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ALL THE RAGE CONTINUES . . . Defenders of the Night In 1994, Disney released Gargoyles, their first (and only to date) animated action/drama series. Gargoyles was one of the few shows that rivaled the Batman/Superman Animated Series in terms of quality storytelling and animation. Additionally it has built a large and dedicated fanbase over the last few years. Now, for the tenth anniversary and eight long years after the last episode, Gargoyles is finally coming to DVD later this week, when the complete first season will be released. Earlier this week, Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman took the time to answer a few questions about the DVDs and the future of Gargoyles: Blair Marnell: For some of our readers who may not be familiar with Gargoyles, can you describe the series? Greg Weisman: Sure. Gargoyles is basically about a small group of tenth century, medieval gargoyles who had a spell cast on them a thousand years ago, putting them to sleep. But gargoyles sleep as stone statues. So by definition, they were frozen in stone. The terms of the spell were that the gargoyles would sleep "until the castle rises above the clouds." Now, from the standpoint of the mage that cast the spell, that was like saying "until kingdom come". But he didn't count on modern technology and a very, very wealthy man who could literally move the castle up above the clouds. Having done that, our six gargoyles burst forth from stone and awake from a thousand years of sleep. They wake up in Manhattan in 1994 and it's a brave new world. And they've got to make massive adjustments, make new friends and they make a bunch of new enemies and they've got a few old enemies hanging around too. It's an action/drama, so it's heavy on that, but it's got humor, romance, pathos and just a little bit of social concern in there as well. The main character is Goliath, who's the leader of the gargoyles. He's a strong, optimistic character who's been through some tough stuff in his life but basically believes that someday gargoyles and humans will be able to live in peace together. He believes strongly in the gargoyle way of life, which is to protect those weaker than you and to protect each other. With him are four other gargoyles and a gargoyle beast. The other four gargoyles are: Hudson, who is an elder statesman and was the leader before Goliath. Goliath looks to him as something like a mentor. Then there are three younger, teenage gargoyles: Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway... they picked their own names. Finally there's a gargoyle beast named Bronx. Later in the second season, we introduced another regular gargoyle, Angela, who is Goliath's daughter. Our other major characters are: Elisa Maza, a New York City police detective who befriends the gargoyles in the pilot and becomes their main human ally. Then we've got a number of great villains, but two in particular are recurring: David Xanatos, who is a billionaire industrialist who owns the world's tallest building in Manhattan, the Erie Building. He's the one who moved the gargoyles and their castle to Manhattan from Scotland. Finally, last but not least, Demona, who was once Goliath's mate. They once loved each other but Demona has intense hatred for humans and is determined to destroy humanity. So Goliath and Demona, once in love are now completely at odds. In fact, by the end of the second season, it was clear that Goliath and Elisa, the human cop had fallen for each other. BM: Can you talk about how the fans have kept the show alive eight years after it went off the air? GW: Almost from the beginning we had a great fan following for this series. I did two seasons of the show and after I left the show they did a third season for ABC called The Goliath Chronicles without me. But the fans have been there from day one and the show has never been off the air. If it wasn't making new episodes, it's been in reruns, first on the USA network and more recently on Toon Disney. So we always get new fans as well, but these dedicated fans, starting in 1997 began holding annual Gargoyles conventions called The Gathering of The Gargoyles which can be checked out at http://www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com These annual conventions have just been a load of fun. I've gone to every single one. And there have been other guests as well: voice actors, artists, writers... we've had huge turnout of cast and crew at various times at these conventions. These fans have just been truly faithful and have always kept the flame alive, largely on the internet, at these conventions and in other ways as well. That's helped me keep my passion for the project alive. And I am passionate about the project. Always was and always will be, I think. But it makes it a lot easier to stay passionate when you know people want to see more. These fans have worked hard and fought hard to get the DVD set, which is being released December 7th, 2004, a few short days from now. It's the complete first season and it's the direct result of the fans pushing for it and because of their desire I have also pushed for it. Disney sort of turned around after a few years and said "you know, maybe this would be a good idea". These fans are the reason this property is still in Disney's consciousness. BM: What are some of the features of the DVD set? GW: The main thing it has is the first season, all