---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 365 4/26/2002 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Winner of the 2001 EAGLE AWARD as FAVORITE COMICS E-ZINE! 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:Jo Duffy .................... Tim O'Shea [6] Dreams of Silver and Gold ............. Terrence Lo [7] A View From the Cheap Seats ........... Rich Watson [8] Stream of Babbling .................... Tim O'Shea [9] Comics Culture Shrapnel ............... Kris Naudus [10] O'Shea's Offhand Opinions ............. Tim O'Shea [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] My View:AVAILABLE LIGHT; WALKING MAN COMICS ............ David LeBlanc [13] Top 100 Comics for MAY ................ Diamond Distributors [14] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [15] HYPE! Section ......................... Various ______________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Home Page-->> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet Mailed by Yahoo!: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ComicBookNetworkEmag AOL text copies in Sci-Fi Library II - Keyword aol://4400:3990 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@yahoogroups.com To UNSUBSCRIBE send a message FROM the account to be dropped to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.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 2002 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 Emag, simply Email it to the editor at: ComicBkNet@aol.com You must include your REAL name and a valid Email address in order to be published in this Emag. Sorry, we do not accept anonymous columns. 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 any comic book 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 also includes 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 any comic books 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 of our 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. AOL search/keyword: aol://4400:3990 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc ComicBkNet@aol.com Two big events are coming up in just one week. First will be the premiere of SPIDER-MAN on Friday May 3rd and the next day is Free Comic Book Day. Comic book synergy! So let me tell you how things are being planned at THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, the Eisner Spirit of the Industry Award winning store in Worcester, MA. It has begun already. Paul Howley, owner, entrepreneur and all around nice guy, has rented out a 500 seat theatre at his own expense for a private screening of the SPIDER-MAN movie on Saturday May 4th at 9:00 A.M. All this week the local radio stations have been giving away sets of 4 tickets to callers to begin the promotion. The AM & FM talk show hosts have really been hyping the movie give away and are big fans of the store. But that is not the only way to to get in the movie. On Saturday morning April 27th the doors to the store open at 10:00 A.M. and everyone who shows up (13 or older) gets one ticket free. How cool is that? We get to see the movie the day after it opens at a private showing with tickets given out a week ahead of time. Then, after the movie, and perhaps an early lunch, it is off to THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT for Free Comic Book Day. But until then this week's comics are waiting . . . [Note Free Comic Book Day titles, FCBD, may not be available in stores until May 4th!] COMICS CONSPIRACY Generic Comic Book #7, $1.95 CROSBY/BLATANT FCBD Keenspot Spotlight 2002, AR CROSSGEN COMICS Edge #1, $9.95 Path #2, $2.95 Ruse #7, $2.95 CYBEROSIA PUBLISHING LLC FCBD Edition Dead Line Spiritus Sancti #1, AR DARK HORSE COMICS FCBD Edition Star Wars Tales A Jedis Weapon #1, AR Star Wars Episode II Attack O/T Clones #1 (Of 4), $3.99 Star Wars Episode II Attack O/T Clones #2 (Of 4), $3.99 Star Wars Episode II Attack Of The Clones TPB, $17.95 DC COMICS FCBD Edition Justice League Adventures #1, AR JIST With Scott Mcdaniel Creating Aquaman, $5.95 JLA #65, $2.25 Legion #7, $2.50 IMAGE COMICS FCBD Edition Tomb Raider #1/2, AR Savage Dragon #96, $2.95 MARVEL COMICS Captain America #1, $3.99 FCBD Edition Ultimate Spider-Man #1, AR Howard The Duck #4, $2.99 Spider-Man The Movie Adaptation, $5.95 NBM Boneyard #6, $2.95 Wake Vol 3 Gearing Up, $9.95 ONI PRESS INC. FCBD Edition Hopeless Savages #1, AR FCBD Edition Queen & Country #1, AR TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS Tribulation Force Vol 1 GN, $5.99 <---------Pick of the Week! VIZ COMMUNICATIONS Big O Part 1 #3 (Of 5), $3.50 So, we have all been reading about the free comics and special comics available on May 4th but Paul wanted to make the day even more special. So starting at 3:00 P.M. they will host a Pro-Am Comic Jam featuring Paul Ryan (SPIDER-MAN comic strip, FF, SUPERMAN, FLASH), Andy Fish and Tony Antemosa (Blue Monkey Comics), Scott Hamilton (Hamiltoons) showing how it is done and meeting with the fans. If you are within driving distance of Worcester MA I urge you to at least join the fun on May 4th at 244 Park Avenue (Rtes 9 & 12). See their web site for more info - www.thatse@thatse.com or call 508-755-4207 A great day and a super way to get the general public interested and to spread the word that comics are more alive than ever, and not just for kids anymore. Now that's entertainment! And this is my personal thank you to Paul Howley for living up to the "Spirit of the Industry" Eisner title he richly deserves. His efforts inspire us to continue our modest effort to promote comics. 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, including those sent to the columnists, may be used in future issues of CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. +++++ From: "New York City Comic Book Museum" To: nyccbm@aol.com Subject: Special Museum announcements! Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 12:51:01 -0400 Hello Fellow Comic Book Lovers! Most of you know that the Spider-Man movie will be opening May 3rd and it is sure to be a blast! To help promote the movie, Sony and Marvel Studios have donated a fantastic Spider-Man Movie poster signed by Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe and Sam Raimi to help raise money for the NYCCBM! The poster is being auctioned off on ebay and you can follow the link from our homepage. At our new, more user-friendly url, www.nyccbm.org. While you are at our homepage, you can see all of the things that we have been working on, and what's next, including our Beyond the Panels II- a star-studded fundraiser set for June 8th at the Dylan Hotel and NYLA Restaurant here in NYC! Check back for updates! The bidding on the Spidey poster has started low, so get in on the action now. You could get a really cool poster and also help out a great organization. Hope to see you in June! NYCCBM +++++ Forwarded Message: Subj:Bad reviewing... From:impulse49@psi-fi.com Dear Silverbullet, I think the worst reviewers on your site are Paul Dale Roberts and Ray Tate. They are horrible writers; their reviews consist of unstructured rambling and raving about whatever issue they've skimmed, with no understanding whatsoever of how to convey an idea, arrange them in a meaningful and interesting way, and have some semblance of a point. It's just lunatic rambling in an "everything but the kitchen sink" sort of way. They just spew, without any thought as to how to order their thoughts. Also, I am wondering if Paul is ever going to say anything halfway negative about any comic book. He's always uniformly positive. Very strange. Is Crossgen and NEC paying him Canadian or American? - Ibrahim Ng Subj:Response to Ng. From:Silhouet98@cs.com Look Ng...pray tell why you would even want to continue reading my overviews. From now on do the simple thing. Skip my overviews, move onto something else. Apparently you must be a glutton for punishment. I don't like reading Jackie Collins novels and you won't find me buying any of her books. See how simple that is? Also, my reviews are actually overviews and why in god's name would I want to read a comic book that I don't like? Every comic book I read, I actually do like...hence the positive overviews. They pay me "Canadian". Paul Dale Robert, Publisher Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ +++++ From: stanko.beslic@zg.hinet.hr (Stanko) To: PDRoberts@jazmaonline.com Hi ! I am pleased to be on you're site,and have privilege to contact you. I'm a drawer of illustrations,comics,children books. My work has already been published in: Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium... I would be honored if you'll be interested in some of my work! (By the way I come from Europe,Croatia-Zagreb.) 1) Funny comics th at begin and end on same (first) page,or "longer" comics with more pages. 2)Educative children books,first is about animals (it's serial that contains 30 different books),and second about ecology & nature (this type of books is made for children from 0 - 12 years of age) 3)erotic&sex comics Please check my site: http://www.stanko-beslic.iz.hr (i have more material) Thank you for paying me you're precious time. THANK YOU! +++++ Subj:Help me promote this Black Panther contest From:3rdsummers@edsamail.com.ph To whom it may concern, I am Erwin rafael, a comic enthusiast and an online reviewer from the X-Fan website. I just organized a Black Panther contest aimed towards attracting new readers. Basically, contestants need to answer questions relating to the upcoming story arc, SADDLES ABLAZE, and they would then get a chance to win the ultimate Black Panther Starter Pack, the contents of which include prizes sponsored by Mile High Comics, Things from Another World and Marvel Comics. Details can be found in this URL: http://www.geocities.com/saveblackpanther I hope you could run an article/link for this contest in your site and in your regular e-zine. Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely yours, Erwin Rafael 1560 8th Street Fabie Estate Paco, Manila Philippines 1007 3rdsummers@edsamail.com.ph +++++ Subj:On The Net Date:4/24/02 11:51:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time From:webmaster@the-master-list.com Hi David, I just wanted to drop you a note of thanks. I appreciate your including a reference to my "email solicitation" article in your "On the Net" column. This is something that does strike me very close to home, as my site gets spidered often to collect email addys. I do hope that people pay heed to the advise given. All my best, Mark S. Adams The Master List of comic book & trading card stores http://www.the-master-list.com article @ http://www.the-master-list.com/email-solicitations.shtml ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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 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: Nuck and Futz were supposed to be characters in what comic book series until the editors caught the joke? Nuck and Futz were to be character names in YOUNG JUSTICE, until the editors figured out the obscene spoonerism. Thomas Alan Holmes got it first and he wins Stormwatch: Lightning Strikes TP from our sponsor. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: The DC ONE MILLION stories took place in which century? IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE Email your guess to ComicBkNet@aol.com or just REPLY to the message if you read the Emag in your mail. DO NOT quote the entire message! You MUST allow mail from ComicBkNet@aol.com to be notified if you win. 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. Winners will forfeit their prize if the Email notification is not accepted from ComicBkNet@aol.com LIMIT: ONLY ONE PRIZE every 4 weeks PER PERSON! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry JOHN ROMITA JR. TO SET A WORLD RECORD! Spider-Man Artist Draws To Save His Niece! In December 2001, Jordan Atherton -- John Romita Jr.'s niece -- had a golf-ball size tumor removed from her brain. Jordan was diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy for the remaining tumors in her spine. And this month, in New York City, John Jr. will be drawing under Guinness Book of World Record's guidelines to raise funds for his niece's medical expenses by setting the world record for continuous cartooning, by drawing Spider-Man head shot sketches! What: Marvel artist, John Romita Jr., will be sketching Spider-Man and himself into the Guinness Book of World Records. He will also have many local and national celebrities joining him in support. When: MAY 10TH PLANET HOLLYWOOD 11AM-7PM BAR/CODE GALACTIC CIRCUS 7:15PM-11AM MAY 11TH PLANET HOLLYWOOD 11:15AM-7PM BAR/CODE GALACTIC CIRCUS 7:15PM until he drops! Where: PLANET HOLLYWOOD 1540 Broadway, Corner of 45th Street, Times Square,NYC BAR CODE/GALACTIC CIRCUS 1540 Broadway, Corner of 46th Street, Times Square, NYC. Go to www.jrjr.net for more information. Why: To set a new world record -- and more importantly -- to raise funds for the treatment of his two-year old niece, who has brain cancer. +++++ FRIGHTENING CURVES WINS IPPY AWARD! SOMERVILLE, MA - April 25, 2002. Cyberosia Publishing is pleased to announce that Antony Johnston and Aman Chaudhary's debut illustrated novel FRIGHTENING CURVES won the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) for Best Horror Novel. Originally serialized on Opi8.com and published in print in July of 2001, FRIGHTENING CURVES was written by comics creator Antony Johnston with over forty full color illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Aman Chaudhary. A supernatural thriller taking place in modern day London, FRIGHTENING CURVES follows the story of Phil London as he tries to prevent the awakening of a terrible power trapped within the London Underground system. "Antony and Aman have created a compelling story with a creative synergy that is second to none," said publisher Scott O. Brown. "We're ecstatic that the judges for the Independent Publisher Book Awards recognized and rewarded such a unique book. We're proud to have published it, and we're proud of Antony and Aman for bringing the project to life." "This comes as somewhat of a surprise, especially given the amount and quality of the other entries," said author Antony Johnston. "I'm overjoyed; to have your debut novel recognized like this is something to be happy about. I'm also proud to be associated with Cyberosia, with their commitment to innovation." Illustrator Aman Chaudhary continued, "I'm completely thrilled and surprised. I didn't expect illustrated prose to fit neatly into any book award categories. Seeing the project go from an online serial to a published book was a reward in itself. Being recognized with an IPPY is an added bonus. What an honor!" FRIGHTENING CURVES (ISBN: 0-9709474-0-2.) is a 132 page, full color, illustrated novel and is available at finer bookstores through Biblio Distribution and specialty shops worldwide. The Independent Publisher Book Awards, now in its sixth year, is open to all North American independent, university, and small presses as well as self-publishers. Entries were judged on content, originality, design, and production quality. Cyberosia Publishing is an independent publisher of high