---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 265 1999 EAGLE AWARD NOMINEE 5/19/2000 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 ______________________________________________________________________ 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] Interview: D. Curtis Johnson .......... Tim O'Shea [7] Independent Voices .................... Rich Henn [8] Sound and Fury ........................ CraigLemon [9] Some Pages, A Cover, and A Few Staples. Marlan Harris [10] Pond Life ............................. Paul Hayward [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] Top 100 Comics MAY 2000 ............... Diamond Distributors [13] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [14] HYPE! Section ......................... Various [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 a message 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 Last week I made this observation: > So, I am reading one of the few computer mags I get, PC Magazine (a > free subscription), and I glance through the letters page and see a > familiar name in the May 23rd issue. There is a letter from none > other than our review and interview columnist, Paul Dale Roberts! It > was so dripping with sugar for the mag I thought I was gonna. . . > > I think Paul is on this quest perhaps to see how many different > publications he can have a letter printed in. If it takes sucking up > to the editors in this case, well it worked. The challenge is - can > he > do it in some other publication chosen at random? What do you say > Paul? How about trying to get a letter printed in, um... TV GUIDE? > > *8^) And Paul responded: Subj: You caught me.... From: Silhouet9@aol.com LOL!! Yep, not only do I letter hack to comic books, but I letter hack to magazines. If one goes to the magazine rack, you may find my name in about 9 publications this week. Let's see: American Archaeology - Family PC - Mobile Computing and Communications - Wicked - Starburst - Nexus - UFO Magazine - Comics International - Jack Kirby Collector. I don't know, I have a problem with my fingers and this keyboard..just can't stop hacking. You are the second person that has put 2 and 2 together and discovered that I letter hack in other areas of interest. Good detective work! The only reason why I don't do TV Guide is because they don't have an email address. :>) I rather save that 33 cents....Best, Paul. Here are some books to write letters to this week: ABSTRACT STUDIOS Strangers In Paradise Vol III #32, 2.75 DC COMICS JSA #12, 2.50 JSA 100 Page Super Spectacular 1975 #1, 6.95 Silver Age Dial H For Hero #1, 2.50 Silver Age Doom Patrol #1, 2.50 Silver Age Secret Files #1, 4.95 Silver Age The Flash #1, 2.50 Tom Strong #8 (resolicited), 2.95 IMAGE COMICS Astounding Space Thrills Comic Book #1, 2.95 <---Pick of the week! MARVEL COMICS Punisher #4 (Of 12), 2.99 I'll be on the road most of the week so next issue may be very late. Just a heads up for you in advance. Meanwhile, enjoy this issue. David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note: Letters of comment may be used in future issues of CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. +++++ From: insight@insightstudiosgroup.com (Insight Studios Group) For those of you who have done business with Insight Studios or have contacted us at some point due to your interest in Frank Cho, Mark Wheatley, Marc Hempel, Allan Gross, Mike Oeming or Gray Morrow, we wanted to let you know that our email address is changing from insight@clark.net TO insight@insightstudiosgroup.com immediately. Please make a note of it. This coincides with the launch of our new web pages at http://www.insightstudiosgroup.com We are also premiering "The Sunny Fundays" (http://www.sunnyfundays.com), a collection of daily on-line comic strips. They will include Frank Cho's "Liberty Meadows" (the uncensored versions), Allan Gross and Mike ("Powers") Oeming's "Doctor Cyborg", Mark Wheatley, Allan Gross and Gray Morrow's "The Body" and Mark Wheatley's "Frankenstein Mobster". You can see previews of the strips now and sign up to have them eMailed free to you on a daily basis (as they launch this summer) from our web site. Doctor Cyborg will be the first, beginning June 5th. Enjoy! http://www.insightstudiosgroup.com insight@insightstudiosgroup.com +++++ Subj: Article: The Internet Archive Website From: Silhouet9@aol.com Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ was recently visited by a cyber-robot from the The Internet Archive website at: http://www.archive.org The reason being is that this site has been preserving websites since 1996 and institutions like the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress uses information from the Internet Archive website. So if you have a great comic book website that needs to be archived for preservation reasons, go visit the Internet Archive Website and submit your website now! Now, let's talk a bit about this unique website. They have 13.8 terabytes of information from websites that they have archived since 1996. 13.8 terabytes is about 1 billion pages. If one were to archive the 20 million books at the Library of Congress, that would be roughly 20 terabytes of information and that's not counting pictures. Okay, so you still don't understand. Let's break it down a bit. 1 megabyte is the size of a book. A gigabyte is a thousand megabytes and a terabyte is one million megabytes. So, if this Internet Archive site has roughly 14 terabytes, you know that they have downloaded many, many websites. Incredible...huh? Now, it's up to the comic book subculture to make sure that these Internet historians are aware of the zillion comic book websites out there. So, if you have a comic book website, make sure to let the archive webmaster know about your site. Or if you know about a cool comic book website, make sure to submit your favorite comic book websites too. Let's all make some history together. +++++ From: PRoberts@CSD.CA.GOV (Roberts, Paul) Thoughts to be Heard By Columnist (not communist) Jeff Clifford Wow! I was a bit long-winded last time, going on about my views on teen violence, comic book costs and international transport. Paul gave me a good beating and told me if I wanted to be a politician to go run for office and stay away from his newsletter. So I promise to stick to good 'ol comics, movies and television from here on out. I'm a very old fan-boy (40) and as we all know the average fan-boy life expectancy is about 45, so I've got about five good year's left. Having grew up on silver-age comics I was very excited when I heard about DC's silver-age mini-series. These are new stories set back in the silver age with a common thread running through them; a villain named Agammemo (or something close). The whole shebang starts off in "Silver Age" number 1, written by fellow silver age aficionado Mark Waid, DC's greatest living silver age historian. The series runs through silver age versions of "Justice League America", "Teen Titans", "Flash", "Green Lantern", "Brave and the Bold (Batman and Metal Men), "Challenger's of the Unknown", "Doom Patrol", "Showcase" (all new Seven Soldiers of Victory-including Blackhawk, Metamorpho) and "Dial H for Hero". I've read Silver Age, JLA, Teen Titans, Flash and Challenger's of the Unknown so far, and I'm getting a big kick out of the series. The villains switch bodies with the superheroes and boy are they mean! Lex Luthor as Superman is positively horrifying as is renegade Green Lantern Sinestro taking Hal Jordan's place. Chronos as Atom shows a brief humane side but Lex soon squashes that idea (read the book to see what I mean). The Flash issue also has a separate bonus story with a Flash Day celebration in Central City. Looking forward to Waid beginning his tenure on JLA. I think he finally ran out of gas on Flash after a great (8 year?) run. Current story arc on Starman-Grand Guignol, is very good, a lot of malevolent evil running around Opal City. I also picked up a copy of "Rising Stars" number 1 by J. Michael Strczynski (I'm probably botching his last name), interesting stuff. Looks like a good one to follow. I also picked up a copy of "Fathom" number 2 by Michael Turner, very impressive artwork, but I had trouble following the characters and plotline, seemed a bit convoluted. Still enjoying "Tomb Raider" written by Dan Jurgens, good artwork, generally a fun read, Lara Croft hooks up with some dinosaurs. Speaking of dinosaurs, there was an awesome special on the Discovery Channel called "Walking with Dinosaurs". Unbelievable! It is very real looking and shows lots of different dinosaurs going about their business, lots of scenes of dinosaurs attacking each other, very cool. It's now available on video. If dinosaurs are your bag you'll want to get this. Picked up Iron Man number 30, written by Joe Quesada and inked by the very talented Sean Chen, it's the conclusion to the "Sentient Armor" story arc, very weird and an interesting fun read: as Paul would say "It was like a blockbuster movie unfolding in my hands, a rollercoaster ride from beginning to end, it reminded me of the time I bungee jumped out of a helicopter in Ireland". "Galaxy Quest" is out on video, and I highly recommend viewing it, a very funny movie, particularly if you're a 60's Star Trek fan. Hey! Exciting news flash! The home of Superman, Metropolis, Illinois, is having their (22nd) annual Superman Celebration June 8-11, 2000! Don't miss it. Check out their web site at supermancollectors.com. Unfortunately, the Superman Museum that they used to show in ads in 60's comic books closed in 1973. There is, however, a Superman statue in front of the Courthouse. Took my bi-weekly ride with Paul to the Sacramento comic book store (A-1) Thursday, and he had something weird going on with his antenna or speaker, even with the radio off, there was screeching static the whole way, and at one point in time I believe blood started coming out of my ears. However, the whole trip was made worthwhile when I scored some early 60's back issues of Action Comics for a very low price. Also picked up a 10-cent cover Adventure Comic starring Superboy and Krypto. I love the Silver Age! Paul, get your damn speaker fixed! My nerves were so jangled I went to bed at 7pm last night. Congrats to Mark Mcgwire on his three home run game and roaring past Mickey Mantle on the all time home run list! Go St. Louis Cardinals! Go Sacramento River Cats! Go Solano Steelheads! Hey, stop smacking me Paul, I know this is a comic newsletter but you write about that fake wrestling nonsense. No! not the acetylene torch! I was just kidding! It's real, it's real! No, I don't want you to make me drink a big glass of shut-up juice. No, don't open a big can of whup ass on me! Ow, I'm tired of all these emergency room visits; the co-payments are killing me. That's all from me this month, if I ever recover I'll write another column sometime. +++++ Subj: 106U, our new anthology of comix out in July 2000 From: veena@CAM.ORG Eric Theriault Press has a new publication advertised this month in the Preview catalog. Our company usually publishes the Veena series, of which 3 issues are out so far. 106U is this new book, and this time it's a bit different from what you might expect from us. This is the blurb you can find in the Preview of this month (may), on page 252: A 90 pages wordless anthology featuring cartoonists from around the world. 80 pages of black + white art and a 10 pages full-color section created by Montreal's finest and world renowned talents from Germany, France, Switzerland and Holland. Exploration of the medium through silent sarcastic sequences and experimental graphic episodes. A wide stylistic range unified by a thread of daring irreverence aimed at globalizing artistic subversion in the landmark tradition of RAW and Comix 2000. Edited by Eric Braun. By visiting our page about 106U, you'll be able to find more information and excerpts from some of the artists: Valium (Fantagraphic), Trembles(The Jam, Screw), Theriault (Veena, Real Stuff), Killofer, Rujiter, Eric Braun and Thomas Ott (Zero Zero). Click here: http://veena.ctw.cc/site106U.html And here is our regular web site: http://www.cam.org/~veena veena@cam.org --------------------------------- Isabelle Stephen Relationist ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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 was the first Silver Age Annual from Marvel? The answer was Strange Tales Annual #1. Allan Rosenberg, the winner, receives Nightwing: Love and Bullets TP. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: These are the first lines of what comic book character: "No! No! Take the fish away! Take them away! They'll kill me!" 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 Artisan Entertainment and Marvel Enterprises Enter Into Comprehensive Joint Venture Spanning the Multimedia Spectrum CANNES, France & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2000-- Artisan and Marvel to develop, produce and distribute programming for film, television, video and the Internet based on popular Marvel properties including Captain America, Thor and Black Panther Artisan Entertainment and Marvel Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE:MVL) announced today the formation of a joint venture that will bring to life several of Marvel's world renowned superheroes and villains via original productions created for distribution through feature films, television, home video and the Internet. The agreement marks the most far-reaching deal Marvel has entered into to date with any of the Hollywood studios. Through the venture, Artisan and Marvel will develop, produce and distribute programming on a worldwide basis based on fifteen mutually agreed upon Marvel properties, including the ever-popular Captain America and Thor as well as such edgy characters as Morbius, Deadpool, Black Panther, Iron Fist and Ant Man. Marvel will also develop licensing and merchandising programs for each production. The announcement was made today by Amir Malin, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Artisan Entertainment and Avi Arad, President and CEO, Marvel Studios. The pairing of Artisan and Marvel is the perfect fit as each entertainment company is on a burgeoning path of growth and expansion. All productions will be geared to the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres - areas in which Artisan has made a name forr itself and the featured Marvel characters skew toward. Feature film concepts will be developed for both theatrical distribution as well as direct-to-video release, while the television programming will take the form of either television series or made-for-TV movies. The Internet initiatives will appear as short films and videos. Revenue generated from both the distribution of the productions as well as from licensing and merchandising will be shared equally by both companies and each company will also equally own the programming library. Commented Malin, "As Artisan builds and expands on its core businesses, we continue to break new ground and forge innovative alliances in order to deliver quality programming across multiple outlets. This partnership speaks not only to our corporate strategy but also to my relationship