---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 256 3/17/2000 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 2000 ........................ Rich Johnston [6] 1999 SQUIDDY AWARDS ................... Carl Henderson [7] HARVEY AWARD NOMINEES ................. Harvey Awards [8] Pond Life ............................. Paul Hayward [9] Interview: Link Yaco .................. Paul Dale Roberts [10] Venting My Spleen ..................... David Groenewegen [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [A] Submission, Back Issues, Copyrights ______________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Home Page-->> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet Mailed by ONElist: http://www.onelist.com/community/ComicBookNetworkEmag HTML WEB EDITION at -->> http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem featuring a week's worth of the online 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, FREE, please send amessage FROM that account TO: ComicBookNetworkEmag-subscribe@onelist.com To UNSUBSCRIBE send a message FROM the account to be dropped to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@onelist.com 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 2000 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 The Award season is upon us. This week we bring you the results of the USENET newsgroups Rec.Arts.Comics.* annual Squiddy Awards - voted by the participants of that online forum as well as the nominees for this year's HARVEY Awards. And while we are at it we remind you to consider voting for the Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine in the category of Favourite E-zine in the Comics International Eagle Award balloting going on until March 31. You can link to the voting form on their web page at: http://www.comics-international.com/eagleawards/eagleawards.html or just click on the link at our web site on AOL or at the online web edition of the emag hosted at Digital Webbing at: http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem I did not get to the store this week, but I'll bet if I did I would find these new books worth checking out: AVATAR PRESS Warren Ellis Strange Kiss #3 (Of 3), 3.00 CARBON-BASED COMICS Faith A Fable, 8.95 <---------------------PICK OF THE WEEK!! CRYPTIC PRESS Smiths Adventures In The Supermundane, 1.95 DC COMICS Batman Black And White TPB, 19.95 Doctor Midnite TPB, 19.95 JSA #10, 2.50 Millennium Edition Flash #123, 2.50 Swamp Thing #1, 2.50 Young Justice Sins Of Youth #1 (Of 2), 3.95 MARVEL COMICS Punisher Cvr A #2 (Of 12), 2.99 Punisher Cvr B #2 (Of 12), 2.99 ONI PRESS INC. Clerks TPB, 10.95 Now you might think it is not proper to have a pick if I have not been to the store to see the new books, but astute readers now I reviewed FAITH A FABLE in the Emag around the time it was being solicited by Diamond. If you did not order it then, at my insistance, you might be lucky and have a smart dealer who did, so go and get it. If it is sold out have it ordered for you. This is a story everyone can enjoy! 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. +++++ [The following is presented as I received it. The spelling and grammar has not been altered. You judge the worthiness of the complaint. - DL] Subj: The Professor of Comics From: astro@game-master.com (Paul Stock) To: ComicBkNet@aol.com CC: trodimus@hotmail.com Sirs: With all due respect to your goodselves, might I suggest that a change of column name might be in order? Mr. Read expresses opinions. Professors are supposed to deliver facts. Mr Read has obvious problems expressing himself in a literate fashion. Considering that the comic book medium is a literary form, I would expect a "professor" of literature to make fewer errors of syntax and spelling. For example, his second paragraph of CBEM #255 reads: "Last week we discussed about the product itself, the comic. We talked about the declining readership and a major mistake (in my and other's view) of the comic target market and its subject matter presented." English speakers would say: "Last week we discussed the product itself, the comic. We talked about declining readership, and a major..." um, well I'm not sure what major mistake. The sentence simply makes no sense. Look, like, I'm not like a toatl, you know like, moron, OK? Mr. Read is plentifully entrancing in his behavoristic enhancement of the genre. It's just that when he uses big words and stilted syntax in order to appear "professorial", he ends up looking like someone who's trying to show off how rich he is, not realising he's speaking to Bill Gates. Just change the name of the column until such time as you master English. Your thoughts are entertaining and thought provoking. Regards Paul Stock Librairie Astro 1844 Ste.Catherine St.W. Motreal, Que. Canada H3H 1M1 (514) 932-1139 +++++ Subj: Re: [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 255.3 From: SRoweCanoe@aol.com wrote David Groenewegen on the Legion of Super-Heroes: > Maybe I'm hoping they'll all fall through a space warp and end up > back where Giffen left the book, lo those many years ago. This is of course what makes different tastes so interesting. I personally found the Giffen LSH so awfully bad that even now I can't stand to look at an issue. Indeed, my lukewarm response to the current LSH is probably colored by my feelings about Giffens' so-called handiwork. Steven (liked Jim & Curt's LSH) Rowe +++++ Subj: Kevin Altieri to Direct Rat Bastard From: Crucialcg@aol.com We've been updating our web site with news. It's been a little tough since we've been out in L.A. for a week, but go to: http://crucialcomics.com/crucialtimes.html for news on the animated series. Thanks again for all the support you guys have given us, when we launch our comic section, there's a link for your site, it's the least we can do to spread the word about the great work you're doing. CLiFF G. [Good luck in Hollywoodland and with RAT BASTARD in all its forms. Fans, if you haven't yet - check it out. D.L.] +++++ Subj: AMERICAMAN From: jappa@swbell.net (jappa) Hi, just visited this page at americaman.tripod.com and wanted to share it with you, take a look: http://americaman.tripod.com/ +++++ Subj: BUSINES Date: 3/14/00 7:31:34 PM Eastern Standard Time From: yury_wolkovich@chat.ru (=?koi8-r?B?4NLJyiD3z8zLz9fJ3g==?=) Good day. I have the contacts with russian authors and i represent their interests. The purpose of this letter is offer about cooperation. My clients should like to publish their own comics in european and american publishing. If you are interested this offer, please let me know. If not, possible you can report me, who can help me. Thank you for your time. With best regards Yury A.Wolkovich, Russia. e-mail: yury_wolkovich@chat.ru +++++ Subj: Letter to the Editor of Fright X Date: 3/14/00 10:41:38 PM Eastern Standard Time From: Silhouet9 Dear Editor: This is an open letter to the comic book subculture. There is a museum that collects, preserves, studies, interprets comic books, comic book ezines, graphic narratives and fantasy illustrations. That museum is known as the Words and Pictures Museum. To maintain this museum it requires donations and all comic book aficionados who believe in the preservation of comic books, comic book artwork, comic book ezines and any other type of comic book illustrations should consider donating a sum of money to the museum on a yearly basis. They need donations to maintain the salaries of their staff, office location, storage space and maintenance on their collections. The museum has become a 'virtual museum' and to better understand the purpose of the museum you can check out their website at: http://www.wordsandpictures.org/museumhistory.cfm or email them at: info@wordsandpictures.org Donations can be sent to: Words & Pictures Museum; 136 West Street, Suite 107; Northampton, MA 01060 Sincerely yours, Paul Dale Roberts, Production Commander Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ 5606 Moonlight Way Elk Grove, CA 95758 Silhouet9@aol.com +++++ Subj: Big Apple Comicon March 18-19...I'll be there signing books! From: rasmus@timespell.com Hi, All! Wanted to give a shout out to anyone going to the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan,NYC this weekend! It's Saturday & Sunday March 18-19. I'll be there selling and signing TIMESPELL. Pimping my book to all who want to check it out is what I do best. I'll be bringing by the last few remaining copies of the first printing of #1, plus all issues to date. I'll have about copies of Timespell #4 with me! Cover artist Brian Rood (X-Men Unlimited) and inker Mostafa Moussa (Image Comics IRON WINGS) did FANTASTIC work on the book! For more on the show, click onto http://www.ba2k.net Location and times will be on that site. Also, I've begun uploading select pages of Timespell #0 onto the Timespell website. That particular issue had the lowest print run...approx. 1500. Then last year water damage in the basement destroyed a case, so there's maybe 150 left. So I've decided to upload the book in parts. Timespell #0 contains 3 self contained stories about the 3 major heavies in the series. Each story is penciled by moi, but I assigned a different inker to each piece to give each story it's own mood. First up is Joshua Steele's tale of power and deception. It's scribed by Russ Colchamiro and inked by Aaron McClellan. Just go to http://www.timespell.com and select either low or high bandwith from the intro page. Then once on the home page, click on the button to the left that reads "Timespell #0 Part 1 online." Enjoy! I look forward to seeing you at the show! -Rich Henn (Club 408 Graphics) http://www.timespell.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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 Discount Comic Book Service at www.dcbservice.com where you can order most DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse comics, statues and retail products for 35% off. +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: What is Millie the Model's last name? Well I stumped the band on that one, except for one person who was not eligible to win this week. The answer is Collins. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: In recent Super-history, from whom did Superman rescue Kandor? 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 Newsweek: X-Men' Plot Revealed: Teen Mutant Superheroes Protect Mankind Even as Right-Wing Senator Proposes Legislation Against Them NEW YORK, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A behind-the-scenes visit by Newsweek to the set of the Twentieth Century Fox "X-Men" movie reveals that the plot revolves around the mutant superheroes' quest to protect mankind, even as the U.S. Senate, led by a rabid right-winger, proceeds with discriminatory legislation against them, Newsweek reports in the current issue. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000311/HSSA006 ) Based on the best-selling Marvel Comics series about teenagers whose strange and extraordinary powers develop with the onset of puberty, the movie is set in a realistic, uncartoony world just a year or two in the future. The story follows the self-healing mutant Wolverine as he encounters the other X-Men for the first time, reports General Editor Yahlin Chang in the March 20 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 13). The movie's villain is a metal-manipulating mutant named Magneto (Ian McKellen), who shuns the idea that mutants can ever peacefully coexist with humankind. "This movie is the first skirmish in the potential war between humans and mutants," says the movie's director Bryan Singer. "It's not your average genre picture. I'm not saying it's a character-based drama, but it's not an action movie. It's a movie with action in it." (Article attached. Read Newsweek's news releases at www.prnewswire.com/micro/news). Movies; Great X-pectations The 'X-Men' Movie Could Rule The Summer By Yahlin Chang In the Toronto airport last October, Hugh Jackman stood nervously in front of a bored, tight-lipped Customs officer, trying to explain why he should be let into the country without a work visa. "I'm an actor from Australia" was getting him nowhere. Finally, Jackman said, "I'm meeting with the director of 'X-Men'." "'X-Men'?!" The bureaucrat awoke with a jolt. "Who you gonna play?" "Wolverine?" "WOLVEREEEEEEEN!" "He screamed and made me sign an autograph," Jackman recounts three months later, on the set of "X-Men," a live-action movie based on the best-selling comic book in history. 'I said, 'It's only an audition.' He says, 'I don't care, man! I got friends with tattoos of Wolverine!'" Tattoos will be the least of it. The $75 million "X-Men" could become not only the biggest movie of the summer when it opens July 14, but the beginning of a superhero franchise so enormous Batman will be running for cover. Fans of the teenage superheroes -- genetic mutants born with strange and extraordinary powers that develop with the onset of puberty -- have been waiting for this movie for yearrs, even decades. The Internet is awash in rumors -- mostly false -- about everything from plot points to costume details. (Except for a visit from Newsweek, the "X-Men" set has been closed and under maximum security.) Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Comics are betting that X-fanatics will consume a flood of toys and videogames, several sequels and a new Saturday-morning cartoon. All they need now is a good movie. That's where Bryan Singer comes in. The director of "The Usual Suspects," Singer's known for making intellectual, high-caliber films. Though he had no interest in a popcorn franchise, he began to see how the stories of these mutants -- feared and loathed by the world for being different -- were actually not-so-subtle allegories about race and bigotry. Once Singer signed on, the thespians followed. "Ian McKellen and I are colleagues from the Royal Shakespeare Company, so it was especially pleasant to have three significant scenes together," says Patrick Stewart. Singer's boldest decision was to set "X-Men" in a realistic, uncartoony world, just a year or two in the future. The movie follows the self-healing mutant Wolverine as he encounters the X-Men for the first time. Prof. Charles Xavier (Stewart), the world's most powerful telepath, teaches mutants like Storm (Halle Berry), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Cyclops (James Marsden) and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) how to protect mankind -- even as the U.S. Senate, led by a rabid right-winger, pushes discriminatory legislation against them. The movie's villain is a metal-manipulating mutant named Magneto (McKellen), who shuns the idea that mutants can ever peacefully coexist with humankind. "This movie is the first skirmish in the potential war between humans and mutants," says Singer. "It's not your average genre picture. I'm not saying it's a character-based drama, but it's not an action movie. It's a movie with action in it." Sounds like it could be a wonderful, if truly weird, mutation of the genre. SOURCE Newsweek +++++ CARBON-BASED BOOKS TO BE AT SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR It's time once again for the annual Small Press Book Fair. This Fair is the premier event in the book industry for small and independent book publishers. It takes place, as usual, at the Small Press Center located in midtown Manhattan at the Small Press Center, 20 West 44th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), on March 25 and 26. Show hours are from 10 - 6 Saturday and 11 - 5 Sunday and admission is always free. Among the exhibitors featured at this year's Fair is Carbon-Based Books, publisher of the critically-acclaimed graphic narrative novel, "Faith: A Fable" by Bill Knapp. Carbon-Based Books is a small publisher dedicated to providing mature, thought-provoking fiction in a words and pictures, or "comics", format. Their goal is to educate the public as to the exciting possibilities of this medium and show the reading public that comics are not just entertainment for children. Writer and artist, Bill Knapp, will be present at the Fair, signing copies of his book and talking to attendees about working in this format. "I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to get out and talk to people about what comics can do and help tear down the stereotypes that the general public seems to have about this medium," says Knapp. "Other entertainment media like movies, TV, science fiction and rock n' roll have all had some time in their histories when they were looked down upon and ridiculed as trash. They've all since achieved degrees of respectability. Now, it's time for comics to step up and show what it can do." Look for Carbon-Based Books booth on the second floor of the Small Press Center and who knows, you just might find a book or two without pictures that will interest you as well. For more information, check the Small Press Center website at www.smallpress.org +++++ Source Signs Contracts with Time and DC Comicsto Promote 'Got Milk' Advertising Campaign ST. LOUIS, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Source Information Management Company (Nasdaq: SORC) announced today it has signed contracts with Time Inc. Custom Publishing and D.C. Comics to act as the agent in the promotion of the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board's "Got Milk" advertising campaign by Bozell Worldwide, Inc. Source will assist the two publishers producing special magazines and comic books to be given away free to consumers as an incentive to purchase increased quantities of milk. Source, through its sales and marketing staff, has signed up 15,000 retail stores to participate in each campaign, set up in-store promotional displays, and facilitate the distribution of 3 million copies of the special publications created by the two publishers. "Source is proud to be a part of this project promoting increased milk sales and delighted to assist Time Inc. Custom Publishing and D.C. Comics in this endeavor," said Richard Jacobsen, Source vice chairman and chief operating officer. "Given our strong background in the publishing industry as well as our long-standing relationships with retailers, Source is uniquely positioned to provide this service and act as the agent for these publishers to help raise awareness for this unique milk campaign." "Furthermore, we expect to engage in similar value added promotions supporting the sale of magazines and consumer goods in mass retail outlets in the future," Jacobsen added. Under the terms of the Time Inc. Custom Publishing (TCIP) agreement, Source will facilitate the distribution to 15,000 grocery retailers 3 million polybags containing two magazines created by TICP - a children's magazine and a parent's magazine. Under the terms of the D.C. Comics agreement, the Source will be distributing to 15,000 retailers 3 million comic books. Source is a leading provider of information and management services for retail magazine sales to U.S. and Canadian retailers and magazine publishers. Source is also a leading manufacturer of display racks used by retailers at checkout counters. From its core businesses, industry knowledge and relationships with retailers, publishers and vendors of mass merchandise products, Source has developed its ICN website that offers retailers and publishers a forum for communication and e-commerce. Additional information is available at the Company's website, http://icn.sorc-info.com/. +++++ TheComicstore.com Begins Trading as ''CMIX''; Company Sees Explosive Growth for Comic Books and Collectibles SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2000-- TheComicstore.com, www.thecomicstore.com, announced today that its shares would begin trading on the OTC BB under the symbol "CMIX". The company recently merged with Northwind Management Inc. "NWDA" and the post-merged company will operate as the Comicstore.com Inc. The company's shares have risen in value in the first few days of trading from an initial price of $2.00 to a recent high of $2.65. TheComicstore.com is an e-commerce spin off of Comics & Comix Inc. the fourth largest comic book "Bricks & Mortar" retailer in North America. TheComicstore.com is a stand-alone entity, though it will use the inventory and database of Comics & Comix on an ongoing basis. The company is focusing on mainstream comic books from recognized and independent publishers, and is adding action figures, import Pokemon toys and Star Wars collectibles. In addition to direct consumer sales, TheComicstore.com is doing online web fulfillment for a number of other e-commerce retailers including Amazon.com and Vstore.com. Ross Rojek, CEO said: "The Internet has been a natural progression for comic book sales. It provides us with the perfect platform to reach a national and international audience. Our goal was to create a highly diverse pop culture product line, and our merger with Northwind Management gives us the financial springboard to be the largest e-commerce site in our market." Comics licensed merchandise and collectibles are a multi-billion dollar market. TheComicstore.com intends to stake its claim to being the market leader in those areas. For more information visit: www.thecomicstore.com Cautionary Statement: This news release includes "forward looking statements" within the meaning of section 21 E of the United States Securities Exchange Act, as amended, and/or the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, are forward looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All forward-looking statements in the release are expressly qualified by this notice. CONTACT: TheComicstore.com, Sacramento Ross Rojek, CEO, 916/567-2490 +++++ COMIC LIBRARY INTERNATIONAL 2049 Alfred Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 PRESS RELEASE COMIC LIBRARY INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF TITLES As the third volume of Comic Library International was sent to press, publisher George Broderick, Jr., announced the company's plans to further beef up its already quite respectable creator line-up, as well as CLI's expansion of softbound publishing for the remainder of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. "Between its first and second volumes, Comic Library International experienced a 23% increase in sales," Broderick explained from his Pittsburgh office. "That's pretty impressive when you consider the current state of comics being produced in the U.S. right now." He attributes the increase in popularity to the fact that each volume of CLI is designed to be sold within, as well as outside, the direct market distribution system. "We've begun to expand our readership base beyond the standard comic book shops and have found an enthusiastic response waiting for us in the main-stream bookstores as well as in the national school system, where a whole crop of readers is waiting for this type of product. The prospects are very promising, and the potential to branch out and grow is more than exciting. "Beginning with volume 3, we plan to expose readers of CLI to an even broader array of independent creator talent. We've added Chris Yambar's MR. BEAT as a permanent fixture in each edition, added a second appearance of Dave Mazure's EEP!, inked a single-issue agreement with Pam Bliss for RADIATION MAN, and inked two-issue agreements with Wes Alexander for STORMFIELD and Todd Webb for BOBBY DOODLE. "In addition to these fine creators, we've got some very special upcoming features by ROSWELL-- LITTLE GREEN MAN creator Bill Morrison, HOON creator Robb Bihun, and EENIE-WEENIE/SPONGE BOB cartoon director Derek Drymon. When you combine these folks with our current roster, there's a lot to be excited about!" Broderick went on to confirm that each issue of CLI will include all new material by Art Baltazar (CAPTAIN CAMEL AND THE SPACE CHICKEN), Jamie Cosley (BOY AND DOG), Scott Roberts (CLICK TRACK), Chris Yambar (FIRE- BREATHING POPE), and John Peters (FORTY WINKS), along with Broderick's STARDUST AND THOR. The fourth volume of CLI will have a special FORTY WINKS installment conceived by series co-creator John Peters, written by Chris Yambar and drawn by legendary indy artist Levi Krause. "I've seen some of the work Levi has produced recently for the regular series by Vince Sneed, which will be issued by Peregrine Entertainment later this year, and WOW! I can't wait to see what this further association with Yambar and Peters yields," laughed Broderick. "They refuse to tell me anything other than there's plenty of coffee and more fine art masterpieces than can be viewed through Alice's looking glass." Beyond the company's successful flagship anthology, CLI also has plans to release individual artist/character collections beginning this summer with Chris Yambar's THE COMPLETE MR. BEAT (Vol. 1) and Jamie Cosley's BIG HONKIN' BUG NUT. "Both of these guys have a real passion for comics and are downright dangerous people. Jamie has a real love for creating absolutely crazy comics for extremely young readers. His hip-hop graffiti style is right on the pulse of where the skateboarding Nickelodeon audience is standing, and he's got more go than a ten-pound bag of sugar! BIG HONKIN' BUG NUT is 152 pages of high-energy fun! "Yambar's MR. BEAT is like a force of nature! The character's a modern icon. He's one of the most original comic characters in decades. Yambar's humor is edgy, highbrow, smart and downright sarcastic in all the right places. THE COMPLETE MR. BEAT (Vol. 1) will include the very best solo adventures and gags from his sold-out Moordam Comics appearances as well as from the other sundry publishing umbrellas the character has appeared under. Very cool is an understatement." In late November the company plans to release the first of several "single -themed" volumes of CLI. GIANT SIZE ITSY BITSY COMICS (CLI, volume 6) is a 152-page anthology of all-ages funny animal/funny kids stories featuring work from numerous industry creators, many debuting characters in print for the very first time ever! The second single-themed CLI volume, BIG SPACE COMICS (CLI, volume 7), featuring robots, ray guns, aliens and all things futuristic and fun, is slated for release in early 2001. "The main focus with CLI is the celebration and evolution of the comic art form," explained Broderick. "Our goal is to upgrade the format, visibility and integrity of comics and help bring them back into the mainstream youth culture. With your enthusiastic support, we just might pull it off--and have some fun doing it!" For more information concerning CLI, contact them directly: e-mail: gbstudio@sprintmail.com or webpage: www.georgebroderick.com +++++ BIG EASY COMIC-CON IS COMING BACK TO NEW ORLEANS! Billed as "a Pop Culture Mardi Gras", Big Easy Comic-Con is bringing their own special brand of fun to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel on Memorial Day Weekend. Thousands of collectors and fans of comic books, pop culture media, anime, toys, science fiction, horror, collectible card games, Pokemon and more will gather from across the US and around the world on May 26, 27 & 28. Big Easy Comic-Con will feature an extensive array of retail, publisher and manufacturer exhibits plus celebrity guest appearances and a full line-up of programs and events. Celebrities scheduled to appear include special guest of honor, best selling author, ANNE RICE. Featured pop culture media guests include, ALEXANDRA TYDINGS (Aphrodite on TV's Hercules & Xena), YVONNE CRAIG (TV's Batgirl), JON PROVOST (Timmy from TV's Lassie) and Playboy Playmate, LISA MARIE SCOTT. many of the comic book industry's top talents will be in attendance including; BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, JOE BENNETT, BLACK BULL ENTERTAINMENT, JOHN BYRNE, COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE, CRUSADE ENTERTAINMENT, JOE CASEY, AMANDA CONNER, MIKE DEODATO, BOB INGERSOLL, TONY ISABELLA, J.G. JONES, SCOTT LOBDELL, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, DON ROSA, ROY THOMAS, BILL TUCCI, JIM VALENTINO and many more! Hotel room discounts are available by calling the Hilton at (504) 584-3999. Airfare discounts are available through US AIRWAYS by calling (877) 874-7687 and mentioning Gold File #34131380. The Hilton New Orleans Riverside is ideally located just minutes from the French Quarter and adjacent to The Riverwalk Mall, Harras Casino and the Aquarium of the Americas, among other attractions. Advance tickets are available exclusively thru the show's web site; www.bigeasycon.com. Tickets will also be on sale at the door during the show. Show hours will be Friday May 26th; 1pm to 7pm, Saturday May 27th; 10am to 6pm, and Sunday May 28th; 11am to 5pm. Additional information including game tournament schedules, programs and guest updates will all be posted on the show's web site. Additional information can also be obtained by calling R.A.P. Promotions at (419) 526-1427 weekdays, 9am to 4pm EST. -------------------- Contact: Roger Price (bigeasycon@wfcomics.com) 419-526-1427 Roger A. Price R.A.P. Promotions, Inc. +++++ CONTACT: Fiona Russell Words & Pictures Museum (413) 586-8545 comics@wordsandpictures.org http://www.wordsandpictures.org Northampton, Massachusetts, March 16, 2000 - The Words & Pictures Museum announces the launching of the worlds first Virtual Museum dedicated solely to the comic arts http://www.wordsandpictures.org Designed as a portal to the world of comic book art and illustration, the site offers curated exhibits, educational programming, and one of the largest shopping malls on the web. Researched Directories designed for fans, academics, and members of the press offer a wealth of information and an unprecedented worldview of comics. While the Museums history is extensively chronicled in Quicktime/VR movies, the new portal site picks up the challenge of introducing visitors to the next century of comics around the globe. Through this portal we'll provide links to varied looks at the history of comics and their contribution to global popular culture. Spotlight Exhibits will focus on where the medium is moving in the 21st century and the innovative talents who'll take us there. Founded in 1990 the Museum closed its traditional brick and mortar facility in late 1999 to reinvent itself for the new century, online. The comic book industry is currently experiencing a decline in readership and moving their attention to the web, most recently exemplified by the phenomenal launch of stanlee.net. According to DC Comics and Mediamark Research, comic book readers are statistically twice as likely as the average person to be Internet users, twice as likely to buy a book, and seven times more likely to play