---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 371 6/07/2002 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: Salgood Sam ................ Tim O'Shea [6] A View From the Cheap Seats/Interview . Rich Watson [7] DVD Review ............................ John C. Snider [8] Stream of Babbling .................... Tim O'Shea [9] Graphic Novel Reviews ................. Amy Harlib [10] O'Shea's Offhand Opinions ............. Tim O'Shea [11] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [12] My View:LORELEI ....................... David LeBlanc [13] NATIONAL COMICS AWARDS UK ............. Comics 2002 [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 No sooner do I post an editorial asking people to READ the instructions in every issue and repeating them as well than do I get a request to unsubscribe from someone. You guessed it, he did not send the message to the address that would automatically unsubscribe him, he sent the ADDRESS to ME in the body of the message. A sign of the state of our lives, we don't take the time to read things and follow instructions. Every put together something and have parts left over? Heh, heh! 4:19 PM EDT, June 7, 2002 - I got to talk to Stan Lee on the phone! I usually have the WRKO radio Boston afternoon talk show on in the background. It is also syndicated online at HowieCarr.com. All of a sudden who is the next guest but Stan the Man himself! I dialed the toll free number and hoped I would get a chance before he had to go. Just before the commercial I got on and only got a chance to ask about the new DVD and VHS interview just out called Stan Lee's Monsters, Mutants and Marvels. On it he is interviewed for 90 minutes by Kevin Smith. I have not seen it yet but you can find it by going to our web site on AOL and clicking on the banner at the top of the links page. http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/link.htm Stan was very nice about it (and appreciated the chance to plug the product) and praised Kevin Smith saying he should be the one interviewing Kevin. A little ray of sunshine in a rather gloomy week! (my lawnmower died a slow death among other things.) These titles might brighten your day: CROSSGEN COMICS Crux #14, $2.95 Edge #2, $9.95 Path #3, $2.95 Ruse #8, $2.95 Sojourn Vol 1 TPB, $19.95 DC COMICS Doom Patrol #9, $2.50 Filth #1 (Of 13), $2.95 <------------Pick of the Week! Hawkman #4, $2.50 Lab Rats #3, $2.50 Legion #8, $2.50 Superboy #100, $3.50 Superman #183, $2.25 DORK STORM PRESS Nodwick #14, $2.99 IMAGE COMICS Savage Dragon #98, $2.95 MARVEL COMICS Alias #10, $2.99 Call Of Duty The Brotherhood #1 (Of 6), $2.25 Exiles #14, $2.25 New X-Men #127, $2.25 Ultimate Spider-Man #23, $2.25 NBM Boneyard Vol 1 TPB, $12.95 Cages HC Collection, $50.00 That last item is amazing. I have a copy sitting on my desk waiting for me to dive into it. At 500 pages it will take some time so let's get this issue to bed. 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:senft@worldnet.att.net FYI. Scanned, but not yet read, but no, I barely have the vaguest idea what they're talking about re Spidey: Jemas took Spider-Girl, canceled/re-wrote it into making Spidey a teen-ager e.g. the "ultimate" Spider-Man?? God bless competent journalism (pass off everything the subject says as absolute truth without bothering to do any research or fact-checking...? Mitchell June 5, 2002 The Man Who Put the Spring Back in Spidey's Web By JOYCE WADLER Sure you know Spider-Man as the teenage superhero out of Queens with the ability to dive and swoop among New York City skyscrapers on a hand-thrown web and more angst than Albert Camus. Teenage angst, of course. But consider Spidey as Bill Jemas, chief operating officer of Marvel Enterprises, found him a year and a half ago when he arrived at the company. "Spider-Man was 30 years old, married to a former model, with a job — it had nothing to do with the situation of teenage kids," Mr. Jemas says. "In one version he was 35, with a goatee and a wooden leg and a teenage daughter. I said to the writer, `Pretty soon he's going to have a prostate problem.' " Mr. Jemas, who rewrote the comic, making Spider-Man a teenager once again, starts laughing. "He was Billy Joel." GADZOOKS! What's this at Marvel? The company, which went bankrupt in 1996, appears to be in comeback mode. In April, Marvel had a 36 percent market share, compared with DC Comics, which had 23 percent, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. "The Call of Duty," a new line with a firefighter, a police officer and an emergency medical technician, goes on sale today. Much of the credit for this appears to go to Mr. Jemas, a self-deprecating wise guy in the great Marvel wise-guy tradition. Who broke with the Comics Code Authority a year ago. Who persists in referring to DC Comics as "AOL, " for AOL Time Warner, its parent company, for the sole reason, he says, grinning, that DC Comics does not like it. After he broke with the Code, the comics went to shops with "Look, kids, no Code!" on the cover. This is not to say Mr. Jemas, 44, cannot be serious. He's in the office at 6:45 so he can get out at 5:45 to be with his sons, ages 10 and 8, at home in Princeton, N.J. In the wake of Sept. 11, Marvel did "A Moment of Silence," true stories in comic format, contributing to the Twin Towers Fund. And then there's his serious salary: $505,000. ZOWIE! But now to the genesis of Comic Book Guy: Born in West Orange, N.J., to a computer programmer. He graduated from Harvard Law, becoming a tax lawyer — with a gift. "I could look at a transcript and see where the money was flowing," Mr. Jemas says. "You know that scene in `The Matrix' where Keanu Reeves looks at the matrix and sees it in encrypted code? I can look at the world and see dollar signs floating around." Next stop was the N.B.A. Its photo library consisted of slides, Mr. Jemas says. He created a digitized electronic library. Out of that came a magazine and a line of basketball playing cards and promotional partners. Get that Michael Jordan trading card into the box of Wheaties. SYNERGY! At Marvel, it's been much the same. Mr. Jemas made Joe Quesada, a highly respected artist and writer with a similar bad-boy style, editor in chief. He put Marvel comics on the Web. It's now Spider-Man on the box of Frosted Flakes. What created the break with the Code? A freedom-of-expression issue relating to an X-Force story. He pulls out the comic to illustrate. "See, here's the hero in a hot tub with two women, the lucky guy," Mr. Jemas says. "Later, he gets eviscerated." He flips the page to a disemboweled superhero. YUCK! That doesn't seem suitable for kids, Mr. Jemas is told. He agrees. It's not suitable for younger kids, he says. Since then, Marvel has made its own parental advisory code. But this was a story about violence, and the artists wanted to show it. HOW did the meeting with the Comics Code Authority go? "In a nutshell, I said, `We at Marvel are here to have fun and make money, and the Comics Code has nothing to do with either of those things.' " He sees an opportunity to take a shot at Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC, and, as happy as a kid with a slingshot, lets it rip. "Paul Levitz said — and remarkably his nose stayed the same size as he said this — that now that he is part of AOL, he has learned a lot about how Washington works and if you have an industry that is self-regulating, it is a protection against government regulation." WHAM! Now for a telephonic rebuttal from an annoyed Mr. Levitz, with a DC publicist on the line. "That would have made no sense for me to say because I have been on the board of the C.M.A.A. as a self-regulating organization for two decades," Mr. Levitz says, referring to the Comics Magazine Association of America. "Since we'd been part of AOL six months previous to that, it had nothing to do with it. I didn't have any miraculous epiphany in those six months." WHACK! Back to Mr. Jemas. "At that meeting I was widely quoted as saying, `I'm a little afraid of Sentinels, but I'm not afraid of senators.' " What are Sentinels? "The big robots who kill the X-Men." We never heard that widely quoted remark. "You live on earth. This is comics." +++++ Subj:Letter to the editor Date:6/5/02 11:56:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time From:tim_oshea@bellsouth.net Hi David: I recently saw Jane Irwin post this message (Jane is the creative force behind Vogelein) on a board I frequented, so I asked if she could pass it on to me to use in the Stream of Babbling column. As things timed out, I already had submitted my column to ORCA, plus I thought rather than adding it to my CBEM version, I could call more attention to Jane's challenge by forwarding it as a letter to the editor. For those of you who missed my review of Vogelein 2 last week, please check out CBEM 370 at http://hometown.aol.com/comicbknet/_cbem02/cbem_370.zip It's a solid and insightful read, and one that should remain on the mainstream radar. Thanks as always for the forum to voice ideas, David. Take care, Tim O'Shea www.orcafresh.net and www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane Irwin" To: tim_oshea@bellsouth.net Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 2:49 PM Subject: Plea! Tim, Here's a rerun of that plea you asked for: Hey, all. I'm not usually one to hype twice in one month, but this is a special circumstance. If I don't get my order numbers up, and fast, Diamond is within their rights to drop Vogelein from Previews - and if that happens, I'll fall below the mainstream radar. Not to slight Cold Cut - they've been great to me - but I need to get my Diamond numbers up to stay viable. Vogelein #2 hit stores on Wednesday, May 8th, and Vogelein #3 is soliciting in the May Issue of Diamond's Previews, under the publisher name of Fiery Studios. Order numbers are as follows: Issue #3: MAY022121, #2: MAR022252, #1: JAN022461. If you've been wondering about the book, now's a great time to order a copy and find out what all the fuss is about! The book's been getting some very nice press lately, including articles from Ninth Art, Johanna Draper Carlson and Greg McElhatton, not to mention four reviews and two special articles from Sequential Tart... but if you want to see for yourself, you can head over to http://www.vogelein.com/vogelein/readingroom/preview.html and see a few pages from the first 2 issues. Thanks again for all your help, Jane Irwin Fiery Studios Publisher of Vogelein fierystudios@hotmail.com http://www.vogelein.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] [TRIVIA CONTEST] **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!** IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet 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: Legion is the son of Charles Xavier. In what title did he make his first appearance? David Heller, aka LEGION (Xavier and Gabrielle Heller's love child) 1st appeared in NEW MUTANTS. Old friend and frequent contributor, Rich Henn, got it first this time. He wins Lone Wolf & Cub Vol. 21 Fragrance of Death from our sponsor. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: In what best-selling comic series does the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Chaim Rosenzweig appear? 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 KEVIN SMITH 'ACTOR' EVENT SELLS OUT TO RAISE $8000 Fundraising night benefits comic book charity LOS ANGELES, Calif., – June 4, 2002 - ACTOR (A Commitment To Our Roots), the non-profit organization dedicated to helping older comic creators in need, is pleased to announce that its May 31 fundraising event with film writer/director Kevin Smith was a rousing success. ACTOR sold out the 541-seat Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, CA for "Silent Bob Speaks: A Night With Kevin Smith" and raised over $8000 for its fund. Smith entertained the sellout crowd for over two hours with tales of his careers in movies and comics, including his upcoming film release, "Jersey Girl," and his upcoming Marvel Comics series, Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do. "That everyone had a good time would've been satisfying enough, but the fact that we raised a chunk of change for ACTOR at the same time made the whole evening a blast," Smith said. The evening's revenues were enhanced by Los Angeles' Golden Apple Comics, which sold Smith-written comics and Smith-written-and-directed DVDs in the theater lobby, with all net proceeds benefiting ACTOR. The night was also a media sensation. The Los Angeles Times made "Silent Bob Speaks: A Night With Kevin Smith" a "Best Bet" in its Calendar section, and the event was also covered by LA Weekly, The UCLA Daily Bruin, The Hollywood Reporter, Tech TV, KCRW radio and KROQ radio. About ACTOR. ACTOR (A Commitment to Our Roots) is dedicated to providing relief and support to many of the talented creators who helped found the comic book industry. Many Golden Age or Silver Age creators toiled in comics' earlier days for low pay and with a nonexistent pension plan. Today, many of these people who laid the groundwork that today's industry works on may be in financial need. Be it due to age, health, or just low salaries with no retirement plan, they may need a hand. ACTOR provides a safety net for former comic creators in need. ACTOR is dedicated to helping creators with emergency medical aid, financial support, and entrance back into paying work. ACTOR's 501 (c) (3) paperwork, making it an official non-profit organization, was approved by the federal government in February, 2001. For more information or to send donations to ACTOR please contact: ACTOR (A Commitment To Our Roots) 11301 Olympic Blvd, #587 Los Angeles, CA 90064 310 268 1530 +++++ Friends of Lulu-New York is pleased to declare June 2002 "Hilda Terry Month!" We invite celebrants to join us and Terry this month at Bluestockings women's bookstore and cafι on Tuesday, June 11, as well as at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Art Festival on Sunday, June 23. In addition, well-wishers are invited to sign an oversized birthday card for Terry at the New York City Comic Book Museum's fundraising party "Beyond the Panels II" on Saturday, June 8. See below for more details on these events. Lastly, Rich Watson will debut an in-depth interview with Terry in the June 17 installment of his online comics column "A View from The Cheap Seats." Terry was born Theresa Hilda Fellman (named for her grandmother, Tryna Hyuda Kalyika) on June 25, 1914 – the day of the Salem Fire – in neighboring Newburyport, MA. She missed by several months being the first-born girl, who she relates "would have been named Tamarra in traditional honor of the beloved queen of the Khazars, who opened the door to sanctuary for Jews fleeing the Islamic massacres in the 700s. As a consolation, I got a