thirteen episodes uncut. There have been previous VHS releases where the pilot episodes were cut down into a single movie. This will have all five episodes of the pilot uncut plus the remaining eight episodes of the first season, also uncut. The first five episodes have a commentary track by myself and my fellow producer, Frank Paur and Keith David, the voice actor who played Goliath. There are also a couple of mini-features, one is the original series pitch from 1993 that we used to successfully sell the show, both internally at Disney and to stations across the United States. So, you'll get to see me looking a lot younger. [laughs] The second feature is a mini-documentary on The Gathering of The Gargoyles most recent convention in Montreal, Canada. Our convention moves to a different location every year. We've been in New York three times, Dallas, Williamsburg, Orlando, Los Angeles and in this past year we were in Montreal. Disney sent a camera crew up there and shot a whole load of footage and edited it down to a pretty cool little documentary where the fans, myself and Keith David all talk about the show and what it meant to us. It's a nice little package and I hope it does really well. Because I think if it does really well it means we've got a good shot at getting the second season out on DVD and maybe even original material down the line. I also think this may pave the way for other Disney Television Animated shows to go out on DVD, because there are a lot of great shows that are still unreleased, like Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, and Aladdin. BM: What do the DVDs mean to the future of the Gargoyles franchise? GW: To some extent, I think this is a make or break opportunity for the fans of Gargoyles. If this DVD sells well, REALLY well, then Disney is going to see that they can make money on this property. And if they can do that, they'll want to continue making money from this property. They'll release more DVDs and potentially other things as well. There's nothing I'd like more than to come back and do an original direct to DVD animated Gargoyles movie, or a series or one of the six spin-off sequel or prequel series we developed. I'd also love to do a lot of ideas and material that I've got in my head and on paper that we didn't get to cover in the 66 episodes I worked on. I'd love to do Gargoyles novels or comic books. My background is actually in comic books, I worked for DC for years and years. I'd really enjoy doing a Gargoyles comic book. If this DVD demonstrates that there is money to be made here then I think that stuff has a good chance of all happening. Touchstone even has a live action movie in development, which is on hold at the moment, but again it depends on the DVD. This is a chance for the fans to prove to Disney in an objective way that they are ready, willing and eager to support Gargoyles. The flip side of this, of course, is a little scary. Which is if the DVD doesn't sell that well then Disney is going to shrug and sort of walk away from it. And it will be more difficult to get people interested in pursuing more stuff in the Gargoyles universe. I'm very excited about the DVD release and I'm crossing my fingers. I'm extremely hopeful but also a little nervous. If it does sell well, then the sky's the limit. This Has A "Stone by Day, Warriors by Night" Factor of Ten Out of Ten Hellspawn An update on the status of the new Spawn Animated Series was posted earlier this week at Spawn.com: After an extensive search for a writer who could take the series in the direction Todd envisions, we have our man... or, well... actually, we have our men. As it turns out, no one could quite wrap their mind around Todd's vision in a manner that was up to par, so Todd, along with Brian Holguin (writer of the Spawn comic book), set about creating the outline for the series themselves. They have already turned the first draft in to the animation studio and work should begin on the first script within the next week or so. Now that things have begun moving in the right direction we should have some very interesting details to share over the next few months, so stay tuned. No word yet on where the new Spawn Animated Series will end up, but it almost certainly will not be returning to HBO. This Has A "Clownspotting" Factor of Seven Out of Ten He Is The Law In about three weeks, Will Eisner's John Law will make its print debut with the release of Dead Man Walking. With a long running webcomic at ModernTales.com. John Law has already built a steady following under the stewardship of Gary Chaloner. Recently, Chaloner took the time to elaborate on the history of John Law and the future of the series in print: Kurt Busiek traveled half way around the world to my hometown of Perth in Western Australia. He was there to do a signing at Quality Comics, which is slightly spooky now that I think of it, because the characters I'm working with featured in Quality Comics titles back in the 30s and 40s. Kurt got me in touch with Denis Kitchen, who ended up representing a few of my comic book properties. I put forward the idea of developing one of Will's lesser-known characters, always having John Law in mind. Denis asked Will and the rest is history. I originally thought of running the series on Will's web site, but at around the same time, Joey Manley was launching ModernTales.com. Seeing an opportunity to get the new Law series up and running quickly in an environment