----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present:

  THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE            ISSUE NUMBER 205
                                                         3/12/99
             Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com

                 FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995
______________________________________________________________________
                  T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S
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  [1]  On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc
  [2]  Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page!
  [3]  TRIVIA CONTEST ........................ Win *real* prizes!
  [4]  Network Buzz .......................... News, gossip & rumors
  [5]  Ramblings `99 ......................... Rich Johnston
  [6]  Interview: Brian Pulido ............... Paul Dale Roberts
  [7]  Venting My Spleen ..................... David.Groenewegen
  [8]  Pipeline Commentary and Review ........ Augie De Blieck Jr.
  [9]  Had Your Phil? ........................ Phil White
 [10]  Random Thoughts in a
        Less Than Random WOrld ............... Gary Sassaman
 [11]  Sound And Fury ........................ Craig Lemon
 [12]  Independent Voices .................... Rich Henn
 [13]  M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts
 [14]  My View:PARA TROOP .................... David LeBlanc
 [15]  New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage
 [16]  HYPE! Section ......................... Various
  [A]  Submission, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights, BBS Info
______________________________________________________________________
   World Wide Web Home Page-->>   http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet

   HTML WEB EDITION at -->>      http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem
                 featuring the exclusive comic strips:
  HEROES RERUN by Johnny Gonzales and ACTION COP by John E. Thompson
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______________________________________________________________________
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  author(s).  Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net
  Electronic Magazine is Copyright 1999 by The ComicBook Network.
  You may freely distribute or retransmit this file intact without
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______________________________________________________________________
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[1] On the Net                                           David LeBlanc

Just a few thoughts after a very long week.

Who ever started the idea of using the word "adjectiveless" to
describe a comic book title?  Comic books are periodical publications
and have legal titles.  These titles are perfectly descriptive and
cannot be confused with anything else if used properly.  Proper
reference to a publication sets it apart from other words in a sentence
by using all upper case letters.  Therefore it is not hard to
distinguish X-MEN from UNCANNY X-MEN or SPIDER-MAN from SPECTACULAR
SPIDER-MAN.

When will the print media ever stop using BAM or POW or other such
"sound effects" at the beginning of articles about comic books?  The
pop era went out a long time ago and someone needs to educate the
editors of the news media about it.

If you have not been watching BATMAN BEYOND you are missing out on a
terrific cartoon experience.  The producers of this series "get it"!

How many of the following comics are on your buying list?

CATFISH COMICS
    Sinnamon Delaney Cover #12 (resolicited), 2.75
    Sinnamon Poliwko Cover #12 (resolicited), 2.75

DARK HORSE
    Sergio Aragones Groo & Rufferto #3 (Of 4), 2.95

DC COMICS
    Authority #1, 2.50   <--------PICK of the Week!
    Hourman #2, 2.50
    Justice League Of America Super Spectacular #1, 5.95
    Legends Of The DC Universe #16, 1.99
    Legionnaires #71, 2.50
    Preacher #49, 2.50
    Resurrection Man #24, 2.50
    Titans #3, 2.50

MARVEL COMICS
    Black Panther #6, 2.50
    Iron Man #16, 1.99
    Thunderbolts #25, 2.99

OKTOMICA ENTERTAINMENT
    Virtex #3, 2.50

Finally, I am so pleased that no one guessed last week's trivia
question. It allows me to add a few clues to get the detectives among
you to do a little deductive reasoning even if you don't have the
comics in question.  I am also pleased to hear about some new comics
coming from ACCLAIM this summer and perhaps a possible daring duo will
also show up some time thereafter?  One can hope.

Enjoy the issue.

David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com
Editor
The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine
______________________________________________________________________
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[2] Letters to the Editor

If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer
something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to
the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to:

                        ComicBkNet@aol.com

Note: Letters of comment may be used in future issues of CBEM unless
you specifically request us NOT to use them.  Your Email address
and/or name will be withheld upon request.
 +++++
Subj: JOHN GOLDWATER
From: halschuster@hotmail.com (Hal Schuster)

Dear fellow CBEM readers,

Having read the deficient, reprinted obituary for John Goldwater, it
is worth noting that his Archie was the top-selling comic book until
the mid-1970s, and that Archie remains one of the world's most
recognized fictional characters.. It should also be noted that
Goldwater's efforts creating the CMAA, and the Comics Code Authority to
administer "self-censorship", a system of voluntary editorial
standards, may have been the only factor that kept the full force of
the United States Congress from launching far more rigid and limiting
real government Censorship of a medium primarily read by young
children.

This was a different time than ours, and a different comic book
marketplace. It was a time when Disney could sell five million copies
of a single title every week, not a time when a handful of comic books
are sold to a primarily adult comic book fandom. It was time when comic
books were sold between the soda pop and candy bars in mom-and-pop
shops frequented by young children, not a time when they are sold in
ghettoized comic book stores. Sadly, it was also a time of excess, when
exploitative publishers ruthlessly marketed shoddy comic books to
children, providing an easy target for advocates of activist big
government, both from the Right and from the Left. While most of us are
familiar with Gaines' wonderful EC, Kurtzman and company's stories
exemplifying restraint and good taste were far from typical of the
horror and crime comics of the time. Mercifully, we have forgotten the
others. Equally mercifully, the work of John Goldwater helped comic
books survive a time of excess by both over-eager government regulators
and exploitative publishers.

Keep happy,
Hal Schuster
Fax: (708) 585-1620 in the United States or (662)318-9860 in Thailand
"Off the rack solutions, like bargain basement dresses, never fit
anyone."_-Francoise Giroud

Hal Schuster, Director, WOW (World Organization of Webmasters) Thailand
(www.world-webmasters.org)
Member: WorldWide SQL Server User's Group, MSDN, MENSA Internet SIG, AIM,
T-JUG, FCCT, etc., etc.
 +++++
From: Oliver Chin <ochin@sirius.com>
Subject: Pokemon on National Public Radio!

All,

Pokemon was featured on National Public Radio this Saturday 3/6/99:

Listen to it out with Real Audio at:
www.npr.org/ramfiles/wesat/19990306.wesat.04.ram

Kids are clearly more clued in that their parents, and can't wait to
locate Viz videos and comics!

Oliver Chin
Director of Sales and Marketing
Viz
 +++++
Subj: AiT comics/website
From: planetlar@earthlink.net (Larry Young)

Everybody:

Gun Dog Comics' ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE now has, like seemingly everybody
and everything else, its own website. It's at:

www.astronautsintrouble.com

There's some cool things on the site, like a copy of the script for
issue one, which you can compare to the finished product, which ships
March 17th... the Mission Control section, which features a little
"movie trailer," and the Command Crew area, which gives you a look at
the creative team bringing you quite possibly the most eagerly-awaited
(by me) comic book of the year.

Larry Young
 +++++
From: John Costa <jocosta@zaurak.csustan.edu>
Subject: Comic book signings

Dave,

On the subject of of autographed comics, in my experience, I also
think that going to the Con's (that's convention and not convict, though
it would be easy to get them mixed up) and getting the signatures is
far better. 2 years ago I went to Wondercon in Oakland and I brought a
backpack full of books to have signed (though I limited myself to five
per person). I was able to meet and talk and give my info on certain
projects the artists and writers were doing. It was great to know that
they're just as weird as the rest of us, and it gives a lasting
impression. When I looked at my signed (and expensive) comics from
Dynamic, I feel nothing. But when I look at the comics I got signed by
the creators, I think of the good memories from Wondercon.

John Costa
 +++++
Subj: The 'Nuff Said! radio show returns
From: nuffsaid@escape.com (Nuff Said)

Starting Tuesday, April 6, 1999, 'Nuff Said will be on the air every
Tuesday at 10 PM on WBAI-FM, 99.5 in the New York City metropolitan
area.

That time slot is currently part of the "City in Exile" series. Ed
Menje and I get just over half an hour of that right now. When we
expand back to an hour, we'll once again be taking listener phone calls
for our guests.

We started out biweekly at 3:30 AM. After two years, we were moved to
every week at midnight where we stayed for nearly three and a half
years. Now, after what could have been an indefinite hiatus, we're
weekly at 10 PM. We look upon that as an improvement and know it
wouldn't have happened without the support of our listeners, our guests
and fandom in general. I know WBAI management got phone calls and
letters of support and, as a listener-supported station, I have no
doubt that they helped. Thank you.

In further news, we may have found a host to bring 'Nuff Said! to the
internet. We'll let you know when that happens.

Here's the schedule for our next two City in Exile segments:

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 - Our St. Patrick's Day show features Celtic
comics. Alexei Kondratiev, author of Vidorix the Druid for Evolution
Comics and the recently published book "The Apple Branch - A Path to
Celtic Ritual" (not comics) will discuss Celtic culture and religion as
it applies to action/adventure comic books and recreating Druidic
rituals in modern times. Alexei is a linguistic anthropologist and
writes an amazing comic book. An amazing book, too.

Tuesday, March 23 - Jeffrey Lindenblatt will be on hand as we
interview R.C. Harvey about the comic strip medium, particularly Milt
Caniff since R.C. wrote a voluminous biography of Caniff, one of the
most influential of all comics artists.

WBAI-FM, 99.5, is a 50,000 watt station broadcast from the Empire
State Building. Our signal usually gets out to New Haven, CT;
Westhampton, L.I.; the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Orange County, NY and
Trenton & Princeton, NJ. The show covers the entire world of comics:
golden age, silver age, contemporary, mainstream, independent,
underground, foreign, strips and fandom.

Hosted by Ken Gale (interviewer) and Ed Menje (Engineer). WBAI is
a Pacifica Network station (if your local station carries any Pacifica
programming, they might be able to get 'Nuff Said! as well). WBAI is
now at 120 Wall St., 10th flr, New York, NY 10005.

--Ken Gale, co-host
______________________________________________________________________
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[3]                       [TRIVIA CONTEST]

 **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!**
IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT

             http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/emag.htm

                        QUESTION OF THE WEEK
       (Prizes donated by THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT - Worcester, MA)
            (DC COMICS & DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS, INC.)
                                AND
                     AS YOU LIKE IT PUBLICATIONS

+Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump+
+the readers!  You MUST submit the correct answer with your question.+

LAST ISSUE'S "3rd ANNIVERSARY" QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
  What is extraordinary about the January 1998 issues of
  most of the titles of the Acclaim VALIANT HEROES Comics?

The results so far are as I expected.  Many people guessed those
issues where the "homage" to classic covers but that was earlier, the
November of 1997 issues.  One thought it was Goat Month and a few just
thought it was extraordinary most of the titles had made it to one year
(not an entirely true statement!) So far no one has gotten the answer
we want so we up the ante and offer some clues.  The one per month
prize is waived so anyone can get this one.
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION CLUES:

FIRST - re-read the wording of the question above.  Now some facts:
{Please don't right to tell me these are not true - THEY ARE!}

 Some, but not ALL, of those issues have a "cover" date.

 The same extraordinary fact applies to the February, March and April
 1998 issues of most of the titles.

 The answer can be found in the indicia.

                       IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE
The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the ANNIVERSARY CHEEZY
PRIZE(tm). The editor will be the sole judge as to which guess arrived
first!  Messages with more than one guess will be disqualified.
______________________________________________________________________
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[4] Network Buzz      News, gossip and rumors from around the industry

The Expo: An Independent Spirit For the Future of Comics
September 17-19, 1999
Bathesda, Maryland
http://www.indyworld.com/spx

If you did not participate in the Small Press Expo '98, you missed a
lot. Don't be left out in 1999. 1998 was a year of change for the
Small Press Expo. The most visible of which is our new name, "The
Expo." 1998 was also a fabulous year for The Expo. Fan attendance on
Friday and Saturday was approximately 1,200 paid attendees, along with
dozens of printers, distributors, retailers, and other comic book
industry professionals. There were over 300 people registered as
exhibitors and we sold over 150 exhibitor tables. Sales were fairly
brisk all around, and many artists told us that they had their best
single event's sales ever. This is probably because of The Expo's
unique format of only selling exhibitor space to independent publishers
and not to retailers. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund had a good day
as well, with The Expo generating over $5,000 for the Fund.

While the general format remains the same for The Expo in 1999 we have
many new and exciting ideas. It is expected that The Expo floor will
open at 4pm Friday September 17th and run through 8pm that evening,
followed by a big Opening Night Party taking up the hotel bar.
Saturday morning the cycle repeats itself, with The Expo floor open
from 10am through 7pm and the 3rd annual Ignatz Awards Reception
Saturday night. Sunday will once again feature The Expo Summit in the
morning and the Pig Roast/Softball Challenge in the afternoon.

In an effort to increase retailer participation at The Expo, The Expo
has teamed up with the Professional Association of Comics
Entertainment Retailers (PACER). PACER will be holding their annual
convention on Thursday and Friday morning in conjunction with The Expo.
Having the opportunity to continue to build relationships in the comic
book industry is what will keep The Expo the number 1 trade show for
all independent comic book publishers.  We are keeping with our
sliding scale for table rates that we instituted in 1998. The
early-bird registration closed January 15, 1999, however, you can still
register before April 15, 1999 and save as much as 12.5% off your table
fee. The fee schedule is as follows:

Payment received before 4/15/99 - $140 full/$70 half
Payment received on or after 4/15/99 - $160 full/$80 half

As you will note, The Expo is not increasing its table rates this year
even though expenses have increased. The Expo strives to provide all
exhibitors with the most for their money. If past experience is any
guide, The Expo is sure to sell out again quickly. If you want to
exhibit at The Expo, please ensure we have a space for you by
requesting and filling out an Exhibitor Registration Agreement and
sending it together with your check to The Expo, P.O. Box 1947,
Alexandria, Virginia 22313.

