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Monday, Nov. 27, 2000

JENKINS TALKS SPIDEY, MARY JANE'S RETURN

Paul Jenkins, writer of Peter Parker: Spider-Man, confirmed for The Continuum that Mary Jane will be returning, with this warning: "Be careful what you wish for."

In the Spider-Man titles, Mary Jane has been missing after a plane crash, and even Peter now presumes she's dead.

"The thing is that people have been upset with this Mary Jane thing, and I don't blame them," Jenkins told The Continuum at Mid-Ohio-Con on Saturday. "I would say the quote that you can put is 'Be careful what you wish for.' Everybody wants Mary Jane back. Everybody's asking, 'When is she coming back? When is she coming back?' Because everybody knows she's not dead. That's pretty obvious, right?

"I would say the fair thing to say is that I write the character pieces. I let other people guide what's going on. You know? My answer to this 'Is Mary Jane coming back?' is â¤| well, the chances of her being dead in the first place were about slim to none when you look at it, right? So I would say, 'Be careful what you wish for.'

"If I had my choice, they would have let me do what I wanted to do when I came on, which is bring her back, forget about it and write the marriage as if it were a happier, more productive thing. The reason Marvel is so pissed off that it doesn't work out is because they wrote the marriage like two old people fighting all the time. They didn't write them as a young couple that were happy. They wrote them as two people that lied and cheated and stole from each other and all this crap. That's because the writers had a very naive view of marriage. They wrote her as a bitch and him as an idiot, as a lying idiot. So obviously the fans got turned off."

The Spider-Man titles have struggled since their relaunch with Howard Mackie writing both Amazing and Peter Parker. Jenkins replaced him on Peter Parker.

"People weren't happy with Spider-Man when I came on board," Jenkins said. "They've been off about this and that and they didn't like Howard's work. I talked to Howard quite privately. He asked my opinion, so I gave it to him. 'I think you're writing s--- you don't care about.' He admitted it. He's like, 'Yeah, I know.'

"I feel bad for the guy, really. He was clearly doing something he didn't want to do. I'd say, 'Dude, get off of it. Don't do the damn book any more.' That's all."

Mackie is now leaving Amazing Spider-Man, with J. Michael Straczynski tabbed to replace him. Axel Alonso has taken over as editor of the books, with a third Spider-Man title targeted for next year.

"People are saying, 'When's Mary Jane coming back? What's going to happen with Joe Stracyznski? What's going to happen with Howard?'" Jenkins said. "Howard's on his way off the book. Let's say this: They wanted to clear up (his storylines). I didn't want to clear up Howard's outstanding plot holes. I didn't want to do it. I didn't think it was that important for a start. But I certainly think if it is important, it needs to be Howard doing it. And Howard's only got a couple of issues left to do it."

Jenkins said he has not spoken with Straczynski yet about Spider-Man.

"Because he's just formulating his plans, so nothing's definite right now," Jenkins said. "When he's finished, he and I will communicate surely and work out what's going to happen. I don't really care. They make all the changes in Amazing. I do all the character pieces. I just do single-issue, two-issue story arcs that have nothing to do with continuity. They don't need to have anything to do with continuity."

Jenkins said he would like to continue to do character-oriented work on Peter Parker: Spider-Man. "Yeah, I hope so," he said. "I don't want to do any of the big changes in Spider-Man."

Look for more from Jenkins in The Continuum on Tuesday.

HAYTER TALKS HULK, X-MEN SEQUEL

David Hayter has one Marvel movie out, one more in the works and possibly another one on the way.

Hayter, who wrote X-Men, confirmed that he has completed his first attempt at the Hulk movie for producer Gale Anne Hurd and Universal Pictures.

"I have indeed finished a draft of the Hulk and from all accounts, it seems that the studio is pretty happy," Hayter told The Continuum. "Thus, I am pretty happy."

Hayter's first screenplay was X-Men. With recent word that director Bryan Singer is in talks to return, might Hayter be returning also?

"Re: X-Men 2, the wheels are turning...," Hayer said.

BYRNE BACK AT DC?

John Byrne said his next regular series after concluding X-Men: The Hidden Years at Marvel Comics might be at DC Comics.

"I'm talking to DC right now about a creator-owned book set in the DC Universe," Byrne said at the Mid-Ohio-Con on Saturday. "Sort of the way (Chris) Claremont did with Sovereign Seven."

Byrne said a creator-owned project appealed to him.

"There's always that feeling about being in your own sandbox," he said.

Byrne has also said he will be doing a sequel to Superman & Batman: Generations.

Byrne was asked if has any plans to bring back Next Men, which is currently being considered as a movie.

"No, the market is still a little too mushy for me," Byrne said. "Unfortunately, there's still a level of income I have to maintain."

Tom Palmer, Byrne's inker on X-Men: The Hidden Years, said he will be working with his former Tomb of Dracula collaborator Gene Colan again.

