Saturday, July 6, 2002

WITCHBLADE TV UPDATE

Top Cow's Marc Silvestri, executive producer of TNT's Witchblade television series, said that star Yancy Butler has been working at her normal heavy pace since returning to the show.

Production of the second season of the show was shut down briefly while Butler voluntarily entered alcohol rehab.

"We're shooting our ninth episode right now," Silvestri said during a panel at Wizard World on Friday. "For anybody that had heard the news about Yancy and her issues, she's fine and she's back to work. She's working really hard and we all admire her courage and her professionalism.

"So anybody who's been worried about the series, don't worry about it. It's up and running, we're all good."

Silvestri said he had talked to the Witchblade set last week.

"She's doing great, her spirits are great and she's working hard," Silvestri said. "She's putting in 14-16 hours a day, sometimes six or seven days a week. She's happy to be back, and we're happy to have her back."

In other Witchblade news:

* Silvestri said it's too early to give any news about a possible third season. "They usually wait until the last minute before they make that decision, but the network and the studio are really happy with the show," he said. "The audience is very happy with the show."

* Top Cow's Matt Hawkins said that a Witchblade DVD with the two-hour movie is being targeted for a holiday season. Another DVD/VHS of the first season should be released next spring, "theoretically in preparation for a third-season launch," Hawkins said.

* Silvestri said that Top Cow received a lot of reaction to the death of Kenneth Irons in the second episode.

"But, like in comics, in our television show, people never really die, do they?" Silvestri said. "At one point, Anthony Cistaro, the actor, was unhappy, too, but now he's not so unhappy, I'll say that much.

* Silvestri said the second season will frequently deal with the consequences of Butler's character, Sara Pezzini, turning back time at the end of the first season.

"Yancy's going to continually face up to what she did last season," Silvestri said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time in her mind to make things better by making things go backwards, but she finds out this year that it wasn't such a great idea. We're going to have a lot of fun with those themes."

* Silvestri said that there is significance to the ring that Nottingham wears. "He's definitely popular and we're going to see a lot more of him," Silvestri said of Nottingham.

MARVEL COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four-page previews of Marvel titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Black Panther #47, Cable #107, Deadpool #69, Iron Man #57, Spider-Man: Get Kraven #2, Sabretooth: Mary Shelley Overdrive #2, The Call of Duty: The Precinct #1, The Ultimates #5 and X-Treme X-Men #15.

THE HULK MOVIE UPDATE

Lou Ferrigno, star of The Incredible Hulk television series, told The Continuum that he has a speaking role with Eric Bana in Universal Pictures' The Hulk movie.

Bana plays Bruce Banner in the film, which is set for a June 20, 2003 release.

"I play a head of security in one scene," said Ferrigno, who described his part as a cameo.

Universal is keeping tight security over the film, but, according to Ferrigno, principal photography should be wrapping up soon.

Look for more news on The Hulk soon here in The Continuum.

MARVEL KNIGHTS/MAX PANEL

Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said that he'll be editing the Marvel Knights line with the departure of Stuart Moore.

"I'm the editor of Marvel Knights again," Quesada said on Friday at the Marvel Knights/MAX panel at Wizard World.

Quesada said he wants to trim the Knights imprint back down to its original levels in terms of number of titles.

"We want to get back to where we were with Knights, taking B characters and revitalizing them," Quesada said. "And focus on A characters like Captain America who had been getting B treatment for a while."

For a complete rundown of news from the panel, CLICK HERE.

DC'S VERTIGO PANEL

Jill Thompson is writing and drawing Eternal Horizons, a 192-page manga-style book featuring Death, Delirium and Despair - the female faces of the Endless.

The story, from an idea by Sandman creator Neil Gaiman, plays off the events from The Sandman: Season of Mists, chronicling what the three members of the Endless did with the souls that were misplaced when Lucifer abdicated his rule of Hell.

"A while back, Karen (Berger, Vertigo executive editor) and Neil approached me about doing a big manga-style comic that was based on the Sandman mythos, most hopefully from Season of Mists," Thompson said during the Vertigo Panel at Wizard World Chicago on Friday.

"Hopefully this will satisfy Sandman fans and introduce manga fans to something they may have never picked up before."

The book will be black and white, with gray tones.

"What's going to be really cool about the book is it's going to look like a manga book," Vertigo editor Shelly Bond said. "It will be smaller-sized and thick and chunky."

In related news, work continues on The Sandman: Endless Night hardcover, written Gaiman, who teams with Moebius on a Destiny story, Milo Manara on Desire, P. Craig Russell on Death, Bill Sienkiewicz on Delierium, Gaetano Liberatore on Destruction, Miguelanxo Prado on the Sandman and Barron Storey on Despair. Dave McKean provides the cover.

"That will launch the big 10th Vertigo anniversary early next year," Bond said.

For a complete rundown of news from the panel, CLICK HERE.

DC'S JSA/JLA PANEL

Superman will be changing his costume, editor Eddie Berganza revealed at the DC World's Great Superteams panel at Wizard World on Friday.

"A year after the events that have happened, Superman will be wearing the yellow S," said Berganza, who was joined by writer Geoff Johns and artist Leonard Kirk at the panel.

In other news from the panel:

* Phil Jimenez will end his run in several months, "with a whole new team coming on," Berganza said. He noted a time-travel story with Wonder Woman meeting her mother during World War II.

* "Run Riot," the next big story for The Flash, will begin this winter.

* Details on Superman: Birthright, the 12-issue series by Mark Waid and Leinil Yu, will be provided on Sunday.

* Johns: "Wait until you see my Wild Dog. And I'm not kidding. I love updating characters."

* Look for ever more specifics from the panel soon here in The Continuum.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED PRODUCTS

DC Direct will be releasing a set of wall plaques based on characters from Cartoon Network's Justice League animated series.

The line, which will be released over the course of several months, will include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern.

There are no current plans for Hawkgirl or Martian Manhunter.

At Wizard World on Friday, DC Direct also unveiled the Aquaman Maquette, the latest addition to the line that features all seven of the TV show's main characters.

Click on the thumbnails for larger views of the products, and look for news on the second season of Justice League soon here in The Continuum.

BRIEFLY