name starting with T, but I did get the oral history that went with the name." She's been relating that history ever since. Terry's superior age equalled her brother Moe's "superior" sex. She got to play all the boys' games, and he got to lick the spoon when the girls made fudge. By the '20s, Terry knew she was going to be a sports cartoonist. someday. But first she had to do cartoons about herself and her adolescent friends. Her comic strip Teena made its first Sunday appearance on the infamous day of December 7, 1941. Teena was the first of many teen girl strips to be drawn by women throughout the next twenty-odd years. Terry's adorable bobby soxer survived the war and, in fact, lasted until 1966. R.C. Harvey recalls, "The National Cartoonists Society had been a mens' club since its formation in 1946. It had been founded by a group of New York cartoonists who had discovered they enjoyed the pleasure of each other's company while doing chalktalks for soldiers convalescing in hospitals in the area during the World War II. One of the group, C.D. Russell (Pete the Tramp) had begun advocating that they form a cartoonists club – "but no girls," he'd say, staring at Toni Mendez, erstwhile Rockette from Radio City Music Hall, who was the cartoonists' connection to the American Theater Wing, the sponsor of the chalktalk series. Men's clubs were not at all unusual at the time. There were several (Friars, Lambs, etc.) in New York that served as models for NCS; all were vestiges of an earlier age, admittedly, but they were there. "By the fall of 1949, NCS had begun to make itself visible, chiefly by mounting exhibitions of original cartoon art in the New York vicinity and by doing chalktalks for charitable purposes--among them, that fall, a national tour to sell U.S. savings bonds. In the midst of the bond tour, NCS President Milton Caniff had received a letter from Hilda, the wife of the Society's secretary Greg d'Alessio. Terry was writing as spokesperson for several women cartoonists, who had had about all they could take of the male exclusivity upon which the Cartoonists Society had been so defiantly founded. A social club for the boys had been all right, she pointed out, but the more visible the club became as a professional association, the more damaging it was for women cartoonists to be excluded from membership. Terry presented the argument concisely, and its logic was unassailable: Gentlemen: While we are, individually, in complete sympathy with your wish to convene unhampered by the presence of women, and while we would, individually, like to continue, as far as we are concerned, the indulgence of your masculine whim, we find that the cost of your stag privilege is stagnation for us, professionally. Therefore, we appeal to you, in all fairness, to consider that: WHEREAS there is no information in the title to denote that it is exclusively a men's organization, and WHEREAS a professional organization that excludes women in this day and age is unheard of and unthought of, and WHEREAS the public is therefore left to assume, where they are interested in any cartoonist of the female sex, that said cartoonist must be excluded from your exhibitions for other reasons damaging to the cartoonist's professional prestige, we most humbly request that you either alter your title to the National Men Cartoonists Society, or confine your activities to social and private functions, or discontinue, in effect, whatever rule or practice you have which bars otherwise qualified women cartoonists to membership for purely sexual reasons. Sincerely, The Committee for Women Cartoonists Hilda Terry, temporary Chairwoman Trina Robbins adds, "Despite fifty years of women cartoonists, the NCS gave as their reason for excluding women that if women were present at meetings of the prestigious group, the men wouldn't be able to curse. After Hilda Terry's letter, it was agreed that women should be allowed to join the organization, and in fact a second woman, magazine cartoonist Barbara Shermund, was also nominated for membership. However, when Terry's and Shermund's membership came up for a vote in 1950, despite the recommendation of Flash Gordon artist Alex Raymond, chairman of the Membership Committee, who said, 'I believe that we should admit people for professional ability alone,' Terry and Shermund were blackballed. This vote prompted a major conflict within the group; several cartoonists objected to it vigorously and vociferously- among them Milton Caniff and Al Capp. The result was another vote, and this time, the two women were accepted into the organization. As soon as Terry became a member, she put forth the names of Gladys Parker and her other women cartoonist friends, thus breaking the gender barrier of the NCS." Terry's last comic strip was turned in June 25, 1964 – her 50th birthday. Past the employable age, and asked what else she could do besides draw, Terry fell back on her experience having welded radio tubes back when radio was first invented. This got her into doing engineering drawings for electronic patent applications. Drawing non- existing machinery as though it already existed required elaborate explanations for what would make them work. When the Astrodome was built, with filmed animation display, an award-winning enterprising sign salesman named Bob Roston wanted to build computer generated scoreboard in open air stadiums. He needed a cartoonist who knew about the computer. A match was made and Terry finally fulfilled her dream of becoming sports cartoonist, spending 1969 to 1986 pioneering computer generated graphics for electronic scoreboards, animating caricatures of Major League baseball stars for sports stadium around the country. In 1979, she was given an award for best animation cartoonist from the same organization that had blackballed her thirty years before, the National Cartoonists Society. Terry is still active in cartooning, teaching classes twice a week at New York's Art Students League, as well as running the 8 Henderson Place Foundation, the d'Alessios' institutionalized home overflowing with a century's accumulation of archives. She also writes on a variety of subjects, from religion to the paranormal to genealogy to the creation of a "virtual art cemetery." Terry is currently preparing CDs of her new "Babysitter's Story Book" to give out at her MoCCA birthday party. Bluestockings is an independent women's bookstore and cafeι located at 172 Allen Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. FoL-NY's "Women and Comics" series runs the second Tuesday of every month starting at 7:00PM; admission is $5. The series is designed to showcase the wide variety of women working in all aspects of comic books and comic strips to interested female readers in a positive, women-focused environment. Past speakers have included Six Chix cartoonist Isabella Bannerman, artist/writer Abby Denson, WJHC creator Jane Fisher, Oxygen.com artist Phoebe Gloeckner, DC editor Joan Hilty and writer Jennifer Moore; speakers for the remainder of 2002 include Jessica Abel, creator of Artbabe and La Perdida; Colleen Doran, award-winning creator of A Distant Soil; Rachel Hartman, Xeric-winning creator of Amy Unbounded; classic superhero artist Ramona Fradon; Simpsons inker Phyllis Novin; and award-winning fantasy writer Rachel Pollack. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Art Festival on June 23 will be held at the Puck Building at 293 Lafayette Street from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and admission is also $5; the birthday party will be held at 4:30 PM, and Hilda's birthday card will be available for signatures at the Friends of Lulu-NY table. The New York City Comic Book Museum's "Beyond the Panels II" takes place at the Dylan Hotel and NYLA Restaurant on 52 East 41st Street from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (the $35 ticket price includes food, drink and music). The NYCCBM is a supporter of FoL-NY's "Women and Comics" discussion series at Bluestockings, and has been conducting interviews with series discussion leaders as part of their year-long examination of Women in Comics. Friends of Lulu is a national nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote and encourage female readership and participation in the comic book industry. +++++ The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival scheduled for Sunday June 23 in New York City New York, New York, June 4, 2002: On Sunday, June 23, The nonprofit Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) will bring together over 200 cartoonists, publishers, art dealers, art organizations, and other professionals to showcase a vast array of their work and products for their first annual Art Festival at the Puck Building in New York City. Open to the public, the MoCCA Art Festival will unveil a wide range of comic and cartoon art from original artwork to limited edition prints, posters, three-dimensional art, graphic novels, comics, cartoons and animation. Featured Guests will include Jules Feiffer, Patrick McDonnell, Frank Miller, Jeff Smith, and hundreds of other cartoonists from New York and around the world. A number of cartoonists and publishers will debut new comic books and graphic novels and announce new projects at the MoCCA Art Festival. The MoCCA Art Festival Sunday, June 23rd, 2002 11am - 7pm The Puck Building 293 Lafayette Street, New York City Open to the public, suggested donation $5 General Information Hotline: 212-696-7945 General Information E-mail: ArtFestival@moccany.org Website: MoCCA Art Festival (http://www.moccany.org/events) JULES FEIFFER'S expansive career spans over four decades, starting with the publication of his first collection, Sick, Sick, Sick in 1958. Shortly thereafter, a cartoon based on his character Munro, from Passionella and Other Stories, won the Academy Award for Best Animation. His creative influence has been acknowledged through the years with the multi-award winning Off-Broadway play, Little Murders, the controversial film, Carnal Knowledge, a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons, and his release of several children's books. Mr. Feiffer has been a long time contributor to The New Yorker, Playboy, The New Republic, Esquire and The Nation. PATRICK MCDONNELL'S Mutts is a much-loved strip featuring the antics of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat, reminiscent of the cartoons of yesteryear. Mr. McDonnell and Mutts are winners of the National Cartoonists Society's Best Comic Strip of the Year Award, Germany's prestigious Max and Moritz Best International Comic Strip Cartoonist Award, and two Genesis Awards from The Ark Trust, a nonprofit animal rights advocacy group. Six anthologies have been published in the United States, and Mutts now appears in more than 450 newspapers and is published in more than 20 countries. FRANK MILLER has been instrumental in revitalizing the superhero genre and at the same time has become a forerunner in unconventional subject matter for the modern graphic novel. His work for Marvel Comics includes Daredevil, Wolverine, and The Amazing Spider-Man. In the mid 80's he received critical praise for penning Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (DC Comics) and Batman:Year One. Breaking away from traditional superheroes, Mr. Miller created the world of Sin City, a satirical and gritty crime series. Recently he has published 300, a fictional exploration of ancient Greece and the Persian-Greco War, and the much- anticipated sequel to the Dark Knight series, The Dark Knight Strikes Back (DK2). He has also scripted the films Robocop 2 and Robocop 3. Frank Miller's appearance at the Festival is courtesy of the nonprofit Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) First Amendment organization. JEFF SMITH is one of the most highly recognized cartoonists in the industry, having received over thirty national and international awards including: Sweden's Adamson Award, France's Alph-Art Award, Germanys Prix Vienne Award, and Spain's Premios Expocomic Award. After co- founding Character Builders Animation Studio in 1986, Mr. Smith created his unique comic book Bone, on which he continues to work today and publishes with his company Cartoon Books. His work has been translated into thirteen languages and can be found worldwide. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art was formed to promote the understanding and appreciation of comic and cartoon art as well as to detail and discuss the artistic, cultural, and historical impact of what is the world's most popular art form. Comics and cartoons have been instrumental in effecting significant dialogue on issues involving society, culture, philosophy, and politics. History has shown them to be instrumental in documenting--and interpreting--historic events and social change. Artistically, comic and cartoon art is created at the highest levels by some of the world's finest graphic illustrators. For a complete list of participating artists, sample art or for press passes, please contact Kristen Siebecker at 212-727-1014 or MOCCAaf@aol.com For more information on the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, please contact chairman Lawrence Klein at 212-254-3511 or lklein@moccany.org The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Two press parties will take place on the Saturday, June 22, prior to the Art Festival on Sunday: WHAT: Kick-Off Press Party WHEN: 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., Saturday, June 22, 2002 WHERE: 816 Broadway, 2nd floor, just South of 12th in Manhattan, across the street from Blatts Billiards. SUBWAY: 4,5,6,N,R,L to Union Square WHAT: Beer, wine and soda will be provided. Location courtesy Chris Radtke, writer of Gabbagool!. Beer courtesy Stella Artois Wine courtesy Fortant De France Wines CONTACT: Kristen at MoCCAaf@aol.com HIGHWATER 5TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY Come out and have a drink to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Highwater Books, the publisher that boasts the finest coterie of up- and-coming cartoonists in North America. Rub elbows with your favorite cartoonists, dance to sissy-rock, and get in overly long arguments about inking techniques. WHAT: Highwater Books 5th Anniversary -- Brian Ralph (Cave~In) Releases his New Xeric-Winning Book Climbing Out WHEN: Saturday, June 22, 2002, 10:00 PM WHERE: Local/RockStar/Ship Mast's Tavern (three different names, same place), South Fifth Street & Kent Avenue Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N/E corner of Williamsburg Bridge & East River SUBWAY: Take the L Train to Bedford Avenue Stop (1st stop in Brooklyn.) Head south on Bedford about 12 blocks to South 5th. Take right at South 5th, walk 3 blocks to East River. Take the J/M/Z Train to Marcy Avenue (1st stop in Brooklyn.) Head