You are the key to The Expo's success in 1999, not only in being there
but in getting the word out to independent-minded readers. For that we
definitely need your help. If you're willing to plug The Expo in your
comic, you can call Michael Zarlenga at 202-463-4327 or Greg Bennett
at (703) 242-9412 for a camera ready ad, logo, or spot--art or you can
request it on your Exhibitor Registration Agreement.
 --
Jeff Mason
Publicity - The Expo
jmason@gator.net - http://www.indyworld.com/comics - 352.373.6336
 +++++
Contact:
Paul Dubuc
Checker Comics
pdubuc@checkercomics.com
www.checkercomics.com

CHECKER REWARDS PATIENCE OF TEMPLAR FANS
Advance-ordering Fans Get Refunds on Tardy Title

DAYTON, Ohio - Comics fans who advance ordered copies of Checker Comics
Templar #1 will find a pleasant surprise in the mail soon. Not only
will they receive their copy of the much anticipated debut issue of
Templar, but also their next credit card statement showing a refund of
the book's purchase price because the comic was delayed.

"A lot is made by fans about late comics, and rightly so. Checker has
been very reliable in meeting announced street dates, but that history
and the various legitimate reasons that Templar was delayed aren't
sufficient cause for us to break our word. We pledged from the outset
that our books would be on time, and now it's time to put our money
where our mouth is," said Checker Publisher Mark Thompson.

Thompson listed a severe winter storm and a need to focus design
resources to web-site development as the chief culprits in delaying the
book from it's original publication date in January.

Checker Comics, founded in 1997, became the industry's first exclusive
Internet-based mail order publisher in November 1998 with the
publication of Danger Ranger #3. Since then, Checker has only offered
its titles direct to fans and retailers via its website at
www.checkercomics.com. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio.
 +++++
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Fox Animation Studios has acquired the feature
film rights to the bestselling comic book ``Fathom.''

Created and illustrated by Michael Turner, ``Fathom'' follows the
exploits of a beautiful woman named Aspen brought to dry land on a boat
thought to have sunk years ago. With no memories of who she is or where
she came from, but with a clear affinity for the water, Aspen becomes
an Olympic swimmer, a marine biologist and eventually gets involved in
research at a high-tech underwater lab.

At the lab, she discovers a mysterious underwater race, and soon learns
that, with her special ``water-based'' powers, she is inextricably
linked to her research.

``Fathom'' was first published last August by Top Cow Prods., and the
ninth and final comic of the original story ``arc'' is scheduled for
publication in August '99.

``Fathom'' fits into the Fox feature animation division's scheme of
developing non-traditional (read, non-Disney) animated and
computer-generated fare.
 +++++
From: AndyFish

Below is a press release for my small press comic company, Blue Monkey
Comics. Our web address is
http://members.aol.com/bmcomics/page/index.htm Our email is
Bluemonkeycomics@email.com and we also have a "table" at Rick Veitch's
WWW.COMICON.COM

YOU can star in a Blue Monkey Comic!!!

Blue Monkey Comics has announced that they are running a contest while
in the process of distributing 6,000 Ashcan Preview Editions of ADAM
BOMB COMICS! 50 of these ashcans contain a symbol, which when matched
to the symbol on The Blue Monkey website qualifies the reader to enter
"The World's Toughest Comic-Trivia Contest". The trivia contest will be
handled via email and The Winner will then be featured as a character
in the pages of an upcoming issue of ADAM BOMB COMICS. They can either
appear as themselves, or as a character they create (and retain
ownership to).

Blue Monkey Comics Creator Andy Fish explains the contest; "As opposed
to several lame promotions from other publishers where the reader got
to appear in a panel or two of a comic book, the Winner of our lame
contest will be a PROMINENT character in that issue."

The Ashcan is being distributed through retailers, conventions, and
local comic shops, as well as online via several sources including
World Famous Comics and WWW.Comicon.com!!

The first full size issue of ADAM BOMB COMICS, 32pgs $2 ships in Summer
'99.
 +++++
Desert Storm long gone, Nick McCalip is back!
Letterer returns to Silverline!

Silverline announced today that letterer Nick McCalip, the
multitalented letterer who helped bring so much character to earlier
Silverline works,  has returned with a fury and will be lettering
Silverline books once again.

“I was doing a comic show in Jackson, Mississippi,” said Silverline
editor Roland Mann,” when up walks Nick McCalip. We did the expected
catch up and had a good visit. As Nick was preparing to leave, he said,
`if you've got anything you want lettered, just give me a holler.’ We
laughed and he left.”

“I thought that was the end of the story,” continued Mann, "because I
thought he was just kidding around. No more than two weeks later, I get
a call from Nick. The first thing he says is, ‘I was serious about
lettering, send something to me.’”

So Mann did send something, and McCalip's fantastic style of lettering
will be making his mark immediately, in the upcoming issue of
SilverStorm #4.

"I work as a Software Engineer, you see,” said McCalip, whose first
work with Silverline goes back to Cat & Mouse #2. "All my code kept
ending up in word balloons; I had to get help.   The doctors said it
would be therapeutic to go back to lettering.  Thanks to Roland, my
code has been balloon free for nearly three months now."

As for other work, Mann said that McCalip will be lettering "as much as
I can possibly convince him to letter."

For More information on Nick and other Silverline creators, visit the
Silverline website at http://www.kakuta.com/silverline
 +++++
COMICS 2 FILM at Website: http://www.comics2film.com

Detectives, Inc.
----------------
According to a solicitation in the Previews catalog, a movie version of
Don McGregor and Gene Colan's Detectives, Inc. has been filmed by the
writer of that comic.  The blurb for an upcoming trade paperback
collection of the Eclipse Comics series contains a back-up feature on
the production of the movie.  McGregor directed the film which stars
Alex Simmons, Richard Douglass and Marsh McGregor.  The TPB,
Detectives, Inc.: A Terror of Dying Dreams, is to be published by Image
Comics in May and can be ordered now through your local comic book
store.

Faust
-----
FROM ANDY MANGEL'S HOLLYWOOD HEROES and THE DETROIT NEWS COMIC BOOK
CONTINUUM:

Both Andy Mangels' Hollywood Heroes and the Detroit News Comic Book
Continuum are reporting that a movie version of David Quinn and Tim
Vigil's ultra-violent comic Faust is in the works.  Producer Julio
Fernandez and Spain's Filmax company ran a full-page ad in a recent
issue of Weekly Variety touting the movie project.  According to the
ad, the film is to be directed by Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator)
with a production start of April 1999.  Quinn and Vigil told Mangels
that the ad is intended to stoke foreign-market interest in the movie
for Pre-Sales at Cannes MIF Film Market in May.  The option deal the
pair has with Filmax is contingent on such pre-sales.

Quinn had written a script for a Faust movie for a production that was
scheduled with director Stuart Gordon several years ago.   That deal
fell through, but Quinn told Mangels he was eager to take another pass
at the script.  The creative duo said that they would use the story
structure from the previous script but rewrite the dialogue.  Of
course, no casting has been done yet but Vigil told Mangels he'd like
to see Mimi Rogers play the Jade character.

Regarding Yuzna, Quinn told the Continuum, "Apparently director Brian
Yuzna hadn't even seen the comics when he read the script and jumped on
board.   Then he saw the comics and he still wasn't scared away."

http://www.mania.com/amhh/amhh.html
http://detnews.com/comicbooks/
 +++++
From the Comic Shop News at http://www.csnsider.com/

Antarctic Heats Up
        Editor Herb Mallette tells  CSNsider that big changes are in
store for Antarctic Press later this year. Beginning in July, the
company will upgrade its major ongoing series; Gold Digger, Ninja High
School, Luftwaffe: 1946, and Warrior Nun Areala; to monthly full-color
status, printed on high-quailty paper for the best possible
reproduction. And even better, they're lowering the price at the same
time!

        When the books make their color debut, they will also begin new
storylines that will make it easier than ever for readers to join in on
the Antarctic excitement. And here's another bit of good news: Ben Dunn
is returning to take over the art honors on Ninja High School (which he
will also write) and Warrior Nun Areala. "I'm really excited about
doing NHS again," Dunn said. "I didn't realize how much I missed it
until I sat down to do my first issue and the story just started to
fly onto the paper. I'm taking the series in some cool new
directions, it's a ton of fun doing it.

        Later this year, Antarctic is also resurrecting its anthology
book Mangazine, which will return as a whopping 80-page comic filled
with manga-anime inspired stories and art. "I was amazed by the giant
Japanese manga when I first saw them," Dunn said. "This version of
Mangazine should be almost as big." Each issue will collect all four
of the other series in one volume, supplementing the stories with
original pieces by veterans and newcomers alike. "Pricing is still
being decided upon, but should fall in the $9 to $10 range," Mallette
said, "essentially providing four or more comics' worth of material for
the price of three... Someday, I'd like to see an issue of Mangazine
two hundred pages long, for the same price as just a couple of comics.
That's going to take a bigger, healthier comic market than we have
today. But Antarctic is going to keep doing its part with innovations
like this until we see that market become reality."
 +++++
From Rick Veitch's SPLASH PAGE at www.COMICON.com

 DC SQUELCHES 'KINGDOM COME COMPANION'!

DC TELLS HARBOR 'DECIST AND CEASE' KINGDOM COME COVERAGE !

Harbor Studios has announced that the first issue of COMICOLOGY, a
squarebound magazine devoted to covering all aspects of the comics
scene, will no longer be available for sale. According to publisher
Brian Saner Lamken, the decision was forced by a letter received from
DC Comics in early February, in which DC Comics notified Harbor Studios
Inc. of its demand that Harbor Press "cease and desist from any further
publication, distribution, promotion, or sale of" the inaugural issue
of COMICOLOGY. The first issue devoted the bulk of its 272 pages to an
examination of Mark Waid and Alex Ross' award-winning graphic novel
KINGDOM COME, and by extension to the DC Universe at large, with
supplementary material on Ross and Waid's respective recent
high-profile projects, the Marvel Comics miniseries EARTH X and the DC
skip-week event THE KINGDOM. DC's exact objection, Lamken said, was
that the inaugural issue of COMICOLOGY, featuring as it did a suite of
features collectively titled THE "KINGDOM COME" COMPANION, "constitutes
an unauthorized derivative work that infringes upon our copyrights,
violates our trademark rights, and misappropriates our good will."

Harbor Press has acceded to DC's demand, announcing that "all
individual orders, as well as bulk purchase orders from retailers and
distributors, have gone unfilled since we received DC's letter." Lamken
went on to say, in his press release, "I apologize sincerely to folks
whose checks have yet to be returned, especially those who are reading
this before I've had a chance to contact them directly, but it's been
rather necessary not to say anything while we've been in consultation
with our lawyers and made up our minds about exactly what to do."
 +++++
From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html

DC Comics has announced that current Marvel Comics editor Matt Idelson
(Deadpool, Captain America, The Hulk and the upcoming Tech line) will
join their staff as newest editor for the Batman family of titles under
Group Editor Denny O'Neil.

Richard Ashford, Managing Editor of Cross Plains Comics, has announced
a series of comic projects beginning in JUNE that will bring the works
of Robert E. Howard back to 4 color once again.  Writer Roy Thomas,
well known for his CONAN work will develop and script the adaptations
of various Howard works and Rafael (TUROK) Kayanan will design the
look for the characters and titles.

Except for Conan, whose license is still held by Marvel, and Solomon
Kane, which has been optioned for film development, Cross Plains plans
to bring readers ALL the writings and characters of Robert E. Howard,
including: Bran Mak Morn--Pantherish King of the Picts, last of his
savage race fighting the Romans. Cormac Mac Art--Celtic adventurer and
opportunist, and Arthurian Britain's last hope. Sword
Woman-Blade-wielding spitfire against the Spanish Inquisition. Amra
3000--The Howard universe set in the future, with futuristic takes on
his characters. SKULL-FACE--He survived the sinking of Atlantis, now
swears to destroy modern civilization. Ironhand of Almuric- Esau Cairn,
an Earthman whose destiny lies on an alien world. El Borak - In the
spirit of Indiana Jones, except El Borak was there first! Wolfshead--A
modern day werewolf tale that redefines horror and werewolf lore.

Cross Plains has also acquired the rights to publish new Red Sonja and
Kull the Conqueror material, along with the rights to reprint and sell
abroad Marvel material based on these characters. "We have great plans
for repackaging and recoloring much of this material," explained
Ashford.
 +++++
From Newsarama;  http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama
WINNER OF THE 1997 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE

Erik Larsen announced on his SAVAGE DRAGON web page,
http://www.savagedragon.com/, that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has
reached the end of its run.  "Due to low sales, Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles #23 (May) will be the last issue of the title - from ANY
company," posted Larsen.

The Marvel TECH line of books will be edited by Ralph Macchio, Ruben
Diaz and Bobby Chase while Tom Brevoort takes over THE HULK.  Chase is
also said to be taking the reins of both CAPTAIN AMERICA titles.

DC has confirmed the resignation of Jordan Gorfinkel from the BATMAN
editorial staff.

ACCLAIM announced the return of an ongoing title this summer and a one
shot preceding it.  Both tie in to the SHADOWMAN video game due out in
AUGUST.

The Turok/Shadow Man 48-page one-shot is written by Christopher Priest
(Quantum & Woody, Black Panther), with artwork by Mat Broome (X-Men,
WildC.A.T.S.) and Oscar Jimenez (Wolverine, Flash). The new monthly
Shadow Man series is written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (Resurrection
Man, Star Trek), with artwork by Ryan Benjamin (Iron Man, Wildcore),
Mat Broome and Sean Parsons (Iron Man). Other projects will be
announced in the near future.

Battlechasers #5, originally scheduled for 9/30/99. has been pushed
back for the 2nd consecutive week, and is now due 3/31/99. Crimson #9
has been pushed back to 3/31 as well. Kurt Busiek's Astro City #17 has
been moved from 3/31 to 4/14, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #3
from 3/24 to 4/14, and Danger Girl #5 and Divine Right #9 are both
currently without scheduled release dates.
 +++++
From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM

To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail
SeanJordan@aol.com and say SUBSCRIBE.