with Avi Arad, one of the most prolific executives in the entertainment industry and one that I respect immensely." Arad added, "Artisan has proven itself to be one of the biggest innovators and premiere marketers in the entertainment industry, as evidenced by their success with titles such as The Blair Witch Project. Artisan and Marvel service the same community in film, television and the Internet. Our brands are synonymous with cutting edge entertainment - an area in which Artisan has success and eexpertise - which makes them the perfect partner for us. Amir Malin is my kind of executive, always seeking to break new ground in our fast changing media world. This joint venture with Artisan is further evidence of Marvel's commitment to deliver its incredibly popular character brands to a mass audience while also providing our core comic book and sci-fi fan base with a new way to experience their favorite heroes and villains." Artisan's Senior Vice President, Patrick Gunn will oversee day-to-day activities for the joint venture on the Artisan side. Gunn will work closely with Arad on all multimedia productions. Artisan's Malin and Chief Operating Officer Ken Schapiro, brokered the deal on behalf of Artisan Entertainment, with Marvel's Arad and Executive Vice President for Business and Legal Affairs, Allen Lipson representing Marvel Enterprises in negotiations. +++++ Marvel Enterprises and Crystal Sky Entertainment Join Forces to Produce Feature Based On Popular Comic Franchise Ghost Rider CANNES, France & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2000--Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) and Crystal Sky Entertainment have entered into an agreement to jointly produce a feature film based on Ghost Rider, one of Marvel's most successful and edgy comic book characters. The announcement was made today by Avi Arad, President and CEO, Marvel Studios, and Steven Paul, President and CEO, Crystal Sky Entertainment. Scheduled for production early next year, Ghost Rider is expected to be budgeted at $75 million. Johnny Depp is being targeted to play the Ghost Rider. Arad, Paul and Academy-Award winning actor Jon Voight, who may also play a role in the film, will produce. The Ghost Rider screenplay was scripted by David Goyer, the writer of the acclaimed and successful Blade film. Ghost Rider, who made his debut in August 1972 in Marvel Spotlight No. 5, is one of Marvel's premiere properties. The Ghost Rider storyline focuses on a motorcycle stuntman, who, seeking revenge for harm done to his one true love, makes a pact with dark forces to avenge the wrongdoing. By day, the Ghost Rider is a motorcycle stuntman able to perform superhuman tricks; by night he is transformed into a burning demon on wheels as he hunts down those who bring pain to the innocent. Beverly Hills based MM Media Capital Partners, which recently concluded a $100 million line of credit arrangement with Crystal Sky, will finance the film. MM Media Capital Partners is the new banking consortium headed by Hal Sadoff, Rodney Paine and Myles Nestel, all formerly of Coutts and Co. and National Westminster. Revenues generated from the distribution of the film, as well as from licensing and merchandising will be shared equally by Crystal Sky and Marvel Enterprises. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Avi Arad on this film venture. His creative voice and business acumen will certainly contribute to making Ghost Rider a cutting-edge and exciting film," commented Paul. "Avi has already had tremendous success with Blade (portrayed by Wesley Snipes), and a sequel is to follow later this year. We are very excited to produce Ghost Rider with Avi and his Marvel team - the same team that just finished X-MEN: The Movie and is currently working on Spider-Man: The Movie for 2001." Arad added, "I met Steven while he was producing Baby Geniuses. I watched and admired as he continually overcame obstacles and naysayers. He produced the film his way, brought the print and advertising budget to the studio, and engineered a most successful release. I couldn't be happier to produce this project with Crystal Sky." Crystal Sky's Senior Executive Vice President Andrew Hersh will oversee the production for Crystal Sky. Hersh will work closely with Arad and Paul throughout development and production of Ghost Rider. Crystal Sky Entertainment is a leading independent production company that maintains a first look deal with Paramount Pictures. The company struck paydirt last year with the conception and production of Baby Geniuses. Released through Sony's TriStar Pictures, the film has garnered more than $80 million in domestic revenues. On the heels of that success, the company has been aggressively developing and readying a slate of theatrical projects. +++++ GEORGE PÉREZ RECEIVES CBLDF DEFENDER OF LIBERTY AWARD GEORGE PÉREZ has been honored with the 2000 DEFENDER OF LIBERTY AWARD. Bestowed by the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, this annual award recognizes outstanding efforts to promote and protect free speech in the comics community. The award was presented to Pérez by 1999 Defender of Liberty BRIAN PULIDO on April 28 following the Harvey Awards at the PITTSBURGH COMICON. Pérez is an industry veteran whose work has delighted fans for more than a quarter of a century. His epic work on "The Avengers,” "The Teen Titans,” and "Crisis On Infinite Earths" is superhero storytelling at its finest. He ’s found renewed popularity re-assembling "The Avengers" with writer KURT BUSIEK, and his creator-owned comic "Crimson Plague" will re-launch with Gorilla Comics this summer. In recent years, Pérez has proven himself a consistent and gifted fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and other charities. "I'd like to let everyone know just how important the CBLDF is to me,” said Pérez, "and to the entire comics industry. If we want to be creative, if we want to have a real variety of work out there, work that not only indulges people's fantasies but challenges their intellect, than nothing should be so sacred or profane that it cannot be talked about, or written about, or drawn about. The day we let a small faction of society say not `we don't like what you're doing,’ but `we won't allow you to do it,’ that's the day that every single principle of this country starts to fall apart. And I will do my damnedest to be the last man standing on that day if I have to be. But with the CBLDF I won't have to be the last man standing. I'll have an army with me.” True to his words, Pérez has raised well over $15,000 for the CBLDF in the last three years alone. In the process, he's alerted countless fans and industry professionals about the very real censorship issues which affect everyone in the comics community. "My modus operandi at all comic conventions is to choose a charity and donate every cent that I make from doing sketches,” said Pérez. "It's a lot more meaningful and beneficial than simply making a donation. And by sketching non-stop for a full three day show, I've found I can really raise a lot of money.” Pérez's stamina at these marathon sketching sessions is legendary. He'll often sketch for more than eight hours at a time, and he's been known to take sketch orders back to his hotel room to finish after the convention floor closes. "As my wife will attest, when I get home I suffer from a severe case of not being twenty. You may see me as Iron Man, but you don't see me at home when all the bolts start to fall out. I'm at full throttle at conventions because I get to watch the fans at their best. When you tell them where the money is going, the good vibes I get just make me want to do more. It's a great feeling to inspire a fan or another professional to help out. There's a lot of good out there, and I get to see it first-hand. I leave shows feeling incredible.” Fans of Pérez's work aren't the only ones to come out for these events. He' s often joined by his friends and fellow comics professionals, including Busiek, "Avengers" colorist TOM SMITH, and Crimson Plague models DINA SIMMONS and SHANNON LOWER. With their assistance, Pérez raised $3,000 over three days at Wizard World 1999, and over $2,000 in just one day at Megacon 2000. "The next show I do,” he promised, "I've got some records to break!” Pérez will be doing more charitable work, and not just for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. His next scheduled appearance is at HEROES CON (June 16-18 in Charlotte, NC) where he'll be raising money for the CBLDF and the Burned Children's Fund. After that, look for him at BIG EASY CON 2001 (Memorial Day weekend in New Orleans), where he'll be helping out the CBLDF before boarding MAKING WAVES, the second CBLDF fundraising cruise. Pérez has also raised thousands of dollars for the Make-A Wish-Foundation and to benefit those suffering from muscular dystrophy and diabetes. "When I read about some of the cases the CBLDF funds,” admitted Pérez, “I might be unfamiliar with some of the books involved. But that doesn't matter. I have the choice to read them or not. The fact that I have that choice is what makes the CBLDF so important. I don't want someone else telling me what I can and can't read. I'm a 45 year old artist, I should have that right. "It's both an honor and an inspiration to be recognized with the Defender of Liberty,” he continued. “I hope the fact that I'm such a mainstream comics artist makes my dedication to the Fund all the more meaningful. There are those out there who will try to stop a comic book because they say it might encourage a child to put on a cape and try to fly out a window! We've all got to be vigilant. I'll have no one to blame but myself if something were to happen to me and the CBLDF wasn't there because I didn't choose to support it when I didn't need to. None of us can afford to be complacent. If we love this industry, hard times and good times, we have to fight to protect it. No creator or retailer or fan should think themselves so safe that they don't need the CBLDF.” The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization protecting First Amendment rights in the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the CBLDF at P.O. Box 693, Northampton, MA 01061. For more CBLDF news and information, pick up a copy of "Busted!,” the Fund's free quarterly newsletter, or visit the CBLDF web-site at http://www.cbldf.org. For press information and graphics, please contact Chris Bleistein at 413-586-6967 or cbleistein@cbldf.org +++++ Popular Comic Book Heroes and Villains Come Alive in New Wizards of the Coast Trading Card Game; New X-Men Trading Card Game Inspired by Upcoming Major Motion Picture RENTON, Wash.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 15, 2000--The heroes and villains from the number-one selling X-Men comic are starring in a new trading card game from hobby games leader Wizards of the Coast Inc., to be released in conjunction with this summer's anticipated blockbuster X-Men The Movie. The popular comic book characters, which have been around for more than 25 years, come alive in the new trading card game that includes heroes such as Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops and Professor X, as well as the villains Magneto, Toad and Mystique. With the X-Men(R) trading card game, players can take an active role in controlling their favorite character's exploits. The two-player starter set (MSRP $14.99), to be released in July, will be packed with everything needed to play the game, including a couple of items that can only be found in the starter set: two 30-card decks, three dice, damage counters, a playmat, a premium card and an exclusive, full-size comic. The exclusive comic features a one-of-a-kind cover created by renowned artist Art Adams. Players interested in building their own decks with the artistically impressive X-Men trading card game cards will be able to purchase random 11-card booster packs (MSRP $3.29) in August. The X-Men trading card game will be sold in hobby game and toy stores around the United States and Canada. Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories. Wizards of the Coast is a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation's largest specialty game retail chains. The company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanics of trading card games (TCGs) and produces the world's best-selling Magic: The Gathering(R) and Pokemon(TM)(Note A) TCGs. Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's leading fantasy and science fiction book publishers and is a publisher of adventure games such as the classic Dungeons & Dragons(R) games, family card and board games and electronic media products. The company's retail locations, many of which provide game-play areas, include a growing number of Wizards of the Coast(R) specialty game retail stores as well as 51 The Game Keeper(R) stores. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, London and Beijing. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the company's website and electronic retail store at www.wizards.com. X-Men: TM and(c)2000 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved. X-Men The Movie:(c)2000 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved. WIZARDS OF THE COAST, THE GAME KEEPER, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc. (c)2000 Wizards. +++++ From Beau Yarbrough's Comic Wire at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ 'THIS IS A CASE ABOUT FAIRNESS, REALLY' ARCHIE FIRES DAN DeCARLO AFTER 43 YEARS His art is some of the most recognizable in the world and, arguably, the some of the most-seen comic book art of all time. Dan DeCarlo's take on Betty and Veronica became the Archie Comics house style decades ago and is today synonymous with the line of teen comics. And three weeks ago, Archie Comics severed its 43 year relationship with him. "I was going to bring my work in, and I was trying to sneak out," DeCarlo told the Comic Wire on Wednesday. He'd been bringing in pencils for a "Betty & Veronica" story when he said publisher Michael Silberkleit handed him a letter. "It says 'you are no longer needed here. We're terminating your services.'" Why Archie did it is no mystery to DeCarlo. "This is a case about fairness, really. Archie refused to honor my rights as the creator of Josie and the Pussycats, and [Silberkleit] was trying to negotiate a deal to stop me attempting to sue and settle," he said. "And if you stop to think about it, you're talking about my life's work." The case, still in litigation, hinges on an argument as to who owns the rights to Josie and the Pussycats. DeCarlo originally planned "Here's Josie" (named after his wife) as a newspaper comic strip. Archie Comics requested he turn it into a series for them. The characters starred in a popular 1970s cartoon series and - the impetus for this lawsuit - are being turned into a live action picture starring Rachel Leigh Cook and Parker Posey for a planned summer 2001 release. Paul Dini, producer of the acclaimed animated Superman, Batman and Batman Beyond cartoons and award-winning comic book writer, says he knows exactly why DeCarlo is digging in his heels about "Josie." "Every kid grew up with [the cartoon]. They all know the Josie and the Pussycats song," Dini told the Comic Wire on Wednesday. "There's a built-in audience, it looks to reap millions. And they're going to have artists do a hot soundtrack. … To me, it's unconscionable that a company can't share something with the man who created it." "I'm sorry to see the end of this long relationship," DeCarlo said. "On behalf of all the other working cartoonists, I intend to keep on fighting for what's right." "I think anyone who's worked for this medium can relate to his situation," Dini said. "We've seen it with [Superman creators] Siegel and Schuster and we've seen it with [Marvel Comics creator] Jack Kirby." "Over the years, it's been 'shut up and do your work,' and now it's 'shut up and get out,'" he said. "A man doesn't need to hear that when he's 80 years old and has created two of the franchises that have kept them alive." DeCarlo's relationship with the company began as a part timer 43 years ago. "It was copying [artist] Bob Montana, and I didn't like it. It was too hard, looking up and looking down. So I stopped," DeCarlo said. "A few weeks later, [editor Harry Shorten] called me up and asked me why I'd stopped. 