---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 220 7/03/99 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] Ramblings `99 ......................... Rich Johnston [6] Tony Isabella's Journal ............... Tony Isabella [7] Interview: George Broderick Jr. ....... Paul Dale Roberts [8] Venting My Spleen ..................... David Groenewegen [9] Stranger in a Strange Land ............ Jennifer M. Contino [10] Some Pages, A Cover, and A Few Staples. Marlan Harris [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] My View: ROLAND:DAYS OF WRATH ......... David LeBlanc [13] Top 100 Comics: JUNE .................. Diamond Comics [14] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [15] 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 & a week's worth of the strip: Steve Conley's ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 I don't know if I will have much time to write an editorial after the long vacation and a day of catch-up at work. I'll start this before I leave and will hopefully have something to say when I get back. I forgot to mention last time that for the second time yours truly was named "King of Trivia" by PREVIEWS in the JUNE 1999 edition for being first to identify the splash page and cover to KAMANDI #1. They promptly sent my prize from their warehouse full of stuff, for which I am most grateful, even though I don't play those collectible card games. Just the winning and the recognition is the fun part. I am sure there are many who play our weekly trivia who feel the same way. Turns out THIS issue sets a new record as our LARGEST to date! In the news these days are more comic related things every time you turn around. No sooner did someone find the new TARZAN action figure objectionable than does the wrong batch of "variant" AUSTIN POWERS dolls (made by McFarlane Toys) touch off a firestorm from an irate parent. A commentary on our time that SO much of the popular (meaning BIG money making) humor is sophomoric potty mouth junk. Maybe this is done to generate the controversial publicity like the incident above. One respected reviewer for the Northwest, whom I heard on the Austin Powers movie while I was travelling summed it up - "If you liked the first one, you'll love it. Otherwise it may entertain you but be ready to accept the overdone trashy language." I like and tell so-called "dirty" jokes - be they about sex or bodily functions as much as anybody. The puchline is the critique I use. Referring to "shagging" 20 times a minute is not funny to me. And the ad campaign for the Adam Sandler movie, BIG DADDY, is enough to make me avoid it even when I a can go to any movie I want for free due to #1 son's summer job at the cinema. I would rather they stimulate my brain than try to shock my senses. Having said all that, I still agree there is no accounting for taste; as we learn that lesson month after month in the comic business. We see semi-talented morons who can't keep to a schedule outselling outstanding talent all the time because their product appeals to those who are not as discerning about how they spend their comic dollars as the people who only support quality product. Don't infer from that that all top selling product is trash or the bottom of the list is pure genius - I did not say that. And not just the unworthy stuff is filled with foul language. Some people whom I know and respect would not touch a Garth Ennis book or even BARRY WEEN BOY GENIUS due to the language and yet I support and recommend those things as I find them entertaining and more stimulating than the product from the young faves who keep the dialogue PG but could not plot themselves out of a paper bag. And don't get me started on "variant" editions that have the "R" rated language put in - only a marketing genius could have thought that one up! More after this word from your local comic shop, and the wares on sale this week: CRYPTIC PRESS/CS COMICS Quicken Forbidden #7, 2.95 <--- Pick of the Week! DC COMICS Dv8 #29, 2.50 Hitman #40, 2.50 Invisibles Volume 3 #8 (Of 12), 2.95 JLA #32, 1.99 Supergirl #35, 1.99 DIAMOND PUBLICATIONS Previews Vol IX #7, 2.95 MARVEL COMICS Avengers #19, 1.99 magazines Alter Ego #1, 5.95 Links added to our web site since last time include CHUCK DIXON's new page and one to WRITERS WRITE, a resource for all writers, comic writers included, to find stuff to help them as well as other web sites of interest involving various genre of writing. To my fellow citizens of the USA - Happy Independence Day. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend! Due to the Sunday holiday (normally a packing day at Diamond) and the Legal Holiday on Monday most if not all comics will be a day late this coming week. NCRL lists the new comics for THURSDAY so take note! 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. +++++ From: Silhouet9@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 02:56:51 EDT Subject: Blue Moon Comics Ran Jazma Ad!! Your mentioned! Mystery Adventure Tales #6, published by Blue Moon Comics just ran a very cool Peoples Comic Book Newsletter / Jazma Universe Online! Promo Ad. In the ad, it mentions our upcoming interviews with Eric Powell, Larry Young, George Broderick, Jr., Jason Elias, Matt Pasteris, Mark Thompson, David LeBlanc, William Christensen, Tom Tetzlaff, Richard de Montebello! It also mentions Mark Cardoza's Marky Comics Universe x-over with the Jazma Universe! The ad features The Legendary Dark Silhouette drawn by Alex dela Rosa and the Jet-X / Lilau crossover picture with Catfish Comics Sinnamon done by Darrell Goza. If you like to purchase a copy of MAT #6, send $3.00 (check payable to Lloyd Smith) to Blue Moon Comics, HC 66 Box 1448, Barbourville, KY 40906 or email Lloyd at: Blue_moon_99@hotmail.com or check out his website at: http://rivendell.fortunecity.net/highwayman/51 A very thick comic book, that features about 8 stories, magazine size! +++++ Subj: I got a webpage! From: CHUCKDIXON@prodigy.net (CHARLES F DIXON) To: comicbknet@aol.com Hey, I have a webpage. Stop by for articles on comic scripting and storytelling as well as a hot message board and insider secrets. MY URL (so they tell me) is www.dixonverse.com Chuck [Another link added to our LINK page - if you care to check Chuck's page out later. - DL] +++++ Subj: 'Nuff Said! radio show info Date: 6/30/99 4:13:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: nuffsaid@escape.com (Nuff Said) 'Nuff Said!, the comic book interview/talk show, is on the air for a full hour every Tuesday at 10 PM on WBAI-FM, 99.5 in the New York City metropolitan area. We're also on the internet at www.wbaifree.org and, hopefully, at www.2600.com as well. Tuesday, July 6, 1999 - A four-guest panel: Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Howard Cruse and Peter Kuiper talking about self-publishing, the future of the industry, the comic art medium itself and what they're doing lately. Recorded at the Big Apple Con this past January. Tuesday, July 13, 1999 - Irv Novick. He started his comic book career with the Chesler studio and MLJ back in 1939, but is probably best known for his work on Batman and The Flash in the early '70s. Your phone calls, too. Tuesday, July 20, 1999 - To be announced. Tuesday, July 27, 1999 - No guest. Phone calls from the listeners. (212) 209-2900 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. But via the internet for an even greater distance. 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 (such as "Democracy Now" and Gary Null), they might be able to get 'Nuff Said! as well). WBAI, 120 Wall St., 10th flr, New York, NY 10005. --Ken Gale, interviewer and co-host +++++ Subj: Here's a letter to send out to any and all comic shop retailers From: Tacmail123@aol.com Hello, Mark here wanting to give you and your shop free stuff: signed ashcans, posters and stickers to give away or sell to your customers. Just ask and it's yours. I'm trying to reach out to as many shops that I can and give them something back for all their support. If you already haven't please check out my site at www.toothandclaw.com If you like what you see please pass it along to your customers and let them know the book will be out in august. Thank you for taking the time.Best,Mark PS. Please feel free to write me at Tacmail123@aol.com I would love to hear from you. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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: "The legend has come true! By the will of the Gods, I'm Alive!", was the first line spoken by what character? Dave Leon was first to know it was the Mighty Thor. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: That was fun, let's try another. Who said this in a first appearance: "But Hank, joining a counter demonstration isn't going to accomplish anything! All you're going to do is make trouble." 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 LINSNER PAINTS COVER FOR PEREGRINE'S SECOND CBLDF BENEFIT COMIC, INDEPENDENT VOICES #2 WASHINGTON, DC—Independent Voices #2, Peregrine Entertainment's second book benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), will feature a fully painted cover by Joseph (Dawn) Linsner and stories from a variety of independent East Coast creators. Last year's issue of Independent Voices, which contained four stories by writers and artists from the Baltimore/Washington area, raised more than $1,000 for CBLDF. Peregrine Publisher David Napoliello believes that the addition of more stories from a more geographically diverse selection of creators makes this year's edition even more appealing. "The contributors are very excited about the chance to have their work featured in a book that benefits such a worthy cause," Napoliello said. "And a Joe Linsner cover doesn't hurt, either!" Independent Voices #2 will feature the work of Vincent Sneed and John Peters (Forty Winks); Rich Henn (Hershal the Rat); John Gallagher (Buzzboy); Billy Martinez (Kick Ass Girl); David Napoliello, Kevin Tucker, and Philip Xavier (Books of Lore); Eva Hopkins (Crypt of Dawn) and many others. "I can't think of a better benefit book than Independent Voices," CBLDF Executive Director Chris Oarr said. "These guys have created, published, and promoted this book on their own, completely selflessly, and generated thousands of dollars for the CBLDF. I'm extremely proud of their efforts." The CBLDF is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to preserving the First Amendment rights of the comics community. For more information, please visit www.cbldf.org. In a unprecedented move, Linsner also recently announced that he would allow his original cover art from Independent Voices #2 to be auctioned off through eBay. All proceeds from the auction will likewise go to the CBLDF. Independent Voices #2 is a black-and-white 48-page comic book retailing for $2.95 and debuting at the 1999 Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD, on September 17-19. It will also be available through Diamond Comic Distributors in the July issue of Previews and through FM International. Peregrine Entertainment was founded by David Napoliello in 1997 as a vehicle for publishing his sword-and-sorcery, fantasy-adventure comic book series, Books of Lore. Since then, the company has become home to a wide variety of high-quality creator-owned titles. Its expanding line of books now encompasses such diverse genres as all-ages adventure (Forty Winks), science fiction (Digital Dragon), superhero (Buzzboy), and gothic horror (Vladimira). For more information, please visit www.peregrine-entertain.com on the Web or call 703-627-7989. +++++ Anna Paquin suits up for ``X-Men'' By Michael Fleming NEW YORK (Variety) - Anna Paquin, the Oscar-winning child star of ``The Piano,'' has joined the cast of ``X-Men,'' the Bryan Singer-directed feature adaptation of the best-selling Marvel Comics franchise. Paquin will play Rogue, a high school girl with psychic powers who is recruited by the X-Men to help fight their archenemy, Magneto. Among Rogue's attributes is the ability to absorb the powers of anyone she has contact with. Paquin joins Dougray Scott, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the 20th Century Fox film, which was scripted by Ed Solomon and Chris McQuarrie; shooting begins in September. Paquin is currently at work on Cameron Crowe's untitled music film for DreamWorks, and will next appear opposite Giovanni Ribisi in ``All the Rage.'' Paquin was just seen in the Tony Goldwyn-directed ``A Walk on the Moon,'' starring Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen. +++++ Comic-Con International Debuts New Website Comic-Con International: San Diego has debuted a brand-new website at http://www.comic-con.org The new site includes a totally updated interface and all new content, including just about everything you need to know about this year's Comic-Con. Features include complete up-to-date listings of special guests, attending professionals and exhibitors, a full list of the Eisner Awards nominees, registration, transportation and hotel information, features on the Masquerade, gaming, films and Japanese Animation and tons of programming highlights! The new site will be updated on a regular basis. Coming soon will be added sections on both the Comic Book Expo and Pro / Con. Comic-Con International: San Diego is the biggest event of its kind in the United States, featuring the largest gathering of comic book publishers, creators and professionals of any convention or event of its kind in North America. This year's convention will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, August 12-15. For more information contact: cciweb@aol.com +++++ Intelligent animals take over in Jon Lewis' new Shellmen comic book series Jon Lewis' ambitious, enchanting new Alternative Comics series, SHELLMEN, takes place in a decaying city populated by intelligent talking animals and inarticulate, apelike humans. The animals have no idea who could have built the bizarre structures amongst and inside of which they live-- but whoever it was, they are surely gone from the world now! The premiere issue of SHELLMEN will be released September 1999. SHELLMEN's crisscrossing storylines tell the tales of a wide cast of characters, including a retiring but curious-minded toad; three low-ranking members of a great and warlike ratclan; a nesting pair of robins; a one-eyed mouse and his best friend, a neurotic, street-preaching crow; a squirrel with a genius for music; and a much-feared bluejay whose vocabulary encompasses the supernatural. Each issue of SHELLMEN follows the point of view of a given character: in Issue One, Arkel the Toad's contemplative life is disturbed by the unwanted attentions of a powerful ratclan; in Issue Two, the robins Dein and Nance discover a strange and fateful egg in their nest; in Issue Three Perquart, Fokie and Duggler, a forage gang of rats, face the unearthly wrath of a thunder-spirit and the earthly wrath of an enemy clan; in Issue Four Killiter the Squirrel is forced