that included work by Roger Langridge, Tom Hart, Donna Barr, Lea Hernandez and James Kochalka (to name a few), I approached Joey and he happily invited Will to place the series there. I thought it would be a great way for readers to see what the new John Law is all about, without having to wait for the planned print series to go through production, solicitations and release. Now, though, after several years of online publication, we have Will Eisner's John Law: Dead Man Walking from IDW Publishing. This first print edition from IDW is pretty damned special. It collects three of my stories that set up the premise for the new series. It also has the original three stories produced by Will Eisner back in 1948. These stories were turned into Spirit stories, but for this edition, we've restored the original art and dialogue, as well as coloring the stories in glorious new gray tones. I've seen the printed product... and Will's art has never looked so good. IDW have done a wonderful production job, as usual. I think it's worth the cover price just for these classic Eisner tales! My job with John Law, was to try and keep the soul of the character Will created alive, but separate John Law and Denny Colt from their common, comic book origins. That's what allowed me pick and choose elements from Will's original work, plus add my own bits and pieces to flesh out the new interpretation of Crossroads and the cast. Having a look back at how it's developed, I suppose the best way of describing the series is Dick Tracy meets The Godfather meets Karl Kolchak (!) with the human touch of Bruce Springsteen's lyrics... all filtered through Will's original stylings. I want readers to care about Law and what happens to him. I want readers to like him... or at least care about what happens to him. I'm not looking to do a heavy crime comic here, but stories about an ensemble of characters. Much the same way Will developed a close-knit cast in The Spirit. He said to me when we were developing Law: "Keep the stories human." Will's been so supportive of what I'm doing with the stories. With the release of the Dead Man Walking, I'm hoping that more people will visit ModernTales.com to read more of the new adventures as I produce them, as well as support the IDW print edition well enough to keep it in print and allow me to produce many, many sequels. I've got a lot of Law stories to tell... a whole stack are already in production. The characters have a life of their own now - and I'd like to see them all in print through IDW. This Has A "Hardboiled" Factor of Nine Out of Ten Wings Over the World Warren Ellis' recent webcomic musings have had an almost immediate impact upon the strips that he mentioned. Case in point, Athena Voltaire, of which Ellis said: Paul Daly, Steve Bryant and Chad Fidler's Athena Voltaire: classic adventure comics in the authentic pulp style. Imagine the likes of The Mummy and Van Helsing were actually, you know, good. Athena Voltaire creator and artist, Steve Bryant had this to say about Ellis' endorsement: It was great to get the "Warren Ellis Stamp of Approval" I mean this is a guy who our entire creative team follows everything he does. And the result was huge. And immediate. In the first 24 hours after Warren mentioned us on his blog, we had about 700 people checking out the strip for the first time. Of course, the numbers gradually dropped off after that initial spike, but we still ended up with well over 1,000 first-time readers. The trick is keeping them coming back. Holding their interest could be pretty tough, I admit. On our regular schedule, we're doling out a page a week. But this holiday season is squeezing color god Chad Fidler really hard (with deadlines and family obligations), we're going to update every other week in full color instead of going black-and-white for a short period. We want to do right by the readers and the story, and that means creating breathtaking epic visuals for the story's finale in full color. Worst case scenario, this will only go on through the end of the year or so (2-3 strips). On those weeks where we won't have a new strip, the newest strip will still be available, as well as some additional material: pin-ups, concept art, etc. Hopefully the readers will keep checking in; we promise to make it worth their while. In February, following the conclusion to Athena Voltaire: The Wrath From The Tomb, we kick off our next storyline, A Rescue on Formosa. It's a short story (10 pages), mostly a quick dust-up to re-establish Athena and cleanse the palette after finishing up a sprawling epic. A Rescue on Formosa is actually already completed. It marks a switch in format from the horizontal comic strip layout of our first two arcs to a traditional comic book vertical page layout. Formosa was nearly the follow-up to our first arc, The Terror in Tibet. But we opted to do Wrath in a horizontal format, too, so that Terror wouldn't be an anomaly. With Wrath and Terror, we'd like to eventually package them as a trade paperback, Athena Voltaire: The Complete Webstrips. While we've been juggling all of the webcomic stuff, we've also been working on a print project that we're starting to shop, Athena Voltaire: The Flight of the Falcon. Paul [Daly, Athena Voltaire writer] has the story done, I have the first 12 pages penciled, inked and lettered and Chad will start coloring them in early 2005. We get to really play up the whole "globetrotting aviatrix" thing, with