'Is it the money?' And like any good businessman, I said 'no, I just don't like looking up and looking down.'" From that point on, DeCarlo was allowed to work in his own style and he became a full-time Archie Comics staff member in 1957. When his book, "Betty & Veronica" became a breakout hit, the editors "started to figure it was pretty hot stuff." Other artists were told to copy DeCarlo's style. "At one point, they even made me produce a seminar, once a week. … They would videotape me drawing and explaining how I do this, and how I do that." DeCarlo is also co-creator of Archie's "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" character, which has gone on to have a very successful run as a television sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart. But all things must end. "First of all, my lawyer told me the possibility. 'Unless they really want your work,'" DeCarlo said. "So I sort of expected something like that to happen." And he's standing firm that he needs some financial consideration regarding the "Josie" movie. "Being that I'm the creator, I felt I needed a fair shake on this matter." "In his own way," Dini said, "He's had a tremendous influence on popular culture. "Not every child embraces superhero comics … but every kid has read an Archie comic at some point. You could argue that he and [Disney comics artist] Carl Barks are the most widely seen comic artists." While he's doing some work for Bongo Comics, DeCarlo isn't looking to immediately fill the gap left by his Archie work. "I'm enjoying this semi-retirement," he laughed. "I used to work six days a week … I was a true workaholic." "At some point," Dini said, "You've got to say, this guy did right by us for 45 years, it's time to do right by him." Representatives of Archie Comics could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. The company has historically not commented on issues related to DeCarlo's "Josie" suit. +++++ From the Comic Reader Buzzboy.Net Goes "Down Under" in July TCR Staff Report Judging by his adventures and triumphs this year, one might assume that BUZZBOY creator, John Gallagher has superpowers. January of this year, saw the premiere of the Buzzboy online daily comic strip at Buzzboy.Net, which has over 40,000 viewers a month. In March, Peregrine Entertainment published "40 Winks/Buzzboy", and in July, the new comic, "BUZZBOY: SHORTCUTS," hits the stands. The small press cartoonist has made great strides with his strip and now John Gallagher is taking Buzzboy places he has never been before: New Zealand! Why has Gallagher decided to take Buzzboy and his cast of characters 'down under'? The reason is surprisingly simple ... "My wife's career is taking her to New Zealand for an extended time," says Gallagher, "so, of course, Buzzboy and I are gonna tag along, and see what happens!" Gallagher arrives in New Zealand (located East of Australia) some time in June, with Buzzboy's daily comic strip reflecting a new locale shortly after. The current webstrip storyline is giving hints to Buzzboy's journey, which will be part of an international hero exchange between New Zealand and the U.S. Buzzboy will travel to New Zealand's largest city: Auckland, where he will meet up with the NZ3, a young team of hero's with powers indicative of the country. Once there, he will face the hardships of undersea monsters, angry gods -- and only four channels to watch on TV. "In studying New Zealand history, I found so many cool ideas to use, I'm not sure I can get them all in," says Gallagher. "--and that doesn't even include Australia!" "BUZZBOY DOWN UNDER" will run through the end of 2000, when Gallagher and his wife, Beth, return to the U.S. Shortly after, the comic book adaptation of the New Zealand adventures will be published by Peregrine Entertainment. +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com G-MEN FROM HELL --------------- Rick Albert, producer of Michael Allred's G-Men From Hell recently sent Comics 2 Film a number of images from the upcoming release. The movie, currently in post-production, stars William Forsythe and Tate Donovan as Dean Crept and Mike Mattress, a pair of G-Men who escape from hell and seek redemption by helping others as private investigators. The good news for comic fans is that the movie may enjoy a preview screening at the Comic-Con International in San Diego this July. Albert is considering screening the movie in its entirety in conjunction with the convention. "The people at Comic-Con have expressed their complete support of this and are enthusiastic about it," Albert told us. "I would like to know how many fans would be interested in seeing it." Albert would like to hear from fans who would be interested in seeing the movie at San Diego. Readers wishing to express interest in the preview should write to Albert at Gmenfromhell@aol.com and let him know you support the screening. The movie will not be distributed by Artisan Entertainment as we had reported last year. Albert is in the process of shopping the property to domestic distributors. Other than the images presented here, no one will see the any of the movie until it's ready to be screened. "I think I would rather show it to the fans before I show it to the studios," Albert explained. "It's a really unique situation. If we decide to show it at San Diego, which I lean very strongly to, that going to put the fans ahead of the studios. It's kind of fun." Albert also told us that the opening title sequence features a series of comic book pages by Allred that lead into the story of the film. These images will be displayed online at some point in the future. A G-Men From Hell website is planned to support the film. (Go to the Comics2Film website for G-Men images: http://www.comics2film.com) RAT BASTARD ----------- A three minute test animation has been completed for the Rat Bastard TV show, which is in development for UPN. Comics 2 Film talked Cliff Galbraith, who co-created the comic with partner Tim Bird, about the current state of the development effort on the show. The test animation was directed by Kevin Altieri (Batman, Gen13) and written by Ed Neumeier (RoboCop). "Kevin Altieri did an amazing job on animating the characters. If the show is going to look anything like this, be prepared to see something that you've never seen before on television," Galbraith told us. "For prime time this is just incredible!" Galbraith went on the provide some specific praise for the look of the show, "Some of the look is a little bit like Batman, because Kevin did work on Batman, but the backgrounds look like Blade Runner. The backgrounds are just absolutely incredible. They were done by some people who worked on Prince of Egypt." Over a dozen of Altieri's design drawings were posted on the Crucial Comics website last month. The show is rendered primarily in traditional animation. Like most modern cartoons however, computer animation is utilized as well, "They used computers for a few technology-type effects. Like if they were showing something rotating and leaping and flipping and like like that." Initial response to the short has been positive. "UPN loves it," Galbraith told us. Executives at a recent screening, "actually applauded in the meeting, which is virtually unheard of." However, the suits at UPN need more reassurance before moving forward. "The fate of the show will actually be decided by a focus group." The Huja Brothers actually were able to test the show on their own unfocused group, "We showed it in the local bar where we hang out, the response was really, really good. They're a critical crowd too," Galbraith said. "A lot of bands come through there...everyone's got an opinion. So, when they all liked it I was quite relieved." But there was another, even tougher critic who saw the short as well. Galbraith showed the tape to his father, "who hates comics and cartoons. Absolutely detests them. He laughed through the whole thing and said 'Play it again.'" The Huja Brothers are also involved with doing album cover art for various rock bands including The Go-Gos, Man Scouts of America, The Unband and Buzzkill. Examples of their work can be seen on the Huja website. Spinning out of that work is the possibility of the Cliff and Tim directing a music video. They've done work for bands at TVT Records. Now that label is interested in having the Hujas create an animated video for one of their bands. Galbraith is eager for the opportunity, "I'd like to direct something soon." The Hujas will soon relocate to L.A. to continue to develop their concepts for film and television. http://www.crucialcomics.com/ http://www.hujabros.com/ THE TICK -------- A story on the Rueters wire service states the the live-action TV version of Ben Edlund's The Tick is set to make a late start on Fox's upcoming Fall schedule. An anonymous source in the know sent us further details of the upcoming announcement. According to our source, the cast of the show is heading to NY for a Thursday announcement. Fox is said to be committing to 13 episodes for a mid-season start. The show may air directly after The Simpsons. Our source adds that, in addition to radio controlled antennae, the big guy has bright blue contact lenses. Finally Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future) appears as Arthur's boss in the pilot film. MEN IN BLACK 2 -------------- Daily Variety reports that, in spite of recent public remarks by the actor, Will Smith has not yet signed on for the sequel to Men In Black. Smith has signed to play boxing great Mohammed Ali in Michael Mann's biopic. They actor has already begun training for the role. However, the article reports that sources close to Smith deny that he's signed for Men In Black 2. However, those sources did say that talks were underway. MIB co-star Tommy Lee Jones and and Director Barry Sonnenfeld are also in discussions. http://www.variety.com/ BABY BLUES ---------- A recent write up of the WB networks new fall line-up appearing on E! Online indicates that an animated version of Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman's Baby Blues is tentatively scheduled to begin airing in July. Kirkman had told Comics 2 Film the same thing earlier this month, but put emphasis on the word "tentative". http://www.eonline.com/ http://www.babyblues.com/ BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER ---------------------------------- Promotional artwork for the direct-to-video feature Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was recently spotted by attendees of the E3 video-game expo in Los Angeles. The Dark Horizons website currently has a snapshot of the poster on display. The movie is due out October of this year. http://www.darkhorizons.com/ GHOST WORLD ----------- An upcoming episode of In Production, which airs on the Sundance Channel spotlight's the big screen version of Dan Clowes' Ghost World. The show was originally scheduled to air on May 12, but was rescheduled. No air date has been given, but it is expected to show later this month. BULLETPROOF MONK ---------------- According to an article in Daily Variety MGM has purchased the film rights for Bulletproof Monk, a comic published last year by Image and Flypaper Press. The comic, written by Gotham Chopra and Brett Lewis with art by Michael Avon Oeming and Jason Baumgartner, tells the story of a Chinese refugee name Kar who travels to America seeking an enigmatic hero who can save his family from an oppressive Chinese government. Hong Kong action director John Woo (Face/Off) is set to produce the movie with his partner Terence Chang, both of Lion Rock Prods. Chow Yun-Fat (Anna and the King), a frequent leading man in Woo's Asian movies, is set to star. The movie is to be written by Cy Voris and Ethan Reiff, who have collaborated in the past on movies like Demon Knight: Tales From the Crypt and the as-yet-unproduced Camelot 3000. Voris and Reiff pitched the project to MGM along with Flypaper publisher Michael Yanover. Yanover will also serve as Executive producer on the movie. http://www.variety.com/ SPIDER-MAN ---------- According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Dykstra is officially on board as the visual effects supervisor for the Spider-Man movie. Dykstra first garnered acclaim for his groundbreaking effects work in Star Wars. Most recently he was the VFX supervisor on Stuart Little. "We're still sorting the character out. It's going to come down to what the character we've come to know on the printed page requires to bring him to life," Dykstra told The Reporter. "It certainly won't be in any way pedestrian." Karen Goulekas, who's work include special effects for Godzilla and The Fifth Element has also signed on. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ FROM HELL --------- Robbie Coltrane (The World Is Not Enough) is the latest actor to be cast in the movie version of From Hell. Daily Variety reports that Coltrane has signed on as an unspecified character. http://www.variety.com/ BLADE 2 ------- Rob Allstetter of the Comics Continuum reports that Hellboy creator Mike Mignola may join the production of Blade 2: Bloodhunt as a designer. This information comes from Blade 2 writer and producer David Goyer. Mignola has a previous association with Blade 2 director Guillermo del Toro, who is also the director on the troubled Hellboy movie. "Del Toro would like to bring him on as a conceptual designer, but nothing's been arranged yet," Goyer told Allstetter. http://comicscontinuum.com/ +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Dynamic Comic Showcase on HSN Dynamic Forces will be putting together the Dynamic Comic Showcase for the Home Shopping Network. On June 2 (1 AM ET/10 PM PT), comic book fans will be able to browse the HSN store for signed Marvel merchandise packages like a copy of Gambit #1 autographed by writer Fabian Nicieza accompanied by an original sketch by artist Steve Skroce. The cable special will feature an appearance by Marvel Knights editor and Daredevil artist Joe Quesada. DC Announces Will Eisner Library Schedule DC Comics has announced the publication schedule for the Will Eisner Library through the remainder of the summer. The line-up is currently as follows: Life On Another Planet SC - 5/31/00 The Dreamer SC - 6/7/00 New York: The Big City - 7/12/00 City People Notebook - 8/23/00 And scheduled for release in September are The Building, Invisible People and To The Heart Of The Storm SC. Future titles, to be solicited in the coming months, include A Family Matter TP, A Life Force SC, Dropsie Avenue: The Neighborhood TP and The Will Eisner Reader SC. Essential Iron Man on Tap For September Yourman@Marvel (www.marvel.com/news) has announced that a black & white Essential volume featuring Iron Man is on schedule for a September release. The 528-page collection - featuring the work of Stan Lee and Don Heck from Iron Man's earliest years - includes rarely reprinted stories from Tales of Suspense. Oni Unearths The Coffin in September Oni Press has announced an agreement with Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston to publish their bimonthly, four-issue miniseries, The Coffin beginning in September, 2000. The miniseries will mark the first collaboration between Hester and Huddleston. According to Oni, The Coffin tells the story of Ashar Ahmad, a scientist who has created a technologically advanced suit that can keep the soul alive after the body has died. When things take a bad turn, Ashar himself becomes the first guinea pig to test the outfit in order to save his life. It works, but Ashar finds himself in a weird quasi state, neither dead nor alive, trapped inside the coffin of his own design from that moment forward. "This is a different kind of book for Oni,” Phil Hester commented. "We weren't quite sure what they would think of it at first. It combines standard conventions of superhero, sci-fi, horror, and cyberpunk genres Oni isn't necessarily known for. We thought it had enough of a twist, though, for it to fit neatly on their roster.” “I saw character designs sitting on the desk of our editor in chief, and Mike's drawing immediately grabbed my attention,” Oni publisher Joe Nozemack said. “I snatched it from him and sat down and read the proposal. I was delighted that it wasn't just another empty concept with a cool visual. Phil and Mike had come up with an excellent story, one with a lot of character and mind-bending concepts. The Coffin was one of those projects that I knew straight away that we had to do.” Jemas/Bendis Confirm 'Ultimate Marvel' Spider-Man, X-Men Marvel's President of Publishing and New Media Bill Jemas and Brian (Powers) Bendis have confirmed that the writer will be helming both a Spider-Man and an X-Men title in the "Ultimate Marvel"line of comics due out later this year. For Mania Newsarama regulars, "Ultimate Marvel" is the new name for what was previously referred to as `Ground Zero' - a line of comics that slices off 30 + years of continuity, and essentially restarts Marvel heroes at "ground zero" and builds from there, all set in the present day. Cleveland Plain Dealer (and syndicated by Newhouse News Services), journalist Mike Sangiacomo, a future regular contributor to the upcoming Comics Newsarama Fandom domain launching later this month, got all the details and readers can check them out by clicking RIGHT HERE. The story broke on Friday and over the weekend Bendis answered questions and addressed friends and readers on his official message boards (www.wfcomics.com/boards/bendis) regarding the new line. +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE Blink Makes Long-Awaited 'Return'(?) by Michael Doran, Newsarama Former X-Men writer and Generation X co-creator Scott Lobdell will be making his return to Marvel's X-office later this year in a mini-series starring the still popular though apparently dead (in two universes!) Blink. The writer confirmed he's writing a four-part limited series illustrated by artist Dustin Nguyen. David's ST: New Frontier Comes to Comics In September by Michael Doran, Newsarama Wildstorm's Star Trek editor Jeff Mariotte has confirmed news that a lot of die-hard Trek fans have been waiting many months for. Writer Peter David will bring Star Trek: New Frontier, the series of books he developed at Pocket Books (with Pocket Books Star Trek editor John Ordover), to comics in a September prestige format one-shot. According to Mariotte the special will actually tie into a New Frontier trilogy of novels Pocket is publishing at the same time. "There's a missing chunk of time in the books, and this comic explains what Captain Calhoun and the Excalibur were doing during that time," explained Mariotte. "When a group of religious extremists called the Redeemers target the planet Haresh for 'purification', Captain Calhoun of the starship Excalibur is outraged. Calhoun orders the ship to Haresh to intervene -- but on the way there, an emergency rescuee on another planet slows the Excalibur down, so that it arrives too late. Haresh is already a dead planet. "Calhoun doesn't take defeat lightly, though -- and tries a risky scheme to travel back in time, arriving at Haresh early enough to save the populace from the Redeemers. This maneuver isn't universally popular, though, either with the Excalibur's crew or with the Federation ship Relativity, which is prepared to use force against the Excalibur. "With the Federation on one side and the Redeemers on the other, Calhoun is in the crossfire. And there's no easy way out..." The comic book will be penciled by Michael Collins and inked by David Roach. Both have worked with David before, on Babylon 5, and Roach has a Star Trek: Voyager one-shot coming out in July. "And there'll be a spectacular cover painting by Brian Stelfreeze,'" added the editor. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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: 13 May 2000 Comics 2000: Get Your Bristols Out Alright, alright, I know it's been three weeks... basically, we've been waiting on approval for one big piece and feedback on lots of little pieces. Believe me, the column wouldn't be as good as it is without it. And I reckon this is quite a good one too. Enjoy. Spring Fling Thing The Diamond Spring Fling is a retailers-meet-the-distributor-and-publishers event. So I take out my pen and paper and discover that loads of the retailers are fans on the column. Anyway, the following relies on the accuracy of following lots of stuff. Anything wrong, apologies, anything right, it's a bonus. The retailers meeting is always a fascinating view on the industry as a whole. One point of interest was the attention given to cards and toys... Certainly more prominently than in previous meetings. No wonder, while comic sales were slightly down, the first quarter of 2000's sales on toys were up 88% on last year. One interesting piece of info is that one problem with importing toys into the UK is that they all have to be tested before being sold by UK officials... which costs money. This is the reason why some limited demand toys have just not been able to be offered. The move to an easier system of ordering, reordering, tracking, overship, etc. has been taking place at Diamond UK making for a system closer to Diamond US, which means British shops can also take part in promotions and opportunities previously denied them. Shops will now be able to be told if items are available for order instantly. Go Diamond UK! The publisher presentations kicked off with Com. X who, although they spent a lot of time going on about asking for feedback, presented themselves professionally and while I have qualms with much of the material on offer, they certainly seem to have got their act together. Their work most reminded me of Toxic! rather than 2000AD. Talking of which... David Bishop was on solid form as usual. From 2000 AD we can look forward to seeing a lot more of Steve Moore, the man who taught Alan Moore to write comics. Not only do we know he's writing some Tom Strong for America's Best Comics, but he's creating an ongoing franchise called Tales Of Telguuth for Fleetway, with artists including Greg Staples telling a series of tales set on an alien world infused with horror and magic. Judge Dredd goes to the toilet with Chris Weston. 'Nuff said. That and Judge Dredd And The Shirley Temple Of Doom should set the scene for Dredd's direction in 2000AD. Stontium Dog's back, Steve Moore (him again!) is doing a story called Red Fang with Britartist supreme Steve Yeowell (if you haven't got back issues of his, Millar and Morrison's Skrull Kill Krew, do so now you speculating fools!) Then Deadlock spins off from ABC Warriors in a Nemesis-style strip by Pat Mills and Henry Flint. And yes, Button Man, the non-sci fi, non-horror strip by Arthur Ransome returns with Book Three just before Christmas, in another end of year triple sized edition, just before 2001. And then what will it be called? During the con, we also discovered that David Bishop, editor of 2000 AD and main comics guy at Fleetway, is resigning. He'll be moving to Scotland and will work on a variety of freelance projects, including some packaging work for Judge Dredd: the Megazine. Megazine editor Andy Diggle will take over David's role. David Bishop has been a good friend to this column, we wish him luck in his new endeavours. And hope he keeps reading... Steve Buckmaster from Wizards of The Coast got a severe drubbing from retailers over their failure to supply UK comic shops with what the retailers expected, Pokemon-wise. He soon bounced back by taking a cynical view of his product when presenting, which got him a few conciliatory laughs. He sold himself as a fellow exploiter, for Pokemon spinoffs. For example, the Pokemon gaming mat, "they don't need it, but we can sell it" being the watchword. Still there was much interest in what was to come, especially their X-Men movie trading cards game with an exclusive mini-X-Men comic - which may spin off into further sets depending on the success of both the movie and the following cartoon series. Dusty Miller from Titan had much to promote - interestingly enough was the fact that they sell Spawn TPBs up to 3 months before the US versions are published. Could we get some reverse grey market trade as a result? Titan are also launching a UK Tomb Raider magazine in the same style as the current Star Wars and Buffy mags, reprinting US comics alongside a lot of interviews, info, posters and other fan stuff. It'll provide info up till the film's release... and then they'll see. Glenn Fabry is getting the Dave McKean treatment as Titan put out a book with all his Preacher artwork, as well as the two banned covers. Hey Mike, do we still have one of those banned Preacher covers? If so, put it here, copyright DC Comics and all that... Marvel haven't been present at the Diamond Spring Flings, but prepared documents were available and read out by Nick Parry-Jones of Diamond. These include more Essential volumes, for Iron Man, Thor... and Walt Simonson's Thor is getting the Marvel Visionaries TPB treatment. Marvel have also started committing to at least 12 issues for new series, including both Captain Marvel and the MC2 books. With the news of the X-Men movie, the Nick continued. "What's a movie without tie ins" before adlibbing "probably... art." This was very good natured ribbing compared to what came next. Allan Kaplan from trading card giant Inkworks decided to treat the presentation as stand up. First talking about Marvel's Matt Ragone, previously mentioned by Nick Parry-Jones in the Marvel speech. And boy did Allan have issues. "Someday he'll get a good job... he puts trading card companies out of business. He bought the biggest for 450 million and sold it for 26 million." Introducing Michael Martins from Dark Horse, he proclaimed "He's my lover. His wife, she sits there watching, she's fine with it." Oh go on, he entertained the crowd, here's some plugs for him... Charmed trading cards, Buffy reflection cards, Elvis cards, Titan AE cards... more Buffy bears, Simpsons cards, Sopranos cards, Roswell High cards, Tomb Raider cards, Planet Of The Apes cards... you get the idea. Jim Valentino, publisher of Image Comics announced a great many projects, including much of the most recent Previews. One thing to note, and it should be said loud because it's easy not to notice. Image don't publish many superhero comics. Savage Dragon, maybe this upcoming Powers series... that's about it. The rest are slice of life, fantasy, horror, action-adventure. Boy that company's come a long way. And Marvel are just about to start publishing Avataars. Anyway... We can look forward to the painted series Violent Messiah's having its art rejigged to look a little less like Grendel. Again the toys were a main feature, Valentino's phrase "you can sell these to citizens", or real people as opposed to comic buyers was used frequently. The list is long, Akira, Sergeant Pepper, King Kong, Edward Scissorhands... Valentino suggested they could sell that to anyone who liked Sandman followed by a "tut" from Cuddly Bob Wayne. The 18 inch Freddy Krueger got a "sell that to anyone who liked Nightmare Before Christmas" response from Cuddly Bob. The Hockey figures... well Jim Valentino had to apologise about this to the UK retailers "Anyone care about hockey? Todd's Canadian, oh f*** it. Todd's gotta show his balls". On that line, "KISS figures get people in... you might not like those kind of people, but..." Going down the list of books, Jim was in full flow. "Saint Angel sells to people who like tits and ass"... Witchblade/Darkminds was described as "gets the anime audience from Darkminds, and whatever the audience is from Witchblade". This was a sore point for Jim. As Paul Jenkins is announced as the new Witchblade writer, he continued "Witchblade becomes a readable book again, maybe for the first time. She's still got tits. Talking of which... Fathom." A new book called Butcher Knight by Dwayne Turner and Chris Holland looks stunning, Cyberforce Infinity, well according to Jim "Marc's watched Matrix one too many times." As for Aphrodite 9, Jim promised that was the last T&A shot... until the slide showed him another one. "They just do it to me" he whined to the floor. Me, I'll be looking out for a new book Avigon, by Jimmy Robinson is a new style for him, very Burtonesque in fact. Then it was DC's turn. Cuddly Bob Wayne wasn't feeling so cuddly. A day or two in London when there was a virulent stomach bug going round may have been the cause, possibly the Indian food the night before, it wasn't certain. But Cuddly Bob struggled on valiantly. He started his spiel "I'm under the weather, sorry if I'm not on as sparkling form as I was last year" to an instant heckle by Inkworks' Allan Kaplan, to wit "Come on Bob, you've never been sparkling". An unusual pause followed, then Cuddly Bob retorted "I'm sorry Allan's going back home soon, he won't be able to do the Millennium's Ugliest American tour he's so famous for throughout Europe." Audience laughter, a beat and then "I'm not that sick." He certainly wasn't. Cuddly Bob Wayne put on a great performance, informing and entertaining the troops. Indeed, he went on "Rich Johnston, there's a trunk call in the Swallow Hotel. I promise not to talk about anything until you get back." Naturally, I stayed in my seat as Cuddly Bob went