from home when the traditions of her people threaten to get her killed; and so on, with these characters being rejoined again in later issues for a second story, in addition to making appearances in one another's stories. Jon Lewis is probably best known for his innovative animal tale TRUE SWAMP of 1994-95, a title which garnered a loyal cult following and is still talked about today. SHELLMEN marks Lewis' exciting return to a "nature subject," and it's drawing from him some of the most striking art he has yet produced. Like in TRUE SWAMP, the animal cast of SHELLMEN look like animals, and have to do without opposable thumbs, tiny cottages, and clothing. But also like in TRUE SWAMP, their concerns remain touchingly human. "Any creature blessed and/or cursed with the powers of thought and memory is going to pretty much face the same set of dilemmas," says Lewis. Asked about the differences between TRUE SWAMP and SHELLMEN, Lewis observes that "firstly, the new series has a wide cast of equally focal characters. It isn't centralized around a single character like TRUE SWAMP was. Also, and I'm not saying SHELLMEN is scientifically or biologically accurate, far from it, but I did a lot of research before starting it, much more than I've ever done for a story before, because I wanted to try to figure out from the actual natural traits of the different species what kind of culture and traditions that species would develop if they were intelligent. And conversely, I'm having to imagine what human life would become if we were stripped of our intelligence. But all that is just kind of a springboard from which I get to write a big sprawling fantasy with all kinds of little intrigues and mysteries and introspections and all that good stuff." Another difference with TRUE SWAMP is that SHELLMEN will not bear the Mature Readers designation-- Lewis is keeping the language to a "PG" level, and the action to "nothing you wouldn't see on a PBS nature documentary." Two installments of SHELLMEN appeared in Lewis' anthology title SPECTACLES. "I realized at that point that this was a really important story for me, and that I'd better focus my undivided attention on it. I also realized that the pacing of the story and the art style I'd established for it were all wrong. So everything in the SHELLMEN series is totally rethought and redrawn. There's nothing reprinted. And a lot of the events and characters have been rethought too, so it's really a new start from a blank slate." Lewis and Mason will be premiering SHELLMEN #1 at this The Expo: Small Press Expo, September 17-19 in Bethesda, Maryland. Other Alternative Comics creators in attendance will be Sam Henderson (Magic Whistle), James Kochalka (Sunburn), and Jen Sorensen (Slowpoke). The Expo website is: http://www.spxpo.com/ The official Alternative Comics website is: http://www.indyworld.com/altcomics The official Shellmen website is: http://www.indyworld.com/shellmen For more information please contact Alternative Comics publisher Jeff Mason at 611 NW 34th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32607-2429. Phone: (352) 373-6336. E-Mail: jmason@gator.net. ### Press or retailers desiring a full preview copy of SHELLMEN #1 should contact Jeff Mason, Publisher of Alternative Comics, at jmason@gator.net; (352) 373-6336; 611 NW 34th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32607-2429. Questions about SHELLMEN or Jon Lewis' work may be directed to Lewis at jlewis@indyworld.com. A graphic of the Shellmen cover image is available at: http://www.indyworld.com/pics/shellmen01.tif (in .tif format) or http://www.indyworld.com/pics/shellmen01.gif (in .gif format). +++++ Superheroes Come in All Colors By MARTHA IRVINE CHICAGO (AP) - Black Lightning came and went. ``Pow!'' So did the Falcon and Power Man. ``Blam!'' ``Wham!'' All three were black superheroes created by major white comic book publishers; all have debuted and have all but disappeared since 1969. That was the year Donald McQuay graduated from high school - a hopeful young artist who, like many others, eventually gave up his craft to take jobs that could support a family. So why in the world is McQuay - now pushing 50 - in a basement studio in his South Side home, drawing black, Asian and other comic book characters? ``It may seem a little crazy. Here I am on the back end of my life trying to do this,'' McQuay says, sitting amid a clutter of drafting tables, drawings and, just a few feet away, his daughters' toy oven and dishes. ``But it's my dream.'' That dream, so far, has led to a handful of comic books, self-published with the help of a North Dakota printer and distributed at comic book conventions and stores, mostly in the Chicago area. But even with work published, McQuay, who is black, isn't about to quit his day job - nor are many other artists like him. ``You're lucky if you can break even,'' says Turtel Onli, a 47-year-old artist and teacher who also is black and lives in Chicago. Black comic strip artists who draw black characters, including those who created the syndicated strips ``Curtis'' and ``Herb and Jamaal,'' have had a bit more success. And major comic book characters also haven't completely given up on their attempts to cross cultural boundaries. DC Comics' Batman sometimes speaks Spanish - at least in editions distributed in Mexico, Spain and other Latin American countries. And at least one black character, known as ``Spawn,'' has made it to the big screen. So far, though, there have been more failures than successes. DC, for example, tried its own series with black superheroes called Milestone in the early 1990s but dropped the line when it didn't make enough money. ``The black-only superhero line was a really good try in terms of getting the multicultural voice out there,'' said Francine G. Burke, manager of international rights for the New York-based company. ``But when you go for all women or all black superheroes, it's tough in a market that's looking for more than just those characters.'' It's also difficult to come up with new characters to compete with the long-standing popularity of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Wonder Woman, she said. Some who are trying to break into the field attribute the failure of black and other minority characters in part to the relatively small number of nonwhite artists and writers who have made it big - an issue Burke says major comic book publishers are trying to address. ``It's nice to see our faces in the books, but behind our faces are not us. They're basically an interpretation of us,'' says Edward Sims, a black comic book writer who sometimes works with McQuay. Onli places at least some of the blame closer to home. He published his first black superhero comic book, called ``Nog - The Protector of the Pyramids,'' in 1981, but says it was difficult to get even black-owned bookstores to carry them. He also organizes a convention for black comic-book artists, but attendance has been down in recent years. ``In the black community, music means more than images,'' Onli says. ``Sing and everybody loves you; draw good ... and big deal.'' For his part, McQuay's ``Circle Unleashed'' series tells of a band of tough, do-gooding superheroes, including the Dark Prophet - a sort of half-black, half-alien character - and another simply known as John, a former Georgia slave who is given special powers by aliens. His ``Tsunami'' series features an Asian character. A dock supervisor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, McQuay does most of his drawing long after his 5-year-old twins, D'Yona and Dawn, are tucked in bed. He has financed the books with small loans from nonprofit organizations that help fledgling artists and business owners. McQuay wonders if it may simply be a matter of getting people - even minorities - used to seeing nonwhite superheroes. He recalls his own first big art show, a big day for a sophomore in high school who grew up in Chicago's tough Stateway Gardens housing projects, sometimes drawing on the back of sale posters instead of standard paper. McQuay was taken aback when one admirer asked, ``Do you draw black people?'' ``I said, 'Wow.' I didn't realize until that moment that I had no black characters - not one,'' he said. That soon changed with ``Kane and Abell,'' a series with black characters based on the Kennedy assassination,'' and a comic strip depicting the passage of Harriet Tubman and other slaves along the Underground Railroad. Some of that work hangs on his basement studio's walls - a proud but somewhat bittersweet reminder of his early days as an artist. ``I wish there'd been somebody to really take me aside and show me how it all worked,'' McQuay says. ``Who knows what I could've become?'' Then his eyes light up. ``But maybe,'' he says, ``Maybe one day, I'll get that big hit.'' +++++ TOKYO, June 30 (Kyodo) - Hakuhodo Inc., a major Japanese advertising agency, will set up a company in Tokyo on Thursday to feed ''manga'' comic books, animation video and music via the Internet, the company announced Wednesday. The new company, Indivisio Inc., will be operated by Toyota Tsusho Corp., Toyota Motor Corp.'s trading arm, Hakuhodo said. Indivisio will initially have 300 software titles for distribution and hopes to increase the number to 1,000. It is planning to start an electronic magazine to publicize new contents every week, the ad agency said. The new company will also offer planning and production of Internet advertising, it said. Hakuhodo has been experimenting with distribution of manga over the Internet since last September and judges that the Internet will be an effective means for distribution of publications including manga, it said. +++++ Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Comics Unveil A New Comic Book in Connection With Their Upcoming Comedy 'Mystery Men' UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Comics have unveiled their first installment of Volume Zero, a brand new comic book based on the comedy film "Mystery Men," in advance of the July 30 opening of the film. The 20-page comic book from Dark Horse Comics is available exclusively on the film's official website (www.mysterymen.com) in weekly installments. "Mystery Men" stars Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo, Wes Studi and Kel Mitchell as seven aspiring superheroes, each possessing a unique -- and bizarre -- superpower, who band together to save Champion City. The film also stars Academy Award(R)-winner Geoffrey Rush, who is joined by Greg Kinnear, Claire Forlani, Lena Olin, Eddie Izzard, Tom Waits and Pras. "We created Volume Zero as a means of introducing people to the wonderfully-kooky world that is Champion City," said the film's producer Mike Richardon, who also co-wrote Volume Zero. This way audiences can become better acquainted with the characters and setting of 'Mystery Men' prior to seeing the film." The "Mystery Men" website also contains the film's trailer, screensavers, desktop icons and virtual postcards, with cast and filmmaker biographies, production notes and soundtrack information coming soon. A Golar/Lloyd Levin/Dark Horse production, "Mystery Men" is directed by Kinka Usher, DGA commercial director of the year, who makes his feature film directorial debut. The original Dark Horse comic book "Mystery Men," upon which the film was based, was created by Bob Burden. Universal Pictures is part of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com), a unit of The Seagram Company Ltd., a global entertainment and beverage company. SOURCE Universal Pictures +++++ NEW YORK (AP) - Superman, Batman and Tarzan still pack a punch after all these years. The superheroes fetched solid if not spectacular prices on Monday as Sotheby's sold off vintage comic books, illustrations and original sketches of characters ranging from Krazy Kat to Charlie Brown. Perhaps boosted by the new ``Tarzan'' movie, a 1963 painting of the jungle character by master illustrator Frank Frazetta, sold for $49,450 - well beyond the pre-sale estimate of $35,,000. The 10-by-15-inch water color sketch, showing the loinclothed Tarzan and a fanged gorilla fighting on a branch, was done for the Ace Paperback edition of ``Jungle Tales of Tarzan,'' by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. A 1938 copy of Action Comics issue No. 1, which introduced Superman to the world and is considered ``the most important comic book ever published,'' according to Sotheby's, went for $46,000 to an unidentified dealer-collector, slightly below the pre-sale estimate of $50,000 to $60,000. Only about 75 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist, only one in mint condition. The one that was sold Monday was the ``finest restored'' copy its experts have seen in a decade, Sotheby's said, with no rips or tears, and the colors still vibrant on the cover showing Superman holding a car over his head. The blue-clad Man of Steel recouped nicely when his own Superman No. 1, dated 1939, sold for $51,750, an apparent record for an unrestored copy, said Dana Hawkes, Sotheby's specialist on comics. It was estimated pre-sale at up to $45,000. Both of those sales were apparent bargains, although Superman No. 1 is not as rare as other vintage comics. A restored May, 1939, copy of Detective Comics issue No. 27, featuring the debut of Batman, sold for $34,500. The magazine, valued pre-sale at $32,500 to $45,500, is among the half-dozen most important comic books of the era and ``exceedingly rare,'' with only 50 known copies, Sotheby's said. +++++ NEW YORK (Variety) - Warner Bros.' troubled ``Superman'' project, grounded last year over script and budget concerns, may yet fly again. The studio has hired Bill Wisher, the screenwriter best known for his long-time collaboration with James Cameron (they shared script credit on ``Terminator 2: Judgment Day''), to draft a new script. Wisher has already met and pitched his take to Nicolas Cage, who has been attached to the project since early 1997 and clearly still wants to wear the S on his chest. Wisher will begin writing the film as soon as he completes a top-secret assignment for DreamWorks-based director Robert Zemeckis (``Forrest Gump''). His hiring lends the ``Superman'' project some much-needed momentum. After Cage signed on with producer Jon Peters and director Tim Burton, the film seemed on course for a July 4, 1998 release date. Chris Rock was being wooed to play Jimmy Olson and big stars were named for other parts. The studio had little trouble lining up its merchandising and tie-in campaigns, but the screenplay never really came together. Because the studio was nervous about greenlighting a huge budget without resolving script problems, the start date was called off in APril 1998 and the project shelved. Wisher most recently adapted the Michael Crichton bestseller ``Airframe'' for Disney as well as the prequel for ``The Exorcist,'' which Morgan Creek is preparing for production. Known for handling complex, big-budget fare, Wisher will work