west on Broadway towards East River/Manhattan until you reach Kent. Take right and walk one block. TAXI: Take cab over the Williamsburg Bridge to Kent & South Fifth. Take first exit off Bridge, take right onto Broadway, drive towards East River/Kent and take left one block. CONTACT: Tom Devlin, Highwater Books, tom@highwaterbooks.com - http://www.highwaterbooks.com +++++ Help support the New York City Comic Book Museum! Our annual fundraiser is June 8th in Manhattan at the Dylan Hotel and Nyla Restaurant. The ticket price this year is only $35 and this includes food, beer and wine (there will also be a cash bar available like last year for those who require a special drink!) If you haven't bought tickets yet, purchase them or reserve space by June 5 or the price becomes $45 at the door. Help to make this exciting event a huge success! Guests this year will include: Jim Steranko Jim Starlin Gene Colan Carmine Infantino Joe Quesada John Cassaday Phil Jimenez And many, many more... Raffle prizes will include: DC and Marvel Portfolio reviews with either Mike Carlin or Joe Quesada! and many other great items!!! Read more about Beyond the Panels II at http://www.nyccomicbookmuseum.org/beyondthepanels2.htm Tickets can be bought in Manhattan at Midtown Comics, or purchased online through the Helping.org link on the BTPII page using a credit card! Or reservations can be made by emailing nyccbm_rsvp@hotmail.com Show your support for our mission by purchasing your ticket today! Thanks! NYCCBM www.nyccbm.org +++++ J Lo to Play Superhero 'Shrink' LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Trouble in the Bat Cave? Feeling uptight over kryptonite? Going through a secret-identify crisis? Worried that you are an exhibitionist because you enjoy stripping off your street clothes in a public phone booth? No problem. Dr. J Lo is in. Singer-actress Jennifer Lopez plans to star as a psychologist for superheroes in an upcoming film comedy titled "Shrink," which she will also help produce for Columbia Pictures, the studio said on Tuesday. Based on an Internet character created by former Marvel Comics illustrator Rob Liefeld, "Shrink" marks the first film project under Lopez's new production deal with Columbia, a unit of Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp., a studio spokesman said. The material was optioned as Columbia basks in the record-shattering box-office success of a more traditional superhero adventure, "Spider- Man," the latest in a new wave of crime fighters in tights leaping off the pages of comic books and onto the screen. "Shrink" takes a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre, with Lopez playing a former superhero who hangs up her cape for a new career as a counselor catering to the psychologically troubled Supermen and Wonder Women of the world. But things get complicated when she finds herself caught in a love triangle. Columbia also plans to include a supporting cast of readily familiar superheroes from the pages of real comic books, in the way that last year's computer-animated storybook satire "Shrek" borrowed recognizable characters from popular fairy tales. A studio spokesman described the project as in its infancy, with no script and with no director or other talent yet attached. "Spider-Man" has grossed more than $353 million so far domestically, proving again the muscular box-office potential of films based on comic crime fighters. But the last superhero spoof from a major studio, Universal Pictures' 1999 ensemble comedy "Mystery Men," was a commercial dud. Universal is a unit of Vivendi Universal SA . Still, David Guillod, who is producing "Shrink" with Lopez, Liefeld and others, told Daily Variety they see "gigantic franchise" potential in the project. Lopez, 32, is currently starring in the Columbia Pictures thriller "Enough," about a young mother fighting back against her abusive husband. +++++ BLUE MOON COMICS TACKLES SCI-FI AND HORROR IN JUNE! Infinite Tales #5 and Vault of Shadows #6 set for June, 2002. Contact Lloyd Smith, Publisher blue_moon_99@hotmail.com June 2, 2002-Blue Moon Comics Group publisher Lloyd Smith has announced that INFINITE TALES #5 and VAULT OF SHADOWS #6, Blue Moon's flagship anthology titles will go on sale the second week of June. "I'm very proud of what Blue Moon is accomplishing with our line of titles," Smith said, "and these two titles more or less epitomize what Blue Moon is all about: great comics at an affordable price by established pros and mega-talented newcomers." INFINITE TALES #5 features the return of former IMAGE character, GEMINAR by creators Terry Collins, Al Bigley, and inker Dan Schaefer. "I am definitely thrilled to be publishing GEMINAR in INFINITE TALES," declared Smith. "It's an honor to be entrusted with the fate of such an outstanding character." The ball started rolling months ago, when GEMINAR inker Schaefer approached Smith to publish a story he had done with some of his students. The story, CLOAK OF DARKNESS, saw print in Blue Moon's POWER CORPS #5. Smith says, "After we got CLOAK OF DARKNESS going, Dan asked me if I'd be interested in bringing back GEMINAR. I thought about it for a micro-second and jumped on the opportunity." The GEMINAR stories running in INFINITE TALES will be re-formatted representations of the stories appearing in IMAGE's GEMINAR 72-PAGE SPECIAL (published in July, 2002). Smith states, "After we've re- presented the original GEMINAR run, I hope Terry, Al, and Dan are happy enough with our handling of the character that they might start producing new episodes." Blue Moon will run back-cover ads with information on ordering autographed copies of the IMAGE edition. In addition to GEMINAR, I.T. #5 will also feature Jesse Landrum's SPACE PILOT in "The Planet Watchers"; RESONANCE by Darrell Goza and Mark Alfred; and a short piece, Jon Gilbert and Seppo Makinen's "Messages Among the Stars". INFINITE TALES #5 is a 36 page Digest Format comic with color covers and B&W interiors. Cover price is $1.75. VAULT OF SHADOWS #6 introduces an outstanding new German artist to North American audiences, Philipp Nuendorf. Nuendorf is handling the art chores on writer Caleb Monroe's "Prince Charming". Smith states, "'Prince Charming' is more like a strip that would appear in EPIC ILLUSTRATED or HEAVY METAL. I think fans will be pleasantly surprised. It's still all-ages--or at worst, "PG"--but it's darker, more edgy than our usual fare." Not only that, but artist Nuendorf actually painted the story in color. "We had to gray-scale it for the print version," Smith explains, "but we're also preparing a color version for our website. And yes, fans will be able to view the story in color FOR FREE." Blue Moon will announce the release date for the online version of "Prince Charming" within the next few weeks. Also in VAULT OF SHADOWS #6: Michael Vance (SUSPENDED ANIMATION, HOLIDAY OUT) has written a new TALES OF THE HOLIDAY OUT episode, "Where Bright Angel Feet Have Trod", with art by Chas Smith; TIGRESS '47 by Charles Dougherty and Company; and the latest installment of Jon Gilbert and David Vance's SOLOMON WYRD. VAULT OF SHADOWS #6 is a 40 page Digest Format comic with color covers and B&W interiors. Cover price is $1.75 For ordering information, contact Lloyd Smith at blue_moon_99@hotmail.com For cover art previews and more information on the Blue Moon Comics Group visit the Blue Moon Comics Supersite at http://bluemooncomics.tsx.org Lloyd Smith, Publisher Blue Moon Comics Wanna know what's going on at BLUE MOON COMICS? Check out our website at: http://bluemooncomics.tsx.org As good as the comics your mom threw out! +++++ THE MEDIA HEARS THE CALL OF DUTY! Hey, True Believer! Today Marvel scored a "Big Apple Trifecta" when The New York Daily News, The New York Post and The New York Times all ran full-page feature articles -- with full-color art -- on The House's THE CALL OF DUTY titles. The gang in the Bullpen also heard that the Associated Press has picked up the story, so -- as THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 goes on sale this Wednesday -- True Believers across the nation are advised to be on the lookout for articles to appear in their local newspapers. (And we'll also remind retailers that they can increase their orders for THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #2 until June 13th and issues of THE CALL OF DUTY: THE PRECINCT #1 until June 20th). New York Daily News story: http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-06-03/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-152993.asp New York Post story: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/49422.htm New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/03/business/media/03COMI.html?8hpib THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 AN INSTANT SELL-OUT! MARVEL GOES BACK TO PRESS! Due to a mainstream media blitz -- and responding to the hundreds of retailers who are reporting an instant sell-out -- Marvel is reprinting THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 in the affordable MARVEL MUST HAVE format. THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 - THE MARVEL MUST HAVE will be a 96-page one-shot priced at $2.99. The action-packed volume will reprint the entire 48-page story from THE BROTHERHOOD #1 (by writer Chuck Austen and penciler David Finch), and -- for only 74 cents more than the cost of that issue --- will also include DAREDEVIL #32 and DAREDEVIL #33 (in which writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev "out" Matt Murdock's costumed identity). "Retailers will notice that previous MARVEL MUST HAVE volumes were $3.99, but we've slashed the price by a dollar here," said Marvel Managing Editor David Bogart. "We want retailers to be able to get this issue into as many hands as possible. Thanks to all the media coverage, we all have a great opportunity to reach new readers, and we're doing all we can to help retailers do just that." The one-shot, currently available for order through Diamond Comics Distributors, will go on sale in Direct Market comic shops on Wednesday, June 26th. THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD is the first of three mini-series that spotlights "real" heroes ρ firefighters, police officers, and the EMS ρ who put their lives on the line to protect humanity. In addition to it's first issue sell-out, THE BROTHERHOOD was read by over 40,000 people online at Marvel.com as a free Marvel dotComic, a readership that is roughly double that of DC's Batman. As they experienced with HEROES, MOMENT OF SILENCE and the recent SPIDER-MAN frenzy, retailers are advised to anticipate increased consumer interest in all three THE CALL OF DUTY mini-series (THE BROTHERHOOD, THE PRECINCT and THE WAGON). An avalanche of mainstream media outlets -- including The Today Show, The New York Times, The Chicago Sun Times, USA Today, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, Fox, E! Entertainment, CNBC, MSNBC, CBS and the Associated Press -- continue to cover this innovative launch, driving huge numbers of the curious into stores across North America. "We have had several media outlets in our store today, including Reuters and CNN," stated Gerry Gladston, of New York City's Mid Town Comics. "Sales are absolutely through the roof. We are getting people in off the street in droves, including firefighters and people who wouldn't normally stop in to buy comics." "We are being besieged by calls from the press: TV, radio, newspapers, you name it," added Henry Scagnoli, of Massachusetts's New England Comics. "We are sold out of THE BROTHERHOOD #1 already. I told my people to order tons more, but they didn't listen." "We have no copies left! They were gone in a few hours this morning," wailed Chris Highberg, of Texas's Lone Star Comics. "People were lined up outside well before the doors opened. Many of them I have never seen in the store before. We can definitely use that MARVEL MUST HAVE ." "We had to limit people's purchase to one or two copies," explained Joel Querubin, of Illinois's Graham Crackers Comics. "Customers were coming in attempting to buy bags of them. We sold out immediately. They're gone! And we have so many people in our store who aren't regular customers!" "We're completely sold out," echoed Greg Buls, of Arizona's Bulldog Collectibles. "I'm very glad to hear that this issue will re-appear as a MARVEL MUST HAVE with the new DAREDEVIL story-arc." "We were definitely caught off-guard on this one," admitted Demetrius Exarhakos, of Canada's Distribution Universe. "We were absolutely sold out within hours of it hitting the shelves. It sold well above our expectations. Thanks for the heads up on the MARVEL MUST HAVE printing!" "We sold out in a matter of hours," revealed Vinny Necco of New York City's Jim Hanley's Universe. "We limited everyone to one copy per person. People were lined up at our doors for our noon opening, and the comics were gone by 3:00. Thanks for doing the MARVEL MUST HAVE." "We have seen huge sales, which is amazing as this title doesn't carry a previously known 'super-hero' brand name," marveled Will Moulton, of Colorado's Mile High Comics. "We are sold out in most of our locations already! Bring on the MARVEL MUST HAVE!" Retailers are encouraged to call their Diamond Representative today to order THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 - THE MARVEL MUST HAVE EDITION (using the Diamond Order Code of MAYO25027D). Retailers are also reminded that THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #2 goes on sale July 3rd (with an Order Cut-Off Date of June 13th), that THE CALL OF DUTY: THE PRECINCT #1 goes on sale July 10th (with an Order Cut-Off Date of June 20th), and that THE CALL OF DUTY: THE WAGON #1 goes on sale August 21st (with an Order Cut-Off Date of August 1st). Diamond customers can contact Diamond by phone at 800-45-COMIC, by fax at 800-329-2878 or 410-560-3875, or e-mail at reorders@diamondcomics.com. Orders may also be placed online at: http://retailer.diamondcomics.com/main/reorders.asp 'Nuff Said! Bill Rosemann Marketing Communications Manager Marvel Comics +++++ From the SPLASH PAGE of Comicon.com at: http://www.comicon.com/splash/ QUEEN HONORS 'FOOTROT'!! June 3: Among the actors, artists, musicians, and scholars mathematician recognized by Britian's Queen in honor of her birthday and Golden Jubilee is Murray Ball, the 63 year old cartoonist for FOOTROT FLATS. The NEW ZEALAND HERALD is reporting: "Murray Ball's Footrot Flats, starring black-singleted, gumboot-wearing Wal Footrot and his ever- optimistic companion Dog, was syndicated in newspapers worldwide. About six million copies of the 27 books have been sold and the 1986 movie Footrot Flats - A Dog's Tale remains a New Zealand classic." The HERALD said: "Incidents on Ball's own farm in Gisborne found