---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 274 1999 EAGLE AWARD NOMINEE 7/21/2000 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 ______________________________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] Submissions, mailing address, web page [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] Manhunter from Marathon, IL ........... John Jones [6] Interview: Jaime Antonio .............. Paul Dale Roberts [7] Former Teenage Comic Book Junkie ...... Jason James Larsen [8] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [9] My View:REINVENTING COMICS ............ David LeBlanc [10] Top 100 Comics for July ............... Diamond Distributors [11] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [12] HYPE! Section ......................... Various ______________________________________________________________________ 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 strips: Steve Conley's ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS AND DR. CYBORG by Alan Gross & Mike Oeming ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Editor, the Network Administration Team or the members and users of The ComicBook Network. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Back Issues, Web Page SUBMISSIONS ----------- To submit an article, review, column, etc. to our e-mag, simply E-mail it to the editor at: ComicBkNet@aol.com Reviews of mainstream books are welcome and we encourage reviews of indies and self published material as we feel that material deserves more exposure to the general public. If you write intelligent, coherent, and timely reviews of anything it will almost always be printed so give us a shot. Commentary on the state of the industry, and personal observations and reflections related to comics are *most* likely to be included in our publication. PLEASE, no material on Gaming, role playing, collectible card games or other hobbies or collectibles other than comic books. That does not include plugs for web pages UNLESS they are concerned with print comic books. We do not promote web comics as we do not consider them to be comic books. SEND US YOUR WORK ----------------- We also accept product for review purposes. Advanced copies of comic books will not be returned but anything sent to us *will* be reviewed in the ComicBook Net Emag. Send all material to: David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 Material is generally reviewed in the order received and be advised that we work a few weeks in advance so your review may not be in the magazine immediately. Advanced copies are therefore encouraged so the review will occur prior to your product hitting the stores. THE Comic Book Net WEB PAGE http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ---------------- If you have access to the World Wide Web, please stop by and visit our web page! On our web page, you can find the latest issue of our E-Mag, as well as all back issues and an annotated index. You'll also find important information and other neat features like links to the HTML version of the current issue of this magazine at DIGITAL WEBBING, [http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem], some of the comic companies and creators' web pages and many other Comic Book related links! You can also find some back issues at America Online, by going to Keyword: COMICS, then choose the menu item _Comic Book Forum_ and then going to the _Comics Library_ from there. These are non-zipped text files. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc THIS JUST IN - this issue, #274, is the 3rd largest ever! Be sure to be here next week for our landmark, super-special, chrome plated, divisible-by-25 anniversary issue! That is if we don't get hit with a restraining order first. Read on . . . Sometimes I do not know what to write in this column and sometimes something is dropped right into my lap. So it is such this week. This will be a behind the scenes look at yet another detail of how the Emag comes together. This time the subject is the new submission. First let's review EXACTLY what is published every week, above this column, as public notice about what we accept for column material: *** "Reviews of mainstream books are welcome and we encourage reviews of indies and self published material as we feel that material deserves more exposure to the general public. If you write intelligent, coherent, and timely reviews of anything it will almost always be printed so give us a shot." "Commentary on the state of the industry, and personal observations and reflections related to comics are *most* likely to be included in our publication." *** I call your attention to the phrases "almost always be printed" and "*most* likely" in the above. This week I got a submission for a column and the person only used their Email name, lets just assign a fake one for this column and call him/her Garbonzo. I wrote back to Garbonzo in a short and succinct fashion to inform him/her that I do not publish anonymous articles and unless they attached a real name to the article it would not be run. The response I got back was not only lengthy, compared to my request, but rather surprising from my point of view. Garbonzo first informed me that under international, American and International law he/she asserts Garbonzo is his/her real and actual name for Email submissions, having established a reputation and identity on several chat boards using it (never mind that Garbonzo later admits in the same message he/she can't reveal the real name thereby voiding this claim). Next Garbonzo informs me I have no legal moral or ethical right to invade his/her privacy. I of course come back that a submission is a request to publish, one I politely declined under a long standing policy. I am not violating any "perceived" rights, I am setting out conditions under which I will accept a submission. Then we get into the reasons of anonymity - the person is a professional and the work won't be judged "fairly" if the identity is revealed. ME - Sorry, other pros make public their views on comics and the industry all the time - some in our Emag. If that is something you are not willing to do, then we have nothing more to discuss. And, the parting shot was that I was aligning myself with the ""what do YOU have to hide" crowd of thought police". So, I get a submission, I ask for a name, and get back some pseudo legal jumbo, a claim of professional anonymity and get called a name. I should have just let it go. However, I felt I had to let this person know that he/she made several wrong assertions, had some basic misconceptions about what we try to accomplish and aside from having an inflated ego was being an ass about this. However, I would not call names in return - just try to be informative about the above in a polite manner. - My forum is by invitation not open to the general public. Only what I decide to put in gets in. It is not Usenet or a chat room where you can "become" another identity and say what you will without consequence. - despite the fact I don't regular make it kknown in the Emag (because it would waste space), there are "other" rules I uphold like a weekly deadline, like no excessive profanity, like using a real name for columns. Ignorance of these rules ahead of time, or the fact that they are not publicly posted, does not mean they are not valid. The mailing goes out under my email accounts and is posted to MY web page. I decide what goes into it. It is that simple. - as far as the "thought Police" crack, I poointed out I have always afforded letter writers the opportunity to withhold name and addresses in the Emag and defended them against those who would use that fact to disparage that person's point of view as being invalid. Those in the know from the BBS days know as a moderator I did not tolerate such attacks in the forums that allowed screen names. I closed with my regrets that Garbonzo would not participate under my conditions. The response was about as expected. This time it was closer to a threat of a lawsuit claiming my unpublished conditions for submissions is a violation of Constitutional guarantees! (huh?) I wonder if this person really is a pro, and if so if he/she has ever had work rejected by a publisher and tried to force them to print it. Better yet - has he/she submitted anything to a newspaper or magazine as "GARBONZO" and then threatened to sue when they would not use it? Anyway, it goes on about how illegal and immoral my policy is, how it invades the constitutional right to privacy (HUH? All you have to do is say, "OK, I won't tell you my real name, thanks anyway." - I am not invading your privacy - I am not doing anything to find out who you are. I am ASKING. If you don't want to tell me then go away! I never got to send that response though - as you will see) AND because I recognized the fact that he/she called me a name means that I admit I know my policy is wrong (huh?) And the ending was about what I had expected having read this far, it is always the same - I have been there many times before in BBS land, Usenet and chat rooms. I am called "a penny ante little tin webmaster" and of course "all further emails from you will be deleted unread," followed by more venom about hypocrisy and foolishness. It is clear to me this person cares more about themselves than any honest discussion about comics. They enjoy this second persona they have created over the years and so they defend it with vigor and indignation when told when you play here you play by our rules or you don't play at all. Remember how I began this column and showed you something in the emag every week? - "almost always be printed" and is "*most* likely"? Those are conditional phrases so people do not falsely assume anything they send will get printed. And of course the name calling is a good indication of just how "professional" this person really is. Speaking of professionals, check out this stuff on the racks this week: CARTOON BOOKS Castle Waiting Vol 2 #1, 2.95 <---Pick of the Week! CROSSGEN COMICS Scion #2, 2.95 DARK HORSE COMICS Dark Horse Maverick 2000, 3.95 Sergio Aragones Groo Jamboree TPB, 9.95 DC COMICS Jenny Sparks Secret History Of The Authority #2 (Of 5), 2.50 JSA #14, 2.50 Millennium Edition Flash Comics #1, 3.95 Orion #4, 2.50 Tom Strong #9, 2.95 FANBOY COMICS Sidekicks #1, 2.75 IMAGE COMICS Astounding Space Thrills Comic Book #2, 2.95 Savage Dragon #76, 2.95 Geeze Louise! How dare I reject the famous Garbonzo!( I stopped reading Usenet forums, and AOL boards long ago and do not participate on the various web based sites springing up every day so I honestly have never heard of Garbonzo before!) The tradition of "real names" on columns goes way back to the very beginning of The Comic Book Network itself, which predates this 5 1/2 year old Emag. We, the founders, decided we wanted an open forum among friends. That the subject matter was the driving force and everyone should stand up for what they were saying and in return would be protected from abuse by others. It worked then and it has here ever since. We have had one particularly nasty exchange in the columns that I wish did not occur, but it did - and the parties were not anonymous. Email is so easy to access these days that anyone can be anyone they want and not be traced except by their ISP. Anyone could conceivably submit an article, give a fake name, and I would never know the difference. It may have already happened. I don't demand any proof of anyone's identity, I only ask that they be honest. If that is too hard to do then I don't really care what they have to say about comics. Remember the comics? That is the important thing here - not inflating an ego and increasing someone's online "fake name" popularity. David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note: Letters of comment may be used in future issues of CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. +++++ Subj: Stan Lee Interview in www.scifidimensions.com From: Chris.Snider@sciatl.com (Snider, Chris) Dear Moderator, I'm the editor of the online science fiction magazine scifidimensions (http://www.scifidimensions.com). In addition to commentary and original fiction, we include interviews, articles and reviews covering books, TV, movies, comics, science and the paranormal. Why am I contacting you? Because in August 2000 we'll be featuring an interview with none other than Stan "The Man" Lee - we'll talk about X-Men, Spider-man, Stan Lee Media and more! If it pleases you, feel free to distribute this announcement to your subscribers, or anyone else you know who may be interested. I also invite you to join our egroup (scifidimensions-subscribe@egroups.com) to be automatically notified when the Stan Lee interview gets posted. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, John C. Snider, Editor www.scifidimensions.com +++++ Once in a while we get a request for help. I do not know how to help this person but perhaps our readers do: Subj: help Date: 7/20/00 2:11:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: dawn@bikesonline.com (Dawn Moore) Hello, My name's Dawn Moore and I work for a company BikesOnline.com. I have been set a wonderful task of finding out how many bicycle comics or comic strips there are in the world. I was wondering if you would have any information on this or if you know where I could get this information. Thank you for your help and time, Dawn +++++ Subj: Countdown to Comic-Con Date: 7/16/00 9:00:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: cbleistein@cbldf.org (Chris Bleistein) THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND - http://www.cbldf.org COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL, held JULY 20-23 in San Diego, is just around the corner. If you’re going to the show, or still undecided, make sure you check out the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND’s plans at http://www.cbldf.org We have a star-studded cast of creators signing at the CBLDF booth (#1345 & 1347) including WILL EISNER, KURT BUSIEK, PETER DAVID, FRANK CHO, SCOTT MCCLOUD, and many more. This year’s show will climax with our second annual San Diego CBLDF MEMBERS' PARTY, held SATURDAY NIGHT at 8:00 pm in the South Tower of the Marriott Hotel. Be sure to check out all the details of these and other events at www.cbldf.org. Hope to see you there! +++++ From: inkdevil@yahoo.com (Jeff Wamester) This is a press release to let comic creators know about the comic creators' contest at InkDevil.com for 500 copies of winners comic printed FREE: INKDEVIL.COM ( http://www.inkdevil.com ) ONLINE COMICS CONTEST InkDevil.com is having a two month online contest for online comics posted at the site sponsored by Coventry Press (http://www.coventrypress.com). the PRIZE: 500 copies of the winners comic printed (printed in a black and white format with color cover) and an ad campaign on InkDevil.com free!! The contest starts July 20, 2000 and lasts until September 20, 2000. The winner will be determined by the following factors; each worth 50 % of the total score needed to win (scored by rankings in each category): 1)Total number of votes for your comic based on clicks on the vote links on the bottom of each page of the InkDevil.com host site. These links are sponsored by various companies and visitors are required to visit the sponsoring company's site in order to register a vote. 2)Rankings by quality determined by the InkDevil Staff. *This ranking will be judged by the quality of each comic. Quality of the comic is based upon: storytelling skills (50%) quality of art (30%) design (20%) The contest starts July 20th, 2000 and ends September 15th, 2000. Anyone can enter at any time before September 20th, 2000. The winner of the contest will be announced and notified on InkDevil.com and by email (make sure you include a valid email with your registration) 2 weeks after the September 20th end date. Go to InkDevil.com ( http://www.inkdevil.com) to get the rules, register and enter the contest. Any questions? mailto: inkdevil@inkdevil.com ===== Thanks! Jeff Wamester ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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: John Jakes is a western and Civil War novels writer. Michael Moorcock is a fantasy writer. James Cawthorn is a comic book artist. What comic book character do they have in common? Dave Lathrop was the first of many to know the character all these creators wrote or plotted was CONAN. He wins "X-Men: Mutant Massacre TP" (and a certificate for $10 off an order of $50.00 or more) from our sponsor Discount Comic Book Service. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: Which grade school classmate did Scott McCloud credit with turning him on to comic books? 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 North American box office is conquered by ``X-Men'' LOS ANGELES, July 16 (Reuters) - Going from comic book superheroes to box office superstars, ``X-Men'' stormed the North American box office with a $57.5 million launch, the fourth highest three-day opening ever, according to studio estimates issued Sunday. The latest in a string of summer movies targeted at young males, the $75 million-budgeted ``X-Men'' boasts an ensemble cast including Australian unknown Hugh Jackman, stage veterans Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, Oscar winner Anna Paquin and pinups Famke Janssen and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Despite lukewarm reviews, the film stole viewers from the previous weekend's champ, ``Scary Movie'' (Miramax Films), which slipped to No. 2 with $26.1 million (10-day total, $89 million). ``The Perfect Storm'' (Warner Bros.) fell one place to No. 3 with $17.5 million in its third weekend (17-day total, $128.9 million). ``X-Men'' replaces ``Scary Movie'' as the second-biggest opening of the year, after ``Mission: Impossible 2'' ($57.9 million). It also ranks No. 4 in the overall three-day standings, behind three sequels -- ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'' and ``M:I-2.'' It averaged a stunning $19,000 per theatre. EXPECTATIONS EXCEEDED Executives at Twentieth Century Fox, which released ``X-Men'' in 3,025 theatres across the United States and Canada, had gone into the weekend targeting a $35 million opening at best. As it turned out, the film opened to $21 million on Friday alone, according to producer Ralph Winter. Exit surveys indicated males made up 65 percent of the audience that day, while the overall audience was evenly split on either side of 25 years of age. Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc. Based on a Marvel comic book series launched in 1963, ``X-Men'' pits mutant superheroes led by the telepathic Xavier (Stewart) against a band of renegades led by Holocaust survivor Magneto (McKellen). The film was directed by Bryan Singer, best known for crime drama ``The Usual Suspects.'' Marvel Studios President Avi Arad said he had received death threats on the Internet from hard-core ``X-Men'' fans during the making of the film. But he reported that ``the geeks are elated'' by the comic book's transition to the big screen. Although the large cast was ``confusing as hell,'' Arad said Singer had succeeded in making ``a sentimental movie in the middle of an action movie, and that's not an easy thing to do.'' Marvel is a unit of Marvel Enterprises Inc. (MVL.N). Winter said the film's ``emotionally engaging'' characters were a major part of its appeal. All the cast members have been signed for two sequels, but no work has begun yet. The film also opened strongly in Australia, though no figures were available, and launches in Britain in mid-August, Winter said. +++++ Mutant 'X-men' Overpower Box Office LOS ANGELES (AP) - The ``X-men'' have good box-office genes. The comic-book adaptation about genetic mutants opened at No. 1, delivering a superhuman debut of $57.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. It was the second-highest opening gross this year, just below the $57.8 million ``Mission: Impossible 2'' took in over its first weekend. ``X-Men'' also had the best debut ever in July, the fourth-highest opening of all time and the best ever for a non-sequel or prequel. ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' and ``Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'' are Nos. 1 and 2, followed by ``Mission: Impossible 2.'' ``In the immortal words of Phil Rizzuto, 'Holy cow,''' said Tom Sherak, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released ``X-men.'' ``Scary Movie,'' last weekend's top film, slipped to second place but held strong with $26.1 million, pushing its take to $89 million in 10 days. Playing in 3,025 cinemas, ``X-men'' averaged $19,008 a theater, compared to $8,280 in 3,152 locations for ``Scary Movie.'' The two movies, plus solid returns for holdover films, helped lift the overall box office for the second straight weekend after a slump in June. The top 12 movies grossed $148.8 million, up 39 percent over the same weekend last year. ``X-men'' accounted for 38.6 percent of that overall gross and far exceeded predictions by industry analysts. ``Anything over $40 million would have been great,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office. ``We knew this would be the No. 1 movie, but it performed way beyond expectations.'' With two robust weekends, Hollywood is back on track to match last year's record summer revenues of $3 billion. So far this year, summer grosses are about even or may be slightly ahead of last summer's, Dergarabedian said. Final studio figures for the weekend will be released Monday. ``X-men,'' based on the Marvel comic series that debuted in the 1960s, tells the story of a battle between good and evil among mutants who are scorned and mistrusted by the rest of humanity. The cast includes Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry and Anna Paquin. ``X-men'' received generally favorable reviews. Its PG-13 rating opened up a huge teen audience, and the movie had strong appeal for older movie-goers who may have read the comic books as children. The presence of Shakespearean-trained actors Stewart and McKellen also helped ``X-men'' draw adults, Sherak said. ``What did Alec Guinness do for 'Star Wars?''' Sherak said. ``It's the same thing here. They gave 'X-men' the look of a real movie, not a comic-book movie. They added credibility.'' In limited debuts, the ensemble drama ``The Five Senses'' averaged $14,000 a theater at two New York City movie houses. ``Chuck & Buck,'' a dark comedy about a man's obsession with a boyhood buddy, averaged $10,000 a cinema in seven theaters. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released Monday. 1. ``X-men,'' $57.5 million. 2. ``Scary Movie,'' $26.1 million. 3. ``The Perfect Storm,'' $17.5 million. 4. ``The Patriot,'' $11 million. 5. ``Disney's The Kid,'' $10.5 million. +++++ X-Men's Record $57.5 Million Opening Weekend Box Office Launches Major Movie Franchise; Feature Film Debut Underscores Value of Marvel's 4700+ Character Portfolio NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2000--With a record North American opening box office of $57.5 million - the largest box office ever for an original (non-sequel) film - Marvel Enterprises, Inc.'s (NYSE: MVL) X-Men character franchise has been solidly established in film by the Twentieth Century Fox summer blockbuster, X-Men: The Movie. With a substantial pipeline of entertainment projects coming over the next 3-5 years, Marvel views the X-Men: The Movie opening as the launch of the "new Marvel," an entertainment company focused on exploiting its characters in various media over the long term. F. Peter Cuneo, Marvel's CEO, commented: "Twentieth Century Fox, led by Bryan Singer and an incredible cast and crew, have brought Marvel's X-Men to life on the big screen, and in so doing have demonstrated the tremendous commercial potential of X-Men and the entire Marvel Character Universe. Marvel's core strength is great story telling, and over the past 60 years we have developed a collection of over 4700 characters, each with distinct personality traits, challenges, allies and nemeses. Even before the release of X-Men: The Movie, the project's visibility served to highlight our company and character brands and contributed to accelerated deal flow at our Marvel Studios division. Under Avi Arad's leadership, Marvel Studios has contracted for an unprecedented slate of 23 Marvel properties to appear in major motion pictures, television shows or direct-to-video features in the coming years." Avi Arad, Marvel Studios CEO, commented, "With the significant advances that have been made in special effects and computer graphics over the past several years, our characters and their unique attributes can now be realistically portrayed in live-action, as was clearly demonstrated in X-Men: The Movie. The immensely strong initial showing for X-Men augers well for future sequels, as well as our slate of films in production or pre production, including Spiderman (Sony), The Hulk (Universal), Fantastic Four (Fox), Blade II (New Line), Ghost Rider (Crystal Sky), and Captain America, Thor, and Deadpool, among others in a 15-character agreement with Artisan." While much of the financial contribution from X-Men: The Movie has already been recorded in earlier periods, Marvel will benefit from revenues from a broad toy line from its Toy Biz division and from other new licensing and comic book opportunities stimulated by the film's strong performance. Revenues from the X-Men toy line will be recorded primarily in the third and fourth quarters of 2000. X-Men sales will be further supported by the home video release as well as the X-Men cartoon launching in the Fall on Kids WB. CONTACT: FOR TOY BIZ/MARVEL: BENDER HELPER IMPACT Jeffrey Klein, Adam Fenton 212/689-6360 jeff-klein@bhimpact.com adam-fenton@bhimpact.com or Contact: JAFFONI & COLLINS David Collins, Richard Land 212/835-8500 mvl@jcir.com +++++ Toysrus.com Hit by X-Mania; Announces Hot New X-Men Products, Free Gift Offers, and Sweepstakes WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2000-- Over a Quarter Million Fans Have Already Visited "Marvel's X-Men Official Online Store" Toysrus.com (www.toysrus.com), a leading retailer of children's products on the Internet, threw its virtual doors wide open offering full availability of previously hard-to-find toys and collectibles on their site's exclusive channel, "Marvel's X-Men Official Online Store." Over 260,000 fans of the classic X-Men property had already flocked to the site (www.toysrus.com/xmen) in recent weeks in advance of the highly anticipated summer movie. Now in its 36th year, X-Men has become the most successful comic book property of all time, with worldwide comic sales of over $400 million. Based on the popular comic book franchise, the 20th Century Fox blockbuster film, "X-Men" opened July 14th with an all star cast featuring Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, and Ian McKellan. "We think this will be one of the hottest movies and toy properties of the summer," said Greg Ahearn, vice president of marketing, Toysrus.com. "We're already seeing tremendous interest in the site from fans and collectors. A number of X-Men products are looking like they are going to be in huge demand right through the holiday season." Projected top selling X-Men merchandise online includes the Toad, Wolverine and Storm 2 packs of 8-inch collectible figures from Toy Biz. Each pack contains a figure modeled after the classic comic character and one based on the character's new look from X-Men The Movie. There will be only 15,000 of each figure available and they can only be purchased at Toysrus.com. Also, forecasted in hot demand for collectors will be the X-Men: The Movie Collector Set (Toy Biz), featuring all 11 action figures; Collectible Wolverine Letter Opener (Collectible Concepts Group), a pewter replica of Wolverine's forearm; and the Collectible Cyclops Replica Visor (Collectible Concepts Group), which is cast in resin from Cyclops' original visor worn in the movie. In conjunction with the movie, Toysrus.com is offering a free online contest "Classified: The X-Men Sweepstakes," in which fans can register for a chance to win X-Men related prizes. Prizes include a trip for four to Universal ORLANDO(SM), a customized Titan Motorcycle, like the one Wolverine rides in the X-Men movie, a prototype sculpture of an X-Men action figure, a collectible X-Men cover from Wizard Magazine and a fantasy prize in which one lucky winner will be illustrated as a character in a Marvel Cybercomic. The sweepstakes entry deadline is July 28th. In addition, fans who visit the X-Men channel and purchase $10 or more of X-Men product until August 1, will receive a "X-Men Classified Capsule" with their order. This capsule contains more than $20 worth of collectible X-Men merchandise and offers from Toysrus.com. The Toysrus.com X-Men channel is also featuring movie trailers, links to partner sites, exclusive content including character biographies, cyber comics, and free downloads of comic artwork. +++++ Platinum Studios Selected as First Streaming Animation Content Provider for Microsoft's Windows Media Player 7 Platinum Studio's All-New Comic Book Animated Webisodes To be Showcased to Millions of Windows Media Users BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Platinum Studios, Hollywood's premier company for comic book to film adaptation, has been tapped by Microsoft to serve as the first animation content provider for its just-released Windows Media Player 7, it was announced by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, CEO of Platinum. As a result of the content agreement, Platinum Studios will premiere select "webisodes" from PlatinumStudios.com, the upcoming official online home for the company's comic book characters. Produced entirely by Platinum Studios, the original television-quality streaming animated series feature such Platinum-controlled titles as Storm & Ember, based on the multi-national hit graphic album Storm; the best-selling horror comic in the world Dylan Dog; the cult hit U.S. comic book The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius; and the best-selling Italian comic book Legs Weaver. Set to launch 4th quarter 2000, PlatinumStudios.com will serve as home to the company's universe of characters and series, which will also be broadly distributed to both online and offline media. PlatinumStudios.com's original animated webisodes and online comics are based on works by many of the world's most celebrated comic book artists and creators. "We are delighted to have been chosen by Microsoft as a content provider for its highly anticipated Windows Media Player 7," said Rosenberg. "We are excited by this significant opportunity to showcase Platinum