the action taking place on 6 different continents! Plus, there's two lost cities, an ancient artifact, black magic, nazis and more! It's set for 96 pages and we'll either do it as an OGN or a mini-series, at the publisher's discretion. We haven't found a home for it yet (although we've received some inquiries), but interested publishers can contact me through the Athena Voltaire website. Regardless, we'll begin shopping it in earnest early next year. This Has A "High Adventure Takes Flight" Factor of Ten Out of Ten The Bat of Tomorrow Neal Adams recently took the time to redesign Batman's costume over at his website: If I redesigned Batman, I wouldn't exactly redesign him. I would revamp him. I would find the perfect story to do this in and I would attempt to correct errors made along the way as well as make the costume do the work better. I would take disadvantages of the old costume and make them into advantages. 1. The fins on the gloves should not be fabric, but pointed and sharp. The blade should be hidden and pop out with a muscle twitch. 2. Batman's Belt. The old capsules ceased being effective 25 years ago. No, they never were effective, nor is a World War 2 garrison belt. But a utility belt, as in a carpenter's utility belt that holds weapons, grapplers, guns and crime-fighting paraphernalia as a uniquely designed true utility belt would be perfect. 3. Boots are thick soled ninja boots with wraparound flaps velcroed up his leg. In the shank, weapons. 4. Costume. Bulletproof and watertight, thermal coils and refrigerant coils throughout, acid resistant, padded at the shoulders and riddle with structural supports for (if needed) a kind of super strength. 5. Cowl is pulled over a face plate containing radio, infrared biometrics and night vision as well as video feed. A waterproof breathing mask slides and seals over the face for breathing underwater. (Oxygen in utility belt.) 6. Bat symbol subtle but bold. Dark against dark. 7. Cape stiffens for flight. Acts as fins underwater. Same ol' Batman. Man of tomorrow. Thanks to Alex Segura Jr. (from The Great Curve) for the tip. This Has A "Bat Wave of the Future" Factor of Seven Out of Ten That's it for this week. Thanks again to John for filling in last week. That won't be the last you see of him here. He'll be back on Dec 26 during my Christmas vacation. But in the interim, he has an interview with Roger Stern, which will be going up on SBC very soon. See you in seven. Later, Blair PS If anyone has any rumors, stories or news to share, please email me at blairm@silverbulletcomicbooks.com. Thanks to everyone who has been sending stuff in. It's greatly appreciated. +++++ 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 was chosen Best Comics Journalist in the 2003 Usenet Squiddy Awards, his fourth consecutive win. Write to Rich at: richjohnston@gmail.com Rich heard rumors . . . The Crisis 2 saga continues. Written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Phil Jiminez, it appears that "Identity Crisis" and other events across the DC Universe will provide plot points that will all tie into next summer's extravaganza at DC. Look for a number of books to start kicking things off. An early indicator will be in the "Adam Strange" series. Keep your eyes open over there for something that will kick off Crisis 2... whether in the book, or on a spinoff series entitled "The Rann/Thangar War." I'm told other events include "Day of Vengeance," "Villains United" and "Amazons Attack." And recently in an issue of "Teen Titans" written by Geoff Johns, Batman (The Adult Tim Drake) mentions a crisis that happened not long after the Titans got sucked into the future. Press releases to cinemas have mentioned novelisations of the "Sin City" movie, should any cinemas want to order and sell them. There appear to be a few unpaid freelance creators at Dreamwave right now, some unwilling to continue work unless paid for previous assignments. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interview Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet98@cs.com Interview with Mark Smith, Creator of The Amazing Joy-Buzzards Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher - Jazma Online! www.jazmaonline.com Question: Tell us something personal about yourself. Maybe where you were born, something about your family background, schools you attended, etc. I grew up in Northern California, and attended Film School at UC Santa Barbara. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? I think it was either Mad Magazine or some of the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge reprints from Gladstone. Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? The black and white run of TMNT and then everything by the Image Comics founding fathers. My tastes have changed since then. Question: Please brief us about your new comic book The Amazing Joy-Buzzards, also how did you come up with that name? The Amazing Joy Buzzards are the hottest rock band in the world to rival such legends as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They solve mysteries and fight against the supernatural with the help of their mythical Mexican Wrestler friend named El Campeon who is a genie that pops out of an amulet when you say the magic words "Go El Campeon Go!". Dalton Warner is their manager and unknown to the band Dalton works for the CIA and uses the gang to go on special operations into countries that he normally