from the same source material used by the other scribes on the project. The film is based on the DC Comics installment in which the Man of Steel is killed by the evil Brainiac and then comes back to life in a new incarnation. While Cage is still squarely the lead candidate to play Superman, it's believed that director Burton, who'd worked with Peters on ``Batman,'' has permanently departed the project. However, parties involved aren't concerned with a helmer just yet; instead, they will let Wisher do his job first. They'll go out to directors when he has turned in the new draft. +++++ July 2nd, 1999 Veena #2 will be out July 7th (wednesday) in most comic shop. Look for that bold retro cover graphic, turn it and you'll also discover a Veena pin-up by Bernie Mireault (of the Jam/Madman fame) and Zippa. Veena is that young woman whose adventures bring her in contact with ghosts, weird sunglasses, time machine, Black Panthers, new wave kids and CIA agents.This time after a warning dream, Veena and Prof Bob leave for the year 1982 where they hope to discover a clue to the mystery of the haunted sunglasses. But the time travelers energy readings are unstable.... Written and drawn by Éric Thériault whose previous work include Real Stuff (Fantagraphic Books), Reactor Girl (Black Eye) and Flock of Dreamers (Kitchen Sink Press). Also read 2 more short stories: "A Future" a fable about the fear of being normal...and "Urban Adventures" written by Éric Thériault and drawn by Luis Neves in his Munoz/Tardi style, about a wallet stealing prostitute! And don't forget to test your patience with that micro comic strip "John Star", a 3 panels space opera. To discover more, visit http://www.cam.org/~veena/englishmain.html Reviewer wanting to use a cover repro can go at: http://WWW.CAM.ORG/~veena/ordering.html Eric Theriault -------------- "The Veena Archives" has its own web site at: "Les Archives Veena" a maintenant son propre site web a http://www.cam.org/~veena +++++ For Information Contact: Advertising/Sponsorships Desmond Jones 248/569.8036 voice 248/559.8688 fax E-Mail djones@impactinteractive.com Editorial: Ken Cross 248/569.8036 voice 248/559.8688 fax E-Mail kcross@impactinteractive.com News- From FantastiCon.com (http://www.FantastiCon.com) In late October of 1998 FantasiCon.com BackWeb Channel was down due to our move from one office building to another. During that time it was suggested to us to take the time to find some content that would be exciting for our subscribers to get. We decided to launch once everything was up and running fully with some unique content to deliver to you every week. We are still putting together some exciting deals, but in the meantime we've gotten some things ready! So we're inviting you to subscribe or resubscribe to the FantastiCon.com BackWeb Channel to see some of the great stuff we've put together for you! Dwayne McDuffie- (Known as the Editor and Chief of Milestone Media Inc. Creator of Icon, Static, Blood Syndicate, and hardware!) Hear is opinion of SciFi, Comics, and get the latest insider news. Interviews with - Artist Alex Ross (The Marvels, Kingdom Come), Artist- Mike Wieringo ( The Flash, Robin, Spiderman, and hot new comic series Tellos!) Producer- Paul Dini ( Batman Beyond), RPG's Mark C. MacKinnion- (Publishers of The Guardians of Order). Shakan Warrior God!- Patricia Gamble and Don Deigo Harris bring you the latest multimedia comic adventures of Gods that walk among mortals. Brother Rake!- Teon Walker's vision of the future starts with this multimedia comic adventure. Studio Tours!- With Jim Henson's Creature Shop and Pixar Animation Studio. Plus movie trailers, game demos, and all kinds of great stuff! But we've got to get you to activate the backWeb software and subscribe now! To get the latest BackWeb Client software (it's free) point your browser at: http://www.fancon.com/registration.asp install the software and click subscribe. Tell us what you think! Contact Desmond Jones, at djones@impactinteractive.com and if you have something our subscribers need to see contact Ken Cross at kcross@impactinteractive.com Come to FantastiCon; see what keeps your imagination going. Thank you, Sincerely Desmond Jones Marketing Manager, FantastiCon.com Building New Legends Daily 17117 West Nine Mile Road Southfield, MI 48075-4602 248.569.8036 voice 248.559.8688 fax http://www.fantasticon.com +++++ SPX 99 AND MORE TO BENEFIT COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND The new 200-page SPX anthology is now available for preorder, and the coming months see the debut of three more new comic collections benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Featuring new work from Neil Gaiman, Joseph Michael Linsner, Matt Wagner, and dozens more, these books have been produced by independent publishers with all proceeds going to support the CBLDF. All of these books are quite simply good work by good people--for a great price and a great cause! Order Now -- "SPX 99: The Comic" It's the long-awaited debut of the latest upgrade in small press anthology technology: "SPX 99: The Comic." A who's who of the burgeoning small press and self-publishing scene, "SPX 99" comes wrapped in a hilarious new "Jay and Silent Bob" cover from Matt Wagner. The book includes more than 40 new stories and strips from Jim Mahfood, Brian Ralph, Dean Haspiel, James Kochalka, Rachel Hartman, Jordan Crane, Bob Fingerman, John Hastings, Nick Bertozzi, Steve Conley, and many more. Altogether, it's 200 pages of high quality, square-bound, sequential entertainment for the unbelievably low price of only $5.00. And like previous SPX volumes, all proceeds from "SPX 99: The Comic" benefit the CBLDF. Unfortunately, Wagner's cover art for "SPX 99: The Comic" was not included in the June "Previews." Your retailer might have missed the book's listing, scrunched between "Excreta" and "Teaching through Trauma" on page 296 (item code JUN991560). For those wishing to see Wagner's cover, it's up the CBLDF web-site at http://www.cbldf.org and the SPX web-site at http://www.spxpo.com. Available Now -- "Murder by Crowquill" Imagine twenty-four of the most innovative creators in comics tackling the traditions of the mystery genre in comics form. "Murder by Crowquill" does more than imagine, delivering twenty carefully crafted and delightfully twisted short tales sure to tingle your spine and tease your brain! Aided and abetted by Joe Zabel, this 180 page trade paperback covers everything from the drama of the classic whodunit to the incisiveness of the witty parody. The prime suspects include Timothy Truman and Joe R. Lansdale, Batton Lash, Stephen Blue, Joe Chiappetta, and Alex Robinson. And that's not even a quarter of the people that pooled their efforts for Zabel's mysterious brainchild. Published by Amazing Montage Press, "Murder by Crowquill" is available now for $9.95, and all proceeds benefit the Fund. Coming in September -- Neil Gaiman's "Gods & Tulips" One of the Fund's most outstanding and outspoken allies, Neil Gaiman has produced another great benefit project for the Fund: "Gods & Tulips." This "prose comic" collects three of Gaiman's acclaimed speeches about the comic book industry: the infamous "Tulip Speech," comparing Holland's "tulip mania" to the comics speculation boom; "On Signings," a primer in running an absolutely miserable store signing; and a look back at comics as both a profession and as a medium for the storyteller. Featuring a dazzling painted cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta and interior illustrations by Chester Brown, "Gods & Tulips" is a must-have for anyone interested in Gaiman's work and the business of comics. Published by Westhampton House, this 32-page comic retails for $2.95. All proceeds benefit the Fund. Coming in September -- "Independent Voices" #2 After raising more than $1,000 for the Fund with "Independent Voices" #1, Peregrine Entertainment publisher David Napoliello and artist-provocateur Rich Henn are at it again. "Independent Voices" #2 features a gorgeous fully-painted cover from Joseph Michael Linsner, creator of "Dawn." Linsner's name has become a by-word for bold, beautiful women in comics, and this cover is no exception as Linsner busts out for free expression. Napoliello and Henn have also enlisted the help of Dan Parsons ("Harpy"), John Gallagher ("Buzzboy"), and Mike Manley ("Mr. Monster") in creating this sure-fire hit anthology. Discerning comics readers should ask for these books and other CBLDF products at your local comics shop. You can also order direct from the CBLDF web-site at http://www.cbldf.org. All of these books are available for retailers from Diamond Comic Distributors, FM International, Cold Cut Distribution, Bud Plant, and other distributors of fine sequential art. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization preserving the First Amendment rights of the comics community. Donations and inquiries can always be sent directly to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at P.O. Box 693, Northampton, MA 01061. Be sure to check out "Busted!" the Fund's quarterly newsletter or http://www.cbldf.org for more CBLDF news. For additional information contact Chris Bleistein at (413) 586-6967 or cbldf@compuserve.com +++++ From the SPLASH PAGE of Comicon.com at: http://www.comicon.com/splash/ INTERNATIONAL COMICARTS FOUNDATION FORMING! NEW TRADE ORGANIZATION AIMS TO UNITE ALL ASPECTS OF COMICS INDUSTRY! June 28: A new non-profit organization, with ambitious plans to aggressively promote comics and improve working conditions for creators, is currently in an advanced stage of development. The INTERNATIONAL COMICARTS FOUNDATION has begun circulating a detailed overview and prospectus among select individuals in the industry, hoping to drum up ideas and support for its far reaching goals, which include becoming the first large scale trade organization and promotional board for comics based in the United States. Founder and Executive Director, Erik Enervold, describes the organization's goals to, "strengthen the industry, increase communication between all levels of the industry, to improve working conditions and create increased business opportunities for all professionals in the industry, to work to change public perception of the medium and expand the market for comic products in America." Enervold says much of the groundwork for the organization has been completed while other aspects are currently in progress. A promotional website is under construction. The prospectus for ICAF envisions a well staffed organization funded by a broad based membership dues, charitable donations, grants, auctions, fund-raising drives, industry events, and the sale of special products and periodicals. ICAF sees itself operating a large array of projects, including the COMIC ARTS AD COUNCIL, which would undertake marketing and advertising campaigns directed at the general public to raise awareness of the comics art form. Other projects include a reference and research library, archives, press relations, a web site, a bi-monthly magazine, a history project, a scholarship program, outreach and educational programs, awards, consumer assistance and market research. The organization is just beginning to solicit active support, including a membership drive. Anyone interested in joining or learning more can e-mail Erik Enervold at emdecay@aol.com [EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier this week I received a letter from Donna Barr about goings on at YAHOO. Here is the text.] From: Donna Barr Subject: Fw: yahoo/geocities merge with new terms (fwd) Information only, to everybody on the voluntary list. If you have a website, or use Yahoo/Geocities, the following information about the service agreement is correct; I checked it out myself. The National Writers Union and the Graphic Artists Guild know about this. Donna Barr ---------- From: Eric & Dallas Franklin To: cditner@idirect.com Subject: yahoo/geocities merge with new terms Date: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 4:42 AM Hey everyone, It's come to my attention that since Yahoo and Geocities have merged, they've changed the terms of agreement on their server. Basically when you accept the terms you are giving ownership to all your website..stories, pictures, graphics, poems, whatever..it belongs to Yahoo/Geocities if you keep your site there. I'm copying the way it's written at yahoo/geocities site now, but you can always go there and check it out for yourself. So if you, or anyone you know has a website with Yahoo/Geocities please forward a letter, or this one..to let them know. This is very important if you want to safeguard your personal material. Here's the excerpt of the terms of agreement:..the first few lines spells it out. By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. You acknowledge that Yahoo does not pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse, edit, move or remove any Content that is publicly available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, Yahoo and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by Yahoo or submitted to Yahoo, including without limitation information in Yahoo! Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the Service. So Please..forward to this to the people on your mailing lists so that everyone will know what they're agreeing to. Another thing I noticed when I re-registered with Geocities {just before I found out about this I might add!