Studios' original animation to the millions of Windows users worldwide, as we prepare for our launch of PlatinumStudios.com." "We were immediately impressed by the outstanding quality of Platinum Studios' original animated comic book series and we are pleased to be able to offer this breakthrough work on Windows Media Player 7. With its state of the art streaming animation and CD-quality soundtracks by major acts, Platinum Studios' animation content provides users with the ability to enjoy the full spectrum of the Windows Media Player 7," said Curtis Beck, Business Development Manager for Microsoft Corporation. Platinum Studios is a developer and creator of content for film, television and New Media and has earned a reputation as a diversified, producer-based provider of outstanding online/offline content in the global marketplace. In addition to developing original entertainment properties, Platinum Studios cultivates an extensive and growing library of over 1,000 comic book characters to create global franchise properties encompassing the full range of film, television, multimedia, licensing and merchandising on a worldwide basis. The Studio has assembled an exciting slate of high-profile feature films set for production including Cowboys & Aliens, based on Rosenberg's original upcoming comic book; Nathan Never, an inventive futuristic buddy-action film for DreamWorks SKG based on the successful Italian comic title; Dead of Night For Miramax/Dimension Films, based on the top-selling action horror comic book Dylan Dog; Ghosting, a suspense tale set on a college campus, also for Miramax/Dimension Films; Million Dollar Heroes, an original property created by Rosenberg for New Line Cinema; and Trace of Chalk and Teen Witch, two feature films produced in association with Miramax/Dimension Films under their international local language banner. Together with his creative development team, Rosenberg transforms select titles from the company's vast library into global film franchises effectively meeting the growing audience demand. Rosenberg launched Platinum Studios following a successful, high-profile career in the comic book industry as founder and head of Malibu Comics. As principal of Malibu Comics, Rosenberg gained an industry-wide reputation for translating comic titles into feature film blockbusters when he developed Men in Black for Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. Men in Black ranks as the highest grossing comic to film adaptation, generating over $580 million box office worldwide, demonstrating the tremendous appetite for comic book-based filmed entertainment. Windows Media Player 7 sets the standard for all-in-one integration, ease of use, unmatched digital audio and video quality, and more personalization options for mainstream consumers. By breaking the mold of confusing user experiences and the need to use up to four different products to do all your digital media activities, Windows Media Player 7 offers the first all-in-one easy to use media player for mainstream consumers. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Platinum Studios was established in 1997 by Chairman and CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Media is encouraged to view Platinum Studios' animation by visiting the beta version of the company's Web site, www.platinumstudios.com. Images that accompany the story are available at: http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/PlatinumDotComLogo.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/Platinum-Studios-Letters.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/PlatLogo-COL.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/Plat-Barry-PROMO.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/Plat-Chars-Plogo.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/Plat-Legs-Promo.jpg http://www.platinumstudios.com/images/Plat-Storm-Promo.jpg For more information, please contact: in Los Angeles: Steve Syatt, or James Hughes, both at 818-501-0700, or in New York: Blanche Frankel, 212-679-4750, all of SSA Public Relations; or Ron Friedman of Platinum Studios, 310-276-3900. SOURCE Platinum Studios +++++ Franklin Electronic Publishers Taps Toonscape for Digital Downloads of Comic Books and Strips to eBookman* Burlington, NJ and San Diego, Calif. (July 18, 2000) - Franklin Electronic Publishers (NYSE: FEP) and Toonscape announced today plans to provide digital downloads of comic strips and comic books from Toonscape's extensive library of the works of independent artists, custom-formatted for distribution on Franklin's new multimedia content reader, eBookman*. Franklin plans to begin retail distribution of eBookman* this fall. "Toonscape is a great addition to the growing list of multimedia content for Franklin's new eBookman*," said Greg Winsky, Franklin's Executive Vice President, Business Development. "Toonscape's emphasis on talented independent artists promises to provide eBookman* customers with varied and entertaining content, while expanding the scope of the market for eBookman." Toonscape will provide works from ten independent artists for a free initial download for eBookman*. After the initial download lapses, consumers will be able to download additional content from either of the companies' websites for a nominal charge. "As an artist service provider, Toonscape is thrilled to be leading the way in the comic book and comic strip industry by offering digital downloads to Franklin's groundbreaking new eBookman platform," said Toonscape CEO Ken Morgan. "Our vision is to showcase today's newest and hottest artists - this alliance with Franklin is a big part of doing that." eBookman* was officially unveiled at PC Expo 2000. It features a screen size of 200x240 pixels, 8-16 MB of memory, depending on the model, and an industrial strength digital rights management system to prevent digitally downloaded titles from unauthorized copying or use. eBookman will play Toonscape content. For consumers who missed PC Expo, Toonscape will offer demos of the eBookman* at Comic/Con International this week during the show in San Diego. Professional artists interested providing content for the eBookman* can attend a panel discussion entitled "Creating Digital Comic Books" at the Pro/Con (San Diego, July 18-19) that precedes Comic/Con International in San Diego on July 19. The panel will feature representatives from Toonscape and Franklin as well as several professional artists. About Toonscape Toonscape (http://www.toonscape.com), an online artist service provider based in San Diego, California, was started by three comic book crazed entrepreneurs who wanted to do more for working artists on the Web. The company provides comic book artists, illustrators and animators with a virtual gallery, digital distribution, online syndication services and an array of e-commerce tools to help them promote, sell and distribute their work. About Franklin Electronic Publishers Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., the worldwide market leader in handheld eBooks recently introduced its new multimedia, "open but secure" eBook platform, eBookman*. Franklin is also the exclusive producer and distributor of ROLODEX* Electronics brand of personal information management products. Franklin has sold more than 22,000,000 electronic books and currently publishes more than 200 titles, including dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries; encyclopedias; Bibles; entertainment titles; education and tutorial publications; and medical reference works. Franklin products, available in sixteen languages, are sold in 45,000 retail outlets worldwide, through catalogs and on line at www.franklin.com Franklin has sales and distribution subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Benelux countries, Canada, Australia and Mexico, and production management offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong. +++++ Harvey Entertainment and Brilliant Digital to Produce New Multipath Movie Series for Internet Distribution LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 2000--Following the release of the latest Multipath(TM) KISS Immortals series by Brilliant(TM) Digital Entertainment, Inc. (AMEX:BDE), The Harvey Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: HRVY) and Brilliant Digital have announced an agreement to produce new "3Dmovies" that will incorporate Harvey-owned characters. The agreement grants Brilliant on-line production rights to at least thirteen webisodes starring Casper The Friendly Ghost. "With the increasing demand for 3D entertainment on the Web, the Harvey properties lend themselves naturally to the Multipath Movie format that serves our growing audience segments," states Kevin Bermeister, President of Brilliant Digital Entertainment. "Our productions with Harvey will entertain our existing MPM viewers, as well as help to open the format to a new audience of viewers looking for alternate forms of entertainment on the Web." Each Multipath Movie requires the download of Brilliant Digital's Digital Projector player. Once installed, viewers desiring to watch the Brilliant/Harvey produced series will also be able to watch other Multipath Movie adventures and Brilliant-produced entertainment content available over the Internet. "We believe that Brilliant has developed an effective and entertaining way to deliver content over the Internet on a regular basis through its proprietary technology," said Dan March, Director of Internet Development for Harvey Entertainment. "We are always looking for ways to enhance the enjoyment of our characters through new mediums, and Brilliant's Multipath Movie format will allow us to reach the emerging audience that wants to see characters like Casper, being entertained on the Internet. Brilliant's distribution network will also assist us in syndicating these webisodes to ensure Casper reaches the largest audience possible." +++++ CBLDF AUCTION EXTRAVAGANZA ON-LINE AT EBAY! The COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND AUCTION EXTRAVAGANZA is already underway on EBAY, the electronic epicenter of collectibles trading. Made possible by CHAOS! COMICS, eBay, and WIZARD, this massive event includes rare collectibles, original artwork, signed prints and comics, as well as some spectacular, one of a kind items. The first round of the Auction Extravaganza lasts until SUNDAY, JULY 23. Visit the CBLDF website at http://www.cbldf.org for all the details, or check out the full item listing at http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/cbldf.org. Among the items currently on the auction block is a deluxe cabin for two aboard MAKING WAVES, the second annual CBLDF COMICS CRUISE. One lucky winner (and guest) will spend 10 days cruising the Caribbean in the company of some of comics' best and brightest: HARLAN ELLISON, GEORGE PEREZ, SCOTT MCCLOUD, PETER DAVID, SERGIO ARAGONES, and many more. The first auction round also includes original artwork from ADRIAN TOMINE, JUDD WINICK, JOHN BUSCEMA, STEVE LIEBER; rare signed first and foreign edition books by FRANK MILLER, NEIL GAIMAN, HARVEY KURTZMAN; as well as signed comics, action figures, trading cards, and much more. Things will really heat up when the SECOND ROUND of the CBLDF Auction Extravaganza launches on THURSDAY, JULY 20. Look for original art from FRANK MILLER, TIMOTHY TRUMAN, CHARLES VESS, EVAN DORKIN, and others, along with many more cool comics collectibles. And still to come is a THIRD ROUND of auction items on eBay and the infamous LIVE AUCTION at the CHAOS! COMICS PARTY at WIZARD WORLD in Chicago on AUGUST 5. For those of you with your sights on NEIL GAIMAN's LEATHER JACKET, BILLY TUCCI's custom-built "SHI" MOTORCYCLE, or some of CHYNA's LEATHER WRESTLING WEAR, stay tuned! The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization protecting First Amendment rights in the comics community. All items in the Auction Extravaganza have been donated to benefit the CBLDF. 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 additional information please contact Chris Bleistein at (413) 586-6967 or cbleistein@cbldf.org +++++ From Beau Yarbrough's Comic Wire at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ BUSIEK, LARSEN TEAM ON 'DEFENDERS' MONTHLY, MARVEL ON FUTURE PROJECTS Marvel Comics' oddest superhero team is officially back this winter. Marvel Comics announced Thursday that "The Defenders" will be returning in December. The series will be written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Erik Larsen and inked by Klaus Janson. "This Defenders team is the Defenders team I always thought of as the Defenders," Larsen said at Marvel Comics panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The team includes Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, Valkyrie, Nighthawk and Hellcat. "The big problem with the Defenders," Busiek said, "Is why do these guys keep hanging around together? ... You can make them a team if you make them all nice together, but who wants to see that?" While most of the panel's discussion concerned previously announced projects, there were several other projects that were new and/or notable: The first Marvel Masterwork collection in several years, collecting "Fantastic Four" #51-60, will be shipping to stores in November. Fans have been clamoring for the high quality editions, and line editor Tom Brevoort says it's time to put up or shut up: "Depending on how well it's received," he said, "That determines if we make more." December will also see "Daredevil/Spider-Man," a four issue miniseries written by Paul Jenkins, with art by Phil Winslade and covers by Alex Ross. The series will feature the return of the Owl, Gladiator and ­ no, really ­ the Stilt-Man. DC ENTERS MIND OF HAL JORDAN, BRINGS BACK HOWARD CHAYKIN MONTHLY He started off as a hero without fear, fell prey to doubt about his mission, reclaimed his position, snapped under the pressure and ultimately died trying to save the day before returning as a ghostly avenger for the 21st century. Now DC Comics will let fans of Hal Jordan - once Green Lantern and now the Spectre - go inside his mind. "Willworld," a 2001 Elseworlds romp though Hal Jordan's subconscious shortly after he was given his Green Lantern ring, will be written by J. M. deMatteis with art by Seth Fisher. "It's sort of a Terry Gilliam-meets- ... everyone else," Fisher described the book at a DC Comics panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Thursday. Howard Chaykin will be returning to monthly comics, DC announced. He'll be providing covers and writing "American Century" next year, which DC/Vertigo editor Karen Berger described as being a sexy action-adventure set in the 1950s. (DC/Vertigo's other action-adventure series next year raised eyebrows: "Codename: Knockout" is described as a Vertigo take on DC/Wildstorm's "Danger Girl.") "Scene of the Crime" and "Deadenders" writer Ed Brubaker has already moved to Gotham City as the new writer of "Batman," but DC also announced Thursday that he's taking over writing "Catwoman." Brubaker told fans he intends to return the character to her "Batman: Year One" roots. A November "fifth week" event will look at Batman's relationship with Jim Gordon over the years. In December, Batman will be in the cross hairs, when every Batman comic will feature different villains boasting that they killed the Dark Knight. And speaking of which ... DC