video games. "Museums and other arts based non profit organizations are increasingly faced with having to find non traditional ways to present and fund themselves while creating new audiences in this day and age", stated Museum Director Joseph Scelsi. "We are excited about the potential of this move, to help reinvigorate interest in the comic industry and simultaneously provide a working model for other museums on the web". Since 1992 Words & Pictures Museum has been presenting comic books and comic book artwork in exhibits designed to help create a greater understanding of and appreciation for their contribution to popular culture. The premiere virtual exhibit, Elektra: Assassin http://www.wordsandpictures.org/elektra/maingallery.html features the work of writer Frank Miller and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Elektra, the most deadly of female characters was first introduced to comics in the popular Marvel superhero book, Daredevil. In addition to her comic book appearances, the online exhibit explores the origins of Elektra and her presentation in many forums including plays by Sophocles and Euripides, an opera by Richard Strauss and the writings of Freud. Over 100 online stores have agreed to provide the museum, a non profit organization, with a percentage of every dollar generated by traffic from the museum site. Original artwork, in many cases donated by creators, will be available for secure online purchase. The Museum is encouraging visitors to the Museum Mall http://www.wordsandpictures.org/shopping.cfm to use it as a home page for all their shopping - from cappuccino makers to Captain America comics. Retailers as diverse as Toys-R-Us, Staples office supplies, J Crew, e.news, Dell computers, Priceline.com, Next Planet Over and CVS Pharmacies are offering between 5-20% of online purchases to the museum. Other merchants expected to join the mall shortly include JC Penney, Landsend, and L.L. Bean. For additional information on Words & Pictures Museum visit their web site at http://www.wordsandpictures.org or call (413) 586-8545 +++++ Marvel Enterprises, Inc. Signs Deal With Premier Intellectual Property Web Site, IPnetwork.com, to License Marvel Universe Brand NEW YORK, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvel Enterprises, Inc., one of the world's foremost character-based entertainment companies with such renowned superheroes as Spiderman, The X-Men and The Incredible Hulk, has signed a ground breaking agreement to offer intellectual-property (IP) rights over IPnetwork.com's web site. Through the deal, the licensing rights for The Marvel Universe(TM) image will be offered to product manufacturers exclusively via IPnetwork.com -- marking the first major presentation of copyrights through the web. Marvel Universe is an eye-catching colorful image featuring action-packed renderings of Marvel's extensive line-up of superhero characters. Marvel Universe goes live for business and transactions at IPnetwork.com in mid-March. "Our relationship with IPnetwork.com provides an exciting new use of the Internet to create awareness and develop markets for our new Marvel Universe image," said Michael C. Dichter, senior vice president of the Marvel Characters Group. The groundbreaking agreement makes the Marvel Universe available for both domestic and international use in a variety of categories. IPnetwork.com founder and CEO Christine Hearst Schwarzman said: "This agreement puts Marvel on the cutting edge of using technology for intellectual-property licensing. The online exclusivity underscores their enthusiasm for the IPnetwork.com breakthrough and will serve as a model for the entire IP sector." +++++ Boutique Comics for Hollywood;Comic-Book Publisher Busy Packaging Concepts for Media Spinoffs STUDIO CITY, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- When Steve Stern moved his Zen Comics publishing company here from New York, he didn't expect to be producing comic-books for Hollywood. But three years later, Stern finds himself running what he terms a 'boutique comics' shop for producers, writers, actors and other LA entertainment types. "Everyone's pitching story ideas here -- to movie studios, tv networks, agents, internet execs and anyone else in a position to turn ideas into reality," Stern said. "It wasn't long before we were approached by creative people with ideas they wanted to pitch, to produce comics for them." Hollywood has long been fascinated with comics -- from 'Superman' to 'Batman' to the upcoming 'X-Men' -- as a ready source of material for both live-action films and animation. In addition to these big-name franchises, published by the two major comic-book companies, DC and Marvel, there have also been runaway hits from independent comics, such as 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' 'The Crow' and 'Men in Black'. "Independent producers, screenwriters, actors and others have come to us to create and nationally distribute comics based on their concepts," Stern said. "It's not just that they're looking for a 'hit' comic-book that the studios and networks will be hungry for, but it's also because they know that a comic is the closest thing to a storyboard, which makes pitching their concepts that much easier." Zen Comics has, in fact, started using storyboard artists in its publications. One such artist is D.H. Covey, who has produced storyboards for Disney's "Johnny Tsunami" and director Brian Yuzna's "Progeny." "I enjoy working in the comics medium," Covey says. "It's essentially storyboards with word-balloons added." Zen Comics has, for example, just published a book and cassette set about the adventures of 'Dirk Splev, Cosmic Wanderer,' whose creator is a voice actor with a long list of animation credits. "We packaged the whole project for him, including ads that will appear shortly in various trade publications, so he can aggressively pitch the concept to producers and agents," Stern explained. Another project was the three-issue black-and-white comic series, 'S.M.A.S.H Heroes,' produced for a writer looking for animation and licensing deals. Other projects are currently in the works, including one for a sitcom comedian and another for an international director. Stern himself is not unfamiliar with the workings of Hollywood. His own comic-book, 'Zen Intergalactic Ninja,' which has sold over three million copies and spawned licensed items from toys to videogames, has been optioned for a live-action movie by Cine-Groupe, a subsidiary of the Canadian entertainment company, Lions Gate. Stern keeps Zen's fans abreast of all the latest developments at the zenintergalacticninja.com website. Perhaps the most unusual project Zen Comics has packaged since moving to LA is the 'crossover' comic featuring Zen and the supermodel Barbi Twins. 'The Roswell Incident' came about as a deal with the Barbi's licensing agent and sold out as soon as it hit the stands. Zen Publishing has since been approached by other real-life personalities who think it's a cool career-move to appear in the comics. "I'm really enjoying this whole experience," Stern said. "I didn't expect to be doing all this when we moved our operation out here, but it's incredibly challenging and exciting to be working with so many creative people in the entertainment industry." SOURCE Zen Comics +++++ From the SPLASH PAGE of Comicon.com at: http://www.comicon.com/splash/ WSJ ANALYZES POSSIBLE MARVEL TAKEOVER BY STAN LEE MEDIA! STAN STILL EYES MARVEL! March 13: Today's print edition of the WALL STREET JOURNAL contains coverage and analysis of a potential takeover of Marvel by it 'Ambassador Emeritus', Stan Lee. With the market capitalization of Stan Lee Media at $224 million due to a stock price that has tripled in the last three months, and Marvel valued at $193 million with a stock price stuck below $6, Lee has publicly mused about a leveraged buyout of his old stomping grounds. The JOURNAL said, " It may not be long before Stan Lee Media is in a position to acquire Marvel enterprises and recapture the rights to Lee's past creations such as Spider-Man, X-Men and The Hulk." Stan Lee Media co-founder Peter Paul told the JOURNAL that "To date there have been no discussions of any transactions with Marvel." The JOURNAL said, "At this point, it would be impossible for Stan Lee Media to stage an out-and-out acquisition of Marvel without some deep pocketed help. Stan Lee Media has little revenue and it still trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board, although it has applied for Nadaq Small-cap listing. Marvel has baggage. It is losing money, has $277 million in long term debt, and is obligated to pay out $3.7 million in preferred dividends each quarter." The JOURNAL said that, "Wall Street investment bankers, initially cool due to Stan Lee Media's unorthodox means of going public, were in attendance at the Hollywood premier of the '7th Portal'. Stan Lee Media has said it plans to raise more than $40 million this year." +++++ From Beau Yarbrough's Comic Wire at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ NEAL ADAMS HUNTS STOLEN ART ONLINE Comic fans nervous about Neal Adams online auction sites, worrying about the safety and reliability of such transactions have something else to worry about: Neal Adams. That is, at least, if you bid on works the legendary artist says were stolen from him years ago. This week, some bidders for Adams art on auction at Ebay received the following e-mail: "Hello Ebay bidders, "My name is Jason Adams, I am Neal Adams' son. I handle the selling of sketches by him on Ebay as well as other things. I am writing to all of you because you've all bid on a page of Neal's that was stolen from him years ago. The art dealer who is selling it is aware it is stolen and was asked to take it off the auction. There is a police report made and we are attempting to retrieve the page in as friendly a manner possible. "However, the seller of this stolen art hasn't removed the auction. It is likely that further legal steps will be made at the seller's choice, but if any of you were to buy it from him then you will be involved as well and Neal will end up seeking you out with what ever means the law allows. We are sure you had no idea until this point and so this letter is sent to you in good trust and simply to inform you. It is possible to remove bids from an auction." The senior Adams discussed the sale of stolen works at his Continuity Studios Web site (http://www.NealAdams.com/): "On the Subject of Stolen Artwork "The following is a fairy tale. "Once upon a tinkly time, a person stole artwork from Continuity Land. "The work was not Neal's but the work of Golden Michael ... and it was for the final issue of Deathwatch 2000. Eight beautiful pages. "These pages were passed to another person who went to a San Diego Comic Book Convention and attempted to sell a 'Michael' double page spread to, curiously enough, a collector 'friend' who announced his knowledge of the work, told the guy there could be trouble, and quickly bought the page for a tenth of its value. "The collector called Neal and sent him the spread … but the remaining pages stayed missing along with the seller. "Tracked down, the young seller wouldn't talk and finally a lawyer took over. A San Diego Lawyer. Couched in careful terms the Lawyer told Neal that if he signed a statement exonerating the young man, he would receive the 'Michael' pages. "Neal said he would. The statement, however, was far more than Neal expected. It forgave not only the Michael art but ANY ART TAKEN ANYTIME. "Neal became suspicious and had the studio searched to see if anything else was missing. Sure enough, 19 pages of Neal's Batman art was gone. Neal refused to sign the statement as written and the lawyer refused to send the pages. Impasse. Two years later, Wednesday Jan 6, 1999, a mysterious package arrives at Continuity. A package with no return address but with all the Michael pages. "Why are we telling this little fairy tale? "Well, the Batman pages haven't surfaced. So in the real world, if anyone out there spots any of the following original pages, they are stolen and should be returned." According to Adams, the pages include: * "Batman" #237 - "Night of the Reaper" - Page 1 * "Batman" #255 - "Moon of the Wolf" - Pages 1 - 5, 15 - 18 * "Brave and Bold" #93 - "Red Water, Crimson Death" - Pages 13, 14, 18 * "Detective Comics" #397 - 3-5, 9, 14, 15 LEGION'S GOLDEN MOY STAYS BUSY DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes may be lost on the other side of the galaxy (or another dimension, depending on how you read the first issue of "Legion Lost"), but finding former LSH artist Jeff Moy's a bit easier. According to the latest edition of Alex Tam's LSH AOL chat report, Moy has a number of irons in the fire, including work on another group of teen superheroes and a certain other team that's now stuck a galaxy away from home. Look for Moy's work this year in Amaze Ink's "Love in Tights" anthology in a story written by former LSH editor K.C. Carlson, DC/Wildstorms "Gen13" #51, Lonestar Press' "Force Seven" #6 and another DC/Wildstorm special featuring that other team a galaxy away from home, "Star Trek: Voyager" Special written by the Legion Lost writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com HEAVY METAL: F.A.K.K.2 ---------------------- Fans interested in seeing the long-awaited sequel to the Heavy Metal animated feature won't have to wait much longer. FAKK2 creator Kevin Eastman tells Comics 2 Film that the movie is scheduled to debut on the cable's Encore network on July 10th of this year. Although the movie retains the title Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2, it is currently promoted as Heavy Metal 2000. Eastman tells us the name change was prompted by the studio. "Columbia doesn't think anybody will understand what Fakk2 is, even though we've been promoting it for three years, or more, so they changed it to Heavy Metal 2000." The title change only applies to the marketing of the movie. "The title on-screen, the video game, most of the toys, and all the other things that were called Fakk2 before will stay Fakk2." FAKK2 tells the story of Julie, a vengeance-seeking warrior woman out to get even with the villainous Tyler, who wiped out her people. Julie takes on the alias of Fakk2, the federation designate for a planetary environment that is lethal to all life forms. She chases the power-mad Tyler across the galaxy to exact her revenge before the villain attains ultimate power. It's well known, by now, that Julie/Fakk2 is modeled after and voiced by B-movie queen Julie Strain (billed here as Julie Strain Eastman). Fans may be surprised to learn that Julie's reluctant sidekick, Germain St. Germain is modeled after Kevin Eastman, Strain's husband and publisher Heavy Metal. "The Germain St. Germain character was based on me, and at one point looked a lot more like me. Somewhere along the line they thought they should make it look less like me, and made some changes. It is also based on an old pal of mine, Judd Nelson, who did the original voices for the character." Unfortunately, due to a contractual concern, Nelson's voice will not appear in the final cut of the movie. In addition to Strain, the cast for the film includes Michael Ironside (The Perfect Storm) as Tyler, rock-star Billy Idol (The Wedding Singer) as Odin, Pierre