through a litany of DC projects. Here's a few that stuck out. "Danger Girl 7. There's a two page spread ready. That's all we know." A new series called Crusade by Steve Seagle and Kelly Jones. Another new series called Adventures In The Rifle Brigade by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra, looks kind of like Dicks In The Army. It seems inspired by all those British anti-German war comics from our youth. Mind, they're still being published you know. I even know a guy who writes for them. There were plenty of Elseworld projects looking quite nifty - Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights, JLA Wonder Woman: A League Of Her Own by Chris Mueller and JLA: 7 Caskets by Dan Brereton, a Lovecraftian take on the team all looked interesting. Judge Winnick takes over Green Lantern, Hourman joins the JSA and then gets kicked out, Robin Year One is planned, Wonder Woman gets a year by Phil Jiminez and a year by Greg Rucka, Star Trek Deep Space Nine mini-series will take place after the TV series ended, there's a new book called User coming out by Devin Grayson and Sean Philips with John Bolton on the dream sequences, Warner Brothers' new cartoon schedules will include Zayda (spelling?) from Batman Beyond, X-Men and Static Shock and DC will likely spin off two comic series from these... but Cuddly Bob wasn't saying which ones. Ha ha. Michael Martens admitted that Dark Horse had some problems with Star Wars stuff last year, but promises more luck with Titan A.E. They're aiming their Manga line at Pokemon players... and then there's Digimon. Please. We can all look forward to a Darth Maul Star Wars series, statues of Olive Oyl, Ignatz and another Yosagi Yojimbo. There's a Hellboy computer game and a new series of Mignola's wonderful creation starting in 2001. Not only that but both Concrete and Madman have new series with new reprints of their past stuff. Wooo! A question and answer session established that Cuddly BobWayne just wouldn't talking about Dark Knight Strikes Back. And after complaints about the recent Batman film, Dark Horse's Michael Martens also hinted at The Dark Knight Returns being the next Batman movie, in an oblique fashion, when sitting next to Cuddly Bob Wayne. Cuddly Bob just put on his stiff face. Apparently, we can all anticipate a Superman DVD with a lot of footage that was cut for the cinema release now restored. Indeed Mike Carlin made sure I wrote that down. And I'm not arguing with that man, he could break me. The Show Must Go On Anyway that's about it, shortly after the show, the party guests arrived in dribs and drabs. The Friday night party went pretty well, and I ended up talking into the wee hours with Marica Allass, Steve Conley and Jim Valentino about life, love, happiness and British traffic. I took a more leisurely approach this year... I was on only one panel and I wasn't pushing anything, so I spent more time in the bar than usual. This had its upside of meeting as many people as possible, discovering Matt Hawkins to be a regular reader and going over old ground about *that* Alex Ross non-swiping story, as well as picking up a piece of ultra ultra secret gossip that I do hope comes off. On the downside, Glenn Fabry needed a bit of a pick me up, which led to one of those long late night conversations, sat outside the hotel on a small wall. Thankfully Marcia Allass was on hand to deliver a peck on the cheek. Indeed Glenn seemed to have quite a long night, failed to find where he was meant to be staying, and was at one point found asleep in a chair with a sign on his chest declaring various sexual feats of a quite painful nature. So what titbits did I pick up? Not too many, I spent more time talking about non-comics stuff to friend. Oh gods, maybe I'm growing up. Shouts go out to the Tarts who beat me, to Conley who beat me, to Budgie who thankfully wasn't even nominated for an Eagle, the ex-PopImage guys, the Ellis forum chaps, Hayden, Elaine, and the many other people who kept me awake and bought me drinks. Also lots of people were keen to tell me stuff as long as it was *not* for publication... looks like some people are wiseing up. There's some ammunition for future columns stored away though, as well as some promises of first scoops. Anyway, there's always a few things of interest. Rumours being bandied about include Rising Stars - The TV Series. Apparently the comic book series has prompted interest from a number of sources over the fact that Rising Stars could be made as a series without a huge budget. There seems to be a Marvel Knights series being planned with a heavy British presence, artist names such as Alan Davis, Steve Pugh and Mark Farmer have been mentioned. Double Image is a split-series coming out in November from, naturally, Image Comics. Half of one book will be by Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard, the other half by Scott Lobdell and Mark Bagley. The Casey/Adlard part will be, reportedly, about a normal guy who wants to live the superhero life he sees around him Actually Adlard was on hand to talk about his troubles with X-Files. Hired with the full knowledge he couldn't do likenesses because his style was considered strong to get the mood of the series across, this later caused problems and indeed on his last story arc, they started changing faces. He rang up to make sure they were changed on overlays not on the art. Assured that they were, he discovered the first issue, after he phoned, didn't use overlays. Oh dear. Steve Pugh was being very good at being quiet about the Generation X artwork. I've heard that after doing some stunning pencils, seen by some fans previously, in just two weeks, the X-office decided they it wasn't X-booky enough, despite the point of the Counter X line to be a change from what was and to promote new and interesting styles. Anyway, the inker used a technical pen, so bye-bye to depth, feel and, strangely, detail. Steve was staying pretty silent on the subject but looked happier at the news that the inking situation will be changing. Well I'll Be Bergered Damn and blast, beaten at every opportunity! Curse the Sequential Tarts and Amazing Space Thrills from stealing my thunder! Egad! Zounds! Gadzooks! Steve Conley had better things to gawmp at when they played the now-familiar Dan Dare live action footage, sneaked away from Zenith's vaults. Anyway, while the results have winged their way around the world many a time now, there's still one moment being discussed up and down the land. Karen Berger's acceptance speech for Preacher. Assembling some hastily scribbled notes, here's a reconstruction. Preacher wins Best Comic Award, and Karen walks up to much clapping, as top comedy superstar Simon Pegg hands over the award. Karen's head dips towards the microphone and the following words spill out. "Preacher has already won an Eisner, an internationally recognised award for excellence... I'm not quite sure what *this* represents but... thanks!" Cue gasps, tuts, lots of "what did she say?", "I can't believe it" from the various tables including, I have to say, the DC collective. And cue lots of people grabbing me afterwards saying "You are going to print what Karen said aren't you?" Well, let's allow Karen say what she actually meant to say. Karen? "As you suspected, I obviously misspoke when I accepted the award for Preacher. I was a bit nervous and unprepared, and fumbled what I intended to say, which was: that Preacher receiving the Eisner award was a symbol of mainstream acceptance, and that the Eagle awards are even more of an honor considering its history of eclecticism and its large voter turnout. The British fan and professional community mean the world to me, and I'm awfully sorry if I offended anyone." So there we go. And let's not hear any more tongues wagging, hm? Although I will mention that when Dave Gibbons introduced Karen to me, her one and only response was "Oh. You're him." Made my weekend. Past Disasters Right back home, running through new rumours, writing sitcom scripts for Kev Sutherland's Situations Vacant, working on Holed Up! Scripts... but what's this? A few clarifications on recent stories? Well I say recent, we haven't had a decent update for weeks. First from Jose Villarrubia, artist on Promethea 7, regarding our reporting of the ABC hardcovers "First of all let me tell you that I love your column. I check it out every week and get my regular dose of industry gossip. Thanks... I am not giving the covers a "photo realistic treatment". I am painting them in watercolor and gouache, to give them a look reminiscent of old adventure books which is what Todd Klein, who is designing the books, is going for. I have already completed the first three: Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten, over pencils by Sprouse, Williams and Ha. Thank you for reporting this, and please, do keep the gossip coming." Mike Murphy fills us in and gives us the correct spelling for rumoured new Stan Lee colleague... "Hmm same artist who did the DNAgents - Will MEUGNIOT - he started at Marvel in mid-70's, created DNAgents with frequent tv animation writer / former Kirby asst. Mark Evanier, then went into animation storyboarding, designing, and creative direction himself. I believe he worked with Larry Houston on the now defunct X-Men toon." Inevitable Appeal For Cash It's your half time advert break. Put the kettle on, let the cat out, go do some laundry. I'm still selling some of my back comics collection and the prices are going lower than ever. If anyone wants to buy lots and can pick up from Putney in London, then you'll get a really great deal. Otherwise, we're at the mercy of the international postal system! Go to Rich Johnston's Big Ramblings Sale to see the goodies. And I'll be giving away free comics and free sketches with every order made. Tell me what you want, and I'll make you an offer depending on how many books you order. Quick, quick everyone, it's starting again. Clearing Out The Drains In A Rock And Roll Stylee. There are also a number of rumours circulating. Some are pleasant, some sound mean spirited. From people with axes to grind, or projects to plug. So we checked with those involved, here are their responses. Remember one thing, Ramblings readers, and this you can believe. When creators decline to comment on a story, it does not mean this story is true. More often than not, they don't want to dignify it with a response. This is a perfectly acceptable and understandable stance to take, and nothing more need be read into it. Just so you know. Our oft-ill informed sources are probably making it up as they go along anyway. But have they got a nugget of truth somewhere? Probably not... As Jimmy Palmiotti says "Normally I do not address rumors, but I will help with some of them with simple answers. This stuff sounds like sour grapes from other creators or speculations from fan boys." But first, let's introduce this week's Ramblings Response Crew, on drums Jimmy Palmiotti, recently of Marvel Knights editorial, co-creator of Ash, inker on Daredevil, Punisher and writer and inker on Gatecrasher. On bass, Joe Quesada laying down strong undercurrents, famed for Marvel Knights editorial, co-creator of Ash, Daredevil and one of my favourite superhero comics ever, X-Factor 87. On sax, his writer for that very issue Peter David, known for his long run on Hulk, his work on Star Trek novels and comics, Babylon 5 everything, and currently writing Soulsearcher and Company, Supergirl, Young Justice and Captain Marvel. On vocals, it's Mark Millar, writer of some of my favourite comics including Swamp Thing, Saviour, Skrull Kill Krew, Aztek, Flash, JLA and currently writing Authority and Jenny Sparks. Mark is joined at the mike by Warren Ellis, writer of Lazarus Churchyard, Transmetropolitan, Planetary and Dark Blue. On keyboards, it's Mark Waid, writer of Kingdom Come, Gatecrasher, Empire, Flash and the recent Silver Age. On electric guitar it's Priest, writer of three of the best superhero comics currently being published, Quantum & Woody, Black Panther and Deadpool. On violin, stamping his foot like a madman, it's Tony Harris of Starman and JLA: Liberty File. Go Tony go! On trombone, it's that hooting, tooting Brian Vaughn of the recent Swamp Thing series. On maracas, doing a silly little dance and with everyone wondering what they're paying him for, it's Mike Collins, of Thunderbolt, X-Men and Transformers fame. Using his head as a disco ball, it's Tom Brevoort, a rarity, a Marvel editor who the fans actually seem to like. Going round, handing out flyers, collecting money from the door and generally blagging their way into various parties, it's DC's Patty Jeres and Marvel's Bill Rosemann. Okay everyone, the warm up band has been and gone, let's go straight into the first number. RUMOUR: With Jimmy Palmiotti gone from Marvel Knights, could this be the end for new and interesting names at that imprint? It was Jimmy not Joe who got the idea to go after guys like Morrison and Ennis. As well as Jenkins and Bendis. JIMMY: Both Joe and I have gone after these guys together, and as far as Grant and Bendis, that is ALL Joe. He introduced me to Brian's work. I just knew of him. As far as Joe's thinking, he reads everything out there, that's how he found guys like Bendis, Rob Haynes, David Self , etc. etc. Get real. JOE: Garth has been a mutual friend of Jimmy and myself for years. His involvement comes out of years of throwing back beers, as a matter of fact, Garth has been staying at my apartment in NYC for the last 2 months. Grant, Bendis and a few sort of started with me making some calls and sending e-mails. Jenks was actually Jae Lee's recommendation. But again it's such an unfair thing to go back and forth and try to figure out who found who. Sometimes it can be as simple as who picked up the phone or who opened the mail that day. The other thing to keep in mind is that whether a creator was approached by Jimmy or me, do you think for a second that they don't know that they'll be working for both of us? RAMBLINGS: Great drum and bass, guys! RUMOUR: Also about this FF mini that Morrison wants to do for the Knights. Forget it. They do not have control over those characters. And Marvel proper isn't going to let Morrison f*** with the FF. Or any other character the way DC might. And this goes for Millar too. If those guys think they have found the promised land at Marvel they're nuts. Only the MK imprint allows any real mature style writing and they only have a handful of characters. JIMMY PALMIOTTI: I don't know. JOE QUESADA: Utter nonsense. Grant's remarks weren't about what he would write if he ever had a chance to do FF, they were about his impressions of the old stories. Have you ever read Mark Millar's take on Dark Knight Returns? And there are no restrictions. If we have a project that's going to rock, we can most likely make it happen. Will they give us a monthly Spider-Man book? Probably not. Will they give us a mini series? Very possible. RAMBLINGS: Sadly there seem to be no surviving copies of this famed document. But if anyone has any copies... Still, Mark Millar had this to sing into his wobbly mike before throwing it around the stage: MARK MILLAR: No company is ever going to be the Promised Land, but