quality graphic novels and comics related books. Cyberosia's books are distributed to the Trade by Biblio Distribution, a division of National Book Network, Inc., 800-462-6420, and are available to the specialty market through Diamond Comic Distributors and FM International. For more information, visit www.cyberosia.com or email publisher Scott O. Brown at scott@cyberosia.com. +++++ for further information contact: Paulette Hodge (617)250-0000 x1621 vp@shoujoarts.org SHOUJOCON ANNOUNCES GUEST ROSTER FOR 2002 EVENT EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 15, 2002 - Shoujocon, the world's first convention dedicated to the celebration of girls' and women's anime (animation) and manga (comics) from Japan, is proud to announce their 2002 Guest Roster. Taking place July 19-22, 2002 at the East Brunswick Hilton and Towers, Shoujocon will provide programming and events that cater to fans of such anime and manga series as Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura and Knight Hunters (Weiss Kreuz), among others. Shoujocon's scheduled Guests will include personalities both in the professional anime and manga industry, as well as fan-run organizations that promote women's roles in the publication and readership of female-oriented comics in North America. The 2002 Guests are as follows: Asuza Kurokawa, Shoujocon's Japanese Guest of Honor, is a professional mangaka (comics artist) who has published 18 tankoubon (anthologies/graphic novels) including Kaeranai Natsu, Amai Sankaku, and Shounen Shinshi S. Diverse in style and story, Ms. Kurokawa's works run the gamut from shoujo (girls' and women's comics) to shounen (boys' comics) to ladies' stories to yaoi (male/male stories geared to a predominantly female readership). Bill Timoney, also known as Billy Regan, comes to Shoujocon as its 2002 North American Industry Guest. Bill is a professional voice actor, director and casting director who has done work with dubbing many anime series popular with shoujo fans such as Record of Lodoss War, Trigun, Lain, and Cowboy Bebop, to name just a few. Umbrella Studios, Shoujocon's 2002 Fan Guests of Honor, is a fan-run online and print publishing enterprise as well as a club consisting of shoujo fans and friends with a deep love for beautiful stories and art. They specialize in short-run self-publishing of both fanworks and original comics and anthologies and have produced over forty publications in the past three years. Friends of Lulu, the Organization Guests for 2002, are a non-profit group created by comic fans and professionals to promote both women's roles in the American comic book industry, and more female readership of comics. Its members work to break through the stereotypes in the comic book area and to create opportunities for female fans and creators alike to succeed. Please note that scheduled guests are subject to change. For more information about Shoujocon, its guests and the Shoujo Arts Society, please visit Shoujocon on the World Wide Web, at http://www.shoujocon.com/ +++++ CROSSGEN'S COMICS ON THE WEB NOW ACCEPTING PAYPAL AND ECHECK FOR SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT New Payment Methods Make Trying CrossGen Comics Even Easier TAMPA, FL., April 22, 2002 - Two months after launching Comics on the Web, CrossGen has added two simple-to-use payment options for potential subscribers. Along with credit card payment, CrossGen Comics on the Web now accepts PayPal and eCheck. PayPal enables any business or consumer with email to send and receive online payments securely, conveniently and cost-effectively. PayPal's account-based network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global payment system. PayPal has more than 15 million member accounts, including more than 3 million business accounts. In 2001, PayPal processed over $3.5 billion in payments. Based in Palo Alto, California, PayPal is available to users in 39 countries including the United States. To sign up for a PayPal account or for further information about the company, go to www.paypal.com. With eCheck.Net, customers pay for products or services with an electronic check by selecting the electronic check option and entering the requested bank account information. eCheck.Net encrypts the data using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 3.0 encryption technology, and transmits it to a secure transaction server for posting. At settlement time, the secure system initiates a debit to the consumer's checking account. "One of the issues we faced with the initial launch of Comics on the Web was subscription payment," said Tony Panaccio, VP of Business Development for CrossGen Comics. "People without credit cards were eager to sign up, but couldn't. Now we've addressed those issues, and have more plans aimed at helping provide more payment solutions for teens on the way. After all, you still can't beat half a penny per comic, no matter how you pay for it." CROSSGEN COMICS CONTINUES ITS WINNING WAYS TAMPA, FL., April 25, 2002 - The CrossGen title Ruse has garnered three rec.arts.comics Awards, or "Squiddies." The Squiddies are the annual comics industry awards given out by Usenet's rec.arts.comics community. Except for the Comic Buyers' Guide awards, no still-existing industry award is older. This was the first time the two year-old CrossGen has appeared on the Squiddy winners list. CrossGen's winners were Ruse #1, which tied Eightball #22 and New X-Men Annual 2001 for the "Best Comics Novella" award. CrossGen's Ruse also tied DC's Green Arrow for "Best New Series" and CrossGen colorist Laura DePuy again won "Best Colorist" honors. "Once again we are honored that we have been chosen alongside such distinguished competition," said CrossGen Publisher and CEO Mark Alessi. "We salute all the winners and are grateful to those that voted for us. It truly seems that what we are doing is making an impact and our quality is being rewarded." Voting for the Squiddies was open to all readers of the various rec.arts.comics newsgroups. Known originally as "the Great Usenet Comics Poll," the Squiddies have been awarded every year since 1984. The Squiddies were named after Suicide Squid, rec.arts.comics mascot - a mythical comic book character accidentally created in April 1991 when Mitsuhiro Sakai wanted to ask about developments in the series Suicide Squad, but typed "i" instead of "a." "Squiddy Awards" and "Squiddy Award Winner" art is available for use and a color or B&W logo can be downloaded from here in EPS, PDF, and GIF formats. +++++ Superheroes Take Over Philadelphia Leaders of The Entertainment, Comic Book, Toy, Sci-Fi and Gaming Worlds Take Center Stage at Wizard World East: Philadelphia 2002 PHILADELPHIA, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting Friday, May 10, Philadelphia will be invaded by the likes of Darth Maul, The Incredible Hulk, and comic book aficionados from around the world as Wizard World hosts its premier pop culture convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The three-day event, one of the largest multi-media events on the East Coast, is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000. Guest of Honor Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief, Marvel Comics, and Special Guest, acclaimed writer/director/actor Kevin Smith will be joined by other celebrities including actors from all five Star Wars films and World Wrestling Federation SuperStars Lita and Matt Hardy. For a complete list of expected celebrity guests, please visit www.wizardworld.com. Conventioneers will have access to hundreds of industry-leading writers and artists as well as hundreds of exhibitors, including Sony PlayStation, Marvel, DC, CrossGen, Wiz Kids and Upper Deck. Exhibitors will feature and sell action figures, anime, movie posters, original artwork and comics. Convention highlights will include: Movie Fight Xperience. Martial Arts expert and actor Ray Park and stunt coordinator/fight arranger Andreas Petrides will perform stunt sequences from some of the many movies they have worked on, including "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace", "The X-Men", "Gladiator", "Braveheart" and "Sleepy Hollow". Guests can witness a reenactment of the Phantom Menace's lightsaber duel, Gladiator's swordfights and the axe battle from Sleepy Hollow, among others, and then have the opportunity to ask questions in a Q&A session. Wizard School. Aspiring artists and seasoned professionals alike can take their turn going back to school as comic book industry experts teach them the tricks of the trade. This one-of-a-kind school offers pop culture fans the opportunity to fine-tune their skills with free classes like "Writing the Killer Scene", "Building Character", "Coloring Digitally" and "How to Plot". Wizard School takes place for one-hour periods throughout the weekend. Kevin Smith Film Festival. Wizard will host a film festival on Friday, May 10, at 8 p.m. featuring Kevin Smith movies, including "Clerks", "Dogma" and last summer's "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". The festival will be held at the Marriott Hotel at 1201 Market Street in Philadelphia. Tickets will be free and may be obtained in advance at the Wizard Entertainment booth on the show floor. Wizard World will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, located at 1101 Arch Street in Philadelphia. Show hours are as follows: Friday, May 10, noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, May 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 for a one day pass and $40 for a three day pass. Children 10 and under get in for free with the purchase of an adult ticket. Tickets can be ordered online at www.wizardworld.com or by calling 1-800-690-1669. Additional information can also be found by calling 215-928-0220. The event is produced by Wizard Conventions Inc. Wizard Conventions also produces Wizard World: Chicago, now in its 28th year of operation. Wizard Conventions is a sister company of Wizard Entertainment Group, an industry leader in the collectibles market that publishes four magazines, including "Wizard: The Comics Magazine", "InQuest Gamer: The Gaming Magazine", "ToyFare: The Toy Magazine" and "Anime Invasion: The Japanese Animation Magazine". Wizard's publications have a monthly national readership of more than 2 million and are currently sold in 25 countries and five languages. +++++ From:aharlib@earthlink.net Dear David, I hope you can post this story in ComicBookNet. It's about time! Amy From: http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=3162 Comic belief Black superhero WitchDoctor a labor of love, learning. by Sarah Klein 4/17/2002 8:00:00 AM He's blessed with the power to leap staggering prejudices in a single bound. A tall, imposing figure cuts a path through the darkened hallway of a desolate public bathroom in Haiti. With his sharply cut suit and cornrowed hair, he exudes a smooth sex appeal that whispers of R&B crooner D'Angelo. However, the ominous stare beneath his horn-rimmed glasses speaks of a haunted man. Suddenly, a rotting corpse leaps from the shadows, the glint of steel in its hand. The man ducks and flees as gunshots follow his trail, sparking ceramic as they ricochet off the wall. The zombie creeps along, stalking its prey, which has seemingly dissolved into thin air. With a lightening flash of speed and power, the hidden man bursts from behind a stall, kicking the door with crushing force as he flattens the zombie into a wall in an explosion of tile and blood and decaying flesh. The man's eyebrow raises in a Spock-like arch as he surveys the destruction. He casually brushes zombie brains from his crisp lapel, before turning and disappearing once again into the shadows of the steamy Haitian night. The man is Dr. Jovan Carrington, the WitchDoctor, Protector of the People, and he's coming to Detroit - to a comic-book store near you. Jovan is the creation of Kenjji, a 26-year-old Detroit artist who is poised, pen in hand, to change the way comics are perceived. He plans to reorder the demographic of comic book readership and erase the boundaries of race, age and income. Yes, Jovan is a black superhero, a distinctly rare breed within the realm of comics. But he is more than just a black superhero. He is an immensely complex, human and dense character, highly educated and blessed with the power to leap staggering prejudices in a single bound. Throughout his fantastic journeys, Jovan will unearth buried histories of ancient African ancestry, unravel misconceptions of Haitian culture, confront ugly stereotypes, and inspire and challenge his readers to think - all while he employs the power of voodoo to fight the forces of evil, kicks some zombie butt and looks damn suave while doing it. Project for the projects The debut of WitchDoctor came in March via Griot Enterprises, the company Kenjji co-founded with his old college buddies and fellow artists Michael Larson and Jiba Molei Anderson. "Griot" is the title given to African storytellers. Though they're all native Detroiters, Larson is currently living in Cleveland, while Anderson moved to Chicago a few years ago. The Griot trio had been collecting and creating comics for years, and decided to start their own company in 1998, to produce "independent comics for independent people." "I collected comics as a kid, but I was consistently disappointed, because I didn't find myself represented," says Kenjji (ken-gee). After several years of assembling business plans and scraping up financing, Griot is now beginning to flourish. In addition to WitchDoctor, the company has just debuted the Horsemen, Anderson's series chronicling heroes possessed by the gods of ancient Africa, and the Unveiling, Larson's epic fantasy based on the characters of Islamic, Jewish and Christian mythology. "We didn't want to draw Batman or Superman," says Anderson. "We wanted to create our own stories, since we had our own stories to tell." "I intend to make WitchDoctor a product for the disenfranchised people, a project for the projects, a story for the streets," Kenjji wrote in a grant proposal for the Xeric Foundation, which was started by the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the ultimate success story of a small independent comic book hitting the big time. Every year, Xeric grants a lump sum to a select few independent comic book artists who display extraordinary vision, innovation and promise. Not surprisingly, Kenjji won the grant - $5,000 - to cover production costs. The doctor is in As the story of WitchDoctor goes, Jovan was raised in Haiti, where he was first exposed to the elements of voodoo. Years later, after he's become a highly respected psychiatrist, Jovan's connection to the world of ancient spirits is suddenly rekindled by a collection of voodoo masks. He is plagued by hallucinations of voodoo priests and can't come to terms with his visions from the logic of his psychiatric background. Eventually, he travels to Haiti to seek out the meaning of his visions, which is where he discovers the true nature of his powers. As the WitchDoctor, he is blessed by the ancient spirits and channels their wisdom and warrior skills to battle the forces of