According to The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, the writing-directing team of
Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (Can't Hardly Wait) have signed on to
write and direct a live-action JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS film for
UNIVERSAL. Based on the ARCHIE Comics' series, the film is described as
CLUELESS meets MEN IN BLACK, about a rock trio who save the world.

Christopher Golden (Of Saints and Shadows, The Punisher) and Jeff
Mariotte (Desperadoes, C*23) have co-written GEN13: NETHERWAR, a novel
due out from BOULEVARD Books this May. The novel directly ties in with
WILDSTORM Comics' NIGHT TRIBES 48-page one-shot comic, a spin-off from
WETWORKS also due in May which Golden co-wrote with Tom Sniegoski
(Punisher), through the introduction of a brand new, mysterious and
enigmatic WILDSTORM character. Author Golden has a number of other
projects in the works; He recently sold four young adult mystery books
to POCKET which begin shipping this May with BODY BAGS, he wrote
WIZARD's BUFFY #1/2 comic, he's writing a 3-issue ANGEL: THE HOLLOWER
mini-series for DARK HORSE, and he and Sniegoski are co-writing a
BATMAN: ELSEWORLDS comic for DC which JG Jones (Black Widow) will
illustrate. His GEN13 co-author Mariotte also recently announced John
Lucas (Starman, The Spirit) has been chosen as the new artist on a
48-page Prestiege Format DESPERADOES one-shot entitled EPIDEMIC! This
latest installment in Mariotte's weird western finds our four main
characters trapped in a desperate, quarantined town during a blizzard.
http://www.christophergolden.com http://www.wildstorm.com

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER's Spike and Drusilla star in their own DARK
HORSE Comics one-shot due out on April 14th, co-written by Christoper
Golden and Spike himself, actor James Marsters.  The episode takes
place after Spike & Dru left Sunnydale at the end of last season, and
before Spike returned after being dumped.

http://www.dhorse.com

A five-day trial which should once and for all free up MARVEL Comics'
SPIDER-MAN is set to begin April 6th in Los Angeles Superior Court.
This final legal hang-up involves VIACOM, who claim they own TV
distribution rights to any SPIDER-MAN film. http://www.marvel.com

James D. Hudnall has announced production on Chris Carter (X-Files)'s
new series, loosely based on Hudnall and Andrew Paquette's comic
series HARSH REALM, is expected to begin next Wednesday, March 17th.
The series is still casting its actors. http://www.harshrealm.com

WARNER Home Video will release the one-hour BATMAN BEYOND pilot
"Rebirth" on VHS May 18th.

Neil Gaiman has officially told ZEN that MIRAMAX has acquired the
rights to his fantasy novel STARDUST. No cast or director have been
assigned to the live-action film, which may go to either MIRAMAX or
DIMENSION, but Gaiman himself will write its screenplay. He is also
about to start writing the pilot episode of a new TV series for IMAGINE
(Felicity, Sports Night), negotiations are still underway with an
undisclosed director to adapt his and Terry Pratchett's apocalyptic
comedy GOOD OMENS, and the PRINCESS MONONOKE anime blockbuster he
adapted into English is expected to reach U.S. theaters on July 9th.

Matt Wagner has announced the final three issues of his MAGE: THE HERO
DEFINED series will feature an assortment of cover enhancements.
"Everything about my approach to my craft has always concerned
story-telling," explains Wagner "Thus, I wanted to see if I could play
with this recent trend in the comics industry in such a way that would
actually enhance the narrative instead of being just an attempt to jack
up sales. Certainly I always want to sell more books, but I think my
readers will find the choice of variations both fun and exciting in a
fictional sense as well."

Issue #13 will ship with three, evenly mixed, alternative covers
featuring one member of the Heroic Trio made up by Kevin Matchstick,
Kirby Hero, and Joe Phat. The cover of the 14th issue will then reveal
a major plot development, and the 15th issue features a photo cover
harkening back to the final issue of the original MAGE series, THE HERO
DISCOVERED.

In an interview with NEWSARAMA, Rob Liefeld recently revealed Alan
Moore (Swamp Thing, Watchmen, ABC Comics) and Alex Ross (Marvels, Earth
X) are developing a SUPREME project together for Liefeld's AWESOME
Entertainment under the working title of SUPREME: WW INFINITY.
 +++++
From Wizard World Emailer; to subscribe send Email to
WizEmailer@aol.com with the subject:   ADD ME WIZARD

CAN JIM LEE COOK?
Ever wonder what Jim Lee's kitchen looks like? Neither did we. But
apparently, Better Homes and Gardens did.

The January issue of Better Homes and Gardens featured a lovely
surprise for any comic fan pawing through their mother's copy--Lee's
kitchen smack dab in the centerfold.

For the complete story and a picture of Jim Lee doing a
head stand, go to http://www.wizardworld.com/news/jimlee/jimlee.html
 +++++
From the DCOnline newsletter; http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html
To subscribe, or for questions or comments about the DC newsletter,
please email DCWebSite@aol.com.

ONLINE THIS WEEK

Kids love to color.  And when it comes to coloring super heroes, young
comics fans need look no further than dckids.com.

The DC Comics Coloring Book at dckids.com features downloadable
coloring pages of all kinds of heroes and villains, with lots of new
images available every month.  And the Coloring Hall of Fame is like
the world's largest refrigerator door, where kids can display their
work for all the world to see.

If you find yourself online this week, drop by for a look at the newest
Hall of Famers -- and don't forget to download a page or two for the
crayon jockeys.

NEWS BYTES

THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED IN SUPERMAN: KING OF THE WORLD

For months, Superman has been plagued by mysterious premonitions of
disaster -- premonitions that drove him to his non-stop efforts to save
lives and thwart evil full-time. His personal life non-existent, his
public reputation a shambles, the Man of Steel finally has determined
the cause of his problem: the reality-warping villain Dominus! But the
ultimate showdown puts everyone -- from Lex Luthor to the youthful
"Supermen of America" -- in grave danger in SUPERMAN: KING OF THE
WORLD, a 64-page one-shot that concludes one of the most ambitious
Superman sagas in years with a bang!

Offered in two versions -- a COLLECTOR'S EDITION with a
gold-foil-enhanced cardstock cover and a STANDARD EDITION featuring a
non-enhanced version (both by Walter Simonson) -- SUPERMAN: KING OF THE
WORLD is written by Karl Kesel (SUPERBOY), with art by Doug Braithwaite
(Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty) and Joe Rubinstein (ANARKY).
This exciting tale has repercussions not only in the ongoing Superman
titles, but also in SUPERMAN 80-PAGE GIANT #2, a special issue that
follows Superman's efforts to rebuild his reputation.

SUPERMAN: KING OF THE WORLD is a 64-page one-shot, arriving in
comic-book stores April 14. Edited by Joey Cavalieri, the COLLECTOR'S
EDITION has a cover price of $4.95 U.S. and the STANDARD EDITION has a
cover price of $3.95 U.S. SUPERMAN 80 PAGE GIANT #2 is edited by
Cavalieri and arrives in comic-book stores April 21 with a cover price
of $4.95 U.S.

ANIMATION EPISODE SCHEDULE

THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES airs weekdays and Saturdays on the
WB Network, and BATMAN BEYOND airs Saturdays. Times given are Eastern
and Pacific.  This schedule is subject to change.

3/15/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Trial" (Batman)
3/15/99 (4:30 pm) -- "The Late Mr. Kent" (Superman)

3/16/98 (4:00 pm) -- "Feeding Time" (Superman)
3/16/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Growing Pains" (Batman)

3/17/99 (4:00 pm) -- "The Laughing Fish" (Batman)
3/17/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Target" (Superman)

3/18/99 (4:00 pm) -- "The Ghost in the Machine" (Superman)
3/18/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Over the Edge" (Batman)

3/19/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Never Fear" (Batman)
3/19/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Solar Power" (Superman)

3/20/99 (8:00 am) -- "Legends of the Dark Knight" (Batman)
3/20/99 (8:30 am) -- "In Brightest Day" (Superman)
3/20/99 (9:30 am) -- "Dead Man's Hand" (Batman Beyond -- NEW)
______________________________________________________________________
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[5] Ramblings 99                                         Rich Johnston
                                                  twisting@hotmail.com

[Renamed for the new year, Ramblings 99 continues to spread confirmed
and unconfirmed news and rumours. It welcomes comment, especially
comment that clarifies, refutes and corrects information already
disseminated.  Rich Johnston is an advertising copywriter, co-self
publisher of Twist And Shout Comics, BBC comedy writer and comics
columnist.  He currently lives in South London, England.  His column
can be found online at:  http://www.twistandshoutcomics.com All
Ramblings e-mail received will be considered public domain and may be
quoted.]

This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These
RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value.

                          Dateline: 07 March 1999

Understanding DC Comics.

DC's Paradox Press is to list Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. I
don't yet know if they'll be doing what Kitchen Sink did (ripping out
the Tundra logo from the relevant page and replacing it with their
own.) Does this bode well for other Kitchen Sink stuff to make the
move? Will the From Hell TPB come out from Firewall/America's Best
Comics? Will Spirit be a series from Vertigo?

An In-Spectre Calls

We've been passed a rumour that in the Circle Of Light mini-series will
debut a new Spectre and his human host will be... Hal Jordan.

Twin Peeks.

We hear news of Happydale: Devils In The Desert looks like another new
Vertigo franchise (along with Dreaming, Sandman, Vamps, etc). Written
by Andrew Nabb; art and drawn by Seth Fisher it's two issue prestige
format debut is about an American small town kinda place, but guess
what! It's not all it seems to be. Sounds like a Twin Peaks/American
Gothic thing to you? Me too. It's a happy go lucky place full of
freaks and fornicators until a serial killer and his friends come to
town. And the town turns against them.

Did you like Jonny Double? Me too, well the creative team of Brian
Azarello and Eduardo Risso are back on 100 Bullets from Vertigo, a new
ongoing series. It's a crime thing... if you could get away with
murder, would you do it? If so, I'm sure some of this column's readers
would be already writing a bullet with my name on it. Both In June.

Lazarus Child.

Joe Kelly writes to say that Deadpool's been taken off the cancellation
list. Now he doesn't say it's on permanent status, but he is going to
keep writing it for now.

Warrior Spice.

Promethea. Such a beautiful name. With JH Williams and Mick Gray on
art, and the Genius himself writing, this is a treat and a half. It
also seems to have more in common with Thor than Wonder Woman. Sophie
Bangs, a student living in an unfamiliar futurist New York is working
on a piece about Promethea, a fictional warrior, and starts to find
too much. Will she be the next Promethea? Well, it's pretty likely,
don't you think? Look for it from America's Best Comics in June.

Strange Heaven.

Gary Spencer Millidge turns up at Dominatrix Mary's dungeon pleading to
pass on a press release. But Dominatrix Mary is on holiday, and we've
got a work experience lass on. Take it away, Sixteen Year Old Suzie!

Yeah, watcha want?

"Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, Strangehaven
#11 was delayed long enough to fall foul of Diamond's 30-day limit and
is currently undergoing the "order adjustment" process. The new ship
date for Strangehaven #11 has been confirmed by my printer as March
19. It should therefore be in stores on Wednesday March 24. My
apologies for the delay."

I don't care mate. Comics is for kids in't they? Do you like Boyzone
then?

"Strangehaven #12 (a pivotal issue) I anticipate to be published in
late June/early July, but as ever I will keep you informed of any
changes."

Pivotal? What's that mean then? Sounds rude... you a pervert or
something?

COMICS'99 - Bristol, England.

"I'll be making my first public appearance for over a year at
"Britain's first Comics Festival" on April 2-4 as advertised in the UK
comics press. Those of you who haven't already read about the exciting
successor to UKCAC, can read about it on the net at:
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Network/1358/index.html . Chris
Staros, my American agent is also flying in from Atlanta especially for
the festival. So you've got no excuse for not attending."

Sorry mate. Washing me hair that night. Watching the EastEnders
omnibus. They always do something over Easter, Grant kills someone
else, Mark goes mad, that kind of thing.

"And for the first time this year, you can vote in Britain's third
"National Comic Awards" via e-mail. I was lucky enough to win the award
for "Best Self-published Independent" in its inaugural year as regular
readers will already know. The awards will be presented at Comics99 on
Saturday 3 April. Vote at:

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Network/1358/Awards.html "

Cor, you're a narky bleeder aren't you? Anyway I'm too young to vote.
If I did I'd vote for that William Hague. Bald blokes really turn me
on. You should get your hair cut mate...!

"A couple of interviews with myself have recently seen print, both of
them in new British magazines, The Heckler (e-mail
pinkspecs@hotmail.com) and Dream Factory (e-mail
T.Seelig@plymouth.ac.uk). Full ordering details will appear in
Strangehaven #11."

Interviews? Parkinson or something? My mum liked him. Ere, why are you
looking at my shoes like that? Clear off and let me get back to my
filing. I've got a horrible nail that's catching on my Wonderbra.

Jim Lee Goes Mad.

Interesting... in time for the film, Mad magazine to do a Star Wars
special, with a collection of loads of old Star Wars material and a new
piece that's been coloured by Wildstorm. Look for it in May.

99 Flake.

The Comics 99 World's Biggest Comic is going to press as I speak...
and I got my piece in just in time. At the con in April, Shelley
Roeberg is replacing Karen Berger from DC/Vertigo. Comics huckster
salesman Kev F Sutherland has also drafted me in to do a panel.. which
one do you think? Rumour Mongering In The Comics Industry? No. The
Internet And Comics? No. Self Publishing With No Money Whatsoever?
Again, no. A panel on Lion's graphic novel version of the Bible?
That'll be the bunny. Ho boy.

