Tuesday, May 1, 2001

SPIDER-MAN MOVIE UPDATE

Kirsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane in the Spider-Man movie, appeared on CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday night, and commented on recent Internet coverage of the film's shooting in New York City.

"It's been kind of a pain shooting here," she said. "This one guy, he shot - we had this burning building, huge explosion - he shot the whole thing from different angles and stuff and edited his own version and put it on the Internet."

Letterman said he didn't want to encourage that sort of practice, but commented that the exposure might be good to call attention to the movie.

"It does, it does, but now the suit's out and it's not as much of a secret," Dunst said, referring to the many images of Spider-Man's costume on the Internet.

Dunst sported what she calls her "two-tone" hair, with the front portion red to match the wig she wears as Mary Jane.

"It's been such a controversy, too, about my hair because my hair's red in the film, and I wear a wig," she said. "And they're all freaked out that I wasn't going to be a redhead because Mary Jane, my character, is such a classic Spider-Man character."

Dunst appeared on her 19th birthday and was given flowers by Letterman.

In other Spider-Man movie news:

* Producer Ian Bryce said that production movie went well in New York City, particularly with the spring weather.

"We've been fortunate," he told The Continuum late last week. "There have been a couple of days where it's been overcast and it's rained right as we were wrapping. So we've been very fortunate with the weather.

"It's been a cold a few days, and it's been a little more overcast than we would have liked on a couple of days, but no rain."

Knowing that the New York weather was potentially problematic, the Spider-Man producers had blue- and green-screen work moved from Los Angeles and ready to go in case of bad weather. With the good weather, that work is being done this week back in L.A.

* Marvel's Avi Arad, an executive producer, said that Spider-Man couldn't have been made five years ago.

"There wasn't the technology to make the movie what it is today," he said. "It's very complicated to make Spider-Man fly and swing and shoot webs. It's very complicated to make the Goblin fly through the skies and have the kinds of action scenes it dictates. Spider-Man's powers are such that it's really not well covered by normal physics."

MATT WAGNER TALKS MAGE MOVIE, GREEN ARROW COVERS

Matt Wagner told The Continuum that Spyglass Entertainment has renewed its option for the live-action Mage movie.

"That says something. Right in the middle of the strike getting ready to happen, they re-up," Wagner said. "The people involved at Spyglass, they've all been actively involved with the script. I know they feel proprietary about it now - and that's a good thing."

John Rogers has written the script, and has remained the lone screenwriter through revisions.

"He was very passionate and determined the whole time that he was going to be the only screenwriter, so he was really willing to work with all their notes and doggedly went back to the table every time and came back with something better," Wagner said.

Wagner emphasized changes have been for the better of the movie, which is based on "The Hero Discovered" story arc.

"We had wave after wave of notes and revisions that we all felt every time made the script better, which was surprising to all of us," he said. "The detour was minor. It was always like, 'This doesn't sound right. Let's work on this.' And a tiny switch would vastly improve it.

"And a lot of that was also trying to make best use of what we were shooting for budget wise. Do we need CGI through this whole scene or can we do part of this as costumes and prosthetics?

"I'm totally happy with it. And they're happy with it."

In comics, Wagner said he will continue to provide covers for DC's Green Arrow, which has been a hot seller with writer Kevin Smith.

"It looks like Kevin's going to stick on past issue 12, so I'm sticking around for the foreseeable future," Wagner said. "I just turned in the cover to 8, so we're going along on a sprightly pace.

"It hasn't been hard to pluck out of the stories what goes on the cover."

Wagner's Grendel returns to new stories in December with Grendel: Red, White and Black, a four-issue mini-series.

"It's basically the same as the last series, all Hunter Rose stories," Wagner said. "Twenty different stories, all written by me, with a huge batch of eclectic of hotshot artists."

Wagner also said he will likely be doing some more work for Marvel following his art on Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1.

"It will likely again be an Ultimate scenario. I like not being tied to continuity," he said. "I don't think it will be Team-Up. I can't really tell you yet because it's in the whisper stage. But it will be something cool."

ED BRUBAKER TALKS BATMAN #600

Batman writer Ed Brubaker said that Batman #600 will be a 64-page issue.

