Comics Continuum

Clicking on images frequently provides larger ones.

Tuesday, August 8, 2000

FIRST LOOK: DAREDEVIL/SPIDER-MAN

Alex Ross will be painting covers for Daredevil/Spider-Man, a four-issue mini-series from Marvel Knights that starts in November and will be written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Phil Winslade.

In writing the mini-series - which will include such "second-rate" villains as Stilt-Man and Owl -- Jenkins said he liked the contrast between Daredevil and Spider-Man.

"The way I'm writing him anyway, Matt's kind of stone-faced and all about business," Jenkins said. "Peter Parker's always cracking jokes all the way through the thing, annoying Daredevil. He's like, 'Why don't you stop telling jokes?' And Spider-Man's like, 'Why can't you tell a bloody joke, you rotten bastard?!"

Both Jenkins and Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada praised the intricate work of Winslade, who drew Ant-Man's Big Christmas for the imprint last year.

"Usually, I'm extremely lucky to be working with some pretty amazing artists. Phil's art, when I got it back the first time - I knew the guy was really good - but when I saw it, he's an absolutely nut," Jenkins said.

Jenkins call Winslade the "anti-Jae," comparing him to Sentry and Inhumans collaborator Jae Lee.

"I say, 'Jae, there's like a million people in this crowd scene and Jae sends one person's face in the immediate foreground and a few dots behind him," Jenkins said. "Phil Winsalde's like, 'What do you mean one million? We can fit at least two million people in there.' He's totally nuts. It looks so interesting, so amazing.

"He's done these scenes across Manhattan where Spider-Man and Daredevil are leaping across Manhattan. It was supposed to this kind of thing we've all seen before. And then I get the art back, and I go, 'Wow, I've never, ever seen that.' I've never seen that rendering of Manhattan. It's just brilliant stuff."

Said Quesada: "Absolutely mind-numbing."

MORRISON ON FF, MAYBE SILVER SURFER?

Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada confirmed that Grant Morrison will be writing a four-issue Fantastic Four mini-series for the middle of next year.

"Right now, it's tentatively titled 1, 2, 3, 4," Quesada said.

Jae Lee will be the artist for the mini-series after he completes his work on Sentry.

Lee said he likes to make characters as "realistic as possible." For Mr. Fantastic, Lee describes him as "old and nerdy, with a receding hairline and very thin."

Quesada said that, if Marvel Knights reaches a third year, Morrison might also be writing a Silver Surfer project. "I've seen his proposal, and it's really fantastic," Quesada said.

Quesada also said "there's a very good chance" Morrison will be writing more Marvel Boy.

MANE TALKS SABRETOOTH, THOR

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Tyler Mane, who plays Sabretooth in the X-Men movie, talked about the movie's DVD and sequel as well as his interest in the Thor television movie last weekend at the Wizard World convention.

Asked if he would be in the X-Men sequel, Mane said, "I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the sequel. I am signed on for two more pictures, so I would think that would mean something."

Does he know anything about the next movie? "I just hope Sabretooth's in it," Mane said.

Mane also said that some of his fight scenes that were trimmed from X-Men might be restored for the DVD.

"We were shooting for six and a half months and there's bound to be a lot of stuff that hits cutting room floor," Mane said. "(Director) Bryan Singer just said, 'Thank God for DVD.' It's coming out in November and there will be a longer version."

Asked if he would like to play Thor in the upcoming TV movie from Artisan Entertainment, Mane said: "I went to lunch with Stan Lee a couple of weeks ago. And when I walked into his office, he had a lot his creative staff there, and he said whenever I get tired of Sabretooth, that he would create something for me. And he said that I would be a good Thor, too. So, you never know. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on all of that."

Some of the other responses Mane gave during his panels over the weekend:

How did they do Sabretooth's eyes? "There were yellow contacts in my eyes. Those were contacts that covered your whole eyes. They were like looking through binoculars when you're wearing those things. I had to wear them for a month before I started doing anything with them so I could see where I was going."

What was director Bryan Singer like? "Working with Bryan was excellent. He's directed a lot of really great films, Apt Pupil and The Usual Suspects. When I first talked to Bryan, I could tell that he had seen this movie about a million times in his mind. And he knew what he wanted to do. And he knew what he had to do. He had to appeal to the die-hard X-Men fans and he had to appear to the people who didn't know about X-Men. He had the toughest job of anybody and I think he put it together beautifully. He did a great job."