expression through Wal, Dog, Cooch, Horse, Aunt Dolly and the rest of the Footrot Flats cast. They made their debut in Wellington's Evening Post in 1976. "A lot of the things I draw actually happened to me and were quite painful," said Ball. "It's only hindsight that makes it possible to laugh." +++++ From the Comics Continuum at http://www.comicscontinuum.com/: JACK STAFF AT IMAGE COMICS Image Comics publisher and vice-president VP Jim Valentino announced Friday at the Comics 2002 Festival in Bristol, England, that Paul Grist's black-and-white independent series Jack Staff is moving to Image. According to Valentino, the title will be relaunched in January 2003 as a new ongoing series -- in full color. Originally published by Grist's own Dancing Elephant Press, Jack Staff uses a loose anthology format to tell the tales of a unique group of characters, comprised of Tom Tom the Robot Man, an enigmatic group of secret agents called Q, and Becky Burdock, Vampire Reporter. Linking all these stories together is the ongoing mystery created by the return of Jack Staff - Britain's greatest hero. "We're absolutely delighted that Paul Grist has chosen to make Jack Staff part of the Image line," Valentino said. "This is one of the freshest takes on superheroes I've seen in some time -- witty, intelligently written and overflowing with so much enthusiasm that it's downright contagious." Jack Staff debuted in April, 2000, but while Grist's imagination and distinctive art style won rave reviews, the book has frequently been overlooked by fans and retailers alike. "It's been my experience that many readers don't even know Jack Staff exists," said Image Director of Marketing Eric Stephenson. "I started picking up Jack Staff myself because I was already following Paul's other series, Kane, but most readers haven't been exposed to Paul or his work. "So many comics come out every month that even gems like Jack Staff and Kane can get lost in the shuffle, but it's our hope that bringing the book to Image will raise readers' awareness of this genuinely gifted creator." With issue eight and a recent trade paperback collection, Yesterday's Heroes (collecting Jack Staff #1-4), available in shops now, Grist plans to wrap up the current series with Jack Staff #12. "Over the next four issues, I'm going to be telling the story of Charlie Raven, the greatest escapologist of the Victorian Age," Grist said. "We'll also be looking at the rather murky past of Q agent Ben Kulmer, and revealing that Jack Staff is a little older than people have realized. "This all sets the scene for (tah dah!) the all-new all colour series, which will kick off with a bang as I'm bringing back probably the single most popular character in the series, Tom Tom the Robot Man." +++++ From Newsarama at http://www.comicon.com/Newsarama/ Winner of the 2001 Squiddy - Best General Comics Web Site COMICS & THE 'SPIDEY' DVD If you asked Marvel, they'd tell you they've been prepared to take advantage of the record-setting success of the Spider-Man movie for over a year now (since hiring Paul Jenkins and then J. Michael Straczynski), though the publisher could only do such much in terms of trying to translate moviegoers into comic book readers. But later this year, they'll have an opportunity to try to turn that trick in a more direct fashion. According to the publisher, currents plans for the Spider-Man DVD – which will likely be a two-disc DVD released late this year in time of the gift-giving season – involve the inclusion of several Spider-Man 'dotComics'. "Plans at this stage call for the inclusion of Ultimate Spider-Man #22 (which almost reads as a sequel to the Spidey movie), Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44 (the 1st chapter in the new Green Goblin story arc) and Spider-Man: Blue #1 (an acclaimed look at a classic period in Peter's life) as dotComics on the Spider-Man DVD," a Marvel spokesperson told Newsarama. "Each dotComic shows the mainstream audience the breadth of storytelling skills currently found in the Spider-books - and will also include special subscription ads which we hope will convert movie fans into new comic book readers. "We're also exploring the possibility of including the toll-free Comic Book Shop Locator number, because as we all know, once you get a taste (whether through free dotComics, trade paperbacks, or discounted subscriptions), readers eventually want to explore the wider Marvel Universe every month through trips to the local comics shop." And that isn't the only comic book currently planned to be on the DVD. Columbia Tri-Star has arranged their own 'dotComic' - an original 10- page story written by Brian Bendis and illustrated by Terry Dodson that takes place after the movie but before the beginning of the MTV Spider- Man animated series based on the movie 'continuity' that debuts late this year … "Half action/half drama, it bridges Peter and MJ's relationship a little from the movie to where we need them to be in the series," explained Bendis, who is a writer for the animated series as well as an executive producer. "A nice little talk … and as for the action - some nice Spidey fun hopefully making the most our of Terry's amazing abilities and the medium to brainwash even more people to get to a comic book store. "This is a short story that will probably get into more hands than Ultimate Spider-Man #1 did and it was an honor to be asked. Nice gig for a DVD freak like myself." The art will be in the 'movie adaptation' style, featuring likenesses of the film's stars. Dodson reports he did about 15 original sketches featuring all the movie characters for the menus of the 2nd disc of the two-disc set. MAHFOOD JOINS IMAGE Fresh off the recent signings of the independent titles Hammer of the Gods by Mike Oeming, Paul Grist's Jack Staff and Matthew Cashel and Jeremy Haun's Paradigm, Image Comics has confirmed for Newsarama that another indy creator has joined their ranks, this time writer/artist Jim (Clerks, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9) Mahfood. Mahfood's deal with Image starts this September with the release of the Stupid Comics Vol. 2 one-shot, and then continues later this year with a new Grrl Scouts mini-series. "I'm happy to say that Image will be the new home for all my '40oz', creator-owned work," Mahfood told Newsarama. "This includes Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, Zombie Kid, and Smoke Dog." Mahfood said he doesn't know how long the deal will last, but said it everything goes smoothly with Image – and he's expecting it will – he doesn't see any reason why he would leave_ "I've been fortunate enough to be able to work with a wide variety of publishers since I started working in the biz five years ago," replied the creator, asked why he chose Image. "I've worked with Oni, Dark Horse, Caliber, Marvel, DC, Bongo, the list goes on. Image was one of the few companies I've never done any work with and I wanted to see what it would be like to get something going with them. They're really into the work I'm doing; they're excited about it. I think they can really promote the hell out of what I'm doing and let people know what's going on with my books." As mentioned, Mahfood's first project through Image will be a new 32- collection of his Stupid Comics newspaper strips in September "This is the monthly comic I do that is run in several different underground papers and magazines throughout the country. The strips are my way of poking fun and satirizing whatever I want, from pop culture to politics, to the entertainment industry, to religion, sex, relationships, music culture, the comics biz, TV, etc. "Vol. 2 picks up where the last collection left off, collecting all the strips from early 2000 to the present. I've also finished up eight pages of brand new material. I'm really proud of the strips in this collection. Hopefully, people will get a good laugh out of them and be entertained at the same time. "Next up will be a new Grrl Scouts four-issue mini-series. It's still in the planning stages so I don't wanna say too much about it. I will say that it takes place months after the first series. The Grrls are having to lay low after taking out the evil Nykee corporation. They all decide to get 'normal' jobs and survive by any means they can. It will be the usual mix of underground hip hop culture, graffiti art, shit talking, and some new stuff thrown in. Both projects will be published in black & white, though Mahfood added there will be "sweet-looking" grey-tones added to Grrl Scouts. "I decided on black and white cause most of the mainstream gigs I've drawn in the last year have all been in color. I've been itching to get back into doing some underground, black and white stuff. I think that's what most of my fans prefer to see anyway." "I have a lot of ideas jotted down in sketchbooks that I would love to do at Image," Mahfood concluded, asked about other possible projects at Image. "Hopefully, I will get a chance to do them. "As far as other gigs go, I just finished doing all the character design work for the new Tony Hawk animated cartoon, Tony Hawk's Feasters. Mainframe is the animation company putting it out and they're still looking for a network to pick it up. Also, I just got an optioning deal with Disney for a kid's cartoon concept I came up with. I can't really say anything about it though." Readers looking for more information on the creator and his work can visit Mahfood's website at www.40ozcomics.com Asked about the recent flurry of activity signing independent creators, Image's Jim Valentino told us there is no design to the moves, nor is it any sort of reaction to recent departures from Image [like Dreamwave and Archangel Studios] or creators signing exclusively with other publishers like DC and Marvel. Just "fortuitous circumstance", said Valentino. "These things just sort of seem to get bunched together somehow or another … synchronicity? All of these are great creators that we have admired for quite a while. All of their books are quite different one from the other and all have come to us under different circumstances. People come, people go. We are always in negotiations with various creators. Some of those negotiations pan out and we make an announcement, some don't. It's the nature of Image just the weird way things work here, I guess. It always has been, it always will be … and we wouldn't have it any other way...or would we? "Coincidentally, these things seem to happen in waves _when it rains, it pours." "Various creators have signed exclusives with Marvel and DC over the past ten years, just as various creators have brought properties to Image or departed from Image. It's the nature of the business," added Image's Eric Stephenson. "Is it a coincidence that new creators come in as others depart? In terms of timing, maybe, but in many cases, we've been working to bring people like Paul Grist for a considerable amount of time. Jim, Erik [Larsen] and I were fans of the book and we pursued him, believing that we could raise the level of visibility of a book that really deserved to be getting more attention. "In other instances, an opportunity presents itself and we take it, which is very much what happened with Mike Oeming and Hammer of the Gods. Mike decided he wanted to keep his creator-owned material under a single banner and we were more than happy to accommodate him. Similar situation with Jim Mahfood. He came to us with a project and all we did was what any reasonably-intelligent person does when someone as talented as Jim shows up at the door with a project in hand: We welcomed him in." +++++ From the DC Comics Online Newsletter at http://www.dccomics.com DAVE GIBBONS BRINGS THE ORIGINALS TO VERTIGO Acclaimed artist and writer Dave Gibbons comes to VERTIGO with THE ORIGINALS, an original, 160-page hardcover graphic novel in black and white that he will write and illustrate for 2003. Although Gibbons has, as he puts it, "drawn a warehouseful of comics over the years and written a small hutful," THE ORIGINALS is his first major project as a writer/artist. "I've been lucky enough to collaborate with some of the best creators in comics, from Alan Moore and Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Steve Rude. It's hard to turn away from projects with the likes of them to concentrate on collaborating with, well, myself!" says Gibbons. Once Gibbons hit upon the subject matter of THE ORIGINALS, he knew that he had found the perfect vehicle for his talents and passions. "If I was going to spend a year or more on a single project, it was going to have to be something I had a real emotional investment in, something that related to the real world I've lived in. Not a science fiction story, although THE ORIGINALS is not set in mundane reality. Not a tedious real-life autobiography or a thinly disguised philosophical treatise, but a piece that communicated aspects of life that had been overpoweringly important to me when I was growing up." In THE ORIGINALS, Gibbons creates a culture that is as convincing and tangible as the one we live in, but dramatically skewed and surreal. The attention to detail that characterizes his work are being brought to bear on both story and art, as are his storytelling and design skills. "Just as Dave did with WATCHMEN, he is creating a distinctive world and art style for THE ORIGINALS," says Karen Berger, VP — Executive Editor, VERTIGO. "Dave has already proven himself a writer to be reckoned with, and he's overdue to create a body of work all his own. THE ORIGINALS marks the beginning of that body of work." "I wanted to come up with a visual style and presentation that are unique to THE ORIGINALS and I think I've succeeded," adds Gibbons. "Actually, I'm having such a great time working on this that I really don't know why I waited so long!" "EYE OF THE STORM" DEBUT ISSUES TO FEATURE VARIANT COVERS In the coming months, the debut issues of WildStorm's "Eye of the Storm" titles will reach comic book stores with variant covers. These newly-added variant covers will be by the same artists who provide each title's originally announced covers, with the exception of POINT BLANK, which sports a variant cover by interior artist Colin Wilson (with the regular cover by Simon Bisley). The variant- and original-cover editions will each constitute 50% of all orders on these issues. The following "Eye of the Storm" titles are available for advance reorder now: STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #1 (MAY020255), written by Micah Ian Wright, with art and covers by Whilce Portacio and Richard Friend, in stores on June 12. AUTOMATIC KAFKA #1 (MAY020247), written by Joe Casey, with art and covers by Ashley Wood, in stores on June 19. The following "Eye of the Storm" titles will be solicited in the June issue of Previews (Volume XII #6): POINT BLANK #1, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Colin Wilson, one cover each by Simon Bisley and Wilson, scheduled to be in stores on August 14. WILDCATS 3.0 #1, written by Joe Casey with art and covers by Dustin Nguyen, scheduled to be in stores on August 28. The following "Eye of the Storm" title will be solicited in the July issue of Previews (Volume XII #8) (note: this is a resolicitation): BLACK SUN #1, written by Marc Andreyko, with art and covers by Trevor Scott, scheduled to reach stores on September 18. "We're all very excited about the "Eye of the Storm" launch," says WildStorm group editor Scott Dunbier, "and we're trying to make it as intriguing to the readers as possible. We see this as a way to help generate buzz about the projects." DC Posse represents at Comics 2002 Comics 2002 was held in Bristol U.K. June 1-2. The site of the convention was the lovely and historic "Old Station" of Bristol, the oldest surviving railway terminus in the world, which is currently being converted into the British Commonwealth and Empire Museum. The festival featured panels, signings, a charity auction, and The 5th National Comics Awards. DC COMICS ANNOUNCES NEW RELEASE DATE FOR DK2 #3 DC Comics announces that the third and final issue of THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN! will have an in-store date of July 31.  