I wonder if I can get Garth Ennis on..

Wild West Coast.

Wildstorm gets a DC-style crossover, called Wild Times, where every
book changes its setting to a different time period, as if the book
was set in those times. A bit like those Pulp Heroes Annuals maybe?
Wildstorm Elseworlds, certainly. Anyway, Deathblow goes Wild Western,
DV8 fights in World War II, Gen 13 is in the sixties, Grifter is a
1920's prohibition cop and Wetworks fight radioactive monsters the
Cold War. Hmmm, maybe it's a bit more of a Blackadder thing. Anyway,
it's happening in June, but regular books will have regular issues
too.

Brown Surfaces.

Chester Brown's new book, Louis Riel issue 1 is coming out in June from
Drawn and Quarterly. Bastard still hasn't finished Underworld, but this
19th century bloke who led two rebellions against the Canadian
government has got his attention like a shiny bauble. We can look
forward to about eight issues of this.

Giant Stories.

The DC One Million 80-Page Giant, issue 1,000,000 (have there been any
longer DC book titles anyone?) has stuff from Morrison, Millar, Dixon
and more, including the debut of a new Atom character and The Legion Of
Executive Familiars (that's super pets to us folk).

Meanwhile, the Elseworld 80-Page Giant issue 1 starts to play seriously
with Hypertime, with Dark Knight Of The Golden Kingdom, stuff with
President Superman's media scandal and what's called "Superman's
Babysitter" co-written by Elizabeth Glass and Kyle Baker with art by
the Baker man himself! Wow!

Oh, and Dan Brereton returns with Giantkiller, something about fifties
monsters being created and a human/monster hybrid sent to fight them.
It's all happening in June.

JLAnarchy.

June brings Mark Waid and Devin Grayson as the guest couple writing
JLA, dealing with the No Man's Land problem. Presumably this won't
deal with the problem that any Batfan who wants to know what's going
on feels forced to buy everything Batpublished this month which could
set them back one or two mortgage payments. Mark Waid has been named
as Morrison's successor on JLA, so he's probably measuring the
curtains.

Pickled Comics

Top Shelf are putting out a graphic novel by Pickle creator, Dylan
Horroocks. He's a top creator and Pickle is in my all-time-favourites
list. Anyway, we've got a while to wait, maybe two years. It's probably
called Dirty Comics and they say it "may be the first (completed) work
of its kind: a thinking-person's erotic comic book". Me, I'd like to
see Lost Girls continued, but if anyone can match that, Dylan can. And
what's more it's set around the Hicksville and Pickle locations.

Daniel Hicks finds loads of unpublished erotic comics and draqings by
Ruben, his previous biographical study. With archivist Sonja, they go
through the material and discover both something in Ruben and then
themselves. At which point a plumber arrives with a large plunger, a
pizza delivery boy, a maid, seven chickens, and... oh I'm sorry I got
carried away. Tissue anyone?

We've also got a publication list from Top Shelf. 1999 sees James
Kochalka's The Perfect Planet & Other Stories (graphic novel) in July,
Pete Sickman-Garner's Hey, Mister comic book series continuing in
August and November, Tom Hart's New Hat Stories series starting in
September, Craig Thompson's Good-bye, Chuncky Rice (graphic novel) in
November and Dean Haspiel's The Y2-401-Special-K Problem: A Billy
Dogma Exp comic book in December.

The year 2000 continues Billy Dogma, Hey, Mister, New Hat Stories and
Top Shelf with the following as graphic novels and trade paperbacks,
Gregory Benton's Lucky Charm, Dylan Horrocks' Dirty Comics, Jeff
Johnson's Danger, David Kelly's Steven's Comics, Josué Menjivar's
Cicada & Other Stories: A Broken Fender Book, Charise Mericle's
Shark-Boy, Brian Ralph's "All-Robot" Fireball, Paul Sharar's Manning
Town, Paul Sharar's Red Calloway's Big Bang and the return of Chris
Staros' The Staros Report - 2001.

Jay Essay

Justice Society Of America gets its debut issue (again, again). It's
Starman, Hourman, the new Star-Spangled Kid, Black Canary, Atom
Smasher, Hawkgirl and Sand, with Golden Age Flash, Jay and Wildcat on
hand to assist the newbies. Anyway, mystery villains, a new Dr Fate
and more golden age gubbins. They also get a Secret Files Special to
boot, also in June.

Stories To Be Told.

After the re-formatted X-Men story by Barry Windsor-Smith into the
Storyteller world, published by Fantagraphics, BWS will continue the
Storyteller book from Fantagraphics. Goodness.

Assorted Gubbins:

June brings other news. Flinch 3 gets a Garth Ennis touch , Neil
Gaiman's Stardust gets a trade paperback. That should keep him
happy... A new Hellblazer arc starts, Locked, Frank Teran on art. It's
a psycological claustrophobic story. Karmageddon, part 1 of 4 starts
in Invisibles, as Lady Edith Manning returns, the Marquis de Sade's
future visions come to play and it's Hand Of Glory time again. The
Authority looks very violent indeed... shades of Hard Boiled anyone?
Brandon Peterson fans (and no one else) can look forward to Dreams Of
The Darkchylde 0 from DC/Wildstorm/Whatever, preluding the new ongoing
series. Ty Templeton writes all the scripts for a new Plastic Man
Special. And Greg Rucka writes all the Batman books! Yeah! Chuck Dixon
and Alan Grant mop off the tie in books to boot...

Okay that's my lot for now. Any comments, questions, denials,
confirmations, elaborations, please send to twisting@hotmail.com.
Unless something storming comes up I'll be taking a week off to
recover and to start sending the first few chapters of my novel
Political Creatures off to literary agents. Hey, any British literary
agents or fiction publishers out there?

And next week, I might have something special for you. No promises
mind.

Another one jumps the fence

Matt Idelson has resigned his editorial position at Marvel and has
taken a job at DC Comics.

Matt has been a notable riser at Marvel, moving up the ranks taking
obscure titles and raising their prominence and creative impact, most
notably Excalibur with Warren Ellis and recently Deadpool with Joe
Kelly. Both are now working at DC.

Twist And Shout wish Matt well in his new position. I hope DC know how
lucky they are to have him.

                          Dateline: 11 March 1999

Ramblings Rumblings

I can't leave it alone, can I? I say I'm taking a week off, and then
the last column brings me so much mail, my Hotmail administrator tells
me I'm reaching my limit. Again.

Okay, first off, Warren Ellis writes to state that the Locked issue of
Hellblazer isn't a six issue arc, but the first in a series of six
one-off issues. Frank Teran is on the first issue, with artists like
Phil Jiminez, Tim Bradstreet and David Lloyd to follow. He also adds
his praise to Matt Idelson, saying "And if Matt Idelson really has
jumped to DC, then DC are much richer for it. Matt's among the best
people I've worked with, and has greatness in him. And you can quote
me. He's a star." Well, we did!

Heidi MacDonald writes to complain that no one thought to leak her
appointment at DC. Well, you know Heidi, you could have leaked it if
you really wanted to...

Joe Kelly replies using the Busiek Manouever, telling us "I ain't
sayin' nothin' bout nothin'!" concerning the rumours of the writers'
owned company/imprint. He would have got back sooner, but for the birth
of a Kellybaby! Ramblings congratulates Joe on his latest creative
collaboration.

We're also told that "I don't think BWS is continuing Storyteller. I
think he's doing yearly hardback annuals with a lot of his art in
them." Someone else responds to the Hal Jordan being the new Spectre
rumour, stating "Unless someone very reliable at DC gave you this
rumour (I hope), you may be subject to a prank from some people from
Jonah Weiland's Comic Book Resources. This time last year they had the
entire web site believing that Gog was actually Hal Jordan, citing
evidence from the non-magazine "Power". I don't quite believe that one,
myself. Take it with a big ol' grain of salt, Rich."

Well, we always do with rumours, chap, anyone else got any info on
this one?

And then we get this rumour:

Oni The Lonely.

Bob Schreck has been offered Archie Goodwin's vacant position at DC
Comics and has left Oni Comics, the company he set up, to take it.

Schreck was allegedly offered an editorial job by DC when he left Dark
Horse, but Schreck's recent track record at Oni have convinced DC that
a higher position would suit his talents more. A prominent DC employee
wouldn't confirm or deny this story, but said simply "Rich, no one can
replace Archie Goodwin". Indeed. Another industry source states that
DC are looking for a Schreck-like figure. And a phone call to Oni
Press confirmed that Schreck has been offered the position but "that's
it right now."

Anyway the rumour is that Schreck now seems convinced that DC is the
place to go. And surely DC employees aren't allowed to own half of
another comic book company? Look for some strange things happening at
Oni shortly.

Schreck, Heidi McDonald and Matt Idelson, all in one week. Is this
another part of DC's attempt to own the universe? And if the Marvel
thing doesn't work out, could they find room for Jim Shooter?

Homage Bagged.

The previously reported "Yeah!", by Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez,
slated for a Vertigo release has been shifted to Wildstorm's Homage
imprint since it's aimed more at kids, specifically young girls. Both
Bagge and Hernandez will continue to work for Fantagraphics though...

Imprints Agogo.

With shades of 'Legend', Dark Horse are to combine all their creator
owned projects (Concrete, Groo, Sin City, etc) into an imprint called
Maverick and edited by Diana Schultz. It'll have a horse logo.

Tyrant To Rent?

Was that Steve Bissette one of our eagle-eyed readers saw working in a
video store? Can anyone confirm this? And are there any other genius
comic creators seen in their day jobs?

Are you For or are you an Eeyore?

Something else I'm thinking of doing, sending out a mass e-mail every
time this page gets updated, so you don't come back pointlessly and
when there is a change, you know about it. In fact I might do two
lists, a Friends Of Ramblings (FOR) for those supporters who love to
hear the latest gossip and who supply me with great info, and maybe an
Enemies Of Ramblings (EOR) for those who read the page to make sure I'm
not saying anything about them, their company or their friends. If
you'd like to be on one of those lists, e-mail me at this address...

ramblings99@hotmail.com with FOR or EOR in the subject line. I won't
use it for junk mail, won't pass it to anyone else, although if I've
got a comic book out, I may mention it on the regular update.
______________________________________________________________________
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[6] Interview by                                     Paul Dale Roberts
                                                     silhouet9@aol.com

Interview with Brian Pulido, Publisher of Chaos Comics!

Question:  Brian, does Chaos! Comics have a website and if they do,
what is the URL address?

ANSWER: www.chaoscomics.com - we have a very cool on line store too.

Question:  Why do most Chaos! Comics fans say..."sworn to the black"?

ANSWER: So we remain true to our roots - the darkness within us all.

Question:  Brian, before we talk about your exciting line of comics,
let's get a bit personal.  Tell me something about your home life,
maybe some schools you went to and heck, maybe something about your
first girlfriend.

I've been married seven years to my lovely wife, Francisca. we have
two dogs, no kids and we live way out in the desert with hawks,
coyotes, tarantulas. I am a graduate of New York University's Tisch
School of The Arts. My major was film making. My first girlfriend was
cool.

Question:  What was the first comic book you ever read?

ANSWER: The one that I recall that made an impact on me was Captain
America #176. Cap stops being Cap because he discovered a high level
government officer was behind a big scandal - Watergate was happening
at the time - and quits.

Question:  How did you come up with characters like Lady Death and Evil
Ernie?

ANSWER: I am simply attracted to dark stuff. Both characters are stews
of what I like: everything from Night of The Living Dead to Vampira.

Question:  I have heard a few people at some comic book conventions,
say that Evil Ernie is actually your alter ego, is this true?

ANSWER: no he's my evil twin.

Question:  Lady Death has become the sex goddess of all comic books,
what makes her so appealing?  (As if I didn't know..heh..heh)

ANSWER: Beyond the obvious physical attraction, she is unattainable.
Se is in control. That makes her sexy.

Question:  For people who have been locked up in the closet all their
natural born lives, can you brief us on who Chastity, Purgatori, Lady
Death and Evil Ernie are?

ANSWER: Chastity is a fun loving vampire assassin. Purgatori is a
vampire bitch goddess with a thirst for power, Lady death is the
ravishing seductress of the netherworld and Evil Ernie is an undead
teenaged psychotic with the ability to re-animate and control the
Dead.

Question:  Something big is cooking at Chaos Comics!  It has to do
with the millennium, can you give us a hint?

ANSWER: Armageddon is coming to the Chaos! Cosmos in fall `99. By the
last week of December `99, the Chaos! cosmos as we know it will cease
to exist.

Question: What kind of drastic changes is Evil Ernie going through?

ANSWER: Change is a dicey word. I'd say evolution is more like it. Evil
is becoming a silent, super predator with his eye on Megadeath, the
extinction of all life on the planet.

Question:  How did you get involved with WWF and the Undertaker?

ANSWER: We like wrestling and though it would be a good idea. We got
in touch with the WFF - the rest is history.

Question:  What kind of storyline is Undertaker about?

ANSWER: It's dar - and nasty.

Question: Will there be other WWF wrestlers comic books, coming out of
Chaos!Comics?

ANSWER: Possibly.

Question: Is the Undertaker ever going to meet Lady Death?

ANSWER: Dunno.

Question:  Can you tell us something about the Lady Death / Vampirella
crossover?

ANSWER: It's out right now!

Question:  Why did it take Lady Death so long to crossover?  Will she
be doing any other crossovers?

ANSWER: I promised my fans I would not do a crossover, yet secretly
harbored an interest in doing it. any more? I don't know. Maybe.

Question:  What hobbies and recreational activities are you involved
in?

ANSWER: Travel, hiking, weight lifting. Watching movies. Seeing
concerts.

Question:  What comic books do you read?

ANSWER: Spawn and Captain America.

Question:  What movies, tv shows and cartoons would you call your
favorites?

