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ComicBookNetworkEmag Archives Index
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| << May07, 2005 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 522.04 |
May07, 2005 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 522.06 >> |
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------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> BILL FINGER AWARD ANNOUNCED Press Release New Writing Achievement Award to Honor Bill Finger The first annual Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing will be given at this summer's Comic-Con International: San Diego. The award will go to an individual for his or her lifetime contributions to the art of comic book writing. Jerry Robinson spearheaded creation of the award to honor his friend and co-worker Bill Finger, who wrote the first Batman stories and created much of the Batman mythos in comics' Golden Age. Robinson will chair the five-person jury that will choose this year's recipient. The other members of the jury are comics writer and historian Mark Evanier, cartoonist/screenwriter/playwright Jules Feiffer, comics writer/editor Denny O'Neill, and comics writer/editor/historian Roy Thomas. The composition of the jury will change each year. The first Finger Award recipient will be announced in June, and the award will be presented by Robinson during the Eisner Awards ceremony in San Diego on the evening of July 15. The initial winner will receive a plaque, but plans are for the award to have its own special design in future years. The award will fall under the auspices of Comic-Con International and will be administered by Eisner Awards administrator Jackie Estrada. The first year of the award will be underwritten by DC Comics; sponsorship will be open to other companies in future years. In supporting the award, DC Publisher Paul Levitz says, "I grew up loving Bill's writing in comics and on TV, without knowing who he was, and then had the privilege of being the person to whom he delivered his very last script. His accomplishments were as oversize as the props he loved to include in his stories." The jury is currently accepting suggestions for consideration for the award. Any comics writer, living or dead, published in any country, who has produced a significant body of creative comics writing is eligible. Anyone who would like to suggest nominees for the award can e-mail names to Jackie Estrada (jackiee@mindspring.com), who will pass them along to Robinson. "Unfortunately, Finger died mostly forgotten and unheralded except among his colleagues and comics historians," says Robinson. "Establishing this award in his name will help remedy that wrong." About Bill Finger: Bill Finger (1914-1974), the unsung hero and co-creator of Batman, scripted the first and many of the best Batman stories during the Golden Age of comic books. He created many of the series' most notable characters, including the Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Two-Face, and he made significant refinements to Batman's concept and persona. Finger wrote the scripts that introduced the Bat Cave, Batmobile, Batplane, and Batsignal. Many terms he created, such as the Dynamic Duo and Gotham City, have become part of our lexicon. Finger was a craftsman, and his Batman's adventures were carefully plotted, as well as being imbued with humor and sprightly repartee. Above all, he was a visual writer-he knew instinctively what the artist could translate into compelling pictures and sequential narrative. Finger's comics writing credits include many other DC characters, including the Green Lantern and Wildcat, and many titles for Quality Comics, Fawcett Publications, and Timely Comics. His television credits include episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, the animated New Adventures of Superman, and the primetime Batman series. +++++ From ComiX-Fan at http://www.comixfan.com/xfan LETHEM TO REVIVE MARVEL'S OMEGA THE UNKNOWN The Fortress of Solitude writer Jonathan Lethem is the latest novelist to try his hand at penning a comic book, with Time Magazine reporting that he is set to revive one of Marvel's more obscure characters, Omega The Unknown, in 2006. "Marvel dared me to put my love on the line," Lethem told Time, adding that Omega is "kind of a meta-superhero... {a} bewildered visitor to the Planet Earth." Omega The Unknown was, for its time, an experimental title conceived and written by Mary Skrenes and Steve Gerber with art by Jim Mooney. The series began in 1976 and ran for only ten issues, ending in 1977. It starred Omega, an artificial life-form created by the alien Protar race who journeyed to Earth to protect another, more advanced Protar creation which believed itself to be a human boy named James-Michael Starling. During his brief time on Earth, Omega fought the Hulk, Electro, El Gato, the Wrench, Blockbuster, and Nitro before being shot and seemingly killed by the Las Vegas police. Starling's story was resolved in Defenders #76-77 wherein he learned his true origins from Moondragon before committing suicide. Omega was most recently featured in the Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe: Book of The Dead 2004. Lethem has some past history with the character, having written an essay on depressed