evil. His crusade is to protect the people, uncover the truth and kick the crap out of those pesky zombies. Jovan possesses a powerful and aptly larger-than-life persona, an ultra-smooth operator fueled with a hefty dose of badass. Although he shares many traits with his creator - inquisitiveness, razor-sharp intelligence, true compassion - the artist and the character still bear a striking contrast. Kenjji is one of those rare, undeniably likable people who immediately puts one at ease in his presence. He animatedly describes his passion for kung fu movies as he pads barefoot around the sunny flat near the Wayne State campus which he shares with his girlfriend Kito Jumanne. A perky and bright-eyed Lauren Hill lookalike, Jumanne is Kenjji's full-time manager, and also owns her own company, Nia Communications, which provides strategic marketing and promotions for Detroit musicians and artists. Throughout the photo shoot with Metro Times, Kenjji jokes and fidgets as he absentmindedly grasps his pen, visibly uncomfortable under the stare of the camera. He has the infectious grin of a goofy class clown, yet when the subject matter turns weighty, he speaks with articulate passion and frankness. He is inherently political, yet he will never ascend a soap box and subject his readers to blistering tirades. Instead, Kenjji surreptitiously plants ideas and concepts, raising questions and leaving them dangling in the air unanswered, inviting readers to mull and ponder and reach a conclusion on their own terms. He grew up in Detroit's Rosedale Park neighborhood, went to Catholic school for eight years, and later attended University of Detroit Mercy and Western Michigan University, where he studied art. Kenjji dropped his surname because of its connection to slavery and its consequent "unpretty history." He was first inspired to create comics after reading Brotherman, one of the first independent comic books featuring a black superhero, which was published in the late '80s and early '90s. "I decided it was time to reinstate books like Brotherman, which I found so influential and appealing, and the first thing I had to do was create a character that was just as cool as Brotherman," he explains. "I wanted to do a character with cornrows - that was the look. Around the time I was working this out, D'Angelo [noted for his cornrows] came out with his album Voodoo, which gave me the inspiration to start researching voodoo as a background for this character." Hence the birth of his protagonist, who was named after a "super-suave friend" by the name of Jovan who lived on Carrington Street. Kenjji is a stickler for detail, and wanted his book to paint an authentic picture of voodoo. He extensively researched the history of the misunderstood practice, devouring books and studying under a voodoo priestess who runs an informational Web site about the practice and history of voodoo. "I was making sure I wasn't overstepping the bounds of the faith," Kenjji says. "There's a major misconception about everything that's involved in voodoo. Spells and zombies and voodoo dolls - that's a very small portion of what the faith is really about. Voodoo is more or less a registry of ancient spirits and ancestors which African people can supposedly contact through ritual sacrifice." He traveled to New Orleans for his research to flesh out a scene in the series where a possessed Jovan envisions the ancestors of slaves. "I was in this major tourist area looking for some of the darkest spots in American history," Kenjji says. "Although the French Quarter has been very much overcome with tourist attractions, I swear that the sense of depression and pain was still very much prevalent." Kenjji located and photographed several former slave houses, which are now mostly restaurants. "I had to eat in one, and quite frankly, I lost my appetite," he says with a wry expression. He also visited one of the quintessential tourist traps in the Quarter, Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo. Despite his in-depth research into voodoo, Kenjji wasn't offended by the blatant display of commercialism in the store. "When I see the House of Voodoo, I see a clever woman who intends to take advantage of people's misconceptions. I didn't buy it ... but I think it's more charming than malicious." Blank history The story of the black superhero is a convoluted web of buried history and struggling emergence, sprinkled with ugly racial smears and moments of triumphant breakthroughs. The online Museum of Black Superheroes, at www.blacksuperhero.com, is dedicated to chronicling the history of all these elements, and paving the way for new superheroes like Jovan, who has earned his own place on the site. There are black superheroes out there, and they date as far back as the 1940s - but the early images are hardly flattering, and most of the black characters served as comic relief, such as "Whiteface" (the name says it all), who was bumbling, helpless and oafish. There are a few notable black superheroes of the comic genre today, including Spawn, Storm from the X-Men, and Blade, a somewhat forgotten Marvel character recently catapulted to higher visibility by the success of the Wesley Snipes movies. However, almost every big-name black superhero in mainstream comics was created by a white artist. "There's a certain lack of intimacy," Anderson says of the phenomenon. "But on the flip side, I also believe a lot of black creators who tried to address this went to the other extreme, and ended up creating another stereotype. They forgot to make the character feel and seem real." Kenjji believes that books featuring black heroes created by white artists often fail to strike a chord with black audiences because "you get the superhero, but you don't get any incidents of black history and culture." WitchDoctor, on the other hand, is a vehicle for sifting through African history. Kenjji believes the subject matter will be of interest to everyone, regardless of race. "I'm delving into those things because they haven't been presented effectively. People will find appeal in it because it's something new and innovative." Voodoo economics Creative control is at the heart of Griot, and that means remaining independent. Which of course comes with a price: money, and lots of it. Kenjji was unable to find big-dollar backers to fit his time frame of issue releases, so to make his dream a reality, he organized a comprehensive, grassroots campaign among friends and associates. One of those supporters is Detroit techno music legend Carl Craig, who signed on as a major financial backer of the WitchDoctor project. "I became interested in WitchDoctor because I hadn't seen any superhero presented in relation to voodoo," says Craig. "Christianity is dominant in our culture, and any type of religious reference to ancient African religions are never touched on because of connections to the occult, or it just being seen as ignorant - (like) a man in a big stewpot in the middle of the jungle." "WitchDoctor will give us, especially in Detroit, the exposure to other worlds beyond America's borders - or just beyond Eight Mile." Kenjji has also developed a strategy to distribute the book. While he describes his target audience as "people who are willing to appreciate diversity," a large segment of his intended readers - young blacks - will be difficult to reach. "The target audience is disinterested. They're more interested in hip hop, so we're going to use hip-hop tactics to get this book out," Kenjji says. "We're going to do some guerilla marketing and street marketing - I want to ride the bus on all the major high-school circuits and just pass the book out." "There are virtually no comic-book stores in urban and ethnic areas. The only comic-book store around Detroit is in Dearborn, and it all goes back to a lack of interest." Kenjji hopes to stimulate a new interest in comics among young black readers. "We need to make sure this book goes 20, 30 issues deep before we even think about doing something else. We need to leave a lasting impression on whoever is reading these books. Ten years from now, there needs to be an impression of WitchDoctor, just as much as Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman. These are characters that are not going to be forgotten, and that's what we're trying to establish. We want your kids, and your kids' kids to learn about WitchDoctor, and for each generation to have a different understanding of the character." Blurring the lines The principals of Griot Enterprises firmly believe that their dedication to fine art, compelling stories and provocative subject matter will mean success. The Underworld Comics and Games store in Ann Arbor draws a large and diverse crowd of customers. Clerk Alison Bodie says she sees a wide cross section of people enter the store on a daily basis, and thinks there's a distinct market for black comics which just needs to be properly tapped. "A while ago, we had a couple of books in the store about black superheroes, but they weren't particularly good," she said. "What people are looking for is good writing and good art. That's what gets the reader, and keeps them." Frances Gateward teaches at the Center for African and African-American Studies at the University of Michigan, and has collected comics since childhood. She says the demographic of comic book readership is definitely not limited to the stereotypical pimply faced, white, middle-class teen. "It's extremely diverse, from what I see at comic book conventions," she says. "From what I see in the books, the characters are becoming much more diverse, and we're seeing more participation from women and minorities in the actual production of the books. We're also starting to see a lot more Asian-American participation in the field, from the influence of anime. "It's nice to see books that are delving into a lot of African mythology, and recently there's been more exploration of cultures other than Christianity. These books can deal with issues of race in a direct manner, whereas a lot of other books only deal with it in a veiled way. This issue of discrimination against mutants in the X-Men - that's just a metaphor for racial discrimination." Jovan is certainly direct, as is his creator. On the opening page of the first book, Jovan's sleek stretch PT Cruiser pulls up to a curb, next to a garbage can emblazoned with the phrase "Race is a Lie." Is it? Ask the WitchDoctor. --------------- WitchDoctor will be available in comic book stores next month. You can also buy WitchDoctor online at www.griotcomics.com +++++ SPIDER-MAN AND X-FACTOR SCORE MASSIVE MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE! Special Summer Movie Issue Of Entertainment Weekly Spotlights Marvel! Hey, True Believer! Those of you keeping track of the growing trend of mainstream media coverage of Marvel Comics should head to your local newsstand to pick up the April 26th issue of Entertainment Weekly. The double-sized issue of the mega-popular pop culture magazine profiles both the highly anticipated Spider-Man movie and Marvel's well-reviewed X-FACTOR miniseries. First, beating out films such as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Scooby-Doo, the new dynamic duo of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst scored the cover of EW's annual Summer Movie Preview issue. The arachno-mania continues inside with a seven-page feature article on the big-budget film, which hits on May 3rd (one day prior to this year's Free Comic Book Day). In the article, writer Tom Russo states that "in comics-industry terms, the character is a superstar; Marvel currently publishes four different monthly Spider-Man titles that together sell as many as 500,000 copies, second only to the company's chart-topping X-Men books." Analyzing the wall-crawler's amazing popularity, the article spotlights Spider-Man's endearing character and depth of complexity. Russo states that "when Spider-Man debuted 40 years ago, the character revolutionized the industry; for the first time, a superhero was depicted as an extraordinary figure who nevertheless struggled with everyday anxieties. Rival publisher DC's heroes suddenly seemed a little above-it-all by comparison." EW goes on to further poke fun at sister-company DC's iconic figures, noting that "Superman tended to get more bummed out by Kryptonite than anything going on in Clark Kent's life, while Batman always had those fabulous Bruce Wayne resources to fall back on when the superheroics got tough." Finally, Russo quotes Marvel Editor In Chief Joe Quesada as saying: "Marvel heroes lend themselves to the screen because we focus on the individual more than the costume. They're real people first." Continuing the magazine's comic book coverage, reviewer Marc Bernardin showers praise on X-FACTOR, the new miniseries written by former EW staff reporter Jeff Jensen. Under the "By Our Colleagues" banner, Bernardin says that the four-issue story "sets an agenda a little loftier than the average comic book," and applauds Jensen for "ably weaving together racism, homophobia, religion, Hollywood depravity, and poor parenting into a four-color tapestry that speaks of both hope and hopelessness." The review also gives a big thumbs-up to the book's visuals, saying that "the intricate artwork by Arthur Ranson grounds X-FACTOR in a reality that could very easily be ours." Comic book readers and retailers should stay tuned for more mainstream media coverage of Marvel projects as we move closer to the bigscreen debut of Spider-Man! SPIDER-MAN AND X-FACTOR SCORE MASSIVE MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE! Special Summer Movie Issue Of Entertainment Weekly Spotlights Marvel! Hey, True Believer! Those of you keeping track of the growing trend of mainstream media coverage of Marvel Comics should head to your local newsstand to pick up the April 26th issue of Entertainment Weekly. The double-sized issue of the mega-popular pop culture magazine profiles both the highly anticipated Spider-Man movie and Marvel's well-reviewed X-FACTOR miniseries. First, beating out films such as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Scooby-Doo, the new dynamic duo of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst scored the cover of EW's annual Summer Movie Preview issue. The arachno-mania continues inside with a seven-page feature article on the big-budget film, which hits on May 3rd (one day prior to this year's Free Comic Book Day). In the article, writer Tom Russo states that "in comics-industry terms, the character is a superstar; Marvel currently publishes four different monthly Spider-Man titles that together sell as many as 500,000 copies, second only to the company's chart-topping X-Men books." Analyzing the wall-crawler's amazing popularity, the article spotlights Spider-Man's endearing character and depth of complexity. Russo states that "when Spider-Man debuted 40 years ago, the character revolutionized the industry; for the first time, a superhero was depicted as an extraordinary figure who nevertheless struggled with everyday anxieties. Rival publisher DC's heroes suddenly seemed a little above-it-all by comparison." EW goes