ANSWER: Movies - Night of The Living Dead, Aliens, Terminator, Road
Warrior, Miracle Mile, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Slackers, Dazed
and Confused, Boogie Nights, Pulp Fiction, LA Confidential, Usual
Suspects.

TV - Twilight Zone, Seinfeld, Change of Heart, ER, Buffy

Cartoons - Batman Beyond.

Question:  What books do you read?

ANSWER: How to books, Steven King, Robert McGammon

Question:  Will there ever be a Lady Death movie?

ANSWER: Yes.

Question:  What do you think about the comic industry (pro and con)?

ANSWER: PRO - comics are a unique American artform. You can do what
you want. Complete freedom.
    CON - The industry is in a slump.

Question:  If you were stranded on an island, what 3 things would you
have on that island and why?

ANSWER: My wife, my dogs and my company - so I could carry on my
lifestyle.

Question:  How did you start in the comic industry?

ANSWER: I got off my ass and got busy!

Question: Ever been incarcerated?  (Seeing if your awake).

ANSWER: Nope.

Question:  Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years?

ANSWER: In five years, directing and producing films while Chaos!
flourishes. In ten years, all of the above and traveling 150 days a
year.

Question:  If you could be doing anything besides comics, what would
that be and why?

ANSWER: Directing/producing movies. Why to put my degree to work. And
because I worked for seven years in the film industry and love it.

Question:  I guess that ends our interview.  Thanks for the time, is
there anything you would like to add?

ANSWER - Peace - thru annihilation.
______________________________________________________________________
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[7] VENTING MY SPLEEN                                David Groenewegen
                                   david.groenewegen@lib.monash.edu.au

[David Groenewegen is 30, a librarian and sadly addicted to comics. He
has been reading them since before he could read, and plans to keep on
doing so. His first trip out of the house with his infant son was to a
comic shop. Can't start 'em too young. ]


There has been a lot of fuss made about the Spiderman movie rights
legal battle finally being over (almost). A few people have predicted
that this will save Marvel from their tremendous financial problems,
and set them back on the road to profitability.

I don't see it myself.

Sure, Spiderman is the jewel in the Marvel crown. More so than X- men
or any other Marvel character except the Hulk, Spiderman is the
character that the person in the street is most familiar with. His is
a name that people will be attracted to, and might want to see. I have
a theory that the most successful comic book movies (of which there
have been very few) are based on live action television success of a
generation before - for instance, the first Superman movie came out
about twenty years after the George Reeves TV show. The first Batman
movie was about twenty years after the Adam West TV show. And they are
the only really big blockbuster comics movies in recent memory. Of
course, if this theory holds true, its time for the Wonder Woman and
Hulk movies, and I see there are rumours of a new WW movie already. I
will demand my percentage of any Hulk movies made after the publication
of this column.

Some of you are now shouting "What about "Blade"? Or "MIB"? Or "The
Mask"?" My answer is that those films may have originated in comics,
but were not heavily associated with them in the public mind (THE MASK
comic was the only one I'd ever seen, and I've read a lot of comics),
and if anything their success was based more on the star power than
the characters. "The Mask" without Jim Carrey, hot off "Ace Ventura"?
Forget about it.

But I digress. There was a Spiderman TV show about twenty years ago
(it was pretty lame, but people remember it), so if my theory holds,
the movie should do OK. The trouble is Marvel's appalling track record
with these things. They have always done a lousy job of their movies. I
mean the Fantastic Four movie is so bad they won't it even release it
on video. How bad does a movie have to be to not be released on video?
The mind boggles. Then there's the Captain America movie, "Sgt. Fury"
with David Hasselhoff of all people, the Generation X TV movie. And
these are all from the last ten years or so. What guarantee is that
they will do it right this time?

Most worrying is the fact that they aren't a part of Sony, so they
will have even less clout than DC have at Warners. This means some
Hollywood bonehead will come in to write the screenplay, and will no
doubt underplay the superheroics for lame teenage angst stuff. I don't
understand this mentality at all. Superhero comics have sold
successfully for 60 years with plenty of costumes and superheroics.
Yet there persists this myth that people won't buy it, so they take
all that stuff out. I read that they're trying to do "Generation X"
again this year, and they're going to leave out the costume stuff.
Well, the TV movie featured the costumes for maybe ten seconds at the
very end and died a horrible death. Maybe going the other way would
work? No, people don't like the costumes.

I also worry about the assumptions that are being made about Marvel's
profitability. There isn't a huge amount of evidence that movies sell
comics. The BLADE miniseries was cancelled while the movie was still
in the theatres. And that's supposed to be Marvel's big hit,
credibility in Hollywood movie. Why would Spidey be any different? I
guess that the toys half of Marvel might make some cash, but even that
market has seemed a little flat lately. I guess people are finally
realizing that toys only become collectable if a) they are genuinely
rare and b) someone other than a tiny core of collectors actually wants
them.

What we want from a Spidey movie is a smart, modern retelling of the
classic, fast moving Lee-Ditko origin, with great effects and
a knockdown drag out battle with a primo Spidey villain like Doc Oc,
or The Vulture, or Venom. What we'll get is an endless scene setting
bit before he even gets into the costume, a lead actor who will either
be out charismaed by the villain (who won't wear the costume much
either), or who will be so self-obsessed that he won't want to wear the
mask for more than ten seconds, lots of teenage angst, some very stagey
fights and a stupid, sequel setup ending. Blah.

So, given both Marvel's dreadful track record with these things, and
the moronic attitudes in Hollywood, I'm not holding my breath for a
decent, or successful movie. Maybe they'll get lucky and deliver
something that is hypeable and acceptable to the mainstream like
Batman or Superman were ("You'll believe a man can walk up walls"), but
more likely we'll get Judge Dredd. Or the Avengers. They didn't show
Emma Peel's costume enough either.

David Groenewegen
davidhar@lib.monash.edu.au
______________________________________________________________________
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[8] PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW                 Augie De Blieck Jr.
                                                         augie@nic.com
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline

PIPELINE IDIOT OF THE WEEK

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you J. Scott Campbell. Artist.  Gen13 co-
creator.  Danger Girl "artiste."  Professional excuse-maker.

He posted a long message to the board over on Dangergirl.com to explain
some things.  And while some of it rings true, other parts of it just
make me cringe.  So I'll hit you with both the good and the bad, with a
helpful helping of quotations here:

    It has been a very long time since I have posted on this website.
    A long time ago I decided that I would no longer involve myself
    personally in any more online discussions. As a matter of fact,
    it's very rare for me to visit this site any more at all for two
    reasons: #1 because it's hard to find the time and more importantly
    #2 because of all the constant venom and abuse so regularly spewed
    out on this board. A lot of you guys sure know how to make a guy
    feel UNwelcome.

This part is probably true.  I marvel at how some creators stick it
out on the fan boards and on USENET.  I'm really glad when they do and
very appreciative, and can understand it now when they choose not to.

So we're starting off well.

The following points go to the question about when the fifth issue of
DANGER GIRL might come out:

    Partly to blame for the additional wait is due to a month long
    D.C. production schedule that all of us at Wildstorm now have to
    contend with rather then the old Image turnaround of just two
    weeks.

Granted.  However, this is the one and only time he can use this
excuse. If he tries to pull it out when the next issue is late, don't
trust him.

    Also, lets not forget that #4 came out just barely two months ago.

Uh-huh.  Which means that right now the book is "just barely" LATE.

    I am currently finishing up the last half of issue #5 now

Shouldn't the second half of the issue already be in DC's hands?
Particularly if you're going to cite DC's turn-around policy as a
delaying influence on this issue.  It's been two months.  If you're
producing a book on a bi-monthly schedule, you should be done with a
book every other month, don'tcha think?!?

    I would hope that you would all understand that we were all just
    starting #5 around the holidays when a lot of us, just like you,
    were enjoying some much needed vacation time with our families.

I can give him that, but why wasn't there ever any warning about this
prior to now?  When Erik Larsen was getting married, he told us in the
second issue of the original SAVAGE DRAGON mini-series that the third
issue would probably be delayed due to this.  I think fans can be
reasonable to Real World demands, so long as they're planned for in
advance and not as an after-thought.

    end, only D.C. can officially tell you the correct release date
    of a particular issue. Once I've finished penciling it, it is out
    of my hands.

Mayhaps, but you haven't even finished it, Jeff!

    I understand it is difficult but please, be patient. #5 is
    definitely on the way and it will be well worth the wait I assure
    you.

Immaterial.  It reminds me of the hypocrisy of Peter David. He
lambasted Image in its early years -- and rightfully so -- for blowing
deadlines and being chronically late on their books.  But when his own
SACHS & VIOLENS mini-series was chronically delayed due to its
creators (PAD and artist George Perez), he offered up that it would at
least the extra time would be visible on the page.  (I'm sorry; I can't
find the original BUT I DIGRESS column on that to get you the exact
quote.) That's not the point.  The point is that the book was solicited
for a given date and did not arrive within 30 days of that date.  (Back
then, I think Diamond was even more lenient with 60 or 90 days, to
boot.  It was still late.)

    I take a lot of pride in DangerGirl which is why it was
    increasingly difficult for me not to take an active role in the
    development of both the DG toy line from Todd McFarlane and the
    continued involvement with the DG videogame, not to mention the
    other high quality line of products baring the DG name.

You think there's a problem here?  You think part of the reason the
book is chronically late might be because he's doing busy working on
things NOT related to the book?  YA THINK?!?  Hey, Jeff!  Draw the
damned book first.  THEN you can worry about licensing it.  Nobody
licenses characters who aren't in a comic book.  And usually people
don't buy comics that rarely come out.

    I want as many people as possible to know about DangerGirl,

I thought you wanted to produce a high-quality comic book, which is the
reason you were never going to do a monthly comic again?  If your book
ain't monthly, you're going to lose people.  If your book is
bi-monthly, you'll probably keep most of your base, but you sure as
hell had better produce the book every other month!

    And, despite the overwhelming negativity overflowing from this
    board, my excitement for the DangerGirl comic is as high as ever.

Too bad that tide has already washed out for all but the most hard-core
fans.  We've given up on the book and spend our money elsewhere.

    Ask yourself, if you were me would you continue to embarrass
    yourself by regularly putting in the standard "Issue _____ was
    late because of  ____" column in the back of every issue.

heh.  Hey, Jeff, I've got an easy solution to this one: Don't put the
book out late.  We can understand medical emergencies.  We can even
understand the Christmas holiday.  I'll grant you that.  But being too
busy doing toy and movie deals is not going to satisfy the comic book
fans.

All that said, I like DANGER GIRL.  When it comes out I think it's a
great comic book.  And I'll pick up the issues as they come out, but
it's tough for me to get excited about the book anymore.  It's become
something of a treat when the comic comes out, instead of an
highly-anticipated event. It's a nice surprise instead of a regular
part of my comic book routine.

While I'm picking apart J. Scott, I think this would be a nice time to
revisit the editorial he wrote in the letters column of fourth issue
of the original Gen13 mini-series, in which he disparaged WIZARD for
declaring that all top-selling books are a combination of the
following four points:

1. Fill the cast with teenagers; kids relate to this.
2. Clad the babes in the groups as scantily as possible, to capture the
pervert market.
3. Get a guy who draws like Jim Lee to pencil it.
4. Hype it up almost a year in advance, do a #1/2 issue, and preview
several pages in Wizard.

If this were updated today, number #3 would probably say "guys who draw
like a manga artist."  Aside from that, it looks like J. Scott Campbell
has an unqualified hit on his hand.  The Danger Girls are scantily clad
and revel in this.  There's really only one teenager in the cast and
she's made out to be the nerdy dweeby one, so I suppose he gets around
that. Campbell started as an Art Adams clone and has evolved his style
to something with more of a manga influence.  And as for #4 -- it
sounds just about right to me.  There's an Art Adams-drawn special
coming up, and the #1/2 issue was packaged with WIZARD, if I'm not
mistaken. The book was hyped up for a few months ahead of time, if not
a year.  And there's been generally more hype than product since then.

Campbell then points out his winning formula for putting together a
winning comic book magazine:

"1. Put a bunch of limited-edition trading cards and other
collectibles in the magazine."

While there haven't been any trading cards bagged with DANGER GIRL,
there have been alternate covers galore.  (But those were only to
excite the fans, not to get them to buy extra copies or start a
feeding frenzy. Campbell was "giving back" to the fans with alternate
covers. Puh-leeze.)

#2 has to do with ridiculous price guides.

"3. Get the hottest artists in comics to contribute covers..."

At last count, Campbell has recently contributed covers to DAREDEVIL,
WIZARD, BATMAN, and WILDCATS, but has had not enough time to draw an
actual issue of DANGER GIRL.  (I'm sure he's done more covers, but
those are the only ones I could name off-hand.)

Hmmmm...

He signs his editorial, BTW, "Jeff Scott Campbell, who will never,
ever be on the Wizard top ten list.  Ever."

He's #4 in the most recent issue.  Ironically, Jim Lee is #8 and Art
Adams is nowhere to be seen.

-Augie
--------------------------------------------------
Augie De Blieck Jr. * augie@nic.com  <*>
Pipeline Commentary and Review: New Every Sunday:
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
______________________________________________________________________
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[9] HAD YOUR PHIL?                                          PHIL WHITE
                                                   ogre4@earthlink.net

[Phil White has contributed articles and cartoons to Comic Buyer's
Guide, Wizard and Cinefantastique.  He has written comic books for
Americomics (AC) and Mattel Toy Company and has self-published comic
books featuring his own characters, including Ogre, Felony, and the
acclaimed "I Hunt."  He supports his comic book hobby, and his family,
as director of marketing and sales with a medium sized software and
remote data-entry company in Southern California.]

We were reviewing the comic book situation.

"There are a lot of great comics being published these days!" I said,
repeating what has become the fan mantra.

