---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 206 03/19/99 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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] Tony Isabella's Journal ............... Tony Isabella [6] Top 100 Comics of the Century ......... THE COMICS JOURNAL [7] Venting My Spleen ..................... David Groenewegen [8] Odds and Ends ......................... Eddie Mitchell [9] And Let Me Tell You Why ............... David Coulter [10] Pipeline Commentary and Review ........ Augie De Blieck Jr. [11] Had Your Phil? ........................ Phil White [12] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [13] My View:SILVERSTORM/MOJO MECHANICS..... David LeBlanc [14] Top Ten Black & White Comics:FEBRUARY.. THE COMIC SHOP NEWS [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 strip: HEROES RERUN by Johnny Gonzales ----------------------------------------------------------------------- o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The ComicBook Network was founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to: ComicBkNet@aol.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT to be placed on the FREE subscription list. To drop it use UNSUBSCRIBE as a SUBJECT. See section [A] for the address to mail material to be reviewed. ______________________________________________________________________ All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating 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 alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Except for personal archiving, permission must be obtained from the individual authors to reproduce, retransmit, or publish any part of this magazine. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc It seems I hardly have time to write this part of the Emag anymore, the demands of work and getting the rest of this thing together each week being what they are. For those of you who are familiar with the "end of the fiscal year" crunch, I ask for you sympathy in this coming week as ours ends next Saturday. I got word this week that a previous MY VIEW column is now being used for the main review of the AMAZON.COM offering of SOUTHERN FRIED HOMICIDE. I could spell out the URL here but it is long and ugly. Just go to Amazon.com and do a book search for keywords "Fried Homicide" and you will get there. We are conquering the Internet, one site at a time! On the subject of comics, there was a different comic in the pile this week which harkens back to the golden age and frankly I am not all that impressed. I know I will have a horde of people blasting me on this but this is after all a very subjective hobby we love so we must leave room for diverse opinions. I just don't get what the frenzy is over the Justice Society and their whole cast of characters. I enjoyed them enough as a young reader when they were re-introduced during the Silver Age as being on that other Earth. They were kind of cool and special because they were not around a lot and all we got was a glimpse of an era gone by and a different age of heroes. Now, there is a very strong contingent of fans who have been clamoring for more and a regular series and it looks like it will happen. The event this month even resurrects some of the classic titles of long ago for a lot of one shots and those covers are really cool. But judging from the lead-in story in ALL STAR COMICS #1 I won't be along for the ride. [Spoilers kinda] DC does a lot of neat things, but they also over-do a lot of mediocre things. The plot in this series is so worn out I was groaning by the end because I knew where it was going. Hero gets involved with a major baddy and calls in the group. Group tries to take out said baddy but instead is defeated and baddy steps up the evil with multiple attacks in various places (end of part 1). Next set of chapters involves sub-teams of the group facing the individual attacks of the baddy forces (individual one shots) and in the end will re-group to reach a satisfactory resolution and defeat the baddy after all. This may be a homage to way the typical story used to be told but doesn't an "event" warrant a better effort? I expected a bit more interesting tale for all the hype and the enthusiasm those JSA fans have. Alas, just not my cup of tea. Give me Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison any day. As to what else is on the racks this week: DARK HORSE Dark Horse Presents #141, 2.95 DC COMICS Batman & Superman Worlds Finest #2 (Of 10), 1.99 Human Target #2 (Of 4), 2.95 Planetary #2, 2.5 Superboy #62, 1.99 IMAGE COMICS Age Of Bronze #3, 2.95 Mage The Hero Defined #11, 2.5 MARVEL COMICS Avengers #15, 1.99 Captain America #17, 1.99 SHARKBAIT PRESS Pete The Pod Postal Worker #8, 2.95 SILVERLINE Silverstorm #3 (Of 4), 2.95 <-----Pick of the Week! This is not to say all of the above is better than other stuff out there, as I have explained before, my picks are things I read- but not everything. Later in this issue we have Fantagraphics picks of the Top 100 Comics of the Century and I must say that I am more amazed at what is NOT on the list - but you judge for yourself! David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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: 'Nuff Said! radio show From: nuffsaid@escape.com (Nuff Said) We currently share our time slot with 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. Starting Tuesday, April 6, 1999, 'Nuff Said will be on the air for a full hour every Tuesday at 10 PM on WBAI-FM, 99.5 in the New York City metropolitan area. Here's the schedule for our last two City in Exile segments: 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 and comic strips that give a message such as Pogo, Doonesbury, political cartoons and to some extent For Better or Worse. Tuesday, March 31 - in our last half hour show, we'll take listener calls instead of trying to squeeze in a guest. Besides, we never got to all the phone calls the last time we took them. Those who want to get in on it from long distance can call 212-209-2900 after 10:10 PM eastern time. 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 +++++ Subj: Tarot and the Hellions From: nicolas_giard@hotmail.com (Nicolas Giard) Hi ! Ever loved a particular minor character ? I'm quite fond of Tarot, this young misled misfit who belonged to the Hellions from the New Mutants (Marvel) series. She was killed several years ago in a lame story but came back to life. She's a very enjoyable young mutant. I wish Marvel could get us an origin story for the original Hellions. Nicolas +++++ From: "Johnny Gonzales" Well, many of you who have in the past asked me why I've never drawn a weekly cartoon strip for my local military newspaper, here's an interesting article that may help shed some light on that subject. ----- Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) February 25, 1999 Navy Comic Book Hero Told To Stow His Cape By John Fritz, Times-Union staff writer Chaplain America, the Navy's comic book superhero who used his powers of good to guide sailors and Marines around life's moral land mines, has been stripped of his cape. Some chaplains didn't think it was dignified to have ''a religious member being in tights and a cape with an insight ray and all of that,'' said the comic's creator, Lt. Bryan Finch, a Navy chaplain in Pensacola. The third and latest version of Finch's occasional comic has been renamed Adventures in Core Values and touts the same virtues of honor, courage and commitment, but without the masked chaplain. Still, the goal remains trying to send a positive message about values in a way that's fun and entertaining, Finch said. ''Core values are important. They're not some corny, dry, dull, dusty thing some ethicist with Coke-bottle glasses is trying to espouse, but a vital part of who and what we are in the military service,'' Finch said. And when things get rough and tumble, he said, it is those core values that carry the day. Published by the Pensacola-based Naval Education and Training Command, the comic is distributed to chaplains and to ships and other commands throughout the Navy upon request. None of the 45,000 copies of the latest issue have hit Jacksonville yet, Finch said. The comic features stories of a futuristic Marine Corps operation to reunite a fragmented United States, the fortitude of sailors and aviators at Midway in World War II, and the moral dilemma of a sailor who spies a shipmate with an illegal gun. It also offers short biographies of military role models who have served with honor. Lt. Gary Atkinson, a chaplain at Cecil Field Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, said the comic books are an especially good way to educate younger sailors. ''Tradition is good, but we also need to have vision,'' said Atkinson, who noted that change has often come slow in religious circles. ''In order to connect with the younger generation, we need to adapt . . . This is an excellent effort in doing that.'' Finch, a Southern Baptist minister from Cartersville, Ga., said the simple, fast and to-the-point style of comic books ''really fits in with the Generation Xers that make up today's military.'' But selling a comic book on ethics to the Navy wasn't the easiest thing, Finch recalled. The draft of the first issue, which Finch did in 1995 in San Diego, was labeled as ''goofy'' and ''stupid'' by some of the officers who reviewed it, he said. But Finch, who got the idea for the cartoon from a chaplain in Germany who drew a Chaplain America character with a sidekick named Altar Boy, persisted and won out. Now, he says, ''You may be talking to the father of sci-fi religion.'' ------- SSgt Johnny Gonzales AFOSI Det 422/IM 308 N. 1st Street Room 1401 Altus AFB, OK 73521-2937 e-mail: gonzalj1@ogn.af.mil ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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.) +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 QUESTION OF THE WEEK: was the 3rd Trivia Contest Anniversary Special question: What is extraordinary about the January 1998 issues of most of the titles of the Acclaim VALIANT HEROES Comics? With additional clues: Some but not ALL of those issues have COVER dates. 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. Once again Bob (LAW IS ASS) Ingersoll was first to figure out the answer. The most detailed explanation came from long time fellow VALIANT fan, Jimmy Kirk: "January 1998 marks the first time that the Publisher's Statement of date was changed to reflect the ACTUAL "DATE" THAT THE BOOKS WERE TO BE SHIPPED AND ON THE SHELVES. Prior months issues followed the traditional practice of (who knows what and how the traditional practice came to be!?!) cover date preceding the book in stores by some 4 or 5 months. This certainly made my investigation difficult, since I was examining the "January 1998" books based on the cover date, and not by the actual "Shipping" date. TOUGH QUESTION! " That is right folks, Acclaim actually "rebooted" the publication dates of their VALIANT HEROES line and so as not to confuse people they did not put the month on the covers of the "SECOND" January, February, March or April 1998 issues. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: According to Gene Colan, what comic company was the FIRST to produce a comic direct from pencils - his of course. IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the 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. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry Obituaries in the News Leon Falk NEW YORK (AP) -- Leon ``Lee'' Falk, the creator of the comic strips ``Mandrake the Magician'' and ``The Phantom, died Saturday of congestive heart failure. He was 87. Falk was a college student when he conceived ``Mandrake the Magician,'' about a hypnotist who used his powers to fight crime. The strip, which first appeared in 1934 and has been drawn by Fred Fredericks since 1965, is still syndicated in 125 newspapers. In 1936, Falk developed ``The Phantom,'' which follows the exploits of a costumed superhero. The strip runs in than 500 newspapers. After working in secret intelligence with the Office of War Information during World War II, Falk returned to play writing and theatrical production. For many years he was the owner of summer theaters in Massachusetts and a winter theater in Nassau in the Bahamas. Falk produced more than 300 plays and directed about 100 others, featuring stars such as Dame May Whitty in ``Night Must Fall'' and Charlton Heston in ``Bell, Book and Candle.'' He also wrote several plays and two musicals, ``Happy Dollar'' and ``Mandrake the Magician and the Enchantress.'' Film's First Superman Alyn Dies By TERRI LANGFORD HOUSTON (AP) -- Actor Kirk Alyn, a dancer who followed friend Red Skelton to Hollywood and became film's first Superman, has died after a long illness. He was 88. Alyn died Sunday in a hospital near his home in The Woodlands, Texas, just north of Houston, friends and family said Monday. Superman, the comic book hero born in the Depression, already had captured the imagination of a generation of children in print and on radio when Alyn agreed to play the part in 1948. He was 37 when he starred as the Man of Steel in two pictures for Columbia Films: ``Superman'' in 1948 and in ``Atom Man vs. Superman'' in 1950. Each film was done in a 15-part serial format. ``When he asked me if I wanted to play Superman I thought it was a publicity stunt,'' Alyn told The Associated Press in 1987, the 50th anniversary of the superhero. ``I didn't think you could ever put Superman on film. They brought the people from D.C. Comics over and they said, 'Hey, he looks just like Clark Kent.''' Born John Feggo Jr. in Oxford, N.J., Alyn began his show business career in New York, first in vaudeville acts and later in chorus lines. When his friend Skelton left for Hollywood, Alyn soon followed. There he met another dancer and actress, Virginia O'Brien. The two married in 1942 and divorced 12 years later. ``He was really a fantastic Superman because he could move, because he had been a dancer,'' Ms. O'Brien said Monday. In 1951, actor George Reeves was cast as the new film red-caped crusader. Reeves later played the same role in the television series ``The Adventures of Superman.'' Alyn later discovered that his role as Superman had typecast him. ``I couldn't get another film job,'' Alyn said in 1987. ``I did play 'Superman' again and 'Blackhawk,' another comic book character. Then I went back to New York, where I had started. I did 10-12 Broadway plays. I was in New York only two weeks when I got my first show, 'Angel in Paris,' with Ilona Massey. I also did about 125 commercials.'' He returned to the superhero's story in 1978, when he appeared in an uncredited role as young Lois Lane's father in ``Superman,'' starring Christopher Reeve. +++++ From: "Augie De Blieck Jr." Here's an announcement from Erik Larsen (eriklarsen@aol.com) I thought you might like to include for CBEM this week. - - - AQUAMAN #62 will be my final issue of Aquaman. There were great many things that I had hoped to accomplish in this book but month after month, this became a wrestling match between the editor and me. "Creative differences" is the phrase Peter David used when he left the title and it certainly applies in my case as well. I found the process working on this book to be extremely frustrating. Most of my best work ended up on the cutting room floor and I kept setting up things that wouldn't get resolved because they would get shut down in mid-stream. I know that some Aquaman readers will respond to this with a collective, "Thank god, he's leaving" and I've got to say that I certainly share this sentiment. It was an extremely difficult book to write-- on the one hard, the editor wanted me to make Aquaman more cheerful and positive while at the same time he had Aquaman's wife leave him. The "just do it" directive that to me contradicted any logic or reason lead to some very tense exchanges. In addition to this, there were several instances where I was requested to basically rip-off stories from other people and I could not, in good conscience do this. Ultimately, these are not my characters and not my decisions and when it came right down to it--it was clear who had to stay and who would go. My big regret is that nobody ever got to read an issue of Aquaman the way I wanted to write one and that nobody ever gets to see how these things read before they were altered to the point where I couldn't stomach reading them. I'll do the best that I'm capable of to resolve some of the stories that I've set in motion but as always, I can't guarantee what will actually make it to the printed page. I hope that a writer can be found that can see eye-to-eye with the editor and that in the future there will be Aquaman stories we can all enjoy. +++++ NEW YORK (Variety) - Disney's Touchstone Pictures will turn the Japanese comic book ``Domu'' into a horror feature to be written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. The comic is a cult favorite in Japan, penned by the country's top comic book artist, Akira Katsushiro Otomo. It focuses on an apartment complex that seems cursed when yuppie residents end up dying in gruesome suicides. It turns out that a lonely old resident with psychic powers is doing the misdeeds. He ultimately does battle with a little girl who moves in, possessing the same powers as the old man. ``It's a horror lullaby with dense characters and great atmosphere,'' said Del Toro, whose recent films include ``Cronos'' and the Dimension thriller ``Mimic.'' Del Toro and project producer Don Murphy are comic book aficionados who were fans of Otomo's work, and set out to Americanize the story. Horror is a hot genre, and David Vogel, president of the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, was looking for a fright vehicle. He found it in ``Domu,'' which could well be Del Toro's next directing effort. The director's repped by manager Gary Ungar and William Morris' Lee Stollman, Mike Simpson and Frank Frattaroli. +++++ Subject: [NEWS] HARSH REALM CASTING (NO SPOILERS) From: j.d.hudnall@worldnet.att.net (James Hudnall) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Fox will make official casting announcements on Wednesday or Thursday. But according to the Vancouver Province, Harsh Realm's main cast is in place: DB Sweeney, Scott Bairstow, Max Martinini, and Samantha Mathis. DB Sweeney and Scott Bairstow are will play military officers while Max Martinini is Scott Bairstow's character's friend. It didn't say whether Bairstow or Sweeney is Dex. DB Sweeney was in Strange Luck, Lonesome Dove, Spawn Scott Bairstow was in Party of Five, Lonesome Dove: The Series, The Postman and was on an X-Files 1st Season episode where he played a preacher's son who could heal people. Samantha Mathis was in Broken Arrow, The American President, Pump up the Volume, and Super Mario Brothers. I could not find anything on Max Martinini. Anybody know who he is? What 's been in? It may be a typo and he could be actor Maximilian Martini who was in Saving Private Ryan. As far as the military officers thing goes, my guess is the project that involves the pocket universes or virtual realities is probably a military experiment in the TV series. We will see. Carter did say he changed the story "quite a bit". One rumor I heard was that Moria will be more of a "virtual girl friday" instead of a romantic lead. Ah, Hollywood. For more information check out my website or www.harshrealm.com James D. Hudnall www.thehud.com +++++ NextPlanetOver.com Announces Agreement with Independent Comic Book Publishers Online Seller Will Carry Titles and Offer Online Content by Abstract Studio, Oni Press, Slave Labor Graphics and Adhesive Comics NEW YORK, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- NextPlanetOver.com, the ultimate online destination for the entertainment hobbyist, has announced that it has signed agreements with four prominent independent comic book publishers. The partnerships will allow NextPlanetOver.com to better promote comic books published by Abstract Studio, Oni Press, Slave Labor Graphics and Adhesive Comics, which publishes the popular title, Too Much Coffee Man. In addition, these publishers will provide NextPlanetOver.com with exclusive online content, artist chats and the opportunity to digitize "virtual" comics. Because of these agreements, NextPlanetOver.com customers will have the unprecedented ability to discover and purchase hard-to-find comic books published by independent companies, including some which were previously available only at a handful of stores. "NextPlanetOver.com is taking the lead in helping independent publishers reach their potential readership," said Terry Moore, the creator of Strangers in Paradise, a popular independent title published by Abstract Studio. "They are going to have a significant impact on the comic book industry -- namely re-igniting the fire of independent comics." About NextPlanetOver.com NextPlanetOver.com is building the ultimate online destination for the entertainment hobbyist. This vibrant community will not only offer original articles and online forums, but will also sell a wide range of comic books, games, action, figures and other popular entertainment products. SOURCE NextPlanetOver.com +++++ There is more news related to the above announcement by NextPlanetOver.com and others this week. Over on the most excellent SPLASH page on www.comiccon.com, we learned earlier in the week that Steve Geppi announced at a RETAILER REPRESENTATIVE PROGRAM conference hosted by DIAMOND and DC that Diamond Distribution would be teaming up with NextPlanetOver.com and sources present reported the following to SPLASH: "Chuck Parker, Diamond's #2 man, reportedly informed the audience that Geppi had purchased ANOTHER UNIVERSE to keep it out of the hands of two suitors that Diamond felt were bad for the industry. He then said that Geppi had been aggressively trying to sell ANOTHER UNIVERSE for two months, but had found no buyers. "Geppi himself took the podium to address their concerns, but according to retailers, seemed vague and out of touch with the details of his internet dealings. Retailers began to ask questions about Diamond's and Geppi's involvement in the recently announced internet superstore site, NextPlanetOver.com. Answering direct questions, Geppi reportedly said he does not own a piece of NextPlanetOver, but has been offered an option to buy in. "As retailers pressed for details on NextPlanetOver's arrangement with Diamond, they were told that NPO internet orders would be fulfilled directly from Diamond's Sparta warehouse, and that NPO would not have to pay the industry standard shipping or reorder fees. At that point, DC Publisher, Paul Levitz addressed the Diamond executives from the back of the hall, telling them that under the terms of their exclusive agency/brokerage deal with DC, they could not do any such thing. Reportedly, Levitz said, "Guys, guys, you aren't selling my books to NPO. I am!" Witnesses said that the Diamond executives "turned as white as a sheet", and Geppi was speechless." Then came to formal press release this week about the independents hooking up with NextPlanetOver. And Splash did a follow up with news that MILE HIGH COMIC'S Chuck Rozanski had written to the Justice Department asking them for relief from, "Diamond's manipulative and deceitful machinations to steal my business, and that of my weaker friends and peers." The letter was addressed to Peter Mucchetti at the Department of Justice, and posted on the Comickaze retailer message boards along with a notice urging other retailers to join in the complaint. Rozanski says retailers are threatened by the actions of their exclusive supplier, Diamond Distributors."In a process about which we are still learning, Diamond Comic Distributors, and owner Steve Geppi, have conspired to co-opt a substantial portion of the retailing of comics from his/their own customers. Beginning by foreclosing on the credit line of the largest independent comics retailer on the Internet (www.anotheruniverse.com) in late September, Diamond has now announced that they have agreed to an "exclusive" fulfillment agreement with an Internet start-up company called Next Planet Over. This operation is to be run out of Diamond's Sparta, Illinois warehouse facility (formerly?) owned by Next Planet Over principal (Chairman/CEO?) Milton Griepp. Diamond's arrangement with Next Planet Over guarantees that Diamond will not fulfill individual Internet orders for any other Diamond account for a period of two years. In addition, Diamond owner Steve Geppi has revealed that as a part of the contract with Next Planet Over, either Diamond, or Mr.Geppi personally, have been granted the right to purchase an equity interest in Next Planet Over." Rozinsky goes on to say, "What really makes this process particularly repugnant is that all comics retailers are forced to purchase exclusively from Diamond. Were it possible for us to move our wholesale business away from Diamond, then this process might (while still a betrayal of relationships going back decades in some cases) have some moral validity. But for Diamond and/or Steve Geppi to conspire to enter the retailing field of comics, while simultaneously acting as a monopoly supplier to all comics shops, is beyond belief. I can only equate it to an animal that would eat it's own young. I am repulsed by Diamond's manipulative and deceitful machinations to steal my business, and that of my weaker friends and peers." Rozanski concludes with an appeal for help from the Department Of Justice, which reportedly began an investigation of possible anti-trust violations by Diamond last year: "None of us individually have the resources to battle Diamond, and even as a group we are very weak. The recession used up just about all of our cash resources, and most of us are still burdened by debt accumulated during the bad days. But we can see the good times just around the corner. We're working seventy and eighty hour weeks trying to revive our businesses. But Steve Geppi and his cronies have the power to smash us down just as we are about to regain our financial strength. Please don't let him destroy the future we've all worked so hard to achieve." Finally, Diamond has notified their customers that have been served out of their SPARTA, IL warehouse that they will now be getting their shipments from the Plattsburgh, NY operation instead. +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Bob Schreck Moves to DC Continuing to collect editors the way fans collect their comics, DC recently announced that Bob Schreck, former Senior Group Editor at Dark Horse Comics, and more recently co-founder (with Joe Nozemack) of Oni Press, has been appointed to the position of Senior Editor in the DC Universe editorial group. "Oni Press is now in the capable hands of Joe Nozemack and Jamie S. Rich," said Schreck, " and I'm certain that they will continue to make me proud of what we started together. Meanwhile, I look forward to working closely with the many friends and associates I've made over the years at DC, and am eager to help them to continue publishing great comics reading for all ages." While at DC, Schreck will become part of Mike Carlin's DC Universe group, and is expected to take on a diverse range of assignments and to acquire new projects for the group. Because he will not arrive at the DC offices until May, his only announced assignment at this time is taking over Legends of the DC Universe. A current resident of the Pacific Northwest, Schreck will begin work for DC on April 1, working from his home, and plans to relocate to New York City on May 1. Word also comes through the grapevine that Shreck's move to DC will attract a few creators back who may have had some difficulties with DC's policies in the past, with one creator already hinting that he may be looking at some DC work in his future. More details as we get them. Battlestar Galactica Recruits Top Talent Several high-profile creators will help create Realm Press' new Battlestar Galactica comics universe, the publisher announced. These creators will join series writer James Kuhoric and artist Chris Scalf: Daring Comics Founder Jim Shooter will create a story around Lt. Starbuck for Realm's soon-to-be-named second Galactica book. Shooter served as Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief when the series first aired, and originally helped license the property for comics. Acclaimed artist Jae Lee will provide a variant cover for the new series' first issue +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE Wildstorm will be releasing a STORMWATCH trade paperback in June collecting Warren Ellis' issues vol. 1 #48-50 and vol. 2 #1-3. This will be followed in the fall with another collection of vol. 2 #4-9. June's World's Finest #5 features a guest appearance by the formerly cheesy - now hot again - Batgirl. This time out, it's Barbara Gordon who's in the duds, apparently making her first appearance in the fifth year of the heroes' annual crossovers. +++++ From COMICS 2 FILM at Website: http://www.comics2film.com Nexus ----- Fans eager for a look at Steve Rude's planned Nexus animated show can now get a preview on-line. Malvina's Theater features a downloadable pilot short of Baron and Rude's assassin hero. The short depicts Nexus saving a rabbit-like creator from the evil Clayborn. Currently a poor-quality Real MediaT clip is available, but it looks as if a high-quality QuickTimeT will be available at a later date. Fans can also view clips of our favorite, Jetcat, as well as many