DC will take order adjustments on this issue from retailers "We realize retailers and readers have been anxious for this issue and for the news of its release," said Bob Wayne, DC's Vice President - Sales and Marketing. "Having read issue #3 myself, I can attest to its quality and to the level of satisfaction people will have on the conclusion of this groundbreaking story." "Good things take time," said Bob Schreck, DC Group Editor. "We didn't anticipate such a delay when we started out and thank everyone for their patience. I am confident it will be well worth the wait." Retailers may make order adjustments through Diamond Comic Distributors beginning on June 19 until June 28. DC NEWS 6/07/02 THE JOKE'S NOT OVER: DC OVERSHIPS MAD STAR WARS ISSUE IN JUNE! Milking the gag for all it's worth, DC Comics follows May's overship of MAD Magazine #418 with a free overship of MAD #419 (APR020498). The issue is scheduled to arrive in comics specialty shops on June 12 in quantities of four times retailers' initial orders. This issue features two variant covers, one illustrated by Roberto Parada and one by Mark Stutzman (each marked "1 of 2"). Inside is a special Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones section including: "Anakin Skywalker: The High School Years," written by Kenny Byerly with art by Mort Drucker "Missing Dialogue from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones," a fumetti feature with stills from the new movie A special Star Wars- inspired "Spy vs. Spy" written and illustrated by Peter Kuper "Who's Who in the Crowd in the New Star Wars Senate Scene," written by Dan Levin & Mike Martone, with art by Angelo Torres "Startling Similarities Between Star Wars and the War on Terrorism," written by Greg Leitman with art by Hermann Mejia Plus even more Star Wars stuff by the Usual Gang of Idiots. "We're not really sure why we're doing this overship," says Vince Letterio, DC's Manager — Direct Sales. "I mean, Star Wars is great, but is it popular enough to make people want to read MAD?" GREEN LANTERN HONORED BY GLAAD On June 1, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation named GREEN LANTERN "Outstanding Comic Book" in its 13th annual Media Awards Ceremony. We congratulate the GREEN LANTERN creative team of writer Judd Winick and artists Dale Eaglesham and Rodney Ramos on their achievement. CHRONICLE BOOKS SANDMAN GIFT SETS SOLICITED IN JUNE PREVIEWS Chronicle Books continues to build its line of Sandman-themed stationery/gift items with two wire-bound journals and a boxed set of postcards. These items are solicited in "Collectibles & Novelties" section of the June issue of Previews (Volume XII #6). The Sandman Dream Journal (JUN023373) features cover art by Yoshitaka Amano from THE SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS and interior art by P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Charles Vess, and Mike Dringenberg. The Sandman Death Journal (JUN023372) features cover art by Chris Bachalo and interior art by Chris Bachalo and Brian Bolland. Each journal contains 128 lined pages. These items are scheduled to be in stores on August 28 and are priced at $9.95. The Sandman Postcard Set (JUN023374) contains 40 postcards featuring art by Dave McKean, Chris Bachalo, Jon J Muth, Moebius, Yoshitaka Amano, Jill Thompson, Michael Zulli, Bill Sienkiewicz, Teddy Kristiansen, Matt Wagner, George Pratt, Kent Williams, Mike Dringenberg, Shawn McManus, and more, presented in a deluxe foil- stamped box. This item is scheduled to arrive in stores on August 28 with a price of $15.95. Chronicle Books' 2003 Sandman: King of Dreams wall calendar, solicited in the April Previews (APR022845), priced at $12.95, is still available for advance reorder. SOLD OUT! Please note that the following items are now sold out at DC: JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE WITH CHRIS BACHALO CREATING CATWOMAN (STAR15747) SOLD OUT DC DIRECT ACTION FIGURES BACK IN STOCK! After being sold out for months, DC Direct's popular GREEN LANTERN JOHN STEWART and TOMAR RE ACTION FIGURES are available through a new production run. These figures are available for reorder now: GREEN LANTERN JOHN STEWART ACTION FIGURE (STAR15028) (Note: This is an alternate version of the original action figure in a classic Green Lantern uniform.) GREEN LANTERN TOMAR RE ACTION FIGURE (STAR15064) This marks the beginning of a series of DC Direct action figure rereleases which will continue with new production runs of GREEN ARROW, GOLDEN AGE GREEN LANTERN, GREEN LANTERN KYLE RAYNER, and SHAZAM! ACTION FIGURES. All of these are scheduled to be in stores on September 11 and will be solicited in the July issue of Previews (Volume XII, #7). NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM PRESS The May 1 issue of Booklist includes a blurb on the Watson-Guptill publication The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics, which Francisca Goldsmith calls, "A valuable book for librarians and teachers as well as art students and comics fans." NEWS FROM THE TRADE PRESS Comic Shop News #780 includes an article on the passing of DC Comics writer Robert Kanigher. The issue also features highlights from DC's announcements at Wizard World East, including the WONDER WOMAN LOST ANNUAL, the summer JLA event, the SUPERMAN: OUR WORLDS AT WAR TPs, and the GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW miniseries. June "Hot Picks" include 100% #1, the continuing chapters of "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," THE FILTH #1, GREEN LANTERN: BRIGHTEST DAY, BLACKEST NIGHT, JLA: DESTINY #1, JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE WITH WALTER SIMONSON CREATING THE SANDMAN, and the WONDER WOMAN: THE HIKETEIA HC. Among this issue's "Cool Collections" are 100 BULLETS: A FOREGONE TOMORROW, GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES Volume 4, the JONNY DOUBLE TP, the JSA: DARKNESS FALLS TP, the JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE CREATING THE DC UNIVERSE Volume 1 TP, and WONDER WOMAN Archives Volume 3. "Molten Merchandise" includes the ALFRED E. NEUMAN AS GREEN ARROW and ROBIN ACTION FIGURES, the CATWOMAN ANIMATED STATUE, the GREEN ARROW SINESTRO POWER RING PROP, and the MAGIC & MYSTERY: MORDRU, PHANTOM STRANGER, and TIM HUNTER ACTION FIGURES. The "News & Notes" section of the July Wizard starts with an article on the WildStorm THUNDERCATS projects, with quotes from WildStorm Editorial Director Jim Lee and artist Ed McGuinness. The upcoming miniseries FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE is covered in the section as well, along with Bob Harras's move to WildStorm as an editor, THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS HC, and the SMALLVILLE one-shot. "News Flashes" covers IN THE SHADOW OF EDGAR ALLEN POE the collected editions ANIMAL MAN: ORIGIN OF SPECIES and CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS, and the GOTHAM GIRLS miniseries. The "Heat Index" includes SUPERMAN #182 and the DVD release of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. Green Arrow faces Arwyn in this month's "Last Man Standing." Readers also get their "First Look" at JLA/AVENGERS this issue, with two two- page spreads from the miniseries. "First Knight" provides a look at Jim Lee's sketches of Batman done in preparation for his upcoming run on the series. Alan Moore talks about his work on America's Best Comics in this issue as well. The "2002 Summer Preview" spotlights numerous DC projects including BATGIRL, the BATMAN books, BIRDS OF PREY, CATWOMAN, THE FLASH, GEN13, GREEN ARROW, HAWKMAN, HELLBLAZER, JLA, JSA, THE LEGION, NIGHTWING, 100 BULLETS, OUT THERE, ROBIN, the SUPERMAN books, WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN: THE HIKETEIA, AMERICAN CENTURY, CODENAME: KNOCKOUT, DOOM PATROL, THE FILTH, GREEN LANTERN, HARLEY QUINN, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN II, 100%, POWER COMPANY, PROMETHEA, THE TITANS, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, and YOUNG JUSTICE. Creators profiled in the preview include John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Geoff Johns, and Brad Meltzer. This issue's "Stuff" section highlights THE GOLDEN AGE SPECTRE and DR. FATE BY ALEX ROSS POSTERS, along with Kemco's Batman: Dark Tomorrow, TDK Interactive's Aquaman: King of Atlantis and EA's Freedom Force videogames. This month's "Hot 10 Comics" includes HAWKMAN #1 (at #5 on the list) and BIRDS OF PREY #41 (at #7). 100 BULLETS illustrator Eduardo Risso is profiled in "On the Rise." The June 14 edition of Comics Buyer's Guide (#1491) features a cover story on the passing of MAD artist Dave Berg. Inside, "Current Comics" includes the article "An Eighties Summer," which spotlights the THUNDERCATS projects. NEWS FROM THE INTERNET Snap Judgments has posted a review of the HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT HC, with Randy Lander "Milligan manages to get the reader into this confused, almost surreal viewpoint without losing the focus of the story… [Javier] Pulido's artwork here is some of the best I've seen from him. Highly recommended." Action-Figure has posted a story on the wave of Wiz Kids DC Heroclix figures coming to stores in September. Action Figure Times now features articles on the Wiz Kids DC Heroclix figures, along with stories on the Subway Justice League toys and reviews of Kemco's Batman: Dark Tomorrow and TDK Interactive's Aquaman: King of Atlantis. The June edition of Sequential Tart includes an interview with VERTIGO POP: TOKYO! And THE FLASH: TIME FLIES artist Seth Fisher. Newsarama has posted stories on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS: DYNAMO STATUE, along with a story on Dave Gibbons' VERTIGO graphic novel THE ORIGINALS. Also at the site is an interview with writer Ed Brubaker about his WildStorm projects POINT BLANK and SLEEPER. Comics Continuum has posted features on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS: DYNAMO STATUE, Comic Book Resources now features storeis on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS: DYNAMO STATUE, along with an interview with artist Barry Kitson. The Fourth Rail has posted a review of THE FILTH #1, with Randy Lander writing, "the more I think about this book, the more I like it." Don MacPherson reviews the issue as well, writing, "[THE FILTH] is weird, yes, but it's shocking and honest and imaginative." Hero Realm has posted a review of BATMAN #603, which George Berryman calls, "a terrific chapter" of "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive." Berryman also reviews THE FLASH #186, writing, "THE FLASH continues to be, for my money, the best super-hero title available to fans right now." 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: 6/8 (8:30 am) "Duped" (Static Shock) 6/8 (10:30 am) "Fury, Pt. 2" (Justice League) 6/8 (10:00 pm) "Paradise Lost, Pt. 1" (Justice League – Widescreen) 6/11 (9:00 pm) "Hug" (Smallville) 6/14 (7:00 pm) "Legends, Pt. 1" (Justice League) 6/15 (8:30 am) "Pop's Girlfriend" (Static Shock) 6/15 (10:30 am) "Legends, Pt. 1" (Justice League) 6/15 (10:00 pm) "Paradise Lost, Pt. 2" (Justice League – Widescreen) 6/16 (7:00 pm) "Legends, Pt. 2" (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. [NOTE: this column may be slightly edited for language. - D.L.] Rich Johnston Has Left The Building I'm not here. As you're reading this I'm in Bristol swanning about like a scurvy badger. At least unless you're reading this on Monday - then I'm swamped by work wishing that I'll win the Lottery I never enter. Right. Lots of short, easily digestible bits this week. Press Play Could Sony be planning to buy Marvel Comics? While the company has some built-in protection against takeovers, it's nothing that a wodge of cash can't solve. I understand that Sony believes Marvel would be worth acquiring to shore themselves up for more property-related films, after the storming success of Spider-Man. This Has A Rumour Value of 3 Out Of 10 Turning Over Stones John Rozum, Xombi writer, posted to the WEF as part of a long discussion, about Milestone. "There were definitely individuals within DC that were supportive of Milestone. It was DC as an entity that was not. We had a two page ad for XOMBI, which was to coincide with issue #17 (before the book was cancelled) which was filled with endorsements from people like Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, etc., including people completely outside of comics, which we wanted to run in places like CBG and non- comics publications, but DC said 'no' even if I paid for it myself." "I think it all started with the Superman crossover. When the reviews came in it was essentially the Milestone side was worth reading, the Superman side was not." Xombi was one of my favourite DC comics of all time. Some kind of collection or continuation is long overdue. This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 Maiden Japan Poor Sirius. They spend their cash producing and promoting new comic Banzai Girl (it does exactly what it says on the tin) with full page ads all over the place, as a 32 page full colour comic at $3.50 - and the Previews listing comes out at 24 pages, black and white and only $2.50. Still, you know now. For more looks, check out http://www.banzaigirljinky.com This Has A Rumour Value Of 8 Out Of 10 Origin's Origin With the Origin Hardcover due out, maybe it's time to revisit that property. Announced as Marvel's big surprise for August 2001, it was delayed until September. But who else was lined up for the title to tell Wolverine's Origin? I hear it was a certain fellow called Frank Miller. As for Dark Knight Strikes Again, I'm told the third and final issue will be published within weeks. This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 The Return Of Sidney Mellon Scott Kurtz online comic strip PvP has been taking the piss out of alternative comics for the last week or so. And it was Frank Cho who Newsarama have rumoured to have signed semi-exclusively to Marvel (excepting Liberty Meadows at Image) and who Marvel have heard has been attached to a revival of Shanna, who decided to join in a lively debate at the Comicon Splash message boards. Cho wrote: "Scott Kurtz rocks. PvP is my favorite strip currently out. Scott Kurtz is a rare individual who has the talent, skill, and confidence to tell it like it is - the emperor has no clothes. I wholeheartedly agree with Scott's current storyline. 