"Okay. There is also a lot of dreck being published these days too!"
said Bill. "But, that has always been the case, even in my day."

Sitting on the couch across from me, Bill was reading a printout of
the latest CBEM as he puffed on his pipe. He inadvertently rubbed the
gorilla ring on his finger as he added, without looking up, "Like
everything else in life, Phil, comics seem to follow the 20/80 Rule."

"20/80 Rule? What's that, Congo?" I ask.

"The 20/80 Rule is often used in marketing. It goes something like
this," he tipped back his pith helmet, "20% of a store's customers
represent 80% of it's business. To bring it closer to our subject, you
could say that 20% of comic book writers make a decent living while
80% are living at, or below, the poverty level." He smiled as he nodded
at the poster of OGRE #1 on the wall above my desk. "In the case of
quality comic books, the rule would be that 20% of comics being
published today are good to excellent while 80% are mediocre to poor."

"There are approximately 300 comics offered each month, right?" asked
Bill. "By applying the 20/80 Rule you can assume that 60 of those
comics are going to be worthwhile reading!"

I started doing some quick math in my head, gave up and turned to
a calculator.  "With an average price of a comic hovering around
$2.75, at least according to COMICS RETAILER, it would cost me $165 per
month to buy all 60 comics!" I yelped. "And that's before sales tax!"

"Exactly!" confirmed Bill. He picked up the CBEM again and returned to
absent mindedly twisting the ring around his finger.

Like most comic enthusiasts, with the possible exception of David
Coulter (the highest paid columnist here at CBEM Central) I have a
fixed budget for my comic book purchases each month. This budget helps
to maintain domestic tranquility. (Only a Congressman can spend more
money than he has.) And, it certainly isn't $165. I maximize my budget
by ordering most my comics from a service that gives up to 35%
discounts. On the second Thursday of each month, I receive a big box
of comics and a free copy of PREVIEWS from M&M Comics at:
www.mmcomics.com This begins the joyous task of reading the hype on
every single comic book that will be shipping from Diamond in two
months time. It also begins the agonizing process of adding or
deleting comics to fit my budget.

From the way he was chewing on his pipe, I could tell Bill was
engrossed with his reading. So I turned back to my PC and pulled up my
previous month's comic book orders to review. Were there any comics I
could live without in order try some titles, and still stay within my
budget? Let's look.

A NEXT - This is as close as one can get to a Stan Lee or Roy Thomas
comic of old. If the Marvel Universe took place in real time, not just
seven years their time to 35 my own, this is close to where it would
be, with the sons and daughters of our heroes from the sixties
reaching adulthood and starting heroic careers of their own. Bravo! --
Order it.

ALAN MOORES' AWESOME ADVENTURES - Okay, this is obviously inventory
stuff, but it is inventory stuff I would have bought had it come out
on time. As long as these stories are actually scripted by Moore, and
not just plotted, I'm in. -- Order it again if offered.

ARIA - Yes, issue #1 had nice art, but with very little story. I'll
hold off on my final decision, and any future orders, until I read
more. I wish they would concentrate on putting out subsequent issues
rather than reprinting that first issue in a new format. -- Don't
order if offered.

ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS - Sometimes I get a little itch to relive
those innocent days when TOM CORBETT and SPACE PATROL zoomed their
pseudo-science fiction space operas via black and white kinescope
right into my four-year-old eyes. This comic scratches that itch. --
Order it if offered.

AVENGERS - Essential. -- Order it.

AVENGERS FOREVER - I couldn't resist starting this series. The art
looks big and the story... well I won't know for a while because I
won't be reading it until I have all the issues in hand. -- Order it.

BATMAN BEYOND - It's a tie-in to the spin-off of the cartoon based on
the comic (whew!). Like the previous title, I have yet to read it and
prefer to wait until the series is done. Based on the creators
involved with this series, I'm willing to take the chance. -- Order
it.

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES - It is so nice to know that each issue has
a complete story to tell, with a beginning, middle and an end. There
is always a message, but it never gets in the way of the story, just
like the excellent cartoon show. The new character designs are fun,
too. -- Order it.

BATTLE CHASERS - I like what I've seen and read so far. (I detest the
marketing of this comic, though, including the publishing of trades
that are, ostensibly, only the first two chapters in a story arc that
remains unfinished. Trade paperbacks should contain whole stories. Or
do they want to alienate that reading audience too?) -- Order it if
offered.

BLACK PANTHER - Funny stuff. Michael J. Fox meets the African King and
Mephisto. Tell me more. -- Order it.

BLACK WIDOW - I wasn't going to do it. But DAREDEVIL and BLACK PANTHER
came out so well that I'm going to give this book a chance. -- Order
it.

BOOKS OF MAGIC - I don't read it. I forward it to my son (who
graduates this year with a degree in English). He swears by it. (But
then, he also says that when he grows up he wants to marry Tank Girl!
Gulp!) -- Order it.

CABLE - At first, I liked Ladronn and compared him to a young Barry
Windsor Smith, Jim Steranko or Keith Giffen, all artists who began by
mimicking Kirby then went on to establish styles of their own. Unlike
these others, he hasn't grown. With the announcement of the
ever-dependable Liefeld as artist, it's time to say, "Adios" to my last
X-related title. -- Drop from order.

CAPTAIN AMERICA - "I keep holding on to yesterday." I can't say that
I've been enjoying the stories since Cap's return, but the Kubert
artwork sure sings to me. -- Order pending evaluation of hype.

COMIC BOOK ARTIST - I used to buy THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, but the
last few issues became stale and redundant. Sure, I enjoyed seeing
Jack's story notes and original pencils compared to the finished story
with inks. But, the accompanying essays don't bring new enlightenment.
How fortunate for me that the same publisher is bringing out this
fresh magazine that concentrates on different, non-Kirby, themes each
issue. The first three kept me spellbound. - Order if offered.

DANGER GIRL - This has been enjoyable so far. (I don't care much the
alternate covers as opposed to publishing. Say what you mean. Mean
what you say. And deliver what you promise.) I'm tired of paying in
advance for comics that never come out. -- Drop from order.

DAREDEVIL - Is there a viable story after this one by Kevin Smith?
Matt's mom is Nun? Will the art team remain the same? -- Order pending
evaluation of hype.

DAWN: RETURN OF THE GODDESS - Jennifer Connelly. Oops, wrong comic.
(See below.) Am I the only guy here willing to admit that I buy DAWN
comics first for the covers? The inside art doesn't hurt, either. I
just hope this next series comes out on time, is better written and
makes more sense than the last. -- Order it if offered.

FANTASTIC FOUR - Claremont's been getting a bad rap, but the FF isn't
terrible and the art strong. Problem is, this just doesn't live up to
the claim of, "The World's Greatest Comic" anymore. -- Order pending
evaluation of hype.

FLINCH - This is not my usual cup of blood. That first cover is
hauntingly disturbing. But, the artists on that issue persuaded me to
at least sample it. This will strictly depend on the creators involved
each issue. -- Order pending evaluation of hype.

GUNNER - How could I read that review in COMIC SHOP NEWS that compared
this comic to Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and not give it a try?
Sorry to say that my budget the month before got stretched by the All
Stars' titles coming out this month and I couldn't afford to order
GUNNER #1. I hope I'm able to find it because the retailers around
here don't stock many alternates. -- Order it.

HITMAN - This series is the icing on my comic book cake. I save it
until I've read all the comics in my in-box or until I'm starting to
feel bored with comic books in general. I just finished reading the
last seven issues and I'm rejuvenated. The stand-alone issue #34, with
Superman, is my choice for the best single-issue comic book story of
the year. Get that issue! Read it! If it doesn't touch you then make
you laugh, get out of the comic book hobby, now! -- Order it.

INHUMANS - Okay, my fellow columnists told me it's great, and I like
the artwork. Now I just have wait another seven months to read this
limited series. -- Order it.

IRON MAN - Boy, this comic is right up there with, gulp, FANTASTIC
FOUR and CAP. I was actually planning to drop this title last month
until I read the hype that my favorite green dragon, Fing Fang Foom,
was coming in April. The art is a let down and the story is boring. --
Drop from order unless Fing Fang Foom story continues.

JLA - Three creators, who should never have worked on super heroes
individually, combine their efforts resulting in strange magic.
Porter's artwork is poor but bizarre. The inks by John Dell are
equally offbeat and mismatched with Porter. Yet, somehow, they
compliment the art, resulting in quirky, fun visuals. Add some dumb,
but exotic, stories and, well, I just have to keep coming back to see
more. Once Morrison, Porter or Dell leave, the magic must end. -- Order
it.

KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY - This is one title I buy in pairs. Like
other story arcs and limited series, I'm stuck waiting for the current
one (about that Robert Mitchum / Molten Man look-alike) to come to an
end so I can start reading it. (Now, if only I could get that
hardbound reprint I ordered so many months ago!) -- Order it if
offered.

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN - Order two. Read one and mail the
second one to Grandpa. Then buy one at the comic shop the day it comes
out because you just can't wait for that monthly comic shipment.
(Here's a handy hint. File one copy alphabetically and file the other
copy with your Classics Illustrated collection, alongside the Jules
Verne and H.G. Wells' adaptations.) -- Order two.

LEAVE IT TO CHANCE - This is another of a handful of comics that I
actually buy two copies of each issue. I think CHANCE is delightful,
able to breach generations and genders alike. Read it to some kids or,
better yet, let them read it to you. That is, provided it ever comes
out again. -- Order it if offered.

MAGE - I've been buying two, one for me and one for my son. But it's
been so long between issues that I've lost interest in the story. I'm
cutting my order to just one for the son. -- Order one.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER - This comic is way offbeat from formula super hero
comics. The art is reminiscent of Gene Colan while each issue seems to
change genres, from murder mystery in one issue to terrifying, science
fiction in the next, but all within one story arc. The more we learn
about this character the less we know about him. It's very intriguing.
-- Order it.

MORE THAN MORTAL - The first story arc convinced me to invest in the
next two. I never got around to reading those. The move to Image and
crossovers with other titles does not impress me. I'll finish buying
the current story arc, but will read what I have on hand before I make
a commitment to the Image run.

MOSAIC - With the exception of DAWN, I'm hesitant to order books from
Sirius. I don't see a commitment to timely publishing from this
company. Still, at least two shops I visit carry their comics and Kyle
Hotz artwork is usually intriguing, so I ordered #2 last month. I hope
I'm able to locate a copy of #1 which got bumped thanks, again, to All
Star month. -- Order it if offered.

NIGHTWING - The only Batman family title I'm buying these days. The
attraction here is a series of light-hearted stories set in a city
more corrupt than Gotham, with fun artwork to boot. But DC's move to
print this title on cheap newsprint stock has lowered my esteem. --
Order pending evaluation of hype.

SCENE OF THE CRIME - After JONNY DOUBLE, I was hungry for another
crime comic from Vertigo. This looks like the best bet. -- Order it.

STARMAN - This used to be my "icing on the cake" title (see HITMAN
above) until I sat down and read the last six issues. Beyond his
fabulous painted covers, I was never a huge fan of Tony Harris style
on this series. James Robinson's writing, though, was always top
notch. Since Robinson began co-writing with David Goyer, that alchemy
is missing. And the Snejbjerg and Champaign artwork makes me long for
Harris to return. Robinson made a commitment to continue this comic
series for many years to come. He shouldn't delegate that commitment.
-- Order it, but watch closely.

STRANGERS IN PARADISE - Who do you love? Christine Applegate or
Jennifer Connelly? I mean, Katchoo or Francine? I'm more into Francine
and my son favors Katchoo. Either way, it's two copies of each issue.
One can't read this comic and not end up caring for the characters. --
Order it.

SUPERBOY - What does this have in common with NIGHTWING? It's the only
Superman family title I'm buying these days. It has fun- loving
stories with strong ties to Kirby's SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN and
KAMANDI, along with nice, clean art that keeps drawing me back. And,
like NIGHTWING, DC has changed over to cheap newsprint stock for this
comic, which is irritating. -- Order it.

THOR - He's back. The God of Thunder has finally been returned to his
former glory. Keep on keeping on and I'll keep on reading on. -- Order
it.

THUNDERBOLTS -- It's getting old real fast, even with the addition of
Hawkeye, who has never been a favorite of mine anyway. How many issues
can they be on the lam while trying to go straight? -- Don't order it.

TOM STRONG -- I'll give just about any Alan Moore comic a try. This
looks like a tribute to the man of bronze. -- Order it if offered.

WARHAMMER MONTHLY -- This British anthology series contains some great
little six page chapters of stories set in the barbaric, science
fiction world of Warhammer Games. It features well-written fiction and
has a nice sampling of different artists each month, with only a
modicum of graphic violence. Can any retailers reading this find me a
copy of issue #7? That's the only one I'm missing. -- Order it.

My review finished was finished so I turned to Bill. "It looks like
I'll have no trouble adding some new titles to my order for the month
of May, Bill. Several of the comics I ordered last month won't be
offered and still more will depend on their hype. At least three
comics are definitely dropping off of my order."

He didn't answer. He was too busy jumping up and down on the couch,
playing with his lips and making gorilla-like grunting noises.
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[10] RANDOM THOUGHTS IN A LESS THAN RANDOM WORLD         Gary Sassaman
                                                     GSassaman@AOL.COM

(Gary Sassaman is the Writer/Artist/Publisher of INNOCENT BYSTANDER,
you know...the "nice little comic you can take home to mom.")

Where have all the fanzines gone?

Well, when I was a kid, there were hundreds of them. And I suppose you
could (successfully) argue that what you're reading right now, this
here edition of CBEM, is the 21st century equivalent of the printed
fanzine of twenty to thirty years ago. I'd buy that. And the burgeoning
list of old time comics fanzines probably in some strange way helped to
spawn (no pun intended) the current crop of zines, that somehow get
placement in Tower Records and even Borders...you know, the rags about
skate- boarding and music and movies and just about anything under the
sun.