other animated projects. http://www.airtightgarage.org/malvindex.html Sam Kieth's Megan ----------------- Sam Kieth recently communicated with subscribers to the Maxx mailing list from which he's long been absent. Kieth explained that his absence has largely been due to his commitment to making a go of a movie-making career. We reported last November that Kieth was making a low-budget movie based on his Megan character from the most recent issues of The Maxx. The comic creator reported a good news/bad news situation in regards to that project. The bad news is that the Megan movie is on hold. The good news is that the reason for the delay is that Kieth has been approached by some up-and-coming producers who want to increase the budget. The company, Open City, were apparently a big success at this year's Sundance film festival with their movie Three Seasons. However, Kieth reports that Open City wants some re-writes, so the project is back at square one. Kieth is also writing a screenplay for a movie that he is to direct for Roger Corman. The movie reportedly centers on a boy with a metal arm. Kieth has been scouting shooting locations in Ireland. This project, too, has been suffering delays. Kieth reports that they were to begin shooting in May, but the schedule has been pushed back again. http://members.tripod.com/~theoutback/ Elfquest -------- FROM THE DETROIT NEWS COMIC BOOK CONTINUUM: The animated feature version of Wendy and Richard Pini's ElfQuest is currently in active pre-production according to the Detroit News Comic Book Continuum. Richard Pini told the Continuum, "The script is being written, by Wendy, in collaboration with the folks at Wolfmill. It's based on elements from all eight of the original graphic novels, but more than that I can't divulge." Wolfmill Entertainment is the producer of the syndicated animated series Pocket Dragon Adventures. The company has been associated with the ElfQuest production along with Sceneries Europe and the Munich-base Trixter. According to the article, the movie will be entirely computer animated. http://detnews.com/comicbooks/ Spider-Man ---------- FROM CNN CUSTOM NEWS, ZENTERTAINMENT and MARVEL.COM: Expanding on statements made in the February issue of Premier, super-director James Cameron (Titanic) is now stating in no uncertain terms that he will not be the director of the Spider-Man movie. A story originated by WENN correspondent Paul Reany and appearing on CNN Custom News contained Cameron's first public, post-settlement remarks on the subject of the movie. In spite of the recent Marvel/Sony agreement, Stan Lee's pleas and his own previous enthusiasm for the character, Cameron has decided to let the web-slinger go. +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail SeanJordan@aol.com and say SUBSCRIBE. DAILY VARIETY reports Rachel Hayward and Sarah-Jane Redmond are the latest to join the cast of Chris Carter's new FOX series, HARSH REALM. Both have appeared on Carter's MILLENNIUM in the past; Hayward starred in the episode "The Mikado," and Redmond played Frank Black's nemesis Lucy Butler. http://www.harshrealm.com http://www.variety.com Artist Chris Bachalo (Death, Uncanny X-Men, Witching Hour) recently told ZEN that he's signed on to be the artist on CLIFFHANGER's 4th on-going series. The title, it's writer, and details of the series have yet to be announced, but Bachalo assures ZEN the writer is well known, and that the first issue of the series should ship in January. +++++ Harvey Gets Bids From Marvel, Kushner-Locke, Variety Says Los Angeles, March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Harvey Entertainment Co., the owner of the rights to animated characters such as Casper and Richie Rich that is seeking a buyer, received bids from Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Kushner-Locke Co., Daily Variety online reported, citing unnamed people. Kushner-Locke, a Los Angeles-based television and movie company, is a financial backer of an offer put together by former Live Entertainment Chairman Roger Burlage. Marvel, the world's largest comic-book publisher, would be a good fit for Harvey, the paper said. Earlier this month, Harvey Entertainment got an offer from Jeffrey Montgomery, its founder and former chairman, to buy the company for about $31.4 million. +++++ 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. WARNER BROS. TELEVISION ANIMATION SHINES WITH 15 DAYTIME EMMY NOMINATIONS On March 15, Warner Bros. Television Animation received a record 15 prestigious Daytime Emmy Award nominations for four of its animated series. The nominations represent the most Daytime Emmy nominations ever received by one animation studio. STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS and STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY, ELMYRA & THE BRAIN, two of the studio's hit comedy series from Steven Spielberg (who serves as executive producer for both series), earned nominations in the category of Outstanding Children's Animated Program. STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN also garnered a nomination for Outstanding Special Class -- Animated Program, and STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY, ELMYRA & THE BRAIN was honored with an additional nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing (Special Class). THE SYLVESTER & TWEETY MYSTERIES, starring the classic Warner Bros. cat and canary, scored a nomination for the second consecutive year in the category of Outstanding Special Class ­ Animated Program. The studio's super hero saga, THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES, was also nominated in the categories of Outstanding Special Class -- Animated Program and Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing (Special Class). Warner Bros.' rich musical heritage in animation was recognized with seven Daytime Emmy Award nominations -- another all-time record for any individual animation studio. Emmy Award-winning composer Shirley Walker and her team of talented musicians Lolita Ritmanis and Michael McCuistion drew three nominations for their work as the musical composers for THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES. Five-time Emmy Award-winning musical director/composer Richard Stone and his team of Julie and Steve Bernstein, Tim Kelly, Gordon L. Goodwin garnered nominations for STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS and STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN. Original songs, a hallmark of many Warner Bros. cartoons, struck a chord for composer Julie Bernstein, who was twice nominated in the Outstanding Original Song category for her work on STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN. Finally, established voice actor Rob Paulsen received a nomination for the third consecutive year in the category of Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his voice artistry as Pinky from STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN. Paulsen, who's impressive vocal talents have been honed for years in the animation industry, also stars in the Warner Bros.' series STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS, STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS TINY TOON ADVENTURES, and WARNER BROS.' HYSTERIA! as well as the hit Hanna-Barbera series DEXTER'S LABORATORY. 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. 3/22/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Time Out of Joint" (Batman) 3/22/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Prototype" (Superman) 3/23/98 (4:00 pm) -- "Heavy Metal" (Superman) 3/23/99 (4:30 pm) -- "The Lion and the Unicorn" (Batman) 3/24/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Mudslide" (Batman) 3/24/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Monkey Fun" (Superman) 3/25/99 (4:00 pm) -- "The Ghost in the Machine" (Superman) 3/25/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Over the Edge" (Batman) 3/26/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Apokolips -- Now! Part I" (Superman) 3/26/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Apokolips -- Now! Part II" (Superman) 3/27/99 (8:00 am) -- "Judgment Day" (Batman) 3/27/99 (8:30 am) -- "Superman's Pal" (Superman) 3/27/99 (9:30 am) -- "Black Out" (Batman Beyond) +++++ DC released lots of information on their plans for 1999 and beyond this week. Here is a synopsis posted by the folks of the Comic Shop News at http://www.csnsider.com/ DC for '99 DC Comics recently revealed many of their plans for the DCU, Vertigo, WildStorm, and Paradox Press for 1999; here are the highlights, with more information to follow in upcoming issues of CSN. Zealot returns to Wildcats later this year. Divine Intervention features a Divine Right/ WildStorm Universe crossover; begins in Divine Right #11 and continues into Divine Right/Gen13 and Divine Right /WildCATS before going into Divine Right #12, which will be the final issue of the series, Jim Lee reported (and he hinted that readers would see why when they reach the end of that issue!). Gen13 #45 introduces Scott Lobdell and Ed Benes as the regular creative team; #50 reveals that there's a traitor in Gen13's midst. Gen13/Fantastic Four, the next major Marvel/ WildStorm crossover, is written and pencilled by Kevin Maguire with inks by Karl Story. Wild Times, the time-spanning fifth week WildStorm event reported in CSN week before last, will feature some cameos by DCU heroes. "We're talking about Gen13 meeting 1960s version of Teen Titans," Scott Dunbier said. " Deathblow features a Jonah Hex cameo; DV8 features Sgt. Rock. Wetworks will feature Lois and Clark from the 1950s, and Grifter will feature Zatara and possibly one other DCU hero." John Cassaday will do breakdowns for Desperadoes: Epidemic, with finished art by John Lucas. Homage brings Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez together for Yeah!, the story of an all-girl rock band that finds success in outer space but can't catch a break on Earth... Plans are in the works for a sequel to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Chris Bachalo will join Cliffhanger productions with a new series; more info on his series will be revealed next week... WildStorm will venture more deeply into licensed territory in 1999. Star Trek has found a comic book home; new Star Trek stories will be published by WildStorm. "We'll be doing miniseries and prestige one shots such as a Seven of Nine oneshot, "editor Scott Dunbier said. "We'll also be doing another very famous licensed product, Speed Racer, by Tommy Yune. It has a high energy level and it's a very cool story that's very faithful to the original, but it has an interesting modern take." Vertigo will publish Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, based on an updated retelling of the classic legend. Batman Beyond will return as an ongoing DC series now that the animated series has been picked up for additional episodes. Batgirl has her first solo adventure as Bane re- enters the No Man's Land, and Batgirl's identity is revealed as a new woman dons the mask. "At the end, we will have a character as unique in her way as Barbara Gordon is in hers," editor Denny O'Neil said. "We will also be bringing one of the most popular characters from the Fox TV show, Harley Quinn, into our continuity with a graphic novel by Paul Dini and then, about two weeks later, she'll become a part of No Man's Land. We'll take advantage of the fact that she's a part of the DC Universe in a way that will be surprising and exciting." Doug Moench, Kelley Jones, & John Beatty reunite for Batman: Haunted Gotham, a four-issue prestige- format Elseworlds miniseries that pits a human Dark Knight against supernatural villains who are blends of horror characters and Batman's classic foes. "Doug and Kelly and John are one of those unique marriages that come along every so often," O'Neil said. "What they work best on is the dark, macabre, eerie, mysterious, scary-as-hell type of material; they'll be working out of that same sensibility, but with a whole new group of ideas." Batman: Dark Victory, a thirteen-issue maxiseries by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, will continue in the vein of The Long Halloween in a story featuring Robin and a new villain. Paul Dini and Alex Ross present Batman: War on Crime, an oversized book that follows Batman on his lonely, all too human crusade to better the lives of the citizens of Gotham. The Superman family of comics get new writers Joe Kelly and Jeph Loeb, joining Mark Schultz and Stuart Immonen. "We just had a Superman meeting," DC Executive editor Mike Carlin said. "All these writers found themselves jumping on ideas that the others suggested, so we came up with subplots and storylines that will thread through all these books on a weekly basis. We're making these storylines more about Lois and Clark and Superman and not so much focused on the peripheral characters." Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and A. Williams join forces on The Superman Monster, a combination of Superman and the Frankenstein story. Victor Luthor creates a Superman. Superman Vs. Predator, a three-issue miniseries by David Michelinie and Alex Maleev, finds Superman infected by an alien virus from he Predator homeworld, putting him ont he trail of a Predator ship that might have a cure... Stuart Immonen writes, illustrates, paints, and uses computer collages to illustrate Superman: End of the Century, featuring the story of a seemingly immortal Contessa whose return drags Superman and Lois into a breakneck adventure. The Sandman: Dream Hunters brings Neil Gaiman back to the realm of the Endless in an original illustrated text-format hardcover graphic novel painted by Yoshitaka Amano, who did December's poster. "Neil was so wowed by Amano's art that he wanted to come back and do this graphic novel," editor Karen Berger said. "Neil writes for the artist he works with; with Amano, he saw an area in Sandman's mythology that he hadn't tapped into yet. It's modeled after Japanese ghost stories, with Sandman, the castle, Cain and Abel, and everyone else realized in Japanese interpretations by Amano." The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story is a four issue series by Rieber and Meija that brings Molly back, paving the way for the Bronwyn Carlton-Linda Medley Books of Faerie ongoing series. Finals is the story of college life (think of it as a cross between Heathers and Rushmore) by Will Pfeifer with art and covers by Jill Thompson; it's about five seniors struggle to stay alive at a university where anything can go wrong... Heavy Liquid is an oversized five issue mini-series by Paul Pope, is set in a futuristic Manhattan; it follows a post-modern detective who is addicted to Heavy Liquid. The sleuth is looking fr the only artist who can render the liquid in a perfect sculpture. "I've always been a real fan of Pope's work," Berger said,"and I think with this story he's taken a real leap as a storyteller and an artist. It's a cool, fluid story, very noirish and a great read." William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland is translated into comics by Colin Revelstroke and Richard Corben, with a modern framing device. Chris Bachalo returns to Vertigo with The Witching Hour, written by Jeph Loeb. It's the story of a mysterious woman driven to involve herself in the lives of others; she's a Salem witchcraft martyr reincarnated in 21st Century Manhattan. "What's great about this series is the way it seamlessly weaves the past and the present of her life together," Berger said." She's sort of a supernatural nexus for a lot of the witches and warlocks throughout the world." Bachalo added that "Jeph Loeb and I have joined together to bring you a new and entirely different Witching Hour that will enchant you with magic, mischief, and dangerous liaisons. Deadenders, a new ongoing series by Ed Brubaker, Warren Pleece, and Richard Case, follows post apocalyptic hero quest of a group of dead-end kids; think "Bladerunner meets Quadrophenia" in this ultimate teen-angst comic. The Titans have plans for a twelve-issue extravaganza to cap off the first year as they confront a super villain team assembled in secret by Vandal Savage. Deathstroke will return this year as well. Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes is written and pencilled by Dan Jurgens with inks by Phil Jimenez. The Legionnaires revive today's Titans from suspended animation in this story. as they all face Brother Blood. More Secret Origins Replica 80-Page Giant is the next reprint annual. Golden Age Flash Comics Archives Volume One reprints the Golden Age Flash stories from Flash Comics #s 1-17, beginning with the origin of the Flash. Also, a second volume of Silver Age Green Lantern Archives is coming up. The Justice Society comes back in June, beginning with the investigation of the murder of a JSA member. Fate will returning an unexpected form. "This is James and David's dream project," DC editor Dan Raspler said. "To set up this project, we did the 1940's JSA Returns, but this new series features a lot of new characters as well as some old ones. This is something we're all very excited about; it's so cool to have James doing a super- team book." JLA: Wonder Woman-A League of One, by Christopher Moeller, is his first superhero story. This painted prestige oneshot find an ancient threat returned to menace the world,only to be stopped by the JLA. But prophecies tell that the JLA will die in this battle, so Wonder Woman defeats the JLA to confront the menace alone. Grant Morrison and Howard Porter return for Morrison's final JLA story, the tale of Mageddon, the story of the deadly being who is the reason for the JLA's beginning. "Grant's last issue will be JLA #40," Raspler said. "The new writer is Mark Waid, who's stepping up to the plate to take over the book. Mark's tone will be substantially different than Grant's. Mark and I have been talking about getting some subplots and some personal action going a little bit more." Evan Dorkin is writing a teamup of Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite in World's Funnest Comics; the book will evoke a lot of different styles of art styles as the two characters alter reality; contributors will include Alex Ross doing some painted series... JLA/Witchblade, is the work of Jeph Loeb and Jeff Matsuda, the JLA is caught up in the spell of the Witchblade, and Sara Pezzini must convince them to destroy the blade. JLApe, the ultimate in gorilla warfare, is the JLA Annual event; the JLA faces a threat from Gorilla City that transforms them into apes. Art Adams provides covers for the story arc, which begins in JLA Annual, continues in Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman Annuals, and concludes in Martian Manhunter Annual. JLA: Earth II, brings the JLA face to face with its Earth II counterparts to confront the Crime Syndicate Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely reinvent their favorite JLA series in this hardcover graphic novel. Day of Judgment is five-issue crossover event by Geoff Johns, Matt Smith, and Steve Mitchell. Hell descends on Earth; most heroes remain on Earth while a squad of magic powered heroes goes to heaven to bring Jim Corrigan back to Earth. This series is the latest incarnation of the project originally known as Sentinels of Magic. Dexter's Laboratory becomes an ongoing DC series this summer. Genndy Tartakovsky writes and illustrates the first issue, provides all the covers for the series as well. Gon Underground features the return of the itty bitty dinosaur in a single book length story of over 170 pages that has Gon encountering all sorts of creatures beneath the surface of the Earth. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics moves to Paradox in June; McCloud will do Reinventing Comics, the sequel that looks at the future of comics, for Paradox in 2000. Vertigo V2K comes in the final week of 1999; this fifth week Vertigo event features five projects to mark the moment of Midnight, December 31st 1999. Howard Chaykin, Rick Burchett, William Messner-Loebs, Tom Peyer, and Kyle Baker are among the contributors. "V2K takes everyone's millennial fear and anxieties and makes them a reality," editor Karen Berger said. "All five books are unrelated; the one thing they share in common is that they all start when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 1999. Brave Old World is about four students trying to fix their computer problem; they accidentally turn the world back to 1900. Freehold by Chaykin follows a Heaven's Gate millennial religious cult as they blast off into space at the stroke of midnight. I Die at Midnight by Kyle Baker follows a despondent young man whose girlfriend has just broken up with him; he takes pills then gets a call saying that she wants to make up, so he's on a race for the antidote before he dies at midnight. Four Horsemen brings the four horsemen of the apocalypse into Times Square, and they discover that the world isn't as ready for them as they thought it would be. Totems, written by Tom Peyer, brings together Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Black Orchid, the Doom Patrol, and a few other surprise Vertigo characters who are joined together on New Year's Eve at a party, where they get involved with a millennially-obsessed crazed person. I think it's truly disturbing, but it's satirical as well." ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Tony's Isabella's Journal Tony Isabella tonyisa@ohio.net Tony Isabella is a featured weekly columnist in the nation's largest comic book collector's publication, Comics Buyer's Guide. His satiric "Tony's Tips!" is a favorite among fans and industry professionals alike. A life long comic book fan, Tony began his career in 1972 as a comics professional as assistant to Stan Lee! He has worked in nearly every aspect of the business, from retailing, to distribution to writing. Among his credits is the creation of DC's first black super-hero, Black Lightning. Tony's latest project, the daily "Tony's Isabella's Journal" made its debut in June of 1997 on the world wide web exclusively through World Famous Comics, at http://www.wfcomics.com/tony The following is one of those daily columns . . . Tony Isabella's Journal #631 I don't much like the "new" Spider-Man. Or, to put it another way, I don't much like what Marvel is trying to pass off as Spider- Man comic books. I believe I've given the "relaunch" a fair chance. I've read THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1-4, PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN #1-4, SPIDER- MAN CHAPTER ONE #1-6, and WEBSPINNERS: TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #1-3. That adds up to 17 comic books, the equivalent (in volume only) of the first year-and-a-half of the original AMAZING SPIDER-MAN title. This is no rush to judgment on my part. I love John Romita Jr.'s artwork on PETER PARKER. I like the John Byrne/Scott Hanna art on AMAZING. I'm okay with the totally Byrne art on CHAPTER ONE, though I'm now of the opinion he should not be allowed anywhere near the plotting and writing of Spider-Man comic books. But, as I've often said, I don't read comics to look at the pretty pictures. I read them for the characters and for the stories. And, on that basis, I'm sorely disappointed with what's become of the Spider-Man titles. Don't get me wrong. I think Byrne is a terrific writer. I'm much more appreciative of Howard Mackie's work that, it seems, are most readers. As for John Marc DeMatteis, well, you got me there. I had my fill long ago of the psychobabble in his scripts and the undercurrent of disrespect for the super-hero genre to be found in them as well. However, my major problem with these titles are the bad choices the editors and writers keep making. Let's talk characters first. We have Peter Parker, the poster boy for the "great power/great responsibility" credo that had made him a comics icon. First, he walks away from his responsibility, which is okay in the short term; he's a human being, human beings make mistakes. Then, he lets someone else take over the mantle of Spider-Man. Now we're on shaky ground. Finally, he again assumes his rightful role as our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler...but he lets his wife continue to think it's somebody else wearing the costume and risking their life. Excuse me...but that just ain't Peter Parker. What it is...is an obscene manipulation of an established character to justify the divorce of Mary Jane and Peter. And you know...if this were really Peter Parker...he would deserve to get dumped. There he is, living in high style off his wife's earnings, and he's lying to her about where he spends his nights. He has responsibilities as a husband, too, and being honest with his wife is right up there at the top of the list. And, quite frankly, it would make for better comics than the sordid stuff we're getting now. Of course, it should be pointed out that Mary Jane isn't the real Mary Jane either. She doesn't want her hubby to risk his life as Spider-Man. Okay, given everything they've been through, I can accept that. What doesn't work for me is MJ's callousness towards one of their closest friends. In PETER PARKER #4, Betty Brant is seized by some mysterious subterranean creature. Peter, injured in the same attack, wants to help her. Mary Jane's response to that is: You're not Spider-Man anymore, remember? I know you're upset, and that Betty means a lot to you, but...it's someone else's responsibility, not yours. Right? I have some other problems with this character posing as Peter Parker. Parker is a smart kid, right? So--show of hands now--how many of you believe he would don an imitation spider-suit, somehow not notice that it didn't have web-shooters, and leap off a tall building? For the sake of the "exciting" opening scene of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3, Mackie and Byrne distorted the title hero. (And I don't even want to discuss the sheer arrogance of Peter's treatment of his boss at the research foundation. That, too, was completely out of character for our guy.) The bad choices abound. The Spider-Man titles are relaunched with great hoopla. So why diminish the character's uniqueness by teaming him up with other Marvel heroes in four of his first eight issues? Instead of getting SPIDER-MAN, we're getting MARVEL TEAM- UP. That might be okay in its proper place, but what happened to the concept of reestablishing Spidey? Here's another bad choice...Marvel is continuing the awfulness of the pre-relaunch storylines by dragging them into the new books. We've now seen four leftovers from "The Gathering of the Five" and I bet we see Norman Osborn before the books reach their thirteenth issues. We're not getting exciting new stories, we're getting the same old same old. More bad choices. The Sandman's abrupt and cavalier return to crime as pictured in THE AMAZING TEAM-UP #4. This isn't a case of ignoring a single ancient story or two; this is ignoring character development shown in dozens of comics and verified by the Sandman's own thoughts in those stories. Digression. I played "devil's advocate" with myself and tried to figure out what the Marvel Universe gains by the Sandman's going bad again. I couldn't come up with anything. As a former career criminal making a new life for himself, often fighting side-by-side with old foes, he was fairly unique and very interesting. Now he's just another bad guy. He could have been a head liner instead of one more bit player. Over in SPIDER-MAN CHAPTER ONE, we saw another character get severely watered-down. Not only did Byrne junk Electro's original and very spiffy costume for generic spandex, but he has the villain working for Norman Osborn. Geez, guys, you had your chance to once again establish Osborn as the premiere Spider-Man villain and you blew it big time. You can't fix that with retcons for the sake of retcons. Why bother? Which brings us to SPIDER-MAN CHAPTER ONE. "Why bother" would be a good way to sum up my feelings about this title. The original comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were better, a whole lot better. The "fixes" Byrne has been making to the original stories are, on occasion, clever, but unnecessary. This kind of second-guessing is more appropriate to fanzine articles than professional comic books. I'll ask for another show of hands...how many of you, after reading SPIDER-MAN CHAPTER ONE #1-6, would much rather have read six brand- new Byrne comics? Digression. How many of you are bored with the "in media ras" gimmick Byrne is using in every issue of CHAPTER ONE? If and when these issues are collected in a trade paperback, that will make for an incredibly awkward narrative. Mysterio, another early Spider-villain, joined the ranks of the dissed-and-diminished in DeMatteis' excruciatingly pretentious arc for WEBSPINNERS #1-3. Issue #3's cover shows the pathetic guy clutching a teddy bear. Need I say more? Actually, I will say something more. DeMatteis, like Mackie and Byrne, has only a tenuous handle on the "great responsibility" aspect of Spider-Man. A pair of captions from WEBSPINNERS #2 make that clear. They read: Sure I enjoyed saving civilization as we know it--or at least New York...but I enjoyed the game I played with the bad guys just as much. MORE, actually. Whatever high hopes I had for the relaunch of the Spider-Man titles have been pretty thoroughly dashed at this point. The nice artwork aside, the books aren't good these days. Maybe the folks at Marvel need to rethink them again...from