99% of all alternative and independent comic artists suck donkey balls. If they had any talent or skill, they would be working for Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, or various other comic publishers instead of spending nights photocopying their "mini" comics and bitching how about nobody understands them. "(Let the Fantagraphics supporters whine...) "I just wanted to add that there are exceptions to the rule. There are talented independent artists out there whose work I enjoy and respect (Jeff Smith, Mark Crilley, Evan Dorkin, Steve Conley, Terry Moore, Charles Burn, etc. basically people who know how to draw and write coherent stories)." Read this and much much more, here. And back to Frank Cho possibly working on Marvel's Shanna, the She- Devil. . . . In days gone by when Dark Horse had the Tarzan license, Cho submitted work but received no response... they must kick themselves daily. This Has A Rumour Value Of 7 Out Of 10 Hell To Pay Poor Nicolas Cage. The new reworking of the Hellblazer movie project has lost the Hollywood star who really, really wants to be in a comic book film and has plumped for Paul Bettany to take the role of John Constantine. Reportedly mixing Delano's Newcastle storyline with Ennis' Fear And Loathing. That sounds a lot better than the ConstantineMobile... This Has A Rumour Value Of 6 Out Of 10 Marvelous News I understand that not only is Shazam to be relaunched from DC as part of a wave of new titles, but that it will be written by Peter David. This Has A Rumour Value Of 4 Out Of 10 Worlds Within Worlds A source, wishing to be known only as Mister X, emails me about the current Cool Beans World situation. "I got a letter on 22nd May from a company called Polymedia International Ltd saying they had purchased all the assets of Cool Beans Productions Ltd. According to the letterhead, Polymedia is based at the same address as Cool Beans was, and is run by some of the former directors of Cool Beans. "I understand that these self-same directors claim they own the assets of Cool Beans Productions, but that the likes of Sheffield City Council, Ian Edginton, D'Israeli etc. may luck out on this one." Calls to Cool Beans World were being answered earlier this week by reception. Some who requested to speak to Andy Needham, previous boss at CBW and current director of Polymedia, were told that he'd left the company--although at least one person got through reception and spoke to Andy Needham through false pretenses, only to have the phone hung up on them when they revealed who they were. Currently, the phone number is out of order. It's going to be a really interesting Bristol. . . . This Has A Rumour Value Of 6 Out Of 10 Chaos City Com.X For those of you who can't make it to Bristol but have a burning desire to meet the Com.X creators, there's a signing going down at Chaos City Comics in June 8th. Those attending include Eddie Deighton (com.x editor/creative director), Russell Uttley (Puncture creator/writer), Neil Googe (Bazooka Jules creator/artist/writer), Joshua Middleton (Sky Between Branches creator/artist/writer), Rob Williams (Cla$$war creator/writer), Ben Oliver (Puncture artist) and Len O'Grady (colourist). The signing starts at 2pm. Unless of course it's late, at Chaos City Comics, 20 Heritage Close, St Albans, Herts AL3 4EB or click on www.chaoscitycomics.com This Has A "So It's Not 2000AD Then" Value Of 7 Out Of 10 Lying In The Gutters Right about now, in a Bristol comic convention, I'll be telling some people about plans to move my weekly rumour column to ComicBookResources. Currently going by the name Lying In The Gutters, suffice it to say that All The Rage will continue at SilverBulletComicBooks written by holiday stand-in and rumourmonger apprentice, Ian Ungstad. Be nice to him. I'd like to thank Jason for his patience, tolerance and downright niceness. He does a lot of hosting services for comic professionals and amateurs alike. He has my highest recommendation and he's cheap too. Why not talk to him? The move will be in July, the new column will be on Mondays, and I hope you've enjoyed the last two years worth of my All The Rage - and you've got a month to go till I nick off anyway. This is, of course, unless Kurt Busiek or Mark Waid persuade ComicBookResources to drop me before I even start. . . . [We have petitioned ComicBookResources for reprint permission when Rich changes venues. Stay tuned. - D.L.] ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interview Tim O'Shea tim_oshea@bellsouth.net Originally run at www.orcafresh.net This interview appears here with permission. Turning An Eye Toward Canada: An ORCA Q&A with Salgood Sam By Tim O'Shea Every week I'm fortunate to run across a name or a work that somehow broadens my area of knowledge. Thanks to CBEM reader Jack Ruttan (http://www.axess.com/users/jackr/), who let me know about Montreal, Canada-based artist/creator Salgood Sam. As you'll quickly find out from reading this e-interview, Salgood Sam is a diverse, busy and interesting person. In addition to his upcoming work for Marvel (Muties 6, due out in July), we discuss the new independent Montreal-based anthology, PIN CITY. This interview covers a range of topics, but if you're wanting to find out even more, be sure to visit Sam's well- designed website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/salgood.sam/index2.html Enjoy. ORCA: How logistically challenging has it been so far trying to plan and line up the new quarterly anthology for you and other Montreal artists, PIN CITY (PC)? Sam: Well given that I'm trying to do it at the same time as working on a book for Marvel, doing illustration work, and acting as AD (art director) for a small record label...hard. Oh I forgot about the animated film.... ya, I'm way over extending my self...seems I never learn. But in the end it's all fun stuff, except maybe the AD work, so it's ok. Worse case scenario Pin City will be a little less than quarterly; being a labor of love it's more important to enjoy it than to meet the deadline, for me anyway. ORCA: Can you talk a little bit about your two large graphic novels that will be published in installments in PC? Sam: One is something that started as an idea over five years ago, and is just now nearing the end of the scripting stage. The title is 'NUTS: DREAM LIFE' It would be my first 'Novel' at 300 pages. I took so long writing it because every time I made a step foreword as a writer I rethought the whole thing and rewrote portions, it's been heavily self- edited. About a quarter to a third of the script is the work of my oldest friend, Jonathan Sugerman, who started out on it with me as my co-writer, the idea being something we came up one night. His contributions give some of the characters very distinctive voices and a lot of their more tormented psychology. In the last three years or more I've been working on it mostly myself hooking up with Jon to get his feedback on what I'm doing. I'm very happy with the way it's turned out and fairly optimistic that it would make a good graphic novel, whether I can make it one we will see. The other project Titled Bliss is still being worked out, it's actually two stories told with the same 'players' in different roles in each. The first portion is set in a MR X like world (the 'PIN CITY' from the title) and follows a man named Joseph Cotton, a short order cook at LOVERS DINER. That story will segue into a Sci-fi piece about a President and his PR guru in a hyper media driven 2119. The whole thing will probably clock in at around 500 pages or so. I don't want to give much away but both stories are about power and the role it plays in our lives, and the choices we have to make, to use it or be used by it. Also there will be a number of basically Auto Bio stories by me in PIN CITY, a series of shorts that would one day get compiled if they turn out well. ORCA: What are the biggest differences that you sense in yourself (artistically and also how you approach the work) when comparing your experience working at Marvel a number of years back, versus your more recent work on MUTIES? What can you tell us about your other upcoming Marvel work with Karl Bollers? Sam: Vote is still out on this...the comparison between past and current work experiences at Marvel...But the biggest difference in how I approach my work in general now from then is the amount of time and planning that goes into a project, the certainty I feel in knowing what I'm doing and what works, and the fact that I won't go along with the sort of non-editing and BS that I encountered so often back then. I have no compulsions now about making changes to the script if I think it needs it, preferably with the writers blessing and even involvement of course, as I have had with Karl, who's been very cool about me stomping around his stories. If it came to it I think I'm at the point that if I found myself with a script that was as in as much need of work or an early grave as some that I was given in the early nineties I would either drop the book out right or make the changes I felt were needed to make it a book worth wasting my or the readers time on. In the case of some of those past project that would mean totally throwing out the scripts a starting over. I'd have never had the nerve to do that then, I didn't know enough to know if I could do any better myself, and at that point I probably couldn't. I've learned a lot since them. ORCA: Do you consider yourself a stronger writer or a stronger artist (or do you think of your creative process as two unique skill sets)? Sam: I've spent over 20 years working on my art now, only 6 or so really trying to write, so I think that's an easy call. But in general terms I think I'm becoming a fairly accomplished storyteller, which is the fusion of both skills. To be a good storyteller it helps to not think of them as unique skill sets but as working parts in the motor of narrative sequential art. Their working relationship should become seamless, so the reader is not aware of one or the other but only of the story as a whole. ORCA: You're one of the main forces behind the Monthly Montreal Comics Jam, where the last Wednesday of every month "Much like free jazz or the surrealists Exquisite Corpse the jams provide an opportunity for an artist to flex their creative muscles in ways they otherwise couldn't." (http://grenadinerecords.com/jam/mainfraim.html) I was wondering, in what way do you think the jam has most helped you improve creatively? Sam: They helped reintroduce fun into my work, after I burnt out at Marvel I didn't draw at all for the better part of a year. Then I started going to the jams more often and held one in Toronto where I lived at the time. Jams & poster art got me enjoying myself again and I was introduced to a billion more ways to approach telling a story than I had ever encountered in North American comics. The Jams introduced me to the ART of comics art and other artists ideas and approaches. It's the best way I've found yet to get comix artists to think outside of their boxes, my own included. ORCA: Out of the jams, what has been the most unique or most effective piece that you've seen result from the intense process? Sam: Intense is not a word I'd use for the Jams, not the ones I've been involved with anyway. As for most unique or most effective piece, so many over the years, I wouldn't know were to begin...and in the end they usually have to be seen to be appreciated. ORCA: You've also done some animation work, based on the words and music of jazz musician John O'Brien. I was wondering, for you what does sequential art and jazz have in common that seem to attract one medium to the other? Sam: Music in general, its rhythm and pacing are things an artist can learn from and bring to their work as a storyteller. Poetry too, more so even, has a lot in common with the narrative rhythms of comics. For me anyway. In general I get involved with a lot of different things to find things, tools or experiences, or perspectives, that I can bring to the OTHER different things I do. As for what attracts one medium to the other, I think it's the artists, more than the art. Any group of artists who enjoy their art, rather than treating it simply as a job, can find a way to collaborate. The trick is the idea, who it inspires, and if they can work together. If John hadn't approached me to do "The Rise and Fall of it All" I don't know that I would have ever done a longer animated piece. My animation background is not as an animator but as a Designer & Background Artist, I always thought it would be too much work to do something like this, which it is...but the idea, the story John wrote was something I wanted to do. Once I had the urge to do the story the work became a challenge rather than an obstacle. ORCA: Do you feel that graphic novels are on the cusp of mainstream acceptance? To me, it seems that creators like Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman and (even more mainstream) Alex Ross have been the subjects of in-depth interviews at varying National Public Radio shows in recent months. Sam: I don't know, it looks promising but it's early days still, and the media/press/market place is not an animal race I'd lay a bet on. I think that really the media has always been open to a story it thinks it's watchers/listeners/readers are interested in, it's up to the publishers and creators to be able to supply them with one. god knows they don't generally decide to pay a lot of attention to the medium unless we're selling cookie cutter collectibles like in the late 80's - early 90's, or have a movie coming out. And the kind of content that ends up in most OPed articles...well I've recently learned from watching my babe at work (she's writer and recently has been working doing Publicity & Promotions for a record label) that quite often the quality