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Tuesday, May 23, 2000
CROSSGEN FOR SEPTEMBER
Following are CrossGeneration Comics' solicitations for September, with information provided by the company.
MYSTIC #4
Written by Ron Marz, penciled by Brandon Peterson, inked by John Dell, colored by Andrew Crossley.
While the Guild Masters plot their next move in order to exact their revenge upon Giselle, she literally stumbles into the arms of a suave stranger. Known only as Darrow, will the handsome suitor prove himself to be more than a friend, or an enemy even deadlier than those Giselle has already faced?
32 pages, $2.95, ships on Sept. 6.
SIGIL #4
Written by Barbara Kesel, penciled by Ben Lai, inked by Ray Lai, colored by Wil Quintana.
Sam suddenly finds himself face-to-face with an unexpected adversary. His name is Trenin the Hunter, and he's here to win Sam over to his cause... or kill him. Meanwhile, the Saurian prince, Loser, has captured the BitterLuck and boards Sam's ship to rescue the Sultan's missing wife, but he's about to find out that Zanni doesn't intend to be taken back alive.
32 pages, $2.95, ships on Sept. 13
SCION #4
Written by Ron Marz, penciled by Jim Cheung, inked by Don Hillsman II, colored by Caesar Rodriguez.
Desperately trying to make their way home, Ethan and his sidekick Skink are on the run in Eastern lands, barely managing to stay one step ahead of Bron's search parties. When their trail is picked up by a brutal bounty hunter from the Lesser Races, even the power of Ethan's sigil might not be enough to save him.
32 pages, $2.95, ships on Sept. 20.
MERIDIAN #4
Written by Barbara Kesel, penciled by Joshua Middleton, inked by Dexter Vines, colored by Mike Atiyeh.
Sephie runs away from Cadador, but her escape puts her in greater danger than the evil influence of her Uncle Ilahn. Ilahn knows Sephie will go home to Meridian, so he takes steps to ensure she'll never get there.
32 pages, $2.95, ships on Sept. 27.
KABUKI MOVIE UPDATE
The animated Kabuki movie remains in development at 20th Century Fox and is now in the script stage.
"We've got new contracts for the next stage of things," said Kabuki creator David Mack, who will be co-producer, visual designer and storyboard consultant on the film in addition to writing the script. "We've had several rewrites on the treatment and the screenplay is now happening.
"Sure, it could go faster, but it's not in limbo. Everything's still progressing."
Mack said producer Catherine Winder visited Japan to check out animation studios there for Kabuki. "She's narrowed it down to two studios," Mack said.
Mack has been writing Marvel Comics' Daredevil and will also be painting a three-issue Daredevil story written by Brian Michael Bendis.
"I've been getting really good response on Daredevil," Mack said. "It's been helping sales of Kabuki trade paperbacks, too."
BRADSTREET TALKS PUNISHER COVERS
Artist Tim Bradstreet told The Comics Continuum he's on board as cover artist for the complete run of Marvel Knights' The Punisher maxi-series.
"I'll be doing all 12, and there could be a surprise in the future," Bradstreet said.
Bradstreet said he "was made" to draw The Punisher.
"A stark guy carrying weapons ... that's my bread and butter," Bradstreet said. "The only difference is I usually do of a more retro-fitted, post-apocalyptic-looking character, whereas as The Punisher is more of a contemporary, vigilante type. So, yeah, you deck him out in leather occasionally. The cool thing is they give you a lot of freedom on the covers."
So much freedom that his version of The Punisher is different than that of interior artist Steve Dillon.
"When I was first contacted about it, I was told it was the Punisher wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, just regular clothes, no tights," Bradstreet said. "So I just proceeded with that notion. When I saw Steve Dillon's stuff, I was kind of shocked. I thought it was going to be the Punisher dressed down. But Steve's so good and makes it look him good."
Bradstreet, who has completed eight covers so far, said that he is trying to create a body of work with his Punisher covers.
"My criteria were every issue will have Frank Castle first and foremost, every issue will look like a number one, and every issue will have a skull in it," Bradstreet said.
In sticking to the criteria, Bradstreet said he was taking a bit of a risk.
"Some people might consider it to be a cop out. I can see how some people might think, in my attempt to do this, that I am not telling a story with the covers," Bradstreet said. "That's not how I look at it. I guess I'm looking at it from a strictly creative standpoint where I want to create a body of work And I am being kind of selfish in this respect. I'm trying to test myself in a way. I want to see how many times I can take this character and present him in a different way but still with that power."
Bradstreet notes that he gets all the scripts and has pulled story elements into his covers, including the use of Daredevil on The Punisher #3.
Bradstreet also drew a cover to X-Man #63, the first issue of the Warren Ellis/Counter-X run of the book, but that turned out to be his only cover for the book.
"They wanted me to do at least five issues, and I kind of talked them out of doing any more because I'm not really here to draw Colossus and I'm not here to draw more X-Men," Bradstreet said. "It probably would have been a really good challenge for me, but I opted away from it. It basically came down to that the editor's vision did not coincide with mine and Warren's vision. Instead of changing this character significantly, they changed him slightly."
Bradstreet said that originally he was under the impression X-Man was going to be relaunched with a new first issue.
"It ended up being issue 63 of the old book, which I found rather frustrating," Bradstreet said. "To go through the process of having only a week to generate this cover and the new look of the character, which I thought was extremely lame. If you're going to revamp a book, you need to put time into it. Designing a character and doing conceptual designs takes more than a couple of days."
CARTOON BOOKS FOR SEPTEMBER
Following are Cartoon Books' solicitations for September, with information provided by the company.
ROSE #1
Written by Jeff Smith, art by Charles Vess.
Part one of a three-part Bone prequel. Many, many years ago, two young princesses lived in the city of Atheia and trained with the Veni Yan masters to assume the mantle of Queen. Smith takes readers into the early years of one of the most popular characters in the world of Bone, the formidable Gran'ma Ben. Long before she became the crazy old cow woman, Gran'ma Ben was young Princess Rose, and this mini-series, continues the glimpse into her world that readers experienced in the Trilogy II Tour Book. In this issue the two young girls, Rose and Briar, take their first steps into a journey that will determine the course of their lives and that of their descendants.
48 pages, $5.95.
CASTLE WAITING #2
By Linda Medley.
The second installment of an all-new storyline tells the history of Sister Peace the Castle's resident nun, from her adventures as a barmaid and circus carny to life in the convent, and beyond. In Castle Waiting #2 the history of Sister Peace continues. Peace and Nessie are on the run after their escape from the circus, with a gang of carnies in hot pursuit. Can Peace and Nessie make it to the mysterious Abby of St. Wilgeforte's in time--if it even exists?
32 pages, black and white, $2.95.
NEW BATMAN BEYOND EPISODE
A new Batman Beyond episode, "Where's Terry?," will air this Saturday on Kids' WB!.
Here's how the network describes the episode:
"Bruce must reluctantly team up with Max to find Terry when he is kidnapped by Shriek."
Although unconfirmed by the network, "Where's Terry?" will likely be the last new episode of Batman Beyond until next season.
BRIEFLY
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