*G*G) was that in their terms of agreement the I Accept and I Decline buttons are placed at the top of the terms, rather than the bottom. Pretty sneaky eh! Okay..thanks for your time Dallas*~:) [The SPLASH page at COMICON.COM did the follow up later in the week] YAHOO BACKS DOWN IN FACE OF BOYCOTT! CHANGES DISPUTED LANGUAGE IN CONTRACT! July 1: In response to a firestorm of criticism from outraged customers, Yahoo yesterday abandoned rules that had given it ownership of all intellectual properties on GeoCities Web sites. Tim Brady, Yahoo vice president of production told WIRED, "We're seeing how we can clarify our intentions, given the recent outcry,". After executives spent Wednesday morning huddled with lawyers, new terms of service were posted on YAHOO's website by 3:00 that afternoon, stressing that "Yahoo does not own content you submit." The company said that Yahoo will use customers' intellectual property only when displaying it on Web sites and for promotion and marketing which is more in line with the terms offered by competing web hosting companies like TRIPOD. After the Terms Of Service story first broke on Tuesday, a public boycott of YAHOO was quickly organized on the web by outraged GeoCities homesteaders who saw the move as an underhanded grab at ownership of their intellectual property rights. Cartoonist, Mark Martin, who's CRAZY BOSS daily strip is hosted by GeoCities, responded almost immediately with an animated on line protest titled HISSY FIT. To participate in a discussion of the Yahoo terms of contract and boycott, click to the COMICON.COM MESSAGE BOARD FULL STORY: WIRED +++++ From Comic2film at: http://www.comics2film.com FROM THE DETROIT NEWS COMIC BOOK CONTINUUM: The Detroit News Comic Book Continuum heard from comic creator Brian Michael Bendis about his crime comic AKA Goldfish. The comic had been optioned by Miramax but Bendis told The Continuum that the option has now run out. Bendis is quoted as saying, "Miramax is leaning on the teen thing more than the crime fiction thing. Don't feel bad for me though, it was an unusually positive experience for my first time out. We are in talks right now with two other places, one of which would be perfect on paper." http://detnews.com/comicbooks/ ALSO FROM THE CONTINUUM: According to the Detroit News Comic Book Continuum, Iron Man will make an appearance in the upcoming Avengers animated show. Shell-head is said to be slated for an appearance in the second half of the first season. In casting news, The Continuum reports the following voice actors: Wayne Best as Scorpion, Gerry Mendicino as Taurus and Nigel Hamer and Julie Lemieux as the two sides of Gemini. Each character, of course, represents part of the evil Zodiac gang. http://detnews.com/comicbooks/ Big Guy and Rusty (and other Domain Names) ------------------------------------------ Recently Comics 2 Film did one of our routine web sweeps looking for official websites for upcoming movies and TV shows. Here's what we found: The website for the Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot animated series is now open. The site can be found at http://www.bigguyandrusty.com. It features information about the upcoming animated series set to debut on Fox Kids this fall. We didn't find any other websites that were actually open. However, we did learn that Marvel has purchased the following domain names: http://www.x-men.com, http://www.x-men-themovie.com and http://www.xmen-themovie.com. European Comics 2 Film ---------------------- European C2F correspondant Antonello checked in with some interesting overseas news. Fans awaiting the upcoming Diabolik animated show on Fox Kids can get a sneak peek on a French website at http://www.m6.fr/siteV2/noshock/rub/diabolik/index.htm. The site features news about the series, including RealVideo clips. The comic is soon to be published in the U.S. by Skorpio. Clips of an animated Corto Maltese mini-series are also available online. Point your browsers to http://www.fumetti.org/mov/corto.mov to have a look. Finally, Antonello informs us that Jean (Moebius) Giraud's Lt. Blueberry is in the works as a feature by Jan Kounen. FROM THE DETROIT NEWS COMIC BOOK CONTINUUM: James Hudnall, co-creator of the Harsh Realm comic, has seen the pilot episode of the TV adaptation of his work. Hudnall told the Detroit News Comic Book Continuum, "It is excellent. One of the best TV pilots I have ever seen. However, [Chris Carter (X-Files)] changed the characters and the setting to modern times. It's now sort of like a cross between The Matrix and Apocalypse Now." The show's concept places the heroic Lt. Thomas Hobbes (played by Scott Bairstow) into a virtual reality military simulation that's been taken over by the villainous Omar Santiago (played by Terry O' Quinn). Hobbes mission is to assassinate Santiago and regain control of the game. However, the "game" may be more real than anyone realizes. Hobbes is aided by a VR construct named Mike Pinnochio (played by D.B. Sweeney). Hudnall further comments on the show, "D.B. Sweeney is great. He is like a hard-edged Han Solo, and Scott Bairstow is also really cool. Terry O'Quinn makes for a great villain." The writer also told The Continuum that Carter regulars Lance Henriksen (Millennium) and Gillian Anderson (X-Files) also turn up in the pilot. http://detnews.com/comicbooks/ Spider-Man ---------- FROM ZDTV: Stan Lee recently appeared on the Big Thinkers show on ZDTV to promote his new internet venture: StanLee.net. The online transcript of the show reveals that there may be a director very close to jumping on board the Spider-Man movie. The Man was asked about Marvel movie projects and the Big Thinkers host specifically asked about James Cameron and Spidey. Lee responded, "I think we've lost James Cameron. I think we're going to have a director equally, if not even more exciting. I cannot tell you his name. But, Spider-Man is definitely in the works. The story is being finished now. It will be produced by Sony-Columbia. And it's going to be one of the big movies. It's certainly one of the most long-awaited movies of all time. Next to Stars Wars, or maybe even on a level with the Star Wars movie." http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/ http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/bigthinkers/ http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/bigthinkers/thisweeksbigthinker/story/0,6917 ,2281648,00.html http://www.stanlee.net +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Awesome Entertainment's Warchild returns this September in Warchild: Merlyn #1, by the creative team of Liefeld, Napton, & Hong. "When Sword, the knight of destiny and his cyborg ally, Stone are taken prisoner by the powerful Morgana, the young wizard, Merlyn is forced to fight alone against the terror that is the Black Knight!" McFarlane: "Horny" Toy Error by Matt Brady Responding to yesterday's story regarding an Atlanta Toys R Us that received a direct-market version of the Austin Powers figure with the sound chip that said, "Do I make you horny baby, do I?" that so offended her that she had to but all the toys she found and take them to the Atlanta police where she filed and obscenity charge against the toy store, Todd McFarlane issued the following statement: "In the course of manufacturing any product, a thing called human error comes into play. The toy in question, Austin 'Danger' Powers Ultra-'Cool' Action Figure, was a product that was supposed to ship to specialty retailers, not those selling to the mass market, such as Toys R Us. Most of the Austin Powers action figures created by McFarlane Toys had variant sound chips designed for different markets. That this figure with the sound chip 'Do I make you horny Baby, Do I?', a statement directly from the movie, was shipped to the store in Atlanta is nothing more than an isolated event of human error. "But be that as it may, when confronted with a 'parental moment,' the discussion of what is appropriate for each individual family should be decided upon without that value being placed on the rest of society. Education from parents is our best tool." Gillian Anderson, Lance Henriksen in Harsh Realm The X-Files' Gillian Anderson and Millennium's Lance Henriksen will guest-star on the pilot episode of Chris Carter's new series Harsh Realm, according to The Detroit News Comic Book Continuum. Only Anderson's voice will be featured. James Hudnall, co-creator of the series with Andrew Paquette, told the Continuum, he's pleased with the pilot-describing the series (based on a comic book) as a cross between The Matrix and Apocalypse Now. +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE Marvel's advance solicitations for September shipping comics are out and the publisher has announced that two series, Joseph Harris and ChrisCross' Slingers, and Erik Larsen and Joe Bennett's Nova are ending with issue #12 and #7, respectively. Following Lanning, Abnett and new penciler Olivier Coipel's initial story arc, Legion of the Damned (which includes a short prelude in Legionnaires #78, then 4-parts covering LSH #122-123 and Legionnaires #78-80), LSH #124 & 125 and Legionnaires #81 will then wrap up Damned, as well as the run of the current titles, and serve as a set up to Legion Lost, a 12-part maxi-series by the same creative team launching in early February 2000. "Those final wrap-up issues will set the next year up and bring questions into the forefront - such as what is the Legion purpose, and force the team to think twice about what it is they've gathered together for," explained Lanning. The writers and their editor aren't giving much away about Legion Lost, preferring that the reader interest they've seen generated since hints of the upcoming changes started filtering into fan discussion forums continue. What they will say is that the story elements they discussed with us a few weeks back (see our interview with Lanning and Abnett in the June 17th Newsarama) still do apply to this next chapter in Legion history. "All we discussed then applies to Legion Lost,” assured Lanning. "The new format provides the framework, the focusing device, or the vehicle though which we're doing it.” Even more specifically, they stress that this will be an era in which new and exciting elements will be introduced and chances will be taken. Said McAvennie. "In a story sense, what readers new and old will enjoy about Legion Lost is that we're taking select Legionnaires and putting them in an environment that no one has been in before, that readers of classic Legion stories have not seen before. Basically everyone will be on equal footing.” "Equal footing" is an important element of the direction the franchise is going in the and decisions that have been made, specifically the decision to cancel the current monthlies in favor on the maxi-series format. "After talking with my bosses about it and talking it over with Dan and Andy, we all really weren't sure how much we were going to able to show people just how many changes the Legion will be going through if we were to do it through one of the existing titles,” said the editor. "And I think that comes from readers preconceived notion as to what the Legion is right now.” “I think the preconception is that the Legion are titles that appeal to a hard-core fan base, and that it appeals to only certain readers and only they will read it, because only they can follow it. I think every few years you have to do something that will kickstart the books and give new readers a chance to feel like they're included again. And while we want the fans who have been reading Legion to stay with it, we also want people who might think they just don't get the Legion to give it a try, and for them to realize that this is something different and that we're going to be taking more chances, and doing new and exciting things. And that's not to say the stuff beforehand was not interesting or exciting or anything like that, but we're wanting to go in new directions and uncharted territory, and the best way to do that was to take into a new title.” McAvennie and Co. also want to make sure readers understand this a NOT what is traditionally referred to as a reboot. Legion Lost will stay faithful to and continue the continuity established during the last 5 years. "We're opening a door for new readers and we're refreshing the line-up and the concepts for existing readers so they get a reaffirmation of what it is they're in for and what's going on,” explained Abnett. Added McAvennie, "One of the other reasons we're doing Legion Lost separately...as opposed to continuing in the existing books is that the fans have been exposed to many different eras of Legion and right away when we first revealed the title of Legion of the Damned, readers seem to react by assuming it's going to be a "Dark Legion" again. And while there'll be parts of it that will be dark, the idea is to achieve a goal towards the end of the story. Things will improve...whereas the "Dark Era" tended to make things bleaker and bleaker and you never got the payoff, the idea here is to have payoff. And by doing it in it's own book, people will realize there is an ending to it.” "It's only by putting them up against big, awesome threats that you get to see the Legion shining through, said Lanning. "At risk of gravitating towards `Dark Legion' stories once again, you've got to put then up against something particularly gruesome and earth shattering to make them re-examine what the Legion is all about, what makes the Legion the Legion and what makes them heroes.” "Our plans are going to call attention to the optimistic and idealistic viewpoints the Legion and the United Planets cherish,” concluded Abnett. “I think an optimistic future can become rather dull if everything is optimistic, but when you have optimistic future that is striving despite darkness or threats or problems, and to that's a far more interesting story and has more direction and purpose to it.” As to the distant future of Legion, following the conclusion of Legion Lost in early 2001, Legion of Superheroes will continue in a monthly series, and the current plan is for Lanning/Abnett and Coipel to continue as well - "we've talked about that and they certainly have more than enough ideas to take it beyond Legion Lost, and I have the confidence in them that they can and will do it" said McAvennie - but decisions regarding issue #'s have not been made...But again, while a "relaunch" is a possibility, a "reboot" in not in the plans. "We haven't decided if we'll continue the curent LSH numbering or go with a new #1,” said the editor. "That's something that we're still kicking around, because I'm always leery of the idea of seeing another Legion #1. It'll really be decided on how well we do with Legion Lost.” ACCLAIM'S ARMORINES RETURN/VH-1 SEEDS ARE PLANTED Fan of Acclaim's original Valiant line may want to check out the publisher's offerings for October, as some familiar concepts are set to return and it appears seeds will be planted for future events that could change the face of the Acclaim Universe. First up is the first double-sized issue of the 4-issue mini-series Armorines. Written by Acclaim editors Michael Marts and Omar Banmally and penciled by Jim (Aquaman) Calafiore, the series will tie into Acclaim Entertainment's Armorines video game - a first person shooter game where a squadron of elite armored soldiers do battle against hordes of invading alien bugs that is due out this winter. According to Marts, "the Armorines mini-series takes place in the VH-2 Universe, which is the same universe we've been operating in since 1996 when Fabian Nicieza came on board as editor-in-chief. That being said, the characters here aren't all entirely new...readers will see some familiar faces from the old VH-1 Armorines series by Jorge Gonzales and Calafiore...they'll just be their VH-2 Universe counterparts...if that makes any sense." "We'll start the story showing a few of the Armorines that appeared in the X-O Manowar Fan Edition and in Turok, but that team will soon be replaced with new soldiers and new armor as a worldly threat is introduced. But the core group of the 4 issue series will be Master Gunnery Sergeant Tony 'Gunny' Lewis in charge, Lt. Myra Lane, Sergeant Michelle Sirot, Corporeal James 'Tork' Torkelson, and a mysterious inhuman fifth member." So why do the alien invaders the elite armored squadron face seem so familiar? According to Marts, "Fans of early Valiant Comics may want to find out!" Also in October's Shadowman #4, in part 2, or "Omega", of the special "flipbook" VH-1 story The Valiant Deaths Of Jack Boniface by Paul Creddick and Jim Starlin, readers will find out why Master Darque is intent on killing each and every Jack Boniface from all the known universes, and how is Solar involved, in this prelude to Acclaim's upcoming, but for now mysterious, Unity 2000 event. With two new ongoing series - Shadowman and Quantum & Woody - set to debut, along with several mini-series and specials in the works, Acclaim Comics appears to be getting back on the beam beginning this summer, after an extended period of irregular publishing following the departure of Nicieza in 1998. "Over the course of the last year, we've had a lot of interior changes..." explained Marts. "Layoffs, relocations, a few departures, integration into Acclaim's corporate environment, etc. But now we've finally settled down, we have a small core group of dedicated people working here, and we're ready to move forward." Forward with a slightly new approach: according to Marts, Acclaim is back as far as regular publishing goes, focusing on the same group of characters they have in the past. But expect a slow and steady return at first...3 to 4 books per month, and each project will have to meet one of three criteria - a.) if it's proven popular with the fans in the past ala Quantum & Woody; b.) if it can be based around a major Acclaim video game release, like Shadow Man and Armorines; or c.) if top name creators come to them with great ideas. "Like this Novem- oops...Don't want to give away too much," teased Marts. Marts may be referring to a project with a title that will sound somewhat familiar to fans of the publisher's VH-1 Universe, Unity 2000. Only hinted at in their October advanced solicitations, Marts won't say much more, adding only that "It's something I'm dying to tell you but can't...it's a big project, with big names, and it's coming this fall. But that's all I'm saying for now. We'll be making an official announcement at the WizardWorld Con in Chicago." But when pressed on the issue, and asked if Unity 2000 involves the return or incorporation of the VH-1 universe in some capacity, as the title and the October solicitations suggest, Marts responded, "Neither the VH-1 nor the VH-2 Universe will be ignored..." The editor/Acclaim spokesperson is a lot more forthright about the long-awaited return of Quantum & Woody. Marts feel the cult-favorite series was just about to break through to bigger and better things before its untimely demise. "It seemed that Quantum & Woody was really beginning to catch on with the masses right about the time that it was canceled. Wizard was behind it, critics were, retailers were ...we're hoping that we can recapture some of that steam and use it to propel the popularity of the book in a great new direction. You've got the brilliant teamwork of Christopher Priest and MD Bright working together. Books like Avengers and Preacher are proof that if you have two dedicated people working on a book together, trying to make it the best comic possible, people will eventually catch on." +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail: subscribe@ZENtertainment.com The official website for THE MATRIX has just posted its four-part online comic written by MATRIX writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, and illustrated by MATRIX conceptual designer Geoff Darrow (Hard Boiled). The site also features comics and short stories written and illustrated by Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman, Paul Chadwick, Harlan Ellison, Tim Sale, Jim Krueger, Ted McKeever, Vince Evans, Michael Kaluta, and more. http://www.whatisthematrix.com CORRECTION: Roger Stern is a co-plotter and scripter on IRON MAN. While he'll leave with Kurt Busiek after issue #25, penciler Sean Chen will remain on the book with new writer Joe Quesada, who announced earlier that this week that he's only signed on to a 4-issue story arc. +++++ 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. COMMUNITY UPDATE If you're in the mood for some Nauseating Previews, swing by madmag.com. Read gags and cartoons from the latest issue, including "MAD's Star Wars Trivial Pursuit" and "A MAD Look at Plastic Surgery." Plus, download both versions of MAD #383's Phantom Menace cover. While you're at it, it's not too late to sneak a peek at the MAD STAR WARS SPECTACULAR! Just follow the link on the MAD home page for more gags and cartoons from the Dork Side. NEWS BYTES NEW WAVE OF DC ACTION FIGURES ON THE WAY WITH MORPHEUS, STARMAN, AND SPIDER JERUSALEM DC Comics continues its successful line of action figures designed with three new figures representing some of the most distinctive characters from DC and VERTIGO: the Sandman (Morpheus), Starman (Jack Knight) and TRANSMETROPOLITAN's Spider Jerusalem. Each fully-painted action figure measures 6" tall and comes with removable, character-specific accessories, all packaged in a 4- color blister pack. According to Syndee Barwick, DC's Director -- Marketing, "DC DIRECT is really excited to be producing one of our company's most popular characters, Morpheus; one of our coolest characters, Spider Jerusalem; and one of our most complex and interesting characters, Starman; in the kind of action figure format that delivers the high quality and play value that the direct market demands. And we're going to continue to push the action figure envelope next year with plenty of surprises for 2000." The three new figures arrive in stores on November 10. * THE SANDMAN/MORPHEUS ACTION FIGURE. From the pages of THE SANDMAN, the original Lord of Dreams, Morpheus, is regally presented. Featuring seven points of articulation (including shoulders, elbows, waist, and hips) and wearing a removable cloak, Morpheus is accompanied by Matthew the Raven, who can be attached to Morpheus' shoulder or forearm. The variant SANDMAN/ MORPHEUS figure features the non-removable Sandman helm replacing the head. * SPIDER JERUSALEM ACTION FIGURE. Readers of TRANSMETROPOLITAN won't want to be without the action-figure version of their favorite outlaw journalist. The Spider Jerusalem figure features ten points of articulation (neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, and knees) and comes packaged with Spider's two-headed cat and his laptop computer. The variant SPIDER JERUSALEM figure features a slip-off "giving the finger" hand and a hand holding a bowel disruptor. * STARMAN ACTION FIGURE. Member of the new JSA, latest inheritor of the Starman mantle, and now action figure, Starman Jack Knight is captured with removable goggles and cosmic staff, which lights up at the end when placed in his hands. Featuring six points of articulation (neck, waist, hips and knees), Jack is cast wearing a fully sculpted coat with his zodiac-symbol on the back. The variant STARMAN action figure features a new paint job on Jack Knight's face, goatee and shirt. "The sculpting on these figures is even better than on our previous ones," raves Barwick. "They are absolutely exquisite with their detailing and accessorizing. This last group of action figures for 1999 will be our best yet!" SCOOBY-DOO SUMMER SPECIAL COMING IN AUGUST DC Comics announces the creation of the SCOOBY-DOO SUMMER SPECIAL, a new 64-page comic scheduled to arrive in stores on August 25. The title will reprint the SCOOBY-DOO stories "The Comic Book Convention Caper" (originally printed in SCOOBY-DOO #12), "The Truth" (originally printed in SCOOBY-DOO #3), "Legend of the Silver Scream" (original printed in SCOOBY-DOO #5), and "Hall Dodger" (original printed in SCOOBY-DOO #11). TWO COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS UP FOR GRABS AS BEST WESTERN SUMMER ADVENTURES ENTERS ITS FOURTH RECORD-SETTING YEAR WITH DC Best Western International wants to send your kid to college, and they hope you will drop by this summer to discuss it. The hotel giant intends to award not one, but two lucky children college scholarships this summer. The scholarship contest is part of Best Western International's annual Summer Adventures promotion that provides families with many added-value benefits when traveling during the peak Memorial Day to Labor Day time period. Summer Adventures features DC Comics Super Heroes in concert with a number of partners such as Visa, AT&T, FujiFilm, Crazy Dips and Warner Home Video. When guests book the Best Western Fun Plan at any of the more than 2,200 Best Westerns in the United States, Canada or the Caribbean, kids age 12 and under stay free and receive a bounty of goodies, including a FujiFilm single-use camera with free film processing and a DC Comics activity book featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Youngsters, 16 and under, can enter the scholarship essay contest entitled "Who's the Hero in Your Life," The grand prize is a $40,000 four-year college scholarship and first place is a $20,000 four-year college scholarship. There are also other great prizes including trips, personal computers and software. Guests can make their reservations by calling 800-528-1234 or visiting the Best Western Web site at www.bestwestern.com and requesting the Fun Plan. Additional information will be available at dccomics.com beginning next week. "This is the fourth year Best Western has collaborated with great partners such as DC Comics," explains Wayne Wielgus, vice president Worldwide Marketing and Sales. "It is through the strength of these partnerships that this program continues to be an industry leader, garnering five national awards for the quality of the promotion." "Our continuing partnership with Best Western demonstrates not only the strength of our super hero characters, but the value of our enduring relationship," said Joel Ehrlich, senior vice president, Advertising and Promotions for DC Comics/ Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "I'm extremely proud of the work we've done together, and the delight we bring to families on vacation." Stop by dccomics.com for DC Direct, the latest addition to Direct Currents online. Browse through the many new DC Comics retail products hitting stores through December 1999, including the TRANSMETROPOLITAN WATCH, the FLASH RING PROP, and the new wave of action figures -- SANDMAN/MORPHEUS, STARMAN, and SPIDER JERUSALEM. Get complete product descriptions, download full-color, full-size photos, and check in-store and preorder dates, all from a central location. What could be cooler? NEWS BYTES HEROES, LEGENDS, FRIENDS: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Laid-back police scientist Barry Allen. Headstrong test pilot Hal Jordan. As Flash and Green Lantern, they were two of DC's greatest heroes, men who gave their lives to save the universe...two champions who couldn't have been more different. So how did they wind up as best friends? The answers are revealed in THE FLASH & GREEN LANTERN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, a 6-issue miniseries that finds two of DC's most legendary heroes forging an unstoppable partnership in the face of some of DC's deadliest villains -- including Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and Sinestro. Written by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer, with art and covers by Barry Kitson, THE FLASH & GREEN LANTERN reunites JLA: YEAR ONE's Waid and Kitson in a story that spans from the JLA's first meeting to just before Barry's tragic death. As readers discover the vast differences between two incredible heroes, the supporting casts of both characters interact in strange and unexpected ways: Flash meets other members of the Green Lantern Corps and their benefactors, the Guardians of the Universe; and, in an unexpected twist, Hal gets the sidekick we never knew he had as future Flash Wally West becomes...Kid Lantern? Other guest stars include Barry's and Hal's JSA predecessors, and Green Arrow Oliver Queen, whose friendship with (and political influence on) Hal provokes a surprising response from conservative policeman Barry Allen. In THE FLASH & GREEN LANTERN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1, Barry Allen travels to Coast City for the first time to spend a weekend with his new JLA teammate, Hal Jordan, but rest and relaxation will have to wait until they stop an alien race bent on destroying humanity with an assault of living shadows! THE FLASH & GREEN LANTERN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD is a 6-issue miniseries edited by Peter Tomasi. Issue #1 arrives in comic-book stores August 18 with a cover price of $2.50 U.S. ANIMATION EPISODE SCHEDULE THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES airs weekdays and Saturdays on the WB Network, and BATMAN BEYOND airs Saturdays. Times given are Eastern and Pacific. This schedule is subject to change. 