of the writing of many articles is directly affected by how good the original press release was...she's had her almost exact words reprinted many times now under another's byline, fortunately she's a very very good writer. And it helps that she will spend a week working on getting a few hundred choice words just right. It will in part, come down to whether the publishers learn how to talk to a larger broader market of readers and give Publicity & Promotions the thinking and time it takes to do it right. I think the alternative publishers at this point have an advantage over the "mainstream" in terms of the way they think about their publications. They're having a respectable amount of success making a dent in the book market, recent setbacks with distribution aside. And the way they present their books to the market is a big part of why it's happening. But if the mainstream ever get its collective head around the realities of what it takes to produce books with broader literary appeal, they could easily afford what it would cost to properly market a line of graphic novels, that in turn could bank roll the company in the long run, and be rewarding creative personal works for the authors, as well as profitable. Karen Burger was talking recently about how Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon & Frank Miller are all still making money from reprints of books they did years ago. In the book world this is how most reasonably successful authors end up making a living, assuming they are any good and can get published in the first place. I still work as an illustrator from time to time for money, although I actually enjoy most of what I end up doing. But it would be wonderful to get NUTS and Bliss published, end up being actually, not too bad? And maybe sell ok? Being able to have more time to work on even more personal work would be nice. If that is going to happen I think it means putting an active stake into the popularization of graphic novels. And so long as it happens via proliferation of books that can meet or surpass the standards set by the best authors currently being published than I'm all for it. So far, Vertigo and DH are the only larger publishers from the mainstream side of the industry demonstrating any aptitude in this. Publishers like Pantheon will be the ones to take up the slack if graphic novels truly take off and current comics publisher fail to come up with both the talent and savvy to meet the demands of the broader book market. ORCA: In your opinion, what potential does the Internet have to advance the words and comics form of communication? Sam: Its potential is immense, if publishers tap into it to attract more then the same kinds of readers as they do with a poster in a comic shop. Some are doing this already, just starting to figure out how to do it well. The marketing possibilities are huge. DC recently overhauled their web site and it's a lot better...though it still isn't quite there, the Vertigo section is not nearly classy enough. They should look at Pantheon (http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/pantheon/graphicnovels/index.html) and Fantagraphics' (http://www.fantagraphics.com/) web sites. Marvel just seems to be preaching to the converted with their web site. And for purely digital publications like ModernTales.com, I think they are on the short track to probably replace or directly compete with traditional print publishers as the cost of printing, and paper specifically, goes up. And flexible display devices continue to evolve into a usable form. At this point the web is offering the kind of training ground black & whites offered back when I first started out. It's a doable scenario to get stuff out there at minimal cost to the independent author/publisher and there are an increasing number of ways for them to even make a living at it, via subscriptions and downloadables. As a form of true mass media broadcasting, web based comics probably have a place if they want it along side most media that can be distributed via information devices. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] 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/] Droppin` science: the Jim Ottaviani Q-and-A pt. 1 Before we begin, I just wanna remind you of what's on tap here in the weeks to come. Following this interview is a feature on Golden Age cartoonist Hilda Terry. Hers is a fascinating story; you won't wanna miss this. Then I'll have my 2-part report from the MOCCA Art Festival here in New York, including interviews with exhibitors and of course, reviews of some of the comics at the show. I'll be taking the Fourth of July week off, and then I'll be back with stories on Brian Clopper, ROAD TO PERDITION, online comics, and more! So stick around_ Some of the most fascinating stories throughout history can be found, not just in the annals of great wars or political maneuverings, but in the realm of scientific discovery. From Gallileo and Copernicus scandalizing the Catholic Church with their interpretations of the way the world works, to the ethical implications behind human cloning, science has been as controversial as it has been beneficial, and the explorers behind it no less so. Jim Ottaviani has been telling the stories of these pioneers in his self-published comics and graphic novels to a startling degree of success. His anthologies TWO-FISTED SCIENCE and DIGNIFYING SCIENCE have both been nominated for Eisner Awards, the comics industry's highest honor. That streak continues with his latest book, FALLOUT, a feature-length story about the creation of the atomic bomb, drawn, like his other books, by a who's who of talented artists, including Steve Lieber, Bernie Mireault, Vince Locke, Janine Johnston and Jeff Parker. In the first half of this interview, Jim talks about FALLOUT, his creative process, and the legacy of the atomic bomb. RICH WATSON: So you've got quite a streak going. Three graphic novels, three Eisner nominations. That's quite an accomplishment. JIM OTTAVIANI: Yes, I'm both proud and grateful. The gratitude is to all the folks who have given the books good reviews, nominated them for awards (starting with the Xeric folks way back when and through to the latest Eisner jury), and basically taken a chance on some unusual comics. And the pride is tempered by my knowing that it's not all about me. I've had the good fortune to have worked with so many talented and dedicated artists, so I guess there's a great deal of gratitude there as well. RW: You've had to carve your own niche in order to get where you are now. How difficult has it been to stick to your guns in an industry dominated by superhero fiction? JO: Not at all, really. I enjoy what I do immensely, and apparently others do as well. (Well, maybe their enjoyment isn't quite as immense, but it's there all the same.) What more could a writer ask for? RW: Have you always been a comics fan? JO: Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that I've read comics for as long as I can remember. But no, because those comics were, until college, mostly of the newspaper strip variety. I had those cool paperback book reprints of the early Spider-Man issues, and read those to death. But it wasn't until the early 1980s that I really became a dedicated comic book reader. That was a good time to do it, though: Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL was on the stands, as was CEREBUS, MAGE, LOVE AND ROCKETS, and so many others. Those were -- and are -- some great comics, and I'm lucky to have become a serious reader during that period. Or maybe there's no luck involved at all, come to think of it. Good comics attract dedicated readers, after all. RW: What drew you to the story of the Manhattan Project? JO: Is this a trick question? Fascinating characters. A world war. A revolution in physics. Social upheaval. Great bravery, and great injustices. And one of the most important, though not beneficial, scientific and engineering achievements to date whose ramifications that we're still dealing with more than 50 years later. Any one of these was enough to draw me in. Put all of them together and that's why FALLOUT was far and away my longest book. RW: Could the use of the atomic bomb have been avoided? History would seem to say no, but there have been lots of arguments criticizing the decision. JO: I don't know. That's one of the problems with history: We don't get to repeat the experiment and see what would happen if, for instance, the U.S. had simply demonstrated the atomic bomb on some place that didn't have people around. Would such a demonstration have convinced Japan to surrender? Nobody knows. Would it have scared Stalin enough? Nobody knows. (I bring up Stalin since at that point in the war we weren't worried exclusively about having to invade Japan, as horrific as that would have been for everyone.) I think it was worth a try -- we had enough fissionable material for another bomb, after all. But I don't know. It's an awful moment in world history, and I pity the people who had to decide. Not as much as I pity the victims, but I can't fool myself into thinking that I would have been wise enough to find an easy way out. RW: FALLOUT, like your other books, has an all-star lineup of artists illustrating it. How do you choose them? Do you deliberately seek them out, or do you come across them by chance? JO: There's little pure chance involved at this point. I read a lot of comics, after all! So as a script starts to take shape I can usually visualize who I would like to see draw it. Then I ask. Sometimes I hear "no," sometimes "yes." If it's no, I move on to someone else who I think will be good, and repeat the process until I end up with someone who can fit it into their schedule. The good artists are busy! RW: Let's talk a bit about your other books. TWO-FISTED SCIENCE was the result of an initial collaboration with your longtime friend Steve Lieber, correct? JO: Yes it was. Here's the short version: I do comics about scientists because of Steve Lieber. We lived close to each other (shouting distance, in fact) for a number of years and used to meet for dinner, go to movies, loan each other books, talk about what we'd read, etc. I had loaned him a copy of THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB by Richard Rhodes, and while we were discussing it he pointed out that a wartime meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg Rhodes described briefly had great dramatic potential. When I asked him if he'd draw the story if I wrote it up as a comics script, he said yes. Hah! If he only knew... A couple of years and a lot of research later we had "Heavy Water", one of my favorites tales from TWO-FISTED SCIENCE. It's not the first thing I wrote. That was an adaptation of a Feynman story – untitled in the collection -- that Scott Saavedra drew. Nor is it the first thing I published, which was the "Safecracker" one-shot drawn by Bernie Mireault that appeared in the collection. In fact, it was the last thing done on the book because (a) it took the most research, (b) it was the hardest to write, and perhaps to draw, and (c) it was the most serious story in the book. But I'm still happy with how it turned out, and all the attention that things like the Michael Frayn play COPENHAGEN, and the recently released letters Bohr wrote but never sent to Heisenberg, have focused on the Bohr/Heisenberg relationship has been great to see. And I take a little pride in having done something before it became all the rage. RW: And then there's DIGNIFYING SCIENCE, which must have been very illuminating to people who weren't aware of the role women played in the history of science. JO: It only scratched the surface -- there are many more stories, some of which got left on the cutting room floor in DIGNIFYING SCIENCE, some of which I touch on briefly in FALLOUT. Someday. In DIGNIFYING SCIENCE, the biggest surprise for most folks was the Hedy Lamarr story. Which, to be fair, isn't so much a story of a scientist as it is of a thwarted inventor who in some sense was trapped by her status as a screen star and sex symbol. Because of that status she was actively discouraged from pursuing her interest in science and technology. It ends with Birute Galdikas, who chose how she would live her life fairly early on, and does her life's work almost completely on her own terms. In the middle we have Rosalind Franklin, who was thwarted by her gender, but made conscious choices about her life that both helped and hurt her scientific career (and, I suspect, her peace of mind). Wrapping these are short pieces about Marie Sklodovska Curie: an optimistic prologue adapted from a letter she wrote before she achieved her fame as a scientist, and a somewhat darker epilogue where she reflects on and deals with the price of that fame. (I almost didn't include Curie in there, since it's almost a cliche to have her in books about women scientists. But while reading the aforementioned letters from her early and late in her career I found I couldn't resist...) RW: How collaborative is the process of putting together your books? How much, or how little, input do your artists contribute to your stories? JO: I write full script, provide thumbnail/stick figure layouts, and lots of reference. So the stories are presumably all worked out when the artists get them. That said, the stories are literally in the artists' hands once I send 'em on. And figuratively too, so if they have a better idea of how to do things, I'm all ears. I like to know what they want to change and why, since I have reasons behind everything I put into a script. But that doesn't mean I'm always right, so if an artist can convince me his/her way is the right way to go... hey, I don't have to draw it. So what the reader sees always has creative contributions from both me and the artists. RW: How hard is it to write biographical literature? What process do you go through to decide which parts of a person's life make for the best dramatic reading? JO: Well, we're talking about comics, so the parts that are visual are the ones that get me going initially. As I'm reading about a person or event, if an image or scene starts to play before my mind's eye, that's when I know there might be a comic story there. In the end sometimes there's not enough there, and I waste lots of time researching someone who I don't end up writing about. (I should probably put waste in quotes, though, since very little research is truly futile. That's the nature of research, actually. Wernher Von Braun once said, "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." 