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Planet Buzz 05-29-02
Comics:
Possibly Ruining Our Thursday
It's bad enough that comics get delayed a day when we have a Monday holiday. Granted, we all still appreciate the day off, but why must there always be that trade-off? Well, CrossGen informed us this morning of something even more painful.
Quebecor, the shop that handles actual printing for most of the big guns, made a big mistake last week, putting quite a few cases of books on the wrong shipping dock. As a result, Diamond failed to pick up the books, affecting titles from Archie, Bongo, DC, and all of CrossGen's output for the week. Though the print shop has apologized to publishers profusely, the damage has been done, and many books intended for release on Thursday, May 30, will not make it into shops until Wednesday, June 5.
This marks the second delay in a month for CrossGen, both times due to scheduling problems at Quebecor. I repeat: it's not CrossGen's fault, and unlike every other major publisher, these are the only two delays of books they have ever had.
So if you get to your local comic book store and find the new comics shelves looking suspiciously like last week's books, take the opportunity to pick up something you haven't read before. Maybe a CrossGen book, maybe Black Panther. Or go someplace nice for lunch.
What - No Model (Barely) Dressed As Elektra?
Marvel Comics disappointed a lot of excitable fans last week by announcing that their presence at the San Diego Comic-Con this summer would be considerably less flashy than years past. Rather than bring out a huge dog and pony show, Marvel's convention floor presence would be limited to a booth shared with Diamond Distributors. (There's an irony there, somewhere, as Marvel bought their own distribution company years ago in order to not have to deal with Diamond. You may have noticed that didn't work.)
Though on the surface this means no flashy light shows and chances to preview Marvel videogames, the company will still be bringing the stuff that counts: namely, creators. The money saved on building huge displays will go toward bringing out more writers and artists for signings, and, according to Joe Quesada, beefing up the Marvel hospitality suite (which means keeping writers and artists happy).
While we'll miss Elektra walking around, we look forward to seeing substance over style this summer. And it spares me the embarrassment of hearing other Fanboy staffers tell Elektra again and again, "No, really, I'm Matt Murdock…come on, baby, help me across the street."
Haven't We Been Here Before?
Marvel announced a special galaxy-sweeping bi-weekly mini-series beginning June 12. (Notice how Diamond doesn't mess up their shipping schedules? Nope. That all happens internally with Marvel.)
Jim Starlin returns to the House of Ideas to write and draw The Infinity Abyss, six issues pitting Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, Pip The Troll, Moondragon, and Gamora against the madness of Thanos, that wacky death worshipper. And lest you think this is incomplete, yes, Adam Warlock is in there, too.
Inked by Al Milgrom, the series throws all the above mentioned heroes into a caper of cosmic significance, and Marvel rushes to reassure us all that any resemblance to Starlin's first Adam Warlock Saga, The Infinity Gauntlet, The Infinity Quest, The Infinity Watch, or Darby O'Finity And The Little People is completely coincidental. Really. Nothing like this has ever appeared in print before.
Well, Now I'm Just Embarrassed
Super-editor Eddie Berganza apologized to fans this week for The Adventures of Superman #604. And indeed, after looking at the barely competent artwork, he should have.
Rather than letting us sit all smug and judgmental, though, Berganza explained that regular artist Carlos Meglia had trouble finishing the book due to riots and political unrest in Buenos Aires. Mid-way through his work on the issue, Meglia was forced to flee Argentina with his family, managing to get the artwork to another artist in Mexico to finish it up. The result was inconsistent and disappointing when matched with the cool story by Joe Casey. However, because this is a story of one man trying to do his best in the face of fear for his family's safety, I feel like a complete a-hole for hating the book.
On the brighter side, Berganza further confirmed to Mike Sangiacomo at Comicon.com that Geoff Johns would be taking over Superman from Jeph Loeb, for a run of at least six issues.
Hunter Rose Returns…
Dark Horse Comics announced this week that Matt Wagner (lately of Green Arrow cover paintings) will be returning to his early creation Grendel, producing an anthology mini-series lasting four issues. Over the course of the series, Wagner will tell twenty stories about the first Grendel, Hunter Rose. Though he will write them all, he has turned the art chores over to an all-star jam of great and sometimes quirky artists.
Grendel: Red, White, and Black will feature artwork by Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Brereton, Kelley Jones, Stan Sakai, Jill Thompson, Andi Watson, Jim Mahfood, Zander Cannon, and many others. The book is currently scheduled for a September release.
One More E3 Tease…Is It Really A Surprise?
if you're near an Xbox...TDK Games made a splash (sorry) last week at E3 by touting their upcoming Aquaman game, which pits the Sea King against a variety of menaces in defense of Atlantis. As it gets closer to the release date, we'll have more coverage of the game itself, but what makes TDK's presence more interesting for comics fans is that representatives of the company proclaimed that DC will be reviving the Aquaman book to coincide with the release of the game.
Now that may not come as a surprise, for we all know that this summer's big JLA event is the search for Aquaman and Atlantis. But even if DC does bring him back into the DCU and the pages of JLA, it's still a pretty big leap to get him back into his own book. Right now, the Scourge of the Seven Seas is neck and neck with Ka-Zar for most title cancellations and revivals.
