Friday, Aug. 18, 2000

SPAWN MOVIES UPDATE

The sequel to the Spawn live-action movie might be relocated from New Line Cinema to another studio, McFarlane Entertainment's Terry Fitzgerald told The Continuum on Thursday.

"New Line's time with the sequel is quickly running out and it looks like we might have to find another home for it," Fitzgerald said. "We still receive calls everyday concerning its availability, so I do not imagine we will have a problem finding a new studio to partner with."

Meanwhile, TBS will be airing the broadcast premiere of the first Spawn movie on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. (ET), a network representative told The Continuum on Thursday.

According to TBS, the encore schedule for Spawn has been reconfigured. Spawn will be rebroadcast on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 10:05 p.m.; Thursday, Nov. 2, at 10:25 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 4, at 8:05 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3:40 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m.

The 1997 film starred Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen, John Leguizamo and D.B. Sweeney.

As part of the network premiere, McFarlane Entertainment will be staging an online chat with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane on Wednesday, Oct. 25.

FIRST LOOK - SIDEKICKS #2

Sidekicks #2 will go on sale on Sept. 20 from Fanboy Entertainment. The issue is written by J. Torres, with art by Takeshi Miyazawa.

"It has been pushed back to give Takeshi more time to add all the zipatone which he does by hand," Fanboy's C.B. Cebulski said. "Like most Japanese manga artists, he feels using the computer to add tone is cheating. J. and I are behind him on this and don't mind if the book is late as long as it is perfect.

"We were all caught off guard by all the flood of positive response and sales of issue #1."

Here's how Fanboy describes the issue:

"It's hard enough transferring to a new high school and trying to make new friends. Imagine trying to impress kids who can fly, turn invisible or walk through walls. At Shuster Academy the cliques resemble superhero teams more than anything. Less the costumes and codenames, because using them is against the rules of the school. Terry Highland is the 'new girl.' How does she get in with the cool kids and endear herself to the staff? By attempting to unmask the mysterious trio breaking all the school's rules..."

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Sidekicks #2 will cost $2.75.

BUTCHER KNIGHT IN NOVEMBER

Top Cow Productions on Thursday issued a press release explaining why its new mini-series, Butcher Knight, was moved back to a November release.

"As a result of Butcher Knight creators Dwayne Turner and television writer Charles Holland's desires to allow the readers to become more familiar with the characters within Butcher Knight, the ship date for the first issue has been moved to November," Top Cow said in the release. "They discussed changing the original marketing plans for this title with Top Cow, suggesting it be released after the two-part Dark Crossings mini-series, which includes popular characters from the Top Cow universe such as Witchblade, Tomb Raider and the Darkness. This resulted in the delay, a move Top Cow fully supports."

"With so many great characters in Dark Crossings, we wanted the uniqueness of the characters in Butcher Knight to have a chance to shine on their own," said Sonia Im, public relations and licensing director for Top Cow Productions. "We feel that as the characters develop in the mini-series, the readers will get to understand them more, as well as giving Dwayne the opportunity to make minor tweaks in the look of Butcher Knight as he pencils Dark Crossings."

Said Holland: "In a perfect world, you'd never get a parking ticket, spill things on your clothes or have to postpone coming out with the comic you're obsessed with doing. In the real world, things are different and sometimes you gotta make compromises. That's what were doing in order to make sure Butcher Knight is a comic fans look forward to every month. Although this isn't a perfect world, we want to do the best we can to make it close and will do our best to have this book ship every month as reliably as sunrise and sunset. We want to reach down deep on this series and kick some serious ass. It will be worth the wait. That's a promise."

Said Turner: "I want to thank the fans for the positive feedback I have received about Dark Crossings. It's great to hear that they are looking forward to Butcher Knight, I just feel horrible that they're gonna have to wait longer than anticipated. Dark Crossings is just the beginning, we have some terrific stories and I am having a great time working on them. Once the ball starts rolling in November, who knows where it will take us?"

A Butcher Knight poster will be available in September.

ANDROMEDA ENTERTAINMENT'S FIRST WAVE

Andromeda Entertainment on Thursday announced plans for a new line of comics and has begun licensing original Sci-Fi Channel productions for comics publication.

The first of the new books to be published is based on the Sci-Fi Channel series, First Wave, from Pearson Television.

"We are delighted to bring Sci-Fi's original television programs to the powerful medium of comics," said Art Holcomb, editor-in-chief of Andromeda. "Starting in December of this year, this flagship line of comics will keep fans and retailers alike delighted with the three things they look for most â¤| vibrant storytelling, breath-taking art and . . . on-time shipping!"

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Possible covers for issue #1 by, from left, Dan Parsons, Matt Busch, and Robert Scott.

Holcomb, a screenwriter whose work has appeared in live-action, animation and on the Internet, worked in comics for Marvel, DC, Valiant, Acclaim, Broadway and Defiant. Holcomb is working with First Wave creator Chris Brancato on the comic.

"The fans are gonna love this!" Brancato said. "Comic books are a bold, fantastic, visual medium and the perfect venue to expand the First Wave universe. I'm really excited about exploring Cade Foster's mission with the writers and artists at Andromeda."

The series, which has been described as "The X-Files meets The Fugitive," chronicles the adventures of Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) as he follows clues found in the ancient writings of Nostradamus, which reveals the hidden alien menace among us. First Wave currently airs on Sci-Fi Sundays at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. (ET).

BARRY WEEN COLLECTED

Oni Press will release a collected version of Judd Winick's The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius 2.0 in November.

Barry Ween follows the world's smartest kid as he is forced to deal with experiments gone awry, close encounters, time travel, government conspiracy, and other problems that could only be typical for a boy genius.

"Working with Judd Winick is a dream. He's always pushing the boundaries, trying to create something different, while still reveling in his pop culture influences," Oni Publisher Joe Nozemack said. "Barry's irreverent humor has a broad appeal and his popularity just continues to rise. The first collection has done very well for us and we're sure that as new people discover Judd's wonderful sense of humor, the demand for both the original and this new collection will continue to increase."

"Judd never comes up short," said Oni editor-in-chief Jamie S. Rich. "With each new outing he finds a way to up the ante. With all the challenges he's already given Barry, one can only wonder what kind of new problems lie ahead for the Boy Genius and his supporting cast."

Winick's recent work also include this summer's collection Road Trip, the fall release of the autobiographical Pedro & Me from Henry Holt, and his new role as writer of DC Comics' Green Lantern.

"As more and more people discover my mainstream work, Barry's brazen humor and developing characters will continue to make new fans," Winick said. "And with Barry III coming next year, this book provides a great way for new readers to catch up on the Boy Genius Library."

The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius 2.0 Collected edition ships Nov. 29. The 88-page black-and-white book retails for $8.95.

BRIEFLY