confirmed this week that not only are the contracts for Frank Miller's sequel to the classic "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" signed, but Miller has completed 16 pages of "Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again." The future of DC/Vertigo's "Books of Magic" is in flux: The story, which recently stopped with the "Books of Magic" #75, begins again in December in "Names of Magic," a five issue miniseries by writer Dylan Horrocks and artist Richard Case will change the focus of the story and, after a month's gap, lead into the new "Books of Magic" series ­ which as of yet is untitled ­ and will feature a now 19 year old Tim Hunter in new fantasy adventures. DC/Paradox Press' Big Book series will continue next with "The Big Book of Wild Women" ­ which runs the gamut from Cleopatra to madams ­ and "The Big Book of Music Legends," which was jokingly referred to as "The Big Book of ODs." In addition to Evan Dorkin's long-awaited "World's Funnest" special teaming Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite, he told fans he's writing a two-part "Superman Adventures" story that picks up dangling subplots from the animated series, and will examine the relationships between Lex Luthor, Livewire and Darkseid. PREVIEW: 'MINOR MIRACLES' Will Eisner has returned to Dropsie Avenue, the setting for two of his previous graphic novels. The first new Eisner graphic novel to be published by DC Comics and his second new graphic novel of the year ("Last Day in Vietnam" was published by Dark Horse Comics in July), "Minor Miracles" is a collection of new stories about life in the city. "Minor Miracles" is scheduled to be released on October 11. +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com G-MEN FROM HELL --------------- When the house lights go down and the opening credits roll for the G-Men From Hell movie, audiences will be treated to an on- screen comic illustrated by G-Men creator Mike Allred. The pages, which are colored by Laura Allred, serve as a two minutes and ten second introduction. They depict how the titular G-Men wound up in Hell, which is where the film begins. Producer Rick Albert has allowed Comics2Film to display the pictures for the enhanced enjoyment of people who will be seeing the movie at the upcoming Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I think that an audience seeing on the screen will understand the setup, but they won't see the subtleties of it," Albert told us. Albert also told us that actress Kari Wuhrer, who plays Merete Morrisey in the movie, is confirmed to be attending the screening in San Diego. She joins Albert, Allred and director Christopher Coppola as confirmed guests at the preview. Albert told us there has been plenty of studio interest in the movie and that the recent success of X-Men probably hasn't hurt his efforts to find a distributor. The live-action film, which stars William Forsythe, Tate Donovan, Bobcat Goldthwait, Gary Busey, Vanessa Angel and Robert Goulet will be Sneak Previewed in San Diego during Comic-Con 9:30 AM on July 22, 2000. Free tickets will be available at the Dark Horse Comics booth (#1029) on the convention floor on Friday preceding the screening, and at the theatre at 9:15 AM the day of the screening on a first-come first-served basis. (Please visit the Comics2Film website at http://www.comics2film.com to view the G-Men pages) http://www.comic-con.org/ SHEENA ------ The syndicated TV update of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is set to hit TV outlets this fall. Comics2Film received a press kit describing the show, which is apparently just called Sheena. The show will star Gena Lee Nolin (Baywatch) and be produced by Douglas Schwartz (Baywatch) and Steven L. Sears (Xena: Warrior Princess). According to the copy the show revolves around the adventures of a brave and beautiful defender of a tropical African paradise threatened by modern civilization. Orphaned at a young age by tragedy in the jungle, Sheena was raised by the last living member of a native tribe, the Kaya, who possessed the mystical power to "shape shift" into the forms of wild animals by feeding the spirit of their soul. It's a gift shared by Sheena, who can turn herself into an animal and travel through the jungle unrecognized while battling outside forces that invade La Mistas, her primal home. Set in a stylized version of Africa, the series focuses on Sheena's interaction with a range of characters. Among them are Matt Cutter, the rogue American adventurer with a special attraction to Sheena; Cutter's acerbic sidekick, Mendelsohn; Sheena's spiritual mentor, Kali, who gave Sheena her mystical ability to unleash the animal spirit with in her; N'Gama, the corrupt "President for Life" of the fictional African nation of Maltaka; and Rashid, a noble Masai ranger in the animal compound. Producer Douglas Schwartz was eager to update Sheena, who was one of his childhood favorites. "When I was a kid growing up in L.A.," Schwartz recalls, "I used to be a big fan of the comic books, and I used to watch the television series with Irish McCalla on Saturday mornings. Sheena was always in the back of mind, but nobody had done a contemporary series based on it." Nolin was less familiar with the character, but studied with an appropriate teacher, "I did my homework as soon as I committed to this. I looked up Irish McCalla, the original Sheena. She sent me her diaries of everything she went through during the two years that she was on the air, and it was incredible. My time spent with her, talking with her, was incredible." Don't expect Sheena to be the monosyllabic jungle woman she's been depicted as in the past. "One of the things we wanted to avoid with the 'me Tarzan, you Jane' thing," producer Steven L. Sears says. "Gena brings the sophistication we were looking for." Nolin is likewise enthused about being a positive role model for young girls. "That is what's so great about the series. It has to do with being proud of where you came from," Nolin said. "Sheen as very proud of where she comes from and will do anything to protect it, regardless of what takes place in this jungle. I think it is good for kids to see this and to bring that into their own lives." Although Sheena is a heroic character, Nolin found herself drawing on her bad-girl chops gained by playing the vixen Neely Capshaw on Baywatch. "Sheena is a good woman, but she can also be very vicious," Nolin said. "She has animal instincts and will do whatever it takes to protect her family. She will even kill. So, in a way, I can kind of bring a little bit of what I learned on Baywatch to this show, and a little of myself too. I think Sheena is a very innocent girl. She is very real to herself and to the people around her because she hasn't really been tarnished. She's sort of untouched." Sheena has the ability to transform into any mammal, as long as she can feel a connection with their soul. The jungle-shape- shifter will be brought to life via a variety of means, including CGI, prosthetic makeup and work with actual animals. Nolin meets with a trainer three days a week to learn special "animal instinct kind of fighting." The actress enjoys the opportunity to work with the animals at the Orlando, Florida set. "The chimps are hysterical! They're like little people, and they will remind you of your toddler. I'm fin with snakes, but spiders are really tough for me, so I have them (production) get tarantulas and other things I'm freaked out about, and I handle them. I'm going to push it, because I just want to get through it. If there's something on the set or in the script that they want me to do, I want to have that comfort level. But, it's fun. I can't believe that I am getting paid to do this sort of adventure." Thanks to SheenaFan for the artwork. (Please visit the Comics2Film website for images from Sheena) ELFQUEST -------- Warp Graphics and Living Toyz have provided fans with a first look at the Elfquest figures based on the upcoming animated movie. The figures, which can be viewed at a temporary site set up by Richard Pini, are are preliminary paintmasters. Corrections are being made to them before the toys will be put into production. Craig Miller, a producer on the movie told Comics2Film that Elfquest will be well represented at the upcoming Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Warp Graphics, the publisher of Elfquest, will, of course, have a booth on the main floor of the convention. Right next to the Warp Graphics booth will be Living Toyz, our licensee for action figures. They'll have the prototypes of the new Elfquest toys on display," Miller told us. "Also having a booth is Digger, quite possibly the top designer in the toy industry, and his company, Art Asylum. Digger and Art Asylum designed, sculpted, and painted the prototypes and will be overseeing their production and packaging for Living Toyz. Art Asylum will have a bunch of Elfquest material on display as well." Toys won't be the only Elfquest topic at the con. "On Friday, July 21st, at 4:00 pm, there will be a panel where we'll be talking about Elfquest The Movie," Miller told C2F. "The panel will include Wendy and Richard Pini, the creators and publishers of the Elfquest comics; Marv Wolfman and me, Craig Miller, the executive producers and writers of the screenplay (along with Wendy); Digger, the designer of the Elfquest toys; and possibly others, pending availability. The film is just at the beginning of production so we don't have any footage from the film to show but we will be showing a lot of early test animation from a variety of studios, pre-production design paintings, and other 'behind-the-scenes' material that, quite possibly, will never be shown again." Miller also told us that audience participation will be encouraged. "We'll take questions from the audience and will discuss casting as well. Since we're just now starting the casting process, we'll be taking suggestions from the audience for their dream list of voices." http://www.geocities.com/elfquestrap/ THE CROW: SALVATION ------------------- The Crow: Salvation will be screening this Thursday (7/20/00) at midnight at the Gaslamp Theatre 15 in San Diego (corner of 5th Ave. & G St.) as part of the Comic-Con International convention. Free passes to the screening will be available at both the Miramax/Dimension Films and the Comic-Con booths, as well as via download. You can also print out the pass image on the right. The film's star, Eric Mabius, will be on hand to introduce the screening. He and Jeff Most, the film's producer, will be discussing Salvation at an exclusive Q&A on Friday at 1230 in Room 6A as part of the convention. The Crow: Salvation is scheduled for theatrical release this fall. CROW 4 ------- Corona Coming Attractions presents a report from an unnamed source who corroborates what we've heard in the past about the planned fourth Crow movie. According to the scooper, the movie will feature a rap artist named Lazarus. Lazarus and his girlfriend are gunned down, leaving the rapper to return under the guidance of the Crow. This scooper alleges that the working title is The Crow: Revelations. Video director Martin Weisz is said to be under consideration to direct and the name of RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan is being thrown around as a possible lead for the movie. Jim Gibson is also said to be writing. CA cautions that this is all unconfirmed and should be considered rumor until it can be verified. http://www.corona.bc.ca/ KNIGHTS OF JUSTICE ------------------ As previously reported, there will be several autograph sessions at the San Diego Comic-Con supporting the video movie Knights of Justice which is based on the nostalgic Big Bang Comics currently published by Image. Producer Philip Cable has provided the following schedule for the convention: Signing on Friday: * Actress Lorin Taylor (Masker) * Artist Mark Lewis, redesigned the Masker costume for the comic book * Artist Jerry Acerno, created the Shadow Lady character (2- 4pm). * Actor, Dan Lane * Actor/Stuntman/Martial Arts Expert, James Willis * Executive Producer, Charles Dichiera * Producer, Philip Cable Signing on Saturday: * Actress Sandra Kuhn (Thunder Girl) * Actress Lorin Taylor (Masker) * Writer Mike W. Barr, author of The Verdict for Big Bang and too many other comic books to list (2-3pm) * Producer, Philip Cable Signing on Sunday: ? Actress Lorin Taylor (Masker) ? Actor, Dan Lane ? Producer, Philip Cable MONKEYBONE ---------- This week, Corona Coming Attractions presented readers with a couple of first looks at actual images from the upcoming Monkeybone movie. One of the images shows a carnival like scene populated by a number of bizarre creatures. Also available on the CA site is an image of the Monkeybone comic strip drawn by Stu Miley, the character played by Brendan Fraser. The movie also stars Whoopi Goldberg as Death, Bridgette Fonda Stu's Girlfriend, Chris Kattan as O.D. Stu, Rose McGowan as Kitty and Paul Reubens as the voice of Monkeybone. http://www.corona.bc.ca/ HULK ---- Corona Coming Attractions has been digging up some great dirt on the Hulk movie, which is supposedly picking up steam again. Their latest find relates to the movie project when it was under the guidance of writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh. CA is displaying a number of make-up and effects photos that were taken during that time. The photos originated in Make-Up Artist Magazine. The photos include shots of a man with enlarged body-parts, most likely a result of exposure to gamma rays. Another photo shows make-up artist and designer Steve Johnston standing in between two massive robotic hands. The hands are purely a metal skeletal structure, but they give you an idea of the scale that the creature might have been if this project had taken off. No word is given in the write-up as to whether these works have been abandoned or are still a part of the newly refocused production effort. Marvel big shot Avi Arad has said recently that a Hulk movie could hit the theaters by Thanksgiving 2001 or summer 2002. http://www.corona.bc.ca/ http://www.makeupmag.com/ SPIDER-MAN ---------- Although Freddie Prinze Jr. (Down To You) is a big Spider-Man fan and has been lobbying hard for the part in the upcoming movie, he'll never get the part according to Ted Casablanca's The Awful Truth column at E! Online. Insiders told Casablanca that Prinze showed up at Sam Raimi's office in an attempt to land the part. These same insiders claim that Raimi is completely opposed to the casting and has allegedly said "If I have anything to do with it, Freddie won't even be allowed to go see it, let alone be cast." Thanks to Spider-Man Hype for showing the way! http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/Archive2000/000713c.html http://www.spidermanhype.com/ +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html DC Revisits Watchmen Bob Gough San Diego--DC Comics plans a wide scale Watchmen merchandise push based on the groundbreaking Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons comic series of the mid-80s, the publishing company told retailers gathered here for the Comic-Con Expo. Two series of DC Direct action figures are planned including the Comedian with interchangeable heads to fit his iterations during the series, the Silk Spectre II, Nite Owl II and Doctor Manhattan with a translucent