Thursday, May 30, 2002

MARVEL MOVIE ROUNDUP

Alan Cumming will be playing Nightcrawler in the X-Men sequel, sources have confirmed for The Continuum.

Cumming, 37, has more than 40 movie and television roles to his credits, including Wyatt Frame in Josie and the Pussycats and the Great Gazoo and Mick Jagged in The Flintstones in Viva, Rock Vegas.

Ethan Embry's name had surfaced in numerous online reports to play the teleporting mutant, who will make his debut in the movie franchise.

"Unfortunately, Ethan will not be Nightcrawler as he is not available," producer Ralph Winter told The Continuum.

Winter did confirm that Aaron Stanford will be playing Pyro in the sequel. Stanford will be seen as the lead alongside Sigourney Weaver in the upcoming Miramax film Tadpole.

Winter told The Continuum that start of photography for X2 is June 17.

In other Marvel movie news:

* Is Marvel pursuing a Thor movie? Avi Arad of Marvel Studios mentioned Thor during an Access Hollywood piece on Marvel movies, prompting speculation about a film.

Ask about the possibility, Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige said, "We would love to do a Thor feature someday."

Marvel had been developing a Thor television series last year, but it did not make UPN's roster.

* MTV has visited the set of Daredevil for its Movie House series. Rob Zombie represented the cable network for the episode, set to premiere on Tuesday. Look for more Daredevil movie news on Friday here in The Continuum.

* Spider-Man premiered in Berlin this week, with stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe attending. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Spider-Man brought in $2.0 million on Tuesday, pushing its domestic total to $335.6 million.

CROSSGEN BOOKS DELAYED

CrossGen Comics on Wednesday announced that Scion #24, Crux #14 and Edge #2 won't arrive in stores on Thursday as scheduled because of an error by CrossGen's printer, Quebecor.

According to CrossGen, a batch of books that had been printed and entered into the Diamond Distributors computer system for pick-up were not placed on the appropriate loading dock for Diamond trucks to load. Therefore, Diamond did not pick up many boxes of books that included titles from CrossGen, Archie, Bongo, and DC Comics and ship them to their retail customers.

Quebecor has assured CrossGen that the books will be picked up by Diamond in time for next Wednesday's regular shipment, resulting in Scion #24, Crux #14 and Edge #2 arriving in stores on June 5.

"Everyone here works extremely hard to assure that all our titles ship on time, every time," said CrossGen publisher and CEO Mark Alessi. "When you do all the right things and something like this happens, it's a shame, but it's not the end of the world. We worked with Quebecor on a solution that would get these books into the stores when originally scheduled, but the logistics just didn't work. As much as we wanted everyone to have these titles this week, they'll just have to wait until next week. For this we are extremely sorry."

IDW'S LURID

In August IDW will release Lurid #1, by Paul Lee and Adam Huntley, a behind-the-scenes look of a stripper.

Here's how IDW describes the book:

"Paul Lee along with hot new artist Adam Huntley bring you the true-to-life tales of Club Lurid, one of Southern California's finest "Gentlemen's Clubs". This new creator-owned series takes an unflinching look at the lifestyle and characters that make up the working life of a strip club.

"Lurid will show you all sides of exotic dancing - including many you never knew existed. The art for this series is as gritty and realistic as the lives of the strippers themselves. Lurid is backed by detailed research by Paul Lee and Adam Huntley."

"Did you know in some areas, strippers are required to get a license to strip? Or that in most clubs, the strippers have to pay the club to dance? What do we really know about the people behind the g-strings? What are their stories?" Lee said. "There have been many Hollywood depictions of the lifestyle, but none of it has ever touched the truth. Lurid is about the choices made and the innocence lost along the way."

Lurid #1 will be 32 black-and-white pages and will cost $2.99.

FIRST LOOK: REX MUNDI #0

Rex Mundi #0 will arrive in stores on Aug. 28 from Image Comics. The issue is written by Arvid Nelson, illustrated by Eric J. and colored by Jeromy Cox.

Here's how Image describes the issue:

"A dark secret threatens the life of father Gerard Marin, a Catholic priest with a checkered past. Fearing the torture chambers of the Inquisition, Marin turns to his only friend, Master Physician Julian Sauniere. Sauniere uncovers a mystery that stretches from the slums of present-day France to the walls of Jerusalem during the darkest days of the Crusades. At the center of the mystery is a secret someone is willing to kill for."

Rex Mundi #0 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.95.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

BRIEFLY

Here's a first look at the Alien Arena covers for issue #1 and #2 from Atomeka.

GIVE'EM A CLICK