Kohl as St. Germain, Sonja Ball as Julie's sister Kerrie, Rick Jones (Anastasia) as Odin's all- rock-but-still-cuddly sidekick Zeek. Other cast members include Brady Moffatt, Arthur Holden, Alan Fawcett, Jane Woods and Elizabeth Robertson. The movie was written by Robert Payne Cabeen from the graphic novel by Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot. Michel Lemire and Michael Coldewey directed the movie. The film features a score by Frederic Talgorn (The Devil's Arithmetic). However, the movie also features a selection of 14 heavy metal songs. The track listing for the film consists of: 1. F.A.K.K. U 2. Silver Future (Monster Magnet) 3. Missing Time (MDFMK) 4. Immortally Insane (Pantera) 5. Inside the Pervert Mound (Zilch) 6. Dirtball (Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid) 7. Storaged (System of a Down) 8. Rough Day (Day's of the New) 9. Alcoholocaust (Machine Head) 10. Buried Alive (Billy Idol) 11. Wishes (Coal Chamber) 12. Triale (Puya) 13. You Don't Know (Econoline Crush) 14. The Dog's a Vapor (Bauhaus) The soundtrack will be released by Restless Records and will feature four separate cover designs by Bisley. Restless will also release a limited edition, double CD that includes a CD-ROM containing additional movie paintings, a comic book version of the movie, PC game demos and a movie trailer. For an in-depth preview of FAKK2 visit the Heavy Metal website at http://www.heavymetal.com. RAT BASTARD ----------- Crucial Comics has announced that animation director Kevin Altieri (Gen13 and Pearl Jam's Do The Evolution) is on board to direct the Rat Bastard animated show. The first order of business for the director is a three-minute, music video style presentation for UPN, the network that plans to air the show next fall. The short is set to be completed by the end of April. The announcement also states that the characters designs are very close to their comic book counterparts. Backgrounds are said to be "as intricate as the original book, with a more painterly quality." Finally, the article mentions that Altieri's long-awaited Gen13 animated feature will be released soon. http://crucialcomics.com/ FROM HELL --------- FROM THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Johnny Depp (The Ninth Gate) is said to be in negotiations to take on the role of Scotland Yard Detective Frederick Abberline in the upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell. The Hollywood Reporter states that Depp is currently busy with New Line Cinema's Blow. Following that he is set to work on Chocolat for Miramax and from there movie into Hell for 20th Century Fox. According to the article, the movie is set to start filming in July in Prague. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ FROM AIN'T IT COOL NEWS: A few days after the Reporter article Ain't it Cool News reported that Depp has officially signed on to the production. The report comes from a spy who spoke with Allen and Albert Hughes at the SXSW film festival. According to the report, the Hughes brothers told the spy that Depp was on board and that Nigel Hawthorne (The Winslow Boy, Amistad) had been cast as the killer. The report also states that Terrance Stamp may appear in the movie, but the rest of the cast will likely be filled by unknowns. http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/ MEN IN BLACK 2 -------------- FROM AIN'T IT COOL NEWS: Ain't it Cool News reports that Sony was promoting a sequel to Men In Black at the recent ShoWest trade show. Although it has seemed unlikely that the key players from the first movie would work on the sequel, the studio still had a trailer to display at the show. AICN was unimpressed by the trailer which featured footage from the first movie with new dialog. The tagline here is "They're Back In Black. Men In Black II" http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/ FROM DARK HORIZONS: According to a report from Dark Horizons, Will Smith (Wild, Wild West) may be interested in doing a sequel to Men In Black. Although the actor has downplayed the possibility in the past, he was reportedly singing a different tune on London's Capitol Radio this week. Smith told listeners that he would be reading the script for the planned sequel in the next few weeks. "If it is hot I will do it, if it's not, then I won't," Smith reportedly said. http://www.darkhorizons.com/ X-MEN ----- FROM COMING SOON! Fans dying for another peek at the X-Men movie need look no further than the Coming Soon! website. This week CS posted 10 images from the production of the movie. Four of the images are computer generated animatics which depict some of the action that takes place atop the statue of liberty. In addition, the site has 6 penciled storyboards outlining a fight sequence between Storm and Toad. Needless to say, these images contain minor spoilers so fans may wish to proceed with caution. http://www.comingsoon.net/exclusives.htm In a related matter, we'll take this opportunity to correct an earlier X-Men report. As part of the write-up on the recently uncovered image of Anna Paquin as Rogue, we stated that fans should not expect to see the character's trademark skunk-stripe in the movie. This is not correct. Corona Coming Attractions, who originally ran the image, stated that the character does not have the hair stripe in the scene pictured. However, their sources do say that Rogue's hair becomes discolored later, as part of the story of the film. Thanks to Aaron Hayden for pointing out our mistake. http://www.corona.bc.ca/ SPIDER-MAN ---------- FROM AIN'T IT COOL NEWS: Ain't it Cool News raved about the exciting Spider-Man teaser trailer that Sony Pictures unveiled at the recent ShoWest trade show. According the the write up, the trailer depicts strands of webbing shooting out against a black backdrop. As spider web forms a narrative voice tells the audience, "There is a thin line between a normal man and a hero, a line that one young man is about to cross." Either the trailer or other presentation materials also sported the tagline, "In the summer of 2001, let Sony take you for the ultimate spin." http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/ MILLION DOLLAR HEROES --------------------- FROM DAILY VARIETY: Paul Dini, one of the masterminds behind all of the recent and much-adored Batman animated shows, has been tapped to write Million Dollar Heroes for New Line and Scott Rosenberg's Platinum Studios. Daily Variety reports that Dini will write the movie which will be based on Platinum's as-yet-unpublished comic book. The concept, created by Rosenberg, was previously described as he world's first 'deconstructionist' superhero movie. The film's titular characters don't possess any real super powers. Instead, two former best friends and comic book artists now bitter rivals, adopt the personas of the comic book heroes they created – and wager one million dollars to see who's the best hero on a real- life crime-fighting crusade for truth, justice and the American Way. http://www.variety.com/ +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Watson's Breakfast After Noon Set For June Oni Press will begin releasing creator Andi Watson's new six-issue miniseries, Breakfast After Noon this June. According to the publisher, after the success of Watson's Geisha and his long-running Slave Labor Graphic series Skeleton Key, the creator has developed the new project "from whole cloth". The series focuses on a young couple, Rob Grafton and Louise Bright. Beyond sharing a romantic life, the two work together, as well. When they both lose their job, the lure of the slacker lifestyle is pretty attractive for both of them, but when Louise moves on and Rob sticks to the day-to-day of doing nothing, serious strains are put on their relationship. In order to set things right, Rob has to find his way off the comfortable couch of boredom he has settled into. X-Men Stars Visit ShoWest Steve Johnson At the end of the ShoWest movie distributors' convention this weekend, Fox presented trailers for five movies, including Titan A.E. and X-Men. On hand to talk to film exhibitors were many of the cast of X-Men, including Patrick (Professor X) Stewart, Famke (Jean Grey) Janssen and Rebecca (Mystique) Romijn-Stamos. A new, longer trailer for the film, which shows each character and his or her superpower, was debuted as well; expect it in theaters as X-Men's summer debut draws closer. However, don't expect it too soon. Although principal photography has already wrapped, director Bryan Singer admitted that "Of the 350 special-effect shots, only eight are done." Fox studio head Bill Mechanic said "we expect to spawn a franchise" from X-Men, so it's in the studio's interest to take its time and get it right. Ms. Janssen, in fact, already told E! Online that she has signed to play Jean Grey again in a sequel, so Fox is apparently serious about the controversial (to comics fans) would-be summer blockbuster. -- E! Online Racer X #1 Orders Cancelled DC/Wildstorm have announced that all orders for Racer X #1 have been cancelled, as the series has been "postponed". No reason was given for the postponement. The series will be resolicited at a later date. Soul Saga #2 Ships With Warning Label Soul Saga creator Christian Lichtner has announced that issue #2 (due today) of the series will ship with a "Caution: Contains Mature Content" label. According to Lichtner, although there is no nudity contained in the issue, the move was prompted by a "last minute" decision by Top Cow to warn retailers of a "scantily clad" female featured on a panel of the last page of the book, and they required the label be placed on the cover. "While we feel that the panel might be considered risquι by some, we felt it was within the boundaries of good taste and the standards set forth by other books,” said Lichtner in a statement. "However, we understand the concerns set forth and do not wish to aggravate this situation. Therefore, the panel in question will be eliminated from all future reprints. We sincerely apologize for this situation and would like to assure everyone that future issues of Soul Saga will not be required to carry such labels." Fox Kids Announces New Line-Up Rob Allstetter Today, Fox Kids announced that it was adding eight new shows to its 2000-2001 Saturday morning line-up. Three comic book-inspired series, The Avengers, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot and Spider-Man Unlimited, will not be returning to Fox next fall. Blade 2 Director Set Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct Blade 2: Blood Hunt. Best known for his cult horror films, Cronos and Mimic, del Toro is also working on big screen adaptations of Hellboy and the manga classic Domu. Blade stars Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson are reportedly ready to reprise their roles from the original Blade feature. Shooting is set to begin this fall and a summer 2001 release date is a possibility. --Variety AiT to Publish Nobody TPB Larry Young recently announced that his publishing house, AiT/PLanet Lar will publish a trade paperback of Nobody, collecting the four issues which were originally published by Oni. Nobody tells the story of the woman who's got no past, no identity, and no idea what she's in for when she confronts fringe cultists and uncovers a serial killer with ties to the ultimate evil. The series was written by Alex Amado and Sharon Cho, and penciled by Charlie Adlard. In addition to collecting the four issue series, the trade paperback also supplies some added-value extras, including an introduction by Greg Rucka, a new cover designed by Brian (Generation X) Wood, and an all-new Nobody short story by Amado. The 128-page trade paperback will be available in July. Hawthorne Joins Depp In Hell Nigel (The Madness of King George) Hawthorne has signed on to play Sir William Gull in the big-screen adaptation of From Hell. Johnny Depp has already agreed to appear in the Allen and Albert Hughes directed feature. Hawthorne's character serves as the personal physician to the Queen in the Jack-the-Ripper tale. --The Hollywood Reporter Littlegreymen Meet Zombie Kid in June It's not all that often that characters from the alternative press get together, but this June, it will be a rare and special event when Scott Morse's Littlegreymen will meet Jim Mafood's Zombie Kid in a 48-page one shot special from Oni Press entitled Voodoom. The special will bring both characters to Zombie Kid's stomping grounds, Freak City, where the government is looking to relocate their mysterious and conspiracy-ridden Area 51 – but not if Littlegreyman and Zombie Kid have anything to say about it. The overall story will be told through a series of short stories which both Mafood and Morse will illustrate. "Basically, we are approaching this book as if it were a big, pop-culture Quisinart," Morse concluded. "It'sgoing to have film reference, comic-book in-jokes, conspiracy theories, and a lot of high-powered action. It's going to be a blast, and we hope to pack as much entertainment into every page as is physically possible. The VOODOOM curse will be a good one, bringing much joy and laughter to comics shops all over the world. Guaranteed.” Voodoom is slated to hit shops on June 30th. +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE - Writer Jay Faerber tells us he's just writtten an 18-page X-Men comic book that will be included with the upcoming X-Men Card Game, which is due out this summer in conjunction with the live-action movie. Penciled by Anthony Williams (who also is penciling the movie adaptation), according to Faerber the comic – as well as the card game - features the movie versions of the film's cast (Cyclops, Storm, Jean, Wolverine, and Rogue), but other fan-favorite characters as well. But as to which ones, Faerber said you have to buy the card game to find out. Tentative plans call for there to be an additional 4 pages of behind-the-scenes, sketchbook-type material. - Creator Brian Bendis told readers of his mmessage boards (www.wfcomics.com/boards/bendis) that he's begun work on his previously (but "unofficially") announced new Spawn series. The new, as-of-now untitled series will `replace' Spawn: The Undead on the TMP slate, sometime after that series comes to a close with the upcoming exit of writer Paul Jenkins and artist Dwayne Turner. Bendis posted that the new series will be, "much, much, much darker and human. Conceptually we are creating a new kind of horror comic. I haven't seen or read a comic like this stylistically and I hope it comes out as well as we are shooting for.” Artist Ashley Wood will illustrate the series with fully painted artwork. Bendis reported that they are shooting for a summer launch. In other Spawn news, new Spawn: The Dark Ages writer Steve Niles told Newsarama that the title will feature a new pencil in artist Nat Jones, replacing current penciler Liam McCormack-Sharp. Both creators begin with May's issue #15, though McCormack-Sharp is listed as the penciler in the May solicitation listings. According to Niles, the changeover did not take place until after the solicitations were sent out. The writer also told us Ashley Wood will provide covers for the series and Chance Wolf the series' inks. - DC Comics has released information about ssome of their summer plans for trade paperback and hardcover releases. Note all