---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 280 1999 EAGLE AWARD NOMINEE 9/01/2000 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] Interview:Mark Waid ................... Paul Dale Roberts [6] And Let Me Tell You Why ............... David Coulter [7] 4 Color Review:Paper Cuts! ............ Jason Baldwin [8] Great Googaly Moogaly ................. Chad Trout [9] Comics Culture Shrapnel ............... Kris Naudus [10] Martian Vision ........................ John Jones [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] My View:POP GUN WAR ................... David LeBlanc [13] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [14] HYPE! Section ......................... Various ______________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Home Page-->> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet Mailed by Egroups: http://www.egroups.com/group/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@egroups.com To UNSUBSCRIBE send a message FROM the account to be dropped to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@egroups.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 For those in the USA, remember there is a Monday holiday coming up and as usual the comics delivery will be a day later to your local store. The holiday, of course, is Labor Day which we celebrate on the first Monday of September. As in the past, I urge you to take a few minutes apart from saying goodbye to Summer and getting the kids ready for school and thank those public servants who will be working just the same next Monday. Those in law enforcement, firefighting, health care and the military will be on guard as always to make it a safe holiday for the rest of us. Make sure you let them know you appreciate it! And speaking of appreciation, below is a list of URL's which appear every single week in the Emag. Take a minute to copy and paste them into your bookmarks: http://www.comicon.com/splash/ http://www.comicbookresources.com/ http://www.SilverBulletComicBooks.com http://www.comicscontinuum.com/ http://www.thecomicreader.com/newsmain.htm http://www.comics2film.com http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html http://www.Fandom.com/comics/ http://www.zentertainment.com http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html http://www.dcbservice.com http://www.jazmaonline.com/ http://www.comiclist.com We rely on information from all of these sources to keep you up to date on the goings on in the industry from the latest news and gossip, to the list of comics shipping next week, and for some of the interviews we are allowed to share. There are many more out there on the net but I have found over time that these essential sources provide most of what I need to know and want to pass on to you. Combined with official press releases and direct mailings from those in the business and friends who get a hot bit of news from a more obscure source the Emag is partly a filter for what I think is worth knowing about the hobby we share. Of course there is a lot of hype as well, and stuff that is sent to us in that category is relegated to the last section for easy reference or discarding depending on your preference. Some of the "news" posted to the above URLS is a lot of hype as well, and I generally will filter that out. The difference is the stuff sent to me is run as a courtesy to the people trying to get more exposure through our mag by taking the time to contact us. No matter how many times I repeat it or post it to our web page and even though I state the subjects we are interested in in the header of every issue, I still get requests for links and news about webisodes, web comics, web strips, web animation, and the oxymoronic "web comic books." There are also the few request concerning various subjects like science fiction, collectibles in general and the occasional personal web site. Through it all we stay focussed and "on topic" with what we hope is the essential info on comic books and very little else. We sprinkle in the columns, reviews and the trivia contest in what has worked for 5 1/2 years now. We thank those who help make it work and hope you will take the time to check out the web sites above. And now for something completely different - this weeks comics: AIT/PLANETLAR Astronauts In Trouble Space 1959 TPB, 7.95 BONGO COMICS Bart Simpson Comics #1, 2.50 DC COMICS JLA #46, 2.25 Preacher #66, 3.75 <--------Pick of the Week, FINAL ISSUE! Supergirl #49, 2.25 Superman Tales Of The Bizarro World TPB, 14.95 DIAMOND PUBLICATIONS Previews Vol X #9, 3.25 MARVEL COMICS Universe X #1 (Of 12), 3.50 ONI PRESS INC. Road Trip, 2.95 WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT Gatecrasher The Series #3, 2.50 The Network Buzz this week begins with a long special report on a MAJOR shake up at Marvel - a NEW Editor in Chief has been named! Thanks to Mike Doran and all at Newsarama for complete coverage of the press conference this past Wednesday. 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: Question between writers and artists From: alex_stres@email.com (Alex Stresino) Hello, I was perusing some of my trade paperbacks and I was thinking about the age-old question: Who is more important, the writer or the artist? Right now we are able to enjoy a great number of titles from most of the comics industry. Books like Aria, Daredevil, Powers, Planetary, Promethea, Tom Strong, or Top Ten are great books. Would they work without the artists? We all have opinions about who are the best artists but there is no question that the right art compliments the very best writers. No matter how great Alan Moore is as a writer he attracts some of the best talent. I was already impressed by J.H. Williams from Chase and very aware of the talent of Gene Ha and Chris Sprouse. Ha and Sprouse were on books that were badly written and I had little interest in. Their ability was there and thankfully they found their way to ABC otherwise I don't know if I would be enjoying their art. Right now one artist I had missed that was wasting his time on some Spawn spin-off is Liam Sharp. He is working on a Magik miniseries for Marvel. His work is tremendous as seen on the short-lived Man-Thing series. At the same time writers like Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Peter David have lost steam. Some of the best writers have lost consistency. Even the British Brigade (Ellis, Gaiman, Morrison, Moore, Jenkins, etc.) have their limits. Depending on anyone's particular tastes you may agree depending on which writers you follow. So far I have seen some artists lose their touch (i.e. John Byrne, Mike Allred, Jim Starlin etc.), but this happens after a great deal of lapsed effort and/or inking jobs done on there work. Ultimately there is a distinction of quality we find in artists. Would you rather see Ron Lim do Silver Surfer or Moebius do Silver Surfer? Why are some artists who are the best of the industry so inconsistent? Will the Cliffhanger imprint survive with one series being published? Can we see P. Craig Russell do a monthly Dr. Strange series? (See Dr. Strange: What is it that disturbs you Stephen?) Neil Gaiman is a great writer but would he be great without the bevy of artists he was able to work with? (Maybe, go read Neverwhere) All these questions point to the power of art. Don't get me wrong. Writers are very important. But without artists comic books don't exist. Thanks for listening, Alex +++++ Subj: A return to romance Date: 9/1/00 7:33:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: dino@cobite.com (Dean Haspiel) Folks-- Karon Flage at Sequential Tart wrote a very nice spotlight review for my new Billy Dogma comic BOY IN MY POCKET (published by Top Shelf), due to debut at The Expo 2000 (http://www.spxpo.com/index.html) in Bethesda, MD (Sept. 15th), where I will also be a guest speaker in the "New Voices in Cartooning Roundtable" at ICAF (International Comics Arts Festival: http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~epk93002/icaf/). To read the spotlight review, please go to: http://www.sequentialtart.com/art_0900_1.shtml Hope to see most of ya'll at The EXPO & ICAF-- --Dino http://keyhole.wraithspace.com/dean/ Dean Haspiel 335 Court Street, #131 Brooklyn, NY 11231 USA Ph/Fax: 718.237.1764 ************ My Website/Portfolio/Resume ~ http://keyhole.wraithspace.com/dean/ My Publisher ~ http://www.topshelfcomix.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] [TRIVIA CONTEST] **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!** IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/emag.htm QUESTION OF THE WEEK Prizes donated by Discount Comic Book Service at www.dcbservice.com where you can order most DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse comics, statues and retail products for 35% off. +Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump+ +the readers! You MUST submit the correct answer with your question.+ LAST ISSUE'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What event lead the Kent's to sell their farm and open a general store in Smallville, in the 60's continuity. Tony Baltulis got it first, they moved when Clark was going to begin school. Tony wins X-Men: Phoenix Rising Trade Paperback (and the coupon for $10 off an order of $50.00 or more in August or September) from our sponsor, Discount Comic Book Service. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: "The Story of You-Know-Who" was the subtitle of a one-shot about who? 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 SPECIAL REPORT FROM Newsarama; http://www.Fandom.com/comics/ WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE MARVEL E-I-C MOVES MADE OFFICIAL (8/30/00) Marvel Comics Confirms Quesada as new Editor-in-Chief. Ending 18 hours of rumors, speculation and near confirmation, this afternoon, Wed. 8/30, Marvel Comics officially confirmed that writer/artist and Marvel Knights head Joe Quesada has been named the publisher's new Editor-in-Chief. In a statement issued by the publisher, Bill Jemas, Marvel`s President of Publishing, Licensing & New Media confirmed Quesada has been "promoted to lead editorial operations." "Recognized in the industry as one of today's premiere comic book editors and creators, Mr. Quesada is charged with guiding the editorial direction for Marvel`s world renowned superhero franchises, including Spider-Man, X-Men, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four," read the announcement. "He takes over the reins after serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Marvel Knights imprint for the past two years. During that time, Mr. Quesada turned Marvel Knights into a lightening rod for talent, attracting such well-known writers and artists as Kevin Smith, Brian Bendis, Bob Gale, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee and Mark Millar. His editorial accomplishments with Marvel Knights include revitalizing The Punisher and Daredevil series and turning them back into top sellers for the company. "We are dedicated to fulfilling our mission as the `House of Ideas' and feel that Joe is the perfect visionary to achieve this lofty standard. Joe's accomplishments speak for themselves. He is a creative genius, a gifted recruiter and manager of talent, and has experience in all facets of the comic world. We will be looking to him to bring to our entire line the same level of creativity that has turned Marvel Knights into an award-winning and top-selling imprint," said Jemas. "Quesada, who currently resides in New York City and in Sparta, NJ, has done work for every major comic book company - including DC, Dark Horse, Image, Valiant and Topps - during his award-winning career," continued the announcement. "Prior to joining Marvel, he helped launch Event Comics whose flagship character Ash – a firefighter who is also a superhero -- was an immediate best-seller and has been optioned to Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks to become an animated feature. "Further underscoring its commitment to the company`s core publishing business", Marvel also announced it has created an internal editorial board whose mission will be to "develop a unified editorial content direction for all of Marvel Enterprises". Made up of Quesada, Jemas and Senior Vice President of Publishing Frank Fochetta, the editorial board will work closely with Marvel's Chief Creative Officer and Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad to assess the company`s publishing programs on a regular basis. In addition to the main superhero comic lines directed by Quesada, the board will also evaluate third party publishing opportunities to be overseen by Fochetta, and new media content initiatives to be spearheaded by Jemas. QUESADA & JEMAS TALK TURKEY Today Marvel's Bill Jemas and new EIC Joe Quesada fielded questions from the comics press regarding the editorial change confirmed this afternoon. Bill Jemas: The first thing to do is to congratulate Joe. He's been an industry professional for a number of years, and has come in and really distinguished himself in a fairly difficult time for Marvel. Marvel Knights has been a shining star for the company. This is a promotion to probably the top job in the business, and it is really 100% merit based. I have to thanks Bob Harras for 18 years of outstanding service to Marvel. This is the man who more than any other single person created this powerful X-Men franchise that exists today. By that I mean Bob, as an editor, turned those books from certainly leading books, into becoming the unquestioned 800-pound gorilla of the comic book industry. Just as importantly, Bob had more of a powerful stamp on the X-Men television show, which frankly dominated the kids 11-17 media of the mid 90s. That fan base that Bob and his crew laid in the mid ‘90s, I think more than anything else is what's responsible for the tremendous success of the X-Men movie. We wish him the best, and more importantly, we wish to continue a strong relationship with Bob where he is working with us on the most high profile and special projects that we can find. Joe Quesada: It's really a pleasure to be in this position right now, and it's really an honor to be in the position of editor-in-chief of Marvel. This company is the industry leader, and as this company goes, so does the rest of the industry. It's a high-pressure situation, and I look forward to this, meeting the challenge head on. We worked some magic with Marvel Knights – don't necessarily ask me what that magic is – it was all based on instinct. The goal is to bring this all to Marvel now, and just carry this over to the rest of the titles, and try to make this company what it can be – what it once was. We've got all the right cards. We just need to put them in the right place to have some winning hands. That's really the goal at this point. Joel Meadow, Tripwire Magazine: What happens with Marvel Knights in terms of the editing structure? JQ: MK will pretty much remain the way it is. I of course will be stepping down from my position, someone will be taking over the position, who it will be I can't say as of yet. So with regards to MK, the imprint will continue. The renegade structure that Marvel Knights established in getting guys that would not work for Marvel is still a very important thing to have here, and it adds prestige to some of these characters, and should continue to do so. MK will be healthy and running, it just won't have me necessarily for the head. Joel Meadow: Are you planning on carrying on the same attitude with the main Marvel line? JQ: It's all I know how to do. It's not like the attitude changes when I put on a different hat. It's the same attitude we had with Event Comics, only we were working in a smaller pond. Now we're working in this large universe, so the goal is to continue that. Jim McLaughlin, Wizard – Why Joe? Jemas: Joe's proved that he can do it at a time when people were giving up and running scared and acquiescing in defeat. The man and his team took characters like the Punisher and Daredevil, which had lost relevance and sales, and turned them into top 10 books – it was a remarkable achievement. And we appreciate that. Joe also has a knack that a lot of very good creators don't have for working on a team as a team player and attracting new talent. So that when Marvel was very anxious to launch our Ultimate line, it was Joe recruiting two writers that were perfect for what we needed to do – bringing them in and bringing them to the fold, and saying "let's go". This is a person that had no financial interest, it was really a willingness to step up for the company. We really looked at who, inside and outside Marvel had the creative juice in the first place, and who could also recruit better talent than anybody else, and that's why we went with Joe. Cliff Biggers, Comic Shop News: Will there be any immediate changes in the Marvel line in terms of additions or dropping books or format? JQ: Right now, there`s a goodly bit of a learning curve for me. Obviously my universe has gotten a little bigger here. I have to start looking at things a little more globally than I'm used to. I looked at things globally in the context of Marvel Knights, and of course I have my own opinions about how books are performing or how certain books should perform, and those might become evident somewhere down the road. It's not going to be something sweeping and something immediate, I think that would be a big mistake to make in the first place, but everything will be looked at and scrutinized, and we'll figure out game plans and we'll try to attack everything appropriately and significantly in the proper amount of time. Mike Sangiacomco, Cleveland Plain Dealer: Bill: Is the lack of performance of Marvel after X-Men and not being able to capitalize on that with some accessible books based on the movie – did that have anything to do with this change? Jemas: That's a good question. I can say that it does hurt that we have this worldwide beacon thrown on Marvel from the X-Men movie, and that by and large throughout the line, that has not turned into significant additional sales, so that does hurt, and I do believe that the wonderful and difficult content in the current books is part of the problem. I can't say that it was clearly cause and effect. Whether sales bumped up five percent or bumped down five percent after the movie was not so much a concern as was we really think that the company needs a leader for the comic books creatively like Joe, and this was a little bit independent with respect to the movie. I can tell you that the movie books did sell respectably well, and now we have Uncanny, X-Men and Wolverine all at the top three slots in the comic book business. But the concern though is that you can be the top three in the comic book business all day long, but all that means is you're the leader of the losers – you're the leader of the people who are losing 7-10% a year. So the ticker that we have to watch if we're going to be successful is new readers, and there's a very, very hard balance and what I'm learning the hard way here as I enter the business more and more is that it's very difficult to grab a new reader with accessible content and not have that really visceral and hostile reaction from the people who have been reading for 20 years who like solving the jigsaw puzzle. I can name on one finger on one hand the guy that has been able to do that, and he's on the call with us, and that's why Joe's doing this. Christopher Griffen, The Comics Reader: Each of Marvel's EIC's has left an imprint_what's going to be your legacy? JQ: Hopefully, creating something from what's perceived as nothing right now. I really want to try to inject this place with an energy that's been lacking for some time, and understandably lacking – this company's been through a series of layoffs and shakeups, and morale is not what it should be. I remember walking through the halls of this company when I was a young budding artist trying to break in, and to me, it was the equivalent of a minor league baseball player being called up to play for the New York Yankees. This was Yankee Stadium, and there was an energy, a crispness that ran up and down your spine when you walked in here. That's been missing for quite a while, and it's been understandably missing, and it's something that I want to instill in people. When they walk through these halls – this is the Yankee Stadium of the comic book industry. For it to be Yankee Stadium ,we have to bring in some DiMaggios and some Mickey Mantles. At the end of the day, hopefully, we'll be able to do that. That's kind of what we did with Marvel Knights – but we did it on a smaller scale. Now we've got to do it on a bigger scale. Once you get those players in, you can fill up those seats with behinds. That's a really grassroots approach – there's really no magic to it in that sense. Chris Lawrence, Wizard: With the new position, what impact does that have on the more creative aspect of your job? Are you going to be stuck more with the business side? JQ: Actually, part of my initial discussions with Bill was that taking the EIC position was that I still continue drawing. Obviously, I'm going to have to cut down, but it's my belief that one of the important things about Marvel Knights, and one of the reasons why were able to attract the creators we were able to attract was that I'm in the trenches with these people. I'm working, I'm a freelancer – it's a day-to-day thing. I know what it's like to stare at a blank page in the morning, and there's nothing more difficult in my mind to do that. The minute that I lose that edge, I lose that line of communication with the people who are really most important to my business which are my freelancers and creators. We live and die by that, and our characters. It's an understanding that no, I can't pencil as much as I would like to, but I will continue penciling – it will probably be special projects, probably still involving Daredevil, but we've yet to see. So the answer is yes, I'll still be creative, but no, probably not as much as I'd like to be, but some sacrifices have to be made on my end as well. Beau Yarbrough, Comic Book Resources: Why now? What precipitated this position? Jemas: We're looking at a pretty long continuum here where the business has been rocked since the mid ‘90s. We went from having a really easy fun business to having a really hard fun business. The move to Joe has really been incremental. Joe went from Marvel competitor to Marvel insider with his own imprint, but not all the way in to being 100% there, so I can't say that any particular incident precipitated this, but the time is certainly right to have a real lead creator take the lead role at the House of Ideas. Ed Gross, Fandom.com: The Ultimate titles – how important do you see them and why are they so significant? JQ: The Ultimates are one of the many steps we need. Contrary to what people may believe, there is no magic bullet in this industry, and there is no comic book messiah. Ultimate is one of the many steps that Marvel will be taking to bring back the youthful reader. Both Bill and I are in agreement that we have at least a lost generation of kids that did not grow up reading comic books, so consequently there aren't a bunch of 8 and 12 year-olds that had brothers and sisters who have a comic book collection that they could hand down to them. We have to start cultivating readers, and I've said it on many times – we have to get them young because comic books are the equivalent of literary crack. Get a kid hooked on it, and chances are you've got them hooked for life. The Ultimates are an important piece of that puzzle, but probably not the only piece of that puzzle. That's my view on it. Jemas: I would say that the Ultimates are significant more for the business model than for the content. In other words, we could have done Ultimates about the X-Men books with some alterations, about the Wolverine books, about the new Peter Parker book by Paul Jenkins. We could've done the Ultimates about some of the current content. The Ultimates are significant really because Marvel is taking a very aggressive view towards marketing towards teenagers. Joe and I were talking about this the other day - kids in our generation got their comic books from their older brothers., We've lost a generation of older brothers now, so Marvel is out there with our marketing partners sampling 12 million of these books. So the Ultimates really relate to putting a diverse piece of literature in the hands of a 12 year old and getting them to read it. Again, the Ultimates are significant because we're taking a very aggressive stand with respect to newsstand distribution, and it's a three-part program. But, if that model works the way we hope it will work, it will be repeated against all of the mainstream Marvel titles. Matt Brady, Comics Newsarama: Character wise – who's your first priority? JQ: Spider-Man. Hands down, I think we need to take a good look at the Spider-Man titles, and again, I'm speaking off the cuff here – this is Editor in Chief day one. Spidey's one of the things that I think is very important for us to look at, because as Marvel goes, so goes the industry, and as Spider-Man goes, so goes Marvel, and you can throw X-Men into that mix too. Obviously, I think we have to start at the top and take a good hard look at what we're doing on these titles, creatively, editorially and find out how to hone them and make sure we're healthy as the ship rolls along, especially with the Spider-Man movie looming in the future, I think that it's imperative that we take action now, and not wait until it's two months before the movie's released. Gregory Dickens, Herald Journal: Regarding the Ultimate Marvel bringing in readers, and taking advantage of the X-Men and Spider-Man movie, what steps would you take to make sure you don't lose those new readers to viewers who would watch the adaptation. How would you make them come back to those books? Jemas: I've been around the entertainment business for 20 years, and the main lesson that people have learned in the 20 years that I've been there, and this is a pretty significant attitude change – I cut my teeth at the NBA - as cable television moved from an also ran to 50-60% penetration of the market, what happened was there was more opportunities to televise more games. Almost to the man, woman and child, every person involved in ticket selling believed that if you could watch the game on television, you wouldn't show up to watch. There are still people walking the buildings at Madison Square Garden who cringe when we televised an event, because why would you bother to buy a ticket, go into Manhattan , brave the subways and leave the comfort of your own home to watch a game. What would happen was that every big game for the past eight years has been televised, and every game has been sold out. What really happens with a media phenomenon is once you hit critical mass, the public will have a strong appetite for every strong product that you produce against that character. Guess what? There was no such thing as a Pokemon comic book, but when the Pokemon cards and televisions show got hot, the Pokemon comic books became a reasonably successful title. My sense is that more is more and more is more than that, and that the better Marvel does in the electronic games and movie, and t-shirt capacity, the better the comics will be. Don Lund, The Comic Reader: Planning on any immediate staff changes? JQ: Before we make changes, we may make some additions. Bill and I have spoken about additions to the editorial department that would benefit Marvel, not just on the superhero front, but in other directions we're planning on doing. There are some positive changes that we're talking about, things that have been rumored for years and years, but no one has really acted on it at Marvel, but again, I don't want to give away everything. But soon we will be hinting about some of the things we have planned. Rich Johnston: Silver Bullet Comic Books: How much of Marvel Knights could be attributed to Jimmy Palmiotti, and how much of that will be missing when you take over as editor in chief? JQ: I don't think that Marvel Knights really missed a beat when Jimmy resigned. To be perfectly honest, who really ran Marvel Knights had nothing to do with Jimmy and I, we were just the pretty faces behind it. Nanci Dakesian and her assistant Kelly Lami really did most of the grunt work with that – we just recruited talent. Jemas: That's an awfully hard question for Joe to answer, in all fairness. My assessment as a person who was highly involved with both of them is that Jimmy is a great guy who has a lot of friends in the business, but we were very, very comfortable with Joe as the prime mover at Marvel Knights, and that's why we brought him in. Hannibal Tabu, NPO.com: Concerning the language you're using – you were hurt, energy was lacking_now that we have Joe as the head pusher of this literary crack, what sort of changes can we look for in the actual offices? JQ: One of the biggest problems at Marvel has been the ever-looming spectre of "oh my God, what's going to happen next?" with regards to books, with regards to jobs. We have to change that perception in house first. Will the books be changing? Most likely. How will they be changing? I can't tell you yet, because I really don't know. I don't know how the creative community will respond to this, hopefully it will be favorable. I'm hoping that we will have some people knocking on our doors that we haven't had in quite some years that maybe either decided to leave or that this wasn't a fun place to work anymore. More importantly than that, we'll have some people knocking on the door that never even thought of comic books as an outlet for their creativity or as a financial outlet for their creativity. I'm hoping that the outlook is favorable. I'm hoping that there will be some names attached to Marvel books that you haven't seen in a long time. I'm kind of betting on it, and I'm not going to give away names, but if you look at Marvel Knights and its track record, you can see that there's been more than one occasion where you've picked up a trade periodical and said, "I can't believe so and so is working for Marvel." I think you'll be getting more of that down the road. Tabu: How did this lack of energy, lack of leadership, lack of capitalization happen, and how will you be able to prevent making those mistakes again? Jemas: Part of the issue at Marvel, and I can't say that I enjoy knocking my predecessors, but I don't mind either, there was a real disconnect between the business guys and the creative guys. They lived on different planets. Even to the point where there was the church and state distinction, where the publisher might or might not get actively involved in the editorial direction of the company. Because of that separation, there was often a lack of support or knowing support. That was exacerbated even when business and creative sides would line up. They might be doing something a thousand percent different than what was happening in the rest of the business at Marvel. A great example of this was Maximum Carnage – it was this nasty but spectacular crossover issue that created this horribly popular, charismatic character. One of our electronic game companies came in and released the biggest video game release that Marvel had ever done, and maybe one of the biggest in the industry around Maximum Carnage. As that was going on, the editorial guys took a long, hard look at Carnage and said they didn't want that disgusting character involved in their books anymore. So at the time that we were having our largest electronic game release ever, the character