body. The second series is expected to carry Rorschach. Plus, a special 15th anniversary edition hardcover of the Watchmen series, 432 pages in length, will come with new art and a Watchmen Companion, 96 pages of background material only available with the anniversary edition. To promote the anniversary edition, DC will release a video interview with Moore and Gibbons on the origins of the series. Moore is expected to also discuss his upcoming sequel to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In other DC news: * Judd Winnick's run on Green Lantern begins with Kyle Rayner getting a job as a cartoonist and working for a magazine called Feast. * George Perez protege Phil Jimenez takes over art chores on Wonder Woman with issue #164. Expect many guest-stars. * A Crisis on Infinite Earths trade paperback is in the works as well as a Green Lantern/Green Arrow hardcover representing the Denny O'Neill, Neil Adams years on the book. * There's a Supergirl archive edition, 100-Page Super-Spectacular of DC love stories, and a statue of Will Eisner's The Spirit in the pipeline. * Eisner's Minor Miracles will be released as both hardcover and softcover books. * Vertigo plans Grip by Gilbert Hernandez, House on the Borderland by Richard Corben, The Crusades by Steven Seagle and Kelly Jones and a Vertigo Secret Files: The Endless with three stories by Neil Gaiman about Dream (Sandman) and his siblings, among other entries. Codename: Knockout is another Vertigo title, DC promises will deliver "weight where weightlessness is expected." * Adam Warren takes over writing chores on Gen 13 with issue #60. Expect a Gen 14/Fantastic Four crossover comic drawn by Kevin Maguire. * Star Trek: New Frontier, written by Peter David, is a prestige one-shot premiering in December while a Star Trek: Next Generation fully-painted graphic novel will explore the Gorn Crisis. * The Maxx' Sam Kieth returns to comics with Zero Girl about a young girl who attracts weirdness. * Crimson wraps up its storyline with issue #24. Artist Humberto Ramos next takes on Out There a teen drama about youngsters trying to save their town from demons. * Danger Girl #7 will be an extra-size, 48-page gatefold cover book by Scott Campbell. Look for a PVC set of toys. * Tom Strong's Terrific Tales will be a bimonthly book telling backstories about the ABC science hero. * The Authority will spin off another team book called The Monarchy led by Jackson King. Also, look for a Batman/Planetary crossover. * Watch for a Bat-Signal prop from DC that can shine the Bat-signal. * Bizarro comics will feature the once-censored Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter with additional features by Eddie Campbell, Paul Pope, Phil Jiminez and Jeff Smith, among others. * Static Shock will coincide with the Kids WB series and there will be a trade paperback of the young hero's early adventures. * Stan Lee's Just Imagine recreation of DC's core titles will include team-ups with Jim Lee (Wonder Woman), John Buscema (Superman), Bruce Timm (The Flash), Joe Kubert (Batman), Jerry Ordway (JLA), and George Perez (Crisis on Infinite Earths), among other titles. * Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Strikes Again will feature both the Question and Martian Manhunter. Expect a spring or summer of 2001 release. * DC Direct figures upcoming include Aquaman and Aqualad, Raven of the Teen Titans, the original three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Mister Miracle and Big Barda, two Sandman figures, the JSA and Captain Marvel and Billy Batson. +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.Fandom.com/comics/ WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE FRANK MILLER'S MOST AMBITIOUS COMICS PROJECT TO DATE Comics giant Frank Miller caused quite a stir this past spring when he announced that he'll be making a creative return to one of the most famous figures in comics "Batman" in 2001's The Dark Knight Strikes Again. So where do you go from there? Turns out Miller is going to follow up that project by taking on arguably the most famous figure in human civilization. JESUS!, a creator-owned project for Dark Horse's Maverick line, will be a history-based recounting of the life story of Jesus Christ. Miler and Dark Horse have announced the project now in an effort to quell industry speculation that Miller`s work on The Dark Knight follow-up may herald an end to his relationship with DHC. "Putting together 300 taught me several lessons," said Miller of the project. "One was that there`s no point in being scared of a really great story. Another was that if one delves deep into research, and gives it the time it demands, history becomes a treasure trove. As I write and draw The Dark Knight Strikes Again, I`m stacking up a mountain of books in preparation for JESUS!, almost certainly the toughest job I`ve ever given myself. But the toughest ones are always the most fun." Miller`s editor on the project, Diana Schutz, senior editor of the Maverick line, concurs. "I`ve actually already begun reading some of the texts Frank has recommended, and it`s remarkable how this story, familiar to people the world over, can take on a brand new light - or even several - depending on who`s doing the telling. "I should have guessed something was up," Schutz continued, "when Frank first drew that Christ-like figure of Wallace in Sin City: Hell and Back #2. Sure enough, it was just a few months later that he began confiding in me, with an almost boyhood enthusiasm, about the JESUS! project. I`ve often joked with Frank, in a kind of serious way actually, that his Catholic upbringing is evident in all his work - here`s where he`s really gonna have to lay it on the line! As a former Catholic schoolgirl myself, I couldn`t be more excited at the prospect of working with him on this." While format and series length are yet to be determined, Dark Horse is projecting a tentative release date of 2002 for JESUS!, following shortly on the heels of Miller`s latest Batman work. And while this project is certainly sure to spark controversy in some circles, according to a spokesperson for the publisher, "This is going to be a respectful, history-inspired look at the life of Jesus, neither irreverent nor reverent in tone." Miller will reportedly take a trip to the Holy Lands sometime next year to do research, much like he traveled to Greece before starting work on 300 two years ago. BENDIS EVEN BUSIER - MORE DAREDEVIL ON THE WAY While the status of writer Brian Bendis and artist David Mack's Daredevil story arc (beginning with issue #16) remains subject to whenever the long-delayed issue #’s 13-15 are released, Bendis fans looking forward to the writer's take on the character can look forward to a new October-debuting three-issue mini-series from Marvel Knights. Daredevil: Ninja, illustrated by Ron Haynes (he of the Daredevil `fill-in' issue of a few months back) touches on plot points from two of the more highly regarded run on the Daredevil title. According to Marvel Comics, "Nothing is more sacred to the Man Without Fear than the staff of his late mentor Stick. So how do you think he'll react when it's stolen? Who would take this seemingly worthless item - and why? And to what ends will Matt Murdock go to retrieve it? From the mean streets of New York City's Hell's Kitchen to the neon spires of Tokyo, this breakneck paced story not only touches on plot points from Frank Miller's DD run, but also brings events full circle to Kevin Smith's `Guardian Devil' saga!" Bendis also announced that his Daredevil monthly story arc with David Mack has been extended for one more issue bringing it to an even four issues. "It's another Ben Urich themed story that Dave and I thought up that will be a nice companion to the three issues we already did. And no - I don't know when they will ship. As soon as they can." WORD ON THE STREET Fans of creator Alan Davis will have a lot to look forward to early next spring_In addition to being a few months into his run on Kurt Busiek's Avengers, March 2001 is also the tentatively scheduled start for a new two-issue new prestige-format Elseworlds project for DC, entitled Superboy And The Legion, according to editor Mike McAvennie. The project will be written and inked by Davis' frequent inker Mark Farmer. Newsarama has received new information regarding a story we ran earlier this weekend involving Mark Crilley's Akiko and the New York Daily News_ The Diamond Comics website reported this week that beginning this month the Daily News (an NYC tabloid newspaper with a circulation of 700,000 according to Diamond) will begin serializing the first Akiko graphic novel - which preceded the series - the 1996 Eisner nominated Akiko on the Planet Smoo. But according to a representative for Random House Publishing, that's not exactly the case. According to Alison Kelly of Random House Children`s Books, an excerpt from the publisher's adaptation of Akiko On The Planet Smoo will appear in The New York Daily News on Friday, July 21. "The Daily News has a summer reading program that appears in the paper on Fridays and features excerpts from middle grade books with illustrations," explained Kelly. "The excerpts are about 1500 words in length and are accompanied by questions from a librarian. The Akiko excerpt will appear only on Friday, July 21; there is no serialization involved." Akiko is the story of a 4th Grader who is taken off to a distant planet called Smoo who undergoes a variety of adventures. The graphic novel told the story of Akiko`s first visit to Smoo, where she was enlisted by the planet`s King, a jovial leader by the name of Froptoppit, to search for his missing son, the Prince. Artist Lee Weeks has switched addresses for his next Spider-Man project. Originally slated to pencil Roger Stern`s upcoming Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin mini-series, according to the artist, due to scheduling constraints, he`s moved over to draw another Spider-Man mini-series that costars Daredevil, written by Tom DeFalco and inked/finished by Bob McLeod. "It`s a three-issue limited series that`s currently entitled The Mysterio Waltz," explained Tom DeFalco. "It`ll be an accessible `hoo-ha` story for people who don`t usually read Spider-Man or Daredevil. However, for regular readers of one or both titles, it directly ties into the Kevin Smith DD run and the recent (and seemingly contradictory) appearances of Mysterio in the Spidey books. It will also clear up a pre-relaunch mystery - the identity of the new Jack O`Lantern." Sharp-eyed readers who browsed through this week's Image Comics October, 2000 solicitations might have noticed that Image is publishing a Blair Witch one-shot to coincide with the release of the film's sequel. For readers wondering how and if this affects Oni's Blair Witch license, Newsarama to check in Oni Press' Jamie Rich for the story. "Oni`s license only extends as far as the comics we have already solicited for," said Rich. "The original one-shot, the Chronicles miniseries that is just finishing up, and the trade paperback collection that is coming out in September to coincide with the sequel." "As far as we know, the Image material is the only new material coming, and it is being produced in conjunction with the Distant Corners website, which has a lot of Artisan based content (hence their taking over the license)." Image's Jim Valentino confirmed their October one-shot is a one-time deal for Image, and speculated that another publisher could acquire the license_.but who, what and when he did not say. For reader who may have missed it, here is the Image listing_ "BLAIR WITCH: DARK TESTAMENTS (W) Ian Edginton (P) Charlie Adlard (C) Avalon Studios The mythology of a legend! Witness the formative years of the mass murderer RUSTIN PARR as told by his old friend Davis Crane. The story provides crucial background information for the BLAIR WITCH fan. While terrifying comic readers of all tastes with a thrilling new tale. We begin with the arrest of Crane for attempted murder. In his defense, Crane said that he was trying to save the children from being claimed by Dale Parr, Rustin`s twin brother, for the Blair Witch, because the Witch loves children...dead or alive. Brought to you by the stunning talents of X-Force writer Ian Edginton and X-Files artist Charlie Adlard. JUST IN TIME FOR THE BLAIR WITCH 2 FEATURE FILM RELEASE." Following the recent sell-out of Marvel's Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. collection, the publisher is preparing a second volume of classic Nick Fury stories by Jim Steranko for release in October. Nick Fury: Scorpio is a 96-page trade paperback retailing for 14.95 that will collect stories that first appeared in issue #'s 1-3, and #5 of Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The stories pit Fury against his "sinister sibling", Scorpio. Last Saturday, on July 8th, Stan Lee appeared on CNN's Larry King Live to discuss his current online work with Stan Lee Media, and to talk to King about his career and comic books in general. A series of excerpts from CNN's transcript of the appearance has been circulating the `net. The full transcript can be found at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0007/08/lklw.00.html FOUR SENTRY ONE-SHOTS PLANNED While the first issue of the new Paul Jenkins/Jae Lee Marvel Knights series Sentry is just ready to hit the stands, both Jenkins and Marvel have confirmed for Newsarama that four Sentry one-shots are planned for weekly release in December. Set in the lull between the events in Sentry #5 and the series finale with January's #6, the one shots are (in shipping order): Sentry/Spider-Man, Sentry/Fantastic Four (with art by Phil Winslade), Sentry/Hulk, and Sentry/X-Men (with art by Mark Texeira). Artists for the remaining two specials are to be announced shortly. "Before we get to the final part of the series in issue #6, a lot of people have arrived at a certain point," Jenkins told Newsarama. "A lot of the heroes are gathered together and as they wait for the events that will unfold in issue #6, they're given a moment to think about how it once was." Jenkins explains that the four one-shots will play into Sentry's purported "existence" in the Marvel Universe, which was mind-wiped from all of the residents in the Marvel Universe and the readers of Marvel Comics as well, because Sentry was too powerful a hero, and therefore it was safest to remove him from the minds of everyone. "Throughout the series, he's interacted with these characters or groups, and now they're given this pause for thought, and they think back to the times that were," Jenkins says. "In one way, it's saying what if those great old Sentry comics that came out and we missed, like Startling Stories #7 starring Sentry and the X-Men, or The Incredible Hulk #7-10, the ones that were never published – never published, because we were never supposed to remember the Sentry. The characters would probably, if he had not been moved away from the Marvel Universe in the fashion that he was, these are the adventures that they would have had, or did have, but we just don't remember them." As for four one-shots being seen as an indicator of future Sentry projects, Jenkins says he's optimistic, but ultimately, seeing more of Sentry is in the readers hands. "We really have to wait and see how things go," Jenkins says. "I've heard great things about it from within Marvel, and the people at Marvel are happy with it. Everyone is pretty jazzed about it, so we're hopeful that there will be more in the future." And in the super-secret and super-useless Sentry trivia department, Jenkins revealed that the fictional original artist of The Sentry was supposed to be named `Chick Rivet', an anagram of Jenkins' bud and Witchblade collaborator, Rick Veitch. "Rick liked the name `Chick Rivet' and he thought he might use it someday, so I had to come up with a new name. There were these old letters, Artie Simek and Sam Rosen, and we came up with Artie Rosen." Finally, in regards to the minor hornet's nest of controversy surrounding the project and Marvel's Blair Witch (it's true, no, it's not true..) marketing of it, Jenkins doesn't really see the problem. "If Marvel wants to promote it in a certain way by saying `What if this hero existed but then had to be erased from everyone, including the readers' memories?’ and that's what they want to spend their advertising dollars on, it seems rather unfair for me to give it away. Besides, it's not the hugest leap of logic to understand that it's obviously a promotion. The other alternative is to think that the entire human race has been mind wiped. The promotion talks about the entire world being mind-wiped as a bit of fun, and that's all it is." DEFALCO/LIM POLISH THEIR IMAGE While Tom DeFalco had announced earlier this year that he no longer would consider himself an `exclusive' Marvel writer after nearly 20 years with the company, he had until now remained mum on what form, if any, his new, non-Marvel work would take. Details are still sketchy, but DeFalco has told Newsarama that he and penciler Ron Lim have recently signed a contract to produce a creator-owned comic for Image. Look for further information in the Daily Feed later this week. NODELL/GREEN LANTERN MAKE NEWSDAY Green Lantern creator Marty Nodell received some of the New York press spotlight on Monday when Newsday reporter Joseph Dionisio featured Nodell and his creation in a story in the paper's Leisure section. In the article, Nodell describes how he created Green Lantern (after seeing a trainman waving a red lantern), why he used a false name when he first began drawing the series, how Green Lantern helped him impress his future wife, Carrie, back in 1941. Marty and Carrie will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year. The article also quotes Francis Ford Coppola, Roy Thomas, pop star Donovan and Harlan Ellison on Green Lantern's meaning and success over the years. Interestingly, the real push of the article reads as how the time is right for a Green Lantern movie, and quotes Nodell as saying that with the advances in computer animation, "the abilities of Green Lantern`s ring would work incredibly well. I really feel it`s a natural opportunity for someone to do a movie." According to Dionisio, who's writing a book about films based on comics, Warner Brothers has no immediate plans for a Green Lantern movie, however, the company has bought the domain, `www.greenlanternthemovie.com,’ if only for legal control. X-FAN REPORTS CAPTAIN BRITAIN TO RETURN According to Fandom`s own X-Fan Domain, Captain Britain and Excalibur will both return to active duty in the Marvel Universe later this year, in the four issue limited series, Excalibur: Sword of Power, written by former Excalibur writer, Ben Raab. "As the series is entitled Excalibur: Sword Of Power, the story is about just that: the Sword of Might Brian Braddock was offered when he first became Captain Britain, but choose to forego for the Amulet of Right instead," Raab told X-Fan. "Someone on Brian`s home planet, Otherworld, is making a play for this mystical weapon - as well as the Amulet and the Star Sceptre - in order to achieve the ultimate power that the three relics combined can provide. A deadly and potentially catastrophic combination when wielded by the wrong hands..." X-MEN TALLY DOWN A LITTLE FROM INITIAL ESTIMATES X-Men's official tally has come in a touch lower than Sunday's estimates of $57.5 million; however, the real count is still very impressive at $54.5 million, making it the #8 best opening of all time, #4 for a three-day (non-holiday) span and #3 for a non-sequel, according to Variety. Problems in the total came in measuring the drop off between Friday and Saturday`s totals. The actual Friday figure was $20.8 million -- the ninth-best single day in history -- followed by $19.3 million Saturday and $14.4 million on Sunday. DAVIS & FARMER TEAM ON SUPERBOY & THE LSH Before he gets rolling with Avengers, Alan Davis has a DC project to wrap up, something that will make fans of the 30th century drool. Davis will team with his frequent inker Mark Farmer for a two-issue Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Elseworlds miniseries, edited by Mike McAvennie. According to the editor, it all started with a pitch from Farmer. "Mark came to me with an idea in which Kal-El`s rocketship never reaches 20th-century Earth; instead, it somehow travels into 30th-century space, where the ship and infant are eventually discovered by R.J. Brande," McAvennie tells Newsarama. "Growing up as a teenager with super-powers and a rich foster father, Kal-El is rather unmotivated in life, never understanding the consequences of his actions. In fact, he`s looked upon by society as a spoiled, mischievous brat, and constantly under the watchful eye of the authorities. A set of events then prompts Kal-El to find others like himself out there, which leads to the formation of a Legion of Super-Heroes. "I don`t want to go into specifics about the good and bad guys appearing in the book, other than I think fans will be very pleased with who`s appearing in the two issues. Mark has put a ton of story elements and characters into these issues, and I`m amazed at how Alan Davis has been able to pencil all of the material in there. If a kitchen sink exists in the 30th century, then Mark and Alan have thrown it in this two-issue miniseries!" ELLIS NAMED BY ROLLING STONE AS `HOT' Now's your chance to say you knew him when_ One of modern comics' brighter stars is about to add another feather to his cap. While Warren Ellis was recently selected to write a short piece of speculative fiction for the science journal Nature, he lately received the attention of a much more mainstream magazine - Rolling Stone. "Apparently they do this every August: a special issue devoted to what Rolling Stone thinks is Hot. The Hot Issue, it`s called," Ellis tells Newsarama. "Apparently this year I`m Hot. Last year I was It [referring to his making of the Entertainment Weekly `It List'], this year I am Hot. I just completed a long interview for a 500-ish word feature, doing the accompanying photoshoot next week. "My friend the TV exec Dan Evans said "You`ll be completely unbearable if you make People`s Sexiest Man Alive." "My girlfriend Niki said "You`re already completely unbearable." "It`s the August 25th issue, I`m told." ONI AND WINICK: 2-GETHER 4-EVER. AT LEAST IN NEW MILLENNIUM And now, a quickie from SDCC, from the mouth of Oni Press themselves_ ONI PRESS AND JUDD WINICK USHER IN THE REAL MILLENNIUM WITH NEW PROJECTS After having a successful year 2000 with THE ADVENTURES OF BARRY WEEN, BOY GENIUS 2.0 and the collection of ROAD TRIP, Judd Winick and Oni Press are reteaming in 2001 for more new projects. Kicking off in January, Oni will reprint Judd's infamous newspaper comic strip, FRUMPY THE CLOWN, as two trade paperbacks. The first volume, FREAKING OUT THE NEIGHBORS, is set to run 136 pages and will retail for $15.95. It will be presented in a 9" X 10" format to preserve the original size of the comic strips. FRUMPY THE CLOWN is an iconoclastic series that tells the story of an average American family and what happens when, one day, the children bring home a cynical, paranoid clown. "FRUMPY was a lot of fun to do," Winick said. "Unfortunately, it was a little too irreverent for your run-of-the-mill newspaper, and after a couple years, it ran its course. I look fondly on the work, because it's what got me going, and I am happy that Oni has decided to give the clown a second chance at notoriety." "This material is the first stuff we read of Judd's," commented Oni Press publisher Joe Nozemack. "When he gave me a packet of the material at Comic Con three years ago, I wasn't even remotely prepared by how funny it was. It's a shame it didn't get more chance to find an audience, as newspaper these days are too safe and sanitized. I guess his brand of irreverence is something that only the comics market is prepared to handle." In addition to the two volume FRUMPY THE CLOWN series, Winick also promises a third miniseries starring everyone's favorite boy genius, Barry Ween. "What with writing GREEN LANTERN, preparing a wedding, and promoting my various projects, I have had to wait a little bit to give Barry his third day in the sun," Winick explained. "I didn't want to give readers a half-assed piece of work or give the title any less attention than it deserves. So, the Oni boys have been laying in wait until a date came along that we could pounce on with full vigor." The third series of THE ADVENTURES OF BARRY WEEN, BOY GENIUS will run six issues beginning in February, 2001. The series will be bimonthly, except for the issues five and six, which will come out in consecutive months. "I promise that this new series is going to continue in the same bulging vein as the first two," Winick concluded. "I am going to up the funny to as high as it will go, while continuing to develop the relationships between Barry, Jeremy, and Sara. I promise you, nothing is safe the third time out. The world better hide its weak spots, because if I see `em, I'll be making fun of them!" X-MEN'S STRENGTH GIVES OTHER COMIC FILMS WINGS According to The Hollywood Reporter, the success of X-Men has opened the door for many future comic book properties to become films, a rebound of sorts from the waning interest in comic book properties following Batman and Robin, and other, less than entirely successful adaptations. Among the properties are the 15 Marvel Comics characters and properties at Artisan Entertainment, the result of a recent development deal between the publisher and the production house. "X-Men did have this amazing opening, which validates what we`ve always believed -- Marvel properties can translate very well to the big screen or to the small screen or other media as well," said Patrick Gunn, in the HR article. "It confirms that there is an audience for this type of exciting fantasy-genre entertainment." Other films named in the article as being nearer to development thanks to X-Men's success include: Black Panther with Wesley Snipes attached – reportedly, Snipes' development company has been in talks with David (Blade, JSA) Goyer about writing a script; Other projects mentioned include: Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four rumored to be Marvel's next big movie announcement) Ghost Rider, two X-Men sequels, Satan's Six (through Dark Horse Comics), Challengers of the Unknown, Dead of Night, Million Dollar Heroes, Ghosting, Nathan Never, Prime, The Darkness, Echo, From Hell, Doctor Strange, and Astro Boy. +++++ From the DCOnline newsletter; http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html To subscribe, or for questions or comments about the DC newsletter, please email DCWebSite@aol.com. THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES/BATMAN BEYOND EPISODE SCHEDULE Warner Bros. Animation has supplied DC with the following air schedule for the animated The New Batman/Superman Adventures and Batman Beyond on the WB Network, airing Saturday mornings and on weekday afternoons. All times are Eastern and Pacific: 7/22/00 (8:00 am) - "Cult of the Cat" (Batman) 7/22/00 (8:30 am) - "Sentries of the Last Cosmos" (Batman Beyond) 7/24/00 (3:30 pm) - "The Hand of Fate" (Superman) 7/24/00 (4:30 pm) - "Torch Song" (Batman) 7/25/00 (3:30 pm) - "Beware the Grey Ghost" (Batman) 7/25/00 (4:30 pm) - "Read My Lips" (Batman) 7/26/00 (3:30 pm) - "Little Girl Lost – Part 1" (Superman) 7/26/00 (4:30 pm) - "Little Girl Lost – Part 2" (Superman) 7/27/00 (3:30 pm) - "Where There's Smoke" (Superman) 7/27/00 (4:30 pm) - "Animal Act" (Batman) 7/28/00 (4:30 pm) - "The Last Resort" (Batman Beyond) 7/29/00 (8:00 am) - "Make 'Em Laugh" (Batman) 7/29/00 (8:30 am) - "Meltdown" (Batman Beyond) Be advised that this schedule is subject to change. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Manhunter from Marathon, IL John Jones martianmanhunter2@juno.com CONTINUITY ON BIZARRO-EARTH I am, frankly, astounded. A few weeks ago... maybe not even that long (it all gets hazy when you're as old as I am) I was doing a little webcruising, trying to track down a site that might verify for me just which AVENGERS writer had originated the trademark Beast line "Oh my stars and garters!" (Never mind. You don't even want to know why.) One of the search results took me to a web page that, as it turned out, was part of an extremely large and extensive and amazingly impressive site dedicated to the Silver Age of comics. The text posted there was generally articulate, amusing, entertaining, and frequently hilariously funny. I'm not gonna name the fan that wrote it here, because, well, there seems no point to it. Given some of the viewpoints I'm about to propound, it might even seem like I'm attacking him. And, really, I'm not. I enjoy the site, for the most part, and I enjoy his writing. But some of the things I learned on this site... well, as I say, they frankly astound me. Chief among these is the strange notion that apparently, just as video killed the radio star, so too, has continuity killed the comic book industry. I mean... WHAT? I've been reading comics since the mid to late 60s (when I was a wee small tot and sneaking into my Uncle Rick's room to hide under the bed and read SUPERBOY and JIMMY OLSEN because I knew he'd just kill me if he caught me) and collecting them, since, I don't know, 1973 or so, when I bought an issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON off the newsstands for, I think, 20 cents (I can't remember the issue number, but it was the wrap up of the Cowled Commander storyline). I bought and kept comics for the rest of the 70s and the early 80s, although I nearly fell out of the hobby twice: once after Gerry Conway forced my two favorite writers to leave Marvel and then, a few years later, after Crisis took one of my beloved imaginary realities away from me. Since then, I have barely hung in there, buying, over the course of the last 20 years, no more than maybe half a dozen comics per month. Okay. On a real busy month back in the early or mid 90s, maybe a dozen titles. My perspective is no doubt a weird one, being, as it has been, that of a person most definitely non-immersed in comic books, but still passionately interested in same, for the last two decades. What I have seen, over the course of the last three decades, since I first began reading comic books, is a steady decline in the sales figures and general readership of the comic books I was mainly interested in, superhero titles. At the same time, I have also seen a steady rise in the general awareness most people have of the characters that populate said comic books. In the early 70s, a majority of the general population had heard of Superman and Batman, but