the release should be considered tentative at this point. Alan Moore's/ABC's Tom Strong and Promethea will both get 160-page hardcover collections, tentatively scheduled for July and August respectively. And while there are no solidified plans, Moore's other two ABC books, Top Ten and Tomorrow Stories will also probably get collected editions down the road, with DC having to decide whether to collect the latter in book focusing on the series individual stories, or as an anthology. Masashi Tanaka's Gon returns for his seventh black & white trade paperback graphic novel in July's Gon But Not Forgotten from Paradox Press. According to DC, "Gon allies himself with a trio of outlaw animals, braves the elements to climb a mountain and protects an aged elephant from the animals that would prey on it.” Other collected editions of note schedule for summer release include All Star Comics Archives Vol. #5; a Batman: Black And White TPB collecting the 1996 limited series; a Speed Racer: Born to Race TPB collecting creator Tommy Yune's mini-series; a seventh Preacher TPB Preacher: A Hell's A-Coming; a fourth Hitman collection Hitman: The Ace of Killers; Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. #3; a new Robin TPB collecting early issues of current series; and from Vertigo, The Books of Magic: The Burning Girl, the sixth collected edition of the series. Dark Horse to Publish Lone Wolf and Cub Matt Brady, Newsarama Dark Horse has announced that it has acquired the rights to publish the epic manga by Kazo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub. The now-defunct First Comics began printing English reprints of the series, sporting new covers by the likes of Frank Miller and Mike Ploog, among others, from 1987 through 1991, only to end with issue #49. Lone Wolf & Cub, which in its entirety runs over 7,000 pages, tells the story of Itto Ogami, once the official executioner to the Shogun. Framed for a treason he didn't commit, Ogami was pressed to commit seppuku, ritual Japanese suicide. Ogami fought back, and killed those present at the ceremony, and in retaliation, those who framed him killed Ogami's wife, forcing him to flee with his infant son, Daigoro. The series is known around the world for its stunning visuals and unforgettable stories that have influenced many Western comic creators. Dark Horse plans to reprint the entire series in 28 volumes, each of which will come in at approximately 300 pages. Of Lone Wolf and Cub Frank Miller, says the following: "It takes you to another time, and to a frightening, alien land, windswept and grey, dying in quiet obedience to the insane decrees of insane leaders. Its authors took the time and space to tell their tale in its every moment, often devoting many pages to scenes that wouldn't last three panels in a monthly American superhero comic book. We come to know the players, large and small, as we meet them, as they reveal themselves to us. Koike and Kojima tell their story masterfully and artfully, portraying a man, a boy, and a country on their journey into Hell." The first volume goes on sale on August 30th in a compact 4” x 6” format and retails for $9.95. The series will not be translated/reformatted by Studio Proteus, the studio that normally prepares Dark Horse's Japanese manga for the American market. And if the entire series isn't enough, Dark Horse will also release Lone Wolf and Cub action figures in September. The figures, which are being produced for the Japanese market, will be manufactured at the same time as the Japanese run of figures, and therefore, collectors will not have to pay import prices. The figures will be made from PVC and will have cloth costumes. Dark Horse will release two figures initially, Lone Wolf & Cub (as a set) and Yagyu. Both will be approximately 6 and Ύ inches tall and are due in stores on September 20th. More Blade of the Immortal products More manga articles DC's August Green Lantern 5th Week Event Michael Doran, Newsarama Up-and-coming writer Brian (Swamp Thing) Vaughan checked in with Mania's Newsarama for some comments on the August “5th Week" event he's spearheading for DC, Green Lantern: Ring of Fire. According to the creator, "Ring of Fire opens with a major new cosmic villain threatening to destroy the universe. The catch? Kyle Rayner (our current GL and a talented freelance artist) claims that this villain looks and acts exactly like a fictional comic-book baddie by the same name... one that Kyle created when he was just a boy.” "When this villain with a mysterious connection to Kyle incapacitates Earth's premiere line of defense, Green Lantern will turn to an unlikely band of heroes that includes the Atom, Firestorm, Power Girl and Adam Strange. These are great characters who usually get only a panel or two of `screen time' during major events, but in Ring of Fire, it will be up to these very heroes (and Kyle, of course) to save all of existence.” Ellis Explains Planetary/Batman Michael Doran, Newsarama Warren Ellis filled his readers of his Delphi message board forum (www.delphi.com/ellis/messages) in on early details of his upcoming Planetary/Batman project, in response to DC's announcing the project at yesterday's Diamond Spring Fling retailer program. "One day I was working on the plotting of Planetary #12," posted Ellis. "I was going to end the year with a dissection of The Batman, as well as an investigation by Planetary into other survivors of City Zero, setting things up for the blistering Year Two. Obviously I wasn't going to use The Batman himself, I was going to have to come up worth an analogue. Annoying. And then I got a phone call from Scott Dunbier. He said that DC had been asking for me to write some kind of DC/Wildstorm crossover book. Evidently, they asked for JLA/Authority again, but Scott knew to let them know that Warren wouldn't do that since DC 'bleeped' him on it last time around. So Scott came up with the counter-suggestion of a 48pp Prestige book called...Planetary/Batman." "Planetary/Batman: Night On Earth -- an extra issue of Planetary, by myself and John Cassaday, and probably either Laura or Dave Baron, I don't think a hard decision's been made there yet." "Now, of course, I have to come up with something new for #12." DC Previews Upcoming Projects and News Michael Doran, Newsarama & Bryan Cairns DC Comics gave retailers in attendance of Monday's kick-off to Diamond Distributors "Spring Fling" programs a preview of some projects they have in the works throughout 2000. - Answering questions as to the future of Baatman following the departure of writer Larry Hama this June, DC announced that current plans for several writers to be used on a series of story arcs with a continuing backstory. Among the writers confirmed at this time are Ed Brubaker and Brian K. Vaughan. A third writer should be confirmed very soon. -The publisher reconfirmed that creator Phill Jimenez is slated to begin a year-long run as writer and penciler of Wonder Woman, tentatively starting with the August shipping issue. Jimenez will be joined by such writers as J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Kelly and Devin Grayson for story arcs throughout the year, and then following Jimenez's year-long arc, Detective Comics Greg Rucka will come onboard to write another year-long run. -A upcoming JLA storyline finds the team goiing back in time to meet the Golden Age JSA, with T.O. Morrow playing the villain. -Paul Dini's and Alex Ross's next tabloid-foormat special is Shazam: Power of Hope. The November special will see Shazam making wishes come true all over the world and DC added that the story will be true to the "whimsical nature" of the character. -The publisher's description of this summer''s upcoming big Superman storyline was a bit enigmatic. Going from the 'Man of Steel' to the 'Man of Steal', beginning this July, Superman is a criminal who escapes nightly from Arkham Asylum, Supergirl's a nun and Superboy is flipping burgers, not super villains. How does this all happen and what does this all have to do with Bizarro becoming the world's greatest hero? We hope to have more details soon. -The big Vertigo news of the program was thee announcement that the mature readers imprint will get their own Secret Files one-shots beginning in June with Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer. Featuring two stories, one by original series writer Jamie Delano and Tim Bradstreet and another by current writer Brian Azzarello and Dave Taylor, the one-shot will also feature profiles and information on the Hellblazer cast of characters, as well as interviews with the Hellblazer creators from over the years. Future Vertigo Secret Files include editions for Swamp Thing and The Endless -Writer Steve Seagle and artist Kelly Jones have a new Vertigo series upcoming called The Crusades, about a "group of guys who think they are fighting the Crusades that end up in present day San Francisco", and returns Jones to his "pure horror roots." -Garth Ennis has several new Vertigo projectts in the works, including the three-issue mini-series Adventures In the Rifle Brigade. -In Cliffhanger and ABC news, DC announced tthat August's Danger Girl #7 will be the last issue of the "ongoing" series, but that Danger Girl will be seen again in future mini-series and specials by by J. Scott Campbell and/or other writers. There is still no word on when a new issue of Battle Chasers is due. -As for ABC, a DC spokesperson said that Jimm Lee and Scott Dunbier recently met with Alan Moore, and that Moore will continue with the imprint. "Some books will be reconfigured to meet the needs of the creative teams, and Alan has a whole lot more ideas and he's anxious to work with whole lot more creators and we're anxious to accommodate him,” said the rep. Among the new ABC projects in the works is a science fiction graphic novel drawn by Jim Lee. Digital Broome Premeires Two New Titles Michael Doran, Newsarama Artist Mat Broome and his freelance art studio Digital Broome Studios has announced details regarding several upcoming creator-owned properties slated for release via Image Comics. July brings the release of Skinners, a series written and illustrated by Broome and co-plotted by Sean Ruffner, starring Maya, who according to studio is “a young girl on the verge of a dramatic metamorphosis, the next step in human evolution.” Each character in the series is fully modeled in 3-D with computed generated textures and colors by Broome. Then in August, Vagabond by Ruffner with fully painted art by Ryan Benjamin debuts. Vagabond begins with a man trying to come to grips with the murder of his wife. Unfortunately, he is the murderer. In support of both titles, Digital Broome will launch a new website, which will feature "webisodes" for both titles designed to support the comic books. "Readers who are interested only in the comic will have a complete story but will be able to supplement the story when they visit the website,” explained Digital Broome in a press release. "The website will consist of character origins and background info to be sure. However, instead of having images and text, the characters will animate and they will be able to tell the viewer, in their own voices, their origins and background.” In addition to the origin/background aspect, the website will contain a "lost scene" webisodes. Said the studio: "When you go to the movies, you are able to watch entire scenes unfold. In comics, each panel tells part of the story, but the reader is left to interpret some of the action between panels. This works well as a storytelling mechanism in most circumstances. However, there times when you are reading X-Men and there's a fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth and it lasts only a few panels. Have you ever wondered to yourself, wouldn't it be great if we could watch the entire fight? I mean, start to finish like a movie. Well, when a reader visits the website, they will recognize certain panels from Skinners or Vagabond. Clicking on those brings those panels to life. 3-D, fully animated characters fill in the scenes between panels_.Basically, the movie that lives in between the action that the reader views in the book.” Quinn Reports on WB/DK/A/P Matt Brady, Newsarama David Quinn checked in with Mania's Newsarama to shed a little detail on his upcoming more-than-a-mouthful Top Cow/Dark Horse crossover project, Witchblade/Darkness/Aliens/Predator. ”I originally brought the idea to Matt Hawkins at Top Cow and Phil Amara at Dark Horse with a lot of enthusiasm, they caught the idea, and we took off from there,” Quinn says. "Paul [upcoming Witchblade writer] Jenkins and Scott [current Darkness writer] Lobdell have offered their approvals and suggestions on the plot, and I await the same from Dark Horse and Top Cow.” Regarding the odd pairing of the two properties from each company, Quinn easy to look closely at the similarities between the four seemingly divergent creations. While their design work is slightly similar, there's also a connection at other levels, where one constantly hunts the other. “I don't want to talk too much about the story till the publishing details are all worked out,” Quinn says. "It's targeted for fall, though, so it won't be long.” Quinn also reports that his apparent lack of work on shelves isn't due to slacking off – he's as busy as ever, writing and pitching to various publishers, and has proposals under consideration at Wildstorm, Vertigo, Image, and has pitched a Doctor Strange event for Marvel. ONE MORE FOR ARCHIE DC has a treat for newer comics readers who might have just discovered the late Archie Goodwin with last year's collection of his and Walter Simonson's Manhunter, or for long-time fans that still cherish the work of the consummate comics writer. This June, a 5-part Legends of the Dark Knight story arc begins, dedicated to Goodwin and based on the last comic book story he plotted with legendary Batman artist Marshall Rogers. Entitled "Siege", according to a story in the March 31st issue of Comic Buyer's Guide, the project has a history that can be traced back to a plot outline Goodwin came up with over 10 years ago for Rogers, but for various reasons, including Goodwin's cancer diagnosis soon after the project's conception, was never completed. But while working on the recent Batman Realworlds project with editor Andy Helfer, everyone at DC agreed completing the project would be a nice idea and Helfer recruited James Robinson to complete the dialogue that Goodwin had begun. The storyline features Colonel Brass, a character out of the Wayne family's past who comes to Gotham to settle a vendetta against the family and Wayne Manor, and as a blind to cover his true objective lays `siege' to the entire city. The story takes place about one year after the storylines that Rogers did with Steve Englehart and Terry Austin in the in 1970’s, and according to CBG, Bruce Wayne's 70s love interest, Silver St. Cloud, does make an appearance. "The why and wherefore is that it's a point where Bruce Wayne is living in the Wayne Foundation penthouse instead of Wayne Manor,” Rogers told CBG's Gary St. Lawrence. "And that plays heavily into the storyline. Col. Brass is setting up a mercenary army in Gotham, and, since Silver is a convention coordinator, she's unwittingly setting up the convention for Col. Brass. The storyline does