7/5/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Catwalk" (Batman) 7/5/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Ghost in the Machine" (Superman) 7/6/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Action Figures" (Superman) 7/6/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Batgirl Returns" (Batman) 7/7/99 (4:00 pm) -- "A Bullet for Bullock" (Batman) 7/7/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Bizarro's World" (Superman) 7/8/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Feeding Time" (Superman) 7/8/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Growing Pains" (Batman) 7/9/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Little Lost Girl Part I" (Superman) 7/9/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Little Lost Girl Part II" (Superman) 7/10/99 (8:00 am) -- "Little Big Head Man" (Superman) 7/10/99 (8:30 am) -- "Beware the Creeper" (Batman) 7/10/99 (9:30 am) -- "Black Out" (Batman Beyond) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Ramblings 99 Rich Johnston twisting@hotmail.com [Renamed for the new year, Ramblings 99 continues to spread confirmed and unconfirmed news and rumours. It welcomes comment, especially comment that clarifies, refutes and corrects information already disseminated. Rich Johnston is an advertising copywriter, co-self publisher of Twist And Shout Comics, BBC comedy writer and comics columnist. He currently lives in South London, England. His column can be found online at: http://www.twistandshoutcomics.com All Ramblings e-mail received will be considered public domain and may be quoted.] This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value. Dateline: 20 June 1999 Back To What You Know. Marvel revisits the Heroes Reborn world created by Franklin Richards in a new series set to arrive during the last week of November. What happened to the world after the heroes left? We hear the writers lined up include Chris Claremont writing two bookends, Joe Kelly (writing two books), Fabian Nicieza, Kurt Busiek, Joe Casey and Roger Stern working on other books in the series. Naked Flinch. We've been asked to point out that Flinch sales are very healthy and the book is doing well. Fine, we never said or meant to imply anything different, just that there were internal DC concerns as to its continuing quality of creators. Which hasn't changed. Ultimate Writer? Eric Stephenson, (one of Liefeld's friends isn't he?) has been picked to write the new Spiderman Ultimate series from Marvel. Missing Gorilla One of the creators rumoured to be associated with the Gorilla writer-owned imprint from Image claims not to have heard anything about the project for weeks. I haven't a clue what this means... but then I rarely have a clue, don't I? Feeling Green... Did you know that Paul Jenkins is a professional golf player? I didn't. Strange Dogma Britain hasn't had the greatest history with Kevin Smith films. Clerks was ignored by many, played in the art-house indie cinemas ages after it was out in the States and now resides ion the World Cinema section in video stores. Mallrats didn't even make the cinema screens, and eventually made its way to the cheap-but-cheerful video section. Chasing Amy took two years to arrive and now sells on video with Ben Affleck's beardless face on the cover. SO what hope for Dogma now that it's having trouble getting distribution in the States? Film Four have told us that they've bought Dogma to distribute in Britain in Winter 1999. Woo hoo! And what with no distributor picking up Dogma stateside, we may well get to see it first. It's like Babylon 5 Series Four all over again! Small Print Still waiting on that DC Press Release from Patty Jeres, we've heard elsewhere that the reason for the cancellation of ABC merchandise is that during the Wildstorm contract transference to DC, the rights to side-goods like T-shirts, baseball caps, etc were missed out. Not to worry though, lawyers will be working on the... slight problem and we're sure we'll hear something soon. What The Fuk? While many comics news pages are busy falling over themselves reporting the news that Mark Waid has been refuting the allegation that Alex Ross repeatedly swiped from Japanese artist, Khoo Fuk Lung. Johanna Draper was on hand on Usenet to remark "That's really admirable, since Mr. Waid is the one who first brought the accusations to DC's attention." Does sarcasm work on the internet? Seems so... Marvel Knights Look To Vertigo. The Garth Ennis/Punisher mini-series for Marvel Knights II rumour just took another twist, apparently Steve Dillon is rumoured to be the artist involved. This rumour fits with Event's announcement that a new creative team would bring in a new audience... maybe they mean the Preacher one? And how does this fit with Ennis' exclusivity deal with DC? The rumour is that Ennis is going to write all 4 issues of the mini-series in one month. Because its all the time he has between his old DC exclusive contract and his new one. Also running around the Marvel Knights rumour mill is the story that Grant Morrison is going to do a new title for Marvel Knights II, starring a new character originally planned for the first Marvel Knights wave. More rumour as we have it... Dateline: 26 June 1999 Boba Fett - Charity Worker. The latest recruit to the Kosovo Benefit Comic is Jeremy Bullock, who played Boba Fett in those films. You know the ones. A comic fan, he's agreed to write a story for the upcoming volume. The Garth Ennis/Dave Gibbons pages have arrived and also on board are Brian Wood, Steven Grant, Andy Dabb and George Freeman but more are needed! E-mail info@blusilver.com for more... well... info, I guess. They're Bringing Back What? Word is we're looking at another night of long knives, over at Marvel. We've just lost Nova and Slingers (revealed as cancelled at issue 12 by us ages ago to the scorn of various commentators) and there's more to come. We're talking Deadpool (yes I know it's just been renewed with Christopher Priest...) X-Man, Thunderbolts (yes I know Fabian Nicieza is just about to pick it up), Spider-Woman (yes I know DeFalco says it's got a long future) and the rest of the M2 line. Remember, this is just a rumour. And they're being replaced by... The New Universe. Yes, I know, I know, but this comes from what sounds like a reliable source folks. Heading the line, Eric Stephenson, Marvel's new fave boy writing a new Star Brand character. Peter David will return to Justice, renamed because the Avengers's Justice character (nee Marvel Boy) may well be getting his own series. We even hear Fabian Nicieza may return to write Psi Force. And the fourth title? Kickers Inc. Yes, I know, I know. No news on the writer, but what with M2 being cancelled, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tom DeFalco returning to the book. ***IDIOT WARNING: None of the above has been confirmed by any of the creators.*** No news yet on when we might see another DP7, Nightmask, Spitfire And The Troubleshooters, Draft, War, Pitt or anything. It's just a shame Mark Gruenwald didn't live to see this day. Hey, you don't think this marks the return of Jim Shooter to Marvel, do you think? Maybe it's something to do with trademark protection. Now, I liked the New Universe - DP7 always, early Star Brand and most of the second/third year and I'd like to see its return. But does anyone else? Rumour Response: Fabian Nicieza replies to this rumour "Never heard of this in the least. It's one of your more innocuously cute ones. My suspicions are that your "source" is either fabricating whole cloth or inaccurately mixing apples with oranges (i.e. hearing vague discussions of this and that and then reaching an incorrect assumption)." And Peter David had his own response to this rumour: "Completely and utterly news to me. I have no idea if Marvel is reviving New Universe, but no one has spoken to me about it, and I'm sure as heck not scheduled to write Justice." More fabrications and incorrect assumptions as we have them. Work In Progress. Ben Raab has a four issue Hellfire Club limited series, lined up for the Marvel Xbooks, starting in November. Warren Ellis is working on a 48 page one shot for Wildstorm with Phil Jiminez. Dateline: 30 June 1999 More Than Spectre-ulation Quite a while ago, Ramblings '99 reported the rumour that Hal Jordan was to become the Spectre, and recently linked that to the upcoming Day Of Judgment storyline by Geoff Johns. Well, DC have made it official. Go to http://www.dccomics.com/directcurrents/comics/covers/download/djla35.jpg and see the upcoming visual for JLA issue 36. So is that cut and tried then? Well, maybe not. We remember the last-minute change of Armageddon 2001, where Monarch's identity was changed from Captain Atom to Hawk (due to either i) the news being leaked before publication, or ii) that the estate which DC licensed the Charlton heroes was hot happy about Captain Atom being made a villain). There has been some speculation that Jason Todd is to be the new Spectre, down to The Joker's involvement in an upcoming JLA. So who knows? Could DC just be playing with us? AB-DC We've been told that the reason all the ABC merchandise was cancelled fairly recently is that the decision was made to fold the Wildstorm Emprium side into the DC Direct operation. More as we have it. Idea Space? A few malodorous grumbles, snipes and bad feelings made their way to Ramblings this week... ***IDIOT WARNING. None of the individuals mentioned in this piece have been approached or have confirmed the story. This is a rumour and may very well be false. If you have any more information then please share it with us. Other news columns take note - we are not claiming the following is true. We are simply claiming that it is a rumour.*** After Howard Chaykin's series 'Twilight' about the last days od DC's sci-fi characters in the eighties, he proposed a follow up, 'Sunset' about the last days of their western heroes. Chaykin then went off the idea, leaving the proposal in DC's files. John Ostrander is currently working on 'Sunset Riders' for Marvel about the last days of their Western heroes. Now just because Ostrander is very close with Dan Raspler at DC, his editor on Spectre, doesn't mean that anything dodgy happened here. Certainly the story is going to be very different indeed. But a while ago, James Robinson proposed to Raspler a crossover series about the death of a golden age DC character Mr. Terrific, killed in an old issue of the Justice League Of America by a character called the Spirit King who could possess people and control them. Robinson proposed that the Spirit King had been possessing different DC characters throughout history. Raspler turned it down... but less than a year later in the pages of the Spectre that character along with a bunch of others hunt down the Spirit King and bring him to justice for the death of Mr Terrific. Different stories of course, but Robinson believed his proposal might have been the impetus for the Spectre storyline. There's no copyright on ideas of course, and the best of them, Alan Moore, is famous for appropriating the ideas of others, knitting them together and turning them into works of genius. Still this does give us a possible peek into the behind-the-scenes of the comics industry and how ideas might migrate from creator to creator. Now about this idea I've got for a sci-fi western with all the classic western characters, Zorro, Billy The Kid, Lone Ranger but, get this, they all ride robot horses... Top Of The Pops Warren Ellis recently announced a new vision of 'Pop Comics', emphasizing the author over the character or company and realized in two forms; graphic novels and mini-series. A continuing series of very different short stories allows the author to create new concepts on a regular basis without being dragged under by the continuing series mentality. It's worth noting that books like Acme Novelty Library, Eightball, Peepshow and Dork also attempt this. Even Cerebus, the ultimate ongoing comic, has attempted tangential series such as Melmoth, the last days of Oscar Wilde, within the book. Warren Ellis then announced on his web forum (www.delphi.com/ellis), "I'm still unable to comment on the first of the new projects. I've been asked to keep quiet until proper press releases can be assembled. But I will tell you that, beginning at the end of 1999, an indie b/w company will be publishing a 3-issue hardcore horror Pop Comic, and a 60-page "graphic novella" that will be initially serialized in six parts." Speculation on the forum has tagged Avatar as the likely publisher. Give Peace A Chance DC's Our Army At War 80-Page Giant, listed in our September DC ramblings, has been cancelled. Boo hiss. It also emerges that Scott Nybakken, DC's Marketing Communications Representative is having to conduct business from his own personal e-mail account. Apparently the DCODIRMKT address he usually uses has been corrupted by a hacker. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] 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 #738 This is the third day of "Robert Wisham Request Week," Wisham being a reader who wrote asking me to review four of his favorite comics--BLACK PANTHER, FANTASTIC FOUR, UNCANNY X-MEN, and X-MEN-- and caught me in a good mood. Marvel doesn't send me review copies of their books--heck, they don't send copies to most of the people who write and draw them--but I have enough comic-book junkies among my friends that I was able to borrow over a year's worth of issues for this review. The two main X-titles--UNCANNY and NOT UNCANNY--are generally tied so closely together that it doesn't make sense to review one of them one day and the other the next. Instead, I lumped them all together and found a good cut-off point for today's column, that point being the last ish before Marvel's merry mutants began their search for the missing Professor Xavier. Today's TOT will cover UNCANNY X-MEN #355-361, X-MEN #75-81, and the 1998 annuals for each title. I'll give you a minute to dig them out of your collection. Got them? Good. I wanted to start my reviews by discussing the covers of these issues...and realized there wasn't a single memorable cover in the bunch. Oh, there are lots of teeth and ray-blasts and badly-drawn muscles and pin-up-shots-we've-seen-a-hundred-times-before, but not one cover that would have made me want to buy any of these comics. If I were the editor or publisher of these titles, that's something I would fix fast. Granted the X-Men brand name is one of the most recognized in comics, but that doesn't mean these titles should be allowed to coast on it. With the exception of the annuals and one fill-in script, all the above comics were written by either Steve Seagle or Joe Kelly. Both are good writers, but, for the most part, I didn't get a sense of individual expression from their work. I know the X-Men office editors are heavily involved in the creative end of the titles and, given the vastness of the X-Men mythos that may not be a bad thing, but I still think there's room for those individual voices even in a shared universe such as this. Two books a month, even with the annuals, isn't an impossible workload for a writer, and I'd like to see the X-office find a good one and turn him loose on these books. My personal choice would be Chris Claremont with a sub-plot limit. ("No, Chris, you have to bring the sub-plot of Xavier taking Viagra to a conclusion before you start the Marrow becomes an air hostess sub-plot.") No matter how good the editors may be, a good writer is always going to be better. The art? It's generally ranges from pretty decent to pretty darn good with some recurring problems. Occasionally, the "manga" influence exhibited by some of the X-artists result in the X-Men, their foes, and their supporting characters coming down with sudden outbreaks of "baby face syndrome." A related affliction has jaws growing to twice or even thrice their normal sizes. And let's not leave out the bad musculature that often seeps from the covers to the interiors of these titles. A more serious problem--and this is one I'll discuss as I discuss individual stories--is that all too often a page layout obscures important storytelling information for the sake of a pin-up money shot or a striking design. The story's the thing; the best drawing in the world is a failure if it doesn't tell the story. Looking at the stories themselves. UNCANNY X-MEN #355 is an alternate version of a battle which also appeared in an issue of ALPHA FLIGHT. In other words, it was a waste of pages, saved only from complete uselessness by some nice Scott and Jean scenes scattered throughout the ish. (Do I have to mention that Scott is Cyclops and Jean is Phoenix? Or can I assume that most of you have a working knowledge of the basic membership of the X-Men? I'm gonna go with the latter.) X-MEN #75 is a "giant-sized special" that lacked a giant-size story. People are being killed in a gruesome manner. The X-Men think one of their own--Maggott--is responsible. Probably because they never looked at this issue's cover, which clearly shows them fighting the real killer. Yawn. In UNCANNY X-MEN #356 and #357, the original five members