I like a lot of what Marvel are saying and doing at the moment. What little I've written for them has been received with enthusiasm and nobody's f***ed with a single word. What more can a writer ask? I can't speak for Grant, but I know he's enjoying himself. We're professionals. We understand perfectly the parameters we're working in and genuinely haven't come up against a single obstacle. This isn't the Marvel we were all trained to loathe in the days of Jim Shooter and the Kirby artwork scandal. Like Wildstorm, these guys are actually treating creators with a little respect and you've got to get behind that in these crazy f***ing times. RUMOUR: Oh, and where has Jimmy gone? Well he is now the de facto editor in chief at Black Bull. JOE QUESADA: I honestly don't know. You would have to ask Jimmy. At this juncture I would be surprised. Jimmy is in the process of taking care of some stuff that's more important than comics, that's why he left MK. Just the fact that people have nothing better to do than to speculate about shit like this is really unfair and mean spirited. JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Not true, Glen Herdling is the editor up there, and Gareb makes the call on talent. I can suggest people, but freelancers work where they want. There are only two titles so far, and the other one has two new writers and our friend Nelson drawing it. RUMOUR: Jimmy is already trying to poach some of the Marvel Knights creators to join him. JIMMY PALMIOTTI: No, I write and ink a book with Waid and Amanda, and help them out. I have nothing to do with other title at all. JOE QUESADA: When freelancers go to work at other companies that's really their call. As far as I know, I have commitments from all of our guys and some special secret creators ;-) for current projects and yes, future work. J.G. Jones has done some Gatecrasher covers, why is that a problem? That is the essence of freelancing. RUMOUR: Also I don't care WHAT Joe Queseda says about those MK page rates. I got the scoop from Ennis at San Diego a couple of years ago. That's when he was considering the Punisher and he said he was getting $500.00 per Page! Jae Lee is also getting mega -bucks. Now maybe when this got out Marvel changed their policy but those guys as well as others would not be doing work for MK if they weren't getting that kind of money. JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Bull again, nobody gets paid that much for writing, and page rates are good, but not that good, LOL. We wish there was a way to pay that much. It is just not real. JOE QUESADA: Man, if we could pay Garth that kind of money it would be great! Imagine Garth making $500 a page and Steve getting $1000 to pencil and Jimmy getting $300 to ink it. That brings us to $1800 a page or better yet $39,600 a book not including colouring, lettering, editing and production. How do you break even? Completely inconceivable to pay anyone that much in this market. If this was 1994 I could see someone spreading that rumor... I'm sure this is coming from guys who would give their left nut, regardless of what they say, to work for us. But that's cool, better to be talked about than ignored. It just means that we're doing stuff that motivates people one way or another... by the way I did some more math on a Punisher book with those inflated rates. We're talking about a comic costing over $50,000 to produce. Pretty funny. WARREN ELLIS: Garth isn't and was never on $500 per, that's nonsense. I can confirm that Jimmy's marrying Amanda, though. RUMOUR: There is going to be a new Priest mini for the Knights. It features a bunch of their second tier 70's characters. It's called "Boogie Knights". No really. JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Not so far as I know. JOE QUESADA: We've talked to Priest about doing more stuff, but there is no official book, characters or especially title in mind. PRIEST: Possibly. There is no deal yet. There is no deal yet. There is no deal yet. Check back in a week, RUMOUR: Peter David, Mike Collins and David Roach are doing Star Trek comics based on the New Frontier book series by Peter David. PETER DAVID: The only New Frontier comic in the hopper is a one-shot which I've turned in a proposal for that will tie into NF continuity. We're awaiting Paramount approval on it. As soon as we have it I'll plow forward on the script and, with any luck, we ship in September. I don't believe an artist is definitely assigned. MIKE COLLINS: Yep-- Man, you were fast with this! Wildstorm only e-mailed me last night to confirm we'd got the go! Can't tell you the story (I don't know yet!) but it's NOT an adaptation....it's NEW Peter David stuff! Should be starting to pencil in about two/three weeks time. It's the Babylon 5 team back again! I'm also pencilling 40 pages of the new Nightwing 80 page giant- I'm half way through now! Written by regular guy Chuck Dixon, it's great fun-- I've wanted to work with Chuck for years! RAMBLINGS: Thanks Mike, have a plug for your website, at www.freakhousegraphics.co.uk. Now get back to your dancing! Shake those maracas! RUMOUR: Warren Ellis on Counter X - He got so behind with the Marvel crap that Planetary had to be demoted to bi-monthly status. This means less money for Wildstorm and John Cassidy. Wildstorm is now rushing around trying to give him busy work to do cause of the new schedule. He was having no problem drawing Planetary on a monthly basis. And he asked to get out of his contract. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed. This situation contributed to Wildstorm dropping the Pop Comics imprint. Now it's at Image but won't have DC's deep pockets behind it. Oh, did you know that Ellis and Cassidy OWN 15% each of Planetary. What's better to work on, something you own part of or something you don't? WARREN ELLIS: Not remotely true. PLANETARY was bumped to bi-monthly mostly to buy John the time to draw it and the BATMAN/PLANETARY book we're doing together. As you'll note by the fact that he's not doing anything else for Wildstorm. It was in fact during this period that John signed his exclusivity. And none of this was related to the Pop Comics deal. This is complete fiction. And I'm getting a little tired of it. RAMBLINGS: Talking of which, the new copy of Comics International makes similar aspersions in its highly respected rumour and comics speculation column, Movers And Shakers, alleging that John Cassaday is doing the Planetary/Batman book while waiting for Planetary scripts to come in, due to Warren's full schedule. As Warren has made clear, Planetary was made bi-monthly because Planetary/Batman was dreamt up. I'd expect Warren to go discuss this matter with Comics International at the next available opportunity. Oh sorry Warren, you weren't finished... WARREN ELLIS: And John and I have a creator participation deal on PLANETARY, and we are intending to finish the story on or around #24. I hope you will. This has gone far enough, I think. I'm getting a little bored of having to respond to obvious fiction and daydreams. RAMBLINGS: Talking of which... RUMOUR: Did you know that Wildstorm owns a piece of the Cliffhanger books? Not just the name Cliffhanger but a certain % of each title. Now I don't know how much of a %. But it's different for each book. So the only real creator-owned title at Wildstorm is Astro City. RAMBLINGS: No response from Wildstorm. Anyone know anything about this? RUMOUR: The real reason that Astro City did not go to Gorilla is that Alex Ross said he would leave the book if it did. Why? Well he HATES Mark Waid so bad that since he is a part owner of Gorilla Ross wants nothing to do with it. In fact it's so bad 'tween Ross and Waid they actually got into a shoving match at Wizard World last year. Gorilla was going to hire Tom Breevort to be their "editor in chief". But that's out now that the financing dried up. In fact the reason no one else wants to finance that line is the outrageous demands of the Gorilla partners. Like: Publishing a book for as long as a partner wants even if it doesn't make money. First class plane tickets to any or all appearances as well as 4 star hotels. Automatic Trade Paperback collections even if sales of the title to be collected are really bad. Also since their money man dropped out look for Waid and Busiek to start writing more for Marvel/DC. As opposed to more Gorilla books. RAMBLINGS: Kurt Busiek makes it a point not to dignify Ramblings with a response to any rumours. Taken from this month's Comics Journal, it probably applies to this rumour as much as any other we've printed in the past: KURT BUSIEK: "I have an inkling, in some cases, where some of the rumors about Gorilla came from, but mostly it boils down to some moron in England who'll believe anything anyone tells him, and who'll post it on the net with a "Hey, folks, this is only entertainment" label, expecting that to keep people from believing it. There are people who make rumors up just for the fun of telling this guy and having him report them. I don't want to do anything to legitimize him or his site, so I don't even want to speculate on how some stuff might have reached him and which of it was fabricated." RAMBLINGS: Thankfully his erstwhile colleague Mark Waid was able to loosen his lips just a tad in our general direction and give us a little tinkle on the ivories. MARK WAID: I won't comment on the Gorilla stuff other than to say that much if not all of it is horseshit (first-class plane tickets?). But I do feel compelled to say this: I'm sick to death of hearing about a Ross/Waid "feud." If there is a feud, it's purely one-sided--I wish Alex nothing but the best. I have had and will continue to have absolutely nothing bad to say about him in any public venue whatsoever and I wish I were extended the same courtesy. And we haven't been within a hundred yards of one another in years, so the concept of a "shoving match" just makes me giggle. TOM BREVOORT: Not really, no. It's a very nice rumor. RAMBLINGS: We couldn't get a contact for Ross. As usual, if anyone actually *knows* something, e-mail me. Now, onto the next number... RUMOUR: The Batman family of titles will cross over again in December in a No-Man's Land stylee... but a certain familiar figure will be causing all sorts of problems pitted against Superman, running through all the books in July/August. Spoiler Alert! Click here to find out who it's rumoured to be... RUMOUR: We've heard it reported that James Robinson is ending Starman late 2000 or early 2001. PATTY JERES: James always saw Starman as a finite story. RUMOUR: But is that the end of the character? There was a reported parting of ways between James Robinson and former collaborator Tony Harris on Starman, but Tony Harris has proposed taking over the Starman character and starting again with issue one after James is done. The new book "Starman: Jack Knight" would be co-written by Harris and Dan Jolly and drawn by Harris and Dusty Abel. The rumour goes however that James Robinson is not that keen on this situation and has told DC that if they do this he won't for them again. But Harris is co-creator of the Jack Knight Starman and has done good work for DC recently (JSA:Liberty File, Lazurus 5) and DC want to keep him happy. Plus James Robinson has had previous editorial clashes, including group editor Dan Raspler, who oversees Starman editor Peter Tomasi. And considering that Robinson's work is more and more in screenwriting these days, DC may believe that Starman II is worth the risk. TONY HARRIS: There was a falling out between James and myself, but we have spoken a few times recently and the notion of working together again is something that we have broached. Whether that be Starman or not remains to be seen, but I will say that my association with the Starman character is far from over. PATTY JERES: The only possible connection this one has to the truth is that there is the possibility that someday James and Tony will do a painted Starman project. No other Starman projects are in development. RAMBLINGS: We do not have a contact for James Robinson. RUMOUR: It's been confirmed that Stars & STRIPE finishes with 14, Aquaman with 75... there's a very small flurry of very small axes at DC, less like a Marvel-style execution, more like a pruning. PATTY JERES: We periodically evaluate our publishing plan and adjust it for a number of reasons, including (but not restricted to) sluggish sales. RUMOUR: So which books are getting the rumour mongers upswing of the scythe. The rumour states that Impulse goes with issue 70 in January 2001 and Hourman with 25 in February 2001. PATTY JERES: Can't confirm those. RUMOUR: But why the long lead times? The rumour goes that this is to give the creative team a chance to tie up threads and aim for an actual ending of the book. PATTY JERES: It's as much a courtesy to the readers as it is to the talent involved. Even the least popular titles have their followings and since DC, in many ways, is run by long-time comics readers, we have a lot of empathy for readers who have invested in a character and don't like to leave them hanging in mid-story. RUMOUR: And if sales do increase over that period, the scythe may well be stopped in mid swing. PATTY JERES: In my experience, this doesn't happen, mainly due to the long lead times throughout the entire cycle of soliciting, creating and releasing a comic. By the time we could see that sales did indeed improve, it's likely all the members of the creative team would have moved on to other assignments. But it's really a "never say never" situation and I'd be interested to see what such a groundswell of support would do. RUMOUR: So what does that mean? Many people believe that after a cancellation notice, sales fall to the floor. There have been exceptions to that rule though, and the circumstances of these cancellations may well fit that pattern. Basically, like in Scream 3, all bets are off. If these books are to be cancelled then that leaves the writers free to do anything. Kill characters. Change characters. Play with the form. Experiment. Anything. So here it is. An actual planned for ending for both these books, set to play out over the rest of the year. And who knows what genius twists and turns Todd Dezago and Tom Peyer will have in mind? Well, if it were true that is... Remember, a certain Swamp Thing was heading for cancellation until a bright young Alan Moore started to play... PATTY JERES: That project was an exception to most rules... RAMBLINGS: We e-mailed Tom Peyer who declined to comment. We don't have a contact for Todd. But the validity of this rumour may be soured by the following: RUMOUR: To replace these two series, DC have planned one series featuring a JSA member and another featuring a teenage hero. PATTY JERES: You're reading too much cause-and-effect here. We constantly have projects in development. RUMOUR: We're talking Dr Midnight and Wonder Girl. PATTY JERES: There have been preliminary discussions about projects using both these characters but nothing firm yet. RUMOUR: Dr Midnight will have a sequel mini-series next year with the potential to become an ongoing series while the long rumoured Wonder Girl mini will be a monthly instead. And we also hear that Brian K Vaughn