on to further poke fun at sister-company DC's iconic figures, noting that "Superman tended to get more bummed out by Kryptonite than anything going on in Clark Kent's life, while Batman always had those fabulous Bruce Wayne resources to fall back on when the superheroics got tough." Finally, Russo quotes Marvel Editor In Chief Joe Quesada as saying: "Marvel heroes lend themselves to the screen because we focus on the individual more than the costume. They're real people first." Continuing the magazine's comic book coverage, reviewer Marc Bernardin showers praise on X-FACTOR, the new miniseries written by former EW staff reporter Jeff Jensen. Under the "By Our Colleagues" banner, Bernardin says that the four-issue story "sets an agenda a little loftier than the average comic book," and applauds Jensen for "ably weaving together racism, homophobia, religion, Hollywood depravity, and poor parenting into a four-color tapestry that speaks of both hope and hopelessness." The review also gives a big thumbs-up to the book's visuals, saying that "the intricate artwork by Arthur Ranson grounds X-FACTOR in a reality that could very easily be ours." Comic book readers and retailers should stay tuned for more mainstream media coverage of Marvel projects as we move closer to the bigscreen debut of Spider-Man! MTV'S SPIDER-MAN MOVIE SPECIAL! Quesada, Alonso & The Romitas Interviewed In A New Promo Show! Hey, True Believers! The gang in the Bullpen wants their MTV... because the uber-popular music channel has produced a rockin' Spider-Man Movie Special! This all-new show, which we've been told features a "rather lengthy" look at the wall-crawler's top-selling comic books, includes interviews with Editor In Chief Joe Quesada, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN editor Axel Alonso, and both John Romita Jr. and Sr.! Scenes were even filmed here in The House! So tune into MTV on the following days and times (all times are E.S.T.) to go for the ultimate spin! Sunday, April 28th -- 9:00 p.m. Monday, April 29th -- 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1st -- 12:00 noon Friday, May 3rd -- 3:00 p.m. JOE QUESADA INTERVIEWED IN "CONTROVERSIAL" MAG! Abercrombie & Fitch Spotlights Marvel EIC! The new Summer Issue of A& F Quarterly, the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing catalog/magazine currently making headlines, features -- alongside interviews with the likes of "It" celebrities such as actress Scarlett Johansson ("Ghost World"), author Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues), and rockstar Andrew W.K. (I Get Wet) -- a profile of Marvel Editor In Chief Joe Quesada. The two-page feature, written by "X-Men" executive producer Tom DeSanto, examines Quesada's role in leading Marvel back to the #1 spot in comics, saying "As editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, he's presided over a stunning creative renaissance that's put Marvel firmly on top of it's once-flagging industry -- and he's done it by being one of the most outspoken guys the art form's ever seen." This issue of A&F Quarterly, distributed throughout the Abercrombie & Fitch chain of clothing stores -- and mailed to thousands of subscribers -- has recently generated headlines of its own for featuring nude models. But as A&F Quarterly editor Scott Collins sees things, comic books deserve to be mixed in with whatever is pushing people's buttons: "Our attitude is that we take comics seriously and we know they're as intelligent and funny and controversial and sexy and avant-garde as anything else we cover, whether it be music or literature." 'Nuff Said! Bill Rosemann Marketing Communications Manager Marvel Comics +++++ Cingular Wireless Racing Joining Forces With Spider-Man at Fontana And Richmond WELCOME, N.C., April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Robby Gordon and Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 Cingular Wireless team are joining forces with superhero Spider-Man for the NASCAR Winston Cup events at California Speedway and Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020425/ATTH020 ) The comic book hero will ride along with Gordon and the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet Monte Carlo at Fontana and Richmond in a special paint scheme celebrating his jump to the big screen. Spider-Man, Columbia Pictures' highly anticipated action adventure film, is scheduled for release worldwide on May 3. "It's so cool that Cingular has put one of my favorite superheroes on our race car," Gordon said. "I grew up reading and watching Spider-Man and am really excited about being able to show him off on the Cingular Wireless Chevy. Hopefully, Spider-Man can give us some extra powers on race day and we can take him to Victory Lane." Cingular Wireless has launched a special promotional campaign in conjunction with its partnership with the movie. The campaign -- supported by TV, print and radio advertising, direct mail, and in-store placement -- is the most ambitious ever for a wireless carrier in conjunction with a Hollywood movie. Cingular, the nation's second largest wireless carrier, developed the campaign with Sony Entertainment. It includes a range of themed components, including: * Sweepstakes - The opportunity to win one of two specially designed Dodge Vipers with a Spider-Man paint scheme. Official sweepstakes rules are available at www.cingular.com/spidersweeps . * Promotion - Never pay long distance or roaming on Cingular's nationwide plans. Customers can also surf the wireless "web" because they'll receive free wireless Internet service with any Cingular Home, Region or Nation plan $29.99 or higher. * Phone offer - Special deals on Sony Ericsson T60 series handsets. * Data services - Exclusive Spider-Man ringtones, trivia games and Spider-Man alerts. Caller ID logo, screen saver, and picture messages can be downloaded to the Sony Ericsson T61z phone, available in Cingular's GSM markets in California, Washington state, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and coastal Georgia. * Accessory/Expressory items - Limited supplies of Spider-Man "themed" faceplates, Spider-Man accessory bundle and collector Spider-Man prepaid cards. +++++ Comic hero "Punisher" pumped up for Marvel By Michael Fleming NEW YORK (Variety) - Marvel Enterprises, the comic book giant on a roll in Hollywood with the recent "Blade" sequel and the upcoming "Spider- Man" film, hopes to turn "The Punisher" into its latest feature franchise. The property was made into a low-budget Australian offering starring Dolph Lundgren in 1990, but that production will have no bearing on the film that Marvel is gearing up to make with indie studio Artisan Entertainment. The protaganist of "The Punisher" doesn't possess superpowers, but his obsession with avenging the murder of his family after they witness a gangland killing leads him on a vigilante course. Ex-soldier Frank Castle becomes a one-man assault team against the crime syndicate that killed his family. Marvel and Artisan have set Jonathan Hensleigh to write and make his directorial debut on the project. His many credits include "Jumanji," "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" and "The Saint," and he's executive produced "Gone in Sixty Seconds," "Armageddon" and "Con Air." "The Punisher" will be made under the joint venture agreement made two years ago between Artisan CEO Amir Malin and Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad in which they pacted to turn 15 Marvel franchises into features or TV series. "The Punisher is one of the biggest and most important characters in the Marvel universe," Arad said. "When Amir and I signed the deal between Marvel and Artisan, the Punisher was one of the marquee properties that we both felt needed to be given a strong theatrical presence. Bringing Jonathan on board is a major step in bringing our vision to fruition." Artisan has a wealth of Marvel characters at its disposal, including such old favorites as Captain America and Thor. Marvel's sure to get a boost from the Sony release of "Spider-Man" on May 3. And the big-ticket films keep coming after that. Fox's sequel to "X-Men" will be a summer 2003 event film, as will "The Hulk." A successful sequel to "Blade" already has New Line at work on a third entry of the Wesley Snipes starrer. And Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner ("Alias") and Michael Clarke Duncan will star in "Daredevil," being directed by Mark Steven Johnson for January release via Fox. Also building momentum is an adaptation of "Ghost Rider," which still looms as a vehicle for Nicolas Cage once Marvel Studios sets it up again after getting rights back from Dimension Films. Reuters/Variety 04/23/02 01:53 ET +++++ New Spider-Man MONOPOLY Game; Roll the Dice and Go Web-Swinging With Everyone's Favorite Web-Crawler! ENCINITAS, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 23, 2002--At last, the MONOPOLY(R) Brand joins with Marvel Comics to produce the world's best- spun game, the Spider-Man(R) Collector's Edition of the MONOPOLY(R) Game. Based on the popular comic book series, USAOPOLY launches this collectible MONOPOLY board game in conjunction with the release of the first-ever live action Spider-Man movie. Spidey fans now have the chance to help good prevail over evil in the new Spider-Man Collector's MONOPOLY game. Employing classic MONOPOLY game strategy, players take risks and make deals to web-swing around a completely customized game board showcasing classic Marvel artwork of Spider-Man's greatest enemies. Using super spider sense, strength, spider speed and agility, players must wheel and deal for 22 of the baddest guys such as Mysterio, Sandman, Scorpion, Electro and Jackal, to name a few. Although the classic four corners ("GO," "Just Visiting Jail," "Free Parking," "Go to Jail") remain unchanged, the classic MONOPOLY game "Boardwalk" and "Park Place" properties have been replaced with the deadliest of super-villains, "The Green Goblin" and "Doctor Octopus," respectively. The Spider-Man Collector's MONOPOLY game is designed with the true Spider-Man fan in mind. Players can choose to be one of six collectible pewter playing pieces including Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Spider Buggy, Spidey's web shooter, Green Goblin and Venom. Classic Marvel artwork is showcased on the title deed cards, as well as on the "Spider-Man" and "Peter Parker" cards, which replace "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards, respectively. Fans can even get $200 in web crawler cash (instead of classic MONOPOLY game money) for selling photos to the Daily Bugle. "Marvel's Spider-Man and Hasbro's MONOPOLY game are classic properties. Our mission was to create a custom Monopoly board game that showcased the best of Spider-Man," said Dane Chapin, CEO of USAOPOLY. "USAOPOLY's graphics team tapped into the creative minds of writers and collectors from the Spider-Man web, including Tom DeFalco, former Marvel Editor In Chief, current writer of Spider-Girl and author of Spider-Man The Ultimate Guide, to ensure an amazing MONOPOLY board game experience for Spidey fans and collectors young and old," said Chapin. "In true Spider-Man fashion, with great power there should also come great responsibility," said Tom DeFalco. "USAOPOLY has a great responsibility to showcase the history of a classic comic icon, and they did a marvelous job. The time and thought that went into the design of the game shows inside and out. It's a one-of-a-kind Spider- Man collectible," said DeFalco. The Spider-Man MONOPOLY(R) Game is now available at specialty retail stores such as Barnes & Noble, FAO Schwarz, Spencer Gifts/Dapy Stores, Suncoast/Musicland, Virgin Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast/Game Keeper and Hastings. Approximate retail price is $34.95. Consumers can call toll-free 888-656-7306 and visit www.usaopoly.com to place an order, or call 888-876-7659 to locate the nearest retailer. USAOPOLY creates, manufactures and markets "America's favorite board games with a twist," including specialty editions of renowned MONOPOLY(R), CLUE(R) and YAHTZEE(R) games. MONOPOLY, YAHTZEE and CLUE are trademarks of Hasbro. (c)2002 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. (c)2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. +++++ AUSTRALIAN COMIC BOOKS GIVEN A CHANCE For over a decade the Australian Comic Book publishing community has had to play second fiddle to the dominate US Comic Book market. The vast majority of Comic Book stores in Australia have always placed US publications before any local release. Anyone in the Australian community will tell you, it's an up hill slog to have Aussie comics stocked, and supported by local retailers. One web-site, which has been actively supporting the local Comic Book community since 1996, has taken steps to rectify this problem. Comics Australia (http://comicsaustralia.com) has opened a On-Line Shop that deals exclusively with home grown Comic Books. Aaron Burgess who runs the web-site believes strongly in the local products, and hopes that with the new shop, it will give the community a chance to reach new readers from within Australia, and overseas. While many Comic Book stores, and other retailers try to make as much money from sales, Comics Australia gives the majority from each sale directly back to the publishers, only keeping a small amount to help cover ongoing site costs. The On-Line Shop boasts the latest releases from all over the country, including the highly publicised Witch King from Phosphorescent Comics in Sydney, and the new re-prints of the 1950's Aussie comic classic The Panther from Buzz Productions in Melbourne. Besides all the latest releases from around Australia, the On-Line Shop also stocks hard to find older issues that were often only sold directly from the publishers, or found in a few Comic Book stores. Another great part of the On-Line Shop is the option to buy T-Shirts featuring local comic characters such as Batrisha The Vampire Girl created by Dillon Naylor, as seen in the nationally sold kids magazine K-Zone. It's not all about big muscular men in spandex, targeted at teenage boys. Many of the stories are set on the streets of Australia, or take a humorous look at life from the perspective of the creators. Although Aaron does admit there are a few comics in the shop that have spandex clad heroes. If you require more additional information, or material, contact details are shown below. Aaron Burgess Comics Australia aaron@comicsaustralia.com http://comicsaustralia.com PO Box 193 Kings Meadows Tasmania 7249 Australia +++++ From the Comics Continuum at http://www.comicscontinuum.com/: ONI PRESS' JASON & THE ARGOBOTS Jason & The Argobots, a four-issue, monthly mini-series from writer J. Torres and fan favorite artist Mike Norton, will launch on Aug. 7 from Oni Press. The story follows a young boy who stumbles across a mysterious robotic giant buried near his desert home. "The wave of nostalgia that's washing over the comics industry is fine for some people," series editor James Lucas Jones said. "But Oni has always been about blazing new trails. With Argobots, J. and Mike are taking the