not however resolve the pre-Crisis/Zero Hour subplot of Silver knowing that Bruce Wayne is Batman. "Neither Archie nor not I felt it was our place to bring that subplot to a close,” said Rogers. HAVING A BLAST IN SPIDEY'S PAST Creator Lee Weeks is going to take a trip back in Marvel time later this summer to take a closer look at the aftermath of one of the more tragic chapters in Spider-Man's life and career - the death of Captain Stacy – in a new mini-series he'll write and drawn for release later this summer. For newer Spidey readers who maybe don't go back that far, at the conclusion of Amazing Spider-Man V.1 #90, Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus battle on a building rooftop until a chimney is toppled, and debris falls to the street below toward an unsuspecting child. Captain Stacy (captain of the police force and father to Gwen Stacy) had just moments earlier arrived on the scene. Without hesitation, Stacy dove to push the child from danger, taking the hit from the falling brick and stone. He died, but not before giving Spider-Man an important message. But if you don't know what that message was, Weeks says to check out his new follow-up limited series, all will be revealed there. WORD ON THE STREET - Marvel Comics have confirmed they finally have what's in the eyes of some-fans long overdue plans to reprint Frank Miller's groundbreaking work for them in various forms of collections. Plans are already in the works for a new Elektra Assassin reprint collecting the 8-issue 1996-97 mini-series by Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz (which has previously been collected in graphic novel form) for later this year, and details are currently being fine tuned on a Miller Daredevil collection of some sort. - Fandom's X-Fan `head fanatic' Eric Moreel''s reports that a previously announced late summer/early fall Sinister mini-series by Fabian Nicieza has been "shelved". Project editor Mike Marts told X-Fan that project was postponed for "Nothing more than just that the timing wasn't right. Sinister's been a bit overused in the past year or so, and wanted to hold off on the project." -The June solicitations for Wizard Magazine and its related publication revealed snippets of upcoming developments from Top Cow and Black Bull Comics. Black Bull's first ever mini-series Gatecrasher, will graduate into an ongoing series, the aptly named Gatecrasher: The Series, this June. The mini-series' creative team of Mark Waid (w), Amanda Connor (p), Jimmy Palmiotti (i) all return for the ongoing, and according to Black Bull, "Over a year has passed since the conclusion of the Gatecrasher mini-series - our hero Alec Wagner is harder, stronger and... more mature? What terrible tragedy has brought him to this new drastic change? Alec has lost many of his friends... Hazard is gone and the Split-Second Squad has been gutted. Meet Alec's weird college roommate, a bevy of hot girls and a battalion of dark enemies. The word is out across the galaxy-the first sentient race to catch Alec will capture the keys to galactic conquest!” Wizard also hinted a few projects in development at Top Cow in the solicitation copy for the Tomb Raider and The Top Cow Universe special. Among the items mentioned that will be covered in the special are 4 new (but unrevealed) crossovers with Marvel Comics, a fully painted Tomb Raider Special by Joe Jusko, and an entire new line of comics by Rising Stars /Babylon 5 creator J. Michael. Straczynski. Tomb Raider writer Dan Jurgens did confirm he and Jusko will be collaborating on a painted Lara Croft: Tomb Raider special for release later this fall, but neither Straczynski or representatives for Top Cow had further comment on the Wizard solicitation. - Dark Angel: Phoenix Resurrection may not hhave made that big of an impression on you when you flipped by it in the May Previews, but there're more than a couple special things about the manga series being published by Image. First off, it's manga of a rare breed, drawn by creator Kia Asamiya specifically for the American market. Nearly all manga seen in the US is a reprint of a comic originally published in Japan. Not this time. "Asamiya was never happy with the way his original Dark Angel series turned out," explained C.B. Cebulski, who is coordinating the project with Asamiya and Image Comics. "He has always wanted to go back and make Dark Angel into the true fantasy epic it should have been.” Dark Angel: Phoenix Resurrection #1 will go on sale in May and will be ongoing, released bi-monthly from there. +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail: subscribe@ZENtertainment.com 'DIGIMON' AT DARK HORSE DARK HORSE Comics will release a four-issue DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS comic series through June and July, featuring art by Daniel Horn (issue #1), Andy Kuhn (#2), Nigel Dobbyn (#3), and Ryan Hill (#4). http://www.dhorse.com ANIMATED 'CLERKS' MOVIE? Filmmaker Kevin Smith recently hinted that he and MIRAMAX may try to acquire the 6 episodes of the CLERKS animated series scheduled to premiere on ABC on May 31st, to re-edit and release as a feature film. Additionally, recent posts on his VIEW ASKEW website indicate that if a possible sequel to CLERKS is to move forward, it will likely be announced within the next week or so. http://www.clerksthecartoon.com http://www.viewaskew.com http://www.newsaskew.com +++++ 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. VOTE ONLINE AT WWW.DCCOMICS.COM FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF MILLENNIUM EDITIONS DC is pleased to announce the newest round of online voting selections for DC's MILLENNIUM EDITIONS. As before, voting is done online using electronic ballots by selecting the "Vote for DC Millennium Editions" link and reviewing the current crop of suggested issues. Online ballots can be at found DC ONLINE, located at www.dccomics.com. Last month's winner of the online voting was FLASH COMICS #1 from January 1940, winning over 40% of the total votes. This Golden Age classic will be released as part of the MILLENNIUM EDITION series, arriving in stores in July. This month, readers get the chance to select their favorite issue from among the following: ADVENTURE COMICS #300 Written by Jerry Siegel and various; art by John Forte, George Papp and various; cover by Curt Swan and George Klein The 30th century's greatest heroes took center stage for the first time in this 1962 issue showcasing the debut of the popular "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes" back-up feature, in which Mon-El is released from the Phantom Zone. This issue also features a whimsical lead story starring Superboy and Lana Lang. DETECTIVE COMICS #359 Written by John Broome and Gardner Fox; art by Carmine Infantino, Sid Greene and Murphy Anderson; cover by Infantino and Anderson Barbara Gordon made her debut as Batgirl in this unforgettable 1966 issue, which also features an Elongated Man mystery by Fox, Infantino and Murphy Anderson. KAMANDI #1 Written by Jack Kirby; art and cover by Kirby and Mike Royer Kamandi, "the last boy on Earth," made his debut in this exciting 1972 comic written and drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby. MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #80 Written by Arnold Drake; art and cover by Bruno Premiani The unlucky heroes known as the Doom Patrol made their debut in this 1963 issue, launching a series of stories that soon would take over the title (which was renamed THE DOOM PATROL) and inspire an unforgettable revival decades later. SHOWCASE #73 Written by Don Segall; art and cover by Steve Ditko The maniacal hero known as the Creeper made his debut in this 1968 issue written by Don Segall and illustrated by Steve Ditko. THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES/BATMAN BEYOND EPISODE SCHEDULE Warner Bros. Animation has supplied DC with the following air schedule for the animated The New Batman/Superman Adventures and Batman Beyond on the WB Network, airing Saturday mornings and on weekday afternoons. All times are Eastern and Pacific: 3/17/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Ghost in the Machine" (Superman) 3/17/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Eyewitness" (Batman Beyond) 3/20/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Mad Love" (Batman) 3/20/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Mind Games" (Batman Beyond) 3/21/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Harlequinade" (Batman) 3/21/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Hooked Up" (Batman Beyond) 3/22/00 (3:30 pm) -- "The Laughing Fish" (Batman) 3/22/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Rats" (Batman Beyond) 3/23/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Make 'Em Laugh" (Batman) 3/23/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Revenant" (Batman Beyond) 3/24/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Joker's Millions" (Batman) 3/24/00 (4:30 pm) -- " Final Cut" (Batman Beyond) 3/25/00 (8:00 am) -- "Unity" (Superman) 3/25/00 (10:30 am) -- "Sneak Peek" (Batman Beyond-new) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Ramblings 2000 Rich Johnston twisting@hotmail.com [Renamed for the new year, Ramblings 2000 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: 14 Mar 2000 Back To The Womb In the very old days, 1992-1994 or such, Ramblings 2000, then Rich's Revelations or some such used to just print news and rumours from Comics International, for the US market. It's been a long time since we did that but why not revisit old ground? The new issue reports that Jamie Delano's John Constantine mini-series, previously entitled The Bastard, then The Last Royal, now has it's title confirmed as Hellblazer: Bad Blood. Drawn by Philip Bond (yay!), look for it around May or June. The long wait for this to be scheduled has been due to legal matters, involving the use of royalty in the book. Ramblings hears from other sources that Jamie Delano's "The Great Satan" is also getting a name change, to 'Outlaw Nation'. Dear me, problems with the title? Marvel never seemed to have trouble with Son Of Satan and wasn't that a Code-Approved book too? Heh ho Outlaw Nation will see print in August 2000. I bet DC have their fingers crossed this will be the new Sandman or Preacher. Comics International also reports on the new Black Widow by Grayson series for Marvel Knights, a feature on Lea Hernandez's Rumble Girls, Rob Liefeld reviving his Mark thing, and details on the Jenny Sparks mini-series. Who says print is dead? Mind you, they do refer to Jeffrey Jones as 'he'... a quick glance at www.ulster.net/~jonesart should put pay to that misconception. Those interested in Comics International are encouraged to go to www.comics-international.com for further interesting stuff. Nail In The Coffin That DC doom-laden rumour were received a while back (check the February Archives) has some of the denial details clarified. A source writes "Don't quote me on this, but last year all the group editors were offered 3 year contracts--and all but one (who may be retiring soon) accepted. WB wouldn't save money by firing people who will get paid for 3 years anyway. Marvel runs everything for publishing profit--DC lives off licensing, so publishing doesn't matter much to WB. Only the Siegel lawsuit could hurt DC--that could cost real money." Interestingly enough, Stuart Moore ex-Vertigo editor wrote on rec.arts.comics.dc.vertigo regarding the rumour that, although false, it had some details which only someone who worked for DC would recognise. Everybody go "oooooooooooooooooo.." Warren Peace Rumour from inside Marvel Knights aver the now much publicized proposal for Warren Ellis to do a Marvel knights book. Our inside source writes "Quesada and Palmiotti thought it would be cool to have Warren do something for them/ Garth Ennis had been encouraging them to do so for over a year. So about 4 months ago, Quesada called Warren and told him he had Carte Blanche as long as we could get character approval from Marvel. Warren said he didn't want to do any Superheroes, but he would get back as soon as he thought of something else. The next thing they heard is that he's wheeling and dealing with the X-Men office and swings a gig with them Now several weeks ago they heard that he's asking fans what MK project he should do." However, our source alleges that the Knights boys believe Warren should have called them to see if there was even a gig available anymore. The story goes that "Warren, who is a master at getting himself publicity, is managing to get Marvel Knights hype without having to do a thing for them. So far it's worked. We have not heard from Warren and really don't anticipate the call. This is not to imply that there is any bad blood at all. Quesada and Palmiotti barely know the guy." Ellis replied "Well, I spoke to Jimmy via email just the other day, and he didn't mention shit to me about this, and I told Joe on the phone ages ago why I was doing Counter-X. And it was Joe who first mentioned in public that we were talking about Marvel Knights and looking for a character we were both interested in, on an AOL public board. So I suspect someone's just stirring the shit again. Happens to me all the time these days... " Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti had little to say, but that they were definitely not pissed at Warren Ellis. Spruced Sprouse At the same Chicago convention, as previously mentioned, Chris Sprouse was heard to say that he has heard no plans to cancel the line, and indeed with plans about some ABC books extending past the original 12 issue agreement, it seems clear that Alan has signed up new contracts for ABC. Jai Nitz tells Ramblings "Gene Ha and Zander Cannon ARE LEAVING top 10 with issue 12 (Zander was at the show, as a fan, hanging out with Chris and I). Gene is doing a graphic novel titled '49ers' about the construction of Neopolis. Zander is doing a graphic novel tentatively titled 'Smax The Barbarian', which shows Jeff Smax returning to his home dimension for the funeral of a relative. No creative team is continuing the monthly Top 10 title." He continues "Kevin is pencilling the new arc of Jack B Quick. I saw the scripts. Rick will probably leave Greyshirt unless DC prints the Swampy story. The reason I have all this info: in November of 1999 there was a con that I put on in Kansas City. The guests were Rick Veitch, Kevin Nowlan, Chris Sprouse, Mick Gray (JH got sick at the airport on the way) Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, and Scott Dunbier. Alan even got involved and signed some books for the show. I still talk to all the creators and keep up with my favorite line of comics. Incidentally, Chris Sprouse, Kevin Nowlan, and Mick Gray are contributing to an anthology book I am publishing this summer. Kevin and Mick are helping out on the cover, and Chris is doing an ALL NEW creator owned character (his first ever). Other great pros like Phil Hester and Ande Parks are chipping in stories too. Look for it at the summer cons from Jungle Boy Press." Hang on, did Jai Nitz just get a sneaky plug past me? The bastard! (sorry, sorry, the Bad Blood!) Just before going to press, we read on Mania's Daily Buzz (www.mania.com/buzz) also reports that after the Wildstorm trip to England, Alan Moore will be continuing ABC