wouldn't have access too. The name came to me after watching the imagery in the 'Jungle Book' in which the fab four play Buzzards and the tree they happen to be in gets stuck by electricity,. Question: How did you come up with the concept of The Amazing Joy-Buzzards? The Amazing Joy Buzzards was influenced by '60s cinema and retro television. Also Saturday Morning Cartoons are a big influence. Question: Who are some of the main characters of The Amazing Joy- Buzzards? Biff Ashby is the cocky narcissistic lead singer with mysterious green eyes. Gabe Carlyle the drummer is the geek-shiek introvert drummer. Stevo Vargas the bass player is a martial arts expert and international race car driver. El Campeon is the Mexican wrestler who hangs out with them and keeps the group company but the rest of the world doesn't know he exists. Their manager Dalton Warner thinks that he's part of the boy's wild and overactive imaginations. There is also Betty Yu who is Gabe's girlfriend, and Joe Stereo and the X-Ray Kittens a rival group. Question: When can we find this comic book on the shelves? The first issue which is Black, White & Pink will drop in comic stores near you this December 15th. Question: Who is your artist? Dan Hipp is my co-creator and an artistic dynamo with tremendous talent. The legend has it that when he was born there was a Golden Pencil in his hand, and the rest is history. Question: Do you have a website and if you do, what is the URL address? Updates are soon to come and a webpage will soon be in the works but none so far. Question: How can somebody contact you? KingMixer@gmail.com Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? Liz Hurley, Keira Knightley, and the Swiss Women's Volleyball Team. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? I like consistency with creators, and I'd like to see a more diversity and a mainstream approach for comic books like Oni Press is doing rather than Super Hero crap that just retooled, retold, and spoonfed to Fanboys over and over again. It's time for new well told original stories of all genres. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? Guido from Fellini's 8 ?«, Yojimbo, Ash from Evil Dead. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? Jim Mahfood, Scott Morse, and Paul Pope. Question: What cons are you going to? Wonder Con, Wizard World LA, APE, & San Diego Comic Con. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? My favorite Film of all time is "A Hard Day's Night" for Cartoons, Cowboy Bebop, Iron Giant, & Spirited Away. I love Kurosawa and westerns too, as well as noir. Terry Gilliam, Fellini, Kubrick, Welles. I love City of Lost Children; it's one of my favorites. I'm a huge Evil Dead fan. I love Airplane. TV Get Smart, The State, & The Kids in the Hall. Question: What books do you read? I've mostly been trying to catch up on classics lately. Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? I surf in the summertime, I like watching boxing, & taking vacations. Question: What comic books do you read now? Hawaiian Dick, Fables, Invincible, Street Angel, Daisy Kutter, Flight, THB, Pop Gun War, Dare Detectives, New Frontier, Powers, NYC Mech, Human Target, Scooter Girl, Pirate Club, Plastic Man, Hellboy, and Mike Allred only when he writes his own work. Question: If The Amazing Joy-Buzzards became a Hollywood movie, who would play the character parts and why? For Dalton Warner I'd cast A) George Clooney, B) Gary Eweles, C) Bruce Campbell because he's a KingMixer character and a fast talker. For Biff Ashy I'd cast John Mayer because he looks the part and has that rockstar aura about him that fits Biff. For Gabe Carlyle I'd cast Jesse Bradford because he looks the part. And for Stevo Vargas Pelle Almgrist from the Hives or someone like him with black hair, that's skinny, and covers their eyes, they'd have to be a good pantomime actor because the character never speaks. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? Uh hehe yes pick up AJB because it will change your life ;) and um, stay in school, because knowing is half the battle. _________________________________________________________________ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Thanks for subscribing to the Comic Book Network Electronic Magazine (CBEM) --------------------------->Disclaimer<--------------------------- This is an ANNOUNCE only mailing list, only the Editor can send messages to the list. No one else has access to the subscriber list. Replies to these messages will be received by the Editor ONLY, so you must CC: individual contributors if you want them to get your E-Mail. The E-mail to the E-mag MAY be used in future issues at the Editor's discretion UNLESS you specifically request that they not be. It is our policy to withhold names and/or Addresses, by request only, from letters of comment. All contributors are required to use their real name and have a valid Email address for their columns to be published. Send Email comments to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Material for inclusion in the Emag - press releases, solicitations, column submissions, Letters to the Editor, guesses for the trivia contest should be sent to ComicBkNet@aol.com The EDITOR, not the submitter, has final approval and edit rights on ALL material. Printed comic books and advanced copies for review in the Emag should be sent via US Mail or UPS to David L. 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