giant robots, strange new technology, and sinister villains that fascinated us as kids and making it their own." Here's how Oni describes the series: "Set in the desert oasis of Shimmer City, Argobots is a world filled with hoverboards, holographic schoolteachers, and mutant criminals eager to wreak mayhem on a city already plagued with devastating earthquakes. Living outside the city on his grandpa's robot ranch, Jason and his little sister Jomi dream of a life of adventure while gramps tinkers away on his newest invention. But when Jason's fantasies become a reality will he have what it takes to save the city and his family from the threat of superpowered bad guys?" "Luckily, Jason's not alone," Torres said. "He's got a giant robot that should help even the odds. And lucky for you, I'm not alone either. I've got Mike Norton and he's about as cool as a giant robot. People who've only seen his stuff on The Waiting Place are in for a big kick in the pants. With Argobots, Mike is showing exactly what kind of versatile artist he really is." JUSTICE LEAGUE MAQUETTES SELL OUT Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter, the first in DC Direct's line of Justice League Animated Maquettes, have already sold out. The maquettes, sculpted by Karen Palinko, are based on the World's Greatest Super-Heroes as they appear on the hit Cartoon Network series Justice League. "These maquettes have been met with even more enthusiasm than we were expecting," said Vince Letterio, DC's Manager - Direct Sales. "We sold out the entire run of Martian Manhunter maquettes a week before the in- store date, and the most popular heroes in the team are still to come. If anything, consumer demand for these maquettes is going to increase." Upcoming release dates for future maquettes include Superman on May 22, Green Lantern on Aug. 21, Hawkgirl on Sept. 18, Flash on Nov. 6 and Batman on Dec. 4. WILDSTORM PRODUCTIONS PROJECTS At the Wonder Con in Oakland on Friday, DC Comics provided an update on WildStorm Productions' upcoming projects, including the JLA/Planetary crossover and a new Zero Girl mini-series. Following are some highlights: JLA/PLANETARY JLA/Planetary: Terra Occulta, by Warren Ellis and Jerry Ordway, will be a 48-page Elseworlds one-shot. Here's how DC describes the book: "In this twisted Elseworlds epic, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are Planetary. And if theyŐre Planetary, then who are the Four, the strange and powerful beings who horde technology, dark secrets, and hidden information for their own sinister benefit?" THE AUTHORITY The Absolute Authority is an oversized, slipcased hardcover edition that collects the first 12 issues of The Authority by Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary. Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, the Engineer, Swift, the Doctor, Apollo and Midnighter face super-terrorists, interdimensional invaders, and godlike aliens in these dizzying, now- classic tales. Also included in The Absolute Authority are 3 pages from the never- published Authority: Widescreen special, extra, behind-the-scenes looks at the book's creative process, including a full script by Ellis, plus design and supplementary material provided by the entire creative team. The Authority: Kev, an all new special written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Glenn Fabry, will be coming late this summer as part of WildStorm's Eye of the Storm mature readers imprint. WILDCATS Version 3.0 launches in August, with the creative team of writer Joe Casey and artists Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend. Joining Spartan, Grifter, Zealot, Void and Ladytron are newer characters including "Crashman" Pacheco and Agent Orange. POINT BLANK/SLEEPER In a mature readers miniseries that connects to WildStorm Universe continuity, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Colin Wilson bring a gritty, noir-style super-hero thriller. Holden Carver -- a.k.a. the Conductor - - is at the center of this hard-hitting five-issue miniseries that leads directly into Sleeper, an ongoing, mature readers series by Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Sleeper finds the Conductor working undercover, infiltrating the villainous underworld of the WildStorm Universe. And while he's been put in motion by one of the most powerful characters in that universe, the Conductor runs the risks of being discovered by the villains he's running with, and, worse, becoming one of them. ZERO GIRL: FULL CIRCLE Sam Kieth brings back iconoclastic hero Amy Smootster in Zero Girl: Full Circle, a new 5-issue miniseries that takes takes place three years after the original Zero Girl mini-series. This story explores the relationship further between Amy Smootster and her former guidance counselor and brings an intriguing new character into the mix, one who causes emotional turmoil among the three of them, along with battles between good and evil -- and circles and squares. THE LIFE EATERS Bestselling science fiction novelist David Brin and illustrator Scott Hampton, the creative team behind last year's graphic novel Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Forgiveness, return with an all-new hardcover graphic novel of World War II, The Life Eaters. The powerful tale expands on Brin's short story "Thor Meets Captain America," which is decidedly not about any Marvel Comics characters. Instead, it refers to the Nazis' use of necromancy to pit ancient Norse gods against the forces of the Allies. While this strategem works in the short run, the German end up with bigger trouble on their hands than they ever could have imagined when the food of the gods runs short, forcing the Aesir to look elsewhere for sustenance running headlong into the Hindu gods of Southeast Asia. MATADOR Matador is a six-issue mature readers series from Homage set in the mean streets of Miami. Writer Devin Grayson teams up with illustrator Brian Stelfreeze to tell the tale of Police Lieutenant Isabel Cardona, who connects a series of seemingly unrelated murders to a supposed urban legend known only as the Matador. TOP 10: SMAX THE BARBARIAN Alan Moore delves into the background of a member of the tenth precinct in the four-issue mini-series Top 10: Smax the Barbarian, illustrated by Top 10 artist Zander Cannon. In this mini-series, Smax, accompanied by fellow cop Toybox, journeys to his home plane, where he takes part in an unusual revolution, giving readers a much-longed for chance to see Smax on his own turf. GLOBAL FREQUENCY The 12-issue series from writer Warren Ellis stars this fall. Each issue of the series will be by a different artist, including Garry Leach, Glenn Fabry and cover artist Brian Wood. The Global Frequency is a worldwide independent defense intelligence organization with a thousand and one agents, all over the world. Anyone you know might be with them. It's the world's little open secret. These agents are charged with cleaning up after the 20th Century the detritus of science gone haywire, Cold War defense systems that were never powered down, cyborg counter agents and more. JLA/JSA UPDATE JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, the hardcover graphic novel, has been scheduled for a November release by DC Comics. The story is from JSA writing team of Geoff Johns and David Goyer, with art by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Marino. Here's how DC describes the story: "The two teams come together when a political incident involving the Ultra-Marines, who are more than happy to make a pre-emptive first strike on the United States_ if they can get by the combined forces of these two teams, that is." MARVEL PRESS CONFERENCE Marvel Comics formally announced the exclusive contracts of J. Michael Straczynski and Kevin Smith at its Wednesday news conference. The news conference was centered on Spider-Man with the release of the live-action Spider-Man movie next week. In other highlights from the press conference: * MTV will broadcast a Spider-Man special. Air dates include April 28 at 9 p.m.; April 29 at 5:30 p.m.; May 1 noon; and May 3 at 3 p.m. According to Marvel, the special might be repeated additionally beyond those dates. Among those interview will be Avi Arad, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, Spider-Man editor Axel Alonso, John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr. * Peter Parker writer Paul Jenkins remains in the Spider-Man mix. * Alonso said he would like to work with Peter Bagge again after the release of Megalomanical Spider-Man. He mention a possible similar project involving the Hulk. * Quesada said he has talked with Smith about a Daredevil graphic novel that he would draw, although it is not been scheduled. +++++ From Comics2Film at http://www.comics2film.com WELCOME TO ELTINGVILLE ---------------------- Evan Dorkin recently updated Comics2Film on the fate of his Welcome To Eltingville TV show. Dorkin created a pilot for Cartoon Network which aired with a series of other new shows during the net's Adult Swim block last March. "We finally heard from the network and the word is -- no word," Dorkin said. "Better that than the 'no' word. Unless they change their mind, the decision on what will happen to the recent spate of Adult Swim pilots won't be made for a while, possibly even late in the year." Dorkin is hopeful that the network will respond to the show so they can create more episodes. In the mean time he's got plenty of comic book projects in the works. He's doing a Thing comic called Night Falls on Yancy Street and segment in Captain America: Red, White and Blue, both for Marvel. He's also got a new issue of Dork slated for late in the summer and the Eltingville one-shot in the works. WITCHBLADE SEASON 2 ------------------- TNT has announced that season 2 of Witchblade is now set to bow June 16th with a special two hour block of programming. The season opener, "Emergence" will air at 8 pm ET on the 16th. "Destiny" follows directly at 9 pm ET the same day. Encores will air directly afterwards at 10 and 11 pm ET. From there the show movies to its regular spot on Mondays at 9 pm ET with scheduled encores on Tuesdays at 11 pm ET. Here's the entire June schedule for the returning show: Date Time Episode ==== ==== ======= Sunday, June 16th 8 pm (ET) Emergence Sunday, June 16th 9 pm (ET) Destiny Sunday, June 16th 10 pm (ET) Emergence Sunday, June 16th 11 pm (ET) Destiny Monday, June 17th 9 pm (ET) Agape Tuesday, June 18th 11pm(ET) Agape Monday, June 24th 9 pm (ET) Static Tuesday, June 25th 11 pm (ET) Static Yancy Butler returns to the starring role in this hit TV series. FROM HELL --------- The cinematic adaptation of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell will be available on DVD on May 14th. Fox Home Video is taking pre-orders for it now. The site list the following special features for the From Hell Limited Director's Edition DVD: Commentary by directors Albert and Alan Hughes 4 featurettes including HBO special "A View from Hell" 23 Deleted Scenes Alternate Ending Interactive Documentary, "Jack the Ripper: 6 Degrees of Separation" "The Making of From Hell" behind-the-scenes with the Hughes Interactive tour of Whitechapel And much, much, more Thanks to Cinescape for the lead http://www.cinescape.com SPIDER-MAN ON HBO ----------------- For a sneak peek at the upcoming Spider-Man movie check out Spider-Man: HBO First Look on the HBO pay-cable channel. The half-hour special premieres this Thursday at 8:00p.m. Encore showings are slated for Sunday, April 28 at 4 p.m.; Wednesday, May 1 at 12:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 4 at 1:45 p.m.; Sunday, May 5 at 7:30p.m. (HBO2); Monday, May 13 at 11:30a.m.(HBO2); Thursday, May 16 at 6:00pm (HBO2). STATIC SHOCK ------------ Kids' WB! welcomes "Larger Than Life" Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean in his first Kids' WB! animated guest appearance on Static Shock Saturday, April 27 (8:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT). The synthesizing episode will include the voice talents of actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Jeremiah, The Cosby Show) and rapper/actor Coolio (Gangsta's Paradise, Charmed). McLean, Warner and Coolio are among the latest celebrities to lend their voices for special episodes of top-rated animated series on the #1 broadcast network. In the episode entitled "Duped," A.J. McLean stars as himself -- dealing with screaming fans, music business bureaucracy and a meta-human who impersonates him with negative consequences. A.J. takes Adam Evans (voice of Kadeem Hardison, A Different World) -- a.k.a. Rubberband Man -- under his wing to "show him the meaning of being a singer." When record company executive Lester Biggs (Warner) takes A.J.'s advice to sign Adam to a music deal, rebel meta-human Replikon (Coolio) believes the deal should go to him instead. Using his powerful shape-shifting abilities, Replikon kidnaps A.J. and assumes his identity. This bad-boy version of A.J. changes his feelings about Adam and pushes for Replikon to get signed. With the real A.J. locked away, will Static discover the truth before Adam's career is ruined forever? "Duped" airs at 8:30 a.m. ET on the Kids WB! JUSTICE LEAGUE -------------- Next Sunday night brings part II of "Legends," an all-new episode of Justice League on Cartoon Network. During a fight with Lex Luthor, the Justice League is blasted into an alternate reality where they meet the Justice Guild of America, a group of old-fashioned comic book heroes whose exploits the Green Lantern remembers reading about when he was a kid. "Legends Part II" airs Sunday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. on Cartoon Network. Encore showings are 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. The widescreen presentation airs the same day at 10:00 p.m. +++++ From the DC Comics Online Newsletter (http://www.dccomics.com) PITTSBURGH COMICON TO HOST DC STAFF AND TALENT This coming weekend, April 26-28, DC Comics staff and talent will be in attendance at the Pittsburgh Comicon, with the DC staff represented by Bob Schreck, Group Editor — DC Universe, and Bob Wayne, Vice President — Sales & Marketing. Among the DC talent slated to attend the show are Harvey Award nominated writer Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), penciller Amanda Conner (CODENAME: KNOCKOUT), inker Wayne Faucher (IMPULSE), artist Irwin Hasen (ALL STAR COMICS), penciller Jamal Igle (GREEN LANTERN), artist and former DC Publisher Carmine Infantino (THE FLASH, BATMAN), artist Michael Kaluta, penciller Steve Lieber (DETECTIVE COMICS), penciller Scott McDaniel (BATMAN), inker Mark McKenna, artist Christopher Moeller (JLA: A LEAGUE OF ONE, LUCIFER), penciller Rags Morales (HAWKMAN), Golden Age artist Martin Nodell (GREEN LANTERN), writer/inker Jimmy Palmiotti (CODENAME: KNOCKOUT, SUPERBOY, 21 DOWN, MIDNIGHT, MASS), artist George Pérez (JLA/AVENGERS), writer Mark Schultz (SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL), penciller Val Semeiks (LOBO, DC ONE MILLION), penciller Chris Sprouse (TOM STRONG), and writer/artist Jill Thompson (THE LITTLE ENDLESS STORYBOOK). Editor Emeritus and Living Legend