will be writing Wonder Girl BRIAN VAUGHN: If it's true, nobody's told me. RUMOUR: We hear the sales of the Legion Lost mini have started to increase, instead of decreasing like most minis do. Which means it's more than likely that when the current Legion Lost storyline finishes the LoS will return to their own series. The rumours are the execs want to keep the team small, and if the monthly is greenlighted it will most definitely only be ONE monthly, Legionnaires will NOT be back. PATTY JERES: We're thrilled with response to Legion Lost -- which, by the way, seems to be following the momentum pattern of other maxiseries like Batman: Long Halloween and Dark Victory. RUMOUR: Despite Bill Rosemann's assurances in YourMan@Marvel, Spider Woman is very dead. But pleasantly surprising, despite god awful sales on Black Panther, Marvel want to keep publishing what many (well, me, basically) believe to be Marvel's most intelligent, thought provoking and plain funny comic. BILL ROSEMANN: Fact: Bill Rosemann has told Your Man @ Marvel that he just looked at the latest Marvel production schedule (that goes through April of 2001)... and SPIDER-WOMAN is still there! Panther #31 is there! RUMOUR: And all you X-freaks? Look forward to a Blink mini series for winter 2000. What, you think all those teases from Marvel were for nothing? They just want to keep the buzz going and knock Fathom out of the water. RAMBLINGS: We e-mailed Bill Rosemann. He did not comment. RUMOUR: With continuing problems over how much money Marvel owes DC for the crossover projects, DC is looking more at Dark Horse for strategic team ups. PATTY JERES: Another misuse of cause-and-effect. DC and Dark Horse have a positive ongoing relationship and continually have discussions about logical crossovers. RUMOUR: And this includes a Spyboy/Young Justice mini series, written by the writer of both series, Peter David. Look for many similar crossovers to come. PETER DAVID: That is something that is indeed in discussion. Has been for a few months. PATTY JERES: I can see how such a rumor would start - logical speculation. But nothing happening. Thank you very much! That was the Ramblings Response Crew, and you'll find them playing over at the Comics Continuum later this week. This replaces the previously announced Mania gig, due to staff shortages. Stray Projects Seemingly ignored by all the other comics news sites, Bill Sienkiewicz made a couple of surprise announcements over on www.indyworld.com. He says "On the comic front, I'm working on... a Batman/Joker miniseries that I'll both write and illustrate, two series with my former partner in crime Frank Miller, a special limited edition hardcover version of Stray Toasters, published by Grafitti Designs, with the trade paperback version by Oni Press and a new 14-page story for The Matrix website (www.whatisthematrix.com). I'm also designing a limited edition Gibson electric guitar featuring Wolverine from Marvel Comics, doing a slew of new material (online comics, animation, gallery work, etc.) for my soon-to-be mounted website (www.billsienkiewicz.com) and working on a new comics series of my own. This was not a good time to switch to decaf!" And if you're not reading Indyworld.com then do so. It's one of the best of the magazine sites on the internet. Better than this one for a start! Took His Time... Joel Meadows is selling a copy of the original and pulped printing of The League Of Gentlemen 5. See for yourself and make that bid at: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330868194 And it's a private auction, so even if you work for DC, Wildstorm or Diamond, your bosses need never know. Millar Time Wouldn't you know it but vocalist on Ramblings Response Crew has left the group and gone solo? Who does he think he is? Anyway, here's his new single called 'Talking 'Bout Authority 14 (On The Wildstorm Message Board at www.wildstorm.com) Thankfully you can hear Ramblings on backing vocals, taking the part of the Wildstorm posters which brings a little class to the whole sordid affair. There's been major editing, but the original would have gone on for sixty three minutes. MILLAR: Yes, that was Wonder Man whom Midnighter skull-split on what has to be one of the two best pages of the issue and yes, the red effect was a request by DC to tone down Frank's anatomically perfect head-split. Obviously, we were really annoyed. This, I suppose, is the downside of being owned by a big corporation. Our editor and Group Editor were really terrific, though, and managed to smooth our ruffled feathers. The only thing a creator can do in the end is walk and, the changes being rather small, we didn't feel it was necessary to do so. We believe in this book to much to let it fall into the hands of a couple of hacks. RAMBLINGS: And as for the Apollo rape sequence that's been getting people in such a blather? Doo bee doo bee doo doo doo. MILLAR: I've been reading these threads carefully and I'm delighted and fascinated by the response. And you know what? I'm not telling. I want you to draw your OWN conclusions on this one. I'm leaving this open. I wrote the scene (and subsequent follow-ups) to be ambiguous and, like all the best drama and horror, I want the reader to use his or her imagination and make up their own mind. What intrigues me about this is that we saw The Commander (again off-camera) rape two nurses last issue and Tank Man burn a maternity ward full of sleeping babies. An awful lot of people were very disturbed by this (and this was my intention), but I certainly didn't write these scenes just for shock value. The emphasis on solving real world problems highlighted at the beginning of #13 was given a superhero twist here. Weren't rape-camps and burning babies some of the most shocking things we heard about from, for example, Kosovo. And isn't Kosovo, you might have noticed, where Earth's Premiere Super-team honed their skills (according to Tank Man in #14)? As for Apollo's situation, think about the last time you were in a fight. I remember myself and three pals got jumped by a crowd as we left a pub ten years ago. I was standing there fighting these guys, worried about my pals and the next thing I knew I'd lost a tooth and my pals were half a mile in the distance, yelling abuse at the guys. Confusion abounds. Even radiotelepathy doesn't help when you've got a Hulk-style guy on your back squeezing the life out of you and your friends are telepathically screaming in your brain. I tried to make this fight as realistic as possible. Same for the big, BIG fight in #16... although The Authority fair a little better when they're angry and up against the ENTIRE Marv... Ah, just wait and buy it. I don't want Apollo to be seen in therapy because this would mean that a) I've made a firm decision on whatever the horrible thing was that was done to Apollo and b) would become a different story. I want these kind of personal details to be happening off-camera sometimes because it's rarely done in comics. I want the glimpses we have of these people to be similar to the people we know in real life. We're not with them all the time and sometimes have a little catching up to do. For example, one of the team gets married to one of the most famous women in the world between issues sixteen and seventeen. They seem so much more real to me when we don't know or see everything or actually read the thoughts in their heads in a little balloon. Does this mean Apollo's situation is being glossed over? Not at all. We should see subtle, emotional scenes over the next few issues, but letting it swamp the storyline just makes it a different kind of comic. RAMBLINGS: More familiar super characters to come? La la la boom dee doo. MILLAR: Oh yeah, there are a LOT more super-sods in The Hangar as you'll see next issue when we find out what the Hell this has all been about. Wall-crawlers, radioactive teenagers, Fantastic Families... you'll see them all gutted by your favourite superheroes very, very soon. RAMBLINGS: So why choose the Avengers? Scoo de dee do. MILLAR: I've got a neat twist I'm very pleased with next issue which will explain EVERYTHING, but I wasn't just poking fun at Marvel. I really wanted to SAY SOMETHING about the fact that the Marvel U's premiere super-team are card-carrying members of the Establishment. The same establishment who let people sleep on the streets and don't provide decent medical cover for malnourished kids. The same establishment who let the Third World starve. The Authority feels like a crusade to me at the moment. Superheroes have been useless for too long. Let's make them mean something again. This is a poke at superheroes at both DC and Marvel. Why should they always fight for the status quo? Sometimes I'd just like to see what Lex Luthor could do for the world, you know? RAMBLINGS: What projects would you have worked on if the Authority hadn't happened? Ba dam dam doo bee doo wah. MILLAR: To be honest, I'd already had three adult-oriented projects closed down at DC (Phantom Stranger, Secret Society of Super-Villains and The Saviour) and was seriously planning on going full-time as a TV writer/ director simply because I didn't have a choice. In the couple of weeks before I landed The Authority, I pitched a horror series to Channel 4 and they accepted it. It's a six episode vampire series called SIKESIDE and I'm writing episode two at the moment. Or, if my pal John Layman's reading, I'm scripting Authority #19 RAMBLINGS: And what about this top-secret Wildstorm superhero project? Yeah yeah yeah? MILLAR: I can't give any more details about the new project beyond what Rich printed in Ramblings (which every pro I know swears they hate, but they ALL read and love it really). That said, I really, really want to get started on this as soon as I have time. Planning something with Joe Quesada I can't talk about either for Marvel Knights and will get started on both once I've finished Jenny Sparks and a couple of other things RAMBLINGS: How's characterisation these days, Mark? Shenang anang anang. MILLAR: Yeah, fleshing these guys out is really important to me. I love superheroes like I love crunchy-nut Cheerios, but they all seem to talk with the same voice these days. Wouldn't it be nice if they could be cranky sometimes? Petty sometimes? Lecherous sometimes? Or just plain decent, forgiving, pleasant, witty? All the things people are every day. I just finished the final draft of #18 today and I had Apollo and The Engineer bitching about how The Doctor was really getting on their nerves. He never shows up for meetings, switches off his radiotelepathy when he's watching TV and they think he's even dodged a couple of emergencies because he was at a party. Isn't it time heroes started GOSSIPING? RAMBLINGS: And those superhero code names in full? Doo doo doo. MILLAR: The Commander, Storm-God, Atlas, The Hornet, Tank Man, Titan, Street Panther Jackflash, Cheeta, Samson, Huntsman and Disco, Phantasm RAMBLINGS: Tell us more about your vampire series, Sikeside for Channel 4. Yeah yeah yeah. MILLAR: The big difference between me and Buffy is that Sikeside is going to be the most appalling thing ever seen on TV... and I mean in terms of bad taste. It really, really, really, really is absolutely horrific and a response to all the overseas vampire dross we've been subjected to. I promise you won't have seen this stuff before. RAMBLINGS: Read this, and more, at www.wildstorm.com. Shoo bop deedoobop wah wah waaaah! Wah wah wah wah wah wah (FADE). Dateline: 18 May 2000 A slightly smaller Ramblings this week, but still a fun one. Blink And You'll Miss It Ramblings hears the rumour that Scott Lobdell is to write a Blink mini-series for Marvel. Scott Lobdell tells us "True. On the record. All four parts have been written and will be illustrated by Dustin Ngyen (or however you spell his name!) The amazing artist currently doing the JET feature in GEN-ACTIVES! Dustin and I go so far back, I knew him before he was Asian!" The story goes that the series will bring Blink back into Marvel continuity Secret Origins Of The Mad Pulper Remember the glorious days of DC vs. Marvel mini-series and the Amalgam line that went with it? DC and Marvel characters shoved together into one body? And remember the week they came out late? Ever wondered why? The books were behind schedule a bit anyway, and staff raised concerns over problems caused by printing such a body of work at short notice over a weekend. However, keeping a closer eye on those books at the printer over the weekend would have cost a few thousand dollars in terms of air fare, hotel and expenses. And this was deemed too expensive. A few days before shipping, the result of such economical probity was spotted. A run of fake ads meant to reflect the Amalgam world had been replaced with the usual house ads by the printer. The proofs the editors had received over the weekend did not show the ads. And so all that week's books were pulped, authorised by Paul Levitz, at an estimated cost of $325,000. And thus the Mad Pulper vowed that with great pulping power comes great responsibility. Thenceforth, would only use his power to fix actual mistakes in books, give credit where credit's legally contractual, deeply annoy Kyle Baker ensuring he'll never work for DC and ensure that the words Marvel and Vaginal would never be printed in close proximity ever again! But seriously Paul, you're doing a wonderful job. Nuggets From Rumour Mines Our Ramblings miners have been hard at work all week, hacking (and I use that word deliberately) away at the harsh faces of comic publishers, and collecting in a bag anything that gleams. So let's see what's on display, rumour wise. RUMOUR: We hear that Richard Starkings, letterer fame, will finally be launching Hip Flask, featuring his hippo detective, as a printed, fully distributed comic book this autumn, followed by other creator-owned titles. RAMBLINGS: No response from Richard Starkings by press time. RUMOUR: We hear the combined rumour that Kurt Busiek and George Perez plan to leave Avengers at the end of this year. They will then go to DC to do a new ongoing series featuring DC's golden age characters. RAMBLINGS: Kurt makes it a policy not to respond to Ramblings rumours, and we have no contact for George Perez. RUMOUR: Wildstorm will be starting a NEW line of comics featuring characters created by Jim Lee, Joe Mad and J Scott Campbell. But none of those three will write or draw the comics. So we might see them on time then. RAMBLINGS: No response from Wildstorm by press time. Jim Lee declined to comment. We do not have an e-contact for Mad or Campbell. RUMOUR: Spawn will meet Kiss in a one-shot this autumn. RAMBLINGS: No response from TMP by press time. RUMOUR: Despite statements in the last Ramblings by Warren Ellis, Ramblings hears that yes, Cassidy is doing other projects at Wildstorm aside from Planetary... admittedly just a solo WildCATS oneshot. We're sure he'll be able to fit that in. RAMBLINGS: John Cassiday's off touring and Wildstorm did not respond by press time. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] Interview By Tim O'Shea [Tim O'Shea is a 31-year old desktop publisher who lives in Atlanta with his wife and four-month old son. Tim, who has been reading comic books on a weekly basis since 1977, thinks he's the only rabid comic book fan who intends never to attend a convention.] CHASING D. CURTIS JOHNSON By Tim O'Shea TCR Senior Staff Writer Copyright 2000 - The Comic Reader - used with permission D. Curtis Johnson, co-creator (along with J.H Williams III) of the much too short-lived DC series CHASE, as well as writer of the currently on-sale JLA #42 (and the recent JLA Jr. one-shot [part of the Sins of Youth crossover]--pick it up if ya missed it), was kind enough to answer some of my questions recently. I found that Mr. Johnson's answers delve into directions and ideas (much like his writing) that your typical interview doesn't approach. TCR: A visit to your website (http://deeptht.armory.com/~crisper/) quickly reveals your love of writing, not to mention a lengthy documentation of your dreams (going back to 1988). Do any concepts that appear in your dreams ever get worked into your comic book writing in some form? JOHNSON: Not that I can think of. There have been a number of elements that have popped up in my dreams that I've thought, "I should find a use for that someday," but I can't think of anything that's been used yet. It's a pretty rare dream of mine, though, that doesn't have some element-- a character, a setting, an image, an event-- that couldn't have some really good story use. TCR: Chase lost her father at a young age, as did you. How much did your loss influence how you developed Chase and her family dynamics, if at all? JOHNSON: As a matter of fact, it wasn't something I thought about at all while we were producing CHASE. The circumstances of her loss and mine are so different that it hadn't really occurred to me that we might have that in common, in any way, until after we'd been canceled. TCR: CHASE was your first comic book work, stemming from a proposal you did with J. H. Williams III to DC. Originally you pitched a SENTINEL series proposal, which was declined. Do you have any interest in writing Green Lanterns in the future? Are you more of a Pro-Kyle or Pro-Hal GL fan? Did your use of Hal's cousin Air Wave in issue 9 of CHASE signal an interest in bringing the character back? JOHNSON: What I really liked about Hal Jordan, as Green Lantern was not so much Hal himself... I really liked the Corps. The whole idea of an organization of fantastic beings from all over the galaxy, regimented and trained and devoted to protection. Sort of a mixture of the National Guard and the Texas Rangers, I guess... The appeal of Kyle, on the other hand, is that he's been handed the classic "with great power comes great responsibility" problem, and he hasn't let that turn into a burden for him. He's an optimist at heart. Not only does he save the world all the time, he has a great time doing it. I was one of those people who felt really burned by the loss of Hal and the introduction to Kyle originally, but in the last couple of years I've really come to like-- and maybe even prefer-- Kyle as a character. He's definitely the JLA member I most enjoy writing. He's the JLA member whose solo book I'd most enjoy doing. As for Air Wave, the way that came around was that we knew we wanted to do a flashback story set while Hal was still GL. And I knew that I wanted the basic core of the story to be about some other hero being trapped in the bank ATM networks. So I was flipping through Who's Who and the like, trying to figure out who we'd stick in the bank network, and I hit on Air Wave. And it was immediately obvious that he was the right choice. Less a matter of specifically wanting to bring him back as a matter of choosing exactly the right character for the story. TCR: Is it flattering or disturbing when you see other writers utilize Chase in their books? For example, what have you thought of John Ostrander's version of Chase in Martian Manhunter? Particularly the recent issue which reveals that Manhunter had fought alongside CHASE's superhero father, the Acro-Bat. Given the Manhunter's brief cameo in the first issue of CHASE, was it ever your intention to delve into his character more in future issues?JOHNSON: From the moment JH and I created Chase (and the Department of Extranormal Operations [DEO]) we knew that the day would come that our little girl would leave home and go off into the wide world, as it were. She's a big girl; she can take care of herself. I think she's been treated pretty well out there. We didn't really have any intent to delve into J'onn in depth in CHASE... and I think John O's got J'onn pretty well in hand. Interestingly enough, though, one of the things I did want to eventually get around to bringing back up-- you'll notice in CHASE #2 that Amanda Waller mentions that she knew Chase's father when he was alive. That was a long time ago... but I was hoping to get around to mentioning it again eventually. TCR: Speaking of Mr. Ostrander, when I interviewed him recently he paid you a compliment when he said: "He did a dynamite Amanda Waller." Particularly given their role in the second and third issues of CHASE, would you ever consider relaunching the SUICIDE SQUAD? JOHNSON: Helming a run of the SUICIDE SQUAD is probably right about dead center in my fanboy heart. I'd love to see it come back. I'd love to see John write it. I'd love to write it. The world has changed a bunch since the Squad was at its peak-- Cold War over, the technology of war and espionage completely changed-- but what really made SUICIDE SQUAD great has nothing to do with setting: It was small-time characters who you might not normally give a second glance at suddenly leaping into life, with richly realized personalities, relationships, and motivations. That's what made that book so memorable. The trappings of the Squad could be adapted to the new threats and power structures of today without changing a single thing about what makes the Squad such a great team. I'd love to see them come back into regular use. TCR: Back to Acro-Bat, when was Dr. Trap (her father's killer) going to come after CHASE. You seemed to be setting us up for that, or am I wrong? JOHNSON: Well, Dr. Trap was definitely going to appear in CHASE but not at all in the role you'd expect. She's never faced him, never confronted him even once, in all the years that he's stewed in prison. Perhaps someday we'll get the chance to tell the story of their confrontation. TCR: Given the nature of the DEO, superhero guest stars abounded in almost each issue of CHASE. Of those, certain ones stood out. Have you ever considered writing a miniseries with the partnership of Firestar/Booster Gold (from issue 4)? JOHNSON: The introduction of the Booster Gold/Firehawk relationship was developed for something very specific that we ended up putting on hold... and then we got canceled before we could get back around to it. They were intended to sort of act as this high-profile media couple... the Sean Penn and Madonna of the hero community, I guess. Causing lots of public stirs wherever they went, living the outrageously visible lifestyle, breaking up and getting back together again... which would have eventually led to a specific conclusion. Which I won't go into here, because I might find a way to use that idea in some other story someday. TCR: After rereading the CHASE run, one thing I noticed was that she held a gun on EVERY cover (except One Million, which she was not on the cover). Her use of the gun was a source of conflict between her and Batman in issues 7 and 8. Given her superhuman abilities hinted at in certain issues, would you have developed a point where she would not carry a gun? This is not an anti-gun question, mind you. In a book like Punisher, I understand why he carries a gun. But Chase has abilities that seemingly would have eliminated the need for a gun. On the other hand, given her private investigator background, the gun may be her security "blanket," the DC equivalent to Nick Fury's cigar. JOHNSON: She's a field agent for a federal law enforcement agency. Of course they're going to issue her a gun, and of course she's going to carry it. A bit that I wanted to get around to down the road (had we not been canceled) was to revisit how Chase felt about the only time she used deadly force in the series: In issue #7, she shoots and kills one of the victims of the demon-drug. True, they were monstered out at the time, but as Batman pointed out, they were still someone who should have been saved instead of slaughtered. At the time, she didn't think anything of it-- it was a split-second decision. But later on, it was going to start preying on her mind a little... TCR: I once read in an interview that you and J.H Williams had a lot of (non-superhero) potential work in the pipeline. I realize he is busy with Alan Moore on PROMETHEA, but are there any upcoming projects you two may work on in the near future? JOHNSON: Oh, yes. Definitely. It's unfortunate that the art side of the industry is so much more consuming than the writing side... JH and I have so many projects we'd like to eventually do together, we could already book the next several years of our lives... and that's not including all the other projects and opportunities that might pop up. So a lot of the projects we want to do will likely be co-create, co-plot, co-write projects, with someone else doing the art... or they won't be coming out until we're old and grey. Or maybe we'll find some way to clone JH and Mick so all our ideas can have their art. TCR: A running gag or bits throughout CHASE were those nameless heroes walking through the DEO offices. Did you or J.H. come up with these characters? JOHNSON: Generally thrown in by JH. Actually, even the Martian Manhunter appearance in the halls in #1 was just a little throwaway moment JH put in. When I saw it, I had to give him a bit of dialogue. The one sort of unknown character wandering around that was deliberately concocted in advance was Ivan, the wannabe who we see in issues #1 and #6. He was there for a reason. Yet another dangling thread in the tapestry. TCR: You and J.H. firmly captured the feel of Gotham in issues 7 and 8 of CHASE. Any interest in writing an issue of GOTHAM KNIGHTS? JOHNSON: Not really. I think I'm about the only writer in comics who is less interested in writing Batman and Superman, and is more interested in writing these strange sort of second-string characters. TCR: When creating a comic book character, do you develop it thinking; well this person can only work in the DC universe, or are there characters that you'd rather develop for an independent title? JOHNSON: It's my opinion that it is impossible to create an interesting character that could not be ported to some degree from one setting into another-- especially if you're not breaking out of your genre. Create an interesting DCU character, and no matter how tied to DC continuity you think he/she might be, I bet you could create a version-- with just a few changes-- in the Marvel universe that was just as interesting, and just as heavily tied into their continuity. Or which could support an entirely independent setting, free of any existing continuities. The advantage of creating a character for an existing shared universe, of course, is that you have this wealth of back-story and setting to hook into. The advantage of creating a stand alone character is that they aren't constrained by the limitations of all that backstory and setting. TCR: You just wrote an issue of JLA 42 (Post-Morrison/Pre-Waid), which featured The Atom. He's about as far removed from the cloak and dagger covert world that you delved into with CHASE. What attracted you to coming up with a story featuring Ray Palmer? Also what's your favorite era of ATOM: the classic 1960s version, the Gil Kane SWORD OF ATOM, Stern's POWER OF THE ATOM, or Dan Jurgens' "Help Me I'm A Teenage Atom"? JOHNSON: JLA #42 was just an idea that sort of popped into my head at some point. It's the sort of story that simply doesn't exist without the Atom. It's a FANTASTIC VOYAGE tale: Shrink down into someone's body to save them. That's inherently Ray's turf. I'd have to say that SWORD OF THE ATOM is what lies most deeply in my heart; it's the first Atom story I ever read. TCR: Klarion, the catalyst for the recent Sins of Youth crossover, appeared in issue 5 of CHASE. Was his role in Sins your idea? How much fun did you have writing JLA Jr.? Did you find yourself wishing it would go past one issue, or would that shatter the novelty of Batboy and his superpowered playmates? JOHNSON: I think Klarion's appearance in SoY was Eddie Berganza's idea... Since Eddie was our editor on CHASE, it might very well have been why Klarion was on his mind. I had a lot of fun writing JLA Jr. Once I'd worked out the sort of major beats for the story-- Anarky helping them get to the Watchtower, the tower's defense systems failing to recognize them, the Seven Enemies of Man statues representing some of the de-aged heroes' new faults-- it came together very smoothly. But, as with any story that's based on a simple gag, SoY wouldn't have worked as a long-term thing. You get in, you take a quick spin, see the sights, and get right back out. Better to leave readers wanting more, than wishing they'd gotten less. TCR: As you've written on your website, CHASE "debuted in the middle of the worst sales crisis the industry has seen in years." What do you think of the state of the industry now? Chase lasted longer than most new Marvel series do these days (granted DC is far more financially stable than Marvel). When you do launch a new series at DC, do you think it will have a better chance of survival? JOHNSON: Clearly we're not out of the woods yet, but I see little signs here and there that the groundwork is being laid for an upswing. The future success of comics might require the abandonment of some of our long-held traditions, or radical changes in how we do things-- things like format and channels of distribution-- but that's okay. Mutation is the key to survival; change is the engine of longevity. We lived through millennial fever and now it's The Beginning again, where Anything Can Happen. Can you tell I just finished reading the last issue of The Invisibles? TCR: Any new series potentially coming from you in the near term that you'd like to discuss? JOHNSON: I'm working on the JLA 80-Page Giant right now, so I have not been feverishly pursuing any new projects (especially not major ongoing endeavors), but once that's done there's a couple of pitches I have put together that I intend to start making some phone calls about. TCR: Are there any Marvel characters you'd like to tackle? SHIELD seems like it'd be something right up your alley. JOHNSON: Yeah, I'd have a lot of fun writing a SHIELD book, I think. Iron Man is appealing to me for some reason; I think that's just because I like power armor. Doctor Strange; there's a lot of things I'd like to say about the world that he might be the appropriate spokesman for. Thor, maybe. And on the mutant side, Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch. There are a handful of characters I loved just totally out of context when I was much younger, too. Drax the Destroyer and Moondragon, Devil-Slayer, stuff like that. I really like Marvel's villains, too. I think guys like Korvac and Kang the Conque