But the comics fanzine holds a very-hallowed place in my heart. Back in
the early sixties, it was these little mostly- mimeographed wonders
that brought together the fragile beginnings of comics fandom. It was
people like Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas and the Thompsons and Biljo
White and Ron Foss and Grass Green who published for publishing's sake
and not for money, but for the sheer love of the medium. I'm omitting a
lot of names here, and some are amongst the dear departed. Yes, it's
been that long a road.

The mimeo zine (and mimeography itself was quite an artform, when used
properly) begat the offset zine. People like Jerry Bails took it one
step further with Alter Ego, the first "slick" fanzine with printing
that wasn't the common mimeo blue or red or green. Squa Tront, the
great EC fanzine, came along, and Witzend and suddenly it was difficult
to tell the "fan"-zine from the "pro"-zine. (Bill Schelly's fine
publications, from his Hamster Press, tell the history of comics fandom
in this era.)

And suddenly it all stopped. A lot of the fans became pros, starting
with Roy Thomas himself. And the next generation didn't really aspire
to be fanzine editors. They fancied themselves self- publishers and
started publishing their own comics, taking their cue from the likes of
Dave Sim, Wendy and Richard Pini and Eastman and Laird.

But in the past few years, the comics fanzine has been rearing it's
pretty head again, and it is certainly a much prettier head, due to the
little technological advancement you're reading this on: The computer.
The desktop publishing revolution has made publishing a fanzine a much
easier task, and having a professional looking zine is only a software
manual or two away.

I think the growth of the modern comics fanzine started with Gary
Carter's Comic Book Marketplace. I know people are going to argue with
me that CBG has been around for a long time, and could still be viewed
as a  fanzine, and Wizard, in it's own annoying little brother fashion,
is a classic teenage fanzine in slick clothes. But CBM started as an
informational zine and a quasi-ad zine and morphed into just about the
only magazine devoted to Golden and Silver Age comics. I think it paved
the way for John Morrow's Jack Kirby Collector, which also started as a
black and white zine devoted to well, you-know-who. Around issue 9 or
so, John strayed over the line into prozine, with the addition of
color covers and has since added the superlative Comic Book Artist
(edited by Jon Cooke) to his little publishing empire, with the revival
of Alter Ego (edited by Roy Thomas, certainly going full- circle)
scheduled for this summer. (Alter Ego has been sharing the pages of
Comic Book Artist for the first 4 or 5 issues.)

I'm writing all this because every 3 months or so a little gem titled
COMIC EFFECT makes its way into my mailbox. Published by Jim Kingman of
Pasadena, CA, CE is unusual in that it is, for the most part, nothing
but comics reviews. What's so unusual with that? Well, they're not just
current comics reviews, they're comics reviews of anything published,
anytime. The current issue, #22, includes reviews of Amazing Spider-Man
Annual #1, Alex Ross' Uncle Sam, Batman #217, Mister Miracle #18, Evan
Dorkin's Hectic Planet TPBs and includes an article about Joe Orlando's
editorial influence on, of all things, Jimmy Olsen comics. Like
journeying through time in some paper wayback machine, CE makes me
nostalgic for both the fanzines and the comics of my youth.

Kingman has assembled a group of knowledgeable fans who write about just
about anything, but by far the best writer of the group is Kingman
himself. This issue has a stand-out editorial that sums up a lot of
what is currently wrong with comics today, or rather what's wrong with
the future of comics. I quote:

"Comics, I suppose, don't stand a chance in a ten-year-old's eyes
today. But I remember when I was a kid, no one else I knew collected
comics...but as I grew older, I discovered hundreds of adults who just
like me were once the one lone kid in their neighborhood who loved
comics. If one kid in every neighborhood loves comics, then comics are
going to continue forever. But if the neighborhood kids don't have the
access--the chance-- to discover the wonderful world of comics, well,
then, eventually the industry is just going to get old and stuffy and
no longer have the history to fall back on because there was no present
for it to continue evolving."

The article the above quote is taken from is about Kingman's trip back
to his old neighborhood and finding no comics for sale anywhere. When
he was a kid, there were 3 different places he could buy comics. A sad
and true story that has probably been experienced by many reading this
column.

Comic Effect is a thoughtful, interesting, well-written tribute to
comic book history. Contact Jim Kingman at Paloma St. Publications,
P.O. Box 2188, Pasadena, CA 91102-2188. Sample copies are $3.50 each.
Tell him Gary sent you.
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[11] Sound And Fury                                        Craig Lemon
                                                    CraigLemon@aol.com

This time's Sound and Fury is brought to you courtesy of Thorby Comics,
who were gracious enough to send me a review pack - so, true to my
word, everything sent in gets a write up, so here we are!

Let's get the simple details out of the way first.  Thorby can be
reached via e-mail (tom@thorby.com or http://www.thorby.com/),
snail-mail (16 Technology West, Suite 134, Irvine, California 92618) or
telephone (949 753-0725 voice, 949 753-0782 fax).  First impressions
of the comics are a little disappointing - they feel flimsy, as if
they'll be a quick read of little substance.  Looking through, you see
the story gets interrupted in a couple of places by house ads - these
really should have been saved to the end, in one batch.

Now let's see what we've got, weirdest one first.


Death Asylum 1  ($4.95; Paintings by DeMarco, Poetry by Mark Powers)

Very, very dubious about this one.  Whole thing is twenty pages long,
including covers, so feels lighter than the rest.  The cover and title
promise a dark title, presumably about the horrors man does to man,
that sort of thing.  Instead, you get (mostly) full page paintings (all
but four in black-and-white) accompanied by three pieces of poetry.
Now, I admit that poetry is not my thing, so this went way over my
head, and I have a hard time figuring who'd pay this much for some
pictures and not a lot else.  However, they are suitable to be pulled
out carefully and framed, and one in particular, Will-'O-The-Wisp, I'd
love to have the full size original of. If you like poetry and excellent
art, this may be for you.


Night City: Meditations on Urban Violence 1  ($2.95; Written by Mort
Castle, Art by Mark A. Nelson and Don Kramer)

Firstly, I didn't like the logo - it looks like a basic font, nothing
special.  Secondly, the full title is too unwieldly, and makes the
comic look pretentious.  This feeling is reinforced by a text page
up front, written by Mort Castle, attempting to justify the comic. This
is a mistake, he should let the stories speak for themselves.  Stories?
 Yes, in this comic are three tales, all written by Castle, the first
two illustrated by Nelson, the last one by Kramer. "Music On The
Bridge" is an exercise in contrasting police brutality with their
appreciation of music. At five pages long, you feel that the story
doesn't really go anywhere. "The War Goes On" is another five-pagers -
what happens when a bunch of Neo-Nazi youth try to mug an old lady and
the down-and-out WWII vet she gives money to.  What do you think
happens? No surprises here. "Wondering Where The Lions Are" is ten
pages, and the story shines because of it.  A simple story of a hostage
situation in a diner - can the gunman's daughter reach out to him
before he kills everyone?  Again, obvious conclusion, although much
better executed than the other two.  I'd recommend sticking to two
ten-pagers, or one twenty, an issue, and using the space to flesh the
stories out a little.  If you're a fan of crime comics, say Jinx (a
jacket advertising this makes a welcome appearance in the diner) or
Stray Bullets, it may well take your fancy.


Santa Claws  ($2.95; Story by D. Olbrich & R.A. Jones, Art by Mike
Deodato Jr.)

24 pages of uninterrupted story (which is a welcome plus), behind a
truly awful Wolverine-esque cover.  The story, such as it is, rattles
along at a cracking pace, and it over before you know it. It's a
slasher story, set in a closed mall, except it cuts right to the chase
(literally) without those boring bits about hacking up a dozen
teenagers first.  All the usual ingredients in place, ripped blouses,
authority figure who doesn't believe the story, stupid actions taken
that wouldn't be in real life, and the post-Scream de facto, movie
references. If you ignore the deus ex machina at the end, this is a
decent read, especially if you like those sorts of movies.  Shame about
the cover, though.


The Skulker 1 & 2  ($2.95 each; Story by Griep Jr, Art by Kurth &
Brozman)

From the covers, the first part of the story, and the story premise,
you'd think this was a straight lift of Moon Knight.  Certainly all the
elements feel very familiar, hero interrupts a grave robbing in
progress, wears a costume uncannily similar to that of MK, apparently
speaks to himself, until the chief baddie whips out a gizmo that
rewinds time slightly and forces a different decision on the hero,
causing him to lose his powers and the fight. The story intercuts with
an 1889 tale, both of which crash together with other time lines in a
medley of hypertime gone wild.  Issue 2 picks up the tale, and we end
up with several Skulkers running around at the same time trying to sort
things out.  This issue bogs down a bit with an immense amount of
technobabble exposition by lead villain, but clear that out of the way
and you have a neat pair of issues that rise above the initial premise
and show definite potential for the future. I liked this one!


Johnny Cosmic 1/Space Gal 2  ($2.95; JC by Griep Jr & Kurth, SG by Mike
Kadin)

There is more to Johnny Cosmic than meets the eye.  On the surface, a
superhero from 'our' Earth thrust into a parallel universe by the evil
machinations of Dr Bozah.  Lots of background info on the first page
makes you think you've come into the story halfway through, which, as
it transpires, is also the situation with Johnny.  The main story here
is a fairly run-of-the-mill knockabout, a misunderstanding between good
guys leading to a long and drawn-out fight, the protagonists 'quipping'
during the battle, and sinister (disguised) forces on the periphery
that come into focus before the end of this tale's 21 pages.  However,
it's the underlying story that's of more interest - where did Johnny
really come from?  Why does he think he's from a parallel universe? -
and one that contains the hook for future issues.  Unfortunately, I
believe that a couple of weeks ago it was announced this book was being
refigured, which is a shame, and I'd recommend tracking Johnny Cosmic
wherever he turns up next. Space Gal 2 is an eight page backup to the
main strip, and rather inconsequential I'm afraid. Bemoaning her
desperate lack of cash in a lowlife bar, Spacegal (Margaret in
actuality) gets inadvertently involved in a brawl, beats up on a few
gamblers, then is shanghaied by a number of goons in tough armour, and
with big guns.


Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet  ($6.95; Main story by Stenstrum &
Panaligan)

Not sure if this is the first in a series, but as the indicia has an
original copyright date of 1989, possibly not.  Which is a real shame,
as the Holmes' canon is crying out for regular adaptations in this sort
of format.  Your money gets you an A4 GN, two stories and a few text
articles. The text articles serve as a reasonable introduction to
Holmes, Doyle and Sherlockania in general, although will be skimped
over by anyone familiar with these topics already.  The first, and
largest, story, is an adaptation of A Study In Scarlet, in fine
charcoal-effect art.  Characters are consistent throughout, and
although the story reads more like an illustrated text than a comic,
you can't really go wrong with this sort of material.  I would have
preferred the art to extend the text slightly, perhaps giving more
precursors of what Holmes sees to make his deductions from at the end
of the story, this would involve the reader slightly more. The second
story, The Singular Case of the Anemic Heir (by Dubay, Duane and
Caravana), is a poor affair, rushed in execution and completely obvious
from start to finish.  Little or no deduction involved, just a
straight-forward adventure story.  Not suited for this title at all,
but overall the GN is recommended for the SinS story alone.


Blythe: Night Vision  ($14.95; By Various)

At 192 pages, virtually all story, this is a nice chunky read,
collecting a number of issues of a Blythe: Night Vision series.  Not
too much detail about that series is provided in the indicia here, nor
copies of the covers, which is a shame as I personally like these
little extras in TPB collection.

Blythe herself is a vampire-cum-bounty-hunter type gal.  Night Vision
is her 'power' that lets her see beyond illusion and disguise to bring
the nasties to justice - brought to mind the same sort of quest as
Zealot in Wildcats against the alien Daemonites.  The story concerns
how she goes about routing out the aliens, the people she encounters
along the way, and progresses in quite a laid back but gloomy fashion,
very dark and 'goth'ic, with a fair does of semi-nudity and violence
into the fashion.

It may be a cliche, but if you like this sort of thing, you'll like
this!

Overall, then, a little bit of a hit-and-miss kickoff for Thorby, but
some real promise shown in several of their titles, a couple of which
I'd've been annoyed to miss.

And finally.  Comics 99 in Bristol, UK, occurs over the Easter weekend,
and I'll be attending this event to try and beg free copies of stuff to
review!  However, I'll be travelling on my own, so if anyone out there
fancies meeting up for a beer or two over the weekend, please get in
touch with me via email at the above address.   Cheers!

Thanks for listening: comments, questions, recommendations or offers of
review comics gratefully received at the above email address.
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[12] Independent Voices                                      Rich Henn
                                                  rasmus@timespell.com

(When not stressing at the day job, Rich is stressing over the next
issue of TIMESPELL. He lives in sunny Maryland with his beautiful wife
and their lazy Siberian Husky.)

Hello, once more!  It's been a little while since I've checked in.
Truth of the matter is, I haven't really read any good comics in a
number of weeks, and figured it would be pointless to tell you  "Well,
I saw this on the rack last week...I thought about it picking it
up...." It's been a pretty busy month for me. Not just the day job
racking up hours,  but finishing up the latest issue of TIMESPELL,
doing promotion and the like.

And...for those of you who have written me, asking about INDEPENDENT
VOICES #2  (the comic book)...well, good news.

David Napoliello and I have talked it over, and there will indeed be a
second issue.
 This book will, as the first one did, benefit the CBLDF.  Indy Voices
#1 raised well over $1000 for the fund, and David and I are looking to
double that with issue #2. The book will include stories by the same
quad of creators from issue #1, namely myself, David Napoliello, Carla
Speed McNeil and Vince Sneed.
 We have extended the invitation to include John Gallagher of BUZZBOY
and Steve Conley of ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS.
 The project is still in the early stages, but David has spoken to
 Chris Oarr of CBLDF, and told him of our intentions. The book will
come out sometime in August, a full month before SPX. I'll be giving
you more on the project as it develops.