Julie Schwartz will be at the show as well. The convention also presents two DC-related panels: Friday's talk with artists Michael Kaluta and Carmine Infantino and Saturday's panel with Julie Schwartz. Friday night will also see the 2002 Harvey Awards dinner. In addition, Bob Wayne will host a retailer discussion at 2:20 on the convention's retailer day, Thursday, April 25. For more information on the convention, visit pittsburghcomicon.com. JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED SERIES POSTER GOES BACK TO PRESS With the DVD and video of the Justice League animated series' premiere movie hitting stores tomorrow, and Free Comic Book Day just days away, DC is pleased to offer a new printing of the JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED SERIES POSTER. This poster, which features artwork by series producer Bruce Timm, is available now (STAR14952). DC COMICS AND CONAGRA FOODS STORE BRANDS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE JUSTICE LEAGUE FRUIT SNACKS DC Comics has signed a multi-year deal with ConAgra Foods Store Brands division to manufacture Justice League fruit snacks. Hitting stores this summer, the snacks will feature the world's most popular superheroes of the hit Cartoon Network show Justice League and the top- selling DC Comics title JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES. The fruit snacks will be sold as private label goods where retailers sell the product under their own store brand label. Justice League Fruit Snacks will be sold through ConAgra Foods Store Brands' grocery retailers and mass merchandise customers. "We are looking forward to working with ConAgra Foods on Justice League Fruit Snacks," said Joel Ehrlich, Senior Vice President, Advertising and Promotions for Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Comics. "Kids and parents will love Justice League Fruit Snacks as the superheroes are the world's original and most popular crime fighting team. They are recognized around the world by fans of all ages." "We are thrilled to be launching Justice League Fruit Snacks," said George Miketa, Vice President Sales and Marketing, ConAgra Foods Store Brands. "The partnership forged with DC Comics is strategically aligned with our long-term objective of offering value-added, time tested licensed equities to our customers and consumers." The Justice League fruit snacks, shaped as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, The Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, are fortified with 100 percent of the Daily Value of Vitamin C. TITLES POSTPONED Please note that the following titles have been postponed. All orders are cancelled. GREEN ARROW #15 will be resolicited in the May Previews (Vol. XII, #5). The others will be resolicited at a later date. TOM STRONG'S TERRIFIC TALES #4 MAR020426 BATMAN/DEATHBLOW: AFTER THE FIRE #3 APR020420 GREEN ARROW #15 APR020437 BLACK SUN #1 APR020469 NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM PRESS The April 15 edition of the San Jose Mercury News includes the article "Smashing Stereotypes," in which Mike Antonucci talks to writer Devin K. Grayson about writing BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS and other projects. The article prominently features artwork by Dave Johnson, which also appears on the front page of the newspaper. The March 30 edition of the Washington Times includes a review of WONDER WOMAN: PARADISE LOST, with Joseph Szadkowski writing, "a load of splendid art and fun storytelling." Bill Radford writes about the recent relaunch of HAWKMAN in the March 31 edition of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, which runs the article with a color reproduction of the cover to HAWKMAN #1. The article includes quotes from series co-writer Geoff Johns. The April 5 edition of the Chicago Depaulia Magazine includes a review of KING DAVID, with Wil Moss calling it "a pretty accurate yet entertaining telling of the story of David." The March 25 edition of the Monroe, LA, News-Star includes the article "We're Still Going MAD," in which Bob Minzensheimer writes about the fiftieth anniversary of MAD Magazine. The article includes color artwork, as well as a sidebar profiling several of The Usual Gang of Idiots. The April 4 edition of the Erie Times-News includes an article on the fiftieth anniversary of MAD, with Kevin Cuneo calling the magazine "an American institution." The March 30 edition of the Scanton Times includes a list of "Comics Classics," in which Taylor Derenick rounds up must-read series including THE SANDMAN, WATCHMEN, PREACHER, and, for kids, JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES. NEWS FROM THE TRADE PRESS The April issue of Comic Book Marketplace features a patriotic Superman cover by Ed McGuinness, in keeping with this issue's theme. Among the covers in this issue's "Color Gallery" are SEPTEMBER 11TH Volumes 1 and 2, as well as various issues of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, ACTION COMICS, ALL STAR COMICS, BOY COMMANDOS, CAPTAIN MARVEL JR., and MASTER COMICS. This issue also includes a tribute to classic DC artist Murphy Anderson, an article about THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, and the third part of an interview with George Pérez in which he discusses his work on WONDER WOMAN. Mike Wilbur covers "Collectible Character Statues," including the GREEN LANTERN POWER RING PROP series. The "Incoming" section in the June issue of ToyFare spotlights DC Direct products including THE PROMETHEA & SOPHIE DELUXE ACTION FIGURE SET, the DC COMICS POCKET SUPER HEROES, the JUST-US LEAGUE OF STUPID HEROES action figures, and THE AUTHORITY ACTION FIGURES. The issue also includes "Toys 'R' Ross," in which Alex Ross names his five favorite toys from his own collection, which includes a 1940 Superman doll, a 12-inch Mego Superman action figure, the Mego Teen Titans action figures, and the Kenner Super Powers action figures. NEWS FROM THE INTERNET Comicon.com's Newsarama has posted a number of DC related stories, including "Why Y?," about the upcoming VERTIGO series Y — THE LAST MAN, with quotes from writer Brian K. Vaughan. Also on the site aare articles on Mike Carey's exclusive, the upcoming Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee run on BATMAN, the WildStorm miniseries GLOBAL FREQUENCY, the WildStorm ongoing AUTOMATIC KAFKA, and announcements at WonderCon on projects from Wildstorm, the DC Universe, and VERTIGO. Comic Book Resources now features an interview with Jeph Loeb on his upcoming DC projects, as well as a talk with Seth Fisher about VERTIGO POP: TOKYO! and THE FLASH: TIME FLIES. BATMAN writer Ed Brubaker contributes his thoughts on writing to "The Hot Seat." Wizard World.com now carries an article about Dave Ross, new penciller on BIRDS OF PREY. Comics Continuum includes an interview with Brian K. Vaughan about Y — THE LAST MAN, plus articles on Mike Careys' exclusive agreement, the upcoming run of BATMAN by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, and a round-up of projects announced at WonderCon. The Slush Factory has posted an interview with Paul Gulacy, who discusses his work on S.C.I.-SPY and BATMAN. Also on the site is an interview with Kyle Baker about KING DAVID. SMALLVILLE, JUSTICE LEAGUE, STATIC SHOCK AND THE ZETA PROJECT EPISODE SCHEDULES DC has been supplied with the following episode schedule for Smallville, Static Shock and The Zeta Project on the WB and the animated Justice League on the Cartoon Network. All times are Eastern and Pacific: 4/27 (8:30 am) "Duped" (Static Shock – New) 4/27 (9:30 am) "Ro's Gift" (The Zeta Project – New) 4/27 (12:30 pm) "Legends, Pt. 1" (Justice League) 4/27 (10:00 pm) "Legends, Pt. 1" (Justice League – Widescreen) 4/28 (7:00 pm) "Legends, Pt. 2" (Justice League – New) 4/30 (9:00 pm) "Drone" (Smallville – New) 5/4 (8:30 am) "Jimmy" (Static Shock – New) 5/4 (9:30 am) "Lost And Found" (The Zeta Project – New) 5/4 (12:30 pm) "Legends, Pt. 2" (Justice League) 5/4 (10:00 pm) "Legends, Pt. 2" (Justice League – Widescreen) 5/5 (7:00 pm) "War World, Pt. 1" (Justice League) Be advised that this schedule is subject to change. +++++ From Rich Johnston, THE 2001 SQUIDDY JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR, in his ALL THE RAGE Gossip Column at: http://www.SilverBulletComicBooks.com RUMOUR BARRIER "I accept that the following material is rumour and gossip, intended to entertain only. "I won't repeat the information inside as fact. I understand if I want the truth, I will go to Silver Bulletins. "I enter freely with my mind open and my blinkers off." Now, onto the rumours. Remembering Kirsty Clock Goes Round I understand that Image Comics may be setting up a new line of superhero comics. Who says you can never go back? This Has A Rumour Value Of 3 Out Of 10 Tread Lightly DC freelancers started murmuring discontent over the last couple of weeks - well, more than usual, anyway. The word on the comic creator grapevine was that a lot of titles were being axed. DC's press people denied all knowledge of anything like this, but a well-sourced word is that anything selling under 20,000 is for the chop, except for specific projects where they want to keep the talent sweet – such as Doom Patrol, for Tan Eng Huat. Warren Ellis, picking up on a number of vibes, wrote a column where he recommended the cancelling of a number of titles, and the introducing of creator-participation contracts across the board. An attempt to be seen as prescient when the titles do start to fall? Maybe, maybe not. I've heard that DC are making a move away from more creator owned or creator participation deals. Danger Girl was something that DC spent a lot of money on, paying creators in advance and then publishing the books to falling sales, only for the creators to then sell on the movie rights and game rights without DC seeing a penny. And even creator participation contracts reduce the amount of money the company makes off selling such options. This may well start happening less, not more. I heard DC are not keen to pay more for top creators, the way Marvel did – currently paying three times the equivalent DC rate for their top guys (and they all are guys), simply because of the current low sales figures unable to justify such expenditure. Sounds rather Catch 22 here - which came first, the egg or the bacon? But a variety of sources suggest DiDio may not have quite the free rein some have suggested. He can't fire people, cancel books that are on contract or radically change the creative teams. I hear from one that he's concentrating on promoting change from within but finding resistance. From another, I understand that DiDio also has a Quesada-sized bee in his bonnet about continuity in the DC Universe. His current phrase is reportedly, "You know this is all make believe, right?" When up against the Batman or Superman editorial groups, this may not go over so well. However I'm again told that for every five fights, he wins two. So he's starting more fights on the machine-gun principle - he'll miss a lot but he'll hit something. Look for DC to cancel as many non-finalised Elseworlds, Prestige Format books and Hardcover originals as they can. It appears that DC's backlist of projects "in development" has books on it which are seven years old. It currently takes the average DC pitch one and a half years to make its way from the editor's desk to the comic store with the involvement of many people pulling the project one way, then the other, with minimal impact on sales. Recent changes in the pitch process may speed things up, but not as quickly as some would like. As well as the cost-cutting on titles, it looks like more staff will go. Heidi MacDonald's recent redundancy is the first in a new wave. It's also worth remembering that she didn't rise through the ranks like the other Vertigo editors… This Has A Rumour Value Of 5 Out Of 10 Titanic Days However one rumour that's been repeated a number of times is that oft- favourite of British comics, cancel a title and merge it with another. So get ready to watch Titans and Young Justice merge, retitled New Teen Titans in the near future. This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 All The Tears That I Cried Mark Millar, when not coked up to his eyes in Australia, found time to post to the DC Authority Message Board: "I just logged on and spotted that they're doing a new Authority trade. Why is this the first I've bloody heard of this? No offence to the other guys in the book (because I love them), but this is precisely the opposite of what Wildstorm and DC promised me six months ago. The first trade was Warren's first two arcs, the next trade was Warren's last and my first and the third was supposed to be the two main arcs of my run. What the Hell is this? "Then again, they promised me nobody was going to f*ck with the rest of my run after they let Frank Quitely go to Marvel so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. "Does this mean my two four issue arcs are going to be spread over two bloody expensive trade paperbacks as Quitely suggested on the other thread? Could this run be screwed up any MORE for the fans? Thank God I work for Marvel now!" This Has A Rumour Value Of 8 Out Of 10 They Don't Know Look for a new Wildstorm title by Justin Grey, co-writer on other new Wildstorm title 21 Down, called The Resistance. I hear it's being kept quiet. Well, it was, anyway. Hmm, it's got that Authority, Planetary, Monarchy, Establishment ring to it, hasn't it? This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 Free World I hear that Wizard may be a little narked at DC. The word is DC's Marketing VP, Bob Wayne was to have given the exclusive confirmation of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee on Batman at Wizard World East convention, in Philadelpha. Except, I hear that Wizard, the magazine thought DC had previously promised this news exclusive to them (as opposed to the convention). The resulting internal kerfuffle led to DC giving the exclusive to Wondercon this week instead. This Has A Rumour Value Of 4 Out Of 10 Fairytale Of New York Although the word on the street is that Heidi MacDonald had to be escorted from the building to that very self same street, witnesses report that the entire parting was amicable. And the redundancy payment could pay for a decimal point or two of Kahn's package. However, it was noted that just as she was leaving, a sudden, violent storm arose. It's a peculiarity of DC's office building that, in strong winds, it makes a loud creaking sounds. With the sky turning black, and the building sounding like it was going to going to do a WTC impression at any second, Heidi was heard to shout, "See what happens when you mess with Heidi MacDonald? Monday the rain of frogs is coming!" We're waiting, Heidi. This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 Walking Down Madison On the Warren Ellis forum, Heidi wrote: "Rich, Michael, whoever is out there, here's my exit anecdote: A week ago yesterday, April 12th, I went out to a concert. When I came home, I realized that I had left a small clip-on lamp on the back of my bed on. Worse, in my tizzy of changing to go