The Aquaman game, by the way, will be available for the Xbox and Gamecube platforms. Unfortunately for me, I only have PS2. So if representatives from Microsoft or Nintendo (and I know you read this…or at least I fantasize that you do) would like to send Fanboy Planet some hardware, feel free to write. We have no shame nor pride, and I really, really want to play Aquaman.
Movies:
Johnny Blaze Shops For A Better Deal In Tinseltown
Fresh on the heels of their staggering success with Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has decided they want more of that Marvel magic. Luckily, Dimension Pictures seems to feel they can't make said magic work.
Variety reports this week that Sony has begun negotiating with Dimension to get the rights to the long in development Ghost Rider. If you recall, at one time both Nicolas Cage (or as we should call him, Nicolas Kissodeath) and David Goyer were attached to the project. Cage backed out due to scheduling problems and the attractiveness of Constantine. While Goyer stayed a little longer, once Dimension determined that they wanted Ghost Rider to be no harder than a PG-13, the writer left the production.
The excellent website Coming Attractions further speculates that if Sony does land the rights, we can expect a reworking of the project from screenwriter Shane Salerno. Before you get too hyped up, also do not expect the possibility of a Spider-Man/Ghost Rider movie team-up. Studios like to think in terms of franchises, and will do everything in their power not to combine them.
If and when Freddy vs. Jason or Aliens vs. Predator ever get off the ground, though, all bets are off.
Daredevil Moves Again…
and boy, this leather chafes...Okay, Fanboys, next Valentine's Day just got a little more important. Do everything you can to convince your significant other that it's a love story between Daredevil and Elektra. Fox just moved the release date of Daredevil to February 14, 2003.
That was actually the first announced release date, and then the studio moved it up into January. Marvel Entertainment CEO Avi Arad commented, "the summer season just gets earlier and earlier." Actually, the past couple of Februarys have proven to be surprisingly successful for big event movies; in particular, Hannibal scored huge with audiences in a February opening slot.
The only downside, and I hate to be the one to say it, is that all too often big event movies in February aren't very good. In particular, Hannibal. Sure. Go ahead. Throw Erin Brockovich back in my face. But Daredevil star Ben Affleck was recently quoted as calling the film "…lighter in tone" than his release this week, The Sum Of All Fears.
Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, we have to wait until February. But with The Kingpin, Elektra, and Bullseye involved, it's hard to consider Daredevil light in tone unless they've totally screwed things up.
Playing The Bass, Playing The Bamf
Variety reports that Ethan Embry has entered talks to play Nightcrawler in the upcoming X2, sequel (of course) to X-Men. The actor has survived such films as Vegas Vacation and Can't Hardly Wait, but will be most familiar to genre fans for his lead role in Freakylinks on the Fox Network a couple of years ago. In addition, Embry played the bass in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do!
Production still remains on track to begin next month, and the announcement of these negotiations confirms that Nightcrawler is a character in the script. But can he do a German accent? Will he even have a German accent?
Would This Mean We Have To Call Her W-Wo?
don't bother knockin'...Jennifer Lopez has thrown her tiara into the ring for the Wonder Woman franchise. In a recent MTV interview, Lopez expressed her eagerness to play the role, claiming that she looks just like the character.
Now, before anybody writes in a frenzy, this does not mean that Lopez has the part, or is even in talks. All we know for sure is that the producers have a couple of names that they would like to talk to, with rumor being that said names are young, which (sorry, Jennifer) is not something they would say about Lopez.
But all of it is moot, as once Sandra Bullock left the project, the producers chose to focus on whipping a decent script into shape before actively pursuing actresses. What a concept.
Meanwhile, Marvel has just sold the rights to Gorilla-Man. Just kidding. Maybe.
Y Tu Bruja Tambien
While still in the midst of production for Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, Warner Brothers has announced that director Chris Columbus will be leaving the franchise after this.
Supposedly this will not derail the overall series' schedule, as the studio has begun talks with director Alfonso Cuaron to helm Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, the third in the series. Years ago, Cuaron directed the highly regarded but not highly profitable children's film, A Little Princess. Warner Brothers felt so strongly about that film's quality that they actually re-released it in the same year to try to give it a higher profile at the box office.
This year, however, Cuaron has gained regard for Y Tu Mama Tambien, a Mexican film dealing frankly with teenage sexuality and mores. It has been released unrated in the United States, to critical acclaim.
And somewhere in the middle must be Harry Potter.
Lost in the scuffle of this directorial search comes the announcement that the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, is currently scheduled to be released in June, 2003, a full year past the original publication date announced by Scholastic Books. Start lining up now.
Television:
It Just Means More Re-Runs
Production on the second season of TNT's Witchblade, based on the popular Top Cow comic, has been shut down after only six episodes.
Series star Yancey Butler voluntarily entered herself into rehab for alcohol addiction, understandably forcing the series to wait for her to get better.
Even with this delay, TNT has made no plans to delay the season premiere on Father's Day, nor hold back on the episodes they do have in the can. It just means you'll get to see every episode twice by Labor Day.
It Speaks For Itself
Comics Continuum landed some pictures this week from the pilot episode of Birds of Prey, coming Wednesdays this fall on the WB.
Among other things, the site managed to confirm that Batman does appear briefly in the pilot, in "final" battle with The Joker. As for the Clown Prince of Crime himself, Mark Hamill provides the voice, but as you can see from the still, that isn't Luke Skywalker under the clown white.
Man, I want to see that show.
