knight," new "Voodoo" writer Josh Williamson expounded on his upcoming run, Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen spoke to the new direction of "Superman" and Jurgens teased the mysterious stranger joining the JLI.

Marvel readers caught up with Cullen Bunn on "Captain America & Hawkeye" and Rob Williams on the close of "Daken." Also, Brian Michael Bendis provided commentary for "Scarlet" #5. In the Marvel movieverse, directing duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor spoke about "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" and eFX announced its premiere line of prop replicas from "The Avengers."

This week also saw some updates from Sundance 2012. Stan Lee chatted with KISS frontman Gene Simmons, and cartoonist Jeremy Brown spoke with CBR about his film "Save the Date" starring Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie.

"American Born Chinese" creator Gene Luen Yang spoke on two of his major projects: Dark Horse's "Avatar: The Last Airbender Volume 1: The Promise" -- which bridges the gap between the end of the animated series and the upcoming "Legend of Korra" -- and "Level Up," his collaboration with artist Thien Pham.

Fan-favorite artist Adam Hughes updated the status of "All-Star Wonder Woman" and revealed some of his projects for 2012.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles featured multiple times in this week's news, with writer Tom Waltz speaking on the current comic book relaunch at IDW and an unconfirmed rumor that "Batman: Arkham City" developer Rocksteady Studios are hard at work on a TMNT game.

Finally, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" creator Matt Maiellaro revealed more details on his debut graphic novel "Knowbodys" and the deaths of Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad in the upcoming season of "Aqua Something You Know Whatever."

In case you missed it, be sure to check out CBR's primer on all things digital comics.

SPINOFF ONLINESpinoff had a week full of "Spartacus: Vengeance" in interviews with series writer Steven DeKnight; actress Katrina Law; a roundtable discussion with cast members Manu Bennett, Nick Tarabay, Craig Parker and Dan Feurriegel as well as an interview with stars Liam McIntyre, Lucy Lawless, Peter Mensah and Viva Bianca.

If medieval knights are more your speed, Spinoff has you covered in an interview with "Merlin's" knights: Eoin Macken (Sir Gwaine), Rupert Young (Sir Leon), Tom Hopper (Sir Percival) and Adetomiwa Edun (Sir Elyan).

This week also saw the nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards revealed and staffer TJ Dietsch put together a comprehensive analysis of this year's Oscar contenders.

As for reviews, Katie Calautti gave a positive review of director Joe Carnahan's "The Grey," saying "I'll champion the film to the ends of the earth. Its slogan, 'Live or die on this day,' means far more than you'd imagine, and I hope you'll trust me: See The Grey, and discover why for yourself."

Josie Campbell also spoke with "The Grey" star Frank Grillo about his time on set for the film.

ROBOT 6This week was a tumultuous one for many developing news stories. Out of the blue, Rob Liefeld announced he was leaving "The Infinite," his collaboration with "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman, over creative differences. In the continuing development of the Nancy Silberkleit lawsuit, a judge ordered the Archie Comics Co-CEO "not to do anything" for the company and has barred her from entering the company's offices or performing any work for Archie Comics.

The week was not without a silver lining. After the announcement of DC Comics' "We Can Be Heroes" charitable movement to benefit famine relief in the Horn of Africa, Robot 6 posted some context for charitable efforts to help African famine relief in mainstream comics.