out, I'd left a T-shirt over the lamp. And now the t-shirt had two huge holes burned in it. So basically, I almost burned down my apartment. But I didn't. At that moment I said "Life is beautiful." But I also thought that there were two choices: either my apartment not burning up was good karma that made up for some shitty things that had already happened...or it was good karma to make up for something terrible that was GOING to happen. Well, now I know. But if I had to chose between losing my home and losing my job, I'd take the job any day, even one that I cared about as much as editing comic books. So, the way I look at it, I'm already 50/50 in the karmic balance. And the many, many words of support and friendship from everyone have actually put my karmic Q into the stratosphere. So yeah, I am already exploring other options and figuring out where I can do the most good. Thanks again. You guys are the best. Warren and Colleen, it was fun. And buy Y #1 and BIGG TIME when they come out. Those are the last things that will have my name on them, and I'm still very proud of them." Already on my pull list, Heidi. This Has A Rumour Value Of 9 Out Of 10 Can't Stop Killing You A prominent Marvel colourist was heard recently talking about Black Panther and that the entire creative team on the book had been culled. Christopher Priest did not respond to emails. This Has A Rumour Value Of 4 Out Of 10 There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis Alistair Pulling's latest comic has a Eisner nominated Mike Cary introduction and has got gay people in it. There. Alistair, that should do it. It's got an introduction by Mike Carey, and it's got gay characters in it, which means it must be controversial. This Has A Rumour Value Of 9 Out Of 10 My Affair This week I was awarded the Squiddy for Best Comics Journalist for this column and also got a mention in the New York Times. The Bristol Comic Convention leaflets also come to British comic shops, including the listing for All The Rage Live. It's on in the Little Talks Room, 1pm, Sunday. Just in time for most of you to have got over your hangovers. And I'm looking for volunteers: To spend the convention finding out stuff and reporting in. Bouncers on doors to help kick out pros who sneak in yet refuse to participate in the gossip process. Hygienic Assistants to hold a few things up at appropriate moments. Comic book professionals prepared to engage in the sordid, filthy gossip process on stage. You may disguise your identity if you wish_ Should be a fun one this... ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interview Tim O'Shea tim_jen@mindspring.com Originally run at www.orcafresh.net This interview appears here with permission. Helping Bring Some "Order" to Defenders: An ORCA Q&A with Jo Duffy By Tim O'Shea Over her diverse writing career, there have been few characters that Jo Duffy has not written. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when she teamed up with Kurt Busiek to help write THE ORDER (the new shift in direction for the ongoing DEFENDERS Marvel monthly book). Given how busy she is with various projects and deadlines, inside and outside comics, Jo was kind enough to help me out by giving a mini interview (while the questions were less, her answers were kindly plentiful). Hopefully down the road, as the new DEFENDERS direction progresses we hope to ask her even more questions, as time permits. But for now enjoy the fun answers she gave in this round. ORCA: How do you and Kurt divide up the writing chores? (And as a side note, who came up with the idea of resurrecting the old Doctor Strange mask concept?) DUFFY: Well, I must admit, this is a new kind of co-writing gig in my experience. I'm used to a pretty straightforward division of labor. One person does the plot, the other the script. Or even, each person does eleven pages from the ground up. In this case, though, Kurt had a basic frame of the storyline in mind - probably something he had come up with wwith Erik Larsen, although I don't know for sure how much input Erik did or didn't have, since I wasn't involved then,-- and they had been setting it up from day one of the regular Defenders series. As soon as I came onboard, Kurt explained what the basic story was going to be, and we talked and talked and talked about the mechanics of how things were going to happen. Then I did a basic outline... and we talked some more, and then Kurt did an expanded outline. Then we talked twice or thrice more per chapter -- Luckily, we are very good at that talking part of things! -- breaking down in detail what was going to happen on each page of each issue. Then, I write a draft of the plot... and Kurt revises it. And after the pencils come in, I write my draft of the script, and Kurt revises that. (If we work full script, I only do a single draft for the whole thing, and Kurt does one big set of revisions.) Who came up with what gets pretty blurred, because we build on each other's ideas pretty fast, and then build on each other's buildings. Kurt already had plans for the Evil Defenders, the reintroduction of previous costumes - like Strange's mask -- and the introduction of the female Order analogs - including Ardina -- before I came on board. A lot of the mechanics of How things eventually happen, Why they work (in terms of story logic), Who actually Dunnit, and a lot of the character stuff started with me. And I think we both share the blame about equally for the Chronarch and Bunnyhopper. Also, there have been a quite few rounds of talking and e-mailing along the way with Tom. Tom has epitomized my favorite type of editor to work with - he PRE-edits, with intelligent input, before we have committed a word to paper, so that he doesn't have to micro-manage as we write each issue or do damage control for unforeseen problems along the way. He catches all our mistakes on the stuff we turn in, warns us of any he sees brewing when we tell him what's coming, shepherds and traffics everything every step of the way -- with Mark Sumerak, of course -- and keeps us all in line in terms of getting the stuff in when he needs it. (Which is SO the most thankless part of an editor's job and ultimately the most vital.) That kind of editing is hugely appreciated and makes an enormous difference in how the collaboration is going to go, before the writers ever type a page. To say nothing of during and after. ORCA: As a veteran comic writer, would you say that a current comic book fan is harder to please than the audience you first faced when you entered the industry? DUFFY: Not at all. People become comics fans because they love comics. They are excited about the stories and the artwork, they look forward to the new issues, and they really want to like what you do. I do think after the sales recession of a few years ago a lot of the publishers have become increasingly more cautious and skeptical, and so have some of the critics... but never the fans. They may not like everything you do, but boy, when they like something, they really let you know. It's fantastic. ORCA: Judging from the first two DEFENDERS stories you've written, it's obvious you share Kurt's love of the characters, what is the appeal of the team (or its members) for you? DUFFY: These have been favorite characters of mine, as individuals and as a team, since I was a fan myself. Some of them are so ODD! I would NEVER say no to a chance to write The Hulk, or Dr. Strange... (and almost did write both Strange and Namor a couple of years ago, during the period when the Powers that Be up there kept commissioning series and then getting cold feet about actually publishing them.) Anyway, I just love these guys. The off-beat powers, the oddball places they can and do go, the insufferably superior personalities... even before they got all cursed! Meanwhile, Hellcat and Nighthawk are just plain fun! These are two people who LOVE being super heroes. And we had a total panic with fleshing out Papa Hagg, coming up with what would make him distinctly different from just being a short Strange clone with an accent! ORCA: Any chance you'll be taking on other titles for Marvel (or elsewhere)? In other words, what's on the horizon for 2002? DUFFY: More work for Marvel? I would not say no, but right now, since we are just a teensy bit late on The Order, I'm afraid if I tried to take anything else, they'd probably just smack me upside the head. Check back soon! Anyway, the very next thing up from me is a PowerPuff Girls Mojo Jojo chose-your-own adventure book from Scholastic... (Can you tell I like writing bad guys?) And for my pals at Claypool, some more Elvira: Mistress of the Dark stories, which are always tons o' fun to write. And some movie-type stuff after that. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] Dreams of Silver and Gold Terrence Lo terrylo@videotron.ca [After years of mylar bag imprisonment, Terrence Lo aka Terry was released into hockey loving atmosphere of his beloved (frigid, cold and icy) Montreal. Terry has pretty much coasted for the last few years while pretending to be a scholar, lover and wanna-be superhero. Now quickly approaching the end of his graduate studies, he clings to his beloved comic collection in the hope of maintaining his lost youth and sex appeal_but would settle for a complete autographed run of the Watchmen.] Whenever I think about the Silver and Golden Age of comics, not to mention my baby cousin and his tendency to devastate bags of cookies and chocolates everywhere, the very first image that comes to me are the fond memories of two little toddlers and their unique adventures. Their names: Sugar and Spike. Comic-book legend Sheldon Mayer enjoyed a long run from the 30's to the 80's at DC as an artist, writer and editor. Working in conjunction with Gardner Fox, he helped mold the early adventures of the Justice Society of America, and had a hand in the development in certain mildly famous characters such as Superman, the (golden-age) Flash, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern (now Sentinel). He also penciled and sketched horror stories, war adventures and combo genres (such as in Weird War). He even made Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a DC hero, complete with friendly elves, a well-armed weird woodchuck friend and friendly old St. Nick himself, Santa Claus. Of the DC comic greats, he was directly responsible in no small measure in the development of Joe Orlando, Gardner Fox, Julius Schwartz, Carmine Infantino and so on. But what distinguished him most of all was his love of cartooning, which can best be shown in the creation of Sugar and Spike. I was introduced to Sugar and Spike through DC's 80's experiment with pocket-sized digests, available at newsstands, convenience stores and supermarkets everywhere. Bored at the constant barrage of Archie comics and still looking for a deal (heck, 100 pages for only a 75 cents CANADIAN_.what a deal!), I picked up a Sugar and Spike digest and glanced at the first tale introducing you to their world. I was hooked by page 3, and ran off with my treasure in hand. Meet Sugar, a cute as a button blond toddler with an enormously long pony tail and sash around her waist. A clever thinker, a vengeful "woman" if scorned, a connoisseur of "eating wheels" (aka cookies) and all around sweetie, she was there to help get Spike out of the weird problems we would somehow manage to plunge into. But, she knew when to have fun, and with her quick wit and great eye for treasure (ice cream, toys, etc.), there were bound to be a few odd chances for mischief that she would co-conspire or initiate as well. Then there was Spike, a typical carrot-topped adventurer, a little bit slow on the upside but given to splashes of genius, if there was trouble with Lil'Arthur or with ancient prehistoric Dodo eggs or secret agents, he'd find a way to be in the thick of it. Of course, if it wasn't for Sugar, he'd never have known the concepts of basic science like the Gozinta Law, namely small things gozinta big things, but big things can't go into small things (unless he found a shrinking ray!). Add a few notable characters like Lil'Arthur, the 8 year old bully with the over-indulgent mom (a la Mrs. Carpman), Sugar and Spike's moms and dads, the odd visitor baby or senior citizen in their second childhoods, and especially super-genius Bernie the Brain (who pretended to be a dumb baby to hide from the US Government while inventing sentient friendly computers with built-in ice cream machines), and you had a wonderful comic full of genuinely breathtaking humour and classic nostalgia. By the by, I forgot to mention one key element that you need to know about the Sugar and Spike world: ALL babies, regardless of species, terran or alien origin, time period or simple implausible vocal inability, speak the universal language of baby jabber. The only way to lose the ability to communicate in baby jabber is to grow up and forget. I wish I can convey how much I truly enjoyed these tales of Sugar and Spike, and would love to read myself the numerous tales that were never republished. Sheldon Mayer wrote Sugar and Spike for 15 years, until poor eyesight forced him to stop drawing. Of course, without the star artist, DC was forced to cancel the series, but Mr. Mayer still continued to turn in scripts for various DC titles and even invented the floral super heroine Black Orchid. DC, realizing that Sugar and Spike still had value, reprinted a selection of the stories over 4-5 comic digests. Unfortunately, the digest project was cancelled long before any more stories could continue, and the majority of the public at large never saw the later years. Sadly, the only means to get a hold of the old tales now is to search though comic collections or peruse through ancient basements for the slightest glimpse of a blond ponytail. Sugar and Spike has now become a secret in-joke among the artists of DC. So far, the two has appeared in the background of The Legion of Super Heroes (Bernie must have made them a time machine), a Batman or two, the Crisis of Infinite Earths poster and mini-series and even Kingdom Come. It's a wonderful to honor Mr. Mayer, but it's about time that DC finally reprinted all of the stories. But in the meantime, (and the reason why I chose these two as the first subjects of my column), Sugar and Spike has been honored to some degree. In DC's golden Millennium reprint project where readers voted for the best DC comics ever, a NEW never seen Sugar and Spike story was released. DC will also reprint the very first issue of Sugar and Spike #1 to be released on May 1st (about the time you will read this) as well as 2 cute little plush 18" Sugar and Spike dolls. While the reprint will probably cost a heck of a lot more than 10 cents, it's well worth the read especially for those of you who would want to introduce your kids, brothers, sisters, nieces or nephews to comics. If you're hooked, let your store know and let's reintroduce to a whole new generation of kids, teens and adults. If anything could be called a national treasure, it's Sugar and Spike. Next time around, let's hit a bit on the original Superman, Superboy and the whole Superman Family pre-John Byrne and the silver age world of Krypton. And if anyone wants to suggest a topic or two (or angry demands for apologies, corrections and or overwhelming urges to put me in their wills), email me at terrylo@videotron.ca. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] A View From the Cheap Seats Rich Watson cptsisko318@aol.com [A graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, Rich Watson has been a self-published cartoonist since 1993, and whose output includes the superhero drama Celebrity and the romantic fable Rat: A Love Story. He currently resides in New York and gets his comics weekly from Jim Hanley's Universe and Midtown Comics. Rich can be contacted on his board http://www.revampscripts.com/board/Rich_Watson.shtml and is is featured on the website http://www.smallpresscomics.com/] Doubleheader Ticket! AMY UNBOUNDED and SPACE 2002 AMY UNBOUNDED: BELONDWEG BLOSSOMING by Rachel Hartman Pug House Press 250 E. Wynnewood Rd. #e-13 Wynnewood PA 19096 amyunbounded.com $16.95/208 pp. One of the great recent success stories of small press has taken a big leap forward into what will hopefully be a much wider market. Rachel Hartman's ashcan series about a farm girl in a medieval-age world had already drawn much praise, including winning the 1998 Ignatz Award for Best Minicomic. To help spread the word on this trade paperback edition, she wrote a fascinatingly in-depth article in this month's Sequential Tart about the process of putting the TPB together and all the ups and downs she experienced. In addition, Tart hosted a chat on the 16th in which she talked about the book. It was quite busy, and attended by, among others, Gail Simone and Lea Hernandez of the Oni mini-series KILLER PRINCESSES. Rachel said that she had gotten preorders of about 600 from Diamond, which was more than she expected, and certainly a decent beginning. She said that future AMY stories will show her getting older, and dealing with what she described as the barriers placed on women in Amy's society, and how she'll find ways around them. Rachel's writing has always had an endearing charm to it that shows through in her depictions of her characters and their relationships to each other. The world she has fashioned can be considered fantastical, but in truth it's not far removed from our own, and indeed, the fantasy elements are for the most part downplayed in what is essentially an ensemble comedy. As for the art, she takes great care in designing the costumes and architecture, which may be her greatest artistic strength. She has a fabulous eye for this level of detail, and for drawing it in a manner that, while cartoonish, is convincing and true to the world her characters inhabit. Belondweg is a mythical queen of legend which Amy studies about, and her story is a backdrop to the main story involving Amy's friend Niesta, who is forced to choose between watching her business sink or marrying a man she doesn't love to save it. Gender politics is a major theme in this story, and indeed, Rachel has called AMY a feminist book. In last week's chatroom, she made the point that the hardest part about growing up a girl is being unvalued, not just by society but by oneself, and that shows through in this story, which she approaches with a great deal of tenderness and genuine emotion. AMY UNBOUNDED has always been an entertaining and delightful book. With BELONDWEG BLOSSOMING, Rachel turns it up a notch and expands on a fully realized world with all the skill of a seasoned pro. Now has never been a better time for the rest of the comics industry to realize what was obvious for so long: that Rachel Hartman has got what it takes. A This year's edition of the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo was perhaps the biggest and most successful in its brief tenure. There was a good crowd, and an enthusiastic one, and it lasted throughout most of the day, which was very encouraging indeed. On a personal level, I had my most successful day in the three years I've been to this show, which makes me doubly excited about this show's future. This year I managed to figure out which bus goes to the Ohio State Fairgrounds, so I didn't have to bother with a taxi again, although I ended up going past it altogether anyway! There was construction going on at the entrance and I didn't recognize things as a result. Otherwise, getting to the show wasn't a hassle. At shows like these I always see old friends, and this was no exception. One in particular who I had only known online, and finally got to meet in the flesh, is RAVEN'S CHILDREN writer-artist Layla Lawlor. I've reviewed this book here in the past – basically it's a tale of a hunter-gatherer society in an Arctic environment engaged in tribal warfare. There are demigods and other supernatural goings-on in it as well. It's a very sophisticated and complex work. Layla had a nice set-up at her table: copies of her book plus photographs taken from her childhood home in Alaska, which was a major inspiration for the book's setting. She said she put them on her table as conversation-starters, and from the amount of activity I saw at her table, they must have worked. This was only the second show she's ever done; the first was the Alternative Press Expo earlier this year, and she said afterwards that she had a better day at SPACE even though APE was bigger. ASKARI HODARI's Glenn Brewer was on hand. Finances had forced him to put out issue 4 as an ashcan instead of full size. The end result isn't bad, although I thought (and I told him this) that perhaps he reduced the original artwork a bit too much! He's still planning on doing a trade paperback at some point down the road, and hopefully this time he'll get some distribution. This book is too good not to have any. Gene Day Award winner Bill Knapp was there. CEREBUS' Dave Sim, who returned to SPACE for the second year in a row, formally issued him his award in a ceremony during the show. I asked Bill if he had gotten any offers from other publishers to work on projects, and he said he hadn't received anything serious yet. He is appearing in some anthologies, though: he has a short story in Scott Mills' sci-fi book WORLDS APART, plus another in Brian Clopper's IMAGINATION ROCKET, coming out this summer. For the first time, organizer Bob Corby put together panel discussions. I didn't get to attend any of them, but from what I heard, they went over well. There was one about small press co-ops, which included current Small Press Syndicate chairman Ray Tomczak and former chairman J. Kevin Carrier; and another on the early days of self-publishing, which included Sim and Matt Feazell. In addition: I bought a lithograph from AMELIA RULES creator Jimmy Gownley, which he signed. Too cool!… There was a set-up by a new publisher, Demond Comics, in which they had a computer displaying their extremely impressive website for their kung-fu book DEMOND. Totally interactive, with plot summaries, character descriptions, links, and even a "animated" cartoon adaptation (some of it was just still images moved around a lot), they worked on the site for a year and the dedication showed_ Alex Robinson was there, along with Tony Consigilio and MOCCA organizer Kristen Siebecker, representing not only himself but Top Shelf in general. Their tables had a few books from the publisher for sale, including FROM HELL, THE SOAP LADY, THE SKETCHBOOK DIARIES, and BOX OFFICE POISON of course_ Tim Corrigan had a table there, with Larry Blake. He's settled into his new home quite nicely, from what he told me – he basically built the place himself – and currently he's doing a new zine, THESE DAYS, about his life_ More people I got to meet for the first time who I only knew either online or through the mail: HOLEY CRULLERS artist Jerry Smith, who had copies of his solo book SOUTHERN FRIED with him; artist Kip Creel; and from the Sequential Tart boards, Jen Hachigan, who made it all the way from California!… And of course, there were many other familiar faces: Pam and Nick Bliss, Suzanne Baumann, Max Ink, Sean Bieri, Mike Carroll, Tom Williams, and more who I'm probably forgetting. Bob Corby put together a terrific show this year. Next week I'll review of some of the new books I picked up at SPACE. And finally, I wanna send out best wishes for a speedy recovery to Oni Press publisher Joe Nozemack, who's recovering from surgery. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Stream of Babbling Tim O'Shea tim_jen@mindspring.com [Tim O'Shea is a contributor to Organized Readers of Comics Associated (ORCA [www.orcafresh.net]) His column appears here with permission.] What Really Makes Things Fun In last week's rundown of the Atlanta Comicon, there was one a few finer aspects that I forgot to note about the goings-on. The numerous creators and fans in attendance that I didn't get as much of a chance to talk to over the two days. For every minute I spent with a Mark Waid or a Mike Kunkel, I was missing out on getting to know the next Waid or Kunkel. Maybe it was someone like Buzz Carter, of Fantasy Comics, who was taking the time to draw another drawing for a young girl on Sunday (he'd drawn his first one for her on Saturday). Buzz was a lot of fun to talk to. His full time job is in the railroad industry, while comics he does purely for fun. He was coaxed into drawing comics again by his wife, who made him promise to always try and teach interested artists how to draw, to pass on his craft. Watching Buzz interact with the child was quite nice and made me feel proud of the industry. That child left the show feeling good about comics and Buzz left the show knowing he had another fan who appreciated his work and the time he spent with her. There's a cynicism that is sometimes prevalent in the comic book industry. I've spoken of it before, but amidst the burnout and hypercritical nature of fans and industry leaders, there is an earnestness, an eagerness. It can be seen in the faces of fans and creators as they interact, or between customer and dealer, when someone finds that one comic book that rounds out his or her collection of a certain run. That's something you can never sense through the Internet, I must concede. So if you get a chance, go to a comic book convention. In addition to sometimes cruising the net looking for articles pertaining to comic books, I sometimes I hit upon a comic book web site that actually is semi-educational. Such is the case with The Periodic Table of Comic Books (http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/index.html), produced by two University of Kentucky professors, John P. Selegue and F. James Holler. The front page of the website of course features DC's Metal Men. A rather impressive selection of comics that contain references to the various elements, the website invites visitors to "Click on an element to see a list of comic book pages involving that element. Click on a thumbnail on the list to see a full comic book page." Be sure to do so, as even I (the guy who nearly failed chemistry in high school) had a blast checking out the various elements. Another website that I should visit more often is World Famous Comics' Exploring the Golden Age with Alvin Schwartz (http://www.wfcomics.com/alvin/intro.vs). For those unaware of his work, Mr. Schwartz (as detailed in his biography at http://www.wfcomics.com/alvin/bio.vs) "...wrote his first comics for Fairy Tale Parade in 1939, his first Batman story in 1942, his first Batman newspaper strip in Aug 44 and his first Superman newspaper strip in Oct 44. Before that, he had written extensively for Shelley Mayer, then an editor at Max Gaines. He had also done a stint with Fawcett's now defunct Captain Marvel. While writing most of DC's newspaper strips between 1944 and 1952, he also went on to do Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Date With Judy, Buzzy, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion and numerous others in a long career with DC that ended in 1958." From there his career went in various interesting, successful and creative directions. I won't try to summarize the rest of his career leading up to the present in this column, as it's far too rich in detail for me to summarize adequately. Instead I urge you to check out the site and drop by his message board (Alvin Schwartz's Round Table [http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/alvin/]), it's not every day you can exchange ideas with a Golden Age writer. One more item worth mentioning this week from last week in the Hollywood Reporter (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bpihw/20020412/en_bpihw /_mutants__finds_legs_as__spider__companion). How do you attract the interest of Kevin Smith and Stan Lee fans at the same time? Well Creative Light Entertainment (an independent, vertically integrated film, television, new media and distribution company) came up with the great idea of having Kevin interview Stan. As detailed in the press release (http://www.crlight.com/pages/about/stanlee.html) announcing that the DVD of the interview was going to be released May 14 on DVD and videocassette from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. As explained in the release: "In STAN LEE'S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS, Smith acts as ... surrogate for the legion of fans who have followed Lee's career since his beginnings as a 17-year-old writer at Timely Comics, the predecessor to Marvel... Lee divulges his storied past in two separate features on the DVD: 'Creating Spider-Man' and 'Here Come the Heroes.'" "In "Creating Spider-Man," Lee gives a definitive set of answers to Smith's questions about Spider-Man, who may be Lee's most famous creation. With complete candor, Lee discusses the creator-credit controversy between him and artist Steve Ditko; Peter Parker's role as a new kind of hero - a kid with real problems to whom readers could relate; Spidey's arch-villains and true loves; and Columbia Pictures' hotly anticipated SPIDER-MAN movie." "In the program's second feature, 'Here Come the Heroes,' Lee traces his own personal history and the beginnings of his 60-plus years in the business." For me it'll be interesting to see Lee discuss Ditko, and will hopefully help bring more attention to Ditko's role in the character's creation. In addition to the previously mentioned details, the DVD also features: * Bonus Interview With Stan Lee's Wife, Joan * Bonus Story: The Never-Released "Fantastic Four" Movie * Stan Lee Recites His Original Poem, "God Woke" * Rare Stan Lee Home Movie Footage Obviously the DVD is being timed (as admitted in the press release) to capitalize on the new Spider-Man movie. Amongst all the Spidey-related material sure to hit the streets in the next few months, this is one that I'll genuinely be looking forward to seeing. Until next week, take care. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Comics Culture Shrapnel Kris Naudus Krissy80@aol.com [When not dozing off in lecture or at her computer at work, Kris Naudus runs several comic websites, works publicity for Shoujocon, writes articles for a bunch of other magazines, and seriously wonders if too much caffeine can kill you.] This and That