projects past his original contract, although the titles making up the line may be shifting. Things That Make You Go 'Oh F***' We all probably read Mania's report that a change of editorial direction on Deadpool has meant that Priest is off the book. Palmiotti is on for a three issue arc, and then a mystery writer Priest wrote on rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe earlier this week "I think it's really unfortunate that Mike chose to release this information this soon. It's placed me in the position of having to make a statement about it this soon, which I'm really not prepared to do. I'm a bit stunned to read about this online, when Mike, Jimmy and I could have orchestrated a far less awkward and jolting transition. Mike's a good guy, and you can all credit or blame me for these new developments because I requested Mike as editor for the book and lobbied hard to get the book assigned to him. I'm sure Mike is doing what he feels is best for the title, and I wish him and 'POOL much success. I'd have just much preferred to wish them success two months from now, when it would have been *much* more appropriate to release this kind of information. As for Wade, I don't think I was free to actually write the book as I saw it until issue #37. And, with all due respect to the hard work and earnestness Paco Diaz invested in the book,. there was a language barrier that prevented Paco from properly interpreting the script, which often resulted in storytelling that worked against the writing. Jim Califore's crisp, clean storytelling was and is (we work together through issue #45) a real joy (though he admittedly can't draw Thom Cruz), and I'm sure Jim and I could have evolved into a solid team. Priest then clarified "I did not leave DEADPOOL. This wasn't my idea. I found out about it maybe 6 hours before I read about it online." Mourning fans can be pepped up with this news though. A crossover! "DEADPOOL #44-PANTHER #23". Wahey! As Priest then says "If Marvel had ANY sense of humor AT ALL, they'd advertise the crossover like, "Marvel's 2 LOWEST Selling Books-- TOGETHER!!!"" Well, I'll buy the book until Priest stops anyway. Then I'll see... Final Plug Of The Day Another plug here: I'm still selling a load of old comics (but not that old), click on www.geocities.com/evenwood/sale.html for more details. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] 1999 Squiddy Award Winners Carl Henderson Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Below are the final results of the 1999 Internet rec.arts.comics "Squiddy" Awards voting. This year members of the rec.arts.comics.* community cast a total of 111 ballots. The 1999 awards were administered by Johanna Draper Carlson, Bryan Harris, Carl Henderson, and Todd VerBeek. Results can also be found on the web at www.squiddies.org Thanks to everyone for participating. Best Comics Writer of 1999 -------------------------- 25: Warren Ellis 24: Alan Moore Best Comics Penciler of 1999 ---------------------------- 16: George Perez Best Comics Inker of 1999 ------------------------- 19: Paul Neary Best Comics Painter of 1999 --------------------------- 33: Alex Ross Best Comics Letterer of 1999 ---------------------------- 32: Todd Klein Best Comics Colorist of 1999 ---------------------------- 40: Laura DePuy Best Comics Creative Team of 1999 --------------------------------- 17: Busiek/Perez/Vey/Comicraft/Smith (Avengers) 16: Ellis/Hitch/Neary/Cline/DePuy (The Authority) Best Comics Cover Artist of 1999 -------------------------------- 16: Brian Bolland Best Comics Editor of 1999 -------------------------- 39: Tom Brevoort Best Political Cartoonist of 1999 --------------------------------- 14: Garry Trudeau Best Multi-Part Comics Story of 1999 ------------------------------------ 15: Avengers #19-22 (Ultron Unlimited) Best Ongoing Comic Series of 1999 --------------------------------- 13: Transmetropolitan Best New Comic Series of 1999 ----------------------------- 22: Top 10 Best Limited Comic Series of 1999 --------------------------------- 20: Avengers Forever Best Single Comic of 1999 ------------------------- 7: Dork #7; Tomorrow Stories #2 6: Avengers #1-1/2 5: Promethea #1 Best Original Graphic Novel of 1999 ----------------------------------- 18: JLA: Earth 2 Best Comic Reprint Collection of 1999 ------------------------------------- 20: From Hell Best Anthology of 1999 ---------------------- 20: Tomorrow Stories Best Comic Strip of 1999 ------------------------ 15: Peanuts Best Web Comic of 1999 ---------------------- 9: Astounding Space Thrills www.astoundingspacethrills.com Best Comic Company or Imprint of 1999 ------------------------------------- 39: America's Best Comics Best Comic Character of 1999 ---------------------------- 10: Spider Jerusalem (Transmetropolitan) 9: Jenny Sparks (Authority) Best Comic Character Team of 1999 --------------------------------- 15: The Authority 13: The Avengers Best Dramatic Adaptation of 1999 -------------------------------- 24: The Mystery Men Best Text Adaptation of 1999 ---------------------------- 12: No Award 10: Sandman: The Dream Hunters Best Merchandise Adaptation of 1999 ----------------------------------- 9: Spider Jerusalem action figure; No Award Best Publication About Comics of 1999 ------------------------------------- 19: The Comics Journal Best Focused Comics Web Site of 1999 ------------------------------------ 7: Warren Ellis www.warrenellis.com Best General Comics Web Site of 1999 ------------------------------------ 29: Comic Book Resources www.comicbookresources.com [snip] 6: NCRL www.comiclist.com 6: Ramblings 99 www.twistandshoutcomics/features/ramblings.html 2: Comic Book Net hometown.aol.com/comicbknet Favorite RAC'er of 1999 (Non-Creators Division) ------------------------------------------------ 24: Paul O'Brien 19: Dave Van Domelen 17: Johanna Draper Carlson Favorite RAC'er of 1999 (Creators Division) ------------------------------------------- 45: Christopher Priest 40: Kurt Busiek 28: Warren Ellis 23: Tom Brevoort Carl Henderson carl.henderson@airmail.net admin@squiddies.org ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Harvey Award Nominations - 1999 harveyawards@hotmail.com HARVEY AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED; SMITH & DORKIN TO HOST CEREMONY The HARVEY AWARDS COMMITTEE is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2000 HARVEY AWARDS, recognizing outstanding achievements in comics in 1999. Named after the late comics genius HARVEY KURTZMAN, the Harveys are one of the industry's oldest and most respected awards. The nominee list has been compiled by tallying nominating votes from writers, artists, editors, and other professionals involved in the creative aspects of the comics industry. The complete list of this year's Harvey nominees follows this release. The nominees are also available on-line at http://www.harveyawards.org. The winners of the Harvey Awards will be selected by comics' creative community through a Final Ballot. Final Ballots have been mailed to more than 2,000 comics creators and publishers. In order to be counted, Final Ballots must be received back by APRIL 10, 2000. Eligible creators who have not received a ballot should contact the Harvey Awards Committee by e-mail at harveyawards@hotmail.com or call Harveys administrator Paul McSpadden at (972) 690-5491. This year's Harvey Award recipients will be honored at the 13th Annual Harvey Awards Ceremony on FRIDAY, APRIL 28th at the PITTSBURGH COMICON. EVAN DORKIN, the creator of "Milk & Cheese" and "Dork!," will be the evening's Master of Ceremonies. He'll be joined by JEFF SMITH, creator of "Bone" and publisher of Cartoon Books, who will deliver the ceremony's keynote address. Dorkin and Smith have each garnered multiple Harvey nominations in past years, and both have received the Harvey's Special Award for Humor. The awards themselves will be presented by some of the industry's most respected creators, and many of this year's nominees will be in attendance. Tables can still be reserved for the awards ceremony and banquet. Limited free seating is also available. For more information about the Harvey Awards Ceremony, please contact Renee George at the Pittsburgh Comicon at (814) 467-4116 or pcomicon@nb.net * * * Contact Information For Press Information or to obtain a Harvey Awards Ballot contact HarveyAwards@hotmail.com For Banquet/Convention Information, contact Michael & Renee George at pcomicon@nb.net Phone (814) 467-4116 Fax (814) 467-4416 Web site: http://www.pittsburghcomicon.com For General Information, contact Denis Kitchen Phone (413) 586-9844 Fax (413) 586-8295 * * * HARVEY AWARDS NOMINEE LIST BEST WRITER Kurt Busiek for "Kurt Busiek's Astro City" (Homage/Wildstorm/DC Comics) Dan Clowes for "Eightball" (Fantagraphics) Warren Ellis for "Planetary" (Wildstorm/DC Comics) Alan Moore for "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (ABC) Alan Moore for "Tom Strong" (ABC) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) Two titles received the same number of votes for this category, resulting in six nominees. BEST ARTIST Dan Clowes for "Eightball" (Fantagraphics) Jaime Hernandez for "Penny Century" (Fantagraphics) Mike Mignola for "Hellboy: Box Full of Evil" (Dark Horse Maverick) Chris Sprouse for "Tom Strong" (ABC) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) BEST CARTOONIST Dan Clowes for "Eightball" (Fantagraphics) Jaime Hernandez for "Penny Century" (Fantagraphics) Stan Sakai for "Usagi Yojimbo" (Dark Horse Maverick) Jeff Smith for "Bone" (Cartoon Books) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS Sergio Aragones ("Groo," etc.) Evan Dorkin ("Dork," etc.) Sam Henderson ("Magic Whistle," etc.) Tony Millionaire ("Sock Monkey," etc.) Steven Weissman ("Champs," etc.) SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION "Acme Novelty Library" #13 by Chris Ware (Fantagraphics) "Batman: War on Crime" by Paul Dini and Alex Ross, design by Georg Brewer (DC Comics) "Blab!" # 10 by various artists, edited and designed by Monte Beauchamp (Fantagraphics) "Cave-In" by Brian Ralph, design by Jordan Crane, Tom Devlin, and Brian Ralph (Highwater Books) "300" (hardcover edition) by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, design by Mark Cox (Dark Horse) BEST NEW SERIES "Louis Riel" by Chester Brown (Drawn and Quarterly) "Planetary" by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, edited by John Layman (Wildstorm/DC Comics) "Promethea" by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III, and Mike Gray, edited by Scott Dunbier (ABC) "Tom Strong" by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse, edited by Scott Dunbier (ABC) "Top Ten" by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon, edited by Scott Dunbier (ABC) "Weasel" by Dave Cooper, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) Two titles received the same number of votes for this category, resulting in six nominees. BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES "Acme Novelty Library" by Chris Ware, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) "Kurt Busiek's Astro City" by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, edited by John Layman (Homage/Wildstorm/DC Comics) "Eightball" by Dan Clowes, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) "Penny Century" by Jaime Hernandez, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) "Tom Strong" by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse, edited by Scott Dunbier (ABC) BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY "Acme Novelty Library" # 13 by Chris Ware (Fantagraphics) "Batman: War on Crime" by Paul Dini and Alex Ross (DC Comics) "Blab!" # 10 by various artists, edited by Monte Beauchamp (Fantagraphics) "Eightball" # 20 by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics) "Tomorrow Stories" # 2 by Alan Moore, Jim Baikie, Melinda Gebbie, Kevin Nowlan, and Rick Veitch (ABC) BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM OF ORIGINAL WORK "Batman: War on Crime" by Paul Dini and Alex Ross, edited by Charles Kochman and Joey Cavalieri (DC Comics) "Cave-In" by Brian Ralph, edited by Tom Devlin (Highwater Books) "Champs" by Steven Weissman, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) "Good-bye, Chunky Rice" by Craig Thompson, edited by Chris Staros (Top Shelf) "The Jew of New York" by Ben Katchor (Pantheon) BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM OF PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED WORK "El Borbah" by Charles Burns, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) "From Hell" by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Eddie Campbell Comics) "Manhunter: The Special Edition" by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson, edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jim Spivey (DC Comics) "Monkey Food: The Complete ‘I Was Seven in ‘75’ Collection" by Ellen Forney, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics) "My New York Diary" by Julie Doucet (Drawn and Quarterly) BEST ANTHOLOGY "Blab!" edited by Monte Beauchamp (Fantagraphics) "Nickelodeon Magazine Comic Book" edited by Chris Duffy (Nickelodeon) "Non" edited by Jordan Crane (Red Ink) "Tomorrow Stories" edited by Eric Desantis (ABC) "Zero Zero" edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) BEST INKER Dan Clowes for "Eightball" (Fantagraphics) Jaime Hernandez for "Penny Century" (Fantagraphics) Gerhard for "Cerebus" (Aardvark-Vanaheim) Al Gordon for "Tom Strong" (ABC) Paul Neary for "The Authority" (Wildstorm/DC Comics) BEST LETTERER Dan Clowes for "Eightball" (Fantagraphics) Chris Eliopoulos for "Savage Dragon" (Image) Dave Sim for "Cerebus" (Aardvark-Vanaheim) Richard Sala for "Evil Eye" (Fantagraphics) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) BEST COLORIST Laura Allred for "Madman" (Dark Horse Maverick) Laura Dupuy for "The Authority" (Wildstorm/DC Comics) Tod Elrich for "Tom Strong" (ABC) Lynn Varley for "300" (Dark Horse) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL "For Better or Worse" by Lynn Johnston "Maakies" by Tony Millionaire "Mutts" by Patrick McDonnell "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz "Underworld" by Kaz BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION Comic Base 4.0 (Database CD-ROM) "Comic Book Artist" (TwoMorrows) "The Comics Journal" (Fantagraphics) "The Enigma of Al Capp" by Alexander Theroux (Fantagraphics) "Jack Kirby Collector" (TwoMorrows) BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL "After the Rain" by Andre Juillard, edited by Terry Nantier (NBM) "Black and White" by Taiyo Matsumoto, edited by Annette Roman (VIZ) "Death and Candy" by Max Andersson, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) "The Nimrod" by Lewis Trondheim, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) "Star Wars: The Manga" by Toshiki Kudo and Shin-Ichi Hiromoto based on stories by George Lucas, edited by David Land (Dark Horse) BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT DC "Archive" Series, edited by Dale Crain (DC Comics) Marvel "Essential" Series, edited by Polly Watson (Marvel Comics) "Manhunter: The Special Edition" by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson, edited by Dennis O'Neil and Jim Spivey (DC Comics) "Pogo" by Walt Kelly, edited by Tom Spurgeon (Fantagraphics) "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster, edited