not from the comic books... they'd heard of them from their respective TV shows. Wonder Woman was, right about then, due to become well known as well... also from her own TV show. As time would go on and the special effects necessary to the commercially successful adaptation of more and more super characters became economically feasible, more and more comic books saw themselves adapted to TV and film. Okay, let's hold that thought for a minute and go back in time a bit to the 1940s. The so-called Golden Age of Comics. When MILLIONS of people of all age ranges - kids, teenagers, young adults - read comic books. And threw them away. I'm not kidding, this was status quo for comic books back then. I mean, for God's sake, if millions of issues of a particular comic were printed a month, how could the few surviving copies that still exist today be worth anything if the vast majority of them HADN'T been thrown away? Comic book collecting was virtually unknown, back then, and the few people - kids or adults - who actually did want to, and manage to, toss their comics in a box and keep them, hadn't the vaguest clue about things like polybags and nitrogen-free environments and all that good happy-crappy. Now let's fast forward a little bit to the early Silver Age, when, well, hundreds of thousands of people read comic books. Kids, teenagers, young adults... for the most part... read comic books. And a lot of them still threw the comics away when they were done (or their parents did). I tell you, no lie, that a good half of my comic book collection in my early teens came from three other guys I knew whose parents let them buy comics and read them... but wouldn't let them KEEP 'em. And I have read, over and over again in various fannish memoirs over the years, about the comic book collections trashed by condemning parents. People reading comics and throwing them out was still pretty common, and among the nascent 'fan' base - i.e., my generation, the kids of the time - you were lucky if you had a set of parents who didn't condemn comics out of hand, or at the very least, ones understanding enough to respect your privacy and not routinely search your bedroom for contraband. Now hit the FF button again to the late Silver Age (by my standards; I posit the death knell of the Silver Age as being the publication of GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1). Sales figures have dropped by more than half, but by this time, which for me is my last couple of years of high school, many of the kids I know who like comic books also collect them. Parents seem to have lightened up a ton on the ol' funny books. At the same time, though, apparently, there are far fewer kids reading comic books than there ever have been in the past. Adults who read comic books, as far as I know, are all but unknown. My Uncle Rick, whose bedroom, you may remember, I once used to sneak into so I could read his comic books, has not only stopped reading comics long since (he's eleven years older than me, just so y'all can keep track) but he no longer more than vaguely even remembers them. My mom occasionally reads my comic books, and she's the only grown up I know who even has the slightest interest in them. On the other hand, virtually every kid I go to school with knows who Batman, Superman, Spider-man, Wonder Woman, and the Hulk are. Why? Because they've been on TV, and Spider-man has a newspaper strip. I'm very carefully laying a mosaic here, tile by tile. I want to proceed very cautiously, because when I get that far, I'm going to be saying some things that, apparently, are going to be controversial in today's comic fan environment... although, to ME, they're just common sense. The circulation of comic books steadily declined throughout the 80s. It bumped up again in the early 90s, by, like, a TON, although I'll admit, it did so mostly due to the relatively brief involvement of addlebrained speculators in the comics market who mistook comics, for a time, as the next big money collectible. Once THAT particularly insane frenzy worked itself through the industry, things fell off again... waaaaaaaay off. As things currently stand in the industry, a 'best seller' moves an order of magnitude fewer units than an average seller for the Golden Age. A moderate seller might do 50,000 to 65,000 units a month in business. Even this is somewhat vague, because virtually all comics sales these days are DIRECT sales, meaning, if the shop doesn't sell the issue, they can't return them, they have to stick them in back issue bins and hope someone buys them. Still, it's generally hard to find recent back issues of best sellers, so we can assume that these figures are reasonably accurate. Now, apparently, there are at least some intelligent, analytical comics pros and fans who look back over all this and wonder why the hell, if comic books were selling a million copies a month in 1947, the same comics, featuring, in a few instances, the same characters, sell only 60,000 copies a month now. They trace the steadily diminishing sales figures, and they compare these figures with what they feel they remember about what was happening with the product and the story content during this period, and they arrive, with a triumphant bellow, at a conclusion: It's that god damned continuity that did it. To an extent, it's hard to fault them. The people who have made this claim live and breathe comic books, they are immersed in the mainstream and have been forever, and, perhaps coincidentally, many of them seem to be huge Grant Morrison fans, and Grant Morrison is on record early and often heaping scorn and derision on the entire concept of continuity. So, if Grant Morrison says continuity is EEEEEEvil, and if a glance back over what we know and remember about the development and evolution of storytelling in comic books also bears out that continuity has grown more essential to superhero comics at, seemingly, the same time sales figures have declined... well, by God, it must be true! Continuity sucks! Bring back Good Stories! I have to tell you, I have my own somewhat different perspective. First, I don't think there is any one particular influence or element that has solely been the bullet in the heart of the comic book industry. What we're seeing right now, as we finally approach the real dawn of the 21st Century (don't start with me on this 'when the new Millennium really starts' crap, either) is the end result of a great many factors, some of which I understand (I think) and some of which I, frankly, have no clue about. But let me lay out, again, slowly, piece by piece, what I have observed from my peculiar vantage point: In my opinion, the absolute zenith of comic book storytelling is represented by 6 titles published at Marvel from the early to just after the mid 70s (if I am recalling correctly). Those titles are: Steve Gerber's DEFENDERS, MAN THING, and HOWARD THE DUCK, and Steve Englehart's AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and DR. STRANGE. I know how that sounds, and honestly, I don't mean to short sheet anyone, but hey, everyone has their list of favorites. Assuming this article ever gets read by a reasonable cross section of comics fans, that paragraph above is going to occasion absolute HOWLS of outrage. What about WATCHMEN? What about DARK KNIGHT RETURNS? What about the Fox/Sekowsky JUSTICE LEAGUEs, the O'Neal/Adams BATMAN and GL/GA, the Kirby/Lee FANTASTIC FOURs, the Miller DAREDEVILS, and yaddity yaddity yippy yappy "... MY FAVORITE COMIC SERIES IN THE WORLD?" In my opinion: The listed six titles have three elements in common that none of these others can possibly claim all three of: 1. They were sophisticated and intelligent, 2. They were FUN, and 3. They were primarily bought, read, enjoyed, and collected BY KIDS... yet all of them can be read with an equal, if entirely different level of enjoyment, by adults. And when I say 'by adults', I do not mean 'adults who first read these stories as kids, had these stories imprinted on them as kids, and thus, can still re enter that childlike viewpoint again when they reread them'. I'm not talking about adults who enjoy these comics as a sort of nostalgia, 'gee whiz, remember when' trip. I'm talking about adults who have never read these comics before in their lives, the kind of adults who would rather have a fist fight with Stone Cold Steve Austin than be caught dead reading a comic book... but whom, if you can actually find some way to make them sit down and READ one (blackmail usually works, or holding them at gunpoint), will be drawn into the storytelling like a Fred Pohl hero into a black hole, will eagerly read every single one they can get their hands on, and who will, upon arriving at the screeching, heartbreakingly abrupt 'DAMN Gerry Conway to HELL' end of the run of Gerber DEFENDERS, scrabble around in confused bewilderment, then turn to you with fearful but demanding eyes and say "Okay, where's the REST?" (Then you have to tell them that there is no 'rest', that they really don't want to see what Gerry Conway and David Kraft did to the book for the years following, and that they'd just rip their eyes right out of their heads if they could see what DeMatteis had inflicted on the book in the early 80s... and it's just ugly.) Find me a single other instance of 'my favorite comic book EVER' on any fan's list these days published between 1961 and 1998 that you can say THAT about (Okay, I can think of one... the Baron/Rude NEXUS... which was never remotely a sales success.) The single point I'm trying to make in the above paragraph is that, as far as I can see, those six comic books were a peak of comic book storytelling...at least, in the fundamentally absurd superhero genre. They were comic books AS comic books, utilizing and exploiting the unique strengths of the medium (third person narrative captions, thought balloons, panel to panel graphic continuity with a visual 'pace' that could be varied, depending on the skill of the writer and the artist involved, to an enormous and at the same time, very delicate, degree). The plots of these stories were dense and layered, the concepts examined and explored in them were both breathtakingly cosmic and immediately, involving human. They were character driven, sophisticated fantasy capable of stimulating the intellect, the emotions, and the imagination. They were also very concerned with continuity, but let's leave that aside for a moment. Um, no. On second thought, let's not. Accepting, for a moment (as I do, and you may not, ever) that these six comic series ARE the zenith of all superhero comics storytelling... let's just look at how important the much maligned 'continuity' WAS to the fundamental quality, or even, ongoing existence, of these comics. Virtually every plot element in every series listed grew out of something that had been done, previously in that series, or elsewhere in the self contained, internally consistent, Silver Age Marvel Universe. The three Gerber books pretty much fed each other continuity bits, with Howard the Duck, for example, showing up for the first time in MAN-THING, and eventually crossing over into DEFENDERS. DEFENDERS itself, at its wildest, wackiest heydey, concerned itself deeply with previously established Marvel continuity, like Nebulon, the Celestial Man, and a bunch of old characters from single shot horror stories Gerber dug out and gathered together into the biggest pack of nutty supervillains you EVER saw, the Headmen. Engleharts's books were equally heavy in their continuity emphasis; in fact, storylines he started in CAPTAIN AMERICA he later finished in AVENGERS, at one point. A large part of stories he ran in both CAPTAIN MARVEL and AVENGERS centered around the history of the famous "Blue Area" of the Moon... perhaps Englehart's own most enduring addition to the Marvel continuity canon, and one directly deriving from Kirby and Lee's previous work on FANTASTIC FOUR. Continuity was a key part to these stories, and in all honesty, I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that they only sold, oh, around 150,000 to 300,000 copies a month. I will tell you what continuity did have DIRECTLY to do with: the fact that in the early to late 70s, the vast majority of the comic books I bought and enjoyed were published by Marvel. DC had some books I liked too... Carey Bates SUPERMAN and FLASH and SUPERBOY were all favorites of mine, and I would occasionally pick up and enjoy a DETECTIVE or BATMAN from around then, too, usually written by O'Neil or Robbins, and almost always drawn by Irv Novick... but it was the Marvel comics I loved, and the reason for it was simple: they seemed more REAL to me. In DC comics at that time, the heroes were absurdly powerful. The scripts, in the hands of those who knew how to handle them (in other words, Carey Bates) were a great deal of childish fun, but nothing ever seemed to change in those comics, and nothing of any real lasting emotional interest ever happened. One had to continually, not really suspend one's disbelief, but just sort of accept one's disbelief numbly, after the Flash spent another 22 pages or so finding a way to defeat the bizarre machinations of the Mirror Master, when we were all aware from the splash page onward that in point of fact, Flash can move faster than this jerk can think, so why is he having any problem with the doofus AT ALL? By the age of 13, I had long since realized that there WAS no actual, valid reason WHY there was any crime or injustice at ALL on the DC Earth. Superman, the Flash, and Green Lantern, between them, could have fairly easily mounted an omniscient and omnipotent 24 hour global patrol against EVERYTHING remotely bad on Earth 1. And they were apparently smart enough to realize this, and heroic enough to DO it (remember, they could have traded off 8 hour shifts), and hell, after the first week of round the clock Justice From Above, Take Cover Evildoer! activity, crime would have dropped off to near non-existence. They didn't do it because, well, the editors didn't want them to. All of which made the DC Universe, at that point, just kind of fundamentally silly to me. I read the stories, I enjoyed them, but... I couldn't BELIEVE them. Now, there are those in the hypothetical audience who are at this point going to leap up and say "Superheroes are fundamentally absurd, and if you're saying you have to be able to BELIEVE in the stories to enjoy them, you have PROBLEMS. What, after all, is so inherently believable about a guy with a supersoldier serum, an ancient Norse deity fighting bank robbers, or a billionaire in a set of armor so advanced that we don't have a hope of duplicating a tenth of its everyday functions even now?" All of which is a valid point... if you accept that this is an issue that can only be answered by one extreme or another... either you suspend your disbelief totally and accept the most absurd nonsense if it's a fun story, or you demand absolutely credible and believable storylines and characters no matter what, except that they have superhuman abilities and wear costumes and spend much of their free time having fist fights. However, I don't like those two extremes. I want something in the middle. I want superheroes, yes. People with superhuman powers, with perhaps somewhat more extreme moral codes and, maybe, a somewhat morally simpler world. People who wear cool costumes, and