top to bottom...and try to recapture the Spider-Man who has obviously slipped through their fingers. Until then, let me direct you instead to THE ESSENTIAL SPIDER- MAN volumes. Stan Lee. Steve Ditko. John Romita. Now that's the real Spider-Man...in stories just as good as when they were first published. If you have never read them, you're in for a treat. If you have read them, you are still in for a treat. Good comics have staying power. ****** TONY'S MAILBOX I got a little long-winded dissecting the Spider-Man mags, but I can still squeeze in a letter or two about the "who should write the JLA" question on our TONY'S POLL page. This first one is from TONY ROSE. He writes: I vote for Steve Englehart to succeed Grant Morrison. I know that this is unlikely to happen, but I remember Steve's run on the series in the mid-'70s as outstanding, particularly the "real" origin of the League. Englehart can capture a character in just a couple of lines of dialog. I think that Englehart, along with Cary Bates, Elliot Maggin, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, and yourself (of course) would serve the comics industry well. Their sales numbers were tremendous compared to the numbers that are generated now. We also heard from CHRIS MILLS, the author of the Nightmark stories from the sadly-on-hiatus SHADOW HOUSE comic: Regarding your current JLA poll, and the question as to who I'd like to see write the book after Morrison leaves. Although a good many fine choices were listed, I'd have to say... me and my writing partner, James Chambers. We recently finished a story for BIG BANG COMICS featuring the Round Table Of America, a story quite deliberately designed as a homage to the Justice League of the 1970's. The League of that era, written by any number of talented scribes, and penciled by the inestimable Dick Dillin, was a glorious period of sci-fi super-hero adventure. In preparation for writing the script, I bought close to $100 worth of '70s JLAs, and, after immersing myself in them for a couple of weeks, I was once again reminded of how much fun comics *used* to be. The final result of our collaboration was probably the most satisfying comic script I've ever written (or, in this case, co-written). It's not scheduled yet, but when it is, I'll let you know. Frankly, Morrison's done a far better job with the League than I imagined he would. I've never warmed to the art, but the stories have been top-notch. And, while any of the writers on your list could potentially do as great a job with the characters as Morrison has, quite frankly, *I* want to have the fun of playing with those wonderful toys. Of course, there's no way it'd happen, but a guy can dream, can't he? You're talking to a guy who's on a first name basis with the Sandman--I get to call him "The"--so I say go ahead and dream as much as you want...as long as you keep writing during your waking hours. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff. Tony Isabella March 1, 1999 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] THE COMICS JOURNAL's TOP 100 COMICS LIST Eric Reynolds reynolds@fantagraphics.com THE TOP 100 COMICS OF THE CENTURY As selected by the editorial board of THE COMICS JOURNAL Fantagraphics Books is proud to present a very special issue of The Comics Journal. For those unfamiliar, The Comics Journal has been the most respected source for literary criticism of the comic book and comic strip medium for 23 years, since its founding by Fantagraphics Books President Gary Groth in 1976. This "Top 100" list - inspired in part by similar end-of-the-century lists prepared for film and literature - is an effort to raise awareness of the artform of comics and spark a national dialogue to ensure that the great works in comics are not lost to history. It includes only English-language works published this century - the magazine's primary realm of interest - be they newspaper strips, comic books, graphic novels, editorial cartoons, or even caricatures. "Very few art forms have as polluted a sense of history as comics," writes Comics Journal Executive Editor Tom Spurgeon in his introduction to the feature. "When the past is lauded, it is for its contribution to the present-day project or icon rather than the works themselves. Moreover, the typical way of accessing the art form is through items of complete disposability: the daily newspaper, or the monthly serial comic book_ This list is a call for an uncompromising re-examination of the comics medium in terms of its best works. "We also hope that this list will foster a larger process, whereby art is consistently and thoroughly examined and re-examined_ for as long as there are works to consider," added Spurgeon. This special issue of the Journal also includes lists from top cartoonists such as R. Crumb and Jules Feiffer assessing their favorite comics of the century. Special features include lists from regular Journal columnists on their particular areas of interest: mainstream comic books, newspaper comic strips and European translation projects are all covered. THE COMICS JOURNAL's "TOP 100 COMICS of the CENTURY" #210 ; Street date: March 24, 1999 ; $7.95; $10.95 in Canada ; 152 pages ; UPC: 0 74470 74114 5 ; Available at comic book specialty stores everywhere and selected newsstands Featuring an original cover by Seth, creator of It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken and Palookaville (Drawn & Quarterly Publications) The Comics Journal's Top 100 Comics of the Century 1) Krazy Kat by George Herriman 2) Peanuts by Charles Schulz 3) Pogo by Walt Kelly 4) Maus by Art Spiegelman 5) Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay 6) Feiffer by Jules Feiffer 7) Donald Duck by Carl Barks 8) Mad by Harvey Kurtzman & various 9) Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Greene 10) The Weirdo stories of R. Crumb 11) Thimble Theatre by E.C. Segar 12) EC's "New Trend" war comics by Harvey Kurtzman & various 13) Wigwam Bam by Jaime Hernandez 14) Blood of Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez 15) The Spirit by Will Eisner 16) RAW, edited by Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly 17) The ACME Novelty Library by Chris Ware 18) Polly & Her Pals by Cliff Sterret 19) The sketchbooks of R. Crumb 20) Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks 21) The New Yorker cartoons of Peter Arno 22) The Death of Speedy Ortíz by Jaime Hernandez 23) Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff 24) Flies on the Ceiling by Jaime Hernandez 25) Wash Tubbs by Roy Crane 26) The Jungle Book by Harvey Kurtzman 27) Palestine by Joe Sacco 28) The "Mishkin" saga by Kim Deitch 29) Gasoline Alley by Frank King 30) Fantastic Four by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee 31) Poison River by Gilbert Hernandez 32) Plastic Man by Jack Cole 33) Dick Tracy by Chester Gould 34) The theatrical caricatures of Al Hirschfeld 35) The Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko & Stan Lee 36) Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson 37) Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau 38) The autobiographical comics from Yummy Fur by Chester Brown 39) The editorial cartoons of Pat Oliphant 40) The Kinder-Kids by Lyonel Feininger 41) From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell 42) Ghost World by Daniel Clowes 43) Amphigorey by Edward Gorey 44) Idiots Abroad by Gilbert Shelton & Paul Mavrides 45) Paul Auster's City of Glass by Paul Karasik & David Mazzacchelli 46) Cages by Dave McKean 47) The "Buddy Bradley" saga by Peter Bagge 48) The cartoons of James Thurber 49) Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud 50) Tantrum by Jules Feiffer 51) The "Alec" stories of Eddie Campbell 52) It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken by Seth 53) The editorial cartoons of Herblock 54) EC's "New Trend" horror comics by Al Feldstein & various 55) The "Frank" stories by Jim Woodring 56) Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer by Ben Katchor 57) A Contract with God by Will Eisner 58) The New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams 59) Little Lulu by John Stanley 60) Alley Oop by V.T. Hamlin 61) American Splendor #1-10 by Harvey Pekar with various 62) Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray 63) Hey Look! by Harvey Kurtzman 64) Goodman Beaver by Harvey Kurtzman & Bill Elder 65) Bringing Up Father by George McManus 66) Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith 67) The Passport by Saul Steinberg 68) Barnaby by Crockett Johnson 69) God's Man by Lynd Ward 70) Jimbo by Gary Panter 71) The Book of Jim by Jim Woodring 72) The short stories in Rubber Blanket by David Mazzucchelli 73) The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick 74) Ernie Pook's Comeek by Lynda Barry 75) Black Hole by Charles Burns 76) "Master Race" by Bernie Krigstein & Al Feldstein 77) Li'l Abner by Al Capp 78) Sugar and Spike by Sheldon Mayer 79) Captain Marvel by C.C. Beck 80) Zap by Crumb & various 81) The "Lily" Stories by Debbie Drechsler 82) "Caricature" by Daniel Clowes 83) V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd 84) Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker 85) The "Willie and Joe" cartoons of Bill Mauldin 86) Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse 87) The New Yorker cartoons of George Price 88) Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" comics 89) The autobiographical comics of Spain Rodriguez 90) Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean 91) Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 92) "Pictopia" by Alan Moore & Don Simpson 93) Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham 94) Space Hawk by Basil Wolverton 95) Los Tejanos by Jack Jackson 96) Dirty Plotte by Julie Doucet 97) The Hannah Story by Carol Tyler 98) Barney Google by Billy De Beck 99) The Bungle Family by George Tuthill 100) Prince Valiant by Hal Foster ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ] This week I'm going to review some comics. I'm going to review them because I didn't have to buy them myself. A comics company sent them to me. This is such an exciting novelty for me that I figure they deserve to be reviewed. The comics company is called Thorby Comics. No, I'd never heard of them either. But hey, they're new, they're trying hard, they have a pretty extensive line of titles, and here's what I thought of them: THE SKULKER: This was the title I most enjoyed. The story was quite interesting, the art was pretty good in a "I've read too many Image comics" sort of way, and the storytelling was generally pretty strong. Even if I didn't love the art, Steve Kurth has a good sense of putting a story together, which is not that common in these days of McFarlane worship. He does however need to work on his use of shading and contrast. I presume this comic was drawn with colour in mind, because too often you lose the details in the fussy line work. Black and white comic art is a real skill, but there is little evidence of it here. This is even more the case in JOHNNY COSMIC, in which the same artist inks his own pencils, and doesn't do a terribly good job of it. They're too sketchy and rough for my taste. Both these titles are written by Terrance Griep Jr., who has a lot of ideas and tries to pack them all in at once. He needs to calm down a little, not have endless pages of word balloons. Both he and Griep have potential though, and will get better with practice. DEATH ASYLUM is the sort of book I wouldn't buy in a pink fit. A selection of unrelated paintings, with a few poems stuck in between them. I don't read poetry (don't know why, it just doesn't work for me) so I can't comment on that, while the paintings are competent but not really my style. I don't understand why anyone would buy a book of mainly pictures. I like a story. The only title they sent me that didn't seem to be part of a series is SANTA CLAWS (God, what an old pun), a sort of slasher comic. It features the only creator here I had ever heard of (Mike Deodato). I quite liked the twist at the end, and Deodato works quite well in black and white, but I was annoyed by the gratuitous ripping open of the female characters shirt, and her insistence on spending the rest of the story standing with her back arched, so as to emphasize her chest. I suppose that just talking about it has made some teenager want to rush out and buy it. The last of the regular titles is NIGHT CITY, pretentiously subtitled "Meditations on urban violence". This book annoyed me right from the off, by having a full page statement about how good the comic is. I have no problem with people believing they are good at something, or even coming right out and saying it, but you better be able to back up what you say with some quality work. Mort Castle, the author of this opus, goes on about producing a comic book without "gassy purple prose" or "cliches of situation and character" and claims that NIGHT CITY "is not a splatter book". Sadly he then produces a book filled with purple prose ("The city is stutter starts and staccato tickings"), cliches (Neonazis are bad! Not all hostage takers are though! I learnt that watching "The Blues Brothers") and splatter (graphic illustration of one of the nazis' brains leaving his head the hard way). Without the overwrought statement up front I might have been able to enjoy this book for what it is, an episode of "NYPD Blue" on paper. With it I was just really annoyed. So that's it for the regular series. A couple with potential, and a couple that weren't my style. Next week, a review of the two graphic novels they sent me, but which I haven't finished reading yet. David Groenewegen davidhar@lib.monash.edu.au ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Odds and Ends Eddie Mitchell memitch@worldnet.att.net [Eddie Mitchell lives in Louisville, KY with is partner of five years and three cats. Having read comics for most of his thirty-plus years, he believes strongly in both the medium and the message it can convey. His goal in life is to expose more sadly under-exposed comics to comics readers at large.] A Column of Reviews and Such I had so much fun doing the web page reviews last time, that I've decided to do another one this week. I'd really love to include one or two of them in every forthcoming column, so feel free to send me your URL to check out. ComixNow is a great site to check out if you're at all interested in alternative cartooning. Featuring the work of four different cartoonists, the site has lots of samples from each one, along with a biography and other interesting tidbits. The highlight for me is seeing the work of Mack White online. While I already have all the samples that are on display here, it's nice to see him in a place where his work can gain broader exposure. His series Villa of the Mysteries was cancelled by Fantagraphics last year, but his immaculately drawn stories, mixtures of fantasy, mythology, sexuality, eroticism, religion, politics and conspiracy theory, still remain favorites of mine. Other artists featured at ComixNow include Buddy Hickerson, who does the syndicated panel The Quigmans, and Todd Ramsell, who does a series called The New Frontier, among other things. New Frontiers deals with similar themes (politics, conspiracies, etc.) as White's work, but Ramsell grounds his work in JFK-era 1960's America, using well known figures as characters. It's one of the funniest things I've read in a while, and I'm now on the lookout for more of his work. The only one who doesn't click with me is John Freeman, whose work strikes me as nothing more than rapidly scrawled screeds against everything. I've seen it done better. I really like this site, which loads fairly quickly, despite being graphic-heavy. Artists who are doing work which falls outside the bounds of the mainstream, need as much exposure s they can get. Especially folks like Ramsell and White, whose work is well-crafted, but quirky enough to be confined to the fringes forever. As Ramsell, who also manages the site, says: "Alternative comix don't often have the success of many mainstream comic strips and comic books. Comix that challenge the reader and deal with any unusual subject matter or vision aren't supported in most publications or retail stores. Often it's difficult to find places that sell or publish these comix, typically because they don't make much money. That's why I built this site, to make comix more accessible and visible, and also because I love the medium." Mature surfers can check it all out at: http://www.swankarmy.net/dutch5/comixnow/index.html See you next time! Drop me a line, if you feel like it. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] And let me tell you why .... David Coulter DneColt@aol.com [David - who declared himself "Official Columnist Of the New Millennium, " and then thought better of it (deciding instead on "America's Weirdly Cool Columnist") -- lives with his family in Kansas City and pays the bills as Marketing Director for a computer consulting group. He likes Superman better than Batman, baseball better than football, and Mac better than Windows.] Okay, so it's been a couple of weeks. I was going to tell you guys this long tale of woe about illness and calamity, but after reading my fellow columnist (and fellow David!) David Groenewegen's brutal savaging of J. Scott Campbell last week, I've decided to blame my absence on DC's one month turnaround time. It's really screwing up my schedule, man! Besides, this is my big 75th Anniversary Column! That's right! Another divisible-by-twenty-five-anniversary! David LeBlanc has allowed me to use the CBEM soapbox to rant and rave about .... well ... whatever struck my fancy for 75 weeks (not in a row, mind you -- if I'd been on the stick more, this would be about my 100th column. That's right, I'm also approaching my two-year anniversary. I figure this makes me about the longest running irregular feature in the mag. And I do mean irregular!). Anyway, those anniversary issues always seem to get stuck in the pipe. So I figure I'm cool. Seriously though, this has been a nutty couple of weeks, and looks to be a nutty four more (we're about to add another little fan to the ranks of ranks of fandom). So, please, stop coming to my web site and heaping abuse on me! I promise I'll put away my Danger Girl action figures and get to work on issue five .... just as soon as Power Puff Girls is over! A DAVID IS A DAVID IS A DAVID .... So, I open this month's PREVIEWS and flip right to the solicitation for Big Bang #25 (not really, but it makes a better story), and I see this quote that sounds re-e-e-e-ally familiar, but it has David LeBlanc's name on it. Just as I'm getting myself worked up into a full-fledged freakout ("I know I wrote that, it sounds just like something I'd write, it's Alzheimer's! I know it!) when I get that little "new mail" sound, and here's this note from David giving me a heads up. Well Thank God. Sure, I'm a little bummed that they got my freakin' name wrong ... I mean, LeBlanc gets quoted everywhere, and I finally get my turn to be the big marketing pullquote of the month, and they get my name wrong. Man! But on the whole, I'm honored. I mean, I've been sitting here for almost 2 years, shouting about Big Bang Comics every chance I get, and someone at Big Bang Central thought enough of my ravings to use them as marketing! I really can't say enough good stuff about Big Bang Comics. Bottom Line is this: If you aren't reading this book, you're a sap and you're missing out on one of the best books being published (how's THAT for a sound bite!) Well, at least they got half my name right. I GUESS SIZE REALLY DOES MATTER! Another neat little tidbit in this months previews was the solicitation for Comic Book Marketplace #71. This particular issue focuses on the oddball comic formats of the 1970's: Stuff like the Treasury Editions, Blue Ribbon Digests, and those great Fireside Collections (the original Origins of Marvel Comics -- not the pale, overpriced imitation they tried foisting on last year.) Apparently, these odd-sized formats are hot with collectors. Once again I'm ahead of the curve. I mean, I'm been saying for, well, about 75 weeks how great these things are. The Marvel Treasury Editions (and their DC sister books, the Collector's Editions) just plain rocked. The huge format was a wonderful showcase for the artwork. And the Blue Ribbon Digests were a great source of old Silver and Golden Age Material. It seems these oddball gems aren't just making a comeback with collectors ... as witnessed by the sudden rush of oversized titles, from Barry Smith's brutally truncated Storyteller, the recent and upcoming DC and Marvel forays into the format: Superman: Peace on Earth, and the Superman and FF and Superman/Hulk crossovers. Now, if they'd only bring back the digests! GOOD KNIGHT! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Marvel Knights has been a pleasant surprise. Of the 4 initial titles, only one -- The Punisher -- sucked. Of the other three, Black Panther, The Inhumans, are the best books featuring these characters ever, and Kevin Smith's take on Daredevil, while not earth- shattering, has at least been entertaining. The Dr. Strange mini that took the Punisher's place in the MK lineup was certainly better than anything that's been done with the character in a while -- but it still proves that no one but Ditko could, or should, ever do this character. The real treat of the whole MK line has, for me, been Black Panther. I want to think they didn't give this book to Chris Priest solely because he's black -- but I think the fact that he IS black has helped the book's humor a lot. I mean, no white guy could EVER get away with writing the stuff he's written (particularly in this month's issue). It's kinda sad really, that simple observational humor about racial interaction is such a touchy topic -- but it is. And frankly, that kind of makes the book funnier, because there's always that undercurrent of "I'm not sure I should be laughing at this, but it IS funny." Racial politics aside, Priest has managed to create one of the most interesting takes on the character ever. I'll be the first to admit that I greeted the premise of this series with a huge amount of skepticism -- I mean, the ruler of a secluded living in Brooklyn? Pretty damn unlikely, if you ask me. But Priest managed to pull it off -- with grace and flair to boot. AND, he mannaged to have the Panther take on Mephisto ... MEPHISTO! in his first outing and make it not only plausible, but a great story to boot. High marks for this book, and high marks for Christopher Priest. I'm going to resist the urge to make some sort of wise ass comment about bringing Quantum & Woody back, but believe me, it's tough. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments? Criticisms? Flames? E-mail them to DneColt@aol.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW Augie De Blieck Jr. augie@nic.com PIPELINE IDIOT OF THE WEEK (Now a recurring feature and soon to be, alas, a regular one.) Awesome Comics. They get this week's award, which I'm subtitling "Hellshock #1 Redux." This is referring to Jae Lee's failed mini-series as opposed to his failed attempt at a regular series. But at least he learned to draw in between. Remember his NAMOR work? How many faces did he draw in his run on that series? The number was so few I gave up trying to figure out what was going on in the comic and quit buying it. ANYWAY --- GLORY #0 came out this week. 32 pages. $2.50. Not so bad, eh? Written by Alan Moore with art from Brandon Peterson, who signed an exclusive contract at the time to draw this series when the Rob Liefeld company declared financial incompetency for the third time and let him out of that contract. ANYWAY --- GLORY #0 contains a whopping grand total of 11 pages of story, with a double-page splash which, if I'm not mistaken, is the original cover to this comic. Following that is 5 pages of sketchbook splash pages and -- get this -- a 9 page black and white preview of Chris Sprouse-drawn pages for SUPREME: THE RETURN. They're nice, but I'd much rather pay for a GLORY story and see those pages when I go to buy the book. Of course, I've read half the artwork on that book now, it seems. . . UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Lately, I've been having a little e-mail chat with Matt Hawkins, creator of Image's LADY PENDRAGON. I say this not to name-drop, but because he talked me into giving his title a try. I delayed a couple of weeks, for financial reasons. But finally, I had a week which would allow me to buy the remastered edition of LP #1. I walked into the store which in the previous weeks had had all the issues of the mini-series up on the shelves to find: They were gone. What was left was the last issue of the mini-series, with the other slots taken up by the recently-released action figures of Lady Pendragon. So the release of the action figures - in one store at least - meant less room for the comic book itself. Oh, the ironies. ACTUAL REVIEWS I wanted to review some comics this week. And they're mostly nice reviews, which always gives me a special feeling. =) In TRANSMETROPOLITAN #21, Spider sits down and has a face-to-face chat with his arch-enemy, the current president. It's mean; it's brutal; it's rough; it's somewhat violent; it's dirty as all get out. It's Warren Ellis at his best behind the computer screen. This shouldn't work. Two people sitting on opposite sides of the desk talking for an extended period of time is supposed to bore the reader to death, but I think I found a couple of ways to make it work. First, have an artist who makes it look good. Mark Waid had Alex Ross in that 8 page KINGDOM COME epilogue. And here, Ellis has Darick Robertson, who has been under-rated, in my opinion, from the start. It's not just the fact that the artwork is easy on the eyes, but the layout remains interesting and varied and not just back and forth cuts between the people talking. See page 17 for a great example of that. There's parallelism, building action -- the whole nine yards. The second thing is to have the character pretty well established in advanced. It saves a lot of time and reader confusion. As challenging as this type of story can be, it would be ten times worse with two completely new characters that the reader has no previous involvement with. It allows for certain shortcuts. When the big three order drinks in KINGDOM COME, the reader immediately gets the 'gag.' If we didn't know them ahead of time, we'd have to re-read the story to get the joke, since we didn't know the characters ahead of time. And this would be a handicap to the writer. Speaking of Mark Waid: I haven't read IMPULSE in a long time. I gave it a few issues after Mark Waid left, but it seemed somewhat silly and redundant without him. However, this week's cover made me buy the thing. Picture Impulse asking The Riddler a bunch of questions. It's the standard case of dumb luck winning over skill through hilarious cluelessness. But it's still a fun read and a nice change of pace from the drab and dour issues being focused on in the Batman titles this year. Bill Messner-Loebs writes and Craig Rousseau draws. It's pure shtick, but enjoy it for what it is. I almost forgot the other big Warren Ellis book to come out this week. THE AUTHORITY #1 debuted on the stands this past Wednesday. Just don't ask me who published it. Do I count them as WildStorm Comics, or DC Comics, or a DC imprint or a separate company distributed by DC, etc. etc. THE AUTHORITY is drawn by Bryan Hitch, who does a pretty good Alan Davis impression, but with a slightly thicker line. This is all good stuff. Wild, extreme, fast-paced, destructive. This is only part one of four and a couple of cities have already been laid to waist. This does not bode well. But the characters are all interesting and likeable and should prove fun to watch. Let's hope this book sticks around for a while. SO WHAT DIDN'T I LIKE THIS WEEK? I had high hopes for MAGNETO REX #1. Brandon Peterson did a spectacular job on his fill-in issue of X-MEN a little while ago. But his art here does little to nothing for me. Maybe it's because the writer, Joe Pruett, stuck him with a plodding plot filled with talking heads and a shock ending which neither shocks nor surprises. (This is, of course, not aided by the fact that the last page occurs on a right-hand page and so is spoiled as you turn the previous page. UGH I hate it when companies do that.) I also didn't like GLORY #0, but I beat that dead horse already. Notice the two have a common artist? I have no idea what that means. It's pure coincidence, but it's always interesting to have coincidence in our lives. MISC. T. I saw WING COMMANDER at the movie theaters this weekend. Just one quick suggestion for you all: Go to see it at a time you're guaranteed to be alone in the movie theater with two friends. Then divvy up the roles of Mike Nelson, Crow, and Tom Servo amongst yourselves and go wild. Never was a movie made more deserving of a MiSTing than this. I also watched the RONIN DVD tonight. Excellent movie. Lots of fun. Lots of death and 80 cars completely demolished. It doesn't attempt to make a statement. It's just a pure action movie. Good stuff and terrific car chase scenes. Finally, I've discovered eBay, the on-line auction house. This could be bad. I get outbid at the last moment most of the time. But there's some interesting stuff up there now. So consider this a plug: http://www.ebay.com And look up items up for sale by augiedb. That would be me. =) -Augie, shameless huckster -------------------------------------------------- Augie De Blieck Jr. * augie@nic.com <*> Pipeline Commentary and Review: New Every Sunday: http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] 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.] Do you suffer the heartbreak of... selective panology mimorian dysfunction? That's the sad state of only being able to remember limited details of a comic book from your distant past. You can visualize treasured scenes and story panels, even recall those characters involved, but still you have little clue about the comic book's title, number, date, creators or publisher. This can make searching for that comic nearly impossible. When this dysfunction strikes, you are left with two options. You can accept that this information is lost for all time and bask in the warmth of fuzzy memories. Or, you can write a column in which you appeal to fellow comic fans (those who read CBEM each week) for help in identifying the comic books in question, with the hope that one day you can locate and perhaps purchase the comic in order relive those memories first hand. You, valued reader, may want to think of this as a HAD YOUR PHIL? version of CBEM's Trivia Contest. Instead of cheesy prizes, I'll be happy to send courtesy copies of some of my own comics to anyone who can provide me with strong leads in identifying the title(s) and issue number(s) of the comics described below. Come to think of it, a lot of folks might consider my comics as cheesy prizes. Come back with me to a time when I was too young to read. A time when I spent countless hours scrutinizing comic book art, over and over, telling myself the story and making up the dialogue to fit in those balloons. It was a time when comics featured silent characters, like the Little King and Henry (the kid who looked like a young Jesse Ventura with no mouth). It was a time when comics included cowboys, like Red Ryder with his sidekick, Little Beaver. It was a time when humor comics were popular, like those wonderful Mutt and Jeff comics with Cicero's Cat, and tons more featuring anthropomorphic ducks, rabbits, foxes, crows and woodpeckers. It was a time when Tarzan was always seen riding some giant bird or pterodactyl on the cover of his comics. Even the military was represented in comics back then, with characters like Sad Sack and Sgt. Bilko. In other words, it was somewhere between 1948 and 1958, as best as I can remember. These stories have been imprinted on my brain over forty years ago. They just won't go away. THE BROWNIES RIVER RAFTING ADVENTURES The first comic I'm trying to identify featured tiny Brownies on the cover. Not the kind of Brownies you eat or the kind who sell Girl Scout cookies. These were little people who resembled Snap, Crackle and Pop from the Rice Crispies cereal box, but in far greater numbers. Walt Kelly originally drew the Brownies, that much I know. And they may have been called The Little People, if not the Brownies. This may have been issue of DELL FOUR COLOR (according to Overstreet). What I remember most is the cover, or perhaps a story within, or maybe even both. The Brownies are using leaves, and maybe acorns, as boats to playfully travel down a stream in a forest. It might have been in the rain. That is all I can remember. Can you help me narrow down my search? BATMAN & ROBIN AND THEIR FROZEN CAVEMAN Batman and Robin are climbing a mountain, perhaps in the Himalayas, in this issue of either BATMAN or DETECTIVE I'm trying to reconstruct in my mind. They are so high that they are surrounded by snowdrifts and need bat-oxygen masks to cover their mouths. I don't recall if they had modified costumes for warmth or not. In the story, they discover a caveman frozen in a block of ice and bring him back to Gotham City. Unfrozen, the caveman goes on a rampage. I recall him being in the Bat-cave at some point and being alarmed by the giant T-Rex in the trophy room. There were the usual pinstriped bad guys involved in the story, too, but I remember little else. For some reason, I think this story might have been reprinted in a Giant Size edition, too. I'm sure I wore this comic out studying the stylized artwork. Dick Sprang? (With my luck, this comic will have a story with the Joker in it so I'll never be able to afford it!) Just to add to the confusion, there was also a story with a crazy scientist who sent Batman and Robin back to the Stone Age in another comic from my foggy memory. LIL' ARCHIE, PIRATES AND SHOES Lil' Archie and his pals are playing pirates on an island in the middle of a lake at the local park, in the next comic I'm trying to recollect. I recall the boys had a rather neat boat or raft that they used to get to and from the island fort. In what may be the same story, or a different story in the same issue, Jughead discovers a box of shoes that has fallen off a truck from a shoe factory. The kids try to sell the shoes only to learn they are all left sided shoes and they don't have the right sides to match. (Or vise versa.) I remember a lot of the jokes dealt with the boys putting down the girls, Lil' Betty and Lil' Veronica, who just wanted to play with them. Their insults were like a 1950's version of South Park, in some respects. This may have been a giant size comic as well. By the way, girl bashing was a big theme in lots of kid comics of the 1950's. Every comic book tree house had a "No Girls Allowed!" sign posted back then. Despite the disdain shown by the boys to the opposite sex, the girls usually got the upper hand by the end each story. Even as a little kid, I enjoyed the irony that the girls the boys hated so much, Betty and Veronica, would grow up to be the objects of their desire and rivalry in their teens. LITTLE AUDRY'S GIANT ICE CREAM CONE It's 3-D comic book time, when Little Audry (or it might have been Little Dot or Little Iodine) receives a magic ice-cream cone in this next comic book that haunts my memory. Every time she licks it, it grows larger instead of smaller. Little Audry charges the other kids a penny a lick. By the time the story ends, scaffolding has been erected around the now gigantic, two-story high, ice cream cone, complete with stairs going up one side so kids can reach the top to lick the ice cream. There may have been a slide to go down the other side. This comic struck close to home because, close to my home in Monrovia, California, there was an ice cream parlor with a three-dimensional, plaster ice cream cone as part of its signage. (Like those giant donuts on some donut shops.) I would fantasize that the plaster statue became real and that I was the kid who got to collect a penny per lick. Was this a give- away comic? If so, was Tastee Freeze involved? Any 3-D collectors out there who can shed some light? LOIS LANE, TOMORROW WOMAN OF YESTERDAY This next comic may have been an issue of SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE, and probably came out later because I recall reading it. Lois Lane gains super powers in this issue and dons a terrific, sexy green costume. (Either that or she had a look-alike from the future with super powers.) Not to be confused with the times that Lois was Superwoman.) When I saw Tomorrow Woman in JLA, her costume brought memories flooding back to me of this story and I knew I had seen a variation on this character design before. In fact, I thought it was a tribute to that original Lois Lane story. Each time I've seen Tomorrow Woman since, like her appearance in this month's HOURMAN, I grow more convinced that I saw Lois Lane wearing a similar costume, and, perhaps, using the same name, many years ago. Am I crazy? Help me out here! LITTLE LU LU AND HER CAROUSEL HORSE Maybe a member of Friends of Lu Lu can help me out with this one from my misbegotten, preliterate youth. It's probably a MARGE'S LITTLE LU LU comic, but it very well could have been a story in MARGE'S TUBBY or FOUR COLOR. All I remember is that Witch Hazel, and perhaps Little Itch, are in the story and that a magical spell brings these wooden horses on a carousel to life at night. The image of Lu Lu and her pals, Alvin and Tubby, riding the horses through a park or into the woods has stayed with me all these years. I recall that Lu Lu rides the neatest horse of all, a black stallion. I know that there are reference guides and indexes out there for some of these comic books, especially the DC comics. Any suggestions or recommendations for Internet sites or discussions groups that might help me narrow my search would be appreciated. Thanks. PW ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [12] 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.] M.O.E. Sidenote: New at A-1 Comics are: Stain by Fathom Press, Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 by Viz Comics, Little Red Hot #2 by Image Comics, Dork Tower #3 by Corsair Publishing, Eep, The Victorian Special Preview by Penny-Farthing Press, Inc., Beowulf by Thecomic.com, Fright X Magazine by Fright X, Inc. For information on any of these titles, you can contact Brian Peets, owner at A1Comics@quiknet.com Note: Brian Peets sells a large amount of mainstream and independent titles. Brian is always trying something new, by fully reading and ordering from Previews Magazine. Name: Aces High #2 Publisher: EC Comics Written & Drawn by numerous writers and artists Price: $2.50 Aces High # 2 proved itself to be exceptional! "Chivalry!" was exciting from the opening page depicting a dogfight over France to the last page with Pat and the Baron saluting each other. Lt. Patrick Hogan had to play the guardian angel over Steve "The Kid" Barry. The Kid was a showboat, a hot dog and his recklessness could have gotten other people killed beside himself. The Kid was a danger for everyone and I wish Pat in this story would have gotten through to him, but young people like that seem to ignore advice from their wiser elders. Breathtaking scene as The Kid and the enemy known as the Flying Fox face off. The Flying Fox is a man of mercy and I believe their were good hearted aces on both sides that showed respect to all of the soldiers in the air and The Flying Fox was a good example of these courageous men who placed chivalry first. Pat just like The Flying Fox knows that decency is still a factor and I know many pilots still respect decency and chivalry. Great story! "Revenge" was a very tragic story. Lt. Ellen Mack and Cpt. Bill Warren were deeply in love and when Bill loses Ellen through death brought on by the enemy ace known as Von Rustow, I knew all heck was going to break loose. Bill was obsessed with the thought of Von Rustow. I should have expected it, but was still somewhat shocked at the kamikaze attack on Von Rustow. Yep, Cpt. Warren ran out of bullets on his Fokker and crashed his plane into Von Rustow's plane, killing them both. Again, this was a sad story, but a story that shows the human emotions that flow within these pilots. Believe it or not, there are 4 more stories in Aces High #2. If you like dogfights and human drama, then this is the comic book for you! Name: Sinnamon #12 Publisher: Catfish Comics Written by: Angelo Furlan Drawn by: Nick Poliwko Price: $2.75 Comments: In this issue of Sinnamon, Heartbreaker really looks hideous and demented. Heartbreaker rapes and kills and has proven to be a great adversary for Sinnamon. He is the horror of horrors and when he lost his heart during his major battle with Sinnamon, I couldn't help but yell a few "hurrahs". That's right, Sinnamon rips his heart out from his rib cage. The end of this beast. This was an evil entity that needed to be dealt with swiftly and harshly and Sinnamon did just that! Sinnamon showed no mercy and I respect the way she handled this situation. Alex the policewoman is in this story too. Alex is a good-hearted policewoman and she shows appreciation of everything in her surroundings and that's including this dog that steals some sausage from the butcher named Emil. I was surprised at her kind-heartedness that she is also willing to pay for the stolen sausages. I don't think the butcher would have been wiser, but hey.... She's a great gal with a big, big heart. Emil talks about changing times and how the city is unsafe and with Heartbreaker being a one man crime wave, Emil's statement is very true. It was quite interesting as Heartbreaker talks about satisfying his hunger and how he got his power. This is all brought to light in this story. Things only got more interesting as Sinnamon stepped into the picture. Just in time, because Heartbreaker was going to do the big nasty on Alex. Is it me, or is it my imagination, is Sinnamon changing? Her personality seems to diverting into something more callous, cold and calculating. Ahh...must be my imagination. I was gripping the edge of my coffee table as Heartbreaker and Sinnamon began their major battle, this was quite intense and had to laugh at the dark humor as the dog catches Heartbreaker's heart in his mouth. I wonder if this heart is tastier than the sausage? It was nice to see Alex and Sinnamon at the end of this story, working things out between them, the cliffhanger was superb too! The artwork, the story was all-in-all outstanding!! Climatic drama that leaves you shaking like a leaf! If I was rating this comic book, I would give it a 10 out of 10! Majestic storytelling! For more information about Sinnamon, email Angelo at: afurlan@pathcom.com Name: The Authority #1 Publisher: Wildstorm Written by: Warren Ellis Drawn by: Bryan Hitch/pencils Paul Neary/inks Price: $2.50 Comments: Wow! Major destruction in Moscow! Things have become chaotic, since Stormwatch lost it's funding. It's foolish not to have an international superhuman crisis response team and perhaps the U.N. would jump to attention if it had been London or New York that was destroyed by superhumans, instead of Moscow! Lots of cool scene shifts from Moscow, to New York to Gamorra Island, this story played out like a summer blockbuster movie. When Moscow and 2 more cities are destroyed, the mark of Kaizen Gamorra will be dominating for the whole world. It will be the slap in the face for everyone, that a new evil change is taking place and if the other 2 cities fall, will it be too late? On a brighter note. Apollo and Midnighter are compared to the dynamic duo and in a way they will remind you of the dynamic duo. Midnighter sort of resembles the bat guy and Apollo reminds of the goodie two shoes sidekick with the big "R" on his breast. I like the superb artwork that is done throughout this comic book! A very adventurous and suspenseful story. Name: Dork Tower #3 Publisher: Corsair Publishing Written and Drawn by: John Kovalic Price: $2.95 Comments: I laughed so hard to Dork Tower, that I injured my ribs, from rolling on the floor. My medical bill was $326.73 and I will send the publishing company my bill for prompt payment. This comic book is hazardous to my ribs and funny bone! What really started me laughing is when homogenized milk comes with Microsoft Explorer and citizens must pay $147.95 to have milk with the added bonus "Microsoft Explorer". Yep, crazy stuff and the cartoons in the comic just get crazier! Then I got a belly ache laugh as it is mentioned in this one cartoon, that the Warhamster website received its very first hit and when this new young webmaster learns that it was he that caused the one hit, he freaks! Their are humorous side bits on Dragonlore and a very funny cartoon called "Man v. Machines". People who love role playing games, JRR Tolkien characters, computer games or even Solitaire will get a laugh from this comic book! It's zany, it's wild, it's downright insane! Dork Tower is a 'mayhem of madness' that will leave you laughing hysterically! Just make sure you have your straight jacket ready! For more information, email John Kovalic at: john@kovalic.com Brian Peets of A1 Comics also carries this comic book and he can be reached at: A1Comics@quiknet.com Name: Fright X Magazine, Issue #10 Publisher: Fright X, Inc. Price: $2.95 Comments: Incredible. 