Thursday, April 11, 2002

DAREDEVIL MOVIE UPDATE

Rapper Coolio has joined the cast of the Daredevil live-action movie.

Sources close to the production told The Continuum that Coolio will be playing a client of Matt Murdock's during one of the film's courtroom scenes.

Coolio's acting credits include a brief part as Banker during the motorcycle racing sequences in 1997's Batman and Robin. He has appeared in nearly 20 films, frequently as himself.

He joins a cast that includes Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Michael Clarke Duncan as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Colin Farrell as Bullseye, Joe Pantoliano as Ben Urich, Ellen Pompeo as Karen Page and Kevin Smith as a morgue worker.

Look for more on Daredevil on Friday here in The Continuum.

SPIDER-MAN MOVIE UPDATE

The Continuum has obtained a first look at the Cingular Wireless faceplates that are part of the company's promotion with the Spider-Man movie.

The faceplates feature both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin in their movie incarnations.

Cingular, which has a national television campaign with Spider-Man now airing, is also sponsoring a sweepstakes, with the opportunity to win one of two specially designed Dodge Vipers with a Spider-Man paint scheme. Official sweepstakes rules are available at www.cingular.com/spidersweeps.

In other Spider-Man movie news:

* Audu Paden, producer of MTV's Spider-Man animated series, told The Continuum that the movie will have an influence on the show.

"I'm a huge Sam Raimi fan," Paden said, referring to Spider-Man's director. "So what you're going to see in our show are Raimi-inspired directorial choices. But because the nature of our stories are different and because we have a different bent to the season - Spider-Man at Empire State University - and it's a different medium, so the only thing we can cull from existing work is the sorts of dynamic directorial choices."

* The American Dairy Producers/Kellogg's promotion for a free Spider-Man CD-ROM game has reached television.

* Entertainment Tonight ran a clip from the film on Wednesday night, showing much of the previously viewed footage of Norman, Harry, Mary Jane and Aunt May entering Peter's room, oblivious to an unmasked Spider-Man hanging from the ceiling above them. The biggest difference between the clip and previously seen footage was a discussion between the four prior to going up to Peter's room.

* Look for exclusive Spider-Man news on Friday here in The Continuum.

DC COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For first looks at DC Comics titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Batman: Gotham Knights #28, Birds of Prey #42, Haven: The Broken City #5, JSA #35, Lucifer #25, Midnight, Mass #1, Promethea #20, Robin #101 and Superman: The Man Of Steel #125.

HIP FLASK PREVIEW

Comicraft president Richard Starkings has released details and images from Hip Flash: Unnatural Selection, the first in a series of six comics by Starkings, writer Joe Casey and artist Ladronn.

"Ladronn is an artist way ahead of his time, who has yet to find due recognition for his work," Starkings said. "He is an ideal collaborator, and he has drawn the story of Hip Flask out of me as well as for me.

"I learn from him on a daily basis and the skills he has brought to Hip Flask has helped give the character a context and credibility which I could not have found alone. My original storyline for Unnatural Selection was just four pages long -- it was conceived as a black and white wash strip for an ashcan -- but as we talked back and forth about the story it grew to 10 pages, 17 then 25 and ended up 30 pages long. Ladronn's gorgeous full color work is an incredible blend of watercolor and computer enhancement.

"When Joe Casey took a look over some finished files recently, his jaw dropped to the floor and shattered into a gazillion pieces. Batman: Dark Victory scribe Jeph Loeb told me he has NEVER seen ANYTHING like Ladronn's art for Hip Flask. Jeph is currently recovering his eyesight at Cedar-Sinai hospital, where Casey is waiting for reconstructive face surgery.

"Unlike other hippos I've seen in cartoons and comics, I envisioned Hip as a tragic hero and definitely not a 'funny animal.' I think the biggest surprise people will get when they read Hip's origin story is that it's not going to be AT ALL what they expect. Joe's script has really picked up on the bleaker, darker and disturbing aspects of Hip's origin."

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Said Ladronn: "Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection is a book to help us remember that we are now the most fragile and most easily manipulated species on Earth. In Hip Flask's world, Man is dealing with the new dilemmas and consequences presented by advances in the uninhibited and senseless restructuring of genetic material.

"The bigger story of Hip Flask is an extraordinary portrait of Man's need to explore beyond the many variables of our existence, whether they be the limitations of the physical body, or those of space and time"

Ladroon said that Hip Flask provides a "perfect combination" for an artist.