superheroes that included Omega. Lethem also recently talked about growing up reading 70's Marvel comics in an article at the London Review of Books, wherein he also mentions Omega The Unknown. MARVEL'S ULTIMATE SECRET GETS 3 MONTH DELAY Diamond Comic Distributors recently released their latest list of shipping changes from its premier publishers, and one particular update from Marvel Comics has caused much heated discussion across the Internet. Ultimate Secret #3, which was originally due on sale June 8, has reportedly been pushed back until September 21, making for a delay of over three months. Whilst much of the finger-pointing amongst readers' reactions was levelled at artist Steve McNiven, New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis today stepped up to take the blame for the delay. "I was out of town when the news hit so I didn't see the uproar till it was too late," Bendis posted on his Jinxworld Forums, "but I have to take the hit for the Ultimate Secret mini delay." "I told Marvel I could do the {New Avengers} Sentry arc in three issues. I had laid out my scenes and had it all worked out and had {Paul} Jenkins blessing but writing isn't an exact science. In fact, science isn't an exact science. It's writing, it's organic. And as I kept writing I thought of new ideas and new scenes, and scenes I had got tossed for new scenes and before I knew it I needed an extra issue. I tried to cram it all into the three issues, but it did not work." "I came to Marvel yalmaka in hand and told them I needed the fourth issue. I knew things were tight for Steve but I didn't know exactly what the schedule was. We toyed with a fill in or having {David} Finch finish the story, but Steve's work is so unique that a fill in would be glaring." "So though it was ultimately Marvel's decision to keep Steve on the story, I do take the responsibility for it because I said I could do one thing for them and could not. I would have never done this to any of you on purpose and I am sorry." "For the record Warren {Ellis} was unbelievably gracious about it and the reason Steve wasn't getting bumped is because he is doing this level of comic book art...." "Thanks for understanding. In the long run it'll all work out. Hey when I was a kid I had to wait a year and a half for the final issue of Camelot 3000. So..." The lengthy delay is the second to plague the mini-series, following the first issue being rescheduled from its originally- announced release date in December 2004 to March this year. The change also pushes back the planned July release of Ultimate Extinction, the third and final chapter of the Ultimate Galactus trilogy. That series will now likely debut towards the end of this year. Marvel originally solicited Ultimate Secret #3 in their June solicitations as follows: ULTIMATE SECRET #3 (of 4) Written by Warren Ellis Pencils & Cover by Steve McNiven All technological civilizations within 150 light years of Earth have been destroyed! Nick Fury knows the answer to the threat is aboard the alien Kree vessel orbiting above. But even with the aid of Captain Mahr Vell, wresting that secret from the Kree may be an impossibility. And that means: bye-bye, planet Earth. 32 PGS./T+ Suggested for Teens and Up ...$2.99 COMIXFAN NEWS BRIEFS - MAY 5, 2005 A Blade TV series on Spike TV, Sam Raimi says there will be six Spider-Man films, Silver Surfer in serious development, Matthew Vaughn updates X-Men 3 and Halle Berry, Robert Rodriguez possibly directing Conan, two new X-Men comics, and much more! NEWSFLASH! Spike TV president Doug Herzog announced that the network will adapt the Blade franchise as a series for early next year, Reuters reports. New Line Television and Marvel Studios will produce the project, with David Goyer serving as executive producer. Goyer is not expected to write the pilot. NEWSFLASH! Spider-Man 2 was the big winner at the 31st Annual Saturn Awards on May 3, winning a total of five awards, the most of the evening. Spider-Man 2 won Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor: Tobey Maguire, Best Directory: Sam Raimi, Best Writer: Alvin Sargent, and Best Special Effects. The Incredibles won Best Animated Film. Hellboy won Best Make-Up. Smallville won Best DVD Television Release, for seasons 2 and 3. Follow the link for the full list of winners. NEWSFLASH! Sci Fi Wire caught up with Marvel film chief Avi Arad and Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Tom Rothman at the Saturn Awards, who revealed that a planned Silver Surfer is in serious development as a project to be started after X-Men 3. Rothman said, "I think the tricky thing on Silver Surfer, which hasn't been resolved yet, is the nature of the Surfer and to what extent digital work is used and to what extent it isn't." In a separate interview, he added, "The digital component is the fundamental component that needs to be resolved, but it's a project that we're very very high on." IESB has posted a video interview with Avi Arad from the Saturn Awards (Windows Media Required). Arad updates several projects, mentioning X-Men 3, the new deal with Paramount, Bryan Singer and Joss Whedon, and more. Arad mentioned Silver Surfer in this interview as well, saying that Galactus would be a part of the film. NEWSFLASH! Sci Fi Wire reports