of the X-Men gather in Alaska to reflect upon the old days, plan for new days, and save a small city from a rampaging murder of crows. This two-part tale was delightful, especially in its "what the heck really happened here" ending. X-MEN #76 brought us "the tragic origin of Maggott" and it's real disgusting. Basically, the poor guy can't actually eat. His digestive system consists of two giant maggots which leave his body to feed and return with the sustenance he needs to live. Okay, as super-powers goes, it's certainly different...and it does show that not every mutant power is useful...but, when you come right down to it, it's also a stupid power. Small wonder Maggott was apparently shuffled off to another X-title within the next few months. (I say "apparently" because I haven't read GENERATION X in a couple years and don't know for certain that he ended up there.) It's not a bad story, but the end result is that, while I previously thought that Maggott was an uninteresting character, I'm now absolutely certain he's an uninteresting character. Which might not have been writer Kelly's intention. If there's either a point or a story to the X-MEN/DR. DOOM '98 annual, I couldn't find it. Writer Jorge Gonzalez takes the Doom of the past and turns him into a time-traveling "peeping tom" who visits key points of X-Men history. He has a brief and incredibly pointless encounter with Onslaught before returning to the past and killing a flunky just to remind us that he's one of the bad guys. Remember when annuals were special? X-MEN #77 and #78 feature the return of the Shadow Lord in a story that serves mostly to write Psylocke out of the X-books for the foreseeable future. On the basis, I most definitely approve of it. Psylocke was never more than a third-string telepath with a personal history which got more and more convoluted the longer she hung around. UNCANNY X-MEN #358 was the "Whoops! We haven't checked up on Bishop and Deathbird in outer space lately!" ish. Considering how uninteresting I've always found both characters, a postcard would have been more than sufficient. UNCANNY X-MEN #359, written by both Seagle and Kelly, had the conclusion of a sub-plot in which Rogue sought to be "cured" of her mutant power. Now Rogue is a heroine I find very interesting and, given the nature of her power and her subsequent inability to touch other human beings, I could see her seeking such a cure. Give the writers a few more points for having her express her doubts while clinging to her hopes and for the sacrifice she makes at the end of the story. I think the scripting could have been a lot stronger-- this is, after all, intensely emotional territory here--but this issue was definitely one of the best of the batch. The best of the batch? That would be X-MEN #79 by Joe Kelly, penciler German Garcia, and too many inkers. The issue focuses on Marrow, Morlock terrorist turned X-Man, and her relationships with Callisto (the Morlock who raised her), Storm (the X-Man who almost killed her), Cannonball (who leaves the team after this issue), and some very human policemen. Marrow's mutant power is just as gross as Maggott's--she grows bones all over her body and pulls them out to use as weapons--but she's a far more interesting character. I hope she hangs around for a good time to come. Side note. Of all the X-Men in this batch of issues, Marrow is the only one to whom I reacted with a "hey, I'd like to write a Marrow story sometime." Have the X-editors' people call my people and maybe we can work something out. The UNCANNY X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR '98 annual was another one of those less-than-spectacular Marvel annuals. Writer Joe Casey gave it the old college try, but the story never came together and the villain never seemed threatening enough for the heroes or readers to break a sweat over. The artwork was equally disappointing, two pencilers and too many inkers. There are an awful lot of terrific writers and artists looking for work in this field. With a little advance planning and editorial guidance, couldn't they be brought in to make these annuals worth reading? The X-Men's 35th anniversary is celebrated in THE UNCANNY X-MEN #360 and X-MEN #80, both cover-blurbed as "giant-sized milestone" issues. Writers Steve Seagle and Joe Kelly, working with artists Chris Bachalo and Brandon Peterson, introduce the "all-new, all- deadly" X-Men and the Professor Xavier impostor who seems to be in charge of them. The story also sees the return of Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Nightcrawler to the team and sets the stage for the next major X-event. No outstanding moments--though the Steve Rude pin- up in UNCANNY #360 is very sweet--but the issues were your basic fun super-hero comic books. They left me wanting to see what would happen next issue, always a good thing. Gambit returns in UNCANNY X-MEN #361 as Storm and Kitty Pryde come to the aid of...Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut. Are we talking strained relationships or what? The character play, the unusual setting (Seoul, South Korea), and some nifty "back at the ranch" stuff with Colossus and Marrow won me over. Kudos to writer Seagle and penciler Steve Skroce. This strained relationships theme continues in X-MEN #81 with Gambit and Rogue getting together for the first time since the X- Men left him behind in Antarctica. There are also great scenes between just about all the other team members: Storm and Marrow, Kitty and Colossus, and Wolverine and Gambit. Though I am somewhat nervous about an introduced-in-this-issue sub-plot about how Gambit survived--these things have a way of dragging on forever in the X- titles--I thought this was another good issue. The final analysis? Well, it would be premature to give one until I read the more recent issues of these titles, but I'd say my opinion was leaning about 50-50 as to whether or not I'd recommend the titles. Let's see if that changes as I get into "The Hunt For Xavier" and "The Magneto War." I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff. Tony Isabella June 16, 1999 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Interview Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet9@aol.com Interview with George Broderick Jr., Creator of Courageous Man Question: George, please tell us something about your family life, where you were born and raised, what schools you attended, etc. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA (one time "most livable" city in the USA, and still pretty high up there by most standards). I've lived here most of my life (except for the four years I spent in nearby Wheeling, WV as Art Director and, later, Editor-In-Chief of Innovation Publishing). I went to La Roche College here in Pittsburgh and got my BS in Graphic Design. I'm currently living with my wife, Denise, daughter Megan and new beagle, Thor about two blocks from the house I grew up in -- in the "near North Hills" of Pittsburgh. I guess you could say that this apple didn't stray very far from the proverbial tree at all... Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? I remember looking at some Harvey book at around age five (maybe Little Dot?) but the first comic books I ever really read were Little Lulu and Tubby -- given to me when I was seven and having my tonsils removed (in those days, a three-day hospital stay!). Next, when I had the mumps the following winter, I was given a subscription to Children's Digest and read their B&W reprints of Tintin. I REALLY got into comics regularly in 1966 when Batman was on ABC TV. The rest is history... Question: For people unfamiliar with Courageous Man Adventures, can you please brief us on this comic book? Courageous Man is my take on those WONDERFUL old Silver Age Batman stories (from the late 50's, early 60's) where the writers would turn him into a robot or giant fish or give him a paisley costume for some massively convoluted reason. I'm just looking at that innocent time with a (slightly) jaded 90's eye. The "straighter" I play those outlandish situations, the funnier they become... oh, yeah... big words, too! Courageous Man uses a VERY comprehensive vocabulary. This stems from my childhood where I was constantly trying to "justify" my buying "those damn funny books!" to my parents... whenever I could show them a new word or some obscure "science fact" that Gardner Fox came up with in a Flash story, I could tout the "educational value" of comics to Mom and Dad and my teachers and they'd leave me alone for awhile... by using big vocabulary in my stories, I'm helping the next generation of readers tell Mom and Dad where to get off..! Question: How did you come up with the idea of Courageous Man? It's funny... I was working on a creator-owned strip called "Dutch Rubb", and it wasn't clicking for me... I started absently sketching in my sketchbook and drew this funny little super hero-esque character... when I added the boy scout kerchief, Courageous Man was born full blown! And the kerchief sort of defined his personality as really "simon-pure"... he started writing himself after that. Question: Can you tell us some of the characters in Courageous Man? Well, there's Courageous Man himself, youthful sidekick Spunky, his butler Stedfast, Commissioner Lonsdale and Officer Irwin Lipschitz and other super hero friends like Impressive Man, Wuhwuhzat?!? (the quickest guy around), Luke Eerie -- Butt kicker of the Macabre, Sassy (the female C-Man) and Astound Dog!... many, many villains starting with C-Man's arch foe, a beatnik gorilla named The Felonious Monk. There's Chrome Dome, Signor Bombacelli -- The Mad Bomber of Milan, The Gnat, Mob Boss Johnnie Turgid, Johnnie Jump-up -- The Wild Pansy, Professor Lymon D. Coconut and Hughie, Evil Doc Finster, Second Storey Man, The Emerald Enigma, Little Morphin' Annie and gangs like The Orange Tennis Shoe Gang, The Triumverate of Applianceers (the Steam Iron, the Tea Kettle and the Slow Cooker) and the Secret Society of Sinister Stevedores... and many more... Question: Will Courageous Man ever become a cartoon? Sweet Jesus! I sure hope so!!! Question: Where do you come up with this funny stuff, that is found in your comic book? The Silver Age of comics is just chock full with this kind of naive storytelling... I just play it straight as far as plot goes... the humor comes from the character interaction, what they say to each other and how they say it... and I've always been able to write dialogue fairly convincingly and easily. Some of the names just come from my surroundings... f'r instance, Lonsdale is the name of the street in my community where the township commissioners meet, ergo "Commissioner Lonsdale". Johnnie Jump-up is the real name of a flower also called "the wild pansy"... for all you fledgling botanists reading this. Question: If you were stranded on an island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? My wife, my daughter and an unlimited supply of decaf iced tea... for mostly obvious reasons Question: What do you think of the comic book industry? Comics are great and I think there will always be a market for them... just not the current one... The Direct Market is rapidly coughing up it's second lung with no sign of acknowledgement of this fact from the majority of the industry insiders. What will it take for a change in the status quo..? A spleen? For more on this subject, you'll all just have to pick up a copy of Comics Are Dead for 64 pages of the unvarnished truth! Question: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? I'd be happy as a pig in slop if in five years I could be sitting in my room, drawing my comics and pulling down a living wage so I can support my family. In ten years, I'd like to be caught up in a whirlwind of hype surrounding the release of the Courageous Man feature film that would make the publicity machine behind The Phantom Menace look like a string and two tin cans! Yowza!! Question: What favorite tv shows, movies and cartoons do you like? Popeye is my hero! Segar was a genius! I also love The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, Early Edition (I watch that with Megan), Frasier, The Simpsons, Futurama, ER and older movies on AMC. Question: What comic books do you read now? The animated books (Gotham Adventures, Superman, etc.), Bone, Akiko, Astro City, Leave It To Chance and books by my Moordam/Comic Library International buddies. Question: What are your favorite books? I read sporadically (other than comics), but I like Mark Twain and anything that may capture my attention at the moment... I'm a "parrothead", so I've read "Where Is Joe Merchant?" and "Tales From Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet. Some Sherlock Holmes. My FAVORITE book is "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". My second favorite is "Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel". Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? Comics is my hobby as well as my vocation. I like walking and, until I turned 40 and my knees went on Medicare, I played indoor soccer. I still enjoy camping and the occasional softball game. Question: Do you ever get complaints from people who read Courageous Man and tell you that they received a nose bleed from laughing so hard? No, but I've been approached by the American Dairy Council to do some celebrity spots where the stars would be reading a copy of C-Man with the white stuff spurting out their noses with the caption "Got Milk? Have some of mine... HAHAHAHAHA!" Questions: How can someone get a hold of you, if they want information on your comic book? Do you have a website address and if you do, what is the URL address? I can be reached at: 2049 Alfred Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 or by E-mail at: gbstudio@sprintmail.com and my web page (with prices and ordering info on much of my work) is at: www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/9669 Question: Well, that winds up the interview. Thank you George. Is there anything you would like to comment on? Thank you. It's interviews like this that push me ever closer to my life's goal of becoming "one of the most beloved characters in American folklore". See ya. By the way, you never asked me what kind of animal or tree I'd like to be... the skink and a mountain ash, just in case you were wondering... ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] 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. ] I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I enjoy a good comic strip just as much as I enjoy a good comic book. So imagine my joy this month when one of my favourite comic strips became a comic book. I mean, is that value for money or what? The strip in question is LIBERTY MEADOWS by Frank Cho. I've been reading it online for quite a while now. I have no idea how widely it's circulated (I've certainly never seen it in any Australian papers - but then, the only "new" strip I've seen in an Australian paper in the last ten years was THE PHANTOM), but I read it religiously every morning on the WASHINGTON POST website (along with DOONESBURY and BOONDOCKS). For those of you who haven't seen it, it concerns an animal sanctuary (called Liberty Meadows, natch) the generally wacky animals that live there, and the exploits of their human "keepers". One of these humans is Brandy, without doubt one of the best looking fictional characters in comics today. To be quite honest, this strip is almost worth reading for the drawings of Brandy alone. And she's in it a lot, so that's good. She's locked in one of those typical "will they or won't they" things with Frank. Frank is a vet, and a geek boy to the max (there are many amusing Stars Wars collectible references later in the strip). He is also the typical klutz, unlucky in love loser. I'm making this sound really cliched now, aren't I? In fact, the plots are about the worst thing in this strip. In contrast though, the dialogue is great, and the situations are funny. There's some great lines in the strips printed in this book ("No, not the spine" "Run, Frank, run" - they're better in context, really). Even though there are plenty of cliches, they're all handled with such vigor and humour that you can look past them. And now and then Frank Cho, the man (or monkey) responsible for this strip is able to mess with them enough to surprise you (the recent wiener dog race storyline was an example of that). Frank Cho is actually one of the best characters in the strip. He draws himself in as a particularly dour looking chimp every now and then, usually to make some comment about how badly he's going with his deadlines, how difficult it is to come up with good jokes, and what a humourless scumbag his editor is. He doesn't interact with the characters. He interacts with us, which is fun, because I've always loved that sort of stuff. Now those of us who got on late can see all this from the beginning, with the new LIBERTY MEADOWS comic book from some people called Insight Studios Group. This is a b/w book with eight weeks worth of strips (including Sundays, which is good), printed in chronological order from the beginning (although there is a predecessor strip called UNIVERSITY2, which Cho did at university. Obviously. I've never read it so I don't know what it's like). Its all printed nice and big (two strips to a page) so you can really appreciate just how good an artist Cho is. It also has a very funny introduction from the Monkey boy himself. I like this strip a lot, (as the quicker of you have probably guessed) and it actually works even better when you're got a nice big chunk of it to read at once (like all really good strips). Frank Cho got married recently (that was in the strip too - how pretty he looked in his tuxedo), so he probably needs the money he'll get if you buy this book. Do it for the chimp. David Groenewegen davidhar@lib.monash.edu.au ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Stranger in a Strange Land Jennifer M. Contino Jencomx3@aol.com "You're a wonder....WONDER WOMAN" I don't know what it was exactly that hypnotized me each and every week and kept me GLUED to the TELEVISION set with anticipation each and every time WONDER WOMAN was on! IN fact all I really remember of those days when I was 3 and 4 was spinning till I got sick---just assuming that I was not doing it right and JUST JUMPING up and down on the couch cushions each and every time the theme song would come on! I really wanted to be WONDER WOMAN! Well not really..I wanted to be her little sister, WONDER KID! I wanted to have super powers and kick butt and run fast and LOOK exactly like she did! (*Heh besides Charlie's Angels, who else was as BEAUTIFUL as LYNDA?!* AND who else could a tomboy superhero loving girl look up to?!*) I miss it sometimes! I mean sure there are reruns and there is the FX channel (OF course I don't get those channels so all I have are a few fuzzy tapes of episodes!) but it's not the same! THAT excitement is not really there no matter how much I wish I could recapture it! OH sure I still grin from ear to ear each and every time I hear the WW theme song! AND I still stop no matter what when feel depressed and pop in one of those fuzzy tapes and it always cheers me up...but I still miss it! IS it just me or have most of the TV series since then lost the 'magic' of those 70's superhero shows? I liked Lois and Clark but it was never something that I felt I "Had" TO watch! FLASH was interesting enough ...but again seemed not able to withstand the tests of time! I MISS It though...being able to anticipate the appearance of one of the WORLD's GREATEST superheroes! SURE the cartoons are nice..but I wonder when we will see a "REAL" take at the heroes done! NOT like those JLAish ones we seem to be plagued with! Me? I'm still in awe of the original Wonder! Now who were your favorites?? ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] SOME PAGES, A COVER, AND A FEW STAPLES Marlan Harris mar93@aol.com [Marlan Harris lives and works in Burbank, CA.] PROPHECY OF THE SOUL SORCEROR This could very well be the worst comic ever produced. I wasn't originally going to go as far as to say this or to open my review with such a sentence, but the more I thought about it and the more I looked at the comic, the more I came to realize that this comic really could be the worst comic ever made. The parts where you can follow the story are pointless and the hero is boring. The parts of the comic that you can understand are dull and formulaic. However, the story is solid gold compared to the art. It's one thing for comics artists to get their inspiration and technique straight from comics. It creates an increasingly inbred style where there's nothing new brought to the medium and the art gets worse and worse, like photocopying a photocopy. Though it's a common practice for many artists to start off as imitators of other comics artists and, if they try, eventually develop their own distinct and often new and innovative style. We can accept that, it happens all the time. But I draw the line at this comic's artist cribbing Rob Liefeld—and the worst of Rob Liefeld, at that. I can't imagine a single person being impressed with this comic while paging through it enough to put down money for it. The cover, however, is a cross between a bad Todd McFarlane photocopy and a bad Rob Liefeld photocopy. There's commentary written by the author on the inside covers that details the origins of the comic. One paragraph reads, "I wanted to create something that everyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnic background, could relate to. I wanted people to read a story that reflects the society we live in, not just the neighborhood. Most importantly, I wanted a high quality, all color, book. A comic book so complete and professional, that it rivaled the top selling books in the marketplace, but was unparalleled in subject and content." Well, a close two of three isn't so bad. The author also tries to get some credibility by mentioning that LL Cool J "thought it was the coolest thing he had ever seen." LL Cool J doesn't get out much. And having LL Cool J say something about your whatever-you're-working-on doesn't give it any more cred. Trust me. As a humor comic, it lags in some places, but there is one really great line, perhaps the best punch line that's been in a comic in a while. It's a scene where Nighthawk, whom we can guess is the hero, is shouting off-camera at the bad guy. Nighthawk is telling the bad guy how badly the bad guy treats his followers and says, "Love, honor, and devotion, my ass. Pain, suffrage, and slavery is more like it." Well, pain and slavery are pretty bad things to be subjected to, but at least they get to vote! I know some of my fellow CBEM columnists, David LeBlanc in particular, get blurbs and sentences taken from columns and printed to hype a comic, so here are my blurbs for PROPHECY OF THE SOUL SORCEROR: "This comic book will make you hate comic books." "My prophesy for PROPHECY OF THE SOUL SORCEROR: It says it's a limited series -- don't plan on finishing it." "It says it's a limited series -- let's hope it's limited to one issue. If we act quickly, we can stop #2 from coming out." "Two words: shit sandwich." "You can kill them and take away their freedom, but don't take away their right to vote!" "Mama said avoid this comic at all costs." "I'm goin' back to Cali, to return this comic." "This is $2.95 that you will never, ever get back." This comic has no business being published. It's a wonder and a shame these days that all you need to put out a comic is money—and not even that much since print runs are so low. I suppose I should say one positive thing about the comic: I wouldn't give it negative points for the coloring. This comic is just laughingly bad. Luckily I didn't pay the $2.95 for it (though anyone who did should march down to Toluca Lake and demand their money back), though I would like the 10 minutes back that I spent reading it. Arcane Comics' offices are near where I live and I've got some dishes that need washing. We'll call it even. (Thanks to Brian Griesbach.) MAGE #14 (Image) This comic was great! I haven't been this excited since 1979 when I auditioned for Skatetown U.S.A. & Rollerboogie during my disco days! COMIC SHOPS, IN GENERAL There's been a good deal of talk lately about the state of comic shops, on an individual basis, around the country. And it's interesting to hear how everyone else is getting their comics so I'm adding my two cents. For as long as I can remember I've gotten a discount from my local comic shop. That's why it came as a surprise when I read that so many people don't get a discount on their comics and why so many comic store owners defended their right to not give a discount. Which is fine. It's just not been my experience and to that extent I'll always shop at the shop where I get the bigger discount. It's capitalism. I drop a goodly amount of money for comics each week and I'll go where they're cheaper. Yes, customer service, location, and selection does count for something, but I've spent years at shops where the clerks are jerks but the comics are under cover price. Here in California, location is not a problem: there are three comic stores, each of varying quality, within walking distance of my home, and Hollywood is just over the hill. I'm lucky enough to have one of the best comics shops I've ever had the pleasure of shopping at within three blocks of my house. House Of Secrets sells comics, but also tons of other cool stuff, in addition to the required Spawn toys. They've got graphic novels, lots of back issues, dollar bins, and a very personable and knowledgeable staff. I think the off-the-top discount is 10%, but I get 25 (or so)% off because I have a pull list and fill out the PREVIEWS form every month (it's fairly tedious how they want you to fill it out - you have to work for that discount). Down in Hollywood is Meltdown, which has an unbeatable selection of stuff - comics, graphics novels, T-shirts, etc. I'm not a regular customer there and I don't have a pull list so I don't know if they give discounts to regular customers but I know they don't give off-the-top discounts. It's a balance: you trade discounts for selection. If you're looking for a generally obscure graphic novel, it's worth driving into Hollywood and checking the place out. At the very least it's light-years ahead of that other, more-well-known-but-Heaven-knows-why store in Hollywood on Melrose. Meltdown also won last year's Spirit of Comic Retailing Award presented by Wil Eisner, so you don't have to just take my word for it. House Of Secrets is at 1918 W. Olive Ave., Burbank, CA, 91506. (818)562-1900. Meltdown is at 7529 Sunset Ave., Hollywood, CA. mar93@aol.com Http://members.aol.com/mar93/BoneMachine.html ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] Multiverse Observer and Explorer Reviews Paul Dale Roberts silhouet9@aol.com [Paul promotes amateur and professional comic book artwork, scripts, storylines, and unpublished comic books with a newsletter called the Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter. Its website is at Jazma Comic Book Newsletter Productions at http://www.twmgrafix.com/jazma He is also a prominent letter hack, as anyone who reads comic letter pages would know. He is in production of his own self-published comic book called The Legendary Dark Silhouette and has copyrighted over 600 characters for his Jazma Universe.] Name: Planetary Magazine #4 Publisher: Wildstorm Written by: Warren Ellis Drawn by: John Cassaday Price: $2.50 Comments: As Jim Wilder wonders about the terrorist group 'Snowflake' and how they got their name, everything came to perspective as how the Multiverse is put together....like a snowflake. Warren Ellis has taken the readers on one wild roller coaster ride with this story and I love the way he incorporates the persona of Doc Savage in Doc Brass and perhaps The Avenger in Elijah Snow? Or is this merely a coincidence? I was completely taken in on how Jim is managing to handle himself as he is now in the medical ward and must worry about his dire circumstances that has lead him there. Jakita Wagner and her investigative team Planetary are willing to stop watching and take some kind of action. I am looking forward to seeing how they will deal with situations in future issues. The Multiverse comes into play and the realization that there is more than one Earth and multiple realities. That an entity has sailed the 'Bleed' which is a trading ship amongst realities and between universes and now it has crashed into this reality. I must give a cordial bow to Warren Ellis for keeping me enthralled with the story and to John Cassaday for delivering such magnificent artwork that flows with the story! This is high quality entertainment! Name: Heart of Empire - The Legacy of Luther Arkwright - Chapter Three Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Written and Drawn by: Bryan Talbot Price: $2.95 Comments: Great Dalton! What a strange reality this is. Cheapside - London, could this possibly be the former East End? London doesn't look the same and with all the changes from Cheapside to the lawless area known as Alsatia, all I can say is thank god, the Thames River is still around. I was amazed and delighted to pick up my first issue of 'Heart of Empire - The Legacy of Luther Arkwright - Chapter Three'. I just jumped on board and will be picking up issues 1 & 2 two days from now. What futuristic outcome has shaken this reality for England to have been in a civil war and now extremist groups like the Futurists terrorize the countryside? I am quite curious to see if Angela and Hiram, being the news hounds that they are, will actually get the big scoop they seek from Gabriel Shelley, or will obstacles fall in there way? I like to know how they observe London, through American eyes and perhaps their comparison of how London used to be and the way it is now. As the 3 da