was more or less banned from the books. There was a real and deep disconnect between the publishing side, the editorial side, and the rest of the business. One of the things that we're doing here just to make sure that that doesn't happen and to make sure that we understand each other's needs is that we're forming an editorial board. Frank Fochetta is a long time publishing industry expert, he's the senior vice president of publishing at Marvel. Frank, Joe and myself will work together to make sure that Joe has everything he needs to take care of business from the business people. Brian Jacks, The Slush Factory: Are you going to be pushing more for a Vertigo-type line for Marvel that doesn't work under the Code? JQ: Again, there will many things that will be happening here. There might be different imprints, there might be a different attitude to certain books, we haven't really sat down and discussed the exact game plan. We've talked about a lot of things in theory. A lot of this will have to do with the additional staff that we bring in to Marvel as well, but you might see a different flavor of Marvel book, besides just a straight ahead superhero. I've heard a lot of people call Marvel Knights Marvel's Vertigo imprint. It may be nothing more than that at the end of the day, but again, we're talking about things that I really probably shouldn't be hypothesizing about right now. We'll have more concrete answers as this thing moves along. Nathan Versalle, The Slush Factory: Are there any books on the top of your list to take a good hard look at and be realistic about the creators? JQ: I think I already stated before that I want to take a good look at the top of our list which essentially is X-Men and Spider-Man. It's not to say that I don't think the books are performing properly, but I think we need to take a good hard look at them, along with Bill and the editors in charge of those books and find out if we're headed in the right path, or if there are any icebergs in the way, that need to be dealt with immediately, because that is the strength of this company. Once we work on those, then we'll trickle down and see what the rest of the line is doing. Alan Doane, Comic Book Galaxy: Are you confident that you'll be able to build bridges to the various editorial offices to make everything work smoothly? JQ: I'm going to try. When MK first started out, it was a very difficult situation for us in the sense that we were sort of on the coattails of Heroes Reborn, which set up a lot of resentment in the halls between the editors at Marvel and what was going on ion the studios in California. A lot of it had to do with the broken down line of communication. They had no idea what was going on at the West Coast, and they had no idea what was going on with the East Coast. With Marvel Knights, part of our deal was that Marvel give us office space, not because we needed office space, but because we wanted to be here. We understood that there were going to be some problems after Heroes Reborn. When we walk through these halls, naturally, we were viewed as outsides, and I would say that it took a good six months to three quarters of a year to show people that we were here in the trenches with them. We were keeping late hours, we were working along with them. We weren't just running buckshot, using characters without approval. We tried to make sure we went though the exact same approval process that every editor here has to in order to get his or her books approved and published. Once again, being in the Editor in Chief position, there's obviously going to be a bit of a point when you're going to have to prove yourself and say, "hey, we're all a team, and we're all still doing this," but I think a lot of those bridges have been built in our tenure here at MK. We've established great relationships with people here. So far the reception I've gotten after the news has broken has been nothing but fantastic and warm. It's very well appreciated from me as well. There will be bridges that need to be built. I'm sort of the guy at the top now, and it's sort of an awkward position for me to be it, but one that I'm really looking forward to. There will be bridges that I will be building with editorial, but hopefully that editorial will be building with the press, because we need to expand that as well. Our editor needs to communicate a little between with all the press a little bit better about projects that we have coming up, and a lot of it has to do with excitement. Let's face it, if I don't believe in a project, I can't expect an editor underneath me to believe in a project, so, hopefully those are some of the things that will become evident as time goes by. Steve Fritz, Fandom.com: How do you get comics out to the public? Jemas: That's a good question. Of all the things that worry me as the president and acting publisher, I understand that that's an important problem, but it really worries me the least. Distribution in the long haul is the easiest piece of the puzzle. Curtis is a powerful newsstand distributor, and we're linked up with them. Curtis has the full support of Diamond Comics, because Diamond is smart enough to know that every new reader Curtis brings in through the newsstand will ultimately end up buying their comic books through a comic book store. The reason why I'm not so worried about that is because I've seen Marvel at its peak with 75,000 retail newsstand outlets. Just to give you some context of that number, that was at a time when Fleer was running Marvel cards and baseball cards and basketball cards and football cards. We thought that we were one of the best-distributed products in the country, just short of cigarettes. We have the ability through Curtis to get comic books placed everywhere that videogame magazines would be sold. The issue historically is that as content producers, we hit a point where the stuff that was out at newsstand for new readers was inaccessible and irrelevant for the new readers. So I'm not so much worried about getting the distribution done, because we can get placement everywhere in your town that you can possibly buy a magazine. The challenges are twofold really – getting the content `improved' is a pejorative word, because getting some of the content altered enough so it can be accessible to new readers, and then getting enough marketing done so that people are interested enough to have the books on their shopping list. To come full circle, Joe is 100% right about the Ultimate content. That is just one of many content issues, the key is making sure that marketing and distribution are lined up with the content, and I'm very confident that Marvel will be able to get that done in the near future. Sangiacomco: How many newsstand outlets is Marvel in now? Jemas: My best guesstimate now would be that we are in 15,000 newsstand outlets. For the Ultimate program, we actually bought slots next to the electronic games magazines. We'll be in at least 25,000 outlets total for the Ultimates. Maggie Thompson: Comics Buyer's Guide: Where do you see Marvel's position next May [2001] in terms of presence in the marketplace, where are you going to be? JQ: With regards to Marvel, it's going to look and feel familiar, but it's going to be completely different at the same time, if what we have planned bear fruit. Again, I hate to speak cryptically about it, but it's going to be some things that Marvel has tried to do in the past and we haven't been able to succeed. A lot of it has to do with putting the right people into the right seats within the company. I can speak editorially and cleaning up some departments and maybe really aggressively pursuing some avenues that we haven't done in the past editorially. Also, probably making it a better place for creators to work. Because of my background, which is artist and a publisher as well, I understand a lot of the levels of what goes on over here, but my main perspective in life has always been from the freelance artist perspective, and that will never change. So consequently, I do want to make this a better, friendlier place for freelancers to work, and it's my belief that if you make it that, you get better work. And also you have to get out of people's way and let them do what they do, which is if you hire great creators, you've got to let them create. Nine months down the road? That will be a visible change. The attitude has been the same from when we started the imprint two years ago to now, and hopefully that'll be the attitude I can instill in all the editors. Jemas: The only thing I want to add to Joe's answer is that the closer you get to the comic business, the easier it is to miss the forest for the trees. It's very easy to miss the X-Men characters. The people that make a fortune and spend a fortune predicting movie results had the X-Men logged in at 22-25 million for it's first weekend. What they missed was the tremendous popularity and importance of the X-Men characters to a population of 11-17 year olds who grew up watching them on television. The problem has been that Marvel, across the board, publishing electronic games, t-shirts, hats, and everything that you can do – we had a 3-4 year hiatus to satisfy the demand of that fanbase. As we come on line with more and more good product across the board, you'll see dramatic increases. Activision just released an X-Men console game and a Gameboy game called Mutant Academy, both of which are the #1 games. The sell on the Spider-Man game has been incredible. It really goes to an across the board look that as Avi Arad and the guys at Marvel Studios become more successful at getting solid movie and television projects cranked out, we on the comics side and the consumer products side are going to be right there with filling out the overall consumer and fan experience with good products. So, my sense is that nine months from now, we will continue to grow at a pretty strong rate on every aspect of the business. Sangiacomo: Could you be more specific about Bob Harras' role with the company? Jemas: That is mostly up to Bob. We value our friendship with Bob we value his contributions. If Bob wants to be extremely active, he will be extremely active. If he'd like to be less active, he'll be less active. But we really want the relationship to continue in the strongest sense, and it's really not appropriate to talk about an individual person's finances, but we'd like to continue to have a real strong relationship with Bob. Sangiacomco: Does he still have an office at Marvel? Jemas: I don't really want to go to far into it about Bob other than to say that he's always welcome as long as Joe and I are around. Cliff Biggers, Comic Shop News: You mentioned third-party publishing opportunities. Is that outside of the comic field, or does that tie in to talk that Marvel might be licensing its characters to other publishers? Jemas: The third party publishing falls into two categories, one will direct Joe's life very directly, and that's what we call "custom publishing". In the past, we would do a major comic book promotional deal, like the one we're doing with the Buster Brown shoe company with Spider-Man. What would happen is that people in the consumer products division would run around and put together an embarrassingly weak book that would get sampled to millions of fans, so that what millions of fans would see would be Captain Toothpaste drawn by somebody's brother-in-law, colored by a kid just out of college with a bad Macintosh. It did not work. Move number one, and we're doing this right now, and we did it with the promotional insert we did with the X-Men movie in TV Guide, we're going to take our best writers and pay them all the money they deserve, so that when we sample and promote through the Marvel world, it's going to be Frank Frochetta putting the deals together, and Joe's guys executing top notch creative effort. There used to be a real arrogance among our creators saying, "I'm working on few hundred thousand copy a month book, and not doing a custom," and that is a real sense of reality now where now they're realizing they can reach 10 million people in TV Guide. The other chunk of it is we have lapsed in terms of fishing and finding new top quality third party products. Frank is out there, and we have a few deals in progress that I can't talk about. You all lived through Transformers and GI Joe converting a whole generation of kid toy fans to comic book readers, but we stopped doing that. If we're going catch new fish, we've got to give them the bait that they want. I would've loved to have had the Pokemon comic book rights, but we were not standing there to get them, and the books were executed reasonably well, but certainly nothing that would bring new readers into the business. So 50% is doing a better job of it when Marvel sponsors a book, and the other 50% of it is going to be what was used to be called licensed publishing, but we'll come up with a new name that indicates quality rather than second hand work. Doane: Are you confident that the architecture will be in place to keep the line running on time? JQ: There were lateness problems with MK early – there were some growing pains. Right now the only thing that's grossly late at Marvel is Daredevil. Outside of that, we've been running pretty much on time with everything else. So, it's kind of a bum rap and a well-deserved rap, but I don't think it's a rap that's going to affect that standard, core Marvel titles at all. It's not like I'll sit there and tell editors I want a book that's on time to slow down because that's my rep. That really isn't going to change. Marvel Knights is strange beast because we also_it's something that's tough to explain_because it's something that you sort of do on feel, but you have to understand that when you're working with some of these top creators and you're working on mini-series of particular characters, and the basic reason that character is moving is because of the combination of the writer, the artist and the character_we don't really have the liberty that some of the editors at Marvel have to say, "you know what, you're bounced for a couple of issues," especially when it's only four issues, because we have a certain amount of sales quotas that we have to adhere to, which are probably stricter than some of the sales quotas put on the other books. It's just the nature of the beast. There are a lot of underlying things and behind the scenes things that happened at Marvel Knights why 1) some of the books were late, and 2) why Marvel allowed them to be late. That's the question that no one ever seems to ask – why does Marvel allow these books to ship late? There's a good reason, it's not foolhardiness and it's not bad business. There are reasons for these things. Is this going to happen line-wide? No. Let's really be serious about it, that's not the way it's going to be. Everything is one a case-by-case basis and will continue rolling the way it's rolling. It might look different, it might feel different, it might smell different, or it might read different. Hannibal: In the past, summer events, say, the Onslaught thing, would take a character out of what it was doing, say, Peter David's Hulk and make him stop literally and go into something else which was completely contrary to everything that was going on. In the past, this has caused some problems in terms of readability, I know I've been very irritated at this, and in terms of creators being unhappy with this, and I know David was very public with his concern over that. Is this sort of thing going to happen continually, or what sort of thing can you do as editor in chief to make sure that it won't happen? JQ: Let's take it on a case-by-case basis. No one decision is going to make everyone happy. The idea is to make these decisions and mode them and massage them until you get as many people on board as you possibly can. How will we do these things in the future? I don't know yet. As I said before, this is day one, and there's going to be a bit of a learning curve, but we're going to try and handle things as best as possible. I can't even tell you that they were handled badly in the past. If Peter was vocal about it, he was vocal about it. There have been people who have been vocal about things in this company that have had nothing to do with crossovers. Every creator has his or her pet peeve. The trick of it comes in trying to make everyone as happy and as comfortable as you can. Marvel's always certainly gotten a bum rap for these kinds of things, and I will go on the record saying that the reason we get a bum rap for them is because we are the industry leader, and people always love to be vocal about the industry leader. We're the company that people love, and we're the people love to hate, but we're also the company that you have to consistently keep reading, because we are the industry leader, and we have the best characters and the best backdrop for them. It's the universe that Stan created, and it keeps on rolling_ __________________________________________ THE INDUSTRY REACTS With the news of Marvel's change in Editor-in-Chief now in the books, Newsarama solicited some reaction from the pro community regarding the change, and we'll be bringing readers some of those replies throughout the week_ Jim Valentino, Image Publisher – "Joe Quesada has shown incredible vision, impeccable taste and uncommon leadership abilities with Marvel Knights. I believe he will bring all of these qualities to the MU. This is very good news for the entire industry. " Brian Bendis – "Let`s see. Joe took the chance on bringing me to Marvel, let me work with [David] Mack and him on Daredevil, recommended me for Spider-Man and has been a trusted friend and advisor. What do you think my thoughts are? J" Rob Liefeld – "As half the editorial tandem that introduced the world to the brilliant MARVEL KNIGHTS line, Joe Q has proved that he has the good taste and instincts to put together comics with a distinct commercial appeal. I look forward to seeing how his influence spreads across the broad Marvel landscape. "I am saddened by the departure of Bob Harras as the Editor in Chief. Although Bob and I have had our share of differences, he gave me a chance to spread my wings creatively and he provided me with the most important opportunity of my career when he gave me the NEW MUTANTS assignment, and later X-FORCE. He did a good job in difficult times and I wish him well." Christopher J. Priest - "Hate the sumbitch. :-) "Joe`s a longtime pal and close personal friend, so of course I`m delighted. I`m... stunned at Bob`s rapid departure (how rapid it was, I don`t know... news gets to me very slowly out here in Colorado). "Bob has been a longtime friend and a decent person to work with. I`m indebted to him for his continued support of BLACK PANTHER, and his professional mitigation of some internal conflicts. I`ve nothing but high praise for Bob and am... a little shocked by the news. I wish him well. "Joe will prove himself to be a prime asset to the company and the industry. I look forward to a continued and strengthened relationship with Marvel. +++++ Marvel Enterprises Adopts Stockholder Rights Plan NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 1, 2000--Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously adopted a Stockholder Rights Plan. The Company reported that it adopted the Plan in order to better protect stockholders and assure that they receive the full value of their investment in the event of any proposed takeover of the Company. Marvel noted that the adoption of the Plan was not in response to any specific attempt to acquire control of the Company and that the Company has no knowledge of any such interest on the part of any person or entity. Commenting on the Plan, Marvel President and CEO, Peter Cuneo, said, "It is the responsibility of our Board of Directors at all times to preserve and enhance stockholder value. It is not the intention of the Plan to prevent the acquisition or takeover of the Company at some time in the future should the Board of Directors determine that such a transaction is in the best interest of the Company and its stockholders. Rather, the Plan is intended to help insulate the Company from abusive takeover tactics which are designed to gain control of the Company without paying a full and fair price to all of the stockholders." The Plan, which is similar to plans adopted by many other U.S. companies, strengthens the ability of the Board to assure that the Company's stockholders receive fair and equal treatment and to protect the interests of the Company's stockholders, in the event of an unsolicited offer to acquire control of the Company. Importantly, it is intended to encourage any potential acquirer to negotiate the manner and terms of any proposed acquisition with the Board of Directors. Terms of the Plan provide for a distribution to stockholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2000 of one Right for each outstanding share of common stock held and 1.039 Rights for each outstanding share of 8% cumulative convertible exchangeable preferred stock of the Company held. Subject to limited exceptions, the Rights will be exercisable if a person or group acquires 15% or more of the Company's common stock (including shares of preferred stock convertible into common stock) or announces a tender offer or exchange offer for 15% or more of the common stock, or if stockholders who already own 15% or more of the common stock increase their holdings by more than a limited percentage. Depending on the circumstances, the effect of the exercise of the Rights will be to permit each holder of a Right to either purchase stock in the Company or stock of the buyer, at a substantial discount, and, in so doing, materially dilute the level of ownership of the buyer in the Company. The Company will be entitled to redeem the Rights at $.01 per Right at any time before a person has acquired 15% or more of the outstanding common stock. The Plan will expire on September 15, 2010. A letter explaining in greater detail the terms of the Plan will be forwarded to stockholders following the September 15, 2000 record date. +++++ Atlas Finds No Humor in Parody NEW YORK (AP) - Flexing its legal muscle, DC Comics managed to knock out of court a lawsuit Charles Atlas Limited filed after the comic book transformed the beach side muscleman hero into a bullying brute. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in a ruling filed Tuesday declared DC Comics the winner in the legal dispute, dismissing the lawsuit largely on First Amendment grounds. ``This is precisely the type of expression of ideas that the First Amendment is designed to protect,'' Buchwald wrote. Charles Atlas Limited filed the lawsuit last year after learning about the parody by DC Comics of a comic strip advertisement Atlas used to promote its body building classes. In the Atlas comic strip titled, ``The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac,'' a bully kicks sand in scrawny Mac's face at the beach, causing him to take the Atlas course and develop a muscular physique. Mac then finds the bully on the beach and punches him as he receives newfound respect from a female companion and a halo of sorts forms over his head. Much of the story in the 1991 DC Comics spoof of the advertisement remains the same until a character similar to Mac but named ``Flex Mentallo'' returns to the beach. There, Flex beats up the woman with him by smashing her in the face and saying, ``I don't need a tramp like you anymore!'' the judge recounted. ``Here, DC's Flex Mentallo comic books imitate plaintiff's comic ad and take it to an absurd conclusion,'' the judge said. ``It is an undeniable twist on plaintiff's comic ad for the once-weak character to gain strength only to himself become a brute and a bully.'' The judge added, ``In effect, the character Flex Mentallo is a farcical commentary on plaintiff's implied promises of physical and sexual prowess through use of the Atlas method.'' The ruling was criticized by Jeffrey C. Hogue, president of Charles Atlas Limited, which has executive offices in Harrington Park, N.J. ``I think sometimes courts make mistakes. This was one of them. There has to be a limit to how far you can let someone ridicule your trademark,'' he said. ``They took that character and made him into something that was not an Atlas man,'' Hogue said. ``We've always stood up for the underdog. If anyone was beating a woman, we'd be the one stopping it.'' Lillian Laserson, a lawyer for DC Comics, said the company ``certainly meant no harm to the Charles Atlas company.'' ``Comic books are an important part of American culture and we are very happy that Judge Buchwald recognized that they are entitled to First Amendment protection,'' she said. +++++ Dimension Films Acquires the Rights to Marvel's 'Ghost Rider' NEW YORK, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- In one of its most aggressive deals to date, Dimension Films has acquired the rights to "Ghost Rider," an action-filled adventure based on the popular Marvel Comics superhero, it was announced today by company co-chairman Bob Weinstein. "Ghost Rider" was written by David Goyer ("The Crow: City of Angels") and will be directed by Steven Norrington, who previously worked together on "Blade." Dimension will distribute the film in the United States. Steven Paul, president and CEO of Crystal Sky Entertainment, and Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios and recent producer of "X-Men," will be producing the project. Goyer and Norrington will executive produce. "Ghost Rider" tells the story of a motorcycle stuntman, who, seeking revenge for harm done to his one true love, makes a pact with dark forces to avenge the wrongdoing. By day, the Ghost Rider is a motorcycle stuntman able to perform superhuman tricks; by night he is transformed into a burning demon on wheels as he hunts down those who bring pain to the innocent. "Both Dimension and Marvel Comics have enjoyed great success in developing edgy, provocative projects like 'Ghost Rider,'" said Bob Weinstein. "Following the high level of interest in recent comic book adaptations like 'The Crow' and 'X-Men,' we believe that 'Ghost Rider' offers tremendous franchise opportunities for Dimension." "After Dimension's success with 'Scary Movie,' there is no doubt that Bob and his team can maximize 'Ghost Rider's' potential for us," said Steven Paul. "After all night negotiations, we are proud to reach an agreement with Dimension." Bob Weinstein, Cary Granat, president of Dimension, Michael Helfant, senior executive vp of Dimension, and Andrew Gumpert, svp of business and legal affairs, negotiated the deal for Dimension. Steven Paul and Joseph Inga, svp of finance, negotiated the deal for Crystal Sky. Crystal Sky will handle foreign rights. The picture will be co-financed by Dimension and Crystal Sky Entertainment. The deal will go under several agreements Crystal Sky has in place, including a $400 million line of credit with MM media Capital and output agreement with VCL, Communications in Munich. SOURCE Dimension Films +++++ Here Comes the Spider-Man Activision's Spider-Man(TM) Swings Into Retail Stores Nationwide Acclaimed Superhero Delivers Swift Action to The PlayStation(R) Game Console and Nintendo Game Boy(R) Color SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvel Comic's renowned web-slinging, wall-crawling superhero, Spider-Man, swings onto store shelves across North America with the release of two new video games from Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) -- Spider-Man(TM) for the PlayStation(R) game console and Nintendo Game Boy(R) Color. The games carry a suggested retail price of $39.99 and $29.99 respectively, and they have been rated "E" ("Everyone" -- content suitable for persons ages six and older -- with Animated Violence) by the ESRB. The first free-roaming, 3D action/adventure game based on the most recognized superhero of all time, Spider-Man challenges players to web-sling, wall-crawl, fight and use "Spider-Sense" to battle evil-doers. Gamers must utilize Spider-Man's super strength and superior wit to protect the innocent as they help solve a variety of puzzles and defeat old and new super villains alike. "The team at Neversoft has developed what we believe will be considered the crowning achievement for character-based action games for the PlayStation," said Michael Pole, executive vice president, Worldwide Studios for Activision. "From its extraordinary graphics to its addictive and diverse gameplay, Spider-Man will provide hours upon hours of enjoyment for his fans worldwide." Developed by Neversoft Entertainment (creators of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater), Spider-Man for the PlayStation features an original storyline that gamers can experience through 34 action-packed levels. From hair-raising police chases and all-out brawls with lizard men to stealth missions, gamers battle through familiar Spider-Man comic book locales including the Daily Bugle, Times Square and a New York bank. Players will utilize all of the classic Spider-Man web defenses from trapping and yanking to impact webbing, as well as new weapons including web doming and web spikes to battle enemies. In addition, players can swing from place-to-place, ambush enemies from above or below, crawl on buildings, ceilings, or walls, and use the always-handy "Spider-Sense" to detect danger from afar. "The essence of Spider-Man has never been so realistically captured in a videogame," said Dave Stohl, executive producer, Activision Studios. "For the first time ever, players will feel like they're actually in a Spider-Man comic book, swinging through the Manhattan skyline, hunting down dangerous enemies and restoring order to the city." Spider-Man for the Game Boy Color was developed by Vicarious Visions, a New York based developer that creates online, next generation console, and handheld games. WWW.VVISIONS.COM +++++ BUZZBOY WEB CARTOONS ARE COMING! BUZZBOY.NET to introduce online "WEBISODES" With the growing popularity of BUZZBOY. NET's Daily Buzzboy Comic, as well as increasing sales of the Buzzboy comic book (Published by Peregrine Entertainment), John Gallagher asked himself, "What Next?" Apparently, the answer was, "Cartoons!" Beginning in September, Buzzboy Webisodes will be hitting the Internet, featuring animation, sound effects, and music. Created with the ever popular Flash technology, the story, art, and animation will be put together by by Buzzboy creator John Gallagher. "I always wrote the Buzzboy comic as if it was a movie on paper," said Gallagher, "because that is how I see it in my head." Gallagher took that approach when he started the animated, daily Buzzboy comic strip back in January 2000. Gallagher was able to add animation to the strip, but only in a limited form, due to download limitations, and the gruelling schedule of a daily strip. The Web Cartoon format offers full animation and sound, with new Webisodes released every four weeks or so. Subscribers to the Free Buzzboy daily comic strip will have early access to the cartoon, with a general presentation on the Internet a few weeks later. John Gallagher is excited about the new storytelling format, with an emphasis on the story. "Sometimes creators can get lost in the technology, and forget the point of what they are doing. With the Buzzboy webisodes, what you'll see is simply another tale of Buzzboy, upbeat hero, and his friends. Except cooler!" To get more info on the upcoming Webisodes, or to sign up for the Free Buzzboy Daily Web Comic, go to www.buzzboy.net CONTACT INFO: John Gallagher Buzzboy.Net johng@gcreative.com 2911 McComas Ave. Kensington, MD 20895 +++++ MATT "STAR WARS" BUSCH SIGNS ON AS ANDROMEDA COVER ARTIST August 28, 2000 Andromeda Entertainment today announced that acclaimed artist Matt Busch, best known for his incredible Star Wars imagery, has signed on to produce the first covers for their new line of licensed sci-fi comic books. The first covers produced by Busch will be for the flagship title of the new line, First Wave, based on the hit Sci-Fi Channel series from Pearson Television. "I'm honored to be working with such a talented assortment of folks in this new high profile company" said Busch. "It's amazing to see all of the work that's going into these books, and then I get tapped to do a cover piece that unifies the cinematic feeling of the book as a whole. I feel very dedicated to these books, and working with the Andromeda team is very inspiring.” In addition to his prolific comic portfolio, Matt's work for Lucasfilm licensees including Bantam/Doubleday (Star Wars: Tales from the Empire) and West End Games (Star Wars Adventure Journal) has earned him high praise from the creative community. Busch also counts extensive film and television credits among his creative contributions including The Matrix, Home Alone 3, CBS's Murphy Brown, and Fox Television's Melrose Place and New York Undercover. Andromeda Editor-in-Chief Art Holcomb feels this blending of a film maker's sensibilities with a comic artist's talent is exactly what is necessary to turn out killer products while at the same time expanding the scope of the industry. "Think of a comic book cover like you would a trailer for a new movie,” said Holcomb. "It must be powerful and beautiful and should only hint at the excitement that awaits you. It is the promise of things to come, and the image that you will hold in your mind as you eagerly await the film's release or that moment when you hold the new comic in your hands. Matt's work does all that and much more. His stuff just rocks and we're delighted to have him aboard!” First Wave, which has been described as "The X-Files meets The Fugitive,” chronicles the adventures of Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) as he follows clues found in the ancient writings of Nostradamus, which reveals the hidden alien menace among us. The series currently airs on Sci-Fi Sunday nights at 7:00 & 10:00 EST. Busch's cover art for First Wave #1: Heart of a Killer can be viewed on the web at http://www.andromeda-entertainment.com/firstwave. The book is scheduled to ship in December and be on sale December 20, 2000. Details on other releases, future ship dates, and other art samples will be available in upcoming news releases and at Andromeda Entertainment's website at http://www.andromeda-entertainment.com. Retailers, distributors, and fans may send e-mail to first.wave@andromeda-entertainment.com to set up times for interviews or requests for press kits. Matt Busch's portfolio and other art samples can be viewed at www.mattbusch.com. Comics from Andromeda Entertainment – "Believe the Unbelievable!” CONTACT INFORMATION: Website: www.andromeda-entertainment.com E-mail: first.wave@andromeda-entertainment.com Phone & Fax: (303) 845-6208 +++++ Vooosh! Slaaam! Boooom! ... Cain Here; ``Sanity: Aiken's Artifact'' From Fox Interactive Heads Straight for Dark Horse Comics; Read the Action-Packed Comic Book Before You Play the Game LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2000--Fox Interactive and Dark Horse Comics today announced the creation of an exclusive comic book inspired by the upcoming PC game, "Sanity: Aiken's Artifact." The comic book is available to all gamers who pre-order "Sanity: Aiken's Artifact" at the nationwide retail chain Electronics Boutique. Additionally, the game-themed comic book will be bundled with more than 35,000 subscription issues of Wizard magazine's November issue (No. 110). The game will hit retail shelves everywhere at the end of September. Dark Horse Comics brought together an outstanding team of seasoned professionals to tell the story of Agent Cain and his war against rogue Psionic criminals and the perpetual family conflict between two brothers. The comic takes a page from the game by establishing the prequel story line and the lead characters featured in the game. Giving additional background and character information, gamers will enjoy the added action and adventure of Agent Cain and his fight against the evil Psionics. "Sanity: Aiken's Artifact" is a story-driven game that features more than 20 single player and 10 multi-player levels and stars the lead character voice of Grammy Award-winner Ice-T as Agent Cain. In the near future, citizens around the world have begun to display remarkable psychic abilities. Called Psionics, these tormented souls are able to generate energy emissions using only their minds -- often with catastrophic and deadly results. Succumbing to the lure of the power they possess, these Psionics will stop at nothing to achieve control of the universe ... one man, Agent Cain, a powerful Psionic working for an elite government agency, stands against them, risking his own sanity to save ours. +++++ Remember when comics were fun? You will! United Comics and Airborne Studios introduce TWILIGHT: FIRST FLIGHT! Mark O'Riley, a young teen...an accident...super powers...bad guys...what more could you ask for? Christopher J. O'Bryant and Lewis K. Stanley have created a new hero reminiscent of the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man days! This 100+ page Graphic Novel also includes an interview with the creators along with unpublished art by Lewis K.Stanley and T.C. Ford! Available NOW! Only $9.95 from select retailers, or ONLINE at the UNITED COMICS STUDIO STORE http://unitedcomics.safeshopper.com Coming Soon: Shockwave: BETA (Oct. '00); UNITED COMICS #1 (Nov. '00). Check our site for details! TC at United Comics/ Focus: The Other Guide To Comics http://www.unitedcomicworks.com UNITED COMICS STUDIO STORE is now open! +++++ Next Man product due in stores in spring Comic Company A has secured rights to continue it's reprints of the former Comico series Next Man. A reprint of Comico issues #3 and #4 , plus new and unpublished art from the series will be featured. The new books wil be the "next" in the reprint series, following on the success of CCA's Next Man Collectors edition # 1, which was one of the top selling independent releases of 1993-1994. Numbering in the series will continue, as opposed to having another restart of a #1. The followups were to be released in '96-97, but the bankrupcy of Marvel led to reevaluations of the the comic book industry, different marketing plans, and a lapse in one of the contracts. Next Man, first published by Comico the Comic Company in 1985, has maintained strong popularity and respectable back issue prices since it's release, possibly due to the work of it's co-creators, Vince Argondezzi and Roger Mc Kenzie in other communications markets and the comic book market. Between the two of them, many of Marvels' and DC's characters, and several independents', have sprung to life, most notably Daredevil, Captain America , Infinity Inc, and Racer X, among others. Next Man was received with great interest in the market when originally released, but creative differences and monetary and management problems with certain Comico personnel led to the duo to take their characters elsewhere. Comic Company A at 215 677 4465 comicaone@aol.com +++++ From Beau Yarbrough's Comic Wire at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ DWAYNE McDUFFIE WANTS YOU FOR THE SECOND COMING OF MILESTONE Online comic fans like to believe that industry professionals hang on their every message board, mailing list and Usenet posting. Now, they know at least one is. Dwayne McDuffie, editor in chief of Milestone Media, is looking for ideas on ways to expand the second coming of Milestone that is beginning with this fall's "Static Shock" television series and the Milestone continuity miniseries "Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool" from DC Comics. "Seriously, my partner and I are about to put together a publishing plan for Milestone and we're looking for input," he posted Friday on the rec.arts.comics.misc Usenet newsgroup. "Should we do revivals, new properties, monthlies, mini-series, graphic novels? What characters? Which genres? We're listening ..." Of course, lest fans think he's only listening to the fans who, although loyal, didn't prove numerous enough to ultimately keep the line afloat in the 1990s, never fear. "I'm not asking folks to represent the mass, I'm asking them for ideas that may not occur to Derek [Dingle] or myself. So far they've come up with several. For instance, I'd forgotten about the unpublished, but completed, 'Xombi' special and oddly enough, the award-winning 'Milestone for Kids' wasn't on either Derek's list of titles to reconsider or mine." Of course, while McDuffie is listening to the fans, he's also encountering some lingering misconceptions about what Milestone was. On his Web site he quotes one online writer: "'Milestone didn't really take off, because it seemed like the editorial stance was, 'Hey, black kids! Come read our black books about black people! Black black black black!' without bothering with quality.'" "The problem of course, is that this guy formed his opinion without bothering with reading any of our books. I don't know where these guys get this stuff, but if this view of Milestone is still as widespread as I'm beginning to think it is, we've got some major obstacles yet to overcome. If you ever overhear anyone saying blatantly untrue crap about Milestone and its intentions, straighten them out for me, would you?" +++++ From Rich Johnston's ALL THE RAGE Gossip Column at: http://www.SilverBulletComicBooks.com. ATR Update: The House Of Ideals Damn me and my desire for journalistic responsibility. A ToyBiz employee e-mailed me last week about a memo they'd seen about Bob Harras, and told me it looked like he was for the chop. I asked for a copy of the memo, they didn't have a copy and asking around came up blank. And since I hadn't heard the story from anyone else, not even when I asked around, I decided to wait a bit. Sorry, everyone. However, also rumoured from the same source is that the sacking order came from ToyBiz and it is over disagreements with Harras over editorial policy of his staff - basically Harras was sticking up for them and has been pushed out of the way. And yes, I've heard Joe Quesada will be taking over too. But I'm not sure exactly how happy Joe is about the way he's acquired the position. If you've heard anything, email me on twisting@hotmail.com. I guarantee anonymity and protection. That's the rumour. Yesterday I'd have given it 2 out of 10. Today, this gets a Rumour Value of 6 Out Of 10. Calloo Callay The Bob Harras story really began to kick off on the place it began, Warren Ellis' Delphi forum at http://www.delphi.com/ellis Warren Ellis, who broke the story, followed up with a few lines very similar to the words I've been hearing and printed above, saying "Bob Harras was reportedly fired -- not by President Peter Cuneo, who is now being rumoured to be a puppet President, the real power located at Toy Biz -- for defending his editorial staff, their jobs and working conditions. The spin will be different, but that's the word coming out of the office." "Joe Quesada is taking over." But, surprise surprise, who should pop up but Mark Waid (who recently threatened to kill me with the body of Randy Lander) writing "The only bad thing about this is that it happened after convention season was over. Otherwise, the entire freelance community would be drinking on me all summer long.” "And that, my friend, has nothing to do with my own personal head-buttings with a man who's a weasel and a liar. It has everything to do with the fact that his legacy in this business will be as the man who always went the extra mile for ten years to keep the industry's highest-profile books COMPLETELY IMPENETRABLE TO A NON-FANATIC AUDIENCE--an ESPECIALLY grievous crime this summer of ALL summers--*AND* taught his lackeys to do the SAME. (The "X-Men Sampler" piece of shit in TV GUIDE is something I will use forevermore in my classes and teachings as an example of HOW NOT TO DO COMICS THAT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY NON-FANS.) “ "Calloo, callay. How many more bullets is that, then...?” Chortling in his joy, this was slightly reminiscent of Chris Claremont's "The witch is dead" celebration on Compuserve when Jim Shooter went down. Warren Ellis replied "Owwwww.” “I liked Bob, personally. But then, I never worked with him extensively. And the one major argument I had with him I won, probably by being unreasonably menacing. Our conversations in the last couple of years have been more about kids than comics.” “I think you're in the right frame of mind to write that interview today... !” Artist Cully Hamner then pitched in "You know, I never really had a lot of contact with Bob Harras, but when I did, he was always very cordial to me. On the rare occasion that I called him, he always took the call, or returned it. He didn't have to do that, so I've certainly got no beef with him. Having said that, Marvel hasn't exactly been the House of Ideas for quite a while now. Oh, there are one or two Rooms of Ideas (Marvel Knights being one of them), but not really what I would call a House. I really have no idea at whose feet we can lay the blame. Was it the suits, the EIC, the editors, or the freelancers?" "But, does anybody remember the last time an artist was in charge at one of the Big Two? Does anybody besides me remember the great and DIFFERENT stuff that came out of DC when Dick Giordano was VP/Managing Editor?" "None of us really knows if Joe's got the job, but if he does, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He's certainly got a bit of experience, having been a freelancer, small publisher, and line editor." "I feel for Bob, but I think that Joe deserves his shot." Anyone who feels like shedding light on the bullets or the interview reference, get in touch. This one is going to run and run, folks... This Has A Rage Value Of Seven Out Of Ten Brooklyn Dodgy We were told that Jimmy Palmiotti was giving up the pressures of Marvel Knights to spend more time with his family. He'd still do some comic work, and his involvement with Wizard's Black Bull comics was cited as evidence of that. Well, the rumour was that that Jimmy's been an even busier boy that we gave him credit for, setting up a weird/gross out/pornography website called Brooklyn Bizarro. A quick hyperlink later and I'm confronted with a site that contains lots of weird stuff from fake naked shots of Hilary Clinton to a gallery of Jimmy's wife and Black Bull artist, Amanda Conner's Vampirella covers. The registered owner of the site is Wizard World's Buddy Scalera, co-writer with Jimmy Palmiotti on Daredevil. And according to one technical bod, the site not only links to Wizard World but also one of its stored graphics for the site. So we asked around. M Delfini told us the "basic idea about Brooklyn Bizarro came up while Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Delfini and Buddy Scalera were sitting in a bar. We were talking about the net and how a lot of sites are kind of boring. We wanted to do a adult site that didn't just have porn but other cool adult material such as gore, fun shit, girls. The site is growing through the recruitment of friends who have or offer cool skills or talents_ Basically we are still underground and travel through word of mouth and have at steady following of around 5500 to 6000 hits a month.” Buddy Scalera said “I design and maintain brooklynbizarro.com on the side. I use it to try out new graphic tricks and techniques. Plus, it's a good way to unwind and relax.” And Jimmy Palmiotti replied "Hey Rich, glad you liked the site. I'm pretty much the bank for the site as well as a contributing photographer. It's just a sick fun place to put stuff up and cause a good laugh around the internet. It's like the basement of a friend's house when you are growing up, if you can understand what I mean.” We know what you mean Jimmy... now tidy that place up and get rid of all those dirty tissues! This Has A Rage Value Of Nine Out Of Ten Chair Amnesty I received a copy of a letter sent to Todd McFarlane by Amnesty International. Enjoy: Dear Mr. McFarlane, The Canadian, Dutch, Italian, and USA Sections of Amnesty International are writing to express our concern over your production and distribution of a so-called "toy" entitled Death Row Marv. We understand this figure is being sold in specialty stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe to people aged 13 and older. Although Amnesty International is unconditionally opposed to the death penalty, we welcome all serious discussions, encompassing the widest spectrum of opinion, on the issue. However, the promotion of a "toy" that suggests to people of all ages that this is an issue that need not be taken seriously only serves to perpetuate a climate of disrespect for human rights. While Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and many other countries have abolished the death penalty, the United States has not. We believe that people in all countries deserve to be given the facts on capital punishment and the reasons that Amnesty International considers it the ultimate human rights violation. The promotion of a "toy" that mocks a form of violence condemned by more than half the countries in the world today encourages disregard for the basic human dignity of all people. Compelling evidence exists that death in the electric chair is unspeakably horrible. Some influential medical experts believe that unconsciousness - let alone death - is seldom instantaneous and that the pain is excruciating. Frequent malfunctions of the electric chair only compound its horror. Every execution is a premeditated killing. Your product treats the suffering, degradation, and death of human beings as a suitable subject for profit and amusement. In our view, corporate ethics require that businesses promote and respect basic human rights values, both in the workplace and in their products. We urge you to give serious consideration to the negative human rights message that this "toy" conveys and to respond accordingly. For your information and review, we have enclosed a copy of Amnesty International's Human Rights Principles for Companies, which contains a recommended code of conduct for all businesses. We look forward to your reply to our concerns at your earliest possible convenience. Sincerely, William F. Schulz Executive Director AI USA You know, they could at least have sent him a letter about those oh-so-worker-friendly toy factories in East Asia that Todd was so proud to show photos of in his comics a few years ago_ I contacted McFarlane Toys without any response. This Has A Rage Value Of Nine Out Of Ten Wee Joke Mark Millar writes on the Authority DC Comics message board at www.dccomics.com. "I'm half-way through the final part of Earth Inferno (yeah, I'm late but the comic should still be out on time because Frank is only a couple of pages behind me). Just written a scene where The Midnighter urinates on a villain via the DOOR mechanism on The Carrier and feeling oddly pleased with myself.” We look forward to seeing it, Mark. If the scene makes it through_ This Has A Rage Value Of Nine Out Of Ten ATR Update III: Poaching, Preaching and Plotting By Rich Johnston Poached Eds Joe Quesada announced in the press conference that he'd be expanding Marvel's editorial staff. Word is a number will be coming from DC. This gets a Rage Value of 9 out of 10 Youngblood And Guts Pmstopper1 asked Kurt Busiek on rec.arts.comics.misc about the recent Previews solicitations from Awesome. "Kurt, I know you've stated that you've got nothing to do with the revamp of Youngblood and that if anything Liefeld is using your old scripts for the proposed Year One mini that never came out but do you know that you're actually solicited in Previews as the writer of the book? He's given you full writer's credit and to think he's not even doing the art in the book. Some guy named Eric Walker is pencilling. Have you been informed of this yet?” Kurt responded "Well, that's just classy as hell, isn't it? The most they've got from me is three plots. No scripts.” And as to being informed, he replied "Nope.” Jimmy Jay from Awesome was on hand to post a response from Rob Liefeld. "Kurt Busiek wrote 3 brilliant plots for Youngblood Year One that have been waiting patiently for the appropriate talent to emerge and illustrate the title. Kurt has been informed that we were going to move forward with this project since the spring of 99. Both myself and the project editor contacted Kurt several times over the past year to ask him to script the project and Kurt told us his schedule was full and that he would be unavailable to work with us on it. At one point he also suggested that if we waited until after Gorilla launched that he would have been open to, but by no means committed to, giving the project further consideration. We waited and he informed us that he could not script over his plots and Kurt politely told us he understood that we needed to move forward and we set out to find someone who could finish the job. Kurt's plots are terrific, filled with intrigue and conspiracy sure to appeal to fans of his work on Avengers and Astro City. Kurt's story densely weighs in at 90 total pages, which brings each of the 3 volumes in the series as 30 page oversized books. It was written right after MARVELS and we are anxious to finally publish the work.” Okay, not actually addressing the point of wrongly soliciting the work, but at least it was polite and professional. Then, oh dear. "Busiek's glib attitude towards the project is in keeping with his attempts to distance himself from a project that he cashed checks for a long time ago. He has also stressed to me and others that he does not want to have other projects competing with his struggling Gorilla titles. The plots require minimal omissions of a few IMAGE Characters such as LYNCH and WYNN. Kurt himself suggested that they are easy to replace with other government operatives to further the story.” "As for someone else scripting over Busiek's plots, this is not a new practice for him, in fact it is one that he is utilizing on the upcoming DEFENDERS title.” Busiek replied to a variety of points, saying "Absolutely. I don't blame you a bit for moving forward, and I encouraged you to. Soliciting the book as written by me, however, when they're plotted by me and scripted by someone else -- that's the part I have a problem with. I sure hope you'll credit the guy who finishes the job.“ As to the Defenders situation, Busiek replied "Not quite, since Erik has plot input and I've got script input on DEFENDERS. But certainly I've worked that way before. The publisher didn't try to pass it off as solo work by me, though.” "What a bad man I am, not wanting to be solicited as the writer of a project I'm not actually scripting. How glib of me. And heck, I'm already seven years distanced from those plots -- how much further can I get?” "But since Rob's been so nice as to insult me while using my name to sell his books, let me respond. Every time someone at Awesome has called and asked me to do work for the company, I've said I'm too busy at the moment (which is true), but that maybe in the future, things'll be different. Which was also true, at the time.” "Let me amend that. Never again, Rob. Whatever mileage you're getting out of soliciting me as the sole writer for this project, when you know it's not true -- and when that was the one request I made of your editor when he talked to me about the project, that I not be credited as anything more than plotter – had better be enough. It's the last you get.” "After all, the only other thing I wrote for you -- a full plot and ten pages of full script for a 48-page YOUNGBLOOD graphic album -- I never got paid for, so you've got no right to use it.” In another reply to someone asking if that plot or script could be made available to the net, Kurt said "No plans for that at present -- but who knows, maybe someday. I've just checked, and I've still got it all, along with the last communication there ever was on the project -- a fax I sent asking if the artist was ever going to get a page rate, since Extreme wasn't returning phone calls by then. Eventually, I'd like to arrange to put up a number of never-released projects, like the outline to the full VICTORY and SILVER STAR stories, and the WHAT IF...? 'Captain America Had Never Joined The Avengers' outline I did that I was pretty proud of. Rob then responded "never again. so be it. go with god.” "In regards to a Youngblood graphic novel, is this the matter that you and Jeph Loeb discussed a while back? I was under the impression that it was a Youngblood Year One issue and that it had been settled. I am not aware of a graphic novel that you wrote. 48 pages, WOW ! I will definitely have a look into this one.” I just love it when people air their dirty laundry in public. It makes my job so much easier_ This gets a Rage Value of 7 out of 10 +++++ From the Comic Reader at http://www.thecomicreader.com/newsmain.htm X-Men DVD to be announced soon Posted by Jonah Weiland - 15:29 PST According to sources close to TheDigitalBits.com, an announcement concerning the X-Men DVD could be coming shortly, as soon as Thursday, August 31st. Rumor has it that the DVD will include the film in an anamorphic widescreen version for all of you with those widescreen televisions, plus dual Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. Extras rumoured to be included on the DVD are deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurette, artwork, Easter Eggs (hidden menus and images) and more. 60's Batman stars profiled on A&E's Biography next week Posted by Jonah Weiland - 12:55 PST The first week in September will be a special one for fans of the campy 60s Batman television show. Starting Monday September 4th through September 8th A&E's Biography will highlight the career of a different member of the Batman television series each night. Here's the schedule: * 9/4 - Adam West (Batman) * 9/5 - Cesar Romero (The Joker) * 9/6 - Julie Newmar (Catwoman) * 9/7 - Vincent Price (Egghead) * 9/8 - Roddy McDowall (The Bookworm) For a full description of each nights episode visit the Biography Web site. Printing error discovered in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Ground Zero Official Press Release San Francisco, CA (8/29/00) ­ Viz Comics has discovered a printing error in the first issue of the four-part series MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: GROUND ZERO, due to be released on August 30. The color pages of the comic have been printed out of order, which will result in some confusion to fans reading the story. To remedy this, Viz will be destroying the remaining inventory and reprinting the comic. Replacement copies with the color pages correctly placed will be made available free of charge to anyone who purchased the incorrect version. "We're working with the printer to fix the situation as quickly and painlessly as possible," said Viz senior marketing manager Dallas Middaugh. Purchasers of the incorrect version can exchange their comic for the reprinted version at the shop where they purchased it. The reprint can be identified by the notation "Original Format" that appears on the cover and will be available by September 20. The comic may also be exchanged by sending it directly to GUNDAM WING: GROUND ZERO Exchange, Viz Shop-by-Mail, P.O. BOX 77010, San Francisco, CA 94107-1612. +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com LUKE CAGE --------- New Line is still working on a deal with Marvel for a LUKE CAGE movie. A 2001 release is not likely. SPIDER-MAN ---------- Schedule conflicts will likely keep Nicholas Cage from playing the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man Movie. THE CROW: SALVATION ------------------- On Friday, September 15th, The Crow: Salvation will be released for a limited engagement in Spokane, Washington. http://abahb.crowfans.com/ STATIC SHOCK! ------------- Static Shock! is set to debut September 23 at 10 am. Men In Black, and Batman Beyond return September 16. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ FANTASTIC FOUR -------------- Alex Ross may do character designs for the Spider-Man movie and the Fantastic Four movie as well. +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Darkchylde Flies Solo Hot on the heels of the just-released Darkchylde/Witchblade crossover, Darkchylde creator Randy Queen is taking his long-legged comic book beauty solo into the arena of self-publishing under the Darkchylde Entertainment banner. Formerly published by Image, Darkchylde tells the story of Ariel Chylde, a woman with the ability to travel through nightmarish dreams and a quest to battle demons and monsters. The first of the new series will be "Dreams of the Darkchylde" launching This October with first issue pencils by industry favorite X-Men and Mystic artist, Brandon Peterson. Newcomer Ron Adrian will pencil the following story arc, in issues #2 -6. Queen will be doing both the writing and the covers for the new series, which will focus more on the dreamscapes and psychological aspects of Ariel Chylde, and also promises to return Ariel to the "darker" feel of her first mini-series. The second new series planned to launch in December is titled "Darkchylde: Redemption" and picks up where the end of "The Legacy" storyline left off. Queen says "Redemption" will be much more aggressive than "the Legacy" and fans will finally get to see more of Ariel's sister Jessica, which they have been clamoring for. Randy will be supplying both the writing and the interior art for "Redemption." To celebrate Darkchylde's return to comics, and the move to self-publishing Queen also plans to release a special Darkchylde:Redemption # 1/2 issue in conjunction with Wizard Magazine. Queen will both write and draw the special mail order only issue, and says "this will not be just a throw away issue, instead it will be very relevant to the storyline and will serve as a necessary bridge to where "the Legacy" left off, and "Redemption" picks up. Darkchylde fans will absolutely want this special issue in their collection." "It's a good time to be a Darkchylde fan." Queen adds. "The readers have stayed with the book, and so will I. There's a lot of great new things coming up for the character. But most importantly, the fans and retailers will be getting more of Darkchylde than they ever have before." Brad Pitt As Batman? Director Darren (Pi) Aronofsky is currently in negotiations with Warner Bros. to resurrect the dormant Batman movie franchise. "I'd want to bring an independent guerrilla flavor to Batman,” Aronofsky said. Aronofsky, who is also talking to Warner Bros. about directing Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, recently met with Brad Pitt in Los Angeles. This has led to speculation that the actor may be a candidate to don cape and cowl for the next Batman feature film. --EW.com +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.Fandom.com/comics/ WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE MOEBIUS SIGNS MOVIE DEAL Jean "Moebius" Giraud has signed a deal to create his first feature length computer-animated film entitled Thru the Moebius Strip, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, which will be directed and produced by Frank Foster, is set for release in 2003. The movie follows the story of Dr. Simon Weir, a physicist who disappears into a transportation portal he has been building. Against the family`s wishes, his son goes in pursuit of Weir, following him to another planet inhabited by giants. The screenplay was penned by James (The Rescuers Down Under) Cox. The film will be animated in Hong Kong and China. Moebius is supervising a team of French and American designers creating reference materials that will serve as a guide for Chinese animators. CASEY DA SUPERMAN The Wizardworld.com website is reporting the exit of writer J.M. DeMatteis from Adventures of Superman with December's issue #587. DeMatteis will plot that issue and it will be scripted by incoming new regular scribe as of #588, Joe Casey, writer of Wildstorm's Wildcats and some weekly Internet OP/ED column who's name and location escapes us. DeMatteis' exit from the title are cited by Wizard as his current "huge" comics workload in including the upcoming Spectre series, a four issue Wonder Woman story arc with Phil Jimenez, several graphic novels detailed in the May 19th Newsarama Weekly edition, and a new movie project. "I, frankly, felt constrained by the monthly continuity that prevented me from doing the kinds of stories I really wanted to do," he tells Wizard. "Eddie, too, felt that something wasn`t clicking for me creatively ...so this seemed the ideal opportunity to bow out gracefully." DeMatteis also promised he has another "very cool project" involving Superman in the works for after his current schedule lightens. WHERE NO ANTHOLOGY HAS GONE BEFORE In keeping with this week's release of Wildstorm's Thunderbook #1 and November's America's Best Comics Special #1, Wildstorm is preparing the release of a similar 64-page special focusing on the Star Trek universe. Sporting a half-dozen new stories, editor Jeff Mariotte gave us a brief breakdown of the stories featured and their creative teams_ "The Wake" - TOS story by Jeff Lang (Trek novelist), art by Steve Lieber. "Bloodline" - TOS story by Ian Edginton, pencils by Carlos Mota. "Exercises in Futility" - a Voyager story by former Vertigo editor Stuart Moore), pencils by Trek fan-favorite artist Gordon Purcell. "When The Stars Come A`Calling" - a Deep Space Nine story by Ben Raab, art by John Lucas. "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Nanoprobes" - Next Generation story (but without any of that show`s main characters) by Andy Mangels & Mike Martin, art by Paul Neary. "The Legacy of Elenor Dain" - a TOS/TNG story by sci-fi novelist Christopher Hinz, art by Tommy Lee Edwards. "So we`ve got all the shows represented, and what I think is a great mix of styles, from very traditional to kind of edgy," said Mariotte. "We`ve got recent Eisner winner Steve Lieber. We`ve got the first published pencils in quite some time by Paul Neary. We have science fiction and Star Trek novelists working alongside well-established comics writers like Ben Raab and Ian Edginton. "And it`s all inside a gorgeous cover by John Van Fleet." COBWEB & MOORE, THE STORY LIVES ON_ Readers probably know by now that the Cobweb story Alan Moore wrote and intended for publication in issue #8 of his ABC series Tomorrow Stories (and if you don't know by now you can check out our feature Moore/Gibbons: `No Go` On Watchmen 15th Anniversary Edition) won't see print when the issue is released in November. What readers may not yet know is they might yet get to read the story that has caused the fallout for themselves. According to Moore, the story won't be see in a future Tomorrow Stories, but from another publisher entirely. "We're going to be able to buy back the Cobweb story from DC for a nominal fee," Moore told Newsarama Friday. "We've spoken with Chris Staros at Top Shelf Productions, and he would be very happy to run it in slightly altered form, just with slight changes made in terms of the character, or the character's name, so that should be appearing in print. I'm not sure where or when, but that's the plan." "I think everyone who saw it thought it was the best Cobweb that Melinda [Gebbie] had done to date. It was a snappy little piece of work, so we're very glad that it's going to be published, and Chris, is quite happy as well, because he's got Lost Girls [by Moore and Gebbie] coming out next year, so this gives an odd little prequel to what's coming." Taking the place of the eighth Cobweb episode in TS #8 will be what Moore and Gebbie produced to be the ninth Cobweb story, called "Mondo Gwanda," a story with a jungle girl flavor. "I'm sure_well, I think I'm sure, the story couldn't offend anybody," Moore says. "I don't think there are any nipples in there, and I don't think it would be offensive in any ways to any minorities, except perhaps people from Jersey, whose accent we do parody a little broadly. There is a giant gorilla in there, but I don't think they have any sorts of pressure groups up and running, although you never know – it's a funny country you've got over there. It takes the form of five to six days of continuity of a black and white newspaper strip with a full color Sunday page in the middle." After TS #8’s Cobweb story, Gebbie will, according to Moore, retire from the character for a while, partly due to the "mess regarding the last Cobweb story" and partly to devote her full time to Lost Girls. She will still be providing the cover to TS #9. "Cobweb was going to be moving out of Tomorrow Stories with #12 anyway, possibly into a solo book," Moore says. "That's been postponed until Melinda has Lost Girls finished and feels like getting back into Cobweb. In the meantime, Tomorrow Stories #9 through #12 will have a Cobweb strip in them, but drawn by different artists. Both Melinda and I thought it would be nice if these were all women artists, so we've got Dame (Meatcake) Darcy scheduled to do the story in #9. She's already dun an incredibly funny Cobweb story for the America's Best Comics Special entitled, "He Tied Me to a Buzz Saw [And it Felt Like a Kiss]." So she's planned to do one in #9, and then in ##10 and #11, we've got various other female artists that we're approaching to fill in, and in #12, which was going to be a Greyshirt/Cobweb crossover anyway, we'll probably still go ahead, and Rick will draw all of it." While the whole Cobweb/Tomorrow Stories/Watchmen affair went on longer – and uglier – than all parties involved had ever wished, Moore is anxious to put it all behind him and move on with ABC. "As far as I'm concerned, there's a very big and very black line drawn under the whole episode," Moore says. "I just want to get on and do what I originally signed on with Wildstorm to do, which is these comics. I want to put all of my energy into them for as long as I am humanly capable of doing so, that's what I'm going to be doing and trying to keep ABC healthy and thriving." MORRISON ENERGIZED FOR 2001 Well, now you can really put that retirement from comics conjecture to bed... Grant Morrison has never really gone away and he's heading into 2001 with lots of new plans and heaping portions of enthusiasm for his upcoming work. First up in 2001 is the Marvel Knights four-issue Fantastic Four: 1, 2, 3, 4 limited series with artist Jae Lee, announced earlier this month at the Wizardworld Chicago comics convention. We already heard much about the writer's personal views about the background personal dynamics of the superteam, so this time Newsarama asked him to describe the series in ways that won't be up for readers interpretation. "Imagine Chris Ware and Jack Kirby had come up with the FF," explained Morrison. "The story`s set out of continuity and takes place at some nebulous time when all main players and the Baxter Building were intact and on the same planet at the same time. Avoiding shifting, self-strangling `continuity` problems was the only way I could write this with any degree of originality. Hopefully people will accept it simply as an untold tale of the Fantastic Four." The main villain of course, is none other than the good Doctor Doom. "How could I pass up the opportunity to write the greatest comic book villain ever created?" Morrison asked rhetorically. "The Mole Man and Prince Namor are also involved. I don`t want to spoil any surprises but you`ll see all your favorite characters in a new light and, among other things, we'll be revealing the shocking secret truth behind the `origin` of Doctor Doom." "And Jae Lee is drawing it!!!!" Morrison also says as far as he's concerned, you will be seeing that Silver Surfer one-shot also mentioned in Chicago. "Hopefully for release later next year," said the writer, "It`s got misery, madness and apocalyptic destruction on a cosmic scale so Christmas would be nice." Morrison tells us Frank (The Authority) Quitely - whom Morrison teamed with on the JLA: Earth Two hardcover and The Invisibles, will "definitely" draw the one-shot, though Joe Quesada was not able to confirm his participation at press time. And as for Quitely's `other' job_ no need to rush to assumptions even IF he does pencil it. A spokesperson for Wildstorm/DC told us should Quitely `desire' to take a break to work on another project, WildStorm would accommodate his wishes and his schedule. As to other comics' projects, Morrison could not identify them by name, but promises he has "HUGE" plans in the works that will be announced shortly. "My imagination`s been in overdrive after wrapping JLA and Invisibles at the start of the year. You`ll be seeing a lot of new work from me in 2001." But comics aren't the only things on Morrison's plate right now. He recently spent several weeks in Hollywood talking about possible film projects and gave Newsarama an update, even though he could not talk in specifics_ "I will say that the three main projects I`m involved in are all comics based, two of them being mainstream `superhero` properties I`ve created in the past and forgot all about. One of them will no doubt have fans screaming with horror at the very thought but I`ve just completed a second draft treatment for S***** K*** K*** and it`s going to be the coolest, hardest, funniest, most violently nihilistic film of our time!" Hey also has another original superhero property he was developing with friend Mark Millar, but wound up completing on his own. "It`s a new twist on the genre (or at least it is until Bruce Willis arrives in Unbreakable and steals a little bit of my thunder, but not all...) and will cost $100,000,000 but thanks to the success of X-Men which I`d anticipated, the script is currently being read by a number of A-list blockbuster lads, including Roland Emmerich. We`ll see..." Finally, wrapping up, Morrison addressed the rumors circulating in San Diego last month that he was `taking meetings' about a possible fifth Batman film_ "I wrote up a great pitch which got Batman out of Gay Gotham for a while and brought in some brilliant villains nobody`s used yet but as far as I know Darren Aronofsky, the director of `Pi` (the sign rather than the word) is thinking about Batman. There are rumors that it might be partly inspired by stuff from ARKHAM ASYLUM, so I may or may not have further involvement." CHAYKIN EXAMINES AMERICA'S GOLDEN MEAN As announced at last month's San Diego Comicon, creator Howard Chaykin is returning to monthly comics next year with a new Vertigo series entitled American Century. Chaykin will co-write the series with writer David Tischman, paint the covers and provide thumbnails for penciler Mark Laming. Set in 1950, Chaykin describes the book as having elements of espionage and crime, but firmly rooted in the `adventure' genre. "In the late 40’s, early 50’s there was a lot of adventure newspaper strips out there_strips like Steve Canyon, Buzz Sawyer, and Johnny Hazard. This series is a modern version of those strips, taking place during the same time as those strips, but with a millennial point of view and point of reference. It's a Vertigo book, so you can sort of fill in the details there_" The series stars hero Harry Craft, an ace, medal winning, WWII fighter pilot, who is drafted back into the service in 1950, and according to the writer, "Just freaks out and decides not to go." Asked the significance of the title, Chaykin explained, "1950 is the golden mean of the American century. Between 1945 and 1959 we owned the f****** planet, and there is a certain irony attached to the fact that back in 1950 we had actually won the second World War, as opposed to sort of getting through it and realizing that ultimately we won the war by lost the peace." Chaykin also has another project in development with DC and editor Peter Tomasi entitled Blackhawks 4000, which as the title suggests, stars the Blackhawks of future in the year 4000. Though not going into details on the project, Chaykin said that it would also be co-written by Tischman. "As far as I can tell, with every few exceptions, most of the projects I'll be doing for DC the next couple of years will be co-written by David. "An interesting talent", according to Chaykin, Tischman is a film and television producer. The two worked together while Chaykin was on staff on the TV show Viper and Tischman was a freelancer. Chaykin said his co-writer is about to start writing a film version of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger. Finally, commenting on the possibility of a follow-up to his and Dan Brereton's ThrillKiller series, Chaykin replied, "There is a possibility of a third book that takes it into the early 70’s, but much more than that I can't say." DARICK ROBERTSON GETS BUSY IN THE BIG CITY Newly relocated to Brooklyn, New York, artist Darick Robertson recently updated the Transmetropolitan website with a few news items. First off, regarding the Transmet prequel one-shots recently mentioned by Newsarama, Transoceanic and Transcontinental, Robertson reemphasized what editor Axel Alonso stated in the original report – that the projects have only been discussed as possible continuations of the franchise after the series ends with issue #60, but that NO set plan have been made, much less approved. Robertson did add however, "_if we do them, I plan to be the one to draw them." Robertson also reported his first-ever published work, Space Beaver (not what you may be thinking) will be collected in two volumes with new art beginning this December by Larry Young's AiT Productions. "Foolishly, Larry thinks people want to see how I wasted my summer school education in 1986," joked the artist. Volume 1 will feature a new cover and an introduction by Warren Ellis. Volume 2 will feature the never before seen `Final Chapter of the Space Beaver saga.’ "Back when issue #11 was published, it had a unresolved cliffhanger ending, because the company ran out of money and I needed to eat! Now that I am feeding well off the DC tit, I am drawing the final chapter, with all new art! More `Beave' after that? Who knows? Who cares?" The artist also gave readers an update on the two-issue, prestige format series he's drawing for writer John Francis Moore, Batgirl/Catwoman-Oracle/Catwoman. Set for a 2001 release and inked by Jimmy Palmiotti, Robertson told Newsarama all about the project back in September of last year. According to Robertson at that time, it's part current day story featuring Catwoman and Barbara Gordon, as well as a flashback story to Barbara's first Year 1 encounter with Selina Kyle. "Catwoman is accused of a crime she didn`t commit when a dead body is are found, apparently clawed to death. And only Oracle knows she's innocent," he explained. "For me, it`s a dream project. My first love in comics was Batgirl. I still think she`s a great character and I`m excited that I`ll get to draw her as she was, in her classic look. I look forward to trying to bring out a difference between her and Catwoman in stance and body language. Try to define their characters not by their costumes, but how they wear them." And finally, (whew), Robertson is also set to pencil Marvel's Deadpool #50 and #51… WORD ON THE STREET Speaking of Deadpool, editor Mike Marts dropped us a line and gave us an update on what readers should expect from the title for the foreseeable future_ After Paul Chadwick wraps up his three-issue arc in December, writer Jimmy Palmiotti (and co-writer Buddy Scalera) will be joined by artist Michael Lopez with issue #49 (with a Kevin Knowlan cover), Darick Robertson for issues #50-51 (with a Art Adams and Robertson cover for #50 and #51 respectively), and Anthony Williams and cover artist Steve Dillon for issues #52 and #53. According to a spokesperson for Dark Horse Comics, Jim Steranko's graphic novel Red Tide, announced at last year's San Diego Comicon, is yet to be re-added to their publishing schedule. The project is reportedly being completely "renovated", and DHC does not have an ETA from the creator. Marvel Comics has settled on a January 2001 launch for Erik Larsen and Kurt Busiek's Defenders ongoing series. The debut issue will be Marvel's "book of the month", and will be launched with "full Marvel fanfare", according to a spokesperson. As announced in San Diego last month, December's monthly Batman titles will all be thematically linked under the title "In This Issue: Batman Dies!" and tell a Batman story told from the perspective of a Bat-villain, each imaging his or her `fantasy' of killing Batman. So we caught up with the writers of each title to get little preview of their plans_ Batman, written by Ed Brubaker – "My issue concerns the finale of my Penguin storyline, in which Penguin kills Batman, horribly, and viciously, and the consequences of those actions. That`s all I can say." Gotham Knights - Devin Grayson – "My stunt issue uses the sociopath Mr. Zsasz for a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer. I`ve always liked the character, and when I was talking to Brian Vaughan about him, Brian came up with a brilliant idea of how to catch him that I just had to steal (with Brian`s blessing, of course). I love having generous geniuses for friends, it makes my life so much simpler. "Initially I had Zsasz himself narrating that one issue, but I ended up taking the narration out - part of what`s so creepy about sociopaths is NOT understanding how they think. The story is told mostly through his point of view, so it`s dark, scary, and twisted, and, of course, a bit of a departure from the larger arcing story that`s been running through Gotham Knights, as most stunts must inevitably be. "And there`s lots of blood. Buy it," she said with a grin. Detective Comics, Greg Rucka – "TEC #753 will be the debut of Harvey Dent`s work in Arkham Asylum`s new `Art Therapy' program. We`re very proud of Harvey... and surprised that he has such artistic talent. In essence, he`s created a 20-page comic book, very much in the style of the original BLACK MASK or PULP FANTASTIC adventure tales of the 20`s and 30`s. The hero is a Man of Adventure, the brilliant and handsome Professor Copernicus Dent. With his best girl and plucky assistant, R`Nee, he travels the world, righting wrongs and solving crimes. This particular adventure is entitled `The Janus Double-Down!’ DC has updated the shipping status of a few upcoming projects_. The Hawkman Archives Vol. 1 Hardcover has been given a new shipping date of 9/7, Jenny Sparks: The Secret History Of The Authority #4 has been moved from 9/20 to 9/27 with issue #5 rescheduled from 10/18 to 11/18, and Planetary #12 has been moved from 9/13 to 10/11. IN HIS FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS_GHOST RIDER Well, not really, but new Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada did confirm today a project Marvel has been hinting at for years, most recently at the Wizardword Chicago Comicon. Today Quesada confirmed with Newsarama that a new Ghost Rider project is the works for the Marvel Knights imprint, but added, "no creative team has been announced". Nor did he mention the format or length of the project. Rumored - repeat rumored - creators possibly attached to the project include writers Brian Azzarello and Greg Rucka, with the latter being the most likely candidate, though Quesada chose not to comment when asked about those possibilities. Quesada also told Newsarama, "Marvel Boy will be back", when asked about a possible follow-up by Grant Morrison to Morrison and artist J.G. Jones' current MK mini-series. SPIDER IN PROSE Artist Tim Bradstreet recently updated his website with news of a few new projects_ The lastest new project according to the website is a 96-page Transmetropolitan illustrated hardcover book written by Warren Ellis. Bradstreet will reportedly provide `around' 50 new illustrations to go along with Ellis` prose as well as providing the cover for the project due in summer 2001. Newsarama readers will recall Transmet editor Axel Alonso mentioned he and Ellis were discussing "another big TRANSMET project" a few weeks back. Bradstreet is also working with friend and writer Brian (100 Bullets, Hellblazer) Azzarello and artist Lee (Superman/Gen13) Bermejo to "solidify plans" for an upcoming DC/Wildstorm deluxe-format 48pp, three-issue crossover mini-series, Batman/Deathblow. Bradstreet will be providing inks over penciler Bermejo as well as illustrating the covers (tentative)." MORE FROM THE EIC Joe Quesada wrapped up the events of Wednesday 08/30 with a post to Usenet's rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe newsgroup. In a post entitled "A MESSAGE FROM THE... UH... EIC?", Quesada addressed readers after a day of dealing with the comics press. "It`s going to get some getting use to :-)", Quesada said, referring to the subject of his post. "Well, folks, it`s been a crazy day indeed," he wrote. "I just wanted to come on here and thank all of you, fans and freelancers, for your incredible support. Without all of you, Marvel Knights would not be the success it is and I wouldn`t be in the position I am now. I want you all to know that all the criticism as well as praise has been appreciated and has help me grow as an artist, writer, editor and human being. I want to try to calm any fears that some of you might have about the change in leadership at The House of Ideas. Bob will be missed terribly. His contributions to Marvel will be felt for years and years to come. I know this and all of you know this, but now the ball has been handed to me and I have to take it and try my best to protect it and polish it up as purdy as I can for a new crop of readers who will hopefully one day be on these boards ripping me a new hole. "I`m going to do my best to avoid being perceived as some sort of enigmatic fixture who sits in some dark tower overseeing the company. I`m one of you, fan first - creator second. I love this industry, I love Marvel Comics, I love DC Comics, heck I just love comics! I plan on taking the tools I`ve been given and give this job the best shot I can! What does this mean to you? It means that I`ll be listening, time permitting I may pop on from time to time, most importantly I won`t be anonymous or faceless. "This is an opportunity for us all to succeed, it`s a chance to try to reestablish this art form that we all love. I won`t be so presumptuous as to ask for your support but I do want to ask for your trust. There will most likely be some changes, we have to do something and we have to do it now. You all may not agree with every decision but please take solace knowing that we`re giving it our best attempt! It`s going to be one heck of an uphill battle and wild ride, but I`m up for it, are you? I`m being told it can`t be done and I just refuse to hear it or believe it. I know that with all of your help we can prove the rest of the entertainment industry wrong, in the immortal words of John Belushi in Animal House "Are you with me!?" +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail: subscribe@ZENtertainment.com K&C TO PUBLISH NEW 'D&D' COMIC KENZER & COMPANY (Knights of the Dinner Table) has acquired the exclusive rights to make an official DUNGEONS & DRAGONS comic book. The book is expected to launch in early spring 2001. http://www.kenzerco.com http://www.wizards.com 'PREACHER' COLOR GUIDES FOR SALE ON EBAY With the final issue of DC/VERTIGO Comics' PREACHER being released this week, award-winning colorist Matt Hollingsworth has begun selling his color guides for the series on EBAY. The 36-pages of hand-painted and coded guides over copies of Steve Dillon's line art for the first issue are currently up for bid, and Hollingsworth plans to sell guides for the first 24 issues or so. Hollingsworth is also planning to sell his original guides for HELLBOY work with Mike Mignola, HELLBLAZER work with Sean Phillips, and work with Art Adams and Tony Harris. http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/anina2 'AQUAMAN,' 'WONDER WOMAN' FIGURES FROM DC DC DIRECT has revealed plans to release and AQUAMAN AND AQUALAD Deluxe Action Figure Set in March 2001. The Silver Age renditions, solicited in the November issue of PREVIEWS, also comes with a seahorse and wave the figures can ride on. DC DIRECT will also release its WONDER WOMAN figures for ARES, CHEETAH, and ARTEMIS next March. http://www.dccomics.com +++++ From Wizard World Emailer; to subscribe send Email to WizEmailer@aol.com with the subject: ADD ME WIZARD ATTENTION TRUE BELIEVERS! Now's your chance to get your very own MarvelMail(TM) email address. Enroll in the X-Men, Avengers, X-Force, even the Starjammers--all from the comfort of your own computer! Join the thousands who've already signed up for MarvelMail! Create your username, then choose from one of these cool Marvel domains: X-Men.com MarvelOnline.net FantasticFour.com MarvelKnights.net X-Force.com AvengersAssemble.net Starjammers.com ...and 12 other amazing Marvel domain names. MarvelMail users will get an exclusive bi-weekly communiqué from Marvel HQ--dishing out exciting Marvel news tidbits. The powerful MarvelMail interface also lets you collect email from all your addresses on one handy page. Best of all, it's FREE. All you have to do is register, and your MarvelMail address is yours forever! But hurry--sign up before your username is snapped up by another Marvel fan. You'll find full details and a signup form at http://www.MarvelOnline.net/index.cfm?aid=Wizard_Email Don't delay--SIGN UP NOW! +++++ 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 MAGIC LIES IN THE LITTLE THINGS: WILL EISNER'S MINOR MIRACLES New York City. It may be the toughest city on Earth in which to survive. The endless flow of people, the break-neck pace. But, amidst the glistening skyscrapers of Manhattan are the neighborhoods that are the city's heart and soul. They are places filled with love, death, betrayal, spiritual longings, and earthly poverty. Places of miracles large and small. MINOR MIRACLES is the first original work for DC Comics by master storyteller, comics innovator and legend Will Eisner -- following the recent Last Day In Vietnam graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics -- as he returns to the New York City of his youth, proving miracles can happen everyday in unlikely places to unlikely people. MINOR MIRACLES, the latest addition to the Will Eisner Library and available at the same time in both hardcover and softcover versions, is a collection of four remembrances of the apocryphal stories or "meinsas" that filled the air of the tenements and streets of the Dropsie Avenue of Eisner's youth (the same neighborhood found in Eisner's A CONTRACT WITH GOD and DROPSIE AVENUE). These are stories of outrageous fortune and unlucky coincidence that, like memories themselves, are subjective and often unreliable -- but ultimately, miraculous. In "The Miracle of Dignity," a rags-to-riches-to-rags tale, Uncle Amos is a fast-talking beggar (some say con man) who learns that dignity comes at a price above worldly wealth. "Street Magic" is a neighborhood parable about surviving the pitfalls of being a newly arrived immigrant in New York that proves brute strength and violence is no match for good sleight-of-hand. In "The New Kid on the Block," a strange and primitive boy turns up on Dropsie Ave., bringing with him a mysterious wave of good luck and harmony. But when he becomes a victim of the social forces of the neighborhood, everyone's fortunes are affected. Finally, "Special Wedding Ring" is the heartbreaking tale of Reba and Marvin -- two young people forced to the fringes of life by intolerance for their physical disabilities. After being forced into an arranged marriage by their meddlesome mothers, the pair seems to find happiness_ until fate intervenes. Eisner's graphic storytelling is as brilliant as ever. While he weaves these four stories against a specific backdrop, the power of this new work, like that of his past masterpieces (THE DREAMER, INVISIBLE PEOPLE), is in the universality of his themes. Like the tall tales still told in neighborhoods everywhere, the stories in MINOR MIRACLES provide people something to share, something to cling to, and something to believe in. Most important, they give one hope and wonder. MINOR MIRACLES, part of the Will Eisner Library, is a 112-page, black-and-white graphic novel with a full-color cover edited by Karen Berger. The hardcover version has a cover price of $29.95 U.S. (AUG00 0470). The softcover version has a cover price of $12.95 U.S. (AUG00 0471). Both versions arrive in comic-book stores October 11. QVC'S FIRST DC COMICS SHOW TO FEATURE ALEX ROSS ON SEPTEMBER 9th World-renowned comic-book artist Alex Ross will visit the QVC studios for the first ever DC Comics show on the shopping network, September 9, at 1 a.m. EST. Exclusive to the show will be, "Origins of Batman Beyond -- # 7," an open edition lithograph signed by Ross and featuring Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, the Joker, Harley Quinn, and characters from Batman Beyond. The piece will be available, unframed, for $95 during the QVC show. Ross' QVC appearance follows Sotheby's June auction of original paintings from BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME, the tabloid illustrated by Ross and written by Paul Dini. The auction raised over $150,000 for the John A. Reisenbach Foundation, benefiting the John A. Reisenbach Charter School in Harlem. Also featured during the QVC show will be the Joker, Wonder Woman and Batmobile maquettes, each with an edition size of 2,500 and retail price of $150. Alex Ross' 1993 miniseries Marvels opened a wider acceptance for painted art in comics. Ross moved on to produce the equally successful KINGDOM COME (STAR006816), BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME (STAR10280) and SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH (STAR08454), as well as his next upcoming collaboration with Dini, SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE (SEP00 0517), arriving in stores in November. 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: 9/02/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Armory" (Batman Beyond) 9/02/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Mind Games" (Batman Beyond) 9/05/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Sneak Peek" (Batman Beyond) 9/06/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Plague" (Batman Beyond) 9/07/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Sentries of the Last Cosmos" (Batman Beyond) 9/08/00 (7:30 am) -- "Revenant" (Batman Beyond) 9/12/00 (4:30 pm) -- "The Last Resort" (Batman Beyond) 9/13/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Armory" (Batman Beyond) 9/14/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Final Cut" (Batman Beyond) 9/15/00 (7:30 am) -- "Earth Mover" (Batman Beyond) 9/16/00 (11:00 am) -- "King's Ransom" (Batman Beyond-new) Be advised that this schedule is subject to change. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interview Paul Dale Roberts silhouet9@aol.com Interview with Mark Waid on CrossGen Comics! Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher - Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ Question: Mark, this is exciting news! Is it true? Will you be writing at CrossGen Comics? What titles will you be working on? Answer: Yes. This isn't some elaborate hoax, nor have I been brainwashed into Loving CrossGen. At last, I've found a company that has solid, sane and exciting plans to recapture a lost audience--and to that end, I'll be writing not only SIGIL, but a new title currently in development that will be the center of an outside-fandom marketing campaign the likes of which you can't imagine. Question: What is your favorite CrossGen title? What do you think about some of the characters in the CrossGen Universe? Answer: You realize, of course, that this is like asking which of my kids is my favorite. If I had kids. Which I don't think I do. They all have aspects I enjoy--I like the humor in MYSTIC, the general overall story arc in SCION, and the central character in MERIDIAN. Question: Will the CrossGen Universe be a contained universe, or are there possible chances for crossovers? Answer: We will, in fact, be doing an intercompany crossover with Impact Comics sometime next--what? Really? Out of business? That LONG? Really? Okay. Never mind. Question: Mark, do you remember picking up my son's comics at the '97 San Diego Comic Con? Well, he dropped his comics...ahh..never mind. This truly did happen. Answer: I do, indeed. He would have helped me pick mine up if I'D dropped MINE, right? Question: There is excitement in the air, what made you decide to work for CrossGen? Answer: One of the reasons I signed on was that Mark Alessi's and my goals and ideals are remarkably similar. We both believe in the power of heroic fantasy and both STRONGLY believe that--in a culture built around bloody videogames and morally questionable entertainment--comics are the last, best place for today's and tomorrow's kids to learn that Right Makes Might. I hate saying it like that--I think I suddenly sound like my grandfather--but as a boy, in the absence of strong parental guidance, I learned most of my morals and ethics from comic book heroes. Which is one of the reasons I do this job--to pass those same values onto future generations. Question: You have any new plans for the direction of any particular storyline? Answer: Not yet. A little early. Question: For people unfamiliar with CrossGen, what is the URL address and email address to get more information? Answer: Email: letters@crossgen.com or info@crossgen.com Website: http://www.crossgen.com Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? Answer: 1. Sarah Michelle Gellar. 2. Who cares? 3. Who cares? Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? Answer: Hurting. Ailing. In desperate need of new readers and new markets. Which is why I signed on here--there are solid plans to ADDRESS those issues. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? Answer: Today? At this moment? Superman, because he taught me that a person's "powers" and abilities are best used selflessly. Sam Beckett, because QUANTUM LEAP was one amazing TV show. And Ellery Queen, the quintessential American detective. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? Answer: Orson Welles, because he fought for what he believed and brought his vision to life in the greatest movie ever made. John F. Kennedy, because he was the last American President who could actually have made a difference for the better. And Aaron Sorkin, writer of SPORTSNIGHT and WEST WING, who is so astounding that he actually unseated longtime incumbent David E. Kelley from this list. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Answer: In no particular order, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogies, THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST...The Dick Van Dyke Show, the Andy Griffith show (just the Barney years!), the Simpsons, Picket Fences...that's a start... Question: What books do you read? Answer: Mostly non-fiction, to tell you the truth. Science books. Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? Answer: Apparently, answering interview questions. Question: Mark, looking forward to your work at CrossGen. Is there anything else you would like to say before closing? Answer: Yeah, my now-familiar speech: After spending a lot of time with publisher/owner/high sheriff Mark Alessi, I'm convinced he's the real deal. Everyone knows the comics market is undergoing hard times. In order to change that, you need three things: motivation, a mission plan, and means. The majors bat maybe one for three (means, but apparently no real motivation or mission plan), the minors (including, yes, Gorilla) bat two for three (motivation and mission but no means)--but CrossGen has all three. Alessi really, genuinely cares about the future of this medium, cares that comic books don't go the way of the automat and the drive-in movie, and is willing to put his own phenomenal resources towards market expansion. Provided even half of what CrossGen has planned actually takes off, we're going to see some significant improvements in that area--and I want to be in on the ground floor. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] And let me tell you why .... David Coulter DneColt@att.net [David - who declared himself "America's Weirdly Cool Columnist" in a misguided tribute to The Firesign Theatre -- lives with his family in Kansas City and pays the bills as Marketing Director for a computer consulting group. He's heard the old saying that the best comics ever published were the ones that came out when you were ten ... and he's not buying it. He knows there are good comics out there, he can hear them breathing.] So I'm back. I haven't left -- not really. I'm sort of the Joseph Mitchell of CBEM (and a bona fide ALMTYW cheezy prize for the first person to get that obscure reference), showing up every week to the offices here at the luxurious CBEM Tower, wandering the halls, sitting at my desk, lining sharpened pencils up for eight hours, and then going home without writing a single word. But I'm back, with a brilliant new book on my desk that is really pissing me off. Yes, you read that right. A couple of weeks back, I found this absolutely brilliant TPB on the shelf at my comic shop called STREETWISE. I hadn't heard a word about it until I saw it sitting there -- and I try to keep my ear to ground for stuff like this. If you have any interest in autobiographical comics, you'll like this book. If you have any interest in the history of the medium, you'll like this book. Hell, if you have any taste at all and half a brain, you'll like this book. Because, unless you're totally devoid of taste and intelligence, how can you resist a book featuring work by such luminaries as: Murphy Anderson Brent Anderson Sergio Aragones Nick Cardy Paul Chadwick Evan Dorkin Michael T. Gilbert Sam Glanzman Joe Kubert Alan Kupperberg Gray Morrow Scott Shaw! Walter Simonson Don Simpson Joe Sinnott Roy Thomas & John Severin Rick Veitch Barry Windsor-Smith .... to name but a few! In addition to all of that, there's the original version of art spiegelman's short story "MAUS," a fascinating, never-before printed autobiography by C.C. Beck (mostly text, but featuring several of his illustrations), and -- what is clearly the centerpiece of the collection, a gem of a story call "Street Code" by Jack Kirby. I can safely say -- without fear of contradiction -- that "Street Code" is the finest thing Jack Kirby has ever written. The dialogue -- for once in a Kirby- scripted comic, actually rings true and doesn't stray too far into the bizarre purple prose that Kirby is famous (infamous) for (`They are OTHER!!! From "somewhere else!!!” They bring their "way of thinking" and their "big coats" and they BUG our MINDS!!!!’). It's a fairly simple reminiscence about growing up on New York's Lower East Side, and the penciled art (produced in 1983) crackles with an energy Kirby hadn't shown in years at that point. Nick Cardy's contribution is of a piece with Kirby's: Simple reminiscence about his childhood on the Lower East Side, and rendered in the most beautiful pencils I've ever seen. Cardy had never made much of an impression on me and , and -- at last -- I understand what all the fuss regarding Cardy is about. The piece isn't a story as much as it is a sketchbook -- but it's still far more compelling and interesting than anything else you're likely to find on the rack next Wednesday. To top it off, the whole package is wrapped in a beautiful, painted cover by Steve Rude -- which in and of itself is a story. In fact -- here's the story from TwoMorrows own website: **Rude's cover painting is based on an interview Kirby once gave, where he discussed how he first discovered science-fiction as a child in the late 1920s: Kirby stated: “I remember coming out of school one day when I was about twelve. It had been raining. I spotted this magazine floating down the gutter and jumped for it, and saved it just before it washed into the sewer... Something on the cover I had never seen before... space ships and futuristic cities. At that moment, something galvanized in my brain. I had never seen a rocket ship before, and I'd never thought of space before, or planets or the moon... it was an early issue of Hugo Gernsback's WONDER STORIES.” ** **Rude did extensive research to track down the issue of WONDER STORIES Kirby referred to in his interview, and did several color roughs to determine the best layout, and to get his cover painting historically accurate. He also did a number of pencil studies to capture the look of a young Jack Kirby. Kirby's own "Street Code" story, about life growing up in the real-life gangs of New York's Lower East Side, served as inspiration as well.** The book, as I said, is simply brilliant. And the book, as I also said earlier, was abysmally promoted -- so visit TwoMorrow's website and order a copy, here's the URL: http://www.twomorrows.com/streetwise.html That being said, the book caused me no end of aggravation this week because its publisher recently earned the top-spot on my Jerk Parade. Make no mistake, STREETWISE is a great book -- possibly the best book of the year. But its publisher, TwoMorrows, is so far up my nose right now I need Roto- Rooter to get them out. And let me tell you why. TwoMorrows has, as the publisher of the Jack Kirby Collector, been a round for a while. Being a fan of Kirby's work, I naturally picked up an issue here and there over the years. But their second publication -- Comic Book Artist -- really caught my atttention. The premise of the magazine was simple: Each issue was themed (Marvel in the 70’s, Warren Publishing), and featured interviews with several artists (instead of just one). The first issue focussed on DC in the late 60’s and early 70’s -- and I loved it. I made a point of pestering my retailer to buy extra copies (I even offered to pay for unsold copies on the 2nd and third issues -- an unnecessary gesture as he sold as many copies as he ordered within a week). This is a great magazine, and I felt it was worthy of extra effort to ensure it would remain around. And how are my yeoman-like efforts rewarded? First, I read that CBA will be offering a subscription- only premium (in the form of a special issue on Jack Kirby's Fourth World with a cover by Bruce Timm) to everyone who signs on for a one year hitch. This subscription only premium will not -- EVER -- be made available to non-subscribers (meaning you can't even buy it directly form them -- I asked) Not only is this a slap in the face to a loyal fan like me, who's gone out of his way to promote the book, it's a kick in the jewels to any comic shop that stocks the book (how would you feel if you sold something in your store that included a message enticing your customers to cut off the middleman -- in this case, YOU -- and order directly from the manufacturer?) Then, I run across a TPB (also seemingly unannounced) collecting the first three issues -- plus 50 pages of additional material! And not just some extra crap they had laying around, some stuff I would have paid for the first time around -- like unpublished art from Jack Kirby, Alan Weiss, Neal Adams and Berni Wrightson. I expect these kind of aggravating, cheesebag tactics from the sort of variant-cover-shilling clip-joint publishers like Awesome and Top Cow (and Marvel, too) who shamelessly suck up to idiot speculators. Adding material to a TPB is a lame-ass trick that has already landed Frank Miller and Mike Mignola on my sh*t list, but I expected better of these guys. I'm obviously no the first person to complain about this, since TwoMorrows has a page on their site addressing this very subject (http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/special/why.ht ml), where they basically say "yeah, we know this is sort of lame, but there's no other way to ensure the magazine stays profitable.” I might be inclined to believe this, if it wasn't for the limp, practically non-existent promotional efforts that went behind STREETWISE. Seems to me there are a lot of inexpensive ways to promote their material that are light years better than what they did for STEETWISE (namely, nothing). I mean, I read two of their house publications on a regular basis (Comic Book Artist, Alter Ego), and I had no idea the book was even coming out (clearly, I need to read a little closer, but there's something they could have done to catch my eye, don't you think?). I guess my bottom line is this: TwoMorrows publishes some extremely high-quality material in the form of the Jack Kirby Collector, Comic Book Artist, Alter Ego (and possibly in Comicology, though I wasn't interested enough in the first issue to buy it), and now in STREETWISE. I suppose I'm disappointed that a company that published material of such great value should feel that it has to stoop to the level of Top Cow or Awesome to remain profitable. So get out there, buy a copy of STREETWISE (you won't be sorry, I guarantee) and maybe a few back issues of Comic Book Artist (if you haven't already, you also won't be sorry, I guarantee), and give this material the support it deserves so that the publishers will feel less compelled to resort to low rent tactics like this in the future. And while you're at it, check out www.speculatorssuck.com, a website I can get behind 100%. Comments? Criticisms? Flames? DneColt@att.net ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] 4 Color Review webmaster@4colorreview.com [4-Color Review is a website that's gone through many changes in the 4 years it's been online. It began as a small review site, and has grown to a full-blown webzine with reviews, columns and much more. The following article is presented by 4-Color Review where it was originally posted. If you enjoy this article we encourage you to send mail to 4-Color Review and then visit the web site for comic book READERS at - http://4colorreview.com ] Jason Baldwin is a copy-writer by day and a comic book reader by night. Jason's POV on comic book happenings is often very different from just about everyone else's. Combine the fact that he's not afraid to stir things up with his background in investigative journalism, and you have an interesting - and oftentimes controversial - combination. Jason's column, Paper Cuts!, can be read regularly at 4-Color Review (4colorreview.com). ----------------------- Paper Cuts! by Jason Baldwin There's been a lot of talk lately about getting new readers into comics. Most online writers point to the current Pokemon phenomena as a good way to get the young ones into the shop, but they also note that the kids don't go past the display case by the register to look at the comics. Amidst all the commentary about how the industry is dying and new readers are the only hope, an idea occurred to me. Sure, there's been a lot of talk online about how to "save" the comics industry. That's been done to death. I don't want to talk about that at all. Rather, I want to talk about the most obvious way to get "new" readers (in other words, kids) into the medium; how to make them not only want to buy and read comics, but also how to make them really really want to read comics. Flashback: 1983 I was nine years old. My world, at that point - okay, the world my 7 year-old brother and I shared - consisted of school, movies, toys and television. Chief amongst the non-school fare was Star Wars, G.I. Joe, The TransFormers and He-Man. This stuff was cool. It was all that mattered to me at that point in my life. But G.I. Joe was about to take a more prominent role in the scheme of things. My brother and I were in our usual spot in front of the television after school one day, when it hit. At first, it looked like any other of the G.I. Joe toy commercials we had seen before, loaded with cool animation. This one featured a guy in arctic gear, a snowmobile and hang gliders battling it out. Most of the details are pretty blurry from that commercial, but the one thing that stands out in my mind was a shadowy figure who's mere presence, the commercial iterated, could spell the end for the G.I. Joe team. The thing is, they didn't show his face. We only saw him in shadow. "What's in store for G.I. Joe," the commercial bellowed, as it moved up from his shadow up to show his full, menacing figure standing in the doorway, hands on his hips. The camera then zoomed in on his angular head "Find out in Marvel Comics." The scene dissolved to the cover of the comic - issue 11 - and that cover will always be burned into my memory. My brother and I looked at each other in shock. We HAD to have this issue. We had to know who that guy was. We had to know who the new G.I. Joe team members were -- seen in that commercial for the first time. We immediately asked our mom if we could have it. She told us we could, if we could find a place that sold comics. I knew the supermarket always carried comics. This was before I even understood the concept of a comic book store. My brother and I looked at each other in shock. We HAD to have this issue. We had to know who that guy was. We had to know who the new G.I. Joe team members were -- seen in that commercial for the first time. We immediately asked our mom if we could have it. She told us we could, if we could find a place that sold comics. I knew the supermarket always carried comics. This was before I even understood the concept of a comic book store. Sure enough, later that week on grocery day, G.I. Joe 11 was waiting on the racks. I had read comics before - the random issue of Ghost Rider (hey, flaming skulls and motorcycles were enough to capture my six-year-old mind at the time) and a couple of others, but G.I. Joe hooked me. Totally. The action. The characters. The plots. All of it had me hungry for more. My mom would buy us the occasional issue of whatever comic she thought would hold our attention now and then from the supermarket. But G.I. Joe really, was what made me want to read comics on a regular basis. The comic was an unqualified success. It lasted 14 years with one man - Larry Hama - writing every issue. No other toy tie-in, heck, no other tie-in period sold like G.I. Joe did. Sure, Marvel had other attempts at success with a similar formula. Its Transformers line did fairly well throughout the 80s, but died off soon after. DC tried to jump on the licensed bandwagon with its He-Man comic line, but it failed miserably. What did Marvel do differently with G.I. Joe than it did with it's other licensed properties? It advertised on television. In fact, G.I. Joe has been the only comic, if I remember correctly (aside from Rob Liefeld's Levi's 501 X-Force ad, which was more about Rob and his pants than X-Force) to actually be advertised on television multiple times. There were a ton of commercials for the comic, and young boys, much like myself, turned out in droves to buy it. They grew up with the book, and it's constant level of quality (there were some things in the toy line Hama refused to incorporate into the book. That horrid nightmare known as Cobra-LA comes to mind) kept them with the book. Both Marvel and DC stand to benefit from a practice like this. I always thought, back in the early "gothic" days of Vertigo, when "alternative" music was experiencing huge popularity, that Vertigo should have sponsored a segment on MTV's 120 Minutes show where some of their product, most notably Sandman, could have been showcased. In other words, DC would have been advertising its new "hip" line of comics to a "hip" audience who wanted to be even more "hip." I'm off track here. Sorry. What's wrong with advertising one comic a month on network television? Advertise Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers (an untapped gold mine for Marvel right now with the success of the cartoon), Iron Man, the Fantastic Four or DC's Cartoon Network line of books during afternoon cartoons using already-created animated footage (much like Marvel did with G.I. Joe). Really, ads for most comics could find a home on MTV any more. If MTV can make kids buy those "hip" Polaroid cameras with sticky film, it can make kids buy anything. Advertising is the key here. It has to be. You have to make kids feel like they absolutely cannot live without whatever comic book you're pushing. Pokemon, like I said before, is hot right now. Why aren't retailers pushing the Pokemon comic book along side the cards? Why isn't the comic advertised during the highly-rated cartoon? Lord knows the books are readily available - I saw them in a podunk Wal-Mart just last week. Getting them to buy the book is one thing, maintaining the audience is another. G.I. Joe sold well because the stories appealed to old and young alike. Hama cared about what he was writing. Most readers view tie-ins as talking down to the audience, or too immature for their "highly evolved" tastes. For a toy-tie in to work, the book - whatever book it is, be it Power Rangers or Beast Machines or PowerPuff Girls needs to have creators that actually put effort into, creating a product that can appeal to young and old alike. That's why DC's He-Man and The Masters of The Universe title, for example, folded so quickly. It was stupid. It was juvenile. Kids, contrary to popular belief, pick up on this, sometimes quicker than adults. The other end of it is availability. When I was nine, you could buy comics from the supermarket. Diamond has pretty much killed that trend. The only other available outlet are bookstores, and most kids today are terrified of bookstores. However, getting them in there goes back to making them want the book badly enough. Anyway, a simple solution would be to stick the phone number for the comic shop locator at the end of the commercial. That doesn't remove the stigma the mainstream media has attached to comic shops over the past few years, but that's another story. Looking back, I'm really surprised both Marvel and DC didn't try to duplicate the success G.I. Joe created through advertising. It's proven that it can work if done correctly. Kids look to television to tell them what to buy, and if they're told that comics are cool, they'll buy them. Especially with the knowledge that this generation of adolescents is the one marketing executives look at when when determining buying trends. But, if the industry is truly in the sad shape it's supposed to be in, anything that can bring in new readers - even if it's only a few - will do fine by me. -- Jason Baldwin ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Great Googaly Moogaly Chad Trout cct107@psu.edu [Chad has been collecting comics since he harassed his mother into buying that first comic. He currently slaves away in grad school.] Greetings all!! Well the drafts for the two fantasy football leagues I am in and run are done. Actually I am helping my friends who run them. At first I didn't think it would be that much work. I was really deluded! Well I hope all that do play did well and watch out for Ryan Leaf!!! One to some comic reviews..... Jack Staff - 2.95$ (1.80 Pounds) Dancing Elephant Press By - Paul Grist Well last month I made fun of the title, but I said it was a well-written comic and that you should check it out. Well, my recommendation only goes up after reading issue two. This book, in just two issues, has developed more story than almost any other comic I have recently read. Not long ago, I was reading or talking (can't remember) about how older comics packed more story and plot into a fewer number of pages. It's like the comic book publishers today rely on catchy art and not a well-written story. I think you can have both myself and I am not saying all books are like this. Paul Grist does a great job of bringing the reader into the story and making us care about the characters. This issue has just as many characters as last issues, but yet again the book does not feel crowded. The story moves from one point to the next and from character to character very smoothly. We find out some about the present day Jack Staff and Sgt. States. Who just happened to have spent 40 years on ice? Does this remind you of somebody? I really got a kick out of what Sgt. States is up to, because I could see this happening in our world if there was such a character. The murders happening in the present day are connected to something that happened in 1940. The flashback is very fluid and not intrusive to the story. I cannot decide if this is supposed to be another super hero book or a murder mystery, because it reads well as both. I want to see more of Tom Tom the Robot Man, but something tells me that may not be happening soon. He isn't my favorite character. It's just that I am really intrigued by him. My favorite character is Rebecca Dandelion, the reporter who is investigating Jack Staff and the murders. Why is she my favorite? She is stuck in a job that she doesn't like, which I can relate to. Besides that, I am not sure, but I do enjoy the scenes with her in it. I think she is going to be very important to the conclusion of this story. Recommendation: Buy this comic now!! Jump out of that chair and run (its healthy!) down to the comic book store! Either that or point and click onto the web to order it. Doesn't really matter how you get it, just get it!! There are so many interesting things going on. I want to see more of the happening from 1940. More Tom Tom The Robot Man. More Rebecca! This is THE best new book that I have picked up recently. The next one is pretty good also--- Sidekicks 2.75 The New Teen Titan Part 1 Fanboy Entertainment, Inc. Writer - J. Torres Art - Takeshi Miyazawa and Arthur Dela Cruz Well if I mess up the credits on the book, then I apologize in advance. I am not exactly sure what shop teacher's duties include. This is a beautiful book, which has a very interesting concept. Seems the world doesn't allow kids to act as super heroes until they have had the proper training and undergone an apprenticeship with an adult superhero for a period of time. This is such a cool concept. I have seen other stories with similar ideas, but none of them were that good, hence none of them are around now. Of course the excellent art doesn't hurt either. In Jack Staff, we are introduced to the characters, but it is going to take some time before we understand their world. In this book, the first issue introduces us to the world and the person behind the school that trains kids in the use of their powers. There are laws preventing teens from operating in mask. The history of how this came to be is rather fascinating. As I read the first couple of pages, there are hints of the Teen Titans, Legion of Super Heroes, and the X-Men. All these concepts are combined to bring us the world of Sidekicks. One of the problems I had with this issue is that not much happens. We are told the history, and then we are shown the school. After the first several pages, we arrive at the school and then it's the grand tour. Along the way we meet and greet several of the important people in the school and see its purpose. We don't really get to know them and I am certainly not as interested in them as the characters in Jack Staff. This book does not hook the reader like Jack Staff does and the ending is bit cliched, but hey its a comic book. I really like the concept and the world that is created in these pages. It is very interesting and a nice twist on the idea of kids running around risking their necks. Recommendation: Give this book a try. I think it is starting slow, but the possibilities are boundless if done right. Well that is all for this week. Next week, one of the titles I will be reviewing will be BuzzBoy, which I finally got a copy of. So till next time, stay up all night and reading comics is not a bad thing. Of course this is contrary to what my wife thinks. Got something to say.......email cct107@psu.edu ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Comics Culture Shrapnel Kris Naudus Krissy80@aol.com [Kris Naudus is a full-time student at New York University, founder of the Justice League of Stuyvesant, part-time Amazonian warrior and distinguished scholar of geek studies. Her previous roles have included "pathetic Star Wars fan #6" outside the Zeigfield Theatre last May, as well as "bored cashier #4" at Barnes and Noble.] Supporting Your Hobby - The Easy and Inexpensive Way Every comics reader is a potential comics savior. This is what we've been led to believe, and it's true when one considers how few of us there are. We have to fight for our hobby, because no one else will. It's certainly a noble prospect, and we should all be proud to do our part. Then why is it that every great "plan to save the comics industry" always requires that I spend more money? Most of the suggestions I've heard usually ask me to buy my favorite title in bulk, and distribute it to friends, family, or strangers. Granted, people are more likely to read something that's been handed to them, and donating things to charity is a really nice thing to do (and a tax-write off, except I didn't file any taxes last year, so I'm out of luck there). But otherwise, the whole prospect is akin to gambling, and few people are willing to take that risk. I can't afford it, and I'm sure there are many others in the same boat. So I got to thinking, what can people do to help without spending a lot of money? And on that thread, what have I done lately? And I came to the conclusion that merely being a comics reader who is proud and open about their hobby is a big step. All of the recent incidents in which friends of mine picked up a comic weren't because of any intentional action of mine. Just knowing me seems to have done a lot. My boyfriend came with me into my favorite store (Jim Hanley's Universe in NYC) a few weeks back, but he wasn't planning to get anything, despite my offer to pay for whatever he wanted. He followed me through the store as I gathered up my usual list of titles, and his eyes happened to fall upon a beige cover with the words "My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable" in big, black letters. He flipped through it a bit, and a minute later he was at the register forking over the cash. Needless to say, that comic has made the rounds in our little circle of friends, even to the point where they will randomly quote from it. This is not an isolated incident with my friends, as I'm happy to report. It's only the most recent in a string of shopping trips where I ask my friends to give me a minute to pick something up and their eyes just happen to glance something that appeals to them. It's also a testament to good cover design. Not every encounter is a chance encounter. Showing interest in a title does serve as a recommendation in itself. Your friends might wonder what you find so great about something like Preacher or Strangers in Paradise. At this opportunity you then take an active role, lending them a few issues as a taste-test. But keep the samples small, or you might intimidate them. A friend of mine in St. Louis started buying Transmetropolitan because of the work I've done for it on my webpage (http://members.aol.com/Krissy80, I created a chronology of events in the book, mostly because that's just the geeky thing I like to do). You always want the converts to come willingly. Though I have to admit, sometimes a little prodding helps. Which brings me to my last example, a little incident involving my mother. She's always talking about the romance novels she reads, telling me about the plot and characters, and bringing up parts she liked. All of these conversations end with her telling me I should read the book. So on one of these occasions I responded "I don't like romance novels." I've never actually read one, and she knew it, so she told me that I should give them a chance. So I said, "Like you give comics a chance?" I handed her Kabuki: Circle of Blood the next day. She finished it a day later and enjoyed it, so I asked her if she wanted to read the rest. She did, so I gave her the remaining trade paperbacks. She finished those in no time, as evidenced by her rushing into my room at 7:00am the next morning wondering where the rest of the story was. So while my mother hasn't become a comics buyer, she at least respects my hobby and is open to further reading suggestions. And I still haven't read a romance novel. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] MARTIAN VISION John Jones martianmanhunter2@juno.com *OR* CityClerk6@aol.com [John Jones, the Manhunter from Marathon, IL, no longer dwells in Marathon, IL. He may, soon, no longer dwell anywhere other than a cardboard box, if he doesn't win the Lotto this weekend, thanks to recent city budget cuts. He is not related to Rick Jones, Indiana Jones, Cleopatra Jones, Halo Jones, or even Gerard Jones, as far as he knows, which is too bad, because he could probably borrow some money from one of them. For as long as he continues to have a home to plug his computer in at, he can be reached at martianmanhunter2@juno.com, or CityClerk6@aol.com, and it's probably best to send any email, or offers of cash contributions, to both email addresses, since he can usually check one or the other from the computer in the public library.] FOUR COLOR CARNALITY: A Study of Superhuman Sensuality There are, in general, two sorts of everyday, mundane, very common, human activities we have never seen depicted in mainstream superhero comics, and that we most likely never will, barring some huge, sweeping, nigh unto unimaginable social upheaval: Superheroes relieving themselves, and superheroes doing the horizontal bop. Even Frank Miller at his grim&grittiest has never depicted a Dark Knight with tights and trunks down around his knobby knees as he takes a mighty clenched-teeth dump in the... er... Bat-room... (heh); even Grant Morrison, at his most patronizingly trendy and deconstructionist, has never shown us the Last Son of Krypton performing re-entry procedures with a panting, sweaty Lois Lane, most likely under a red sun lamp in a locked, soundproof room at the Fortress of Solitude, to keep a bitterly vindictive Jimmy Olsen from deliberately interrupting their coital bliss at the climactic moment with a beautifully timed activation of his supersonic signal watch. While I myself have no particular interest in knowing just how well Green Arrow can write his name in the snow or seeing the Hulk's titanium reinforced toilet bowl; I do think that sexuality is an important aspect of human behavior, and as such, one that's well worth looking at within the weird and woolly genre of Superhero Comics. Since comic books in general, and superhero comics in specific, have always been seen as being primarily aimed at a juvenile market, and since here in America we have some weird idea that sex is, in and of itself, an inherently evil and corrupting influence that young humans must be protected from explicit exposure to at all costs, the superheroes of the Golden Age for the most part simply didn't have sex lives. This cheerful, childlike innocence, reminiscent of the primeval gambolings of a pre- apple Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (except, you know, with guns and boomerangs and capes and hoods and suchlike esoterica instead of friendly, not yet extinct archeopterixes and the occasional affectionate giant sloth) did not save the four colored crusaders of comics Golden Age from being slaughtered wholesale by the assault of evil super villain Dr. Frederick Wertham, who ignored their carnal innocence and instead focused on the fact that nine out of ten juvenile delinquents read comic books, and therefore, comic books clearly caused juvenile delinquency. (Like most supervillains, the vile Dr. Wertham conveniently ignored any and all facts contrary to his agenda, such as the fact that not only did nine out of ten juvenile delinquents read comic books, but so also did nine out of ten juveniles, period, as well as, at that time, about six out of ten young male adults, four out of ten girls and young women, and something like twelve out of ten heroic American servicemen.) The only superheroes that readily withstood the assault of the mad doctor were those old unsinkables Batman and Superman, neither of whom had ever so much as leered at a woman in their lives up to that point, and whom, it should be noted, were apparently only ever allowed to kiss a girl on the mouth if she were some sort of inhuman half- ichtyoid freak who was in the process of leaving forever to return to lost Atlantis, like Lori Lemaris did to poor paramour Clark Kent in SUPERMAN #129. Merely human women with actual genitalia who might be expected to show up from one story to the next rarely got to do more than look longingly at either of the Dour Duo, occasionally be lugged from burning buildings in their arms, and in rare moments of red hot scorching passion, peck one or the other of them on the cheek in gratitude for having their lives saved from some irksome alien gorilla with tentacles or a humanoid waffle iron from a parallel dimension for the fourteenth time that month. All of which is by way of saying that the two fisted men and plucky women in tights and capes weren't getting any throughout the 40s and 50s, although, as I indicated, that didn't save the vast overwhelmingly majority of them from being callously eradicated for their terrible influence on kids anyway. Imagine, if you will, the horrifying social consequences of entire generations of American children, exposed to a genre of graphic, illustrated literature that taught them to respect property rights, be good citizens, and rat out any crooks or subversives they happened to see as part of their civic duty... my God, it's astonishing that more of the little monsters didn't take to the streets in a mad orgy of gum chewing, jitterbugging, and baseball card trading with the desperate abandon that only the damned and the degenerate can ever truly know. And if Dr. Wertham was so outraged by his truculent suspicions as to exactly what Batman and Robin might be doing in the privacy of Stately Wayne Manor, I shudder to even try to dimly visualize the frenzy of PTA mob violence, mass comic book burnings, and dusk to dawn prayer vigils he would have kicked off if he'd been able to locate so much as a single panel of Doll Man and Doll Girl necking in the back seat of their scale model, fully functional, toy roadster. With the 40s heydey of four color heroes and villains in mad motley pretty much dead and buried by the mid 50s, the only publisher who remained in the superhero business full time -- DC -- was at real pains not to enrage the mob any further. If the nefarious Dr. Wertham had flown into insane rages about crime comics and the hero-sidekick relationship, one could only speculate as to how incensed he'd be if any superheroes ever so much as kissed a woman. So it was that, for the remainder of the 50s, those superheroes that survived the Mad Doctor's purges became even more bloodlessly asexual than they had been before. Or... were they? Certainly, there wasn't anything going on up there on the surface, where the sort of moron who grows up to mind other's people's business and carefully monitor what other people's kids might be reading would be likely to notice it. But it should be noted for posterity that, while straight, normal sex/romance seemed locked in the deep freeze in superhero comics throughout the rest of the '50s, there were apparently some weird lizards living in Jimmy Olsen's head, at the very least. Tarting himself up to infiltrate mob gangs as a gun moll, taking along his trained chimp as a substitute kissee if his Capone-esque paramour became overly amorous (and the speculations on just how a young cub reporter trains a chimp to kiss are the sort to drive even a strong man shrieking into the arms of illegal tranquilizing agents, so let us turn our minds away as quickly as possible from that gruesome train of thought) wailing like a little girl for Big Boyfriend Superman the very instant things got even mildly confrontational... there were times, in fact, when the only way to tell Jimmy from Lois was to look for the red hair and freckles. Perhaps the editors at DC were feeling the strain of complying with the strictures of the new Comics Code Authority, or perhaps J. Edgar Hoover was secretly a big fan of Superman's Pal. We may never know the truth, but certainly, we can say that Our Man From Krypton seemed to show some strange taste in his choice of lil buddies during this time period. Going into the 60s, however, things began to change, albeit with a speed and smoothness reminiscent of various geological processes such as glaciation and continental drift. Over at DC, thing remained pretty much business as usual for the entire decade, with one small exception. Which is to say, while nobody was kissing anybody anywhere near the mouth in the cape and cowl comics, the supporting character Superman Family comics targeted at the industry's then-lively female fan contingent, such as LOIS LANE and SUPERGIRL, were rather more libidinous. Lois, being pretty much stuck with her Superman's squeeze gig, didn't get a whole lot of action from the Man of Steel(since Superman, clearly, wasn't allowed to even entertain the occasional naughty thought), but she did occasionally get to kiss on other stalwarts like Bruce Wayne and various alien monarchs and such, mostly to make good ol' Kal El resoundingly jealous. (Since Supes normally retaliated with subtle, thoughtful pranks like secretly using a growth ray to make Lois fat for an entire issue, then making fun of her new overvoluptuousness while pretending not to recognize her, you'd think Lois would have given up on this, but Lois was stubborn, not smart.) And Supergirl, startlingly enough, was practically the Make Out Queen of the early DC Silver Age. Transformed superhorses, studly alien superdudes, green android guys from the far future, mythical Greek and Roman demi-gods, and gigantic marsupial robots from other dimensions are just a small smattering of the amorous entities who locked lips with the startlingly Lucy Camden-esque Maid of Might over the course of the 60s. (Okay, I made up the thing about the marsupial robots, but there were at least half a dozen studly alien superdudes, and that's not even counting all the eager male Legionnaires she was probably making out with whenever Brainiac 5 was in space on a mission.) Other than the pleasantly libidinous Tart of Steel, though, the rest of DC's Power Pantheon languished pretty much unmolested, however much they might have wished otherwise, for the entire 60s. Marvel, however, during this same time period, was heating things up a tiny little bit in their flagship superhero title. While Peter Parker's romance with...er... Betty whatshername...and Liz somebody or other... (the pre Gwen Stacy girls just all seem to kind of blur together, don't they?) were typically bloodless, with barely a squeezed hand, much less a kiss, to show for some 30 issues of continuity, over at the FF, the Thing and Johnny Storm frequently needed to take a firehose to Reed and Sue whenever that seminal Silver Age couple got into a clinch, which was astoundingly often for the 1960s. And matters only got worse -- or better, for the subject of on panel superhero displays of affection -- after the two of them officially tied the knot. While Lois Lane was still sighing a good ten feet away from an impassive-seeming Clark Kent as he inexplicably winked at the wall, Reed and Sue were making out like fifteen year olds at the drop of an innuendo, without the slightest concern for where they might happen to be whenever the urge to merge came over them. The Great Refuge, Wakanda, the Savage Land, the Negative Zone... if the FF weren't all at that very moment dodging particle beams aimed at them by Annihilus or building a giant match to shove into Galactus' jockstrap, you could bet that somewhere in the background Reed and Sue were taking turns dragging each other down to the Formica while engaging in some of the greatest tongue wrestling matches ever seen outside MELROSE PLACE. For most of the 60s, though, the Richardses remained an anomaly at Marvel, and an astounding spectacle best reserved for the Adults Only Section for DC. In the same magazine, Johnny brooded over his lost love Crystal and never even looked at another girl, while the Thing carried on his doomed, obviously non-physical relationship with blind sculptress Alicia Masters. One row down on the newsstands, Giant-Man and the Wasp bantered but rarely touched and never smooched until their wedding; Peter Parker maintained his physical and emotional distance from whatever cutie Stan and Steve were throwing into the panels with him that month, Scott Summers and Jean Grey longed for each other until we wanted to beat them both to death with a lug wrench but never so much as held hands, Tony Stark couldn't even take his damn chest plate off so what were HIS chances, and Thor got Odin mad at him if he so much as looked at a mortal woman sideways. Captain America didn't even KNOW any chicks except the Scarlet Witch, who wasn't due to notice anything male herself until the Vision wandered aimlessly through her bedroom wall many years later. Matt Murdock pined for Karen Page and unlike Scott and Jean in X-MEN, they actually got past the secretly longing for each other stage and smooched a few times. However, poor Matt would have to wait decades, until Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli brought Karen Page back as an anorexic junkie and former porn star, before he actually Got Some from the perpetually ditzy ex- secretary, and before he did, he had to suffer through having his house blown up by the Kingpin after the dim blonde sold the secret of Matt's double identity in exchange for a dime bag of heroin. It was a bad deal all the way around for the Man Without Fear, since during the time period he hadn't gotten any off Karen, she'd been drawn by Wally Wood and Gene Colan, while Dave Mazzuchelli's contrasting version of her looked as if she'd just finished an invigorating death march from Siberia to Kusan. In Avengers, Hawkeye had a big letch for the Black Widow that went back to their days as Iron Man villains together, but other than the occasional cuddle and some obligatory (bad) "Oh my darling how can we ever be together when I am a filthy Commie rat and you are an... Avenger!" dialogue, poor ol' Clint never got any either. (To this day, relentless tease and bitch goddess Natasha Romanoff continues to strut around in front of poor Clint wearing a black spandex jumpsuit that looks like Rich Corben sprayed it on her with an airbrush, while thinking malicious thoughts to herself about how poor Hawkeye is STILL a lovesick hound. Kraven the Hunter should smack her hard for being such a meanie to poor old Purple-Togs.) Bruce Banner and Betty Ross... the less said about that doomed couple the better, since for the first few weeks of their relationship he turned into the Hulk after nightfall, which had to cut way down on available make-out hours, and then for the next ten years, he got all green and broody if he got too excited... which would definitely give nearly any girl short of Thundra a darned good incentive to stay out of a backseat with him. Back at DC, the only married couple in evidence were Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and while they fought together as a team and certainly seemed to enjoy each other's company, if they had the hots for each other, they hid it well. All the other male DC heroes had romantic interests of some sort in their lives, but if it hadn't been for recurring Imaginary Tales in which the sundry JLAers were actually married to their various lady loves (and still rarely touched them) you'd never have known there was anything going on between them. Everyone in the Legion seemed to be part of a couple, like some weirdly idealized high school where everybody got to be popular and nobody got stuck in the Chess Club, but unlike high school kids since time immemorial, the Legionnaires never kissed anyone... except, strangely, Supergirl, when she'd show up for a 30th Century Christmas party and ALL the guys would get in line to play tonsil hockey with her. (Look, I'm not saying it's strange that all the male Legionnaires got in line to make out with Kara under the mistletoe. I'm saying that it's strange we never saw Lightning Lad making out with Saturn Girl the rest of the year. Maybe 30th Century girls don't kiss before marriage.) Wonder Woman wasn't getting any, nor was her sidekick Wonder Girl, despite the fact that they were the only babes in two otherwise all male super-clubs, and Princess Diana, at least, pranced around in a costume she pretty much HAD to fall out of six or seven times an hour, repeatedly explaining to anyone who'd listen that not only did she lose all her powers if she were bound by a man, if they also just happened to tie her up with her magic lasso... this one right here, fellas, see, want to hold it?... she'd have to obey their every command, too. And still, the cheerful male idiots making up the rest of the JLA refused to get the hint. Green Lantern had some really kinky Domme/Sub switch-off roleplaying thing going on with Carol Ferris, but apparently, there wasn't any actual sex involved, just lots of tight costumes, mystic body jewelry, and frequent energy beam exchanges. Nope. Other than Superman's bouncy, panting, ever-eager little blond cousin at DC, and the astoundingly vigorous Reed and Sue Richards at Marvel, the 60s were nearly as bad a time for super-sex as the 40s and 50s had been. But face front, True Believer... the 70s were coming. Boy, were they ever. At Marvel, the Sexual Revolution seemed to hit in the very early 70s, only a few years behind its actual real world debut in the late 60s. Suddenly, all the superheroes presented by Stan Lee were making out with someone... the Pyms were necking whenever they had a spare couple of minutes in between fighting Equinox, the Thermodynamic Man, and a Stranger who turned out to actually be the Toad, Captain America was switching spit with a barely bikini-ed Sharon Carter on the beach in Bermuda, the Falcon was clearly gettin' all he could handle from blaxploitation flick refugee Leila, Daredevil and the Black Widow were damn near getting arrested for public lewdness out in San Francisco as they humped acrobatically from rooftop to rooftop, and even Human Bombs and irate superspeeding siblings couldn't pry the Scarlet Witch's tongue out of the Vision's artificially sweetened mouth for longer than a minute at a time. Even the overly cerebral Stephen Strange was pursuing a highly charged sexual romance with his apprentice Clea, a romance which took a really weird turn when Clea allowed herself to be seduced by no less a personage than the apparently perpetually priapic American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin! Ironically, about the only Marvel couple that wasn't jumping each other like high school kids in half their published panels was Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic, who, under Roy Thomas, had just managed to rack up the dubious distinction of being comicdom's first married couple to get a legal separation. And... at DC... the heroes stood around, looking blandly at the heroines, or their editorially assigned, mandatory girlfriends, eyes rolled up in their heads, whistling the Oscar Mayer Weiner Song and thinking relentlessly clean thoughts. The Flash had married his own romantic interest, Iris West, but to all intents and purposes, their relationship remained the same as that of any other DC hero and his nominal romantic interest... she got in trouble, he rescued her. The Atom, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Green Arrow... some of these characters went through startling visual changes, others remained the same as they had always been, but none of them got anything remotely resembling a sex life except the hugely lucky Emerald Archer, whose spiffy new Neal Adams illustrated goatee somehow garnered him the amorous interest of dimensional defector Black Canary. Aquaman got married and even had a kid, giving us a clear indication he and Mera had been doing something vaguely naughty off panel, but there was little sign of any Atlantaean passions where we could see them. Even spanking new character Deadman, who had showed up back in '68, still resolutely refused to use his power of possessing and controlling any living body in exactly the manner every teen age fanboy immediately fantasized about doing themselves upon reading his adventures, namely, jumping into Lee Majors Six Million Dollar corpus for a long weekend in a water bed with Farrah Fawcett, or various and sundry equivalents that had instantly occurred to all of us as soon as we saw the astounding abilities Rama Kushna had gifted the hapless circus spook with. Seeming to neatly sum up the whole DC continuum's attitude towards sex and romance in the 70s, one truly remarkable early 70s SUPERBOY sequence featured a young Clark Kent contriving to knock an amorous Lana Lang unconscious with a heat-vision severed tree limb rather than comply with her breathily phrased wishes to plant a big wet one on her upturned, parted, pliant and oh-so-willing lips... a sequence which made me and doubtless every other male reader roll our eyes to the heavens and wonder if Superschnook weren't really, deeply, GAY or something. Basically, DC, whose flagship title was ironically named Action Comics, remained the No Nookie Universe until just prior to Crisis, when it finally seemed to dawn on their Powers That Be that part of the three dimensional, angst driven, characterization style they were abruptly so desperate to steal from Marvel was ROMANCE, a.k.a., SEX. At Marvel, not only did all their characters spend at least half their time or more making out with somebody else, things were actually getting a little weird a few feet off the mainstream. On the one hand we had Lilith, Daughter of Dracula, picking guys up in bars and literally sucking their faces, while, over here behind Door Number 2, drop dead gorgeous Cleveland party babe Bev Switzer was hitting the sheets with a sentient duck. In AVENGERS, ex- rummy and general louse The Swordsman came stumbling blearily back into the team in the company of Vietnamese 'bar girl' -- a pretty blatant euphemism for 'hooker' -- and mystic martial artist Mantis, who promptly dumped her whiney wannabe Cyrano to make a serious play for a badly befuddled Vision. Kang even showed up and kidnapped the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, and Agatha Harkness, stuffing them into those big glass test tubes that all supervillains and evil robots seem to order in bulk, (probably from the same manufacturer who cranks out thousands of tilting titanium slab tables with metal wrist and ankle clamps at each corner for securing those irritating snoopy female reporters, and experimental energy beams that turn most people into goo but which merely give the hero's plucky little brother strange and unearthly powers) claiming that one of them was 'the Celestial Madonna', whose son would be "THE ONE", and his plan was to take her and "through our child, rule the heavens"... which was the first time in comic book history, and as far as I can recall, the last, that any supervillain has showed up with a master plan that included rape and forcible impregnation... well, other than that Marcus guy in AVENGERS #200, and we try not to think about that issue too much, while fervently hoping it's on Kurt Busiek's list of stories to wipe out of existence someday soon. Even obscure, kung fu kraze inspired characters like Iron Fist were breaking new romantic and sexual ground in comic books by becoming the first white guy in the history of the medium to do the nasty with a black woman. Under Doug "Moon-Kingdom" Moench, a character subtly and non- exploitationally titled Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, not only did a whole lot of the ol' in-out himself, but also hung around with a group of the most highly sexed supporting characters since, well, the James Bond books that most of them were directly swiped from. To sum up the 70s, then... At DC, it was still, for the vast most part, business as usual, meaning, all their characters might as well have been genderless androids. At Marvel, on the other hand, gorgeous women were screwing waterfowl, Vietnamese boom-boom girls were joining the Avengers, female vampires were starring in their own horror series and using sex appeal to lure hapless male victims to the slaughter, and cheesy warlords from alternate futures were showing up with raging woodies for captive super-heroines. Everybody, even the morose, petulant Peter Parker, was getting laid. Had I been Superman, I'd have found a way to defect across the dimensional barrier post haste... but then, had I been Superman, Lana Lang would have gotten something considerably different from a mild concussion in that apple orchard, too, so maybe the Big Blue Boy Scout was happier where he was. There was, however, one notable exception to the seemingly perpetual sexual doldrums at DC in the 70s... Batman, for around half a dozen brilliant issues of DETECTIVE COMICS in the middle of the decade, became not only a three dimensional character for the first time in his lengthy publishing history, but he also got seriously, irrefutably, and undeniably laid, not just once, but several times, in between getting kidnapped by Hugo Strange and jumped up and down on by Deadshot and having various other indignities heaped upon him by sundry other menaces and evildoers and wanks extraordinaire. Yes, under the guiding, masterful hands of Steve Engelhart, Bruce Wayne encountered the delectable Silver St. Cloud, who so explicitely and thoroughly unclogged his plumbing for him that even we, the astounded Bat-fan, could practically feel that fatuous, just-been-boffed-and-HOW- baby grin on his face from a universe away. Of course, this one, sole exception to DC's otherwise ubiquitous 'no nookie' policy shouldn't surprise us, since it was Steve Engelhart who, over at Marvel, had created the explicitely sexual character of Mantis, and written the "Kang As Ron Jeremy Wannabe" storyline that culminated in said ex-Vietnamese hooker getting married to an entity who could be regarded equally as either (a) a fricking TREE, dude, or (b) the reanimated corpse of her badly fried ex-boyfriend, whichever one weirds you out more. Steve "Baby" Gerber might have shoved a buxom redhead into the sack with the luckiest duck in the multiverse, but only Stainless Steve Engelhart could marry a former Number One BJ girl off to a giant alien fern. It shouldn't, then, have come as a shock to anyone that Engelhart's astonishingly spot-on characterization of Bruce "Batman" Wayne... which still stands as the defining moment for the character in the eyes of many, among whom your humble narrator is definitely to be numbered... included giving the character a sexual dimension for the first time in nearly forty years. While on the subject, it should also be noted in passing that in addition to his high profile, much lauded, and still treasured work on DETECTIVE, Stainless Steve E. also did a year long run on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA that hardly anybody noticed at the time or gives a passing thought to today. However, in the context of this article, it's worth stating that under Engelhart, it was suddenly mentioned that Hawkman and Hawkgirl did, actually, have a sex life, which was brought up when the otherwise forgettable (and truly wretchedly drawn) mystic menace Count Crystal tried to rape the fiesty Shiera Hol, and got whacked in his ugly bald head with an Nth metal wing for his randy little pains. The 70s at DC also saw the weird Silver Age revival/debut of Black Canary, and her growing relationship with Green Arrow, which, under somewhat more modern-thinking writers like Denny O'Neil, established itself as having a strong physical/romantic/sexual element almost from the beginning. Towards the end of the 70s, obscure advertising artist Mike Nasser was drawing Black Canary for some back up stories in Dollar Size WORLD'S FINEST comics in pretty much every stage of undress imaginable, just in case any of us fanboys out there hadn't already figured out that a woman who is built like Linda Carter and runs around in a body sheath, high heeled black buccaneer boots, and fishnet stockings is kinda sexy. Of course, while most romantic relationships at DC did remain at a standstill during the 70s, the good girl art factor picked up enormously, with artists like Dave Cockrum giving the Legion of Superheroes a total visual redesign (putting Princess Projectra, for example, in a costume that had to be entirely illusory, since otherwise, it would simply have fallen off her within two or three normal walking steps). Mike Grell later took this normal, and perhaps even healthy, fanboy enjoyment of good looking women in tight, slinky clothing to truly bizarre extremes, as Cosmic Boy, for the love of God, started running around in a costume better suited to the Rocky Horror Picture Show than a mainstream superhero title, and the cute limb baring body sheath Cockrum had given Saturn Girl steadily shrank until it was little more than a couple of dots connected by a handful of microscopic pink lines. Supergirl got her hottest costume EVER in the 70s, with an open down the front hot blue floppy sleeved silk blouse with a stylized 'S' symbol accentuating one perky little breast, truncated red hot pants, bare legs that seemed to go up forever, the longest, sexiest blond hair we'd seen on her to date (or ever would again) and... um...I'm sure some sort of cape...somewhere... in the background... where I certainly didn't pay much attention to it. Robin even kissed Batgirl a couple of times toward the end of the 70s, as I recall,and although there certainly wasn't anything actually incestuous about that, it certainly felt that way... most likely because it all took place in the pages of a Giant Sized monthly magazine called Batman Family. It's also worth mentioning that it was in the 70s that, for the first time, people started paying some attention to alternate superhero titles. Oh, there had always been lousy, short lived forays into superheroism by other publishers (and even rare pretty good ones, like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents at Tower) but they came and went, most of them sticking around far beyond the point where their welcomes wore out, even if that was only for, like, an issue and a half. It was with the 70s that alternative publisher Eclipse first started putting out an interesting product, and any article on Superhero Sex Lives would be remiss in not making note of that carnality-drenched creation of Dave Stevens known as THE ROCKETEER. Perpetually horny, small minded, and relentlessly venal, pilot Cliff Secord and his stripper/nude model sometime girlfriend Betty was cleaned up considerably for Disney's later live action film adaptation, although, to be sure, the not particularly subtle presence of Jennifer Connelly's nipples pushing through every single item of clothing she wore during the movie's running time kept the theaters considerably steamier than they were during any showing of POCAHANTAS or THE RESCUERS. (Alas, such erect aureola action is one of the aesthetic details that tends to get lost on video, which is as good an argument for seeing movies in the theater as any you're likely to hear this millennium or last.) And then... the 80s rolled around, and everything got... confusing. On the one hand, DC suddenly seemed galvanized by an insane, out of left field, overwhelming drive to make every title they had appealing to the relatively small, primarily adolescent male, fan audience that was supporting the newly thriving direct sales market. Why DC chose to do this, effectively cashing in a mass market audience potentially numbering in millions at exactly the time when movie and TV crossover projects were exposing more 'average' people than ever to Superman and Batman, in order to try to gain the loyalty of a much smaller (and pickier) fanboy audience is... well... difficult to explain. However, the fact remains that they did, big time, and one of the elements they began adding to their own creative mix, as they strove to bring a certain Marvelish level of three dimensional 'reality' to their stolid stable of super icons, was sexuality. Superman began taking Lois Lane away to turn of the century Paris for romantic weekends. Batman was dating various women, including not only future wife Selina Kyle (if Imaginary Tales and Earth-2 continuity were to be believed) but a suddenly revived Vicky Vale and even, under Doug Moench, some weird vampire chick, as well. Green Lantern became so thoroughly whipped he gave up godlike power in order to keep gettin' some from a perpetually negligee clad Carole Ferris. The Atom got dumped by unfaithful bitch Jean Loring and fled to a lost jungle city full of miniaturized alien barbarians where he began a steamy romance with some tiny little yellow chick. In Wolfman's New Teen Titans, everyone was apparently getting it on except poor Beast Boy, whose only girlfriend for the entire run of the series turned out to be a treacherous little slut named Tara Markov who, at the age of fourteen, was smoking cigars and getting the enthusiastic wood put to her by no less a personage than Deathstroke the Terminator, in one of mainstream comic's queasier brushes with the sort of pedophiliac subject matter that simply could not have been done in the America of ten years later, when child molesters and kiddie porn peddlers had replaced drug dealers and Arab terrorists as the most loathed figures in modern culture. Over at Marvel, Howard and Bev were pretty much forgotten, but the legacy of the 70s was so well established by now that every superhero continued to pretty much have a regular sex life as a matter of course. Fans may still argue over whether or not the iconically decent Captain America ever actually slept with hot blond SHIELD agent Sharon Carter, (dudes... he DID, okay?) but various writers and artists on Cap's series starting with Stern and Byrne made it exquisitely clear that Steve "Jolly" Rogers was doing an enthusiastic mattress dance with the cheerfully horny Bernadette Rosenthal at every opportunity the two of them could contrive. Byrne got Sue Richards pregnant again (well, actually, Reed did the dirty deed, but Byrne was in the writer/artist section of the credits) kicked Ben Grimm out of the team for a while, and had Alicia Masters start dressing like a slut while making a play for the younger, hunkier Human Torch (something for which, admittedly, the shapely sculptress could hardly be blamed, after 20 years of draping herself all over apparently non-functional, only putative males like the ironically named Thing and the smoothly asexual Silver Surfer) while bringing in an obscure, badly conceived marketing ploy/near parody named She-Hulk, who promptly started sunbathing nude on top of the Baxter Building and humping Wyatt Wingfoot's brains out. Hawkeye, after years of frustration and rejection from every redhead he ever hit on, finally wised up; learning a lesson from Cap and setting his sights on a blond SHIELD party girl named Mockingbird, who apparently impressed him so much with her erotic acumen that he promptly married her. Spider-Man, under Roger Stern's direction, became an object of the carnal attentions of several nubile young ladies (including a cuddly klepto named the Black Cat), and over in X-Men, Scott Summers and Jean Grey were boffing like crazed weasels on top of any desert butte that presented itself. In a strangely unnoted story arc in AVENGERS, Moon Dragon mind controlled the hunky God of Thunder into being her devoted love slave for several pages in a move that would have doubtless stirred fandom-wide controversy had the two characters' genders been reversed, or, for that matter, the same. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, whose relationship, to date, had survived everything that Thomas, Mantlo, and Engelhart could contrive to throw at it, from seemingly dozens of constantly-being-revealed sets of parents for Wanda to attacks by Golden Age villains and crazed mutants to, most dreadful of ALL for a regular sex life, marriage, actually managed, through some bizarre occurrence of 'chaos magic', to have children in the early part of the 80s. Towards the end of the decade, after her marriage to Giant-Man spectacularly self- destructed in a frenzy of betrayal and abuse, the Wasp briefly had an affair with Tony Stark that she ended when she became aware that he was actually Iron Man. During roughly the same time period, a newly separated or divorced Crystal, after wrecking her marriage with the first ever recorded instance of marital infidelity in comics, rejoined the Fantastic Four and did her level best to wreck the Human Torch's new marriage to Alicia Masters, who would, a few years later, turn out to be a damned Skrull anyway, which must have made Johnny feel like an idiot for resolutely pushing the Sexiest Inhuman Of All Time away years before. In the same title, an obscure character named Ms. Marvel (not the Carol Danvers one) became another comics first, if a dark one, by becoming the first woman ever to be explicitly raped -- gangraped, no less -- in a mainstream superhero title. Even Black Canary's gang rape in LONGBOW HUNTERS, earlier in the decade, had only been alluded to, as in that peculiar double standard of superhero comics, writer/artist Mike Grell did not shy away from showing graphic depictions of physical torture, but he could not show, or even explicitly state, that she had actually been sexually assaulted. Tigra, during a brief appearance in the Avengers, generated much fan buzz as she demonstrated an apparent willingness to sleep with anything male, before later going on and having a brief affair with a de- powered, suicidal Hank Pym in the team's West Coast franchise. Chris Claremont spiced up everything he wrote during the 80s by having all his female characters hold hands, hug, and kiss each other at the slightest excuse, a tendency we might have been inclined to blame hormonal driven X-illustrators Dave Cockrum and John Byrne for if we hadn't seen all the female Avengers suddenly begin behaving similarly while drawn by Michael Golden in an AVENGERS ANNUAL Chris somehow snared the writing assignment on. In the midst of all this frenzied coupling and carnal caressing, though, a few weirder elements crept into place, both, perhaps coincidentally, the result of popular artists deciding they were perfectly capable of writing their own scripts, and pretty much demanding that Marvel let them, too. On DAREDEVIL, Matt Murdock broke up with a ditzy nympho named Heather he'd been dating since Jim Shooter's brief run on the book, as Frank Miller introduced a previously unseen and unmentioned college flame named Elektra. Elektra, by funny coincidence, happened to have spent the ten years or so since she and Matt had dated in college studying the fine art of sneaky ninja death under a bunch of goobers called the Hand, who, despite the fact that we were continually assured they were the most formidable band of assassins in the history of the Marvel Universe, demonstrated an almost Hydra-like incapacity to kill anyone, at any time, even if their target was outnumbered 40 or 50 to 1. Elektra was their finest, deadliest member, a distinction she amply proved by managing, after six or seven issues of heartfelt trying, to stab and wound... but not quite kill... the elderly, wheezing, nearsighted Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich. Now, normally, when one is writing about such things as sexual subtext in superhero comics, one pretty much understands that much of what one 'discovers' is going to be done with tongue in cheek, as most such subtext is pretty much inadvertent, and really only exists in the twisted perceptions of filthy minded, jaded old perverts like me, and 400,000 other drooling, overly libidinous fanboy geeks who hardly ever got any when we were at our prime and will be bitter about it for the remainder of this incarnation, anyway. But in the case of Elektra... well, I really have to think that the overwhelming sexual subtext of a woman named after a character in a classic Oedipal myth, who leaps around in a scanty costume with large phallic symbols in her hands that she repeatedly thrusts into her male victims... well, given that this is the creation of the guy who somewhat later on gave us the two most sleaze-drenched interpretations of the Darknight Detective that have ever been done... I'm going to make an assumption here that in THIS case, Frank Miller probably knew exactly what he was doing. The 80s pretty much ended with yet another of the weirdest and most twisted events to ever occur in superhero sexuality: the apparent revelation, by John Byrne, that the Vision had never actually possessed male genitalia. This sent shockwaves through fandom and cast a rather disturbing light on the psyche of his long time paramour the Scarlet Witch, who with one gratuitous full frontal panel showing her husband's smooth, entirely featureless crotch went from being a tough, strong-willed woman with the courage to declare her love for an artificial man in the face of any and all adversity and who had become one of the few devoted wives and mothers among superhumans... to being... well... some disturbed, frigid freak who, after choosing not to pursue a deep crush on Captain America and firmly rebuffing the testosterone-drenched advances of Hawkeye, had firmly affixed herself to the one ostensible male she had ever met... who had neither spear nor magic helmet. She had even, apparently, by using her own probability defying chaos magic, managed to pathenogenetically conceive twin sons...all without ever bothering with the messy, icky business of sex. This revelation, apparently driven by John Byrne's bizarre and egotistical need to disbelieve in the Vision's essential humanity despite two full decades of its establishment under actual writers, sent reverberations through comic book fandom, and through the character's own relationship with the Scarlet Witch, that have still not fully died down. In addition to deleting the Vision's tallywhacker, a move Byrne seemed to feel would leave absolutely no doubt as to the character's essential inhumanity, Byrne also discredited the Thomas-Engelhart origin story for the avenging android in which it had been revealed that he was basically a rebuilt version of the Golden Age Human Torch. Nearly a decade later, Bob Harras would deal with this egregious abuse of continuity by arranging to have the Vision's mind transferred into an alternate dimensional body that was still, the story had been at pains to tell us, fully equipped, while other troubling aspects of Byrne's artificial penis theft have since been explained away as being the result of a conspiracy of Space Phantoms trying to drive the Scarlet Witch crazy for reasons of their own. (Many of the married women I know would get a little vexed, I must admit, if a legion of shapeshifting pranksters with bad haircuts somehow managed to make off with their husbands' family jewels.) Presently, current Avengers scribe Kurt Busiek has gone to some trouble to establish the Vision as being 'functional' again, at least to the point where he's hitting on Carol Danvers in a recent issue, and was apparently being used as Morgana Le Fay as an artificial pleasure slave in one of the early issues of the current publishing run. No discussion of superhero sexuality in the 1980s would be complete without an honorable mention going to Mark Evanier's work on CROSSFIRE and DNAGENTS. The latter title, which might better have been called the "T n'Agents", showcased cute looking artificially created teen age girls named Amber and Rainbow who were forever wriggling in and out of various items of clothing on panel. Evanier's more personal work on CROSSFIRE explored, among other sexual elements, the tough decision for an up and coming actress as to whether or not to do a nude scene in a low-budget suspense movie, and, later on, the ramifications of a sexual relationship between the human Crossfire and the artificially created Rainbow, as well as Rainbow's decision about appearing as a nude centerfold for a thinly disguised Hugh Hefner... a decision she threw cold water on thousands of fanboys, at the very least, when she phrased it by saying "I decided I didn't want all those guys holding up my picture with one hand". Similarly, there are probably many in the audience who are waiting more or less impatiently for me to make long, detailed, and loving mention of Howard Chaykin's AMERICAN FLAGG! series, but, fortunately, I don't have to, because, whatever else he may have been, one thing Reuben Flagg was not, ever, was a superhero, which puts his tittering, leering, barely one step above CHERRY POPTART quality adventures quite outside the scope of this article. Flagg's sniggering, perpetually adolescent creator Howard Chaykin, though, did a whole bunch of smarmy, sleazy superhero comics in the 80s, including a truly appalling modern version of THE SHADOW in which, apparently, every single character was continually having sex with someone closely related to them, or, alternatively, a house pet, and which was otherwise so poorly plotted, scripted, and even, for Chaykin, drawn, as to excite no lasting interest whatsoever. One of the weird things about the 1980s, though, was that while the nearly tantric excesses of the 1970s seemed to be taken as carte blanche by some writers and artists to pull out all the stops in terms of depicting the sex lives of superheroes and their supporting casts, other creators almost seemed to feel a somewhat disgusted backlash to such rampant R and PG rated material. Many popular and notable alternative superhero titles seemed all but sexless during the '80s. Kurt Busiek's LIBERTY PROJECT gave us a group of attractive young super-villains trying to earn pardons through community service that included fighting other super-baddies and battling alien invasions. However, despite having been incarcerated for years at the time of their release, none of the young and presumably healthy members of the team showed the slightest interest in each other or even in the cute female television reporter who followed them around, and who, it might be noted, bore an alarming resemblance to Busiek's then girlfriend and future wife. Busiek's old high school and college buddy Scott McCloud, in another notable series of the 80s, gave us a similarly sex-free ZOT!, which, since the series revolved around a varied and interesting cast of adolescents, didn't strike anyone as being all that weird, unless you were to actually sit down and think about how obsessed with sex nearly all real adolescents actually are. ZOT!, was pretty clearly, among other things, an Indiana Jones-esque attempt to invoke the innocence of a previous era in adventure fiction, but still, the lack of anything even remotely resembling hormones in a series that later devoted itself to some of comicdom's most otherwise detailed and realistic explorations of teen age high school life was remarkable. On the other hand, John Ostrander's GRIMJACK wallowed in sexual material, from Grimjack's 'what the hell, why not' decision to couple with an old enemy in order to provide her with 'tantric energy' for a spell she was casting on his behalf, to his championing of the cause of a young prison inmate who was being used as a sexual plaything by a gang of older convicts. Coming out the other side of Crisis with a zealous mandate to make their entire line of characters as much like Marvel's had been back in the 70s as possible, DC quickly incorporated sexuality, among other things, into all their storylines. A permanently vilified Carol "Star Sapphire" Ferris deliberately taunted her paralyzed partner Hector Hammond with her nude body, declaring that this was why women had always ruled men, in a sequence that many comics shop owners griped should have been given a Mature Readers Only label. Meanwhile, Carol's ex boyfriend, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who had once proven the thesis she had stated so eloquently to ol' Hec by giving up his power ring when she threatened to otherwise cut off his nookie, was back in the Green Lantern Corps fending off the amorous advances of a cute blond alien Green Lantern who happened to bear a superficial resemblance to a human 14 year old girl. Concerned with appearances, the editorial staff mandated that Arisia would have to be visibly more mature before a relationship between her and Hal could be okayed, so writer Engelhart had her power ring respond to her subconscious desire to seduce Hal by increasing her cup size dramatically. This apparently (and mystifying) assuaged Jordan's emotional objections, allowing him to jam his tongue down Arisia's throat in many beautifully rendered Joe Staton panels for the next ten or twenty issues. In the same title, red skinned alien hottie Katma Tui, who had declared way back in her first, circa 1960s appearance that her race did not express emotions physically the way humans did, suddenly discovered her erogenous zones and began to hit the sheets regularly with GL John Stewart, eventually marrying him. In the previously mentioned Green Arrow limited series known as LONGBOW HUNTERS, the frequently misogynistic Mike Grell had Black Canary kidnapped, taken to a warehouse, repeatedly tortured and, by implication, raped by a gang of bad guys, for no real reason other than to justify her boyfriend Green Arrow's revolting decision to abandon his gimmicky shafts and simply start employing barbed hunting heads on the criminals he fought. (Since the new, grim&gritty Green Arrow routinely battled heavily armed drug smugglers and ex-patriate members of the Yakuza who all sported automatic weapons, this should have realistically resulted in his quick and ugly death, but somehow or other, the back to the basics Emerald Archer managed to consistently outshoot, with a bow and arrow, dozens of murderous sociopaths armed with surplus Soviet assault rifles.) John Byrne gave us a rebooted Superman who, far from being a stolidly isolated icon of such enormous inherent decency and purity that one could not even imagine him ever having an impure thought, instead pursued carnal relationships not only with Lois Lane, but with newly created and utterly uninhibited Daily Planet reporter named Cat something or other, as well. Wally West, newly installed as his mentor Barry Allen's replacement Flash, went through a bunch of bedmates fairly quickly, including, in what may have been a superhero first, a brief affair with an older woman who was still married to someone else at the time the sexual relationship began. Robin,who had at some point taken the name Nightwing inspired by Superman's adventures in Kandor associated with that name, despite the fact that in the post Crisis universe, Kandor didn't exist, started a passionate affair with alien princess Starfire which eventually resulted in their getting married. Plumbing the utmost depths of sleaze and perversity was... you guessed it... Frank Miller, who along with gifted new artist David Mazzuchelli gave us a disturbing vision of Batman's world in BATMAN: YEAR ONE, where an all but asexual Batman plunged regularly into a Gotham crime scene populated by characters such as a lesbian bondage queen/dominatrix prostitute (and occasional pedophile) named Selina Kyle, whom we saw become Catwoman in direct response to Batman's own inspiring career, and her frequent bedmate, the 'young as you want me to be' child hooker Holly, who, even generously, couldn't possibly have been older than 14 and who looked a lot younger. Add into this mix a somewhat youngish Lt. James Gordon whose marital infidelities we were apparently supposed to overlook because he could beat up ex-Green Berets with his bare hands, even after having been worked over by six guys with baseball bats only a few hours before, and we had an even grimmer&grittier look at superhero sexuality than Miller had given us previously in the similarly bleak, hormone-drenched DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. It's notable, though, that throughout both story arcs, Batman himself stands out above the tawdry behavior of many (well, all of them but Alfred, really) supporting cast members as a pure, asexual paladin figure, who has clearly sublimated his sex drive in its entirety into a burning, bitter need for violent vengeance on the criminal class that killed his parents. Even the Swamp Thing, who was as nad-free as John Byrne's Vision, got a sex life of sorts, through sharing hallucinogenic fruit with his girlfriend Abby in some of the more controversial sequences put out by mainstream comics of the Me Decade, (though to my mind, the concept of confusing, you know, The Nasty, with eating a big potato grown in your lover's fungoid, rotting body was... well... just plain deranged). And in the same author's frequently cited WATCHMEN miniseries, sex was a large part of all the various 'superheroes' characterizations, from the more normal couplings of the two Silk Spectres with various male partners down the decades, through the rather more bizarre relationships of a few of the original Minutemen, to the fact that a complete aversion to sex and a subsequent sublimination of all sex drive into violence against crime was the primary motivation of the nearly sociopathic Rorschach. Superhuman sexuality seemed to take a back seat to graphic violence over the course of most of the 90s, thanks in no little part to the speculator driven Image craze for bad- but-exciting art with either explicit or implied violence in every single panel. Another contributing factor to this perhaps was that growing access to the Internet had started to sensitize the parents of America to their children's increasing exposure to sexual material, resulting in an incoherent but very real impulse among comics creators to tone down the sex in their own, kid- targeted products. Notably over-libidinous creators like Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Howard Chaykin produced comparatively little over the course of the 90s, at least, when stacked up against their output in the previous ten to twenty years, which doubtless contributed to the seeming slacking-off of superhero sexual antics throughout the decade. Neil Gaiman made frequent mention and story- grist of the somewhat weird sex lives of his huge cast of bizarre but always interesting and often likeable supporting characters in the brilliant and all but indescribable SANDMAN, but DC had made a probably wise move to spin off its horror and occult line into a more Mature Readers oriented separate line called Vertigo, so while writers like Gaiman and Grant Morrison had access to DC's mainstream continuity for story material, they could explore it in far more adult ways than had ever been done previously. Grant Morrison chose to do this in increasingly bizarre, convoluted, and unreadably perverse examinations of the sexuality of the characters in DOOM PATROL and THE INVISIBLES, while Gaiman explored the intricacies and logical consequences of mortals having carnal knowledge of a variety of mythic and supernatural figures quite intriguingly in the forementioned SANDMAN. Superman died, rose again, and got married; Batman stayed pretty asexual (Lord, he must miss Silver St. Cloud), even spending some time in a wheelchair after a disastrous encounter with the hugely muscled Bane; Hal Jordan went crazy and shuffled off the post Crisis coil, Hawkman imploded into non-existence, Wonder Woman... did... a bunch of weird stuff I don't even want to think about... and so it went. Over at Marvel, Peter Parker was married to fashion model Mary Jane Watson, and between his discovery that he was really a clone, and then his subsequent discovery that no he actually wasn't, he didn't seem to have much time for a sex life. In the Hulk, superhero sex lives got very strange for a while, as Rick Jones started dating a woman named Marlo that ol' Greenskin (who had been grey at the time) had slept with during a brief stint as an enforcer in Las Vegas. After having all his split personalities fully integrated into one eight foot tall bright green superstrong, superintelligent form with a tendency to be quick tempered, the Hulk seemed to have a lot of trouble getting his long suffering wife Betty to give him any lovin', which may be the reason he kept going on petulant rampages. Over in AVENGERS,as previously noted, Bob Harras went to considerable trouble to give the Vision his bright red boner back, and under the same writer, the Black Knight alternately made out with Crystal and got jumped by Sersi, Hercules fell in love with a dying mortal girl, and the Black Widow seemed to be contemplating having sex with every single Avenger, member of the Avengers support staff, or Federal liaison team, that set foot across the threshold of the newly rebuilt Avengers Mansion, except, of course, Hawkeye. Another reason that superhero sex may have seemed to be going through a lull during much of the 90s was that Alan Moore, one of comic's premier explorers of metahuman carnality, had limited most of his work in comics for the decade to various projects for Image, where, as previously stated, the major focus was on violence, not sex. Moore's work, whether on obviously personal projects like the 1963 mini series, or more directly derivative titles like WILDC.A.T.s or VIOLATOR, was always the best thing Image was publishing in any given month, but made little mention of sex or even romance as a story element. It wasn't until the very end of the 90s that Moore returned to exploring various sexual elements of the superhero world, as recent developments between characters in TOP 10 and PROMETHEA amply attest to. It hasn't escaped me that, while typing the above, my narrative style has gone from an entertaining, somewhat tongue in cheek discussion of the probably spurious sexual overtones of the innocent, goofy stories of the early Silver Age, to a catalogue of joyless couplings, gratuitous sleaze, bizarre and petulant sexually based attacks on various aspects of continuity, and outright disturbing deviancy of a sort one would more appropriately expect to find in a Time Square porn parlor than a comic book direct sales shop. From the interesting, often delightful spectacle of an occasionally crossdressing cub reporter or an innocently randy teenage blond from a distant world, we've somehow segued into a dark, often disgusting discussion of 14 year old bimboes as members of the new Teen Titans and whether or not one of the few surviving female characters from the Golden Age of comics was actually raped as well as tortured in an infamous Prestige Format mini series. This is, I think, a pretty fair representation of the general devolution of American superhero comics over the course of the past four decades. The relatively subtle, indirect, implied sexuality of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which began with an unusually wet kiss goodbye between the survivor of a doomed planet and an altruistic mermaid returning home to Atlantis, and which culminated with a bizarre but brilliantly inspired plotline in which a former Vietnamese prostitute aspired not only to Celestial Madonna-hood, but to marriage with a sentient tree (!) has been replaced by the crude, leering sexual caperings of characters written by people like Chaykin, Miller, Giffen, and others to whom human sexuality is apparently best represented by a bondage catalogue and an endlessly looped highlight reel of Johnny "The Wad" Holmes greatest money shots. Even relatively straightforward heterosexual romance seems to have declined in quality over the past forty years, as we've gone from the passionate, enthusiastic antics of couples who actually seemed to enjoy dating each other, like Dr. Strange and Clea, or Spider-Man and the Black Cat, to the obligatory, often even onerous seeming mating rituals of the modern day Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Must superheroes have sex? Should superheroes have sex? Was John Byrne on the morally, or just aesthetically, correct path when he stole the artificial reproductive organs of one of the Avengers' most heroic male members (groan), or should we embrace the lascivious leanings of more libidinously inclined creators like Frank Miller and Chris Claremont and throw open the realm of superhero comics to teen team gangbangs, girl/girl shower scenes, incestuous superfamilies, and weird human/canine matings such as we're currently regarding with at least some bemused approbation in the pages of TOP 10? For myself, all I can say is what I say about virtually ANY story element in superhero comics... when it's handled well, by a good writer, I like it fine; when it's done poorly by a hack, I want to hire Henry Hill to go pistol whip him into submission. Sex is clearly a part of the normal... or even abnormal... human experience. It seems to me, then, that if we're going to have a realistic exploration of superhumanity in graphic, serial fiction, sex should and must be an allowable part of that. We just, you know, shouldn't let Grant Morrison do it. * * * * * * * * * * John Jones, the Manhunter from Marathon, IL, no longer dwells in Marathon, IL. He admits to being frankly obsessed with sex at times, thank you very much, and he'd like to note for the record right here and now that if certain women he went to high school and college with had been more generous with their affections at seminal moments in his youthful development, he would probably have a good job in an insurance office somewhere right now. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] Multiverse Observer and Explorer Reviews Paul Dale Roberts silhouet9@aol.com [Paul promotes amateur and professional comic book artwork, scripts, storylines, and unpublished comic books with a newsletter called the Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter. Its website is at Jazma Comic Book Newsletter Productions at http://www.jazmaonline.com/ He is also a prominent letter hack, as anyone who reads comic letter pages would know. He is in production of his own self-published comic book called The Legendary Dark Silhouette and has copyrighted over 600 characters for his Jazma Universe.] WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN MAY REVEAL SIGNIFICANT PORTIONS OF PLOTS OR ENTIRE PLOT DEVELOPMENTS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Name: A Shadowlander's Dream - Chapter Three: Who are You? Who am I? - $2.50 Price Written and Drawn by: Kathryn Williams Name: Espionage Velocity Express Blue #2 - $2.00 Price Written and Drawn by: Andrea Haid Name: Kat & Neko Manga - Kataloge of Goodies Summer 2000 Issue Name: Yoriko: Maiden of the First Fire #2 - $2.00 Price Written and Drawn by: Svetlana Chmakova Published by: Kat & Neko Manga Contact Information: Email: kakabel@hotmail.com Website: http://come.to/shadowlander'sdream Snail Mail: Kathryn Williams - K&N Manga - PO Box 43026 - London ON, Canada N6C 6A2 Comments: In 'Shadowlander's Dream' - Kima has fled from reality - Kitono Jenn escapes into a dream. Haruka Neko exclaims that she has spent 5 years looking for Hitarino Kima, spent 5 years preparing to be her guardian and doesn't plan to lose her to no one. This is what she is telling her friends around her. It gets to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster with this story. In this tale, they introduce a baby named Jennifer Kitono and Kira-chan becomes a proud uncle. Mystical chaos occurs in this story...with one of the characters becoming a demon of shadow, a being of dream. Finally, a Shadowlander without a dream. Cliffhanger hangs on with yelling to Kira-San from Kitono Jenn. She pleads...'don't leave...tell me who am I?' Yep, the girl is puzzled on who she is. A mystery within a mystery. Black and white manga artwork done with a colored cover. With 'Espionage Velocity Express Blue' - we have black and white cover and interior. Artwork is done with clarity. In fact it's crisp and fresh. Story reminds me of 'Married with Children'. The characters seem a tad dysfunctional with lots of slaps, nose punches and yelling. Example: "Hey Pal, our shower is busted, so you can just get your lazy butt up here pronto and fix it!" The one yelling is a feisty gal named Emme and she is yelling over the phone. A few moments earlier she punched out her girlfriend for eating her food. Entertaining story, that will have you chuckling here and there. Sort of like a manga Three Stooges. Let's see...we also have 'Kat & Neko Manga Kataloge of Goodies'. Biological profiles on Kathryn Williams, Svetlana Chmakova, advertisements for back issues, posters by Kat, paintings, etc. Last, but not least 'Yoriko'. Black and white cover and interior. Let me introduce the characters. Rena Otoshi - this lady has a dark secret. Miro Otoshi - Appeared in Yoriko's dream as a demon. Royi Misanagi - also appeared in Yoriko's dream, as a lovesick pip-squeak with pointy ears. Do Lee Otoshi - very violent and disrespectful to her older sister (ummm...who isn't? - reviewer's comments). The main character - Yoriko Otoshi - sweet and kind - had a dream about people in her life and she can't figure what the heck is going on. Another dream state kind of story. Name: Fox Kids - Fox 2000 Publisher: Fox TV Comments: Digimon The Movie cover. Some stuff on the Beasley Brothers, NASCAR Fox TV cartoons, interview with Angela Via, Fall TV Preview, come up with some cool dino names. Lots of information on their cartoons: Dinozaurs, Cyber Six, Nascar Racers, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Action Man, Beast Machines, Escaflowne, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue. Comic Book called: Digimon: The Quantum Controller in this very issue! Check out: http://www.foxkids.com Name: Un-shay-Ven Chee! (Unshaven Chi! #3) and Get Bent #7 - Summer/Fall 2000 Publisher: Bent Written and Drawn by: Ben T. Steckler Price: $2.00 Contact Information: Snail Mail Address: Ben T. Steckler - POB 7273 - York, PA 17404 Email: bsteckler@netrax.net Comments: The creator who calls himself Bent, throws himself into this comic book. He talks about not being able to draw hands right and his character throws up his arms and the reader sees he has no hands. Yep, this comic book is a comedy. Some funny interactions between 2 kids who are 'gamers' (kids who play video games all freakin' day on their TV sets). In the second part of this comic book, you'll meet a Nazi gourd who gets a bunch of vegetables to revolt....ahh, nevermind. If you like comical situations, then this is the comic book for you. In the same tune as 'Clerks'. Name: Altered Realities Publisher: Altered Reality Comics Price: $2.00 Contact Information: Sal Cipriano, Altered Realities, 1819 West 11th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11223 Email: alteredrealities@aol.com Comments: Wow! A multitude of stories in one comic book, for the mere price of $2.00? I will briefly talk a bit about each one. Funny Little Voices Written, Illustrated & Lettered by: Sal Cipriano Comments: In here you meet the Naums and they kick some major @#$! This is a black and white comic book, but the artwork throughout is exceptionally well-done. The artists really take their time in getting each story perfect. You will find very unique characters that remind you of the originality found in Savage Dragon. Lots of action - you won't be bored! Broken Donuts Written by: Sal Cipriano - Illustrated and Lettered: Marco DiLeonardo Comments: Human drama played out with realism. Sort of touching at the end with the definition of friendship v. a loving relationship. Very nice read. Fat Boy Roy Written, Illustrated and Lettered by: Darrell Landa Comments: Find out in this cartoonish masterpiece, how Roy will deal with the first day of school. Roy has a mousy girlfriend that is questioning her sexual practices. She is known around campus as Whorey Heather. Found out why. Very comical. Adult entertainment. Not for kids. Planet Hell Written and Lettered: Sal Cipriano - Illustrated by: Andy McDonald Magnificent artwork!! I have to yell out a big....wow! A mixture of science fiction and fantasy. Do you know the artwork of Boris Vallejo? Well, Andy McDonald must be a clone of Boris! High adventure story with many thrills! Sal knows how to keep the story flowing with action! Bravo! Existence X Written by Sal Cipriano - Penciled and Lettered: Marco DiLeonardo - Inks: Lou Platania, Sal Cipriano, Andy McDonald, Mike Mongello and Joe Milazzo. Comments: This story scares the beejeezuz out of me!! What's real? This is not real! You are not real! Meet a bunch of lost souls who try to discover their own existence. Are they being manipulated by aliens, or something more sinister? Find out, you don't want to miss out on this one! Other stories that this incredible comic book has are: Bruisa Written by Sal Cipriano. Illustrated and Lettered: Brien Cardello Continuin' Ed Written, Illustrated and Lettered: Anthony Collado The Guy Written, Illustrated and Lettered: Sal Cipriano Comments; American Hero (Preview) Written and Lettered: Sal Cipriano - Illustrated: Mike Mongello And not to forget: FLV Pin-ups by: Felix Olivieri, Becky Cloonan, Darrell Landa, Andy McDonald, Mike Mongello and Marco DiLeonardo Bruisa Pinups by Brien Cardeool and Marco DiLeonardo For a lousy $2.00 you get plenty of entertainment in this one solid issue! I felt like I went through a carnival and stopped at every odd and interesting booth and found a variety of adventurous excitement!! Marvelous, simply marvelous! Name: Blood Legacy #3 Publisher: Top Cow Written by: Kerri Hawkins Drawn by: Mark Pajarillo & Eric Basaldua/pencils Price: $2.50 Comments: Not too many comic books have extreme scene shifts. Where you can go from England 1400s, to the present day and back in time to Agincourt 1415, in which the French Army is facing off with the English Army. Love these scene shifts. No one can get bored with a storyline like this! The beginning had me hooked instantly as the mock sword play took place. Plenty of intrigue and mystery falls in place as Dr. Susan Ryerson is shown in a shadowy part of town and 2 men in black suits try to abduct her. Luckily for her, she has Ryan aka past name Angel on her side. Ryan is a very beautiful sultry vampiress. The way she self-mutilated herself and did away with the suits was sensually shocking to say the least. Ryan being immortal and very, very old, has learned how to use many weapons. I wasn't surprised when she handled that crossbow so well. Ryan was a top-notch soldier in those olden days and the way she brushed away those arrows during battle was incredible. The Dark Lord had nothing to worry about, as long as Ryan was around. The time of Henry V was a very violent time. Ryan has seen much horror during her long lifetime. I was completely glued to my seat when Victor brings Ryan amongst her own kind. I am learning so much about this strange breed of vampires. Their use of 'sharing' to gain power. Older vampires have more power, due to their age. These vampires gain each other's memories if they have experienced 'sharing'. The good doctor might be onto something, as she mentions that Ryan may be in an accelerated evolution phase. Now I am curious as all heck. What do vampires see in the mirror? At the end it is mentioned that vampires do not want to see their own reflection. I am curious on what they see. That dispels the 'no reflection' theory for this breed of vampires. Other type of vampires may have the old problem of not being able to see their reflection. I will honestly say that Blood Legacy is definitely movie material! Name: Grendel - Devil's Legacy 6 of 12 Publisher: Dark Horse Maverick Written by: Matt Wagner Drawn by: Arnold & Jacob Pander/pencils Jay Geldhof/inks Price: $2.95 Comments: I really don't know where to begin! Grendel - Devil's Legacy 6 of 12 is leading the reader to unknown territories. I guess the only thing I can do is start from the beginning. Ms. Anastasi is brought into a room where the very terrifying Argent and police are. Plenty of stealth secrecy as they try to interrogate Ms. Anastasi to find out where Chris is. Argent is quite the sly one, as he uses the phrase 'Andrew's Favorite' to make an analytical determination of the validity of Ms. Anastasi's claims. I love the character of Ms. Anastasi, she is not intimidated by Argent and stirs up quite the ruckus. With all this drama, I enjoyed the sidebar humor with the futuristic McDonalds and its famous golden arches. I was expecting to see a Taco Bell across the street. Ms. Anastasi doesn't waste anytime in contacting Christine Spar to tell her of the strange interrogation. The suspense became unbearable as Chris' bedroom is invaded by the dreaded Tujiro. Chris can only take so much taunting from this oriental vampire and raises the fork to him. I will be looking forward to the final confrontation between these two. I can't say Chris is completely absorbed as her role as the Grendel, since she is still quite human in her reactions with people close to her, like Brian. I see she apologizes to Brian, for getting him into this mess. Brian has a very hard time believing Chris as she talks of Tujiro being the master of a slaving ring. I had to get up and yell a few cheers, as she changes into the Grendel. This is the only way to deal with Tujiro! How bizarre. Through a small kiss to the hand, Tujiro has a psychic link to Chris. I believe Chris is right, to break or confuse that psychic link, she can only do it as the Grendel. It's bad enough that Tujiro is around, but now Grendel & Brian must face off with Niccolo too. Powerfully exciting! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [12] My View David LeBlanc ComicBkNet@aol.com [David LeBlanc is the Editor of the Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine. He is a long time fan of comics and the electronic media - having been the moderator of BBS comics forums on WME, FIDONET and the Comic Book Network. He and his wife are attempting to raise two sons in a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts. David'S favorite motivational phrase is: BEHOLD THE TURTLE, HE ONLY MAKES PROGRESS WHEN HE STICKS HIS NECK OUT!] POP GUN WAR #1 24 pages, black & white, painted cover $2 Cryptic Press 365 Smith Street Freeport, NY 11520 Created by Farel Dalrymple farelkahn@yahoo.com Farel is Xeric grant recipient from New York City. POP GUN WAR will be solicited in the September Previews and you can meet Farel at the Small Press Expo in Maryland at the Cryptic Press and Meathaus tables. He also edits the anthology MEATHAUS. Often a first issue, especially from a non-mainstream creator, can be difficult to interpret because there is no back story or universe, or frame of reference. This is something peculiar to comic books in that the majority of readers are more comfortable with the familiar, even if it is a new character or title. This is also why we get so many copycats when a title, character or theme is successful. There is hardly anything new in super hero comics, for example, but when there is, real or perceived, it is not long before the look alikes spring up - not to mention multiple titles ala Batman, Superman, X-Men and Spawn to name a few. Part of the appeal of small press and independent efforts is that they follow the dream of the creator, not the formula of the latest success. So it is with POP GUN WAR. The book opens with a scene that one might think will lead into a super hero story of some type. A man with wings plunges from the sky and crashes into a building. Wearing nothing but shorts and shoes he pays a construction worker with a chain saw to cut off his wings! (how unexpected is that?) A small boy retrieves the wings from the trash and creates a harness to wear them himself. We learn Sinclair's sister is in a band that plays at a local bar. We also are introduced to the realities of life in the city as he happens upon some boys picking on a bum sleeping in an alley. After he speaks up against them he is chased by the thugs - right off the roof of a building. To everyone's surprise Sinclair now can fly! The old bum makes his way to the bar we mentioned earlier and Sinclair rests in an apartment with a man who puts labels on literally everything insight - the floor, the wall, the cats. Sinclair becomes "Boy with Wings." This leaves us thinking a bit about the man and the impact the episode will have on Sinclair. At the close we are told the next issue will include a dwarf, a monk and a fish. As I said, not a typical first issue and by design it leaves us with more unanswered questions than it answers. The art is clean and distinct, incorporating the best techniques of black and white you are likely to find. This could easily be the work of you would find on a high end product from Vertigo for example. It is good enough for the big time. It is no wonder the Xeric was awarded to Farel. I'm hoping he will get enough exposure and word of mouth to get more products published. He truly is worth spending the time and money on. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [13] New Comic Book Releases List [NCRL] by Charles LePage chuck@comiclist.com +++WINNER OF THE 1996 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE+++ http://www.comiclist.com New Comic Book Releases List for Thursday, 9/07/2000, compiled by Charles LePage with information from Suncoast Comics. This is the *preliminary* list and is not complete. The completed list is posted weekly, usually Tuesday evening, at http://www.comiclist.com and other places. You can receive this list each Tuesday via email by following the instructions at the web site, or you can email NCRL-subscribe@egroups.com PLEASE NOTE- Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. Let CHARLES know if any of the names or numbers are wrong. chuck@comiclist.com (Charles LePage) PUBLISHERS: If you know when your comics are going to be available through Diamond, please email chuck@comiclist.com so that he can place your comics on the appropriately dated list. Thanks! "TPB" = "trade paperback". "GN" = "graphic novel". "AA" = "available again". "SC" = "softcover". "HC" = "hardcover". "S/N" = "signed/numbered". "AR" = "ask retailer about price". PUBLISHER TITLE, ISSUE NUMBER, PRICE IN U.S. DOLLARS ALTERNATIVE COMICS Sunburn (resolicited), 2.95 AMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS) Dreadstar Metamorphosis Odyssey TPB, 10.95 Oddjob #5, 2.95 Spook Girl #3, 2.95 ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Archie Digest #175, 2.19 Betty #91, 1.99 CHAOS! COMICS Chastity #1, 2.95 CROSSGEN COMICS Mystic #4, 2.95 DARK HORSE COMICS Digimon #7 2.95 Oh My Goddess (Part IX #3) Queen Sayoko #1 (Of 5), 3.50 Ring Of The Nibelung Valkyrie #2 (Of 3), 2.95 Super Manga Blast #5, 4.95 DC COMICS 100 Bullets #16, 2.50 Adventures In The Rifle Brigade #2 (Of 3), 2.50 Batgirl #8, 2.50 Batman Gotham Adventures #30, 1.99 Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #135, 2.25 Batman Outlaws #3 (Of 3), 4.95 Deadenders Stealing The Sun TPB, 9.95 Gen 13 Well Take Manhattan TPB, 14.95 Gen Active #3, 3.95 Green Lantern #130, 2.25 Legion Lost #7 (Of 12), 2.50 Looney Tunes #70, 1.99 Lucifer #6, 2.50 Martian Manhunter #24, 2.50 Sandman Companion SC, 14.95 Secret Society Of Superheroes #1 (Of 2), 5.95 Star Trek Deep Space Nine N Vector #4 (Of 4), 2.50 Starman #71, 2.50 Superman #162, 2.25 Superman Adventures #49, 1.99 Vertigo Secret Files Swamp Thing #1, 4.95 Wildcats Vol 2 #15, 2.50 Young Justice #25, 2.50 FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS World Of Edward Gorey, 7.95 IMAGE COMICS Fathom Poster #2, 5.95 Objective Five #3, 2.95 Rising Stars Prelude, 2.95 Sam And Twitch #14, 2.50 Savage Dragon #78, 2.95 Spawn The Dark Ages #17, 2.50 Tomb Raider Vol I The Saga Of The Medusa Mask TPB, 9.95 Witchblade Revelations Dlx TPB, 24.95 INSIGHT STUDIOS GROUP Liberty Meadows #14, 2.95 IRONCAT Hyper Dolls Vol 4 #6, 2.95 Ogenki Clinic 1 GN (adult) 17.95 Ogenki Clinic Vol 6 #4 (adult) 2.95 Vampire Princess Yui Vol 1 #2, 2.95 MARVEL COMICS Avataars Covenant Of The Shield #2 (Of 3), 2.99 Before The Fantastic 4 Reed Richards #2 (Of 3), 2.99 Fantastic Four Foil Cvr A #35, 3.25 Fantastic Four Standard Cvr B #35, 2.25 Hellcat #3 (Of 3), 2.99 Incredible Hulk 2000, 3.50 Inhumans #4 (Of 4), 2.99 Marvel Boy #4 (Of 6), 2.99 Mutant X #25, 2.99 Power Pack Peer Pressure #4 (Of 4), 2.99 Spider-Woman #17, 2.25 Ultimate Spider-Man #1, 2.99 Ultimate Spider-Man #1 Variant Cover, 2.99 Uncanny X-Men #386, 2.25 X-Men Black Sun The New X-Men #1, 2.99 X-Men The Hidden Years #12, 3.50 ONI PRESS, INC. Clerks TPB (Star10860), 10.95 Coffin #1 (Of 6), 2.95 TOKYOPOP.COM Smile Vol 2 #6 (Note Price), 4.99 WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT Inquest Gamer Harry Potter Cover #66, 4.99 Inquest Gamer Magic Invasion Cover #66, 4.99 magazines Comic Shop News #690, AR NCRL for the foreseeable future... TITLE OLD RELEASE DATE NEW DATE DARK HORSE Beetle Bailey Book & Figure Set 9/6 9/20 Classic Comic Characters #10 Dick Tracy Statue 9/6 10/4 Classic Comic Characters #11Beetle Bailey 10/4 10/18 Classic Comic Characters #12 Sarge 10/4 10/18 Classic Comic Characters #8 Li'l Abner 8/23 9/13 Classic Comic Characters #9 Daisy Mae 8/23 9/13 General Halftrack Book & Figure Set 9/20 9/27 Masmune Shirow Requiem Statue 9/20 10/25 Sarge Book & PVC Set 9/6 9/20 Space Circus #3 9/13 9/20 DC COMICS Countdown #7 10/11 10/25 Jenny Sparks: Secret Hist o/t Authority #4 9/20 9/27 Jenny Sparks: Secret Hist o/t Authority #5 10/18 11/18 Jet #2 10/18 10/25 JLA #47 9/27 10/11 Justice League of America Archives Vol. 6 HC 6/28 11/1 Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Tarnished Angel HC 8/30 9/13 Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10 HC 9/27 10/11 Mostly Wanted #4 8/23 9/20 Planetary #12 9/13 10/11 Shazam Deluxe Action Figure Set 9/13 11/1 Steampunk #6 9/20 10/06 The Sandman Companion SC 9/6 9/13 Top 10 #10 9/20 10/11 IMAGE Aria/Angela: Heavenly Creatures #2 8/16 9/27 Astounding Space Thrills #3 9/20 Avigon 10/4 Blair Witch: Dark Testaments 10/4 Blood Legacy #4 9/20 Dark Angel #2 8/16 9/20 Dark Crossings #2 8/30 9/27 Dark Realm #1 10/4 DarkMinds Vol. 2 #6 9/6 9/13 Darkness #34 8/16 9/13 Echo #5 8/30 9/13 Empire #2 8/16 9/13 EVE Proto-Mecha #6 8/30 9/20 F5 #4 8/30 9/27 Fathom Poster #2 9/6 9/13 Fathom Poster Chrome #2 9/6 9/20 Fathom Swimsuit Special 2000 8/16 9/27 Geeksville #3 9/20 Hellspawn #2 9/20 Kiss: Psycho Circus #32 8/30 10/4 Lady Pendragon #10 8/23 8/30 Magdalena #3 8/16 9/13 Midnight Nation #1 9/20 9/6 Monster Fighters Inc.: Black Book 9/27 Parts Unknown: Hostile Takeover #3 9/6 9/13 Powers #5 9/13 Red Star #3 9/27 Rising Stars #10 9/6 9/20 Rising Stars Deluxe TP 10/4 Rising Stars Prelude 8/30 9/13 Rumble Girls #4 9/27 10/4 Saffire #3 8/30 9/27 Saint Angel #2 9/27 Sam & Twitch #15 10/4 Savage Dragon #78 8/30 9/6 Savage Dragon #79 9/27 10/4 Savage Dragon Vol. 1 TP Bapt of Fire 2nd Prtg. 8/23 10/4 Section Zero #3 9/20 9/27 Silent Screamers: Nosferatu 9/20 Skinners #1 9/6 9/13 Soul Saga #4 9/20 Spawn #99 9/20 Spawn Vol. 11 Crossroads TP 9/27 Spawn: The Dark Ages #17 8/30 9/6 Spawn: The Dark Ages #18 9/20 9/27 Tellos #9 9/27 Tomb Raider #8 9/13 Vagabond #1 8/30 9/13 Vagrant Story #1 10/4 Violent Messiahs #3 9/20 Witchblade Deluxe TPB: Revelations 8/23 9/13 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [14] HYPE! Section Various UNCLE FRANK'S LIBERTY MEADOWS NEWSLETTER FOR SUMMER 2000! =========================================== GREETINGS MONKEY BOYS AND MONKEY GIRLS! First - you have not been missing my little newsletters - I've been too busy to send any out for months! And Wow. Whatta summer! First, my comic LIBERTY MEADOWS flies off the shelves like Viagra at the Seniors' Center and now, my art book: FRANK CHO ILLUSTRATOR (my big book of naked ladies) is completely SOLD OUT! I've said it once, and I'll say it again: People love smut and monkeys! Whatta summer. I've never traveled so much in my freakin' life before. This has been the busiest summer of my entire life. I would like to thank all the wonderful fans and readers who went out of their way to see me at all those comic conventions and made my book tours successful. (This is for Richard, Yes. I didn't forget about your sketchbook. Yes, I'll send it back once I've finished drawing in it.) I thank ye all! Many things are afoot here in the monkeyhouse I call Insight Studios. Boy, Do we have a ton of crap coming your way. But, I'll let Mark "The Hippie" Wheatley fill you on all the details later. Okay, Cowpokes. Hang on to your skivees, it's time for LIBERTY MEADOWS censored strips! CENSORED STRIPS Great Googaly Moogaly! Boy, do I have a whole boatload of them. I'll tell you what, Chester. I'll tell you in a later newsletter, after I sort through all of them. Patience, me monkeys! QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH * Frank, darling, why won't you answer my eMail? Very good question. Due to the sheer volume of eMail and fan letters, it's physically impossible for me to answer the eMail. Don't take it to heart, if you don't get a personal reply from me. I DO read all the eMail that I receive, so keep those letters coming, folks! * Do you sell your LIBERTY MEADOWS originals? No. My wife won't let me. * Do you take commissions? No. My hectic schedule won't let me. * Where can I get an original Frank Cho art? On Ebay. From time to time, I put up my crap on Ebay. Your best bet is check Ebay on a regular basis, especially during tax season. * My friend told me that you have a website full of your censored LIBERTY MEADOWS strips. Is this true and where can I find it? Yes, it's true. Check out the OFFICIAL LIBERTY MEADOWS website where all my censored strips and other crap are posted: http://www.LibertyMeadows.com And once you find the site, be on the look out for LIBERTY MEADOWS special contests and a message board where you can leave messages and comments for us instead of writing them on the side of a building like you're used to. You, hoodlum. * Hey, dude. How come when I ordered your stuff on your website with my credit card, the charge was to Henggeler and Parker Inc.? There has been some confusion regarding credit card charges from Henggeler and Parker Inc. This is the company that supports Insight Studio's credit card transactions. You would have received these charges if you have ordered merchandise from the Insight Studios Group web site. We now have a notice on the site that makes it clear just who these Henggeler and Parker guys are and why they're taking your money! * What's your favorite color, Uncle Frank? Green. Well, kiddies. That's all for now. I gotta write and draw my strip, so my NEW editor (#6) can water it down. I'll talk you, sofa chimps later. Buh-Bye! Frank "Dolomite" Cho BOOK SIGNINGS AND CONVENTION SCHEDULE: (ATTENTION STALKERS! THIS IS WHERE FRANK CHO WILL BE): August 26, 2000 (Saturday) 1 - 4 pm. Beyond Comics Lakeforest Mall 701 Russell Avenue Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877 For more info call: (301) 216-0007 September 2 and 3, 2000 (Ames on Saturday and Des Moines on Sunday) Mayhem Collectibles 2532 Lincoln Way Ames, Iowa 50014 For more info call: (515) 292-3510 September 15 and 16, 2000 (Friday and Saturday) SPX 2000 (The Expo) Bethesda, Maryland For more info: www.spxpo.com October 1, 2000 (Sunday) Casablanca Comics 151 Middle Street Portland, Maine 04101 For more call: (207)780-1676 And now here's my favorite publisher and hippie with more news. Take it away, Mark.... THE VERY LATEST NEWS!!!!!!!! If you need a daily dose of LIBERTY MEADOWS info or any other tid-bits about Insight Studios you need to check out the spanking new message boards devoted to all of our creative efforts. This is all due to the efforts of the fine folks at World's Famous Comics. For the Insight Studios message boards go to: http://www.wfcomics.com/boards/insight/ And for fine conversation about Brian Michael Bendis, Jeff Smith, Mike Allread, Tony Isabella, James Hudnall and other comic book luminaries go to the main World's Famous Comics page at: http://www.wfcomics.com/boards/ NAKED BRAIN IN SEPTEMBER On September 18th Marc Hempel's NAKED BRAIN will join Insight Studios' impressive collection of on-line original comic strips on http://www.SunnyFundays.com We previewed some of Marc's amazing work in issues #9 and #10 of LIBERTY MEADOWS. Also – there are now four daily strips on our site: http://www.SunnyFundays.com including LIBERTY MEADOWS, DOCTOR CYBORG, THE BODY and ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS. Be sure to stop by and take a look at all the great entertainment. Here is a news release we're sending out for your information: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8/31/00 THE SUNNY FUNDAYS GETS NAKED BALTIMORE - Marc Hempel's NAKED BRAIN joins the line-up of popular Internet comic strips at www.SunnyFundays.com on September 18th. The renowned creator of TUG AND BUSTER and GREGORY joins his studio mates on the Insight Studios Group web page, "I'm honored and excited to be appearing on the Sunny Fundays page. When NAKED BRAIN joins the already fabulous work of Mark Wheatley, Allan Gross, Frank Cho, Gray Morrow and Mike Oeming, it's going to create quite a heady mix of entertainment!" The new weekly NAKED BRAIN strip is a natural outgrowth of many of Hempel's creative strengths. The popular, award-winning creator has a legion of fans that include his fellow comic book creators, animators and TV producers. Presented in stark black and white and only occasionally resorting to reoccurring characters, NAKED BRAIN is guaranteed to offer wild humor and trend setting graphics. Hempel believes that, "NAKED BRAIN is a weekly cartoon panel where almost anything can happen. It's a merry dumping ground for all the wacky ideas I get – mostly ideas that would be considered too graphic or subversive for, say, a daily comic strip. NAKED BRAIN is my personal take on life; it satirizes American society and human nature...but it's also about puns and fart jokes. It's basically ME all over the place!" NAKED BRAIN joins a site that is rapidly growing in popularity. SunnyFundays is the free source for Insight Studios Group daily entertainment on the Internet. The site launched in May of this year with the uncensored version of Frank Cho's LIBERTY MEADOWS. In the months since DOCTOR CYBORG by Allan Gross and Mike Oeming and THE BODY by Mark Wheatley, Allan Gross and Gray Morrow have launched and are already bringing in offers for production into other media. The Insight Studios site has enjoyed a sky-rocketing of popularity with the current stats for August showing over a half a million hits and growing. SELLING OUT Since Insight Studios books, t-shirts and other items are suddenly selling out, if there is something you have been thinking about buying from our website – don't wait. Order today! And one final tip: After the announcement, that the FRANK CHO ILLUSTRATOR book had sold out, reached the public we were inundated with requests for, "just one more copy". I would love to be able to pull out a few thousand more copies - but I repeat: FRANK CHO ILLUSTRATOR is SOLD OUT. There is hope though – Diamond Comic Distributors purchased a large lot of the books and still has a few available. At the rate they are selling them, I wouldn't wait long to place an order! Check them out at: http://bookshelf.diamondcomics.com/ordering.html You should be able to find Frank Cho's work in comic book stores around the country (even some foreign countries allow his stuff across their borders). To find a comic shop near you (they also can order the ILLUSTRATOR book through Diamond for you) call the COMIC SHOP LOCATOR SERVICE at this free phone number: 1 - 888 - 266 - 4226 If that doesn't work for you, then check out the INSIGHT STUDIOS GROUP web pages. http://www.InsightStudiosGroup.com Available now at http://www.InsightStudiosGroup.com/products.htm LIBERTY MEADOWS YEAR ONE SET OF ISSUES 1-6 LIBERTY MEADOWS YEAR TWO SUBSCRIPTION TO ISSUES 7-18 UNIVERSITY2 HAVE FUN! LIBERTY MEADOWS T-SHIRT sizes MEDIUM and LARGE HAVE FUN! Mark Wheatley INSIGHT STUDIOS http://www.InsightStudiosGroup.com +++++ Subj: PR: The Night Terrors - Bernie Wrightson, Joseph M. Monks, Bill Stout, Quinton Hoover... From: info@mediasi.com (Media Services Int'l, Inc.) Bernie Wrightson and Joseph M. Monks are proud to announce the upcoming release of THE NIGHT TERRORS, a 32 page horror comic anthology, to be published by Canting Monks Studios.. The first in a series features Wrightson, Monks, Bill Stout and Quinton Hoover. Premiering Halloween 2000, The Night Terrors #1 will feature a full color cover, as well as an 8-page story, "Spuds," written and illustrated by Wrightson. Monks offers up a chilling and disturbing tale of teen decadence, sex and violence in "The Party's Over," and Stout chimes in with "Go Fish," created just for the premiere. TNT #1 features 32 b/w pages with full color covers, for mature audiences. * NOTE ARTIST CHANGE * Due to the failure to actually begin the project, Dimitrius Miller will not be featured in this or any other Chanting Monks Studios publication. Instead, acclaimed artist Quinton Hoover will collaborate on the same story with Joseph M. Monks. We apologize for this change in the advertising. For additional information or promotional graphics, please email info@mediasi.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - End of another Issue .. GIVE A KID A COMIIC TODAY! I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose.