---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 397 12/06/2002 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] My life With Comic Books .............. Paul Howley [6] X-FAN Reviews ......................... Eric J. Moreels [7] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [8] My View:LI'L SANTA, DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, SUNDIATA: A LEGEND OF AFRICA, CITIES OF THE FANTASTIC: THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER, FELIX'S WAY-OUT CARTOON LAFF-A-PALOOZA, THE VICTORIAN ........ David LeBlanc [9] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [10] 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 Three more issue until the end of the year and the big #400. Hard to believe we've made it this far. I've been thinking about what to do in celebration but since it will be the year end issue it will already be special. I did have one thought to throw in something special though. And, in February the Emag will be 8 years old! I had planned to get to see a movie with my younger brother this week, something we have started to do whenever we can, but the latest pre-winter snowstorm put the kibosh on that. I'll be on the road in Cajun Country next week so it looks like I'll wait for The Two Towers or Star Trek for our next excursion. Meanwhile I get to escape the premature cold and snow for a week. Before I go, I gotta get to That's Entertainment and check out these new comics: ABSENCE OF INK COMIC PRESS Pop Gun War #5, $2.50 ABSTRACT STUDIOS Strangers In Paradise Vol III #54, $2.95 AVATAR PRESS Warren Ellis Strange Killings The Body Orchard #4 (Of 6), $3.50 CG ENTERTAINMENT First #26, $2.95 Way Of The Rat #8, $2.95 DC COMICS Doom Patrol #15, $2.50 Green Arrow #19, $2.50 Legion #14, $2.50 Zero Girl Full Circle #2 (Of 5), $2.95 ICARUS PUBLISHING Tea Club #2, $2.99 IMAGE COMICS Noble Causes Family Secrets Oeming Cvr #3, $2.95 Noble Causes Family Secrets Valentino Cvr #3, $2.95 Savage Dragon #102, $2.95 LONE STAR PRESS Ex Parte #2 (resolicited), $2.95 MARVEL COMICS Alias #17, $2.99 Exiles #20, $2.25 Marvel Double Shot #2 (Of 4), $2.99 Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra #2 (Of 4), $2.25 Ultimate Spider-Man #32, $2.25 Ultimate War #1 (Of 4), $2.25 NBM Li'l Santa HC, $14.95 <----------------------------Pick of the Week! Cities Of Fantastic: Invisible Frontier GN, $15.95 Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde HC GN, $15.95 Will Eisner's Sundiata HC, $15.95 WARPTON COMICS Nature's Guard #2 (Of 3), $2.50 Still doing your Christmas shopping? You'll find something for everyone at you local comic store. One of my picks is reviewed in MY VIEW this week. So get out while there is still time and buy EVERYONE comic books! 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. +++++ Everybody took the week off I guess. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [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: Some characters in THE NEGATION use the term, BOHICA! BOHICA is an acronym for what? When things are about to go from bad to worse, there is an old expression, "bend over, here it comes again." Dan Wong was the first to get it right and he wins Edge Vol 2 TP from our sponsor. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: From Federico Kereki Who was the first MAD artist to draw DAREDEVIL? 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 Help the NYCCBM while you shop on the internet Do your Christmas shopping, or any shopping, online and help raise money for the NYCCBM when you shop through BuyforCharity.com. It is so easy. Set up an account at www.buyforcharity.com with your own email address. Then, choose an internet store to shop in when you are on the buy for charity website. Select the New York City Comic Book Museum under "select a cause" and go shopping. You pay nothing extra for your purchases, and a portion of what you spend will be donated to the NYCCBM. They even have special offers for you just for joining. Help us out while you shop! There are also directions right on their site if my instructions make no sense! NYCCBM on the Radio- December 5th Thursday night, December 5, from 7 - 8 p.m. listen on WBAI-FM, 99.5 FM in NYC and live on the internet. Our very own Dan Tandarich will be on "Education and the Crossroads" also appearing is NYCCBM supporter and star of his own radio talk show `nuff said, Ken Gale. Dan will be talking about comics in the classroom. Be sure to tune in. Our Comic Book Concierge has more details. NYCCBM on Cable TV in Manhattan – December 8th If you receive Time Warner Cable in the NYC area, be sure to tune in to Frank Russo's "The Path to Peak Performance" on Channel 56, Sunday, December 8th at 9:30 p.m.. Frank and his crew taped portions of Comic Books Fight AIDS, including interviews with me (David Gabriel) and Nancy Schadoff, NYCCBM Trustee and Associate Director for Cable Positive. Luckily, regular TV is all repeats for a few weeks! NYCCBM in the NY Times- December 2nd Our Press Room also has an article from the NY Times about our World AIDS Day event (as well as a great article from the Comics Buyers Guide about the recent Golden Panel Awards!) Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: Commemorative Comic Book-December 19th A special holiday book signing event at Midtown Comics! On December 19th from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. there will be a special signing of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol from Airwave Comics. Rumor has it that Mr. Magoo himself will be down on the street beckoning people into the store. Stop in and pick up your copy! There will be original artwork on display. And you`ll also have the opportunity to meet a few of the artists from the book. Midtown Comics is located at 100 West 40th Street in NYC. For more about Midtown check them out at www.midtowncomics.com Website Updates www.nyccbm.org Photos from Comic Books Fight AIDS, our World AIDS Day event are already posted, take a look at what went on with special guest star, Judd Winick from MTV Real World San Francisco (and writer of various comic books!) Membership is available in the NYCCBM. Help support these programs and events and show your appreciation for this American art form by becoming a member today! Check the website for more information. If you would like to be removed from these monthly mailings, please respond at this address with "remove me" in the subject line. For general questions, please email us at nyccbm@hotmail.com You can always find out information about us at www.nyccbm.org Happy Holidays! As always, thank you for your support, David Jay Gabriel New York City Comic Book Museum Best Comic Book Museum in New York for 2002 Village Voice +++++ From Michael Doran, Marketing Communications Manager - Marvel Comics Get all the latest Marvel news and previews at www.Marvel.com X-STATIX #6: LOVE, CONFLICT & XAVIER Love, danger, inner team turmoil and a guest-starring role by one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. What more could a Marvel fan want from an X-title? X-Statix readers will get them all beginning in December's X-STATIX #6, when the critically-acclaimed creative team of Peter Milligan and Mike Allred begin "The Moons of Venus", a new, three-part story arc that serves as a great "jumping-on" point for the series and introduces new complications for the mutant media stars. According to editor Axel Alonso, those new complications involve a "new and lethal enemy for the team; a budding attraction/love within the team; and an appearance by none other than Professor X, who plays a pivotal role in the story." Check out http://dotcomics.marvel.com/lib/launchissue.php?issue=141 for the full eight-page DOTCOMICS preview. Retailers are reminded the Final Order Cut-off date for X-STATIX #6 is 12/5. Two months ago Marvel designated December 2002 "ULTIMATE SWEEPS MONTH" - a key month where Marvel's most accessibble series - led by the debut of ULTIMATE WAR - would all begin new storylines or contain important events, presenting retailers with the opportunity to introduce the industry's most popular series to new readers. It turns out the "Sweeps" designation was not only descriptive but prophetic, as December's ULTIMATE titles nearly swept Diamond's TOP TEN Sales Chart for the month. The chart charge was led, of course, but the first two issues of Mark Millar and Chris Bachalo's ULTIMATE WAR limited series, pitting the Ultimate X-Men against The Ultimates. ULTIMATE WAR #1 & 2 finished #1 and #2 respectively on the Top Ten chart, giving Marvel the distinction of being the LAST publisher to pull off the rare feat of placing consecutive issues of one title with the same creative team in the top two positions (during 1996's 'Heroes Reborn' era) and the LATEST. And the impressive numbers don't end there. ULTIMATE titles make up 6 of Diamond's Top 10 comics for December and 8 of the Top 14. Other notable chart-toppers include the beginning of the Venom arc in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #33 (#5 on the chart) and the second and third issues of the ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA limited series (#13 & 14). Overall Marvel Comics took 9 of the Top 10 positions on the December chart and 12 of the top 15. "ULTIMATE SWEEPS MONTH" begins in full-force Wednesday, December 4th, with the release of ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA #2, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #32 and the highly anticipated ULTIMATE WAR #1. +++++ Humanoids Miss: Better Living Through Crime on Publisher's Weekly Best of 2002 List Los Angeles - December 5th, 2002 - Humanoids Publishing is proud to announce that Publisher's Weekly picked their graphic novel MISS: Better Living Through Crime by Phillipe Thirault, Marc Riou, and Mark Vigouroux as one of the best Graphic Novels of 2002. "Miss continues to impress," proclaims U.S. Director of Operations, Justin Connolly. "It's great to see that along with being one of our most consistent sellers, Miss is getting such great critical press." Miss: Better Living Through Crime is a stand alone graphic novel dealing with the adventures of Enola, a tough street savvy White woman, and, Slim, a charming African American pimp, as hired killers in 1920's New York City Miss: Better Living Through Crime Trade Paperback $24.95 ISBN : # 1-930652-81-X Star/Tru : 16349 For future updates on this project, go to: www.humanoids- publishing.com Images for this story are available at: -cover- http://www.humanoids-publishing.com/pr/C.Miss.jpg -interior- http://www.humanoids-publishing.com/news/manualpics/miss77.jpg http://www.humanoids-publishing.com/pr/2.Miss.jpg +++++ 30 DAYS OF NIGHT ARTIST TO APPEAR AT SAMURAI COMICS Day's Events Also Include Charity Raffle to Benefit ACTOR Comic Fund PHOENIX, AZ (December 3, 2002) - On Saturday, December 7th, Ben Templesmith will be at Samurai Comics for a very special five-hour autograph signing and charity raffle party. Templesmith is the artist of Hellspawn, the comic published by McFarlane Productions that features the popular Spawn character, as well as the hit comic book, 30 Days of Night. 30 Days of Night has been optioned by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's production company to be made into a feature film. Attendees will get the opportunity to receive a limited edition bookplate signed by 30 Days of Night writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith, which will be given away free to anyone who pre- buys the 30 Days of Night trade paperback edition. The 30 Days of Night TPB collects all three issues of Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's blood-curdling tale of vampires running amok in the arctic in one handsome volume for $17.99 and includes additional story pages and an introduction by acclaimed horror scribe Clive Barker. People unable to attend the signing can still order the trade paperback and receive the free bookplate by visiting www.samuraicomics.com. Samurai Comics will be donating $1.00 from each trade paperback sold to ACTOR. "We are thrilled to have an artist of Ben's caliber signing autographs in our store," said Mike Banks, owner of Samurai Comics. "With Ben being from Australia, this will be a rare chance for his US fans to meet him in person. We are also very excited about the ACTOR charity raffle. Who wouldn't want to own a page of original artwork from what is undeniably this year's hottest mini series!" The charity raffle's grand prize is a page of original art from the very popular 30 Days of Night comic book and is open to fans worldwide. Payments are accepted via Paypal or Credit Card. Contact mike@samuraicomics.com for more details. All raffle proceeds will benefit ACTOR (A Commitment To Our Roots) Comic Fund, the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. ACTOR creates a financial safety net for yesterdays' creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and entrιe back into paying work. WHAT: Samurai Comics To Hold Ben Templesmith Five-Hour Autograph Party And Charity Raffle WHERE: Samurai Comics, 5024 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ WHO: Ben Templesmith (Hellspawn, 30 Days of Night), lots of 30 Days of Nights fans and free refreshments! WHEN: Saturday, December 7, 2002 from 12 pm until 5 pm For further information about the event, contact: Mike Banks Samurai Comics 602-265-8886 mike@samuraicomics.com www.samuraicomics.com For further information about ACTOR Comic Fund, contact: Janine Bielski ACTOR Comic Fund 310-286-0758 x440 ACTORcomicfund@aol.com www.ACTORComicFund.org +++++ ITEM! Mid-Ohio-Con Breaks Records! This year's MidOhioCon broke records. By mid-day on Saturday, the show's organizers had run out of one-day wristbands, showing the number of attendees wildly exceeding expectations. The Fund was placed at the convention's front gate and met nearly every attendee who entered the room. The steady flow of comics fans and free speech enthusiasts we met cumulatively donated a generous $4,420 to the Fund during the weekend, setting a new record for fundraising at the show. Over the weekend, attendees had the opportunity to meet Fund supporters including Jeff Smith, Sergio Aragones, Mark Millar, P. Craig Russell, Greg Horn, Don Simpson, Rich Koslowski, and dozens of other top creators. The dealer's room was a comic fan's heaven, with books ranging from the Golden Age to the present, along with tons of cool toys, graphic novels, movie posters, and anime memorabilia that would be welcome in anyone's holiday stocking. Over the two days, P. Craig Russell, Jeff Smith, Greg Horn, and Sergio Aragones were accepting donations for the Fund in exchange for sketches and signatures. Russell raised a whopping $500 for the Fund over the two days, making him the winter season's convention sketch fundraising champ! On Sunday, Chuck Rozanski donated his time and 10 extremely cool signed and numbered hardcover books to the Fund's MidOhioCon auction. Chuck's deft auctioneering skills raised $2,200 for the Fund in just over an hour! Art highlights included a Jughead page by Rich Koslowski, a Daredevil and Black Widow sketch by Don Simpson, and an enormous airbrushed Conan cover by Paul Mounts, donated by Bob Cook. The Laughing Ogre donated an extremely rare signed copy of Batman #608 created exclusively for DC's RRP as well as a copy of 30 Days of Night, which store owner Gib Bickel will be getting signed by the entire IDW crew. By the end of the show, MidOhioCon proved to be a blast that raised great funds for the CBLDF and ushered in the holiday season for comics fans with a generous abundance of goodwill and cheer. Special thanks to: http://www.midohiocon.com http://www.milehighcomics.com http://www.thelaughingogre.com ITEM! Comicon.com Auction Continues to Benefit the Fund! This week the Comicon.com auction to benefit the CBLDF continues with 10 fantastic items from artists including David Lloyd, Michael Avon Oeming, Mike Mignola, Eddie Campbell, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and more. Click on http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=cbldf&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=25 for your chance to bid on these cool items: Painfully Limited Edition From Hell Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman The Dark Knight limited Graphitti Designs Edition David Lloyd Original Art for the cover of V for Vendetta #10 Michael Avon Oeming "Death of Zora" original art from Powers Judd Winick Barry Week Sketch Hellboy Movie Poster and Graphics Set FM Lite Print by GB Trudeau My New York Diary signed and numbered by Julie Doucet Climbing Out book and art set by Brian Ralph Special thanks to: http://www.comicon.com ITEM! Just 3 Days Left to Bid on Perfect 10.0 Thor #156 Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics generously donated the Mile High 2 collection's copy of Thor #156 graded a perfect 10.0 by the CGC. This is the oldest and most famous CGC 10.0 comic in existence and all proceeds from its auction will benefit the CBLDF. Click on http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewItem&category=32746&item=741829080 for your chance to own this piece of comics history! ___________ The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at P.O. Box 693, Northampton, MA 01061. For additional information, call 800-99-CBLDF or visit http://www.cbldf.org To support the CBLDF, make a donation at: http://cbldf.safeshopper.com/12/cat12.htm?479 P.O. Box 693 Northampton, MA 01061 413-584-7151/Phone 413-582-6955/fax info@cbldf.org +++++ REMINDER: Comix Decode this weekend! Sunday December 8, 8:00 pm NorthSix 66 North Sixth St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Featured cartoonists: Nick Bertozzi Kim Deitch Phoebe Gloeckner Plus, your hosts, Calvin Reid, Jessica Abel, and Matt Madden. The featured cartoonists will project and read a short selection of their work, and then discuss the ins and outs of their methods, as well as their thoughts on cartooning in general. Please join us, and join the conversation! Donation: $2 Two drink minimum suggested. http://www.comixdecode.org +++++ The following is information pertains to Jessica Abel's speaking engagement on Tues Dec 10. Hers is the last in the 2002 "Women & Comics" series sponsored by the NYC chapter of Friends of Lulu. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, December 3, 2002 December Women and Comics Series Features Jessica Abel at Jim Hanley's Universe! New York – Friends of Lulu-New York's monthly "Women and Comics" discussions with prominent women in comics history and women currently working in the industry are held at Jim Hanley's Universe, 4 West 33rd Street, on the mezzanine level. Admission to the events is free. The store will have the speakers' works available for purchase, displayed in a dedicated section. The series, 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-friendly environment, is held the second Tuesday of each month throughout 2002, starting at 7 PM. This month's discussion, to take place on December 10, features award-winning and influential creator of ARTBABE and LA PERDIDA, Jessica Abel. Abel (born Chicago, 1969) started making comics while a student at the University of Chicago. Her early efforts appeared in the student anthology BREAKDOWN. After college, in 1992, she won the infamous "stinky date" contest in HATE, and, since she had arranged to meet Peter Bagge at the Chicago Comics Convention, she decided to put together a sampler of her comics to show him and the rest of the Fantagraphics crew. She printed 50 copies of ARTBABE #1, but Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, who claims not to remember this encounter, didn't take the bait. Four issues (and four years) later she won a Xeric grant, put out the first full-sized and professionally printed issue of Artbabe (thus finally appearing on Groth's radar) and began a new volume of ARTBABE with Fantagraphics in 1997. Abel won the 1997 "best new talent" Harvey and Lulu Awards and she completed ARTBABE volume 2 in early 1999. She took time off from fictional comics in 1999 to complete a 32-page comic for This American Life, a Public Radio International program, written in collaboration with host Ira Glass. 