yes, people who occasionally, or even often, settle their differences in viewpoints by knocking each other through a building or two. However... I would also like those superheroes to be treated with some degree of realism and depth. Which includes, having whoever is writing those characters treat their previously published adventures as representing actual historical events that have actually occurred to those characters... unless some satisfying and intelligent way is found to explain why they aren't and they didn't. I'm not demanding ORDINARY PEOPLE with costumes. By the same token, I also don't want SUPERGOOF MONTHLY, either. What I want, basically, is a superhero comic book that doesn't insult my intelligence. I don't mind suspending my disbelief, but when I need a crane to do it, and when the things I'm willfully ignoring are just egregiously, blatantly, grotesquely STUPID... like the fact that a superhero who can run faster than the rate that nerve impulses travel back and forth from the human sensory receptors to the brain STILL somehow has a problem with a bunch of hosers whose basic powers are based on technological gimmickry they have to point and fire at him... or the fact that a character who began his crimefighting career as a young adolescent is now a young adult, and his adult partner/mentor hasn't aged a day in the meantime... or simply the fact that the flagship icon of a particular super universe somehow has the power to actually MOVE THE EARTH in its orbit, despite the fact that (a) it is impossible to intellectually comprehend a humanoid being that physically strong and (b) how physically strong you are doesn't MATTER when you have no solid place to stand on as you wouldn't if you were actually moving the Earth, and (c) any attempt made by any humanoid being strong enough to actually move the Earth would simply result in said person tunneling his way INTO the Earth... well. Excuse me for preferring characters that, while superhuman, dressed in head to toe leotards, and frequently engaged in hand to hand combat with other guys similarly afflicted, nonetheless, seem to inhabit and interact with a world that operates on a somewhat more believable physical level. At risk of sounding pedantic and childish at the same time, I want to say here that 'continuity' is not synonymous for 'evil' or 'stupid' or even 'too convoluted for anyone but an obsessive idiot savant to understand'. When those who apparently hate continuity say this, they invariably point to examples of comic books storytelling that I, myself, would not label, primarily, as continuity. What would I call them? Bad writing. Do you hate the last 20 years or so of X-MEN continuity? It's not the continuity you hate. It's the stories. They make absolutely no sense, and no one I know of claims to be able to actually explain them in any coherent manner. Do you hate the entire 80s post Crisis run on JUSTICE LEAGUE? Don't blame you, they sucked, but they have nothing to do with the continuity of the DC Universe at that time, for two reasons: first, the DC Universe at that time had no consistent continuity (and it blew because of it) and second, the editors kept telling us on the letters page that if we didn't like the way the characters were portrayed in that particular comic, we should consider those portrayals 'outside regular continuity'. Did you hate all the big crossover events of the 80s and 90s? Okay, me too, but don't blame continuity, blame marketing policies that put sales gimmicks ahead of telling good, character driven stories. Continuity, when written well and with respect, is that additional element in a fictional universe that makes it coherent and believable, and that allows characters we like from one area to meet characters we like from another area. It is also that thread that runs through the best fictional universes and that tells us that all the various adventures we have bought, read, and enjoyed about our various favorite heroes represent real, valid events in those character's lives, that the characters have been effected by, and will continue to remember and be effected by in the future. Continuity is not a shackle or a straightjacket. If a new writer or editor comes onto a book and wants to 'undo' something that has been established before, they're free to do so... assuming they can come up with some way to do it intelligently and respectfully, that will keep the core concept of the character intact. This was the fundamental motivation underlying Crisis; to find an intelligent, respectful way to downsize and streamline a fictional multiverse that the marketing department felt had become too unwieldy and embarrassingly childish to allow them to write 'serious' stories about. In short, DC wanted to do Marvel type, somewhat more realistic, stories with their characters. The characters' core concepts, power levels, and loooooooong histories, much of which were the product of earlier, less sophisticated times, mitigated against this... so DC decided to dump it all and basically start over. Perhaps they had a point. I don't know. I hate Crisis with a blind, virulent passion, and it's hard for me to be objective. I understand that, basically, DC felt it was necessary for them to find a way to do comic books more like Marvel, and so, they undertook to do Crisis. But afterwards, for all I could see, they still didn't do Marvel style comic books. Nothing DC did post Crisis, or, for that matter, as far as I can see, pre-Crisis, has ever remotely compared with the stuff that two of comics best writers did at Marvel from 1972 to 1975. Nothing. Not the Roy Thomas ALL STAR SQUADRON, or the occasional brilliantly crafted little gems by Alan Brennart, or even Englehart's brief, wonderful run on GREEN LANTERN (at the point it turned into GREEN LANTERN CORPS it took a sudden hard spin into the toilet, but the nine issues or so leading up to that post Crisis transformation were frickin GREAT) or the Ostrander SUICIDE SQUAD... none of it can compare. Moore's early work on SWAMP THING, and the entire run of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN, I will admit here and now are as good as the six comics I listed as an all time best... but I don't think of them as superhero comics. I can't come up with a handy label for them other than 'fookin BRILLIANT', though. But they weren't superhero comics. However, for what it's worth, they are also very intensely built around a coherent and intricate internal continuity. Just more evidence for my 'continuity is not a BAD thing' argument. Oh, yeah, and I'd be remiss not mentioning here that Scott McCloud's DESTROY! is the single most brilliant superhero comic ever done, but, you know, it's not part of any fictional universe I'm aware of, so continuity concerns hardly apply one way or the other. It's just, like, brilliant. And what I'm bringing out of all this is something I deeply feel: that continuity, in and of itself, has little to nothing to do with the gradually steepening decline of the popularity of a uniquely American art form. Continuity is, at baseline, a good thing, something that, done right, elevates 'good fun comics stories' into something that can be ranked with quality adult fantasy in ANY medium. Yes, continuity can be twisted and contorted and made all but incoherent, but that isn't continuity's fault, any more than the abuses and distortions that 'writers' like Claremont and Byrne have heaped on various different characters over the years means that the very storytelling element of 'characterization' is, in and of itself, bad. So, what do I think is responsible for comics dwindling popularity? Well, as I said far above, I think it's a mixture of things, but if you put a gun to my head and make me pick out just one, I'm going to have to go along with a big vast crowd on this one and say: Television. Why was EVERYONE in the 40s buying comic books? Well, literacy was generally higher then, people read for pleasure more, other printed, graphic storytelling mediums like newspaper comic strips were hugely popular... and... well... in my cynical heart of hearts, I have to wonder just how much all of that might have had to do with the fact that the Idiot Box wasn't even science fiction at that point. Why were more people in the 60s buying comic books than now? They didn't have as many channels on their TV, and there weren't as many superheroic power fantasies on TV. In 1967 or 1974, if you actually hankered for super powered science fiction adventure, or interesting and intelligent occult derived fantasy with costumed weirdos that hit each other in it, or any odd combination thereof, where did you go? Comics. That was pretty much it. The only SF on TV back then was STAR TREK, and let's remember that back then, TREK was considered a commercial failure. (I will continue my tradition of pissing off my hypothetical audience by also stating here that Trek has never, by any stretch of the imagination, been closer than maybe 10 A.U.s to being real, valid SF, anyway.) There was heroic fiction on TV back then, yes, but it was all well within the range of normal human endeavor. Westerns. Cop shows. Private eyes. You want someone who can fly, pick up a building, blow things up with a beam from their fist? Head for the spinner rack, folks. It wasn't on TV. I will also take a moment here to point out something else: one of the general effects television seems to have, especially in prolonged exposures, is to kill the active imagination. It's not just me saying that. Harlan Ellison has written about forty pounds of high volume social commentary about it, and various studies have indicated that in fact, watching TV over a lengthy period causes an almost complete cessation of electrical activity in the areas of the brain associated with active visualization and creative conceptualization. As comic books have declined, other entertainment media... mostly TV, but also film... have, on a more and more broad basis, adapted the themes and concepts of superhero comics into their own productions. I'm not just talking about specific comic book adaptations, although those have increased exponentially over the past few decades, as well. However, movies and TV shows utilizing comic book type superhuman, heroic, good vs. evil themes, have also proliferated. One no longer needs to go to the newsstand if one wants to see superhumans beating on each other. One can see it Saturday mornings on FOX and the WB, Monday nights on ROSWELL, Tuesday nights on BUFFY and ANGEL, and Friday nights on TIME AND AGAIN... and if you don't want to wait that long, you can tune in the Sci Fi Channel or the Cartoon Network any old time and have a decent chance of seeing SUPER FRIENDS, THE HULK, SPIDER MAN, THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK, or WONDER WOMAN. You can see them for FREE, in your living room or bedroom. This is more significant than most of the 'completely immersed' fans want to believe. The one thing we keep coming back to is that 'comics has lost its casual readers'. I agree. I just don't think it's 'continuity' that did it. There's plenty of continuity on various TV soap operas, (daytime or evening) and they have audiences numbering in the millions. The average teen age viewer right now could sit down and list off the cast and characters of every show on the WB Network and accurately chart all their relationships with each other, and some of that continuity is nearly as complex as the idiotic stuff in X-MEN that supposedly, is what's killing comics. If convoluted continuity is killing comic books, then it should also be killing BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and trust me... it's not. I believe that what has drawn the casual reader away from comic books is quite simply the fact that superhuman conflict is no longer the exclusive province of comics... and to the generations succeeding mine, specifically (I was born in late 1961) TELEVISION IS A PREFERABLE ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUM. Television has movement and sound effects. It shows real people, not flat pictorial representations of demonstrably fake people. It LOOKS more impressive. Again, going back to Harlan Ellison, he once commented that Hawkman was a character created for the wrong medium; he looks kind of boring on a page, but done correctly, he'd be impressive as hell on TV or in a movie. In point of fact, Hawkman is hardly the only super character this is true of. Few super characters don't look more impressive when translated to a moving, photographic medium, assuming one has the good sense to adapt the conventions of costumery from one genre to another. Exactly why is all this true? Why is a particular character more appealing and commercially successful on TV, in film, or in a video game, than it is in a comic book? Because TV, and film, and video games, over time, deaden the active imagination... and it takes active imagination to read, understand, and enjoy comic books. I submit it takes even MORE active imagination to read, understand, and enjoy comic books than it does to read a non-pictorial novel, or to enjoy a melodramatic radio serial adventure. Why? Because comics, the serial presentation of images and text in conjunction with each other, in a manner that simulates sound and motion without actually having either, requires a certain acquired 'knack' to read. It's a 'knack' that is easy to learn in childhood, and somewhat harder to learn as an adult, and the reason for this is, it requires active imagination to make those flat images and words take on actual sound and motion. And if you don't believe me on any of this, go out and buy Scott McCloud's excellent UNDERSTANDING COMICS, which goes into far more detail on this subject than I have time for. **** For those of us who are still comics fan, this may be something that we don't give much thought to. We know how to read comics, to understand comics, to enjoy comics. We 'get it'. In fact, it has so much become our second nature that we really do not understand that to an adult who never read comics as a kid, comics are a somewhat frustrating medium. They're boring. They seem stupid. These folks can look at a panel to panel sequence that we think is absolutely stunning and all they'll say is 'real people don't look like that'. What we don't get is that they don't get it. They can't 'see' comics the way WE see them. More and more adults these days grew up as kids in an environment filled with live action or animated storytelling mediums. Many of them learned to READ from live action or animated storytelling mediums, like SESAME STREET and its ilk. Sure they can READ, but they can't IMAGINE. For them, the images have always been presented to them in a box, and the images move, and make noise. To them, graphic storytelling is a three panel HAGAR THE HORRIBLE strip. Sophisticated graphic storytelling is DOONESBURY, which, lest we forget, almost never shows any actual movement in the depicted figures. And if the ADULTS these days, of a generation or two behind me, are like this, I can only vainly try to imagine what today's KIDS are like. Other than to say that the active imagination necessary to turn a brilliant page of Jack Kirby panels with Stan Lee scripted word balloons and Artie Simek lettered sound effects into a sweeping panorama of exploding energy beams, flying costumed bodies, and stunning g