Did he ever see Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (who played Mystique) getting her make-up put on? "Rebecca would take eight hours getting into her make-up. With the make-up trailer, it was divided with a curtain. My make-up only took four hours, so what I would do is, Rebecca really liked these chocolate-chip fudge cookies, so I'd bring her back these chocolate-chip cookies because I'd know she'd had been there for four hours. And I would just kind of hand them through the curtain and somebody would come and take them and give them to her."

Have any professional wrestling organizations tried to lure him back? "I've had some calls from some different organizations, but I hopefully am going to be doing some more movies, thanks to you people and seeing the film as much as you have and supporting it."

His favorite stunt in X-Men? "There was one that I did in the inside of the head where Cyclops blasts me, when you see me fly out the back. I was hooked onto a harness with a bungee cord attached to me. They said, 'Take off running as fast as you can Tyler. You've got about 30 feet.' They had a mark there and I hit that mark and the slingshot with the bungee yanks me backwards like the optic blast going out of the Statue of Liberty head. That was kind of fun. I got to kick the cameraman on that! But I don't kick anybody on purpose."

* Did he keep anything from the movie? "What I collect from my movies are the chair backs. When you do a movie, you have your name on them and the name of the film is on them. I kept that, and I did 'borrow' a couple of other things, but not too many, though."

Will he be in the remake of Rollerball, which stars Romijn-Stamos? "I have talked to them about that, but I have not signed anything."

* Did he do Sabretooth's growl? "I did do the growl and they enhanced it just a little bit. Just a little bit. OK, a lot."

BATMAN BEYOND'S SEASON OPENER

Batman Beyond producer Paul Dini said that "Ace in the Hole," an episode featuring Bruce Wayne's dog Ace, will likely be the first episode of third season of the Kids' WB! series.

Dini previewed the episode, written by Hilary J. Bader and directed by James Tucker, at the Wizard World convention last weekend.

The episode shows that Ace was originally trained to fight other dogs by a ruthless owner, Ronnie Boxer, before he escaped. One day while Terry is walking Ace, he sees his previous owner and takes off after him, setting up the story as Terry and Bruce try to find him.

Dini said that he and producer Bruce Timm wanted to get Ace the Bathound in Batman ever since the original series on Fox.

"We always thought introducing him in a dog-fight arena, that's where Bruce would get him," Dini said. "We never did anything with the idea, but then we pitched it to Hilary and she and Alan (Burnett, a producer) kind of came up with the story based on the take we used on it."

Dini said it was difficult to portray the abuses Ace went through without going too far Saturday morning television.

"Some of the more intense scenes were trimmed down a little bit," Dini said. "Everything is pretty much in there, but a couple shots of blood were taken out, and I think he actually did get shocked by the (trainer's) glove or he did get shocked in shadows.

"Those are cuts you make when the film comes in, and you don't really like making them, but I think the episode still holds up pretty well and you get an idea of what the dog went through.

"If we get notes like that, we prefer getting them in the script form, because then we're able to go back in and change things and come up with better ideas. We don't want to just sit there and take notes and say, 'Cut this sequence' or 'Do not show this action.' We'll come up with alternatives. We work very hard to come up with things that preserve the integrity of the show."

Look for more on the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker movie soon here in The Continuum.

HULK ARTISTS, PLANS

Incredible Hulk writer Paul Jenkins said that Kyle Hotz, originally scheduled to draw one issue, will now be drawing Incredible Hulk #21-23.

"We're going to do three versions of the Hulk, and since he did one, he might as well do all three," Jenkins said.

John Romita Jr. will be drawing at least two issues, including a double-sized Incredible Hulk #25.

"I don't think it's giving too much away to say that #25 is supposed to be sort of an event of some kind," Jenkins said. "It's going to have the Abomination in it, this guy who killed Banner's wife.

"So there's obviously going to be some kind of problem he'll be a little angry with. The last time, he wasn't that upset. But he has all these different incarnations."

BRIEFLY

Alley Cat director Greg Aronowitz told The Continuum that filming has been pushed back a few weeks, but still should be underway by the end of the year.

Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada said he is looking into bringing back Ghost Rider. "I've been talking to some talent," he said. "If we do it, it'll be cool and we'll do it right, like we did with the Punisher."

Robin will be one of the characters featured in the Just Imagine Stan Lee Creatingâ¤| books from DC Comics.

Black Bull will be releasing a Gatecrasher trade paperback in November, with an Adam Hughes cover and a Garth Ennis introduction.

Coming Wednesday: Daredevil news, animation news - and much more!!!

E-Mail the Continuum at roballs@aol.com

Return to the Continuum home page