"The characters in this book are very complex, and our story takes them from anger to joy and from love to hate," he said. "They live in a world where the line between rational and irrational is blurred.

"Hip Flask, Obadiah Horn and the rest of the 'Elephantmen' live on the edge of a society to which they don't belong and which doesn't belong to them. The internal values of these 'Unhumans' are very different to the humans with whom they must live. They are more passionate and tortured, they live their days fighting amongst themselves and they are forced to keep their most savage and brutish feelings inside. Their world is not filled with the fresh air their ancestors breathed, it is a plastic and steel jungle drenched in acid rain.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

"Nevertheless, Hip Flask has soul, charm and the deep desire to be at peace with himself. In many ways he is far more human than any human. He was pulled from a cold and crude, scary and controlled scientific society with unnatural desires to a new and more deadly environment; Mystery City. The city itself is now the hunter waiting to trap and devour anyone or any creature that places a foot wrong."

Casey said that Hip Flask is not a "normal assembly line" creation.

"This is a special kind of working situation," Casey said. "No other comic book is made this way. Ladronn's work on Cable and The Inhumans showcased only a fraction of what he's capable of as an artist. This is the most fully realized futuro world ever depicted in comics. Hip Flask will take Ladronn's talent worldwide."

Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection is a $2.99, 32-page, full-color comic book with no ads. It goes on sale July 17 from Active Images and will be available with four different covers, shipped in equal quantities, by Joe Madureira, J. Scott Campbell, Ian Churchill and Ladronn.

THE SIMPSONS UPDATE

Fox has provided a rundown of episodes of The Simpsons through its season finale.

On Sunday April, 28, The Simpsons airs at a special time at 7 p.m., with the episode "The Lastest Gun in the West." Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) befriend an old cowboy, Buck (guest voice Dennis Weaver, "McCloud"), who was once a hero of the silver screen, and help him regain his past fame by booking him on Krusty's television show. In its regular time period of 8 p.m., Bart makes an animated series based on his own life, and creates a character named "Angry Dad," who is based directly on Homer (Dan Castellaneta) in "I am Furious Yellow."

In "The Sweetest Apu" on May 5, Homer catches Apu (Hank Azaria) cheating on his wife, Manjula (Jan Hooks), in the Kwik-E-Mart. But when Manjula finds out and files for divorce, Homer and Marge (Julie Kavner) struggle to bring them back together.

"Little Girl in the Big Ten" on May 12 finds Lisa befriending some college girls who are unaware of her age. Meanwhile, Bart is relegated to living in a bubble after he is bitten by a contagious Chinese mosquito. James Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio guest stars in this episode.

For its season finale on May 19, The Simpsons airs at a special time of 7 p.m. In "The Frying Game," when Homer is caught threatening an endangered caterpillar, he is sentenced to community service and must care for an elderly lady. However, when the old lady dies, Homer is surprised to find himself convicted of murder and sentenced to fry in the electric chair. But that's not the last of his surprises.

SCI FI JOINS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Cable network SCI FI Channel has joined in the nationwide Free Comic Book Day event with a combination of on-air and online promotions, as well as a contest tailored to appeal to science fiction and comic book fans.

On Saturday, April 27, one week before Free Comic Book Day, SCI FI Channel will feature "Super-Hero Saturday," a day-long marathon of super-hero movies and TV shows, including airing the 153-minute DVD cut of Superman: The Movie complete with extra footage in unedited letterbox format.

Interspersed between these programs will be ads promoting comic books and directing viewers to their local comic book stores on May 4 for Free Comic Book Day. On that day, anyone walking into any of more than 2,000 participating comic book stores in the U.S. and abroad will receive a comic book absolutely free.

At the same time, SCI FI is also gearing up for the new seasons of its hit shows Farscape and Stargate SG-1. Comic book stores participating in Free Comic Book Day will distribute postcards promoting the new seasons, containing art Neal Adams. The postcards will direct fans to enter a contest at www.scifi.com that will award the original art to one lucky fan.

"Our friends at The SCI FI Channel can reach a segment of the public that we can't, a segment that is predisposed to enjoy a large part of what our industry has to offer," said Diamond marketing communications manager Barry Lyga. "They've developed a wonderful promotion that celebrates comics while at the same time promoting the genres and media that have brought some of the most imaginative entertainment ever into our culture."

BRIEFLY