"Gene is doing an eight-page Batman Black and White story and asked me, and I said I loved to," Palmer said. "Hopefully, there will be more things coming from Gene."

BANKS DRAWS JLA IN GL

Green Lantern artist Darryl Banks said he enjoyed a chance to draw the Justice League in February's Green Lantern #135.

In the issue, part four of the five-part "While Rome Burned" story arc, Nero goes berserk in New York, and Kyle can't stop him alone, so he gets help from the JLA.

"He's a different sort of foe," Banks told The Continuum at Mid-Ohio-Con. "He's a menace that even the Justice League has to get involved with. Actually, he has made one previous appearance. He was on the cover to #129. We didn't announce who he was. People were probably wondering, 'Who is that guy down at the bottom?'"

So what was it like drawing the JLA characters?

"For some reason I never got a handle on Superman the way I wanted it," Banks said. "At one point I'd go, 'Oh, I get to draw the Justice League and this is so daunting. I've got to focus.' But really, it was more like, 'I can handle this.' But for some reason, I was never fully satisfied with my Superman overall.

"But the one I had the most fun with hands down was Martian Manhunter. I just loved drawing that guy. Man, I'd consider doing a fill-in issue of that book. He's just a great character. I'd like to see him appear again (in Green Lantern), even if it's just him in the team-up. The Green Team, right?"

Banks has been drawing Green Lantern on a pretty regular schedule since 1993.

"In my opinion, he's the most flexible character that I can think of," Banks said. "We can do a story of him walking around Greenwich, New York, or we can have him battling on alien planets."

Banks said that future issues of Green Lantern will see the return of Jade.

"Things are going good," Banks said. "Judd (Winick, Green Lantern writer) is really fired up and he's three to four issues ahead."

STORRIE WRITES BATGIRL FILL-IN

Writer Paul Storrie told The Continuum he has completed his first work for DC Comics, an inventory issue of Batgirl.

"They wanted to have an issue in the can in case they need it to give the regular team a break," Storrie said at Mid-Ohio-Con. "This is my writing the characters without trying to do anything to change them. It's more an exploration of the characters instead of trying to change them."

What's the story deal with?

"We get to see Barbara Gordon in her Batgirl costume again," Storrie said. "There are ties to Batgirl's origin in the story. There is a flashback sequence."

Storrie said he doesn't know who the artist will be or when the story will be scheduled.

MID-OHIO-CON UPDATE

The Mid-Ohio-Con moved from its previous downtown Columbus location to the Hilton Hotel Center in the Easton Town Center last weekend with healthy crowds.

A legends of comics panel featuring Steve Skeates, Roger Stern, John Byrne and Tom Palmer was one of the show's highlights as they reminisced about their early days in comics. David Mack and Mark Waid were among the creators who held individual panels.

During a Lost in Space panel, Bill Mumy said that he and Jonathan Harris are contributing voices to a couple episodes of Disney's Buzz Lightyear animated series and that he and Mark Hamill are pitching a television pilot.

The show will return to the Hilton Hotel Center next year.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

FIRST LOOK: BATTLE CHASERS #7

Battle Chasers #7 will arrive in stores from DC Comics and WildStorm Productions. The issue is written by Joe Madureira and Munier Sharieff, with art and cover by Madureira and Tim Townsend.

Here's how DC describes the issue:

"Garrison, Calibretto, Knolan, and Gully facing off against a fearsome new opponent, spawned from a place you'd never expect -- a fan's mind. That's right, the outrageous monster battled in this issue was designed by an actual Battle Chasers reader -- the winner of The Create a Monster Contest. The issue features three covers, one by each original Cliffhanger creator."

Battle Chasers #7 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.50.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

FIRST LOOK: MARVEL KNIGHTS #7

Marvel Knights #7 will arrive in stores on Wednesday from Marvel Comics. The issue is written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Eduardo Barreto and Klaus Janson and a cover by Joe Quesada.

Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

"Has Cloak gone bad? That question is answered as the Marvel Knights and special guest star Dr. Strange finally confront Dagger's former partner. Will Cloak revert back to form or will he turn out the lights on the Knights?"

Marvel Knights #7 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.99.

GIVE'EM A CLICK


BRIEFLY

  • Now that the Spawn movie rights have moved from New Line Cinema back to Todd McFarlane, sources told The Continuum that Artisan Entertainment and Columbia Pictures are among the front-running studios for the sequel.

  • Mark Steven Johnson's script for the Daredevil movie at New Regency will include Kingpin, Elektra and Bullseye. 20th Century Fox will distribute the film.

  • Dan Jurgens told The Continuum he'll be staying as writer on Tomb Raider into the Top Cow title's second year. "We're starting it off in issue 13 with what I think will be a surprise of considerable consequence to Lara," Jurgens said. "The event will certainly kick off Lara's second year of publication with a major storyline."

  • Coming Tuesday - Spider-Man news, Image news, movie news - and much more!!!
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