2000 saw the publication of MIRROR, WINDOW, a collection of the second volume of ARTBABE. SOUNDTRACK, a compilation of early comics work, was published by Fantagraphics this summer. Her most recent book, a serialized thriller set in Mexico City titled LA PERDIDA, won the 2002 "best new series" Harvey Award. Jessica Abel currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Matt Madden. The "Women and Comics" discussions have so far featured Six Chix cartoonist Isabella Bannerman, artist/writer Abby Denson, WJHC creator Jane Fisher, Oxygen.com artist Phoebe Gloeckner, DC Comics editor Joan Hilty, writer Jennifer Moore, comics pioneer Hilda Terry, artist Amanda Conner, and inker Phyllis Novin, Xeric-winning creator of Amy Unbounded Rachel Hartman and preeminent comics historian Trina Robbins. The series will continue next year, with Donna Barr appearing in January. The series is also supported by the New York City Comic Book Museum, which is conducting interviews with various women in the industry 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. More information on the New York chapter's activities can be found at www.friends-lulu-nyc.org. +++++ Kameelman Comic Book Opens Dedicated Web Site Lake Oswego, Ore. December 3, 2002—A1 Oregon Publishing, LLC announces a new web site at www.kameelman.com devoted exclusively to the all new Kameelman comic book. The dedicated site is "up" and fully functional for fans to find special features, news, and updates just as Kameelman Number One arrived in shops throughout the U.S. and Canada from Diamond Comics Distributors. Specifically there are two special features on the site for comic book fans: the "Free Bonus Alternate Ending" and the "Guest List." In a first for the comic book industry, a completely different fully-illustrated all-color alternate ending to the story in issue Number One is shown on-line! The alternate ending is in a password protected section of the web site. To access this area and view the alternate ending, fans enter the password which is only available to readers of the printed edition. The Easter egg is embedded in the story at the point where the alternate ending begins. "When I search for information on most comic book publisher web sites about my favorite comics, I get frustrated," says Rick Legleiter, President and Editor-in-Chief of A1 Oregon Publishing. "Other fans tell me they feel the same way. Creating a dedicated web site for Kameelman gives our followers a focus on just this book. It's simple and it's effortless. All the information is in one spot and it is easy to get to by just typing the Kameelman title into your web browser." Legleiter goes on to say, "Our plan for the alternate ending is to use the latest technology to make comics interactive, deliver more value to our fans, and give comic book readers another reason to try the Kameelman comic book. Putting in the Easter egg is just pure fun! In the future you will see us getting even more creative with the Easter eggs! But I can't say more at this point." The "Guest List" section is the second special web site feature. This feature allows fans to sign-up for the Kameelman Guest List. By completing and submitting the form, A1 Oregon will add fans to a private list which will receive periodic email updates created exclusively for guest list members. In addition to these special features, all retailers and fans can preview sample art pages, learn more about Kameelman, find out about future issues and stories, and meet the "cast" from the book. Creative team biographies and information are also posted. Internet links directing customers where to buy the Kameelman comic book include Diamond's comic shop locator service and themasterlist. Kameelman issue Number One is currently available for sale on-line at www.superherostuff.com and in comic book shops in the U.S. and Canada. The Kameelman comic book is intended for an all ages audience. About A1 Oregon Publishing A1 Oregon Publishing is based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. The company focuses on publishing innovative concepts for mainstream audiences and delivering more for your money to comic book fans and retailers worldwide. For more information about A1 Oregon Publishing visit the A1 Oregon web site at www.a1oregon.com or send questions or comments via email to publisher@a1oregon.com. +++++ Spider-Man Star Tobey Maguire Connects With Fans Through Much Anticipated Online Experience, 'The Spider-Man DVD-ROM Online Theatre' Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Cingular Wireless Present A World-Premiere Online Event Only Available to Owners of the Spider-Man Special Edition 2-Disc DVD Featuring an Online Audio Commentary With Spider-Man Himself, Tobey Maguire Along With JK Simmons in Windows Media CULVER CITY, Calif., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Fans of 'Spider-Man,' the year's most successful movie and DVD, will get an inside look at the blockbuster film when they take part in the world premiere online event, "The 'Spider-Man' DVD-ROM Online Theatre," on Sunday, December 15, at 7:30 p.m. EST. The event, presented by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Cingular Wireless, will be streamed using Windows Media. This online exclusive event incorporates playback of the 'Spider-Man' feature film from a participant's PC DVD-ROM drive with a streamed online audio commentary in Windows Media featuring the film's star, 'Spider-Man' himself, Tobey Maguire, and JK Simmons, who played J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle. The commentary portion of the event will start at 8:00 p.m. EST, and is only available to those who have the 'Spider-Man' DVD in their PC-ROM drive at that time. "Based on the success of 'Spider-Man,' we have found that there are many loyal enthusiasts who cannot get enough of this year's superhero," said Benjamin S. Feingold, President, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. "We are pleased to offer fans the opportunity to experience 'Spider-Man' in a whole new way." For complete details on how to participate in the event, consumers can get step-by-step instructions by logging on to sony.com/spiderman . Through the "Countdown to 'Spider-Man 2'" link on disc 1 of the 2-disc Special Edition DVD, 'Spider-Man' fans can log on at 7:30 p.m. EST, Sunday, December 15, prior to the start of the online commentary to access all pre-show activities featuring 'Spider-Man' specials: including an introduction from JK Simmons, revealing of the DVD's hidden Easter Eggs; previews for the DVD release of 'XXX' and the summer theatrical release of 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' (sequel to 'Charlie's Angels'), as well as an exciting "Enter to Win" sweepstakes with prizes such as a walk-on role in the 'Spider-Man' sequel or a signed, framed piece of one of the original 'Spider-Man' costumes. ABOUT SPIDER-MAN From Columbia Pictures Presents, A Marvel Enterprises/Laura Ziskin Production, 'Spider-Man' is a live-action feature of one of the world's most popular comic book superheroes. Directed by Sam Raimi, 'Spider- Man' centers on student Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) who, after being bitten by a genetically-altered spider, gains superhuman strength and the spider-like ability to cling to any surface. He vows to use his abilities to fight crime, coming to understand the words of his beloved Uncle Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility." The journey of 'Spider-Man,' from comic book to celluloid began in 1962 when the character first appeared in the final issue of the failing "Amazing Fantasy" comic book. It was such a hit that "Amazing Fantasy" was renamed "Amazing Spider-Man" and reappeared in 1963. Since then, the web of 'not for the faint of heart' readers, fans and collectors worldwide has grown into making 'Spider-Man' one of the most popular superheroes among the young, old, women and men. And now, 40 years later, with great power and great responsibility, the tale of 'Spider- Man' jumps from the screen into the home on DVD and VHS for the whole family to enjoy. +++++ Activision Adds Game Boy Advance and PC Versions To The X-Men(R): Wolverine's Revenge Lineup Title to Launch Simultaneously on Five Platforms SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Expanding the reach of Wolverine's razor sharp adamantium claws, Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI) announced today that X-Men(R): Wolverine's Revenge(TM) is headed to the Nintendo Game Boy(R) Advance and PC. With the addition of these two versions, the game will be released this spring on five platforms simultaneously with the upcoming X-Men feature film entitled "X2." X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge is also in development for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft and Nintendo GameCube(TM) and is the only action- adventure game that allows players to assume the role of Wolverine, the ultimate fighting X-Man. X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge for the Game Boy Advance is being developed by Vicarious Visions, the PC version is being developed by Livesay Technologies, the PlayStation 2 version is being developed by Gene Pool and Warthog and the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions are being developed by Gene Pool. +++++ From THE PULSE by Heidi MacDonald and Jennifer Contino at: http://www.comicon.com/pulse/ SHAZAM! DC'S CAPTAIN MARVEL TO NEW LINE! Golly! Shazam to New Line! By Ace MacDonald It's time for the weekly superhero film treatment announcement and this week's lucky winner is Shazam! According to Variety, http://www.variety.com Variety - New Line and DC are teaming to create a feature based on the classic comic book Shazam!. New Line is in final negotiations with DC to acquire feature rights on the 60-year-old title, in which mild-mannered Billy Batson discovers that he can call on the powers of an ancient Egyptian wizard, Shazam, and thereafter undertakes heroic exploits. (New Line is also developing Frank Miller's somewhat darker Ronin.) The "Shazam!" name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world: the wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles and speed of Mercury. Shazam, originally known as Captain Marvel, and now euphemistically referred to as "The Big Red Cheese," was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C.C. Beck in the pages of Whiz Comics. It was Beck who is generally credited with breathing life into the character and his supporting characters sign as Billy Batson Jr. and Tawky Tawny the Tiger which have made Captain Marvel a favorite for many years, at one point in the '50s surpassing even Superman in sales. The name of Michael Uslan is always showing up in these comics-to-film announcements, and this is no exception, as he has been announced as serving as executive producer on the project. "We're pleased to be developing one of the gems of our library with one of our sister companies," said DC publisher Paul Levitz. DC and New Line are both owned by AOL Time Warner. New Line VPs Christopher Godsick and Mark Kaufman are developing the property for the studio. SPX: WE'RE STAYING IN BETHESDA FOR '03 BY ACE MaCDONALD In a move that is surprising and yet somehow reassuring, it was announced that SPX, the Small press Expo will be staying in Bethesda next year, while expanding to 3 days. Due to the ever-growing size of the show, it was planned to move to Baltimore in 2003, to take place in conjunction with the Baltimore Comicon. Although the necessity of the move was accepted, it prompted much worrying among small press circles over whether the intimate show could survive the move from a small hotel to a modern convention center Now, however the worrying is moot. For 2003, at least. According to a statement released by the SPX, after receiving an outstanding offer from the festival's current home, the Bethesda, Md., Holiday Inn Select, the SPX Board of Directors weighed the pros and cons of Bethesda vs. Baltimore and voted to hold SPX 2003 in Bethesda, with the intention of moving to Baltimore in '04. "We were offered a deal we couldn't refuse from the Holiday Inn to stay one additional year," SPX Executive Director Greg McElhatton says. "This gives us additional time to prepare for our move to a larger space for 2004, and gives us the chance to raise a lot of money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund because of the Holiday Inn's generous offer. Marc Nathan is one of the most forward-thinking convention organizers out there, and the idea of creating with him a North American version of the massive French Angouleme comics festival is exciting. 2004 will be a great year for both shows." In addition, SPX organizers have expanded the public portion of the festival from two to three days. In 2003, SPX will be open to visitors Friday, Sept. 5 (3-8 p.m.), Saturday, Sept. 6 (10 a.m.-7 p.m.), and Sunday, Sept. 7 (11 a.m.-5 p.m.). Exhibitor registration begins Dec. 6, and half-tables are being sold at a special low price of $100. To prevent an immediate sell-out, as has happened in previous years, full tables cost $250. Details on SPX's annual Sunday Small Press Summit and picnic/softball game have yet to be worked out but will be announced as they are made in the coming months. "We'll be doing everything in our power to get as many exhibitors tables as possible for SPX 2003, since space will unfortunately be at a premium," McElhatton says. "One of the hazards of becoming too popular for your own good, I'm afraid to say." SPX, North America's premier showcase for alternative and small-press cartoonists and publishers, annually brings together hundreds artists and publishers to meet their readers, retailers, distributors, and each other. Admission is $8 for one day, $15 for a weekend pass. Tickets will be sold at the door. Previous SPX guests have included Art Spiegelman (Maus, Little Lit), Frank Miller (Sin City, The Dark Night Returns), Dave Sim (Cerebus), Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets), Jeff Smith (Bone), and Will Eisner (The Spirit, A Contract With God). In 2002, over 2,000 attendees participated in SPX. Over $13,000 was also raised for SPX's official beneficiary, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (www.cbldf.org), a nonprofit organization that fights censorship and defends the First Amendment rights of comic-book creators, retailers, and publishers throughout the United States. In addition to giving attendees a chance to meet cartoonists and publishers on its festival floor, SPX offers numerous panels and group discussions on topics of interest to comics readers and creators, publishes an annual comics anthology companion book (SPX 2003), and hosts the annual Ignatz Awards, the only comics festival prize awarded in North America. For more information on registering and to register, visit http://www.spxpo.com or call (703) 508-7332 NEWS: WIZARDWORLD.COM SHUT DOWN! WIZARDWORLD.COM SHUTS DOWN by Heidi MacDonald Employees of 800America who were responsible for Wizardworld.com and other websites have received their termination notices, according to Wizardworld.com Managing Editor Janet Hetherington. As reported earlier in the Pulse, 800America's owner, Elie Rabi was arrested for various financial crimes, and all of his assets, including Wizardworld.com were put into receivership. Hetherington received a letter dated December 3 from the Receiver for 800America.com, Michael Sommer, terminating her employment and was sent home before any of the material for that day could be posted. Employees have still not been paid since 800America's assets were frozen on November 14th, although the money has been promised to be forthcoming +++++ From the Comics Continuum at http://www.comicscontinuum.com/: FUTURE COMICS UPDATE Future Comics' Bob Layton said that the company's fourth title will launch in August. The book will follow Freemind, Metallix and the upcoming Darkmask, although Layton said he wouldn't announce the title's name just yet. Darkmask and the fourth title will have cover prices of $3. "That's all the line is going to be," Layton said at the Future Comics panel at the Mid-Ohio-Con last weekend. "We know what you can afford and can't afford. "Also, David (Michelinie) and I can't control the scripts beyond four, and it will always be he and I creating the stories. All the books will ship in the same week, the last week of every month." In other notes from the panel, which include Dick Giordano, Miguel Insignares and Terry Tozian: * Layton said Future Comics' goal remains to create comics "as accessible to everyone as we can." "My wife works at an office; she's a manager at a big software company and there are no hardcore comics groupies there," Layton said. "She brought a few books in, and now the entire company subscribes. We turned them all into Future Comics readers. Because they can read it and understand what's going on. And it wasn't so far-fetched and so laced in continuity that they had no idea what was happening." * Layton said Future has no plans for online comics. "I still like them on paper," he said. "I find them tedious, personally. Try dragging your computer to the bathroom. That's not the way the medium was designed. "If we do anything, it will be all-new material and it will be special and we probably won't charge for it." * Layton said Future is totally self-sufficient. "I will burn the place to the ground before I sell it to somebody," he said. * Giordano said there will likely be a collected edition of the first four issues of Freemind. JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED UPDATE Darkseid will be featured in a two-part episode of Cartoon Network's Justice League animated series. The episodes are titled "Twilight" and they are targeted to kick off the show's second season. "Twilight" was written by Rich Fogel and Bruce Timm, and directed by Dan Riba and Butch Lukic. Sources told The Continuum new Justice League episodes could air as early as January or February. It's possible they might air in an hour format. Look for more Justice League news soon here in The Continuum. WILL MEUGNIOT DRAWS MEN OF MYSTERY Animation producer and sometime comic artist Will Meugniot turns his attention to the Golden Age with a pair of comic book covers slated for the Americomics' title, Men of Mystery. Meugniot's rendition of '40's favorite, The Black Terror will grace the cover of Men of Mystery #40, scheduled to ship in March. His take on Bulletman, Bulletgirl and Spy Smasher will be seen a month later on the cover of Men of Mystery #41. To see more of Meugniot's art, visit his web page at www.storyboardpro.com. Recent updates include a look at the artwork prepared for the ill-fated Captain America animated series. Since the end of Stan Lee's web site, Meugniot has been working at DIC Animation. STATIC SHOCK UPDATE Static Shock will return to the Kids' WB! lineup in January, a network representative confirmed for The Continuum. A date for the third-season premiere of the show will probably be announced next week. Static Shock producer Alan Burnett told The Continuum that plans are for the third season to start with another Batman team-up. Unlike the second-season episode which took place in Dakota, in the third season Static will be visiting Gotham City. One creative change for the third season was the arrival of story editor John Semper, who was a story editor/producer on Fox Kids' Spider-Man series. "He's done an excellent job," Burnett said. Carl Lumbly, who does the voice of Martian Manhunter in Justice League, will be doing a voice of an African hero. ONI PRESS REPRINTS VISITATIONS Oni Press in April will be reprinting Scott Morse's Visitations - originally published by Image Comics in 1998 -- and adding it to its extensive Morse back list. "Visitations is the first book of Scott's I ever read," said Oni Press editor-in-chief Jamie S. Rich. "I am actually quite fond of telling the story of how it happened. I had been told about Scott's work while at Dark Horse, but hadn't gotten around to reading it. I met him at Wondercon, and he put a copy of Visitations in my hands. I took it to my hotel room and read it cover-to-cover. That's not something I do at conventions. That's not something most editors do at conventions. I was blown away, and excited to learn that my impending new home, Oni, was going to be publishing Volcanic Revolver." "It just makes sense to bring this book over to Oni," Morse said. "They have the bulk of my bibliography, and the metaphysical themes running through Soulwind have some connection to the ideas I explore in Visitations. They should sit next to one another." Visitations is the story of a woman who is losing her faith in the ultimate human purpose. When she encounters a philosophical priest, he attempts to show her that God has a plan at work in our every-day lives. Armed with a newspaper, he points out three seemingly unrelated stories-and soon the interconnectedness of the human race becomes clear. "The structure of the book is inspired by an enormously stylish Japanese film called Kwaidan," Morse said. "I wanted to go for the same sense of story telling, and for an otherworldly feeling surrounding very human characters." "There are few creators out there like Scott," said Oni Press publisher Joe Nozemack. "Like Paul Pope, like Kyle Baker, he's one of those artists that emerges with a full-blown vision, that has an arsenal of stories and artistic techniques that is unpredictable and varied, but always powerful. We consider his choice to continually work with us as one of the shining jewels in the Oni crown." Visitations contains 96 pages, printed on white paper with a sepia ink (like in the first printing, or similar to Morse's Volcanic Revolver), and it's approximately 6 inches by 9 inches. It ships to comics shops on April 30 and retails for $8.95. A charity auction, featuring limited-edition merchandise signed by the stars of The WB's critically acclaimed hit television series Smallville, will be held on eBay from Dec. 7-16. Bidders can view the items by going to http://www.ebay.com and clicking on the "charities" section. Proceeds will be donated to the charities Children Now (http://www.childrennow.org), an organization that helps poor and at-risk children around the nation, and The National Wildlife Federation (http://www.nwf.org), a conservation group dedicated to protecting wildlife, wild places and the environment. Exclusive, limited-edition Smallville merchandise to be up for bid on eBay includes a class ring--complete with its infamous red center stone--worn by Clark Kent on the show; Smallville High leather varsity jackets, each signed by a series star; and Smallville High T-shirts, baseball caps and backpacks, each signed by Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk. +++++ From Newsarama at http://www.Newsarama.com/ Winner of the 2001 Squiddy - Best General Comics Web Site AiT/PLANETLAR ADDS PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Publisher Larry Young announced today that his publishing house has added artist/raconteur Ryan Yount as Production Coordinator to the AiT/Planet Lar team. "For the past three years, AiT/Planet Lar has been perceived to be, in the eyes of the uninitiated, some sort of autocratic concern under my sole unblinking eye," said Young. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only has publisher Mimi Rosenheim steered us on a steady course, but Brian (CHANNEL ZERO) Wood has been invaluable as a source of design genius and savvy industry insight. It's my pleasure now to welcome Ryan Yount into our family of those who are MAKING COMICS BETTER." Although schooled in neuro-psychology at the University of San Francisco, and most recently a researcher in brain imaging at Stanford, Ryan Yount nonetheless couldn't get comics out of his blood. "I figured if I was going to sit behind a desk all day staring at a computer screen," said Yount, "it's much better that I'm looking at Rob G. art for THE COURIERS than cross-sectional axial slices of brain tissue." AiT/Planet Lar is a pop-culture company dedicated to bringing high-quality entertainment to the masses through the creation of original projects or producing works deserving of wider recognition. AiT/Planet Lar provides a full range of services from concept to completion including writing, art management, lettering, advertising and promotion, prepress production, ancillary merchandise, and print management. Currently the company is focused on producing Original Graphic Novels to be distributed through mass-market bookstores, Khepri.com, and specialty bookshops around the world. CROSSGEN'S MONTHLIES CHANGE PAPER STOCK Via its message boards, CrossGen has announced a change in the paper stock of its monthly books, from a 50# weight to a 40# weight beginning with its January-shipping books, although, for reasons stated below, CGE's R.A. Salvatore's Demon Wars #1 was already released using the different stock. According to CrossGen's printing representative at Quebecor, the 50# stock that the publisher used to use in all of its books is no longer being produced by the manufacturer. "The 40# stock is readily available and still maintains the high quality standards everyone is used to," CrossGen's Ian Feller posted. "Therefore, it is better to change now with a stock that we know will be readily available and maintain consistency in our books. "As of the January stand date books, all interior pages of our single issues will be printed with this 40# stock, but the cover stock will remain the same. The reason that DemonWars was printed on this stock before our other books is so the whole series would be consistent. It didn't make sense to print one issue on 50# stock, knowing that all books were going to change beginning the next month." To the best of CrossGen's knowledge, no other publisher uses the 50# stock for its monthly books. +++++ From the DC Comics Online Newsletter at http://www.dccomics.com DC DIRECT TO RELEASE KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES AS SINGLE FIGURES Mark Waid's and Alex Ross's unique and enduring vision of the DC Universe's dark, possible future comes to spectacular life next summer with the KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES. "After the great fan response to coverage in ToyFare and on the internet, plus the enthusiastic feedback retailers gave us at our meeting last week, we have decided to release the KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES as singles,” says Cheryl Rubin, DC's VP Licensing. The first wave of KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES includes: KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURE: GREEN LANTERN KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURE: HAWKMAN KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURE: SUPERMAN KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURE: WONDER WOMAN "I've collected pretty much every DC action figure to this point, and as a big fan of quality action figures, these are the finest sculpts I've seen come out of the DC Direct line," says Ross. "It's very exciting for me to see such realistic and vivid versions of the characters. I'm very happy to see how well these match up to what I painted, lo those many years ago." "I was literally slackjawed at the sight of these," says Waid. Waid's as if Alex's paintings have walked off the page." "Once the sculpts of these figures started coming in, we couldn't believe how well Tim Bruckner translated "After work at such a small scale," says Georg Brewer, "I've VP - Design & Retail Product Development. "I think anyone who picks up these action figures will love the level of detail we've achieved with them." Further waves of KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES will include Red Robin, Batman, Shazam!, Kid Flash, and more. The KINGDOM COME ACTION FIGURES are scheduled to be in stores on July 16 and will be advance solicited in the January issue of Previews (Volume XIII #1). DC COMICS ADDS FIVE NEW TITLES TO 2003 COLLECTED EDITIONS SCHEDULE DC Comics adds five new titles to its already jam-packed roster of collected editions for 2003, including the first collected edition from THE NEW TEEN TITANS Volume 2 (1984)! The other new collections are: JSA: FAIR PLAY BATMAN ADVENTURES: DANGEROUS DAMES & DEMONS AMERICAN CENTURY: THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY HELLBLAZER: FREEZES OVER The hit super-hero series of the early 1980s is collected in THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE TERROR OF TRIGON, starting with THE NEW TEEN TITANS Volume 2 #1-5. These classic tales, written by Marv Wolfman with art by George Perez and Romeo Tanghal and a cover by Perez, tell of Trigon's coming to Earth, intent on becoming master of this realm - with only the New Teen Titans and Trigon's own daughter, Raven, standing against him! THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE TERROR OF TRIGON is a 144-page collected edition scheduled to arrive in stores in May. JSA: FAIR PLAY gathers issues #26-31 of the hit series, along with the lead story from JSA SECRET FILES #2. These epic adventures are written by Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer, with art by Rags Morales, Stephen Sadowski, Peter Snejbjerg, Javier Saltares, Derec Aucoin, Michael Bair, Keith Champagne, Ray Kryssing, David Meikis, and Christian Alamy, and a new cover by Bair. JSA: FAIR PLAY is a 176-page trade paperback scheduled to arrive in stores on April 2. THE BATMAN ADVENTURES: DANGEROUS DAMES & DEMONS collects four acclaimed stories written by Paul Dini, with art by Bruce Timm, Rick Burchett, John Byrne, Dan DeCarlo, Klaus Janson, Glen Murakami, Mike Parobeck, and Matt Wagner. This volume collects the Eisner-Award winning BATMAN ADVENTURES: MAD LOVE, by Dini and Timm, along with THE BATMAN ADVENTURES ANNUALS #1 and 2 and tales from THE BATMAN ADVENTURES HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1 and ADVENTURES IN THE DC UNIVERSE #3, all under a new, painted cover by Timm, who also provides commentary on the stories. THE BATMAN ADVENTURES: DANGEROUS DAMES & DEMONS is an 176-page trade paperback scheduled to arrive in stores on April 30. AMERICAN CENTURY: THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY collects issues #9-16 of the VERTIGO series, with high octane stories written by Howard Chaykin & David Tischman, pencils by Marc Laming, Warren Pleece and Luke Ross, and inks by John Stokes and Fabio Laguna, plus the series' original painted covers by John Van Fleet and Glen Orbik. THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY picks up when anti-hero/adventurer Harry Kraft finds himself working for the public good in North Carolina — where the locals like their stock car racing fast and their liquor home-brewed. AMERICAN CENTURY: THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY is a 160-page VERTIGO collected edition, suggested for mature readers, and scheduled to arrive in stores in May. An Eisner-Award nominated tale is collected in HELLBLAZER: FREEZES OVER, featuring issues #157-163 of the VERTIGO series. These stories, written by Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS) with art by Marcelo Frusin and a cover by Tim Bradstreet, find John Constantine snowed into a tiny roadside diner — with a variety of travelers forced off the road by a cataclysmic snowstorm_including a legendary serial killer. HELLBLAZER: FREEZES OVER is a 160-page VERTIGO trade paperback, suggested for mature readers, and scheduled to arrive in stores in May. Besides these newly-added trade paperbacks, DC will release the following additions to our collected edition library in the next few months: GREEN ARROW: QUIVER SC - Scheduled to be in stores in April BATMAN: HARVEST BREED SC - Scheduled to be in stores in April THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES Volume 10 HC - Scheduled to be in stores in April THE FLASH: TERMINAL VELOCITY New Printing - Scheduled to be in stores in April TRANSMETROPOLITAN: DIRGE - Scheduled to be in stores in April TOP TEN BOOK TWO TP - Scheduled to be in stores in May BATMAN: CONTAGION New Edition - Scheduled to be in stores in May THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND SC - Scheduled to be in stores in May T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES Volume 2 - Scheduled to be in stores in May ASTRO CITY RETURNS IN DECEMBER WILDSTORM NEWS PAGE Readers will get their first glimpse of new ASTRO CITY material this December in the original text piece "Alien Conqueror Captured in Suburbs" on the WildStorm News Page. The story, written by Kurt Busiek with an original illustration by Brent Anderson, is presented as a clipping from the newspaper the Astro City Rocket. The page will appear in WildStorm and Homage titles this December. SOLD OUT! Please note that the following item is now sold out at DC: THE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY OVERSIZED HC (STAR16536) THE AUTHORITY: KEV (STAR16274) BATMAN: MANBAT TP (STAR06172) BATMAN PEWTER FIGURINE (STAR10340) BIG BOOK OF CONSPIRACIES (STAR01243) GREEN LANTERN CORPS: FATALITY ACTION FIGURE (STAR15191) GREEN LANTERN: HAL JORDAN ACTION FIGURE (STAR10729) THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN BUMPER COMPENDIUM ED VOL 1 #1 (STAR09243) POCKET SUPER HEROES SERIES I: AQUAMAN & BLACK MANTA (STAR16206) POCKET SUPER HEROES SERIES I: FIRESTORM & RED TORNADO (STAR16518) THE SPECTRE JIM CORRIGAN ACTION FIGURE (STAR11631) NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM PRESS The October 17 issue of Time Out New York includes an article on the 50th anniversary of MAD Magazine, including quotes from co-editors Nick Meglin and John Ficarra. NEWS FROM THE TRADE PRESS Comic Shop News #804 includes articles on BATMAN: ABSOLUTION, THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: BAST, BATMAN #608, and the collected edition of BROOKLYN DREAMS. The "Reading Room" in the November 29 Comics Buyer's Guide includes a review of GLOBAL FREQUENCY #1, with Brett Weiss writing, "car crashes, explosions, and nifty techno-gadgets with brainy dialogue, philosophy and geopolitical overtones_every panel crackles with energy and realism." Also reviewed is BATMAN: FAMILY — THE TRACKER #1, which Weiss calls "well told and enjoyable to read." SMALLVILLE, JUSTICE LEAGUE, BIRDS OF PREY EPISODE SCHEDULES DC has been supplied with the following episode schedule for Smallville, and Birds of Prey on the WB, and the animated Justice League on the Cartoon Network. All times are Eastern and Pacific: 12/7 (12:00 am) "War World, Pt. 1 (Justice League) 12/7 (12:30 am) we've World, Pt. 2 (Justice League) 12/7 (9:30 pm) "Knight of Shadows, Pt. 1 (Justice League-Widescreen) 12/8 (5:00 pm) "Heat" (Smallville) 12/8 (7:00 pm) "Paradise Lost, Pt. 1 (Justice League) Retailers are encouraged to share this information Be advised that this schedule is subject to change. +++++ From Alan Donald 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.] Dreddful This is All The Rage, the most talked about comic book rumour / gossip / news / opinion column on the web, and I'm your host Alan Donald. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the states. I guess that's the holiday season started for you guys now. As ever we have a competition to win a fabulous prize from our lovely and eternally magnificent sponsors, Dynamic Forces, and this week it's a copy of the Tom Strong Book One Signed, Limited Edition Hardcover. I command you before you proceed with this column to click on one of the plethora of banners scattered hereabouts and buy, buy, buy! Each week we give away a terrific something-or-other from Dynamic Forces, or one of our stable of prize providing premier publishers. If you'd like your company's name alliterated upon in this very column, drop us a line at ihaveprizes@silverbulletcomicbooks.com and let us know what you can offer. Last weeks winner was the delightful MidnighterUK who won a prize pack of signed comics for correctly identifying the Judge Dredd strip from 2000AD and other locales as the source of last week's codenames. To enter this week, all you have to do is correctly identify the source (book/comic/film/tv series or similar) of the codenames I have given to my anonymous sources and e-mail the correct answer to competition@silverbulletcomicbooks.com with (and this bit is important) your SBC Message Board ID. We take entries all week long up until next Saturday. Time for me to bloody well get on with it, then, I suppose_ Message Board It has been brought to my attention both on via my message board and by e-mail, that ATR is getting mentioned all over the web, fare and wide. This is good - all press is good press, after all. However, I would ask that a link back to the column is included too, please – and also, it would be nice if you didn't actually misquote me. Further, as a number of them are apparently derogatory, I have a request: Use my message board too. There's a link at the bottom of every column and I always check it a few times a week. If there's anything you'd like clarifying or any points you'd like to air then please do it so that I can respond. To get you all started we've constructed a poll called Performance Appraisal with the question "How do you think Alan is doing so far?" The answers range from Donkey Poo up to Dog's Danglies. After you've voted stop to comment on your reasons, I'll keep my responses polite. This Has A "This Is Your Column" Value Of Seven Out Of Ten Follow Up The following comes from Davidson: It's HENRY Scagnoli at New England Comics. Some sort of H confusion going on here? I think Henry was just about the only retailer at the RRP to go upstairs and see the Potter exhibit, and was also the only retailer to get any scuttlebutt out of any Warner people. Henry's a very together guy... That was a weird museum visit- retailers seemed to say "oh, the Actual "Born to" helmet from Full Metal Jacket. Wow! The REAL Maltese Falcon! "Check this memo from Jack Warner, and by the way, how are you guys doing on Yugi-Oh...", and the museum disappeared under discussions about the comic biz. I was chatting with one fella, and only upon heading outside for a smoke did I realise we had been leaning on the case holding Warner's six best-picture Oscars. Hadn't noticed them... Diamond returns: If it's defective merchandise, Diamond pays for the return freight, if they ask for it to be returned. Sometimes they just ask that it be destroyed. We ship it prepaid, then claim a freight credit. After a month or two of incessant hounding, they'll issue a freight credit. If you don't keep reminding them, somehow it's always "forgotten". Has nothing to do with the CSR, it's always been that way, no matter who's been handling the account. Why, thank you. I have e-mailed Diamond to ask for their comments on this laziness on their part but they haven't bothered to reply, which probably sums up what any reply would have been. They've got a monopoly, what do they care? This Has A "Forgotten Credit" Value Of Seven Out Of Ten Disney's Diamond Many thanks to Garrety for sending me a couple of links to get me started on this story. The below is taken from: http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=1472&si=121 Diamond President and CEO Steve Geppi and Disney Licensed Publishing (an imprint of Disney's Children's Book Group) have announced plans for Diamond sister company Gemstone Publishing to revive a variety of comic books featuring many of the beloved Disney characters. This should come as exciting news to retailers looking for comics material with a proven ability to attract readers of all ages and demographics. Interesting. I doubt the funds from any comic book venture would be of any great help to Disney (reportedly in dire financial straits) but it certainly won't hurt. Under the agreement with Disney, Gemstone will be allowed to develop new comics based on the entire stable of standard Disney characters, and will also have the rights to create collections of previously published material, including the recognized work of gifted Disney artists Daniel Branca, Daan Jippes, Don Rosa, Noel Van Horn, William Van Horn, and the great Carl Barks, as well as others. This also entitles Gemstone to continue reprinting the classic Barks Library editions, which contain Barks's world-renowned work with Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and the other beloved citizens of Duckburg. Hold up! Gemstone, part of Diamond will be developing their own comic books! The monopoly holding comic book distributor will be publishing comics based on some of the most recognised characters in the world! That can't be right, that surely can't be legal. Oh, and nice to see Diamond intend to screw over Don Rosa in the same way Disney's international partners have been (see further down the article). To ensure the highest quality in its Disney comics, Gemstone is currently assembling a team of respected creators, including John Clark, Gary Leach, and Susan Daigle-Leach. These were the very people who comprised the editorial staff responsible for the high quality, Gladstone Comics' acclaimed Disney titles that were so well received by collectors and fans. Gemstone's new Disney offerings are expected to be available to the comics and book market in English-language editions throughout the United States, Canada, and the U.S. Territories and Possessions by early 2003. Furthermore, customer orders received by Gemstone through the publication, Previews, or the Previews (http://previews.diamondcomics.com), Gemstone (www.gemstonepub.com), or Disney (www.disney.com) websites, will be fulfilled and shipped. Mmmmm_ I'm sure there will be no bias in Previews for these comic books. I guess Diamond should really be answering these questions: Do you feel that as the only supplier for virtually every major and minor comic book company you are overstepping the mark in allowing your sister company to publish comic books based on some of the most recognised characters in the world (namely Gemstone publishing new Disney comic books)? Do you believe that the major comic book publishers will be upset by this breach of trust on your part? Will you be negotiating with Don Rosa so that he will get a percentage of profits made from all reprints of his material by Gemstone and thus end his strike? Do you feel that Diamond's monopoly hold on the distribution of comic books is detrimental to retailers? Although we all know the answers given would be "no", "no", "no/maybe/it's a complicated situation" and "no"! Well one thing is for sure, there'll be no new work from Don Rosa for the moment so they better not be counting on him. Taken from: http://www.collect.com/interest/article.asp?id=5104&cookie%5Ftest=1 Don Rosa is on strike. The popular writer and artist of Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comic books has finally put his foot down, after years of watching big-time European publishers use his name. "I stopped work as of last June. I was getting too frustrated and bitter about being one of the most well-known cartoonists in Europe and not making a dime off it." Rosa said his beef is not with the Walt Disney Corporation; it's with European publishers who regularly release hardbound books, album collections, and annual calendars of his work without compensating him. The final straw was an ad which appeared in a recent edition of Onkle Dagobert for an upcoming 450-page reprint collection titled, simply, Don Rosa. I'm sure if you ask Gemstone nicely they'll give you a cut of the money they'll make on reprints of your work. Well by "I'm sure" I sort of mean "you've got a snowballs chance in Hell" but there you go, yet another creator screwed over. They hadn't even bothered to ask if that title was OK with me," Rosa said. "They have gotten used to not dealing with me when they reprint my work. Aside from the lack of royalties, the results embarrass me. My stories are often reprinted with incorrect pages of art, the coloring is improper or incorrect, the lettering is poor or missing altogether, the computer reproduction is pixilated. And I don't even know what's going on in the translations of my scripts. But the readers, aside from naturally assuming I get compensated for the books, also assume I have some control and naturally blame me for the errors! Perfectly true, I suspect they do and it's a real shitter. All I can do is raise public awareness of your predicament, which I am doing here. The Donald Duck & Co. weekly is not simply the best-selling comic book in most of Europe; in many countries it's the best-selling anything. One example: The Norwegian weekly sells 250,000 copies each week. No other publication outsells it. Per capita, that would be like a North American comic book selling about 80,000,000 copies every issue. And sales in Finland are even better, at 350,000 copies per week. One out of every four people reads the Donald Duck comic every week in these entire nations. Sales are also brisk in Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy, and Germany and eastward across Europe through Russia, China, India, Indonesia, etc., and into Japan. I have no complaint with the use of my work in the weekly anthologies. Bloody hell. That's a lot of comics. This Has A "Only One Person Wins When You Play Monopoly" Value Of Two Out Of Ten Hasbro News Talking about Monopoly, Hasbro (the games manufacturer) has just been fined several million £'s for price fixing in the UK! How this'll affect the price of their products isn't clear but since they produce such things as STAR WARS toys it could be good news for collectors. This Has A "Naughty-Naughty" Value Of Six Out Of Ten More Generosity From Mile High Boss Thanks to Barkovitch for spotting this. Not content with buying Jim Lee (well a signing from him anyway) Chuck Rozanski has decided to do more to help the CBLDF. The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund helps such people as poor old Jesus Castillo (who was arrested for selling an adult comic book to an adult, the bloody comic was hidden away as he felt it shouldn't have been displayed where children could buy it, the cop had to ask for it...he's asking for it all right). The fund is always in desperate need of money and good old Chuck has decided to help further. On Thanksgiving Day an Ebay auction started for the oldest CGC 10 grade comic book in the world, a donation from Mr. Rozanski. This issue of Thor (#156) is the only Silver Age 10.0 grade comic known to be around and it predates the next oldest 10 by 14 years. In addition to this Mr. Rozanski has also donated loads of stuff to the CBLDF auction at the MidOhioCon and there'll be a chance to bid on Ebay for a seat at the after signing dinner with Jim Lee (also for CBLDF funds). Everyone at SBC would like to thank Mr. Rozanski for his enormous generosity that will ultimately help us all. Please, if you can afford it, bid for any of the aforementioned items or simply donate cash now to the CBLDF. The Thor auction ends on December 4th. This Has "Sod Altruism If That Don't Appeal To You, This Is For Your Own Good" Value Of Ten Out Of Ten And Now_ The Downside Of The Mile High Boss If you are not currently signed up to received Bad Signal, Warren Ellis's frequent ramblings and musings on whatever is currently pissing him off, you should do so immediately by dropping an email to: badsignal-subscribe@lists.firble.org Otherwise you'll miss such classic moans as one entitled "Hermitage", wherein Ellis implies he's going to reduce his time on the internet even further than just closing his Forum, and reveals some of his current disillusionment with the state of comics (his own notwithstanding, I'd assume). However, the section relevant to Mile High Comics reads: There's a retailer who takes the first printings of graphic novels, puts them in bags and sells them for higher than cover price. OK, so it doesn't come out and say that Mile High Comics is the culprit; however I've been sent two separate messages from Davidson and Percy, at least one of whom is a customer of MHC, indicating that charging extra for first printing trade paperbacks is not uncommon practice at MHC_ Oh dear. This Has A "Just When You Thought Comics Wasn't All About Business" Value Of Five Out Of Ten CrossGen On The Road Again At long bloody last! CrossGen are cool. I've said stuff about them before that has been misinterpreted but trust me I love their stuff and I've a lot of respect for their company. CrossGen are innovators, they're not afraid to try new things. Forge and Edge are good examples of graphic novel anthologies that come out monthly, brilliant! (Maybe they'd like to send us some copies to give away as prizes?) But not everyone likes this. Not everyone can afford to add CrossGen to their reading list. Worry not Scramm has sent me some news that'll please ya. CrossGen have a new innovation, "Travellers". These will be reduced size graphic novels comparable in size (5 3/16" x 8 1/8") with most Manga collections. Thanks to some jiggery pokery at CG's printers they're claiming they can deliver full colour comic books in this format with no loss in quality whatsoever. So sure are they that they're dropping the size of Forge and Edge to the size, too. These babies will only set you back $7.95, the price of a paperback novel. The Travellers will be printed in addition to (lagging far behind) the standard graphic novels and they'll start with Scion and Meridian (as they have the widest age and cross gender appeal, important in book and record shops where these'll also be sold). Each book will contain an incredible EIGHT issues (a saving of $15.65!!!!! [$2.95 each, right?]) along with some new, specially produced art! Why am I so pumped? GREAT value, the promise of FANTASTIC production values and a wide distribution...you have to ask why? This is a comic book company really trying to get people reading comics, they aren't just trying to appeal to the same old fanboys who go in week after week to the comic book stores they're trying to open up and help this damned industry, fair play to them I say! Now I've just got to sit back and wait for Ruse, Route 666 and some of the other titles I fancied reading to get the Traveller treatment. This Has A "Just Testing My PULSE" Value Of Nine Out Of Ten The Truth Is_ Gonna Be A Bit Longer Than Expected McVries has just sent me some information that Marvel's excellent Truth is going to be a seven issue series instead of the advertised six. Originally the series was to end on a double issue but a decision was taken to split the final issue. This Has A "Media Stir" Value Of Seven Out Of Ten Wizardworld.Com's Owners Arrested, Assets Frozen Gribble has sent me a few articles from the web including a rather nasty 25+ page legal document filled with nonsensical jargon that made me extremely glad I studied Biology at university, and not Law. The basics of it all are: Wizardworld.com wasn't doing so well The website was bought out by 800America 800America are also involved with CrossGen's comics on the web amongst other comic book sites (as well as a bunch of very well known and respected companies) 800America was run by a couple of nasty individuals with fraud and drug smuggling pasts (as well as vague hints of murder for life insurance) The company was falsifying statements and other nasty things The SEC has moved in, frozen their assets and arrested them OK? The repercussions? Well Wizardworld.com was originally the on-line division of Wizard. It's a good site that lets you keep track of the value of your comic book collection, buy stuff, subscribe to Wizard products and get details on upcoming events, that sort of thing. When it started it all went pear shaped and the 800America thing seemed like a good idea. With the money injected in the site actually started to do quite well and stood on it's own two feet. Wizard got money sent to them and all was well. Recently their cheques have been bouncing and with the above news the you-know-what has really hit the fans. The site is still there, it's still being maintained for the moment. All those involved are adamant it'll keep on going but they could be in big trouble. 800America was using the companies it bought as shells for illegal activities and this could mean that the site will have to shut down for the duration of all investigations, perhaps even for good. Wizard have reacted swiftly by producing Wizarduniverse.com. This site is very basic at the moment but it has promise and it allows fans to subscribe and buy stuff safe in the knowledge that it's Wizard they are dealing with. Perhaps in time Wizard may build in all the services from the old site and figure out a file transfer protocol for people to move their collection details across before Wizardworld is (if it will be) shut. Frankly at the moment nobody knows but it is good to see Gareb Shamus et. al. reacting swiftly like this. This Has An "All Up In The Air" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten Green Finned Thing To Marry Stebbins has sent me details of why Savage Dragon #104 was solicited in Previews with a blank page. Savage Dragon, Erik Larsen's baby, finally returned home for his 100th issue. The issue was a tightly guarded secret, so tightly guarded that Larsen decided that any information on #104 would ruin #100 (which wasn't out when #104 was being solicited). From the Image website: At the conclusion of Savage Dragon #100, the Dragon was reunited with his long-lost love, Jennifer Murphy, and her daughter, Angel. This is the next logical step and one that will lead to a whole new realm of possible stories," said Larsen. "Being part of a family is much different from being single and that changed dynamic alters everything. When Dragon was single, he didn't have to concern himself as much with his actions -- now that he's married he'd think twice about tying the villainous Dung to a lamp post with his intestines. That's just the sort of thing kids at school might make fun of." "While I don't like the idea of giving retailers no information about an issue, the timing on this one made it necessary," Larsen said. "When the solicitation information for Savage Dragon #104 was due, issue #100 hadn't come out and I didn't want to telegraph Jennifer's return at the end of that story by talking about their upcoming wedding or showing off a cover with her on it. I knew it was a risk to solicit the book without any artwork or information, but I didn't want to spoil the ending of my 100th issue. Now that Savage Dragon #100 has come out, it seemed like a good idea to spill the beans." So, get your invite to the latest comic book wedding. Savage Dragon #104 is out in January but Image are encouraging advanced reorders. This Has A "She's Marrying That, At Least Superman Looks Human" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten Wolverine Gets A Bodycount Baker has let me know that we'll get to see Wolverine's wild side in the next X-Men film (X2). Apparently the character loses it and releases a full berserker fury as bloody as any seen in the comic books. This Has A "Snikt-Ity Snikt" Value Of Ten Out Of Ten Keep On Trekkin' It was to be expected, wasn't it? Hands up who really thought Nemesis would really be the last Star Trek film? Thought as much. Well the big news is Star Trek 11 is gonna be made, and Rick Berman is working on it right now. It could see the return of a wide mix of characters from any of the series including Enterprise. As usual we'll have to wait and see. Thanks to Hough for this item. This Has A "Warp Factor" Value Of Five Out Of Ten Oh Deary Me Parker has sent in a nice e-mail about Marvel. It's not so much not a rumour but, as s/he puts it, falls into the category of "we'll whore our characters any which way for a buck." What am I on about? Visit: http://www.marvel.com/appearances/ To quote: Put Our Super-Powers to Work at Your Next Event If you haven't thought about using the Marvel characters to create excitement at your next special event, think again! Let Spider-Man and his amazing friends spark sales at your store or draw crowds to your next big promotion. Infuse your school assembly with the dynamic, positive energy of the Marvel characters -- and get your important message across in a way your audience will remember ... forever! Um...OK... The site feature wonderful pictures and video clips for you to, um, enjoy isn't quite the right word, unless you're one of those who like to watch car crashes. Choose from the following Marvel characters: Captain America, Cyclops, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Elektra, Green Goblin, Hulk, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Jean Grey, Magneto, Mister Fantastic, Psylocke, Silver Surfer, Rogue, Spider-Girl, Spider-Man, Storm, Thing, Wolverine. If you're worried about costs, we have the solution. Whether you want to arrange a "Meet & Greet" appearance with one hero, or have a "Who Wants To Be a Super Hero Show" with many heroes or villains, Marvel will help you stay within budget. Our wall- crawling pal Spider-Man and his amazing friends can web their way around town in a hurry, so they can make multiple appearances in one day. And if that's not enough, you can even co-op with other stores, schools, sponsors or corporations in your area to share the expense! Ah, isn't that nice... I won't say too much more as I'd hate to ruin the sheer wonder of the, um, beautifully made costumes. This Has An "Oh Dear...Oh Dear, Oh Dear" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten More Message Board Madness Following up our previous porn articles, I thought you might like to see this lovely exchange on the Brian Michael Bendis board. We can blame Olson for this one: Is transsexual porn bad? [Post#: 84761] I don't really have an opinion on this matter. I just thought that we needed a little diversity in here. But please, by all means share your thoughts. STUCLYDE (journeyman) 11/28/02 03:39 AM And the reply: I can't live without it!!! [Post#: 84775 / re: 84761] For those who think they may be missing something in their usual porn habits, try this site: http://www.transgallery.com Makes you wonder what'll show next up in Alias, doesn't it? This Has A "Well, Is It Bad?" Value Of Nine Out Of Ten Not Again! ATR scores another mention on Peter David's site this week (but no link this time Mr. David!) This is definitely the last time I'm running with this story but here we go again: GWEN UPDATE! Gwen will be working Saturdays, 11 to 5, at the New England Comics Allston Store. She actually worked in one of the other stores yesterday. When one customer bought Supergirl, she gave him a big thumbs up and said, "You should always buy this comic." He looked at her in utter bewilderment and said, "Yeaaah, it's, uh, pretty good," and then beat feet out of there hastily. So swing on by Saturdays and say hi. PAD Right, that's it. Thanks to The Major for spotting our requisite Peter David item. This Has An "Enough Already!" Value Of Ten Out Of Ten American Guides Just a quick promo for a website that Abraham found via the Neil Gaiman Journal: http://www.frowl.org/gods/ This is a fantastic site devoted to Neil Gaiman's novel, American Gods. You've got a complete list of and details for all the Gods mentioned in the book. It's a must for all Gaiman fans. This Has A "Car On A Frozen Pond" Value Of Nine Out Of Ten Superman Kicks Clark's Ass Wyman spotted an interview with former Superman star Dean Cain on the TV Guide On-line website. Detect any bitterness about Smallville from Cain? Or perhaps he's such a big comic book fan he's being pedantic: TVGO: Who would win in a death match between you and Smallville's Superman Tom Welling? Cain: He does not play Superman. TVGO: Ouch. Okay, Clark Kent... Cain: That's right. TVGO: Who would win? Cain: C'mon. It's a man against a boy. This Has An "I'm Not In The Least Bit Bitter" Value Of Six Out Of Ten The Fable Of Free Speech In a move that probably hasn't been seen in comics before, a creator has actually been encouraged to leave the message boards related to his monthly book! Pearson has informed ATR that Bill Willingham of Fables fame was getting a little bit too demanding and stroppy on the Fables message board, so DC gently encouraged him to dip out and just leave the fans to it. It seems that they wouldn't give him the power to police the boards as he saw fit, so the only option was for him to leave them behind. If it's true then it is quite an interesting turn of events for a creator to bully his fans and then get taken down for it_ of course, if DC wanted to do the right thing they should just buy new regular penciller Mark Buckingham a PC, give him broadband and access to the forum, and just watch the sparks fly! Mind you, this isn't without precedent, as readers may remember problems on certain message boards with fans having an adverse reaction to Ron Zimmerman taking offence at criticism of his writing for Marvel_ leading to Ron leaving said message boards_ Now, who's got stroppy at Image_ This Has A "Just Who Did The Right Thing?!" Value Of Five Out Of Ten Vertigo Picks A Winner With The Losers Further to our previous items on this subject, it looks as though Andy Diggle and Jock are the latest creators to be snatched from Tharg's hands over at 2000AD. They will be debuting their new Vertigo series The Losers sometime in 2003, and in the meantime will be working on various Hellblazer-related books. Andy is writing the Lady Johanna Constantine mini (which is being labelled as Hellblazer Presents_ and not Sandman Presents_, even though Johanna is actually one of Neil Gaiman's babies) and Jock will be pencilling a fill-in (issue 181) for the regular title. What this means for the future of Lenny Zero is anyone's guess. Diggle and Jock (try saying that 10 times in a row really quickly) can currently be found loitering on the DC Hellblazer message boards if you are looking for them. This Has A "Splundig Vur Thrigg" Value Of Nine Out Of Ten 2000AD - Minus Two Again?! Speaking of 2000AD and the growing list of creators being poached by American publishers, Jan has sent us some gossip to suggest that Simon Spurrier and Richard Elson of "The Scrap" may be next. It seems quite likely as all eyes are now firmly looking at 2000AD to provide the next wave of British creators to wash up on American shores. With the recent DC pickups of Andy Diggle and Jock (as mentioned above) as well as Robbie Morrison for The Authority, it seems to be a bit of a race to discover the next budding Alan Moore, Alan Grant or Grant Morrison. This Has An "As Always, Wait And See" Value Of Four Out Of Ten 21 Down: A Crossword Question?! It seems as though some creators are now on a roll with various new projects getting green-lit based on the popularity of their current work. Is it any wonder then that Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti (of 21 Down & The Resistance fame) raised a few eyebrows when they started talking about the DC character The Question in interviews?! Not only was it an interesting insight into their own preferences as creators, but it also followed hot on the heels of a recent DC announcement that a new series of The Question was actually in the works for 2003. Apparently they had received an exciting proposal and were now good to go although nothing could be announced at this time. When asked to comment, Justin said that they were not working on The Question, but they were working on an entirely new series for DC instead. Fingers crossed that it's not another Lab Rats! Many thanks to Harkness for letting us in on this one. This Has A "Make Sure You're Asking The Right Question" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten Advice To All Retailers The following came in from Percy. It's nice to know Spawn is good for something: Why would it help the retailer is Todd caught up? Every issue of Spawn is returnable to Diamond Therefore, no retailer is ever stuck with a copy of Spawn they can't sell. You can't say that about X-Men or Batman. Good lord, I certainly don't hope Todd ever get on schedule, here's why: As a retailer the nice thing about Spawn comics being so late is the fact that you can always get the highest image discount on your order. It works like this_ Image has a discount rate that is determined by the dollar amount of image you order. The more money you spend the higher the discount. The nice thing about Spawn being late is you can get a better discount by just ordering a ton of Spawn. Then when Diamond sends you a notice that Spawn is late therefore eligible for adjustments to your order you just lower the number to what you actually sell but you still keep the high discount rate that you initially earned. It's quite lovely. So, small retailers and those not using this loophole already pay attention there'll be a big outlay to begin with but once you get running with it you won't notice and you'll recoup all you've spent and get your Image comics cheaper! This Has A "Helping The Retailers Wherever I Can" Value Of Nine Out Of Ten Well that would appear to be that for another week. Remember if you hear any gossip/rumour/news or anything interesting at all related to the comic book industry just drop me a line. All sources are treated as confidential unless you specifically request publicity. If I've annoyed you, entertained you or if you just want to chat then visit my Message Board right away! TTFN Alan Donald - Signing off safe in the knowledge that I am again 3 years younger than Rich Johnston (at least for 3 months). +++++ Items found in Rich Johnston's "Lying in the Gutters" column at http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/ which are all rumors or gossip so take any of it with a BIG bucket of salt! Rich heard rumors . . . Both Marvel France and Semic (who republish Image and DC titles) will be in competition to bring in the best 'American publisher' guests to the Angouleme convention in January. Semic has Neil Gaiman And Todd McFarlane. Stan Lee, and ex-DC president Jenette Kahn are rumoured to be setting up a west coast media company later this year, once Jenette is officially gone from DC. Eddie Campbell mentions he's working on a London Batman story, set in 1939 using elements from his "From Hell" work. UK was severely deprived of Antony Johnston's new graphic novel from Cybrosia. Howard Chaykin was recently married in Ventura, California in early November. The planned Top Cow collaboration between Marvel on a Secret Wars style project has fallen through. Grant Morrison's rumoured exit from "New X-Men" is looking more and more likely right now after issue 150. Could it be that Chuck Austen is being groomed to write both X-Men books? Marvel's much-promised creator owned line will be coming into effect in 2003. Its name? Epic. I hear that Alan David Doane's Comic Book Galaxy site is to buy the Grayhaven site. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] My Life With Comic Books Paul Howley pmca@together.net [Paul Howley is the owner of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector's store known as " That's Entertainment " in Worcester, Massachusetts. His store has been around for over twenty years and it's been a long and interesting combination of events and people that has brought it to its current place. The purpose of this column is not to boast or brag about his store but to tell you his story. See more about the store online at http://www.thatse.com ] MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part Seven My wife agreed to run our new store on Monday through Friday and I'd run it on Saturday. Mal and her mother would go to Atlas News and Magazine Distributors and pick out the new weekly comic books for the store. At this point, I need to tell you about Mal's family. Mal's mother, Madeline, was born in a very rural part of Howland, Maine in 1925. She was of Irish/Scottish/ English descent and she was one of 9 children. In 1946 she married Richard Daher, a truck driver who was 100% Lebanese. This was quite a mix in those days. They moved to the tough city of Lawrence, Massachusetts to begin to start their own family. They had 8 children: Virginia, Rose, Priscilla, Richard Jr, Marilyn (my Mal), Alan, Carol, and Madeline. Although Richard earned good money as a hard-working union truck driver, it's expensive to raise 8 children and so it took almost 17 years for them to save enough money for a down payment on their first home in the quaint community of Hudson, Massachusetts. By the time they moved there, the two oldest girls were married and living in Lawrence. Priscilla had died of a type of Meningitis when she was 13 months old. I met Mal's parents in 1972 when they were in their late forties. I'm sure I wasn't the kind of guy they wanted their daughter to marry. Mal's father was very conservative and I looked like a hippy with hair down past my shoulders. He was a union supporter and I believed that unions were destroying the productivity of the American worker. I would argue with him that the unions were corrupt and they didn't really offer him any long-range protection. I believed that non-union companies would recognize valuable employees and that unions only rewarded the worst employees by eliminating merit based pay increases. Our biggest disagreements were usually about minorities. I believe that people should be given a chance to prove themselves, but he would lump people in groups based on their skin color. It was an odd thing, considering that he was born of immigrants. It was very much like the relationship of Archie Bunker and his son-in-law, Meathead from the TV show of "All In The Family". But even with all of our disagreements, there was never any yelling or screaming. He probably just considered me a stupid kid. But he never bad-mouthed me to my face. He was a really good father-in-law. Mal's mother was an interesting woman. She never bothered to get her drivers license. Except for a brief time, she didn't work outside the home. She considered her job to be raising her children. She skimped and saved money as best as she could. The family didn't go away on fancy vacations. A vacation for them would be a trip to visit a relative in Maine. Family was very important to her. Almost every Sunday, most of the family would gather together for a big family dinner. The family would also play card games and make jigsaw puzzles together. Very Norman Rockwell. One of Mal's mother's best character traits was that she never had a bad thing to say about her children or their spouses (even though some of us weren't the greatest). Mal and I lived close to her parents and we spent a lot of time with Mal's mother. Mal would even pick her up to take her grocery shopping with us. She would follow Mal, pushing the shopping cart, and never complain about the boring grocery shopping. She just enjoyed being with one of her kids. We would frequently meet her and her husband for "coffee and_" at the local diner after supper. Other than their children, Mal's parents had one major goal. They would sacrifice and save money so that when they could retire at age 62, they would sell their house in Massachusetts, buy a little house in Maine, get a dog and a Cadillac and finally get to relax. Mal saw what the responsibility of having a big family was. Her parents gave up a lot to provide for their family. Mal decided that she mother's really interested in having kids of her own. She had babysat for her younger siblings for many years and was sick of it. I also came from a large family. My parents had six kids: Me, Jay, Sharon, David, Jeffrey, and Rick. I was the oldest kid and I always felt special. I got to experience things first. I could read before my siblings. I could stay up later. I'd always be their first kid. My father frequently worked more than one job at a time to provide for us. They bought their first house in Newton Massachusetts and eventually moved us out into the "country" of Bolton, Massachusetts so that we wouldn't be "ruined" by growing up in the big city. Even though it meant a much longer commute each day to work, my parents did what they thought would be best for us kids. My Dad was an electrical engineer. My mother stayed home to take care of us. She didn't work outside the home until we were all in school. She always had "balanced" meals prepared for us (including desserts!) and we rarely (if ever) ate out. We just couldn't afford it. My most vivid memory of my Mom is of her constant occupation of the kitchen. It seemed as if she was always stuck in there! Occasionally, we would gather in the kitchen to play "Tripoly" or some other family card game and mom would join in, but usually it would be Dad and all of the kids playing some outdoor game like soldiers at war, or building a stick fort, or having "acorn fights" that would usually end up with someone getting hurt. Dad would also make up games like "stock market" to teach us math skills while we were having fun. I never heard my parents talk about retirement. Now, back to our store. While I worked at the computer company, Mal would drive about 45 minutes each way to run the comic book store. The commute was never easy for her because the traffic was horrible and it was always dark when she would be driving home. Mal is blind in one eye and it's hard to drive in the dark. Although Mal had picked up some stuff while working at the comic book conventions with me, she really didn't know too much about comic books. Comic book collectors usually like to talk about comic books. Some collectors are obsessive about talking about comic books. Mal really couldn't discuss comics because she didn't read any. It would annoy her when the customers kept rambling on and on as if the comic book characters were real. She began to feel trapped in this small store. Remember, we didn't even have a telephone so that she could call a "normal" person. She began to hate comics and would actually hope that no one would come in to the store. Sales were slow during the week, but when I would come in on Saturday, sales were great! I loved to talk about comics with collectors! I was one of them! I loved owning a comic store and we were making a profit. I thought everything was going great. But Mal just felt trapped. After about 6 months she couldn't stand it anymore. Not only was she done with the store, but she was done with me! I was unaware that there was even any problem because I was so busy pursuing my own dream that I didn't see (or I ignored ) her unhappiness. She went back to live with her parents and I closed the store. Next chapter: AAARRRRGGGG! Let's get out of here! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] X-Fan Reviews Eric J. Moreels X-Fan Editor-in-Chief xfan@ihug.com.au From X-Fan: http://x-mencomics.com/xfan AGENT X #5 REVIEW Reviewer: Jim Lemoine, darkkelf@earthlink.net Quick Rating: Great! Story Title: Dead Man's Switch Part 5: A Little Crazy Arcade drops by as the final battle between Agent X and Higashi begins! Written by: Gail Simone Art and Colors by: UDON with Alvin Lee, Rob Ross, Eric Vedder, Therealt!, Shane Law, & Calvin Lo UDON Chief: Eric Ko Lettered by: Cory Petit Assisted by: Lynne Yoshii Edited by: Andrew Lis Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada President: Bill Jemas Reviewer's Note: It has been pointed out to me since the original posting of this review that some of the things that I complain about not seeing in the book, actually were in the book... just not in my copy, oddly enough. Bear this in mind while reading the below review... apparently, this reviewer's copy of Agent X #5 was missing some pages. We apologize for the confusion. After reading this issue, I was reminded of the time I got to see a rerun of my favorite episode of "Seinfeld." I'd heard that my favorite episode would run late at night in the syndicated-Seinfeld-rerun-slot, and I was very excited. I plopped down in front of the TV with a big bowl of popcorn and watched 'till the end_ and while it was enjoyable, and yes, I did laugh my sweet tuckus off_ something was missing. As much fun as it was, I felt like I was missing a big part of the story. Later I found out that about 3 minutes of the show had been cut for "syndication purposes", so that the network could show more commercials. Long story short: while I did get to see the greatest episode ever, I didn't get to see all of it. There are so many comparisons there to Agent X #5, it's scary. At first glance, this month's instalment could be the strongest issue of Agent X yet. While it doesn't have quite as much humour as the last few issues, it makes up for it with a wonderful blending in of action, adventure and intrigue. Writer Gail Simone is best known for her comedic situations in this book (and rightfully so), but every now and then she gives us an issue like this one where she proves that she's capable of much more. On the art side, UDON's renderings continue to be top-notch, excelling particularly in capturing the emotions of the main characters through their facial expressions. But on the flip side, one can't help but wonder if this was originally a 24 or 30 page story that Simone and UDON were forced to shrink to 21 pages. There's just so much missing, so much that happens "off- camera", that it seems like we're not getting a fair bit of the story. I'm confused: how did Alex recover? Did Arcade save him? The writing seems to indicate that, but we never see it happen, nor is it referred to, nor do we know the how or the why. What exactly did Taskmaster say that enraged Higashi and Saguri? This may be a major revelation that Simone is saving for next issue, and I hope it is; if it isn't, then it's a rather large omission. Where exactly did Alex leave that note on page 17? What was he accepting? An implied challenge? That seems a bit obscure. And finally, what was up with that pen lodged in Alex's throat? It just suddenly appeared when he was talking to Arcade, and then a few pages after Alex pulls it out, we see it lodged in his throat again??? That makes no sense at all, and makes me wonder if UDON somehow drew the pages in the wrong chronological order. It reminds me a great deal of the mistake with Outlaw's guns in issue three. Several occasions like these throughout the book just don't flow all that well together, and left me with the impression of a hurried story. But if you let those omissions go, fill in the blanks with your imagination, and let the book take you along, then you'll find a fantastic issue within. As I mentioned earlier, Simone does a great job of blending action/adventure with her trademark comedy. The action of the issue is sandwiched between two great comedic scenarios: the return of Arcade in the book's beginning, and Alex's chastisement of the Taskmaster near the book's end. As to the former, I can only say to Ms. Simone, thank you so much for taking such a great (and often ignored) character and at last letting him be written with some dignity and panache. Arcade is certainly a favorite. The most memorable character in the book, though, is without doubt the Taskmaster. Once a laughing-stock caped-and-corny standard Marvel super-villain, TM has really come into his own with the sharp new characterization by Simone and UDON. Every issue shows us new levels of his character, and you're still not sure if he's the good guy or the bad guy. He is flawed and fun to read, and UDON makes him look better than he's ever looked. The scene where he attempts to warn Sandi is extremely well done, especially by the art team; even though no part of TM's face is visible as he warns her, the emotion of the scene is obvious. More than just being a funny issue, Agent X #5 manages to have an extremely engaging story_ that just happens to have a lot of funny parts. It's one of those issues where about midway through you start checking to see how many pages are left, because you desperately don't want it to end. Story and art, this is top-notch stuff. The suspense is perfectly built up for the final issue of the story arc, where we'll hopefully see some answers to the questions that plague us; and if nothing else, we'll get to see Agent X, Outlaw, and the Taskmaster beat up some of Marvel's lamest super-villains. If only this had been the "Extended Edition" of Agent X #5, the one with all of the scenes that were apparently deleted, then I'd give this book a perfect rating. Art: 3.5/5 Story: 3.5/5 Overall: 3.5/5 X-MEN: EVOLUTION "UNDER LOCK AND KEY" REVIEW Reviewer: Linsey Duncan, riftedwick@hotmail.com Quick Rating: Excellent! Episode Title: Under Lock and Key Season: 3 Episode: 9 Mesmero's at it again . . . The trouble with Magneto is not that he's stupid, but, like his daughter, he's distressingly single-minded. His plans are often elaborate and usually backfire -- not only is his hand a little clumsy, but the mechanitions of his plots never fit his intentions. Knocking people out and stuffing them into metal spheres is generally not the best way to gain followers. Attempting to kidnap enigmatic loner mutants is generally not the best way to gain followers. Exposing mutants to the universe is not the best way to gain followers. With this kind of track record, it's rather remarkable that Magneto even has as many followers as he does. Or even gets anything done -- he seems to get so enamoured with his methods and with his supposed genius that little details like the human dislike for being stuffed into metal spheres or "this is really a little too easy . . . " don't seem to occur to him at all. He's so unwavering and uncreative, he borders on the robotic. In and of himself, he's about as scary as a pitbull that keeps running into the wall because he's so sure that he's too much for the wall and it will eventually break. Unfortunately, he is not a pitbull -- he is an extraordinarily powerful mutant and every time he puts out his hand to "help mutantkind" something does break. It's just not usually the wall. This is Magneto in yet another attempt to be helpful. Yet again, he's not very helpful. He does a very nice job of capturing Mesmero, of interrogating him, of spinning that chair around and making Mesmero dizzy so he'd spill all. Yes, he did a nice, conventional job and quickly went along with what information he had. It wasn't hard to get, after all. Rather easy, in fact. Hmmmmm. To be fair to Magneto, he didn't have the information that we did. We knew that Mesmero was Apocylapse's lackey and very dangerous. We were a little disappointed that he was so easy to catch and thrash -- Magneto didn't break a sweat. We might have even held a grudge against Magneto for being so powerful that Mesmero wasn't fun any more. We might have had a sneaking suspicion that something was up, although we probably didn't know what. Magneto has not seen Mindbender, to my knowledge, so he probably didn't even have that suspicion. Still, if Magneto had been a little more thoughtful, he might have wondered a few things. Such as how Mastermind could suddenly break through Mesmero's "formidable" mental blocks after the latter got a little nudge from Magneto. Such as if Mesmero could just vanish from the chair, why didn't he do it before? Little details like that . . . well, we must suppose they don't occur to him. And let's give Mesmero/Apocylapse credit for being extremely clever about the whole thing. Apocylapse, Apocylapse. Both Magneto and Xavier seem to have a vague idea of who/what he is -- or maybe their resolve to prevent him from ever awakening have more to do with the possibility that any ancient, over-powerful mutant with a name like "Apocylapse" has to be trouble. We'll see. (Also, can I say that I thought Xavier was just being contrary when he wanted to capture the spider unharmed? "Magneto wants to blow it up, so, by golly, we're gonna save it!") Oh yes, this is the episode where we get to see the five original X- Men (in the comics, y'know -- Jean, Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman) in action. This isn't really their episode (Magneto's kids and the Apocylaptic plot manage to utterly steal it from them), but a few things are certainly of note. Jean has a ponytail in the baseball sequence. This is mildly scary. Makes her look like Kitty for a minute. Ah, Scott is cute when he yelps and he keeps his shirt on. Angel does not. He seems to be living in a nice out-of-the-way mansion of a place, instead of the urban tower we first saw him in (On Angel's Wings), so it looks like he took Scott's advice to lay low. In any case, he can sleep with his shirt off and keep his wings unhampered, which must be nice. I'm personally glad that Angel has the same sense of innocence and fragility he had in On Angel's Wings which made him such a haunting character, even if he doesn't have the time to do a whole lot in this episode. Bobby is rather cutely annoying (I liked the chip thing), seems to be vying for attention during the combat scenes ("Look, I'm capable!"), and gets it. Okay, and he is fairly capable. Even-tempered Beast is only ever terribly exasperated by one person -- which happens to be that Bobby and his crazy cockiness (Beast has a great line about it, too: "You don't have my back. You don't have a clue."), but they come to terms somewhat by the end, again, because Bobby kinda proves himself. Enough of them -- we want to get to Magneto's boys, don't we? Er, almost forgot Sabertooth. He roars, he is Sabertooth. Colossus has the smallest part (save Sabertooth) and he doesn't say so much as a "nyet." However, he does get a great chase sequence. His metal feet against the concrete make a concussive, unnerving sound as he makes a valiant effort to catch and subdue the Spider Stone. Yes, it utterly crushes the poor boy, but he really did try and it was a great sequence. Then there's Pyro, who does say something and it is something more than a giddy laugh. Pyro is a very cheerful (and Australian?) person and is very polite to the guard he scares the hey out of after that guard is safely secured in a storage room. That just cries character. Pyro gets a fair amount of screen time -- or, at least, his fire shapes do. He's quite creative with those -- a skeleton riding a horse, a winged demon, that kind of cool thing. And then there's Gambit. Gambit was fair cool in Stuff of Villains, but this is a better showcase of who he is and what exactly he's capable of. He's also funny. In a sly, quirky way. Watch him draw a smiley-face on the window and finish an unfortunate guard's solitaire game. Watch how many unexpected uses his staff has -- particularly how he penetrates Angel's extremely high security sanctum. Then, my particular favorite, watch Gambit's would-have-been-successful- against-anything-else attack against that nasty Spider Stone. That's just plain clever, even if it costs quite a few governmental dollars. What about the mutants that don't get to go Apocylapse hunting? Most of them are content with cameos in the entertaining mutant baseball game (watch Magma's fireball and Nightcrawler's feet. What? I like Nightcrawler's feet). Kurt and Rogue do get more than a cameo -- they get a very nice and effective sequence to themselves. Rogue is still recovering from the last episode and Kurt is trying to be helpful (not in a Magneto way -- he's not blowing things up. But perhaps distributing Kitty's cooking is close enough). The essence of this sequence is not humorous, though. Kurt is pulling on Rogue's new "tie" with Mystique and he's not too gentle about it. It's not that he's malicious -- he just really wants Rogue to accept that she's essentially his sister . . . well, sorta kinda his sister, but it doesn't matter. Rogue is much more literal -- uh, no, she's your biological mother, not mine. Kurt doesn't care. He calls on the family tie at least three times in the sequence, mildly accusing Rogue of denial when she doesn't buy into the idea. He finally gives her an almost compromising "Well, I'm here for you" and finds a reason to leave when Rogue doesn't seem too thrilled on that account either. Aw, but we know better. Rogue knows why Kurt wants her as his sister and, even if the pair have become a little estranged over the seasons, she likes him -- even if he's an annoying little bamf. They're both lonely orphans in their respective little ways. And the scene closes with the subtle slow Rogue smile. It's really rather sweet. The episode closes with another door open and the menace of Apocylapse a little more clear. It also closes with no major flaws, some interesting insights, and some highly memorable sequences, not to mention an angry floating elevator and a nifty-keen green spider. Violent and fun -- maybe nothing to brood over, but . . . that's okay. Animation: 5/5 Story: 5/5 Overall: 5/5 ULTIMATE WAR #1 REVIEW Reviewer: David Harris, HeroComplex00@hotmail.com Quick Rating: Great! Story Title: Ultimates vs. Ultimate X-Men The opening chapter in a crossover destined to tear the Ultimate Universe apart! Written by: Mark Millar Penciled by: Chris Bachalo Inked by: Tim Townsend Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos Colored by: Paul Mounts Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski & Brian Smith Editor: Ralph Macchio Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada President: Bill Jemas It wasn't until I picked up Ultimate War #1 that a few things struck home for me. If I was reading the big brawl between the X-Men and the Ultimates, then everything setting up the battle had to have happened. Everything kind of clicked into place as I opened up the book, and everything we knew was going to happen made sense. The X-Men have done brought the wrath of the Ultimates on them; Jean is a murderer and Magneto is back. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver join the Ultimates; the Brotherhood disowned them and Magneto is back. The Ultimates could never find someone to fight; Magneto is back. Magneto is back. The earth is shaking because Magneto is back, and this time, it's going to take more than a dream and a parlor trick to take him down---it's going to take a war. The Ultimate War. I should at least have to read a book before it gives me chills. The story starts off with a regular day in New York, which in and of itself isn't a new idea. There are traffic jams and superficial comments, and overall everything seems normal to the normal people. But it is sickeningly not so. Carnage breaks out, but for some disturbing reason the image stuck in my mind is not the explosion, nor the haunting flashback to 9-11 on the Brooklyn Bridge, but a bomb disguised as a toy and a baby being told not to cry. It is a very disturbing start to an issue that is most definitely not destined to be peaceful. But there are good guys, too. Always. Just as death came from a mundane image, so do the heroes. They come from the city to defend it, and I don't doubt that these images are more stirring for not declaring themselves to be tributes to or reminders of the events that are surely still remembered. Great things have been produced in the past year, but many are cheapened by trying too hard to be of worldly importance. Despite being destructive and flashy, however, Ultimate War is subtle, and almost gentle here. Seeing Rogue and the rest of the Savage Land/Weapon X mutants is refreshing, until discovering that they deserve the past nine pages of my hatred. So it is even more refreshing for them to be brutally taken down and brought in. This version of Captain America from the Ultimate Universe gives a new perspective on the old character; after all, one in which he is only a boy scout socially. In a fight he doesn't hold back and truly is the weapon that the Super Soldier program was designed to produce; a weapon can only go so far if doesn't want to fight. Hawkeye, on the other hand, surprised me by being a bit of a sucker when it came to Rogue, as a secret service agent shouldn't fall for the innocent girl routine so easily. But he managed to live up to his arrogance, and so I don't hold it against him. I can certainly approve of the new recruit. The last story comment, appropriately, goes to the finale, which was more pulse pounding than any story intro has a right to be. As the X- Men are brought into the story, by means of an investigation of the mansion, the one thought that keeps forcing itself to the surface is that, somehow, sometime in the series, the two teams are going to fight. I know it, and every panel gets me one step closer to the explanation. The empty mansion confirms that this should still be directly after the X-Men defeated the Hellfire Club, which explains their absence until now. That rationale works up until the end, at which point a message from Ultimate X-Men #25, written in the sky and wrought of iron, repeats itself in my mind: Thank You Charles. The writing is crisp and hardly lets up. The dialogue is realistic when it needs to be, as in the Ultimates' situation room. Everyone is true to character even if only spotlighted for a panel; with Thor being liberal and Wasp being practical, though empathizing with her own hidden, mutant background. A mini-catfight between Scarlet Witch and Black Widow, bickering between the siblings, and Captain America in absolute control when he needs to be, the quintessential leader. But Magneto's manifesto at the beginning goes to the far end of the spectrum, being intentionally unreal. The speech is so over the top and, so callous, so unbelievable, that it has the total affect of being chilling. His unilateral view of the world, and the way he breaks it up into superior and inferior races, sounds more like Hitler than Malcolm X, to whom Magneto has oft been analogized. Essentially, Ultimate Magneto is ten times scarier for having become what his mainstream counterpart always hated. And thank the fates that the art lives up to Millar's writing. Since the opening hinges on a peaceful tone degenerating into chaos, it's integral that those be expressed on the page. Otherwise, the drastic change in mood is lost. But the art team is capable of going to both extremes and proves it here. A bright, airy day manages to explode in a single panel, with clearly defined explosions to prove that no one took short cuts. Everything is deliberately done, leading into the full-page spread of the Brooklyn Bridge that is meant to shock the reader, and which I think is successful. From then on, the story is always accentuated, and whether it needs shadows, mood lights or intimidation, the art is there. Even the abstractions fear and tension seem to be visible on the page. And leading us into the finale, ending the issue and preparing the rest of the earth-shaking series, we have desolation. Art: 4.5/5 Story: 5/5 Overall: 4.5/5 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Multiverse Observer and Explorer Reviews Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet98@cs.com [Paul promotes amateur and professional comic book artwork, scripts, storylines, and unpublished comic books with a newsletter called the Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter. Its website is at Jazma Comic Book Newsletter Productions at http://www.jazmaonline.com/ He is also a prominent letter hack, as anyone who reads comic letter pages would know. He is in production of his own self-published comic book called The Legendary Dark Silhouette and has copyrighted over 600 characters for his Jazma Universe.] WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN MAY REVEAL SIGNIFICANT PORTIONS OF PLOTS OF COMIC BOOKS, OR THE ENTIRE STORY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Name: Warren Ellis Atmospherics Publisher: Avatar Created and Written by: Warren Ellis Artwork by: Ken Meyer, Jr. Price: $5.95 Comments: I can't think of one comic book by Avatar that I would consider boring. Avatar strives for the best stories and the best artwork and Atmospherics is a prime example of perfection! Heavy laced drama as a chain smoking woman named Bridget is being interviewed at a police station about how some aliens invaded her town called Helen. There is talk of cattle mutilations and surgical mutilations performed on humans. If you love Steven Spielberg's 'Taken', your going to love Atmospherics even more! It's fascinating as the police delve deeper and deeper into Bridget's story and how they find certain inconsistencies. Is the FBI involved in this investigation also? You better believe it, because this story ranks right up there with the X-Files! Absolutely mind-boggling. A journey into a very dark mystery! Name: Steven Grant Mortal Souls #1A Publisher: Avatar Created and Written by: Steven Grant Artwork by: Phil Xavier Price: $3.50 Comments: I will give hints of what you will find in #1A of Steven Grant's Mortal Souls! How about a man tied to a bed and talking about his desires for a woman's body. The dominatrix attired wearing woman sets him ablaze. If Farrah Fawcett in the movie 'Burning Bed' gave you the heebie jeebies, you haven't seen anything yet! This all happens at a kink factory_or a factory that manufactures adult play toys. The bedroom fire engulfs the whole building and the fireman come to the rescue only to see the grisly sight for themselves. You want gunplay, you want a femme fatale with a gun? You got it all here in Steven Grant's Mortal Souls as our femme fatale shoots down a zillion zombies. There is plenty of drama at the police station and what makes this drama so realistic is that Steven Grant has all of his characters using realistic terms and adult language. It's like watching a movie rated R. Some of the scenes are quite graphic, like one scene in which a man is forcing a woman to drink out of a toilet. With all of the excitement that this comic book produces, you also have a very sexy dominatrix angelic woman named Roni Dasher who is a major player in this story of intrigue, horror, mystery and bountiful action! Name: Steven Grant Mortal Souls #3A Publisher: Avatar Created and Written by: Steven Grant Artwork by: Phil Xavier Price: $3.50 Comments: Meet Eric. Eric is having a very rough time, especially since he is chained up to a wall and some guy named Traduce is torturing the poor fellow. There is a lot of interesting talk in this powerful drama as AIDS is discussed. The discussion of AIDS was quite interesting as it was mentioned that AIDS could be traced to one man who has spread this disease to millions. Then there is some very interesting talk about how cops commit suicide or become alcoholics due the rigorous every day stress that they endure. Steven Grant's Mortal Souls is a splash of Evil Dead, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead mixed with Resident Evil. If your stomach gets upset easy_be forewarned with this comic book. It has superb artwork and when dogs are shown eating human carcasses..you can easily get a queasy feeling. Fight the Qelipoth! What is the Qelipoth? Find out through this thrilling series! If the story and artwork doesn't hook you, then the main character Roni Dasher will! She's dangerous, but she's hot! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] My View David LeBlanc ComicBkNet@aol.com [David LeBlanc is the Editor of the Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine. He is a long time fan of comics and the electronic media - having been the moderator of BBS comics forums on WME, FIDONET and the Comic Book Network. He and his wife are attempting to raise two sons in a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts. David's favorite motivational phrase is: BEHOLD THE TURTLE, HE ONLY MAKES PROGRESS WHEN HE STICKS HIS NECK OUT!] NBM PUBLICATIONS 555 8th Avenue, Suite 1202 New York, NY 10018 http://www.nbmpublishing.com info@nbmpub.com LI'L SANTA 8 1/2 X 11, 48pp., full color hardcover, $14.95 ISBN 1-56163-335-6 by Lewis Trondheim and Thierry Robin. colors by Isabelle Busschaert Trondheim has some of his work already published in standard comic book format by NBM in ODDBALLZ and DUNGEON. Now he has provided the story for the unique creation of Thierry Robin. The idea came from a design made by Thierry for a stamp for the French Post Office. Trondheim suggested he do a strip and this book was born. It is a story told only in pictures and is reminiscent of LITTLE KING and HENRY for its simplicity and charm. This is a LI'L SANTA Christmas story and more on other holidays are to come. This book is such a delight it is hard to know how to begin. The characters are all whimsical creations, from Santa himself, to the Snowmailmen, to the helpers who are 4-armed and have a big coiled spring instead of legs so they bounce around. There is a lovable abominable snowman who does the gift wrapping, assorted animals like rabbits and birds and a penguin butler named Feathah who keep house and take care of Santa. There is one big plot where the big present making machine, which takes in rubbish and garbage at one end and spits out all kinds of toys and presents at the other, breaks down due to lack of raw material. Santa tries his best to generate more trash by cleaning out his refrigerator but it is soon evident he will need much more than a few food wrappers. The plan is hatched to go to the big city and get trash there. Now, this would be simple for Santa who has flying reindeer and a bag that holds enough toys for all the kids in the world. But, there is this Snow Dragon who harasses everyone from time to time and the reindeer are so spooked they won't come down from the treetops. So the Impie helpers decide to build a boat for Santa and after much effort he is on his way. That is just half the story and about one percent of the detail. Often Robin uses up to twelve panels to a page and the full page or double page spreads that will engulf your imagination. There is an amusing opening sequence showing Santa's alarm clock which is a small igloo that opens a lid and out pops a bear with a bugle. The snooze feature resets it to a frog, and then an octopus complete with a squeeze horn in every tentacle. As I took it all in I could picture myself with a young child, narrating the story we looked at in these pictures and the utter delight that child would have. As an adult I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book and I know a whole first grade class that will probably end up wearing it out reading it over and over again. If you are looking for a comic related present for yourself or someone special in your life this holiday season look no further. This book is absolutely perfect! DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE adapted from "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson Art by Lorenzo Mattotti Script by: Jerry Kramsky Text Jerry Kramsky Translation by Adeline Darlington Lettering by Ortho 9 X 12, 64pp., full color hardcover, $15.95; ISBN 1-56163-330-5 The story is a familiar one, one everyone knows by name even if they have not read it. In fact many form their opinion of the classic Stevenson tale from sources other than the book - from movies or tv shows or even comic books. This volume uses the original first version novel and stays as close to it as possible. Thus you get the rich and chilling prose of a master novelist with the very stylized art of Lorenzo Mattotti. It is inspired to say the least. The futuristic painting style uses color pencils making a very Expressionistic visual. The story follows the work of Dr. Jekyll who believes that man is dualistic by nature. The only thing holding back the baser, unjust half is the upright morally conscious half. If they could be separated the unjust would carry on with no remorse and the just could venture on the upward path free of disgrace and penitence. It is this obsession that leads to his experiments and ultimately the drug that frees his inner demonic half. Of course that half has no remorse and desires to enjoy himself to the fullest, often to an extreme only associated with a sociopath, leading ultimately to murder. The good doctor allows the physically different Hyde to have free reign of his labs during his "absence" and eventually sets up a separate apartment for his alter ego. In the end, the inner rage of Hyde spoils the once chance he has to once again bury his inhuman side and he toils desperately knowing at last what his fate will be. The story examines baser instincts of man and the interpretive art portrays both the elegance of the "civilized" society and the depravity of the lower part of man that seeks pleasure at any cost. At times the art goes way abstract with only a hint of recognizable forms like a brain with nails stuck in it or a shark stuck with multiple hooks in it. The violent scenes showing Hyde letting loose in his perverse pleasure are intense, dark and bloody. The mood of each panel goes so well with the text you are swept away in each scene from a fancy dinner party to a the first supernatural transformation, to the eventual desperation of the man no longer able to reclaim his soul. It is easy to see why the story is a classic. If you pick up this adaptation you will see the best visual interpretation it has ever had. SUNDIATA: A LEGEND OF AFRICA by Will Eisner 8 1/2 X 11, 32 pages, full color, clothbound, $15.95; ISBN 1-56163-332-1 The legend of Sundiata has been passed down in the folklore of the people of Mali in Africa. Early in the thirteenth century a King of Sosso conquered many lands, including the nation of Mali on the Niger river. His name was Sumanguru and he was reputed to have great magical powers. He ordered the ruling family killed but spared the young crippled son. The story goes that as the boy grew he overcame his disability and later lead the people of Mali in a great revolt that defeated their oppressor. Since the history was handed down orally by story tellers, there are some thirty versions of the saga. Eisner adds his own unique interpretation. The element of magic is highlighted by the presence of the Great Gray Rock of evil. He offers Sumanguru great power over the forces of nature, the heart of the eagle and the cunning of the snake. But he warns him to beware the little frog prince, the nickname of the young crippled prince of Mali. While Sumanguru uses the powers the Rock gives him to conquer all he can see, he ignores the advice and spares Sundiata. Anyone at all familiar with Eisner's work will not doubt he can bring all these elements into a dynamic story, flowing from panel to panel as only the master can. We see the young man learn the lessons of life while gaining the skills he needs. His wisdom is respected among the people and soon he emerges as a leader who could become King. He escapes Sumanguru's wrath while building the forces he needs to oppose him, and also learns of a weakness he might be able to exploit to bring the downfall of his enemy. Whether most or only part of the story is true does not matter. It could be entirely fiction and it would still be a wonderful tale told in sequential art by the man who wrote the book. The fact that it has its roots in Mali folklore makes it that much richer. Anything by Eisner is worth getting and this one is a gem indeed. CITIES OF THE FANTASTIC: THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER vol. 1 by Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters 9 X 12, 64pp., full color hardcover, $15.95; ISBN 1-56163-333 This is another in a series of stories of fantastical cities that might exist just on the other side of the fabric of time and space. This episode is a satire on those hungry for power using geography as a tool to reach an end. The city is based on Serbia in what was Yugoslavia, though that is only a veiled similarity. In this land there is a building, the Great Dome of the Cartography Center, where a young recruit arrives to take his position. It is a science fiction scenario that has this giant bureaucracy self-contained in a dome that includes a giant scale map of a particularly strategic region of the country that one can view by peddling devices hanging from rails strung across the air overhead. Roland De Cremer has been appointed to work here and is soon getting used to the lifestyle and attitudes of the inhabitants. The placed seems to have seen much neglect over the years and the utilization is a small part of what it was in the past. But that is changing and he soon learns of new technology being set up that will revolutionize mapmaking. He also learns that there are people here, females, whose purpose is to provide pleasure. He is attracted to the one female who does not flaunt her beauty, and learns of markings on her body very similar to a map. We see the obsession of the old guard with the art of the craft while we see the future is set in politics as the country's leader pays a visit to inform the cartographers of their future. There is a second half to be in the next volume. While this volume gets us familiar with the place and the people it also sets up the plot for the next chapter. The whole thing is intriguing and the art is masterful in the visuals and the pacing. Like many things that you only see the first half, you are left wanting more too soon. This one will leave many question you will want the answers to by the e3nd of the book. +++++ FELIX'S WAY-OUT CARTOON LAFF-A-PALOOZA #1 32 pages, black & white, color cover, $2.50/$3.95CAN FELIX Comics Inc. PO Box 52 Hamburg, NJ 07419 www.felixthecat.com felixcomix@aol.com Writers & Artists: Don Oriolo, Scott McRae, Dan Parent, Robert Wetterauw Jr., Jenn Henning, and Jean Caliguire Cover Art: Scott McRae & Jenn Henning FELIX THE CAT is back, fresh off his 96 page trade paperback published with Dark Horse Comics. This time around the one-shot has more of the same fun we've come to expect. The lead story has Felix visited by a microscopic blob, Gulpo - King of the Blobs, that has grown to twice Felix's size. He's come to the big people's world to get away from the hassles of being king of a microscopic universe, and the lousy pension plan. He asks to stay with the amazing cat and so Felix puts him up and puts up with him until he out wears his welcome. Gulpo tries to land a job but he either lacks the skills or starts to melt, he is protoplasm after all. It all seems hopeless until a couple from a modeling agency discovers the despondent regent. In "Somewhere Over Her Shoulder" Felix's Magic Bag of Tricks takes on a life of its own as it spies Kitty's new handbag and falls in love. It looks pretty silly to see Felix and Kitty chasing two bags down the street, only to stop when they have spread a blanket under a tree for a lover's picnic. The errant bag is noticed by Rock and the Professor who naturally want the Magic for themselves. In his hurry to grab it, Rock snatches the wrong one and faces the fury of the Magic Bag over his true love. Meanwhile the real owner of Kitty's bag shows up and the Magic bag may have to find another focus for its affection. "Silent Partner" features Felix and his friend Vavoom who has lost his voice. They go see Poindexter for help. He has an experimental hydro-lozenge but before he can stop him Vavoom swallows the super powered cough drop and the result is an unexpected chemical reaction. There are some tense moments until Vavoom lets loose with a big "VAVOOM!", but now Felix lost his voice. Roxanne the cave girl is featured in "Love is a Battlefield" as she despairs that Rock does not love her. A girl scout troop happens by and decide to do a makeover to help her out. When Rock sees the oversized scout coming for him he races to Felix for help. He tries to sneak him past as a baby but that gets foiled and so Felix comes up with a way to solve the problem with the Magic Bag. As always there are lots of fun included besides the stories. There is a crossword puzzle, paper dolls, puzzles and coloring pages, plus lots of things to send away for, including all the back issues. The stories are entertaining and there is more fun on their web site to discover. Get back to basics and discover this comic that puts the fun back in funny books! THE VICTORIAN #16 (OF 25) 32 pages, full color, $2.95/$4.60CAN Penny Farthing Press, Inc. 10370 Richmond Ave. Suite 980 Houston, TX 77042 corp@pfpress.com www.pfpress.com Created by Trainor Houghton Script - Len Wein Pencils - Claude St. Aubin Inks - Mostafa Moussa Colors - Chris Chuckry & Kevin Senft Letters - Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Jason Levine Winston Fitzrandolph found out that the Cajun cab driver Trace Babineaux is in reality the mystery man known as "The Hat" by the locals. Trace is actually, Lazlo Gerevich, a member of a Victorian society who was put in suspended animation to be wakened in our time and perform a critical mission and now he has an ally. Meanwhile, Financier Claude Ballare has set in motion his plan by stealing a sophisticated computer from a British submarine so that he can break into the World Bank mainframe. He now has the attention of the President of the US. And back in New Orleans a detective of police, Doc Shumper, has been on the trail of an artifact that will lead him right to Winston and The Victorian. If that recap sounds intriguing enough wait until you see the art. The production values are high in every aspect. How can you not miss with Len Wein scripting a story with plots and intrigues, multiple characters that have agendas that intertwine and cross at just the right time. The science fiction element of the awakening in the future and a few other touches give an element of fantastique to an already fantastic story. There is a female photographer Eudora Kincaid that is on the run from men who want her after she accidentally took a picture of a man whom she later sees in a picture with her good friend's father. It is all too much to sort out but it is slowly coming together. This is the way Detective Shumper feels as he closes in on his quarry by the end of this chapter. There are back issues and compilations to help get caught up. But the skilled recaps at the beginning and thoughout make it easy to pick up any issue and get right into it. Which is what you should do the first chance you get. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] New Comic Book Releases List [NCRL] by Charles LePage chuck@comiclist.com +++WINNER OF THE 1996 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE+++ http://www.comiclist.com New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, 12/11/2002, compiled by Charles LePage with information from Suncoast Comics. This is the *preliminary* list and is not complete. The completed list is posted weekly, usually Tuesday evening, at http://www.comiclist.com and other places. You can receive this list each Tuesday via email by following the instructions at the web site, or you can email NCRL-subscribe@egroups.com PLEASE NOTE- Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. Let CHARLES know if any of the names or numbers are wrong. chuck@comiclist.com (Charles LePage) PUBLISHERS: If you know when your comics are going to be available through Diamond, please email chuck@comiclist.com so that he can place your comics on the appropriately dated list. Thanks! "TPB" = "trade paperback". "GN" = "graphic novel". "AA" = "available again". "SC" = "softcover". "HC" = "hardcover". "S/N" = "signed/numbered". "AR" = "ask retailer about price". PUBLISHER TITLE, ISSUE NUMBER, PRICE IN U.S. DOLLARS ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Archie And Friends #65, $2.19 Archie Double Digest #139, $3.59 Betty #120, $2.19 CARTOON BOOKS Bone #50, $2.95 CG ENTERTAINMENT Edge Holiday Gift Pack, $29.85 Forge Holiday Gift Pack, $29.85 Negation #13, $2.95 Sigil #31, $2.95 Sojourn #18, $2.95 COLONIA PRESS Colonia #8, $2.95 COMICS CONSPIRACY Generic Comic Book #11, $1.95 DARK HORSE COMICS Kiss Photo Cvr #4, $2.99 Kiss Rubi Cvr #4, $2.99 Oh My Goddess #93 Traveler (Part 3 Of 5), $2.99 Superman Aliens II Godwar #4 (Of 4), $2.99 DC COMICS Adventures Of Superman #611, $2.25 Aquaman #1, $2.50 Azrael Agent Of The Bat #97, $2.95 Batgirl #35, $2.50 Batman Family #7 Mr Fun (Of 8), $2.25 Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #162, $2.50 DC Direct Showcase #16, AR Fables Legends In Exile TPB, $9.95 Gen 13 #4, $2.95 Greyshirt Indigo Sunset TPB, $19.95 Harley Quinn #27, $2.50 Hawkman #10, $2.50 Hunter The Age Of Magic #18, $2.75 Mek #2 (Of 3), $2.95 Nightwing #76, $2.25 Point Blank #5 (Of 5), $2.95 Promethea Book Two TPB, $14.95 Scooby-Doo #67, $2.25 Stormwatch Team Achilles #6, $2.95 War Story J For Jenny, $4.95 DORK STORM PRESS Nodwick #18, $2.99 Ps238 #0, $2.99 DREAMWAVE Transformers War Within #3, $2.95 Warlands Vol 3 #1, $2.95 FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS Black Hole #10, $4.50 Death & Candy #3, $4.95 Hate Annual #3, $4.95 IDW PUBLISHING Mage Knight Stolen Destiny #3 (Of 5), $3.50 IMAGE COMICS Art Of Joseph Michael Linsner HC, $39.95 Art Of Joseph Michael Linsner Ltd Ed HC, $69.95 GI Joe Vol 2 Reckonings TPB, $12.95 Kabuki Vol 6 Scarab TPB, $19.95 Masters Of The Universe Campbell Cvr #1, $2.95 Masters Of The Universe Norem Cvr #1, $2.95 Masters Of The Universe Santalucia Cvr #1, $2.95 Powers #26, $2.95 INSIGHT STUDIOS GROUP Marc Hempels Naked Brain #3 (Of 3), $2.95 MARVEL COMICS Avengers #61, $2.25 Black Panther #52, $2.50 Captain America #6 (resolicited), $2.99 Elektra #18, $2.99 Elektra Vol 1 Introspect TPB, $16.99 Iron Man #62, $2.25 Killraven #3 (Of 6), $2.99 Marville #3, $2.25 Mekanix #3 (Of 6), $2.99 Punisher #19, $2.99 Spider-Man Legend Of The Spider Clan #3 (Of 5), $2.25 MOONSTONE Moonstone Noir Hat Squad GN, $5.50 Werewolf Apocalypse Fianna GN, $5.95 ONI PRESS Kissing Chaos Nonstop Beauty #2 (Of 4), $2.95 RENAISSANCE PRESS Amelia Rules #8, $2.95 VIZ COMMUNICATIONS Animerica Extra January 2003 Vol 6 #1, $4.95 Big O Part 3 #2 (Of 4), $3.50 Inu Yasha Part 7 #5 (Of 8), $2.95 Project Arms Part 1 #4 (Of 16), $3.25 Video Girl Ai Vol 5 TPB Spinoff, $15.95 WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT Toyfare Ozzy Osbourne Toys Cvr #66, $4.99 Toyfare Wolverine Toy Cvr #66, $4.99 magazines Alter Ego #19, $5.95 Comic Book Artist #23, $6.95 Comic Shop News #808, AR Comic Shop News Winter