In the meantime, this is what I did get a chance to read.

The Victorian .....$2.95 Full Color
Publisher: Penny-Farthing Press
Writer: Marlaine Maddux
Pencils:  Martin Luna
Inks: Jose Bueina
Cover: Jim Steranko

Folks, I'm bringing this up for a couple reasons. Namely, if anyone out
there read this book, and UNDERSTOOD it, please drop me a line.  I
really, really wanted to like this book. When I ordered it in the
Previews Catalog way back when, I was very excited.
 It looked good, it had Steranko attached to the project, and James
Owen as publisher.
 For those of you who don't know who James Owen is, he's the gentleman
who did STARCHILD. He also promised us a "24 hr. comic" AGES ago, and
never delivered, but it sure sounded good at the time. Bottom line is
on The Victorian...by the time I got to the last page, I had no idea
what the hell I had just read. It left me utterly confused and
aggravated, because I was so jazzed to read this and felt completely
let down.  Needless to say, I won't be buying issue #2. But, if anyone
wants to explain this mess to me, please do.

Hellblazer #134 & #135......$2.50
Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: John Higgins

I normally don't review Vertigo stuff...I try to stay with mostly Indy
titles. But the truth of the matter is, these two issues of Hellblazer
were not only some of the best stuff I've read in a little while, it
was two of the best Hellblazer books I've read since Garth Ennis and
Steve Dillon's run. That was, what...4 years ago? Five years?  Been a
while.
 A friend of mine gave me a copy of the Hellblazer paperback
"Dangerous Habits" about 5 years or so ago.  Maybe longer...been a
while. But I had NEVER read Hellblazer until that moment.  I loved it.
I was so intrigued with the character of John Constantine, and the
spin Ennis put on the character by killing him with lung cancer. I went
out and bought a large chunk of all the Garth Ennis run up to that
point, and a huge bit of the Jamie DeLano run.  When Ennis left the
book to make way for Paul Jenkins, I too, left the book.  I tried to
follow Jenkins' stories, but couldn't. I found them boring and
sluggish, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not read the
character of John Constantine the way Paul wrote him.

 So, imagine my excitement when Ennis came on last year to do his
six-issue storyline. Imagine my HUGE disappointment only two issues
into that plot. I wanted so much to like that story, it was painful to
finish the whole run. By the time Ennis had finished the six-issue
drivel called "Son of Man", I was thoroughly convinced that Ennis had
peaked out a LONG time ago. Hell, have you tried sucking your way
through PREACHER lately? I'm sorry folks...but what a piece of CRAP!  I
mean that! Not so long ago, I had someone ask me if I could  only read
one comic.... if my budget was so tight, that I could only have ONE
comic every month to read, what would it be?  Well, hands down it was
Preacher. Boy, that would have been one long sucky life of mindless
garbage. Last month's culmination of  "The Meat Man" was so
retarded...so vile and so mindless...that right there I was ready to
dump that book.  It read like Ennis had painted himself into a corner,
had nowhere to go, and decided to wrap it up real quick and messy. But
I digress...this review is about Hellblazer, the new improved Warren
Ellis run.

The plot is simple...one of John Constantine's old  girlfriends is
brutally murdered, and her spirit will not rest until Constantine finds
out who murdered her and why. The writing is very clever, and Ellis
manages to get you hooked from the very start. I must admit, I had some
reservations because the artist, John Higgins, is the same fellow who
did the art on the "Son of Man" story line.  But the story is executed
brilliantly, and flows without any rough edges sticking out to make you
go "huh?"

The covers are painted by Tim Bradstreet, and are absolutely
beautiful. They really capture the mood of the piece, and leave you
wanting more. This is the way John Constantine is supposed to be read.
And nobody knows the elements of horror in comics better than Warren
Ellis.

3 GEEKS #9.....$2.50
Published by 3 Finger Prints
Written/Illustrated by : Rich Koslowski

Once again, the Geeks have done it.  Or, should I say Rich has done
it. The 3 Geeks continues to be one of my top favorite comics in the
industry, a title I look forward to eagerly.  It still continues to
make me laugh out loud, and is as fresh today as when the first issue
came off the shelf. Rich doesn't just play the same gag over and
over...he reaches in and pulls out the geek in all of us, in every
sense of the word.

This particular issue finds the boys gathering for a comic book movie
marathon. Spotlighted are rips on all of our favorite Comic to Film
titles, my personal favorite being the rip on Conan The Barbarian. In
this scene, Jim makes the other guys watch his favorite part of the
movie three times. His favorite part is the opening credits, where
they're making Conan's sword. DUDE!  What a killer bit to write!  I
laughed so hard when I read that, because that's my favorite part in
Conan as well...and I'm sure there's got to be a lot of other guys out
there who've seen this movie and can relate. I always thought that was
a fantastic bit!

The boys take turns watching The Croak, Punish-Man, Amazing Four
(bootleg), GLA, Transmorphers (clearly everyone's favorite) and many
others. The parody is great, the gags are wonderful and Rich continues
to deliver your favorite Geeks the way you love 'em.

But that's not all...the second story is even better. It's a quick 3
page gag...not so much a story, as it is a tale of irony, as Keith
scampers to find a good comic to read, and still make it to the toilet
in record time. It's a tale entitled "Close Call", with finishes and
tones by Eddy Newell, and you will ALL relate to this one!

The third story is entitled SKY, with guest art by Jason Asala of POE
fame. This quick bit introduces us to a new Geek, a female who will
enter the fray! Goth Geek Sky Branovan.  Live it.  Read it.  Love it.
I cannot  say enough about Rich Koslowski's comic. It's at the top of
my must read list.  An extra special treat in this issue. Rich treats
us to a painted cover , both front and back. HOWEVER....the back cover
should be a poster.  Seriously. And, it should be in every comic
reader's bathroom.

Until next time....
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[13] Multiverse Observer and Explorer Reviews        Paul Dale Roberts
                                                     silhouet9@aol.com

[Paul promotes amateur and professional comic book artwork, scripts,
storylines, and unpublished comic books with a newsletter called the
Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter.  Its website is at Jazma Comic Book
Newsletter Productions at http://www.twmgrafix.com/jazma   He is also
a prominent letter hack, as anyone who reads comic letter pages would
know.  He is in production of his own self-published comic book
called The Legendary Dark Silhouette and has copyrighted over 600
characters for his Jazma Universe.]

Name: Kabuki #7
Publisher:  Image
Written and Drawn by: David Mack
Price: $2.95

Comments: If at anytime Kabuki was psycho analyzed, it was done here in
Kabuki #7.  I was absolutely amazed at the "next level or next step" of
superior comic book artwork that was done for this issue.  Not only the
gorgeous abstract artwork, but also the abstract lettering, along with
the full format of this ish!  This was a brilliant piece of work that
will most likely be considered part of comic book history in future
days to come.  The agency that is trying to set Kabuki up with a new
identity, wishes to remove her scars. So far Kabuki seems reluctant to
remove those scars.  Those scars are her identity and if one takes them
away, Kabuki would lose all sense of identity.  My theory.  So much is
going on with Kabuki and it was interesting to see how she was compared
to the baseball spy known as Mo Berg, than comparing her with the
sensual Mati Hari.  Kabuki's strong point is her extreme intelligence
and her beauty is placed secondary.    It is mentioned that she is on a
genius level in math, music, bodily kinesthetic, spatial, naturalist
and more.  Kabuki is definitely a prodigy. Thinking outside of the box
is important and with a spy that is able to do this, would be
beneficial for any agency that is handling her. Kabuki with this talent
would be able to get her self out of any dire situation.  Exceptionally
good read, with some very unusual visuals. Check this one out.

Name: Lady Death v. Vampirella
Publisher: Chaos! Comics
Written by: Brian Pulido & Marc Andreyko
Drawn by: Steven Hughes
Price: $3.50

Lady Death is seeking her ultimate revenge.  Scorn uses Vampirella as
her way for vengeance and with a gem, Vampirella's powers are
enhanced. With this enhancement of powers, Vampirella is now Lady
Death's equal in battle. Vampirella thinks Lady Death is taking
Lilith's (Vampirella's mom) soul and the gem helps Vampirella find Lady
Death. When the two meet, it's a battle royal.  Lady Death denies
knowing who Lilith is and Vampirella knows that she must drink Lady
Death's blood to gain her memories and learn the truth.  When this
occurs, they both learn the truth and share each other's memories.
They know what they must do, they must find Scorn!  Some hairy moments
peak in the story, as Lady Death at one time is ready to behead
Vampirella.  But, when they both learn the truth, they become allies.
Some good humor is thrown in at the end of the story, when Lady Death
decides to spare Vampirella's life. What happens to Scorn?  Your going
to have to find out for yourself, this hot crossover is now on the
racks!  Steven Hughes does a great job with the artwork and the cover
is a knockout alone. Chaos! Comics says:   "Note: This is an imaginary
story of Lady Death and Vampirella.  It does not fit in the Chaos!
Cosmos continuity."  Well....true believers out there will know that
this is most likely an alternate reality where these two icons did
actually meet....my theory.   Anyway, check this comic out, your
definitely going to like it!  And remember to leave the lights on.
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[14] My View                                             David LeBlanc
                                                    ComicBkNet@aol.com

[David LeBlanc is the Editor of the Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine.
He is a long time fan of comics and the electronic media -  having been
the moderator of the comics forums on WME, FIDONET and the Comic Book
Network.  He and his wife are attempting to raise two teenage sons in
a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts.  David supports his comic book
habit by working as the Manager of Marketing and Sales for a privately
owned manufacturer of electro-mechanical components.]

PARA TROOP #5/BASTARD STEW (PREQUEL)
32 pages, black & white, color covers, $2.95/$4.25 CAN
Comics Conspiracy
Sunnyvale, CA
http://www.comicsconspiracy.com

PARA TROOP   "Crop Circle"
Story - Doug Miers
Pencils - Mike Patterson
Inks - Jeff Boychuk
Cover - Ron Adrian
Cover Ink - Tie
Color - Ben Prenevost

As suggested by the title of this chapter, the opening involves Close
Encounters in the farmland complete with mutilated cows, irate
farmers, men in black, and of course a flying saucer.  The latter of
course belongs to the heroes of the comic book, PARA TROOP.  The alien
pilot has been flying the gang around various parts of rural america
surveying various crop circles for his own reasons.  As they stop at
one site the rest of the gang ponder the reasons, while the resident
seer among them talks of an upcoming surprise attack.  Of course we
know the MIBs are already in the area and it isn't long before the
melee begins.  The gang is being pursued by these mysterious men and
they will stop at nothing to capture them, dead or alive.

Our heroes are not a normal bunch of powered beings, in the traditional
comic book sense.  Two of them are escapees from an asylum, another
eats anything combustible and bursts into flames, another is a former
soldier and there is an honest to God alien in the bunch.  When they
are not trying to figure out why the alien brought them all together
they are often fighting among themselves - this time very violently
among themselves.  In fact, you begin to wonder who the more dangerous
foes are, the MIBs or the fellow Para Troopers.

I've been enjoying this series since the first issue and it has
improved with each chapter.  The characters are constantly evolving
and taking us to new areas.  The artwork is dynamic and forcefully
adds to the storytelling.  The guys are having fun telling their story
so much that it seems to just flow from page to page.  It is different
than many things out there as the characters are offbeat making them
much more interesting than most.  Waiting to see what happens next
gets harder all the time.

BASTARD STEW  "Prequel"
Script - Doug Miers
Pencils - Ron Adrian
Inks - Tie
Color & grey scale - Ben Prenevost, Mark Sweeney, & S. Steven Struble
Character visualization - Al Rio

This is the beginning of a story that will continue in issue one. The
prequel on the flip side of PARA TROOP includes previews of the first
three covers of the upcoming series.  The story is about a team sent
to escort an AWOL General back to the States from Brazil.  He has some
secret papers to be safeguarded and so Rico and his partners from the
CIA are assigned to be sure he does.  Sure enough, others try to
thwart their plan and an attempt on the general's life is barely
stopped.  As he is whisked away we soon learn there ar layers of
deception afoot.

This introduction is interesting enough.  The brief look at the
characters is not enough to get to know them but international
espionage is bound to mean lots of action and intrigue - if done
right.  The art seems to be a bit too much like an Image clone - not
any one creator, but not unique by itself.  the few panels the one
female is in is enough to evoke this feeling, as she is "posed" both
on the cover and on the inside panels.  That may well be to attract a
target audience but I will only be back if the story is worth it.


Extra View: ELVIRA:MISTRESS OF THE DARK #72

I got a black & white preview of art only for this issue.  It is
written by Richard Howell with art by John Heebink & Ricardo
Villagran.  The main story will be a spoof of the TV shows FELICITY
and DAWSON'S CREEK and is called "Felicitous Creek".  The art has some
splendid caricatures of the actors from those series and the plot is
based on the real life event of the firing on one of the writers of
FELICITY, Riley Weston.  There will also be a back up story by Jo
Duffy, Tod Smith and Bob Wiacek.  Elvira maintains its longevity by
keeping the "fun" in funny books and keeps from getting stale by
exploring a variety of topics with tongue in cheek and an eye for
well drawn characters.  This might be one to jump on and see what it
is all about.
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[15] New Comic Book Releases List   [NCRL]           by Charles LePage
                                                     ncrl@mediaone.net

+++WINNER OF THE 1996 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE+++
                  http://www.jacksonville.net/~ncrl

New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday,  3/17/1999, compiled by
Charles LePage with information from Suncoast Comics. This is the
*preliminary* list and is not complete.

The completed list is posted weekly, usually Monday evening, at
rec.arts.comics.info, http://