82 pages for $2.95! This magazine started off as a 'zine and now it seems everyone is looking for a copy of this very cool magazine! Hmmm...let me run down on what this magazine contains. A fictional story called "All Talk and No Action" by Peter Santa Maria, some book reviews, interview with Jack Sargeant, comic book reviews, Peter Bagge interview, J. Scott Campbell interview, Neil Gaiman interview, film reviews, Garel Struycken interview, anime reviews, video reviews, music reviews and a whole lot more! The cover is striking and really stands out. Love this magazine and hope this magazine has a long, long life!! Barnes and Noble carries this magazine and if you have some questions, you can email them at: frightx@mindspring.com Brian Peets of A1 Comics also carries this magazine and they can be reached at: A1Comics@quiknet.com Name: Beowulf - Book 1 - Promo Publisher: Thecomic.com Written and Drawn by: Gareth Hinds Comments: This comic book ships out in April. Gareth does all of the artwork in this comic book. Strong colored graphic artwork that depicts the story of Norseman who seem to confront their own religious beliefs and their warrior purpose in life. Later, in the story they battle it out with a demon and of course good triumphs over evil. No word balloons, the full story is done by drawings. Name: The Victorian Preview Publisher: Penny-Farthing Press, Inc. Written by: Lovern Kindierski & Trainor Houghton Drawn by: Martin Montiel Luna/pencils Jose Carlos Buelna/inks Comments: "An urban myth, a voodoo incarnation, a mass hallucination, or the Angel of Doom?" The Victorian has become all things to all people. He is the catalyst who will bring the stories of many fractured lives crashing together. Trainor Houghton has woven a suspenseful story of a complex superhero whose singular mission will have profound repercussions on society for years to come. Highly detailed colored artwork and the story seems to have potential. I would like to see more, to make a final judgment on this comic book. They have a website at: http://www.pennyfarthingpress.com Name: Eep #2 Publisher: Unorthodox Press Written and Drawn by: Dave Mazure Price: $1.95 Comments: Eep is this little round character with 2 big black eyes and goes around hopping all over the place and says ......"eep" all the time. He meets all kinds of everyday characters from hookers on the street, some old lady at a bus stop that he gets attached to, in fact when he learns that this is the old lady's last bus ride before going to a old peoples' home, Eep starts crying. He gets on a lot of peoples' nerves, like this one guy who is playing basketball and then Eep hides out in some well, while these kids look all day for him. When the kids finally pull him out of the well, Eep just hops away and one kid exclaims..."mama, is sure going to be sore". Cute character and heck, you might just get fond of the little guy. Check the comic book out. For more information, you can email Dave Mazure at: eepman@mailcity.com Brian Peets at A1 Comics also carries this comic book and he can be reached at: A1Comics@quiknet.com Name: Silver Storm #3 Publisher: Silverline Written by: Roland Mann Drawn by: Jaxon Renick/pencils (Many inkers) Price: $2.95 Comments: Quick runover on events: Kastle Corporation was taken under siege. The Mafia and the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) are fighting for control. Whoever possesses the Silver Dollar armor, will have a nuclear advantage. The Silver Dollar armor was once proudly worn by Christopher Kastle, leader of the Kastle Corporation. Chris is obsessed in getting his armor back, but that would be a difficult thing to do, if it wasn't for the help of supermodel Natashia who happened to be in New Orleans for a photo shoot. Besides being a supermodel, Natashia is also the superheroine known as Tempest and she has promised Chris that she will help him get his armor back. While Skull is wearing the armor and is trying to learn how to fly in it and land in it, her partner Crossbones watches over her. Chris remembers the first time he put on the armor and he had a difficult time learning all of its functions and is surprised that Skull is actually doing better than he did. Chris is a man possessed, as he wants the armor back more than ever. Natashia spots Skull first and the action begins. High velocity action with Tempest and Chris battling Skull & Crossbones. Even though Chris doesn't have his armor, he doesn't give up and his anger gets the best of him in one situation. A situation that turns into an advantage point as Chris beats Skull unconscious, after she is thrust by the hurricane force winds of Tempest. Now were getting to the end and I don't want to give the ending away, but Roland turns the events around and gives a surprise cliffhanger. Just when you thought things were okay again, it's not the case at all. Incredible superhero action that will leave you wanting more! Jaxon does a great job with superb details and outlines of scenery. Just when you think you know the answers, the plot twists throw you for a loop. This story will keep you guessing. To sum up this comic book with 3 words: Bone Shattering Suspense!! Now let's talk about some upcoming comic books coming out of Silverline! They are as follows: Savage: a 4 issue mini by R.A. Jones and Ted Slampyak; Does The Blood Line Run On Time: One shot by Sidney Williams, Rob Sachetto and Terry Pallot; Scary Book: Trade Paperback - out in October; White Devil: 4 issue mini by R.A. Jones, Jaxon Renick and Mike Keeney; Friar Rush: 3 issue mini by Sidney Williams and Marc Thomas; Quetalcoatl: 3 issue mini by Kevin Gunstone, Kevin Tuma and Terry Pallot; Trumps: 4 issue mini by Roland Mann and Anthony Periera; Station: 3 issue mini by Warren Ellis; Mob Gods: 3 issue mini by Mike Leonard; Beah: by Roland Mann and John Drury. Roland Mann and Sidney Williams will be at the CoastCon XXII on March 19-21, 1999 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Silverline website is at: http://www.kakuta.com/silverline You can email Roland Mann at: rmann@kakuta.com MOE Sidenote: Right now there are plenty of great science fiction and fantasy books out on the market, that would make great comic books. I went over to Doubleday Books and found some interesting titles, that I feel would be great for the artistic visuals. Here are some of them: Earthborn by Orson Scott Card, The Mammoth Book of Terror by Stephen Jones, Being a Green Mother by Piers Anthony, Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear, The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan, The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey, Heirs of Empire by David Weber, Ships of Merior by Janny Wurts, Shadowdale by Richard Awlinson, Elminster by Ed Greenwood, Dark Destiny by Edward E. Kramer, Mistress of the Empire by Janny Wurts and Unicorn Point by Piers Anthony. Check some of the novels out, they have unique characters, mind blowing realities that would fit nicely in a 32 page comic book! Multiverse Observer and Explorer signing off until next time.... ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [13] 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.] SILVERSTORM #3 (of 4) 24 pages, black & white, color covers, $2.95 Silverline 1802 E. Tannehill Dr. Florence, AL 35630 http://www.kakuta.com/silverline Writer: Roland Mann Penciller: Jaxon Renick Letterer: Brad Thomte Inkers: Christopher Henderson, Mark Hester, Aaron Humpres, Tim Watts Cover by: Renick/Bordell colored by: Eric Rossman Okay, so this is part 3 of 4 parts and you might think, "why bother?" Well, if you take the chance you will find that there is no problem following the story and getting into the characters and you just might be eager to seek out the first two parts when you are done. The story involves Christopher Kastle who inherited a company but finds he is soon under siege. It seems both the Mafia and the Yakuza want his Silver Dollar Armor as the ultimate weapon for control. The suit has been stolen and Chris has his friend the powerful supermodel Tempest along to help him get it back. They go up against the terrible duo Skull and Crossbones who are currently learning how to use the stolen armor and are getting pretty good at it. Chris has a new weapon to surprise them with but they have a few tricks of their own. This is a mostly action packed chapter. This serves to show us the determination Chris has to get back the armor, almost to the exclusion of all else. He also has a mission to rescue his Uncle from the Mafia and the suit will help him achieve that goal. He and Natasha work well as a team but since there is a part four to this story you will have to leave the final resolutions until next time. The art is very accomplished and note the team of inkers called in to get the job done. Any difference in style is barely noticeable over the dynamic pencils of Jaxon Renick. This is good solid action and adventure fun and an introduction to the supporting characters that will show up in other comics from Silverline. It is worthy of your time. MOJO MECHANIX (SUPER BONANZA ASHCAN EDITION) 16 pages, black & white, 8.5 X 5.5 xerox, Regular issue - 32 pages, black & white, bi-monthly, $2.95/$3.95 CAN Syndicate Publishing - Left Hand Men glert@hotmail.com Written by Tait Bergstrom Illustrated by Matt Pasteris This is the ashcan for the full comic promised to be coming soon. From this short story it looks like it will be worth waiting until it shows up. The MOJO MECHANIX are Ajax Sterling and Bippy the Space Hippo. THey are on a routine check of a manned communications satellite that conked out of communications a couple of weeks earlier. What they find is that some nasty aliens have pretty much taken up residence and well they figure to do a little bug hunting so they can get their job done. This looks like a well thought out premise. The characters are just wacky enough and the humor skips along without being too silly or outrageous. The art is very clean with an essential cartoonish feel to set the right tone to the work. Tait tells his story in the space allotted and holds your interest al the way. The expanded first issue promises more of the same. Good effort and energy are evident in this promising space romp. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [14] Top 10 Black & White Comics - FEBRUARY Comic Shop News CSN's Top Seller charts are based on orders reported by Diamond Distribution and sales reported by a cross section of comic specialty shops. The former are orders placed by retailers for stock while the later are actual sales to the consumers. [Numbers are the Diamond index; 100 = 100,000 copies ordered] 1 POKEMON: ELECTRIC TALE OF PIKACHU 4 18.4 2 SAILOR MOON 5 3 BONE 35 4 STRANGERS IN PARADISE 21 5 DRAGONBALL Z PART II 3 6 J. O'BARR'S THE CROW: A CYCLE OF SHATTERED LIVES 0 7 OH MY GODDESS!: THE DEVIL IN MISS URD 4 8 DRAGONBALL 12 9 GUNSMITH CATS:BEAN BANDIT 2 10 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: DARK SHADOWS 30 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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, 3/24/1999, 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://www.jacksonville.net/~ncrl, and Compuserve's Comics Publishers Forum. "TPB" = "trade paperback". "GN" = "graphic novel". "AA" = "available again". "SC" = "softcover". "HC" = "hardcover". "S/N" = "signed/numbered". "AR" = "ask retailer about price". PUBLISHER TITLE, ISSUE NUMBER, PRICE IN U.S. DOLLARS NCRL for March 24, 1999 CHAOS! COMICS Cremator Hells Guardian #4 (Of 5), 2.95 Evil Ernie #10, 2.95 DARK HORSE Aliens Apocalypse #3 (Of 4), 2.95 Blade Of The Immortal Dark Shadows (3 Of 5) #31, 2.95 Predator Homeworld #1 (Of 4), 2.95 DC COMICS Adventure Comics #1, 1.99 All American Comics #1, 1.99 Batman No Law And A New Order TPB, 5.95 Dv8 #26, 2.50 Gen 13 #39, 2.50 Hellblazer #137, 2.50 Looney Tunes #52, 1.99 Minx Final Issue #8, 2.50 National Comics #1, 1.99 Sandman Presents Lucifer #3 (Of 3), 2.95 Sensation Comics #1, 1.99 Smash Comics #1, 1.99 Star Spangled Comics #1, 1.99 Thrilling Comics #1, 1.99 FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS Acme Novelty Library #12, 4.95 Eightball #20, 3.95 GALAXY PUBLISHING Forbidden Zone #1, 5.95 IMAGE COMICS Carvers #3 (Of 3), 2.95 Channel Zero Coll, 11.95 Crimson #9, 2.50 Darkminds Poster, 5.99 Jinx Torso #3, 3.95 Spirit Of Tao #8, 2.50 Tenth Black Embrace #1, 2.95 Tsunami Girl #1 (Of 3), 2.95 magazines Comic Shop News #614, AR Comic Shop News Spring Preview, AR MARVEL COMICS Deadpool #28, 1.99 Doctor Strange #4 (Of 4), 2.99 Earth X #2 (Of 12), 2.99 Gambit #4, 1.99 J2 #8, 1.99 Mutant X 1999, 3.50 Spider-Man Chapter 1 #7 (Of 13), 2.50 Thunderbolts #26, 1.99 Webspinners Tales Of Spider-Man #5, 2.50 Wolverine #138, 1.99 VIZ COMMUNICATIONS Animerica Volume 7 #3, 4.95 NCRL for the foreseeable future... TITLE OLD DATE NEW DATE DC COMICS Batman: No Man's Land Lentic Print Set 03/17 04/07 Battle Chasers #5 09/30 03/31 Battle Chasers #6 02/10 04/21 Battle Chasers T-Shirt LG 03/03 TBA Battle Chasers T-Shirt XL 03/03 TBA Crimson #10 03/10 04/21 Crimson #9 02/10 03/31 Danger Girl Door Poster 03/10 TBA Divine Right #9 01/27 TBA Fanboy #3 03/17 03/31 Flintstones & Jetsons #21 03/03 04/07 Gen 13 #39 03/17 03/24 Golden Age Flash Medium Statue 02/24 03/24 Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol. 2 #17 03/31 04/14 League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen #3 03/24 04/14 Nightwing Medium Statue 03/24 04/07 Veils HC 03/31 04/21 MARVEL Daredevil #7 03/03 04/07 Spider-Man Manga #30 2/10 TBA Spider-Man Manga #31 02/24 TBA X-Men Manga #25 02/03 TBA X-Men Manga #26 02/17