"It's going to have an extra-sized lead story and a bunch of back-ups," Brubaker said.

Brubaker said that he has approached James Tucker from the Batman and upcoming Justice League animated series to work on a Dick Sprang-influenced story for the issue.

"Some of my favorite Batman stories were from the late 50s and early 60s," Brubaker said. "They were goofy as hell, and I like that style."

Tucker worked on the portion of the "Legends of the Dark Knight" animated episode that featured a Batman from that era.

AARON LOPRESTI'S X-MEN

Aaron Lopresti, the artist of the upcoming The Rogue Files mini-series, told The Continuum that he already has one X-Men project completed.

"Pete Franco at Marvel saw my Countdown stuff over at WildStorm - apparently one of the few people who actually did see it," Lopresti said. "He called me up and asked me if I wanted to do a two-part X-Men thing, which I did for him. They haven't decided how they're going to do that, whether it's going to be an inventory or it's going to be a Prestige Format."

The story, written by Scott Lobdell, involves the X-Men gathering at the site of the original Thunderbird's death and reminiscing about their fallen comrade.

"It was a lot of fun because I got to draw classic X-Men stuff," Lopresti said, adding a surprise villain shows up for the story.

Lopresti said he's about halfway through the first issue of the Rogue mini-series, which is written by Fiona Avery and inked by Randy Emberlin.

Look for more on Lopresti's upcoming Rogue and WildStorm work soon here in The Continuum.

X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE

Kids' WB! will air two episodes of X-Men: Evolution on Saturday, May 19.

According to information provided to The Continuum by the network, "Turn of the Rogue" will air that morning at 9 o'clock (ET), followed by "Survival of the Fittest" at 9:30. Both are reruns.

The two episodes are part of a "Double Stuff" stunt for the May sweeps. Kids' WB! will also show two episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures, Pokemon: The Johto Journeys and Static Shock that morning.

Static Shock episodes will be "Winds of Change" at 11 a.m. and "The New Kid" at 11:30 a.m.

CLAYPOOL COMICS FOR AUGUST

Following are Claypool Comics' solicitations for August, with information coming from the company.

ELVIRA #100

By various.

Elvira's passing the milestone of one hundred monthly issues at Claypool. Does this issue also celebrate her passing from this life? Many guest stars from Elvira's eventful history gather to observe "The Death of Elvira!" by Frank Strom, Tod Smith, and Louis Lachance. It's not a hoax, not a dream, and has very little to do with "Red Elvira-ite." Then, the Mistress of the Dark narrates the origin of Bela her shape-changing pet; actually, several origins, each done in a different art style, in "That Old Familiar Feeling," features art by Ronn Sutton and Bruce Patterson, Amanda Conner and Bill Anderson (children's storybook version), Richard Howell and Allen Milgrom (Simon and Kirby romance-comic version), and Steve Leialoha (Walt Kelly-style version). Also, to top off the fun, Elvira helps Spooky Suzie move into her new mansion -- in a neighborhood so quiet and cozy that it creeps Elvira out, in "Suburban FEAR" by Kurt Busiek with art by Dan DeCarlo and Terry Austin.

32 pages, black and white, $2.50.

DEADBEATS #49

By Richard Howell and Ricardo Villagran, cover by Howell and Steve Leialoha.

Finally, the horrors that stalk the town of Mystic Grove have a place to roost. Evil squatters have taken possession of the mansion that Dr. Ralston plans to buy, and they're using it as the site to terrify both the living and the undead. All are at risk, from young hero Kirby to the vampire princess Brittany, to the malicious Deadbeats themselves. One thing is clear: not everyone will survive the horror that waits in the "House of Fiends!"

32 pages, black and white, $2.50.

FIRST LOOK: X-MEN FOREVER #6

X-Men Forever #6 will arrive in stores on Wednesday from Marvel Comics. The issue is written by Fabian Nicieza, with art by Kevin Maguire and Andrew Pepoy and a cover by Maguire.

Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

"The master manipulator is revealed in the series' finale. Prosh and his motley crew of X-Men most stop a cosmic meddler's plans from reaching fruition or it's the end of the world as we know it."

X-Men Forever #6 will be 32 pages and will cost $3.50.

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