Monday, July 29, 2002

X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE

X-Men: Evolution will have a new opening when its third season on Kids' WB! begins in September.

The new opening's format is similar to that of the opening from the past two seasons, but features images from second-season episodes and includes Beast as one of the highlighted members. Beast is now also included in the final group image.

The music remains the same, only in its original, longer edit.

Although Wolverine is seen in the opening wearing his orange uniform, he will be getting a new, black uniform for Season 3.

In other X-Men: Evolution news for the third season:

* The Morlocks, led by Callisto, will appear.

* A major new character will be introduced.

* An episode will spotlight Rogue.

* One of the X-Men's mutations will continue to evolve.

* A unique combination of characters will get together on an adventure.

TERRY DODSON TO DRAW CORALINE FOR HUMANOIDS

Humanoids Publishing has announced that artist Terry Dodson has signed on for its new graphic album, Coraline.

"I have always been an admirer of European comics, Humanoids books especially, so it's great to have the opportunity to work on them myself," Dodson said. "The project I am working on, Coraline, is part Victorian drama, part steampunk, part fantasy, plus pirates, and unlike anything I have worked on before. It's a great opportunity to try new things, stretch my artistic wings, so to speak. I have also been given the freedom and time to do the best work possible on the story".

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Scheduled for release in 2003, Coraline is set in the 19th Century and tells the story of a young woman who answers an ad in a newspaper for a job as a nanny. She soon finds herself working on an estate full of incredible inventions and gadgets far beyond anything else from that time period. Coraline's job is to keep the young master of the estate distracted from all the inventions, a task that proves much more difficult than she originally planned.

"This is a perfect book for Terry, and we're elated to have him on board for it," said Ian Sattler, marketing manager for Humanoids. "The story offers a lot of mild eroticism that's very suited to the way he draws female characters. These scenes are interplayed with all the cool gadgets on the estate, and we get to see the full range of how good Terry's art is. It's going to be a wonderful project."

Coraline is written by Denis-Pierre Filippi.

SNAKE PLISSKEN COMIC

Hurricane Entertainment has partnered with director John Carpenter, producer Debra Hill and actor Kurt Russell to produce a new comic book series based on the continuing adventures of their infamous anti-hero Snake Plissken.

Plissken is the lead character of the 1981 science fiction film Escape from New York.

The series, entitled John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, will premiere in the spring 2003. Tone Rodriguez, penciller on Violent Messiahs, from Image Comics, will draw the series in his hyper-realistic, gritty style.

When asked about what he thought of Tone's sketches Carpenter responded "They're great. We've got a great artist here. I grew up with comic books, going way back, and I was always interested in the art. So I'm very delighted, very delighted."

Hurricane partner William O'Neill will write the book. He is best known as the co-creator of Violent Messiahs and Chassis.

Jan Utstein-O'Neill, CEO of Hurricane, which produces the aforementioned comics, said, "We are very excited at the potential of this project and the chance to work with such esteemed talent as John, Debra and Kurt. It's not often that you get the opportunity to take such a well known and an iconic figure as Snake and explore new adventures along with his creators."

The comic series, which begins "Early the next day..." continues the first story of Snake Plissken, a once respected, highly decorated "Defender of the American Dream" who encountered a nightmare, the likes of which no one could ever image, or experience. What emerged is a man who is not a loner, but one who realizes that we are all, in fact, alone.and he is completely comfortable in this knowledge. Snake is a cool, dark and dangerous escape "artist" - who always gets the last laugh, because he ultimately knows that the joke is on himself.

This comic book is only one part of a much larger launch that will be revealed in the coming months. The deal was brokered and packaged by Kevin Cleary and Josh Morris of ACME Talent and Literary in Los Angeles.

According to Hill "Our goal is to brand Snake Plissken like other movie or comic book icons such as Spider-Man, Batman and Superman starting with the new Comic from Hurricane. In addition to the comic, 2003 and 2004 will see a release of novels, a Japanese Anime feature and a video game. A new DVD collection of Escape from New York will be coming out next spring from MGM. It will feature missing footage, lots of new commentary and interviews from the original Escapees as well as some surprises that will make Snake fans very happy."

The first step in this launch is a Sneak Preview book. This book, filled with Rodriguez's art and an exclusive interview with Carpenter, will be available for the first time at the San Diego Comic Con this week.

BRIEFLY