Monday, March 18, 2002

WESLEY SNIPES TALKS BLADE II

Wesley Snipes, who returns to star in Blade II, said the character has changed somewhat for the sequel.

"He's grown comfortable with what he is," Snipes said. "He does what he does and has learned to enjoy it. Now he's drinking blood on occasion and is not as traumatized by the experience. He has more flexibility and a lot more fun. He's a looser Blade but possesses the same ferocity."

"In the first film Blade was a brooding superhero," said Blade 2 director Guillermo del Toro. "In the one, he actually likes kicking ass. He seems to enjoy it a little more."

Blade II, the sequel to the 1998 No. 1 movie Blade, opens in theaters on Friday from New Line Cinema as the first of at least five Marvel movies to reach theaters in the next 14 months.

"I love playing the role," Snipes said. "It's fun as an actor to test your skills at doing a sequel, to see if you can recreate something you did."

"Wesley is Blade; so much of the character was invented by Wesley and his instincts are so spot on," said producer Peter Frankfurt.

Snipes said he enjoyed working with del Toro.

"I like his passion," he said. "I'm in awe of his stamina, the fact that he loves this movie and he has 110 percent of his life and time into it. He has very clear ideas of what he's looking for, a great eye, great sense of timing and he's comfortable, open and talented enough to be a true collaborator. I would love to work with him again and I think what he's doing in this film is fantastic."

Snipes underwent extensive training for the film and again worked with stunt coordinator Jeff Ward.

"We're teammates, partners and together we come up with a structure and he executes its," Snipes says. "He's a great martial artist, too. If you put us together in a room, and then add Clay (Donohue Fonitnet), my stunt double, and we're all together, it's ridiculous!"

Look for more on Blade II on Tuesday here in The Continuum.

CROSSGEN FOR JULY

CrossGen Comics has released its solicitation information for July.

For a complete rundown, CLICK HERE.

DAVE ELLIOTT REVIVES ATOMEKA

Dave Elliott, publisher for Atomeka, announced that the company he started in 1985 with Garry Leach will return to active service.

"Over the years, I have worked for a number of companies, but on recent reflection, I have never been able to get the sense of satisfaction and achievement that I felt producing A1 with Garry," Elliott said.

"Atomeka was always about putting fun and experimenting first, which we will continue to do. Current plans include everything from comics based on true stories to parodies, from science fiction to westerns."

Elliott said there are plans to release a trade paperback of the best of the first series of A1 with the possibility of a new series of specials starting next year.

"It all depends on everyone's schedules and willingness to participate," he said. "It's not something I want to do just for the sake of it."

Definitely planned is a trade collection of monster and horror stories under the title of Monster Massacre. Monster Massacre will also be a mini-series premiering sometime next year. The first series will focus on the title Alien Arena, which is also the subject of a color 48-page special in August.

"Alien Arena is the WWF meets Star Trek," Elliott said. "A mixture of whopem, smash'em fights with a look at the political mechanizations of the galaxy at large. Imagine our first contact with the rest of the universe and it turns out they are all wrestling freaks."

Atomeka's first title will be a special called Maximum Force. It ships in July and is a no ads collection of two stories illustrated by Simon Bisley featuring an odd group of super-hero characters. It will serve as a precursor to a new Maximum Force series next year.

"Maximum Force has always been about how a lonely eclectic group of super-powered beings manage to survive as a family unit without killing each other," Elliott said. "They are fully prepared to save the world, but are more likely to get involved with drunks, misfits and sorting out each others problems."

BONGO COMICS FOR JUNE

Following are Bongo Comics' solicitations for June, with information coming from the company.

SIMPSONS COMICS #71

By Boothby and Ortiz.

Living in the shadow of our older sibling can be hard, but it's even hard when your name is Cecil and that sibling is Bart Simpson's vengeance-swearing, psychotic arch-nemesis Sideshow Bob. Playing second banana to an evil criminal mastermind who formerly played second banana to a clown is about as low as you can get. Aha! But to kill Bart Simpson! To success where your infamous brother failed, that would finally settle the score - or would it? Suppose you chose your own arch-enemy - your brother's foe's sister, Lisa Simpson?

32 pages, $2.50.

BIG BOOK OF BART SIMPSON

By Groening and Morrison.

Bart Simpson: troublemaker, juvenile joker, menace to society - or how about just plan ol' kid? Featuring stories from the first four issues of Bart Simpson Comics, see Bart at his best: in school, at the zoo, in space, beind cloned, in love, as Bartman and just doing what America's most famous underachiever is known for - getting in over his head and finding his way out of trouble with class and flair, sometimes, a little less for wear.

120 pages, $11.95.

BRIEFLY