by Pia Christensen, Henning Kure, and Jens Trasborg (Fantagraphics) BEST NEW TALENT Brian Ralph ("Cave-In," etc.) David Choe ("Slow Jams," etc.) Leland Myrick ("Sweet," etc.) Douglas Paskiewicz ("Arsenic Lullaby," etc.) Craig Thompson ("Good-bye, Chunky Rice," etc.) BEST COVER ARTIST Travis Charest for "Wildcats" (Wildstorm/DC Comics) Glenn Fabry for "Preacher" (Vertigo/DC Comics) Adam Hughes for "Wonder Woman" (DC Comics) Alex Ross for "Kurt Busiek's Astro City" (Homage/Wildstorm/DC Comics) Chris Ware for "Acme Novelty Library" (Fantagraphics) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Pond Life Paul Hayward pjhay@clara.net Why does everyone have a downer on Pokemon? I haven't seen this many kids inside a comic shop for many years. Sure, most of them are Pokemon card only types & yeah, there aren't that many Poke comics aimed at the 7 year old crowd (in fact, how many comics are aimed at that group- period?) but it is bringing in much needed revenue to a lot of shops. Remember the Hulk Vs Thing arguments we used to have as kids? Listen to today's generation talking about Squirtl or whoever. And what about the cards themselves? Speaking as a teacher & a parent, I find some of them to be a Godsend. We can use them for number sequencing (So card 25, Pickachu, comes before the Raichu card which is 26) for simple counting, for taking away ("If you give one of your cards to Nikita, how many cards will she have?" ) and for a hundred other uses. Something the kids are interested in. The cards aren't even that expensive ($1.99 or 99pence) with 8 bright, attractive to kids cards. Yeah, the show might have mindless violence- but quite a few classic books had that too, re-reading them in the Essentials series. It's strange, but I've heard more complaints about these than about the lady Death or whatever stuff. Which do you think gives a worse impression of a comic shop- kids looking at something clearly designed for children or adults/ adolescents pawing over semi-naked female forms? Yeah, I'll defend the right of these people to look at that stuff but I still don't think it gives a favourable impression of us. Wolverine & Vampirella? Where's House of Java when you need it? It's right here, and pretty good it is too. (House of Java 1 by Mark Murphy $2.95 nbm publishing) 5 short stories, self-contained in one issue. Slice of life type, girls working in a comic shop, geeky guy & chat up lines or not are some of the subjects covered in this one along with a 1 pager which made me think of (but was in no way derivative of) Bone. If you like some of the Fantagraphics, Slave Labor or Strangers in Paradise type stuff then you might like to give this one a try. If you don't like ordinary people type stuff there's no way you're going to try it no matter how interesting anyone says it is anyway, right? (Same for me with mainstream stuff too, have to admit. When someone says try Green lantern or whatever I have a look at a couple or three issues & usually give up. Doesn't mean it's no good, just means it doesn't float my boat.) Pick of the bunch for me was "Paper Route" a 6-pager about the trials & tribulations of a young boy to get enough money to buy the Rock'N'Roll Over Kiss album on the day of issue. Kids that actually think & act like kids instead of shrunk-down adults & a situation which seems like the end of the world to them. It also has a nice ending which you're going to have to buy to read (or be so incredibly lucky that your local shop has a copy of this on the shelf. Right.) Speaking of comics you never see on a shelf (books you do) Cerebus came out too. Cerebus 252 by Dave Sim & Gerhard (Aardvark- Vanaheim) Issues like 252 are one of the pleasures of a book like this (like this? How many others are like this? 252 issues by the same writer/ artist & the same inker on board for donkey's years). You could say that nothing much happens. There's a long monologue by a recently introduced character (a take on Ernest Hemingway, in case you didn't know) & a couple of pages with Cerebus in & Jaka speaking in. Don't know about advancing the plot line but it does deepen it. Nobody does "nothing much happens" better than these people. That's the beauty of this book- I can sit down & read, say, 50 issues of it & get a coherent plot with ideas which get me thinking & which always have something new to say every time. I may not always agree with what's said but it's usually done in an interesting way if nothing else. Part 21 of 34 does tend to narrow its audience & it's certainly true that this book will not be to everyone's taste. But there is a niche for it. In fact, isn't the "market" just an amalgam of tens, hundreds r maybe even thousands of micro-markets. The only way forward I can see for the industry is diligent shop owners giving the customers what they want. For example, my dealer showed me "Astronauts in Trouble.." a while ago. It was something I considered ordering from Previews & didn't & my dealer was sassy enough to know me well enough to make another sale. You'll never make a comic which appeals to everyone but the retailer can help put the right book in the right pair of hands. Sure, it's a difficult, near-impossible task. But it's more realistic than expecting everyone to buy Wolverine because he uses the F-word. From Pokemon to Cerebus- it's a diverse medium, isn't it? ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] INTERVIEW Paul Dale Roberts silhouet9@aol.com Interview with: Link Yaco - Writer of The Science of the X-Men Question: Before we get this interview started, can you tell us something personal about yourself? Your family life, where you were born and raised, what schools you attended? My entry in the Comic Buyers' Guide Comic Book Superstars is filled with absurd data. I was my idea of a joke. I never thought it would see print, or that if it did, that anyone would read it. Much to my surprise, it led to an article in the Comic Book ProFiles magazine. So I know ONE person read it. The following is true but it shows that truth is stranger. What do you expect from someone with a name like mine? Yes, Link Yaco is my real name. Link is short for Lincoln. We think Yaco was originally Russian but all genealogical searches have dead-ended in Cleveland, in 1890, and it was Yaco then, too. My father, Murray Yaco, wrote science fiction for Astounding/Analog, and hustled journalist credentials to go to Vietnam and Desert Storm (his idea of kicks). He was also instrumental in the CIA's abortive attempts to use divining rods in Vietnam (again, this is true). My mother, Dr. Rosemary Yaco, spent 13 years teaching in Africa. In my living room is the three-foot tall wooden stature that was used to lay a voodoo (voudun) curse on her. My wife, Susannah, is one of the world's leading authorities on Yiddish computer keyboard standards (of course, there aren't a lot of authorities on this subject). Susannah is also a senior executive, but that's her day job. I have a Master's degree in Telecommunications. I was a technical manager for five years at MIT. Now I'm a freelance writer. I write, edit, and sometimes design web pages. Over the past couple years I've been working for IBM and Citibank. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? The first one I remember was a Weisinger-era Superman. I've always thought that I had an affinity for those books because Weisinger was a Jewish science fiction writer and so was my father. Do you think I tend to overanalyze things? Why do you think that? And how do you feel about it? Where do you think these feelings come from? Question: What other projects have you been involved with in the past? I've written comics for Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, etc. and articles for Comic Marketplace, Kirby Collector, etc. Question: For people unfamiliar with The Science of the X-Men book, can you please tell us something about it? It's one of those "The Science of..." like "Science of Star Trek." One big difference is that I'm not just a techie, I'm also a comics writer myself. We do a lot more than just spit out a lot of science. We get inside of the concepts of the X-comics. Question: How did you get involved with this book? Byron Preiss saw my article on "Physics, Science Fiction, and Kirby" in the Kirby Collector and called me up. Question: Who are the publishers? Byron Preiss Visual is putting the book together. Putnam will publish it. Question: Did Karen Haber assist you with the technical writing of this book? Who is she? Karen Haber, who helped vet the tech writing on the book, is married to mucho famous SF author Robert Silverberg, so she has a creative outlook too. She does more than just clean up the science writing. She brings a writer's sensibility to it. Question: When can we find this book on the racks? August 1, 2000, with luck. No book in the recorded history of mankind has even stuck to its original timetable. Perhaps we will be the first to accomplish this. Question: How do you feel now that this book is completed? Vastly relieved. It's been almost exactly a year, with many rewrites. MANY. Writing a book of this sort isn't as easy as fiction. It took an incredible amount of research and was a constant and steep learning curve for all involved. Researching the continuity of the X-Men comics was almost as complicated as researching the science. Question: Do you have a website? If you do what is the URL address? I've got a couple, actually. My resume, with lots of colorful hyperlinked samples, is at: http://members.aol.com/linkyaco/resume.html And I have a fun web site based on a book I wrote, which I hope to get published one day. It's an illustrated humorous dictionary of '70s slang at: http://members.aol.com/lexicon70s/index.html Question: How can somebody contact you? Why, just send my email at linkyaco@aol.com Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? My wife and our two cats. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? Neanderthal management practices have ghetto-ized the industry. They've painted themselves in a corner, which is the sort of moronic end-result everyone has been predicting for decades. I've worked in a lot of different industries and I've never seen the sheer amateurism displayed by the management and editorial staff at Marvel and DC. Oops. Am I biting the hand that feeds? Hey, it's out of love. I don't want to see the industry completely disappear! Get it together, dudes. Even at this late date, these guys STILL don't see the light and STILL keep doing the sort of deep-continuity that estranges the casual buyer. WISE UP, for goodness sake, WISE UP. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? 1- "The Story of Mankind" was a great popular history book, written in the '30s by the unintentionally wacky Hendrik Van Loon. Oddly enough, this was made into a movie, with Groucho Marx playing the Grim Reaper. There are no surviving prints. Groucho's character, The Grim Reaper, as he must have been portrayed in this bizarre film, is certainly one of my favorite characters. 2- Groucho's last film was Otto Preminger's "Skidoo!" In this film, Jackie Gleason and Micky Roonie played characters taking LSD and Groucho played an Indian guru smoking a huge reefer. That has got to be another of my favorite fictional heroes. 3- The ACG's absurdist '60s superhero Nemesis, always badly illustrated, faced dangers like talking trees and snake-headed flowers. This comic was so bad it was good. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? 1- Susan Sontag is a great thinker and essayist. She defined the term "kitsch" and a number of other seminal cultural touchpoints. 2- Oliver Sacks has made so much of neuroscience concrete and entertaining in his writings. 3- Bill Clinton, despite his human flaws, has done an astonishing job in trying circumstances. Before Clinton, Americans abroad had to do a lot of apologizing. Now we export morality to the world. We set the world's standards for racial and sexual equality. And the nation is better off than EVER before in its history. Wanna make somethin' of it? Hmm? (I'm a Clintonista!!!) Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Movies are dead as a medium. They are all middlebrow fare for teenagers. Television, on the other hand, is still creating quality shows like West Wing and Sportsnight. And fun lowbrow near-cartoons like Cleopatra 2525, and Relic Hunter. Question: What books do you read? What DON'T I read? Well...Fiction. I read tons of biographies and histories. I find that life is wackier than fiction. And usually better written. If I want fiction, I watch TV. And boy do I watch! Better living through viewing!!! Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? It's hard to separate my work from my play--writing and web design are fun. Sometimes I get paid for it. I tend to put all my energy into that, then collapse and do some Transcendental Vegetation (TV). Of course, I live in New York, so we also have a lot of dinners...where we discuss writing, web design, and TV. Question: What comic books do you read now? Now that the industry has collapsed, the artificially high prices on collectibles has gone into a tailspin and I can cheaply get back all the comics I got rid of went I went to college in the '70s. I picked up everything Wally Wood did in the '70s for a buck each. How about that? Some deal, eh? And this stuff is all cheaper and better drawn than anything currently being done. Question: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? A tropical island in the South Pacific. No, wait. For a moment, I had this Marlon Brando flash. Gad, the future? I never thought I'd make it to the year 2000. By 2010 we should have colonies on the moon, right? I mean, most Marvel Comics characters make it there in the '60s. So I'd like to be on a moon colony. The low gravity might be good for my bad back. There. Did I answer your question? Question: What are some of your other projects? My latest comic is "Spacechicks & Businessmen" from Fantagraphics/EROS. It will be out in June. Question: Will there be a sequel to The Science of the X-Men There are no plans, but here's hoping. If the movie tanks, then tie-ins might not do so well. But these days, tie-ins sometimes do better than the movie, so even then... Question: Well, I guess that winds up the interview. Thank you. Is there anything else you would like to say before closing? My favorite elementary particles are hadrons!!! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] VENTING MY SPLEEN David Groenewegen david.groenewegen@lib.monash.edu.au [David Groenewegen is 30, a librarian and sadly addicted to comics. He has been reading them since before he could read, and plans to keep on doing so. His first trip out of the house with his infant son was to a comic shop. Can't start 'em too young. ] There's been plenty of controversy about the way that LIBERTY MEADOWS won some Ignatz awards last year, so it seems only fair to consider whether the work actually deserves them or not. LIBERTY MEADOWS is a daily newspaper strip by Frank Cho, featuring an absurdly attractive animal psychologist called Brandy, a nerdy vet called Frank, and a bunch of anthropomorphic animals who are in their care (the most noticeable of whom are Frank and Leslie, who are supposed to be a bear and a frog respectively, although they're s