that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi gave a few updates at the Saturn Awards, including news that Sony is planning six Spider-Man films. Raimi said, "I've heard Amy Pascal [chairman of Sony's motion picture group] say she wants to make six Spider-Man pictures. ... If they were to ask me [to direct], and I felt as passionate as I feel now about the character and had this great hunger and desire to tell the story, which I really do now, you couldn't keep me away from it." Raimi also revealed that Peter Parker will further deal with the death of his Uncle Ben in Spider-Man 3. "The task that I had was to try and understand where he was when we last left him ... at the end of Spider-Man 2, trying to figure out what he lacked as a human being, as far as where he was immature and what he had not learned," Raimi said. "And certainly there's so much for that kid to learn. He really has been denied a social life. He's just been focused on being this do-gooder. And never really even dealing with the death of his uncle, just paying down his guilt with every criminal he brings to justice, never really addressing his own guilt that he feels in his heart and coming to terms with it. He's never really looked inside himself. So I think this picture ... he's going to have [to] look a little more inside himself and recognize and deal with some of the deficiencies that he has as a human being." NEWSFLASH! Sci Fi Wire also caught up with Ron Perlman at the Saturn Awards. Perlman said that production on Hellboy 2 will probably begin in January 2006. "The Hellboy 2 script was turned in this month, but they do everything in their power to keep me as much in the dark as possible," Perlman said. He also said, "I know that they were looking to get more into the folklore of the character, you know, and less into the pyrotechnics." NEWSFLASH! Variety recently updated the status of director Nick Cassavetes and the Iron Man movie, saying that Cassavetes has not been signed to direct the film yet. The trade reports Cassavetes "has not held talks to direct the film for several months." Marvel's Avi Arad told Variety, "We want Nick to make the movie. We had him. He's an Iron Man aficionado. Everything was fine and then negotiations got delayed. We lost a year." Cassavetes, however, is still reportedly working on a rewrite of the script, so hope remains. Iron Man has been officially delayed from its previously announced 2006 release until 2007, though. NEWSFLASH! About.com caught up with X-Men 3 director Matthew Vaughn, who expects to be filming in August. Vaughn is also confident he can give everyone equal screen time. "As far as I know, Halle's doing the film. In the script, she's got a lot to do. I've got a lot of experience in dealing with a lot of character in a film, so multi-character movies don't intimidate me at all. I think I know how to get that balance." Vaughn also said that new characters will be introduced with a bit more presence than those in X2. "It's pretty hard to get to the forefront because there are some big guys you're going to have to squeeze past, but they'll have more to do." Vaughn added that he wants to add more reality to the film, and commented on the villains of the first two films. "I wanted the villains to be less {cartoony}. At the moment, I think a lot of moustache twirling happened in the last films. I want to get rid of that and make the villains really scary and more realistic." Vaughn added, "Gritty doesn't mean violent. I liked how Joss Whedon dealt with everything. That's more of my sentiment." He also said there will be as little CGI as possible. "I hate CGI. I'm trying to do everything in camera. Listen, there are times you have to use CGI, but I want to do as much in camera as possible. I'm a gamer, I like video games and when I watch movies, I feel like half the time you're watching an extended sequence on a game. You just switch it off." Vaughn said his biggest worry about X-Men 3 is time. "For me, it's just the time we've got a real problem about. They want us to come out next May and that's a problem. That's a hell of a lot to get done in 12 months. That's the only difficulty I foresee. Making a movie is making a movie. It doesn't matter what the budget it." Vaughn talked about how he got involved, and said that he is only signed on to direct X-Men 3, no more. "I will never sign anything which makes me have to do more than one film." Vaughn also commented on the pitfalls of comic book movies, and which comic book movies he liked. NEWSFLASH! Nominations for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards have been announced. The awards ceremony will air on June 9 at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Among the nominations, Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles were nominated for Best Movie, The Incredibles family were nominated for Best On-Screen Team, Alfred Molina was nominated for Best Villain for Spider-Man 2, Jennifer Garner and Natassia Malthe were nominated for Best Kiss for Elektra, "The Subway Battle" in Spider-Man 2 was nominated for Best Action Sequence, and Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles were nominated for Best Video Game Based on a Movie, NEWSFLASH! TheArnoldFans.com is reporting that Sin City director Robert Rodgriguez has been tapped to