'Tis true.) That said, it's very hard and very easy at the same time. It's easy because the facts and the life and the historical context are all there for me to find. It's all about putting things together in an interesting and illuminating way. On the other hand, it's hard, since nobody's life has a plot, and stories like very much to have plots. And characters need dialogue -- and for good or ill, because I'm putting words in people's mouths, I guess I'm not really writing biographies. More like historical fiction. Which makes plot and dialogue and a point of view all the more important. I try not to hit people over the head with the point of view part, though. That's why I include notes and references. Nothing pleases me more to hear from folks who have consulted the source material for my books and want to talk about their interpretation of the events. Next week, Jim talks about how his comics have fared to the public at large (including his story of his recent trip to Sweden to talk about them), as well as about nuclear power and what makes it so special. See you then! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] DVD Review John C. Snider editor@scifidimensions.com [About the author: John C. Snider is the editor of the online science fiction magazine scifidimensions (http://www.scifidimensions.com), published monthly since February 2000.] DVD Review: Todd McFarlane: The Devil You Know http://www.scifidimensions.com/Jun02/thedevilyouknow.htm DVD Release: April 19, 2002 Not Rated Starring Todd McFarlane Produced by the National Film Board of Canada Studio: New Video Group Retail Price: $24.95 ISBN: B0000639H8 Review by John C. Snider (c)2002 No one has done more in the last 15 years to change the face of comics - both in what we see on the shelves, and in how business is done behind the scenes - than Todd McFarlane. He made Spider-man hip again in the late 1980s with his run as artist for Amazing Spider-man and as writer/artist for the now-defunct title Spider-man. At a time when job security for comic artists was defined by employment either by Marvel or DC, McFarlane removed himself from the old studio system and formed his own company which, along with a handful of others, began publishing under the Image Comics umbrella. McFarlane's entertainment empire is anchored by Spawn, the controversial Faustian superhero who has appeared in comics, late- late-night cable TV and a 1997 movie. The unprecedented success of Spawn has empowered McFarlane to branch out into areas where everyone told him he couldn't succeed. His toy division continues to produce a dizzying array of high-quality collectibles that aren't limited to mere comic book tie-ins. Artist, Entrepreneur, Frustrated Athlete, Family Man Todd McFarlane is a complex man, as The Devil You Know reveals, but his entire existence can be summarized by four simple terms: artist, entrepreneur, frustrated athlete, and family man - listed in ascending order. His true ambition in life - even to this day - is to be an athlete. When his best wasn't good enough in MLB and his minor league career came to an end, McFarlane turned his considerable ambition to his second love: comic books. After years of practice and persistence, he eventually broke into the biz - and the rest is history. The Devil You Know, shot three or four years ago and just now available commercially, follows McFarlane in his day-to-day activities, in his home, his business meetings, and in the joy of the baseball stadium. How did this lanky, lisping Canadian fanboy end up as the most powerful man in comics? Why is his masterwork Spawn populated with characters named after his wife, his daughter and his best friends? Why in hell would he pay nearly three million dollars for a baseball? These and other questions are answered in this 77- minute documentary. McFarlane is often a puzzle. Some of the most amazingly grotesque images flow from his mind to the pages of Spawn. And he can be a ruthless and unforgiving businessman, cutting anyone off at the knees who disagrees with his creative intuition. Yet, he is infinitely devoted to his family and close circle of friends. Wife Wanda and best buds Al Simmons and Terry Fitzgerald are key players in McFarlane's multi-million-dollar enterprise. Extra features in this DVD include a retrospective gallery of McFarlane's work, including some rare Spawn sketches from his high school days! I highly recommend Todd McFarlane: The Devil You Know for all lovers of McFarlane's work, as well as those interested in the history and culture of comics. Ironically, the documentary also features a depressing look at two blue-collar McFarlane fans who are obsessed with collecting his merchandise - even admitting that they've gone without food to keep their collections complete! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Stream of Babbling Tim O'Shea tim_oshea@bellsouth.net [Tim O'Shea is a contributor to Organized Readers of Comics Associated (ORCA [www.orcafresh.net]) His column appears here with permission.] One Thing I Missed While On Vacation Upon my return from vacation, I was catching up on my reading and ran across the following press release in CBEM 368 (http://hometown.aol.com/comicbknet/_cbem02/cbem_368.zip) from Chris Yambar: "YAMBAR VS. DK2 AT THE HARVEYS" During the 2002 Harvey Awards held at the Pittsburgh Comicon, independent comic creator Chris Yambar gave a short address prior to presenting the award for Best Inker that set many in attendance ablaze - some with anger and some with laughter aand applause. His remarks were geared toward several topics, but the ones that everyone seemed to remember were those leveled at Frank Miller's DK2 project. After drawing attention to the need for more industry support in the areas of all-ages and young reader material and better mainstream product placement, Yambar went on to talk humorously about the difference between 'good inkers and evil inkers.' He then began to describe a vision he'd had of a rain forest where all the trees were weeping because they were slated to be destroyed to produce DK2. He continued, commenting that one of the trees asked hopefully, 'Will Klaus (Janson) be inking it?', to which the answer was 'No.' The trees were then said to have uttered a single collective, 'Damn!' as they were led away for mulching. Yambar further barbed that it looked like Miller inked DK2 'with the edge of a Dinty Moore Beef Stew can lid, a Lawn Jart, and half a broken Spirograph.' He concluded by calling DK2 'one of the biggest insults to retailers and fans in modern comics history. Hey, I didn't bring anything to rip up, so I thought I'd find something to rip on.' When asked why he chose to use his presentation at the Harvey Awards as a sounding board, Yambar laughed and explained, 'Outside of the Eisners, do you know of any other gathering where statements like that can be made directly to the ears that need to hear them most? I sure don't. 'As I understand it, Frank ripped up a copy of Wizard at last year's Harvey Awards and basically called it the worst publication on Earth. I'd call that a public criticism. Now, let's be honest for a moment. Picking on Wizard for its unique brand of journalism is like shooting an unarmed man in a gun fight. In turn I simply shot the emperor himself for wearing no clothes. 'I'm personally shocked that Frank would produce something as bad as DK2 in light of what a high profile project it was billed to be. I think his work on past projects such as Ronin, Daredevil, and the original Dark Knight Returns is absolutely classic. DK2 is horribly beneath him. The whole project smacks of desperation and opportunity, which only blackens the eye of its historic predecessor. 'I'd like to believe that there is some room in this business for a critical eye and that industry journalism and editorial opinion aren't completely motivated by hype and advertising revenue. That may sound utopian to those who feel they know better, but I believe it's a standard to be highly prized and protected. Having published international alternative newspapers, magazines, and comics, along with having been a product and performance critic for nearly 25 years, not to mention my 35-year love of comics, I feel I've earned the right to speak my mind. 'Frank is as much of a defender of free speech as I am. Right now, we're just on two different sides of the same street. We'll live. And we'll continue to churn out a ton of new comics in the future, which some will love and some will hate. That's just the nature of the beast.' Chris Yambar can be reached by calling (330) 799-1037 or by e-mail at cyambar@hotmail.com." Well I was curious to find out more about Mr. Yambar's rather bold stand (and I'll be honest, I genuinely had no interest in DK2 myself because Janson was not involved in the project). So I dropped him an e- mail and he was kind enough to do a quick Q&A. My thanks to him for his time and thoughts. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. O'Shea: Did anyone at the Harvey Awards complain to you, or negatively comment about the fact that you chose then to make your statement? Yambar: No one approached me at the actual Harvey awards except for Harvey Kurtzman's daughter who asked me to help her get a package to Matt Groening, which I did. She was a total sweetheart to talk to. Evan gave me a handshake. He's a pretty nice guy. The next day I was approached by a handful of comic pros. A few took me aside and told me that I did a good job and that it took a lot of balls to say what I did. I told them that I wasn't looking for any medal. I just saw a hot topic and decided to have some fun with it. I went to talk to Paul McSpadden (the Administrator of the Harvey Awards) about how I came off and he shook my hand and said that I did a great job and that he had no problem with the fact that I said what I did. "Everyone has their own opinions. Those type of moments keep awards interesting and give people something to talk about." He also said that the Harvey Awards were censorship free. I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to present the award. It was an honor! And the food was good too! O'Shea: Do you think it distracted folks from the fact of who won the award you were presenting? In your press release you didn't even mention who won (Burns, Charles-Black Hole as Best Inker) the award you were presenting. Yambar: I don't think that any attention was taken from Charles Burns and his winning of the award. As I read the list of nominees, the folks at the Harvey's flashed giant images of his (and the others who were nominated) onto a screen beside me. The reason that I sent the press release out the way that I did wasn't to announce the winners of the awards that night. I'm certain that the Harvey Awards had their own press releases ready to send out on Monday morning. The only reason that I sent out my press release was because the events surrounding my presentation were being presented falsely online by Steve Leiber and some phantom at www.comicbookresources.com (I only refer to the second person as a 'phantom' because his name was not part of the forwarded email that I received from my press service. No personal injury or name calling is implied by my statement.) I heard a lot of people laughing out loud and got some applause for the statements I made during my 2-3 minute presentation. The reviews that I was reading said that, "You could have heard a pin drop through most of his unnecessary blather about the screaming trees in the rain forest in reaction to Frank Miller's DK2." and "(Yambar) makes an impossible ass of himself, with an awful, embarrassing speech...(Yambar) keeps going, leaving the entire room squirming in discomfort..." One of the biggest problems in the comics press is that a lot of writers are soaked with personal agenda and have no understanding about the ethics of blurring news with editorial commentary. I resented the fact that the main points of my presentation were purposely ignored and decided to set the record straight in a way that would reach the widest possible audience. I was asked to present an award for the Best Inker so I geared my remarks toward Miller's DK2. In doing so, I paid some pretty high homage to Klaus Janson as one of the industry's finest inkers. In the light of what I was reading in publications like Comics Retailer and hearing from various retailers and comics pro associates, DK2 was an easy target. The material wrote itself. Just for the record, I've been a public speaker and educator for over 20 years. I understand podium dynamics very well...well enough to make a delivery without having to read it word for word from a pile of notebook paper. If people can quote what I said then I've done my job. Some got the punchline but forgot to include the joke along with it. I wanted to make sure the proper context was given to what I had to say. O'Shea: What made you decide to defend Wizard, or was that partially your intent at all? Yambar: When I heard that Frank had ripped up an issue of Wizard last year at the Harvey's I decided that the pace had been set. I'm not a huge fan of Wizard and I've made my observations known to them many times over the past 7 years. I thought it was ironic that Frank attacked a publication that helped cement his legend in the minds of 14 year old boys everywhere. Wizard has a definite target audience in mind and Frank knows this. I think that Frank finally figured out what his real demographics were and tore up an issue of Wizard to divorce himself from that reality. I think David Cassidy and other teen idols went through similar moments in their careers. The Beatles sure did. After a while you get tired of having jelly beans thrown at you. O'Shea: In the press release you wrote that your comments set folks "ablaze- some with anger" Were they disagreeing with your assessment of DK2 or with your decision to pick that forum to voice the opinion? Yambar: At first I thought that it had to do with where and when I made my remarks but then it became crystal clear to me that I rocked someone's personal boat. The ignorant language and character assassination attempts over at The Comics Journal message board confirmed my suspicions. I usually don't waste my time with these type of message boards because they are filled with people who don't really care about what you actually have to say but rather in their opportunity to have the final word. It's like an ongoing daisy chain run by circle jerks. I think that this type of thing does more harm than good. On one hand I've been called a "nobody". On the other hand these folks have allotted me a thread long enough to be noticed by everybody who visits their news/editorial group. According to their own standards they are majoring in the minors. What's the point in doing that? I hope they have a better day tomorrow! O'Shea: Have you heard from anyone related to DK2 since making the comments? Particularly Miller himself? Yambar: Nope. And I don't think that I will. I think that DC and the people behind DK2