Preview, AR NCRL for the foreseeable future... TITLE OLD NEW DC COMICS 100 Bullets #41 12/04 01/01/03 100% #5 10/09 02/05/03 Green Arrow #20 12/26 01/01/03 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. II #4 10/23 12/26 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. II #5 12/26 01/15/03 Thundercats #5 12/18 12/26 Tom Strong #19 12/11 01/01/03 IMAGE COMICS Fused #4 12/18 Guardian Angel #3 12/04 12/18 Hellspawn #14 11/13 12/18 Mutant Earth #4 Cvrs. A-B 12/18 MARVEL COMICS Amazing Spider-Man #48 12/11 12/26 Captain America #7 (RES) 12/18 12/26 Daredevil #40 12/11 12/26 Elektra #19 12/18 12/26 Spider-Man: Blue #5 12/04 12/18 Spider-Man: Get Kraven #6 12/04 12/18 Ultimate Adventures #3 11/20 01/29/03 Ultimates #8 (RES) 09/25 12/18 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] HYPE! Section Various DC ITEMS NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED! Be sure not to miss any of these hot projects. SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #134 ($2.75, 40 pg.) NOV020736 In-store date January 2. Special 40-page final issue with a cover by original MAN OF STEEL artist Jon Bogdanove! Lois is concerned that Superman is losing his Clark Kent persona, as he's spending more and more time as the Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Steel finds the damage done to him during the Ending Battle is irreparable, forcing him to don the Entropy Aegis armor one last time. Written by Mark Schultz with art by Brandon Badeau and Mark Morales and a cover by Jon Bogdanove. ROBOTECH #2 (of 6) ($2.95, 32 pg.) NOV020783 In-store date January 2. The new 6-part miniseries based on the popular '80s 'mech drama continues! Following the cataclysmic event that halted the war, Roy has returned to Pop Hunter's Flying Circus where Admiral Hayes invites him to join a top-secret research mission at Macross Island as a test pilot. To young Rick Hunter's dismay, Roy accepts the invitation and becomes the lead pilot in the mysterious VF-1 test program! Written by Tommy Yune and Jay Faerber with art and cover by Long Vo and Udon. THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: BAST #1 (of 3) ($2.95, 32 pg.) NOV020804 In-store date January 2. Suggested for mature readers. Part 1 of a 3-issue miniseries featuring THE SANDMAN's cat goddess Lady Bast! As Lady Bast's legion of followers dwindles, so does her power. But when a teenage girl named Lucy finds a statue venerating the goddess, she sparks a series of events that will change her life forever. Written by Caitlin R. Kiernan with art by Joe Bennett and cover by Dave McKean. For a preview of this title go to http://www.dccomics.com/bnw/Jan_03/bast/a.html. +++++ "My Uncle Jeff" Certified Cool in December Previews Damon Hurd Origin Comics 1430 Rt. 300, Suite 2 Newburgh, NY 12550 (845) 483-1927 damon@origincomics.com http://www.origincomics.com Origin Comics Solicits Debut Graphic Novel: My Uncle Jeff in December Previews Newburgh, NY - December 2, 2002 - Origin Comics is proud to announce the solicitation of its first graphic novel, My Uncle Jeff by Damon Hurd, featuring artwork by Pedro Camello. My Uncle Jeff is a 32-page prestige format graphic novel that will be released in February of 2003. It is available for pre-order now in Previews under order code: DEC02 2862. My Uncle Jeff has received tremendous support from Diamond and the comics community. Diamond has labeled the book "Certified Cool" this December. "By the end of the story, you'll not only want to hug Uncle Jeff, but you'll be wishing he had been your Uncle Jeff too,” says Abby Horman in her Previews write-up. It will also be featured in this month's "Growth Potential" column in Diamond Dialogue. My Uncle Jeff is “a touching and compelling family tale" (Andrew Wheeler of NinthArt.com) about a family reunion during which a young man sees his favorite uncle for the first time in over ten years. The graphic novel is already generating rave reviews. Randy Lander & Don MacPherson of The Fourth Rail, write, "My Uncle Jeff is a remarkably honest and engaging story with terrific artwork, and one of the best reads I've had all year. Don't miss it." Alan David Doane of Comic Book Galaxy, says, "For a debut from unknown talents tackling a difficult genre, My Uncle Jeff looks to be a standout piece of humanistic autobiography, in the vein of American Splendor and Pedro and Me." Chris Allen of MoviePoopShoot.com calls My Uncle Jeff, "Probably the best self-published comic I've seen in 2002." Preview copies of My Uncle Jeff are now available to all members of the press. Please send an email request including a postal address to receive a full press kit including a complimentary preview copy. Please contact Damon Hurd at damon@origincomics.com or (845) 483-1927 for any further information regarding Beta, My Uncle Jeff, or Origin Comics. +++++ CrossGen Entertainment FOR FEBRUARY LADY DEATH #1 Written by Brian Pulido, art by Ivan Reis & Mark Campos, colors by Chris Blythe The medieval world is threatened by a near-immortal race called the Eldritch. Humanity's last hope for survival is Lady Death, an outcast who is half-human, half-Eldritch, and all attitude. Blood of both clans, she belongs to neither. Bearing a sword of vengeance, Lady Death roams Medieval Europe in search of her place in the world. Lady Death is familiar to comics readers, but now her story is re- imagined in an all-ages epic set in medieval times. Amidst a harrowing battle between warrior knights and the otherworldly Eldritch, a child is conceived that is neither wholly human nor wholly Eldritch. Years later, her unique nature is discovered, setting into motion events that will jeopardize the lives of Hope and her mother. Is there any place in the world for Hope, or is Lady Death the only solution? 32 pages full color, on sale February 12 … $2.95 THE CROSSOVERS #2 Written by Rob Rodi, art by Mauricet & Ernie Colon, colors by Mark McNabb A whole comics universe ... set in a single-family ranch house. Meet Carter Crossover, the super-hero known as Archetype ... his wife, Calista, a fourth-generation vampire slayer ... daughter Cris, who's also the warrior princess Eradika ... and son Clifford, UFO abductee and alien collaborator. Can a family survive the rigors of four genres, and only one bathroom? In Part 2 of the 6-part "Cross Currents,” the Crossovers have a family meeting about safety. Too bad they don't address the super- villain Potential" out to destroy them. Or the vampire who may beat him to it. Or the Imperial army set to crush Cris's tribe. Or for that matter, the coming invasion of Earth! 32 pages full color, on sale February 19 … $2.95 DEMON WARS: TRIAL BY FIRE #3 (of 5) Story by R.A. Salvatore and Scott Ciencin, Scripted by Scott Ciencin, art by Ron Wagner, colors by Caesar Rodriguez High in the frozen lands of Alpinador, a brutal battle has broken out between the warriors of Chieftain Byggvir and a handful of magic-using Abellican missionaries who just might be responsible for the deaths of a dozen innocent Alpinadorans. Or has everyone fallen prey to the manipulations of the evil frost giants and their vengeance lord, the demon-wolf Managarm, who is now set to attack? Also, the long-awaited face-to-face between Ranger Andacanavar and bloody redcap dwarf Grave Mungo! 32 pages full color, on sale February 5 … $2.95 BRATH #1 Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Andrea Di Vito & Brad Vancata, colors by Rob Schwager The beginning of an epic tale of worlds in collision and an empire in decline. Brath Mac Garen is the warchief of a clan that rules the last free land in the known world. They are pitted against the numberless legions of an evil emperor who will stop at nothing to enslave them. Brath Mac Garen is given the power of visions to aid him in leading his clan against the might of a wicked empire. But will this be enough to protect his homeland from the treachery of his enemies or from his own people in the form of C'inntra, an evil priestess? Beginning a new series of an unforgettable man in a forgotten time. 32 pages full color, on sale February 26 … $2.95 CHIMERA #1 (of 4) Written by Ron Marz, art by Brandon Peterson On a distant ice world, a young woman with a special gift hides from her past. But the rulers of the Chimeran Imperium, a brutal intergalactic empire, will stop at nothing to find her. CrossGen introduces a new science-fiction story with stunning, fully-painted digitial artwork by Brandon Peterson. With 32 pages of story! 48 pages full color, on sale February 12 … $2.95 CRUX #22 Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Steve Epting & Roland Paris, colors by Frank D'Armata The human race has vanished without a trace! Five mighty Atlanteans awaken from the sleep of ages to solve the disappearance of an entire species. But to answer this riddle, their leader Capricia must confront an invading universe of evil, and discover the shocking fate that destiny has in store for her. Aristophanes has awakened a quartet of Atlanteans who share his worldview. And that means trouble for Tug, Verityn and the others especially now that Capricia has been taken away by Danik. Plus! Thraxis uncovers a massive Negation incursion that threatens to destroy Atlantis from the sea! 32 pages full color, on sale February 19 … $2.95 FIRST #28 Written by Barbara Kesel, art by Andy Smith & Rob Hunter, colors by Sumi Pak Driven apart by immortal intrigue and titanic treachery, the rival houses of the godlike First must reunite to avert doomsday. Heirs to world-shaking power, Persha and Seahn each seek to lead the pantheon toward a glorious destiny. But will it be Persha's Golden Age or Seahn's Epoch of Evil? Even under Persha's rule, Ingra's absence from House Sinister has left a void in the power hierarchy and a new coalition rises to take advantage. Ihroe knows what she wants, how to get it, and what secrets must be revealed to get it for her. 32 pages full color, on sale February 5 … $2.95 NEGATION #15 Written by Tony Bedard, art by Paul Pelletier & Dave Meikis, colors by James Rochelle Trapped in a twisted universe ruled by the Negation Empire, an ordinary man named Obregon Kaine pits his extraordinary cunning and courage against the greatest foe imaginable. Escaping the prison planet was just the beginning – can Kaine's fugitives win a war for freedom when every star in the sky belongs to the god-king Charon? KEY ISSUE! Stranded on the Negation's most dangerous world, Kaine knows his only chance is to join forces with his deadly enemy, Komptin. But Komptin is only interested in separating Kaine from his head. Soon, they both learn that there are worse things to fear than each other. "Growth miss this turning point in our wildest, funniest, most unpredictable series! 32 pages full color, on sale February 12 … $2.95 MERIDIAN #34 Written by Barbara Kesel, art by Steve McNiven & Tom Simmons, colors by Morry Hollowell A princess's fairy-tale childhood is shattered by the death of her father_ and a gift of terrifying power. Branded by marks of supernatural origin, Sephie and her wicked uncle Ilahn will either bring renewal or destruction to the poisoned world of Demetria. Young Sephie must now grow into the role of global savior, but will defeating her uncle cost her her innocence? Jad's been abandoned on the surface with no way to get back up into the sky. Now he's got one shot, but the castaway's in for the fight of his life. 32 pages full color, on sale February 26 … $2.95 THE PATH #12 Written by Ron Marz, art by Bart Sears & Mark Pennington, colors by Michael Atiyeh He swore to destroy the gods he once served! The holy monk Obo-san embodied the feudal ideals of piety, honor and duty. Then his samurai brother called upon the gods to save his nation, only to be slain by to the petty, spiteful deities. Now, armed with the Weapon of Heaven, Obo-san seeks the death of the gods who betrayed him and the rebirth of his own shattered faith. A journey across the countryside of his homeland forces Obo-san to confront what his nation truly means to him, and spurs him to a fateful decision that will change the course of history. Can a man love his country so much that he is forced to destroy it? 32 pages full color, on sale February 26 … $2.95 MYSTIC #33 Written by Tony Bedard, art by Aaron Lopresti & Matt Ryan, colors by Wilfredo Quintana On a world where society is based upon magic instead of technology, ultimate power rests in the hands of the last person who wants it. Party-girl Giselle Villard couldn't care less about magic until a mysterious symbol on her palm made her the mystic protector of planet Ciress. Now she must mature into her new role before a legion of newfound enemies can destroy her! In the frozen regions of a prehistoric land, Giselle must fight for the wisdom that will return her home. Meanwhile, the situation on Ciress worsens as the ancient alliance between the great Guilds of magic begins to fall apart. Can Giselle get back in time to prevent global disaster? 32 pages full color, on sale February 5 … $2.95 OUT ALL NIGHT MYSTIC Vol. 4 Trade Paperback Written by Tony Bedard, art by Fabrizio Fiorentino & Matt Ryan, colors by Andrew Crossley Who was Giselle before greatness was thrust upon her? Find out as our heroine falls back in with her old party crowd and journeys through the criminal underworld of Nouveau City. Trace the fall and rise of our troubled champion in "Out All Night.” Softcover, 160 pages full color, on sale February 5 … $15.95 ROUTE 666 #9 Written by Tony Bedard, art by Karl Moline & John Dell, colors by Nick Bell Is Cassie Starkweather a crazed killer or a psychic savior? Wanted for murder, Cassie is an escaped mental patient who claims to have uncovered a vast supernatural invasion. As she fights a lonely war to keep the monsters and evil spirits from stealing innocent souls, one question haunts her: Are the creatures she fights real_ or are they her own inner demons? Cassie encounters a traveling circus with a mysterious connection to her supernatural foes. The more she delves into the secrets of their sideshow, the danger she's in. But what is it about this big-top brotherhood that scares even the fiends of Perdition? 32 pages full color, on sale February 19 … $2.95 RUSE #17 Written by Scott Beatty, art by Butch Guice & Michael Perkins, colors by Laura Martin In times of trouble, the city of Partington looks to its favorite son - the greatest detective ever known. But jjust who are Simon Archard and his lovely partner, Emma Bishop? That is the burning question behind each fantastic case solved by these stylish sleuths. In a world where a veneer of Victorian finery hides mammoth mysteries, Simon and Emma may be the biggest mystery of all. When last spied, daring detectives Simon Archard and Emma Bishop departed Partington in an airship bound for the ill-fated Penberthy archaeological excavations. But thanks to a sinister saboteur, their trip was cut disastrously short! Cast away from civilization, Emma must fend for an injured Simon while something stalks them from the shadows! 32 pages full color, on sale February 26 … $2.95 THE SILENT PARTNER RUSE Vol. 2 Trade Paperback Written by Mark Waid & Scott Beatty, Art by Butch Guice & Mike Perkins, colors by Laura Martin Simon is the greatest detective his world has ever known, but he was previously apprentice to another detective – the cold and calculating Malcolm Lightbourne. Once thought dead, Lightbourne has returned with a vengeance of climactic proportions! Softcover, 160 pages full color, on sale February 19 … $15.95 RUSE v. 1: Enter the Detective Jump on to CrossGen's critically-acclaimed series from the beginning! Softcover, 160 pages full color, AVAILABLE NOW … $15.95 SCION #33 Written by Ron Marz, art by Jim Fern & Don Hillsman II, colors by Jason Keith In a world whose medieval culture hides its high-tech roots, a young prince fights to liberate his world. He is Ethan, scion of the Heron Dynasty, bearer of a mark that grants him unmatched power and a chance to make things right. Together with his intrepid allies, Ethan battles to free the genetically engineered "Lesser Races" and erase the scourge of slavery from his world. Imprisoned in Tigris, Ethan and Ashleigh are forced to undertake a desperate escape attempt. But even if they're successful, can they possibly return home in time to warn their kingdoms of what Tigris intends? Meanwhile, a peace summit between Bron and King Dane ends with a shocking turn! 32 pages full color, on sale February 19 … $2.95 SIGIL #33 Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Scot Eaton & Andrew Hennessey, colors by Andrew Crossley Cool" last hope for survival is a grizzled space-soldier with a second chance at glory! After centuries of interstellar warfare, the humans of the Planetary Union have a new weapon against the man-eating Saurians. He is Samandahl Rey, galactic mercenary, who wields the world-changing power of the glowing Sigil burned into his chest. Could it be that this interspecies death-match is but a prelude for an even more momentous conflict? Sam is re-united with Zanni and the crew of the Bitterluck and confronts the re-animated Roiya for the first time. They also encounter strange attackers lurking in the event horizon of a systems- wide black hole. Plus! Tchlusarud uses a weapon of horror against his own people. 32 pages full color, on sale February 12 … $2.95 SOJOURN #20 Written by Ron Marz, art by Greg Land & Jay Leisten, colors by Justin Ponsor The undead warlord Mordath rules the Five Lands with a fist of iron_ and sorcery most foul. Fierce and beautiful, Arwyn the archer lost her family to Mordath's unstoppable troll armies. Now Arwyn journeys in search of a mythic hero's arrow of power - the one weapon that can forever end Jad's reign of fire! Now alone and carrying the weight of guilt for fallen comrades, Arwyn continues her quest south toward the desert wastes of Oudubai. Awaiting her are an encounter with deadly roadside brigands, as well as another meeting with the mysterious Neven. 32 pages full color, on sale February 12 … $2.95 WAY OF THE RAT #10 Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Jeff Johnson & Tom Ryder, colors by Chris Garcia The future of a kingdom lies in the hands of the thief who stole it! Boon Sai Hong, the infamous "Jade Rat,” never aspired to be more than a thief. Then he met Po Po, the wisecracking monkey master, who taught Boon the truth about the magical ring he stole, the forces of darkness arrayed against his homeland, and Boon's own destiny as the hero of his world! The Emperor Dragon is loose in the streets of Zhumar and only Boon Sai Hong can hope to stop him before the city is turned to rubble. Has Princess Zheng returned to the city only to die with the rest? 32 pages full color, on sale February 5 … $2.95 FORGE #11 Wulf and Aiko show just how dangerous they can be in a perilous mission to rescue Wulf's girlfriend from the mad Emperor Mitsumune's castle. And that's just the Chapter 10 of THE PATH! In this edition of FORGE we also have CRUX (Chapter 21), MERIDIAN (Chapter 31), NEGATION (Chapter 13), SOJOURN (Chapter 18), and ROUTE 666 (Chapter 6). 192 pages full color, digest sized, on sale February 12 … $7.95 EDGE #11 This Ingra's cover features Bron, the late Raven Dynasty king Ethan vanquished in the pages of SCION (Chapter 31). Or does it? Is this a clever lookalike, or is Ethan's nemesis back from the dead? Meanwhile, we also have THE FIRST (Chapter 26), MYSTIC (Chapter 31), a double- shot of RUSE (Chapters 14 & 15), SIGIL (Chapter 31), and WAY OF THE RAT (Chapter 8). 192 pages full color, digest sized on sale February 26 … $7.95 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - End of another Issue .. GIVE A KID A COMMIC TODAY! Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?