direct a new Conan movie. The site also reports that if Rodriguez can lure Arnold Schwarzenegger to the film, the title will remain King Conan, but will feature an all new script, instead of the one John Milius planned to use. If Schwarzenegger doesn't return, expect an all new Conan. At this time, this news has not been officially announced, nor has it been confirmed by other sites, so this should still be considered a rumor. Stay tuned to Comixfan for further information as it develops. NEWSFLASH! Diamond Comics Distributors have provided some comic updates. First, the variant covers to New Avengers #7 and #9 will no longer be drawn by Dave Cockrum and Marie Severin, respectively. The variant cover to #7 will now be drawn by Neal Adams, while Herb Trimpe will draw the variant cover to #9. Next, Fantastic Four #527 will now ship with two covers, in a 50/50 ratio; the covers can be seen at the Diamond link. Third, Image Comics has reduced the price of NYC Mech: Beta Love #1 and #2 from $3.50 to $2.95. Fourth, Vertigo's The Fountain HC has been postponed and will be resolicited to coincide with the release of the New Regency/Warner Bros. Pictures feature film. And finally, Fantagraphics Books has raised the page count of its The Clouds Above GN from 300 pages to 456 pages, changing the price from $16.95 to $22.95. NEWSFLASH! Uncannyxmen.net has posted an interview with Marvel editor Michael Marts, who hinted at two new X-Titles. First up, Marts said, "The unstoppable Juggernaut makes his return in Uncanny X-Men #460 and #461--both on sale in June--but he's not quite the Juggermite we all know and love. Wait, did I say "Juggermite"? That's all I'm saying for now. Okay, I'll say one more thing--come November expect to see Juggernaut as a regular cast member in a yet-to-be-announced new title." When asked if we can expect to see any old villains return, Marts said, "You bet--expect to see one classic baddie in a special X- Men limited series starring one of the Astonishing X-Men cast members, on sale this September! (Am I being to coy?). And next year in X-Men..no, maybe I shouldn't say anything yet." The "coy" reference could point to Beast, a.k.a. Hank McCoy. NEWSFLASH! Warner Bros. has now announced that there will be two DVD editions of Constantine, both arriving on July 19, according to a recent Press Release. The film will be available in two-disc deluxe, and single-disc standard editions, both in widescreen. Click the link for more details. +++++ From the DC Comics Online Newsletter at http://www.dccomics.com DC UP EX-MACHINA FREEBIES DC PROVIDES ADDITIONAL COPIES OF FREE EX MACHINA SPECIAL EDITION #1! DC Comics has expanded the distribution of the EX MACHINA SPECIAL EDITION #1, giving even more readers the chance to enjoy a FREE look at this Eisner Award-nominated new series! In addition to receiving the Special in quantities equal to 30% of retailers' initial orders on Y: THE LAST MAN #32 (FEB050363), retailers also will receive one copy for every copy of EX MACHINA: THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS TP (NOV040321) ordered to date. "Retailer interest in this Special has been very high, so we're pleased to make more copies available," says Bob Wayne, DC's VP - Sales. "This Special provides an ideal way for retailers to introduce fans of Brian K. Vaughan's writing on Y: THE LAST MAN to his work on EX MACHINA." The free EX MACHINA SPECIAL EDITION #1 (PROM60067) is scheduled to arrive in stores on May 11. Other EX MACHINA issues and more are available as follows: The EX MACHINA: THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS TP (NOV040321) is available for reorder. EX MACHINA #2 (MAY040350), #3 (JUN040808), #4 (JUL040674), #5 (AUG040437), #6 (SEP040374), #7 (OCT040333), #8 (DEC040308), #9 (JAN050350) and #10 (FEB050336) all are available for reorder. EX MACHINA #11 (MAR050462) is available for advance reorder and is scheduled to arrive in stores on May 18. EX MACHINA #12 (APR050393) is solicited in the April Previews (Volume XV #4) and is scheduled to arrive in stores on June 15. EX MACHINA #13 (MAY050275) is solicited in the May Previews (Volume XV #5) and is scheduled to arrive in stores on July 20. THE FLASH #221 SELLS OUT AT DC COMICS The excitement surrounding the "Rogue War" story continues to build, as THE FLASH #221 (FEB050277) sold out at DC Comics on April 27, the day it arrived in stores. "Howard Porter's artwork is continuing to explode off of the page," says writer Geoff Johns, "and the war has only just begun. Thanks to everyone for reading the book!" Upcoming chapters of "Rogue War" are available as follows: * THE FLASH #222 (MAR050400) is available for advance reorder and is scheduled to arrive in stores on May 25. * THE FLASH #223 (APR050335) is solicited in the April Previews (Volume XV #4) and is scheduled to arrive in stores on June 29. * THE FLASH #224 (MAY050229) is solicited in the May Previews (Volume XV #5) and is scheduled to arrive in stores on July 27. +++++ 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. 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| << May07, 2005 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 522.04 |
May07, 2005 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 522.06 >> |
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